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Funding to compare imaging modalities for liver cancer detection

HSS Our 9 Research Entities

Bournemouth University researchers at the Institute of Medical Imaging and Visualisation (IMIV) will contribute to a new national study evaluating non-contrast-enhanced MRI and comparing it to standard of care ultrasound in a cohort of patients under surveillance for liver cancer.

Researchers from the Universities of Oxford, Nottingham, Bournemouth and Glasgow Caledonian will lead the £2.2 million AMULET clinical study into the use of a new imaging technique for surveillance of liver cancer in patients with cirrhosis. The study is funded by the Efficacy and Mechanism Evaluation (EME) Programme, a partnership between the National Institute for Health and Care Research and the Medical Research Council. The team will compare non-contrast-enhanced magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) to the standard of care ultrasound to assess which imaging technique is better for diagnosing liver cancer earlier.

The study is led by Dr Michael Pavlides (study chief investigator, Radcliffe Department of Medicine, University of Oxford) and Professor Susan Francis (study lead technical investigator, University of Nottingham). Associate Professor Jamie Franklin, Head of the IMIV, is a co-investigator on the project and the study lead radiologist.

Liver cancer incidence is increasing in the UK. The earlier that liver cancer is detected, the more likely that treatment will be successful. Currently we use ultrasound to detect liver cancer, but liver ultrasound has poor sensitivity in some patients meaning that early liver cancers can be missed. MRI is not routinely used for liver cancer surveillance. The study team are developing a shorter non-contrast-enhanced MRI protocol, as an alternative to ultrasound and contrast-enhanced MRI, with the aim of using it for more sensitive surveillance.

Dr Franklin said: “This is an important and timely project. We need more accurate, cost-effective tools to detect liver cancer at an early stage, which gives us the best chance of successful treatment. We’re excited to be working with the research team to deliver this study, which we hope will benefit patients in the future.”

The AMULET project will build on the University of Oxford’s DeLIVER programme (funded by Cancer Research UK). For more information about the DeLIVER early detection of hepatocellular carcinoma research programme, please visit the DeLIVER website: https://deliver.cancer.ox.ac.uk/

Conversation article: London Marathon – how visually impaired people run

Ahead of the London Marathon this weekend, Dr Ben Powis co-authors this article for The Conversation which explains the variety of techniques used by visually impaired runners, as well as the societal barriers that stop visually impaired people from getting involved in the sport.

London Marathon: how visually impaired people run

GB parasport athlete Charlotte Ellis (left) finishing the 2019 London Marathon with her guide runner.
Dave Smith/Shutterstock

Jessica Louise Macbeth, University of Central Lancashire and Ben Powis, Bournemouth University

In this weekend’s London Marathon, nearly 50,000 runners will hit the capital’s streets in one of the world’s most iconic races. For the visually impaired (VI) runners on the start line, their approach to this famous route will differ from their sighted counterparts. Just as there are misconceptions about blindness itself, many people are confused about how VI people run.

Some assume that all VI runners are blind with no usable vision, have superhuman compensatory skills and are passively guided around running routes by sighted guides. The reality is that, like all runners, VI runners have diverse experiences, preferences and needs.

In our research, we’ve conducted in-depth interviews with eight blind and partially sighted runners about their running practices. Some navigate routes independently, while others run with a guide – using a tether, holding their elbow or running in close proximity.

VI running can be a rich and creative experience, engaging all the senses. But, as one of our participants stated, this process is not innate: “People say, ‘Oh your smell becomes better, your hearing becomes better’. I don’t think it does, I just think you tune into it a little bit more… it just becomes more of a natural thing.”

As research on the runner-guide partnership shows, it can take practice and trying different strategies for runners to make sense of their surroundings and figure out what works for them.

Through touch, hearing, smell and usable vision, VI runners actively develop unique relationships with the routes they run. Our participants described how they identify landmarks, such as the sound of a river or the feel of changing terrain, to construct maps inside their heads. As one runner explains: “I could subconsciously tell you where every crack on the pavement is.”

Barriers to running

With VI people being one of the most inactive minority groups, running can be inclusive, empowering and provide a range of social and physical benefits.

