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British Conference of Undergraduate Research 2017 takes place in Bournemouth

Student Engagement, student research

This week Bournemouth University will be welcoming hundreds of undergraduate students from over 60 universities to present their research as part of the 2017 British Conference of Undergraduate Research (BCUR).

The annual conference is an opportunity to celebrate student research from across many different disciplines.  Since 2011, BCUR has been hosted by a different British university, with this year’s event taking place in Bournemouth.

BCUR gives students an insight into an academic conference and an opportunity to network with other student researchers, post graduates and practicing academics.  It also helps them to develop their confidence and presentation skills alongside honing academic strengths, all of which can help to boost their employability.

“We’re delighted to be hosting BCUR at Bournemouth University,” says Dr Mary Beth Gouthro, conference co-chair and BCUR Steering Committee member, “We’ve been supporting BU students to attend BCUR since its start at UCLAN in 2011 and the feedback we’ve received has shown how much they value and benefit from the experience.  Over 100 BU students submitted an abstracts to take part in BCUR this year, which is wonderful to see.”

“It’s really important to be able to share and celebrate the research being undertaken by our undergraduates,” explains Dr Luciana Esteves, conference co-chair, “Taking part in research, whether as part of a dissertation, alongside a business or as part of a placement, is a great way to develop skills which can be applied to many different careers.

“It can also help students to tackle real-world problems and develop contacts that may help them once they have graduated.  During the course of the conference, we’ll be hearing from students who have worked on fascinating projects with charities, government organisations and businesses as part of their research.”

BCUR will take place in the Fusion building on 25 & 26 April.  To find out more details about the conference visit www.bournemouth.ac.uk/bcur17

You can find out more about some of the research BU’s students will be presenting here.

Latest Funding Opportunities

Funding opportunities

 

The following is a snap-shot of funding opportunities that have been announced. Please follow the links for more information:

Institute of Physics

Public Engagement Grant Scheme

This public engagement grant scheme provides up to £2000 to individuals and organisations running physics-based events and activities in the UK and Ireland.

Maximum Award: £2000 Deadline: 12 May 2017

Royal Society

Research grants

The scheme provides ‘seed corn’ funding for new projects of timeliness and promise. The objective of the scheme is to increase the availability of specialised equipment and essential consumable materials, and to support essential field research. The scheme also provides support for research in the history of science or to assist with publication of scholarly works in the history of science.

Maximum Award: £15000 Deadline: 6 June 2017

MRC

Call for Research to Improve Adolescent Health

The joint funders invite researchers to apply for funding to address questions of effectiveness and access to health interventions that will result in improved adolescent health in low and middle income countries (LMIC’s). Together the three funders have agreed to commit up to £10 million to this scheme.

Maximum Award: Unknown Deadline: 15 June 2017

Innovate UK

Jiangsu-UK Industrial Challenge Programme

 

The aim of this competition is to stimulate economic growth in China and the UK through projects in one of the following areas:

  • innovation in infrastructure systems that address the challenges faced by infrastructure owners, cities, towns and users
  • transformational or disruptive innovation leading to novel, new products, processes or services drawn from any technology, engineering or industrial area

Maximum Award: £500000 Deadline: 21 June 2017

Shanghai-UK Industrial Challenge Programme

The aim of this competition is to stimulate economic growth in China and the UK through projects in one of the following 2 areas:

  • future cities: addressing the challenges brought on by rapid urbanisation, demographic and social change, resource scarcity and climate change
  • transformational or disruptive innovation leading to novel, new products, processes or services drawn from any technology, engineering or industrial area.

Maximum Award: £500000 Deadline: 21 June 2017

NERC

Innovation Placements

Placements will work within a host organisation, on a specified project or one of their choosing, which is organised independently of NERC. Researchers will explore and demonstrate how partner organisations can make use of scientific knowledge, data, models or other tools to understand and manage their impacts and/or dependencies on the environment.

Maximum Award: £400000 Deadline: 29 June 2017

British Council

Promoting & Responding to Maternal, Neonatal, Child & Adolescent Health

Funder is now inviting early career researchers from the UK, South Africa or Kenya to apply for this workshop.

Maximum Award: Unknown Deadline: 30 June 2017

NIHR

Public Health Research Programme Researcher-led (evidence synthesis)

The primary aim of the programme is the evaluation of practical interventions. The funder will fund both primary research (mainly evaluative, but also some preparatory research) and secondary research (evidence synthesis); precise methods will need to be appropriate to the question being asked and the feasibility of the research.

