Category / Research themes

NHS England – SBRI Healthcare Innovation Expo

SPARK 2014 is a brand new opportunity to see the latest innovations developed to meet NHS needs alongside a national conference that brings together the Academic Health Science Networks (AHSNs), industry partners and NHS leaders and clinicians.

The conference will be of interest to the following audience who are keen to know what the next innovations in healthcare are:

  • Clinicians
  • NHS Procurement and Research & Development Teams
  • NHS Senior Management Teams
  • Non NHS Providers of Health & Social Care
  • Local Enterprise Partnerships
  • Industry or companies who have a interest in the programme
  • Business Leaders
  • Academic Health Science Networks
  • Investors

The SBRI Healthcare programme  is an NHS England funded scheme to accelerate the development of new technologies for known health needs.  With over 100 companies in the SBRI Healthcare fold some of the key areas in which innovations are being developed are:

Cancer  : COPD : CVD : Diabetes : Dementia : End of Life : Hand hygiene  : Meds Adherence / Meds Optimisation : Mental Health : Long Term Conditions : Patient Safety : Patient Empowerment : Renal : Research Tools  : Telehealth / Telecare for People with Learning Disabilities.

Conference details: 10 December, QE II Conference Centre, London

Booking information including discounted rates for universities: click here

Proposed agenda: click here

 

User Experience (UX) Themed Call for KTPs

 

The User Experience (or UX) KTP competition  has just opened .

The aim is to encourage new, enhanced forms of interaction between computing systems and the people who use them.   Proposals may address technologies that contribute to these new forms, such as sensing information about the user, or those that improve specific types of experience, such as mobile and wearable devices.

launch event is being held in London on 14 November 2014. Registration is required.

 To find our more about this call and other KTP opportuntities please contact Rachel Clarke in R&KEO . Contact details are as follows: email: clarker@bournemouth.ac.uk or ring extension 61347.

Event for your students: How I Survived My First Year in Business: The Brutal Truth

The Centre for Entrepreneurship, in association with Business Mania the BU Student Society, is delighted to present How I Survived My First Year in Business:The Brutal Truth, a short talk by CfE entrepreneur, Robin Humphreyies.

Robin is one of the founding members of Static Games and White Pug and set up the business during his placement year with a team of seven.  Twelve months later, with £10,000 in equity-free funding and a successful trading record, Robin reflects upon his journey.  In his short talk, this student entrepreneur will consider the top 10 challenges faced during his immersion in the world of business and, more importantly, how he overcame them and what he learned. Audience members will then have the opportunity of asking Robin questions about his placement-year business.

When? 1pm Wednesday 26th November 2014

Where? Lawrence Lecture Theatre, Talbot Campus

Ever thought about becoming an entrepreneur?  Ever set up your own company?  Or just interested in business?  Then this snapshot session is for you.

Please note: this event is for BU students and members of staff only. Booking is essential. 

Book Now - How I Survived My First year in Business

About Robin Humphreyies and Static Games/White Pug

Robin Humphreyies is a final year student at Bournemouth University, on the Creative Technology course headed by Dr. Christos Gatzidis.  Static Games is the gaming arm of the student business, with White Pug being the trading arm for web and app development.  under the White Pug label, Robin and the team work directly with customers and white-label for local digital agencies.

Agenda

1:00pm:Arrival
1:15pm: How I Survived My First Year in Business:  The Brutal Truth by Robin Humphreyies, Founder of Static Games & White Pug
1:45pm: Q & A
2-3 pm: Coffee, Cake & Networking

 

CfE Event this week! Mega Trends and Sustainability – an Insight from B&Q

Wednesday 12 November 2014
5:30pm arrival for a 6pm start
Executive Business Centre, 89 Holdenhurst Road, Bournemouth, BH8 8EB

We are delighted to invite you to join us for a presentation by George Padelopoulos, Sustainability Manager for B&Q.  George will provide an insight into key challenges currently being addressed by B&Q around ‘Mega Trends’, ‘One Planet’ living, and global ethics.  What will be the impact of future consumer trends and climate change on our buying decisions? Will we still have BBQs and power drills sat in the shed all year round or will we simply ‘borrow’ them whenever we need them?

This is a free event for businesses, BU students and BU staff.  It is a great opportunity to network with colleagues and external businesses!  To book click here

 

Third time lucky in Bangkok

 

Group photo of the delegates at the opening of the Researcher Links Workshop in Bangkok on November 2

Working with partners at Bangkok’s Chulalongkorn University, a team from BU led and participated in a British Council Researcher Links Workshop in Bangkok from November 2 to 4.

