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BU is a University Gateway Partner for AHRC-funded StoryArcs Programme

BU research, humanities, Industry collaboration, Knowledge Exchange, Research news

A map of the UK with blue, purple, and pink dots noting locations relevant to the project. The text states "Across the UK, StoryArcs is exploring the deep structures and innovative uses of Story."Across the UK, 11 Story Associates are on a mission…

The StoryArcs Pilot Programme sees skilled individuals take on a presented challenge as they deepen their understanding of the value and potential of Story. Each of the 11 Story experts brings with them a range of skills in telling, analysing, and/or researching stories, and experience across multiple sectors, including creative writing, virtual reality, and community engagement.

We’re delighted to be a University Gateway Partner on the StoryArcs Programme, funded by the Arts and Humanities Research Council (AHRC). The programme is led by Bambo Soyinka, the world’s first (and only) Professor of Story, at The Story Society, Bath Spa University.

Locally, Dr Kayla Jones is working with Local Trust to collect and preserve the community experiences generated by their “Big Local” funding project. She is based at Bournemouth University, and mentored by Lyle Skains.

With the help of the Story Associates, the StoryArcs Programme is conducting a deep exploration into the nature of Story Skills. They’re seeking to find out what Story Skills are, to define and categorise them, and to examine how they work to enable diverse and innovative benefits.

Discover more about StoryArcs and the Story Associates at: https://storyarcs.com/blog/meet-the-story-associates/

Congratulations to Prof. Sara Ashencaen Crabtree

BU research, international, Publishing, Research news, Uncategorized, Women's Academic Network, writing

Congratulations to Sara Ashencaen Crabtree, Professor of Social and Cultural Diversity, on the publication of her latest book An Historiography of Women’s Missionary Nursing Through the Lives of Two Sisters: Doing the Lord’s work in Kenya and South India (published by Routledge).

This book employs both ethnographic and secondary, archival data, drawing on a rich, fascinating trove of original material from the pre-1940s to the present day.  It offers a unique historiographic study of twentieth century Methodist missionary work and women’s active expression of faith, practised at the critical confluence of historical and global changes. The study focuses on two English Methodist missionary nursing Sisters and siblings, Audrey and Muriel Chalkely, whose words and experiences are captured in detail, foregrounding tumultuous socio-political changes of the end of Empire and post-Independence in twentieth century Kenya and South India.

This work presents a timely revision to prevailing postcolonial critiques in placing the fundamental importance of human relationships centre stage. Offering a detailed (auto)biographical and reflective narrative, this ‘herstory’ pivots on three main thematic strands relating to people, place and passion, where socio-cultural details are vividly explored. 

This book pays tribute to our former colleague, Professor Fran Biley.  As part of a wider oral history project entitled “Memories of Nursing” Fran Biley interviewed two British sisters who had retired to the South of England.  The two sisters, Muriel and Audrey, followed very similar missionary career paths in two different former British colonies.  Two sisters spent a total of 54 years working as Methodist missionaries in India and Kenya, one as a nurse, the other as a midwife.  Fran collected over 10 hours of interview data, as well as old videos, a suitcase of 35mm slides, albums full of old photographs, letters and personal papers from the two sisters.   Unfortunately, Fran died far too young in November 2012, before the rich data could be analysed.  Sara conducted further extensive interviews with Muriel and others who knew them, as well as undertaking a huge detective hunt to find a considerable amount of secondary data pertaining to the sisters and other Methodist missionaries across UK archives.  I am glad to be able to report that  Dr Muriel Chalkley, whose life is portrayed in the book, received an Honorary Doctorate from Bournemouth University in recognition of her services to nursing.

Prof. Edwin van Teijlingen

Centre for Midwifery & Women’ Health (CMWH)

 

The Conversation one-to-one training for academics – 19th March

BU research, Featured, Research communication, the conversation

BU is a partner of The Conversation, a news analysis and opinion website with content written by academics working with professional journalists.