Maximum Award: Unknown Deadline: 25 July 2017

If you are interested in submitting to any of the above calls you must contact your  RKEO Funding Development Officer with adequate notice before the deadline.

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.

Policy update for w/e Friday 21 April

General Election: The general election (#GE2017) has been announced for Thursday 8 June meaning Parliament will dissolve on 3 May. In local news Oliver Letwin (West Dorset) was reported as announcing he will stand down and not contest the next election; however this related to 2020 and he has confirmed he will contest 2017.

Current bills must receive Royal Assent before Parliament dissolves or fail; therefore a ‘wash-up’ period will likely take place to hurry key bills through. The ‘wash-up’ business must be agreed between the Government and the Opposition. Its a time when deals can be made, although its likely the Government may tighten ranks to push through a bill with the main thrust of its intent intact.

Select committees are wrapping up their business with several inquiries prematurely closing their requests for evidence. The chairmanship of several select committees will also change as Members can only chair a committee for the maximum of two parliaments or 8 years (Standing Order 122A).

Purdah, commencing at midnight tonight, will impact and delay the TEF year 2 results, the release of the full LEO (Longitudinal Education Outcomes) data, the Schools that Work for Everyone white paper, and other announcements including the appointment of the Chief Executive for the Office for Students.

 

HERB: The next stage for the Higher Education and Research Bill is ping pong, where the Commons respond to the Lords Third Reading amendments. Currently, no date is scheduled for ping pong and the bill is absent from next week’s published parliamentary business. With Parliament’s dissolution looming speculation abounds on the bill’s fate, its likely it will be considered on Thursday where the parliamentary business has been left unspecified. Opinion divides on whether the Government will concede or hard line to push the bill through. The House of Commons Library has published a useful briefing paper summarising the Lords Amendments. Furthermore, Research Professional report “the amendment to widen the grounds for appeal of Office for Students decisions is understood to have been accepted by government”, no authoritative source is provided to confirm this, although as one of least controversial Lords amendments it seems plausible.

 

Student migration: Frequent in the press this week (Times, Huff Post, Wonkhe, Reuters) was Theresa May’s rumoured U-turn on counting overseas students within the net migration figures However, there are no firm commitments and the position is neatly summarised by THE: May is “offering to change the way that student numbers are calculated, with the promise of further concessions”; the government is likely to offer a “regulatory compromise” in how overseas student numbers in Britain are calculated. On Thursday Theresa May told the BBC: “We want to see sustainable net migration in this country, I believe that sustainable net migration is in the tens of thousands.” A recent UUK ComRes poll highlights that only a quarter of the public consider students to be immigrants. We wait to see how migratory targets are tackled in the Conservatives election manifesto.

 

2018/19 EU Students: The government has confirmed that 2018/19 EU students will remain eligible for undergraduate and masters student loans and retain their home fees status even if the course concludes after Brexit. EU students can also apply for Research Council PhD studentships for the duration of their study.

 

Industrial Strategy – HE research commercialisation: HEFCE have launching the Connecting Capability Fund (£100 million) as part of the government’s Industrial Strategy to support university collaborations and research commercialisation. It is intended to help universities to deliver the industrial priorities, forge external technological, industrial and regional partnerships, and share good practice and capacity internally across the higher education sector. It is expected to be channelled through the Higher Education Innovation Funding (HEIF) programme with the first round deadline set as 10 July.

 

Other news:

The Common’s Science and Technology select committee have published: Industrial Strategy; Science and STEM skills. It urges government to increase the R&D investment and make up net shortfall for international collaborative research lost through Brexit, alongside stepping-up measures to increase children and students STEM skills.

Research Councils UK have launched the £700k Strategic Support to Expedite Embedding Public Engagement with Research (SEE-PER) call aiming to better embed support for public engagement with research in higher education institutions The call will be open for a limited time, assessed by panel over summer 2017, with activity commencing no later than 1 October 2017.

British businesses winning the Queen’s Award for Enterprise (2017) have been announced, the winning product/service for each business is listed in the Gazette. Among the winners is Poole based BOFA International Ltd (fume extraction).

