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The secrets of PhD Probationary Review

As a PhD supervisor, I feel there is an obvious need to use a range of strategies to enable PhD students to develop their skills. While regular meetings with a supervisor go some way towards this goal, we should not underestimate the positive impact of Probationary Review that provides PhD/MRes students (and supervisors) with an independent assessment of how well they are progressing with their research study and plan, and highlighting any potential areas for development at an early stage so they can be addressed. Having been involved in a few Probationary Review panels in the past, I would like to share some of my experience as a PG supervisor at the Department of Psychology.

Probationary Review is a quite stressful event from a student’s perspective, especially for international students with previous experience in educational systems outside the UK. No matter what we do to demystify the probationary review process, they are worried and stressed, defeating the whole purpose of the review. And in this situation, the atmosphere created by the Probationary Review panel is crucial in establishing an effective and productive reviewing process. Professor Changhong Liu, who has been leading the Probationary review Faculty Panel for several years, knows the secrets of how to turn this process into a professionally specific learning environment that benefits both the students and supervisors.

One of these “secrets” is encouraging an open dialogue at the start of the review. The students do not feel that they have been put on the spot and evaluated. This approach fosters a feeling that Probationary Review provides positive opportunities, and the “fear factor” associated with being reviewed is greatly reduced because the students become more comfortable with the review process.

The second “secret” is that Chang is always interested in “whole-person” development – beyond and outside of the study skill-set, focusing, therefore, on helping the ‘whole-person’ to grow and attain fulfillment. On reflection, this is an excellent approach to encourage the students to think about factors relating to emotional maturity, self-esteem, relationships, self-awareness, understanding others, commitment, enthusiasm, and resourcefulness. In my personal experience, students’ natural talents and passions often contain significant overlaps with the attributes, behaviours, and maturity required for successfully completing their PhD.

The third “secret” is a genuine interest in students’ work. After their Probationary Review, some students commented that Chang knows their work in great details (this is a good learning point for me as a supervisor!). Obviously, a good knowledge of student work is necessary for the overall evaluation of their progress. Still, the most considerable advantages accrue when the details (e.g., objectives, rationale, working hypotheses, methodological approaches) help the students realise their potential. Gemma Lovett, a current PhD student at the Department of Psychology, said, “The advantages of a fresh perspective on our research are often overlooked. I found my probationary review extremely beneficial, it was a great opportunity to utilise the vast depth in knowledge and experience from other professionals at Bournemouth University. Chang offered many valuable insights and constructive criticisms, which consequently helped me to think differently about my research and inspired many improvements”.

Open Access @ BU – An overview

BRIAN, BU Challenges, Guidance, open access, Publishing

Open Access

Open access is a broad international movement that seeks to grant free and open online access to academic information, such as publications and data. A publication is defined ‘open access’ when there are no financial, legal or technical barriers to accessing it – that is to say when anyone can read, download, copy, distribute, print, search for and search within the information, or use it in education or in any other way within the legal agreements. 

Open Access Funding @BU

Bournemouth University is unfortunately not a current recipient of the UKRI Open Access block grant. However, there is a small centralised BU Open Access Fund that BU authors can get access to on a competitive basis. Due to a very limited budget, application for funding is extremely competitive, and the selection criteria are stringent. In the past years, through the centralised open access fund, Bournemouth University has been able to support open access outputs from various impactful key research, including Epibentic and mobile species colonisation of a geo textile artificial sur reef on the south coast of England, Dignity and respect during pregnancy and childbirth: A survey of the experience of disabled women, Seven Characteristics Defining Online News Formats, Applied screening tests for the detection of superior face recognition, and many more!

Open Access Funding through Transformative Deals

Through the UK JISC Agreements, Bournemouth University currently has Read and Publish open access transformative deals with publishers such as BMJ, SAGE, Springer and Wiley, which means that BU authors can publish open access for free in the journal titles covered under the deals, subject to their terms and conditions. Each transformative deal and what it covers varies from one another. For example, the BMJ transformative deal only covers original research articles from research funded by UKRI, British Hearth Foundation, Blood Cancer UK, Cancer Research UK, Parkinsons UK, Versus Arthritis or the Wellcome Trust. As for the SAGE transformative deal, there is no such restrictions; however, you can only publish open access for free under a select list of journal titles.

