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New GCRF-funded study in South Asia

international

A new multidisciplinary project in South Asia, run between two of Bournemouth University’s Faculties, has recently been funded.  The cross-faculty project “Scoping Study to understand the maternal health, ageing and wellness in rural India to develop a grass-root centre addressing these issues” has Dr Shanti Shanker (Psychology) as its principal investigator in collaboration with Prof Edwin van Teijlingen (Human Sciences & Public Health).   These BU lead researchers have been working in India and Nepal for more than a decade.

This project was recently awarded £76k from the HEFCE GCRF (Higher Education Funding Council for England, Global Challenge Research Funds) Call, at Bournemouth University.  The project will be running from 2017 to 2021 between Maharashtra, India, Nepal and the UK.  This important research initiative  aligns closely with Bournemouth University’s strategic plan around South Asia through Connect India.  Connect India is BU’s hub of practice which focuses on the world’s most populated areas and a global region which is developing rapidly in many ways.

How breathing slowly can help lower blood pressure and reduce the risk of serious health conditions

Performing slow and deep breathing is frequently used to aid in relaxation, but recent research has suggested that it can also lower blood pressure. Researchers within HSS have created an App, called Brythm, that guides breathing to a lower, personalised optimal frequency.

Brythm guides breathing using visual biofeedback, via a graphic, which was created by a BU Student Research Assistant. Optimisation of breathing frequency is achieved using real time monitoring of the cardiovascular responses via a finger sensor, which plugs into the headphone socket of [almost] any smartphone or tablet.

The finger sensor uses the same technology as oxygen saturation monitors in hospitals and monitors the blood flow in your finger. Using a patent-pending algorithm, Brythm aims to maximise the cardiovascular responses to breathing.

The research team is being led by Professor Alison McConnell, a physiologist who has previously undertaken research showing the positive effects of breathing muscle strength training on exercise tolerance for athletes as well as people with cardiovascular or respiratory disease. The product she created (www.powerbreathe.com) was approved for NHS prescription in 2006, and she has similar aspirations for Brythm.

“Our new anti-hypertension App has been developed to provide people with a personalised training programme that adapts their breathing rate according to their individual physiology,” explains Professor McConnell, “It’s designed to be used for just ten minutes per day using a smartphone or tablet, which fits easily into most people’s busy lives. If Brythm training is found to be effective, it could provide a game-changing addition to the fight against hypertension, which afflicts around 30% of the UK population.”

The Brythm research team is currently carrying out research to find out more about the effects of the Brythm app for different groups of people. Professor Alison McConnell secured funding for a PhD student to work with pregnant women who have pregnancy-induced hypertension; this project started in September 2017, and is being led by Malika Felton. The team has partnered with the National Childbirth Trust, which helped to refine the Brythm and will assist in making contact with pregnant women who can help with the research.

Malika’s first study is investigating the immediate effect of using Brythm with healthy women of reproductive age, before examining these immediate effects in healthy pregnant women. The project will culminate in a study investigating both the immediate, and long-term, effects of slow and deep breathing with women who have pregnancy-induced hypertension. The hope is to be able to provide preliminary evidence of an alternative to pharmacological treatments for women who develop hypertension during pregnancy. It is hoped that this preliminary evidence might support bids for further funding to undertake a larger, randomised control clinical trial using Brythm.

As part of the process of preparing for NHS trials in people with primary hypertension, Professor McConnell was recently awarded internal funding for two pump-priming projects using Brythm. Both projects will provide the preliminary evidence of the feasibility of using the Brythm App, as well as the proof of concept evidence needed to secure external funding for larger studies.

The first pump-priming project is investigating the feasibility of using Brythm under ‘real world’ conditions. Stephanie Grigsby, a research midwife from Poole Hospital, is on secondment to the Brythm team for 1 day a week as Project Manager. Participants are being drawn from BU staff, who are asked to download Brythm onto their own device and to use it for 10-minutes daily for 8-weeks. The aim is to understand the use of the App itself, rather than its physiological effects, so there are no health-related exclusion criteria, but participants must be aged 40 or over. The results of this project will help with the design and running of future trials, providing evidence of the usability of Brythm.