Rachel Hewitt, HESA, writes for Wonkhe to provide feedback on the new DLHE consultation. HESA report 80% support for the proposed survey design and a mixed response to the financial model mainly due to lack of information. A final version of the model is earmarked for publication later in June. Hewitt states: “We now want to ensure that HE providers have certainty over the implications of the review outcomes, and to enable them to start reviewing their systems and processes”, and commits to sharing information through the rolling FAQs.

HEA and Action on Access have published: What works? Supporting student success: strategies for institutional change.

RKEDF Survey – Finishes today!

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 survey and be in with a chance of winning a £30 Amazon voucher. The deadline date is Friday 21 April.

Upcoming sessions:

  4 April Public engagement: an overview
  13 April Getting started on applying for research funding
  25 April How to update your Staff Profile Page using BRIAN
  9 May Writing Academy – Writing Day
  10 May Using social media to share your research
  18 May Targeting high quality journals
  18 May Writing an academic paper
  18 May Writing a good abstract
  18 May Dealing with editors
  24 May Research Data Management
  24 May Introduction to the Royal Society
  24 May My publication story so far… Prof. Tim Rees
  25 May Writing Academy – Writing Day

Free Workshop: Sexuality & Gender in the 21st Century

PG research

 

 

 

FREE Workshop:
Gender & Sexuality in the 21st Century

Bournemouth University

31 May 2017, 10:00 – 15:00

‘Unimaginable a decade ago, the intensely personal subject of gender identity has entered the public square.’—National Geographic (Jan 2017)

This openness to discussion of sexuality, gender, and emotion begins to expose this latest generation’s ambivalence, even dissonance regarding these terms. The workshop will explore this, both historically and within the contemporary culture of the 21st Century.

The workshop will gather academics and community representatives from within BU and beyond, whose work may help us to understand more fully contemporary takes on sexuality, gender, and emotion. These may include:

  • Youth and Sexuality
  • Sex Tourism
  • Sex Trafficking
  • Disability and Sexual Well-being
  • Sexuality and Ageing
  • Gender and Sexuality in the Workplace
  • LGBTQ+ concepts of gender and sexuality
  • Other issues we haven’t even considered yet?

We will spend the day learning informally about each other’s interests and previous work around sexuality, gender, and emotion, thus creating the beginnings of new partnerships for further exploration, discovery, research, dissemination, and community action. NO lectures!

Workshop organised by Dr Kip Jones, Director, Centre for Qualitative Research, BU and Dr Lee-Ann Fenge, Deputy Director, National Centre for Post-Qualifying Social Work, BU.

Free lunch provided, places are limited.

Register here: https://gender-sexuality.eventbrite.co.uk

Kia Ora – greetings from New Zealand!

I am here as part of my Florence Nightingale Travel scholarship – spending time at the Taupua Waiora Centre for Māori Health Research, AUT University with centre director Professor Denise Wilson. During my two weeks here I have had the opportunity to learn much more about Māori Health and how it is being addressed in New Zealand, as well as learning much more about their culture and beliefs. Specific research projects I have explored include:

  • The Pacific Islands Families longitudinal project – this is the only prospective Pacific people study in the world. This longitudinal study is following 1,398 Pacific children and their parents born at Middlemore Hospital in 2000.
  • Research being undertaking exploring Māori living with disabilities.
  • Institutional racism research.
  • Research exploring physical activity and Māori culture.
  • Research examining family violence and intimate partner violence within the Māori communities.

Needless to say this experience is the start of some brand new friendship and international links, indeed I am already working on a bid and a paper! I also have plans for two more co-authored papers that will develop over the next few months…watch this space!!

Any nurses, midwives or registered health professionals interested in a Florence Nightingale Scholarship, the call is now open http://www.florence-nightingale-foundation.org.uk/content/page/33/. I’d definitely recommend it!

Dr Vanessa Heaslip, Faculty of Health and Social Sciences

ESRC want you!

ESRC is inviting applications from academics suitably experienced in the social sciences to act as members of their Grants Assessment Panels (GAPs).

About the Panels

The ESRC is the UK’s leading agency for research and training in the social sciences. Their Grants Assessment Panels (GAPs) assess proposals for most responsive mode schemes across the range of ESRC’s activities.

There are currently three Panels organised around a cluster of disciplines with a fourth panel that considers proposals submitted to the Secondary Data Analysis Initiative (SDAI). Between them the Panels cover the whole of ESRC’s disciplinary remit.

Membership of a GAP is an opportunity to work with other experienced people from across the academic, public, business and civil society sectors to help ensure ESRC funds high quality research with academic, economic and societal impact. Members will also have an opportunity to feed into, and learn about ESRC policy development.

