“Smart” homes, cities, and motorways, the Internet of Things, and Digital Twins are just some of the 21st century phenomena fast becoming – if not yet a ubiquitous reality on the (Western) ground – at least now common parlance, and no aspect of our lived experience and myriad environments remains untouched by such technologies. As you will be aware, your research – in whatever field you specialise – is not unaffected by these developments. Our Animation, Simulation and Visualisation (ASV) Network literally and virtually plugs into these digital drivers and interfaces, now forming an expanding transdisciplinary group populated by talented, research-active academics from all BU faculties and several research centres, and sharing a commitment to growing high-end, collaborative, fundamental and applied research at BU.
Included in the network are our internationally reputable National Centre for Computer Animation (NCCA) and the Disaster Management Centre (DMC) – both renowned for sterling achievements in their fields – and our more recently launched Institute for the Modelling of Socio-Environmental Transitions (IMSET), and Institute for Medical Imaging and Visualisation (IMIV), who already have a raft of invigorating projects in the pipeline. They are exemplars of the scope and impact of ASV-based or deployed research, and mentioned here to fire up your enthusiasm to explore ASV and ponder how this strategic investment area may be relevant to or harnessed for your research. The strategic mission of the ASV network is to orient the valuable research projects undertaken by BU academics, their partners and stakeholders towards current “real-world” problems which require innovative solutions.
Whether it is entertainment and the pandemic-induced move towards virtual production, the rapidly-evolving digitisation of education, public health or environmental crisis management, the democratisation of medical self-surveillance, state-of-the-art ASV medical diagnostics, AR/VR-enhanced surgical training, virtual access to natural and cultural heritage, inter alia, ASV features in much of the research and practices, products and outputs immanent to these areas of knowledge and expertise. As well as conceptualising, supporting and securing funding for transdisciplinary projects, the ASV network seeks to nurture ECRs and MCRs in their career progression and encourage BU academics to network and explore ambitious, mutually beneficial cross-fertilisations from an ASV perspective which they may not have considered previously.
If you wish to explore how you might become involved in the mission, aims and objectives of the ASV strategic investment area, and ascertain how you might strategically tailor your research for the common good by becoming part of this broad-based, vibrant and dynamic network, please contact me, Nicolette, at nbliebchen@bournemouth.ac.uk, or via MS Teams for an informal chat.
To pique your interest in the strategic investment areas in general, do have a look at the SIA Expression of Interest call for Game-Changing Concepts on the BU Research Blog (on which you shall also find the EoI template: deadline 30 April 2021)
Category / BU Challenges
Embedding UN SDGs in Teaching Entrepreneurship at BU
A few days ago I noticed a post on the BU Staff Intranet about the Fourth Annual Global Goals Teach In, where, as educators, we can pledge to embed the UN Sustainable Development Goals in our teaching practice for 2 weeks between 22 February and 5 March 2021. It made my heart skip a beat thinking now is the time to make education more holistic! To not just arm our students with the best possible degree for their future careers but to empower them to be change makers.
Education is fundamental to shifting attitudes and make us feel we can be the change we want to see. The term ‘university entrepreneurship‘ is strongly in favour of the school of thought that enterprise development or entrepreneurial action is nurtured within the academic environment, allowing latent entrepreneurial ambitions to flourish! For the last few years I have been privileged to lead the Entrepreneurship and Business Ventures module in the final year at Bournemouth University Business School. Within the constraints of the time, curriculum and resources, we aim to run this module as a mini in-class incubation hub through ideation support; mentoring support through industry connections; guest speakers; networking events and many more. Each year, based on a personal commitment to sustainable collective action for the planet and humanity and spurred on by the encouraging global trends towards start-ups that espouse the triple bottom line (Economic, Social and Environmental), we designed a curriculum to support student entrepreneurship focusing on the economic viability centred around social/environmental sustainability. Because sustainability makes business sense, it is not merely altruism, it leads to competitive advantage, earning newer market segments and creates longevity and legacy for a business.
The UN SDGs make the task of embedding a sustainability agenda in the curriculum easier to do and also easier to understand the trajectory in which our small steps can add to the solutions of the grand problems. Often the discussions on sustainability, from a small business perspective, sounds like a costly goal to achieve and in this difficult economic times, sounds like an absurd suggestion when businesses cannot even survive the external forces. But this is where embedding sustainability within the core values of the business can actually help it weather the proverbial storm better. Sustainability, not as an appendage, but in the core of the business, within its business vision, mission, model, supply chain can ensure longevity. and once we become conscious of the power of responsible, conscious capitalism, the change we hope to see begins to take shape!
What would you do, if faced with a choice of buying a box of chocolates from one that is reliant on a supply chain riddled with historical and existing cocoa plantation slave labour (that you are aware of), and others (priced at a point higher than the former) trying to make that very difficult shift from the norm? As educators we have a huge responsibility of empowering the next generation start-up founders to open their eyes to the strength of action taken in favour of sustainability and the UN SDGs provide us with a toolkit to translate that message more effectively. For me, this journey started in the year 2014-15 with the first Social Enterprise Event day at Bournemouth University which was a networking and opportunity seeking platform for our students on this module to connect with socially focused entrepreneurs. I was not aware of the upcoming UN SDGs then and once I did, the whole action became that much more easy to plan and deliver including student-led projects, 4 Global Entrepreneurship Week events across two academic years- 2019/20 and 2020/21 (focussing on student experience and learning at BU) ; the creation of BU Social Entrepreneurs Forum and many more.
