Latest research and knowledge exchange news at Bournemouth University
The latest edition of the newsletter of the Centre for Midwifery, Maternal & Perinatal Health has just been published online. The editor for the latest edition was Dr. Jen Leamon.
The latest newsletter can be found online at:
ttp://research.bournemouth.ac.uk/wp-content/uploads/2013/10/Volume-3-Summer-2014.pdf
Prof. Edwin van Teijlingen
CMMPH
Yesterday saw the lively debate organised by Prof. Vanora Hundley on the motion: ‘The media is responsible for creating fear in childbirth.’
Elizabeth Duff from the NCT and HSC Prof. Edwin van Teijlingen affiliated with the Centre for Midwifery, Maternal & Perinatal Health and against the motion argued Joanne Dewberry (http://joannedewberry.co.uk/about-joanne/ ), independent blogger, journalist and successful business woman and Dr. Ann Luce from BU’s Journalism and Communication Academic Group.
The debate was part of BU’s Festival of Learning event to explore the role of the mass media in shaping such beliefs and identify whether media portrayals are responsible for rising rates of intervention. The audience voted in favour of the motion, but the media team managed to get some people to reconsider their views on the impact of the mass media on women’s view of childbirth.
Professors Vanora Hundley and Edwin van Teijlingen
CMMPH
Dr Terry Haines from Melbourne will be in London for a conference and has offered to visit BU on Tuesday 8th July.
He will give a presentation at 2pm in TA134, Talbot campus, entitled:
“Researching health services that have an absence of evidence but are already a part of standard care”.
Terry is a distinguished researcher, with a physio / economics background, expertise in both quali and quant methods, and has 17 PhD students doing work around inpatient falls prevention as well as a variety of other topics.
You can view his profile and long list of publications here:
http://www.med.monash.edu.au/physio/staff/haines.html
I highly recommend him to you and so do please put the date in your diary and spread the word.
If you are able to attend the presentation at 2pm and / or would like to meet Terry for an informal discussion about potential research collaborations, etc., then do please email Samuel Nyman at snyman@bournemouth.ac.uk
Samuel Nyman
BUDI & Psychology Dept, SciTech
Julian McDougall’s application to convene a new special interest group in Media Literacy for the United Kingdom Literacy Association has been successful.
The collaboration between CEMP and the UKLA will create a rich dialogue between media education researchers and literacy practitioners and locate CEMP at the forefront of media literacy research in the UK. The UKLA are an influential group in terms of policy development and this new affiliation, combined with recent work at Unesco and with the EU / EC, has the potential to lead to exciting research impact and outreach.
More information will follow once the SIG is up and running, but please contact Julian for more detail in the meantime.
HSC Ph.D. student Mr. Jib Acharya presented a poster in Ethiopia on his thesis research. His poster accepted by the scientific committee of the Micronutrient Forum Global Conference in Addis Adeba, the capital of Ethiopia.
Jib Acharya reported on his Ph.D. research which involves a mixed-methods study of to assess knowledge, attitudes and beliefs about nutritious food amongst rural and urban mothers in one district of Nepal. The poster highlighted that both knowledge of and attitudes towards nutritious food of rural and urban mothers are still poor in both rural and urban populations.
Jib’s supervisors in the School of Health & Social Care are: Dr. Jane Murphy, Dr. Martin Hind and Prof. Edwin van Teijlingen.
Reference:
Acharya, J., van Teijlingen E., Murphy, J., Hind, M. (2014) A Comparative Study on Nutritional Problems in Preschool Aged Children of Nepal, poster presented at the Micronutrient Forum Global Conference in Addis Adeba, Ethiopia, June 2014.
Well done!
Prof. Edwin van Teijlingen, CMMPH
In the first week of June members of the Centre for Midwifery, Maternal and Perinatal Health presented BU’s midwifery research and education at the 30th ICM (International Confederation of Midwives) Congress in Prague (Czech Republic).
There were four oral presentations in total, one workshop and three poster presentations. The oral presentations comprised:
Dr Susan Way led a workshop on escalating concerns in relation to poor clinical practice and disrespectful care.
