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Please note room change – From suffragettes to 21st century slut walks – women, PR dissent and protest.

Wednesday, 12th December at 4pm in Room CAG01

Heather Yaxley considers the role of women in dissent PR ranging from the suffragettes to the 21st century phenomenon of slut walks.  The position of women outside the dominant social power base suggests a need for radical activism to enable their voices, and causes, to be heard.  Issues relating to sexualisation and other stereotyping are examined in the context of how women over the last century have championed feminist issues.  Finally, reflection on role of women in dissent, activism and protest movements outside the mainstream is contrasted to their increasing dominance of the professional occupation of public relations.

A hybrid academic-educator-practitioner-consultant, Heather Yaxley is researching career strategies in public relations for her PhD at Bournemouth.  Her biography can be found at http://www.prconversations.com/index.php/contributors/heather-yaxley/

RCUK to provide some universities with a block grant for open access publishing costs

Publishing

open access logo, Public Library of ScienceWe’ve added posts to the Blog previously about the outcome of the Finch Report (Accessibility, sustainability, excellence: how to expand access to research publications) (access previous posts here) which was published on 18th June 2012 and came out of the Working Group on Expanding Access to Published Research Findings, chaired by Dame Janet Finch. On 16th July 2012 the Government announced that it has accepted the recommendations of the report. The report recommended a balanced programme of action to enable more people to read and use the publications arising from research, and to accelerate the progress towards a fully open access environment, particularly for all government-funded research.

Upon publication, the Report generated some negative reaction from Russell Group institutions concerned about the cost implications given the output of their staff and the high proportion of RCUK funding they receive. The Government has responded to this by providing funding to some institutions to support the costs of OA publishing. This approach so far has been two-fold:

1)    In September 2012 the Government announced funding of £10 million, understood to have come out of budget underspends, to support a number of research-intensive universities to kick-start the transition to OA publishing and setting up funds to meet the costs of APCs (Read the BIS announcement here: http://news.bis.gov.uk/Press-Releases/Government-invests-10-million-to-help-universities-move-to-open-access-67fac.aspx). The funding will support 30 institutions, selected on the basis of their combined QR funding and RCUK income. BU did not meet the threshold and will unfortunately not receive any funding from this initiative.

2)    In November 2012 RCUK announced block grant funding to support selected universities to support open access publishing costs from RCUK-funded grants (read the RCUK announcement here: http://www.rcuk.ac.uk/media/news/2012news/Pages/121108.aspx). Payments will be made from April 2013 to March 2015, with a mid-term review to assess the system is working. Grants have been calculated for individual universities based on the proportion of direct labour costs awarded on grants that they have received from April 2009 to March 2012. These labour costs have been used as a proxy of research effort leading to the generation of publications. Only universities that are eligible for a block grant of £10k or more will receive funding. RCUK have confirmed that unfortunately BU does not meet the threshold of £10k and will not receive any funding from this initiative.

Although BU has missed out on both block grants we are continuinging to support open access publishing, supported by a central, dedicated budget specifically set up to pay open access publication fees (BU Open Access Publication Fund). This has been live since April 2011; its use will continue to be monitored and the budget increased to cover the increasing demand from BU academics wishing to publish via open access routes.  There is no doubt that this fund will need to grow substantially over the next few years to cater for the changes in train.

Green open access publishing is of course possible using our own institutional repository BURO which is now even more accessible given the new interface provided by BRIAN which tells academics the publisher’s rules on self-archiving for each output when they log into the system; it is hoped this will increase the proportion of full-text articles available in BURO.

BU is encouraging all academics to continue to embrace open access publishing at least as part of the dissemination strategy for all current grants and to ensure that they bid for open access funds as part of future grants as this becomes possible (it is already possible with some funders, including Research Councils).

