/ Full archive

American Psychology Teaching Conference opens with beautiful sunrise

Knowledge Exchange

Dr. Jacqui Taylor, Associate Professor in the Psychology Department at Bournemouth University recently presented and ran a workshop at the ‘National Institute on the Teaching of Psychology’, an annual conference for teachers of psychology to explore new ideas to enhance and broaden their teaching skills.  Below, Dr. Taylor summarises her experience:

 

“I welcomed the New Year by presenting a poster and workshop at the 37th Annual ‘National Institute on the Teaching Of Psychology’ in Florida. The first day dawned with a beautiful sunrise and an early 7:30 am breakfast session!
sunrise
My poster ‘The Evaluation and Assessment of Online Skills Through Online Group Discussion’ stimulated lots of interaction from delegates who were mainly interested in my use of reflection as an assessment tool. Increasingly, much of a psychology student’s learning occurs within electronic environments, however rarely are the new skills they develop in these contexts identified, improved or assessed. Over the past 5 years, I have addressed this important need, and examples from assessed online student discussions were presented in my poster to demonstrate an innovative way to develop and assess online skills. I made some good contacts with other lecturers who were using quite different quantitative rubrics to assess technical skills and I look forward to developing links with them.
Poster J Taylor
My second presentation was under a category called ‘Participant Idea Exchange (referred to as PIEs!)’ and consisted of a one-hour facilitated workshop session. My ‘PIE’ was on ‘Psychological Literacy: A Practical Approach’ and I presented with Dr Carolyn Mair (a past PGR and lecturer at BU). Psychological literacy is a new and important concept in psychology education which encapsulates the knowledge, skills and attributes acquired through the study of psychology and the ability to transfer learning from the academic setting into the real world. Despite an increasing number of academic and professional publications highlighting theoretical concepts and benefits of psychological literacy, there are few practical resources for psychology educators. This PIE addressed this need by discussing our two recent publications commissioned by the UK Higher Education Academy: ‘An Introductory Guide to Psychological Literacy’ (Mair, Taylor & Hulme, 2013) and ‘A Psychological Literacy Compendium’ (Taylor & Hulme, in prep).
Psychological Literacy PIE J Taylor
As the sun set on this year’s conference there were promises from many delegates to collaborate and share their teaching practice throughout 2015 and meet once again at the 38th ‘NITOP’ in 2016.”
Sunset to NITOP

BU’s research website is short listed for an international award

Exciting news – BU’s research website, launched in January 2014, has been short listed in the Best Research Website category in the international eduStyle Awards. These celebrate the best work in college and university websites and aim to recognise the most innovative and exciting developments in key areas of HE web development.

Each award is given as both a People’s Choice and a Judged Award. People’s Choice voting closes this Wednesday (21 January) so please do visit the  eduStyle website and vote for BU! To vote you need to register on the site and then vote on the nominees page (http://www.edustyle.net/awards/2014/nominees.php) using the radio buttons.

BU is the only UK institution to be short listed this year and is up against four other institutions – Yale University, MIT, Columbia University and Biola University.

The winners will be announced on 28 January 2015.

Fusion Investment Fund 2015: The impact of tax avoidance on company value.

We are very pleased to announce that we are receiving funding from the Fusion Investment Fund for a project to examine the impact of tax planning activity or ‘tax avoidance schemes’ on the market value of listed UK companies.  The aim is to extend the UK research that has commenced in the Accounting, Finance and Economics Department through comparative studies in Italy and Germany by collaborating with tax accounting researchers in those countries. 

Tax avoidance has been recognised as a major problem by the G8 Nations and the OECD with the publication of the Base Erosion and Profit Shifting (BEPS) Action Plan in 2013.  In the UK the government has objected to so-called ‘aggressive tax avoidance’ schemes that are technically legal but have arguably little or no commercial substance and the General Anti-Abuse Rule (GAAR) was introduced as part of the Finance Act of 2013 in an attempt to prevent such schemes.  Concerns about the national tax revenues are quite widely publicised and researched but there is very little research devoted to the study of how the value relevance of tax accounting information relates to the extent of corporate tax avoidance activity.  The research is important to users of reported accounting information including investors such as pension funds.  The tax accounting research has policy implications as the related corporate valuation risk impacts the collective investments of individuals such as pension scheme members and equity investors both large and small.

