On the 17.05.24 Tilia Lenz, Senior Lecturer presented her research project ‘Reclaiming Resilience- voices from the frontline’ to the UCU Equality Research conference in Manchester. The hybrid conference was open to all and free to attend, attracting 250 delegates.
Resilience, Advocacy and Wellbeing- RAW is a CPD (Continues Professional Development) unit at Bournemouth University. In 2022 Tilia and Dr Rejoice Chipuriro facilitated an action research session (Susman and Evered 1978; Watkins et al. 2019) with 18 students to conceptualize and subsequently Reclaim Resilience! All participants were female and in leadership roles in Health and Social Care, seeking to learn more about RAW. The topic was important to them in practice, despite or because of the inequalities they were exposed to. This word cloud represents their physical and psychological symptoms of stress.
They reflected on their personal circumstances as woman with caring responsibilities and ‘of a certain age’- meaning 30s and 50s. Whilst the women were employed in England, half were of black or ethnic global majority and/or had an international background.
We concluded that those who are less likely to be discriminated against, due to gender, age, health, race and so on, do not find the topic of RAW relevant to them. In fact, it is those in positions of power who create the narrative that individuals are not ‘resilient enough’ and question performance as Galpin (2019) considers.
The themes we identified through the action research were clearly gendered, pointing out women’s health issues during the stages of menopause and the complexities for women with a migration or ethnic global majority background. It signified the inequality of gender and background of our participants within their perceived positions of power in their leadership roles. Tilia collaborated with the cartoonist Harry Venning to create a version of his well-known character Clare in the community, visualising the research findings.
The group challenged the politicisation of the term resilience through their reflective contributions, stories and shared experiences (Phillips and Bunda 2018) of prejudice due to gender, health and race.
Through Appreciative Inquiry (McArthur-Blair and Cockell 2018; Watkins et al. 2019; Arnold et al. 2022) and positive questioning about what could be, rather than focusing on the problem, the group was then empowered to consider actions as individuals and as leaders. They defined what RAW meant to them in their personal and professional lives, defining who practice in health and social care could be made safer through compassionate leadership and organisational cultures of kindness.
/ Full archive
TAKING PLACE TODAY! Research seminar on video game cloning and IP law
The Centre for Intellectual Property, Policy & Management (CIPPM) will host Dr. Yin Harn Lee – a specialist in videogames and copyright. The event promises to be a treat for anyone interested in videogames, copyright and new technologies.
It will take place as a lunch time seminar, so please bring your sandwich and come along!
The event is taking place today (28th May 2024) at 12 noon in F201 (Fusion, 201).
Dr. Lee is a Senior Lecturer in Law at the University of Bristol, and her research primarily focuses on copyright law and videogames, and she has written on issues such as videogame modding, game cloning and videogame preservation. Most recently, she co-authored a study for the World Intellectual Property Organization on copyright infringement in the videogame industry, and a study on IP and the Metaverse for the UK Intellectual Property Office. She is a co-editor of the Interactive Entertainment Law Review. She is also interested in copyright history and doctrine and private law remedies.
Please follow this link for an abstract of Dr Lee’s talk: https://microsites.bournemouth.ac.uk/cippm/2024/05/28/yin-harn-lee-the-game-cloning-conundrum/
New guide to Practice-Based Research published today!
Designing and Conducting Practice-Based Research Projects: A Practical Guide for Arts Student Researchers by Bournemouth University Associate Professor Lyle Skains is available from today.
The book is aimed primarily at upper undergraduate and Master’s students undertaking practice-based research in the arts, though it is also suitable for PhD candidates and researchers and supervisors new to practice-based research projects.
The discussion starts with definitions and a brief background to practice-related research in the arts and contextualization of practice-based methods within that frame. The bulk of the text is a step-by-step approach to designing, conducting, and writing-up practice-based research projects; each step is supplemented with examples of practice-related research, exercises for progressing methods design and evaluating research approach, and lists for further reading.
Designing and Conducting Practice-Based Research Projects has been requested and should soon be available through the Bournemouth University Library.
New Book published by BU academics on Building Communities of Practice in HE
This book edited by Dr Camila Devis-Rozental and Susanne Clarke explores how Communities of Practice can be an effective tool for supporting successful collaboration, whilst also creating the foundations for institutional change whilst championing a human-centred approach. The book was inspired by a project funded by The Organisational Development in Higher Education Network ODHE titled: Communities of Practice, Putting the heart back into Higher Education: reconnecting and learning from HE Communities of Practice to enable hybrid ways of working.
Supported by both practical case studies and current research, this transdisciplinary book examines CoPs through a variety of critical lenses encouraging readers to consider CoPs within their own institutions to enable teamwork, a sense of belonging and community building. The chapter’s authors suggest strategies that readers can implement to create their own effective communities of practice.
The book includes chapters on Humanising practice, Cultivating knowledge, Interdisciplinary collaboration, Breaking down silos, Enabling organisational change, co-production championing social justice, enabling transformation and more. You can find the book here
Interdisciplinary Computational and Clinical Approaches at the Edge of Brain Research
We cordially invite you to the 3rd Symposium of the BU Interdisciplinary Neuroscience Research Centre on Wednesday, the 12th of June 2024, from 9:30-13:00 at the Inspire Lecture Theatre, Fusion Building (1st floor).
