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EU AniM Workshop – Still time to register.

PG research

Team Photos 2

Professor Jian Jun Zhang, Dr Jian Chang and Hui Liang are pleased to announce the EU AniM Workshop.

Please click here to register.

The “AniM” www.euanim.org is an EU FP7 Marie Curie International Incoming Fellowship funded project, which aims to improve the status quo by developing the “next generation computer animation techniques” and to answer challenges in handling computer animation data in an intelligent way to facilitate creativity and to encourage interaction among users through knowledge transfer and development.

project

The workshop is an intensive research meeting, aiming to provide new insights, approaches and methods of the next generation computer animation techniques and the intelligent animation data management to facilitate the growth of the computer animation industry.

Over 70 researchers based at UK universities and industry companies, will be invited for this workshop , which will be structured around the themes of “Enhanced Computer Animation technology” and “Intelligent Data Management for Computer Animation”.

You are invited to join us at the Executive Business Centre, Bournemouth University, on 2nd September 2016.  Registration will be open from 09.45 and the workshop will commence at 10.30.

Professor Jian Jun Zhang of the NCCA, Bournemouth University will chair the event, which will include an introduction to the research within the project EU AniM and a panel discussion.  Professor Nigel W John from the University of Chester, is confirmed to deliver a keynote on “Real Time Computer Graphics for Surgery Simulation”.  A buffet lunch and refreshments will be provided.

We look forward to seeing you in September, in the meantime if you have any questions regarding this event, please do not hesitate to contact us.

Harding & Pritchard paper has over 1,000 views in first month it is openly available

Publishing

cover_enThe Harding and Pritchard paper titled ‘UK and Twenty Comparable Countries GDP-Expenditure on Health 1980-2013: The Historic and Continued Low Priority of UK Health-Related Expenditure’, and published in the International Journal of Health Policy and Management, has had over 1,000 views in the first month it has been openly available.

For the majority of that time it has been made available in press, and only in the last few days has it been assigned to an issue. The paper illustrates the UK’s low proportional spend in relation to health related services:

It is well-established that for a considerable period the United Kingdom has spent proportionally less of its gross domestic product (GDP) on health-related services than almost any other comparable country. Average European spending on health (as a % of GDP) in the period 1980 to 2013 has been 19% higher than the United Kingdom, indicating that comparable countries give far greater fiscal priority to its health services, irrespective of its actual fiscal value or configuration. While the UK National Health Service (NHS) is a comparatively lean healthcare system, it is often regarded to be at a ‘crisis’ point on account of low levels of funding. Indeed, many state that currently the NHS has a sizeable funding gap, in part due to its recently reduced GDP devoted to health but mainly the challenges around increases in longevity, expectation and new medical costs. The right level of health funding is a political value judgement. As the data in this paper outline, if the UK ‘afforded’ the same proportional level of funding as the mean averageEuropean country, total expenditure would currently increase by one-fifth.

Research in the news: what will Brexit mean for Dorset’s economy?

BU’s Professor Nigel Jump, a Professor of Regional Economic Development, has published the university’s latest Business Intelligence Review.  The report explores what Brexit may mean for Dorset’s economy.  Below he explains its findings.

In BU’s latest Business Intelligence Review, a report provided quarterly for business and other economic partners across Dorset and its hinterland, we consider the potential impact of the UK vote to leave the EU (Brexit) on the local economy.

The main finding is that any barriers to trade created by Brexit, real or psychological, will tend to increase costs for UK firms.  Over time, this means lower investment, lower output and fewer jobs than might otherwise have occurred.  Importantly, these consequences are likely to affect economic activity in the short-to-medium term.

Eventually, given our innovative, inventive and entrepreneurial people in Dorset, there is no reason why a path back to good growth cannot be achieved.  Nevertheless, as reflected in the Bank of England’s recent measures to stimulate activity, there is a period of risk and uncertainty to be navigated over the next few years.

More information can be found in an article in the Bournemouth Echo.

The report is available to download here.