This research is particularly well-timed as there is increasing public interest in tax policy including that relating to anti-avoidance or ‘anti-abuse’ legislation in the UK and other jurisdictions.  The accounting profession is also conscious of the greater need for adequate tax disclosures for complex and risky transactions. 

The research is likely to increase the impact of Bournemouth University’s Faculty of Management on the accounting profession and the business community in the important disciplines of tax and accounting policy.

Dr Alan Kirkpatrick (Principal Investigator) – Dept of Accounting, Finance and Economics – akirkpatrick@bournemouth.ac.uk 

Dr Dragana Radicic – Dept of Accounting, Finance and Economics – dradicic@bournemouth.ac.uk

 

HE Policy Update

Monday

Graduate Employment

The Graduate Market in 2015 report has shown that for Britain’s leading employers, the average graduate starting salary will rise to £30,000 this year and graduate recruitment is set to expand by 8.1% (the highest in the past decade). Graduates are getting record salaries (The Times).

Tuesday

Counter Terrorism and Security Bill

The Joint Committee on Human Rights advised that the government should remove universities from the list of authorities covered by proposed new powers in the Counter Terrorism and Security Bill. They say the plans to require universities to stop people from being drawn into terrorism would stifle academic freedom. Terror plans ‘threaten academic freedom’ (BBC News).

Wednesday

US Universities

There is concern that students are choosing to go to US universities amid concerns over rising fees and quality of degree courses – including contact time. British students shun Oxbridge in favour of ‘value for money’ US (The Independent).

Campus Safety

A third of female students in Britain have endured a sexual assault or unwanted advances at university, new research conducted for The Telegraph shows. The End Violence Against Women Coalition, an alliance of charities and campaign groups, warned that higher education institutions are avoiding their legal responsibilities by refusing to investigate sexual assault allegations. One in three UK female students sexually assaulted or abused on campus (The Telegraph).

Thursday

International Students

Higher education leaders have called on Theresa May to stop using international students as a political football in a Conservative Party power struggle, as details emerge of more proposed visa restrictions. Foreign students used as ‘pawns in a political game’ (Times Higher Education).

Friday

Degree Quality

HESA figures show that one in five graduates were awarded a first-class degree last year, prompting claims that universities are handing out more top grades to boost their league table positions. The number of students attaining a first has doubled in the past decade, rising by 14 per cent in 12 months to a record of almost 80,000 last summer. Universities ‘handing out more firsts to lift rankings’ (The Telegraph).

Part-Time Students

Nearly 55,000 fewer part-time students were studying in the UK in 2013-14 than in 2012-13, with overall numbers dipping to 603,325 last year according to data released by the Higher Education Statistics Agency. Part-time student numbers continue to dive (Times Higher Education).

Chinese Students

Last year, 58,810 first-year students from China started undergraduate degrees at UK universities – a rise of 4 per cent on last year. The number of new Chinese students has rocketed by almost 60 per cent since 2009-10. However, students from India declined by 12 per cent and Pakistan by 7 per cent, suggesting that the government’s clampdown on student visas and tough rhetoric on immigration had put many off coming to the UK. More students here from China than whole of EU (The Independent).

 2015 Election

Several Vice-Chancellors have been asked to share their expectations for 2015 party manifestos for the Guardian HE Network, the article includes comments from Professor John Vinney. Vice-chancellors share their expectations for 2015 party manifestos (Guardian HE network).

Introducing Sue Townrow, FIF Co-ordinator

Fusion

Hello! I’m the co-ordinator for the Fusion Investment Fund which was designed to support Fusion by funding ‘pump-priming’ initiatives. There are two different strands for staff – Staff Mobility & Networking and Co-creation & Co-production. I also deal with two externally funded programmes – Erasmus and Santander, which both support overseas staff travel for purposes such as teaching, training and networking.

You can find out more about the Fusion Investment Fund here and do get in touch if you have any queries or want more information. The next round is likely to be opening in the Spring.

It’s a fascinating job – I’m involved in all stages of the process – it includes providing information about the funds, helping people through the application process and supporting the pre-screen and committee review processes. After the awards are made, I liaise with the PIs to set up their budgets and get their project started, I monitor the project’s progress, deal with any requests for changes to the project or its budget, carry out budget audits and ensure that each PI carries out an effective evaluation at the end of their project. We currently have around 130 live projects utilising about £1.3m of funding.

