The international awareness event World Wellbeing Week is approaching! Commencing June 26, to celebrate the Doctoral College has teamed up with SportBU to deliver some fun and relaxed FREE activities for PGRs including:
Yogalates – yoga and Pilates combined! Increase your flexibility, reduce stiffness and increase muscle strength!
Badminton– come along and have a hit, no experience necessary.
Spinning – get your heart pumping in this high-energy indoor cycling workout.
SportBU inductions– have a tour of SportBU facilities and find out how you can get involved in sports at BU.
These activities are a great opportunity to unwind and look after your mental, physical, and social wellbeing!
Spaces are limited so please only book if you plan on attending.
You are not limited to just one activity, book on as many as you like!
Faith and Reflection
This is the perfect week to check out what Faith & Reflection has to offer, including free vegan soup and soul care on Mondays, and free cookies and drinks Wednesdays for international students!
Open Monday-Friday 8am-8pm, their gorgeous space on the first floor of Talbot House is open to anyone who would value a space to come and simply be.
What to make of Adam Smith? You might have thought we would have straightened this out, given that he only ever wrote two books and it’s been 300 years since he was born. But no. Everyone wants to claim the Scottish philosopher and economist as one of their own. With the exception of Jesus, it’s hard to think of anyone who attracts such radically different interpretations.
Part of the problem is that we actually know very little about the man. Smith oversaw the burning of all his unpublished writings as he lay on his death bed – a common practice at the time, but not much help in settling endless arguments.
What we know is that he was born in the town of Kirkcaldy on the east coast of Scotland. His father was a judge who died just before he was born. Smith seems to have been a very scholarly child, rarely seen without a book about his person.
One early experience that seems to have affected him concerned the town market. Certain landowners were exempt from Kirkcaldy’s bridge tolls and market stall charges due to the town’s status as a royal burgh. This gave them a competitive advantage over their competitors, which did not sit well with the young Smith.
He left his mother at the age of 14 to study moral philosophy at the University of Glasgow, before completing his postgraduate studies in metaphysics at Balliol College Oxford. Thereafter he went on to spend his life studying, teaching and writing in the fields of philosophy, theology, astronomy, ethics, jurisprudence and political economy. Most of his career was spent as an academic in Edinburgh and Glasgow, though there were also stints as a private tutor in France and London.
The Wealth of Nations
The two books that Smith published in his lifetime are The Theory of Moral Sentiments (1759) and his more widely known, An Enquiry into the Nature and Causes of the Wealth of Nations (1776). The latter, a rambling 700-page text published over two volumes, was 17 years in the making.
What it’s all about.
The dominant economic ideology of the time was known as mercantilism. It viewed economic value simply in terms of the amount of gold that a country had to buy the goods it needs. It gave little consideration to how goods were produced – either the physical inputs or the human motivation.
But for Smith, motivation was at the heart of economic behaviour. He saw it as an all-purpose lubricant that delivers mutual benefit for all:
It is not from the benevolence of the butcher, the brewer or the baker, that we expect our dinner, but from their regard to their own interest.
Smith’s observations about how the division of labour can be organised to increase productivity remains one of his most enduring contributions to economics. Improving productivity is still seen as the holy grail for countries getting richer. Larry Fink, head of investment giant BlackRock, has only just been arguing that artificial intelligence could improve productivity, for instance.
The battleground
The Wealth of Nations is an eclectic text – even an “impenetrable” one, according to the director of the Adam Smith Institute. Smith argues that slavery and feudalism are bad and that economic growth and getting people out of poverty are good.
He thinks high wages and low profits are good. He also warns against things like cronyism, corporate corruption of politics, imperialism, inequality and the exploitation of workers. In observations about the British East India Company, which was the Amazon of its day and then some, Smith even warned about companies becoming too big to fail.
Those on the right of the debate often cite Smith’s “invisible hand” phrase from the Wealth of Nations in support of their worldview. Borrowed from Shakespeare’s Macbeth, the phrase actually appears only once in the whole text. It is a metaphor for how a “free” market magically brings buyers and sellers together without any need for government involvement.
