Category / Research themes

NIHR-funded TACIT Trial: TAi ChI for people with demenTia.

Since the beginning of 2016, Dr Samuel Nyman (Psychology Department, and Bournemouth University Dementia Institute) has been funded 100% of his time for 3 years by the NIHR on a Career Development Fellowship. Part of the fellowship is to conduct a research project: “The TACIT Trial TAi ChI for people with demenTia”.

The first external presentation about this project was on the 11th November 2015 as part of an ESRC-funded seminar series, Physical activity among hard-to-reach groups: Issues of research, policy and practice. That presentation was noticed by Haringey Council who have charged a scrutiny panel with the task of reviewing their strategy for increasing physical activity among older people in their borough. As part of this review, last week on the 13th October, Haringey Council invited Samuel, along with other colleagues from across charitable / higher education / private sectors, to present about the project. The project was met with much interest and contributed to a roundtable discussion on how to implement the current evidence-base into practice.

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 Dr Nyman and guests with the scrutiny panel, Haringey Council Chamber

The project is starting to recruit into its Pilot Intervention Phase, and will recruit into the randomised controlled trial phase in the spring of 2017. The trial results will be available in the autumn of 2018 before Samuel finishes his fellowship in December 2018.

For further information about the TACIT Trial, please see:

InsideBU – Out Now

insidebu-front-cover-useThe latest issue of InsideBU, the magazine for BU staff and students, is out now.

This issue brings the concept of Fusion to life through a range of features and articles including:

  • Celebrating undergraduate research through hosting the prestigious British Conference of Undergraduate Research (BCUR) next year
  • National research into the scale and impact of financial scamming in the UK, headed by BU’s National Centre for Post-Qualifying Social Work and Professional Practice
  • The research stories behind the Fusion mural on Talbot Campus.

Hard copies are available across both campuses and you can also read it online – simply click the arrows on the bottom right of the screen to expand it to a full page size.

If you use a screen-reader, Word and PDF versions are also available. The current issue – and all back issues – can also now be found on the Staff Intranet, under ‘Find’ on the bottom right of the homepage.

Please email insidebu@bournemouth.ac.uk if you would like hard copies sent directly to you.

We appreciate all feedback and suggestions for future issues. If you have a story for the next issue of InsideBU, email insidebu@bournemouth.ac.uk.

New Publication: Businesses and mobile social media capability

Bournemouth University’s, Dr Elvira Bolat and Dr Kaouther Kooli, and Professor Len Tiu Wright from University of Huddersfield have published new article in Journal of Business and Industrial Marketing.

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“The study is amongst the first to provide insights into B2B firms’ practices of using mobile social media. This paper found that marketing and advertising firms use mobile social media for branding, sensing market, managing relationships and developing content. Mobile social media is treated by businesses as a strategic firm-specific capability that drives firms’ competitiveness, where imitation of such capability by competitors is limited because mobile social media skills are specific to individuals within organisations and mobile social media routines are manifested as a result of firm-specific mobile social media skills’ interactions.”

Access full article by clicking on the image below.

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RUFUS STONE to screen at historic Shelley Theatre, in Boscombe, as part of ESRC Festival of Social Science

RUFUS STONE gay short biopic to screen at historic Shelley Theatre in Boscombe 

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A gala 5th Anniversary Screening and Reception for the award-winning research based biopic, RUFUS STONE will be held at the historic Shelley Theatre in Boscombe (Bournemouth) on 7 November from 3 p.m. until 5 p.m. The screening is free but registration is necessary as seating is limited.

BREAKING NEWS! Lin Blakley, who played Abigail in RUFUS STONE and is known for her work as Pam Coker on EastEnders, will be attending the gala.

The film is the story of Rufus, an ‘out’ older gay man who was exiled from his village as a youth and reluctantly returns from London to sell his dead parents’ cottage, where he is forced to confront the faces of his estranged past.

RUFUS STONE, is part of wider research from ‘The Gay and Pleasant Land? Project’ that took place at Bournemouth University as part of the New Dynamics of Ageing Programme (a unique collaboration between five UK Research Councils on ageing in 21st Century Britain).

Over the past five years, RUFUS STONE has been viewed in academic, community and service provider settings throughout the U.K. Uploaded to the Internet for just over a year, the film was viewed on line by more that 12 thousand viewers in 150 countries.  It has won several film festival awards and was shortlisted for the AHRC Anniversary Prize in 2015.

