Yearly Archives / 2011

Symplectic Elements: BU’s new research management system

I’d like to introduce you to Symplectic Elements – our soon-to-be new research management system. You might have heard colleagues talking about Symplectic Elements for a while now – the supplier (Symplectic Ltd) first visited BU to demonstrate the application in August 2009. I’m pleased to announced that we have now signed the contract with Symplectic and are in discussions with the supplier to determine the implementation plan. The aim is to have the system up and running this autumn.

Symplectic Elements is already used by lots of other UK universities, including Imperial College, Oxford, Exeter, Cambridge, UCL and Plymouth.

So what is Symplectic Elements and what benefits will it bring to BU? Symplectic Elements is a research management system. It will not replace any of our existing BU systems (such as BURO or RED) but it will link to them and join them together, sharing data between the systems. This means that BU staff will be able to add information to Symplectic Elements and it will be used in multiple systems. You will also be able to access research information from a single place. A single point of data entry will enable research information (such as publications data) to be automatically formatted and reused in other forums, such as in BU’s open access repository (BURO) and the BU staff profile webpages, without the need for duplicate or additional data entry. You will also be able to query data that appears to be missing or incorrect.

Symplectic Elements will provide academics with a simple ‘dashboard’ from which to view and manage their research information. This will also help when BU begins compiling data to meet the requirements of the REF.

How will Symplectic Elements link with the existing systems?

  • Symplectic Elements will link to our Research and Enterprise Database (RED) so you can see your current bids and projects. From within Symplectic you will also be able to link yourself to the PGR students you supervise.
  • It will link to BURO so that your research outputs are entered into the repository.
  • It will also link to a number of external publication databases (including Web of Science and Scopus) and automatically search these for your publications. When it identifies a paper it thinks might be yours it will send you an email and ask you to confirm it is your paper. If it is then all you will need to do is to tick ‘yes’ and Symplectic will create a record of your publication automatically. You will simply need to add a full-text copy of the paper (copyright permitting) and it will be uploaded into BURO.
  • Symplectic Elements will link to the new content management system and you will be able to choose which information is used on your staff profile webpage.

Timeframe for implementation: A broad steering group of representatives from across BU’s Schools and Professional Services has been formed to help feed into and guide the system’s implementation. A core project management group is currently overseeing the day-to-day tasks and will manage the initial data integration and checking. A meeting with the suppliers is scheduled for the end of the month. The system is due to go live in autumn 2011.

Further updates about Symplectic Elements will be posted on the BU Research Blog in due course!

Be Bold – Host an Event or Conference at BU!

Professor Alan Fyall, Deputy Dean Research & Enterprise in the School of Tourism encourages staff to consider hosting an event.

In recent weeks the School of Tourism has hosted a number of events including the Seventh International Conference on Culinary Arts and Science, the Third Conference of the International Association for Tourism Economics and a workshop on Context-Based Services led by PhD students from the John Kent Institute of Tourism. Although such events are hard work, require much planning and last-minute stress, they represent a valuable opportunity to attract academics from across the UK and beyond to BU. If you have not considered hosting such an event, think again as BU provides a good level of support, something that was not the case a few years back. Why not ……………

  • Start small with a one-day workshop or similar event with staff who have undertaken an event before
  • Build up to a two-day event or conference with extended abstracts and/or external speakers, possibly in association with other universities or external bodies
  • Graduate to a fully-refereed academic conference, possibly with sponsorship from other universities, professional bodies or research councils, with publishers and journal editors present
  • Start an international association, as happened with the International Association for Tourism Economics which formalises what in reality are loose informal gatherings of like-minded academics with a passion for their subject

If you do decide to take the plunge and host one of the above, from experience I can assure you that Bournemouth has much to offer as a conference destination. We often tend to mock our own location and imagine that everybody else does it better. Simply not true! In addition, we have the distinct advantage of being geographically close to all the major publishers in Oxford so invite them, look after them and work with them in expanding the publication opportunities for you and your colleagues. Not only does their appearance guarantee additional delegates, especially from overseas, but it serves to raise the quality threshold of what you are trying to achieve from your event through association with leading international organisations. Also, always plan what outputs you are seeking in the early stages of your event planning as, for example, editors of journals are always seeking new themes for special issues! Finally, although they are hard work, events are great fun and can serve as the platform for new friendships, writing relationships and the foundations for future research grant applications ….. and funding, for that next conference!

