Latest research and knowledge exchange news at Bournemouth University
Professor Dimitrios Buhalis is organising
THE MEDITERRANEAN TOURISM KNOWLEDGE EXCHANGE AND POLICY FORUM 2023
MED LIFE: TOURISM HOSPITALITY AND WELLBEING TOWARDS 2030
In collaboration with the Tourism Review
MALTA Tuesday 21-Wednesday 22 November 2023 Hilton Hotel St Julian’s Malta
followed by the 7th Mediterranean Tourism Forum on the 23rd November.
CALL FOR PAPERS https://easychair.org/cfp/MEDLife2023
MED LIFE: TOURISM HOSPITALITY AND WELLBEING TOWARDS 2030
This weekend saw the publication of our paper ‘ Perceptions around COVID-19 and vaccine hesitancy: A qualitative study in Kaski district, Western Nepal’ in the international journal PLOS Global Public Health. [1] This paper reports on a qualitative in-depth study comprising nineteen interviews in the city of Pokhara and its surrounding rural areas. In the interviews people expressed fears about COVID-19, and adherence to public health measures such as social distancing and warring masks. The interviewees generally saw the COVID-19 vaccine as solution but mentioned the vaccine’s potential lack of effectiveness, the uncertain duration of protection and its side-effects.
This paper adds to a growing volume of public health papers on COVID-19 in Nepal or Nepalese people living in the UK written by Bournemouth University academics. [2-11] These papers are co-authored with colleagues based in Nepal and in the UK. They include Nepalese academics based at the University of Sheffield, Royal Holloway, the University of Huddersfield, The University of Greenwich
Prof. Edwin van Teijlingen
Centre for Midwifery, Maternal & Perinatal Health
References:
Public Engagement with Research Network Meeting: Public Engagement as Research
Wednesday 22 February
10-11am
BG217
Join the next meeting of the Public Engagement with Research Network. Find out how you can use public engagement activities to carry out new research with your public participants. We’ll look at how to seamlessly integrate research into your activity, how to navigate ethics requirements and what this process can do for your work. Professor Debbie Holley and Dr Holly Henderson will share their experience of doing research with children and adults as part of a fun family activity day for the ESRC Festival of Social Science 2022.
Please contact the team if you would like more information about the meeting, or if you would like to become a member.
Public Engagement with Research Network Meeting – Helping you apply for the ESRC Festival of Social Science 2023
Wednesday 29 March
10-11am
Online
We are dedicating this meeting of the Public Engagement with Research Network to helping you apply for the ESRC Festival of Social Science 2023, an annual celebration of the social sciences. In this session we’ll explain more about the festival and how to apply through our internal process – opening on Monday 27 March. We’ll also hear from Dr Maxine Gee and Dr Rachel Moseley who have previously held events and activities as part of the festival. They will share their experiences and advice.
Find out more about the ESRC Festival of Social Science, including who is eligible to apply and how much funding and support you could receive.
Please contact the team if you would like more information about the meeting, or if you would like to become a member.
Before the pandemic, local school children had a local facility near Wallisdown called SafeWise. SafeWise supported children learning about keeping safe and in particular road safety. However, during the pandemic this facility closed, leaving children without such an important resource. In collaboration with Colin Parnell from Centre VR, Dr Sarah Hodge (from the Department of Psychology) was awarded a bid by Bournemouth, Christchurch, and Poole (BCP) Council to develop a VR simulation/game about road safety skills; SaferKids VR.
The educational simulation/game was designed and created, with an interdisciplinary team, including psychologists, and game developers and programmers. The team of game developers and programmers, consisted of two BU graduates Sam Walsh and Josh Maddocks, as well as Andrew Ham. Since graduating from his Masters degree, Sam has led the team on the SaferKids VR development. 
Within SaferKids VR, there was the creation of SKIE: Safer Kids Interactive Expert (robot pictured above). SKIE supports the player in VR, navigating the friendly real-life interactive virtual world and achieving learning goals and road safety skills. In the United States, every year, thousands of people are injured as a result of someone else’s negligence. You can read this article to know what to do if you ever get into an accident.
Schools can sign up for their pupils to be involved.
For more information on the project please see the link https://centrevr.co.uk/saferkidsvr/ or contact shodge@bournemouth.ac.uk
Please tell us about your social, cultural and community events for the period 1 August 2022 – 31 July 2023
This data forms part of BU’s annual Higher Education – Business & Community Interaction survey and is used to calculate our Higher Education Innovation Funding (HEIF) grant. It also feeds into our submission to the Knowledge Exchange Framework (KEF) so it is really important for us to provide a full and accurate picture of all our public engagement.
If you’re not sure if your event is eligible for inclusion, take a look at the SharePoint site which includes further details and guidance.