Celebrating personal development – Postgraduate Development Award (PGDA)

Training

In a blink of the eye the academic year has evaporated into the fabric of time. As we look back on a hectic year we saw the conclusion of the Postgraduate Development Award (PGDA) with the ceremony being held in the Student Centre on the 19 July 2016 to celebrate the 70 Master’s students who committed over a whopping 1400 hours to the award.

11 awards were also given out for exemplary performance on the award. These awards were given to those students who showed relentless attention to detail regarding the presentation of their development portfolios, outstanding time management, and vigorous reflective writing to strongly evidence personal and professional development.

Xiaohua Zheng, MSc International Risk Management and Finance student and Gold Award winnner, shared “This was one of the best ceremonies I have attended and I was very excited to receive my award. Completing the Postgraduate Development Award programme and all the activities has been a brilliant and unforgettable experience, and this was a great way to celebrate reaching our goal!”.

The PGDA offers students on postgraduate taught courses a range of activities which focus on research skills training, career management and transferable skills. There are also social opportunities encouraging students from all subject background to interact. At the start of the award, all students undertake a skills audit to identify their strengths and areas for development which is then used to focus their work and activities undertaken for the award to enhance their employability.

For further information about the PGDA please email Jay

Best wishes

The Graduate School team

 

PGDA Ceremony mix 2

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:

23rd August 2016

27th September 2016

25th October 2016

22nd November 2016

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.

AHRC Annual Report 2015-16

Funding opportunities

ahrcThe AHRC’s Annual Report and Accounts 2015-16 have been published.

The report is a reflection of the last 12 months, highlights of follow-on fund awards, and key achievements.

For the first time you will be able to view the annual report data via a new visualisation tool. This visualisation highlights the wide range of research organisations from which excellent arts and humanities research proposals were drawn and where new postgraduate studentships were funded in 2015-2016. They will continue to share more dynamic visualisations of data in the future.

Click here to access the AHRC Annual Report and Appendices for 2015-2016. (PDF, 2MB)

Latest Major Funding Opportunities

Funding opportunities

The following funding opportunities have been announced. Please follow the links for more information.

Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council

The NSPCC and ESRC are working together to commission research that contributes to their joint interests in mental health and the NSPCC’s new research programme: Helping Children Get Back on Track. The aim of this research programme is to increase the evidence base about what kinds of therapeutic or social intervention work for which children with experience of abuse and when; how to identify children whose mental health is vulnerable; and how to identify the things that make others more resilient.

It is expected that this research will result in one or more of the following outcomes: A better understanding of how to identify the children whose mental health is vulnerable because of abuse, including those with ‘latent vulnerability’; that is, those children who are susceptible to poor outcomes including mental ill health but are not overtly symptomatic, or who need help in order to get their development back on track after experience of abuse, including to prevent the onset of mental health problems either in childhood or later; A better understanding of when support should be offered to children in order that poor outcomes including poor mental health can be prevented; A better understanding of what sort of help is effective in preventing poor outcomes for children with experience of abuse including poor mental health; A better understanding of how to identify the factors that make some children more resilient and adaptive and others more vulnerable to the mental health consequences of maltreatment.

Maximum award: Not specified. Closing date: 07/10/2016.

The Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council and the Government Communications Headquarters (GCHQ) invite applications for their scheme to recognise Academic Centres of Excellence in Cyber Security Research. The scheme makes collaboration and knowledge sharing between the best of the UK academic sector, business and government easier. It encourages exploitation of current leading-edge research and the identification of the future work needed to ensure the UK is well prepared to meet coming cyber security challenges and threats. The relevant research areas include: cryptography, key management and security protocols; information risk; information assurance science; hardware engineering; total network defence; strategic technologies and products; side channel and fault analysis; engineering processes and assurance; building trusted and trustworthy systems; operational technology security; Internet of Things.

This call applies both to universities currently recognised who wish to extend their recognition for a further 5 years, and to universities not previously recognised. An institution whose submission is successful in this call will be able to hold the title of ‘Academic Centre of Excellence in Cyber Security Research’ for a period of 5 years, subject to complying with appropriate terms and conditions of membership of the scheme. They will also be supported by an EPSRC research grant to support activiteis associated with the recognition.

