Category / REF Subjects
Seventh edition of Social Work textbook
AFE seminar 31st October – Streamlining finance for SMEs: the solution of automated pre-filled VAT returns
Join us for the Accounting, Finance and Economics (AFE) seminar, taking place on Thursday 31st October at 2pm.
The AFE seminar for this semester will be delivered by BU’s Dr Siamand Hesami on the topic of Streamlining finance for SMEs: the solution of automated prefilled VAT returns.
Digital transformation in tax administrations has gained global momentum as governments seek to enhance efficiency and service delivery. The seminar will examine the financial and economic impacts of a key digital innovation: prefilling value-added tax (VAT) returns.
Using Chile as a case study, the analysis evaluates the net benefits and costs from both government and taxpayer perspectives. The results demonstrate that prefilling VAT returns can significantly reduce taxpayer compliance costs, presenting a strong case for its adoption.
For Chile, this initiative’s economic net present value is estimated at US$5.66 billion, with US$1.729 billion in benefits to the private sector and US$3.391 billion in positive budgetary impact for the government. Sensitivity analyses confirm the robustness of these findings, except in scenarios where changes in taxpayer compliance significantly affect government revenues.
This research highlights prefilling VAT returns as an effective strategy to reduce compliance costs, close the tax gap, and minimise the risk of audits and tax evasion, offering valuable insights for broader applications in tax administration.
The seminar takes place in F108 (Fusion Building) from 2pm.
Congratulations to Shafkat Hossain on his first PhD paper
This week the editor of the International Journal of Social Sciences and Management emailed that the paper ‘Drowning Prevention should be a Public Health Issue in Nepal‘ [1] had been published. This is the first paper for our Ph.D. student Md. Shafkat Hossain. Shafkat co-authored this paper drowning prevention experts in Nepal, Dr. Bhagabati Sedain and Dr. Puspa Rai Pant and Prof. Aminur Rahman based at CIPRB (the Centre for Injury Prevention and Research, Bangladesh).
Shafkat’s thesis is part of the interdisciplinary Sonamoni project on drowning prevention in toddlers under the age of two in Bangladesh. This newly published paper takes lessons learnt from Bangladesh and offers them as ideas to be considered in Nepal. Nepal is prone to a range of natural disasters; earthquakes being the most widely recognised one. However, many people are at risk of drowning as the serious flooding in the autumn of 2024 showed, but this is not recognised as a serious public health risk in Nepal. Drowning relates to people’s everyday activities such as crossing rivers, bathing and swimming and should be treated as a social and public health problem.
The Sonamoni project is being coordinated by Bournemouth University in collaboration with the University of the West of England, Bristol, the University of Southampton, the Royal National Lifeboat Institution (RNLI), CIPRB in Bangladesh and Design Without Borders in Uganda. It funded by the National Institute for Health and Care Research (NIHR) through its Research and Innovation for Global Health Transformation programme. For more information, visit the NIHR website.
As we are reaching the end of Open Access Week is worth highlighting that this paper is fully Open Access, and hence freely available in both Nepal and Bangladesh!
Prof. Edwin van Teijlingen
Centre for Midwifery & Women’s Health
Reference:
- Hossain, M. S., Pant, P. R., van Teijlingen, E., Sedain, B., & Rahman, A. (2024). Drowning Prevention should be a Public Health Issue in Nepal. International Journal of Social Sciences and Management, 11(4): 83–87.
BU Innovation Funding (HEIF) 2024-25 Open Call for Applications
The Innovation Funding Panel is pleased to announce the 2024-2025 Open Call for Applications.
Higher Education Innovation Funding (HEIF) is now available for innovation knowledge exchange projects, please find details below of the call, eligibility and how to make an application.
Research England provide universities with HEIF funding. This is for knowledge exchange to enable them to develop a broad range of knowledge-based interactions: working with business, public and third sector organisations, community bodies and/or the wider public, to exchange knowledge and increase the economic and societal benefit/impact from their research. The Panel invites applications from:
- significant projects that are underway and require a further funding to expand on current work to increase current impact;
- existing knowledge exchange projects that are completed but can develop in a way which was not part of their initial project outcomes/impact with follow-on funding to develop to the next level or to explore areas/opportunities which arose from the original project outcomes;
- projects with ambition that require seed funding, capacity building, proof-of-concept or launchpad
Further Information and Guidance
Please make sure that you read and follow the information and guidance in the document (link below)
Information and Guidance for Innovation Fund (HEIF) 2024-25.docx
Application Form
To apply, please read the guidance and complete the application form. The completed form must be submitted through the online application form below by 5pm on Friday 22nd November 2024. Please note, late applications will not be accepted and the online form portal will close at 5.00 pm GMT.
