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Changes to CAF exemptions for research applications goes live today

From today, 1st November 2017, all research applications for external funding will be treated as CAF-exempt (Contract Authorisation Form) where no commitment exists at application stage.  This has been agreed by UET in October 2017, following a request from RKEO and Legal Services made in response to applicant feedback.

RKEO have taken on responsibility for ensuring that all research application terms are reviewed prior to submission to ensure that no commitment is being made at submission stage (funders currently listed as CAF-exempt will not require review).  By streamlining the process to just one Professional Service, it should reduce the time required to process research applications.  If an application is subsequently awarded, a contract and CAF will be required.

Legal Services have amended the Contract signing Policy and Procedures in line with the above changes.

A full description of the changes can be found on the intranet policy section under ‘research’ and then ‘pre-award’. If you are an applicant or approver for applications then it is essential that you read the full document to see what is and isn’t included in the new process.

Can you beat the clock?

Can you beat the clock?

Deadline for the Doctoral College 3MT application has been extended to Monday 5 February 2018.

For more information, eligibility and how to apply visit the website.

Don’t miss out on the chance to win £400 towards a conference of your choice, plus entry into the Vitae National 3MT competition plus £100 voucher.

ESRC Festival of Social Science – what we have in store for you

In collaboration with the Economic and Social Research Council’s (ESRC) Festival of Social Science, Professor Sangeeta Khorana and Professor Jens Holscher will be coordinating an engaging workshop and panel discussion for local businesses to discuss the possible options around several pressing post-Brexit issues. These issues are;

  • What form of economic relationship can be best re-negotiated within the short timespan (until October 2018) between the UK and EU?
  • What will be the impact on small and medium sized British firms? What steps are proposed to endure that British firms remain competitive after Brexit?
  • Implications for UK trade policy making, focusing in particular on future trade arrangements with the World Trade Organisation and other countries.

The Festival of Social Science offers a fantastic insight into some of the country’s leading social science research and its influence on our social, economic, and political lives both now and in the future. This event will be able to show insight from business leaders and the Commonwealth Secretariat on the issues around Brexit, as well as create a dialogue for businesses in the South West to have their opinions shared.

If you are interested in coming along to this event – drop us an email and we can get you registered!

For more information on all of our ESRC Festival of Social Science events, check out our website.

REMINDER – Cross-Research Council Mental Health Network Plus call Meeting

Just a quick reminders…

We will be holding a networking event for BU academics who are interested in the Cross-Research Council Mental Health Network Plus call on 1st November 09:30-11:30 in PG140. It will be a chance to get like-minded people in one space to identify possible collaborations and differences.

No preparation is necessary for the meeting; however we would ask you to read the call guidance see here.

Refreshment will be provided, if you would like attend please contact Alexandra Pekalski or Lisa Gale Andrews.

Photo of the Week: Our Experience: My Voice, My Story

Our Experience: My Voice, My Story

Our Experience: My Voice, My Story

Our next instalment of the ‘Photo of the Week’ series features Dr Maggie Hutchings image which represents BU’s Fair Access Research Project in action.  The series is a weekly instalment, which features an image taken by our fantastic BU staff and students. The photos give a glimpse into some of the fascinating work our researchers have been doing across BU and the wider community.

The Fair Access Research project brings together students and staff from across the university to develop research knowledge and expertise in the field of fair access to higher education. The team are developing an understanding of the challenges some students face in accessing and succeeding in university, how university is experienced by different groups of students and how the university can support them. The impact of the research will be felt by students and academics across the university as awareness is raised and a shift in culture is felt over time.

The photo voice method was used by BU students participating in the ‘My Voice, My Story’ research project to produce images and ‘stories’ about their experiences of being a non-traditional student. Students co-created their stories and were invited to share their experiences at an ESRC Festival of Social Sciences workshop with an invited audience of academics and widening participation practitioners. The image shows the participants’ reflections captured at the workshop through interpretations written on the table-cloths, and contributing to the data for the research. Insights were gained into the effects of arts-based social participatory research methods for eliciting deep stories to inform policy and practice.

If you’d like find out more about the research or the photo itself then please contact Dr Hutchings or Dr Vanessa Heaslip or Dr Clive Hunt who are leading the Fair Access Research Project.

