/ Full archive

NERC standard grants (July 18 deadline) – internal competition launched

Funding opportunities

NERC introduced demand management measures in 2012. These were revised in 2015 to reduce the number and size of applications from research organisations for NERC’s discovery science standard grant scheme. Full details can be found in the BU policy document for NERC demand management measures at: http://intranetsp.bournemouth.ac.uk/policy/BU Policy for NERC Demand Management Measures.docx.

As at March 2015, BU has been capped at one application per standard grant round. The measures only apply to NERC standard grants (including new investigators). An application counts towards an organisation, where the organisation is applying as the grant holding organisation (of the lead or component grant). This will be the organisation of the Principal Investigator of the lead or component grant.

BU process

As a result, BU has introduced a process for determining which application will be submitted to each NERC Standard Grant round. This will take the form of an internal competition, which will include peer review. The next available standard grant round is July 2018. The process for selecting an application for this round can be found in the process document here – the deadline for internal Expressions of Interest (EoI) which will be used to determine which application will be submitted is 28th March 2018.  The EoI form can be found here: I:\R&KEO\Public\NERC Demand Management 2018.

NERC have advised that where a research organisation submits more applications to any round than allowed under the cap, NERC will office-reject any excess applications, based purely on the time of submission through the Je-S system (last submitted = first rejected). However, as RKEO submit applications through Je-S on behalf of applicants, RKEO will not submit any applications that do not have prior agreement from the internal competition.

Following the internal competition, the Principal Investigator will have access to support from RKEO, and will work closely with the Research Facilitator and Funding Development Officers to develop the application. Access to external bid writers will also be available.

Appeals process

If an EoI is not selected to be submitted as an application, the Principal Investigator can appeal to Professor Tim McIntyre-Bhatty, Deputy Vice-Chancellor. Any appeals must be submitted within ten working days of the original decision. All appeals will be considered within ten working days of receipt.

RKEO Contacts

Please contact Rachel Clarke, RKEO Research Facilitator – clarker@bournemouth.ac.uk or Jo Garrad, RKEO Funding Development Manager – jgarrad@bournemouth.ac.uk if you wish to submit an expression of interest.

ESRC Pre-call announcement ‘Open Large Grants Competition’

Funding opportunities

ESRC will be inviting applications of between £1 million and £2.5 million (at 100% fEC) for an open Large Grants Competition. They expect to fund up to four new large grants under this competition.

The call will have an outline stage which will open in early April. The closing date for applications will be in June 2018 and grants will start from 1 October 2019. This call will be a quota-based competition, with the same allocations for proposals as the current ESRC Centres Competition.

Further details will be available when the call opens.  If you are interested in applying then please inform your RKEO Research Facilitator in the first instance as we have been allocated a quota and will manage the submission going in.

Wellcome Trust Visit – 9th May 2018

As part of the Research and Knowledge Exchange Development Framework, we are excited to announce that Wellcome Trust will be visiting BU on 9th May 2018.

This visit from Wellcome Trust will provide an overview of who they are, their remit, types of funding offered, their decision-making processes and timeframes and planning a Wellcome Trust application.

The session will be held over lunchtime. Book your place here.

NIHR Fellowships Event 21st March 2018 – LAST CHANCE TO BOOK

 

As part of the Research and Knowledge Exchange Development Framework, RKEO are holding a session on NIHR Fellowships.

The NIHR Fellowship Event will provide information about NIHR’s Fellowship schemes, and offer some hints and tips for a successful application. We are pleased to welcome the following speakers:

  • Dr Gordon Taylor, Research Design Service South West, NIHR Doctoral Panel Member & Reader in Medical Statistics, University of Bath
  • NIHR Trainees Coordinating Centre (TBC)
  • Clare Gordon, BU NIHR Fellow

Date: Wednesday 21st March 2018

Time: 12:00-13:00

Venue: Lansdowne Campus

The session is open to all academics, researchers and clinicians who have an interest in applying for NIHR Fellowships.

Please book your space through Eventbrite.

About the NIHR Fellowship Programme: The NIHR is the UK’s major funder of applied health research. All of the research it funds works towards improving the health and wealth of the nation. The NIHR develops and supports the people who conduct and contribute to health research and equally supports the training of the next generation of health researchers. NIHR training programmes provide a unique opportunity for all professionals to improve the health of patients in their care through research. Training and career development awards from the NIHR range from undergraduate level through to opportunities for established investigators and research leaders. They are open to a wide range of professions and designed to suit different working arrangements and career pathways.

CQR’s Louise Oliver takes third prize in postgrad conference

The Centre for Qualitative Research congratulates one of its postgrad Affiliates, Louise Oliver, who has won third prize for her oral presentation in the recent Doctoral College Conference.