BU sponsors Dorset Business Award for Entrepreneur of the Year 2012

Research themes

Bournemouth University proudly sponsored the Entrepreneur of the Year award for another year. The application and judging process culminated in an awards ceremony and Gala Dinner for 530+ guests at the Lighthouse in Poole on 29th November, hosted by actress and impressionist Debra Stephenson.

The evening had a Bond theme to celebrate the ‘007th’ year that the Dorset Chamber of Commerce & Industry has organised the awards and the 50th anniversary of the James Bond character.

The Entrepreneur of the Year category attracted one of the highest number of entries. The applicants were diverse and covered a broad and varied range of businesses. The judging panel had the enjoyable, yet extremely challenging, task of narrowing the list down to just three finalists.

The judges were Professor Roger Palmer the Dean of the Business School, Professor Dean Patton the Head of the Centre for Entrepreneurship and Mark Painter the Business Development Manager for the Business School.  The three deserving finalists were Phil Whitehurst of Active Research, Duncan Cook of 3 Sided Cube and Paul Woods of Astute. Paul Woods was the eventual worthy winner of the Entrepreneur of the Year award. 

Mark, Roger and Dean were joined at the Gala Dinner by Tim Lee, a non-Executive Director of BU, the three finalists and their guests.

More information regarding the Dorset Business Awards can be found at www.dorsetbusinessawards.co.uk

RDU Small Grant Fund Winner- Update

Post-award, Publishing

In November 2011 I (Joanne Mayoh) was the recipient of one of the first BU Research Development Fund (RDF) Small Grant Scheme prizes. This award gave me the opportunity to travel to Champaign (Illinois) in May 2012 to present a paper at the International Congress of Qualitative Inquiry. The budget covered my travel to Illinois, hotel accommodation, conference fees for the five day event, and sustenance costs during this time. As an early career researcher, who has only started publishing within the last few years, this was an excellent chance for me to receive support to present internationally, and engage in essential networking and profile building.

In addition to the conference paper, this opportunity resulted in targeting networking with a number of influential methodologists, and the submission of two journal articles, and a further (accepted) conference abstract in collaboration with a newly formed contact. This new associate is one of the most experienced mixed methodologists currently publishing within my target journals, and is therefore an invaluable connection for at this stage in my career.

The process of applying for RDF funding was extremely simple and one that I would recommend my colleagues engaging with if they have any need for a small grant. I would definitely apply to this fund in the future to support conference attendance, research support or general networking.  Overall it was a wonderful experience, and I am very grateful for the support from BU and the Research Development Unit.

Its not too late to apply for our 2 great EU internal funding schemes!

The EU Academic Development Scheme (EUADS) is a unique scheme developed to kick start your career in EU research; it’s open to all BU academic staff relatively inexperienced in gaining EU funding.  The EUADS will help you build up to making a submission by providing unlimited 1-2-1 support from an expert EU bid writer, group mentoring and unlimited assistance in actually writing your application over a 12 month period. As if this training wasn’t fantastic in itself, and the supportive culture of being a cohort undertaking the journey of EU funding extremely appealing, the EUADS also includes an individual fund. Each successful participant will be provided with grants as requested totalling up to a whopping £3k each by to spend on activities supporting bid development, such as:
• Travel with the intent of networking
• Conference attendance with the intent of networking
• Pilot research work
• Fieldwork
• Attendance at external networking events leading to collaborative research proposals
• Meetings with external organisations to establish collaborations
• Preparation of specialist material or data
• Replacement teaching 

You can read more on this scheme in the EUADS Policy Document  and make a submission using the  EUADS Application Form; the deadline is 18.12.12

The EU Networking Fund (EUNF) is open to any BU academics who want to network across Europe with a view to finding collaborators. We have a pot of money to support this scheme, and the fund will end when the pot is empty.
You can apply for support for a range of activities relating directly to networking, such as:
• Travel with the intent of networking
• Conference attendance with the intent of networking
• Attendance at external networking events leading to collaborative research proposals
• Meetings with external organisations to establish collaborations.

