UK Research and Innovation brings together the seven Research Councils, Innovate UK and Research England. We work to ensure the UK maintains its world-leading position in research and innovation.
Each Council is led by an Executive Chair, supported by a council of between five and 12 members.
The councils have a pivotal role in ensuring the success of UK Research and Innovation, helping it achieve its strategic objectives to be the single, strong voice of UK research and innovation, and building on our world-leading reputation.
The council members have a range of expertise and experience in research and innovation across higher education, industry and commerce, policy and/or civil society reflecting different characteristics and professional backgrounds. The exact membership takes into account the specific needs of each council.
EPSRC as part of UK Research and Innovation is using Green Park to recruit two additional posts, looking for individuals who are either active researchers in a fundamental area of EPSRC‘s remit or who are a user of EPSRC research from an industrial or government perspective. If you have relevant expertise and experience Green Park would like to hear from you. To view the candidate brief and how to apply please visit the Green Park council recruitment page.
I have just returned from Brazil where I engaged in three academic activities.
First, I co-delivered the inaugural lecture of the PhD programme in Tourism at São Paulo University. My presentation focused on providing a number of recommendations for internationalising the research carried out as part of the programme. Based on my in-depth knowledge of the strengths and weaknesses of tourism research carried out in Brazil, I set to cover a number of issues that I consider critical in facilitating greater levels of internationalisation. Through comparing article titles of international and Brazilian tourism journals, I addressed the issue of over-emphasising the context of research at the expense of the theoretical underpinning and methodological rigour.
The second activity and the main reason for the trip to Brazil was my participation in the III Forum ABRATUR. ABRATUR is an Academy devoted to the internationalisation of tourism research in Brazil, of which I am a founding member. Academy members have a distinguished international publication record and act as mentors to young and established researchers aiming to internationalise their research. I delivered a keynote presentation on the first day entitled “doing literature reviews of international standard: what you should know but no one tells you”.
The Forum attracted over 100 participants (including more than 80 paper presentations) from across the country, featuring a very exciting social programme. The forum took place in Joinville (Santa Catarina State) which hosts the only school of the Bolshoi Theatre outside Russia. Forum participants had the opportunity to look behind the scenes followed by a beautiful performance courtesy of final year students. As someone who had never watched a ballet performance live, I was impressed with its beauty, emotion and technical skill required. The educational program of the school consists of eight years of intense learning, where students get ballet training as well as formal education, at no cost due to generous donations by businesses and individuals. Once they graduate, students are ready to embrace a career as ballet dancers.
The third and final activity involved delivering a workshop to master students and academic staff of the Faculty of Tourism and Hospitality at Fluminense Federal University in Niteroi (Rio de Janeiro State). The workshop started with an introduction to the three pillars of research (process, content and context), followed by a discussion of student’ dissertation titles using this tripartite approach to evaluating research titles.
The trip was an opportunity to interact with old friends and make new ones, and many opportunities for future collaboration were discussed.
Are you new or relatively new to research? Are you interested in attending a workshop that will allow you to improve your understanding and confidence in the application of ethical considerations to your research activity? Then take advantage of the following opportunity!
Dr Helen Kara will be delivering a one-day workshop on Monday 17th June, 09:30 – 16:30 on Talbot Campus, entitled Ethical Thinking and Decision-making in Practice.
The aims & objectives of this sessions are to:
To increase their awareness of the need for ethics compliance in research and, by the end of the workshop, be aware of their responsibilities and when to seek further assistance
To develop their skills in the following key areas, within the context of ethical research:
a. Planning and design
b. Gathering data and data analysis
c. Reporting, including presentation and dissemination
d. Consideration of ethical dilemmas, based on real-world examples and participants’ experience
If you want to book onto this workshop and take advantage of this great opportunity, then please see the following page for instructions.
If you are a PGR, please email Organisation Development to book your place.
You can see all the Organisational Development and RKEDF events in one place on the handy calendar of events.
