Category / Research themes

De Hogeweyk: unique lifestyle housing for people with dementia

I (Marilyn Cash, HSC) recently had the opportunity to visit De Hogeweyk a nursing home in the Netherlands that provides care to 152 people in the later stages of dementia. Unlike traditional nursing homes, De Hogeweyk is designed as a small self contained village with 23 individual homes, a supermarket, a hair and beauty salon, restaurant, theatre and traditional Dutch ‘brown cafe’. The homes are designed to reflect seven different typical Dutch ‘lifestyles’, identified by Motivaction a social research agency:-
1. Traditional for residents whose identity came from carrying out a traditional profession
2. City for “urbanized” residents whose life had been spent in the centre of the city
3. “Het Gooi” for residents who attach importance to manners, etiquette, and external appearance
4. Cultural: for residents who appreciate art and fine culture
5. Christian: for residents for whom practicing their Christian religion is an important part of daily life
6. Indonesian: a lifestyle for residents with an Indonesian background
7. Homey: for residents who believe that caring for the family and household is important.

De Hogeweyk allows residents to experience life as if they were living in the community but from within a safe and secure environment. Residents are able to take part in everyday activities in their homes supported by a team of staff and volunteers. They are able to walk freely through the streets and gardens which are designed to reflect normal life with street signs, streetlights, benches and squares where people can congregate. Being able to move freely around not only contributes to their health but also gives a feeling of ‘being at home’. The feeling of normality is further supported by the fact that none of the staff wear uniforms. The scheme has been designed to integrate with the local community and the facilities are open to anyone, not just to residents and their families.
A total of 240 staff (equivalent to 170 full-time jobs) work at De Hogeweyk; this includes, nurses, nursing assistants, physiotherapists, occupational therapists, a full-time doctor and a Psychiatrist. They are supported by 120 volunteers, who are mostly retired people living in the local community. Many of the volunteers live alone and appreciate the social interaction that volunteering gives them. Residents are funded through the Dutch national insurance scheme for long-term care
De Hogeweyk has been criticised for being a deception; but I think that most people reading this would prefer this ‘lifestyle’ to that offered by a traditional nursing home.

Dementia

BU research, News from the PVC, Research news

Most of us know someone touched by dementia – a friend, relative or loved one.  As the average age of our population grows ever older, the chances are some of us will be affected.

As such dementia is emerging as a new strategic priority for BU, with investment from our HEIF funds to create the Bournemouth University Dementia Institute, or BUDI as the team like to call it.  The team is growing rapidly working on a range of funded dementia projects with more in the pipeline. Working with the Director of BUDI Anthea Innes, Lee-Ann Fenge, Sue Barker, Vanessa Healsip, Michele Board have recently completed a review of Higher Education Dementia Curriculums on behalf of the Higher Education Dementia Network.  Work that reflects Anthea’s previous experience leading masters and undergraduate programmes in Dementia Studies and the dementia focus of social work and nursing colleagues within the School of Health and Social Care.  A number of research and knowledge exchange projects are underway including:

  • An ongoing programme of work funded by Bournemouth Borough Council involves the BUDI team delivering a range of activities via two different programmes; a ‘cupcake club’ and a technology group.  The evaluation report isn’t due until February 2013 so a lot is happening over the autumn months.
  • A BU Research Development Grant enabled an early collaboration between the Schools of Tourism and Health and Social Care.  This project led by Anthea Innes (HSC) and Stephen Page (Tourism) is currently being written up for publication and dissemination.  It is the first study to conceptualise ‘Dementia Friendly Tourism’ as an area worth investigation to try and improve the leisure opportunities for those with dementia and their families; but the project will also produce recommendations to  help advise tourism and leisure providers to enhance their provision to promote inclusion of those with dementia.
  • An international study GRIID (Gateway Rural International Initiatives in Dementia), involving partners from Australia, Canada, India, Sweden and the UK is also in the writing up stages following a policy synthesis and survey of Alzheimer Disease International (www.adi.co.uk) members.
  • European work is on-going too, focused on Malta where Anthea has long established links working on improving the quality of care offered in Maltese hospital wards
  • A multi-site NIHR project has just commenced exploring site loss and dementia for people who continue to live at home.  This is a collaboration between the Universities of York, BU, Cambridge, Worcester and consumer organisations; the Housing and Dementia Research Consortium (HDRC); Pocklington Trust supported by the Alzheimer Society and the Macular Disease Society