The symposium is entitled: “Interdisciplinary Computational and Clinical Approaches at the Edge of Brain Research”.
This third symposium revolves around contrasting computational and translational methodologies from a cross-disciplinary standpoint, leveraging synergies between BU and our collaborators in other universities and at the NHS. It is an opportunity for informal discussions on grant proposals and to explore shared interests with our external guests.
The schedule is as follows:
9:00-9:15. Welcome and Coffee.
9:30. Keynote talk: Prof. Dr Miguel Maravall (School of Life Sciences, Sussex Neuroscience Centre of Excellence, Sussex University): “What is the function of sensory cortex in a world full of actions? From sensory maps to task-directed responses”. The speaker will be on the screen.
10.20-10:40. Coffee and Discussions.
10:40-11:40. Session I. Integrating Cognitive and Computational Neuroscience.
- Michal Gnacek (Emteq Labs, Brighton and Centre for Digital Entertainment, BU): “Affect Recognition in Virtual Reality using Physiological Signals and Machine Learning”. The speaker will be on the screen.
- Dr Matteo Toscani (Department of Psychology, BU): “Unsupervised learning of haptic material properties”.
- Dr Géza Gergely Ambrus (Department of Psychology, BU): “Investigating Face Perception Using Cross-Experiment Multivariate Pattern Analysis of Neural Time-Series Data”.
11.40 -12.00. Coffee and Discussions.
12.00-13:00. Session II. Interdisciplinary Clinical Approaches and Closing Remarks.
- Prof. Dr Jonathan Cole (University Hospital Dorset, NHS): “Perception and action; Observations from congenital and acquired deafferentation”.
- Prof. Dr Caroline Edmonds (Department of Psychological Sciences, University of East London): ”Real-life implications arise from co-occurring memory impairments in children with neonatal hypoxic-ischaemic encephalopathy”.
- Prof Dr Birgit Gurr (Community Brain Injury and Adult Neuropsychology Services Dorset at Dorset HealthCare University, NHS) and Dr Ellen Seiss (Department of Psychology, BU). “An initial evaluation of the Dynamic Information Processing Programme”.
If you have any queries, please do not hesitate to contact Ellen Seiss, eseiss@bournemouth.ac.uk or Emili Balaguer-Ballester, eb-ballester@bournemouth.ac.uk. Feel free to forward this information to any colleague or student who may be interested.
Thank you very much, and we are looking forward to seeing you there.
Kind regards,
Ellen and Emili, on behalf of all of us.
BU graduate’s paper read 600 times
Today ResearchGate informed us that the academic paper `Whose Shoes?` Can an educational board game engage Ugandan men in pregnancy and childbirth? published in 2018 by former Ph.D. student Dr. Alice Ladur has been read 600 times. The paper appeared in the Open Access journal BMC Pregnancy & Childbirth. Alice was based in the Centre for Midwifery and Women Health (CMWH) and supervised by professors Vanora Hundley and Edwin van Teijlingen.
Men can play a significant role in reducing maternal morbidity and mortality in low-income countries such as Uganda. Maternal health programmes are increasingly looking for innovative interventions to engage men to help improve health outcomes for pregnant women. Educational board games offer a unique approach to present health information where learning is reinforced through group discussions supporting peer-to-peer interactions. Alice conducted interviews with men from Uganda currently living in the UK on their views of an educational board game. Men were asked their perceptions on whether a board game was relevant as a health promotional tool in maternal health prior to implementation in Uganda.
The results of the pilot study were promising; participants reported the use of visual aids and messages were easy to understand and enhanced change in perspective. Men in this study were receptive on the use of board games as a health promotional tool and recommended its use in rural Uganda. The paper concluded that key messages from the focus group appeared to be that the board game is more than acceptable to fathers and that it needs to be adapted to the local context to make it suitable for men in rural Uganda
Prof. Edwin van Teijlingen
Reference:
- Ladur, A.N., van Teijlingen, E. & Hundley, V. `Whose Shoes?` Can an educational board game engage Ugandan men in pregnancy and childbirth?. BMC Pregnancy Childbirth 18, 81 (2018). https://doi.org/10.1186/s12884-018-1704-6
BU academic listed on Research.com
Research.com, a leading academic platform for researchers, has just released its 2024 Edition of the Ranking of Best Scientists in the field of Social Sciences and Humanities. BU is listed as 509th globally.Prof. Edwin van Teijlingen, in the Centre for Midwifery & Women’s Health (CMWH), is the BU social scientist listed in this year’s ranking. The full UK ranking is available here: research.com/scientists-rankings/social-sciences-and-humanities/gb and the full world ranking is available here: research.com/scientists-rankings/social-sciences-and-humanities
Congratulations to Social Workers Drs. Oliver & Harvey
Congratulations to Dr. Orlanda Harvey and Dr. Louise Oliver on the publication of their latest article ‘The use of poetry in form of haikus as a tool for critical reflection’ [1]. This latest academic publication has been published in Social Work Education The International Journal. This interesting article focuses on critical reflection is an integral part of social work education and practice, yet it is widely understood to be hard to learn, teach, and assess. The authors introduced the use of poetry in the form of haikus to three different qualifying social work student groups to trial a creative way of getting students to engage in critical reflection. Ninety-six students took part in the reflection activity and 23 of the students agreed to take part in the research element, which used a mixed-methods approach to explore the value of haikus in critical reflection. Following the thematic network analysis process, we identified one global theme: that haikus were a useful tool for developing critical reflection. There were three organizing themes identified: the need to create a safe learning environment to support engagement; that taking part provoked reactions; and the activity held important elements that aided the development of critical reflection.
