Category / Psychology

Editorial accepted by Frontiers in Public Health

As part of the special issue in Frontiers in Public Health on ‘Evidence-based approaches in Aging and Public Health’ the guest editors included 15 academic papers.  These 15 contributions to the Special Issue were introduced in placed in perspective in our editorial ‘Editorial: Evidence-based approaches in Aging and Public Health’ [1] which was accepted for publication two days ago.   The guest editors included two Visiting Faculty to FHSS: Prof. Padam Simkhada and Dr. Brijesh Sathian.

 

Prof. Edwin van Teijlingen

Centre for Midwifery & Women’s Health (CMWH)

Reference:

  1. Sathian, B., van Teijlingen, E., Simkhada, P., Kabir, R., Al Hamad, H. (2024) Editorial: Evidence-based approaches in Aging and Public Health, Frontier in Public Health 12 (accepted)

“Seeking meaning in diagnosis”: Exhibition by BU MSc Student Sarah Clark

Explore the concept of diagnosis through the lens of BU MSc student, Sarah Clark, in her photo exhibition titled “Seeking Meaning in Diagnosis.”

The exhibition will be in the Atrium Gallery, Poole House, running throughout March.

Sarah, currently pursuing a Masters in Clinical and Developmental Neuropsychology at BU, delves into the theme of understanding diagnosis, as well as a sub-theme of utilizing creativity and time in nature to enhance well-being.

Diagnosed with hypermobile Ehlers-Danlos syndrome in February 2020, a rare genetic connective tissue disorder, Sarah’s journey took an unexpected turn when she discovered her Autism spectrum condition diagnosis in May 2022 during autism lectures on the Neurodevelopmental Diversity Unit of her MSc course.

Sarah’s lived-experience qualitative MSc Research Project, supervised by Dr Emily Arden-Close, explored the daily experiences of individuals living with both autism and hypermobile Ehlers-Danlos syndrome, and her dissertation is currently being written up for journal submission.

Acknowledging the transformative impact of formal diagnosis on her life, Sarah has embraced lifestyle changes and effective self-management strategies for her hEDS and various co-morbidities, including mast cell activation syndrome, autonomic dysfunction, and Median arcuate ligament syndrome alongside mental health challenges of Complex PTSD and OCD and managing the interactions with Premenstrual dysphoric disorder (PMDD).

In constant pain with every inhaled breath hurting and studying for her Masters whilst being on a liquid-only diet due to MALS, Sarah is now on a year-long waiting list for MALS surgery. She hopes her exhibition and sharing her diagnostic journey will provide inspiration to show what can be achieved even with extreme barriers.

Sarah sits as a patient expert in the EDS International Consortium, Psychiatric and Psychological Aspects Working Group, and Sarah presented her BMJ paper, “Help me trust you after my misdiagnosis,” at The EDS Global Learning Conference in Dublin last August.

Alongside being a student here, Sarah also works at BU as a Student Ambassador, Digitial Marketing Ambassador and a member of BU PIER (as a member of the public).

Passionate about medical education and raising awareness of rare health conditions, Sarah regularly engages in public awareness, volunteering, and charity fundraising.

Sarah recently facilitated a workshop on EDS for BU PIER for second-year nursing students and gave part of a lived-experience lecture on EDS to some of the MSc Health Psychology students.

As well as being a patient expert, photographer and blogger Sarah is also a keen yogi and she was featured in Hotpod Yoga’s Move with Purpose Campaign, discussing her late-autism diagnosis.

Influenced by her own health journey and navigating the complexities of the healthcare system, coupled with Complex PTSD from childhood trauma, Sarah has developed a keen interest in various aspects of the diagnostic journey.

Her exhibition, “Seeking Meaning in Diagnosis,” coincides with the ten-year anniversary of her March 2014 exhibition “Almost Beautiful” at Harbour Lights Cinema, Southampton.

Sarah’s exhibition aims to be thought-provoking, shedding light on the challenges of being diagnosed with rare conditions, inspiring creativity, and encouraging a connection with nature.

