Latest research and knowledge exchange news at Bournemouth University
The international social science publisher SAGE published a new textbook this week under the title Introducing Social Work. This textbook, edited by BU’s Professor in Sociology Jonathan Parker, has a contribution from FHSS lecturer Dr.Sally Lee and FHSS PhD student Orlanda Harvey. A total of 29 chapters cover a wide-range of social work issues in 424 pages.
Congratulations!
Prof. Edwin van Teijlingen
Welcome to your new mid-week update! If you missed our admissions special last week, you will also not have seen that we are moving away from Friday afternoon e-mails because we want to support your wellbeing. Nothing much has changed on admissions yet, by the way, so that one is still worth reading.
Parliament is commencing recess early today (at close of business on Wed 25 March). This will allow MPs to return to their homes and self-isolate with their families. In normal circumstances, recess would end and parliamentarians would return on Tuesday 21 April, however they are not expected to return this year. The Houses of Parliament are ill-equipped to continue normal business remotely. The beautiful, old buildings are crumbling and do not have the high-tech infrastructure to manage remote voting systems. There was much talk of a need for electronic voting in the tight votes over Brexit (with MPs coming in from hospital in wheelchairs or appearing a very few days after having babies) but they haven’t found a way yet. Select committees may be able continue remotely via video link. Home broadband is so much more reliable than trying to get a Wifi signal in Parliament!
The Coronavirus Bill 2019-20 has completed its stages in the House of Lords (just after 4pm on 25th March) and has gone for Royal Assent. The Coronavirus Bill gives the executive wide ranging and unprecedented powers, which will allow them to continue to govern without Parliament over the next few months if necessary.
The House of Commons Library has published a research briefing covering the education provisions in the Coronavirus bill in more detail. The Explanatory Notes and Impact Assessment explain more on the financial implications of the Government’s powers to close educational institutions. Should the government decide to compensate providers, it may be able to provide funds to “approved (fee cap)” institutions using powers under s39 of the Higher Education and Research Act (“Financial support for registered higher education providers”). For “approved” providers these powers could not be used – it is assumed that wider powers for the government to deploy public funds would apply, but this is not certain.
The impact assessment also suggests that, should a provider be sued for breach of contract or under customer protection rules regarding the provision of accommodation or education, force majeure is believed to apply. The Bill also gives the Office for Students a specific power to disregard its conditions of registration for providers.
Research Professional report that the Government’s response to the Augar review: “has been kicked even further down the path after chancellor Rishi Sunak told cabinet that the 2020 comprehensive spending review, due this summer, would be delayed because of the pandemic. The Augar response is expected to be published alongside the review.”
Monday night announced the lockdown for the UK population, meanwhile three Ministerial letters winged their way to English HE and FE institutions and apprenticeship providers. The Universities Minister wrote (link on Wonkhe here):
Within the FAQs it was stated that DfE will be working closely with the HE sector and OfS, as regulator, to ensure that we understand the potential financial implications of the issues and risks Covid-19 is bringing to bear on the sector, and to keep abreast of developments.
The Minister issued a Written Ministerial Statement on the impact of Covid-19 on summer exams. Below is the sector stakeholder reaction to the impact of summer exam cancellations:
The heads of University Alliance, the Russell Group, GuildHE, and MillionPlus put out a joint statement confirming that universities will do all they can to support students and ensure they can progress to university:
Association of Colleges (AoC), Chief Executive, David Hughes said:
The AoC also made the following recommendations:
Teach First wrote to the Secretary of State for Education, calling for:
Support for disadvantaged children to learn at home
Fair exam grades
Long-term support to recover
Finally HEPI have a blog – School performance tables are cancelled – should university league tables be cancelled too?
On unconditional offers, the Minister’s letter on 20th March followed our update last Friday and, as predicted, criticised those providers who had switched offers to unconditional in reaction to the news about exams. It was followed by a request on 23rd March to put a two week moratorium on any unconditional offers.
As Research Professional report the Government was unprepared for this quick response from some within the sector. During the pause period the DfE will continue to develop the methodology of how grades will be awarded to students not sitting exams and consider how the application process should be run. The Minister has threatened that any institutions not complying with the ban will undergo regulatory intervention – We will use any powers available to us to prevent such offer making on the grounds that it is damaging to students and not in their interests. UUK have supported the intervention.