In order to ensure that you get the maximum benefit from these transformative deals, do head over to the Bournemouth University Library and Learning Support guide for more details and information!

Green Open Access @ BU

Green Open Access, also referred to as self-archiving, is the practice of placing a version of an author’s manuscript into a repository, making it freely accessible for everyone. The version that can be deposited into a repository is dependent on the funder or publisher. You can make use of the Sherpa Romeo online resource to check the copyright policies of your target journal or publisher. At Bournemouth University, the self-archiving process is done through our current research and information system called BRIAN (Bournemouth Research Information and Networking); and all successfully reviewed and deposited manuscripts will be housed in our institutional repository called BURO (Bournemouth University Research Online).

Stay tuned for the next segment where we’ll be talking more about “Open Access @ BU & how it works!”

NIHR Grant Applications Seminar ONLINE – 6th July 2021

Funding opportunities, innovation, NHS

  

Dear colleagues

– Do you have a great idea for research in health, social care or public health?
– Are you planning to submit a grant application to NIHR?

Our popular seminar continues online and will take place on Tuesday 6th July 2021 from 10.00am – 12.30pm.

The seminar provides an overview of NIHR funding opportunities and research programme remits, requirements and application processes. We will give you top tips for your application and answer specific questions with experienced RDS South West advisers.

We also have a limited number of 20-minute 1-to-1 appointments available after the seminar should you wish to discuss your proposed study with an RDS adviser.

Find out more and book a place.

Your local branch of the NIHR RDS (Research Design Service) is based within the BU Clinical Research Unit (BUCRU)

We can help with your application. We advise on all aspects of developing an application and can review application drafts as well as put them to a mock funding panel (run by RDS South West) known as Project Review Committee, which is a fantastic opportunity for researchers to obtain a critical review of a proposed grant application before this is sent to a funding body.

Contact us as early as possible to benefit fully from the advice

Feel free to call us on 01202 961939 or send us an email.

Funding Development Briefing – Spotlight on Horizon Europe – open calls

Funding opportunities

The RDS Funding Development Briefings occur weekly, on a Wednesday at 12 noon.

Each session covers the latest major funding opportunities, followed by a brief Q&A session. Some sessions also include a spotlight on a particular funding opportunity of strategic importance to BU.

Next Wednesday 26th May, there will be a spotlight on Horizon Europe – open calls

We will cover:

  • HE Open calls
  • How to apply
  • Q & A

For those unable to attend, the session will be recorded and shared on Brightspace here.

Please email RKEDF@bournemouth.ac.uk to receive the Teams invite for these sessions.

 

Research impact at BU: a science-art collaboration & rebuilding trust in the insurance industry

Celebrating BU’s impact case studies for REF 2021

An image of AfterGlow (2016) boredomresearch

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Enhancing scientific practice & communication and enabling strategic and financial growth through science-art collaboration

Research area: Art & Design

Staff conducting research: Vicky Isley, Paul Smith

Background:

boredomresearch is a collaboration between artists Isley and Smith, who are internationally renowned for their projects combining art, science and technology. Both were research lecturers at BU’s National Centre for Computer Animation from 2005-20. Three interdisciplinary art-science research projects were featured in the impact case study.

Working with Oxford University neuroscientists, Isley and Smith’s Dreams of Mice (2015-2016) captured data displaying the patterns of neuron activity in sleeping laboratory mice. The artwork enabled complex neuroscientific research to be disseminated in a form understood more intuitively by experts and non-experts alike.

