/ Full archive

European Energy Research Alliance seeks additional partners

In spring 2012, fifteen other organisations will be selected as partners for a two-year term. The Alliance is now made up of ten energy research organisations, which got together in October 2008 to develop joint research programmes. EERA partners must pay an annual fee worth €10,000. Only one organisation can join per EU member state. The call for expressions of interest closes on 1 February 2012.

Study reveals risks from carp parasite

A joint Bournemouth University(BU) & Environment Agency (EA) study, published in the Public Library of Science journal ‘PLoS One’, has revealed how infections of the tapeworm Bothriocephalus acheilognathi affect juvenile carp Cyprinus carpio in fisheries in England andWales.

CarpDr Chris Williams from the EA said: “This work provides important evidence about how alien parasites can cause harm to our fish populations. It gives us a better understanding of the risks these parasites pose to fish, the environment and our fisheries.”

The study showed the parasite comprised up to 12 % of an infected carp’s body weight. The tapeworm was always found in the intestine, causing considerable damage. Infected fish were found to be lower in weight, growing more slowly and feeding on less nutritive foods.

Dr Robert Britton, who led the study from BU’s ecology department, said: “It was highly apparent that infected carp suffered multiple pathological and ecological consequences, suggesting fisheries infected with Bothriocephalus will be damaged.”

The fact that carp fisheries and the recreational value of carp fishing are worth millions of pounds to the UK economy means it is vital to prevent infection. Fortunately, the Asian tapeworm is currently subject to strict regulation inEnglandandWalesby the Environment Agency.

Dr Williams continued: “We will use this knowledge to advise our regulation of fish movements and the advice we provide to fishery managers to minimise the spread and impact of these parasites.”

Fusion event 14 December – Launch of the BU Research Themes

On the afternoon of the 14 December 2011 we will be launching the Fusion Seminar series with an event focused around launching the eight BU Research Themes.  It would be great if you could hold this date within your calendars and register for the event.

January through to March the monthly Fusion Seminar series will focus on sharing research, education and professional practice within BU and will culminate in April in a one-day Fusion conference involving both staff and students when the key research themes will be centre stage.  Dates for these events are:

  • 18 January (1.5 hours)
  • 22 February (1.5 hours)
  • 21 March (1.5 hours)
  • 18 April (whole day)

The event on the 14 December is the first in this programme and will focus on Fusion within the eight BU Research Themes.  Following consultation these themes are now fixed as: (1) Health, Wellbeing & Aging; (2) Culture & Society; (3) Creative & Digital Economies; (4) Entrepreneurship & Economic Growth; (5) Environmental Change & Biodiversity; (6) Green Economy & Sustainability; (7) Leisure & Recreation; and (8) Technology & Design.  The event will combine time for cross-BU networking within these themes, with some short keynote talks by theme champions focusing on defining the challenges in education, research & practice within each theme.  We are still looking for one or more champions per theme to step forward and help shape the theme and also the event on the 14 December.  Please get in touch with either myself or Julie Northam.  Once we have all the speakers in place we will be back in touch with a full programme.

You can register for the event and sign-up for the themes most relevant to you using the form below.  It is important to register for the themes that interest you so that we can schedule the parallel sessions accordingly to avoid clashes!

Best wishes

Matthew

    Your Name (required)

    Your Email (required)

    Your School / Professional Service (required)

    Staff or PGR student? (required)

    StaffPGR

    Please select the themes that you are interested in (required)

    REF week on the Blog! Introduction to the Research Excellence Framework

    Research assessment

    Next week is REF Week on the Blog! Each day we will be explaining a different element of the Research Excellence Framework (REF) as a quick reference guide to help you prepare for the forthcoming REF exercise – REF2014.

    What is the REF? – The Research Excellence Framework (REF) has replaced the Research Assessment Exercise (RAE) as the new process for assessing the volume and quality of research in UK HEIs. As with the RAE, the results of the REF will determine the annual quality-related research (QR) grant distributed from HEFCE to HEIs in England.

    The REF will assess research excellence through a process of expert review, informed by indicators where appropriate. It will be based on HEIs submitting evidence of their research activity and outcomes, to be assessed by expert panels.

