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Research Funding in the words of a 7″ single

Guidance

RecordsI recently received 45 45’s (7” singles or if you’re still too young, small records) for my birthday (guess how old I was?). I thought I would make a shameless attempt to cram some of the records into a research focussed blog post. Here goes!

I fall to pieces (by Patsy Cline) – most funder success rates are lower than 20% and so don’t be disheartened when that rejection email pops in your in-box. Statistically, you only have a one in five chance of being successful and so do ‘try and try’ again. RKEO are here to support you and our Facilitators can review your unsuccessful applications and funder feedback to see how your next application can be stronger and successful.

You don’t miss your water (till your well runs dry) (originally by The Byrds but I have it by The Triffids) – don’t wait until your last grant has finished to apply for your next; start planning your next applications a year before your grant ends. Have a chat about your research plans with RKEO and submit your next intention to bid form to your Funding Development Officer.

Monotony (by Sauna Youth) – it can sometimes seem like you’re on a research funding treadmill but remember why your research excites you and why it should excite others. Think about the impact your research can have to society and find inspiration with the KEIT team.

Dancing in the dark (by Bruce Springsteen) – sometimes it can feel like that as an academic in the competitive world of research funding, but as Bruce said in the song – ‘you can’t start a fire without a spark’ and so make sure you are a ‘gun for hire even if you’re just dancing in the dark’. We have lots of opportunities to interact with other academics and RKEO can help you make those connections and collaborations. We also hold ‘sandpit’ events where you can form interdisciplinary teams to submit new and exciting research ideas for external funding. Check out our research blog for the next sandpit.

Here comes the summer (by The Undertones) – well, it’s almost here and a good time to really think about those research plans as you set your objectives for the next academic year. Have a chat with the RKEO team about how we can support your plans and what development opportunities we have available to you, particularly to support your application writing.

Complete control (by Clash) – you do have control over your research career and RKEO are here to help. Get in touch and see what we can do for you.

Hey ho, let’s go (by Ramones) – as Joey said ‘they’re all revved up and ready to go’. I hope you are feeling this way by now and that this will lead to Success – (by Iggy Pop).ramones

 

Food research? Public Engagement Opportunity – Christchurch Food Festival

Festival of Learning

Are you involved in research around the topic of food?

We are looking for anyone interested in running a food related activity at the Christchurch Food Festival as part of our “Festival of Learning on Tour”. We have a stool booked at the Family Fun day on Sunday 8th May where we’d like to run some food related research activities that families, children, members of the public could get involved with when passing by.

Could this be of interest to you? If so please contact Katie Breadmore (kbreadmore@bournemouth.ac.uk/ 61356)

 

 

BRIAN Upgrade

Guidance, Post-award, Publishing, Training

BU BRIAN logo

 

 

 

 

 

We are happy to inform you that Bournemouth Research Information and Networking System (BRIAN) will be upgrading to a new version. The current system will be offline from 8.00am on Thursday 10th March 2016, and will hopefully be restored and functioning fully on Friday 11th March 2016.

Some of the improvements from this upgrade include:

  • Performance improvements to the list pages
  • Publication summaries
  • Pagination

We do apologise for the inconvenience but we hope that these exciting new features will be up and running for you to use on the 11th March 2016.

All relevant guidance notes on the Staff Intranet will be updated in due course. If you need any help using the new system or if you encounter any problems after the upgrade, please do send an email to BRIAN@bournemouth.ac.uk and a member of staff will be able to assist you.

Monthly BRIAN training sessions are also available:

  • Tuesday 8th March 2016
  • Tuesday 5th April 2016
  • Wednesday 25th May 2016

If you are interested to book on to any of these training sessions, please get in touch with OD@bournemouth.ac.uk (dates are subject to change)

Please watch out for announcement on future dates on the RKEO Research blog.

In the meantime, if you do have queries relating to the upgrade, please feel free to get in touch with Pengpeng Hatch at pphatch@bournemouth.ac.uk (01202 961354).

‘Meet the Entrepreneur’ Event

The EBC hosted the second in a series of ‘Meet the Entrepreneur’ events on Wednesday 2nd March.

This seminar featured Peter Czapp, co-founder of The Wow Company, a proactive accountancy practice that advises small creative businesses across the UK. Peter and his team are committed to helping their clients make more profit and pay less tax, whilst at the same time having more fun.

The event attracted staff and students from across the University and they heard Peter share his experiences as an entrepreneur and the valuable insights and lessons he has learned along the way.

Organised by Mark Painter, Business Development Manager for The Business School, this series of events aim to provide students and staff the opportunity to hear about the personal journey of the profiled entrepreneur, learn about their experiences as a business owner and their approach to founding and growing a successful business.

Mark Painter said, ‘as one of our valued Entrepreneurs in Residence I am delighted that Peter has been able to visit us and share his experiences’. Mark added, ‘during his presentation Peter stressed the importance of being focussed, clearly defining your targets, and doing the tasks that really matter – something for us all to think about, regardless of our own personal goals and ambitions.’

The next event in this series will be on Wednesday 20th April and will profile Simon Phelps, founder of Fluvial Innovations Ltd. For more information and to book a place, stuents and staff should follow the link to www.bucfe.com/events

 

 

 

 

 

 

Regional Digital Business Drop-in – Bournemouth

Business Engagement, Funding opportunities, Knowledge Exchange

InnovateUK_LogoA_Interim_RGBx320govuk[1]

The next monthly regional drop in session run by the Knowledge Transfer Network for the creative, digital and design community is to take place in Bournemouth. The event involving the KTN and Innovate UK is aimed at all digital innovation companies across various sectors in the region, looking to access funding and grow. A great networking opportuntity on your doorstep!

Date: Thursday 17 March

Location: Bournemouth

For more information and to register  – check out this link

 

GenPort – Gender issues in EU funding

BU Challenges, Women's Academic Network

Magnifying-GlassSerendipity can be a wonderful thing. 

Some months ago, I signed up for all the Horizon 2020-related groups that I could find on LinkedIn. Most of the time, the notifications I receive are of passing interest or not directly relevant but one received this week took my attention – it was notifying group members of an upcoming e-discussion of gender in climate actions within Horizon 2020 funding. One thing lead to another and, within a few clicks, I was signing up to join GenPort (which is funded by the European Union FP7-SCIENCE-IN-SOCIETY-2012-1 programme):

GenPORT is a community sourced internet portal for sharing knowledge and inspiring collaborative action on gender and science.GenPort

A developing online community of practitioners, policy-makers and researchers is served by the GenPORT portal, and made up of organisations and individuals working across the globe for gender equality and excellence in science, technology and innovation. This covers all sciences – natural and social sciences, and humanities.

The GenPORT community and internet portal provide an arena for organisations and individuals to showcase and act as a gateway to a wealth of research resources, policy information, practical materials, and much more. Constantly evolving online information and services are shaped by the activities and contributions of community members. The portal aims to facilitate the exchange of experiences and to foster collaboration, and so to support continuing policy and practical interventions in pursuit of gender equality.

GenPORT offers…

  • Searchable resources and online documents on the topics of gender, science, technology and innovation
  • Information and support in the development of gender-sensitive research design, and gender-equal research structures and processes
  • Links to relevant institutions, resource centres, large-scale databases, projects, and networks
  • Additional services to support diverse activities on gender and science – news and announcements, events calendars, reviews, discussion groups, and more.

It is important when bidding for European Commission funding to consider their cross-cutting issues – one of which is gender. GenPort has  over 700 items in their Resources section, which includes a link to the 2011 Toolkit Gender in EU-funded research. Although this guide was written for FP7, the examples of how you can embed this particular theme into your proposal are still relevant. Bringing this up to date for Horizon 2020, the paper For a better integration of the gender dimension in Horizon 2020 Work Programme 2016-2017 indicates how gender can be included to the enhancement of the research proposal.

The GenPort also contains links to further relevant groups, including the GENDER NET Net ERA-NET.

If you want to ensure that gender is addressed creatively within your EU proposal, GenPort appears to be a good place to start this journey and link with other like-minded researchers.

FHSS’s publication on public health interventions and research agendas in post-earthquake Nepal

Nepal is approaching to one year of the occurrence of massive earthquakes without much progress on reconstruction and restoration of health facilities in severely affected areas, thus, priority health services such as immunisation and antenatal care are still seriously affected. Consequently, a significant proportion of Nepali population has no access public health services. Such destruction has a huge impact on health care delivery in the earthquake-affected areas because these health care service providers are the first point of access for basic health services.

This forthcoming paper ‘Priority public health interventipaper proofons and research agendas in post-earthquake Nepal’ [1] which has been accepted by South East Asia Journal of Public Health will be freely available in April this year, talks in detail around impact of the Nepal’s earthquake on population health and health system infrastructure. This is a collaborative work among researchers of universities in the UK, Nepal and New Zealand. FHSS’s Dr Pramod Regmi (lead author) along with BU Professor Edwin van Teijlingen, BU visiting Professor Padam Simkhada (Liverpool John Moores University, UK), Nirmal Aryal (University of Otago, New Zealand), Dr Puspa Raj Pant (University of the West of England, UK) and Professor Bhimsen Devekota (Tribhuvan University, Nepal) have contributed to this paper.

Through this paper, the authors suggest very important disaster-related national health research agenda coverin issues around: a) mental health, psychosocial needs, post-traumatic stress disorders; b) neonatal and child health; nutritional intake, immunisation coverage; c) cardio-pulmonary conditions; d) outbreak of communicable diseases; e) injuries/management of trauma; f) sexual and reproductive health: utilisation of antenatal care, delivery care, post-natal care, availability of family planning, sexual abuses in make-shift shelters; g) TB and HIV (service provision and adherence); h) disaster response plan and existing coping capacity and resilience among health care institutions. They have argued for a shift in health service motives to the management of long-term disabilities and disaster preparedness; so that acquired learning during this earthquake are utilised to strengthen evidence-based public health practices in the country. These experiences will also fill the loopholes in the post-disaster recovery strategies. The authors strongly recommend that Nepal should integrate community disaster reduction programs into routine public health service delivery in order to ensure sustainability. BU researchers have previously published around public health issues in post-earthquake Nepal [2, 3].

Pramod Regmi, PhD

References

  1. Regmi P, Aryal N, Pant P, van Teijlingen E, Simkhada P, Devkota B. Priority public health interventions and research agendas in post-earthquake Nepal. South East Asia Journal of Public Health (Article in press)
  2. Mahato P, Regmi P, van Teijlingen E, Simkhada P, Angell C, Sathian, B. 2015. Birthing centre infrastructure in Nepal post 2015 earthquake. Nepal J Epidemiol, 5 (4), 518-519.
  3. Simkhada P, van Teijlingen E, Pant P, Sathian B, Tuladhar G. 2015. Public Health, Prevention and Health Promotion in Post-Earthquake Nepal. Nepal J Epidemiol, 5(2); 462-464.

Contact, Help, Advice and Information Network (CHAIN) Demonstration 23rd March 2016

CHAIN – Contact, Help, Advice and Information Network – is an online mutual support network for people working in health and social care. It gives people a simple and informal way of contacting each other to exchange ideas and share knowledge.

The online Directory can be used to identify and communicate with other members. You might wish to do this to draw from their experience, or to elicit an opinion on an issue or something you are doing. Or you might wish to find collaborators or liaise with fellow-travellers or people with specific skills or interests for a wide range of purposes. You can do this quickly and easily with CHAIN, and part of the advantage is that the people you find will usually be happy to help you if they can.

A representative from CHAIN will be visiting BU on 23rd March at 2:30pm in Wollstone Lecture Theatre, Bournemouth House (BG10) to demonstrate how to make the most of being part of the network. All staff are welcome to attend, and please pass the invitation on to your final year students who may be interested in learning more about what CHAIN has to offer.

Contact Lisa Gale-Andrews at lgaleandrews@bournemouth.ac.uk to book your place.

RKEO Academic and Researcher induction

Guidance

The Research and Knowledge Exchange Office (RKEO) invite all ‘new to BU’ academics and researchers to an induction.

Signpost with the words Help, Support, Advice, Guidance and Assistance on the direction arrows, against a bright blue cloudy sky.This event provides an overview of all the practical information staff need to begin developing their research plans at BU, using both internal and external networks; to develop and disseminate research outcomes; and maximising the available funding opportunities.

The primary aim of this event is to raise participants’ awareness of how to get started in research at BU or, for more established staff, how to take their research to the next level.  The induction will also provide participants with essential, practical information and orientation in key stages and processes of research and knowledge exchange at BU

The fourth induction will be held on 5th April 2016 on the 4th floor of Melbury House. The format of the day is as follows:

9.00-9.15 – Coffee/tea and cake/fruit will be available on arrival

9.15 – RKEO academic induction (with a break at 10.45)

11.25 – Organisational Development upcoming development opportunities

11.30 – Opportunity for one to one interaction with RKEO staff

12.00 – Close

There will also be literature and information packs available.

If you would like to attend the induction then please book your place through Organisational Development here. We will directly contact those who have started at BU in the last five months.

We hope you can make it and look forward to seeing you.

Regards,

The RKEO team

RKEO

Alan Breen: 0.2 FTE Professor of Musculoskeletal Research in the Faculty of Science & Technology

I am delighted to have joined the Faculty in a part-time capacity in January of this year to help develop a new Impact Case Study related to spinal patient stratification based on biomechanics.   It is a privilege to now be a part of the team, some of whom I have already worked with as a PhD supervisor.

As some of you know, I come from the AECC, the College of Chiropractic, which is an Associate College of the University.  I have already participated in some unique collaborative studies with BU researchers over some years.   My new post will enable me to continue such collaborations, but now as an actual member of BU staff.

My particular research focus has been on a novel technology called ‘Quantitative Fluoroscopy’, which I invented in the 1990s and have worked to develop and use in research ever since.  This technology is becoming the gold standard for detecting strains between the vertebrae of the spine – and its use is expanding in the diagnosis of problematical spinal pain conditions.

With colleagues from BU, we have now begun to link these devices with other technologies and with modelling techniques to more thoroughly represent the integrated function of the spinal bones and tissues in a spectrum of disease conditions.

I look forward to meeting all of you and sharing these ideas and research activities.

Best wishes,

Alan

 

The Royal Society – Pairing Scheme

Funding opportunities

Each year 30 research scientists are paired with UK parliamentarians and civil servants. They learn about each other’s work by spending time together in Westminster and the researcher’s institutions.

Those taking part gain an insight into how research findings can help inform policy making, and come away with a better understanding of how they can get involved.

See who has taken part in previous years.

How does the scheme work?

The scheme takes place annually, beginning with a ‘Week in Westminster’ in which the pairs first meet. Over the week the scientists take part in workshops, hear from invited speakers and spend two days shadowing their pair.

Read 2015’s ‘Week in Westminster’ agenda (PDF). You can see how last year’s participants spent their week in Westminster by checking out this Storify.

After the ‘Week in Westminster’, it is the turn of the parliamentarians and civil servants to get an insight into the world of research, undertaking reciprocal visits with their pairs.

The scheme is now open for applications from scientists until Wednesday 9 March.  Find out how to apply. Email public.affairs@royalsociety.org for more information.

Who is the scheme for?

Parliamentarians

  • Learn about the science behind the issues raised by your constituents and meet experts who can provide evidence on the policy issues you are dealing with
  • Visit your local universities or research institutions and meet students and researchers living in your local area
  • Find out how your local schools are encouraging students to study science and maths subjects
  • Discover how scientific research underpins the UK’s innovative industries

Find out more

Civil servants

  • Find out more about the science behind the policy issues you work on
  • Learn how to analyse research findings and discover how they can be used to inform the policy decisions you make
  • Make long-lasting relationships with scientists working in your field during the Week in Westminster and by visiting your pair’s research facility
  • Network with other civil servants working in scientific fields

Find out more

Scientists

  • Learn how parliament and government work and how you can feed in to the policy making process
  • Find out how your research can inform policy decisions
  • Build lasting relationships with parliamentarians and civil servants
  • Network with fellow scientists

Find out more

Creative Digital & Design – Horizon 2020

Business Engagement, Funding opportunities, innovation, Knowledge Exchange

Innovate UK have put together a very useful list of upcoming funding calls relating to Horizon 2020 funding. There are also links to other sources of information including events and their Guide to Horizon 2020 and Other InnovateUK_LogoA_Interim_RGBx320govuk[1]European Funding for the Creative Industries.

This information is provided freely to members of the _connect Knowledge Transfer Network (KTN) Creative Digital  & Design. There are currently 16 KTNs plus many other groups. Whatever your discipline, there will be a group to which you can contribute and promote your research interests.

Why not take a look and register to receive updates direct to your inbox? 

Join RKEO and Fundraising and Alumni for coffee and cake (and fruit)

Coffee Morning, Guidance

cupcakeRKEO have teamed up with Fundraising and Alumni to hold a joint coffee morning which will be taking place on Thursday, 10th March. Members of the RKEO and Fundraising and Alumni will be in the Retreat, Talbot Campus from 9.30 to 10.30am.

Come along and find out what Fundraising and Alumni do and how they can help you, and/or discuss your research plans with the RKEO team and check out how they can support you through the whole research funding process from applying through to successful project management and delivery.  We can help with public engagement, knowledge transfer opportunities and much, much more…

Do pop in for a chat with us and see how we can help you, or just pop by and enjoy a coffee and a cake (and fruit).

We look forward to seeing you!

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 fuorth Tuesday of each month. You can register here for your preferred date:

22nd March 2016

26th April 2016

24th May 2016

28th June 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.

RKEO – Drop-in sessions

Guidance

flyingIn response to positive feedback from academics about how much you benefit from face-to-face meetings with staff from RKEO, we have set up drop-in sessions for 2016.

