Yearly Archives / 2013

Research Professional

Every BU academic has a Research Professional account which delivers weekly emails detailing funding opportunities in their broad subject area. To really make the most of your Research Professional account, you should tailor it further by establishing additional alerts based on your specific area of expertise.

Research Professional have created several guides to help introduce users to ResearchProfessional. These can be downloaded here.

Quick Start Guide: Explains to users their first steps with the website, from creating an account to searching for content and setting up email alerts, all in the space of a single page.

User Guide: More detailed information covering all the key aspects of using ResearchProfessional.

Administrator Guide: A detailed description of the administrator functionality.

In addition to the above, there are a set of 2-3 minute videos online, designed to take a user through all the key features of ResearchProfessional.  To access the videos, please use the following link: http://www.youtube.com/researchprofessional 

Research Professional are running a series of online training broadcasts aimed at introducing users to the basics of creating and configuring their accounts on ResearchProfessional.  They are holding monthly sessions, covering everything you need to get started with ResearchProfessional.  The broadcast sessions will run for no more than 60 minutes, with the opportunity to ask questions via text chat.  Each session will cover:

  • Self registration and logging in
  • Building searches
  • Setting personalised alerts
  • Saving and bookmarking items
  • Subscribing to news alerts
  • Configuring your personal profile

Each session will run between 10.00am and 11.00am (UK) on the fourth Tuesday of each month.  You can register here for your preferred date:

25th June 2013: https://www1.gotomeeting.com/register/492839664 

23rd July 2013: https://www1.gotomeeting.com/register/771246561 

27th August 2013: https://www1.gotomeeting.com/register/398714217 

24th September 2013: https://www1.gotomeeting.com/register/882372120 

These are free and comprehensive training sessions and so this is a good opportunity to get to grips with how Research Professional can work for you.

MASTERCLASS: Interviewing in semi structured interviews

Doing face-to-face interviews is probably the most used method qualitative research. There exists a range of different interview styles or approaches to explore people’s views, experiences, feelings and/or opinions on a specific topic.  Qualitative interviews allow interviewees to expand their answers, deliberate about their experiences and highlight their feelings. Such interviews also allow the interviewer to probe, to ask for clarification and/or more detail from the interviewee.

Some interviews aim to gather descriptive data, through structured or semi-structured interviews, whilst unstructured or life-history interviews attempt to probe deeper into the interviewee’s life.  This one-day Master Class will focus on issues around conducting semi-structured interviews. The following issues will be included: ‘devising an interview schedule’, ‘good, bad & leading questions’, ‘working with translators’, ‘audio-recording of interviews’,  and ‘research ethics surrounding qualitative interviews’.

Prof. Edwin van Teijlingen, in the School of Health & Social Care has conducted face-to-face interviews on a range of different health topics.  Moreover, he has published several research methods papers on interviews and qualitative research more widely.

This one day Masterclass will be held at Bournemouth University on Tuesday 18th June 2013:

To Register:    http://buybu.bournemouth.ac.uk/interviewing-in-semi-structured-interviews.aspx

 

BU’s Dr. Julie Robson chosen as an Outstanding Author Contribution Award Winner at the Literati Network Awards for Excellence

The Business School’s Dr. Julie Robson’s chapter entitled “A Conceptual Framework for Classifying and Understanding Relationship Marketing Within Schools” published in “Advances in Educational Administration” has been chosen as an Outstanding Author Contribution Award Winner at the Literati Network Awards for Excellence 2013. The chapter was co-authored by Sophie Yang from Coventry University.

These awards are given annually for each of the academic journals published by Emerald Group Publishing, and the winners are chosen by each journal’s Editorial Team. Dr. Julie Robson’s paper has been selected as it was one of the most impressive pieces of work the editor has seen throughout 2012.

The 2013 winners will shortly be added to www.emeraldinsight.com/literati and the paper made freely available.

Dr. Robson is Head of the Department of Strategy and Marketing at BU’s Business School.

Congratulations to Julie for writing for an Emerald book series and on her award success.

Could the SMN Strand of the Fusion Investment Fund be the one for you?

The Staff Mobility and Networking strand (SMN) may seem like your normal, everyday standard strand but look carefully and you’ll see it’s a strand with a difference. It has 3 elements meaning even more opportunities for you! Not only is there a Standard element but there are also Erasmus Staff Mobility and Santander elements too!