But there are a number of societal barriers to VI people getting and staying involved in running. Ableist assumptions about who can and cannot run, are frequently internalised by VI people themselves.

One of our participants, who is blind from birth, explained: “I’d never even considered running before really… I just thought I couldn’t do it.” Having acquired sight loss in adulthood, another participant said: “I thought I’d never be able to run again, which was a massive blow when I first started losing my sight.”

To combat these assumptions and spread awareness about opportunities, runners like Kelly Barton and her guides share running content online. A recent video of her 250th parkrun, which she completed without being tethered to a guide, attracted national media coverage.

Our participants reported struggling to find guide runners, who can support VI people to run safely by guiding them along a route using verbal instructions, tethers or physical contact.

One VI runner who owns a guide dog contacted a local running event for a guide and was told they “haven’t found a guide yet, but we’ve got a dog sitter”. While there are local groups connecting VI runners and guides in some areas, such as VI Runners Bristol, this is not consistent across the UK.

The challenge of finding guides was also exacerbated during the pandemic. In the US, an innovative project using guide dogs trained for running has led to positive outcomes for both runners and dogs. But such projects are not yet widespread and require additional training for the guide dogs.

For VI runners who prefer running indoors, the treadmills used in many gyms are inaccessible. The charity Thomas Pocklington Trust and UK Coaching are working to address this through the inclusive facilities toolkit.

How you can get involved

For many VI runners, including our participants, parkrun has become a popular place to get started. The event’s inclusive ethos and specific efforts to encourage VI runners have created a welcoming and accessible environment.

The Great Run Series has introduced VI runners challenges at the Bristol 10K and Manchester Half Marathon, the only dedicated events for severely sight-impaired runners and guides in the UK.

If you are in search of a guide, British Blind Sport and England Athletics operate a database to connect VI runners with guides licensed by England Athletics. And if you are a sighted runner thinking about becoming a guide, you can complete a sight loss awareness and guide running workshop to get listed on the database.

Prospective runners and guides can also connect informally through parkruns, running clubs, local VI organisations or running organisations like Achilles International.The Conversation

Jessica Louise Macbeth, Senior Lecturer in Sports Studies, University of Central Lancashire and Ben Powis, Senior Lecturer in Sport, Bournemouth University

This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article.

2nd HSS PGR Conference – submission deadline 19th April

conferences, NHS, PG research, student research

HSS conference poster

Last chance to submit…

The Conference Committee welcome all PGRs in HSS to submit an abstract to present at the 2nd annual department conference, which will be held on Tuesday 4th June.

Last year’s inaugural conference was very successful, with evaluations celebrating the welcoming and supportive atmosphere for sharing aspects of our PGR work. It was fantastic to hear from students across the faculty and to see the breadth of research being carried out. You can see some highlights on X, by searching for the tagline #FHSSPGRConference2023
We welcome applications from all HSS PGRS, at any stage of the research.  Please submit your abstract, for either an oral presentation (20mins/3mins) or a poster presentation at https://forms.office.com/e/uwMMNxstEY. NB the deadline for submissions has been extended by 1 week. Closing date Friday 19th April.
 
We have 2 keynote speakers organised to present on the day.
Dr. Mona Seyed Esfahani will deliver a keynote on new technologies in healthcare in the morning.
Dr. Holly Henderson will deliver a keynote on AI in research in the afternoon.
We look forward to receiving your abstracts.  If you have any questions please feel free to contact me on wardl@bournemouth.ac.uk or Tanya Andrewes on tandrewes@bournemouth.ac.uk.
Best wishes
Louise Ward, on behalf of the Conference Committee

NEW Virtual Reality RESEARCH ARTICLE JUST PUBLISHED  Assiouras, I., Giannopoulos., A., Mavragani, E., Buhalis, D., 2024, “Virtual Reality, Mental Imagery and Visit Intention: Is Travel Inspiration the missing link?” International Journal of Tourism Research https://doi.org/10.1002/jtr.2646  

NEW Virtual Reality RESEARCH ARTICLE JUST PUBLISHED 

Assiouras, I., Giannopoulos., A., Mavragani, E., Buhalis, D., 2024, “Virtual Reality, Mental Imagery and Visit Intention: Is Travel Inspiration the missing link?” International Journal of Tourism Research https://doi.org/10.1002/jtr.2646
 
