Category / Research themes

Challenges of Leadership

Leadership is a word often bandied about with many people claiming, assuming or being allocated ‘leadership’ roles, but what does this actually mean when trying to bring about societal improvements? Last week as part of an NHS South of England project BU and Plymouth University hosted a 2 day workshop for strategic leaders in the NHS, Local Authorities and the voluntary sector responsible for strategic leadership in the world of dementia in Devon, Dorset and Somerset. The aim of this project is to promote improvements in the provision of dementia care at a time of fiscal challenge. Working across organisational and disciplinary boundaries, learning from others and acting rather than just talking about the policy directives and vision that contextualises dementia is key. We had several high profile speakers at the workshop, including the Chief Executive of the Alzheimer Society, Jeremy Hughes; the Clinical Lead for dementia for NHS England, Prof Alistair Burns; the immediate Past President of the Association of Directors of Adult Social Services (ADASS), Sarah Pickup; Angela Rippon a high profile ambassador for the Alzheimer Society as well as BU’s own director of the NCPQSW. Prof Keith Brown who does a lot of leadership training across the country. We also had a person living with dementia reminding us of why it is of utmost importance to ensure that people with dementia can live well with their dementia and really what the workshop was all about. Key messages I took from the 2 days that are perhaps transferable to anyone with a leadership role are first that it sometimes just important to get on and do what you need to do because it is the ‘right thing to do’ and this may be at odds with procedures, other colleagues perceptions and priorities but still worth doing! Good leaders sometimes need to buck the trend and with convention, and there were lots of dementia specific examples about how people have been innovative in challenging times. Another key leadership message related to working together and learning from others rather than reinventing the wheel. None of these are new messages but do highlight the ongoing challenges those with key strategic roles face as they work to address key societal concerns.

Bournemouth, Poole and Christchurch – the Silicon Beach of the future?

Bournemouth University hosted a creative and digital economy summit at the EBC on Friday 7 June where leading businesses, entrepreneurs and MPs came together to back a bid to style Bournemouth, Poole and Christchurch as a hub for the creative and digital industry. A manifesto, coordinated by BU with input from a range of local stakeholders, was launched at the event and a host of different businesses and organisations pledged to commit money or their expertise with the aim of growing the local creative and digital sector in the hope the area. The summit featured in the Daily Echo on June 12 which reported that “the area already has above average business start-up and survival rates and is one of the UK’s liveliest digital clusters and this exciting development is a great step forwards”. Read more here. BU will continue to play a central role in taking forward the work set out in the manifesto so watch this space for further developments. If you are interested in finding out more, contact Samantha Leahy-Harland on sleahyharland@bournemouth.ac.uk

eBU staff drop in sessions to be held in each school

PG research, Publishing, Research themes

I am pleased to announce that I am holding drop in sessions in each school for the BU community to ask questions about eBU: Online Journal.

These sessions will be:

Mon 24th June – DEC 12 -2pm in P411

Mon 24th June – School of Applied Sciences 2-4pm in C122

Tues 25th June – HSC 9-11am in the Wellbeing Centre, B112 Bournemouth House 

Tues 25th June – Business School 2-4pm in EB205

Thurs 27th June – School of Tourism 1.30-3.30 in P410

Fri 28th June – Media School 8-10am in CAG04

 

CEMP Conversation – recording

PG research

Audio extract of today’s  CEMP conversation 13.6.13  – a discussion of Allen et al: Work placements in the Arts and Cultural Sector: Diversity, Equality and Access, which was shared by CEMP PHD student Tamsyn Dent.

NB – some of the voices here are via skype.

The next CEMP conversation is on 27.6.13 and the reading will be posted here a week before. All are welcome to attend.

Dizzy the dog attends midwives forum

Fusion

 

Left to Right: Mandy Williams - Community Midwife, Gay Rogers - Breakfast Host and Hospital Midwife and Luisa Cescutti-Butler, Senior Lecturer (Midwifery)

Every three months hospital and community midwives at Salisbury NHS Trust Hospital attend a forum dedicated to matters relating to Examination of the Newborn (EXON).  The aims of the forum are to support healthcare professional undertaking newborn examinations, sharing of experiences/case studies, interprofessional working, maintenance of competence, formulate and review internal  processes and peer support for professionals in training. Members consist of midwives, nurses, a consultant Paediatrician and Children’s physiotherapists. BU student midwives are welcome to attend when working with their community midwives and on this occasion two students were present. As unit leader for EXON at BU and one of the link lecturers at the hospital, I chair, coordinate and facilitate the forums, with venues alternating between hospital and community.  This month we met for breakfast at a colleague’s home, where midwives were greeted with the smells of freshly brewed coffee and a newly prepared home cooked frittata. Further offerings included fresh strawberries, raspberries, warm croissants, cocktail sausages and quails eggs.  