Louise’s PhD is entitled, “Family Narratives of Child-to-Parent Violence and Abuse: Lifting the Veil of Secrecy”. She is supervised by Lee-Ann Fenge and Kip Jones.

HE Policy Update w/e 9th March 2018

innovation

While we’re all excited about Sam Gyimah’s visit to BU next week, policy continues to develop in HE.  If you haven’t booked your ticket for Sam’s audience yet, please do.  Here’s your weekly summary.

Universities Minister visiting BU!

On Thursday 15 March Sam Gyimah MP, Minister of State for Universities, Science, Research and Innovation will visit BU. During the evening he will host An Audience with Sam Gyimah MP. This is a rare opportunity for students and staff to quiz Sam through an interactive question and answer event. Sam will take questions from the audience on HE matters and wider political areas that are of interest to students. He will then invite the audience to discuss and engage with him on topics he will pose. There will be food and refreshments served after the event to enable networking and discussions to continue.

We are pleased to invite staff members to book onto this event – click here to book your place.

Doors open for the event at 17:30, the event will commence at 17:45 and finish for refreshments at 19:30. Colleagues and students must book a ticket to access the event and bring their ticket with them.  Please circulate the details of this event to your colleagues and the students you interact with – all BU staff and students welcome!   Please also encourage students to attend – Sam really wants to hear from and engage with students   – you will have seen he has described himself as the “Minister for Students”, so this is a chance to inform his thinking.

Earlier this week Sam gave an interview to The Student Room, it’s a lengthy 12 minutes, but very interesting to hear Sam’s responses to the student posed questions on a good range of topics. Last week Sam spoke at the Office for Students’ inaugural conference. The contents of his speech come under fire from Andrew McRae (Exeter) in Where’s the minister’s vision focused? The article implies the Minister is looking at  the obvious rather than getting to grips with complex HE issues. Come and find out for yourself when Sam comes to BU.

Sam was also criticised in the news this week because he declined to attend the Commons Science and Technology Committee research integrity inquiry. He did subsequently attend. Colleagues interested in the research integrity inquiry can read the proceedings here or watch the session on Parliament TV here.

Non-continuation rates

HESA released non-continuation performance indicator data this week. There are yearly fluctuations in the data, and in general there is a downtrend trend across the years. However, non-continuation has been increasing since 2012-13 and the most recent data published shows a further slight rise in the rates for young, full time first degree students. Part time mature students also have higher non-continuation rates than the part timers aged under 30.

View the HESA tables here.

WP student non-continuation rates dropped slightly. OFFA welcomed this but urged caution as it’s only a slight change (8.8% in 2014/15 to 8.6% for 2015/16). Press interest has mainly focussed on the Scottish Universities and their slightly lower drop out average (BBC, Times). Wales and Northern Ireland continue to perform better than Scotland and England.

HESA also released HE income and expenditure (16/17) details this week. In England tuition fees accounted for 52.2% of the sector’s total income. Across the whole of the UK 54.7% (£18.9 billion) was spent on staff costs. Read more in Research Professional. 

International Women’s Day

Wonkhe interview four leading HE women. Hear from: Clare Marchant, Valerie Amos, Maddalaine Ansell, and Alison Johns.  Jess Moody of the ECU blogs in a personal capacity encouraging us to Look again at International Women’s Day. And Shân Wareing (LSBU) reflects on the moment she became a feminist and what it means for the proportion of women in senior HE roles today.

U-Multirank announced a new ‘gender balance’ indicator on International Women’s Day. It notes that imbalances can be seen in the ratio of women to men studying in Europe across nine subjects. This gender gap widens as students move from bachelor and master studies to PhD. In all nine study subjects, women dominate at the bachelor/ master level at 60-80% (varies across the nine subjects) but at PhD level female representation is 39-63%. At PhD females within the fields of nursing, political science and social work all fall below 50%. In commitment to International Women’s Day U-Multirank pledged to press for women’s progress in HE by analysing the gender balance across all subject areas. They state:

“the new indicator on ‘gender balance’ in higher education will be a ranked indicator. It will measure the share of women studying in higher education across various study subjects, levels as well as the gender make-up of academic staff. It aims to give an insight into the university’s overall gender balance.”

National Apprenticeship Week

We’re all familiar with the Government’s stance on vocational alternatives to HE study, degree apprenticeships and shifting thinking away from a HE ‘default’. This week was national apprenticeship week and a plethora of case studies and articles have reinforced the Government’s messaging.

HEFCE have blogged Why degree apprenticeships are vital to the local economy

Anne Milton, the Skills Minister, speaks passionately of apprenticeships as a real alternative for students of all abilities.

