/ Full archive

Hackathon Challenge – It’s not too late!

Technology awards sport

I’m still trying to get a team together for the UK’s first sport hackathon. The challenge is to create an app that facilitates social change through sport at the Sport England Sport Technology Awards Hackathon. It will take place over 25 hours on 2-3 October 2015 (3pm start on the Friday) during which time teams will have just 24 hours to develop their concept that will help a particular demographic group become more physically active.

The winning team will be awarded a bursary of £10,000 to help them build the app.

If you’re interested can you please get in touch with me, Clare at: cfarrance@bournemouth.ac.uk

Team registration closes on 7th September. Would be great to have a BU team there!

More details can be found at:

http://www.sportandrecreation.org.uk/news/06-08-2015/uk%E2%80%99s-first-sports-hackathon-launches

BU academic awarded international collaborative research grant from the International Olympic Committee (IOC)

Dr Richard Shipway from the Department of Sport and Physical Activity in the Faculty of Management at Bournemouth University is part of an international collaborative research team that was recently awarded a highly prestigious IOC (International Olympic Committee) Advanced Olympic Research Grant to complete a project evaluating the volunteering infrastructure legacy of two previous Olympic Games, in Sydney 2000 and London 2012 respectively.

In only the second edition of the Advanced Olympic Research Grant Programme, for 2015/2016, the IOC Olympic Studies Centre (OSC) based in Lausanne, Switzerland selected seven research projects, based on their academic quality and significance with respect to the IOC priority fields of research. The main objective of the Advanced Olympic Research Grant Programme is to promote advanced research by established researchers with a humanities or social sciences perspective in priority fields of research, which are identified annually by the IOC. For this round of applications, 41 individual and collective candidature files were submitted from 25 countries, covering all the priority research themes proposed by the IOC.

The successful research team for this project comprises Leonie LOCKSTONE (Victoria University – Australia), Kristen  HOLMES (Curtin University – Australia), Karen SMITH (Victoria University of Wellington – New Zealand) and Richard SHIPWAY (Bournemouth University – UK). The project is entitled Evaluating the volunteering infrastructure legacy of the Olympic Games: Sydney 2000 and London 2012

The project commences in September 2015 and the results of the research must be submitted to the IOC Olympic Studies Centre in June 2016. For further information on either this project or other Olympic and International Sports Events related research at Bournemouth University, please contact Dr Richard Shipway at rshipway@bournemouth.ac.uk

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

22nd September 2015

27th October 2015

24th November 2015

26th January 2016

23rd February 2016

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.

Fusion Investment Fund – Experience and socialisation in the events sector

Events have been a rapidly developing field of study in recent years, and a growing body of knowledge is consolidating around Event Management. This is a field where BU is a leading university both in terms of education and research.

Although many economic impact studies have been conducted on events, many other related areas of knowledge lack in-depth understanding. Both from the professional field and from academia, there is a clear need to better understand the experiential and sociological dimensions of events. This will allow for improved practices in the field, increasing competitiveness on the long-term.   Although experiential aspects of events are embedded in recent curricula, such as in the Events Management course at BU, the need to provide (future) professionals with update know-how is a pressing matter.

For more information about this project, please contact Lénia Marques (lmarques@bournemouth.ac.uk).

HE Policy Update

Monday

SNP

Scotland’s universities have warned that tens of millions of pounds of their funding is being put at risk by SNP plans giving ministers unprecedented political control over how they are run. SNP political control over universities ‘could cost millions’. (Telegraph).

Tuesday

Mature Students

Since the introduction of the higher tuition fees, the number of mature students has reduced in the UK. This article discusses the need for clearer communication around financial support for mature students as well as the importance of flexible learning spaces. ‘I was worried I wouldn’t fit in’ – how can universities support mature students? (The Guardian Higher Education Network).

Wednesday

University Advertising

A recent survey found that prospective students are most likely to trust information about universities that they perceive to be impartial. The survey also revealed that they place only limited weight on advertising and social media from universities themselves. Applicants put little trust in university advertising (THE).

Thursday

Graduate Unemployment

According to a HESA study, long-term graduate unemployment has returned to pre-recession levels, but more university leavers are working part-time or engaging in further study. Graduate unemployment back to pre-recession levels (THE).

