
Issue 4:1 of MERJ, now a fully BU-edited journal, is published. Details and some open access content are here:
Latest research and knowledge exchange news at Bournemouth University
Issue 4:1 of MERJ, now a fully BU-edited journal, is published. Details and some open access content are here:
With the Queen’s Jubilee, the Olympics and Andy Murray winning at SW1 Wimbledon (again) it seems Britain is still riding a wave of optimism with the birth of a male heir to the throne; the Prince of Cambridge. The baby was delivered on 22 July 2013 at St Mary’s Hospital in Paddington, west London, weighing 8lb 6oz. The document said: “Her Royal Highness, the Duchess of Cambridge was safely delivered of a son at 4.24pm today. He and the duchess will remain in the hospital overnight. A bulletin signed by the Queen’s gynaecologist Marcus Setchell, who led the medical team that delivered the baby – was taken by a royal aide from St Mary’s to the palace under police escort.
The implications are wide -reaching, in multi-cultural Britain the royal baby is unusual for London in having a mother originally from the UK and most babies delivered in the capital these days (57%) are to mothers born overseas and nearly half of all babies (48%) are born outwith marriage. With midwifery cuts and the further medicalisation of birth where the “cascade of interventions” often occurs when birth is induced. For instance, in the USA which spends more money on healthcare than any country in the world and yet the maternal mortality rate is among the highest of any industrialised country.
And on July 19, 2013, the USA the House State-Foreign Operations Appropriations Subcommittee today approved a steep cutback in international family planning assistance for fiscal year 2014. Rejecting President’s Obama’s 2014 budget request of $635.4 million, the Subcommittee capped appropriations for international family planning and reproductive health programs at $461 million, $174 million less than the President’s request, and $137 million (23% below the current funding level). The cuts, if approved by the full Congress, would have a devastating impact: Several million women in the developing world would lose access to contraceptives services, resulting in more unplanned pregnancies and deaths from unsafe abortions. Each pregnancy multiplies a woman’s chance of dying from complications of pregnancy or childbirth. Maternal mortality rates are particularly high for young and poor women, those who have least access to contraceptive services. It is estimated that one in three deaths related to pregnancy and childbirth could be avoided if all women had access to contraceptive services.
Not so lucky, therefore, are Kate’s counterparts in the South – Frightening statistics include that daily, approximately 800 women die from preventable causes related to pregnancy and childbirth. In our study site, Nepal every year, 4,500 Nepali women die in childbirth due to lack of medical care. In low-income countries, most maternal deaths are avoidable, as the health-care solutions to prevent or manage complications are well known. All women need is access to antenatal care in pregnancy, skilled care during childbirth, and care and support in the weeks after childbirth.
To make every birth worldwide as joyful an event as the royal birth in London we need is: a) more and better midwifery services; and b) improved access to care for pregnant women globally.
Sheetal Sharma is a HSC PhD student and currently a visiting researcher in Barcelona, supervised by Dr. Elisa Sicuri at CRESIB on an evaluation of a health promotion programme in rural Nepal aiming to improve access to care; in which socio-economic and cultural barriers exist.
Thanks to Edwin & Elisa for their input in this piece.
References:
http://www.populationinstitute.org/newsroom/press/view/57/
http://midwifeinternational.org/how-to-become-midwife/business-of-baby/
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-23408377
The new royal baby has been born. Good news for Kate and William and also for the betting shops. Apparently a large number of people bet on a girl being born on the estimated due date July 13th, and the punters seem to believe the gender would be female. As a consequence, a large amount of money was made by UK betting shops. The next bet is, of course, on his name. Some websites seem to suggest the bookmakers favoured the name James, such as a website in the Netherlands (http://wereldnieuws.blog.nl/politiek/2013/07/19/britse-baby-kan-nu-ieder-moment-komen). A Canadian website suggested a few days before the birth that “James or George were the favourites” for a boy (http://o.canada.com/2013/07/17/escape-from-royal-baby-media-circus-leads-to-londons-betting-shops/. On the webpages of one of the UK’s larger betting shops today’s (22nd July) top 13 boys’ names were: George, James, Alexander, Louis, Arthur, Henry, Phillip, Albert, Spencer, David, Thomas, Richard & Edward.