But this is just the start with money being committed by many of large funding agencies this is a societal theme of the moment.  BU is part of a large FP7 grant application currently first reserve for funding, and BU is coordinating a multimillion ESRC grant application with 12 other institution due for submission this autumn.  Working locally is also very much on the agenda.  Staff in BUDI are working for example in partnership with commissioners and clinicians across Dorset to secure funding via the NHS South of England Dementia Challenge fund with BU as the evaluator for a number of innovative local projects proposed by those delivering dementia care every day.

BUDI launched 16 May 2012 just three months ago and the progress is impressive, but there is also a long way to go to achieve its objectives of making a real contribution to improving the lives of those with dementia and those who provide support whether they be family or paid clinicians and carers.  This is not just an initiative launched from HSC but a cross BU one and I am delighted to announce the secondment of Samuel Nyman (Psychology, DEC) to BUDI to strengthen its work force and continue his existing collaboration with Anthea which includes a match funded BU PhD Studentship with Anthea Innes and Marilyn Cash which is looking at the role of gaming technology to support older men with dementia in rural areas.  BUDI is looking for staff who wish to engage from across BU and is truly multidisciplinary in its approach and reach.  There may be other who are interested in similar secondments and I would encourage them to get in touch with Anthea.  DEC and Tourism are already involved with BUDI contributing staff and time but there is huge scope for others to get involved for example in the Media School.  Why not drop Anthea a line and get in touch?

Also starting in September is Patricia McParland as BUDI Project Manager or Engagement Consultant, a post-doc appointment is pending, PhD student Ben Hicks will start soon and we will be advertising for an Associate Director for BUDI soon.  BUDI has the full support of UET and is receiving strategic investment to make things happen quickly; dementia is of the moment as illustrated by the Prime Minister Dementia Challenge launched earlier this year and it’s for BU to cease this moment.  BUDI offers the opportunity to have a real impact, to make a difference in our society, to develop practice and research and to do it quickly.  Please get involved and get in touch with Anthea or myself directly.

 

Dementia Cupcake Club – research in the community

BU research

Throughout July and August 2012 BUDI (on behalf of Bournemouth Borough Council) have been delivering a series of sessions called the Cupcake Club at a local care scheme for people with dementia. For six weeks participants have been taking part in a variety of fun activities such as decorating cupcakes, arts and crafts, gardening and playing the Nintendo Wii. The purpose of the Cupcake Club was to provide a fun and informal environment for people with dementia to be creative and active over the summer period. The Cupcake Club has provided BUDI with a wonderful opportunity to go into the community and meet a group of interesting, funny and charismatic people. The sessions were thoroughly enjoyed by both the participants and the research team and apart from providing a lot of laughter, the sessions have shown that people with dementia are as capable as anyone else and that they are also quite good at Wii bowling!

A second Cupcake Club group has now started and analysis of the evaluation data from both Cupcake Clubs will begin in the Autumn. All findings will be drawn together in an evaluation report for Bournemouth Bourough Council towards the end of the year. In the meantime there is a lot of fun for the BUDI team faciliating these sessions in the community and for the participants.

The International Early Labour Research Group

BU research, Research news

Early labour Group

Photo (L to R): Dr Helen Cheyne (University of Stirling), Dr Mechthild Gross (Hannover Medical School), Dr Mary-Ann Davey (La Trobe University), Professor Patti Janssen (University of British Columbia), Professor Helen Spiby (University of Nottingham), and Professor Vanora Hundley (Bournemouth University). Not shown Gillian Hanley (University of British Columbia).

