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Present-day Lebanese descend from Biblical Canaanites, genetic study suggests

The Sidon excavation site. (A) Map shows the location of Lebanon with present-day political borders in the Near East. (B) A magnification showing the Levant region and the location of the city of Sidon. (C) Photo shows the Sidon excavation site, which included the burials of individuals studied here.

In the most recent whole-genome study of ancient remains from the Near East, Wellcome Trust Sanger Institute scientists and their collaborators sequenced the entire genomes of 4,000-year-old Canaanite individuals who inhabited the region during the Bronze Age, and compared these to other ancient and present-day populations. The results, published in the August issue of the American Journal of Human Genetics suggest that present-day Lebanese are direct descendants of the ancient Canaanites.

The Near East is often described as the cradle of civilisation. The Bronze Age Canaanites, later known as the Phoenicians, introduced many aspects of society that we know today – they created the first alphabet, established colonies throughout the Mediterranean and were mentioned several times in the Bible.

However, historical records of the Canaanites are limited. They were mentioned in ancient Greek and Egyptian texts, and the Bible, which reports widespread destruction of Canaanite settlements and annihilation of the communities. Experts have long debated who the Canaanites were genetically, what happened to them, who their ancestors were, and if they had any descendants today.

In the first study of its kind, a team led by scientists of the Sanger Institute have uncovered the genetics of the Canaanite people and a firm link with people living in Lebanon today. The team discovered that more than 90 per cent of present-day Lebanese ancestry is likely to be from the Canaanites, with an additional small proportion of ancestry coming from a different Eurasian population. Researchers estimate that new Eurasian people mixed with the Canaanite population about 2,200 to 3,800 years ago at a time when there were many conquests of the region from outside.

The analysis of ancient DNA also revealed that the Canaanites themselves were a mixture of local people who settled in farming villages during the Neolithic period and eastern migrants who arrived in the area around 5,000 years ago.

The researchers sequenced whole genomes of five Canaanite individuals who lived 4,000 years ago in a city known as Sidon in present-day Lebanon were, as well as the genomes of 99 present-day Lebanese, and analysed the genetic relationship between the ancient Canaanites and modern Lebanese.

Dr Marc Haber, first author from the Wellcome Trust Sanger Institute, said: “It was a pleasant surprise to be able to extract and analyse DNA from 4,000-year-old human remains found in a hot environment, which is not known for preserving DNA well. We overcame this challenge by taking samples from the petrous bone in the skull, which is a very tough bone with a high density of ancient DNA. This method of extraction combined with the lowering costs of whole genome sequencing made this study possible.”

Dr Claude Doumet-Serhal, co-author and Director of the Sidon excavation site* in Lebanon, said: “For the first time we have genetic evidence for substantial continuity in the region, from the Bronze Age Canaanite population through to the present day. These results agree with the continuity seen by archaeologists. Collaborations between archaeologists and geneticists greatly enrich both fields of study and can answer questions about ancestry in ways that experts in neither field can answer alone.”

Prof Holger Schutkowski of Bournemouth University’s Department of Archaeology, Anthropology and Forensic Science and a co-author, said: “We are delighted to be part of this significant collaboration with the Sidon excavation and the Sanger Institute, and to contribute to elucidating the Canaanite origin and legacy.”

Dr Chris Tyler-Smith, lead author from the Wellcome Trust Sanger Institute, said: “Genetic studies using ancient DNA can expand our understanding of history, and answer questions about the likely origins and descendants of enigmatic populations like the Canaanites, who left few written records themselves. Now we would like to investigate the earlier and later genetic history of the Near East, and how it relates to the surrounding regions.”

Burial 63: Middle Bronze Age II B, about 1600 BC. Photos courtesy of Dr Claude Doumet-Serhal.

*For more information on the Sidon excavation site, please visit www.sidonexcavation.com

Marc Haber et al. (2017) Continuity and admixture in the last five millennia of Levantine history from ancient Canaanite and present-day Lebanese genome sequences. American Journal of Human Genetics. DOI: 10.1016/j.ajhg.2017.06.013

Funding:
This work was supported by the Wellcome Trust (grant 098051).

Research funding available for the economic and social value of health in the UK

Funding opportunities

The Health Foundation, an independent charity committed to bringing about better health and health care for people in the UK, has launched a new £1.5 million funding programme for innovative research on the economic and social value of health in the UK.

