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HSC student Jonathan Branney wins Santander award

Awarded & submitted bids, PG research

Congratulations to Jonny, an HSC PhD student based at AECC, on being successful in the latest round of BU Graduate School Santander Mobility Awards. He previously had an abstract accepted for the BritSpine conference, 2-4 April, University of Warwick, and this award will enable him to attend and present his PhD work on spinal manipulation and neck pain.

BritSpine is the biennial scientific congress of the United Kingdom Spine Societies (UKSSB). The UKSSB represents the British Association of Spine Surgeons (BASS), the British Scoliosis Society (BSS) and the Society of Back Pain Research (SBPR) making BritSpine the largest and most prestigious spine research conference in the UK. The Santander Mobility Award of £750 will support Jonny to represent BU and give an oral presentation of his work to spine researchers and clinicians from all over the world.

Jonny’s thesis is entitled, “An observational study of changes in cervical inter-vertebral motion and the relationship with patient-reported outcomes in patients undergoing spinal manipulative therapy for neck pain”. If you’d like to know more you might like to check out his blog. He is supervised by Professors Alan Breen and Jenni Bolton (AECC) and Dr Sarah Hean at BU.

 

PG Researcher Development Workshops – What’s available in February

PG research

 WHAT’S AVAILABLE in February 2015:

  • Wednesday 4 February 2015 – Managing Working Relationships (Supervisor and PGR)
  • Wednesday 4 February 2015 – Peering Mentoring
  • Thursday 5 February 2015 – Imposter Syndrome
  • Wednesday 11 February 2015 – Managing your Citations using Endnote and Endnote Web
  • Wednesday 18 February 2015 – An Introduction to Critical Thinking
  • Wednesday 18 February 2015 – Introduction to Research Philosophy
  • Wednesday 25 February 2015 – The Art of Facilitation

Further details and information on how to book your place, are available via myBU (Graduate School PGR Community).  You’ll also be able to see what’s available over the coming months.

Don’t forget that you’ll need to log on with your student username and password.

HSC student Jib Acharya wins Santander award

Awarded & submitted bids, PG research

HSC PhD student Jib Acharya has been successful in the recent round of BU Graduate School Santander Mobility Awards.  The panel felt that his case for support was well justified and the Graduate School in conjunction with Santander and the Development Office will be supporting him to a value of £1000.00.  The award is made available for Jib to attend the Third World Congress of Public Health Nutrition in November 2014 in Spain.  (website: http://www.nutrition2014.org/)

The PhD thesis research of Jib Acharya is based on A comparative Study on Nutritional Problems in Preschool Aged Children of Kaski District of Nepal.  His mixed-methods thesis brings together the academic fields of (a) Nutrition and (b) Public Health.  His research is supervised by a team of three BU supervisors: Dr. Jane Murphy, Prof. Edwin van Teijlingen, and Dr. Martin Hind.

 

Congratulations,

Prof. Edwin van Teijlingen

Centre for Midwifery, Maternal & Perinatal Health

Jewel of India

 

Dr Dubey receiving the Hind Rattan Award

Congratulations to Dr Venky Dubey who has received the Hind Rattan Award from the NRI Welfare Society of India in recognition of outstanding services, achievements and contributions to the chosen field.

Translated as “Jewel of India”, the award is one of the highest granted annually to a non-resident Indian (NRI) and is considered to be equivalent to an OBE.

Dr Dubey is an Associate Professor at BU who specialises in robots and medical applications of robotics in particular. He said: “To receive an award of this order is very satisfying in itself, but the international recognition is simply overwhelming. This external recognition keeps me motivated. I am privileged to have an excellent team of researchers around me without which it would not have happened.”

This is the latest in a series of accolades achieved by Dr Dubey, who’s epidural simulator project won the Information Technology category at the Institution of Engineering and Technology (IET) Innovation Awards at the end of last year. The medical device developed by the BU research team and Poole Hospital, will make epidural injections safer and more effective. Read more about this particular project here.

