Places are still available for the two-day bid writing retreat on 18th and 19th April – book in now!
As the European Commission celebrates the support of over 100,000 researchers through Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions, RKEO are pleased to confirm our arrangements for supporting this high profile call in 2017.
Support
There will be a two-day bid writing retreat on 18th and 19th April and, subject to demand, this will be repeated on 4th and 5th July, with bookings now open
As this is a highly popular call, RKEO need to carefully manage the flow of work within RKEO but also for all your colleagues, who work together, to ensure that each application is approved and submitted correctly.
The call will open on 11/04/17, when further information will be posted on this blog.
Please ensure that the Intention to Bid is submitted to RKEO by 30/06/17. You can, of course, let us know earlier than this date that you intend to apply, so that we can provide you, and your potential fellow, with as much support as possible, right up to the closing date of 14/09/17. It is expected that early drafts will be sent to RKEO at the beginning of August, allowing time for all those involved to manage their workloads.
Communication
Once we know that you are thinking of applying, even before submitting the Intention to Bid, we can keep you up to date with announcements from the funder and other sources of help and support.
If you are considering applying and would like to receive updates, please contact Dianne Goodman, RKEO’s Funding Development Team Co-ordinator, so that we can register your interest and provide useful information, such as the indicative timetable for actions prior to submission. If you are ready to submit your Intention to Bid, you can do this now, via Dianne. The allocated Funding Development Officer can then contact you.
If you have any queries or comments about this scheme, please contact Emily Cieciura, RKEO’s Research Facilitator: EU & International
The NIHR Clinician Scientist Award offers up to 5 years funding to undertake focused training and development in order to develop specific skills that will enable a transition from basic research into clinical research or from clinical research into translational and applied research.
Maximum Award: Not specified Deadline: 1 June 2017
The EME Programme invites proposals for hypothesis driven research into the underlying mechanisms of action of clinical and public health interventions.
Maximum Award: Not specified
Deadline: 4 July 2017
Proposals are invited for a new research programme on improving understanding of shelf sea ecosystem function using integrated autonomous observing systems.
Maximum Award: £1.8 million
Deadline: 28 June 2017
The level of funding provided is flexible and can be anything from under £500,000 to around £3 million. Awards can last for up to seven years, if appropriate.
You should request a level and duration of funding that’s appropriate to your career stage, research experience and the proposed research programme.
Maximum Award: £500,000 – £3 million
Deadline: 27 July 2017
The scheme accepts investigator-led studies for highly ambitious translational research conducted in association with a clinical trial with the objective of optimising treatment and maximising patient benefit.
Maximum Award: £1 – £5 million Deadline: 20 September 2017
For more funding opportunities that are most relevant to you, you can set up your own personalised alerts on Research Professional. If you need help setting these up, just ask your School’s/Faculty’s Funding Development Officer in RKEO or view the recent blog post here.
If thinking of applying, why not add notification of your interest on Research Professional’s record of the bid so that BU colleagues can see your intention to bid and contact you to collaborate.
It’s been over six months since Bournemouth University launched its new Research & Knowledge Exchange Development Framework, which was designed to offer academics at all stages of their career opportunities to develop their skills, knowledge and capabilities.
Since its launch, over 30 sessions have taken place, including sandpits designed to develop solutions to key research challenges, workshops with funders such as the British Academy and the Medical Research Council and skills sessions to help researchers engage with the media and policy makers.
The Research & Knowledge Exchange Office is currently planning activities and sessions for next year’s training programme and would like your feedback about what’s worked well, areas for improvement and suggestions for new training sessions.
Tell us what you think via our surveyand be in with a chance of winning a £30 Amazon voucher. The deadline date is Friday 21 April.
We are happy to inform you that Bournemouth Research Information and Networking System (BRIAN) will be upgrading to a new version next month.
The main improvements from this upgrade include:
New Impact Tracking Module
New Homepage
More User Friendly Navigation
We do apologise for the inconvenience this upgrade will cause but we hope that these new and improved features will make BRIAN easier and simpler to use for everyone, whilst also providing a valuable tool to academics helping them record the impact of their research
Places are still available for the two-day bid writing retreat on 18th and 19th April – book in now!