They are inviting researchers to submit research proposals that build the evidence for health as an asset for the economy and society, and generate new knowledge to understand the impact that the health of an individual has on their own social and economic outcomes.

They are looking to fund a number of projects that span a range of age groups and different social and economic outcomes.

Each project will receive between £150,000 and £350,000 for research that is up to three years in duration.

The closing date for applications is 12 noon, Friday 29 September 2017.

For more information, and to apply, see here.

An information call for the programme will be held on Thursday 17 August at 4pm. Register your interest here.

New Premier League season begins … but child abuse scandal hangs heavy over football

In The Conversation, Jayne Caudwell working with colleagues at the University of Waikato (NZ), Brunel and Leeds Beckett Universities return to the on-going national inquiry into historical sexual abuse in football.

Much of the shock at the abuse allegations and convictions comes from the fact that the victims are men. Stereotypically, child sexual abuse in sport has been seen as being about male perpetrators and female victims. But the recent cases have shattered this myth, revealing that boys and men experience sexual abuse, too.

Undoubtedly, this stereotype acted as an obstacle for men to speak out about sexual abuse, because of the misconception that “real” sports boys and sportsmen are not “victims” of sex crimes.

This is hardly surprising, since the early 1990s, feminist research has exposed the often damaging connections between masculinity and sport. Football locker rooms and clubs are traditionally very masculine and male environments, and evidence has shown that expectations of how male sports stars should and should not behave can demean, devalue and devastate the lives of individual athletes.

https://theconversation.com/new-premier-league-season-begins-but-child-abuse-scandal-hangs-heavy-over-football-75335

 

AHRC New Generation Thinkers scheme 2018

Funding opportunities

The Arts and Humanities Research Council (AHRC) have launched their annual competition, in conjunction with BBC Radio 3, called ‘New Generation Thinkers’.

This competition aims to develop a new generation of academics who can bring the best of university research and scholarly ideas to a broad audience through working with the media. It’s a chance for early career researchers to cultivate the skills to communicate their research findings to those outside the academic community.

Each year, up to 60 successful applicants have a chance to develop their media skills, including programme-making ideas with experienced BBC producers at a series of dedicated workshops. Of these up to ten will become BBC Radio 3’s resident New Generation Thinkers and benefit from a unique opportunity to develop their own programmes for the station and a chance to regularly appear on air. There will also be the possibility of working with BBC TV, a number of speak opportunities and the chance to become a regular blogger.

Applicants are welcome from researchers working in all areas of the arts and humanities. This year the call has been extended for researchers who work in areas of social sciences and medical science whose work intersects with the arts and humanities. There are a series of interfaces, and many areas of common ground between. This scheme is open to researchers whose work intersects with arts and humanities and is not restricted to AHRC researchers.

To enter, please see the Call Guidance (PDF, 233KB) and Conditions of Entry (PDF, 108KB). Entries must be submitted via Je-S. If you are interested in applying, please contact your RKEO Funding Development Officer in the first instance.  BU approval is required before submission and only RKEO can submit your application for you.

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

Funding opportunities

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

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

BU process

As a result, BU has introduced a process for determining which application will be submitted to each NERC Standard Grant round. This will take the form of an internal competition, which will include peer review. The next available standard grant round is January 2018. The process for selecting an application for this round can be found in the process document here – the deadline for internal Expressions of Interest (EoI) which will be used to determine which application will be submitted is 22nd September 2017.  The EoI form can be found here: I:\R&KEO\Public\NERC Demand Management 2017.

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

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

Appeals process

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

RKEO Contacts

Please contact Lisa Gale-Andrews, RKEO Research Facilitator – lgaleandrews@bournemouth.ac.uk or Jo Garrad, RKEO Funding Development Manager – jgarrad@bournemouth.ac.uk if you wish to submit an expression of interest.

ISCF Workshop: Prospering from the Energy Revolution

Thursday 7th September 2017  – Birmingham

Innovate UK, BEIS and the Research Councils are seeking academics, innovators and thought leaders to participate in an engagement workshop to review and validate the proposed Industrial Strategy Challenge Fund (ISCF) theme, “Prospering from the energy revolution” which has an aspiration to create a number of “whole system”, local energy demonstrators around the UK to accelerate the energy system transition.