The second pump-priming project that is currently underway compares the immediate effects of using Brythm with those created by a breathing biofeedback device already approved by the NHS and US Food & Drug Administration. RESPeRATE delivers the paced breathing using auditory tones and lowers breathing frequency to 6 breaths per minute. The short-term effects of the two methods will be compared, with the aim of demonstrating that Brythm is at least as good as the NHS-approved RESPeRATE device. This project is being undertaken by Dr Pedro Vargas, a co-inventor of the Brythm App, and a previous Postdoctoral Research Fellow of Bournemouth University, who is now based in his home country of Portugal. The study takes place from 29th May – 8th June.

The Brythm team is also delighted to have secured a new SRA who will assist with data collection for all current studies, as well as with data collation and analysis. They will have a fantastic opportunity to be part of the Brythm team and get involved in all aspects of the project, from testing in the HSS Cardiorespiratory Research Laboratory, to analysing the data, as well as taking part in preparing the published research papers that will follow these projects. A second SRA from the Faculty of Media and Communication, has also come on board to produce instructional videos to assist participants with using Brythm and with troubleshooting. These videos will be important tools for supporting participants in future trials, as well as for promoting the research at BU, and the videos will be an integral part of the new BU Brythm website (www.brythm.com [awaiting publication]).

If you are interested in the Brythm research and would like to try the App, the Brythm team is running a drop-in activity session at the Festival of Learning in the Fusion Building on Saturday 16th June.

There are also opportunities to participate in one of our current or future research studies, and if you are interested in this, please read on for more information.

 

Would you like to help test Brythm?

Brythm is currently in the testing phase and the Brythm team are recruiting for 3 separate projects investigating different aspects of the Brythm App.

 

Malika Felton’s study on the immediate cardiovascular effects of Brythm

Who? Healthy women of reproductive age (18-49 years).

Requirements? One 2-hour session in the Cardiorespiratory Research Laboratory in Bournemouth House, Lansdowne campus.

 

Feasibility of using Brythm in the ‘real world’

Who? Anyone aged 40 years or over. Must have a device capable of downloading and using the Brythm App. We can provide guidance on this on request.

Requirements? 10-minute daily breathing sessions for 8 weeks. Recorded daily blood pressure readings, using an automated monitor we provide. An initial meeting is required to demonstrate Brythm and provide the required equipment, which lasts 30 minutes.

 

Brythm vs. RESPeRATE

Who? Non-smokers who have no history of cardiovascular or respiratory disease.

Requirements? One 1 ½ to 2-hour session in the Cardiorespiratory Research Laboratory in Bournemouth House, Lansdowne campus.

 

If you would like more information on any of the projects described above, and/or to receive a participant information sheet, please contact Malika Felton at mfelton@bournemouth.ac.uk or on 01202 961845. Alternatively, drop in to her office in R305 to find out more about the Brythm project, or about participating in one of the research projects.

New BU mental health paper published

international, open access, PG research, Publishing, student research, writing

Congratulations to FHSS students Folashade Alloh and Igoche Onche who found out today that their ‘Mental health in low-and-middle-income countries (LMIC): Going beyond the need for funding’ has been accepted for publication by the editors of Health Prospect.  The paper is co-authored by FHSS staff Dr Pramod Regmi, Prof Edwin van Teijlingen and Dr Steven Trenoweth. Health Prospect is an Open Access journal.

More than 70% of the global mental health burden occurs in many low-and middle-income countries (LMIC). The paper discusses mental health issues in LMIC under different themes such as abuse and mental illness, cultural influence on mental health, need for dignity in care, meeting financial and workforce gaps and the need for national health policy for mental health sector. The paper highlights that mental health education and health care services in most LMIC is poorly resourced; however, there is an urgent need to address issues beyond funding that contribute to poor mental health. In order to meet the increasing challenge of mental health illness in LMIC, there is a need for effort to address cultural and professional practices that contribute to poor mental health among individuals. The authors argue that mental health should be integrated into primary health care in LMIC. Creating awareness on impact of some cultural attitudes/practices will encourage better uptake of mental health services and increase the ease of discussing mental health issues in these countries which will contribute to reducing stigma faced by mental health patients.

Humanising Care, Health and Wellbeing Conference: 21st & 22nd June – Abstracts welcome!

conferences

This is our fourth conference and due to huge success in the past years we would like to invite you to take part in this year’s conference which is free for BU staff and students!

For more information and tickets please visit:

https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/humanising-care-health-wellbeing-tickets-45585595744#tickets

Tickets include refreshments and lunch.

We welcome abstracts!

