Dr. Lukman Aroean, a Senior Lecturer in International Marketing in the Bournemouth University Business School, has recently paid a research visit to the Faculty of Economics and Business, Universitas Gadjah Mada, Indonesia. The research visit was funded by British Council Researcher Link and last from end of August to early October 2014. The research topic was about playfulness and academic performance of university students. A two-stage field research involving forty nine undergraduate students of the host university has been undertaken. At the moment the research team has identified interesting findings including the conceptualization of playfulness as an experience, how playfulness interacts with students’ academic performance and how personal preferences are related to the gap between playfulness and academic activity. Dr. Aroean has given two research seminars in the host university about the research findings. Further collaboration is under consideration including engaging business schools from the ASEAN (South East Asian Nations) region. 
Category / REF Subjects
Most cited article in MIDWIFERY
The scientific paper ‘Risk, Theory, Social & Medical Models: a critical analysis of the concept of risk in maternity care’ written by Dr. Helen MacKenzie Bryers (NHS Highland) and BU Professor of Reproductive Health Research is now listed on the website of the international journal Midwifery as its top most cited paper since 2010 (1). Midwifery, published by Elsevier, is one of the leading global journals in the field of midwifery and maternity care.
The paper provides a critical analysis of the risk concept, its development in modern society in general and UK maternity services in particular. Through the associated theory, the authors explore the origins of the current preoccupation with risk. Using Pickstone’s historical phases of modern health care, the paper explores the way maternity services changed from a social to a medical model over the twentieth century and suggests that the risk agenda was part of this process.
‘Risk, Theory, Social & Medical Models’ has been cited 40 times in SCOPUS, measured today Jan. 25th 2015. In Google Scholar the citation rate is even higher and stands at 69.
Prof. Edwin van Teijlingen
Centre for Midwifery, Maternal and Perinatal Health
Faculty of Health & Social Sciences
Reference
- MacKenzie Bryers, H., van Teijlingen, E. (2010) Risk, Theory, Social & Medical Models: a critical analysis of the concept of risk in maternity care, Midwifery 26(5): 488-496.
Reminder: Consumer Research Group Meeting No.3!!
The ‘Consumer Research Group’ will be holding its next meeting 2-4pm on Wednesday 28th January in PG19. Professor John Fletcher – Pro Vice Chancellor – Research and Innovation – will open the meeting. Discussions within this meeting will revolve around an outline of the vision/strategic plan for the CRG, as well as opportunities to initiate and progress collaborative research projects around the seven CRG themes. These all aim to develop an even stronger research profile for the CRG.
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)
CIPPM Members present research co-funded by the UKIPO and ESRC on Copyright and the Public Domain
The Centre for Intellectual Property Policy and Management’s Co-Director, Dr. Dinusha Mendis and CIPPM Member, Dr. Fabian Homberg presented their research on ‘Valuing the Public Domain’ – a collaboration with CREATe, University of Glasgow – on 5th December 2014, at Digital Catapult, London.
‘Valuing the Public Domain’ is a major research and knowledge exchange project carried out in collaboration with CREATe, University of Glasgow and is co-funded by the UK Intellectual Property Office (UKIPO) and the Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC). The purpose of the project is 1) to map the size of the public domain and frequency of its use; 2) analyse the role of public domain works in value creation for UK firms; and 3) assist UK media companies to identify business models that benefit from the public domain.
The half-day event brought together project researchers and transmedia businesses to explore and discuss the results of the study. During the discussions, a number of significant questions were addressed including (a) what does the availability and use of the rich tradition of public domain materials in this country mean for UK creative industries?; (b) how can SMEs and other businesses leverage the public domain effectively to generate value?; and (c) what are the emerging market trends and practices that will hinder or enable access to public domain materials in the future?
Following the event in December, the final report authored by Dr. Kris Erickson, Professor Paul Heald, Dr. Fabian Homberg, Professor Martin Kretschmer and Dr. Dinusha Mendis was published in March 2015 and can be accessed here..
