Participants wanted: Brain Networks of Sharing Attention
Latest research and knowledge exchange news at Bournemouth University
In light of the Greek national elections taking place in May 2023, BU academic Anastasia Veneti was interviewed by many international newspapers on her research on political campaigning and the use of social media.
Her latest interview was conducted by Francisco Peregil and Hibai Arbide Azan for the major Spanish newspaper El Pais. The interview was about the lead of current Greek PM Kyriakos Mitsotakis and the main parties’ communication strategies and can be read here.
Dr Veneti was also interviewed for the oldest and most established socialist newspaper in Greece, I Epochi. In this interview, she talked about political dilemmas as expressed in political discourse and the unfolding of the communication strategies of the main Greek political parties during the pre-electoral period.
Finally, Dr Veneti commented on the use of Tik Tok by Greek politicians in an interview with Vicki Katechaki for Kathimerini, a Greek newspaper with the widest circulation.
The following training events are coming up in June.
Please book now!
| Wednesday 7th June 2023, 13:00-15:00 Talbot Campus
Anatomy of an Impact Case Study This workshop is aimed at researchers who would like to learn what an excellent REF impact case study looks like and how to start building your own case study from scratch.
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| Thursday, 8th June 2023, 11:00 – 13:00 Online
· Understanding of the ESRC. · Knowledge of the requirements for the scheme. · Draft plan for developing an application. |
| Wednesday, 14th June 2023, 16:00-17:00 Hybrid session
The session will offer a space to discuss this growing issue as well as offer advice, guidance and support on how to manage, avoid and overcome such feelings. At the end of the session attendees will have achieved greater confidence in developing their career and profile. |
| Wednesday, 14th June, 10:00 – 16:00
BU Research Conference 2023: Embracing Failure, Building Success The BU Research Conference is back for 2023 and this year’s event will explore the concept of ‘failure’ in academia and building the resilience to overcome obstacles that may be in your path
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| 21-22-23/06/2023
Wednesday, 21st June 2023, 10.00 – 16.00 Online Thursday, 22nd June 2023, 08.55 – 16.45 Online Friday, 23rd June 2023, 08.45 – 16.45 Talbot Campus This workshop covers strategies for academic writing: writing to prompts, targeting a journal/specific criteria, types of prompt for academic writing, ‘snack writing’, goal-setting for writing, motivation, freewriting, generative writing, analysing academic writing, drafting and revising an abstract/summary, constructing a ‘contribution’ argument, using prompts in series, outlining, productive writing behaviours, wellbeing, writing groups, micro-groups and retreats. |
| Wednesday, 21st June, 14:00-16:00, Online
RKEDF – Real World Examples of Public Engagement · Useful knowledge into how successful public engagement are planned and delivered. · Skills in critically analysing public engagement with research projects. · Inspiring ideas that would translate into their own work and share with others · Confidence that public engagement is approachable and practical to deliver. |
| Friday, 23rd June, 10:00-16:30
Engaging with Parliament for Impact It will cover multiple ‘Common Routes to Influence’, including Government consultations, Select Committees, All Party Parliamentary Groups, think tanks etc. and the best ways to approach them. You will have an opportunity for stakeholder mapping and to plan your approach. |
| Thursday, 29th June, 13:00-15:00, Online
The Way of the Productivity Ninja In this practical, engaging, interactive and fun 2-hour online workshop you’ll learn how to utilize the mindset and tactics of the 9 Characteristics of the Productivity Ninja. |
To book a place please complete the booking form
If you have any queries please contact RKEDF@bournemouth.ac.uk
We would like to please draw your attention to a seminar organized by the Department of Psychology this Thursday 25th from 13.00 to 14.00 at the Inspire Lecture Theatre (Fusion Building).
The guest speaker is Dr Kia Nobre (Oxford University), invited by Dr Ben Parris.
Kia Nobre is a distinguished figure in cognitive neuroscience, renowned for her groundbreaking research contributions. She leads the Brain & Cognition Lab at the University of Oxford. Current research in her group investigates how the brain prioritises and selects information from sensory input and from memories, to build our psychological experience and guide human behaviour. In addition, they examine how these mechanisms develop over the lifespan and how they are disrupted in psychiatric and neurodegenerative disorders.