This photo was originally an entry in the 2017 Research Photography Competition. If you have any other questions about the Photo of the Week series or the competition please email research@bournemouth.ac.uk

#TalkBU presents… Let’s talk about HENRYs

#TalkBU is a monthly lunchtime seminar on Talbot Campus, open to all students and staff at Bournemouth University and free to attend. Come along to learn, discuss and engage in a 20-30 minute presentation by an academic or guest speaker talking about their research and findings, with a short Q&A at the end. 


Let’s talk about the Henry’s…

When: Thursday 16 November at 1pm – 2pm

Where: Room FG04, Ground Floor in the Fusion Building

Social media has created a different dimension of consumers for luxury products in particular. That being, the aspirational consumer’s desires for luxury derive from content produced on social media. Often, despite their strong yearning for luxury goods, due to economic reasons, aspirational consumers are unable to frequently purchase luxury. Social media provides an avenue for aspirational consumers to conspicuously consume without the need to purchase, enabling them to use luxury brands to create value amongst themselves.

In this #TalkBU session, Dr Elvira Bolat will examine the influence that social media has on the consumption of luxury products by introducing the Henry family: Hailey, Harriet, Hollie, Hannah, and Hilary.

Please register here to attend!

If you have any queries, please contact Sacha Gardener.

You don’t want to miss out on #TalkBU!

HE policy update for the w/e 27th October 2017

Freedom of speech, censorship and bias

After last week’s flurry on freedom of speech prompted by the Minster’s comments when launching the OfS consultation, this week the discussion has taken on a much more aggressive and personal tone, as the letter from an MP asking for information about staff teaching about Brexit hit the headlines, and the Daily Mail outed university staff as being majority pro-Brexit. I’ve written about all this on the Lighthouse Policy Group blog.

OfS Regulation

As noted last week, BU will be preparing an institutional response to this consultation. Policy@bournemouth.ac.uk will work with colleagues across BU and collate our response.

The consultation documents are huge, and as soon as you start looking at one area, you have to look at more than one (the conditions, and lots of details about them are in a separate Guidance document). So we will start simply this week with some highlights from the opening sections.

As a risk-based regulator, the OfS will seek to mitigate (though not eradicate) four risks – the risk that the four primary objectives are not met.

[The OfS will have four primary objectives:

  1. all students, from all backgrounds, are supported to access, succeed in, and progress from, higher education
  2. all students, from all backgrounds, receive a high quality academic experience, and their qualifications hold their value over time in line with sector-recognised standards
  3. that all students, from all backgrounds, have their interests as consumers protected while they study, including in the event of provider, campus, or course closure
  4. that all students, from all backgrounds, receive value for money

The OfS will seek to mitigate the risk that each of these four objectives is not met]

As it does so, the OfS will also seek to mitigate risk that the sector does not deliver value for money for taxpayers and citizens (who are directly involved through the allocation of public grant funding, research funding by UKRI, and the public subsidy to the student finance system). It will also do so while recognising the needs of students from disadvantaged backgrounds, who are less likely to access, succeed in, and progress successfully from higher education, even once their entrance characteristics are taken into account.

The OfS will also work with UKRI to ensure that the reciprocal risk around the sustainability of providers which contribute to the vibrancy of the research base is monitored and mitigated appropriately. The flow of information between the two organisations will be crucial to achieving this.

Consultation question: Do you agree or disagree these are the right risks for the OfS to prioritise?

Interesting point:

Provider level regulation will not be used to drive continuous improvement. It will be for autonomous, individual providers to decide for themselves the extent to which they wish to offer provision that extends beyond the baseline. The impetus to do so will be driven by student choice and competition rather than direct regulatory intervention

This general approach does not apply to access and participation. In this case, competition, choice, and market mechanisms alone are not able to deliver the outcomes needed for students and society, so regulation of individual providers will be used to drive improved access and participation

Objective 1: all students, from all backgrounds, are supported to access, succeed in, and progress from, higher education

Consultation question: Given all the levers at its disposal, including but not limited to access and participation plans, what else could the OfS be doing to improve access and participation and where else might it be appropriate to take a more risk-based approach?