FP7 Work Programmes and Calls for Proposals to be released today!

 Annual budgets for most programmes and themes have risen and some excellent funding opportunities exist. We will be summarising all of the Work Programmes and making them available to you this week.

There are 53 calls for the 2012 round of FP7 with an overall budget of €7billion. 39 were published in the Work Programmes on 20 July, with different deadlines in 2011 and 2012 and the other calls will be published later in 2011 or 2012.

There are a few new features in 2012 compared to previous FP7 years, with the most obvious being the greater integration of innovation and the objectives of the Innovation Union Flagship Initiative in the Work Programmes. Support to Small and Medium-Sized Enterprises (SMEs) will continue to form part of most of the calls, including a pilot call under the Health Theme in 2012 with specific SME-targeted actions, similar to the US Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) schemes.

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High flying publication for BU academic!

Dr Scott Cohen in the School of Tourism has had a paper published in the latest issue of the Annals of Tourism Research, one of the most prominent journals in the field of tourism.

The paper explores the concept of what has been termed ‘binge mobility’ or ‘binge flying’ – the notion that excessive tourism could constitute a new behavioural addition. Scott co-authored the paper with James Higham and Christina Cavaliere from the University of Otago, New Zealand.

The Annals of Tourism Research is rated a 4* journal in the Association on Business Schools‘ journal ranking list –  the ABS Journal Quality Guide – and has a Web of Science impact factor of 1.95.

In addition the paper was one of only five papers featured in Elsevier’s July 2011 Flash Alert, Elsevier’s monthly round up of the top stories in the science, health and medical journals.

You can read a copy of the paper on our institutional repository BURO.

Congratulations Scott! 😀

Internal deadline expanded to include bids to: Royal Society, British Academy and Leverhulme Trust

At the start of the year ULT agreed to an enforced, mandatory internal deadline of five working days for the submission of Research Council bids via the Je-S system. This has been extremely effective in identifying and correcting errors in applications prior to bid submission, resulting in higher quality applications being submitted.

The University Research and Enterprise Forum (UREF) agreed yesterday to expand the five working days internal deadline to applications made via the E-Gap2 and Leverhulme Online e-submissions systems. This will affect all applications made to the following funding bodies:

  • British Academy
  • Royal Society
  • Leverhulme Trust

To enable BU to seriously compete for future Research Council funding, bids submitted by BU need to be of the highest quality possible. The Research Proposal Review Service (RPRS) has been established to offer advice to improve the quality of bids submitted. The RPRS is there to help you submit the best quality proposal possible – talk to Caroline O’Kane about putting your bid through the RPRS.

The decision from UREF to expand the internal submission deadline to cover these additional funding bodies is to allow sufficient time for the CRE Operations team to undertake the necessary institutional checks and also to provide the opportunity to make any required changes in a more considered, less pressured fashion. Five working days is the internal deadline advised by the Research Councils and other major funding bodies.

Academic staff will continue to be guided through the process and made aware of the internal submission deadlines by the CRE Operations team.

This change will take effect from 1 August 2011.

Research and Enterprise into Space

Space travel has been in the news recently with the last space shuttle flight on the 8th July 2011 (http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-14063682). The ending of the operational space shuttle era which has lasted almost thirty years after its development has led to recent discussions concerning the future of NASA funding and space flight and research from national and international collaboration perspectives.

Here in the UK the European Space Agency (ESA) has a technology centre in Harwell headed by Martin Ditter. He explained the rational of the ESA UK location and the relationship with technology and research (http://www.theengineer.co.uk/in-depth/interviews/martin-ditter-of-esa-uk-harwell-research-centre/1000835.article).

In terms of enterprise ESA have recently opened a Business Incubation Centre to utilise mature space technologies to create opportunities within other business sectors. In addition Research Council, EU and KTP priorities include space as a preferred area. Other activity includes the UK Space Agency established in April 2011 as part of the Department for Business Innovation and Skills.

At an educational level Space is identified a key subject area to enthuse young people and stimulate STEM subject interest. Space technology has a university undergraduate and master’s level presence at several universities linked with engineering studies such as electronics, aerospace, robotics and mechanical. Other related opportunities such as space tourism (http://www.virgingalactic.com/) will only increase public activity and interest in Space.

