



Latest research and knowledge exchange news at Bournemouth University
In his recent article published in The Conversation, Prof. John Oliver provides a provocative thought piece that describes the current market dynamics of subscription-video-on-demand (SVOD) streaming firms and an outlook on the industry’s future direction.
He notes that the industry is currently characterized by an oversupply of service providers which has led to aggressive competitive pricing and a squeezing of profit margins. He goes on to conclude that the weaker players, those with less efficient operations or inferior offerings, are starting to struggle and an ‘industry shakeout’ is inevitable.
You can access the article at: https://theconversation.com/in-the-fog-of-the-video-streaming-wars-job-losses-and-business-closures-are-imminent-225829
Dr Mili Shrivastava received an Outstanding Women Researcher Award for her impactful research and contribution to policy briefings on women entrepreneurship and technology for sustainable business and society.
Dr Mili Shrivastava’s research delves into pivotal inquiries concerning gender dynamics, specifically focusing on women’s entrepreneurship and their presence in the tech industry. Driven by a passion for fostering sustainable business practices and societal progress, her work sheds light on pressing issues in these domains.
She has made contributions to the UK Parliament Committee’s examination of enhancing diversity in STEM fields, drawing on insights from her research.
The VIWA Awards Foundation honours and spotlights exceptional women researchers from across the globe.
Expressing her gratitude, Dr Mili Shrivastava remarked, “I’m deeply honoured and energised to see the impact of my research initiatives and endeavours in the realm of women and technology, as they serve to inspire and empower other women.”
🚀🌱 The Centre for Sustainable Business Transformations (CSBT) at Bournemouth University hosted the “Powering Innovation” event, bringing together industry, academia, and government to explore the impact of Knowledge Transfer Partnerships (KTP) on business innovation. 🌍
🎓 Professor Marcjanna Augustyn, Head of CSBT, highlighted the Center’s interdisciplinary expertise and commitment to supporting businesses in developing sustainable models, technologies, and strategies through collaborative research and KTPs.
🎤 Inspiring insights flowed from Professor Marcin Budka, a CSBT member, who shared firsthand experiences and tangible benefits of academic-industry collaborations via KTPs. Rachel Clarke, Business Engagement & Knowledge Exchange Manager at BU Business School, provided a comprehensive overview of the Knowledge Exchange (KE) landscape, emphasising its strategic importance to academics and industry, signalling potential growth. 📊
A deep dive into KTPs, especially Management KTPs, led by Stephen Woodhouse from Innovate UK: Business Connect, illuminated the intricacies of forming partnerships, the application process, and key factors that make a KTP project stand out to assessors. The vibrant Q&A and networking session that followed sparked exciting discussions on potential collaborations and project ideas. 💡
Professor Marcjanna Augustyn commented: “With a fantastic turnout from BU and local industry, we look forward to taking conversations further.” 🚀
📧 Businesses eager to explore sustainable business transformations for impactful change, please reach out: csbt@bournemouth.ac.uk.
Dr Ola Thomson of BUBS, People and Organisations, is pleased to announce her new book: “Nurturing equality, diversity and inclusion: Support for research careers in health and biomedicine”. The book is available as open access which means you can read it free of charge via Bristol University Press (Policy Press) – link here: https://bristoluniversitypress.co.uk/nurturing-equality-diversity-and-inclusion.
You can also order a hard copy of the book with 50% off until 21 January using code JAN50 at the checkout.
The book is co-authored with Prof. Rachael Gooberman-Hill of the Elizabeth Blackwell Institute for Health Research at the University of Bristol. The volume provides an overview of the state of EDI in research careers in health and biomedicine in the UK, and offers innovative organisational and individual strategies to nurture diversity in research institutions.
Today’s academic and research institutions recognise the importance of diverse research teams in health and biomedical science, in terms of the business case, social justice and the common good. This ‘go-to’ book familiarises readers with the key equality, diversity and inclusion (EDI) issues in relation to research careers and researcher development. Bringing together the challenges and solutions to EDI matters with an evidence-based approach in one volume, the book offers practical strategies and interventions for academic and research settings. This is an essential guide for equality planning team members, researchers, HRM officers and managers across academia and research.
