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NERC Call for ideas for strategic research

Guidance

NERC invites ideas for scientific advances that will, over time, contribute to addressing some of these major challenges of the 21st century: benefiting from natural resources, resilience to environmental hazards, and managing environmental change. The ideas will be used to inform the development of new strategic research investments through either highlight topics (HTs) or strategic programme areas (SPAs).

Ideas can be sent to NERC at any time and can come from any individual or group, and any part of the environmental science community (including researchers and those who use environmental science research). Ideas must be submitted using the template provided for either highlight topics or strategic programme areas; this should be up to two sides of A4 written in language that is clear to a broad section of the NERC community.

Once an idea is sent to NERC, the proposer relinquishes ownership of that idea and transfers it to NERC. NERC may choose to publish or share material received.

Please refer to the guidance below, which explains what they are looking for in more detail.

Guidance for developing and submitting ideas for strategic research (PDF, 231KB)

For further information, they have also compiled some frequently asked questions (FAQ), which cover the different aspects of the ideas process and role of SPAG.

FAQ for developing and submitting ideas for strategic research (PDF, 111KB)

You can download the appropriate template for submitting your ideas below.

Highlight topic idea template (Word, 48KB)

Strategic programme area idea template (Word, 49KB)

A summary of the ideas received by the 2016 and 2017 cut-offs is provided below.

Summary of the ideas 2016 cut-off (PDF, 124KB)

Summary of the ideas 2017 cut-off (PDF, 318KB)

Cut-off dates

Please note that timings are indicative only and so may change.

HT timetable

Cut-off date for HT ideas – 15 May 2018

New HTs announced, feedback on ideas available – November 2018

SPA timetable

Cut-off date for SPA ideas – 7 September 2017

Potential SPA(s) for further development announced, feedback on ideas available – February 2018

New SPA(s) announced – Autumn 2018

Contact

NERC encourages ideas from all parts of the environmental science community and NERC staff are available to discuss potential ideas and provide advice. If you have any queries on the process or would like advice on a potential idea please contact them at in the first instance, and they will put you in touch with a NERC colleague who can help.

NERC Doctoral Training Partnerships 2 (DTP2) call is open

Funding opportunities

Closing date (Notification of Intent): 16:00 on Wednesday 7 March 2018

Closing date (Proposals): 16:00 on Wednesday 16 May 2018

NERC invites proposals to host and deliver its second phase of investment in Doctoral Training Partnerships (DTPs).

DTPs provide excellent postgraduate research opportunities as well as varied professional and technical skills and personal development training. Training delivered through DTPs can be drawn from any part of the NERC science remit and research topics are chosen by students and supervisors. This training plays a key part in maintaining the breadth and diversity of our research base and in ensuring that as a community we are responsive to new ideas.

DTP students are trained in cohorts, and training is delivered in collaboration with both academic and end-user partners from a wide range of backgrounds to ensure students are equipped with the skills and experiences required across NERC’s diverse community, for the benefit of science, policy, the wider labour market, and the economy.

NERC expects to invest in between 10 and 20 DTPs through this call. Each DTP award will provide funding for five years of new student intakes (eight years of funding in total, from the start of the academic year 2019-20). Each DTP will be allocated between 12 and 24 studentships per year.

Each DTP will offer training across a range of scientific topics within the NERC remit and may include training at the interface between environmental sciences and other disciplines, where many major research challenges exist. It is anticipated that, collectively, the DTPs awarded through this call will cover the breadth of NERC’s remit. However, there is no expectation that a single DTP will cover the whole of NERC’s remit.

This is an open competitive call for new DTP awards and no existing NERC DTP awards will be automatically renewed. Existing NERC DTPs must follow the application process outlined here and submit both a notification of intent and a proposal through this call.

A town hall meeting will be held on 30 January 2018 in central London to give potential applicants the opportunity to discuss the call with NERC. Registration for this meeting has already closed and the final attendee list has been confirmed. A summary of the meeting will be published on the NERC website.

