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PhD Studentship Competition – An Update

The PhD Studentship Competition Policy has now been updated to include a new section on due diligence and the necessary checks that Schools/Faculty should take if any supervisory team are intending to apply for Matched Funding.

The Lead Supervisor must now complete a Matched Funder Due Diligence Form, to show at least in broad terms where the money being given comes from and assure that the organisation is appropriate for the University to be involved or associated with.

The core elements of due diligence involve taking reasonable steps to:

  • Identify the organisation, where are they based, who its directors are;
  • Verify the organisation, checking company registration details;
  • Know what the organisation’s primary business is;
  • Consider how the relationship with the University has come about; and
  • Comply with the University’s Anti-Bribery, Conflict of Interest, Fraud policies and the Code of Ethical Fundraising.

Where proposed matched funders are based internationally, due diligence checks must take into account any relevant circumstances arising in the particular country or region of the funder’s operations. Risks could arise from for example, internal conflicts, military action, and known terrorist or criminal activity in the area.

Final approval of the project will be subject to satisfactory due diligence checks on the proposed matched funder.

Both the Policy (see section The Matched Funder) and Proposal Form have been updated to reflect these changes and copies can also be found on the Graduate School Intranet.

Proposals, together with a copy of the Due Diligence Form and Letter of Support (from matched funder) should be submitted via email to phdstudentshipcompetition@bournemouth.ac.uk by Monday 19 January 2015

  • General questions about the PhD Studentship Competition should be directed to the Graduate School Team
  • Questions regarding the due diligence process should be directed to Legal Services

CEMP Media Education Summit makes national TV news in Czech Republic

CEMP’s annual Media Education Summit is taking place at the Goethe Institut in Prague this year and, yesterday, made the national news.

You can see the item here (it starts at 11:50): http://www.ceskatelevize.cz/ivysilani/10101491767-studio-ct24/214411058321120

It features an interview with the co-organiser, Jan Jirak, from the Metropolitan University of Prague, who comments that, until now all of the CEMP summits have taken place in England – “This is the first time the summit has been abroad. It is a great honour for us that they chose the Czech Republic, and that they invited the Goethe Institut and Metropolitan University to co-organise the event.”

It’s all in Czech, of course, but you’ll see some familiar faces from the conference footage!

A Fishy Tale: BS Consumer Researchers visit Norway

Funding opportunities, REF Subjects, Research themes

Last week Professor Juliet Memery and Dr Dawn Birch from the Business School, supported by the Cyber Security Unit, travelled to Tromso in Norway at the invitation of the University of Tromso.  The aim of the trip was to discuss future research collaborations and funding opportunities around the areas of food security, food crime, food waste and technology with a particular emphasis on fish and seafood.

Whilst there Juliet and Dawn met with academics from the University of Tromso, including Professor Svein Ottar Olsen and Professor Kåre Skallerud, as well as Pirjo Honkanen, Director of Research (Consumer and marketing research) and Petter Olsen, senior scientist, from Nofima, one of the largest institutes for applied research within the fields of fisheries, aquaculture and food industry in Europe.  A series of research presentations revealed a number of areas of mutual interest which will be scoped out and explored further with a view to securing EU/Research Council funding.  Additionally they met with analysts at the Head Office of the Norwegian Seafood Council to discuss their role and research in the seafood industry and explore potential opportunities for them to be included in future research collaborations.

Overall it was a very successful networking trip, and a reciprocal visit to Bournemouth is anticipated in the coming months to further strengthen relationships and collaborations.

NERC Innovation Projects

Knowledge Exchange, Knowledge Transfer

 

The Innovation Projects call supports projects that are likely to generate little or no commercial return, but which will deliver impact.

The call aims to increase and accelerate the uptake and impact of NERC funded research output by supporting translational and knowledge exchange activity which delivers direct tangible and demonstrable benefits to end users.  The Follow-on Fund is for those projects that aim to be fully commercialised with a revenue stream derived from licensing, spinouts, consultancy etc.

A maximum of £125k (£100k at 80% FEC) may be requested.  Projects are expected to start in May 2015 and to last for up to 12 months.  Smaller, targeted activities of three to six months are also welcome and NERC anticipates seeing a range of requests within the £125k limit, reflecting a diverse range of potential projects and activities.