Prof. John Oliver (FMC) recently delivery a keynote speech to over 1000 delegates at the 6th Digital Agenda Summit in Cyprus. The talk examined the subscription video on demand (SVOD) market which has seen explosive growth in recent years with global revenues reaching US$154bn in 2022. He argued that a new phase of low-growth competitive rivalry is emerging with global and local European players fighting for market share and that future growth will be achieved by merger and acquisition in an industry that will inevitably consolidate.
Other keynote speakers taking to the main stage included the President of Cyprus, the Head of Global Communications & Marketing at Google DeepMind & Space X and the Global Lead of Design Communication at BMW.
The Confederation of British Industry (CBI) acts as the catalyst between industry and government to drive positive change in the UK economy. As such, they were an ideal partner to host an Executive Round Table event that examined the role of ‘leadership and strategic communications as twin pillars of business resilience’.
The HEIF project was run by Prof John Oliver (FMC) with nearly 30 senior executives attending the event from sectors of the UK economy that included aerospace, defence, management consulting, strategic communications, journalism,governance and policy.
Keynote presentations were given by Professor Lucy Kung, Strategic Advisor & Senior Research Associate, Oxford University, Professor John Oliver (BU), James Gater and Tom Sharpe OBE (Special Project Partners Ltd) and Juliet Eccleston (Chair, CBI Sharing Economy Council).
Professor Oliver said “many thanks the CBI for hosting our Executive Round Table discussion, the keynote speakers and an enthusiastic group of senior executives” whilst James Gater of commented that the “eclectic group made for a brilliant and thought-provoking discussion on leadership, nurturing the right culture as well as overcoming chronic underperformance through effective communications”.
Congratulations to BU’s PhD student Mr. Md. Shafkat Hossain who has been selected by Bloomberg Philanthropies as one of the Emerging Leaders in Drowning Prevention programme. This programme has been designed to create a cohort of younger leaders to join national and international efforts to raise awareness and strengthen solutions and political commitment towards drowning. This programme is hosted by the Global Health Advocacy Incubator and provides a unique opportunity for people like Shafkat to develop leadership skills in drowning prevention, and be a part of a global community working to reduce drowning deaths. This first group of Emerging Leaders includes people from Bangladesh, Ghana, India, Uganda, United States and Vietnam. Each Emerging Leader will be expected to participate in monthly sessions, both online and in person. The programme includes funding for Shafkat to attend the World Conference on Drowning Prevention in Perth, Australia in December 2023 (wcdp2023.com/) and the World Conference on Injury Prevention and Safety Promotion in Delhi, India in September 2024 (worldsafety2024.com/).
Shafkat’s PhD research focuses on aspects of the Human-Centred-Design element of the Sonamoni project.
Bournemouth University and the Centre for Injury Prevention and Research, Bangladesh (CIPRB) jointly lead research into the prevention of children drowning deaths in Bangladesh. The project, called ‘Sonamoni’, is being coordinated by BU in collaboration with the University of the West of England, Bristol, the University of Southampton, and the Royal National Lifeboat Institution (RNLI). We are working with CIPRB to reduce drownings among newly-mobile children, generally under two years old. This £1.6m 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. For more information, visit the NIHR website.
CMWH
This Monday, 11th of September, BU is running a Research and Knowledge Exchange Explorer Event at the Russell-Cotes Gallery and Museum as part of a developing partnership between the two institutions.
Event Details:
Book your place on Eventbrite: Russell-Cotes Partnership Explorer Event Tickets, Mon 11 Sep 2023 at 16:00 | Eventbrite
The Explorer Event is an opportunity to discuss and develop possibilities for collaborative research and knowledge exchange connected to the Russell-Cotes’ world-class anthropological, archaeological and art collections from across the globe, as well as:
– exploring possibilities for cultural heritage management;
– local seaside tourism;
– Digital and virtual heritage;
– diving into the archives (inc. theatre, local history and beachfront tourism history of Bournemouth);
– wellbeing connections to arts and heritage,
– investigating heritage tourism potential.
With the guidance of Russell-Cotes staff you will have the opportunity to see some of the collections on display, including a number of collections from across Asia, as well as hidden in the stores, in more detail and discuss with Russell-Cotes experts. It’s also an opportunity to make connections with other BU academics to develop potential cross-disciplinary projects over coffee and cakes.
