BU Research Blog

7 December 2020

New study of management & recruitment in UK TV industry

This week sees the launch of The State of Play survey, an important new study into management and recruitment practices across the UK’s television industry. The initiative is a collaboration between colleagues in the Faculty of Media & Communication, the television union Bectu, and the freelance Producer-Directors’ association, Viva La PD.

It’s an exciting development’ says Christa van Raalte, Deputy Dean for Education & Professional Practice in the Faculty. ‘BU has long been known for the graduates who go on to work in the media, but we also have an important contribution to make to improving the way these industries actually operate’.

Prior to the pandemic, the UK’s film and television sector had been generating an annual trade surplus of almost £1 billion. Yet Covid-19 has exposed systemic and routinely overlooked problems. Chronic under-investment in professional development and over-dependence on an army of freelance workers has made it especially vulnerable. These workers – reliant on precarious, short-term contractual employment – have faced months without work, with over half ineligible for any Government support. Many may be permanently lost to the industry, exacerbating both pre-existing skills shortages and the industry’s well-documented lack of diversity. However the crisis has also been instrumental in raising awareness of structural weaknesses, previously unacknowledged by many industry leaders. This presents an unprecedented opportunity for much needed reform.

The study draws on previous work that BU has done in this area, and feeds into a larger piece of work for which external funding is currently being sought.

For more information about The State of Play survey, contact:
Richard Wallis (rwallis@bournemouth.ac.uk)
Department of Media Production, FMC.

3 December 2020

BU Book up for National Award

NHS vheaslip

Professor Tim Darvill, Kerry Barrass, Yvette Staelens from the Department of Archaeology and Anthropology (BU) together with Dr Vanessa Heaslip from the Department of Nursing Science (BU) worked with Laura Drysdale of the Restoration Trust to edit a book exploring how historic landscapes could support mental health well-being.

Our book titled ‘Historic Landscapes and Mental Health Well-being’ has been nominated as a contender in the 2021 Current Archaeology Book of the Year competition. This is fantastic news and really shows the benefits of cross disciplinary research and working.

Voting is open now at www.archaeology.co.uk/vote so do please cast your votes for the book, and encourage anyone else you can think of to do the same. Please also feel free to share this excellent news in your social media sites as it would be really excellent to win this award. The results will be announced at the Archaeology in Britain conference in February.

Please keep your fingers crossed for us and thank you for your votes

30 November 2020

Cross-disciplinary approaches to prehistoric demography | Themed issue edited by BU staff

Publishing fsilva

We are pleased to announce the release of Cross-Disciplinary Approaches to Prehistoric Demography, a themed issue of The Royal Society Philosophical Transactions B series, compiled and edited by Philip Riris and Fabio Silva from the Department of Archaeology & Anthropology at BU, in collaboration with colleagues Jennifer C. French (University of Liverpool), Javier Fernandéz-López de Pablo (University of Alicante, Spain) and Sergi Lozano (University of Barcelona, Spain).

Demography impacts a wide range of aspects of human culture past and present: from our capacity to transmit genes and knowledge across generations, to the reach of our social networks and long-term impacts on the environment. Recent cross-disciplinary advances in the reconstruction and interpretation of prehistoric population histories (palaeodemography) have been transforming our understanding of past societies. This theme issue integrates the efforts of researchers working across archaeology, anthropology, genomics, palaeoecology, and evolutionary demography, combining original research alongside critical reviews, to provide a benchmark for the state-of-the-art in prehistoric demography and a statement of the future of this rapidly growing cross-disciplinary endeavour.

The themed issue, which includes an open-access manifesto for palaeodemography in the 21st century and several other open-access articles, can be found here.

A view across Caral, one of the earliest urban centres in the world and a key study site for research on prehistoric population history, such as reported in this theme issue. This site, 200km north of Lima in Peru, was inhabited roughly between the 29th and 19th centuries BC by the Norte Chico civilization. The mound seen in the centre is the “Edificio Piramidal la Cantera” (the Quarry Pyramidal Building) and the building in the left background is the “Edificio del Altar Circular” or Building of the Circular Altar. Image credit: Daniel Sandweiss.

26 November 2020

Café Scientifique Tuesday 1 Dec – Discovering the World’s First Farmers

Public engagement Adam Morris

You’re welcome to join us at Café Scientifique, a free online public event where you can explore the latest ideas in science and technology in a relaxed setting. Enjoy listening to a short talk before engaging in debate and discussion with our guest speaker and audience.

We’ll be joined by Dr Sarah Elliott on Tuesday 1 December from 7.00pm until 8.30pm.

Around twelve thousand years ago in the Middle East, the course of human civilisation changed forever – human hunter-gatherers became fully-fledged farmers, trading their small campsites for settled villages. But why? Why did it happen there and why then? Archaeological evidence is often limited or poorly preserved, so researcher Dr Sarah Elliott is looking closer, studying the microscopic traces people and animals left behind to try to solve one of the great mysteries of human history.

Find out more and sign up.