USS Pensions

The prospect of further cuts to the sector’s largest pension scheme has been raised after its deficit rose sharply despite savings from the closure of final salary pensions. USS deficit rises despite savings from end of final salary pensions (THE).

Friday

HEA

The new chair of the Higher Education Academy (HEA), has announced that the HEA should become the professional body for university teaching in a shift that could lead to the introduction of individual subscription fees. New HEA chair: paying members could enshrine it as professional body (THE).

Fusion Fund – South African Paramedic Placement

I’m delighted to have received funding from the fusion fund (staff mobility and networking) to set up a placement opportunity for our paramedic students. Through links with a level 1 trauma centre and university in Cape Town I will use the funding to travel to Cape Town to meet with academics and hospital managers to finalise the details of this exciting placement. It is hoped that paramedic students will be able to undertake a 3-4 week placement in a mixture of clinical settings: ambulances, A and E, and community in order to widen their experience and gain a better understanding of international healthcare systems. In time, it is hoped that this will lead to international knowledge exchange and collaborative research. I look forward to updating on progress early next year.

Peter Phillips

Fusion Fund support for development of civically-engaged social sciences at BU

Fusion Investment Funds have been awarded under the Staff Mobility and Networking Strand to develop an interdisciplinary, cross-Faculty series of public/civic engagement ‘dialogues’ in the social sciences, drawing on national and international figures in the relevant fields. It will bring together leading academics and practitioners in a number of fields in the social sciences, building on areas already taught and researched at BU. It will be of contemporary relevance for the public and for students. Its contribution will be in the bringing together of non-academic experts, students, and members of the public, all in dialogue with academic experts.

The project team consists of a cross–Faculty team including Profs Ann Brooks (HSS) and Candida Yates (FMC), together with Professor Barry Richards (FMC). The team have already collaborated in bringing together a set of Research Degrees in the Social Sciences (MRes) and are committed to a broad based and civically engaged vision of social science at BU which gives prominence and visibility to student experience and public engagement. The title of the project is Distinguished Social Scientists Public Lecture Series – Dialogues in the Contemporary Social Sciences and builds on events held during Festival of Learning week at BU in July 2015, when two eminent UK social scientists shared their insights on how their research has contributed to an understanding of the social world.

The ‘Dialogues’ will cover the following areas:

  • Crime and Criminology – Representation and Reality
  • Education –Diversity and Opportunity
  • Evaluating Emotional Well-Being
  • Politics and the Media 

The project is about public/civic engagement and will have an immediate regional appeal in being the only high–profile series to be offered and well publicised in the region, one which combines experts from academia with senior figures from professional fields discussing issues of major public interest. The ‘dialogues’ will be filmed by BU students, and can have a national impact by being disseminated through both scholarly and professional websites, as well as attracting national media attention. The participation of internationally-known academics discussing issues which are debated across the world will give them some international reach and influence.

The series will involve students from HSS and FMC in the organisation, promotion and dissemination of the series and its ideas. The series will enable students to gain skills in event organisation, including liaising with speakers and delegates from different cultural groups. Alongside developing their social skills in that context, they will also contribute to the staging of the events as they happen and to the recording of the events through film and podcast. Students will also contribute to the actual content of the seminars as audience participants and hopefully in some cases be inspired to become researchers themselves.

The events will be organised in the period September 2015 to July 2016.

Posted by Profs Ann Brooks, Candida Yates and Barry Richards

An Early-Career Academic’s Experiences: How Grants Academy supported me to supervise an Undergraduate Research Assistant?

Awarded & submitted bids, Grants Academy

Earlier this year I had the opportunity to enrol on the Grants Academy, working to develop a draft proposal for what would be my first research study at BU. Having been taught the art of ‘craftsmanship’, ‘free writing’, and then developing the proposal(s) over time, allowed me to reflect upon and begin realising my research idea. This led to a cross-faculty research partnership and a Grants Academy Small Grant award, to fund a preliminary study to determine whether leg position influences the effects of an electrostimulation device used to prevent deep-vein thrombosis. The pilot study aimed to monitor leg muscle activity and balance ability in healthy, older adults, to provide a foundation for the future study focusing on post-operative, older adults. Not only did the Grants Academy develop my proposal writing skills and an understanding of research funding acquisition, but also supported me to establish my research profile at BU. Shortly after the internal-award, I applied for the Undergraduate Research Assistant (URA) scheme, which would allow me to supervise a student for six weeks during the research study. The project was successful in supporting a URA, who sadly finished earlier this month.