The History of the Russell-Cotes Collection
I caught up recently with Sarah Newman, the Manager, to find out a little more about this hidden gem on the cliffs of Bournemouth Beach:
Coastal view from the balcony at the Russell-Cotes
‘It’s an is a very special place because it’s a very personal collection, so you get from the sublime to the ridiculous’ said Sarah. ‘It captures a moment in time, with the collection exhibited in the context for which it was bought and collected for, which is very unlike other museums. There are some small houses where historic collections survive, but here it is a much larger collection, drawn from around the world. Where else do you walk out of a Heavily Victorian grand house out on to the spectacular beach-cliffs with a view out to sea! Until you experience it you can’t understand it, the atmosphere here is so special, the house itself is also a precious ‘object’, and the eclectic nature of our collections really makes it sparkle’.
The collection was created, and then gifted to Bournemouth, by a couple who travelled the world as tourists and this makes it entirely unique. Sarah told me more about how the collection came together: ‘Merton Russell Cotes was a self-made man, yes he was rich, but he was just an average person who became an entrepreneur, someone from relatively humble origins in Victorian society; but the society allowed people to develop socially through love and interest, which is what he and his wife Annie did.’
The Drawing-Room Collection
But there is another very interesting aspect to the Russell-Cotes that is different from other collections, as Sarah explained: ‘In many collections nowadays people are addressing empire in relation to Victorian world travels, as a museum we are very transparent about how things were paid for, and how they were collected by Merton and his wife as tourists. There are few contested pieces here, and there is certainly some ‘cultural bling’ items created for the ‘tourist market’, as well as some truly special pieces, including objects in our Japanese collection. At the time the couple were visiting Japan it was the end of the ‘isolation’ period and people wanted to get rid of the old and were happy to give things away. There are also pieces that the Russell-Cotes’ were given on their travels – there are so many different stories and some real hidden treasures. You can’t pigeon-hole the collection…there are no grand colonial narratives here.’
Monks – One of the photographs from the extensive photographic archive
‘But what you do have is the story of Merton and Annie as a couple, and how they created their dream home. How inspiring is that – what would you do? It’s family story and of how they expressed their philanthropy and love of global cultures. But it’s also a story about how Bournemouth was developed as a tourist resort, with the narratives of the people who live here and the people who visited here. You can see that Merton was right on that and made a virtue out of necessity with the art that he was buying and selling he was definitely wheeling and dealing. He thought about things in terms of ‘Yes this is a wonderful piece of art I can let you buy, and of by the way it comes from Bournemouth and I happen to have a hotel there did you know?
‘Venus Verticordia’, the iconic Pre-Raphaelite work by Dante Gabriel Rossetti (1828 -1882)
He was opening Bournemouth up to the world at a time when people wouldn’t necessarily have had access to information about it. But is was a kind of enlightened view, yes he was doing things for himself as a businessman, but there was also the philanthropy aspect, where he wanted to share what his family loved and had. So we also have wonderful little collections like theatre history, costumes, musical instruments, which are completely untapped. There is so much that would benefit from further examination.’
Contact:
With the BU Partnership we are are just at the start, and the Explorer Event is a great way to open up opportunities and inspire academics. It’s all about the conversations now, so join us at the Event on Monday – go to the Eventbrite link at the top of the blog to book your place!
Any queries, please contact the Knowledge Exchange Manager: wsmorrison@bournemouth.ac.uk
Worldwide drowning has caused over 2.5 million deaths in the last decade. The overwhelming majority of these deaths (90%) happen in low-middle-income countries. Globally, the highest drowning rates occur among children aged 1–4 years.
To mark this year’s World Drowning Prevention Day, the World Health Organisation (WHO) is raising awareness of drowning interventions such as teaching school-age children basic swimming water safety and safe rescue skills. Drowning is a public health issue, through their World Drowning Prevention Day campaign, WHO will be reminding people that: “Anyone can drown, but no one should.”
