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Introducing Jo Garrad – your Funding Development Manager

Guidance

Hello!  My name is Jo Garrad and I’m the Funding Development Manager within the Research and Knowledge Exchange Office.

I am responsible for overseeing all aspects of the management of pre-award support for external research and knowledge exchange funding applications across the University. My challenge is to increase the quality and quantity of proposals to support the achievement of the University’s research and knowledge exchange KPIs, and to design and implement best practice.

I have extensive knowledge of the external funding process from both sides having previously worked at the UK research councils for over 20 years.  I find that what I’ve picked up and learnt from being involved with academics for so long is beneficial when watching University Challenge.

I have a great group of people who represent the Funding Development Team.  The team comprises of Research Facilitators (including specialism in international and EU funding), Funding Development Officers, and a Funding Development Coordinator.  We can assist with all aspects of developing your proposal to increase your chance of success as we proactively contribute to the growth and development of research activity in schools/faculty.     

We have dedicated Research Facilitators available to develop and critique your proposal.  They can help you identify research teams; write, review and critique text; ensure your proposal meets the funder’s strategic aims; suggest ideas to strengthen the content of your proposal;  help you form inter/multidisciplinary research collaborations; and facilitate internal peer review.  The Facilitators will horizon scan research funders’ strategic agendas and potential future funding opportunities to ensure that we are ready to respond to these opportunities, maximising the Universities chance of success.  Paul Lynch and Emily Cieciura specialise in international and EU funding, whilst Jenny Roddis (contact for HSC and SciTech) and Alex Pekalski (contact for Media, ST and BS) specialise in UK funding. 

We also have Funding Development Officers (FDO) who provide  the school(s)/faculty with a single point of contact for all operational aspects of the pre-award process.  This includes checking eligibility and funder guidance, advising on timescales, costing and pricing, producing pre-award contractual documentation, institutional approval and proposal submission.  So, if you have an idea about what you want to apply for, contact your FDO and we’ll kick start the process.  Ehren Milner is FDO for Business School and the School of Tourism, Jason Edwards is FDO for the School of Health and Social Care, Dianne Goodman is FDO for the Media School, and Kerri Jones and Alice Brown (joining us in December) are FDO’s for SciTech.

In addition, we are responsible for the success of the development initiatives, which includes the Grants Academy, EUADS and BRAD.  You can find out all about these on the research lifecycle pages here.  Our Funding Development Coordinator (soon to be appointed) is responsible for administering these with oversight from the Faciliators.

So, a little bit about me to show that I’m not all work, work, work.  Outside of work I have a keen interest in birds.  I’m never far away from a pair of binoculars and you can find me most weekends walking around the New Forest staring at the sky or a bush and trying not to walk into a pony as I’m not looking where I’m going.  I particularly love all corvids as I find them fascinating.  The sight of a rooks beak and fluffy panteloons brings me great joy.  When I’m not bird watching, you can often find me watching football.  In particular, Swindon Town or more recently the wonderful non-league Bashley FC (is it obvious that I’m not following a team for glory?).  I love holidaying in the UK and am a keen walker (goes hand in hand with bird watching).  I probably spend too much time at beer festivals and like to think of myself as a gin connoisseur.

That’s enough about me.  As soon as you have an idea about what it is that you want to do with research funding or if you want advice on how to kickstart research funding then get in touch with the Funding Development Team.  We’re here to help.

International History of the Radio Documentary

The first open meeting of the Centre for Media History will be this coming Monday, 13 October. The guest speaker will be Virginia Madsen, Convenor Radio at Macquarie University, Sydney, Australia who will be talking about her forthcoming book on the international history of the radio documentary

 

Monday 13 October

6 – 7.30 pm

Lecture theatre KG03 in Kimmeridge House, Talbot campus Refreshments served from 5.30 pm

 

Virginia Madsen is a Senior Lecturer and Convenor Radio at Macquarie University, Sydney. Formerly a producer for Australia’s ABC, she was a founding member of the national audio arts programme, ‘The Listening Room’. She has published pioneering essays exploring the radio documentary and ‘feature’, and ‘cultural radio’ traditions. She is currently writing the first international history of ‘the documentary imagination’ in radio, examining forms and developments from the 1920s to the present renaissance. Virginia is Chair of the Management Committee of Australia’s only Centre for Media History and Chief Investigator of the ARC Project (2014): “Cultural Conversations: A History of ABC Radio National”.

