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Focus on Fellowships – Academic Targeted Research Scheme

In recognition of the important contribution that early career academics play in driving research for the future, we launched the BU Academic Targeted Research scheme in 2019 to attract and recruit talented individuals in six targeted research areas, linked to the Strategic Investment Areas (SIAs).

We wanted to recruit a diverse cohort of individuals with the motivation to become future academic leaders in their field. Each post is offered a fully funded, fixed-term three-year Senior Lectureship together with a research grant of up to £10k per year for the term of the appointment. By September 2020, all six recruits were in post at BU. Each post has at least one research mentor and line manager to support them in achieving their career goals, and whilst they’re hosted in a Faculty, all posts are working collaboratively across Faculties, SIAs and Institutes.

Meet the ATRS Senior Lecturers:

Dr Adrian Galdran – Data Science for Medical Imaging, based in FST and working with the Institute of Medical Imaging (IMIV)

Adrian was the first ATRS Senior Lecturer in post, joining BU in Nov. 2019. Adrian’s research focuses on medical image analysis and computer vision with medical applications. He has researched gastrointestinal image analysis and segmentation, which has led to publications, research applications and securing first place in a competition, EndoTect 2021, in the segmentation track. In response to Adrian’s first blog post, Dr Paul Hartley has been collaborating with him in automating the analysis of histological kidney images to better understand protein expression on them at a fine level, and at a large scale. To address this problem with deep learning techniques, a preliminary implementation of a glomeruli segmentation algorithm (see pictures)

based on a double encoder-decoder network has been developed with promising results. Next steps will include the extension of this system to other structures of interest, addressing the challenges of high-resolution biomedical image segmentation in this context.

Find out more about Adrian’s research and how you can collaborate here.

 

Karen Reddin

Dr Karen Reddin – Immersive Environments for Disaster Management, based in BUBS

Karen joined BU in Dec. 2019. Karen’s research focuses on a review of current Disaster Management education, training and exercise methodologies and recognised practice and how technology enhanced learning platforms might be used to inform and add to current practice in Emergency Preparedness and Disaster Management. Karen’s initial research has centred around looking at the potential of immersive environments, Artificial Intelligence and Virtual Reality for preparing for pandemics and other high consequence infectious diseases (HCIDs) with the potential to cause pandemics. Karen has submitted a number of publications and joint research applications (with BUBS and FHSS) for funding, as well as submitted evidence to the House of Commons Select Committee on ‘An Historic Background to Pandemic Contingency and Emergency Response Planning in the UK’. She is also building stakeholder networks for pandemic preparedness. Find out more about Karen’s research and how to collaborate here.

 

Dr Rafaelle Nicholson – Sport and Sustainability, based in BUBS

Raf started in her ATRS post in April 2020. Raf’s research focuses on the area of sport and social sustainability, aiming to inform the work of National Governing Bodies of Sport (NGBs) in ensuring greater diversity on their boards, and to help create environments whereby women can fully and effectively participate in sports leadership. Her research aims are to examine policy impact and how we can learn from this. is creating a network which focuses on Sports Governance & Diversity, in order to bring together researchers in this area with key stakeholders including UK Sport, Sport England, NGBs, and charities like Women in Sport. Raf has submitted a number of research applications for funding, which included external collaborators, and spoken at a number of conferences and appeared on a BBC podcast ‘Commentary at home‘. See below for more information on how the ATRS has benefited her research. Find out more about Raf’s research and how you can collaborate here.

 

Georgia JonesDr Georgia Jones – Sustainability, Impact and Consumption, based in FST

Georgia joined BU in July 2020. Georgia’s research focuses on predator ecology and conservation and is specifically centred on the porbeagle shark. The UK has several species of shark that reside here for part of the year and are in need of conservation management. Highly mobile, migratory top predators like the porbeagle are important to understand and manage as they play vital roles in nutrient cycling, ecosystem linkage and maintaining food web stability. Georgia is also aiming to develop a suite of complementary projects alongside the above and she’s already won funding for a project on kestrel trophic ecology, using stable isotope analysis of feathers to update our understanding of their contemporary diet. She is also developing projects on small mustelids and big cats and has joined international project teams to work on genetic analysis of sharks. Find out more about Georgia’s research and how you can collaborate here.

 

Lars MarstallerDr Lars Marstaller – Technology for Behaviour Change, based in FST

Lars joined BU in July 2020. Lars research is focussed on developing a smartphone biofeedback app, with a focus on feedback from heartbeats. Through mindfulness exercises and biofeedback training, users will learn to regulate their breathing to maximise their heart rate variability, thereby activating cardiovascular homeostatic reflexes in the autonomic nervous system associated with rest and recovery. Empirical evidence increasingly suggests that biofeedback has positive effects on a number of psychological conditions, such as anxiety, stress and depression. Lars will use state-of-the-art machine learning technology to develop the app. He has published several papers since joining BU. Find out more about Lars’ research and how you can collaborate here.

