Category / REF Subjects

Protectors or Oppressors?: Welfare through the prism of Sherborne’s history

On a recent fieldtrip to Sherborne, our Sociology and Social Policy students, taking the ‘History of Social Welfare’ unit, explored the interconnections of past and present social movements and social policies. The mechanisms for the alleviation of poverty and disadvantage in Britain are reflected by Sherborne’s history, which represents a microcosm of historical trends.

Students and staff visited the almshouses (now St. Johns’ House), which is no past relic but instead has offered a remarkable six hundred years of unbroken community service, being set up in 1437 and continuing without interruption to the present time. St Johns’ Almhouse built on earlier charitable provision by the monks and we heard of its violent beginnings, of when townsfolk rioted and burned significant parts of the monastery church before gaining a voice in provision for the town’s poor folk. Students learned how the distinctions of ‘deserving’ and ‘undeserving’ were applied then in similar ways to today, as a means of separating and distinguishing people and maintaining a particular social order.

Bringing their learning of social welfare in this case study town to the present day, we gained insight from the Rev Dr Ray Catchpole of how difficult it was in our current times of austerity to convince the people of Sherborne that people were again experiencing poverty even to the point of near starvation. He described the food bank that he now runs that has grown over six months to deliver over 200 food parcels each month.

Students reflected that the fieldtrip gave vibrancy to the classroom learning and demonstrated some of the pervading interconnections in British social policy thinking – the distinction between deserving and undeserving poor, the power relations between capital and the disenfranchised and the continuing political and moral struggles concerning how, as a society, we deal equitably and fairly with people in poverty and how we challenge normative thinking and tackle the disadvantages caused by prevailing social structures. Using the words of Sir Walter Raleigh, former resident of Sherborne and campaigner on behalf of a mistreated pauper, those with responsibility and power ‘should be protecters and not oppressers off poor pepill.’

Prof Jonathan Parker & Dr Sara Ashencaen Crabtree

Corrosion Experimental Techniques to Simulate Operating Conditions

BU research

Bournemouth University’s Sustainable Design Research Centre has recently added stat-of-the-art Temperate-Humidity Environmental Chamber (THEC) to its resources, which has the ability to configure the resistance capabilities of various materials and coatings against environmental influences of temperature combined with humidity.

THEC provides facility to conduct corrosion simulation to investigate the durability of coatings and metal alloys subject to extreme operating conditions, in addition the susceptibility of components to corrosion that will eventually lead to malfunction. These simulated corrosion experiments monitor effectiveness of various materials under varying environmental conditions at an early stage to avoid catastrophic failures. These results inform prediction techniques to deploy to assess failure mechanisms and useful life of various structures, components and systems.

THEC has a temperature range of -40°C (aerospace applications) to +180°C (process industries applications) and from 0 (dry) to 100 (wet) Relative Humidity (%age). The test chamber can accommodate test samples of 350(W) x 300(D) x 310(H) mm. The chamber has vast applications when it comes to analyse the durability of coatings and strength of materials not only for daily life domestic products but also in aerospace and automotive industries. The chamber can also be used to analyse the safe working conditions for various electronic components and in Renewable Technology applications.

Environmental simulation is analysed through a PC interface using specialist analytical tool which enables to further optimise the utilisation of environmental testing systems, e.g. deployed in various research & development programmes, production and quality assurance. The operation of both the chamber and analytical tool provides opportunities of time and cost savings for the industry. Evaluation and documentation of various test cycles helps to evaluate the performance of vast variety of industrial products and other applications.

SDRC capabilities in experimental and modelling techniques to predict useful life of components, structures & systems subject to corrosion has the potential to inform design for durability and reliability.

If you would like further or specific information in this subject please contact

 

Dr Zulfiqar Khan (Associate Professor)

Director SDRC

Email: zkhan@bournemouth.ac.uk

 

 

 

Poole Bay Bait Cam

BU research, Research news

This edited footage was not obtained from an aquarium but from rocks near Bournemouth Pier in Poole Bay during the summer of 2013. GoPro cameras attached to a weighted framework were deployed to depths of between 3-8m. Fish and invertebrates are attracted to bait fixed to a pole extended in front of the camera – a technique known as Baited Remote Underwater Video (BRUV). The method is particularly suited to areas where conventional traps or mobile nets are excluded, such as in protected areas or where obstacles create hazards for SCUBA divers. The data collected will be compared with video obtained from Boscombe Artificial Surf Reef and other sites within the Bay.