On practical matters UCAS have extended the admissions deadline. Students usually have to decide which university offers to accept by early May. UCAS have confirmed the deadline will be extended by two weeks. UCAS states: Universities and colleges will also have additional time to assess applications and adjust their processes in these unprecedented times… We will email students this week with information on their new May decision deadline, and ensure they understand they have additional time over the coming weeks to make their decisions.
The Government’s edict that no new unconditional offers can be made has stimulated debate. Some speculate they may capitalise on the pause to take future action banning all or most unconditional offers (the OfS Admissions consultation has been understandably paused for now). Many lament the impact of the ban on the disadvantaged students who were always intended to be the main recipients of unconditional offers to alleviate some of the turbulence in their lives.
Meanwhile the DfE has reminded students and parents that they are not obliged to accept an unconditional offer and even if they have they can release themselves to explore other options during clearing. DfE state that the release process was introduced last year to support student choice and promote flexibility, and nearly 30,000 students used this functionality.
The OfS press release language is very interesting – they have assumed right up front that NO unconditional offer is in the best interest of a students – they may relax that when they come up with their guidance, but we shall see.
So although they have not done anything about it yet, except issue a review and now a short-term suspension – you could read this as them having already made up their mind and expecting to judge the sector retrospectively against the outcome.
We will let RP have the final word: As higher education pauses admissions activity, it is time now for the government to come up with a workable solution. No more mixed messages: some clarity is needed. As the government has realised on the economy and social distancing, a laissez-faire approach will not see us out the other side of this crisis.
Media coverage: The BBC, The Times and FE Week.
The Under-Secretary of State for Science, Amanda Solloway issued a letter thanking the HE sector for the Covid-19 research and urging institutions to prioritise supporting colleagues (employment terms and conditions) who are working on mitigating this crisis. Skills Minister Gillian Keegan wrote to colleges and training providers and Scottish HE minister Richard Lochhead also issued a letter.
REF 2021 will be pushed back to adjust for the effects of Coronavirus. Currently, the 31 July 2020 census date will be retained. However, the final submission deadline will be delayed. No date for the submission has yet been set but universities have been told they can expect an 8 month notice period when the new date is announced. BU is continuing with the mock REF exercise but will review future timelines as appropriate.
The Student Loans Company has confirmed third term payments will be made as normal even with most teaching moving online.
Zamzam Ibrahim, NUS National President, commented:
Several parliamentary questions relating to student loans repayments were asked this week. Most have already been superseded in the Government’s announcement that repayments will continue as normal but be reassessed and cease if an individual’s income drops below the repayment threshold.
Last, Peter Lauener was appointed as Chair of the Student Loans company. He replaces Andrew Wathey who was in the role on an interim basis.
The Student Loans Company has announced the temporary closure their contact centre. They state:
A poll on Coronavirus set out to measure the public’s support for the Government’s actions to limit the spread of the virus. It shows favour for a practical potential policy U turn on extending the Brexit end of transition phase. You Gov say: despite it being one of the most dramatic debates in British politics just weeks ago, a majority of the public (55%) would now support extending the Brexit transition period as negotiations have now had to be delayed. A quarter (24%) are still opposed, while 21% say they don’t know.
You can read the full poll analysis here. An interesting further point is made about the need for the Government to appeal to the young to ensure they understand the seriousness of the crisis and follow social distancing (and now lockdown) requirements. You Gov say: While Boris is still divisive, the public are warming to Rishi Sunak and Chris Witty. Because of this, the Government needs think carefully about its messengers to make sure they are best cutting through with the public.
Covid-19 Support for Universities
Q – Dan Jarvis: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps his Department is taking to support universities during the covid-19 outbreak. [32182]
A – Michelle Donelan: The Department for Education has indicated that it will not be possible to answer this question within the usual time period. An answer is being prepared and will be provided as soon as it is available.
Covid-19 – Student Accommodation/Online Learning (both due for answer on Thursday)
Q – Rosie Duffield: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, if he will take steps to ensure that universities allow students to terminate their accommodation contracts early without incurring financial penalties during the covid-19 outbreak.
This is due for answer on Thursday – here is the link to follow the response. If you have trouble accessing the response (sometimes they change the link when they add the answer) contact us and we’ll locate it and send it over to you
Q – Stuart Anderson: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, whether he is taking steps to ensure that online access to learning is put in place for pupils and students at schools and higher education institutions that have not developed online resources; and if he will make a statement. [34409]
Disability: Q – Sharon Hodgson: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what assessment his Department has made of the effect on the health and wellbeing of students in higher education with visual stress of the removal of colorimetry funding for those students.