Disappointingly the case studies tend to focus on FE level training. Adam Evenson, law graduate, talks of his apprenticeship with Gordon Marsden (shadow minister for apprenticeships) while he completes his level 3 in business administration. And Jack Brittain talks of his engineering apprenticeship.

Clamp down on Alternative Providers

The Public Accounts Committee published Alternative Higher Education Providers calling for improvements in the regulation of alternative providers. This is set within the regulatory context of the OfS removing the ‘Basic’ category from the HE register.   Here are the headlines and recommendations:

  • The Office for Students must prioritise action on malpractice and honour their commitment to protect students’ interests.
  • There are still too many students dropping out of their courses.
    Recommendation: The Office for Students should set out what more, beyond the existing approach to imposing sanctions, it will do to ensure that non-continuation rates reduce further year on year, and confirm by when it expects to reduce non-continuation rates for alternative providers to the same level as for the rest of the HE sector.
  • How, in practice, will the OfS protect and promote students’ interests at the centre of its regulatory system?
    Recommendation: As the OfS develops, we will be looking to see it demonstrate that protecting student interests is indeed central to its approach, effective representation for students on the Board, mechanisms for consulting students, and raising standards for students across the whole HE sector, irrespective of whether they study at traditional or alternative HE institutions. The OfS should set out a clear strategy, with timescales, on how it will promote student interests.
  • The Department isn’t producing sufficiently timely data to allow robust oversight of providers. It has also failed to recover student loan payments it made to ineligible students.
    Recommendation: By September 2018, the Department, the SLC and the OfS should develop a more ambitious plan for what data they will collect to monitor provider performance and to avoid further ineligible payments. This plan should set out how they will collect data including the development of better data systems akin to those used in other parts of government and in the private sector.
  • The Department doesn’t have sufficiently effective systems in place to identify promptly where it needs to intervene to address fraud or emerging issues.
    Recommendation: By the end of 2018, the Department and the OfS should develop a more systematic and proactive approach to identifying problems emerging in the sector so that it can take prompt action to deal with failing providers and protect the interests of learners.
  • By the end of 2018, the Department and the OfS should develop a more systematic and proactive approach to identifying problems emerging in the sector so that it can take prompt action to deal with failing providers and protect the interests of learners.
    Recommendation: By the end of 2018, the Department and the OfS should develop a more systematic and proactive approach to identifying problems emerging in the sector so that it can take prompt action to deal with failing providers and protect the interests of learners.
  • The alternative provider sector still presents too many opportunities to fraudsters.
    Recommendation: As one of its first tasks, the OfS should set out how it will investigate and clamp down on recruitment malpractice, faking attendance records and coursework, and opaque arrangements for validating degrees, and produce a robust plan for remedying these problems across the sector.

Parliamentary Questions

The pension strikes continue to be major news this week. Sam Gyimah responds to a strike related parliamentary question and a wide selection of other topics.

Strikes

Q – Jo Swinson (Lib Dem): To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what assessment he has made of the effect on students of the loss of teaching hours as a result of the university lecturers’ pension strike.

A – Sam Gyimah (Con):

  • Universities are autonomous institutions and it is for them to assess the impact of the strike action on their provision. While the Department for Education has not made its own assessment, we remain concerned about any impact of the strikes on students and expect universities to put in place measures to maintain the quality of education that students should receive.
  • We note that the Universities and Colleges Employers Association, which represents UK higher education organisations as employers, polled the 56 universities, which were the focus of strikes on 22 and 23 February 2018. Results of this polling indicate that the overall impact in four out of five institutions was between ‘none’ and ‘low-medium’.

School leavers progressing to HE

Q – Douglas Chapman (SNP): To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what proportion of school leavers have participated in higher education in England in each year since 2010.

A – Sam Gyimah (Con):

  • The department has two principal sources showing participation in education and other activities by young people as they transition between ages 16 and 19. Destination measures show the activities of young people in the year following their completion of key stage 4 (GCSEs) and key stage 5 (A-levels and other Level 3). The 16-18 Participation Statistical First Release (SFR) shows snapshot estimates of participation in different activities at each of academic ages 16, 17 and 18.
  • Destination measures show the percentage of students with sustained participation in education or employment over six months following the end of their phase of study. Information on pupil destinations is published annually on GOV.UK at https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/statistics-destinations.
  • The table in attachment one shows the proportion of students in sustained study at higher education institutions since 2010 following their completion of 16-18 study (state-funded mainstream schools and colleges in England). See table NA10 in the ‘Key stage 5 –national tables: SFR56/2017’ document for full breakdowns: https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/652777/SFR56_2017_KS5_National_Tables_1516.ods.
  • Estimates of national participation rates in England at academic ages 16, 17 and 18 are provided in the department’s SFR ‘Participation in education, training and employment: 2016’ published here https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/participation-in-education-training-and-employment-2016. These differ from the destination measures estimates provided, because they are not linked to previous study and provide estimates for the whole population, and they are based on a snapshot of activities at the end of the calendar year (rather than over a six-month period).
  • The table in attachment two shows estimates of the proportion of young people participating in full-time education, by institution type, at academic age 16 and 18, at the end of 2016.
  • Proportion of students in sustained study at HEIs (Word Document, 13.88 KB)
  • Participation in full-time education by age (Word Document, 12.8 KB)

