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Phenomenology Special Interest Group

Utrecht Reflections

Utrecht Reflections

Reflections from Utrecht…

…Heidegger by ice cream!                                                              

You are warmly invited to the fifth meeting of the Phenomenology Interest Group

Thursday 14th November 2013

1.00 – 2.30

Venue: EB303, Executive Business Centre

We are fortunate to host Vanessa Heaslip from HSC and Phil James from the School of Tourism who have freshly returned from a workshop in Holland. They will be sharing their thoughts and experiences. This will last about one hour including discussion and questions. You are also invited to stay on for a further half hour to participate in more general discussion of mutual interests and the planning of further directions.

Here is a more personal invitation from Vanessa:

Both Phil and I were lucky enough to have the opportunity to travel to the Netherlands during the summer to attend the Utrecht summer school on the Phenomenology of Practice.

During this lunchtime session we plan to:

         present the main areas we studied in the programme

         outline our perspectives on the differences between the approaches of Hermeneutic Phenomenology (Max van Manen), Descriptive Phenomenology (Andy Giorgi) and Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis (Jonathan Smith)

         present our reflections on the two week programme

         highlight the key lessons we learnt

         share the opportunities it has provided for us (and maybe you…) at an international level

We look forward to seeing you.

Vanessa Heaslip (HSC – Senior Lecturer and part time PhD student)

Phil James – (PGR at ST and proud of the fact that he has both a Student ID and a Bus Pass! Phil is a retired businessman who thought that studying for a PhD might be more fun than cruising in the Bahamas. He’s having second thoughts.)

The Cambodian Experience

Dr Melanie Klinkner shares her experience of undertaking research in Cambodia…

Perhaps it is due to a genetic predisposition to embrace the continental Kaffeehaus tradition of discussing matters for hours on end or simply because of an affinity to the Socratic dialogue, interviewing has been a key component of my research. It would be wrong to say that I am not nervous before each interview or don’t question my methodological approach, but, in general, interviews have been exciting, worthwhile and a superb way to network. I keep being amazed by the generosity of participants in giving up their time, going to the trouble of meeting me, sharing their experience and expertise, sending relevant information or answering follow-up questions.

The experiences from a fieldtrip to Cambodia epitomises the fun of qualitative research for me. On arrival at the Extraordinary Chambers in the Courts of Cambodia outside the capital Phnom Penh, I was met by the then head of PR who had not only organised an interview schedule with judges, prosecutors and defence lawyers but also offered me a tour of the (then not quite complete) building. Sure, this might have been part of their general public relations efforts, but it was me who benefitted from meeting these individuals. I was the lucky one sitting in the office of a Cambodian participant, with a translator present, conducting an interview whilst feeling strangely observed by the statue of an elusively smiling Khmer head on the top of a cupboard. I was similarly impressed with one interviewee who was on a business trip to Bangkok whilst I visited Phnom Penh, but was still happy to meet me in a Hotel lobby in the centre of Bangkok an hour after my plane from Phnom Penh touched down on Suvanarbhumi Airport. It would also be amiss to forget the other impressions gathered on this trip. The taxi driver who took me to the Extraordinary Chambers each day and dropped me at the Killing fields on the outskirts of Phnom Penh shared his experiences from the Khmer Rouge area. A young TukTuk driver and English language teacher practiced his English by telling me about the education system. Whilst not explicitly relevant to the research – implicitly this information is priceless.

It is with some sadness that I read of the difficulties the Extraordinary Chambers are facing with allegations of corruption, lack of funding, political meddling, the age and death of defendants hampering its progress. Surely Cambodia and the Cambodian people deserve better. Perhaps one day (when the children are older) I will be able to return to Cambodia for an interdisciplinary study to further our understanding as to the forensic, legal but also cultural significance the displayed human remains have within Cambodian Society – they are a fascinating substrate for research. For now, I have one small regret: I should have bought a sculpture of a Khmer head with its elusive smile to put on my book shelve at home.