This call has been informed by the outcomes of the DTP mid-term evaluation 2016-17.

How to apply

This call includes a notification of intent stage.

Notification of intent

Notification of intent must be submitted using the online registration form. The closing date for notifications of intent is 16:00 on 7 March 2018.

Full proposals

Full proposals will only be accepted from those that have submitted a notification of intent via the online form and NERC must be informed of any changes to hosting partners following the submission of a notification of intent.

Proposals must use the form provided below and must be submitted via the research councils’ Je-S system by 16:00 on 16 May 2018.

Full proposal form (Word, 57KB)

For full details, please see the Announcement of Opportunity document below.

Announcement of Opportunity (PDF, 760KB)

Contact

NERC Research Careers

If you intend to submit to this call, please contact your RKEO Funding Development Officer in the first instance.

Wednesday 24 January ADRC presents: NIHR Clinical Research Network (CRN) Wessex Seminar

You are cordially invited to this lunchtime seminar which is open to all BU staff.

Please feel free to bring your lunch.

Wednesday 24th January 2018

1 – 2 pm

B407, Bournemouth House, Lansdown Campus

The NIHR is the UK’s major funder of applied health research. 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. The NIHR CRN Study Support Service helps researchers set up and deliver high quality research to time and target in the NHS in England.

We are fortunate to have two Research Delivery Managers from the NIHR CRN  Wessex, David Higenbottam and Alex Jones  coming to BU who  will be presenting a seminar about the network, funding opportunities and forthcoming strategic plan for 2018, followed by Q & A session.

Please email Michelle O’Brien (mobrien@bournemouth.ac.uk) if you are planning to attend.  See you there!

Biographies

David Higenbottam
Has worked in research since 2012.

2012 – 2014 South Coast DeNDRoN Network Manager.

2014 – to date Research Delivery Manager for Divisions 2 and 4 (Division 4 includes dementia as one of its specialities).

 

Alex Jones
Worked for Hampshire & Isle of Wight CLRN from July 2013 – April 2014.

Division 5 Assistant Portfolio Manager then Portfolio Manager April 2014 – December 2017 (Division 5 includes ageing as one of its specialties).

Currently Acting Research Delivery Manager for Division 5.

Wessex CRN
The Wessex CRN was formed  in April 2014, its geographic footprint is Hampshire & Isle of Wight, Dorset and South Wiltshire. It comprises 12 partner NHS organisations and 10 clinical commissioning groups. Research specialties are spread across 6 Divisions.

LES undergraduate receives grant for the restoration of marine protected area in Bali

Zach Boakes, a second year Environmental Science student has received funding from the Society of Conservation Biology to continue his placement work into the restoration and protection of the marine environment on the Indonesian Island of Bali.

As part of his placement, Zach co-founded an NGO with Balinese locals and established a marine protected area, designed to help with the problems of pollution and overfishing. Some of this work has involved the construction of artificial sections of reef (pictured), designed to restore structural complexity and encourage recruitment of coral, fish and other marine organisms.

Zach says: “The money is vital to allow us to create 50 more artificial reef sections and to help restore the area to how it was before it became so damaged. The project is ongoing, with both locals and volunteers monitoring the reef and contributing to the education of the local community.”

More about the project can be found at: https://northbalireefconservation.com/

BU Briefing – Comparing efficiency in reducing adult cancer in the UK & 20 Western countries

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 response to medical advances, greater expectations, extended longevity and the rising cost of health care, especially for cancer, means health inflation raises almost 3% p.a. and has meant that every Western nation has the need to devote considerably more of its ‘national income’ (gross domestic product) to healthcare.

So, how efficient is the UK in reducing adult (55–74) cancer mortality rates and total mortality rates compared to the other 21 similar socio-economic Western countries?

In this paper, efficiency ratios were calculated by dividing reduced mortality over the period by the average percentage of national income spent on healthcare.

Click here to read the briefing paper.