    The REF will focus on assessing three elements, which together reflect the key characteristics of research excellence (weightings for REF2014 in brackets):

    • The quality of research outputs (65%)
    • The reach and significance of the impact of research (20%)
    • The vitality of the research environment (15%)

    Each of these elements will be assessed against appropriate criteria for excellence, and rated by expert panels on a five-point scale ranging from 4* (excellent, world-leading) to Unclassified.

    The REF assessment period started on 1st January 2008 and the first REF submission will take place in Autumn 2013, with the results published in December 2014.

    You can access the latest presentation about the REF, written by the REF team, here: REF slide pack Sep 2011

    Check out the posts appearing on the Blog every day next week as part of REF Week!

    Open Access publishing event is a success!

    Guidance, Publishing

    Despite a near accident with a jug of milk, 30 cups and a projector screen twenty minutes before the start of the event, Wednesday’s open access (OA) publishing seminar was a huge success! Roughly 30 BU academics, researchers and PGR students attended the event which was aimed at increasing awareness, dispelling some of the myths, and demonstrating the benefits of open access publishing. There was also an opportunity for attendees to find out about the recently launched BU Open Access Publication Fund.

    The event opened with a fantastic presentation by Dr Alma Swan (Key Perspectives Ltd) who spoke passionately about the benefits of open access publishing and archiving, showing clear demonstrations of how making your research available in open access outlets (and in BURO) dramatically increases the number of citations and leads to more people downloading the research papers. Of particular interest were her stats on who actually downloads open access papers published via the PubMed outlet: other academics and university students only account for 25% of downloads, and by far the biggest consumer of open access literature are ‘citizens’ (i.e. independent researchers, patients and their families, teachers, amateur or part-time researchers, other interested minds), who account for 40% of the research papers downloaded from PubMed. These are almost always people who would not normally have access to research published in traditional print journals.

    The second speaker was Willow Fuchs from the Centre for Research Communications (CRC) at the University of Nottingham. Willow gave an excellent presentation on the Sherpa Services that were developed and maintained by the CRC. These include RoMEO, Juliet and OpenDOAR. Authors can look up journals using the RoMEO database to check whether archiving in repositories is permitted (such as BURO) and, if so, what version of the paper can be made available. Authors can also easily check the publisher’s policies and see whether the journal offers a hybrid publishing option (i.e. the paper will still be published in the traditional print journal but will also be made freely available via the internet). It currently covers over 1,000 publishers and is an excellent source of information. Willow also mentioned the Juliet database which lists funder open access requirements, and the OpenDOAR  database which is a searchable directory of open access repositories, such as BURO. All three of the Sherpa Service resources are freely accessible via the links in the text above.

    The event then focused on BU’s experience of open access publishing with presentations from Prof Edwin van Teijlingen and Prof Peter Thomas. Prof Edwin van Teijlingen (HSC) talked of the benefits of making his research findings freely available in terms of free access to the information, the quick turnaround times, and the high quality of the open access publications available in his field. Prof Peter Thomas primarily focused on the quick publication times which are particularly beneficial for the publication of the study protocols for the randomised control trials he has been involved with (his experience is that there is usually only 2-5 months between submitting the paper and its publication). He also displayed the access statistics from BioMed Central showing how many downloads there had been each month of his paper (between 18-77 downloads per month).

    Prof Matthew Bennett closed the event by emphasising that the consumers of research not just academics; as BU moves to society-led research then the need to communicate research findings with non-academics will become even more important. He gave an overview of the recently launched BU Open Access Publication Fund, explaining how BU academics can access central funds to publish their papers in open access outlets (including traditional print journals with a hybrid option to make the paper freely available on the internet in addition to the print journal). Two BU academics have already benefited from the central fund and published their research in open access outlets – Prof Colin Pritchard (HSC) who published in the Journal of the Royal Society of Medicine, and Dr Julie Kirkby (DEC) who will shortly have a paper published by Plos ONE.

    All in all this was an excellent event and a fabulous launch for the new open access fund! Expect to read more on open access publishing on the Blog over the coming months!

    You can access the slides from the event from this I-drive folder: I:\CRKT\Public\RDU\Open access\event 261011

    Bibliometrics need not be baffling!

