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Come along to the BU-research based short-film ‘Rufus Stone’ screening & lunch on Tuesday

Pictured: Tom Kane, who plays 'Flip', Rufus' young friend, and Harry Kershaw as 'Rufus'.

Rufus Stone: a film about love, sexual awakening and treachery (30 minutes).
The Making of Rufus Stone: (7 minutes).
Tuesday 28 February
12:00 noon: Complimentary lunch
12:45- 13:45: Screening of films
Weymouth House 240 & 241
Talbot Campus, Bournemouth University 

A screening of the short film Rufus Stone is open to BU students, staff, the public and takes place on Tuesday 28 February at 12:45 in our Hollywood-style Screening Room on BU’s Talbot Campus. Complimentary lunch will be available beforehand from 12 noon. You must register to attend at: diversity@bournemouth.ac.uk

Rufus Stone stars William Gaunt, familiar to many from his appearances in the TV sitcom, No Place Like Home and Elle Magazine’s ‘Star in the Making’ Harry Kershaw, both playing Rufus at different periods in his life story.

There will be time for discussion following the screening of the films with

Dr Kip Jones Executive Producer, Reader in Qualitative Research, HSC and a behind the scenes look at The Making of Rufus Stone with Trevor Hearing, The Media School.

As featured in The New York Times during its world premiere in 2011, Rufus Stone is a film which draws its story from three years of in-depth research to give an account of being gay and growing older in the British countryside. The film is now available for wider audiences to enjoy in Dorset and Hampshire as part of BU’s annual Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender (LGBT) History month, celebrating the lives and achievements of the LGBT community.

Rufus Stone is an innovative approach to a research three-year research project, ‘Gay and Pleasant Land?’ led by BU academic, Dr Kip Jones.  The project, about positioning, ageing and gay life in rural South West England and Wales, is a work package in the UK-wide New Dynamics of Ageing Project ‘Grey and Pleasant Land?: An Interdisciplinary Exploration of the Connectivity of Older People in Rural Civic Society’, funded by Research Councils UK.

Directed by award-winning Josh Appignanesi and produced by Parkville Pictures, the stories which form the foundation of the script for Rufus Stone are entirely based upon research undertaken by Dr Jones and his team from BU’s School of Health and Social Care (HSC) with the assistance of a citizens’ advisory committee. The film’s ‘fictional’ story was created over time using composite characters and situations, all uncovered in the ‘Gay and Pleasant Land?’ research project, through in-depth biographic life story interviews, focus groups, and actual site visits to the rural locations where older gay or lesbian citizens were living.

“Our hope is that the film will dispel many of the myths surrounding ageing, being gay and life in British rural settings,” said Jones, in his role as Executive Producer of Rufus Stone. “The film renders poetically the way in which our memories morph and play with our histories, much as dappled sunlight reveals, then conceals, an idyllic landscape”.

Rufus Stone the movie weblog
Rufus Stone the movie on facebook

Interested in Media or IT? Then these new Calls for Proposals may be of interest…

MEDIA 2007: The EC  has launched a call for proposals for the provision of training under the MEDIA 2007 Programme. One of the measures to be implemented under this Decision involves improving the continuous vocational training of professionals in the audiovisual sector, so as to give them the know-how and skills needed to create competitive products on the European and other markets.  The call for proposals EACEA/5/12 is the last continuous training call to be launched under MEDIA 2007 and offers a two-year framework partnership agreement. The deadline is 16 April 2012.

CIP-ICT PSP: The EC has launched the 2012 CIP-ICT PSP call under the Information and Communication Technologies Policy Support Programme (ICT PSP) which is part of the Competitiveness and Innovation Framework Programme (2007 to 2013). There are a number of funding opportunities available including pilot work and thematic networks. The deadline is 15.05.12 and the indicative budget is 127m Euros.

NERC – Demand Management is coming…

From the 1st April 2012 NERC will be monitoring the number of proposals that institutions submit and the quality of the proposals.  In July 2012 NERC will identify research organisations with high number or proportion of uncompetitive submissions and will begin discussions with these institutions on reducing their submissions and improving their quality.  It is undecided yet whether sanctions will be applied. 

