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New Book Announcement: Protest Camps

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 21stThe Organisation of the Organisationless – Talks in Digital Culture #1, King’s College London
October 26th – Edinburgh Independent Radical Book Fair 2013
October 29thNew 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 2ndESRC 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 14thPSA Media and Politics Group Conference, Bournemouth Univeristy
November 20th to 21st – Leicester, Generations of Protest Conference, DeMontford University

FIF-backed PR History network launched in Barcelona

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

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!

 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.

What is BUCRU and what can we do for you?

What is BUCRU?

Bournemouth University Clinical Research Unit (BUCRU) is a model for supporting and conducting health related research in Dorset. It supports researchers in improving the quality, quantity and efficiency of research across the University and local National Health Service (NHS) Trusts. It does this by:

  • helping researchers with developing high quality applications for external research funding (including small grants)
  • ongoing involvement in funded research projects
  • a “pay-as-you-go” consultation service

How can BUCRU help?

BUCRU can provide help in the following areas:

  • Study design
  • Quantitative and qualitative research methods
  • Statistics, data management and data analysis
  • Patient and public involvement in research
  • Trial management
  • Ethics, governance and other regulatory issues
  • Linking University and NHS researchers

BUCRU supports Bournemouth University staff and researchers working locally in the NHS. There are no restrictions on topic area or professional background of the researcher. However we do have special interests in areas such as chronic disease and complex interventions.

How is it funded?  

BUCRU is partly funded by the National Institute for Health Research (NIHR) and incorporates the Dorset office of the NIHR Research Design Service (http://www.rds-sw.nihr.ac.uk). Further funding comes from a variety of research grants and contracts.

Contact us:

You can contact us by:

Or pop and see us on the 5th floor of Royal London House!

Sexual Harassment, Tourism and Education – Fusion Investment Fund

Funding provided by the BU Fusion Investment Fund will allow us to present our research idea at an international conference.  The project addresses the “present- absent” paradox of sexual harassment in tourism and hospitality. The prevalence of sexual harassment in the tourism and hospitality industry and other related sectors (such as, cruise lines and airlines) is widely recognised.  Studies indicate that the rate of incidents reported (by both men and women) is twice as high in comparison to other service industries, and that in most cases managers and peers are the harassers.  In spite of this, the subject has been overlooked by tourism research and higher education alike.

The proposed project raises the need to explore the potential of higher education in generating social change, by providing students with the foundations for responsible and ethical management.  The research aims to provide an understanding of the current state of tourism higher education in relation sexual harassment issues and the manner in which higher education can contribute to mitigating this negative phenomenon. As such, it will contribute to shaping the higher education curriculum in a manner which will prepare students to “the real world”, as well as address the needs of the industry. In the long run, this project has implications for the wellbeing of tourism employees and providers.

To achieve this, we seek the collaboration of tourism practitioners, students and educators. We hope that with the help of the Fusion Fund and through this conference presentation we will establish a network of collaborators to advance this research and pursue a research grant. The FIF team were extremely helpful in the application process, and the Fusion Fund has provided a great “kick start” to our new project!

AiMM Research Series

The Advances in Media Management (AiMM) research group continue their series of research presentations on Wednesday 30th October between 1-2pm (CG09). Dr John Oliver will present the findings of his research into how media organisations BSkyB and ITV have adapted to the New Media Environment. 

Researchers interested in areas such as new media,organisational adaptation and dynamic capabilities will find this presentation of particular interest.

Early Career Researchers – interested in working with policymakers?

AHRC-funded Early Career Researchers (ECRs) now have the opportunity to apply to join a training programme on Engaging with Government. The three day course will take place in February 2014 and is intended to offer insights into the process of policy making, help ECRs make links with policymakers, and aid in the development of skills needed to engage with policy. Specifically, the course will:

* Help you to see where your research could impact on and contribute to public policy
* Challenge you to consider the policy making process in detail, and how research fits into it
* Improve your influencing and communication skills that are needed to contribute to policymaking.

Eligible researchers are invited to submit applications; further information is available at http://www.ahrc.ac.uk/Funding-Opportunities/Pages/Engaging-with-Government.aspx. Be quick though, the deadline for applications is 21 October 2013.

Have you encountered BRAD yet?

Last month in response to requests from staff, we launched the BU Researcher/Academic Development (BRAD) programme. This is a tailor made framework of development sessions based on the Vitae Researcher Development Framework (RDF) which you can dip in and out of, undertaking only those sessions you would find helpful.

This holistic framework provides professional and personal development in the key areas of:

A. Knowledge & Intellectual Abilities

B. Personal Effectiveness

C. Research Governance & Organization

D. Engagement, Influence & Impact

The programme comprises of a wide range of facilitated development sessions held on campus (by internal and external presenters), online research modules from Epigeum (so you can learn in your own time) and the Vitae’s RDF. The facilitated sessions cover everything from research skills to personal effectiveness, from using SPSS to creating impact through your research. The online training covers a range of topics from getting published to managing your research career which you can undertake at your own time. On the 16th of this month, we have ‘Personal Effectiveness’ facilitated by Dr Margaret Collins, which will deliver development in work-life balance, keeping focused, prioritisation and time management.