Her research combines behavioural methods with brain imaging and brain stimulation. During her prolific career, Prof. Nobre contributed to discovering brain areas specialised for word recognition and face processing, describing the functional neuroanatomy of the brain network for controlling spatial attention and characterizing the relationship between attention and memory.
Kia Nobre is one of the most recognised cognitive neuroscientists worldwide, you are all warmly invited to attend her talk.
Kind regards,
Ellen and Emili on behalf of all of us
Are you battling information overload? Email deluge? Wrestling with procrastination, interruption or distraction? Constantly feel like you are in reactive, “juggling” and “plate spinning” mode? Find it hard to maintain energy and focus, to properly unplug and switch off, or to make space for what really matters – or for yourself?
If any of that sounds familiar, we’ve got you some help!
We’ve partnered up with Think Productive who are bringing us their brilliant “The Way of the Productivity Ninja” workshop on Thursday 29th June 2023, from 1:00pm to 3:00pm.
In this practical, engaging, interactive and fun 2 hour online workshop you’ll learn how to utilize the mindset and tactics of the 9 Characteristics of the Productivity Ninja.
For over a decade, the Think Productive team have been helping people worldwide to get their stuff done, while looking after themselves and each other – and get that elusive balance between work and wellbeing that we’re all looking for. Especially over the last few years we’ve all faced new challenges and circumstances as the ways and places we’re working have changed radically, and we’re now all exploring together what the future of work might be like in the longer term.
In the session Lee Cottier will be sharing ideas, tips, tools and habits that will help unleash your inner Productivity Ninja. There’ll be an opportunity to reflect on what’s been going well, and where you might want to make some changes – plus an invitation and loads of inspiration to try out some new approaches. All this, and you’ll create your own personal Productivity Ninja Action Plan too. After the session all attendees will get an eBook version of the “How to be a Productivity Ninja” book.
To book a place on “The Way of the Productivity Ninja” workshop please complete the Booking Form
For any further questions on the session, please email: RKEDF@bournemouth.ac.uk
Today there was an interesting article in The Himalayan Times about Hari Budha Magar who became the world’s first double above-the-knee amputee to climb Mount Everest. He lost both his legs as a British Gurkha soldier, in the words of the newspaper put it “while fighting for the UK alongside Prince Harry in April 2010.” Budha Magar wants to inspire people with disabilities, and he highlights that disabilities are not sins of a previous life that people with disabilities are a burden.”
A decade ago we conducted research into attitudes towards disability in rural Nepal and found very similar notions [1]. At the time we wrote most participants only considered physical conditions that limit function of an individual and are visible to naked eyes, such as missing a leg or arm, to be disability. Attitudes towards people with disability were generally positive, for example most women believed that disabled people should have equal rights and should be allowed to sit on committees or get married. Most respondents thought that disability could result from: (i) accidents; (ii) medical conditions; or (iii) genetic inheritance. Fewer women thought that disability was caused by fate or bad spirits.
Prof. Edwin van Teijlingen
Centre for Midwifery & Women’s Health (CMWH)
References:
Simkhada, P. P., Shyangdan, D., Van Teijlingen, E. R., Kadel, S., Stephen, J., & Gurung, T. (2013). Women’s knowledge of and attitude towards disability in rural Nepal. Disability and Rehabilitation, 35(7), 606-613. https://doi.org/10.3109/09638288.2012.702847
We are back next week, 24th May at 12:00 and discussing the latest news from AHRC, the new funding system (TFS) that is replacing JeS and the requirements.
To remind you that the briefings are slightly changing, will now take place fortnightly. Every second briefing will include academic drop-in sessions for academics willing to ask specific questions to pre-award team members or simply to meet people and have a conversation with those providing bidding support. We will also welcome ideas about how to better organise briefing-like sessions for the next academic year.
Funding spotlights, as part of briefing sessions, will be organised once per month. There are many recordings and presentations from previous briefing sessions available on Brightspace and briefings’ Teams channel. We aim to update pre-award Brightspace content to make it more user friendly in terms of finding exactly what academics are looking for.