    What are bibliometrics?

    Bibliometrics are a set of methods used to study or measure text and information. Citation analysis and content analysis are the most commonly used bibliometric methods. Bibliometric methods can help you explore the academic impact of a field, a set of researchers or a particular journal paper.

    What is citation analysis?

    Citation analysis looks at where a document has been referenced by others since it was originally published – this information can be used when searching for materials and in analysing their merit. Undertaking citation analysis on yourself is useful for assessing your own research performance. Specialist databases such as Web of Science and Scopus provide various tools for doing this analysis.

    Searching for citation information on the Web of ScienceSM

    Web of ScienceSM is hosted by Thomson Reuters and consists of various databases containing information gathered from thousands of scholarly journals, books, book series, reports, conference proceedings, and more:

    • Science Citation Index Expanded (SCI-Expanded)
    • Social Sciences Citation Index (SSCI)
    • Arts & Humanities Citation Index (A&HCI)
    • Index Chemicus (IC)
    • Current Chemical Reactions (CCR-Expanded)
    • Book Citations Index – coming soon!

    These databases enable you to perform a variety of tasks, such as search published literature, undertake citation analysis, track new research within a particular field, and identify chemical compounds and reactions. Data is available from around 1990, and even earlier in some cases.

    By producing a Web of ScienceSM Citation Report for yourself (or for others), you can find out who is citing your work and how it is being used in other people’s publications so that you can get a feel for the overall citation activity around your outputs. Search for an author’s name and then click on ‘Create Citation Report’ from the results page.

    Producing this report will give you information such as the number of items published in each year, the number of citations to those items for each year, the average number of citations per item, and your h-index based on this information. Click here for web tutorials on how to use the Web of ScienceSM.

    Searching for citation information on Scopus

    Scopus, part of Elsevier’s SciVerse facility, was launched in November 2004 and is an abstract and citation database containing around 19,500 titles from more than 5,000 publishers. Scopus enables researchers to track, analyse and visualise research, and has broad coverage of the scientific, technical, medical and social sciences fields and, more recently, the arts and humanities. Data is currently largely available from 1996 but it does go back further than this in some cases. For more information about Scopus, click here.

    By searching for yourself (or others) on the Scopus database using the author search facility, you can use the ‘View Citation Overview’ function to get a feel for the citations activity around your outputs. The information is presented and can be analysed in a number of ways, including pie charts, graphs and tables, and shows the breakdown of citation activity over a number of years and your h-index based on this data. Various tutorials on using Scopus can be accessed here.

    Scopus and the Research Excellence Framework (REF): HEFCE has announced that Elsevier have been chosen as the provider of citation data services to the REF sub-panels that have chosen to make use of citation information as part of the assessment process. Using the Scopus database, HEFCE will provide the relevant sub-panels with raw citation data (i.e. not normalised) accompanied by contextual information, which will assist those panel members in making decisions about the outputs part of the REF submissions.

    What is the h-index?

    The h-index was conceived by Professor Jorge Hirsch in 2005 within the field of physics and is fast becoming one of the most widely used metrics for research evaluation. It is also becoming increasingly used as a measure of research activity and academic prominence across various subject areas.

    The benefit of the h-index over other citation measures is that it is not influenced by a few highly cited papers and it ignores any papers that remain uncited. It is calculated based on the number of papers by a particular author that receive h or more citations. Therefore, an h-index of 15 means that a person has at least 15 papers that have been cited 15 times or more. Fortunately, the Web of Science and Scopus both automatically calculate the h-index as part of their citation analysis functions so there is no need to work it out manually.

    If you’d like to know more about the h-index, the original research document can be accessed from the Cornell University Library webpage.

    What are journal impact factors?

    Journal Impact Factors are published annually on the Web of Knowledge and provide a way of ranking journals based on the citation performance of articles published by those journals from the previous two years. For more information about how impact factors are calculated and how they can be used, see my previous blog post.

    Other methods of ranking journals also exist, such as the ABS Academic Journal Quality Guide and the ERA journal ranking list. Journal rankings can be useful when choosing which journal to publish in, for example.

    A glimpse of Horizon 2020….