New members

ESRC are currently looking for applications specifically in the following disciplinary areas:

Human Geography (panel A)

  • Essential: Should have expertise across the Human Geography remit
  • Desirable: Specific expertise in areas such as inequality, migration, environment and climate change would be desirable.

Psychology (panel A) – post 1

  • Essential: Should be a social psychologist with broad expertise covering quantitative and qualitative methods
  • Desirable: Specific expertise in areas such as attitudes, ‘Identity, diversity and inequality’ and ‘Individual differences’ would be desirable

Psychology (panel A) – post 2

  • Essential: Should have a broad expertise across the Psychology remit
  • Desirable: Specific expertise in behaviour change, developmental psychology and mental health would be desirable.

Sociology/ Social Policy (panel D)

  • Essential: Should have a broad expertise across the sociology and social policy disciplines.
  • Desirable: This post is for Panel D and therefore requires someone with expertise in quantitative methods and secondary data analysis

Education (panel B)

  • Essential: Should have a broad expertise across the sociology and social policy disciplines.
  • Desirable: Specific expertise in primary education and quantitative research methods would be desirable

Education (panel D)

  • Essential: Should have a broad expertise across the sociology and social policy disciplines.
  • Desirable: This post is for panel D and therefore requires someone with expertise in quantitative methods and secondary data analysis

Linguistics (panel B)

  • Essential: Should have broad expertise across the linguistics discipline
  • Desirable: Specific expertise in second language acquisition and/or language processing would be desirable

Socio-legal studies (panel B)

  • Essential: Should have broad expertise across the discipline of socio-legal studies
  • Desirable: Specific expertise in criminology, criminal justice and policing would be desirable

Members are expected to assess an average of 30 applications a year and to meet three times a year (in March, July and November) to make funding recommendations. Meetings will alternate between London and Swindon.

New Chair for Panel D

In addition to the appointment of new members, there is also a vacancy to chair Panel D. Panel D covers the Secondary Data Analysis Initiative. See the announcement for further details.

How to apply

Applications should be submitted online no later than 17.00 on 19 May 2017. A short CV (no longer than two A4 pages) should be included.

Successful applicants will be appointed for two years initially, with possible renewal for a further two years. Invitations will be sent to successful candidates in late July/early August and members will be expected to be available for a briefing session on 7 September 2017 in Swindon.

RKEDF Survey – 2 days to go!

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 survey and be in with a chance of winning a £30 Amazon voucher. The deadline date is Friday 21 April.

Upcoming sessions:

  4 April Public engagement: an overview
  13 April Getting started on applying for research funding
  25 April How to update your Staff Profile Page using BRIAN
  9 May Writing Academy – Writing Day
  10 May Using social media to share your research
  18 May Targeting high quality journals
  18 May Writing an academic paper
  18 May Writing a good abstract
  18 May Dealing with editors
  24 May Research Data Management
  24 May Introduction to the Royal Society
  24 May My publication story so far… Prof. Tim Rees
  25 May Writing Academy – Writing Day

Newton Fund latest calls and British Council workshops

Funding opportunities

The British Council have announced that the latest calls available under the Newton Fund are now open:

  • Newton Fund Researcher Links Workshop Grants – the workshops are for early career researchers but the applicants must be leading/established researchers.  Bilateral workshops can be proposed between the UK and Brazil, India, Kenya, Malaysia, Thailand and Vietnam.
  • Newton Fund Researcher Links Travel Grants – These are for early career researchers (awarded their PhD not more than 10 years prior to applying) to either visit Thailand or for those residing in Thailand to visit the UK.  A visit can be 1-6 months but must take place between 1/2/18 and 31/1/19.
  • Newton Fund Institutional Links Grants – Applications can be submitted for collaborations between the UK and Brazil, Egypt, Indonesia, Kenya, Malaysia, Mexico, Philippines and Thailand.

The submission deadline for all the above calls is 16:00 UK time on 13 June 2017.

If you are interested in applying to any of these calls then please contact your RKEO Funding Development Officer in the first instance.