As the European Commission celebrates the support of over 100,000 researchers through Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions, RKEO are pleased to confirm our arrangements for supporting this high profile call in 2017.
Support
There will be a two-day bid writing retreat on 18th and 19th April and, subject to demand, this will be repeated on 4th and 5th July, with bookings now open
As this is a highly popular call, RKEO need to carefully manage the flow of work within RKEO but also for all your colleagues, who work together, to ensure that each application is approved and submitted correctly.
The call will open on 11/04/17, when further information will be posted on this blog.
Please ensure that the Intention to Bid is submitted to RKEO by 30/06/17. You can, of course, let us know earlier than this date that you intend to apply, so that we can provide you, and your potential fellow, with as much support as possible, right up to the closing date of 14/09/17. It is expected that early drafts will be sent to RKEO at the beginning of August, allowing time for all those involved to manage their workloads.
Communication
Once we know that you are thinking of applying, even before submitting the Intention to Bid, we can keep you up to date with announcements from the funder and other sources of help and support.
If you are considering applying and would like to receive updates, please contact Dianne Goodman, RKEO’s Funding Development Team Co-ordinator, so that we can register your interest and provide useful information, such as the indicative timetable for actions prior to submission. If you are ready to submit your Intention to Bid, you can do this now, via Dianne. The allocated Funding Development Officer can then contact you.
If you have any queries or comments about this scheme, please contact Emily Cieciura, RKEO’s Research Facilitator: EU & International
The following is a list of current awarded projects, complete with live job links, for the summer round of the Student Research Assistantship (SRA) scheme:
Please promote these vacancies to students where applicable. All jobs are live on MyCareerHub, our Careers & Employability online careers tool. You will need to use your staff/student credentials to login.
Please do look out for SRA updates on the BU Research Blog.
If you have any questions about this scheme, please contact Rachel Clarke, KE Adviser (KTP and Student Projects) on 61347 or email sra@bournemouth.ac.uk
Through BU’s subscription to UKRO, we have been advised of the following news items, which represent a ‘mere taster’ of all the updates provided by UKRO to their members.
To make full use of BU’s subscription to this service, why not register now?
Events and Funding Opportunities:
Information Event: MSCA Individual Fellowships (IF) – Bristol on 23/5/17 and Liverpool on 05/05/17 – Register via the UKRO site with free places on a ‘first come, first served’ basis
TRIP (the Transport Research and Innovation Portal) is organising its fifth one-day stakeholder workshop, which will take place in Brussels on Wednesday 3 May 2017, and cover the subject of cleaner transport
UKRO will be hosting ERC Advanced Grants and Proof of Conceptevents in London on 18/05/17 and Manchester (Advanced Grants only) on 24/05/17 – Register via the UKRO site with free places on a ‘first come, first served’ basis. Find out more about the European Research Council on their dedicated website and the support of the European Commission that they enjoy.
Framework Programme 9 (FP9)planning is well underway with public consultation expected in July 2017 – for further news, please refer to the UKRO website or contact RKEO. The recent European Parliament Report may also give indications of future direction.
The European Institute of Innovation and Technology has announced plans to re-launch the competition for a new innovation community, EIT Manufacturing, at the same time as for EIT Urban Mobility in 2018
Resources regarding Gender, from a recent Science Europe, event are now available
BEIS have released figures of UK participation in Horizon 2020. In terms of number of participations, the South West is one of the better performing regions after London, the South East, the East of England and Scotland, with their many internationally-recognised institutions
Please note:You will need to sign in or register, as a BU staff member, to access many of these items, as part of BU’s UKRO subscription. Links have only been given to resources in the public domain.
If considering applying to EU calls, please contact Emily Cieciura, RKEO’s Research Facilitator: EU & International, to access further support.
Odours provide a richness to our perception of the world. But, despite the ubiquity of smell, we understand less about smell memory than we do about visual and auditory memory.