25 November 2020

“Reading the room”: A successful ESRC Festival of Social Science event

Public engagement Xun He

On 14 November 2020, Dr Xun He (Psychology), Dr Fred Charles (Creative Technology), and Prof Changhong Liu (Psychology) hosted an online event as part of ESRC Festival of Social Science 2020 (FoSS). Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC) is one of the main research funding bodies in the UK supporting social science research. This public event series is an annual celebration of the social sciences disseminating findings to the general public. In this event named “reading the room: how your brain judges the mood of a crowd”, Changhong, Xun, and Fred used interesting examples and demonstrations to showcase some interesting phenomena of face perception and research findings.

This collaboration between the three speakers is an interdisciplinary one, targeting a very interesting and important question of how human brains perceive the average emotion from a crowd, especially in realistic virtual environments. Changhong has decades of research experience on face processing; Xun is an expert on the electroencephalography (EEG) technique (also known as “brainwaves” to the general public) and neuroscience; Fred has expertise in affective interactive storytelling, virtual reality (VR) and Brain-Computer Interfaces (BCI). The three speakers, using their expertise in these various topics, took turns to cover different aspects of ensemble face perception, or in other words, how humans process the average perception of multiple faces. EEG and VR equipment were demonstrated and highlighted in the context of our research project (funded by British Academy).

This was the first public event I did online. To be honest, I was a bit anxious because there could be so many potential technical glitches during the event, not to mention that it would feel so different without being able to talk face-to-face to the audience in this unusual time. There were also technical considerations to take on board to run an engaging public event. The Public Engagement team of BU (particularly Adam Morris) helped us a lot in this process and made things much simpler – such a relief!

I planned to make use of some daylight in the morning of that Saturday. But alas – it was a gloomy day. I ended up using three lamps to make sure my face was well illuminated (picture below). Thanks for the great effort in the preparation for this event, everything went smoothly. About 120 people turned up to the event – this was quite a high number for ESRC FoSS events, particularly for a Saturday morning. The audience showed very enthusiastic engagements. For example, the audience asked us about 40 questions, some highly interesting and intriguing, not to mention the comments they produced in the chat panel. The event was planned for two hours, but eventually ended up lasting three hours beca use of the interest the audience showed towards the discreussion. Overall, this was one of my best public event experiences I have ever had.

The talk part of the event was recorded. If you missed the event and would like to give it a try, you can access it via this link (access passcode: +MZx686&). I hope you would enjoy it!

25 November 2020

Women Entrepreneurs and Covid-19- Celebrating BU Global Entrepreneurship Week 2020

BU Challenges, Business Engagement, Centre for Excellence in Learning, conferences, Delicious links, Festival of Learning, Funding opportunities, Fusion, Fusion Investment Fund, Fusion themes, international, Knowledge Exchange, Public engagement, staff profile pages, Student Engagement, Women's Academic Network Sukanya Ayatakshi

Women’s representation in entrepreneurship, the barriers women face in entrepreneurship is all well documented and well researched with robust evidence from around the world. From seeking access to external finance, to engaging in those critical business networks, managing the work-family interface- We have all heard and read about the many challenges women entrepreneurs have to navigate .

Women’s entrepreneurship in developing countries is particularly at risk, as women’s anticipated vulnerability is likely to be exacerbated due to the pandemic. Not only are women-led businesses amongst the hardest hit but more than 93% of women report having struggled with finding ways to support their businesses whilst managing their work and family commitments. Even before the pandemic women were already vulnerable spending five times more in childcare and over three times more in household chores than their male counterparts, experiencing an unemployment rate twice that of men (SME Finance Forum, 2020). There is a fear that this pandemic will turn back the clocks on women’s entrepreneurship because women bear the burden of unpaid caregiving including childcare, household responsibilities and elderly care .

With a staggering number of small businesses shutting down, there are disproportionate impacts on women business owners with a 25% drop in small business activity between February to Mid-April 2020 and a 16% drop in number of business ownership for active male and women business owners (Fairlie, 2020). And there is global attention to this as well which is very encouraging.

Hosted by BU Social Entrepreneurs Forum and supported by BU Women’s Academic Network on the 17th of November we led an international event with women entrepreneurs from Brazil, The UK, Oman and Iraq to share their experiences of leading and running a business in the midst of a global pandemic.

We heard from women entrepreneurs and their struggles and pathways to resolution in the face of having to manage the work and family commitments; we discussed issues around how external support in the form of women-centric funding bodies, incubation hubs, accelerators programmes can support more representation and increased success of women in entrepreneurship. What came out, very strongly, from the conversations, was the immense collective force of empowered women who are not just trailblazers but change makers and who, relentlessly, try to empower other women to take charge of their business interests and decisions!

With three parallel discussions in the event on women entrepreneurs and the care-giving role, we heard from the founder of The Mumpreneur Collective, Erin Thomas Wong, who discussed how motherhood was a springboard for her entrepreneurial actions and ambitions and in recognition of the multiple challenges and expectations that motherhood bestows on women she set up this organisation to provide support, mentoring opportunities and peer learning for mothers wanting to fulfil their entrepreneurial ambitions.Other women entrepreneurs, namely, Sarah Ali Choudhury, Forbes’s Curry Queen ; Aira Nascimento, Founder of Josephinas Colab, a social business of female entrepreneurs from the periphery and cultural space that rescues Afro-Brazilian and Indigenous culture in Campo Grande, Brazil; Maryam Al Amri, Founder of Youth Vision, Oman and Gabriela Anastacia, CEO of Gamarc Communications and Founder of (after motherhood) the social impact movement, Papo de Empreendedora [Female Entrepreneur Chat] discussed democratising access to entrepreneurship education for women and the support needed by mother entrepreneurs in the context of the pandemic.

