Category / Business & Management Studies

Building Ventures from Bricks: Why LEGO® Serious Play® Belongs at the Heart of Entrepreneurship Education

BU Challenges, Business Engagement, Knowledge Exchange, Student Engagement

There is something quietly radical about placing a box of LEGO bricks in front of an entrepreneurship student and asking them to build what it feels like to start a business as a woman. It looks playful. It feels unfamiliar. And that is precisely the point.

Gendered barriers to enterprise, unequal access to networks and capital, and the legitimacy penalties faced by women founders are not peripheral concerns — they are central to how entrepreneurship actually works. Yet they are among the hardest things to surface in a conventional classroom. Lectures can name them; discussions can debate them. But neither easily reaches the experiential, affective layer where structural disadvantage is felt and processed. LEGO® Serious Play® (LSP) –  a structured, facilitated methodology in which participants construct physical models as a vehicle for thinking and sense-making – offers a compelling answer.

The theoretical roots of LSP lie in constructionism (Papert & Harel, 1991 cited in Imholz and Petrosino, 2012), extending Piaget’s Constructivism, the premise that humans learn most powerfully when actively making something shareable. In entrepreneurship, this matters enormously. The field is inherently uncertain, relational and situated (Neck & Greene, 2011), demanding that practitioners navigate ambiguity and construct meaning from incomplete information — precisely what traditional pedagogies rarely train students to do.

LSP addresses this through embodied cognition — the well-established view that cognitive processes are rooted in the body’s interactions with the world (Barsalou, 2008; Wilson, 2002). When students physically manipulate bricks, they activate neural pathways associated with memory, association and imagination, surfacing tacit knowledge that verbal reasoning cannot access. The cognitive and reflective processes generated map directly onto the experiential learning cycle entrepreneurship education has long sought to replicate (Kolb, 1984).

Nowhere is LSP’s capacity to make the invisible visible more valuable than when the subject is gender and structural disadvantage. When a student is asked to build what barriers look like — giving them height, weight and spatial relationship — something categorically different becomes possible. The model externalises and legitimises the experience: it makes the barrier an object in the room for collective examination, rather than a contested assertion subject to instant pushback.

The LSP rule that the meaning of a model belongs only to its creator — and that no one may impose their own interpretation (Gkogkidis & Dacre, 2021) — creates protective distance between the student and their experience, allowing difficult realities to be surfaced through metaphor before being verbalised. Reduced perceived risk is precisely what enables more diverse voices to emerge (Gauntlett, 2011). Benesova’s (2023) study at the University of Leeds evidences this: students from high power-distance cultures reported that building gave them expression, bypassing the social hierarchies of the seminar, with one noting it was “much easier to build it than say it.”

The Entrepreneurial Learning Case

Fox et al. (2018) identify active, reflective, situated, and crisis-based learning as the key dimensions that effective entrepreneurship pedagogy must address, finding that digital simulations perform poorly on the affective and reflective dimensions and almost entirely fail to simulate failure and uncertainty. LSP does not share these limitations. Ball et al.’s (2021) case study from Northumbria University saw students complete a LEGO task with pieces deliberately missing — simulating resource constraints and ambiguity — and subsequently identify 68 distinct entrepreneurial skills and competencies including risk-taking, creativity and leadership. Creativity here means recombining knowledge, recognising patterns and imagining alternatives (Fillis & Rentschler, 2010) — and material, exploratory engagement of the kind LSP provides is precisely what develops creative confidence and problem-solving capability (Rauth et al., 2010). Zenk et al. (2018) went further still, designing an entire innovation course around LSP — guiding students through ideation, prototyping, pivot questioning and pre-mortem analysis in ways conventional course design cannot match.

Where LSP makes its most distinctive contribution is in the quality of reflection it generates. Gkogkidis and Dacre (2023) frame the four-step core process — pose question, construct, share meaning, reflect — as a pedagogical architecture that operationalises constructivist learning values. For universities seeking to embed entrepreneurial thinking across their culture, active, reflexive pedagogies of this kind are central to the entrepreneurial university mission (Guerrero & Urbano, 2012). When students have physically constructed the systems that disadvantage them, the subsequent reflection is grounded in something concrete and shared, allowing a group to move from “do these barriers exist?” to “here they are — now what do we do?” That shift, from debate to design thinking, is precisely the mode entrepreneurship demands.

