Congratulations to Denyse King, who is currently attending the Future Technologies Conference, FTC 2018; Vancouver, BC; Canada (15-16 November). Her conference paper ‘NoObesity apps – From approach to finished app’ has been published in Advances in Intelligent Systems and Computing[1]. Denyse is part of the Centre for Midwifery, Maternal & Perinatal Health (CMMHP) where she is a Lecturer (Academic) in Midwifery based at BU’s campus in Portsmouth ,
Obesity is still a growing public health problem in the UK and many healthcare workers find it challenging to have a discussion with service users about this sensitive topic. They also feel they are not competent to provide the relevant heath advice and are seeking easily accessible, evidence-based, mobile health learning (mHealth). mHealth applications (apps) such as the Professional NoObesity and Family NoObesity (due for release late 2018), have been designed to: support families with making sustainable positive behaviour changes to their health and well-being, ease pressure on practitioners’ overweight and obesity care related workloads, as well as to support the education of professionals, students and service users. This paper describes the process of designing the apps from the inception of the idea, through the stages of research, app builds and testing. The processes of collaborative working to design and develop the apps to meet the needs of both service users and health professionals will also be reflected upon. Childhood obesity is an complex problem and whilst it is recognised that the NoObesity apps cannot singlehandedly resolve this health crisis, it is proposed that they can support families to identify and reduce the barriers that prevent them from living healthier, happier lives.
Reference:
King D., Rahman E., Potter A., van Teijlingen E. (2019) NoObesity Apps – From Approach to Finished App. In: Arai K., Bhatia R., Kapoor S. (eds) Proceedings of the Future Technologies Conference (FTC) 2018. FTC 2018. Advances in Intelligent Systems and Computing, vol 881. Springer, Cham, pp. 1145-1157.
The Prestigious Funders scheme was launched in August 2017, revised in February 2018 and October 2018. The revised policy document can be found here or on the BU staff intranet under ‘policy/ research/ pre-award’.
The main changes are as follows:
There is no longer a requirement for applicants to make a case for the BU costs of funding a PGR. If your application meets the eligibility criteria (based on value) then you will be advised by the RKEO Funding Development Officer when they receive the completed intention to bid form.
The BU income value threshold for ECRs applying to external prestigious research funders has been revised to £100k (before full economic costing (fEC)) for both pathways: PGR studentships and Postdoctoral research staff.
The value threshold for all those adding a BU funded PGR student when applying to an external prestigious research funder has been revised to £100k (before fEC).
Applications to other funders (from those listed in the scheme document) are now eligible to add a BU funded PGR to applications when costed at BU income over £350K (before fEC) or £100k (before fEC) for ECRS for the PGR studentship pathway only.
The value threshold for the postdoctoral research staff pathway 2 remains at £350k but has been revised to £100k for ECRs (both before fEC). Only funders listed in the scheme document are considered for this pathway.
Clarification has been given that a postdoctoral researcher will normally be included within an application at 1FTE post for the duration of the project (applicants can choose to reduce this so that it is appropriate to their research plan).
No retrospective requests will be considered (i.e. any applications submitted before 25 October 2018 who now meet the new eligibility criteria will not be able to apply). The scheme continues to be open for applications where BU lead and where we are a Co-Investigator to another institution, as long as the eligibility requirements are met.
Please read the full scheme document for clarification of the above. You will need time to build this into your application and so please speak with your RKEO Funding Development Officer as soon as you think you might meet the eligibility criteria for either pathway.
Are you currently in the process of designing, setting up or planning your research study, and would like to extend your project into the NHS?
Yes? Then you may want to take advantage of this training opportunity.
Oliver Hopper (Research & Development Coordinator, Royal Bournemouth and Christchurch Hospital) and Suzy Wignall (Clinical Governance Advisor, R&KEO) will be running a training session on how to use, and complete your own application within the IRAS system.
IRAS (Integrated Research Application System) is the system used to gain approvals from the NHS Research Ethics Committee and Health Research Authority, before rolling out your study to NHS Trusts. To support this, the session will include the background to research ethics and the approvals required for NHS research.
The session will also be interactive, and so as participants, you will have the opportunity to go through the form itself and complete the sections, with guidance on what the reviewers are expecting to see in your answers, and tips on how to best use the system.
The training will take place in Studland House – Lansdowne Campus, room 102 on Wednesday 5th December, at 09:30am – 12:30pm.
