072 - Gosia Kwiatkowska

Miss Gosia Kwiatkowska

Senior Lecturer

Theory and practice of Multimedia Advocacy

, School of Childhood and Social Care

Gosia Kwiatkowska, BSc, MA, FHEA, is an Associate Professor, Researcher, and Director of the Rix Inclusive Research Institute (RIX) at the University of East London. Gosia has been working with education, social and health care professionals, and the learning disability community since 2001. She lectures in social work, SEN education, psychology and media.

Her specialist research interests are the theory and practice of Multimedia Advocacy, non-verbal communication, advocacy, learning and teaching, especially with the application of web technology. Gosia is also interested in systems design and organisational change, and often leads on projects that involve the  implementation of the Multimedia Advocacy Approach within organisations.

Qualifications

  • BSc, MA, FHEA
  • Fellow of Higher Education Academy

Areas Of Interest

  •  
  • Theory and practice of Multimedia Advocacy
  • Non-verbal communication, advocacy, learning and teaching, especially with the application of web technology
  • Systems design and organisational change
  • Implementation of Multimedia Advocacy Approach within organisations
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072 - Gosia Kwiatkowska

OVERVIEW

In my role as Director of RIX, I lead a diverse portfolio of research projects and software implementation programs, where I'm at the forefront of utilising technology to champion inclusion, self-advocacy, participation, equal opportunities, and human rights for marginalised groups, especially individuals with intellectual disabilities. My passion lies in user-centred universal design and adopting technical systems to ensure inclusive practices and equal opportunities for all.

As an Associate Professor, I have the pleasure of imparting my knowledge to students across various disciplines, shaping the future of professionals in Social Work, SEN Education, Psychology, and Media. Beyond the classroom, I collaborate with professionals in education, social work, social care, and healthcare sectors, supporting them to provide personalised services tailored to their clients' unique needs.

Currently, I am undertaking my Professional Doctorate in Social Work, where my research focuses on exploring the notion of a good life for individuals with profound and multiple learning disabilities within residential settings/group homes. What sets my research apart is the inclusive approach - I lead an inclusive research team comprising academic researchers and individuals with lived experience of learning disabilities. My leadership style is based on person-centred practice, capacity building, and collaborative efforts with researchers and stakeholders. I firmly believe that the best way to manage, teach, train, develop, and lead is through co-production, quality, and a deep understanding of each other.

External roles

I am an active member of the following professional bodies and groups

  • British Institute of Learning Disability
  • Insight Government Higher Education
  • The Institute of Leadership and Management
  • Learning Disabilities Research Group
  • Multimodality Research Group - Institute of Education
  • History of People with Learning Disability Group
  • Policy Connect - panel member - Technology
  • Policy Connect - panel member APPGAP
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Scholarly Activities

Presenting at various conferences:

  • June 2010 - Penhurst School for People with Profound and Multiple Learning Disabilities Conference - "Application of Multimedia Advocacy for people with profound and multiple learning disabilities".
  • March 2010 - Dartington Hall Social Research Unit Seminar - "Implementation of Multimedia Advocacy across Robert Owen Communities in Devon".
  • July 2009 - 11th UK Joint Social Work Education Conference with the 3rd UK Social Work Research Conference - Co-presenting with Robert Johns and colleagues from City University "Involving carers as co-educators in inter-professional education: three years of an inter-professional programme with nursing, speech and language and social work students".
  • October 2008 - My New Media Life Conference at British Museum - "Multimedia Health Action Planning - A pilot study with Tower Hamlets Community Learning Disability Team".

CURRENT RESEARCH

Gosia leads on all research projects run by the RIX Research and Media.

