Issue date: 09 September 2008
Norma Daykin, Professor of Arts and Health in the Faculty of Health and Life Sciences at the University of the West of England, has received the 2008 Royal Society for Public Health Arts and Health Award for her significant and innovative contribution to the field of Music and Health Research. The award was presented at a special ceremony on 10 September at the Music and Health conference at the Sydney de Haan Research Centre in Folkestone and for a second time at the inaugural meeting of the new Royal Society for Public Health on Tuesday 23 September.
Norma is very excited to win this award, she said, “It's brilliant news and not at all expected. It's the first time that I have received an award of this kind and I'm really very pleased. The award is for a body of work that I have been researching over the past six or seven years investigating music and health issues. I have looked at the paradox that music is often seen as good for health but that musicians often have precarious careers that can present health problems. I've also looked into creative activities in health settings and the benefits and pitfalls associated with music therapy. Each project has informed how the next piece of work develops. I've just completed a collaborative study to evaluate a major arts programme within Avon and Wiltshire Mental Health Partnership Mental Health Trust. I'm now working with musicians and artists at Callington Road hospital to develop best practice in participatory arts. The project utilises both traditional and arts based approaches to evaluation research”
Norma's work is all embracing as she is also a talented and dedicated musician and composer. Last year she had a composition commissioned by the Society for the Promotion of New Music (SPNM). This was performed by the Guildhall Big Band at the London Jazz Festival with a solo by guest trombonist Jiggs Whigham who she had in mind when she composed the piece.
Norma has worked as a researcher at UWE for almost 20 years and her work spans a range of areas including patients' and professionals' experience of healthcare and illness.
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