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BBB Seminar: Bournemouth-Brasilia-Birmingham

Fusion

As part of the BBB project, funded by Bournemouth University Fusion Investment Fund SMN strand, and Software Systems Research Centre activities, we would like to invite you to our seminar series next week, the week of March 18th 2013, at the School of Design, Engineering and Computing.

Bournemouth Birmingham Brasilia BBB Project Fusion Investment Fund SMN Strand

BBB project creates a community of interest which involves the computing groups of University of Brasilia, University of Birmingham, and Bournemouth University. The three groups are focused on Software Engineering research and this project involves exchange visits and the establishment of joint work.  BBB is working together on a timely research project about adaptive software systems with particular focus on cloud and service computing. We are investigating core engineering foundations which are required to enable software to adapt and respond to the dynamic needs and environments of its users and, also, to respond to their runtime feedback aiming to enhance its service quality. The program consists of the following talks:

 Tuesday   19-03-2013

Speaker: Danilo Mendonça, University of Brasilia, Brazil
Title: Compositional Approach for Parametric Model Checking in Software Product Lines
Room and time:   P403 (Poole House, Talbot Campus) Start: 15:00 Finish: 15:40

Speaker: Funmilade Faniyi, University of Birmingham, UK
Title: A Self-Adaptive Architecture Approach to Service Level Agreement Compliance in Cloud-based systems
Room and Time:   P403 (Poole House, Talbot Campus) Start: 15:40 Finish: 16:20

Speaker: Raian Ali, Bournemouth University, UK
Title: Socially-Adaptive Software: The SOCIAD project Approach*
Room and time :   P403 (Poole House, Talbot Campus) Start: 16:20 Finish: 17:00

Thursday   21-03-2013

Speaker: Felipe Pontes, University of Brasilia, Brazil
Title: Enacting distributed and reliable service choreography using context-aware agents
Room and time:   P411 (Poole House, Talbot Campus). Start: 15:00 Finish: 15:40

Speaker: Lai Xu, Bournemouth University, UK
Title: Business process management as service & lightweight business process modelling.
Room and time:   P411 (Poole House, Talbot Campus). Start: 15:40 Finish: 16:20

Speaker: Huseyin Dogan, Bournemouth University, UK
Title: Systems of Systems (SoS) to Capability Management.
Room and time:   P411 (Poole House, Talbot Campus). Start: 16:20 Finish: 17:00

Friday   22-03-2013

Speaker: Malik Almaliki, Bournemouth University, UK
Title: Developing a Software Engineering Framework for Adaptive Acquisition of Users’ Feedback
Room and time:   P409 (Poole House, Talbot Campus). Start: 15:00 Finish: 15:20

Speaker: Rami Bahsoon, University of Birmingham, UK
Title: Self-Adaptive Cloud Software Engineering @ Birmingham
Room and time:   P409 (Poole House, Talbot Campus). Start: 15:20 Finish: 16:10

Speaker: Genaina Rodrigues, University of Brasilia, Brazil
Title: Variability Management of Reliability Models in Software Product Lines
Room and time:   P409 (Poole House, Talbot Campus). Start: 16:10 Finish: 17:00

We hope you will join us.

* SOCIAD (Social Adaptation: when Software Gives Users a Voice) project is  funded by EC Marie Curie CIG grant

UK-India Education & Research Initiative Funding Available

The next round of applications for the UKIERI Thematic Partnerships is now open. UKIERI Thematic Partnership funding is designed to support the collaborative costs of joint research projects, including exchanges between research teams in the two countries. The closing date for applications is 31 May 2013. This year there are two categories for funding:

1.     UGC UKIERI Thematic Partnerships (with the University Grants Commission), which covers research, faculty exchange and innovation across all subject areas.

2.     DST UKIERI Thematic Partnerships (with the Indian Department of Science and Technology), for the following specific areas:

a.     Sustainable energy supply

b.    Food production and security

c.     Water supply and security

d.    Health and Disease

e.     Innovation including social impact and intellectual property

f.     Research and Science Policy

Full guidance notes and application forms are available from the UKIERI website.  UKIERI will organise pre-bid workshops in March and April 2013 to help potential applicants understand the application process for the call and the dates of these will be released on their webpage.

Interested in eHealth? Join the Psychology Research Centre for an informal forum!

On Wednesday 27th March, 2013 the Psychology Research Centre will be holding an informal forum for anyone who is currently doing, or interested in doing, research related to eHealth (e.g. research interests may include understanding how people (e.g. potential patients, patients, health professionals) use the internet for health information and/or intervention). We are informally calling this forum CHIRP which stands for Centre for eHealth Internet Research and Practice and it is open to any staff or postgraduate students at BU who would like to meet up to discuss research plans, ideas and potential collaborations.