How many species can you identify?

This research carried out by Bournemouth University is supported by the Esmée Fairbairn Foundation.

Watch in 1080p HD for best results.

Find more over on the Poole & Purbeck Portal.

Under-grad Midwifery Students and Examination of the Newborn – a pilot project.

BU Challenges, Fusion, Training

Five pre-registration midwifery students were successful in their application to take part in a pilot project which will equip them with the knowledge, skills and competency to undertake  examination of the newborn prior to qualification as a midwife. Midwives have always undertaken an initial examination of a baby soon after birth and the 24 hour ‘medical’ examination was traditionally undertaken by junior doctors or GP trainees. Following a change in doctor’s hours and a call for more holistic midwifery care, midwives began to take on the role of examining newborns following a period of rigorous training and education delivered through universities throughout the UK. Bournemouth University, for many years now, has been actively involved in educating midwives into this role, both locally and as far a field as Brighton and Gloucester. Currently the under-graduate midwifery curriculum does not offer this learning to its midwifery students although there is a strong push nationally for students to qualify with the skills. Two universities have already embedded the skills into their three year curriculum and BU will begin to educate and train students with the necessary skills/competencies in 2014 with a brand new midwifery curriculum. In the meanwhile we are fast tracking five motivated students. The students (Bex, Jenna, Katie, Luzie and Jeanette (not in photograph)  have to access all the post grad teaching and learning days (x5) which started last week. As well as undertaking an assessed presentation (6th day) with their qualified colleagues, they will have to undertake 30 newborn examinations under the watchful eye of their midwifery mentor who already has the qualification.  The unit leader (myself) will undertake their final assessment in practice in conjunction with their mentor. If successful the students will be awarded with 20 CPD credits for use after qualification.

Undertaking the pilot will be demanding for the students as they will still have to obtain their EU midwifery numbers, but it will not be at the expense of the pilot. Their under-grad training takes precedence.Furthermore a number of conditions were attached to the offers of a place:  the pilot cannot be used as mitigation for any referred  unit  in their 3rd year and the credits cannot be used to top up their degree should they not achieve the requisite 120 credits for completion.  All the students expressed strong commitment to obtaining the necessary skills and they have until September 2014 to complete. The pilot will pave the way for the new curriculum and will help with exposing any shortfalls in practice. I am immensely proud of the students for taking on this extra work. They have so many competing demands on their time and this will be just another. However it will provide the students with the skills to examine newborn babies when they are newly qualified midwives, which in turn will benefit women and their babies.  If anybody is interested in knowing more about the pilot please contact me on:  lcbutler@bournemouth.ac.uk

Bigger on the Inside

BU research, Festival of Learning, Publishing, Uncategorized

 

 

 

 

 

The Doctor, his TARDIS-driven adventures, along with companions and iconic monsters, are all over the TV and newspapers. The Inner World of Doctor Who is a new book, just out. Written by Prof Mike Rustin (UEL, Tavsitock Clinic) and Prof. Iain MacRury in the Media School here at BU. This publication offers an accessible account of Doctor Who. It focusses just on the most recent television output – 2005 to 2013 – and examines why the show continues to fascinate us.
The Doctor’s relationships with his companions are to the fore. Various chapters also consider the dramatic meanings of monsters and time travel – linking the show back to ideas about audience experience – and what we might ‘learn’ from Doctor Who. It looks at the complexity of the new Doctor Who in its depictions of the suffering of the Doctor, as well that of his at times vulnerable and dependent companions. A connection is made between TV content and some (but not all) elements in the experience of psychotherapy.
We propose that one way of thinking about the Doctor is to see him as a kind of inadvertent ‘therapist’ – with the TV dramas on screen rendering troubled states of mind and society within a rich cultural frame. Doctor Who extends a fairy-tale and children’s fictional tradition across its contemporary media platforms. As we argue: In Doctor Who everyday life is often revealed to be “Bigger on the inside.”

