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Policy Update w/e Friday 30 June 2017

TEF

As the sector continues to digest TEF the date to register for appeals has already passed. The Times report that Durham, Liverpool, Southampton and York will be appealing their ratings. Read Jane’s TEF blog published by Wonkhe. The Times Higher have published a comprehensive review of the data.

Graduate Outcomes

The second NewDLHE consultation has closed and the new survey will be called the Graduate Outcomes survey. Read about it on the HESA website and Rachel Hewitt’s Wonkhe blog: What’s in a name? Arriving at Graduate Outcomes. Rachel writes: The new model will enable us to provide high-quality data that meets current and anticipated future needs, while also realising efficiencies in the collection process. The data that will be available, including new graduate voice measures, will expand our understanding of what graduate success means.

HESA have published the synthesis of responses to the consultation and also have a helpful response and clarification page which follows more of a Q&A style. The first cohort of graduates to receive the new survey will be from the 2017/18 academic year and there will be a minimum 70% response rate requirement for full time UK undergraduates (some concern has been expressed about whether this is achievable). The first full Graduate Outcomes publication will be in early 2020, followed by the LEO earnings data later in Spring 2020. HESA clarify that there will not be a gap in data for TEF, although some students will be captured a little later than the existing DLHE model. When asked how HESA would mitigate the change in census point impacting on the TEF data they clarified it was for HEFCE to consider the matter.

Widening Participation

It’s been a busy week for widening participation. OFFA have released the national outcomes of the 2015/16 Access Agreement monitoring and announced a new HESA data set will be released at the end of July which will support institutions to evaluate the impact of their financial support (including bursaries) to students.

The Access Agreement monitoring noted greater investment during 2015/16 and ‘significant and sustained’ improvements in fair access in the last decade. However, it identified particular challenges in the fall of part-time student numbers, non-continuation rates for mature students (almost double the rate of young students), little progress in retention and attainment of students from certain BME backgrounds, and professional employment rates, which are significantly lower for graduates from disadvantaged backgrounds. It also stressed the importance of flexible study options, particularly for mature students.

The Social Mobility Commission published Time for change: an assessment of government policies on social mobility 1997 to 2017 which considers the impact and effectiveness of the key social mobility policies over the last 20 years. The HE sector has seen success in improving disadvantaged students access to university (less so at selective institutions), however, the retention rates and graduate outcomes for disadvantaged students still lag behind with only minimal improvement over the 20 year period. For more detail read our summary of the report here.

Research Councils UK released their Measuring Doctoral Student Diversity report. And the Herald has a piece on how Glasgow University contextualises its admissions successfully ‘Dumbing down’ myths scotched.

EU citizens’ rights

The Home Office have published a policy paper addressing the continuation of UK residence rights for EU nationals, which was the basis of the government’s proposal to the EU for negiotiations on this issue, which is a gateway issue to wider negotiation on Brexit. A short factsheet explains the intended process for EU citizens to remain in the UK. The policy paper mentions access to fee and maintenance loans for undergraduates and EU citizens access to research council PhD studentships – both to continue until 2018-19. Upon Brexit EU students with “settled status” will be permitted to complete their studies.

The current UK proposal appears to be relatively generous to EU citizens currently in the UK – although there is a cut off date which has yet to be set and will be between 29 March 2017 and 29 March 2019.  Those arriving after that date will not have the same rights.  It does propose a registration requirement for those acquiring “settled” status (or in the course of acquiring it – it takes 5 years) but it proposes a 2 year transition period for that process to avoid administrative chaos.  The EU have already said that they are not happy with the proposal that the EU court will not have jurisdiction.  This is the opening position in a negotiation, so expect it to evolve over the next few months.

Local MPs

Three of our local MPs have been appointed to Government positions.

  • Simon Hoare has been appointed as Parliamentary Private Secretary for the Ministerial team within the Home Office.
  • Conor Burns has moved from BEIS and been appointed as Parliamentary Private Secretary to Boris Johnson (Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs).
  • Michael Tomlinson has been appointed as Parliamentary Private Secretary for the Ministerial team within the Department for International Development.

Parliamentary Questions

There were a number of HE relevant parliamentary questions this week.

Catherine West asked the Secretary of State for Education whether it remains the Government’s policy to allow the opening of new grammar schools. Justine Greening responded: There was no education bill in the Queen’s Speech, and therefore the ban on opening new grammar schools will remain in place.