Bournemouth University Innovation Fund 2024-2025 Open Call Application Form
A copy of questions in pdf format for reference only can be found here: BU Innovation Fund 2024-2025 Open Call Application Form.pdf)
Late 2023 paper reaches 400 reads!
Yesterday ResearchGate informed us that our paper ‘The impact of decentralisation on health systems: a systematic review of reviews‘ [1] had reached 400 reads. This paper, published in BMJ Global Health, is one of six papers published from our interdisciplinary research project ‘The impact of federalisation on Nepal’s health system: a longitudinal analysis’, the other five include a methods paper and a public health paper [2-6].
This study was funded by the UK Health Systems Research Initiative [Grant ref. MR/T023554/1]. In this larger Nepal Federal Health System Project we study the consequences for the health system of Nepal’s move from a centralised political system to a more federal government structure in 2015. This joint project was led by the University of Sheffield in collaboration with Bournemouth University, the University of Huddersfield, Canter Bury Christ Church University and two institutions in Nepal, namely MMIHS (Manmohan Memorial Institute of Health Sciences) and PHASE Nepal.
Appropriately on Open Access Week, all six papers are Open Access, i.e. freely available to everyone with internet access in Nepal (and elsewhere in the world).
References:
- Sapkota, S., Dhakal, A., Rushton S., van Teijlingen, E.R. et al. (2023) The impact of decentralisation on health systems: a systematic review of reviews. BMJ Global Health 8:e013317. doi:10.1136/bmjgh-2023-013317.
- Sapkota, S., Rushton, S., van Teijlingen, E., Subedi, M., Balen, J., Gautam, S., Adhikary, P., Simkhada, P., Wasti, S.P., Karki, J.K., Panday, S., Karki, A., Rijal, B., Joshi, S., Basnet, S., Marahatta, S.B. (2024) Participatory policy analysis in health policy and systems research: reflections from a study in Nepal. Health Research & Policy Systems, 22 (No.7) https://doi.org/10.1186/s12961-023-01092-5 .
- Wasti, S.P., van Teijlingen, E., Rushton, S., et al. (2023) Overcoming the Challenges Facing Nepal’s Health System During Federalisation: An Analysis of Health System Building Blocks, Health Research Policy & Systems 21(117) https://doi.org/10.1186/s12961-023-01033-2
- Sapkota, S., Panday, S., Wasti, S.P., et al. (2022) Health System Strengthening: The Role of Public Health in Federal Nepal, Journal of the Nepal Public Health Association 7(1):36-42.
- Adhikary, P., Balen, J., Gautam, S., et al. (2020) The COVID-19 pandemic in Nepal: Emerging evidence on the effectiveness of action by, and cooperation between, different levels of government in a federal system, Journal of Karnali Academy of Health Sciences 3 (3): 1-11.
- Rushton, S., Pandey, S., van Teijlingen, E., et al. (2021) An Investigation into the Impact of Decentralization on the Health System of Nepal. Journal of Manmohan Memorial Institute of Health Sciences, 7(1): 3–14. https://doi.org/10.3126/jmmihs.v7i1.43146
Gothic at the Russell Cotes Museum
The Russell Cotes Museum Late evenings are a chance to explore the museum after dark with short talks and pop-up exhibitions – a perfect opportunity to talk about Gothic at a sold-out event.
I’d been invited to set up a stall exploring Gothic Comics, showcasing my research into British girls’ comics of the 1970s. This let me share lots of comics alongside the free gifts that were given away with the first few issues of each new title. I also brought along a few very rare items such as the dummy folder of the launch issue of Misty #1, which shows how story titles were added in (letraset transfers) and colour pages were allocated.
