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Fusion success: Spanish Civil War memorials and tourism

Fusion Investment Fund

I have been fortunate to win Fusion funding to conduct research into the link between Spanish Civil War memorials and tourism. The Spanish Civil War (1936-1939) is a focus for war memorials to the victims of the struggle. They often form the backdrop for tourism and they also attract tourists in their own right. My study will investigate the link between political identity and pilgrimage , using the renowned Spanish Civil War walking tours  in Barcelona and Madrid as sites for data collection. The research will adopt the method of participant observation, and it will take place in April 2016.

£300K funding for upcoming SBRI competition – Digital Forensics

Business Engagement, Funding opportunities, innovation, Knowledge Exchange

InnovateUK_LogoA_Interim_RGBx320govuk[1]

The Home Office is planning an SBRI call on the subject of digital forensics and how it is used to support serious crime and counter terrorism investigations.

The aim of this funding call is to seek innovative proposals to enhance the capability of law enforcement to quickly recover and thoroughly investigate information stored on the seized digital devices of suspects under investigation.

More information on this funding opportunity.

Competition briefing event, 1​4th September, London

The event, which is free to attend, is an excellent opportunity for you to receive first hand information about the competition- application process, key dates etc. as well as meet and network with peers, potential partners, market leaders & innovators in the industry.

More information on the briefing event.

Sports England Hackathon Challenge!

 

Technology awards sport

I’m trying to get a team of six 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 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 to host International Occupational Science Conference on 3 and 4 September

On 3rd and 4th September this year, BU will be hosting the prestigious Occupational Science Europe conference, which we have entitled Health and Wellbeing through Occupation. We will welcome delegates and speakers from North America, New Zealand, Scandinavia, Mainland Europe, Ireland and the UK. This is the first time that BU has hosted such an event and we have compiled an innovative and exciting programme. Keynote presentations will focus on how to achieve health and wellbeing through what people do, the rights and justice of health, the daily activities of gypsies and travellers and also on what research into the well elderly tells us about promoting health and wellbeing through occupation.

Occupational science is the study of what people do in everyday life and is influenced by a range of disciplines, including anthropology, human geography, psychology, sociology, public health and is one of the underpinning sciences for the profession of occupational therapy. BU is proud to host the conference with world-renowned keynote speakers that will challenge and discuss the research that informs occupational science.

As well as welcoming a range of international and national speakers, a number of BU academics and PhD students from different disciplines will present at the conference on a variety of topics such as the lifestyle of adults with low vision, sexual well-being for adults with physical disabilities, post-bereavement occupations of those bereaved by suicide, everyday life with a long-term condition, older people’s involvement in community exercise programmes, public health and wellbeing practice, craft practice for new mothers, enhancing well-being through arts-based research  quilting as a meaningful reflective tool in research  the role of volunteering, health and wellbeing at home and the symbolic construction of health in Roman Britain.

There are still a few places available at the conference, although registration closes on Friday 28 August 2015. For more information, please e-mail occupation@bournemouth.ac.uk and go to:

https://microsites.bournemouth.ac.uk/oseconf/conference-details/programme/

If you are passing Kimmeridge House on 3rd and 4th September, please feel free to visit the sandpit of ideas and occupational science patchwork installations!

Latest Funding Opportunities

Funding opportunities

The following selection of BU-relevant funding opportunities have been announced. Please follow the links for more information:

Department for Environment, Food & Rural Affairs

Stodmarsh Site – Water Quality Study

Incidences of fish kill and algal blooms have given rise to concerns with regards to water control and water quality in the main NNR Reserve Lake at Stodmarsh NNR. This project will also provide recommendations for improvements in water control and water quality, which should work towards improving the ecological condition of the site.

Max Award: £20,000 over 6 months Deadline: 2 September 2015 for EOI

Aqualate Mere Site – Water Quality Project

The aim of this contract is to understand if catchment sources of nutrients and sediment are still significant and therefore if further reductions are needed to achieve the SSSI water quality objectives.