You can read more on this scheme in the EUNF Policy Document and make a submission using the EUNF Application Form; there is no deadline.

There are plenty of EU initiatives to support you here at BU, so don’t miss out!

 

Visit to Canada following successful Fusion Bid

Fusion

Following a successful fusion bid I (Michele Board) visited Canada in November 2012 to explore opportunities for research, education and practice that can be transferred to the BU/UK context. I was also promoting the newly formed BU Dementia Institute (BUDI), and build on our growing research interests with two Universities in Canada. The trip also included: a visit to the Canadian Alzheimer Association based in Toronto, Professor Pia Kontos at Toronto University, a Dementia memory clinic in Saskatoon, and delivering the key note presentation at fifth meeting of the Knowledge Network in Rural and Remote Dementia Care in Saskatoon.

Professor Pia Kontos at Toronto University was very interesting. Her research on person centred care reinforces the focus we have in our undergraduate nursing programme. She shared her creative approach for the dissemination of research, for example through drama and a new project she is undertaking around clowning. It is hoped ‘clowning’ will help build relationships with those suffering with dementia. See more information about her work at  http://www.torontorehab.com/research/kontos.html

The Alzheimer’s Association education team, in Toronto, were very interested to hear about BUDI and the education we have undertaken with Nursing Homes. They also look to the UK as leaders in the formation of a dementia strategy, and the PM taking a lead in promoting and funding dementia research. They are working towards the formation of a dementia strategy.

Visiting the memory clinic in Saskatoon was very interesting. The principle of the memory clinic was fundamentally the same as the memory clinic I have been working in. However, where they differed significantly was on two aspects: all data they collected about patients and their carers/NOK, was used in research, and the use of Telehealth to provide ongoing monitoring and support to clients in remote areas of Saskatoon. Post graduate psychology students were offered placements with the team in the memory clinic. The students actively participated in research whilst developing their skill in cognitive testing. Patients and carer satisfaction was obvious, but it was also supported by the data collected of user satisfaction with the service provided. See this link for more information about the clinic and their research http://www.cchsa-ccssma.usask.ca/ruraldementiacare/

 

The memory clinic team, led by Professor Debra Morgan, have an annual conference inviting key stakeholders to hear about research undertaken in the previous year, offer suggestions for research plans and share best practice. There is a poster presentation and an award given to the best student poster. I was asked to be one of the reviewers of the posters and was impressed by the quality and diversity of research outputs from the memory clinic.

 

The key note presentation had four parts: an overview of BUDI and potential areas of mutual interest; the work I have undertaken in the memory clinic; my PhD findings and a tourist guide to Dorset! It was well received with many questions and expressions of interest in our work and visiting Dorset.

 

Finally the photograph shows me on the right, standing next to  Professor Morgan, Duane Munish and post graduate student, outside the universities ‘Faculty Club’! A definite potential for a fusion bid I’m sure.

Faculy Club University of Saskatchewan

Research Professional

Guidance

Every BU academic has a Research Professional account which delivers weekly emails detailing funding opportunities in their broad subject area. To really make the most of your Research Professional account, you should tailor it further by establishing additional alerts based on your specific area of expertise.

Research Professional have created several guides to help introduce users to ResearchProfessional. These can be downloaded here.

Quick Start Guide: Explains to users their first steps with the website, from creating an account to searching for content and setting up email alerts, all in the space of a single page.

User Guide: More detailed information covering all the key aspects of using ResearchProfessional.

Administrator Guide: A detailed description of the administrator functionality.