For more information about the research, contact Professor Colin Pritchard at cpritchard@bournemouth.ac.uk, Tamas Hickish at thickish@bournemouth.ac.uk or Emily Rosenorn-Lanng at elanng@bournemouth.ac.uk.
To find out how your research output could be turned into a BU Briefing, contact research@bournemouth.ac.uk.

EPSRC Building a Pervasive and Ubiquitous Computing Community workshop

Guidance

EPSRC is holding a two-day workshop on Pervasive and Ubiquitous Computing. The workshop will be highly multidisciplinary as well as bringing together those who are developing platforms and standards with researchers deploying and evaluating in real world environments.

In the Balancing Capability exercise, Pervasive and Ubiquitous Computing was selected as an area to grow. While this is likely to happen due to the increasing economic and social influence of the Internet of Things and related technologies, EPSRC believe that some effort is required at this stage to ensure a balanced portfolio of funded research by the end of the delivery plan period.

Moreover, while they believe this field has a key role to play in contributing to the achievement of their cross-ICT priorities, they think that to achieve the objectives described in the priorities: People at the Heart of ICT, Safe and Secure ICT and Cross-Disciplinarity and Co-Creation a mature community discussion will be required.

Further information about EPSRC‘s portfolio and strategies, see our website.

What is Pervasive and Ubiquitous Computing?

Put broadly, Pervasive and Ubiquitous Computing (PUC) is the fundamental and applied research that aims achieve the integration of computing into any device in any location that interacts with our lives.

Research in this area is necessarily multi-disciplinary and in order to achieve success will draw-on and synthesise ideas at the boundary of numerous other strands of research. This includes:

  • Context awareness and affective computing in mobile systems and fundamental research into smart devices.
  • Communication and information management between trillions of devices as well as new forms of distributed data handling and processing at scale.
  • Research into the software or hardware of devices that have mobility as a unique aspect of their application. This includes the solutions to challenges of building systems on a grand scale such as interoperability, reliability and scalability.

Research into new forms of interaction with pervasive computer systems and related research into trust, privacy and security. This will require novel computer science and engineering while incorporating research from the social sciences, humanities and law.

How to apply

Those wishing to attend the workshop should complete the short Expression of Interest (EoI) form on this page.

This is a fantastic opportunity for BU academics as a lot of our research would be classed as ‘Pervasive and Ubiquitous Computing’.  If you do get a place, please can you let your RKEO representative know as we are interested in how this area will grow and what calls may come out of it.

EPSRC Physical Sciences Early Career Researchers workshops

Guidance

EPSRC is holding two one-day workshops for Early Career Researchers who work in the area of Physical Sciences.  This is a great opportunity for BU ECRs (especially those who are new to funding) in these areas to get a first hand insight to strategies and policy changes, and to network with peers and funders.

The workshops will be held in:

  • Glasgow – 06 March 2018
  • Nottingham – 14 March 2018

The workshops will provide an update to EPSRC and Physical Sciences strategies and will communicate recent and upcoming policy changes, such as the New Investigator Awards. The workshops will be attended by a number of EPSRC staff but also by experienced academics and current or previous Early Career Fellowship holders from across the Physical Sciences portfolio who will provide guidance and mentoring. The workshops will also include opportunities for networking with other ECR colleagues.

EPSRC anticipate this event will be of greatest interest to Physical Sciences researchers who are eligible to hold an EPSRC grant and hold few or no grants as a Principal Investigator.

The aims of the workshops are to:

  • To develop early career researchers understanding of EPSRC, including strategic priorities and funding mechanisms.
  • To develop relationships with Early Career researchers who will become future advocates for EPSRC.

Those wishing to attend the workshop should complete the Expression of Interest (EoI) form on this page. This will be used to select participants based on their justification of attendance as described in their EoI submission and will take into account how their research aligns to the EPSRC Physical Sciences remit and research areas. In addition, EPSRC will also ensure a balanced representation of organisation, research area, expertise and career stage.

Places are limited and the number of participants from a given organisation may have to be restricted in the event of multiple applications. Selection will primarily be based on the justification of attendance and completion of the survey is not a guarantee of attendance.