Current projects include:

  • Stay Connected project is funded by NHSx TechForce19 as a direct response to the COVID-19 pandemic. The aim of the project is to address isolation, loneliness and well-being of people with learning disabilities experienced during the pandemic. Gosia leads on the project training and evaluation using inclusive research methods.
  • PRSB - GP Connect and GP Proxy - Gosia leads on the qualitative evaluation of the early adopters of NHS software that enables record sharing between health and social care.
  • Me & Your Stories (MYS) is a European innovative project funded by Erasmus+ KA3. Gosia is the lead researcher and a Principal Investigator on this project. Together with the partnership, she leads on the development of the inclusive learning modules to tackle discrimination and exclusion of people with intellectual disabilities in particular. The project fosters individualised learning and will be implemented and scaled up across Germany, Austria, Romania, Slovakia and the UK. The unique approach developed by the consortium provides the teachers with multimedia and storytelling tools on one hand and with the skills in critical thinking, Human Rights education on the other. Learners are empowered by their own stories as well as by learning about their peers. The approach focuses on the different perspectives of different people’s stories, telling their own and retelling the stories of their peers.
  • SEND Reforms Implementation - Gosia leads on the implementation and evaluation of a range of projects with a number of Clinical Commissioning Groups, Local Authorities, Residential Case, Supported Living Service and Schools. She uses her expertise in person-centred practice, inclusive research and inclusive research methods to capture the views of all stakeholders, including people with complex communication needs. 
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FUNDING

Stay Connected - TechForce 19 NHSx Funded Project

Co-Investigator - Direct response to Covid-19 to address issues of isolation of people with ID; developing online training, support to professionals, families and people with ID to engage with online social networking toolkit for distance-care. (March 2020 - ongoing) 

  • Minnion, A., Kwiatkowska, G., Watts, P., Finch, J., Wilkie, C., (2020) The RIX Multi Me Toolkit: Rix Research and Media Feasibility Report. RIX Research and Media, University of East London.

 

Digital Unite

Project Lead - inclusive co-production project to address Digital Divide, develop inclusive training for trainers with ID (July 2020 – ongoing) 

  • Kwiatkowska, G, Minnion, A., (2021) The Good Zoom Guide - Project Report - in print
  • Good Zoom Online Training - https://www.rixwiki.org/rixresearch/home/zoom-training

 

RIX Wiki Projects - Implementation of SEND reforms across Education, Health and Social Care services

Management - wide implementation of RIX Multimedia Advocacy across services in the UK - managing over 20 contracts with schools and local authorities, and CCGS (2016 - ongoing)

  • Minnion, A., Kwiatkowska, G., Watts, P. & Finch, J (in draft) Theorising Multimedia Advocacy with People with Learning Disabilities: Principles, Philosophy and Person-Centred Practice, British Journal of Learning Disabilities.
  • Minnion, A., Kwiatkowska, G. (2019) Herefordshire Multimedia Advocacy Implementation Pilot.  https://www.herefordshire.gov.uk/downloads/file/18768/wikime_herefordshire_interim_evaluation_report_april_2019.pdf.
  • Sharpe, D., Kwiatkowska, G., Minnion, A., (2017) RIX Wiki Evaluation Toolkit. Institute for Health and Human Development, University of East London.
  • Kwiatkowska, G. (2016) One Page Profiles and EHC plans the Wiki way: Using RIX Wikis to implement EHC plans. Special Needs Jungle.
  • Kwiatkowska, G., Stowell, K., Minnion, A., Rix, J. (2016). Making Plans with people with learning disabilities online training.

https://www.open.edu/openlearncreate/course/view.php?id=1851 

 

Multimedia for Person Centre Planning

 Project lead on pilot implementation and impact evaluation with Charlton Park School and Greenwich Local Authority (£8,000 from Royal London Borough of Greenwich as part of Department of Health 'SEN & Disability Pathfinder Programme' Jul 2012 - Mar 13 ongoing) 

  • Kwiatkowska, G. (2020). Social Work students' case study reflections (2020) https://vimeo.com/378991913 https://vimeo.com/366452189 https://vimeo.com/366451758.
  • Kwiatkowska, G., Minnion, A., Finch, J (accepted for publication) The RIX Wiki: The use of Multimedia Advocacy to Support Person Centred Planning in a Special Needs Secondary School - implications for current policy and practice, Support for Learning.