Max Award: Unspecified Deadline: 2 September 2015 for EOI

Food Standards Agency

Invitation for Expressions of Interest in Strategic Evidence Programme Research Projects: Exploring the potential of integrating next generation sequencing and other ‘big data’.

Max Award: Unspecified Deadline: 14 September 2015 for tenders

EPSRC

Trust, Identity, Privacy & Security in the Digital Economy

The Research Councils UK Digital Economy Theme and the cyber security strand of the Partnership for Conflict, Crime and Security are investing up to £10 million to support user-driven and interdisciplinary research that solves real problems in establishing trust, identity, privacy and security in the digital economy.

Max Award: Total of £10 million to fund up to 10 projects Deadline: 14 September 2015 for “Intent to Bid” and 13 October 2015 for full submission

Industry Fellowship

This scheme is for academic scientists who want to work on a collaborative project with industry and for scientists in industry who want to work on a collaborative project with an academic organisation. The scheme provides a basic salary for the researcher and a contribution towards research costs.

Max Award: Fellow’s basic salary & up to £2000 research expenses per year Deadline: 24 September 2015

Telling Tales of Engagement Competition 2015

The RCUK Digital Economy Theme (DET) is running a competition designed to help capture and promote the impact that your digital economy research is having. Three prizes of £10,000 are available to support researchers to further tell the story of research impact in an interesting and engaging way to a wider audience.

Max Award: £10,000 Deadline: 1 December 2015

Innovate UK

Digital Forensics

The challenge from the Home Office’s Office for Security and Counter Terrorism (OSCT), is to improve the speed, efficiency and effectiveness of recovering and automatically analysing data from the seized digital devices of suspects under investigation. Up to £300k will be spent on Phase 1 proof-of-concept projects, each with a nominal maximum value of £40k.

Max Award: Up to £300,000 Deadline: 7 October 2015

Advancing the commercial applications of graphene

The aim of this competition is to stimulate the exploitation of this high-performance material, as well as related carbon-based 2D materials that have emerged from the research base. These studies should evaluate the feasibility and potential of the use of graphene in a specific application, with relevant data to support its performance against current market specifications.

Max Award: Up to £2.5 million Deadline: 28 October 2015 for registration & 4 November 2015 for full submission

Optimising food composition: fat, sugar, salt & fibre

This competition will support collaborative R&D projects aimed either at reducing levels of salt, sugar or fat in food, or at increasing dietary fibre, or any combination of these. The competition is designed to encourage innovation right across the food chain.

Max Award: Up to £10 million Deadline: 18 November 2015

 

Leverhulme Trust

Senior Research Fellowship for Engineering Academics

The RAEng/Leverhulme Trust Senior Research Fellowships allows academics to concentrate on full-time research and be relieved of teaching and administrative responsibilities. The purpose of the Fellowships is to cover the salary costs of a replacement academic who will take over the awardee’s teaching and administration duties for up to one year.

Max Award: Contributes to salary costs of replacement teaching & £2,500 support fund Deadline: 26 October 2015

Wellcome Trust

Investigator Awards in Humanities & Social Science

Investigator Awards are aimed at exceptional researchers with bold and intellectually rigorous ideas. They provide flexible support at a level and length to enable humanities and social science research to explore any aspect of human and animal health. Applicants should be able to articulate a compelling vision for their research and demonstrate the track record and originality to achieve it.

Max Award: £100,000 – £200,000 per year for up to 5 years Deadline: 22 January 2016 for preliminary applications & 30 March 2016 for full submissions

European Food Safety Authority, EU

Data Collection for the Estimation of Ecological Data

Data collection for the estimation of ecological data (specific focal species, time spent in the treated areas collecting food, composition of diet), residue level and residue decline of pesticides on food items to be used in risk assessment for birds and mammals.

Award max: 300,000 euros for 15 months Deadline: 11 September 2015 for tenders

Database of non-QPS production strains of industrially produced food & feed additives

The aim of this procurement procedure is to conclude a direct contract for the preparation of a database from a review on the taxonomical identification and potential toxigenic capacities of microorganisms used for the industrial production of feed additives and food enzymes.