The classic example of smell memory is what has become known as a Proustian memory (or involuntary memory). For this phenomenon, mere exposure to a stimulus can automatically trigger a strong memory from the past. For Proust, it was tea-soaked madeleine that activated a detailed memory of his aunt’s house.
As a researcher of odour memory, people often tell me stories of smells that triggered vivid autobiographical memories. This might be the smell of hospital food, a certain alcoholic drink or the shampoo of a former lover. This strong relationship between odour and emotion is thought to result from the part of the brain involved in processing odours being positioned within the limbic system – an area of the brain integral to emotion.
Testing short-term memory for smells
Not all smell is stored in long-term memory, though. Some smells are only retained in memory for short periods. Imagine you’re shopping for a new aftershave or perfume. You wouldn’t smell two products at the same time as it would be difficult to distinguish between the two. To decide which one you prefer, you need to smell them one after the other. This means you have to temporarily store the smell and then recall it to make a comparison. We have been examining how people store odours in short-term memory and the extent to which odour memory works differently from other types of memory.
The simplest explanation is that people perform smell memory tasks by verbally labelling the odours (for example: “smells like cheese”). But using this kind of verbal strategy results in the memory task being a test of verbal rather than olfactory memory, because we’re storing the word “cheese” in verbal memory not the actual smell of cheese in odour memory. As researchers, we can limit the use of this strategy by selecting odours that are hard to name. For example, non-food odours are typically harder to label.
Another trick we use is asking participants to repeat words that are irrelevant to the task during the test; this is called “concurrent articulation”. Concurrent articulation disrupts the participant’s ability to name the odours and their ability to silently rehearse the names during the task. For example, if you’re repeating “the, the, the” while sniffing something that smells like new-mown grass, you won’t be able to store the words “new-mown grass” in your verbal memory. It’s a bit like trying to read a book while listening to the news.
It has been shown that people can perform short-term olfactory memory tasks when the odours are hard to name,
and when undertaking concurrent articulation. These findings suggest that while verbal labelling can improve the memory for an odour, people are also able to store the actual odour within memory. This is supported by research showing that different parts of the brain are activated when remembering easy-to-name and hard-to-name odours; specifically, the inferior frontal gyrus and the piriform cortex, respectively.
One method by which olfactory short-term memory has been compared with other types of memory is by examining how well people can remember a list of odours. Depending on the specifics of the memory task, people are typically good at remembering the first and last item on a list (a phenomena known as primacy and recency). There is some evidence that, for some tasks, smell memory produces different primacy and recency effects to that of other stimuli. These differences might indicate that your smell memory works in a different way to other types of memory.
Smell memory as a diagnostic tool
You might, quite reasonably, ask why you should be interested in testing smell memory, since most of the time we use our olfactory perception to make judgements about odours (that smell is nice/horrible). But research has shown that an impaired sense of smell memory is a predictor of developing dementia.
To further emphasise this link, people with the ApoE gene (a genetic risk factor for developing Alzheimer’s), who show no signs of dementia, have impaired odour identification. These findings suggest that an olfactory memory test could potentially be used as part of the armoury in detecting the early stages of dementia. Early detection is important, as the earlier the intervention, the better the outcome.
‘The COFUND scheme aims to stimulate regional, national or international programmes to foster excellence in researchers’ training, mobility and career development, spreading the best practices of Marie Skłodowska-Curie actions.
This will be achieved by co-funding new or existing regional, national, and international programmes to open up to, and provide for, international, intersectoral and interdisciplinary research training, as well as transnational and cross-sectoral mobility of researchers at all stages of their career.’ (Participant Portal call page)
This call closes on 28th September 2017.
UKRO, as the UK National Contact Point for MSCA, is hosting the UK Info Day in the afternoon of 18th May, in London. This event is free or charge but you must register. Find out more on the UKRO website.
BU staff are strongly advised to register, via BU’s subscription, on the UKRO website, so that you can receive announcements concerning EU funding direct to your own inbox – make sure that you hear first!
If you are considering applying, please contact Emily Cieciura, REKO’s Research Facilitator: EU & International, in the first instance.