Secure, affordable and clean energy is critical to our economic productivity, competitiveness, and employment. Optimising the transition in the UK first helps our economy to thrive while also opens up domestic markets and immense export opportunities for UK businesses. The UK is taking a lead in the move to a cleaner system.

A series of local demonstrators across the UK is now essential to serve as ‘innovation runways’ that link up new solutions, assess and prove clean, affordable energy outcomes in the real world, and launch innovative businesses into commercial readiness, prepared for export.

For further information about the workshop and to submit an Expression of Interest form please see the registration page.

If you have any queries please contact Jenni McDonell (jenni.mcdonnell@ktn-uk.org)

RCUK (UKRI) 2017 Industrial Fellowships

Funding opportunities

RCUK (UKRI) 2017 Industrial Fellowships – NERC closing date 19th September 2017.

In response to the Industrial Strategy, Research Councils UK (RCUK) (UK Research & Innovation (UKRI)) has developed a fellowship programme to be supported through the National Productivity Investment Fund. Targeted at early career researchers (ECRs), RCUK / UKRI Industrial Innovation Fellowships will be a step change in the support provided by the research councils to the research leaders of the future, enabling some of the UK’s most talented researchers to undertake major new innovation oriented and intellectual endeavours.

For applicants within NERC’s science remit, NERC will be delivering these fellowships through Industrial Innovation Fellowships and Industrial Mobility Fellowships

Three-and-a-half-year awards to support early career researchers in exploring interdisciplinary solutions as well as addressing focused sectoral needs, both in the short term and long term, to the economic benefit of the UK.

NERC invites proposals for mobility fellowship awards of between 6-12 months in duration aligned with the objectives of the Industrial Strategy.

If you have any queries concerning these programmes, please contact fellowships@nerc.ac.uk

If you wish to apply for a fellowship then please contact your RKEO Funding Development Officer in the first instance.

Cancer and Nutrition NIHR Infrastructure Collaboration

Do you have an interest in people living with Cancer and Nutrition?

Then read more about the important activities of the Cancer and Nutrition NIHR infrastructure collaboration.

Since its establishment in 2014 the collaboration has sought to better enable a wide community of interested parties to bring together the high quality research being carried out in cancer together with the highquality research being carried out in nutrition, so that each can add value to the other in the interest of patients and the public.

There are 5 workstreams : Workstream 1: Patientsand Public,  Workstream 2: Professional Workforce – training and capacity building,  Workstream 3: Research – building an infrastructure and action plan to tackle the evidence gap, Workstream 4 characterising nutritional status in cancer – the Tookit, Workstream 5: commercial sector and industry,

Professor Jane Murphy from the Ageing and Dementia Research Centre (ADRC) leads ‘Workstream 2: Professional Workforce – training and capacity building’  and is a member of the Steering Committee.

The activities accomplished in Phase 2 are presented in the following report just published and more details about the collaboration can be found on the website.

Report Link
http://cancerandnutrition.nihr.ac.uk/wp-content/uploads/2016/06/Cancer-Nutrition-Full-Report-FINAL_03-06-16.pdf

Website Link
http://cancerandnutrition.nihr.ac.uk/work-streams/

Please contact Jane:  jmurphy@bournemouth.ac.uk if you would like to know more or have any questions or queries.

BU’s PhD student Juan Camilo Avendaño Diaz and Dr. Xun He presented their research at the 7th Joint Action Meeting.

conferences

On July 22-26, Dr. Xun He and Juan Camilo Avendaño Diaz (PhD student) attended the 7th bi-annual Joint Action Meeting (JAM), held at Queen Mary University of London. This meeting brought together researchers from many different fields (psychologists, philosophers, physicists, musicians, engineers and neuroscientists, just to name a few), interested in studying people’s ability to act together (they had a full day covering human-robot interaction as well!).

Dr. Xun He gave a talk titled “A dual-EEG study of the shared attention effect in dyads: Sensory processing or top-down control?”, examining the information processing in the brain when people co-attend to the same spatial locations. Juan Camilo presented the poster “Visual attention in dyads: The role of group membership”, suggesting that co-attending with members of the same vs. different social group could have distinct effects on visual attention.

Attending JAM 2017 was a great opportunity to meet some key figures in the field, and to hear and discuss about the research that is been performed worldwide, including the research carried out at BU.