Ranya Bakr, Iraq; Ludmila Hastenreiter, Founder and CEO of Empoderamente Contabil, Brazil and Bia Santos, Founder of Barkus Educational, Brazil led the discussions on access to finance and impediment that creates for women entrepreneurs particularly now in the context of the pandemic and prior to it. Emphasising the importance of financial education to create a fair and just society Bia Santos also highlighted the racial inequality that affects businesses like hers in the context of Brazil.

The issues around incubation hub and accelerator support focused on the needs of women entrepreneurs were discussed in the light of the pandemic with expert entrepreneurs including Adrienne Saunders, Founder of Yes You Can Training, UK; Shaima Murtadha Al- Lawati, Oman; Beatriz Carvalho, Founder of Mulheres de Frentes (Women in Front) and Dayse Valencia, an ASHOKA Social Entrepreneur Fellow and coordinator of projects at Rio based NGO, ASPLANDE, Brazil.

It was a particularly proud moment to celebrate two BUBS students, Ranya Bakr from Iraq, a Chevening Scholar, UNDP project lead, Founder of Storey an architectural firm and her work in Iraq developing incubation hubs for women. We also had the pleasure of listening to Maryam Al Amri from Oman, another BUBS student and Founder of Youth Vision supporting youth employment issues in the Arab world through her exemplary work.

This event was co-hosted with Jiselle Steele who supports women and micro entrepreneurs through her work in enterprise development across Brazil, UK and Sri Lanka and is a Senior Project Lead at _SocialStarters, a social enterprise started by Andrea Gamson, a BU Alumna and Top 100 Women in Social Enterprise who supports enterprise development and business consultation across many countries including the UK, Brazil, Kenya and Sri Lanka.

Ranya Bakr, BU Alumna from Iraq and Founder of Storey, an architectural firm.

Bia Santos, Founder of Barkus Education, Brazil

Maryam Al Amri, BU Student and Founder of Youth Vision, Oman

Erin Thomas Wong, Founder of Mumpreneur Collective, UK

So what is the value of showcase events? Academia affords us the opportunity to create impact through education, research and external engagement. Events such as these raise the profile of the organisation, bring together international audience ( this event welcomed guests from Singapore to Latin America), become part of a global resolution of a huge challenges, support UN SDGs, further BU2025 ambitions and most definitely, lead to research outputs and enhance the student experience. So showcase events may be hard work to put together but absolutely worth every second!

It is a proud moment for us at BUSEF to be celebrating our second BU GEW 2020. Watch the space for more things to come.

25 November 2020

Refugee Entrepreneurship And Covid-19- BU Global Entrepreneurship Week 2020

BU Challenges, Business Engagement, Centre for Excellence in Learning, conferences, Festival of Learning, Funding opportunities, Fusion, Fusion Investment Fund, Fusion themes, Knowledge Exchange, Women's Academic Network Sukanya Ayatakshi

Melanie Montinard, Mawon, Brazil

Camila Pinto, Migraflix, Brazil

Esther Yanya, South Sudanese Refugee Entrepreneur from Uganda

Noel Lilija, Microfinance Officer, CRESS UK, Arua, Uganda

Abdoulaye Fall, Self Funded Communities ACAF, Barcelona, Spain

Talal Al-Tinawi, Syrian Refugee Entrepreneur in Brazil

Debora Gonzaga Brassau Brazil

Sayma Ahmad, Co-Founder and Honorary Chair, Unity in Vision, Dorset UK

Globally, there are 65 million people forcibly displaced from their homes (WHO, 2019). Achieving legitimacy and acceptance and integration into the host community remains a challenge in most host countries with an increased inflow of displaced populations. What do refugees hope for? Safety, security, an ability to carve out a future for themselves and their loves ones and retaining the dignity of being a human being.

We recently concluded a study in Uganda,Brazil and Spain exploring how displaced populations seek and achieve legitimacy through the routes of entrepreneurship in collaboration with co-host Jiselle Steele. This study allowed us the opportunity to engage with displaced communities and individuals whose resilience, perseverance the the zeal to thrive, not just survive, showcases the true essence of the human spirit. Not only that, with the entrepreneurial offerings they created they are making huge community impacts to support others in the same circumstances as them- an empowerment pathway through entrepreneurship.

With the rapid developments in the pandemic sweeping our world, all the policy discussions around economic recovery has managed to not take into consideration the plight of the displaced populations engaged in business activities, mostly in the informal sectors.

This year, as part of the Global Entrepreneurship Week 2020, BU Social Entrepreneurs Forum (BUSEF), organised an event to celebrate the work of refugee entrepreneurs and support organisations that empower the displaced populations in integration and their entrepreneurial ambitions.

