
Here’s the new CEMP research bulletin – several projects underway and some new opportunities included.
Usual terms apply, contact Julian or Richard in CEMP or the CEMP Fellow in your group or CEL to chat about anything here.
Latest research and knowledge exchange news at Bournemouth University
Here’s the new CEMP research bulletin – several projects underway and some new opportunities included.
Usual terms apply, contact Julian or Richard in CEMP or the CEMP Fellow in your group or CEL to chat about anything here.
The third book in Professor Tom Watson’s edited world history of public relations series, Middle Eastern and African Perspectives on the Development of Public Relations: Other Voices, has arrived.
Ten chapters from Turkey to South Africa and the Arab Gulf to Nigeria are covered by 14 authors.
The next book in the series, Latin American and Caribbean Perspectives, is due for online publishing by Palgrave Macmillan in its Pivot series next week. The hard copy will follow in 3-4 weeks’ time.
And the manuscript on Western European Perspectives will be submitted next week, too.
Just over a month ago we held a very successful meeting bringing together consumer researchers from a wide range of disciplines across the University. Our ‘Hands-On Information Sharing Session’ made it clear that there was tremendous potential for cross-disciplinary research and that as a united group we could not only act as a forum for research and ideas but also to provide a platform for interaction with industry.
This is a reminder that our next meeting is going to be held on:-
Wednesday, 3rd December in CG01, Christchurch House between 3-5pm. [Please note the change in venue.]
Anyone who is doing consumer research of any description is welcome (e.g. consumer behaviour, retail, marketing, advertising, psychology, consumer neuroscience …) and there will be coffee and mince pies to help our consumer thinking along.
At this meeting we will be begin to identify groups or clusters of researchers, to discuss potential collaborations, and discuss plans for the future.
So if you think this might be of interest, please do come along next Wednesday. If you are unable to make this meeting but are interested in being involved please email us to let us know and we will keep you informed about future events.
Jeff Bray (Tourism; jbray@bournemouth.ac.uk) Juliet Memery (Business School; jmemery@bournemouth.ac.uk) Janice Denegri-Knott (Media School; JDKnott@bournemouth.ac.uk) Siné McDougall (SciTech; smcdougall@bournemouth.ac.uk)
Group photo of the delegates at the opening of the Researcher Links Workshop in Bangkok on November 2
Working with partners at Bangkok’s Chulalongkorn University, a team from BU led and participated in a British Council Researcher Links Workshop in Bangkok from November 2 to 4.
For Professor Tom Watson of the Media School and Associate Professor Jirayudh Sinthuphan of Chula’s Faculty of Communication Arts, it was ‘mission accomplished’, as the Workshop had been postponed twice in February and May because of Thailand’s febrile politics.
“This time, there were no problems as Bangkok was about as quiet as it will ever be,” said Professor Watson. “As a result, the Workshop was attended by representatives of four UK and seven Thai universities who worked very well together”.
From the three days of collaborative working, four projects related the Workshop theme of ‘the impact of social media upon corporate and marketing communication in Thailand and UK’ emerged. They will be developed over the coming months into research actions, bids for funding and publications.
With Professor Watson were Associate Professor John Oliver (Senior Researcher), Dr Ana Adi (Deputy Workshop Coordinator), Dr Tauheed Ramjaun and Mona Esfahani, all from the Corporate & Marketing Communications academic group. Among the Thai participants was Dr Waraporn Chatratichart of the University of the Thailand Chamber of Commerce, who is a PhD alumna from the Media School.
“The Workshop also reinforced the existing relationship between BU and Chulalongkorn University as the Dean of the Faculty of Communication Arts, Dr Duangkamol Chartprasert, and Professor Parichart Sthapitanonda both took part as Senior Researchers,” said Professor Watson. “The BU-Chula relationship has great potential for research collaboration and staff exchanges. I hope that other BU staff will follow the opportunity that the Workshop has opened up.”
The Swedish National Defence College (SNDC) invited Sascha Dov Bachmann for a two day visit to the Swedish capita as part of his ongoing affiliation with the SNDC.
Sascha, who works as an Associate Professor in International Law for the Law Department of BU also runs jointly with Dr. Melanie Klinkner the Cluster Centre for Conflict, Rule of Law and Society which has in the past organized a variety of security related activities.
