This open access book examines the role of religion in the emerging academic and policy discourses on the polycrisis-also termed the metacrisis or permacrisis. Drawing on philosophy, economics, and the comparative study of religion, the book develops a conceptual map and shared vocabulary for engaging the interlocking challenges of our age, which threaten multiple simultaneous regional instabilities across the world system. As current political, economic, social, and ecological frameworks are stretched to their limits, Akhtar explores how the world's religious traditions can be accessed as sources of spiritual inspiration and moral imagination to chart new pathways beyond our collective paralysis. Advancing a covenantal pluralistic response, the volume offers scholars, students, and policymakers a generative framework for navigating overlapping crises through interreligious wisdom. Essential reading for those working at the intersection of religion, ethics, public policy, and the global polycrisis.

Available open access digitally under CC-BY-NC-ND licence.

This book reveals how communities protect themselves when external support is absent.

Drawing on participatory research from Cameroon's conflict zones, the authors document the remarkable agency and creativity of conflict-affected civilians employing non-violent methods to protect one another from violence. With international and national NGOs under strict government controls in the Anglophone regions, local communities have developed their own innovative self-protection strategies that offer sustainable pathways through conflict.

This important study shifts unarmed civilian protection discourse away from externally-led interventions towards genuinely civilian-centred approaches, offering crucial insights for practitioners, policy makers and scholars working in conflict-affected contexts worldwide.

Available open access digitally under CC-BY-NC-ND licence.

What does it mean to become a father at a young age today?

This volume brings together research about the lived experiences of fathers aged 25 and under. Drawing on diverse contexts across the Global North and South, it explores how young fathers form identities and relationships within diverse social, welfare and policy environments.

Moving beyond deficit-based perspectives, the book highlights their social engagement, responsibilities and commitments to family life.

By combining insights from leading scholars within a shared conceptual framework, it provides a comprehensive international comparison of young fatherhood and offers valuable implications for policy, practice and future research.

Available open access digitally under CC-BY-NC-ND licence.

How do we position ourselves in relation to our digital cultural heritage when every software update threatens its very survival?

This book confronts the fragility of computer- and network-based art in an age of relentless technological obsolescence. Focusing on a seminal work by the pioneering artist duo JODI, this interdisciplinary study explores graphical user interfaces, executable files, hard-coded structures and the creative use of randomness. Through a model-assisted storytelling approach, it rethinks how programmed artworks can be remembered, analysed and reactivated once they cease to function.

A bold experiment in science communication, this volume is a must- read for scholars, practitioners and all who care about safeguarding our digital memory.

Available open access digitally under CC-BY-NC-ND licence.

Technologies are not created hostile, but they can become so. Through neglect, austerity or repurposing, the systems that shape our lives can cause profound harm to people, animals, and physical and social environments in ways their creators neither anticipated nor acknowledged.

Drawing on examples spanning border control, welfare systems, urban design and AI, this provocative collection introduces the concept of technological innocence: the obliviousness that allows bias and hostility to flourish unchallenged.

Moving beyond naive design ethics, it offers scholars, designers and policy makers a powerful new vocabulary for confronting the darker consequences of technological choice.

Available Open Access digitally under CC-BY-NC-ND licence

Across many jurisdictions in the Global North, lack of credibility is the primary basis for rejecting sexual orientation, gender identity/expression and sex characteristics (SOGIESC) asylum applications. This edited collection examines how disbelief poses one of the most complex challenges for queer asylum seekers worldwide.

The contributions in this book highlight how assessments in various asylum systems in the Global North are based on stereotypical, feeling-centric and western-centric models, that fail to reflect the complexities of sexual and gender diversity, often perpetuating unlawful bias and leading to unjust decisions. Bringing together theory and practice, the collection explores these issues across diverse geographical contexts, employing a multidisciplinary approach.

Crucially, the collection offers a variety of critical and empirical interventions, advocating for a fairer and more inclusive asylum system and adherence to human rights and refugee law.

Available open access digitally under CC-BY-NC-ND licence.

Academic freedom is widely recognized as a cornerstone of higher education, yet its counterpart, academic responsibility, has received remarkably little attention.

This timely book addresses that gap by presenting academic responsibility as a voluntary commitment to apply academic expertise to society's most pressing challenges. Tracing the evolution of higher education's mission through ideas such as engagement, impact, social responsibility and decolonization, Brink develops a compelling conceptual framework that places academic responsibility alongside academic freedom.