Please note that all sessions are now targeted, so look closely at the event page to ensure that the event is suitable for you. In addition, RKEDF events now require the approval of your Head of Department (or other nominated approver). Please follow the instructions given on the event page and the template email for you to initiate the booking request.
PhD student Raysa El Zein and Caroline Jones from The Ageing and Dementia Research Centre (ADRC) attended “The Memory Roadshow Event” in Dorchester, hosted by Dorset Healthcare University Foundation Trust. The Memory Roadshow is an event for people who have memory problems, the people who support them and healthcare professionals. It was a mixture of talks, music and information on support services across Dorset. The event was well attended with significant interest for our stall that presented the research and activities from the centre.
Prof Jane Murphy (Ageing and Dementia Research Centre,ADRC) and Dr Janet Scammell (Nursing long-term Health Challenges Research Centre, N4LTH) from FHSS recently visited the University of Genoa, Italy to explore a potential collaboration focused on older people with severe swallowing difficulties.
Academic colleague Dr Milko Zanini from the Health Sciences Department in Genoa is with Janet a member of Phi Mu Chapter of Sigma Theta Tau International Honor Society of Nursing (hosted by Bournemouth University). Working with industry, Dr Zanini and his team have developed a novel nutrition-intervention programme that uses high-quality texture-modified food for people with dysphagia (swallowing problems) and demonstrated significantly improved nutritional, biochemical and functional outcomes in older people living in Italian nursing homes. Dysphagia is a worldwide challenging clinical issue (affecting 8% of the world population), leading to poor health outcomes and quality of life including malnutrition, pneumonia in stroke patients and those affected by cognitive impairment. In nursing homes, older people with dysphagia and cognitive impairment and are also at higher risk of malnutrition, sarcopaenia (muscle loss) and higher mortality, and as such represent a considerable nursing challenge.
Jane and Janet with the ADRC and N4LTH plan to work collaboratively to explore new research around how this innovative intervention could be implemented in UK nursing homes and measure its impact on quality of life and other health outcomes. The potential is to provide a much needed solution to better manage this challenging problem in older people.
The new ‘UK Local Information Pack‘ has been introduced today, 5th June to support the set-up of NHS / HSC research in the UK.
The ‘UK Local Information Pack’ is the set of documents that NHS / HSC organisations use to formally start preparing to deliver the study. You can find more information here, including what comprises the pack. All researchers wishing to set-up their study at an NHS/HSC site from today, 5th June, need to be aware of this change.
The Organisation Information Document
Researchers and research teams may be aware of a document called the ‘Statement of Activities’ – this is essentially a document that allows the sponsor to make clear to the research site, what activities will be undertaken locally. The document can also act as the agreement between the sponsor and site.
From today the Statement of Activities has been replaced by a document called the ‘Organisation Information Document‘. For non-commercially sponsored studies, that are not clinical trials or clinical investigations, the ‘Organisation Information Document’ should be used as the agreement between sponsor and participating NHS / HSC organisation.
A new delegation log template
Another feature of the new UK Local Information Pack is the inclusion of a delegation log template, which is intended to be used at participating NHS / HSC organisations. This will allow NHS/HSC organisations to locally record who will be working on the study and who is authorised to undertake study tasks. The delegation log can be found here and should be used for studies submitted for approvals from today.
Schedule of Events or Schedule and Events Cost Attribution Tool (SoECAT)
For non-commercially sponsored studies studies an IRAS Schedule of Events or a SoECAT will be a part of the IRAS Form submission and is used in the UK Local Information Pack as a way of providing clarity to participating NHS / HSC organisations on the cost attributions associated with a study.
Further help and guidance
Guidance on the use of the new UK Local Information Pack has now been published in the Site Specific page of IRAS Help to help applicants get ready for the change.
If you are making an IRAS Form submission or planning to set up research in an NHS / HSC organisation from today, 5th June 2019 please read the transition guidance so that you prepare the correct materials.