Undertaking the ‘My Academic Development Needs: Self-Assessment’ (MADNSA) will allow you to se your strengths an any gaps in your skills which you need to address in order to get where you want to be in your career (you can also use Vitae’s jazzy Excel version which is more detailed). 

You can read case studies of real academics to see how using the planner based on this assessment has helped transform their careers if you still need a little convincing to complete this and also the top 10 tips from researchers on using the framework.

Why not take some time for yourself and complete the MADNSA and sign up for some facilitated sessions, through the Staff Development webpages and log into myBU  BRAD community to view the online sessions?

It’s not too late to register for CoPMRE’s Tenth Annual Symposium!

The Centre of Postgraduate Medical Research and Education (CoPMRE) is pleased to announce its tenth annual symposium ‘Innovation in Medical Education and Research, promoting change’. The symposium is suitable for clinicians, academics, healthcare professionals and industry people (Pharma and Medical Device) with an interest in medical research and education.

The research session will concentrate on design, assessment and implementation of novel medical devices and how to take technological innovations into practice.  The education session will explore changes in medical training from school to revalidation, now and in the future.

Date: Wednesday 16 October 2013
Venue: Bournemouth University, Executive Business Centre, 89 Holdenhurst Road, BH8 8EB
Time: 9:00am – 4:30pm

Please ensure that you register for this event in advance.

Speakers include:

Siamak Noroozi
Chair in Advanced Technology, Bournemouth University
Key performance enhancement potentials of running with blades

Ian Swain
Director of Clinical Science & Engineering, Salisbury NHS Foundation Trust
The use of electrical stimulation in Neurological Rehabilitation

Robert Middleton
Consultant Orthopaedic Surgeon Royal Bournemouth and Christchurch Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust and Visiting Fellow, Bournemouth University
Medical Device Trials – The Bournemouth Experience

Chris Pomfrett
Technical Adviser, Research Commissioning, National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE)
NICE evaluation of devices and diagnostics

Mike McMillan
CEO of NHS Innovations South West (NISW)
How to make it happen and keep the day job

Chris Stephens
Associate Dean (Education & Student Experience) University of Southampton
Southampton Medical School, now and the future

Richard Marchant
Assistant Director, Regulations Policy, GMC
Regulating Medical Education and Training

Peter Hockey
Deputy Postgraduate Dean, Health Education Wessex
Higher Training and the LETB

For more details please visit our website or contact Audrey Dixon

Economic Downturn affecting wellbeing of “Asset Rich, Cash Poor Older People.”

 

Interesting press coverage of Bournemouth University Research on wellbeing of older people.

Older people who are asset rich but cash poor are turning to health and social care providers rather than accredited professionals for financial advice, new research has suggested.

Research commissioned by ICAS (a professional body of Chartered Accountants) which involved interviewing sample groups of retired homeowners on modest incomes, care professionals and financial advisers found that none of the older people surveyed had heard of the Money Advice Service (MAS) and that the lack of trust in financial advisers was widespread.

Instead, many of the older people participating in the research admitted to asking friends, family members and health and social care workers – rather than accredited financial advisers – for advice on managing their income, pensions, investments and savings.

 

http://www.independent.co.uk/money/spend-save/elderly-left-struggling-by-financial-advice-swap-8831775.html#

http://www.ftadviser.com/2013/09/25/ifa-industry/your-business/pensioners-pick-carers-over-professionals-for-advice-icas-eSdC2DCLQ4E05Vfc2wj8sO/article.html

http://www.pensionsworld.co.uk/pw/article/concern-as-%E2%80%9Casset-rich-cash-poor%E2%80%9D-turn-to-carers-for-financial-advice-12327791

http://www.accountancylive.com/croner/jsp/Editorial.do?contentId=2766588&BV_SessionID=@@@@0978686327.1380531902@@@@&BV_EngineID=ccceadfldhmfielcflgceggdfnfdgfg.0&channelId=-601049

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2013/04/130430092425.htm

Horizon 2020 is coming early!

The EC has announced an indicative timetable for Horizon 2020, with the adoption of the work programme and publication of the first calls for proposals on the 11th December 2013. If all goes to plan, the European Council and the Parliament will formally approve the H2020 legislative package in November/December, allowing the adoption of H2020’s work programmes and publication of the first calls.

 

Don’t forget that we still have spaces on our EU training sessions this month to help you identify funding and write a super application!

 

We also have indicators of calls coming up in Horizon 2020 placed on our I drive as this is strictly confidential and not to be circulated outside of BU – I:\R&KEO\Public\RDU\European Related\Horizon 2020\Draft Work Programmes 2013