On the 18th of November, 2020, BUSEF brought together refugee entrepreneurs and support organisations from Uganda, Brazil, Spain and the UK. Esther Yanya, a 27- year old South Sudanese refugee, living in a displacement camp in Arua, Northern Uganda shared with us her harrowing story of walking across hundreds of miles with two very young children and arriving to no support, no food and so shelter. The work of Cress UK-led by Caroline Lamb (Founder and Chair or Trustees) and Noel Lilija, Project Lead at CRESS Arua, an aid organisation working to support refugees in medical care, education, agricultural training and microentrepreneurship- was the turning point in Esther Yanya’s life and now she not only leads a savings group based business in tailoring (She was wearing the most stunning dress similar to these Peaches Boutique white dresses for prom she crafted herself) but is also empowering other women in the displacement camp to achieve financial independence and a future for themselves.

Talal Al-Tinawi joined us from Brazil where he is a Syrian refugee and a gastronomy business owner. Having had to leave his mechanical engineering business in Damascus, Talal shared with us the role that society plays in integrating refugees like himself. The institutional barriers not withstanding, the role of social inclusion in allowing emotional security to refugees is something that is not well researched or discussed. Supported by Migraflix, Talal set up his gastronomy business, in the absence of being able to get employment.

What is quite extraordinary about both Talal and Esther is that, not withstanding their personal circumstances, they think of the community around them and how to support, how to empower. Talal has been working tirelessly to provide food to those vulnerable during this pandemic.

In addition to the refugee entrepreneurs, the event brought together Migraflix, Mawon, Brassau from Brazil and Cress UK with team from UK and Uganda, Self Funded Communities ACAF from Spain and Unity in Vision, Dorset, UK.

So what was the potential impact of an event such this? The obvious answer is of course, raising awareness and building the momentum in this conversation but also and critically, gaining increased visibility for the individuals who identify themselves and refugee entrepreneurs and the critical work that the support organisations do independent of and with very little state/institutional support.

25 November 2020

University lockdown: An internationalisation opportunity?

conferences, innovation, international, Publishing Edwin van Teijlingen

The general effects of lockdown on healthy individuals range from a general annoyance to a major limiting factor in life, especially in lockdown affects someone livelihood and/or mental health. These effects have been well documented in the media. At a societal level these effects are more mixed, first and foremost, there is positive outcome in terms of a reduced spread of the infectious disease COVID-19. Further positive effects include a reduction in air pollution, water pollution levels (in Venice), traffic jams, but also fewer break-ins (as more people are at home for more of the time). Whilst negative effects include not only economic decline, but also a lack of opportunity to travel for work or leisure, children missing education and people avoiding health care professionals for screening and treatment of diseases other then COVID-19. We have also learnt that lockdown affects different groups in society differently, some quite unexpectedly. For example, AbilityNet highlighted that “For students living with physical impairments and long-term health conditions, the benefits of studying from home and avoiding the exhausting experience of accessing face-to-face learning has left them with more energy to apply to their studies” [1]. Even before the first lockdown universities in the UK had been pro-active in their response to the pandemic [2]. One of the practical responses was to move to webinars, online teaching, marking and meetings. Before March most university academics don’t much about Zoom, Teams, Jitsi Meet or Google Meet, and today most academics will have used most of these platforms (and several others) for research meetings, webinars and conferences.

With lockdown this all has changed, like my BU colleagues I teach every week using Zoom, meet colleagues online through a range of platforms, meet students for individual tutorials through Skype or Teams. Although having the occasional limitation, there is a great opportunity as it removed the need for staff and students to be in the same room. One example of a BU education innovation was last week’s International Student Midwives’ Networking Day held on November 18^th. With the restrictions of lockdown on midwifery students the BU Midwifery Team led by Dr. Laura Iannuzzi and Dr. Juliet Wood used the opportunities provided by Zoom to bring together midwifery students from across the globe. Using their long-established research links [3-16], BU academics manage to bring together student midwives from Italy, Nepal and the Netherlands to discuss midwifery and maternity issues with fellow midwifery students at BU. The day was nicely broken into two with a lunchtime event called ‘Zoom the midwife’, which as the third of its kind. In this ‘Zoom the midwife’ webinar BU’s Dr Rachel Arnold and BU Visiting Faculty Margaret Walsh shared their experience of working in different cultures for projects in Afghanistan and Nepal respectively.

Our second example is a project to support midwifery education in Nepal. The Centre for Midwifery, Maternal & Perinatal Health (CMMPH) in collaboration with Dalarna University in Sweden and University Hospitals Dorset NHS Foundation Trust produced a draft Bridging Course for nursing lecturers in Nepal who are currently teaching midwifery and maternity care. This project is funded by GIZ (Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit). As part of this project BU offers academics at NAMS (National Academy of Medical Sciences) in Kathmandu support in their professional and pedagogic development.

Following the lockdown and seeing the success of online teaching of BU’s students earlier in 2020 we decided to try out online teaching with midwifery lecturers at NAMS. Since many people in Nepal only have a one-day weekend (Saturday) Sunday is usually a working day and due to time difference early Sunday morning are ideal times for webinars. To date online sessions in Kathmandu have been delivered by Juliet Wood, Michelle Irving, Edwin van Teijlingen and CMMPH Visiting Faculty Jillian Ireland (Professional Midwifery Advocate in Poole). The sessions proved very popular with 30 to 40 people regularly attending online from Nepal.

With challenges to delivering face-to-face lectures and tutorials at universities, online teaching and webinars have opened a whole set of new opportunities to internationalise our education.