In conclusion, gender, network access and legitimacy inequality do not sit comfortably in a traditional seminar. They are too personal, too politically charged, too easily deflected. LSP creates conditions in which these conversations happen differently: externalising structural barriers, equalising participation and protecting less powerful voices. For entrepreneurship educators serious about structural inequality, the bricks are doing serious work.

References

Ball, S., Quan, R., & Clegg, S. (2025). A case study of experiential entrepreneurial learning through LEGO® play. 20(1), Proceedings of the 20th European Conference on Innovation and Entrepreneurship, Northumbria University.         https://doi.org/10.34190/ecie.20.1.3942        

Barsalou, L. W. (2008). Grounded cognition. Annual Review of Psychology, 59(1), 617–645. https://doi.org/10.1146/annurev.psych.59.103006.093639

Benesova, N. (2023). LEGO® Serious Play® in management education. Cogent Education, 10(2), 2262284. https://doi.org/10.1080/2331186X.2023.2262284

Fillis, I., & Rentschler, R. (2010). The role of creativity in entrepreneurship. Journal of Enterprising Culture, 18(1), 49–81. https://doi.org/10.1142/S0218495810000501

Fox, J., Pittaway, L., & Uzuegbunam, I. (2018). Simulations in entrepreneurship education: Serious games and learning through play. Entrepreneurship Education and Pedagogy, 1(1), 61–89. https://doi.org/10.1177/2515127417737285

Gkogkidis V., and Dacre N. (2023). The educator’s LSP journey: creating exploratory learning environments for responsible management education using Lego Serious Play. Emerald Open Research, 1(12) No Pagination Specified, doi: https://doi.org/10.1108/EOR-12-2023-0004

Guerrero, M., & Urbano, D. (2012). The development of an entrepreneurial university. The Journal of Technology Transfer, 37(1), 43–74. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10961-010-9171-x

Imholz, S. and Petrosino, A. (2012) Teacher Observations on the Implementation of the Tools of the Mind Curriculum in the Classroom: Analysis of Interviews Conducted over a One-Year Period. Creative Education, 3, 185-192. doi: 10.4236/ce.2012.32029.

Kolb, D. A. (1984). Experiential learning: Experience as the source of learning and development. Prentice-Hall.

Neck, H. M., & Greene, P. G. (2011). Entrepreneurship education: Known worlds and new frontiers. Journal of Small Business Management, 49(1), 55–70. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1540-627X.2010.00314.x

Rauth, I., Köppen, E., Jobst, B., & Meinel, C. (2010). Design thinking: An educational model towards creative confidence. In T. Taura & Y. Nagai (Eds.), DS 66-2: Proceedings of the 1st International Conference on Design Creativity (ICDC 2010). The Design Society.

Wilson, M. (2002). Six views of embodied cognition. Psychonomic Bulletin & Review, 9(4), 625–636. https://doi.org/10.3758/BF03196322

Zenk, L., Hynek, N., Schreder, G., Zenk, A., Pausits, A., & Steiner, G. (2018). Designing innovation courses in higher education using LEGO® SERIOUS PLAY®. International Journal of Management and Applied Research, 5(4), 244–263. https://doi.org/10.18646/2056.54.18-019

 

Building Your Own Ecosystem: Why Entrepreneurial Self-Efficacy Might Matter More Than the Perfect Network

Industry collaboration, Knowledge Exchange, Student Engagement

Entrepreneurship often begins with a deceptively simple act: reaching out to someone you do not know.

During the first week of our MBA Technology Entrepreneurship unit at Bournemouth University, a final year engineering student entrepreneur, Atanas Burmov, spoke to the class about building his venture from scratch. He arrived in Bournemouth at 18 to study software engineering. Within months he had established a mathematics and programming society to create peer support for students navigating the demands of their degree. Soon afterwards, he began contacting academics, technologists and organisations—sometimes completely cold—seeking advice and collaboration for a technology idea he was developing.

At that stage he had no venture capital, no established network, and no formal ecosystem behind him. What he had instead was something more fundamental: the belief that he could learn, build, and navigate uncertainty. He simply started reaching out to people. Those early emails and conversations eventually became the foundations of the collaborations that now support the growth of his venture. But at the beginning, it was not about partnerships or strategic alliances. It was about initiative.

