Monthly Archives / February 2012

British Science Association Media Fellowships for Researchers

PG research

The British Science Association run a Media Fellowship scheme for scientists, social scientists, engineers and clinicians to spend the summer working with national news journalists to improve their communication skills and media awareness.  It’s a fantastic opportunity for researchers at any stage of their career to spend 3-8 weeks working with print, TV and radio hosts including the BBC, Guardian and Times to produce accurate, well-informed stories about developments in science.

Be behind the headlines!

Scientists, social scientists, engineers and clinicians can experience life in the heart of the newsroom by applying for a British Science Association 2012 Media Fellowship.

Spend 3-8 weeks this summer working with hosts including the BBC, Guardian and Nature to produce accurate, well-informed news about developments in science, and work alongside the UK’s top science editors in the British Science Festival Press Centre. Return to work with media confidence, contacts, and first-class communication skills.

“I came away brimming with ideas, skills and advice for my researcher peers and I met some amazing people with the same values and drive as me. It was extremely interesting, educational and fun I would recommend it to anyone with an interest in the world outside their research bubble.”  Media Fellow

The British Science Association welcomes applicants from universities, institutes and industry across the UK and application is online at www.britishscienceassociation.org/mediafellows before 11 March 2012. 

Applications are welcome from researchers at all stages of their career and for eligibility criteria, experiences from past Media Fellows, and the online application form go to www.britishscienceassociation.org/mediafellows

Sponsored by RCUK, Wellcome Trust, BBSRC, STFC and the IET

 

Impact revealed…

 

 

 

I just learnt the other day of an excellent example of some modest impact, which really made me feel that my work was worthwhile. It is so exciting when a student takes some theory and puts it into practice – successfully!

A few years ago I started researching menu description and menu engineering (publishing in the International Journal of Contemporary Hospitality Management), where I found that consumers are increasingly anxious to know where products have come from and how they are produced, satisfying the current “nostalgia” climate, which reminds of a time when “real”, “healthy”, “authentic”, “traceable” and “wholesome” were associated with food. I shared this information with participants on the School of Tourism CPD course and immediately Ben from The Drax Arms in Bere Regis put this theory into practice. Instead of sourcing his lamb for lamb burgers from a major supplier he made contact with his local farmer – wrote a story about this for his consumers to read and the burgers are now in his words ‘flying off the menu’. Based on the experience he is now actively sourcing other promising alliances.

This is a brilliant example of where research has impinged on practice and demonstrates the potential influential partnership between academics and the local business community.

Footnote:

Ben Holden, licensee of the Drax Arms is sponsored by regional brewer and pub operator Hall & Woodhouse Ltd. The CPD programme that Hall & Woodhouse students follow is designed to develop management and leadership skills consistent with the needs of a very dynamic and competitive brewing and pub operating industry. Upon completing the programme, students achieve a Certificate in Higher Education in Hospitality and Business Management and then progress to a Foundation degree as part of their ongoing personal development. For further information on School of Tourism CPD provision, contact Keith Hayman, (Head of CPD) khayman@bournemouth.ac.uk .

Meet your Food – Drax Arms

Drax Arms are proud to be supporting local Dorset farmers and being that the Lamb for our Burgers are farmed 6.6 miles away, we thought we would share the secrets as to why Dorset Lamb is the best tasting in the world.

Sarah Clarke of Fishmore Hill Farm says our Dorset Lamb is especially good which we attribute to being able to enjoy a natural lifestyle grazing on the down land.

You can find out more information about the farm and also the picturesque surroundings for their B & B by visiting Fishmore Hill Farm. 

BU Researcher Development Programme – March 2012

PG research

Sessions for the BU Researcher Development Programme in March 2012 are below. Booking is essential as places are limited – details of how to book are listed under each session.

