Latest research and knowledge exchange news at Bournemouth University
RKEO has a number of posts that directly support colleagues in the Faculties with bid preparation and submission and the post-award management of grants and contracts. These staff members spend approximately 50% of their time based in the Faculty offices. Information on when and where you can expect to find them when they are working in your Faculty is available here on the Research Blog here: http://blogs.bournemouth.ac.uk/research/contact/faculty-facing-staff/.
The Strategy and Security Institute at the University of Exeter will host a workshop on ‘The Legal Framework of Hybrid Warfare and Influence Operations’ on 16–17 September 2015 in collaboration with the NATO Office of Legal Affairs and the Allied Rapid Reaction Corps.
Sascha Bachmann, Associate Professor in International Law, Faculty of Media and Communications, Law, will present the paper Hybrid War: 21st Century’s Threat to Global Peace and Security and aid in the conduct of workshops during this event.
Sascha’s work on Hybrid War is part on an ongoing collaborative project jointly with the Swedish Defence University (http://www.fhs.se/en/)and has been published nationally and internationally, see http://scientiamilitaria.journals.ac.za/pub/article/view/1110/1107.
I have been fortunate enough to have been accepted to present two of my recent studies at the British Association of Sport and Exercise Science (BASES) conference on 1st and 2nd of December this year. Not only am I lucky enough to have been chosen to present, I get to visit the scientific hub of English football. The conference is being held at St George’s Park in Burton-upon-Trent, the brand new national centre for English football. State of the art facilities make it a playground for sports and exercise scientists, one that I most definitely will enjoy.
One issue I address in this study is quantifying the relationship between three-dimensional spinal movement and shoulder counter-rotation. Shoulder counter-rotation is the max rotation of the shoulders in the opposite direction to the batsman after the back foot has landed. This counter-rotation is used by bowlers to help generate pace on the ball, however, high counter-rotation values have been shown to place bowlers at increased risk of lower back injury. The mechanism by which this occurs still remained unclear, as shoulder counter-rotation values only takes rotation at the shoulders into account (which could be caused by spinal rotation or whole body rotation). My study aims to fill in the gaps in this knowledge by looking at the relationship between shoulder counter-rotation values and three dimensional movement of the lumbar and thoracic spine.
The technology I have used in the above study is inertial sensing technology and is a novel method of measurement for spinal movement in fast bowling. Therefore, I am also presenting research looking at the reliability of these sensors and how they may offer a more portable alternative to the camera based systems that are used at present. Once again, I would like to thank Bournemouth University for supporting me with the dissemination of this research.
St George’s Park, Burton-upon-Trent
Do you aspire to be an EU-funded researcher?
The planning for our annual UKRO visit from our European Adviser, Maribel Glogowski, is well underway. This will take place on Wednesday, 14th October 2015 at Talbot Campus.
There will be an information sharing session for RKEO-only staff in the morning with presentations for all staff in the afternoon (13:00 – c. 16:30). It is expected that the afternoon session will include a general introduction to EU funding and the draft Work Programmes to 2017. You can see the draft Work Programmes in the Subscribers’ area on the UKRO portal. As BU subscribes to this service, all staff can register.
Please register for this event as soon as possible by contacting Dianne Goodman. Once we have your details, we will send the full programme, when it is confirmed. The schedule for the day will also be announced on the Research Blog nearer the date.
If you have any burning EU funding information needs, do let me, Emily Cieciura, know as soon as possible, so that we can incorporate your query into the session, where possible.
Yesterday I attended an ERC Starting Grants session at the London School of Economics. Although I may never reach the heady, research heights of submitting a proposal to the prestigious, ERC Starting Grants Call (let alone progressing past Step 1, with 9% success rate!), the workshop provided a range of advice equally applicable to preparing: i) funding proposals and, ii) job applications. From the background search to the interview presentation, in many ways job applications are similar to research funding applications.
Firstly, the background search: if possible, find out who has recently received funding in your field. If applying for a position, identify previous successful candidates. What skills and experience did they have? Appreciating these will allow you write your application accounting for your own capabilities, whilst also identifying how the project or position can further your professional and personal development. Awareness of how the project/position can create opportunities to turn your weaknesses, to strengths, is an important advantage at the interview stage. Next, what are the priorities of the funder, company or institution? Does your CV fit the job roles and responsibilities? Does your project proposal satisfy the call?