Migration to Cloud Computing – The Impact on IT Management and Security

We would like to invite you to the next research seminar of the Creative Technology Research Centre that will be delivered by Adel Alkhalil.

 

Title: Migration to Cloud Computing – The Impact on IT Management and Security

Time: 2:00PM-3:00PM                

Date: Wednesday 5th February 2014

Room: P302 (Poole House, Talbot Campus)

 

Abstract: Cloud computing is a new paradigm for emerging technology in computing and IT industries that has had a considerable impact on organisations, not only by increasing the efficiency of acquiring IT resources, but also on IT management roles, organisations strategies, IT projects management, and organisations’ security. This research explores the factors that influence the decision making for cloud migration and the impact on IT management roles through a series of in-depth interviews with cloud-users, security professionals and cloud providers. The main tasks that organisations should consider to successfully manage the process of cloud migration are identified. The impact of cloud computing on organisations’ security is investigated by comparing end users’ concerns against cloud computing security landscapes. A framework is proposed that supports the decision making process for cloud migration.

 

We hope to see you there.

International survey post-Millennium Development Goals

The Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) have focused the attention of policy-makers, international and national organisations, journalists, health care providers and educators, particularly in low-income countries. To address “What will happen when we reach the MDG target date in 2015?”, we are running a survey to gather views on wording, targets and indicators that will strengthen the post-MDGs discussions on health, gender and equality. We seek your views on how to facilitate the implementation of the global evidence-base on woman-centred, universal care that: a) strengthens sexual and reproductive health services and primary health care; b) delivers equitable, effective coverage; and c) reduces maternal and newborn mortality.    We do not ask your name/address.

Survey link:  https://www.surveymonkey.com/s/L95SLVV

 

The survey links to the international conference ‘Midwifery and the post MDG agenda’ to organised on 5th February 2014.  The conference focuses on the future of measurement of progress in the field maternal and newborn health and health-care provision to pregnant women, new mothers and their babies.  See:

http://news.bournemouth.ac.uk/events/event/midwifery-and-the-post-mdg-agenda-5-february-2014/

We have highlighted the forthcoming conference in a recent editorial in the international academic journal Midwifery.

 

Thank you helping us by completing this survey,

Prof. Vanora Hundley & Prof. Edwin van Teijlingen

On behalf of the University of Southampton, ICS Integrare, Bournemouth University, Evidence for Action, the University of Aberdeen, Options, UCL.

 

CIM Dorset Event – Make the Most of Mobile – Duncan Cook from 3 Sided Cube

Training

Duncan Cook of internationally-renowned, locally-based mobile app development agency 3 Sided Cube is the next speaker in the CIM Dorset series of Entrepreneurial Sessions.  Having been invited to the White House because one of their apps helped save the lives of literally thousands of Americans and with their apps now being translated into more and more languages, 3 Sided Cube really are known all over the world for what they do.

Duncan will be sharing his insights on mobile, dispelling myths about what does and doesn’t work and generally enlightening the audience with his views on the future of this exciting industry.

We’ve all got smartphones and its people like Duncan that make them useful.  As marketers, it’s incumbent upon is to understand their potential.

Arrival from 6pm for a 6:30pm start.  Networking from 6pm until the event start. To book please visit http://bucfe.com/events/mobile/

Book early as we expect to sell out quickly!

Arrival from 6pm for a 6:30pm start.  Networking from 6pm until the event start.

Latest Major Funding Opportunities

Funding opportunities

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

UK Funding:

The AHRC and the British Library have announced a call for collaborative proposals to explore the Academic Book of the Future in the context of open access publishing and the digital revolution with one award of £360,000. Closing date: 27/03/14

The AHRC Follow-on Funding for Impact and Engagement Scheme (FoF) provides funds to support innovative and creative engagements with new audiences and user communities which stimulate pathways to impact. Large awards of up to £100,000 are avialble and £30,000 for smaller projects. There is no closing date.

