8 October 2015

BU and Precision Acoustics work together on high-impact NDT software programme

Awarded & submitted bids, Business Engagement, Fusion, Knowledge Exchange, Knowledge Transfer rgunstone

It is estimated that some 30% of airline engines worldwide are analysed using PA’s current-generation technologies to detect fan blade defects

A team from the Faculty of Science and Technology, led Professor Siamak Noroozi and Dr Richard Gunstone, have successfully obtained a Grant Offer Letter (GOL) for a high-impact KTP working with Precision Acoustics Limited (Dorset).

In this blog post we discuss some of the background to this KTP, and objectives.

Precision Acoustics (PA) manufactures acoustic measurement products for the medical and Non Destructive Testing (NDT) industries and is well established as a major supplier of equipment for the (MHz) ultrasound markets world-wide. PA has a close working relationship with the National Physical Laboratory, London, and academic establishments across the UK to further R&D.

The company’s core products are acoustics measuring devices. The company already has a significant share of the world market in this area, and is now embarking on innovative industrial NDT systems working on a number of precursor projects including with Rolls Royce. The longer term objective can only be achieved if PA introduces a software capability able to devise, maintain and develop a development process that has the expected attributes of resilience, performance and integrity, supporting product deployment. This is the principal focus for the KTP, capitalising on the capability in systems design, software, and assurance within BU.

The diagnostic systems work at PA are being developed and used in numerous applications, including malaria detection. It is estimated that some 30% of commercial airliners globally use the technologies developed by PAL for analysing defects in engine fan blades, for example. Due to the inherent nature of NDT systems and the potential application areas, these application areas are likely to have societal relevance and high-impact.

A great deal of effort has been spent in designing the project to be flexible and comprehensive. This has been made possible by the capable contribution of Norman Stock, the Faculty Business Relations Officer. He has worked closely with the academic staff and also the company to present a suitable proposal to Innovate UK, who are part-funding the collaboration.

In terms of project design, the KTP incorporates the new “KTP laydown” of an integrated MRes opportunity for the Associate, combined with expectations of research activity leading to co-authored papers. This provides a route for knowledge transfer of expertise from the university to the company, in a way that delivers advantages for all stakeholders.

We look forward to providing further reports on our collaboration with PA as time progresses.

In terms of advice for others considering KTP funding, Richard highlights a few relevant points:

“Engage early with the Business Relations Officer for your Faculty. Make sure deadlines are adhered to, including submission windows with Innovate UK. Finally, clarify the project plan as early as possible, including what is achievable in the project timescale – scoping is key”

8 October 2015

Creative, Digital, Design – October briefing now live !

Business Engagement, Funding opportunities, innovation, Knowledge Exchange jcodling

This is a monthly publication that provides a digest of useful information about funding, financing, support and events to assist creative, digital and design businesses with their innovation and growth strategies.

You can sign up to receive the newsletter in your inbox or alternatively follow the Knowledge Transfer Network group on social media.

This is a great way to get a quick heads up on what is happening in these sectors with links to further information.

Click here for more information.

7 October 2015

Geographical Indications in the EU: policy options and future developments.

ncoppola

Centre for Intellectual Property Policy and Management (CIPPM) researcher Nicola Coppola recently hosted a symposium on “Geographical Indications in the EU: policy options and future developments’. The event, sponsored by Grana Padano and CIPPM, was attended by some of the main UK and European scholars in the field, as well as by experts from DEFRA, UK Intellectual Property Office and WIPO.

Law PGR Evangelia Papadaki and UG Law students Hannah Pateman and Edwin Osejindu, coordinated by Kerry Rowland-Hill from the Events office, helped with the organization of the symposium. The event also benefitted from the expertise of BU RKEO and of senior CIPPM members, including CIPPM Director Prof Maurizio Borghi, who opened the morning session.

The speakers and delegates explored various aspects of the EU legal schemes aimed at protecting those agricultural products which have a link with a geographic place, and the variety of legal challenges surrounding the proposed expansion of such schemes to non-agricultural products.

