Following the government’s ratification of the UNESCO World Heritage Convention in 1984 the first clutch of sites in the UK were inscribed on the World Heritage List in 1986. These comprised: the Castle and Town Walls of King Edward in Gwynedd; Durham Castle and Cathedral; Ironbridge Gorge; Stonehenge and Avebury and associated sites; Studley Royal Park including the remains of Fountains Abbey; the Giant’s Causeway; and St Kilda. Celebrations are planned at many of these sites; that for Stonehenge and Avebury includes an international conference looking at how understandings of these iconic prehistoric monuments and their landscapes have changed over the last 30 years. It will be held in the Corn Exchange in Devizes, Wiltshire, on Saturday 19 November 2016, and contributions include a lecture by BU’s Professor Timothy Darvill entitled ‘Stonehenge: Beyond rock and roll’.
/ Full archive
ESRC Festival of Social Sciences
Dr John Oliver, from the Advances in Media Management research cluster, recently delivered a keynote lecture at the Open Innovation Design Jam competition at the University of Glasgow. The event formed part of the ESRC’s Festival of Social Science programme of activities that ran from 5th-12th November across the UK.
The Design Jam also involved a number of short, intensive brainstorming sessions in which teams developed innovative solutions to challenges. This event was an opportunity for innovators and businesses to explore open, collective and user-led innovation.
Dr Oliver’s talk on media innovation strategies presented empirical data on how the innovation practices of UK media firms had transformed firm capabilities and corporate financial performance.
New projects in the Student Project Bank
There are new projects in the Student Project Bank for the following subject areas:
- Business, management and marketing
- Health and social care
- Media and communications
- Computing and information technology
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.
SPB025: Marketing strategy for Pause Cat Cafe
Suitable for: Undergraduate/ postgraduate
Description: Create a marketing strategy for Pause Cat Café. Pause are particularly interested in reaching markets that are not generally aware of the concept of a cat café and markets that could benefit from the therapeutic effects of spending time with cats. They are open to new and innovative ideas. This project can be combined with SPB026 if required.
SPB026: Social media strategy for Pause Cat Cafe
Suitable for: Undergraduate/ postgraduate
Description: Create a social media strategy for Pause Cat Café. Identify new and unusual ways Pause could build upon the current ways cats are featured on social media. The strategy will need to identify ways to approach and resolve negative press that may be directed towards the café. This project can be combined with SPB 025 if required.
SPB027: Develop a website for Pause Cat Cafe
Suitable for: Undergraduate/ postgraduate
Description: Develop a website for Pause Cat Café to promote their business and share news of their projects.
SPB028: Research project into the benefits of interaction with cats on mental and physical health and well being
Suitable for: Undergraduate/ postgraduate
Description: Research the benefits of interaction with cats on mental and physical health and wellbeing using quantitative and qualitative methods. Produce a report on your findings.
SPB029: Create a documentary about Pause Cat Café
Suitable for: Undergraduate/ postgraduate
Description: Create a 20 minute documentary about Pause Cat Café that can be used for promotional purposes. The documentary will focus on the welfare and care of the cats that live at the café and the community work the café aims to do in the future.
SPB030: Create a short documentary about the community living on Bourne estate
Suitable for: Undergraduate/ postgraduate
Description: Create a 6-10 minute video capturing the activities and the voices of the people living on Bourne estate from January-June 2017. This will be used to demonstrate the success of a six year neighbourhood management project in the area. The film will be shown to the community and local agencies.
SPB031: Create an app or online platform to increase engagement in the Count On Me community carbon-counting campaign
Suitable for: Undergraduate/ postgraduate
Description: Count On Me (a Transition Bournemouth project) is a community carbon-counting campaign designed to promote and encourage sustainable behaviour. It helps tackle climate change by celebrating the positive steps people are taking. Develop an app for iPhone/Android or an online platform that will capture data from Bournemouth residents about their activities that produce carbon savings such as cycling or eating less meat.
Apply now
If you would like to find out more and apply for one of the above projects, send us an email to request a project brief and an application form.
HE policy update
Lots of interesting developments in the UK last week while there has been a rather distracting international politics story abroad.
Student finance
- The government have launched two new consultations, one on loans for PGRs and another on maintenance loans for part-time students – both new and welcome developments – we will be preparing a response and I’ll link to the detailed questions next week for those interested in contributing. The deadline is 16 December.
