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BU research on Parkinson’s disease presented at the 2nd World Congress on Digital Olfaction in Japan

PG research

Ali Khattab (a self-funded PhD student at the Faculty of Health & Social Sciences, Bournemouth University) recently presented a research paper at the 2nd World Congress on Digital Olfaction in Japan, exploring the link between olfactory dysfunction and subjective visual vertical in Parkinson’s disease”.  A summary of Ali’s experience is presented in the following report.

Nowadays, visual and auditory information can be digitally captured, stored and reproduced. Therefore, there is a need to create devices which can capture odours, turn them into digital data so that to transmit them everywhere in the world and to use them in medical and other industrial applications.

The aims of the 2nd Digital Olfaction World Congress (held in Tokyo-Japan, December, 2014) were to explore:

• The advances of digital olfaction research & development

• The practical applications of digital olfaction, particularly in the areas of health care and industry.

• The impact of these applications on our life and lifestyle.

Ali presented a research paper at the Congress entitled: “Olfactory dysfunction and its link with subjective visual vertical (SVV) perception in Parkinson’s disease”. The aim is to determine the profiles of subjective visual vertical (SVV) perception and sense of smell perception and their possible link with micrographia (small handwriting) in Parkinson’s disease (PD) patients and compare them to age and gender matched healthy controls. The outcomes of the research paper were: (i) PD patients have significant impairment of their olfactory function, however, their ability to estimate visual vertical did not differ significantly from an age and gender matched healthy controls; (ii) 25% of PD patients showed evidence of micrographia (small handwriting); (iii) subgroup analysis suggested that PD patients with micrographia have more evidence of olfactory impairment, reported more SVV errors, and have more motor problems than patients with normographia (normal handwriting). However, these differences were not statistically significant. As this is an interim analysis of half of the data collected so far, these results need to be interpreted with caution.

When Ali submitted his abstract, the original plan was to present the work as a poster at the conference. However, the organising committee recognised the potential application of Digital Olfaction in health and social care, and decided to give Ali a platform oral presentation on the first day of the conference.  The presentation was well-received, with plenty of questions raised after the talk and during the coffee breaks.

This congress was very relevant to the Parkinson’s disease research currently being carried out at Bournemouth University (in collaboration with the Royal Bournemouth Hospital) as BU has now two PhD students who are doing their research on the link between sense of smell and Parkinson’s disease.  The work involves testing for sense of smell in an open cross-sectional observational study, involving a large number of participants with Parkinson’s disease and a matching number of volunteers  without Parkinson’s disease (as a control group).  In these studies, the perception for sense of smell was tested using University of Pennsylvania Smell Identification Test (UPSIT)). This particular test consists of a set of scratch cards with different odours. Participants are asked to identify the odour by choosing from a menu of possible four choices. These cards have to be purchased from the USA on regular basis.  Therefore, there is a need to consider introducing digital olfaction technology in assessing patients with PD or –indeed- with other neurological conditions.

Attending the Congress allowed us to:

  1. Present BU research on the link between visual perception & sense of smell in Parkinson’s disease at an international Congress in front of international audience; this gave BU an exposure at a global level.
  2.  Explore the possible use of Digital Olfaction in assessing the sense of smell in our research.
  3. Networking with IT industry, academics and researchers who are leading authorities in their fields of research and explore with them the possibility of introducing such a new technology into the diagnosis of Parkinson’s disease in the future.

The conference was an opportunity for international researchers and academics, and people from other disciplines to meet in order to present their work and to discuss issues related to:

• Devices that capture odours

• How odours can be turned into digital data

• Restitution of odours by the transmission of these data

• Artificial olfaction and biologically-inspired models

• High Smell Technologies as electronic noses, neural circuits in olfactory systems, artificial intelligence olfaction systems

• Biosensor systems, software program, chemical engineering

• Telecommunication

• Environmental control

• (Bio)medical applications in olfactory treatments and diagnosis

People who are interested in digital olfaction were invited to join this congress to gather the information of recent progress, share it with others and spread the information all over the world. Moreover, participants were encouraged to show demonstrations in order to share the experience of Digital Olfaction together.

Finally one of the goals achieved during this congress was establishing the international link related to Digital Olfaction among a variety of fields and disciplines (such as biology, medicine, nursing computer science, electronics, chemistry, mechanical engineering, social sciences, psychology, art, etc.). This was achieved as attending the Congress enabled us to explore the interdisciplinary sciences related to Olfaction in general and to Digital Olfaction in particular. The Congress also focused on the way in which we can transfer the concrete breakthroughs of Research and Development concerning Digital Olfaction into medical and industrial applications.