William Wragg asked the Secretary of State for Education whether the proposals relating to universities in the Schools that Work for Everyone consultation document will be taken forward. Justine Greening responded: “As part of the Government’s commitment to create more good school places, last September we published the consultation document: Schools that work for everyone. This asked how we could harness the resources and expertise of those in our higher education sector to work in partnership to lift attainment across the wider school system.

The Government has welcomed the way that our world-class higher education institutions are willing to think afresh about what more they could do to raise attainment in state schools, in recognition of their responsibility to their own local communities.

Universities are currently agreeing Access Agreements with the Office for Fair Access. Earlier this year, his strategic guidance to the sector, the Director for Fair Access set out an expectation that HEIs should set out in their access agreements how they will work with schools and colleges to raise attainment for those from disadvantaged and under-represented groups.

The Government hopes and expects more universities will come forward to be involved in school sponsorship and free schools, including more mathematics schools, although support need not be limited to those means.”

Lastly, Justine Greening confirmed that her department would provide further information on the Schools that work for everyone consultation ‘in due course’.

Other news

Research England is recruiting members for the first Council.

The House of Commons Library have published a briefing paper on The value of student maintenance support.

 

 

 

Jane Forster                                               Sarah Carter

VC’s Policy Adviser                                    Policy & Public Affairs Officer

Photo of the Week: Sherlock’s Window- In search of an odourless growth medium

Sherlock's Window: In search of an odourless growth medium

Sherlock’s Window: In search of an odourless growth medium

Our next instalment of the ‘Photo of the Week’ series features Dr Andrew Whittington‘s image of a third instar blowfly larva (maggot).  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.

A key aspect of forensic investigation is the assessment of the ‘window of opportunity’ during which death took place. Estimations using insects (e.g. blowflies) increase accuracy. Using blowflies to determine post-mortem period requires an understanding of the temperature dependent growth patterns that they develop through their life cycle. In order to understand this, blowfly larvae are reared on growth media in the laboratory.

Sherlock’s Window is a HEIF funded project at BU which aims to produce an odourless growth medium that can be rolled out internationally for use in forensic investigation. Illustrated here is the head of a third instar blowfly larva. Maggots have no eyes, but the protrusions at the tip of the mouth area are palps, used for feeling and manipulating food particles. The rows of black barbs that are visible are used to pull the maggot forward through the food substrate.

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

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

EPSRC seeks applicants for strategic advisory bodies

EPSRC logoThe Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC) is welcoming applications for membership of its strategic advisory bodies.

Applicants are sought from academia, industry and other stakeholders to advise the organisation on research and training strategy as members of the Strategic Advisory Teams (SATs). As well as the standard vacancies, EPSRC is looking to appoint non-academic members to each SAT team from business, industry, third sector or government organisations, whose role is focused on managing the use of academic research to deliver innovation, economic growth or societal change.

The recruitment process for SAT applications is open until 16.00hrs on Friday, 04 August, 2017. Applications will be through an online form (see below).

Appointments for SAT members will begin on Monday, 01 January, 2018, and will run for three years, with the possibility of an extension for up to a further three years. SAT members are paid a fee for each activity they are involved in, and are reimbursed for travel and subsistence expenses when attending meetings.

Commenting on what SAT membership entails, Dr Ruth Mallors-Ray OBE, Chief Operating Officer of the Aerospace Technology Institute and current Chair of EPSRC‘s Engineering SAT, said: A SAT member is an individual who, whilst a specialist in one area, is able to see beyond that specialism and act as an independent contributor to the work of the EPSRC. A SAT member listens to the work of EPSRC and then offers challenges or insights to the process of the work.

The SAT member often looks at the recommendations of EPSRC or the strategies of EPSRC and asks questions such as: how have you arrived at this recommendation? Have you been universal in your application of approach, so that the outcomes and recommendations have been arrived at through research, analysis and evidence gathering? A SAT member needs to be open to broader consensus across strategic thinking for EPSRC.

 

Research Council Policy Internships Scheme

Funding opportunities

The Research Council Policy Internships Scheme provides the opportunity for Research Council-funded PhD students to work for three months in one of a selected group of highly influential policy organisations.

Next funding opportunity:

  • Call status: Open
  • Call opening date: 19 June 2017
  • Call closing date: 10 August 2017

Summary

The Research Councils organise internships for current Research Council-funded PhD students to work at partner host organisations on one or more policy topics relevant to both the student and the host. The student will be expected to produce at least one briefing paper, participate in a policy inquiry and/or organise a policy event, or equivalent piece of work.