Furthermore, three HSC posters were displayed as part of a special session on Midwifery in South Asia, all three related to different CMMPH maternity care studies conducted in Nepal.
Prof. Edwin van Teijlingen
CMMPH
Last week Jane Senior from University of Manchester and Research Project Manager of the Offender Health Research Network (OHRN) visited Bournemouth University. She came to BU to share her recent research findings with students, staff and professionals working with prisoners and ex-offenders.
Jane is a clinician-researcher who is a qualified mental health nurse with over 20 years post qualification experience of working in prisons and secure mental health settings. During the session Jane presented findings from three recent research projects:
These large-scale studies have been undertaken in collaboration with a number of UK Universities and also Columbia University, New York.
Those who attended particularly enjoyed having the opportunity to discuss with Jane the implications for her findings for professional practice now and in the future. One attendee said the session ‘was excellent – very interesting and engaging’ and another ‘ I really enjoyed the format of the session – so informative’. The critical Time Intervention is on-going research project and several of the professionals attending the session felt was a great opportunity to learn more about this new pilot initiative. The session was made possible through funding from the Society and Social Welfare Community.
Yesterday HSC Ph.D. student Sheetal Sharma presented her key research findings under the title ‘Getting women to care: mixed–methods evaluation of maternity care intervention in rural Nepal’ at the 30th congress of the ICM (International Confederation of Midwives) in Prague. Sheetal’s Ph.D. evaluates the effectiveness of a health promotion intervention aiming antenatal care attendance in rural Nepal. Her evaluation suggests that practice should be socio-culturally appropriate and inclusive not only of women but also their families.
This afternoon three HSC posters were displayed as part of a special session on Midwifery in South Asia. All three posters featured aspects of maternity care research conducted in the Centre for Midwifery, Maternal and Perinatal Health in Nepal.
Poster 1: Staff perspectives of barriers to women accessing birthing services in Nepal: A qualitative study
Milne, L, Hundley, V, van Teijlingen, E, Ireland, J, Simkhada, P,
Poster 2: Pregnant & Dirty?
Sharma, S., van Teijlingen, E., Hundley, V. Simkhada, P., Angell, C.
Poster 3: Getting women to care in Nepal: A Difference in Difference analysis of a health promotion intervention
Sharma, S. Sicuri, E., Belizan, JM., van Teijlingen, E., Simkhada, P., Stephens J., Hundley, V., Angell, C.
Prof. Edwin van Teijlingen
CMMPH
The National Institute for Health Research (NIHR) have recently made a number of developments to improve public and patient involvement in health and social care research. Please see the main points summarised below.
NIHR Strategic Plan for Public Participation and Engagement in Research
On 20 May 2014, the NIHR published a five year strategic plan ‘Promoting a research active nation’ setting out a new programme to encourage public engagement and participation in health, social care and public health research. The plan is a direct response to the opportunity to widen research participation in the population following the passage of the Health and Social Care Act 2012.
The document sets out a range of initiatives including the ‘Ok to ask’ campaign that the NIHR will support to grow the number of people taking part in research.
NIHR make it clear campaign
As of the 14th May 2014 researchers who apply for NIHR funded research will be required to produce a good quality plain English summary.
INVOLVE have been working with the NIHR Programmes and other key stakeholders to:
Please see the briefing document or the NIHR ‘make it clear’ campaign website for more information.
Breaking boundaries: thinking differently about public involvement in research
Over almost a decade, patients, carers and members of the public have contributed to the work of NIHR by helping it to decide what research to fund and how it should do this.
NIHR is now inviting views and comments on how it can build on its achievements in public involvement so far to create the sort of active collaboration between the public, researchers and clinicians essential to the delivery of its future ambitions for research and a healthier nation. Of particular interest will be the innovations, ideas and new approaches that will help it break new ground in this important area.
They are inviting anyone and everyone to comment including patients, carers, service users, clinicians, and researchers. Complete the online questionnaire or have a look at the website for more ways to contribute. Responses should be submitted by 12 noon on Thursday 26th June.