  • On any topic linked to humanising practice, health and wellbeing
  • Reporting research, educational development or practice development.
  • They may be empirical, methodological, theoretical or discussion papers

Please see previous conference programmes at https://research.bournemouth.ac.uk/2018/04/humanising-care-health-and-wellbeing-conference-2018/

Abstract should:

  • Be submitted in a word document, Include a title (no word limit), Include details of authors, Names, Affiliations, Corresponding author with e-mail address, Content maximum 300 words (not including title and references)
  • Headings: Background, Aim (of research or paper), Method (if research), Findings (if research) or Key points, Conclusion
  • References are not needed and not more than two if included

Please send your abstract to Caroline Ellis-Hill (Conference chair) on cehill@bournemouth.ac.uk

Abstract submission will close when all the presentation spaces are filled; so please send your abstract NOW to avoid disappointment. Abstract submission will close on Tuesday 12 June, 5pm.

Government areas of research interest

Funding opportunities

Did you know that government departments publish their areas of research interest?  This is a guide to where research funds might go, and is useful if you are thinking about policy impact.

The collection is here, and four new ones have been added today:

The DCMS one says “It is designed to encourage researchers and academics to explore those topics that could be of benefit to DCMS and our sectors and act as a starting point for future collaboration.”

There are strategic themes and long lists of specific questions – if you’re working on any of these, you might want to read our blog from earlier today and contact the policy team. 

Spaces still available: Innovate UK visit- Health & Care at Innovate UK and Mini-STEAMLab 30/5/18

The M3 Network welcomes Chris Sawyer, Innovation Lead for Health & Care at Innovate UK, to speak at Bournemouth University on the 30th of May, 2018, 12:00-14:00. This event is an opportunity to gain not only information about Innovate UK and funding opportunities but to discuss the challenges facing health and care technology innovation.
Following the presentation there will be lunch and a facilitated workshop designed to bring forward ideas from academic and industry collaboration.
Academics from the M3 network and those from industry working with health and care technology are encouraged to attend. To book onto this session please e-mail RKEDevFramework@bournemouth.ac.uk with your name and organisation.

NERC Funding Announcement

Funding opportunities

Prospering from the Energy Revolution Challenge: Full programme of funding announced

Funding will help businesses and researchers to create inexpensive, low carbon and resilient ways to provide energy.

The government is investing in a new ‘Prospering from the Energy Revolution Challenge’. UK Research & Innovation has announced full details of its fund for research and industry to develop future smart energy systems and prove their use at scale.

The energy revolution challenge will bring together businesses working with the best research and expertise to develop and demonstrate new approaches to provide cleaner, cheaper and resilient energy. This includes linking low-carbon power, heating and transport systems with energy storage and advanced IT to create intelligent, local energy systems and services.

This is part of the Industrial Strategy Challenge Fund.

Areas of investment

The funding will be available for:

  • Smart local energy systems demonstrators and designs. We will invest in fast-tracking up to three practical local energy systems demonstrators and at least 10 whole system design studies. The practical demonstrators will build supply chain capabilities, deliver positive changes for energy consumers, and inform future projects.
  • Innovation accelerator fund. This will commercialise smart local energy system products and services, and engage with the best international research and innovation opportunities.
  • Research and integration services. A world-leading, interdisciplinary research programme will be commissioned to work alongside the Energy Systems Catapult which will provide coordination and technical support to demonstration and design projects.

Find out more

The demonstrator and concept and design competitions are open for applications. Find out how to apply for these competitions on the GOV.UK website.

Full details of the remaining competitions and funding will be announced shortly.

More about the challenge

The Industrial Strategy Challenge Fund will make sure that research and innovation is at the heart of the government’s Industrial Strategy. This sets out four grand challenges in industries in which the UK is determined to pioneer progress.

The energy revolution falls under the clean growth challenge, which will support the UK to be a world leader in low-carbon technologies, systems and services.

 

 

If you are interested in applying to this call then please contact your RKEO Funding Development Officer in the first instance.

Photo of the Week: The researcher as tourist: “Photographing the photographer”

The researcher as tourist: “Photographing the photographer”

Our next Photo of the Week is Edwin van Teijlingen‘s photo taken in the Nawalparasi district of Nepal. This weekly series features photo entries taken by our academics, students and professional staff for our annual Research Photography Competition, which gives a glimpse into some of the fantastic research undertaken across the BU community.