A – Michelle Donelan: The department is in discussion with the Association of Dyslexia Specialists in Higher Education as to whether any additional types of assistance would be appropriate for students with a diagnosis of visual stress.
And there is one on brain injuries disability funding.
Access: Q – Baroness Royall of Blaisdon: To ask Her Majesty’s Government, further to the Written Answer by Viscount Younger of Leckie on 6 November 2018 (HL10959), whether they are now in a position to ensure that higher education providers have access to free school meals data at the start of the undergraduate admissions cycle as part of measures to widen access to higher education.
A – Baroness Berridge:
Disability Employment Gap: Q – Marco Longhi: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what steps she is taking to support people with mental disabilities (a) into and (b) to remain in employment. [30042]
A – Justin Tomlinson:
Mental Health: Q – Preet Kaur Gill (Birmingham, Edgbaston): To ask the Secretary of State for Education, pursuant to the oral statement of 18 March 2020, what steps he is taking to ensure that children and young people whose educational institution is closed are able to access mental health services provided through those institutions. [32157]
A – Vicky Ford (Chelmsford):
Industrial Strategy: Q – Alex Cunningham: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what progress has been made on meeting the objective in the Ageing Society Grand Challenge to ensure that people can enjoy at least 5 extra healthy, independent years of life by 2035. [29943]
A – Helen Whately:
Skills Gaps: A question on skills gap vacancies and whether qualifications and apprenticeships can fill the gaps.
Free Speech: Q – Marco Longhi (Dudley North): To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps he is taking to protect freedom of speech and promote diverse debate within universities. [30031]
A – Michelle Donelan (Chippenham):
Safely managing student accommodation through the crisis is a tricky process for the HE sector. Thorny issues include: ensuring adequate safeguards where students are self-isolating and moving back to the family home is not possible or inappropriate; requirements for students to continue paying for accommodation or pay retainers whilst not in residence; student evictions as providers close down student residences; concerns over 2021-22 contract pressures. Here are two blogs on student accommodation. On Research Professional Fiona McIntyre reports that universities have been told to pressure firms in charge of private halls of residence to make sure no student is left without a place to stay during the coronavirus epidemic, while the Student Loans Company has said that third-term payments will proceed as planned.
And on Wonkhe Eva Crossan Jory from NUS describes the crisis facing student rents resulting from coronavirus, and what universities, private halls operators and government should do to avert it.
Wonkhe also report that: Student accommodation providers Unite and Liberty Living have promised not to charge students for accommodation for term three if email notification is received before 10 April. Arrangements will be made to support students who need to stay on in accommodation through term three and beyond.
HEPI have a blog from Mary Curnock Cook on Connectedness, Trust and Student Engagement. Excerpts:
Also buried in the report is an astonishingly low engagement level with student unions (which also score relatively poorly on the National Student Survey). Given that peer support is often the first port of call for students in distress, it’s worrying that only 12 per cent of respondents said they trusted their student union and only 3 per cent would go to them for information and support.
Friends and family remain the most trusted source of support for students for a range of anxieties and concerns but it’s worth noting that students are also likely to turn to online resources. The anonymity of online help is often a draw for students shy or lacking in confidence to seek face to face help… With universities across the sector reporting huge increases in demand for student support services, online resources and apps can be vital in making sure that students know about and connect with their university services when they need help.
BU has two 24/7 anonymous online platforms and support services – the Employee Assistance Programme for staff and Big White Wall which supports staff and students. There is also a wellbeing section on the staff intranet.
Click here to view the updated inquiries and consultation tracker. Email us on policy@bournemouth.ac.uk if you’d like to contribute to any of the current consultations.
New consultations and inquiries this week:
Student Nurses: Next week student nurses will join the ‘front line’ to support the NHS as the nation battles Covid-19. The Times covers whether they should be paid.
Home Working: As the majority of the nation converts to home working on a more regular basis than usual the Office of National Statistics have published their research which investigates to what extent different people within the labour market work at home, either on a regular or occasional basis (pre-crisis).
Of the 32.6 million in employment, around 1.7 million people reported working mainly from home, with around 4.0 million working from home in the week prior to being interviewed for the survey.