 

Me & Your Stories (MYS) – Erasmus

(Dec 2018 - March 2022) - Principal Investigator, European Partnership of five partners developing online toolkit to tackle issues of exclusion using story-sharing approach; total cost of €499,753

  • Online Multimedia Toolkit available from https://www.rixwiki.org/mys/home. 

 

Social Inclusion of Learners (SoIL) - Erasmus

(Dec 2016 - Nov 2018) - Principal Investigator - Social Inclusion of Learners operating during a two-year project lifetime is a cooperation of six partners bringing their method expertise and dissemination and upscaling potential together. SoIL provides innovative and effective best practices in individualised learning. learning and teaching with a total cost of €208,686.

  • Social Inclusion of Learners Methods, Handbook and presentations available from  https://www.rixwiki.org/rix/home/soil-wiki.

 

Mathisis - Horizon 2020

(Dec 2015 - Dec 2018) - Researcher - MaTHiSiS (Managing Affective-learning THrough Intelligent atoms and Smart InteractionS) was a H2020 project under the topic ICT-20-2015 Technologies for better human learning and teaching with a total cost of €7.618.584. The MaTHiSiS learning vision was to provide a product system for vocational training and mainstream education for both individuals with an intellectual disability and non-diagnosed ones.

  • Kwiatkowska, G.M. et al (2020). An evaluation of an adaptive learning system based on multimodal affect recognition for learners with intellectual disabilities. Br. J. Educ. Technol. 51(5): 1748-1765 (2020).
  • Real Training article https://realtraining.co.uk/2019/05/engaging-with-intelligent-technology.

 

IncluEdu – Erasmus

 (March 2014 - June 2017) - Principal Investigator - IncluEdu is a strategic partnership of leading European Educators and Researchers who collectively have a unique expertise in the field of ICT and inclusive learning. IncluEdu has developed a range of competence-based courses that enable European Educators to use tablets and mobile devices to activate and empower their learners. €208,12.

  • Kwiatkowska, G., Minnion, A. (2017). Multimedia Advocacy - Inclusive Education using Tablets Available from: https://www.incluedu.com.
  • Project information https://rixresearchandmedia.org/incluedu-project/ 

 

Puzzle – Erasmus

(Sep 2015 - Aug 2017) - Researcher - PUZZLE is a two-year research project that aims to facilitate access to information, education and training of young people and adults with intellectual disabilities in three European countries: Lithuania, Poland and Greece. The project takes actions to improve the quality and accessibility of information provided for people with ID, and to raise their knowledge and understanding about their basic human rights. €102,000.

  • Kwiatkowska, G. (2016). Literature review of Easy-to-Read information on the Rights of People with Intellectual Disabilities.
  • Project website and other outputs available from https://www.puzzle-project.eu/index.php/en/  https://rixresearchandmedia.org/project-puzzle/ 

 

Digital Archives – AHRC

(2014-2017) - Co-investigator/Researcher - The project investigates the conceptual, ethical and technical questions of how a coproduced, distributed and 'living' archive of learning disability history can be developed and sustained. The project uses participatory research methodologies; inclusive and emancipatory approaches to learning disability history; research insights into user-generated and participatory engagement in heritage contexts; and recent developments in digital heritage and digital accessibility. The project works inclusively with people with learning disabilities to co-research and co-produce an accessible, distributed and living archive of learning disability history that can be sustained and built upon beyond the project's end.

