Category / Research themes

Make this month, your Royal Society month!

Publishing, REF Subjects, Research themes

To celebrate the ‘Open Access Week’, the Royal Society Publishing content will be free for all to access until the 29th November 2012!!

So if there is an article you have been meaning to read, now is the time to read it; if you have recently published an article in a Royal Society journal, now is the time to share that research with your peers.

The Royal Society is a Fellowship of the world’s most eminent scientists and is the oldest scientific academy in continuous existence. Apart from promoting science and its benefits, recognising excellence in science and supporting outstanding science, their other priorities include providing scientific advice for policy, fostering international and global cooperation and education and public engagement, clearly spanning their collective scope wider than just science.

The Royal Society publishes nine journals covering the broad spectrum of the life sciences, physical sciences and cross-disciplinary sciences. These journals have great impact and are becoming increasingly powerful within the sector.

So make full use of this month and get as much as you can by visiting these journals.

1. Open Biology

2. Biology Letters

3. Journal of the Royal Society Interface

4. Interface Focus

5. Notes and Records

6. Proceedings A

7. Proceedings B

8. Philosophical Transactions A

9. Philosophical Transactions B

Environmental Change & Biodiversity Research Theme seminar on Thursday!

The Environmental Change & Biodiversity Research Theme is holding its first seminar of the academic year on Thursday 1 November. The seminar will be held in Kimmeridge House KG03 at 1200. Tea and coffee and biscuits will be provided.

The seminar will be quite informal and will be used as an opportunity to discuss ideas that are in development as well as presenting completed results. Additionally, this will be an opportunity for new PhD students in the theme to give a brief (about 5 min) overview of their PhD, and meet staff with overlapping interests. So far the following people have offered: Farah Al-Shorbaji, Adrian Blake, Katharine Bowgen, Danny Sheath and Ann Thornton. Their PhDs cover a range of subjects including the genetics, behaviour and ecology of fish, the effect of eutrophication of coastal habitats, and the effect of environmental change on birds.

The next Environmental Change & Biodiversity seminars will be held on 22 November in Stevenson Lecture Theatre at 1200 and on 13 December in Christchurch House CG13 at 1200. Richard Stillman is the theme leader, so please let him know if you would like to present at one of the upcoming seminars.

Global Women’s (GLOW) Research Conference

The first Global Women’s (GLOW) Research Conference was held in Liverpool this week. The conference brought together 150 researchers and clinicians from across the globe to discuss women’s health in both low and high resource countries. Keynote speakers included France Donnay from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, and Beverly Winikoff from Gynuity Health Projects.

BU was well represented with poster presentations from Vanora Hundley, Professor of Midwifery, and Emma Pitchforth, Visiting Fellow.

Vanora’s presentation examined the Use of oral misoprostol to prevent postpartum haemorrhage in home birth settings in low resource countries; a topic that has been the subject of considerable controversy in recent weeks. Emma’s presentation looked at Evidence response mechanisms in reproductive, maternal, newborn and child health in Asia and the Pacific.

One of the unique features of this conference was the mix of presentations. Presenters came from a variety of disciplines and alongside the well known international speakers were oral presentations from undergraduate students and early career researchers. This was a great opportunity to share experiences and build collaborations, and I would recommend that both staff and students look out for next year’s call for abstracts.

Textbook translated into Greek

Publishing

 Just received in the post a copy of one of the textbooks for medical students I have edited, and I can’t read it.  Elsevier wrote a cover letter with the book to inform us (co-editors and I) that the third edition of our successful textbook Psychology & Sociology Applied to Medicine: An Illustrated Text has been translated into Greek (see http://onlinebooks.parisianou.gr/index.php?page=shop.browse&category_id=20&option=com_virtuemart&Itemid=17&vmcchk=1&Itemid=17).  A long time ago I did one year of Ancient Greek in High School in the Netherlands so I can recognise some of the Greek letters, but that’s all.  The original third edition (in English) was published in late 2010 (http://www.bournemouth.ac.uk/hsc/news/2010/sep/contentonly_1_5404_5404.html).  The Greek edition was apparently published late 2011.  Interestingly, since the textbook’s contributors and editors have signed over the copyright of their work to Elsevier the negotiations have been without our knowledge between the publishers Elsevier and Parisianou (Athens).  As we did not know this was happening we received a nice unexpected surprise.