For the purposes of the HE-BCI survey, please record the following:
All events that were part of the ESRC Festival of Social Science 2022, Online Public Lecture Series and Café Scientifique have been collated on your behalf centrally, so there is no need to add these.
We would encourage you to add your new data regularly throughout the year, while the details are easily recalled.
The SharePoint site provides details about what data is collected, including how to calculate attendee numbers, staff time, reporting online activities and multiple related events.
If you have any further questions about the HE-BCI return, please contact publicengagement@bournemouth.ac.uk.
RDS will host the annual UK Research Office virtual visit to BU on 26 April 2023. This will be organised as part of funding briefing series but will start at 12:30.
Please make a note in your diaries – all academic staff interested in Horizon Europe framework programme and EU funding in general, either experienced or new to it, are invited to attend this session. The session will be hosted by RDS and led by our UKRO European Advisor Ms Malgorzata Czerwiec from Brussels.
Meeting agenda and instructions how to join the meeting will follow. However, it’s definite that the main discussion will be about UK’s association to Horizon Europe. Later in March or April this year it may be clear if we associate or go for government’s plan B. The agenda will be adjusted accordingly.
For now, I still would like to encourage our academic colleagues to apply for Horizon Europe funding. So far, we have been really successful with 6 awarded Horizon Europe grants – three in 2022 and other three just now in the beginning of 2023, including highly prestigious European Research Council’s Consolidator Grant.
UKRO delivers subscription-based advisory service for research organisations and provides Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions (MSCA) and European Research Council (ERC) National Contact Point services in the UK. As part of UKRO services, BU members of staff may sign up to receive personalised email alerts and get early access to the EU funding related publications on UKRO portal. More about UKRO services you can find here.
Please contact Research Facilitator International Ainar Blaudums if you have further questions.
Charlotte Clayton, a PhD student supervised by Professor Ann Hemingway, Dr Mel Hughes and Dr Stella Rawnson, recently spoke about her doctoral research with Professor Trixie McAree as part of a Maternity and Midwifery Hour. Charlotte’s research is exploring the Pregnancy and Postnatal Experiences, and birth outcomes of women and babies Living on a Low-income, and the role of continuity models of midwifery care in the reduction of health inequalities. A recording of the Charlotte’s contribution to the meeting can be viewed HERE. Congratulations Charlotte.
The Centre for Applied Creative Technologies (CfACTs) is recruiting three research fellows to form the second CfACTs cohort. The research fellow will be an employee of Bournemouth University UK, and embark on a two-year programme of world-leading digital creative technology research and training, provided by CfACTs and its industry Partner Organisations (POs) including SIE- Playstation and Framestore. Find out more about specific research themes provided by CfACTs POs.
The academic expertise underpinning CfACTs is sourced from BU’s world-class National Centre for Computer Animation (NCCA) and as required, other BU centres of research excellence including the Centre for Games and Music Research; the Orthopaedic Research Institute; the Centre for Archaeology and Anthropology, and the Institute of Medical Imaging and Visualisation.
CfACTs is co-funded by European Union Horizon 2020 Marie Skłodowska-Curie grant agreement No 900025.
The CfACTs fellowships follow the specification and requirements of the standard fellowships of the MSCA.
To be eligible to apply an applicant must meet the requirements outlined and;
Please share these Post Doctoral Opportunities with your research network.
For more information click here.
For application support or additional questions please email cfacts-enquiries@bournemouth.ac.uk quoting Ref FMC303.
Whether you are a new supervisor, you plan to be one, or you have experience but are new to Bournemouth University, this development workshop is for you.
The workshop, which is mandatory for new supervisors, offers the necessary knowledge to supervise Postgraduate Research students by placing this knowledge within both the internal and external regulatory framework.
This workshop will cover the following key areas:
Book your place onto one of the Doctoral Supervision: New Supervisors Development workshops below. Further details about this workshop can also be found on the staff intranet.
| Date | Time | Location | Booking |
| Thursday 23 February 2023 | 10:00 – 14:30 | Online | Book |
| Wednesday 22 March 2023 | 10:00 – 14:30 | Lansdowne Campus | Book |
| Tuesday 16 May 2023 | 10:00 – 14:30 | Talbot Campus | Book |
We will be welcoming your proposals for the upcoming BA/Leverhulme Small grants call!
The below deadlines will be in place to ensure that the pre-award team can provide all interested academics with optimal support in a timely manner.
Please see below our timelines and the updated process.
|
Wed 22nd Feb 2023
Wed 22nd Feb 2023- 5th April |
RDS British Academy Guidance session
Join us to review the guidance and then start work on your application; Slides and proposal form will be available after the session on Brightspace.
