The DAPPLE Project
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dappleproject.bsky.social
The DAPPLE Project
@dappleproject.bsky.social
Developing effective service models for Adult Palliative and end of life care for People with a LEarning disability (NIHR159160)
🎬 We often use videos in our work. But what is a ‘good’ video? And how do you make one? To help us find out, we had film training with Aram Atkinson.

In our latest blog, Irene, Andrea, Jonny & Fred reflect on what they learned:

www.dappleproject.com/post/36-film...
36. Film training with Aram Atkinson
The importance of videos to our workOne of the first things Irene Tuffrey-Wijne told me when I joined Kingston University was this: when it comes to sharing our research, a video can be just as impact...
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October 24, 2025 at 9:58 AM
🧺 Why is there a washing line in our office?

Our latest blog shares the story behind the washing line, our Co-production team’s creative way of tracking the many different stages of The DAPPLE Project.

www.dappleproject.com/post/35-why-...
35. Why We Have a Washing Line in Our Office
When I returned to our Kingston University office on Monday after a week away on Annual Leave, I was greeted by a washing line.  And no, that’s not the strangest thing we have here – the flying pig st...
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October 17, 2025 at 9:24 AM
💰NEW BLOG POST 💰
Richard reflects on how changes to benefits and repeated assessments create stress and anxiety for people with learning disabilities.

www.dappleproject.com/post/34-don-...
34. "Don’t keep assessing us for our benefits cos our learning disability will not go away!"
Richard shares his thoughts on benefits for people with a learning disability.
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October 9, 2025 at 2:31 PM
🫖 NEW BLOG POST 🫖
How do you take yours? This week, Richard and Jo talk about tea, and how sharing a cuppa with friends, family and colleagues is so important to feel connected and valued.

www.dappleproject.com/post/33-how-...
33. How do you take yours?
We quite like making cups of tea in our office and we have a bit of a joke in the office about Jo’s tea-making skills. She hasn’t quite got it right yet and is still, after years of being at Kingston ...
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October 2, 2025 at 10:48 AM
Last week, some of our team left their inboxes behind and took part in an academic writing retreat!

In this week’s blog, Becky Anderson-Kittow shares what happened when we swapped our desks for the countryside…

Read Becky's blog here www.dappleproject.com/post/32-a-da...
32. A DAPPLE Project writing retreat
Last week, some of our research team went away on a writing retreat in North Yorkshire. Like some of our team, you may be wondering, What is a writing retreat? This was a chance for us to get away fro...
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September 26, 2025 at 8:28 AM
In this week’s DAPPLE blog, Richard Keagan-Bull explains how the Better Care Before Death co-production group chose their name, and what inspired him to design the group’s logo

Read Richard’s blog here
👉 www.dappleproject.com/post/31-bett...
31. Better Care Before Death Group: Choosing our name, designing our logo
In The DAPPLE project, we work with a co-production group of people with a learning disability. The group works with us to understand what we are finding out from the research, and how to make it bett...
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September 18, 2025 at 8:31 AM
🎉 NEW BLOG POST 🎉
On 1 September 2025, the DAPPLE Project turned 1! In today’s blog post, @tuffrey-wijne.com and Becky Anderson-Kittow look back on the past year and reflect on the progress, challenges, and highlights of the project’s journey so far. www.dappleproject.com/post/blog-29...
Blog 29. Happy first birthday to the DAPPLE Project!
Irene says:This is a study I have wanted to do for a very long time. My previous studies have focused on the experiences of people with a learning disability at the end of life; their information and ...
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September 4, 2025 at 1:52 PM
🤗NEW BLOG POST🤗
In this week’s powerful blog, @tuffrey-wijne.com reflects on her early research career. She explores the privilege of witnessing people’s lives and stories and why saying YES to research can be meaningful for everyone involved.
www.dappleproject.com/post/28-i-m-...
28. “I’m glad she got to tell her story before it was too late”: Why people might say YES to being in the DAPPLE study
The year was 2006. I was about to embark on what would turn out to be a research-career-defining study. I wanted to spend time with people with a learning disability who had cancer, to try and see the...
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August 22, 2025 at 3:55 PM
📃NEW BLOG POST!📃
In this week's blog, Fred shares our published protocol - this is our plan for DAPPLE. There are also some links to other ways you can find out more about what we are doing on the DAPPLE Project.
www.dappleproject.com/post/27-the-...
27. The DAPPLE Project Protocol: Now Published!
We are delighted to share that the protocol for The DAPPLE Study has just been published in BMJ Open. You can read the protocol here.So, what does this mean? Essentially, the protocol is the blueprin...
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August 15, 2025 at 9:19 AM
📄 New paper alert! 📄
Our protocol paper for DAPPLE has been published 🎉 You can read it below. It’s open access and sets out what we’re doing and how we’ll do it.
bmjopen.bmj.com/content/15/7...
bmjopen.bmj.com
July 30, 2025 at 7:10 PM
👀 NEW BLOG POST 👀