The topic of eHealth fits well into the BU research themes of ‘Health, Wellbeing & Ageing’ and ‘Technology & Design’ and we are currently aware of members in DEC and HSC who are currently conducting research in this area.

The aim of this meeting will be to get together and understand common research interests therefore we would ask you to come prepared to talk for around 3 minutes about the current work you are doing (feel free to send a powerpoint slide with details of you interest too).

The forum will be held at 3pm in room P405 at Poole House and Tea, coffee and biscuits will be provided. Please contact Sarah Williams in Psychology by early next week if you are interesting in attending.

Want to know more on the exciting R&D opportunities available in Electronic Systems?

Funding opportunities

Keen to find out more on the opportunities available for R&D?  Then do not miss this event:

‘Starting Small, Thinking Big: Entry-Level funded R&D opportunities in Electronic Systems’         

at:

The University of West England on Wednesday 10th April.

The purpose of this event is to inform organisations of the type of opportunity that is available from the Technology Strategy Board, through funding programmes such as: 

SMART and  KTPs.

In particular, detailed information will be given on the current

KTP Call opportunity in Resilient Energy.

Used properly, publicly funded R&D can be a valuable way for companies to develop products, ideas and people. Successful projects and programmes in electronic systems are often built from small, carefully planned beginnings.

To register for the event, and to find out further information please click here

Marie Curie Funding Info Sessions Reminder – Need A Fully Funded Research Fellow ?

Funding opportunities, Grants Academy, Training

 

The Prize

These schemes provide strong financial support for a Research Fellow in your department for a period of 12 – 24 months on any research topic.

The Catch

The Research Fellow must come from another European Country or International Base worldwide. It is joint application with you and the fellowship candidate – so they must be identified. (If the fellow is already in the UK they must have been working here for less than 1 year in the last 3.)

The Deadline

Deadline for application is August 2013 – but the forms are relatively easy & straight forward – although moderately time consuming. Fellowships will start in early 2014 but this start date could be extended to early 2015.

Intra-European Fellowships (IEF)                  Deadline  Mid August 2013

International Incoming Fellowships (IIF)       Deadline  Mid August 2013

Note: For people already at the University there is a similar outgoing international Fellowship scheme to enable research periods in other , non European, Labs and Research Centres.

These fellowships are prestigious and highly sought after, especially as they pay very well. There is a difference in emphasis between the two schemes but the overriding criteria is candidate, and host, excellence with respect to the justification of the project rationale. This is all derived from the candidates cv and thus please discuss initially with Martin Pickard who can advise on suitability and fit.

These fellowships are an excellent, and often overlooked, way to expand and compliment a research team. Initial advice is imperative as, again, project structure and rationale with respect to the candidate are very important in determining success and need to be argued and justified around the actual science and project.

Requirements.

One University (Host) and one applicant, of any nationality, other than from than the UK. (candidates may already be in the UK but must have spent less than 12 months of the past 36 in the UK)

The higher the quality of the cv, rated against age and experience, the more likelihood of funding success. Each prospective fellow can only apply for one fellowship but any host can have as many fellows as they want applying to work with the same PI.

The Grant

Typical project period – Minimum 12 months — Maximum 24 months

Fellow income: In excess of 80,000 Euro per year.

University Income: Minimum of 18,000 Euro per year.

Help Needed ??

If you have a research Fellow in Mind (or can find one through networking or your colleague links) the application will not take a lot of time – but a clearly defined and specific approach is required. Guidance notes will be available as well as direct one to one support from our proposal writing specialist Dr. Martin Pickard. 

To assist further we have also arranged a series of 2 morning information sessions to be held on the Wednesday 27th of March and repeated again on the Tuesday 16th of April 2013 

Information Session 1 –  09:00am – 10:00am

A Brief Introduction to the Marie Curie Fellowship Schemes – for those of general interest.  

In addition to the general European topic specific calls under the cooperation programme there are a number of explicit opportunities arising through other schemes – some of which are far more easily accessible and have the advantage of being open to literally any research idea/topic. Several of these arise through the People programme under the Marie Curie calls and this 40 minute plus Q&A information session seeks to highlight some of these opportunities and identify their pro’s and cons so that a clear strategy can be developed to avoid missing these significant, and relatively easy, opportunities.

Information Session 2 – 10:15am – 12:15pm

How to Approach and Structure your Marie Curie Fellowship Application –  for those possibly intending to submit a bid.

