Category / REF Subjects

Why editorials?

BU research, international, Knowledge Transfer, open access, Publishing, Research Integritiy, Research news, Uncategorized, writing

Zika editorial 2016BU academics are editors on a wide range of scientific journals.  As editors we often write editorials for academic journals which have a number of specific functions.  It is a key means of communication between the editor(s) and the journal’s readership.  It is also vehicle to highlight topical academic and political issues related to the journal and the discipline(s) it represents. JAM June 2016 editorial

Earlier this week the latest issue of the Journal of Asian Midwives came out with an editorial which is an illustration of the first point giving information to the readers [1].  The topics addressed in this editorial included the announcement that this new journal was now indexed in the CINAHL Database, a recent major international conference in the field and a call for the forthcoming 2017 ICM (Internation Confederation of Midwives) tri-annual conference.  Today saw the publication of an editorial on the Zika virus and its potential impact in Nepal in the journal Medical Science [2].   This guest editorial co-written by BU’s Visiting Faculties Dr. Brijesh Sathian and Prof. Padam Simkhada with Prof. Edwin van Teijlingen (Centre for Midwifery, Maternal & Perinatal Health) calls for action in Nepal.  A country where malaria is endemic. The Zika virus uses mosquitoes like the ones spreading Dengue fever and malaria.  Zika is a virus we do not wish to see spreading in countries where malaria is already rife.  The editorial warns that precautionary measures are needed to prevent a Zika outbreak as the spread of the virus to the country seems inevitable, the only uncertainty is when it will be arriving.

Both journals are Open Access which means these editorials can be read by anybody with internet access free of charge.

References:

  1. Jan, R., van Teijlingen, E. (2016) Editorial JAM June 2016, Journal of Asian Midwives 3(1):1. http://ecommons.aku.edu/jam/vol3/iss1/1/
  2. van Teijlingen, E., Sathian, B., & Simkhada, P. (2016). Zika & Nepal: a far greater risk for its population than to individuals. Medical Science 4(2): 312-313. http://www.pubmedhouse.com/journals/ms/articles/1064/PMHID1064.pdf

 

Best paper award!

BU research, international, open access, PG research, Publishing, Research communication, student research, Uncategorized, writing

Heart 2015Best Paper for 2015 Award in the international journal Heart.  A paper published by Bournemouth University PhD student, Edward Carlton,  and his supervisors, Prof. Ahmed Khattab (FHSS) and Prof. Kim Greaves from the University of the Sunshine Coast in Australia in collaboration with world-renowned hospitals: John Radcliffe Hospital in Oxford; Royal Brisbane & Women’s Hospital in Australia; and Christchurch Hospital in New Zealand has  been announced as the Winner of the “Heart Best Paper 2015  Award” [1].  This award is in recognition of the high quality and clinical impact of the paper. The winner for this award were chosen by the Editorial Team from the top 10 papers in each of the following three categories: downloads, citations and Altmetrics Score.

Dr. Edward Carlton has just finished his PhD at BU and he is now working as an Emergency Medicine Consultant in Bristol.Heart PDF 2015

Congratulations!

Prof. Edwin van Teijlingen

CMMPH

 

 

Reference:

Carlton EW, Cullen L, Than M, Gamble J, Khattab A, Greaves K. A novel diagnostic protocol to identify patients suitable for discharge after a single high-sensitivity troponin. Heart. 2015 Jul;101(13):1041-6. doi: 10.1136/heartjnl-2014-307288. Epub 2015 Feb 17.

World Elder Abuse Awareness Day 15th June 2016

Helping Hands croppedToday is World Elder Abuse Awareness Day, a day set aside by the United Nations for governments and civil society worldwide to acknowledge the problem of abuse against some of the oldest and most vulnerable groups across the world.

Despite the Toronto Declaration on the Global Prevention of Elder Abuse (2002) which called for a multi-sector and multi-disciplinary approach to tackle the issue, elder abuse continues to be a global problem affecting the health and impacting on the human rights of millions of older people around the world.

According to the World Health Organisation (WHO) elder abuse is a subject which is often underestimated and ignored by societies globally. As older populat
ions grow globally, elder abuse is an issue that all societies and governments need to acknowledge and tackle in a proactive way. In 2015 there were 901 million people on earth aged 60 or over; and this is projected to rise to 1.4 billion in 2030 (United Nations [UN] 2015). Due to this rapidly ageing global population elder abuse is predicted to increase. Although it is difficult to measure the scale of the problem due to its often hidden nature, it is estimated that around 1 in 10 older people experience abuse every month.