The 50th anniversary won’t come again and it provided a chastening deadline we’re glad to have met it! The book was inspired by the startling success of the show in recent years. Why does it attract such attention and affection? While thinking about it I  got further daily encouragement from the TARDIS that sits on the ground floor of Weymouth House, courtesy of our former Media School colleague, Dr Andrew Ireland.

The Inner World of Doctor Who is published with Karnac books. It should be of interest to diehard fans. But it is written, too, for people who probably wouldn’t claim the title ‘fan’ but for whom all the fuss about Time Lords and Tardises just now (The Doctor is even on postage stamps!) is provoking the thought: “What’s this all about!?” The Inner World of Doctor Who offers some answers.
 – Written with a colleague, Prof. Mike Rustin, from UEL and the Tavistock and Portman NHS Trust the book emerges from an enriching collaboration that began in some teaching sessions at the Tavistock clinic on their MA in Psychoanalytic Studies. It has now developed into this book. The book came together quite quickly and has been usefully supported by an AHRC funded network called “Media and the Inner World”. The book is published as part of their new series with Karnac called Psychoanalysis and Popular Culture.
If you are interested the book can be found at http://www.karnacbooks.com/Product.asp?PID=34857 or as an e-book: http://www.amazon.co.uk/Inner-World-Doctor-Psychoanalytic-Psychoanalysis/dp/1782200835

Breastfeeding poster presentation at Royal College of Midwives conference

BU research, Featured academics, Publishing, Research news, Uncategorized

Dr. Catherine Angell, Senior Lecturer in Midwifery attended the annual RCM conference on November 13-14 in Telford.  Catherine presented an academic poster to highlight some of BU’s key research in the Centre for Midwifery, Maternal & Perinatal Health.  The poster (Fig. 1) reported findings of a survey of users of the Healthtalkonline webpages on breastfeeding.  These webpages are based on breastfeeding research conducted at BU can be found here.  BU research has fed into research-based training modules for midwives, lactation consultants and other professionals.  Currently the breastfeeding webpages receive around 37,000 hits each month, representing around 1,500 individuals.

The problem with clicks on webpages is that it suggests interest but it does not constitute evidence of changing knowledge or behaviour.  Dr. Angell teamed up with BU colleagues Prof. Vanora Hundley, Prof. Edwin van Teijlingen, and Senior Lecturer Alison Taylor as well as Prof. Kath Ryan from La Trobe University Australia to study the effect of the webpages.

To ascertain the impact of the webpages the team developed and conducted an online questionnaire survey of users of the breastfeeding webpages between Nov.2012- Feb. 2013.  A questionnaire study was administered after ethical approval had been granted. The survey was completed by 159 people, mainly from the UK, but also from other parts of the world such as Australia and New Zealand (12.6%) and the USA/Canada (2.5%).

BU was also represented at the RCM conference through BU Visiting Faculty Jillian Ireland.  Jillian is a community midwife working for NHS Poole, who presented a poster on the benefits to mothers and staff of the RCM Bournemouth & Poole Community choir.

 

Prof. Edwin van Teijlingen

Centre for Midwifery, Maternal & Perinatal Health

 

 

‘all professions are conspiracies against the laity’ George Bernard Shaw, The Doctor’s Dilemma, 1906

Uncategorized

British social services, without doubt, represent one of the best systems of social work throughout the world for protecting children, supporting families where circumstances and experience make them vulnerable and ensuring people with mental health problems are appropriately sustained. That notwithstanding, social work services in Britain, and in England in particular, have journeyed towards a more individualistic model of care and treatment promoted primarily in the US, and the roots of community action and practice that are truly ‘social’ have become less visible. This places our social work services, excellent as they are in key areas, on the margins of international understandings of social work.

Perhaps the changes articulated above are understandable given our affaire de Coeur with neoliberal philosophies and our celebration of the cult of the individual derived from Margaret Thatcher’s governments, perpetuated by Tony Blair and continued aggressively by the Coalition government of the day.

These changes have significant impact on people and their communities, reassigning blame from social structure to the individuals themselves. Also, there remains a potentially negative impact on social work globally. Many countries have followed the US and British social work models to develop services, sometimes as a direct result of colonialism, sometimes because of implicit global power relations. There is a legitimate concern that adoption of an individualistic approach reflects a neo-imperialist agenda, with problems resulting for those communities and groups made invisible within this process.