Minutes and agendas are sent out in advance. A standing item is a report from senior children’s physiotherapist Karen Robinson, whose department leads the service for Developmental Dysplasia of the Hips (DDH) in newborns.  A recent case was brought to our attention, where a baby had been examined by midwives and doctors and found to have an unstable right hip. The baby was appropriately referred for an ultrasound scan which subsequently found the right hip normal, but considered the left hip abnormal.  The Barlow’s and Ortolani manoeuvres used by both professions at the time of the examination had not detected any left hip abnormality. A robust discussion ensured as to the complexities of examining babies for DDH and the difficulties in detecting unstable hips when the manoeuvres used by all professionals were themselves unreliable. However Karen was able to reassure us by indicating that in the seven years of the Children’s Physiotherapy Department leading the DDH service, very few babies had been ‘missed’. Karen also emphasized the significance of caring for babies’ hips in general and the importance of educating parents around their baby’s ‘hip health’. The 3rd year midwifery students are currently taught theory around DDH with opportunities to practice manoeuvres on ‘Baby Hippy’. As facilitator for these sessions I realized that our midwifery curriculum had to include general baby hip health in the first year of the student’s programme. Rachael, a 3rd year student midwife, was in agreement: “the discussion around hip care for newborns was great to listen to. I agree that it would be really beneficial to have a lecture on hip care for students”. 

Left to Right: Rachael Callan - 3rd year student midwife, Carol Bremner - Community Midwife, Beccy Seaton-Harris - 1st year student midwife and Fiona White - Community Midwife

On other matters Karen highlighted a number of babies diagnosed with Erb’s Palsy following birth had recently been treated by the department. Various options were offered as to why these babies had sustained these birth injuries, resulting in the forum unanimously agreeing that education around Erb’s Palsy and Brachial Plexus Injuries would benefit all professionals involved with childbirth.  Terri Coates, an expert on Brachial Plexus Injuries and a midwife at Salisbury, agreed to arrange a study day with the national Erb’s Palsy Support Group, to be held at either Salisbury Hospital or BU for midwives and students.

There are many advantages in having a regular forum to discuss issues relating to newborn examination.  Case studies are presented and debated and education around various topics are provided at regular intervals. The forum also supports midwives from other trusts who are having difficulties with undertaking the examination in their areas. Beccy, the 1st year student midwife had the following to say: “It was very informative. It was good to see community and hospital midwives coming together as a team. I am also interested in learning more about Erb’s Palsy and attending a study day. Learning about general hip care would also be beneficial. The breakfast was lovely too”.

Dizzy

The last bark, I mean word, goes to Dizzy. He gets terribly excited when breakfast is served and runs from one midwife to another hoping for a dropped sausage or at least a titbit from a kind soul. After not having much luck, he eventually settles down and gently snores in the corner of the room. 

                                                                              

 

                                                                                        

 

 

 

Festival of Learning – Testament to a Successful Morning (Dr Simon Thompson, DEC Psychology Research Centre)

BU Challenges, Festival of Learning, Fusion, Research Ethics, Research Integritiy, Training

‘Testamentary Capacity in Dementia’ (03 June 2013 10:00h – 13:00h) – Presentation followed by in-depth plenary session about the complexities of leaving an estate to beneficiaries following a diagnosis of dementia.

‘Dementia’ is an umbrella term used to describe many types of deteriorating diseases – the most common ones are Alzhiemer’s disease, Vascular dementia, and Lewy body dementia.

Many married couples own property as ‘joint tenants’. Upon death, ownership automatically passes to the survivor. If property is owned as ‘tenants in common’, one half of the estate belonging to the deceased is dealt with by their Will. Problems arise when there is no Will, when others make a claim, or when another Will is executed.

‘Testamentary capacity’ is a person’s legal and mental ability to make a
valid Will. There are three premises: Presumption of capacity; Requirements; Proof of testamentary capacity.

It is proposed that the law should allow testators alternative means of satisfying the testamentary capacity standard such as an option to validate a testator’s capacity during their lifetime through forensic assessment measuring cognitive elements of testamentary capacity.

It does not remove the difficulty of knowing the status of person at a specific time line. However, it goes some way to describing a person during their lifetime in terms of mental ability and capacity.

Thompson, SBN (2006). Dementia and memory: a handbook for students and professionals. Aldershot: Ashgate.

Thompson, SBN (2012). Dementia. In SBN Thompson (Ed), Psychology of trauma: clinical reviews, case histories, research (pp169-202). Portsmouth: Blackwell-Harvard-Academic.