Well done !
Prof. Edwin van Teijlingen
Faculty of Health & Social Sciences
Questioning AI
Today the Open Access journal Health Prospect published our paper ‘ChatGPT: Challenges to editors and examiners’ [1]. The past year saw an exponential growth in the use of machine learning using AI (artificial intelligence) and particularly Generative AI (GenAI) such as ChatGPT. The latter has seen a spectacular rise in the public debate and in the mass media. Those not involved in the development of AI were amazed by the capabilities of ChatGPT to produce text equal to the average human produced texts. There is no doubt that the adoption of AI is advancing rapidly.
To test the ability of ChatGPT in its free version, we posed simple questions about migrant workers in Nepal, a topic we have published about widely. After reading the short essay produced by ChatGPT on that question, we repeated the question whilst asking for references to be included. We were surprised by the quality of this very general piece of work. In many UK universities, including at Bournemouth University, there is a debate about students’ use of ChatGPT. We all recognise how difficult it is to distinguish between work produced by the average student and that produced by AI. There is a similar problem for editors and reviewers of academic journals. It really boils down to the question: ‘How can you be certain the submitted manuscript came from a human source?’ However, we feel the progress of AI is not all doom and gloom. The paper also outlines some of the key problems around AI and academic publishing, but also opportunities arising from the use of AI in this area.
The authors of this paper are based at Bournemouth University, the University of Strathclyde, and the University of Huddersfield.
Reference:
- Simkhada, B., van Teijlingen, A., Simkhada, P., & van Teijlingen, E. R. (2024). ChatGPT: Challenges to editors and examiners. Health Prospect, 23(1), 21–24. https://doi.org/10.3126/hprospect.v23i1.60819
Formulating Practice Research Methods in Bid writing
Formulating Practice Research Methods in Bid writing
In person event – 21st June 2024 – 11:00 – 13:00 – Create Lecture Theatre, Fusion building, Talbot campus.
This workshop is aimed at anyone trying to formulate funding proposals for grants that primarily follow a practice research method. It will look at how to formulate a practice research project, starting with the framing of the initial idea in relation to peers and relevant prior research/art, how to describe the methodology in a way that meets funding bodies requirements for transparency and rigour, and how to translate outputs into impact.
Attendees can be at any stage of a bid writing process, but should come with an idea that they want to work on, or past experiences that they can reflect on.
Book your place here under ‘Formulating Practice Research Methods in Bid writing – 21/06/2024’ in the drop-down menu.
Upcoming BU training – Creating your impact development plan – 7th June (online)
Effective planning is crucial for successfully achieving, measuring, and evidencing impact from research. Done well, it helps you identify all potential avenues and mechanisms for impact, prioritise the most important, and manage your time and resources efficiently.
This practical workshop provides the advice, templates and time to start putting together your own plan to achieve impact from your research. For researchers at all career stages and at all stages of the project lifecycle – from formulating research questions and preparing grant applications to developing a potential impact case study.
Book your place here under ‘Impact Essentials: Creating your Impact Development Plan – 07/06/2024’ in the drop-down menu
This session will be delivered over Teams by Adam Morris, Impact Advisor in RDS. It will not be recorded or delivered again this academic year.
BU Research Conference 2024: Powerful partnerships – book your place
Collaboration is at the heart of excellent research – whether it’s building relationships with international partners, co-creating research with communities, or working across disciplines to find fresh perspectives.
The BU Research Conference is back for 2024 and this year’s event will explore the power of partnerships, showcasing how working with others can enhance your research.
It will take place in the Fusion Building (Talbot Campus) on Wednesday 26th June, with a mix of speakers, panel sessions, and practical workshops.
The conference will run from 9.30am to 1.15pm, with refreshments included. It will be followed by a networking lunch to help start conversations and build new connections.
The keynote speaker for the conference will be Isabella Pereira, Head of the Institute for Community Studies – a research institute with people at its heart. Engaging with people across the UK, they work to influence societal change, bridging the gap between communities, evidence, and policymaking.
Following this will be the Building partnerships panel, with academics from across BU talking about their experiences of working with partners regionally, nationally, and internationally – as well as across different sectors and disciplines – and sharing their insights and advice on effective research collaboration.
We’ll also have a range of practical workshops, covering topics including working with business, building international partnerships, and public involvement in research.
The conference is open to all researchers and those involved in research across BU and other universities in Dorset.