Sure, there are many other excellent frameworks we refer to and discuss including the B-Corps redefining success ( a personal favourite), Circular Economy underpinned by a transition to renewable energy ( a must have) Social Enterprises (another personal favourite), the CSR model and more but none that draw our attention so starkly to the global challenges as the UN SDGs. And recognising, that each incremental step we take, through our education practice and assessment, can add to the solutions to those grand challenges, is in itself a very sobering and empowering feeling.
And this is what I am privileged to witness in my classroom of 100+ students. Last year 2019-20 we worked with business organisations, with a core commitment to sustainable action, designing and developing business plan/business model solutions for them and this year and last, students, individually, worked on developing an original idea for a start-up underpinned by commitment to one or more UN SDGs.
How I wish I could share some of the posters, the pitches they did live/offline and the background research without infringing Intellectual Property! These ideas are needed! They are are time relevant, robustly underpinned by market research, with a clear focus on economic viability and sustainable actions and some of them, disruption of the existing industries they are entering. Some of them, whether they be an app to support Goal 5 Gender Equality; making fashion circular; empowering body image positivity through tech based solutions (Goal 3, Goal 5); sustainable home improvements; reducing food waste (Goals 1 and 2.); ideas stemming from personally recognised unmet needs yet so powerful for a global audience- the pride I feel in my students is not something I can express! Many of them have received prizes in the form of free business consultations with international entrepreneurs who were on the panel of judges listening to the business pitches, so it is only a matter of time before we see some of those ideas turning into registered businesses.
Globally, there is an increasing number of sustainable startups often attributed to the power of the millennials in demanding a change in the marketplace with the strength of future focus, technology, and digital platforms. And perhaps this is what we are seeing at a smaller scale within BU Entrepreneurship and Business Ventures, a group of bright young minds who are capable to assimilating new knowledge and adopting that as a way of life to make the world less individualistic and focus on what is truly important. For, capitalism is not the problem, it is the lack of true social responsibility that older, more archaic capitalistic institutions have shown, which has led to a world of huge chasms between the haves and the have-nots. And I am humbled by what the future will bring, and it seems that with the pandemic, social/environmental sustainability and impact of business on the society has been accelerated manifold…. every grey cloud has a silver lining? With that we say adieu to another grand semester 1 (whilst continuing supporting the ideas into real businesses through consultation) of Entrepreneurship and Business Ventures and look forward to the next cohort in September 2021. And I continue my journey, as an Enterprise Educator at BU, supporting the UN SDGs and supporting colleagues to find ways in which to embed this framework within their disciplines and student-focused initiatives. Thank you.
Invitation to VIRTUAL STEAMlab
On Wednesday, 24 February 2021, BU’s Research, Support & Development Office will be hosting our very first, pilot Virtual STEAMlab (Science/Tech/Engineering/Arts/Maths lab) event under the aegis of the strategic investment area (SIA) of Animation, Simulation & Visualisation (ASV). It will also be the first of a series of 2-hour long virtual ASV STEAMlabs to be held in the course of 2021.
This first STEAMlab will introduce and address four core priority areas for the strategic development of ASV cross-faculty, multi-disciplinary collaborations across BU in conjunction with external partners. These 4 areas are:
Virtual Production
Digital Health
Environment in Crisis
Virtual Heritage
This first STEAMlab will focus on these ASV themes in break-out rooms to target specific funding opportunities.
The ideas generated at this event may also be used to help select colleagues for Scramble events at short notice.
Booking onto this event
To take part in this exciting opportunity, all participants should complete the ASV Virtual STEAMLab Application Form V2 and return this to Nicolette Barsdorf-Liebchen at nbliebchen@bournemouth.ac.uk by Friday, 5 February 2021.
By applying, you agree to attend for the full duration of the event on 24 February 2021, 1 – 3 pm. Places are strictly limited and you will be contacted to confirm your “virtual space” by 12 February 2021.
If you have any queries prior to submitting your application, please contact Nicolette Barsdorf-Liebchen.
The Brief
We’re seeking to come up with highly innovative and urgently required research which is ambitious in scope and will require a high level of expertise, commitment and funding. The research must address challenges in the above-mentioned areas, and seek to deploy BU’s considerable ASV expertise and assets.
In short, we anticipate the development of innovative, ground-breaking and ambitious projects which have the capacity to attract significant, high value funding from the public and private sectors.
Who should attend?
We welcome those who wish to contribute to having a positive impact through addressing these challenges, but in particular, we are specifically targeting the following:
- Those academics whose research aligns with one or more of these core areas, or whose research would benefit from the multidisciplinary, collaborative engagement supported by the ASV SIA;
- Who has experience of involvement in medium to large research projects, and finally;
- Who either has the capacity to lead as PI on ideas arising from the STEAMlab in a working group towards development of a substantial grant application of close to or above £1 million, or has the ambition, research track record and commitment to be involved in the same.