His story is simply an illustration which shows a much larger phenomenon in entrepreneurship research: the role of entrepreneurial self-efficacy in enabling individuals to act under conditions of uncertainty and constraint ( McGee et al., 2009; Zhao et al., 2005).

The concept of self-efficacy originates in Albert Bandura’s social cognitive theory. Bandura defines self-efficacy as an individual’s belief in their capability to organise and execute the actions required to manage prospective situations (Bandura, 1977; Bandura, 1997). In other words, it is not simply about possessing knowledge or skills. It is about believing that those capabilities can be applied effectively in uncertain circumstances. Entrepreneurship is inherently uncertain. New ventures rarely begin with stable structures, predictable markets or guaranteed resources. In such environments, internal judgements of capability become critically important. A substantial body of research shows that entrepreneurial self-efficacy is strongly associated with entrepreneurial intention, persistence and opportunity pursuit (Chen et al., 1998; Zhao et al., 2005; McGee et al., 2009).

Individuals who believe they can navigate uncertainty are more likely to act despite incomplete information. They are more willing to experiment, to approach new contacts, to persist after rejection and to mobilise resources creatively when conventional pathways are unavailable. This becomes particularly relevant when entrepreneurs begin under conditions of constraint. Many founders start without financial capital, established networks or institutional legitimacy. Research on entrepreneurial bricolage shows how entrepreneurs often respond by recombining the resources already available to them in creative ways (Baker & Nelson, 2005). Similarly, the theory of effectuation highlights how entrepreneurs begin with the means they already possess—who they are, what they know and whom they know—and gradually build ventures through partnerships and experimentation (Sarasvathy, 2001).

Technical expertise can reinforce this process. Founders with deep domain knowledge, particularly in technology-based ventures, often possess greater confidence in their ability to solve problems. This confidence can strengthen entrepreneurial self-efficacy and increase the likelihood that individuals will attempt to translate ideas into ventures (Marvel et al., 2016). Yet confidence does not emerge in isolation. Bandura himself emphasised that self-efficacy develops through interaction with social environments. Mastery experiences, encouragement from others, observing peers succeed and working within supportive communities all contribute to the strengthening of self-efficacy beliefs (Bandura, 1997).

This is one reason why institutional environments such as universities can play such an important role in the entrepreneurial journey. Universities increasingly operate as entrepreneurial institutions, supporting venture creation alongside their traditional roles in research and teaching (Etzkowitz, 2003; Guerrero et al., 2016). For students, universities offer more than academic instruction. They provide access to laboratories, intellectual property expertise, mentoring networks, entrepreneurship societies, careers services and communities of peers who are also experimenting with ideas. These infrastructures matter because they help transform tentative initiative into sustained entrepreneurial action. When students know that expertise, resources and encouragement exist around them, their willingness to act increases.

The role of place also deserves attention. Entrepreneurship discourse often focuses heavily on global innovation hubs such as London or Silicon Valley, where capital and talent are highly concentrated. These ecosystems undoubtedly provide significant advantages. Yet they also involve intense competition and high barriers to visibility for early-stage founders.

Research on entrepreneurial ecosystems suggests that smaller regions can offer different but equally important advantages. In regional contexts, social networks are often more visible and accessible, and relationships between ecosystem actors may form more quickly (Stam, 2015; Spigel, 2017). Studies of regional entrepreneurial networks show that such environments frequently display dense relational ties and higher levels of trust, which can lower barriers for new entrepreneurs seeking advice, introductions or collaboration (Granovetter, 1985; Feldman & Zoller, 2012). In these ecosystems, universities frequently function as anchor institutions. They concentrate knowledge, talent, infrastructure and legitimacy within a particular place, often acting as catalysts for regional innovation and venture creation (Goddard & Kempton, 2016).

For student entrepreneurs, this combination of place-based networks and institutional support can be powerful. Access to mentors, academics, laboratories and peer communities can enable ideas to move more quickly from concept to experimentation.

Returning to the story that opened this article, the venture did not begin with a fully formed ecosystem. It began with initiative: sending emails, asking questions and seeking conversations. Over time those conversations developed into collaborations that now support the growth of the business.