    It has been announced that Horizon 2020 will include three components for basic research, industrial technology, and ‘grand challenges’

    • ‘Excellence in the science base’ will fund basic research.
    • ‘Creating industrial leadership and competitive frameworks’ will fund business research and innovation, in particular for small enterprises.
    •  ‘Tackling societal challenges’ will fund research that responds to grand challenges such as food security and climate change.

    Horizon 2020 will increase funding for innovation through funding schemes for ‘prototyping, dissemination, demonstration, pilots, testing, user involvement, market replication, and public procurement’ and will use a single, standardised set of rules across all funding instruments to simplify procedures. In addition, it will expand the Open Access Pilot that promotes the free dissemination of EU-funded scientific publications, which now covers about 20 per cent of the Framework 7 budget.

    Exploring research impact

    Why do I need to think about the impact of my research?

    Given the current economic situation, tighter spending reviews and increasing constraints on public spending, there is more of a need than ever to demonstrate the economic, social and cultural benefits of publicly funded research to wider society. This broad definition of research impact is gradually being adopted and used in a number of ways by various funding bodies that need to be accountable for the money they distribute, such as the Research Councils UK (RCUK), the Higher Education Funding Council for England (HEFCE) and some charities and trusts.

    Consequently, there is now greater impetus to involve researchers more directly in demonstrating the impact of their research. Researchers therefore need to actively think about how to demonstrate the value of their research and its wider impact, from the application stage through to project completion, dissemination and beyond.

    This impact pathway is a fluid process and research impacts can occur at any stage in the research life cycle – often they can stem from unexpected or unintended outcomes as well as from planned activity. The key is to start thinking about potential beneficiaries and pathways to impact during the project planning stage and to continue to monitor the outcomes in an ongoing way. This will help you to make new connections and partnerships beyond the project itself, and to put in place resources and activities that enable you to make the most of opportunities for achieving impact when they arise. Keeping a record of activity related to a project, and gathering evidence to support impacts and outcomes achieved, is recommended to enable you to effectively fulfil any current and future reporting requirements.

    What are funders looking for in terms of impact?

    Many funding bodies, particularly larger ones such as RCUK, have a section on their funding application form that specifically asks you to consider the potential pathways to impact as appropriate for the nature of the research you’re proposing to conduct. This is to enable funders to support you in undertaking these activities – you’re not being asked to predict the actual outcomes that the research will achieve.

    Each funder understands that there is great diversity in the kinds of impact that are possible; they also acknowledge that this diversity is a great strength of the research community in addressing such things as urgent social issues, remaining competitive in global markets and improving quality of life. It is about embracing the ways in which research-related knowledge and skills benefit individuals, organisations and nations.
    In thinking about potential impacts, you might find it useful to consider the potential beneficiaries of the research – innovative and creative approaches to engaging beneficiaries and fostering impact are generally strongly encouraged by the funders. For more specific information about completing the impact sections on the RCUK application forms and for an indication of the potential range of impacts that can be generated from research, visit the RCUK impact web-pages.

    Furthermore, the RCUK has just launched the Research Outcomes Project, which requires all RCUK grant holders to upload information about the various outcomes that have resulted from each of the RCUK-funded projects they are responsible for, and one of those categories is impact.

    What is HEFCE looking for in terms of research impact for the Research Excellence Framework (REF)?

    As part of submitting to the REF, HEFCE requires higher education institutions to provide evidence of research impact that has been realised within the assessment period but which stems from research undertaken at that institution within a number of years prior to the assessment period. Therefore, rather than looking forward to the kinds of impact that might stem from a research project, HEFCE is asking for information about impacts that are being, or have already been, achieved within a set timeframe. More information about how HEFCE is approaching impact in the REF is available from the HEFCE REF web-pages.

    European Science Foundation grants to help you network!

    The European Science Foundation has invited proposals for short visit, exchange and scientific meetings grants under its research networking programmes. Topics include evolution of social cognition across a wide range of human and non-human animal species and child cohort studies, precision polymer materials, interactions of low-dimensional topology and geometry with mathematical physics and others.

    The deadlines for these grants are: 15 February, 15 June and 15 October.

