Yearly Archives / 2012

Join the ESRC as a peer reviewer

Research news

ESRC is now inviting applications for membership of its Grants Assessment Panels in the following disciplinary areas:

        • Sociology, particularly sociology of health
        • Socio-legal studies
        • Science and technology studies
        • Management and business studies, including accounting and finance
        • Economics, particularly micro-economics

This is an opportunity to work with other experienced people from across the academic, public, private and third sectors to help ensure ESRC funds high-quality research at the forefront of social and economic science whilst working to maximise the impact of the research it supports.

For further information on the vacancies and the work of the GAPs, please see the website and vacancy specification (PDF, 93Kb). For questions or queries that are not covered in the vacancy specification, please contact Gavin Salisbury at ESRC on email gavin.salisbury@esrc.ac.uk or telephone 01793 413136.

Application forms, with a short curriculum vitae (no longer than two A4 pages), should be submitted by email to gavin.salisbury@esrc.ac.uk not later than 17.00 on Wednesday 1 February 2011.

Funding Opportunities: HEA & MS Society

Funding opportunities

We have received information on the following funding opportunities which may be of interest to staff.

Teaching Development Grants from the Higher Education Academy

1. Round 2 of the Individual Grants scheme will open on January 3rd 2012, with a maximum of £7,000 per project, with a focus on employability or internationalisation.

•          The submission deadline is February 19th 2012.

•          Unsuccessful bids from the previous round could be re-submitted if they can be revised in line with the feedback you received from the HEA.

•          However, any bids that do not satisfy the two key principles of student engagement and outputs of benefit beyond BU, or do not thoroughly address ethical issues, will not be considered by the reviewers. So it is critical to get these sections as strong as possible.

•          Successful bids from the July 2011 round are here: http://www.heacademy.ac.uk/teaching-development-grants

2. The Collaborative Grants scheme opens on February 27th 2012, with a submission deadline of April 22nd 2012.

•          The maximum funding per project is £60,000, one bid per institution.

•          These can be either collaborative bids between BU and external bodies, or interdisciplinary between different departments within BU.

•          With collaborative bids, there must be a minimum of two UK HE partners, but other partners could include FECs, private providers or overseas HEIs.

•          The project must be led by a Fellow of the HEA and matched funding is required. 

•          Some further details are available here to support early thinking, but more information will be available in January.

If you would like to discuss potential projects, please contact Jennifer Taylor, Janet Hanson or Linda Byles (both Janet and Linda are TDG reviewers for the HEA).

MS Society Grants 2012

The MS Society intends to run three grant rounds in 2012:

  • Grant Round 1 – PhD Studentships and Innovative Awards
  • Grant Round 2 – Project grants and Junior Fellowships
  • Grant Round 3 – PhD Studentships and Innovative Awards

The MS Society 2012 Grant Round 1 for Innovative and PhD Studentship awards will open on the 17 January 2012, with a deadline for applications 12 noon on 10 February 2012.

For an overview of all the intended 2012 grant rounds and guidance on how to apply for an MS Society research grant please see thier website: http://www.mssociety.org.uk/ms-research/for-researchers/applying-for-research-grants

What do they fund?

As the largest dedicated charitable funder of MS research in the UK, the MS Society welcomes applications for projects that will increase the understanding of, and find new effective treatments for MS, as well as improve care and services for people affected by MS. The Society will consider any application that is relevant to MS. Applications are divided into two funding streams:

  1. Care and Services Research Research proposals that are focussed on relieving the symptoms of MS, developing and evaluating services for people affected by MS or exploring the social and economic impact of MS are classified as care and services research applications.
  2. Biomedical Research Research proposals that are focussed on identifying the causes of MS and/or identifying and developing disease modifying therapies are classified as biomedical research applications. In response to a strategic review the Society has issued a highlight notice for translational and clinical biomedical research and would particularly encourage applicants to submit proposals with this focus.

If you have any questions the society’s research team are happy to answer them at: research@mssociety.org.uk or on: 020 8438 0822.

Good Luck & Congratulations!

Awarded & submitted bids

There have been a number of strong Research Council bids submitted since my last email, most of which have been run through our internal peer review scheme (the RPRS) which is great news – good luck therefore to Venky Dubey (DEC) for submitting large bids to both the MRC and the NIHR, Barry Richards (MS) for a bid on interactive extremism submitted to the AHRC, Bronwen Thomas (MS) for submitting a bid on researching readers online to the AHRC, Neal White (MS) for being part of a large multi-institution bid submitted to the ESRC’s joint council Connected Communities scheme, and to Genoveva Esteban (ApSci) for a bid on food webs to NERC. One cross-School bid has been submitted this period – good luck to Peter Thomas and Zoe Sheppard (HSC) and Samuel Nyman (DEC) who submitted a joint bid on reducing falls for inpatients with dementia to the NIHR, an excellent example of cross-School working.