We will also be inviting relevant external attendees, such as digital technology companies, to contribute on the day.
Some Answers to your FAQs:
Do I need to do anything in advance?
No, you do not. During the STEAMLab, you’ll be guided through a process which results in the development of research ideas. The process facilitates creativity, potentially leading to grand, innovative and interdisciplinary research ideas. These ideas will be explored with other attendees, and further developed based on the feedback received.
What is the immediate objective?
The objective by the end of the STEAMlab is to have scoped some leading and grand ideas around which a working group or cluster can be formed to take forward towards the development of a large grant application.
What do I need to do afterwards?
Your project idea may be “oven-ready”, but it is more likely than not that, given the level of pioneering innovation sought, you/your group’s project idea/s will require some time to crystallise fully, and for the optimum partners to be found for the bidding consortium, and bringing to fruition a fully-fledged grant application. To this end, it is envisaged that you and your potential collaborators will be committed to meeting on a regular basis, with a firm timetable. Substantial administrative support will be available from both RDS as a whole and the ASV Research Facilitator, Dr Nicolette Barsdorf-Liebchen, to advance your project development and manage working groups.
What if my topic area is very specialised, within fields such as medical diagnostics or environmental science?
Your contribution will be very welcome! One of the main benefits of a STEAMlab event is to bring together individuals with a range of backgrounds and specialisms who are able to see things just that bit differently to one another.
Women Entrepreneurs and Covid-19- Celebrating BU Global Entrepreneurship Week 2020
Women’s representation in entrepreneurship, the barriers women face in entrepreneurship is all well documented and well researched with robust evidence from around the world. From seeking access to external finance, to engaging in those critical business networks, managing the work-family interface- We have all heard and read about the many challenges women entrepreneurs have to navigate .
Women’s entrepreneurship in developing countries is particularly at risk, as women’s anticipated vulnerability is likely to be exacerbated due to the pandemic. Not only are women-led businesses amongst the hardest hit but more than 93% of women report having struggled with finding ways to support their businesses whilst managing their work and family commitments. Even before the pandemic women were already vulnerable spending five times more in childcare and over three times more in household chores than their male counterparts, experiencing an unemployment rate twice that of men (SME Finance Forum, 2020). There is a fear that this pandemic will turn back the clocks on women’s entrepreneurship because women bear the burden of unpaid caregiving including childcare, household responsibilities and elderly care .
With a staggering number of small businesses shutting down, there are disproportionate impacts on women business owners with a 25% drop in small business activity between February to Mid-April 2020 and a 16% drop in number of business ownership for active male and women business owners (Fairlie, 2020). And there is global attention to this as well which is very encouraging.
Hosted by BU Social Entrepreneurs Forum and supported by BU Women’s Academic Network on the 17th of November we led an international event with women entrepreneurs from Brazil, The UK, Oman and Iraq to share their experiences of leading and running a business in the midst of a global pandemic.
We heard from women entrepreneurs and their struggles and pathways to resolution in the face of having to manage the work and family commitments; we discussed issues around how external support in the form of women-centric funding bodies, incubation hubs, accelerators programmes can support more representation and increased success of women in entrepreneurship. What came out, very strongly, from the conversations, was the immense collective force of empowered women who are not just trailblazers but change makers and who, relentlessly, try to empower other women to take charge of their business interests and decisions!
With three parallel discussions in the event on women entrepreneurs and the care-giving role, we heard from the founder of The Mumpreneur Collective, Erin Thomas Wong, who discussed how motherhood was a springboard for her entrepreneurial actions and ambitions and in recognition of the multiple challenges and expectations that motherhood bestows on women she set up this organisation to provide support, mentoring opportunities and peer learning for mothers wanting to fulfil their entrepreneurial ambitions.Other women entrepreneurs, namely, Sarah Ali Choudhury, Forbes’s Curry Queen ; Aira Nascimento, Founder of Josephinas Colab, a social business of female entrepreneurs from the periphery and cultural space that rescues Afro-Brazilian and Indigenous culture in Campo Grande, Brazil; Maryam Al Amri, Founder of Youth Vision, Oman and Gabriela Anastacia, CEO of Gamarc Communications and Founder of (after motherhood) the social impact movement, Papo de Empreendedora [Female Entrepreneur Chat] discussed democratising access to entrepreneurship education for women and the support needed by mother entrepreneurs in the context of the pandemic.
Ranya Bakr, Iraq; Ludmila Hastenreiter, Founder and CEO of Empoderamente Contabil, Brazil and Bia Santos, Founder of Barkus Educational, Brazil led the discussions on access to finance and impediment that creates for women entrepreneurs particularly now in the context of the pandemic and prior to it. Emphasising the importance of financial education to create a fair and just society Bia Santos also highlighted the racial inequality that affects businesses like hers in the context of Brazil.
