N = 20) included DNA analysts, fingerprint examiners, forensic odontologists, forensic pathologists, and mortuary technicians who had experience in DVI operations. Participants were interviewed about their experiences and perceptions of the challenges of DVI. The findings provide valuable insights into the types of DVI operations in which Australian forensic practitioners have been involved internationally. Thematic analysis of interview data resulted in five main themes: the post-disaster work environment; DVI management and processes; political and financial influences; teamwork in intercultural and interdisciplinary contexts; and confronting the emotional realities of DVI work. The analysis highlights the interrelated challenges associated with DVI operations in international contexts. Practitioners also provided suggestions for improvement, which generally aligned with the themes and reflected an ethos of learning and continuous improvement in DVI. Further research on education and training and capacity-development initiatives is warranted.Disaster victim identification (DVI) is an important process in the aftermath of disasters to provide answers for the families and communities of victims. Australian forensic practitioners contribute to such processes internationally under difficult post-disaster circumstances. The aim of the study was to better understand the challenges experienced by forensic practitioners in international DVI operations. Participants ( Disaster victim identification (DVI) is often regarded as a category of humanitarian forensic action . HumanitThe vital work of DVI in the aftermath of a disaster is a complex undertaking. Leading a disaster response is typically the responsibility of the government in the affected area , 8. Howeper se, it aims to contribute to enhanced outcomes for such groups. Specifically, by identifying issues from practitioners’ perspectives, the findings from this study may stimulate further research to eliminate or alleviate issues and contribute to training and development to facilitate this important work. The paper begins with an overview of DVI processes, including some of the associated challenges. It then discusses the methodology of the study in which 20 Australian forensic practitioners from five forensic disciplines were interviewed about their experiences of DVI in international contexts. The paper concludes with a discussion of the findings and suggestions for further research that arise from this study.This paper reports the findings of a study that aimed to better understand the complexities of DVI. Specifically, it focuses on the challenges of DVI from the perspective of Australian forensic practitioners. The study adopted a critical forensic studies perspective, which is informed by social justice and human rights considerations in the use of forensic science to improve fairness for all . AlthougThe process of DVI involves many different types of practitioners, such as photographers, radiologists, interview teams, property managers, investigators, liaison offers, logistics officers, and various forensic practitioners . The forINTERPOL Disaster Victim Identification Guide . Specific organisations in three jurisdictions were then contacted for permission to undertake research with members who had experience in international DVI operations. Organizational approvals were received from the Australian Federal Police for fingerprint examiners and DNA analysts, from the Tasmanian Department of Police, Fire and Emergency Management for DNA analysts based at Forensic Science Service Tasmania, and from Western Australia Police Force for fingerprint examiners.Additionally, the National Institute of Forensic Science, which is a directorate of the Australian and New Zealand Policing Advisory Agency (ANZPAA) facilitated the research by requesting assistance from the ANZPAA DVI Committee (ADVIC). Its members include police representatives from each jurisdiction and scientific representatives from the biology Specialist Advisory Group, the odontology, anthropology, and mortuary Technical Advisory Groups, and the Royal College of Pathologists of Australasia. The chairs of forensic disciplines in ADVIC forwarded information about the study to their member forensic anthropologists, forensic pathologists, forensic odontologists, and mortuary technicians.via email, providing information and consent forms if they had not already received them. Mutually suitable times for interviews were arranged once consent forms were returned. A total of 20 participants were drawn from five forensic disciplines: DNA analysis (n = 4); fingerprint examination (n = 6); forensic odontology (n = 4); forensic pathology (n = 4); and mortuary services (n = 2). Of the 20 participants, 12 were female and eight were male forensic practitioners. Participants had experience in 1–11 separate DVI responses, with participation in 1 (n = 2), 2–4 (n = 9), 5–10 (n = 8), and 11 responses (n = 1). The most frequently mentioned DVI responses were the 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami response in Thailand (n = 15), the 2002 Bali bombing (n = 11), and the 2009 bushfires in Victoria (n = 8).Once potential participants were nominated by their organisations, or had responded to the researcher directly, the first author contacted them via Zoom (n = 15), both to facilitate Australia-wide participation and to accommodate COVID-19 restrictions. The remainder of interviews (n = 5) were conducted face-to-face, in accordance with all recommended health measures. Participants were asked open-ended questions about their role and forensic expertise, their involvement and experience in DVI operations, the main challenges they had experienced during the DVI operation/s, and suggestions to improve DVI processes from their perspectives. Participants were asked follow-up questions as necessary to elicit further information or clarify points made and were encouraged to raise additional points that they considered relevant.Most interviews were conducted Interviews ranged in length from 41 min to 111 min (mean = 56 min). All interviews were recorded using an iPhone with the consent of participants. Interviews were transcribed verbatim. First, a list of DVI operations that participants had attended was compiled from the data. Next, interview transcripts were analysed thematically using the steps outlined by Braun and Clarke . This inThe results focus on three areas: an overview of DVI operations attended by participants, themes from interview data, and participants’ main suggestions for improvement.Interview data showed that collectively participants had experienced a broad range of DVI operations. As can be seen in Drawing upon their experience, participants discussed various types of challenges in DVI operations. Themes and subthemes are summarized in logistical challenges, such as getting to the disaster location and working in the post-disaster environment:Reflecting experiences mentioned in previous literature , 22, parThere’ll be logistical challenges you know that people haven’t got food, the power has gone down, the roads are flooded, the people haven’t got anywhere to live so they’re not focused on identifying the dead. It is very difficult to encompass the complexity of this when the numbers get large, and the disaster has affected the functioning of the society and the community. (Forensic Pathologist 1)lack of resources and equipment:Also reflecting previous literature , 21, theIn the Solomon Islands, we had to transport everything out to the remote sites by helicopter. Most of the places—there was no power at any of the places; there were no buildings, no running water. We had like creeks and the ocean and stuff, but no running water. And so, we had no decontamination facilities. I guess they were just all really remote, and everything pretty much had to be carried a fair distance by us—tables, bodies, bodies in bags, equipment, everything had to be carried to the site from the helicopter on our backs. So, we were quite limited in what we could take. And then we had to all be clean before we could get back on the helicopter, so it involved a swim in the ocean. (Fingerprint Examiner 8)feeling unprepared (often despite preparation) for the specific circumstances of the post-disaster environment, partly because each disaster was different and unexpected:Participants reported The Bali bombing … we were prepared, but we weren’t. There were so many things we could have and should have done better, and we learned. And then by the time we got to the bushfires, Victorian Bushfires, we used what we learnt in the Bali bombing with the Victorian bushfires. (Mortuary Technician 10)Forensic practitioners therefore had to work out how to do their work differently, under extremely challenging circumstances, by building on experience.DVI protocols were not always followed or well-understood by local authorities, at least in the initial stages of a response:The INTERPOL DVI Guide  aims to …No body bag is identified or has a number on it. So immediately, eight bodies from eight different locations—where the location might have said something crucial about who that dead body was, that’s immediately lost. A truck comes and the eight bodies get put on a truck. They go and pick up another eight bodies from another street—none of these are labelled and the bodies are taken off and put into a huge mass grave where lots of other bodies brought by lots of other trunks from lots of other locations are all mixed up in one big mass grave. And you have no idea at that point where any of these bodies have come from and at that point nobody has made a decision about [how to address the issue]. (Forensic Pathologist 1)This sentiment was compounded by challenges in the lack of clarity in systems and processes in place:When I got there, the handover was relatively short–very short really! It was just like, “Here’s the office, this is your team, this is the roster, these are the current files—do your best, we’ll see you later”. And then they went, so it wasn’t a lot, it didn’t take a whole day to handover or meet and greet people; you had to find your own ways. It was very rushed…it was like what I would imagine Wall Street would be like on a trading day—there are papers everywhere, noise, just chaos, really, in there. (Fingerprint Examiner 17).  