Once a URA myself (albeit at Manchester Metropolitan University), I felt was it important to involve the assistant throughout the research process, including: protocol design, recruitment, laboratory testing, as well as data collection, archiving and early analysis. The URA proved to be mature, diligent and self-motivated, and also a great laboratory partner. After an induction week, she quickly familiarised herself with the lab equipment and was soon able to contribute to refining the study protocol. Partly due to her enthusiasm, partly due to Grants Academy funding, the URA worked hard: achieving NHS Good Clinical Practice training, co-presenting findings at Festival of Learning (Research Reflections event) and co-authoring the study protocol for Clinical Trial Register recognition. She also worked closely with academics from the Faculty of Management, and Faculty of Health and Social Care. Based on the URA’s performance and commitment, my co-investigator and I have invited her to continue working on the project to disseminate the study findings (with conference abstracts and two articles in preparation).

12

Early data suggests healthy, older adults benefit more from electrostimulation with the leg bent (seated position), than having the leg straight (typical hospital-administered, lying position). These findings will provide the basis for the future study examining the impact of leg position in clinical patients recovering from surgery. So thanks to Grants Academy, BU and my URA, I’ve been able to establish a sustainable, cross-faculty research plan that will promote co-creation and co-production with students, end-users and research partners into the future. Regardless of where you are in your career, Grants Academy and the URA Scheme offer boundless opportunities for professional and personal development – much recommended!

 

Dr James Gavin

Lecturer (Exercise Physiology)

Department of Sport and Physical Activity

Faculty of Management

Beauty in the eye of the user?

Fusion Investment Fund

cowlookingatpicture

If we are going around an art gallery we are often aware that we are evaluating the aesthetic appeal of the artworks.  What we may be less aware of is that when we are interacting with computers, websites, and applications on our mobile phones the aesthetic appeal of the interfaces we are using matters too.  Appeal can make interfaces easier to use and certainly makes our interactions more enjoyable.

Angela Gosling and Siné McDougall (Psychology, Faculty of Science) recently received Fusion Funding to support a collaborative network with colleagues in at Fribourg in Switzerland and Swansea University to find out more about the role of aesthetic evaluations in human-computer interaction.  We want to examine how we make decisions about the appeal and usability of an interface.  These ‘decisions’ start when we unconsciously respond to interface appeal within the first few milliseconds that we encounter an interface and continue through to habitual everyday use.  By investigating these processes we will develop a better understanding of how interface appeal influences user performance and lead to better interface optimisation.  Our Fusion Funding is going to support our collaboration while we prepare grant proposals to take this work forward.

EC Info Day – EU Brokerage Event on Key Enabling Strategies taking place on the 1st of Oct 2015

Info Days

EC Info days: relating to EU Brokerage Event on Key Enabling Strategies is being held on the:

1st of October 2015 in Strasbourg, France

Info days and brokerage events run by the EC are an opportunity to get an overview of work programmes covering the 2016 and 2017 calendar years, meet up and hear from others who are interested in the same programme and potentially form links and build consortia for future applications.

Please click on the link below to book or register your interest:

http://ec.europa.eu/research/index.cfm?pg=events&eventcode=2DE41882-FADE-977A-8FDF508D5871C5AA

Please let Emily or myself know if you intend to go so we can co-ordinate if others also wish to attend.

Royal Academy of Engineering’s Enterprise Fellowship Scheme – Funding Opportunity !

Funding opportunities, innovation, Knowledge Exchange

Royal academy of engineering logo

The Royal Academy of Engineering’s Enterprise Fellowship scheme supports outstanding entrepreneurial engineers, working at a UK university, to spin out a business by providing funding and an intensive, bespoke package of training and mentoring.

Prior experience of commercialisation activities is not essential, the desire and capability to succeed is more important and we will equip you with the necessary skills through a programme of training and mentoring.

The Fellowships provide £35,000 of salary support and £25,000 for the continued development of the innovation and associated spin-out company.

Applications close 7 September.

