Projects per year
Personal profile
Research interests
Health and wellbeing are not just about our bodies and physiology, but about the webs we weave and that are woven around us: our relationships, home, community, economy and culture. Community-focussed, place-based approaches to research, and ‘ways of knowing’ that include nuanced and diverse aspects of everyday health and wellbeing are crucial in policy and practice developments seeking to address the low health and wellbeing outcomes that continue to impact poorer, marginalised populations.
Since joining USW in 2002, I have led teams of researchers, and collaborated with colleagues across the UK on a wide range of studies and scholarly activities, securing close to £1m of research funding from the Welsh Government, ESCR, AHRC and others. A key aspect of my research activity has been to draw out the voices of people from marginalised, migrant and minority ethnic population groups; to spotlight issues of access, engagement and utilisation in a range of health and social care settings; and to arrive at innovative solutions and new knowledge pathways drawn from a range of stakeholder perspectives, practices and sensibilities.
I am a Sociologist and my research incorporates critical race theory, feminism, community development theory, and critical perspectives in health, social policy and practice. My abiding research interest is rooted in intersectionality, in particular, the interplay and impact of, gender, age and social class as experienced by racialised and minority ethnic population groups.
My early research included leading on the establishment of a Wales-wide infrastructure research support service that collated and made accessible online research, best practice and policy resources; conducting studies exploring cultural competencies of social work and nursing; and funding, supporting and (most importantly) evaluating the strategies, approaches and outcomes of locally based health and wellbeing small-grant activities led by community organisations. My completed funded projects include qualitative and mixed-methods studies on understandings of dignity, and on experiences and expectations of care, drawing on the perspectives of older Caribbean migrants (men and women) in a localised context, and on the perspectives of older women from a range of minority ethnic backgrounds, alongside the surveyed findings of community-based social care and support professionals across Wales.
‘Go Home’: Mapping the unfolding controversy of Home Office immigration campaigns ended in 2015. This 18-month, multi-site, interdisciplinary research project explored the impact on local communities and national debate of current publicity campaigns about migration by the UK Home Office. Funded by the ESRC (Rapid Response Strand – £200k), this project operated across eight universities; I led on the Cardiff work package.
Another recently completed study is Representing communities: developing the creative power of people to improve health and wellbeing (July 2013 to July 2017), a large multi-siteprojectfunded by the Communities, Cultures, Health and Wellbeing strand of Connected Communities (AHRC/ESRC). Using five detailed case studies rooted in communities across the UK (including two in Wales), the project aims to establish how community representations produced through creative-arts practices can be used as forms of evidence to inform health-related policy and service development. I led on the Representing Butetown work package (£183k) and the focus was on the leisure pursuits, physical endeavours and creative activities of older people, with a focus on individual as well as collective wellbeing (behaviours, expectations and representations).
Expertise related to UN Sustainable Development Goals
In 2015, UN member states agreed to 17 global Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) to end poverty, protect the planet and ensure prosperity for all. This person’s work contributes towards the following SDG(s):
Education/Academic qualification
Health and Public Sector Management, Certificate
2009 → 2010
Sociology, PhD, University of Essex
2004 → 2009
Sociology and Women's Studies, MA, Lancaster University
2003 → 2004
Sociology and English, BA Honours, University of Kent
External positions
Director, The Heritage and Cultural Exchange Centre
1 Jul 2019 → …
External Examiner, Birmingham City University
1 Jan 2019 → …
Director, Gentle/Radical
7 Dec 2018 → 1 Mar 2020
Director, Women Connect First
8 Aug 2016 → 8 Aug 2019
Committee Member, Black Studies Association UK
Aug 2012 → …
Committee Member, Butetown History and Arts Centre
2007 → 2009
Advisor, Awetu All-Wales BME Mental Health Group
2005 → 2009
Committee Member, National Library of Wales (Diversity Sub Group)
2005 → 2008
Member, NHS Evidence -Ethnicity (Formerly Specialist Library for Ethnicity and Health or SLEH
2004 → 2007
Steering Group Member, Race Impact Assessment of Mental Health Bill, Welsh Assembly Government
2004 → 2005
Member, Selected Minority Group Committee, Welsh Assembly Government
2004 → 2005
Member, Cardiff and the Vale Mental Health Steering Group (part of Cardiff Local Health Board
2003 → 2004
Committee Member, Minority Ethnic Women's Network (MEWN Cymru)
2002 → 2005
Board Member, Black and Asian Studies Association UK
2000 → 2005
Keywords
- HT Communities. Classes. Races
- Social Science
- community studies
- marginalised populations
- Life-course
- Ageing populations
- Intersectionality
- Participatory Methods
- Researcher-Activist
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Collaborations and top research areas from the last five years
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Torfaen Health Determinants Research Unit
Wallace, C., Davies, M., Mathieson, I., Saltus, R., Underwood-Lee, E., Llewellyn, M., Bale, S., Daszkiewicz, T., Vale, J., Evans, B., Webster, N., Wright, J., Bourne, S., Cooke, G. & Leech, D.