Secondly, the writing: be ambitious, but avoid sounding unrealistic. Adhere to the application criteria and submission guidelines (even font-size, line-spacing, etc). Provide evidence of how your project is innovative, what makes you stand out, or what specific skills you can contribute. These should relate to the criteria of the position advert or the research call. Preparation is key; start writing as soon as possible, and expect multiple drafts. Build your proposal (or Personal Statement) logically, based on your previous research (or experiences and skills). Make the application a pleasure to read, but stick to the specific guidelines. If preparing a research proposal, use data and graphs; if preparing a Personal Statement, tell a story expanding on your CV. Ask friends and/or colleagues for comments on your application – informal peer-review in preparation for formal peer-review (the same applies when practicing your interview presentation). Importantly you want to convince those outside of your field how you (or your study) can provide a long-lasting difference.
If you are invited to interview, do your research, again. What are the values of the funder, institution or company? Who is on the panel? What is their background? Next, structure a convincing presentation aligned to your application; support each claim with an example, but be succinct and to-the-point. Maintain focus and momentum, but communicate your enthusiasm. Once finished, expect a range of technical and non-technical questions. Ultimately, interview questions will relate to the application criteria, and range from your subject-specific knowledge to transferable skills (i.e., project management skills). Finally, use questions as an excuse to show your audience what you know; view your ‘weaknesses’ as opportunities. If successful, celebrate; if unsuccessful, view as an opportunity. As the ERC Officer mentioned ‘many successful applications come from investigators who were unsuccessful with a previous application and subsequently improved their submission’.
So regardless as to whether you are an undergraduate looking to secure a placement/ postgraduate position, or a Senior Lecturer applying for research funding, translate what you have learnt from previous writing experiences to the opportunities presenting you here and now.
ERC Starting Grant – Funded Projects
EU Funded Projects – Host Countries
James Gavin, Lecturer (Exercise Physiology) – Faculty of Management
NERC is inviting the environmental science community to submit new ideas for strategic research. NERC is seeking ideas for research challenges that should be priorities for strategic research investment through either highlight topics or strategic programme areas. NERC would welcome ideas from both researchers and those who use environmental science research.
Ideas for strategic programme areas should be submitted by 21 September 2015. Ideas for highlight topics should be submitted by 19 October 2015.
New guidance is available to explain what they are looking for, and how to submit ideas. The Strategic Programme Advisory Group (SPAG) will use these ideas to develop proposals for new highlight topics or strategic programme areas.
The aim of this process is to capture and build on ideas for excellent strategic science coming directly from the environmental science community. NERC first asked for ideas for strategic research last year, and 150 ideas were received by the cut-off date of 31 August 2014. NERC would like to thank all those who submitted ideas at that time. The ideas spanned all three of NERC’s strategic challenges (benefitting from natural resources, resilience to environmental hazards and managing environmental change) and covered a broad range of environmental science disciplines. Ideas were received from research and user communities, and from individuals and groups.
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.
The Research and Knowledge Exchange Office (RKEO) invite all ‘new to BU’ academics and researchers to an induction. The purpose of the induction is to inform you of the following:
The third induction will be held on 28th October 2015 on the 4th floor of Melbury House. The format of the day is as follows:
9.00-9.15 – Coffee/tea and cake will be available on arrival
9.15 – RKEO academic induction (with a break at 10.45)
11.25 – Organisational Development upcoming development opportunities
11.30 – Opportunity for one to one interaction with RKEO staff
12.00 – Close
There will also be literature and information packs available.
If you would like to attend the induction then please contact Charmain Lyons, clyons@bournemouth.ac.uk for an official invitation. We will directly contact those who have started at BU in the last five months.
We hope you can make it and look forward to seeing you.
Regards,
The RKEO team
Every week I receive an email telling me what my most accessed paper is on Academia.edu. As a research-active academic I would like this ‘top paper’ to be one of my research papers based on primary research or perhaps a systematic review. My second preference is that I would like it to be one of my few more theoretical papers and, if not that, then at least one of many methods papers I have published with colleagues over the past decade. But no, every single week a fairly basic ‘how-to-do’ paper is my most accessed paper. This week’s message is typical: “Your most popular paper for the week was Writing an academic paper for publication, which had 142 views.”