Initially uncompetitive submissions are being defined as those receiving a final grade of 6 (out of 10) or below for excellence.  Full details on the new demand management policy can be found on the research council’s website.

What does this mean for me?

BU will be closely monitoring all applications to research councils.  We have a 5 day internal deadline for research council applications to allow time to complete checks on applications before submission.

The best way to ensure that your application is of a high standard is to obtain feedback from academic colleagues.  Our internal peer review service (RPRS),  managed by Caroline O’Kane, allows you to select two academic staff to undertake a review of your draft application.  Caroline also provides feedback on content, structure, a lay perspective and whether funder guidelines have been met.  More information on using the RPRS is available here.

REF draft code of practice – BU academic staff comments invited

Research assessment

Over the past 18-24 months we have been working on a code of practice to set out the approach that is being taken at BU in preparing our REF submission. The document has largely been authored by Anita Somner, Judith Wilson, Dr James Palfreman-Kay and myself with input from Prof Kate Galvin, and has been approved by the REF Academic Steering Group and REF Academic Leadership Team. It is a requirement for all institutions submitting to the REF to have a code of practice in place which has been approved by the REF Equality and Diversity Advisory Panel (EDAP), and the initial deadline for submitting draft codes to the EDAP is midday on 27 April 2012.

We are now inviting all academic staff to comment on this version of the BU REF code of practice. Comments received will help to refine the document in advance of the final version being sent by the VC to the EDAP at the end of April. A feedback form is available for completion by academic staff wishing to comment on the draft document.

The draft code of practice and the feedback form are available from the I-drive: I:\CRKT\Public\RDU\REF\COP feedback

Responses should be emailed to Anita Somner by 5pm on Friday 16 March 2012.

I am happy to discuss the document with colleagues and/or to meet as appropriate. If you have any queries, please do let me know.

Thanks

Julie

Call for academics to unite and stand up against the changes to the student visa regulations

The changes wrought to the student visa regulations are extremely concerning and almost certain to lead to irreversible damage to Higher Education (HE) in the UK especially in respect of its international reputation, as a consequence of an ill-conceived policy to reduce the numbers of incoming migrants to the UK that plays to popular, ill informed ideology and short-term, self-serving politics at the expense of the country. Students are an easy target, but a false one and do not indicate the changes for which the public may in fact be vying.

The ramifications for HE and the UK economy are likely to be very significant judging from the hard evidence brought to bear on the issue. According to the report ‘Estimating the Value to the UK of Education Exports’ produced by Department for Business, Innovation and Skills, the profits brought in by the education of international students represents £14.1 billion, with a projected estimated profit of £26.6 billion by 2025.

Dr Jo Beall, director of education and society at the British Council, has disseminated the findings of a major study with the Economist Intelligence Unit, entitled ‘Impact of Visa Changes on Student Mobility and Outlook for the UK’. This demonstrates that the UK is now seen as having the most restrictive immigration regime of all its competitors, leading to international students taking their business away from the UK towards the USA, Australia and Canada. Nor do arguments against the control of extremism among international students carry much weight, since this not related to international students, as shown in the Home Affairs Committee report ‘Roots of Violent Radicalisation’. Furthermore, according to the British Council, international students ensure the viability of certain disciplines, such as postgraduate biotechnology and engineering courses, where they can constitute 90% of the population (see Times Higher Education, 9-15th Feb 2012 for details).

The weight of hard evidence from these various, highly reputable sources point to a dramatic and deleterious effect on the economy if we restrict international students in this way. We must not, either, forget the importance that a global mix of students brings to the pursuit, creation and sharing of knowledge. Our higher education is an elite export that brings billions to the UK economy and it seems absolutely incredible that the Government is blatantly ignoring this alarming evidence, especially during a time of grave financial hardship and austerity for the country. This evidence cannot be ignored and makes a mockery of misguided arguments that international students represent an abuse of the UK. Instead it is clear that the UK economy and reputation is reliant on international students who have until now sought in great numbers the UK’s elite export: our world-leading higher education, which is rapidly slipping from its hard-earned first position in the international tables, and is a fall that is likely to prove irreversible.