Get in touch with Research Ethics if you would like to register your interest and book a place.
Three weeks ago I had a pleasure and amazing opportunity to attend and engage with fantastic research training – the 4th European University Association (EUA) Funding Forum. The forum took place in one BU’s current and established Erasmus+ links – the Universitat Ramon Llull (Barcelona, Spain).
The 4th EUA Funding Forum, titled ‘Frameworks that empower, universities that deliver’ has primarily focused on macro-level changes that affect models and processes that EU universities traditionally apply.
The opening talk by Joseph Garrell I Guiu, Rector of Ramon Llull University (Spain); Jose Manuel Pingarron Carrazon, Secretary General of Universities (Spanish Ministry of Science, Innovation and Universities) and Rolf Tarrach, President of the European University Association, highlighted the roles of Higher Education Institutions (HEIs) in a deeper engagement with social issues. This naturally can be done via education. However, research and business engagement would require different models of thinking in relation to funding. Investments should be attracted from elsewhere and with the purpose of HEIs being at forefront of sustainable living. BU with its new BU2025 vision and strategic plan puts a large emphasis on responsibility. However, to deliver an evidence-based impact would require reconsideration of processes and in many cases steeping out of the HE comfort zone and take risk by implementing different but importantly efficiency-based approaches.
Following the opening talk, Thomas Estermann, Director, Governance, Funding and Public Policy Development at EUA has presented astonishing statistics on how various HEIs within the EU operate in terms of attracting investment and students. Photo below show extract from the slides, presented by Thomas Estermann.
4th EUA Forum, Thomas Estermann
Thomas Estermann stated that the UK has a 20% decrease in attracting any sort of investment that supports HE sector. This is mainly driven by a lesser exposure to funding opportunities that the UK had access to but also nation-wide issues with decreasing student numbers. This left me wondering what can be done to minimise the gap.
Elvira Bolat, 4th EUA Forum
The event took place over two days, 18-19th October, and was an amazing opportunity to meet a frontline of EU HEIs’ leadership. Combination of plenary sessions and masterclasses offered the participants, not only an opportunity to network, but hear stories of ‘brave’ approaches to leading and managing HEIs and to learn about i.e. new types of partnerships within the HE context that can generate funding to support HEIs’ missions or importance of integrating business intelligence systems and management structures to inform HEIs’ processes.
One of my favourite talks was a panel formed by Mikulas Bek, Rector of Masaryk University (Czech Republic); Francisco Jose Mora Mas, Rector of Universitat Politecnica de Valencia (Spain) and Petra Wend, Vice-Chancellor of Queen Margaret University (United Kingdom).
The 4th Funding Forum Plenary Panel I
The panel shared personal professional stories of their HEIs’ journeys in tackling financial uncertainty. It was quite refreshing to see how HEIs are moving, although I must admit this is a slow follow-up on some comprehensive business models, towards evidence-based decision-making via data mining and data-based intelligence. It is uplifting for me to witness the shift in HE leadership mindset, as my and Dr Gelareh Roushan’s PhD student, Claudia Vanzellotti, is exploring how for instance social media intelligence is embedded into small and medium sized enterprises’ (SMEs) strategic decision-making. In era of Big Data HEIs ought to observe trends around own sector but also other related and unrelated contexts which will spark ideas for efficient processes and funding models that will generate impact. Listening to students and open consented online conversations is also something educators should be doing in order to adapt pedagogical models and deliver effective and exciting education experiences.
Overall, attending the 4th Funding Forum had a number of immediate benefits for me:
Expansion of networks with various organisations (i.e. HEIs, governments, other public organisations and businesses);
A better understanding of the HE environment, challenges and future areas of consideration, critical for the UK HEIs operating in post-Brexit context;
Knowledge around the latest thinking in the debate around sources of funding for HEIs – the programme covered sessions around leadership, evaluation of economic impact of research activities, on how to develop income-generating partnerships, on designing institutional efficiency strategy, university management and overview of next generation of EU funding;
Feeding lessons learned on HE strategic directions into design of new UG and PG programmes across the Business School departments as well as within global engagement models we ought to consider.
