The thesis aims to present a case for a rethinking of the paradigmatic frames underpinning food marketing control policy and research. In support of its contention, it reports on the methodological strategies, evidence outcomes and knowledge translation contributions of a series of research projects. The projects were commissioned by national and international policy makers during the period 2009-2015 in support of responsible food marketing policy development. They were conceptualised, developed and interpreted through participatory and iterative research planning processes. The research drew on theories and constructs from multiple disciplines. Public health, marketing and policy science contributed most, but information economics and management theories also informed research design and analysis and interpretation of findings. Its key generalizable findings can be summarised as follows: • The identification of a fragmented but convergent pool of evidence indicating contemporary food and beverage marketing is an interactive, dynamic phenomenon. • The identification of a fragmented but convergent pool of evidence demonstrating it significantly impacts sociocultural determinants of food behaviours. • The generation of evidence demonstrating a gap between the strategic aims of responsible marketing policy regimes and the inherent capacity of implemented interventions to constrain marketing’s food environment impacts. • The generation of evidence demonstrating that critical re-appraisal of food marketing policy research assumptions and preconceptions is a strategy supportive of policy innovation. • The generation of evidence that research intended to support real world multi-stakeholder policy development processes requires additional skills to those established and recognised as central to high quality research. These include the ability to engage with dynamic and politicised policy processes and their public communications challenges. • The generation of evidence that can inform future independent benchmark standard for responsible marketing development initiatives. • The generation of evidence that can inform future research on designing and developing policy that is ‘future proof’ and targets marketing’s sociocultural food environment impacts. Its most significant knowledge translation contributions have been: • Support for the WHO Set of Recommendations on the Marketing of Foods and Non-alcoholic Beverages to Children (subsequently endorsed at the 2010 World Health Assembly and the 2011 United Nations General Assembly). • Participatory research contributions to the Scottish Government’s responsible marketing standard development initiative (PAS2500). • Supporting the planning and development of the Scottish Government’s Supporting Healthy Choices Policy initiative. • Knowledge exchange with policy makers and stakeholders engaged in a scoping and prioritisation initiative commissioned by the United Kingdom’s Department of Health (An analysis of the regulatory and voluntary landscape concerning the marketing and promotion of food and drink to children). • Supporting responsible marketing policy agendas targeted to the engagement of a broad mix of stakeholders in innovative policy development processes. • Supporting policy makers’ efforts to increase popular support for stronger, more effective responsible marketing policy controls. The thesis therefore aims to present evidence that the programme of research presented here has made useful and original contributions to evidence and knowledge on contemporary food marketing and its impacts on food behaviours and the food environment. It aims to build on this by demonstrating how this evidence informed and supported policy development. Through this the thesis aims to support its case that a rethinking of food marketing policy research assumptions and conceptions can expand and enrich the evidence base as well as real world policy innovation.

This reflective analysis of the Emirati public policy process (PPP) cycle and implications of uneven application of new public management (NPM) paradigms in the UAE offers insight into the way that public administrations develop, learn, evolve, and cope with new challenges during the policy development process. The author also assesses the relationship between organizational learning and organizational practices, to generate practical knowledge and experience that is translated into recommendations that will benefit UAE government organizations, and indeed any public sector organization in the Gulf Region. Inside action research was chosen to emphasize the author's dual role as both a researcher and a participant. As an advisor to both the Ministry of the Interior (MOI) of the UAE and the Abu Dhabi Police (ADP), the author helped both organisations improve their PPP experiences while researching the challenges, learning, and adaptations which occurred while policy was being developed within the MOI. The author generated data through reflective memos, informal interviews, and document analysis, and presents her findings in terms of both academic findings and practice-oriented recommendations. The author primarily found that new models were necessary to reflect the highly flexible and authority-oriented UAE PPP cycle. The author also explored how cultural understandings led to challenges with NPM and learning in the UAE public administration, hindering policy development. Finally, the author found that her own position, as a female expatriate in the Emirati government, allowed for some valuable reflection about experience of serving in a Global South public administration.