It is most concerning that academics are seemingly accepting these changes, rolling over and aping the actions of a pusillanimous UUK in the face of the Government’s HE reforms. The evidence is there and we need to stand up for important if difficult truths in the face of short term political goals. Our conversation with Phil Baty at the Times Higher indicates that the new editor, John Gill, features editor, Rebecca Atwood, are seeking interest to develop a campaign around this area. Something we feel strongly should be engaged in by all concerned academics.

 

Prof Jonathan Parker and Dr Sara Crabtree

School of Health and Social Care

Fusion Conference 18 April – call for contributions!

Fusion

The Fusion series of internal conferences and seminars for 2011/12 continues on Wednesday 18th April 2012 with a ‘Fusion in Action’ conference hosted by the Vice Chancellor in the EBC from 12.00 – 5.00pm. Booking details will be published shortly so please save the date!

The conference entitled ‘Fusion in Action: Knowledge exchange with students, society and the professions’ is firmly grounded in the context of Vision and Values and seeks to illustrate fusion at its best. The conference will include contributions from staff and students through a combination of presentations, demonstrations and discussions. The conference aims to showcase examples of staff engaged in academic and/or research-led activities associated with the professions and wider society and to identify: how this helps create a unique academic experience for staff and students at BU, how students and staff can share in the learning experience and how such knowledge exchange can foster innovative learning experiences, pedagogic developments and research activities.

This half day conference replaces the previous Education Enhancement Conference and Research Conferences held in previous years.

Proposals for papers, poster presentations, discussion groups and/or demonstrations related to the theme are now invited. These should be submitted to fusionconference@bournemouth.ac.uk by the 7th March using the abstract form provided.

If you wish to discuss possible contributions, please contact Julie Northam (ext 61208) or Jennifer Taylor (ext 61271) in the first instance.

The conference is open to all staff contributing to the delivery of programmes and research activities at BU and partner locations and will also involve presentations from the University Executive Team and members of the Students’ Union.

EUNF scheme now closed

It gives me great pleasure to inform you that our EUNF pot has now been emptied! Well done to our 6 successful applicants who have been awarded a total of over £11, 000 to help support thei networking activities across Europe aimed at making a grant submission. You can read their accounts over the next couple of weeks on the blog (and a few are on here already) of how they will use funding and what happened after they visited their potential collaborators.

Thanks to all of you who have shown your interest and engagement in developing relationships with your EU partners and well done to our successful applicants.

New EC website with listings of current projects

The EC has set up a new page on its Community Research and Development Information Service (CORDIS) website with an overview of projects funded under the Framework Programme. 

The new webpage shows which projects have been funded both under FP7 and previous Framework programmes and will provide a broader range of material to a wider audience. The new depository will include:

  • project details such as description, funding, programme;
  • project results such as documents, reports, summaries;
  • links;
  • publications;
  • multimedia; and
  • information and details on project participants.

This will be a key resource for you to find future collaborators – take a look at who has been funded before and get in contact with them 🙂

NERC plans to move to shared Research Outcomes System (ROS)

NERC has been collecting research outputs data on NERC-funded research through its Research Outputs Database (ROD) for nearly a decade.  This year’s collection exercise on ROD is progressing towards its 13 March 2012 submissions deadline.

NERC has decided it will in future adopt the Research Outcomes System (ROS) as used by AHRC, BBSRC, EPSRC and ESRC.  By changing systems NERC expects to:

  • Reduce the reporting burden for universities by reducing the number of equivalent systems;
  • Simplify submission by moving to a more standardised questionnaire;
  • Improve how publications are handled;
  • Share information better between systems, reducing data entry and reducing transcription errors; and
  • Improve the quality of performance information available to support the case for public investment in the environmental sciences.

The research council are putting measures in place to ensure a smooth transfer to the new system before next year’s data collection and to engage with users to obtain feedback on the system so that user requirements are met.