What began as individual initiative gradually evolved into a network. Entrepreneurship research often focuses on funding, scaling and investment. Yet the earliest stages of venture creation frequently occur long before these elements appear. They occur in moments that are almost invisible: an email written, a conversation initiated, a question asked despite uncertainty.

Self-efficacy plays a critical role in these moments. It allows individuals to act before legitimacy, capital or networks are fully in place. But sustaining entrepreneurial action requires more than individual belief. It requires environments that recognise initiative and respond to it. Universities, mentors, regional ecosystems and institutional infrastructures all contribute to creating contexts where entrepreneurial action becomes possible.

Sometimes the most important entrepreneurial resource is not capital or connections. It is the quiet confidence to begin.

References

Baker, T., & Nelson, R. (2005). Creating something from nothing: Resource construction through entrepreneurial bricolage. Administrative Science Quarterly, 50(3), 329–366. https://doi.org/10.2189/asqu.2005.50.3.329

Bandura, A. (1977). Self-efficacy: Toward a unifying theory of behavioural change. Psychological Review, 84(2), 191–215. https://doi.org/10.1037/0033-295X.84.2.191

Bandura, A. (1997). Self-efficacy: The exercise of control. New York: W.H. Freeman.

Chen, C., Greene, P., & Crick, A. (1998). Does entrepreneurial self-efficacy distinguish entrepreneurs from managers? Journal of Business Venturing, 13(4), 295–316. https://doi.org/10.1016/S0883-9026(97)00029-3

Etzkowitz, H. (2003). Research groups as ‘quasi-firms’: The invention of the entrepreneurial university. Research Policy, 32(1), 109–121. https://doi.org/10.1016/S0048-7333(02)00009-4

Feldman, M., & Zoller, T. D. (2012). Dealmakers in Place: Social Capital Connections in Regional Entrepreneurial Economies. Regional Studies, 46(1), 23–37. https://doi.org/10.1080/00343404.2011.607808

Goddard, J., & Kempton, L. (2016). The civic university: Universities in leadership and management of place. Available from https://www.ncl.ac.uk/mediav8/centre-for-urban-and-regional-development-studies/files/the-Civic-University.pdf

Granovetter, M. (1985). Economic action and social structure: The problem of embeddedness. American Journal of Sociology, 91(3), 481–510. https://doi.org/10.1086/228311

Guerrero, M., Urbano, D., & Fayolle, A. (2016). Entrepreneurial activity and regional competitiveness: Evidence from European entrepreneurial universities. Journal of Technology Transfer, 41, 105–131. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10961-014-9377-4

Marvel, M., Davis, J., & Sproul, C. (2016). Human capital and entrepreneurship research: A critical review. Entrepreneurship Theory and Practice, 40(3), 599–626. https://doi.org/10.1111/etap.12136

McGee, J., Peterson, M., Mueller, S., & Sequeira, J. (2009). Entrepreneurial self-efficacy: Refining the measure. Entrepreneurship Theory and Practice, 33(4), 965–988. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1540-6520.2009.00304.x

Sarasvathy, S. (2001). Causation and effectuation: Toward a theoretical shift from economic inevitability to entrepreneurial contingency. Academy of Management Review, 26(2), 243–263. https://doi.org/10.5465/amr.2001.4378020

Spigel, B. (2017). The relational organization of entrepreneurial ecosystems. Entrepreneurship Theory and Practice, 41(1), 49–72. https://doi.org/10.1111/etap.12167

Stam, E. (2015). Entrepreneurial ecosystems and regional policy: A sympathetic critique. European Planning Studies, 23(9), 1759–1769. https://doi.org/10.1080/09654313.2015.1061484

Zhao, H., Seibert, S., & Hills, G. (2005). The mediating role of self-efficacy in the development of entrepreneurial intentions. Journal of Applied Psychology, 90(6), 1265–1272. https://doi.org/10.1037/0021-9010.90.6.1265

Seeing the fruits of your labour in Bangladesh

Awarded & submitted bids, international, writing

After several little hiccups in our Sonamoni research project we can now show some of the work.  Sonamoni is a four-year research study led by the University of Bournemouth and the Centre for Injury Prevention Research Bangladesh (CIPRB) with the University of Southampton, the University of the West of England (UWE), the Royal National Lifeboat Institution (RNLI) and Design Without Borders (DWB) to develop a number of interventions to prevent drowning in children under the age of 2 years in rural Bangladesh.  After several stages of well-planned research we worked with local communities and stakeholders to propose six interventions with the prospect of been taken further to a full community-based feasibility study.

