Recent articles..

To Initiate a Research Platform for Electric Vehicle (EV) Business Ecosystem Research

Posted in BU research, Entrepreneurship & Economic Growth, Fusion, Green Economy & Sustainability by Rong Ke

This project (sponsored by SMN Strand Santander Scholarships), is conducted by Dr.Ke Rong (Business School) and Dr.Nigel Williams(Tourism School) to initiate an university-industry research platform between UK-China for the emerging electric vehicle business ecosystem and business model research. This project would help BU secure an active position in the electric vehicle industry research. The research platform will integrate scholars of Santander Universities including two Chinese top universities (Tsinghua and CEIBS) and two UK top universities (Cambridge, Bath) as well as two committed EV companies. Based on this platform, the industrial fieldwork and one public seminar on EV industry development will be organized in China by engaging top scholars and practitioners which will expand BU’s reputation in China and UK. One journal paper of EV ecosystem would be developed based on our research.

For more information, please contact Dr Ke Rong (krong@bournemouth.ac.uk).

 

Bridging the valley of death: UK Government need to improve the commercialisation of research

Posted in BU research by lrossiter

The Science and Technology Committee have warned that the Government has no coherent strategy to support the commercialistion of technology innovation in the UK.

Committee Chair Andrew Miller MP, said:

“The UK’s university and science sector is a global success, but the challenge for Government is how that world class academic research can be translated into commercial activity”

There exists the concept of a ‘valley of death’ that prevents the progress of science from the laboratory bench to the point where it provides the basis of a commercially successful business or product. The future success of the UK economy has been linked to the success of translating a world class science base to generate new businesses with the consequent generation of UK jobs and wealth.

Despite there being innovation schemes such as KTPs and SMART awards – SMEs are still being let down by a lack of access to financial support. Government grant funding is often highly bureaucratic to apply for and only enough to get an ‘idea off the ground’.

The report concludes that there is a need for a clear vision from the Government to provide businesses confidence to make R&D investments. Without a definite commitment from Government about which sectors it intends to fund, business is more reticent about making its own financial commitment. A clear strategy for the future should aid the higher levels of business related research and development from businesses in the UK.

For more information, please visit the report via the links below:

MERJ / HEA Researchers’ Retreat

Posted in Media Studies, Publishing, Training by jmcdougall
I’m pleased to share with you more details about a forthcoming  ’researchers’ retreat’ at Birmingham City University on May 17th: http://www.heacademy.ac.uk/events/detail/2013/17_May_MERJ
The free event is hosted by the Media Education Research Journal (co-edited by myself and Richard Berger) at BCU, and funded by the Higher Education Academy. The purpose of the retreat is to bring together ‘would be’ media education researchers / writers for networking, support and feedback on ideas. MERJ editorial board members will be attending to share their experiences.

BU academics to look at access to maternity services in Nepal with Fellowship grant

Posted in BU research, Featured academics, Health, Wellbeing & Ageing by Julia Hastings Taylor

A team from Bournemouth University will look at why women in Nepal don’t use health services when giving birth, after receiving the first International Fellowship for Midwives. The Fellowship is awarded by the charity Wellbeing of Women, in association with the Royal College of Midwives, for research into maternity services and women’s health from an international perspective. The team from BU will use the £20,000 Fellowship grant to look at the real and perceived barriers to women in Nepal giving birth within a health facility with a skilled birth attendant.

“There is evidence that access to skilled birth attendant is likely to lead to a better outcome for the mother and baby,” said Lesley Milne, senior lecturer in Midwifery at Bournemouth University, who will lead the project. “If they don’t, it is more likely to end in a maternal mortality, and we are trying to determine why women in Nepal don’t access health services.”