The EoI will close at 17:00 on 31 January 2018.

If you do get a place, please let your RKEO contact know as we are interested in what information will be shared, particularly if there are new initiatives for ECRs.

BU researchers have designed, developed and tested the next generation of hydraulic valve system used in industrial applications

Research collaboration between Bournemouth University and Hydreco Hydraulics Ltd, our local hydraulic equipment supplier company based in Poole, has resulted in the design and development of a potential next generation hydraulic valve and control systems.  This would be used in a wide range of applications including targeting the Earth’s movement and constructing different types of heavy machinery.

Hydreco Hydraulics is sponsoring and supporting two PhD projects from BU’s Department of Design and Engineering, in the Faculty of Science and Technology. One project involves the design and provision of the mechanical parts, while the other project involves the provision of the control systems.  The company has just started testing the first prototype valve and its control system algorithm.  The aims of the planned tests are to study the performance of the valve, compare it to the simulation predictions, and to identify its mechanical characteristics needed to fine tune the control algorithms.

The important concept used in the new hydraulic valve is the relatively novel idea of electronically controlled independent metering.  However, BU researchers are developing a more advanced version that promises to be more controllable and has much higher resolution using improved independent micro-metering control algorithm.

The first prototype of this next generation hydraulic valves, that was investigated and developed by engineering research scientists and research students at BU in collaboration with engineers from the our industrial partner and collaborators, is currently being tested on site at Hydreco hydraulics PLC.  Key mechanical characteristics such as damping, friction, leakages, and metering control can now be investigated, quantified or improved towards developing the final commercial product.  This investigation can lead to further development of the controller algorithm as well as performing the necessary design modification needed to create valve clusters and a more detailed design needed to better condition the flow prior to entering in to metering zone.  The gap between simulation and experimental performance of the pump can be better understood and factored in to the controller algorithm design in order to improve the efficiency and resolution of positional control of the valve spool.  This valve clustering and control system is now the subject of an on-going investigation.  The valve’s mechanical characteristics used in simulation are being analysed and updated as a result of these tests. A hydraulic valve may also be connected to a steam generator in an industrial facility. You may seek laser cutting services if you need custom metal materials for your projects.

A typical hydraulic actuator, whether linear (hydraulic cylinder) or rotary (hydraulic motor), used in the target market machines/product (e.g. excavators, Compact Screening Plant, or loaders) requires four of these valve elements per actuators when adopting our independent metering control strategy.  This, as stated above, requires a new design in order to cluster four valves into one mechanical unit per actuator.  As a result Mr Philip Godfrey, from Hydreco Hyradualics Ltd., and Professor Siamak Noroozi, from Bournemouth University, have created two final year undergraduate projects where two existing Mechanical Engineering students will be working on this new design as their final year project.  These students will perform a full hydraulic flow simulation, a full structural integrity analysis under hydro static load  in order to check the Hydro-Elastic characteristics and the feasibility of the clustering idea.

Mr Philip Godfrey and Professor Siamak Noroozi are currently investigating possible routes to the market for this new design.  It is a perfect example of Fusion in action where the link between Research, Education and Professional Practice is much greater than that on paper.  This project will not only change a company’s market position but also improve the economy and quality of life by reducing the energy consumption rates of these machines.

For more information, please contact Professor Siamak Noroozi (snoroozi@bournemouth.ac.uk).

New paper international midwifery

international, Publishing, writing

Over the Festive Season the International Journal of Childbirth published the latest article from staff based at the Centre for Midwifery, Maternal & Perinatal Health (CMMPH) [1].  This paper ‘Women, Midwives, and a Medical Model of Maternity Care in Switzerland’ is co-authored with Bournemouth University Visiting Faculty Ans Luyben (a Dutch midwife working in Switzerland), Sue Brailey from the School of Health & Education at Middlesex University and Lucy Firth at the University of Liverpool.

This Swiss paper builds on a body of work within CMMPH around a medical/social model of childbirth.  BU academics have applied this model in multidisciplinary studies, including the disciplines of midwifery, [2-4] sociology, [5] and media studies [6].