These six interventions are being piloted in Bangladesh as I am writing this. This pilot phase is made more difficult at the moment as the country is in the ban of the forthcoming national elections.  These elections are particularly challenging for the people in Bangladesh and CIPRB as the local research partner.  The previous national election resulted in violent changes, and the lead up to this election has been, and still is, a difficult period.

We would like to highlight one of the six interventions in a little more detail, as the Human-Centred Design approach, resulted in a neat, simple and low-cost playpen.  The colourful pictures shows the first batch of flatpack playpens in the CIPRB office and some being delivered to rural villages.  However, getting the first sixty developed in Bangladesh turned out more difficult than expected. Our collagues in Bangladesh approached several small to medium-sized companies in the country with the production capabilities to produce a large number of playpens.  In the end only one way interested to try and this company took much longer than agreed to produce enough for our pilot stage.  The good news is that the first stage of the pilot is underway, although now we have the difficulty of forthcoming national election slowing down our research.

This interdisciplinary study is funded through the NIHR Research on Interventions for Global Health Transformation programme (Ref: NIHR203216).  The Bournemouth University team comprises staff from across the university covering all three faculties: Dr. Mavis Bengtsson, Dr. Kyungjoo Cha, Dr. Mehdi Chowdhury, Dr. Yong Hun Lim, Mr. John Powell, and Prof. Edwin van Teijlingen, and Ph.D. student Mr. Md. Shafkat Hossain.  For more information about our ongoing research in Bangladesh, please visit the NIHR website.

The Toxic Legacy of a Crisis

Why do so many new CEOs fail to turn around struggling companies, even with a fresh strategy? Maybe it’s not just about leadership.

My new book Corporate Trauma:The toxic legacy of a crisis introduces a powerful new concept – the lasting impact of a past corporate crisis. Drawing from the biological field of Epigenetics, the book argues that a significant organizational shock can embed dysfunctional patterns deep within a company’s cultural DNA that leads to decreased morale and productivity, a breakdown of trust amongst investors, employees, leadership, and a culture of fear, blame, and risk avoidance.

This book offers a new lens to diagnose why companies get trapped in a downward spiral. It goes beyond the classic turnaround playbook to identify and address the root cause of persistent failure, offering an invaluable path to strategic renewal and injecting vitality back into any organization. The book is on AMAZON and now available for pre-order.

The foundational research previously informed the UK Government’s ‘Build Back Better: our plan for growth’ and the Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy’s Committee’s ‘Innovation Strategy’ in 2021.

If any BU research group would like me to present the research findings, please get in touch with me at: joliver@bournemouth.ac.uk

Academics write for newspaper in Nepal

innovation, international, open access, Publishing, writing

Yesterday the online newspaper Online Khabar in Nepal published an opinion piece in English written by three Bournemouth University academics working with a colleague in Kathmandu.  This interdisciplinary piece ‘Resilient through experiences: Unlocking the entrepreneurial prowess of Nepal’s left-behind women‘ brings together ideas gained from many different studies and disciplines.  The three authors from Bournemouth University are: Dr. Sukanya Ayatakshi-Endow, Prof. Edwin van Teijlingen, and Dr. Pramod Regmi, and they collaborated with Dr. Rashmee Rajkarnikar who is based at Nepal’s oldest and largest university, Tribhuvan University.  The four authors brings insights from economics, business studies, sociology, women’s studies, migration studies and health.

World Drowning Prevention Day at BU

international, PG research, Publishing, writing

Next month on July 25th  Bournemouth University will join in with the world-wide celebrations of World Drowning Prevention Day 2025.  The first achievement to highlight is Dr. Jill Nash interesting piece recently published in The Conversation, in which she highlights Five ways to keep teenagers safe by the water [1]. It is also worthwhile to read last year’s contribution to World Drowning Prevention Day by Jill on the dangers of being near water and the role emotions play in making safer decisions [2].

