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£9m funding open for registration – Integrated transport: local authority solutions

Business Engagement, Funding opportunities, Knowledge Exchange, Knowledge Transfer

Innovate UK has launched a funding competition for collaborative research & development with up to nine million pounds funding available.

The aim of this competition is to meet user needs by connecting people and/or goods to transport products and services. 

More information & competition registration page.

Briefing Event, 20 January, London

You can attend the competition briefing event,  either online or in person. This 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 a chance to network. Register for the briefing event or webinar.

 For queries about this competition, please contactsupport@innovateuk.gov.uk

Playfulness and academic performance of university students

Dr. Lukman Aroean, a Senior Lecturer in International Marketing in the Bournemouth University Business School, has recently paid a research visit to the Faculty of Economics and Business, Universitas Gadjah Mada, Indonesia.  The research visit was funded by British Council Researcher Link and last from end of August to early October 2014. The research topic was about playfulness and academic performance of university students. A two-stage field research involving forty nine undergraduate students of the host university has been undertaken. At the moment the research team has identified interesting findings including the conceptualization of playfulness as an experience, how playfulness interacts with students’ academic performance and how personal preferences are related to the gap between playfulness and academic activity. Dr. Aroean has given two research seminars in the host university about the research findings. Further collaboration is under consideration including engaging business schools from the ASEAN (South East Asian Nations) region.   

Marie Sklodowska-Curie Information Sessions – 27th and 28th January

Funding opportunities, Training

Emily Cieciura and Paul Lynch, Research Facilitators for EU and International funders, are hosting information sessions for forthcoming Marie Sklodowska-Curie Action calls.

Come along to EB705 on Tuesday 27th January at 10:30 or P335 on Wednesday 28th January at 3:30pm. Both sessions will last approximately one hour including time for questions.

No need to book!

 

Philip Leahy-Harland, Project Officer

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

Hi dear reader.

I am one of a team of five project officers (PDO), I am the lead PDO for BUBS and Professional Services and support parts of all faculties, currently I am available only via MS Teams.

So what does my role cover? Well pretty much anything after the award of funding, so for example, contract negotiation, invoicing funders, monitoring and end of award audit support. Too much to list here!

I have worked here at BU since May 2013 but prior to that I was a finance manager and project manager in various guises over the last 30 years working in the third sector, local government and Royal Mail. Going back even further in time I was an engineer – which is why my handwriting is so poor (any excuse will do).

Out side of work I am a self taught traditional building conservation guru, if you have damp or rot issue in your house talk to me.

Most cited article in MIDWIFERY

Publishing

The scientific paper ‘Risk, Theory, Social & Medical Models: a critical analysis of the concept of risk in maternity care’ written by Dr. Helen MacKenzie Bryers (NHS Highland) and BU Professor of Reproductive Health Research is now listed on the website of the international journal Midwifery  as its top most cited paper since 2010 (1).   Midwifery, published by Elsevier, is one of the leading global journals in the field of midwifery and maternity care.

The paper provides a critical analysis of the risk concept, its development in modern society in general and UK maternity services in particular. Through the associated theory, the authors explore the origins of the current preoccupation with risk.  Using Pickstone’s historical phases of modern health care, the paper explores the way maternity services changed from a social to a medical model over the twentieth century and suggests that the risk agenda was part of this process.

‘Risk, Theory, Social & Medical Models’ has been cited 40 times in SCOPUS, measured today Jan. 25th 2015.   In Google Scholar the citation rate is even higher  and stands at 69.

 

Prof. Edwin van Teijlingen

Centre for Midwifery, Maternal and Perinatal Health

Faculty of Health & Social Sciences

Reference

  1. MacKenzie Bryers, H., van Teijlingen, E. (2010) Risk, Theory, Social & Medical Models: a critical analysis of the concept of risk in maternity care, Midwifery 26(5): 488-496.

Hi! I’m Jo…

Hi, I’m the Project Administrator within the Research and Knowledge Exchange primarily responsible for the Faculty of Media & Communication externally-funded projects, so if you need a trip booking down the Zambezi or a taxi to Heathrow, I’m the one you need to talk to!

I’m also the clerk to the University Research Ethics Committee and the two University Ethics Panels, arranging the meetings and taking minutes. I really enjoy finding out about the research projects going on in the University, they are so varied and inspiring.

I’ve been at the University for a little over two years now – previously I worked for the Civil Service in a variety of roles, latterly as an Office Manager for the Official Receiver. I moved around a little, starting in Liverpool after graduating from Liverpool John Moores University working for The Employment Service and then moving on to the Official Receivers when returning south to Bournemouth.