Lesley will be supported by Vanora Hundley, Professor in Midwifery at BU, Edwin van Teijlingen, Professor of Reproductive Health Research at BU, and Dr Padam Simkhada, from the University of Sheffield. The year-long project will start on April 1 and the money received as part of the Fellowship will enable Lesley to go to Nepal for three weeks in September to undertake the research. She said: “This would not be possible if we had not been awarded this money. It’s fantastic to have received this grant and we are really pleased about it.” She added: “There is an under-utilisation of health services in Nepal. It is about getting women to use the services available and trying to find out why many of them currently don’t. I will be going out to Nepal to observe and also undertake some interviews of health personnel of both a rural hospital and a hospital in Kathmandu, to try to see what they think is preventing women from accessing services.” Lesley added that possible reasons for women not accessing health services could include having to travel a long way, having had poor previous experiences or their cultural beliefs.

Bournemouth University has been building links with Nepal across a number of areas and academic schools, including the School of Health and Social Care, and both Lesley and fellow researcher Professor Edwin van Teijlingen have experience in the surrounding area. Lesley said that she hoped the research could be a springboard for future study. “I hope that we may have a great insight into why women aren’t accessing services and hopefully will be able to address that in the future,” she said.

A Request for Help or Coming of Age?

Posted in News from the PVC by Matthew Bennett

In the distant past I helped to give birth to several textbooks.  I wrote a lot of stuff in the easy days of the 90’s, when life was simpler and sleep was for wimps!  One of these textbooks has endured, the one closest to my heart.  It was written with my PhD twin – he was erosion and I was deposition – a friendship forged in the Cairngorms attempting to paint frozen pebbles on avalanche slopes that has endured for over 25 years.  Glacial Geology was first published in 1996 and a second edition was squeezed out between other projects in 2009.  The book still sells and still manages to delight its authors when found on a dusty shelf in academic bookshops; finding the book shop is the greater challenge these days however.  As a 17 year old the book is not in bad shape and I am intrigued by the idea of keeping it alive so that we can celebrate its twenty first birthday.  Having a tradition view on these things I am taking this landmark as 21 not 18 by the way.  In its life it has seen a lot of change in me, in higher education and in the field to which it provides a general introduction.  This change is the point of the post, in case you had begun to wonder?  My co-author and I have been approached by the publisher about a third edition, which is a daunting prospect given my lack of time, a problem shared by my co-author who holds a similarly challenging role in Wales.  The challenge is worse however since the publisher not only wants a new book, but also a fully interactive e-version with a website and learning resource.  Sadly it is to be a book for the modern digital age when paper and few good pictures are no longer enough.  So sitting in my in-box is a draft proposal from my co-author – curse his efficiency – with some suggestions about how we might approach the e-version; video clips of classic landforms, pod casts of key concepts, interactive diagrams which you can explore with your finger or mouse, and a hyper linked bibliography.  Neither Neil, nor I profess to be experts in this field and that is the purpose of this post, to seek your help.  What would you do?  What would you include? Where are there good examples that we can look at and follow?

Vitae briefing documents for REF 2014

Posted in REF Subjects by Becca Edwards

Vitae has produced “REF 2014: Briefing for Researcher Developers‘” in order to support those who are preparing submission and to enhance the quality of their environmental narrative. This can be found here

There is a also a “REF 2014: Summary for Submitting Units” which provides a useful at a glance guide, can be found here

These are HEFCE approved documents which highlight the importance of development activities.

Face Blindness Public Awareness Campaign Gets Underway!

Posted in BU research, Featured, Featured academics, Health, Wellbeing & Ageing, Psychology by Sarah Bate

Research from BU’s Centre for Face Processing Disorders was featured in a CBBC documentary today.  The film was entitled ‘My life: Who are you?’ and followed the journey of Hannah, a teenager with face blindness, as she participated in one of our training programmes and discusses the difficulties of everyday life.  The documentary also featured Hannah meeting another girl with face blindness for the first time, and her encounter with Duncan Bannatyne who also has the condition.

We are so pleased with the documentary, and felt the producers did an excellent job in portraying the condition with scientific accuracy, and in demonstrating the difficulties associated with face blindness.  Despite Hannah’s struggles she still maintains a positive attitude to life and the film does an excellent job of presenting her as the remarkable young lady that she is, who was so keen to make the film in order to raise public awareness of the condition.  Hannah’s story illustrates how life can be affected by brain injury, but her remarkable positivity shines through as the programme follows her journey.