Video game art & animation

Q – Justin Tomlinson: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what estimate his Department has made of the number of students who have graduated with a degree in video game art and animation in each of the last three years.

A – Sam Gyimah:

  • The Higher Education Statistics Agency (HESA) collects and publishes statistics on enrolments and qualifications obtained at UK Higher Education Institutions. The Latest statistics refer to the academic year 2016/17.
  • The table attached shows the numbers of first degree qualifiers in computer game design and graphics subjects.

Full-person-equivalent1 First degree qualifiers in computer game design and graphics – Academic years 2014/15 to 2016/17

Academic Year Number of qualifiers in computer game design2 Number of qualifiers in computer games graphics2 Total qualifiers in computer game design and graphics
2014/15 240 45 285
2015/16 430 60 485
2016/17 550 95 640
  • Counts are on the basis of full-person-equivalents. Where a student is studying more than one subject, they are apportioned between the subjects that make up their course.
  • We have included qualifiers in Computer game design (I620) and Computer games graphics (I630) as the most appropriate JACS codes for “video game art and animation”. More information on JACS codes can be found at the following link: https://www.hesa.ac.uk/support/documentation/jacs.

 

Mental Illness

Q – Richard Burden (Lab): To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what estimate he has made of the number of people who left their undergraduate degree course for mental health reasons in each of the last five years.

A – Sam Gyimah (Con):

  • Mental health is a priority for this government. The Children and Young People’s Mental Health green paper outlines the government’s plans to set up a new national strategic partnership focused on improving the mental health of 16-25 year olds, encouraging more coordinated action, innovation and robust evaluation of mental health services. One recommendation in the green paper is for the partnership to provide a systematic strategy to improve what we know about student mental health by encouraging improvements in data linkage and analytics. Data is available from the Higher Education Statistical Agency on the number of higher education students who leave their course early for health reasons, but the data does not make it possible to distinguish mental health reasons specifically.
  • The department is working closely with Universities UK on the programme of work on Mental Health in Higher Education, which has included work with the Institute for Public Policy Research to strengthen the evidence-base on mental health in higher education.

Brexit and Overseas (EU) Students

Q – Daniel Zeichner (Labour): To ask the Secretary of State for Education:
(Q1) whether the Government has undertaken an assessment of the potential effect of the UK leaving the EU on the ability of universities to attract EU students at (a) undergraduate and (b) postgraduate levels.

AND (Q2) whether EU students starting courses in English higher education institutions in 2019-20 and 2020-21 will be eligible for (a) home fee status and (b) student loans and grants under the current eligibility criteria.

A1 – Sam Gyimah (Conservative):

  • The government is undertaking a comprehensive and ongoing programme of analytical work across a range of scenarios for EU exit. As part of this, we are engaging closely with the higher education (HE) sector, including through my High Level Stakeholder Working Group on EU Exit, Universities, Research and Innovation.
  • The UK is a highly attractive destination for EU and international students, second only to the USA in the numbers we attract, and we recognise that student mobility is a key issue for our world-class HE sector. The government has commissioned the Migration Advisory Committee (MAC) to provide an objective assessment of the impact of EU and international students by September 2018. This provides an important opportunity for the sector to share evidence, and the MAC’s independent advice will help inform decisions on the future migration system.
  • To help provide certainty, we have also announced that EU students starting courses in England in the academic year 2018/19 or before will continue to be eligible for student loans and home fee status for the duration of their course, and will remain eligible for Research Council PhD studentships on the current basis. These students will also have a right to remain in the UK to complete their course.

A2 – Sam Gyimah:

  • The government has taken action to provide greater certainty about student funding for EU students. We have confirmed that current EU students and those starting courses at an English university or further education institution in the 2017/18 and 2018/19 academic years will continue to be eligible for student loans and home fee status for the duration of their course.
  • Future arrangements for EU students starting courses after 2018/19, and who are not settled in the UK or on a pathway to settled status by the specified date, will need to be considered as part of wider discussions about the UK’s relationship with the EU.
  • Applications for courses starting in 2019/20 do not open until September 2018, and we are working to ensure students applying have information well in advance of this date.