As a partner organisation, BU academics can write for The Conversation on your areas of expertise. Conversation journalists are offering 1-2-1 training sessions for you to understand more about The Conversation, or to discuss and pitch an article to them.

A training session for staff is available on Tuesday 19 March from 10.30am – 12.30pm. Slots are available for BU academics to book for a 15-minute session with a journalist through the Eventbrite link below.

Book your slot 

Why write for The Conversation?

The Conversation is a great way to share research and informed comment on topical issues. Academics work with editors to write pieces, which can then be republished via a Creative Commons licence. Since we first partnered with The Conversation, articles by BU authors have had over 9.5 million reads and been republished by the likes of The i, Metro, National Geographic Indonesia and the Washington Post.

You can learn more about working with The Conversation on the Research and Knowledge Exchange Sharepoint site

PRME UKI events and open calls for applications for awards

Events, Featured academics

You are invited to a Zoom meeting of the PRME UKI (Principles of Responsible Management Education, UK and Ireland) Interest Group on Employability, Sustainability and Jobs of the Future (co-led by Dr Jonathan Louw MCIPD SFHEA and Dr Karen Cripps) that will take place on 13th March from 2.30pm – 4.00pm. This will host Arti Kumar MBE as a keynote presenter to celebrate the close of the ‘Career Story Telling for the Sustainable Development Goals’ workshops.

 Arti’s keynote speech will unravel the key features of SOARing to Success as a principled, inclusive and interconnected approach. She will show how staff can animate the four dimensions of SOAR as a process of personalised learning that enables all students to constructively align their aspirations and employability development with sustainable development goals. 

The SOAR framework was used to structure the ‘Career Story Telling for the Sustainable Development Goals’ workshop that was delivered at over 20 universities as part of PRME seed funding for pedagogic innovations 2023 (by Karen Cripps, Cathy d’Abreu and Dr Milena Bobeva).The session will include insights from collaborating colleagues and students, share the resources developed through the project, and host an open discussion on approaches to embedding ’employability for sustainability’ within the curriculum. You can read more about the project and collaborators in the link below and the zoom registration link here.  To register in advance for this meeting click here.

After registering, you will receive a confirmation email containing information about joining the meeting.

PRME Global Student Sustainability Awards Open

We are delighted to share that submissions for the 2024 PRME Global Student Sustainability Awards are open!

All Sustainability-oriented student organisations associated with PRME Signatory Members from the PRME Chapter UK & Ireland are encouraged to apply! Submissions should be completed through a SUBMISSION FORM (deadline: 31st March 2024 at 23:59 ET) to be filled by a student organisation representative, who must be a student formally enrolled with a PRME Signatory Member during the 2023 calendar year.

Applicants can find all the information about the Awards structure, submission criteria and requirements by accessing the CALL FOR SUBMISSIONS – TERMS OF REFERENCE. There, you will see that the PGS Sustainability Awards are divided into two phases: Regional Awards (February to May) and Global Awards (May to June).

Due to a partnership with Marketplace Simulations, on the 18th June 2024, PRME will celebrate the Regional Winners and award the Global Winner during the 2024 PRME Global Forum. On occasion, the student organisation awarded as the Global Winner will receive a USD $2,000 monetary prize to increase the impact of their local initiatives! The PGS Team will host two informational webinars to present the 2024 PGS Sustainability Awards and answer any questions regarding the application processes.  Please find below the registration links to these informational sessions:

  • Informational Webinar 1 – 8th March, 12.00 to 13.00 CET (register here)

Informational Webinar 2 – 18th March, 17.00 to 18.00 CET (register here)

PRME UK and Ireland Conference and Doctoral Colloquium 2024

The Calls for Proposals are open for the PRME UK and Ireland Conference and Doctoral Colloquium 2024 ‘Educating for Deep Transformation: Business Schools’ contribution to a Greener, Healthier, Fairer Society’ to be held at the University of Exeter 19th-21st June 2024. 