During his visit from 5th to 7th November 2014 Sascha will give a presentation on Eco-warfare and discuss an upcoming publication on Hybrid War.
He will also discuss potential PhD projects and research collaborations as part of BU’s commitment to internationalization.
The study of consumer behaviour has always been a multi-disciplinary endeavour, so perhaps it is not too surprising that there are pockets of related research activity all around BU. These include consumer related research clusters in the Business School, the Media School, School of Tourism and Psychology. What is surprising is how little we are aware of each other’s work.
Given this the ICB research cluster are hosting a ‘Hands-on Information Sharing Session’ to provide a forum for discussion around CB research at BU. The session will provide an opportunity to meet others with similar research interests and learn more about the variety of consumer research being carried out across the University through brief research presentations, followed by discussions over refreshments to look for potential cross-discipline research opportunities.
Wherever you are in BU, if you think that you would like to be part of a forum aimed at developing a stronger research presence in this area please come along to a meeting over coffee and cakes ….
‘CB Hands-on Information Sharing Session’
Wednesday 22nd October at 15:30 in TAG22, Talbot Campus.
Please could those wishing to attend let Juliet Memery know as soon as possible to ascertain likely numbers for catering purposes, and then send three Powerpoint slides (max) that briefly cover your research/interests in issues relating to consumer behaviour research to her by Monday 20th October (email: jmemery@bournemouth.ac.uk ).
All welcome – we look forward to seeing you there!
Yesterday, we held the first of this academic year’s cyber security seminars. We hosted Dr John Lyle from Facebook, who spoke to a packed audience in the Barnes Lecture Theatre about some of the challenges fighting spam at Facebook. After his talk, John described how impressed he was with some of the thought provoking questions raised by audience.
Our next seminar will be on Tuesday, 25th November and will be delivered by Dr Andrea Atzeni from the Computer and Network Security group at Politecnico di Torino. Andrea will be visiting us that week as part of our Fusion funded Bournemouth European Network in Interdisciplinary Cyber Security (BENICS) project. Watch this space for more details about Andrea’s talk.
Our interdisciplinary seminar series on Cyber Security is a wonderful opportunity to hear interesting, thought-provoking talks on a variety of topics related to security and privacy. Although some of these speakers will be academic, their talks will be approachable and require nothing more than a general interest in security, and an enquiring mind. We’re also interested in ideas about possible speakers or seminar topics, so please get in touch if you have any suggestions.
On the evening of the 30th September, the Women’s Academic Network hosted a well attended debate on ‘lad culture’ in the wake of the published NUS research report on women’s experiences of this phenomenon in Higher Education Institutions in the UK. The report entitled That’s what she said was based on commissioned research undertaken by the Centre for Gender Studies at Sussex University.
Crucially for our institution, two of our speakers that night were undergraduate students at BU. They were supported on the debating panel by Blogger and journalist, Reni Eddo Lodge and ‘No More Page 3’ campaign founder Lucy Ann Holmes.
The prevalence of so-called ‘lad culture’, constitutes an important debate to be had at any contemporary UK HEI; and where none are likely to be insulated from this widespread social phenomenon, which appears to be becoming more entrenched in university life, for reasons that are unclear. We were thus particularly pleased that BU took a lead in further illuminating this worrying social issue in this manner. However, the seriousness of lad culture was greatly underestimated by the organisers until this was more fully illuminated by the visceral personal accounts of the speakers.
Consequently, due to the deeply personal nature of these accounts verbatim details of the speakers’ experiences were requested to be withheld from public dissemination; permission for photographs was not given; and the names of student panellists are anonymised. Nonetheless we are able to offer the following issues and insights that we believe are crucial for all HEIs. These seek to address the student experience in relation to the personal safety of students, both female and male, as well as seeking to implement a zero tolerance approach towards intimidation, harassment and the assault of students by students, many of whom have their first encounters of such in Freshers’ Week. During the Week, as we have learned, too often a mixture of a heady sense of freedom from authoritarian constraints, and fuelled by heavy levels of alcohol consumption, create a lack of inhibition for group dynamics that can be experienced as highly confrontational and indeed menacing.