Good luck to Cornelius Ncube (DEC) for a systems design bid to the BBC, Hywel Dix (MS) for submitting a bid to the Leverhulme Trust’s Senior Research Fellowships call, Clive Andrewes (HSC) for a bid to Wiltshire Community Health Services to run some study days, Mark Dover (ApSci) for a bid to Dataloft to produce some GIS images, Steve Calver (and the MRG team) (ST) for a bid to NHS Bristol, Karina Gerdau-Radonic (ApSci) for a bid to the Wenner-Gren Foundation, Barry Surman (ST) for submitting a shorter KTP application, Richard Fisher (HSC) for a collaborative bid led by Imperial College to the Newman Foundation, Rob Britton (ApSci) for a bid to DEFRA, Kris Erickson (MS) and Fabian Homberg (BS) who each submitted a bid to the Intellectual Property Office, Rob Britton and Josie Pegg (ApSci) who have submitted a studentship bid to the FSBI, Dave Parham (ApSci) for a large bid to English Heritage, Samuel Nyman (DEC) and Jan Weiner (DEC) for each submitting a PhD studentship proposal to Age UK, Matt Northam (MS) for a bid to Drum Cussac, Tomasz Kakareko (ApSci) for a bid to the Fisheries Society of Great Britain, and to Richard Stillman (ApSci) for a second bid to Halcrow Ltd to continue his work on the Severn Barrage. Good luck also to Keith Hayman, Janet Dickinson, Philip Alford, Feifei Xu, and Susanna Curtin (ST) for submitting a collaborative tender to IRD Dunhallow Ltd on ecotourism, Stephanie Farmer (Red Balloon) for a bid to MicroNav to produce a corporate promo, and Keith Brown (HSC) for submitting a number of bids to local authorities.

Congratulations to Rob Britton (ApSci) for being awarded a Marie Curie Intra-European Fellowship grant from the EC – this is excellent news! Congratulations are also due to Genoveva Esteban (ApSci) for winning a contract with the Environment Agency to conduct an aquatic biodiversity survey, Richard Stillman (Apsci) for securing a contract with Halcrow Ltd, Mark Maltby (ApSci) for securing a small bone assessment contract with Bedfordshire County Council, Keith Hayman (ST) for securing a CPD contract with Hall and Woodhouse, Roger Herbert (ApSci) for securing a contract with the Shellfish Association of Great Britain to research pacific oyster issues, and to Mark Dover (ApSci) for winning a contract with Dataloft. Congratulations also to Mike Molesworth (Liam Toms and the CEB team) (MS) for securing a contract with Work Research Ltd, to Steve Calver (and the MRG team) (ST) for winning a number of contracts with local authorities and a repeat contract with the Holburne Museum in Bath, to Bronwen Russell (and the Bournemouth archaeology team) (ApSci) for a securing a number of contracts with Distributed Generation Limited, and to Richard Gordon (ST) for securing a training contract with NEMA..

Congratulations also to Les Todres (HSC) for organising a masterclass on gathering people’s ideas and opinions, Crispin Farbrother (ST) for organising a WSET 1 day short course, Vijay Reddy (ST) for organising the Tourism, Climate Change and Sustainability Conference to take place in September 2012, Tom Watson (MS) for organising the History of PR Conference, to Lai Xu (DEC) for organising the PRO-VE Conference, Julia Round (MS) for organising the Annual International Comics Conference, and to a number of staff in ApSci (Duncan Golicher, Martin Smith, Ross Hill, Paul Cheetham, Alex Otto and Damian Evans) for organising various short courses to take place in 2012, including the Big Dig Field School.

Best wishes

Matthew

Second chance to see The PHD Movie!

PG research, Research news

Love PHD Comics? Then come to the screening of The PHD Movie, hosted at BU on Wednesday 15 February!

BU first screened the movie in December but due to popular demand a second screening has now been arranged!

The PHD Movie is being shown at universities around the world and premiered at UCLA in Los Angeles in September. It has also been shown at Harvard University, Yale University, University of Sydney, CERN, and multiple screenings at the Max Planck Institute.

In the UK the movie is only scheduled to be screened at UCL, Oxford, Glasgow, Cranfield, Bristol, Imperial College, York, Newcastle, Liverpool, Birmingham, Cambridge, Edinburgh, Brunel and Bournemouth!