 

Congratulations to BU Visiting Faculty on latest publication

PG research, Publishing

Congratulations to Bournemouth University’s Visiting Faculty Dr. Bibha Simkhada and Prof. Padam Simkhada for the paper on financial barriers to the uptake of antenatal care in a rural community in Nepal.1   The first author (a native Nepali-speaker) conducted 50 face-to-face interviews with women and their families in rural Nepal.  These interviews were thematically analysed after transcription.

This latest paper adds to our knowledge into user costs related to maternity services in Nepal as we had already published our findings on users costs in the largest obstetric hospital in the capital. 2

 

Professor Edwin van Teijlingen

CMMPH

 

References:

  1. Simkhada, B., van Teijlingen, E.R., Porter, M., Simkhada, P. & Wasti, S.P. (2014) Why do costs act as a barrier in maternity care for some, but not all women? A qualitative study in rural Nepal International Journal of Social Economics 41 (8), 705-713

 

  1. Simkhada, P.P., van Teijlingen, E., Sharma, G., Simkhada, B., Townend, J. (2012) User costs and informal payments for care in the largest maternity hospital in Kathmandu, Nepal, Health Science Journal 6(2): 317-334.  www.hsj.gr/volume6/issue2/6212.pdf

 

Developing Research Outputs

Training

I have put together a seven week programme of seminars that deal with research practice drawing on my own experience.  The programme is independent of any official development programme, but forms a natural complement to other things running at BU, such as the Grants and Writing Academies.  The course caters for all types of research not just those based in the sciences and the weekly sessions will consist of a seminar with an opportunity for discussion, as well as time in which participants can discuss their current projects, papers and bids.

The programme is free and open to all members of academic and professional/support staff at BU.  A certificate of attendance and completion will be issued and registration is via Organisational Development: staffdevelopment@bournemouth.ac.uk

The only pre-requisite is that participant’s make a commitment via a ‘learning contract’ to attend each of the sessions, unless absent due to unforeseen circumstances outside work.  The programme will run on Tuesday lunchtimes (12.15 to 13.45) and starts on the 21nd October 2014.  Participants are welcome to bring their lunch if they wish.  The minimum cohort size is 8 and confirmation that the programme will run will be given by 1st October 2014.  If there is sufficient interest a second cohort may run in the spring term.  You will find further details at Staff Intranet including an outline programme.

Sage Publications’ Social Science Space features article by Kip Jones

 

Sage Publications disseminates important research across the social science disciplines around the world. For the second time, Sage’s on line presence, Social Science Space, features an article by Bournemouth University’s Kip Jones.

“(The Grand Theory of) Neo Emotivism” is Jones’ take on the current state of mind of many researchers globally wishing to connect to their research “subjects” as well as to their own emotions. The article first appeared on Jones’ blog, KIPWORLD, where it has been viewed nearly 900 times in less than a month. The article went live today as the lead article on Social Science Space.

“’Neo-emotivism’ is a concept Kip Jones describes as intentionally using emotional responses for academic ends in large part by drawing from non-traditional sources like art and literature for inspiration and even vocabulary”. Fashioned in a tongue-in-cheek way after 19th and 20th Century art manifestos, the article makes it’s case by highlighting examples from a range of resources, including singer Jeff Buckley, composer Max Richter, artist Kazimir Malevich and architect Zada Hadid.

Thoughts for the article initially emerged from Jones’ interactions with fellow BU academics at a recent ARTS in Research (AiR) two-day workshop at Bournemouth University. Jones was surprised and encouraged by faculty and students, not only from Health & Social Care, but also from Media, Design, Engineering and Computing and Tourism with a similar ache to connect emotionally with their subjects and to acknowledge the “first person” in their dialogues. His concept of the “Pre-REFaelites” materialised from that encounter.

The ARTS in Research (AiR) cross-Schools collaborative will hold an additional two days of workshops at the Lighthouse in Poole led by artist-in-residence, Hazel Evans, on 20th and 21st November. Faculty and students from across schools and from outside of the University are encouraged to join us for the two days of creative engagement. More info

Congratulations to Dr. William Haydock

Publishing

 

Congratulations to William Haydock, researcher in HSC, for his recently published paper in Capital & Class 38 (3): 583-600. 

The paper “‘20 tins of Stella for a fiver’: The making of class through Labour and Coalition government alcohol policy” is available from: http://cnc.sagepub.com/content/38/3/583.abstract

 

Prof. Edwin van Teijlingen

CMMPH

Cyber Security seminars for 2014-2015 start with a bang

Fusion

Yesterday, we held the first of this academic year’s cyber security seminars.  We hosted Dr John Lyle from Facebook, who spoke to a packed audience in the Barnes Lecture Theatre about some of the challenges fighting spam at Facebook.  After his talk, John described how impressed he was with some of the thought provoking questions raised by audience.