Dancing with Parkinson’s: Standing Tall, Stepping Boldly and Feeling Lovely
Lunchtime Seminar on Thursday 12th February 2015 , 1-1.50pm in EB708, Lansdowne Campus
Dr Sara Houston, Principal Lecturer in Dance at the University of Roehampton
Against the backdrop of a five-year study into dance for people with Parkinson’s, Dr Houston will examine what it means to ‘live well’ with Parkinson’s through those who participate in a dance class. She will examine how participants’ aims to ‘stand tall and step boldly’ are embodied and shaped by their dancing experience. The seminar will highlight one woman’s claim that dancing makes her feel beautiful, and, as such, is fundamental to her wellbeing. She will debate the challenge that this claim poses to those who argue that beauty in dance is at best unimportant, at worst disenfranchising. In debating this challenge she will create a link between aesthetics and health through a reformulation of the value of beauty in the context of chronic illness and wellbeing. This link will then allow her to discuss how feeling lovely could become relevant and meaningful within the context of participating in dance.
Dr Sara Houston is Principal Lecturer in Dance at the University of Roehampton. Currently, she leads a longitudinal mixed-methods research study examining the experience of dancing with Parkinson’s commissioned by English National Ballet. Her work won her the BUPA Foundation Vitality for Life Prize in 2011 and she was a Finalist for the National Public Engagement Awards in 2014. For the last five years, Sara’s project with people with Parkinson’s has developed her work on the intersection between dance as art, health and wellbeing and on the tensions and collaboration between quantitative and qualitative methodologies and between art and therapy models of engagement. In 2014, Sara won a National Teaching Fellowship from the Higher Education Academy for excellence in teaching. She is Chair of the Board of People Dancing: the Foundation for Community Dance. Her book Dancing With Parkinson’s: Art, Community and Wellbeing is in preparation and will be published by Intellect Books.
The seminar will be followed by the BU Humanisation Special Interest Group meeting from 2 -4.30pm in EB708, Lansdowne Campus. All are welcome.
Building Links between UK and China to further Copyright Research and Collaboration

The aim of the workshop was to identify projects and partners for future collaborative research and to discuss the potential for the establishment of a Centre for Digital Copyright Research in China at the Ningbo campus. The established Centre is expected to act as a Hub for research development between UK and China.
CIPPM Researchers launch Copyright Resource for A/AS Level Media Studies
Researchers at the Centre for Intellectual Property Policy and Management (CIPPM) in collaboration with CREATe, the RCUK Centre for Copyright and New Business Models in the Creative Economy at the University of Glasgow have launched an educational web resource aimed at A/AS Level Media Studies. The project, which was carried out during 2013-2014, was funded by RCUK under a contract with CREATe, University of Glasgow (Principal Investigator: Dr. Dinusha Mendis, Co-Director, CIPPM).
The Centre for Excellence in Media Practice (CEMP) at Bournemouth University is also part of the collaboration.
The web resource and downloadable PDF forms part of the already established Copyrightuser.org (initially funded by the Fusion Investment Fund, 2012-2013) and is titled, Contemporary Media Regulation: A Case Study in Copyright Law.
In particular, this educational web resource addresses Critical Perspectives in Media, Section B: Contemporary Media Issues and was approved by Oxford Cambridge and RSA (OCR) Examination Board at their Annual Conference on 21 March 2014.
The resource was disseminated to a large network of Schools in England and Wales in January 2015 and during 2015-2016, the researchers will map the impact of this educational resource by identifying how many Schools / students have opted to study Copyright Law as part of the Critical Perspectives in Media, Section B: Contemporary Media Issues.
The value of this educational resource has already been identified by the UK Government. In October 2014, Copyrightuser.org was mentioned by Mike Weatherley MP in his report Copyright Education and Awareness, in which he specifically mentioned this resource as an attempt to introduce copyright law into the AS/A Level Media Studies curriculum in schools in England and Wales. A write-up about it can be found here.
The content is shaped to enable teachers to explain the complexity and importance of copyright in media, and for the students to research copyright regulation and demonstrate their understanding within the Contemporary Media Regulation exam question.
