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BNAC presentation Jib Acharya

international, Publishing, student research, writing

Jib poster BNAC +Edwin 2016FHSS PhD student Jib Acharya presented a poster from his thesis research at last week’s BNAC (Britain-Nepal Academic Council) Study Days in Liverpool.[1]  Jib’s PhD research focused on the knowledge, attitudes and beliefs of poor women about nutritious food and the study also identify major food barriers.  He used a mixed-methods approached comprising a survey and qualitative research. The poster at BNAC focused on findings related to mothers’ knowledge, attitudes and beliefs about nutritious food.  Jib’s research is supervised by Dr. Jane Murphy, Dr. Martin Hind and Prof. Edwin van Teijlingen.  Some of the preliminary findings of this FHSS thesis have recently been published in two academic journals. [2-3]

 

Prof. Edwin van Teijlingen

CMMPH

References:

  1. Acharya, J, van Teijlingen, E, Murphy, J, Hind, M. ‘A Comparative Study on Nutritional Problems in Preschool Aged Children of Kaski district of Nepal’ poster at Britain-Nepal Academic Council (BNAC) 14th Annual Nepal Study Days (Liverpool April 2016)
  2. Acharya, J., van Teijlingen, E., Murphy, J., Hind, M. (2015) Assessment of knowledge, beliefs and attitudes towards healthy diet among mothers in Kaski, Nepal, Participation 17(16): 61-72.
  3. Acharya, J., van Teijlingen, E., Murphy, J., Hind, M. (2015) Study of nutritional problems in preschool aged children in Kaski District in Nepal, Journal of Multidisciplinary Research in Healthcare 1(2): 97-118. http://dspace.chitkara.edu.in/jspui/bitstream/1/560/1/12007_JMRH_Acharya.

Research Blog Survey

Here at RKEO we are always trying to improve the services and information we provide to our audience and the research blog has been our main tool for communicating news to our audience. The research blog has been running since its first post back in March 2011, which makes it a strong 5 years old!

With this historic achievement of age it doesn’t  mean that there isn’t room for improvement. If you have the time it would be greatly appreciated if you could fill out thisquick survey about the research blog. This will allow us to improve the site and in turn provide a better service for you!

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Women in Coastal Geoscience and Engineering (WICGE) Network

international, Women's Academic Network

IMG_3231

Panel discussion, launch of the WICGE network on 8 Mar 2016 (Sydney, Australia). From left to right: Professor Robin Davidson-Arnott (University of Guelph, Canada), Dr Luciana S. Esteves (Bournemouth University, UK), Dr Shari Gallop (Macquarie University, Australia) and Professor Julie Cairney (School of Aerospace, Mechanical and Mechatronic Engineering, University of Sydney).

I am very proud of being one of the founding members of the Women in Coastal Geoscience and Engineering (WICGE) network, officially launched on 8 March 2016 during the 14th International Coastal Symposium in Sydney, Australia. The idea to create WICGE was led by Dr Shari Gallop (Macquarie University, Australia) and Dr Ana Vila-Concejo (University of Sydney), who was also the first women to chair the International Coastal Symposium (the largest conference focused on coastal science). To join WICGE or just to find out more, please click here.

The event was attended by about 70 conference attendees (male and female as you can see in the photo) and it created an opportunity for the keynote (Prof Julie Cairney), the members of the discussion panel (named in the photo caption)  and attendees to shared their experiences. It was interesting to learn that members of the panel, including myself, expressed that they were not aware of gender inequalities and/or discrimination in their work environment at first. The reasons for this late realisation were varied, including a common feeling of ‘I thought I was the problem‘ or the simple acceptance that certain attitude towards woman was just ‘as always is‘. As Shari Gallop indicates in this blog about the WICGE launch, another contributing factor may be the fact that, in the academic environment, the imbalance greatly increases towards the more senior positions and is not as evident at early career stages.

Another common theme in the discussion was that we (men and women) are guilty of unconscious bias, a prejudice deep-rooted in long-established social behaviours, which are now increasingly questioned, but changing incredibly slowly.  Most people (and therefore our society) are stubbornly averse to change. Where and when change is required, it does not come easy; it takes huge effort and time to get the message across. Even when we understand the need for change, it may take a while until we are able to embed in our lives new ways of doing (or being). It becomes evident then the importance played by continuing and widening the open debate about diversity, equality and fairness to raise awareness and educating us all, especially about the little things we can do to make the big changes we need. And this is why we need WAN, WICGE , the Aurora Programme, Athena Swan and the growing number of initiatives aiming to promote equal opportunities and a fairer working environment for all of us.

Luciana S. Esteves, Faculty of Science and Technology, Department of Life & Environmental Sciences

Committee inquiries: open calls for evidence

Below is a list of committee inquiries with current open calls for evidence. Please contact Emma Bambury-Whitton if you would like to discuss submitting evidence.

Commons Select Committee inquiries

Lords Select Committee inquiries

HE Policy Update

Social Mobility

An investigation by the House of Lords committee on social mobility has revealed that social mobility in Britain is hampered by a “culture of inequality” that penalises school leavers who enter the workforce rather than higher education. Social mobility hindered by ‘culture of inequality’ in school system – peers .(The Guardian).

Distance Learning

Open and distance learning universities must determine their “competitive advantage” rather than “parroting” that their value lies in convenience and flexibility, the director of the Observatory on Borderless Higher Education has claimed. Distance learning universities ‘must prove their relevance (THE).

Graduate Earnings

According to a new report by the IFS, graduates from richer family backgrounds earn significantly more than their less wealthy counterparts, even when they take similar degrees from similar universities. You can view the report here.

International students

The Home Affairs Committee is to launch a formal inquiry into the Home Office’s treatment of international students after Home Secretary Theresa May wrongly deported almost 50,000 students in the wake of the TOEIC English exam scam. Home Office’s treatment of international students to be investigated in formal inquiry. (The Independent).

Funding

Research Professional reports that universities’ income from charities has grown at a much slower rate in the past five years than income from other UK-based funding sources. Slow growth for charity research spending (Research Professional).

Student Maintenance

In light of the government getting rid of maintenance grants, undergraduates at St John’s College, Cambridge University will be entitled to a non-repayable grant of £9,570 per year, aimed at covering their day-to-day living expenses, if their household income is below £25,000. Cambridge college to fund students living costs as Government scrap maintenance grants (The Telegraph).

Registering to Vote

Jo Johnson, the universities minister, has written to all vice-chancellors to ask for their support in encouraging all students to register to vote in the EU referendum. You can view the document here.

Update on educational research at BU

Centre for Excellence in Learning, REF Subjects, Research assessment

ref-logoCELebrate2016 for SI

Following the CEL-ebrate events this week, an update on learning research projects currently in progress across BU, supported by UoA25 REF development funding.

This funding is distributed across BU to researchers working with CEL and CEMP on activities with clear potential for REF outputs in this new unit of assessment for BU.

The funding is supporting research development in three themes, aligned to CEL’s themes – Digital Media Literacies, Practitioner Enquiry and Education Dynamics. We’ve committed £100,000 this year to supporting a wide range of activities, all aligned to the themes and with a clear output plan, including the following –

 

Fair Access Research Writing Retreat / Impact Development Work;

Impact case study developments in CEMP (Research Assistant time) – Football Association (Reflective Coaching) – National FA (Burton) and AFC Bournemouth Youth Academy;  Samsung (Digital Capabilities), United Kingdom Literacy Association (cross-curricular media literacy resources for secondary schools);

Digital Toolkit and Social Media Development;

Resources for ESRC workshop (‘Fused All Ways’) on creative methods for participative social science research with academics and undergraduates;

Third Space Learning and Co-creating design visualisations for enhancing public engagement and impact;

Educational Materials on Policing & Protest – an impact-oriented output of the #RiotID civic media project;

An analysis of the role of gratitude within the student experience;

Quantitative Analysis of User Generated Contents: A Study on Informal Learning and Slum Tourism in South Africa

Society for Research into Higher Education workshop;

Graduated Scenarios research;

Empires of Economy – CEMP research with Matt Locke (Storythings);

Cross- HEI bid writing workshops and pilot study (Nottingham, Surrey, Northumbria);

 

There may be others that we’ve missed off this list – apologies if so, not intended!
The criteria for providing funding are that the activity leads to the development of new educational research at BU with the potential to meet REF criteria for UoA25 and the enhancement of the research environment across CEMP and CEL, which could not be facilitated without this support. The funding supports a range of ‘levels’ of activity – from travelling to initiate new collaborations to growing a network through to the implementation of full projects and support for ‘writing up’ outputs. Projects planned – and activities leading to the development of projects – should be methodologically robust, rigorous in their intentions to generate new knowledge in the field and distinctive by research design. Where possible, priority is given to interdisciplinary / fused approaches and leading to a REF output relevant to UoA25 and, where possible, the intention to generate external funding.

For more information about UoA25 research at BU drop us an email or call in to CEL or CEMP.

Debbie Holley and Julian McDougall | UoA25 Leads

 

Invitation to FoodBIZ event – Food@BU 18th May 2016

Business Engagement, conferences, HEIF

On behalf of Professor Heather Hartwell and Professor Dimitrios Buhalis.

foodsmart-logo destination-feelgood-logo

Dear colleagues,

This is an invitation from Professor Heather Hartwell to attend FoodBiz – the Food Research and Innovation @ BU celebration, on Wednesday 18th May 2016 at Bournemouth University, Executive Business Centre (7th floor).

 This FREE event brings together industry and academic partners to celebrate our Food Research and Innovation in the Department of Tourism and Hospitality at Bournemouth University to share findings from research and to take ideas forward within the health and wellness agenda. 

Guest speakers include industry professionals, and an update on the latest research from Bournemouth University.

The event is aimed at businesses and organisations in a range of sectors including food, tourism, hospitality and those associated with nutrition/health operating locally, nationally and internationally.

The programme themes include:

Food Innovation – Chair Professor Heather Hartwell

The research and innovation activities at BU exploit complementary competences and enable the sharing ofknowledge and ideas from research to market (and vice-versa).

 Food@BU4U – Chair Dr Sean Beer

How can the university benefit not only the user but also the foodservice industry, creating opportunities for a business to become aligned with a lifestyle product, and as a result corporate health, in a way which is novel, innovative and demonstrates excellence in science?

 Food science at work – Chair Crispin Farbrother

Bournemouth University’s research in food is international, broad and multidisciplinary.

 

We look forward to welcoming you and co-creating the future of Food Research and Innovation.

Please see the agenda and register for FREE here https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/foodbiz-tickets-19780427792 

Follow us on Twitter: @EU_FoodSMART and visit www.foodsmartproject.net 

For more information please contact: Carmen Martins: cmartins@bournemouth.ac.uk  

Security Research & Innovation Event 2016

innovation, Knowledge Exchange

cyber eye

The 2016 Security Research and Innovation Event​ will take place at the World Forum in The Hague on 1 and 2 June. The event aims to provide a forum for discussion between European Policy Makers, industry and knowledge institutions on the key security challenges for Europe.

The programme includes the Security Research Event (conference) organised by the European Commission, thematic workshops, an innovation room and a matchmaking programme​. The topics for discussion cover:

  • Cybercrime and Law enforcement technologies​
  • ​Financial Investigations and Fraud​​
  • Space and Security​
  • Forensics​
  • Integrated border management​
  • Terrorism

The event is free of charge to attend but registration is mandatory.

(Source: www.ukro.ac.uk – Sign up to set your own personalised alerts.)

 

Higher Education Innovation Fund (HEIF) – events coming soon

HEIF, innovation, Knowledge Exchange, Knowledge Transfer

events

A number of current HEIF projects are running events over the next few months. Please feel to register to attend and/or circulate to contacts you may feel would be interested:

Explore the application of rewilding concepts to Dorset.

Date: Thursday 5 May

Venue: Charlton Down Village Hall, near Dorchester, Dorset. DT2 9UA

For more information on the HEIF project click here.

Click here for more information on the event and to register.

FoodBiz

Date: Wednesday 18 May

Venue: Executive Business Centre, Bournemouth University

Follow  on Twitter: @EU_FoodSMART and visit the project website  www.foodsmartproject.net 

Agenda and register for FREE

Psychiatric  Genetic Counselling Workshops

Dates: Various in June and July 2016

Venue: Bournemouth University

For more information on this HEIF project click here.

Click here for more information on the event and to register.

 

#Digital4EU Stakeholder Forum Final Report Published

international, Knowledge Exchange

euflag

The final report from the #Digital4EU Stakeholder Forum which took place in Brussels on Thursday 25 February 2016 is now available online.

This one-day event, organised by the European Commission, was centred around the progress made in creating a Digital Single Market (DSM) in Europe.

Commissioner Günther H. Oettinger, responsible for the Digital Economy and Society, Wepke Kingma, Deputy Permanent Representative of the Netherlands to the EU and Roberto Viola, Director-General of DG Connect, held keynote speeches during the event.

#Digital4EU 2016 was the second edition of the #Digital4EU Stakeholder Forum, which focused on President Jean-Claude Juncker’s digital priorities.

#Digital4EU 2016 covered the following five topics:

  1. The European Fund for Strategic Investments (EFSI) mobilising digital projects
  2. Delivering the Digital Single Market – from the Digital Economy and Society Index (DESI) to action
  3. The Digital Economy: the data and computing opportunities for Europe
  4. Innovate, start and scale-up
  5. Platforms, is there a need to regulate?

(Source: UKRO)

 

 

Biotechnology YES 2016 is open for applications

Funding opportunities, innovation, Knowledge Exchange, Knowledge Transfer

Environment

Biotechnology YES is an innovative competition giving early career researchers from diverse backgrounds a practical insight into how to commercialise research and recognise the benefits of industrial collaboration, providing a springboard for their own career development into a multitude of sectors. The competition is delivered in partnership, funded by sponsorship,  draws on expertise from industry and the research community and aims to encourage an entrepreneurial culture in the UK postgraduate and postdoctoral base for the benefit of the UK economy.