which one of them has sufficient political power to be in charge of the response. (Forensic Pathologist 2)financial resources can increase reliance on international support in multiple domains, complicating questions of who is in charge  and who is making resourcing decisions (foreign governments):This kind of issue can be particularly relevant in developing countries , 16, 21.And in other (developing) countries, they certainly don’t have that sort of money to apply to DVI response. Therefore, we’ve got what we call scales of economy that are going to change the face of the DVI response, depending on which country you’re dealing with and their management style, the management culture, how much money is available, how much money or how much [in the way of] resources are provided to them by those that are assisting. (Fingerprint Examiner 19)This issue reflects what occurred in Thailand, where the Australian Government funded the information centre . Similarrelationships within and between teams was important because, as noted in previous research [It was noted that DVI work “brings out the best and worst in people” (Forensic Odontologist 3); the best due to working hard to achieve a common goal, and the worst due to frustrations and difficulties being hard to bear. However, fostering good research , teamworWell, it’s definitely teamwork. So, you really need to have a good team and they need to have the appropriate expertise underneath to be the type of personality that you can work with. We  need to have clear guidance on what’s going on. Because if you imagine going to a different country, it’s a different culture, might be different religions, different approaches to things, so we need parts of the teams going in who are going to be liaising with them and smoothing the way. (Forensic Odontologist 16)legal, cultural, and religious norms could influence their work:Reflecting previous observations on differences in care for the dead , forensiIf you’re in New Zealand, speed is the essence of an investigation into a death because of the Maori sort of cultural context. And of course, that’s true for a number of religions as well—Judaism and Islam, and so on, both have issues around speed. And many of these are historical. If you actually think about it, they are more historical because of the issue around the body being preserved and so on. Whereas, for example, in Victoria and in elsewhere in Australia, a lot of the issues have been because they’ve transformed their death legislation—they’ve moved it to being more about consultation with the family. (Forensic Pathologist 2)language differences:Additionally, whereas English was mostly used as a common language, differing levels of proficiency reportedly added to the complexities of communication (“and that has consequences” Forensic Pathologist 2). In reality, effective timely and accurate communication could pose challenges, with multiple Because it was 20 or 30 nationalities. . . so the communication involved is intensive—multiple languages, communication channels, involving embassies and international police forces and different procedures and tracking people down. (Forensic Pathologist 1)Participants comments suggested that various different aspects of the DVI experience combined to make it overwhelming at times:There is time away from home challenges. And time away from home compounded by seeing a never-ending stream of dead people or dead and decaying people and seeing bodies being opened up and jaws removed, then trying to fingerprint really rotten flesh and that constant stench of death. (Fingerprint Examiner 19)encountering victims’ relatives:This finding reflects research on disaster relief workers in general, which found that stress reactions can be generated, in part, by being away from home without one’s regular social support and experiencing culture shock amid the chaotic destruction . ForensiThere were a lot of relatives there, quite a lot of people that were there looking for their loved ones, you know, they’re trying to find people, so it was quite daunting. You know, there’s a lot of people upset. (Forensic Pathologist 18)psychological and physical impacts at the time of the DVI operation/s:This finding reflected sentiments from personal accounts  and fromA few of the guys did say, you know, little things that would be happening to them like they felt mood changes or weren’t sleeping well, or felt very short tempered, and they thought it was just trying to assimilate this, but it was the first time they’d done one. (Forensic Odontologist 16)Additionally, some reported that it was later that it may come up:. . .I was a nervous wreck. Stomach was churning and I was on edge. I couldn’t work it out. What is this all about? … and I had a reaction that I didn’t know was sitting there except I had known when I came back, I couldn’t really talk about it. I got emotional like I still am a bit now, but it was really something. And that was probably close to 10 years later. So various stuff affects you—and you don’t realise. Overall, reflecting the broader body of research on the psychological and physical impacts on disaster relief workers , 34, 35,n = 18) provided suggestions for how the DVI process could be improved in general. They focused on several key areas as follows:Participants ;(i) Planning effectively for disasters ;(ii) Developing protocols ; and(iii) Continuous learning and improvement .(iv) Managing expectations . The prviews by . FinallyThis cross-sectional study aimed to contribute to an understanding of the challenges faced by Australian forensic practitioners in DVI operations across a range of disasters. By identifying challenges for practitioners, the aim was to indirectly facilitate enhanced support for victims’ families and communities. Based on interviews with 20 practitioners with DVI experience from five forensic disciplines, the study revealed the involvement of Australian forensic practitioners in a range of DVI operations. The themes highlight the complexities of the DVI process, and the overlapping nature of challenges faced by forensic practitioners. The most prominent challenges include working together effectively in complex and often chaotic post-disaster environments, despite differences in political and financial, and cultural and legal norms. The findings suggest that forensic practitioners value ongoing efforts to improve and develop processes. Research on training, development, and capacity-building initiatives, both nationally and internationally, would be valuable to ensure that forensic science can be used as equitably as possible to assist families and communities in the aftermath of disasters.


The following article represents the author response to the roundtable on Authoritarian Contagion; the Global Threat to Democracy . Authoritarian Contagion in their challenging and intellectually rich pieces for the forum. In this reply, I respond to their points through several steps. First, I consider the contrast between my favoured analytical frame of ‘authoritarian protectionism’ and twentieth-century fascism in light of Russia’s war against Ukraine. Second, I elaborate the difference between classical neoliberalism and authoritarian protectionism as distinct hegemonic paradigms, building on Priya Chacko’s forum contribution and its emphasis on extra-economic exploitation. Third, I offer an alternative account of the Eurozone crisis to the one put forward in the forum by Richard Saull and consider how this impacts analysis of the global pattern of authoritarianisation. Lastly, I critically interrogate Reijer Hendrikse’s argument that both China and the USA should be read as converging on a shared model of ‘corporatist regime’.I would like to thank the contributors for taking time to engage with the ideas I put forward in Authoritarian Contagion draws on a Gramscian framework to cast the new authoritarianism as an attempt by blocs—usually, but not always ‘insurgent’, anti-system forces—to win leadership in society through a process of ‘mass creation’ . The loss of the communist party meant no force was able to uphold the unity of Ukrainians and Russians. In this warped worldview, the invasion ‘corrects’ this error and restores ‘harmony’.Putin’s now infamous essay of the summer of 2021, ‘On the Historical Unity of Russians and Ukrainians’, followed the logics of authoritarian protectionism closely. ‘Russians and Ukrainians’, he argued, are ‘one people—a single whole’ , while condemning its token commitments to self-determination. After all, the Ukrainian Soviet Socialist Republic had its own flag and a seat at the United Nations, which saw the state twice serve terms on the Security Council (1948–49 and 1984–85). For Putin, by contrast, Several of the forum contributors identify how the history of neoliberalism has shaped contemporary authoritarianisation. The victors’ peace constructed following the end of the Cold War certainly played its part. In the post-communist space, the old managerial bureaucracies found an ally in West’s neoliberal agenda, allowing them to create a new oligarchic dominance through rapid privatisation. As the civil society movements of the 1980s in Eastern Europe were not able to generate a critique of Western capitalism that matched their challenge to Soviet authoritarianism, global governance became synonymous with the free flow of capital, not its management and regulation—a return to the disembedded liberalism Polanyi  famouslyconceptually attracted to. A coercive state acts an enforcement mechanism for extra-economic domination through ‘unpaid or law paid social reproduction’ , while simultaneously mobilising state power to intensify the exploitation of wage-labour. In short, Friedman’s ego-centric philosophy entailed the reinforcement of patriarchal social organisation and welcomed the construction of fascist-like regimes if they protected and extended opportunities for private capital. My argument here will not challenge this, but emphasise how contemporary authoritarianisation involves a different underlying philosophy.For Saull, this neoliberal consensus constituted a ‘technocratic and anti-democratic authoritarianism’ that is ‘partly responsible for the far right, populist-authoritarian reaction to it’. Hendrikse has artfully described the new authoritarianism as ‘neo-illiberalism… an amalgam of neoliberal and illiberal operating systems, producing variegated neo-illiberalization across space’   Reagan , np.right afforded on the basis of identity and/or in exchange for support. As such, economic inequalities do not tend to be cast as the sum-total outcome of individual self-interest and competition. Thatcher’s successors in Brexit Britain even took up the distributional claims of ‘the left behind’—a terminology that was both entirely alien to the political philosophy of the ‘Iron Lady’ and claimed to be concerned with the persistent, long-term regional inequalities, which are a clear legacy of the 1980s policy of deindustrialisation.These speeches arguably have a hackneyed, archaic sensibility, because in the dominant ideational frameworks of the contemporary world the ego-centric individual has been displaced by the ethno-nation. Elite politics has moved away from the ‘I won’t protect you’ era of Reagan to the ‘I will’ narrative of Trump. This transformation is perhaps best encapsulated in the Jair Bolsonaro slogan, ‘Brazil above everything, God above everyone’, i.e. the nation is presented as formed through traditional social codes and bonds that entail mutual obligations on the basis of ethno-national kinship. Like other authoritarian protectionistsIn Saull’s forum contribution, he develops an account of the Eurozone crisis that details how the ‘political economy of neoliberalism’ has enabled ‘the advance of the far-right infused authoritarian protectionism of the present’. While I agree with this basic claim, I have some disagreements with his analyse of the Eurozone crisis. As this is relevant to how we conceptualise the contemporary pattern of authoritarianisation, I will take the opportunity to critique how Saull arrives at this conclusion. At the heart of Saull’s contribution is the claim that the EU is a ‘class project in all but name’, which is committed to an accumulation strategy ‘premised on competition, fiscal consolidation, welfare retrenchment and labour market flexibility’. He argues that ‘the twin-crises of 2008 and 2010’ produced a European crisis regime based upon ‘a highly uneven form of economic development… centred on the relationship between export/credit-surplus economies mainly in the north and typified by Germany and deficit economies in the South typified by Greece and Spain’. Central to his perspective is the combination of an EU technocracy, particularly the monetary authority of the European Central Bank, and a governance structure requiring intergovernmental bargaining. For Saull, the absence of a European demos with sovereign political representation that could give legitimacy to the monetary authority (and the lack of support for such a policy from citizens) locked the Eurozone governance structure into a series of authoritarian pathologies.is not uneven enough  this is true, even this episode illustrated not the absence of democracy but the problem of reconciling Greek demands with