Expressing immense gratitude to the BU Community for the support and encouragement Sarah’s received here at BU, has not only improved her health and well-being but has also led to various amazing opportunities.

To learn more about Sarah’s interest in “diagnosis” –  visit her website.

Health Promotion article is being read

Our article ‘Understanding health education, health promotion & public health’ [1] is getting read according to ResearchGate.  This conceptual/ theoretical paper was published open access in late 2021 in the Journal of Health Promotion and it reached 4,500 reads yesterday. Whilst the web side of the journal suggests today that the PDF of the paper has been downloaded 8,511 times.

 

Prof. Edwin van Teijlingen

Centre for Midwifery & Women’s Health (CMWH)

 

 

Reference:

  1. van Teijlingen, K. R., Devkota, B., Douglas, F., Simkhada, P.,  van Teijlingen, E. R. (2021). Understanding health education, health promotion and public health. Journal of Health Promotion, 9(1): 1–7. https://doi.org/10.3126/jhp.v9i01.40957

Discovering Causal Relations and Equations from Data

Discovering equations, laws, or invariant principles underpins scientific and technical advancement. Robust model discovery has typically emerged from observing the world and, when possible, performing interventions to falsify models.

Recently, data-driven approaches like classic and deep machine learning are evolving traditional equation discovery methods. These new tools can provide unprecedented advances in computer science, neuroscience, physics, philosophy, and many applied areas.

We have just published a new study discussing concepts and methods on causal and equation discovery, outlining current challenges and promising future lines of research. The work also showcases comprehensive case studies in diverse scientific areas ranging from earth and environmental science to neuroscience.

Our tenet is that discovering fundamental laws and causal relations by observing natural phenomena is revolutionised with the coalescence of observational data and simulations, modern machine learning algorithms and domain knowledge. Exciting times are ahead with many challenges and opportunities to improve our understanding of complex systems.

This study is a collaborative work between eight universities in Europe and the United States (Valencia, Berlin, Tübingen, Jena, Stockholm, New York, and Bournemouth Universities).

Camps-Valls, G., Gerhardus, A., Ninad, U., Varando, G., Martius, G., Balaguer-Ballester, E., Vinuesa, R., Diaz, E., Zanna, L. and Runge, J., 2023. Discovering causal relations and equations from data. Physics Reports, 1044, 1-68 (Impact Factor=30).

 

The Success of CuttingGardens2023 Conference

Last week saw the great success of the CuttingGardens2023 conference (16-19 October 2023). This was a globally distributed and hybrid conference on cutting-edge EEG/MEG methods with 800+ attendees. The event was globally coordinated by the CuttingEEG Association, and locally hosted by 21 gardens in 15 countries across Europe, Asia, and North and South Americas. Bournemouth University hosted a local Bournemouth Garden as part of this global event. This was chaired by Dr Xun He (also a member of the global organising committee) and the Multimodal Immersive NEuro-sensing (MINE) Research Cluster.

The conference had a series of plenary (global) talks on topics of theoretical advances, real-time processing and classification, reproducible analyses, and deep neural networks. These plenary talks were globally broadcasted to all gardens. Our Bournemouth Garden hosted a plenary speaker (Hubert Banville from Meta) on deep neural networks in the afternoon of Thursday, 19 October. Our local discussion on the plenary talks was so lively and critical, that very often our questions were among the top-voted online. Our attendees also enjoyed a thought-provoking, interactive, and friendly local programme. Following BU’s research expertise, they got a chance to visit the MINE Research Cluster and the EEG-eye tracking co-registration labs, and greatly advanced their knowledge and skills in these research fields through talks and tutorials. Our sponsors, ANT Neuro UK (EEG equipment producer) and TG0 (tactile sensing devices producer), also showed great support and delivered excellent demonstrations showcasing the most recent technical advancement.

The full support from the Faculty of Science and Technology (represented by Prof Christos Gatzidis) was extraordinarily reassuring, without which the conference would not have taken place. FST’s Deputy Dean, Dr Carly Stewart, also delivered the welcome note for the conference.