The symposium on GIs, the first for a long time in UK academia, generated new ideas to be explored, with the intention of working up one of these ideas as funding applications and co-authored publications.

More info, including the list of speakers, can be found on the CIPPM website at:

https://microsites.bournemouth.ac.uk/cippm/2015/09/11/symposium-geographical-indications-in-the-eu/

6 October 2015

Team BU develop game based app in just 24 hours

innovation, PG research cfarrance

Well done Team BU (Chi Zhang, Erika Borkoles, Sarah Collard, Gary Head, Barry Squires and Clare Farrance) for taking part in the Sport England hackathon* last weekend. We had just 24 hours to develop our concept and build a prototype app to help 18-25 year olds become more physically active.

We developed a location based game app called ‘Nudge’ and incorporated social gamification strategies to encourage sustained physical activity adherence. We also sought strategies to help those who are already active in this age group encourage their inactive peers to participate.

The hackathon was a great experience and an excellent opportunity to collaborate across BU faculties and services.

A special mention needs to go to Chi who programmed through the night to make sure we had a working prototype. Hiring an experienced flutter developer can save you a lot of time and money and enable developers to solve complex problems at the last minute.

The winning team will be announced at the Sports Technology Awards in April 2016 and awarded a bursary of £10,000 to help them build the app.

Well done Team BU and fingers crossed for next April!

* A hackathon is a portmanteau of the words “hack” and “marathon”, where “hack” is used in the sense of exploratory programming.

6 October 2015

ESRC Festival of Social Science, Financial Scamming Event, 10th November 2015

Info Days, Research themes swincewicz

Safeguarding Vulnerable Adults from Financial Scamming

Date: Tuesday 10th November 2015 9.45 – 3pm
Location: Hamworthy Club Ltd, Magna Rd, Wimborne BH21 3AP

The National Centre for Post-qualifying Social Work is pleased announce that it will be hosting a FREE event on safeguarding vulnerable adults from financial scamming as part of the ESRC Festival of Social Science.

Financial scamming and mass marketing fraud (MMF) are growing aspects of financial crime, and those working to protect vulnerable adults needs to develop increased awareness and understanding of the challenges it poses. The Office of Fair Trading estimates that UK consumers lose about £3.5 billion to scams each year. These threats take on many forms, including doorstep scams, phone scams, postal scams and increasingly scams via the internet.
This ESRC Festival of Social Science event will showcase recent research and best practice responses dealing with the threat posed by financial scams. This event will bring together staff from key agencies and the public to explore research and best practice to tackle this issue.

Speakers

Louise Baxter – The National Scams Team
‘The National Trading Standards Scam Team – What is being done to identify, protect and prevent future harm to victims of mass marketing fraud’

Sean Oliver – Croydon Council and Trish Burls Trading Standards
‘Safeguarding Social Work and Trading Standards, Joint Working: Research and Experiences from Croydon Council’

Rebecca Rogers – BU Cyber Security Unit
‘Protecting the vulnerable from cyber-crime’

Phil Mawhinney – Policy Officer – Consumer & Community, Age UK
Only the Tip of the Iceberg: Scams and Older People

After lunch there will be an opportunity to work with others to explore new ways of working together to tackle financial scams and to explore and the ways in which agencies can develop strategies to support vulnerable adults who are at risk or are victims of financial scams.

Staff from the National Centre for Post-qualifying Social Work will also showcase the recently updated National Safeguarding Framework for Adults

Places are limited and can be booked by CLICKING HERE

CLICK HERE to see the flyer, feel free to print it out and share with your colleagues.