Within the contemporary migration field, from a theoretic point of view, the communication aspect of it has been identified as an emerging priority, as its impact can affect both the public opinion and policymaking itself. In order to identify trends portraying migration narratives, as ways of representing the migration phenomena in a set historiographical context, a dataset comprehending migration-related campaigns has been developed during the timeframe 2009 - 2018. Throughout the EU Member States, as well as the European Southern Neighbourhood Partner Countries (SPCs), 135 campaigns were retrieved online, shedding light on which were the aspect of migration emphasised (such as integration and smuggling and trafficking prevention), as well as the main stakeholders involved in the production of such communication initiatives. Through the usage of a web-based research for the years 2019-2021, the aforementioned dataset has been updated, by collecting secondary data of qualitative and quantitate nature of publicly funded migration-related campaigns in the Southern European Region. Based on the data, an illustrative mapping of current trends have been developed. The work was done in partnership with ICMPD – International Centre for Migration Policy Development (Migration Dialogue and Cooperation Directorate), within the EU-funded EMM5 (EUROMED V) programme. This project is aimed at establishing a comprehensive framework on migration, as well as being responsible for the creation of the previous database, through the preceding phase of the EUROMED programme itself (EMM4 - EUROMED IV). Because of the nature of the project, as well as the publicness of the dataset, campaigns aimed at negatively affect migrants/refugees’ lives have not been included in the research, in order to avoid at providing a platform to such messages. The 95 newly-gathered campaigns have been cross-referenced in order to highlight differences and similarities with the previous ones in terms of the overall narrative; stakeholder involvement; and the geo-political context in which the campaigns were made. Moreover, a particular focus was on the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic and its influence on the stakeholders involved in the migration-related activities themselves. The analysis of the migration-related campaigns reveals that the implementation of such initiatives has grown exponentially, with a surge during the year 2021, with 61 campaigns produced. Moreover, key trends in the communication narratives have been identified within the integration thematic area (49%), followed by the hate speech and xenophobia prevention (13%) and the asylum system (13%). The support and format used were aligned with the EMM4 dataset, as webpages and social media represent the main methods used throughout the Southern European Region. Regarding the stakeholders involved in the funding of the migration-related initiatives, the private sector has become a key player in the field, either financing or co-financing campaigns throughout the three years analysed, increasing from 4 campaigns between 2009-2018, to 32 in the timeframe 2019-2021. / Inom det samtida migrationsfältet har kommunikationsaspekten identifierats som en framväxande prioritet, eftersom att nyhetsskildringar om migration kan influera både den allmänna opinionen samt politisk beslutsfattande. För att identifiera trender som skildrar migrationsberättelser, i syfte att kunna representera migrationsfenomenen i ett fastställt historiografiskt sammanhang, har en datauppsättning som analyserar migrationsrelaterade kampanjer utvecklats under åren 2009-2018. I EU:s medlemsstater, såväl som den europeiska Southern Neighborhood Partner Countries (SPCs), har 135 kampanjer identifierats online. Dessa kampanjer belyser vilka aspekter av migration som betonades (såsom integration, smuggling och förebyggande arbete mot människohandel), såväl som de primära intressenterna som är involverade i produktionen av sådana kommunikationsinitiativ. Genom användningen av en webbaserad forskning för åren 2019-2021 har ovannämnda datauppsättning uppdaterats genom att samla in sekundärdata av kvalitativ och kvantitativ karaktär från offentligt finansierade migrationsrelaterade kampanjer i den sydeuropeiska regionen. Utifrån underlaget har en illustrativ kartläggning av aktuella trender tagits fram. Arbetet gjordes i partnerskap med ICMPD – International Centre for Migration Policy Development (Directorate Migration Dialogue and Cooperation), inom det EU-finansierade programmet EMM5 (EUROMED V). Detta projekt syftar till att upprätta ett heltäckande ramverk för migration, samt att ansvara för skapandet av den tidigare databasen, genom den föregående fasen av själva EUROMED-programmet (EMM4 - EUROMED IV). På grund av projektets karaktär och datamängdens offentlighet har kampanjer som syftar till att negativt påverka migranters och flyktingars liv inte inkluderats i forskningen, för att undvika att ge sådana budskap en plattform. De 95 nyinsamlade kampanjerna har korsrefererats för att belysa skillnader och likheter med de tidigare när det gäller den övergripande berättelsen: involvering av intressenter och det geopolitiska sammanhanget i vilket kampanjerna gjordes. Dessutom låg ett särskilt fokus på effekterna av covid-19-pandemin och dess inflytande på de intressenter som är involverade i migrationsrelaterade aktiviteter. Analysen av de migrationsrelaterade kampanjerna visar att genomförandet av sådana initiativ har ökat exponentiellt, med en ökning under år 2021, med 61 kampanjer producerade. Dessutom har nyckeltrender i kommunikationsberättelserna identifierats inom det tematiska området integration (49%), följt av förebyggande av hatretorik och främlingsfientlighet (13%) och asylsystemet (13%). Stödet och formatet som användes anpassades till EMM4-datauppsättningen, eftersom webbsidor och sociala medier representerar de huvudsakliga metoderna som används i hela Sydeuropa. När det gäller de intressenter som är involverade i finansieringen av de migrationsrelaterade initiativen, har den privata sektorn blivit en nyckelaktör på området, antingen finansierings- eller samfinansieringskampanjer under de tre analyserade åren, ökade från 4 kampanjer mellan 2009-2018 till 32 kampanjer mellan åren 2019-2021.