Of course following BU’s Fusion I would like to reflect on some teaching and pedagogical lessons I gained from attending the 4th Funding Forum. In particular, I learnt about new TEL tool, Sli.do, that is alternative to Mentimeter and Kahoot and allows engaging large groups of students via Q&A feeders or group discussions to stimulate a better understanding and critical thinking around the content. I already experimented with the Sli.do during several talks in October/November 2018 period and found it easy to use, from both facilitator and audience perspectives. In addition I am planning to use the interviewing / conversational approach to Panel session discussions during the conference that Dr Kaouther Kooli, Dr Julie Robson and I are co-organising with the University of Manouba in Tunis this December.
Last but not least the training, funded by Erasmus+, enabled me to meet and network with the host institution’s colleagues. BU’s Business School has a long lasting and successful relationships in terms of staff and student mobility with the Universitat Ramon Llull (URL). URL is located in fantastic location, Barcelona, and has amazing facilities which are combined by modern architecture and historical buildings.
Quite impressed by Ramon Llull University campus. It is our Business School’s @BUAACSB1 current Erasmus partner so I recommend all students to consider coming and spending a semester abroad here @GlobalBUpic.twitter.com/K6zcm7qY9G
— Dr Elvira Bolat👩🏻💻👩🏻🏫🤳🏻💡🏃🏼♀️🏖 (@Elvira_MLady) October 18, 2018
URL did truly amazing job with hosting the 4th Funding Forum, showcasing its facilities, professionalism of staff and students and warm hospitality of Catalonian capital.
Overall it has been an amazing experience, which will feed into many more exciting professional projects for me personally but also for the Department of Marketing, the Business School and BU. To conclude this post, I would like to leave you with this slide:
The 4th EUA Funding Forum: Presentation by Thomas Estermann
To survive, HEIs need to experiment, expand their external networks and defend their autonomy.
If you wish to experience something new, learn, network and enhance your knowledge in areas of research and/or education, and/or professional practice, I would highly recommend applying for the Erasmus+ Staff Mobility Training funding.
Elvira Bolat, Principal Academic in Marketing (The Business School), e-mail:ebolat@bournemouth.ac.uk
Congratulations to Dr. Miguel Moital, Principal Academic in the Department of Events & Leisure, who has just published a co-created paper in Sport Management Review, an Elsevier journal which boasts an impact factor of 3.5 and an acceptance rate of 17%. The paper is co-authored with two BA (Hons) Events Management graduates – Amy Bain and Harriet Thomas – who did their dissertation on prestigious sports events.
The paper explores the range of cognitive, affective, and behavioural outcomes of consuming prestigious sports event experiences. Amy and Harriet underpinned their dissertations on the Prestige Motivation Model, a model Miguel co-developed in 2009. Miguel covers the model in his Consumer Experience & Behaviour unit (Level 5) and in their dissertation both students went on to apply the model to sports events. Amy and Harriet did a very similar study with a difference: Amy focused on a variety of prestigious sports events, while Harriet focused on VIP sport event experiences. The two studies were combined to produce the now published paper. The full paper can be found here.
Commenting on the experience Amy said
“I’m delighted that my research has been published. I went to a great deal of effort to ensure that the subject of my dissertation was not only interesting and current, but a true and accurate reflection of the impact of prestige as a motivation to attend events. For me personally the most exciting part about the process was seeing the paper evolve in a way that it clearly demonstrates the potential of prestige to generate important outcomes for the attendee and the event organiser.”
Harriet was also delighted to have co-authored the paper:
“I’m so proud to see the research I conducted for my dissertation now included within the Sports Management Review journal- it’s something I never expected! I was really interested in the previous work carried out by Miguel on Prestige Motivation in Tourism and this acted as a starting point when deciding on my dissertation topic. The process was certainly a challenging one, and I had to edit, re-word and revisit my work many times throughout, so persistence was definitely key! The project soon started to come together and it’s so rewarding now to see I’ve contributed to an article within a top academic journal.”
Miguel said:
I am thrilled to see this paper published in a high quality journal, which gives credit to the quality of the work carried out by Amy and Harriet. I have covered prestige motivation in my consumer experience & behaviour unit since 2009, but the research on which this paper is based has greatly enhanced the content of the lecture, fulfilling an important gap in the module while at the same time inspiring other students to carry out further research on the topic. I am a strong believer in students-as-researchers and this paper in a top sport management journal is a great way of celebrating my 10th journal article co-created with BU undergraduate and post graduate students.