What fascinates me is why a translation into Greek?  The textbook sells well in the UK and Ireland and it appears to sell well in English-speaking countries like Australia and New Zealand and in North-West Continental Europe.  Greece is some economic, political and social upheaval and the process of translation costs money and the market for a textbook in Greek is considerably smaller than for one in English.  Perhaps Greek medical students find it more difficult to study in English than other Continental students? 

 

Professor Edwin van Teijlingen

School of Health & Social Care

Prof. Hundley Associate Editor BMC Pregnancy & Childbirth

Publishing

Congratulations to BU Prof. Vanora Hundley who has been invited to become Associate Editor for BMC Pregnancy and Childbirth.  BMC Pregnancy & Childbirth is an international journal with Open Access and it has a good Impact Factor (currently 2.83) in its field.    More details of BMC Pregnancy & Childbirth can be found at http://www.biomedcentral.com/bmcpregnancychildbirth/

 

Prof. Hundley joins Prof. Edwin van Teijlingen as Associate Editor, giving Bournemouth University a very good representation on the editorial team.

More about Prof. Hundley: http://uk.linkedin.com/pub/vanora-hundley/16/b40/39b

Value of conference attendance?

October is the month of the annual Alzheimer Europe (www.alzheimer-europe.org) meeting. This year three BUDI team members attended the rather nice setting in Vienna a draw for everyone, although we all had very different agendas and expectations. Alzheimer Europe is one of my personal favourite conferences as I’ve been going for years and it creates the opportunity to meet with new and catch up with a range of international colleagues, and is actually the main reason I go to these kind of events; yes it is good to present the work, and as a team we had two posters and three oral presentations this year, which is not bad for an Institute only in existence for 6 months, but it is the networking aspect that provides inspiration and creates new ideas and new collaborations that motivates me to go to these kind of events.

Patricia McParland is BUDI’s project manager, she has presented at a few dementia conferences in the last 3 years but for this conference her main concern was to ensure her cutting edge work doctoral work, that she is in the final throes of writing up, on public awareness of dementia is getting out there as this is an area of increasing policy concern both in the UK and internationally and many are starting to work in this particular area. As well as presenting a poster on her doctoral work that received positive attention, she presented a paper reporting on one of BUDI’s project about Dementia Friendly Tourism. The concept of Dementia Friendly Tourism has caught the imagination of many we speak to about our dementia work and this proved to be the case again in Vienna. Colleagues from France, Spain and Jersey were particularly interested in this project and keen to explore how these ideas could be applied to their regions; we will see what transpires over the coming months in the way of collaboration but this is a nice example of the added value of going to a conference.

Clare Cutler is a research assistant in BUDI and has just started her PhD exploring experiences of war and dementia, as an Early Career Researcher Clare was thrilled to be attending her first interational conference, and her excitement was contagious! but she was also rather anxious about giving her first presentation on one of BUDI’s projects, GRIID, Gateway to Rural International Innovations in Dementia, on behalf of an international team. She needn’t have worried as she went down a storm; mainly because she said at the beginning that she was nervous, this was her first presentation and then let out a big sigh as she finished. This created a huge amount of goodwill to her personally as well as her giving a presentation on an innovative interational partnership project. We had received the support of Alzheimer Disease International (www.alz.co.uk) to conduct part of this study and the opportunity for further discussion about working together to target rural areas and developing countries is another of the added value benefits that being in Vienna brought for me this year.

I presented a paper on a recently completed evaluation of a telehealth project to diagnose and follow up people with dementia living on the Shetland Isles and Grampian, rural areas of Scotland. The added value of this work relates to the INTERDEM (www.interdem.org) meeting that was held the day before the conference. (This is another example of added value by the way, going to other meetings around a conference.) Interdem is an application/invite only pan European network of highly active psychosocial researchers in the dementia field; as a member I was also able to take my BUDI colleagues in their student roles, a new doctoral and just about to complete doctoral student, to this full day meeting and they found this an amazing experience as many of the ‘names’ of long established dementia academics are part of this group which is always a buzz to meet people you’ve quoted for the first time, who offered real warmth, enthusiasm and support for their work. The Interdem meeting this time round was a mix of presentations (including one from the task force on technology and dementia that I co-lead)  and working groups developing bid ideas, collaborative papers and general brain storming about how to take forward new work in the field. The technology task force has been working on a bid around exergaming and dementia and we used the lunchtime slot to meet to work up our ideas further  (more added value) as well as updating Interdem members about our progress with this bid during the meeting itself. But we also discussed new bid ideas and telehealth, the focus of my Alzheimer Europe paper, was one of the favoured topics; one of our jobs now is to see the details of a long-awaited funding call  (JPND) due out December 2012 and get writing another EU bid.  We also agreed to write a collaborative paper on technology and dementia, but a successful meeting is one that generates new work from my point of view!