Opportunities for BU Researchers in Ecuador

Funding opportunities, Fusion, PG research, Publishing

The Ecuadorian government has recently launched the Prometeo Project, an initiative designed to bring top scholars to the country to develop research and teaching for periods of 2-12 months.  Proposals in all areas of research and teaching are currently being accepted on a rolling basis and generally take a couple of months to process in total.  Once the application is submitted, assistance in adjusting the initial research proposal is available from the Prometeo office.

Prometeo fellows are assigned to public institutions. These generally include universities, government offices and research institutes. Although Spanish knowledge is recommended, it is not a pre-requisite for doing research in Ecuador.  Research grants range from $4000-6000 USD/month and teaching grants range from $2000-$4000/ month.  Return airfare and orientation sessions are also included as part of the Prometeo package.

 Applications are assessed according to the following criteria:

  • Publications (indexed papers, not indexed, books, articles)
  • Hirsch Index
  • Research projects (led or coordinated / assistant)
  • Academic experience / teaching
  • Conferences, seminars, workshops, discussion panels (speaker, moderator)
  • Consultancies
  • Scholarships, awards and recognitions
  • Letters of recommendation -optional (two letters in digital format)

For further information, visit the Prometeo website or email: prometeo@senescyt.gob.ec.

Save The Date: ESRC

Dementia in Dorset – What does this mean for you?

Saturday 9th November (1pm-5pm) Littledown Centre Bournemouth, Studio 1 –

Free event for all the family

Bournemouth University Dementia Institute (BUDI) are hosting a community engagement day as part of the ESRC Festival of Social Science to showcase a range of their innovative projects which will bring dementia awareness to life through technology, maritime archaeology, exercise and tai chi, an art exhibition and many more fun hands-on-activities.

Visitors will have the chance to understand what it’s like to live with dementia through a talk by someone living with dementia and postcard stories, getting the chance to use technology which has the aim of improving the quality of life of those living with dementia, planting seeds to learn about dementia friendly environments, learning how to make healthy food more appetising to improve the mind and body, and experiencing how massage can reduce anxiety and enhance relaxation for both people living with dementia and their carers.

The BUDI team will be on-hand for a chat or to answer questions, and information from local organisations people living with dementia and carers will be available.

There is no need to register for this event, so just come along!

October is still EU-tastic!!

EU funding remains a bit of an enigma for most people and this month I have organised some sessions to help demystify this for you, especially as the calls are due to be released on December 11th!  Two have already been held and the slides from these can be found on our I drive.

Health in Horizon 2020: The European Commission National Contact Point for Health – Dr Octavio Pernas made a special trip to BU on October 7th to inform anyone interested in health research (from nursing care models to medical devices) of what to look out for under Horizon 2020 and expanding on other complementary funding programmes. The session detailed how you can make the most of the National Contact Points to help with your application. Slides from this presentation are available here: I:\R&KEO\Public\RDU\European Related\Horizon 2020\Health in H2020 Presentation.  

All things Horizon 2020: Bournemouth subscribes to information services from the fabulous UK Research Office (UKRO) and for many years they have been providing us with the latest EU information on funding calls, policy and providing advice on how to make a great application. Their visit on October 9th told us in simple terms what is coming up in Horizon 2020 and how we can make the most of their subscription services. Slides from this presentation are available here: I:\R&KEO\Public\RDU\European Related\Horizon 2020\UKRO H2020 presentation

Our remaining two sessions tell you how to write a successful grant – there are a couple of spaces left on each session, so if you are interested please do book on quickly to be guaranteed a place.

1. All things Marie Curie

You can’t fail to have heard me saying how wonderful these fellowships are and how pleased I am that they will feature in Horizon 2020. These grants are absolutely the best way to kick start your EU career and you only need one non-UK partner to apply. You can either apply to have an academic come to the university from another country or you can go to another country as part of the fellowship scheme. You can have a fellowship with an academic or with an industrial partner and you can even apply for entire departments to be involved in exchanges. I’m proud of how engaged BU colleagues are with Marie Curie and the grants we already hold from this scheme. The session is divided into two parts with both being held on October 16th. The first is a brief intro to the schemes and the second is a more detailed session on how to approach and structure your bid. You can book your place for either session here.