This could be an opportunity for HEI’s to develop niche research areas related to space.

The Green Living Project

This project was funded by DEFRA and harnessed the support of several organisations involved with the management of natural and environmental resources in the UK. MRG was commissioned by the National Trust for their contribution to the Green Living project, this involved a two year research programme with a £68,000 budget. The purpose of the research was to support an initiative to encourage people to eat more sustainably using locally produced food, in season and to grow their own food. The results of the survey showed a change in people’s behaviour which demonstrated a greater regard for environmentally friendly activities  following  a programme of information dissemination, events and education. The results have encouraged a change of policy towards Green Living initiatives which will be incorporated in future strategy.

The Green Living project is the latest example of work undertaken by MRG in the countryside, a programme of research extending back to 1995.

Excellent PI development resource available from Vitae

Guidance

Earlier this year Vitae launched an excellent development resource for principal investigators (PIs). The Leadership Development for Principal Investigators training is available online, free of charge from here: http://www.vitae.ac.uk/policy-practice/263521/Leadership-Development-for-Principal-Investigators.html

The website provides information in the following sections:

  • What is expected of a principal investigator
  • Research environment
  • Impact
  • Managing people
  • Project management
  • Networks

Information is provided for both pre-award and post-award stages of the research lifecycle.

This is a fantastic resource suitable for PIs at all stages of the research career.

If you have used the resource to access information then let us know what you think by commenting on this blog post and share your tips with your colleagues!

Good luck & Congratulations!

Awarded & submitted bids

It has been a couple of weeks since the last ‘good luck & congratulations’ e-mail and I’m really pleased to report that there has been lots of activity! Good luck to Rob Britton (ApSci), Alan Fyall (ST), Dimitrios Buhalis (ST) and Adrian Newton (ApSci) who have all submitted large bids for EU funding which is excellent news given BU’s aim to grow its European activity. A cross-School bid was submitted to Arthritis Research UK by Samuel Nyman (DEC) and Kate Galvin (HSC) – good luck! Milena Bobeva and Geli Roushan (BS) have submitted a large bid to JISC on developing digital literacy and in ST Lorraine Brown has submitted a bid to the British Council IELTS scheme. Tian Feng and Christos Gatzidis (DEC) have submitted a bid to the Royal Society and Venky Dubey (DEC) has submitted an outline proposal to the NIHR to develop a wearable upper arm exoskeleton to train stroke survivors for everyday tasks. Anita Diaz (ApSci) has submitted a teaching development bid to the Higher Education Academy, Mark Dover (ApSci) has submitted a couple of bids for consultancy projects with Geoplan and the Forestry Commission, and Rob Britton is seeking funds from the Darwin Initiative to continue his biodiversity conservation work in Africa. In HSC Clive Andrewes has submitted a number of proposals to local NHS organisations, and Lee-Ann Fenge has submitted a bid to the Big Lottery Fund. I would like to thank all of you for your efforts with these various bids and wish you all good luck!

There have been a lot of successes recently which is excellent news! Huge congratulations are due to Paola Palma in ApSci who has been awarded £145k from the Heritage Lottery Fund for a project to encourage the public the visit museums. Fabian Homberg, Dermot McCarthy and Vurain Tabvuma in the Business School have been awarded funding from the British Academy to research public service motivation across Europe. Holger Schutkowski (ApSci) has also been successful with the British Academy and has been awarded funding to investigate the interrelationship of diet and status in early medieval Almanac societies. In the Media School Jon Wardle has secured another contract with Drum Cussac and a contract with Pearson Education Limited to run a postgraduate CPD course, Cliff Van Wyk has been awarded a small contract with Studentpadz, and Graham Goode has been awarded a contract with CC Group Communications Ltd. In HSC Gill Jordan has been awarded funds to continue running the overseas nurses programme and Fiona Cowdell will be working with Cotoco to develop innovative technology around self-care options after winning government funds as part of a larger bid. In addition Edwin van Teijlingen will be running a master class in November titled ‘Meeting the Editors’. Adrian Newton (ApSci) and Tim Darvill (ApSci) have been awarded funding from the New Forest National Park Authority and Poole Harbour Heritage Project for two match funded PhD studentships. Bournemouth Archaeology, led by Bronwen Russell (ApSci), has been awarded 3 contracts and also submitted two bids. The Market Research Group, led by Steve Calver (ST), has been awarded a small contract from Bangor University. Well done to everyone involved!

