Latest research and knowledge exchange news at Bournemouth University
The Leverhulme Trust are offering up to £15,000 for UK universities to foster a new creative collaboration with an artist working in a discipline outside the applicant institution’s usual curriculum.
Apply after 10 April and by 10 September 2015. An artist may not apply directly – all applications must be made by the host institution.
See the call at https://www.leverhulme.ac.uk/funding/grant-schemes/artist-residence-grants
Dr. Julie Robson and Samreen Ashraf from the Faculty of Management were announced as the successful recipients of the 2015 Academy of Marketing Research Initiative Funding Scheme for 2015 at the conference in Limerick, Ireland last week.
Their research, ‘Perceptions and use of pension savings: the case of South Asian consumers living in the UK’, examines how UK consumers originally from India, Pakistan and Bengal will use their pension savings following recent changes in the pension market. Drawing on concepts developed within behavioural economics, specifically framing and mental accounting, this study will identify what has informed consumer perceptions of their pension savings and how this influences the way in which their pension money is used. This research is both important and timely given recent pension changes, and government and societal concern that individuals (particularly ethnic groups such as those from South Asia) are not adequately prepared for their retirement.
The results of this research project will be presented at the Academy of Marketing conference next year.
On Monday 13th July 2015, BUDI welcomed more than 50 members of the public at their annual Festival of Learning event. The event was opened by the BUDI Orchestra (formed of people affected by dementia and musicians) with an energetic and fun performance that included a rendition of the Peter Gunn theme by the Blues Brothers (complete with trademark sunglasses) and the Jaws theme tune.
Attendees were able to participate in a number of hands on activities, from sharing their thoughts on what makes a garden dementia-friendly, to discussing what they are passionate about in the dementia field with members of the BUDI team in speaker’s corner.
Poet Jonny Fluffypunk closed the event by reading out a poem that he created from sentences that attendees had written throughout the event about dementia. The poem entitled ‘A New Beginning’ is too good not to share……
A New Beginning
Dementia is…
a misunderstood and badly defined term
a term people are labelled with;
a term that restricts their freedom.
Restricts their choices.
Restricts their self.
Dementia is an illness often observed,
an illness that splits families
It is thinking scattered thoughts of yesterday
that muddle your tomorrow
It is trying to remember the past
and not the present
Dementia is my nuisance;
It is me needing the support
of my wife and family
It is knowing your face so well
but your name escaping me
Dementia is living in a world that makes no sense;
it is remembering tastes from the past;
it is the problem of making decisions
it is feeling your way in the world
and not being able to put it in words
But sometimes…
Sometimes I think
we were all born with dementia;
as a tiny child I could remember nothing
and now I am old I find nothing has changed
And dementia is an interesting way
to relive my life; an unknown journey
a unique experience for patient and carer
Dementia is protecting and helping your husband
as he makes this journey
It is brilliant but fleeting perfect memories
It is a chance to grow
It is a chance to engage creatively
It is a chance to reach a new humanity
Dementia is learning not to give up:
I was thrown out of church choir age 7
and now at 77 I play violin with BUDI
Dementia is learning that music is a wonderful thing
That it makes you happy and sad-
long live music and song!
Dementia is emotional-
how I wish I could love in the way
I have seen love shared here today
Dementia is partnership,
it is learning to change life
with the one you love
Dementia can bring you together
with the most wonderful people
Dementia is just a different journey
Dementia is personal and shared
Dementia is not the end; it can be a new beginning
Dementia is not the end.
Midwifery educators and researchers from CMMPH Dr Jen Leamon and Dr Jenny Hall, with help from Shelly Anne Stringer RDO, spent the day in an empty space engaging creatively with shoppers in the Sovereign Shopping centre in Boscombe. As part of BU Festival of Learning this is an ongoing project to consider the social history and contexts around people’s stories of birth. The childbirth process has in the last 60 years moved from being a private event shared by woman, their partner and the midwife to become a public one shared via many formats
of multimedia.
The day was spent encouraging members of the local community to contribute to a visual timeline of personal experiences of receiving or providing midwifery care, over the last sixty years.