  • Inclusive Archive available from: https://inclusivearchive.org 

 

Sensory Objects

'Interactive multisensory objects developed for and by people with learning disabilities' - Researcher with Reading University, Action for Heritage, Mencap Liverpool, Museum for English Rural History, National Trust and British Museum (£465,000 from AHRC to Reading University, £65,000 to UEL, Apr 2012 - Mar 2015 ongoing) 

  • Nic Hollinworth, Kate Allen, Gosia Kwiatkowska, Andy Minnion, Faustina Hwang: Interactive sensory objects for and by people with learning disabilities. ACM SIGACCESS Access. Comput. 109: 11-20 (2014)
  • Nic Hollinworth, Faustina Hwang, Kate Allen, Gosia Kwiatkowska, Andy Minnion: littleBits go LARGE: making electronics more accessible to people with learning disabilities. ASSETS 2014: 305-306
  • Nic Hollinworth, Faustina Hwang, Kate Allen, Gosia Malgosia Kwiatkowska, Andy Minnion: Making electronics more accessible to people with learning disabilities. CHI Extended Abstracts 2014: 1255-1260
  • Kate Allen, Nic Hollinworth, Faustina Hwang, Andy Minnion, Gosia Kwiatkowska, Ticky Lowe, Nick Weldin: Interactive sensory objects for improving access to heritage. CHI Extended Abstracts 2013: 2899-2902

 

Books Beyond Words

Video and multimedia produced for Books Beyond Words Social Enterprise based on published book series (Produced with Andy Minnion. Videography by Orson Nava 2011) www.booksbeyondwords.co.uk

 

Grundvig Project

(2011-2012) Adult Education for People with Intellectual Disabilities in Transition. EU-funded partnership project.

  • Two presentations and workshops for 'Grundtvig' Seminar on 'Adult Education for People with Intellectual Disabilities in Transition' at Estia, with Ajay Choksi, Gosia Kwiatkowska (Athens, Greece, Sep 2011 & June 2012)
  • Two presentations and a workshop for 'Grundtvig' Seminar on 'Adult Education for People with Intellectual Disabilities in Transition' at Smialek, with Ajay Choksi and Gosia Kwiatkowska (Poznan, Poland, April 2012) 

 

Grundvig Project

(2011-2012) Adult Education for People with Intellectual Disabilities in Transition. EU-funded partnership project.

  • Two presentations and workshops for 'Grundtvig' Seminar on 'Adult Education for People with Intellectual Disabilities in Transition' at Estia, with Ajay Choksi, Gosia Kwiatkowska (Athens, Greece, Sep 2011 & June 2012)
  • Two presentations and a workshop for 'Grundtvig' Seminar on 'Adult Education for People with Intellectual Disabilities in Transition' at Smialek, with Ajay Choksi and Gosia Kwiatkowska (Poznan, Poland, April 2012) 

 

6 Lives Project Lead Researcher

User-led one-year research project using video ethnography to collect the views of people with learning disabilities on their experiences of receiving health services in Tower Hamlets; presenting findings at the Partnership Board meetings and the 6 Lives Panel. The output of this project included 3 DVDs (£30,000 Tower Hamlets Partnership Board, Sep 09 - Aug 10)

  • The Six Lives Panel: Big Health Check Up Day DVD, commissioned by Tower Hamlets Partnership Board
  • GP Health Action Planning for People with Learning Disabilities DVD, commissioned by Tower Hamlets Community Learning Disability Team https://vimeo.com/15600610
  • My Health, My Say, My Way DVD (2008) commissioned by Tower Hamlets Partnership Board https://vimeo.com/15600097
  • Multimedia Advocacy for Mental Capacity Website, commissioned by Social Care Institute of Excellence www.thebigtree.org/mental-capacity

 

"Involve Me"

Lead Researcher at the Rix Centre - national action research project with five sites. This project aimed to evaluate the effectiveness of various creative approaches, including Multimedia Advocacy, in involving people with profound and multiple learning disabilities in day-to-day decision-making processes. The outputs include video case studies and written project reports. (£10,000 Mencap Royal Society, Feb 10 - Sep 10) 