The structure of any bid (partner interactions, methodology synergy etc.) is critical to the success of an application and forward planning is a key element of winning proposals.

If you are thinking of applying this August this session will illustrate the basic approach requirements for success and show how to structure and present your research application in the correct form of “Brusselese”.  A brief, 2 hour, guide to the Marie Curie application process.

Please note: If you are already intending to submit a bid this August then Session 1 will provide very little additional information. Also Grants Academy members who have already attended our Grants Academy 2 Day Bid Writing Workshop will not need to attend Session 1 as this has already been covered in your workshop so we would recommend you book into and attend Session 2 only.

If these are a potential interest to you – don’t miss this exceptional opportunity. Please book in ASAP via Staff Development Booking Link to reserve your space as we anticipate these sessions will be very popular.

Link to ETHICS on the Staff Intranet

Research Ethics

The Staff Intranet ribbon has a new ETHICS icon, which will direct you to the Research Ethics page on the blog. Go to the Staff Intranet, scroll to the bottom and click on the right arrow to find the ETHICS icon. This new icon on the Staff Intranet will make it easier for researchers to find information on BU’s research ethics policy and procedures.

BU is committed to promoting and upholding the highest quality academic and ethical standards in all its activities. BU’s research governance and ethics policies and procedures recognize the importance of addressing ethical matters, while supporting the achievement of its collective research objectives. To this end, robust research governance and ethics policies and procedures underpin all research at the University. Further information can be found on the Research Ethics page on the blog, accessible here, or via the ETHICS icon on the Staff Intranet.

CEMP Research & Innovation Bulletin 14.3.13

Funding opportunities

The CEMP Research & Innovation Cluster bulletin for the meeting on 14.3.13 is here: Cluster bulletin and agenda 14.3.13.

The focus of the cluster is pedagogic research and innovation. Any colleagues interested in collaborating with CEMP to pursue any of the funding opportunities in the bulletin – please email Julian McDougall.

Cluster meetings take place every other Thursday. In the Thursdays in between, the bulletin will be posted here.

FREE: Gender Equality Conference “Athena SWAN and Beyond” @ University of Southampton

Back in September 2012, Professor Matthew Bennett, the PVC for Research, Enterprise and Internationalisation announced in a blog post that Bournemouth University was in the process of applying for membership of the Athena SWAN Charter, which was a positive and significant development for the University.

The Athena Swan charter recognises commitment to advancing women’s careers in science, technology, engineering, maths and medicine (STEMM) employment in higher education and is underpinned by three beliefs:

  • The advancement of science, technology, engineering, maths and medicine is fundamental to quality of life across the globe
  • It is vitally important that women are adequately represented in what has traditionally been, and is still, a male-dominated area
  • Science cannot reach its full potential unless it can benefit from the talents of the whole population, and until women and men can benefit equally from the opportunities it affords

(information taken from http://www.athenaswan.org.uk/content/charter)

The University of Southampton, supported by EPSRC is hosting a Gender Equality Conference “Athena SWAN and Beyond” on the 20 March 2013. This is a FREE event and is a fantastic opportunity for those who are keen to get involved with Athena SWAN.

Event details are as below

To register for the event, please visit this webpage http://www.southampton.ac.uk/diversity/

You can also find out more about the event from here.

 

Calling all Early Career Researchers!

R&KEO are keen to know your thoughts as to whether holding an event this summer for Early Career Researchers (ECRs) would be of interest.

The event would be intended to help you reflect and develop the skills you have and help you consider how you can apply your skills now and in the future and aim to help you make more informed choices about the next step of your career.

The event would include some training and then allow you to work in a range of situations such as a simulated business or academic environment with a facilitator. This will help you uncover more about your personal motivations and career. 

If you are an ECR please use the voting buttons below to register whether this would or would not be an event you would like to participate in.  

[polldaddy poll=6954398]

In Practice: Tourism and the public health agenda

The Perspectives in Public Health journal recently published an article on BU’s first Ideas Cafe: ‘Healthy Tourism: an oxymoron?’ 

Following on from discussion on the theme ‘Health Tourism – an oxymoron?’ at the Ideas Café hosted by Bournemouth University in December 2012, can public health be a part of the tourism agenda?

Statistics released by The World Tourism Organization (UNWTO) in 2012 estimate that the number of international tourist arrivals worldwide is expected to increase by an average of 3.3% a year from 2010 to 2030. With this growth and expansion of the tourism industry set to continue, there is a growing call from the academic world for tourism to be healthier and to become a part of the public health agenda. This is a timely change, as the return of public health to local government will allow for new levels of collaboration across areas that have not been strongly associated in the past, including public health and tourism.

