Yearly Archives / 2013

Book on the Digital Economy Sandpit now

BU research

Feedback from BU staff who have participated in academic sandpits is always positive: “Sandpits stimulate creative thinking and encourage you to step outside of your comfort zone. They are an opportunity to learn from others whose approaches to research may be different from your own” – Prof. Adele Ladkin, School of Tourism, EPSRC Sandpit Participant

Sandpits provide an intensive, interactive and free-thinking environment. A group of participants from a range of disciplines and backgrounds use this space to get together to become immersed in a collaborative thinking processes in order to construct innovative approaches to issues or questions.

As sandpits involve diverse participants, they force catalysation, collision and collaboration. This produces unique and innovative outputs and fosters new partnerships.

We are facilitating with expert bid writer Dr Martin Pickard of GrantCraft, three 1-day sandpits at BU which focus around relevant Research Council UK cross-thematic areas. The next Sandpit is on Digital Economy Sandpit is being held on 17.04.13

Attending one of the sandpits will:

  • facilitate you networking with other researchers across BU who you wouldn’t normally come in to contact with
  • allow you to get a fresh perspective from a different discipline on the same issue
  • enable you to be part of a multidisciplinary team who potentially bids for Research Council funding
  • give you a truly unique experience

Spaces are limited for each of the sandpits and you can register for a place on the Staff Development website.

Fusion Investment Fund (Santander) – Tsinghua Partnership

Awarded & submitted bids, BU research, Fusion, Grants Academy

A new Fusion fund travel grant has been awarded to Dr. Hongchuan Yu, lecturer in the Media School (National Centre for Computer Animation, NCCA) in order to help develop an important strategic relationship with the Tsinghua University in Beijing, China. The hope is that through collaboration and the sharing of academic resources both institutions will be able to deliver a high quality research work.

The State Key Laboratory of Intelligent Technology and Systems, attached to Tsinghua University, China, was in July, 1987. It is the most prestigious State class Laboratory in Artificial Intelligence field in China. On the meeting for celebrating the 10th anniversary of the State Key Lab Development in October, 1994, State Key Laboratory of Intelligent Technology and Systems won “Gold Cattle” Prize. In 1997, it was selected as the experimental lab.

The laboratory consists of a central lab (the intelligent technology and systems), and three branch labs (intelligent signal processing, intelligent image processing, man-machine interaction and media integration). They are mainly engaged in basic research on the principles and methods of artificial intelligence, including, intelligent information processing, machine learning, intelligent control and artificial neural network theories; and the research on the applications relating to artificial intelligence, mainly including intelligent robots, speech, graphic, image, word and language processing.

The talent researchers at Tsinhua are very important to BU as the staffs and research postgraduate students of NCCA need much more chances to collaborate/exchange with international colleagues in depth. This will further benefit the REF activity of NCCA (UoA34, Art and Design) as well.

It is hoped that this relationship will include research collaboration with the activities of NCCA. The initial discussion focuses on a potential project of “3D facial expression editing system”, which delivers a prototype system of 3D facial expression editing based on video and 3D scanning data for potential game market.

It is intended that Tsihghua PhD students and academics will visit BU regularly under the banner of the NCCA for research projects, seminar presentations and to discuss further research and academic.

Research Professional

BU research, Guidance

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:

23rd April 2013: https://www1.gotomeeting.com/register/255287520 

28th May 2013: https://www1.gotomeeting.com/register/806064201 

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.

New APF Process goes live today!

Guidance

Currently all research and knowledge exchange bids require an Activity Proposal Form (APF) to be signed off by the applicant, Dean and, depending on the value, members of UET and the Board.  To date the APF has focused on financial issues, primarily the financial recovery of a proposed bid or grant.  Currently the APF process has been a paper based system rather than one which allows for electronic approval.  This is about to change with one important addition!

The APF has to date not required any sign-off with respect to bid quality, yet submissions of poor quality endangers both personal and institutional reputations. In future all bids will require a dual sign-off one focused on financial issues and one focused on quality.  The quality will be determined by a senior academic within a particular school, typically the Deputy Dean for Research/Knowledge Exchange and other nominated assessors.  This will all be wrapped up in a new paper-free system. 