My main aim is to ensure that high quality projects obtain funding and then that the funding is used in the most effective way to obtain the best results for BU as a whole. Simples!!

I’ve been at BU since 2011, firstly in Student Administration Services and more recently in Applied Sciences (as it was then) in Programmes Admin and student support. I really enjoyed being part of a School and one of the attractions of this role for me was the continued contact with academic staff and their research.

My pre-BU experience is mostly in Finance, including ten years in Credit Management and three as a Budget Analyst. I’ve also got some experience of applying for grants in the charity sector, all of which gives me a useful background for this job.

Outside of work I enjoy crafts, especially sewing and knitting, I love cooking (and luckily my husband loves eating!) and we both enjoy walking and photography. We bought a house at the end of last year and I am presently perfecting my skills at crossing a mud slide to get to my front door – my husband is confident it will be a garden one day! I have two grown children and in fact our daughter came to university here, loved it so much she stayed and that’s how we ended up moving to Dorset four years ago.

So – if you are thinking of putting in a bid in the next round, or want to know more about how the fund might support your work, do get in touch. One opportunity would be the next RKEO coffee morning on 4th Feb – it’ll be 9.30 to 10.30 in the RKEO office on the 4th floor of Melbury House.

 

 

 

UKRO Reminder – RISE workshop 22 January 2015

Training

Research and Innovation Staff Exchange (RISE): Information Event

In its capacity as UK National Contact Point for the Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions, the UK Research Office is holding an information event for researchers who are interested in applying for the 2015 MSCA Research and Innovation Staff Exchange call, which opens on 6 January 2015, with a closing date of 28 April 2015.

Aim of the Research and Innovation Staff Exchange funding
The RISE scheme supports projects which promote international and/or inter-sectoral collaboration through staff exchanges and the sharing of knowledge and best practice. The scheme involves organisations from the academic and non-academic sectors, organisations based in Europe (EU Member States and Associated Countries) and outside of Europe (third countries).

Date and venue
Thursday, 22 January 2015
London South Bank University
Room 806, Keyworth Centre
Keyworth Street
London  SE1 6NG

Aim of Information Event
The event will provide participants with an in-depth overview of the RISE scheme. Participants should gain a clear understanding of the proposal format and the key issues relating to planning, writing and submitting proposals.

Who should attend?
The event is aimed at staff at UK academic and non-academic organisations, including industry, who are planning to submit a proposal to the RISE call.

Registration
Attendance is free of charge, but capacity at the venue is limited and places will therefore be allocated on a first come first served basis. Register via the UKRO workshop announcement.

The event will only take place if a minimum number of participants is reached. All interested participants will be notified by Friday 16 January 2015 at the very latest.

Agenda
The event will cover key issues relating to planning, writing and submitting proposals. A successful RISE 2014 project case study will be presented by the Principal Investigator.

Latest Funding Opportunities

Funding opportunities

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

 

 

 

Medical Research Council, GB

Molecular and cellular medicine – Research grants

The Medical Research Council invites applications for its research grants in molecular and cellular medicine. These are suitable for focused research projects that may be short- or long-term in nature. In addition, they can be used to support method development and continuation of research facilities and may involve more than one research group or institution.

Award amount – up to £1,000,000. Closing date 06/05/2015

Computational genomics analysis and training call for collaborative projects

The Medical Research Council’s computational genomics analysis and training programme invites applications for its call for collaborative projects. This is for collaborative projects that involve next-generation sequencing datasets to address important questions in biomedical science, aligning with MRC research priorities.

Applicants should be UK-based experimental and clinical groups with novel experimental designs or existing datasets making use of high-throughput sequencing methods. No experience in using next-generation sequencing methods is required.

Applicants may benefit from CGAT analytical capacity and expertise. In exceptional circumstances CGAT may also contribute funds for sequencing.

Award amount: not specified Closing date 30/01/15

Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council, GB

These support investigator- led research  activities addressing any topic within the council’s remit. Grants may be used for research projects, technology development, equipment or use of existing facilities, new facilities or infrastructure provision, research networks and coordination, and summer schools. Grants are tenable for up to five years.