To subscribe to the weekly policy update simply email policy@bournemouth.ac.uk.
Did you know? You can catch up on previous versions of the policy update on BU’s intranet pages here.
JANE FORSTER | SARAH CARTER
Policy Advisor Policy & Public Affairs Officer
Follow: @PolicyBU on Twitter | policy@bournemouth.ac.uk
Abstract
Junior colleagues or PhD students submitting their first manuscript often ask: “How long will it take before the editor comes back to me with a decision?” My stock answer is: “It depends!” It depends on the nature of the journal, the support available to the editor, how busy the editor is, or how difficult she finds it to allocate your paper to appropriate reviewers. Moreover, once sent out for review it depends how busy the reviewers are. I often have to remind my colleagues and student that academics are hardly ever paid for being a reviewer, and hence they do their reviewing over and above a usually heavy academic teaching and research load.
This short article highlights the case of one of our research papers which took four years from the day of submission to the journal to finally appearing in print. And, I hasten to say, it was not because the initially submitted manuscript was so bad that the authors had to make major changes and re-write or re-structure the whole paper. This blog highlights some of the unexpected hiccups in the process of getting an article published.
Introduction
On October the 5th 2016 Samridhi Pradhan, who worked for Green Tara Nepal in Kathmandu and who was Bournemouth University Visiting faculty at the time, emailed the then editor of an English-language journal based in Nepal with our manuscript. She wrote: “Respected Editor, I wish to submit a new manuscript entitled “Factors affecting the uptake of institutional delivery, antenatal and postnatal care services” in Nawalparasi district, Nepal in your esteemed Kathmandu University Medical Journal (KUMJ).” The editor wrote back the same day thanking us for our submission, and presenting us with a “manuscript ID o20161006250 for your valuable paper.…We will very soon go for initial screening and let you notify.” We expected the editor to send this manuscript out for review, then for us to get feedback a few months later, make some (minor) changes and have the paper published in 2017.
Then nothing happened for a year although we emailed and phoned the editor of KUMJ regularly. There seems to be a problem finding reviewers, and we offered to other potential reviewers. In December one of our co-authors Dr. Sharada Wasti informed our team that the KUMJ editor had suggested in a conversation with home that our paper would appear in the December volume of the journal. Dr. Waste emailed on 15 December 2017: “I will follow up and keep update with you by the end of this month.” KUMJ duly published Vol. 15 (4) labelled Oct.-Dec. 2017 but our paper was not included.
Four days later on December 19th 2017 we received an email for the editor with a set of minor comments and questions about the manuscript for reviewers. We made the requested amendments and resubmitted our paper on January 10th 2018. Months passed and KUMJ published two more issues in 2018 without our paper despite our team sending reminders regularly. Then on the last day of July 2018 Dr. Wasti emailed our team that he had had contact with the editor who had made it clear that: “This paper has been accepted” and it was supposed to come published in the last volume, which would have been the April-June 2018 issue Vol.16 (2). Dr. Wasti added that the editor had made it clear that although it was not covered, KUMJ “will publish in our upcoming volume.” This next issue Vol. 16 (3) again failed to publish our paper.
Then there was a long gap with KUMJ changing editors, correspondence being mislaid and manuscripts getting lost. Due to Dr. Wasti’s persistence in contacting the editors we received a request to update our paper with 2019 data in December 2019, nearly a year and a half after re-submission. A few days later that month we were informed that the journal was finally going to publish our paper. Another wo months passed before the editor email that say: “Congratulation, your paper has been finalized and selected for coming issue of KUMJ, paper has been uploaded in our website www.kumj.com.np.”
Some papers take longer to get published than others!
Our paper is now online first 3½ years after the initial submission. And to add insult to injury the journal is backdating the paper to appear with a publication date of September 2019, so it will be published in Vol.17(3) labelled July-Sept. 2019. This is, of course, an unusual story with a very long gap between first submission of a manuscript and the final appearance of the paper in print. It is unusual because the paper was only ever submitted to one journal. It is more likely that the publish process takes time because the first journal rejects the paper, the second paper also rejects your paper and then the subsequent paper asks for a set of alterations and changes. For example, van Teijlingen and Hundley (2002) outlined such process for one of their papers which took two years from initial submission to publication. However, this paper was submitted to five different journals in succession after having between rejected by the first four.