If you missed the programme you can watch it here:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/cbbc/episode/b01rlyc9/My_Life_Who_Are_You/

We recently launched an e-petition that aims to promote public and professional awareness of prosopagnosia by campaigning for its discussion in the House of Commons.  We need to gain 100,000 signatures to make this happen, so if you were moved by the documentary, please do add your signature:

http://www.prosopagnosiaresearch.org/awareness/e-petition

Our public awareness campaign has only just taken off so watch this space for more activities!

Travelling with a purpose: the altruistic, personal motivations and experiences of conservation volunteers on an expedition to Bardia National Park, Nepal

Posted in Awarded & submitted bids, BU research by scurtin

The further development of partnerships between conservation research and ecotourism is highly desirable.  However it is reliant on attracting willing participants to go on conservation expeditions.  Understanding the motivational and experiential aspects of such travel is therefore fundamental to devising research volunteering opportunities and marketing that provoke necessary tourist applications. There is much cynicism in the tourism literature about the desire to ‘travel with a purpose’ mostly on the assumption that volunteering merely eases developed-world middle class guilt. A counter view, however, is that this type of travel not only supports worthy causes but also leads to learning and personal development where tourism is based on being, doing, touching and seeing rather than just seeing.

Due to my continued interest and publications in wildlife tourism and conservation, I was selected to join a scientific expedition to Bardia National Park in Nepal to participate in a study of the regions’ unique population of wild elephants. The expedition was led by the well-known explorer and author Colonel Blashford-Snell, the founder of Operation Raleigh and the Scientific Exploration Society, whilst the research is under the supervision of Professor Adrian Lister of the Natural History Museum.

I travelled with twenty individuals who brought various skills to the team. My fieldwork consisted of semi-structured, in-depth interviews with fellow participants during the expedition.  The interviews explored their motivations for joining the team, what the expedition meant to them, their experiences of travel and transformation, and their notions of adventure and altruism.  A travel diary was also kept which logged observations of the day’s activities, logistics, the teams’ thoughts on what they had encountered and achieved, the sharing of significant stories, and the hopes and personal challenges of living and ‘working’ in the jungle.

I had a number of duties which have been assigned to me beyond the logging, measurement and photography of elephants. These included providing an advisory role to the local naturalists / guides wishing to expand and develop ecotourism in Bardia National Park, and keeping a species list of birds and butterflies.  Part of the expedition also included visiting and helping the villages near base camp as well as involving them in elephant conservation.  I am currently writing up the study and findings will eventually be disseminated at a special interest / nature based tourism conferences and published in a peer reviewed journal. The raw data presents a number of recurring themes namely that:

  • The place itself is less important than the volunteer activity
  • There is a search for like-minded people and meaningful friendships
  • This type of travel is a quest to ‘join a community’, i.e. that the co-volunteers become a family or a community with shared memories and experiences
  • Traditional travel is perceived as ‘islands in time’ whilst expeditions are different as friendships, contacts, reunions and fund-raising activities stretch into the future.
  • It is not the places that are visited, it is more the thoughts and feelings that are brought back to everyday lives following an expedition

Dr Susanna Curtin, School of Tourism

New AHRC strategy: The Human World

Posted in Funding opportunities, Grants Academy, Research news by Dianne Goodman

It has been announced that over the next five years, the AHRC will strengthen knowledge and understanding of the human world by focussing on excellence of achievement, extending opportunity and building capacity through partnerships. Published friday, The Human World: The Arts and Humanities in our Time (2013-2018), the AHRCs new Strategy, sets out the AHRCs distinctive role in the UKs system of support for research and how it intends to meet the challenges of a rapidly changing research environment.