This educational resource provides teachers with simple and straightforward information about copyright law. The focus is to bring together different perspectives on copyright issues. There is a consideration of the historical, contemporary and future copyright issues, with an emphasis on present.
The resource was formally launched in February 2015 by the Arts and Humanities Research Council (AHRC) and the press release titled ‘What we Should Teach Students about Copyright Law’ can be accessed here.
The educational resource was produced by a team consisting of:
Authors: Ms. Hayleigh Bosher and Dr. Dinusha Mendis (CIPPM)
Illustrations: Mr. Davide Bonazzi
Editor: Professor Ronan Deazley (Professor of Copyright Law, CREATe, University of Glasgow)
Educational Resource Development: Dr. Julian McDougall (CEMP)
Production: Mr. Bartolomeo Meletti (CREATe, University of Glasgow)
Questionnaire Respondents: see here
American Psychology Teaching Conference opens with beautiful sunrise
Dr. Jacqui Taylor, Associate Professor in the Psychology Department at Bournemouth University recently presented and ran a workshop at the ‘National Institute on the Teaching of Psychology’, an annual conference for teachers of psychology to explore new ideas to enhance and broaden their teaching skills. Below, Dr. Taylor summarises her experience:
“I welcomed the New Year by presenting a poster and workshop at the 37th Annual ‘National Institute on the Teaching Of Psychology’ in Florida. The first day dawned with a beautiful sunrise and an early 7:30 am breakfast session!

My poster ‘The Evaluation and Assessment of Online Skills Through Online Group Discussion’ stimulated lots of interaction from delegates who were mainly interested in my use of reflection as an assessment tool. Increasingly, much of a psychology student’s learning occurs within electronic environments, however rarely are the new skills they develop in these contexts identified, improved or assessed. Over the past 5 years, I have addressed this important need, and examples from assessed online student discussions were presented in my poster to demonstrate an innovative way to develop and assess online skills. I made some good contacts with other lecturers who were using quite different quantitative rubrics to assess technical skills and I look forward to developing links with them.

My second presentation was under a category called ‘Participant Idea Exchange (referred to as PIEs!)’ and consisted of a one-hour facilitated workshop session. My ‘PIE’ was on ‘Psychological Literacy: A Practical Approach’ and I presented with Dr Carolyn Mair (a past PGR and lecturer at BU). Psychological literacy is a new and important concept in psychology education which encapsulates the knowledge, skills and attributes acquired through the study of psychology and the ability to transfer learning from the academic setting into the real world. Despite an increasing number of academic and professional publications highlighting theoretical concepts and benefits of psychological literacy, there are few practical resources for psychology educators. This PIE addressed this need by discussing our two recent publications commissioned by the UK Higher Education Academy: ‘An Introductory Guide to Psychological Literacy’ (Mair, Taylor & Hulme, 2013) and ‘A Psychological Literacy Compendium’ (Taylor & Hulme, in prep).

As the sun set on this year’s conference there were promises from many delegates to collaborate and share their teaching practice throughout 2015 and meet once again at the 38th ‘NITOP’ in 2016.”

Evaluation mixed-methods research grant awarded to FHSS team
Dr. Janet Scammell in the Faculty of Health and Social Sciences (FHSS) is leading on a new research project evaluating the impact of a new integrated respiratory service in Dorset. The £20,000 mixed-methods research project is funded by the Wessex Academic Health Science Network on behalf of the Dorset Clinical Commissioning Group. Janet Scammell is leading a research team in BU’s new Faculty of Health and Social Sciences comprising Desi Tait, Ashley Spriggs, Martin Hind, Caroline Belchamber and Edwin van Teijlingen.
The Dorset Adult Integrated Respiratory Service (DAIRS) is a new service that has been set up early 2014 to provide support and care for people with respiratory conditions such as chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), bronchiectasis and pulmonary fibrosis. The service aims to reduce the number of people who need admission to hospital and help individuals to feel more in control of their condition. BU has been asked to evaluate early uptake and impact of the DAIRS running in Poole, Bournemouth and Dorchester.