People in research website
The original development of People in Research in 2007 was led by INVOLVE on behalf of the UK Clinical Research Collaboration.
The site has a searchable database of opportunities, and researchers can register for the site and add their own projects to the database. These are checked by INVOLVE staff before they go live to ensure that they meet quality standards.
In 2014, INVOLVE redesigned the website to make it more streamlined and user friendly. An advisory group, including members of the public were involved in designing, developing and piloting the site.
Access the website at http://www.peopleinresearch.org/.
International Clinical Trials Day (ICTD) 20th May 2014
International Clinical Trials Day (ICTD) is celebrated around the world on or near the 20 May each year, to commemorate the day that James Lind started his famous trial on the deadly disease scurvy. It provides a focal point to raise awareness of the importance of research to health care, and highlights how partnerships between patients and healthcare practitioners are vital to high-quality, relevant research.
On International Clinical Trials Day 2014 the NIHR and its NHS partners promoted the fact that it’s ‘OK to ask’ about clinical research. The ‘OK to ask’ Facebook site has details of the ICTD events that were held across the country. The BU Clinical Research Unit (BUCRU) were lucky enough to be invited along to Poole Hospital’s event where we had the opportunity to chat to patients and staff keen to get involved with research.
Don’t forget, your local branch of the NIHR Research Design Service is based within BUCRU on the 5th floor of Royal London House. Feel free to pop in and see us or send us an email.
Pratik Adhikary spoke about his Ph.D. research at the American Canadian Conference for Academic Disciplines (Toronto: 19-22 May 2014). Pratik presented the key findings from his thesis under the title ‘Health status and health risks to Nepalese migrant workers in the Middle East and Malaysia’.
Pratik is originally from Nepal and he conducted his research with male migrant workers who were returning to Nepal for definite or for a holiday/break. He is supervised by Dr. Steve Keen and Prof. Edwin van Teijlingen both in HSC.
Pratik’s study has been supported by Bournemouth University, the PGR Development Fund and the Open Society Foundations.
Edwin van Teijlingen
CMMPH
Bournemouth University Dementia Institute (BUDI) was represented at the Alzheimer’s care show held at the Olympia in London on Friday 16th and Saturday 17th May 2014. This is a large event at which organisations and businesses showcase what they offer for people with dementia and those who support them. Dr Fiona Kelly, Dr Rick Fischer and Clare Cutler were kept busy at their stand, made distinctive by its brightly coloured banners and tulips. Delegates to our stand heard about the training and awareness work we do, our research, particularly into creating sustainable dementia friendly communities and our consultancy, including advising on dementia friendly design. Dr Kelly’s presentation on Achieving Excellence in Dementia Care stimulated interest both in the topic and in the work we do at BUDI to promote good practice.
Bournemouth University Dementia Institute (BUDI) held its third open meeting at the university on 14th May, with this year’s theme being dementia friendly environments. The day was well attended by practitioners, family carers, the general public and people with dementia. It started with a lovely buffet lunch sponsored by Alzheimer Research UK, providing an opportunity for delegates to network and to browse the information stands hosted by themselves and BUDI Ph.D. students. The open meeting was formally opened by Professor Gail Thomas who praised the innovative work being carried out by the BUDI team. Delegates then heard presentations from Dr Fiona Kelly on dementia friendly design, Dr Jan Wiener on the use of eye tracking technology to explore navigation skills and difficulties, Kathrin Büter on using computer technology to support dementia friendly design in hospitals. This session closed with a presentation by architect Niall McLaughlin on his work with communities and older people to design care homes that meet everyone’s needs and are inspirational, therapeutic spaces. The final part of the day involved a question and answer session where delegates and presenters discussed some of the issues raised during the day including how to ensure that the concept of good design filters down to those commissioning, designing and using buildings that people with dementia also use. This successful event is sure to have got people thinking and sharing some of what they heard and we look forward to holding similar events in the future.