 

 2. The tricks of writing a winning Horizon 2020 proposal

Having already had sessions providing you with an overview of the various funding opportunities within Horizon 2020, you need to know the tricks of writing a winning bid. Writing bids for the European Commission is quite a different skill to writing for UK funders and this session on October 17th will guide you through the journey. We’ve had some fantastic feedback from this session in the past and attending will help get you on the right path to create your proposal. You can book your place for the information session here.

The Journal of Promotional Communication – Inaugural Issue and a Call to Action!

Fusion

We are delighted to launch the first edition of the Journal of Promotional Communication, an open-access; peer-reviewed, online journal edited by Corporate and Marketing Communications (CMC) academic group in the Media School, which publishes original research produced by undergraduate and postgraduate students. We welcome you to read the six papers selected for publication in the inaugural issue after a rigorous review process, and share them with your students, academic colleagues and practitioner contacts.

 http://promotionalcommunications.org/index.php/pc/issue/view/3

 Manuscripts published in Volume 1, Issue 1 of the Journal of Promotional Communication broadly speak to the theme of ‘People and Promotional Communication’, including an exciting mix of methodological and conceptual approaches which bring to the fore the humanness and everydayness in the production and consumption of promotional communications.

Our aim with this journal is to provide a platform for students from BU and other universities to publish work that demonstrates a critical understanding of their subject, whilst being creative, imaginative and interesting to read for academic and practitioner audiences alike. We are looking for examples of work which has the potential to challenge existing ideas and practices and seeks to inspire new ways of understanding and practising promotional communications.

The Journal of Promotional Communications is published two times per year (April, October) and the call is now open for papers for the next issue – deadline Friday March 7th, 2014. Submissions should be made online via http://promotionalcommunications.org/index.php/pc/about/submissions, where full ‘Author Instructions’ can also be found. If you have recently supervised work that you think should be considered for publication in the journal, why not encourage your students (UG, PG or PhD) to submit a manuscript for review? Diverse perspectives and approaches to the study of promotional communication are welcomed. Papers published in the Journal of Promotional Communication will draw on a variety of disciplinary areas covering, but not exclusive to, Marketing, Advertising and PR theory as well as Consumer Culture and Behaviour, Political Communications, Media Studies, Sociology, Cultural Studies and Management. From within BU, students submitting papers might come from a broad range of Academic Schools and subject areas; the Journal of Promotional Communication is not Media School exclusive!

We look forward to receiving submissions.

Dr Janice Denegri-Knott

Dr Carrie Hodges

Dr Dan Jackson

Dr Richard Scullion

 

 

‘I just don’t have time’: How to improve your work life balance, prioritisation skills and time management

This is a phrase I hear most often at work – we all have increasing pressures and often struggle to be as effective as possible in a shorter period of time to ensure we have a healthy work-life balance.

We have hired the services of an external facilitator to offer support in this for academic staff as part of the BRAD programme. Dr Margaret Collins has a 20+ year academic career background and uses her experience and subsequent training in theories such as Neuro-Linguistic Programming to deliver advice on how to increase personal effectiveness in these areas.

When I undertook the CROS and PIRLS surveys with staff back in the Summer and when consulting on what sessions would be most valuable for our academic community via the blog, the recurrent theme was better time management to improve work life balance.

You sometimes have to invest a little time to free up more later on – the session on Weds 16th October 1-5 on Talbot campus is a worthwhile investment. There are limited spaces so please do ensure you get one by booking on the Organisational and Staff Development webpages.

New Book Announcement: Protest Camps

Publishing

Protest Camps hits indie bookshops and digital shelves worldwide today. Co-authored by Bournemouth University’s Dr. Anna Feigenbaum, Fabian Frenzel (Leicester) and Patrick McCurdy (Ottawa), Protest Camps takes readers on a journey across different cultural, political and geographical landscapes of protest.

From Tahrir Square to Occupy, from the Red Shirts in Thailand to the Teachers in Oaxaca, Protest Camps covers over 50 different protest camps around the world over the past 50 years, offering a ground-breaking and detailed global investigation. Drawing on a wealth of original interview material, the authors argue that protest camps are unique spaces in which people enact new forms of democratic politics.