Statistics Surgeries: Individual statistics advice with Dr John Beavis

Critical Thinking: Professor Jenny Moon

Action Research: Dr Ann Bevan

Using Endnote/Endnote Web: Emma Crowley

Research Philosophy: Professor Barry Richards

  • Date: Wednesday 28 March 2012
  • Time: 10:30-12:30
  • Room: PG22

Booking: graduateschool@bournemouth.ac.uk

New service available to BU staff – Requesting a Virtual Server

Guidance

The “Collaboration Tools for Academics” project has been looking to deliver a useful set of services to the academic community. 

The requirements gathered identified the need for a service that would provide an academic the ability to quickly try out different software.

We are pleased to inform you that we now have a service in place, that will allow academics to request a virtual platform on which to install (or have installed) any server based software they wish to evaluate.

It is intended that that Windows 7 project will deliver a solution for desktop based applications at a later date.

This new service is available to all BU academic staff as of now and will continue to run as a pilot until Feb 2013.  Please note that there is no cost to the service user during the pilot period.

You are able to make requests for this service via the SNOW request form.

Further user guidance can be found HERE; alternatively you may call the IT Service Help Desk for further information on ext 65515 and ask for assistance on “virtual server requests”

British Science Association Media Fellowship

British Science Association logo

The British Science Association run a Media Fellowship scheme for scientists, social scientists, engineers and clinicians to spend the summer working with national news journalists to improve their communication skills and media awareness.

It’s a fantastic opportunity for researchers at any stage of their career to spend 3-8 weeks working with print, TV and radio hosts including the BBC, Guardian and Times to produce accurate, well-informed stories about developments in science.

We welcome applicants from universities, institutes and industry across the UK and application is online at www.britishscienceassociation.org/mediafellows before 11 March 2012.

Atlantic Calling Success

 I am sure that you will be pleased to know that Lloyd Figgins and David Whiddon became the first modern day, independent oarsmen to row non-stop from Morocco to Barbados in their 23ft rowing boat ‘Atlantic Calling’.  Their journey took them 60 days and 17 hours. 

Bournemouth University’s Centre for Event and Sport Research provided psychological and physiological support. They brought together people such as Olympic rower, Bobby Thatcher and David Alred (Jonny Wilkinson’s kicking coach) to help provide training and focus. UK celebrity and previous Atlantic rower, Ben Fogle even popped into the RNLI to see Atlantic Calling and provide advice. 

As a team they worked with the rowers to develop and deliver a bespoke sports science support package for the rowers prior to their departure.  This included technique analysis and development, strength and conditioning, injury rehabilitation, musculo-skeletal assessment and sport psychology support between March and November 2011.  The team included Emma Kavanagh, Joanna Hawkes, Amanda Wilding, Kelly Goodwin, Shelley Broomfield and Andy Callaway from the sports team along with other external expertise. 

This experience has proved beneficial to the University team as well as the rowers.  As Emma Kavanagh made clear, 

“As you can imagine we are all very proud of the guys and feel fortunate as a sports team to have had the opportunity to work on this project.” 

Weight loss for the rowers apparently stands at 1 1/2 stone for David and 2 stone 5lbs for Lloyd so they look a little bit different to when they departed! 

For more information on Atlantic Calling go to: 

http://www.atlanticcalling.com/Home.html

 

 

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I have a top secret FP7 Security document – oh the irony!

Yep, I have summarised the draft FP7 Security Work Programme to save you having to read the mammoth work programme and try to find the info you need (and I am proud to say we are the only uni who does this!). I have placed the summary document on our I drive as it is highly confidential and absolutely not for dissemination outside of BU. You will find hyperlinks taking you to each of the themes, and the calls expected to be released within this. The final work programme will be released in July, so this gives you a great headstart. Find the Security and other draft work programmes at I:\R&KEO\Public\RDU\Draft Work Programmes for 2012-13

Launch of the Association for Nutrition’s Workforce Competence Model

 

As Chair of the Department of Health funded project, ‘Improving Capacity Confidence and Competence across the Workforce in Nutrition,’ I hosted, with others, the launch of the Association for Nutrition’s Workforce Competence Model: at the Royal Society, in London last week.   We should applaud our profession’s capacity to deliver such a high quality, large scale mass participation project, working across professional boundaries, to time and to budget; a project with enormous potential to influence change across the wider health & social care sector.

