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HE Policy Update

Monday

UCAS

David Cameron has announced that from 2017, candidates’ names will be removed from university application forms. He announced it is part of a plan to prevent unconscious bias against candidates from minority groups.  UCAS has announced it will consult on name-blind applications with higher education institutions. The Conservatives have become the party of equality (The Guardian).

Tuesday

Research Councils

With the upcoming spending review due in November, there are concerns over funding for UK research.  Recent concerns are around the future of the innovation agency, Innovate UK. It has been reported that ministers may be exploring whether Innovate UK’s £600 million of annual grants to support business R&D could be converted into loans. The spending review is just the start of a battle for UK research (The Guardian).

Extremism

Vince Cable has said that new powers to tackle Islamist extremism on campus will lead to universities banning non-Muslim speakers such as Nigel Farage and Germaine Greer in efforts to demonstrate impartiality. Vince Cable: Fight against extremism will lead to “bland” society (The Telegraph).

Wednesday

Post-1992 Universities

A recent study by PolicyBee has revealed that traditional and elite universities in the Russell Group are less likely to produce budding entrepreneurs when compared with post-1992 institutions.  Russell Group ‘less likely’ to produce entrepreneurs compared with post-1992 universities (The Independent).

Thursday

Part-time Students

A report by the Higher Education Policy Institute has claimed that a sharp fall in the number of part-time students at England’s universities is harming the economy and limiting social mobility. The report says changes to student funding arrangements from 2012 and inflexible course structures are to blame. Warning over falling numbers of part-time students (BBC News).

Overseas Students

It is thought the Home Office intends to use data from new checks on those exiting the country, which were introduced at all UK ports and airports in April, as the basis to force universities to take more responsibility for ensuring that graduates from outside the European Union do not overstay their visas. Theresa May ‘plans on making universities ensure overseas graduates leave UK’ (THE).

Friday

TEF

Million+ have argued that the government should pull back from its plans to link outcomes from the teaching excellence framework to permission to raise tuition fees in line with inflation. TEF: pull back from link to fees, urges Million+ (THE).

PG Researcher Development Programme

PG research

PGR workshops coming up in November:

  • 5 November – SPSS workshop 4: ANOVA Analysis in SPSS
  • 6 November – ResearchPAD: A beginner’s guide…
  • 11 November – Intro to ‘Observation as a social science research method’
  • 12 November  – SPSS workshop 5: Correlation & Regression Analysis using SPSS
  • 17 November – Managing Working Relationships (supervisors & pgrs)
  • 17 November – Peer Mentoring
  • 18 November – Managing Pressure Positively
  • 19 November – SPSS workshop 6: Non-Parametric Testing
  • 25 November – An Introduction to Public Engagement
  • 26 November – SPSS workshop 7: Introducing Factor Analysis

Booking is via myBU Graduate School PGR Community (don’t forget to log on using your student username and password).

If you have any questions about the PGR Programme, please contact the Graduate School via email: pgrskillsdevelopment@bournemouth.ac.uk

Last Reminder for the 03/11/15 Research Professional visit – Book in now!

Funding opportunities

Research-Professional-logoThere is still time for you to attend our Research Professional visit taking place on the 3rd Nov and get expert help with setting up your personal account and searches!

Every BU academic has a Research Professional account which delivers weekly emails detailing funding opportunities in their broad subject area. Jordan Graham from Research Professional is visiting BU on the 3rd of November 2015 to demonstrate to academics and staff how to make the most of their Research Professional account.

This will include:

  • Building searches
  • Setting personalised alerts
  • Saving and bookmarking items
  • Subscribing to news alerts
  • Configuring your personal profile

Location and the session timings are:

Talbot campus P424

10.15 – 11.15 – Research Professional presentation

11.15 – 11.45 – RKEO interactive session setting up searches

Lansdowne campus S103

13.30 – 14.30 – Research Professional presentation

14.30 – 15.00 – RKEO interactive session setting up searches

After the presentation, the RKEO Funding Development Team will be on hand for an interactive session where they will help you set up your Research Professional account, searches and offer advice from a BU perspective.

This is a great opportunity to learn more about funding opportunities and to meet the Funding Development Team, particularly if you are new to BU.

Please reserve your place now at a BU Campus to suit through Organisational Development

 

Research Funders’ Guide is even better!

Funding opportunities, Guidance

Imap of science previously posted about the new Research Funders’ Guide available on the Research Blog under the Research Toolkit.  This introduced the major funder pages, which include a wealth of information about their research strategies, what they fund, impact reports, funder guides and success rates.