The standard scheme is most appropriate for supporting staff UK or overseas travel and subsistence in pursuit of any aspect of Fusion – research, education, and/or professional practice – with no minimum or maximum duration and also includes inward mobility. Awards made will be between £1k and £10k.

The Erasmus Staff Mobility part of the strand is most appropriate for enabling academic and professional staff based at higher education institutions (HEIs) to spend a period of training or teaching between 5 working days and 6 weeks in a European HEI or enterprise. There are also opportunities to invite staff from enterprises to Bournemouth University to give presentations and provide teaching.

Please be aware that this scheme differs quite significantly from the other FIF strands. More information is on the Erasmus intranet page.

Santander, through Santander Universities, works to encourage the international exchange of students and lecturers with respect to the development of projects linked to research, education or professional practice. Support will be available in the form of subsistence and travel costs for staff. Five awards of £5k will be made.

 Has this whetted your appetite? Are you hungry for more? Then go, go, go to the FIF intranet pages.

The Fusion Investment Fund is managed by Samantha Leahy-Harland and is administered by Natalie Baines. Please direct all initial enquiries to Natalie Baines.

CEMP Research & Innovation Funding Bulletin

Here is the latest CEMP Research & Innovation Funding Bulletin. CEMP Cluster bulletin and agenda 30.5.13

The next R&I cluster meeting – where we will review these opportunities and monitor current projects – is on Thursday 6th June 10-12 in the CEMP office.

All are very welcome – just drop in – and if you can’t make the meeting but would like to discuss any of the funding opportunities here, or another research proposal, please let me know.

For info – the ‘think-tank’ part of the cluster meetings will now take place separately, under the re-brand ‘CEMP conversations’ and the next one will be Thursday 13th June. More information to follow.

LOOK! An International Collaboration

default-logoFor the past few years, Jeff Bagust (BU Visiting Researcher and Emeritus Professor at AECC) and I have been involved in the Australian LOOK project. This is a multidisciplinary study that involves the collaboration of scientists (including cardiologists, physiologists, psychologists… and a whole load more “ists”) from all over the world. It is a longitudinal study following a group of approximately 850 school children as they grow into adults and throughout their lives. The aim of the study is to investigate whether the type of physical education you are exposed to in childhood has an effect on your quality of life… throughout your life! So, schools have been randomised into either continuing their normal physical education curriculum or following an externally provided, alternative programme. Just some of the areas that are being investigated include: bone health, insulin resistance, cardiovascular health, body image and academic performance.

The study started in 2005 when the children were 8 and so far two sets of follow-up tests have been performed. In 2013, the next phase of the project will begin as the children are now 15 and at secondary school.

For our part, Jeff and I have been investigating the development of perception of vertical in these children. While the intervention does not seem to have an effect on this, it has provided us with lots of information about how perception of vertical develops. The article we have written based on this work has just been published in the journal PLoSOne thanks to the BU Open Access Publication Fund. The new phase of the LOOK project will be very exciting for us as we have found that as the children are getting older, their perception of vertical is getting more and more like that seen in adults (interestingly, we have also found that as people move into old age their perception of vertical starts to resemble the amount of variation found in children!) so hopefully the new data will provide us with an additional piece in this puzzle.

For more information about the LOOK Lifestyle Study visit www.look.org.au or drop me an email (sdocherty@aecc.ac.uk)

 

Sharon Docherty, Researcher, Anglo European College of Chiropractic

Hello from the new Clinical Research Co-ordinator!

My name is Lisa Gale and I am the new Clinical Research Co-ordinator in Bournemouth University’s Clinical Research Unit (BUCRU). I would like to take this opportunity to introduce myself and explain a little about my role.

This is me so please say hello if you see me around!

The main focus of my role is to create a seamless link between academics at BU and clinicians in the NHS who are interested in interprofessional, high quality research to construct bids for funding, develop project plans, and conduct research. I will work with researchers across all six Schools at BU and in the health service, with a view to identifying novel collaborations and supporting the development of projects into grant applications.

The role supports BU’s key concept of fusion through creating local, regional, national and international partnerships and academic networks, undertaking world-class research, and inspiring staff to realise their full potential and enrich the world.