The gala event is expected to attract an audience of the film’s cast and crew members, past participants in the research project, community workers and service providers, and a range of citizens, young and old,  gay and straight, with an interest in LGBT history and the contributions that the film has made to myriad diversity efforts.

“Whether you have seen the film before, or this will be the first time on a large theatre screen, you will enjoy the occasion,” says Dr Kip Jones, Exec Producer.

The screening is presented by Bournemouth University as part of the Economic and Social Research Council’s Festival of Social Science – a week-long festival that celebrates some of the country’s leading social science research, giving an exciting opportunity to showcase the valuable work of the UK’s social scientists and demonstrate how their work has an impact on all our lives.

 

To find out more information about the film or the research behind it, please visit the website.

Click here to view the trailer

If you have any questions for Dr Jones, then please get in contact.

To find out more about the ESRC Festival of Social Science and all the events taking place please visit www.bournemouth.ac.uk/esrc-fss you can also email Joanna Pawlik or Naomi Kay to find out more.

Notes to editor

  • The 14th annual Festival of Social Science takes place from 5-12 November 2016 with more than 250 free events nationwide. Run by the Economic and Social Research Council, the Festival provides an opportunity for anyone to meet with some of the country’s leading social scientists and discover, discuss and debate the role that research plays in everyday life. With a whole range of creative and engaging events there’s something for everyone including businesses, charities, schools and government agencies. A full programme is available at esrc.ac.uk/festival. You can also join the discussion on Twitter using #esrcfestival

Event: The Game Changer: Reloaded

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Date: Wednesday 16 November

Location: The Fusion Building, Bournemouth University

Event information:

Building on the successful Game Changer event held earlier in the year, Bournemouth University and NHS Dorset Clinical Commissioning Group present The Game Changer Reloaded – promoting innovation and fostering collaboration across Dorset. Join Richard Dolan, Dr Phil Richardson and Professor Jim Roach and a diverse collection of speakers to learn more about the art of the possible and the power of innovation to transform health services within the region.

Timings:

Session 1 – 9.00 am -3.00 pm: Speakers from BU and external organisations share their innovation journeys throughout the day providing inspiration and ideas to those attending as to how to get involved.

Session 2 – 3.15 pm  – 4.15 pm: Facilitation and networking: This session offers the opportunity to share ideas and develop future collaborations. There’s also the chance to begin to consider research ideas that could subsequently be progressed in order to obtain external funding in the future.

Each session will need to be booked separately.

Throughout the day there’s a pop-up innovation exhibition for guests to enjoy and to share and refine ideas.

It’s free: book now for The Game Changer Reloaded 

This event forms a number being run at the university as part of the Festival of Enterprise.

Need help with networking? – why not book onto the business engagement and networking session on 2 November for some hints and tips that you can put into practice.

A Cloud Based Intelligent Safety Transport Framework for Schools

We would like to invite you to the latest research seminar of the Creative Technology Research Centre.mano

 

Speaker: Manoharan Ramachandran (PhD student within the Creative Technology Department).

 

Title:     A Cloud Based Intelligent Safety Transport Framework for Schools

 

Time: 2:00PM-3:00PM

Date: Wednesday 26th October 2016

Room: PG11, Poole House, Talbot Campus

 

Abstract: Safety in school transportation systems is a critical issue which involves children who are the most vulnerable users of them. Statistics show that in Great Britain (GB) alone 1191 children were injured in 371 coach crashes between 2005 and 2015. Though coach journeys are considered as the safest mode of transport for children, the coach accidents are the one which resulted in a high number of fatalities per accident. England has more than 25000 schools and each school at least make 2 trips per year which is equivalent to 50000+ trips made every year. Schools rely on coach operators to provide vehicles for school trips and home to school services. In the last eight months alone (Jan – Sept 2016), 102 coach operators’ licenses have been revoked without public inquiry in England due to operator’s non compliance. Around 8.3 million pupils are enrolled in England schools. There are no specific safety models available to ensure the safety of children who travelling through coaches. Parents have to spend a considerable amount of time on the streets and making phone calls seeking information about the coach whilst waiting for it, due to the unpredictable nature of the traffic, particularly during the winter months. Proper selection of coach operator, vehicle and real time vehicle tracking & monitoring can considerably mitigate safety risks and the problems of school transport. Most of the existing literature so far has focused on the economy and the shortest routes to transport children, but they do not consider the safety aspects of the coach operator, vehicle and the driver. In this research, two case studies have been conducted in four sectors of stakeholders to identify their problems and needs in school transportation. The outcome will be discussed at this seminar.