- Wonkhe also report that “Professor Ian Cumming, chief executive of Health Education England, has warned that universities and trusts would be responsible for funding the growing number of places on nursing training courses from 2018. The government ended the cap on nursing places by replacing nursing bursaries with student loans earlier this year, and Cumming predicts that the number of students applying for places on nursing courses will continue to rise. HEE has a ‘flat-cash’ level to fund placements within the NHS. However he says that money to fund extra places would “either be a deal with the NHS or using money from another source”. This could dash the government’s hopes of increasing the numbers of ‘home-grown’ NHS staff, rather than recruiting from abroad. You can read more in the Nursing Times here.”
- HEFCE have announced the latest round of funding for degree apprenticeships.
International students and Brexit
- Wonkhe have published an interesting analysis of the impact of Brexit across the world
- The NUS are continuing their campaign against the lack of student representation in the Office for Students – they are encouraging sabbatical officers to apply for the position of Chair of the OfS.
Fair access and progression
- Nick Hillman from HEPI wrote a challenging blog for the UPP Foundation suggesting that bursaries are not the best way to support WP students.
- Wonkhe report that the UPP Foundation has announced funding for a new research project on how universities can support students from lower socio-economic backgrounds to improve employment outcomes after university – see the full press release here.
And in other news
- Our Pro-Vice Chancellor for Global Engagement, Dr Sonal Minocha, was with Jo Johnson, as part of the Prime Minister’s visit to India this week. There has been a lot of coverage of the impact of immigration restrictions on Indian students – see for example the BBC on 7th November, and BBC reality check.
- I am giving a student briefing with SUBU on HE policy on Wednesday at 2.45 in the Barnes Lecture Theatre on Talbot Campus as part of Parliament Week – watch out for other events promoted by SUBU.
Support for developing your event idea – Drop-in session Tuesday 15 November
Don’t miss our drop-in sessions where we can offer you support in planning your event for Festival of Learning 2017.
Our next session is on Tuesday 15 November and we’ll be there for you from 4pm-5pm at Executive Business Centre Cafe.
Come to see us and don’t miss out on the opportunity to share your research and expertise by being a part of the Festival!
We’re hoping to see you there!
Midwifery Graduation: Honours & Awards
Alongside Bournemouth University’s midwifery and other health and social care students who graduated in last Friday’s ceremony, BU honoured prominent midwife Sheena Byrom OBE with an Honorary Doctorate for her services to the profession. Sheena Byrom gave an inspiring speech at Friday’s Graduation. Sheena said, “If they can keep in their hearts the passion and the drive they had when they first came to the university, it will help them to be more resilient and keep them motivated towards what they want to do. Healthcare is a blend between love and science and both are equally important. In practice, it is key that they have the skills, but the things that makes the difference are love and compassion.”
Alongside Sheena two students from the Centre of Midwifery, Maternal & Perinatal Health(CMMPH) graduated with a PhD in Midwifery. Dr. Alison Taylor received her PhD for her qualitative research on breastfeeding. Her thesis is entitled ‘It’s a relief to talk ….’: Mothers’ experiences of breastfeeding recorded on video diaries. Dr. Rachel Arnold was awarded her PhD for her research Afghan women and the culture of care in a Kabul maternity hospital.
Congratulations to all BU undergraduates and Rachel, Alison and Sheena!
Prof. Edwin van Teijlingen
CMMPH
Inaugural lecture: how supermarket scanner data reveals the secrets of the checkout
Most of us shop for food in supermarkets on a regular basis, but do we give enough thought to the data gathered about our shopping habits? Barcode scanners can provide supermarkets with a wealth of information about consumer behaviour and food pricing.
Professor Tim Lloyd joined Bournemouth University in 2015 and is an expert in agriculture and food pricing. His current research includes looking at the use of supermarket scanner data and the factors that lead to food price inflation within Europe. His interest in food economics stemmed from his undergraduate studies when the focus was on food mountains deriving from European subsidies, offset by starvation in Africa as highlighted by Band Aid.
Fast forward to the present day, and the issues facing us now are quite different. The prevalence of fast food and processed foods mean that people are at risk of both over-nutrition and malnutrition, while our high streets are dominated by multinationals with a keen interest in data about their consumers.
Professor Lloyd’s lecture will share insights from his research into supermarket pricing, focusing on the widespread use of price promotions in modern food retailing. It may just change how you shop.
