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CQR’s Last Seminar for the Year Wed 1pm RLH 201

PG research

The Centre for Qualitative Research will end the academic year with a final “In Conversation” Seminar this Wednesday at 1 pm in RLH 201.  All are most welcome!

The presenters originally set for this date had to postpone until next year due to ill health. We decided to go ahead with the seminar anyway. It will provide us with a time in which to converse about the year’s seminars, what was helpful, and what people would like to have as topics next year. We also will be discussing the potential of short hands-on taster sessions with arts-based research methods for next year. Perhaps you have a idea for an ‘In Conversation” seminar that you would like to contribute?

Do come along and join in the conversation!  We look forward to spending this time together. CQR Members and non-members equally welcome!

Kindness Matters event, tomorrow!

Following on from the successful Service Excellence Conference held in April, we are holding a further event to build on the theme of kindness. If you are an academic interested in kindness or undertaking research which is linked to kindness please come along to a follow up event on 7th June 10-3 to share your interests and to explore ways in which we can work across the university to develop the theme of ‘kindness’ further.

The event will explore kindness and self-kindness and will include a holistic appreciation of self and others. Alongside practical sessions to explore the concepts of kindness and self-kindness, the day will provide a creative space for academics and professional service staff to come together to explore synergies in research and practice development activities linked to kindness. We hope the event will provide a springboard for future co-creation around kindness across the university.

To book your place, please contact od@bournemouth.ac.uk

BU research and KE policies – do you know where to find them?

To make things easier for colleagues across the University, all of the research and KE policies and procedures are available from the Policies and Procedures section of the Staff Intranet: https://staffintranet.bournemouth.ac.uk/aboutbu/policiesprocedures/

They’re located in the Research section and are organised into handy sub-categories such as BRIAN, pre-award and ethics and integrity.

 

REF 2021 – stocktake exercises

Research assessment

With the publication of the Stern Review last summer and the funding bodies’ Second Consultation on the REF earlier this year, there’s been a lot of discussion at BU and across the sector around REF 2021 lately. Despite this, and indeed because of this, we’re still none the wiser as to what the next REF will look like. Like many other universities, we are progressing with our internal preparations whilst we await the publication of the initial decisions from the funding bodies’ in response to the feedback to their consultation (predicted to be later this year).

One of the ways BU is preparing is by running a stocktake exercise to see what outputs academic staff have published since 1 January 2014 and what potential impact BU research is having. Not only will this provide a summary of progress c. half way through the REF assessment period, it will also enable resources to be allocated to support further high-quality outputs and to accelerate research impact.

The stocktake exercise is being run in two cohorts:

  • Cohort 1 takes place this summer and involves UOAs – 2, 3, 4, 12, 22/23, 25, 34 and 36.
  • Cohort 2 takes place this autumn and involves UOAs – 11, 17 (archaeology), 17 (geography and environmental studies), 19, 20, 26 and 29.

The process will be the same for each cohort. On the outputs side, we are changing from individuals self-nominating for their inclusion in the exercise to a model where all academic staff (with a research-only or a teaching and research contract) are automatically included. This ensures the exercise is fully inclusive whilst reducing the burden on individual academic staff. In terms of impact, we are changing from colleagues writing impact case studies to inviting them to attend a meeting and deliver a short informal presentation of their research, its impact and their plans for generating further impact, followed by a discussion with the panel. This is linked to the launch of the new impact tracker in BRIAN.

The stocktake exercises are designed to be fully inclusive, positive and developmental. Further information about the REF is available on the Research Blog’s REF webpage.

Photo of the Week: Palaeoenvironments of Africa: Why so long in the tooth?

Palaeoenvironments of Africa: Why so long in the tooth?

Palaeoenvironments of Africa: Why so long in the tooth?

Our next instalment of the ‘Photo of the Week’ series features postgraduate researchers Lauren Sewell and Lucile Crete’s image which represents palaeoenvironments in Africa. 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.