 

 

We hope to see you there.

BU Researcher Dr Firend Al Rasch has released a book: Asian Case Studies- Lessons from Malaysian Industries

BU’s Dr Firend Al Rasch has recently published a book around his research into Asian industry and their significance to the world of trade and commerce. The book ‘Lessons from Malaysian Industries’ is one of a series of Asian case studies and explains how these industries can stay relevant among other key players in the Asian market.

This section of the series explores Malaysia which is relatively small in comparison to its other Asian-Pacific neighbours, such as India and China. In 2010, the country set a target to become a high-income nation by 2020. Dr Rasch analysed a number of Malaysian companies from a number of industries, including palm oil, electrical, electronics, business services, oil and gas etc. He discusses how Malaysia is at a disadvantage as it’s unable to compete with its larger neighbours, nor is it able to grow to the high-end market value of Singapore.

In the wake of the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP) the economic landscape is becoming ever more competitive and has the potential to force many businesses to become non-existent.  The study recognises how Malaysia needs to identify its strongest market niche and use this to maximise its income in order to remain relevant in the global market.

The book has used research methods that enable the reader to understand the reasoning of how Malaysian companies build their company structure and how they discuss moving forward. For example, Dr Rasch, has examined case studies such as VADS Berhad, a fully integrated Connectivity/ICT/BPO Solutions Provider which represents the issues a typical Malaysian company faces.

As well as this, the book has analysed financial data, to present the importance of financial structure. He has also looked at a breakdown of the company’s marketing strategies, to understand how they sell themselves. The methods of data collection of real companies, give the reader real-life perspective of how companies run and how the industry can survive in such a diverse and important trade region.

To get yourself a copy of the book head over to Amazon

If you’d like to ask Dr Rasch anything, then get in touch.

EU award for PhD student Preeti Mahato

FHSS PhD student Preeti Mahato in the Centre for Midwifery, Maternal & Perinatal Health (CMMPH) has been awarded a funded place on the COST Action Training School BEYOND BIRTH COHORTS: from study design to data management.  This training school will run from 23-15 November in Spain.

eu-flagCOST (European Cooperation in Science and Technology) is a unique platform where European researchers can jointly develop their ideas and initiatives across all scientific disciplines through trans-European networking of nationally funded research.  Preeti pal has been awarded the sum of 500 euro to cover the cost of attending the Training School and travel and accommodation costs.    Preeti’s PhD project is on maternity care provision in  Nepal. Preeti’s research focuses on the quality and equity of service available at birthing centres. In Nepal, birthing centres act as first contact point for the women seeking maternity services especially the basic obstetric care. She is supervised by Dr. Catherine Angell, Prof. Edwin van Teijlingen and BU Visiting Faculty Prof. Padam Simkhada (based at Liverpool John Moores University).

Preeti has already published the first PhD paper ‘Birthing centres in Nepal: Recent developments, obstacles and opportunities’ in the Journal of Asian Midwives (JAM) [1], whilst another was published in the Nepal Journal of Epidemiology [2].  Furthermore, a more general health and development paper was published this year in Health Prospect [3].

Congratulations!

Prof. Edwin van Teijlingen

CMMPH

 

References:

  1. 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.
  2. Mahato, P.K., Regmi, P.R., van Teijlingen, E., Simkhada, P., Angell, C., Sathian, B. (2015) Birthing centre infrastructure in Nepal post 2015 earthquake. Nepal Journal of Epidemiology 5(4): 518-519. http://www.nepjol.info/index.php/NJE/article/view/14260/1157
  3. Regmi, P., van Teijlingen, E., Hundley, V., Simkhada, P., Sharma, S., Mahato, P. (2016) Sustainable Development Goals: relevance to maternal & child health in Nepal. Health Prospect 15(1):9-10. healthprospect.org/archives/15/1/3.pdf