Further information about this exciting project is available from: Dr. Janet Scammell, Associate Professor and Professional Lead for Adult and Children & Young People’s Nursing
Telephone: 01202 962751
Email: jscammell@bournemouth.ac.uk
Ireland Yawns with Dr Simon Thompson
Even parachutists are encouraged to yawn before dropping out of a plane in order to stimulate the arousal system to maintain vigilance. Cortisol (Fig 1), the naturally produced stress hormone, is now established as co-existent with the yawning reflex and with new research showing that those who yawn have higher levels of salivary cortisol than those who do not yawn (1).
A curious problem is the temperature fluctuation and fatigue levels of people with multiple sclerosis (MS) who excessively yawn. With a view to establishing cortisol patterns within the hypothalamus-pituitary-adrenal axis, our natural stress feedback loop, centrally controlled deep within our brains, I am exploring how yawning might provide an important clue to diagnosis. Developing cortisol as a biomarker for early detection of neurological symptoms is the intended goal for research I am undertaking at Bournemouth University in collaboration with Université Paris X Ouest Nanterre La Défense, Hôpital Universitaire Amiens, Jules Verne Université de Picardie, Université Paris 8 St Denis, Université Paris 5 René Descartes, and the Clinical Research & Imaging Centre, University of Bristol.
It is hoped that people with MS may benefit with early treatment intervention that will be supported with professional care from the French and British MS Societies, Ligue Française contre la Sclérose en Plaques and the UK Multiple Sclerosis Society.
I was invited to discuss my research recently with Newstalk Irish National Radio broadcaster, Seán Moncrieff on the Moncrieff Show, 07 January 2015 (2). We feared that some listeners may in fact uncontrollably yawn but hopefully as a positive reaction to this intriguing subject!
References
1.
Thompson, S.B.N., Rose, K., Richer, S., 2014. Yawning with cortisol: examining the neuroscience behind the Thompson Cortisol Hypothesis for supporting rehabilitation of neurologically impaired individuals. Journal of Neuroscience & Rehabilitation, 1(1), 1-11, doi: 2014.01.01/2374-9091: SS0003
2.
Moncrieff Show, 07 Jan 2015:
http://www.newstalk.com/player/listen_back/8/15549/07th_January_2015_Moncrieff_Part_3
In metrics we trust?
Back in May HEFCE launched a Call for Evidence on the role of metrics in research assessment. The Independent review chaired by by Professor James Wilsdon, University of Sussex and supported by an independent steering group, is tasked with building on the previous 2008/9 pilot exercise to explore the current use of metrics for research assessment, consider the robustness of metrics across different disciplines, and assess their potential contribution to the development of research excellence and impact.
HEFCE received 153 responses (44% from HEIs, 27% individuals, 18% learned societies, 7% providers, 2% mission groups, 2% other). With the majority – 57% – of those who responded expressed overall scepticism about the further introduction of metrics into research assessment.
As part of the review three stakeholder workshops have been held/scheduled on key areas of interest and debate:
- In metrics we Trust – 7th October, University of Sussex. Prospects and Pitfalls
- Metrics for All? – 2nd December 2014, University of Sheffield. Equality and Diversity
- Metrics – Arts and Humanities – 16th January 2015, University of Warwick.
To date, all have been well attended and very lively. I was able to attend the I workshop in Sussex with some 150 odd other delegates including members of the metrics review panel, metrics developers and providers, researchers, university managers, and a range of stakeholders from across the research and HE community.
The day contained many thoughtful contributions from a range of speakers including: Dr Philip Campbell, Editor-in-Chief, Nature; Professor Stephen Curry, Department of Life Sciences, Imperial College; and Dr Steven Hill, Head of Research Policy, HEFCE. There was lively discussion about the value, potential role, and unintended consequences of metrics in research evaluation. If you are interested in the future role of metrics in research assessment, I would particularly recommend reviewing the presentations from David Colquhoun, Emeritus Professor of Pharmacology at UCL and Dorothy Bishop, Professor of Developmental Neuropsychology, the University of Oxford.