The redesigned APF process will introduce a formal three stage approval process which will work as follows:

Stage One: An Intention to bid form will be completed by the Principal Investigator (PI) in conjunction with RKE Operations and approved before the PI can progress with the bid.  As part of this process, the PI will nominate a quality approver from a School’s approved list.  Out of courtesy the PI is expected to inform the nominated Quality Approver that they will receive the bid in due course.   Once the form is completed and RKE Ops have entered the details on RED, the Authorised School signatory will be sent the bid electronically, which they will receive in the form of an email containing a link.  Clicking on the link will direct them to the APF Approval Screen to make their decision.  If UET/Board Member approval is required then it will follow the same process and they will receive the link also.

Stage Two: Each School’s Deputy Dean Research/Knowledge Exchange has provided a list of Quality Approvers.  Training is being provided to the Quality Approvers during February and March.  When the bid is ready the Quality Approver will be sent the bid electronically to confirm that it is of sufficient quality to be submitted for external funding and they will approve the bid via link as per Stage One.  Sufficient quality is defined as ‘without causing reputational damage to the individual or BU’.  The Quality Approver will be required to justify their decision and may also provide feedback to help the applicant fine tune the final bid.  If a bid has been through the Internal Peer Review Process this step will be largely automatic.  Quality approval is only required for: (A) competitive research bids (e.g., RCUK, Charities etc.) regardless of value; and (B) competitive knowledge exchange bids such as tenders and contract research bids where the value is in excess of £50k.  If a bid is declined by a Quality Approver RKE Ops will inform the Dean and Internal Peer Review Team to trigger support and guidance to the PI to improve the quality of the bid if there is sufficient time.  The Dean will be responsible for informing the PI that their bid has been declined on the grounds of ‘Quality’ and will provide them with feedback.  Appeal can be made directly to the PVC who will adjudicate differences of opinion on the basis of their own review of the bid. 

Stage Three: Final approval is only required if finances within a bid have changed  significantly from those set out in Stage One.  RKE Ops will decide whether this is the case and whether re-approval is required. 

For all stages of approval, all approvers will be sent an email containing a link to the bid; relevant documentation will be provided in the link; comments can be added to say why a decision was made (these will appear on the APF); and no log-in to RED is required.

The RKE Operations team will provide the PI with the Intention to Bid form.  Jo Garrad, RKE Operations Manager, has provided a user guide explaining the new process to all those involved in the approval stages.  If you would like a copy of the user guide then please contact Jo Garrad.

Want a challenge? short term secondment opportunity @ the Bournemouth University Dementia Institute

The BU Dementia Institute is growing fast with staff or students involved in various ways from all BU schools. We have a short term secondment opportunity (3 months) to work with us as Project manager to help develop our profile, income streams and to work on selected existing projects. Interested? Take a look at http://www.bournemouth.ac.uk/jobs/hsc184.html and drop me an email if you would like to discuss ainnes@bournemouth.ac.uk

CMC Conference – Co-creating and Co-producing Research Outputs with Final Year Undergraduate Students

BU research, Funding opportunities, Fusion, Uncategorized

The conference:  Organised for and by Level H students from three undergraduate degrees and to be held in the Executive Business Centre (7th floor) Wednesday 15th of May 2012.

We will invite 2 keynote speakers, 6 academic and industry contacts and will host an end of conference dinner for all involved. The event will be widely diffused through FB, twitter and a dedicated youtube channel. 

Journal of Promotional Communications: CMC’s first in-house journal will be launched at the conference and will bring together the top 7 conference papers.

Our aim: To attract 40 students to sign up to this years conference! Get the local business community excited about the work our students are doing and a platform to engage with our students.

How it benefits us:  It gives us an opportunity to co-produce research outputs with our dissertation students.

How it benefits students: It is a great way of celebrating top student work and help students disseminate more widely.

How it benefits the university: Provides a highly visible manifestation and online product of the quality of work being produced by students at the end of their undergraduate university career. It clearly contributes to the university Fusion agenda by providing the mechanisms necessary for co-creation and co-production of research outputs to take place.

Wider community:Academics from other institutions, relevant industry contacts, local press, potentially family of students and local business leaders will be invited to this prestigious event and all will have access to the online journal.

Who should I contact: Janice Denegri-Knott the project leader on JDKnott@bournemouth.ac.uk

ESRC 2013 Festival of Science

Funding opportunities, Research news

The ESRC has just posted on their website the news that the call for applications for the 2013 Festival has been delayed.

