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News from the Learning Research Group

Fusion, Publishing, REF Subjects

BU’s new Learning Research Group held its second workshop last week, so here is a quick update on activities so far since the group formed.

                

The group is convened by the Centre for Excellence in Learning and CEMP and meets in the CEL space with two objectives –

1. To bring people together for research into learning, pedagogy and education, related to the broader work of CEL;

2. To develop research strategically for a submission to the Unit of Assessment for Education in REF 2020.

Researchers in the group are working on projects and towards outputs in three related areas – Media and Digital Literacies; Practitioner Enquiry and (Higher) Education Dynamics. Impact case studies are in development in each of these areas and a strategy for capacity building, demonstrating impact and research environment has been produced.

In the first workshop, Professor Alex Kendall from Birmingham City University talked to the group about REF 2014 and gave advice for working across disciplines and faculty structures. In the second workshop, Julian shared sub-panel feedback with a focus on how BU’s research can be distinctive in the changing landscape, Isabella Rega ran a workshop activity to bring us together around research themes, methods and beneficiaries, and the group worked together to refine the plans for the group’s direction of travel, discussing development needs and targets for outputs and impact.  The next time we meet, we will be guided by Professor Becky Francis from KCL.

The learning research group will continue to do two things in tandem – work towards a REF submission and support the research element of CEL’s work. To get involved, contact julian@cemp.ac.uk or just come along to the next workshop (after Easter, date will be circulated on the research blog).

 

 

 

Apply for the Undergraduate Research Assistantship programme now!

On 1st March we announced the launch of the next round of the Undergraduate Research Assistantship (URA) programme and opened the call for applications for positions to run in summer 2015 (see Launch of the summer round of the BU URA programme). The deadline is fast approaching (20th March) so you will need to get your applications in soon (apply here).

Having a URA working with you has many benefits to both you and the student. These include:

  • Increased opportunity for co-creation between you and the student
  • Increased satisfaction for you and the student
  • Promotion of careers in academia and research to the student
  • Promotion of opportunities for postgraduate study to the student
  • The student will support you with your research

Picking up on this last point, this could include supporting you with undertaking a pilot study which could then be used to strengthen your application for external research funding. Typical duties of a URA include (but are not restricted to):

  • performing experiments and analysing the results
  • disseminating new knowledge orally or in written outputs
  • literature searches
  • presenting results at conferences
  • providing general research support to academics

You can apply for a URA position to run in summer 2015 by competing this short application form and submitting it by 20th March.

Time Management for Researchers – 15th April 2015

Training

‘I just don’t have time’ This is a phrase I hear most often at work – we all have increasing pressures and often struggle to be as effective as possible in a shorter period of time to ensure we have a healthy work-life balance.

Everybody has just 24 hours in every day. Why do some people seem to achieve much more than others with their allotted time?

During this half day workshop we will identify the major drains on your time or energies and explore different tools to structure your use of time and resources.

Particularly in a research environment it is likely that there will never be enough time to do everything. This workshop will give you the tools to help you to choose the most important things when all things seem important.

We will consider different ways to assess priorities, to deal with timewasters and with deadlines. The course will also allow participants to develop their own work-life balance and to reflect on how they choose to spend their time.

As a result of this workshop participants will have tools to

  • Prioritise what they choose to do
  • Streamline their use of time
  • Define their own work-life balance
  • Understand the difference between important and urgent

We have hired the services of an external facilitator to offer support in this for academic staff as part of the BRAD programme. Dr Margaret Collins has a 20+ year academic career background and uses her experience and subsequent training in theories such as Neuro-Linguistic Programming to deliver advice on how to increase personal effectiveness in these areas.

You sometimes have to invest a little time to free up more later on – the session on Weds 15th April 2015 13:00 – 16:30 on Talbot campus is a worthwhile investment. There are limited spaces so please do ensure you get one by booking on the Organisational and Staff Development webpages.