In more recent times, “invisible hand” has come to mean something slightly different. Chicago School free market advocates like Milton Friedman and George Stigler viewed it as a metaphor for prices, which they saw as signalling what producers wanted to produce and buyers wanted to buy. Any interference from government in terms of price controls or regulations would distort this mechanism and should therefore be avoided.
Ronald Reagan and Margaret Thatcher were disciples of this way of thinking. In a 1988 speech encouraging his people to be thankful for the prosperity that comes from free trade, President Reagan argued that the Wealth of Nations “exposed for all time the folly of protectionism”.
Yet those on the left also find plenty in Smith that resonates with them. They often cite his concern for the poor in the Theory of Moral Sentiments:
This disposition to admire, and almost to worship, the rich and the powerful, and to despise, or, at least, to neglect persons of poor and mean condition, though necessary both to establish and to maintain the distinction of ranks and the order of society, is, at the same time, the great and most universal cause of the corruption of our moral sentiments.
In 2013, President Barack Obama cited Smith in a speech to support raising the US minimum wage:
They who feed, clothe and lodge the whole body of the people should have such a share of the produce of their own labor as to be themselves tolerably well fed, clothed and lodged.
States and abuses
So how to square this circle? The truth is that Smith’s writing has enough ideas and inconsistencies to allow for all sides to cherry pick references as required. But one argument I find compelling, which has been put forward by the economist Mariana Mazzucato, is that many of those who champion laissez-faire policies misinterpret Smith’s notion of a free market.
This is linked to the fact that Smith was writing at a time when the British East India Company was responsible for a staggering 50% of world trade. It operated under a royal charter conferring a monopoly of English trade in the whole of Asia and the Pacific. It even had its own private army.
Mughal Emperor Shah Alam conveying tax-collecting rights for Bengal, Bihar and Orissa to the British East India Company, Benjamin West 1765. Wikimeda, CC BY
Smith was presenting an alternative vision for the UK economy in which such state-licensed monopolies were replaced by firms competing against one another in a “free” market. Innovation and competition would provide employment, keep prices down and help reduce the appalling levels of urban poverty of the time. This was capitalism. And ultimately Smith was proved correct.
But Mazzucato argues that when Smith talked about the free market, he didn’t mean free from the state, so much as free from rent and free from extraction of value from the system. In today’s world, the equivalent example of such feudal extraction is arguably global tech firms like Amazon, Apple and Meta playing nations off against one another to minimise their regulations and tax liabilities.
This doesn’t sound like the sort of “free” market that Smith envisaged. He would probably be cheering on the EU’s anti-trust case against Google, for instance. Those who believe that Smith saw no role for the state in managing the economy ought to reflect on how spent his final years – working as a tax collector.
The Ageing and Dementia Research Centre (ADRC) at Bournemouth University currently run a monthly coffee morning for local older people and others interested in ageing and dementia research to socialise and discuss and share feedback on our work. We have received funding from the British Society of Gerontology (BSG) Small Events Fund to run the session on 12th July (11am-2.30pm) at Bournemouth Gateway Building to enable us to build upon our current model and support the development of a team of older people as co-researchers to take forwards research that is a priority for them.
The aim of this event is to:
1. Disseminate the findings of research projects undertaken by Bournemouth University Ageing and Dementia Research Centre to local older people.
2. Discuss concerns of local older people to support development of an ageing and dementia research priority list.
3. Identify older people interested in becoming co-researchers to take forwards ideas from the ageing and dementia research priority list.
Funding statement and Disclaimer: This event is supported by funding from British Society of Gerontology’s (BSG) Small Events fund. The views expressed and discussions may not represent the views of the BSG. For more information about the BSG, click here: https://www.britishgerontology.org/
The UK’s higher education funding bodies have published details of proposed changes to the Research Excellence Framework (REF) for 2028.
They state that they are seeking to change the emphasis of the national assessment from the performance of individuals to the contributions of institutions and disciplines to a healthy and inclusive research environment.
Some of the proposed changes include:
Research outputs will contribute to 50 per cent of a Unit of Assessment (UoA), down from 60 per cent in REF 2021. This element has been renamed to ‘contribution to knowledge and understanding’ and, while assessment will continue to largely be based on assessment of submitted outputs, at least 10% of the score will be based on evidence of broader contributions to the advancement of the discipline.