Nutrition has a critical role to play in tackling inequalities, especially in deprived communities at risk from poor intake and obesity. It is therefore essential that frontline workers operating in the most disadvantaged sectors of society can lead in reducing nutrition-related health inequalities by demonstrating their competence in communicating and delivering appropriate messages. The aim of the workforce model is to encourage high and consistent standards of education and training alongside robust support, recognition and progression mechanisms to ensure that the nutrition workforce is sufficiently developed and skilled to deliver the government’s targets for public health.   It was a proud moment for me.

 

Various latest calls for funding from the EU

DG Enterprise and Industry third party liability studies: The Directorate-General for Enterprise and Industry invites proposals for a study evaluating the status quo and the legal implications of third party liability for the European security industry. The tenderer will collect, analyse and assess data from various legal sources and actual best practices in this field, provide a comprehensive overview of related implications for the security industry, as well as feasible policy options to address these implications, and present the results in an accessible and comprehensible way. Funding is worth up to €800,000 over 12 months.

Eureka EUMINAfab user access call: Eureka invites proposals, through the EUMINAfab initiative, for user access. Investigators from research and industry alike may apply to gain fee-free access to one or more of 37 micro- and nanotechnology fabrication and characterisation installations across Europe. Each researcher must be based in an EU member or associated state.

DG Home Affairs immigration policy: The Directorate-General for Home Affairs invites proposals for the monitoring of the implementation by the member states of the European refugee fund, the European fund for the integration of third-country nationals, the external border fund and the return fund. The tenderer will undertake between 36 and 72 monitoring missions over a three-year period, in order to ensure the correct implementation of funds pursuant to the basic acts and implementing rules in member states. Funding is worth between €100,000 and €200,000 per year over a maximum of three years.

DG Enterprise and Industry electric vehicle promotion:The Directorate-General for Enterprise and Industry invites proposals for the promotion of electric vehicles technologies. Projects should raise social awareness about the high performance of electric vehicles and the benefits of their utilisation, while addressing specific aspects that may have created public reluctance about the purchase of vehicles based on electric powertrains. Proposals may be submitted for the following lots: complete construction of an electric car designed for competition, for which funding is worth up to €2 million; organisation of a demonstration event with the presence of the electric car built in lot one, for which funding is worth up to €300,000.

Europe for citizens networking of twinned towns: Each project must foresee at least three events, involving municipalities from at least four participating countries, of which at least one is an EU member state. Grants are worth between €10,000 and €150,000 over a period of 21 days to 24 months. Deadline 01.09.12

Continuous training: Grants support the development of the capacity of audiovisual professionals to understand and integrate a European dimension to their work, through the following measures: training in economic, financial and commercial management; training in new audiovisual technologies; training in script project development. The budget for this call is €7 million. Deadline 16.04.12

Vice-Chancellor Doctoral (Fee Waive) Scholarship

Funding opportunities, PG research

We are delighted to announce the launch of the 2012 Vice-Chancellor Doctoral (Fee Waive Scholarships) which will offer support to up to 60 outstanding postgraduate research students.  The Scholarships will provide a full fee waive for up to 36 months in the case of full-time students and exceptionally 48 months in the case of part-time students.  Stipends (to cover living expenses) are not included in the scholarships and these must be provided by the student themselves or by a sponsor. 

This Scholarship programme will open on 1 March 2012 and will roll until 30 June 2012.  There are up to 60 scholarships available, which are nominally split evenly between the 6 Academic Schools.  However, individual schools may take up more or less than their allocated 10 scholarships as available.  There is no requirement for a School to accept candidates.