Award amount max: Not specified Closing date: 28 Apr 15

Wellcome Trust, GB

The Wellcome Trust will shortly be inviting applications for phase two partnership grants of its Science Learning+ programme. The closing date is expected to fall in the last quarter of 2015 however application information has not yet been confirmed. The following call details are subject to change.

These grants support partnerships involving partners both in the US and in the UK or Republic of Ireland that aim to improve the knowledge base and practice of informal science experiences to better understand, strengthen and coordinate their vital role in science engagement and learning. Research should align with the following categories

Award amount max: Not specified Closing date: unknown

The Royal Society, GB

Newton mobility grants

The Royal Society offers Newton International Exchanges as mobility grants to provide international researchers with funding towards travel, subsistence and research expenses for either a one-off short visit to explore opportunities for building lasting networks or for bilateral visits to strengthen emerging collaborations.

Award amount: max £12,000 Closing date 19/02/15

Standard programme – Colin Pillinger International Exchanges award

This stimulates new collaborations within the natural sciences between scientists in the UK and overseas. Grants are worth up to £12,000 over a maximum period of two years. Researchers may also receive the Colin Pillinger international exchanges award of £10,000 to communicate their research to the general public.

Award amount: max £13,000 Closing date 17/02/15

AHRC/Cheltenham Festivals call for events at the science and literature festivals

To mark its tenth anniversary in 2015, the AHRC is looking to extend its partnership with Cheltenham Festivals by inviting applications from researchers to present their research at one of a series of four engaging public events at the Times Cheltenham Science Festival and the Times and The Sunday Times Cheltenham Literature Festival in 2015. One event will run at the Science Festival, and three at the Literature Festival.

Award amount: not specified Closing date 09/02/15

Natural Environment Research Council – NERC, GB

Atmospheric pollution and human health in a developing megacity

The NERC and the Medical Research Council (MRC) in the UK (with input from the Newton Fund) and the National Natural Science Foundation of China (NSFC) are investing in a strategic research programme on urban air pollution in the megacity Beijing and impacts on health. NERC, MRC and NSFC are inviting Expression of Interest applications for a call under this programme.

The programme is split into four themes:

  • sources and emissions of urban atmospheric pollution
  • processes affecting urban atmospheric pollution
  • exposure science and impacts on health
  • interventions and solutions.

All applications must be collaborations between UK and Chinese researchers.

Award amount max: Not specified Closing date: 06/03/15

Urgency Grants

The Natural Environment Research Council invites proposals for its urgency grants. These allow scientists to respond rapidly to unexpected and transient events affecting the environment. Proposals must fall within NERC’s scientific remit.

Award amount: max £52,000 Closing date no deadline

Arctic research station

Researchers from the UK and their international collaborators may carry out environmental research relevant to the NERC remit at the Ny-Ålesund station on the Svalbard archipelago.

Award amount: not specified: Closing date 31/03/15

—————————————————-

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.

Crowdfunding SMEs

I have some researchers visiting from the University of Ulster in February and they would like to take the opportunity to interview 2 or 3 SME owners who have used crowdfunding. I’d be grateful if anyone has contacts that they could pass on to me:  palford@bournemouth.ac.uk

Top tips for completing business and knowledge exchange funding applications

Guidance, Knowledge Exchange, Knowledge Transfer

For those involved in business and business planning some of  this information would not necessarily be new, however very important when completing any funding application or competition where Innovate UK are the main funder.  Innovate UK is the new name for the Technology Strategy Board and  fund, support and connect innovative businesses to accelerate sustainable economic growth.

A short guide to  to help make clear what an assessor for Innovate UK competitions is looking for has been produced. All of the Innovate UK funding programmes follow a similar pattern and you should bear in mind that the questions are designed to help rather than trip you up. It is important that you answer the questions asked and cover all aspects the Guidance for Applicants describes.
 
Try and  use the language they are looking for: the easier you make it for the assessor to understand and check off the information they seek, the more likely the proposal will score highly. The guidance is noted under 10 headings as follows :
  1. Business opportunity
  2. The market
  3. Exploitation
  4. Benefits,
  5. Project plan
  6. Innovation
  7. Risks
  8. Skills/ Project Consortium
  9. Finances
  10. Additionality

This is a user friendly document and worth reading to assist with  applications for funding large or small!

New Year’s Research Resolution #4 – update your staff profile page

Guidance

Happy New Year to you all and welcome back to work!

