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Using Google Docs to collaborate on documents

Guidance

Google Docs logoGoogle Docs is an online tool that enables collaborators to work in a synchronous environment on a single document. Rather than passing a document between authors, Google Docs allows authors at different physical locations to work together on the same document in real time. Changes made to the document can be tracked and attributed.

So what does this actually mean? What does Google Docs do? There a is a rather nice explanation of this on the Google Docs Help site:

“Google Docs enables multiple people in different locations to collaborate simultaneously on the same doc from any computer with Internet access. For example, Alice and Meredith are working on a project together, and they need to write a document, keep track of their work in a spreadsheet, and create a presentation and a drawing to share with other people involved in the project. Alice lives in New York, and Meredith, in Los Angeles. When Alice makes changes to the document, spreadsheet, presentation, or drawing, Meredith can see them in real time and respond to them immediately. Both of them work on the same docs, so there’s no need to go back and forth, comparing and consolidating individual files.” (Source page)

Sounds fabulous! And with Google Docs you can create documents, spreadsheets, presentations, etc. You can start a document in Office and then transfer it to Google Docs for collaborative editing. In addition, documents are saved to the cloud meaning that you can access them from anywhere with an Internet connection – no more faffing about with saving documents to pen drives or emailing documents!

Google Docs is free to sign up to; access is via a Google account.

You can keep up to date with enhancements to Google Docs via their blog.

If you’re already using Google Docs then let us know by commenting on this post!

Collaboration Tools for Academics – run a session in your School!

Guidance

Collaboration Tools for Academics (CTA) is one of the projects currently running at BU, sponsored by Prof Matthew Bennett. Steve Webster is the Business Analyst (EITS) working on the project and he has provided a project update. There is still the opportunity to run a fact finding workshop in your Research Centre, Academic Group and/or School so you can shape how collaboration tools are used and supported at BU in future.

The aim of the project is to facilitate collaborative working within and beyond BU and therefore raising the research-enterprise profile of the organisation. This will be achieved by making it easier for academic staff to work in a collaborative manner. In order to do this, the project will first identify what you currently do as a collaborative researcher and a member of academic staff and also identify where you feel the need for support in these activities.

There is an ongoing fact finding exercise that is trying to develop understanding in two areas. First there is an effort being made to understand people’s experience levels both in collaboration and in I.T. This is to ensure that all members of the community have their needs understood. Second there is an effort to understand the research activities that all members of the community are involved in.

Revised What Researchers Do - mind mapThis mind map (click on the image to make it larger) has been used to generate discussion in a series of workshops. If your research group would like to run a packaged version of this workshop please contact the business analyst Steve Webster who will be pleased to help you set things up.

The final aim of the project will be to make visible and available a set useful services that you can use in support of you collaborative work. The services that get put into this set are not yet agreed. The kinds of things that you might like to have easy access to could include: blogs, wikis, voice and video conferencing, shared social space, installing novel software, survey software, data analysis tools. But these are all just examples.  You still have an opportunity to get involved and contribute to shaping the future support offerings for researchers in BU and beyond.

Do you use collaboration tools to work with colleagues at the moment? If so let us know what works and what doesn’t work so well by commenting on this post!

Missenden Centre research workshops

The Missenden Centre is running a series of workshops this year that may be of interest to BU academics and research support staff:

Successful Bidding: Day Clinic – 2 June 2011, London 

Bidding for Research Funding  for academic staff – 15/16 June 2011, Missenden Centre

Bidding for Research Funding for research support staff – 16/17 June 2011, Missenden Centre

The Missenden Centre courses are highly praised and well respected within the sector.

REF event 19 & 20 May 2011 – SAVE THE DATE!

Research assessment

REF logoBU will be holding a two day Research Excellence Framework (REF) event on 19 and 20 May to which all staff are invited to attend.

Day 1 (open to BU staff and external delegates)
9am-2pm – this will be an external event supported by HEFCE to which all HEIs in the South of England will be invited. The focus will be on developing and assessing impact for the REF. There will be speakers from HEFCE, an academic from one of the impact pilot institutions (University of Plymouth), and some of the impact pilot panel members. The event is aimed primarily at academics likely to be submitted to the REF and UOA Leaders. It will provide a forum for networking and discussion around preparations for the impact element of the REF.