Widening access and promoting the success of all students who have potential to benefit from higher education, including those from disadvantaged backgrounds and groups under-represented in higher education, will be at the heart of the OfS’s remit. It will have a duty which relates to equality of opportunity across the whole student lifecycle; with the aim of ensuring that students from disadvantaged and traditionally under-represented backgrounds can not only access, but successfully participate in and progress from higher education too. The OfS will intervene at the provider level in this area; market forces alone will not be sufficient to deliver the change needed. The OfS will also have a duty relating to student choice and opportunities, which it will consider in terms of a range of models of higher education – including new providers, work-based study, accelerated programmes and flexible provision for adults – which will facilitate higher education opening up to under-represented groups.

OFFA will be merged into the OfS with a Director for Fair Access and Participation.

Fair Access Agreements will continue to be required for providers charging higher fee amounts – and will operate as now, although there will be a new focus on participation – they will be called “access and participation plans”.

New point on schools:

In order to ensure better outcomes for both current and prospective students, the relationship between the higher education sector and the schools and further education systems will need to be strengthened. The establishment of the OfS and the new regulatory framework presents a unique opportunity to take a fresh look at our approach to managing these important transition points between stages of learning for an individual and their whole educational experience. These relationships between sectors are critical, not least when it comes to widening access and successful participation.

There are already many higher education providers playing an active role in schools and colleges in order to improve the prior attainment of pupils from disadvantaged backgrounds. The new regulatory regime creates the opportunity to spread these ties further and deeper, in service of students accessing, succeeding in, and progressing from, higher education.

Note we do not know what this means at this stage and the government have not published a response to the schools consultation.

Note on registration conditions – the relevant ones for this area are condition A1 – Access and Participation Plan and condition A3 – transparency condition on disclosure of information.

Widening Participation

The Sutton Trust published a paper on contextual admissions. Key findings include:

  • While the gap [in access] between disadvantaged students and their more advantaged peers has narrowed somewhat in recent years, the gap at the most selective universities remains stubbornly wide.
  • a majority of these [selective] universities use contextual data to inform their admissions processes.
  • A substantial number provided no information to applicants about how indicators would be used…This lack of transparency is a barrier to access..
  • There is a wide distribution of grades among those from better-off backgrounds – with as many as one in five students from higher participation neighbourhoods being admitted with A-level grades of BBC or below, for example – and that the average grades of those from contextual backgrounds are only marginally lower than those from non-contextual backgrounds.
  • There is little evidence to suggest that leading universities that practice greater contextualisation see significantly higher dropout rates, lower degree completion rates, or lower degree class results
  • Greater use of contextual admissions could result in a substantial increase in the numbers of low income students at the UK’s most selective universities.

Recommendations include

  • Universities should use contextual data in their admissions process to open up access to students from less privileged backgrounds.
  • There should be a greater use of individual-level contextual indicators, such as previous eligibility for free school meals, as well as school-level and area-level criteria.
  • Universities practicing contextualisation should provide additional support to students from disadvantaged backgrounds, including those who have been admitted with lower grades, in recognition of the additional difficulties such students may face.
  • There should be greater transparency from universities when communicating how contextual data is used. ….There should also be greater clarity and consistency in the reporting of contextual admissions processes in access agreements with the Director of Fair Access, including reporting levels of contextually admitted applicants.
  • Foundation year provision should be increased, with greater targeting of those from disadvantaged backgrounds..
  • Participation in outreach programmes should be shared as a contextual indicator across universities.
  • Many outreach programmes include academic eligibility criteria set at a high threshold. However, this is likely to exclude disadvantaged pupils with the potential to do well at university, but whose GCSE results are not exceptional. Universities, and those who run similar outreach programmes, should consider more inclusive thresholds to reduce barriers to participation and increase access

Other news

The new ESRC CEO and Executive Chair Designate has been announced. Professor Jennifer Rubin. is currently Director of the Policy Institute at King’s and Professor of Public Policy. Before joining King’s Jennifer established and then led the justice and home affairs research programme at RAND Europe for ten years.

Following the launch of the Dyson Institute of Engineering and Technology last month, a new university has been announced for Hereford – it will specialise in engineering courses and will offer accelerated degrees.

The Royal Society has announced a scheme to place entrepreneurs in universities.