‘People and Culture’ will replace the environment element of REF 2021 and will be assessed at both a disciplinary and institutional level. This element will make up 25 per cent of the overall score, up from 15 per cent in REF 2021, and will be expanded to include an assessment of research culture.
An ‘engagement and impact’ element, weighted at 25 per cent, will replace the impact element of REF 2021. Submissions will consist of both impact case studies and an accompanying statement to evidence engagement and activity beyond case studies.
The work of all researchers and research-enabling staff will be eligible for submission to REF 2028. Research volume will be determined from average staff volumes over multiple years and there will not be any minimum or maximum contributions of any individuals.
Professor Dame Jessica Corner, Executive Chair at Research England, said:
“This is a once-in-a-generation moment for change as we shift national research assessment away from a focus on individuals to how institutions and disciplines contribute to healthy, dynamic and inclusive research environments, and as we shift from a focus on published research outputs towards a broader view of what constitutes research excellence and how it can be demonstrated.”
The sector will now have the opportunity to input into further development of REF 2028, with consultation running until October 2023.
The 2023 Research Conference took place on one of the hottest days of the year so far.
Dr Jan Peters MBE gives the keynote speech at the BU Research Conference 2023
The theme of this year’s conference was also a hot topic: failure, and how to deal with obstacles and setbacks throughout the research journey.
Opening the conference, Professor Einar Thorsen, Executive Dean of the Faculty of Media and Communication, set the tone for the event – speaking openly and honestly about times when his research hasn’t gone to plan.
Keynote speaker Dr Jan Peters MBE shared stories from her time working in both academia and industry and the lessons she’d learnt – from embracing your strengths to avoiding comparing yourself to others.
Professor Ann Hemingway and Professor Sam Goodman share their insights for overcoming academic rejection
In a joint keynote, Professor Ann Hemingway and Professor Sam Goodman, shared their advice and insights into experiencing and overcoming academic rejection. As well as presenting some choice comments they’d received from reviewers in the past, they also shared their tips for ‘failing better’, including the 3 Rs – resubmit, repurpose or restart.
Over lunch, attendees had the chance to decorate ‘failure cakes’ with the team from the Centre for Health, Science and Communication Research, icing cupcakes with positive messages for those who might have experienced failure.
Failure cake decorating as part of the BU Research Conference 2023
In the afternoon, workshops offered the opportunity to learn practical tips and strategies for dealing with difficulties. Topics covered included building resilience, articulating your strengths, repurposing grant applications and improving writing approaches.
The conference was closed by Robert Seaborne from Inside Academia, who spoke about the dichotomy between the core values of research (learning through failure to discover something new or unknown) and the success metrics which pervade academic culture.
Robert Seaborne closing the BU Research Conference
Discussing his own experience of burnout during his PhD and the scale of mental health issues seen within academia, Robert also shared the advice he’d give to his younger self – which include the need to rest and recover and maintain the activities outside of academia that help you stay happy and healthy.
The Research Conference is an annual event organised by the Research Excellence Team in RDS to bring BU’s academic and research community together to learn, share, network and discuss key topics from the world of research.
A big thank you to everyone who supported or attended this year’s conference. If you have any feedback or suggestions of topics for future years, please get in touch at research@bournemouth.ac.uk
Last week The Aga Khan University (AKU) in Pakistan put a news story on its website highlighting a first for Pakistan. The reason for celebrating was that the Journal of Asian Midwives, one of the only two research journals hosted by The Aga Khan University, has been accepted for inclusion in Scopus. Scopus, which is part of the publishing house Elsevier, is the world’s largest electronic database of peer-reviewed literature: scientific journals, books and conference proceedings. The Journal of Asian Midwives is an Open Access journal and publishing is free. One of its three co-editors is based at Bournemouth University.
Dr Sally Lee and Dr Louise Oliver edited a book titled: Social Work Practice With Adults: learning from lived experience. This book is co-authored with academics, social workers and people with lived experience supporting the reader to gain new understanding and knowledge from an often seldom heard voice within academic books.
We recently held a book launch party with many of the co-authors and as an engaging activity, we co-created a poem which focused upon what this book meant to them, it reads:
We came together to write a book,
from every cranny and every nook.