other ‘sovereign decisions’ , in tandem with the weakness of the anti-austerity left, favoured a neoliberal outcome. Indeed, sometimes in the rush for structural explanations the simple causes are overlooked; chiefly, that the political centre of gravity during the key crisis points went against progressive forces. This is why Saull is wrong when he argues, to ‘all intents and purposes… in the contexts of crisis management the voices of the electorate are not what drives and determines “sovereign” decisions’. While viewed from the narrow vantage point of Greece’s conflict with the Troika in 2015  played. In this respect, the history of this crisis serves as a reminder both that authoritarianism can be popular, i.e. often embedded in mass, majoritarian sentiments, and that democratic processes can be harnessed for reactionary politics  regime. Xi Jinping’s initial refusal to u-turn, in apparent defiance of internal party concerns,Looking back at the book’s analysis, I did highlight the negative human rights impact of ‘zero Covid’ in China and Vietnam. But the events of 2022 suggest that I was wrong to anticipate that these policies would bring ‘greater global credibility’ to their governance model Cooper . In thisnon-convergence illustrates the political and institutional unevenness of global authoritarianisation. Nonetheless, Hendrikse is right to identify the broader tendency of big capital to become more enmeshed ‘with political communication, state governance and government’ , the monopolistic dimension flourishes and becomes intertwined with states. While big corporations may pursue quasi-sovereignty, for many others making rentier claims on existing sovereigns, i.e. states, will offer a more straightforward way of using extra-economic means to mitigate the disruptive effects of heightened systemic risk.This COVID-19 example of Sino-American In the face of these structural dynamics, crony capitalism has become a highly prevalent malady. It emerges organically in such a context but may take a variety of forms dependent on how relations between state and capital are organised in specific national geographies. In Hungary, access to financial rents from the state are traded openly in exchange for political patronage, a policy justified as supporting patriotic Hungarian businesses —in which individuals can associate and cooperate freely. This systemic change agenda needs to be carefully calibrated to ‘the international’ order and its dynamics; for example, recognising the challenge that societies may make antagonistic claims that are equally legitimate from a democratic perspective (on this see Cooper


The type of goat kid meat that is consumed in countries of the Mediterranean basin belongs to very young animals with little fat. Despite being a healthy meat from a nutritional point of view, its consumption is not very common. In this study, after conducting surveys with a number of different families, we evaluated goat kid meat using a home test sensory analysis. Despite the meat obtaining high scores during sensory analysis, there is often considerable ignorance about the factors that affect the production of this type of animal, especially in young people and in areas where consumption of this meat is uncommon. For this reason, it is important to show its value and to improve production and profitability in the primary sector, carrying out specific marketing work to target the different clusters obtained in the study.The goat meat preferred by consumers in Spain comes from suckling goat kids, slaughtered at a live weight of 8–10 kg. However, consumption of this meat is very uncommon, so it is necessary to show its value. To achieve this, we planned to investigate consumers’ perceptions about goat kid meat and to study whether their perceptions are related to their sensory appraisal of the meat, measured by the mean of the consumers’ home tests. The experiment was conducted with 30 volunteer families (from two cities with different consumption patterns), who were surveyed regarding their sociodemographic parameters, purchasing and eating habits, and the importance of the meat’s attributes. As a result, four clusters were obtained, which were labeled “negative,” “idealistic,” “positive,” and “concerned about fat content”. The parameters of the animal production system were valued differently by the clusters. Meat tenderness, taste, and amount of fat were considered very decisive factors by most respondents. When the goat kid meat was valued, tenderness was considered more important than taste among older people (“negative” cluster), whereas there was not so much difference between the appraisal of all parameters for the other three clusters. We conclude that it is necessary to improve the information received by consumers about goat production systems and meat quality parameters. There is certainly potential for creating new markets, especially targeted toward young consumers and considering specific strategies for the different groups of consumers, depending on the region and habits of consumption. The 11.5 million goats existing in the EU-27 in 2021  are unequally distributed across countries. Greece has 24.8% of the total number, while Spain ranks second, with 22.6%, ahead of Romania, France, and Italy. These five countries account for over 82% of the goats in the EU. Although the goat sector’s contribution to total livestock production is very low, goats are essential in large areas of Mediterranean Europe to maintain the natural landscape, particularly of farmland considered to have a high natural value, and to generate income that improves the financial livelihood of farmers in depressed areas [In Spain, the goat meat preferred by consumers comes from suckling kids . These aAccording to the Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food of Spanish Government , in the last decade, the consumption per capita of sheep and goat meat decreased by around 70%, from 5.6 kg in 2003 to 1.7 kg in 2021, with only 0.07 kg of this corresponding to goat meat. For this reason, it is essential that goat meat is revalued. To achieve this, we need to identify trends  and consFood consumption patterns have changed over recent decades, not only due to socioeconomic and cultural trends, but also because of an increasing diversification in the grouping of consumers , as wellTo investigate these food-related lifestyle factors, surveys are an extremely useful and widely used tool, since they allow to identify consumer segments ,17,18,19There is a considerable body of literature concerning consumer preferences and segmentation. For example, Bernues et al.  reportedNevertheless, to the best of our knowledge, there is very little European literature regarding consumers’ preferences about goat kid meat ,27,28,29The main aim of this paper was to investigate consumers’ perceptions about goat kid meat and to study whether their perceptions are related to their sensory appraisal, measured by the mean of the consumers’ home tests.The experiment was conducted with 30 volunteer families, 15 from Zaragoza (northern Spain) and 15 from Seville (southern Spain). These two cities were chosen because they represent two areas in Spain with very different patterns of meat consumption, Zaragoza having well above the average and Seville well below the average meat consumption in Spain [The consumers had to answer a brief closed/open response questionnaire , with diThe first part included open-ended questions aimed at collecting personal and family data , as well as purchasing and eating habits . These responses were used to define the consumers’ profile.The second part was designed to collect the consumers’ perceptions about goat kid meat, using a seven-point Likert scale. The results were used to categorize the consumers into clusters.The third part of the questionnaire used a five-point Likert scale to collect information on the importance of several elements when consuming goat kid meat: Animal breed, age, live weight and feeding regime, origin of the meat, place of consumption, type of meat cut, amount of fat, meat color, tenderness, and taste.After answering the survey, the consumers tasted the meat as part of a home test, as described below.For the tasting home test, we used the meat from a total of 210 male, single-birth suckling kids from seven Spanish goat breeds: Five meat breeds  and two dairy breeds . All goat kids were fed with maternal colostrum and maternal milk until slaughtered. The goats were grazed on native pastures and supplemented with commercial feed when the pasture was not able to cover their nutritional requirements. When the kids reached the target live weight, they were slaughtered using standard commercial procedures.Detailed information about carcass characteristics and instrumental and sensory meat quality of the animals involved in this study can be seen in Panea et al.  and RipoEach family received one leg a week, codified with a three-digit number, for a total of 14 weeks. At the end of the trial, all of the families had tasted two legs of each of the seven breeds involved. To avoid confusion in the order or carry-over effects , the sam2 obtained and a strong increment produced in the Cubic Criterion of Clustering and Pseudo F values . Finally, to produce a profile of the resulting groups, a GLM test for continuous variables and a chi-square analysis for nominal variables were carried out. For the GLM procedure, differences between means were calculated with a Bonferroni test at 5% significance. In the χ2 test, we used a significant probability of less than 0.05. When more than 20% of the boxes had expected frequencies lower than five, the likelihood ratio was used at the same level of probability. When the adjusted standardized residuals between the observed and expected cases in each box were greater than |1.96|, we considered that there was a pattern of association between the studied variables.First, we carried out a frequency distribution analysis of the sample population according to age, gender, and place of residence. Next, a hierarchical cluster analysis (using Ward’s method for aggregation and Euclidian distance) using the variables related to lifestyle and perception was performed to identify homogeneous groups of respondents according to their perceptions about goat kid meat. The number of clusters was obtained based on the RA description of the sample is shown in From the analysis of the consumers’ perceptions about goat kid meat, four clusters were created . Clusterp > 0.10). Thus, Cluster 1 was composed of older people, with an average age of 56 years, whereas the other clusters ranged from 36 to 44 years old, without any differences between them. Regarding family composition, there were slight differences in people under 14 years old, with less presence in Cluster 1 than in the others. People from Seville were mainly grouped in Cluster 4, whereas people from Zaragoza were mainly in Clusters 2 and 3.The clusters differed in the average age of the respondent, the age of the family members, and the place of residence , but theThe main differences among the clusters in terms of perceptions about goat kid meat  concernep < 0.05), healthier (p < 0.05), or tastier (p < 0.05) than lamb meat. Furthermore, Cluster 1 stated that they did not prefer natural milking of the kids compared to artificial milking (p < 0.001), did not prefer a heavy goat kid over a light one (p < 0.001), and would not pay more for goat kid meat than lamb meat (p < 0.01). This cluster showed a neutral or negative perception of goat kid meat, so were labeled “negative”. The “negative” cluster was composed of older respondents (average 56 years old) and family units with less people under 14 years of age. This cluster was equally divided between both cities in the study.Cluster 1 did not agree that goat