AfterGlow (2016) is a real-time digital animation depicting malaria transmission, created in collaboration with Glasgow University. It leads the viewer on a visual journey through a landscape illuminated by glowing spirals, representing mosquito flight paths and infected blood, thereby illustrating the intimate relationship between disease and its environment. AfterGlow won the prestigious moving image Lumen Prize award in 2016 and has been exhibited all over the world.

For Robots in Distress (2016-2019), boredomresearch worked with computer scientists from Austria’s Graz University during the creation of the world’s largest robot swarm – designed to monitor pollution in Venice Lagoon. Isley and Smith created an animation visualising emotional robotics, depicting a murky underwater world populated by small glowing robots seemingly helplessly navigating the hazards of plastic waste.

The impact:

By representing research data in visual, intuitive formats, boredomresearch provided their scientific collaborators with a fresh outlook, encouraging questions and insights into abstract concepts at the frontiers of research. As well as communicating research, all three art-science projects exemplified and promoted the actual practice of communicating science through art.

More than three million engagements from scientists, industry, civil society, policymakers and the public were recorded for the Silent Signal exhibition, which featured AfterGlow. BU research insights also enabled organisations to grow financially and strategically. The Biodesign Institute in Arizona used the BU findings to inform a successful $8.5m bid to establish the Arizona Cancer and Evolution Center. Animate Projects, which established the Silent Signal exhibition, exceeded their target audience of 24,000, thanks to AfterGlow contributing the “largest proportion of viewings of all commissioned projects”. In Berlin alone, 84,000 viewed the film at a single screening, and it also helped Animate Projects extend their reach into Asia.

Restoring consumer trust in the insurance industry

Research areas: Marketing, Strategy & Innovation, Retail Management

Staff conducting the research: Dr Julie Robson, Professor Juliet Memery, Dr Elvira Bolat, Samreen Ashraf, Kok Ho Sit

Background:

In 2016-17 Dr Robson and her team undertook two funded research projects to provide a greater understanding of trust, specifically the measurement of trust, trust erosion and trust repair. One project examined the trust repair process and mechanisms used in traditional and digital media within selected high-profile trust erosion examples.  The second project investigated trust repair in three very different high-profile contexts, including mis-selling in financial services.

This latter study identified the actions that organisations took to repair trust and how these actions influenced consumer attitudes towards, and trust in, the company and wider industry sector, taking into account different causes of trust damage. The outcome of the projects was a new management trust repair tool to help businesses better understand and respond to trust challenges. Specifically, it helps them to understand the conceptual differences between trust and trust repair. This tool is also is the first to initiate a framework offering a choice of mechanisms with which to repair trust. Details of the tool, and the step-by-step process to follow to restore trust, has featured in an online guide for practitioners

The impact:

By 2017, trust in the insurance industry had reached an all-time low, and a range of damaging practices, such as mis-selling, were assumed to be the cause. However, research was needed to identify accurately the specific causes and establish how to repair consumer trust.

Dr Robson worked with the Chartered Insurance Institute (CII) to develop a new Public Trust Index – shaped by BU’s own trust repair tool – to measure and track changes in consumer confidence in insurance. The Index identified that the key problem in building consumer trust was the practice of dual pricing – whereby new customers get cheaper insurance than loyal customers. Based on this finding, the CII worked with the industry regulator to produce new guidelines which prevent this practice, therefore protecting customers from overpayment, and repairing industry trust.

Next post: identifying the risk of malnutrition in older people & enhancing patient recovery after surgery.

New international midwifery paper

international, open access, Publishing, writing

Today the editor of the European Journal of Midwifery emailed to announce the acceptance of the paper ‘Slovenian midwifery professionalisation: Perception of midwives and related health professions’ [1].   The first author from Slovenia, Dr. Polona Mivšek, has a long working relationship with BU’s Prof. Vanora Hundley (Professor of Midwifery) in the Centre for Midwifery, Maternal & Perinatal Health (CMMPH).  The paper is the result of an international collaboration between the University of Ljubljana and Bournemouth University as well as an interdisciplinary collaboration between midwifery and sociology.

