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Discovering Causal Relations and Equations from Data

BRIAN, Fusion themes, open access, REF Subjects, staff profile pages

Discovering equations, laws, or invariant principles underpins scientific and technical advancement. Robust model discovery has typically emerged from observing the world and, when possible, performing interventions to falsify models.

Recently, data-driven approaches like classic and deep machine learning are evolving traditional equation discovery methods. These new tools can provide unprecedented advances in computer science, neuroscience, physics, philosophy, and many applied areas.

We have just published a new study discussing concepts and methods on causal and equation discovery, outlining current challenges and promising future lines of research. The work also showcases comprehensive case studies in diverse scientific areas ranging from earth and environmental science to neuroscience.

Our tenet is that discovering fundamental laws and causal relations by observing natural phenomena is revolutionised with the coalescence of observational data and simulations, modern machine learning algorithms and domain knowledge. Exciting times are ahead with many challenges and opportunities to improve our understanding of complex systems.

This study is a collaborative work between eight universities in Europe and the United States (Valencia, Berlin, Tübingen, Jena, Stockholm, New York, and Bournemouth Universities).

Camps-Valls, G., Gerhardus, A., Ninad, U., Varando, G., Martius, G., Balaguer-Ballester, E., Vinuesa, R., Diaz, E., Zanna, L. and Runge, J., 2023. Discovering causal relations and equations from data. Physics Reports, 1044, 1-68 (Impact Factor=30).

 

NEW RESEARCH PAPER PUBLISHED Fan, X. F.; Buhalis, D., Fragkaki, E., Tsai, YR, 2024, Achieving Senior Tourists’ Active Aging through Value Co–creation: A Customer-Dominant Logic Perspective, Journal of Travel Research. https://doi.org/10.1177/00472875231214733

New Research published on Helping people live better, for longer

Fan, X. F.; Buhalis, D., Fragkaki, E., Tsai, YR, 2024,
Achieving Senior Tourists’ Active Aging through Value Co–creation: A Customer-Dominant Logic Perspective,
Journal of Travel Research. https://doi.org/10.1177/00472875231214733

Senior tourists have their own travel behaviors and preferences and require specific resources from the tourism industry and the broader society. This study adopts customer-dominant logic to understand how participating in tourism activities can support seniors in co-creating values toward active aging. Interviews were conducted with 31 senior tourists and 16 tourism and hospitality service providers. Six value themes were identified from the interviews, namely, enjoyment, connectedness, mental vitality, independence, sense of belonging, and self-esteem. The six values were categorized into functional, social, and spiritual dimensions. A value co-creation nexus was developed with continuum- and development-oriented active aging as the two extremes. This nexus highlighted the differentiated efforts exerted by co-creators to create value and identified the value co-creation routines of stakeholders, their corresponding values, and their facilitators. Value co-creation activities were introduced into active aging with tourism as the context. The findings of this study can support the management of tourism services, promote inclusiveness in society, and aid in government policy-making.

Paper published on ‘living evidence’

international, open access, Publishing, Training, writing

The Nepal Journal of Epidemiology published today carries an article on so-called ‘living evidence’ as an on-going synthesis approach that provides up-to-date rigorous research evidence [1].  This short research methods paper argues that living evidence is particularly useful in rapidly expanding research domains, uncertain existing evidence, and incorporating new research evidence that may impact policy or practice, ensuring that health worker, managers and health-policy makers have access to the best, i.e. the most recent evidence.

The Nepal Journal of Epidemiology is an Open Access journal, and hence freely available to researchers across the globe.  The paper has been co-authored by researchers from the Denmark, Qatar, Mauritius and the UK.

 

Prof. Edwin van Teijlingen

Centre for Midwifery & Women’s Health (CMWH)

 

Reference:

  1. Sathian B., van Teijlingen E., do Nascimento I.J.B., Khatib M.N., Banerjee I., Simkhada P., Kabir R., Al Hamad H. (2023) Need for evidence synthesis for quality control of healthcare decision-making. Nepal Journal of Epidemiology 13(3):1288-1291.  DOI: 10.3126/nje.v13i3.61004

Horizon Europe News – December 2023

Last Horizon Europe update this year and also the last one we were not associated to the programme. As stated previously, from 1 January 2024 the UK will be fully associated to almost all parts of the HEU programme.

Now to the news. The European Commission has adopted the European Innovation Council (EIC) Work Programme for 2024, an area BU has not been involved before. Perhaps, worth to explore it in 2024? The European Innovation Council, officially launched in March 2021, provides a coherent and connected system of innovation funding that supports projects with market potential. Its schemes, piloted at the end of Horizon 2020, are principally targeted at Small- and Medium-sized Enterprises (SMEs) and industry, but also have opportunities for academic involvement. You can find more information about EIC funding opportunities and upcoming online information days on the UKRO webpage (UKRO login details required).