The aim had been to engage local people in order to interrogate the local history of birth in the area. However on the day we gathered a wealth of stories from mothers, partners, grandparents and children with tales from the 1960’s to the present day but with a very international flavour!
We are very grateful to all those who sat and took the time to share their personal stories and were willing to add to the timeline. The stories were both moving and unexpected- that’s how research goes sometimes! More will develop on this project over time. We are also grateful to the team at the Sovereign centre who were so accommodating.
Julie Kirkby and her team of PhD students delivered an interesting lecture combined with demonstrations for which the audience participated.
Using eye-tracking technology as ‘a window to the mind’, this allowed us to see the developmental differences of children with and without 
dyslexia. It was interesting to know that when reading we only take in (fovea) around eight letters, whereas our peripheral vision (parafovea) can take in around 15 letters. There are also linguistic influences on our eye movements, such as how many letters, how often the word is read, and how much a word is expected. If comprehension breaks down then our eye movements are directed back to previously read text. Some, but not all, dyslexic people will have difficulty associating letters with speech sounds. Also, some will have ‘visual attention deficit’.
We had two demonstrations. The first was eye-linking to see where the eye looks when we’re reading. The second was the mobile (Dikablis) eye-tracker which demonstrates how we encode and produce information and how information can be forgotten in between. We were informed that it’s a myth that dyslexic children can’t copy from class boards. Reading ability affects the working memory and vice versa. There was a lot of great research shared and it was an engaging afternoon.
If you are interested in this then you may be interested in similar events going on tomorrow. These include Media literacy in secondary schools taking place at 12.30pm and Third space digital learning in Dorset schools taking place at 3.30pm.
On Saturday 18 July (this Saturday), BU hosts its first ever Festival of Enterprise – a free event designed to give help and advice to startups, SMEs, established businesses, budding business-minded teenagers or anyone wanting to turn a business idea into a reality.
The Festival is open to anyone and takes place in the Student Centre between 10am and 3pm. There will be four ‘sofa’ sessions – Marketing, Finance, Cyber Security and Creativity – with industry experts giving their advice and taking questions, all aimed at engaging with and supporting local businesses.
There are other activities taking place too – business ‘speed dating’ sessions, an Enterprise Den specifically for college-aged teens and a keynote presentation from local entrepreneur Steve Bolton.
If you’d like more information, visit the Festival of Enterprise webpages. And most importantly, please spread the word. If you know of anyone (colleagues, friends, family) who may benefit from talking about business and enterprise in Dorset then send them along.
Michele Board with Professor Sheila Peace, President of the BSG, Associate Dean (Research) Professor of Social Gerontology Faculty of Health & Social Care The Open University
Michele Board (HSS), Laura Reynolds and Sophie Bushell (BUDI) recently attended the BSG annual conference in Newcastle, 1st to 3rd July 2015.
Michele presented two papers from her PhD thesis, on the ‘Five Senses of Home Framework’, and ‘A Qualitative Approach to explore the meaning of Home for Six Baby Boomers’. Given the current debate around housing the presentations were topical leading to a good discussion on the importance of home and participatory research.
Laura Reynolds (BUDI Research Assistant) hosting one oral presentation (‘The BUDI Orchestra: evaluation of a novel music initiative for people with dementia and their carers’), and BUDI PhD student, Sophie Bushell, disseminating her research ‘Promoting well-being for residents with dementia living in a purpose built care environment’ via poster presentation.
Laura says:
“I couldn’t have asked for a better conference to present at for the first time, and I’m grateful to have been given the opportunity to do so. It was insightful to see other institutions’ research and to share ideas with like-minded people from across the globe.”
The British Society of Gerontology was established in 1971. It provides a multidisciplinary forum for researchers and other individuals interested in the situations of older people, and in how knowledge about ageing and later life can be enhanced and improved. The annual conference is friendly and exciting and an excellent forum to disseminate current research about older people.