Maximum award: £60,000. Closing date: 4pm, 12/12/16.

National Centre for the Replacement, Refinement and Reduction of Animals in Research

The National Centre for the Replacement, Refinement and Reduction of Animals in Research, in collaboration with Arthritis Research UK, the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council and Innovate UK, invites applications for its CRACK IT challenges. This aims to fund collaborations between industry sponsors, academics and the NC3Rs to develop innovative, integrated approaches to better predict the GHS classification category for acute oral, skin and eye irritation in the development of agrochemical formulations without using animals or generating new in vitro data. The challenge also requires a disruptive business model whereby access and storage of industry data can be managed to provide predictive testing strategies for complex mixtures.

Maximum award: £1 million. Closing date: 09/11/17.

Wellcome Trust

The Wellcome Trust invites applications for its Collaborative Awards in Humanities and Social Science. Collaborative Awards promote the development of new ideas and bring disciplines together to speed the pace of discovery. Teams will have a track record of working together to tackle research questions that can only be approached collaboratively. Teams can come from the same discipline or from a combination of disciplines. They can be from the same university department or a number of organisations (anywhere in the world). Applications that combine humanities and social science research with biomedical science research and/or product development and applied research are particularly encouraged.

Maximum award: £1.5 million. Closing date (preliminary applications): 16/01/17.

The Wellcome Trust invites applications for its Investigator Awards in Humanities and Social Sciences. These awards support researchers in established posts at all career stages working on important questions of relevance to health. The level of funding provided for an Investigator Award is flexible and can be anything from under £300,000 to around £1 million. Awards can last for up to five years.

Maximum award: £1 million. Closing date (preliminary applications): 16/01/17.

The Wellcome Trust invites applications for its University Awards in Humanities and Social Science. A University Award provides support for up to five years at lecturer, senior-lecturer or reader level. After this, we expect you to take up a permanent position at the academic organisation. Up to five years’ support is available, providing full salary for three years, 50 per cent in the fourth year and 25 per cent in the fifth year. Awards also support research expenses, materials and consumables, animals, equipment, and travel and subsistence costs.  During its first three years, the award allows you to focus on research rather than teaching and administration.

Maximum award: Not specified. Closing date: 18/01/17.

The Wellcome Trust invites applications for its Humanities and Social Science Doctoral Studentships. This scheme enables researchers to undertake humanities or social science doctoral degrees in any area of health. Studentships are available for up to three years and cover the student’s stipend, approved tuition fees, as well as travel to meetings and conferences of up to £1,500, equipment and research expenses worth up to £1,500.

Maximum award: Not specified. Closing date: 22/03/17.

If you are interested in submitting to any of the above calls you must contact RKEO with adequate notice before the deadline. Please note that some funding bodies specify a time for submission as well as a date. Please confirm this with your RKEO Funding Development Officer.

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 you are thinking of applying, why not add an expression of interest on Research Professional so that BU colleagues can see your intention to bid and contact you to collaborate.

AHRC Call for nominations to Peer Review College

The Arts and Humanities Research Council (AHRC) is seeking nominations for new members to be appointed to its Peer Review College (PRC).ahrc

Peer review lies at the heart of the AHRC’s operations, and they are fully committed to the principle of peer review for the assessment of proposals to our schemes and programmes. PRC members provide expert quality reviews of proposals within their areas of expertise, which inform the AHRC’s decision making processes. Members can also be called upon to sit on assessment or moderation panels and Strategic reviewers can be called upon for guidance. As well as making an important contribution to the AHRC’s peer review processes, the experience gained by membership of the College provides benefits to individuals, departments and higher education institutions.

This is an open call for membership to the AHRC Academic College, although nominees can also additionally apply for membership to any our college groups. The call is open to any organisation that has eligible staff (including organisations from the charitable, third and private sector) and who can supply eligible nominators. The nominations process will need to be centrally managed and supported by the institution (not the nominee), with all nominations being submitted by institutions rather than individual nominees.  Nominators please note: You must be a senior staff member or representative within Higher Education Institutions (for example Pro-Vice Chancellor, Dean, Head of School or College, Head of Faculty, Research Director).

cartoon readingPlease refer to the PRC Recruitment 2016 Call Document on the PRC News Webpage for further information and application guidance.

The most important part of the guidance is that AHRC insist that all nominations are submitted by a single contact within BU, which will be RKEO.  Whilst the deadline for nominations to AHRC is officially 4pm on 22nd September 2016, to ensure that the single contact can submit all applications on behalf of BU, please send your nominations to Jo Garrad no later than 4pm on 20th September 2016 (this is the BU internal deadline).

If successful, College members will be appointed for a term commencing 1 January 2017 and ending 31 December 2020.

Inductions will start in December 2016 and newly appointed members are encouraged to make every effort to attend the Induction to which they will be invited.

If you have any queries regarding the nomination process please do not hesitate to contact:
Russell Leake – Evidence and Analysis Manager
Email: r.leake@ahrc.ac.uk
Tel: 01793 416035

The Research and Knowledge Exchange (RKE) Development Framework: Returning to Academia after a break

Training

dev_frameworkThe Research and Knowledge Exchange (RKE) Development Framework,  ‘Returning to Academia‘ pathway targets those academics who may be returning to academia following a break for any reason.  Workshops will focus on topics such as finding research funding for those returning to academia and ‘Building resilience in research and knowledge exchange’.

We’ll be populating the the OD website with more information and the booking link over the coming weeks. We’ll also be providing a timetable of all events as soon as possible. In the meantime, updates will be posted on the BU Research Blog and the Faculty blogs.

Launch Date of the *new* RKE Development Framework- 20th September 2016

dev_frameworkThe new Research and Knowledge Exchange (RKE) Development framework will launch on September 20th.

Come join us at our information stands on launch day at the EBC Ground Floor (Lansdowne Campus) or in the Poole House Courtyard (Talbot Campus) between 9am-5pm on September 20th, 2016.

The Research and Knowledge Exchange (RKE) Development Framework offers a range of opportunities for academics at all career stages to develop their skills, knowledge and capabilities in relation to research and knowledge exchange.

How to use the framework
• For further information and to book, please go to:
www.bournemouth.ac.uk/rke-development-framework
• Review the pathways available
• Discuss the pathways with your line manager as
part of your professional development planning
• Determine which pathways or individual sessions
are relevant to you.

 

Research and Knowledge Exchange Development Framework: Working with Business Pathway

Business Engagement, HEIF, innovation, Knowledge Exchange, Knowledge Transfer

The Research and Knowledge Exchange (RKE) Framework: Working with Business pathway focuses on developing interactions with a business audience.  Please see previous blog posts in the Development Framework for information on the separate pathways.

The aim of the ‘Working with Business’ pathway is to develop your skills to connect with the business community including networking, identifying project funding – including Knowledge Transfer Partnerships (KTPs) and building project teams involving businesses.  Sessions have been planned with these key areas as a focus.

Further information on this pathway will appear on the OD website including booking links over the summer.  Updates on this pathway and the wider RKE Development Framework will appear on the BU research blog.

Technology in the hands

Small companies offered £1.2m to seek out global partners

Business Engagement, innovation, international, Knowledge Exchange

Global

 

Innovate UK has launched a fund to encourage small British firms to work with international businesses and to help them enter global markets.

UK businesses looking to create international business networks can apply for funding to enable commercial research and innovation partnerships. It will also help businesses explore ideas for future collaboration.

Innovate UK is funding this competition. It is open to small and medium enterprises (SMEs). The funding will enable SMEs to carry out short feasibility studies and spend time abroad. The competition will encourage UK firms to create long term partnerships with overseas companies. It will also help them gain a better understanding of collaborative opportunities.

Competition information

  • The competition opens on 5 August 2016
  • The deadline for registration is noon on 21 September 2016
  • The deadline for application is noon on 28 September 2016
  • A UK SME must lead the project
  • A UK SME can carry out the project on their own or work with other UK partners
  • Only UK SMEs will receive funding
  • Innovate UK will fund projects with eligible costs of up to £30,000
  • Businesses may receive funding of up to 70% of their total project costs
  • Projects should last up to 4 months

Click here for further information and how to apply.

Multidisciplinary research: where Fusion meets REF

Fusion, PG research, student research

“We have developed multidisciplinary research within the Department of Design & Engineering, Faculty of Science & Technology at BU in collaboration with major international, national and regional industrial and HEI partners”, Associate Professor Zulfiqar Khan said. He added, “multidisciplinary research within NanoCorr, Energy & Modelling (NCEM) theme is a direct response to industrial needs in terms of enhancing design for durability & reliability, meeting the demands for generating energy from renewable sources and enhancing students learning experience through research informed education. New knowledge, created during this process, is shared with stakeholders and academic communities through relevant platforms.

Multidisciplinary research within NCEM is led by Zulfiqar and includes the development of nano coatings (nano composites and graphene; materials science and engineering) to increase service life of machines and equipment deployed in harsh operational and environmental conditions (design & engineering), understanding corrosion (materials science and mechanical engineering) issues to prevent structural failures within machines, automotive, locomotives, large structures & marine applications (preventative and predictive condition monitoring; MEMS, NEMS, Micro LPRs) and developing cutting edge solar thermal techniques to generate mechanical and heat energies from renewable sources (mechanical engineering; heat transfer and nano additives).

The objectives of this research are to develop state of the art novel and innovative energy efficient design for durability and reliability solutions applied in wide ranging industrial applications, bring about socio-economic benefits including impacts on cultural life via public engagement. This research is fully and match funded through a current portfolio of one postdoctoral research assistant and four PhD students by major industrial and HEI partners plus three PhD projects were completed early this year.

Majority of you would have had a chance to read through the Stern’s review of REF which was released in late July, “steps taken to promote interdisciplinary and other joint working internally and externally and to support engagement and impact, beyond that which is just the aggregate of individual units of assessment (para.88)”. “The proposal to allow the (tick-box) identification interdisciplinary outputs, as well as document the role of ‘interdisciplinary champions’ (para. 100)”

Zulfiqar said, “our vision of developing and engaging in multidisciplinary research which is industrially relevant, academically robust and has significant socio-economic value will play an important role in the REF 2021 and beyond and we are better positioned to lead in this area”. He has previously led the University Sustainable Design Research Centre between 2007-2015 and the centre received its REF14 Panel Feedback as, “Sustainable Design Research Group had the highest proportion of outputs judged to be internationally excellent”.

Fusion of research, education and professional practice is a key to lead to multidisciplinary research. BU Fusion of research, education and professional practice is at the heart of BU 2018 strategy. Zulfiqar said, “we have been and are currently delivering research informed education through the delivery of several UG/PG taught courses. This is a major contributor in enhancing students’ learning experience and enabling them to be more employable both in the country and globally.

He previously led the final year Design Engineering, Advanced Technology & Innovation 40 credit unit. Students participated in research activities which led them to publish journal and international conference papers including an invited Springer book chapter.

He developed a 20 credit Thermo fluids & Heat Transfer unit, taught in the second year of BEng/MEng course. Education in this unit is research informed and the unit is supported by laboratory experimentations. This provides an opportunity for the students to bridge the gap between theory and practice. He has also developed two new units Fluids and Thermodynamics L5/Year 2 MEng (Hons) Mech Engg and Thermofluids and Energy Conversion L6/Year 4 MEng (Hons) Mech Engg for recent IMechE accreditation. Education in these units will be supported by state of the art experimental techniques with in kind support from industrial partner and informed by current research in renewable energy technology within NCEM.

Zulfiqar is also leading first year Design Methods & Projects a 40 credit unit in the Design Engineering course. This unit has several projects that allow students to solve real world industrial problems and engage in research within corrosion, contact mechanics and materials science through a live project with The Tank Museum Bovington.

Both Fusion and multidisciplinary research are benefiting students in terms of their learning experience, solving immediate and challenging industrial problems, improving standard of life and bringing economic impacts including impacts on cultural life.

Some latest research activities are documented in recent publications, for further information you may contact Zulfiqar Khan.