 

Portrait - Lyle SkainsDr Lyle Skains – Health & Science Communication, based in FMC

Lyle joined BU in Sep.2020 and was the final ATRS Senior Lecturer recruited. Lyle’s research is centred in an interdisciplinary and ubiquitous communication method that can be employed for multiple UN 2030 Sustainable Development Goals: interactive digital narrative (IDN). IDNs can be used in schools, GP waiting rooms, on tablets and smartphones; interactivity significantly increases retention, particularly when incorporated into media that audiences voluntarily and eagerly devote attention to. Lyle aims to develop a model for health and science communication through reading and writing IDNs that can be implemented in a wide array of scenarios and topic areas. Lyle is actively building networks and is developing a couple of research funding applications. Find out more about Lyle’s research and how you can collaborate here. Lyle also has a request out for people to join a team in developing a proposal for Sustainable Storytelling for Science & Health as a game-changing concept supporting BU SIAs.

Benefits of the scheme

The Covid-19 pandemic has made it challenging for all to progress their research aims. It has also been difficult for those who have joined during lockdown and so have never held face-to-face meetings with their colleagues. Despite this, you will see above how they have adjusted their plans to ensure they can still progress with their research, and form new networks and relationships. Most are also contributing to teaching and supervising MSc students and involving them in their research. These achievements are contributing to BU2025’s research principles of building external and international engagement, which will lead to building our research environment and the quality and impact of BU’s research. These activities are enabling greater interdisciplinary research and enabling critical mass to be built at BU.

Raf Nicholson talks about her experience of being given this opportunity:

“12 months ago I had never submitted an external funding bid – but the substantial research time allocated as part of this post has allowed me to develop three so far, and counting! These have been for UKRI, the AHRC and Leverhulme Trust, all focused around the theme of sustainability and women’s sport. I hope more will follow. Covid-19 has created a number of issues with progressing some aspects of my research (I’ve been unable to visit any archives, for example), but I’ve found that it has made it easier to approach external partners, whose staff are generally working from home and are more amenable to discussing proposals for research which is of potential benefit to their organisation. Personally, I’ve been able to develop BU’s relationships with external partners including Women in Sport and the England & Wales Cricket Board, who have both served as project partners on grant bids. I hope this has laid the foundations for future joint research in years to come.”

Please watch the research blog for further updates from each of the ATRS post holders for details of how they’re progressing and how you can work with them on collaborative research activities.

HEIF Funding Panel

Business Engagement, Funding opportunities, HEIF, innovation, Knowledge Exchange, Knowledge Transfer

Overview

The Higher Education Innovation Fund (HEIF) is a financial allocation that we (Bournemouth University (BU)) receive annually from Research England (part of UK Research and Innovation (UKRI)). The aim of this fund is to allow higher education providers to connect with the world via different knowledge exchange mechanisms to benefit the economy and society.

We are currently within the HEIF-6 strategic period running from 2017-2022. Recipients of HEIF funding, including BU, have a strategy for their respective institution for this period relating to KE.

As BU has a number of internal funding panels, HEIF is no exception. The HEIF panel is led by the Chair, Professor Wen Tang, and Vice-Chair, Professor Zulfiqar Khan. This Panel is supported by Secretary, Rachel Clarke and Clerk, Matthew Fancy.

The Panel meet three times a year to discuss the direction and progress of the HEIF fund against our HEIF strategy. These meetings also include an overview of the budget and spend, updates on the HEIF funded projects and initiatives and also discussion on any new projects/initiatives on the horizon.

Funded projects

The HEIF Funding Panel have funded some large-scale projects which you may have already seen on the BU Research Blog, including Neuravatar and PalaeoGo!

There are a series of larger projects which are funded by HEIF which you will see in upcoming blog posts. Looking back to some recently closed HEIF projects, you will see that the HEIF injection of funding has provided great support in providing dedicated funds, mainly for staffing and consumables, for projects to realise their potential.

As a snapshot, Professor Lee-Ann Fenge concluded her HEIF project in July 2020. This project focused on launching and evaluating their financial scamming game and the project team have already identified various external funding opportunities to take this project even further and realise additional impact amongst vulnerable people and communities. Professor Fenge and her team have worked with a variety of key agencies such as The Chartered Trading Standards Institute, Action Fraud and Age UK in creating and capturing the impact of their work.  This work has been included in a REF impact case study, further demonstrating the highly valued nature of the project and positive impact it created.

In the 2019/20 academic year, Dr Philip Sewell and Abigail Batley concluded their additive manufacturing project with the Royal National Lifeboat Institute (RNLI) to reduce design, production and supply chain pressures. This project resulted in additive manufacturing being implemented as a focus into the RNLI engineering team time plan over the next three years. Additive manufacturing is now at the forefront when new and existing engineering designs are made and a manufacturing process is selected, as well as integration into supply chain. The RNLI are using one of the additive manufacturing case studies created during the project and are investigating the feasibility of implementing it into their Severn Life Extension Programme, which aims to extend the life of the Severn class lifeboats so they can continue saving lives at sea for another 25 years.

The HEIF Panel has also recently released a small fund which sets to kickstart KE projects and partnerships or complete projects and take them forwards to the next level. The first round of this internal competition saw nine applications with seven of these applications awarded, which is a huge success and demonstrates the quality of applications received. The second closing date took place last week and we received 12 applications which are currently being reviewed by the HEIF Funding Panel.

Future of HEIF funding

As KE gains momentum in the wider HE landscape, and especially with the development and release of the Knowledge Exchange Framework (KEF) and the Knowledge Exchange Concordat (KEC), HEIF funding becomes even more important to support the development of KE within Institutions. The HEIF allocations provided annually to Institutions are currently being reviewed with the reporting changing to ensure alignment with the recently released KEF and KEC.