For further information on the event please contact

Dr Lee-Ann Fenge – Deputy Director NCPQSW

lfenge@bournemouth.ac.uk

Reference

Office of Fair Trading (2009) The psychology of Scams, Office of Fair Trading: London

6 October 2015

CMMPH editorial in today’s Nepal Journal of Epidemiology

Awarded & submitted bids, Fusion, open access, Post-award, Publishing Edwin van Teijlingen

The current issue of the Nepal Journal of Epidemiology published today carries an editorial by a BU-led team of researchers and development workers. The editorial Mental health issues in pregnant women in Nepal highlights the intervention funded by THET which aims to improve the knowledge and attitude of maternity care workers in a rural district in the south of Nepal. The BU authors include Visiting Faculty: Padam Simkhada, Samridhi Pradham, Jillian Ireland and Bibha Simkhada, the other co-authors are affiliated with the charity we work with in Nepal (Ram Chandra Silwal), the Buddhist charity based in London Green Tara Trust (Padmadharini Fanning), and our Tribhuvan University based colleagues (Lokendra Sherchan, Shyam K Maharjan, and Ram K Maharjan.

This THET-funded project will involve over 15 UK short-term volunteers. It is important to bring UK volunteers, who as health professionals will bring their experience of, and training in, the provision of mental health and maternity/midwifery services including the area of mental ill health prevention and health promotion. These experienced health workers (such as midwives, family doctors, mental health nurses, health visitors, psychiatrists) from the UK are invited to volunteer for two to three weeks at a time to design and deliver training. The mixture of training staff abroad (= Education) by UK professionals (=Practice) through an intervention which is properly evaluated (=Research) is a perfect example of BU’s FUSION in action.

This project is supported by the Tropical Health & Education Trust (THET) as part of the Health Partnership Scheme, which is funded by the UK Department for International Development (DFID) and runs from this year May 1st until the autumn of 2016. The paper is freely available on line, click here!

Prof. Edwin van Teijlingen

CMMPH

Refererence:

van Teijlingen E, Simkhada P, Devkota B, Fanning P, Ireland J, Simkhada B, Sherchan L, Silwal CR, Pradhan S, Maharjan KS, Maharjan KS. Mental health issues in pregnant women in Nepal. Nepal J Epidemiol. 2015;5(3); 499-501.

1 October 2015

CIPPM Researchers Present at the European Policy for Intellectual Property (EPIP) Conference

PG research, Public engagement, Research themes cippm

The 10th Annual Conference of European Policy for Intellectual Property (EPIP) was hosted by CREATe, the RCUK Centre for Copyright and New Business Models in the Creative Economy at the University of Glasgow, on 2 and 3 September 2015.

Opening the conference in the beautiful setting of the Chapel, Professor Ian Hargreaves, Professor of Digital Economy and the author of ‘Digital Opportunity: A Review of IP and Growth’ delivered the keynote speech on ‘Copyright Wars: Frozen Conflict’ to which a thought-provoking response was delivered by MEP, Julia Reda (Greens/EFA Group/Pirate Party). The video of the keynote including the transcript and MEP Julia Reda’s response is available here.

During the 2-days, a number of Researchers from the Centre for Intellectual Property Policy and Management (CIPPM) including Maurizio Borghi, Dinusha Mendis, Ruth Towse, Marcella Favale and Sally Weston attended and presented at the conference.

Marcella Favale presented her paper co-authored with Martin Kretschmer and Paul Torremans Is There a EU Copyright Jurisprudence? An empirical analysis of the workings of the European Court of Justice.

Ruth Towse presented her paper on Copyright and business models in music publishing: the law and the market (as part of the AHRC-funded project Evolution in Music Publishing).

Maurizio Borghi presented on Crowdsourcing the orphan works problem (as part of the recently funded EnDOW project). The EnDOW Project is led by CIPPM and carried out in partnership with CREATe, University of Glasgow, ASK, University of Bocconi and IViR, University of Amsterdam.

Sally Weston presented on Encouraging interoperability by the sharing of interface information obtained by reverse engineering – as part of the research carried out for her PhD project.

Dinusha Mendis presented and led a panel on A Legal and Empirical Study into the Intellectual Property Implications of 3D Printing – Conclusions and Recommendations (as part of a project commissioned and funded by the UK Intellectual Property Office). The other panel members who also contributed to the commissioned project and presented on the Panel included Dr. Davide Secchi (University of Southern Denmark), Ms. Sophie Jones (Stratasys Strategic Consulting) and Ms. Pippa Hall of the UK Intellectual Property Office who spoke about next steps in relation to policy and reform in the area of 3D printing and IP Law.