There is an open call for the BBSRC‘s follow-on Pathfinder scheme. This enables potential follow-on funding applicants to secure small amounts of funding to carry out preliminary commercial activities. Funding between £7,000 and £10,000 for six months is available.

 The BBSRC’s Doctoral Training Partners provides PhD training in research areas relevant to our remit and strategic priority areas. They also provide a breadth of professional development training opportunities to enhance students’ capability and develop the world-class, highly skilled workforce the UK needs for its future. Closing date: 01/05/14

The BBSRC, in collaboration with the National Institute of Food and Agriculture (NIFA), U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) have announced a joint call for collaborative projects in Animal Health & Disease and Veterinary Immune Reagents  involving researchers from the US and UK. Clsoing date: 27/02/14

The British Academy, the UK’s national academy for the humanities and social sciences, is currently inviting outstanding proposals for our 2015 conference programme.  Proposals for conferences that will be pivotal events and of lasting significance in the field: a chance for leading and emerging scholars to examine current and future issues surrounding novel, dynamic, innovative and exciting subject areas in the humanities and social sciences are invited. Closing date 21/02/14

DFID and ESRC are continuing their strategic partnership with a dedicated research programme on ‘Education and development: Raising learning outcomes in education systems’. The ultimate aim is to provide policymakers and practitioners with concrete ideas on how to improve learning and understanding of how these will translate to their specific contexts and institutions, enabling more effective policies and interventions. Closing date: 25/03/14

The DoH and NIHR are requesting submissions relating to Self-harm and suicidal behaviours. Closing date: 03/06/14

The EPSRC ICT team would like to encourage researchers to pursue an immersive experience in other disciplines and user environments. Discipline Hopping Awards will provide short-term support to allow researchers from core ICT fields with other disciplines and/or user fields. The aim of this is to foster new interactions, bringing a multidisciplinary and user-driven focus to research. Alternatively, non ICT specialists can apply for funds to bring a technological perspective to their home discipline. No closing date has been given.

The EPSRC is supporting eFuturesXD  travel awards of up to £5,000 (100% fEC) to allow researchers from one ICT discipline a chance to spend a short time in a different institute or for two researchers to spend time in each other’s institutions (UK only). The same scheme is supporting facility awards, of up to £20,000, to use expensive characterisation facilities such as microscopy, fabrication of novel structures using clean rooms or manufacture of test chips using Europractice. There is also a staff award aimed principally at small teams of researchers from two or more disciplines who wish to carry out key experiments or measurements to confirm an initial hypothesis. This award is up to £60,000. Lastly, the meeting award provides up to £10,000 to facilitate the building of larger research consortia comprising researchers from a number of departments and institutions across the ICT portfolio. There are no specific closing dates.

The EPSRC Centre for Innovative Manufacturing in Medical Devices has a call for Feasibility Studies. The Centre is looking to fund research at Technology Readiness Levels from 1 to 3 that will aid the fundamental understanding and development of innovation in medical device manufacturing. The maximum award is £50,000.Closing date 28/03/14

The EPSRC, as part of Research Councils UK (RCUK) Energy Programme, in collaboration with the TSB, invites Expressions of Interest (EOI) from those wishing to bid under a new research initiative in low-carbon vehicle technologies and fuel infrastructure for road transport. Closing date 14/02/14

The EPSRC invites applications to support networks of researchers looking at Forecasting Environmental Change. The budget is up to £2 Million for this activity and anticipates funding up to four networks, which can include support for feasibility projects, for three years in the identified challenge areas. Closing date 16/04/14

The HEA and AHRC invite all HEA subscribing institutions in the UK to be part of the 2014 Symposia on Interculturalism and Translating Cultures. Applications must be submitted by 17/02/14

NERC have a consortium call, Unlocking the Potential for Groundwater for the Poor(UPGro). This £12m programme is an international programme funding interdisciplinary research, generating evidence and innovative tools to enable developing countries and their partners in sub-Saharan Africa to use groundwater in a sustainable way for the ultimate benefit of the poor. Closing date: 03/03/14

The Institute of Physics and Engineering are promoting their various annual prizes. For details of each prize and conditions, please see the IPEM webpage.