Sharia Compliant Student Finance

Q – Lyn Brown: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, whether a sharia-compliant alternative student finance system will be available for people beginning university courses in September 2018.

A – Sam Gyimah:

  • We understand the concern that some prospective students may be deterred from pursuing higher education because they are unable to use loans that bear interest.
  • We are therefore continuing to work on an alternative student finance product that would avoid using interest. We have appointed specialist advisors from the Islamic Finance Council to help design a new system that can make maintenance and tuition fee payments and collect repayment contributions in a way that is both equivalent to the current system and compliant with the requirements of Islamic finance.
  • This a complex area requiring careful consideration of a range of technical issues, including the nature of the accounting for the new arrangements, the degree of legal separation required for any fund, the treatment of cashflows, the nature of the commitments that a student will make under the new system, and the method for establishing equivalence of outcome, amongst others.
  • This work is being undertaken at pace and we will be in a good place to provide an update in the summer. I will set out our planned timetable at that time. I note that it typically takes two years to introduce a new student finance product, which would rule out launching for academic year 2018/19.

Post-study Work Visas

Q – Stuart C. McDonald: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what assessment her Department has made of the effect of ending the Tier 1 (Post-Study Work) visa on the ability of businesses to recruit people with the necessary skills.

A – Caroline Nokes:

  • The Tier 1 (Post Study Work) route was closed in April 2012.
  • A published assessment of Tier 1 migrants in October 2010 found that three in five users of this visa were in unskilled work and we also saw a large number of fraudulent applications. This undermined our work routes and damaged the reputation of our education system. We have no current plans to re-introduce a post study work route that does not lead to skilled work.
  • We already have a comprehensive offer for graduates seeking to undertake skilled work in the UK after their studies. Students studying courses lasting 12 months or more are given 4 months leave at the end of their course to look for a job and those with an offer of a graduate-level job, paying an appropriate salary, may take up sponsored employment through Tier 2. Many of the requirements for a Tier 2 skilled work visa are relaxed or waived for those applying to switch from the Tier 4 student route within the UK. This includes exempting switching students from the Tier 2 cap of 20,700 and allowing employers who wish to recruit them to not carry out the Resident Labour Market Test.

Widening Participation & Student Success

The All Party Parliamentary University Group met to discuss fair access this week. Chris Millward, the incoming Director for Fair Access and Participation at the Office for Students stated success in widening access to higher education would depend on how universities and colleges work with schools and employers, and how they support students “through all stages of the lifecycle”.

Scotland continues to be vocal on WP matters. Scottish Higher Education Minister Shirley-Anne Somerville launched a major speech on Tuesday expressing her support for contextualised admissions and bridging programmes and calling for systemic change:

  • “..for anyone in the sector who may be thinking that there is a short cut to achieving our targets through a drop in demand elsewhere then let me be very clear.
  • There is no short cut. .No silver bullet. Widening Access will require systemic change.”

Other news

STEM: The Guardian analyses the STEM gender gap. The article cites data to negate the biological and social/cultural answers instead looking at the influence of ‘social belongingness’ and childhood gender stereotypes.

EU Research News: Research Professional describes this week’s EU research news here.

Spring Statement: If you’re interested in the Chancellor’s Spring Statement that will be delivered on 13 March political monitors, Dods, have prepared an overview of what to expect. From their overview:

“There will be no red box, no official document, no spending increases, no tax changes,” a spokesman for the Treasury told the Financial Times last month. “The Chancellor will publish updated economic forecasts; we expect the speech to last between 15-20 minutes.” … Ministers have repeatedly stated that the Statement is not a “fiscal event” so few are expecting many policy announcements, however the Chancellor should set out some thinking about longer term economic priorities.

The statement is expected to focus predominantly on the economic outlook for the country, and the review panel on Land Use (chaired by local MP Sir Oliver Letwin) will report before the economic outlook is delivered.  Dods also note:

Public Sector Leadership Academy – The taskforce is due to provide an initial update with a full report on their remit and responsibilities due for the Autumn Budget 2018. The Cabinet Office have indicated a chair has been selected and will be formally announced shortly.

Grade inflation: The Conversation have a clear and balanced article setting out the reasons behind increased number of good degrees, explaining the Government criticism and considering the way forward.

Subscribe!

To subscribe to the weekly policy update simply email policy@bournemouth.ac.uk

JANE FORSTER                                                            |                              SARAH CARTER

Policy Advisor                                                                                             Policy & Public Affairs Officer

Follow: @PolicyBU on Twitter                             |                              policy@bournemouth.ac.uk

Postgraduate Research Showcase

PG research

Join us for this showcase exhibition and explore the latest postgraduate research emerging from BU. 