Essential reading for academics, university leaders and policymakers, this book offers a fresh perspective on what universities owe society and why that question matters more than ever.

We are entering an era of population decline across the developed world (and beyond). Few have given serious thought to what this might mean economically. Will an ageing society and dwindling population be easily accommodated or strike at the very heart of our prosperity?

Paul Morland and Philip Pilkington argue that the consequences of the coming demographic upheaval will be economically devastating. All of the assumptions of economists - that a world of above-replacement birth rates and gentle annual population growth could be taken for granted - are being upended. Once economics drove population changes, but now demography is the most fundamental force shaping our economic future. Bust addresses everything from labour and capital markets to housing and the welfare state, showing the profoundly worrying consequences of a shrinking working age population and an ageing society. Unless we take radical action to bolster birth rates, we face a future of falling living standards, high inflation and low growth.

This book shines a penetrating light on one of the most ominous - and least understood - economic and social challenges of the twenty-first century. No-one who reads it will look upon public policy or the future of our society in the same way again.

Available open access digitally under CC-BY-NC-ND licence.

Virtual Reality promises immersion for all, yet it is built around assumptions of able-bodied users that leave many disabled people behind.

Drawing on original research with users, care providers and developers, this book examines how mainstream Virtual Reality design encodes a narrow idea of the 'normal' body - and the real costs of that choice. It shows how decisions made at the design stage, often invisible to non-disabled users, create barriers around vision, movement and sensory experience.

Moving beyond critique, it argues for a fundamental rethinking of VR design centring diverse bodies and minds. In doing so, it not only reframes accessibility, but expands what VR can be, and who it is truly for.

Available open access digitally under CC-BY-NC-ND licence.

Collaboration, critical thinking and cultural competency are essential skills that shape young people's futures. These key skills are often cultivated in the informal, creative spaces that society easily overlooks.

Drawing on the Australian Research Council and industry co-funded Vital Arts project, this book offers a bold and practical new vision: an inclusive, practice-based micro-credential system that recognises the competencies that young people build through creative cultural participation. Challenging prevailing policy narratives that pathologise young people, the book shows how partnerships between industry, cultural organisations and youth-led initiatives can reimagine education, diversify pathways into work and support genuine social mobility.

Offering fresh conceptual tools, compelling empirical insights and a transformative model for accrediting skills, this book repositions youth arts organisations and creative programmes as key actors in constructing more equitable and meaningful routes into employment.

Available open access digitally under a CC-BY-NC-ND license.

How do older women use art and media to resist ageist and sexist norms that regulate their intimacy and sexuality?

This book brings the subversive aesthetic strategies of older women to the forefront, using the concept of 'unruliness', understood as a failure or unwillingness to conform.

Drawing on critical age studies, feminist theory and allied critical approaches, the book develops a new conceptual model that positions ageing women's aesthetic interventions as a source of insight and social change.

Combining theory with close readings of art and media, this book is a bold framework for rethinking ageing, sexuality and empowerment.

This Open Access book investigates how to build a narrative for progressive social change. It asks a central question: What would it take to create a society that delivers flourishing lives for all? Drawing on extensive original research conducted in the UK and internationally, the book examines how, in a time of global "permacrisis," no convincing plan has yet emerged to prevent a slide into dystopia or to create a positive vision for collective wellbeing. While governments around the world appear to have run out of ideas about how to build a good society, people and organisations across civil society are actively developing them. This book describes their efforts and outlines how their work can contribute to meaningful systems change.

This open access book addresses the topic of universal access to archaeological sites-offering reflections and providing guidelines on good practices. This publication aims to create momentum so that the issue of access to cultural heritage, particularly to archaeological heritage, for individuals with disabilities becomes a practical priority in the coming years. Topics covered in this book include suggestions for enhanced research on the subject, sharing knowledge internationally, raising awareness among those in charge of managing and valorizing archaeological sites, incorporating accessibility into site management plans, creating employment opportunities in the field of accessibility, and involving people with disabilities in the governance, design, implementation, staff training, and knowledge-building processes related.

Ensuring access to these cultural experiences for everyone, regardless of gender, cultural origin, religion, class, or disability, not only fosters more inclusive societies but also aligns with the fulfilment of a fundamental human right. The international community has recognized this, as reflected in various international regulations such as the UN 2008 Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities. Despite these efforts, there is a noticeable gap in the establishment of regional, national, and global initiatives dedicated to addressing worldwide accessibility to cultural heritage and also a lack of an international network that can look at the subject worldwide.