kid meat is more expensive (p < 0.05) and they did not think that kid meat contained more fat than lamb meat. Besides this, they did not prefer a goat kid to be milked naturally rather than artificially (p < 0.001). This cluster had a positive perception of goat kid meat, so were labeled “positive”.The cluster of consumers with the most positive perception of goat kid meat was Cluster 3. Cluster 3 affirmed that kid meat is more expensive, healthier, and tastier than lamb meat (p < 0.001) and thought that goat kid meat is tastier than lamb meat. This cluster did not have enough information to differentiate lamb from goat kid meat, but had an essential idea of what they wanted. They were therefore labeled “idealistic”. “Idealistic” consumers were younger than “negative” consumers (p < 0.05) and this was the cluster with more people under the age of 14 years at home and living in Zaragoza.Clusters 2 and 4 had intermediate perceptions, but with different preferences. Cluster 2 preferred goat kid meat that was fed via natural milking rather than artificial milking (p < 0.01), and they also showed a strong preference for the meat from a heavy kid compared to a light kid (p < 0.001). Thus, this cluster was labeled “concerned with fat content”.In the same way, Cluster 4 had no information about the differences between lamb and goat kid meat, but expressed the view that kid meat contains more fat than lamb meat (The “positive” cluster were middle-aged (average 44 years old), without differences in age compared to the “idealistic” and “concerned about fat content” clusters. They contained the same number of people under 14 years of age as the “concerned about fat content” cluster, and the main difference with this latter cluster was that most members of the “positive” cluster lived in Zaragoza, while most of the “concerned about fat content” cluster lived in Seville.No differences were found between clusters in the intention to consume goat kid meat, and in all four clusters, the main reason was that they do not see it in the supermarket. Similarly, there were no differences whether it was of a quality brand or not, which disagrees with the conclusion by Cubero et al. , who staAccording to different studies ,22,35, cDue to the relationship between high-fat diets and heart disease, consumer interest in fat content and the fatty acid composition of foods has grown in recent years . NeverthOn the other hand, the different diet  is an aspect that has been considered in several studies; in these works, the acceptability of meat from suckling kids fed on natural milk was greater among older consumers and people with a moderate consumption of meat , which dOn the contrary, there is a general belief that, while goat meat is of inferior quality compared to mutton and beef, goat meat obtained from young, fattened animals is not inferior to lamb . Of thesBernués et al.  found thAccording to official statistics , the proConsumption habits including diet and cultural factors are important in the assessment of overall acceptability, which is strongly influenced by consumers’ culinary background . FurtherFor Rabadán et al. , the socAccording to our results, 36% of the respondents bought meat in traditional butcher shops, 19% in markets, 39% in supermarkets, and 6% in hypermarkets. Corcoran et al.  showed t2 > 0.10). Almost all respondents (94.7%) ate goat kid meat less than once per month, while 3.2% never ate this meat and 2.1% consumed it twice or three times per month. In general terms, this meat is not commonly consumed, which accounts for these results. Mandolesi et al. [As shown in i et al.  showed ti et al. . It is wi et al. .The most frequent place where people ate goat kid meat was a restaurant (64.2%). The “negative” cluster was made up of people who consumed goat kid meat both at home and in a restaurant. Meanwhile, the “idealistic” and “concerned with fat content” clusters were composed of people who consumed it mainly in a restaurant. Lastly, the “positive” cluster was less defined in this regard, since its members were divided between those who consumed goat kid meat at another person’s house and those who did so in a restaurant. Greater neighborhood spatial access to restaurants was associated with a lower frequency of home cooking . The resThe “negative” cluster was characterized by a tendency  to cook at home more frequently than the other clusters, which could be linked to the fact that, as indicated above, they preferred to eat goat kid meat at home. The variable “How often do you eat out each week?” showed significant differences between clusters, with the “concerned with fat content” cluster being the group that did so more frequently, which is maybe linked to their preference to eat goat kid meat in restaurants. Almost 50% of the families never consumed prepared meals and around 40% only did so once or twice per week, although without significant differences between clusters.2 < 0.10), although, in general, it was not a factor that was considered very important . The “negative” and “concerned with fat content” clusters were the ones that considered this factor more important compared to the “idealistic and “positive” clusters. Ripoll et al. [There was a significant difference among clusters on the importance of animal breeding  and 61.9% of respondents thought that this factor was important or very important. The frequency of respondents who considered this factor important was higher in the “negative” cluster than in the rest. Only 12% of the respondents answered that the weight of the animals was not an important factor, with the majority of them belonging to the “concerned with fat content” cluster. Ripoll et al. [There was a significant difference among clusters on the importance of animal live weight . In the “concerned with fat content” cluster, 22.7% of the respondents considered this factor to be of little importance, while in the “idealistic” cluster, 64.7% considered it of intermediate importance; the “negative” cluster was the group that considered it most important, with 46.2% considering it to be very important. Font i Furnols et al. [In addition, there was a significant difference among clusters over the importance of animal feeding , the “negative” cluster is the one that evaluated them as most important, whereas the “concerned with fat content” cluster considered them of less importance, and the “idealistic” and “positive” clusters were considered of intermediate importance.2 < 0.10), with 86.0% of the respondents considering that it was an important factor to consider. Of these, in the “negative” cluster, 76.9% stated that it was a very interesting factor, while those who thought that it was a factor of medium importance  were mainly in the “concerned with fat content” cluster. For Jia et al. [There was a significant difference among clusters in the importance of meat tenderness , with 69.9% of the respondents considering it very important, which rose to 84.6% in the “negative “cluster. These results are in agreement with Ripoll et al. [There was a significant difference among clusters in the importance of meat taste , indicating that the consumers had, in general, a positive perception of goat kid meat. The “negative” cluster scored the highest (more than 7), being statistically different from the other clusters, among which there were slight or no differences. The highest scores given by all of the consumers for taste and tenderness agree with the previous perception of the importance of these two factors. Suckling kid meat was evaluated very highly by consumers, who considered it to be a quality product when they tasted it. Different studies have demonstrated that suckling kids  provide a high-quality product ,29,31,60“Negative” cluster: People who did not have a good perception of goat kid meat; older people, with more established habits of eating certain types of meat. They were concerned about animal live weight and feeding, and attributed the greatest importance to meat tenderness and taste and, coherently, assigned the highest scores in the tasting test for both tenderness and taste.“Idealistic” cluster: This group attributed relative importance to animal live weight and feeding and considered that taste was more important than tenderness. Accordingly, they tended to assign the lowest scores for taste, but also to tenderness and overall appraisal, perhaps because their own idealization made them expect more from the meat.“Positive” cluster: This group considered both animal live weight and feeding important and, like the “idealistic” cluster, considered taste more important than tenderness, although the difference was less relevant. Consequently, they assigned medium-high scores for taste.“Concerned about fat content” cluster: This group resembled the “positive” cluster for the importance of animal live weight and feeding, but they considered taste just as important as tenderness. This cluster was composed of people living in Seville, an area with a very low consumption of lamb or goat kid meat, and this lack of exposure could account for the medium–low scores assigned to the meat.It is important to note that tenderness was the most outstanding parameter for older people (“negative” cluster), whereas for the other three clusters, composed of younger people, there was not so much difference between the appraisal of all parameters. This fact has been highlighted by other authors .In the current situation of consumption, it is essential to develop practical strategies for increasing goat kid meat consumption. There are certain parameters to consider for the population in general , and the information that consumers receive about the meat quality parameters  must be improved. Labeling must be improved to achieve this objective, and one research goal for the industry could be the development of an objective grading system to demonstrate eating quality attributes .(1)There is great potential for creating markets for a variety of goat products in southern European countries , similar(2)Young consumers should be given more information, trying to capture their interest in the importance of this meat in relation with environmental, social, and animal rights issues and, particularly, health concerns .(3)Finally, industries should develop marketing strategies according to the different groups of consumers, mainly depending on the region and habits of consumption. In other words, the marketing mix of variables should be defined depending on the specific market niche, and new ways should be devised to attract consumers . Moreover, the marketing mix must be adapted to each product and each consumer .The main practical implication can be seen from our results: To improve the market for this type of meat, it is important to improve the information offered to consumers. There are three principal reasons for this:Consumers were classified into four groups according to their perception of goat kid meat. Those clusters were labeled as “positive,” “negative,” “idealistic,” and “concerned with fat content”. Belonging to these groups affected consumers’ sensory appraisal of the meat. The animal’s breed, the way the animal was fed, the type of meat cut, the place of consumption, and the origin of the meat were not considered as decisive factors by most respondents, whereas the animal’s live weight, age, meat tenderness, taste, and amount of fat were considered very important. Color was described as an attribute of medium importance in relation to kid goat meat. Considering that in general, there is widespread ignorance about the factors affecting meat production systems and meat quality, and bearing in mind the differences in the beliefs and attitudes among the four clusters, specific strategies for marketing goat kid meat should be implemented to target the different kinds of consumers.