In the same manner that the Conference commenced, the 2-day Conference was brought to a close by an equally excellent closing keynote speech by Professor Pamuela Samuelson, Richard M. Sherman Distinguished Professor of Law from Berkeley Law School. The closing keynote can be found here. Professor Samuelson spoke about the challenges and opportunities brought about evidence-based IP policy and concluded her keynote and the Conference by stating: “I think that evidence based IP policy is a theme worth pursuing. It’s not always going to win but it gives this community something useful to debate and to offer to policy makers. Like Julia Reda, I think reform is possible but it’s not going to be easy, and generational change will probably make more of a difference than anything we write today”.

1 October 2015

Paper ahead of its time?

Publishing Edwin van Teijlingen

Sometimes my co-authors and I wonder why a particular paper get more cited after a few years of publication. Is is because the paper and the research were are ahead of their time? Or is there simply a lag time between publication and other researchers publishing in the field finding your paper (or stumbling upon it perhaps)?

Take for example the following paper published in 2006 when I was still based in the Department of Public Health at the University of Aberdeen: Promoting physical activity in primary care settings: Health visitors’ and practice nurses’ views and experiences in the Journal of Advanced Nursing.[1]

Published in 2006 our paper was first cited in Scopus in 2007 (just once),three time in the following year (2008), five times in 2009 and then just a few times per year until this year. In 2015 we have six citations already and the year is not even finished.

We really wonder what lies behind that increased popularity of this 2006 paper.

Prof. Edwin van Teijlingen

CMMPH

Reference:

Douglas, F., van Teijlingen E.R., Torrance, N., Fearn, P., Kerr, A., Meloni, S. (2006) Promoting physical activity in primary care settings: Health visitors’ and practice nurses’ views and experiences Journal of Advanced Nursing, 55(2): 159-168.

1 October 2015

Positive Active Ageing Photo Exhibition

Public engagement cfarrance

I’m wondering if anyone would be interested in collaborating with me on a ‘Positive Active Ageing Photographic Exhibition’. The idea has come about through my PhD research where I have been fortunate enough to have met many older people who are really positive role models and are staying active by going to local community based group exercise programmes. I wanted to do something to showcase how important these programmes are and challenge some of the more negative views of ageing which can sometimes be portrayed.

I have had overwhelming enthusiasm about the idea from the exercise groups I’ve been working with and just wondered whether there are people in BU from other faculties who have also been working with active older people and would like to be involved in this event. Would love to hear from you if that’s the case. Please feel free to email me (Clare) on: cfarrance@bournemouth.ac.uk

(Image used with permission, Bromford Group. http://bit.ly/1Id23UH)

1 October 2015

Bournemouth University listed in top 800 global universities

REF Subjects, Research assessment Edwin van Teijlingen

Bournemouth University ranked just over the half way line in the top 800 universities in the world. Bournemouth University is in good company in the bracket (401-500) with other well-known universities such as the University of Cagliari (Italy), Charles University in Prague (Czech Republic), Curtin University (Australia), University of Waikato (New Zealand), Louisiana State University (USA) or the University of Tampere (Finland) to name but a few.

The full list of 800 universities is available here!

Prof. Edwin van Teijlingen

CMMPH

30 September 2015

Manuscript accepted from Dr. Regmi (FHSS)

Publishing Edwin van Teijlingen

Congratulations to BU’s Dr. Pramod Regmi on the acceptance of the manuscript: “Importance of health and social care research into gender and sexual minority populations in Nepal” by the Asia-Pacific Journal of Public Health.

Dr. Pramod Regmi is originally from Nepal and currently a post-doc researcher in the Faculty of Health & Social Sciences.