 

Abstract

The study examines the relationship between virtual reality (VR)-facilitated mental imagery and travellers’ intention to visit a destination. A serial mediation process through travel inspiration (inspired-by and inspired-to) is proposed as a psychological mechanism able to explain the positive relationship of elaboration and quality of mental imagery with visit intentions. VR users were recruited through Prolific Academic. The findings demonstrate that VR-facilitated elaboration of mental imagery increases travel inspiration and consequently visit intention. However, the importance of mental imagery quality is much lower. The paper contributes to the literature of pre-travel VR experience by exploring the role of travel inspiration.

 

 

 

 

 

RKEDF: BU ECRN Funding call NOW OPEN – Deadline 26th April

Funding opportunities

The RKEDF and BU ECRN are delighted to offer funding (up to £500) to organise an event, roundtable, meeting, training, or workshop in support of research at BU.

This funding supports BU Early Career Researcher Network members to organise and facilitate an event that can be thematic, subject/discipline based, foster community engagement, knowledge exchange or networking and does the following;

–             Brings ECRs and others together to share ideas, knowledge and learning.

–             Provides a space for intellectual discussion.

–             Helps to facilitate collaboration and future opportunities.

–             Enables an opportunity for networking.

– Please note all requests are subject to approval by the RKDEF Team and must be made at least 3 weeks in advance of the event date. No reimbursements for payments will be made without prior authorisation from the team.

– All expenses must be paid by the end of the BU financial year (July 2024)

– You will need to receive written confirmation from RKDEF that your request has been successful before you can proceed with organising the event. 

– The event cannot have taken place prior to submitting your application.

Eligible costs

  • Event space
  • Travel bursaries for attendees
  • Catering and refreshments (Tea, Coffee, Water, Light snacks, Lunch)
  • Av (projector, screen, laptop, tech support on the day, microphones)
  • Printing costs (meeting handouts)
  • Speaker fee (up to £500)

Ineligible Costs

  • Software or hardware.
  • International event, speaker, or travel costs.
  • Costs for dependants or spouses to attend events.
  • Research costs.

How to apply:

Please download and complete all sections of the EOI for BU ECRN Funding (500 words max per section) and email your completed application to: RKEDF@bournemouth.ac.uk by 26th April 2024. Successful applicants will be notified by 1st May 2024.

If you have any questions or queries, please contact BU ECRN Academic Leads Ann Hemingway (aheming@bournemouth.ac.uk) and Sam Goodman (sgoodman@bournemouth.ac.uk) or RKDEF Advisor Joelle Fallows (jfallows@bournem

RKEDF: ECRN – The Conversation Media Training

Training, writing

 

 

 

Are you an academic, researcher or PhD candidate who would like to build a media profile and take your research to a global public audience by writing for The Conversation?

The Conversation is a news analysis and opinion website with content written by academics working with professional journalists. It is an open access, independent media charity funded by more than 80 UK and European universities.

In this interactive session we’ll take you through what The Conversation is – our origins and aims; what we do and why.

We’ll look at why you should communicate your research to the public and take you through The Conversation’s unique, collaborative editorial process.

We’ll give you tips on style, tone and structure (with examples), look at how to pitch (with examples) and look at different approaches and article types.

You will have the opportunity to discuss your research with a Conversation editor and pitch potential story ideas.

*Note the session takes place on Zoom and we expect you to turn your camera on.

Benefits of attending

  • Find out how to join a community of academic authors taking their expertise outside the institution
  • Understand what makes a good story and the types of articles your expertise could generate
  • Learn the skills of journalistic writing and how to make your writing accessible and engaging to a diverse general audience
  • Meet one of The Conversation’s editors and learn how we commission articles

To get the most out of your time with the editor, come prepared:

  • Read some articles on The Conversation to get a sense of what we publish
  • Think about the sort of pieces you might potentially write, what aspects of your research might interest people, and come armed with ideas.

Book your place here 

There are a limited number of places for this session. If you sign up and then are no longer able to attend, please cancel your registration so that your place can be re-allocated to a colleague on the waiting list.