For Professor Tom Watson of the Media School and Associate Professor Jirayudh Sinthuphan of Chula’s Faculty of Communication Arts, it was ‘mission accomplished’, as the Workshop had been postponed twice in February and May because of Thailand’s febrile politics.

“This time, there were no problems as Bangkok was about as quiet as it will ever be,” said Professor Watson. “As a result, the Workshop was attended by representatives of four UK and seven Thai universities who worked very well together”.

From the three days of collaborative working, four projects related the Workshop theme of ‘the impact of social media upon corporate and marketing communication in Thailand and UK’ emerged. They will be developed over the coming months into research actions, bids for funding and publications.

With Professor Watson were Associate Professor John Oliver (Senior Researcher), Dr Ana Adi (Deputy Workshop Coordinator), Dr Tauheed Ramjaun and Mona Esfahani, all from the Corporate & Marketing Communications academic group. Among the Thai participants was Dr Waraporn Chatratichart of the University of the Thailand Chamber of Commerce, who is a PhD alumna from the Media School.

“The Workshop also reinforced the existing relationship between BU and Chulalongkorn University as the Dean of the Faculty of Communication Arts, Dr Duangkamol Chartprasert, and Professor Parichart Sthapitanonda both took part as Senior Researchers,” said Professor Watson. “The BU-Chula relationship has great potential for research collaboration and staff exchanges. I hope that other BU staff will follow the opportunity that the Workshop has opened up.”

 

Paper added to CEL collection

 

The latest paper of BU’s Centre for Excellence in Learning (CEL) was published in the Nepal Journal of Epidemiology.  The lead author Padam Simkhada (BU Visiting Faculty) together with BU’s Edwin van Teijlingen and three academic colleagues in Nepal published their paper: ‘Accessing research literature: A mixed-method study of academics in Higher Education Institutions in Nepal’ [1].

This latest paper reports on the knowledge of and practice in accessing electronic research-based evidence among university teachers in the health and medical field in Nepal.  This paper originates from a recently finished DelPHE (Round 4), British Council: award.  The study called Partnership on Improving Access to Research Literature for HE Institutions in Nepal (PARI Initiative) was a collaboration between Tribhuvan University, Kathmandu, Nepal, the University of Sheffield and BU’s School of Health & Social Care.   This is the second paper to appear from the PARI study, the first paper reported on research methods teaching [2].

The paper argues that accessing electronic research literature provides an opportunity to gathering up-to-date research-based information that should be core to all health curricula in Nepal.  The authors call upon curriculum developers and university authorities in Nepal to revise health curricula and help build electronic searching skills among staff and students.

The Nepal Journal of Epidemiology is a full Open Access journal which means anybody across the globe can access it for free.

 

References:

  1. Simkhada, P., van Teijlingen, E., Devkota, B., Pathak, R.S., Sathian, B. (2014) Accessing research literature: A mixed-method study of academics in Higher Education Institutions in Nepal, Nepal Journal of Epidemiology 4(4): 405-14. http://www.nepjol.info/index.php/NJE/article/view/11375
  2. Simkhada, P., van Teijlingen, E., Pokharel, T., Devkota, B., Pathak, R.S. (2013) Research Methods Coverage in Medical & Health Science Curricula in Nepal, Nepal Journal Epidemiology 3(3): 253-258. www.nepjol.info/index.php/NJE/article/view/9185

Prof.  Edwin van Teijlingen

Centre for Midwifery, Maternal & Perinatal Health
Bournemouth University

Three for the price of one: Keynote Talk, Outstanding Contribution Award and Media Appearance.

Prof Gabrys delivers a keynote talk at the KES 2014 international conference, receives the Outstanding Contribution to the KES International organisation award and appears in two popular Polish TV’s “Panorama” news programmes.

It was a very nice and productive trip to a beautiful Polish seaside city of Gdynia where the 18th International Conference on Knowledge-Based and Intelligent Information & Engineering Systems took place between the 14th and 17th of September 20014.

I thought that I was only going to deliver a keynote talk which in itself was a nice recognition of the ongoing work that we are doing in the areas of robust adaptive predictive modelling and data science and a great opportunity to talk to over 200 delegates from over 30 countries attending the conference but as it turned out there were some other attractions awaiting.

