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There is a proposal from Government to include an anti-lobbying clause in Government grants, which will include research grants. There is a petition by Bob Ward to gain an exemption for academic research. If you are interested in finding out more and/or signing the petition then please see the link here: https://petition.parliament.uk/petitions/122957
/ Full archive
BRIAN Byte – Existing publications awaiting deposit
When you log onto BRIAN and see this message, it means that you currently have publications which are not compliant with the HEFCE post-REF2014 Open Access policy.
To ensure that these publications become eligible for the next REF, you will need to upload the final accepted manuscript (post peer review) against these publication records.
Click on ‘view’ and you will be taken to the page listing all publications awaiting full text upload.
Click on the ‘deposit’ button and you will be taken to this page.
Locate your final accepted manuscript (post peer review) and click upload. The article will then go through review by the BURO team and you have complied!
For further queries, please email BRIAN@bournemouth.ac.uk and a member of the team will get in touch as soon as they are able to.
Public engagement event at the Rotary Club of Boscombe and Southbourne

BALI
Last week saw two BU staff and a PhD student present research around the topic of ‘Physical Activity and Social Engagement’. Professor Janet Dickinson, Associate Professor Carol Clark and Clare Killingback were privileged to attend the lunchtime meeting at the Rotary Club of Boscombe and Southbourne on Thursday 7th April. This provided a great opportunity for Clare to present the results of three years of doctoral research around older peoples’ adherence to community based group exercise programmes.
After a brief presentation of the research findings a small group discussion was opened up to gain feedback from the Rotary Club members around how BU could work with their organisation in connecting with those at risk of social isolation. This was a valuable meeting and it is hoped there may be opportunities for BU to partner with the Rotary Club in the future.
For more information please feel free to contact Professor Janet Dickinson, Associate Professor Carol Clark and Clare Killingback.
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 this quick survey about the research blog. This will allow us to improve the site and in turn provide a better service for you!
Latest Funding Opportunities
The following funding opportunities have been announced. Please follow the links for more information.
Economic and Social Research Council
The Centre for Climate Change Economics and Policy (CCCEP), part of the ESRC, has announced an Innovation Fund to encourage innovative ideas on climate policy from practitioner and researcher communities. Applications may address climate change mitigation or adaption within any stage of the policy process. Up to £50k is available and the CCCEP is looking to make five awards. Closing Date 30/6/16
Innovate UK
Innovate UK has announced round 4 early stage (technical feasibility), mid stage (technology development) and late stage (pre-commercial technology validation) Energy Catalyst awards. The aim is to develop and prove techologies that will help to solve elements of issues related to low carbon, security of supply and affordability. The deadline for registration is noon 8/6/16; expressions of interest must be submitted by noon 15/6/16.
Natural Environment Research Council
As part of the Ecosystem Services for Poverty Alleviation (ESPA) Regional Opportunities Fund (ROF), applications are invited for up to £50k to help ESPA projects enhance the impact of their research. Closing Date 13/5/16
CASE studentships (Collaborative awards in science and engineering) have been announced. These studentships can be conducted in collaboration with non-academic partners. Closing Date 7/7/16
Wellcome Trust
The Wellcome Trust has made available Research Awards for Health Professionals who wish to transition to a period of research in any area of human or animal health. The scheme can also be used to enrol onto a PhD for those who have little or no social science experience. Awards will not normally exceed £250k. Individuals holding permanent academic posts are not eligible for these fellowships. Preliminary application Closing Dates 6/7/16
There are also Research Fellowships lasting up to three years for humanities and social science scholars not in an established post who wish to undertake research in human and animal health. The fellowships provide research and salary expenses. Preliminary application Closing Date 6/7/16
University Awards are available to recruit and support humanities and social science research staff working in any area of human and animal health for up to five years. Preliminary application Closing Date 6/7/16
Investigator Awards in the Humanities and Social Science are available to exceptional researchers exploring any aspect of human and animal health. Awards are for up to five years with ranged funds available for £100k-£200k per annum. Preliminary application Closing Date 8/7/16
Development Awards (Broadcast, Games and Film) awards up to £10k for one year support the development of TV, radio games or film projects that engage with biomedical science and its impact on our lives. Closing Date Open
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 thinking of applying, why not add notification of your interest on Research Professional’s record of the bid so that BU colleagues can see your intention to bid and contact you to collaborate.
RKEO Drop-in session – 20th April
A couple of months ago, RKEO introduced monthly drop-in sessions for academics to turn up and ask us anything, knowing that members of RKEO would be on hand to help. Unfortunately, despite lots of advertising, no one has taken up the opportunity to attend the first two drop-in sessions. Therefore, operating a three strikes and we’re out policy, if no one attends the next drop-in session then we will cancel those organised for the rest of this year.
The next drop-in session is scheduled for 20th April, between 2-4pm in the Talbot Atrium cafe.
The following RKEO staff will be available for the session:
Ehren Milner – Funding Development Officer for Management
Eva Papadopoulou – Funding Development Officer for Media and Communication
Kerri Jones – Funding Development Officer for SciTech
Philip Leahy-Harland – Project Delivery Officer for Management
Nimisha Prajapati and Sara Mundy – Project Delivery Officers for SciTech
Jenny Roddis – Research Facilitator for HSS and SciTech
You don’t need to be from these faculties as staff will help with any queries you have and if they’re not able to answer your query then and there, they’ll ensure you receive a timely response from RKEO. Basically, come along and have a chat. These are also great opportunities for us to gather feedback from you on the service that we deliver to you. Come and find out about upcoming calls such as the British Academy’s small grants scheme, Marie Skłodowska-Curie Individual Fellowships, and how we can support you in your research career.
RKEO look forward to seeing you.
Kip Jones Publishes “Fiction” in the Sociological Review
In the eighth part of its special section on Sociology and Fiction in the Sociological Review, Kip Jones reflects on the pleasures of physical books and our emerging culture of analogue nostalgia.
“You wake up and suddenly, a story is right in front of you”
Horizon 2020 Secure Societies Societal Challenge (SEREN3), Brussels
My journey to the Horizon 2020 event in Brussels (secure society) started when my colleague Ehren brought the event to my attention and suggested it is one I should attend. In between doing other things I committed to go and decided to take one of my research students who works in a related area to mine. The earlier Brussels attacks didn’t change my mind, or her’s, and in fact made it so more important that we should attend the event given its nature – secure society. Despite all her best efforts, including taking an 18 hour bus journey to Manchester and back to apply for her visa, her visa didn’t arrive on time, and here it I was on my way to Brussels, taking the 3.00 am bus to Waterloo and then the Eurostar from St Pancras to Brussels. Quiet streets of London early at 5 am meant I met a couple of unwanted friendly rats who accompanied me from Victoria coach station to Victoria underground station, where I saw some more of them fighting on the rail. Travel to Brussels was quick and I got in to the city centre at 11.00 am and headed for the meeting venue where it started at 1.30 pm.
The meeting in the afternoon was excellent, they had a number of speakers from the Deputy Head of Horizon, to the call coordinator, legal, finance, ethic support etc. Each one went to into great detail and explained all one needs to know about applying for the Horizon bids in general. The meeting was extremely well organised and it was disappointing to see such a large number of participants failing to attend, ironic that the strand was for a secure society and yet we are failing to take our part. I left the meeting at 6.00 pm and managed to look around ‘military Brussels’, witnessing some of the lost freedom in the capital of Europe, taken by those who used the liberal democracy of Europe to attack it from within.
The Wednesday morning sessions could not have been better, the EU Horizon 2020 professionals, went through each bid call, one by one, and explained all the criteria and the do’s and don’ts when bidding. There were a number of opportunities to ask questions regarding the bids and the time available for the presentations for attendees to pitch to secure suitable partners. They laid on a wonderful lunch which was served to us and in the afternoon there were further opportunities for one-to-one speed dating with other attendees.
Attendance at the meeting in the Sheraton hotel was free, and one of the best organised meetings I have ever attended. I left Brussels having learned a great a deal in terms of EU bidding activities, details regarding my selected bids and a number of business cards from colleagues across Europe and beyond. It was a brilliant opportunity to put faces to names and more importantly to listen to professionals talk – all in all it was an absolute eye opener and invaluable training for bidding! Thank you Ehren and Jacqui for making this happen, Thank you Seren3brussels2016 for such a wonderful training sessions and great hospitality!
I will go again…
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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
- Scrutiny of the Government’s Supply Estimates | Procedure Committee | Deadline: Friday 25 March 2016 (extended to Friday 29 April 2016)
- Support for ex-offenders | Work and Pensions Committee | Deadline: Friday 8 April 2016 (extended to Friday 22 April 2016)
- Recent pensions policy developments | Work and Pensions Committee | Deadline: Sunday 10 April 2016
- Short Money | Public Administration and Constitutional Affairs Committee | Deadline: Tuesday 12 April 2016
- Business views on EU referendum | Business, Innovation and Skills Committee | Deadline: Friday 15 April 2016
- Environmental impact of microplastics | Environmental Audit Committee | Deadline: Friday 15 April 2016
- 2020 renewable heat and transport targets | Energy and Climate Change Committee | Deadline: Monday 18 April 2016
- Pregnancy and Maternity Discrimination | Women and Equalities Committee | Deadline: Monday 18 April 2016
- Graphene | Science and Technology Committee | Deadline: Monday 18 April 2016
- Smart meters | Science and Technology Committee | Deadline: Wednesday 20 April 2016
- The future of Jobcentre Plus | Work and Pensions Committee | Deadline: Friday 22 April 2016
- Countries of Culture | Culture, Media and Sport Committee | Deadline: Friday 22 April 2016
- The future of the Severn River crossings | Welsh Affairs Committee | Deadline: Friday 22 April 2016
- Multi-academy trusts | Education Committee | Deadline: Monday 25 April 2016
- Inquiry into Government accounts | Public Administration and Constitutional Affairs Committee | Deadline: Friday 29 April 2016
- Science communication | Science and Technology Committee | Deadline: Friday 29 April 2016
- Robotics and artificial intelligence | Science and Technology Committee | Deadline: Friday 29 April 2016
- Homophobia in Sport | Culture, Media and Sport Committee | Deadline: Friday 29 April 2016
- Energy revolution | Energy and Climate Change Committee | Deadline: Tuesday 3 May 2016
- Powerhouses and engines: Government policy and regional growth | Business, Innovation and Skills Committee | Deadline: Friday 6 May 2016
- Disability employment gap | Work and Pensions Committee | Deadline: Monday 9 May 2016
- Science in emergencies: chemical, biological, radiological or nuclear incidents | Science and Technology Committee | Deadline: Friday 20 May 2016
- Regenerative medicine | Science and Technology Committee | Deadline: Tuesday 31 May 2016
Lords Select Committee inquiries
- The sustainability of Channel 4 | Communications Committee | Deadline: Wednesday 20 April
HE Policy Update
Monday
Tier 2 visas
The government has responded to the Migration Advisory Committee review of Tier 2 migration. The government has announced it will exempt PhD positions and those switching from a Tier 4 student visa to a Tier 2 visa from the immigration skills charge. You can view the response to a written question by The Minister of State for Immigration here.
UK universities overseas
Universities that deliver transnational programmes in countries with dubious human rights records have been warned that they are putting more than their reputations at risk. Human rights warning for universities operating overseas. Human rights warning for universities operating overseas. (THE).
Tuesday
University cooperation
A report by the Leadership Foundation for Higher Education has revealed that negative views of universities based on their perceived “lower prestige” might also be harming efforts to bring together universities, business and government to boost local economic growth. Status anxiety ‘harms university cooperation’. (THE).
Wednesday
Prevent
Research Professional reports that universities risk ignoring laws about protecting freedom of speech in their attempt to protect students against being radicalised. Cultural cold wars (Research Professional).
Thursday
REF
The extent to which the next REF should focus on overall university performance has emerged as a key battleground between the Russell Group and University Alliance. The Russell Group have argued for more emphasis on critical mass at the institutional level, whereas University Alliance have argued that aggregation of assessment at institutional level would destroy dynamism. Universities clash over future of REF. (THE).
Friday
Student Loans
The private company that took over 250,000 loans from the Student Loan Company has left graduates in turmoil after it wrongly sent letters demanding early repayments. Student loans firm Erudio leaves graduates fuming over latest error (The Guardian).
EU Students
Students from other European Union countries attending UK universities generate £3.7 billion for the UK economy and support more than 34,000 jobs across the country, according to analysis from Universities UK. You can view the report here.
Innovate UK
Innovate UK is to reorganise its funding programmes to address concerns that they are too complex and to make it easier for the agency to work with universities, businesses and the research councils. Innovate UK embraces simplification. (Research Professional).
HRA Approval for NHS Research
HRA Approval is the new process for the NHS in England that simplifies the approvals process for research, making it easier for research studies to be set up. It replaces the need for local checks of legal compliance and related matters by each participating organisation in England. This allows participating organisations to focus their resources on assessing, arranging and confirming their capacity and capability to deliver the study.
Laura Purandare, Research Monitor RBCH, has kindly agreed to run a seminar on 4th May at 2pm in BG14 to explain the changes.
The session will cover:
- What HRA approval is
- The implementation of changes
- The difference it proposes to make to health research in England
- What it means for our researchers
- Key resources
The session will last approximately an hour, and Laura will be available for questions following the session. We hope to see you there.
Inspiring Future Innovation Event
Date: Tuesday 24 May
Time: 10.00am – 4.00pm
Location: The Grange Road Business Park in Christchurch
Event information: A supply chain expo hosted by BAE Systems in Christchurch and a chance to show innovation to not only BAE (who have people coming from far and wide) but others such as Cobham and Aish will also be exhibiting. This is the first annually held event hosted by this organisation. The aim being to future innovation through showcasing BAE Systems’ own technology as well as technology from other companies. The event will provide a unique opportunity to discover new technology, as well as developing new relations with other companies within the supply chain, whilst raising the profile of exhibiting companies and providing a chance for networking and future collaboration opporuntities.
Registration is essential as there is a limited number of spaces available and will be assigned on a first come first serve basis.
To register your interest: email – inspiringfutureinnovation2016@baesystems.com and confirm whether you are interested in exhibiting and /or attending the event.
Universities increase income from business collaboration

Universities also upped their earnings from courses for business and the community by £35m to £715m, from regeneration and development programmes by almost £22m to £205m, and from intellectual property by £24m to £155m.
The analysis also includes information on the number of spinouts and start-up companies created by UK universities, and shows that the number of graduate start-up companies created in 2014-15 was 4,160, lower than the 4,581 companies started in 2013-14.
However, the total number of active firms with some involvement from a higher education provider in the UK was 13,045 in 2014-15, up from 11,856 in 2013-14.
The Higher Education Funding Council for England will publish its analysis of the data for England later in the year.
This article was posted in Research Professional.
You can set up your own personalised alerts including news 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.
Hello Haaga Helia
Following her successful Erasmus Fusion Investment Fund bid, Dr Nicole Ferdinand, Senior Academic in Events Management will be visiting the Haaga Helia University of Applied Sciences in Finland from May 9th – 13th 2016. During her visit Nicole with be showcasing BU’s excellence in research and teaching.

Nicole with Haaga Helia’s Mari Austin, International Coordinator and Kaija Lindroth, Director, Tourism Degree Programmes during a visit to Bournemouth University in November 2015

Professor Buhalis and Dr Inversini (pictured 2nd and 3rd from left) receiving the Second Place Best Journal Paper award from IFITT
Her activities will include demonstrating a new event evaluation methodology to Haaga Helia’s staff and students, as well as, members of the event association, Meeting Professionals International (MPI), who will be hosting its Spring Mingle at Haaga Helia on May 12th. The research methodology which utilizes social media data was featured in an article Nicole co-authored with BU colleagues, Dr Nigel Williams, Dr Alessandro Inversini and Professor Dimitrios Buhalis, which recently received a best journal paper award from the International Federation for IT and Travel and Tourism (IFITT).
Haaga Helia’s staff and students will also be introduced to BU’s technology enhanced learning. Nicole will be using Xerte learning objects, which were featured in BU’s recently launched Technology Enhanced Learning (TEL) Toolkit video.

Xerte learning objects developed for Events Management teaching featured in BU’s TEL Toolkit video
Nicole will be hosted by Mrs. Kaija Lindroth, Director of Degree Programmes in Tourism at Haaga Helia’s Porvoo Campus.
Innovate UK launch new delivery plan – key sectors and funding opportunties included
Innovate UK have launched their delivery plan for 2016/17 .