 

In my spare time I like travelling, usually with family and exploring new cultures and territories. I love cooking and devising new recipes, watching films and reading fiction.

HE Policy Update

Monday

Russell Group

Greg Clark has told Russell Group universities that they must step up efforts to attract talented pupils from the northern regions and areas of low achievement. Research by The Times and the Sutton Trust revealed that all but one of the 20 councils that send the most children to the top third of universities are in London and the South East. Academic apartheid against north must end, leading universities told (The Times).

Tuesday

Fall in High Skilled Jobs

Britain’s economy has shifted more towards low-skilled jobs compared with other European countries, according to Oxford university research. High-skilled jobs hard to find as graduate pool grows (The Financial Times).

REF Results

The way universities have been presenting their REF results has been highlighted. One observer counted 14 universities tweeting that they were in the top 10, prompting claims that universities are crunching the numbers to present the results in the most favourable way. Universities worry about fallout from research ranking, (The Guardian).

Wednesday

North/South Divide

An interesting comment piece on the findings that all but one of the 20 council areas that send the most children to Britain’s top universities are in London and the southeast has been released. The piece suggests that one course of action is for universities to help close the gap in information and understanding, which often deters students from applying to university or results in poor decisions about institutions and courses. ‘Tackling the north-south university divide’ (The Telegraph)

Thursday

Gender Gap in HE

UCAS figures show that students’ choice of degree is becoming increasingly polarised along gender lines. The figures show that nearly 58,000 more women entered university this academic year than men. The figures also reveal that there are more women than men in about two-thirds of subjects; these include subjects allied to medicine and education. However, male students strongly outnumber female students on engineering and computer science courses, with 20,300 more men doing engineering and 17,300 more on computer courses. Gender gaps among students revealed by Ucas (THE), Women students shun science  (The Times).

EU Students

The Times Higher Education shows how much higher education investment there is in different EU countries. It reveals that the UK spends the second most per student at €16,500 only behind Sweden which spends €20,520.  Analysis: are EU students feeling the squeeze? (THE).

Friday

Labour – £6000 fees

Analysis into why Labour may not commit to its £6000 tuition fee cap proposal highlights universities’ concerns. The article suggests that whilst Labour has promised to make up the difference in institutions’ income, universities are concerned where this money will come from and how it will be distributed. Why lowering tuition fees is more complicated than you think (BBC News).

International Students

Analysis of HESA figures showing where international students are coming from to study in the UK, reveals that the continued growth in the number of Chinese and other East and Southeast Asian students is making up for the drop in students from elsewhere. Hard Evidence: is immigration policy discouraging foreign students? (The Conversation).

Bid for Funded Education Projects

Funding opportunities

 

BU’s Fair Access Agreement includes a project fund to support fair access and widening participation projects and CEL offers the opportunity to bid for funding for pedagogic innovation, research and development projects annually. Therefore staff in Faculties and in Professional Services are now invited to bid for funds for projects which will contribute to outreach/ widening participation objectives and to improving the student learning experience at BU. 

To apply for funding, please complete the relevant project proposal form;

Form A is for Fair Access/ Widening Participation projects costing over £5000*

Form B is for CEL/ educational development ones.

The closing date for submission is Friday 27 February. Completed forms for all projects are to be submitted to:

Lukasz Naglik, Fair Access Outreach Liaison Officer, via email at lnaglik@bournemouth.ac.uk.

Fair Access projects costing over £5000 will be reviewed by the Fair Access Agreement Management Group (FAAMG). Details of projects will then be submitted to the next scheduled ULT meeting where a formal decision will be made. The Chair of the FAAMG will let you know whether the application has been successful within 2 to 4 weeks of this meeting taking place.  The Group may contact you prior to this for further information or clarification on your proposal.

CEL/ education innovation projects will be reviewed by a sub panel of the CEL Steering Group who will work to similar timescales as above.

We look forward to receiving some creative and exciting proposals that will help us to engage more effectively with schools, colleges and community organisations to enhance our targets to widen participation as well as to test out new ideas and approaches that will enhance student learning.

 

* Opportunities for funding for projects costing under £5000 have been advertised separately. Please contact Lukasz Naglik via e-mail at lnaglik@bournemouth.ac.uk or phone 01202 9 61031 to request an application form.

 

Introducing Gary Cowen – Finance & Systems Adviser

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

I am the Finance & Systems Adviser in the newly formed Project Delivery team. I can offer help/advice on all aspects of research finance, including but not limited to, sales invoicing, VAT, expenditure monitoring, forecasting etc. I also look after the Research Enterprise Database (RED) and pFACT (costing) systems. If you are having access issues or other, I’m the man to sort it out!