Bournemouth University’s inaugural lecture series aims to celebrate new professorial appointments and the depth and breadth of research produced by the university. For further information on the inaugural lecture series, please visit www.bournemouth.ac.uk/public-lecture-series
About the event
To book your free ticket, click here.
Venue: Executive Business Centre, Holdenhurst Road.
Date: Monday 5 December.
Time: 6:30pm for a 7pm lecture start.
Refreshments will be provided at the event.
For more information about the event, please contact Rachel Bowen at rbowen@bournemouth.ac.uk.
Conference: Powerplay: Psychoanalysis and Political Culture; BU at the Freud Museum, 10th December
Powerplay: Psychoanalysis and Political Culture
A special one-day conference: 10 December, 9.30-5pm, The Freud Museum, London.
The Freud Museum in association with
The Centre for Politics and Media, Bournemouth University
Media and the Inner World Research Network
Tickets: https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/power-play-psychoanalysis-and-political-culture-tickets-28694219182
We are surrounded by political culture as never before and yet never felt so powerless. In this special conference we look at a broad idea of political culture and psychoanalysis, discussed as history (Zaretsky), as a state of mind (Stokoe), as televisual culture (Davies) and as the cultures of political practice (Hollins), exploring how these different areas feed into the political imagination and the unconscious processes that shape it. And as political culture seeps into people’s minds so ‘politics’ becomes a factor in the therapeutic relationship itself.
PROGRAMME
Morning session chaired by Barry Richards (biog)
Candida Yates (biog)
Opening Remarks
Eli Zaretsky (biog)
The Three Faces of Political Freud (abstract)
Philip Stokoe (biog)
A psychoanalytic approach to understanding the state of mind in societies that can produce Brexit and Trump (abstract)
Afternoon Session chaired by Prof. Candida Yates
Andrew Davies (biog)
in Conversation with Iain MacRury (biog)
Baroness Sheila Hollins (biog)
in Conversation with Brett Kahr (biog)
Plenary Discussion
Ends 5pm
Drinks Party at the Freud Museum to follow
To purchase tickets go to:
https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/power-play-psychoanalysis-and-political-culture-tickets-28694219182
There is a reduction for students and BU colleagues.
1st International Military Law Conference in South Africa – BU Research receives global attention
Associate Professor in International Law (BU) and War Studies (FHS) Sascha Dov Bachmann just returned from Johannesburg where he presented on Hybrid War and Lawfare at the 1st International Military Law Conference in South Africa. A great experience and and from a media point of view as well as from a BU research point of view the conference and its coverage in the regional African and international media were a full success.
The reference below is taken from the official SA Government Media release and was taken up by various media sites inside the African Union and abroad: the UK, US, Ghana,Kenya, Sudan, NZ etc and reads as follows:
“The rest of the first day (under the sub-theme International Military Law) unpacked issues relating to the permissible and legal use of armed force by States, and the legal rules governing soldiers during such armed conflicts. Professor Sascha-Dominik Bachmann of Bournemouth University in the United Kingdom presented a paper setting out the implications of so-called “hybrid war” and the offensive and defensive use of “lawfare” (the use of litigation for political purposes aimed at impacting a State’s military operations). ”
defenceWeb – Africa’s leading defence news portal summarizes the objectives of the conference as:
The conference theme of “contemporary military law” was explored with sub-themes relating to international military law, human rights law, operational law and administration of military justice.
The objectives of the conference – to raise public awareness of the importance of military law in a democracy and to stimulate interest in academic research in this specialised field of public law to strengthen the development of South African military law – were successfully met with a number of international and local academics and military professionals presenting research papers, according to the South African National Defence Force (SANDF).
The conference was officially opened by SA National Defence Force Chief, General Solly Shoke. In his opening address he welcomed the opportunity provided by the conference for South African military lawyers to benchmark local approaches with that of other armed forces. He also expressed the wish for the conference to provide a basis for evaluating whether any amendments to military and other legislation may be necessary to empower commanders to instil and maintain military discipline.
Systematic Review Masterclass 27 & 28 February 2017
We are pleased to announce a two-day Systematic Review Masterclass at Bournemouth University.