HE policy update No 12: 20th May 2024
The year started fairly quiet and then it all took off. There is more to come on the international student story but the big news at the end of the week was the OfS financial sustainability report (which is linked of course, to the international student story). A report on skills and LLE suggests we need to get better at credit recognition (now where have we heard that before? Gavin Williamson wrote to the OfS about making it a priority in February 2021 but I don’t recall anything happening – there were other things going on at that point).
All change in Parliament
According to the Institute for Government, as of 9 May 2024, 104 MPs have announced that they will not stand again at the next general election
- 64 Conservative
- 19 Labour
- 9 SNP
- 8 Independent
- 2 Sinn Fein
- 1 Green
- 1 Plaid Cymru
Research misconduct
The UK Research Integrity Office has released a report about the barriers to investigating and reporting research misconduct.
There are three themes:
- the need for every actor involved to have clarity on the relevant procedures and processes;
- confidence that these procedures will be followed (and the relevant parties have the appropriate skills, resources and information to do so);
- and wider shifts in research culture which destigmatises research misconduct, promotes transparency, and ensures the task at hand – to uphold the research record – remains at the heart of investigating and reporting efforts.
The report makes four proposals:
- The adoption of standardised requirements and procedures detailing how allegations of research misconduct are investigated and reported
- Professional research misconduct investigation training for all sectors undertaking research
- A flagging system that promotes transparency, destigmatises allegations of research misconduct, and normalises early raising of concerns
- National infrastructure to collect and report on research misconduct cases annually
Education
Skills Commission report
The Policy Connect Skills Commission report is out. Perhaps not surprisingly, it calls for long term joined up thinking and associated funding. The most interesting recommendation for HE, apart from the strategic approach in the first two recommendations, which includes devolving spending for adult skills to regional authorities, is the last one, which is a working group on cross-provider credit recognition in HE to support modular and lifelong learning.
- Recommendation 1: The Government should develop a national skills strategy that is embedded within a wider industrial strategy. It should create a Skills and Workforce Council, a non-departmental public body at arm’s length from government, to oversee the delivery of the strategy’s goals.
- Recommendation 2: The Government should provide Mayoral Combined Authorities and other regional authorities with “no-strings-attached” funding settlements for adult skills and an enhanced set of powers to shape skills provision in their area.
- FE:
- Recommendation 3: Further Education colleges should receive multi-year funding settlements of 2+ years from the Education and Skills Funding Agency or, where applicable, their regional authority.
- Recommendation 4: The Department for Education should deliver a new Further Education Workforce Strategy.
- Recommendation 6: The Department for Education should extend the Pupil Premium Plus to looked after children and care leavers aged 16-19 in Further Education, building on the successful pilot programme.
- Apprenticeships
- Recommendation 5: The Government should enact a multi-pronged strategy to address the financial and educational barriers that 16-19-year-olds face when seeking to take up and complete an apprenticeship. The strategy to help young apprentices should involve:
- Encouraging and supporting all regional authorities to introduce free travel.
- The Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) exempting them from earnings-based reductions in Universal Credit and Child Benefit payments.
- Providing a VAT exemption for their equipment purchases.
- Providing them access to the maintenance loan system.
- The Department for Education developing an alternative to maths & English exit requirements.
- Recommendation 7: To increase investment in skills, all Apprenticeship Levy funding should be allocated to training and not be retained by the Treasury.
- Recommendation 8: The Government should reform the Apprenticeship Levy. Employers should have greater flexibility to use funds for a range of high-quality training. Part of the levy should be ringfenced to promote entry-level talent in the workforce.
- Recommendation 5: The Government should enact a multi-pronged strategy to address the financial and educational barriers that 16-19-year-olds face when seeking to take up and complete an apprenticeship. The strategy to help young apprentices should involve:
- Lifelong learning
- Recommendation 9: The Government should launch a new lifelong learning initiative that supports the “right to retrain”
- Recommendation 10: The Department for Education should develop the digital infrastructure to underpin life-long learning. Each learner should have access to a personalised digital environment including a skills account and passport
- Recommendation 11: The Higher Education Minister should lead a working group on cross-provider credit recognition within the higher education sector. The group should include senior figures from the sector and the Quality Assurance Agency (QAA)
Student complaints: OIA annual report
The next sections of this update include doom and gloom about financial sustainability and more worry about limits on international students, which would make the situation worse. However, in this context it is helpful to have a reminder about student experience. While it is a negative take, because only otherwise unresolved complaints that have exhausted university processes can be taken to the Office of the Independent Adjudicator, their annual report provides a snapshot of where the sector is at.
Summary: complaints are up, mostly driven by complaints by international students. Some stats are set out below. there is lots of useful advice on how to avoid these problems: mainly listening to students, applying processes properly and making sure that policies and communications are clear.
TEF analysis
The Office for Students have published another analysis of the TEF which focuses on strategic approaches to improvements. Findings summarised below. there’s a theme: it’s about impact.
Planning for and implementing success
- … The relationship between mission and values on one hand and the strategic steps taken to improve practices on the other is not always fully articulated. However, the importance of the specific context of each provider type is evident.
