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Why should we care about your research?: Think impact

Research impact is a relatively new concept introduced by the UK Research Council in 2009. In fewer than 10 years, it has rapidly gained momentum such that it has now become an integral part of the Research Excellence Framework (REF) 2021 accounting for 25% of the total score (increased by 5% from the REF 2014). For research grant proposals in the UK and in many other countries, applicants need to clearly demonstrate their ‘impact plan’ (i.e. who is going to benefit and how?) and present ‘pathways to impact’ activities (i.e. what are you doing to increase the chance of your research making a difference?). Prof. Mark Reed on his website (www.fasttractimpact.com) suggests that reviewers of grant applications are now looking for costing of around 5% to 10% of the total budget in ‘pathways to impact’ activities.

During a one-day impact workshop on August this year Prof. Reed said that he thinks one word that best represents ‘research impact’ is ‘benefit’. Researchers use ‘public money’ which could otherwise be used in other important areas, so it shouldn’t be surprising if funders or the public ask ‘what benefit (or effect or change) is likely to come from your research?’ Thus, research should be relevant to the pressing need of the people and render benefit to the individuals or society, beyond academia.

Although impact of the research may not be predicted at the very outset and could be affected by external factors, it is now commonly agreed by the expert scientific community and research funders that well-planned impact activities with pre-determined impact goal increase the likelihood of achieving research impact. Research impact is relevant not only to established researchers but also to research students. Postgraduate research students could develop impact plans and pathways to impact activities which are feasible in a given time and available resources. Pathways to impact activities may include writing a research blog, newspaper articles, building a network with key people or organisations via social media (e.g. Twitter, LinkedIn). It will help them to ‘stand out’ from the crowd and to become more competitive when looking for jobs.

Planning for research impact and thinking about ways in which to enhance the impact will help give an answer to the question ‘why should care about your work?’

These references will help to understand research impact in depth:

Reed, M.S. (2018) The Research Impact Handbook, 2nd Edition, Fast Track Impact.

www.fasttrackimpact.com

www.stephenckemp.co.uk

 

Dr. Nirmal Aryal

Postdoctoral Researcher (Impact)

Faculty of Health and Social Sciences

 

Paper from Creative Technology Department Accepted in Premier Conference

Congratulations! Dr Feng Tian, from Creative Technology Department (SciTech), has got a paper accepted by the Thirty-Third AAAI Conference on Artificial Intelligence (AAAI-19). It saw a record number of over 7,700 submissions this year. Of those, 7,095 were reviewed, and only were 1,150 papers accepted, yielding an acceptance rate of 16.2%.

The paper, “Orderly Subspace Clustering”, is a joint publication with Feng’s PhD student, Jing Wang, who graduated from Creative Technology in 2017. Congratulations to Jing as well!

BU Humanising Practice SIG meeting

We are a group of academics and practitioners who have an interest in what makes us Feel Human and how this is linked to Health, Wellbeing, Dignity and Compassion. As part of the Centre for Qualitative Research CQR we use Lifeworld approaches, embodied knowing and subjective experience as the basis for our understanding. For more information please click here

At meetings we discuss issues following two presentations, and share our on-going work into humanising practice in education, practice and research.

Our next meeting is

On 6th December 2018, From 2pm to 4.30 pm, 

At Room B225 Bournemouth House Bournemouth University, Lansdowne Campus, (BH1 3LH)

We have two great presentations:

  • Humanising higher education by practicing with an embodied relational understanding. Dr Camila Devis-Rozental, Senior Lecturer, OVC, BU
  • Humanising education through digital stories: the human side of technology Dr Sue Baron Lecturer in Adult Nursing FHSS BU

All staff, students and external visitors are welcome

If you would like directions to the venue, have any queries OR If you are not already a member of the Humanising SIG e-mail list and would like to be informed of future events, please contact Caroline Ellis-Hill at cehill@bournemouth.ac.uk

Health Research Survey – have your say

Knowledge Exchange, NHS

Do you want to have a say in deciding priorities for health research? 

Have your say and rank priorities for research to help make care safer for adults with complex health needs. The list of priority areas in this survey was identified by patients, carers, the public and healthcare staff who filled out the first survey earlier this year. The survey is open to those not currently doing healthcare research.

The survey can be accessed here. Deadline: 12 November 2018

The NIHR Imperial Patient Safety Translational Research Centre, who are running this survey with the James Lind Alliance, will host a workshop on 17th December (London) with the results of this survey to come to a consensus for the top 10 areas for research. The results will be widely publicised to encourage research funding bodies and research teams to address these questions. It will also do research in some of these areas itself.

Dorset physio shares first experience as Principal Investigator on NIHR funded study

NHS

A recent article published on the Wessex Clinical Research Network website explores the experience of a local physiotherapist, based at Dorset County Hospital (DCH), who became the Principal Investigator for a clinical research study. Having undertaken the role for the first time, the article contains his experience of performing the duty and how this was balanced with his pre-existing clinical tasks and responsibilities.

The CORKA study investigates rehabilitation for patients that have undergone a knee arthoplasty and was the first collaborative study between DCH and Dorset Healthcare. To date the study has recruited over 300 participants.