My other bit of dissemination work was a poster about ongoing research evaluating dementia care in Maltese hopsital wards. The added value about this relates to the conference venue being in Malta next year and I am sure this has partly influenced the invitation, of the Maltese Dementia Society member who is a long standing collaborator of mine as well as being the local organisor for the 2013 meeting, for me to give a plenary there next year!

So in all, the value of going to conferences for new researchers, is undoubtedly to present their work, to meet esteemed colleagues and the resultant ‘buzz’ this brings, to learn about other research in the field and to start their own networks (a good example of this is Patricia joining a writing team for a methods related paper, more added value!). For me it is a chance to catch up with people and to discuss potential new collaborations. In previous years it has also been about keeping a profile of the work of my team, this year it was about starting to create a profile for a new BU team to an international audience. I am pleased to report that all boxes were ticked this time round!

Are we born to yawn?

Fusion, R & KE Operations, REF Subjects, Research assessment, Research Integritiy, Research themes

Yawning consistently poses a conundrum to neurologists and neuroscientists. Increasingly, evidence is found to link neurological disorders through the commonality of yawning episodes and contagious yawning. Despite discrete incidences (such as parakinesia brachialis oscitans) in brain stem ischaemic stroke patients, there is considerable debate over the reasons for yawning, with the mechanism of yawning still not fully understood. Cortisol is implicated in the stress response and fatigue; repetitive yawning may be the link between neurological disorders and with a strong correlation between yawning and a rise in cortisol levels. Evidence has now been found in support of the Thompson Cortisol Hypothesis that proposes cortisol levels are elevated during yawning [1]. Additional data is in press, and further research is planned with longitudinal consideration to neurological disorders such as multiple sclerosis and stroke. Funding for such initiatives is currently being sought.

[1] Thompson, S.B.N., & Bishop, P., 2012. Born to yawn? Understanding yawning as a warning of the rise in cortisol levels: randomized trial. Interactive Journal of Medical Research, 1(5), e4:1-9. Doi: i-www.jmr.org/2012/e4/

Carbon Reduction Event 2012 – Get Involved!

BU has accepted an invitation to be the specialist educational sponsor at a Govtoday-hosted Carbon Reduction event in November. Adrian Newton (ApSci) is the lead academic on this and we have been working closely with Govtoday to gather as much information about the event as possible (i.e. more about the event, who will be attending, how will BU benefit, etc.).  The attached document provides an overview of all the information gathered. You can also visit the event’s website for more detail: http://www.carbon-reduction.co.uk.

We want to ensure we capture all available expertise/research in the field of carbon reduction, so we’re casting a wide net. Could you please get in touch if you would like to get involved? There are several ways you can get involved, to include:

  • Would you like to attend the event on 27 November? This will provide an opportunity to present your research to public sector decision makers. We can send up to four delegates. Please let me know if you’d like to attend.
  • If you do not wish to attend, but would like to see your work featured in the presentation to be given on behalf of BU, then please send relevant PowerPoint slides to me for inclusion.
  • Would you like to provide materials for the exhibition space? If so, please provide details of your research that you would like to feature.

This is a fantastic opportunity for BU to show off our strengths and experience in research and knowledge exchange, particularly CPD and training!

LAST CHANCE – sign up here for the Dementia luncheon!

Research themes

Prof. Anthea Innes, the director of the Bournemouth University Dementia Institute (BUDI), is planning a dementia lunch as part of the BU Research Theme development. The BU Research Themes were launched almost a year ago at the first of the BU-wide Fusion events. The Themes are society-led, encourage cross-School working and collaboration, and will be the main vehicle through which BU research is presented externally in future.

At BU, we are proud of the way in which we demonstrate the fusion of research, education and professional practice, and Bournemouth University Dementia Institute (BUDI) demonstrates the benefits that this collaborative way of thinking can bring to our dementia work in three ways:

  1. By working across schools, it is possible to draw on the strengths of academics with a wide variety of disciplines.
  2. By working with local service providers and engaging with local people, we can strengthen, develop and consolidate links with these key stakeholders.
  3. BUDI will promote the fusion of research, education and practice. Our locally relevant evaluation and research will be combined with international research evidence so that we can develop training courses and other educational activities to inform and shape professional dementia care in the region.