The PHD Movie is a live-action adaptation of the popular online comic strip by Jorge Cham (www.phdcomics.com). It was filmed on location at and was produced in partnership with the California Institute of Technology (Caltech).

The film introduces audiences to the unique and funny culture of Academia and follows four graduate students (Cecilia, Mike, Tajel and the “Nameless Grad Student”) as they struggle to find balance between research, teaching and their personal lives with humor and heart.

The Movie was produced and directed by and stars real PhD students and researchers.

The second Bournemouth screening will be held on Wednesday 15 February between 12:30-2pm in the Allesbrook Lecture Theatre on the Talbot Campus.

It is free to attend and lunch will be provided! 😀

Places at the screening are limited so complete the booking form below if you’d like to come along.

    Your Name (required)

    Your Email (required)

    I’ve got a draft copy of the FP7 ICT Work Programme for you!

    EU

    I’ve managed to obtain a draft version of the FP7 ICT Work Programme which features the calls for proposals to be released in 2012. This is just a draft and therefore subject to change but it gives you a great idea as to what the European Commission are looking to fund. The Work Programme is a tedious read so I’ve summarised the info on funding in there for you; the aim of the call etc. I have bookmarked the document so you can jump straight to the call that interests you from the front page.

    As this document is highly confidential I have placed it on our I drive; it is strictly forbidden to circulate this outside of BU! I:\R&KEO\Public\RDU\Draft Work Programmes for 2012-13

    There are also the drafts for Environment, Health and Food, Agriculture, Fisheries & Biotechnology in there too which I’ve blogged about previously.
    The final official version of the Work Programmes aren’t released until July 2012 so this gives you a fantastic head start to preparing a submission.

    I will summarise the other themes as soon as I get the drafts through so keep your eyes peeled on this blog for them!

     

    Make your research freely available to a global audience via open access!

    Guidance, Publishing, Research news

    open access logo, Public Library of ScienceThe BU Open Access Publication Fund was launched in August 2011 with the aim of making BU research freely accessible to a global audience.

    Since then the open access publication costs for eight papers have been met by the Fund, including papers authored by Professor Mark Hadfield, Professor Adrian Newton, Dr Julie Kirkby, and Professor Jonathan Parker.

    The fund is available for use by any BU author ready to submit a completed article for publication who wishes to make their output freely and openly accessible.

    For further information about the Open Access Publication Fund and how to get involved, see our previous Blog post – Launch of the BU Open Access Publication Fund.

    EU top tips from our academics, funding opportunities and cake THIS FRIDAY!

    EU

    Are you curious to uncover the secret of our academics success with EU funding? Do you like cake? Well the EU Showcase Event THIS FRIDAY is a must-attend morning for you!

    In a very bright, lively and informal event , several of our most EU-active researchers will be sharing information on their brilliant projects and their experiences on how they embarked on the EU funding world.

    Presenters will be from a range of Schools and the day will begin by an introduction from PVC Research, Enterprise & Internationalisation Prof. Matthew Bennett. I will also be giving you more info on our fantastic EU Networking fund and EU Academic Development Schemes which will help you in your EU funding endeavours.

    The event is a half day (9-12) in Kimmeridge house and tea, coffee and cake will be provided.  This is a great opportunity to see the excellent EU work some of our researchers are doing, but also to find out more about how you too can get involved.

    In order to ensure we order plenty of cake and refreshments, we are asking you to register here by Thursday (which takes 10 seconds).

    Leverhulme Trust visit – 1st Feb – booking now open

    BU research, Funding opportunities

    Booking is now open for the Leverhulme Trust  visit (1st February).

    Places are limited, and are going like hotcakes –   to book your place please click here.

    What’s happening?

    Jean Cater from the LT is coming to BU, and its a great opportunity to find out more about how the Leverhulme works,  what they are looking for in a proposal and what they fund.    

    The Leverhulme Trust offers a range of funding opportunities – across all disciplines.   This includes research grants, international networks, early career fellowships, research fellowships and more. 

    The session will cover:  

    • where the Leverhulme sits in the funding spectrum
    • schemes and application procedures
    • things to bear in mind if applying
    • plenty of time to ask questions too.  

    This session is for you if:

    • you have a research idea and wonder if the Leverhulme Trust might be an appropriate funder
    • you are developing a funding proposal for the Leverhulme Trust
    • you don’t know much about the Leverhulme Trust and would like to find out more

    Details:

    • Date: Wednesday, 1st February 2012
    • Time: 2-4pm
    • Place:  Thomas Hardy Suite – PG 146
    • Refreshments will be available.