Our great success could not have been possible without the very enthusiastic and dedicated work of the best team. They truly deserve a loud round of applause! They are:

Bournemouth Garden organising committee (over 15 months from July 2022 to October 2023): Xun He (Chair), Ellen Seiss, Andrew Hanson, Marina Kilintari, Ruijie Wang, Federica Degno, and Biao Zeng (University of South Wales, visiting fellow of BU)

Local speakers: Federica Degno, Andrew Hanson, Otto Loberg, Géza Gergely Ambrus, Xun He

MINE Research Cluster visit hosts: Fred Charles, Ellen Seiss, Andrew Hanson, Xun He

EEG-eye tracking co-registration lab visit hosts: Federica Degno, Otto Loberg

Broadcasting support: Elliott Roch

Assistants: Damla Kuleli, Toby Denholm-Smith

 

Some team members and speakers in the summer of 2023 (from left to right: Andrew Hanson, Ellen Seiss, Xun He, Federica Degno, Ruijie Wang, Marina Kilintari, Otto Loberg)

 

Registration desk (from left to right: Xun He, Andrew Hanson, Toby Denholm-Smith, Damla Kuleli)

 

Carly Stewart (FST’s Deputy Dean) delivering the welcome note

 

Poster session

 

Discussion after a plenary talk

 

Enjoying the conference dinner at a vegan restaurant

 

Ellen Seiss hosting the lab visit to MINE Cluster

 

Fred Charles hosting the lab visit to MINE Cluster

 

Géza Gergely Ambrus giving a workshop talk

 

Federica Degno giving a workshop talk

 

Xun He giving a workshop talk

 

Our locally hosted plenary speaker, Hubert Banville (from Meta AI), was giving a plenary talk

 

The cheerful and ambitious conference cohort

CuttingGardens2023 conference in Bournemouth

The MINE Research Cluster and EEG Lab are hosting a four-day CuttingGardens 2023 conference in Bournemouth during 16-19 October 2023. CuttingGardens is a distributed conference on cutting-edge methods for EEG/MEG data analysis, with 20+ “gardens” happening simultaneously at several locations across the world. The common global programme, broadcasted to all locations, includes cognitive neuroscience advances, real-time EEG analysis, reproducible research, and deep neural network. Our Bournemouth Garden’s local programme has hands-on #EEGLab and #MNE-Python tutorials, EEG-VR and EEG-eye tracking workshops, exciting talks and tour of state-of-the-art labs!

Key dates:
Abstract submission deadline: 15 September 2023
Registration deadline: 27 September 2023
Conference: 16-19 October 2023

More information can be found at https://cuttinggardens2023.org/gardens/bournemouth/. Please check the webpage if you are interested. This is an ideal event for anyone who is keen to elevate their EEG/MEG research skills. We welcome research students, postdocs, academics and professionals alike.

Bournemouth Garden Organising Committee:
Xun He, Ellen Seiss, Marina Kilintari, Federica Degno, Ruijie Wang, Andrew Hanson, and Biao Zeng (University of South Wales, BU’s Visiting Fellow)

 

Can ‘VOICE’ help with public involvement in your research? Find out more

Could using ‘VOICE‘ – National public involvement in research platform help with public involvement in your research?

Many researchers will already be aware of patient and public involvement (PPI) and the many benefits and the positive impact it can have in their research.  Please read two examples of how Cathy and Louise, both postgraduate researchers, have implemented public involvement in their research and read on for more information on VOICE and how it help with your research.

Cathy Beresford, Full time PhD student – Experiences of care in advanced liver disease

“For my research with people who have liver disease, I found VOICE extremely helpful for my public involvement strategy. Before I accessed VOICE, I struggled to reach people for public involvement. Although I am a nurse, I do not specialise in liver disease, and I did not have established links with the people I was seeking to do the research with. With fantastic support from BU PIER Officer Kate Jupp, I advertised my public involvement opportunity and had eight people come forward to take part in an online workshop. I reached a mix of people from different parts of the UK, four are people with liver disease and four are carers of individuals with liver disease. I found this to be the perfect number for a really constructive meeting where we discussed the findings of my recent systematic literature review and made plans for the upcoming research as part of my PhD project. All of the attendees of the meeting said they wanted to be further involved in public involvement as part of the research. Members of the group have since contributed to the participant information leaflets for the study and we are planning a further meeting in the autumn. For each meeting, individual members are given a £25 voucher for their time, which is part of my PhD funding.”