The closing date is 16.00 hrs on 18th December, 2014

For further information go to  the  website

EPSRC are seeking new members for Strategic Advisory Bodies

Guidance

The EPSRC is seeking applications from industrialists, academics and individuals working in the third sector and government organisations to join Strategic Advisory Teams (SATs), across the range of EPSRC’s Themes.

In addition, EPSRC, on behalf of partner Research Councils, is seeking applications for the RCUK Energy Theme’s Strategic Advisory Committee (SAC) and the Digital Economy Theme’s Programme Advisory Board (PAB).

Strategic Advisory Teams exist to provide Theme Leaders at EPSRC with strategic advice that will assist them to develop, implement and modify plans. The Energy SAC and Digital Economy PAB perform the same function for the respective cross-Research Council Programmes. These bodies consist of up to 16 members, depending on the needs of the Theme / Programme. They are devised as a flexible resource, enabling Theme Leaders to obtain the advice they need in a timely manner, drawing on a range of perspectives from across our key stakeholder groups. Further information and terms of reference for SATs can be found on the EPSRC website. Further information on the Energy SAC and the Digital Economy PAB can be found on the RCUK website.

Role and person specification

SAT Members are drawn from EPSRC’s stakeholder groupings. SAC and PAB members are also drawn from these groups, as well as the stakeholder groupings of other relevant Research Councils. Members of all strategic advisory bodies are expected to bring a broad strategic view to bear and to act as ‘generous generalists’, advising across the breadth of EPSRC’s portfolio and the portfolios of other Councils where appropriate.

Members are not required to act as representatives of their own organisation, research area or sector.

The specific requirements sought are:

Essential

  • Credibility in the relevant research communities, including academe or the user base.
  • Ability to take a strategic overview of research and skills needs relevant to the Theme.
  • An understanding of the international context within which the Theme sits.
  • Ability to work flexibly in a team and adapt to new ways of working, using both domain expertise and wider cross-disciplinary perspectives.
  • Appreciation of ethical issues and the need for responsible innovation in the conduct of research.
  • Preparedness to challenge EPSRC policies (and those of other Research Councils where appropriate) in a constructive way.
  • Willingness to help with two-way communication between EPSRC (and other Research Councils where appropriate) and the research community.
  • Willingness to devote sufficient time to the role.

As part of this exercise, a Chair for each SAT / SAC / PAB will also be identified. The specific requirements for the Chair are:

Essential

  • Experience of working with EPSRC or other Research Councils, normally through an advisory body.
  • Experience of chairing meetings
  • Ability to ensure that all SAT / SAC / PAB member views are heard, the recorded advice is representative of the views expressed and that all present have discharged their roles appropriately.
  • Knowledge of EPSRC’s corporate strategies and policies.

Operation

Each Theme’s Strategic Advisory Body meets at least two times per year. Additionally, they hold conferences to bring Strategic Advisory Bodies from all Themes together. SAT / SAC / PAB members may also be asked to take part in other EPSRC business (or that of other Councils as appropriate), including but not limited to workshops, advisory groups for specific activities and peer-review prioritisation panels.

Further information

The vacancies can be found here and the selection and appointment process can be found here.

Centre for Leadership, Impact and Management in Health and Social Care launched at Bournemouth University

Business Engagement, Knowledge Exchange

A centre to provide leadership and management development opportunities and support across the health and social care sector has been launched at  BU.

The Centre for Leadership, Impact and Management in Bournemouth (CLiMB)  offers a range of development options – including leadership and management programmes; coaching and mentoring development; accreditation for in-house programmes; and consultancy, research and impact evaluation.

Director of CLiMB Professor Keith Brown said: “CLiMB is being launched to bring together Bournemouth University’s strengths of research, consultancy and education in the leadership of health and social care services.  “Never before have these services been under the level of financial pressure and public scrutiny that they are currently, coupled with increasingly high public expectations for quality services.  “These needs and demands can only be met by better leadership at all levels within the health and social care sector.”
The centre has been launched after more than five years of research and development in the field of leadership and management in health and social care.  Professor Brown was asked by the government’s Social Work Reform Board, established following the death of Peter Connelly, to develop a leadership pathway for social work managers.

This was extensively evaluated for impact and then adapted for healthcare in response to the Francis report at Mid Staffordshire Hospital.