If you would like to learn more about our research, please do not hesitate to contact me at javendanodiaz@bournemouth.ac.uk

Denyse King’s Health Education England project ‘NoObesity’

Knowledge Transfer

NoObesity

The government’s key priority of reducing childhood obesity through adult education (as announced by Jeremy Hunt in Sept 2015), prompted BU’s Denyse King to write a proposal to Health Education England. Denyse is a Midwifery Lecturer / Public Health Practitioner in the Centre for Midwifery, Maternal & Perinatal Health (CMMPH) at Bournemouth University. The proposal outlined her wish to develop a stand-alone mobile learning resource for health workers who care for families of overweight or obese children, and for families who need to identify individual needs to facilitate behavioural changes.

Afbeeldingsresultaat voor childhood obesity statistics uk, 2016

The development of this project pivoted on putting patients and the public in the centre of the process. Patients and the public were engaged through focus groups where insights were gathered to identify the challenges and issues to the problem. A series of online focus groups were undertaken with service users and professionals to understand the key challenges and issues respondents came across when trying to prevent/manage overweight and obesity. Key themes from the focus groups were:

  • Empowering – the solution needs to recognise the experiences people bring and therefore the tools need to be empowering in supporting families to address obesity.
  • Parenting tips – to address challenges with encouraging positive health behaviours with children.
  • Responding to barriers – from parent/carers who are being supported by health professionals.
  • Obesity isn’t a quick fix – recognising that sustained behaviour change takes time and support to overcoming barriers is vital.
  • Healthy snacks and activities – provide easy and simple ideas to support parents/carers and professionals to identify quick ways to support healthier eating and increase activity.
  • Portion size – understanding that portion size is important in addition to eating healthily.

Topic experts were identified and invited to join the project steering group where they provided the governance and steer of the overall development of this project whilst Denyse King wrote the content. The following Apps have been developed as a result and will be available to all as free download in IOS and Android platforms from late September 2017:

  • NoObesity Family Focused App – After consultation with a healthcare worker, families set health goals, identify potential barriers and strategies to overcome them, record their progress towards their goals, earning points and awards as they go. Families are encouraged to link accounts to healthcare professional accounts (see below). The tool also includes parenting tips, games and useful links.
  • NoObesity Professional Focused App– Healthcare professionals can see the goals, barriers, strategies, progress, points and awards of linked families, making them better able to provide tailored advice to the families, to help them achieve their goals. This is based on research findings that ‘one-size- fits-all’ health advice simply doesn’t work for most families. The tool also includes the Wessex MECC-based guidance on how to best support families, how to handle common objections, games and useful links.

Denyse would like to thank Dr. Joanne Newton project proposal support, Felicity Hargreaves and Helen Bingham for approval of the final project proposall. Thanks to all those who contributed to answering the research questions, as well as those who tested and fed back on the prototype, and also to Bournemouth University, University of Southampton, and NHS England for their support of this project.

 

List of the members of the steering group

Name Job Title Organisation Steering Group Role
Em Rahman Head of Public Health Workforce Development Programmes Health Education England (Wessex) Steering Group Chair
Alison Potter Technology Enhanced Learning Lead (South) Health Education England (South) Deputy-Chair
Dr. Jenny Godson (MBE) National Lead for Oral Health Improvement Public Health England Dental and dental aspects of nutrition
Prof. Edwin van Teijingen Professor – Centre for Midwifery, Maternal & Perinatal Health Bournemouth University Research supervision and education governance
Dr. Juliet McGrattan General Practitioner Cumbria Medical Chambers GP role governance
Kate King-Hicks Health and Wellbeing Programme Lead Public Health England (South East) Obesity governance
Tony Hewett Intervention Manager and behaviour change specialist Miltoncross Academy School staff role governance
Dr. Jo Walker Consultant Paediatrician Portsmouth Hospitals Trust Consultant doctors role governance
Dr. Wendy Marsh Lead Midwife for Safeguarding Portsmouth Hospitals Trust Safeguarding governance
Kate Lees Consultant in Public Health and Dietitian Lees & Latouze Nutrition governance
Denyse King Lecturer in Midwifery and Public Health Practitioner Bournemouth University Content author and governance

JPICH Heritage in Changing Environments pre-call announcement

Funding opportunities, international

The Joint Programming Initiative in Cultural Heritage and Global Change has announced a new funding opportunity for transnational proposals. The Heritage in Changing Environments call will support the development of new, research-based ideas and knowledge in response to the rapidly and widely changing context with which heritage and heritage practice is faced. It invites research projects that help cultural heritage to meet societal challenges and contribute to the development of society. The call aims to fund excellent research that is collaborative, transnational, interdisciplinary and innovative. The total budget for the call for transnational projects is approximately 4.5 million Euros.