In early 2017, Bournemouth University led the last of six one-day training sessions in Nepal. This project in improving maternal mental health involved bringing UK volunteers to this South-Asian country to do the training.  The training was conducted jointly by UK volunteers and Nepali-speaking trainers and translators. The project, under the Health Partnership Scheme (HPS), was funded by the UK Department for International Development (DfID) and managed by THET (Tropical Health & Education Trust).

The project centred on Auxiliary Nurse Midwives working in birthing centres in Nawalparasi.  This is relatively poor a district in the south of Nepal, bordering India.  Since the training site was very close to Lumbini, the birthplace of Buddha, we always tried to take volunteers there for a visit.  This photo was taken just outside of the main building (not in view).  It shows many Nepali visitors to the site trying to get a photograph of, or be in a photograph with, our fair-haired Scottish volunteer, Dr. Flora Douglas.

Edwin van Teijlingen is a Professor of Reproduction Health. For more information about this research, please contact Edwin here.

– @EVanTeijlingen

Humanising Care, Health and Wellbeing conference 2018

Humanising Care, Health and Wellbeing conference, 

Bournemouth University 21st -22nd June 2018

We have developed a philosophically driven approach to caring, health and wellbeing based on Humanising practices. It is based on existential understandings from lifeworld approaches and focuses on what make us feel human.  Humanising practices are those that incorporate fully human knowing and support a sense of connection and wellbeing.

This approach is supported by working practices which encourage connection to personal experience and research approaches which privilege subjective experience and knowing; such as phenomenology, narrative, auto-ethnography, embodied knowing and arts–based approaches.

This is our fourth conference; people from previous conferences have said:

A fabulous conference. I leave this day feeling nutured…., inspired …. refreshed… glad to be human

I feel I have found my academic home, it’s a new home and I don’t know where everything is or where to put my ‘stuff’ , but it feels like home

It all fits ! So much lovely work is happening. The threads come together and support this work/idea/way of being. Loved hearing others’ stories and work in action

Thank-you for inviting me to participate –these are very powerful events

If you would like to join us as a presenter or attendee;  please find further information here

To register please click  here 

 

 

We look forward to seeing you

Caroline Ellis-Hill  (on behalf of the conference committee)

Humanising practice in Australia

conferences

Caroline Ellis-Hill  from the Centre for Qualitative Research  has been sharing her work at the 41st Australasian Society for the Study of Brain Impairment conference  in Adelaide.

I was privileged to be asked to be a keynote speaker taking about lifeworld led rehabilitation and also facilitate a practical workshop around staff wellbeing and Humanising practice, guided by a lifeworld approach. Participants enjoyed the workshop, as can be seen from the photograph! The theme of the conference was ‘Connecting and collaborating in rehabilitation’ and firm connections with researchers and clinicians in Australia and New Zealand will create a wonderful opportunity to collaborate across the globe.

I was also invited to be a visiting academic at the Living with Disability Research Centre, La Trobe University , Melbourne where I presented a seminar and met staff in the department. It was great to see what was happening in terms of service provision and disability culture in Australia. Our BU Humanising practice work was very well received and I’m looking forward to working with colleagues at La Trobe in the future.

To find out more around Humanising care, health and wellbeing please go to: https://research.bournemouth.ac.uk/2013/11/humanising-caring-health-and-wellbeing/

Innovate UK funding – precision medicine technologies

BU Challenges, Funding opportunities, innovation, Knowledge Transfer

Image from insidermonkey.com

Innovate UK will invest up to £5 million in innovation projects to support the development of precision medicine (PM) technologies.

Applications can be for either feasibility study projects or industrial research and experimental development projects, although projects may have work packages in different research categories if necessary.

You must explain clearly how your proposed technology will advance precision medicine.

All projects must involve at least one UK based business.

Feasibility study projects must be led by a UK based business either:

  • working alone or
  • working with other businesses or research organisations

Research and development projects must:

  • be collaborative and led by a UK based business of any size or research and technology organisation (RTO)
  • include at least one other grant-claiming organisation, such as an NHS organisation, another healthcare provider, a business, a Catapult or other research technology organisation, a research base or a third-sector organisation

Please see below a summary of this funding opportunity:

Funding type : Grant

Project size : Feasibility study projects – up to £100,000/ Industrial research and experimental development – up to £2 million

Project dates : 1 November 2018 and up to 24 months 

Deadline : 11 July 2018, 12noon

Please see this link for more information on how to apply.