These pages have now been expanded to include:

Don’t forget, we also have the Research Lifecycle on the blog where you can see how RKEO can support you with your research plans.

 

What would TV look like without the BBC? Get involved!

The British Academy will be one of the partners of a major inquiry into the future of public service television, chaired by Lord Puttnam.british_academy_logo

The Inquiry, www.futureoftv.org.uk, which is based at the Media and Communications department, Goldsmiths, University of London, is set up to consider the nature, purpose and role of public service television today and into the future. It aims to address ways in which public service content can be most effectively nurtured taking into consideration a growing range of services, platforms and funding models.  More details can be found here.

There is an exciting opportunity to attend a free event where you can join a panel of policymakers and practitioners as they take on this hotly debated topic to consider how this British institution should be funded.  Details are as follows:

Tuesday 15 December 2015, 6-7.30pm
The British Academy, 10-11 Carlton House Terrace, London, SW1Y 5AH

Chaired by Lord (David) Puttnam, former Deputy Chairman of Channel 4 (2006-12)

Confirmed speakers:
Greg Dyke, former Director-General of the BBC (2000-4)
Claire Enders, founder, Enders Analysis
Brian Eno, musician and producer; delivered the BBC Music John Peel Lecture 2015

More details and how to register can be found here. bbc-blocks-dark

PGR Santander Mobility Awards – coming soon

PG research

Dear all,

It’s that time of year again and we are pleased to announce in partnership with Santander we will be offering 8 x £1000 mobility awards.

The competition will run between 4th November 2015 – 11th January 2016.

Stay tuned for more details.

Best wishes

The Graduate School team

santander6653 Graduate School Header V2 CF

 

New KTP Associate job vacancy

Business Engagement, Knowledge Exchange

The Faculty of Science and Technology have been awarded a KTP with Precision Acoustics, manufacturers of acoustic measurement products, in Dorchester.

The position is for a Software Development Architect.  Salary c.£26,000.  Closing date 24/11/2015.

The post is an 18 month fixed-term contract.

Please share the full job description amongst your networks.

For further information, please contact :

Dr Paul Morris at Precision Acoustics

paul@acoustics.co.uk 01305 264669

Dr Richard Gunstone at Bournemouth University

rgunstone@bournemouth.ac.uk 01202 966744

IT Software Architect Whole Page Ad v6

EU funding call now open!

Business Engagement, Funding opportunities, innovation, Knowledge Exchange

EU heart

EU funding opportunity – are you working with SMEs?
Open call to SMEs and new entrants for industrial experiments Digital Agenda for Europe.  The call is now open (28 October 2015) and the closing date is 3 December 2015.  This call aims to initiate new business and innovation opportunities between SMEs and new entrants, major cyber physical system-platform providers, and competence centres. The maximum European Commission contribution for industrial experiments per applicant is €150,000. The funding rate is 70 per cent. The maximum duration of industrial experiment is 18 months.
For more information: https://www.eurocps.org/innovators-projects/open-calls/

KTP Academic Development Scheme Cohort 3

Business Engagement, Knowledge Exchange, Knowledge Transfer

Academics will be invited to apply for cohort 3 of the Knowledge Transfer Partnership Academic Development Scheme (KTPADS) from 9th November 2015.

For those who are unfamiliar with Knowledge Transfer Partnerships (KTP), they are a three-way partnership between a knowledge base (in this case, BU), a company and a graduates.  There is knowledge transfer in all directions where academic knowledge embeds a new capability within a business to make it more efficient and profitable via a project managed by a graduate.

The aim of this scheme is to equip you with the necessary skills and knowledge needed to engage with business and work towards a collaborative project with a business.  The end result aims to see the business using Bournemouth University as a knowledge base for a KTP.  The scheme will be made up of a series of workshops on business engagement and networking opportunities with local business, it will also include regular support from the Innovate UK regional KTP Adviser and the Knowledge Exchange Adviser (KTP).

Should you be interested in this scheme or require further information, please contact KE Adviser (KTP), Rachel Clarke on 01202 961347 or email KTP@bournemouth.ac.uk 

KTP@40-block-logo

 

Systematic Review Masterclass – 15-16 February 2016

We are pleased to announce a two-day Systematic Review Masterclass at Bournemouth University.