This paper is part of a long tradition within the Department of Events & Leisure involving the co-creation of papers based on student dissertations. In the past five years students and staff of the Department have published co-created papers in Event Management (Cognizant), the International Journal of Event & Festival Management (Emerald), the Journal of Fashion Marketing & Management (Emerald), Young Consumers (Emerald), and the Journal of Hospitality & Tourism Insights (Emerald). These publications are a testimonial of the high quality research carried out by events and leisure graduates.
Dr John Oliver (FMC) requires a research assistant to work on a British Academy funded project, starting in early January.
The project involves a longitudinal analysis of Corporate Annual Reports using the qualitative software package NVivo. The first stage of the research will involve up to 150 hours of work paid at Grade 6. The successful applicant will be an experienced NVivo user and proficient in English Language.
For further details or an informal chat, please contact Dr John Oliver (FMC) via the following email address (joliver@bournemouth.ac.uk)
Two major reports out this week covering value for money and international students plus all the excitement and intense debate from Wonkfest. Enjoy!
Value for Money in HE
The Education Select Committee have published their inquiry report on Value for Money in Higher Education. The committee calls on both universities and the Government to ensure better outcomes for students, expand degree apprenticeships, make university more accessible to a more diverse range of students and tackle Vice-Chancellor pay. Here are the key recommendations taken from the report: (more…)
The next lecture in Bournemouth University’s popular inaugural lecture series will take audiences on a tour through the history of animation to its modern day uses. Computer animation merges an appealing form of art with innovations in computing technologies, creating visual pieces and stories beyond our day-to-day experiences and inspiring generations.
In this inaugural lecture, Professor Jian Chang, Professor of Computer Animation at Bournemouth University will give an introduction of the history of computer animation and related technologies, illustrating how this has developed to the present. He will then look at what the future holds and the ways in which technology is evolving and changing our definition, production and consumption of computer animation.
“Animation is a fascinating subject.” explains Professor Chang, “Since its merger with computer technology, we have seen very rapid advances in terms of what animators are able to produce. Moving forwards another step; we’re now seeing emerging technologies applying animation to virtual reality and augmented reality, which have applications in entertainment, education, manufacturing and healthcare.”
“As well as exploring the story of animation, I’ll be drawing on my own research expertise which focuses on physically based modelling, virtual reality and novel uses of human computer interaction. Most recently this has translated into an innovative project with partners across Europe exploring the uses of digital and augmented reality at important heritage sites. It’s an exciting project, which has the potential to change the way we experience history and culture.”
Professor Chang is part of BU’s National Centre for Computer Animation which has been a pioneering force in the establishment of computer animation as a discipline for 30 years. Through its teaching and research, NCCA blends together technical developments in computer animation with artistic principles and practice. Students have gone on to work on internationally renowned films such as Gravity, Interstellar and Ex-Machina.
Professor Chang’s lecture will take place at 7pm, 27 November on Talbot Campus. Doors will be open from 6:30pm. Free tickets can be booked here.
Firstly, we would like to take the opportunity to say thank you to all of the researchers who took the time to submit their abstracts for next month’s Second Annual FMC Postgraduate Researcher conference. The conference committee was particularly delighted to see the exceptional quality and diversity in submissions this year, and only further underlines the level of research being undertaken here in the Faculty of Media and Communication. We will respond to all applicants by Friday 9th November (today).
Conference Keynote Speaker – Dr Sam Goodman
In addition to this year’s fantastic collection of papers, we would like to say a massive thank ‘brew’ and warm welcome to our own Dr Sam Goodman, Senior Lecturer in English & Communication here in the Faculty, who will be delivering the keynote to close our conference:
Critical Drinking: Approaches to Interdisciplinary research practice through British Beer Culture (details below)
In addition to Sam’s talk, there will be a complimentary optional beer tasting, comprising of three tasters of modern British Beers that have been chosen to pair thematically with the subjects under discussion. So come along and ease the ‘ale-ments’ of researching with this fantastic closing event.
Although the tasting is free of charge to all FMC staff and postgraduates, we would kindly ask you to register as early possible, as places are limited, and it would be ‘un-beer-able’ if you were to miss out!
Registration
Registration is now open to all FMC staff and postgraduates, and can be accessed via the Conference’s Event Bright Page here:
Through this link you will find registration for both the conference and the additional optional beer tasting. All of our conference speakers are required to register, so if your abstract is successful we still ask you to register (link above). If you have any questions or queries regarding registration or the tasting please do not hesitate to email Alex: aalberda@bournemouth.ac.uk.