Over the next five years the new strategy commits the AHRC to: supporting collaborative and inter-disciplinary research, whilst maintaining its strong commitment to responsive mode and ambitious researcher-led projects; enhancing postgraduate provision; extending and increasing the opportunities for researchers to work collaboratively with a wide range of partners; maintaining the UKs international leadership in arts and humanities research; and further explaining and evidencing the value and importance of research in the arts and humanities.

The Strategy was developed through extensive discussions with the AHRCs Council and Advisory Board as well as comments received from the research community gathered from the publication of a draft strategy, institutional visits, subject associations and learned society meetings, the Peer Review College and focus groups and town meetings. I took part in a number of meetings held here at Bournemouth, along with other panel members and recipients of AHRC funding.

Some of the key points relate to reflecting the value and importance of the arts and humanities research, so linking their funding more directly to the impact agenda of the REF.  The aim is therefore to ensure the people, skills and research AHRC supports have a clear strategy for interacting with and impacting upon public life to bring cultural, intellectual and economic benefits to the UK and beyond.

The strategy is available here (http://www.ahrc.ac.uk/News-and-Events/News/Documents/AHRC-Strategy-2013-18.pdf) while the website also contains further information in a variety of formats (http://www.ahrc.ac.uk/News-and-Events/News/Pages/AHRC-Strategy-2013-2018.aspx). The message is clear however, if there is no clear pathway to impact the project will not be funded and it will no longer be acceptable to rely on academic publications as the only means for dissemination for research findings.

Change BU through 15 mins invested in CROS & PIRLS

Posted in BU research by Corrina Dickson

Despite sounding like a cheesy folk musical duo, CROS and PIRLS are actually two key tools for you to tell BU your thoughts on being an academic member of staff here….

What are CROS & PIRLS?

The Careers in Research Online Survey (CROS) and the Principal Investigators and Research Leaders Survey (PIRLS) are two short questionnaires (about 15 mins) prepared by Vitae to capture the experiences of research active staff. As part of our EC HR Excellence in Research Award Badge, it is critical we know your views.

The surveys are run biennially and gather anonymous data about working conditions, career aspirations and career development opportunities for research staff and research leaders in UK Higher Education.

Why should I complete a survey?

PIRLS and CROS will have a significant impact on those conducting and leading research in the UK.

For instance feedback CROS has provided to the government has led to additional funding to institutions for research staff development, as well as significantly raising the profile of research staff both within institutions and nationally.

On a local level, we will use the feedback from these surveys to improve support we offer at BU. This is your time to have your say so make sure your voice is heard. Don’t rely on others to complete this and give your views; the more responses we have the greater the knowledge we will have about what life is like for you at BU. Once we have this, we can respond more effectively to your needs and ensure any policy developments are evidence based.

 

Do I have to complete both surveys?

No – PIRLS is aimed at those who are a research grant holder, personally responsible for the management of research staff and/or the formal supervision of postgraduate researchers and those principally responsible for setting the intellectual direction of research. If you match this description, please complete the PRILS questionnaire.

CROS is aimed at those who have the primary responsibility of conducting research and are employed for this purpose. If you are employed primarily to conduct research and have no formal staff management/supervision responsibilities please complete the CROS questionnaire.

How do I complete the survey?

The surveys will remain open  until 25 March 2013 and the hyperlinks are here: CROS & PIRLS

CEMP Research & Innovation Bulletin

Posted in Creative & Digital Economies, Culture & Society, Funding opportunities, Media Studies, Technology & Design by jmcdougall

Here is the updated CEMP Research & Innovation bulletin and agenda for the next cluster meeting - CEMP Cluster bulletin and agenda 28.3.13_KE

The cluster meeting is on Thursday March 28th, 9.30-11.30 in the CEMP office.

Thanks to Kris Erickson for these updates.

The ‘thinktank’ reading for discussion at the meeting is SURRENDERING THE SPACE Convergence culture, Cultural Studies and the curriculum

Thanks to Ashley Woodfall for this.

Expressions of interest in the funding opportunities in the bulletin and / or to confirm meeting attendance, please email julian@cemp.ac.uk.