For further insight you could also check out the Twitter discussion, which has over 1000 tweets tagged with #HEFCEmetrics, Impact story have also helpfully encapsulated much of the story/discussion via Storify.
The results of the review will be announced at the end of March and published in the summer. The report will make recommendation againsts three time horizons:
(1) What can HEIs do to improve research management now;
(2) Suggestions for the next REF;
(3) The longer term, including identification of programmes for further work.
Huffington Post Blog BU by PhD student Sheetal Sharma
FHSS PhD student Sheetal Sharma and ICS Integrare’s Petra ten Hoope-Bender discuss issues around the evidence to support the policy direction after the Millennium Development Goals come to end in 2015. The global research and policy community has been gathering the evidence and the lessons learnt on what has worked for whom and how. They remind us that the UN General Assembly’s Open Working Group has identified 17 new goals that cover far-reaching sustainable development issues, such as ending poverty and hunger, improving health and education, making cities more sustainable, combating climate change, and protecting oceans and forests. Read all at:
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/petra-ten-hoopebender/women-newborns-and-health_b_6459614.html
Prof. Edwin van Teijlingen
CMMPH
BU academic honoured in Nepal
BU Professor Edwin van Teijlingen was honoured by the Minister of Foreign Affairs Mr. Mahendra Bahadur Pandey yesterday in Kathmandu. Prof. van Teijlingen was honoured for “his contributions to capacity building and health research in Nepal.” In the presentation listing his achievements of over ten-years of research in Nepal it was highl
ighted that he has supervised eight Nepalese PhD students to completion in the UK as well as numerous MSc students from Nepal. Several of his former student attended the ceremony. Furthermore, Prof. van Teijlingen’s work include over 75 academic publications on Nepal and/or papers published in English-language journals in Nepal.
Prof. van Teijlingen is currently Visiting Professor at two higher education institutions in Nepal. He has been Visiting Professor since 2009 at Manmohan Memorial Institute of Health Sciences, affiliated with Tribhuvan University, and Visiting Professor since 2012 at Nobel College, affiliated with Pokhara University. He is also on the editorial board of several health journals in Nepal, including the Nepal Journal of Epidemiology and Health Prospect.
Most recently he was co-editor of an edited volume under the title The Dynamics of Health in Nepal published for Social Science Baha by Himal Books in Kathmandu. His fellow editors Prof. Padam Simkhada (Liverpool John Moores University) and Dr. Sharada Prasad Wasti were also present in the audience.
Edwin van Teijlingen is Professor of Reproductive Health Research in the Faculty of Health & Social Sciences and Director of the Centre for Midwifery, Maternal and Perinatal Health.
Research dissemination event in Kathmandu
Last Sunday (11th Jan.) Green Tara Nepal presented the findings of a review on health promotion initiatives in Nepal in Kathmandu. Mr. Gangalal Tuladhar, Member of The Constituent Assembly of Nepal (the equivalent of an MP in the UK) and Former Minister for Education, chaired this dissemination event ‘Evaluation of health promotion initiatives in Nepal’. The review, coordinated by Ms. Aditi Sharma, researcher at Green Tara Nepal, identified key government, bilateral, UN agencies and voluntary organisations working in the health field. Health-related policies and intervention programmes were reviewed in this research to evaluate the position of health promotion in Nepal and gaps were identified.
The first key finding is that the definition of health promotion is generally missing in both the health sector and government documents. The review highlights further that key gaps in health promotion exist in the field of (a) mental health and (b) care for the elderly. Of the five key approaches to health promotion: (1) medical/preventive; (2) behaviour change; (3) educational; (4) empowerment; and (5) social change, the most common approaches in Nepal appears to be adhering to the ‘medical/preventative’ and ‘education’.