In addition to the above, there are a set of 2-3 minute videos online, designed to take a user through all the key features of ResearchProfessional.  To access the videos, please use the following link: http://www.youtube.com/researchprofessional 

Research Professional are running a series of online training broadcasts aimed at introducing users to the basics of creating and configuring their accounts on ResearchProfessional.  They are holding monthly sessions, covering everything you need to get started with ResearchProfessional.  The broadcast sessions will run for no more than 60 minutes, with the opportunity to ask questions via text chat.  Each session will cover:

  • Self registration and logging in
  • Building searches
  • Setting personalised alerts
  • Saving and bookmarking items
  • Subscribing to news alerts
  • Configuring your personal profile

Each session will run between 10.00am and 11.00am (UK) on the fourth Tuesday of each month.  You can register here for your preferred date:

22nd January 2013: https://www1.gotomeeting.com/register/637298448 

26th February 2013: https://www1.gotomeeting.com/register/267446504 

26th March 2013: https://www1.gotomeeting.com/register/518275168 

23rd April 2013: https://www1.gotomeeting.com/register/255287520 

28th May 2013: https://www1.gotomeeting.com/register/806064201 

25th June 2013: https://www1.gotomeeting.com/register/492839664 

23rd July 2013: https://www1.gotomeeting.com/register/771246561 

27th August 2013: https://www1.gotomeeting.com/register/398714217 

24th September 2013: https://www1.gotomeeting.com/register/882372120 

These are free and comprehensive training sessions and so this is a good opportunity to get to grips with how Research Professional can work for you.

Research Seminar from Creative Technology Research Centre, DEC

Date:  Wed, 5/12/2012

Time: 14:00

Venue: P302 (Poole House)

Topic: Animation – an Overview and Computer Assisted Technology

Abstract:

Animation production is a labor intensive and time consuming process. Animators have to spend hours at the drawing board tracing, sketching, and coloring each frame. The labor intensive nature of the work has resulted in much of the outsource market shifting from developed countries such as UK and Japan to developing countries where wages and living standards are lower. To tackle the difficulties and challenges mentioned above, in this presentation some novel technologies to automatically generate motion will be discussed, aiming to significantly cut down production time and cost. Apart from the technical aspects, during the presentation, I will also briefly talk about the UK, Japan and the global animation industry. Some of my current animation or game related research projects will be shared as well.

Bio:

Dr Tian is an Associate Professor in Media Technology in the School of Design, Engineering & Computing (DEC), Bournemouth University. He has been working for years, in the areas of Computer Graphics, Computer Animation, Augmented Reality, etc., and has published well over 50 papers in peer reviewed international journals and conferences. Prior to joining in Bournemouth University, he was an assistant professor in the School of Computer Engineering, Nanyang Technological University (NTU), Singapore. As a visiting scholar, he has been attached or collaborating with a number of universities, including Paris University XI, France, New South-Wales University, Australia, LSiiT, Louis Pasteur University, France, MIT, Tokyo Institute of Technology, Japan, Waseda University, Japan, etc.

Editorial Board @ BU

The Advances in Media Management (AiMM) research group are delighted to announce that the Editorial team for one of the leading journals in the field of Media Management, will hold their annual board meeting at BU in 2013.

The International Journal on Media Management (IJMM) publishes original research on the management aspects of the media and communications industries. The content is both interdisciplinary, combining a number of different academic disciplines (strategy, technology, marketing, finance, etc.) and multi-sectoral, exploring the interrelationship between developments in related industries.

If you would like to meet with members of the board to discuss your current and future research plans in this area – then please let Dr John Oliver, Media School, and he will arrange for you to meet with them.

Ant Colony Optimization for Dynamic Optimization Problems

Research themes

This interesting talk will take place next Wednesday the 5th of December, 16:00-17:00 at P302.
Our external guest is Dr Michalis Mavrovouniotis from the University of Leicester, an specialists in evolutionary algorithms, ant colony optimization, memetic computation and dynamic optimization.