The issues around incubation hub and accelerator support focused on the needs of women entrepreneurs were discussed in the light of the pandemic with expert entrepreneurs including Adrienne Saunders, Founder of Yes You Can Training, UK; Shaima Murtadha Al- Lawati, Oman; Beatriz Carvalho, Founder of Mulheres de Frentes (Women in Front) and Dayse Valencia, an ASHOKA Social Entrepreneur Fellow and coordinator of projects at Rio based NGO, ASPLANDE, Brazil.
It was a particularly proud moment to celebrate two BUBS students, Ranya Bakr from Iraq, a Chevening Scholar, UNDP project lead, Founder of Storey an architectural firm and her work in Iraq developing incubation hubs for women. We also had the pleasure of listening to Maryam Al Amri from Oman, another BUBS student and Founder of Youth Vision supporting youth employment issues in the Arab world through her exemplary work.
This event was co-hosted with Jiselle Steele who supports women and micro entrepreneurs through her work in enterprise development across Brazil, UK and Sri Lanka and is a Senior Project Lead at _SocialStarters, a social enterprise started by Andrea Gamson, a BU Alumna and Top 100 Women in Social Enterprise who supports enterprise development and business consultation across many countries including the UK, Brazil, Kenya and Sri Lanka.
Ranya Bakr, BU Alumna from Iraq and Founder of Storey, an architectural firm.
Bia Santos, Founder of Barkus Education, Brazil
Maryam Al Amri, BU Student and Founder of Youth Vision, Oman
Erin Thomas Wong, Founder of Mumpreneur Collective, UK
So what is the value of showcase events? Academia affords us the opportunity to create impact through education, research and external engagement. Events such as these raise the profile of the organisation, bring together international audience ( this event welcomed guests from Singapore to Latin America), become part of a global resolution of a huge challenges, support UN SDGs, further BU2025 ambitions and most definitely, lead to research outputs and enhance the student experience. So showcase events may be hard work to put together but absolutely worth every second!
It is a proud moment for us at BUSEF to be celebrating our second BU GEW 2020. Watch the space for more things to come.
Refugee Entrepreneurship And Covid-19- BU Global Entrepreneurship Week 2020
Melanie Montinard, Mawon, Brazil
Camila Pinto, Migraflix, Brazil
Esther Yanya, South Sudanese Refugee Entrepreneur from Uganda
Noel Lilija, Microfinance Officer, CRESS UK, Arua, Uganda
Abdoulaye Fall, Self Funded Communities ACAF, Barcelona, Spain
Talal Al-Tinawi, Syrian Refugee Entrepreneur in Brazil
Debora Gonzaga Brassau Brazil
Sayma Ahmad, Co-Founder and Honorary Chair, Unity in Vision, Dorset UK
Globally, there are 65 million people forcibly displaced from their homes (WHO, 2019). Achieving legitimacy and acceptance and integration into the host community remains a challenge in most host countries with an increased inflow of displaced populations. What do refugees hope for? Safety, security, an ability to carve out a future for themselves and their loves ones and retaining the dignity of being a human being.
We recently concluded a study in Uganda,Brazil and Spain exploring how displaced populations seek and achieve legitimacy through the routes of entrepreneurship in collaboration with co-host Jiselle Steele. This study allowed us the opportunity to engage with displaced communities and individuals whose resilience, perseverance the the zeal to thrive, not just survive, showcases the true essence of the human spirit. Not only that, with the entrepreneurial offerings they created they are making huge community impacts to support others in the same circumstances as them- an empowerment pathway through entrepreneurship.
With the rapid developments in the pandemic sweeping our world, all the policy discussions around economic recovery has managed to not take into consideration the plight of the displaced populations engaged in business activities, mostly in the informal sectors.
This year, as part of the Global Entrepreneurship Week 2020, BU Social Entrepreneurs Forum (BUSEF), organised an event to celebrate the work of refugee entrepreneurs and support organisations that empower the displaced populations in integration and their entrepreneurial ambitions.
On the 18th of November, 2020, BUSEF brought together refugee entrepreneurs and support organisations from Uganda, Brazil, Spain and the UK. Esther Yanya, a 27- year old South Sudanese refugee, living in a displacement camp in Arua, Northern Uganda shared with us her harrowing story of walking across hundreds of miles with two very young children and arriving to no support, no food and so shelter. The work of Cress UK-led by Caroline Lamb (Founder and Chair or Trustees) and Noel Lilija, Project Lead at CRESS Arua, an aid organisation working to support refugees in medical care, education, agricultural training and microentrepreneurship- was the turning point in Esther Yanya’s life and now she not only leads a savings group based business in tailoring (She was wearing the most stunning dress similar to these Peaches Boutique white dresses for prom she crafted herself) but is also empowering other women in the displacement camp to achieve financial independence and a future for themselves.
Talal Al-Tinawi joined us from Brazil where he is a Syrian refugee and a gastronomy business owner. Having had to leave his mechanical engineering business in Damascus, Talal shared with us the role that society plays in integrating refugees like himself. The institutional barriers not withstanding, the role of social inclusion in allowing emotional security to refugees is something that is not well researched or discussed. Supported by Migraflix, Talal set up his gastronomy business, in the absence of being able to get employment.