 

 

 

CIPD Research Showcase Event

Posted in BU research by lfarquharson

The Department of Human Resources and Organisational Behaviour in The Business School held a successful Research Showcase for members of the CIPD (the professional body for HR practitioners) on Wednesday 13th March.  The event focused on highlighting to the wider business community the research and knowledge exchange work of the HR/OB team. 

The event included a networking buffet, poster presentations showcasing the areas of identity at work (Dr Anne Benmore), leadership practice (Dr Lois Farquharson), false performance (Dr Gbola Gbadamosi), HR and ethics (Dr Louise Preget), health and wellbeing management (Dr Davide Secchi), cross-cultural HRM and diversity (Dr Huiping Xian) and two interactive presentation/discussion sessions covering ‘docility’ in hiring practices (Davide Secchi) and High involvement HR practices and work attitudes (Hong Bui). 

The event was ably chaired by Dr Fabian Homberg.  In addition, the opportunity was taken to launch the CIPD Approved MSc Professional Development (HRM) course which begins at the EBC in September 2013 (link: BU Link to MSc PD (HRM) Course details).  Thanks is extended to all those who contributed to the event and attended the event.  We look forward to delivering more research events in the future.

Revision to the Activity Proposal Form Process

Posted in BU research, Guidance by Matthew Bennett

Currently all research and knowledge exchange bids require an Activity Proposal Form (APF) to be signed off by the applicant, Dean and depending on the value members of UET and the Board.  To date the APF has focused on financial issues, primarily the financial recovery of a proposed bid or grant.  Currently the APF process has been a paper based system rather than one which allows for electronic approval.  This is about to change with one important addition!

The APF has to date not required any sign-off with respect to bid quality, yet submissions of poor quality endangers both personal and institutional reputations. In future all bids will require a dual sign-off one focused on financial issues and one focused on quality.  The quality will be determined by a senior academic within a particular school, typically the Deputy Dean for Research/Knowledge Exchange and other nominated assessors.  This will all be wrapped up in a new paper-free system. 

The redesigned APF process will introduce a formal three stage approval process which will work as follows:

Stage One: An Intention to bid form will be completed by the Principal Investigator (PI) in conjunction with RKE Operations and approved before the PI can progress with the bid.  As part of this process, the PI will nominate a quality approver from a School’s approved list.  Out of curtsy the PI is expected to inform the nominated Quality Approver that they will receive the bid in due course.   Once the form is completed and RKE Ops have entered the details on RED, the Authorised School signatory will be sent the bid electronically, which they will receive in the form of an email containing a link.  Clicking on the link will direct them to the APF Approval Screen to make their decision.  If UET/Board Member approval is required then it will follow the same process and they will receive the link also.

Stage Two: Each School’s Deputy Dean Research/Knowledge Exchange has provided a list of Quality Approvers.  Training is being provided to the Quality Approvers during February and March.  When the bid is ready the Quality Approver will be sent the bid electronically to confirm that it is of sufficient quality to be submitted for external funding and they will approve the bid via link as per Stage One.  Sufficient quality is defined as ‘without causing reputational damage to the individual or BU’.  The Quality Approver will be required to justify their decision and may also provide feedback to help the applicant fine tune the final bid.  If a bid has been through the Internal Peer Review Process this step will be largely automatic.  Quality approval is only required for: (A) competitive research bids (e.g., RCUK, Charities etc.) regardless of value; and (B) competitive knowledge exchange bids such as tenders and contract research bids where the value is in excess of £50k.  If a bid is declined by a Quality Approver RKE Ops will inform the Dean and RKEDO Internal Peer Review Team to trigger support and guidance to the PI to improve the quality of the bid if there is sufficient time.  The Dean will be responsible for informing the PI that their bid has been declined on the grounds of ‘Quality’ and will provide them with feedback.  Appeal can be made directly to the PVC who will adjudicate differences of opinion on the basis of their own review of the bid. 