Max Award: 200,000 euros Deadline: 15 October 2015

Directorate-General for the Environment, EU

The objective of the service contract is to support technically DG Environment by providing information, reports and analysis on: — the role of agri-environment and context indicators in the development of the choices of Member States, — the illustration of trends in the state of the environment which are expected as a result of the elements notified under good agricultural and environmental conditions and the greening components, — the uptake of agri-environment measures by different farmers and farming communities, including the identification of barriers to environmentally sufficient uptake of agri-environment measures, — the potential to use more widely innovative funding mechanisms such as results-based payments for areas beyond biodiversity protection, and collective rural development funding.

Max Award: 330,000 – 360,000 euros Deadline: 25 September 2015

Director-General for Financial Stability, Financial Services & Capital Markets Union, EU

Study on Access to Comprehensive Financial Guidance for Consumers

The objective of this study is twofold: first, identify and investigate examples of good practices of financial guidance and describe their functioning, including who gives guidance, financing and business models; second, identify potential incentives which could encourage consumers to take up financial guidance.

Max Award: 75,000 euros Deadline: 25 September 2015

Study on the role of digitisation and innovation in creating a true singe market for retail financial services & insurance

Contract for a study to investigate the areas in which innovation and digitalisation could help build a more integrated and competitive European market for retail financial services, for instance by removing some of the obstacles faced by providers and consumers. This will include a review of the current state of digitalisation and innovation in the retail financial services and insurance markets and a projection of the likely future direction of this trend.

Max Award: 250,000 euros Deadline: 29 September 2015

Framework contract for assistance services in the field of compliance assessment

The subject of this call for tenders is to select economic operators for the provision of services in connection with the assessment of the compliance of the national measures of EU Member States with legislation of the European Union in selected legal fields, in particular in the areas of banking and finance. It falls within the responsibility of the Commission to make sure that Member States’ legislation is compliant with Union law. The services required under this contract will assist the Commission in assessing the compliance of national measures with the relevant Union law.

Max Award: 5,000,000 euros Deadline: 30 September 2015

Please note that some funders 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.EU funding guide

Fusion Investment Fund: Neuroscience has found that emotions are a primary factor in learning to change behaviour: A project to apply and study these findings in many areas of practice (for example, public health, sports science, youth work, neurological rehabilitation, special education, and potentially many others).

Fusion, Fusion Investment Fund

 

We were very fortunate to receive Fusion funding for our collaboration between colleagues and students in Health and Social Sciences, Sports Science, and a variety of external practice partners. Essentially the funding will enable us to obtain psychophysiological recording equipment to be used to measure emotional responses in a wide variety of learning and training settings. Below is a screenshot of a typical recording from this kind of equipment.

 

Image-1

 

Huge progress has been made over the last couple of decades in our understanding of emotion and feelings. A compelling conclusion from this enormous body of work is the primacy of emotion in how we operate in the world. Darwin knew this, as did Freud, but many still cling to the notion of the achievements of homo sapiens (“wise man”!) as founded on cognition and rational thinking. For them, feelings are a vestigial remnant of our evolutionary past, not dissimilar to the appendix – no longer having any purpose, and also potentially a threat to our well being.

Affective neuroscience completely opposes this so-called rational approach: emotions and feelings guided our survival in our evolutionary past, but the big news is that they still do! Accumulations of theory and research from fields such as affective neuroscience, positive psychology, and health psychology support this simple but crucial switch in emphasis. Some everyday practice reveals the primacy of emotion, for example emotionally skilled doctors tend to bring about better health outcomes for their patients, children are taught to pay attention to their ‘uh oh’ signs (involuntary emotional responses of sweaty palms and heart beating faster) to keep them safe. So emotions are not the redundant and fickle “appendix” of our behavioural systems, but in fact are their driving force.