It has been announced that the ESRC and the AHRC, in their capacity as the UK National Contact Point for the Horizon Europe Cluster 2 (Culture, Creativity and Inclusive Society), are holding an online session to support applicants in writing successful proposals for Cluster 2 calls. The Zoom event will take place on 17 January 2024 (13:00-16:00 UK time). Please note that prior registration is required. More information and registration forms are available here.

On this note, I am finishing and wish you all a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!

Updated information about EIC funding (03/01/2024): the UK entities take part in this pillar, with a small exception of one stream under the EIC – the EIC Fund, which provides equity funding for SMEs. So far, the UK universities have been particularly keen on EIC Pathfinder calls and also use the other mechanism – the EIC Transition.

European Innovation Council online Info Day dedicated to Work Programme 2024 is scheduled for 15 January 2024. There is no need for registrations as the event will be web streamed live – watch the event live following the link. Programme of the event is available here.

For more information you can also refer to the EIC’s frequently asked questions section.

CMWH leads the way with latest evidence on early labour

international, PG research

It has been a busy month for researchers in the Centre for Midwifery and Women’s Health. Academics have been reporting their findings on improving care and support for women in early / latent phase labour.

This has included a specially focused issue in Women and Birth edited by Professors Susanne Grylka-Baeschlin and Vanora Hundley.

The issue starts with an editorial by Grylka-Baeschlin S, Hundley V, Cheyne H et al (2023) Early labour: an under-recognised opportunity for improving the experiences of women, families and maternity professionals Women & Birth https://doi.org/10.1016/j.wombi.2023.09.004 

The issue includes the results of a randomised controlled trial by CMWH member Dr Rebecca Edwards:

Edwards R, Way S and Hundley V (2023) Let’s Talk Early Labour: The L-TEL Randomised Controlled Trial. Women & Birth https://doi.org/10.1016/j.wombi.2023.07.132  

and the results of the BALL trial by midwifery lecturer Dr Dominique Mylod:

Mylod DC, Hundley V, Way S, Clark C (2023) Can a birth ball reduce pain perception for women at low obstetric risk in the latent phase of labour? The Ball Assisted Latent Labour (BALL) randomised controlled trial. Women & Birth https://doi.org/10.1016/j.wombi.2023.11.008 

An additional paper by doctoral student Vanessa Bartholomew has just been published in Sexual & Reproductive Healthcare:

Bartholomew V, Hundley V, Clark C, Parris B (2024) The RETHINK Study: Could pain catastrophisation explain why some women are more likely to attend hospital in early labour. Sexual & Reproductive Healthcare https://doi.org/10.1016/j.srhc.2023.100941

Enhancing Education for Sustainable Development in Higher Education: Notes from a British Council Project UK/Viet Nam Season 2023

“I will not eat for a month.” A student actually submitted the statement during the interactive ideation activity in University of Transport and Communications (UTC) Ho Chi Minh City campus. It might be mistakenly understood, wrongly translated from Vietnamese into English or we might be missing some context details. Still, this was a start to further understand of how Vietnamese students see their personal contribution to bigger and more impactful climate actions from around the world.

The statement was one of the 62 students’ ideas to tackle the impending climate change that were submitted as virtual exhibits during a session on Education for Sustainable Development: Tackling the Climate Crisis, held by UTC and Bournemouth University (BU) in Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh last October. This ultimate event is part of British Council projects called the UK/Viet Nam Season 2023 that celebrate 50 years of UK and Viet Nam diplomatic relations and 30 years of British Council in Viet Nam. BU and UTC collaborated a project named Multimedia resources for climate action in higher education that aims to create a multi-media SDG13 – Climate Action module in English and Vietnamese to support a cross-sectorial community of practice and build institutional capacity for Education for Sustainable Development. The inspiration for this project came from the Climate and Ecological Crisis unit on Brightspace, created by Prof.Fiona Cownie and members of the BU Sustainability Academic Network Steering Group.

Drawing from primary research on both universities, we found key themes for teaching sustainability-related subject in higher education. Provoking critical thinking ability of Higher Education students necessitates interactivity, diversity, multiple senses, and gamification. Through the forum seminar event in UTC Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh campuses, we adopted the PRME’s Impactful Five (i5) learning method which includes Joyful, Socially interactive, Actively engaging, Meaningful, and Iterative.