My passion for research developed whilst studying psychology at Cardiff University. For the past several years, I have worked in the research department of a local NHS Trust that provides mental health and community services. I have experience in co-ordinating NHS grant applications, designing, costing and delivering research projects. My background is mainly in psychology and mental health, so I am excited at the opportunity to become involved in high quality research in other areas of healthcare.

The Clinical Research Co-ordinator role is new, and over the coming weeks and months I will be visiting many departments at BU and in local NHS Trusts to discuss how the role can best support academics and clinicians alike. I look forward to meeting as many of you as possible in this time, but please feel free to contact me should you have any questions or queries, and especially if you have a novel and exciting research idea! You can contact me by email at lgale@bournemouth.ac.uk or by phone on 01202 962172.

More information about the support that BUCRU and CoPMRE can offer researchers is available through the following links:

http://microsites.bournemouth.ac.uk/bucru/  

http://www.bournemouth.ac.uk/copmre/

Erasmus Teaching Visit to Pisa

Between May 11 and May 17 Howard Davis (Law Department, Business School) made a teaching visit to the Faculty of Law (Facoltà di Giurisprudenza) at the University of Pisa (Università di Pisa). The visit was paid for under the Erasmus teaching exchange scheme which complements a student exchange programme.

The teaching was based around four two hour lectures and discussion on the theme of human rights law. There were two lectures on themes related to UK law: the post coalition government changes to UK counter-terrorism law and recent changes to the right to a fair trial (including the use of closed material procedures in civil cases involving national security). The other two lectures reflected Howard Davis’ current research interests: the rights of victims of international crimes to gain an account of the truth of what happened to them or their relatives. The lectures are given in English to (mainly) Italian law students taking an English languge course. In Pisa there is an interdisciplinary language department (Centro Linguistico Interdipartimentale) which provides these courses and the lecture programme is part of one of these.

Howard Davis has done these lectures for a number of years and it is always a pleasurable and interesting experience. Pisa University is ancient and prestigious. It was founded in 1343 and jurisprudence was one of its original subjects. Gallileo (laws of physics and mathematics rather than civil or natural law!) was one of its famous pupils (the experiment on mass and acceleration, if it happened at all, involved dropping balls off the Leaning Tower). At last, however, the old building which has housed the law faculty for centuries, is in a state of collapse and the law faculty has had to be distributed at different sites around the city. This did not prevent Howad Davis’ visit from being a success and, it is hoped, an effective way of promoting the good name of Bournemouth University abroad.

BU Research Blog Exclusive: Design & Look of eBU leaked

The first screenshot of the eBU interface has been exclusively leaked to the BU Research Blog, and is expected to go viral across the BU community over the next week.

eBU will provide both an internal and external forum for the development of research papers by undergraduate to Professor around the eight BU research themes:

–          Creative & Digital Economies

–          Culture & Society

–          Entrepreneurship & Economic Growth

–          Environmental Change & Biodiversity

–          Green Economy & Sustainability  

–          Health, Wellbeing & Ageing 

–          Leisure & Recreation

–          Technology & Design

Submissions will be open to immediate publication (in a safe internal environment) and open peer review by 2 appropriate BU academics. Authors will be encouraged to act upon these reviews by either reworking papers for submission to an external journal or by opting for publication on the external eBU site.

For BU academics this is a great opportunity to get critical appraisal on your research papers or ideas from colleagues. For academics it also an opportunity to encourage the submission of high quality student output, and possibly to facilitate the co-creation and co-production of publishable material to an external journal or to publish externally with eBU. For students, this is a fantastic opportunity to turn high quality essays or dissertations into scholarly outputs, which will be attractive to employers across many sectors and industries.

If you have any questions or would like to become involved in this exciting venture, please get in touch with me via email aharding@bournemouth.ac.uk or by telephone 01202 963025.

Mancunian Abroad

Last week I was part of a Leadership Foundation delegation visiting a number of US Colleges and Universities in Washington DC and I thought I might take this opportunity to share a couple of observations.

The delegation visited a range of institutions from George Washington University with one of the highest fee levels in the US, to the NOVA in North Virginia a Community College, via George Mason University, Laureate and Howard University.  The US system is often held up as an example of a truly market orientated system; a direction of travel for the UK HE in light of UK student number reforms.  But I am not sure this is true.