The second major piece of research related to drowning prevention at Bournemouth University is the Sonamoni Project. The Sonamoni Project is working with communities in rural Bangladesh utilizing human-centered design (HCD) techniques.  The research project is identifying solutions to reduce the number of drowning deaths in newly mobile children (6-24 months), developing prototype, and assessing the acceptability and usability of potential  interventions. Sonamoni is coordinated by Bournemouth University in collaboration with the University of the West of England (Bristol), the University of Southampton, and the Royal National Lifeboat Institution (RNLI), Design Without Border (DWB) in Uganda and Centre for Injury Prevention and Research, Bangladesh (CIPRB). The interdisciplinary team at Bournemouth University covers three faculties and six academics: Dr. Mavis Bengtsson, Dr. Kyungjoo Cha, Dr. Mehdi Chowdhury, Dr. Yong Hun Lim, Mr. John Powell, and Prof. Edwin van Teijlingen.

This international project funded by the National Institute for Health and Care Research (NIHR) through its Research and Innovation for Global Health Transformation programme, also includes a BU-based PhD student, Mr. Md. Shafkat Hossein.  He recently published the first article related to drowning prevention in Nepal [3].

References:

  1. Nash, J. (2025) Five ways to keep teenagers safe by the water, The Conversation June 20th.
  2. Nash, J. (2024) Why so many people drown at the water’s edge The Conversation July 25th.
  3. 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.

NEW DATE – Free Research Event – Wednesday 2nd July – A Celebration of ‘Novel Food’ Related Research

BU Research Centre CSSRC is celebrating its interdisciplinary and intersectoral research around ‘Novel Foods’ on Wednesday 2nd July June 2025, 3.15-5.00pm in DG234.

The Centre for Sustainable & Socially Responsible Consumption (CSSRC) invites you to attend its research event on Wednesday 2nd July 2025 to celebrate its interdisciplinary and intersectoral research around ‘novel foods’. After a welcome refreshment this interesting, interactive and informative event will comprise of two topical presentation sessions, each led by a member of CSSRC, as outlined below. Opportunity for discussions and networking over drinks and nibbles after the talks will round off the event.

Session 1: Timing, Fatigue, and the Message: Advertising Strategies for Insect-Based Foods

Dr Guljira Manimont will present this session, introducing her research on advertising and consumer perceptions of insect-based foods. These foods are often described as the future of sustainable eating. They are packed with nutrients, environmentally friendly, and a strong alternative to traditional protein. But despite these benefits, most consumers in Western markets still say… no thanks! From an advertising perspective, this presents both a valuable opportunity and a significant challenge: how can we communicate their benefits in ways that effectively encourage consumer engagement? Her recent work investigates not only the content of advertising messages—such as health, social, or environmental benefits—but also the importance of message timing and cognitive depletion on consumer receptiveness on messages. Dr Manimont will share findings from two experimental studies in Australia and the USA, showing how message framing interacts with mental state and timing to influence responses to edible insects.

Session 2: Farm Under Water

Dr Anastasia Vayona will present this session and introduce her work around seaweed as a food. This talk will discuss her recent outreach collaboration with Avonwood Primary School during the ESRC Festival of Social Science, aimed at raising awareness of edible seaweed as a nutritious and sustainable food source. She engaged pupils in understanding its ecological importance through interactive activities, including the concept of underwater farming—integrating seaweed, fish, and shellfish to promote environmental health and food security. Pupils also had the chance to taste seaweed-based treats, creating a tangible link between marine science and everyday life. She will discuss the educational, environmental, and gastronomic dimensions of this initiative.

Provisional Timetable:

3.15-3.30pm – Welcome refreshments

3.30-4.30pm – Presentation sessions

4.30-5.00pm – Discussion, networking and refreshments

This is a free event, but you must register to attend via Eventbrite: https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/a-celebration-of-novel-food-related-research-tickets-1372631601069?aff=oddtdtcreator

About CSSRC

The Centre for Sustainable & Socially Responsible Consumption (CSSRC) aims to promote and advance the understanding of sustainable consumption and socially responsible consumption through developing and delivering internationally renowned research. It provides a hub to explore and address topics that are currently globally relevant, through utilising a strong interdisciplinary focus. Webpage: https://www.bournemouth.ac.uk/research/centres-institutes/centre-sustainable-socially-responsible-consumption

NIHR Global Health Research Academy 2025

international, PG research

The 2025 NIHR Global Health Research Academy Member event will take place on Tuesday 13th and Wednesday 14th May.  The NIHR recognizes that career progression is a common challenge for early-career researchers. This year the event’s theme is ‘Empowering Early-Career Researchers: Navigating Careers in Global Health’. This two-day online event aims to equip participants from across the globe with the skills and knowledge to navigate and build a career in global health research.