I think BU has a great deal to contribute to research about older people from across the University and I would recommend looking at the BSG website and consider becoming a member. http://www.britishgerontology.org/about-bsg.html
Next year’s BSG conference is in Stirling, if you’re interested in putting together an interdisciplinary symposium for the conference let Michele know it would be great to have a larger BU presence! Conference themes next year include, Health and Social Care, Quality of Life, Technology, Environment and Housing, Relationships and Intergenerational Work and Dementia.
It would be good to be able to host the BSG conference in a few years’ time!! If you are interested in research, practice, education about older people and would like to get together over a coffee do please get in contact with Michele Board, Senior Lecturer Nursing Older People, Joint programme lead BA/MA Care of the Older person, HSS. mboard@bournemouth.ac.uk
The following funding opportunities have been announced. Please follow the links for more information.
Arts and Humanities Research Council
PaCCS Conflict Theme (2 calls). The call for Interdisciplinary Innovation Awards (up to 18 months and up to £100,000 fEC) aims to support the development of innovative, adventurous, higher risk, interdisciplinary research, including projects at an earlier stage of interdisciplinary evolution and/or led by early career researchers. The call for Interdisciplinary Research Grants (up to 48 months and between £400,000 and £800,000 fEC) aims to support innovative interdisciplinary research proposals related to specific conflict themes. Closing Date: 22/10/15
Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council
Highlight notice in novel tools and technologies for vaccinology. The BBSRC, MRC and EPSRC are working together on a scheme which aims to fund cutting edge technology across the Councils’ portfolios into vaccine development and early-stage manufacturing research, and foster research that may be applicable across different diseases.Expression of Interest Closing Date: 17/9/15 at 16:00
Economic and Social Research Council
Future Research Leaders 2016. The Future Research Leaders scheme aims to enable outstanding early-career social scientists, in partnership with their host organisation, to acquire the skills set to become the future world leaders in their field. Grants will be for a maximum of two years, with a pro-rata duration option for those employed part-time on a contract of 0.5 FTE or above. There is an overall limit of £230,000 (at 100 per cent full economic cost) although the actual amount you can apply for will vary depending on when you submitted your PhD and your level of academic experience. Closing Date: 29/9/15 at 16:00
Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council
Healthcare Impact Partnerships 2015/2016. This call is open to eligible UK academics who have held an EPSRC grant or portfolio of grants relevant to the capabilities of Disruptive Sensing and Analysis or Medical Device Design and Innovation. An overall budget of £5m is available. Intention to submit a proposal Closing Date: 27/8/15 at 16:00
The Health Foundation
Behavioural Insights Research Programme will make up to £1 million available to support a number of multidisciplinary research teams, consisting of psychology and behavioural economists, health care professionals, support-staff and managers, patients and those with design expertise. Awards will be between £200,000 and £350,000 for research completed over two to three years. Closing Date: 30/9/15 at Noon.
Innovate UK
Developing regenerative medicines and cell therapies. Innovate are to invest up to £8 million in collaborative R&D projects to stimulate the development of regenerative medicines and cell therapies in the UK. Proposals must be collaborative and led by a business and projects are expected to range in size from total costs of £500,000 to £2.5 million. Registration closes: 26/8/15 at Noon. Expression of Interest Closing Date: 2/9/15 at Noon.