Stage Three: Final approval is only required if finances within a bid have changed  significantly changed from those set out in Stage One.  RKE Ops will decide whether this is the case and whether re-approval is required. 

For all stages of approval, all approvers will be sent an email containing a link to the bid; relevant documentation will be provided in the link; comments can be added to say why a decision was made (these will appear on the APF); and no log-in to RED is required.

The APF Process is being piloted in HSC throughout March and the official go-live date for all Schools will be 2 April.  The RKE Operations team will provide the PI with the Intention to Bid form.  Jo Garrad, RKE Operations Manager, will provide a user guide explaining the new process once the pilot has been completed.

HEFCE is looking to appoint new members to its Strategic Advisory Committees

Posted in Research news by Becca Edwards
HEFCE logo

 

HEFCE wishes to appoint new members to three of its four Strategic Advisory Committees. These positions provide a unique opportunity to contribute to higher education at a time of significant change in the sector. We are keen to recruit new members from education, business and the professions, as well as from individuals who can represent the interests of students.

Enhancing the diversity of the membership of the committees is important to us and we welcome applications from under-represented groups including women, disabled people and people from an ethnic minority background.

Further information and a person specification are available from the appropriate committee contact:

One-page application statements addressing the person specification should be sent to the appropriate committee e-mail address above by midnight

on 12 April 2013.

Congratulations and Good Luck

Posted in BU research, Featured academics, News from the PVC by Matthew Bennett

February had a good deal of activity around bids being submitted and awarded, with Schools winning consultancy contracts, research grants and organising Short Courses.

For Applied Sciences, congratulations are due to Richard Stillman for his consultancy contract with the Welsh Government, to Mark Maltby for his consultancy contract with Central Bedfordshire Council, to Andrew Ford for his two consultancy contracts with WPA Consultants and Axent Embroidery, to Ralph Clark for his consultancy contract with the Environment Agency, to Phillipa Gillingham and John Stewart for their award from Natural England.  Good luck to Daniel Franklin with his application to the Marine Management Organisation, to Emilie Hardouin for her application to FSBI, and to Rob Britton and Richard Stillman for their proposed consultancy with DEFRA.

For DEC, good luck with the applications submitted by Katherine Appleton to the Humane Research Trust, by Simon Thompson to the Royal Society, and by Tania Humphries-Smith to the HEA. 

For HSC, congratulations are due to Anthea Innes for her award from the NIHR and also good luck with her application to Bournemouth Churches Housing Association, as well as her consultancy training for Gracewell Healthcare together with Michele Board, Vanessa Heaslip and Sue Barker, and finally, for Anthea and Michele Board’s short course with RBCH.  Good luck also to Edwin Van Teijlingen for his application to NIHR.

Congratulations to the Media School for Liam Toms consultancy contract with Kestrel Medical Ltd, to Rebecca Jenkins for her consultancy contract with Craft Strategy Ltd.  Good luck to Stuart Allan and Einar Thorsen for their application to ESRC, and to Darren Lilleker, Dan Jackson, Richard Scullion, Einar Thorsen and Shelley Thompson for their application to ESRC, to Julian McDougall and Kris Erickson for their application to The Spencer Foundation, to Carrie Hodges and Janice Denegri-Knott for their application to the British Academy, to Iain MacRury, Chris Williams and Steve Harper for their consultancy bid to SKILLSET, and to Liam Toms with his consultancy bid to Work Research Limited.

For the School of Tourism, congratulations go to Richard Gordon for securing funding for his short courses with the MoD and NEMA, and good luck to Jon Hibbert with his contract to Liz Lean PR Ltd, to Christian Lemmer and Crispin Farbrother with their short course to Wuhan City Vocational College, to Lisa Stuchberry for her contract to NHS Dorset, to Stephen Calver with his contract to Bournemouth Borough Council, and to Nicky Pretty and Lisa Stuchberry for their contract to Godolphin Company.