The British Council also provide information on a number of national and international workshops that you can participate in.  If you are an early career researcher you can apply through the British Council for funding to the international workshops.  Current workshops on offer are:

  • Energy conservation techniques for buildings (Coventry);
  • Widening success in HE (South Africa);
  • Promoting and responding to maternal, neonatal, child and adolescent health (South Africa);
  • Offshore wind and wave energy for Turkey (Turkey);
  • Is poverty a by-product or a building block for prosperity – trends in economic development from Brazil and the UK (Brazil);
  • Information and communications technologies in homes and cities for the health and well-being of older people (Bradford)
  • Geological disaster monitoring based on sensor networks (China);
  • Socially inclusive WM&RE in supply chains (Brazil): and
  • Re-naturing cities: Theories, strategies and methodologies (Brazil).

Got an idea for a research project but need some advice and support? Upcoming Grants Workshop & Bid Writing Retreat – Book Now!

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

Day one (Thursday, 1st 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 (Thursday, 29th June 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 but as places are limited we ask that participants must be available to attend both days, and have a funding application they plan to submit within 12 months. The application can be to any funder.

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.

Public Health England, NHS England and Project Nurture coming to BU!

BU Challenges

As part of the Research and Knowledge Exchange Development Framework, RKEO are hosting a sandpit event on Health & Wellbeing on 23rd May 2017.

The event, ‘Health & Wellbeing in the 21st Century – it’s your responsibility’, will seek to come up with novel research to address challenges in health & wellbeing and we have some exciting speakers lined up to help us do just that!

Image result for public health england

We are delighted to welcome the following speakers to BU as part of this sandpit event:

  • Rosanne Sodzhi, Health & Wellbeing Programme Manager – Public Health England South West
  • Hannah Hobbs – Project Nurture
  • Dr Judith May, Better Care Manager South (Wessex) & Mary Hill, Better Care Manager South East – NHS England
Image result for nhs england

To take part in this exciting opportunity, BU staff should complete the Application Form and return this to Dianne Goodman by Tuesday 2nd May. As places are limited, this will be assessed to ensure good mix of attendees with different perspectives. Places will be confirmed w/c 8th May 2017.

By applying, you agree to attend for the full duration of the event on 23rd May (c. 9:30 – 16:00). This event will be held in BU’s Executive Business Centre (EBC).

If you have any queries prior to submitting your application, please contact Lisa Gale-Andrews, RKEO Research Facilitator.

RKEDF Survey – 3 days to go!

Training

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 survey and be in with a chance of winning a £30 Amazon voucher. The deadline date is Friday 21 April.

Upcoming sessions:

  4 April Public engagement: an overview
  13 April Getting started on applying for research funding
  25 April How to update your Staff Profile Page using BRIAN
  9 May Writing Academy – Writing Day
  10 May Using social media to share your research
  18 May Targeting high quality journals
  18 May Writing an academic paper
  18 May Writing a good abstract
  18 May Dealing with editors
  24 May Research Data Management
  24 May Introduction to the Royal Society
  24 May My publication story so far… Prof. Tim Rees
  25 May Writing Academy – Writing Day

UUK publish industrial strategy and universities regional briefings

innovation, Knowledge Exchange, Knowledge Transfer

Universities UK have published regional briefings to examine how and why universities have an important link to the UK’s industrial strategy.

The briefings show that at the local and regional level, universities support growth by providing and creating jobs, and lead on local economic and social issues.  Areas of focus include local businesses, big businesses, communities, school leavers and local services.

Bournemouth University is included in the south-west briefing.

 

 

BRIAN Upgrade – 2 weeks to go!

BRIAN

BRIAN will be upgrading to a new version in 2 weeks time!

The main improvements from this upgrade include:

  • New Impact Tracking Module
  • New Homepage
  • More User Friendly Navigation

These new and improved features will make BRIAN easier and simplier to use for everyone, whilst also providing a valuable tool to academics helping them record the impact of their research

All relevant guidance notes and video guides on the Staff Intranet will be updated in due course. If you need any help using the new system or if you encounter any problems after the upgrade, please do send an email to BRIAN@bournemouth.ac.uk and a member of staff will be able to assist you.

BRIAN training sessions are also available:

  • Tuesday 25th April 2017
  • Thursday 15th June 2017

With further dates planned. If you are interested to book on to any of these training sessions, please click here to book on!

In the meantime, if you do have queries relating to the upgrade, please get in touch with BRIAN@bournemouth.ac.uk

The key to eating five fruit and veg a day might just be to make them more tasty

Pea tart might be the key to winning hearts and minds in the war against poor nutrition. We are deluged with advice and guidance about what we should eat and in what volumes, but still adults and children alike struggle to introduce enough fruit and vegetables into their diet. The Conversation

It is well known that a balanced diet is a healthy diet and that plenty of kale, beetroot, kiwis and bananas is good for us. It all goes back to 2003, when the World Health Organisation launched a global campaign to promote fruit and vegetable consumption. They proposed that we should all be eating a minimum of 400g each day.