Our next seminar will be on Tuesday, 25th November and will be delivered by Dr Andrea Atzeni from the Computer and Network Security group at Politecnico di Torino.  Andrea will be visiting us that week as part of our Fusion funded Bournemouth European Network in Interdisciplinary Cyber Security (BENICS) project.  Watch this space for more details about  Andrea’s talk.

Our interdisciplinary seminar series on Cyber Security is a wonderful opportunity to hear interesting, thought-provoking talks on a variety of topics related to security and privacy.  Although some of these speakers will be academic, their talks will be approachable and require nothing more than a general interest in security, and an enquiring mind.  We’re also interested in ideas about possible speakers or seminar topics, so please get in touch if you have any suggestions.

Understanding the constructions of the ‘other’: co-produced knowledge and understanding of ‘terrorists’ and ‘terrorism’

Fusion, student research

Last year, I put together a small HEA individual grant to build upon our earlier research concerning terrorism and social work education, and civil unrest and welfare in Muslim countries. Unfortunately, the bid was unsuccessful but one should never let a good bid go to waste. Given that it was education focused, based around co-production and student enhancement – a ‘fusion’-based project! -I thought rather than try somewhere else for funding I would embed it into the third year undergraduate Sociology unit Terrorism, Protection & Society, where it would have sat if successful.

The project encourages active student engagement in learning, employing a methodology of co-production of knowledge in which skills to collaborate in producing critically informed and societally beneficial knowledge will be developed. Students are reading, critically, major UK newspapers, identifying and analysing those articles that mention ‘terrorists, terrorism or terror’ and associated concepts. From this they are engaged in identifying the processes by which our dominant cultural frames are constructed and can be challenged. The project findings, once 30-days worth of newspapers have been scoured for relevant articles, will be widely disseminated through the production of academic papers, a submission to eBU and through conference presentations.

Students following the Terrorism, Protection & Society module, engage in learning how the ‘other’, in this case ‘terrorist’, is constructed within popular debate and within the public media in the UK. As part of the project rooted within the unit, students will also analyse the media’s use of target terms (terrorist, terrorism, terror and so on) through a content and discourse analysis, and debate the potential consequences of this for contemporary society and for developing a deeper and more nuanced understanding that can assist in restraining social conflict, violence and the ‘othering’ of those who may be associated with core characteristics of ‘terrorists’ according to the socio-cultural master-narratives created by media representations.

Students will produce a paper with academic staff for the eBU on-line journal; most co-production of academic papers with students occurs at postgraduate level and this project has a degree of originality in promoting co-production of academic knowledge with undergraduate students, something we have done already in respect of edited books. Other academic outputs will be developed and students demonstrating interest and capacity will be invited to participate in their production.

Alongside the academic publications envisaged, this proposal meets BU’s fusion objectives in seeking also to add to the corpus of evidence of pedagogical benefits for students of knowledge co-creation and includes a focus on the student experience of the processes of learning.

Thus, as part of the teaching and learning students engage with, the project has wide reach and significance for student learning and pedagogical development by enhancing social and cultural understanding amongst students who will soon graduate, alongside producing autonomous and critically thinking individuals who can translate their learning and core skills into the employment market.

This week students energetically engaged with the preliminary data extraction and coding of those newspaper articles dealing with concepts and issues that were termed or could be termed as terror, terrorist, terrorism, extremism and so forth. The work undertaken helped to put in perspective some of the first two weeks’ lecture material and allowed the students to bring their own critical understandings to this complex and emotive area.

So far, the project has illuminated to me what an incredibly versatile and intellectually agile student body we have; people who will be an asset to the workforce of the future and a credit to our university! I am looking forward to the following weeks as the project unfurls.

 

Professor Jonathan Parker

 

Sociology students engaged in research

 

Desperate for uninterrupted quality time on your grant application? Come to the Residential Research Retreat!

The Research Design Service South West (RDS SW) is offering a unique opportunity to researchers in health and social care across the South West of England.

The Residential Research Retreat provides an opportunity for research teams to develop high quality research proposals suitable for submission to national peer-reviewed funding schemes. The aim of the Retreat is to provide the environment and support to promote rapid progress in developing proposals over a relatively short time period. The Retreat is open to health professionals and academic partners working within the South West. 