Prior to joining BU, I worked in the private sector and for 23 years worked for an engineering company as Management Accountant (6 years) and then Financial Controller (17 years).

Outside of work, my passion is football, either watching (my beloved West Ham Utd), playing or coaching. For the past 10 years I have coached a Burton Youth football team (now U15s). When I’m not on a football pitch, you can usually find me rummaging around second hand record shops looking to add to my already vast collection of vinyl.

Reminder: Consumer Research Group Meeting No.3!!

Funding opportunities, PG research, REF Subjects, Research themes

 The ‘Consumer Research Group’ will be holding its next meeting 2-4pm on Wednesday 28th January in PG19.  Professor John Fletcher – Pro Vice Chancellor – Research and Innovation – will open the meeting.  Discussions within this meeting will revolve around an outline of the vision/strategic plan for the CRG, as well as opportunities to initiate and progress collaborative research projects around the seven CRG themes.  These all aim to develop an even stronger research profile for the CRG.

Anyone who is doing consumer research of any description is welcome to join and contribute to the discussions – and as before there will be coffee and cake to help our consumer thinking along.

If you would like to come along please email any of the other contacts below so that we can get a feel for numbers.  If you are unable to make this meeting but are interested in being involved please email us to let us know and we will keep you informed about future events.

Jeff Bray (Tourism; jbray@bournemouth.ac.uk)

Juliet Memery (Business School; jmemery@bournemouth.ac.uk)

Janice Denegri-Knott (Media School; JDKnott@bournemouth.ac.uk)

Siné McDougall (SciTech; smcdougall@bournemouth.ac.uk)

Dancing with Parkinson’s: Standing Tall, Stepping Boldly and Feeling Lovely

Lunchtime Seminar on Thursday 12th February 2015 , 1-1.50pm in EB708, Lansdowne Campus

Dr Sara Houston, Principal Lecturer in Dance at the University of Roehampton

Against the backdrop of a five-year study into dance for people with Parkinson’s, Dr Houston will examine what it means to ‘live well’ with Parkinson’s through those who participate in a dance class.  She will  examine how participants’ aims to ‘stand tall and step boldly’ are embodied and shaped by their dancing experience.  The seminar  will highlight one woman’s claim that dancing makes her feel beautiful, and, as such, is fundamental to her wellbeing. She will debate the challenge that this claim poses to those who argue that beauty in dance is at best unimportant, at worst disenfranchising. In debating this challenge she will create a link between aesthetics and health through a reformulation of the value of beauty in the context of chronic illness and wellbeing. This link will then allow her to discuss how feeling lovely could become relevant and meaningful within the context of participating in dance.

Dr Sara Houston is Principal Lecturer in Dance at the University of Roehampton.  Currently, she leads a longitudinal mixed-methods research study examining the experience of dancing with Parkinson’s commissioned by English National Ballet.  Her work won her the BUPA Foundation Vitality for Life Prize in 2011 and she was a Finalist for the National Public Engagement Awards in 2014.  For the last five years, Sara’s project with people with Parkinson’s has developed her work on the intersection between dance as art, health and wellbeing and on the tensions and collaboration between quantitative and qualitative methodologies and between art and therapy models of engagement.  In 2014, Sara won a National Teaching Fellowship from the Higher Education Academy for excellence in teaching.  She is Chair of the Board of People Dancing: the Foundation for Community Dance.  Her book Dancing With Parkinson’s: Art, Community and Wellbeing is in preparation and will be published by Intellect Books.

The seminar will be followed by the BU Humanisation Special Interest Group meeting  from  2 -4.30pm  in EB708, Lansdowne Campus. All are welcome.

Help us to celebrate leading Interdisciplinary Research at BU

Reminder: closing date for volunteers to showcase interdisciplinary research is 28th Janaury.

The RKEO are organising an Interdisciplinary Research Week 11-15 May 2015 to celebrate our interdisciplinary research which is tackling key societal challenges.

The inaugural interdisciplinary research week will consist of a series of five different events showcasing BU’s leading interdisciplinary research from across our four Faculties. Each lecture will be framed around how taking an interdisciplinary approach is enabling researchers to make a difference to society, students and key external partners.

Here’s where we need your help.  Does your research saves lives, create prosperity, protect the environment, change how we live, and/or inspire future generations?  Could you give a lecture to inspire our staff, students and external partners as to the power of interdisciplinary research?  If so, we would like you to volunteer to provide a lecture for this celebratory week.  You will receive the full support of RKEO in preparing for this event.  If you are interested in celebrating your interdisciplinary research then please get in touch by 28th January 2015 with Becca Edwards and Jo Garrad to discuss further.

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!