BU Research Blog

5 July 2016

BU academics launch EU Referendum Analysis report within ten days of the vote

Knowledge Exchange, Public engagement, Publishing Daniel Jackson

We are very pleased to announce the publication of “EU Referendum Analysis 2016: Media, Voters and the Campaign”, edited by Daniel Jackson, Einar Thorsen (both BU) and Dominic Wring (Loughborough University).

Featuring 80 contributions from 100 leading UK academics, this publication captures the immediate thoughts, reflections and early research insights on the 2016 Referendum on UK Membership of the European Union from the cutting edge of media and politics research.

Published 10 days after the election, these contributions are short and accessible. Authors provide authoritative analysis of the campaign, including research findings or new theoretical insights; to bring readers original ways of understanding the referendum and its consequences. Contributions also bring a rich range of disciplinary influences, from political science to fan studies, journalism studies to advertising.

The publication is available as a downloadable PDF, as a website and as a printed report.

We are hosting an invitation only launch event at the House of Commons (18 July) and an open event on Brexit in Leicester (IAMCR pre-conference, 27 July).

You can register for the conference here:
https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/the-brexit-campaign-2016-uk-referendum-on-membership-of-european-union-tickets-24771805136

EU Referendum Analysis website:
http://www.referendumanalysis.eu

Direct PDF download:
http://bit.ly/EUReferendumAnalysis2016_Jackson-Thorsen-and-Wring_v1

Thanks to all of our contributors and production staff who helped make the quick turnaround possible. We hope it makes for a vibrant and engaging read!

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Introduction: the Brexit campaign (Daniel Jackson, Einar Thorsen and Dominic Wring)

Section 1: Context
1. EEC/EU campaigning in long-term perspective (Jay Blumler)
2. From Super-Market to Orwellian Super-State: the origins and growth of newspaper scepticism (Dominic Wring)
3. Understanding the role of the mass media in the EU Referendum (Mike Berry)
4. Brexit: the destruction of a collective good (Chris Gifford)
5. How the Brexit outcome has changed our understanding of referendums (John Fitzgibbon)
6. The referendum and Britain’s broken immigration politics (Andrew Geddes)
7. The great miscalculation: David Cameron’s renegotiation and the EU Referendum campaign (Andrew Glencross)

Section 2: Politics
8. Rhetoric of excess (James Martin)
9. Myth versus fact: are we living in a post-factual democracy?(Susan Banducci and Dan Stevens)
10. Destroying and building democracy, a German view(Catherine Goetze)
11. Remembrance of Referendums Past: Scotland in the campaign (Michael Higgins)
12. Public personalities in the EU debate: Elites vs. the majority and Bullingdon resurgent(Nathan Farrell)
13. Healthier ever after? The NHS as a campaign issue (Tamara Hervey)
14. Wales, immigration, news media and Brexit (Kerry Moore)
15. The referendum campaign and the public’s constitutional understanding (David Yuratich)
16. The EU referendum and the Country of Origin principle (COO) (Irini Katsirea)
17. Calming the storm: fighting falsehoods, fig leaves and fairy tales (Alan Renwick, Matthew Flinders and Will Jennings)

Section 3: News
18. The press and the Referendum campaign (David Levy, Billur Aslan and Diego Bironzo)
19. The narrow agenda: how the news media covered the Referendum (David Deacon, John Downey, Emily Harmer, James Stanyer and Dominic Wring)
20. Newspapers’ editorial opinions during the referendum campaign (Julie Firmstone)
21. Brexit ‘mansplained’: news coverage of the EU Referendum (Emily Harmer)
22. Scrutinising statistical claims and constructing balance: television news coverage of the 2016 EU Referendum (Stephen Cushion and Justin Lewis)
23. Regulated equivocation: the referendum on radio (Guy Starkey)
24. Referendum night goings on (Stephen Coleman)
25. The view from across the pond: Brexit on American media (Filippo Trevisan)
26. A victory of the nation state: the EU Referendum in the Southern European press (Iñaki Garcia-Blanco)