Geographically the focus of interventions appears to be the easier to reach districts. BU Prof. Edwin van Teijlingen observed “This concentration of activities, often in and around larger cities, is common across the globe in terms of both health service provision and health promotion interventions.” Prof. Padam Simkhada (Liverpool John Moores University and Visting Faculty at BU) highlighted the lack of coordination across those working in the wider health promotion field. Many organisations are doing interesting and useful health promotion work, but each seems to be doing so in relative isolation.
The workshop was attended by a range of international and national non-governmental organisations, national politicians, and many other stakeholders including the media. The event was covered in the national media (see picture). The Green Tara Nepal Chair Krishna Lamsal added: “This dissemination workshop follows on from the First National Health Promotion Conference in Nepal which we organised in early 2013. The conference, jointly organised by Bournemouth University, brought together nearly 300 people for the first time to discuss key issues in health promotion.”
This dissemination event of joint research is the first step to creating an impact on policies and service provision in Nepal at a national level.
Prof Edwin van Teijlingen
Centre for Midwifery, Maternal and Perinatal Health
Faculty of Health & Social Sciences
Health Link Nepal
Today I attended an interesting Health Link event in Kathmandu with Dr. Poonam Thapa speaking on ‘Subjects to Citizens: From Safe Motherhood to Safe Womanhood’ and Prof. Kiran Bajracharya presenting on ‘Midwife related skills, SMP actions, Current initiatives and challenges’.
Prof. Bajracharya put forward a strong case in favour of a midwifery profession in Nepal based on the three ICM pillars. Prof. Bajracharya is chair of MIDSON, the Midwifery Organisation of Nepal and co-author of our paper ‘Nepal needs midwifery’.(1)
The Health Link initiative has been launched to mark the close links between the United Kingdom and Nepal in the development of Nepal’s health sector and the forthcoming 200 years of UK-Nepal diplomatic relations. Health Link has a website with information on UK-Nepal health sector coordination and cooperation. It gives information on UK organisations working on health in Nepal and publications on health in Nepal that have a UK connection. Several of Bournemouth University contributions are highlighted on the Health Link website. The initiative is also hosting a series of discussion programmes and seminars on current health topics and research carried out by British and Nepalese health workers and researchers.
Prof. Edwin van Teijlingen
CMMPH, Faculty of Health & Social Sciences
Reference:
- Bogren, M.U., Bajracharya, K., Berg, M., Erlandsson, K., Ireland, J., Simkhada, P., van Teijlingen, E. (2013) Nepal needs midwifery, Journal of Manmohan Memorial Institute of Health Sciences (JMMIHS) 1(2): 41-44. www.nepjol.info/index.php/JMMIHS/article/view/9907/8082
Presenting BU research in Kathmandu
invites you to its
Lecture Series LXXXIII
Edwin van Teijlingen
on
PARI: Strengthening Health Research in Nepal
5:30 pm • 6 April, 2015 (Thursday) • Yala Maya Kendra, Patan Dhoka
Nepal has limited capacity in health research. As a result, it leads to a restriction in the ability to implement evidence-based health care. PARI (Partnership on Improving Access to Research Literature for Higher Education Institutions in Nepal), a partnership between Tribhuvan University, three UK universities (Bournemouth, Sheffield and Aberdeen), and the Development Resource Centre, Kathmandu, is a project aimed at supporting and enhancing health research in Nepal. The main objective of PARI is to move university lecturers away from textbook teaching and make them more critical of the academic literature available on the Internet. This lecture will dwell on the experience of PARI so far as it conducts workshops in Nepalis universities introducing the foundations of evidence-based practice and outline key electronic databases of health care and health service literature available to Nepali academics. These workshops were informed by: i) a curriculum review of all health-related courses at the major universities in Nepal; and ii) a needs assessment with lecturers, librarians and students of the major universities. Learning from this experience, the lecture will suggest how best we can move away from textbook teaching in health care and teach health-care discipline students how to find the most appropriate evidence-based treatment for each patient.
Edwin van Teijlingen is Professor of Reproductive Health Research at Bournemouth University, UK. He is trained as a sociologist and his interests lie in mixed methods research, qualitative and evaluation research. A large share of his academic work has been in the field of public health and the organisation of maternity care with publications of more than 200 papers, book chapters and books. He is Visiting Professor at two universities in Nepal: Nobel College affiliated with Pokhara University and Manmohan Memorial Institute of Health Sciences affiliated with Tribhuvan University. He is book review editor of Sociological Research Online.