David Davis indicated at the Exiting the EU committee that the UK would be “quite likely” to stay in Horizon 2020 after leaving the EU, and also that EU students would be likely to qualify for student loans after March 2019. It was not at all clear whether this would be part of a transition arrangement or a final deal.

From Wonkhe: Justine Greening told the House of Commons Education Committee that the HE funding review first announced by the Prime Minister will be “something DfE leads”.

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Calling all ECRs – an opportunity to attend ‘Voice of Young Science 2018’

Image result for voice of young science

Have you heard of the Voice of Young Science (VoYS) programme?

VoYS is a unique and dynamic network of 2,000+ early career researchers, engineers, scientists and medics who are committed to playing an active role in debates about science and evidence. By responding to public misconceptions about science and evidence and engaging with the media, this community is changing the way the public and media view science and scientists. Members develop the confidence to communicate and discuss their research and also learn how to make their voices heard.

Want to voice your thoughts on Science?

Image result for voice of young science standing up for scienceVoYS is supported by professional and learned societies and universities nationwide, who find the Standing up for Science media workshops are a great way to engage with their early career members and provide development opportunities.

They hold four workshops across the UK every year where early career researchers and scientists find out how to make their voices heard in public debates about science, meet scientists who have engaged with the media and learn from respected science journalists about how the media works, how to respond and comment, and what journalists want and expect from scientists.

Their final workshop of 2017 is being held at the Royal Pharmaceutical Society on Thursday 30 November, from 10.30am – 5pm and is aimed at STEM early career researchers (PhDs, post-docs or equivalent).

We would like to sponsor 5 places at the conference to support our ECRs, so if you’re interested in applying or would like to recommend a student you supervise for a place, please contact Rachel Bowen in RKEO: rbowen@bournemouth.ac.uk by Friday 3 November.

 

EndNote workshop

The library is offering a workshop on EndNote.

We will show you how to use EndNote to manage your citations and keep track of your literature.

Follow this link for further information: https://staffintranet.bournemouth.ac.uk/workingatbu/staffdevelopmentandengagement/fusiondevelopment/fusionprogrammesandevents/rkedevelopmentframework/skillsdevelopment/managingyourcitationsusingendnotedesktop/

We look forward to seeing you at this workshop.

José

José López Blanco

Faculty Librarian (Faculty of Health and Social Sciences)

“Using photo-elicitation to generate storytelling”

Join us next Wed for “Using photo-elicitation to generate storytelling” presented by Anne Quinney.

 

Anne’s co-presenter, Maggie Hutchings, is now able to join her for the conversation!

Lots of opportunity for audience participation in listening, making, and sharing. Not lectures, the seminar is ‘In Conversation” about a topic or method. No PPT and plenty of time for audience interaction and feedback!

Wednesday, 1 Nov.

Royal London House 208 1 pm

Students and Faculty welcome!

Presented by the Centre for Qualitative Research

Sandpits can help researchers escape disciplinary bubbles – why YOU should attend a BU STEAMLab

Idélab

For a team in Norway who attended the first Idélab in 2014 (otherwise known as a sandpit) the event gave them the opportunity to develop four collaborative, cross-disciplinary projects to ‘help save the world’. When discussing the sandpit approach they stated that it “created both cross-disciplinary projects and collaborative practices. These are for the moment only ripples. But a ripple can make a wave that advances the tide”.

The full article details further benefits, and challenges, of the sandpit approach and makes a convincing case as to why it’s important to engage with such events. The article is available on the Research Professional pages.

What we do at BU

As you will have seen, we have recently renamed our sandpit events as STEAMLabs (inspired by Norway’s extremely successful Idélab). This demonstrates the purpose of the STEAMLabs as being open to all disciplines and encouraging truly interdisciplinary research ideas.  The ‘Lab’ part demonstrates the working environment that leads to the creation of novel research ideas and partnerships. In a nutshell, the STEAMLabs offer the opportunity to meet new people from all disciplines and sectors, and to spend dedicated time developing novel ideas for research projects.

Food Glorious Food

Our next STEAMLab is on 14th November on the topic of Food Security. Spaces are still available, so please apply by completing the Food Security Application Form and return this to RKEDevFramework by Friday 3rd November.

