Tagged / media

New Book Published by Dr Pawel Surowiec “Nation Branding, Public Relations and Soft Power: Corporatising Poland”

I am pleased to announce the publication of a new book – the first in the English-speaking world research monograph analysing the link between nation branding and the governance of Poland’s soft power. The book covers the following themes: Poland’s foreign and public affairs; the marketization of statecraft and its implications for exercising soft power by Poland and other Central and Eastern Europe (CEE) states; shift in the governance of soft power resources – avenues of changes from propaganda to marketing communication; the mediation of state identities, national identities and soft power; the significance of nationalism(s) and promotional culture for Poland’s soft power; the role and position of Poland in European affairs.

Nation Branding, Public Relations and Soft Power: Corporatizing Poland provides an empirically grounded analysis of changes in the way in which various actors seek to manage Poland’s national image in world opinion. It explores how and why changes in political economy have shaped these actors and their use of soft power in a way that is influenced by public relations, corporate communication, and marketing practices.

By examining the disourse and practices of professional nation branders who have re-shaped the relationship between collective identities and national image management, it plots changes in the way in which Poland’s national identity is communicated, and culturally reshaped, creating tensions between national identity and democracy. The book demonstrates that nation branding is a consequence of the corporatization of political governance, soft power and national identity, while revealing how the Poland “brand” is shaping public and foreign affairs.

This monograph analysing nation branding in Poland’s soft power has been described as “a major intervention into debates surrounding transition and Europeanisation” (for more details about the book see: https://www.routledge.com/Nation-Branding-Public-Relations-and-Soft-Power-Corporatising-Poland/Surowiec/p/book/9781138818835; ISBN 978-1138818835; hardcover).

 

Dr Paweł Surowiec
Senior Lecturer
Bournemouth University
Faculty of Media and Communication
Fern Barrow, Poole
Dorset, BH12 5BB, UK
Tel. 01202 965236
Email: psurowiec@bournemouth.ac.uk

Why editorials?

Zika editorial 2016BU academics are editors on a wide range of scientific journals.  As editors we often write editorials for academic journals which have a number of specific functions.  It is a key means of communication between the editor(s) and the journal’s readership.  It is also vehicle to highlight topical academic and political issues related to the journal and the discipline(s) it represents. JAM June 2016 editorial

Earlier this week the latest issue of the Journal of Asian Midwives came out with an editorial which is an illustration of the first point giving information to the readers [1].  The topics addressed in this editorial included the announcement that this new journal was now indexed in the CINAHL Database, a recent major international conference in the field and a call for the forthcoming 2017 ICM (Internation Confederation of Midwives) tri-annual conference.  Today saw the publication of an editorial on the Zika virus and its potential impact in Nepal in the journal Medical Science [2].   This guest editorial co-written by BU’s Visiting Faculties Dr. Brijesh Sathian and Prof. Padam Simkhada with Prof. Edwin van Teijlingen (Centre for Midwifery, Maternal & Perinatal Health) calls for action in Nepal.  A country where malaria is endemic. The Zika virus uses mosquitoes like the ones spreading Dengue fever and malaria.  Zika is a virus we do not wish to see spreading in countries where malaria is already rife.  The editorial warns that precautionary measures are needed to prevent a Zika outbreak as the spread of the virus to the country seems inevitable, the only uncertainty is when it will be arriving.

Both journals are Open Access which means these editorials can be read by anybody with internet access free of charge.

References:

  1. Jan, R., van Teijlingen, E. (2016) Editorial JAM June 2016, Journal of Asian Midwives 3(1):1. http://ecommons.aku.edu/jam/vol3/iss1/1/
  2. van Teijlingen, E., Sathian, B., & Simkhada, P. (2016). Zika & Nepal: a far greater risk for its population than to individuals. Medical Science 4(2): 312-313. http://www.pubmedhouse.com/journals/ms/articles/1064/PMHID1064.pdf

 

New publication Carol Bond & Osman Ahmed

Bond+AhmedThe week saw the publication of a new book by Elsevier (June 9th) Health Through Social Media which contains a chapter by FHSS staff Drs Carol Bond and Osman Ahmed called ‘Patient Empowerment Through Social Media’.    Carol and Osman have a wide-ranging experience in researching and publishing about e-health, m-health and social media.  They co-authored this topical chapter with a colleague in Australia.