  • Involve Me Guide outputs available from: https://www.mencap.org.uk/advice-and-support/profound-and-multiple-learning-disabilities-pmld/pmld-involve-me 

 

Multimedia Advocacy for Mental Health

Lead Researcher: A participatory research project where existing information on the Mental Capacity Act was tested and evaluated with a user group, and a set of new learning resources was collaboratively produced to address the identified gap. (£35,000 Social Care Institute of Excellence, Sep 09 - March 10)

  • https://www.scie.org.uk/mca/practice/care-planning/key-principles-in-care-planning
  • Mental Capacity Act Co-production https://vimeo.com/10546041
  • Home Sweet Home - Case Study  https://vimeo.com/10550149
  • A Working Man - Case Study https://vimeo.com/10550052
  • Peace of Mind - Case Study https://vimeo.com/10548457
  • In The Driver’s Seat - Case Study https://vimeo.com/10546926 

 

Symbol Surfing Project

Co-investigator - The aims of the projects were to investigate the ways in which symbol recognition technologies can benefit people with profound and multiple learning disabilities in accessing and interacting with computers and the Internet. The research was led by Dr Karen Bunning from the University of East Anglia. (£70,000 Esmee Fairbairn Foundation, Sep 2009 - Dec 2010).

  • Bunning, K., Kwiatkowska, G., Weldin, N. (2012) People with Profound and Multiple Intellectual Disabilities Using Symbols to Control a Computer: Exploration of User Engagement and Supporter Facilitation. Journal of Assistive Technology, V24 n4 p259-270

 

The National Strategies Progression Guidance Project

 (£10,000 National Special Educational Needs Hub) - Lead Researcher - the research question was "What constitutes good progress for children with special educational needs?" This project was run in partnership with the London Borough of Newham Inclusion Team. I was leading the work with SEN pupils at KS2. This project involved deploying new media to enable research participants to articulate their first-hand experiences and perspectives on inclusive education strategies. The project findings and selected video outputs were presented at the CASPA conference in London (Sep 07 - July 08)

  • Kwiatkowska, G., Minnion, A. (2008). What constitutes good progress for children with special educational needs? Project report.

 

Get Connected – SCIE Funded Project

Project Lead - Implementation of Person Centred, Multimedia Advocacy Approach within 6 care providers across UK (£120,000 Scie, Get Connected October 2011- January 2013) http://www.multimediaadvocacy.com/get-connected.html 

  • 6 Video Case studies are available from https://vimeo.com/58054666
  • Head Mouse Head mouse https://vimeo.com/65223507 

 

Whole system Implementation of Multimedia Advocacy

Project Lead - this is a long-term project that involves consultancy, training and implementation strategy for adaptation of Multimedia Advocacy within the whole service (£40,000 Social Care Provider RCHL, Sep 2009 – Sep 2012)

  • Kwiatkowska, G., Minnion, A., (20012) Video Case studies produced - available from  https://vimeo.com/65222039
  • Early Multimedia Advocacy for Person Centred Planning https://vimeo.com/23159801
  • Multimedia Advocacy - how does it work https://vimeo.com/23151465 

 

Business Placement Fellow

Multimedia Advocacy Implementation Study and Evaluation Project that included my six-month business placement fellowship as a way of knowledge exchange between academia and a local business. The project partner was the national housing and social care provider East Living Group. The project aimed to implement the use of assistive technologies and personalised care within 18 schemes of the partner organisation. (£42,000 ESRC, Sep 08 - Nov 09)

  • Kwiatkowska, G., Minnion, A.,(2009) Project report and video case studies
  • Multimedia Advocacy For Person Centred Planning https://vimeo.com/23158414 

 

Social Exclusion of Older People Lacking Mental Capacity

Lead Researcher - This was a national project with the aim of eliciting the views and experiences of older people who had dementia. As part of this project, we established a series of 4 first-hand case study portfolios of people lacking mental capacity, their experiences of social exclusion and how this might be addressed and improved. The outputs of this project included a report to industry and a DVD. (£15,000 Age Concern England, Sep 2006 - July 2007)