This week, Francesca Horne shares a video about the Sawubona 'I see you' Forum she attended in May which was all about equity and compassion in end-of-life care. Check it out here...

www.dappleproject.com/post/25-sawu...
25. Sawubona (I See You) National Forum Conference
On May 6th, I had the privilege of attending the Sawubona National Forum, a powerful gathering dedicated to transforming palliative and end-of-life care through the lens of equity, compassion, and inc...
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July 24, 2025 at 3:41 PM
🛳️“It was like being on a cruise!” 🛳️

Mo usually doesn’t enjoy conferences. He feels they are often not inclusive for people with a learning disability. In this week's blog, Mo shares how the PCPLD Network Conference was different.

👉 Read Mo’s blog here:
www.dappleproject.com/post/24-conf...
24. Conferences can feel like a long haul flight… but this was like a cruise!
Hello everyone!  My name is Mo.  I am a Research Assistant in the Learning Disability Research Team at Kingston University.  I don’t work on The DAPPLE Project. I work on another project called The RE...
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July 18, 2025 at 9:27 AM
💬 NEW BLOG POST 💬
This week our project manager Christina talks about the challenge of jargon when trying to set up a research project. Using long words and acronyms leaves people out, even though it might seem quicker or easier if you're an expert.
www.dappleproject.com/post/24-gett...
24. Getting the rubber stamp to do research in the NHS: first we need to do some jargon-busting.
When we first started setting up the biggest part of the DAPPLE study (listening to people’s stories) we knew there would be hurdles. After all, we’re trying to do something sensitive and important: l...
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July 10, 2025 at 4:44 PM
📢 New Blog!

What can we learn from conversations 'in the wild'?

Introducing a new pilot study, Andrea Bruun delves into the potential of Conversation Analysis to explore conversations involving people with learning disabilities in palliative care settings.

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22. Video-recording conversations in a hospice: The PallComm pilot study
I am really into how we communicate with each other. So much that I have specialised in analysing communication. My background is in Linguistics (a fancy word for language science), and on my course I...
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July 3, 2025 at 10:56 AM
🔢 NEW BLOG POST! 🔢
This week's post is from Dr Freya Tyrer who is crunching the numbers for DAPPLE. Freya introduces herself and her work here...
www.dappleproject.com/post/21-all-...
21. All about the numbers
Freya Tyrer is leading on the “big numbers” part of the DAPPLE project. In this blog post, she tells us what the numbers are saying about how people with learning disabilities experience end-of-life c...
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June 26, 2025 at 10:34 AM
Reposted by The DAPPLE Project
Look, a conference about dying, death & learning disability can be joyous and inclusive! Yesterday, we listened, shed tears and danced. Thank you everyone who helped make this happen!
#PCPLD2025
@kingstonuniversity.bsky.social
@dappleproject.bsky.social
June 20, 2025 at 8:46 AM
This #LearningDisabilityWeek we’re highlighting how important it is that every person with a learning disability is seen, heard, and valued at the end of their life.