The Centre was officially opened on 12th November by Bournemouth West MP Conor Burns, who said: “Too often in health and social work, organisations have become too immersed in process and procedure that they lose sight sometimes of the outcome.  We should be proud of what Keith and the team do in terms of outcomes for people… making a contribution emotionally and economically.”

Sue Sutherland OBE, Chair of BU’s Board and former Chief Executive of Poole Hospital, said: “The launch of this centre is really important.  It is absolutely rising to the challenges that the sector faces, helping to develop the best health and social care service that’s borne out of leadership at every point of the sector.”

CLiMB currently receives HEIF funding. Higher Education Innovation Funding aims  to support and develop a broad range of knowledge-based interactions between universities and colleges and the wider world, which result in economic and social benefit to the UK.

 

Funding Call Scoping Workshop: Invitation to inform the content of an upcoming Innovate UK UX and Data Competition

Funding opportunities, Knowledge Exchange, Knowledge Transfer

 

The Knowledge Transfer Network are running  an information day and workshop around User Experience and Data technology innovation.  This event will bring together businesses, academics and researchers working within UX and data to contribute to a discussion on the scoping of a Spring 2015 funding competition. 

Innovate UK (formally Technology Strategy Board) will be running three funding competitions in areas relating to User Experience (UX). This event is an opportunity to learn more about these funding calls, how to apply as well as influencing future activities in UX.

There are two themes to these UX related competitions: 

1. Utilising personal data to improve a user’s experience of a product or service: This competition is a feasibility study and is due to launch in March 2015. There will be an opportunity to influence the scope of this call so that it correctly addresses the issues that are affecting the UX industry.

2. Innovative technology & software to improved the interaction between human and machine: This will focus on novel approaches to UX with an innovative software element to them, essentially how to let people and machines interact better, moving beyond the traditional keyboard, mouse and screen.  

There are two competions in this theme: a feasibility study and a  Knowledge Transfer Parnership. (KTP).

Date: Tuesday, 02 December 2014

Time: 10:30 – 16:30

Venue: Barbican Centre, London

Register now to attend

Festival of Learning- event ideas to inspire the younger generation

Festival of Learning

Thinking of a fantastic event idea aimed at the younger generation can be challenging. It can often be very helpful when the audience we are aiming at can give us inspiration, a great event idea for the younger generation came from an audience member at the last Café Scientifque.

Have you thought about running a child friendly forensics event at the 2015 Festival of Learning? This idea will create a hands on, entertaining and memorable day for children attending the festival and has also worked extremely well in previous years.

Incidentally, if you wish to gain inspiration in running this event idea, the next Café Scientifique will be looking at ‘Who Stole Christmas’ with a forensic themed talk in store on the 2nd December so be sure to mark the date in your diary.

Or perhaps you may be inspired to run a child friendly event in storytelling. Events with this theme have worked well in previous years with strong turn outs and positive feedback from attendees. This could really get a child’s imagination going and inspire them to improve their storytelling skills.

Now is a great time to start thinking about your event in order to get your proposal in for the 19th December deadline.

If you would like to get involved in the Festival of Learning in 2015, you can submit your proposal here or contact Naomi Kay to discuss how your research can translate into a memorable Festival of Learning event.

ST Lecturer reviews research proposals for Kazakhstan’s Science and Technology Centre For the second year running

Dr. Miguel Moital, Senior Lecturer in Events Management in the School of Tourism, has been invited by Kazakhstan’s National Center of Science and Technology Evaluation (NCSTE) to review research proposals submitted as part of the call for grant funding 2015-2017. The Center, created in 2011, is responsible for organizing and conducting the evaluation of research proposals by Kazakhstani academics. Miguel reviewed proposals in the areas of tourism and events.

Commenting on the experience, Miguel said ‘I found the exercise a good learning experience about Kazakhstan and the research projects being developed in the country in the areas of tourism and events. I have visited the Central Asian region before (Turkmenistan) and I am fascinated by how quickly the region is changing and developing.  There is a vibrant research environment in Kazakhstan after the President decided to allocate 3% of the budget to science. The latest call attracted 5000 proposals on all areas, with tourism and events ones increasing significantly when compared to the previous call.”