The Wiley-Blackwell Handbook of Transpersonal Psychology presents a thoroughly revised and expanded synthesis of a field dedicated to understanding the full range of human consciousness and transformative experience. Reflecting a decade of significant scholarly development, contributions by leading scholars incorporate substantial updates across theory, research, and applied practice, including 18 chapters that are either entirely new or newly authored.

This new edition provides a more rigorous and inclusive foundation for contemporary transpersonal psychology, placing increased emphasis on empirical inquiry, enhanced critique of metaphysical models, and broader cultural representation. New material examines emerging multicultural areas such as Integral Yoga, post-conventional development across traditions, and the expanding evidence base for psychedelic-assisted therapies. Substantially revised chapters address advances in altered states research, psychedelic-assisted psychotherapy, transcendent experiences, and somatic and expressive therapies.

The Wiley-Blackwell Handbook of Transpersonal Psychology, Second Edition, remains ideally suited for undergraduate and postgraduate teaching in transpersonal psychology, consciousness studies, integrative mental health, and human development. It is also a comprehensive reference for researchers, clinicians, educators, and organisational practitioners seeking a current and wide-ranging overview of the field.

An integrative framework unifying family therapy theory, research, and practice

Divergent theoretical schools and expanding research make family and couple therapy difficult to learn coherently. Now in its Fourth Edition, Family Therapy: Concepts Process and Practice critically evaluates major schools and synthesizes their contributions into a distinctive integrative practice model. This single-authored volume draws together theory, technique, and empirical findings on therapeutic effectiveness into one structured approach.

Family Therapy organizes theoretical approaches by their focus on behaviour patterns, belief systems, and contextual factors, enabling structured comparative analysis. The integrative model is applied to common child-focused and adult-focused problems with detailed clinical guidance. Research on systemic therapy effectiveness is reviewed throughout, with implications for evidence-based practice clearly outlined for each problem area.

Readers will also find:

• Training exercises designed to develop the specific clinical skills required for applying the integrative model in therapy sessions
• Critical evaluation of systemic, structural, strategic, narrative, and other major theoretical schools informing contemporary couple and family practice
• Coverage aligned with postgraduate professional training programme curricula across multiple mental health disciplines and therapeutic orientations
• Guidance on incorporating culture, gender, and socioeconomic context into family and couple assessment and intervention planning decisions
• Outcome research reviews examining systemic interventions for psychological problems commonly encountered across the lifespan in clinical settings

Written for psychologists, psychiatrists, psychotherapists, social workers, and nurse therapists training in family and couple therapy, this volume also serves qualified practitioners and training programme directors. Its integrative framework reconciles competing theoretical models into a unified, evidence-informed approach to systemic clinical practice.

A structured clinical guide to couples schema therapy intervention

Couples caught in chronic conflicts often cycle through maladaptive coping modes that block emotional reconnection. Couple Schema Therapy: The Two-Legged Dimensional Model provides a systematic, module-based approach grounded in the simplified dimensional model. Clinicians gain a step-by-step framework for understanding attachment dynamics and emotional patterns, with experiential exercises and assessment tools ready for immediate clinical application.

Each module chapter follows a consistent structure: session objectives, verbatim client instructions, case vignettes, session transcripts, and therapist-specific guidance with summarizing tables. The book details how experiential techniques merge imagery work and chair dialogues into a unified method for activating blocked functional emotions. Neurobiological foundations underlying the dimensional model and coping mode cycles are thoroughly presented.

Readers will also find:

• The Mode Cycle Clashcard, a one-page case conceptualization tool that serves as a road map for directing therapy
• Specific tools for helping clients access and identify their current activation state during structured time-out interventions
• Guidance on commuting between meta-cognitive observer stances and embodied imagery states to broaden the intervention bandwidth
• Precise instructions for balancing schema activation with maintaining a stable therapeutic working alliance throughout couple sessions
• Strategies for addressing maladaptive interaction patterns applicable to both couple sessions and individual client work

Designed for psychotherapists, counselors, and mental health practitioners working with couples, this book serves as both a standalone clinical guide and a companion to existing schema therapy literature. Clinicians at all career stages will find its detailed, verbatim session guidance and structured module system directly applicable to practice.

Use generative AI to reduce your workweek from 40 hours to 15

The AI Workweek: How to Cut Hours, Automate the Busywork, and Focus on What's Really Important delivers a practical playbook for implementing generative AI tools like ChatGPT to eliminate repetitive tasks and reclaim productive time. Ashley Gross, an AI consultant who has led workshops for multiple global corporations and industry leaders, provides step-by-step strategies she used to cut her own workweek from 40 hours to 15.