Betting on aspects of the royal birth and baby is a way of being involved in the same way that betting on your football team to win its first away-game of the season is part of being a supporter for some. Luckily, there are many more options to waste your money, punters can also put money on the colour of his hair, baby’s first word, and if you want to wait a little longer for your money: the name of his first love, age of first nightclub visit photograph, first official visit overseas, whether the prince will ever compete in the Olympics, and the university where he will study.
Prof. Edwin van Teijlingen
Centre for Midwifery, Maternal & Perinatal Health
School of Health & Social Care
Bournemouth University, UK
The Industry and Parliament Trust is hosting a unique two day programme of EU training, orientation and network building in Brussels for Academics involved in Horizon 2020 projects (18-19th September, Brussels).
Over the course of the two days attendees will gain a comprehensive overview of engaging with the EU and the Horizon 2020 programme. Sessions will be held at institutions across Brussels, from the European Parliament to the offices of the UK Representation to the European Union. You will also have the opportunity to spend time with speakers and delegates informally over dinners and lunch. Guest speakers include:
For full details on of the programme please email NaomiAlderson@ipt.org.uk
Data.ac.uk is intended to provide access to lots of open data but also tools and somewhere to share ideas and approaches.
This is a landmark site for academia providing a single point of contact for linked open data development. It not only provides access to the know-how and tools to discuss and create linked data and data aggregation sites, but also enables access to, and the creation of, large aggregated data sets providing powerful and flexible collections of information.
Data.ac.uk is working to inform national standards and assist in the development of national data aggregation subdomains.
We are all part of the constantly evolving open data agenda and its emerging culture. Data.ac.uk aims to bring together the higher education community and the wealth of data it has access to, and encourage that community to share, utilise, update, grow and generate demand for open data.
The data being aggregated via this site can be used in all sorts of ways including:
The first PGR Health, Wellbeing and Ageing Community meeting took place on Wednesday 10th July at Royal London House. The purpose of the event was to bring together post graduate researchers from across schools to present and discuss their research under the Health, Wellbeing and Ageing theme.
Jo Hawkes (ST) began the meeting by presenting her research on the impact of premenopausal osteoporosis on physically active females. This was followed by the impact that children’s hospices have on parental relationships by Ashley Mitchell (HSC). Phillip James (ST) discussed his work on how active seniors engage with the internet when choosing holidays. We were also joined by Alister du Rose (DEC) from the AECC, who is using quantitative fluoroscopy and electromyography to determine normal mechanics of the lumbar spine.
Mevalyn Cross (HSC) discussed how her research was going to evaluate the effectiveness of a humanising framework to improve patient care in Poole Hospital. Becca Elisa (DEC) is who is due to start in September proposed plans and theory for her research into norepinephrine activity in ADHD. The meeting finished with Jib Acharya (HSC) presenting the results from his comparative study into nutritional problems in the preschool children of the Kaski district in Nepal.
All presentations were extremely interesting and the event was positively received by all those who attended. The event was also attended by Dr Heather Hartwell, Professor Edwin van Teijlingen, Professor Les Todres and Julia Hastings Taylor who were on hand to give advice and feedback to those who presented. It also gave PGRs the opportunity to meet each other and network across schools.
It is hoped that community events like this will be a regular occurrence with even more PGRs presenting their research. If anyone is interested in presenting or attending the next event please email Ashley Mitchell (ashmitchell@bournemouth.ac.uk).
This September marks the launch of a Women’s Academic Network here at BU. The launch event will be hosted by Professor John Vinney and Sue Sutherland, OBE and is open to all BU academic staff.
Why do we need a women’s academic network?