In Bangladesh, drowning is the leading cause of death in children over the age of one. Globally, the country has one of the highest rates of drowning, especially among children. Additionally, the risk of drowning in rural areas is twice as likely in comparison to cities. Some of the reasons for this are due to access to hazards, e.g., because there are a significant number of ponds and ditches, creating natural drowning hazards for very young children.
Bournemouth University and the Centre for Injury Prevention and Research, Bangladesh (CIPRB) jointly have received funding for research into the number of children drowning deaths in Bangladesh. The project, called ‘Sonamoni’, is being 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). We are working with CIPRB to reduce drownings among newly-mobile children, generally under two years old. The project, with Prof. Dr. Aminur Rahman as Bangladesh lead, includes a PhD project by BU’s Mr. Shafkat Hossain. Shafkat’s thesis focuses on aspects of the Human-Centred-Design element of the Sonamoni project.
This £1.6m 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. For more information, visit the NIHR website.
The interdisciplinary team at Bournemouth University cover three faculties supported by the following academics: Dr. Mavis Bengtsson, Dr. Kyungjoo Cha, Dr. Mehdi Chowdhury, Dr. Yong Hun Lim, Mr. John Powell, and Prof. Edwin van Teijlingen.
Prof. Edwin van Teijlingen
Centre for Midwifery & Women’s Health (CMWH)
On May 19, BU researchers in the Centre for Comparative Politics and Media Research | Bournemouth University, Alina Dolea, Tabitha Baker and Dawid Pekalski, are organizing an interactive knowledge exchange workshop with local stakeholders to facilitate sharing of experiences and best practices in supporting refugees, asylum seekers and migrants in Dorset.
Academics researching issues of displacement and forced migration across BU will be joined by representatives from Dorset Council, BCP Council, Citizen advice, Public Health Dorset, International Care Network, British Red Cross, Migrant Help UK, Dorset Race Equality Council, as well as other local groups and stakeholders.
One objective of the workshop is to understand the dimensions of displacement and migration in the BCP and Dorset area, mapping the programs run, but also the issues faced by the councils and the different organisations in their work with refugees, asylum seekers and other migrant communities. Another objective is to understand, also from the beneficiaries’ perspective, their needs, gaps and current issues they are facing. Together we aim to get to know more about each other’s work, discuss and reflect on the national and local policies, programs, networks of support and integration that are in place.
Our overall goal for the day is to identify areas of collaborations so that we as academics and researchers can help and actively contribute to the current infrastructure of support and integration. The collaboration can range from volunteering and exploring placement opportunities for our students, co-creating projects, and organizing joint events, to delivering applied workshops and trainings, as well as providing research insights to inform policy making.
More details about the workshop are available here: Supporting refugees, asylum seekers and migrants in Dorset Tickets, Fri 19 May 2023 at 10:00 | Eventbrite
Disseminating your research findings to a range of stakeholders is an important part of the research impact process. The key is to think about ‘who’ might possibly benefit from knowing more about your research, and importantly, ‘how’ could they use your findings to support, inform and develop their practice.
A good example of this process is the recent keynote address delivered by Prof. John Oliver (FMC) to more than 60 delegates at a one-day event that launched the new Centre of Excellence, Enterprise Portfolio Management Office (UK Parliament). Prof. Oliver’s talk entitled ‘Harnessing the Power of Scenario Planning’ presented the findings of his scenario-planning project that ultimately developed a mission, vision and strategy for the House of Commons Library Service in UK Parliament. Additional keynotes were given by the Chief Operating Officer (House of Lords) and a range of internal and external experts on project delivery and digital transformation.
Prof. Oliver’s work is published in Oliver, J.J., Reid, M., and Gray, K. (2023). The Library of the Future: a scenario-based approach. Journal of Library Administration, Volume 63, Issue 1, Pages
27-41
Yesterday FHSS graduate Dr. Shaqaieq Ashrafi Dost heard from Razi International Medical Journal the the paper from her Ph.D. study had been accepted for publication. Her paper ‘Management capacity in the Ministry of Public Health (MoPH) Afghanistan: Political and socio-cultural issues’ is based on a mixed-methods case-study was conducted with staff at the Afghan Ministry of Public Health. The Ph.D. study explores MoPH’s management capacity. Interviews were conducted with 12 senior staff and qualitative data were analysed thematically. A quantitative survey, covering directors of 30 departments, was analysed using descriptive statistics.