In light of this, the School of Tourism at Bournemouth University hosted a Health, Wellbeing and Ageing Ideas Café in December 2012 with the theme of Health Tourism: an oxymoron? The event contained an hour of lively debate and discussion…

Click here to read the full text of this article.

Networking with microbes: BOSS – Biogeography of Organisms of Small Size

Funding opportunities, Fusion

Genoveva Esteban, Associate Professor at the School of Applied Sciences, has been awarded a Santander Staff Mobility and Networking Scholarship (strand of the Fusion Investment Fund) to develop a network with Prof Angel Baltanás at Universidad Autónoma de Madrid (Spain). The network is called BOSS (Biogeography of Organisms of Small Size) – a research-educational network on freshwater aquatic ecology. The aim of BOSS is to investigate the geographical distribution of small-sized organisms and rare freshwater invertebrates involving students (supervised by the PI and CoI) at each university to exchange data collected from rare aquatic habitats in central Spain and in Dorset via the internet. The network will aim at developing a bilingual on-line learning and communications tool to facilitate exchange of students, masters, ecological information, and research between both institutions.  The project will also help promote BU’s PG research and MSc opportunities.

Carnival Futures: Notting Hill Carnival 2020

Awarded & submitted bids

Nicole Ferdinand, Senior Lecturer in Events Management in the School of Tourism has been awarded a research grant from the King’s Cultural Institute for a research project entitled “Carnival Futures: Notting Hill Carnival 2020” which seeks to engage cultural organizations along with other stakeholders in proactively planning for the future of the Notting Hill Carnival. Nicole will be working closely with Carnival Village and other organizations within the carnival community to engage stakeholders in the process of scenario planning. Using scenarios the carnival community will consider how their external relationship portfolio and internal capabilities need to be adapted to match future requirements. The project builds on research Nicole is conducting as part of her PhD. which she is currently completing at King’s College London. Her project is being funded by the Creative Futures Fund.  

Dr. Mary Beth Gouthro, Programme Leader Events Management, also from the School of Tourism has been engaged through the Research & Knowledge Exchange Office to conduct an external evaluation of the project.

 

 

RCUK publishes guidelines on the governance of good research conduct

Guidance, Research Integritiy

Research Councils UK (RCUK) has published its latest policy and guidelines to help researchers and research organisations achieve the highest standards possible when carrying out research. The policy and guidelines have been updated to reflect growing national and international experience in identifying and promoting good research conduct, and in addressing unsatisfactory conduct.

The RCUK Policy and Guidelines on Governance of Good Research Conduct:

  • sets standards of good research practice, with associated guidelines
  • specifies and describes unacceptable research conduct
  • provides guidelines for reporting and investigating allegations of research misconduct
  • clarifies the respective responsibilities of the Research Councils and Research Organisations in fostering and safeguarding the highest possible standards of research conduct.

This document replaces the RCUK Policy and Code of Conduct on the Governance of Good Research Conduct, published in July 2009, and was developed after a wide consultation with partners across the higher education and research sector. It covers the promotion of good research conduct, including good conduct in peer review, the need for appropriate training and development, what constitutes unacceptable research conduct, and the investigation and reporting of unacceptable research conduct.

Professor Rick Rylance, Chair of RCUK, said: “A commitment to good research conduct lies at the heart of an effective research system. High standards of integrity underpin the quality and reliability of research outcomes and of the decisions we make about funding.

“The Research Councils have long been committed to maintaining the highest standards. As a signatory of the Universities UK Concordat to support research integrity, RCUK expects all individuals engaged in research – including researchers themselves, support staff, managers and administrators – to abide by its principles and foster a supportive and open environment.”

The Policy and Guidelines are intended to apply across the full spectrum of research and training funded by the Research Councils and should be amplified in specific disciplines by the guidance issued by individual Research Councils, other funders, professional associations and learned societies.

PhD Studentship Competition 2013 – 2nd Call for Matched Funded Studentships – Submission Deadline 18th March 2013

Following the successful allocation of 39 PhD Studentships (fully and matched funded) under the 1st call, we are delighted to announce a 2nd call of the competition in which there are 5 matched funded studentships available for candidates starting in September 2013 as outlined below:

Matched-funding (50% equivalent to £24k over three years) may come from:

  • Industry/business partners,
  • Government and non-government organizations,
  • Academic Schools,
  • NHS,
  • Research Councils, or
  • Other external bodies.

Priority may be given to applications that involve supervisors from two or more Schools and/or those from early career researchers.