The focus of this Special Issue on Biomedicines is on the value of “Biomarkers in Pain” from a broad perspective.Pain can be viewed from different perspectives. The pain mechanism can be nociceptive, neuropathic, or nociplastic . TemporaApproximately 20% of the global population suffers from chronic pain ,5,6,7, aSometimes, acute pain does not resolve. Instead, acute pain may, through hitherto largely still unknown mechanisms, sometimes shift into chronic pain. A problem with both acute and chronic pain is that it is not visible. It may therefore be overlooked or underestimated. Pain is a subjective experience and varies between individuals and different time points. At least for research purposes, it would be desirable to have a more objective way of quantifying pain in addition to a patient’s description of their pain, although important ethical concerns have been raised and are worth pondering . BiomarkSeveral previous studies have shown that pain patients’ biofluids, analyzed using modern proteomic methods, exhibit biomarkers that could increase our knowledge on chronic pain and hereby guide its management (e.g., ,13,14,15This issue of biomedicines focuses on “Biomarkers in Pain”. It was initially discussed whether “Biomarkers of Pain” would be a more relevant title, but the latter suggestion might imply that a specific biomarker is causative of the agony and not a result of this condition, which could limit and possibly even lead to deceptive conclusions. According to the present state of knowledge, one cannot determine whether the increased levels of biomarkers that are seen in painful conditions are a cause or a consequence. It should rather be remembered that correlation does not imply causation. The relation between biomarkers and pain has previously been validated . LongituThis Special Issue of biomedicines highlights several research articles presenting recent advances in the field of Biomarkers in Pain from a broad perspective. Displaying such biomarkers may provide pertinent information about potential new directions for interventions for chronic pain in the research realm. In addition, the review articles presented in this issue may contribute to an increased awareness of biomarkers within a broad context and from a relevant perspective.In summary, we can expect that pain biomarkers will serve a critical role in improving the diagnosis, treatment, and management of pain conditions. They may offer more objective and precise information based on an individual’s unique genetic and biological makeup, leading to better patient care, drug development, and overall understanding of pain mechanisms.


Academic engagement plays an undeniable role in students’ leaning outcome. Therefore, identifying the influential antecedents of promoting students’ academic engagement is extremely crucial. Despite previous empirical studies have delved into the part played by several student-related and teacher-related factors in triggering Chinese students’ academic engagement, the exploration on the roles of teacher support and teacher–student rapport is still scant. Thus, this study attempts to concentrate on the influence of teacher support and teacher–student rapport on undergraduate students’ academic engagement in China. Three scales of the questionnaire—one each for teacher’s support, student-teacher rapport, and the level of academic engagement—were completed by a total of 298 undergraduate students. Spearman Rho test was adopted to detect the correlations between the variables. Following that, multiple regression analysis was used to estimate the predictive power of the dependent variables. The result found that teacher support and teacher–student rapport exert a tremendous influence on boosting Chinese students’ academic engagement. The leading implications and future directions are also presented. Students’ academic engagement is considered to be a crucial component to positive academic behaviors , social,In light of this, extensive empirical studies investigating student engagement and its potential antecedents have been conducted. As an instance, in examining the effects of second language learning (L2) enjoyment and academic motivation on Chinese students’ participation in English as a foreign language (EFL) classes, Teacher support, as a potential driver of academic engagement, pertains to “the extent to which learners believe their teachers value and seek to establish personal relationships with them” , p. 3. TAnother teacher-related factor that may influence students’ academic engagement is teacher–student rapport. In terms of educational psychological context, it is deemed as the trusting relationship which can connect teachers and students in a certain emotional atmosphere and experience and realize the transmission and communication of emotional information in numerous positive interpersonal interactions . As statAcknowledging the utmost important of teacher support and student-teacher relationship in pedagogical dimensions , a handfTeachers exert a significant influence on students’ cognitive, affective, and social learning behaviors, which considerably affects the quality of their learning experiences . ConsequIn terms of instructional context, Rapport, generally speaking, was conceptualized as “an overall feeling between two people encompassing a mutual, trusting, and prosocial bond” , p. 147.Students’ academic engagement is considered as “the time and energy students devote to educationally sound activities inside and outside of the classroom, and the policies and practices that institutions use to induce students to take part in these activities” , p. 25. (1) What are the relations between academic engagement, teacher support, and teacher–student rapport among Chinese students?(2) Do teacher support and teacher–student rapport significantly enhance Chinese students’ academic engagement?A total of 305 undergraduate students in a comprehensive university in China, aged from 18 to 22 , were enrolled to participate in the study using the convenience sampling strategy. Nevertheless, owing to incomplete questionnaires, 7 students’ data were deleted. Thus, the final sample was 298, consisting of 104 (34.9%) males and 194 (65.1%) females. Participants varied regarding grade, ranging from freshmen to seniors. Before collecting the data, participants were all informed of the research purpose and of their voluntary participation. Meanwhile, they received reassurances that their answers and personal data would be treated in strict confidence.α value of teacher support scale was 0.95, indicating good reliability.The questionnaire scale of teacher support, adapted from α value of this scale was 0.93, showing good reliability.The α value of 0.96, a good reliability of this scale was found in the present study.To begin with, the above-mentioned three scales were distributed to the participants on the spot during lesson intervals and collected immediately after completion. Moreover, all respondents received instructions on how to answer to the survey questions, which heightened the accuracy and credibility of responses. After completing the procedure of data collection, the respondents’ answers were further reviewed to ensure the reliability of the collected data. Afterward, the SPSS 21.0 was adopted to conduct Spearman correlation analyses to assess the relationships between teacher support, teacher–student rapport, and academic engagement. At last, to ascertain how much of the variance in Chinese students’ academic engagement may be ascribed to teacher support and teacher–student rapport, multiple regression analyses were carried out.First of all, the normality of the gathered data was verified utilizing Kolmogorov–Smirnov test. The results are shown in As depicted in r = 0.815, p < 0.001). The results of Spearman correlation indicated a significant relationship  between academic engagement and teacher support. Academic engagement was also very closely related to teacher–student relationship . That is to say, the higher the level of teacher support and teacher–student rapport predicts the greater degree of academic engagement. Afterwards, to investigate the role of teacher support and teacher–student rapport in influencing academic engagement in Chinese students, multiple regression analysis was implemented. As p < 0.05), indicating the positive stimulating effect of teacher–student rapport on students’ academic engagement. Furthermore, the beta coefficient of teacher support was 0.485 with a statistical significance (p < 0.001), which contributed the most to the improvement of Chinese students’ academic engagement. In other words, it was discovered that teacher support was a great indicator of Chinese students’ academic engagement.Based on The primary intention of this study was to shed light on the degree to which Chinese students’ academic engagement is correlated with teacher support and teacher–student rapport. The Spearman correlation test unveiled, firstly, a straightforward and powerful correlation between teacher support and academic engagement, and secondly, a positive association of teacher–student rapport and academic engagement. On the obvious association between academic engagement and support from teachers, this finding is in line with the study of Besides, this study attempted to ascertain the worth of teacher support and teacher–student rapport in fostering students’ academic engagement. That is to say, this study was to investigate how much teacher support and teacher–student rapport exert influence on the enhancement of students’ academic engagement. As illustrated by the results of the regression analysis, teacher support has proven to be a robust predictor of Chinese students’ academic engagement. Chinese students’ academic engagement is positively affected by teacher support, as students who are capable of receiving adequate and prompt assistance from their teachers are prone to enjoy learning and are inclined to put forth more time and effort into it . Such anThe primary aim of the current study was to figure out how much academic engagement among Chinese students is influenced by teacher support and teacher–student rapport. Multiple regression analysis and Spearman Rho correlation analysis indicated that teacher support and teacher–student rapport could dramatically boost Chinese students’ academic engagement. Therefore, students are more probable to be involved in a range of learning tasks and put efforts into them if they get enough support and encouragement from teachers and develop friendly relationships with them. This result does seem to be impressively profound for educators and teachers, especially those who are now engaged in teaching in EFL environments. That is because notwithstanding the indispensable role of teacher–student rapport in any learning setting, the task of establishing and upholding a positive interpersonal relationship can be a daunting challenge, even for many well-prepared teachers. Given the findings of this investigation, teachers are encouraged to be supportive of their students as much as possible and to develop a friendly and harmonious relationship with them so that they can be more engaged in the learning process. Considering the contribution of teacher–student rapport in increasing students’ academic engagement, teachers can undertake diverse initiatives, including giving timely positive feedback to students, listening carefully and pondering on learners’ voices, so as to get the students to be engaged in the classroom. Given that teacher support significantly improves students’ academic engagement, teachers entail to provide student with constant support and assistance.In spite of research implications found, several limitations exist in this study. Firstly, the cross-sectional quantitative approach was applied merely to conduct this exploration, which may give rise to a potential bias. Upcoming studies are suggested to utilize longitudinal method to obtain more inclusive results. Secondly, in this study, the research sample is comparatively small. Hence, further studies can adopt large-scaled survey to further assess the results. Thirdly, it needs to be highlighted that contextual factors including gender, age, and educational background were neglected and ought to be inspected in ongoing studies.The original contributions presented in the study are included in the article/supplementary material, further inquiries can be directed to the corresponding author.Ethical review and approval was not required for the study on human participants in accordance with the local legislation and institutional requirements. Written informed consent for participation was not required for this study in accordance with the national legislation and the institutional requirements.XP conceived, designed, and executed the study, collected the data, wrote the manuscript, and revised the final version of the manuscript. YY analyzed the data and participated in writing and revising the manuscript. All authors contributed to the article and approved the submitted version.This work was supported by the Research Project of the 2021 Teaching Reform of Xingzhi College, Zhejiang Normal University (Grant no. ZC303921073).The authors declare that the research was conducted in the absence of any commercial or financial relationships that could be construed as a potential conflict of interest.All claims expressed in this article are solely those of the authors and do not necessarily represent those of their affiliated organizations, or those of the publisher, the editors and the reviewers. Any product that may be evaluated in this article, or claim that may be made by its manufacturer, is not guaranteed or endorsed by the publisher.