The challenge for participants is to prepare an oral business plan presentation, in a team of four or five, for a hypothetical bioscience start-up company seeking equity investment. The plan is based on a plausible idea based on real markets and developed over the course of a three day residential workshop. The workshop encompasses presentations and mentoring sessions from leading figures in industry who give their time and advice for free. It culminates in the presentation of business plans to a panel of ‘equity investors’. These individuals come from industry and academia and have decades of experience and proven track records of professional success. Winners from the regional workshops progress to the final held in December.

Workshop dates will be posted on the Biotechnology YES and BBSRC websites once finalised and and include Syngenta, GSK and Unilever .

The competition is open to all bioscience researchers registered at a UK university not just those funded by BBSRC. However, if any of the workshops oversubscribed, Research Council funded researchers will be given priority.

Find out more and APPLY by visiting www.biotechnologyyes.co.uk or www.environmentyes.org

Biotechnology YES 2016 is open for applications until 27th May 2016.

2016 BNAC conference with BU representation in Liverpool

conferences, international, PG research, Publishing, student research

FG BNAC LJMU 2016At the 14th BNAC (Britain-Nepal Academic Council) Nepal Study Days starting tomorrow (14th April 2016) FHSS’s PhD student Jib Acharya will presenting his poster on ‘A Comparative Study on Nutritional Problems in Preschool Aged Children of Kaski district of Nepal’.  Jib’s PhD project is supervised by FHSS’s Prof. Edwin van Teijlingen, Dr. Jane Murphy and Dr. Martin Hind.  Prof. Edwin van Teijlingen is also joint supervisor of Sarita Pandey (based at the University of Sheffield) whose poster ‘Factors that promote and hinder provision of maternal health services by Female Community Health Volunteers (FCHV) in rural Nepal’ will also be on display.

BNAC 2016BU Visiting Faculty Dr. Bibha Simkhada (based at Liverpool John Moores University) will be presenting on the on-going THET-funded project ‘Mental Health Training and Education in Nepal’.  This paper is part of the education stream of the conference,and its acceptance is a reflection of BU’s reputation in Educational Research.  This paper has co-authors based in the UK and Nepal: Bibha Simkhada, Edwin van Teijlingen, Jillian Ireland, Padam Simkhada, Bhimsen Devkota, Lokendra Sherchan, Ram Chandra Silwal, Shyam K. Maharjan, Ram K. Maharjan, Geeta Sharma, and Samridhi Pradhan.  Both Prof. Padam Simkhada and Ms. Jillian Ireland are BU Visiting Faculty.

The first Study Day tomorrow starts with an invited Skills-building session on Focus Group Research by Prof. Edwin van Teijlingen.  The final day includes a paper on ‘Impacts of Migration in Nepal’ by Prof. Padam Simkhada and Prof. Edwin van Teijlingen.

We are hoping to get the 15th BNAC Study Days to Bournemouth University for this time next year!

Prof. Edwin van Teijlingen

CMMPH

 

 

 

 

UG Talks

The Undergraduate Talks (UG Talks) is an exciting new opportunity for members of Bournemouth University and the public to learn about the innovative research being conducted by BU’s undergraduate Population. Each talk will last 3 minutes with a chance for Q&A afterwards.

If you would like to present your research, then in order to secure your place at this exciting event, you must send a title and brief overview of your research to Oliver Cooke. There are only 10 spaces available, so you must submit your work as soon as possible!

We already have quite a few talks covering these subjects:

  • Copyright law
  • Social media in Politics
  • Games design
  • Costal management
  • Sports nutrition
  • Roman Britain
  • And much more!

Time and Date: Thursday 5th of May, 12pm – 2pm

Location: 5th Floor, Student Centre,Bournemouth University, Talbot Campus.

If you are interested in attending this event, then you can book on here.

If you have a questions about the event or you would like to present please email Oliver Cooke for details.

 

Front of postcard

RSB Science Communication Awards

The Royal Society of Biology Science Communication Awards 2016 are open for applications.

If you’re a bioscience researcher, working in any sector of UK biosciences – from universities, institutes or industry – then consider applying. Supported by the Wellcome Trust, the Awards are intended to reward outreach work carried out by both young scientists and established researchers to inform, enthuse and engage the public.

There are two categories: New Researcher Prize (£750) and Established Researcher Prize (£1500).

Please forward to any great science communicators!

More info: http://www.rsb.org.uk/scicomm

Deadline: Thursday 30 June 2016

Contact: karen.patel@rsb.org.uk

There are also a few places left on our Science Communication Workshop

18.04.16 | 09:00 – 17:00 | Charles Darwin House, London, WC1N 2JU Find out more and register: https://www.rsb.org.uk/events?event_id=1196