Prof. Edwin van Teijlingen

CMMPH

References

Universities UK (2020) Universities rise to Covid-19 challenges, online news item 7 April https://www.universitiesuk.ac.uk/news/Pages/Universities-rise-to-Covid-19-challenges-.aspx
Low, A. (2020) Covid-19 silver linings: how the pandemic has increased opportunities for disabled university students. https://www.universitiesuk.ac.uk/blog/Pages/covid-19-disabled-students-increased-opportunities.aspx
Dani, C., Papini, S., Iannuzzi, L. and Pratesi, S., 2020. Midwife-to-newborn ratio and neonatal outcome in healthy term infants. Acta Paediatrica, International Journal of Paediatrics, 109 (9), 1787-1790.
Daly, D., Iannuzzi, L. et al., 2020. How much synthetic oxytocin is infused during labour? A review and analysis of regimens used in 12 countries. PLoS ONE, 15 (7 July).
Setola, N., Naldi, E., Cocina, G.G., Eide, L.B., Iannuzzi, L. and Daly, D., 2019. The Impact of the Physical Environment on Intrapartum Maternity Care: Identification of Eight Crucial Building Spaces. Health Environments Research and Design Journal, 12 (4), 67-98.
Skoko, E., Iannuzzi, L. et al., 2018. Findings from the Italian babies born better survey. Minerva Ginecologica, 70 (6), 663-675.
Nieuwenhuijze, M., van Teijlingen, E., Mackenzie-Bryers, H. (2019) In risiko’s denken is niet zonder risiko (In Dutch: Thinking in terms of risk, it not with its risk). Tijdschrift voor Verloskundigen (in Dutch: Journal for Midwives), 43 (4): 6-9.
Bogren M, van Teijlingen E., Berg M. (2013) Where midwives are not yet recognized: A feasibility study of professional midwives in Nepal, Midwifery 29(10): 1103-09.
Bogren, M.U., Berg, M., Edgren, L., van Teijlingen, E., Wigert, H. (2016) Shaping the midwifery profession in Nepal – Uncovering actors’ connections using a Complex Adaptive Systems framework, Sexual & Reproductive Healthcare 10: 48-55.
Dhakal Rai, S., Poobalan, A., Jan, R., Bogren, M., Wood, J., Dangal, G., Regmi, P., van Teijlingen, E., Dhakal, K.B., Badar, S.J., Shahid, F. (2019) Caesarean Section rates in South Asian cities: Can midwifery help stem the rise? Journal of Asian Midwives, 6(2):4–22.
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.
Milne, L., Ireland, J., van Teijlingen, E., Hundley, V., Simkhada, P. (2018) Gender inequalities and childbearing: Qualitative study two maternity units in Nepal, Journal of Asian Midwives 5 (1):13-30.
Ekström, A., Tamang, L., Pedersen, C., Byrskog, U., van Teijlingen, E., Erlandsson, K. (2020) Health care provider’s perspectives on the content and structure of a culturally tailored antenatal care programme to expectant parents and family in Nepal. Journal of Asian Midwives 7(1):23–44.
Wrede, S., Benoit, C., Bourgeault, I., van Teijlingen E., Sandall, J., De Vries, R. (2006) Decentered Comparative Research: Context Sensitive Analysis of Health Care, Social Science & Medicine, 63: 2986-97.
De Vries, R., Wiegers, T., Smulders, B, van Teijlingen E (2009) The Dutch Obstetrical System: Vanguard of Future in Maternity Care. In: Davis-Floyd, R., Barclay, L., Tritten, L, Daviss B.-A. (eds.) Birth Models that Work. Berkeley: University of California Press, 31-54.
van Teijlingen E, Sandall, J., Wrede, S., Benoit, C., DeVries, R., Bourgeault, I. (2003) Comparative studies in maternity care RCM Midwives Journal 6: 338-40.

23 November 2020

BU Professor publishes sixth edition of bestselling book ‘Social Work Practice’!

Jonathan Parker

I am pleased to say that the sixth edition of my book Social Work Practice has now been published. It is with grateful thanks to all former students and people who have received social work services that this has been possible.

I’ve updated this edition looking to the future and developing a more green and relation-based approach to social work that challenges the neoliberal narrative that has infected social work in the UK (England in particular) for so long. Developing the thinking and skills of an ethnographer are also important to becoming a questioning, critical and reflexive social worker who takes nothing for granted. Becoming an iconoclast, in this way, is also part of this book’s message.

23 November 2020

‘Defying categorisation’

Publishing, writing dnordberg

Donald Nordberg

During the other half of his time in semi-retirement, Donald Nordberg, Associate Professor in the Business School, is revisiting themes from his early university education in English and comparative literature. A first product has emerged: New Writing, a Routledge/Taylor & Francis journal, has accepted his paper “Category choice in creative writing“. Fiction is a uniquely flexible form of writing, he writes, but the publishing world wants to drop works of fiction into buckets, which often come in pairs. The paper examines three such dichotomies. Writing coaches want to know: Is the work plot-driven or character-driven? Publishers, booksellers and popular critics ask: Is it genre or literary? Academic analysis wonders: Is it philosophical or psychological?