Bespoke networks for women are common across business and within the media, both in the UK and across Europe and the USA. Within the profession, there are networks for women in science and philosophy (for example). These bespoke networks exist in recognition that professional women regularly face gender related challenges in the workplace. Thus women’s networks also function to support women and to raise their profile within organisations and beyond, as well as to lobby on gender inequality issues. Despite decades of lobbying and the notable achievements gained by women in the workplace, women in academia have not managed to make significant gains across the sector. This extraordinary situation has recently been highlighted in Nature and most recently, in the Times Higher Education through a series of features highlighting the seriousness of multiple career obstacles impacting on female academic staff in particular.
How did we create WAN?
The network we are developing here is informed by work I undertook at UEA, as co-Chair of a Research Network for Women. I began by approaching a number of women across the University, and our initial meeting began with a discussion as to how we would envisage such a network and what its purpose would be We then ran a University wide survey, again to establish demand for such a group. We relied on the survey being passed forward and while we recognise that not everyone may have been able to participate, there was sufficient response from colleagues to identify a demand and need for such a forum to be established (see here for results).
What are our aims?
The aims of WAN are to support women and women’s interests, in all their diversity, across BU.
As a distinct and separate entity we will also work alongside and support, Athena Swan, DDE and the Equalities Office.
How will we do this?
Through a programme of events we will be seeking to:
Raise the profile of women across the University
Create a regular networking forum
Identify important career issues for women academics with a view to further consultation
What does WAN look like?
Our current committee (based on attendance at the last committee meeting) is as follows:
Co-Convenors (elected for one year in the first instance)
Amber Burton
Sara Crabtree
Heather Savigny
Committee Members
Carrie Hodges
Vanora Hundley
Julie Robson
Elizabeth Rosser
Chris Shiel
Gail Thomas
Shelley Thompson
Kate Welham
Amanda Wilding
Huiping Xian
Tiantian Zhang
How can you get involved?
Come to the launch event and learn more about WAN and how you can contribute to the network.
When is the launch?
September 26th
Where: venue tbc
What time: 5-7pm. Children and other dependents are welcome
To help us with catering and room bookings, please register by contacting Jo Downey (jdowney@bournemouth.ac.uk)
Further details including room and speaker information will be provided nearer the time
If you would like to offer an event, please contact Sara Crabtree, Amber Burton or Heather Savigny (scrabtree@bournemouth.ac.uk; aburton@bournemouth.ac.uk; hsavigny@bournemouth.ac.uk )
Blog Post by Rebecca Watkins, Postgraduate Researcher – Media School
Consumer Culture Theory (CCT) is an interdisciplinary field that comprises macro, interpretive, and critical perspectives of consumer behaviour, and the CCT conference has become the premier international venue for consumer culture researchers spanning a broad spectrum of academic disciplines to come together to share their ideas, empirical insights, and theoretical interests in an engaging, cutting edge, collegial forum. The conference invites original contributions in the form of full papers that undergo a rigorous peer review process with three double blind reviewers, and as a result research presented at the conference is consistently of an exceptionally high standard. At this year’s conference in Tucson, Arizona, Bournemouth University PhD student Rebecca Watkins and senior lecturer Dr. Mike Molesworth were awarded Best Competitive Paper for their contribution entitled ‘The Biographies of Digital Virtual Goods’. The paper communicated empirical findings from Rebecca’s PhD research which explores ownership and possession in the context of digital goods, from magical swords, luxury cars and avatars within virtual worlds, to mp3s, ebooks, and social networking profiles. Building on award winning research by Dr Denegri-Knott and Dr Molesworth from Bournemouth University’s Media School, Rebecca and Mike highlight the ways in which the nature of digital goods encourages the delaying of classification decisions, resulting in vast digital hoards, and in doing so contribute to existing understanding of digital goods as possessions by providing insight into their biographies, including the significant ways in which they diverge from the typical biographies of material goods. Thus a key contribution of the paper, and of Rebecca’s research more broadly, is to illustrate that our understanding of material culture and consumption, so understandably rooted in the materiality of goods, is problematised by the emergence of digital possessions, often leading to tense and turbulent relationships between consumers and the providers of these digital goods that are yet to be adequately addressed by policy makers.