Submission Deadlines:

Doctoral Colloquium: Tuesday 12th March 2024

Conference: Tuesday 19th March 2024

Details of the Calls can be found here.

Additional information can be found in the link below.

2024 PRME Faculty Teaching Awards: Applications are Open

The PRME Faculty Teaching Awards recognize excellence in teaching sustainable development and responsible management practices in business education. They seek to honour innovative and impactful pedagogical contributions that advance the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and align with the pedagogical interests of the PRME community.

Eligibility: Faculty at PRME Signatory institutions from all levels and disciplines. Applications can be submitted from individuals or as a team application of no more than six.

Submissions close: 31st March 2024. For more details click here.

Research Leadership training:  Leading the Development of a Project for Funding

Events, research staff, RKE development framework, Training

Research Leadership:  Leading the Development of a Project for Funding

Monday, 11/03/24, 13.00-15.00

We are all told to bid, to ensure that bidding for research funding is a normal part of academic life. This is especially the case for those in, or moving into, research leadership roles. But, where and how do you start? What are the key points to consider? How do you develop competitive ideas and what are the key ingredients in developing a bid? In this session we draw on the expertise of an external consultant, Dr Stephen Kemp, and BU’s Professor Michael Silk to explore the key elements to consider when thinking about leading the development of a project for funding. Particular emphasis will be based on:

  • Demystifying bidding, research leadership & project development through the lens of funding applications: developing research questions, choosing partners, incorporating impact and more
  • The key ingredients for (and the ‘balancing act’ of) leading the development of a project for funding
  • The lived experience (and successes and failures, challenges and benefits) of leading the development of a funded project (at BU!)
  • Using the RASCI matrix and GANTT charts

Book your place for this exciting event here.  For any queries, please contact RKE Development Framework

Leveraging the value of ‘capacity-building’ research impact!

Impact, Knowledge Transfer, parliament, Parliamentary Office of Science and Technology, policy

The narrative around research impact has quite rightly come to the fore in recent years. With funding organisations looking for a ‘bigger bang for their buck’ and universities emphasising their contribution to societal and economic value, it is no surprise that the words ‘research impact’ are central to researchers activities.

Whilst many researchers develop plans that emphasise ‘conceptual’ and ‘instrumental’ impacts, the long-term effect of their research is more difficult to consider. This is where ‘capacity-building’ impact comes into play. It refers to the positive effects of your research on the ability of individuals and organisations to utilise your research to strengthen their skills and invest resources in new and improved policy, processes and structures.

My work as an advisor to the Horizon Scanning & Foresight Committee in UK Parliament provides a useful example of how to develop this type of impact. My research and expert knowledge on managing uncertainty through horizon scanning and scenario planning is now informing parliaments new horizon scanning and foresight policy which will be used to identify ‘Areas of Research Interest’ (ARIs). ARIs are lists of policy issues or questions that select committees use to inform their work. Importantly, they help UK Parliament prepare for the future by identifying emerging trends and developments that might potentially affect UK Government policy.

A key feature of ‘capacity-building’ impact is that it takes time, resources and commitment to achieve a practical application. It’s not a one-off activity, but it can provide researchers with a powerful argument to leverage the impact of their work.

British Council funded BU project SUNRISE on sustainability research: three upcoming events

BU research, BU2025, Events, PG research, Postgraduate Research

SUNRISE (Supporting ­­­University Network for Research in Sustainability Engagement) is a British Council funded managed by BU in collaboration with Universiti Sains Malaysia (USM).

The project aims at inspiring and building capacity for sustainability research through hybrid cross-institutional student mobility events. Particularly, it focuses on leveraging student online and hybrid mobility to build capacity for research on sustainability and the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).