 

 

Reference:

  1. Mivšek, A.P., Hundley, V., van Teijlingen, E., Pahor, M., Hlebec, V. (2021) Slovenian midwifery professionalisation: Perception of midwives and related health professions, European Journal of Midwifery (forthcoming)

SPEED Project – The World Port Sustainability Awards

The SPEED (Smart Ports Entrepreneurial Ecosystem Development) project team is very honoured to have been shortlisted for the 2021 IAPH Sustainability Awards by The World Ports Sustainability Program (https://sustainableworldports.org/iaph-sustainability-awards-2021) in the category ‘Resilient Digital Infrastructure’. IAPH (The International Association of Ports and Harbours) (https://www.iaphworldports.org/) was formed in 1955 and over the last sixty years has grown into a global alliance representing over 180 members ports and 140 port related businesses in 90 countries.

The SPEED open innovation portal maintained by BU (https://speed.wazoku.com/ccc/speedportal), the commitment to collective ecosystem growth, the strong international consortium, and the focus on value creation for the smart port community have probably helped to being nominated and shortlisted. This is a big success achieved by the SPEED project partners’ hard work and creative efforts. SPEED is part of the European Interreg 2 Seas program and aims to empower a cross-border community of port authorities, port stakeholders, ambitious data science and IoT entrepreneurs and knowledge centres to become the world leading innovation hub for smart port application development.

We would like to thank you for your support.

BU SPEED Team: Professor Reza Sahandi, Dr Deniz Cetinkaya, Dr Gernot Liebchen, Mrs Shabnam Kazemi and Aikaterini Kakaounaki

BU academic indexes more than 2,500 articles to make them available online.

For the past 15 years Dr Sean Beer has been working with a conservation charity called the Exmoor Society. Since the society was founded in the late 1950s there have been 61 editions of the Society’s journal, the Exmoor Review, containing some 2,659 articles. These articles, written by local people, academics, and policy makers,  represent a unique resource examining the social, economic, and environmental history of Exmoor from the geological past, to the present day and into the future.

The review is available online, however, only as unsearchable PDF files. The index will allow those who are interested to search for information which they can then look up in the appropriate edition of the journal. A future project will be to fully digitize the content.

The society was originally formed to protect the uplands of Exmoor from afforestation (the right tree is great in the right place – current policymakers please take note!).  Exmoor, in the south-west of England, was made a National Park in 1954 and is famous not only for its landscape, and the richness of its natural environment and history, but also for its many literary connections as exemplified by the work of RD Blackmore, Henry Williamson, Samuel Taylor Coleridge and William Wordsworth.

Sean will be updating the index on a yearly basis and intends to continue his work with the society, particularly with regard to developing research projects relating to the area and its social, economic, and environmental future.

Orientation on migration health and research

Academics from Bournemouth University successfully conducted a three-day orientation programme (two hours a day on May 12, 14, and 17) on research methods and health issues of Nepali migrants, particularly related to the emerging issue of sudden cardiac death. BU academics Dr Pramod Regmi and Dr Nirmal Aryal (both from the Faculty of Health and Social Sciences) led the orientation events online. Ten Nepali migrant leaders, researchers and activists from Nepal, Malaysia, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, and the United Arab Emirates participated in this research capacity-building event.

This orientation programme was originally designed for Malaysia-based research team members for BU Global Challenges Research Fund (GCRF) project ‘Investigating Sudden Cardiac Death of Nepali labour migrants in Malaysia’ (PI: Prof Edwin van Teijlingen). However, to be inclusive the project team also invited migrant leaders and activists from Nepal and Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) countries, since they also need to increase the awareness and capacity on migration health issues and basic research concepts.

Two not-for-profit migrant-related organisations, Pravasi Nepali Co-ordination Committee (PNCC), Nepal and North-South Initiative (NSI) Malaysia collaborated for this event. PNCC is one of the leading migrant-related organisations in Nepal; however it is actively working in the countries of Gulf and Malaysia as well. NSI is a collaborator of BU for sudden cardiac death project in Malaysia and actively engaged in advocacy, program, and research for the welfare of migrants and refugees.