Cyberbullying: A Growing Problem

Following Channel 4’s chilling real-time thriller ‘Cyberbully’ concerns about the safety of children and adults on-line are growing and a form of harassment has developed that involves malicious communications sent on electronic devices. This type of electronic harassment is collectively known as ‘Cyberbullying’ and the impact of this activity has raised a serious debate about the legislation available to combat this type of abuse, with many labelling the current legislation inadequate.

Cyberbullying is often thought to be associated with the bullying of teenagers by other teenagers, but adults in the workplace can also fall victim to this form of abuse. The term Cyberbullying is now sufficiently broad enough to cover the transmission, harassing or offensive messages that can include emails, tweets, social media messages and numerous other messaging applications that traverse the internet.

Broadly speaking, Cyberbullying is an increasing problem in the workplace, and one that is underestimated by the majority of employers. Some reports suggest that as many as 1 in 5 employees have experienced workplace bullying, including Cyberbullying and as a result workplace bullying is estimated to cost employers in the UK more than £2bn a year in sick pay and lost productivity.

By far the largest problems with Cyberbullying is the variety of devices, platforms, and social networks that can be used to a bully’s advantage, aside from that, there is no single legal definition of Cyberbullying within UK law at present. Consequently as an employer you could be liable for cyber bullying in a number of ways.

All employers have duty of care to provide a safe place of work in line with Health and Safety at Work Act 1974 and if you fail to protect your employees from Cyberbullying by other staff members you will breach that duty of care.

The courts have held that the term ‘in the course of employment’ should be construed broadly. Essentially, if the event that could constitute harassment or Cyberbullying takes place in business hours or in circumstances where the bully makes uses their employer’s IT equipment or communications infrastructure, the employer could be at risk of a legal claim.

Although bullying is not a specific criminal offence in UK law, there are criminal laws that can apply in terms of harassment or threatening behaviour carried out online.

Activities that could constitute Cyberbullying could be criminal offences under the following UK laws:

  • Protection from Harassment Act 1997
  • Communications Act 2003
  • Malicious Communications Act 1988
  • Public Order Act 1986
  • Obscene Publications Act 1959
  • Computer Misuse Act 1990
  • Defamation Act 2013
  • Equality Act 2010.

In addition to the above, the Education and Inspections Act 2006 outlines some legal powers which relate more directly to cyber bullying. Head teachers have the power “to such extent as is reasonable” to regulate the conduct of pupils when they are off-site or not under the control or charge of a member of school staff. This is of especially significant to Cyberbullying in an educational context, which can often take place outside of the school environment but can impact very strongly on classroom environment of those involved.

There are a number of steps you can take as an employer or a parent to prevent Cyberbullying.

For Parents: Be aware of what your children are doing online. Explain to them that you may review their online communications if you think there is cause for concern. Encourage your children to inform you if there is a problem in their online activities.

For Employers: Create a clear set of policies that outline acceptable communications for your organisation. Ensure that you have an appropriate reporting system in place. Develop an anti-bullying code of conduct for all staff. Talk and educate staff on the issue of Cyber Bullying.

Introductory Session: Marie Skłodowska-Curie Individual Fellowships 2015

Training

Introductory Session: Marie Skłodowska-Curie Individual Fellowships 2015 – European (EF) and Global (GF)

WHAT: Two brief overview sessions (1 hour) introducing the fellowships,  the support being offered to staff applying and a mapping of the processes both internal and external.

 WHERE: Lansdowne (B407) : Tuesday 27th January 10.30am-11.30am , Talbot (P335): Wednesday 28th January 3.30pm-4.30pm (it’s the same session – one for each campus).

The 2015 call for these very popular fellowships is launching 12/03/15.  The scheme involves a Researcher, potentially from anywhere in the world, coming to BU for 1 or 2 years with generous funding for salary and other costs.

Come along and find out more!

Latest Funding Opportunities

Funding opportunities

The following funding opportunities have been announced. Please follow the links for more information:

Medical Research Council, GB

Neurodegenerative disease research (JPND)

Spanning biomedical, healthcare and social science research, JPND aims to increase coordinated investment between participating countries in research aimed at finding causes, developing cures, and identifying appropriate ways to care for those with neurodegenerative diseases. MRC is leading on JPND activity for the UK and has EU funding of £2 million to support such research activity in the UK. 