As part of the Institute for Studies of Landscape and Human Evolution (ISLHE), Lauren and Lucile’s research focuses on past environmental and vegetation changes in eastern and southern Africa. They’re looking to understand the nature of the landscapes and climatic influences which species evolved in, thrived in or died out in. The photo’s background represents both the potential vegetation present at the time and the symbolic evolutionary tree. The research is fuelled by their desire to understand human evolution. They use abundant, herbivorous antelope species (springbok in southern Africa and impala in East Africa) whose teeth are reflective of the vegetation available at the time.

The results should provide more information about past environments in Africa where different hominin species have been found, to understand what influenced species evolution 3 to 0.5 million years ago.

If you’d like find out more about the research or the photo itself then please contact Lucile.

This photo was originally an entry to 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

BU staff and students help undertake international research into salmon and sea trout populations in the English Channel

An international project to research the salmon and sea trout populations in the English Channel, which is supported by BU staff and students, is set to receive a multimillion pound investment.The environmental project called SAMARCH (SAlmonid MAnagement Round the CHannel) is being led by the Game & Wildlife Conservation Trust (GWCT) with 10 partner organisations, five in France and five in the UK – including BU.

The project, which provides vital research on rapidly declining salmon and sea trout (Salmonid) populations, is set to receive a €5.4 million contribution from the EU’s Interreg France (Channel) England programme.

SAMARCH will focus on the behaviour and mortality of salmonid populations in estuaries and coastal waters to determine where they are dying. It will also use DNA analysis to map areas in the channel that are important for sea trout and to determine the sex ratio of salmonids to improve the tools used by the regulatory bodies in England and France to manage their salmon stocks.

Genoveva Esteban, Professor at Bournemouth University, said: “SAMARCH is a marvellous opportunity for students to carry out work placements and research projects here in the UK and in France.

“This partnership will also facilitate cross-border student exchanges and knowledge – not just for the benefit of all partners, but of society in general.”

This project will use state-of-the-art fish monitoring facilities on five rivers across the south of England and northern France – including the Freshwater Biological Association’s River Laboratory on the River Frome in Dorset.

The knowledge gathered during the five-year project, which runs to 2022, will be used to update regulations in both France and England on the management of salmonids in estuaries and coastal waters.

If implemented, this could lead to a 6% to 9% increase in adult salmonid populations in the channel area.

Atlantic salmon and sea trout populations have declined by around 70% since the 1970s; they play a major role in coastal and river ecosystems and have a considerable economic importance through angling in Europe estimated to be worth as much as €1.2 billion.

Dylan Roberts, head of fisheries at GWCT and project manager, said: “Until recently, management has focused largely on addressing issues in fresh water; however we know that more than 90% of salmon smolts that leave our rivers for their feeding grounds in the north Atlantic die at sea.

“Researching salmon in the sea has always been technically difficult, but recent developments in fish tracking technology, DNA methodologies and advances in data analysis techniques now enables us to quantify what proportion of this mortality that occurs in the estuary and coastal areas, their movements through these areas.

“SAMARCH will also sharpen the tools used to manage salmonid stocks and adjust our management strategies accordingly. We are delighted that the Interrreg programme has decided to support SAMARCH and we look forward to working with our partners over the next five years.”

Ground-breaking article by Jones and Fenge

PG research

Kip Jones and Lee-Ann Fenge are pleased to announce that our article to appear shortly in Creative Approaches to Research, a peer-reviewed open-access journal, “Gift Stories How Do We Retell the Stories that Research Participants Give Us?” is now available on BRIAN.

We passionately believe that as narrative researchers and storytellers we must promote narrative in the content and styles of our publications. To revert to a style of publication or presentation that is counter to this does a disservice to our commitments as narrativists.