24/05/23 – briefing + spotlight: AHRC
07/06/23 – briefing + academic drop-in session
21/06/23 – briefing + spotlight: Marie Curie Fellowships
05/07/23 – briefing + academic drop-in session
19/07/23 – briefing + spotlight: Royal Society
Here is the link for joining remaining briefing sessions (except 26/04/23): Click here to join the meeting
The Advance HE Postgraduate Research Experience Survey (PRES) has just closed and 40% of our PGRs provided feedback on their experiences at Bournemouth University.
This year, we are running a parallel survey for supervisors which asks a similar range of questions to PRES to also give supervisors a voice, and to provide balance and/or support to the issues raised by the PGRs.
The survey covers topics including PGR supervision; resources/research culture; progress/assessment; responsibilities; support for PGRs; research skills/personal development; and opportunities/overall experience.
Your experiences will be combined with those of other PGR supervisors to help us to understand the overall picture more clearly from the supervisors’ perspective, and the combined views of PGR supervisors will be considered alongside the views of the PGRs being reported in the PRES. The responses will be analysed and reported as appropriate.
Participation is optional but we would very much appreciate your feedback to help us further review and improve the support available for our PGRs.
To complete the survey, which closes at 5pm on Wednesday 31 May 2023, please click on the following link: https://bournemouth.onlinesurveys.ac.uk/pres-sup-2023.
Your involvement will be to complete this short anonymous online. The online survey will take approximately 6 minutes to complete.
If you have any questions, please contact Doctoral College.
Join Faye Watson as she helps you build a toolkit of skills to get started with public engagement. She’ll take you through understanding your audience, to utilise a design process to brainstorm your ideas through to evaluating your events and activities.
A perfect session for any researchers involved with public Engagement or wanting to dip their toes in the water.
Faye is an expert in all things public engagement, having run community outreach programmes, citizen science initiatives and all manner of creative engagement projects.
Don’t miss out on the chance to be part of COMMunity, the research communication network that empowers you to find your voice and amplify your impact.
Monday 22 May 4-5pm
This 1 hour online session is aimed at research staff and students but all are welcome to join.
You are invited to a two-hour ‘Workshop on Health Systems in Nepal’ at Bournemouth University (BU) on Thursday 25th May in the Bournemouth Gateway Building (BGB room 315) starting at 14.00, aiming to finish at 16.00. We have the pleasure of welcoming three academic visitors from Manmohan Memorial Institute of Health Sciences (MMIHS) in Kathmandu who are at BU on an Erasmus+ exchange.
‘Prof. Sujan Marahatta, Dr. Sujata Sapkota and Dr. Sujan Gautam from MMIHS are part of an international project examining the consequences for the health system of Nepal’s move to a federal government structure. This project, launched in 2020 at the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic, is led by the University of Sheffield, in collaboration with BU, the University of Huddersfield, PHASE Nepal and MMIHS. This nearly four-year project is UK-funded by the MRC (Medical Research Council), the Wellcome Trust and DFID (now called Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office [FCDO]) under the Health Systems Research Initiative.
The project has resulted in several publications, all in Open Access journals. The first of three papers introduced the research project ‘The impact of federalisation on Nepal’s health system: a longitudinal analysis’ [1], the second focused on COVID-19 when examining the effects of changing Nepal’s constitution towards a federal republic on its health system [2], and the third one highlighted Public Health approaches around the ongoing federalisation of the state of Nepal and the associated decentralisation processes in its health system [3].
Prof. Edwin van Teijlingen
Centre for Midwifery & Women’s Health (formerly CMMPH)
References:
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 Sarah Upson on Tuesday 6 June from 6:30 – 8:00pm.
Repairing bodies with tissue engineering

Many parts of the body cannot effectively renew and repair themselves, for various reasons. This is where tissue engineering and regenerative medicine could step in; to repair, replace or renew tissues in the body.
These techniques may sound futuristic, but they are increasingly being used to change our approach to medicine and aging. New 3D-printed biomaterials can be implanted into the body, enabling tissue re-growth or the complete replacement of damaged tissues. Join Dr Sarah Upson, an expert in biomaterials at Bournemouth University, to discover the latest research and what these new technologies could mean for medicine and society.