What is quite extraordinary about both Talal and Esther is that, not withstanding their personal circumstances, they think of the community around them and how to support, how to empower. Talal has been working tirelessly to provide food to those vulnerable during this pandemic.
In addition to the refugee entrepreneurs, the event brought together Migraflix, Mawon, Brassau from Brazil and Cress UK with team from UK and Uganda, Self Funded Communities ACAF from Spain and Unity in Vision, Dorset, UK.
So what was the potential impact of an event such this? The obvious answer is of course, raising awareness and building the momentum in this conversation but also and critically, gaining increased visibility for the individuals who identify themselves and refugee entrepreneurs and the critical work that the support organisations do independent of and with very little state/institutional support.
New article just published: Stoyanova-Bozhkova, S., Paskova, T., & Buhalis, D. (2020). Emotional intelligence: a competitive advantage for tourism and hospitality managers. Tourism Recreation Research, 1-13.
New article just published:
Stoyanova-Bozhkova, S., Paskova, T., & Buhalis, D. (2020). Emotional intelligence: a competitive advantage for tourism and hospitality managers. Tourism Recreation Research, 1-13.
https://doi.org/10.1080/02508281.2020.1841377
ABSTRACT
The purpose of this paper is to provide a better understanding of tourism and hospitality management through exploring the perceptions of and the application of emotional intelligence (EI) in the practices of managers. The effect of EI on improving business performance is widely acknowledged in business and management studies. However, there is limited research in the context of tourism and hospitality industries. The paper contributes to the literature through a qualitative study of the perceptions and experiences of middle-level managers. Data was collected through semi-structured in-depth interviews conducted in tourism and hospitality organisations in the UK.
The findings of the study reveal that EI can have a positive contribution to improving staff satisfaction, motivation and overall business productivity. They highlight the importance of building quality relationships among staff and the critical role middle management has in an organisation. Based on the finding from the qualitative inquiry, the authors propose a model conceptualising the role of managers’ EI in creating a competitive advantage for the organisation. Practical implications are discussed and recommendations for further research are provided.
KEYWORDS: Emotional intelligence, staff satisfaction, self-regulation, staff motivation, tourism and hospitality industries, qualitative methodology
BU’s Interdisciplinary Neuroscience Research Centre opening event -video recording
On Monday the 2nd of November we celebrated the opening of BU’s Interdisciplinary Neuroscience Research Centre.
During the event we provided an overview of the techniques, recording modalities and facilities that we have available, and discussed potential collaborations and projects.
The centre is designed to foster collaborative research in neuroscience within the university and with our external partners to enable us to bid for external funding. We also seek to promote education in neurosciences in graduate and post-graduate programs.
If you couldn’t attend and are interested in this area, please find below the video recording of the event. Thank you very much and we hope you enjoy it!
Link to recording: https://bournemouth-ac-uk.zoom.us/rec/share/0Zhf4FTcv9M-KjqFHiuWOUZWVkW-8niOSW2fzs_j5gHQUwSRzfmoX-CURAXQ1goA.R6n_l-4nGOjAfOTg
Passcode: UK#E1QhK
If you have any queries please do not hesitate to contact any of us (Ellen Seiss, eseiss@bournemouth.ac.uk, Hanna Burianová hburianova@bournemouth.ac.uk, Emili Balaguer-Ballester eb-ballester@bournemouth.ac.uk, or Peter Arabaci Hills phills@bournemouth.ac.uk).
Smart technology and the Future of Hospitality and Tourism after COVID-19
Professor Dimitrios Buhalis contributed a presentation entitled
Smart technology and the Future of Hospitality and Tourism after COVID-19
to the School of Hotel and Tourism Management, PolyU, The Hong Kong Polytechnic University
#IMPACT2020 Conference today.
#CrisisManagement #Recovery #Strategy #TourismRecovery #RecoveryStrategy #Future #Hospitality #Tourism #Technology #COVID19 #PostCOVID19
Interdisciplinary Neuroscience Research Centre informal event
We would like to invite you to the informal online opening event of BU’s Interdisciplinary Neuroscience Research Centre on Monday 2 November from 10am – 12pm, in Zoom.
The centre is designed to foster collaborative research in applied, translational and theoretical neuroscience within the university and with our external partners to enable us to bid for external funding. We also seek to promote education in neurosciences in graduate and post-graduate programs. The centre offers a range of experimental and theoretical expertise and we are interested in collaborating with internal and external colleagues.
During the event we will provide a very brief overview of the techniques, recording modalities and facilities that we have available. Then we would welcome discussion around potential collaborations and projects.
Add this event to your diary and join us on Zoom.
Meeting ID: 885 0146 7009
Passcode: BE@hTx^1
Thank you very much and we are looking forward to seeing you there.
If you have any queries please do not hesitate to contact any of us (Ellen Seiss, eseiss@bournemouth.ac.uk Emili Balaguer-Ballester eb-ballester@bournemouth.ac.uk or Peter Abaraci Hills phills@bournemouth.ac.uk).