What is it?
Elder abuse can take various forms such as physical, psychological or emotional, sexual and financial abuse. It can also be the result of intentional or unintention
al neglect, and can occur in institutional settings as well as in the home environment. However, in many parts of the world it is an issue which is often hidden from view and seldom recognised, the voices of victims silenced by ageism and indifference. It results from the wider marginalization, disrespect, and exploitation that older people experience in many societies, and ultimately results in de-humanised care and an absence of human rights for older people.

What can we do?
Globally we need to acknowledge elder abuse as a priority. We need to tackle some of the underlying socio-cultural factors which deny older people status and human rights including inherent ageism and the depiction of older people as frail, weak and dependent. This includes developing awareness of how changing socio-demographic patterns contribute to the shifting context of care and support available to older people in society. For example, global and national economic policies may result in funds to provide health and social care to older citizens not being considered a priority, and the creation of a globally mobile workforce resulting in the erosion of bonds between generations of a family where traditionally younger family members would care for older relatives.

We also need to act on demographic changes, celebrate that many of us are living longer, but acknowledge health and life expectancy inequalities across the UK and globally (Wilkinson and Pickett, 2010, Office of National Statistics, 2016) and work to address these. International interest in using well-being as a measure of social progress (http://www.neweconomics.org/issues/entry/well-being) alters perspectives, making us consider that factors which negatively impact on individual well-being, including the abuse of vulnerable members of society, indicate systemic problems which need systemic solutions such as the introduction of the ‘well-being principle’ to social policy.

The well-being principle underpins the Care Act (2014) and seeks to ensure social care support and services in England and Wales, increase well-being, enabling personal dignity and the exercise of choice and control. This represents human rights, person-centred approach which is strengths rather than deficit based. Its relevance reaches beyond social care and by adopting this stance in our interpersonal as well as professional relationships we can start to address some of the negative stereotypes which are linked to old age and ageing, and which can contribute to de-humanised approaches to care.

Elder abuse should be a topic that we all feel we have a stake in, and as such is in all our interests to tackle.

Dr Lee-Ann Fenge and Sally Lee

References

United Nations, Department of Economic and Social Affairs, Population Division (2015) World Population Prospects: The 2015 Revision. Available from https://esa.un.org/unpd/wpp/publications/files/key_findings_wpp_2015.pdf [Accessed 13/06/16]

Wilkinson, D. and Pickett, 2010. The Spirit Level. London: Penguin.

http://www.ons.gov.uk/peoplepopulationandcommunity/healthandsocialcare/healthandlifeexpectancies

Seminar today: Dr Marcellus Mbah,R301, 13:00-14:00

Awarded & submitted bids, BRIAN, BU research, Centre for Excellence in Learning, Coffee Morning, conferences, Events, Fusion, HEIF, Knowledge Exchange, Knowledge Exchange and Impact Team, PG research, Research Ethics, staff profile pages, student research, Uncategorized

All welcome to the seminar happening today. Room R301 (Royal London House), 13:00-14:00. Feel free to bring your lunch with you.

 

An exploration into the dynamics of being an international student and the complexities surrounding their placement and employability prospects

Abstract

The experience of students gaining work placement has become an integral part of the United Kingdom (UK) Higher Education (HE) system in an attempt to help prepare students for the world of work. Whilst much has been written about this subject, the majority of the research centres on the UK domicile learner. Considering the importance of the HE internationalisation agenda, the drive to increase the recruitment numbers of international students (IS) and the fact that the need to gain work experience extends to include IS, there is little published literature which explores the work placement experiences from an international student perspective. This presentation reports on an instrumental case study which explored the experiences of IS with a view to understanding the challenges they face identifying, securing and successfully completing a work placement. Findings suggest substantial challenges exist and a framework is proposed to help the university improve the international students’ placement experience and employability prospects.

 

Marcellus is Research Fellow in the Centre for Excellence in Learning at Bournemouth University. His involvement in the Centre touches on some of the key areas in the discipline of Education such as University Community Engagement, Graduate Employability and Education for Sustainable Development.

If you have any queries about Social Science Seminar Series, please get in touch with Dr Mastoureh Fathi (mfathi@bournemouth.ac.uk).

 

 

New publication Carol Bond & Osman Ahmed

BU research, international, Publishing, Research news, writing

Bond+AhmedThe week saw the publication of a new book by Elsevier (June 9th) Health Through Social Media which contains a chapter by FHSS staff Drs Carol Bond and Osman Ahmed called ‘Patient Empowerment Through Social Media’.    Carol and Osman have a wide-ranging experience in researching and publishing about e-health, m-health and social media.  They co-authored this topical chapter with a colleague in Australia.