We feel so proud to say it out loud,
with powerful words to inform learning.
We want to reimagine the social work role,
To give a voice to those who know.
Not just listening but hearing what is said,
putting the ‘being done to’ to bed.
To give the future a second look,
starting a new conversation through this book.
We don’t know what the future holds,
but sharing stories, being told, helps new understanding
The UK government remains in discussion on the UK’s involvement in EU research programmes and hopes that negotiations on Horizon Europe will be successful.
There are good news regarding Horizon Europe guarantee provided by the UK government. The UK government has announced an extension to the support provided to UK Horizon Europe applicants until the end of September 2023.
The UK Horizon Guarantee will now be in place to cover all Horizon Europe calls that close on or before 30 September 2023. Eligible, successful applicants to Horizon Europe will receive the full value of their funding at their UK host institution for the lifetime of their project.
Full details of the scope and terms of the extended Guarantee are available on the dedicated UKRI website (login may be required).
With any further questions related to Horizon Europe, please get in touch with me.
Please note that, as part of RDS funding briefing, there will be a session dedicated to Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions Postdoctoral Fellowships 2023 call on 21 June (no briefing this week).
You are warmly invited to this week’s research process seminar. Hosted by FMC but open to all staff and research students.
It tackles the practical challenges in applying computational approaches to studying digital news content. While the context is of media content, the process is one that relates to several disciplines.
This talk will detail the challenges in conducting research on digital African news content, and will describe the process followed by the speaker in developing the African Digital News Corpus (ADNC), a multilingual live corpus of news content by African media. The focus will be on the process of developing a custom-built scraper to gather relevant news content, the difficulties posed by automating news data collection, and some of the possible applications of computational approaches to studying digital news content.
Are you interested in the complex relationship between science, communication, and society? Join us for our first online roundtable on #EvidenceAndPower which examines the interaction between data, methodology, and scientific authority. Experts from diverse disciplines will discuss how their research interacts with policy and practice. Evidence & Power 01 takes place on 15 June 2023. Register to attend by following this link: http://ow.ly/jCXi50OAxvA. Looking forward to seeing you there!
Evidence & Power is hosted by the South African Research Chair in Science Communication (Stellenbosch) and the Centre for Science, Health and Data Communication Research (Bournemouth), this online roundtable brings together researchers from diverse disciplines to debate the dynamic relationship between data, methodology, and authority. Join us for this interdisciplinary conversation on science, communication and society. All are welcome.
There are no central Research Ethics Panel (REP) meetings held during August, so if you’re hoping to start data collection activities over the summer and are in the process of completing your research ethics checklist, please keep this in mind when planning your research activities and submit your checklist in time for the final REP meetings to be held in June and July. Checklists received during August which need to be reviewed by a full Panel will be deferred until September (dates to be advised).
REPs review all staff projects and postgraduate research projects which have been identified as high risk through the online ethics checklist. Details on what constitutes high risk can be found on the research governance, research ethics & integrity website.
There are two central REPs:
Science, Technology & Health
Social Sciences & Humanities
Staff and PGR ‘high risk’ projects are reviewed by one of the central REPs and Researchers (including PGR Supervisors) will normally be invited to Panel for discussions.
Staff Projects which are ‘low risk’
Reviews for low risk projects will continue as normal during August (via email), although turnaround may take longer than normal due to Reviewer availability during this month.
PGR Projects which are ‘low risk’
There are no changes to the review and approval process for low risk PGR projects and reviews will continues as normal throughout August, again subject to the availability of Supervisor and assigned Ethics Champions.
June’s Community Voices webinar welcomes Dr Gareth Sherwood – CEO of YMCA Bournemouth.
Gareth has a life history of working across the health sector, non-profit sector, education, in Christian organisations and various charity services; doing so full-time since 2007 when he ceased practising as a medical doctor after 8 years practice. Gareth has also worked as a social entrepreneur, educator, public speaker, ethics advisor, youth worker, and church, charity and business leader. He sits on several ethics panels, boards and acts as a director for the Dorset Chamber of Commerce and Industry, Hope Place CIC and the HealthBus Trust, he also serves on various boards involved in community transformation. Gareth has worked in various parts of the UK and has broad experience in starting and developing volunteer groups, organisations, social businesses and charities.