Bournemouth University staff and students participating in the NIHR Research and Innovation for Global Health Transformation Call 4: Drowning Prevention for newly mobile infants under 2 years in Bangladesh programme have been invited.  This NIHR-funded project is called Sonamoni and BU’s student Md. Shafkat Hossain, whose PhD assessed the work in Bangladesh, is one the participants, as is our colleague from Bangladesh Notan Dutta.  In the afternoon BU’s Edwin van Teijlingen who will be chairing a session on ‘Funding & Grant Writing’.

Sonamoni is being coordinated by Bournemouth University in collaboration with the Centre for Injury Prevention and Research (CIPRB) in Bangladesh as well as the University of the West of England, Bristol, the University of Southampton, Design Without Borders (DWB) in Uganda, and the Royal National Lifeboat Institution (RNLI). This project, with Prof. Dr. Aminur Rahman (at CIPRB) as Bangladesh lead,  includes the above mentioned BU-based PhD project.  The interdisciplinary team at Bournemouth University covers three faculties through: Dr. Mavis Bengtsson, Dr. Kyungjoo Cha, Dr. Mehdi Chowdhury, Dr. Yong Hun Lim, Mr. John Powell, and Prof. Edwin van Teijlingen.

Promoting Human-Centred Design in Drowning Prevention

international, Knowledge Exchange, student research

The Department of Design and Engineering at Bournemouth University has a reputation for its Human-Centred Design (HCD) work.  In our interdisciplinary Sonamoni project we have HCD at its centre.  The Sonamoni project is coordinated by Bournemouth University in collaboration with the University of the West of England (Bristol), the University of Southampton, and the Royal National Lifeboat Institution (RNLI), Design Without Border (DWB) in Uganda and Centre for Injury Prevention and Research, Bangladesh (CIPRB). The interdisciplinary team at Bournemouth University covers three faculties and six academics: Dr. Mavis Bengtsson, Dr. Kyungjoo Cha, Dr. Mehdi Chowdhury, Dr. Yong Hun Lim, Mr. John Powell, and Prof. Edwin van Teijlingen.

Last month two staff from CIPRB, Notan Chandra Dutta and Mirza Shibat Rowshan visited DBW in Uganda, as part of so-called South-South learning. Their objective was to share (1) knowledge and experience of using HCD techniques and (2) best practices of drowning prevention in both countries. Utilizing HCD techniques, Sonamoni is working to identify and prioritize potential solutions, develop prototypes, and assess the acceptability of the interventions to reduce drowning deaths among old children under two in Bangladesh.

During the visit, Notan and Shibat participated a four-day ideation workshop with the fisher community near Lake Victoria, organized by DWB. In the workshop, different HCD tools were used along with other group activities to generate and refine ideas for the solutions. The generated ideas were recorded by visualization tools. Notan and Shibat also attended a session on the principles of creative facilitation of HCD, including the need to understand the problem, role of the facilitator and other stakeholders.  Various visualization tools were discussed, e.g.  ‘journey maps’, ‘stakeholder map’, ‘context map’ and different types of sketches.  Notan shared CIPRB’s experiences of managing the best drowning prevention practices and its challenges from Bangladesh context.

This international project funded by the National Institute for Health and Care Research (NIHR) through their Research and Innovation for Global Health Transformation programme, also includes a BU-based PhD student, Mr. Md. Shafkat Hossein.  Last week Shafkat presented our Sonamoni project in lecture to BU Engineering students at Talbot campus.