It is certainly a system of huge diversity in terms of numbers and types of institutions – 7,400 by some definitions – each with a different mission and funding mix.  It is a system in which the student is surprisingly not to the fore and in which educational quality is not a preeminent concern, in fact almost irrelevant as a market driver it would seem!  The definition deployed by many of a satisfied student is a student that gives!  The percentage of alumni that give a donation, even if it is just a dollar, is a key metric of institutional student success.  The same is true of research there is no real measure of quality, with many institutions now openly and aggressively chasing research dollars to bolster their fragile financial models.  One has to wonder how the US has maintained a preeminent position within the research rankings and how long this can last?

The institution (and President [VC]) that impressed me most, and the one that I would work for given a chance, may surprise many of you since it was a teaching only institution.  Yes I know, for one who has committed his life to research I need to wash my mouth out now with soap for uttering such a statement!  NOVA is a Community College and effectively a vocational feeder college providing open entry education and turning out either vocationally trained professionals with associate degrees or individuals with sufficient credit to transfer to four year programmes and full degrees at other institutions such as George Mason University.  They don’t do any research, it is not part of their mission, but boy do they have a societal impact!  The vision on display through their inspiring President of the future economic needs of the State, of the social problems that might arise from a failure to meet them, of the work force skills needed to tackle these challenges and how to fill them was impressive: linking supply, demand and future societal need in one seamless skills escalator.  An outstanding role model of what could be achieved if we are brave in working with Bournemouth and Poole College in the future and with the schools that feed it.

I was less impressed by the social engineering behind cohort creation at George Washington University which aims at creating an influential peer group for life; a ready-made old boys/girls network.  Laureate was interesting and their ability to bring scale to online courses impressive, but a relative small part of their business in reality.  Their real focus seemed to be on global acquisitions, investing capital to help partner institutions overseas lever the maximum potential from their brands.  I was left with the impression of a powerful, politically well-connected institution with ambition, but one based on maximising the potential from other institutions brand and market position.  Perhaps exactly what one might expect from a private for profit provider and one that sees the future in the societal and global need for inexpensive mass education.

It’s worth just touching on Howard University, one of the oldest historically black universities, a relic of the policy of racial segregation in the US based on the Plessey Principle of ‘separate but equal’.  One of the things that struck a chord with me was a simple statement made by the International Director: ‘the challenge is between attracting better students versus constantly working to make the students one has better’.  I thought this was superb because it focuses attention on the key challenge not on the quality of input, but the enhancement we as educators need to provide to an individual.  That is a real focus for educational enhancement and student satisfaction!

Lots to think about but I keep returning to the issue of quality and its measure, or more precisely the lack of a consistent measure of it within the US system.  Quality and its measurement is at the heart of our system, both within research and education, and as we face the final preparations for REF and are in the middle of our institutional quality audit I have been reflecting on how lucky – yes lucky – we are to have such robust and strong measures of quality.  In my view they make our higher education system one of the best in the World and long may they live!

AECC Participant Event

The Anglo European College of Chiropractic (AECC) are hosting a research event where participants are invited to feedback to the college and hear short presentations about the results of the studies they have taken part in and to find out about other up-coming projects. The event will take place on July 24th 11am-1pm and  7-9pm at the AECC. More details including how to register can be found on the Event Flyer.

 ‘We’re really excited about having the opportunity to thank our research participants in this way, without their time and support we couldn’t complete our research’ AECC Research Fellow Emily Diment.

An opportunity for study leave, secondment or placement? Thank FIF for that!

I know, it’s unbelievable! BU is actually paying staff to take a period of study leave. Amazing!

The Study Leave strand (SL) now has three sub-strands: Academic Study Leave, Internal Secondments and Industrial Staff Placements.

 

  •  Academic Study Leave provides academic staff with a period of paid academic study leave normally up to 6 months in duration for the purposes of undertaking research, educational development or professional practice.  A period of Study Leave can be undertaken while at BU, but normally the expectation is that an individual would be based for part or all of the time at another academic institution either within the UK or overseas.

 

 

 

 

 

 

  • Internal Secondments:  In order to drive interdisciplinary research at BU a limited programme of internal secondments is available.  Secondments may last up to a maximum of 6 months.