Evidence-informed health policy making contributes to improved health outcomes by strengthening health systems. In addition, health policy decisions should take into consideration the needs and priorities of users of healthcare services. However, little research has been done to find best ways to facilitate evidence-informed and participatory health policymaking, particularly in low- and middle-income countries. This thesis is written based on three studies done in Ethiopia to fill this knowledge gap. In the first study, we examined whether, how and under what conditions evidence was used and service-users participated during the agenda-setting and policy formulation phases of selected policies in the ‘prevention of mother-to-child transmission of HIV’ program in Ethiopia using a multiple-case study design. In the second study, we identified strategies to facilitate evidence-informed health policy making using an online survey. In the third study, we identified strategies to facilitate participatory health policy making using a combined paper-based and Internet-based Delphi approach. The thesis does not have direct theoretical contribution. However, it will draw on two theoretical frameworks, namely Kingdon’s framework and the 3I+E framework. and use them in a setting from where they were originally developed. This thesis has two substantive and three methodological contributions. Substantively, the first study provides empirical evidence about the current practice of evidence-informed and participatory health policy making in a low-income, ‘revolutionary’ democratic country (Ethiopia). In addition, the studies have identified strategies to concretize the constitutional and policy provisions for evidence-informed and participatory health policy making in Ethiopia. The thesis has the following three methodological contributions. First, the studies explored the use of Kingdon’s multiple-streams framework and the 3I+E framework in predicting factors influencing agenda-setting and policy formulation phases, respectively, and in explaining the use of research evidence in informing these two phases in a ‘revolutionary’ democratic country where they have not previously been used. Second, the thesis has shown that paper-based and Internet-based Delphi could be combined in contexts with limited resources. Third, the thesis has demonstrated the possibility of training service-users as ‘peer’ researchers to collect and analyze data to inform their participation and maximize their contribution in surveys, forming a pyramid of participation. / Thesis / Doctor of Philosophy (PhD) / Evidence-informed health policy making can contribute to improved health outcomes by strengthening health systems. In addition, health policy decisions ultimately affect users of healthcare services. Thus, such decisions should take into consideration their needs and priorities. However, little research has been done to find best ways to facilitate evidence-informed and participatory health policymaking, particularly in low- and middle-income countries. This thesis is written based on three studies done in Ethiopia. In the first study, we examined whether, how and under what conditions evidence was used and service-users participated in the ‘prevention of mother-to-child transmission of HIV’ program in Ethiopia. In the second and third studies, we identified strategies to facilitate evidence-informed and participatory health policy making. In addition, we explored the possibility of combining Internet- and paper-based methods for consensus-building among policymakers, program managers, researchers, healthcare providers and service-users in settings with limited resources.

The human factor often plays a significant role in cyberattacks targeted against organisations. Therefore, controlling user behaviour is critical to companies’ cybersecurity strengthening efforts. A method used by companies for this is information security policies (ISP). User compliance is required for policies to be able to regulate user behaviour, but research suggests that compliance is often low. This study aims to improve authentication rules in ISP development by executing a systematic literature review. It does this by providing recommendations on how to better capture the user perspective based on the reviewed literature and the collected policies from the public sector.  First a database search was conducted then backwards snowballing, which left us with 61 accepted articles that then underwent coding and ultimately a thematic analysis. This process identified eight key themes: authentication stress, password strength, password changing, password sharing, password reuse, password storage, user guidance and policy design. With these themes in hand, each area could be analysed and compared to corresponding area from the collected policies. This revealed discrepancies between the research and the organizational policies, enabling recommendations on how to improve policies from a user-based perspective to be put forward. The study is limited to authentication rules found in information security policies and excludes rules that might be found in different documents. Additionally, the systematic literature review is limited to digital databases.