 

Vice-Chancellor PhD (Fee Waive) Scholarships

PG research

The Graduate School is delighted to announce the launch of the 2015 Vice-Chancellor Doctoral (Fee Waive) Scholarships (VC PhD Scholarships) which will offer support to up to 25 outstanding postgraduate research students (PGRs).

The VC PhD Scholarships will be awarded to candidates who meet the eligibility criteria, have the support of their supervisory teams and are accepted by the relevant Faculty and UET.

Details of the Scholarships:

The VC PhD Scholarships will provide a full fee waive for up to 36 months, and exceptionally to a maximum of 48 months in the case of part-time candidates.  Fees will be charged after 36/48 months respectively.  To be clear about the ‘48 month exception’: this is included so that in some cases a sponsor or employer may continue to provide candidates with part-time employment, effectively releasing them for doctoral study part-time.  Please note these scholarships will only be allocated to part-time candidates in exceptional circumstances.  The Scholarships may NOT be used to support professional doctorates, current BU postgraduate research students, nor may they be used to support BU staff to complete doctoral programmes.

Stipends, to cover living expenses, are NOT included in the scholarship and candidates must demonstrate at application stage that they are able to support themselves as part of the application process.

It is up to the Faculty the number of Scholarships allocated.  Please speak to your Deputy Dean for Research & Professional Practice for guidance on the number that will be available for your Faculty.

For full details about the Scholarships, including Candidate Eligibility, Process and Timetable, please refer to the VC PhD Scholarship 2015 – Policy.

Prospective applicants should be directed to: https://research.bournemouth.ac.uk/pgr/vice-chancellor-phd-scholarships-2015/

Further information on VC PhD Scholarships can be found on the Graduate School Intranet.

£6m funding – ‘Creating smart products from smart materials’

Funding opportunities

 

£6m funding opening soon for registration – 16 March 2015

Innovate UK in partnership with Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC) will invest up to £6 million in collaborative research and development (R&D) projects. Information on briefing events.

 The aim of  this funding competition is to encourage the development of smart products that use a combination of functional, hybrid and multiple materials. More information & Competition registration page. 

Competition Briefing & Consortia Building Events, 9th March onwards at several locations

The event is an excellent opportunity for you to receive first hand information about the competition – its scope, application process, key dates etc. as well as meet and network with peers, potential partners, market leaders & innovators in the industry. More information & event registration pages. 

For queries about this competition, please contact support@innovateuk.gov.uk. For queries about the events, please contact steve.morris@ktn-uk.org or Andy Sellars – andy.sellars@innovateuk.gov.uk
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EPSRC revises its Strategic Plan

Guidance

EPSRC’s Strategic Plan 2015 sets out the direction of their policy for at least the next five years.

This up-dated Strategic Plan has been developed following input from their partners and communities. It recognises external influences including the international research landscape, global economic situation and government strategies. EPSRC have said that it will allow them to continue to deliver the world-leading science and engineering research and skills to sustain UK innovation.

You wouldn’t go skydiving without a parachute!

Training

So, why wouldn’t you asses your training needs before going on training?

Take charge of your career development and increase your employability, by focusing your training efforts where it’s needed. All you need to do is undertake the ’My Academic Development Needs: Self-Assessment’ (MADNSA), it will allow you to see your strengths an any gaps in your skills which you need to address in order to get where you want to be in your career (you can also use Vitae’s version which is more detailed). 

You can read case studies of real academics to see how using the planner based on this assessment has helped transform their careers.

Take some time for yourself and complete the MADNSA and sign up for some facilitated sessions, through the Staff Development webpages and log into myBU  BRAD community to view the online sessions?

Changes to MRC strategic skills priorities

Funding opportunities, Guidance

Following completion of a review of MRC’s strategic skills priorities, the revised priority list has now been published on their website along with a report of the skills survey outcomes.