It was a brilliant evening where I found myself set up alongside tarot readings, Gothic poetry writing, a handling table of memento mori objects from the museum, and lots of short talks and readings of classic Gothic literature, all set to candle-lit piano music.
I had a great time chatting with some fabulously dressed folk about the largely forgotten wave of Gothic girls’ comics that emerged in Britain in the 1970s and how they used many common motifs of the Gothic tradition (embedded stories, nature imagery) and Victorian Gothic themes and settings (Jack the Ripper, Dracula, dire workhouses, wicked governesses, seances, and more). I always love getting people to reminisce about the comics they remember (or have mostly forgotten) and this was no exception! We talked about the way these comics were produced (small teams, weekly outputs, a frantic pace), the reasons they’ve been lost to memories and history (greedy publishers, competition with other media, poor treatment of creators and readers), the gothic tropes and themes they contain (adaptations of everything from Edgar Allan Poe to Stephen King, modern cautionary tales, myths and legends, historical ghost stories), and the balancing line they tread between conservative morals and transgressive excitement.
To find out more about this lost gothic, please visit my website www.juliaround.com.
Julia Round is an Associate Professor and English and Comics Studies in the Department of Humanities and Law, and Head of the Narrative, Culture and Community Research Centre. She has over 50 publications on Gothic, horror and comics, including the award-winning book Gothic for Girls (2019).
BU does well in offering Open Access publications
The University of Leiden in the Netherlands compiles the CWTS Leiden Ranking Open Edition, and offers fully transparent information about the scientific performance of over 1500 major universities worldwide.
Prof. Edwin van Teijlingen
Research Culture Champion in the Faculty of Health & Social Sciences
University of Maribor, Slovenia – Visiting Researcher Programme Recipient
Professor Adele Ladkin (BUBS) is currently being hosted for one month by the Faculty of Tourism at the University of Maribor. Funded from the Slovenian Development Pillar of Funding for Scientific Research activities 2023-2027, the aim is to support and implement activities for the internationalisation of scientific research.
During the visit, Prof. Ladkin has the opportunity to explore research collaboration. One area to be developed relates to climate change and tourism work, and also an investigation into working conditions and employee wellbeing in the Hospitality sector with Assoc. Prof. Dr Maja Turnšek. In her capacity as External Advisor to a Slovenia Research and Innovation Agency funded project ‘The future of social dialogue in the platform economy, the case of Slovenia’ Adele will write an intermediary progress report on the qualitative aspects of the project.
Adele says “I am very fortunate to be the recipient of this competitive visiting research programme and hope to engage in activities and research that will be beneficial to my hosts at the University of Maribor and BUBS.
Evaluating complex interventions
There are several different methods or approaches to help researchers when evaluating of complex public health interventions or programmes. Our recent paper ‘Most Significant Change Approach: A Guide to Assess the Programmatic Effects’ [1] describes the Most Significant Change (MSC) participatory technique to monitor and evaluate programmatic effects. The MSC is a form of monitoring because it occurs throughout the programme’s lifecycle and provides information to manage it. Unfortunately, MSC as a participatory evaluation technique using qualitative methods is not widely used nor known.
We hope to convince relevant funders and evaluators of the value of the MSC technique and application. Our paper offers step-by-step guidelines on how to use the MSC technique when evaluating a large-scale intervention covering perspectives of different beneficiaries within a limited period. The MSC process involves purposively selecting the beneficiaries, collecting the Most Significant (MS) stories, which are then systematically analysed by designated stakeholders and or implemented partners, selected through internal vetting, and external process by involving beneficiaries and stakeholders.
The central question focuses on changes in the form of stories such as ‘Who did what?’; ‘When did the change occur?’; and ‘What was the process?’ Additionally, it seeks feedback to explain why particular a story was selected as MS and how the selection process was organised. The MSC technique further attempts to verify the validity, significant, relevant, sustainability of the change, and impact on marginalized or Gender Equality and Social Inclusion (GESI) groups brought by the programme. Furthermore, the technique seeks verification of the MS story by triangulating comprehensive notes and recordings.
