BU Research Blog

5 November 2014

What costs £15 and smells of spent fireworks?

Awarded & submitted bids, Fusion, Public engagement, R & KE Operations afeigenbaum

Tear gas is used around the world nearly everyday, yet major international organisations, including the World Medical Association and NATO, state that not enough is understood about the real-life impact and health effects of these technologies. Responding to this lack of accessible information, in 2013 Dr. Anna Feigenbaum won a Fusion Fund grant to form the Tear Gas Research Connection — a group of researchers, NGOs, investigative journalists and tactical technicians keen to get to the ‘truth behind the tears’.

Over the past year, Dr. Feigenbaum and John Horne have been collating data from humanitarian reports, medical journals, corporate correspondences, shipping documents, media reports and Freedom of Information requests in efforts to contribute to public debate and policymaking on this issue. With a year of research and networking behind us, this Tuesday we held our first stakeholder meeting at Birmingham City University. With support from BU Fusion and the Wellcome Trust, fifteen of our partners and advisors came together to strengthen the connections between our work and plan future projects.

As tear gas use has tripled since 2011, there is a pressing need to find new ways to understand and communicate information on its physical and mental health effects. However, data on sensitive topics like tear gas is often kept hidden, deemed too confidential to be made open. This makes it difficult to gather health and human rights information, particularly on vulnerable populations (prisoners, detainees, those living in conflict zones). Likewise, detailed health and medical information, beyond basic safety instructions, is not often available in accessible formats. This leaves many people who suffer tear gas exposure unable to get the treatment they need.

In response to these difficulties in data collection, two initiatives emerged at the Tear Gas Research Connection meeting. Plans are now underway to establish a medical team as part of the connection, bringing together toxicologists, GPs, Emergency responders, military medics and others with the newly formed tear gas task force of the European Respiratory Society. Coming together, this group will work to evaluate and re-issue an up-to-date field guide for dealing with the medical effects of tear gas. There were also discussions of how data mining and new archival methods might be used to help aggregate dispersed information, bringing global information together in one searchable place.

In addition to the significant gap in the communication of scientific knowledg, populations facing tear gas are often marginalised communities that have limited means of expressing their experiences in legitimated forums. To share these stories and raise awareness on tear gas deaths and injuries, our stakeholder group sketched out ideas for documentary projects, including an online memorial that told ‘3 layer stories’ providing the data, humanising those hurt or killed, and detailing the perpetrator that caused the harm. The aim of this project would be to create ‘grieve-able spaces’ and transnational connections around this under-documented and under-reported, global issue. To this effect, our team is currently putting together an AHRC Digital Transformations bid on ‘telling data stories.’

Any truly multidisciplinary issue like tear gas, demands a collaborative, multidisciplinary response. We saw this disciplinary diversity emerge across the other projects that came from our interactive workshop ‘idea stations’. Some of these fascinating proposals included:

Charting the advertising and PR history of tear gas sales
An A to Z critical guide to tear gas
Engaging citizen science and wearable technologies
Using GIS software to map export data

Central to all of our project ideas is an attention to the relationship between data and design. In this information age, it is crucial that we consider not just what the data shows us, but how we communicate those findings and insights to a variety of audiences. That is why our group is committed to holding face-to-face meetings with policymakers and making appearances in international media outlets. To date, our research has featured in newspapers, websites, broadcast radio and television including The Financial Times, The Guardian, Vice.com, Australian Broadcast Company radio, RT, SES Turkey and BBC Mundo, to name just a few.

Over the year we will be building up a number of these projects and we’re always on the look out for new collaborators. From advertising to animation to atmospheric chemistry — if you are interested in this research area and have skills or knowledge to share, please be in touch: afeigenbaum@bournemouth.ac.uk

Meet Our Partners & Advisors

Dima Saber (Birmingham City University); Graeme Hayes (Aston University); Marijin Nieuwenhuis (University of Warwick); Ion Maleas (Goldsmiths); Tara O’Grady (Human Rights Defender); Damian McCormack (Medical Doctor Dublin); Dan McQuillan (Goldsmiths); Noha Atef (Birmingham City University); Lucie Ryzova (University of Birmingham); Michael Crowley (Bradford)

2 November 2014

Surrogacy, legislation & exploitation

Public engagement, Publishing Edwin van Teijlingen

A few months ago Jillian Ireland (BU Visiting Faculty) and I wrote a short Bournemouth University Research Blog on the case widely reported in the media about the Thai baby abandoned by the Australian parents who had ‘placed the order’ for the surrogate child. Following this Blog, Dr. Vijay Sharma, Consultant Physician in Chelmsford, sent me a very interesting paper that appeared in last week’s BMJ.