Work on your proposal and once ready, forward to RDS. |
| 5th April 2023 | Call Opens – latest date to send your proposal to RDS for peer review. |
| 5th April- 17th April 2023 | Proposal reviews, RDS will inform you of your peer review results and advice on next steps. |
| 24th April 2023 | Intention to bid form latest date to be submitted, only for peer reviewed applications that have been advised to progress.
Remember to advise your referee that you will be sending them your completed application on FlexiGrant and they will need to provide their supporting statement by 26th May. |
| 24th April 2023 | If you are Grade 8 or below and you wish to use the support of an External Application Reviewer (EAR), you must submit your draft application to RDS by this date. |
| 24th May 2023 | Nominated referee supporting statement to be completed via FlexiGrant
Note that the earlier you complete you application on FlexiGrant, the more time the referee will have to review your bid and provide the supporting statement. |
| 24th May May 2023 | Your final application must be submitted on FlexiGrant by this date at the latest.
Click ‘submit’ and the form will be sent to BU’s account for RDS checks. |
| 24th – 31st May 2023 | Institutional checks to take place by RDS
RDS will work with you to ensure compliance with all funder’s requirements. |
The interactive unit involves exploring and evaluating a range of models and approaches to public involvement in research with members of the BU PIER (Public Involvement in Education and Research) Partnership. Specific emphasis will be placed on strategies for engaging and collaborating with marginalised groups and tailoring a strategy and approach to meet your own research needs.
At Café Scientifique, you can explore the latest ideas in science and technology in a relaxed setting. Enjoy listening to a short talk before engaging in debate and discussion with our guest speaker and audience.
We’ll be joined by Dr Tara Zaksaite on Tuesday 7 March from 6:30 – 8:00pm
Emotion and its effects on spatial memory
Spatial memory is our ability to remember where things are, for example remembering where you put down your keys, or where you met a friend. Interestingly, our spatial memory is stronger when we have an emotional connection to a place or object.
But do we better remember things with positive associations or negative? And can we turn this around and use the power of emotions to improve our spatial memory?
Join Dr Tara Zaksaite, a cognitive psychologist and a lecturer in psychology at Bournemouth University, to discover how your spatial memory works and to ask your questions.
This event will be held at The Black Cherry in Boscombe, Bournemouth. Although the talk starts at 6:30pm, the café will be open early, so we encourage you to arrive early for a drink and a bite to eat before the talk starts.
Attendance is free but booking is required
A while ago I published a blog about opportunities to join COST | European Cooperation in Science and Technology actions, you can read the article here.
The University of Leeds, in collaboration with the COST Association, will host an in-person COST Information Day & Networking Event on Thursday, 23 March 2023 from 9:30 to 14:00.
This event will provide researchers with information on COST Actions and how to submit a COST proposal. It will also outline the impact of participating in COST Actions on researchers’ careers, highlighting specific opportunities for young researchers.
Speakers will include a representative from the COST Association, who will present the COST Programme, and Leeds researchers, who will share their experiences from participation in COST actions. There will be an opportunity to ask questions in a dedicated Q&A session, and to network with other attendees.
The event will be recorded and the video will be published on the University of Leeds events page.
Further information, including the full agenda and the registration link, can be found on the event registration webpage.
Please note that those interested to participate in person will have to seek options for covering travel costs in their faculties; event itself is free of charge.
If you plan to get involved in a COST Action, please get in touch with your RDS Funding Development Officer.
Peer review is the the key pillar of academic publishing. Peer reviewers will read the submitted paper and assess its knowledge contribution, the appropriateness of the research question, the ethical considerations, the quality of the research methods used and the appropriateness of the discussion, conclusion, and recommendations in the manuscript. [1] It is worth bearing in mind that most peer reviewers are unpaid volunteers, academics like us who review for journals over and above the day job.[2] For the authors peer reviewers can give excellent feedback. Harvey and colleagues remind their readers that peer reviewers reading your manuscript with a fresh pair of eyes, can lead to them raising great questions and offering useful comments. In short, reviewers’ reservations and misunderstandings can help you to rephrase and better focus your paper. [3]
However, what the review process does not do is picking up every possible minor mistake and typo in a paper. I was reminded of this last week when I read a peer-reviewed paper in which the basic demographics table (the characteristics of the study participants) did not add up to 100%. Luckily, the same authors (who shall remain nameless) published a different paper from the same study in another quality journal, which allowed me to check the numbers. Interestingly, the second paper in another peer-reviewed journal had the same mistake. In the end I ended up writing to two different editors pointing out this anomaly. The editors contacted the authors who have since promised to rectify the mistake.
Something similar has also happened to us. Occasionally I reread one of our articles in a good journal and wonder about some of the unclear sentences or poorly expressed grammar or style. Neither the editor nor the peer-reviewers spotted it nor did my co-authors and I noticed these mistakes in the paper proofs.