 

References

  1. Brailey, S., Luyben, A., Firth, L., van Teijlingen, E. (2017) Women, midwives and a medical model of maternity care in Switzerland, International Journal of Childbirth 7(3): 117-125.
  2. van Teijlingen, E. (2017) The medical and social model of childbirth, Kontakt 19 (2): e73-e74
  3. MacKenzie Bryers H., van Teijlingen, E. (2010) Risk, Theory, Social & Medical Models: critical analysis of the concept of risk in maternity care, Midwifery 26(5): 488-496.
  4. Ireland, J., van Teijlingen, E. (2013) Normal birth: social-medical model, The Practising Midwife 16 (11): 17-20.
  5. van Teijlingen E. (2005) A critical analysis of the medical model as used in the study of pregnancy and childbirth, Sociological Research Online, 10 (2) Web address: http://www.socresonline.org.uk/10/2/teijlingen.html
  6. Luce, A., Cash, M., Hundley, V., Cheyne, H., van Teijlingen, E., Angell, C. (2016) “Is it realistic?” the portrayal of pregnancy and childbirth in the media BMC Pregnancy & Childbirth 16: 40 http://bmcpregnancychildbirth.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/s12884-016-0827-x

Research Photography Competition Deadline this Friday!

There’s only a few days left to submit your entry for this year’s Research Photography Competition! Don’t miss out on this opportunity to have your photo exhibited in the Atrium Art Gallery!

Photo by Kerstin Stutterheim, Professor of Media & Cultural Studies.

The last few years have seen our staff and students submitting a wide range of images summing up their research (last year’s entries can be seen here).  Photography is a great way to capture and share a different side of your research with other staff, students and members of the public.  Nearly 100 images have been entered over the last few years, and we’re looking forward to seeing what this year’s competition brings.

Want to take part?

Whether you’re in the early stages of your research or it has come to the end, we are inviting all academics and student researchers from across the university to showcase your research through an image relating to this year’s competition theme ‘People‘.  This could include:

  • An image relating to people in your team,
  • People who might be impacted by or benefit from your research,
  • People you’ve met in the course of your research,
  • Or even from your own point of view.

Whatever your idea is, we want you to get involved and get creative!

Taking part in the competition is a great way to showcase and raise awareness of your research, as well as growing your academic profile both in and outside the university.  You will also be in with a chance of winning some Amazon vouchers!

How do I enter?

Step 1: Take your photo.

It’s easy! Grab a camera and take a picture connecting with the theme ‘People‘.  Interpret it in any way you see fit to capture any area of your research.

Each image will need to be 300pi (pixels per inch) with physical dimensions equivalent to an A3 size piece of paper (297 x 420 mm or 11.7 x 16.5 in).  Images smaller than this tend not to have a high print quality.

Step 2: Submit the photo!

You may enter only one photo per person.  Once you have the perfect image, all you have to do is submit it by emailing the Research account (research@bournemouth.ac.uk) before the deadline, along with a 100 – 200 word description of your research behind the image.

Submission details

The submission deadline is 12 January 2018 at 5pm.  Late entries will not be accepted.

Staff, students and the general public will then be able to vote for their favourite image.

The competition winners will be presented with a prize by Professor John Fletcher in the Atrium Art Gallery, in March 2018.  All photographs will be presented in the Atrium Art Gallery for two weeks in March so you’ll get a chance to see all the entries.

Please read through the Terms & Conditions before entering.

Photo by Rutherford, Senior Lecturer In Creative Advertising

Need inspiration?

Take a look at our Photo of the Week, where you can read about the research behind the images from previous entries. 

Should you have any queries about the competition then please contact Sacha Gardener, Student Engagement & Communications Coordinator, in the Research and Knowledge Exchange Office.