This year the Doctoral College hosted its 10th Annual Postgraduate Research Conference. The popular event provides a valuable platform for postgraduate researchers from across different years and disciplines to present posters and photographs explaining their research projects in a clear, concise and creative way to a public audience.

Further information about the conference and details of this year’s winners is available on 10th Annual Postgraduate Research Conference webpage.

An exhibition of postgraduate researchers’ posters and photographs will be on display at the Atrium Gallery, Poole House, Talbot Campus, from 12 – 16 March 2018, 10am-4pm. Free to attend, all welcome.

If you have any questions, please contact pgconference@bournemouth.ac.uk

BU’s Joanne Holmes’ interview with Elder about healthy appetite in older people

Food scientist and BU lecturer in Nutrition, Joanne Holmes, talks to Elder about the importance of socialisation, stimulation and choice to encourage healthy appetite in older people.

“As a nutritionist, I became aware of the fact that there was growing evidence that under-nutrition, commonly known as malnutrition, is a prevalent problem for older people. The figures show that up to about 45 percent of older people living in residential care are at risk of under-nutrition, and for those over 75 years old living on their own, it runs between 35-40 percent,” says Joanne Holmes.

“It was apparent that we were good at monitoring and assessing the fact that people were undernourished – what wasn’t so clear was what was happening to follow that up and move people from being undernourished to an acceptable weight.

“I wanted to understand what and how much people were eating and drinking and whether or not it was the mealtime experience that affected that.

“There are usually a series of events that are linked to undernourishment when someone goes into care. What generally happens is that someone will struggle at home, for one reason or another – perhaps there might be a dementia diagnosis, and they can’t continue to live on their own, or they fall and aren’t able to get around. They eventually end up in hospital, and then in long-term residential care. But once they’re in care, it’s tough to try and get them eating again.

“I come from a food science background, and I think a lot of the work to-date has been done by looking at undernourishment from a clinical point of view. I wanted to come at it from a food angle and look at enhancing the eating experience for those in care.”

Read the full interview here.

Brexit and Trade War in The Express

Professor Jens Holscher gave an interview on Brexit and Trade War in the Express:

https://www.express.co.uk/news/politics/929542/brexit-news-eu-uk-trade-war-brexit-negotiations-liam-fox-theresa-may-brussels

 

Congratulations to the following winners of the Doctoral College 10th Annual Postgraduate Research Conference

conferences, PG research

On Wednesday 7 March 2018 the Doctoral College hosted the 10th Annual Postgraduate Research Conference which was a huge success with lots of positive feedback from students and staff alike. We are happy to announce the category winners below. Well done to everyone who took part!

Oral Presentations:

1st Prize Mark Stevens (Advancing a social identity approach to understanding physical activity: preliminary evidence from parkrun, Faculty of Management)

2nd Prize Stephen Allard (The intimate masses: poetry and emerging new concepts of ‘Netiquette’ in online environments, Faculty of Media and Communication)

3rd Prize Louise Oliver (Child-parent-violence and abuse: lifting the veil of secrecy, Faculty of Health and Social Sciences)

Poster Presentations:

1st Prize Giulia Levi (Between silence and agitation – coping strategies and third-party interventions in divided societies: a comparison between post-conflict Bosnia and post-referendum UK, Faculty of Health and Social Sciences)

2nd Prize Amal Musa Almoualed (Saudi women journalists – an exploration of their roles and practices in an age of social media, Faculty of Media and Communication)

3rd Prize Ejike T. Ezeh (Shared decision-making: web-based information tool to support treatment choices of people with advanced pancreatic cancer, Faculty of Health and Social Sciences)

Photography:

Winner Nurist S. Ulfa (The paradox of Muslim girl’s freedom of experimentation in girl games: when the digital virtual consumption practices and the religious norms are predominantly discordant, Faculty of Media and Communication)

 

 

We would also like to say a special thank you to the following people for their invaluable contribution to the day.

Opening Remarks
Professor John Fletcher, Pro-Vice-Chancellor for Research & Innovation (Office of the Vice-Chancellor)

Keynote Address
Professor Lee Miles, Professor of Crisis & Disaster Management (Faculty of Management)

Guest Speakers – Deputy Deans for Research & Professional Practice
Professor Vanora Hundley (Faculty of Health and Social Sciences)
Professor Michael Silk (Faculty of Management)
Professor Iain MacRury (Faculty of Media and Communication)
Professor Tiantian Zhang (Faculty of Science and Technology)

PGR Chairs
Clare Gordon (Faculty of Health and Social Sciences)
Sara Glithro (Faculty of Health and Social Sciences)
Ella Onyinye Ejime (Faculty of Management)
Duncan Ki-Aries (Faculty of Science and Technology)