Professor Matthew Bennett

PVC (Research, Enterprise & Internationalisation)

REF Guidance on Submissions document released

Guidance, Research assessment

The REF2014 Guidance on Submissions document was released on Thursday and can be accessed on the HEFCE website here: REF Guidance on Submissions

We have prepared a summary document of the key points that can be accessed on the I drive: I:\CRKT\Public\RDU\REF

At the end of July the REF team will publish the draft panel working methods and criteria documents which will be open to consultation until the autumn. The Research Development Unit will be coordinating the BU response to the consultation – further details will be available once the documentation is released.

Latest EU funding for ICT

Quantifying public procurement of research and development of ICT solutions in Europe: proposals should gather quantitative evidence of research and development and ICT products and services procured by public contracting authorities across EU member states and associated countries, and cluster the data on a map to show the main fields of public interest in which procurement expenditures occur. Funding is worth up to €400,000 over 24 months. Deadline 23.09.11

e-Skills for Competitiveness and Innovation: the aim of this fund is to develop, with relevant stakeholders, a coherent vision and a detailed roadmap as well as foresight scenarios on the supply and demand of e-skills for competitiveness and innovation in Europe (2011–2015). It will build on the momentum of the EU e-skills strategy. The skills needed include ICT, marketing, design, law, management, etc. for entrepreneurs, managers and ICT professionals and advanced users in all industries. Closing date: 16 September 2011

More help needed for small businesses says European Investment Fund

New financial instruments must be introduced that are better tailored to the individual needs of smaller businesses in Europe—which are having serious problems in accessing capital for growth—according to both employers and fund managers. Several EU stakeholders including the EIF have called for a comprehensive set of measures to further support these smaller companies obtain finance.  The demand for funding under existing programmes such as the Competitiveness and Innovation Framework Programme (CIP), which EIF manages on behalf of the European Commission, outstrips current budget availability.

Researchers and NGOs slam industry bias in EU research funding plans

A group of NGOs and scientists’ organisations have complained that the Commission’s plans for the future research funding programme are biased towards commercial interests and neglect the needs of citizens.

In an open letter,  the signatories urge the European Commission, Parliament and national governments to “overcome the myth that only highly complex and cost intensive technology can create sustainability, employment and well-being.”

links for 2011-07-14

Interesting links tagged this week in the BU Research delicious pages:

Profiles reveal China’s rising global stature

A profiling exercise has revealed that top Chinese universities generate more research income per academic staff member than Russell Group institutions when the figure is adjusted for purchasing power. This is one of the many findings revealed by a comparison of elite groups of universities using a new Thomson Reuters application that draws on data collected for the Times Higher Education World University Rankings. You can read more on all the profiles on the .

EU funding for IP

European Investment Bank -universities research action sponsorships: funding is available for research covering European intellectual property regimes and their impact on technology transfer/IP finance; analysis of investment needs in infrastructure sectors; the rising of credit risk in microcredit: origins, warning signals, current state and future prospects. Funding of up to €100,000 per year is available for a period of three years. Deadline: 16 September 2011

World Rankings: scholars respond to reputation survey

More than 17,500 academics (31% increase on last year) from 137 countries completed the Academic Reputation Survey. The survey (which is by invitation only for sampling purposes) data will be used alongside several other indicators to help build the 2011-12 World University Rankings, to be published in September, and will also be published in isolation from other performance indicators in early 2012 in the second of Times Higher Educations annual World Reputation Rankings. A video clip presented by Phil Baty, Editor of Times Higher Education, discussing the future of university rankings ios also available.

The Wellcome Trust has a blog!

The Wellcome Trust has an excellent blog which you can access here: http://wellcometrust.wordpress.com

The blog provides a place where researchers can share stories about the research funded by the Wellcome Trust. Over the past few months blog posts have been added about a huge variety of research projects covering everything from the neuroscience of language and masculinity and madness in the Victorian age to stem cells and drug screening and brain imaging.

Why not check it out and read about the excellent research being undertaken! As with our Research Blog you can choose to subscribe to receive regular email updates. There is a subscribe box on the right hand side of the home page.