News

We are extremely proud and honoured to inform our members that two of our prominent Trustees (Prof Awadhesh Jha & Dr Sanjay Sharma) have been recognised as pioneers in their respective disciplines by the University of Plymouth.

I will not even try and summarise their pioneering work but please feel free to read in detail their considerable contributions and their respective journeys:

Prof Awadhesh Jha

Dr Sanjay Sharma

I will however attempt to emphasise the relative importance of such recognition within a modern multicultural British Society.

Recent research (Centre for Social Integration at Nuffield College, University of Oxford) points job seekers from minority ethnic groups had to send an average of 60% more applications to receive the same level of interest as those from majority groups. A number of factors contribute to such discrimination and some progress to overcome bias has been made. However, the report observes that the progress is far too little when compared with other studies carried out over the past 50 years. The latest NHS Workforce Race Equality Standard report suggests that 15% of ethnic minority staff in the health service experienced discrimination in the past 12 months, compared with 13.8% the previous year. Just under a fifth of the NHS workforce is from a black and ethnic minority background, yet the proportion in senior management positions is 6.9%. Progress has certainly been made as documented in the recently published report of the Commission on Race and Ethnic Disparities but the recommendations made in the report suggests that much more needs to be done.

The above references indicate the challenges in the preceding decades and despite these, we are now witnessing the recognition and celebration of contributions (like Prof Jha and Dr Sharma) made towards the betterment of the country and human race. We take immense pride as a diaspora that we do more than our fair share for the betterment of our local communities and the British Society as a whole. It is also reassuring to see that central and local governments are keen to work collaboratively to ensure a level playing field for each and every British citizen.

Awadhesh ji and Sanjay ji (as we address them traditionally), your recognition and achievement will undoubtedly inspire the next generation of aspiring scientists but you are also seen as exemplars of how to contribute towards community cohesion through voluntary work and action.

I felt inspired by you both when I joined SAaS and that feeling has not changed a bit.

You remind me of a famous quote by Steve Jobs “Stay hungry. Stay foolish”

Once more, heartiest congratulations on your success and keep up the good work.

Dr A Chatterjee

GOALD (Generating Older Active Lives Digitally) project the new work has been funded by UK Research and Innovation as part of the healthy ageing challenge to ensure we all live healthier and more connected lives. This programme is providing a total of £9.5m across the UK for interdisciplinary academic-led teams to carry out research into social, behavioural and design aspects of healthy ageing. The programme aims to contribute to the challenge mission of ensuring people can enjoy at least five extra healthy, independent years of life by 2035 while narrowing the gap between the richest and poorest by enhancing our understanding of the aspirations, preferences and needs of the ageing population.

The three-year project is a collaboration between the University of Stirling and the University of Plymouth’s Centre for Health Technology. The project partners with seven charities and community groups in the South West working with older people and younger participants living in the community, as well as residents from eight care homes in Cornwall. Over the course of the three-year project, the research team will record the different groups’ experiences of digital resources and assistive technologies and then share their findings with business partners – small to medium-sized enterprises – to develop new technologies, product ideas and test design concepts.

SAaS is delighted to be able to contribute to this very important development as part of the post-Covid recovery. Further information will follow in the next few months and will be coordinated by Dr Mahrukh Mirza and Dr Satish BK on behalf of SAaS.

The census is a survey that happens every 10 years and gives us a picture of all the people and households in England and Wales. The next census takes place on Sunday 21 March 2021.

Your answers to the census questions will help organisations make decisions on planning and funding public services in your area, including transport, education and healthcare.

You can complete your census as soon as you receive your letter, but make sure you answer about your household as you expect it to be on Census Day. If you complete your census early and the number of people in your household changes, please let us know.

The census should take about 10 minutes for the household questions and 10 minutes per person.

University Hospitals Plymouth NHS Trust is researching a new way of surveying how well protected we are from infectious diseases by collecting blood samples from people who represent different groups across society. What happens in this study?

They are looking to enrol children and adults aged from birth to 19 years old.

• There will be a single visit with a blood test. 
• We will ask you some basic information including age, gender, vaccination history.
• We will arrange to see you in a clinic at the Lind Research Centre, level 5, Derriford Hospital.
• Participants seen in clinics will be offered £20 reimbursement in the form of a voucher for taking part in the study. If they are seen at home there will be no reimbursement.
• Local anaesthetic skin cream would be used for children to reduce any discomfort from blood sampling
• The whole appointment should take around 45 minutes.

Taking part in this research study is completely voluntary.  If you would like any further information please visit www.whatsthestory.org.uk or contact us by telephone on 01752 432447 or email on plh-tr.whatsthestory@nhs.net.

Register to trial

We are exploring a proposal to set up a youth forum for the South Asian Society. A youth forum is an organisation run and developed by young people for young people. They exist to represent the views of young people at a community level, giving them the opportunity to have a voice, discuss relevant issues, engage with decision-makers and contribute to improving the lives of other young people within their communities.

The youth forum usually consists of members across age range of 11-18 years.

Youth Forum Benefits

• develop greater self-esteem and self-confidence.
• develop communication skills.
• develop leadership skills.
• develop organisational skills.
• gain self-worth and inner strength to battle negative peer pressure.
• develop winning attitudes
• learning how to work with other young people.
• build strong and lasting friendships.

The youth forum will strive to extend and expand on the core mission and activities of SAaS but with a new and independent outlook. This will also provide a route to represent in the regional youth parliaments improving integration and cohesion from a very young age while enhancing the overall contribution of SAaS towards the local communities.

Continuing the efforts throughout this pandemic by the SAaS members, two young members of our community have raised over £1600

In the month of December, Sid Warrier trained and cycled 100 miles for supporting “Action for children” so he can help young children. Sid was interviewed by BBC Radio Devon. He said, “Over Xmas instead of asking my parents for presents, I would like to give something that can help the less fortunate children who need a safe place to live, healthy food to eat and can be cared for”. 

Swetha Pandy trained to complete a half-marathon raising money for St John Ambulance helping them to provide first aid training responding to their Emergency Appeal campaign for saving lives together. The weather was extremely harsh but that did not deter Swetha’s determination and she went ahead and completed the challenge.

It is with this community spirit and effort from all parts of the society we will build a strong and cohesive future, overcoming the challenges posed by the Pandemic.

The 2020 virtual annual cultural celebrations brought together the community at a very difficult time when social distancing and lockdown has been the norm. Despite the challenges, the event was as entertaining as in the previous years and was attended by over 130 remote attendees. The cultural event staged 16 colourful and heartwarming performances highlighting a wide variety of themes from South Asia.

The event was virtually graced by the Lord Mayor and Mayoress & Police and crime commissioner of Devon and Cornwall. Our sincere thanks to all the participants who were instrumental in making this event a huge success. We look forward to organising similar events in near future.  

Please see below a few “screen shots” from the virtual event.

[Show slideshow]

1 2 ... 5 ►