Higher education institutions need to put change management as a pivotal part of their strategy. The challenge is to effectively contextualize existing change management models to the respective work environment. Failing to properly adapt existing models to match the intricacies of the environment could lead to plenty of setbacks. For such a contextualization to take place, gauging employees’ engagement and satisfaction becomes of paramount importance. As such, the overall purpose of the current study is to explore the perception of employees of a medical and health sciences university in Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region, in relation to change management and agility, and to showcase how the captured perspectives can be systemically interpreted to inform decision-making in the context of the study.This research study relied on a sequential mixed methods design, which started with an exploration of the perception of Mohammed Bin Rashid University of Medicine and Health Sciences (MBRU) leaders. Qualitative data was collected through a focus group session and was inductively analysed (based on constructivist epistemology). The output of the qualitative analysis contributed to the development of the quantitative data collection tool. The quantitative data was analysed by SPSS-version-27.The qualitative analysis generated three key themes: Trigger, Execution, and Results, along with a thorough outline of lessons learned and opportunities for improvement. The Cronbach’s Alpha reliability score was 92.8%. The percentage of the total average of agreement was 72.3%, and it appeared that 83.2% of the variance can be explained by the instrument (p<0.001).The current study generated a novel conceptual framework that can be leveraged by educational leadership and administration to reinforce their decisions and optimize their agility in terms of managing change. The study also introduces a data collection tool which captures the perception of higher education stakeholders regarding the way their respective institutions handle change. This tool proved to be reliable and valid in the context of the study. As suggested by the Greek philosopher, Heraclitus: “change is the only constant”. As such, it is of utmost importance in life to be open and adaptable to change . This beThere are many reasons to change. Change usually occurs in response to internal and/ or external stimuli. An internal trigger could be a change in the organizational structure or strategy  . As for Our world was already experiencing an extraordinary rate of change at the onset of the pandemic, and since then, the speed at which change has been occurring became even higher. This can be attributed to many factors including but not limited to those related to technology advancement and changes in human ideologies . How we This is of great relevance to the higher education sector, which is characterized by several unique drivers of change including its connection to the Global, knowledge economy and the growing public accountability , 10. HigIt is evident that the literature is full of models, but the challenge is to effectively contextualize these models to the respective working environment. The model, in of itself, can be great but then if it is not properly adapted to match the intricacies of the environment, this could lead to plenty of setbacks and become counterproductive. The more complex an organization is, the more important it is to tactically adapt any existing change management theory, concept, and/ or model. For such a contextualization to take place, gauging employees’ engagement and satisfaction becomes of paramount importance. As such, the overall purpose of this research project is to explore the perception of employees of a medical and health sciences university in the MENA region in relation to change management and agility, and to showcase how the captured perspectives are systemically interpreted to inform decision-making in the context of the study. The research questions are:How do the employees perceive change and its management, in general, and within their higher education institution, in specific?How efficacious was the management of change from the perception of the participating employees?What are the employees’ preferences when it comes to management during times of change?The current study took place in the Mohammed Bin Rashid University of Medicine and Health Sciences (MBRU) –23. MBRUThis context has been undergoing drastic changes to first quickly grow from a start-up medical school to gain national prominence and global impact, to rapidly transition to distance learning due to the unprecedented COVID-19, and more recently to become one of the key players of the novel Dubai Academic Health Corporation: an academic health systems, which is characterized by tripartite missions of medical and health professions’ education, research and knowledge generation, and clinical practice.This study relied on an exploratory sequential mixed methods research design –32, compThe research study started with an exploration of the perception of the MBRU Key Opinion Leaders (KOLs) regarding agility and change management. Qualitative data was collected through a focus group session of randomly selected KOLs ; 10 were invited to participate. A tailor-made focus group protocol was developed for the purpose of this data collection initiative . The datAll participants were asked to accept the invitation to participate through electronic informed consent. The focus group session was recorded; the audio recording underwent verbatim transcription by one member of the research team (R.E.). The transcript was reviewed by the same researcher while listening to the audio recording, again, to identify and edit any errors. Each participant was assigned a unique identification number (1 through 9).The qualitative data was inductively analyzed by three researchers  using a multi-staged thematic analysis framework, composed of 6 steps , 34. TheTo start with, the data was studied. Then, initial codes were generated. This kept going until no new information was observed in the transcript, and hence data saturation was attained. This review led to the generation of categories of text fragments; this set the stage for the researchers to work on step three. The different ways by which these categories could relate to one another were identified through several rounds of reflections. As such, the third step culminated in the generating themes, which encapsulate groups of the previously identified categories. The fourth step involved reviewing these themes and deciding on how best they relate to one another. Then, in the fifth step, themes were labeled and assigned definitions that were of relevance to the context of the study. The sixth step constituted reporting upon the results narratively; this was done in alignment with recently published recommendations for reporting upon qualitative research –38.In between the fifth and sixth step , the current study researchers conducted a respondent validation. The informant feedback was obtained through a 2-hour discussion conducted. During the respective meeting, the participants were shown three PowerPoint Presentation slides that included: the research questions, an explanation of the method of qualitative analysis, and the study’s conceptual framework. After showing the conceptual framework and explaining it verbally to them, the participants were given the space to reflect upon the extent of resonance between their responses to the research questions and the conceptual framework. They agreed with all the identified codes, suggesting minor changes to their definitions (within the context of the study) and how they relate to one another.The output of this analysis guided the development of the quantitative data collection tool . The devised tool  evaluateBased on sample size calculation, it turned out that at least 65 surveys are needed to have a confidence level of 95%. As such, 70 MBRU employees (21 faculty and 49 staff) were invited to participate by filling in an electronic version of the survey. These 70 employees were selected using Stratified Random Sampling, where the overall body of employees at MBRU (N = 186) is 30% faculty and the rest are staff. In the respective academic year (2020–2021), most of the employees (around 60%) were female and the rest were male. The employees who made the decision to fill the survey were asked to provide an electronic informed consent prior to participating in the study.The quantitative data was analyzed using SPSS for Windows version 27.0. The descriptive analysis constituted of computing an overall score . The validity tests of Cronbach’s Alpha and the Principal Component Analysis (PCA) were performed to ensure the internal consistency and check external variance, respectively, of the adapted tool. To select the appropriate inferential analyses tests, a test of normality was conducted for the overall score.Since the data turned out to be not normally distributed, the Mann-Whitney test was used to compare the overall score between female and male employees, and the overall score between the two categories of employees . Finally, Kruskal-Wallis test was used to compare the overall score between the three categories of tenures .Out of the 10 KOLs who were invited to the focus group session, 9 participated .The inductive qualitative analysis of the data generated from the focus group session led to three themes, namely: Trigger, Execution, and Results, as per the study’s conceptual framework . Within The first theme included the text segments which relate to the participants’ perception of what initiated the change. They reflected upon factors that are internal to the institution.05: “…during my tenure in this institution, I experienced a lot of changes. These changes were mainly in the governance and organizational structure, and the most recent one is infusing MBRU into the developing Dubai Academic Health Corporation. I have been relocated several times, with several changes to my reporting lines…”06: “…there are also internal drivers to change that propel us to move forward and change. This is how universities grow. Let us say we want to offer a new program, the only way to do so is through change…"They also mentioned situations where the change was triggered by external factors.05: “…it is a privilege that our leaders were selected to spearhead the COVID-19 Command and Control Center. They went on a secondment, and we rose to the occasion. We genuinely missed them, their presence, and regularly engaging with them. In this case, the onset of the pandemic  triggered a major change…”06: “…sometimes a governing body, such as the Commission of Academic Accreditation, introduces new guidelines, which we have to adapt, and as such we change…"The second theme related to the segments of the text which highlight how the institution responded to change. This theme also encapsulated the suggestions or opportunities to improve identified by the participating employees.03: “…building resilience is now a necessity for organizations and leaders in institutions. Resilience and agility are needed for organizations and leaders in order for change to effectively take place…”Some employees referred to the overall direction