Category / REF Subjects

First BU publication of 2015

Publishing

Those working in the reproductive health field or in local media will be familiar with the phenomenon of the reporting of the first baby born in the New Year.   For example, you may have read a short item of the first baby of 2015 born just after midnight with a lovely picture of the baby with proud parents and/or midwife.

 

This BU Research Blog is the equivalent of the first publication for 2015.  I contributed a chapter called ‘Sociology of Midwifery’ to the edited book Sociology for Midwives published by Polity Press (Jan. 2015) and edited by Ruth Deery, Elaine Denny & Gayle Letherby.

The Polity Press website lists three reviews of the book by eminent academics in the field of midwifery:

“What is the point of sociology for midwives and midwifery? A sociological perspective can give us a different understanding of reproduction and maternity care. It can help us challenge our ‘common sense’ assumptions about how people and the world tick. This new book provides midwives and midwifery students with a readable comprehensive and up to date review of the field of sociology applied to reproduction and maternity care. The editors bring together a very impressive amount of material and present it in an accessible and clear way. Their facility for handling complex theoretical and detailed empirical material is admirable.”

Jane Sandall, King’s College London

 

“The editors and authors of this fine volume have produced a wonderful introduction to the value of a sociological imagination in the practice of midwifery.”

Barbara Katz Rothman, City University of New York

“The authors set out to ‘stimulate the sociological imagination’ of their readers. The combination of theoretical analysis and application of sociological theory to specific practice situations provides extensive opportunities for this to take place. Readers who are new to the sociology of maternity care will find ample material to excite and engage them. Those who already have dipped into this vast and fascinating field will find new applications, angles and perspectives that can cast a fresh light on why we do what we do in maternity care, and that provide possible routes for positive change in the future.”

Soo Downe, University of Central Lancashire

For more details of Sociology for Midwives, see:  http://www.politybooks.com/book.asp?ref=0745662803

 

Prof. Edwin van Teijlingen

Centre for Midwifery, Maternal & Perinatal Health

Bournemouth University

BU academics appointed as dual editors-in-chief

Women's Academic Network

Dr Sara Ashencaen Crabtree and Professor Jonathan Parker of the Centre for Social Work, Sociology & Social Policy have been appointed as joint editors-in-chief for a journal published by UK publishing house Whiting & Birch and the Tbilisi SState University in Georgia: Social Policy & Social Work in Transition.

The journal stemmed from an earlier EU-funded Tempus project between Sheffield Hallam University and post-Soviet Eastern European states, including Georgia, Ukraine, Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia and has recently negotiated a bipartite arrangement with Whiting & Birch to ensure its sustainability.

The journal aims to provide a platform for developing insight and research into transitions in social policy and social work predominantly in Eastern European countries, and this remains its primary focus. However, the new editors-in-chief will also expand the journal’s reach into Asia, the Asia Pacific region, Africa and the Americas especially in countries moving through complex socio-political, economic, historical and post-colonial transitions.

This important position was confirmed on the basis of the new editors’ international research links and reputations and adds to the strengths of the Centre for Social Work, Sociology and Social Policy at BU. Dr Ashencaen Crabtree and Professor Parker will lead a multinational editorial board assisted by continuing editors Professor Iago Kachkachishvili of Tbilisi State University, Georgia and Dr Tetyana Semigina of National University ‘Kyiv-Mohyla Academy’, Ukraine (current Secretary of the International Association of Schools of Social Work). Outgoing editor, Professor Emeritus Mark Doel, Sheffield Hallam University, will also remain on the board.

The position offers a springboard to further collaborative social science research in Eastern European and Balkan states, something which the journal is committed to developing.

Prof Jonathan Parker & Dr Sara Ashencaen Crabtree

The REF results are in! BU’s research recognised as world leading

REF Subjects, Research assessment

REF logoAfter many years of preparation, numerous mock exercises and thirteen long months of waiting, the REF results are finally published today! And the news for BU is excellent!

62% of BU’s research has been recognised as internationally excellent, with 18% rated as world-leading. This is a significant uplift on our RAE 2008 scores and has been achieved whilst also submitting considerably more staff to REF 2014 (161.8 FTE, an increase of 45.5%). This highlights the growing research volume and quality at BU and is testament to the significant investment that has been put into research over the past decade. The assessment recognised BU as a leading university in both the UK and south west region.