One way of collating and assessing the best possible evidence is through a method called ‘systematic reviewing’. Systematic reviewing is a specific research method whereby a structured, rigorous, and objective approach is used to provide a critical synthesis of the available evidence on a particular topic. This masterclass will examine the rationale for systematic reviews and take participants through the various elements of a systematic review: selecting (electronic) databases; literature searching; data extraction; data synthesis; interpretation and reporting.
The Masterclass will be run by Vanora Hundley (Midwifery), Edwin van Teijlingen (Sociology), Clare Killingback (Physiotherapy) and Chris Wentzell (Librarian), in the Executive Business Centre, Holdenhurst Road, Bournemouth on 27 & 28 February 2017.
Booking price and information:
The fee of £200 for this masterclass includes two full days with the course facilitators, all refreshments and all class materials. Accomodation and travel costs are not included.
See the flyer https://research.bournemouth.ac.uk/wp-content/uploads/2013/10/Systematic-Review-masterclass-2017.pdf or http://tinyurl.com/j29et2w if you tweet.
Select http://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/masterclass-systematic-review-2017-tickets-27428576611 to book your place now. Places must be booked by 1 February 2017.
For further information please contact:
Tel: 01202 962184
Email: epegrum@bournemouth.ac.uk
14:Live with Dr Ashley Woodfall
Do you want to get creative for an hour? Do you have an interest in creative research methods?
14:Live is back on Thursday 17 November with Dr Ashley Woodfall.
Join us as we get creative and discuss Mess and Mayhem: Creative/Reflective Methods at Play. This mess and discussion led session will be a space to discuss the use (and abuse) of creative research methods. How can they help trigger meaningful research interactions, and how the outcomes might be understood?
This session will be exploring research in a creative environment from drawing, to molding, to improv’ and beyond. We ask if creative reflective methods can share something of your own life world and whether these methods can help unlock metaphorical insights that are missed through more traditional approaches.
Come along on at 14:00-15:00 on Floor 5 of the Student Centre for an hour of mess and mayhem. There will be free drinks and snacks!
If you have any questions then please contact Hannah Jones
Support for developing your event idea – Drop-in session Monday 14 November
Don’t miss our drop-in sessions where we can offer you support in planning your event for Festival of Learning 2017.
Our next session is on Monday 14 November and we’ll be there for you from 8:30am-10am at Fusion Building – coffee area.
Come to see us and don’t miss out on the opportunity to share your research and expertise by being a part of the Festival!
We’re hoping to see you there!
BES Science Slam 2016
Do you have a passion for ecology? The British Ecological Society (BES) is looking for competitors for 2016’s BES Science Slam.
What is a Science Slam?
A Science Slam is a brilliant way to showcase your research to the public, by combining it with entertainment. Scientists take to the stage to present their research in an engaging, entertaining and uncompleted manner. You can great as creative as you like, your act could involve live experiments, audience participation, song, dance, acting or something different altogether. The winners are selected through the loudest audience applause!
BES are looking for scientists from the field of ecological science and theory. You can be a PhD student or even a professor, BES want scientists who can enthuse people. Each scientist will be given 8 minutes to present their research and 2 minutes for questions.
Want to take part? Applications can be found online here. Entries must be in by 9:00 Monday 14 November 2016.
Want some inspiration? Take a look at last year’s Science Slam here.
World Prematurity Day – 17th November – Cake Sale
Would you donate a cake/cupcakes?
Date: 17th November
Time: 11.30-13.30
Venue: BoHo Lounge, Ground floor, Bournemouth House
Cake drop off on the morning of the 17th in R304 or B112a
Preterm born babies are at high risk to develop a wide range of complications.
Some of these complications can be prevented by feeding babies with human breast milk.
Therefore, the WHO recommends human donor milk as best alternative if mother’s own milk is not available!
The HEARTS MILK BANK is currently crowd funding to buy the needed equipment to start providing donor milk for babies born too soon or too sick, to improve their chance of survival and health!
All money from the cake sale will be directly donated to the Hearts Milk Bank!
If you want to donate a cake or receive more information please contact
Isabell Nessel inessel@bournemouth.ac.uk
Islam and Social Work: Culturally sensitive practice in a diverse world
The complexities of multiculturalism as a social ontology and as a political discourse have taken a rapid and alarming turn to the right in a political moment of increasing social turbulence on issues that revolve around national identity, ethnicity and religion. It is therefore timely, if regrettably so, that the second edition of Islam and Social Work makes its debut this month.
