Free virtual seminars to look at people as 'occupational beings'

Many people think of ‘occupation’ as referring simply to a job, but the All About Occupation seminar series will explore a far wider definition that can be utilised by occupational therapists and occupational scientists. This sees 'occupations' as taking in all the everyday activities that we want, need or are expected to do. These activities allow us to live, to connect with others, to have a sense of identity, and – ideally – to experience health and well-being.

To examine the idea of people as ‘occupational beings’ the university's Occupational Therapy Team have organised a series of online seminars running monthly (except August), taking place from 1600-1700 GMT. The seminar series will be convened by Dr Rebecca Twinley with support from Luci Carnall-Moore and the department team. Registration details are on the All About Occupation website.

Dr Twinley, senior lecturer in the School of Health Sciences, and the Centre for Arts and Wellbeing, said: “Our occupational therapy team value being able to talk broadly about occupation, and are keen to reach out to people to have these conversations. We felt we could best do this by organising virtual monthly talks - each about a different aspect of occupation, and freely accessible. We hope storage of recordings and transcripts in the All About Occupation series will boost access to seminar content for those without internet access or who may not be able to attend at the scheduled times.”

The first seminar takes place on 26 May 2021, with Karen Whalley Hammell, University of British Columbia examining the topic: The COVID-19 pandemic and ensuing occupational disruption: Exposing the lie that “we’re all in this together”.

Other later session topics include The doings and occupations of those who desire to be “beautiful” (led by Michael Sy, University of the Philippines Manila) and The difference between meaningful and psychologically rewarding occupations (led by Moses N Ikiugu, University of South Dakota).