To achieve this, we will be hosting three cross-institutional hybrid conferences celebrating sustainability research carried out by staff, and undergraduate and postgraduate students in both universities. These will be demonstrating research addressing local and global challenges on five key themes:

 

Food nutrition and eating behaviour (SDG 2, 3, and 12)

Gender equality (SDG 5) 

Tourism and Hospitality (SDGs 3, 10, 12)  

Sustainability marketing and communication (all SDGs)  

Sustainability and employability (SDG 4, 5 and 8)  

 

The events will be delivered following the following schedule:

17 April 2024, 8-10 am (UK time) - researchers from both BU and USM will introduce the work they carry out on the themes above

9 May 2024, 8-10 am  (UK time) – we will host a student conference including live presentations and a virtual multimedia exhibition of UG and PG student research related to global challenges

Autumn 2024 - we will host a PGR conference including live presentations and a virtual multimedia exhibition of research related to global challenges

All events in the series will be run in a hybrid mode, i.e. they will be in-person at both the partner campuses with a virtual link between both universities capturing keynote presentations, online panel sessions and live pitches for research collaboration.

At BU, the project is managed by Dr Milena Bobeva (BUBS), Dr Reena Vijayakumaran (HSS), Prof Fiona Cownie (FMC), Dr Roberta Discetti (BUBS), and  Dr Daisy Fan (BUBS). Our partners at Universiti Sains Malaysia (USM) are Dr Vina Tan Phei Sean and Assoc Prof. Ng Theam Foo.

 

Visiting Researcher Patty Raun on Improvisation for Research Communication

Events

“The Art of Connecting Across Difference: Improvisation for Research Communication”

Professor Patty RaunThe Centre for Science, Health, and Data Communication Research is delighted to be hosting Professor Patty Raun, visiting from Virginia Tech’s Centre for Communication Science. She will be giving a special edition hybrid talk as part of our Spring speaker series on Monday March 11 from 4-5pm in P226 (Poole House). To receive the full calendar invitation, email afeigenbaum@bournemouth.ac.uk.

Come and play! Join us in person if you are able, as Patricia Raun, actor and director of the Center for Communicating Science at Virginia Tech in the USA, leads an exploration of some of the tools of arts practice that can help researchers build muscles of empathy, inclusion, and awareness. Raun will share a sampling of some of the participatory improvisation exercises that can lead to more effective and engaging interactions with collaborators and with public audiences. The urgent and growing need to use all of our capacities as human beings to address the complex challenges of our world means that while we must certainly use data and appeal to intellect–we also need to use less quantifiable aspects of human connection and communication. One recent participant in one of Raun’s workshops wrote, “This work gives me an understanding of what is required to be fully expressive, and I’m increasingly aware of how important that is. My research isn’t finished until it is communicated–and this work is about approaches to connecting with others that I have never really considered before. It is really invigorating and joyful.”

Professor Patty Raun is a professional actor and voice coach, a theatre professor, and Director of the Center for Communicating Science at Virginia Tech. She has devoted her life to developing healthy and varied voices (both literal and figurative) in individuals, institutions, and communities. She served as department head of Theatre and as director of the School of Performing Arts at Virginia Tech from 2002 – 2016 and has recently shifted the focus of her research and teaching to sharing the powerful tools of the theatre in the development of communication skills for scientists, technology professionals, and scholars — helping them to discover ways to become more direct, personal, spontaneous, and responsive.  She is particularly interested in empathy development, serious games and roleplay, collaborative problem solving, and values-based leadership.

The Month in Research: February 2024

BU research, Featured, Featured academics, Publishing, Research communication, Research news, research staff

A cartoon image of black and white hands clapping on a yellow background

The Month in Research

The Month in Research is our monthly round-up sharing research and knowledge exchange successes from across the previous month, showcasing the amazing work taking place across BU.

Your achievements

Thank you to everyone who has used the online form to put forward their achievements, or those of colleagues, this month.

