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Hello, I'm Robert and I'm researching Home Education for my EdD.  I baked my cake house with my kids... and cats.  It's a vanilla sponge with buttercream and chocolate fingers.

More and more families are choosing home education. I'm researching how students experience the transition from home education to higher education.  The Open University is popular with home educated students.

Thank you

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'Climbing Up Thesis Mountain' by Lauren Rose and Dr Jude Taylor

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'Climbing Up Thesis Mountain' by Lauren Rose and Dr Jude Taylor

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PGR/Graduate School Staff collaboration cake! Jude says this is about:
* Sharing the journey
* Having mates
* Various routes up
* Diversity (Victoria Sandwich and Ginger)

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'Sustainable ecosystem - sustainable future' by Dr Irina Tatarenko

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'Sustainable ecosystem - sustainable future' by Dr Irina Tatarenko

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The floodplain meadow partnership has been studying floodplain meadows for over 20 years. The high value of these prime habitats in the past was explained by sustainable production of animal feed: hay crop in the summer then aftermath grazing in autumn-winter. In recent years, floodplain meadows have been protected for their biodiversity and recognised as a natural sustainable solution for flood management. The soil developed under floodplain meadows is a long-term sink for carbon if not disturbed by ploughing. Soil biota e.g. earth worms and a huge range of other invertebrates together with microbes and fungi transfer organic carbon into stable soil particles. Plant species diversity and water table depth both control carbon sequestration in this habitat. Floodplain meadows offer sustainable ecosystem services, which ensure humans' sustainable future.

Looking closely at the cake shows structure of the soil particles, worms, roots, gravel and the colour change from light brown clay lower horizons through to the more humic upper levels. The surface is mainly green at this time of year after hay crop, there may be a few late flowers while the area is grazed before winter floods.

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'Postpartum Anxiety risk factors, triggers, and trajectories' by Katie Jones

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'Postpartum Anxiety risk factors, triggers, and trajectories' by Katie Jones

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Mental health difficulties are considered one of the most overlooked complications of childbirth.

Anxiety is the most common mental health difficulty experienced in the year following childbirth (i.e., the postpartum period), affecting approximately 20% of birthing people¹, yet it receives little attention. As a result, symptoms are often overlooked and left unsupported, risking significant consequences for mother and child.

My research investigates the risk factors, triggers, and trajectories of postpartum anxiety experienced by women (and birthing people) in the UK in order to identify opportunities to better support families. The project is split into three stages: a rapid systematic review, a single-point-in-time mixed methods online survey, and a longitudinal online survey.

This year’s #BakeYourResearch is based on the longitudinal component which explores the interactions between maternal cognitions, mother-infant relations, and postpartum anxiety. Replicating last year’s bake, the fruit cake contains ingredients to represent the underlying socio-demographic, interpersonal, psychiatric, health, and cognitive risk factors associated with postpartum anxiety. The cake is decorated to illustrate the course of the longitudinal study from late pregnancy to twelve-months postpartum and highlight symptoms of anxiety experienced at this time (revealed in my work outside of this project²). The study will examine potential mediating and moderating factors associated with postpartum anxiety, including repetitive negative thinking and social support, as well as normative mothering experiences associated with positive or negative changes in emotional wellbeing. Findings will identify opportunities for future interventions to reduce the prevalence, severity, and long-term implications of anxiety symptoms on mother and infant wellbeing.

¹ During the first peak of the COVID-19 pandemic in May 2020, we found the prevalence of clinically concerning postpartum anxiety symptoms increased to approximately 49% in the UK (Harrison et al., 2021, available at https://doi.org/10.1080/02646838.2021.1886260).

²Jones et al., under review (preprint available at https://doi.org/10.21203/rs.3.rs-828145/v1)

Apologies for the blurry video, Padlet limited the quality of the upload.

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'Agro-waste and biopolymers: sustainability in packaging through valorisation' by Katy Woodason

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'Agro-waste and biopolymers: sustainability in packaging through valorisation' by Katy Woodason

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My PhD project is about developing a new sustainable single-use packaging for food that aims to minimise food waste and plastic pollution. It will do this by using biopolymers derived from food waste (chitosan from crabs) and from natural resources (alginate from seaweed). It will also incorporate dried food powder that has come from agricultural waste and food processing plants (apple, celery, oat, barley, sugar beet and tomato). The purpose of the food powder is to act as a reinforcer to the packaging film, in addition to being a source of antioxidants and antimicrobials to help keep food fresher for longer. My vision for the future is that every resource is utilised, and nothing with hidden value is seen as disposable.

My cakes are vegan toffee apple muffins. I chose apple as the main flavour of my cakes because they are currently in season and apples are a food that often go to waste. Love Food Hate Waste estimated up to 800,000 are thrown away PER DAY in the UK. Seems a waste when people can just make yummy apple muffins instead!

More detail on the cakes in the comments..

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'The Hydrostatic Test' by Sophie Michell

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'The Hydrostatic Test' by Sophie Michell

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The hydrostatic test, 'docimasia pulmonum hydrostatica', or the 'flotation of the lungs' was the first forensic test. Developed in the 17th century, it was used to investigate suspected infanticide. The dead newborn had their lungs removed. One lung was placed into the water whole, the other in pieces. Oxygenated lungs would float, proof that the baby had taken breath. This was legally important: in order to charge a woman with the murder of her child, the child HAD to have been fully born and breathed.