Despite an array of pragmatic findings about the way emotions and feelings work, this largely ‘pure’ body of neuroscience has not been directly applied to any particular field of practice. This project aims to correct that omission. The applications of affective science to how we learn and change our behaviour are potentially enormous, as the physiological emotional measures offer a straightforward ‘window’ into the person’s emotional responses.

The Fusion funding enables us to build on one of the applications, through running a study developing a previous pilot. This will be based on a form of training using natural horsemanship that has been demonstrated to be very successful in behaviour change for young offenders and young people who do not engage with school. This is an example of what it looks like (thanks to TheHorseCourse for the picture):

 

TheHorseCourse picture

 

The equipment, and experience gained through carrying out the initial study, will also allow for projects with other practice partners to go ahead, for example, work with people with acquired brain injuries, and children with profound learning disabilities. If any of this interests you, please get in touch with Sid Carter or Emma Kavanagh, and we’d be glad to tell you more.

 

The Emotional Processing Scale

EPS logoThe Emotional Processing Scale (EPS) is a questionnaire measure of a person’s emotional processing style, their typical way of processing stress or emotional situations. It was published by Hogrefe, a leading European Psychometric Test publisher in July 2015 and is available for use by clinicians working in mental health, psychological therapy and health psychology, as well as researchers interested in the emotional life of healthy individuals and other populations.

The EPS has been developed over 12 years by an experienced team at Bournemouth University including Professor Roger Baker, Professor Peter Thomas, and Dr Sarah Thomas (BUCRU).

The EPS can be used to:eps front cover

  • identify and quantify healthy and unhealthy styles of emotional processing;
  • assess the contribution of poor emotional processing to physical, psychosomatic and psychological disorders;
  • provide a non-diagnostic framework to assess patients for research or therapy;
  • measure changes in emotions during therapy/counselling; and
  • assist therapists in incorporating an emotional component into their formulations of psychological therapy.

For more information on the EPS please see this leaflet, or visit this Q&A session with Roger Baker

For more information on the concept of Emotional Processing please see the Emotional Processing website.

There have been 4 completed PhDs at Bournemouth University on the EPS:

Mariaelisa Santonastaso

Carol Wilkins

Glen Howell

Gareth Abbey

Fusion Investment Fund — Introducing the Bournemouth-Athens Network in Critical Infrastructure Security (BANCIS)

Fusion, Fusion Investment Fund

Although largely invisible to us, our lives are dependent on critical infrastructure (CI).  CI is made up of roads, rail, pipelines, power lines, together with buildings, technology, and people.  Some of this infrastructure is modern, but much of it is ageing and interconnected in so many ways that we fail to realise our dependency on CI or its dependencies until its loss disrupts our day-to-day lives.

tech_laptop

 

This dependency has not been lost on governments, which now invest significant sums on securing this infrastructure from cybersecurity threats. Unfortunately, in most cases, this investment entails bolting security mechanisms onto existing infrastructure.  Such investment decisions are made by people with little knowledge of the infrastructure they are securing and, has such, little visibility of the impact that poorly designed security might have on the day-to-day delivery of these critical services.  Moreover, because technology innovation does not evolve at the same pace in different cultures, and security which mitigate the risks faced by critical infrastructure in one country may not be as effective in another.   The reason for these differences are myriad, and range from differences in working practices to expectations about the scale of infrastructure being secured.  There is, therefore, a need to evaluate security solutions against specification exemplars based on these nuanced, representative environments.  However, to develop exemplars of such environments requires data collection and knowledge sharing about nuances associated with particular forms of critical infrastructure for different cultures.

The Bournemouth-Athens Network in Critical Infrastructure Security (BANCIS) project will examine and model the nuances associated with two forms of critical infrastructure in different national cultures.  It will do so by building a network between Cybersecurity researchers at BU, and the Information Security & Critical Infrastructure Protection Laboratory at Athens University of Economics & Business (AUB). These nuances will be modelled as specification exemplars of UK and Greek water and rail companies. By developing these exemplars, researchers and practitioners will be able to conduct a cost-effective evaluation of new ideas based on realistic CI environments.  The exemplars will also help students appreciate the challenges associated with designing security for complex, real-world systems.  The exemplars will be modelled using the CAIRIS security design tool; this is an open-source software product maintained by researchers at BU. The data necessary to build these exemplars will be collected over a series of visits by AUB researchers to BU, and BU researcher to AUB.