With a larger and more diverse line-up of papers, talks, and events than ever before, we can’t wait to see all of you at this year’s Second Annual FMC Postgraduate Researcher conference on the 5th December.
The TACIT Trial has reached some important milestones recently.
We closed the study to recruitment in July and we completed our last Tai Chi class earlier this month. Data collection will come to an end later this month with data cleansing, analysis, and write-up to follow. We’ll then expect to know the main results by around March 2019.
In the meantime, those interested to find out more about the study can read some papers published from the study:
[1] The findings from the pilot intervention phase, led by BU PhD student Yolanda Barrado-Martín:
Barrado-Martín, Y., Heward, M., Polman, R., & Nyman, S. R. (2018). Acceptability of a dyadic Tai Chi intervention for older people living with dementia and their informal carers. Journal of Aging and Physical Activity, published online 30 August, DOI: 10.1123/japa.2017-0267.
[2] The trial protocol, led by chief investigator Samuel Nyman:
Nyman, S. R., Hayward, C., Ingram, W., Thomas, P., Thomas, S., Vassallo, M., Raftery, J., Allen, H., & Barrado-Martín, Y. (2018). A randomised controlled trial comparing the effectiveness of Tai Chi alongside usual care with usual care alone on the postural balance of community-dwelling people with dementia: Protocol for The TACIT Trial (TAi ChI for people with dementia). BMC Geriatrics, 18, e263. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1186/s12877-018-0935-8.
On Wednesday 17th October special guest Dr Owen Green (University of Huddersfield) joined us for a concert of multi-channel, surround-sound music in the Allsebrook Lecture Theatre. Owen diffused a range of fixed-media musical work from the University of Huddersfield during the first half, beginning with Dr Alex Harker’s guitar-derived Fractures, then on to Dr Elena Hidalgo’s Origen, and concluding with Professor Pierre Alexandre Tremblay’s mesmerising asinglewordisneverenough1.
After a short interval we heard two works featuring performances from Owen – Neither the Time nor the Energy (2015, revised 2018, live, for cardboard and truculent electronics), and an improvised duo featuring bowed cardboard box (Owen Green) and cello (Laura Reid). It was a rich and varied programme, and our thanks go to Owen Green for his inspiring performance and excellent musical selections. Once again, student volunteers from our BSc Music & Sound Production Technology provided crucial help rigging the loudspeaker system. Thanks to all who attended!
Colleagues with an interest in the sustainability of the seas may be interested in this summary of an Environmental Audit Committee Sustainable Seas session.
Click this link to read the summary. The summary has been provided by Dods political monitoring consultants and is only available to BU staff and student readers.
Alternatively you can view the session on Parliament TV here.
Expressions of interest are invited for the Chairs and Deputy Chairs of the Social Science and Humanities Ethics Panel and the Science, Technology and Health Ethics Panel. These prestigious and honorary roles work across the university to champion the highest ethical standards in research undertaken by staff and students.
This document provides further information about the roles and the application process.
Expressions of interest, consisting of a CV and brief statement outlining suitability for the chair/deputy chair role, should be submitted to RKEO (researchethics@bournemouth.ac.uk) by 5pm on Wednesday 14 November 2018 (please note the deadline has been extended).
For an informal discussion about the roles please contact one of the current Chairs:
Dr Sean Beer, Chair of the Social Science and Humanities Ethics Panel
Prof Holger Schutkowski, Chair of the Science, Technology and Health Ethics Panel
If you have any questions regarding the process, please email Sarah Bell/Suzy Wignall using the researchethics@bournemouth.ac.uk email address.
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Congratulations to Denyse King, who is currently attending the Future Technologies Conference, FTC 2018; Vancouver, BC; Canada (15-16 November). Her conference paper ‘NoObesity apps – From approach to finished app’ has been published in Advances in Intelligent Systems and Computing [1]. Denyse is part of the Centre for Midwifery, Maternal & Perinatal Health (CMMHP) where she is a Lecturer (Academic) in Midwifery based at BU’s campus in Portsmouth ,
The Prestigious Funders scheme was launched in August 2017, revised in February 2018 and October 2018. The revised policy document can be found 
Dr. Ashraf cited on ‘Modest Fashion’ in The Guardian
NIHR-funded research launches website
Academics write for newspaper in Nepal
New paper published on disability in women & girls
Global Consortium for Public Health Research 2025
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