The Call for Proposals will open on 4th September 2017 and the deadline for submission of proposals will be 30th November 2017, 14:00 CET.

Projects can last up to 36 months with 3-5 research teams, each based in an eligible institution in a different country. Detailed eligibility requirements and more information can be found on the JPICH website.

 

UKRI launch website

Funding opportunities

UK Research and Innovation (UKRI) has launched an interim website .

The website will be a source to access information and news about the development of the UKRI ahead of its formal creation in April 2018. UKRI will operate across the UK and will have a total budget of £6 billion per year. It will bring together the Research Councils, Innovate UK and a new body, Research England.

HE Policy update – week ending 4 August **updated**

international

TEF

Wonkhe bloggers imagine alternative ways to run (ideally improve) the TEF in Visions for the AlterniTEF – can we do TEF better?  Ideas ranged from:

  • individual institution-specific targets as a condition of registration OfS (and therefore accountable under the Higher Education and Research Act);
  • metrics produced through relational analyses and cross referencing – this complex idea stemmed from measuring the quality and impact of reciprocal relationships;
  • individual learning statements setting institutional goals which the provider would be measured against – similar to current Fair Access Agreement;
  • ignoring undergraduate TEF and focusing on bringing post-graduate TEF online, including the influence of social capital and the added value of the post-graduate qualification on social mobility. This approach controversially espouses a metrics only approach and abolishes the provider statements.

Wonkhe also continue to unpick the influence of the provider statement in changing an institution’s initial metrics-based TEF rating. Marking the TEF creative writing challenge suggests the panel compensated providers who appeared to be effectively addressing poor NSS scores, took into account a London effect, and rewarded institutions with successful outcomes for part time study.

 

Brexit and Erasmus

A Times Higher article on the alternative to Erasmus post-Brexit highlights the downsides inherent in an Erasmus alternative. The EU exit agreement will determine whether the UK continues to participate in Erasmus, however, the government is currently pursuing a hard line on free movement which decreases the likelihood Erasmus would continue in its current form. An alternative is to establish bilateral agreements to exchange students with key European universities – just as we do now with international institutions. However, the article highlights the negative impact on social mobility – bilateral agreements mean the students must cover their own costs to some extent – decreasing the likelihood lower income students could afford to participate. While the obvious answer (to divert the UK’s contribution to the EU budget which funds Erasmus to a home-grown scheme) seems reasonable the budget required would be in excess of €113 million and the government have yet to confirm this as an option. Furthermore the time and administrative costs for universities to individually negotiate grants and agreements is excessive. The article also touches on lower demand from EU students to come to the UK suggesting exchanges may not be viable.

Parliamentary Questions

Q: Catherine West: What discussions he has had with the Secretary of State for Education on the future of the UK’s participation in the Erasmus scheme.

A: Mr Steve Baker: The Department has regular conversations with officials and Ministers from other governmental departments about a range of policy issues arising from EU exit. With regards to the Erasmus+ programme, the Government recognises the value of international exchange and collaboration in education as part of our vision for the UK as a global nation. There may be European programmes in which we wish to continue to participate after we exit. This will be considered as part of ongoing negotiations with the European Union

Brexit – staff and students

The Russell Group published 10 points requiring greater clarity in response to the UK Government’s position on EU nationals. This included calling for:

  • ensuring academic and student time abroad for study, training, career development and research purposes does not negatively impact on continuous residency
  • interpreting ‘strong ties’ broadly to ensure academics and students spending 2+ years abroad do not lose their settled status once this has been established
  • EU students starting courses in 2017/18 and 2018/19 should be able to stay and work here after their studies and be eligible for settled status after accruing five years residence
  • ensuring that professional qualifications obtained in either the UK or the EU before the UK’s withdrawal continue to be recognised across borders

 

Education-related exports and transnational education activity

The government released experimental statistics estimating the value of exports from the UK education section, the respective contribution of the higher and further education sectors, and transnational activity for 2010-2014. (Transnational education is education provided in a country different to that of the awarding institution.) The total value was estimated to be £18.76 billion – an increase of 18% against 2010. HE was the main contributor accounting for 92% of the total value, with revenue from transnational education contributing the remaining 8%. The full report is here.