This how-to-write-an-academic editorial has been my most read paper for months now. It is a paper Prof. Vanora Hundley, Prof. Padam Simkhada (Liverpool John Moores University & BU Visiting Faculty) and I wrote in an attempt to help budding academics and postgraduate students in a low-income country to think about the process of drafting and writing a scientific paper.
Perhaps this paper is popular because there is a global need for it (Academia.edu also gives break down from where in the world the paper has been accessed). It is also possible that it is on course reading list or perhaps it is recommended on webpage somewhere. The paper is,of course, Open-Access which helps in terms of providing more people across the globe easy and free access!
Prof. Edwin van Teijlingen
CMMPH
Reference:
There is just less than two weeks to go until the deadline for proposals for the 2016 Royal Society Summer Science Exhibition. This is a fantastic opportunity explain your research, in a hands-on way, to over 10,000 visitors.
The Summer Science Exhibition showcases the most exciting cutting-edge science and technology research. It provides a unique opportunity for members of the public to interact with scientists and ask them questions about their work. The Exhibition is open to members of the general public as well as students and teachers, scientists, policy makers and the media.
The Royal Society Summer Science Exhibition 2016 will be held from 5 July – 10 July at the Royal Society, London.
For further information on submitting a proposal visit the website or apply here; Deadline 21 September 2015.
Before I first started this job the last thing I expected was to be going to one of biggest music festivals in the UK, but I couldn’t have been more wrong! I have been asked to join the team going to Bestival, where we will be showcasing some of the world class research happening at BU within the very popular science tent.
Being given the opportunity to showcase BU’s research at an event that sees more than 50,000 people through its gates, will be greatly beneficial towards the public/student engage of Bournemouth University.
The purpose of our activities will be to host a series of tests which will give the public a chance to test their physical and mental skills against those of the best athletes the U.K has to offer. These will include a Jump Mat test, which will test the participant’s stationary jumping power. The next activity is the T Wall Reaction test; this will test the participant’s reaction time as well as their memory. The last activity will be the running gate, this will test the participants running speed.
Please keep a close eye on the @BU_research twitter account to get the latest updates and news on what’s going on from the festival itself.
![InnovateUK_LogoA_Interim_RGBx320govuk[1]](http://blogs.bournemouth.ac.uk/research/files/2014/12/InnovateUK_LogoA_Interim_RGBx320govuk11.jpg)
Innovate UK and the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC) are investing up to £2.5 million in technical feasibility studies to target the applications of graphene with the greatest commercial potential.
More information on this competition.
Competition briefing & other supporting events:
Several briefing & consortium building events are being held for this competition. In addition to learning more about the competition and scope, and meeting others working in the graphene industry, you will have the opportunity to pitch for collaborators. You are strongly encouraged to attend one or more of these events.
| Event | Date | Location | Link to register | |||
| Competition briefing event | 8th September | Cardiff | Register here | |||
| Competition briefing event | 23rd September | London | Register here | |||
| Competition briefing event | 7th October | Newcastle | Register here |
In addition to Venturefest Manchester on 22 September a short briefing session on this competition will be given at the graphene breakfast meeting.
Queries
For queries about this competition, please contact support@innovateuk.gov.uk
From recent discussions with BU colleagues it is clear that many staff across all four BU faculties are involved in research and practice that is connected to the prevention and reduction of falls occurring in the older population.
It is also recognised that communications between BU researchers in this subject area can be greatly improved and cross faculty, multi-disciplinary bids developed to meet future research challenges (RCUK and European Horizon 2020, UK Charities etc) and the improvement of falls services provided by the NHS.
RKEO is organising a 1 day Catalyst Workshop on Falls (older people) to be held on the 01/10/15 in the Executive Business Centre (EBC), Lansdowne. The workshop will be facilitated by an external company Knowinnovation. This workshop is open to ALL BU academics whose research could be applied to falls, indeed emphasis is now on recruiting non-medical related academics to the workshop, to grow the multi-disciplinary content of future bids.
If you think that your research can add to a multidisciplinary approach and you are able to attend the full day workshop then please contact Mike Board or Dianne Goodman or Emily Cieciura for further information and book your place (dependent on remaining spaces!).
The MADRIGAL research project funded by FIF (Fusion Investment Fund) was successfully concluded on the 31st of July. The project was led by Dr Marcella Favale, a Research Fellow from the Centre for Intellectual Property Policy & Management (CIPPM), and Co investigated by Dr Christos Gatzidis, Principal Academic BSc Games Technology and Dr Shamal Faily, Lecturer in Systems Security Engineering, .