They now anticipate that the call will open on 15 April with a closing date of 13 May for applications requesting funding support of up to £2,000, and 7 May for applications to hold an event and not requesting funding.   This means that the call for applications will be open for only four weeks.  The message from the ESRC is to start planning your event as soon as possible.

BU held four events as part of the 2012 Festival.    Our successful applicants were:  Kip Jones, Richard Shipway, Debbie Sadd,  Ruth Towse and Martin Kretschmer.  This is what Debbie has to say about being part of the Festival:

“It is a wonderful opportunity to start a bidding journey and gain confidence in ‘winning’ some money!! The process was very straight forward and the support from the ESRC invaluable. The event itself was a resounding success.”

Looking for inspiration?  Clicking on the following links will take you to the posters that were designed for each event, which may give you some ideas for your own event.

Copyright Policy,  Going for Gold,  London 2012 Was it Worth it,  Pathways to Impact

Want to find out more?

Click here to find out more information about the call and the ESRC Festival of Science in general. 

Interested in applying?

Please contact Caroline O’Kane as soon as possible if you are interested in applying.

To Initiate a Research Platform for Electric Vehicle (EV) Business Ecosystem Research

BU research, Fusion

This project (sponsored by SMN Strand Santander Scholarships), is conducted by Dr.Ke Rong (Business School) and Dr.Nigel Williams(Tourism School) to initiate an university-industry research platform between UK-China for the emerging electric vehicle business ecosystem and business model research. This project would help BU secure an active position in the electric vehicle industry research. The research platform will integrate scholars of Santander Universities including two Chinese top universities (Tsinghua and CEIBS) and two UK top universities (Cambridge, Bath) as well as two committed EV companies. Based on this platform, the industrial fieldwork and one public seminar on EV industry development will be organized in China by engaging top scholars and practitioners which will expand BU’s reputation in China and UK. One journal paper of EV ecosystem would be developed based on our research.

For more information, please contact Dr Ke Rong (krong@bournemouth.ac.uk).

 

Bridging the valley of death: UK Government need to improve the commercialisation of research

BU research

The Science and Technology Committee have warned that the Government has no coherent strategy to support the commercialistion of technology innovation in the UK.

Committee Chair Andrew Miller MP, said:

“The UK’s university and science sector is a global success, but the challenge for Government is how that world class academic research can be translated into commercial activity”

There exists the concept of a ‘valley of death’ that prevents the progress of science from the laboratory bench to the point where it provides the basis of a commercially successful business or product. The future success of the UK economy has been linked to the success of translating a world class science base to generate new businesses with the consequent generation of UK jobs and wealth.

Despite there being innovation schemes such as KTPs and SMART awards – SMEs are still being let down by a lack of access to financial support. Government grant funding is often highly bureaucratic to apply for and only enough to get an ‘idea off the ground’.

The report concludes that there is a need for a clear vision from the Government to provide businesses confidence to make R&D investments. Without a definite commitment from Government about which sectors it intends to fund, business is more reticent about making its own financial commitment. A clear strategy for the future should aid the higher levels of business related research and development from businesses in the UK.

For more information, please visit the report via the links below:

MERJ / HEA Researchers’ Retreat

Publishing

I’m pleased to share with you more details about a forthcoming  ‘researchers’ retreat’ at Birmingham City University on May 17th: http://www.heacademy.ac.uk/events/detail/2013/17_May_MERJ
The free event is hosted by the Media Education Research Journal (co-edited by myself and Richard Berger) at BCU, and funded by the Higher Education Academy. The purpose of the retreat is to bring together ‘would be’ media education researchers / writers for networking, support and feedback on ideas. MERJ editorial board members will be attending to share their experiences.

BU academics to look at access to maternity services in Nepal with Fellowship grant

BU research, Featured academics

A team from Bournemouth University will look at why women in Nepal don’t use health services when giving birth, after receiving the first International Fellowship for Midwives. The Fellowship is awarded by the charity Wellbeing of Women, in association with the Royal College of Midwives, for research into maternity services and women’s health from an international perspective. The team from BU will use the £20,000 Fellowship grant to look at the real and perceived barriers to women in Nepal giving birth within a health facility with a skilled birth attendant.