The YMCA – YMCA Bournemouth works across BCP and Dorset in the areas of supported housing, family support, early years, youthwork, sports and leisure, community centres, business development, mentoring, training, pre-school, holiday retreat, wellbeing, mental health, contact centres and more.
Community voices is a collaboration between BU PIER partnership and Centre for Seldom Heard Voices to provide a platform and a voice to local community activists.
On 5th June, the first day of carers week 2023, six carers from Dorset met for the first time and shared experiences of the effect of the cost-of-living crisis on their caring role. During the previous two weeks, each carer had taken photographs to capture the impact the cost-of living crisis was having on them, and their caring role.
A huge thank you to Moonmoon, Kim, Aiden,Jason, Katya, and Lesley for all your most generous contributions to this project so far, and for sharing your important experience, insight, and expertise.
Using the qualitative research method of photovoice and working in partnership with the carers, this Bournemouth University project in collaboration with Bournemouth University PIER (Public Involvement in Education and Research) Partnership will translate these experiences of caring during the cost-of-living crisis into actionable knowledge, a call for change and to identify future research priorities.
At the workshop, facilitated by Professor Lee-Ann Fenge (Professor of Social Care) and Dr Kate Jupp (PIER Officer), and supported by co-researchers Pete Atkins (PIER Officer) and Angela Skeparovska (student research assistant) each carer shared the story and meaning behind each of their five chosen photographs; the photographs being the catalyst for the stories that emerged.
The workshop was incredibly powerful, and the images, and the experiences, thoughts, and feelings they represented were both hard to hear and important to share. Experience of homelessness, insolvency, losing the family home, using foodbanks, soup kitchens, community pantry and searching through bins for food were all shared. The hidden costs of health appointments, additional energy use for laundry and cooking to meet special dietary requirements were highlighted. Each of the carers shared how the current guidance to reduce energy consumption in the home was often in conflict with meeting the needs of the person being cared for. Underlying all these experiences was the personal cost of, and personal losses associated with caring. The carers articulated clearly and repeatedly the amplifying effect the cost-of-living crisis was having on their own well-being and the quality of life they were able provide for the person they were caring for.
The carers reported how important it was for them to share their stories and to be amongst others who understood. One carer reported “feeling lighter” when they left, and another said they “felt the session was rewarding and (they were) glad to have shared some insight of our support of loved ones”. All six expressed the wish to continue with this project.
The following images were taken from the 30 images shared during the workshop.
The first images captured the feelings and experience of being “completely overwhelmed” whilst falling further and further into debt:
This image is of food salvaged from a private dustbin on a driveway. The carer went on to explain the choice they subsequently faced, whether or not to toast the cheese, using energy on the grill, in an attempt to reduce the risk of food poisoning.
This two-day sandpit creates a dynamic approach to the development of concepts for innovative projects and funding bids. By the end of both days, the participants will form interdisciplinary project teams and generate proposals (including pinpointing external partners) for funded projects on media and social justice issues. See more details in the programme outline.
The event will involve participants from across BU, who are interested in, or already doing research on, social justice issues. It will establish an interdisciplinary dialogue, enhance the scope for public engagement or knowledge transfer, increase the potential for impact, improve the chances for successful bids, and establish cross-institutional networks as seedbeds for future projects.
The sandpit will culminate in project pitches to a panel of senior staff (see below) for constructive feedback and for allocating a bid-writing mentor. After the event, the teams will be offered mentorship to support writing the full funding application.
Sandpit Programme Outline
Who should participate:
We welcome any BU-based junior to mid-career researcher, artist, practitioner or anyone with a general interest in media and social justice. You should be keen to work in a multidisciplinary team, and willing to commit to attending the full sandpit, on both days. No prior experience of research funding is required.