The paper ‘Taming the international commercial surrogacy industry’ is written by health journalist Sally Howard. She highlights the different laws (or absence thereof) governing surrogacy. She cites an Australian lawyer as saying: “there are no international conventions and agreements …. Legal issues relating to parentage and immigration vary so widely that the process can result in dramatic outcomes, such as a child born via surrogacy who is both legally orphaned and stateless.”

Howard makes a very good point that legislation in low-income countries such as Thailand, India or Nepal is important to help protect surrogate mothers and their off-spring, but equally important is the role of high-income countries to legalise the commercial surrogacy market within their own borders. High-income countries such as the UK, Australia, the USA and the Netherlands have a moral duty to legislate for (restrict) our citizens to help protect poor and vulnerable people in low-income countries from engaging in unethical and/or exploitative commercial surrogacy transactions.

Visit vizecounselor.com if you’re looking for a Thai lawyer for class action lawsuit.

Prof. Edwin van Teijlingen

Centre for Midwifery, Maternal & Perinatal Health, Bournemouth University.

1 November 2014

Sascha Dov Bachmann: BU academic to visit Swedish National Defence College

BU Challenges, Funding opportunities, PG research, Public engagement, REF Subjects, Research themes sbachmann

The Swedish National Defence College (SNDC) invited Sascha Dov Bachmann for a two day visit to the Swedish capita as part of his ongoing affiliation with the SNDC.

Sascha, who works as an Associate Professor in International Law for the Law Department of BU also runs jointly with Dr. Melanie Klinkner the Cluster Centre for Conflict, Rule of Law and Society which has in the past organized a variety of security related activities.

During his visit from 5th to 7th November 2014 Sascha will give a presentation on Eco-warfare and discuss an upcoming publication on Hybrid War.

He will also discuss potential PhD projects and research collaborations as part of BU’s commitment to internationalization.

31 October 2014

Paper added to CEL collection

Publishing Edwin van Teijlingen

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:

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
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

31 October 2014

Congratulations to Wendy Marsh

Awarded & submitted bids Edwin van Teijlingen

BU lecturer-practitioner Wendy Marsh based in Portsmouth has just been awarded The Royal Society of Medicine (RSM) Luke Zander Research Support Bursary. The prize of £500 and a year’s membership to the RSM was established to honour Dr. Luke Zander a founding member of the Forum and an innovator in maternity care.

Wendy Marsh will receive the prize on 25 November at a meeting entitled ‘Looking back to the future: Challenges and opportunities in maternity care’, which will mark the 30^th anniversary of the Maternity & the Newborn Forum.

Well done!

Prof. Edwin van Teijlingen

CMMPH

31 October 2014

AHRC funded Engaging Readers Event

Post-award, Public engagement bthomas

On 29 October in The Octagon, an AHRC funded workshop brought together international scholars researching digital reading with teachers and students from the locality to discuss what use might be made of digital reading and social media tools in the classroom.

In the opening paper, Joachim Vlieghe and Geert Vandermeersche from the University of Ghent outlined the ways in which the emergence of new platforms and digital tools is offering new opportunities for readers to engage with texts, other readers and authors. They reported on a study they conducted with trainee teachers using Goodreads, a popular book recommendation site with over 30 million members. This research has recently been published in the journal New Media and Society, and offers valuable insights into the potential pedagogical uses of such sites, while also recognising the strong misgivings teachers have about the kind of discussions and interactions that take place in such seemingly free environments.

In the discussion that followed, teachers from local schools and colleges commented that while they found such resources interesting and potentially valuable, the demands of delivering targets and rigidly teaching to the curriculum meant that in reality they had little time to explore or incorporate them into their classes. The discussion also focused on how sites such as Goodreads come and go, or are bought out and commercialised by large corporations (Goodreads is now owned by Amazon), and how they might in fact mimic rather than offer an alternative to the ways in which literature is taught in the classroom.