Natural Environment Research Council
Green Infrastructure Innovation Projects. Proposals are invited that address the issues and opportunities around green infrastructure (GI) in the planning and investment decisions that are made by local policymakers, local planners and organisations responsible for developing the built environment. A maximum of £125k may be requested for projects lasting up to two years. Closing Date: 22/10/15 at 16:00
Independent Research Fellowship (IRF) Scheme is designed to develop scientific leadership among the most promising early-career environmental scientists, by giving all fellows five years’ support. Closing Date: 1/10/15
Science for Humanitarian Emergencies & Resilience (SHEAR) research programme Research Consortia Grants 2015. Outline proposals are invited for world-leading research into hydrological controls on landslide hazard in South Asia or flood and drought risk assessment, modelling and forecasting in Sub-Saharan Africa. Funding of up to £2m full economic cost (FEC) will be available per consortium with a total available budget of £8m. Closing Date: 1/9/15 at 16:00
Understanding the Value of the Natural Environment for Improving Human Health & Wellbeing. A funding pot of up to £3·96m (80% FEC) from NERC, AHRC and ESRC is available, which is expected to support between three and six interdisciplinary proposals of up to three years duration. This will provide an opportunity for natural and social scientists, arts and humanities researchers to form substantial interdisciplinary research collaborations. Closing Date: 22/9/15
Royal Society
Newton International Fellowship. The scheme provides the opportunity for the best early stage post-doctoral researchers from all over the world to work at UK research institutions. Newton Fellowships last for two years. Funding consists of £24,000 per annum for subsistence costs, and up to £8,000 per annum research expenses, as well as a one-off payment of up to £2,000 for relocation expenses and may also be eligible to receive up to £6,000 annually following the tenure of their Fellowship to support networking activities with UK-based researchers. Closing Date: 9/9/15
Wellcome Trust
Seed Awards in Science. Grants of of up to £100,000 for up to two years will be made available to help researchers develop original and innovative ideas which propose to carry out interdisciplinary research across our Science, Medical Humanities, Society and Ethics and Innovations funding. Closing Date: 22/10/15
Sustaining Excellence Awards. The fund is targeted towards organisations which have an excellent track record with the Wellcome Trust (at least 3 awards drawn from any of the Engaging Science schemes) and a desire to maintain best practice in public engagement. Sustaining Excellence awards will typically be in the range of £90,000 to £1,000,000, spread across three to five years. Expression of Interest Closing Date: 25/9/15
World Health Organisation, EDCTP and the UK Medical Research Council
Research and capacity development in support of the EVD response. Proposals is to build and strengthen regional, national, institutional and individual capacities to conduct high quality health research (e.g. clinical trials, operational and/or implementation research) during infectious disease outbreaks resulting in health emergencies. Up to €250k is available per proposal. Closing Date: 6/8/15
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.
Prof Judy Wajcman will be the second speaker in the Distinguished Social Scientists Public Lectures Series tonight in Festival of Learning. The lecture is based on her new book Pressed for Time: The Acceleration of Life in Digital Capitalism.
Those who attended Prof. John Holmwood’s presentation on last Monday on ‘The University, Democracy and the Public Interest’ will agree that the Distinguished Social Scientists Public Lectures Series started with a great and challenging presentation.
Tonight’s session is free and will be in the Barnes Lecture theatre at Talbot Campus starting at 18.00.
Prof. Edwin van Teijlingen
CMMPH
The Department for Business, Innovation and Skills have published their Annual Report and Accounts for 2014-15.
The report highlights key acheivements, how they performed, and consolidated accounts. The accounts show that the department’s spending on science and innovation in 2014-15 was around £500m, with £561m planned for 2015-16, including the budget for Innovate UK. Spending through the research councils remains stable at around £4.6 billion.
Keith Williamson from Avonbourne College provided an inspirational lecture on how they are changing the way their pupils learn. This involves programmes such as ELLI (Effective LifeLong Inventory).
Keith explained how research has shown that those with fixed mindsets tend to underachieve, can be afraid of failure, and tend not to put the effort in, ignoring feedback and feeling threatened by others achievements. Whereas those with a growth mindset recognise that intelligence is malleable.
Keith explained the theory is based around five learning dispositions: resilience (emotional), resourcefulness (cognitive), reflectiveness (strategic), relationships (social), and risk (engaging). The lecture finished on a positive note with a video of a pupil talking about how the programme had changed the way she learnt and had improved her grades.
Other events that might interest you are: ‘Seen but Seldom Heard: challenging perceptions of discibility within secondary schools with e-learning’ which is being held at 10.30am and ‘Gender performance in school: media vs. bullying’ which is being at 4.30pm both on Thursday, as well as ‘Media literacy in secondary schools, which is being held at 12.30pm on Friday.