The review has brought a refocus of the early career Skills Development Fellowships (previously Strategic Skills Fellowships) and will support training in two main areas:

– Development of Quantitative Expertise: covering mathematics, statistics, computation and informatics applicable to any biomedical or health related data sources, from molecular to population level.

– Development of Expertise at the Social Science interface: with a focus on areas of health economics and/or mixed methods research.

Applicants can either be seeking to move from a quantitative/economics/mixed methods background to biomedical research or can have a background in biomedical sciences and be seeking to develop skills in one of the priority areas.  All proposals must include development of new expertise and skills in the areas described above.  Eligible applicants would normally be in the early years of post-doctoral research or seeking a clear change of discipline to one of the priority areas.  Pre-doctoral applicants or those ready to transition to independence will be redirected to other MRC support mechanisms.

The next deadline for this competition is 16th June 2015.  For further details, deadlines and how to apply, please visit the pages here: http://www.mrc.ac.uk/skills-careers/fellowships/skills-development-fellowships/ .  If you have any specific MRC queries, please contact the team at fellows@headoffice.mrc.ac.uk

If you wish to apply to this scheme then please contact the RKEO Funding Development Team in the first instance.

Changes to ESRC Standard Grants

Funding opportunities, Guidance

ESRC are introducing changes to the funding thresholds for their Standard Grants scheme. They currently accept applications between £200,000 and £2 million. Under the new arrangements the lower threshold will rise to £350,000 and the upper threshold will be reduced to £1 million at Full Economic Costs. These changes will come into effect from 1 July 2015. Current thresholds will continue to operate for any application submitted up to 30 June 2015.

The changes are a response to the pattern of demand that is being placed on the standard grants scheme by the social science community. The average value of a standard grant application has steadily increased and is now close to £500,000, so they have adjusted the centre of gravity of the scheme to reflect applicant behaviour.

The changes are also a response to feedback from their Grant Assessment Panels who have found it increasingly difficult to assess and compare the value of applications ranging from £200,000 to £2 million, where there is variable level of detail on project design, costs and deliverables. This issue has become more acute as the number of grant applications over £1 million has steadily increased over the last two years. Narrowing the funding range of the scheme will help to maintain the robustness of the assessment process, ensuring all applications get a fair hearing.

They anticipate that these changes will reduce the volume of applications they receive through the Standard Grants scheme and will increase overall success rates for those who do apply as well as reducing the peer review requirements they need to place on the social science community.

In making these changes they remain committed to the funding of longer, larger responsive grants. They intend to introduce an annual open competition for grants between £1 million and £2.5 million and are currently considering how this will operate alongside their existing Centres and Large Grants Competition.

If you are intending to apply to the ESRC standard grant scheme then please contact the RKEO Funding Development Team in the first instance.

Research photography competition: voting now open!

student research

‘Can you tell the story of your research in a single image?’  That’s the challenge we set BU’s academics and postgraduates earlier this year, and the overwhelming response saw researchers from all across the university downing tools to take up their cameras and think of unusual ways to illustrate their research.  The resulting images demonstrate not just the creativity of our academics and postgraduates, but also the fascinating range of research taking place at BU.

Researchers from all across the university, working in areas as diverse as dementia, archaeology, kayaking and 3D printing submitted images to the competition, and now we want your help to decide which pictures should form a photography exhibition on Talbot campus later this year.

To vote for an image, visit the competition page here and click on the ‘Vote’ button below your favourite. Perhaps a particular research subject strikes a chord with you, or an you find a certain image especially evocative – whatever your reasons for having a favourite, the content of the exhibition is up to you to decide!

The most popular images will form part of a photography exhibition on Talbot campus later this year.  The deadline for voting is 27th March.  Details of the exhibition will follow once voting is complete.

All images can be viewed on the research website.