Prof. Edwin van Teijlingen

CMMPH

29 September 2015

Tsinghua University Collaborative Research Award

Fusion, PG research Zulfiqar Khan

Tsinghua University has awarded CNY 150K (approx. £15.5K) to support Zulfiqar Khan collaborative research in nano coatings incorporating corrosion for a multitude of industrial applications. The award will support his visit to the University, participate in collaborative research, developing a research proposal and delivering guest speaking.

Tsinghua University Beijing PR China is within the top two among well over 1,000 universities in China, it is ranked 49^th in Times Higher Education and 25^th in the World QS Ranking.

Zulfiqar has developed significant research collaboration with Tsinghua University‘s State Key Laboratory of Tribology Beijing PR China for several years in the area of design for durability through nano coatings within complex interacting systems & energy efficiency.

He has also established a match funded doctoral centre with National University of Sciences & Technology Islamabad, Pakistan in collaboration with the Higher Education Commission.

This programme has been kicked off by its first PhD student recruitment, who has already started to conduct research in “Energy Recovery at Thermodynamic Expansion and Thermal Boosting Through Convection in Flat Plate Solar Thermal Systems (FPSTS)”, a 2^nd PhD student to conduct research in “Developing Thin Film Nano-Composite Coatings for Advanced Industrial Applications” is under recruitment process and a 3^rd PhD studentship in “Development of thermally activated self-lubricated ceramic-based polymeric Nano composite coatings for enhanced performance in conventional lubricants under sliding contact” is currently being advertised.

He has also developed research collaborations with Ghulam Ishaq Khan Institute of Engineering Sciences & Technology Pakistan, & PES University Bangalore India and MoUs with these two institutions have been signed.

28 September 2015

Congratulations to Jib Acharya on his latest Ph.D. paper

PG research, Publishing Edwin van Teijlingen

Congratulations to FHSS Ph.D. student Jib Acharya on the publication of his latest paper on childhood nutrition in Nepal.[1] Mr. Acharya’s study included a cross-sectional, community-based survey of 524 mothers in one district of Nepal. These were mothers of young children aged 36-60 months who are no longer breastfed at the time. The questionnaire survey included: socio-demographic measurements, knowledge, beliefs and attitudes about nutritious food, as well as child feeding patterns, food recommendation, major barriers, food insecurity and health-seeking behaviours. Jib’s mixed-methods Ph.D. work is supervised by Dr. Jane Murphy, Dr. Martin Hind and Prof. Edwin van Teijlingen.

The study found that both urban and rural mothers lacked knowledge of what food is nutritious. Moreover, their attitudes and views appeared often ill informed. This study suggests that a different approach was needed because the public health problems are associated with behaviour. Thus, more attention should be paid to appropriate intervention of under-nutrition in poor communities like this one studied in Nepal.

Prof. Edwin van Teijlingen

CMMPH

Reference:

Acharya, J., van Teijlingen, E., Murphy, J., Hind, M. (2015) Assessment of knowledge, beliefs and attitudes towards healthy diet among mothers in Kaski, Nepal, Participation 17 (16): 61-72.

26 September 2015

FOOD HARVESTING FOR HEALTH AND WELLBEING

Awarded & submitted bids Edwin van Teijlingen

Researchers from the Faculty of Health and Social Sciences, Fotini Tsofliou, Angela Turner-Wilson, Anne Mills and Juliet Wiseman, working in collaboration with Sarah Watson (Sustainable Food City Partnership) received a Grants Academy Pilot Scheme Award from BU. This funding has enabled us to undertake some exciting new work in the field of Community Food Programmes (CFP). These are widely used services that support people to access food. However at present there is little information from the users on the role of CFPs in building the capacity of the community towards healthy eating.

Focus groups provided fascinating insights into people’s views around food growing in the community. For example, participants said:

“it’s (community gardens) really good for your mental health, your physical health, growing things and for the children as well ‘cos a lot of children think peas come from a pan or from the freezer.”

“they (children ) enjoyed harvesting.”