Our new book Professional Social Work (edited by Jonathan Parker BU & Mark Doel Sheffield Hallam) seeks to address some of these challenges. We suggest there is such a thing as ‘professional’ social work, that it must be distinct from ‘unprofessional’ social work. Our thesis is that it is imperative that we reclaim social work and its former radicalism and iconoclastically confront governmental established priorities, emphasising humanity’s social condition rather than its atomisation. In the book, we grapple with the fraught and complex definitions, practices and understandings of ‘professionalism’, exploring how the concept can be used to justify differing perspectives.

Including the work of some of the foremost thinkers in contemporary British social work (Stephen Cowden & Gurnam Singh, Pat Higham, Graham Ixer, Ray Jones, Malcolm Payne, Gillian Ruch, Steven Shardlow, Roger Smith, Neil Thompson, Sue Whist, and Marion Bogo from Canada) we promote professional social work practices that are relational, critical and reflexive, that challenge and help people and their communities to reconstruct themselves in their chosen ways.

Can We Sell Security Like Soap? A New Approach to Behaviour Change

BU research

Our next Interdisciplinary Cyber Security Seminar will take place on Tuesday, 19th November at 5pm. Our seminars are approachable, and require nothing more than a general interest in security, and an enquiring mind.

Our speaker will be Debi Ashenden, who is a Reader in Cyber Security and Head of the Centre for Cyber Security and Information Assurance at Cranfield University, based at the Defence Academy of the UK, Shrivenham. Prior to taking up her post at Cranfield University she was Managing Consultant within QinetiQ’s Trusted Information Management Dept (formerly DERA). She has been working in cyber security since 1998 and specialises in the social and behavioural aspects of cyber security. Her research is built on a socio-technical vision of cyber security that sees people as solutions rather than as the problem. Debi is the co-author of, ‘Risk Management for Computer Security: Protecting Your Network and Information Assets’, Butterworth Heinneman (2004).

Talk Abstract: Many organisations run security awareness programmes with the aim of improving end user behaviours around information security. Yet behavioural research tells us that raising awareness will not necessarily lead to behaviour change. This talk examines the challenge of changing end user behaviour and puts forward social marketing as a new paradigm. Social marketing is a proven framework for achieving behavioural change and has traditionally been used in health care interventions, although there is an increasing recognition that it could be successfully applied to a broader range of behaviour change issues. It has yet to be applied however, to information security in an organisational context. This talk will explore the social marketing framework in relation to information security behavioural change and highlight the key challenges that this approach poses for information security managers. We conclude with suggestions for future research.

The seminar will take place in EB202 in the Executive Business Centre, and will be free and open to all. If you would like to attend, we encourage you to register at http://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/interdisciplinary-seminar-in-cyber-security-tickets-9336229915

Sustainable Design Research Centre – Research Seminar

BU research, PG research

Wednesday   20-11-2013

Room:   P302 LT (Poole House, Talbot Campus)

Start: 12:00 Finish: 13:00

APPLICATIONS OF CORROSION MODELLING IN THE PETROLEUM, DEFENCE AND AEROSPACE INDUSTRIES

There have been major developments in computer modelling of galvanic corrosion processes over the last twenty years which have resulted in modelling being widely used to simulate the performance of cathodic protection systems which are used to protect structures from corrosion both offshore and onshore. These physics based models represent the electrode kinetics on the metallic surfaces as well as the current flow through the electrolyte. In recent years similar technology has been developed to simulate galvanic corrosion between dissimilar metals in structures which are exposed to thin electrolyte films. For example aircraft and automobiles subject to humid atmospheres and splashing of de-icing fluids.

The work will present applications of the modelling technology in the Oil & Gas industry and describe recent developments in modelling aircraft structures.

The above work will be presented by Professor Carlos A. Brebbia and Dr Robert A Adey, external speakers from the Wessex Institute of Technology.

Professor Carlos Brebbia is Director of the Wessex Institute. After obtaining his PhD at Southampton, he worked at a major UK Research Laboratory before taking an academic appointment at Southampton University where he rose from Lecturer to Senior Lecturer and Reader.  During his time at Southampton he took leave to become Visiting Professor at many other universities, including Princeton. After having been appointed full Professor of Engineering at the University of California, Irvine, he decided to return to the UK to set up the Wessex Institute in the New Forest.