Section 4: Journalism
27. How our mainstream media failed democracy (Steven Barnett)
28. Divided Britain? We were already divided… (Des Freedman)
29. Deliberation, distortion and dystopia: the news media and the referendum (Charlie Beckett)
30. UK newspapers and the EU Referendum: Brexit or Bremain?(Oliver Daddow)
31. X marks the spot but the Ys have it: Referendum coverage as a boys’ own story (Karen Ross)
32. Mind the gap: the language of prejudice and the press omissions that led a people to the precipice (Paul Rowinski)
33. ‘They don’t understand us’: UK journalists’ challenges of reporting the EU (Anna Wambach)
34. Bending over backwards: the BBC and the Brexit campaign (Ivor Gaber)
35. Bums gone to Iceland: England, Brexit and Euro 2016 (Roger Domeneghetti)
36. It’s the ‘primary definers’, stupid! (Chris Roberts)
37. Brexit: inequality, the media and the democratic deficit (Natalie Fenton)

Section 5: Campaign and Political Communication
38. Why facts did matter in the campaign (Christoph Meyer)
39. Less a soap opera, more a fantasy drama? (John Street)
40. The rhetoric of the EU Referendum campaign (Andrew S. Crines)
41. A (very) brief period of Habermasian bliss (Mick Temple)
42. The toxicity of discourse: reflections on UK political culture following the EU Referendum (Katy Parry)
43. Britishness and Brexit (Frances Smith)
44. Neither tackling lies nor making the case: the Remain side (Kirsty Hughes)
45. Break-point for Brexit? How UKIP’s image of ‘hate’ set race discourse reeling back decades (James Morrison)
46. Referendum campaign broadcasts on television: A generational clash? (Vincent Campbell)
47. Interaction and ‘the floor’ in the televised debates of the EU referendum campaign(Sylvia Shaw)
48. Comedy clubs offered a better quality of debate than the political stage (Sophie Quirk)
49. ‘Project Art’ versus ‘Project Fear’: the art establishment against Brexit (Matt Hills)
50. Notes for editors: what the campaign press releases tell us about Vote Leave and Britain (Paula Keaveney)

Section 6: Parties
51. The triumph and tribulations of Conservative Euroscepticism(Philip Lynch)
52. Celebrity politicians and populist media narratives: the case of Boris Johnson (Mark Wheeler)
53. ‘Tuck your shirt in!’ It’s going to be a bumpy ride: Boris Johnson’s swerve to Brexit (Candida Yates)
54. ‘Conservative party future?’ Party disunity, the media and the EU Referendum (Anthony Ridge-Newman)
55. Cameron and the Europe question: Could it have ended any other way? (Tristan Martin)
56. The Liberal Democrats: the EU Referendum’s invisible party (Andrew Russell)
57. The Durham miners’ role in Labour’s culture wars (Eunice Goes)
58. The immigration debate: Labour versus Leave in the battle to win public trust (Thom Brooks)
59. The age of Nigel: Farage, the media, and Brexit (Neil Ewen)

Section 7: Social Media
60. Leave versus Remain: the digital battle (Andrew Mullen)
61. The results are in and the UK will #Brexit: What did social media tell us about the UK’s EU referendum? (Clare Llewellyn and Laura Cram)
62. Automatic polling using Computational Linguistics: more reliable than traditional polling? (Massimo Poesio, John Bartle, Jacqueline Bechet, Fabio Celli, Carmelo Ferrante, Marc Poch, Hugo Zaragoza and Giuseppe Riccardi)
63. Impact of social media on the outcome of the EU referendum (Vyacheslav Polonski)
64. Talking past each other: the Twitter campaigns (Simon Usherwood and Katharine Wright)
65. Political memes and polemical discourse: the rise of #usepens (Mary Mitchell)
66. E-newsletters, persuasion and the referendum (Nigel Jackson)
67. United by what divides us: 38 Degrees and the EU Referendum (James Dennis)
68. Boris, Brexit or bust (Alec Charles)