Using perspectives on heuristics and biases drawn from psychology and decision analysis, Nordberg examines similarities between these category pairs and shows how the distinctions blur, both in literary criticism and through empirical studies of reader responses. He suggests that by paying attention to the anchor-points in heuristics, writers can bend publishing imperatives and help works of fiction retain the ability to defy categorisation.

18 November 2020

Research seminar is on the Way! 😇How can we ensure an inclusive environment for children with disabilities? – 10th December 2020 From 10:00 –11:30 (ZOOM)

Business Engagement, Public engagement Hiroko Oe

We will have a seminar session with the guest lecturer, Professor Natsuko Minamino (Toyo University, Faculty of Human Life Design, Department of Human Care and Support). This research seminar is conducted via ZOOM.

Professor Minamino will present her research topic ‘how to develop inclusive society with education/activities in early childhood to support disabled children.’ Her research focuses on the the principle of respecting human diversity in early childhood education.

This seminar is held in line with the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), such as ‘Goal 4: Quality Education’, and ’Goal 5: Gender Equality’, and ‘Goal 17: Partnership for goals’.

This session also aligns with BU2025 strategic investment areas (SIAs), Simulation & Visualisation and Assistive Technology.

The BU ECRs, PhD researchers, and MSc students are welcome to this session.

The session will be facilitated by Dr Hiroko Oe and Ms Sandy Zhu, a business consultant from Canada.

*For more details, please email to hoe@brounemouth.ac.uk

17 November 2020

The impact of COVID-19 on workforce stress and resilience – Parliamentary Health and Social Care Committee Publication

scorbinclarke

The COVID-19 pandemic has created major upheaval across the world, and for frontline practitioners in social work, this led to sudden changes in working practices alongside homeworking. In the summer of 2020, Parliament started to conduct an inquiry exploring workforce burnout and resilience in the NHS and social care as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic. As part of this they put out a call for evidence from interested parties, and were particularly interested into early research findings. Areas of interest to the inquiry included the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on resilience, levels of workforce stress, and burnout across the NHS and social care sectors and the impacts of workforce burnout on service delivery, staff, patients and service users across the NHS and social care sectors.

At the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic in March 2020 Professor Lee-Ann Fenge and Emily Rosenorn-Lanng from Bournemouth University developed a collaborative research project with Tilia Lenz from the Pan-Dorset and Wiltshire Teaching partnership (PDWTP) to explore the impact of COVID-19 on practitioners and managers, and to date this has been completed by 146 participants. We submitted evidence to this inquiry based on our preliminary findings, and this has now been published by the Health and Social Care Committee.

https://committees.parliament.uk/work/494/workforce-burnout-and-resilience-in-the-nhs-and-social-care/publications/written-evidence/?page=3

This publication recognises the importance of the research undertaken by BU and the PDWTP during COVID-19, and the contribution this makes to understanding how practitioners have responded to the unprecedented challenges created by the pandemic.

12 November 2020

Midwifery education publication published today

Centre for Excellence in Learning, Fusion, NHS, Publishing, writing Edwin van Teijlingen

Congratulations to Prof. Sue Way, Dr. Luisa Cescutti-Butler and Dr. Michelle Irving on the publication today of their latest article ‘A study to evaluate the introduction of the Newborn Infant Physical Examination knowledge and skills into an undergraduate pre-registration midwifery education programme’ [1]. This paper published in Nurse Education Today uses the principles of FUSION, bring together Education (undergraduate midwifery education), Practice (examination of the newborn) and Research (evaluation study). This paper adds to the growing list of publication on aspects of midwifery education by academics in the Centre for Midwifery, Maternal & Perintal Health (CMMPH).

Congratulations!

Prof. Edwin van Teijlingen

CMMPH

Reference:

Way, S., Cescutti-Butler, L., Irving, M. (2020) A study to evaluate the introduction of the Newborn Infant Physical Examination knowledge and skills into an undergraduate pre-registration midwifery education programme, Nurse Education Today, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.nedt.2020.104656.

7 November 2020

Community Hospitals: An international perspective

conferences, international, NHS, Publishing, writing Edwin van Teijlingen

BU Visiting Faculty Dr. Emma Pitchforth (Senior Lecturer in Primary Care, University of Exeter) spoke this week at International insights: What can the development of community hospitals in international contexts tell us about their role in healthcare futures?, the first of three UK Community Hospital online seminars. Emma presented our NIHR study on Community Hospitals [1-3].

Community hospitals are a crucial but often neglected part of the health care systems in the UK. Community Hospitals are often very popular with local communities but they often face political challenges. COVID-19 has prompted us to make dramatic changes to way we think about and organise health care. Community hospitals have made a significant contribution to the health and wellbeing during the pandemic. The flexibility, resilience and strong community engagement typical of many community hospitals is being brought to the fore. At this critical time, questions are being asked about the future role of community hospitals and what lessons we can learn from other countries.

The notion of a Community Hospital in the UK is evolving from the traditional model of a local hospital staffed by general practitioners and nurses and serving mainly rural populations. Along with the diversification of models, there is a renewed policy interest in community hospitals and their potential to deliver integrated care. However, there is a need to better understand the role of different models of community hospitals within the wider health economy and an opportunity to learn from experiences of other countries to inform this potential.