The Royal Society and the British Academy support the Newton International Fellowship. This scheme is for non-UK scientists who are at an early stage of their research career and wish to conduct research in the UK.The scheme provides the opportunity for the best early stage post-doctoral researchers from all over the world to work at UK research institutions for a period of two years. The scheme covers the broad range of the natural and social sciences and the humanities. Up to £126,000 will be awarded. Closing date: 10/03/14

The Royal Society Wolfson Research Merit Award is for outstanding scientists who would benefit from a five year salary enhancement to help recruit them to or retain them in the UK. The scheme provides universities with additional support to enable them to recruit or retain respected scientists of outstanding achievement and potential to the UK. It provides a salary enhancement which is paid by the university in addition to the basic salary. The scheme covers all areas of the life and physical sciences, including engineering, but excluding clinical medicine. Closing date: 04/03/14

The TSB and BBSRC are supporting the Agri-Tech Catalyst which offers funding to innovative businesses and researchers to develop solutions to global agricultural challenges. You must register by 04/06/14 and the closing date is 11/06/14.

Through the TSB, the Electric Days Out scheme seeks to encourage the uptake of and awareness around electric vehicles within Northern Ireland. Both NITB and NIEA wish to see an increase in the number of visits to their various locations throughout Northern Ireland through sustainable transport means. A briefing event is planned for 07/02/14. Applications must be submitted by 28/02/14

Through the TSB, Cardiff Council, with support from Welsh Government, TSB, Cadw and Low Carbon Research Institute, is offering funding packages totalling up to £450k to develop innovative measures that will improve the energy performance of traditional and historic buildings. Closing date: 28/02/14
 
The TSB, BBSRC and EPSRC are providing investment of up to £45m in major integrated research and development projects through the Industrial Biotechnology Catalyst Scheme. The programme will accelerate commercialisation by supporting the development of new industrial biotechnology products and processes, and enabling their potential scale-up. It will support R&D for the processing and production of materials, chemicals and bioenergy through the sustainable exploitation of biological resources. A launch event will be held in London on 03/02/14 (also available as a webinar) and a second briefing event will be held in York on 12/02/14. Register by 07/05/14 and  submit by 14/05/14
 
IC tomorrow, via the TSB,  is offering nine businesses up to £25k each  to encourage digital cross-sector exploration across three broad themes: retail, events and analytics. This call closes on 26/02/14
 
The TSB the EPSRC are to invest up to £11m in a programme of collaborative research and development to stimulate innovation in localised energy systems. Up to £9.5m is available from the Technology Strategy Board and up to a further £1.5m is available from EPSRC to support academic partners contributing specifically to the energy sector aspects of projects. The deadline for registration is at noon on 12/03/14 and the deadline for expressions of interest is at noon on 19/03/014.  A briefing event for potential applicants will be held in Bristol on 30/01/14 
 
The TSB and the EPSRC are to invest up to £8.5m in collaborative R&D projects to develop advanced materials and manufacturing technologies which deliver lighter, better-performing and more material-efficient structures and products across a broad range of industrial sectors and global markets in their Making it Lighter, with Less call.  The competition opens for applicants on 03/03/14 and the deadline for expressions of interest is at noon on 16/04/14.  A briefing event for potential applicants will be held in London on 05/03/14 
 
The Wellcome Trust, through its Seeding Drug Discovery funding, is facilitating early-stage small-molecule drug discovery. This call closes on 11/06/14

Education and Neuroscience is a new £6 million funding scheme, launched by the Wellcome Trust and the Education Endowment Foundation (EEF) in January 2014. This one-off scheme aims to develop, evaluate and communicate the impact of education interventions grounded in neuroscience research. Successful proposals will build on the existing evidence about effective teaching and learning practices, and explain how these practices could be made more effective or efficient using evidence from neuroscience. Closing date: 06/05/14

 
Outside the UK:
 
The second set of the transnational SOLAR-ERA.NET Calls PV2 and CSP2 has been launched. The closing date is 20/04/14

 

Please note that some funders specify a time for submission as well as a date. Please confirm this with your RKE Support Officer.