  • Kwiatkowska, G. (2008) "Multimedia Advocacy" to capture and present people’s thoughts and views and share stories about their daily lives. DVD Published by Age Concern
  • Gosia contributed to the Social Care Institute for Excellence Knowledge Review on 'Personalisation and learning disabilities: A review of evidence on advocacy and its practice for people with learning disabilities and high support needs' (SCIE Report 24, October 2009)

 

ICICLE Project

Inclusive Co-development and Implementation of a Community Learning Environment – Principal Investigator on this community learning pilot, with evaluation and impact assessment (£50,000 from Community Learning Innovation Fund, NIACE, Sep 2012 - 13 ongoing) 

  • Weston, C., Guardini, E., Minnion, A., Kwiatkowska, G. (2013) Volunteering and learning in HE: exploring and acknowledging student experience. Research in Teacher Education, Vol. 3 (N.2). 7-14. 

 

W2ID Web 2.0 for people with Intellectual Disabilities

European Project with education and care partner organisations from Austria, Latvia, Portugal and Finland and (£414,000 EU Leonardo, Lifelong learning programme Aug 2009 - Dec 2012) 

  • Kwiatkowska, G et al (2012). Multimedia Advocacy - A New Way of Self Expression and Communication for People with Intellectual Disabilities. ICCHP (2) 2012: 361-368

 

Special Olympics Wiki World

Project lead on European Project with 12 National Special Olympics Organisations and Special Olympics Europe Eurasia (£85,000 from EU Youth in Action Jan 2010 - Jun 2012) 

  • Minnion, A., Kwiatkowska, G. (2011) Special Olympics Wiki World Review. Available from https://issuu.com/ajedney/docs/special-olympics-gb-2011-online/16
  • Presentation and workshop series for Special Olympics Romania, Netherlands and Poland with Andy Minnion and Special Olympics Europe Eurasia (Bucharest, Romani,a Jun 2011)
  • 'Our Olympics' - 2-day Website Production Workshop programme with Special Olympics GB and SO Europe Eurasia for the build-up to London 2012 Olympics and Paralympics - with Special Olympic Athletes and Coaches from 6 EU countries (Rix Centre with SOGB/SOEE Jun 2012) 

 

Interactive Tables

Project lead on co-development of surface computing prototype with learners with profound and complex disabilities with Tower Project (£5,000 from Rix Thompson Rothenberg Foundation, 2010 - 11) 

  • Interactive Table https://vimeo.com/78904211 

 

Voices from Within

Interactive environment installation based Multimedia Advocacy project with Respond (£4,000 from Rix Thompson Rothenberg Foundation, 2010 - 11) 

  • Artistic Installation and Event 

 

Click Start Project and KlikIn Software

Co-development of easy-build multimedia Wiki Website and Portal network for accessible and participatory information for people with disabilities with users, East London Local Authorities, Third Sector service provider groups and & Ellingham Employment Service (£335,000 from Learning & Skills Council 2008 - 10) 

  • Co-production responses - Video https://vimeo.com/54529387 

 

Multimedia Advocacy for Employability

Pilot training programme for people with learning disabilities, creating multimedia CVs to prepare for work with Ellingham Employment Project (£30k from the Jack Petchey Foundation, 2007 - 08) 

  • Online interactive multimedia CV https://www.rixwiki.org/Default/home/cv-template-78 

 

MODULES

  • PSM402 - Law and Social Justice
  • PSS3320 - People with Learning Disabilities: Policy and Practice - A Social Perspective
  • PSS3327 - People with Learning Disabilities - Post Qualifying Module
  • MS0600 - Introduction to Multimedia Advocacy
  • MS1600 - Multimedia Advocacy Theory and Practice

Publications

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Research repository