Congratulations!chp Bond Ahmed

Prof. Edwin van Teijlingen

CMMPH

 

 

 

BU-Nepal link highlighted

Talbot Himalayans 2016This week BU’s work in Nepal was highlighted in several ways.  Most publicly on the wonderful new mural at Talbot Campus.  Secondly, BU currently displays some of the entries of images to the past two years of its research photo competition.  The photos show the creativity of BU’s academics and students as well as the fascinating range of research taking place at the university.  One of these pictures was taken by FHSS Visiting Faculty Dr. Bibha Simkhada during fieldwork in Dhading, Nepal.  The selected photos are on display in the Atrium Art Gallery until the 13th of June.  Helicopter Dhading

Last, but not least, another FHSS Visiting Faculty, Poole Hospital NHS Foundation Trust midwife Jillian Ireland published a blog on her involvement in the THET-funded project in Nepal.  She reflects on her time as UK volunteer in Nepal.  Jilly wrote: ” Three volunteers Andrea Lawrie, David Havelock and I are keen to share what we experienced in a paper sometime soon and today I will condense some of my own reflections. I wrote ‘letters’ (via email) to my Head of Midwifery, Sandra Chitty and to Senior Lecturer in Midwifery at Bournemouth University Dr. Jen Leamon while I was away, using different styles of expression to ‘get at’ my reflections from more than one angle. It helped me to separate out elements of the whole experience.”

Prof. Edwin van Teijlingen

CMMPH

BU BMC paper followed up by BMC Series Blog

media childbirthOur latest paper in the international journal BMC Pregnancy & Childbirth published late last month was highlighted yesterday in a BMC Series Blog.[1]  The blog post reminds us that the media plays an important role in providing the general public with information about a range of issues, including pregnancy and childbirth. The visual media, such as television, can provide planned information (education), for example in documentaries, advertising and the news.  Our paper “Is it realistic?” the portrayal of pregnancy and childbirth in the media’ looked into how the representation of childbirth in the mass media affects childbirth in society as there is evidence to suggest that it can have a negative effect.  BMC Pregnancy & Childbirth is an Open Access journal therefore the paper is freely available for anybody across the globe with an internet connection, for access click here.

interdisciplinary-1Our paper is great example of interdisciplinary research, as celebrated at the forthcoming Interdisciplinary Research Sector Day on June 21st (see here).  The authors of our paper combine expertise in media studies, midwifery, sociology and health services research.   Moreover, it involved collaborations across universities (Bournemouth and Stirling) and within BU across faculties, namely the Faculty of Media & Communcation and the Faculty of Health & Social Sciences.

 

Ann LuceMarilyn Cash, Vanora Hundley, Helen Cheyne, Edwin van Teijlingen & Catherine Angell

 

Reference:

  1. Luce, A., Cash, M., Hundley, V., Cheyne, H., van Teijlingen, E., Angell, C., (2016) “Is it realistic?” the portrayal of pregnancy and childbirth in the media BMC Pregnancy & Childbirth 16: 40 http://bmcpregnancychildbirth.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/s12884-016-0827-x

 

New BU multidisciplinary media & health paper out today!

media childbirth

Today saw the publication “Is it realistic?” the portrayal of pregnancy and childbirth in the media, a paper which is truly interdisciplinary, both in terms of its authorship as well as its topics[1]. The lead-author, Dr. Ann Luce is based in the Faculty of Media & Communication, whilst her BU co-authors Dr. Catherine Angell, Prof. Vanora Hundley, Prof. Edwin van Teijlingen and Dr. Marylin Cash are all associated with the Faculty of Health & Social Sciences. Prof. Helen Cheyne, the only non-BU co-author, is based at the University of Stirling.