Congratulations!chp Bond Ahmed

Prof. Edwin van Teijlingen

CMMPH

 

 

 

BU’s PhD student Isabell Nessel attending the UK Association for Milk Banking annual training day in London, 8th of June

BU research, conferences, Events, PG research

UKAMB Training Day2

The UK Association for Milk Banking (UKAMB) recently held their annual training day in London (Picture: Isabell and UKAMB’s Trustee Chair Ann McCrea). Mostly, milk bank staff were present; however, the training day is also open to anyone interested in human milk banking. Therefore, milk donors, medical researchers, midwives, neonatal nurses and clinicians were also in attendance. The presentations included current topics such as the Zika virus and the implications for milk banking, new guidance on decontamination of breast milk pumps and an update of ongoing research at donor milk banks.

As part of this, I presented my proposed donor milk bank survey, which is part of my PhD at BU. I received a great deal of helpful feedback and support from UKAMB and the audience. It was a great opportunity to get more insights into human milk banking and ongoing research in the UK and to network with potenital participants of the survey and possible future collaborators. Thanks to Bournemouth University for the funding, which made my attendance possible!

A big thank you also goes to Gillian Weaver and UKAMB for the invitation,UKAMB and this great, informative day! If you would like to find out more about human milk banking in the UK or want to become a milk donor visit UKAMB’s website at http://www.ukamb.org/.

If you would like to learn more about our research, please feel free to contact me at inessel@bournemouth.ac.uk

Isabell

BU-Nepal link highlighted

BU research, international, Publishing, Uncategorized, writing

Talbot Himalayans 2016This week BU’s work in Nepal was highlighted in several ways.  Most publicly on the wonderful new mural at Talbot Campus.  Secondly, BU currently displays some of the entries of images to the past two years of its research photo competition.  The photos show the creativity of BU’s academics and students as well as the fascinating range of research taking place at the university.  One of these pictures was taken by FHSS Visiting Faculty Dr. Bibha Simkhada during fieldwork in Dhading, Nepal.  The selected photos are on display in the Atrium Art Gallery until the 13th of June.  Helicopter Dhading

Last, but not least, another FHSS Visiting Faculty, Poole Hospital NHS Foundation Trust midwife Jillian Ireland published a blog on her involvement in the THET-funded project in Nepal.  She reflects on her time as UK volunteer in Nepal.  Jilly wrote: ” Three volunteers Andrea Lawrie, David Havelock and I are keen to share what we experienced in a paper sometime soon and today I will condense some of my own reflections. I wrote ‘letters’ (via email) to my Head of Midwifery, Sandra Chitty and to Senior Lecturer in Midwifery at Bournemouth University Dr. Jen Leamon while I was away, using different styles of expression to ‘get at’ my reflections from more than one angle. It helped me to separate out elements of the whole experience.”

Prof. Edwin van Teijlingen

CMMPH

Could Bournemouth be a ‘Green Capital of Europe’?

Business Engagement, Festival of Learning

Our Festival of Learning event (27th June), in partnership with colleagues from Bournemouth Borough Council, will consider this question and explore a vision for developing green talent, sustainable business, and a sustainable city – a virtuous circle!

We shall showcase the leadership role of BU, in relation to sustainable development (education, research, community) and particularly our work to achieve EcoCampus Platinum. We shall also feature the MSc Green Economy – a course which is producing exceptional post-grads who are engaging with amazing projects.

Chris Shephard, Head of Economic Development & Sustainability at Bournemouth Borough Council will provide an update on activities, including the Compact of Mayors, the Earth Charter and work to take sustainability forward. We are already doing a lot locally (the Sustainable Food Partnership and Sustainable Fish City, for example) but are we doing enough of the right things? How do we capture and promote endeavours?

Dr Simon Cripps will talk about natural capital in the context of development planning, both of infrastructure and building, but also of development and growth projects.

Edmund Taylor, Environmental Barrister and Chair of the Sustainable Business Leadership Group (SBLG) will introduce the thinking that led to the formation of the group (we owe thanks to Lee Green), and suggest ways that others might engage. Synergies arise when business leaders work together to share practice and innovation; the group has already catalysed networking and learning.

Following formal presentations, breakout sessions will consider how we build capacity, develop leadership for sustainable development and make a step-change in valuing and contributing to natural capital.  Could we, for example report on natural capital in our Annual Reports? A valuable outcome from the event would be to have a clearer understanding of how we develop a greener economy and work towards branding ourselves as a Sustainable City – gaining the award ‘Green Capital of Europe’ at some point in the future, would be something to be proud of!

Places are free.

To book a place please register at:

https://microsites.bournemouth.ac.uk/festival-of-learning/events/building-a-sustainable-city-how-can-business-leadership-create-a-greener-bournemouth/