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.
If you have any questions about this event, or you’re interested in getting involved with a future Café Sci event, please email the Public Engagement with Research Team: publicengagement@bournemouth.ac.uk
On May 19, BU researchers in the Centre for Comparative Politics and Media Research | Bournemouth University, Alina Dolea, Tabitha Baker and Dawid Pekalski, are organizing an interactive knowledge exchange workshop with local stakeholders to facilitate sharing of experiences and best practices in supporting refugees, asylum seekers and migrants in Dorset.
Academics researching issues of displacement and forced migration across BU will be joined by representatives from Dorset Council, BCP Council, Citizen advice, Public Health Dorset, International Care Network, British Red Cross, Migrant Help UK, Dorset Race Equality Council, as well as other local groups and stakeholders.
One objective of the workshop is to understand the dimensions of displacement and migration in the BCP and Dorset area, mapping the programs run, but also the issues faced by the councils and the different organisations in their work with refugees, asylum seekers and other migrant communities. Another objective is to understand, also from the beneficiaries’ perspective, their needs, gaps and current issues they are facing. Together we aim to get to know more about each other’s work, discuss and reflect on the national and local policies, programs, networks of support and integration that are in place.
Our overall goal for the day is to identify areas of collaborations so that we as academics and researchers can help and actively contribute to the current infrastructure of support and integration. The collaboration can range from volunteering and exploring placement opportunities for our students, co-creating projects, and organizing joint events, to delivering applied workshops and trainings, as well as providing research insights to inform policy making.
More details about the workshop are available here: Supporting refugees, asylum seekers and migrants in Dorset Tickets, Fri 19 May 2023 at 10:00 | Eventbrite
Did you know you can send in your ITB before the 4 week minimum deadline!
The sooner you send in your ITB, the quicker we can get your enquiry registered on our system and allocate you the necessary support. Even if you don’t have the full details we can still start the process.
Essentially we need:
The ITB is just the trigger to start the application process.
If you have any questions, please contact your relevant Funding Development Officer – Kerri Jones (FST), Sara Mundy (BUBS), Jacqui Timms (HSS) and Jo Schofield (FMC).
Remember the early ITB catches the funding worm !!!
On 10th May 2023 we welcomed our regular group of local older people and practitioners to the ADRC coffee morning. In this session, we heard about collaborative work on the impact of drumming on health and wellbeing. Firstly, Dr Kim Brown from Nature Therapy Community Interest Company (CIC) introduced her work aimed at building sensory resilience with unique arts-based projects involving horses, wolves, forests, the sea, medicine wheel, labyrinths, and art and music including drumming. The research team (Dr Michelle Heward, Dr Caroline Ellis-Hill, and Lyndsey Bradley) then shared findings from a research project focused on drumming with people with dementia (for more detail see paragraph below). The group then had a go at drumming – it was very lively, and everyone enjoyed taking part!

Drumming for dementia research
Nature Therapy have developed a level one Drumming for Dementia online course, to support family carers and care staff in health and social care settings to use drumming with people with dementia. The research project involved evaluating the impact of the course in care and home environments and was funded by the Burdett Trust for Nursing ‘Small Grants 2020 programme’. The findings demonstrate that it is possible to gain confidence to practice drumming with people with dementia through the level one course provided by Nature Therapy CIC. And that these have led to positive impacts in terms of reduced agitation and greater engagement for those living with dementia.
To access the course visit https://www.naturetherapyonline.com/ click on ‘more’ and then ‘drumming for dementia course’.
For more information about the study please email adrc@bournemouth.ac.uk
Future ADRC coffee mornings
ADRC coffee mornings are a forum for local people, practitioners, and researchers to meet to discuss ideas for research and share research findings. They take place on the second Wednesday of the month and are mostly virtual with an occasional face to face session. If you would like to present your research to the group at a future coffee morning, please contact adrc@bournemouth.ac.uk
Dr Hari Mohan Pandey is a recipient of the 2022 Best Paper Award (visit: https://www.journals.elsevier.com/neural-networks/awards/announcement-of-the-neural-networks-2022-best-paper-award):
“Cross-modality paired-images generation and augmentation for RGB-infrared person re-identification”
This paper is published in Neural Networks, volume 128, pp. 294-304, August 2020. The paper can be accessed at: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.neunet.2020.05.008
The Neural Networks Best Paper Award recognizes a single outstanding paper published in Neural Networks annually.