New Intention to Bid (ItB) Form

Guidance

Since the introduction of workstreams in October 2022, the Transformation team and the Research Development and Support (RDS) team have been working collaboratively on three workstreams to improve BU’s Research & Knowledge Exchange (RKE) service provision. Feedback from the academic community at BU suggested there is a need to reduce bureaucracy and to streamline processes. As part of these efforts, and with the support of IT Services, we have reviewed  and improved the Intention to Bid (ItB) form. The form has been developed and tested with input from the academic community and the Business and Knowledge Exchange Managers.  

The new Intention to Bid (ItB) form launched on 8 April and is available to access

on our RED Public site.  

 Key improvements include: 

  • More user-friendly and easy to navigate form 
  • Ability to save progress on the form and return to it later 
  • Shorter form 
  • Costing information is no longer required as part of the ItB form submission process 
  • Form allows for collaboration – a member of the research team can create the form on the behalf of the PI 
  • Form now incorporates Knowledge Exchange aspects 

 

There are only 6 very simple questions needed to notify RDS of the intention to bid. This will trigger notifications to RDS and to the Faculty (DDRPP, HoDs, DHoDs or Exec Deans). Following this early notification process, further information can be continually developed on the form in stages. This includes information about the research team, project requirements, project goals and aims, as well as confirmation on how the mandatory Faculty Quality Approval requirements will be fulfilled. Once RDS are notified through the early notification, a member from the Funding Development Team will be in touch to work collaboratively with the PI on developing the project for submission.  

 

Short notice application route  We recognise that some projects and calls are open for short periods of time, and that other circumstances may dictate when the intention to bid form is completed. If the submission deadline is in less than 4 weeks, the form will first seek approval from RDS (in collaboration with the DDRPP) through the short notice application route. As part of the process, you will be required to submit a draft application or a 2-page concept note (excluding tenders). 

All submissions with a deadline over 4 weeks will automatically be processed.  

 We have developed some user guides on the RKE SharePoint site and will also offer drop-in sessions on MS teams.

The next scheduled session is Wednesday 24th April 12:30pm 

Click here to join the meeting

Congratulation on new interdisciplinary publication

international, Women's Academic Network, writing

Congratulation to Dr. Orlanda Harvey (Social Work), Dr. Terri Cole (Psychology) and Dr. Jane Healy (Criminology) who in collaboration with Jade Levell, a colleague at the University of Bristol, had their article ‘Explorations of attitudes towards accessibility and accessing domestic violence and abuse (DVA) perpetrator support programmes by victim-survivors and perpetrators across five European countries’ accepted by the journal Abuse: An International Impact Journal [1].  This paper reports on an international mixed-methods study exploring victim-survivors and perpetrators’ attitudes towards perpetrator support programmes. The study includes a questionnaire survey of victim-survivors and interviews with male perpetrators conducted in five European countries.

Results showed that of the 93 victim-survivors of domestic violence and abuse, half stated they would have stayed in their relationship with perpetrators if the abuse had stopped, and a similar number reported that they believed their relationships would have been different had there been help for the perpetrator. Analysis of perpetrator interviews showed that they faced barriers to obtaining support, such as being labelled a ‘perpetrator’ which, had they been addressed, may have enhanced their engagement with services. Whilst acknowledging the need for safeguarding and justice, this paper demonstrates the importance of reflecting both victim-survivor and perpetrator needs in order for perpetrators to fully engage with support services. Moreover, it highlighted the need to address the underlying societal issues related to hegemonic masculinity, which can lead to the abuse of women being normalised and the vulnerability of men being stigmatised, through education for young people around healthy relationships.