You can set up your own personalised alerts on ResearchProfessional. If you need help setting these up, just ask your School’s RKE Officer in RKE Operations or see the recent post on this topic.

HSC wins at PGR conference!

PG research

 

HSC was well represented at the BU 6th Annual Postgraduate Conference 2014 with talks under the themes Lifelong Health and Wellbeing and Ageing, Society and Dementia by:

Jonathan Branney :“Is spinal manipulation associated with changes in cervical inter-vertebral motion”

Ashley Mitchell: “Can we fix it?!: Understanding the impact of children’s hospices on parental relationships of life-limited and life-threatened children and young people”.

Ben Hicks: “Using commercial computer game technology to benefit men with dementia residing in rural areas of Dorset”

Mevalyn Cross (HSC) won a prize for best xxx oral presentation with her work with Les Todres on “The delivery of humanly sensitive care in an older person’s hospital setting: A phenomenological and action research study”.

Also winning a prize for her photo, Sheetal poster, photo and oral presentations on “Pregnant and dirty: A qualitative study of childbirth practice, beliefs and myths in Nepal”. The paper is currently under review by eBU. eBU editor Andrew Harding, PGR, HSC was present and encouraged conference attendees to submit to eBU, as their abstracts will be published in eBU.

Also present was first year Clare Farrance part of the organising committee with Ashley and a chair. And a theme Leader: Professor Edwin van Teijlingen, Professor of Reproductive Health Research who spoke of student engagement with their profile pages, blogging and publishing endeavours.

Highlights included a keynote presentation by Professor Kevin Warwick, Professor of Cybernetics, from the University of Reading who twice has had implants which permitted manipulation as part of robot learning and appears in the 2013 edition of the Guinness World Records Book for the first direct electronic communication between two nervous systems with his wife Irena. His work centers on artificial intelligence, biomedical engineering and control systems.

Definitely a conference with something for everyone and a opportunity to engage with other schools.

Other presentations from HSC included:

Photos presentations:

Jib Acharya: “The Raute: An Ethnic and Nomadic Group (the hunters and gatherers) estimated from 900 years ago and few remaining only in South Asia”

Clare Farrance: “Keeping your fingers crossed for a health old age”

Posters included:

Jib Acharya: “A Comparative study on Nutritional Problems in Preschool aged children of the Kaski District of Nepal”

Jennifer Roddis: “Experience of interviewing: Face-to-face-v-Telephone”.

 Thank you to Vanora Hundley and Jen Lemmon for their feedback.


Fast Track Status deadline approaching

The application closing date for Fast Track Status is Friday, 31st January.

For those of you who missed the blog post and intranet article, the new process, ‘Fast Track status’, allows for expedited procedures to operate (within selected KE units) thereby enabling them to operate in a more entrepreneurial manner.  Fast Track status will be provided by application to KE units that request such status and subject to central audit by both RKE Operations and Legal Services to ensure that the processes are operating within agreed BU policies and the KE strategies of Schools.

The application form and guidance can be found here.

AHRC – So, why not apply?

Funding opportunities, R & KE Operations

At the end of our week focusing on AHRC, perhaps you are inspired and now want to see what opportunities are currently available….?

Please check the AHRC’s listing  for the most up to date information and specific closing dates and times for grants. The following are correct at the time of posting:

  • Data Exploration – creating new insight and value. This is collaboratively funded by the TSB, AHRC, BBSRC, ESRC, EPSRC and DSTL and involves an investment of up to £4.5m in collaborative research and development that addresses the technical challenges and business opportunities presented by the huge growth in data. Applicatants must register by 26/01/14 and the final application submitted by 05/03/14
  • Valuing Nature. A five year research programme which aims to better understand and represent the complexities of valuing the natural environment and to consider the wider societal and cultural value of ecosystems services. Funds of up to £1.1 million (80 per cent fEC) are available for a single grant of 5 years duration to support an interdisciplinary Programme Co-ordination Team. Closing date 20/03/14
  • New Generation Thinkers 2104, in collaboration with BBC Radio 3. Those selected will benefit from a unique opportunity to develop their own programmes for BBC Radio 3 and a chance to regularly appear on air. Closing date 06/02/14
  • Connected Communities Research Development Workshop on Addressing the Challenges of Disconnection, Division and Exclusion. Attendees at the workshop will have an opportunity to apply for ring-fenced funding for follow-up projects of up to £100,000 to support inter-disciplinary collaborative grants combining arts and humanities expertise with other research disciplines and community, policy and practice partners, to take forward the most innovative research ideas that emerge during the workshop. Closing date 30/01/2014
  • Digital Transformations Amplification Awards.  The aim of this call is to exploit the potential of digital technologies to transform research in the arts and humanities, to create exemplars of transformative approaches to digital arts and scholarship, and to ensure that arts and humanities researchers are at the forefront of tackling crucial issues such as intellectual property, cultural memory and identity, and communication and creativity in a digital age. Closing date 20/02/2014
  • Translating Cultures Innovation Grants. In a world seen to be increasingly characterized by transnational and globalized connections, the need for understanding and communication within, between and across diverse cultures is stronger than ever. The Translating Cultures theme addresses this need by studying the role of translation, understood in its broadest sense, in the transmission, interpretation, transformation and sharing of languages, values, beliefs, histories and narratives. Funding of between £150-200k is available. Closing date 06/03/2014
  • Science in Culture Innovation Awards. In the context of this call, innovation can take a number of forms: Exploring new inter-disciplinary concepts, methodologies and approaches drawing on both the arts and humanities and the sciences; Developing reciprocal collaborations of a new nature or in new or emerging fields of collaborative enquiry between the arts and humanities and the sciences and  Addressing innovative and inter-disciplinary research questions co-produced through dialogue between the arts and humanities and the sciences. Funding of up to £80,000 over a period of 12 months will be awarded to successful grants.  Up to 10 Innovation Awards are expected to be funded under the Science in Culture theme. Closing date 27/02/2014

The AHRC also supports other funding schemes:

Research Funding

 

Knowledge Exchange

 

International Research

 

Postgraduate Funding

You can read about BU’s success within the Faculty of Science and Technology and the Media School, and with the Block Grant Partnership. You can also read an overview of  the AHRC visit to BU on 20/1/14 and tips for submssion.

Please refer to previous posts on how to apply and make use of the AHRC’s own Research Funding Guide.

 You can search for opportunities on the AHRC website, but why not set up your own alerts in Research Professional so that you receive personalised emails regarding AHRC funding? You can, of course, set up tailored alerts for any other funders that meet your research needs.

You can also check the updates on the Research Blog for funding opportinities from major funders. This is normally posted by RKE  each week.

Please keep in touch with your RKE Operations Support Officer and seek their advice early in the application process. We all look forward to seeing an increase in AHRC bid submissions in the future!

 

Midwifery success in Portsmouth and the Isle of Wight

PG research, Publishing

Denyse King’s My Mini Midwife is due for publication in February.  Denyse King is Lecturer in Midwifery / Public Health Practitioner based in Portsmouth.

My Mini Midwife by Denyse Kirkby is published by VIE Books, a new imprint of Summersdale Publishers. The book is priced at £8.99 (ISBN: 978-1-84953-516-8)

 

The second success story is Wendy Marsh Lecturer/Practitioner in Midwifery also based in Portsmouth who had an abstract accepted for the ‘Safeguarding the Vulnerable International Symposium’ to be held at Bucks New University in High Wycombe.