The audience, composed of a mixture of primarily academics and students of both sexes, engaged enthusiastically with the debate – articulating their own sense of unease and even distress at the manifestations of ‘lad culture’ they or their relatives had been exposed at various UK HEIs, including sadly, at BU. These experiences ranged from students (in this case, male students) feeling put off joining sporting activities at university because of the perceived, overtly alpha male, über-macho environment. Worse still were stories of aggressive verbal attacks on other students, often strangers, and often with overtly sexist and racist overtones attached. Additional examples ranged from public belittling and bullying behaviour to the revolting public rating of unwitting, student, sexual partners on an open Facebook site. Furthermore, we heard about alarming sexual molestation towards primarily female, but also male students, escalating to examples of serious assault, including rape, where victims may continue to have to face their attacker in classroom settings.
Although aware to a greater or lesser extent of the ‘lad culture’ issue (and not regarding ourselves as particularly naïve) we were still both profoundly shocked and disturbed to hear these stories, some coming from our own students. The debate put flesh on the vague, skeletal suspicions we have occasionally harboured of possible harassment and bullying of some of our students that may have been responsible for the regrettable decision of, otherwise promising, students who suddenly drop out of their programmes.
Academics, by and large, are usually blissfully unaware of the extent of these kinds of intimidation taking place in the student body. If students do complain of their treatment, it is usually not to academics that they turn, for some reason – this is particularly worrying when the pastoral role of Academic Advisors is strongly promoted. Our guess is that harassment, intimidation and assault is seen as something outside of the rarefied academic setting and as not directly linked to student studies – although of course the ramifications of these situations are clearly apparent to student progress and retention.
What therefore should be done? The extent of these events needs to be investigated and recorded rigorously in order to develop a clearer idea of the extent of the problem. The agenda to enhance the student experience at BU, laudable though it indubitably is, will not in itself eradicate victimisation of students by students; but it can be used to greatly extend its remit to offer enhanced protection of students and to severely penalise those who prey upon their fellows. It can also be used to further inform and bolster the role of the Academic Advisor as one that is integrally conjoined into a pastoral and academic enhancing role.
We would also be keen to see additional institutional support towards student safety initiatives; for example, embedding ‘consent’ workshops into Freshers’ induction in relation to sexual experimentation; in addition to the aforementioned zero tolerance policies towards the abusive repercussions of ‘lad culture’. We would like to see visible ‘safe’ spaces where women who have been assaulted can go; and in this vein, should there be a need, appropriate services for male victims. The issue of what constitutes rape and sexual assault in relation to student safety is of such gravity that more attention needs to be given from the outset to raise awareness of this among student groups, particularly among our vulnerable new Level C students, many of whom are recent school leavers.
The debate left us with mixed views: horror that these were some of the ‘normal’ experiences that predominantly (but not always) female students have; but also reassurance that at least this is an institution where we are able to talk about this issue. Now that it has been publicly raised momentum needs to be maintained: we need to talk about it, to act upon it and we look to colleagues for support in this regard.
Sara Ashencaen Crabtree and Heather Savigny
Following the very successful first International Corporate and Marketing Communication in Asia Conference (ICMCAC), held in November 2013, Chulalongkorn University and Bournemouth University are again providing a scholarly platform for research into Asian perspectives of corporate and marketing communication in all forms and time scales.
The conference will be conducted over two days (January 29 and 30, 2015) with a keynote speaker on both days. It is organised by a partnership of two leading research and teaching universities in the field of corporate and marketing communication with the aim of creating an Asian perspective in research and scholarship.
Advertising, corporate communication, marketing communications, mass communication, media and public relations researchers as well as educators and graduate students from Asia and Australasia are invited to submit abstracts for paper and poster presentation at the 2nd ICMCAC. Researchers from outside these regions are most welcome to submit abstracts with cross-cultural or Asian perspectives.
Professor Tom Watson is BU’s conference leader and organiser for ICMCAC. Professor Watson said the first conference had drawn papers from 10 countries ranging including many Asian universities: “It was the start for development of Asian perspectives in the fields of corporate and marketing communications, and associated area of research”.
For Call for the Papers, click on this link: 2nd ICMCAC Call for Papers)
There are three themes for the 2nd ICMCAC:
General papers are welcomed on a range of topics, as well. The deadline for submissions is: Friday, October 24, 2014 to comira@chula.ac.th.