    Introducing the BU Fusion Seminars

    Starting later this term, the new BU Fusion Seminars aim to develop understanding within BU around the concept of Fusion, launched as part of the Vision & Values. The seminars, sponsored and led by UET, will be held monthly and aim to demonstrate examples of Fusion by highlighting instances of good practice at BU where education, research and professional practice have been successfully combined.

    The series will be launched on 14 December with a cross-BU conference focusing on Fusion and Society.

    The series will culminate on 18 April with a cross-BU conference focusing on Fusion in Action; this will replace the Education Enhancement Conference.

    In between there will be short monthly networking events, each focusing on specific examples of Fusion.

    Speakers will be nominated and invited by the University R&E Forum and the Education Enhancement Committees.

    All seminars will take place in Kimmeridge House in the afternoon. Dates are listed below:

    • 14 December (half day)
    • 18 January (1.5 hours)
    • 22 February (1.5 hours)
    • 21 March (1.5 hours)
    • 18 April (whole day)

    Booking for the seminars will open soon and furthr information will be available via the Blog shortly.

    Mass graves in Libya

    Bournemouth University’s Senior Lecturer in Forensic Archaeology, Ian Hanson, has featured in a New Scientist article about mass graves in Libya.

    New Scientist journalist Andy Coghlan visited BU's mass graves simulation exercise in July

    An estimated 5000 people went missing during Gaddafi’s dictatorship and, following his death last week, the country’s transitional government is preparing to exhume and identify bodies in mass graves.

    Speaking to New Scientist journalist Andy Coghlan, Ian said: “Each site should be treated as if it’s a crime scene, and you must presume there might be criminal investigations in the future.” 

    Ian has advised on protocol and procedures for mass graves excavations following the Balkan and Iraq conflicts.

    Since April 2009 he has spent a great deal of time in Iraq, developing further programmes that introduce new trainees to investigations, the law and science involved in recovering evidence from the many mass graves that remain in the country, and to establish competency and protocol for global scientific and legal standards.

    Read the New Scientist article for more information.

    PhD researchers in the Dragon’s Den

    A message from Clare Dean (thanks, Clare!), one of our postgraduate researchers, about a recent workshop that she attended along with some of her colleagues, with a focus on developing science-related business skills.

    “Post graduate researchers from the School of Applied Sciences recently attended an ‘Environment YES!’ workshop in Oxfordshire. Environment YES! and Biotechnology YES! are NERC and BBSRC funded initiatives to teach early career scientists how to transfer research and innovation into viable business ventures. Attendees at these workshops listen to presentations from professionals who have made the leap from science into business, learning about everything from marketing to financial planning. See: http://www.nerc.ac.uk/using/schemes/yes/

    Over the course of the workshop, teams from each attending university developed a business plan for a hypothetical product which had to be based on plausible science. At the end of the workshop each team was given the opportunity to present their business plan to board of mock venture capitalists, in a ‘Dragon’s Den’ style pitch. Based on these pitches, two teams were chosen to compete in a final to select the best business plan. Bournemouth University team created Ωmega Worms Ltd. a company who has developed a novel rearing technique for mealworms which induce them to synthesise omega 3. The business plan was to sell these mealworms as an omega 3 supplement to manufacturers of aquaculture feed, reducing the manufacturer’s reliance on oily fish as a feed ingredient, and thus their connection with unstable wild fish stocks.

    The five members of the Bournemouth University team were Justine Cordingley, Clare Dean, Sui Chian Phang, Natalia Tejador and Kathryn Ross. All team members felt that Environment YES! was an extremely valuable learning experience.

     “With so much national focus on business and the economy it was a really useful exercise in thinking about how our research can be both profitable and solve environmental problems.”  – Justine Cordingley

     “This was an excellent experience which allowed us to strengthen a range of skills such as team work, time management, communication and presentation skills. Also it gave us the chance to learn about setting up a company and patenting products. It was enlightening!”  – Natalia Tejedor

    Environment YES! And Biotechnology YES! run every year and are open to PhD and post doc researchers working in biological sciences. This year’s Bournemouth team would thoroughly recommend that members of the Applied Science community get involved in future workshops”.