We can no longer afford to ignore the great advances made in representation of qualitative data. These have been overwhelmingly demonstrated by the successes achieved in auto-ethnography, poetic enquiry, ethno-drama, film, Performative Social Science and/or other arts-based efforts in research and dissemination.

 

Event! 7th June. Kindness Matters

Fusion, Knowledge Exchange

Following on from the successful Service Excellence Conference held in April, we are holding a further event to build on the theme of kindness. If you are an academic interested in kindness or undertaking research which is linked to kindness please come along to a follow up event on 7th June 10-3 to share your interests and to explore ways in which we can work across the university to develop the theme of ‘kindness’ further.

The event will explore kindness and self-kindness and will include a holistic appreciation of self and others. Alongside practical sessions to explore the concepts of kindness and self-kindness, the day will provide a creative space for academics and professional service staff to come together to explore synergies in research and practice development activities linked to kindness. We hope the event will provide a springboard for future co-creation around kindness across the university.

To book your place, please contact od@bournemouth.ac.uk

Next ADRC Research Meeting Dr Ellen Seiss 8 June F111 (11.15am)

Thank you to those that attended the first ADRC Research Meeting in May. We kicked off with three interesting and humorous presentations (the ignite style moving the slides on so quickly was very entertaining) from our theme leaders:

  • Ageing and Dementia Friendly Environments – Prof Jan Wiener
  • Nutrition and Well-being – Prof Jane Murphy
  • Activity and Social Inclusion – Dr Ben Hicks

We continue with the next ADRC Research Meeting taking place at 11.15am, on 8th June 2017 in F111 (Fusion, Talbot Campus). We welcome Dr Ellen Seiss, Senior Lecturer in Psychology at Bournemouth University to talk about her research in cognitive and clinical neuroscience. Ellen conducted her PhD in sensorimotor function in Parkinson’s and Huntington’s disease. Her other research focuses on other disorders such as OCD and stroke, and an interest in the effect of glucose on cognitive function.

Ellen is currently involved in an m-health related EU Horizon 2020 project with Parkinson’s disease patients (called PD Manager) and was a co-chair for the Surrey Parkinson’s disease Research Collaboration (SPaRC) between 2012 and 2015. SPaRC’s aim was to stimulate research between two university hospitals and two universities. She also leads the ageing and neurodegenerative disorders unit in the MSc in Clinical and Developmental Neuropsychology.

We look forward to seeing you there.

Ageing and Dementia Research Centre

 

 

Erasmus Staff Mobility – International Staff Training Week

Fusion

Participation by Alice Brown, Research & Knowledge Exchange Office

This was my very first time on an exciting International Staff Training Week, hosted by Kristianstad University in Sweden. The 4 day training programme from 8 to 11 May 2017 was divided into Groups reflecting the professional service areas of: (A) Student Services, (B) Library, (C) Information Technology, (D) Finance and (E) Research & Innovation. The Week was attended by 40 participants from Universities all over Europe (Germany, Spain, Portugal, France, Romania, Poland, Hungary, Czech Republic, Turkey), of which three, besides for myself, were from the UK (Durham, Staffordshire).

On the first day, the Host via their International Office’s staff introduced themselves to the cohort, including the history of Kristianstad as formerly a military town with the University grounds and buildings being infantry premises. The Host was a young University, initially offering nursing and teaching courses, but has now expanded to offer many more, such as agriculture, food sciences and engineering.

It has this year become the most popular University for school-leavers in Sweden. After this introduction, the Host’s Vice-Chancellor welcomed us. We were given brief introductions of all participants, elements of Swedish culture such as a fikka (coffee/tea break with snacks, usually delectable Scandinavian pastries), a campus tour and then a tour of the town.

On the second and third days, we split into our Groups. I was in Group E – the Research & Innovation Group, which had 9 participants, of which 3 officers were from the Host and the others were from Universities in Germany, Romania, Portugal, Turkey and the UK (Durham). We all gave presentations about our Universities and engaged in intensive workshops about the issues, challenges and possible solutions to engage students and academics in research/innovation.