HR Wallingford – Careers open day

Are you a postgraduate or graduate student in a relevant engineering or scientific discipline? HR Wallingford (http://www.hrwallingford.com/)would like to invite you to come to an Open Day at their Howbery Park campus to find out more about what they do.

As well as hearing about what they do, you’ll find out about some of their recent research and consultancy projects, and they’ll show you around their unique facilities. You will also get to meet some of their most recent recruits and learn about their experiences since joining HR Wallingford. It’s taking place on Thursday 23 April from 09.30 to 16.00 (refreshments and lunch provided).

There are a limited number of places available. Please contact Sarah Moxon at HR Wallingford (training@hrwallingford.com, tel 01491 822364) by Wednesday 15 April 2015 to secure your place.

HE Policy Update

Monday

Extremism on campus

Grant Shapps, Tory Party Chairman, has criticised Vince Cable for trying to water down proposals to ban extremist speakers from university campuses, as the coalition partners hit deadlock over planned guidance for universities. Rules are being drawn up by Downing Street demanding that universities ban all “extremist” speakers following passage of a law imposing a statutory requirement on educational institutions and other public bodies to prevent terrorism. Government row over ban on extremist speakers on university campuses (The Guardian).

Tuesday

Satellite Campuses

Theresa May, believes satellite campuses set up in London by universities in other parts of the UK have become a loophole used by people wanting to work in Britain rather than institutions offering rigorous academic courses to highly qualified students. New rules are now being introduced to require the satellite campuses to be fully integrated with the home university by offering the same courses, teaching standards and exams. Institutions that fail to comply will have their licences revoked. Satellite university campuses in London are being exploited  (The Times).

Election Hustings

The Times Higher Education ran a Higher Education Hustings with Greg Clark (Conservative Minister for universities and science), Liam Byrne (Labour shadow HE and science secretary) and Julian Huppert (Lib Dem science spokesperson). THE has published a write up of the debate here.

Wednesday

New Private Provider

A new private university is planned to open in 2017 in Hereford. The New Model Institute for Technology & Engineering (NMITE) will focus on manufacturing, defence engineering and agri-tech and will cater for up to 5,000 students. Hereford NMITE university ‘will create 500 jobs’ (BBC News).

Thursday

Part-time Students

Government proposals on accelerated and flexible degrees in response to the collapse in part-time study are set to be put forward in the coming weeks, Greg Clark suggested at the HE Hustings. Flexible study emerges as cross-party concern  (THE).

PhDs

Growth in the number of PhDs awarded in some academic disciplines has far outstripped that in others, evidence submitted to the REF shows. The percentage increase in doctoral degrees awarded in the social sciences during the REF period was 35 per cent, compared with just 18 per cent in medical and life sciences, for example. Social sciences ups the PhD pace  (THE).

Income of Higher Education Providers

HESA’s new publication ‘HE Finance Plus 2013/14’ outlines higher education institutions income and expenditure. The report can be viewed here.

Friday

Science Education

Science is being squeezed out of primary schools, with many now teaching the subject for less than two hours a week, business leaders have warned. Science ‘squeezed out of primary schools’ (BBC News).

 

Writing Academy Lunchbyte – My Publishing Experience

Publishing

On 11th March, Wednesday, we will have a Writing Academy Lunchbyte session where Prof. Matthew Bennett will talk about his personal publishing experience, his approaches to research and writing, how to develop a publication strategy and the challenges of working with colleagues and dealing with both reviewers and editors. He will talk about all type of publishing from journal articles, to books via edited compilations. Drawing on personal experience, he will also focus on how you target high impact journals.

Aims:

  • Developing a Publication Strategy
  • Dealing with Co-Editors, Reviewers & Editors
  • Targeting high impact Journal

 

Title Date Time Location
Writing Academy Lunchbyte – My Publishing Experience Wednesday 11th March 2015 13:00-14:30 TAG03, Tolpuddle Annexe

 

To book your place on this workshop please email Organisational Development