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Time for research? Or how I stopped worrying and learned to love writing

If I could just work out that perfect sentence I would start writing. Well, if I had the time to think of the perfect sentence that is, because I have emails to answer, and teaching (and emails) and marking (and emails) and meetings and students to see (and emails). But that’s ok, I’ve got a research day later this week, I’ll start writing then.

 With apologies to Jane Austen, it does seem to be a truth universally acknowledged, that there are (at least) 101 reasons why we don’t write. The biggest one perhaps for me, is that fundamentally I find writing hard.  That’s not to say I don’t do it. But there is definitely more (and better) that I would like to write if only I had the time. This blogpost itself is something that I may have put off until an absolute deadline, or until I’d worked out perfectly what I wanted to say (I don’t want to show myself up in front of my lovely new colleagues) but I am happily writing the first draft of this, without waiting for that perfect starting point, sat in the library with a couple of friends, who are also writing. So what’s happened?

I have been reading and thinking a lot about writing for quite a while. Indeed for a long time I have really enjoyed thinking about writing; I had a romantic Sartrean ideal of sitting round in a cafe, thinking wise things, smoking, drinking coffee, and producing works of utter brilliance. (That I wasn’t writing like de Beauvoir and friends was also another source of frustration!!).  Some of the reading and thinking I did was about style; how could I improve the quality of my writing? I came across this book by Helen Sword which has already been blogged about here. But I was also thinking about my motivation for writing and how I could improve it. I love George Orwell’s Why I Write but I felt he didn’t really give me any practical ‘top tips’

In my previous academic job, my ‘research day’ was often a Thursday.  Some Thursdays I was super productive. Fine and good. But some Thursdays I’d start the day listening to the Today programme, with a cup of coffee and mulling over what I was going to do that day. So I’d do my emails. And while doing that the radio would segue into In Our Time, and then of course Woman’s Hour (it should be said these were both programmes I was oblivious too until I had research days). I’d be doing emails, admin, dealing with students etc, so was technically working. I just wasn’t doing any research writing. I would get started maybe late morning, just before lunch. Or maybe I’d have a walk and then start after lunch. Or maybe I’d do a bit more reading first. Now don’t get me wrong, I do have publications, and I do get my writing done, but I’ve never really found it enjoyable.  Writing was something I could very easily procrastinate over (a friend sent this amusing video on procrastination) which of course would then mean I’d also then beat myself up at the end of the day.  This wasn’t every time I sat down to write, but it certainly did happen more often than I felt comfortable with. And then, during one of my research related procrastination detours, I was on a website when I came across this book called How To Write a Lot. Written by an academic, this book helped me rethink my working practices in respect of writing (and was probably the best £6 I have spent in a long time!).

And then a second stroke of luck.  Last week, supported by the Politics Research Group in the Media School, we ran a writing retreat. The first day was run by a facilitator. Now I have been on training sessions where I am feeling I already have too much to do, and that working time (and especially that elusive writing time) is being lost while I am in the session. Yet the beauty of the retreat was that we were encouraged to take along a piece of writing that we were working on.  What was important too was that it didn’t matter that in the session we had different research interests or that we were writing on different topics.  A colleague produced two book proposals and a grant proposal. In one day! Another colleague wrote 4200 words. And I managed just over 3000 words. And this wasn’t 7 or 8 hours solid writing. This was in less than 3 hours in total.  Now these weren’t perfect words, well mine certainly weren’t. And I also didn’t have my perfect opening sentence. But I did have something to work with. And now less than one week later, I have an 8000 or so word chapter that I have sent across to my co-editor. In short we all produced MORE on a training session than we would have done if we had been working in our offices for the day.

 I have written everyday since that retreat and am now starting an article and a research proposal.  I don’t feel daunted by the prospect; in fact I am really enjoying it. It’s just lovely typing away with my writing friends and I am also happy writing on my own. It’s a great combination. I have discovered that I actually like writing and a whole world has opened up to me.  I am not religious (apart from our census form on which all of my family are heavy metal), but it does feel strangely like some kind of Damascene conversion.