As part of the Research and Knowledge Exchange Development Framework, RKEO held a session on Applying for funding from NIHR – Patient and Public Involvement (PPI). Dr Louise Worswick, Research Fellow / former PPI Senior Programme Manager at the NIHR, outlined what is meant by PPI, and how this can be applied to health research. Helen Allen, Research Psychologist and RDS South West PPI Lead spoke about the importance of involving the public and patients in research, and how you can ensure you get the most out of patient involvement.
The resources from the session are now available on MyBU. To access them, please logon to the ‘Research and Knowledge Exchange Development Framework’ community, and under ‘Pathways’ select ‘National Institute for Health Research (NIHR)’.
Many thanks to Louise and to Helen for a fascinating insight into PPI. For further information, please contact Lisa Gale-Andrews, RKEO Research Facilitator.
In September 2016, the Faculty of Management at Bournemouth University launched a Developing Women Leaders (DWL) programme to support final year female business and management students entering their first graduate roles and transitioning into early career professionals. Twenty-eight women students self-nominated to the programme which has been delivered through workshops and guest speaker talks. Based on ‘Shine Theory’; the belief that supporting other women to shine helps all women to shine, the cohort also have their own closed Facebook group to provide a source of ongoing support beyond the programme. The philosophy of the DWL is to provide tools and tips for women when negotiating what Eagly & Carli (2007) calls the ‘leadership labyrinth’; the complex nature of women’s careers.
Research tells us that women will face a number of barriers in their career such as dealing with the ‘think-manager, think-male unconscious biases, negotiating organisational politics and the ‘old-boys club’ and managing stereotypes. We know for example, that there is a negative correlation between success and likeability for women, so the barriers come in many forms. We have been surprised by the level of inequality female students have reported during their work placements with students facing comments regarding their looks/dress and struggling to find senior level role models. Whilst business has clearly made great strides over the last forty years, there are many unconscious biases that still need to be addressed.
International Women’s Day 2017 saw the culmination of the DWL programme with a panel event and Palgrave were invited along to take part. The event was opened to an audience of staff, students, organisations and members of the public, followed by a networking event for both students and organisations.
On the panel were Louise Barton; Head of SRP Operations at Barclays, Tara Flynn; Managing Director at Ratio, Jane Newall; Chief Superintendent at Dorset Police and Diana Parkes; business owner of Women’s Sat Nav to Success. The panel answered a range of questions, exploring the barriers and challenges they had faced in their own careers and how they had overcome them, advice for young women starting out on their careers and their views of gender inequality in the UK.
See the full article here: http://www.palgrave.com/gp/palgrave/developing-women-leaders/12183950
Thursday 4th May 2017, 9.30-11.00 at Talbot Campus
In this session Professor Barry Richards will take us through the story of how intellectual and political interdisciplinarity established across both education and research, defined a new academic specialism which now has courses and departments in several universities, journals and a book series with major publishers and growing connections with professional practices.
This is part of the Leading Innovation Masterclasses series.
There are two other masterclasses in May: ‘Benchmarking your students’ digital experience’ with Jisc’s Sarah Knight, and ‘The clinical doctorate model – Enabling Practitioner Research’ with Professor Vanora Hundley.
We are a group of scholars and practitioners who have an interest in what makes us Feel Human and how this is linked to Health, Wellbeing, Dignity and Compassion. We use Lifeworld approaches and subjective experience as the basis for our understanding. For more information please click here
At meetings we discuss issues following two presentations, and share our on-going work into humanisation in education, practice and research.
Our next meeting is
OnApril 11th 2017, From 2pm to 4.30 pm, At Lansdowne Campus, EB202
The two presentations are
The relatives’ experience of acquired brain injury and the humanising role of the Expert Companion Mark Holloway – Brain Injury Case Manager Head First, SSCR Fellow
Using photography to encourage introspection among GPs Rutherford – Senior Lecturer, Bournemouth University
If you are not already a member of the Humanisation SIG e-mail group and would like to be, please contact Caroline Ellis-Hill
For further details of the topics and speakers please click here
Short briefs are listed below, full project briefs are available upon request.