In May 2021, we’re due to submit our HEIF Accountability Statement which sets out our KE strategy and activities planned to support this strategy until 2024/25.  There are planned funding calls during this time, including the HEIF Small Fund and Proof of Concept Strand which are both now live and the next deadline is mid-May 2021.

These funds provide you with an opportunity to work with external organisations which could lead to strong partnerships for future funding, teaching materials and also further research and knowledge exchange opportunities. If you have an idea that could suit the small fund and would like to discuss further, please do get in touch.

ACORN Funding Panel

As I mentioned yesterday, in April, we focus our stories on BU internal funding panels. This post shares information about the ACORN (ACceleration Of Research and Networking) funding panel.

ACORN funding provides central investment to the most talented Early Career Researchers (ECRs) to support them in gaining experience in managing and leading their own pilot research projects.

The ACORN panel consists of ten panel members from all faculties, is led by the Chair Professor Jan Wiener, Vice-Chair Professor Julie Turner-Cobb and supported by panel Secretary Ainar Blaudums and panel Clerk Theresa McManus.

Funded projects

So far, three rounds of ACORN funding have been announced of which two have been completed; in total, 18 grants have been awarded. In the most recent Round 3, the following projects were awarded:

  • Turning Your Film Into Mine: Filmmaking and the Quotation Exception (PI Dr Claudy Op Den Kamp);
  • Neonate simulators and digital stories: enhancing social work practitioner’s knowledge of problem substance use during pregnancy (PI Dr Humaira Hussain);
  • Drawing Lines across Virtual Spaces: Nigerian Political Cartooning in the Digital Age (PI Dr Malcolm Corrigall);
  • Exploring pathways from suicide ideation to attempts in autism (PI Dr Rachel Moseley);
  • Reliability and Development of Normative Data of the Total Faulty Breathing Scale (PI Dr Vikram Mohan).

Covid-19 related travel and research restrictions, as well as off-campus working, have been challenging for ACORN awardees and have delayed the implementation of some project activities. Fortunately, the panel was able to secure an approval from RPMC to extend implementation of some project activities beyond the end of this financial year.

Nevertheless, Dr Rachel Moseley has achieved significant progress in implementing her ACORN award project and works towards completing the major research work. In her ACORN project, Dr Moseley investigates pathways from suicide ideation to attempts in autistic people.

This project aligns with the BU2025 “Health and Wellbeing“ Fusion Theme, and Target 3.4.2 from the UN Sustainable Development Goals: to prevent premature mortality from non-communicable diseases.

ACORN project ‘Exploring pathways from suicide ideation to attempts in autism’

Death by suicide is frighteningly common in autistic people, but poorly understood. Excess psychiatric morbidity and mortality is prominent in the autistic community, who are, according to some research, eight times more likely to die from suicide. Preliminary research in this area often fails to differentiate suicide ideation from attempts.

Popular theories in neurotypical people suggest that in order to act on suicidal thoughts, individuals must acquire the ‘capability’ for suicide by developing tolerance for pain and losing the evolutionary fear of pain and death. Typically, this capability develops through being exposed to physically painful and emotionally provocative events (like abuse, discrimination) and through self-injury. Research has linked self-injury and suicidality in autism, but it’s not clear if self-injury increases the risk of individuals moving from ideation to attempts and, if so, how this happens. Does self-injury increase pain tolerance and make people less fearful of death, and are there other experiences which likewise create suicide capability?

Dr Moseley kindly provided some insights into her ongoing research: ‘Over 300 autistic people have taken part in my online survey. Interestingly, our preliminary analysis highlighted stressful life events concerning health and medical treatment as predictive of suicide ideation and attempts. Autistic people who had experienced more of these stressors were more likely to mentally rehearse suicide and to feel less fear of death. We need to conduct further qualitative and quantitative analysis to further understand this finding, but it is reminiscent of how many autistic people struggle to find suitable care and to be understood by practitioners (Camm-Crosbie et al., 2019).

Conducting this research has been enormously humbling. I feel exceptionally honoured to have been given this opportunity to, hopefully, uncover findings of importance to this vulnerable community.  The study has been overwhelmingly well-received by the autistic community, with participants commenting: “The study is written with great sensitivity and obvious care for its participants”; “Thank you for looking into this issue. Best questionnaire I have ever completed. Explanatory, friendly, approachable… stress was massively reduced. A lot of work must have gone into the design”.

Autistica, a charity who support autistic people, have asked me to present my findings in a podcast in June. As mental health in the autistic community is one of the highest priorities for research in autism, they described the present study as “some of the most relevant and important research currently being conducted in the UK”. The ACORN funding has afforded me great visibility within the autistic community and autism researchers, and I am excited to continue analysing the data and present it back to these stakeholders.’

Dr Moseley aims to publish findings from this project in several papers, and is extremely hopeful that these publications and the experience she has gained in managing and delivering this project, will lead to successful grant applications from large external funders. Centered at the intersection between autism (a neurodevelopmental condition) and mental illness such Dr Moseley’s work is appropriate for funders interested in multimorbidity such as the Medical Research Council.