For applications and bids submitted, a number of people have submitted applications to the European Commission and so good luck to Adrian Newton, Kathy Hodder, Elena Cantarello, Judith DeGroot and Chris Shiel from Applied Sciences who are investigating Bio-regional approaches to sustainability transitions, to Jon Williams, Luciana Esteves and Christos Gatzidis also from Applied Sciences. To Ian Swain who is researching the Mediterranean diet against depression, to Katherine Appleton, Emili Balaguer-Ballester for their separate applications,  all from DEC, and to Abdelhamid Bouchachia (DEC) and Hammadi Nait-Charif (MS) for their application, to Anthea Innes and Michele Board from HSC with their Erasmus application, to Edwin Van Teijlingen also from HSC, to Stuart Allan from the Media School, and to Dimitrios Buhalis, Alessandro Inversini and Katherine King, all from the School of Tourism.

Finally, good luck to Jian Jun Zhang, Xiaosong Yang and Lihua You (all MS) with their application to EPSRC for an award in Human Robot Symbiosis in a shared Nervebot for phantom limb pain, to Jonathan Williams (HSC) for his contract to the International Tennis Federation concerning Lumbo-pelvic-hip motion sharing in tennis players.  In HSC, good luck goes to Keith Brown who is applying for two separate KTPs with Brent Council and Dorset County Council.  Good luck to Venancio Tauringana in the Business School, who has submitted an application to the British Academy’s International Partnership and Mobility Scheme.

Don’t miss the ‘Festivity Mashup’ – today at 5pm in the Loft (food and drinks available)!

Posted in BU research, Leisure & Recreation, Research themes by Julia Hastings Taylor

You are invitied to join the Leisure and Recreation research theme for their Ideas Cafe, titled “A ‘Festivity Mashup’”!

When: 20 March 2013, 5pm – 7pm

Where: The Loft, Poole House, Talbot Campus

‘Festivity’ is an expanding and critical phenomenon that is impacting on all areas of life from events, technology and gaming, health and wellbeing, media and digital culture, to tourism, fashion and food.  ‘Festivity Mashup’ is an informal ‘eat, drink and discuss’ session that explores these areas, their research and practical applications as well as future. Don’t be worried, not all festivity is about ludic behaviours, role inversion and communing in liminoid environments. So, if you like research with a difference, where casual sociability and soft engagement mingles critique and a hint of intrigue join us in the Loft on March 20th, starting at 17:00….

Potential themes:

·         Gamification of the Live and Lived Fantasy

·         Mediated Lifestyles: Communities of Convergence

·         Wellbeing and Wonder: Edutainment in Action

·         Festivalization of the Everyday

·         Festive Identities from Parade to Protest

·         Journeys of Emotioneering & Imagineering

.         Meanings, Value and C2C Co-creation

·         Globalising Cultural Policy: Place Wars

·         Festival for Whom?: the Politics of Place

·         Experiential Dreams in the Age of the McFestival

·         Consumerism, Sustainability and Post-Festivity

·         Digital Brandscapes: New Worlds of Performative Play

If you are interested in attending please let Naomi Kay (nkay@bournemouth.ac.uk) or Julia Hastings Taylor (jhastingstaylor@bournemouth.ac.uk) know.

BU research to feature in BJOG’s international Twitter Journal Club

Posted in BU research by Vanora Hundley

A recent paper by Professor Vanora Hundley is receiving significant interest and is to feature in the British Journal of Obstetrics and Gynaecology’s Twitter Journal Club. For the last two years the BJOG has provided questions and slide sets to help readers evaluate selected papers in their local Journal Club. However, the introduction of the new Twitter Journal Club allows readers across the world to engage in online critical review and discussion. In addition to the paper, participants are provided with a scenario, background to the clinical issue, helpful details about the paper and discussion points. Journal club members participate in the discussion via Twitter using a specified hashtag (#BlueJC).  The discussion session starts on 20 March 2013 at 17:00 GMT and is open to anyone to join. For further details see: http://www.bjog.org/details/news/4459851/Blue_JC.html

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