Right around the world this message gained traction. In the UK, the 400g was translated into more consumer-friendly guidance and became the now well known five-a-day mantra. The UK Department of Health launched a significant media campaign to raise awareness of this healthy eating push. We were told make sure we got our handful of 80g servings, equivalent to a small banana, a pear or three heaped tablespoons of spinach or peas.

Portion sighs.
darwin Bell/Flickr, CC BY-NC

Obstacles

But despite the clear health benefits and the prominent media campaigns, still only one in ten children, and less than a third of adults eat the recommended five-a-day, according to the latest government figures.

Worse still, one recent study questioned whether five is enough. The authors highlighted the benefits of eating far more fruit and vegetables – as many as ten portions a day.

The trouble is, rather than progressing through to five portions a day and on to ten, there is evidence to suggest that diets are actually getting worse in this regard. Studies have shown that when budgets are tight people are likely to consume food of poorer nutritional quality. This trend is primarily driven by a substitution of fruit and vegetables with cheaper, less healthy, processed foods. Journalists were quick to adopt the catch phrase “nutrition recession” when budgets were squeezed in 2012, and a similar effect is likely to be happening now as fresh fruit and vegetable prices are rising.

Prices on the rise.
Ardie/Flickr, CC BY-NC-ND

Dish of the day

Perhaps the process has been made something of a chore. The idea of a portion being described as heaped tablespoons of spinach makes it sound very much like taking your medicine rather than eating a gastronomic tour de force. Our team at Bournemouth University has been leading an EU-funded project, researching how vegetable consumption can be made more enjoyable. This VeggiEAT project has been a collaboration with French culinary hospitality school Institut Paul Bocuse, universities from across Europe and Bonduelle – a global vegetable processing firm. The aim is to understand people’s vegetable preferences and how they might be influenced to eat more.

The good news is that early results indicate that the more someone eats a given vegetable, the more they will say that they like it. A case of familiarity breeding contentment perhaps.

It is no surprise either that sweetness is a key to getting us to enjoy veggies, as is richness in flavour characterised by intensity of taste. On the flip side, any sour or bitter notes in the flavour turn people off. The same evolutionary process that has driven humanity’s sweet tooth and saddled us with obesity issues in a time of plenty also acts to dissuade us from a diet that would make us healthier.

Dr Pepper.
Tony/Flickr, CC BY-ND

The taste testing research was conducted across Europe and used to inform the development of new recipes by our collaborators at the Paul Bocuse culinary school. The recipes are designed to offer an easier route to getting your five-a-day and include things like sweetcorn soup, vegetable burger and pea tart which aim to address those key turn-ons and turn-offs, providing the optimal sweetness and strength of flavour to get reluctant vegetable eaters on board. The tart was a particularly popular choice. The idea is that the research can deliver dishes are suitable for school and care home meals, easy to prepare and within a tight budget.

The vegetable burger is getting some extra testing and has been trialled by more than 400 children of 12 and over as well as 400 people aged over 65. The full analysis of this data is underway but initial findings are very positive and offer some encouragement that there are more exciting routes to follow towards our five-a-day (or even ten-a-day).

Our study showed that where vegetables can be used as a dish ingredient – used imaginatively to create something greater than the sum of its parts – then they are easier to accept. It’s rather like the spoonful of sugar taken with your medicine.

It is important to make this effort, as there is little evidence that simply repeating the message will work. And we cannot ignore how clear the benefits of increased fruit and vegetable consumption appear to be. One study from Imperial College London calculated that eating ten portions of fruit and veg a day could prevent 7.8m premature deaths each year. Happily, even eating small amounts brought significant health gains and reductions in risk for things like cardiovascular disease and cancer.

And aside from the health benefits, we can’t ignore the climate impact of a rising global appetite for meat and animal products. Everyone has a vested interest in getting people to eat more fruit and vegetables, and that means finding new ways to make them much more popular.

Jeff Bray, Principal Academic Consumer Behaviour, Bournemouth University and Heather Hartwell, Professor, Bournemouth University

This article was originally published on The Conversation. Read the original article.