- Providers describe a range of operational frameworks employed to effect strategic change. These include frameworks for approaches to teaching, curriculum design and student assessments. It is not always made clear how wide the implementation of these frameworks is across undergraduate provision, and how they are evaluated and adjusted accordingly. In the best examples, frameworks helpfully illustrate changes to practice and their impact is evaluated with reference to internal and external data.
- Some providers have explicitly changed the scope and content of their educational provision during the TEF period, whereas for others there appeared to be more continuity. Where changes had been made, providers typically explained the reasons for them in relation to improved impact on students. Evaluation of that impact, where provided, was helpful.
- Providers all refer to a range of ways in which staff whose roles relate to student education, student experience and student outcomes are developed. Advance HE fellowships play an important role in structuring developmental provision, both for early career staff and with respect to continuing professional development. The relationship between developing staff and addressing challenging areas (for example, particular programmes with poor student satisfaction or outcomes, or in thematic areas such as assessment) is sometimes, but not always, made clear. Findings from evaluating staff development are not always indicated, but within 25 pages it is very difficult to include information of this kind. Some providers highlight new or changed staff roles that have made a demonstrable impact on student experience or outcomes.
- The development of resources, estate and infrastructures has been significant for many providers in the sample. The impact of the global Covid pandemic on practice is frequently noted; the development of digital resources and online infrastructures has been a high priority, resulting in some changes to approaches to teaching and learning. Providers also describe improvements to the built environment, and these accounts of improved learning environments are most effective when their development has been related purposefully to changing modes of teaching and student engagement, and when their impact has been evaluated.
- Providers give strong accounts of the ways in which they are embedding working with students as partners into the life of the organisation. Many providers have moved beyond simply including student representatives on committees, to developing much more comprehensive partnerships with students’ representative bodies. Examples of activities include regular student forums, ‘students as change agents’ initiatives and student ambassador schemes. Most providers also highlight the importance of maintaining and enhancing strong relationships with alumni, who can, for example, act as advisors for programme teams and as mentors for staff or students.
- The importance of partnerships is made clear in many submissions. A range of partnerships is articulated; these may be academic, industry-related or civic. The rationale for the choice of partners is generally clear, and their impact on student experience and outcomes articulated, but more could perhaps be done, even within the page limit, to highlight evaluations of partnerships in relation to impact on students.
Evidencing, rewarding and celebrating success
- Some providers have changed or enhanced their ‘planning and review’ frameworks. Some have adopted Theory of Change principles, which can help to pin down key purposes, actions and approaches to evaluation.
- Providers highlight internal data, both qualitative and quantitative, to illustrate progress made in relation to TEF features. Some providers are very clear about the range of internal data available to them, how it is being gathered, how it has been improved and how key findings have been acted upon. Providers also refer to external datasets, including the published OfS data and other sources of data, for example the International Student Barometer. Providers sometimes helpfully link, compare and analyse data from different sources that relate to similar themes; again, it is difficult to do this at any length within the word limit, but key areas of development can be highlighted briefly.
- Some providers have the capacity to undertake research studies into student education, student experience and student outcomes, which then inform practice. Some also refer briefly to published research from the sector and its relevance to their strategic steps for improvement. Such studies can provide a helpful evidence base for action, and in some cases students become partners in undertaking research, bringing their insights to bear in helpful ways. Smaller providers may benefit from collaborating in this area.
- Many providers have improved their promotion and reward frameworks to improve the status of teaching, innovation and education-focused leadership. These are helpfully outlined, although with varying degrees of clarity with respect to the numbers of staff impacted and the ways in which this may be impacting student experience and outcomes.
- Different approaches are taken to highlighting and promoting successes. Annual awards for staff, some or all of which are voted for by students, are highlighted as providing valuable opportunities to celebrate success and promote innovations and good practice. Providers also highlight institutional awards and rankings. The extent to which these add to the submission can be variable; context and scope of the impact recognised by the awards or rankings can be difficult to ascertain. However, there are many positive examples of promoting and celebrating excellent provision and improvements among and sometimes beyond the provider’s community.
Overall: the TEF submissions provide credible accounts of very high quality and outstanding practices. They are strongest when links are clearly made between the planned steps, the nature and scope or the actions taken, and the evidence of improved student experience or outcomes. The use of Theory of Change principles could be helpful in establishing consistent practices with respect to embedding meaningful evaluation into all identified areas of improvement. These principles, or comparable articulations of logical strategic steps through the planning, action and evaluation process, could both help providers embed evidence-based practice in all areas of development and articulate those approaches even more clearly and succinctly in future TEF submissions.
Post-study work visas
We are expecting some sort of government response this week to last week’s MAC report recommending that the visa should stay as it is and there is visa data from the Home Office out on Thursday. But while we wait there are other things to think about.
The FT has an article on the public perception of international students. Citing a Survation poll:
- A significant consensus emerges in the survey: 57 per cent of people think illegal immigration should be the priority and an even larger majority, 66 per cent, think that the post-study visa should allow international graduates to work in the UK for the two permitted years — or even longer.