The paper reports that management capacity was generally weak. Key appointments including directors were subject to political interference and many directors appointed by politicians lacked the skills to manage well. Consequently, those directors were not able to support employees appropriately or to create a healthy work environment. The respondents reported that there were strong socio-cultural influences such as nepotism and favouritism. Often employees believed they were not treated consistently or fairly. This was compounded by overly complex administrative systems. The authors concluded that the Afghan government needs to appoint competent and committed staff who can recognize/address the gaps in the functioning of the Ministry, especially the negative political and socio-cultural practices that undermine effectiveness.The reader needs to bear in mind that this Ph.D. study was conducted prior to the 2021 takeover by the Taliban. Putting the paper’s conclusion in perspective.
Razi International Medical Journal founded in 2021 is a peer-reviewed scholarly journal from Afghanistan that aims to impact public health and global health and distributed internationally. The journal is Open Access and published in electronic and paper-based format twice a year, and there is no article publishing charge (APCs).
Late in 2022 we started a new interdisciplinary study funded by the UK National Institute for Health and Care Research (NIHR). The research aims to reduce the deaths of newly-mobile toddlers from drowning in rural Bangladesh. This project called Sonamoni is being co-ordinated by Bournemouth University in collaboration with the University of the West of England, Bristol, the University of Southampton, the Poole-based Royal National Lifeboat Institution (RNLI) and the Centre for Injury Prevention and Research, Bangladesh (CIPRB).
In Bangladesh, drowning is the leading cause of death in children between one and two years old. This low-income country has one of the highest rates of drowning, especially among children in the world. The risk of drowning in rural areas is twice that in cities, because there are significant numbers of ponds and ditches, creating natural drowning hazards for very young children. CIPRB has implemented several effective drowning prevention solutions focused on children over the past 15 years, including a successful daycare model to keep young children safely away from water. However, enrollment and attendance rates for children under two years (those at the highest risk of accidental drowning) have been low.
The team will be working with communities to apply human-centred design techniques in Bangladesh. Together they will identify and prioritise potential solutions, develop prototype interventions, and assess the acceptability and usability of proposed interventions.
This research is an excellent example of BU’s FUSION. BU endeavours to bring together Research, Education and Practice to create something that is greater than the sum of its parts. FUSION is central to our Bangladesh project, the Research is focusing on social sciences and public health, the Education is around health education of people in rural communities as well as training of the research team members, whilst Practice will be the outcome of the human-centred design approach, when we test the best interventions.
The £1.6m project has been made possible thanks to a grant from the NIHR through their Research and Innovation for Global Health Transformation programme. For more information, visit the NIHR website. NIHR uses aid from the UK government to support global health research.
Prof. Edwin van Teijlingen
CMMPH (Centre for Midwifery, Maternal & Perinatal Health)
The European Media Management Association will hold its bi-annual Doctoral Summer School in Finland between 14-18th August this year.
The study programme is relevant to PhD candidates who are researching in areas that includes media, creative industries, journalism and social media to name but a few areas. A number of travel grants are available on a competitive basis.
For more information please visit (https://www.media-management.eu/emma-summer-schools/lappeenranta-2023/) and contact Prof John Oliver in the Faculty of Media & Communications.
In his overview of 2022 on LinkedIn Professor Dimitrios Buhalis reminded us that: “The Encyclopedia of Tourism Management and Marketing Marketing was finally published with 1250 entries contributed by 1500 academics from all over the world to produce 4 volumes and 3528 pages. This will work brought together the best thinking process and brains in tourism management to contribute to the rebuilding of the tourism industry, globally, and contribution to communities around the world.”
We are happy to have made a small contribution to this book. Professor Padam Simkhada (BU Visiting Faculty and Professor at the University of Huddersfield) and I contributed the chapter on trekking guides in Nepal and sexual health [1].
Have a happy and healthy 2023!