Innovate UK funding – commercialising quantum devices

BU Challenges, Business Engagement, Funding opportunities, innovation, Knowledge Transfer

Image from warontherocks.com

Innovate UK will invest £20 million in innovation projects to develop prototype quantum technology devices that address one or more of these important industrial challenges which are explained further in the scope of this competition:

  1. Situational awareness.
  2. Infrastructure productivity.
  3. Seeing the invisible.
  4. Trusted peer to peer communication

Your proposal must:

  • demonstrate how the device can be brought to market, with manufacture or assembly in the UK
  • fulfil an end user need through the technological advances in quantum technology

A business must lead the project. You must work in collaboration with others.

Please see below a summary of this funding opportunity:

Funding type : Grant

Project size : Between £3 million and £10 million

Project dates : 1 November 2018 and up to 29 months (must be completed by March 2021)

Deadline : 13 June 2018, 12noon

Please see this link for more information on how to apply.

Council for Allied Health Professions Research

Research Ethics, Training

CAHPR is an organisation which aims to help Allied Health Professionals get involved in research and to develop AHP research whilst enhancing healthcare.

Although too short notice, but as an example of how CAHPR could benefit AHPs, the organisation is running a ‘Dragon’s Den’ style event tomorrow, 16th May, where colleagues working within AHP clinical research are invited to pitch for £250 funding in support of their clinical research activities (e.g. presentations, conferences, travel etc.).

The CAHPR website acts as a good source of information for AHP students, and signposts where and who to contact if you’re interested in getting involved, alongside a list of upcoming events – http://cahpr.csp.org.uk/

Innovate UK Funding available – robotics and AI (ISCF)

BU Challenges, Business Engagement, Funding opportunities, innovation, Knowledge Transfer

Image from timeout.com

Innovate UK, as part of UK Research and Innovation, will invest up to £15 million from the Industrial Strategy Challenge Fund (ISCF) in business led collaborations to develop robotic and artificial intelligence systems that remove humans from infrastructure inspection, maintenance and repair in extreme environments.

The Innovate UK Knowledge Transfer Network is inviting businesses to one of three briefing events in Glasgow, Manchester and London to learn more about this £15m competition which includes a 5-day residential workshop to develop collaborative proposals for R&D projects.

To sign up for the briefing events, please click on the links below:

Glasgow, 23rd May

Manchester, 24th May

London, 4th June

For more information about this funding opportunity, please visit this link.

UKRI Strategic Prospectus launched

UKRI will ensure everyone in society benefits from world-leading research and innovation

UK Research and Innovation (UKRI) has set out its plans to strengthen the UK’s world-leading knowledge economy and deliver impact across society.

The UKRI Strategic Prospectus, launched today (May 14), will create a research and innovation system that is fit for the future and equipped to tackle the environmental, social and economic challenges of the 21st Century.

The prospectus is the start of the process and over the next 12 months UKRI and its councils will continue to engage with their communities, the wider public, and undertake research, to further develop individual strategic delivery plans.

This will ensure UKRI responds to important opportunities, fosters excellence and collaboration on the global stage, and draws on the inspiration and insight of our most talented researchers and innovators.

The Government has put research and innovation at the heart of its modern Industrial Strategy, committed additional funding of £7bn by 2021/22 and set out an ambition to increase total R&D expenditure to 2.4% of GDP by 2027.

UKRI will work with its partners to push the frontiers of human knowledge, deliver economic prosperity, and create social and cultural impact. It describes four underpinning areas key to delivering this:

  • Leading talent – nurturing the pipeline of current and future talent
  • A trusted and diverse system – driving a culture of equality, diversity and inclusivity and promoting the highest standards of research, collaboration and integrity
  • Global Britain – identifying and supporting the best opportunities for international collaboration
  • Infrastructure –  delivering internationally-competitive infrastructure to ensure we have the best facilities to foster innovation and conduct research

UKRI will work in partnership with government, businesses, universities, and other research organisations to create the best possible environment for research and innovation to flourish.  This includes fostering collaboration with countries and institutions around the world and providing access to internationally competitive facilities and infrastructure.

Over the coming months, UKRI will be conducting research and consultation to further develop its approach to working with others and to answer a series of big questions. These include how to grow the economy across different regions of the UK whilst continuing to expand our existing world-leading excellence; how to reduce the gap in productivity and the best approaches to developing talent across the diverse population of the UK, providing the skills needs of the future.

To read the full article, please click here. To read the UK Research and Innovation Strategic Prospectus visit https://www.ukri.org/about-us/strategic-prospectus/