As an interdisciplinary research project, MADRIGAL aimed at understanding how game developers make sense of Digital Rights Management (DRM) technology when developing video games, and explored the complex perspectives of content producers, users and legislators. Copyright self-enforcement through the widespread use of DRM technology is one of the hottest issue of the digital age, expecially because DRM is found on most digital products, from computer games to coffee machines. The difficult issues – both legal and technological -raised by the use of digital locks are not sufficiently explored.
The project recruited Neil McDonald, a mature undergraduate law student with a background in IT consultancy and network engineering on a work placement in the BU Cyber Security Unit. Neil carried out a critical analysis of the scholarly and practitioner literature in copyright law, rights management and game protection technologies. In April Neil attended the Centre for Digital Entertainment Celebration 2015 event hosted at the Assembly Rooms in Bath and networked with games industry professionals who agreed to participate in the interview stage of the project.
An interim working paper was produced after the first phase of the project. This was submitted and accepted for the 9th International Symposium on Human Aspects of Information Security & Assurance in Lesvos Greece and was presented by the Dr Shamal Faily on the 3rd July. The paper was well received with the audience and has subsequently been published in the conference proceedings.
Within MADRIGAL, a number of UK-based game developers were interviewed on the subject of DRM deployment across a variety of gaming platforms. The interviews yielded some interesting and unexpected results. This data has led to the ongoing development of a qualitative model which will clarify the different factors that influence how video games developers appropriate content and rights protection.
Through the fusion of research, education and professional practice combining the fields of law, game technology and cyber security, MADRIGAL has given BU and the research centres involved an important track record in interdisciplinary research in content protection and human values, in line with the BU 2018 strategic plan. The data from the MADRIGAL project will also advance the development of a project proposal currently being drafted; this will target a Horizon 2020 Creative Industries call in late 2015.
The working paper is available here
Vitae is an organisation set up to promote career development in both postgraduate researchers and academic staff. Their Researcher Development Framework is intended to help people monitor their skills and plan their personal development. At BU we will be using this framework to format the training on offer for the postgraduate research students and academic staff.
The Vitae website is an excellent resource and the organisation regularly runs free training events for researchers, PGRs and those involved in research development. Upcoming events include Vitae Connections: Supporting Open Researchers.
The Researcher Development Framework (RDF) is the professional development framework to realise the potential of researchers. The RDF is a tool for planning, promoting and supporting the personal, professional and career development of researchers in higher education. It was designed following interviews with many successful researchers across the sector and articulates the knowledge, behaviours and attributes of a successful researcher.
There is a planner available on the Vitae website to help you assess which stage you are at with your skills and a tutorial providing guidance on how to use the framework.
Top 10 tips from researchers on using the Researcher Development Framework (RDF):
1. You might choose to use the RDF for short term as well as long term development. The RDF can be used in planning for your long term career ambitions but also to make a feasible short term plan. It can be useful to imagine your long term ambitions in order to focus your career path however the reality of progressing through to the higher phases may be more difficult to plan. In the short term, making decisions about how to progress to the next phase or what sub-domains are most important for you will be easier. Try to be realistic when setting these short term goals.
2. Use the RDF to highlight your strengths and areas for development and how these might be used to benefit/influence your personal, professional and career development.
3. Use the RDF to highlight your applicable and transferable skills. This is important for career progression within or outside academia.
4. Prioritise those areas which are most relevant. You don’t have to try to develop in all the areas of the RDF at once. There may be some sub-domains/descriptors where there is less relevance in progressing through the phases for you.
5. Draw on experiences outside of work to evidence your capabilities.
6. Progression to the highest phase in a descriptor will not be applicable to everyone but being aware of the possibilities can aid personal and career development.
7. Talk to others to get their views about your strengths and capabilities. Your supervisor, manager, peers, family and friends are a great source of information to find out more about yourself. Talk to them about how they perceive your capabilities. By understanding how others view you, you will be able to make more informed choices about your future.
8. To move from one phase to the next why not explore attending courses. These courses may be run at a local level (within your University) or may only be run nationally or internationally so awareness of opportunities for training is important. Vitae also run a wide range of courses which address many aspects of personal and career development.