The book translates enterprise-level AI implementation tactics into actionable guidance for individual professionals and business leaders. Drawing from years of experience leading enterprise-level consulting engagements, Gross shows how to identify automation opportunities, build effective AI workflows, and measure time savings. Each technique addresses specific workplace scenarios where AI can replace manual processes without sacrificing quality or requiring technical expertise.

You'll also discover:

• Specific prompting strategies and workflow templates for automating email, reporting, scheduling, and administrative tasks that consume hours weekly
• Methods for identifying which tasks in your role are candidates for AI automation and which require human judgment
• Real-world case studies from enterprise implementations showing measurable time and revenue gains from AI adoption
• Techniques for scaling personal AI productivity wins into team-wide and department-level automation strategies
• Frameworks for evaluating AI tools and building sustainable workflows that adapt as generative AI capabilities evolve

Whether you're a C-suite executive evaluating AI adoption strategies, a department head seeking efficiency gains, or an individual contributor looking to reclaim hours from busywork, this book provides tested methods for implementing generative AI in ways that deliver measurable time savings and productivity improvements.

Apply evidence-based positive psychology to strengthen organizational performance and well-being

Now in its Second Edition, Positive Organizational Psychology: Evidence-Informed Applications delivers a rigorous examination of how positive psychology principles translate into measurable workplace outcomes. Organizations continue to struggle with sustaining employee engagement, fostering resilience, and aligning human capital strategies with performance objectives. This updated volume addresses those challenges by presenting research-grounded frameworks that connect individual well-being with organizational effectiveness, offering a structured empirical foundation for intervention design and implementation.

Positive Organizational Psychology provides updated evidence-informed tools and methodologies for diagnosing organizational strengths, designing targeted interventions, and evaluating their impact. This Second Edition reflects advances in the field since the prior edition, incorporating recent research findings and expanded coverage of applied strategies. Readers gain access to frameworks for building thriving work environments where psychological capital, engagement, and sustained performance reinforce one another through carefully designed, research-supported organizational development practices.

Written for organizational psychologists, human resources professionals, managers, executives, and organizational development practitioners, this volume equips readers with evidence-based tools needed to create workplaces where people and performance thrive together. Advanced graduate students studying organizational behavior and psychology will also find it a valuable scholarly resource grounded in applied research.

This open access book offers an interdisciplinary examination of Green Human Resource Management (GHRM), presenting a psychologically informed framework for aligning people management with environmental, economic, and social sustainability. Bringing together insights from work and organizational psychology, corporate social responsibility (CSR), and environmental management (EM), it explains how organizations can embed sustainability into everyday work practices by leveraging employee motivation, leadership, culture, and social dynamics.Psychosocial mechanisms make GHRM effective, shaping employees' pro environmental attitudes, voluntary green behaviours, and long-term commitment to organizational sustainability goals.

Drawing on meta-analytic evidence from 57 studies, the book shows the strong impact of GHRM on sustainable performance and financial outcomes and addresses persistent implementation challenges, such as the generalizability gap across sectors, lack of standardized metrics, post-pandemic work transformations, and the risk of greenwashing when cultural alignment is weak. Featuring theoretical insights, empirical evidence, case studies, and a practical diagnostic toolkit, the book provides actionable guidance on green recruitment, training, performance management, and employee engagement. An essential read for scholars and practitioners in HRM, organizational psychology, sustainability, environmental management, and leaders, this book positions GHRM as a critical lever for integrating people, planet, and performance.

An essential resource for women navigating their own reproductive healthcare and making decisions as active participants with fully informed consent

Women are staging a reproductive rebellion. For decades, public health has organised reproduction around a simple premise: women should prevent pregnancy with effective contraception unless deemed "fit" for motherhood - and treat abortion as exceptional failure. That settlement is now unravelling. Pill use is declining sharply; abortion rates are at record highs. TikTok misinformation, inadequate sex-ed and overstretched contraceptive services are widely blamed.

This book argues that diagnosis is wrong.

As sexual norms and relationships shift and technology transforms reproductive timelines - allowing pregnancy to be detected days before a missed period and ended safely at home - women's tolerance for the Pill's side effects, and for being the default managers of sexual risk is diminishing. This book explores why the revolt began - and what a revolution might look like