The conference website is:http://cuprimcconference.net
The venue for the conference is the Pathumwan Princess hotel, near to Chulalongkorn University and the National Stadium rail station.
The study of consumer behaviour has always been a multi-disciplinary endeavour, so perhaps it is not too surprising that there are pockets of related research activity all around BU. These include consumer related research clusters in the Business School, the Media School, School of Tourism and Psychology. What is surprising is how little we are aware of each other’s work.
Given this the ICB research cluster are hosting a ‘Hands-on Information Sharing Session’ to provide a forum for discussion around CB research at BU. The session will provide an opportunity to meet others with similar research interests and learn more about the variety of consumer research being carried out across the University through brief research presentations, followed by discussions over refreshments to look for potential cross-discipline research opportunities.
Wherever you are in BU, if you think that you would like to be part of a forum aimed at developing a stronger research presence in this area please come along to a meeting over coffee and cakes ….
‘CB Hands-on Information Sharing Session’
Wednesday 22nd October at 15:30 in TAG22, Talbot Campus.
Please could those wishing to attend let Juliet Memery know as soon as possible to ascertain likely numbers for catering purposes, and then send three Powerpoint slides (max) that briefly cover your research/interests in issues relating to consumer behaviour research to her by Monday 20th October (email: jmemery@bournemouth.ac.uk ).
All welcome – we look forward to seeing you there!
In a contribution to the international PR Measurement Week, regional practitioners attended an evening training session in The Media School on September 16.
The public engagement event was organised by Professor Tom Watson and Wessex Chartered Institute of Public Relations (CIPR) chair Natasha Tobin, who lectures part-time on the BA Public Relations programme. It was attended by 14 CIPR members, who also gained CPD points for their annual professional training quota.
The practitioners were shown basic media measurement techniques using an Excel utility which Professor Watson has developed. It features in the third edition of ‘Evaluating Public Relations’ (Kogan Page 2014) co-written with former BU lecturer Paul Noble.
“Measurement and evaluation is one of the top PR practice issues and we were pleased to organise hands-on training for regional PR people as part of the international week,” said Professor Watson. “BU has had a long relationship with CIPR since BAPR was started in the late 1980s and so they were natural partners for this initiative.”
Measurement Week has been organised around the world by the Association for the Measurement and Evaluation of Communication (AMEC) and has the support in the UK of CIPR and the Public Relations Consultants Association (PRCA, which both recognise BU’s public relations courses.
Plans for future joint research were discussed at a meeting of the European Public Relations History Network (EPRHN) in Brussels on September 12.
The network, which was established with Fusion Fund assistance in 2013, met during the annual EUPRERA Congress and was attended by 15 PR historians from Belgium, France, Germany, Netherlands, Spain, Turkey and England.
In addition to developing joint bids to national and European funding sources, EPRHN members have been contributing to a PR history book series which is being edited by Professor Tom Watson of the Media School.
Other plans are research into WW1 propaganda and information campaigns, comparative studies, collaboration with researchers in political communication and nation branding fields, and the role of PR during 20th century European dictatorships.
“EPRHN works as a virtual organisation and is gathering momentum. The key to it becoming a sustained network is both funding and outcomes,” said Professor Watson. “At present, there are outcomes in the form of accessible online resources and publications. So more effort is going into research bids when opportunities arise.”
The project Private Gains and Retailed Literature: pathways to an economics-based account of reading has just won FUSION funding for the coming semester. The project will ask why people consistently spend time and money on literature. What do they hope to gain? Since the opportunity costs are considerable, historically in terms of money and now in terms of time, readers must hope to gain something. On- and offline literature provides unique gains that have otherwise escaped investigation by English studies, which instead has preferred to think of meanings and literary achievement, rather than use.
In terms of finding a discourse to investigate this, it should be remembered that the publishing industry and its delivery of fiction is by necessity predicated on commerce, while the markets for published fiction make up part of commodity culture. The language of private gain, of benefit and loss, which is the heart of commodity culture, is well suited for thinking about general-market reading. And if we can get passed the hijacking of economics by neo-liberalism, or get past neo-liberal reductionism that converts everything to financial indices, we may admit that economics has something to say about the mechanisms of gain, and about a specific type of reading in that commodity-cultural context.