Judging Panel – Oral Presentations
Professor Alison McConnell (Faculty of Health and Social Sciences)
Dr Sue Way (Faculty of Health and Social Sciences)
Dr Vanessa Heaslip (Faculty of Health and Social Sciences)
Professor Adam Blake (Faculty of Management)
Dr Daniel Lock (Faculty of Management)
Dr Einar Thorsen (Faculty of Media and Communication)
Professor Marcin Budka (Faculty of Science and Technology)

Judging Panel – Poster and Photography Exhibition
Jane Healy (Faculty of Health and Social Sciences)
Professor George Filis (Faculty of Management)
Professor Candida Yates (Faculty of Media and Communication)
Dr Christos Gatzidis (Faculty of Science and Technology)

Brexit and Financial Services

Professor Jens Holscher gave on interview on the effects of Brexit on Financial Services in the Bournemouth Echo:

http://www.bournemouthecho.co.uk/news/16072967.Brexit__financial_services_jobs___39_going_abroad__39__as_chancellor_seeks_deal/

 

Why suicide rates among pregnant women in Nepal are rising

File 20180308 30989 ov7dje.jpg?ixlib=rb 1.1

Shutterstock/By KristinaSophie

By Bibha Simkhada, Liverpool John Moores University and Edwin van Teijlingen, Bournemouth University

Huge numbers of pregnant women and new mothers are taking their own lives in Nepal as they deal with extreme poverty, natural disasters, domestic violence and oppression. Research shows suicide represents 16% of all deaths in women of reproductive age. The rate is higher than previously recorded and there has been a considerable increase over the past few years. But a new project which trained midwives about mental health issues might hold the key to turning this around.

Suicide is primarily associated with unwanted pregnancy or the feeling of being trapped in poverty or situations of sexual and physical abuse. A study of 202 pregnant women (carried out between September and December 2014) found that 91% of them experienced some kind of physical, emotional or sexual abuse – mostly at the hands of their husbands and/or mother-in-laws.

The sad fact is that almost 40% of suicides in the world occur in South-East Asia. And one in three pregnant woman and new mothers are taking their own lives in low-income countries. In Nepal, 21% of the suicides among women aged 15-49 were in girls under 18 due to violence and being powerless in their families and communities.

Pregnancy is a known trigger for mental health problems. But gender discrimination and domestic violence are making matters worse. In addition to these issues, natural disasters are also a huge contributing factor to the spiralling mental health problems of young mothers.

A woman on a collapsed building in Kathmandu after the earthquake in May, 2015. Shutterstock/Somjin Klong-ugkara

Lack of control

In Nepal, making decisions about seeking maternity care is not in the hands of the pregnant woman but usually lies with her mother-in-law or husband. When young women marry they move in with their husbands’ family and their lives are ruled by their in-laws. These women often have little say in seeking health care during pregnancy, childbirth and the postnatal period.

In many poor families, husbands migrate for work leaving their young wives with family. Nepal has a real migrant workers economy with close to 50% of Nepalis relying on financial help from relatives abroad. Mental health problems can worsen for women who have been taken away from their own families. In other cases, young women face domestic violence due to their husbands’ drinking leading to mental health issues and suicide.

There is also a lack of understanding of pregnancy and childbirth-related mental health issues and husbands and mothers-in-law often fail to support these vulnerable young women. They in turn are reluctant to seek help due to the stigma associated with mental illness.

Cultural and social norms

Cultural practices and social norms, like gender inequalities and early marriage, hinder women who have a lack of choice when it comes to their role as mothers. There is also a preference for sons rather than daughters, who are seen as an “economic burden” in many families. If a woman is expecting a daughter, especially for the second or third time, this can also trigger mental health issues.

Depression and anxiety are common and affect ten to 15 out of every 100 pregnant women in the country. Postnatal depression is often reported, but less attention is given to more common and less obvious mental health issues.

Natural disasters and midwives

Recurrent earthquakes and floods exacerbate issues of depression and helplessness as women are forced to live in temporary shelters and have the burden of increased poverty.

For many rural Nepali women, the most qualified birth attendant they can expect to look after them is the Nepali Auxiliary Nurse Midwives (ANMs). But a study found that they received little or no formal training on perinatal mental health issues. Although there have been gradual improvements in health care for women during pregnancy, mental health support is leaving many women feeling that suicide is their only option.

As part of a Tropical Health and Education Trust project, funded by DFID, around 80 ANMs were trained on perinatal mental health issues. The project used UK-based volunteers in Nepal over two years.

The training helped raise awareness of mental health well-being and improved access to mental health care for pregnant women and new mothers. This is a vital first step towards improving community-based services for pregnant women in rural Nepal. But to offer hope to more young women there needs to be a significant increase in this type of training and awareness raising.