BU colleagues Julian McDougall and Richard Berger then presented the findings of their AHRC funded project exploring videogames as ‘authorless literature’. The study, which involved lecturers and students on BA English at BU, set out to explore whether the skills typically developed by students of literature could be applied to videogames, with students turning the tables on their lecturers by teaching them how to play L.A. Noire. A study guide based on the project has been produced and is available to download at http://cedare-reports.co.uk/digitaltransformations/

Also receiving support from the AHRC through the Digital Transformations call, Bronwen Thomas and Julia Round reported on the first of their projects to be funded, Researching Readers Online. This project involved an online survey of users of book-related online forums, and focus groups with students, local writers, librarians and members of local reading groups. The project was in part motivated by the desire to explore how teachers of literature might learn from the kinds of discussion and engagement taking place online, but the findings in fact challenged many existing preconceptions about ‘digital natives’ and their reading habits and preferences.

This was the penultimate event organised by Julia and Bronwen as part of their latest AHRC award, supporting the establishment of an international Digital Reading Network. Previous events included a symposium held at BU in June 2014. The final event will take place in early 2015 in London, bringing together publishers, writers, charities and public sector organisations to discuss the issues raised by research in this area.

29 October 2014

Event – 3D Printing: A Selection of Stakeholder Perspectives

Awarded & submitted bids, Public engagement cippm

Friday 7th November 2014, Executive Business Centre

There has been much written on the latest developments relating to additive manufacturing or 3D printing as it is more commonly known. The recent rise of low-cost consumer 3D printers have also made the headlines and raised interesting and complex questions.

However, there is limited literature and debate on the implications of 3D printing surrounding intellectual property law, economics, policy, society and technology.

To understand these various implications, this event, co-sponsored by the ESRC and UKIPO and hosted by Dr. Dinusha Mendis Co-Director CIPPM, will bring together industry experts, social scientists, policy makers, lawyers, economists and manufacturers of 3D printing and as such will go beyond the developments in 3D printing in order to understand the implications for various stakeholders.
It will take place on Friday 7th November, 2014 at Bournemouth University’s Executive Business Centre, 89 Holdenhurst Road, BH8 8EB (close to the main railway station).

The event will also provide the platform for a discussion and peer-review of the UKIPO Commissioned Report on the Intellectual Property Implications of 3D printing carried out by researchers at Bournemouth University and Econolyst.

This multi-disciplinary event will be complemented by an exhibition of 3D printing facilities provided by Bournemouth University together with one of the world’s largest 3D printing open-source companies, Ultimaker (Winner of Best Consumer Product and Best Consumer Software at the 2014 3D Print Show Global Awards).

The event is free to attend, although spaces are limited and registration is required. Those with a research interest in 3D printing are welcome to engage in debate on the challenges and opportunities facing this latest emerging technology.

For further information about the event and programme, please visit the CIPPM website. For queries, please contact BU Events (buevents[at]bournemouth.ac.uk) or Dr. Dinusha Mendis (dmendis[at]bournemouth.ac.uk)

29 October 2014

Participation in regional and national conferences provides challenging learning opportunities for BU social work students

Public engagement, student research Jonathan Parker

In October, Michelle Lillywhite and Karen Sampson, final year students on the BA Social Work programme at Bournemouth University attended two conferences, one organised by a local charity working with adult survivors of childhood abuse Dorset Action on Abuse (DAA) and the second organised by British Association of Social Workers (BASW) in conjunction with the Northern School of Child and Adolescent Psychotherapy.

DAA, who offer support groups and one to one counselling for adult survivors, held their annual conference in Boscombe, Dorset. The theme of the conference was supporting people who have been sexually abused though the criminal justice system and how this can effect the working relationship between practitioners and survivors, alongside the personal impact of this work on practitioners. Speaking on the day were representatives from both the local Dorset police’s Child Protection Unit Senior Investigating Officer, John Merrick and Julia Woodward, Senior Crown Chief Prosecutor, from the Crown Prosecution Service Wessex.

The questions from the floor about when the police ‘believe’ a victim were answered with a refreshingly honest account of a police investigator who explained their role isn’t to believe but to build a case with evidence that has a ‘high chance of conviction’. We felt, however, that it is the role for the social worker/counsellor to offer this trust, belief and acceptance of the victim and that the police had a very different, more process-led role within the journey of criminal proceedings. This provided us with significant insights into the differences between professions engaged in the same kind of work with people.