of the institution that was set in response to the need to change. This involved several components, including strategy, leadership, and culture. Almost all the participants alluded to the importance of setting in place a strategy for the respective changes, which included pinpointing goals:03: “…specifying the purpose and goals upfront is key to effectively handling change…”04: “…it is important to identify the objectives of any change…”The employees also highlighted the importance of effectively raising awareness about the direction of the change.05: “…these points need to be direct, clear, and should be referred to repetitively… for example, our Vice Chancellor has been repeating the term ‘Academic Health System’ over the past 8 years, even prior to the establishment of MBRU. It is now part of our mindset. Afterall, ‘your vibe attracts your tribe’…”06: “…I think it is really important to be mindful of the reasons for change: why are we changing? There also needs to be a clear-cut vision. For the change to be activated, we need to know where we want to go and how we want to get there…”A lot of the employees reflected upon the leadership skills that are needed for the change to be effective.04: “…the role of middle managers has been so important throughout the pandemic. They are the stakeholders who need to effectively relay/ cascade all information. So, middle management need to be fully aware of what is going on, and to be able to explain the situation and guide their employees accordingly. Afterall, the line manager is the one who ‘mingles’ the most with front-line employees…”Within the institutional direction category, the employees also reflected upon the importance of having an agile culture.04: “…Respect, Integrity, Giving, Connectivity, and Excellence: these are the values that we stand for…”05: “…we need to focus on how we exhibit our values, especially during change… repetition of the message is very important; the culture is nurtured through the reinforcement of key messages…”The participating employees reflected on how, regardless of the type of change, organizational changes affect the ways in which people go about their daily business.They also highlighted how the success of organizational changes depends on the participation and engagement of employees. Hence, change needs to be simultaneously managed at the individual-employee and organizational levels.02: “…agility is how quickly organizations can adapt to the necessary change; this factor is primarily reliant on the individuals and the all-encapsulating structure of the organization…”05: “…change is enabled through acceptance and adaptation, among employees. For me, this is what helps me in moving on…”07: “…change requires keeping an open mind. The change at the beginning may seem ‘not right’. It will also likely feel uncomfortable…”There appeared to be a consensus that people’s buy-in is essential to effective change.03: “…making sure everyone understands the change is important… Everybody changed quickly and understood that they need to do so swiftly. There was minimal disruption, in terms of operations and students’ learning experiences. I believe that our people handled the situation in an effective manner…”05: “…acceptance and adaption are key for people to move on, for the change process to be expedited. We need to listen to each other. We may face disagreements and conflicts: it is important to work towards reaching a consensus. People need to reach a state of conviction prior to proceeding in the set direction… we have plenty of ‘scientific mindsets’ which generate the knowledge needed to support any decision. Supporting decisions integral to change, with evidences, smoothens and facilitates the change, and maximizes its benefits…”The employees also thoroughly reflected on the processes that are perceived to be integral to change.02: “…agility is exhibited when there are swift changes in processes. This requires realignment across goals, processes, and policies… Also, any change needs an operational process, which needs to be coupled with policies to ensure abiding to the respective change…”04: “…change Management is how we deal with change. Hence, we need to learn how to approach the change…”03: “…if you are aiming to attain a positive outcome, you need to adapt the correct processes…it is the science and art of how to handle change…”Relevantly, the employees frequently alluded to communication, and its importance in justifying how this change will have an impact on the individuals and why it is implemented.04: “…communication is very important, it is very important to collect and analyze evaluative data, and communicate the output of analysis…”05: “…people need to be informed. All forms of communication, at all levels, are needed. Each personality has its own preferred way of receiving information. In a way, you need different keys to unlock different minds. We need to have variety of ways of communication to reach different personalities. Some people are ‘visual’: they need to see the message to grasp it. There are people who prefer to hear the message. So, we need to use differing types of communication in order to pass the message…”07: “…to add to that, you know: repetition. Bite-sized messages. We had the big town hall meeting from the management. Following that with bite-sized messages reinforced the key messages in our minds. Explanation, along with repetition, is key…”The last category within this theme related to resources that the institution needs to deploy to effectively enact change.06: “…among the strengths of our institution was that we already had a very mature Information Technology infrastructure in place. From the academic perspective, we had a fully functioning Learning Management System, for instance. Transitioning to distance learning coupled with Working From Home was possible due to the leveraging of the existing infrastructure…”07: “…the capacity building that took place at the onset of the pandemic constituted a major strength. We had the resources necessary to offer learning and development opportunities…”The last theme related to the consequences of the change. Some employees reflected on short-term effects.06: “…we adapted online OSCE. We had never done anything as such before. This constituted an opportunity that we leveraged during the challenging times…”08: “…one of the challenges, integral to the transition to distance learning, was related to the student life, which really suffered in all educational institutions across the world. The students articulated this feedback in the corresponding evaluation very clearly; they missed face-to-face interactions. In terms of Working From Home, we were fine. We like the Microsoft Teams platform, we got used to it…”Other employees highlighted long-term effects.04: “…flexibility and adaptability were key. I had to accept. When I was told: you need to sit at home and work using Microsoft Teams. I asked myself: what is Microsoft Teams? The changes accompanying the pandemic opened our eyes to novel ways of doing things and to differing technologies. Now, if I am asked: do you prefer Working From Home? I would say: I am open to everything, working in the office or from home; it is all the same for me…”06: “…we built resilience, on an individual and organizational levels. We were proactive about it. For example, there were a series of mindfulness sessions organized by the university counselor’s office. This will all come-in handy on the long-run…”To start with, a lot of the reflections shared by the employees, through the two open-ended questions of the survey, were evaluative in nature. Most of the employees praised MBRU when it comes to change management.32-Staff: “…I consider MBRU to be agile; I trust that it effectively manages change be it induced by internal or external triggers: management had set priorities and attained targets. MBRU not only did the transition with minimum disruption to organizational processes, but also converted the challenge into an opportunity in education, research, and service provision…”49-Faculty: “…I think the recent changes have been very positive… I feel like although we have significantly grown in number of employees, we are able to maintain the simplicity and joyfulness of MBRU’s character (which has been the case since its establishment), but with a lot more experience under our belts…”The employees perceived change to be a requirement to the institutional advancement.12-Staff: “…I believe that change at MBRU is for the betterment of all. I strongly believe in the upper management and the leaders at MBRU…”37-Staff: “…change is necessary towards achieving the MBRU goals, and remaining responsive and proactive in addressing local and national needs…”In terms of opportunities for improvement around change management, four themes were generated. The theme that surfaced the most in the survey was the importance of communication, and of improving it before and during the change.37-Staff: “…maximize communication among staff. Continuously collect feedback from employees…”40-Faculty: “…develop capacity to effectively communicate, and continuously reflect…”41-Staff: “…ensure constant communication with all staff members. Keeping everyone aware of the change would help teams in better preparing and planning. With a proper plan in place, everyone will be effectively guided through the transition…”Different ideas of how to maximize effective communication were reflected upon.25-Staff: “…townhalls can be a good form of disseminating information about organizational change…”28-Staff: “…evaluate the changes as they are taking place, take corrective measures when necessary, and make sure all details, in relation to the evaluation, are effectively communicated across the institution…”The importance of communication to lessen resistance was also brought-up.20-Staff: “…employees’ resistance can be lessened by effectively communicating all aspects of the change…”48-Faculty: “…better communication before change will help in attaining acceptance and will increase the likelihood of positive outcomes…”Relevant to this theme, the employees also discussed the importance of transparency.26-Staff: “…transparency is key…”40-Faculty: “…increase transparency, when possible…”The second theme that surfaced, in relation to opportunities for improvement, was pertaining to preparing the employees for the change. This includes, as per the employees’ suggestions, offering learning and development opportunities that equip the employees with what it takes to effectively undergo the change.4-Faculty: “…prepare the members of MBRU family to embrace the transformation…”8-Staff: “…human Resources department can play a vital role to educate employees on the organizational change…”27-Staff: “…change is inevitable, especially within MBRU. I think it is important to train the employees to accept change and make the most of the situation. Having mentors in change management would help, as well…”The third theme that surfaced was related to maximizing employees’ engagement.32-Staff: “…empower team members in the organization and offer them opportunities to meaningfully contribute to the change…”33-Staff: “…get as many stakeholders as possible involved in the process to help ‘socialize’ and in turn ‘institutionalize’ the changes…”In