    Brewery Investing in its Future

    Hall and Woodhouse brewery, famous for its ‘Badger’ award winning beers, has agreed to a second cohort of students to complete the ‘Business and Hospitality Management’ accredited Higher Education course at Bournemouth University. This development arose from engagement between business development staff in the School of Tourism and the HR team at the company.

    Company Managers recognised that investing in its people was critical to beat the recession and ensure that the business is well managed and providing the best experience for its customer base. However, they could not find the right level of education, training and support to upskill its existing workforce and were looking for options tailored to their distinct needs.

    In order to develop a bespoke Higher Education degree programme for the company, the Hall and Woodhouse HR team, working in conjunction with Keith Hayman (Head of CPD for the School), has invested significant commitment and resources. Keith has used his vast experience to identify skill gaps within the company and has created a bespoke course for its employees. The course is delivered at times that suit the management level students and includes elements of Marketing, HR and Financial Reporting to ensure effective management; and a motivated workforce throughout the chain.

    In addition to the new cohort commencing next month, the first cohort progresses to Foundation Degree in March 2012. Once completed, recipients will receive a BA (Hons) degree.

    BU Researcher Development Programme – November 2011

    PG research

    Sessions for the BU Researcher Development Programme in  November 2011 are as follows:

    Statistics Surgery: Individual statistics advice with Dr John Beavis

      • Date: Every Wednesday
      • Time: max 45 minutes consultation –10:00-16:00
      • Room: tbc
      • Prior booking essential through Staff Development

    Managing your Thesis workshop (Part 1 & 2) Using MS Office 2007 to manage your thesis and other documents facilitated by Su Kensley

      • Date: Wednesday 2 November and Wednesday 9 November
      • Time: 10:00-13:00
      • Room: MG08
      • Prior booking essential (max 12 places) by emailing itskills@bournemouth.ac.uk

    Literature Reviews Undertaking your literature review with Professor Adele Ladkin

      • Date: Wednesday 16 November
      • Time: 10:30-11:30
      • Room: PG22
      • No booking needed

    BU Research Strategy & REF Overview of research at BU and its wider context, introducing the REF with Professor Matthew Bennett

      • Date: Wednesday 16 November
      • Time: 13:00-14:30
      • Room: PG22
      • No booking needed

    Introduction to Qualitative Research The main aspects of qualitative research with Professor Kate Galvin

      • Date: Wednesday 23 November
      • Time: 10:30-12:30
      • Room: PG22
      • No booking needed

    Introduction to Quantitative Research The main aspects of quantitative research with Professor Adrian Newton

      • Date: Wednesday 23 November
      • Time: 13:30-15:00
      • Room: PG22
      • No booking needed

    Managing your Thesis workshop (Part 1 & 2) Using MS Office 2010 to manage your thesis and other documents facilitated by Su Kensley

      • Date: Wednesday 23 November and Wednesday 30 November
      • Time: 10:00-13:00
      • Room: S103
      • Prior booking essential (max 20 places) by emailing itskills@bournemouth.ac.uk

    These sessions are primarily aimed at new PGRs however all PGRs and ECRs are welcome.  Prior booking is essetial on some sessions where places are limited.

    If you have any questions about the sessions, please contact Dr Fiona Knight or Susan Dowdle.

     

    Bournemouth University research into prosopagnosia (face blindness)

    Prosopagnosia – or ‘face blindness’ – is a little known condition affecting 1 in 50 people. As Bournemouth University psychology lecturer Dr Sarah Bate explains, it is ‘literally a loss of memory for faces’.

    Speaking to BBC Inside Out’s Jon Cuthill, Dr Bate said: “Prosopagnosia sufferers know what a face is. They know the basic configuration of a face, but they absolutely fail to indentify individuals, no matter how close those people are to them.”

    Dr Bate and her team at Bournemouth University have developed a brand new test to identify how good people are at face recognition. It works by processing patterns in eye movement whilst looking at a face.

    The findings show that in control trials, participants scan the face in a triangular pattern, looking at the eyes, nose and mouth. In contrast, prosopagnosia sufferers compensate for their lack of recognition by looking at external features of the face, such as the ears and hair.