Section 8: Voters
69. What explains the failure of ‘Project Fear’? (Jane Green)
70. Workers rights in the EU and out: social class and the trade unions’ contribution to the debate (Jen Birks)
71. ‘I want my country back’: Emotion and Englishness at the Brexit ballotbox (Russell Foster)
72. Mixed feelings: how citizens expressed their attitudes towards the EU (Darren G. Lilleker)
73. ‘We want our country back’ – stop sneering, start listening (Michael Skey)
74. Young people in a changing Europe: British youth and Brexit 2016 (Matt Henn and Darren Sharpe)
75. Bonfires and Brexterity: what’s next for women? (Charlotte O’Brien)
76. The ‘Referendum Bubble’: what can we learn from EU campaign polling? (Louise Thompson)
77. Did the EU Referendum boost youth engagement with politics? (Stuart Fox and Sioned Pearce)
78. Campaign frames in the Brexit referendum (Sofia Vasilopoulou)
79. The emotional politics of the EU Referendum: Bregrexit and beyond (Karin Wahl-Jorgensen)

5 July 2016

New paper FHSS Dr. Sarah Collard

PG research, Publishing, writing Edwin van Teijlingen

Congratulations to Dr. Sarah Collard on her latest paper ‘The psychosocial impact of exercising with epilepsy: A narrative analysis’ in Epilepsy & Behavior. The paper offers valuable insight into the psychosocial benefits of and barriers to exercising with epilepsy and draw attention to the individual differences in how a person with epilepsy copes with uncontrolled seizures and their impact on his/her exercise routine. This knowledge can lead to future research in exploring how a person with epilepsy can overcome these barriers to exercise and encourage more people with epilepsy to enjoy the benefits of exercise.

Congratulations!

Prof. Edwin van Teijlingen

CMMPH

4 July 2016

New HSS PhD paper!

BRIAN, PG research, Publishing, student research aharding

HSS PhD student Andrew Harding and fellow authors Jonathan Parker, Sarah Hean and Ann Hemingway have recently had a paper accepted for publication in Social Policy & Society, the sister publication to the Journal of Social Policy and run by the Social Policy Association.

A critical yet under-researched area, the paper presents a comprehensive literature review that critiques current research on the outcome/impact of information and advice on welfare. A realist evaluation approach is then proposed as being capable to address critical weaknesses in existing research.

Among other areas that are covered, the paper provides an overview of the importance of information and advice in the context of the marketisation of UK welfare provision and a new ‘efficacy framework’ is developed which can be used to assess the scope of research.

A final draft post-refereeing version of the paper will be uploaded to BRIAN in due course.

4 July 2016

Dr. Dinusha Mendis invited to present her research at the House of Lords and at a leading London Law Firm

Business Engagement, conferences, Post-award, Public engagement cippm

House of Lords1 In the last few months, Dr. Dinusha Mendis, Associate Professor in Law and Co-Director of the Centre for Intellectual Property Policy and Management (CIPPM) was invited to speak at the House of Lords and deliver a keynote speech at a leading London Law Firm, Herbert Smith Freehills. The invited talks involved disseminating her recent research into the intellectual property (IP) implications of 3D printing.

Earlier this year, Dr. Mendis was invited by Herbert Smith Freehills LLP, to deliver a keynote speech at their annual Intellectual Property Update Conference . The event attended by over a 100 delegates, included companies such as BBC, BT, Lloyds Banking Group, Barclays, Jaguar Land Rover, Sky Plc, Sony, PLC Thomson Reuters, Oxford University Press, Walt Disney, Warner Bros Entertainment, Wellcome Trust and Unilever to name a few.

Dr. Mendis delivered the keynote speech on ‘The Challenges and Opportunities Presented by 3D Printing’. In delivering the keynote, Dr. Mendis spoke about the research carried out for the UK Intellectual Property Office Commissioned project, which was completed in 2015, whilst also giving an insight into the research being carried out at present.

The IP Update Conference was chaired by Mark Shillito (Partner, Head of Disputes, UK and US; and Global Head of Intellectual Property).

Further information on the presentations and the speakers can be found on the Conference programme.

Herbert Smith Freehills LLP is an award-winning leading London law firm which has 24 offices spanning Europe, US, Asia, Australasia and the Middle East.

During Spring 2016, Dr. Mendis was invited to present her research on 3D printing in the context of its impact of emerging technologies copyright and software at the House of Lords, Palace of Westminster.