Accompanying the experimental statistics is a report analysing the value of transnational education to the UK (originally published November 2014). The report discusses the benefits of transnational education to UK HE institutions (see page 11 for a summary).

 

Nursing & midwifery places

The Royal College of Nursing spoke out this week highlighting the discrepancy between the Government’s plans to expand the mental health workforce and the significant downturn in nursing applications attributed to the introduction of fees and the withdrawal of the NHS bursary. The Government has earmarked £1.3 billion for mental health services, pledging to treat an additional one million patients by 2020-21 through 24/7 services. The RCN says there is already a dangerous lack of workforce planning and accountability, and warns the Government will need to work hard just to get back to the number of specialist staff working in mental health services in 2010. They state that under this Government there are 5,000 fewer mental health nurses.

Janet Davies, RCN Chief Executive & General Secretary, expressed skepticism at the government’s plans and stated: “If these nurses were going to be ready in time, they would be starting training next month…but we have seen that the withdrawal of the bursary has led to a sharp fall in university applications and we are yet to see funding for additional places.” [The government previously stated the removal of bursaries will mean an additional 10,000 training places for healthcare students could be made available by 2020.]

On the ending of the bursary Jon Skewes, Director, at Royal College of Midwives (RCM) said: ‘We believe this decision is a fundamental mistake by the government and have warned about the wide reaching implications of removing the student midwifery bursary given the existing crisis in our maternity services. In England alone we remain 3500 midwives short. This, coupled with younger midwives leaving, an ageing workforce and the loss of EU midwives post-Brexit, means the RCM has grave concerns for staffing our maternity services. The government has completely ignored RCM advice to make any loans forgivable if students then go to work in the NHS. The axing of the bursary and introduction of tuition in England will without doubt worsen the current shortage of midwives.’

 

Tuition Fees

The Centre for Policy Studies released an Economic Bulletin on tuition fees: Wealthy Graduates: The Winners from Corbyn’s tuition fees plan. It reiterates known messages including increases in disadvantaged pupils accessing HE and the social unfairness of expecting non-graduates to subsidise education for degree students. It also makes the following points:

  • The maximum fee ceiling is charged by most universities, there is little differentiation. This means the intended competitiveness was unsuccessful as there is no clear link between tuition fees paid and job prospects. (See page 8 of the full report for more detail.) While TEF still intends to differentiate fees paid on quality the scale of the difference is limited.
  • It calls on ministers to avoid retrospectively increasing graduate’s fee repayments, to consider reducing loan interest rates, and to incentivise courses linking to labour shortages.
  • It also recommends policy makers consider intergenerational fairness but without abolishing tuition fees
  • Scotland’s previous no tuition fee policy which resulted in a student numbers cap means their social mobility outcomes are lower than England’s.

Widening Participation

Statistics – progression and outcome

The Department for Education have published statistics on the 2014/15 entry cohort –  Widening Participation in HE. These are the regular annual statistics detailing young participation in HE with social background comparisons and graduate outcomes. Headlines:

  • The progression rate of free school meals (FSM) pupils has increased, but so has the gap between FSM and non-FSM. Page 5 has a diagram breaking this down by region.
  • The state school Vs independent school gap in progressing to the most selective HE institutions has widened slightly
  • Graduate outcomes – disadvantaged students employed in the most advantaged occupations is up by 1%, although the gap between most and least advantaged students in these high-end jobs remains static at 6%.

School-age attainment trends

The Education Policy Institute has published Closing the Gap? Trends in Educational Attainment and Disadvantage. The report focuses on school aged children analysing the attainment gaps between children from disadvantaged backgrounds and their peers plus other pupil characteristics. It covers the progress made, the enduring challenges (including magnitude of learning gaps and lack of progress for the most persistently disadvantaged pupils). It recommends an additional 8 local authority districts on top of the 12 Opportunity Areas currently identified by the Department for Education. Finally, it states that without significant acceleration in the rate at which gaps are being addressed it take until 2070 before disadvantaged children did not fall further behind other students during their time in education.

 

UK UG Vs International Student numbers

The Sunday Times led with an article claiming universities recruitment of the financially more lucrative international students was crowding out intake of UK undergraduates: Universities take foreign students ahead of British.