By applying, you agree to attend for the full duration of the event on 14th November 2017 (c. 9:30 – 16:00). This event will be held in the EBC, Lansdowne Campus.

If you have any queries prior to submitting your application, please contact Lisa Gale-Andrews, RKEO Research Facilitator.

This event is part of the Research Knowledge Exchange Development Framework.

BU Briefing – Parametric investigations to enhance thermal performance of paraffin

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. 


Research and development in clean energy technologies is a direct response to the need of generating 50% of energy requirements through renewable sources by 2050 as set by the EU initiative. Renewable energy sources have significant potentials to address key issues in terms of depleting natural energy resources, rocketing energy prices and security.

This paper introduces a two-dimensional finite element computational model which investigates thermal behaviour of a novel geometrical configuration of shell and tube based latent heat storage (LHS) system. It also presents an insight into how to augment the thermal behaviour of paraffin based LHS system which helped inform novel design solutions for wide-ranging practical utilisation in both domestic and commercial heat storage applications.

Click here to read the briefing paper.


For more information about the research, contact Professor Zulfiqar Khan at zkhan@bournemouth.ac.uk or Kamran Tabeshf at KTabeshf@bournemouth.ac.uk.
To find out how your research output could be turned into a BU Briefing, contact research@bournemouth.ac.uk.

ERC News

We have received an update from the European Research Council, which highlights….

  • The current ERC Starting Grants call has now closed with results due in the summer of 2018.  The ERC Work Programme has earmarked €581 million for an estimated 391 Starting Grants in 2018.
  • Ideas, the ERC newsletter, autumn issue is now available, with a focus on serendipity in research.
  • An agreement has been concluded between the EU and India to encourage research visits of Indian top researchers in teams funded by the European Research Council (ERC) in Europe. In line with the ERC global approach, this is the tenth international initiative of this kind, which comes at a time when the ERC also marks its tenth anniversary.  The first initiative of this kind was signed in 2012 with the USA (National Science Foundation, NSF) and agreements then followed with prestigious funding bodies in South Korea, Argentina, Japan, China, South Africa, Mexico, Brazil and Canada.

Open Calls

BU staff considering applying for any of these calls and other international funding, should contact Emily Cieciura, RKEO’s Research Facilitator: International Funding, for further information and support.

Changes to CAF exemptions for research applications

From 1st November 2017, all research applications for external funding will be treated as CAF-exempt (Contract Authorisation Form) where no commitment exists at application stage.  This has been agreed by UET in October 2017, following a request from RKEO and Legal Services made in response to applicant feedback.

RKEO will take on responsibility for ensuring that all research application terms are reviewed prior to submission to ensure that no commitment is being made at submission stage (funders currently listed as CAF-exempt will not require review).  By streamlining the process to just one Professional Service, it should reduce the time required to process research applications.  If an application is subsequently awarded, a contract and CAF will be required.

Legal Services have amended the Contract signing Policy and Procedures in line with the above changes.

A full description of the changes can be found on the intranet policy section under ‘research’ and then ‘pre-award’. If you are an applicant or approver for applications then it is essential that you read the full document to see what is and isn’t included in the new process.

NIHR Grant Applications Seminar & Support event – last chance to book

 

 

 

 

Are you planning to submit a grant application to NIHR?

Research Design Service South West (RDS-SW) are holding a one day event on 9 November 2017 at Plymouth Science Park, Devon.

Last few days to book!

The events consists of:

  • a morning seminar session which is open to anyone to come and RDS advisers give presentations on what makes a good grant proposal.
  • an afternoon support session of one-to-one appointments which is for those who would like to discuss their own proposal with an RDS adviser. Those interested in this opportunity will be asked to supply in advance a brief description of their project idea.

Registration is FREE and lunch will be provided. Places are limited and will be allocated on a ‘first come, first served’ basis. In order to secure a place at one of these events, delegates will need to complete the online registration form by 1pm 30 October 2017. One-to-one appointments need to be booked in advance by selecting the appropriate option on the registration form.

You can find out more here

Don’t forget your local branch of the NIHR Research Design Service is based within the BU Clinical Research Unit (BUCRU) on the 5th floor of Royal London House. Feel free to pop in and see us, call us on 61939 or send us an email.