If you have any queries regarding any of the information provided above, or would like some guidance with regard to implementing your research in a healthcare setting – please get in touch with BU’s Research Ethics team.
You can also take a look at the Clinical Governance blog for documents, links and training opportunities.
As the month of Pride begins, focus group research linked to a British Academy Small Grant project explored the benefits of water-based active leisure for a local transgender group. On Saturday 1st June, at Bournemouth Library in The Triangle, research participants shared their experiences of attending a local swimming pool during privately hired sessions. The cost of the private-hire sessions are covered by the BA Grant and this affords the group exclusive access. Initial findings reveal that such access means group members feel safe, and are able to support each other. Many of the group had stopped swimming and not visited a pool for a long time because of perceived and actual transphobia as well as feelings of fear, and becoming isolated.
The focus group covered topics such as: How important is physical activity to transgender, non-binary and gender non-conforming participants? How have the swimming sessions made you feel about your body? And, do you want the sessions to carry on? A transgender artist attended the focus group and captured the responses via illustrations.
The findings, so far, indicate the positive social and wellbeing aspects of attending the pool sessions. Physical activity was viewed as important in enabling good mental health. Having fun, feeling liberated and free, and being in your own body were common themes. At the same time, feeling unwelcome in public space, and changing room infrastructure presented barriers to active involvement.
During the month of Pride, we cannot forget that statistics indicate LGBTQ+ experience higher levels of anxiety, depression, and suicidal feelings as a consequence of feeling isolated, and experiences of rejection and bullying. Within the community, the figures are higher for transgender people (see: https://www.stonewall.org.uk/sites/default/files/trans_stats.pdf)
Quick reminder to please register for our Improving Nurse Retention Conference that will be held here at Bournemouth University on July 1st.
This project dissemination conference will explore the outcomes of Burdett Trust for Nursing funded collaborative research (Bournemouth University and Royal Bournemouth Christchurch Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust) which focused on improving nurse retention (Making TRACS to improve nurse retention: https://www.bournemouth.ac.uk/research/projects/making-tracs-improve-nurse-retention). There will also be a small exhibition and the opportunity to share practice through participation in workshops focused on authentic leadership and valuing staff, supporting staff health and wellbeing and staff development.
This conference will take place in the Fusion Building from 10am-3pm on July 1st 2019.
This is free to attend and a buffet lunch will be provided.
The photo of the week series is a weekly series featuring photos taken by our academics and students for our Research Photography Competition, which provides a snapshot of some of the incredible research undertaken across the BU community.
This week’s photo of the week, ‘Post-feeding Blood pattern comprised of the artefacts of the blowfly Calliphora vicina enhanced with Bluestar,’ is by the winner of this years Research Photography Competition, Christopher Dwen, a TTO Demonstrator In Forensic Science.
Blowflies have a high affinity for some bodily fluids such as blood, semen and saliva when other food sources are absent. For this reason, they are frequently found at crime scenes if they have access through open doors or windows.
Because some foods are difficult for a fly to breakdown in their pure forms, it first uses the proboscis (mouth parts) to draw it up, which it then mixes with digestive enzymes to break it down. This food is then expelled, again via the proboscis, and returned to at a later time when it is more easily consumed. Often, this type of feeding behaviour will leave ‘spotting’ stains on a surface as the fly dabs a surface with the proboscis following ‘bubbling’, which involves the fly repeatedly expelling and reabsorbing a bubble of regurgitated liquid (in this case, blood) from its proboscis.
The attached image is of a bloodstain pattern created entirely by just five blowflies (Calliphora vicina), and then enhanced with Bluestar® Forensic latent bloodstains reagent. A petri dish of horse blood in the centre of the pattern was the food source, and the resulting pattern shows the density and distribution on deposited fly artefacts in relation to that source.