Likely calls to be released under Health, Environment and Science in Society FP7 themes

top secretThe Work Programmes are still being finalised and due for release in July, but I have obtained information about some of the likely calls that may come out.

I am excited that one of the areas I have info on is the new Science in Society theme. I also have updated information on the FP7 Health theme and also an update on the FP7 Environment theme which also has the anticipated date for the Information Day- the key opportunity to find partners and discover more about the calls for proposals. 

This information is highly confidential and for this reason has been placed on our I drive. You can access this and info on the other likely calls in different thematic areas here: I:\R&KEO\Public\RDU\Draft Work Programmes for 2012-13 . The information is to be treated with caution as it is based on draft documentation and is for BU staff only; this is not for circulation.

Reading likely areas of funding in FP7 is critical as it gives you months of extra preparatory time and a fantastic head start on writing your proposal. If you are thinking of making a submission, send me an email and I can help you pull your application together.

My EUNF success

My EUNF application relates to one aspect of a program of research that is in the early stages of development. Over the past few years I have been working with a colleague on the development a theoretical framework that describes how people adapt to living with HIV.  Named the ‘Theory of Negotiating Uncertainty’, it is a potentially important clinical assessment theory that promises significant social benefit for people living with a wide variety of chronic conditions (such as HIV, sickle cell disease, multiple sclerosis, hepatitis, congestive cardiac failure, asymptomatic genetic predispositions to a variety of disorders such as breast cancer). Concurrent developments of the theory include multi- and cross-cultural testing and the construction of an assessment tool that can be used to assess how people cope with clinical uncertainty that in turn creates significant threats to wellbeing and quality of life. Psychological and other therapeutic interventions can be initiated for those who are found to be unable to effectively negotiate the uncertainty of their lives, thus ultimately improving wellbeing and quality of life.

Being the recipient of an EU Network Fund award will allow me to explore the possibility of replicating the initial study in a different cultural environment. To this end, I will be meeting with a wide range of potential collaborators and key university and hospital contacts in Crete and Athens, Greece. In May of this year I will travel to meet Dr A Stavropoulou (Assistant Professor, TEI Crete), Dr T Stroubouki (Senior Lecturer, TEI, Athens) and P Papatheodorou (Deputy Head Nurse, Andreas Syggros Hospital, Athens; the clinical base for the project). Meetings with key administrative and support personnel in TEI Athens and Crete will include representatives from the Departments of Public & International Relations, Departments of Research and Development Projects, the Presidents of TEI in Crete and Athens and the Directors of the Departments of Nursing; and finally the Directors of Medicine, Nursing and Research, Syggros Hospital, Athens. Having the opportunity to meet face-to-face will strengthen the research team and collaborative possibilities and facilitate the subsequent research activity by creating trusting working relationships in which decisions can be taken and research conducted with confidence.

This project sits firmly in the Health, Well-being and Ageing ‘BU Research Theme’ and is solidly placed to contribute towards the HSC research sub-themes. There may also be scope to ultimately involve individuals from other schools in BU.

The British host: just how welcoming are we? New research by the School of Tourism

Despite the rise in international education, there is a lack of literature on the domestic student perspective of the international class room. A study by School of Tourism lecturers Lorraine Brown and Steven Richards redresses the balance somewhat. Their paper, The British host: just how welcoming are we?, has just been published in the Journal of Further and Higher Education.

This paper reports findings from a qualitative study of British student attitudes to the presence in large numbers of international students on their tourism management programme. Analysis revealed home students to be empathetic, flexible and eager to learn about new cultures. This mindset was attributed by participants to their desire to work in the international tourism industry and their understanding that tourist satisfaction increases in line with host receptivity. This is shown in the quotes below:

“Studying alongside international students meant that we would get a completely diverse cultural input. The more the merrier!” Bianca 

“It was going to be really interesting learning about people’s backgrounds and cultures.” Natalie

“It does change you just in little ways, just in how you are with people, you don’t even realise it at first I don’t think. I guess it taught me that you sort of judge people a bit quick, and that you shouldn’t really.” Laura

“Any prejudices are challenged, and its no bad thing for me and my fellow students to all have to develop some cultural awareness if not sensitivity.” Bianca

The nature of the subject, tourism, has a massive international element to it; if you are doing tourism, you are quite likely to be interested in other cultures.