Prof. Edwin van Teijlingen
Centre fro Midwifery & Women’s Health
Reference:
- Sharma, M. K., Khanal, S. P., & van Teijlingen, E. (2024). Most Significant Change Approach: A Guide to Assess the Programmatic Effects. International Journal of Qualitative Methods, 23. https://doi.org/10.1177/16094069241272143
Student Research Opportunity
As the new academic year begins, so does the recruitment process for a new cohort of Missing Persons Indicator Project researchers. This year, as well as recruiting law students to the project, we are presenting this opportunity to budding researchers across the university. Notably, a new collaboration between the FMC and BUBS has emerged, enhancing the interdisciplinary approach of the project.
In collaboration with the International Commission on Missing Persons, students have begun the process of collating indicators to capture the way States engage with, and seek to solve, missing persons cases. These indicators range from understanding contextual factors that could have contributed to a surge of missing persons cases, such as conflict or natural disasters, to international treaty ratification, to domestic legislation.
In light of recent headlines concerning conflicts across the globe, students have likely been exposed to stories that highlight the pressing issues of our time, such as missing persons. This voluntary research project offers them a unique opportunity to engage with work that has real-world significance, showing how research can extend beyond the university to make a meaningful impact.
Our expectations:
- Dedicate approximately 8 hours a month to the project (flexible around university commitments).
- Attend in-person meetings, skills workshops and data collating sessions.
- Be keen to develop research skills.
- Work respectfully within a diverse team.
Student experience:
- Support into real-world research with lasting impact.
- Assist in articulating the project into written form to enhance employability.
- Optional research skills workshops.
- Inter-disciplinary learning.
- Feedback opportunities.
- A well-stocked snack cupboard.
If you feel this opportunity would benefit students in your faculty, discipline, or program, please email indicators@bournemouth.ac.uk to request the necessary recruitment paperwork or to arrange a drop-in talk for your students.
New National Teaching Fellow at BU utilising Team-based Learning to improve care of patients with chronic pain
Dr Jonny Branney, Principal Academic in Nursing & Clinical Sciences, Department of Nursing Science, was delighted to represent Bournemouth University at the UK Teaching Excellence Award Ceremony 2024 in Edinburgh 3rd October 2024, where he received a National Teaching Fellowship!
The National Teaching Fellowship Scheme (NTFS) recognises, rewards and celebrates individuals who have made an outstanding impact on student outcomes and the teaching profession. Jonny’s particular impact on education centres around his implementation of Team-based Learning (TBL) in the nursing curriculum at BU and beyond. He has supported colleagues at BU to adopt TBL including Dee Hughes who recently became a certified TBL Practitioner for his work introducing TBL to the MA Scriptwriting programme. TBL has become embedded in the nursing curriculum and been embraced by the team who deliver Applied Healthcare Sciences 2 (too many to name hear, you know who you are!), and in the paramedic science programme, led by Adam Bancroft. Jonny has also delivered workshops nationally and internationally to support other educators to adopt TBL, including in the US, Netherlands and Australia.
He is now utilising TBL not only in teaching but in his research and professional practice. He and team (Ryan Muldoon, Lecturer in Adult Nursing; Joe Barry, NHS Somerset) earlier this year received a TBLC Research Grant for ‘A qualitative usability testing study of TBL pain science classes for patients with chronic back pain.’ Patient interviews have been transcribed and we eagerly await the final results – preliminary results suggest this approach was popular with patients however, and the team hope to progress to the next stage and seek funding for a feasibility trial.
Thank you to everyone who has provided support on the journey to this award
While the National Teaching Fellowship is an individual award, this would not have been possible without significant support from many colleagues. Jonny would particularly like to thank all his nursing colleagues who have embraced TBL (notably Monica Arias, now at Univerisidad de Nevarra, Spain, the unit lead who gave permission for him to first experiment with TBL back in 2015!), all the colleagues named above, and all other fantastic colleagues (Angela Warren from PIER, Heads of Department including Kathy Curtis, Professor Steve Ersser and Professor Sue Green) who helped make this happen. Key influences and amazing colleagues from the TBLC (to many to name all!) include Professor Simon Tweddell and Dr Gemma Quinn of the University of Bradford – both National Teaching Fellows themselves. Key mentors at BU were Professor Debbie Holley NTF and Dr Holly Henderson NTF- the application would not have been successful without their guidance, expertise and encouragement! (grateful thanks also to Professor Mel Hughes, NTF). Finally, Jonny would also like to acknowledge the unending support, love and patience from his wife, Debbie and two children. Behind every success is an element of sacrifice – patience truly is a virtue! Jonny apologies in advance if he has neglected to name anyone he should have!!