One way of collating and assessing the best possible evidence is through a method called ‘systematic reviewing’. Systematic reviewing is a specific research method whereby a structured, rigorous, and objective approach is used to provide a critical synthesis of the available evidence on a particular topic. This masterclass will examine the rationale for systematic reviews and take participants through the various elements of a systematic review: selecting (electronic) databases; literature searching; data extraction; data synthesis; interpretation and reporting.

The Masterclass will be held in the Executive Business Centre, Holdenhurst Road on 15 & 16 February 2016.

Booking price and information:

The fee of £200 for this masterclass includes two full days with the course facilitators, all refreshments and all class materials. Accomodation and travel costs are not included.

See the flyer – Systematic Review masterclass 2016 – for more details or book your place now. Places must be booked by 1 February 2016.

For further information please contact:

Tel: 01202 962184

Email: epegrum@bournemouth.ac.uk

Congratulations to Prof. Brooks

Women's Academic Network

BU Professor Ann Brooks has been made a Fellow of the Academy of Social Sciences (FAcSS).

  Ann Brooks

Ann Brooks is Professor of Sociology at Bournemouth University since January 2015. Ann has held senior positions in universities in Singapore, Australia and New Zealand and has held visiting fellowships and scholarships in Singapore and the USA. She was a Visiting Professor at the Institute of Health and Community at Plymouth University in 2014 and was previously a Senior Visiting Research Fellow at the Asia Research Institute, National University of Singapore and a Visiting Scholar in the Department of Sociology at the University of California, Berkeley. She is author of Academic Women (Open University Press, 1997); Postfeminisms: Feminism, Cultural Theory and Cultural Forms (Routledge, 1997); Gender and the Restructured University (Open University Press, 2001); Gendered Work in Asian Cities: The New Economy and Changing Labour Markets (Ashgate, 2006); Social Theory in Contemporary Asia (Routledge, 2010); Gender, Emotions and Labour Markets: Asian and Western Perspectives (Routledge, 2011) and Emotions in Transmigration: Transformation, Movement and Identity (Palgrave 2012) (with Ruth Simpson). Recent books include: Consumption, Cities and States: Comparing Singapore with Cities in Asia and the West (Anthem Press, 2014) (with Lionel Wee); Popular Culture, Global Intercultural Perspectives (Palgrave, 2014); and Emotions and Social Change: Historical and Sociological Perspectives (Routledge, New York, 2014) (edited with David Lemmings). Her latest book is: Genealogies of Emotions, Intimacies and Desire: Theories of Changes in Emotional Regimes from Medieval Society to Late Modernity (2016 Routledge, New York).

Further information on this year’s new Fellows can be found here!

 

Congratulations!

Prof. Edwin van Teijlingen

 

Second Social Science Seminar Series, Dr Dan Jackson

All welcome. 28 October 2015
Room R301, 1-1:50.

Please feel free to bring your lunch.

Title: Journalism and Public Relations: Shifting Boundaries, Shifting Power Relations

Abstract:

There is widespread concern in both the professional and academic fields of journalism about the growing tide of churnalism (unfiltered PR or agency copy) in the news. Invariably, such accounts are written from within and about journalism studies. But this ignores another story which I examine in this presentation: that of the PR practitioner.
Based on interviews with 28 PR practitioners, I document their perspectives on:
– The latest developments in PR media relations practice aimed at getting PR material into the news
– The apparent power shift between PR and journalism implied in journalism studies literature
– Normative evaluations of churnalism; does it trouble them either professionally or personally?
With respect to PR practice the findings revealed a number of PR professionals who understand news in depth, and whose media relations practice goes beyond the classic information subsidy, to what we call a style subsidy: targeted, tailored, page-ready news copy. In terms of PR practitioner culture, this practice of developing media material that is ‘copy and paste’ ready for publication is a recognised sign of professional expertise.
PR practitioners see power relationships in complex and contradictory ways. Despite many circumstances (such as newsroom cuts and fewer specialist reporters) working in their favour, this does not mean they necessary feel emboldened in their everyday encounters with journalists.
Perhaps surprisingly, for the vast majority of practitioners, there were either professional or personal concerns about increasing churnalism. The professional concerns stem partly from a position of self-interest: that unfiltered PR raises credibility issues for the PR message. Secondly, churnalism represents an ethical dilemma expressed through an ongoing tension between their personal/ civic and professional identities. Very few observe the journalists’ recent travails with glee: most want to see a robust and independent journalism where PR input is balanced with other sources.