The Mother-Generated Index (MGI) is a validated tool to assess postnatal quality of life. It was originally designed and tested by Dr. Andrew Symon (http://nursingmidwifery.dundee.ac.uk/staff-member/dr-andrew-symon) at the University of Dundee. This instrument is usually administered several weeks or months after birth and correlates with indices of postpartum mood states and physical complaints. The instrument had not been translated into German before or validated for use among German-speaking women, nor have the results of the tool been assessed specifically for the administration directly after birth. Our recent paper (Susanne Grylka-Baeschlin, Edwin van Teijlingen, Kathrin Stoll and Mechthild Gross) in Midwifery describes the systematic translation process of the MGI into German and to assess the convergent validity of the German version of the instrument directly after birth and seven weeks postpartum
Susanne Grylka-Baeschlin, as part of a European COST Action, has spent time at Bournemouth University’s Centre for Midwifery, Maternal and Perinatal Health. Susanne Grylka-Bäschlin is a Swiss midwife based at the Hannover Medical School, Germany, who studies cultural differences in postnatal quality of life among German-speaking women in Switzerland and Germany.
Prof. Edwin van Teijlingen
CMMPH
Bournemouth and Poole Borough Councils were recently successful in a collaborative bid to become one of only six UK cities, to receive matched funding and support from the UK Sustainable Food Cities Network, over a 3 year period. BU is one of the funding partners; a number of BU staff are already contributing to what is an exciting development for the region.
The Sustainable Food Cities Network is an alliance of public, private and third sector organisations committed to promoting sustainable food. The Network comprising the Soil Association, Food Matters and Sustain aims to help people and places to share challenges, explore practical solutions and develop best practice in all aspects of sustainable food (Sustainable Food Cities 2014).
There are now opportunities for others to be involved. We have identified a number of potential project areas (at undergraduate and Master’s level) where students in particular, might wish to participate and where further research would support the work of the Partnership. Potential topic areas relate to the broad range of aspects related to sustainable food and drink including: the impacts of climate change, food security and food waste, food poverty, health and nutrition, well-being, food tourism, Fairtrade, community growing, the conversion of grey to green spaces, local food production, food marketing and distribution.
Information Session: If you are interested in finding out more, an information session on the Partnership and the student project opportunities will be held on Thursday June 19th from 2.00 – 3.30 pm in TAG31.
A more detailed list of the potential projects is available upon request. If you would like a copy of the list or you are unable to attend the information session and would like to discuss any of these potential projects or other ways that BU students could assist and be engaged with the Sustainable Food Cities Partnership, please contact one of the following BU staff and partnership members:
Dawn Birch – The Business School – dbirch@bournemouth.ac.uk
Chris Shiel – School of Applied Sciences – cshiel@bournemouth.ac.uk
Jill Quest – The Media School – jquest@bournemouth.ac.uk
Thanks to FIF Mobility Strand Funding, Bournemouth University Dementia Institute (BUDI) are delighted to be welcoming colleagues from the Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) in New York to Bournemouth University from 20-23rd May 2014. As part of their visit, BU Staff are being invited to join a free workshop. In this workshop MoMA’s specially trained Museum Educators will share their successful model and established approach for making their services dementia-friendly (validated via evaluation from New York University).
This workshop showcases MoMA’s innovative style of education delivery, providing attendees with an opportunity to hear the success of their approach and a practical demonstration in the Atrium Gallery. Staff with an interest in alternative teaching methods and those working with vulnerable groups may be particularly interested in attending. Please also pass on this information to any PhD students you feel may benefit from attending.
Date: 21st May 2014
Time: 11:00 – 15:30
Venue: Talbot Campus
There are a limited number of places available on this workshop for BU staff. To book a place, or for more information, please email mheward@bournemouth.ac.uk or call 01202 962538.
Despite ankle fractures requiring surgery being so common, patients are managed in many different ways and there is debate over whether patients require prolonged periods immobilised in plaster or whether being able to actively move/use the ankle might be advantageous. £350k has recently been awarded to Poole Hospital and collaborators by the National Institute for Health Research’s Research for Patient Benefit scheme to find out!
The Dorset office of the South West Research Design Service based within Bournemouth University’s Clinical Research Unit were contacted in late Spring 2010 about the potential study and have therefore been involved in all aspects from the outset. Several members of the Clinical Research Unit are co-applicants and committed to the delivery of the trial.