*Rebecca’s attendance at the conference was partially funded by the Graduate School’s PGR Development Fund
HSC has held a practice-changing symposium on Tuesday 16th July to launch its work evaluating child protection processes across Bournemouth and Poole and hopefully Dorset. The multi-stakeholder event expressed the aim to ensure that Eileen Munro’s recommendations that parents, children and young people are at the ‘heart of the work’. (Prof Eileen Munro of LSE was commissioned by the Government in 2010-11 to review child care social work.)
Our research, commissioned by the Local Safeguarding Children Board (LSCB), was undertaken by Richard Williams, Emily Rosenorn-Lanng and Prof Jonathan Parker of the Centre for Social Work, Sociology and Social Policy, in collaboration with the LSCB, Bournemouth and Poole Local Authorities, and latterly including representatives from Dorset County Council.
We were asked to evaluate Bournemouth and Poole child protection processes, child protection strategy planning, core group meetings and the all-important involvement of parents or guardians and children and young people themselves. Unlike many negative and emotionally charged newspaper reports since the serious case review inquiries into the death of Peter Connelly, published in 2008 and 2009 (http://media.education.gov.uk/…./20to%20peter%20connelly%20dated%20november%202008.pdf http://media.education.gov.uk/…/to%20peter%20connelly%20dated%20march%202009.pdf), our research found much in which social workers in the Bournemouth and Poole area can take pride; and much that may resonate elsewhere.
There was considerable evidence of high quality social work and child safeguarding practice. The majority of respondents to our survey (both professional and familial) agreed or strongly agreed that the child protection process has made a positive difference to the family (90.5%). Forty-seven per cent (47%) of children and young people responding, indicated that their feelings of safety rose from 13% to 47% after engagement in the child protection process. Importantly, over 25% of parents or guardians indicated their willingness to contribute further to the on-going evaluation.
Of course, there were elements of the process that indicated areas for development. For instance:
1. Ensuring that minutes of Core Group meetings are disseminated to all involved
2. Ensuring the Core Group follows and monitors the Child Protection Plan
3. Discussing reports fully with Parents and Guardians before the Review Conference
4. Facilitating the involvement of all key people at the Review Conference
5. Monitoring and facilitating the inclusion of the views of Children and Young People continuously
In an innovative approach to change, the day presented findings from the research and explored with social workers, medical and health practitioners, teachers, police officers, managers, and academics to ensure this emotive and complex work was of the highest quality. A commitment was made to continue working together on these matters of great import to children and families, and to addressing some of the areas for development.
Jonathan Parker, Richard Williams, Emily Rosenorn-Lanng
Earlier this month, the EC held a public consultation on open access to research data in Brussels inviting statements from a range of stakeholders, who will play some role in revising the ECs policy and will help shape Horizon 2020. Five questions formed the basis of the discussion:
These are key questions every researcher should have an interest in. You can see the responses of the Open Knowledge Foundation here and learn more about the EC debates around research data open access mandates.
The article “Debunking the PBS myth: Media in Crisis ?” written by Argyro Karanasiou, Lecturer in Law and member of the Centre for Intellectual Property Policy and Management (CIPPM) is featured in the International Forum for Responsible Media Blog (Inforrm), the influential media policy blog set up to debate issues of media responsibility. As stated in the article, this issue is not only of local interest but it also encompasses certain parameters pertaining to constitutional and EU law matters. This contribution comes in a timely manner: the issue was discussed last week in the European Parliament while the bill for its substitution has been submitted to the Greek Parliament only a few days ago. Argyro notes:
The long standing debate over interventionism and liberalism in the EU market of services is also reflected in the regulation of competition for broadcasting services in the EU. And while the EU Parliament and the Commission remain undecided as to how PBS should be treated in terms of the market’s internal policy, the case of ERT faces us with the following paradox: a public broadcaster officially shut down by the state yet transmitted through the EBU satellite operators to this day.