Headed by BU Senior lecturer in English, Dr Simon Frost, and in partnership with UNESCO Chair in New Media Forms of the Book, Prof. Alexis Weedon (University of Bedfordshire) and Prof. Claire Squires, Director of the Stirling Centre for International Publishing and Communication (University of Stirling), the project will be working with the JS Group/John Smith’s books to articulate in the language of cultural and media studies the role that books play in that international retail chain’s larger delivery of private gains. In addition, the project will conduct a student-led survey of the perceived benefits of retailed literature, across a number of UK book shops. Together, the student survey and JS study will greatly refine the project’s understanding of the qualities signified in book retail. It will help the project understand why people think books are important.
Theories of literary value based solely on intrinsic value are under extreme pressure these days. How can one argue for investment in the best literature in the face of severe cuts to essential public services? And who is to decide what is ‘best’ – that debate being trapped in the notion of cultural hierarchy. This project instead aims at an explanation based not on l’art pour l’art, nor on the education of readers towards a supposedly more-culturally discerning state, but on the benefits readers obtain from the books they currently have in hand; on the books they currently value.
Enquires should be directed in the first instance to
Dr Simon Frost, sfrost@bournemouth.ac.uk
Since June 30, Professor Natalia Rodriguez Salcedo of the University of Navarra in Pamplona, Spain has been a visiting scholar at BU, based in the Corporate & Marketing Communications academic group in The Media School.
During a four-week period, she has undertaken detailed research in the archive of the International Public Relations Association (IPRA), which was the first major PR association established in Europe in 1955. The IPRA archive was developed by Professor Tom Watson in 2011.
It is an important source of information about PR’s evolution in the immediate post-World War 2 world and the field’s international expansion in the second half of the 20th century.
“Archives like that of IPRA are always difficult to find and provide essential material for PR historians,” said Professor Rodriguez Salcedo. She has also undertaken research at BU’s Library, including its special collection of historic PR books. As a result of her research, she and Professor Watson are exploring future research collaboration on the development of the PR sector in Europe, especially philosophical and practices approaches that evolved separately from the US.
Professor Rodriguez Salcedo also observed Professor Watson’s editorial and reviewing roles in developing a six-book series, ‘National Perspectives on the Development of Public Relations’ which is being published by Palgrave-Macmillan. She will be a contributor to the fifth book of the series, ‘Western Europe Perspectives’, with a chapter on the history of public relations in Spain.
During her stay Professor Rodriguez Salcedo, who is a member of the European Public Relations History Network, attended the 5th International History of Public Relations Conference at BU on July 2-3, at which she delivered a paper on the formation of the first Spanish PR consultancy and chaired a conference session.
Professor Natalia Rodriguez Salcedo discusses the IPRA archive with its founder, Professor Tom Watson
Yawning is a fascinating conundrum that has intrigued clinical researchers, neuroscientists, and philosophers for centuries. Researchers are largely in agreement on the localisation of the process of yawning in the paraventricular nucleus of the hypothalamus and the brainstem, important regions of the brain known to regulate our body temperature and circadian rhythms, and are vital to our functioning.
However, agreement is yet to be reached on which neuro-chemicals are fundamental to yawning, albeit a number of neurotransmitters have been identified that may be associated.
Recently, the Thompson Cortisol Hypothesis has proposed that the incidence of yawning is associated with rise in cortisol levels. It suggests that cortisol is a trigger for the yawn reflex or is an artefact that may protect the yawner. It is still unclear how this mechanism may work within the Hypothalamus-Pituitary-Adrenal axis but is likely to work within the hypothalamus temperature regulation theories such as those proposed by Dr Andrew Gallup in the United States.
Stress and fatigue are known to cause elevations in cortisol which is an essential component of the stress response and immune system regulation and consequently is sensitive to the impact of neurological disorders such as Multiple Sclerosis.
“Nerve impulses, cortisol levels, and yawning as a potential predictor of neurological impairment” was presented at the recent International Conference for Academic Disciplines at the Universita’ Ca’ Foscari Di Venezia, Venice, Italy, 30 June to 3 July 2014. This described the four years of research I have been conducting at Bournemouth University into yawning.
It was exciting to meet interested researchers and to exchange ideas on this common but little understood phenomenon. I was also surprised and delighted to receive the Certificate of Merit for “Outstanding Research and Presentation” which just added to the outstanding beauty of the conference location in Venice.