Each day this week we’ll be posting a New Year’s Research Resolution to help you get back into the swing of things. Today’s resolution is to update your staff profile page.

Our staff profile pages provide an excellent opportunity to promote yourself both internally and externally.  Jo Garrad’s post demonstrates that the pages are attracting thousands of views from all over the world.

The easiest way to navigate to your profile is to open the application (or click on the ‘academic profile’ link from the staff portal home page).  Next, click on ‘People’ in the page header and then on the start letter of your surname.  Finally, click on your name.  Your profile will then appear.  You can also search for your name.

You can update your profile page via BRIAN and fields you can add include:

  • photo of yourself
  • biography
  • research interests and keywords
  • teaching profile
  • PhD students supervised
  • invites lectures
  • qualifications
  • memberships
  • honours / awards
  • RKE grants
  • outreach and public engagement activities
Your publications will automatically be pulled through from BRIAN.

Having a complete and professional staff profile page can help to attract potential students and collaborators.  It will raise your profile externally and will ensure your page appears in web searches.

If you have any queries about BRIAN or the Staff Profile Pages then please direct these to BRIAN@bournemouth.ac.uk

Evaluation mixed-methods research grant awarded to FHSS team

PG research

Dr. Janet Scammell in the Faculty of Health and Social Sciences (FHSS) is leading on a new research project evaluating the impact of a new integrated respiratory service in Dorset.  The £20,000 mixed-methods research project is funded by the Wessex Academic Health Science Network on behalf of the Dorset Clinical Commissioning Group.  Janet Scammell is leading a research team in BU’s new Faculty of Health and Social Sciences comprising Desi Tait, Ashley Spriggs, Martin Hind, Caroline Belchamber and Edwin van Teijlingen.

The Dorset Adult Integrated Respiratory Service (DAIRS) is a new service that has been set up early 2014 to provide support and care for people with respiratory conditions such as chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), bronchiectasis and pulmonary fibrosis.  The service aims to reduce the number of people who need admission to hospital and help individuals to feel more in control of their condition.  BU has been asked to evaluate early uptake and impact of the DAIRS running in Poole, Bournemouth and Dorchester.

 

Further information about this exciting project is available from:   Dr. Janet Scammell, Associate Professor and Professional Lead for Adult and Children & Young People’s Nursing

Telephone: 01202 962751

Email: jscammell@bournemouth.ac.uk

Research Professional visiting BU – come and learn how to find the right funding opportunities for you

Guidance

Every BU academic has a Research Professional account which delivers weekly emails detailing funding opportunities in their broad subject area.  Research Professional are visiting BU on 28th January to demonstrate to academics and staff how to make the most of their Research Professional account.  This will include:

  • Building searches
  • Setting personalised alerts
  • Saving and bookmarking items
  • Subscribing to news alerts
  • Configuring your personal profile

 The RKEO Funding Development Team will also be in attendance to help and offer advice from a BU perspective.  The session will run from 10am to 11am on 28th January and will be held in PG19, Talbot Campus.  This is a great opportunity to learn more about funding opportunities and to meet the Funding Development Team, particularly if you are new to BU.

Please reserve your place now through Organisational Development

Important change to your JeS account

Guidance

This is to anyone within the Faculties who is registered on Je-S (the research council application submission system).

In light of the changes to the Faculty names, Je-S have updated all account holders details (approximately 400 people) to reflect the new structure.   Je-S were asked to do a basic mapping of Schools to new Faculties:

  • Faculty of Science & Technology (formerly School of Design, Engineering and Computing and School of Applied Sciences)
  • Faculty of Media & Communication (formerly the Media School)
  • Faculty of Management (formerly the Business School and the School of Tourism)
  • Faculty of Health & Social Sciences (formerly School of Health and Social Care)

I am aware that this format will be correct for the majority of people but there are a few who will still need to go in and amend their ‘Department’ name.  An example will be those within the Business School who will move to Media & Communication rather than transfer to the newly formed Faculty of Management.  Any changes that you make will come via the RKEO for approval, which we will approve as soon as possible.  This has been done now due to the long lead in time for decisions on applications submitted to research councils.  Please note that this does not change any internal BU systems, such as RED or BRIAN.  These will be amended nearer the transition stage.

Thank you for your cooperation.