The case of ERT furnishes us with a great example of how myths are deconstructed in times of crisis. However, as in every myth, what is of particular value is always the epimythion, the moral of the story. And if there is something to be learnt from the ERT switch-off that is that the current financial crisis is not simply a fiscal issue of local nature; it also threatens the societal foundations of democracy and EU cohesion in total.
To read the article in full please click here.
For updates follow Argyro on twitter @ArKaranasiou
Calling all postgraduate researchers, supervisors and research administrators!
You should by now have heard that we are working hard to have our new postgraduate monitoring system online for the beginning of the new academic year. The system will enhance the experience of all those involved in research degrees:
The main aim is to move away from paper-based forms and to a more streamlined on-line system. The system will guide you through the process and monitoring of PGR progression.
We’re now at the exciting stage of naming the system. The steering group has come up with a list of possible names for you to vote on. Cast your votes here – http://www.surveymonkey.com/s/L8H9VHF for:
The poll will be open until 22 July. Happy voting!
Dr Fiona Knight
Academic Manager
Following on from the excellent Events Conference at BU last week, the School of Tourism is pleased to announce that BU has been chosen to host the 2015 Leisure Studies Association Annual Conference. This is a significant international conference that attracts visitors and speakers from across the globe and is a real mark of recognition for the University that will help establish further both the School of Tourism and BU’s international reputation. The conference will take place between 7th – 9th July 2015 and will provide a platform for BU academics, associated professionals and local/regional/national sport, leisure, events and tourism organisations to become involved.
Although the conference is almost two years away, planning and preparation will be underway in the very near future. The conference themes will be circulated in due course, but if you would like further information, then please contact either Andrew Adams (aadams@bournemouth.ac.uk) or Ian Jones (jonesi@bournemouth.ac.uk.
eBU is going through the final IT phases before the anticipated launch at the end of July.
I have been delighted with the interest that eBU has generated from all sections of the BU community. Academics, students and professional and support staff have all shown an interest in submitting to and signposting others to eBU, and it is clear that eBU will play a significant role in developing academic output.
eBU has champions in each school (I’m happy to put people in contact), and section editors across all of the research themes under which submissions will sit.
Authors will be encouraged to submit by logging in to the eBU site. However, if you’re interested in submitting to eBU before the live date, please get in touch and email submissions to me at eBU@bournemouth.ac.uk or aharding@bournemouth.ac.uk
We already have some submissions, and submissions sent to me before the launch date will be among the first to be published by eBU and undergo immediate publication and open peer review.
Author guidelines can be found here – eBU guidelines.
The 2013 Edition of Journal Citation Reports® (JCR) provides a combination of impact and influence metrics, and millions of cited and citing journal data points that comprise the complete journal citation network of Web of ScienceSM.
The 2013 Edition of JCR includes:
Data from the JCR can be used to provide a quantitative, systematic review of the world’s leading journals.
You can access the JCR and Scopus’s corresponding Journal Analyzer tool via the Library A-Z List of Databases.
If you need any help researching and finding information, using library researcher tools, navigating reference management software or advice on depositing your open access materials in BURO via BRIAN please get in touch with your School Library Team.
Last week the University of Wolverhampton hosted the annual conference of the British Society of Criminology. The Parellel sessions covered a wide range of topics including policing, prisons, diversity, media and culture and gender. Highlights for me were papers on cyberstalking by Italian teenagers and the development of websites that sell illicit drugs with a specific focus on the techonology behind one site Silk Road.
For anyone with a specific interest in prisons and offender welfare some interesting prelimary findings from the largest UK survey of prisoners were presented and this research will be published over the next few months with the first pblication due out at the end of July.
There was also a fascinating paper on research into the experience of prisoners that was conducted by a group of prisoner officers who undertook training in ethnographic research and were assigned to research prisons where their status as a prison officer was unknown. The paper focused on the impact that undertaking the research had upon the prison officer researchers.
My paper , Exploring female drug-taking during the First World War generated a lively discussion on the female role in drug dealing and law-breaking.