The sector responded on Twitter and Wonkhe set out what is misleading in the Times article in their blog: What the Sunday Times got Wrong. This states that the Times article used inappropriate statistics and reminded that UK school leavers now enter university at the highest ever levels.

David Morris (Wonkhe) writes: when I confronted Gilligan about this on Twitter, his response suggested (to me at least) a realisation that a mistake had been made. He argued that his piece “was mainly about the fact that non-EU undergrads are admitted with lesser qualifications” and that we shouldn’t suggest that part-time and second degree students “don’t count”.

In his critique Morris also acknowledges the difficulty navigating HESA statistics for the uninitiated: HESA’s website is not the easiest to use, and one could easily look at overall undergraduate numbers and make an assumption about a story that simply isn’t there. I would urge HESA to make finding historic data more ‘journalist friendly’ for hacks with a deadline. To write this piece I have had to have six different tabs open on HESA’s website, plus three different Excel sheets and the HESA mobile app. No wonder mistakes can be made.

 

Case Studies

Universities UK have published a directory of case studies illustrating how universities are tackling harassment, violence against women and hate crime. The case studies cover a range of areas including prevention, improving incident reporting procedures, effective responses, student and staff training, and good practice.

 

Research Impact – a new toolkit developed by the Health Foundation

Festival of Learning

I just wanted to draw attention to the following new toolkit developed by the Health Foundation.

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Communicating your research – a toolkit

The Health Foundation’s new communications toolkit for research helps researchers to increase the influence and impact of their findings in health and health care. It includes guidance, templates, support materials and links to help develop a communication strategy, package findings for different audiences and engage stakeholders to extend influence and widen impact.

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Many thanks

Clare Killingback

FHSS Impact Champion

NERC Early Career Researcher evaluation survey

PG research

NERC is undertaking an evaluation of its support for Early Career Researchers (ECRs) to be completed in 2017. This evaluation is the first of its kind to be undertaken by NERC to gain a better understanding of the challenges and issues facing ECRs during this crucial period for their career development.

The outcomes of this evaluation will determine whether current NERC strategy and activities are effective at maintaining a healthy research base for the environmental sciences, and ensuring the training and opportunities available for NERC ECRs are appropriate for facilitating success in the broad range of careers they enter.

The evidence to inform this evaluation will be collected through an online survey developed by market research specialists, DJS Research, NERC, and its advisory boards. The audience for this survey is primarily ECRs within NERC’s remit but it also provides the opportunity for employers of ECRs and other key stakeholders to provide feedback. This survey will be complemented by case study interviews to provide further information concerning the insights arising from the survey and explore in greater depth the challenges facing ECRs.

The online survey will run from 3 August to 2 October 2017 and NERC intends to publish the findings of this evaluation in December 2017.

If you have any queries concerning the ECR Evaluation, please contact researchcareers@nerc.ac.uk

The TACIT Trial releases YouTube video to help with recruitment

The TACIT Trial has a new professional video; please forward to anyone you know who has dementia or is a carer of someone with dementia who may be interested in taking part in this study: https://youtu.be/96Kyi_P7ngI.

Further information can be found below and by visiting the website  www.bournemouth.ac.uk/tai-chi.  A YouTube clip can also be seen with Dr Samuel  Nyman appearing on the BBC Radio Solent breakfast show and the breakfast team taking part in Tai Chi.

The TACIT Trial Team at Bournemouth University Ageing & Dementia Research Centre are looking for people living with dementia and their carers to take part in an exciting new study. For more information, please get in touch!

People with dementia and their informal carer will be helping with research to find out if Tai Chi is beneficial for people with dementia. All participants will be talking to researchers on a weekly basis and half will have the chance of getting to do Tai Chi. This study will be based in #Bournemouth #Ferndown #Christchurch #Dorchester #Poole #Romsey#Eastleigh #Portsmouth.
You can have a look at our flyer (https://goo.gl/vZzkWG) and our venues´ details (www.bournemouth.ac.uk/tai-chi).

If you want to get involved, please contact Yolanda Barrado-Martín by:
· E-mail: ybarradomartin@bournemouth.ac.uk
· Telephone: 07801890258
· Facebook #TheTACITTrial: Fill out our questionnaire (https://goo.gl/forms/WA5mk2vR8m9qWw0K2) with your contact details and we will get back to you!