Heather Savigny

Senior lecturer in politics

Media School

How to network workshop – places available

Guidance

Networking is crucial in academic life and critical for participation in funded research. In today’s world, to develop a strong academic career, publications aren’t enough; network relations can play a huge role.  Being well connected and carrying out research in cooperative partnerships significantly increases your chances of attaining a professorship and will allow you to grow your research career by participating in a range of multidisciplinary and interdisciplinary projects.

Networking can be daunting and exhausting. To help you identify key players and how best to approach them as well as learning  how to network effectively with a range of stakeholders, expert Dr Martin Pickard of Grantcraft will deliver 3 hours (9.30am-1.30pm, which includes an hour for lunch) of  fantastic guidance in this session on Lansdowne campus (Studland House), on Wednesday, 20th February.

Important booking information:

Booking is essential through the Staff Development website.

The link should be now be working correctly however if you have not received a reminder from Staff Development prior to the event please feel free to also email Dianne Goodman direct.

If you have already booked on to this session please note:

As you may be aware Staff Development encountered some problems with their main booking site around Oct – Nov 2012. So if you have previously booked onto this Networking session we recommend you email Dianne Goodman to check your name is on our current list.

The Graduate School invites all PGR Students at BU to our PGR FILM NIGHT!

PG research

 It is the first of this year’s film nights which will be held regularly as part of the Graduates School’s social events calendar for Postgraduate Research students.

On WEDNESDAY 30 JANUARY at 6pm the 1998 comedy hit ‘Rushmore’ will be screened in KG03.

 

For more details about the film please visit http://www.filmbank.co.uk/film_details.asp?id=55395

NUMBERS ARE RESTRICTED so if you’d like to come along please email graduateschool@bournemouth.ac.uk by midnight on Thursday 25 January

We hope to see you there!

Leverhulme Trust Programme Grants

Funding opportunities

The Leverhulme Trust invites proposals for its research programme grants. Proposals are invited for programme awards on one of the following two topics:

•the nature of knots, which includes uncovering the unifying and organising ideas that underpin knottedness in nature, establishing mathematical methods for quantifiying knottedness, measuring experimentally and developing techniques to control knottedness and identifying the scientific and technological consequences and implications of knottedness;

•innovation for sustainable living, which might involve disruptive science and engineering and their role in new energy, materials and transport, mathematics and statistics, public policy, economics and the complexities of trade-offs, psychology and determining the driers of behaviour change, lessons from history and comparative social analysis.

Grants are worth between £500,000 and £1.75 million each for a period of up to five years for each of the topics.

Closing date 4pm,03 Oct 13

The RKE Operations team can help you with your application. Please direct any enquiries to RKE Ops in the first instance.

Research Seminar organized by Creative Technology Research Centre

Date:  Wed, 30/01/2013

Time: 14:00

Venue: P302 (Poole House)

Speaker: Karsten Pedersen

Title: Platform Agnostic Game Development

Abstract:

With the recent explosion of new devices, platforms and programming languages now entering the technology landscape, writing  cross platform and portable code is becoming increasingly relevant within the entertainment industry. This is because in order for a game to reach out to as many players as possible, the software will need to be ported to a large number of different devices the players are now potentially using. Whether this is an Android tablet, an iPhone or a desktop computer running a multitude of operating systems, the challenge of multi-platform deployment remains a huge contemporary issue.

Research is undertaken at 4T2 Multimedia in collaboration with Bournemouth University to look into different approaches to target all of these platforms, not only in cross platform manner but also with an aim of being platform agnostic where the same game plug into different APIs and engines such as OpenGL and Unity without changing the architecture or rewriting large portions of the game specific logic.

Book writing: essential information for researchers

Training

Coming soon is essential training on book writing. A must for researchers, especially those looking to write their first book.

Facilitated by Professor Stuart Allen, this session will provide advice on the following topics:

  • writing for book publications
  • submitting chapters
  • Intellectual property rights
  • copyright
  • attribution
  • co-authorship

Facilitated by: Professor Stuart Allan, The Media School

Aimed at: Academic Staff

Date: Wednesday 22nd January 2014

Time: 14.00-16.00

Location: PG22, Ground Floor, Poole House, Talbot Campus

To book your place on this workshop, please email staffdevelopment@bournemouth.ac.uk

Erasmus Mundus call out!