Researchers from across the globe met in Stirling last week to discuss early labour research and to plan an international collaborative study. The meeting was the result of a successful Canadian Institutes of Health Research (CIHR) planning grant to bring together researchers from Canada, Australia, Germany, England and Scotland. We have met on a number of occasions in the last couple of years, but usually at a conference when time is limited, so it was a real luxury to have two full days to discuss early labour care and to plan a possible intervention for women in the latent phase of labour. Although we have all conducted studies in this area, developing a complex intervention for use in five countries raises many novel challenges. Discussion focused on the varying models of care and current guidelines – the NICE and KCND guidelines used in the UK were much appreciated by our international colleagues. We left the meeting invigorated, but also aware that there is much to do. The first step will be a special issue of Midwifery later this year dedicated to early labour and guest edited by two of the team.

Proposed Copyright Hub to Streamline Copyright Licensing

Publishing, Research Integritiy

Recommendations for the establishment of a Digital Copyright Exchange, contained in a final report into its feasibility, have just been published following a Department of Business, Innovation and Skills funded study undertaken by Richard Hooper, click here.

Given the amount of digital material available and likely to be created in the future, it is essential to streamline the process of copyright licensing. Having easier mechanisms to obtain the appropriate copyright licences will benefit rights holders and potential licensees.

The report recommends the creation of a not-for-profit industry-led, industry-funded Copyright Hub, and the establishment of a steering group to drive forward and oversee the design and implementation of the Hub.

The Copyright Hub will have five main purposes, to:

  • act as a signpost and be a navigation mechanism to the complex world of copyright
  • be the place to go for copyright education
  • be the place where any copyright owner can choose to register works, the associated rights to those works, permitted uses and licences granted
  • be the place for potential licensees to go for easy to use, transparent, low transaction cost copyright licensing
  • be one of the authoritative places where prospective users of orphan works can go to demonstrate they have done proper, reasonable and due diligence searches for the owners of those works before they digitise them

The Government’s response to these proposals is awaited.

Creative Industries Convergence in a digital landscape – TSB Challenge

Funding opportunities, Research themes

The Technology Strategy Board (TSB) is investing up to £1.8m in feasibility projects that address the converged nature of the digital landscape. The programme will be delivered in three parts during 2012. Projects are sought which focus on convergence in hyper-local media models, content origination tools, and analytical feedback and metrics tools.

The TSB has identified convergence as a priority in its strategy for the creative industries (seewww.innovateuk.org under Publications). This competition is a first step in the TSB’s active commitment to explore the impact that convergence is having on emerging and innovative businesses. The feasibility studies supported under this three-part programme may also develop into submissions to a follow-on competition planned for 2013.

 

Challenge 2 focuses on projects that will lead to true cross-platform origination of content, the collaborative generation of ideas, and new business models for content based on cross-media formats and consumption.

Challenge 2 opens on 16 July 2012 and the deadline for applications is noon 22 August 2012. Successful challenge 2 projects must begin no later than 1 November 2012.

 

The competition is open to small and micro companies. Projects must be led by a business working either singly or collaboratively. Academics can apply but only as a partner in a consortium. Projects can attract up to 75% public funding. The total grant for each project will not exceed £56,250 and the total project size will not

exceed £75,000. Projects should last up to 12 months.

 

More information, click here

To apply for this competition you must first register. You can do this by going to the web page for this competition at www.innovateuk.org under Competitions. When you register you will get access to all the supporting

information you need to read before you apply, including the Guidance for Applicants and the application form.

Competitions helpline:

