The DAPPLE Project

45. Why working with the DAPPLE project is important to us - Guest Blog A group of us from West Yorkshire are part of the Advisory Group for DAPPLE (the Advisory Group are a group of 'critical friends' who help guide the project and share their views). We are also members...

New blog post from Gerard Wainwright, Renait, Ian and Lewis, who are members of our Advisory Group and involved in several other projects with The KIND Research Group. They share some of the reasons why DAPPLE is important to them. 💭
www.dappleproject.com/post/45-why-...

43. What happened at our team party? Quizzes, unforgettable dancing, and talking about funerals Even when you love your job as much as I do, January can often be a tough month to return to the office (mainly due to the weather). But the KIND Research Group started the year in style – with a team...

What happened at our team party?
✔️ Quizzes
✔️ An unforgettable dance routine
✔️ Talking about funerals
In this week’s blog, Fred Inglis shares how we started 2026 in style with a unique team get-together.

www.dappleproject.com/post/what-ha...

42. Video: Getting End of Life Care Right for People with a Learning Disability (Webinar) In December we were delighted to host a webinar introducing The DAPPLE Project. Presented by Irene, Amanda and Sunny live from the KIND Research Group headquarters at Kingston University, the session ...

Missed our December webinar?

Don’t worry – you can still watch the recording online!

Find out more about The DAPPLE Project, and hear our early insights around getting end of life care right for people with a learning disability

www.dappleproject.com/post/42-vide...

39. Ground Rules for a KIND Team The KIND (Kingston University Intellectual Disability) Research Group is a big team -there are 12 of us, working on different research projects!  It is also a unique team - we are the only research t...

🌟 New Blog! 🌟

Our latest blog features a conversation between DAPPLE Researchers Sunny and Fred about the ground rules our team created to help us work well together.

Read the blog here
www.dappleproject.com/post/39-grou...

37. LEARNING DISABILITY or INTELLECTUAL DISABILITY… What’s in a name? Words matter. Names matter. Your name is part of your identity, it’s your visiting card. Hello, my name is… and what’s yours? You want to feel that your name fits you like a second skin. If your name ...

🤔WHAT'S IN A NAME?🤔
Learning disability or intellectual disability? In today's blog, @tuffrey-wijne.com talks about why the names we use matter - and our decision to change the name of our research group.
www.dappleproject.com/post/37-lear...

🌈 Our research group has a new name! The KIND Research Group. Give us a follow over on Facebook to keep up with our work!

www.facebook.com/profile.php?...

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...

🎬 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...

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...

🧺 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-...

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.

💰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-...

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 ...

🫖 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-...

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...

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...

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...

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...

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 ...

🎉 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...

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...

🤗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-...

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...

📃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-...

📄 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...

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...

👀 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...

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...

🛳️“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. 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...

💬 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...

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...

📢 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.

www.dappleproject.com/post/23-vide...

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...

🔢 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-...

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

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...

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...

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...

📢 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...

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...

🎉 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...

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...

🗨️ 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...

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

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...

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...

🎧 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...

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...

📚 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-...

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...

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.
www.dappleproject.com/post/14-what...