Internships are awarded to a number of Parliamentary Departments, Government Departments and Non-Governmental Bodies, Learned societies and other organisations.  See the RCUK site for a list of the 22 Hosting Partners for the 2017/18 competition round and application process, together with forms to be completed.

If you are interested and eligible then please contact your RKEO Funding Development Officer in the first instance.

Need some time away from the office to write your winning funding application?

As part of the Research and Knowledge Exchange Development Framework, RKEO are hosting a Bid Writing Retreat on Monday 24th July 2017.

This session is part of a two day event that combines advice and guidance on writing grant applications, delivered by external bid writing experts ThinkWrite. If you were unable to attend day one, you are still welcome to attend day two. One-to-one support will be available to develop applications for funding.

All academics and researchers are welcome to attend.  Participants 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.

ESRC Leadership Co-ordinator for Brexit Priority Grants, the UK in a Changing Europe

Funding opportunities

The ESRC wishes to invite proposals for a Leadership co-ordinator to provide intellectual leadership for, and to maximise the impact of the portfolio of recently commissioned 25 UK in a Changing Europe Brexit Priority Grants. In addition, the Leadership coordinator will also co-ordinate activity associated with the proposed Governance after Brexit programme and assist in scoping out additional future research activity on the longer-term impact of Brexit and other governance-related issues.

The Leadership Co-ordinator will play a vital role in:

  • Co-ordinating activities of the 25 UK in a Changing Europe (UKICE) Brexit Priority Grants, including:
    • liaising as appropriate with Brexit Priority Grant holders
    • connecting and communicating findings and outcomes with users
    • generating evidence and maximising the impact of the Grant’s policy agenda through engagement with a range of policymakers (especially government departments) and stakeholders both in the UK and internationally.
  • Supporting the activities of the UK in a Changing Europe initiative, and collaborating with the Director and Deputy Director accordingly. This will include working closely and meeting regularly with the UKICE Director.
  • Providing strategic and intellectual leadership over the ESRC’s wider research plans in the area of democracy and governance, identifying synergies as appropriate and supporting the development of a cohesive portfolio.
  • Finalising research priorities for the Governance after Brexit programme and co-ordinating activity supported through this investment.

This is a complex and fast-moving portfolio, and therefore it is anticipated that the appointment will possess senior level expertise in this area. It is anticipated that appointment will be made at the level of senior fellow. The Leadership Coordinator will also need to be based at an eligible UK Research Organisation (RO).

Application process

The maximum budget for the post is £410,000 at 100% fEC. In accordance with RCUK policy, the ESRC will contribute up to 80% of fEC.This budget is expected to cover the Leadership Coordinator’s salary costs, additional research salary costs, any support staff, as well as networking, travel, dissemination, knowledge exchange and impact activities. Applications should be submitted through the Je-S system by 16:00 on the closing date on 23 August 2017.  You will need to contact your RKEO Funding Development Officer in the first instance.

The appointment is for a fixed period of 40 months. The successful individual should take up the post on 1 December 2017.

Call documents

Contact

AHRC-ESRC-FCO Knowledge Exchange Fellowship Scheme

Funding opportunities

The Arts and Humanities Research Council (AHRC), Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC) and the UK Foreign and Commonwealth Office (FCO) are pleased to invite applications to the AHRC-ESRC-FCO Knowledge Exchange (KE) Fellowships scheme. The scheme will provide the opportunity for each intake of fellows to be seconded into the FCO to work alongside, advise and influence policymakers. Fellows will bring fresh thinking, depth and breadth of expert knowledge and apply their learning to policy challenges. This is not a scheme to support research projects about the FCO. It will build new capacity in the FCO and across the UK research base.

The fellowship scheme will go beyond current ad hoc arrangements, create deeper engagement between academia and policy, impact on diplomacy, increase the professional reputation of participating scholars and build long term, two way relationships. The benefits will flow to the wider academic community through fellows’ engagement with their home research organisation and wider research communities as well as through a dedicated policy seminar series hosted by the FCO during the lifetime of the scheme.

The partners anticipate supporting three-four KE Fellows working between 0.6 to 0.8 FTE for 24 months. The maximum amount available for one Fellowship will depend on individual applications. The costs will be met by the participating Research Councils. Consistent with the Research Councils’ arrangements for fEC, the AHRC and ESRC will contribute 80% of the costs and the remaining balance must be guaranteed by the Fellows’ research organisations.