Dr Moseley concludes: ‘I am immensely grateful for the opportunity afforded to me by the ACORN committee, which immensely strengthens my academic profile towards achieving this goal.’

——

Future of ACORN funding

Currently, the ACORN panel is working on revising projects and their budgets prior to announcing an additional competition for a number of smaller awards for projects to be completed by 31 July 2021.

The Panel is exceptionally grateful for every grant holder’s commitment and their flexibility in adjusting project plans to mitigate the impact of the  COVID-19 pandemic on the delivery of their projects.

The next posts coming up tomorrow – Focus on Fellowships.

Route to a prize is a prize itself – Melissa Carr at AoM

Melissa Carr, senior lecturer in leadership development in the Business School, has been nominated for best paper from a doctoral dissertation at this year’s conference of the Academy of Management. This nomination is as good as winning a lot of other prizes, I assured her. In business and management, the AoM conference is the largest – and nonetheless one of the most difficult to get into. Melissa has had two papers accepted this year.

One of those, “Moments of Discomfort: Poststructuralist Reflexivity and Researcher Subjectivity,” has been put forward for the 2021 William H. Newman Award. Each AoM division nominates one paper. The conference usually attracts more than 10,000 scholars. Participants will hear hundreds and perhaps thousands of papers based on doctoral work, and each division is likely to have dozens from which to pick. They picked hers.

Having read her thesis, which earned her a PhD from Cranfield University, I know it’s a good one. Congratulations!

Donald Nordberg, Associate Professor

Current Select Committee Inquiries

Select committee inquiries:

 

Why should I engage? Submitting evidence to a select committee can lead to further engagement, such as an invite to give oral evidence. Your submission will be published on the Committee webpage. Your insights may inform the Committee’s conclusions or recommendations it makes to the Government. Find out more about why to engage with Parliament here. And find more on engagement for impact here.

More information: all inquiries currently accepting evidence are found here. 

Support: Please engage with BU’s policy team before submitting evidence to a select committee. We can provide guidance and templates for colleagues who are new to responding to inquiries and we read through a substantial draft before all colleagues submit their response. Contact us – policy@bournemouth.ac.uk

Science Advice – Parliamentary Academic Fellowship opportunity

Parliamentary Academic Fellow sought to conduct study of different organisations around the world which provide science advice to parliaments 

An exciting opportunity has arisen for a university-based researcher or person working in knowledge exchange to conduct a fellowship with the Parliamentary Office of Science and Technology (POST).

 

The project will comprise a study of different organisations around the world which provide science advice to parliaments (‘Legislative Science Advice Mechanisms’). These organisations might include in-house offices such as POST, learned societies or independent organisations.  

 

Whilst the project will study Legislative Science Advice Mechanisms, POST is keen to receive applications from researchers and knowledge exchange professionals with diverse backgrounds and experience. These include, but are not limited to, researchers working in international studies, geography, sociology, cultural studies, communications studies, political studies, as well as scientific disciplines.  

 

The project must be completed by the end of September 2022; however, there is flexibility, in terms of working pattern and location.  

 

POST welcome applications from everyone regardless of age, gender, ethnicity, sexual orientation, faith or disability. 

 

The deadline for applications is Sunday 9 May 2021. 

 

 Fellowships offer the opportunity to work closely with a team in Parliament, supporting and informing its work, building capacity or helping evolve processes, or delivering a unique project. Find out more about why to engage with Parliament here. And find more on engagement for impact here.

  • You must speak with your faculty Dean before applying for a fellowship. The BU policy team can also advise or provide support as you apply. There is also a BU colleague currently engaged in another parliamentary academic fellow role.

BBC callout for diverse experts

The BBC has launched the 50:50 Equality Project, a BBC-wide initiative to improve their representation of under-served audiences and feature more diverse voices.

As part of this, they are looking to improve their database of contacts from different backgrounds so that when a story breaks they are able to get in touch with right people with the expertise and experience to help explain it to audiences.

The project started as an initiative to improve the BBC’s representation of women across news output, and they are now expanding the database. They want to hear from experts in their field who also happen to be disabled, women or from different ethnic backgrounds.

If you come from an under-represented group and are interested in signing up to the database, you can find out more about the project here: https://www.bbc.com/5050/newvoices.

Due to GDPR consent, individuals need to submit their own details to the database. Anyone who signs up to the database could be contacted by any content-making part of the BBC – people are free to agree to or decline any requests they receive on a case-by-case basis.

The ACORN Fund Additional Round is Now Open for Applications!

Funding opportunities

The ACORN Fund (Acceleration Of Research & Networking) for Early Career Researchers is now open for applications  for projects that can be delivered before the end of July 2021. This round differs from previous rounds due to the short turnaround time, smaller budget and limited activities eligible for funding.

The  closing date is Tuesday, 4th May 2021 (5pm) and all applications must be submitted to the email account: acorn@bournemouth.ac.uk.

This scheme will provide c. five awards, of up to £3,000 each, to support BU’s ECRs, with the most promising talent, to gain experience of managing and leading their own pilot research projects. These awards support BU’s commitment to the Concordat to Support to Career Development of Researchers and are made possible by BU’s QR (Quality Research) allocation for 2021 financial year.