Key achievements for BU overall include:

  • BU was in the top half of all institutions that submitted to the REF (69th out of 154) based on the proportion of research rated of international standard
  • BU was 11th out of the 69 post-1992 universities based on the proportion of world-leading research
  • BU was fourth in the south west based on the proportion of world-leading research, behind Bristol, Bath and Exeter
  • 30% of BU’s research impact was rated world-leading
  • 58% of BU’s research outputs were rated internationally excellent or world-leading
  • 63% of BU’s research environment was rated internationally excellent or world-leading
  • The THE has ranked BU 69th overall, an increase from 75th in 2008, and 69th for impact – http://www.timeshighereducation.co.uk/news/ref-2014-results-table-of-excellence/2017590.article

Key achievements for our research areas include:

  • Tourism (UOA 26) was rated as joint-first in the UK (out of 51 institutions) based on its internationally-recognised research
  • Art and design (UOA 34) is in the top quartile in the UK for its world-leading research, and is ranked first in the south west (out of 7 institutions)
  • Communication, Cultural and Media Studies (UOA 36) is in the top third of institutions in the UK (17th out of 67) for its world-leading research, and 7th in the UK for its world-leading impact
  • Psychology’s (UOA 4) outputs scored particularly well with 73% rated as internationally excellent or world-leading, placing BU 27th out of 82 institutions in the UK
  • Research impact was rated highly in General Engineering (UOA 15) which scored 73% internationally excellent, placing it fourth out of 29 post-1992 institutions.
  • BU submitted considerably more staff to Allied Health Professional, Dentistry, Nursing and Pharmacy (UOA 3) than in the last assessment exercise (9.2fte in 2008 and 21.4fte in 2014) and achieved a significant uplift in the proportion of its research that was rated internationally excellent and world-leading (40% to 54%).
  • Geography, Environmental Studies and Archaeology (UOA 17) is in the top quartile in the UK (joint-17th out of 74 institutions) based on the proportion of research rated of international standing, making it also 1st out of 20 post-1992 universities
  • Business and Management Studies (UOA 19) scored particularly well in terms of impact, resulting in it ranking 9th in the UK (out of 101 institutions) for its world-leading impact

HEFCE, on behalf of the four funding councils, publish the results of the REF today. You can browse the results here: www.ref.ac.uk.

Congratulations to all – this is a milestone achievement 🙂

Fusion Investment Fund 2014/15: Upskilling the Engineering Workforce

Awarded & submitted bids, Fusion

We were delighted to hear that we have just received funding from the Fusion Investment Fund for a project which we hope will allow us to strengthen strategic partnerships with local/national engineering companies.  This will build on the work already carried out within the Department of Design and Engineering to develop an innovate flexible learning MEng Engineering degree for those currently in employment which has attracted over 40 students from local and national industries since its introduction.  The numbers entering the degree is expected to accelerate over the next few years with 300 engineering apprentices currently studying at Bournemouth and Poole College coming through the system.

The aim of this project is to collaborate with current BU engineering students, and engineering employers to develop, launch and establish a Professional Registration Mentoring Scheme.  The scheme will be developed to enable students who are studying on the flexible learning MEng Engineering degree to achieve professional registration (Incorporated or Chartered Engineer) status and for companies wishing to gain professional registration for a suitable group of their employees.

This scheme is timely as EngineeringUK has recently highlighted the need to double the number of annual graduate recruits into engineering by 2020 to meet demand.  The report also highlights it is estimated only 36% of engineers in the UK are registered as professional engineers.  However, professional engineers are vital for the growth of the UK economy.

A future goal, once established regionally, is to secure recognition for the scheme from an appropriate professional body.  This will then provide the credibility to expand the scheme nationally

Please do feel free to get in touch with us if you would like further information and we look forward to reporting on the outcome once the project is completed at the end of July.

Dr Philip Sewell (Principal Investigator) – Design and Engineering Framework Leader –psewell@bournemouth.ac.uk

Dr Tania Humphries-Smith – Head of Design and Engineering Department – thumphri@bournemouth.ac.uk

Wanted: Book reviewers

PG research, Publishing, student research

 

Sociological Research Online one of the four BSA journals is constantly looking for new reviewers of books for its section on book reviews.  Every issue of Sociological Research Online lists the recently received books from a range of publishers.  Please spread this message to (junior) sociology colleagues and Ph.D. students in the discipline.  For many social science postgraduate students a book review can be a nice first publication, with the added benefit that reading the book can be helpful in their Ph.D. journey.  For the budding book reviewer we have written a short ‘how-to-do-a-book-review piece’ which can be found on the Sociological Research Online webpages: http://www.socresonline.org.uk/info/bookreviews.html

 

Prof. Edwin van Teijlingen

CMMPH, Bournemouth University

Book review editor Sociological Research Online

News from the Consumer Research Group: The CR@B is dead … long live the CRG!!