References:
Please note that Bournemouth University Clinical Research Unit (BUCRU) and NIHR RDS SW (Research Design Service South West) offices are currently closed due to Coronavirus. Staff are still working and able to offer research advice remotely,
Please contact bucru@bournemouth.ac.uk in the first instance.
We are looking forward to working with you all face to face when this is over.
Congratulations to Dr. Alison Taylor in the Centre for Midwifery,Maternal & Perinatal Health (CMMPH) whose third PhD paper has just been accepted by the International Breastfeeding Journal. Alison’s paper ‘Commercialisation and commodification of breastfeeding: video diaries by first-time mothers’ reminds us that many of aspects of our lives are increasingly commercialised in post-modern society. Although breastfeeding is perhaps a late comer to this process in recent years, it too has seen significant commercialisation facilitated by social media and our obsession with celebrity culture.
This paper explores how the commercialisation and commodification of breastfeeding impacts mothers’ experiences of breastfeeding. The paper highlights that women preparing for breastfeeding are exposed to increasing commercialisation. When things do not go to plan, women are even more exposed to commercial solutions. The impact of online marketing strategies fuelled their need for paraphernalia so that their dependence on such items became important aspects of their parenting and breastfeeding experiences. Dr. Taylor and her co-authors offer new insights into how advertising influenced mothers’ need for specialist equipment and services. Observing mothers in their video diaries, provided valuable insights into their parenting styles and how this affected their breastfeeding experience.
The International Breastfeeding Journal is an Open Access journal owned by Springer.
References:
Congratulations to the Bournemouth authors who published the paper ‘Donning the ‘Slow Professor’: A Feminist Action Research Project’ earlier this month [1]. This paper was published in the journal Radical Teacher. The paper argues that the corporatisation of Higher Education has introduced new performance measurements as well as an acceleration of academic tasks creating working environments characterised by speed, pressure and stress. This paper discusses findings from a qualitative, feminist participatory action research (PAR) study undertaken by an interdisciplinary team of women academics at a modern, corporate university in England. The study illuminates how corporatized HE erodes faculty autonomy, degrades learning environments, damages professional satisfaction and health. Strategies for resistance and liberation developed through the PAR process are discussed.
The writing collective for this paper comprised: Sara Ashencaen Crabtree, Ann Hemingway, Sue Sudbury, Anne Quinney, Maggie Hutchings, Luciana Esteves, Shelley Thompson, Helen Jacey, Anita Diaz, Peri Bradley, Jenny Hall, Michele Board, Anna Feigenbaum, Lorraine Brown, Vanessa Heaslip, and Liz Norton.
Reference: Ashencaen Crabtree, S., Hemingway, A., Sudbury, S., Quinney, A., Hutchings, M., Esteves, L., Thompson, S., Jacey, H., Diaz, A., Bradley, P., Hall, J., Board, M., Feigenbaum, A., Brown, L., Heaslip, V., Norton, L. (2020) Donning the ‘Slow Professor’: A Feminist Action Research Project , Radical Teacher, Vol. 116
Congratulations on the latest paper published yesterday by Dr. Preeti Mahato in the Centre for Midwifery, Maternal & Reproductive Health (CMMPH) and colleagues. This paper ‘Factors associated with contraceptive use in rural Nepal: Gender and decision-making’ [1], is freely available for the next 49 days through our personalized link: click here! 
This research paper in the journal Sexual and Reproductive Healthcare reports on a secondary analysis of pas a quantitative cross-sectional study in four villages of a hilly district in Nepal. This authors found that gender was associated with current/ever use of contraceptives but decision-making was not found associated with current/eve use of contraceptives. And, as perhaps was to be expected, socio-economic factors such as husband’s and wife’s education; and indicators showing sharing of childcare responsibilities were found to be associated with contraceptive use. the paper concludes that educational, health promotional and family planning programmes involving husbands are needed to promote use of contraceptives.
Preeti’s co-authors are based at Dorset County Hospital in Dorchester, at CMMPH and at Singapore Clinical Research Institute/Duke-NUS Graduate Medical School, Singapore.
Reference:
This week saw the publication of Psicología y sociología aplicadas a la medicina [1]. This is a translated version of the fourth edition of Psychology & Sociology Applied to Medicine: An Illustrated Colour Text [2] which was published last year by the international publishing house Elsevier. This textbook for medical students is edited by Bournemouth University’s Prof. Edwin van Teijlingen, who is a Medical Sociologist and Prof. Gerry Humphries, who is Professor in Health Psychology at the School of Medicine, University of St Andrews.