 

Congratulations

Prof. Edwin van Teijlingen

Centre for Midwifery & Women’s Health

Reference:

Harvey H.,  Cole T., Levell, J., Healy J. (2024) ‘Explorations of attitudes towards accessibility and accessing domestic violence and abuse (DVA) perpetrator support programmes by victim-survivors and perpetrators across five European countries’,  Abuse: An International Impact Journal 5(1): 26-45    https://doi.org/10.37576/abuse.2024.055

RKEDF: Writing Academy 18th/19th/20th June 2024

Training, writing

Day 1 – Writing for Publication Workshop – 18 June 2024, 10am-4pm

This workshop covers a range of strategies: targeting a journal, writing to prompts, types of prompt for academic writing, ‘snack’ writing, goal-setting for writing, freewriting, generative writing, analysing academic writing in your field, criteria, writing an abstract, using prompts in series, outlining, dealing with reviewers’ feedback, writing groups, micro-groups and retreats. Many of these can be used to prepare for a concentrated spell of writing at a writing retreat – which follows tomorrow. This is a practical workshop. The aim of the writing activities in this workshop is to let you try these strategies and consider how/if/where/when they could fit into your writing practice. You can use these to write for your article during the workshop, and you have a day’s writing to develop it tomorrow.

Day 2 – Writing Retreat – 19 June, 9am-4pm

Aims – To provide dedicated writing time and develop productive writing practices.

Format

This structured retreat uses the ‘typing pool’ model. We all write at the same time, for fixed time slots, using goal-setting and peer and self-monitoring for our individual writing projects. Because we all write together, we can discuss our goals at the start and end of the day (10-15 minutes). Almost all the retreat time is writing time, with regular breaks.

Learning objectives

1. Understand the Structured Writing Retreat model.

2. Structure a writing day.

3. Maintain well-being during intensive periods of writing.

Day 3 – Free Writing Day

An in-person writing day. Lunch will be provided.

 

Book your place here under ‘Writing Academy’ – 18/06/2024 to 20/06/2024’ in the drop-down menu.

For any queries regarding this workshop, please contact RKE Development Framework

 

Postgraduate Research Experience Survey (PRES) now open

PG research

Have your say

The Advance HE Postgraduate Research Experience Survey (PRES) is now open

We are keen to make sure our PGRs have the best possible experience while studying with us. To do this, we need to know what you think works well and what as a University we could do better. This is your chance to tell us about your experience as a PGR at Bournemouth University. We also kindly ask that all supervisors encourage their PGRs to participate in the survey.

Thank you to all PGRs who completed the 2023 PRES survey – we listened to you and your feedback has helped us to enhance your PGR experience in a range of areas.

The survey is now open and will close on Thursday 16 May 2024. Upon completing the survey, PGRs will automatically entered into a free prize draw. Four winners will be able to claim a £50 shopping voucher. Terms and conditions apply.

In addition, we will be making a £1 donation for every survey completed to the student mental health wellbeing charity, Student Minds.

Once you have completed the survey, you are entitled to claim a coffee voucher worth £3.20, from the Doctoral College to use at any BU Chartwells outlet. Please come to the Doctoral College (DLG08, Talbot Campus) to collect your voucher. You will need to show a screen shot of the final page of the survey in order to claim your voucher.

How do I take part?

PGRs will receive an email to your student account from the University on Monday 15 April 2024 containing a unique link which will allow you to access and complete the survey. If you can’t find this email, contact PRES@bournemouth.ac.uk and we’ll help you to get access.

What will I be asked?

The survey will take around 15 minutes to complete. Your response is confidential, and any reporting will be entirely anonymous. The survey is your chance to tell us about your experience as a PGR at BU. It will ask you to share your views on supervision, resources, research community, progress and assessment, skills and professional development and wellbeing.

Why should I take part?

Your feedback is important. The Postgraduate Research Experience Survey is the only national survey of PGRs and so is the only way for us to compare how we are doing with other institutions and to make changes that will improve your experience in the future.

More information

If you would like to know more about the survey, please visit: PRES 2024.

We hope you take the opportunity to get involved this year and help us make improvements to your experience.

Best wishes,

The Doctoral College

For any PRES related queries, please email: PRES@bournemouth.ac.uk

 

Reminder: Opportunity to get more involved in preparing Social Work and Social Policy REF 2029 submission – impact and engagement

We are looking to recruit an impact champion in UOA 20 (the Unit of Assessment for Social Work and Social Policy) to help support preparations for our submission to REF2029. The deadline for expressions of interest is the Tuesday 30th April 2024.

This role is recruited through an open and transparent process, which gives all academic staff the opportunity to put themselves forward. Applications from underrepresented groups (e.g. minority ethnic, declared disability) are particularly welcome.