Award amount max: Unspecified Closing date: 10/03/2015

Academy of Medical Sciences, GB

Starter Grants for Clinical Lecturers offer funding of up to £30,000 to cover the cost of research consumables. The grants allow research-active Clinical Lecturers to gather data to strengthen their bids for longer-term fellowships and funding.

Award amount max: £30,000 Closing date: 16/03/2015

 

Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council, GB

The BBSRC’s new pathfinder schemeenables potential follow-on funding applicants to secure small amounts of funding to carry out preliminary commercial activities.These activities will help to:

  • Develop a clearer understanding of the commercial potential of the outputs of a research grant
  • Assist with the development of a full follow-on funding application

Award amount max: £10,000 Closing date: No deadline

Wellcome Trust, GB

Seed awards in Society & Ethics, Medical Humanities

Seed Awards in Society & Ethics and Medical Humanities provide flexible, responsive funding, enabling researchers to develop a novel idea to a position where they could be competitive for a larger award from the Wellcome Trust or another funder.

The exploratory nature of Seed Awards gives scope for the use of bold or innovative methodologies, and a broad range of possible activities: from pilot and scoping studies to planning sessions and meetings of collaborative networks. The Trust encourages applicants who wish to use the grant to develop new approaches and collaborations.

Seed Awards support research in any field society and ethics that can enrich understanding of health, medicine and disease.

Award amount max: £50,000 Closing date: 27/02/2015

Translation Fund

The aim of Translation Awards is to develop innovative and ground breaking new technologies in the biomedical area.

Projects must have already demonstrated proof of principle, supported by experimental data. Applications should bridge the funding gap in commercialisation of new technologies in the biomedical area and must plan to take the product, technology or intervention to a stage at which it is sufficiently developed to be attractive to another party.

Award amount max: Unspecified Closing date 15/04/15

Economic & Social Research Council – ESRC, GB

The ESRC is pleased to announce the call for the third round of the ESRC Transformative Research Call. The aim of this call is to provide a stimulus for genuinely transformative research ideas at the frontiers of the social sciences, enabling research which challenges current thinking to be supported and developed.

The Council regards transformative research as that which involves, for example, pioneering theoretical and methodological innovation. The expectation is that the transformative research call will encourage novel developments of social science enquiry, and support research activity that entails an element of risk.

Award amount max: £250,000 Closing date 19/02/15

Engineering & Physical Sciences Research Council – EPSRC, GB

The EPSRC’s Information and technologies (ICT) team would like to encourage researchers to pursue an immersive experience in other disciplines and user environments.

Discipline Hopping Awards will provide short-term support to allow researchers from core ICT fields with other disciplines and/or user fields. The aim of this is to foster new interactions, bringing a multidisciplinary and user-driven focus to research. Alternatively, non ICT specialists can apply for funds to bring a technological perspective to their home discipline.

Award amount: Unspecified Closing date: no deadline

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.

CIPPM Researchers launch Copyright Resource for A/AS Level Media Studies

Awarded & submitted bids, Post-award

Researchers at the Centre for Intellectual Property Policy and Management (CIPPM) in collaboration with CREATe, the RCUK Centre for Copyright and New Business Models in the Creative Economy at the University of Glasgow have launched an educational web resource aimed at A/AS Level Media Studies. The project, which was carried out during 2013-2014, was funded by RCUK under a contract with CREATe, University of Glasgow (Principal Investigator: Dr. Dinusha Mendis, Co-Director, CIPPM).

The Centre for Excellence in Media Practice (CEMP) at Bournemouth University is also part of the collaboration.

The web resource and downloadable PDF forms part of the already established Copyrightuser.org  (initially funded by the Fusion Investment Fund, 2012-2013) and is titled, Contemporary Media Regulation: A Case Study in Copyright Law.

In particular, this educational web resource addresses Critical Perspectives in Media, Section B: Contemporary Media Issues and was approved by Oxford Cambridge and RSA (OCR) Examination Board at their Annual Conference on 21 March 2014.

The resource was disseminated to a large network of Schools in England and Wales in January 2015 and during 2015-2016, the researchers will map the impact of this educational resource by identifying how many Schools / students have opted to study Copyright Law as part of the Critical Perspectives in Media, Section B: Contemporary Media Issues.

The value of this educational resource has already been identified by the UK Government.  In October 2014, Copyrightuser.org was mentioned by Mike Weatherley MP in his report Copyright Education and Awareness, in which he specifically mentioned this resource as an attempt to introduce copyright law into the AS/A Level Media Studies curriculum in schools in England and Wales. A write-up about it can be found here.