Una sólida herramienta que aporta a los lectores valiosos conocimientos sobre los provesos psicológicos y sociológicos, fundamentales para proporcionar una atención personalizada. Obra extremadamente relevatne para el currículo y la práctica médica actual, donde se hace cada vez más hincapié en el lugar que ocupa la medicina en la sociedad y en la enfermedad como producto de las circunstancias psicológicas y sociales, más que como un mero fenómeno biológico. Los temas se presentan resumidos visualmente enuna doble página. Se acompañan con casos que refuerzan la comprensión de los conceptos fundamentales y con cuadros resumen y cuestiones para la reflexión. Ayuda a apreciar el lado “no científico” de la medicina; lo importante que es entender de dónde viene el paciente, geográfica e ideológicamente. Además, aborda a la perfección temas tan actuales, como las dificultades sociales derivadas de las pruebas genéticas.
References:
The international journal Sociological Research Online published (online first) a review of the book The Mood of the World by Heinz Bude and published by Polity. This is an interesting short sociological book about mood, reviewed by Prof. Edwin van Teijlingen. Bude’s book covers a broad analysis on the mood of the current situation and the function of collective moods. He notes that people live and make everyday decisions not only through reason or based on theory but also because of their feelings and emotions. Moreover, mood acts as a key component for the human being as a whole. Instead of intellect, people structure and find themselves as a part of the world through collective experiences. As Bude says “The world is present in mood but, 
instead of outside me, I find myself within it” (page 23). But mood is also personal according to Bude since “Depending on my mood, I am capable of anything or nothing” (page vii).
Reference:
The Departments of Psychology (SciTech), Midwifery and Health Sciences (HSS) from Bournemouth University and SSLA part of Symbiosis International (Deemed University) were successful in getting the United Kingdon India Education Research Initiative (UKIERI) 
funding to support 10 UK Psychology Students and Staff to visit India. This initiative receives further support from Global Engagement Hub, Bournemouth University.
The Study in India Programme has been designed in collaboration with BU’s project partner university Symbiosis International in India, where this will be hosted. This exchange will offer a program of interactive lectures, workshops, research methods seminars, clinical experience observations, and relevant field visits.
Students will also contribute to research with Sheetal Astitva, which is a GCRF funded initiative aimed to improve mental health in rural India and Nepal. The lead researchers for this initiative are Prof. Edwin van-Teijlingen and Dr. Shanti Shanker.
Dr Gayatri Kotbagi presented at the International Gender Conference 2020, Symbiosis School of Liberal Arts, Pune, India. She presented on the Mental Health, Rights, and Policies as part of the GCRF funded initiative Sheetal Astitva.
This project led by Prof. Edwin van-Teijlingen and Dr. Shanti Shanker focuses on grassroots level centers addressing the lack of accessibility in rural India. This project collaborates with the Taluka Health Officer at Paud (Mulshi, Dr Ajit Karanjkar) and local medical officers.
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.
Funding is tough in higher education and many great ideas fall short of just a little bit of money to makes something cool a reality. This could be one of them.
PalaeoGo is a concluding HEIF project that puts extinct animals into your smart phone using Augmented Reality. The idea was to enhance visitor experience at museums and science outreach in general. We have generic Apps in the app stores (App Store, Google Play) as well as a couple of bespoke ones specific to museums, The Etches Collection (App Store, Google Play) and Winchester Science Centre (App Store, Google Play) as well as a BU Campus version (App Store, Google Play). They bring dinosaurs to life and are hugely popular with children.
Perhaps the work we are most of proud of is that with Kingsleigh Primary School. In December 2019 we ran an outreach event which saw us take our PalaeoGo apps into school and we ran a dinosaur colouring competition alongside. This saw Year Two children compete for the prize of having their drawing come to life in a video. The community response was huge, and the school were happy with the outcome.
So, impressed with the idea and aware that once the project was over, and we had lost our talented digital artist Cameron Kerr (something which has now happened), such interventions would no longer be possible we began to plan a solution. We put our minds to trying to create the pipeline which would take a scanned piece of artwork from a child and produce their own video as the end product. In this way a school where ever they are in the World could run their own dino colouring competition. We now have that code all primed and ready as illustrated in this video, and we are looking for a talented web developer to package it all into a neat school/child friendly website, preferably pro bono.