‘Off the Campus and Into the Community: Teaching for Social Justice

Research themes

Speaker: Dr Susan Hyatt, Visiting Fellow, Department of Applied Social Sciences, Durham University, Associate Professor of Anthropology, IU School of Liberal Arts, Indiana University – Purdue University, Indianapolis 

 Monday, 17th June 2013

12:00– 13:30

R303  Royal London House

 

Abstract:

Over the past 20 years, institutions of higher learning in the US, both public and private, have increasingly emphasized the value of civic engagement and community outreach as integral parts of their educational missions. In my teaching of applied anthropology, I have embraced this pedagogical turn as a way to involve students in community-based issues and to promote critical thinking. In this talk, I offer several brief examples where I have taken students out off the campus and into the community to engage in collaborative research projects. And, I have also offered students opportunities to participate in courses taught in somewhat unconventional community settings, including prisons and a residential treatment facility for women overcoming addiction. I argue that through such courses, we do not teach our students about social justice; rather, we allow students to experience for themselves the inequalities that structure much of our contemporary world and to reflect deeply on the ways that social action connects theory with practice.

 

 

PHENOMENOLOGY INTEREST GROUP: Sport and Well-being

 

 

 

 

You are warmly invited to the fourth meeting of the Phenomenology Interest Group which will be held on Wednesday 3 July between 12.00—1.30. Venue: R201, Royal London House

We are fortunate to have Dr Joanne Mayoh and Dr Ian Jones from the School of Tourism who will demonstrate an example of cross-disciplinary thinking and the translation of theory into practice:

Title: Using the Dwelling Mobility theory to explore how sport can make wellbeing an experiential possibility

Abstract:

The positive relationship between sport and wellbeing has been widely documented in both policy documents and the academic literature. Whilst it is widely acknowledged that this relationship exists, little is known regarding how and why sport can contribute to positive wellbeing for individuals.  Subsequently, there is a need for research that takes a bottom-up approach in order to adequately explore the nature of this relationship in order to contribute to wider knowledge regarding sport and wellbeing, and effectively inform future policy and practice. In mirroring this approach our research draws upon phenomenological philosophers such as Heidegger and Merleau-Ponty to provide a view of the individual that sees them having a sense of agency and existential freedom. This philosophical standpoint will provide the human-centred emphasis for research that is required to fully understand how sport and wellbeing may be connected.  Specifically, this paper draws upon the existing work of Todres & Galvin with regards to Dwelling- Mobility Theory in order to consider how lifeworld philosophy could become more central in leading sport research. In line with this theory, our work considers how sport can provide a sense of dwelling, mobility, and dwelling-mobility within each of six lifeworld dimensions: temporarily; spatiality; embodiment; inter-subjectivity; identity and mood. We conclude that sport is one of the few single activities that can provide the potential for feelings of dwelling, mobility and dwelling-mobility within these dimensions simultaneously.

Dr Joanne Mayoh is a Lecturer in Sport, Physical Activity and Health at Bournemouth University. Her main research interests include the Conceptualisation of Wellbeing, and Active Ageing. She has published journal articles on Phenomenology and research methodology.

Dr Ian Jones is the Associate Dean for Sport at Bournemouth University- His research interests include Sport and Identity, Sport Fandom, and Spectators. He is author of Research Methods for Sport Studies and Qualitative Research in Sport and Physical Activity.

CEMP Research & Innovation Funding Bulletin

Funding opportunities

Here is the latest CEMP Research & Innovation Funding Bulletin. CEMP Cluster bulletin and agenda 30.5.13

The next R&I cluster meeting – where we will review these opportunities and monitor current projects – is on Thursday 6th June 10-12 in the CEMP office.

All are very welcome – just drop in – and if you can’t make the meeting but would like to discuss any of the funding opportunities here, or another research proposal, please let me know.

For info – the ‘think-tank’ part of the cluster meetings will now take place separately, under the re-brand ‘CEMP conversations’ and the next one will be Thursday 13th June. More information to follow.

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BU Research Blog Exclusive: Design & Look of eBU leaked

PG research, Publishing, Research themes

The first screenshot of the eBU interface has been exclusively leaked to the BU Research Blog, and is expected to go viral across the BU community over the next week.

eBU will provide both an internal and external forum for the development of research papers by undergraduate to Professor around the eight BU research themes:

–          Creative & Digital Economies

–          Culture & Society

–          Entrepreneurship & Economic Growth

–          Environmental Change & Biodiversity

–          Green Economy & Sustainability  

–          Health, Wellbeing & Ageing 

–          Leisure & Recreation

–          Technology & Design

Submissions will be open to immediate publication (in a safe internal environment) and open peer review by 2 appropriate BU academics. Authors will be encouraged to act upon these reviews by either reworking papers for submission to an external journal or by opting for publication on the external eBU site.