We were taken on excursions to visit the Kristianstad Krinova Incubator Science Park and two knowledge exchange business projects – an innovative Swedish fusion food restaurant, Sotnosen’s and a sustainable aquaculture farm, Gardsfisk. We attended a one hour crash course in Swedish and emerged feeling we could say the common niceties like “hej” (hello) and “tak” (thank you).

The Host invited the cohort to a welcome lunch at Metropol, their campus food hall on the first day and a finger-food lunch prepared by their international students on the second day. At this lunch, I discovered my new-found Swedish favourite – the smogastarte and a traditional sweet – the Spettekaka. We were all taken out by the Host to a smorgasboard dinner at Aptit, a restaurant in town that second evening when we had sparkling conversations about Swedish arts and culture.

On the fourth day, we gathered back as a cohort and had a wrap-up session on what each Group had learned and what we would take back to our respective Universities. We exchanged contacts and raised ideas of possible future collaborations. I had a great experience meeting new people working in similar professional service areas and engaging in Swedish culture and history.

I will be taking back a few practice ideas that will continue to feed into Bournemouth University’s internationalisation and innovative partnerships journey.

 

 

 

Approaching the Case for Support – Book Now!

As part of the Research and Knowledge Exchange Development Framework, RKEO are hosting a session on ‘Approaching the Case for Support’.

 

This interactive morning session will provide an overview of RCUK funding, and an overview of the anatomy of a proposal before detailing approaches to tackling the case for support, with the aim of increasing the likelihood of receiving funding. There will be an opportunity to gain feedback from the external facilitator, on the day and subsequently.

 

All academics and researchers are welcome to attend, but as places are limited we ask that participants have a funding application they plan to submit within 12 months. The application can be to any funder.

 

Date: Tuesday 27th June 2017

 

Time: 09:30-12:30

 

Venue: Talbot Campus

 

For more information and to book your space please see the RKE Development Framework page for this event.

 

For any other queries please contact Lisa Gale-Andrews, RKEO Research Facilitator.

My voice, my story: the lived experience of being a non-traditional student at university

 

The Fair Access Research (FAR) team have been working with students to explore what it means to be a non-traditional student at university through the student voice, using photovoice, a participatory photographic and story technique.

The undergraduates involved in the research, who were from widening participation (WP) backgrounds, became research co-creators. They took photographs to represent their experiences of being a non-traditional student in higher education which they shared within their group then explored and analysed further together. The students then wrote short excerpts relating to their individual photographs.

The stories and photographs were then shared at a workshop as part of the Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC) Festival of Social Science held at BU.  Academics and WP practitioners from a variety of different universities attended the workshop to interpret and explore the impact of the students’ stories. Participants engaged in co-creation, listening to students’ voices, learning from their stories, hearing about the photovoice research method and working together to develop practical responses to some of the challenges which the stories presented.

The themes which emerged through an analysis of the research data include the concepts of transition, connectedness and the journey.  The images and associated stories told by the students were then shared with a group of BU media students who created the video montage above.

One of the central tenets of the photovoice method is that the participatory approach is used to inform policymakers so that meaningful policy changes can be shaped in unison with the lived experiences of the communities the policies are intended to serve.  Listening to students’ voices and hearing students’ own stories of their lived experiences of university can help ensure that policies are developed and implemented that work with the lives and needs of non-traditional students. ​

The video has been posted on the ESRC website and on the BU YouTube channel

Part of the ‘Experience’ theme, one of five themes in the Fair Access Research project.

The importance of writing a good grant application – Grants Workshop rescheduled for 29th June

Everyone knows how important it is to write a good grant application – if you’re not submitting the best grant application you can, you won’t be in the running to win the money. But how do you write the best application to stand you out from the crowd?

To find out come to the Grants Workshop on 29th June!