  • Dr Luciana Esteves (Faculty of Science and Technology) is part of a team of coastal scientists, artists and educators who worked on the writing/production of Coasts for Kids, a series of videos narrated by 6-8 year old children about coastal processes. Coasts for Kids won 1st place at the Climate Creatives Challenge #04 (Coastal Change), which received submissions from 56 countries. A video about the challenge and the winning entries can be found here: https://youtu.be/7fWiRj8pq48

Funding

 Congratulations to all those who have had funding for research and knowledge exchange projects and activities awarded in January. Highlights include:

  • Professor Janice Denegri-Knott (Faculty of Media and Communication) has been awarded c.£200,000 by Horizon Europe: Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions for their project Mapping the full scope of consumer engagement on social media
  • Dr Richard Wallis (Faculty of Media and Communication) has been awarded c.£111,000 by the British Academy for their project Supportive offboarding: Developing new practices to support sustainable freelance careers in TV
  • Dr Anna Metzger (Faculty of Science and Technology) has been awarded c.£70,000 by the Royal Society for their project Perception of objects’ 3D shape – from active sensing to multisensory representations
  • Dr Simant Prakoonwit (Faculty of Science and Technology) has been awarded c.£35,000 by Innovate UK for their project Artificial Intelligence Content Moderation project

Publications

Congratulations to all those who have had work published across the last month. Below is a selection of publications from throughout February:

Content for The Month in Research has been collected using the research and knowledge exchange database (RED), the Bournemouth University Research Online (BURO) repository and submissions via The Month in Research online form. It is by no means intended to be an exhaustive list. All information is correct as of 28.2.24.

Please use The Month in Research online form to share your highlights and achievements, or those of colleagues, for the next monthly round-up.

 

NERC Pushing the Frontiers Call

Uncategorized

 

NERC Pushing the Frontiers Call – internal competition

NERC introduced demand management measures in 2012. These were revised in 2015 to reduce the number and size of applications from research organisations for NERC’s discovery science standard grant scheme. As the standard grant scheme has been superseded, demand management measures will be applied to the Pushing the Frontiers scheme only. Full details can be found in the BU policy document for NERC demand management measures.

BU has been capped at one application per Pushing the Frontiers round. An application counts towards an organisation, where the organisation is applying as the grant holding organisation (of the lead or component grant). This will be the organisation of the Principal Investigator of the lead or component grant.

BU process

BU has a process for determining which application will be submitted to each NERC Pushing the Frontiers round. This takes the form of an internal competition, which will include peer review. The next available round is estimated to be in July 2024. The deadline for internal Expressions of Interest (EoI) which will be used to determine which application will be submitted is 15 March 2024.  The EoI form, BU policy for NERC Demand Management Measures and process for selecting an application can be found here: I:\RDS\Public\NERC Demand Management\NERC Demand Management 2024.

Following the internal competition, the Principal Investigator will have access to support from RDS and will work closely with Research Facilitators and Funding Development Officers to develop the application. Applicants will be expected to make use of External Application Reviewers.

RDS Contacts

Please contact Kate Percival, RDS Research Facilitator – kpercival@bournemouth.ac.uk if you wish to submit an expression of interest.

Writing some blurb

Events, international, Publishing, Uncategorized, Women's Academic Network, writing

Publisher Routledge announced the forthcoming edited volume Menstruation in Nepal: Dignity Without Danger, which is edited by Sara Parker, Madhusudan Subedi and Kay Standing. This book examines the complexities of menstrual beliefs and practices in Nepal. Taking an interdisciplinary and intersectional approach, it explores and promotes the rights of women, girls and people who menstruate, to a dignified and healthy menstruation.  I had the honour of being asked to write some of the blurb for this exciting book.  Partly, because of our wide-range of health services and health promotion research in the country and partly because of our previous paper on reusable sanitary towels in the aftermath of the 2015 earthquake in Nepal [1].