The event was organised by Mr. Julian Hobbins, Deputy Chairman of the Federation Against Software Theft (FAST) and hosted by Lord Tim Clement-Jones (Spokesperson for Creative Industries) of the House of Lords.

Dr. Mendis’s presentation titled ‘3D Printing, Copyright and Software: What is the Mischief’? explored the intellectual property implications surrounding Computer-Aided Design (CAD) files needed for 3D printing and the legal position from a UK and European perspective.

Other speakers on the day included Mr. Richard Bach, Assistant Director of the Cyber Security Digital Economy Unit DCMS and Mr. Richard Pharro, CEO at APMG – Cyber Essentials.

1 July 2016

Taking Tear Gas on Tour

Fusion, Fusion Investment Fund, Knowledge Exchange, Post-award afeigenbaum

Our French samples of CS gas would leave our audience feeling sick, so for now we stick to power points when our tear gas research hits the road. Since the new year, members of Bournemouth University’s Civic Media team have had the opportunity to travel all around the country giving talks and workshops at UK Universities. Our Tear Gas project brings together academics, NGOs and digital designers to respond to the need for more publicly accessible information regarding tear gases’ effects on human life, animals and environments. We also consult and advise with organisation’s like Amnesty International on the policies and practices associated with the tear gas trade to help support human rights work around the world.

In February project lead Dr. Feigenbaum was invited to talk at the University of York as part of their Social and Political Sciences speaker series. Then it was over to the University of Sussex in early March, sharing two of our Fusion Funded BU Datalabs projects on Mapping Tear Gas and RiotIDs. Later in March, Dr. Feigenbaum headed into London for an invited talk on ‘Tear Gas and Other Media‘ at the University of Westminster. Then the whole team went up North in April for a RiotID workshop hosted by the University of Sheffield‘s Crick Centre as part of an ESRC Seminar Series. Postgraduate students and Senior Research Assistants Oz Demirkol and Daniel Weissmann, as well as URA Laura McKenna helped deliver a co-creation workshop alongside industry graphic design partner Minute Works and our NGO partner Omega Research Foundation.

To explore the innovative methodology our project employs, combining investigative and data journalism practices, in early May we teamed up with Kings College London‘s new Centre for Digital Culture to host a two-day investigative research workshop, bringing together academics, NGOs and journalist from around Europe. The event was co-sponsored by both MeCCSA Social Movement Network and the Political Science Association, as well as by our research groups at BU. Later that month we were back on the train headed for Keele University’s Media Environments workshop in May. Dr. Feigenbaum and Minute Works co-designed an interactive workshop using our Fusion model for how to turn research into information visualisations for making impact.

Then it was back to London in June for a double header of events on security and arms control at the University College London. First up was a paper presentation on the Wellcome Trust funded part of our research looking at the Communication of Medical Knowledge in Tear Gas History. This two day interdisciplinary and international event was hosted aat UCL’s Global Governance Institute. A symposium directly followed on History, Security and Arms Control that marked the end of Professor Brian Balmer’s AHRC project on the Biological Weapons Convention. Speaking to an audience of 50 academics, policy-makers and NGOs, Dr. Feigenbaum presented on ‘Communication Approaches to the History of Tear Gas’, highlighting how policy-based research can engage with new digital technologies, information design and digital storytelling to make meaningful interventions in arms control.

Up next, in July Dr. Feigenbaum and summer URA Lauren Weeks are heading to the International Association of Media and Communication‘s annual conference to present their paper on the project’s use of social media in addressing issues of policing and human rights. Then it’s time for a holiday!

Our Tear Gas project has brought Bournemouth University’s Fusion vision to universities around the country. This work grew out of two fusion-funded grant projects. It has benefited from Fusion’s cross-faculty collaborations, partner networking opportunities, and working with four URA students over the course of its three years. The fruits of this collaborative labour can be seen in the steady stream of invitations we receive to take our cross-partner, co-creation project on tour–sharing and inspiring about issues that matter.

1 July 2016

Why editorials?

international, Knowledge Transfer, open access, Publishing, Research Integritiy, writing Edwin van Teijlingen

BU 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.