The first volume went to press in 2008, in my first year at BU, and my co-authors and I were overwhelmed when the book was showered with positive reviews. Regarded as not only the best, but the sole European text on this conspicuously important topic, it was also viewed as having no counterpart in the Global North (where the subject of social work and minority ethnic groups has been a dominant theme in the social work literature for decades). Since then it has been regularly cited and I been privileged to have anonymously reviewed dozens of papers on Islamic interpretations of social work practice. I have learned that Western social work is no longer the epicentre of practice – there are other worlds out there. I feel that this earlier book was, if nothing else, pivotal to opening the door much wider to be able to hear from our Muslim social work colleagues around the world, whose practice can challenge the restrictive, bureaucratised and therefore often inhuman professional processes in the UK
Strangely, however, over the years, despite the world having changed so very much since in terms of the shifting geo-political axes of power, the rise and fall of despotic regimes, the call for accountability of Western leaders implicated in invasion of Gulf nations, the Arab Spring, global terrorism, Al-Qaeda and later the monstrous birth of imploding Daesh – no one has produced a text to supersede the old first edition. And so, reader, we, Fatima Husain, Basia Spalek and I decided to produce the 2nd edition, which has been fully revised and updated, rewritten virtually from scratch, and I believe we have produced a book that is specific in detail, expansive in scope and completely international in outlook.
We hope that this will be a text that is the first port of call for all social work students across the globe who are interested in learning more about competent and sensitive practice with Muslim service user and client groups across the lifespan, as well as discovering the many beauties and wise profundities that are embedded, but often overlooked, in the youngest of the Abrahamic religions, Islam.
Professor Sara Ashencaen Crabtree
Professor of Social & Cultural Diversity
Beatriz Arrizabalaga – Returning to BU this summer
This summer I visited the Faculty of Media and Communication (Bournemouth University) as a Visiting Scholar for the second time for a period of three weeks (July-August 2016) to continue the research on Language, Communication and the Mass Media that I had started in 2015. During my second research stay at BU, I conducted research on the topics listed below:
- English as the global language: namely, its distinguishing features and its influence in other languages (mainly Spanish);
- The phenomena of culture and identity (heterogeneity vs. homogeneity);
- Transnational relationships;
- The specific language of different media spaces (mainly, advertising).
What I have learnt in these two research stays at BU forms the basis for the research project entitled Lenguaje y medios de comunicación: relaciones interlingüísticas e interculturales ingles-español (Reference: FFI2016-74858-P) (Language and the Mass Media: English-Spanish interlinguistic and intercultural relationships), for which I have applied for funding from the Spanish Ministry for Education and Innovation. Dr. Bronwen Thomas, Associate Professor at BU, will take an important part in the project, if approved and granted, thus helping to establish some institutional links between the University of Bournemouth and the University of Huelva.
Apart from the aforementioned research project, I am working at the moment on a scientific paper which analyses Spanish advertising, a particular means of communication almost completely unknown to me before my two stays in Bournemouth. My paper will have a special emphasis on the influence English advertising has – graphically, socially and linguistically.
Since the Sir Michael Cobham Library is an amazing source of a vast and rich number of bibliographical references related to the topics I am interested in, I hope to return to BU next summer to continue my research. Furthermore, I would take advantage of this third stay to get in touch with some other members of the Faculty of Media and Communication who might be interested in participating in my research project. Anyone who is interested can contact me at arrizaba@dfing.uhu.e
Support for developing your event idea – Drop-in session Friday 11 November
Don’t miss our drop-in sessions where we can offer you support in planning your event for Festival of Learning 2017.
Our next session is on Friday 11 November and we’ll be there for you from 12:30pm-1:30pm at EB204, Executive Business Centre.
Come to see us and don’t miss out on the opportunity to share your research and expertise by being a part of the Festival!
We’re hoping to see you there!
Brick-henge at the Jewell Academy, Bournemouth
Pupils at the Jewell Academy in Bournemouth have built a scale-model of Stonehenge in the school grounds using 80 house-bricks. The work was as part of an outreach visit by Professor Tim Darvill from the Department of Archaeology, Anthropology and Forensic Science to introduce young scholars to the results of recent research at Stonehenge. Orientated on the mid-winter sunset the model should survive long enough to help celebrate the end of term and the start of the winter festival in six weeks time!
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