Professor Brebbia is renowned throughout the world as the originator of the Boundary Element Method, a technique that continues to generate important research work at the Wessex Institute.  He has written numerous scientific papers and is author or co-author of 14 technical books and editor or co-editor of more than 400 volumes. He is also Editor of several journals.

Carlos’ interests span from the analysis of advanced structures such as shells to the modelling of environmental problems, dealing with a wide variety of methodologies.  His most recent efforts have been concentrated on the development of Wessex Institute as an international centre of excellence.

Dr Robert A Adey (Bob) is Director Strategic Development at C M BEASY Ltd.  He has a PhD and MSc from Southampton University. UK.  He has over twenty years’ experience in the development and application of computer modelling software for corrosion and CP applications in the Oil & Gas, Defence and Aerospace industry. He is currently manages BEASY Collaborative R&D projects and major engineering services projects.

INTRODUCTION TO THE WESSEX INSTITUTE

Brief description of the objectives of Wessex Institute as a knowledge transfer organisation. This includes work in the field of computational modelling with a wide variety of applications, training and scientific meetings organisation, and the publication of scientific and technical literature.

 Wessex Institute collaborates with many institutions around the world and acts as a focus for the dissemination of the latest advances in a variety of fields.

If you have any questions or would like to know more about this seminar or any general inquires about research, enterprise or professional practice activities within Sustainable Design Research Centre please contact:

Dr Zulfiqar Khan (Associate Professor)

Director SDRC

e-mail: zkhan@bournemouth.ac.uk

Social Work in Palestine

Women's Academic Network

Conference logo

Social Work in Palestine, 2nd conference Palestine-UK Social Work Network
The 2nd National Conference of the Palestine-UK Social Work Network, supported by members of the British Association of Social Work, was held on the 12th November at the Amnesty International Centre off dingy Shoreditch High Street, and was an absolute bargain. For a registration fee of only £15.00 it offered a programme of rare value and threw in a two-course vegetarian lunch as well. It was also one of the most compelling and powerful conferences that I’ve ever had the privilege of attending. One heard with almost disbelief and certainly intense disquiet several level-headed presentations reporting the daily and systematic oppression of the Palestinian people, and the fragmentation of any semblance to normality through the enforced occupation of the territories that has continued for over sixty years.

To try to convey what this means, Prof. Manuel Hassassian, Palestinian Ambassador claims that every single Palestinian living under occupation suffers from post-traumatic stress disorder. We also learned what ‘peace’ has meant for these people over the last twenty years since the Oslo Agreement 1993: 7,000 Palestinians killed, twelve thousand+ Palestinian homes destroyed, a further 250,000+ Israeli settlers in Palestinian territories, and finally, 441 miles of apartheid walls built to corral people into armed, patrolled ghettoes.

Jerusalem, historical home of so many Palestinians, is subject to what Issa Rabadi, Officer of the Palestinian Union of Social Workers & Psychologists, described as an ‘undeclared war of ethnic cleansing’, where apparently the goal of the occupational authorities is that the Palestinian population should not exceed 15-20% by the Year 2020. To this end, one third of Palestinian homes in Jerusalem are at risk of being demolished on the official grounds that these are illegal lodgings, with a predicted peak of destruction of homes due in 2014. Yet, apparently gaining legal rights to live in Jerusalem for resident Palestinians is so complex and protracted a process (lasting decades in many cases) that ‘Kafkaesque’ hardly begins to describe it.

The most distressing stories, unsurprisingly, referred to the detainment and torture of Palestinians; particularly those accounts concerning Palestinian children. Many of these child prisoners are as young as 12- or 13-years-old, and are arrested normally on the charge of throwing stones at the occupying forces. This was exemplified by the experiences of speaker, Mohammed Abu al Reesh, who was arrested on two separate occasions in his recent boyhood and subjected on both occasions to brutal physical maltreatment and psychological intimidation throughout this time. Mohammed’s story was by no means exceptional, rather than the reverse. In addition to physical abuse children may also be placed in solitary confinement for up to a month where the only contact is their interrogator. Arrested and imprisoned children are not normally permitted to see their families and even accessing legal support is achieved only with great difficulty. In the case of Mohammed, within a fortnight of being released from his last sentence, he enrolled at university, eventually gaining a BA in media studies with the ambition, now achieved, of becoming a journalist in order to better inform the world of human rights violations taking place in the territories.