This is a reminder that the Erasmus Mundus 2013 call for proposals has been released!  Full details of the call can be found here and this year’s call is for Action 2 and 3 proposals only. The British Council plans to hold an Erasmus Mundus Information Day on 8 February 2012 in order to support institutions who are currently participating in Erasmus Mundus projects and those who are interested in submitting proposals under the current call. Further details of how to register for this event will be circulated in the near future.

PGR Development Scheme – Round 2 Applications for Funding now open

PG research

The Graduate School is pleased to announce that applications are now invited for Round 2 of the competition.

PGRs eligible to apply must submit an application form (below) to the Graduate School by 28 February 2013.

The funding is available for activities taking place between March 2013 and July 2013 (and exceptionally up to and including September 2013).

PGRs awarded funding under Round 1 will not be eligible to apply for further funding in Round 2.

The PGR Development Scheme is open to BU postgraduate researchers (PGRs) irrespective of the mode of study (full-time/part-time) or funding status (BU studentships/externally funded/self-funded).

Individual awards will provide financial support of normally up to £2,000 (and exceptionally £5,000) for research activities related to an individual PGR’s research project or personal development.

Examples of research activities covered by the Scheme include:

  • Research Activities
    • Conference attendance
    • Additional fieldwork
    • Other activities required to advance research e.g. visiting major libraries, museums, other research institutions (UK, EU or International)
    • Preparation of specialist material or data
    • In exceptional circumstances, research consumables and equipment (providing it is clear these would not normally be purchased by the School as part of the research degree)
  • Developmental Activities
    • Research development e.g. attending external training events specific to research activity
    • Personal development e.g. attending external personal development training events
  • Networking
    • Organisation of an academic conference at BU with external participants
    • Attendance at external networking events leading to advance of the research
    • Publications or dissemination of research

You should also map the proposed activity onto the relevant sub-domains of the Vitae Researcher Development Framework (RDF):

Knowledge & Intellectual Abilities A1 – Knowledge base A2 – Cognitive abilities A3 – Creativity
Personal Effectiveness B1 – Personal qualities B2 – Self-management B3 – Professional & career development
Research Governance C1 – Professional conduct C2 – Research management C3 – Finance, funding & resources
Engagement, Influence & Impact D1 – Working with others D2 – Communication & dissemination D3 – Engagement & impact

Awards will only cover direct costs including travel, subsistence, training or development costs and all applications will need to include a precise breakdown of costs.  Applications should be supported by the Supervisory Team and the relevant Deputy Dean (Research & Enterprise) of the relevant Academic School.

PGRs wishing to apply must submit a completed GS PGR Development Fund Scheme – Application Form to the Graduate School (graduateschool@bournemouth.ac.uk) by Thursday 28th February 2013.

Applications to the Scheme will be reviewed independently and all decisions on funding will be made by the Graduate School.

For further information please read the GS Researcher Scholarships Scheme – Policy (2)

Fusion Investment Fund Staff Mobility & Networking Strand Funding Available!

The Fusion Investment Fund Staff Mobility & Networking (SMN) Strand has £45k to award from now until April 30th 2013.

The objectives , eligibility criteria and award limits are exactly as that found in the SMN Policy document found on our  Fusion Investment Fund webpages.

Applications must be on this FIF Application Form and emailed to me when completed; as many people experienced problems with the online form, this format is no longer valid.

Applications will be assessed on a rolling basis by the Committee and the fund will close either when the fund expires or on April 30th 2013, whichever occurs first. You are encouraged to discuss your potential application with a member of the Committee to ensure it meets the remit of the scheme.

All vital information including policy documents, FAQs  etc can be found on the SMN webpage.

Erasmus Mundus Funding Available

 The Erasmus Mundus 2013 call for proposals is now open!  Full details of the call can be found here and please note that this year’s call is for Action 2 and 3 proposals only.