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:

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/
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

30 June 2016

BU academics contribute to major report on the future of public service broadcasting

Knowledge Exchange, Public engagement Daniel Jackson

The Future for Public Service Television report, led by academics at Goldsmiths, University of London and chaired by Oscar-winning film producer Lord Puttnam, was published on Wednesday.

The Inquiry, launched in November 2015, has focused on the purposes of television in an era characterised by technological transformations, shifts in audience consumption habits, and changes in cultural and political attitudes. The report reflects on the extent to which the UK’s most popular television channels have addressed these issues and whether they continue to represent the interests and tell the stories of all the citizens of the UK. Above all, the report seeks to highlight the conditions that may allow for the production and circulation of high quality, creative and relevant public service content in these increasingly complex circumstances.

This Inquiry and report represent a major intervention in media policy, and features contributions from Dr Dan Jackson and Dr Einar Thorsen, both in the Faculty of Media and Communication at BU.

29 June 2016

New paper on Birthing Centres in Nepal

international, open access, PG research, Publishing, student research, writing Edwin van Teijlingen

Congratulations to Preeti Mahato in the Centre for Midwifery, Maternal & Perinatal Health (CMMPH) on the publication of a paper based on her Ph.D. research. Her paper ‘Birthing centres in Nepal: Recent developments, obstacles and opportunities’ can be found in the June 2016 edition of the Journal of Asian Midwives (JAM) [1]. All articles in JAM are Open Access to ensure midwives and researchers in the poorest parts of Asia can freely access the scientific articles in the journal.

This literature review was appraised the relevant literature on birthing centres in Nepal, South Asia, and other similar settings. Preeti and her co-authors concluded that birthing centres in Nepal have the potential to improve both (a) the institutional delivery rate; and (b) the proportion of births that benefit from the presence of a skilled birth attendant (SBA). However, accessibility, socio-demographic characteristics, and cultural factors act as barriers to pregnant women attending birthing centres and hospital facilities.

Preeti’s Ph.D. is supervised by Dr. Catherine Angell and Prof. Edwin van Teijlingen in CMMPH and Prof. Padam Simkhada at Liverpool John Moores University. Padam is also Visiting Faculty at the Faculty of Health & Social Sciences (FHSS).

Reference:

Mahato, P., van Teijlingen, E., Simkhada, P., Angell, C. (2016) Birthing centres in Nepal: Recent developments, obstacles and opportunities, Journal of Asian Midwives 3(1): 17-30.

27 June 2016

Interactive-Digital Storytelling Project in the community

Fusion, innovation, Public engagement James Pope

For five busy days in May, Faculty of Media and Communication academics Jim Pope, Brad Gyori, Kay Stonham, and Rutherford worked with local youngsters to produce a fully-working, online interactive narrative. Using a bespoke software package (Genarrator) developed within FMC with Fusion funding, five young people at the AIM community arts centre, Kinson, created a twisty tale of cyber-romance.

The project was a collaboration between FMC, and the staff at AIM central, the Bournemouth hub designed to give opportunities for self-expression and personal growth via performing arts, to unemployed teens, at-risk children, young offenders, and local young people more broadly. Jim Pope liaised with AIM leaders, Celeste Engel and Richard Newland, to bring together five young people, three of whom were ‘NEETS’, to work as a group to create a narrative that would blend film, words, music, graphics, and online interactivity. With a varied skill set, Brad (scripting and filming), Kay (scripting) and Rutherford (photography) were able to catalyse the enthusiasm and abilities of the young people, and from a standing start a plot emerged: all the writing, filming, recording, photography, and Genarrator design was completed in the five days that were allocated at the centre.

With support from the Centre for the Study of Journalism, Culture and Community, we were also able to involve three of our BA Multi-Media Journalism students, who documented the whole week, and have produced a short video of the event. See the You Tube video here: https://youtu.be/PSSvcKL3GbU

See the finished interactive narrative here: http://genarrator.org/view/7jf4el44s70pvpgy

Given the success of this small project, Jim and the AIM team are discussing funding sources to develop a larger project which can give opportunities to more BU undergraduates and more young people from the community.

24 June 2016

Best paper award!

international, open access, PG research, Publishing, student research, writing Edwin van Teijlingen

Best 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.

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.