Louise Ward, Part time PhD student (and PPI adviser within BUCRU) – Online PPI: Perceptions and experiences of public contributors and researchers in health and social care research.

“Given that PPI is my chosen topic, it was essential that I have voices of those with relevant lived experience in my own doctoral research to help shape its planning and design. After some initial struggles acquiring funding to undertake PPI in my PhD, I ran some informal introductory PPI sessions to gauge how people have found online PPI and whether it’s been working for them.  I spoke with 11 people, 9 of which were found via the VOICE platform, they were a broad range of voices from around the UK. 

I posted an ‘opportunity’ on VOICE and was overwhelmed by the response, 38 people applied.  I had included additional questions to aid selection, e.g. length of time people have been involved in research, but you can choose whatever you wish to ask for extra information, e.g. experience of a certain health condition or use of a particular service.  You are also able to state certain criteria, e.g. age, gender etc. Even with the additional information, it was tough to narrow down to a smaller number (within the budget I’d allowed myself), but after reading through each application I reduced numbers to 10 people and approved/declined/added to wait list accordingly. I ran two PPI sessions via VOICE, the first one with three people (I had some non-attendees so it’s good to plan for that) and the second with six people.  Kate from BU PIER also joined the sessions as it’s always good to have a second person to co-facilitate. Both were really useful sessions and all were keen to stay involved in helping with my future research.  I have since contacted a smaller number of them and plan to run a regular public advisory group throughout my PhD at various stages to ensure my research stays relevant to those whom it impacts the most.”

To summarise, researchers can:

  • Easily and quickly register for VOICE
  • Submit an opportunity request to involve members of the public in their research
  • Use the digital tools the platform offers to involve members of the public in research
  • Promote workshops/groups
  • Facilitate online discussions
  • Promote opportunities for the public to join steering groups
  • Online surveys & polls
  • Set up a closed group to communicate, share documents and support an established public involvement group
  • Access and share support and learning resources to help patient and public involvement and engagement activities

You can register with VOICE and explore what is available. Please email Kate Jupp or Louise Ward or on: voice@bournemouth.ac.uk to discuss how we can help get the public involved in your research and/or promote an event or opportunity to VOICE members.

VOICE are running an introductory session for new members on 11 September 2023 to explain what VOICE is, it will mostly be aimed at members of the public but will give a good insight into what VOICE can offer for researchers too.

INRC seminar by Dr Jie Sui, Friday the 8th of September at 14.00 h, Share Lecture Theatre (Fusion).

We want to draw your attention to a seminar organized by the Interdisciplinary Neuroscience Research Centre on this Friday, the 8th of September, from 14:00 h to 15:00 h at the Share Lecture Theatre (Fusion Building). There will be a networking event after the talk with coffee and biscuits.

Our guest speaker is Dr. Jie Sui (University of Aberdeen), invited by Dr. Ellen Seiss. Prof Dr Sui is renowned for her studies investigating the unique self, self-representation, and social interactions in VR. Her research combines multiple neural recording modalities, such as EEG and fMRI, with computational modelling.

The title of this exciting talk is: “Understanding the Self: Prospects for Translation”. Please find the abstract below.

We warmly invite you to attend this seminar.

Kind regards,

Ellen and Emili, on behalf of all of us.

Abstract:

“An understanding of the self helps explain not only human thoughts, feelings, and attitudes but also many aspects of everyday behaviours. This talk focuses on a particular perspective on self-processes. This perspective highlights the dynamics of the self that best connects with the development of the self over time and its realist orientation. We are using psychological experiments and data mining to comprehend the stability and flexibility of the self in different populations.

In this talk, I integrate experimental psychology, associative learning theory, computational neuroscience, and machine learning approaches to demonstrate why and how self-association affects cognition and how it is modulated by various social experiences and situational factors.”