At the Retreat you will be supported by a range of academic experts while developing your research proposal. Away from the workplace, you will work intensively on your proposal, while learning how to maximise its chances for successfully securing a grant. You will learn how to develop your idea into a viable and first class research proposal and experience research project planning at a professional level.

A delegate from last year’s Retreat said, “This has been an extremely valuable exercise and has really helped build an understanding of what is expected from NIHR funded projects. In order to ensure that new researchers are able to make feasible, rigorous, well-designed bids for funding, this week is essential.”

The Retreat will be held at the Ammerdown Conference Centre, near Bath in Somerset from  31st May to 5 June 2015 inclusive. To win a place on the Retreat, applications should be submitted by 1pm on Wednesday 7th January 2015.  Applications will be reviewed competitively and places awarded to the most promising team proposals. The application and further information is available at http://www.rds-sw.nihr.ac.uk/rrr.htm.

Don’t forget, your local branch of the Research Design Service is based within the BU Clinical Research Unit (BUCRU) on the 5th floor of Royal London House. Feel free to pop in and see us or send us an email.

 

Effective channels for course or unit communication

Research themes, student research

Student using smart phone

How and when we communicate course or unit level information with students can impact their perception of course organisation and management and subsequently their student experience.

The Student Communications Team and Student Experience Champion Mark Ridolfo host a workshop, Effective channels for student course communication, on Tuesday 14 October.

The event will explore a range of channels and how to use them effectively. Topics will include:

  • How course communication can impact student experience
  • The current communication environment and managing the expectation of your students
  • Some effective course communication examples from colleagues across BU, including:       
    • Text messages (Students Comms Team)
    • iBU (Amy Blackham, (Student Communications Manager)
    • myBU (Mark Ridolfo, Student experience Champion)
    • Facebook and Twitter (Dr Ana Adi, Lecturer in Corporate and Marketing Communications)
    • Other social media examples (Jasmine Connolly, Social Media Officer)
  • Expert panel discussion / Q&A.

You can find out more and register at the Staff Development and Engagement pages.

Readers of this blog post might also have a particular interest in Julie Northam’s blog post Benefits of research-led learning on the student experience and NSS scores.

Want some money?

Funding opportunities, Fusion

I thought that might get your attention! The latest call of FIF (or the ‘Fusion Investment Fund’ for those of you who haven’t yet added this acronym to your vocabulary) closes in less than 2 weeks so if you haven’t applied yet or haven’t seen my previous blog post, let me give you the highlights:

So basically you could be given a pile of cash to enable you to do what you love! Pursue that dream of undertaking world-leading research or travel across the pond to work collaboratively with experts in your field. Become a hero and take your rightful place on that pedestal that your peers and students will put you on.*

Sound good? Find out more.

 

*BU cannot guarantee this.

 

Please direct all initial enquiries to the Fusion Investment Fund Co-ordinator, Sue Townrow, at Fusion Fund.

The Fusion Investment Fund is managed by Samantha Leahy-Harland.

Upcoming CfE Event: Mega Trends and Sustainability – an Insight from B&Q

Wednesday 12 November 2014

5:30pm arrival for a 6pm start
Executive Business Centre, 89 Holdenhurst Road, Bournemouth, BH8 8EB

We are delighted to invite you to join us for a presentation by George Padelopoulos, Sustainability Manager for B&Q.

George will provide an insight into key challenges currently being addressed by B&Q around ‘Mega Trends’, ‘One Planet’ living, and global ethics.

What will be the impact of future consumer trends and climate change on our buying decisions? Will we still have BBQs and power drills sat in the shed all year round or will we simply ‘borrow’ them whenever we need them?

Book now! 

BU researchers nominated for national award

Professor Peter Thomas and Dr Sarah Thomas from the Bournemouth University Clinical Research Unit (BUCRU) are part of a team nominated for a prestigious MS Society Award.

They were one of three research teams to reach the finals of the MS Research of the Year Award for their FACETS research. FACETS is a fatigue management programme for people with MS which incorporates ‘energy effectiveness techniques’ alongside cognitive behavioural strategies to teach helpful ways of thinking about fatigue.

They studied 164 people with MS and reported 40% of participants who received FACETS in addition to their routine care had a meaningful improvement in fatigue levels, compared with 19% who received routine care only. The FACETS programme is now being delivered by healthcare professionals across the UK and could help thousands of people manage fatigue.

The awards ceremony was held in London on Monday 6th October, and hosted by radio presenter Scott Mills. Other awards presented on the day included MS Employer of the Year, MS Volunteer of the Year, MS Young Person of the Year and MS Carer of the Year.