As part of the Research and Knowledge Exchange Development Framework, RKEO are hosting a Grants Workshop and follow-up Bid Writing Retreat.

This two day event will combine advice and guidance on writing grant applications, and will be delivered by external bid writing experts ThinkWrite.

Day one (Thursday, 29th June 2017) will comprise of a grants workshop which will give participants the opportunity to expand their ideas on available funding sources, and investigate what funders want to achieve when they hand over money. Participants will then develop a strategic approach to writing applications.

Day two (Monday, 24th July 2017) will consist of a follow-up bid writing retreat, where one-to-one support will be available to develop applications for funding.

All academics and researchers are welcome to attend.  Participants can attend either day, but must have a funding application they plan to submit within 12 months. The application can be to any funder.

Places are limited, so book now to avoid disappointment. For more information and to book your space please see the RKE Development Framework page for this event.

For any other queries please contact Lisa Gale-Andrews, RKEO Research Facilitator.

Wessex Clinical Research Network (CRN) Event – Monday 5th June

Your Opportunity to find out about the Wessex Clinical Research Network (CRN)

Monday 5th June 13.00-15.30 in EB708, Executive Business Centre

13.00-14.00 – Lunch

14.00-15.00 – Presentations

15.00-15.30 – Opportunity for one-to-ones with audience about their particular project

 

The NIHR Clinical Research Network (CRN) makes it possible for patients and health professionals across England to participate in clinical research studies within the NHS. The CRN provides the infrastructure that allows high-quality clinical research funded by charities, research funders and life-sciences industry to be undertaken throughout the NHS. It works with patients and the public to make sure their needs are placed at the heart of all research, and providing opportunities for patients to gain earlier access to new and better treatments through research participation.

The Clinical Research Network is made up of 15 Local Clinical Research Networks that cover the length and breadth of England. The CRN delivers research across 30 clinical specialties at a national and local level. This is your opportunity to meet a couple of people who work with the Wessex CRN.

 

Who will you meet?

Mrs Martine Cross

CRN Wessex Research Delivery Manager

 

Dr James Bennett

CRN Wessex Primary Care Specialty Lead and GP at Wareham Surgery

 

Why should you find out more?

The CRN can support you as a Chief Investigator by:

  • facilitating access to a whole network of potential research sites and information;
  • supporting you to ‘set up’ your study across a number of sites;
  • providing support to ensure sites are able to undertake the study e.g. generic training / staff development;
  • providing practical help in identifying and recruiting patients for Portfolio studies, so that researchers can be confident of completing the study on time and as planned.

 

To book a place at this event please follow the Eventbrite link https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/your-opportunity-to-find-out-about-wessex-clinical-research-network-crn-tickets-34908358841 . 

user led research event – 6 places left

The PIER partnership (Public Involvement in Education and Research) are hosting a sandpit event with RKEO on 20th June 9.30-4pm to bring together service users, carers and researchers to explore and generate ideas for user led and user generated research.  Speakers confirmed from Involve and the Patients Association. There are just 6 places left for academics who are keen to explore research ideas with service users and to help us to develop ways of supporting user led research. If you would like to be involved, please contact Dr Mel Hughes, Academic lead for service user and carer involvement mhughes@bournemouth.ac.uk

Research Professional – all you need to know

Funding opportunities

Research-Professional-logoEvery BU academic has a Research Professional account which delivers weekly emails detailing funding opportunities in their broad subject area. To really make the most of your Research Professional account, you should tailor it further by establishing additional alerts based on your specific area of expertise. The Funding Development Team Officers can assist you with this, if required.

Research Professional have created several guides to help introduce users to ResearchProfessional. These can be downloaded here.

Quick Start Guide: Explains to users their first steps with the website, from creating an account to searching for content and setting up email alerts, all in the space of a single page.

User Guide: More detailed information covering all the key aspects of using ResearchProfessional.

Administrator Guide: A detailed description of the administrator functionality.