There will be two further webinars at lunch time on the 12th and 19th November. You can register using the following link: https://bham-ac-uk.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_dX8LwdHxQX2-Mf8nlt8nwg .

Prof. Edwin van Teijlingen

Centre for Midwifery, Maternal & Perinatal Health

References:

Pitchforth, E., van Teijlingen, E., Nolte, E. (2017) Community hospitals: a traditional solution to help today’s NHS? Health Services Journal (11 July) https://www.hsj.co.uk/community-services/community-hospitals-a-traditional-solution-to-help-todays-nhs/7020019.article#/scientific-summary
Pitchforth, E., Nolte, E., Corbett, J., Miani., C, Winpenny., E, van Teijlingen, E., Elmore, N,, King, S,, Ball, S,, Miler, J,, Ling, T. (2017) Community hospitals and their services in the NHS: identifying transferable learning from international developments – scoping review, systematic review, country reports and case studies Health Services & Delivery Research 5(19): 1-248.
Wimpenny, E.M., Corbett, J., Miami, C., King, S., Pitchforth, E., Ling, T., van Teijlingen, E. Nolte, E. (2016) Community hospitals in selected high income countries: a scoping review of approaches and models. International Journal of Integrated Care 16(4): 13 http://dx.doi.org/10.5334/ijic.2463

5 November 2020

innovation, international, Knowledge Transfer, Publishing, Research Integritiy, writing Edwin van Teijlingen

Today saw the publication of a new paper ‘Importance of involving patients and public in Health Technology Assessment (HTA) and health research in South Asia’ co-authored by the BU Public Involvement in Education and Research (PIER) Partnership [1]. This paper is co-written with Dr. Bibha Simkhada, until recently Lecturer in Nursing in N4LTH Centre (Nursing for Long-Term Health) and now Senior Lecturer in Nursing at the University of Huddersfield, Dr. Aliya Naheed at icddr,b in Bangladesh, Angela Warren based at PIER, Dr. Sue Green (Principal Academic) and Prof. Edwin van Teilingen. The paper appears in the International Journal of Technology Assessment in Health Care, which is published by Cambridge University Press.

The authors highlights that Patient and Public Involvement/Engagement (PPI/E) in public health research and Health Technology Assessment (HTA) in has significantly increased over past decade in countries such as the UK. PPI/E helps improve health research and hence benefits patients and service users. For example, organisations like BU’s PIER bring a unique patients and (potential) users’ perspective of these services, which enables FHSS to enhance the education the future workforce in health and social care as well as research in this area.

However, PPI/E is still very new concept in many LMICs (Low- and Middle-Income Countries). This paper considers the importance of PPI in public health research and HTA in the development and implementation of technology in the health sector in South Asia. Currently, in this region, health technology is frequently adopted from HICs without local research and HTA. It also discusses the importance of local co-creation of technology to reflect the needs of users within a culturally appropriate setting. It is important for LMIC-based researchers to understand the potential of PPI/E and how it can contribute to it to improve health care and research, especially perhaps in the era of COVID-19.

Reference:

Simkhada, B., van Teijlingen, E., Naheed, A., Warren A., Green, S. (2020) Importance of involving patients and public in Health Technology Assessment (HTA) and health research in South Asia. International Journal of Technology Assessment in Health Care [Online First 5 November, pp. 1-3].

3 November 2020

Symposium: Coronavirus, Statistical Chaos and the News

conferences, Fusion themes, Knowledge Exchange, NHS, Public engagement anguyen

Fifteen senior and award-winning British science, health and data journalists will gather with leading statisticians, health scientists and media scholars to examine challenges and approaches to news communication of Covid-19 data and statistics at a free BU-hosted online symposium on 4 December 2020.

The one-day event – an initiative of BU’s emerging Science, Health and Data Communication Research Group, in conjunction with the Royal Statistical Society and the Association of British Science Writers – aims to provide a “waypoint” for the participating journalists and academics to reflect on their experience, share their expertise and exchange ideas around issues and challenges in dealing with the science and politics behind Covid-19 facts and figures.

At the centre of the day will be what journalists have done and how they have performed in navigating, handling and communicating the constantly changing and rather chaotic flow of Covid-19 data and statistics, which have become a daily occupation of public and private thought during the pandemic.

The symposium is geared to stimulate rigorous interaction between speakers as well as between speakers and audiences in order to draw some preliminary lessons for the near and far future. The day will cover the following questions:

What are the major challenges to news reporting of the influx of Covid-19 data and statistics?
To what extent does news reporting of Covid-19 data and statistics change hearts, alter minds and/or mobilise people into proper pandemic actions?
What methods, techniques and platforms do journalists use to obtain, unpack, portray and deliver Covid-19 data and statistics to help people make sense of the pandemic?
How well have journalists performed in questioning and scrutinising Covid-19 data and statistics to debunk statistical “lies and damn lies” spread by vested interests?
How effectively have scientists, science institutions and other sources of Covid-19 statistics collaborated with journalists – and vice versa – in conveying them to the public?

The event will take place on Zoom. Interested parties can find the detailed programme, including the full list of speakers, and register for free on Eventbrite.

For further information, please contact An Nguyen at anguyen@bournemouth.ac.uk.