Title on printed copy differs slightly from ETD. Title on printed copy: A critical analysis of HIV/AIDS policy development and implementation at selected Ugandan universities / The main objectives of the study were to analyse the process involved in HIV/AIDS policy development and implementation at two selected universities in Uganda. The rationale for the study was to describe the policy development process and to identify how such institutional policies can be planned, operationalised, monitored and evaluated. The study used a qualitative approach which involved key informant interviews and focus group discussions. The selected institutions were Makerere University Kampala (MUK)and Mbarara University of Science and Technology (MUST). The findings show that MUST have a comprehensive HIV/AIDS Institutional Policy (HIP) which followed several stages during policy development. The basic stages identified were policy formulation, policy adoption, policy implementation and policy evaluation. The findings also show that MUST have a comprehensive implementation plan. In contrast, MUK had no record of the HIV/AIDS institutional policy development process. However, MUK had implemented the policy successfully through the University Hospital and Gender Mainstreaming Division. / Social Work / M.A. (Social Behaviour Studies in HIV/AIDS)

This dissertation fundamentally explores the nature of change, and the development interventions that aim to bring this change into a particular society. What emerges is the notion of a ‘spiral’: imagining the dynamic relationship between paradigms and discourses, the institutions and programmes operating in a place, and the way individual identities are constructed in intricate and contradictory ways. Within this spiral, discourse has power – ‘words matter’ – but equally significant is how these words interact dialogically with concrete social structures and institutions – ‘it takes more than changing words to change the world’. Furthermore, these changes are reacted to, and expressed in, the physical, sexed body. In essence, change is ideational, institutional, and embodied. To investigate the politics of change, this dissertation analyses the spiral relationships between gender discourses, institutions, and identities in contemporary Indonesia, focusing on their transmission across Java. It does so by exploring the Indonesian state’s gender policies in the context of globalisation, democratisation, and decentralisation. In this way, the lens of gender allows us to analyse the dynamic interactions between state and society, between ideas and institutions, which impact on everything from cultural structures to physical bodies. Research focuses on the gender policies of the Indonesian Ministry of Women’s Empowerment, substantiated with case study material from United Nations Population Fund reproductive health programmes in West Java. Employing a multi-level, multi-vocal theoretical framework, the thesis analyses gender discourses and relational structures (how discourses circulate to construct the Indonesian woman), gender institutions and social structures (how discourses are translated into programmes), and gender identities and embodied structures (how discourses enter the home and the body). Critically, studying gender requires analysing the human body as the site of both structural and symbolic power. This dissertation thus argues for renewed emphasis on a ‘politics of the body’, recognising that bodies are the material foundations from which gender discourses derive their naturalising power and hence ability to structure social relations. The danger of forgetting this politics of the body is that it allows for slippage between ‘gender’ and ‘women’; policy objectives cannot be disentangled from the reality of physical bodies and their social construction. This thesis therefore argues that there are distinct and even inverse impacts of gender policies in Indonesia. As the ‘liberal’ and ‘modern’ assumptions of gender equality are overlaid onto the patriarchal culture of a society undergoing transformation, women’s bodies and women’s sexuality are always and ever the focus of the social gaze. The gender policies and interventions affecting change on discursive and institutional levels may thus provoke reaction at the level of individual identities that are contrary to explicit intentions. In effect, projects that purport to work on ‘gender’ are often so deeply rooted in underlying gender normativity that their net effect is to reinscribe these gender hierarchies. By exposing the contradictions in these underlying paradigms we gain insight into the politics of a transforming society. Furthermore, engaging with the politics of the body allows us to analyse the spiral processes between discourse and practice, the question of power, and the way men and women embody social structures and experience social transformation.