The hydrostatic test was extraordinarily inaccurate. There are multiple circumstances in which a baby's lungs can be inflated during birth. Decomposition can also lead to lungs floating: the test is useless if the body is not found immediately.
Doctors knew that the test was inaccurate as early as the 1780s, but it was still regularly cited at inquests as late as the 1880s. The people at the mercy of this inaccurate test were usually young, terrified, unmarried women who had given birth in secret. These women could not usually afford legal counsel, and were not permitted to speak at the inquest of their dead baby. These women were powerless in the face of medical and legal testimony.

For me, the test represents the imbalance of power at the coroner’s court.

This cake depicts a blood-spattered bucket, with two small lungs floating in it. One is cut into pieces, and one is whole.

The cake is lemon flavoured, with lemon buttercream and a bit of red food colouring. The lungs are made of pink sugarpaste. Despite appearances, it tasted amazing.

Sophie Michell, History, FASS.

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'Morning sickness - Have you tried ginger?' by Anna Madeley

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'Morning sickness - Have you tried ginger?' by Anna Madeley

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The title of this piece is “Morning Sickness - Have you tried ginger?” and is a subtle nod to the frequently repeated and oft lamented advice given to pregnant women and people who experience varying degrees of nausea and vomiting. Ginger is a traditional remedy for such (replicated in the ingredients of this gingerbread hospital) however evidence suggests that healthcare professionals offering this is perceived and experienced as ineffective, it can also contribute to feelings of being dismissed and damages the therapeutic relationship (Dean & O’Hara, 2015). I have presented this here as a metaphor for and indicative of the norms applied to pregnancy and knowledge passed through generations (both familial and within healthcare) which at their heart may be well intentioned but can create frustration in the pregnant population who feel that their experiences are minimised and dismissed, a phenomenon reflected in the focus and acceptable of evidence within maternity care being largely qualitative and experiential paradigms. Experiential evidence is fundamental in understanding and applying a human rights and relational based approach to healthcare.

The gingerbread hospital is named for Jennie Lee, who was instrumental in the foundation of the Open University and indeed laid the foundation stone on site, was married to Aneurin Bevan, the father of the NHS as Government Minister for health in 1946. This serendipitous link between the Open University and the NHS has never been lost on me as both a midwife, OU student and resident of MK, therefore the naming of the gingerbread hospital seemed most appropriate.

My literature review has demonstrated a huge gap in knowledge around understanding the social processes around atypical choice in childbirth, particularly when those choices are challenging to society, the family, and the Institution. As my data collection progresses, how women and birthing people navigate the system is nuanced and complex, but above all remains challenging and not without degrees of resistance from the medical community. COVID, rather than creating these challenges, has thrown them into stark relief, exposing both intentional and unintentional barriers to effective safe care for cohorts who make non-normative decisions. The social processes and interactions behind and around these decisions remains largely unexplored. The scene represented here is a woman who having chosen a particular pathway for childbirth, has found herself outside of the system with healthcare professionals on the periphery.

Dean, C. O'Hara, M.. (2015). Ginger is ineffective for hyperemesis gravidarum, and causes harm: an internet based survey of sufferers. MIDIRS Midwifery Digest. 25 (4), 449-455

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‘The Pattie Cake of Wonders’ by Pauline Rutter

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‘The Pattie Cake of Wonders’ by Pauline Rutter

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Pauline - OU FASS-History Year 1. I have grown soil and veg in my garden all year, baked patties with that veg and shared them with friends and family. This 'pattie cake' represents my PhD research process of bringing to the surface a Black feminist historiography, focused on rigorous historical research, the empowerment and tension of collective intergenerational wisdom, and the joy of inclusive, equitable and creative methodologies that lay new paths to knowledge creation. The soil making, the veg growing and the baking are all part of my self care in this traumatic time of Covid-19, the call for Black lives to matter and the climate and ecological crisis. More patties on the way, they're very yummy and never last long :)

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'Disappointing cakes: a study in emotion, perception and belief' by Emily Yossarian

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'Disappointing cakes: a study in emotion, perception and belief' by Emily Yossarian

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Today I submitted my MA assignment (so not really research; staff entry) on whether emotions can justify belief, analogous to perception-based belief. So, inspired by all the great bakes on Twitter, I had time to do this - carrot cake (no reason), vanilla icing (very runny) and piped decoration (bad). Not my  year...

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Link to the Bake Your Research PGR Manager entry with the instructions and rules

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Link to the Bake Your Research PGR Manager entry with the instructions and rules

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If you have an account with the Open University Authentication Service, please click the button below to log in:
Login to PGR manager
If you are an ARC student, supervisor or staff at an Affiliated Research Centre, please click the buttons below to either set up your account, or log in with your email address:
Set up your account Log in with your email address Log in with your email address
If you are an external supervisor or examiner, please click the button below to log in with your email address:

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If you have an account with the Open University Authentication Service, please click the button below to log in: Login to PGR manager If you are an ARC student, supervisor or staff at an Affiliated Research Centre, please click the buttons below to either set up your account, or log in with your email address: Set up your account Log in with your email address Log in with your email address If you are an external supervisor or examiner, please click the button below to log in with your email address: