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Less than a week to submit your Festival of Learning Proposal!

You have until 31st January to submit your application to be get involved and run an event at the The Festival of Learning. That is less than a week away!

In its fourth year now -the dates for 2016 have been set as Saturday 25 – Wednesday 29 June for a shorter and more compact 5 day festival.

What kind of events could I put on?

We’re open to ideas and willing to support a wide variety of events, you could run anything from a professional development workshop to an art exhibition or you could just have a stool with some hands on activities for passers-by.

Some examples:

  • Gaming, computing and coding
  • Everyday professional skills
  • Health and fitness
  • Topics involving real-world issues
  • Media workshops

I’m keen to run an event! What do I do now?

You have until 31st January to submit your application to be considered as part of the festival of learning. Please click here to find the proposal form and instructions on how to submit. If you would like support in developing an event idea or for any further information then please get in touch with Naomi Kay (nkay@bournemouth.ac.uk), Public Engagement Officer.

BRIAN training dates now available!

BRIAN, Post-award, Training

 

 

 

 

 

 

Following the recent BRIAN upgrade, we are happy to inform you that the system is now functioning as normal. In the unlikely event that you do encounter any problems following the upgrade, please do email BRIAN@bournemouth.ac.uk and a member of the team will be able to assist you.

We have also lined up a couple of BRIAN training dates in June and July. Please see details below:

28 Jan 2016 – 9.00am to 10.30am – S102, Studland House, Lansdowne Campus

24 Feb 2016 – 2.00pm to 3.30pm – C203, Christchurch House, Talbot Campus

16 Mar 2016 – 2.00pm to 3.30pm – S102, Studland House, Lansdowne Campus

5 April 2016 – 9.30am to 11.00am – C203, Christchurch House, Talbot Campus

25 May 2016 – 10.00am to 11.30am – S102, Studland House, Lansdowne Campus

Please get in touch with Organisational Development to book a place in this training. If you have further queries regarding this training, please get in touch with Pengpeng Hatch (01202 961354).

 

Research seminar by Fulgoni Professor Consumer Behaviour and Marketing – Please note change in venue

margaret hogg

Margaret Hogg, Fulgoni Professor of Consumer Behaviour and Marketing at Lancaster University, will be visiting the University on Wednesday, 10th February, to give a research seminar.  This will be held at 3pm in the Lawrence Lecture Theatre on the Talbot Campus.  Refreshments will be available after the seminar.

Professor Hogg is on the editorial board of the Journal of Business Research, the Journal of Marketing Management and the Handbook of Marketing Theory and she is co-author of Consumer Research: A European Perspective (Solomon, Bamossy, Askegaard & Hogg, 2013).  Margaret’s research has a broad inter-disciplinary base  with a particular interest in family consumption and buying behaviour including consumer behaviour in single mothers, care leavers, and fatherhood.  Margaret’s talk is entitled ‘Becoming Respectable: Low income young women, consumption and the pursuit of socially appropriate mothering’.

 

 

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

Joint Committee inquiries

Public Bill Committees

HE Policy Update

Monday

Freedom of Speech

Free speech is under growing threat at British universities, with serious restrictions on expression at more than half of campuses. Student unions or universities banned speakers, pressure groups, types of behaviour, songs and even hand gestures on 55 per cent of campuses last year, up from 41 per cent in 2014, according to a new analysis. Half of UK universities are curbing free speech. (The Times).

Graduate Jobs

Graduates turned down a record number of top jobs last year and left more than 1000 posts unfilled a report by High Fliers Research found. ‘Picky’ university graduates turn down record number of top jobs (The Independent).

Tuesday

Student Grants

Opposition MPs have protested against government measures to replace grants for students from the poorest households in England with repayable loans. Labour challenges final end of student grants (BBC News).

Degree Requirements

Penguin Random House will no longer require candidates for new jobs to have a university degree in order to open up opportunities to attract more varied candidates into publishing. Penguin ditches degree requirement for job applicants (The Guardian).

Wednesday

Migration Advisory Committee

The Migration Advisory Committee which advises MPs, has suggested that the earnings of skilled immigrants seeking visas have been set too high.  It also suggests that employers should pay an immigration charge of £1,000 per person per year, which would affect universities that recruit international staff. You can view the press release here.

Ministerial Committee

Business secretary Sajid Javid has said that his department has not decided whether to create a ministerial committee to oversee science spending across both the research councils and government departments. Ministerial committee not yet a done deal, says Javid (Research Professional).

Student Grants

David Cameron has claimed the government’s move to scrap student maintenance grants allowed it to uncap student numbers, after Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn challenged him on the controversial policy at the Prime Minister’s Questions. David Cameron: scrapping grants allows move to uncap student numbers (THE).

Thursday

Green Paper

Universities UK and GuildHE, the sector’s two representative organisations, are among the bodies to give a critical reception to a keystone of the government’s higher education Green Paper. TEF: government under fire on link to multiple fee caps (THE).

Higher Education Academy

The Higher Education Academy is to double its subscription fees for most universities, and will require academics to pay a membership fee and complete continuing professional development in order to retain their fellowships.  HEA subscription fees to double for most universities (THE).

Friday

HE Staff

According to the Higher Education Statistics Agency, higher education providers added 8,055 jobs in the year to 2014-15, an increase of 2 per cent. Staff numbers rise. (Research Professional).

Student Numbers

A dozen universities accepted ten per cent fewer full-time undergraduates in 2015 compared to 2012, according to figures published by the Universities and Colleges Admission Service. Waxing and waning (Research Professional).

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

As part of Interdisciplinary Research Week, the Faculty of Management’s Dr Andrew Callaway and Shelley Broomfield and the Faculty of  Science and Technology’s Dr Bryce Dyer will be holding a debate on the use of technology in sport.

ACallawaySBroomfieldThis will take place on Thursday, 28th January at 2pm-3pm in KG03, Talbot Campus and refreshments will be available from 1:30pm.

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.BDyer

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.InterdisResWeek2

Book your place

Wellcome Trust visiting BU

Funding opportunities

Interdisciplinary Research Week funder visit:wellcometrust_logo

Who: Harriet Martin and Chris Hassan, The Wellcome Trust

Where and when: Executive Business Centre, Monday, 25th January – 12-14:30

What: Harriet and Chris will be joining us to talk about The Wellcome Trust’s most recent collaborative project ‘Hubbub’ and why working across various disciplines, sectors and organisations is important to them as funders. The Wellcome Trust’s philosophy is ‘good health makes life better’. We want to improve health for everyone by helping great ideas to thrive.

Book your placeInterdisResWeek2

British Academy visiting BU

Funding opportunities

Interdisciplinary Research Week Funder visit:british_academy_logo

Who: British Academy Interdisciplinary Policy, The British Academy

Where and when: Talbot Campus, Wednesday, 27th January – 14.30 -15.30

What: The British Academy will be joining us to share emerging findings from a project they are carrying out on interdisciplinary research.

They are looking at how the whole higher education and research systems supports such research in terms of publishing, research funding, academic careers, teaching and beyond.

Book your placeInterdisResWeek2

Research Staff Association (RSA) coffee morning 27 Jan Talbot TAG30

The next Research Staff Association (RSA) coffee morning will be taking place on Wednesday 27 January, at Talbot Campus in TAG30 from 10 to 11am. This is an informal opportunity to meet other research staff over coffee and cake, discuss your work and share ideas for future collaborations. We would also like to share our plans for the RSA in 2016, so its not to be missed!

For catering purposes please email mheward@bournemouth.ac.uk to confirm your attendance.

We look forward to seeing you there!

Kind regards, Michelle Heward and Marcellus Mbah (RSA Staff Representatives)

BU’s Big Issues: Protecting the environment: humans vs. nature

Interdisciplinary Research Week debate:giraffe in the city

Who: BU’s Big Issues: Protecting the environment: humans vs. nature. Professor Adrian Newton, Professor Chris Shiel, Associate Professor Jane Murphy, Dr Juliet Wiseman and Dr Dawn Birch

Where and when: Executive Business Centre, Wednesday, 27th January – 18:30 – 19:30- (wine reception from 18:00)

What: Protecting the environment and living more sustainable is a laudable aim, and one that many of us support, but how easy is it to change human behaviours and what does it cost?

Join us to hear how research being led by BU’s academics is making a difference to our local area, through developing an understanding of how local environments are changing in response to human activities, and how we can all live more sustainably by changing the way we source our food.