There are no Research Ethics Panel (REP) meetings held during August, so if you’re hoping to start data collection activities over the summer and are in the process of completing your research ethics checklist, please keep this in mind when planning your research activities and submit your checklist in time for the final REP meetings to be held in June and July. Checklists received during August which need to be reviewed by full Panel will be deferred until September (dates to be advised).
REPs review all staff projects and postgraduate research projects which have been identified as above minimal risk through the online ethics checklist. Details on what constitutes high risk can be found on the research ethics blog.
There are two central REPs:
Science, Technology & Health
Social Sciences & Humanities
Staff/PGR ‘above minimal risk’ projects are reviewed by full REP and Researchers (including PGR Supervisors) are normally invited to Panel for discussions.
Staff Projects which are ‘low risk’
Reviews for low risk projects will continue as normal during August (via email), although turnaround may take longer than normal due to Reviewer availability during this month.
PGR Projects which are ‘low risk’
There are no changes to the review and approval process for low risk PGR projects and reviews will continues as normal throughout August, again subject to Reviewer (Ethics champions) availability.
BU PGR Adedoyin Festus Fatai was one of three PhD students accepted to present at a 3-days intensive workshop on “Tourism: Economics and Management. Tourists as Consumers, Visitors and Travelers” in honour of Lionello F. Punzowhich held at the Department of Economics, University of Siena, Siena, Italy (Italia), between 30 May – 1 June 2019.
It was an invaluable experience to serve as a discussant alongside other researchers in the field and to receive feedback on one of the empirical chapters from my PhD research. Additionally, there were comments from well-experienced journal editors with opportunities for collaboration.
An important lesson from the 15 papers discussed is that knowledge of research methods is not enough! instead, having a ‘story’ is more important. A good story will always sell as long as it identifies a clear gap to fill; is significant and has a strong motivation for it to be published in a journal with high impact factor.
A whole day REF impact case study writing retreat, consisting of a two hour presentation on case study writing with the rest of the day spent writing. The trainer will be on hand the whole day to provide 1:1 support and guidance. Attendees are required to have an impact case study to write and work on; own laptop is required for the session.
The writing retreat will provide guidance on:
How to write and excellent impact case study
How to frame the writing
What a successful case study looks like
Other hints and tips towards successful impact case study writing
Guiding individual attendees during the personal writing elements
If you can’t make the retreat on 6th June, there is another scheduled for 4th July.
How will climate change remake our world in the 21st century? Will we be able to adapt and survive? As with many things, the past is a good guide for the future. Humans have experienced climate changes in the past that have transformed their environment – studying their response could tell us something about our own fate.
Human populations and cultures died out and were replaced throughout Eurasia during the last 500,000 years. How and why one prehistoric population displaced another is unclear, but these ancient people were exposed to climate changes that changed their natural environment in turn.
How habitats in prehistoric Eurasia would have looked (a) during a period of relative warmth, and (b) during period of relative cooling ‘T.’ = Temperate. Allen et al. (2019), Author provided
We looked at the region around Lyon, France, and imagined how Stone Age hunter gatherers 30,000-50,000 years ago would have fared as the world around them changed. Here, as elsewhere in Eurasia during colder periods, the environment would have shifted towards tundra-like vegetation – vast, open habitats that may have been best suited for running down prey while hunting. When the climate warmed for a few centuries, trees would have spread – creating dense woods which favour hunting methods involving ambush.
How these changes affected a population’s hunting behaviour could have decided whether they prospered, were forced to migrate, or even died out. The ability of hunter gatherers to detect prey at different distances and in different environments would have decided who dominated and who was displaced.
Short of building a time machine, finding out how prehistoric people responded to climate change could only be possible by recreating their worlds as virtual environments. Here, researchers could control the mix and density of vegetation and enlist modern humans to explore them and see how they fared finding prey.
Surviving in the virtual Stone Age
We designed a video game environment and asked volunteers to find red deer in it. The world they explored changed to scrub and grassland as the climate cooled and thick forest as it warmed.