 

Prof. Edwin van Teijlingen

Centre for Midwifery & Women’s Health

Promoting South-South collaboration and learning

international

The Sonamoni Project is working with communities in rural Bangladesh utilizing human-centered design (HCD) techniques. These design principles have been applied for many years in designing consumer products and, more recently, in the fields of health and social systems. The research project is identifying solutions to reduce the number of drowning deaths in newly mobile children (6-24 months), developing prototype, and assessing the acceptability and usability of potential  interventions. This interdisciplinary project is coordinated by Bournemouth University in collaboration with the Centre for Injury Prevention and Research, Bangladesh (CIPRB), the University of the West of England, the Royal National Lifeboat Institution (RNLI), the University of Southampton, and Design without Borders Africa (DwB) from Uganda. Our Sonamoni project has been made possible thanks to a grant from the National Institute for Health and Care Research (NIHR) through their Research and Innovation for Global Health Transformation programme.

As part of the Sonamoni project we arranged some serious South-South learning by facilitating a visit to DwB in Uganda in early march by two of our Bangladesh-based team, namely Notan Chandra Dutta, Research Manager and Mirza Shibat Rowshan, HCD Specialist.  DwB applies HCD approaches to complex challenges faced by communities in low and middle-income countries. To gain greater insights into HCD activities the researchers from Bangladesh visited one site near Lake Victoria to observe data collection with fishermen, transporters, and local leaders. Notan and Shibat co-facilitated a four-day long Design Community Advisory Board (DCAB) workshop on the “Enhancing Fisherfolk Safety” project where fishermen, boat owners, transporters, traditional weather forecasters, health workers were the participants. To prevent drowning, HCD was applied in the workshop to generate ideas and share solutions of the lake site community from Lake Victoria of Mayuge district. Lessons learnt from the visit by two staff of CIPRB can further enrich the Sonamoni Project implementation in Bangladesh.  The NIHR really values research capacity building and South-South learning in its funded projects, as well as North-South leaning, of course.

 

Prof. Edwin van Teijlingen

Free Research Event – Wednesday 26th February – A Celebration of Sustainable Consumption Related Research

BU Research Centre CSSRC is celebrating its interdisciplinary and intersectoral research around Sustainable Consumption on Wednesday 26th February 2025, 3.15-5.00pm.

The Centre for Sustainable & Socially Responsible Consumption (CSSRC) invites you to attend its research event on Wednesday 26th February 2025 to celebrate its interdisciplinary and intersectoral research around sustainable consumption. After a welcome refreshment this interesting and informative event will comprise of two topical presentation sessions, each lead by a member of CSSRC, as outlined below. Opportunity for discussions and networking over refreshments after the talks will round off the event.

Session 1: Sustainability, Place Brands and congruence- how important are they in student choice? 

Professor of Societal Marketing, Chris Chapleo will discuss his current research in relation to two core projects: the first of these concerns the role of sustainability in university communications and branding, and whether sustainability league tables really matter to key stakeholders. He is also looking at sustainable city brands and how this links to universities in these cities. This is a joint project between BU and Pannonia, Hungary.  The second, related project is looking at how students choose a university and their ‘congruence’ with city/ university brands. This project is a collaboration between Bournemouth University, University of the West of England, and University of Plymouth.

Session 2: Understanding and encouraging the consumption of pulses

Professor of Psychology Katherine Appleton will present this session and introduce her work in this area. Pulses, including beans, chickpeas and lentils, are healthy, sustainable, low-cost foods, but consumption is low and increased consumption would benefit the health of the population and the planet. I have a programme of work looking at trying to understand why pulse consumption is low, and how we can increase this. I will speak about two studies that were completed last year looking at barriers and facilitators to pulse consumption, with specific foci on the use of recipes, enjoyment and cooking skills in increasing consumption. I will finish by considering our current ongoing study, and where we might be going next.

Provisional Timetable:

3.15-3.30pm – Welcome refreshment

3.30-4.30pm – Presentation sessions

4.30-5.00pm – Discussion, networking and refreshments

This is a free event, but you must register to attend via Eventbrite: https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/a-celebration-of-sustainable-consumption-related-research-tickets-1224716332519?aff=oddtdtcreator

About CSSRC

The Centre for Sustainable & Socially Responsible Consumption (CSSRC) aims to promote and advance the understanding of sustainable consumption and socially responsible consumption through developing and delivering internationally renowned research. It provides a hub to explore and address topics that are currently globally relevant, through utilising a strong interdisciplinary focus. Webpage: https://www.bournemouth.ac.uk/research/centres-institutes/centre-sustainable-socially-responsible-consumption