So where does social work feature in this catalogue of utter wretchedness? The Global Agenda for Social Work, which seeks to unite social work educators and practitioners universally in the promotion of this year’s theme ‘Promoting social and economic inequalities’, directly resonates with the UN Millennium Development Goals.

Palestinian social workers live and work under the same high levels of daily oppression and insecurities as the communities they courageously serve. They are unsupported by State legal systems or by Israeli fellow social workers, who to-date appear ominously aloof to the situation in the occupied Palestinian territories. As lecturer, Barry Levine of Glasgow Caledonian University, also pointed out, any international criticism of state tactics is very likely to result in accusations of anti-Semitism, which effectively serves to stifle debate and to muddy attempts towards a clearer understanding of what constitutes discrimination and oppression in the territories.

Despite this, the Palestine-UK social work network is actively seeking collegial links with anyone interested in the Palestinian plight to further the goals of the Global Agenda and to constructively work towards peace. To this end, plans are being made to hold the next conference in Jerusalem, where hopefully UK social worker academics and practitioners will be able to witness the situation for ourselves; and equally importantly, show solidarity with social work colleagues internationally.

Research wins for CMC

Awarded & submitted bids, BU research, Research news

The Corporate & Marketing Communications academic group the Media School is celebrating two successful research bids within 24 hours. The first is that Prof Tom Watson was successful in gaining a British Council Researcher Links Workshop award for a project to be conducted with Chulalongkorn University in Thailand.

The bid was chosen in competition with 400 submissions. The national coordinator in Thailand is Assoc Prof Jirayudh Sinthuphan of the Faculty of Communication Arts and the workshop will be held in Bangkok in February next year.

Both national coordinators will have early career researchers as deputy coordinators: Dr Ana Adi at BU and Dr Phansasiri Kularb at Chulalongkorn. Others involved in the project include Dr Dan Jackson, Prof Iain MacRury, Dr Georgiana Grigore and Dr Tasos Theofilou. The team may be expanded to include other colleagues and PGRs.

The second “good research news” is that Dr Grigore, Dr Theofilou and Prof Watson gained another grant for CSR research from the Arthur W. Page Center at Penn State University in the US. They won a similar grant in mid-year.

For 2013/14 funding, reports Marcia DiStaso, senior research fellow at the Page Center, a record number of proposals was received, but only 13 out of 43 were awarded grants. This is a very competitive process and it is unusual to win two-in-a-row. Dr Grigore wrote the bid document with contributions from her co-researchers.

IVF failure is hard to accept!

BU research, Uncategorized

 

On today’s BBC webpage is a very interesting article under the title ‘I wish IVF had never been invented’ (www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-24725655).  The article lists comments, experiences and/or feelings from readers of Magazine about the frequency with which In Vitro Fertilisation (IVF) fails.

The article reminded me that some years ago colleagues at the University of Aberdeen and I published a series of articles on the often difficult decision for couples to end IVF treatment after having tried for a long time (1-3).  We noted that couples embarking on their IVF  programme are full of optimism with unrealistically high expectations. Then we noted that IVF yield only a 20-25 percent pregnancy rate per cycle, today the success rate is still less than one in three for women under 35 according to the Human Fertilisation and Embryology Authority (HFEA), in short many couples leave the IVF clinic childless. We also noted that IVF treatment can also be a source of tension for couples.

We concluded at the time that the decision to end IVF treatment is a complex interaction between (a) the experience of diagnosis of infertility; investigations and IVF treatment; and (b) the emotions around involuntary childlessness. Our results indicated the need for improved psychological preparation of couples who decide to end IVF treatment.

 

We commented that IVF clinics should adapt their systems to facilitate the needs of this client group and consider a policy, which would help couples ‘plan for the end’ in the beginning. Finally, our study suggested that health care staff involved in IVF care need to examine their roles in providing an environment, which (1) encourages realistic expectations to ensure realistic decisions; (2) offers accurate and consistent information; and (3) deliver an efficient support system, which encompasses listening skills and recognises grief for which at present, there appears to be little validation. Only then, can reflective practice improve service provision for those who decide to end IVF treatment. Reading the various comments on the BBC webpages today suggests to me that many of our original recommendations still have currency!