This very well organised conference attracted the attention of the Polish TV and the topics of data science, artificial intelligence or big data, all in the focus of our Data Science Institute at BU, were judged to be of considerable interest to the general public. Not only I had an opportunity to talk briefly about the conference topics during the TV coverage at the conference venue (which was aired in the evening news programme on the 15th of Sep) but together with one of the local organisers we were invited to the “Panorama” programme studio to take part in the morning news programme the following day (aired on the 16th of Sep). The interaction with the journalists and the production teams brought to my attention how important is our role in informing and educating about this very dynamically changing field and related technological innovations which have already had such a huge impact on our lives and will play even bigger role in the near future.

So whatever next, I thought. Well, there was another surprise around the corner. Though I have been involved in the KES International for a number of years it has come as a very pleasant surprise and an honour to receive the Outstanding Contribution to KES International award during the conference dinner.

An icing on the cake, you could say. 🙂

Simple Guide to The Research Process in Healthcare

The research process can be a tricky one, especially if you are navigating more than one organisation’s processes! Bournemouth University Clinical Research Unit (BUCRU) with help from RKEO and Local NHS R&D departments, have created a simple flowchart that represents the research process in the NHS and BU, with the aim of helping healthcare researchers understand the process and what they need to do when!

You can download the guide here: BU&NHS Combined Research Process. The process is always evolving so please ensure you check here regularly for the most recent version.

Impact, outcome and research methods – HSC PhD student on LSE Impact Blog

With working at a university and the rise of the REF, you would have almost certainly come across the terms ‘impact’ and ‘outcomes’. Whilst there might be a great deal of similarity and overlap in the use of these terms, it is important to discuss the sometime subtle differences between ‘impact’ and ‘outcome’. What consequences might this have for the design of social research?

The health and social care literature uses these terms in a rather haphazard manner. The differences are rarely discussed and it can be suggested that many use the wrong terminology. In this blog post on the LSE Impact of Social Sciences Blog, relating to the field of information and advice on welfare issues, I briefly discuss and propose that there are fundamental differences between what an impact refers to and what an outcome refers to. Furthermore, I suggest that these differences are significant and profound enough to align each to opposing research methodologies.

These thoughts relate to the key areas of my PhD project with Elderly Accommodation Counsel (EAC) in London. EAC coordinates the FirstStop service which provides information and advice to older people (and other stakeholders) on housing and care issues. My research is focused on how older people use information and advice on housing and the wider impact that this has.

If anyone has an interest in this area, do get in touch!

 

Lunchtime project invitation talk: Living Well Active – Improving the Lives of People with Cancer – 5th November & 12th November

You are cordially invited to this lunchtime project invitation talk which is open to all  staff.

Please feel free to bring your lunch.

 

                                 “Dorset Living Well Active – Improving The Lives of People Living with Cancer”

                                         Exploring Opportunities for Schools/Faculties, Staff and Students 

 

  • Wednesday  5th November 2014    13.00 – 13.50pm          P403,  Poole House
  • Wednesday  12th November 2014   13.00 – 13.50pm         B225,  Bournemouth House

Dorset Living Well Active is a flagship project funded by Macmillan Cancer Support and Sport England with an ambition to enable 1000 people living with cancer in Dorset to improve their potential for health, fitness and wellbeing.

Living Well Active is building a ‘virtual health and fitness club’ bringing together healthcare professionals, physical activity providers, educators, support groups and organisations who are passionate about helping people with cancer live the best life they can. Examples of existing organisations we are currently working with are:

  • Bournemouth University, County Sports Partnerships, Local, regional and National Cancer Charities, GP Practices, Hospitals, Local Authorities
  • Health Commissioners, Behavioural Change Support Organisations (Chronic Health Conditions), Leisure Centres/ Fitness Clubs / Countryside and Parks , Walking for Health, British Cycling, England Athletics, NGB Sports, Dorset Race Equality Council, Help and Care, Boots.

On successful completion of this project it is planned to expand its geographical boundaries to surrounding counties.

Dorset Living Well Active offers Bournemouth University a wealth of opportunities for research, partnership, product and service development, student experience, volunteering and to be part of a nationally recognised project improving the lives of people living with cancer.

Areas include:

  • Website, Social media and Engagement Tools, Service User Experience, GP Practice Development, Social Return on Investment Studies
  • Behavioural Change and Positive Psychology, Physical Activity and Sport (Delivery and Training), Nutrition, Journalism, Graphic Design.

I really welcome the opportunity to explore your potential to benefit from the Living Well Active project and make a positive difference to people, communities and health services in the process.

 

Thank you

Layne Hamerston

Visiting Associate

Centre for Wellbeing and Quality of Life

Centre of Post Graduate Medical Research and Education