“yes and they’ve (children ) learnt they can and they’ve eaten them”

“if it brings people together kids take ownership of it”

Work continues with gaining understandings of the role of cooking classes and lunch clubs in relation to community’s health and wellbeing.

25 September 2015

Sustainable Development Goals summit today in New York

Edwin van Teijlingen

The Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) summit is being held today in New York. As part of this summit the pope will address the United Nations in NY as will Bill and Melinda Gates who run the largest private philantropic organisation in the world. The key underlying principles of the SDGs are: (a) reducing (or eradicating) poverty eradication; (b) changing unsustainable and promoting sustainable patterns of consumption and production; and (c) protecting and managing the natural resource base of economic and social development. The seventeen SDGs are outlined in Table 1.

Table 1 Sustainable Development Goals

Goal 1	End poverty in all its forms everywhere
Goal 2	End hunger, achieve food security and improved nutrition and promote sustainable agriculture
Goal 3	Ensure healthy lives and promote well-being for all at all ages
Goal 4	Ensure inclusive and equitable quality education and promote lifelong learning opportunities for all
Goal 5	Achieve gender equality and empower all women and girls
Goal 6	Ensure availability and sustainable management of water and sanitation for all
Goal 7	Ensure access to affordable, reliable, sustainable and modern energy for all
Goal 8	Promote sustained, inclusive and sustainable economic growth, full and productive employment and decent work for all
Goal 9	Build resilient infrastructure, promote inclusive and sustainable industrialization and foster innovation
Goal 10	Reduce inequality within and among countries
Goal 11	Make cities and human settlements inclusive, safe, resilient and sustainable
Goal 12	Ensure sustainable consumption and production patterns
Goal 13	Take urgent action to combat climate change and its impacts*
Goal 14	Conserve and sustainably use the oceans, seas and marine resources for sustainable development
Goal 15	Protect, restore and promote sustainable use of terrestrial ecosystems, sustainably manage forests, combat desertification, and halt and reverse land degradation and halt biodiversity loss
Goal 16	Promote peaceful and inclusive societies for sustainable development, provide access to justice for all and build effective, accountable and inclusive institutions at all levels
Goal 17	Strengthen the means of implementation and revitalize the global partnership for sustainable development

The SDGs replace the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) formally from today onwards. Key questions to be asked by researchers (and policy makers) include: (a) how are these SDGs different from the MDGs in their effect on international development?; (b) How successful will the SDGs be?, including the question: What do we define as success?; and (c) How useful were the MDGs, in which countries and for whom? These are ‘big’ system level questions, for those of use working in the field of maternity care more specific questions to address would be around priority settting. As reducing maternal mortality was one of the eight MDGs, i.e. recognised as an individual goal or target, but in the SDGs maternal health will fall under the overarching heading of Goals 3 ‘Ensure healthy lives and promote well-being for all at all ages’. As health is only one of 17 SDGs and maternal health fits in with all other aspects of the lifespan does this mean maternal health has become less of a priority? Of course only time and plenty of good research will tell.

Prof. Edwin van Teijlingen

CMMPH

23 September 2015

First Mock REF exercise to begin soon!

BRIAN, REF Subjects, Research assessment Pengpeng

The first mock exercise in preparation for the next Research Exercise Framework is due to take place soon. This mock REF exercise is open to ALL academic staff and staff will be invited to submit up to FOUR outputs published since 1 January 2014. This first exercise will be a ‘light touch’ review to gauge all eligible outputs and their likely contribution to the unit of assessment(s).

More information and guidance regarding this mock exercise will be provided shortly. Meanwhile, early preparations can be made by ensuring that all outputs and their full texts are deposited into BURO via BRIAN where possible. You can refer to this blog post for a quick guide to uploading your full text.

Also, please see below for your reference, the list of all Unit of Assessment Leader(s).