The issue of environmental risks from the pharmaceutical endocrine disrupter 17 alpha-ethinyl oestradiol (EE2), which is an active ingredient in the contraceptive pill, confronts government responsibilities for citizens' health with potential environmental risks from its presence in aquatic ecosystems. Further to a risk appraisal process conducted under the Water Framework Directive (WFD) between 2006 and 2012, the European Commission recommended the imposition of an environmental quality standard for EE2. In 2013, this recommendation was rejected by politicians. The outcome was both contested and commended. The UK Government was particularly vehement in its opposition and claimed that the risk assessment process for EE2 was not robust. The UK Government also insisted that it had swayed opinion of other EU Member States to convince them that action for EE2 was not proportionate given the extremely elevated costs of risk control options. At the present time, environmental policy for EE2 and other endocrine disrupters remains resolutely ineffective. Despite three distinct policy interventions recommending precautionary action for EE2 during the past twenty years, emissions of this potent, oestrogenic endocrine disrupter continue unabated. This thesis explains why European politicians rejected the European Commission’s risk governance recommendations for EE2 in 2013 under the Water Framework Directive. This comprises its principal empirical contribution. A novel analytical framework which draws on insights from the policy sciences, risk governance and wicked problems literature is developed. This framework is employed to determine whether the policy outcome for EE2, and the decision-making processes that preceded it, were legitimate. The research findings in this respect advance understanding of the implications of specific properties of wicked problems, of which it is argued, EE2 is an example, for the legitimacy of decision-making processes during the risk appraisal and political phases of policy development in Europe. This comprises the principle theoretical contribution of the thesis. Recommendations to promote more effective and legitimate policy development for wicked problems in similar multi-level governance contexts are also made.

Traffic-related air pollution harms health, so whilst it would be advantageous to improve air quality, the socioeconomic impact of air pollution mitigation in Scotland is not fully understood. Evidence from research literature, current regulatory and policy directives and a socioeconomic analysis are required to assess the true health impact. This thesis presents the first health and socioeconomic analysis of traffic-related air pollution and health for Scotland. A critique of the literature was undertaken to determine the evidence base and the strength of evidence in terms of association and causation, between air pollution and ill health. The evidence was subsequently applied in epidemiological studies of Scottish residents, to assess the actual impact on health in Scotland. The perception of barriers and incentives for change were investigated to understand behavioural influences. Recent policy development in Scotland was reviewed, and a socioeconomic analysis of a proposed air pollution strategy in Scotland, was undertaken. The evidence from 30 cohort studies and nine literature reviews demonstrated a link between poor air quality, mortality and respiratory ill health, but the results for other health conditions were inconsistent. The links were associative rather than causal and therefore might be attributable to other factors other than air pollution. Furthermore, epidemiological studies on Scottish populations did not show health effects from traffic-related air pollution. The socioeconomic analysis suggested that an initial investment of between £27m and £44m to introduce Low Emission Zones (LEZ), and an effective active travel programme, might result in a saving of £38m in terms of Years of Life Lost (YLL) and reduction in sickness absence. It is unlikely that the Clean Air For Scotland Strategy will deliver improved air quality and health without substantial investment, better alignment of planning, and a greater public engagement to support public and active transport options.

This study was influenced by two sociological theories namely: Durkheim’s Structural Functionalism and Relativism. In terms of Durkheim’s Structural Functionalism, I claim that the aspects of social structures, cultural norms and values, which are among its main components, are also among the main components of Indigenous Knowledge Systems (IKS). In line with Relativism, this study argues against Durkheim’s claim that social structures, and cultural norms and values determine human choices and behaviour. It is claimed that in line with my understanding of IKS in this study social structures, cultural norms and values are relative aspects, because they change and differ from context to context even if their carriers are the same, and human choice in different times and places play a vital role in determining decisions. These theories have been applied practically by examining the relationship between Indigenous Knowledge Systems (IKS) and good governance. The study asserts that IKS has the potential to improve the efficiency and effectiveness of policies at the local municipality level. Thus, the study has sought to understand the extent to which IKS is incorporated in the policy development and implementation at the local municipality level. This investigation has been undertaken in the thematic context of HIV/AIDS. I investigated the extent to which IKS is incorporated into policy development and implementation related to HIV/AIDS at the local municipality level. The study has argued that the extent to which IKS is appropriated into policy development and implementation relies on the power dynamics between the provincial and national spheres of government on the one hand, and the local municipality leaders and officials on the other. The study has found that local municipality leaders and officials have a strong affinity to the IKS due to their proximity to the local citizens. But, political leaders at the national and provincial spheres of the South African government exert influence on the local municipality leaders and officials to exercise their power with limited response to the IKS needs of the local communities. / Sociology / D. Phil. (Sociology)