Dr Allison Mula

PhD Candidate - Early Stage Researcher 2

PhD Research title: Exploring the impact of contemporary social discourses on the play of children at risk of play deprivation.

Existing research supports that children are constructing themselves during play. Social discourses around gender – what it means to be a girl or boy or the social rewards and punishments of not following these notions – make their way into the play of children; as such, these discourses become a part of children’s construction of themselves. This study aims to gain new knowledge about the space and place that play creates for children to grapple with, and make sense of, the varying social discourses of gender. In order to explore the phenomenon of children’s gender construction through play occupations, an ethnographic approach will be used to elucidate the relational interaction and influences that occur between children and the world around them during play. Allison hopes to explore how children, through their play occupations, conceptualize, communicate, challenge, and reinforce social discourses of gender.

Allison has received ethical approval for her research from University College Cork ethics committee and has since begun data collection for her ethnographic study. Data collection will take place over the course of multiple months with her partner organisation, Wallaroo Playschool in Cork, Ireland.

Her research is supervised by Dr Sarah Kantartzis, Queen Margaret University, Edinburgh and supported by Prof Jeanne Jackson, University College Cork.

Publications:

Poster: Mula, A., Veiga-Seijo, S., Jackson, J., Kantartzis, S (2021). P4PLAY: Researching people, place, policy and practive for play from the lens of occupational science: Listening to children’s, families’, and communities’ voices to inform inclusive play. Play 2021: A conference on children, play and space, Birmingham University, Birmingham, England. https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.5159193
Mula, A. (2018). Ergonomics and the standing desk. Work, 60(2), 171-174. doi:10.3233/WOR-182736. Accessed from https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/29865102
Mula, A. K. (2019). Physicians’ role in patient ergonomics: A pilot study (Doctoral dissertation), Boston University; College of Health and Rehabilitation Sciences: Sargent College, Boston, MA, United States. Accessed from https://open.bu.edu/handle/2144/34812

Non published content: