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Deadline Soon – 2016 Celebrating Impact Prize

Research communication, Research news

2016 Celebrating Impact Prize

  • Open to all ESRC projects – excluding previously winning projects
  • Previously unsuccessful entrants welcome to resubmit
  • Prior winners may also submit new research impacts
  • Streamlined application process
  • £60,000 total prize money available

Now in its fourth year, the Celebrating Impact Prize is an annual opportunity to recognise and reward ESRC-funded researchers who have achieved, or are currently achieving, outstanding economic and societal impacts. It celebrates outstanding ESRC research and success in collaborative working, partnerships, interdisciplinary projects, engagement and knowledge exchange activities that have led to significant impact.

They particularly welcome interdisciplinary projects, those involving the use of big data resources or infrastructure, and impacts from institutions submitting for the first time.

The 2016 Celebrating Impact Prize has six categories, each representing areas covered by the ESRC; with sole winners in each category receiving £10,000 to further support their research or further impact activities.

In addition to the cash value of the prize, winners are invited to attend a prestigious ceremony held in June 2016 and to join a community of world-leading researchers and policy makers collectively championing the vital role research plays in shaping society and tackling global challenges.

The call for applicants closes Friday 29th January 2016 at 3pm.

Interested parties should read the following information, and submit their work for consideration via the ESRC forms on impact prize page

Submissions may be considered within the following categories, and applicants are welcome to apply to up to three categories per project, filling out a separate application for each:

Outstanding Impact in Business

This prize will recognise outstanding research which has brought about impact with business. This could include a direct benefit to an individual business through innovation or direct change in practice or management structures, or through skills and training. It could also include benefits to a range of businesses as to how a common challenge might be addressed, with evidence of take up. Entries should be supported by evidence of the business benefit.

Outstanding Impact in Public Policy

This prize will recognise research that has contributed to the development of UK public policy, at the local, regional or national government level. This could include direct changes in policy or changes to how decision-makers view issues. Entries should be supported by evidence that the research has been taken up and used by policymakers.

Outstanding Impact in Society

This award will recognise research that has made a contribution benefiting society more widely or a specific group of the public. This could include impacts from working with local or community groups, charities or the wider society. Entries should be supported by evidence that the research has made a difference.

Outstanding International Impact

This award will recognise research that has achieved impact at an international level across countries in business, policy or societal issues. Applicants to the Outstanding International category must demonstrate collaboration across multiple countries. Applicants whose research occurs within the same country as the resultant impact are ineligible for this category and should consider the above categories only.

Outstanding Early Career Impact

This award will recognise student researchers who have achieved or show potential in achieving outstanding impacts in any of the above categories. Applications are welcome from current students and those who have submitted their thesis within the last three years.

Impact Champion

This prize will recognise an individual who has a significant personal track record in supporting and enabling others to achieve impact. The nominated individual could be: an advocate of innovative approaches and behaviours; and/or mentor and inspire others to collaborate and co-produce research for maximum impact. The nominated individual does not have to be an academic and may be working in an administrative role within a centre, department, school, or university. Applications are welcome from anyone who wishes to nominate an ESRC-supported individual.

Information on previous Winners, their research, impact case studies, FAQs and the event may be found here.

For further information please contact:

ESRC Celebrating Impact Prize team
Ed Vollans, Impact Prize Communications Officer
Susie Watts, Deputy Head of Communications
Email: impact@esrc.ac.uk
Telephone: 01793 414697

 

IRW: Take a trip to the flicks part 2

BU research, Research communication

Interdisciplinary Research Week film:

Who: Are you there? Lizzie SykesLSykes

Where and when: Coyne Lecture Theatre, Talbot Campus, 16:00-18:00

What: In 2014 Lizzie Sykes was awarded an Arts Council funded residency at Mottisfont, a National Trust property and gardens in Hampshire. Mottisfont is a place where artists have met and worked for hundreds of years.

‘Are You There?’ is a short film made from inside the Mottisfont residence. It is performed by Louise Tanoto, and is a response to how it feels to be alone in the house and to be inescapably linked to it in a private and intimate way: -free from expected codes of physical behaviour that such a formal space normally represents.

Following the film there will be a chance for Q & A.

Book your place

IRW musical extravaganza

BU research, Research communication

Interdisciplinary Research Week music performance:

Who: Emerge music group performanceASeddonTDavisATroisi

When and where: Talbot Campus, Friday, 29th January – 17.30 – 18.30

What: BU’s Emerge Research Centre has a research music performing group, a creative space where each person develops their own instruments and music based on personal research into sound as well as gesture and technology as part of their creative practice.

The experimental music and sound-art event features a soundtrack of electronic atmospheres, noisescapes, pulses and rhythms, tones and drones. It will include an exploration of hardware-hacked devices, simple electronic instruments, data networks and basic sensors to augment and inform laptop improvisations, immersive fixed-media soundscapes and live visuals

Performers include:

David Borgo, http://musicweb.ucsd.edu/~dborgo/David_Borgo/Bio.html
Anna Troisi, http://www.annatroisi.org/
Antonino Chiaramonte, http://www.antoninochiaramonte.eu/
Rob Canning, http://rob.kiben.net/
Bill Thompson, www.billthompson.org
Ambrose Seddon, http://www.ambroseseddon.com/
Tom Davis, http://www.tdavis.co.uk/

Visuals by Kavi, https://vimeo.com/user324972

Book your place

VisitBritain’s Chairman in BU

Uncategorized

Christopher Rodrigues CBS – VisitBritain’s Chairman will give a guest talk about Great Britain Tourism Strategy

Thursday 25 February 10.00 – 12.00, Lees LT

VisitBritain’s Chairman, provides strategic leadership to
the work to boost tourism to and within Britain, leading the
delivery of a new era of greater coherence and partnership for
the visitor economy.

christopher-Rodrigues_03

The Chairman works with VisitBritain’s private and public sector partners in England, Scotland and Wales to aid in strengthening the marketing of Britain as a tourist destination overseas.
Christopher became Chairman of VisitBritain in January 2007. He is a Trustee of the National Trust and is a Vice Chairman of the World Travel and Tourism Council. His past experience include
time as Chief Executive of Visa International between 2004 –
2007 and Chief Executive of Thomas Cook between 1988
-1996.

The event is hosted by Department of Tourism and Hospitality
Faculty of Management, Bournemouth University

Source of pictures and bio: Visit Britain website http://www.visitbritain.com

What is BU doing to support research staff?

Research news

EC HR Excellence in Research Award logoIn January 2013 BU was awarded the HR Excellence in Research Award from the European Commission in acknowledgement of our progress to date and commitment to further improving alignment between BU policy and practice and the national Concordat to Support the Career Development of Researchers. As the number of research staff employed at BU continues to grow, the embedding of the principles of the Concordat becomes even more important.

As part of the award, BU has an externally approved action plan to strengthen support for research staff and their managers. The action plan is reviewed regularly by the Research Concordat Steering Group.

Achievements to date include:

Giving research staff a valued voice:

  • The BU Research Staff Association (RSA) was launched in autumn 2014 to provide research staff with a forum to discuss issues linked to the implementation of the Concordat. The RSA chairs (Marcellus Mbah and Michelle Heward) are planning wider engagement activities for 2015-16, including establishing the RSA as an informal network to share learning/experiences as well as developing a seminar series for BU researchers to showcase their work.
  • The formal membership of URKEC, which reports into Senate, has included a research staff representative as an established member since January 2013. From autumn 2015 the Faculty RKE Committees have included the local implementation of the Concordat in their remit and a research staff representative as an established member.
  • Research staff are increasingly provided with opportunities for undertaking public engagement activities. For example, the lightning talks event at the Festival of Learning 2015 featured presentations from eight research staff and one PGR to c. 25 attendees (average event score of 8.3/10, with 10 being excellent). The concept has now been developed for BU staff and students with one event taking place each term. The format is being developed for the FoL 2016 and other public engagement events.
  • BU took part in the national Careers in Research Online Survey (CROS) and Principal Investigators and Research Leaders Survey (PIRLS) in 2013 and again in 2015. The results have been shared with RCSG, URKEC, DDESG, Faculty RKE Committees, etc.

 

concordat to support the career development of researchersProviding research staff with greater job stability:

  • The BU Bridging Fund Scheme was launched in August 2015. It permits the temporary employment, in certain circumstances, of researchers between fixed-term contracts at BU for whom no other source of funding is yet available.
  • The mandatory recruitment and selection training has been updated to include reference to giving due consideration to the wider skill set of researchers including transferable skills and attributes. The aim is to ensure that researchers are given the best opportunity to advance their career.

 

Improvements to the procedures and support for research staff:

  • Induction processes and resources have been significantly improved. The ‘New to BU’ webpages now include a specific section on support available to researchers. The Academic Career Development Programme now identifies three induction events for new staff, including the RKE Induction to which all new academic and research staff are invited. All new research staff and their managers receive information about the Concordat, RSA, etc. soon after joining BU.

IRW: Take a trip to the flicks part 1

BU research, Research communication

Interdisciplinary Research Week film:

Who: Raven on the Jetty feature film, Written and Directed by Professor Erik Knudsen EKnudsen

Where and When: Talbot Campus, Tuesday, 26th January – 16:00-18:00

What: In the midst of separation, one boy’s silent longing has the power to change everything.

On his ninth birthday, Thomas travels with his mother to visit his estranged father who, since an acrimonious divorce, has abandoned urban living in favour of an isolated rural life in the English Lake District. The bitter separation of his parents is not something Thomas understands, nor does he understand his own dysfunctional behaviour as a silent cry for help. As a digital native city boy, Thomas’s encounter with the natural world, and his gradual understanding of the pivotal connection he provides for his, ultimately, lonely parents, leads to realisation and discovery. There are things his parents don’t know about each other that only he can reveal. Perhaps he has the power and the means to change everything. (Fiction: 88 minutes. 2014).Raven on the jetty

Following the film there will be a Q & A Session with the Director.

Book your place

2016 BU PhD Studentship Competition

BU research, Featured, Funding opportunities, Guidance, PG research

2016 BU PhD Studentship Competition

Call for submission of up to 20 matched funded Postgraduate Research Projects now OPEN

The Graduate School is delighted to announce the launch of the 2016 BU PhD Studentship Competition, with up to 20 matched funded projects available.

At this stage, Academic Staff are invited to submit proposals for studentship projects which, if successful, will be advertised to recruit PhD candidates for a September 2016 start.

Full details can be found on the Graduate School Staff Intranet where the following information can be found:

Submission Deadline:

Applications should be submitted on the Studentship Proposal Form to the Graduate School via email to phdstudentshipcompetition@bournemouth.ac.uk no later than 9am on Monday 22 February 2016.

The Graduate School will manage the recruitment process along the following timetable:

Date Action
Wednesday 13 January 2016 Launch PhD Studentships Internal Competition – development of proposals
Monday 22 February 2016 Closing date for submission of proposals
Tuesday 15 March 2016 Panel meeting
Late March 2016 Feedback to supervisors and preparation of adverts
March – June 2016 Launch PhD Studentships External Competition – recruitment of candidates
September 2016 Successful Candidates start

Proposed New Research Centre: Centre for Social and Cultural Research

Research news

social researchExpressions of Interest sought:

A new interdisciplinary and multidisciplinary Research Centre is proposed by Professor Ann Brooks, Prof of Sociology and Head of Research and Professional Practice in the Department of Social Sciences and Social Work (HSS). The Centre has already attracted academic colleagues from across BU and is designed to encourage the building of research synergies across different disciplinary areas.

The aims of the new Centre are as follows:

  • To offer an interdisciplinary and multidisciplinary Research Centre, to include social and cultural fields of research from across the Faculty and cross-Faculty, to develop research synergies and provide a productive and dynamic research culture;
  • To provide for a wide range of methodologies that address both theoretical and applied areas of research that contribute to building a platform for a range of research collaborations, publications, grant funding, conferences and consultancy;
  • To provide an inclusive intellectual forum for research across social and cultural spheres providing national and international outreach for networking building on established relationships;

 

The range of research areas covered by the proposed new Centre to date includes:

  • Gender based areas of research covering the media, women’s history,  education, health, social work and emotional labour (among other areas);
  • Emotions, intimacy and relationship analysis from a social and psychotherapeutic perspective, including emotional vulnerabilities and emotions and social change;
  • Physical and mental health around the concept of stigma;
  • Protection and safeguarding in social work and social care
  • Media based research including historically based research on women and the media. Media and popular culture;
  • Psychological and cross-cultural aspects of consumer behaviour and experience in tourism and leisure;
  • Cultural and social deprivation in sociological and social work research;
  • Citizenship, education and social diversity and marginalisation;
  • Academia, public intellectuals, HE policy debates. Research positions in academia.

 

The wide range of research interests will provide colleagues with opportunities to participate in events locally, regionally and nationally and provide opportunities to work collaboratively with colleagues who may be located in different faculties.

Expressions of Interest in the proposed new Research Centre are welcome. Please contact Prof Ann Brooks: abrooks@bournemouth.ac.uk

Mental health & maternity care in Nepal: THET-funded training

BU research, international, open access, Research news, Uncategorized

group work NawalparasiIMG_6649

A few days I posted a short report of our first session as part of the THET-funded project ‘Mental Health Training for Community-based Maternity Providers in Nepal’, see this previous post here.  Yesterday we completed the final third day training of the first session of this BU-led project.  Over three days we had 70 ANMs (Auxiliary Nurse Midwives) in attendance, which we think is (nearly) all such staff based in all birthing centres in the district (=province).  The three days were the same, i.e. each session was repeated twice so each day one third of the ANMs could attend, and two-third could be at work in the birthing centre ensuring women could deliver safely.

logo THETAs part of this project we send UK volunteers (health and/or education) experts to Nepal to offer high quality training in areas where it is most needed.  Further detail on this BU-led THET project can be found in our scientific paper Mental health issues in pregnant women in Nepal  published in the Nepal Journal of Epidemiology available through Open Access.  Mental illness is still very much a taboo topic in Nepal as it has often a serious stigma attached to it.  Moreover, the relatively short training of ANMs is often fairly basic and the national curriculum does not cover mental health issues in any detail.  This joint project between Bournemouth University, Liverpool John Mooores University, Tribhuvan University and the local charity Green Tata Nepal addresses issues about mental health in general and in pregnant women and new mothers in particular.  Tribhuvan University is the oldest university in Nepal and one of the ten largest universities in the world (based on student numbers).  The project is multi-disciplinary involving midwives, (mental health) nurses, and doctors as well as global health researchers, educationalists and sociologists.

 

Prof. Edwin van Teijlingen

CMMPH

 

 

Human Body Decomposition in CGI: Simulating Livor Mortis

BU research, PG research, student research

We would like to invite you to the latest research seminar of the Creative Technology Research Centre.

 

Speaker: Dhana Frerichs

Title:   Human Body Decomposition in CGI: Simulating Livor Mortis

Human Body Decomposition in CGI

Time: 2:00PM-3:00PM

Date: Wednesday 20th January 2016

Room: P302 LT, Poole House, Talbot Campus

 

Abstract:

Creating realistic looking scenes is an important goal in computer graphics. In particular, in the real-time games industry, one can observe an increasing trend towards realism. Despite this, ageing effects, such as rotting, are often neglected. This is particularly noticeable in the way corpses are depicted in game worlds, which show no signs of decay and tend to simply disappear from the world after a while. We aim to simulate these post-mortem appearance changes.

There are a number of different processes that affect a body’s appearance after death. In this talk we concentrate on the simulation of skin discolouration after death caused by blood pooling, which is referred to as livor mortis. The skin colour is affected by the red chromophore haemoglobin that is found in red blood cells, and the brown chromophore melanin, found in the outer skin layer. The skin discoloration is due to the changes in the haemoglobin concentration and oxygen saturation in the body. Our approach consists of a simulation of post mortem blood dynamics in a volumetric mesh and a layered skin shader that is controlled by the haemoglobin and oxygen levels in blood.

 

 

We hope to see you there.

 

BU’s Big Issues IRW: the use of technology in sports: giving athletes an Olympic advantage.

BU research, Research communication

Interdisciplinary Research Week debate: SBroomfieldACallawayBDyer

Who: Dr Andrew Callaway, Dr Bryce Dyer and Shelley Broomfield

Where and when: KG03, Talbot Campus, Thursday, 28th January – 14:00 – 15:00 (refreshments from 13:30)

What: With the 2016 Olympics and Paralympics fast approaching, all eyes will soon be turning to the world’s elite athletes and their astonishing sporting achievements. Sporting technology forms a key part of their preparation and can help to make significant improvements in performance.

Join us to hear from three of BU’s sports researchers – and competitive athletes in their own right – to learn more about the ways technology can improve athletic performance for both elite athletes and people taking part in sports for fun.

Book your placeInterdisResWeek2

Seminar: “Performative Social Science: What it is, What it isn’t, and What it has become”

BU research, Research news

zoie rosie

Drs. Zoe Pool and Rosie Read appear in an AHRC film produced at BU
entitled, “Social Science Discovering its Muse” 2006.

 

Royal London House 301, Lansdowne Campus

Wednesday 20 January 1pm – 2pm

“Performative Social Science”:

What it is, What it isn’t, and What it has become”

Dr Kip Jones, Reader in Performative Social Science, Presenter

Faculties of Health & Social Sciences and Media & Communication

“Performative Social Science” was a term first coined by Norman Denzin in 2001, the year that Kip Jones received his PhD and began to explore new ways to communicate Social Science findings to wider audiences.

What is Performative Social Science (PSS) then, Art or Science? It isn’t one or the other. It is enriching the ways in which Social Science subjects might be researched and/or findings disseminated or communicated to various communities. Ideally, audiences should be almost unaware of the seams where practitioners have cobbled together in-depth, substantial scholarship with artistic endeavor. PSS is defined as the use of tools from the Arts or Humanities in investigating and/or disseminating Social Science research.

The Seminar will explore Jones’ journey from early productions produced on his PC in his bedsit, to gatherings (physical and virtual) of like-minded academics (Illustrated above), to the production of a major short film based in solid qualitative research methods including auto-ethnography, and back again to ‘kitchen sink’ work, producing creative productions which inform his future efforts.

All faculty and students at Bournemouth University are welcome.

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The Research Lifecycle

BU research, Research news

If you haven’t checked out the BU Research Lifecycle yet then you most definitely should! Our Research Lifecycle diagram is a jazzy interactive part of the BU Research Blog that shows the support and initiatives that are available to staff and students at each stage of the research lifecycle. The information is general enough so as to apply to all disciplines and you can use it to organize and identify the many activities involved in your research. You can explore the Research Lifecycle to find information on how to get started with:

1. Developing your research strategy

2. Developing your proposal

3. The research process

4. Publication and dissemination

5. Impact

RKEO will be adding to the Research Lifecycle to ensure it always contains the most up to date information to support you with planning, organising and undertaking your research.

You can access the diagram from the links in this post or from the menu bar that appears on all screens in the Research Blog.

Introduction to Education Practice: A Programme for Research Students

Training, Uncategorized

The next session of our ‘Introduction to Education Practice‘ course will run from the 24th to the 26th of February.

This is a research-driven, practice-based course, aimed at doctoral students who are or will be supporting teaching activities.

The course has three main aims:
• To introduce students to theoretical and practical knowledge on adult learning, with special emphasis on the UK context.
• To familiarise students with BU’s services and schemes for teaching and learning, as well as with leaning technology tools.
• To provide students with opportunities to discuss and reflect about their particular teaching goals, and to offer a collegial space where they can receive feedback on their teaching practice.

IMG_20151207_100926Topics covered in the course include:
• The student experience of learning.
• Planning student-centred learning.
• Working in large and small groups.
• Assessment for learning.
• The potential of learning technology.

On the last day we celebrate our students’ learning by engaging them in a micro-teaching task, where they receive feedback and recommendations to improve their teaching practice.

The course is supported through materials in myBU.

To see images and resources shared by previous cohorts, check out out #TeachBU on Twitter.

Programme organiser: Dr Jaccqueline Priego (CEL).

To book a place please contact Organisational Development od@bournemouth.ac.uk

 

This post was previously published on the BU’s Centre for Excellence in Learning (CEL) Blog and is reproduced here with permission.

FOSTER e-learning resources on open science and open access in Horizon 2020 now freely available

open access

Open-Access-logoThe European project FOSTER (Facilitate Open Science Training for European Research) aims to establish mechanisms for researchers to embed open sciences in their daily workflow, thus supporting them to optimize their research visibility and impact and comply with the EU open access policies.

Two of the current courses are particularly relevant for BU staff:

  • Introduction to open science: provides a general introduction to the various components and philosophies of open science including why open science is essential to rigorous, reproducible and transparent research, as well as to future research evaluation criteria focused on societal impact. This is relevant to anyone undertaking research.
  • Open access to publications in Horizon 2020: provides information on how to adhere to the H2020 mandate by depositing publications in open access and therefore ensuring they are freely available. This is relevant to anyone currently working on a Horizon 2020 research project and anyone considering applying to Horizon 2020.

These resources are freely available from the FOSTER website.