Would you like to get involved in this exciting cross-school initiative? If so, please fill in the form below and we’ll sign you up. The lunch is planned for Wednesday, 28 November at La Piccolo in Lansdowne (http://www.lapiccolaitalia.co.uk/) from 1200-1400. Act fast – this is on a first-come-first-served basis and there are only a few spots left!

    Your Name (required)

    Your Email (required)

    Your School / Professional Service (required)

    Popcorn, ice-cream and a film

    Dear all,

     We would like to invite you to a joint meeting of the Phenomenology Interest Group and the Leisure and Recreation theme for popcorn, ice-cream and a film.

     Date: Wed 31st October, Time: 2.00pm, Place: PG10

    Subject: What it means to live in the world as exemplified by Tao Rospoli’s film Being in the World.  Some challenging ideas presented in a different way.  The film is 77 minutes.  Then there will then be an opportunity for discussion.

    Refreshments: Popcorn/ice-cream will be supplied. Please contact Sean Beer (sbeer@bournemouth.ac.uk ) to book a place.

     What is the film about:   We quickly move beyond the Greeks and then beyond Descartes’ mentalist notion (‘I think therefore I am’) of reality to Martin Heidegger’s conception: reality and meaning exist where minds interact with the world. We see humans at work and at play: juggling, doing high-precision Japanese carpentry, flamenco, and cooking gumbo. While we watch them work and struggle to introspect and talk about their art and their craft, we also hear Hubert Dreyfus and his students reflect on Heidegger and his philosophy. Our artisans confess that they cannot explain in rational terms how they do what they do. The being is in the doing. Interviews and action intertwine to make a challenging philosophy clear to the lay viewer.

     

     

     

     

    How Web 2.0 might revolutionise our research

    Many of you will be familiar with the revolution that the internet is undergoing, with its growth of social networking, web applications, blogs and wikis. What I had not appreciated, until very recently, is what the full implications are for how we go about our research. I am sure that colleagues in DEC and the MediaSchoolare well ahead of the curve on this, but for the rest of us, the penny is perhaps only just beginning to drop. I recently attended a fascinating conference hosted by the European Social Simulation Association in Salzburg. This is a group of researchers united by a common interest in using computer programs to simulate human behaviour, and its implications for human society. This was very much a new arena for me; I was really attending to learn something about the agent-based modelling approaches that are the flavour of the month in these circles. But what most impressed me was the way researchers are now using web technologies to access data to explore in their models. For example, although I’d heard of “crowdsourcing” before, I’d never really seen it in practice, and what it can deliver. I was most impressed by groups using tools such as Twitter, together with mapping applications such as Google maps, to produce highly informative maps showing the movements and wellbeing of large numbers of people. A great example is what the LSE is doing to map happiness – yes, really – http://www.mappiness.org.uk/. Another example, from the University of Leeds, has been using Twitter to map the movements of commuters in and out of the city. What is perhaps most astonishing is that large numbers of people seem keen to participate in these research projects. Potentially useful tools being used by this research community include open source mapping initiatives such as Open Street Map http://www.openstreetmap.org/ and Maptube http://www.maptube.org/, as well as Survey mapper http://www.surveymapper.com/current.aspx. You might find this reference useful if you’re interested in learning more – http://ssc.sagepub.com/content/27/4/524

    Interested in increasing the quality of dementia care and support? Get involved in this exciting cross-school initiative!

    Research themes

    Prof. Anthea Innes, the director of the Bournemouth University Dementia Institute (BUDI), is planning a dementia lunch as part of the BU Research Theme development. The BU Research Themes were launched almost a year ago at the first of the BU-wide Fusion events. The Themes are society-led, encourage cross-School working and collaboration, and will be the main vehicle through which BU research is presented externally in future.

    At BU, we are proud of the way in which we demonstrate the fusion of research, education and professional practice, and Bournemouth University Dementia Institute (BUDI) demonstrates the benefits that this collaborative way of thinking can bring to our dementia work in three ways:

    1. By working across schools, it is possible to draw on the strengths of academics with a wide variety of disciplines.
    2. By working with local service providers and engaging with local people, we can strengthen, develop and consolidate links with these key stakeholders.
    3. BUDI will promote the fusion of research, education and practice. Our locally relevant evaluation and research will be combined with international research evidence so that we can develop training courses and other educational activities to inform and shape professional dementia care in the region.