    You can find out more about BournemouthUniversity’s research into the condition by watching Dr Bate’s recent interview on BBC Inside Out. The feature is 11 minutes in.

    http://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/b0160zzv/Inside_Out_South_17_10_2011/

    You can test yourself for prosopagnosia at Sarah’s website: www.prosopagnosiaresearch.org.

     

    Have you been involved with an event designed for the external community?

    Guidance, Research assessment

    Then we want to hear from you! 🙂

    The University is currently compiling the data for the annual Higher Education – Business & Community Interaction survey (HE-BCI) due to be submitted to HESA in December.

    We are asked to submit details of social, cultural and community events designed for the external community (to include both free and chargeable events) which took place between 1 August 2010 and 31 July 2011.

    Event types that should be returned include:

    • public lectures
    • performance arts (dance, drama, music, etc)
    • exhibitions
    • museum education
    • events for schools and community groups
    • business breakfasts

    We cannot return events such as open days, Student Union activity, commercial conferences, etc.

    If you have been involved with an event which could be returned, please could you let your contact (see below) know the event name and date, whether it was free or chargeable, and the estimated number of attendees:

    • if you are in a School – your Director of Operations or Deputy Dean (R&E) / equivalent
    • if you are in a Professional Service – please contact Julie Northam in the Research Development Unit

    The data returned is used by HEFCE to allocate the HEIF funding so it is important that we return as accurate a picture as possible.

    BU Researcher Development Framework

    PG research

    BU has adopted the VITAE Researcher Development Framework to help you identify your strengths and prioritise for personal and career development, inform discussions with the supervisory teams and consider what skills and experiences will enhance career prospects and how to articulate capabilities to future employers.

     By monitoring and recording your development activities within the RDF, you will be able to:

    • aid self-reflection and set aspirational goals
    • choose the most appropriate formal and informal development
    • assess opportunities provided by BU and look for development opportunities externally
    • prepare for one-to-one progress reviews, appraisals and career
    • prepare for development conversations with Supervisory Team
    • consider how skills and experiences will enhance career prospects
    • highlight, articulate and evidence the transferability of their skills in their CV, in job applications and at interviews.

    As a Postgraduate Researcher at BU, you are required to engage in a personal programme of researcher development throughout the duration of your enrolment. This is not formally credit bearing, however you are required to compile evidence of specific training and development courses undertaken, as well as evidence of personal development through independent activities undertaken as part of your research.  The process is as follows:

    1. Discussion of individual training needs with supervisory team at initial supervisory meetings to prioritise development activities throughout the course of the research.
    2. Identify most appropriate mechanism for developing identified training needs
    3. Record development on overview sheet and complete record sheet for each development activity
       – outline the activity, the skills gained from the activity and how the skills can be applied
      –  Supervisors to be sign off
    4. Review individual training and development needs as part of the Annual Monitoring Process
    5. Develop and maintain portfolio of research activities

    Many generic research methodology and skills development sessions are offered centrally by the GraduateSchool and RDU and details will be communicated via the Research Blog.

     Specific and in depth methodological training should be offered by the Academic Schools or identified externally.  Other independent development activities may include:

    • Attendance at externally organised Researcher Development activities (e.g. Vitae events)
    • Participation in specific training related to individual research projects
    • Participation in internal Seminars and Conferences
    • Participation at external Seminars and Conferences
    • Publication of papers
    • Wider research activities – organisation of seminars, conferences, etc
    • Public engagement & outreach activities

    Need to publish a paper quickly for the REF?

    open access logo, Public Library of ScienceThen come to our free Open Access event this Wednesday in the EBC!

    Publishing via an open access route often results in much faster publication times, meaning your research is out in the public domain much more quickly than traditional subscription journal routes.

    BU fully supports open access publishing and has recently launched a central Open Access Publication Fund to enable academic staff to access funds to easily publish via open access outlets.

    We’re holding an open access publishing event this Wednesday between 10am-12:30pm in the EBC (7th floor).

    You can access the programme here: BU Open Access event programme

    It is free for BU staff and students to attend. Refreshments and lunch will be provided.

    To reserve a place at the event please contact Anita Somner by email.

    We look forward to seeing you there! 😀