Book your placeInterdisResWeek2

IRW Inspirational Speaker: Professor Jane Falkingham

Interdisciplinary Research Week speaker:JFalkingham

Who: Inspirational Speaker: Professor Jane Falkingham, University of Southampton

Where and when: Executive Business Centre, Thursday, 28th January – 18:00-20:00 (wine reception from 17.30)

What: Professor Jane Falkingham is Director of the ESRC Centre for Population Change and Dean of Social, Human and Mathematical Sciences at the University of Southampton. Through a career spanning almost 30 years, her research pursues a multi-disciplinary agenda combining social policy and population studies, which span both developed and developing countries. Much of her work has focussed on the social policy implications of population ageing and demographic change, and what this means for the distribution of social and economic welfare.

Come along and hear about Jane’s exciting career.  Book your placeInterdisResWeek2

BU’s Big Issues: Threats in a changing world

Interdisciplinary Research week debate:SDBAchmannBRichards

Who: BU’s Big Issues: Threats in a changing world. Professor Barry Richards and Dr Sascha-Dominik Bachmann

Where and when: Executive Business Centre, Tuesday, 26th January – 18:30 – 19:30 (wine reception from 18:00)

What: Global security is rapidly becoming one of the biggest challenges facing our society. From the conflict between Russia and the Ukraine, to the rise of the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria, to continuing unrest in the Middle East, security issues are rarely out of the news. Join some of BU’s leading academics in this area to discover how their work is changing the debate and shaping thinking around the future of global security.

Book your placeInterdisResWeek2

Education for sustainable development – and Fairtrade

Centre for Excellence in Learning

In the next few weeks I shall be sending out a call for case studies (its going to be a competition with prizes) to gather case studies of approaches used at BU to develop the knowledge, skills and competences to address the need for sustainable development. I shall be asking staff to illustrate how their teaching and learning is preparing learners to make a better job of sustaining the planet than previous generations (more details to follow).

In the meantime can I remind you that

Fairtrade Fortnight is the 29 February – 13 March.

The theme this year is

‘Sit down for Breakfast, stand up for farmers’.

We shall be celebrating Fairtrade Fortnight at venues across campus but as part of being a Fairtrade University we commit to educating our students about how Fairtrade, as an alternative mechanism works to support those less fortunate and with less opportunity to participate in trading systems. Fairtrade is one aspect of BU’s work to be a sustainable university.

It would be great if you were able to introduce the concept of Fairtrade to your students during Fairtrade Fortnight. Here is a link to a book a colleague and myself once wrote wjhen we introduced Fairtrade to BU. https://microsites.bournemouth.ac.uk/the-global-perspective/files/2015/04/GuidetoFairTrade-final.pdf

Please contact me if you want to discuss ideas.

I know it is a challenge to introduce Fairtrade in some subjects but if you can it would be really appreciated. Alternatively, perhaps you could consider holding an event in your Faculty/Department – a Fairtrade Breakfast perhaps?

New CMMPH international midwifery publication

international, Publishing, writing

Congratulations to Professor Vanora Hundley in the Centre for Midwifery, Maternal & Perinatal Health (CMMPH) on the publication of her latest international paper ‘How do midwives in Slovenia view their professional status?’ [1]. slovenia midwifery 2015

The paper explores Slovenian midwives’ views of their professional status, linkng this to the participants’ educational background. Most participants did not consider midwifery to be a profession in its ow right. Midwives with secondary education were more likely to consider practical skills to be important than theoretical midwifery knowledge. In general Slovenian midwives did not feel enabled to practise autonomously causing them several ethical dilemmas. All participants with midwifery secondary school education thought that obstetrics jeopardises midwifery scope of practice, but only half of the B.Sc. participants thought this. One-fifth of all participants estimated that midwifery is also threatened by nursing. The respondents reported feeling a lack of control over their professional activity and policy making; however the majority of midwives claimed that they were willing to take on more responsibility for independent practice. The authors conclude that Slovenian midwifery cannot be considered to be a profession yet. It faces several hindrances, due to its historical development.

 

Prof. Edwin van Teijlingen

CMMPH

 

Reference:

Mivšek, P., Pahor, M., Hlebec, V., Hundley, V. (2015) How do midwives in Slovenia view their professional status? Midwifery 31(12):1193-201