“There is evidence that access to skilled birth attendant is likely to lead to a better outcome for the mother and baby,” said Lesley Milne, senior lecturer in Midwifery at Bournemouth University, who will lead the project. “If they don’t, it is more likely to end in a maternal mortality, and we are trying to determine why women in Nepal don’t access health services.”

Lesley will be supported by Vanora Hundley, Professor in Midwifery at BU, Edwin van Teijlingen, Professor of Reproductive Health Research at BU, and Dr Padam Simkhada, from the University of Sheffield. The year-long project will start on April 1 and the money received as part of the Fellowship will enable Lesley to go to Nepal for three weeks in September to undertake the research. She said: “This would not be possible if we had not been awarded this money. It’s fantastic to have received this grant and we are really pleased about it.” She added: “There is an under-utilisation of health services in Nepal. It is about getting women to use the services available and trying to find out why many of them currently don’t. I will be going out to Nepal to observe and also undertake some interviews of health personnel of both a rural hospital and a hospital in Kathmandu, to try to see what they think is preventing women from accessing services.” Lesley added that possible reasons for women not accessing health services could include having to travel a long way, having had poor previous experiences or their cultural beliefs.

Bournemouth University has been building links with Nepal across a number of areas and academic schools, including the School of Health and Social Care, and both Lesley and fellow researcher Professor Edwin van Teijlingen have experience in the surrounding area. Lesley said that she hoped the research could be a springboard for future study. “I hope that we may have a great insight into why women aren’t accessing services and hopefully will be able to address that in the future,” she said.

PGR Development Framework Programme – new workshops for May and June 2013

PG research

Finding information and Using Researcher Tools (Repeat workshop)
Outline: The session will include an introduction to advanced searching skills, using citations smartly and analytical tools
Date: Wednesday 1 May 2013
Time: 1.30 pm – 2.45 pm
Room: S102 – Studland House – Lansdowne Campus
Facilitator: Emma Crowley
Booking: gsbookings@bournemouth.ac.uk

 

Managing your citations using Endnote and Endnote Web (Repeat workshop)
Outline: The session will include an introduction to Endnote and Endnote Web, exporting from databases, Cite While You Write tool
Date: Wednesday 1 May 2013
Time: 3 pm – 5 pm
Room: S102 – Studland House – Lansdowne Campus
Facilitator: Emma Crowley
Booking: gsbookings@bournemouth.ac.uk

The Transfer Process
Outline: The aim of the workshop is to prepare students for the process of the transfer from MPhil/PhD to PhD. All students who register for a research degree have the choice to proceed in their studies towards an MPhil award or to transfer onto a doctoral route that leads to a PhD.
Date: Wednesday 8 May 2013
Time: 10 am – 12 pm
Room: EB202 – Executive Business Centre – Lansdowne Campus
Facilitator: Professor Anthea Innes
Booking: gsbookings@bournemouth.ac.uk

Academic Writing – LIMITED PLACES AVAILABLE
Outline: This workshop covers essential good practice in writing, editing techniques and methods of improving organisation. 
Date: Wednesday 12 June 2013
Time: 09:30 – 17:00
Room: S219 – Studland House – Lansdowne Campus

OR

Date: Thursday 13 June 2013
Time: 09:30 – 17:00
Room: PG142 – Thomas Hardy Suite – Talbot Campus
Facilitator:  Sue Mitchell (external consultant)
NUMBERS ARE LIMITED FOR THE ACADEMIC WRITING WORKSHOPS – so book early to avoid disappointment!
Booking: gsbookings@bournemouth.ac.uk

Imposter Syndrome – Sources and Solutions – LIMITED PLACES AVAILABLE
Outline: Are you as good as they think you are? This secret fear that we’re not really good enough is surprisingly widespread.  In the face of tangible evidence of their success, many women, some men, people who are genuine high-achievers are often racked by self-doubt and the fear of being found out.
During this workshop “Imposters” will:
•               come to understand how this is affecting their life
•               examine the “rule book” they are living by and choose – if they want – to re write the rules
•               benefit from understanding how men and women put different values on the art of “winging it”
•               see how their interpretation of past success has been making things more difficult
•               notice that being incompetent and feeling incompetent are two totally different things
•               learn practical strategies to set free their Imposter and be themselves!
There can be great benefit in recognising you are not alone and learning new strategies for success in a safe and supportive environment.
Date: Monday 17th June 2013
Time: 2 pm – 5 pm
Room: P405 – Poole House – Talbot Campus
Facilitator: Margaret Collins (external consultant)
Booking: gsbookings@bournemouth.ac.uk
Numbers are restricted, so book early to avoid disappointment