IMIV MRI Pump-Priming Research Scheme
To celebrate the launch of the Bournemouth University Institute of Medical Imaging and Visualisation, and the opening of the MRI Centre in the Bournemouth Gateway Building, we are pleased to launch an MRI pump-priming scheme to support innovative MRI research projects.
The aim of this scheme is to support projects that will lead to competitive external funding applications for MR imaging studies. Applications will therefore be required to demonstrate a clear plan for progressing preliminary studies to grant applications and larger studies.
- All projects must have a Bournemouth University researcher as lead or co-lead applicant (see application form).
- Up to 4 awards of up to 20 hours’ scanning time will be available. The award will not cover any additional expenses related to scanning, or other aspects of the project.
- Projects must be deliverable within 12 months, including ethical approvals. Projects with ethical approvals already in place will be prioritised.
- There will be online information and project development sessions with members of the IMIV team at 3.30pm on Thursday 22nd October and Thursday 5th November. Please email imiv@bournemouth.ac.uk to register your interest and receive the login details. You can view the virtual presentation here.
To register your interest, and receive the application form, please email imiv@bournemouth.ac.uk. The deadline for applications is 13th December 2020.
BU Open Access Publication Fund
The BU Open Access Publication Fund policy and procedure has recently been reviewed and revised to reflect changes to this year’s budget. The newly revised policy and checklist can be found here.
BU now also benefit from various Open Access agreements through JISC deals including with publishers like Wiley, Sage and Springer. Please see the links below for more information about the agreement and eligible journal titles:
SAGE – https://uk.sagepub.com/en-gb/eur/open-access-agreements-at-sage/united-kingdom
Springer Compact – https://www.springer.com/gp/open-access/springer-open-choice/springer-compact/for-uk-authors-intro/731990
Please do check out the various open access deals that BU have with these publishers to make full use of these deals.
For more information, please contact OpenAccess@bournemouth.ac.uk.
Preprints, what do we know about them?
Source: https://www.aje.com/arc/benefits-of-preprints-for-researchers/
A preprint is a version of a research manuscript published before peer review. Normally, these are published electronically and made freely available on large databases or preprint servers. Some of the popular preprint servers include arXiv, PeerJ, The Open Science Framework, OSF Preprints. Preprint servers provide a DOI (Digital Object Identifier) to enable you to link to your work and version control to curate the different versions as you make changes to your manuscript. Publishing a preprint can speed up the process of disseminating your research and avoiding any delays caused by the publication process.
Preprints achieve many of the goals of journal publishing, but within a much shorter time frame. The biggest benefits fall into 3 areas: credit, feedback, and visibility.
Credit – When you post a preprint with your research results, you can firmly stake a claim to the work you’ve done. If there is any subsequent discussion of who found a particular result first, you can point to the preprint as a public, conclusive record of your data. Most preprints are assigned a digital object identifier (DOI), which allows your work to become a permanent part of the scholarly record – one that can be referenced in any dispute over who discovered something first.
Feedback – In the traditional system, a submitted manuscript receives feedback from 2 or 3 peer reviewers before publication. With a preprint, other researchers can discover your work sooner, potentially pointing out critical flaws or errors, suggest new studies or data that strengthen your argument or even recommend a collaboration that could lead to publication in a more prestigious journal.
Visibility – Preprints are not the final form of a research paper for most authors. Thankfully, preprints and infrastructure providers like Crossref link to the final published article whenever possible, meaning that your preprint can serve to bring new readers to your published paper. A study in the Journal of the American Medical Association saw notable increases in citations and Altmetric scores when authors had posted their work first as a preprint.
Normally journal publishers will not accept work that is published or submitted elsewhere. Journal publishers in subjects where preprints are widely used will accept research that has been previously released as a preprint. As preprints emerge as a normal part of the publishing process in new subject areas, questions about whether preprints are regarded as previously published are still being worked through. It would be prudent to check the policies of publishers who may be the ultimate publishers of your research if you choose to publish your research as a preprint.
Journal publishers encourage the publication of preprints after a paper has been accepted. This is the Green Route to Open Access publication. It is important that the publisher’s policies on preprints after publication / submission are checked on the SherpaRoMEO database.
In recent developments (2017) research funders The Welcome Trust, the Medical Research Council and others have accepted the inclusion of references to preprints in grant applications as evidence of current research activity.
However, there are some crucial points to consider, before you submit your preprint to a server. The preprint guidelines below from Wiley provide some useful points to consider:
- Posting of a preprint may violate the copyright agreement or understanding held with a publisher. When you submit an article to a journal you are doing so with the implicit understanding that an accepted article will be published and the copyright for that article then transferred to the publisher. It is ethically wrong to post a preprint that has benefitted from the resources of a publishing house (revision after peer review, copy editing, publication on Wiley Online Library, etc.); especially where the revised, accepted article, and final published versions of a paper are concerned.