2 November 2020

Bournemouth University Social Entrepreneurs Forum Celebrates Global Entrepreneurship Week 2020

Business Engagement, Centre for Excellence in Learning, conferences, Fusion, international, Knowledge Exchange, Public engagement, staff profile pages, Women's Academic Network Sukanya Ayatakshi

BU Social Entrepreneurs Forum BUSEF is proud to present Global Entrepreneurship Week 2020 with not one but two stellar events!

Last year we celebrated the very first Global Entrepreneurship Week at BU with two mega events on campus and although this year the world is different but what’s stopping us from celebrating and raising the bar even higher?

It is a proud moment for us to introduce this year’s events- Women Entrepreneurs in The Times of Covid-19 supported by the Women’s Academic Network at BU on the 17th of November 1400-1600 GMT (online) and Refugee Entrepreneurs and Covid-19 18 November 1400-1600 Online.

These events are aligned with the purpose of BU Social Entrepreneurs Forum in supporting the BU2025 commitment to UN SDGs and creating Fusion-led activities supporting research and student learning and experience.

BUSEF, created in partnership with the Association of Sustainability Practitioners, Dorset and The Rotary Club at Poole Bay is a collaborative, inclusive forum to support the knowledge exchange between academia and the developing landscape of socially focused businesses in the region. In the past one year BUSEF has facilitated a number of student-led projects across BU, organised a number of free skills-based workshops, showcased GEW 2019 and is continuing to support local businesses through online workshops and events.

30 October 2020

Discussion on Gender-based Violence in Tourism – Links to Zoom presentations

lvizcainosuarez

A month ago, Dr Paola Vizcaino (Bournemouth University), along with co-editors Dr Heather Jeffrey (Middlesex University – Dubai) and Dr Claudia Eger (Copenhagen Business School) welcomed attendees to the virtual launch of the edited collection Tourism and Gender-Based Violence: Challenging Inequalities (CABI – find the book here). Nearly 30 academics, students and general public joined the discussion on the multiple and interconnected forms of gender-based violence against women and girls in tourism production and consumption. Please find below the links to the Zoom presentations by the book editors, chapter contributors and grassroots organisations.

Tourism and Gender-based Violence, Challenging Inequalities. Edited by Paola Vizcaino, Heather Jeffrey, Claudia Eger

Tourism and Gender-Based Violence Book Launch 30th Sept. 2020, Introduction by Dr Paola Vizcaino – https://youtu.be/P_eRv-adlpI

The relevance of the book and the need to continue examining GBV in tourism research by Dr Stroma Cole – https://youtu.be/8ZCV0h0ev6s

Chapter discussion: Critical debates on Gender-based Violence by Dr Claudia Eger – https://youtu.be/8ewG4Y_YyQE

Chapter discussion: Trafficking in human beings in the tourism industry by Dr Tenia Kyriazi – https://youtu.be/e4zNSHoidWo

Chapter discussion: The double-bind of a female traveller in Morocco by Dr Siân Stephens – https://youtu.be/Brf4XkBQB1k

Chapter discussion: Embodying Gender and Risk: Mountain Bike Tourism in Mexico by Dr Isis Arlene Díaz-Carrión – https://youtu.be/7o20Wsl5Cv4

Profiles of grassroots organisations working to tackle GBV in tourism and beyond by Sara Ali Abdelghani – https://youtu.be/r_U9eOD5OvM

Las Kellys representing hotel workers in Spain, presentation by Myriam Barros (in Spanish with English translation) – https://youtu.be/MBBDSPT879Q

Tourism and Gender-Based Violence – Q&A segment – https://youtu.be/BJc4ATDBO7Y

Closing remarks by Dr Heather Jeffrey – https://youtu.be/VBo2Gyrsb3s

Category / REF Subjects

New study of management & recruitment in UK TV industry

BU Book up for National Award

Cross-disciplinary approaches to prehistoric demography | Themed issue edited by BU staff

Café Scientifique Tuesday 1 Dec – Discovering the World’s First Farmers

Find out more and sign up.

Refugee Entrepreneurship And Covid-19- BU Global Entrepreneurship Week 2020

University lockdown: An internationalisation opportunity?

‘Defying categorisation’

Midwifery education publication published today

Symposium: Coronavirus, Statistical Chaos and the News

Bournemouth University Social Entrepreneurs Forum Celebrates Global Entrepreneurship Week 2020

Discussion on Gender-based Violence in Tourism – Links to Zoom presentations

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We will have a seminar session with the guest lecturer, Professor Natsuko Minamino (Toyo University, Faculty of Human Life Design, Department of Human Care and Support). This research seminar is conducted via ZOOM.

Professor Minamino will present her research topic ‘how to develop inclusive society with education/activities in early childhood to support disabled children.’ Her research focuses on the the principle of respecting human diversity in early childhood education.

This seminar is held in line with the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), such as ‘Goal 4: Quality Education’, and ’Goal 5: Gender Equality’, and ‘Goal 17: Partnership for goals’.

This session also aligns with BU2025 strategic investment areas (SIAs), Simulation & Visualisation and Assistive Technology.

The BU ECRs, PhD researchers, and MSc students are welcome to this session.

The session will be facilitated by Dr Hiroko Oe and Ms Sandy Zhu, a business consultant from Canada.

*For more details, please email to hoe@brounemouth.ac.uk

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