The support that DAA offer people within the local community through these difficult and challenging processes was a continual theme in the personal account shared offered of a survivor’s journey through the criminal justice system which for them resulted in a conviction and ‘validation’ that the horrific abuse they endured was wrong.

It showed us though that while the triumph of a conviction is a positive thing the essence of the entrenched abuse and the victims’ mind-set resulting from their experiences is not so easily eradicated. An important lesson for us as trainee practitioners was that even though we see that justice has been done it does not mean that ‘closure’ can ever really be attained; something we will remember.

The national BASW conference, held in Leeds, was entitled ‘Unsticking the stuck’ and based on a live supervision session with a willing volunteer. The facilitator demonstrated to us how we, as practitioners, can get ‘stuck’ within a case by not concentrating on the most important aspect: understanding and working towards the needs of the client.

In this scenario, the delegates comprised a good mix of students, like us, and more experienced and qualified practitioners who dealt with complex cases – something we aspire to do once qualified!

The initial expectation of the day was that we would come away with some therapeutic interventions to add to our ‘toolkit’ before undertaking our practice placement. However, this was not the case, rather the day prompted an exploration into the meaning and importance of supervision for us as practitioners. I think as well being able to understand and get to grips with a real case and not just a case study the conference gave our discussions on the day more credence and depth as this was a real situation, laced with complexity. It introduced us to something, unfortunately, ever prevalent within our society.

Attending external conferences gives us, as trainee practitioners, the ability to step outside of our comfort zone – the classroom – and explore our knowledge, experiences and natural instincts of working with an increased understanding of complexity. Crucially, this gives us the opportunity to gain insight into the remit and responsibilities of other practitioners which can only strengthen our awareness of the importance of today’s multi-agency working. It creates an understanding of working strategies and thinking outside the box plus the opportunity to network, share ideas and in these cases add something to our ‘personal toolkit’ as future practitioners.

Michelle Lillywhite & Karen Sampson

Social work students

29 October 2014

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

bgabrys

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. 🙂

28 October 2014

Simple Guide to The Research Process in Healthcare

Guidance Lisa Andrews

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.

28 October 2014

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

PG research, Research assessment aharding

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!

27 October 2014

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

gthomas

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

26 October 2014

CMMPH Baby Friendly

Awarded & submitted bids, Fusion, Public engagement Edwin van Teijlingen

Congratulations to all in the midwifery team for achieving re-accreditation as Baby Friendly. The UNICEF Baby Friendly Initiative’s Designation Committee recently re-assessed Bournemouth University’s Midwifery programme. This committee reported earlier this week that “Bournemouth University (Midwifery) should be re-accredited as Baby Friendly.

The UNICEF UK Baby Friendly Initiative University Standards programme is an accreditation programme aimed at university departments responsible for midwifery and health visitor/public health nurse education. It was developed to ensure that newly qualified midwives and health visitors are equipped with the basic knowledge and skills they need to support breastfeeding effectively.

Baby Friendly Initiative accreditation is awarded to an individual course, not to the university itself. Universities are welcome to apply for accreditation for each of the courses they provide for the training of midwives or health visitors/public health nurses.

Well done!

Prof. Edwin van Teijlingen

CMMPH

25 October 2014

Congratulations to PhD student Carol Richardson on getting a paper in The Practising Midwife

PG research, Publishing, student research Edwin van Teijlingen

CMMPH PhD student Carol Richardson just had a paper accepted by the editor of The Practising Midwife. Carol is a Bournemouth University clinical academic doctoral midwife based in Portsmouth. She is part of a scheme jointly funded by BU and Portsmouth Hospital NHS trust (PHT).

Carol is also a Supervisor of Midwives, and her first paper ‘Chasing time for reflection’ relates to midwifery supervision.

Professor Edwin van Teijlingen

Centre for Midwifery, Maternal & Perinatal Health
Bournemouth University

24 October 2014

Interested in Digital Health research?

swilliams

We will be holding a CHIRP meeting on Thursday 30th October at 1pm in P403 for anyone who may be currently conducting (or interested in conducting) research studies related to digital health.

The aims of these CHIRP meetings are to meet regularly as a group with common interests so that we can stay updated about current research/current technologies etc., potentially find areas of common interest for collaboration and generally bounce ideas around one another.