In addition to the above, there are a set of 2-3 minute videos online, designed to take a user through all the key features of ResearchProfessional. To access the videos, please use the following link: http://www.youtube.com/researchprofessional

Research Professional are running a series of online training broadcasts aimed at introducing users to the basics of creating and configuring their accounts on ResearchProfessional. They are holding monthly sessions, covering everything you need to get started with ResearchProfessional. The broadcast sessions will run for no more than 60 minutes, with the opportunity to ask questions via text chat. Each session will cover:

  • Self registration and logging in
  • Building searches
  • Setting personalised alerts
  • Saving and bookmarking items
  • Subscribing to news alerts
  • Configuring your personal profile

Each session will run between 10.00am and 11.00am (UK) on the fourth Tuesday of each month. You can register here for your preferred date:

27th June 2017

25th July 2017

22nd August 2017

26th September 2017

24th October 2017

These are free and comprehensive training sessions and so this is a good opportunity to get to grips with how Research Professional can work for you.

Back in the Women’s Room – WAN research seminar

Women's Academic Network

Professor Ann Phoenix

On the 24 May the Women’s Academic Network (WAN) held their first public research seminar entitled ‘“Back in the Women’s Room”: Dialogues on gender-focused research’. This seminar, organised by Professor Sara Ashencaen Crabtree (in reference to the famous feminist novel The Women’s Room by Marilyn French), focused on research that had been either funded by WAN or were closely linked to WAN’s aims and interests. Accordingly 5 paper presentations were given by BU academics with a guest appearance by our founding member, Professor Heather Savigny of de Montford University, speaking on the topic of the hidden injuries to women in neoliberal academia.

A profoundly erudite keynote lecture was offered by our eminent speaker, Professor Ann Phoenix of the Thomas Coram Research Unit at the Institute of Education at UCL, who flew in from her secondment at the Helsinki University Collegium for Advanced Studies to attend the seminar. The day was completed by two successive 90 minute workshops, one given by Professor Phoenix on feminist intersectional research and the other being a fascinating, participative social dreaming workshop on women in academia, conducted by Dr Aanka Batta of the Faculty of Media & Communication (FMC). Professor Tiantian Zhang of SciTech gracefully closed the day.

There was good attendance by BU and external academics along with PGR. The seminar was seen to be enormously successful and received excellent evaluations from participants. However, while a thoroughly gratifying outcome (and hopefully the beginning of other such seminars) the main impact of the day was to be able to focus on issues of genuine relevance and concern to women (and male) academics through papers on gendered barriers to academic careers by Professors Ashencaen Crabtree and Chris Sheil. A paper on women knowledge workers and flexible working by doctoral candidate, Aleksandra Biernat, resonated with our awareness of the difficulties of negotiating masculinised workspaces as women. Drs Haana Osman and Lorraine Brown delivered a WAN-sponsored paper on UK Muslim women tourists. Professor Candida Yates followed with another sponsored research paper on perceptions and emotionality in the wake of Brexit – a most topical issue. Dr Stephanie Schwandner-Sievers gave an impressive account on the ambiguities of gender in post-War Kosovo. Finally, Professor Ann Hemingway et al. discussed their early work on Slow Professorship as a means of reclaiming deep scholarship – where synergies were found with colleagues from the Faculty of Management, who are also engaged in exploring this area. We were also really pleased that this work inspired such a strong response for further engagement with our colleagues across Faculties, where Professor Mike Wilmore, Dean of FMC was eager to continue discussions at a higher level.

The day provided a number of valuable opportunities for colleagues to explore gender as both an analytic framework, a subjective experience and as firmly embedded in ubiquitous contexts and daily social interactions. It provided an invaluable forum to examine the complexities, paradoxes and oppressions that form the problematic and bone of contention in gender politics – and in so doing privileged those vital areas of concern that otherwise too often remain unheard and unseen.

 

Professor Sara Ashencaen Crabtree