many instances, the participating employees attributed engagement with a supportive work environment.35-Staff: “…encourage all employees to support each other throughout the organizational change…”42-Staff: “…continue on fostering a motivating, engaging work culture…we are always encouraged to change to the better, be it on the personal or professional fronts…”Within this theme, the participants reflected upon the importance of having employees play an active role in decision-making during change.29-Faculty: “…optimize communication and engage team members in the decisions to develop shared responsibility, a sense of togetherness, and a collective commitment to the change…the organizational changes that we are experiencing are in alignment with MBRU goals…”47-Staff: “…managers should empower their team members to take decisions…”49-Faculty: “…involve the stakeholders from all departments in decision-making…”The last theme, in relation to opportunities for improvement around change management, was related to optimizing the utilization of technology and automation.21-Staff: “…automate processes to avoid any delays of work…”36-Staff: “…to leverage technologies to facilitate the change…”Out of the 70 employees who were invited to participate, 48 responded: 36 staff and 12 faculty .Among those 48 employees who responded to the electronic survey, 75% were staff and 25% were faculty, and 64.6% were female and 35.4% were male. In relation to the tenure at MBRU, 14.6% had up to 1 year of experience, 31.3% had more than 1 year and up to 3 years of experience, and 54.2% had more than 3 years of experience.The reliability score of Cronbach’s Alpha for the tailor-made evaluation tool that captured the stakeholders’ perception was 92.8%.The percentage of the total average was 72.3%, as per According to the PCA (Kaiser-Meyer-Olkin Measure of Sampling Adequacy), 83.2% of the variance can be explained by the instrument, which means the instrument is not only reliable but also, according to Bartlett’s Test of Sphericity, valid to measure what it is intended to measure (p<0.001). Along the same lines, the Bivariate Spearman Correlations showed how changes in the components could explain the changes in the score.In terms of percentages as per , more thIn relation to the overall score of agreement, there appeared to be no statistical significance between the differing categories of all three independent variables .The current study showed that, from the perspective of higher education employees, there are three groups of variables that need to be considered when structuring an effective change management system. These groups include: Trigger, Execution, and Results. The employees reflected upon internal and external triggers to change. The external ones, especially COVID-19, appeared to have relatively influenced their workflow more. According to previous literature around the subject matter, such a change is considered to be forced upon the institution, and is contrasted with the proactive change that is usually intentional and instigated by an internal trigger , 40. TheIn terms of execution, it appeared that the strengths of MBRU are related to the strategy, leadership, and culture. The employees emphasized the importance of having clarity around the direction of the institution, and felt that MBRU has been doing a good job on that front. This expectation was especially relevant to internally triggered change since the employees appeared to assume that the institution and its employees have more control over it. According to Birkman , change Most of the employees praised MBRU and its leadership in relation to change management. Along the same lines, they positively rated pinpointed aspects of their first-hand experiences with change management within the institution. As such, the current study showed that, according to the participating employees, the change management within MBRU has been efficacious. Relevantly, the qualitative data showed that their leadership had clear preset targets and priorities, as a response to the onset of COVID-19, which were effectively attained. In fact, it appeared to the participating employees that the change happened with minimal disruption to the organizational day-to-day activities and processes. It is established, in the literature, that adapting to change requires leadership awareness of the internal and external environments. It is important for leaders to play the role of an environmental analyzer, learning promoter, and organizational developer. This will require for leaders to remain sensitive to environmental changes and internal barriers, and to continuously analyze these aspects of the environment, reflecting on findings, drawing implications, and establishing evidence-driven strategies to develop their organizations –52. LeadThis study also showed that once a change is triggered, there needs to be effective communication to socialize the matter within the institution. The more engaging and collaborative the leaders are, the better it is in terms of change management , 57. It In the current study, the level of satisfaction was similar between staff and faculty, female and male, and the three specified categories of employees’ tenure. The consistency of the culture at MBRU seem to be playing a buffering role where the change experiences are received and perceived similarly across employees. The concept of culture has become the foundation of quality assurance and institutional effectiveness in universities. There is ample of literature around the importance of trust, loyalty, leadership, and reputation in building quality cultures in higher education institutions –61. The Most of the participating employees appeared to perceive organizational change to be beneficial for the institution. The participating employees frequently alluded to the opportunities that were born amidst the challenges integral to the changes that they experienced. A lot of the employees noticed that change created the space for them to innovate, think out-of-the-box, and experiment. The benefits of leveraging existing capabilities and strengths were clear to the employees; at MBRU, they believed, the existent IT infrastructure placed the institution and its stakeholders at an advantage at the onset of the pandemic. This observation which is specific to MBRU surfaced in a previously conducted study, as well, where an inductive qualitative data analysis showed how four groups of variables, namely: People, Processes, Platform, and Policies, came together to enable the change. In other words, the interplay between the people and the processes appeared to be taking place with the existent IT platform, all of which was governed by the internal and external policies and guidelines , 64. It The employees, in the current study, specified five aspects of their experience with change management that can be improved, namely: communication and transparency, better preparing the employees for the change through capacity building initiatives, maximizing employees’ engagement and participation, and increasing the utilization of technology and automation. In parallel, it was evident from the quantitative data analysis that the level of awareness about the change, among employees, can be improved. Communication appeared to be the ‘make it or break it’ variable; the employees perceived this aspect of their experiences to be the ultimate success factors of any organizational change. The employees thoroughly reflected upon the importance of diversifying communication formats and channels, for there to be consistency and repetition, and to start early-on . It was clear to the participants that change affects employees differently, and hence, they brought-up the importance of embracing employees’ individuality, as much as possible, when managing the institutional change. It is worth highlighting, over here, that surprisingly none of the participating employees referred to financial- or budget-related matters. Relevantly, a previously conducted study showed that perceived transparent communication and employee engagement constitute key mediators between perceived authentic leadership and individual employee behavioral outcomes. These findings reinforce the value of transparent organizational communication in cultivating relationships with and fostering engagement of an organization’s stakeholders . Along sThe tailor-made data collection tool introduced in this study turned out to be reliable and valid. As such, it would be recommended for other institutions, which are similar MBRU, to deploy this tool to better understand their employees’ perception of change management in their respective institutions. There are several validated tools that can be used to evaluate the perception of employees of institutional change –71. NoneThis study is characterized by a few limitations that are worth shedding light on. To start with, although this study offered plenty of thorough insights into organizational change management in higher education, the findings can only apply to institutions that are contextually similar to MBRU. As such, it would be recommended for follow-up studies to include a representative sample of universities across the MENA region. In addition, the survey response rate was low, which might have affected the reliability of this component of the current study. Fortunately, by nature of the mixed methods design, the findings derived from the quantitative data were effectively integrated with those of the qualitative component of the study. For upcoming studies, it would be of added value to run an investigative/ deductive, cross-sectional study, which is purely quantitative and includes several randomly selected institutions, to be able to understand the associations in between the variables would be leveraged to further reinforce decision-making. Lastly, although as shown in the study the preset focus group protocol allowed for the identification of opportunities for improvement, from the employees’ perspective, and that the consent form effectively assured the participants of anonymity and data confidentiality, there is still a chance for social desirability bias to have affected the entailed conversation. Afterall, the KLOs of any one institution to prefer to maintain a positive, professional image among each other. As such, it would be useful for exploratory researchers conducting work within higher education institutions to consider deploying one-to-one semi-structured interviews as the qualitative tool of choice as opposed to focus group sessions.In conclusion, this study highlights the importance of having agile leadership, compounded with clarity in strategy and communication, and a culture built on trust and loyalty, when it comes to organizational change. The current study specifies, from the perception of higher education employees, the triggers to change, along with key components of the organizational change execution and results. This study also introduces a valid, contextualized evaluation tool that can be leveraged by other higher education institutions to measure the perception of their employees regarding the efficacy of their change management protocols.S1 Appendix(DOCX)Click here for additional data file.S2 Appendix(DOCX)Click here for additional data file.