As the Research Design Service project lead, Zoe Sheppard helped facilitate the grant application bringing in statistical support, patient and public involvement advice, qualitative research expertise, health economic expertise, costing and research and development advice liaising with finance and research and development departments as well as the Peninsula Clinical Trials Unit. In addition to inputting into specific aspects according to their expertise, all co-applicants also extensively commented on the overall design and proposal, meaning a wide-ranging input.
Two previous drafts were submitted to the mock funding committee. Six extensive written reviews were received from lay reviewers and methodologists as well feedback from the chair/panel members.
So if you would like support with a grant application for health research, please get in contact as early as possible – we look forward to working with you!
The Bournemouth University Clinical Research Unit Team!
This is a reminder that the BUDI Open Public meeting is tomorrow (14 May) there are still a few spaces available.
This year’s event focuses on dementia friendly environments, how design helps to support people living with dementia. The hospital environments and the philosphy of dementia friendly environments will be covered by external speakers.
To book your free place please go to eventbrite http://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/budi-open-meeting-dementia-friendly-care-environments-tickets-9876528964
Every year the prestigious Alzheimer’s Disease International conference welcomes practitioners, academics, people living with dementia, medical professionals and clinicians from all over the world to share their latest knowledge, experience and research about dementia careThis year I was lucky enough to attend and represent BUDI at the 29th International Conference of Alzheimer’s Disease International Dementia: Working Together for a Global Solution, hosted in San Juan on the beautiful island of Puerto Rico.
Three abstracts were accepted to be orally presented, so this was a great opportunity to showcase some of BUDI’s innovative research projects to world leading dementia specialists. The three presented projects were the Technology Club (Dementia Care and Technology), Tales of the Sea (Empowering people with dementia) and (Dont) Mention Dementia (Voices of people with dementia and their families).
All three presentations were well received and stimulated discussion and many questions. The feedback I received after my presentations and during the conference was that BUDI’s projects were seen as innovative, creative and great examples of how to engage people with dementia in research and how people with dementia should be at the core of all research.
Above and beyond presenting, I had the opportunity to catch up with Peter, an Australian colleague (who I have been working on the international GRIID research project with for around two years and have never met!) Peter presented the GRIID project (Gateway to Rural International Initiatives in Dementia) at this conference. After his presentation we were able to meet and come up with some really innovative ideas to take the GRIID project to the next level.
To top off a very successful conference, I won a huge kangaroo courtesy of the Australian Alzheimer’s Association. He was unfortunately a bit too big to fit into my case so he to travelled home with another colleague…I wonder if I will ever get him back as he was very cute!
Since returning home I have started to get in touch with some of the many contacts I made at this conference and look forward to potential international collaborations. This conference highlights all the good work currently being undertaken but also emphasises the amount of work we still need to do. I invite you to check out the below clip of Richard Taylor PhD, who presented numerous times at the conference. Richard is extremely funny and has a great approach and attitude to life. It is very thought provoking as he shares his thoughts about living with dementia. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lHQfc3KJ9qE.
Clare Cutler, BUDI Project Manager
BU staff can login below:
Fourth INRC Symposium: From Clinical Applications to Neuro-Inspired Computation
ESRC Festival of Social Science 2025 – Reflecting back and looking ahead to 2026
3C Event: Research Culture, Community & Cookies – Tuesday 13 January 10-11am
Dr. Chloe Casey on Sky News
Final Bournemouth University publication of 2025
ECR Funding Open Call: Research Culture & Community Grant – Application Deadline Friday 12 December ECR Funding Open Call: Research Culture & Community Grant – Apply Now
MSCA Postdoctoral Fellowships 2025 Call
ERC Advanced Grant 2025 Webinar
Horizon Europe Work Programme 2025 Published MSCA Postdoctoral Fellowships 2025 Call ERC Advanced Grant 2025 Webinar MSCA Postdoctoral Fellowships 2025
Update on UKRO services
European research project exploring use of ‘virtual twins’ to better manage metabolic associated fatty liver disease
Research Information Network