Secure and cross border digital identity: issues and perspectives

Staff and students are invited to join us for the next cyber security seminar on:

‘Secure and cross border digital identity: issues and perspectives’

Tuesday 25th November, 4pm – 5pm

Room: P335

 

The talk will discuss requirements, issues and perspectives for an interoperability solution that allows citizens and organizations to establish new e-relations across borders, just by presenting their national eID.

Our speaker will be Dr Andrea Atzeni, from the “Dipartimento di Automatica e Informatica, Politecnico di Torino” who is based in the TORSEC Security group.

Dr Atzeni’s work addresses the definition of security requirements and mobile security, plus, investigation and modelisation of user expectation on security and privacy; risk analysis and threat modeling for complex cross-domain systems; specification of functional and security architectures; development of cross-domain usable security; development and integration of cross-border authentication mechanisms (including legal and technical issues).

Thinking Futures: Talking about academic quilting

On 5th November Jenny Hall, Senior Midwifery Lecturer, presented at an event organised for the ‘Thinking Futures’ festival for the University of Bristol. http://www.bristol.ac.uk/fssl/festival/
The festival was an eleven day series of lectures to share and celebrate research from the Faculty of Social science and Law and had sponsorship from the ESRC Festival of social science. The sponsorship meant that it was open to the public and therefore anyone could turn up.
The day was called ‘Patchwork, quilting and keeping it all going’ and arranged by inspirational Management academic and quilt researcher Ann Rippin http://annjrippin.wordpress.com/ Ann placed in social and historical context the study of quilting and the history of quilters, identifying the lack of research around this significant social activity. Harriett Shortt from the business school at UWE Bristol shared how she had developed a quilt as a response to her PhD studies.
http://harrietshortt.wordpress.com/ Jenny also talked about the process of reflexivity in her EdD study around developing her quilt as well as the creation of ‘text quilts’. The audience included researchers as well as members of the public active in stitching. Overall it was a day that stimulated a lot of discussion around the use of creative craft in life as well as research and highlighted the need for more work around quilters to be carried out.

Members of Bournemouth University and Erasmus School of Law hold workshop on organizational behaviour and legal development

Knowledge Exchange

Academics from Erasmus University, Rotterdam, the Netherlands joined fellow researchers at Bournemouth University for a two day workshop on November 6-7. The workshop focused on organizational behaviour and legal development.

Presentations ranged from examining corruption in terms of foreign owned firms paying bribes and organizational wrong doing to legal issues involving IP issues and trademark violations at the London Olympics.

Bournemouth University PhD candidate, Nick Coppola, presented his paper “EU competence in IP matters: the strange case of geographical indications”. Coppola’s presentation explored the division of competencies between the European Union and its member states with regards to an often controversial form of intellectual property.

“I am presenting this paper again to the Italian Association of Agricultural Lawyers November 27 in Rovigo, Italy, so the opportunity to get feedback from colleagues in a smaller forum prior to the conference will help me to respond to potentially difficult questions from subject matter experts,” said Coppola. “Additionally, it was a good opportunity to discuss my paper with professors and peers who take a different approach to law. This has helped me to consider my research from an alternative perspective.”

Legal issues were further addressed when Dr. Lingling Wei presented her joint paper with Erikson about the event specific legislation for mega sporting events. Their paper intersects social sciences discussions with legal analysis.

“I think these interdisciplinary research workshops are a good way to work outside of the restriction of the legal field and have a good interaction with the social scientist,” added Wei.

Organizational behaviour was also explored at the workshop. Erasmus University Rotterdam candidate, Shaheen Naseer, presented her paper “Bureaucratic power and corruption, Imprinting of the past” which gave a contextual overview of how Pakistan’s bureaucracy has been influenced during its time as a British colony.

“The conference was a great opportunity for me to interact with academics from diverse backgrounds,” said Naseer. “The papers were at the forefront of knowledge and the floor discussions helped cross-fertilization of ideas. The conference was held in an atmosphere of collegiality and I enjoyed the great hospitality of the organizers”

Dr. Fabian Homberg, Bournemouth University and Prof. Klaus Heine, Erasmus School of Law, have started these workshops in 2011 as an informal way to foster intellectual exchange and to develop interdisciplinary research projects. This initiative will continue in the future and has also resulted in an ERASMUS+ Agreement between BU’s Business School and Erasmus School of Law which is active since the start of this academic year (2014/2015). This means exchange opportunities for undergraduates, post-graduates and post-graduate researchers and staff are now available between these two institutions.