For the past few years, BU’s academics (Aryal, Regmi, Mahato, van Teijlingen) have published many papers [1-19] around the health and wellbeing of Nepali migrant workers. Several of these papers have been co-authored by FHSS Visiting Faculty (Bibha Simkhada, Pratik Adhikary, Padam Simkhada). GCRF also funded the recently launched ‘Health Research Network for Migrant Workers in Asia’ (PI Dr Regmi). This research network (https://hearmigrants.org/) fosters collaboration within academics of South Asia and South East Asia, the GCC countries, and Malaysia, and between academic and non-academic institutions and people to identify, understand and help address health problems, behaviours and related issues of migrant workers.

References:

  1. Adhikary, P., Aryal, N., Dhungana, R.R., KC, R.K., Regmi, P.R., Wickramage, K.P., Duigan, P., Inkochasan, M., Sharma, G.N., Devkota, B., van Teijlingen, E., Simkhada, P. (2020) Accessing health services in India: experiences of seasonal migrants returning to Nepal. BMC Health Services Research 20, 992. https://doi.org/10.1186/s12913-020-05846-7
  2. IOM [International Organization for Migration]. (2019) Health vulnerabilities of cross-border migrants from Nepal. Kathmandu: International Organization for Migration.
  3. Aryal, N., Regmi, P.R., van Teijlingen, E., Trenoweth, S., Adhikary, P., Simkhada, P. (2020) The Impact of Spousal Migration on the Mental Health of Nepali Women: A Cross-Sectional Study, International Journal of Environmental Research & Public Health 17(4), 1292; https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph1704129
  4. Regmi, P., Aryal, N., van Teijlingen, E., Adhikary, P. (2020) Nepali migrant workers and the need for pre-departure training on mental health: a qualitative study, Journal of Immigrant & Minority Health 22, 973–981.
  5. Adhikary, P. van Teijlingen, E. (2020) Support networks in the Middle East & Malaysia: A qualitative study of Nepali returnee migrants’ experiences, International Journal of Occupational Safety & Health (IJOSH), 9(2): 31-35.
  6. Simkhada, B., Sah, R.K., Mercel-Sanca, A., van Teijlingen, E., Bhurtyal, Y.M., Regmi, P. (2020) Health and Wellbeing of the Nepali population in the UK: Perceptions and experiences of health and social care utilisation, Journal of Immigrant & Minority Health 23(1): 298–307. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10903-020-00976-w
  7. Regmi, P., van Teijlingen, E., Mahato, P., Aryal, N., Jadhav, N., Simkhada, P., Syed Zahiruddin, Q., Gaidhane, A., (2019) The health of Nepali migrants in India: A qualitative study of lifestyles and risks, Journal of Environmental Research & Public Health 16(19), 3655; doi:10.3390/ijerph16193655.
  8. Dhungana, R.R., Aryal, N, Adhikary, P., KC, R., Regmi, P.R., Devkota, B., Sharma, G.N., Wickramage, K., van Teijlingen, E., Simkhada, P. (2019) Psychological morbidity in Nepali cross-border migrants in India: A community-based cross-sectional, BMC Public Health 19:1534 https://bmcpublichealth.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/s12889-019-7881-z
  9. Aryal, N., Regmi, P.R., van Teijlingen, E., Simkhada, P., Mahato, P. (2019) Adolescents left behind by migrant workers: a call for community-based mental health interventions in Nepal. WHO South East Asia Journal of Public Health 8(1): 38-41.
  10. Aryal, N., Regmi, P.R., Faller, E.M,, van Teijlingen, E., Khoon, C.C., Pereira, A., Simkhada, P. (2019) ‘Sudden cardiac death and kidney health related problems among Nepali migrant workers in Malaysia’ Nepal Journal of Epidemiology9(3): 755-758. https://www.nepjol.info/index.php/NJE/article/view/25805
  11. Adhikary P, van Teijlingen E., Keen S. (2019) Workplace accidents among Nepali male workers in the Middle East and Malaysia: A qualitative study, Journal of Immigrant & Minority Health 21(5): 1115–1122. https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s10903-018-0801-y
  12. Simkhada, P.P., van Teijlingen, E.R., Gurung, M., Wasti, S. (2018) A survey of health problems of Nepalese female migrants workers in the Middle-East & Malaysia, BMC International Health & Human Rights 18(4): 1-7. http://rdcu.be/E3Ro
  13. Adhikary P, Sheppard, Z., Keen S., van Teijlingen E. (2018) Health and well-being of Nepalese migrant workers abroad, International Journal of Migration, Health & Social Care 14(1): 96-105. https://doi.org/10.1108/IJMHSC-12-2015-0052
  14. Adhikary, P, Sheppard, Z., Keen, S., van Teijlingen, E. (2017) Risky work: accidents among Nepalese migrant workers in Malaysia, Qatar & Saudi Arabia, Health Prospect 16(2): 3-10.
  15. Simkhada, P.P., Regmi, P.R., van Teijlingen, E., Aryal, N. (2017) Identifying the gaps in Nepalese migrant workers’ health and well-being: A review of the literature, Journal of Travel Medicine 24(4): 1-9.
  16. Aryal, N., Regmi, P.R., van Teijlingen, E., Simkhada, P., Adhikary, P., Bhatta, Y.K.D., Mann, S. (2016) Injury and Mortality in Young Nepalese Migrant Workers: A Call for Public Health Action. Asian-Pacific Journal of Public Health28(8): 703-705.
  17. Sapkota, T., Simkhada, P., van Teijlingen, E. (2014) Nepalese health workers’ migration to United Kingdom: A qualitative study. Health Science Journal 8(1):57-74.
  18. Adhikary P, Keen S., van Teijlingen E (2011). Health Issues among Nepalese migrant workers in the Middle East. Health Science Journal.5(3):169-i75 DOI: 2-s2.0-79960420128.
  19. Adhikary, P., Simkhada, P.P., van Teijlingen E., Raja, AE. (2008) Health & Lifestyle of Nepalese Migrants in the UK, BMC International Health & Human Rights 8(6). Web address: www.biomedcentral.com/1472-698X/8/6.