Prof. Edwin van Teijlingen

Centre for Midwifery & Women’s Health

 

Reference:

  1. Budhathoki, S.S., Bhattachan, M., Pokharel, P.K., Bhadra, M., van Teijlingen, E. (2017) Reusable sanitary towels: Promoting menstrual hygiene in post-earthquake Nepal. Journal of Family Planning & Reproductive Health Care 43(2): 157-159.

Research Leadership:  Leading the Development of a Project for Funding

Events, research staff, RKE development framework, Training

Research Leadership:  Leading the Development of a Project for Funding

                                                                          Monday, 11/03/24, 13.00-15.00

We are all told to bid, to ensure that bidding for research funding is a normal part of academic life. This is especially the case for those in, or moving into, research leadership roles. But, where and how do you start? What are the key points to consider? How do you develop competitive ideas and what are the key ingredients in developing a bid? In this session we draw on the expertise of an external consultant, Dr Stephen Kemp, and BU’s Professor Michael Silk to explore the key elements to consider when thinking about leading the development of a project for funding. Particular emphasis will be based on:

  • Demystifying bidding, research leadership & project development through the lens of funding applications: developing research questions, choosing partners, incorporating impact and more
  • The key ingredients for (and the ‘balancing act’ of) leading the development of a project for funding
  • The lived experience (and successes and failures, challenges and benefits) of leading the development of a funded project (at BU!)
  • Using the RASCI matrix and GANTT charts

Book your place for this exciting event here.  For any queries, please contact RKE Development Framework

Team-based Learning for supported self-management of low back pain?

Awarded & submitted bids, BU research, BU2025, Events, Fusion, innovation, NHS

Plus two upcoming TBL workshops next week – sign up!

TBL for supported self-management of low back pain

A team based in the Department of Nursing Science led by Dr Jonny Branney have began a research project to investigate the potential role of Team-based Learning (TBL – for more on TBL, please read on) in enhancing the supported self-management of patients with low back pain. The team will be working with Joe Barry, musculoskeletal physiotherapist, NHS Somerset, to implement this new approach in a 5-week course for patients with persistent back pain. The project began with a patient-public involvement (PPI) online consultation in February 2024, funded by NIHR RDS South West, where 10 expert patients gave their views on what was planned – and the plans have been modified and improved accordingly. The TBL pain classes will be implemented in April-May 2024. The team are eagerly awaiting the outcome of a bid for a TBLC Research Grant which would fund a researcher to interview the patients who attend the first class to learn from their experiences with a view to learning how best to scale up the innovation.

Connected to this research there are two TBL workshops running next week – if this has piqued your interest then please read on and we hope you can join us next week!

An introduction to Team-based Learning

Team-Based Learning (TBL)  is an evidence based flipped classroom teaching and learning strategy. With TBL, students are required to engage with pre-class materials before working through a test in class as an individual and then in a team of 5-6 students. This process helps to prepare the student teams to then engage with application exercises, where they apply their knowledge in making decisions to manage real-world scenarios relevant to their discipline. Think TBL might be a good fit for your teaching and learning approach? Fancy trying something different? Come and join us!

BOOK HERE!

Facilitators: Dr Jonny Branney, Principal Academic in Nursing and Clinical Sciences; Certified Consultant-Trainer in TBL

and Ryan Muldoon, Lecturer in Adult Nursing

Venue: BRANKSOME – Talbot Campus

Date: Wednesday 6th March 2024

Workshop 1: Fundamental Principles and Practices of TBL (10am – 12pm)

Learning outcomes:

  • Describe the essential elements of TBL
  • Explain clearly and concisely how and why TBL works
  • Evaluate the benefits of using TBL

Workshop 2: Evaluating Multiple Choice Questions (MCQs) for Readiness Assurance Tests (RATs) and Application Activities (1pm – 3pm)

Learning outcomes:

  • Compare and contrast MCQs for RATs, exams and applications
  • Link MCQs to session learning outcomes
  • Identify common errors and barriers to writing effective MCQ questions

BOOK HERE!

Want to know more? Have a look here: www.teambasedlearning.org 

Hope to see you there!