Protest Camps is now available at local booksellers and for online order  in the UK. To find out more on the broader Protest Camps Research Network visit protestcamps.org  and follow the project on twitter @protestcamps

 “Feigenbaum, Frenzel and McCurdy’s wonderful book brings a fresh perspective to our understanding of contemporary political action … A fine achievement.”

– Professor Nick Couldry, London School of Economics and Political Science

 “This book provides a captivating cartography that helps heal the chasm between how we live our everyday life and what our political ideas are, how we protest against the old world whilst proposing new ones.” 

 -John Jordan, co-founder of ‘Reclaim the Streets’ protest movement

To celebrate the launch of Protest Camps, the authors are participating in events across the UK and beyond:

October 19th – London Anarchist Bookfair, Queen Mary University of London
October 21st –The Organisation of the Organisationless – Talks in Digital Culture #1, King’s College London
October 26th – Edinburgh Independent Radical Book Fair 2013
October 29th –New Perspectives on Anarchism and Management, Centre for Philosophy and Political Economy at University of Leicester
October 30th –Protest Camps and Dissent PR Speaker Series at Bournemouth University
October 31st –Institute for Protest and Social Movement Studies at Technische Universitaet Berlin
November 2nd –ESRC Festival of Social Science event, Creating Worlds Together: A workshop on Experimentations and Protest Camps, Birkbeck, University of London
November 8th – tbc, Johannesburg, South Africa, Wits University
November 13th to 14th –PSA Media and Politics Group Conference, Bournemouth Univeristy
November 20th to 21st – Leicester, Generations of Protest Conference, DeMontford University

CEMP Bulletin

Awarded & submitted bids, Funding opportunities, PG research

 

Here is the latest CEMP Research & Innovation bulletin. CEMP bulletin 10.10.13

New for this year:


(1) A more targeted approach to identifying funding opportunities;

(2) Funding calls aligned to research themes;

(3) If you would like to come and chat about anything in this bulletin, your own research or other projects / ideas that CEMP can help with, our monthly ‘CEMP Coffee Morning’ is at 9.30-10.30 on Thursday October 17th in the new CEMP office (CAG02).

 

FIF-backed PR History network launched in Barcelona

Fusion

The European Public Relations History Network (EPRHN), which has been supported in its formation by FIF, was launched at European Public Relations Education and Research Association (EUPRERA) Congress in Barcelona on October 3-5. The event, held on Friday October 4, was attended by 29 delegates from 12 countries.

“After more than a year’s planning, EPRHN is now in operation and has 50 active supporters from 18 countries across Europe”, said Prof Tom Watson of the Media School. “FIF has enabled it to get to the take-off stage and aided the very positive response found in Barcelona.”

Prof Watson also organised a panel session (the only one approved for the Congress) on developing the history of PR in Europe. It drew leading scholars from universities of Leipzig (Germany), Bucharest (Romania), Pompeu Fabra (Spain), as well as Prof Watson. It was chaired by the Italian practitioner/commentator Toni Muzi Falconi.

Refereed papers from Prof Watson and Drs Tasos Theofilou and Georgiana Grigore, also Media School, were presented at the Congress in well-attended sessions with several requests for copies of the papers afterwards, especially for the research on engaging employees with organisational Corporate Social Responsibility planning.

EUPRERA PR History Panel: (l-r) Toni Muzi Falconi (Italy); Prof Adela Rogojinaru (Romania); Prof Tom Watson (BU), Prof Jordi Xifra (Spain) and Prof Gunter Bentele (Germany)

Dr Tasos Theofilou (l), Dr Georgiana Grigore (c) and Prof Tom Watson (r) at EUPRERA Congress, Barcelona

NIHR seeks Research Funding Board members

This is a fantastic opportunity to be on a major funding review panel.  Benefits of being a member include meeting potential collaborators, learning how the assessment process works and discovering what makes a great proposal. BU’s Dr Richard Shipway is a peer reviewer for the ESRC and has written an excellent blog post on the benefits of being a peer reviewer. You can read Richard’s post here.

The NIHR Public Health Research (PHR) Programme funds research that evaluates public health interventions, providing new knowledge on the benefits, costs, acceptability and wider impacts of non-NHS interventions intended to improve the health of the public and reduce inequalities in health, including interventions in education, the built environment, transport, social care.