The focus of the Vice-Chancellor Doctoral (Fee Waive) Scholarships is on the outstanding nature of the candidate who must meet the following eligibility criteria:

  • All candidates must demonstrate truly outstanding qualities and be motivated to complete a PhD in 3 years full-time or 4 years part-time.
  • All candidates must satisfy the University’s minimum doctoral entry criteria for studentships of an honors degree at First Class (1) and/or an appropriate Masters degree or equivalent .
  • An IELTS (Academic) score of 7.0 minimum is essential for candidates for whom English is not their first language.

In addition to satisfying basic entry criteria, BU will look closely at the qualities, skills and background of each candidate and what they can bring to their chosen research project in order to ensure successful and timely completion.  It is important to consider that in most cases the interpretation of ‘truly outstanding’ is likely to be those candidates with a First Class (Hons) degrees and/or a distinction at Masters, with clear documented evidence of drive, commitment and relevant skills.

Only the most outstanding candidates will be supported.  Full details and criteria are set out in the BU VC Scholarship 2012 – Policy document. Staff and potential candidates are asked to check the eligibility criteria carefully before applying. 

The scholarships will be awarded, via the process set out below, to candidates who meet the eligibility criteria, have the support of their supervisory teams, are accepted by the relevant Academic School and must be approved by the School’s Dean and UET.  The process will be managed by the Graduate School.  The Vice-Chancellor Doctoral Scholarships applications (on the appropriate application form downloaded from the Graduate School website from Thursday 1 March 2012) should be submitted to Dr Fiona Knight (Graduate School Academic Manager) no later than 30 June 2012 who will circulate to each School for approval.

Want to find out how to turn a proposal into a winning proposal?

Guidance

Then attend the Missenden Centre’s excellent ‘Winning Research Funding’ workshop on Friday 16 March in London.

Attendees are invited to take a draft or previously unsuccessful application to the workshop for advice on how to turn it into an award-winning proposal!

Further details are available from: www.missendencentre.co.uk/s1

If you are interested in attending then we have funds in the RDU budget to cover your course fees and travel. Let me know if you are interested! 🙂

Sneak preview of the Energy FP7 Calls for Proposals

I have managed to obtain a draft of the EC FP7 Energy Work Programme. This is highly sensitive information and as the final document isn’t released until July, should give you a great head start to plan your proposal.

I’ve summarised the very dull document with easy to use hyperlinks to take you straight to areas you are interested in, and placed on the I drive along with our other summary FP7 documents. Please note that these are absolutely not to be circulated outside of BU – not even to your prospective partners!  I:\R&KEO\Public\RDU\Draft Work Programmes for 2012-13

Reflecting on a fantastic 6 months of EU activity at BU

I wanted to use the blog today to say how proud I am of all the exciting EU initiatives we have recently had at BU and to get your suggestions for even more!

We started this year with a fantastic EU showcase event where some of our most EU active academics presented their work with some excellent stories, videos and of course plenty of cake.

We have had 2 fantastic competitions for funding. The first was the EU Academic Development Scheme where nine brilliant BU academics were awarded a place on a scheme set to really launch their EU career. The second saw us support 6 academics in pursuing their networking endeavours through the unique EU Networking Fund.

I have tried to deliver information in a more engaging way, through writing and distributing the Simple Guide to EC Funding which many of you have provided really positive feedback on, and also by making use of this blog space.

We have held specialist sessions from an external expert grant writer on EU Funding & Grant Writing and Marie Curie Fellowships, with amazing feedback and I’ve worked with many of our academics on finding appropriate funding, identifying partners and writing proposals (and I look forward to doing this with many more of you).