For eligibility, you must be able to comply the following:

  • All applicants must have completed their PhD
  • All applicants must have a post at BU (established or fixed term) for the full duration of the award and the post-award commitments or longer
  • To be considered an early career researcher (ECR) applicants should have held a 0.2 or above research contract for no more than six years in total, excluding periods where the applicant was involved in non-research employment or not at work (e.g. caring responsibilities)
  • ACORN award holders cannot hold more than one BU internal award concurrently
  • Note that funds cannot be used to cover open access fees and travel

On BU OneDrive, you can find out more by reading the updated ACORN Fund Policy and apply using the Application Form for this round. In addition, to assist with the budget section, please refer to the RKE Internal Funding Sample Costs. As this does not require Full Economic Costing, you should not contact your faculty’s Funding Development Officer to complete the costing for you. Please address any queries as below.

The closing date for applications is 4th May 2021. As these require faculty support, please start your application and obtain faculty approval as soon as possible. Applicants are responsible for obtaining faculty sign-off and for submitting the application to the email provided in this post.

Please address any queries to Theresa MacManus at RDS via acorn@bournemouth.ac.uk

——

Putting the ACORN Fund into strategic context, under BU2025, the following funding panels operate to prioritise applications for funding and make recommendations to the Research Performance and Management Committee (RPMC).

There are eight funding panels:

  1. HEIF Funding Panel
  2. GCRF Funding Panel
  3. Research Impact Funding Panel
  4. Doctoral Studentship Funding Panel
  5. ACORN Funding Panel
  6. Research Fellowships Funding Panel
  7. Charity Support Funding Panel
  8. SIA Funding panel

Please see separate announcements regarding each initiative.

These panels align with the BU2025 focus on research, including BU’s Research Principles. Specifically, but not exclusively, regarding the ACORN Fund, please refer to:

  • Principle 5 – which sets of the context for such funding panels;
  • Principle 6 and Outcome 9 – which recognises the need for interdisciplinarity and the importance of social science and humanities (SSH);
  • Outcomes 4 and 5 – where ECRs are provided with the mechanisms for support such as mentors and, through schemes including the ACORN fund, gain budgetary responsibility experience.

The call for game-changing research concepts is currently open

Funding opportunities

The call for game-changing research concepts is currently open to enable the growth of BU’s Strategic Investment Areas.

This is your opportunity to put forward the concepts for which BU will be known in the years to come. Concepts that are prioritised for development by the SIA Steering Groups, will benefit from tailored institutional support to turn your idea into a reality.  This could include identification of match-funding, support from estates, personalised funding development support and much more – you tell us what you need!

 Game-changing research concepts are welcomed from all of our academic community across all career stages. 

To learn more about the SIAs, the open call and to discuss what you could do, read further details on the staff intranet The Teams links for each of the sesisons are here below for you to save in your calendars. For enquiries, please email sia@bournemouth.ac.uk. 

Briefing Events

Briefing events are taking place on the following dates:

  • Sustainability, Low Carbon Technology and Materials Science – 23 April 10am

If you would like to join the meeting, please save this link in your diary and click on the link to join the meeting on the day: Click here to join the meeting

 

  • Assistive Technology – 22 April 10.30am

If you would like to join the meeting, please save this link in your diary and click on the link to join the meeting on the day: Click here to join the meeting

The Breifing events for Animation, Simulation & Visualisation and Medical Science have already taken place but if you have any questions regarding these, please email sia@bournemouth.ac.uk

 

General drop-in sessions

General drop in-sessions for any queries, to discuss potential ideas or to identify potential BU partners are taking place on the following dates/times supported by SIA Steering Group members and RDS staff:

  • 19 April 11.30am

If you would like to join the meeting, please save this link in your diary and click on the link to join the meeting on the day: Click here to join the meeting

  • 29 April 2pm

If you would like to join the meeting, please save this link in your diary and click on the link to join the meeting on the day: Click here to join the meeting

 

GCRF Funding Panel

Research is a priority, it matters, and it is everyone’s responsibility here at BU. In April, we focus our stories on BU internal funding panels. This post shares the information about the Global Challenges Research Fund (GCRF) funding panel and awarded projects.

GCRF funding enables BU academics to undertake research in partnership with organisations in developing countries. Projects are aimed to help build collaborations with researchers, policymakers and practitioners, ensuring that the research provides tangible outcomes and impacts for people in those countries.

The GCRF panel is led by the Chair, Professor Lee Miles, and Vice-Chair, Luciana Esteves.

Travel restrictions introduced due to the pandemic have sometimes been a challenge for academics, however, everyone has demonstrated flexibility in adjusting project plans to minimise their impact on project delivery. This has even delivered some benefits, for example, encouraging greater partnership working and ensuring that projects are efficiently implemented by in-country organisations.

Funded projects

There have been quite a few previous posts on BU Research Blog related to GCRF funded projects; you can read more about such projects as ‘Rohingya refugee crisis’ (Bangladesh), ‘Indigenous people’s voices’ (Costa Rica and Malaysia), ‘Child soldiers’ (Colombia) and ‘Driving African Capacity-Building in Disaster Management’ (Sierra Leone, Senegal and Cameroon). In total, 22 GCRF applications have received funding.

One of the internally funded GCRF projects – ‘Enhancing Livelihood Resilience of Protracted Internally Displaced Persons (ELIED)’ – is led by Dr Henry Bang. The PI kindly provided a brief overview of the project and the work done so far.