How to participate:
To secure your spot in the Sandpit, please complete and submit the following application – note that all participants must commit to attending both full days:
We are thrilled to share the success of our recent visit to IPAG (Paris and Nice), one of our esteemed partner universities in France. The visiting team from the Business School comprised of, Dr. Milena Bobeva, Mr. Mark Ridolfo, Dr. Deborah Taylor and Dr. Samreen Ashraf. The purpose of this visit was to strengthen and deepen the relationship between IPAG and the BU team, and we are pleased to say that we had meaningful conversations to strengthen our partnership further. During this visit, we discovered numerous commonalities between our institutions, including shared values, student experiences, international outlook, and a focus on inclusivity and responsibility. We would like to express our gratitude to the Global Staff Mobility team and Milena Bobeva for providing us with this invaluable opportunity. Let’s delve into some of the immediate outcomes and outputs from this visit. Active Promotion of Student Exchanges: One of the main outcomes of our visit to IPAG is the active promotion of student exchanges. Armed with a more comprehensive understanding of IPAG’s programmes and locations, our staff can now provide detailed and nuanced overviews to prospective Top Up and Exchange students. This immediate benefit extends to our students, as they receive enhanced guidance regarding programme options and destinations. Furthermore, this visit has opened up opportunities for knowledge transfer to other Business School staff who lead Study Abroad programs, promoting collaboration and sharing best practices. Engagement in IPAG’s International Week and Summer Schools: We are excited to announce that BU staff members now have the opportunity to participate in IPAG’s International Week held in both Paris and Nice. IPAG has expressed a desire to have more of our staff engage with their programs, and this exchange of knowledge and experiences will foster stronger ties between our institutions. Additionally, this collaboration presents a unique chance for BU students to participate in IPAG’s International Week, with this year’s focus on sustainability—an excellent fit for BU’s Centre for Sustainable Business Transformation. We encourage our students to seize this opportunity for international exposure and enriching experiences. This not only broadens their horizons but also provides them with a unique chance to experience the French education system and culture first-hand. IPAG Staff Visiting Bournemouth University: To further build and strengthen the relationship between BU and IPAG, an agreement has been reached for IPAG staff members to visit Bournemouth University. This visit will allow for continued collaboration, knowledge sharing, and the development of a robust partnership between our institutions. Exploring Collaborations on PhD/DBA Programs and Study Abroad Opportunities: During the visit, we had the opportunity to discuss potential collaborations on PhD/DBA programs These discussions were meaningful, and we learned about the differences between PhD programs in the UK and France, IPAG’s focus on improving their DBA program, and their aspirations for future PhD programs. This exchange of ideas paves the way for research seminars which will help us to build our capacity and improve our research culture and environment.
Please feel free to get in touch with the following in case you have any question:
Dr. Milena Bobeva (BUBS Internationalisation Lead)
Mr. Mark Ridolfo (Programme Leader for BA (Hons) Business & Management and Study Abroad Academic Co-ordinator
Dr. Deborah Taylor (MBA Director)
Dr. Samreen Ashraf (IPAG Academic Partnership Lead and MSI- PGR Lead)
I am circulating this in case someone is interested. I have just published an article in The Conversation about racism in Spanish football and sports media, written with a colleague from the University of Central Catalonia.
Here’s the link:
“Vinícius Júnior: La Liga and the Spanish media must both accept responsibility for the racism that shames football”
As the 2022/23 Academic Year started to unfold, and a review of our experiences with students, lost and confused about referencing systems, poor academic practices, and academic misconduct, Dr Steph Allen, Dr Ed Bickle, and Dr Marian Mayer from the FMC Learning Development Team (FMCLDT) identified a need to bring to life some of the unexpected tales and truths of academic integrity misconducts – intended or otherwise – to a wider community of scholars.
Seeking truths and perspectives, alongside narratives and numbers from the BU Academic Integrity Working Group, led by Dr Steph Allen, the LD team brought together a stellar set of speakers from the global academic integrity field for a series of 12 webinars. Planned in early 2022, what started as a ‘couple of sessions’ here and there soon cascaded into a successful ‘first of its kind’ series webinars that caught the imagination of scholars, students, and commercial organisations internationally.
Through an original and imaginative collaboration between the BU FMC LDT, AldinHE, Turnitin, FLIE, and renowned thought-leaders in the field of academic integrity and emerging artificial intelligence, Tales of the Unexpected brought together perspectives and concerns which were elevated and exposed, and ways forward were examined (and questions, so many questions!).