There were four of 15-minutes activities and an hour game for students in UTC during the event.
First, introductory speech to the project and climate actions Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) by the project lead, Dr Milena Bobeva (BU Senior Principal Academic) and Dr Ngo Van Minh (UTC Deputy Director of International Cooperation and Development Studies). Second, inspiring personal journey takeaways by Dr Tuan Vu (BU Senior Lecturer in Accounting and Finance). Despite its classical format, the students felt it more meaningful as they related well with Tuan who delivered the speech in Vietnamese.

Third, a fast-paced Ignite presentation by Rama Permana (BU PGR in Sustainable Travel). Using eccentric images with few surprises, students found it joyful to follow compared to the usual-boring presentation format. A short competition was held for the third activity. Students were asked about climate actions in a Mentimeter quiz that was guided by Dr Tuan Vu. Whilst this activity requires active engagement from the students, the questions include repetitive climate action and SDGs knowledge that was previously discussed in the event. The iterative cycle on repeated themes was intentionally set for students to easily memorise the information.

Further, guided by Dr Milena Bobeva, the students were required to contribute to climate action ideas on a real-time Padlet. Through this interactive ideation activity, students were asked to post online either their individual or social climate action(s). The final hour activity was more socially interactive. We divided them into groups to solve climate change causal relationships card game in a Climate Fresk taster activity. Starting with a brainstorming session, students were actively engaged in ordering the cards correctly. This session was guided by

 

The student participants were highly satisfied with these activities in the post-event survey, representing the usefulness of those relatively new methods to higher education in Viet Nam. It also implies a successful knowledge exchange between BU and UTC. Our project partners also responded positively, asking for more information on the tools we have been using and confirming that they will try these activities in their own sessions.

We are now finalising a website as our project output, documenting the resources and the events for a wider community of practice interested in climate action for higher education. We do hope that our work on this project is just the beginning for embedding SDGs in Vietnamese Higher Education and that our partner will continue the climate action by raising awareness in other communities in the country.

Author: Rama Permana, Doctoral student at BUBS; Project and research assistant for The Season 2023 project; with small contributions from M.Bobeva

Some great RKEDF training opportunities coming up in January

A colorful cubes with iconsDescription automatically generatedWe’re excited to share some great RKEDF training opportunities coming up in January 2024 

Click on the titles to find details and book your place to the upcoming events.

♦ Online RSA Drop-In meeting   

Wednesday 3rd January, 10:30-11:00 Online 

Meet your RSA reps, hear updates on how BU is implementing the Research Concordat and give feedback or raise concerns that will help to develop and support the research community at BU

♦ Principal Investigation                                                                    

Wednesday 10th January, 12:00-13:00 at Talbot Campus 

This session is aimed at any researcher who is, who plans to be, a Principal Investigator for an externally funded research or knowledge exchange project. 

♦ ECR Network-Surgery 

Wednesday 10th January, 13:00-14:00 Hybrid session

This is an open session for all BU ECRs and PGRs to discuss any issues around career development.

♦ Evidencing Impact 

Wednesday 17th January, 10:00-11:10 Online 

This interactive online session is aimed at researchers at all stages of their careers who wish to learn how to provide evidence for the impact of their research – whether for funders’ reports or future REF impact case studies.

♦ Engaging with the Media for Impact 

Thursday 18th January, 14:00-15:30 Online 

Explore how working with the media can help to raise the profile of your work and research and lead to impact.

♦ RSA Writing Day 

Tuesday 25th January, 09:00-16:00 at Talbot Campus 

This Writing Day aims to provide a dedicated space and time, to help support BU researchers work on their publications by providing some dedicated time and space, away from everyday distractions.

♦ Engaging with Parliament for Impact 

Friday 26th January, 10:00-14:30, Talbot Campus 

This session will include information-sharing alongside practical tasks which are designed to help you take the first steps to engage with policy through Parliament. 

♦ Introducing Knowledge Exchange in Research 

Wednesday 31st January, 13.30-15.00 Talbot Campus 

An introduction to the different activities which come under the umbrella of ‘knowledge exchange’ for research: consultancy and contract research, enterprise, external engagement, CPD and Specialist Facilities.

♦ BA ECRN event – Med Hums 

Wednesday 21st February 2024, 11:00 – 16:00 at Talbot Campus

This event brings together researchers in Medical and Health Humanities at BU from across the faculties of HSS, MMC and SciTech, inviting them to highlight the main challenges of working within this varied and interdisciplinary field.

 

A yellow triangle with a black exclamation markDescription automatically generatedIn November, 23% of colleagues who booked a session did not actually attend. Please, help us to avoid any waste of resources; make sure you can attend or cancel your booking in time. 