We now have five National Teaching Fellows at BU including our new Vice Chancellor and CEO, Professor Alison Honour! Who will be next colleague at BU to be rewarded for their outstanding impact on student outcomes and the teaching profession? Could it be you…?
Dementia in Nepal: new publication
Congratulations to Dr. Shanti Farrington, Principal Academic in Psychology, on the publication of her latest paper ‘The impact of cultural practice and policy on dementia care in Nepal‘ [1]. This paper in the international journal BMC Geriatrics reminds us that our wider culture plays a vital role in both dementia care and policy. This study explored the cultural practice and policy influence around caring for People Living with Dementia (PLWD) in Nepal. It comprised four in-depth interviews and four focus group discussions with 29 participants, including family members, health care professionals, and other stakeholders. Data were analysed using thematic analysis.
This qualitative research resulted in four major themes (each with several sub-themes): 1. Cultural practice in dementia care; 2. Impact of policy on the dementia care; 3. Service provision; and 4. Education and training. The authors conclude that is a need for community-based awareness raising on dementia and its care, to sensitize all relevant stakeholders to meet the needs of PLWD. In addition, capacity building of health workforce is needed to enhance their knowledge of and skills around dementia care.
The lead author is Dr. Bibha Simkhada, formerly in BU’s Department of Nursing Sciences, and currently based in the School of Human and Health Sciences at the University of Huddersfield. Further co-authors are Pallavi Simkhada, PhD student at the University of Edinburgh, Sanju Thapa Magar, based at Aging Nepal and Prof. Edwin van Teijlingen, in BU’s Centre for Midwifery & Women’s Health.
Reference:
- Simkhada, B., Magar, S.T., Simkhada, P., Farrington, S., van Teijlingen, E. (2024) The impact of cultural practice and policy on dementia care in Nepal, BMC Geriatrics24, 842 (2024). https://doi.org/10.1186/s12877-024-05438-8
Impact of virtual reality on the well-being and travel experiences of people affected by dementia
I am undertaking a research placement as part of my studies on the MSc Foundations of Clinical Psychology. In my role as a research assistant, I have been working on a project that aimed to introduce the idea of travelling using Virtual Reality headsets for people with dementia and their caregivers/ family members. Virtual reality (VR) technology presents a promising means of bridging geographical divides and empowering individuals with dementia to participate in their communities in ways that were not possible prior to diagnosis. Additionally, research has demonstrated the value of virtual reality in helping people with dementia remember their past, revisit their hometown, or most treasured vacation spots. The purpose of this project is to evaluate how virtual reality can support people with dementia with travel and explore the impact on their wellbeing.
This is a collaborative pilot research study involving BU staff from the Ageing and Dementia Research Centre (ADRC) (Dr. Michelle Heward, Dr. Catherine Talbot, Dr. Michele Board, Dr Aisling Flynn, Lyndsey Bradley) and the International Centre for Tourism and Hospitality Research (ICTHR) (Dr. Daisy Fan, Prof. Dimitrios Buhalis) alongside colleagues from PramaLife (Sue Warr and Jo Keats) and is funded with QR funding from the Department of Psychology. We collected data on campus, and I was able to support this and had an opportunity to engage with the participants. The participants were asked to come to 2 sessions. The first session consisted of a session in the Blended Learning Interactive Simulation Suite, also known as the BLISS room. In this room, the participants and their caregivers were given the chance to play interactive VR games of their choice on the walls or visit different parts of the UK, such as London and Oxford. The second session consisted of using the VR headsets, where the participants were able to use the headsets themselves, which allows them to virtually experience other parts of the world, by looking around and having access to a 360 view, of a location of their choosing, whether that be somewhere they had never been to or reminisce about places they have been.
Given this immense opportunity to relive and reminisce about their previous experiences around the world, and their respective homes, the reception was overall a positive one. The participants left feeling positive about having virtually visited places from their past and having engaged with places they have never been to or would like to go to in the future. They provided some useful insights and feedback to inform future research in this area. We now move towards analysing and publishing the data.