We would like to invite you ALL to our very exciting CELEBRATION EVENT on 17th May 2023 in BG-302.
We have been exploring disabled, chronically ill, visually impaired and neurodivergent people’s experiences of cancer services. We also explored how using the community research model can provide a level of shared understanding between researchers and community members to enable the capture of the perspectives of individuals currently underserved by health and social care research.
This project was commissioned by Macmillan Cancer Support and Wessex Cancer Alliance, and overseen by Involving People – Help & Care, Bournemouth University’s Public Involvement in Education and Research (PIER) partnership and the Research Centre for Seldom Heard Voices.
At this event, we will be sharing the outcomes of our research project, with opportunities to take a look at the report, a film which has been developed using the attendee’s artistic creations for the visuals, with the experiences they shared in a voiceover, and to engage in a creative arts workshop. A variation of healthcare professionals, academics and those with lived experience have been invited to this event, so we can all discuss the success of the project, as well as what more needs to be done.
Everyone is welcome and there will be refreshments!
Please get in touch with Stevie Corbin-Clarke (scorbinclarke@bournemouth.ac.uk) with any queries.
The British Academy has launched a pilot funding scheme to support ambitious projects to engage the public with the humanities and social sciences. It is called SHAPE Involve and Engage.
These awards, up to £8,000, offer an exciting opportunity for humanities and social sciences researchers to push boundaries and seek imaginative new ways to engage with the public. They are looking for researchers from across the UK to deliver innovative public engagement projects working in partnership with a gallery, archive, library or museum (GLAM organisation).
This pilot programme offers the opportunity to think outside the box, test a new approach and be ambitious in your approach to engaging a public audience with your research.
As part of the programme, a ‘community of practice’ workshop will be hosted for successful applicants in early September. Alongside sessions on evaluation and working with your audiences, award holders will have the opportunity to share their plans with other workshop attendees. You will act as critical friends and sounding boards, sharing ideas, giving feedback and troubleshooting possible challenges, and forming a network of support through the duration of the project development and delivery.
The programme will:
The British Academy are searching for creative academics who want to experiment with their engagement work and find new ways to share their research with a public audience.
The call is open to any researcher based in the UK who meets the conditions of the call. You do not have to have received funding from the British Academy previously. Successful award recipients are expected to have some prior public engagement experience, but we welcome applicants from a diverse range of backgrounds, experiences, expertise and career stages.
Please note that if you will hold a Mid-Career Fellowship or Wolfson Fellowship which will be active between October 2023 and October 2024 you are not eligible to apply, because these awards include support for public engagement and your engagement activities should be delivered using the funding from your existing award.
Up to £8,000.
This is a pilot programme with funding from the Department for Science, Innovation and Technology and is funded for 2023-24 only.
Funding provided through this scheme cannot be used to cover the cost of replacement teaching, payment in lieu of salary or computer equipment or hardware. The scheme is not covered within the FEC regime – the £8,000 awards are available to the award holder only for direct expenses to deliver the public engagement project. For full details of eligible costs, please see the scheme guidance notes, Flexi-Grant application instructions and terms and conditions.
The duration of the award is flexible. Proposed activities could range from a one-off event, to an ongoing series of engagement activities taking place over a number of months. However, all activities should take place between October 2023 and October 2024.
Please refer to the scheme guidance for more information about the awards scheme. You can also find detailed instructions for completing the application form in the Flexi-Grant application instructions. Further details about the terms of scheme, including eligible costs, can be found in the scheme terms and conditions.
This funding is subject to the same internal processes as external research funding. Before applying, interested PIs (Principle Investigators) should submit a completed e-ITB form (Intention to Bid) by 4 weeks before the deadline.
Application deadline: Wednesday 28 June 2023, 17:00 GMT