Varya Shaw

Guardian opinion piece  on co-production by Becky Malby, Director of the Centre for Innovation in Health Management. Co-production is a probably the least 'sticky', least 'sexy' set of concepts I've ever had to work with. Still figuring out how to make it light up. But try this - it recognises that the ill, injured or disabled are a goldmine. Someone who's learned to manage their own health condition can inspire and help others to cope with ill health in a way we all know a GP never could. Can you think of a better way to put it? If so leave a comment!

I'm currently editing some pieces by Irwin Turbitt, a former assistant chief commissioner of the Northern Ireland Police Service, now an academic. He was behind the transformation of the Drumcree Parades from riots to peace.  His articles contain a lot of theory, but they pack a tremendous narrative punch. This is applied research at its most exciting. It's a real privilege to work on it. Also I have discovered through this work that there is something called the Kafka Brigade - an action research team aimed at tackling bureaucratic dysfunction. LOL!

How often do you get to write about the birth of a profession? I'm writing a fair bit about the young profession of coaching, and it's a real privilege. My first coaching article was published by  Coaching at Work  magazine. It focused on bullying, and argued that coaches are a potential antidote to this scourge of the workplace. Before Christmas I went to lunch with my aunt who is a psychodynamic work coach.  I realised that her approach, with its ability to encompass the role of the unconscious and the undertow of emotion in organisations, fully backs up my article. She's lent me some books on the subject and I'm slightly overwhelmed by the non-stop depth - can't a day at work just be a day at work? But I am also fascinated. After Christmas, I wrote another article about health coaching, and it seems coaching is also part of the answer to preventing long-term conditions like diabetes, obesity and Alzheimers which are bankrupting the NHS. Coaching es...

This was a labour of love - a research brochure for University of East London, showcasing the brilliant work that goes on there. I was in and out of academics' offices hearing these wonderful stories about what they were discovering. My perfect job! It took a long time to produce but it's finally arrived - check it out here . My contributions are Cornelia Boldyreff Ashok Jansari John Strawson Derek Moore Caroline Edmonds Volka Thoma.

I've just written a piece for PLC , the leading legal information service. My brief was 1) explain the NHS and 2) explain where commissioning has come from and where it is going. My audience was local authority lawyers who may not be familiar with either of these topics. So it was one of the most ambitious pieces of work I've done for some time. It was also the longest for some time, at 5,500, although this is a tiddly wordcount for the subject matter. I suspect an MRI scan would find certain parts of my brain have grown during the course of writing it like a cab driver learning the knowledge! Anyway, here it is if you want to take a look: Health and Social Care Bill: commissioning and the health care market in the post-reform NHS . The more I look at health reform the more fascinated I am. It will, in its own way, be co-created by government, public sector staff, communities and the private sector. Just how it will come out is anyone's guess. There is such a mixture o...

Have just written a piece for Construction News about construction (surprisingly) in New Zealand, Canada and Australia. I love trade journals. Geeky I know but I do. You get a privileged lense through which to examine things. New Zealand is all about rebuilding Christchurch, devastated by three earthquakes in 2010-11. It is the chance to construct a brand new city centre - pretty damn unusual. Australia is all about huge, vast, glitzy projects like the Barangaroo waterfront development with a floating hotel - their economy is booming. In Canada it's much more rugged and austere - mining the oil sands, building hospitals for their lovely free healthcare system.

Just ghosted an opinion piece for CIHM which has gone up on Guardian professional. Do we really want patients to think of themselves purely as customers, with the potential for footstamping and tantrums that entails? It may have some short-term benefits but ultimately it encourages mindless individualism, the last thing the NHS needs. What is needed is true patient engagement and consumerist discourse works against that. Check the full argument out - by CIHM's brilliant Becky Malby and Irwin Turbitt - here .