Please contact Shamal Faily if you’re interested in finding out more about BANCIS, or getting involved in the project.

BU research in the spot light

PG research

Taylor & Francis one of the major international publishers publishes a list of top 20 most read/downloaded papers in the Journal of Adhesion Science & Technology. Three of the BU’s Sustainable Design Research Centre (now Cluster) recent publications are in the top 20 most read publications list, of which one is now the top most read publication.

It is note worthy that most of the publications in the top most read articles have been available since 2012. BU publications have been available since December 2014 and Mar/April 2015.

Current research in corrosion is conducted in collaboration with the Defence Science & Technology Laboratory Ministry of Defence and led by Dr Zulfiqar Khan. This research focuses on structural deterioration through corrosion, its monitoring and prediction. A second project in collaboration with the Defence Science & Technology Laboratory Ministry of Defence in wireless corrosion monitoring techniques will start soon.

A recently successful research in collaboration with The Tank Museum at Bovington in corrosion has led to significant contributions and has informed environmental controlled Vehicle Conservation Centre at the Museum.

If you have interests in this area or would like to know more about the corrosion, its implications on structural integrity, longevity, durability & reliability then do contact us.

Dr Zulfiqar Khan

Festival of Learning 2016: Call for Expressions of Interest- Now Open!

As one Festival of Learning ends, another one arises. The call for expressions of interest for FOL 2016 is now open – this is just the idea stage and is your opportunity to say that you’d like to be considered bubblesfor next year.

Over the past few years the Festival of Learning has had circa 5,000 visits. To further this success in 2016, we need you to host lectures, workshops and debates (or whatever type of engaging activity you can think of) showcasing our fantastic knowledge base at BU.

Why get involved?

  • It is a great opportunity to celebrate life at BU and share your passion with a different audience.
  • It can add fresh perspective to your research. Read this article about how public engagement can help you think about your research from a fresh perspective.
  • It can change people’s lives. Here in the Festival office we have been moved by members of the public telling us about how the Festival has helped reignite a passion for learning, helped support the growth of the charity and even helped people to walk barefoot on a beach for the first time in years.
  • It is a great networking opportunity. Colleagues involved in the Festival in previous years have developed partnerships which have, for example, led to collaborative PhD studentships.
  • It is fantastic for skills development. Especially for early career researchers, the Festival offers an unprecedented opportunity to develop communication techniques which engage members of the public and builds confidence in communicating complex ideas (essential for a future lecturing career!)
  • It helps to meet the expectation of funders and policy makers. The European Commission, HEFCE and our Research Councils (amongst others) expect researchers to demonstrate to the public the value of their research. The Festival provides of a great vehicle to do this as you will receive central support (e.g. for marketing) rather than going it alone.
  • It can support student recruitment. And not just undergraduates, but those looking for postgraduate courses and short courses who have never before considered BU as a potential place to study.

 

Stuck for Ideas?

We had some fantastic events at this year’s festival. Why not have a look at the website to see the kinds of things that went on. Listed below are some of the favourite events from 2015 that demonstrated some innovative and tactful ways to engage the public with research.

  • Zombie Science was a series of fun and interactive sessions looking into the causes of disease and infection control.
  • Jurassica was an event for children to learn about the incredible Jurassic Coast on our doorstep and an opportunity for them to create their own individual work of art to take home.
  • Improve your teamwork was an event that was ideal for individuals and businesses wanting to learn more about how individuals operate in teams, develop an understanding of team roles and ultimately, improve performance.
  • The cyber security awareness workshop gave attendees a chance to learn about the latest cyber threats, learn how secure their password is, and how people may be watching them with interactive demonstrations.
  • Radio drama involved the public in producing, developing and recording short form radio dramas for birst.co.uk and broadcasting them live at the end of the day, supported by actors, staff and students in the Media School. This gave the public a chance to see the radio studio at work behind the scenes.
  • Mindful over mindless was a talk that explained to the public how and why they should incorporate mindfulness into their daily lives to improve their wellbeing and explored the close relationship between the mind and body by drawing on the effects that modern living can have on our physiology.