Day 1 (open to BU staff only)
2pm-5pm – There will be an opportunity for internal networking, a demonstration of the publications management system BU will soon be implementing, and a talk by Prof Matthew Bennett on building a publication profile for the REF.

Day 2 (open to BU staff only)
9am-4:30pm – the focus of Day 2 is the development of the BU impact case studies. The day will open with a presentation by Prof Matthew Bennett on what impact actually is, followed by presentations of the impact case studies being developed at the moment (3 per Unit of Assessment). These will run in 9 concurrent sessions with 4 presentations taking place in parallel during each session. The main aims of Day 2 are to get academics thinking about the impact case studies in a structured way, to identify resource requirements to maximise potential impacts, and the engage staff from M&C with the case studies being developed. In addition this is a great opportunity to showcase the excellent research that is undertaken at BU, to meet colleagues from other Schools, and to stimulate ideas for future research collaborations.

The event is free to attend but booking is essential. Booking will open next week – further details to follow!

A champion for research?

When I applied for my new job as PVC (Research, Enterprise, Internationalisation) I set out my stall around the need for there to be a strong Academic Champion for Research within BU.  Someone who would fight the corner of ordinary academics engaged in research and enterprise.  As an active researcher I understand many of the challenges and barriers that exist within the system, but to stay an effective champion I need to stay in touch with the rank and file.  I need to know what concerns you, what the obstacles and challenges are.  I have spent a lot of time in the first few months listening to individuals around BU, visiting our Research Centres and talking to anybody who wants to talk about research.  This is an enlightening process not least because of the wonderful work which is taking place and the committed, energetic staff around the organisation that make it such a great place to work; a place that I am fiercely proud off.  There is nothing better than hearing about someone’s research first hand and it makes this job worth doing.  So please keep letting me have your news, ideas and information on the challenges you face to getting things done.  I want to know what concerns you, what needs to be fixed, how we can improve our collective research performance as I begin to think about a new research and enterprise strategy for BU over the next few months.  Just stop me on campus, drop me an e-mail, add a comment to this post, or book an appointment to talk research!

Tea in the Namibian Desert

Matthew Bennett

PS I thought this post needed a picture since I like pictures; so here is one from December of tea in the Namibian Desert!

BU shortlisted for THE Leadership and Management Awards for ‘Outstanding Research Management Team’

BU has been shortlisted for the Times Higher Education Leadership and Management Awards in the category of  ‘Outstanding Research Management Team’.

The submission focused on the set up and implementation of the CRE Operations team by FCS during 2009-10 and the benefits that a centralised service has provided.

BU has also been shortlisted in the category ‘Outstanding Finance Team’ (for the second year running).

The awards will take place on 16 June at the Grosvenor House Hotel, Park Lane, London.

This is a fabulous achievement for Financial and Commercial Services! 😀 Whoop!

For the list of finalists see the THELMAs website.

REF Highlight Report #8

Research assessment

REF logoThe latest REF Highlight Report is now available from the Research Intranet.

Key points include updates on:

  • progress with the UOA Action Plans
  • the REF two-day event to be held at BU in May (19th/20th)
  • the second mock exercises for UOAs 7 and 26
  • the RASG and RALT meetings held in March

You can access the full document from here: REF Highlight Report #8

RCUK delivery plan published

RCUK logoLast week Research Councils UK (RCUK) published its new delivery plan. The plan sets out the programme of collective activities for the period 2011-2015, building on the strategic objectives set out in the RCUK Strategic Vision.

The collective work that the Research Councils do as RCUK will cover two broad areas: delivering excellence with impact and enhancing efficiency.

The RCUK programme, detailed in the Delivery Plan, contributes to:

  • Co-ordinating multidisciplinary research to address societal challenges
  • Maximising the impact of the research funded by Research Councils
  • Supporting research in the international context
  • Ensuring a continued pipeline of highly skilled researchers for the sustained health of the research base, and for wider economic and societal benefit
  • Engaging the public with the research.

Collaboration and multidisciplinary research will continue to be supported through the six cross-Council themes:

Research Councils will also work collectively to both improve the efficiency of their own operations and drive enhanced efficiency in the wider research base.

For further information read the full RCUK Delivery Plan. 