—

Bibha Simkhada, Postdoctoral Researcher in School of Nursing and Allied Health, Liverpool John Moores University and Edwin van Teijlingen, Professor of Reproductive Health Research, Bournemouth University

This article was originally published on The Conversation. Read the original article.

BU Briefing – Mii-vitaliSe: Using Nintendo Wii™ to increase activity levels, vitality and well-being in people with multiple sclerosis.

Our BU briefing papers are designed to make our research outputs accessible and easily digestible so that our research findings can quickly be applied – whether to society, culture, public policy, services, the environment or to improve quality of life. They have been created to highlight research findings and their potential impact within their field. 

The benefits of physical activity for people with multiple sclerosis (MS) have been recognised. Physical activity has been shown to be associated with improvements in mobility, muscle strength and physical fitness. Other secondary benefits might include reduced fatigue, depression and anxiety and improved sense of wellbeing.

This research team have developed a home-based physiotherapist supported Nintendo Wii™ intervention (‘Mii-vitaliSe’) for people with MS that uses commercial software. This is a pilot study to explore the feasibility of conducting a full scale clinical and cost-effectiveness trial of Mii-vitaliSe.

Click here to read the briefing paper.

For more information about the research, contact Sarah Thomas at saraht@bournemouth.ac.uk.
To find out how your research output could be turned into a BU Briefing, contact research@bournemouth.ac.uk.

Student Research Assistantships – recruiting now!

Fusion Investment Fund

The Student Research Assistantship Scheme is open to student applications until 18th March. Vacancies are open to all on-campus undergraduate and postgraduate taught students with an average grade of 70%+, please do encourage your students to apply!

The programme is funded by the Fusion Investment Fund and the scheme continues to focus on supporting departments to reach co-creation targets while supporting students to undertake research that is directly related to their career path and/or academic discipline under the guidance of an experienced academic.

This round of SRAs is for 120 hours work over four weeks between late May and 31st July 2018. Students can browse the full list of vacancies and apply via MyCareerHub.

If you have any questions about the SRA Scheme, please call Charlene Parrish on 61281 or email the SRA inbox.

Narrative Research Group Special Session – celebrating Dr Hywel Dix’s latest publication and showcasing the poetry of Dr Tom Masters.

On the 28th February, JEC’s Narrative Research Group was host to not one but two speakers; Dr Hywel Dix (Principal Academic in English, BU), and Dr Tom Masters (Lecturer in English & Communication, BU).

Hywel Dix introduces his research.

In the first half of the session, Hywel presented a short overview of his most recent publication, The Late-Career Novelist: Career Construction Theory, Authors and Autofiction (Bloomsbury, 2017). As Hywel explained, the book explores the ways in which bestselling contemporary novelists look back and respond to their earlier successes in their subsequent writings. Exploring the work of major novelists such as Angela Carter, V.S. Naipaul, Salman Rushdie, Ian McEwan, Julian Barnes, A.S. Byatt and Graham Swift, the book considers the self-reflexive process by which these writers ‘write back’ to their earlier works, as well as address their public personas and status as significant contemporary writers. Further, in its approach to these writers and their work, the book draws for the first time on social psychology and career construction theory in an interdisciplinary examination of how the dynamics of a literary career play out in the fictional worlds of these novelists.

Tom Masters performs his poetry.

Following Hywel’s presentation and discussion amongst the group, Tom Masters then gave a recital of a number of his poems, followed by discussion of their themes and imagery. At the centre of Tom’s performance was a work in progress that he is writing as part of the bicentenary celebrations of Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein, or the Modern Prometheus (1818). Drawing on a range of influences, including Joseph Wright’s 1768 painting An Experiment on a Bird in the Air Pump, and Henry Fuseli’s The Nightmare (1781), the poem explores the conjoined intellectual and artistic contexts of the Enlightenment period, and the resonance of their Gothic overtones. When completed, the poem will be exhibited alongside Shelley’s original manuscript as part of a collection of works commissioned to acknowledge the influence of Shelley’s work. For those of us who have taught and lectured with Tom across units within JEC, it was a pleasure to learn more about his creative work in this forum.

Our next meeting will be Wednesday 21st March when we will welcome Dr Maxine Gee (Lecturer in Sceenwriting, FMC), who will give a talk on her research into science fiction and Anime. A further event in May will see Alexandra Alberda and Stephen Allard, first year PhD researchers in JEC, introduce their respective work on graphic medicine and digital poetics.

The Narrative Research Group and its meetings are open to all (staff and students); if you are interested in joining the group, attending the seminars, or being added to the mailing list then please email its convener, Dr Sam Goodman (sgoodman@bournemouth.ac.uk).