On Sunday Anita Diaz and Gitte Kragh joined with Michelle Brown and Darren Cook from the National Trust (NT) to run a joint BU-NT FoL workshop on the special species of Studland. We introduced our 70 guests to the amazing NT Cyril Diver project where Citizen Scientists and BU staff, BSc, MSc and PhD students have worked together to repeat a classic 1930’s survey of all the wildlife of Studland.
meeting the plants
Our guests learnt how these surveys help conservation by helping us understand how species respond to environmental change over time. Then we invited our guest to participate in lots of face-to-face opportunities to meet up-close some of the wonderful wildlife!
snakes
and spiders
Guests stroked snakes, stared spiders in their (8) eyes and squeezed spongy sphagnum mosses as they learnt about their ecology and how we can help conserve these and other wildlife.
If you would like to volunteer on the Cyril Diver project, or just find out more, then please contact Michelle on
Michelle.Brown1@nationaltrust.org.uk
No experience is needed as there are experts on hand and it’s a great way to learn and contribute to conservation while having fun!
In January 2015, Dr. Dinusha Mendis, Associate Professor in Law and Co-Director of the Centre for Intellectual Property Policy and Management (CIPPM) in the Faculty of Media and Communications was awarded a period of research leave funded by the Fusion Investment Fund which commenced on 1 January 2015. The study leave was granted to further Dr. Mendis’ research into the digital aspects of Copyright Law and the Intellectual Property (IP) Implications of 3D Printing.
Since 1 January 2015, Dr. Mendis has held appointments as Visiting Fellow at University of Bocconi in Italy and as Lord Provost Fellow at University of Tasmania in Australia. For further information about the collaborative work carried out by Dr. Mendis during this time, please see here (BU Research Blog post dated 13 March 2015).
Dr. Mendis will complete her research leave in July 2015 having spent two months as a Visiting Scholar at Stanford Law School, Stanford University California.
During her time as a Visiting Scholar at Stanford University, Dr. Mendis was involved in working with Professor Mark Lemley of Stanford Law School, to further her research into the intellectual property implications of 3D printing. Sponsored by Professor Lemley, Dr. Mendis utilised the time at Stanford to complete two research papers (to be published in Autumn 2015) and collaborate with IP experts from University of California, Berkeley; Emory University; Georgia Tech University and Indiana University in taking forward a project in the area of 3D printing and intellectual property implications.
The Research Leave was made possible by the generous support of Bournemouth University’s Fusion Investment Fund which in turn led to the Visiting appointments for which Dr. Mendis is very grateful.
The appointments have all proved to be very productive and rewarding in taking forward the research on the IP implications of 3D printing. The final appointment, which involved being a Visiting Scholar at Stanford Law School was a very positive experience – and will be an unforgettable one.
![Stanford[1]](http://blogs.bournemouth.ac.uk/research/files/2015/07/Stanford1.jpg)
Hello, I will be working within the Health and Social Sciences Faculty with Impact Champion, Zoe Sheppard, over the next six weeks on the endeavour to monitor and measure the impact of research.
My work will involve:
I can be found in R613 and contacted at jgeorge@bournemouth.ac.uk if you have any ideas or challenges you’d like to discuss. I will be sharing my findings towards the end of my six weeks here.
I look forward to meeting you,
Jo
Support and Celebrate our Research Success at the FoL – come along!
We would love to see you at our Drop-in event ‘Research Reflections’ on the 16 July – feel free to attend for a session or two, or the whole day. Come along and hear about the huge range of Research taking place across the University, and support your fellow academics talking about their Research.
When: Taking place on Thursday the 16th of JULY in The Coyne Lecture Theatre in the Thomas Hardy Suite from 10am – 4pm.