Prof. Edwin van Teijlingen
CMMPH (Centre for Midwifery, Maternal & Perinatal Health)
References:
As part of the Erasmus+ exchange, Professors Vanora Hundley and Carol Clark were recently invited to discuss the importance of communication with nurses at
Manmohan Memorial Hospital in Kathmandu, Nepal.
Good communication is a vital part of quality of care, but something that can be neglected when wards are busy and nurses are handling numerous tasks.
Participants in the session came from a range of areas within the hospital from medical-surgical wards, emergency room, through to outpatients’ department. 
However, all reported that finding time to stop and listen to patients could be a challenge when the hospital was busy. The group participated in a number of exercises, which included role-playing to understand how it feels to be a patient entering the hospital.
Later Vanora and Carol were able to visit the research facilities to understand how recruitment and randomisation to vaccine trials is being handled in Manmohan Memorial Hospital. 
Dr Sujan Marahatta explained the process and discussed how the hospital was contributing to this important research.
Finally, a visit to the physiotherapy department provided the opportunity to discuss collaborative research in women’s health.
Are you interested in appreciative inquiry mindset and approaches and joining a BU group?
Mel Hughes, Susanne Clarke, Rachel Arnold, Matt Simpson Orlanda Harvey and Tilia Lenz have formed a new cross university group. The main purpose is to connect with each other to grow new research, identify some potential opportunities regarding training, workshops, CPD and knowledge exchange.
Please contact Assoc Prof, Dr Mel Hughes (mhughes@bournemouth.ac.uk) for further details.
Professor Dimitrios Buhalis of International Centre for Tourism and Hospitality Research at Bournemouth University was glad to contribute with an interview to the Chinese News Service on the Chinese tourism rebound.
http://www.ecns.cn/news/cns-wire/2023-02-07/detail-ihckmzxh9372916.shtml
The tourism industry accounts for about 10 to 12 percent of the global GDP, according to Prof. Dimitrios Buhalis, director of the eTourism Lab and vice-director of the International Center for Tourism and Hospitality Research (ICTHR) at Bournemouth University.
The more people have the ability to travel, the more they can contribute to the global economy, he said, adding that apart from leisure tourism, China’s burgeoning business tourism industry is also a huge market.
Prof. Buhalis believes China’s tourism industry will exceed the pre-pandemic level, although it’s going to take a little bit of time. After so many visits to China, he noticed the zeal of Chinese people for traveling and experiencing the world.
Two days ago one of the participants of our British Academy funded Academic Writing Workshops announced on Facebook that the paper, we had helped her put together, had been published in a peer-reviewed journal. It is satisfying to see the fruits of our labours in print following two sets of three-day workshops in Kathmandu and Pokhara. The team running the 2022 workshop comprised three Faculty of Health & Social Sciences’ (FHSS) staff: Dr. Shovita Dhakal Adhikari, Dr. Pramod Regmi, and Prof. Edwin van Teijlingen, and our colleague Dr. Rashmee Rajkarnikar at Nepal’s oldest and largest university (Tribhuvan University) and BU’s Visiting Faculty Dr. Emma Pitchforth, who is Senior Lecturer and Senior Research Fellow in Primary Care at the University of Exeter. Dr. Shovita Adhikari has since left Bournemouth University to become Senior Lecturer in Criminology & Sociology at London Metropolitan University.
Over the years our team has published a wide range of papers on many aspects of academic writing [1-38]. The authors include: Prof. Vanora Hundley [3-5,8-9,14,16-19,21,23,28-33,36], Dr. Orlanda Harvey [2,22, ], Dr. Pramod Regmi [2,7,13-14,17,22,24-25 ], Dr. Rachel Arnold [20], Dr. Alison Taylor, Dr. Nirmal Aryal [14,24], Prof. Edwin van Teijlingen, PhD student Mrs. Sulochana Dhakal-Rai [8] all in FHSS, Prof. Ann Luce in the Media School [5] and Dr. Shanti Shanker in the Department of Psychology [6] as well as several BU Visiting Faculty: Dr. Brijesh Sathian [1,7-8,21,31,34], Dr. Shovita Dhakal Adhiikari [24-25 ], Dr. Preeti Mahato [11,20, ], Prof. Padam Simkhada [3-4,6,8-9,13,16-19,21,23,25-31,34 ], Dr. Emma Pitchforth [11-12,37], Prof. Bhimsen Devkota [12,16 ], Prof. Sujan Marahatta [7], Dr. Bibha Simkhada [9,14,25,27,29] and Ms. Jillian Ireland [8,20,22,27,31].
References:
BU staff can login below:
UK Turing Scheme: My student mobility programme in Nepal
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Health promotion paper read 8,000 times
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European research project exploring use of ‘virtual twins’ to better manage metabolic associated fatty liver disease
Research Information Network
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Horizon Europe 2025 Work Programme pre-Published