 

Also the Centre for Midwifery, Maternal & Perinatal Health won three BU matched funded Ph.D. studentships.  The first two are with Portsmouth Hospitals NHS Trust:

An Exploration of the Community by Midwives and Maternity Support Workers in the Postnatal Period – supervisors: dr. Carol Wilkins, dr. Janet Scammell & dr. Sue Way

Just one drink!  An exploration of the conflict between harm reduction and abstinence in UK maternity care – supervisors: Prof. Edwin van Teijlingen, dr. Liz Norton and dr. Greta Westward (PHT)

The third one is a new collaboration with the Isle of Wight NHS Trust:

Can Pelvic Positioning help women cope with pain in early labour – supervisors: Prof.  Vanora Hundley, dr. Carol Clark and dr. Sue Way

 

Prof. Edwin van Teijlingen & Prof. Vanora Hundley

Centre for Midwifery, Maternal & Perinatal Health

AHRC Success Story- Block Grant Partnership

Grants Academy, PG research, R & KE Operations

 

Continuing on the AHRC Success Story, we wanted to look at the Block Grant Partnership, (studentships for MSc and PhD students) which was awarded on April 2011 and is now nearing its end, with the final students recruited last September.

We had a chat with supervisors and students, to see both sides of the studentship experience.

 Paula Hughes- MA Graduate

I received the AHRC grant to study the MA in Post Production Editing in 2011/2012.

Receiving the grant was absolutely fantastic. I would not have enrolled on the course without getting the grant. It allowed me to fully dedicate my time to studying without having to get a job and worry about finances. I have noticed the benefit too since graduating. Again I did not have to worry about debt and paying off money spent and so this enabled me to pursue jobs in editing and to not have to get any old job for the sake of paying of a loan. This has meant that my progress as an editor has perhaps been faster than if I had not received the grant.

I have just finished working on a feature documentary which is expected to be released later this year. I am also attending my first premiere in February, which I assisted on. I also have been accepted on to Skillset Craft and Tech Trainee scheme.

I have benefitted very much from the grant and I am very grateful for receiving it.

Ella Egberts, PhD student, Applied Sciences

Getting this PhD position has been very good for me. I wanted to continue in the field of research I got into during my masters. Preferably I wanted to do this in England as my research interests go out to the Palaeolithic of Britain. Moreover being able to do a PhD in another country (I am from the Netherlands) seemed to me a great experience and an opportunity.
Studying in different countries increases my international network of friends and colleagues.
So far I am still getting started, but it is all going very well. I have pushed myself already in so many new situations and have done things I would not have done if I wasn’t doing a PhD.
I have studied collections of hand-axes in the museum of Salisbury which was great. Some of these pieces are over 300.000  years old, touched by our very early ancestors and now I get the chance to see them, feel them and reveal their story to a wider public.

 

 

Professor Hugh Chignell, Media School

This was a collaborative application which brought me, my colleague Neal White from the Media School and Kate Welham from the School of Applied Sciences working closely together for this proposal. We found it challenging as it is a long process which has different levels that required a lot of work but we have also found it very positive, as we have learnt so much in the process and of course once awarded that was a real bonus, as it is very competitive.

We were awarded a studentship by the AHRC and then received internally a match funded studentship as well, which was a great boost for the Centre for Media History and has benefited the students immensely as they work closely together.

It is an exciting opportunity for students and supervisors, students can focus on their research for 3 years, producing the best possible quality work.

The AHRC funded studentship went to Tony Stoller to study classical music on radio and the match funded BU studentship went to Kathryn McDonald to study the development of the radio interview.  They have both been an inspiration to work with.  

To close, the key thing for a successful application apart from it being well written, well budgeted and so on is the research idea, once you have a good idea, that jumps from the paper, the rest will slot into place.

Find out more about the Grants Academy and the sessions coming up in February. The internal peer review has been credited with producing higher quality research proposals and increased success rates, find out more details about it here. Don’t miss Friday’s post on funding opportunities coming up at AHRC.

 

New research web pages and removal of old pages

Training

On Monday 27 January the Digital Communications Team will integrate the new research web pages into the main BU site.

This will include a link from the homepage and from the School pages. (School copy has been developed with the Deans and DDRs to introduce the new site, provide an overview of the School’s research and outline the research themes the School is involved in).