SPB048: Animation to raise awareness of the support available to adult children of alcoholics
Create a 2-3 minute animation that highlights the key characteristics of adult children of alcoholics (ACOA) and conveys a message that they are not alone and that change is possible.
SPB057: Raising the Game at Noc’s
Noc’s Box uses Gaming (PvP-face-to-face; Skirmish/Warhammer/Empire of the Dead…; and Role Play games) to help people with high social anxieties such as Asperger’s and other social communication/mental health issues to meet in a safe, supportive environment and, through the medium of gaming, to develop their confidence, communication and other life skills. Noc’s needs to reach more potential customers/users both in order to sustain the current business and our clubs and, vitally, to help to convince potential funders to sponsor them as a newly-formed charity. Create a marketing strategy for Noc’s Box with specific recommendations.
SPB058: Raising the Game at Noc’s: Promotional Video
Noc’s Box uses Gaming (PvP-face-to-face; Skirmish/Warhammer/Empire of the Dead…; and Role Play games) to help people with high social anxieties such as Asperger’s and other social communication/mental health issues to meet in a safe, supportive environment and, through the medium of gaming, to develop their confidence, communication and other life skills. Noc’s needs to reach more potential customers/users both in order to sustain the current business and our clubs and, vitally, to help to convince potential funders to sponsor them as a newly-formed charity. Produce a short (3 minute) promotional video for Noc’s to use to promote the charity.
Apply now
Projects are available to all undergraduate and postgraduate students at BU and can be used for their dissertation, assignment, unit or group work. Members of staff may also choose a project to set to their students. A complete list of projects is available here.
Send us an email if you would like a project brief and an application form.
Do you have a great idea for research in health or social care?
Would your team benefit from protected time and expert support to develop your idea into a competitive funding application?
The Research Design Services South West (RDS SW) and South Central (RDS SC) are delighted to offer a unique opportunity to researchers in health and social care across their regions. to attend a week-long residential Grant Writing Retreat at Dillington House, near Ilminster in Somerset from Monday 4 September to Friday 8 September 2017 inclusive. The purpose of the Retreat is to give busy professionals dedicated time to rapidly progress their research idea into fundable proposals. The Retreat will provide a supportive environment for research teams to develop high quality research proposals prior to application to national peer-reviewed funding streams. Participating teams will enjoy protected time dedicated to the development of their research proposals away from the distractions of their workplace, expert help and support from RDS adviser staff and the experience of working as part of a professional research team.
I urge you and your colleagues to have a look at the website to find out more details, the process for applying for a place on the retreat, and examples of success stories: http://rds-sw.nihr.ac.uk/rgwr.htm
The cost of the retreat is £2,850 per team of three researchers (see website for details). The opportunity to apply is open to everyone across our region.
HOWEVER, for teams that successfully apply for a place on the retreat, and that consist of at least one member of staff from the Department of Nursing and Clinical Sciences here at BU, the University can offer a limited number of places funded by the Department (2 but might be able to stretch to more). If you don’t have anybody in mind within the department but still interested in collaborating and applying for a free space offered by the university please contact us and we can facilitate this and try to find people with shared interests and ideas.
Applications for the retreat must be submitted to RDS by 1pm 26th April 2017, and it is important that you discuss your application with someone from the BUCRU/RDS team at an early stage (Sarah Thomas, Helen Allen, Sharon Docherty, Andy Powell, Peter Thomas).
Your local branch of the NIHR Research Design Service is based within theBU Clinical Research Unit (BUCRU)on the 5th floor of Royal London House. Feel free to pop in and see us, call us on 61939 orsend us an email.
The Dorset Volunteer Centre is part of a national network of volunteer centres that help voluntary and community organisations recruit and manage their volunteers, and help people interested in volunteering to find interesting and enjoyable opportunities. The Volunteer Centre Dorset seeks to promote and develop volunteering to all throughout Dorset.
The Community Credits Scheme is focused on people with learning disabilities and supports them to volunteer within their local community by providing a volunteer mentor. In return for volunteering they and their volunteer mentor receive time credit notes which they can exchange for an activity of their choice. This might be learning something from another member of the scheme or buying a session at their local football club, gym or cinema.