 

For any further information, please contact RKEDF@bournemouth.ac.uk

Professor Dimitrios Buhalis has recently published a new service robots research paper based on a global survey in the hospitality industry

BU Challenges

Professor Dimitrios Buhalis has recently published a new service robots research paper based on a global survey in the hospitality industry

Pizam, A., Ozturk, A.B., Hacikara, A., Zhang, T., Balderas-Cejudo, A., Buhalis, D., Fuchs, G., Hara, T., Vieira de Souza Meira, J., García Revilla, R., Sethi, D., Shen, Y. and State, O. (2024),

The role of perceived risk and information security on customers’ acceptance of service robots in the hotel industry, International Journal of Hospitality Management, Vol.117, 103641 https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijhm.2023.103641

Highlights

•Perceived risk negatively and information security positively impacted intention to use service ts.

•Self-efficacy negatively influenced perceived risk, and positively influenced perceived information security.

•Innovativeness and facilitating conditions were positively associated with information security.

 

ABSTRACT This study proposed and tested a theoretical framework that investigated the influences of perceived risk and information security on hotel customers’ intention to use service ts. In addition, the impacts of self-efficacy, innovativeness, and facilitating conditions on perceived risk and information security were examined. Structural equation modeling (SEM) was used to test the proposed model by utilizing data collected from eleven countries including the United States, United Kingdom, Turkey, Spain, Romania, Japan, Israel, India, Greece, Canada, and Brazil. The study results demonstrated that perceived risk had a negative impact on customers’ intention to use services ts while information security had a positive impact. In addition, the study results indicated that self-efficacy negatively influenced perceived risk, and positively influenced perceived information security; and innovativeness and facilitating conditions positively influenced information security. The study findings offer several important contributions to the hospitality tics technology adoption literature and present valuable implications for hospitality practitioners and service vendors.

BU carbon pricing research cited in select committee report on the financial sector and the UK’s net zero transition

Knowledge Exchange

BU research on the impact of carbon pricing has featured in a House of Commons Environmental Audit Committee (EAC) report on the role of the financial sector in helping the UK achieve net zero emissions by 2050.

A cross-faculty team comprising Dr Alan Kirkpatrick and Dr Tahani Mohamed of the Business School and Dr Festus Adedoyin of the Faculty of Science and Technology submitted written evidence which has been published as part of the report, titled The financial sector and the UK’s net zero transition. 

Their evidence included recommendations considering the economic welfare implications of carbon emissions pricing at a national and international level, and the need for carbon border adjustment mechanisms (CBAMs) that has informed the EAC’s deliberations and subsequent recommendations to the Government.

Carbon pricing systems include carbon taxes and emissions trading systems (ETSs) in which carbon credits may be bought and sold thereby creating a ‘carbon market’ which, theoretically, could help achieve a global price for carbon.

In practice, however, carbon emissions pricing systems may encourage ‘carbon leakage’ – where businesses in countries that have more stringent carbon pricing rules try to save costs by moving production activities to countries with less demanding carbon pricing rules and hence lower costs.

CBAMs are designed to reduce carbon leakage by applying charges to take account of variations in carbon prices ruling in different jurisdictions.

The BU research team discussed the risk that CBAMs might be seen as ‘climate clubs’, reducing the competitiveness of carbon-intensive emerging economies but concluded that CBAMs are necessary to minimise carbon leakage when carbon emissions pricing systems such as the UK’s Emissions Trading Scheme are implemented.

In its report the EAC has recommended that the UK Government should develop a UK CBAM. The BU research team is continuing to analyse the impact of carbon emissions pricing on wider public wellbeing in the UK.

Read the full report – The financial sector and the UK’s net zero transition     

BA ECRN event: ECRs in the Arts, Culture and Creative Economies

Early Career Researcher Network

This ECR-focused event brings together researchers across disciplines within the Arts, Culture and Creative Economies.

It will feature keynote talks from three inspiring speakers in these fields, a panel discussion, and facilitated networking conversations.

The three speakers are: Dr Verity McIntosh (Virtual and Extended realities); Dr Tarek Virani (urban and urban dynamics as they pertain to culture and the creative and cultural industries); and Ms Sharon Clark (Professional and Creative Writing).

 

Wednesday 28 Feb 2024, 10:00 AM – 3:00 PM 

Design West, 16 Narrow Quay, Bristol, BS1 4QA

 

You can book your place via EventBrite,   here.

Please note this is an inperson event for ECRs from the South West Hub only.

If you need more information about this event please contact the event organiser.