That employability was increased by exposure to different cultures was commonly stated, as shown in the following typical comments:

“I feel confident that I can go to some of these countries now because I am aware of what to expect, behaviour patterns, culture patterns, I can try some of the skills I have learnt from being here.” Diana

“The main benefit for me is that never before could I imagine working abroad. I would definitely feel more confident now.” John

“I definitely think I could get used to working with different cultures, even if it’s in London! London is going to be multinational and international. You get used to dealing with different cultures, just trying to understand people talking different languages. Now I know that even if at first it might be a bit difficult, you can always communicate and work it out.” Laura

Lorraine and Steve’s study has just received coverage in the Times Higher Education Supplement – http://www.timeshighereducation.co.uk/story.asp?sectioncode=26&storycode=419037&c=1

Twitter has a lot to offer academics!

Guidance

We’ve previously added posts about the benefits of using Twitter in academia (you can read theme here: Twitter posts). A recent post by Mark Carrigan on the LSE’s Impact of Social Sciences Blog outlines what academics can get out of using Twitter and why the academic twittersphere is no different from presenting to an audience.

Mark asked his Twitter followers “why do you find Twitter useful as an academic?”, and responses included:

  • Quick answers to questions on things like … where do I find this tool or that tool ..  (@rjhogue)
  • We discuss concepts (@Annlytical)
  • There are people who are practicing what I’m researching academically and give me a reality check (@Annlytical)
  • Twitter is brilliant for keeping up with things, networking, finding new ideas, people’s blogs and publications (@BenGuilbaud)
  • meeting new people (in all disciplines), academic support, public engagement, increased visibility, filtered news (@Martin_Eve)
  • What Martin said. I think you already saw this but it’s the Prezi I made for grad students http://bit.ly/uK05VM (@qui_oui)
  • Also, I’ve found Twitter useful for augmenting F2F academic conferences, extending the conversations (@JessieNYC)
  • Twitter is incredibly useful 2 me as an academic 4 many reasons, perhaps chiefly curating the ideal academic dept  (@JessieNYC)
  • Twitter’s unique advantage is that very quickly allows me to spread word of my work to non-academic audiences (@elebelfiore)
  • Keeps me up-to-the-minute with news in my field ie; policy issues, and connects me to conferences/other academics (@DonnaBramwell)
  • connects me to other delegates at conferences, allows me to interact with students in lectures, keeps me uptodate (@timpaa)
  • We trade references for research (@annlytical)
  • great source of information & resources wouldn’t have found otherwise (@nicklebygirl)
  • Twitter makes it possible for me to engage with global community even though I now live in Australia & am #altac (@katrinafee)
  • a PhD can be very isolated so I think twitter is a great way to meet people who can help and give advice (@CET47)

Academics all over the world are turning to Twitter to support their research and are finding the service extremely useful. Read Mark’s full story and our previous Twitter posts to find out how to start using Twitter, meeting new people, estblishing / joining networks, promoting your research and increasing its visibility, and keeping ahead of the game.

You can read Mark’s full story here – Support, engagement, visibility and personalised news: Twitter has a lot to offer academics if we look past its image problem

If any of you are already using Twitter to enhance your research and knowledge exchange activities, we’d love you to share your experiences with your colleagues via the Blog!

Towards ‘Impact’ – promoting research online

Guidance

As the spectre of “Impact” looms before us in REF 2014, I’d like to share a case study on developing interest in research in academic and practitioner communities. I don’t claim that it’s best practice but there may be some ideas for others to consider.

Two of my related areas of research in the public relations field are measurement and evaluation of campaign effectiveness and the history of public relations. Over the past two years I have brought them together in historical research into the evolution of public relations measurement and evaluation. This has already resulted in conference papers and a publication in the leading impact factored journal, Public Relations Review.