Dr Mavrovouniotis will discuss very recent advances in nature-inspired computational intelligence. These ideas have also relevant implications for optimization problems, knowledge transfer and meta-learning; thus I think may be of great interest of many students, PhD candidates and senior researchers of the three centres in our school.
Abstract: In the last decade, there is a growing interest to apply nature-inspired metaheuristics in optimization problems with dynamic environments. Usually, dynamic optimization problems (DOPs) are addressed using evolutionary algorithms. Recently, ant colony optimization (ACO) algorithms proved that they are also good methods to address DOPs.

However, conventional ACO algorithms have difficulty in addressing DOPs. This is because once the algorithm converges to a solution and a dynamic change occurs, it is difficult for the population to adapt to a new environment since high levels of pheromone will be generated to a single trail and force the ants to follow it even after a dynamic change. A good solution to address this problem is to increase the diversity of solutions via transferring knowledge from previous environments to the pheromone trails of the new environment.

Best wishes, Emili

Emili Balaguer-Ballester, PhD

School of Engineering & Computing, Bournemouth University

Center for Computational Neuroscience, University of Heidelberg

British Library’s Doctoral Open Days

PG research

Some free events are being held by the Bristish Library for the chance to discover their unique research materials. From newspapers to maps, datasets to manuscripts, ships’ logs to websites, their collections cover every format and language and span the last 3,000 years. The events are aimed at first year PhD students who are new to the Library. At the events you will learn about their collections, find out how to access them and meet the the Library’s expert staff and other researchers in your field.

Event dates:

18 January History

25 January History 2

1 February Social Sciences

11 February Social Sciences 2

18 February Media, Cultural Studies & Journalism

22 February Art & Design

 The main focus of these events is towards the arts, humanities and social sciences, however, science students can of course apply for a free Reader Pass – useful if you’re already planning a research trip to London. 

To find out more please visit their website.

 

Jonathan Parker’s Keynote address at the International Social Work Conference 2012

Professor Jonathan Parker, Deputy Dean (Research & Knowledge Exchange) delivered the Keynote address at the “International Social Work Conference 2012: Crafting Symbiotic Collaboration and Partnership in the Asia-Pacific Region”, held in Penang, Malaysia last week.

This international conference, jointly organised by the Institut Sosial Malaysia, the government Ministry of Women, Family and Community Development and the Universiti Sains Malaysia (USM), Penang, Malaysia, with the support of government Department of Social Welfare, Malaysia and the Malaysian Association of Social Workers. Professor Parker’s invitation to deliver the keynote was made in recognition of the important work that he and Dr Ashencaen Crabtree conducted in developing partnerships and collaboration in cross-cultural learning for social work students.

Professor Parker spoke about the three-year British Council funded research project promoting UK student mobility to Malaysia. It involved developing partnerships at organisational levels between UK (BU) and Malaysian universities (Uuniversiti Sains Malaysia and Universiti Malaysia Sarawak), but was only possible because of prior personal and collegiate relationships – the substrate, or foundations, of symbiotic partnership and collaboration.

The positive results of the collaboration and enhanced cross-cultural understanding were presented, including enhanced employment prospects for UK students – something found as part of a follow-up Fusion Investment Fund study last year. However, Professor Parker’s keynote also problematised the mode of learning and the collaboration and partnerships evolved to facilitate the work, drawing attention to:

  • Isomorphic tendencies in social work education globally (a move towards a common state)
  • Hegemonies of nation-states (in which one assumes a position of power)
  • Hegemonies of social work: practice & values
  • Tyrannies of received ideas

He posed the question for the conference, what future is there for international collaboration and partnerships in social work education? The importance of criticality and reflexivity in analysing collaboration types, power balances and differentials was stressed, recognising that not all relationships are top-down, bottom-up or even equal but are likely to be fuzzy and plural in meanings and directions. Accepting this allows for change and diversity as partnership relationships develop, and demands that we become more comfortable with the places and spaces we occupy as actors in mutual collaborations.

Professor Parker’s keynote was warmly welcomed and further research collaboration is planned with a wider network of Malaysian universities and potential support from the Ministry of Women, Family and Community Development and Department of Social Welfare.