The content is shaped to enable teachers to explain the complexity and importance of copyright in media, and for the students to research copyright regulation and demonstrate their understanding within the Contemporary Media Regulation exam question.

This educational resource provides teachers with simple and straightforward information about copyright law. The focus is to bring together different perspectives on copyright issues. There is a consideration of the historical, contemporary and future copyright issues, with an emphasis on present.

The resource was formally launched in February 2015 by the Arts and Humanities Research Council (AHRC) and the press release titled ‘What we Should Teach Students about Copyright Law’ can be accessed here.

The educational resource was produced by a team consisting of:

Authors: Ms. Hayleigh Bosher and Dr. Dinusha Mendis (CIPPM)

Illustrations: Mr. Davide Bonazzi

Editor: Professor Ronan Deazley (Professor of Copyright Law, CREATe, University of Glasgow)

Educational Resource Development: Dr. Julian McDougall (CEMP)

Production: Mr. Bartolomeo Meletti (CREATe, University of Glasgow)

Questionnaire Respondents: see here

What is on the agenda in Europe? Info-Europa can help….

 
If you are wanting to get the inside track on what is important within Europe, one source of information is Info-Europa. This newsletter is compiled by Patrick Overy , University of Exeter European Documentation Centre and Eric Davies of Eurojargon Enterprises.

In the January 2015 issue, the following topics are considered:

News – Cross-border legal disputes / GMOs / TTIP / Foreign policy / Transport infrastructure

Draft legislation – Air pollution / Investment Fund / UK fuel tax

EU Legislation – Vehicle emissions

Documents – Living & working conditions / Victims of crime / Terrorism / Illegal immigration / Quality in education / Serbia / Stability & Growth Pact /Employment & social report

Statistics  – Personal money transfers / Air passengers / Tourist accommodation / Year for Development / Current account / Industrial production / Trade in goods / Underemployment / Neighbourhood policy / Short-term indicators

Events – Free resources / UK & human rights

Recommended Sources – 100 Books / Council & European Council

 

You can sign up to receive this newsletter via email direct to your in-box.

 

 

 

RCUK announcement on Pathways to Impact

Guidance

 

RCUK have made an announcement on pathways to impact: http://www.rcuk.ac.uk/media/announcements/150115/ and here http://www.rcuk.ac.uk/RCUK-prod/assets/documents/documents/PtoIExecSummary.pdf

The key point is that RCUK has reaffirmed its commitment to Pathways to Impact and will require a clearly thought through and acceptable Pathways to Impact statement as a condition of funding in the future.  This change will take effect for peer review panels which take place after 1st April 2015 – please see the appropriate Research Council website for details.

On Monday, a number of councils also published their 2013-14 impact reports, which are linked below.

EPSRC have updated their guidance on pathways to impact: http://www.epsrc.ac.uk/funding/howtoapply/preparing/impactguidance/  and have published an Impact report:  http://www.epsrc.ac.uk/newsevents/pubs/economicimpactreport1314/ and a note about the next round of Impact Acceleration Accounts:

http://www.epsrc.ac.uk/newsevents/news/impactaccelerationaccounts/

AHRC impact report: http://www.ahrc.ac.uk/News-and-Events/News/Pages/AHRC-publishes-report-on-the-impact-of-research.aspx

ESRC impact report: http://www.esrc.ac.uk/news-and-events/announcements/33431/new-report-highlights-our-impact-in-2014.aspx and promoting REF impact case studies from ESRC funded research: http://www.esrc.ac.uk/news-and-events/features-casestudies/case-studies/

BBSRC has published its impact report: http://bbsrc.ac.uk/news/policy/2015/150119-n-bbsrc-publishes-latest-impact-report.aspx

MRC Impact report (published last year): http://www.mrc.ac.uk/news-events/publications/outputs-outcomes-and-impact-of-mrc-research-2013-14/

NERC Impact report: http://www.nerc.ac.uk/latest/news/nerc/impact-report/

STFC impact report: http://www.stfc.ac.uk/files/3269/3269_res_5.pdf

Finally, the overall RCUK impact report: http://www.rcuk.ac.uk/media/news/150119/

You can also view RKEO advice on producing a pathways to impact document on our blogs ‘research toolkit’: http://blogs.bournemouth.ac.uk/research/researcher-toolbox/je-s-guidance/impact-sections/

National Contact Point: Peter Walters (ICT and FET)

Guidance

National Contact Points (NCPs) provide impartial advice regarding EU Funding within their specialist area of Horizon 2020.  The advice is free and confidential and tailored to your needs.  This is an excellent service for drawing on the experience and knowledge of someone who deals exclusively with a particular scheme or work programme.  If you are interested in testing out project ideas, checking scheme eligibility, discussing the direction of travel of a particular funding stream or just asking some questions on the practicalities of applications they are a great source of help. 