‘The project was conceived against the backdrop of Cameroon’s Anglophone Crisis (AC). The AC is rooted in the country’s troubled colonial history that eventually gave birth to its dual bi-lingual heritage (French and English official languages). The ongoing conflict started in 2016 as peaceful street demonstrations by lawyers and teachers’ trade unions against the obligatory use of French language in the educational and legal systems in Cameroon’s two Anglophone Regions. The government’s harsh response eventually gave rise to secessionist groups in the Anglophone region that have led to armed confrontation with government security forces. The four-year conflict has led to more than 63,000 refugees and 679,000 internally displaced persons.

These persons are suffering several vulnerabilities associated with separation from the nurturing environments of their original/home communities. Notably, are deprivation from basic necessities like regular access to food and other essentials such as education and easy access to health care. This is mainly because they rely heavily on food aid and assistance from well-wishers and donors. Living such unsustainable lives requires targeted attention. Hence, this GCRF project aims to improve and enhance the welfare and build livelihood resilience for the internally displaced persons who are scattered around Cameroon’s 10 regions. A strategic objective is to shape the livelihood opportunities of the population to be non-aid dependent.

The project is moving at an endurable pace, adjusted in accordance with COVID-19 restrictions to achieve the project objectives by the deadline of July 31st, 2021. The PI, with in-country collaborators, have engaged multiple NGOs and research assistants to collect data from the internally displaced persons’ (pictures here are taken by in-country collaborators and illustrate data collection by NGOs).

This project involves many challenges, considering the constrained budget and the scope of work involved, especially in securing a representative sample from around the country. Data collection from the NGOs is in progress after initial meetings and focus group discussions that led to the identification of key themes for further investigation.

According to the PI, ‘The challenge, though, is getting insights from the government, which is invaluable considering government’s expected dominant role in safe guiding the lives/livelihoods of the internally displaced persons. Plans are in place to achieve this objective with the appropriate budget as initially planned. In-dept analysis based on triangulation of data from the four data sets would enhance the validity, credibility, and generalization of the research.’

‘There is optimism that ELIED will achieve its aims/objectives with desirable outcomes that would have a huge academic/research and practical impact on sustainable livelihoods/development in Cameroon’ Dr Bang concludes.

The panel Chair suggested that at least two more projects with a high impact have to be mentioned in this short blog post – ‘Aftershock Nepal’ project and the MAAR (Media Action Against Rape) project addressing rape prevention in India. Both projects are led by Professor Einar Thorsen and Dr Chindu Sreedharan. It’s important to mention that the latter led to follow-on joint initiatives.

Future of GCRF funding

UK universities have received formal notifications from UKRI and Research England that there will be no further QR GCRF funding after July 2021. So, for the remaining period we need to ensure that the projects are successfully completed by the end of this financial year. Another important task will be reporting back to Research England in autumn.

The next post, coming up tomorrow, will be about the ACORN internal funding panel.

COVID – a reflective account, an engineering perspective.

There have always been challenges and opportunities. Some might say that challenges could be over and an opportunity could be lost, really?

There are several key subjects in mechanical engineering, majority attempt to bridge the gap between theory and practice and simultaneously present a simplified solution such as engineering maths, machine design, theory of machines and power plants etc. there are two core subjects which are more challenging in terms of the nature of problems we are asked to solve – such as thermodynamics and thermofluids which in turn are multidisciplinary  subjects and do incorporate elements of functional analysis, linear and nonlinear relationships, physics, energy and flow.

Mechanical engineering itself is an interdisciplinary subject which is underpinned by mathematics and physics. To simplify physical analyses, like the recent landfall in Dorset, although it is a geological event, lets for the time being ignore this element. Two categories, in physics have been defined in terms of whether a body is in motion or at rest, are referred to as dynamics and statics. There is a major mechanism which is called erosion, just before the landfall, the state is static, during the landfall the state is dynamic. Let’s consider, if a body is in motion and there is an element of power, not the power we associate with the words like, politics or megalomaniac, but say heat energy, for example recent Icelandic volcanic eruption, although generally speaking this would fall under volcanology, let’s assume we are not discussing this, there is an element of heat energy in motion which is called thermodynamics.

If we have understood what thermodynamics is, then let’s move to statics. Anything in stationary state, not moving, will come under statics. A coffee table in our lounge, a parked car, a bookshelf etc. in turn the analysis is relatively easy and simple. Are these stationary? is the motion zero? think again.

We talk about destination(s). What is ‘the destination’?

Locally (lounge, car park, library /study) the motion is zero, and we have a zero value. Globally the motion is not zero as the earth is spinning and orbiting. Therefore, universal motion cannot be zero. In turn there is no absolute zero.

Fridge and freezer in our kitchens run on a thermodynamic cycle, there are four distinct processes in a thermodynamic cycle: compression in the compressor, evaporation in the evaporator, condensation in the condenser and expansion in the throttle (expansion) valve. We keep our food and drinks cold in the fridge or food frozen in the freezer. Although in terms of the objective, a lower and controlled temperature is desired, is it destination? thermodynamic cycle is composed of processes and there is no final stage, unless the fridge or freezer stop working. Initial point of a process is connected to the final point of preceding process, and final point of a process is connected to the initial point of proceeding process – all processes are interconnected, it is a ‘cycle’ where is the destination? in turn a destination would mean no motion, static, this is not desired.