- A preprint service provider may ask authors to sign an agreement that prevents publication of the work in a journal later. On ChemRxiv, authors may control the usage rights for their posted preprint with one of three CC BY attribution licenses. When posting on a preprint server, such as ChemRxiv, we recommend that authors retain the rights to their work through use of a non-exclusive license to distribute interim research products (e.g., with a CC-BY-NC-ND or no reuse license), so that their publication options are not limited in any way later on. If an author posts a preprint under one of these licenses, the author can grant the publisher rights to use in a commercial and/or derivative manner because the author has retained those rights.
- Failure to declare the preprint(s) associated with submission to a journal may be non-compliant with the journal′s Notice to Authors and could be grounds for rejection of a submitted manuscript.
- Publicity of preprints through media coverage (e.g., press releases) is not advised when publication of the work in a journal is envisaged. Authors run the risk of attracting media attention to the work before it has undergone a thorough peer-review process.
As mentioned above, different publishers have different policies regarding preprints so do check each publisher policy on the SherpaRoMEO database for accurate information.
For more information on preprints, please visit the links below:
https://www.aje.com/arc/benefits-of-preprints-for-researchers/
https://ambulance.libguides.com/c.php?g=661297&p=4671549
https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/page/journal/15213773/homepage/preprints
Supporting the Global Society Restart Tourism
Supporting the Global Society Restart Tourism
Academia is not just about teaching students or writing papers. It is about engaging with the widest range of stakeholders, creating and disseminating knowledge and create solutions for the global society. It is all about RELEVANCE and IMPACT, especially at the time of CRISIS. JOIN US ON THESE WEBINARS in the next few days where ever you are and engage in the conversations towards #RestartTourism #ReigniteTourism
GREECE Thursday 18 June 14:15 LondonTime / 16:15 Greek EMEA.gr time IN GREEK
Η πανδημία του COVID-19 και ο ελληνικός τουρισμός
Dimitris Basiliou, Michalis Toanoglou, Dimitrios Buhalis
BRAZIL Thursday 18 June 16:00 Brazil time / 20:00 London time BRAZIL on LiveTur DATASHOW BRASIL IN PORTUGUESE
Impactos do uso das tecnologias de informação na atividade turística durante e pós pandemia
Professor Dimitrios Buhalis with Dr. Luiz Mendes Filho and Dr. Alexandre Augusto Biz
IRAN Sunday 21 June London time 18:30 pm – 20:30pm / Tehran, Iran 10:00pm – 12:00am (GMT+430)
Mohammad Shirkavand discussion – Connecting Cultures & Preserving Heritage: Create Future by Connecting Minds
Professor Dimitrios Buhalis to talk about ”How eTourism could help the industry to survive after the crisis
NEW ZEALAND Wednesday 24th June 21:30-22:30 London Time / Thursday June 25th, 8.30-9.30AM NZ time
Professor Dimitrios Buhalis Smart Tourism in the New Era of Tourism
Te Herenga Waka—Victoria University of Wellington, Wellington School of Business and Government | Ōrauariki
Upcoming webinars from the British Library
The British Library is planning a series of upcoming webinars which you may find useful and interesting –
How to access digital resources: a free webinar for researchers
Friday 1st May, 10.30-11.30am
Researchers working from home may find now, more than ever, that they cannot access all they need to do their research. This webinar will introduce the concept of open access, and the various tools and resources that enable access to the resources researchers need.
**This will be of particular interest to researchers, so it’d be great if you could circulate locally to your researchers. It will also serve as a general intro to OA for any colleagues wishing to learn about this area of research support.**
Details and sign-up here:https://attendee.gotowebinar.com/register/4784745156984703756
The British Library’s Shared Research Repository
Thursday 7th May, 2.30-3.30pm
Creative and cultural organisations require repositories that look good, are attractive to users and support a wide range of non-text research outputs. Join us to learn more about our shared repository for UK cultural heritage organisations.
Details and sign-up here: https://attendee.gotowebinar.com/register/5003834943448442636
Introduction to research data, data services and DataCite at the British Library (and beyond)
Thursday 14th May, 2.30-3.30pm
This webinar will provide an introduction to research data and how to use persistent identifiers such as DOIs to make research data and other digital outputs like theses and grey literature findable and citable online. This webinar will also provide an introduction to DataCite, an international non-profit organisation, which enables the ability to create DOIs for digital objects.
Details and sign-up here: https://attendee.gotowebinar.com/register/6958681955238901260
Introduction to EThOS: the British Library database of UK theses
Thursday 21st May, 2.30-3.30pm
The British Library service known as EThOS is effectively a shop window on the amazing doctoral research undertaken in UK universities. With half a million thesis titles listed, you can uncover unique research on every topic imaginable and often download the full thesis file to use immediately for your own research. This webinar will offer a guided walk through the features and content of EThOS, and the research potential for making use of EThOS as a dataset.
**This webinar will be of interest to doctoral students and researchers, so please do advertise locally. It will also be of interest to librarians wishing to learn more about how EThOS works**.
Details and sign-up here: https://attendee.gotowebinar.com/register/1072813692823727372
Project FREYA: How persistent identifiers can connect research together
Thursday 28th May, 2.30-3.30pm
This webinar will showcase the latest developments from the EC-funded FREYA project, including the PID Graph which provides a method to discover the relationships between different researchers and their organisations and find out the full impact of research outputs. It will also describe upcoming developments planned in the final year of the project such as a Common DOI Search.