21 June 2016

Eating and drinking well: Supporting people living with dementia – impact at national events

Public engagement, Research themes brooksc

Dr Jane Murphy and Joanne Holmes have continued their impact work of their project ‘Eating and drinking well: Supporting people living with dementia’ at a number of national events recently. They spoke alongside other leading dementia experts at Dementia 2020 in Manchester, the Alzheimer’s Show at Olympia in London and the AGE UK /LSE/NHS England interactive workshops on dignity and nutrition for older people in hospital Age UK/NHS England in London and Leeds. For more information: click here

Taken together with other work, it has resulted in a significant amount of interest from the health and social care sectors leading to the successful dissemination and evaluation of the training material developed through the research. Quote from a registered care home manager who completed the training:

” …we have now revolutionised our meal times and this has proven to be of great success, in the few short weeks of implementing this we have observed and recorded an increase in weight with the majority of our residents and a more sociable and interactive feel that surrounds our mealtimes.”

For more details please visit our website here

Please click here to The Alzheimer’s Show

Please click here to Age UK

Please click here to Dementia 2020 North

20 June 2016

The various forms of terrorist violence

Public engagement brichards

The murder of Jo Cox MP last week draws our attention to neglected dimensions of the problem of ‘radicalisation’. While a threat of neo-Nazi terrorist activity has existed in Britain for some time, we have tended – for understandable reasons – to use this term only in connection with the recruitment of young Muslims to violent takfiri Islamism. As yet only very little is publicly known about her killer and his motives, but the evidence we have, including that that he chose to present his action as political, suggests two things. One is that the ‘radicalisation’ of individuals (whatever that process is) to the point where they become capable of murder is not only a problem of Islamism. The other is that the mental health factor in today’s terrorisms cannot now be ignored.

Sadly, the topic of the third BU ‘Dialogue in the Social Sciences’ now has added urgency. To be held at 5.15 on Wednesday 22 June, in the EBC, the title of this public event is ‘Radicalisation: what is it and what threat does it pose?’ Professor Matthew Feldman of Teesside University is an expert on the Far Right; he will be joined by Emma el-Badawy of the University of Exeter and Dr Usama Hasan of the counter-radicalisation organisation the Quilliam Foundation, both experts on violent Islamism. Professor Barry Richards will be in the chair.

To register for a free ticket: https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/dialogues-in-the-contemporary-social-sciences-22-june-tickets-25949415400

19 June 2016

Announcing the first WAN Book Launch

Fusion, Public engagement, Publishing, Women's Academic Network Sara Ashencaen Crabtree

First WAN book launch

Sara Ashencaen Crabtree, Heather Savigny & Jaeyeon Choe

The Women’s Academic Network (WAN) is heading towards its 3^rd birthday in the Autumn. During that time we’ve put on many events designed to inspire our members, air and discuss concerns, build confidence, offer support and undertake research. We’ve heard some extraordinary speakers like feminist godmother, Germaine Greer, and courageous polar explorer, Felicity Aston.

Now it’s time to celebrate our own remarkable female colleagues. So where better to look for inspiration than the University of Cambridge book focusing on insights from their female dons in The Meaning of Success. Consequently next academic year we are planning to create a WAN publication of what women’s success looks like at BU, which will be used for general use across the university and beyond.

To embark on this new journey we were delighted to hold the first WAN book launch in May to celebrate the recent and important publications of three WAN colleagues. Professor Candida Yates is the author of The Play of Political Culture, Emotion & Identity , a highly intriguing and original socio-political-psychoanalytic analysis of relationships made and manipulated between the viewer and the political media ‘personality’.

Dr Bronwen Thomas, Associate Professor, has produced a ground-breaking textbook entitled Narrative: the basics. This volume draws from her extensive teaching practice to bring together a wealth of theoretical material to explain the diverse forms of and models underpinning fictional narrative.

Finally, Dr Julia Round, Principal Lecturer, has produced a marvellously eye-catching monograph with obvious wide readership appeal: Gothic in Comics & Graphic Novels Here the interface between comics and the gothic is examined through multiple analytic lenses.