The paper is a scoping review to assess the influence media have on pregnant women. Much of the academic literature discusses the influence of (reality) television, which often portrays birth as risky, dramatic and painful.  Although many claim that the portrayal of childbirth has a negative effect on society, there is little research evidence to support this claim. It has been suggested that women seek out such programmes to help understand what could happen during the birth because there is a cultural void through the increasing anticipation of negative outcomes. However the impact that has on normal birth has not been explored.  Our paper highlighted three key themes: (a) the medicalisation of childbirth; (b) women using media to learn about childbirth; and (c) birth as a missing everyday life event.  The key conclusions are the media appear to influence how women engage with childbirth. The dramatic television portrayal of birth may perpetuate the medicalisation of childbirth, and last, but not least, portrayals of normal birth are often missing in the popular media. Hence midwives need to engage with television producers to improve the representation of midwifery and maternity in the media.

BMC cover media

BMC Pregnancy and Childbirth is an Open Access journal so our paper is freely available to researchers, journalists, childbirth activists as well as pregnant women anywhere in the world.  This paper builds on a growing number of academic papers published by staff in the Centre for Midwifery, Maternal & Perinatal Health (CMMPH) on the role the media play in health and midwifery, both in the UK [2-3] and in Nepal [4-6].

 

Prof. Edwin van Teijlingen

CMMPH

 

References:

  1.  Luce, A., Cash, M., Hundley, V., Cheyne, H., van Teijlingen, E., Angell, C., (2016) “Is it realistic?” the portrayal of pregnancy and childbirth in the media BMC Pregnancy & Childbirth 16: 40
  2. Hundley, V., Duff, E., Dewberry, J., Luce, A., van Teijlingen, E. (2014) Fear in childbirth: are the media responsible? MIDIRS Midwifery Digest 24(4): 444-447.
  3. Hundley, V., Luce, A., van Teijlingen, E. (2015) Do midwives need to be more media savvy? MIDIRS Midwifery Digest 25(1):5-10.
  4. Devkota, S., Simkhada, P., van Teijlingen, E., Rai, L.D. (2012) Media use for Health Promotion: Communicating Childhood Immunisation Messages to Parents. Journal of Health Promotion 4(1): 1-9.
  5. Devkota, S., Simkhada, P., van Teijlingen, E., Rai, L.D. (2013) Childhood Immunisation in Nepal: Parents’ knowledge, attitudes and behaviour & implications for Health Policy. Health Science Journal 7(4):370-383.
  6. Devkota, S., Maharjan, H.M., van Teijlingen, E. (2015) Media and Health. In: Wasti, S.P., Simkhada, P.P. & van Teijlingen, E. (Eds.) The Dynamics of Health in Nepal, Kathmandu, Nepal: Social Science Baha & Himal Books: 169-184.

ESRC Research Seminar: 12 Jan, ‘Media Representations of Antisocial Personality Disorder’: places still available

ESRC Research Seminar: Bournemouth University and the University of East London:

Media Representations of ‘antisocial personality disorder’

Tuesday, 12 January, 2016:  Room EB702, Bournemouth University

esrc logo

11-00: Coffee

11-15: Introductions and introduction to the series.

11.30 : David W Jones (University of East London): Overview of the significance of ‘the media’ and the story of ASPD

12.15 Candida Yates:(Bournemouth University) ‘I know just how he feels’ Taxi Driver, Disordered Masculinities and Popular Culture

1-00: Lunch

2.00: Alison Cronin (Bournemouth University): ASPD and the media reporting of crime.

2-45: Stefania Ciocia (Canterbury Christ): ‘Only Underdogs and psychos in this world’

3-30 – Tea

3-45: Bradley Hillier, ( South West London Forensic Service) “Breaking Bad: How dark is Walter White?”

4-30 Discussion

5-6pm Wine and canapes

 

VENUE: Room EB702,  Bournemouth University Executive Business Centre, 89 Holdenhurst Road

Bournemouth

BH8 8EB

*If you would like to attend this event, please contact Prof. Candida Yates: cyates@bournemouth.ac.uk

 

 

FMC Research seminar Series: Wednesday 14 October, 3-5pm, Room W240 Weymouth House

Communicating Research
FMC Cross-Departmental Seminar Series 2015-16

When: Wednesdays, 3-5 pm
Where: The Screening Room W240, Weymouth House, Talbot Campus,
Bournemouth University, Fern Barrow, Poole, Dorset, BH12 5BB

Wednesday 14 October, 3-4pm

Dr. Rebecca Watkins (Cardiff University) and Dr. Mike Molesworth (University of Southampton)
Title: Digital Possessions

This session will provide an introduction to digital virtual consumption, exploring the emergence of digital consumption objects and the opportunities and issues they present for consumers and for marketers.