    ** To book your place please click here. ** 

    If you have any questions please contact Caroline O’Kane

    Latest developments with the REF now available from the REF Highlight Report #11

    Research assessment

    REF logoThe latest REF Highlight Report is now available from the Research Blog.

    Key points include updates on:

    • progress towards the Winter 2011 REF preparation exercise
    • funding identified for case study development
    • update of the draft BU REF code of practice
    • latest documents released from the REF team at HEFCE (including an updated external timetable and a set of FAQs)

    You can access the full document from the I-drive in the following folder: CRKT\Public\RDU\REF\REF preparations\REF highlight reports\#11

    Radio heritage digitised and available on the British Universities Film & Video Council website

    BU research

    Watch this excellent short video from BU’s Professor Hugh Chignell who has worked with London Broadcasting Company’s independent radio news archive to digitalise over 8,000 tapes, creating a live history account which is now available on the British Universities Film and Video Council’s website: http://radio.bufvc.ac.uk/lbc/

    To see other BU videos on YouTube go to the BU YouTube page.

     

    httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=svdm_2f4V24

    Leverhulme Trust – Research Leadership Awards

    Funding opportunities

    The Leverhulme Trust has announced that the Research Leadership Awards are now open to applications.  Each university is only allowed to put forward one candidate for this scheme.

    The aim of these awards is to support those who have succeeded in beginning a university career but who are then confronted with the task of building a research team able to tackle an identified but distinctive research problem. The awards provide support for research assistants and research students led by the award holder. Applicants will have held a university post for at least two years.

     

    The awards:

    • are each for a sum of between £800,000 and £1 million;

    • are for the provision of research assistants and research students to build a research group under the direction of the grant holder. A fraction of the award (up to a maximum of 25%) can be used for associated costs;

    • are for research activity over a five year period;

    • are offered in any subject area within the Trust’s normal remit;

    • will be allocated with attention to three selection criteria; namely, first the record and promise of the group leader, secondly the fit of the group’s research involvement and resources, and thirdly the extent to which the work of the group can be seen to bring about a fruitful reshaping of the disciplinary landscape.

    More information is available on the Leverhulme website.  If you are considering applying please register your interest with Susan Dowdle asap.

    Call for Papers – Council for Hospitality Management Education Conference

    Research news

    Call for papers for peer-reviewed consideration for presentation at the 21st CHME Annual Research Conference hosted by University College Birmingham.

    Both full papers of 4,000-6,000 words, and developmental papers of 1,000-2,000 words are invited under the three panel themes of

    • Cultural and Critical Studies in Hospitality,
    • Developments in Hospitality and Tourism Research, and
    • Research and Practice in Teaching, Learning and Assessment.

    For notes and guidelines on submission format please follow those set out by Hospitality & Society which can be located at http://www.intellectbooks.co.uk/journals/views-journal,id=194/view,page=2/

     

    Papers should be submitted as a word document to CHME2012@UCB.ac.uk

    Final Submission Deadline: Tuesday 31st of January 2012

     

    For further information visit the website: http://chme.ucb.ac.uk/

     

    BU Fusion Fund – closing date fast approaching!

    Fusion

    The first closing date for the current round of the BU Fusion Fund competition is 13 January 2012.

    The fund was launched in September to support staff innovation around the concept of Fusion. Details and the application process for the fund are set out in the attached documents and the fund forms part of BU’s Higher Education Innovation Fund (HEIF) Strategy. The idea is to support innovative ideas which lead to employer, business and/or industry engagement enhancing core BU activities of research and education. Availability of funds are modest in the first year (although build in subsequent years) but the key is to provide an opportunity for staff to explore innovative ideas around Fusion. Ideas for new courses, enterprise ventures, industry secondments, or employer engagements can all be explored by this fund. It is designed to allow staff to develop new ideas and innovations!

    Find out more about BU’s fusion strategy here – BU2018 website.

    Submit your completed application forms by email to Susan Dowdle.

    Good luck!

    Available documents:

    Please note this is not the Fusion Investment Fund – to find out information about the Fusion Investment Fund please click here:

    http://blogs.bournemouth.ac.uk/research/2012/06/26/fusion-investment-fund-it-is-almost-time-to-submit-applications-1st-july-deadline-2/?preview=true&preview_id=11804&preview_nonce=1c78dc27cc

    OK, I know China isn’t the EU but this is a great nursing opportunity!

