Natalie Jarvis, whose research explores the experiences of disabled volunteers in Wales. Her Livery Company award enabled her to present her research at a key conference for experts in her field.
A Swansea University expert researching volunteering opportunities for disabled people in Wales has won a travel scholarship from The Worshipful Livery Company of Wales, which has allowed her to further her research.
Natalie Jarvis is a third-year PhD student in the School of Management at Swansea University. Her research explores the experiences of disabled volunteers in Wales, with the aim of making their voices heard and building a more inclusive society.
Natalie’s award from The Company followed a competition open to Swansea University researchers who are in the early stages of their career.
The award enabled her to present her research at the British Association of Management conference which took place recently and which is one of the main gatherings for experts in her field. While at the conference, Natalie also received another accolade, securing second place in the research poster competition.
Natalie’s PhD research is based on interviews with people in Wales with wide-ranging health conditions about the challenges they face in accessing volunteering opportunities. Her work emphasises the economic benefits and employability prospects that volunteering offers to disabled people. It has the potential to inform policy and practice, promoting equality and opportunities for disabled individuals in Wales.
Natalie Jarvis said:
"Thanks to the travel funding from the Welsh Livery Company, I was able to travel to Nottingham, stay there and participate in the conference.
It was a great event with esteemed academics and many networking opportunities. Many of the key speakers were academics whose works I have read and admired. I had the pleasure of presenting a poster which fostered lots of conversations with others at the conference.
I am so excited to announce that I won the second-place prize for my poster presentation which came as a massive surprise. This has been a great opportunity to put my research on the map and wouldn't have been possible without this funding.
Thank you so much for the opportunity."
Professor Katrina Pritchard, Dr Helen Williams and Dr Leanne Greening, supervisors of Natalie’s PhD research, said in a joint statement:
"Natalie’s supervisory team are delighted she has been awarded this prestigious scholarship. We are incredibly proud of Natalie and her research. She exemplifies the very best of post-graduate research at Swansea University.
Natalie’s passion for research inspires her PhD colleagues and students on the BSc Business Management in the School of Management. Natalie is now writing up her thesis and is determined that her research will have a positive impact on the experiences of volunteers with disabilities and health conditions.”
The Worshipful Livery Company of Wales was founded in 1993 and one of its aims is to “promote education, science, technology and the arts in Wales”. This it achieves by helping young people throughout Wales to develop their talents and skills by means of an annual awards programme of scholarships and bursaries to students in schools, universities and technical colleges, as well as to apprentices and young people in the armed forces.
The Master of The Company, Agnes Xavier-Phillips JP DL, who was very pleased that Natalie had received this award, said:
“One of The Company's aims is to encourage and support students to progress with a specific project. We raise funds through various charitable events and also by reaching out, not only to our Liverymen for financial support, but also to the wider community in Wales. We encourage like-minded Welsh organisations interested in promoting education, science, technology and the arts in Wales to support our activities.
This valuable and timely project illustrates how such valuable work can make a vital contribution to research in Wales. We are delighted to be able to support Natalie in taking forward her research project.”