Remember that support is on offer at BU if you are thinking of introducing your research ideas into the NHS – email the Research Ethics mailbox, and take a look at the Clinical Governance blog.

Good Clinical Practice refresher – Monday 12th November

NHS, Research Ethics, Training

Are you currently undertaking research within the NHS and your Good Clinical Practice (GCP) training is due to expire? Or has it expired recently?

GCP certification lasts for two years, so if your training is due to expire, has expired, or you want to validate your learning, then take advantage of the upcoming refresher half day session, taking place at Poole Hospital on Monday 12th November, 9am – 12:30pm.

Spaces are still remaining, so if you’d like to enrol, get in touch with Research Ethics or the Wessex Clinical Research Network.

PGR Live Exhibition – Final Day to Apply

PG research

The Postgraduate Research Live Exhibition is your opportunity to showcase your research this academic year with the Doctoral College.

Calling all PGRs! Exhibit your research or research journey at this PGR Live Exhibition on Wednesday 5 December, followed by a free festive social for PGRs and Supervisors.

This is your opportunity to display your research to all of BU in creative and innovative ways during this open live exhibition.

Follow this link for full details on how to submit, joint submissions are accepted.

Deadline: 09,00, Wednesday 7 November 2018

Please contact Natalie Stewart if you have any questions.

Please contact your student representatives about faculty run PGR conferences which may be scheduled for this academic year.

Important update regarding human DNA from acellular materials

Guidance, Research Ethics

The revised Governance Arrangement for Research Ethics Committees document was released recently.

Amongst updates to incorporate legal, policy and operational developments, following a public consultation by the Human Tissue Authority, research involving human DNA extracted from acellular material is now included in the document, as requiring NHS Research Ethics Committee review.

If you are collecting ‘relevant materials‘ and rendering them acellular, then storage of the samples does not require a HTA license – however, a license is required for distribution of the samples, or if you are extracting DNA from these materials.

Please get in touch if you have any queries or wish to discuss the samples being collected/stored at BU.

seca mBCA Body Composition Demonstration – 4th December, 2pm, RLH

Industry collaboration, NHS

BUCRU will be hosting a demonstration by Seca UK who will be showing BIA body composition analysers.  Tuesday 4th December at 2pm, R508, Royal London House. The standing mBCA 515 and portable mBCA 525 are multi-frequency, and offer medically precise measurements of fat mass, fat free mass, visceral fat in litres, hydration status, energy, fat-mass to muscle-mass ratio, segmental skeletal muscle mass, BIVA Chart, phase angle, and cardiometabolic risk, with results presented in just 17 seconds in a motivational and visually appealing format.  seca mBCA BIA products are clinically validated against the “gold standard” for body composition – MRI, ADP, DEXA, NaBr, D20.

 

The demonstration will last approx. 45-60 minutes, which will be sufficient time to view the demonstration and analyse the results and plenty of time for questions/discussions.

 

Please email BUCRU to advise if you plan to attend.

 

Supporting literature & validation papers for the mBCA 515 available upon request.

UKRI GDPR and Research – An Overview for Researchers

Guidance

It is important that researchers understand what the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) means for them and the personal data that is processed during their research. Compiled with the support of the Information Commissioner’s Office, the UKRI have provided a GDPR overview for researchers, which sets out guidance and signposts to further sources of information.

Failing to publish data from clinical trials presents risk to human health

NHS, open access, Publishing, Research Ethics, Research Integritiy

A recent inquiry into research integrity was made earlier this year by the Science and Technology Committee, which revealed that nearly half of clinical trials fail to publish their results.

This lack of publishing has been deemed a risk to human health and a contributory factor in research wastage.

The article gives examples of a number of studies that are yet to be published, and how this activity ‘threaten(s) research integrity, and in some cases, endanger(s) human life’. The full article can be found here.

The University has administrative access to the ClinicalTrials.gov system – get in touch with us  if you are conducting clinical research, to ensure that you have access.

CQR Lunchtime Go Create! Seminar this Wed at 1pm RLH 409

PG research

Always engaging, the Centre for Qualitative Research’s Lunchtime Seminar Go Create! Series continues with:

Jen Leamon presenting

“Creating and sharing stories:

Students’ creation of digital stories in undergrad midwifery education”

Wednesday, 7 Nov

1-2 pm

Royal London House 409

(note change in location)

The seminars are always informal, interactive and afford lots of time for audience discussion!

HE policy update for the w/e 2nd November 2018

Funding opportunities, international, NHS, Student Engagement

The Budget

As previously trailed in the media the Autumn Budget was focused on demonstrating the end of austerity. There wasn’t much in the way of HE announcements, however paperwork released with the budget confirms that the Government intends to continue to freeze the maximum tuition fees at the current £9,250 level (UUK report this means £200 million less funding for the sector by 2023-24). Previously announced increases to research and development funding (£1.6 billion more) were reiterated:

  • £1.1 billion through the Industrial Strategy Challenge Fund
  • £120 million through Strength in Places fund
  • £150 million for research fellowship schemes
  • Funding for 10 university enterprise zones, and for catapult centres

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