The participants could spot red deer at a greater distance in grassland than in woodland, when the density of vegetation was the same. As vegetation grew thicker they struggled to detect prey at greater distances in both environments, but more so in woodland. Prehistoric people would have faced similar struggles as the climate warmed, but there’s an interesting pattern that tells us something about human responses to change.
As the climate warmed and wooded environments spread, finding prey became increasingly difficult.
Creeping environmental change didn’t affect deer spotting performance in the experiment until a certain threshold of forest had given way to grassland, or vice-versa. Suddenly, after the landscape was more than 30% forested, participants were significantly less able to spot deer at greater distances. As an open environment became more wooded, this could have been the tipping point at which running down prey became a less viable strategy, and hunters had to switch to ambush.
This is likely the critical moment at which ancient populations were forced to change their hunting habits, relocate to areas more favourable for their existing techniques, or face local extinction. As the modern climate warms and ecosystems change, our own survival could become threatened by these sudden tipping points.
The effects of climate change on human populations may not be intuitive. Our lifestyles may seem to continue working just fine up until a certain point. But that moment of crisis, when it does arrive, will often dictate the outcome – adapt, move or die.
You may have seen the blog post back in April regarding the results from a recent patient research experience survey, conducted by National Institute for Health Research (NIHR) Clinical Research Network (CRN) Wessex.
The survey results showed that across the 10 NHS organisations in Wessex, from the 400 responses received, 96% of participants had a good experience of taking part in research. It also showed that 98% of research participants surveyed had all the information that they needed in relation to the study.
The NIHR have released a recent report that shares the results of the Research Participant Experience Survey 2018-19, which was also conducted across the other 14 Clinical Research Network areas in England. You can take a look at the report here.
Chloe Casey is a first year PhD student from the Faculty of Health and Social Sciences who is researching the mental wellbeing of postgraduate researchers (PGRs). Research suggests that the prevalence of poor mental health is higher in PGRs than in other student populations or the highly educated general public, yet few researchers have implemented interventions to promote wellbeing in doctoral students. We follow Chloe as she attends her first academic conference in Brighton: The UK Council of Graduate Education’s first annual conference on the Mental Health and Wellbeing of Postgraduate Researchers, where she presented with her supervisor, Dr Steve Trenoweth.
Day 1
05.59
En route to Brighton from Bournemouth on the earliest train I have ever boarded. I thought I would do some work to distract myself from worrying about the presentation, whether I’ve chosen the right outfit or if people will think I’m smart enough to be there!
11.57
I don’t know what I was panicking about, everyone from professors to other PGRs were really open and willing to learn from each other. Apart from my initial worry: ‘is everyone in the world researching the same topic as me?!’ I realised that although there were consistent themes we all seem to be approaching the issue using different methods.
13.52
A conference highlight for me was listening to John de Pury from Universities UK discuss their wellbeing strategies through the PGR lens. There was a real sense that the HEI sector and policy makers are starting to take note that PGRs aren’t the same as other students and need support tailored to their needs.
14.39
The break-away sessions were a great opportunity to network with other researchers and HEI professionals in smaller groups. As a PGR myself, my favourite session was ‘Fail again, fail better’, celebrating failure as a wellbeing intervention for doctoral students. Research is a rollercoaster, it’s exploratory, frustrating and rewarding. We should honestly share our ups and downs with others, not to normalize struggle, but engage with failure as a positive, learning process.
21.08
Day 2
10.21
I loved the use of a life grid in a research project from the University of Lincoln; it visually showed the highs and lows of doctoral study and what we all experience as PGRs.
14.15
Our presentation of Steve’s study results was well received and I heard some really useful feedback about my research proposal. Dr Gill Houston from UKCGE chaired our session and said we should come back to present the results of my research in 2020. I’m so glad my supervisor provided me with the opportunity to practice presenting and to promote my own research. I’ve had the chance to exchange ideas and build relationships with some great contacts.