We are currently preparing submissions to thirteen units (otherwise known as UOAs). Each unit has a leadership team with at least one leader, an output and impact champion. The leadership team is supported by a panel of reviewers who assess the research from the unit. This includes research outputs (journal articles, book chapters, digital artefacts and conference proceedings) and impact case studies.

All roles require a level of commitment which is recognised accordingly, with time to review, attend meetings, and take responsibility for tasks.

This vacancy is for a joint impact champion for UOA 20 Social Work and Social Policy. This role exists as a job share with an existing impact champion, on the basis of a combined total of 0.2 FTE (split to be decided in discussion with the successful applicant).

Undertaking a UOA role can be enjoyable and rewarding, as one of our current impact champions can testify:

“As a UoA 17 impact champion, I work closely with the UoA 17 impact team to encourage the development of a culture of impact across BUBS. I try to pop into Department / research group meetings when I can to discuss impact, and I’ve enjoyed meeting people with a whole range of research interests. Sometimes it can be tough to engage people with impact – understandably; everyone is busy – so it’s important to be enthusiastic about the need for our BU research to reach the public. Overall, the role is about planting the seeds to get researchers thinking about the impact their work might have in the future (as well as the impact they have already had, sometimes without realising!)”

Dr Rafaelle Nicholson – UOA 17 Impact Champion

How to apply

All those interested should put forward a short case (suggested length of one paragraph), explaining why they are interested in the role and what they believe they could bring to it. These should be clearly marked with the relevant role and unit and emailed to ref@bournemouth.ac.uk by Tuesday 30th April 2024.

Further details on the impact champion role, the process of recruitment and selection criteria can be found here:

Role Descriptor

Process and criteria for selection

For more information, please contact ref@bournemouth.ac.uk, or the UoA Leaders Stephanie Schwandner-Sievers and Mel Hughes with queries.

Interdisciplinary Computational and Clinical Approaches at the Edge of Brain Research

BRIAN

We cordially invite you to the 3rd Symposium of the BU Interdisciplinary Neuroscience Research Centre on Wednesday, the 12th of June 2024, from 9:30-13:00 at the Inspire Lecture Theatre, Fusion Building (1st floor).

The symposium is entitled: “Interdisciplinary Computational and Clinical Approaches at the Edge of Brain Research”.

This third symposium revolves around contrasting computational and translational methodologies from a cross-disciplinary standpoint, leveraging synergies between BU and our collaborators in other universities and at the NHS. It is an opportunity for informal discussions on grant proposals and to explore shared interests with our external guests. The general schedule is as follows:

9:15. Welcome and coffee.

9:30. Keynote talk: Prof. Miguel Maravall, Sussex University.

10.20-10:40. Coffee and grants discussion.

10:40-11:40. Session I. Integrating Cognitive and Computational Neuroscience.

11.40 -12.00. Coffee and grants discussion.

12.00-13:00. Session II. Interdisciplinary Clinical Approaches & Concluding Remarks.

If you have any queries, please do not hesitate to contact Ellen Seiss, eseiss@bournemouth.ac.uk or Emili Balaguer-Ballester, eb-ballester@bournemouth.ac.uk.

Thank you very much, and we are looking forward to seeing you there.

Kind regards,

Ellen and Emili, on behalf of all of us.

 

 

 

 

New video summarises article on developing socio-emotional intelligence in doctoral students

BRIAN, Knowledge Transfer, open access, PG research, Publishing, Student Engagement, Women's Academic Network

Graphical abstract of the journal article available on the link

Graphical Abstract

Disseminating research in different mediums can be an effective way to reach wider audiences. Using video, illustrations and other types of graphic design and creative media can also bring research to life.

This new video summarises the paper in the Journal Encyclopedia titled “Developing the socio-emotional intelligence of doctoral students” by Principal academic at BU Dr Camila Devis-Rozental

It explores socio-emotional intelligence (SEI) within the context of doctoral supervision in the UK and it presents a variety of interventions that can be implemented throughout the doctoral journey to make a positive impact on the doctoral students’ SEI development and in supporting them to flourish and thrive in academia and beyond.

You can access the video Here

You can read the article Here