Back by popular demand:
Presentation Skills – This workshop is now full.  On registration your name will be put on the reserve list
Outline: This workshop will outline the principles of confident speaking whether for meetings, seminars or research conferences.  You will deliver a short presentation and receive coaching and feedback within the supportive workshop environment
Date: Tuesday 18th June 2013
Time: 9.30 am – 4.30 pm
Room: EB202 – Executive Business Centre
Facilitator: Margaret Collins (external consultant)
Booking: gsbookings@bournemouth.ac.uk 
Numbers are restricted, so book early to avoid disappointment

A Request for Help or Coming of Age?

News from the PVC

In the distant past I helped to give birth to several textbooks.  I wrote a lot of stuff in the easy days of the 90’s, when life was simpler and sleep was for wimps!  One of these textbooks has endured, the one closest to my heart.  It was written with my PhD twin – he was erosion and I was deposition – a friendship forged in the Cairngorms attempting to paint frozen pebbles on avalanche slopes that has endured for over 25 years.  Glacial Geology was first published in 1996 and a second edition was squeezed out between other projects in 2009.  The book still sells and still manages to delight its authors when found on a dusty shelf in academic bookshops; finding the book shop is the greater challenge these days however.  As a 17 year old the book is not in bad shape and I am intrigued by the idea of keeping it alive so that we can celebrate its twenty first birthday.  Having a tradition view on these things I am taking this landmark as 21 not 18 by the way.  In its life it has seen a lot of change in me, in higher education and in the field to which it provides a general introduction.  This change is the point of the post, in case you had begun to wonder?  My co-author and I have been approached by the publisher about a third edition, which is a daunting prospect given my lack of time, a problem shared by my co-author who holds a similarly challenging role in Wales.  The challenge is worse however since the publisher not only wants a new book, but also a fully interactive e-version with a website and learning resource.  Sadly it is to be a book for the modern digital age when paper and few good pictures are no longer enough.  So sitting in my in-box is a draft proposal from my co-author – curse his efficiency – with some suggestions about how we might approach the e-version; video clips of classic landforms, pod casts of key concepts, interactive diagrams which you can explore with your finger or mouse, and a hyper linked bibliography.  Neither Neil, nor I profess to be experts in this field and that is the purpose of this post, to seek your help.  What would you do?  What would you include? Where are there good examples that we can look at and follow?

Vitae briefing documents for REF 2014

REF Subjects

Vitae has produced “REF 2014: Briefing for Researcher Developers‘” in order to support those who are preparing submission and to enhance the quality of their environmental narrative. This can be found here

There is a also a “REF 2014: Summary for Submitting Units” which provides a useful at a glance guide, can be found here

These are HEFCE approved documents which highlight the importance of development activities.

Face Blindness Public Awareness Campaign Gets Underway!

BU research, Featured, Featured academics

Research from BU’s Centre for Face Processing Disorders was featured in a CBBC documentary today.  The film was entitled ‘My life: Who are you?’ and followed the journey of Hannah, a teenager with face blindness, as she participated in one of our training programmes and discusses the difficulties of everyday life.  The documentary also featured Hannah meeting another girl with face blindness for the first time, and her encounter with Duncan Bannatyne who also has the condition.

We are so pleased with the documentary, and felt the producers did an excellent job in portraying the condition with scientific accuracy, and in demonstrating the difficulties associated with face blindness.  Despite Hannah’s struggles she still maintains a positive attitude to life and the film does an excellent job of presenting her as the remarkable young lady that she is, who was so keen to make the film in order to raise public awareness of the condition.  Hannah’s story illustrates how life can be affected by brain injury, but her remarkable positivity shines through as the programme follows her journey.

If you missed the programme you can watch it here:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/cbbc/episode/b01rlyc9/My_Life_Who_Are_You/

We recently launched an e-petition that aims to promote public and professional awareness of prosopagnosia by campaigning for its discussion in the House of Commons.  We need to gain 100,000 signatures to make this happen, so if you were moved by the documentary, please do add your signature:

http://www.prosopagnosiaresearch.org/awareness/e-petition

Our public awareness campaign has only just taken off so watch this space for more activities!