What happens after the destination?

We have sources of energy, finite (fossil fuel) to infinite (sun). The energy which is responsible for making chemical reactions happen is called Gibbs Free Energy (GFE). When GFE runs out chemical reactions will cease to occur. For example, by pouring hot water, providing energy, on washing soda, a reaction will happen, a good old recipe to unclog drains. The reaction will stop when that energy runs out.

All sources of energy lead to thermodynamics behaviour which is called Entropy. Let’s take a carboard box, put a few green tennis balls on one side, and a few red tennis balls on the other side, this is a state of order. Now shake the box, green and red balls will mix – this is a state of disorder, if heat energy was involved in this process, then this was Entropy. For example, climate change, rising sea levels, volcanic eruptions and landfalls are all examples of Entropy.

We know that there is no absolute zero, therefore the Entropy has to increase or at its best remain constant, but only locally, for example the landfall in Dorset may not be happening now, it does not mean that erosion elsewhere is not taking place, rising sea level is not the same everywhere. Entropy must increase or could remain constant – disorder must increase or could remain constant.

Let’s go back to March 2020. I was getting out of our staff kitchen on my office floor with a cup of coffee, a work colleague was coming from the opposite side. My colleague told me that, they are planning to go to superstore for shopping to stockpile provisions and utilities. To justify this, my colleague added, we would go to lockdown soon following France.

Lockdown? is it static or dynamic? is it increasing or keeping the Entropy constant?

Stockpile? is it static or dynamic? is it increasing or keeping the Entropy constant?

Soon the Government issued a statement that “people ‘must’ stay at home and certain businesses must close”. A state of zero Entropy?

Wait a minute, do you recall if anyone mentioned anything about flatulence, diarrhoea or indigestion etc, remember stockpiling toilet rolls?

There are economic and psychological aspects to this, “In Auckland, New Zealand, supermarket spending shot up by 40% comparing to the same day the previous year”.

“It is rational to prepare for something bad that looks like it is likely to occur,” says David Savage, associate professor of behavioural and microeconomics.

Ben Oppenheim, senior director at San Francisco-based infectious disease research firm Metabiota, agrees. “It’s probably true that panic buying is ultimately a psychological mechanism to deal with our fear and uncertainty; a way to assert some control over the situation by taking an action.”

Physical disorder continued, “Evidence to the Commons EFRA Committee from the British Retail Consortium stated that the main difficulty in meeting the rapid increase in retail demand was the logistics of moving food through the supply chain quickly enough, with deliveries to stores increasing by 30%.” [Source]. “News of empty supermarket shelves and other disruptions in the food supply chain in countries already affected by COVID-19 influenced UK consumer behaviour and led to relatively short lived ‘stock piling’ buying behaviour to prepare for a worst case scenario.” [Source].

A state of lockdown meant zero Entropy, carbon emissions fall down by more than a third, should it continue, there is a chance of Entropy is going in the reverse direction, thermodynamically it is not possible. Stockpiling added to Entropy.

When the lockdown was eased, eat out to help out, we went to several local restaurants to make our contributions to local economy.

We also went to Stonehenge, it was a gorgeous day and outdoor coffee was a bonus, what? Stonehenge is static, I am a dynamist.

When will the Entropy stop and what would the scenario look like?

There is always a gradient therefore change in pressures and temperatures, flow of water, heat flow: boiling or freezing water will continue to take place. No flow means equilibrium, it is a local phenomenon, a lake. And for example, mechanical equilibrium, a seesaw should be dynamic (interesting) when both persons on either end change their loading configuration, seesaw will move up and down. If the load (person on each side) is equal then seesaw would not move, it is static, it is local equilibrium (limited to seesaw), it doesn’t mean that temperature is not changing or the tides are not going out or coming in. I did not stockpile anything because the flow must happen. Stockpiling meant excessive gradient, must be followed by accelerated supply and production – increased Entropy.

Destination is static; the uncertainty associated with destination distracts from the process, the journey. The destination is a state of absolute zero, I will let you interpret this. Challenges will not go away and opportunities will never be lost – absolute zero cannot be reached, Entropy will always increase or if we are very lucky then it could remain constant. Globally Entropy must increase, journey must continue, challenges will be there and opportunities will cross our path.

Each end of a process is a destination, but that is also the final point of a process, so the process hence the journey must continue to connect to the next initial point of another process in the cycle. Presence in the process and enjoying the journey will lead to impactful outcomes.

COVID is just a process within a cycle, and we are on its final point.

BU Gypsy, Roma, Traveller expert invited to contribute to a Governmental cross-departmental forum.

Fusion

The gap in health service provision for Gypsy, Roma, and Travellers communities is well documented in Dr Vanessa Heaslips’ extensive research. Vanessa, an Associate Professor in the Department of Nursing Science was invited to present her work ‘“Inequalities in health of Gypsy, Roma, Traveller, Communities” to sixteen staff from departments including Dept of Education, Office for National Statistics, Minister of Housing and Communities, Department of Health, Department for Social care, Cabinet office and Dept for Work and Pension.