 

This week we would like to introduce you to Peter Walters, who is the NCP for Information and Communications Technologies (ICT) and Future and Emerging Technologies (FET).  Follow the link for further details on NCPs and Horizon 2020.

Funding Opportunity: British Medical Association

 

BMA 2015 research grants –  now open for applications

The 2015 British Medical Association research grants are now open and are accepting applications online at bma.org.uk/researchgrants<http://bma.org.uk/researchgrants>.

The grants provide approximately £500,000 of research funding annually across ten different grants. Funding areas range from heart disease to schizophrenia to novel technologies to assist in patient care. Applications are invited from medical practitioners and/or research scientists for research in progress or prospective research.

Details of the grants available in 2015 can be found here<http://bma.org.uk/developing-your-career/portfolio-career/research-grants/research-grants-details>.

For any further information on the BMA Research Grants please see their webpages at bma.org.uk/researchgrants<http://bma.org.uk/researchgrants> or  contact them directly info.sciencegrants@bma.org.uk<file:///\\bma1.bmauk.net\bma1.bmauk.netbmaProfessionalPolicyRESEARCHGRANTSAdvertisingofgrantsExternalorganisationsinfo.sciencegrants@bma.org.uk

or call 020 7383 6755.

Introducing Laura Zisa-Swann, your Project Delivery Officer.

Post-award

I am the Project Officer within the Research and Knowledge Exchange Office covering the Faculty of Science and Technology.

I am responsible for providing professional and specialist advice and support to academic colleagues on all aspects of post-award R&KE activity, including advising on contracts and project deliverables, management of budgets and project management.

Hello, I’m Dean Eatherton – Project Delivery Officer in RDS

Awarded & submitted bids, Coffee Morning, Post-award, R & KE Operations

I joined Bournemouth University as a Project Delivery Officer in August 2014. I provide professional support and advice to academic colleagues on externally funded research and knowledge exchange grant activity.

Prior to this I worked as a project manager and  policy adviser in the public sector, then moved into the product management environment in the private sector.

An esoteric long-term personal interest I have is that of self improvement through the study of oriental martial arts.

Euraxess – new workshops and events

Euraxess UK is a British Council hub, which aids researchers in their career development, supporting mobility and acting as a support mechanism for researchers moving abroad or moving to the UK.

The following items have been highlighted in the current Euraxess Newsletter:

Researcher Links Workshop

Grants are now available for early career researchers to attend a Nutrition Policy to Practice in Pakistan: Exploring the Challenges and Research Opportunities workshop at the Serena Hotel, Islamabad, Pakistan between 8-11 March 2015.

Application forms can be downloaded from the website and the deadline to apply is 30 January 2015. Further eligibility criteria may apply, and applicants should read the Further Information document.

Researcher Links Complex Systems workshop in Brazil

Under the Researcher Links scheme offered by the British Council and FAPESP, there will be a workshop on Complex Systems held at the Polytechnic School of the University of São Paulo, Sao Paulo, between 8-13 March 2015. The workshop is being coordinated by Dr Murilo S. Baptista and Prof José R. C. Piqueira, and will have contributions from other leading researchers.

Early Career Researchers from the UK or Brazil are invited to apply to attend this workshop before the deadline for applications, 23 January 2015.

Newton International and Newton Advanced Fellowships- UK/Mexico/Brazil

Scholarships and grants are announced for UK Researchers focusing on Clinical and Patient oriented research from The Academy of Medical Science/CONACYT -Mexico/CONFAP-Brazil. The duration and terms of the awards vary between partners. Further detailed information can be found on specific programmes can be found on the Academy’s website.

You can sign up to receive the British Council – Euraxess alerts direct to your inbox. For more information about Euraxess, please go to the British Council website. For example, read more about FameLab, part of the Northern Ireland Science Festival, which runs from 19 Feb – 1 March 2015.

Opportunity to engage with UK Science Landscape Project for the Prime Minister’s Council for Science and Technology

BU Challenges

The Prime Minister’s Council for Science and Technology is looking at the UK Science Landscape. The aim of this project is to build a picture of the whole research landscape in the UK and to develop a stronger evidence base. This evidence base will help to inform future strategic decision-making and help the UK to maintain and develop its excellence in research.