These sessions will be held on a monthly basis and anyone can attend with any queries for RKEO. RKEO staff will be available for two hours each session and so come along and have a chat. These are also great opportunities for us to gather feedback from you on the service that we deliver for you.

The planned sessions for this year are as follows:

Date Time Where
Wed. 23/03/2016 2-4pm Talbot – Atrium café
Wed. 20/04/2016 2-4pm Talbot – Atrium café
Tues. 17/05/2016 2-4pm Bournemouth House café
Wed. 15/06/2016 2-4pm Talbot – Atrium café
Thurs. 14/07/2016 2-4pm Bournemouth House café
Wed. 10/08/2016 2-4pm Talbot – Atrium café
Thurs. 08/09/2016 2-4pm Talbot – Atrium café
Wed. 05/10/2016 2-4pm Bournemouth House café
Thurs. 03/11/2016 2-4pm Talbot – Atrium café
Wed. 07/12/2016 2-4pm Talbot – Atrium café

Blog posts will be issued for each session, reminding you of the date, time and place and also informing you of who will be at the session from RKEO. If there is a specific member of RKEO that you would like to meet with at the sessions then please contact them in advance and see if they are available for a chat.

RKEO look forward to seeing you.

New BU multidisciplinary media & health paper out today!

international, open access, Publishing

media childbirth

Today saw the publication “Is it realistic?” the portrayal of pregnancy and childbirth in the media, a paper which is truly interdisciplinary, both in terms of its authorship as well as its topics[1]. The lead-author, Dr. Ann Luce is based in the Faculty of Media & Communication, whilst her BU co-authors Dr. Catherine Angell, Prof. Vanora Hundley, Prof. Edwin van Teijlingen and Dr. Marylin Cash are all associated with the Faculty of Health & Social Sciences. Prof. Helen Cheyne, the only non-BU co-author, is based at the University of Stirling.

The paper is a scoping review to assess the influence media have on pregnant women. Much of the academic literature discusses the influence of (reality) television, which often portrays birth as risky, dramatic and painful.  Although many claim that the portrayal of childbirth has a negative effect on society, there is little research evidence to support this claim. It has been suggested that women seek out such programmes to help understand what could happen during the birth because there is a cultural void through the increasing anticipation of negative outcomes. However the impact that has on normal birth has not been explored.  Our paper highlighted three key themes: (a) the medicalisation of childbirth; (b) women using media to learn about childbirth; and (c) birth as a missing everyday life event.  The key conclusions are the media appear to influence how women engage with childbirth. The dramatic television portrayal of birth may perpetuate the medicalisation of childbirth, and last, but not least, portrayals of normal birth are often missing in the popular media. Hence midwives need to engage with television producers to improve the representation of midwifery and maternity in the media.

BMC cover media

BMC Pregnancy and Childbirth is an Open Access journal so our paper is freely available to researchers, journalists, childbirth activists as well as pregnant women anywhere in the world.  This paper builds on a growing number of academic papers published by staff in the Centre for Midwifery, Maternal & Perinatal Health (CMMPH) on the role the media play in health and midwifery, both in the UK [2-3] and in Nepal [4-6].

 

Prof. Edwin van Teijlingen

CMMPH

 

References:

  1.  Luce, A., Cash, M., Hundley, V., Cheyne, H., van Teijlingen, E., Angell, C., (2016) “Is it realistic?” the portrayal of pregnancy and childbirth in the media BMC Pregnancy & Childbirth 16: 40
  2. Hundley, V., Duff, E., Dewberry, J., Luce, A., van Teijlingen, E. (2014) Fear in childbirth: are the media responsible? MIDIRS Midwifery Digest 24(4): 444-447.
  3. Hundley, V., Luce, A., van Teijlingen, E. (2015) Do midwives need to be more media savvy? MIDIRS Midwifery Digest 25(1):5-10.
  4. Devkota, S., Simkhada, P., van Teijlingen, E., Rai, L.D. (2012) Media use for Health Promotion: Communicating Childhood Immunisation Messages to Parents. Journal of Health Promotion 4(1): 1-9.
  5. Devkota, S., Simkhada, P., van Teijlingen, E., Rai, L.D. (2013) Childhood Immunisation in Nepal: Parents’ knowledge, attitudes and behaviour & implications for Health Policy. Health Science Journal 7(4):370-383.
  6. Devkota, S., Maharjan, H.M., van Teijlingen, E. (2015) Media and Health. In: Wasti, S.P., Simkhada, P.P. & van Teijlingen, E. (Eds.) The Dynamics of Health in Nepal, Kathmandu, Nepal: Social Science Baha & Himal Books: 169-184.