Dr Emily Arden-Close from Psychology co-authors paper in The Lancet Respiratory Medicine

open access, Publishing

Dr Emily Arden-Close, a Senior Lecturer in Psychology, is a co-author on a paper entitled “Physiotherapy breathing retraining for asthma: a randomised controlled trial.” This was recently published in the prestigious journal Lancet Respiratory Medicine (impact factor 19.287). This paper reported the results of a large 3-arm randomised trial which demonstrated that breathing retraining delivered by DVD and booklet was equivalent in terms of effectiveness to face-to-face physiotherapy, and more effective than usual care, in terms of asthma-related quality of life at 12 months.  The paper is available open access at http://www.thelancet.com/journals/lanres/article/PIIS2213-2600(17)30474-5/fulltext

 

European Trade Union Institute

ETUI has invited Jens Holscher to speak on ‘Narrowing the Gaps: 30 years
after the transition started and 14 years after enlargement – where are we on convergence?’ at a roundtable of a conference at their headquarters in Brussels.

Two important Chapters on Performative Social Science now available in text books

PG research

Kip Jones, a pioneer in Performative Social Science at Bournemouth University (BU), has two substantial book Chapters now available in texts published by Wiley-Blackwell and Palgrave Macmillan. Both texts move the practice of arts-led research forward substantially and will become valued resources for students and researchers for years to come.

The first Chapter, “Performative Social Science”, in J. P. Matthes, C. S. Davis, & R. F. Potter (Eds.), The International Encyclopedia of Communication Research Methods, rehearses the development of Performative Social Science (PSS) as a research approach and method, developed over ten years at Bournemouth University through publication, film, research, workshops, Masterclasses, and PhD studies. Jones explains that PSS is not simply ‘art for art’s sake’ instead of research. PSS is research and dissemination practices based in the philosophy of Relational Aesthetics and has much in common with Social Constructionism. The ‘audience’ or reader/viewer are key to PSS, as is the wider community.

This 3-volume Encyclopedia is touted as the most current authoritative single-source reference on communication methods. The editors state that they have invited the best scholars from all over the world to accomplish this. Jones’ Chapter (draft) is now available at: https://www.academia.edu/22126458/Performative_Social_Science

 

The second Chapter, “Emotivity and Ephemera Research”, in Innovative Research Methodologies in Management: Volume I, edited by L. Moutinho and M. Sokelem provides an in-depth worked example of PSS. The Chapter reports on a two-day experimental workshop in arts-led interviewing technique using ephemera to illicit life stories and then reporting narrative accounts back using creative means of presentation. The workshop took place at Bournemouth and participants were all University faculty members. A key to the process was in replicating what research participants may be feeling and going through when they share very personal stories with researchers. The exercise built a respect for this process by acknowledging that fact through the personal experiences and emotive connectivity of workshop participants.

The Editors of this book on management were keen to include the Chapter, stating that many who are attempting a PhD, particularly using a qualitative approach, spend little or no effort in finding, then learning, an appropriate method for their research question. The felt that the Chapter would contribute substantially in this way to management studies. The Chapter was originally published as “A report on an arts-led, emotive experiment in interviewing and storytelling” in The Qualitative Report, 20(2), 86-92 and is available here: https://www.academia.edu/10835482/A_Report_on_an_Arts-Led_Emotive_Experiment_in_Interviewing_and_Storytelling

It is examples like these that substantiate the work being done not only by Jones, but by other members of the Centre for Qualitative Research (CQR) at Bournemouth University. Membership of CQR comes from across Health and Social Sciences’ disciplines at BU as well as from a number of other BU faculties, This attraction attests to the universal appeal of qualitative methods and particularly arts-led ones, including Performative Social Science, which are being developed through CQR.

New publication

New sensor technology used to uncover the link (or lack of) between coaching terminology and traditional three-dimensional movements of the spine during the highly injurious occupation of Cricket Fast Bowling by PhD student Billy Senington and Dr Jonathan Williams.

Senington B, Lee R and Williams J. Are shoulder counter rotation and hip shoulder separation angle representative metrics of three-dimensional spinal kinematics in cricket fast bowling? Journal of Sports Sciences.

http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/02640414.2017.1416734?journalCode=rjsp20