Prof. Edwin van Teijlingen
Centre for Midwifery, Maternal & Perinatal Health (CMMPH)
Reference:
Financial Worries of Young People
In a recent survey conducted by one of the Big-4 accounting firms, 41% of millennials and 46% of Gen Z respondents said they were stressed all or most of the time. About two-thirds of each group identified day-to-day finances and job/career prospects as significant worries. While financial stress is nothing new, the economic impact of the cost-of-living crises, the pandemic and the growing generational wealth gap is exacerbating and complicating the picture in many countries. It’s best to hire a wealth manager who specializes in the type of planning you need, visit https://vigilantwm.com/managing-your-wealth/ to learn more.
Research
Dr Phyllis Alexander, Associate Professor in Accounting and Taxation in the Business School, is currently collecting data for cross-country research into university students’ financial anxiety, financial socialisation, financial literacy, financial behaviour, loss aversion and personality traits.
Survey
This is an open invitation to all BU students interested in participating in the study into financial management behaviour and anxiety of university students. The online survey should only take 5-7 minutes to complete. The data will be used only for statistical analysis and will be treated with strict confidentiality. Thanks to those for taking time to contribute to the research project.
BU and SUBU Financial Support Teams
If students would like to speak with someone about concerns, BU and SUBU offer free independent and confidential advice on housing, money and personal matters:
BU’s Student Money Advice Team can be contacted through AskBU by phone, by email or in person from Monday to Friday, between 9am – 5pm (4.30pm Fridays).
SUBU – drop in sessions Monday to Friday from 2-4pm or you can email them to request an appointment at subuadvice@bournemouth.ac.uk
We are currently recruiting to a number of roles to help support preparation for our next REF submission. The deadline for expressions of interest is the 11th October 2022.
We are also now welcoming expressions of interest for REF UOA 18 Lead for Law.
Further information is outlined below…
The roles are recruited through an open and transparent process, which gives all academic staff the opportunity to put themselves forward. Applications from underrepresented groups (e.g. minority ethnic, declared disability) are particularly welcome.
We are currently preparing submissions to thirteen units (otherwise known as UOAs). Each unit has a leadership team with at least one leader, an output and impact champion. The leadership team are supported by a panel of reviewers who assess the research from the unit. This includes research outputs (journal articles, book chapters, digital artefacts and conference proceedings) and impact case studies.
We currently have vacancies in the following roles:
All roles require a level of commitment which is recognised accordingly with time to review, attend meetings, and take responsibility for tasks.
Undertaking a UOA role can be enjoyable and rewarding as two of our current champions testify:
“As UOA Outputs Champion you develop a detailed knowledge of all the great work that colleagues are doing related to the subject, and the different outlets used for disseminating their work. As an outputs committee member, you also get to know what research is going on across BU, and it’s interesting to see the differences between disciplines. It’s a good way develop your knowledge of the bigger picture of BU’s research, and also to understand the importance of REF and how it works in practice. You do spend quite a bit of time chasing colleagues to put their outputs on BRIAN for REF compliance but hopefully they forgive you!”
Professor Adele Ladkin – UOA 24 Output Champion
“As a UoA 17 impact champion, I work closely with the UoA 17 impact team to encourage the development of a culture of impact across BUBS. I try to pop into Department / research group meetings when I can to discuss impact, and I’ve enjoyed meeting people with a whole range of research interests. Sometimes it can be tough to engage people with impact – understandably; everyone is busy – so it’s important to be enthusiastic about the need for our BU research to reach the public. Overall, the role is about planting the seeds to get researchers thinking about the impact their work might have in the future (as well as the impact they have already had, sometimes without realising!)”
Dr Rafaelle Nicholson – UOA 17 Impact Champion
How to apply
All those interested should put forward a short case (suggested length of one paragraph) as to why they are interested in the role and what they think they could bring to it. These should be clearly marked with the relevant role and unit and emailed to ref@bournemouth.ac.uk by 11th October 2022.
Further detail on the roles, the process of recruitment and selection criteria can be found here:
UOA Leader | Output Champion | Impact Champion | Panel Reviewer |
Role Descriptor | Role Descriptor | Role Descriptor | Role Descriptor |
Process and criteria for selection | Process and criteria for selection | Process and criteria for selection | Process and criteria for selection |
For further information please contact ref@bournemouth.ac.uk, a member of current UOA Team or your Deputy Dean Research and Professional Practice with queries.