The British Council plans to hold an Erasmus Mundus Information Day on 8 February 2012 in order to support institutions who are currently participating in Erasmus Mundus projects and those who are interested in submitting proposals under the current call. Further details of how to register for this event will be circulated in the near future….

Sunday Evening

News from the PVC

The house is quiet, tea has been had, the week’s ironing done and I am sitting at my computer reviewing studentship proposals ahead of next Friday’s panel meeting.  I have never liked Sunday evenings – the prospect of the week ahead, the lost weekend and the sense of time passed.  In fact it is safe to say that until my late teens Sunday evenings were always grim since school was something of a challenge.  These day’s Sunday evenings – and today’s is no exception – are full of work displaced from the week before.  It brings back memories of last minute homework panics!  My mood this evening, however, is also not helped because the studentship applications in front of me are not great.

First up the scheme is under-subscribed with just 28 match-funded proposals against 45 possible studentships, although the fully funded proposals are better 11 against 5.  But the real issue for me is that there are few good ones in the pile despite a lot of external funding.  Some School’s appear to have barely bothered; just one application from the School of Tourism for example and just three from the Media School.  DEC has a total of 16 applications which is more impressive and tops the list, while the Business School has 8, although disappointing that there are none with external match-funding.  Aside from these rather disheartening figures, the quality of the proposals is not what it was last year and there are proposals from some very senior Professors in the pile which are not well written.  There are a few proposals from less experienced staff, who are perhaps learning their trade, but these are not the majority.  It is sad to say that many of those with match funding will need to be returned for revision before they can be funded.

Writing a studentship proposal – any short proposal for that matter – is an art and takes thought and effort.  It is certainly not something that can be dashed off in five minutes on a Sunday evening!  There is nothing in my book more insulting than someone who blatantly takes an internal funding call for granted.  They provide the opportunity to hone ones skills in a safe environment, to perfect ones technique for when it matters externally, to impress your colleagues with your skill!  With the exception of a couple in the full-funded pile, where the quality is better generally, I am singularly unimpressed!  I have posted before about the art of the short application – the Weetabix Tie Breaker – and the skills are those of a good journalist who is able to hook the reader in via the first few lines and draw them in to the case.  The art of persuasive writing is in fact an art.  The hook must be followed by a compelling case with a clear rationale and a statement of method that demonstrates that the project is tractable, but above all else the case needs to demonstrate that the project will provide fantastic doctoral training and a launch pad for a student’s career.  Proposals that start with a statement of clumsy aims, with no hook or context, or simply try to bombard the reader with facts to bludgeon them into thinking that this must be important don’t meet the mark.  Proposals that fail to provide the context or make clear how the proposed research will impact on the stated problem also miss the point.  There are one or two good examples of the art of the hook; a couple for example start with some well-posed and provocative questions, but don’t follow through to link the questions to the research that follows and in one case the impact is lost through the use of some appalling syntax.  Others proposals have a mix of listed methods and techniques but no real central hypothesis or question, while in complete contrast some run out of space for any method!  While I am on a roll I will also tackle the problem of the words ‘novel’ and  ‘innovative’ nice adjectives but without any justification for why something is innovative or novel they are completely hollow!  In fact unsupported statements like that are red rag to this bull.  My final point is that other proposals seem unable to look beyond the needs of the match-funder to provide a wider context for the work leaving a depressing prospect for any doctoral student.

A proposal needs to be compelling – hook the reader in the first couple of lines, be clear about what the research will deliver, how it is original and will address the stated problem, why it is societally important, why it is timely and must be done now, how it will be done and what the student will gain by doing the research.  This is all easy to say, but hard to do.  There is more development work to be done here not just in helping individuals develop the skills to seek match-funding, which might help explain the low numbers of proposals, but also to sharpen the skills of the proposal writer.  I have been talking to Staff Development recently about such a programme aimed specifically helping staff to seek match-funding and then to ensuring that it is not wasted.  A bit late for the current round but for next year we will start a programme of support from April onwards.

It is time now to call it a day – warm milk, a book and my bed are calling.  Not a great Sunday evening but what’s new.