Edwin van Teijlingen : UOA 3 – Allied Health Professions, Dentistry, Nursing and Pharmacy
Ben Parris : UOA 4 – Psychology, Psychiatry and Neuroscience
Raian Ali; Keith Phalp : UOA 11 – Computer Science and Informatics
Zulfiqar Khan : UOA 12 – Aeronautical, Mechanical, Chemical and Manufacturing Engineering
Tim Darvill; Ross Hill : UOA 17 – Geography, Environmental Studies and Archaeology
Dean Patton : UOA 19 – Business and Management Studies
Sascha-Dominik Bachmann : UOA 20 – Law
Jonathan Parker : UOA 22/23 – Social Work and Social Policy/ Sociology
Holger Schutkowski : UOA 24 – Anthropology and Development Studies
Julian McDougall : UOA 25 – Education
Stephen Page : UOA 26 – Sport and Exercise Sciences, Leisure and Tourism
Bronwen Thomas : UOA 29 – English Language and Literature
Neal White : UOA 34 – Art and Design: History, Practice and Theory
Iain MacRury : UOA 36 – Communication, Cultural and Media Studies, Library and Information Management

As mentioned above, more information and guidance will be released shortly so do watch out for it.

17 September 2015

Joint project with Tribhuvan University

Awarded & submitted bids, Public engagement Edwin van Teijlingen

Today I attended a contract-signing meeting at the Department of Health, Physical and Population Education at Nepal’s oldest university, Tribhuvan University (TU).

BU, TU and Liverpool John Moores University (LJMU) have been awarded a Tropical Health & Education Trust (THET) grant for health partnerships to carry out training and capacity-building projects in low-income countries, such as Nepal.

The new BU-led THET project will bring highly experienced UK volunteers to train some 100 maternity care providers, such as Auxiliary Health Workers (AHWs) and Auxiliary Nurse Midwives (ANMs) about the key mental health issues in pregnancy and in the months after birth. A local charity Green Tara Nepal (GTN) will support the work through some of the curriculum design, sensitising UK volunteers to live in rural Nepal, assisting in translating, as well as helping to recruit the local health workers. The two UK universities have a long history of working with GTN as well as its sister organisation Green Tara Trust (GTT), a Buddhist charity based in London. The new project will be based in Nawalparasi in the sub-tropical part of the country bordering India. The target population consists of grassroot health care practitioners since there are no doctors in these rural villages.

The pictures accompanying this post illustrate the inequalities and the mix of modern and traditional in Kathmandu today. The city crowded with motorbikes and then occasionnally one sees a couple cows been driven through these busy streets. The green house is in the street in front of where I am staying and the shanty town building are the backdoor neighbours. The picture with text is the price-list ourside the main infectious diseases hospital informing patients about the costs of certain treatments, tests and drugs. A reminder that health care might be free in name for the poorest people, there are still many costs involved in gettiong treated in hospital!

This project is supported by the Tropical Health & Education Trust (THET) as part of the Health Partnership Scheme, which is funded by the UK Department for International Development (DFID). The following people make up the international project team: Edwin van Teijlingen, Padam Simkhada, Bhimsen Devkota, Padmadharini Fanning, Jillian Ireland, Bibha Simkhada, Lokendra Sherchan, Ram Chandra Silwal, Samridhi Pradhan, Shyam K. Maharjan, Ram K. Maharjan

16 September 2015

Where Numbers met Narratives: A Final Review of the BU Datalabs Fusion Project

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

Carried out between January 2015 and July 2015, our Fusion CCCP and RKEO Small Grant funded BU Datalabs project explored the possibilities and challenges associated with the communicative power of visualizations, maps and related interactive digital media for telling data stories on sensitive subjects of societal importance.

We use the term Data Storytelling to refer to the process of creating data-driven stories, from data collection all the way through to crafting the visual and contextual narratives that give data meaning(Greshon and Ward 2001).