 

Prof. Edwin van Teijlingen

Centre for Midwifery, Maternal & Perinatal Health

 

References

  1. Peddie, V., van Teijlingen, E., Bhattacharya, S (2004) Decision making in in-vitro fertilisation: How women view the end of treatment Human Fertility, 7: 31-37.
  2. Peddie, V.L., van Teijlingen E., Bhattacharya, S. (2005) A qualitative study of women’s decision-making at the end of IVF treatment, Human Reproduction, 20 (7): 1944-1951.
  3. Peddie, V.L., Porter, M., van Teijlingen E., Bhattacharya, S. (2006) Research as a therapeutic experience? An investigation of women’s participation in research on ending IVF treatment, Human Fertility, 9(4): 231-238.

Sport Students Learn About Employability Of Their European Peers – And More

EU

Once again, beginning of October the Sports group hosted senior academics from some of its European partner universities in order to provide students with international insights into topics of their study and future career. In addition, the visitors worked with BU staff on progressing international research agendas and teaching models, such as intercultural mixed-group student management games partly facilitated via online conferencing.

Dr Stefan Walzel (German Sport University Cologne) and Gerco van Dalfsen (Hanzehogeschool Groningen and Secretary General European Association for Sport Management) presented and discussed with students of all UG/PG levels and all Sport pathways topics of neuromarketing, sport city strategies, leadership and provided insights into the employability and career prospects of their own respective graduates. Both visitors stressed the need for their universities to include an array of international activities and learning experiences into their students’ curriculum in order to lift their competitiveness on an increasingly international job market.

Together with BU sport management colleague Dr Tim Breitbarth, they also progressed a collaborative international study on community perceptions of professional sport clubs’ social responsibility initiatives by collecting further data in Bournemouth. A fourth set of data was collected in the USA end of October.

Gerco and Stefan were also very interested to meet with BU sport students who will study in Cologne and Groningen in semester 2, and receive feedback from the Sport group’s ever-first incoming Erasmus exchange student in order to manage expectations and processes for future exchanges, such as the four students arriving in Bournemouth for semester 2.

 

Dr Stefan Walzel presenting on sport, neuroscience and marketing

Sport students of all levels and Sport pathways during Dr Walzel’s presentation in the Fusion Seminar Series

Gerco van Dalfsen with Level I students of all Sport pathways

Gerco van Dalfsen with sport management Masters student Andreas Stylianides and Philip Smith (from left to right)

European visitors and incoming/outgoing Sport students get-together.

CMMPH PhD students steal the show at the GLOW maternal health conference

PG research, Research news

The second Global Women’s Health Conference, held in Birmingham on November 1st, highlighted the work that still needs to be done to reduce maternal mortality. Prof Wendy Graham from the University of Aberdeen opened the conference outlining the progress to date but reminding us that there was much still to do. Her hard hitting presentation showed the unacceptable conditions of birthing rooms in many countries. She urged the audience to remember that “we do not want universal health care of poor quality.”

Rachel Arnold

This was followed by a short film produced by BU Visiting Professor Gwyneth Lewis, which tells the story of Mrs X and why she died in childbirth.

A number of presenters highlighted hospital conditions and disrespectful staff as a disincentive for women in seeking facility birth. However, Rachel Arnold, PhD student in CMMPH,  reminded the audience that the carers were women too. She noted that it is all too easy to blame health care professionals, forgetting the challenging conditions that they have to work in. In her excellent and moving presentation Rachel presented quotes from midwives and doctors in Afghanistan that brought a number of audience members to tears.

BU Prof Vanora Hundley presented work from Pakistan evaluating a decision tool to support policy makers and programme managers who are considering the potential role of clean birth kits in their strategy for care at birth.

Sheeta;

Sheetal Sharma

While PhD student Sheetal Sharma’s poster presentation Getting women to care in Nepal: A Difference in Difference analysis of a health promotion intervention stole the day winning best poster prize.   Sheetal has a unique international supervisory team led by BU and her PhD is supported by Bournemouth University with a studentship and a Santander grant.