People with learning disabilities have been excluded from many organisations in the past and The Community Credit Scheme helps to break down some of those barriers. The Volunteer Centre Dorset successfully piloted The Community Credits Scheme in four towns in Dorset in 2013. They are in the process of extending the scheme to North and East Dorset.
The Community Credits Scheme aims to:
Set up volunteering placements for adults with mild learning disabilities and recruit mentors to support them
Set up exchange venues in which the credit notes earned for each hour of volunteering can be exchanged
Recruit befrienders to support people in exchanging credits if required
Support organisations that offer placements
Raise positive awareness of people with Learning disabilities.
Recruit volunteers throughout Dorset
Volunteers at an awards evening
Why is the Community Credits Scheme so important?
This scheme is paving the way in supporting people with difficulties into volunteering through supported volunteering. The credit scheme is also helping the socially isolated by setting up focus groups and insuring individuals are kept informed about new voluntary placements and events. For each credit a person earns they can exchange it for a health and wellbeing activity. For most of us on a daily basis we find it easy to phone up our mates and go out for the evening. For someone with communication difficulties or travelling difficulties this is huge so we encourage people to live healthier lifestyles, meet new people and step out of their comfort zone. Individuals are learning new skills which are transferrable to the work place. We set up easy, achievable outcomes for individuals to meet which sometimes they have to step out of their comfort zone to achieve. With the support of volunteer mentors/befrienders they can move forward. For organisations seeking new volunteers this is a huge game changer because support is provided.
What do you hope to achieve by working with the Student Project Bank?
We are hoping to set up a good working partnership and to include students. We are also looking forward to new ideas being brought forward. We believe that some of Bournemouth University’s students have brilliant skills and knowledge which they could share. This could then be a beacon project in Dorset that we could share with other areas in England. Working with Bournemouth University would be an amazing step forward.
Do you want to get involved? The following projects are available with Volunteer Centre Dorset:
SPB002: Marketing strategy for Volunteer Centre Dorset’s Community Credit Scheme
Create a marketing strategy to raise awareness of Volunteer Centre Dorset’s Community Credit Scheme.
SPB003: Campaign strategy to raise positive awareness of people with learning disabilities in the community
Create a campaign to raise positive awareness of people with learning disabilities in the community.
SPB004: Evaluation strategy for The Community Credit Scheme in Christchurch
Create an evaluation strategy for Volunteer Centre Dorset’s Community Credit Scheme in Christchurch.
SPB005: Volunteering opportunities for individuals with learning disabilities: engagement and experience
Research the ways in which individuals with learning disabilities engage with and experience volunteering.
SPB006: Identify products charities sell to create sustainable income and make recommendations for Volunteer Centre Dorset
Research the products charities sell to create sustainable income and make recommendations to Volunteer Centre Dorset for a product or line of products they could sell to create income for, and raise awareness of, The Community Credit Scheme.
I just wanted to take this opportunity to introduce myself as the new Impact Champion for the Faculty of Health and Social Sciences. When I began my research journey several years ago I knew I wanted my research to make a difference. It is this on-going desire to make a difference which led me to pursue this role of Impact Champion.
Part of my role is to take the lead in supporting academics to develop, maintain and ensure that research impact aligns with our core principle of ‘helping to make people’s lives better’. I will also be involved in developing impact case studies, and proactively accelerating impact in relation to REF.
Please don’t hesitate to get in touch if there is anything I can do to support you in your research impact.
Dr Sascha-Dominik Bachmann, Associate Professor in International Law (Bournemouth University, UK) and extraordinary Associate Professor in War Studies (Swedish Defence University, SWE) jointly with Andres Mosquera, Director Legal Advisor to NATO’s Commander of the Supreme Headquarters Allied Powers Europe (SHAPE) had their written evidence accepted for publication by the UK Parliament’s Defence Sub-Committee.
The submission titled Russian Law fare Capabilities As A Threat To The Arctic discusses the use of lawfare (abuse of the rule of law) to achieve strategic objectives. It can be viewed at the Defence Committee’s website and here.
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