1/01/24 → 31/12/29
Project: Research
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Torfaen Health Determinants Research Unit, Citizen involvement and engagement work package
Saltus, R. & Underwood-Lee, E.
1/01/23 → 31/12/28
Project: Research
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Storytelling in Context
Underwood-Lee, E., Saltus, R., Dyer, H. & Suschitzky, A.
1/09/24 → 31/03/25
Project: Research
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Forced Marriage and so-called Honour-Based Violence
Wallace, S., Liduwbi, N., Wallace, C., Underwood-Lee, E. & Saltus, R., 8 Mar 2024, Institute of Welsh Affairs - Voices.Research output: Contribution to specialist publication › Article
Open Access -
Holding Space: Grief, Loss and the Value of the Arts: An immersive, community-anchored and arts-based workshop on the role of the arts in fostering knowledge and dialogue on grief and loss in Black and minoritised communities
Saltus, R., 5 Feb 2024, 12 p.Research output: Book/Report › Other report
Open AccessFile60 Downloads (Pure) -
The feasibility of engaging diverse local community members to inform the development of a Health and Wellbeing Centre in Newport
Yu, J., Saltus, R. & Currie, J., 31 Jul 2024, (Unpublished) 5 p.Research output: Book/Report › Other report
File1 Downloads (Pure) -
Voice and Control: Research to support the Final Report of the Evaluation of the Social Services and Wellbeing (Wales) Act 2014
Llewellyn, M., Saltus, R. & Kent, W., 30 Mar 2023, Wales. 26 p.Research output: Book/Report › Commissioned report › peer-review
Open AccessFile58 Downloads (Pure) -
(Re)presenting a sense of place for social and health-related policy purposes: place-making, belonging, and the value of community-based knowledge: Findings from Representing Communities Project: The Butetown Case Study
Saltus, R., Pithara, C., Simon Campbell & Keith Murrell, 2022, Pontypridd: USW / UOG. 26 p.Research output: Book/Report › Commissioned report
Open AccessFile124 Downloads (Pure)
Activities
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Researching Change, Mapping futures
Roiyah Saltus (Speaker)
31 Aug 2019Activity: Talk or presentation › Invited talk
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Honouring Wales Windrush Generation and those that came before them
Roiyah Saltus (Organiser)
21 Jun 2018Activity: Other › Types of Public engagement and outreach - Public lecture/debate/seminar
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Improving Sickle Cell and Thalassemia Services in Wales
Roiyah Saltus (Speaker)
2 Jun 2018Activity: Participating in or organising an event › Participation in conference
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Tiger Bay Tales Project - Evaluation of the Engagement and Collaboration Process
Roiyah Saltus (Consultant)
1 May 2017 → 1 Oct 2017Activity: Consultancy
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Go Home? The politics of immigration control Book Launch
Roiyah Saltus (Speaker)
5 Apr 2017Activity: Other › Types of Public engagement and outreach - Public lecture/debate/seminar
Press/Media
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Brilliant, Black and Welsh: A celebration of 100 African Caribbean and African Welsh people
28/09/18
1 item of Media coverage
Press/Media: Public Engagement Activities
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Mapping Immigration Controversy: A research project mapping the unfolding controversy of Home Office immigration campaigns
Roiyah Saltus, Hannah Jones, Yasmin Gunaratnam , Emma Jackson, Kirsten Forkert, Gargi Bhattacharyya , Will Davies & Sukhwant Dhaliwal
19/03/15
1 Media contribution
Press/Media: Research
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Immigration policy led to 'new forms of racism', says new study
1/03/15
1 item of Media coverage
Press/Media: Research
Prizes
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Brilliant, Black and Welsh: A celebration of 100 African Caribbean and African Welsh people
Saltus, Roiyah (Recipient), 1 Oct 2018
Prize: National/international honour
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FLSE Fellowship - 0.5 FTE for 3 years
Saltus, Roiyah (Recipient), 1 Jun 2017
Prize: Fellowship awarded competitively
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Recognising Achievement as a Founder of Black History Month in Wales
Saltus, Roiyah (Recipient), 23 Oct 2017
Prize: National/international honour
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Wales National Assembly Research Fellow
Saltus, Roiyah (Recipient), 11 Feb 2019
Prize: Fellowship awarded competitively
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