Details and sign-up here:https://attendee.gotowebinar.com/register/6895938324199891724
Please join the British Library for as many of these as you can. They will all last approximately 25-30 minutes with time for questions.
COVID-19 and the rise of Virtual Conferences
Yesterday we had a conference paper accepted by the EUPHA (European Public Health Association) International Conference. When the paper was originally submitted to the EUPHA Health Workforce Research Section Mid-term Conference we had opted for an oral presentation in person at the conference in Romania this summer. However, with the COVID-19 pandemic travelling to Romania to attend this conference is not an option for many (if not most) academics. Therefore the organising committee took the initiative to re-arrange it as a virtual meeting. Further good news for us is that participation will be free.
Of course, I am aware that some of the strengths of attending conferences include having unexpected discussions (often in the bar) with fellow academics and being away from the day job. At the moment being forced to choose between postponing or cancelling a conference or changing to a virtual meeting conference organisers may want to reflect on “… ask how conferences make a difference.” This question was originally raised in the book Academic Conferences as Neoliberal Commodities by Donald Nicholson [1].
We should have moved to more virtual meetings and online conferences much sooner, but it is easy to say with hindsight! The COVID-19 crisis has thought us that virtual classrooms, internet-based tutorials, Zoom meetings and online conferences can work, albeit with their limitations. It is worth considering the return of investment of a conference [2] not just for the conference organisers (and funders) but also individual academics as less travel will be saving time and society as reducing travel, especially international flights, will improve our carbon foot print.
Prof. Edwin van Teijlingen
Centre for Midwifery, Maternal & Perinatal Health (CMMPH)
References
- Nicolson. D.J. (2017) Academic Conferences as Neoliberal Commodities, Palgrave Macmillan.
- Nicolson. D.J. (2018) Guest post by Donald Nicolson: The problem of thinking about conferences and Return on Investment (ROI)
COVID-19 competition: BU call for Expressions of Interest
On 6 April, BU launched a COVID-19 internal competition, with a call for EoIs. This opportunity is open to all staff. The EoI deadline is at 23.59 on Tuesday, 14 April, and the winners will be announced on Tuesday, 20 April.
There are three modest cash prizes available, sponsored by the National Research Centre for Computer Animation in the Faculty of Media and Communication. Successful ideas will be selected to go forward to a second competition in conjunction with the universities of Southampton and Portsmouth. Building on our close regional relationships with an aligned response to the COVID-19 crisis and attendant calls for relevant research is a priority for all institutions right now. We at BU are committed to joining forces with our neighbours at this time.
BU staff can find more details about the call on the expression of interest form.
Women Empowerment through Skills Development
UK could increase economic growth by 0.5 percentage points per year, with a potential gain of 10% of GDP by 2030 by equalising labour force participation rates of men and women (Gov.uk 2019).
In the last few decades, women of various ethnic origins including Indian high-class professionals in the fields of IT, medical, academia and entrepreneurship have come to the UK. However, women of various ethnic origins are underpreprsented in the labour force. Although they have significant productive capacity, it is mostly unused because of several socioeconomic reasons, including many of them choosing to stay at home because of them not being knowledge about the UK job market.
In view of BU’s commitment to gender equality and diversity, through charity impact grant, this project led to a partnership between BU and ICAD (Indian Cultural Association of Dorset) that can advance the BU values of integrating ethnic minorities into mainstream British society and promoting social harmony.
The first setting up scene event took place at Bournemouth University on the International Women’s Day. It was well attended by both women and men from different cultural backgrounds.
The speakers included Dr Shrivastava who spoke on the business case for gender equality, Mrs Sarah Ali Choudhary on the need for women to put themselves forward, Dr Elvira Bolat on the enabling power of social media and Mrs Adel Padiachy on the need for taking care of mental health. The interactive session included quizzes and Indian cultural music.
The event ended on a high note with everyone taking personal pledges to support the cause of gender equity on several fronts.
Planning for a follow-up workshop on skill development is underway for the summer this year. This workshop will aim to empower women from ethnic minority groups through workshops on skills required in various walks of life such as self-employment, labour market entry, social media marketing, higher education, health and wellbeing.
Research & Knowledge Exchange Development Framework – survey closes in 5 days!
The Research & Knowledge Exchange Framework (RKEDF) is now into its fourth year. It offers training and development opportunities to academics at all stages of their career, supporting staff to increase their skills, knowledge and capabilities.
The RKEDF offers a range of support including sessions for those who are new to research or to BU, for staff who want to further develop their research careers and for people who want to disseminate their research findings or create an impact plan.
The Research Development & Support team are currently planning activities and sessions for the 2020/21 programme of events and would like to hear your ideas and suggestions. What’s worked well? What would you changed? Are there any other sessions or training materials you’d like to see included? We’d like to hear both from people who have engaged with the RKEDF and those who haven’t.
Tell us what you think via our survey and be in with a chance of winning one of three £20 Amazon vouchers. The deadline date is Sunday 15 March.
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