Although narrowly missing out on the award, they were extremely grateful to have their research recognised. On being nominated for the award they said, “Our research programme started 12 years ago so this has been a considerable journey.  We feel privileged to have had the opportunity to conduct this research and it’s been an extremely rewarding experience.

“Fatigue is a huge issue for people with MS and so we hope that recognition of our research will help to increase awareness of this very common MS symptom and will highlight the debilitating impact it has on people’s lives. It’s extremely important to expand and improve services and interventions available to people with MS as these can help people to negotiate the challenges of the condition and improve day-to-day quality of life.

“Our research has demonstrated that FACETS reduces people’s fatigue and increases quality of life and that these effects can last a long time. We greatly appreciate the backing of the MS Society and the support they have provided in rolling out the FACETS programme across the UK.”

For more information about the MS Society Awards visit http://www.mssociety.org.uk/about-us/ms-awards.

Introducing the BU Research Lifecycle diagram!

I am delighted to introduce you to our Research Lifecycle diagram – a jazzy new interactive part of the BU Research Blog that shows the support and initiatives that are available to staff and students at each stage of the research lifecycle. The information is general enough so as to apply to all disciplines and you can use it to organize and identify the many activities involved in your research. You can explore the Research Lifecycle to find information on how to get started with:

1. Developing your research strategy

2. Developing your proposal

3. The research process

4. Publication and dissemination

5. Impact

RKEO will be adding to the Research Lifecycle to ensure it always contains the most up to date information to support you with planning, organising and undertaking your research.

You can access the diagram from the links in this post or from the menu bar that appears on all screens in the Research Blog.

 

2015 BU PhD Studentship Competition – Call for Research Projects – now OPEN

The Graduate School is delighted to announce the launch of the 2015 BU PhD Studentship Competition. Potentially, there will be up to 50 studentships available across two parallel strands: (1) Matched Funded and (2) Fully Funded.

At this stage, Academic Staff are invited to submit proposals for studentship projects which, if successful, will be advertised to recruit PhD candidates for an October 2015 start.

Full details can be found on the Graduate School Staff Intranet.

Submission Deadline:

Applications should be submitted on the Studentship Proposal Form to the Graduate School via email to phdstudentshipcompetition@bournemouth.ac.uk no later than 5pm on Monday 19 January 2015. Funding decisions will be made in line with the Studentship Policy within 4 weeks of the deadline.

When telling tales is good!

Funding opportunities

The RCUK Digital Economy Theme ‘Telling Tales of Engagement’ Competition 2014

The RCUK Digital Economy Theme is running a competition designed to help capture and promote the impact that your digital economy research is having. Three prizes of £10,000 are available to support researchers to further tell the story of your research impact in an interesting and engaging way to a wider audience.

Key Dates

Activity Date 
Call for EoIs launched 05 September 2014
Deadline for EoIs 19 November 2014
Panel and Funding decision 06 December 2014
Award duration From January 2015

Summary
The RCUK Digital Economy Theme (DET) is running a competition designed to help capture and promote the impact that your digital economy research is having. Three prizes of £10,000 are available to support researchers to further tell the story of research impact in an interesting and engaging way to a wider audience. The competition, which has been co-developed with the National Centre for Universities and Business (NCUB), is designed to produce very informative case study exemplars which can be used to help the wider research community develop understanding of the nature of a pathway to impact. It aims to encourage applicants to tell a story to describe the pathway to impact which actually occurred. This should be even more informative because understanding how impact arises is key to planning for future impact pathways. They want the stories to portray impact as including what capability has changed outside the institutions, and what benefits that exercising this capability change has then delivered. Each “Tale of Engagement” should show how the actual impact arises and the evidence of the impact itself and will thereby show clearly the link between the impact and the research. Choosing how to tell the story should reflect the nature of the story itself. The story should stimulate thinking on a more imaginative and illustrative ways to tell the tale of engagement and the resulting impact.

How to Apply
Please complete the form at the main call page (http://www.epsrc.ac.uk/funding/calls/tellingtales2014), addressing the questions raised in “Scope of Competition” section and taking into account the “Guidance on completing proforma” notes below. Please ensure you include a single PowerPoint slide which summarises your entry in an interesting and engaging way.

DEADLINE: 12:00 (noon) on Wednesday 19 November 2014.

You can find further information here: TellingTalesOfEngagementCall

If you have any questions, then please do contact:
EPSRC
Dr John Baird 01793 444 047
Mrs Ruth Slade 01793 444 261
tellingtalesofengagement@epsrc.ac.uk