 My most recent research has been into a controversial measure called Advertising Value Equivalence (AVE). It is widely used but has been effectively banned by leading public relations professional bodies. Next month, I will be presenting a paper on the history of AVE at the International Public Relations Research Conference in theUS. That paper will later be revised and submitted for a leading journal.

 Knowing there is a world-wide interest the debate over AVE, I prepared a short “popular” version of the paper and targeted it at the Research Conversations blog of the US-based Institute for Public Relations, which is well-regarded and widely read.

It appeared on February 15 as ‘So, Where Did AVEs Come From, Anyway?‘ and immediately started an online discussion.

Taking the article’s URL, I then placed it with introductory text on three relevant LinkedIn groups for PR history, media measurement and theUK’s lead professional body. Online discussions have taken place on two of these groups. The URL was also sent out via my two Twitter accounts (@historyofpr and twatson1709). Each has resulted in retweets of the URL, including some by leading social media commentators. There have also been positive comments.

Within just two days, the use of social media has enabled the summarised research to reach potentially interested, relevant audiences around the world. And I have still to present the paper next month. Only time will tell whether “Impact” has been created but social media has help pave the way for knowledge transfer and industry engagement.

 Any feedback on how I could have organised the social media dissemination more efficiently would be welcomed.

Prof Tom Watson, The Media School

Marie Curie deadline dates for 2012 & 2013

I am delighted so many of you found our workshop on submitting a Marie Curie proposal today so useful; the feedback I have already received has been great. I wanted to remind you of the deadline for 2012 calls under this scheme and to prewarn you about call dates anticipated for next year.

  • Industry-Academia Partnerships and Pathways: 19.04.12 & 15.01.13
  • Intra-European Fellowships: 16.08.12 & 14.08.13
  • International Incoming Fellowships: 16.08.12 & 14.08.13
  • International Outgoing Fellowships: 16.08.12 & 14.08.13
  • COFUND: 05.12.12
  • International Research Staff Exchange Scheme: 17.01.13
  • Career Integration Grants: 18.09.12 & 07.03.13 & 05.09.13
  • Initial Training Networks: 22.11.13
  • Researchers’ Night: 10.01.13

For details about all of these schemes, please consult your Simple Guide to EC Funding (and get in touch with me if you haven’t received your copy). Remember to all of you who attended Martin’s Marie Curie training workshop last week, you are entitled to have him review your submission for this on one occasion. He is in very high demand so to ensure you don’t miss out on this great offer, get your draft to him early and let him know you will be contacting him for a review as early as possible.

Also, as we have had several successes with Marie Curie Fellowships at BU, we will be hosting a special RPRS review service for you, so make sure you take full advantage of all the services we can offer you to help you be successful.

Fancy working in Brazil?

 Science without Borders is a Brazilian scholarship programme which aims to provide mobility opportunities between Brazil and Europe, for undergraduates, postgraduates, postdoctoral and senior research fellows in the fields of Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics.

The programme aims to:

  • Increase the presence of Brazilian students, scientists and industry personnel in international institutions of excellence;
  • Attract young investigators and internationally recognised research leaders to Brazil to work with local researchers in joint projects; and
  • Encourage the internationalisation of universities and research centres in Brazil through international partnerships.

There are a number of ways of getting involved:

  1. Host Brazilian undergraduates and postgraduates – with a view to start hosting for the 2012/13 academic year. A bilateral agreement between the UK and Brazil has been signed, Universities UK (UUK) is the UK partner organisation.
  2. Apply for a research grant to work in Brazil:
  3. Young post-doctoral researchers can apply under the ‘Attraction of Talented Youth’ programme for a two to three year long research project in Brazil;
  4. Science leaders can apply under the ‘Special Visiting Researcher’ grants that will fund joint projects with research groups in Brazil and fund work in Brazil for up to three months every year.

 
2012 call deadlines for the ‘Attraction of Talented Youth’ programme and ‘Special Visiting Researcher’ grants are 15 February, 4 June and 1 October.