Through a series innovative Datalabs events and workshops, we used a hands-on, participatory approach to teaching that combined principles of scaffolded technology learning and hacklabs (Hmelo-Silver et al., 2007). Activities included:

Data Scraping & Cleaning – Monday March 16 and Tuesday March 17, 2015
Data Visualisation with Mapping – Monday April 27 and Tuesday April 28, 2015
Digital Storytelling with Data – Thursday May 14 and Friday May 15, 2015
Mapping for Justice – 2 June 2015, w/ Richmond, American University in London
Interdisciplinary Research Week: Turning Numbers into Narratives: An introduction to digital storytelling with data –14 May 2015, Talbot Campus, Bournemouth University
Festival of Learning: Datastorytelling: How to Give Narrative to Numbers –13 July 2015, Talbot Campus, Bournemouth University
Civic Forensics Design Workshop – 20 July 2015, Friends House, London

Prioritising collaborative exchange, we brought together researchers, students, journalists and NGOs to generate key insights and co-create tangible outputs. Partners included the Omega Research Foundation, who co-author reports with Amnesty International, and Minute Works, whose sustainable design roster includes Greenpeace. Together with our partners we co-created visualisation outputs including the Data Distortion Layer Cake, the Reclaim Brixton map, and the #RiotID civic forensics project. Partners also went on to put their new visualisation skills into action. Our partner IRIN, a humanitarian news agency, created infographics and maps, including this interactive map of migrant deaths.

Feedback from our survey of Datalabs participants showed that most people’s familiarity with the tools and concepts taught during the workshops increased substantially, with most participants leaving the workshops feeling ‘familiar’ or ‘experienced’ with the basic tools and techniques of Data Storytelling.

Challenges and Opportunities

The emergent area of data storytelling provides both opportunities and challenges. Like any new digital skill, visualising data requires time and resources. This puts NGOs and small organisations at a disadvantage in terms of their ability to tell compelling data stories with visualisation. This disadvantage does not only manifest itself in the lack of resources to afford certain technologies, but also to afford know-how in the form of data visualization designers that are being “snatched up” by the corporate sector to work under Non-Disclosure Agreements (Wilson 2015).

In addition, while the rise of digital tools and techniques certainly diversifies the kinds of narratives we can tell with numbers, not all data stories are easy to capture. Sensitive subjects often have no straightforward data source, documents are scattered across agencies and organisations.

Our BU Datalabs project contributed to broader initiatives to bridge the emerging ‘big data divide’ that stands to leave the third sector and SMEs behind. Here at BU, we can help to narrow this divide by bringing together our skills and resources with stakeholder partners, to co-create visual resources and data stories for public engagement.

What’s Next?

Our BU Datalabs Report reflects on the key insights that arose out of this co-creation project. The aim of the final report is to show how other universities and organisations can use our model as a template, enabling their organisations to co-create data stories with public stakeholders. A preliminary version of the report was presented at the Data Power conference in Sheffield in June 2015. A further presentation is scheduled for November 2015 at the Media Education Summit in Boston, USA.

This year we are working to institute Datalabs activities and Data Storytelling education at BU through continuing collaborations between the Faculty of Media and Communication, the Data Science Institute, and the GIS Lab. We also continue to work with our partners as we prepare for larger bids.

Our next public Datalabs event is scheduled during the ESRC Festival of Social Science. This day long workshop on Datastorytelling will take you through the full process of creating a data story, from scraping and cleaning to crafting the narrative.

To find out more about the Datalabs project you can visit civicmedia.io or email: afeigenbaum@bournemouth.ac.uk or ethorsen@bournemouth.ac.uk

References

Gershon, N. and Ward P., 2001. ‘What Storytelling Can Do For Information Visualization’. Commun. ACM, 44 (8),pp.31-37.

Hmelo-Silver, C.E., Duncan, R.G. and Chinn, C.A., 2007. Scaffolding and Achievement in Problem-Based and Inquiry Learning: A Response to Kirschner, Sweller, and Clark (2006). Educational Psychologist, 42(2), pp.99-107.

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Date: Tuesday 10th November 2015 9.45 – 3pm Location: Hamworthy Club Ltd, Magna Rd, Wimborne BH21 3AP

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Date: Tuesday 10th November 2015 9.45 – 3pm
Location: Hamworthy Club Ltd, Magna Rd, Wimborne BH21 3AP