Meetings are open to anyone interested in digital technologies and health whether this focuses on digital health interventions, issues around the impact of digital technologies on health and wellbeing, how digital technologies can aid clinical training or something similar. We are particularly interested in creating a multi-disciplinary group of researchers so welcome any colleagues from Health and Social Care, Computing, Psychology, the Media School etc. etc.

We are currently working on pulling together a BU CHIRP/Digital Health research webpage and aim to share our first version with colleagues at the meeting as well as update current/planned projects and past/upcoming events of interest.

Please contact Sarah on swilliams@bournemouth.ac.uk if you would like to join our CHIRP group or would like to come along and find out more at our meeting on the 30th.

23 October 2014

Dog Facial Animation (CTRC Guest Seminar)

djohn

Speaker: Professor Andres Newball
Pontificia Universidad Javeriana, Cali, Colombia
Date: Thursday 30th October 2014
Time: 15.00-16.00pm
Venue: P335

Abstract: Several human facial animation models have been developed in the last 30 years. In contrast, less attention has been given to animal facial models. Animal facial anatomical features are usually humanised, oversimplified, cartoonised or ignored. With Londra, our dog facial animation model, we successfully synthesised dog facial expressions such as anger, affection, attention, fear, happiness, yawning and smelling without displaying anthropomorphic features. A preliminary validation suggested that most expressions were recognised consistently. Our contributions include: a simplified model inspired by anatomy; a new bottom up form of the layered approach for the bone, muscle, complementary, skin and fur layers; a Dog Facial Action Coding System to synthesise the expressions; and the Tabulated Sphere Subsets to provide a fast way to approximate collisions between objects with constrained motion. This project was funded by the Pontificia Universidad Javeriana, Cali; The University of Otago and Colfuturo and had the collaboration from the Manchester Metropolitan University.

23 October 2014

Games & Interaction (CTRC Guest Seminar)

djohn

Speaker: Professor Andres Newball
Pontificia University Javeriana, Cali, Colombia
Date: Wednesday 29th October 2014
Time: 11-12
Venue: Lawrence LT

1. Chimú Interactive: We aimed to make accessible knowledge about the Chimú culture. In this project, we integrated an interactive immersive application on site, an augmented reality mobile application and a database to create a narrative where the player is an archaeologist. For the virtual reality based immersive environment, we required a system that allowed, according to a set script, viewing and exploring the pyramid of Tantalluc and to explore three of its tombs, excavating, cleaning, taking and observing objects and artefacts.

2. Talking to TEO– assisted speech therapy: It is a video game developed and based on verbal therapy and educational objectives, aimed at the rehabilitation of children with early diagnosed hearing disability, and who use aids such as cochlear implants. The software integrates speech recognition for user interaction and benefits from visual feedback.

All are invited

23 October 2014

First issue Journal of Asian Midwives

PG research, Publishing, student research Edwin van Teijlingen

CMMPH would like to take this opportunity to congratulate the newly established Journal of Asian Midwives on publishing its first issue. Journal of Asian Midwives (JAM) is the first regional online midwifery journal launched by the South Asian Midwifery Alliance (SAMA). Prof. Rafat Jan based in Pakistan at Aga Khan University’s School of Nursing and Midwifery is the lead editor. JAM aims to give a voice to midwives, nurses-midwives, women’s health clinicians, and reproductive health professionals as well as social scientists.

CMMPH proudly announces that one of our Bournemouth University PhD students, Ms. Sheetal Sharma, is on the new journal’s Associate Board. Sheetal’s research is on maternity care in Nepal.

The journal is Open Access and free. JAM does not charge subscription fees so it is free for readers nor does it charge a submission fee so it is also free for authors! The journal can be found at: http://ecommons.aku.edu/jam/

Edwin van Teijlingen & Vanora Hundley

CMMPH

Category / Research themes

What costs £15 and smells of spent fireworks?

Sascha Dov Bachmann: BU academic to visit Swedish National Defence College

Congratulations to Wendy Marsh

AHRC funded Engaging Readers Event

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

Simple Guide to The Research Process in Healthcare

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

CMMPH Baby Friendly

Congratulations to PhD student Carol Richardson on getting a paper in The Practising Midwife

Interested in Digital Health research?

Dog Facial Animation (CTRC Guest Seminar)

Games & Interaction (CTRC Guest Seminar)

First issue Journal of Asian Midwives

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