17.21
I’m so glad I took the time out of studying to attend the conference, the experience was invaluable. It’s reassuring to know as a researcher that you are working in an exciting, up-and-coming topic area, but also as a doctoral student to hear the collaborative efforts of the HEI sector, policy makers and researchers to promote wellbeing and encourage a positive postgraduate research experience.
Sexual harassment in academia was the serious and, as our eminent keynote speakers demonstrated, woefully neglected subject of the 3rdAnnual Women’s Academic Network (WAN) Symposium on the 29thof May, 2019.
Eva Tutchell, an expert education adviser working with all age groups on gender issues, and John Edmonds, former General Secretary of the GMB trade union and Visiting Fellow of Kings College London and a Visiting Professor at Durham University Business School, presented their current research. Their study is an incisive and eye-opening account of the scale of sexual harassment among both staff and students in higher education. In particular they highlighted the difficulties faced by victims and survivors when they try to seek help and report incidents, especially the failure of universities to develop clear and accessible policies and procedures until engulfed by a sexual abuse scandal. We very much look forward to the publication of their book later this year: Unsafe Spaces: Ending sexual abuse in Universities.
WAN co-founder Heather Savigny, a Professor at De Montfort University, identified the pernicious ways in which the online abuse of female academics has the effect of discriminating against them in relation to REF and Impact outcomes. This on-line abuse can discouraged women academics from maintaining the high profile and public engagement which can form the core criteria of dissemination, reach and impact. Heather’s research indicates that on-line abuse is a form of ‘cultural sexism’ that can serve to ‘silence’ of women. She wryly noted that her own experiences of on-line abuse while patently demonstrating ‘impact’ were not counted as such.
Finally Peter Hills, Head of the Psychology Department at BU, reviewed his research with undergraduates which worryingly revealed the gulf in their judgement of consent in relation to a variety of scenarios from consensual sex to sexual harassment and abuse. Dr. Hills’ aim is to find more effective ways of communicating the important message that only a verbally expressed ‘yes’ counts as consent.
The talks generated much lively discussion and ideas for future research. The topic of sexual harassment in academia will be followed up in forthcoming WAN events.
If you would like to join WAN please contact Frances, Lorraine, Jayne or Sara:
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. The Funding Development Team Officers can assist you with this, if required.
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:
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.
Have you noticed the pink box on the BU Research Blog homepage?
By clicking on this box, on the left of the Research Blog home page just under the text ‘Funding Opportunities‘, you access a Research Professional real-time search of the calls announced by the Major UK Funders. Use this feature to stay up to date with funding calls. Please note that you will have to be on campus or connecting to your desktop via our VPN to fully access this service.
BU staff can login below:
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UK Research and Innovation brings together the seven Research Councils, Innovate UK and Research England. We work to ensure the UK maintains its world-leading position in research and innovation.
EPSRC as part of UK Research and Innovation is using Green Park to recruit two additional posts, looking for individuals who are either active researchers in a fundamental area of EPSRC‘s remit or who are a user of EPSRC research from an industrial or government perspective. If you have relevant expertise and experience Green Park would like to hear from you. To view the candidate brief and how to apply please visit the Green Park council recruitment page.
Every BU academic has a 
By clicking on this box, on the left of the Research Blog home page just under the text ‘Funding Opportunities‘, you access a 
Free event on Solutions to Inequalities in Dementia Diagnosis and Care
BU attendance at third annual GCPHR meeting in June
Interactive Tangible and Intangible Heritage Applications – BU student work featured in new book chapter
Second NIHR MIHERC meeting in Bournemouth this week
MSCA Postdoctoral Fellowships 2025 Call
ERC Advanced Grant 2025 Webinar
Horizon Europe Work Programme 2025 Published
Horizon Europe 2025 Work Programme pre-Published
Update on UKRO services
European research project exploring use of ‘virtual twins’ to better manage metabolic associated fatty liver disease