I am currently pulling together a plan of what the 12 months of EU focused activities will look like, which will all be designed to help you engage more effectively in EU funding. If you have any suggestions for the kind of activities you would find helpful, or what training would be best for you, then leave a comment at the end of this post. I can’t guarantee I will be able to implement it but I will give it a good go J

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The second brilliant external REF event at BU!

Research assessment

On Wednesday this week BU hosted a REF Team-supported event for universities in the south of England explaining the content of the recently released REF Panel Working Methods and Criteria documentation. This was the second REF event that has been hosted at BU in the past 12 months. The first event was held in May 2011 and you can read about it here: http://blogs.bournemouth.ac.uk/research/2011/05/25/the-excellent-hefce-ref-event-at-bu/

The event, attended by over 150 delegates from 32 institutions, outlined the similarities between how the four Main Panels will review submissions, as well as focusing on the differences between the panels particularly in how they will define and assess impact in the context of the REF.

Chris Taylor, Deputy REF Manager, spoke about the technical aspects of the REF, e.g. the timetable, element weightings, and institutional REF codes of practice, and then looked at each of the three elements of the REF in depth – impact, outputs and environment.

Prof Stephen Holgate, Chair of Main Panel A, then delivered a very interesting presentation on the similarities between the four Main Panels which have been vastly improved since the sector-wide consultation on the Panel Working Methods documentation last autumn. The Panels have put in a significant amount of work to ensuring their working methods will be as simple, transparent and similar as possible which is excellent news.

After break there were four concurrent sessions, each focusing on one of the Main Panels. Event attendees could choose to attend one session. The session were led by:

  • Main Panel A – Prof Stephen Holgate (Chair of Main Panel A)
  • Main Panel B – Prof Philip Nelson (Chair of the General Engineering sub-panel)
  • Main Panel C – Prof John Scott (Chair of the Sociology sub-panel)
  • Main Panel D – Prof Bruce Brown (Chair of Main Panel D)

After the concurrent sessions, all presenters took part in a Q&A session back in Kimmeridge House.

One of the key messages of the day was that the sub-panels will not make use of journal impact factors, journal ranking lists, or other journal scoring information to inform the review of outputs. Citation data will be provided by the REF Team to sub-panels:

  • Main Panel A: Sub-panels 1-6
  • Main Panel B: Sub-panels 7-11
  • Main Panel C: Sub-panel 18

Research collaboration (e.g. links with other institutions, business and industry, international collaboration, etc) was also highlighted at numerous points throughout the event as being of particular importance in the environment element of the assessment.

Regarding impact, Prof Holgate stressed that the assessment of impact was not necessarily linked to the size of the population affected but to the reach and significance of the impact – for example, a 4* impact case study could be for a drug that cured three people or 3 billion people.

Also interesting was the focus on 4* research being that which is transformative research and that this could be the synthesis of knowledge and the identification of a new way of doing things. A review paper could therefore be assessed as 4* if it meets this definition. Prof Holgate remarked: “we are in an era of transformation. We want game changing outputs to be submitted to the REF”.

The event was closed by Prof Matthew Bennett at 1pm after which point event attendees networked over lunch. Feedback from attendees so far has been very positive!

If you attended the session then we’d love to know what you thought! Let us know by adding a comment to this post.

The slides will be available shortly via the Blog.

What’s coming up in the Marie Curie calls? I can tell you….

Last week on the back of our Marie Curie Fellowship training, I posted the forthcoming deadlines for the Marie Curie calls.  I am pleased to reveal that I have managed to obtain a draft copy of the Marie Curie Work Programme which gives a little more detail about this scheme. This document is highly confidential and contains sensitive information which is why I have placed it on our I drive … I:\R&KEO\Public\RDU\Draft Work Programmes for 2012-13

It is not for circulation outside of BU at all (not even your potential partners!). The final Work Programme will be released in July so I am giving you a great 4 month head start with this. Contact your RKE Operations Team straight away to let them know you are planning to submit in order to prevent any delays and to make full use of all the resources we have at BU to help you with your submission.