- Just 2 per cent thought that restricting the ability of students to stay in the UK and work after their studies would be a good way of tackling high immigration and only 1 per cent want the government to focus on reducing international student numbers. (For comparison, 45 per cent say that blocking small boat arrivals should be the priority.)
On Wonkhe, David Kernohan has asked why there aren’t more home PGT students.
- PGT students (headcount) paying home fees have fallen sharply, from over 200,000 in HESES20 to just over 160,000 in 2023. This could be a decline from a pandemic-era boom, or a result of a high number of vacancies within the high-skill end of the job market, but it also represents bad news for provider incomes.
- There’s a subject aspect to this too. The continuing absence of HESA Student 2022-23 data means we can’t be as precise as I might like, but the most notable decline is in the “D” (classroom-based, non-STEM) subjects – and I’d take an educated guess that much of the decline has been in business courses.
- People who have completed a higher degree report a higher quality of work (a compound measure developed at HESA that includes consideration as to whether a graduate finds their work “meaningful”, whether they are using what they have learned in their studies, and whether what they are doing aligns with future plans). This is variable by subject, but offers a better insight into the wider benefits of postgraduate study (salaries or job types don’t really work when so many take postgraduate courses while already in employment).
And what would Labour do? This from the Evening Standard gives a flavour:
- A Labour government will recognise the “major contribution” made by international students to the UK economy and be led by evidence about its impact on immigration, shadow education secretary Bridget Phillipson said. “International students make a major contribution to our country in economic terms,” she said in an interview with the Standard, pointing to their higher fees feeding into a “cross subsidy” for British students. “Alongside that, the jobs in local communities that are created and the investment that comes – that’s felt in every community right across the country that has a university,” the shadow minister said.
- Ms Phillipson stressed: “We do want to bear down on the very high levels of net migration that we see overall. And we’ll be looking carefully at whatever the Government says in response to the Migration Advisory Committee. “But they have set out some very clear recommendations which are evidence-based, and our approach on international students will be in line with the best available evidence,” she said.
- “The majority of students who come here have a great experience and then return home to their country of origin. And then we build those ties that endure over the long term, our standing in the world, business links.”
OfS annual financial sustainability report
The Office for Students have issued their annual sector financial sustainability report and, no surprise, it makes a grim read. Alongside this there is an insight brief
Some extracts from the main report:
- Overall, providers are forecasting deterioration in the short- to medium-term financial outlook. Their data returns show that the sector’s financial performance was weaker in 2022-23 than in 2021-22, and is expected to decline further in 2023-24, with 40 per cent of providers expecting to be in deficit and an increasing number showing low net cashflow.
- The sector is predicting an improvement in outlook from 2026-27 onwards, however, this position is based on significantly optimistic predictions of student recruitment for the sector as a whole. Our modelling of different recruitment rates suggests that the actual outturn position for the sector in the short and medium term is likely to be even more challenging than providers have forecast and the longer-term recovery they forecast is significantly uncertain. Without the growth assumed in providers’ student recruitment forecasts, our analysis suggests that the recovery providers are anticipating would be reversed and the financial situation would continue to weaken across the period to 2026-27 unless mitigating action is taken
- In aggregate, the forecasts submitted by providers assume growth of 35 per cent in international student entrants and 24 per cent in UK student entrants between 2022-23 and 2026-27. The latest data on undergraduate applications and student sponsor visa applications indicates that there has been an overall decline in student entrants this year, including a significant decline in international students. This contrasts starkly with the sector’s growth forecast at an aggregate level….
- Providers need to be ready to manage this uncertainty. They need to have plans in place to respond proactively if they are not able to achieve their student number targets and to respond to other risks that may be present in their specific context. We know that many are taking action to secure their financial position. While this can involve making difficult decisions, leadership teams are right to take action to ensure their institutions are financially sustainable over the medium to long term and to ensure they can continue to provide a high quality education to students.
- Financial performance and strength vary significantly between providers. However, projections from the sector’s financial data show that an increasing number of providers will need to make significant changes to their funding model in the near future to avoid facing a material risk of closure. We are seeing some strong examples of this in the sector, with providers proactively identifying risk and adapting their operating model to respond to the emerging challenges. Within the information submitted by providers, there are examples of steps to improve efficiency. Many providers have put significant focus on protecting their cashflow, ensuring they are well placed to maintain their viability and are prepared for future financial risks. However, our view is that many providers will need to take additional, or more significant, action to fully respond to the financial risks that the sector is facing. It is important that providers are developing robust and realistic financial plans that incorporate stress testing and contingency planning.
- The growth [over the last few years] in business and management, law and social sciences correlate with those subject areas that are often considered less expensive to deliver, where there is greater demand and where less specialised facilities and equipment are required for students’ learning
On Wonkhe there is a review of what it all means and the four scenarios that the OfS have used to suggest what might happen next.
Funded MRes Studentships starting September 2024
Please join us online to find out more about this opportunity – (see flyer INSIGHT SWCC flyer version 1).
The NIHR INSIGHT programme for South West Central Collaboration (SWCC) provides an opportunity for new graduates in nursing, midwifery, AHP, pharmacy, health scientists, public health, social care and chiropractic to engage in a research programme.