    Would you like to get involved in this exciting cross-school initiative? If so, please fill in the form below and we’ll sign you up. The lunch is planned for Wednesday, 28 November at La Piccolo in Lansdowne (http://www.lapiccolaitalia.co.uk/) from 1200-1400. Act fast – this is on a first-come-first-served basis and there are only a few spots left!

      Your Name (required)

      Your Email (required)

      Your School / Professional Service (required)

      LEPs given core Government funding

      Local Enterprise Partnerships are to be given core funding by the Government following complaints that the new regional growth bodies are being run “on a shoestring”.  The Business Department and the Department for Communities and Local Government will provide combined funds of up to £24m to allow LEPs “to drive forward their growth priorities”, the Government said.  The announcement follows an inquiry by an all-party group which found that the independence of LEPs, which replaced Regional Development Agencies, was being compromised by a lack of funds.  The organisations are supposed to be voluntary, self-funded partnerships between businesses and local authorities but participants have warned that they have been over-reliant on a small number of core donors, putting their impartiality at risk.

      An interim £5m will be made available immediately for all LEPs to use for the remainder of this financial year, the Government said.  This will be followed by up to £250,000 per LEP per year for the next two years – provided they can source matched funding of equal value.  Business minister Michael Fallon said: “This funding will help LEPs plan for the long term and ensure they can remain locally-led instead of dependent on central government support. We need to ensure LEPs remain voluntary business and civic partnerships so they are in the best possible position to deliver sustainable growth and job creation in their areas.”  John Walker, national chairman of the Federation of Small Businesses, welcomed the move. “Funding for the LEP is vital if it is to give the local support that small firms need. We have been pushing for basic dedicated funding at this level from the outset.”

      Challenge: Collaborate with fellow researchers across BU…Solution: Join one or more of BU’s Research Themes

      Fusion, Research themes

      The BU Research Themes were launched in December at the first of the BU-wide Fusion events. The Themes are society-led, encourage cross-School working and collaboration, and will be the main vehicle through which BU research is presented externally in future.

      We’re now encouraging staff and postgraduate research students to sign up to one or more of the Themes! This is a great way to get involved in the BU research environment and to meet other academics and students from across the University. Many of the themes are now starting to hold meetings to determine how to move the themes forward and this is your chance to get involved.

      There are eight BU Research Themes:

      • Creative & Digital Economies
      • Culture & Society
      • Entrepreneurship & Economic Growth
      • Environmental Change & Biodiversity
      • Green Economy & Sustainability
      • Health, Wellbeing & Aging
      • Leisure & Recreation
      • Technology & Design

      If you would like to join one or more of the Themes, then complete the form below and I will add you to the list.

        Your Name (required)

        Your Email (required)

        Your School / Professional Service (required)

        Staff or PGR student? (required)

        StaffPGR

        Please select the themes that you are interested in (required)

        New voucher scheme to stimulate SME innovation

        Small UK businesses, from the 24th September 2012 will be able to obtain Government funding to help them develop and grow with the launch of the Innovation Voucher scheme to be managed by the UK’s innovation agency, the Technology Strategy Board (www.innovateuk.org).  The scheme will enable start-up, micro, small and medium-sized businesses to access up to £5,000 worth of advice and expertise from universities, research organisations or other private sector knowledge suppliers.

        What are Innovation Vouchers?

        Innovation Vouchers are designed to encourage businesses to look outside their current network for new knowledge that can help them to grow and develop. Start-ups, small and medium-sized businesses from across the UK can apply for an Innovation Voucher. A grant of up to £5,000 is available to businesses to work with a supplier for the first time and is used to pay for knowledge or technology transfer from that supplier. The voucher has three key criteria:

        • The idea that you want help with should be a challenge for the business which requires specialist help
        • It should be the first time that the firm has worked with the knowledge supplier
        • The idea should be applicable to one of the three priority sectors – agrifood, built environment or space

        Benefits to business

        An Innovation Voucher should stimulate a company to explore bringing new knowledge into the business, enhancing its ability to develop innovative products, processes and services and explore new markets.

        Examples identified include:

        • Ideas for new or improved products, processes and services;
        • Using design to improve ideas;
        • Managing intellectual property

        Innovation Voucher schemes are an ideal way of bringing the University and SMEs together to support activity that can evidence positive impact, provide case material for curricula, and in some circumstances research opportunities. The voucher could also be the forerunner to future bids to the Technology Strategy Board or European competition or grant leading to further shared resource.  The Technology Strategy Board will monitor the scheme’s progress and have indicated that they will consider extending it to other sectors in future.