Dr. Mike Molesworth is Principal Teaching Fellow at the University of Southampton. Principal Teaching Fellow. He has been lecturing since 1996, for most of that time focussing on online consumer behaviour and emerging consumer cultures. He was a Teaching Fellow in the Centre of Excellence in Media Practice at the Faculty of Media and Communication at Bournemouth University, where amongst other things, he was involved with innovations in online course delivery. More recently he helped set up the Creative Enterprise Bureau, a unique staff/student collaborative consultancy at Bournemouth University, working for clients such as ITV, Channel 4, Toyota and Samsung. With colleagues he has won several best paper awards in journals and at conferences, including my work on digital consumption with Dr Janice Denegri-Knott in Consumption, Markets and Culture, and with Becca Watkins at the international Consumer Culture Theory Conference. He has also won a ‘most cited’ award in Teaching in Higher Education, for his work on the marketisation of Higher Education

Dr Rebecca Watkins is a Lecturer in Marketing at Cardiff University. She holds a PhD in Marketing from the University of Southampton, and a BA (Hons) in Advertising and Marketing Communications from Bournemouth University. Rebecca’s research uses qualitative methods to explore the impact of digital media upon consumer culture, in particular the ways in which notions of owning and possessing are transformed in the context of digital objects. Her work has been published in the Journal of Marketing Management, the Journal of Consumer Culture & Research in Consumer Behaviour, whilst her work in human-computer interaction, in collaboration with the Human Experience and Design research group at Microsoft Research, has been presented at the world’s leading HCI conference.

Wednesday 14 October, 4-5pm

Dr Katy Shaw (Leeds Beckett University)
Title: Financialised Masculinities: Men, Fiction and the Credit Crunch

After the height of the credit crunch, the blame game began, and focus fell firmly on bankers, and male bankers in particular, as being responsible for the crash. Variously dubbed the ‘Man-cession’ or the ‘He-Cession’ by media and political commentators, accusations that an excessively ‘masculine economy’ contributed to the crunch grew in the weeks and months following the economic downturn. Contemporary fiction was quick to respond to the global economic crisis as a source of inspiration for post-millennial narrative. Through this new genre of ‘Crunch Lit’, fiction continued its historical commitment to demystifying the financial world. Examining two case study examples of the new genre – Faulks’ A Week in December (2009) and Lanchester’s Capital (2012) – the paper will interrogate how and why fiction represents the twenty-first century impact of financialisation and its penetration of language, fashion and financial culture to question dominant narratives of the male banker as a new cultural villain for the post-millennial period.

Dr Katy Shaw is Principal Lecturer in Contemporary Literature at Leeds Beckett University. She is also editor of the internationally peer reviewed C21 Literature: journal of 21st-century writings. Her research interests include contemporary writings, working class literatures, regeneration and the languages of comedy. She has published extensively on working class women’s writings, the contemporary novel and twenty-first century literature. Her monograph Crunch Lit examines fictional responses to the global credit crunch.
About the series
This new seminar series showcases current research across different disciplines and approaches within the Faculty of Media and Communication at BU.The research seminars include invited speakers in the fields of journalism, politics, narrative studies, media, communication and marketing studies. The aim is to celebrate the diversity of research across departments in the faculty and also generate dialogue and discussion between those areas of research.

Contributions include speakers on behalf of
The Centre for Politics and Media
The Centre for the Study of Journalism, Culture and Community
Advances in Media Management Research Group
Emerging Consumer Cultures Research Group
Public Relations Research Group
Candida Yates, BA, MA, PhD, FHEA,
Professor of Culture and Communication

Bournemouth University
Faculty of Media and Communication
Weymouth House
Fern Barrow, Poole
Dorset, BH12 5BB

Text Box:

RUFUS STONE shortlisted for AHRC Research in Film Award

Kip Rufus location

The research-based biopic RUFUS STONE has just been shortlisted for the AHRC Research in Film Anniversary Prize for best AHRC funded film since 1998.