Professor van Teijlingen has co-edited several books, including Midwifery and Medicalization of Childbirth: Comparative Perspectives (2004); Birth by Design: Pregnancy, Midwifery Care and Midwifery in North America and Europe (2001), which was short-listed for the 2004 BSA Medical Sociology Book Prize. Most recently he is co-editor of The Dynamics of Health in Nepal, published recently by Social Science Baha.
This is a public lecture and admission is free and open to all. Seating is first-come-first-served.
Please direct queries to Kathmandu: 4472807.
Centre for Entrepreneurship student event with Business Mania
The Centre for Entrepreneurship continued its program of activities for BU students just before Christmas with a joint event with Business Mania, the BU student enterprise society. We were delighted that CfE tenant and student entrepreneur Robin Humphries, from award winning Static Games, was able to give a presentation to a group of 70 students about his experience of setting up a business. Robin gave the group an insight into the challenges he has faced and provided hints and tips for budding entrepreneurs.
Static Games has been a tenant in the Centre for Entrepreneurship since early 2014 and the CfE have been delighted to support the growing company, even assisting them to successfully pitch for £10,000 equity-free Creative England funding. This business event is one of many forthcoming student activities the Centre for Entrepreneurship will be involved in. If you have any student entrepreneurs on your courses who would like to find out more please do contact us: nharvey@bournemouth.ac.uk
For the full write up and video please visit the BUCFE website
Book launch in Kathmandu
This week sees the publication of a new book co-edited by BU Professor Edwin van Teijlingen. The book The Dynamics of Health in Nepal is published for Social Science Baha by Himal Books in Nepal. The lead editor Dr. Sharada Prasad Wasti was awarded his MSc from the University of Aberdeen and his PhD from the University of Sheffield. The second editor, Padam Simkhada is Professor of International health at Liverpool John Moores University as well as Visiting Faculty in BU’s Faculty of Health & Social Sciences.
This edited volume has 13 chapters written on various health-related topics that are topical in Nepal. Many of the authors are from Nepal who completed their postgraduate studies at a UK university. The chapters cover amongst other topics such as Maternity Care, Health of the Elderly, Road Traffic Accidents, HIV/AIDS and Non-Communicable Diseases. The book will be formally launched in a hotel in Kathmandu on the morning of Sunday 11th January.
The book also includes a chapter by BU PhD student Sheetal Sharma. She co-authored the chapter ‘Customs and believes surrounding newborn babies in rural areas’. One of her collaborator was a PhD student registered at the University of Aberdeen and another at London Metropolitan University, whilst third collaborator is the founder of Green Tara Trust, a UK-based Buddhist charity.
Copies of the book are for sale from Himal Books in Kathmandu and all profits from the book will be donated to Green Tara Nepal.
Prof. Edwin van Teijlingen
Centre for Midwifery, Maternal & Perinatal Health
Faculty of Health & Social Sciences, Bournemouth University













National Postdoc Appreciation Week 2026: The Changing Landscape of Postdoc Careers
NIHR Insight South West Central Conference 2026 at Bournemouth University
BU PhD student presented at World Safety Conference in South Africa
National Research Supervision Recognition: Apply Now & Join the Supporting Workshop on 16 September
Horizon Europe Cluster 3 (Civil Security for Society) 2026 Calls Now Open
MSCA Doctoral Networks 2026 Call Information Webinar
ESRC Festival of Social Science 2026: Application Deadline Extended to Thursday 25 June 2026
Reminder: Register for the ESRC Festival of Social Science 2026 Information Session
ECR Funding Open Call: Research Culture & Community Grant – Apply now
ERC Advanced Grant 2025 Webinar
Update on UKRO services
European research project exploring use of ‘virtual twins’ to better manage metabolic associated fatty liver disease