All proposals should match clearly to one of the eight BU Research Challenges:

  • Creative & Digital Economies
  • Culture & Society
  • Entrepreneurship & Economic Growth
  • Environmental Change & Biodiversity
  • Green Economy & Sustainability
  • Health, Wellbeing & Aging
  • Leisure & Recreation
  • Technology & Design.

Applicants are encouraged to discuss potential applications to this funding strand with their Deputy Dean Research or equivalent within their School.

As with the 1st call, the PhD Studentships will be awarded to Supervisory Teams on the basis of a competitive process across the whole of BU led by Professor Matthew Bennett (PVC Research, Enterprise & Internationalization) and managed by the Graduate School.

Applications will be assessed and awards made by a cross University Panel. In selecting proposals for funding, emphasis will be placed on the excellence of the research and quality of proposal in the first instance.  Strategic fit with the REF and Societal Impact will also be assessed. The panel will individually score each proposal and meet formally to select the successful projects.

Only the best projects will be funded and proceed to advert. Full details and criteria are set out in the BU-Studentship-Competition-2013-Final-Policy (Rd2).  Staff are asked to check the eligibility criteria carefully before applying.

Proposals should be submitted on the Studentship-Project-Proposal-2013 (Matched Funding) to the Graduate School (phdstudentshipcompetition@bournemouth.ac.uk) no later than 5pm on Monday 18th March 2013.

All proposals must be completed fully, include all appropriate signatures and be accompanied by a supporting document from the matched funder (letter, email, etc).

Good luck!

Renegades

News from the PVC

Now if I was a master of popular culture, which I am not having spent my youth with my nose in a book or walking on some lonely mountainside then I would be able to link the title to song lyrics or film titles in some witty way.  I have this nagging feeling that I should be able to do this, but have to admit to abject failure in the attempt; may be someone else can help?

The word renegade is an interesting one and for someone who is a natural rebel, tilting at the system, has some appeal.  But some of those systems are important and I find myself having to be an ‘enforcer’ of those systems.  So what systems am I trying to gently remind you of?  Well it is those that pertain to external bidding.  We have uncovered a few renegades recently who are for whatever reason – over enthusiasm is my favoured explanation – have been circumventing our well established systems for dealing with research and knowledge exchange grants.  The process is absolutely clear; all external bids whether they are for teaching, research or knowledge exchange must be costed by RKE Ops, logged on RED our internal funding database, signed off via an APF and subject before acceptance to a contract approval process.  I know that some of you see these systems as ‘bureaucracy’ or interference with academic freedom and another obstacle in the way of you doing your job.  I have heard all of this recently in response to the changes we are making to the APF process, but these systems are in place for good reason and it is perhaps worth reminding ourselves of what they are.

Well first off we have a standard costing methodology that ensure that we recover where possible the full cost of a research or knowledge exchange bid and when possible for commercial work make a small profit if this is appropriate.  Staff time needs to be costed as does the overheads that go with it from heat and lighting through to the IT and estate infrastructure we provide.  Even when the total value of an award is limited we need to know the true cost to the organisation of an activity, so that we can acknowledge and accept the implicit cross-subsidy that is occurring.  We also need to capture what we bid for in order to make our statutory returns to HESA and for Schools to monitor performance against both their budget and performance targets as set out in BU2018.  There is also a well-established hierarchy of financial and contractual levels at which different people within the organisation can approve things.  For example, anything above £500k needs a signature from a member of the BU Board.  Contracts need to be vetted to ensure that the terms and conditions are not punitive to staff or the University and that our intellectual freedom and property is being protected and preserved.  This is all routine and standard stuff for RKE Ops and is all taken care of for you; it is not a bureaucracy but a necessary process of making an application for external funding.

In the last three years RKE Ops have established a uniformity of approach and support across BU and are committed to improving the efficiency of their systems and the service they provide.  In fact we are in the process of reviewing both and will be making further changes later in the year to improve the service they offer.  There are occasional log jams, particularly around contract approval, but the more business we do on our own terms and conditions the less these are.  RKE Ops and I work with Legal Services to identify issues and challenges and I am always interested to hear of problems or sources of delay with a view to seeing what can be done to resolve them.  But no system is perfect and I would like to emphasise that ours is no more bureaucratic that of other HEI’s whatever people may say!  So my final parting shot is that these systems are there for a reason, are not an obstacle or an impediment to bidding, are not unusual within the sector and need to be complied with; not to do so is a matter with consequences. 

The renegades are being contacted individually and gently educated in the error of their ways and are I am sure they are just isolated cases, but I do want to reinforce the message.  If you are making an external bid of any sort talk to RKE Ops and they will not only help and support you but will make sure that the correct protocols are followed.