For BU academics this is a great opportunity to get critical appraisal on your research papers or ideas from colleagues. For academics it also an opportunity to encourage the submission of high quality student output, and possibly to facilitate the co-creation and co-production of publishable material to an external journal or to publish externally with eBU. For students, this is a fantastic opportunity to turn high quality essays or dissertations into scholarly outputs, which will be attractive to employers across many sectors and industries.

If you have any questions or would like to become involved in this exciting venture, please get in touch with me via email aharding@bournemouth.ac.uk or by telephone 01202 963025.

Celebrating diversity of women: a theme day provided for Level C student midwives

Undergraduate pre-registration first year midwifery students were enthralled at a recent theme day which formed part of their Intrapartum unit. The day is designed to celebrate diversity of women’s experiences during labour where students get to listen to stories of women and midwives. This year’s gathering was no exception.  First up was Rachel Arnold, a PhD student from BU. Her rich story, supported by beautiful photographs of Afghanistan, highlighted the plight of women in that country, where maternal mortality is amongst the highest in the world. Rachel in her role as a midwife has worked with Afghan people for many years and as she shared her experiences we began to see that Afghanistan is more than ‘suicide bombers and conflict’, it is about ordinary people who struggle to survive each and every day. Rachel’s talk inspired the whole audience and many students were interested to find out if they could go to Afghanistan for their elective which occurs in the 3rdyear of their training.

“It was wonderful to have a midwifery perspective from this country and the lecture was inspiring and passionate”

“Very interesting and thought provoking talk which has made me think about my own attitudes on diversity”

Jane Evans, an independent midwife, spoke about breech birth as a normal event during pregnancy.  She shared a number of photographs showing how a breech birth should be facilitated with the mantra “hands off”,  and students were able to see how the baby rotated , flexed and birthed itself with the help of his/her mother adopting a variety of positions. The mechanisms were reinforced through Jane using a doll and pelvis to further enhance student understanding. Many midwives are losing their skills within breech birth as women are often opting for caesarean section, but Jane was fortunate in that she was taught the craft of breech  (bottom down) birth by Mary Cronk, who specialised in independent midwifery practice with a keen interest in breech presentation. Mary is now retired but thankfully her many years of experience were passed onto Jane who shares her knowledge widely through study days and of course with the midwifery students at BU.  Many of the students’ views were changed following Jane’s presentation, as the following quotation demonstrates: “It was a privilege to hear this lecture. It offered a contrast to other breech perspectives and gave me more confidence as a student midwife to educate women that breech is merely another type of normal”

Sheetal Sharma, another BU PhD student provided the students with her insight into midwifery care in Nepal. She warned us that she was not a midwife, and was observing and recording midwifery practice as part of her doctoral studies. She provided a fascinating insight into how pregnancy and childbirth are perceived in Nepal where women have no rights within their own homes and are subject to the control, whims and superstitions of their ‘mother-in-laws’.  There were also parallels with Afghanistan in relation to maternal mortality, as around 4,500 Nepalese women die in childbirth due to a paucity of adequate healthcare or even skilled birth attendants.  Sheetal’s presentation included fabulous photographs of idyllic scenes in Nepal, but also of women and children where smiles were abundant and hope was evident. Nepal has made significant strides to reduce maternal mortality and is now on track to meet Millennium Development Goal (MDG)4.

Sheetal explaining her photograph where a woman is shown holding a scythe. Not only is this a tool used in the field to cut vegetation but also as an implement to cut the baby’s cord at birth.
 

The last presentation by Vanora Hundley, BU’s Professor of Midwifery, focused on the global picture of maternal and child health, where some of the key interventions that save mothers and babies lives were highlighted. Vanora reminded the audience that, for example, having a skilled attendant at birth may not always be thought of as ‘intervention’,  but evidence shows that countries where women have access to midwives or an attendant with midwifery skills have significant lower maternal mortality rates. Finally, a note of caution was provided by Vanora around the challenges faced in high income countries, as the over-use of interventions by health professionals are having a damaging impact on mothers and babies.

 
The students really enjoyed the day as the following quotes illustrate:

“I have thoroughly enjoyed the theme day, it has been very informative and insightful – more so than I had anticipated”.

“Fantastic to have a (nearly!) whole day of the wider context of midwifery. Inspirational – thanks”.

“Absolutely superb day. Reignites the fire in your belly!”

“Really insightful day. Demonstrated the importance of the midwife and our roles, not just at home but around the world. It’s nice to see the bigger picture”.