This includes:
- a new sector focus that is easier for industry, investors and government to work with
- a 5-point plan to underpin activity across these sectors and drive productivity growth
- clearer funding programmes that are easier to navigate
- improvements to the way Innovate UK connects businesses to knowledge and partners
- a stronger regional presence
With evidence of :”focusing ever more closely on scaling up SMEs” …
Clearer sector support has been established and these include four groups:
- emerging and enabling technologies
- health and life sciences
- infrastructure systems
- manufacturing and materials
Funding competitions for businesses are also to be simplified.
There will be 2 broad funding competitions covering each sector group per year, and 2 open competitions for applications from any sector or technology area. There will be other programmes and competitions in partnership with other government organisations.
BRAD Week: Mixed Methods
As part of the BU Researcher/Academic Development (BRAD) Programme, a session on Mixed Methods will be run by Dr. Joanne Mayoh tomorrow (8/4/16) from 11:00 AM.
This session will provide a broad overview of the practical and philosophical aspects of mixed methods research. The following areas will be outlined:
•Paradigmatic assumptions of post-positivist and constructivist/interpretivist research
•The key philosophical debates surrounding the paradigmatic stance of mixed methods inquiry
•Practical issues such as priority and sequence decisions, point of integration, write-up and dissemination
This session would be extremely useful for anyone thinking of using a Mixed Methods approach for their research, or those looking to develop their understanding of research paradigms more generally.
To book onto this course, please follow the following link.
Researching innovative pedagogy: An Evaluation of Team-based Learning
An Evaluation of Team-based Learning – 4-5pm in PG11, Wednesday 13th of April 2016
What is Team-based Learning?
Team-based Learning (TBL) is an example of the ‘flipped classroom’ concept whereby what might be described as traditional teaching content is accessed by students outside of the classroom while activities that might be termed ‘homework’ are conducted in class. In class, students have to answer questions as individuals to test them on their learning from the set pre-reading activities (termed the individual Readiness Assurance Test), then the same questions in allocated teams (team Readiness Assurance Test). Each team has a scratch card so that students can check if their agreed answer is correct (immediate feedback). Following that, teams then work on application exercises, where they have to apply their knowledge to problem-solving real-life scenarios.
Why bother with this approach?
TBL is thought to confer some advantages over traditional teaching methods in terms of student engagement and provides immediate feedback on student performance. While it does tend to mean some extra work for lecturers in terms of preparation activities, increased job satisfaction is commonly reported, and students report enjoying learning in this way. It is believed to improve critical thinking skills and in some cases improved exam performance has been reported. Further, this collaborative learning process promotes the importance of effective team-working, a skill desired of our graduates by many employers.
Do you want to find out more?
I am delivering a session on TBL at the CELebrate Conference 2016 next week. In this session, you will be introduced to TBL and get to experience a TBL session yourself! Quantitative (using the validated TBL-SAI instrument) and qualitative (focus group discussions) results from an evaluation of the implementation of TBL into a unit on the Adult Nursing degree programme will also be presented.
What to do now?
- Click here to watch this video before the session (it’s less than four minutes) -it’s a snippet from my online lecture on circulatory shock. Don’t panic if you’ve little knowledge regarding human physiology, it’s only to help illustrate the TBL approach – hopefully you’ll enjoy it!
- Then click here to book onto the session
Best wishes
Dr Jonny Branney
Congratulations to Prof. Hundley on her latest systematic review paper
This week Professor Vanora Hundley in the Centre for Midwifery, Maternal & Perinatal Health (CMMPH) published a systematic review form with her international collaborators working on early labour. The paper is called ‘Diagnosing onset of labor: A systematic review of definitions in the research literature‘ and can be found it the Open Access journal BMC Pregnancy & Childbirth. [1]
Congratulations!
Prof. Edwin van Teijlingen
Reference:
- Hanley GE, Munro S, Greyson D, Gross MM, Hundley V, Spiby H and Janssen PA (2016) Diagnosing onset of labor: A systematic review of definitions in the research literature. BMC Pregnancy and Childbirth 16: 71 http://bmcpregnancychildbirth.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/s12884-016-0857-4












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