A central strand of the activities taking place throughout 2015 to mark the AHRC’s tenth anniversary, the awards attracted nearly 200 entries across the five categories.

The awards are designed to recognise the creative and innovative work being undertaken at the interface between research and film by world-leading researchers, practitioners and filmmakers in the UK arts and humanities research community.

RUFUS STONE was based on three years of research on older LGBT citizens living in south west England and Wales. The research team was led by Kip Jones and included Lee-Ann Fenge and Rosie Read on the team.

Bournemouth’s Kip Jones acted as Author and Executive Producer, with Josh Appignanesi directing the film. RUFUS STONE was produced by Parkville Pictures, London.

More information on the research and film-making

Watch the film here.

A year in the Life of an Early Career Researcher

I joined BU as a lecturer in the Faculty of Media and Communication on 1 September 2014, three months after being awarded my PhD in Media and Cultural Studies from the University of Salford.

So, as the anniversary of my appointment approaches, I consider it timely to reflect on my first year as a full-time academic. I hope that my experience will be of interest to others starting new academic roles this year, at a similar stage in their careers.

To put my experience in context, while technically an early career researcher, I’m no spring chicken! I was a very mature PhD student (even though no-one ever guesses my real age) and joined BU with baggage in tow!

The eclectic baggage I brought with me was six years’ experience as a lecturer in higher education on a part-time basis combined with a variety of other roles including journalist, research assistant, blogger, PhD student, social entrepreneur and Chief Executive of Black British Academics.

I arrived at BU with drive, motivation and ambition intact, after four years of intense doctoral study, with my carefully prepared 5-year research plan, diligently completed after receiving my PhD award, which accompanied me to my interview at BU in June 2014.

By my own observations, the first five years post PhD is make-or-break time. With aspirations to become a professor one day, performing the yearly regime of international conferences, journal articles, books, book chapters and funding bids are necessary tasks.

My primary area of research in media and communication is centred on racial constructions and representations in media and popular culture and how race shapes and influences engagement with and use of digital technologies.  My PhD thesis is a study on the social, cultural and counterhegemonic practices of Black British bloggers.

DG-MPG-Nov2013

A the Media and Politics Group conference

Year 1 of my 5-year research plan included developing publications from my PhD thesis. In November 2013 I had presented a paper from the chapter: Alternative Voices, Alternative Spaces, Counterhegemonic Discourse in the Blogosphere at BU for the Media and Politics Group annual conference. It won the James Thomas Memorial Prize, and is the first chapter in a new book being published with Palgrave Macmillan in September, edited by four faculty colleagues, called Media, Margins and Civic Agency.

I presented another chapter of my thesis at the Cyberspace conference in the Czech Republic in November 2014, which I recently submitted for review at Information, Communication and Society: Blogging While Black, British and Female: A Critical Study on Discursive Activism.

A third chapter: Challenging the Whiteness of Britishness: Co-Creating British Social History in the Blogosphere, was presented at the ICCMTD conference in Dubai in May, and has been accepted for publication in the Online Journal of Media and Communication Technologies for a special issue in September.

My PhD thesis now exhausted publication-wise, I am currently focusing on three strands of research: race and ethnicity in media and communication, pedagogies of social justice and cultural democracy and race equality and cultural democracy. These research interests are broadly linked to three key dimensions of my role as an academic: 1) research (extending knowledge within my discipline) 2) education (teaching), and 3)professional practice.

Cultural democracy, a recurring theme in my research, is a conceptual framework developed in the US more than a decade ago, surprisingly unfamiliar and underexplored on this side of the Atlantic. However, I plan to change that by advancing understanding through research based on its application in practice. After setting up the Cultural Democracy Network in May, shortly after being awarded a small grant from the Grants Academy to develop partnerships with UK-based institutions, I was invited to deliver a guest lecture on cultural democracy to 14 journalists at Research Fortnight’s London offices.