The Digital Communications Team will also start removing the old research pages on Monday. This will include removing the research centre pages, which have either been moved to the new site, elsewhere, or identified as no longer required.

In addition to notification from Professor Matthew Bennett and the Schools, the research website team have tried to speak to all staff in person to ensure required content is moved across and outdated content is removed. This has been a massive exercise and apologies if we have missed anyone. If you do have any concerns regarding your pages, please email the website team as soon as possible. All old content will be moved onto an internal BU server, where it will be kept for a period of six months before being finally deleted.

Screenshot of the new research website

Feedback from researchers already using the new site is that it is very flexible, quick and easy to use and allows easy integration of a variety of different media content types.

If you would like to find out more about using the new site or joining us for a training session, please read my blog post from earlier in the week.

AHRC a success for BU Part 2: The Media Story:

Awarded & submitted bids, Funding opportunities, R & KE Operations

 

By Alex and Eva

Following yesterday’s Blog post on the Faculty of Science and Technology’s success, we would like to focus today on The Media’s success with AHRC. Over the last few years The Media School have a 44% success rate from 25 projects submitted with 11 funded.

So how can we replicate The Media School success?

Once again, Eva and I got on the bus to Talbot Campus and interviewed successful AHRC grant holder Dr. Bronwen Thomas to find out more…

What was your project about?

We have had two projects funded by the AHRC, the first was a research development award, and the current project supports a research network. Both look at the impact of digitisation on readers and reading.

How is it going?

It’s going well, the network is growing and our monthly blogs have helped to keep the discussion going between our scheduled meetings. We had a very successful public engagement event before Christmas, and we are currently planning a symposium to be held here at BU in June.

What do you want to achieve?

The main outcome for our project would be that the network remains active after the period of funding and that it helps support collaborative projects, including publications, involving our members.

What gave you the edge, do you think?

The fact that our research area is of key strategic importance to the funder, and that we were able to respond speedily and effectively to the call.

In hindsight, what would you do differently, what advice would you give to others?

The funding calls we applied for were limited in terms of the amounts available. The downside of this is that the PI ends up doing quite a lot of admin and planning work, leaving less time for scholarly research.  So anything that could be done to reduce this burden would be helpful.

 Also any other comments/tips from your experience that is worth noting.

We have been successful responding to specific calls under the highlight themes.  Under the current system, this may become more difficult, as typically there are only a couple of months between the announcement and the deadline, but there does appear to be ongoing funding for the highlighted themes, so they are well worth looking at.  It is important to demonstrate that your research is collaborative, cross-disciplinary and with genuine rather than tokenistic public engagement.   But it’s also about showing that you can manage projects, that you are likely to work well together as a team, and that the proposed research and outcomes are doable.

For other hints and tips you should check out Dr Anna Feigenbaum posts on International, Interdisciplinary, Innovative: the AHRC brings grant bidding advice to BU.

~Don’t miss tomorrow’s edition, when we find out more about studentship block grants.

Planning on applying to the British Academy Small Grants scheme this April?

Funding opportunities

Spring is around the corner and with it the deadline for the British Academy Small Grants scheme  on 15th April.

BU has a less than 10% success rate with proposals being funded by the British Academy Small Grants Scheme. Therefore, we strongly encourage anyone that is thinking of submitting to the scheme to use the RPRS service. In a nutshell, this will ensure you receive two sets of feedback in order to help you refine your proposal before it is submitted to maximise your chances of success. If you are planning to use the RPRS, please contact Rebecca Edwards as soon as possible.

Timescales

  • Begin preparations on the application – as soon as possible. The most important first step is to read the guidance, which also gives details of what to include in your application.
  • Contact your RKE Operations Support officer for the appropriate costings and approval process  – as soon as possible.
  • Completing of the draft proposal for the final deadline for submitting to the RPRS – 14th February
  • Application form likely to be available – 4th March
  • Final submission date to RKEO – 8th April