A selection of EU Funding opportunities…

Funding opportunities

European Refugee Fund 2011
The UK Borders Agency has announced that it is seeking applications through the European Refugee Fund – which relates to resettlement under the Gateway Protection Programme.  The minimum amount that can be applied for is £75,000 per year per project, and the maximum is £350,000 per year per project for up to three years to fund the management and delivery of activities. Deadline: 21.04.11

European Network of Mentors for Women Entrepreneurs
The EC has launched a new call for proposal to create a European network of mentors for women entrepreneurs. Grants of up to €75,000 will be available to each network. Deadline: 20.04.11

Support for European Cooperation in Education and Training – LLP
The EC has issued a call for proposals under its Lifelong Learning Programme to support European cooperation in education and training.  Grants of up to €300,000 per project are available. Deadline: 30.06.11

Support for Television Broadcasting of European Audiovisual Works
MEDIA 2007 funding is available to cover up to 12,5% of an organisation’s eligible production budget (with a maximum amount per work of 500.000 €) for fiction and animation, and 20% of the organisation’s eligible budget (with a maximum of 300.000 € per work) for documentaries. Deadline: 20.06.11

Good Luck & Congratulations Weekending 8 April 2011

Awarded & submitted bids

This week good luck and congratulations are due to staff in the Business School, Media School and Applied Sciences.  Julie Robson, Tim Ford, Sue Warnock and Mark Ridolfo all submitted enterprise bids for short courses or consultancy.  Martin Kretschmer is to be congratulated on his successful application for support from AHRC/SCRIPT.  In the Media School Sofronis Efstathiou and Hugh Chignell both submitted conference and enterprise bids, while  Dan Jackson, Craig Batty and Jo Tyler have all received good news about bids.  Finally in Applied Sciences congratulations are due to Eileen Wilkes and Bournemouth Archaeology for a couple of small grants and consultancy contracts.

Keep those bids coming!

Matthew Bennett

Notes from AHRC, ESRC & BA on challenges and opportunities for the arts and humanities and social sciences in the current economic climate

 

BU’s Kate Welham and Richard Shipway attended a meeting jointly hosted by the AHRC, British Academy and the ESRC aimed at discussing the challenges and opportunities for the arts and humanities and social sciences in the current economic climate. The focus of the event included presentations from the three Chief Executives of the respective research bodies who outlined their amended research agendas and current strategic funding priorities. Notes from the day can be found here: Arts Humanities & Social Sciences Meeting Event

Collaborate with SMEs through a new Grant Research and Development Scheme

Funding opportunities

A new Grant for Research and Development (GRD) scheme aimed at supporting small and medium-sized companies across the UK, enabling them to research and develop new products, processes and services is open for applications and will be managed by the Technology Strategy Board. The maximum funding available will be £25,000 for proof-of-market grants, £100,000 for proof-of-concept grants and £250,000 for development of prototype grants.

2 health related funding opportunities

Funding opportunities

Nuffield Foundation – Research and Innovation Grants
The Nuffield Foundation is inviting applications through its Research and Innovation Grants programme. Grants normally range between £5,000 and £150,000.  Deadline: 08.07.11

SUBWAY Heart Research UK Healthy Heart Grants
HRUK is inviting applications for up to £10,000 to support projects that strongly promote heart health, not just healthy lifestyles.

Funding for Links with Japan

Funding opportunities

The Daiwa Foundation which supports closer links between Britain and Japan is seeking applications under its small grants programme. Grants of £3,000-£7,000 are available to individuals, societies, associations or other bodies in the UK or Japan to promote and support interaction (any type of activity) between the two countries. Deadline: 30.09.11

EuropeAid: Funding for EU policy development, governance, human rights, human development, food, natural resources, economy or trade

Funding opportunities

EuropeAid is responsible for designing EU development policies and delivering aid through programmes and projects across the world, providing a single contact point for stakeholders inside and outside the EU to deal with. EuropeAid offers funding through grant calls and contract calls; to learn more about how to get funded visit the BU EuropeAid webpage.

Intelligent Energy Europe online support session

Funding opportunities

The next Intelligent Energy Europe online support session will take place on Wednesday 13th April at 3pm.  The session will include a presentation on Section 4 of the IEE proposal – objectives and impacts.    If you would like to join this session  email the IEE team and you will be sent the telephone conference call dial in details and the weblink where you will be able to view the slides.