How to apply

This call will be managed by the ESRC on behalf of the two participating Research Councils. In the first instance, an application should be sent as an email attachment to the ESRC on fcofellow@esrc.ac.uk by 16:00 on 31 October 2017. Applications received after this time will not be considered.

Please contact your RKEO Funding Development Officer in the first instance as all applications will need to be costed and approved by BU.

Call documents

Contacts

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:

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.

HEIF-6: funding now available for innovative KE projects

HEIF

HEFCE provide Higher Education Innovation Funding (HEIF) to universities to facilitate a broad range of knowledge-based interactions between them and the wider world, which result in economic and social benefit to the UK. The current round of funding is referred to as HEIF-6 and runs from August 2017 to July 2022.

An internal call is now open for applications from BU colleagues who wish to develop innovative projects. Funding will be awarded to those applications that clearly demonstrate how new/existing collaborations will be developed and how societal/economic impact will be achieved. Interdisciplinary and/or cross-Faculty/PS proposals are encouraged, as are proposals with international collaborators.

We anticipate making awards of £10k-100k per project per year. Projects should be between one and three years in duration and must align to one of BU’s HEIF-6 themes:

  • Advanced manufacturing
  • Health (focusing on digital health and e-health)
  • Digital and creative

Colleagues wishing to apply should read BU’s HEIF-6 strategy and the HEIF-6 FAQs before completing the HEIF-6 application form. These documents can be found on the i-drive (I:\R&KEO\Public\HEIF 6). Applications must be supported by the Project Lead’s Faculty and signed by the relevant Deputy Dean (Research and Professional Practice). Any queries should be sent to Julie Northam (jnortham@bournemouth.ac.uk) in the first instance.

Completed applications should be sent to Rebecca Edwards (redwards@bournemouth.ac.uk) by midnight on Sunday 23rd July. We aim to confirm the outcomes within a fortnight of the closing date.

Festival of learning 2017: “Human Psychology: When your mind is in my mind”.

Festival of Learning

Evolutionarily, human beings are shaped as social animals and often engage in interpersonal interactions. Recent findings in psychology suggest that one person’s cognition and behaviour could be shaped by another person who performs similar tasks along with that person. The influenced cognitive abilities include memory, attention, face cognition, and action. During this talk, we will introduce some of these scientific findings and the theories behind, along with their potential implications for our everyday life. You will also have the chance to see psychological experiments in action, and to try some of them on-site (if you are willing to volunteer for that :P).

If you are curious about it and want to come along, please try the link below, where you book the tickets for the event and join as on the talk.

Date: Saturday 8 July
Time: 2pm – 3pm
Location: Talbot Campus

https://microsites.bournemouth.ac.uk/festival-of-learning/events/human-psychology-when-your-mind-is-in-my-mind/

EU AniNex Workshop and Networking Event (22-23 June 2017)

The 3rd Workshop for EU IRSES project on Next Generation Computer Animation Techniques

 

The “AniNex” workshop on ‘Next Generation Computer Animation Techniques’ was coordinated as part of the Edutainment 2017 conference programme at Bournemouth on 23 June 2017. The workshop was led by program Chair Dr. Jian Chang, co-Chair Prof Jian J. Zhang and Prof Nadia Thalmann.

Over 40 delegates from Europe and China have attended the “AniNex” Workshop. There were 27 submissions out of which 17 were accepted that will be published at the Lecture Notes in Computer Science series (LNCS) by Springer.

The program of the workshop included a keynote presentation on the topic ‘Virtual Humans Modelling and Applications in Gaming and Cultural Heritage’ by Yvain Tisserand and Prof Nadia Thalmann, MIRALab, University of Geneva, Switzerland and Nanyang Technological University, Singapore.

The “AniNex” is funded by the European Commission FP7 Marie Curie Action – international research staff exchange scheme. The project “AniNex” is designed to prepare and lead the development of next-generation techniques related to computer animation and its applications. For more information about the project, please visit project website (http://www.aninex.org)

Innovative narrative concept now available across several platforms

PG research

FHSS’ Prof Lee-Ann Fenge & Dr. Kip Jones

FHSS’ Kip Jones and Lee-Ann Fenge are pleased to announce that their article , “Gift Stories How Do We Retell the Stories that Research Participants Give Us?” is now available across several platforms.  Along with the open-access version from Creative Approaches to Research now being available, it can be downloaded on Academia.edu and BRIAN.

Jones and Fenge comment: “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”.

Narrative methods contribute greatly to the advances made in qualitative research. A narrative style should also be promoted in publications and presentations. This study on older LGBT citizens in rural Britain highlights this by means of a report on one part of that study—a Focus Group.