0300 321 4357

Email: support@innovateuk.org

Health, Wellbeing and Ageing: BUs Research Themes as Communities of Practice

Uncategorized

At the most recent meeting of the Health, Wellbeing and Ageing Research, we discussed how the Ageing Strand of this theme might be developed along the principles of a community of practice (Wenger et al., 2002, 2006). Here is a summary for wider scrutiny, comment, critique and eventually consensus on how we can together move this strand forward.
The Philosophy
A community of practice (COP) is a “a group of people who share a concern or a passion for something they do and learn how to do it better as they interact regularly” (Wenger, 2006). Our passion is Health and Wellbeing- a salutogenic rather than pathogenic approach to health, social care and related fields. For many of us, it is the application of this to the Ageing Process and managing older age that holds our particular interest and area of expertise. The central philosophy of a COP is that members learn with and from each other. The rationale is two fold: firstly learning is linked with member wellbeing (specifically cognitive wellbeing): secondly, learning and wellbeing jointly facilitate productivity. In other words, our activities and outcomes/outputs will and do flow from communities of this type. (Wenger et al, 2002)
Key to the development of a COP such as this one is the “practice” element. Through interacting regularly (at times virtually, at times face to face) we are building relationships and learning better ways of working together (Wenger et al., 2002, 2006). Community members engage in joint activities, helping and learning from each other, sharing information and building relationships. By practicing in this way we are developing what Wenger refers to as a shared repertoire of resources (e.g. a common definition of wellbeing; an understanding of regional, national and global policy on Ageing Well) experiences (appropriate and friendly funding sources), stories, tools (e.g., research methodologies, review techniques), ways of addressing recurring problems (e.g. dealing with ethics, dealing with rejection, holding interviews with people with impaired hearing or mobility issues)—in short a shared practice.

The community can be moved forward practically by following the seven principles of developing a community of practice (Wenger et al., 2002). I concentrate on four here.
1. UP THE EVOLUTION
The development of Health, Wellbeing and Ageing should be an evolutionary process. Members differ widely in interests. Sociologists and engineers rub shoulders. Those interested in clinical trials and phenomenology share the same building! But our differences are not important. What is important is that we share an interest/expertise in Health, Wellbeing and/or older people. Rather than impose our own preconceived structures as to what projects or subgroups should be developed, projects themes are allowed to arise organically and the community’s agenda develops as members engage and disengage. For this to continue, it is essential that members know about each other’s interests and take time to interact and share these. Up to date STAFF profiles and BURO lists managed by our friend BRIAN are key to this as are student staff seminars and conferences. But as with any evolutionary process, it takes time to develop and small steps in the right direction are expected and accepted.
2. OPENING DIALOGUE
Through opening dialogue with those within the university and with external colleagues we are together developing a shared competence in a domain that distinguishes us from, but guides our rules of collaboration with, the range of other networks within the field (e.g. AgeUK, Help and Care, Poole and Bournemouth Borough Council, Research Councils). Creating an open dialogue between members and between members and those outside of the groups is central.. Our social media group pages AGEING at BU is a step in developing these insider and outsider discussions. http://www.facebook.com/#!/groups/106969319443779/. Twitter and much more should follow.. Technical stewards (Wenger,2010) are required to lead the community in maintaining the community through these Web 2.0 technologies, keeping us actively engaging and building internal and external relationships required to maximize our learning. These sites can serve dual purposes and promote our activity but evidence shows that if self promotion overrules the central learning objective of these sites (Terras, 2012), our e -profile withers and die. A balance is essential

3. DIFFERENT LEVELS OF PARTICIPATION
Community members can engage in the theme at three different levels of participation: as the core convening group, as active participating members or on the periphery watching developments. All levels are acceptable and learning about health, wellbeing and its application to Ageing can occur in any of the three. We strive however to introduce mechanisms whereby movement between core, active and peripheral participation can occur. Active participation should be encouraged but not forced, “building benches on the sidelines” for members to sit and watch until they are confident to move to the centre and take more active roles within the group (Wenger et al., 2002). An ethos of mentoring is fostered not necessarily on a one to one basis, but as a group philosophy where active and core members are cogent of the need for inclusivity and for offering opportunity to peripheral members should they wish to engage.
4. THE COMMUNITY MUST HAVE VALUE FOR ITS MEMBERS
Engagement is also encouraged by making explicit the value of community membership. From personal experience, being part of a community has offered us all opportunities we would not have accessed if we had not been members. The social capital generated has lead to individuals making connections to networks to which some members had links but others not (connections to external networks come from whom we know not necessarily what we know). We have been able to draw on the skills of others, (for example, the researchers amongst us have gained insight into curriculum development, faculty development and health care policy). The network has enabled us to submit bids that are cross school and cross institutional which we hope is reflected in their quality arising from this cross fertilisation of ideas and disciplines. Most importantly, we have connected to like-minded individuals and reduced our research isolation.
Food for thought. I would welcome thoughts on whether this fits with colleagues’ vision for the Health, Wellbeing and Ageing theme. I acknowledge the input of already successful COPs into these thoughts specifically IN-2-theory and GRIN members as well as good thoughts and discussion on this topic from the HSC Health and Wellbeing Community leadership.