Members of the Research Funding Board are senior academics with a broad range of skills and experience.  The NIHR welcome applications from experts from a range of disciplines and fields, in particular:

• Impacts of the environment on health e.g. traffic/roads, housing, regeneration etc
• Statistics and trials methodology
• Older people
• Work place and health/employability
• Nutrition/obesity (adults and children)
• Mental health
• Systematic review/evidence synthesis

For further information on what the role involves and how to apply please see the PHR website. The deadline for applications is 1pm 15 November 2013.

BU is fully supportive of you becoming a reviewer, including helping with ensuring you have time to perform reviews for funding bodies.

SDRC PGRs’ Social Media Engagement

PG research

PGRs within BU Sustainable Design Research Centre have recently launched facebook page, for showcasing their research and professional practice engagement and activities.

The activities of SDRC include four areas 1; “Tribology”, 2; Renewable Technology & Sustainable Design 3; Structural Integrity and 4; Design Education. The Centre has extensive experimental and analytical resources to assess wear mechanisms of rolling and sliding contacts, corrosion simulation, renewable technology and surface analyses. These include rotary tribometer, micro-friction machine, corrosion simulation chamber, solar-thermal heat transfer & thermal expansion bench testing, 2D and 3D surface analysis techniques.

SDRC has formed strong partnerships with national and multinational companies such as SK&F (Netherlands), Royal National Lifeboat Institution (RNLI), Future Energy Source Ltd, Defence Science & Technology Laboratory (DSTL) Ministry of Defence, Schaeffler, Energetix, The Tank Museum, Poole Tidal Energy Partnership, Balmain Trust and has secured funding for conducting collaborative research.

Collaborative work is also being carried out with other universities such as Oviedo University in Spain, County Carlow Institute of Technology in Ireland, University of Wisconsin Milwaukee USA, PES Institute of Technology Bangalore India and National Institute of Technology Srinagar India.

Current SDRC Research Projects

A Condition Based Approach to the Tribology of RNLI Marine Systems

A Market Driven Standard for a High Quality Graduate

Defect Tolerance Assessment of Silicon Nitride in Rolling Contact

Electroplated composite coatings with incorporated nano particles for tribological systems with the focus on water lubrication

Element, Use and Meaning: Between the Vernacular and Current Interiors in Saudi Arabia, Eastern Region.

Experimental investigation and mathematical modelling of dynamic equilibrium of novel thermo fluids for renewable technology applications

In-situ corrosion health monitoring and prediction in military vehicles

Optimisation of Braking Systems and Sustainable Design in Traction Drive Passenger and Goods Lifts

Practice Based Design Research: Development of research models, methodologies and evaluation criteria appropriate to its intellectual culture.

Research and development in novel alternative renewable energy technology

Sustainable Methodology of Conserving Historic Vehicles

Tribological Properties and Performance of Bio-fuels on Internal Combustion Engines: an application to the Life Cycle Analysis of Refined Palm Oil (RPO) Bio-diesel

 

For research, enterprise or professional practice inquiries within SDRC themes please contact

Dr Zulfiqar Khan (Associate Professor)

Director SDRC

zkhan@bournemouth.ac.uk

 

Fresher’s, midwifery students and photographs!

Fresher’s week for midwifery students started with a hard copy photograph. The image had to depict themselves and what midwifery meant to them.  This was used as an ice-breaker for the very first session and students had five minutes to share their photo with the person next to them, before that person fed back to the group the student’s name, and how the photo depicted their commitment to midwifery.  The students were wonderfully creative and inventive. Many had accessed the 6 C’s and based their image around the values of care, compassion,  commitment and communication, all important attributes that midwives bring to the profession. Some photographs depicted the students with midwifery related objects such as stethoscopes, pinards, and fob watches, whilst others were shown working with children/adults and one even washing an elephant on an international placement! All shared a common theme, enabling and facilitating others.  