Narrative researchers are natural storytellers and need to foreground this when reporting studies for publication. Qualitative research is always about story reporting and story making, and narrative research (listening to and retelling stories) is a key democratising factor in qualitative social science research.

BU successful in retaining HR Excellence in Research Award

We are delighted to announce that following an external review in spring 2017, BU has been successful in retaining our HR Excellence in Research Award.

The reviewers particularly commended the significant achievements made over the full review period (January 2013 to December 2016) which have demonstrated our commitment to ensuring research staff are recognised, supported, valued and their voices heard.

The Award demonstrates BU’s commitment to aligning process and practice to the UK Concordat to Support the Career Development of Researchers and therefore improving the working conditions and career development for research staff. In turn this will improve the quantity, quality and impact of research for the benefit of UK society and the economy. The external review required us to highlight the key achievements and progress made since BU gained the award in January 2013 and to outline the focus of our strategy, success measures and next steps for the following four years.

Key achievements made at BU since 2013 in support of this agenda include:

 

Over the next four years we will focus on:

  • Reviewing and improving the conditions of employment for research staff
  • Further embedding the ownership and implementation of the Concordat and action plan at Faculty level
  • Standardising procedures for research staff, e.g. induction, appraisal and pay progression
  • Further strengthening the documentation and support for research staff and research leaders/managers
  • Further strengthening the voice and visibility of research staff, both internally and externally

You can read our progress review and future action plan (2017-21) in full here: https://research.bournemouth.ac.uk/research-environment/research-concordat/

Read the full announcement on the Vitae website here: https://www.vitae.ac.uk/news/vitae-press-releases/hr-excellence-in-research-award-june-2017

Festival of Learning event – Making a difference: BU research in our community – 11th of July

Festival of Learning

RKEO and the LLS Academic Liaison team have organised an event for the Festival of Learning. The details are below.

                                     Making a difference: BU research in our community 

Where: Bournemouth Library, 22 the Triangle, Bournemouth, BH2 5RQ

When: 11th of July, 3pm to 7pm.

What are BU researchers working on, how is it making a difference and how can you access it?  Have you ever wondered what research BU undertakes and how it’s shaping our community? Join a team of academics, librarians and research experts to explore some of their projects and how you can access their publicly funded research.

Some of the many exciting topics Bournemouth University academics have been researching include the psychology of sport performance, the development of material culture and social networking in ancient civilisations, community based exercise interventions in older people and advertising.

The event will comprise:

  • Inspirational talks by Bournemouth University academics
  • Practical workshops on how to access quality research papers
  • Exhibition of static materials

All welcome. We look forward to seeing you (and friends and family) on this exciting event!

More information here: https://microsites.bournemouth.ac.uk/festival-of-learning/events/making-a-difference-bu-research-in-our-community/

BU’s PGR Isabell Nessel at the Department of Life Sciences, University of Roehampton

PG research

 I had the pleasure of spending the last three weeks in the Department of Life Sciences (University of Roehampton), working with Dr Giulia Corona and Dr Volker Behrends. We successfully validated an ultra-high performance liquid chromatography coupled with triple quadrupole mass spectrometry (UPLC-MS/MS) method to analyse lipid peroxidation products (breakdown products of fats) in human urine samples.

Our ultimate goal is to identify the time-course of oxidative stress and subsequent breakdown of lipids in neonates, by analysing urinary lipid peroxides, to facilitate evidence-based approaches to antioxidant support in preterm neonates. My supervisors Dr Simon Dyall and Prof Minesh Khashu and I are currently developing a pilot study in cooperation with Poole Hospital NHS Foundation Trust to test the feasibility of measuring these products in urine samples from preterm neonates. However, before moving on to preterm samples, the method had to be tested and validated, using adult urine samples.

The project was made possible by an HSS Seed Corn fund obtained by Dr Simon Dyall, the PGR fund of Isabell Nessel, the collaboration with Dr Giulia Corona and Dr Volker Behrends at the Department of Life Sciences (University of Roehampton) and collaboration with Dr Thierry Durand and his group from the Institute des Biomolecules Max Mousseroux, (Montpellier, France) who generously provided the standards used in this analysis. I am grateful that I had this opportunity to further develop my research skills and to learn a new state-of-the-art technique and would like to thank all involved for making this possible!

If you would like to learn more about our research please feel free to contact me at inessel@bournemouth.ac.uk

Isabell