As part of this project, the Council for Science and Technology (CST) wish to understand better how the UK’s research community defines itself and the links and interconnections that exist between research disciplines. To help to do this, the UK Knowledge Landscape Tool has been developed and has been designed to gather data from researchers on the disciplines, dependencies and key infrastructure they think make up modern research.

To be part of this and experimental approach, users can log on and create an account on the UK Knowledge Landscape website.

CST are interested in crowd-sourcing a large amount of data which will be analysed for statistically significant patterns across the whole body of responses and then used to produce outputs such as taxonomies or maps. The more responses the tool has, the better the mappings are likely to be, therefore, they would welcome your input.

Athena SWAN: A Dean’s perspective

Women's Academic Network

Speaker: Professor Andrew W. Lloyd

Date and time: 3 Feburary 2015, 15:00-17:00

Location: K101, Kimmeridge House, Talbot Campus, Bournemouth University

Event Description: This presentation will outline the challenges and opportunities of developing both the Institutional Athena Swan Bronze Application and the subsequent development of the individual School Applications within the University of Brighton. It will discuss both the methods used to obtain and analyse the various datasets and the approaches adopted in terms of developing an action plan which would build on our existing practices to improve gender equality and develop a more inclusive and progressive culture within the university.

After the presentation there will be the opportunity for individuals to find out more about the Athena SWAN work at BU and take part in a focus group. 

Biography

Professor Andrew W. Lloyd MA (Cantab.) PhD CSci CChem FRSC FBSE FIMMM FHEA
Dean of the College of Life, Health & Physical Sciences, Professor of Biomedical Materials

Andrew Lloyd graduated from Robinson College, University of Cambridge in 1986 with a degree in Natural Sciences, specialising in bioorganic chemistry, biochemistry and pharmacology. He completed his PhD in biopharmaceutics and was appointed to the academic staff in the Department of Pharmacy, University of Brighton as a Lecturer in Pharmaceutical Sciences in 1989, and was promoted to Senior Lecturer in 1993. He was made Reader in Biopharmaceutical Sciences and elected to Fellowship of the Royal Society of Chemistry in 1998 and awarded the chair in Biomedical Materials in 2000.  He was appointed as Joint Head of Research with responsibility for strategic planning in the School of Pharmacy & Biomolecular Sciences in 2000, Dean of the Faculty of Science & Engineering in 2003 and to his present post as Dean of the College of Life, Health & Physical Sciences in 2014.

Professor Lloyd led the Institution’s Athena Swan Self-Assessment Steering Group which secured the University Bronze Award in 2012 and chairs both the University Athena Swan Steering Group, which presently oversees the development of the School-based Award Applications, and the University Research Concordat Implementation Steering Group.

Event Schedule

15:00 Welcome  from Professor Tiantian Zhang, Head of Graduate School and Chair of BU Athena SWAN institutional self-assessment team

15:05  Talk from Professor Andrew W. Lloyd

16:00 Overview of the BU Athena SWAN submission, Professor  Tiantian Zhang/James Palfreman-Kay

16:10 Group discussions to consider what more should we do:

•         in addressing gender balance at BU?

•         in supporting and advancing women’s careers?

•         in organisation and culture change to enhance gender equality?

•         in supporting flexible working and managing career breaks?

16:55 Closing comments, Professor Tiantian Zhang

17:00 Event closes

Call for Cardiff Science Festival Proposals

Cardiff Science Festival are looking for content for this year’s festival and now is the time to get in your proposals!

2015 FESTIVAL
The fourth Cardiff Science Festival is scheduled to take place between 13th and 19th July 2015. Their showcase for science and technology has loads of events taking place in venues across Cardiff. From hands on workshops, live demonstrations, comedy, talks, discussion forums, performances, lectures, debates, exhibitions, guided tours and panel discussions, there is something for everybody. Cardiff Science Festival is organised by a group of volunteers with the aim of providing as many fun and informative events as possible whilst keeping the costs as low as possible.

Specifically for this years festival they are looking for Proposals which include ideas such as:

  • Talks/Shows
  • Workshops
  • Hands on ‘stall’ type events & busking activities

They are also open to all ideas, so if you would like to find out more information including how to submit your ideas, please click here.

They will be finalising the programme in early May with it being made public at the start of June. You can submit ideas to them any time between now and then but the earlier you can submit, the better chance it has of making the programme.

This is a great opportunity & one you can’t miss!