DG at RG [2] 260515

At Research Fortnight

Two of my current research projects represent research papers based on consultancy projects completed this past year. The first is a journal article I am co-authoring with Prof Kevin Hylton called Culturally Democratic Voices: Enhancing Race Equality Through Minority Staff Experiences, which we plan to submit to Race, Ethnicity and Education.

The second is a co-authored paper with Aisha Richards called Social Justice Pedagogy and Cultural Democracy: Promoting Inclusion and Equality in Further and Higher Education. It has just been accepted for presentation at the IAFOR International Conference on Education taking place in Hawaii in January, and we hope it will be selected for publication in the Journal of Education.

I have a book chapter coming out in September being published by Verlag Springer called Race, Racism and Resistance In British Academia, which I presented at the Surviving in a White Institution symposium at Leeds University in May, organised by the Critical Race and Ethnicities Network.

Finally, I am co-editor of a book project with Dr Shirley Tate, an Associate Professor in sociology at Leeds University, which is a collection of autoethnographies called Hear Us: Women Academics of Colour: Surviving and Thriving in British Academia, which we plan to publish next Autumn. It is a project I developed for the Black Sister Network at Black British Academics.

It has been a busy and productive year as an early career researcher, and in terms of my plans for the year ahead, this will be focused on the completion of work in progress, developing a funding bid and turning my attention to new areas of research.

One of these areas is advertising, which will inform my teaching on the BA Advertising degree. I plan to examine issues around constructions and representations of race and gender in TV advertising, examining audience perceptions. The other new area of research which builds on my doctoral study is engagement with digital technologies among Black elders.

In terms of the 5-year research plan I started out with, I discarded it within the first three months! I prefer to work with a yearly plan as I have found that in practice, the research culture and environment is too fluid, dynamic and constantly changing to plan specific publications so far in advance.

However, it is still a useful exercise post PhD to prompt thinking about the areas of research to focus on and the types of research projects to undertake. I have a target for publications and funding bids I aim to complete by 2019 – just before REF2020, so forward planning helps to ensure I stay on track!

By Dr Deborah Gabriel, Lecturer in Politics, Media and Marketing Communications in the Faculty of Media and Communication.

Media training for ESRC-funded researchers

Media training is changing at the ESRC.ESRC

Having taken on board extensive feedback from their delegates they are moving their media training forward to focus on the practical elements of working with the media.

They now offer a one day-long media training session that provides the opportunity to develop practical media skills in a safe environment.

They believe by concentrating their resources this way they will be able to give maximum opportunity for researchers, no matter what stage of their career, to develop their skills and feel comfortable handling media interviews. Whether a PhD student, postdoctoral researcher or senior fellow, the new practical media training session provides the guidance needed to engage the media with confidence – and plenty of opportunity to practice.

For more information, please see the article here.

The course will be taking place in different locations throughout the year. The forthcoming course dates are:

  • 17 September 2015 – London
  • 15 October 2015 – Cambridge
  • 30 October 2015 – London
  • 12 November 2015 – London

Book a place on a media training course.

For further information on any aspect of ESRC media training days please contact esrcmediatraining@esrc.ac.uk

The Midwifery quilt online- URA scheme funded project

As part of my EdD thesis on ‘The essence of the art of a midwife..’ http://eprints.uwe.ac.uk/16560/    I created a reflexive textile quilt, with each of the squares representing an entry in my research diary. Whenever I have been to conferences with my quilt the question has always been asked ‘what do the squares mean’? Though I anticipate that anyone looking at it will gather their own interpretation of the squares my stories behind them are now accessible online. In the spring of this year I applied, and was pleased to receive, funding from the BU Undergraduate research assistantship scheme in order to create a web site for the quilt. For the past six weeks George Upson undergraduate student from the BA (Hons) Media Production course has been active in designing and creating the web site with me and learning about the world of academia in a small way. I am indebted to him for his creative abilities and to Garratt Lynch and Richard Wallis for their early support in the process, and also for the URA scheme!

The Midwifery quilt maybe accessed here http://www.midwiferyquilt.co.uk/

Dr Jenny Hall