 

What hasn’t been done before?

Well a lot certainly has been done but if you can think outside the box a bit, there are tonnes of new ways to engage the audience. We love what Science Ceilidh do. They run workshops of your favourite dances rejigged with a twist of science. From simulating your immune system with the Dashing White Blood Cell to swinging your partner DNA base-pairs in the Orcadian-Strip-the-Helix -They’re pulling all the stops out to make science enjoyable and understandable to everyone in an innovative way.

You don’t have to run a long event. Many members of the public actually prefer to attend an event which only lasts an hour or so, rather than for a whole day.

Fill out the expressions of interest application here to get involved. We’re completely open to ideas and we’d love to hear from you! Contact Naomi Kay for any queries.

Fusion Investment Fund – BU research collaboration with the University of Utah

I am glad to receive the Fusion Investment Fund to visit and establish the cooperation with the world famous Simulation & Electronic Animation Lab (SEALAB), the University of Utah, USA.

“Almost every influential person in the modern computer graphics community either passed through the University of Utah or came into contact with it in some way ”- From The Algorithmic Image: Graphic Visions of the Computer Age, by Robert Rivlin.

The University of Utah has one of the earliest and world leading computer graphics research groups, who developed the first display of computer animation in 1976. The University of Utah Medical Centre is one of the 100 Great Hospitals in America. As the key member, Prof. Ladislav is a recipient of an NSF (National Science Foundation) CAREER award which is the NSF’s most prestigious award in support of junior faculty. In the last ten years, Prof. Ladislav published many top-level papers on SIGGRAPH (ACM Transaction on Graphics), and the total number of citation of his work amounts to more than 900.​

The link between NCCA and SEALAB was firstly established by my PhD student Kun Qian. He has contacted Prof. Ladislav (one of the key members of SEALAB) long time ago to discuss various research questions on deformation. Due to the similarity of research interest, we were constantly in touch to discuss the solution of some challenging problems. Prof. Ladislav’s research focuses on geometry based shape deformations which is an essential technique in real-time medical simulation. Our research group has developed many advanced techniques of collision detection, haptic feedback and realistic rendering for real-time medical simulation. We will pay a visit to the University of Utah, combining the expertise and professional knowledge from both partners to perfect our system for the surgery training.

Xiaosong Yang

34th International Human Science Research Conference

I have recently returned from presenting at this conference in Trondheim, Norway. It was a very positive experience and there was a great deal of dialogue and networking  amongst the participants.

“The lived experience of intentional weight loss whilst living in a society with cultural expectations of thinness”

Dr Teresa Burdett

EC Info Day – Secure, Clean and Efficient Energy taking place on the 14th-15th Sept

Info Days

EC Info days: relating to Secure, Clean and Efficient Energy are being held on the: 14th-15th September 2015 in Brusselseuflag

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 – please bear in mind places are limited

http://ec.europa.eu/research/index.cfm?pg=events&eventcode=0B56FA95-AFE0-D63B-DD0527FE301EC26C

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

Piirus – top five ways to find collaborators

The Piirus Blog is discussing the top five ways to find collaborators to further your research.

ideasAccording to their research Piirus found that 85% of researchers said collaboration with others helps drive research excellence and 79% of researchers think international research collaboration increases research productivity. In their recent survey, however, research managers ranked developing collaborations as one of their top challenges.

So what can you do?

  1. Decide the types of collaboration activities you seekPiirus
  2. Get tips on how to make collaborations in these areas work
  3. Find collaborators in your research field or from other disciplines
  4. Find people by research methodology or technique
  5. Find collaborators with experience in the equipment you need

Interested? Read more about this topic on the Pirrus Blog.

Piirus can help you make these connections. It is easy to sign up!