    EU

     The British Council are hosting a unique meeting to support China-UK nursing collaboration. The Chinese Ministry of Health, Guanghua Nurse Fund (GNF) of China Guanghua Science & Technology Foundation is in the process of establishing arrangements for a specific initiative intended significantly to enhance the education and training of nurses in China.  The objectives of this scheme is to ensure standards that must be met by trainee nurses are equivalent to those that prevail internationally and appropriate to the needs of the Chinese Government’s 12th Five Year Plan as well as to ensure that post-qualification continuing professional development (CPD) standards for those who are currently qualified nurses or who will become so during the period covered by the Plan are appropriate, rigorous and internationally-benchmarked.

    As part of the scheme, a pilot involving 20 Chinese universities and 5 pre selected UK universities will be implemented in 2012-13. The selected universities will take trainee nurses in the academic year 2012-13 such that they can gauge, and inform the review of, existing standards. Opportunities will shortly be available to apply for participation in these scheme in 2013.To learn more about the scheme and meet delegates from the 20 Chinese Universities involved, you can apply to attend a meeting to be held in Manchester 20-21st February. Places are extremely limited and on a first come first serve basis. A draft programme will be available towards the middle of January 2012; contact the British Council  if you are interested in attending

    Become a part of the new EU e-Health stakeholder group

    EU

    The European Commission has launched a call for expressions of interest from both user and industry representatives to form a new eHealth Stakeholder group for 2012.

    The group will provide a platform for the development of legislation or policy related to eHealth and will have two main objectives:
    •provide input into design and implementation of eHealth policy activities, in particular the Digital Agenda for Europe on eHealth, and the implementation of the eHealth Action Plan; and
    •deliver independent, sound and transparent advice, drawing on their knowledge and research.
    The deadline for applications of interest is 30 January 2012, and those appointed will be expected be an active member of the group for three years.

    Colleague supervision – and maximising research opportunities

    BU research

    This blog post considers two aspects of research – supervision and publication. The two came together in article of mine recently been published online by the Journal of Further & Higher Education (JFHE) http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/0309877X.2011.644774.

    In 2008/09, I undertook the PGCert Research Degree Supervision to further develop supervision skills. For the second assignment, I made a study of colleague supervision – the supervision of staff doctoral students by their colleagues and, sometimes, managers. From it, an academic paper was developed and later submitted to JFHE. The article was an opportunity to maximise the outcomes of my study of research supervision and to create insights (possibly “new knowledge”) into a sometimes contentious and little researched area.

    The starting point was a claim by Pam Denicolo (2004) that colleague supervision was “a role relationship that has been largely ignored or undervalued by [university] administration” (p. 693) and colleague students and supervisors “felt more vulnerable” than other students/supervisors (p. 706). At the time, I was Deputy Dean (Education) in the Media School and had, at BU and a previous university, observed colleague students often struggling to manage the roles of teacher, researcher, colleague and administrator. So the aim of my qualitative study amongst students and supervisors was to gain greater insight into the colleague students’ research journey and to consider how their working lives could be better structured.

    Broadly, the indications from this small-scale study were:

    • The students and supervisors did not feel they were “ignored”, “undervalued” or “vulnerable.” There were some advantages of easy access to supervisors that other PGRs don’t have;
    • More effort is needed on the research training of colleague students. Those coming into doctoral studies from professional backgrounds said that they often learnt “on the hoof”;
    • Some students, in 2009 interviews, feared for their jobs without achievement of a doctoral qualification. Others saw it as an essential part of their development of academic research and professional skills;
    • Although Denicolo posited “vulnerability” as a power imbalance between supervisors and staff, the general attitude was that their supervisor was a “friendly facilitator” and supportive;
    • Confidentiality of performance on doctoral studies was expected by students as part of their relationship with the colleague supervision;
    • The use of group supervision by HSC to support students was seen as very beneficial in aiding cohort progress and reducing the loneliness of the doctoral student’s research journey.

    This was a small-scale study (six students and five supervisors) and thus there are limitations of its generalisability, but it indicates that colleague supervision needs to be considered as a special case and not just part of the academic “day job”.

    Prof Tom Watson, The Media School

    Article:  Watson, T., 2011. Colleague supervision – ‘ignored and undervalued’? The views of students and supervisors in a new university. Journal of Further & Higher Education. DOI: 10.1080/0309877X.2011.644774.

    Reference: Denicolo, P., 2004. Doctoral supervision of colleagues: Peeling off the veneer of satisfaction and competence. Studies in Higher Education, 29 (6), 693-707.