 

  •  Industrial Staff Placements:  Commencing from December 2013 only a series of short placement and internship opportunities will be available– typically 2 to 6 months – for BU staff with local and regional businesses/organisations will be advertised internally.  Staff will have the opportunity of applying for these placements with the selection panel involving a representative from the host and at least two BU Deans.  In addition to the placements that will be advertised centrally staff will still be invited to submit funding applications for industrial placements arranged through their own networks.

 

Read more about some of the projects we’ve previously funded under this strand:

Zulfiqar Khan’s blog post

Lai Xu’s blog post 

Lorraine Brown’s blog post

 

Need to know more? Your wish is my command! Go now to the FIF intranet pages.

The Fusion Investment Fund is managed by Samantha Leahy-Harland and is administered by Natalie Baines. Please direct all initial enquiries to Natalie Baines.

 

Publish empirical or experimental data early whilst letting theory mature?

My colleagues and I have written several papers to help budding researchers about the process of writing and publishing academic papers (Hundley, & van Teijlingen 2002; van Teijlingen 2004; Pitchforth et al. 2005; van Teijlingen et al. 2012; Simkhada et al. 2013). For all researchers – students and staff alike publishing research findings is important as new insights will add to the existing knowledge base, advance the academic discipline and, in the case of applied research, perhaps improve something in the lives of others such as, well-being, the economy or the environment. Apart from this general/altruistic drive to add to knowledge, the advice academics give our postgraduate students is: to get your study published as soon as possible. The two main reasons for publishing early are: (a) getting into print to potentially help your careers; and (b) staking once claim as an authority in the field and/or publishing your findings before someone else does.
As always there are exceptions to the rule. As academics we agree that trying to get into print early is a good personal strategy for an early researcher or a postgraduate student especially for those working with empirical or experimental data. However, occasionally it is better to wait and give the underlying idea in the paper time to develop and mature. The kind of paper that often improves with time is one based on theory. Let me share a personal example: a theoretical paper from my PhD (awarded by the University of Aberdeen in 1994). This paper started life as a theory chapter in my PhD thesis (van Teijlingen 1994). This chapter on models of maternity care was not the strongest part of my thesis and it took me another decade of fine-tuning to get it into a state worth publishing. The paper ‘A Critical Analysis of the Medical Model as used in the Study of Pregnancy and Childbirth’ was finally published in Sociological Research Online, the original online-only Sociology journal in the world (van Teijlingen 2005). The wait was worthwhile as the paper is today (May 2013), eight year after publication, the seventh ‘most viewed articles during the past eight weeks’ in the journal (see: http://www.socresonline.org.uk/stats/top20.html).
In conclusion, it is generally sound advice to new researchers and postgraduate students to publish early. Occasionally though, waiting and giving your paper time to improve through discussion with colleagues, presenting the ideas at conferences and on blogs may lead to a better final product.
Prof. Edwin van Teijlingen
Centre for Midwifery, Maternal & Perinatal Health
School of Health & Social Care

References
Hundley, V., van Teijlingen E. (2002) How to decide where to send an article for publication? Nursing Standard 16(36): 21.
van Teijlingen (1994) A social or medical comparison of childbirth? : comparing the arguments in Grampian (Scotland) and the Netherlands (PhD thesis), Aberdeen: University of Aberdeen. Available online in the British Library (search for: uk.bl.ethos.387237 ).
Teijlingen van, E. (2004) Why I can’t get any academic writing done, Medical Sociology News 30 (3): 62-6.
van Teijlingen, E. (2005) A Critical Analysis of the Medical Model as used in the Study of Pregnancy and Childbirth, Sociological Research Online 10(2) Freely available online at: www.socresonline.org.uk/10/2/teijlingen.html.
Pitchforth, E., Porter, M., Teijlingen van, E.R., Forrest Keenan, K. (2005) Writing up and presenting qualitative research in family planning and reproductive health care, Journal of Family Planning & Reproductive Health Care 31 (2): 132-135.
Teijlingen van, E., Simkhada. P.P., Simkhada, B., Ireland, J. (2012) The long and winding road to publication, Nepal Journal Epidemiology 2(4): 213-215. http://nepjol.info/index.php/NJE/article/view/7093
Simkhada, P., van Teijlingen, E., Hundley, V. (2013) Writing an academic paper for publication, Health Renaissance 11 (1): 1-5. www.healthrenaissance.org.np/uploads/Pp_1_5_Guest_Editorial.pdf