For more information on how to apply please visit www.raeng.org.uk/enterprisefellowships

Building Roman Britain

Awarded & submitted bids

Photo_Fabric 2The Department of Archaeology, Anthropology and Forensic Sciences is about to start a new project that uses a non-destructive method to examine museum specimens in order to determine their possible source.

The project will examine the stone and ceramic (brick and tile) industries of Roman Britain using portable X-ray fluorescence (pXRF) to help us identify where the quarries and tile kilns were located. This work forms the centrepiece of a knowledge exchange network with two leading museums in southern Britain (Roman Bath Museum and Fishbourne Palace Museum) who will use our results in innovative interpretations, including new displays and museum learning centres. This will ensure maximum added value to blue-sky research that will quickly feed back into public engagement with science and technology. It is funded by a recently awarded HEIF5+1 grant.

The research supports knowledge exchange activity with SMEs by building on links established by BU over many years with archaeological museums in southern Britain. Museums are a vital component of our local economy. For instance, Roman Bath Museum attracts over 1 million visitors per annum, making it one of the most popular museums outside London. Its importance not only to Bath but to the wider regional economy is well recognised. But museums must constantly renew themselves and offer an exciting educational package to visitors of all ages, hence the Museum Association has made collaborations between universities and museums one of its key priorities, and as such this project should be seen as a model of best practice.

While XRF has been used for some time in archaeology, the recent development of portable XRF has added a whole new dimension. We no longer have to bring samples to the lab, but the lab can come to the museum, examining stone and ceramic samples that are on display. The Dept of Archaeology, Anthropology and Forensic Sciences is at the leading edge of this development and has already made a reputation using pXRF on archaeological soils, metals and for forensic analyses. However, work by science-based archaeology departments into Roman building material (i.e. limestones in this case) and ceramic building material has been limited. This is therefore an opportunity to work up a methodology and to apply it to the early Roman settlement of Britain. Questions about how and where production (both quarrying and kiln-works) was organised can be addressed once answers to questions about the location of these production centres have been examined. This has impact beyond Roman Bath and Roman Fishbourne, as it has implications for the concept of ‘Romanisation’ of Britannia in the early years of the Roman Conquest of Britain.

For further details, please contact Professor Mark Brisbane.

Matt Bentley’s Fusion Fund Research – South Africa Final Update

Fusion, student research

Daniel and Lee

The 2015 Fusion Fund research project has now come to an end. The last few months saw two BU students, Daniel Wirepa and Claudia O’Sullivan travel to Stellenbosch to undertake the research project examining the development of a novel slow-release technology for application in the treatment of pest infestations in the abalone aquaculture industry. Unfortunately, Claudia had to return to the UK in June for personal reasons but Daniel stayed working in Carol Simon’s labs alongside Lee, one of her research students.

 

Worm Culture Room

Daniel was working on the incorporation of a natural toxin, produced by microscopic algae, into a gel which acts to keep the toxin where it is required to act on the larvae of a shell-boring pest. The shell borer is a small marine worm that causes damage to the shells of cultured abalone (see previous blogs).

 

Bioassay

This pilot study will form the basis for a future research studentship which will link Bournemouth University, Stellenbosch University in South Africa and one of the world’s leading abalone farms in Hermanus, Abagold Pty, Ltd. The outputs of the research will be presented at next year’s International Polychaete Conference in Cardiff with Daniel as a co-author.

Introducing Rebecca Johnson: PQSW Research Assistant

staff profile pages

FullSizeRenderI have joined Bournemouth University as a Research Assistant for the National Centre of Post-Qualifying Social Work and Professional Practice. The Centre is very dynamic and has a wide range of interesting projects and professional development programmes to engage with. I am looking forward to becoming involved with research into financial scamming and mass marketing fraud.

I founded my research background with a Human and Physical Geography degree in which I was able to work with NASA’s Environment and Energy team on research into the economic and environmental impact of launching the space shuttle. I have previously worked in both the public and private sectors in public consultation and communication roles. Most recently I worked with Exeter International Airport as an Air Traffic Control Assistant, an intense role which has left me with a personal interest in aircraft; particularly those that are fast and red.

Outside of work I like to travel, principally North America, and keep active with running and dance. I have an interest in World War 2 history and take part in living history events in the UK and in France. After my second week I am enjoying life as a member of the University and am keen to embrace all that it offers.