It was an excellent conference and I would like to thank Rosie Read for supporting my application to the Society and Social Welfare Community Budget which enabled me to attend.
A BETA version of the ‘Copyright User Portal’, funded by Bournemouth University’s Fusion Investment Fund (awarded 2012) was launched at the Law Society of England & Wales on 2 July 2013. The main event of the day was the launch of the UK Intellectual Property Office’s Commissioned Report on Copyright and Orphan Works co-authored by academics from CIPPM, Bournemouth University and CREATe, University of Glasgow. It also provided a platform to launch a BETA version of the Copyright User Portal.
The Copyright User Portal is an online resource aimed at making UK copyright law accessible to creators and members of the public. In particular the Portal aims to clarify UK copyright law for musicians, filmmakers, performers, writers, visual artists and interactive developers. The goal is to inform creators about how to protect their work, how to license and exploit it, and how to legally re-use the work of others. As such, the aim of the Copyright User Portal is to provide answers to the most pressing concerns creators have about copyright.
To find the answers to the most pressing queries which creators have, the research used two specific approaches. First, the 200 most frequently asked questions (FAQs) about copyright law was analysed which was then filtered down to the most important 20 FAQs. The second approach consisted of directly engaging with various creators, including musicians, filmmakers, performers, writers, visual artists and interactive developers and producing videos consisting of interviews with these creators, their artistic process, thoughts and questions about copyright. These two approaches helped the research team to create a rich resource capturing the common concerns faced by media professionals in their day-to-day work.
During Summer 2013, a complete version of the Copyright User Portal will be launched. A BETA Version of the resource can be accessed here
The Copyright User Project team consists of Mr. Bartolomeo Meletti (Lead Multimedia Producer), Dr. Kris Erickson (Principal Investigator and Executive Producer, CEMP), Dr. Dinusha Mendis (Co-Investigator and Executive Producer CIPPM), Professor Martin Krestchmer (Co-Investigator and Executive Producer CREATe, University of Glasgow) and Ms. Hayleigh Bosher (Research Assistant and Assistant Producer, CIPPM).
The annual Festival of Design and Innovation (FoDI) opened on Thursday 20 June 2013. It was an opportunity for students from the School of Design, Engineering and Computing (DEC) to exhibit their innovations and creations. “A cake icing pen, a computer game controlled by brain power and a glamping pod were just some of the ground-breaking ideas and inventions on display at this year’s FoDI.”
During the academic year, final year students from DEC are paired off with final year students from the Law Department studying Intellectual Property (IP) Law. The law students are tasked with advising their DEC clients on the protection and exploitation of their innovative creations. The DEC clients then incorporate the advice which they have received from the ‘lawyers’ into their final year projects.
The IP-DEC Project brings Intellectual Property law to life. It gives an opportunity for law students to apply IP Law to real-life inventions and in turn it helps the DEC client to understand the importance of strong IP protection when preparing to protect, market and exploit their various creations.
The IP-DEC Project culminates with Awards for the Best DEC Student; Best IP Student and Best IP-DEC Group sponsored by Paul Turner, a retired Patent Attorney.
The Paul Turner Prize for the best IP-DEC Group was awarded at the opening night of the Festival. The prize was awarded to Law Students Danielle Foster and Luke Trim and DEC Students Benjamen Armstrong, George Burge, Joseph Carter, Markko Reinberg, Nicholas Cron, Thomas Clements and Thomas Reynolds.
The Paul Turner Individual Prize for the Best IP Student went to Gemma Jefferies whilst the Paul Turner Prize for the Best DEC Student was awarded to Coco Canessa. The Individual Prize winners will officially receive their awards at the Graduation Ceremony in November 2013.
The opportunity to apply Intellectual Property Law to real-life scenarios and to real-life innovations together with helping the DEC clients to grasp the importance of IP law, makes this project truly unique.
The IP-DEC Project is co-ordinated by Dr. Dinusha Mendis (Law); Dr. Tania Humphries (DEC); and Dr. Reza Sahandi (DEC).