The presentation titled started with an introduction to ‘Alice, my husbands’ nan’. Alice was a Romany Gypsy and a member of the Showman community. It was being with Alice at the end of her life and witnessing the interactions between healthcare staff and herself which inspired the research. The presentation went on to explore on-going challenges such as poorer health outcomes, social exclusion, discrimination, and lack of cultural sensitivity that many Gypsy, Roma, Travellers face. As well as current problems posed by a lack of robust data collection as healthcare organisations do not use include Gypsy, Romany and Traveller as part of their ethnicity data collected. Dr Heaslip argues argued that failure to do so negatively impacts on developing robust public health initiatives to address these poorer health outcomes and is a key factor in understanding why so little progress have been made over the past two decades.

 

A wide ranging discussion regarding engaging with individuals in these communities ensured, and the session concluded with some thoughts as to how to move this significant national agenda forward. More information on this research is available from https://staffprofiles.bournemouth.ac.uk/display/vheaslip#publications  and follow Vanessa on Twitter @HeaslipVanessa, @Nursing_BU, and @N4LTH

SIA game-changing ideas EoI call: reminder to drop-in!

BU Challenges, innovation

At the risk of needling you with yet another blogpost regarding our exciting Strategic Investment Areas Game-Changing Ideas call for Expressions of Interest (closing 30 April), RDS will take this opportunity to remind you that there are a further two drop-in sessions, on 19 and 22 April respectively: you can find the meeting links on the blogpost regarding these events here: https://blogs.bournemouth.ac.uk/research/2021/04/01/the-call-for-game-changing-research-concepts-is-currently-open/.

Tips on completion of the EoI will be dispensed at those events, which are entirely informal and also provide possible networking opportunities with others whose ideas may resonatewith yours and with whom you may consider strategically joining join forces.

Finally, should game-changing ideas crossover with one of the other SIAs (as they invariably will, if grand!), we can advise that there are two remaining SIA briefings: Assistive Technology on 22 April, 10.30am, and Sustainability, Low Carbon Technology and Materials Science on 23 April at 10.00am. For the session links, see https://blogs.bournemouth.ac.uk/research/2021/04/12/88688/

Do pitch up for an informal chat over how you can make your idea a winning one. We look forward to seeing you there!

HEIF Small Fund – Proof of Concept Strand: Open for Applications

Funding opportunities, HEIF, Knowledge Exchange

HEIF Small Fund – Proof of Concept Strand

BU actively supports staff turning their research into technology opportunities or businesses and is offering awards of a maximum of £5,000. The principal objective of the Proof of Concept Strand is to accelerate the BU research pathway, supporting the maturation of innovations towards commercial exploitation.

This funding is designed to progress BU research projects such that the individual project can attract further funding and/or provide support to expedite the exploitation of the target opportunity.

Eligibility

The HEIF Proof of Concept Strand is open to academic staff across BU.

Due to the nature of this fund, we particularly welcome applications from the following:

  • Early Career Researchers (ECRs)
  • Proposals that incorporate social sciences and humanities
  • Proposal that demonstrate interdisciplinarity research approaches and/or include collaborations with other departments.

In line with BU2025, we will positively encourage applications from under-represented groups.

What we can and cannot fund

The HEIF Proof of Concept Strand will only support development of innovations that have arisen from BU research.

Funding will be available to support activities including but not limited to the following:

  • Key translational activities that cannot proceed with current funding such as prototyping, specific market research, accreditation attainment, IP protection, IP strategy/landscaping, equipment purchases, demonstration events for marketing and connection to later stage investment.
  • Development of the project such that it addresses a specific barrier that is preventing the attainment of translational funds or will run in parallel to existing translational funds, adding value to the overall development of the project.
  • Further develop existing technology/acquire new data to identify other routes for exploitation or obtain additional data or information to determine a specific capacity.
  • General early market assessment activities to value the innovation/technology position and determine the most optimal routes for exploitation.
  • Focussed market assessment to provide guidance on how to refine the position of an innovation/technology.

Application Process

Please read the following documents before completing the application form:

All applicants are also advised to familiarise themselves with BU2025 strategy as part of the application process.

Applications must be submitted to heif@bournemouth.ac.uk.

The HEIF panel will assess all applications received. Applications are initially subject to a pre-screen check. Applications that pass the pre-screen will be forwarded to the HEIF Funding panel to review. Following the panel assessment process, the HEIF Funding panel will make recommendations for funding to RPMC. RPMC will review these recommendations, check alignment with internal/external strategies and make final decisions.

PoC Strand Closing Date

Applications will be regularly evaluated by the HEIF Panel until 16 June 2021, provided funds remain available until that date.

BU’s Funding Panels and Research Principles

The following funding panels operate to prioritise applications for funding and make recommendations to the Research Performance and Management Committee (RPMC).

There are eight funding panels:

  1. HEIF Funding Panel
  2. GCRF Funding Panel
  3. Research Impact Funding Panel
  4. Doctoral Studentship Funding Panel
  5. ACORN Funding Panel
  6. Research Fellowships Funding Panel
  7. Charity Impact Funding Panel
  8. SIA Funding panel.

These panels align with the BU2025 focus on research, including BU’s Research Principles.

The following BU2025 Principles are most relevant to the HEIF Panel:

  • Principle 1 – which recognises the need to develop teams
  • Principle 5 – which sets of the context for such funding panels

If you have any questions about your application, the process or requirements, then please email heif@bournemouth.ac.uk.