Irene Tuffrey-Wijne asks what changes YOU would like to see to help make this happen.

www.dappleproject.com/post/getting...
20. Getting our head around stakeholders
Are you a DAPPLE stakeholder? You are reading this blog, so the answer is YES! But what is a stakeholder? And why do we want to know more about them – about you, and all our other stakeholders? We ha...
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June 19, 2025 at 5:06 AM
📢 New Blog! 📢

This week’s DAPPLE Blog comes from Andrea Bruun, who recently gave 4️⃣ presentations at the European Association for Palliative Care World Congress (EAPC) 2025!

You can read Andrea's blog here:

www.dappleproject.com/post/19-dapp...
19. DAPPLE at the European Association for Palliative Care (EAPC) 2025
From 29-31 May, the European Association for Palliative Care (EAPC) held their 19th World Congress in Helsinki in Finland with the theme “Ready for the future”. I was lucky enough to go, so let me tel...
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June 12, 2025 at 8:31 AM
🎉 Celebrating the Cuppa Tea With Richard podcast at The Shard! 🎙️✨

Read the latest DAPPLE blog, where Sunny and Richard share their experience of Afternoon Tea from the 33rd floor...

www.dappleproject.com/post/richard...
Richard’s Cuppa tea celebration for his podcast
Richard and the podcast team – Irene, Jonny, Anastasia and Jo - won an award at Kingston University. The award was for being ‘innovative’. We were given some money (£500) to celebrate. We had to spend...
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June 5, 2025 at 7:12 PM
🗨️ NEW BLOG POST! 🗨️

DAPPLE Research Assistant Richard is often interviewing people for his Podcast. This time, he was in the hot seat! In this week’s blog, Richard shares his recent appearance on The Sui-Ling Show.

www.dappleproject.com/post/17-rich...
17. Richard appears on The Sui-Ling Show
I am used to interviewing people for my Podcast 'Cuppa Tea with Richard'. Recently, it was my turn to be in the hot seat, when I appeared as a guest on MacIntyre's The Sui-Ling Show!Sui-Ling is a mem...
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May 15, 2025 at 11:57 AM
Reposted by The DAPPLE Project
Richard sits down with the brilliant & hilarious Mel Giedroyc for a heart-warming, witty conversation that covers everything from Eurovision to writing books & dream dinner party guests. Their instant connection and infectious humour are guaranteed to lift your spirits soundcloud.com/cuppa-tea-wi...
Ep. 13: Mel Giedroyc
New Episode Drop! Richard sits down with the brilliant and hilarious Mel Giedroyc for a heartwarming and witty conversation that covers everything from the glitz of the Eurovision Song Contest to the
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April 25, 2025 at 3:40 PM
🎧 NEW BLOG POST 🎧
Did you know that our research assistant, Richard, hosts an award-winning podcast? This week, he reflects on recording an episode with special guest Mel Giedroyc.

www.dappleproject.com/post/16-i-fe...
16. “I felt a warmth between us”: Recording an episode of my podcast, A Cuppa tea with Richard, with Mel Giedroyc
My name is Richard Keagan-Bull. I am a research assistant with a learning disability, and I work at Kingston University. I host a podcast where I chat to guests over a cuppa tea.  I’m writing this blo...
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May 8, 2025 at 8:15 AM
📚 NEW BLOG POST! 📚
In this week’s blog post, Liz Tilley reflects on the role that stories might play in helping to improve care for people with learning disabilities at the end of life.

www.dappleproject.com/post/15-the-...
15. The power of stories
What leads to real improvement in how people with learning disabilities are supported by health and care services? And how do we know that things are getting better, rather than staying the same (or g...
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May 1, 2025 at 8:54 AM
NEW BLOG POST! What will comfort you at the end of your life? In this week's blog, Fred Inglis shares how this question inspired our creative workshops, engaging people with a learning disability in Yorkshire.
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14. What will comfort you at the end of your life?
Last month, the DAPPLE team held three creative workshops in Yorkshire as part of our Co-production ‘Roadshows’ (so-named by my colleague Richard as an homage to the Radio 1 summer events). A wide ran...
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April 24, 2025 at 3:38 PM
Reposted by The DAPPLE Project
Brilliant day at work today! A delight to listen to the chat between Richard and Mel Giedroyc for his podcast
soundcloud.com/cuppa-tea-wi...
Watch this space...!
April 23, 2025 at 2:09 PM