Roshin Sibu
For more information about this project please email Michelle mheward@bournemouth.ac.uk
New BU women’s health publication
Congratulations to Karim Khaled on the publication in the international journal Nutrients of his latest women’s health paper [1]. The paper ‘A Structural Equation Modelling Approach to Examine the Mediating Effect of Stress on Diet in Culturally Diverse Women of Childbearing Age’ is co-authored with his PhD supervisors Dr. Fotini Tsofliou and Prof. Vanora Hundley.
This paper in Nutrients is Open Access, hence available to read to anybody across the globe with internet access.
Well done!
Prof. Edwin van Teijlingen
Centre for Midwifery & Women’s Health
Reference:
- Khaled, K., Tsofliou, F., Hundley, V.A. A Structural Equation Modelling Approach to Examine the Mediating Effect of Stress on Diet in Culturally Diverse Women of Childbearing Age. Nutrients. 2024; 16(19):3354. https://doi.org/10.3390/nu16193354
New BU Social Work publication
- Frampton, M., Friesenhahn, G. J., & Parker, J. (2024). Bildung, capabilities, human freedom and human flourishing: impulses for social work. Journal of Comparative Social Work, 19(1), 129–156. https://doi.org/10.31265/jcsw.v19i1.727
Research methods training in Qatar
Bournemouth University collaboration with in the field of ageing research in Qatar is going from strength to strength. BU staff have been working with academics and clinicians at Hamad Medical Corporation’s (HMC) Department of Geriatrics and Long-Term Care. HMC has been appointed as a WHO (World Health Organization) Collaborating Centre for Healthy Ageing and Dementia, under auspices of Ministry of Publich Health in Qatar. Hamad Medical Corporation is n0t-for profit organisation. Tomorrow morning (7.00 AM UK time) FHSS will be contributing to an International Survey Research Workshop, together with BU’s Faculty of Health & Social Sciences Visiting Faculty Dr. Brijesh Sathian (based at HMC), and Prof. Padam Simhada, based at the University of Huddersfield.
Pregnancy & COVID-19 in UK: New study published
This morning the editor of the Frontiers in Psychiatry emailed us that the paper reporting the findings of the baseline data of a large-scale epidemiological study into pregnancy during COVID-19 in the UK has been published [1]. The interdisciplinary research team includes researchers from University Hospitals Dorset NHS Foundation Trust (Dr. Latha Vinayakarao & Prof. Minesh Khashu) and Bournemouth University (Prof. Edwin van Teijlingen).
This longitudinal study explores how the SARS-CoV-2 [COVID-19] pandemic affected the mental health of pregnant people in the UK. In mid-to-late 2020, we recruited 3666 individuals in the UK for the EPPOCH pregnancy cohort (Maternal mental health during the COVID-19 pandemic: Effect of the Pandemic on Pregnancy Outcomes and Childhood Health). Participants were assessed for depression, anxiety, anger and pregnancy-related anxiety using validated scales. Additionally, physical activity, social support, individualized support and personal coping ability of the respondents were assessed as potential resilience factors.
Participants reported high levels of depression (57.05%), anxiety (58.04%) and anger (58.05%). Higher levels of social and individualized support and personal coping ability were associated with lower mental health challenges. Additionally, pregnant individuals in the UK experienced higher depression during the pandemic than that reported in Canada. Finally, qualitative analysis revealed that restrictions for partners and support persons during medical appointments as well as poor public health communication led to increased mental health adversities and hindered ability to make medical decisions.
The study highlights the increased mental health challenges among pregnant individuals in the UK during pandemic. These results highlight the need for reassessing the mental health support measures available to pregnant people in the UK, both during times of crisis and in general.
Reference:
- Datye, S., Smiljanic, M., Shetti, R.H., MacRae-Miller, A., van Teijlingen, E., Vinayakarao, L., Peters, E.M.J., Lebel, C.A., Tomfohr-Madsen, L., Giesbrecht, G., Khashu, M., Conrad, M.L. (2024) Prenatal maternal mental health and resilience in the United Kingdom during the SARS-CoV-2 Pandemic: A cross-national comparison, Frontiers in Psychiatry, 15 https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyt.2024.1411761