Isabel Stanley

Thesis Title: Animal citizenship: are UK assistance dogs performing Acts of Citizenship?

This project is an original exploration into whether UK assistance dogs (ADs) are performing ‘Acts of Citizenship’ (as defined by Isin and Nielsen, 2008). If so, the implication is they provide a unique, unexplored case to test how animals could be integrated into political communities as formal citizens, with the protection accompanying this status. ‘Acts of Citizenship’ are acts performed by individuals to make a rights claim and disrupt political norms by circumnavigating a system supressing the claim (Isin and Nielsen, 2008).

ADs are specially trained to support a disabled human partner with specific tasks. Non-humans are not recognised as citizens by the UK government, but ADs exercise greater mobility and public access rights than other non-humans, thus simulating element of citizenship. Yet, despite the unique position of ADs in society, their political lives and the potential implications of this for animal rights arguments have not been studied.

This project will be divided into two phases. In phase one, I will construct a framework of important domains to interrogate whether, or how, ADs perform citizenship acts. This framework will underpin phase two: qualitative, semistructured interviews with thirty-two AD partners to address the research questions. I will recruit participants through AD training organisations. This interdisciplinary project sits within Politics, with supervisory support from Biosciences.

References

Isin, E.F. and Nielsen, G.M. (2008) Acts of Citizenship. London and New York: Zed Books.

Biography:

I have previously worked in project management within academia and the charity sector. Prior to commencing doctoral research I most recently worked as a Research Project Manager at the University of Aberdeen, managing a £2.88 million-pound international research project funded by the NIHR. My previous studies include a BA (Hons) in International Studies from The Open University, and an MSc Policy Analytics from the University of Exeter. I have lived experience of partnering with an assistance dog, and my own assistance dog, Tia, led to my interest in the topic of my doctoral research.

Publications:

Abbott, P., Nixon, G., Stanley, I., and D'Ambruoso, L. (2024) A protocol for a critical realist synthesis of school mindfulness interventions designed to promote pupils' mental wellbeing, Frontiers in Public Health, vol 11-2023. Available at: https://doi.org/10.3389/fpubh.2023.1309649 (Accessed 15th February 2024).

Abbott, P., Shanks, R., Stanley, I, and D'Ambruoso, L. (2024) A protocol for a critical realist systematic synthesis of interventions to promote pupils' wellbeing by improving the school climate in low- and middle-income countries, PLOS One, 19(5). Available at: https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0286489 (Accessed 28th May 2024).

Abbott, P., Nixon, G., Stanley, I., and D'Ambruoso, L. (2023) A review of scientific theories used to justify the delivery of school-based mindfulness programmes. A protocol for a scoping review, medRxiv. Available at: https://doi.org/10.1101/2023.06.19.23291616 (Accessed 04th July 2023).

Abbott, P., Shanks, R., Stanley, I, and D'Ambruoso, L. (in draft) ‘A Critical Realist Synthesis of Universal School-based Mindfulness Interventions’.

POLSIS, School of Government

University of Birmingham

2025 Cohort

Email:

Supervisory Team:

Laurence Cooley

Tendayi Bloom

Jackie Chappell