Which brings us most appropriately to an early preview about The Shelley-Frankenstein Festival, 7^thNovember ~ WAN is delighted to be part of the launch of this new and innovative Bournemouth-wide festival with 2 public engagement seminars planned at BU. Stakeholders include St Peter’s Town Centre Parish Church, Bournemouth County Council, AUB, Shelley Theatre, artists and musicians. More details to follow.

19 June 2016

FoL debate pregnancy & alcohol

Delicious links, Festival of Learning, Knowledge Transfer, PG research, student research Edwin van Teijlingen

We are preparing a lively debate on the motion: “Advising pregnant women to avoid drinking alcohol during pregnancy is symptom of the Nanny State and another step towards the medicalisation of childbirth”. The venue for this event is the Executive Business School on 89, Holdenhurst Road. Members of the public, staff and students are invited to come along on Tuesday 28th June 13.30-14.30!

The UK Government state there is no known safe level for drinking alcohol in pregnancy. Therefore, it recently changed the official recommendation to pregnant women avoid drinking any alcohol as a precaution. In doing so the UK follows countries like Canada, where a similar recommendation has been in place for over a decade. At the same time one can ask whether such approach undermines a woman’s right to make an informed choice regarding the health of her unborn child. Some would argue that is represents yet another step towards the medicalisation of childbirth.

Faculty of Health & Social Sciences’ staff Liz Norton and Edwin van Teijlingen affiliated with the Centre for Midwifery, Maternal & Perinatal Health and will argue in favour of the motion. Donna Wixted, Joint Bournemouth University (BU)-Portsmouth Hospitals NHS Trust, doctoral student and Greta Westwood of Portsmouth Hospitals NHS Trust & the University of Southampton will argue against the motion.

The audience will be asked to vote for or against the motion, both before and after the debate, to see if the debate has helped anybody in making up their mind. Our debate will be chaired by Prof. Vanora Hundley from the Faculty of Health & Social Sciences. In previous Festival of Learning events she has been involved in various debates around childbirth, such as The media is responsible for creating fear in childbirth and the year before that on Caesarean Section on demand under the title Intervention in childbirth: What’s wrong with letting women choose?

The debate is part of BU’s annual Festival of Learning which this year for the first time has satellite events in China and Malaysia.

If you are interested to come along please book your free ticket here! The Executive Business School is easy to find on 89, Holdenhurst Road near Bournemouth Railway Station.

Donna Wixted, Liz Norton, Greta Westwood, Vanora Hundley & Edwin van Teijlingen

17 June 2016

New collaborative Nepal paper

international, open access, Publishing, student research Edwin van Teijlingen

Today BU staff and post-graduate students published our latest diabetes paper. In the International Journal of Food, Nutrition and Public Health (IJFNPH) publish by the World Association for Sustainable Development (WASD) you’ll find ‘Diabetes prevention and management in South Asia: a call for action‘.

The lead BU author is Dr. Pramod Regmi. he is joint by Faculty of Health & Social Sciences (FHSS) PhD student Ms. Folashade Alloh as well as Prof. Edwin van Teijlingen of the Centre for Midwfiery, Maternal & Perinatal Health (CMMPH). Further national and international co-authors are: Dr. Om Kurmi based at the Nuffield Department of Population Health, University of Oxford; Dr. Nirmal Aryal, from the Department of Medicine, University of Otago, New Zealand; Dr.Puspa Raj Pant based at the Centre for Child and Adolescent Health, University of the West of England; and Amrit Banstola based in the Faculty of Health and Applied Sciences, also at the University of the West of England.

The paper can be found here! Please note, you need to be a WASD member to login and download this paper. Once you are logged in you will see a ‘Download’ button in the box above. If you do not have a login, you can register to join WASD free of charge.

15 June 2016

World Elder Abuse Awareness Day 15th June 2016

elanng

Today 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

15 June 2016

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

Awarded & submitted bids, BRIAN, Centre for Excellence in Learning, Coffee Morning, conferences, Fusion, HEIF, Knowledge Exchange, PG research, Research Ethics, staff profile pages, student research Mastoureh Fathi

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).

14 June 2016

New publication Carol Bond & Osman Ahmed

international, Publishing, writing Edwin van Teijlingen

The 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!

Prof. Edwin van Teijlingen

CMMPH

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