The event was also an opportunity to publicise next year’s international conference on Midwifery and the post-MDG agenda, which will be held at Bournemouth University.

Prof. Ben Azvine, Global Head of Security Research and Innovation at BT. Monday the 11th of November, PG16

BU Challenges, BU research, Featured, Featured academics, Funding opportunities, PG research, Uncategorized

The next of our research seminars will take on Monday, the 11th of November, PG16 at 15:00.
Our distinguished guest is Professor Ben Azvine, the Global Head of Security Research and Innovation at BT; invited by our colleague Prof. Bogdan Gabrys.

Professor Azvine holds a BSc in Mechanical Engineering, an MSc in Control Engineering, a PhD in Intelligent Control Systems all from Manchester University and an MBA from Imperial College, London. Having held research fellowship and lectureship posts in several universities, he joined British Telecom Research in 1995 and set up a research programme to develop and exploit intelligent systems technologies within BT.
Since then he has held senior, principal and chief research scientist as well as head of research centre posts at Adastral Park, the head quarter of BT R&D. Ben has edited several books and published more than 100 scientific articles. He is an inventor on 50 patents, has won two BCS gold medals, and the IET award for innovation in IT, holds visiting professorships at Universities of Bristol, Cranfield and Bournemouth in the UK.

The title of his exciting talk will be “Industrial applications of novel Intelligent Systems”. Intelligent systems play an important role in industry for managing customer relationship, providing business intelligence, helping organisations analyse their data and protecting organisations against Cyber-attacks. In this talk I’ll present a number of case studies within BT where we have used intelligent system originating from within our research organisation and successfully downstreamed them into our operations.

I strongly encourage academics and PhD students not to miss the opportunity to attend to the seminar and to discuss potential collaborations.

Emili

BU well represented at Global Women’s (GLOW) Research Conference

BU research, PG research, Research news

 

At tomorrow’s Global Women’s (GLOW) Research Conference at the University of Birmingham BU’s Centre for Midwifery, Maternal & Perinatal Health is very well presented.  Prof. Vanora Hundley presents her poster Clean Birth Kits to promote safe childbirth, which reports the views of policy makers and district health officers in Pakistan regarding the potential for CBKs to facilitate clean birth practices.

 

PhD student Sheetal Sharma also presents a poster on her thesis under the title: Getting women to care in Nepal: A Difference in Difference analysis of a health promotion intervention.  Sheetal’s work is supervised by BU Professors Edwin van Teijlingen and Vanora Hundley, BU Senior Lecturer in Midwifery Catherine Angell, BU Visiting Fellow Dr. Padam Simkhada (ScHARR, University of Sheffield) and Dr. Elisa Sicuri from CRESIB (Barcelona Centre for International Health Research) in Spain and Prof. José M. Belizán from IECS (Institute for Clinical Effectiveness and Health Policy) in Argentina.  Sheetal’s PhD evaluates a community-based health promotion intervention in Nepal which aims to improve the uptake of maternity care.  The intervention is sponsored by the London-based Buddhist charity Green Tara Trust (see: http://www.greentaratrust.com/ ).

 

Whilst PhD student Rachel Arnold will give an oral presentation of her PhD research under the title:  Afghan women: a qualitative study of the culture of care in an Afghan maternity hospital.   This PhD, supervised by BU Professors Immy Holloway and Edwin van Teijlingen and BU Visiting Professor Kath Ryan (La Trobe University, Australia), analyses the culture of care within a maternity hospital in the Afghan capital Kabul and examines the perspectives of midwives, doctors and cleaners on their role and care within that hospital. In a country striving to reduce the high rate of maternal mortality the provision of quality intrapartum care for women in Kabul’s maternity hospitals is vital.

 

BU Professors Vanora Hundley and Edwin van Teijlingen will also take the opportunity at the GLOW conference to promote the forthcoming BU conference on what will happen after the Millennium Development Goals in 2015 ‘Midwifery and the post MDG agenda’ (http://postmdgagenda-eorg.eventbrite.co.uk/ ).

 

Vanora Hundley is Professor of Midwifery

Edwin van Teijlingen is Professor of Reproductive Health Research