As an ice-breaker it worked particularly well as the room hummed with animated conversation, but there was a secondary purpose to the activity. It was also a  ‘dummy’ run to see if it would work as an interview activity for the forthcoming 2013-2014 selection days for under-graduate pre-registration midwifery students. The interview process to select new students consists of a number of activities, one of which was a team activity. In previous years students were asked to participate in fictionalized scenarios, which consisted of survival on a lifeboat with limited provisions, being stranded in a forest in the snow after a plane crash and latterly a ‘real life dilemma’ based around prioritizing staff requests for holidays in August or having Xmas and New Year off.  Students had to work as a team and after a twenty minute discussion agree on priorities relating to the particular scenario. These activities enabled the interviewers to see which prospective students were team players, which students actively contributed and whether anybody in particular dominated proceedings. During the 1:1 interview which followed, students were asked about how they felt they had contributed. It was interesting to compare interviewer gradings with the student’s own insight into their participation.

This year the current admissions tutors were keen to try something new – hence the photograph activity.  Prospective candidates will be asked to bring along a photograph to their interview and will have been directed to draw links to one of the identified 6 C’s and to articulate it during their presentation. Each candidate will be partnered with one other during the activity and then asked to feedback each others’ thoughts to the whole group. Interviewers will score the candidates on the following: Communication (verbal & non verbal), how the particular ‘C ‘ was verbalized, creativity of the photograph, listening skills and how the role of the midwife is identified. Ultimately as the activity will be time restricted it is hoped that the candidates will be able, through their photographs to summarize, with reference to the 6 C’s, the values and attributes of a midwife. 

If anybody is interested to know more about the process, please contact Midwifery Admission tutors on the West campus: Susan Mant on smant@bournemouth.ac.uk, and Sarah Emberley on semberley@bournemouth.ac.uk and on the East Campus: Jan Stosiek on jstosiek@bournemouth.ac.uk and Jane Fry on jfry@bournemouth.ac.uk. 

 

 

Congratulations to Emily Norton – School of Applied Sciences!

PG research

 At the UK’s leading remote sensing and photogrammetry society’s annual conference Applied Sciences’ postgraduate researcher Emily Norton’s presentation was awarded the President’s Cup for the best oral presentation out of the 45 delivered over the course of the three day event.

The conference theme was ‘Earth Observation for Problem Solving’ and Emily’s paper “The Prospection for Mass Graves: A Multi-Platform Approach” looked at the role and her recent results of using remote sensing techniques to locate mass graves. Two other Applied Sciences’ postgraduate researchers, Heather Papworth and Matthew Sumnall, also presented papers at the conference. The Remote Sensing and Photogrammetry Society (RSPSoc) conference was held at the Hilton Glasgow Grosvenor Hotel between the 4th-6th September 2013, and was hosted by the University of Glasgow. The cup, after being engraved with Emily’s name as the 2013 winner, will be officially awarded at next year’s conference dinner by former BU Vice-Chancellor, Paul Curran, who is President of the Society.

Well Done Emily!

Paul Cheetham
School of Applied Sciences

New Process for Erasmus Mundus Partner Approvals

Erasmus Mundus grants are a fantastic source of EU funding. It is important that BU ensures Partners we link with as part of these awards are aligned to our strategic objectives or have a strong rationale for linking with them. In summer 2013 the BU Policy 7A Partnership Definitions and Models was amended to include Erasmus Mundus Partnerships under the ‘student exchange’ definition. This amendment ensures that partnership agreements under Erasmus Mundus will follow existing policies and procedures for student exchange developments, including 7B Partnership Approval, and 7H Student Exchange.

This means for the next round of Erasmus Mundus calls (anticipated April 2013), partners on these proposals must be approved by the International & UK Partnerships Committee (IUPC). To ensure the approval is a speedy process, a bespoke proposal form, template and process has been developed for Erasmus Mundus applications. Once approved by this committee, this will help ensure the Contract Agreement Form is produced much faster.
If you are approached to be part of an Erasmus Mundus proposal, or would like to coordinate one then you will need to complete the Partnership Development Proposal form a minimum of five weeks before the deadline. The full process and timescale can be obtained by contacting your RKEO Operations Officer who will guide you through this.

If you wish to participate in an Erasmus Mundus and have not notified R&KEO a minimum of five weeks in advance of the deadline, then you must make an appeal to your Deputy Dean Research & Enterprise and Pro-Vice-Chancellor Professor Matthew Bennett.