PG research, REF Subjects, Research themes

 

The newly renamed ‘Consumer Research Group’ (formally known as CR@B (Consumer Research @ Bournemouth) … but now rebranded!) held its second meeting last week which again brought together consumer researchers from a wide range of disciplines across the University for lively discussions around the opportunities for cross-disciplinary research (over coffee and mince pies!).  The aim of the meeting was to begin to identify themes around which groups or clusters of consumer researchers could discuss potential collaborations and plan activities for the future.  From the meeting seven themes were initially proposed (see diagram above), and whilst these may initially remain fluid, they offer great opportunity for further discussion.  A notable outcome from this meeting was the variety of consumer research areas being explored at BU, and the number of potential linkages that could be made between different groups, across and between these themes, to develop an even stronger research profile for the CRG.

The next meeting for the ‘Consumer Research Group’ will be 2-4pm on Wednesday 28th January in PG19.  Professor John Fletcher – Pro Vice Chancellor – Research and Innovation – will open the meeting.  

Anyone who is doing consumer research of any description is welcome to join and contribute to the discussions – and as before there will be coffee and cake to help our consumer thinking along.

If you would like to come along please email any of the other contacts below so that we can get a feel for numbers.  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)

A forthcoming book from the new Faculty of Management receives endorsements from UNDESA, UNEP, UNESCO and the European Commission

Publishing

The concept of the green economy has entered mainstream policy debates and been endorsed by the United Nations, other international institutions and forums, such as the G-20. The Rio+20 UN summit specifically draw attention to the green economy approach in the context of sustainable development. The role of tourism sector will continue to be crucial in the post-2015 sustainable development agenda. However, there are ambiguities about how tourism and allied industries can maximize their contribution to human well-being and ensure environmentally sustainability, embracing issues of political economy, geography and business ethics.

In this context, the forthcoming book “Tourism in the Green Economy” (Routledge, 2015) edited in line with BU research themes has been received externally as one of the many examples of our fusion agenda enriching the world. The book received valuable endorsements from key international organisations advancing sustainable development policy and actions worldwide.

“Building on the outcome of Rio+20, the United Nations Department of Economic and Social Affairs, through its Division for Sustainable Development, has been working closely with the UN system, in particular, the World Tourism Organization and United Nations Environment Programme to advance sustainable tourism in the context of sustainable development and more specifically in national planning processes. In this regard, initiatives by the academic world to help policy makers and practitioners develop a better understanding of the dynamic and concrete linkages between tourism and sustainable development are therefore of great importance. This publication addresses the potential role that tourism could play towards a green economy. It also provides good practices, policy orientations as well as implications for future research in this area. The publication is therefore a timely and important input for tourism and sustainability stakeholders.” – Nikhil Seth, Director, Division for Sustainable Development, United Nations Department for Economic and Social Affairs, United Nations Secretariat.

“This publication offers an objective assessment of the challenges faced by green economy and their application to the tourism sector, as well as opportunities for promoting a global and local sustainable tourism through resource efficiency, green jobs and sustainable consumption and production patterns. Tourism stakeholders will find inspiration in this book, from its multiple case studies, in defining and promoting methods and tools for implementing sustainable tourism while valuing local resources and educating the tourist community.” – Dr Arab Hoballah, Chief of the Sustainable Consumption and Production Branch, UNEP.

“We welcome this publication which covers the topic of tourism and in particular the aspect of sustainable tourism with the aim of providing useful insights on how tourism could adapt to green economy, and how to make tourism more sustainable” – Francesca Tudini, Head of Tourism Policy Unit, European Commission.

“This publication brings new insights into the need to green the rapidly-growing tourism industry. The case studies show the challenges and opportunities common to both developed and developing countries, echoing UNESCO’s efforts to build inclusive green societies and sustainable tourism through Biosphere Reserves, World Heritage (including marine) sites, and Geoparks.” – Dr Wendy Watson-Wright, Executive Secretary, Intergovernmental Oceanographic Commission; and Assistant Director General a.i., Natural Sciences, UNESCO.

The book provides consensus about what the green economy entails, the important role tourism can play in a green economy, responsible business practices from many countries, on-going and emerging research initiatives that will enable tourism’s transition to a green economy. For more details and full list of chapters, please visit: http://www.routledge.com/books/details/9780415709217/