Sarah Hean

REFERENCES
Terras, M. (2012) The verdict: is blogging or tweeting about research papers worth it? Available at: http://blogs.lse.ac.uk/impactofsocialsciences/2012/04/19/blog-tweeting-papers-worth-it/
Wenger, E., White, N.and Smith, J.D., (2010) Digital Habitats , Portland: CPSquare
Wenger, E., McDermott, R., & W.M. Snyder. (2002). Cultivating Communities of Practice A Guide to Managing. Boston: Harvard Business Press.
Wenger, Etienne. (2006). Communities of Practice: a brief introduction, 1-6. Retrieved from http://www.ewenger.com/theory/communities_of_practice_intro.htm

UK Environment White Paper update

The following link provides a useful update on the UK Government’s Environment White Paper, including a summary of current activities relating to its implementation. This includes a number of initatives relating both to the green economy and biodiversity conservation.

Link: http://sd.defra.gov.uk/2012/07/natural-environment-white-paper-one-year-on/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+gov%2Fsdscene+%28SD+Scene%29

UK government’s new publication on the green economy

This might be a useful source for those wishing to learn more about the UK Government’s plans for the green economy

‘Enabling the Transition to a Green Economy: government and business working together’ is a new publication which sets out what the transition to a green economy means for businesses.

It is the government’s response to requests from the private sector for greater clarity on what government means by a “green economy”, the policies being put in place to achieve this and how they come together.

Link: http://www.businesslink.gov.uk/bdotg/action/detail?itemId=1096705244&type=ONEOFFPAGE&furlname=greeneconomy&furlparam=greeneconomy&ref=&domain=www.businesslink.gov.uk

 

Virtual conference and film making: two of the projects being looked at within the Leisure and Recreation Theme

Further to a meeting of colleagues interested in the Leisure and Recreation Theme in May an agenda for collaboration is gradually developing around a series of ideas.  These include: 

  • Organizing 2 academic/professional conferences,
  • Bidding for an ESRC Seminar series,
  • Exploring policy areas relating to healthy leisure, developing a Healthy Leisure, Healthy Living Research Group (and possibly others),
  • Running an internal seminar series next academic year
  • Developing events for the festival of learning
  • Holding an Internal Research conference looking specifically at Leisure and Recreation, highlighting work across university.
  • Creating a virtual poster conference for students and staff
  • Organizing a joint Workshop with the Centre for Qualitative Research featuring Robert Mugerauer, from the University of Washington.
  • Developing a short film project that will equip colleagues with the skills to produce short films to help disseminate research to students and the broader public. 

For more information on these and other ideas, to include yourself in the e-mail circulation list or to suggest ideas of your own please contact Sean Beer (sbeer@bournemouth.ac.uk)

New Articles in PloS Biology on sustainability science

New Articles in PloS Biology on sustainability science

Enjoy the reading,

Elena

The Limits to Sustainability Science: Ecological Constraints or Endless Innovation?
Georgina M. Mace

http://dx.doi.org/10.1371%2Fjournal.pbio.1001343

 

The Macroecology of Sustainability
Joseph R. Burger, Craig D. Allen, James H. Brown, William R. Burnside, Ana D. Davidson, Trevor S. Fristoe, Marcus J. Hamilton, Norman Mercado-Silva, Jeffrey C. Nekola, Jordan G. Okie, Wenyun Zuo

http://dx.doi.org/10.1371%2Fjournal.pbio.1001345

 

The Shifting Boundaries of Sustainability Science: Are We Doomed Yet?
John H. Matthews, Frederick Boltz

http://dx.doi.org/10.1371%2Fjournal.pbio.1001344

 