One particular webinar on Artificial Intelligence and academic integrity: Insights for Teaching and Learning arranged in October 2022 confirmed our prescience, as the world learnt in late November 2022, in what would turn out to be revolutionary – both in discussion but also hurriedly both behind the scenes, and then, slowly, in practice: the release and experimentation with a series of ChatGPT software tools, just one application brand in a suite of several that were known, but lesser discussed (even more questions!).
Whilst we took a risk in leading, creating, organising, and running the webinars, the innovative and timely nature of the series resulted in a comprehensive resource that attracted academics, professional staff, students, and industry sectors from 21 countries, with over 2700 registrants, attendees, and viewers – and has garnered appreciative feedback and demands for future webinars. It has also resulted in invitations to conferences, guest talks, workshops, high-value networking events, journal reviewing, conference organisation, and expert referrals (This was unexpected, and encouraging, yet we are mindful of workload).
As the first of its kind in UK Higher Education, this series quickly positioned BU at the forefront of advancing knowledge on matters around and pertinent to academia and research, as well as staff integrity, attracting widely recognised authoritative international speakers, educators, and thought pioneers, and setting a new standard for worldwide educators and students alike. It has showcased the BU brand and commitment to academic (and research) integrity (of which we are proud).
Recognising that academic integrity is a fundamental philosophy within the HE sector, since the series started, other institutions recognised the need to build on this ground-breaking series and have since followed suit.
Tales of the Unexpected: Traps and Pitfalls in Academic Integrity webinar series is available on FLIE and can be found here:
1. Plagiarism in the Disrupted HE Landscape Dr Sarah Elaine Eaton (University of Calgary)
2. Contract Cheating: Solutions for Prevention and Identification Dr Thomas Lancaster (Imperial College, London)
3. Murky Waters of File Sharing Dr Brenda M Stoesz (University of Winnipeg)
4. Psychological Perspectives on Academic Misconduct Dr Guy Curtis (University of Western Australia)
5. Threats to Academic Integrity & How to Address Them Dr Irene Glendinning (Coventry University)
6. Artificial Intelligence & Academic Integrity Dr S E Eaton, Dr R W Brennan, Dr J Wiens, Dr B McDermott (University of Calgary)
7. Over-Represented Students in Academic Misconduct Dr Mary Davis (Oxford Brookes)
8. Slow & Steady: Establishing an Institutional Culture of Academic Integrity Lynn Cliplef, Mitchell Hengen, Caitlin Mumm, Josh Seeland (Assiniboine Community College, Manitoba)
9. Foundational Literacies & Academic Integrity Skills: Ideas for Supporting Students in an Artificial Intelligence Era Beatriz Moya, Leeanne Morrow (University of Calgary)
10. Towards a Continuum of Academic Misconduct Professor Bruce Macfarlane (University of Hong Kong)
11. The Student View of Contract Cheating Deborah Horrocks (Turnitin)
12. A Ghostwriter in the Machine: Academic Integrity Implications of Machine Translation and Generative AI Klaus Mundt, Mike Groves (University of Nottingham and Lingnan University, Hong Kong)
Last but not least, somewhere in the middle of the webinar series, Dr Steph Allen invited the President of the Law Society for England and Wales for An Evening with Lubna Shuja. An in-person event hosted by Department of Humanities & Law, the intimate evening event brought together the professions and students and was very much part of the Tales of the Unexpected: Academic Integrity Speaker Series and well received by the attendees.
Again, our thanks go to FLIE colleagues: Tracey Webb, Oliver Moore-Oats, David Hunt and all the FLIE team involved,
as well as our speakers, and attendees!
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The UK government remains in discussion on the UK’s involvement in EU research programmes and hopes that negotiations on Horizon Europe will be successful.
Jason, Katya, and Lesley for all your most generous contributions to this project so far, and for sharing your important experience, insight, and expertise.
Dr. Ashraf cited on ‘Modest Fashion’ in The Guardian
NIHR-funded research launches website
Academics write for newspaper in Nepal
MSCA Postdoctoral Fellowships 2025 Call
ERC Advanced Grant 2025 Webinar
Horizon Europe Work Programme 2025 Published
Horizon Europe 2025 Work Programme pre-Published
Update on UKRO services
European research project exploring use of ‘virtual twins’ to better manage metabolic associated fatty liver disease