So, ideas and/or offers of help are needed on how we move this brilliant idea into something that kids across the World can interact with. Answers on a postcode to the frustrated PalaeoGo team.
Congratulations to Dr. Preeti Mahato in the Centre for Midwifery, Maternal & Perinatal Health (CMMPH) on the acceptance of her latest academic paper in the journal Sexual & Reproductive Healthcare. [1] Contraceptive use is one of the most effective methods for reducing the number of pregnancies and thus benefiting the health and survival of women and children, especially in low-income countries such as Nepal. Increased contraceptive use and thus decreased fertility results in decreased obstetric risk mainly by reducing unwanted pregnancy in women with high parity. This paper reports of factors that act as barriers to contraceptive use or that act as facilitators of its use.
Reference:
On Wednesday 4th March Dr. Miguel Moital, Principal Academic in the Department of Sport & Events Management, spoke to five BBC regional radio stations (Merseyside, York, Solent, Nottingham, West Midlands) about the cancellation of major events due to coronavirus.
In his live interviews, Miguel answered questions about what the virus could mean for sport and the logistical challenges involved in postponing or cancelling major events such as the Olympics or the Euros.
The interview to BBC Radio Solent can be listened via this link (from 23m40s) (available until the 2nd April).
The Canadian Institute for Advanced Research (CIFAR) and the British Academy are inviting applications for early career researchers in the humanities and social sciences to attend a research collaboration symposium on the broad theme of ‘security’.
This will explore varied understandings and experiences of security, and how security can be and has been conceptualised, represented, lived and addressed. The symposium aims to encourage international engagement and collaboration between early career researchers from Canada and the UK from a broad range of disciplines, encouraging the exchange of ideas across both disciplinary and national boundaries. The event will take place in Montebello, Quebec, Canada from 08/12/20 – 10/12/20 .
Deadline for applications Wednesday 6 May 2020 at 17.00.
For details on how to apply please see here.
If you have any queries, please contact RDS on RKEDF@bournemouth.ac.uk
A paper titled: Writing impact case studies: a comparative study of high-scoring and low-scoring case studies from REF2014 was published in Nature this week.
The authors have analysed the content and language of the impact case studies submitted to REF2014 and concluded that: “implicit rules linked to written style may have contributed to scores alongside the published criteria on the significance, reach and attribution of impact”. The article is enlightening, with many useful tables comparing high and low-scoring impact case studies which show a clear difference in content and language between them.
From the abstract: “The paper provides the first empirical evidence across disciplinary main panels of statistically significant linguistic differences between high- versus low-scoring case studies, suggesting that implicit rules linked to written style may have contributed to scores alongside the published criteria on the significance, reach and attribution of impact. High-scoring case studies were more likely to provide specific and high-magnitude articulations of significance and reach than low-scoring cases. High-scoring case studies contained attributional phrases which were more likely to attribute research and/or pathways to impact, and they were written more coherently (containing more explicit causal connections between ideas and more logical connectives) than low-scoring cases. High-scoring case studies appear to have conformed to a distinctive new genre of writing, which was clear and direct, and often simplified in its representation of causality between research and impact, and less likely to contain expressions of uncertainty than typically associated with academic writing.”
The authors analyse each section of impact case studies and find differences in language and content in the research, impact and evidence sections of high and low scoring case studies. As they say: “The findings of our work enable impact case study authors to better understand the genre and make content and language choices that communicate their impact as effectively as possible”.
Yesterday a film crew from Windfall Films spent the afternoon in Poole Harbour filming some experimental ichnology. Ichnology is the study of trace fossils and is something that Bournemouth has an international reputation for. The production company are working on a documentary for Nova and are currently following our research team as they bring forward new research at White Sands National Park. As part of this they filmed a sequence yesterday involving the use of primitive transport technology. Think of a wheel-less wheel barrow used to transport butchered mammoths and giant ground sloth remains and you have the idea. We were experimenting with different designs and trying to work out what the trace fossil record looks like for each.
The Bournemouth team consisted of Hannah Larsen a PhD student who braved the bitter cold to go shoe less on the mudflats and a first year undergraduate student Gary Packwood who volunteered to help. It was a nice example of fusion in action.
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