Book now
Our confirmed speakers include:
10am Heather Hartwell, discussing the VeggiEAT project
10.40am Jamie Matthews discussing the international news coverage of the Japanese earthquake and consequent tsunami
10.55am Helen Farasat discussing her research with parents of children with eczema
11.10am Arjan Gosal – losing sight of trees for the honey
11.45am Angie Gosling
12.00 midday Sine McDougall on participating in Research
12.15pm Yeganeh Morakabati will speak about her experiences of teaching in Afghanistan
12:30pm Dan Weissmann, Anna Feigenbaum, Dan Jackson and Einar Thorsen exploring challenges that arise when working with data that is hidden, sensitive or obscured
12:45pm Elizabeth Rosser discussing her Marie Curie experiences
1.00pm Lunch
1.45pm Neil Vaughan, discussing his research into developing an epidural simulator
2.00pm Ashley Woodfall reflecting on the core conceptual struggle with a recently completed research project with children and those that make media for children
2.15pm Fabian Homberg will be observing and explaining petty corruption: An analysis of the “$20 sandwich trick”
3.00pm Carrie Hodges, Lee-Ann Fenge and Wendy Cutts speaking about their project which focuses on young people with disabilities.
3.15pm James Gavin will talk about his project looking at whether technology can be used to increase strength and balance in older adults
More speakers to be confirmed – please check our Blog posts for updates!
The MRC have published their Annual Report for 2014/15. This includes a strategic overview and highlights their key activities.
You can also read Research Professionals article on the decrease in MRC’s success rates.
We reported recently on this blog that work on our fusion-funded co-creation and co-production project on fish population restoration was progressing strongly in July. Yesterday, we held our workshop to disseminate our initial findings and discuss their implications with a wide range of external stakeholders.
Held at the Environment Agency’s National Fisheries Technical Centre in Huntingdon, Cambridgeshire, the 30 participants included representatives from the Environment Agency, Angling Trust, Rivers Trusts, Natural England and Barbel Society. We presented our very recent and on-going data analyses on the genetic structure of fish populations in the UK that are being completed at the moment by our FiF funded project students at the University of Insubria, Italy. Their work is proving to be fascinating, revealing unexpectedly strong genetic patterns at the river catchment level that we suggest require preserving in an era where habitat loss and fish stocking activities are having major impacts on the genetic integrity of many fish populations.
The workshop also included presentations from other relevant BU projects and by a number of the external participants, and concluded with open discussions on how our work could be driven forward through increased utilization of co-creation and co-production opportunities across the different stakeholder groups.
Some workshop participants: (clockwise, starting front left) Rob Britton (BU), Pete Reading (Barbel Society), Martin Salter (Angling Trust), Nigel Hewlett (Environment Agency) and Karen Twine (Environment Agency).
Adrian Pinder of BU presenting work on the importance of larval fish in understanding fish population restoration.
Overall, the workshop was a fantastic opportunity to showcase our Fusion funded work and has provided us with great feedback from a range of end users on how to build on this excellent Fusion investment Fund project.
Pippa Gillingham, John Stewart, Andy Ford, Einar Thorsen and Shelley Thompson led a lively ‘conversation’ about climate change in a well-attended event on Tuesday. The audience led the discussion and there were many topics covered.
These focused on how some species are effected, how and when the media engage with the subject, and what impact do scientists have in reporting on climate change. Pippa described how species move out of protected areas and what impact that has. Einar asked how do you connect ordinary people with the research taking place. Andy explained that humans strive to increase quality of life but there is a disconnect from the consequences of ones actions. Shelley added that we are exceptional at rationalising our behaviour. John debated with the audience the role of the academic in remaining impartial and being a describer, an observer and being objective.
Other events that may interest you are ‘Recycling cooking oil’ at 12.30pm and ‘Earthenders: A global soap opera’ at 6pm both on Wednesday.
BU staff can login below:
Paper accepted on women and disability in Nepal
Book now – The supporting eating and drinking well with dementia at home event
BU ECRN seed fund success for Dr Sarah Hambidge
MSCA Postdoctoral Fellowships 2025 Call
ERC Advanced Grant 2025 Webinar MSCA Postdoctoral Fellowships 2025
Update on UKRO services
European research project exploring use of ‘virtual twins’ to better manage metabolic associated fatty liver disease
Research Information Network
Horizon Europe Work Programme 2025 Published
Horizon Europe 2025 Work Programme pre-Published