  

 

 

 

 

 

19th EUROGRAPHICS Workshop on Graphics and Cultural Heritage (EG GCH 2021) – Call for papers

conferences

Bournemouth University will host the 19th EUROGRAPHICS Workshop on Graphics and Cultural Heritage (EG GCH 2021) from 4-6 November 2021. The workshop will engage practitioners and researchers across the world working at the interface of novel 3D digital technologies and cultural heritage. This year, circumstances depending, EG GCH will be run in a hybrid format, organised by the University of Bournemouth, UK. This will allow those who are able to attend the conference in person to do so, while those that can’t, especially if the pandemic is still raging at the time of the conference, will also not miss out on this exciting event.

The event seeks different types of contributions including:

  1. Research papers: original and innovative research (maximum 10 pages)
  2. Short papers: update of ongoing research activities or projects (maximum 4 pages)
  3. Posters: overview of activities or national/international interdisciplinary projects (500 words abstract)
  4. Panel sessions for multidisciplinary/industry-oriented projects
  5. Special sessions on Interactive Digital Narratives

Note down these important dates:

  • Full papers submission deadline: 19 July 2021
  • Short papers submission deadline: 2 August 2021
  • Posters submission deadline: 30 August 2021

All accepted research and short papers will be published by the Eurographics Association and archived in the EG Digital Library.
The authors of up to five selected best papers will be invited to submit an extended version to the ACM Journal on Computing and Cultural Heritage (JOCCH).

The full call for papers and key dates can be found on the workshop website. The fantastic keynotes will be announced soon.

Please consider submitting and attending the workshop.

The EG GCH 2021 organisation committee