CMC Media School Lecturer and CEMP Fellow, Dr. Anna Feigenbaum, was awarded a Wellcome Trust Small Grant in Medical Humanities for her project ‘Communicating Medical Knowledge in the History of Tear Gas’. Aiming to inform new medical knowledge about tear gas, as well as provide resources for policy-makers and key stakeholders, this research project examines changing and contested notions around the health effects of tear gases for law enforcement purposes. Using a case study approach and archival methods, the project explores how medical experts have communicated medical knowledge around tear gas, shaping policies and legislation, from the Geneva Convention to the European Union ban on trade in instruments of torture. Outputs for this project include a contracted book with Verso and an open access website of tools and resources. Dr. Feigenbaum’s work on tear gas has been quoted in the Guardian, The Financial Times, New Internationalist and Vice magazine, as well as in international publications in Brazil, the Philippines, Turkey and Italy. Dr. Feigenbaum is always interested in building new interdisciplinary collaborations. If you are interested in this area of research, be in touch! afeigenbaum@bournemouth.ac.uk
Pioneering citizen journalism project, ADTV, involving The Media School’s Einar Thorsen, Dan Jackson and Ann Luce has recently been featured on BBC radio and BBC’s The Politics Show, for a full 8 minutes!
In a nutshell, ADTV is about empowering older people, disabled people and carers to gain a public voice through citizen journalism. Thanks to Fusion funding, we have been able to work with local charity, Access Dorset, who represents these groups locally. They have put together a fantastic video about ADTV on their website.
The project is now in its second phase. From November 2013 to January 2014, Ann Luce – together with BA (Hons) Multimedia Journalism student, Nicolas Williams – led a five-week intensive training course for twelve Access Dorset volunteers on foundation principles of video journalism. This gave them the skills and confidence to develop a citizen journalism website alongside their other advice and support functions.
Since then, the volunteers (who now actively self-identify as citizen journalists) have thrown themselves into the project and pursued a range of different stories. They have made videos about living with cancer, anorexia, emergency medical treatment for older people, inaccessible footpaths for disabled people, and overcoming attitudinal barriers to disability to name a few.
One of the most high profile reports has been in support of their campaign to make Pokesdown railway station accessible for disabled people. The funny, playful yet powerful video they made shows Bournemouth resident and Access Dorset citizen journalist, Kelvin Trevett, being repeatedly told there is no way for him to access the station platform in his wheelchair. The film pretends to be shot over several decades, with creative use of a newspaper stand marking various landmarks in the development of disabled people’s rights since 1960.
The video and campaign has made local headlines, gained the support of local politicians, and has even been discussed in Parliament.
We are now working with Access Dorset and their citizen journalists on research interviews and ongoing evaluation of the project. The findings of these will be presented at the IAMCR annual conference in Hyderabad this July, and ECREA annual conference in Lisbon, November. Publications are also lined up to disseminate these research findings in books and journals. Building on the Fusion funded project, we are now pursuing external grants: to ensure the sustainability of the project and advance this model of citizen journalism beyond Dorset, and to explore new ways for marginalised groups to get their voices heard – both within grassroots initiatives and national media.
For further information, please contact:
Einar Thorsen: ethorsen@bournemouth.ac.uk
Dan Jackson: jacksond@bournemouth.ac.uk
Ann Luce: aluce@bournemouth.ac.uk
The International History of Public Relations Conference (IHPRC) celebrated its fifth birthday on the first day of the 2014 conference on Wednesday, July 2.
The conference chair, Prof Tom Watson, was joined in cutting the celebration cake by Prof Don Wright (BostonUniversity), Associate Professor Meg Lamme (UniversityofAlabama) and Associate Professor Natalia Rodriguez Salcedo (UniversityofNavarra), who were members of an advisory panel consulted on the establishment of the conference in 2009.
The conference, which was opened by the Dean of The Media School, Stephen Jukes, has been attended by delegates from more than 12 countries. Some 33 papers and a Keynote Panel have been presented.
More than 150 papers have been offered by delegates from 30 countries in the past five years. The conference has established the field of PR history and spurred a big growth in journal and book publishing, with two more books launched at the 2014 conference.
Planning is already beginning for the 2015 conference to be held on July 7-8.