This will be through funded master’s in research (MRes)programmes at either UWE-Bristol or BU.
TechFusion Summit – i3 Simulations (9th -10th May 2024)
The Centre for Applied Creative Technologies CfACTs and CfACTs+ teams participated in the “TechFusion Summit – i3 Simulations” hosted at MergeXR Studio in Luton. The event buzzed with innovation, creativity, and networking, illustrating how AI, XR, and haptics enable clinicians to develop muscle memory and improve decision-making through virtual simulations. The summit drew in prominent industry partners, universities, Bollywood actors, film producers, and professionals.
The summit was the exploration of content creation using VFX-quality 3D scans performed on-site. These scans were processed and showcased in captivating aged and de-aged versions of Maddy, showcasing our distinctive ability to extend Hollywood-quality VFX on a global scale for various mediums such as movies, TV series, games, and beyond. i3 Simulations is in close collaboration with BU on the CfACT+ project and has jointly co-funded two PhD projects.
Professor Jian Chang presented a talk titled “What’s Next for VFX,” delving into the evolution of visual effects, emerging technologies, and recent breakthroughs in the industry. He emphasized the NCCA’s dedication to innovation and provided insights into ongoing projects at CfACTs and CfACTs+.

Devi Kolli (Chief Executive Officer of i3simulations) at BU NCCA booth
Postdoctoral research fellow Dr. Nikolai Rusnachenko showcased his work on “Marking Medical Image Reports Automatically with Natural Language Processing (NLP-MMI)”. His project aims to create an automatic pipeline for clinical report generation. The primary focus is on developing NLP tools for image captioning, analyzing detected (anomalous and non-anomalous) image segments, identifying patterns, and evaluating the accuracy of narratives. This system will provide valuable feedback for trainees, helping them assess their skills and enhance their learning across various anatomical regions and disease conditions.
Also at the Summit, postdoctoral research fellow Dr. Anil Bas showcased his research on advanced rendering pipelines for 3D face and head models, which are gaining popularity in digital entertainment, gaming, and interactive media. His project tackles the limitations of current 3D facial reconstruction and rendering techniques, aiming to achieve cost, energy, and environmental savings in virtual production and 3D scanning technologies.
Dr Ehtzaz Chaudhry and Kavisha Jayathunge also engaged with the audience, showcasing the NCCA undergraduate, postgraduate, and MSc AIM student showreel at the BU NCCA booth.
CfACTs is co-funded by European Union Horizon 2020 Marie Skłodowska-Curie grant agreement No 900025, Bournemouth University and Industry Partners.
For more information about CfACTs and CfACTs+ projects, please follow the links below.
www.bournemouth.ac.uk/CfACTs-Research
www.bournemouth.ac.uk/centre-applied-creative-technologies-plus-cfacts
2023-4 New Media Writing Prize and Unconference Success
The 2023-24 New Media Writing Prize, directed by BU’s Lyle Skains and judged by BU practitioners and researchers Dalia Elsheikh, Jim Pope, and Brad Gyori has drawn to a close after a bright and exciting two days of creative “Unconferencing”, a brilliant and thought-provoking keynote on generative AI and electronic literature from Professor Anastasia Salter, and the announcement of all winners for this year’s prizes. The keynote and awards ceremony are available on YouTube for anyone who missed them.
This year the events were moved to May from January to fit better with semester timetables and activities around the Bournemouth Writing Prize. This move proved fortunate as we saw our entries nearly double this year over previous years, with 194 eligible works submitted from 45 different countries. Our judges certainly needed the extra time to review and debate the wealth of high quality submissions of interactive digital narrative and journalism.
The Awards
All works are accessible on the 2023 NMWP website.
Chris Meade Memorial Main Prize
Our judges shortlisted eight works for the main prize; Florence Walker’s I Dreamt of Something Lost topped the category:
- WINNER – I Dreamt of Something Lost by Florence Walker
- A Condensed History of Australian Camels by David Thomas Henry Wright, Louis Pratt, Karen Lowry, Chris Arnold
- Congee by Rebecca Chui
- Infinite Eddies by Siobhan O’Flynn
- L and the Empress of Sand by Jon Stone
- Musselled Out by Dolly Church, Elinor Kirchwey, Eamon Foreman, Niall Tessier-Lavigne
- The Hotline by Kasey Gambling
- Voices by Christine Wilks
Writers Online Student Prize
- WINNER – Polterkicks by Emma Husa
- An Undecided Fate by Drew Ott
- I Dreamt of Something Lost by Florence Walker
- Meow Memoir by Brynna Hosszu
- What Remains? by Vegard Fotland
- Words So Much Like Ivy by Chris Pang
Social Good Prize
2023-24 marks the very first year this prize has been awarded; it is supported entirely by the associated NMWP Unconference. The focus on interactive digital narrative for the purposes of social good or addressing global challenges (such as the UN Sustainable Development Goals) is drawn from Lyle Skains’ research into the creation and efficacy of interactive narrative to inspire attitude and behaviour change on topics of socio-cultural, medical, and ecological importance.