9. Some phases may only be reached through experience and practice however good self-awareness and professional development planning will aid the process.
10. Networking is likely to enable you to reach more experienced phases.
The RKEO team aim to provide you with tools to writing a successful application. As part of this, you can find all sorts of information in the Research Toolkit on this blog. Just look up to the top-right hand corner of the blog and you will see the link on the menu bar.
As well as specific guidance on writing sections of research council applications, there is also advice in the form of quick guides for various activities, access to concordat information, as well as advice on ethics and outputs. Do explore what is available to you and let us know if there is anything else that you would like to see included.
By Professor Ann Brooks
The American Sociological Association (ASA) Annual Conference in August, set against the stunning backdrop of the city of Chicago and Lake Ontario, and the socio-cultural earthquakes of Ashley Madison and the political challenges of Donald Trump proved to be even more dynamic than usual. The theme this year was Sexualities in the Social World and attracted hundreds of iconic figures from the sociological world and global sociologists more generally. Iconic figures such as Sasskia Sassen, Sylvia Walby, Anne Swidler, Eva Illouz, Judy Wajcman, Eric Kleinenberg, Robert Sampson, Lynne Jamieson and many many more ….. a veritable whos who in the contemporary world of sociology, presented and contributed enormously to this major conference in sociology.
Plenary sessions included: The Politics of Same-Sex Marriage: Public Opinion and the Courts; Modern Romance: Dating, Mating and Marriage; The Rise of Nonmarital Births; Internet Dating; Abortion in America; and in addition a huge range of Presidental (ASA) Panels included : Birth Control in America; Women on the Battlefield: Integrating Women into the U.S. Military; Aging and Sexuality; Cohabitation; and many many more.
I chose sessions to reinforce the new undergraduate course I am offering in Sem 2, 2015-6 entitled Love and Intimacy in Contemporary Society and these major Plenary sessions did not disappoint. In fact they turned out to be real highpoints of the conference. A packed Saturday evening Plenary Panel entitled Romance Matters included Eric Kleinenberg (NYU), Azis Ansari (Comedian, Author, and TV Presenter), Helen Fisher (Rutgers, psychotherapist and Consultant to match.com), Christain Rudder (Ok Cupid) and Eli Finkel (Northwestern) enthralled the audience with serious and amusing presentations. This was followed by the signing of the Anzari and Kleinenberg new book …Romance Matters. I have to say the students will really enjoy this bringing together of research and teaching.
I convened a session on Gender, Sexuality and Work with 5 excellent papers, many of which are being published within books or journals.
The Presidential address by Paula England looked at the Changing Nature of Sexuality and and a further Presidential Panel looked at the advantages and disadvantages of Internet Dating also as an evening Keynote panel.
A truly inspiring conference with significant relevance for my new BU course. Thank you BU and HSS for supporting this.
Professor Ann Brooks September 7, 2015
Are you thinking of applying for a research grant?
Would you like guidance on improving your chances of success at getting funded?
The Grant Applications Workshop, run by the RDS South West, is directed at researchers who are considering applying to peer-reviewed funding competitions for applied health or social care research and is designed to help you make your application as persuasive as possible. This free one-day workshop will next be held on Wednesday 4 November 2015 at Taunton Racecourse, Somerset.
The deadline for receipt of completed application forms and research proposals is 1pm Monday 5 October 2015. To find out more about the workshop and the application process visit their website, or contact them on rds.sw@nihr.ac.uk or 01823 342792.
Don’t forget, your local branch of the Research Design Service is based within the BU Clinical Research Unit (BUCRU) on the 5th floor of Royal London House. Feel free to pop in and see us or send us an email.
BU staff can login below:
Three CMWH presentations at Berlin conference
New interdisciplinary paper on Nepal
National Postdoc Appreciation Week 2026: The Changing Landscape of Postdoc Careers
NIHR Insight South West Central Conference 2026 at Bournemouth University
Horizon Europe Cluster 3 (Civil Security for Society) 2026 Calls Now Open
MSCA Doctoral Networks 2026 Call Information Webinar
ESRC Festival of Social Science 2026: Application Deadline Extended to Thursday 25 June 2026 Apply now to take part in the 2026 ESRC Festival of Social Science
Reminder: Register for the ESRC Festival of Social Science 2026 Information Session
ECR Funding Open Call: Research Culture & Community Grant – Apply now 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