Citizenship and Education Conference, 3rd Nov, Bournemouth House, limited spaces

There are still some places left to attend this joint one-day BSA and BU conference, happening on 3rd November, in Bournemouth House. If you would like to register, please get in touch with Dr Mastoureh Fathi, mfathi@bournemouth.ac.uk or visit http://www.britsoc.co.uk/events/key-bsa-events.aspx

The conference programme can be viewed here:

9.00-9.30
Registration and Refreshments
Outside BG14

9.30-9.45
Welcome: Professor Jonathan Parker (Bournemouth University) Introduction and welcome to the Faculty of Health and Social Sciences

Welcome to the Citizenship Study Group: Dr Mastoureh Fathi (Bournemouth University) and Dr Kristoffer Halvorsrud (Knowledge Centre for Education, Norway)

9.45-10.45
Keynote: Dr Bridget Byrne (University of Manchester) ‘What is the Britishness in ‘British values’ and the citizenship process?’

10.45-11.00
Refreshment break

11.00-13.00
Policy and Politics Panel: Citizenship and Neo-Liberalism

Professor. Jonathan Parker (Bournemouth University): Students and Prevent: Implications for citizenship
Dr Lee Jerome (Middlesex University): England’s Citizenship Education Experiment: The First Ten Years
Rachel Lewis (University of Warwick): Testing Life in the UK, producing the desirable, neo-liberal subject
Dr Anisa Mustafa (University of Nottingham): Active citizenship and modes of resistance in the cultural politics of young adult British Muslims
Dr Nick Stevenson (University of Nottingham): Education, Democracy and its Alternatives: The Commons and the New Left

13.00-14-00
Lunch

14-00-15.15
Parallel Sessions

1. Comparative Contexts

Prof Trond Solhaug (Norwegian University of Science and Technology): Citizenship, diversity and antecedents of intercultural empathy among Norwegian pupils (Abstract)
Dr Shinichi Aizawa (Chukyo University): Citizenship, Social Problems, and Schooling in Japan
Caitríona Fitzgerald (Maynooth University): ‘Citizen Child; Hothouse Flower or Hardy Perennial? An exploration of contemporary debates about 21st century children’s ‘lived’ citizenship framed within the context of Irish and Swedish educational policy’

2.“Britishness” and Faith

Céline Benoit (Aston University): The role of secular state schools in the promotion of a White Christian sense of Britishness
Iro Konstantinou (University of Warwick):‘Promoting British values in an English, white, middle class context’
Iftikhar Ahmad (London School of Islamics Trust): Muslims faiths schools and the curriculum

15.15-15.30
Refreshment Break

15.30-16.45
Parallel Sessions

1. Faith and “Cohesion”

Donna Crossland (University of Kent): A rhetoric of social cohesion, tolerance and civility: A good lessen to learn?
Rachael Shillitoe (Institute of Education, University of Worcester): ‘Doing Good’: Understanding values and morality in collective worship
Shiva Zarabadi: ‘Crossing borders, changing faiths and the new organization of self and society’, The experiences of migrant Iranian converts to Christianity in the UK

2. Policy Processes and Relations

Dr Martin Myers (The Open University): Mobility, Citizens and Education: Are Gypsies supposed to be citizens?
Dr Kristoffer Halvorsrud (Knowledge Centre for Education, The Research Council of Norway): Student ‘Dropout’ in Upper Secondary Education: A Challenge to the Norwegian ‘Welfare State’?
Dr Tamsin Hinton-Smith (University of Sussex): Roma women in European Higher Education: Exploring Tensions of Individual and Shared Responsibility in Policy and Experience

16.45-17.00
Refreshment Break

17.00-18.00
Keynote: Professor David James (Cardiff University) ‘Bringing the local knowledge back in?

Lightning Talks Wednesday 11th Nov 1:45-2:45pm Poole House

Come and find out about the exciting research undertaken by BU staff and student researchers!

The first of our series of Lightning Talks will take place on Wednesday 11th November 1:45-2:45pm in the Refectory (next to Papa Johns pizza) on Talbot Campus.

We have six speakers presenting a five minute pitch about their research studies.  The aim is to encourage staff awareness of the exciting research being undertaken at BU and encourage cross Faculty working.

The spaces are limited so you will need to book on by emailing Rhyannan Hurst.  Pizza will be provided on a first come first served basis so please confirm your attendance no later than wed 4th Nov.

Also if you are keen to take part in the next Lightning Talks in 2016 then please do get in touch with Rhyannan Hurst in the Research and Knowledge Exchange Office (RKEO) on 61511.  We are hoping this will be a great event and look forward to seeing you there.