- WINNER – Musselled Out by Dolly Church, Elinor Kirchwey, Eamon Foreman, Niall Tessier-Lavigne
- A Condensed History of Australian Camels by David Thomas Henry Wright, Louis Pratt, Karen Lowry, Chris Arnold
- The Hotline by Kasey Gambling
- Tree-Person by Talita Bedinelli
- Voices by Christine Wilks
Opening Up Prize
- WINNER – all the borders I crossed without you by Rosalind Fielding
- Crowbar by Dylan Spicer
- Infinite Eddies by Siobhan O’Flynn
- Memory Eternal (Вічная Пам’ять) (2023) by the Decameron Collective
- The Hotline by Kasey Gambling
- Voices by Christine Wilks
FIPP Media Journalism Prize
- WINNER – SOS – SAVE OUR SOILS by Marius Münstermann
- Choking Kurdistan by Tom Brown
- Terraforming Singapore: Is the future made of sand? by Zafirah Zein
- The illusion of prosperity by Katerina Afanasyeva
Unconference Report
Anastasia Salter’s keynote (viewable on YouTube) capped off the Unconference and transitioned us to the awards ceremony. Their insights on generative AI and how it is already influencing electronic literature (another wave of software reproducing social bias and inequality) even while offering the next step in the evolution of creative tools were both concerning and exhilarating—perhaps a perfect note to strike in an Unconference themed around inclusivity.
Our second annual Unconference unfolded over two days leading up to the NMWP Award Ceremony. 40 creatives, academics, and students attended from across the world, including the UK, USA, Canada, India, Norway, and Mexico.
As a more creatively-focused event, the Unconference focuses on workshops and performances, with relevant academic talks dispersed throughout. We learned fundamentals of programming, how to create a GitHub website, and considerations for creating interactive digital narratives with purpose (such as wellbeing).
We were also treated to electronic poetry, a preview of the very first Indian anthology of electronic literature, Instagram storytelling, and discussions of art and health.
We played together in netprov (improvisational, collaborative online storytelling), spitballed approaches to teaching electronic literature and making it more accessible, and became Wikipedia editors as we seek to grow elit’s representation on this foundational site of knowledge.
Impact champion needed for engineering: one week to apply
We are looking to recruit an impact champion to help support our REF submission in UOA 12 (the Unit of Assessment for Engineering). The deadline for expressions of interest is Friday 24th May 2024.
This is an exciting opportunity to play a key role in supporting colleagues to develop impact case studies for submission to REF 2029 in late 2028. The successful applicant will be allocated an agreed proportion of time to devote to the role as part of their workload planning.
Impact champions work closely with the UOA lead and their impact advisor in RDS to develop and support potential impact case studies. They also become a member of the REF Impact Subcommittee, where they are able to discuss impact strategies, planning and best practice with colleagues across all faculties and disciplines.
“The role is about planting the seeds to get researchers thinking about the impact their work might have in the future (as well as the impact they have already had, sometimes without realising!)” Dr Rafaelle Nicholson – UOA 24 Impact Champion
This role is recruited through an open and transparent process, which gives all academic staff the opportunity to put themselves forward. Applications from underrepresented groups (e.g. minority ethnic, declared disability) are particularly welcome.
How to apply
All those interested should put forward a short case (suggested length of one paragraph), explaining why they are interested in the role and what they believe they could bring to it. This should be emailed to ref@bournemouth.ac.uk by Friday 24th May 2024.
Further details on the impact champion role, the process of recruitment and selection criteria can be found here:
Process and criteria for selection
For more information, please contact ref@bournemouth.ac.uk, or UoA 12 Leader Professor Zulfiqar Khan.
TANGERINE project has lift off with BPC Indian Community!
BU-led TANGERINE (nuTritional heAlth aNd aGeing in oldER ethnIc miNoritiEs) project (funded by Medical Research Council), working with Loughborough and Chester Universities, aims to co-design a new food intervention to promote healthy ageing in ethnic minorities. It was officially launched on 14th March 2024 at BU with BPC Indian community.
BPC Indian Community showcased a range of healthy Indian Street food and culture including vegetarian delights e.g. idli, chaat, yellow lentil dahl and sattu drink. Members of the community shared how they made the dishes and how different pulses are used in Indian cooking. Participants also shared their favourite healthy and non-healthy foods and meals.
Pooja Shah, Post-Doctoral Researcher TANGERINE project said:
“We would like to work with the BPC Indian Community to improve nutrition and promote healthy ageing, and this was a great opportunity for us all to meet each other!”
Mary Demopoulos, Project Co-ordinator said:
“I really loved the chaat and I’m pretty sure I can now get my fussy children to eat lentils this way as they will love the addition of yoghurt and pomegranate seeds!”
The TANGERINE team tried on saris with the help of more experienced sari-wrappers, and also took full advantage of the mehendi artist to go home with beautifully decorated hands. Bollywood music played with some impressive Indian dancing.
A fun evening was had by all. We look forward to working with BPC Indian Community and all our other community groups – Caribbean & African Health Network, Black Beetle Health, Upturn Enterprise and Strengthening Faith Institutions.
See https://www.bournemouth.ac.uk/research/projects/tangerine