Celebrating diversity of women: a theme day provided for Level C student midwives

Undergraduate pre-registration first year midwifery students were enthralled at a recent theme day which formed part of their Intrapartum unit. The day is designed to celebrate diversity of women’s experiences during labour where students get to listen to stories of women and midwives. This year’s gathering was no exception.  First up was Rachel Arnold, a PhD student from BU. Her rich story, supported by beautiful photographs of Afghanistan, highlighted the plight of women in that country, where maternal mortality is amongst the highest in the world. Rachel in her role as a midwife has worked with Afghan people for many years and as she shared her experiences we began to see that Afghanistan is more than ‘suicide bombers and conflict’, it is about ordinary people who struggle to survive each and every day. Rachel’s talk inspired the whole audience and many students were interested to find out if they could go to Afghanistan for their elective which occurs in the 3rdyear of their training.

“It was wonderful to have a midwifery perspective from this country and the lecture was inspiring and passionate”

“Very interesting and thought provoking talk which has made me think about my own attitudes on diversity”

Jane Evans, an independent midwife, spoke about breech birth as a normal event during pregnancy.  She shared a number of photographs showing how a breech birth should be facilitated with the mantra “hands off”,  and students were able to see how the baby rotated , flexed and birthed itself with the help of his/her mother adopting a variety of positions. The mechanisms were reinforced through Jane using a doll and pelvis to further enhance student understanding. Many midwives are losing their skills within breech birth as women are often opting for caesarean section, but Jane was fortunate in that she was taught the craft of breech  (bottom down) birth by Mary Cronk, who specialised in independent midwifery practice with a keen interest in breech presentation. Mary is now retired but thankfully her many years of experience were passed onto Jane who shares her knowledge widely through study days and of course with the midwifery students at BU.  Many of the students’ views were changed following Jane’s presentation, as the following quotation demonstrates: “It was a privilege to hear this lecture. It offered a contrast to other breech perspectives and gave me more confidence as a student midwife to educate women that breech is merely another type of normal”

Sheetal Sharma, another BU PhD student provided the students with her insight into midwifery care in Nepal. She warned us that she was not a midwife, and was observing and recording midwifery practice as part of her doctoral studies. She provided a fascinating insight into how pregnancy and childbirth are perceived in Nepal where women have no rights within their own homes and are subject to the control, whims and superstitions of their ‘mother-in-laws’.  There were also parallels with Afghanistan in relation to maternal mortality, as around 4,500 Nepalese women die in childbirth due to a paucity of adequate healthcare or even skilled birth attendants.  Sheetal’s presentation included fabulous photographs of idyllic scenes in Nepal, but also of women and children where smiles were abundant and hope was evident. Nepal has made significant strides to reduce maternal mortality and is now on track to meet Millennium Development Goal (MDG)4.

Sheetal explaining her photograph where a woman is shown holding a scythe. Not only is this a tool used in the field to cut vegetation but also as an implement to cut the baby’s cord at birth.
 

The last presentation by Vanora Hundley, BU’s Professor of Midwifery, focused on the global picture of maternal and child health, where some of the key interventions that save mothers and babies lives were highlighted. Vanora reminded the audience that, for example, having a skilled attendant at birth may not always be thought of as ‘intervention’,  but evidence shows that countries where women have access to midwives or an attendant with midwifery skills have significant lower maternal mortality rates. Finally, a note of caution was provided by Vanora around the challenges faced in high income countries, as the over-use of interventions by health professionals are having a damaging impact on mothers and babies.

 
The students really enjoyed the day as the following quotes illustrate:

“I have thoroughly enjoyed the theme day, it has been very informative and insightful – more so than I had anticipated”.

“Fantastic to have a (nearly!) whole day of the wider context of midwifery. Inspirational – thanks”.

“Absolutely superb day. Reignites the fire in your belly!”

“Really insightful day. Demonstrated the importance of the midwife and our roles, not just at home but around the world. It’s nice to see the bigger picture”.