Visit and STRC seminar not to miss next Tuesday: Image and Signal Processing Group of University of Valencia (26th June at 15h 30’ in PG16)

BU research, Featured academics, REF Subjects

Dear Colleagues,
I would like to draw your attention to the visit of two members and a postdoc researcher of the Image and Signal Processing Group of University of Valencia, Spain.
This group is very influential in several areas like for instance Image Processing (in Geosciences, Medical Brain Imaging, etc.) and Kernel Machines; and they will be in Talbot Campus just for one day.
They will deliver a couple of short talks and after that they will stay for an hour for discussing ideas or future plans with anybody interested in BU.
The special seminar will take place next Tuesday, the 26th of June in PG 16 Lecture Theatre at 15:30 h (Ground floor, Poole House)
After that, you are very welcome to join us in an informal Discussion Panel from 16h 30’ to 17h 15’ approx.
I would like to encourage DEC PhD researchers, senior research fellows and staff to attend; particularly those who work or what to get into image/signal processing and kernel machines because they are leading experts in these areas. Kindly check out, for instance,
http://www.uv.es/gcamps
http://www.uv.es/jmalo/
The agenda of the visit is the following:
• 15h 30’. Short intro by Dr. Malo (Associate Prof): “Research at the Image and Signal Processing Group”. Jesús Malo. A brief overview of our research interests and lines.
• 15h 40’. Short talk by Dr Laparra (Postdoc): “Gaussianization Framework for Signal Processing”
Abstract: We generalize a class of projection pursuit methods to transform arbitrary multidimensional data into multivariate normal data, thus attaining statistical independence of its components. The proposed analysis enables a number of novel ways to solve practical problems in high-dimensional scenarios, such as those encountered in image processing, speech recognition, array processing, or bioinformatics. Our framework extends Independent and Principal Components Analyses-based methods, which are typically not applicable to data generated from nonlinear, non-independent or non-Gaussian sources. The performance is successfully illustrated in a number of multidimensional data processing problems such as image synthesis, classification, saliency analysis, and de-noising.
• 16h. Short talk by Dr. Camps (Associate Prof): “Extended Kernel Methods”.
Abstract: I will talk about our love story with kernel methods for the last 10 years. Kernel methods constitute a simple way of translating linear algorithms into nonlinear ones. I will revise several interesting developments for 1) time series analysis, regression and function approximation; 2) classification problems; 3) nonlinear feature extraction; and 4) dependence estimation. The introduced methods extend previous standard algorithms to deal with non-stationary environments and structured domains, and the presence of non-Gaussian noise. Additionally, I’ll briefly talk about a way to learn the kernel function directly from the data via clustering or graphs. Examples in signal and image processing will guide this overview.
• 16h 25’. Discussion Panel.
Please, feel free to show up or leave any time during this event on your convenience. I hope you consider this program attractive and that you find a slot to come in.
Best Wishes, Emili

Feedback on FP7 EU bid – lessons learned from feedback

Awarded & submitted bids, BU research

Philip Alford (School of Tourism) and Mark Dover (Applied Sciences) put a consortium together and submitted an application to the EU FP7 program. The project title was Cloud Information Retrieval and Re-Use System and the bid was for nearly €4 million. The following summarises the project:

Tourism indirectly generates more than 10% of the European Union’s GDP and Tourism sector comprises SMEs employing less than 50 people Their respective diversity and fragmentation means that individual SMEs, and their often localised associations, lack the resources to generate and define sophisticated, sustainable marketing tools enabling the competitive campaigns required to maintain position and growth. The recent expansions in social networking and advances in Cloud Computing technologies and infrastructure now present an opportunity to develop sophisticated, dynamic, promotion and marketing tools for use by any SME, in any context – without any requirement for end-user knowledge of the configuration of the service delivery. CIRRUS is thus designed to develop such a universally functional framework, employing a suite of tools, supporting a simplistic dashboard interface, to enable sophisticated, dynamic, marketing input and provision of services at the individual, non expert, level across the many different sectors of the European tourism industry. CIRRUS will

1. Develop a novel, simplistic, non-expert dashboard interface to cloud content and usage enabling incorporation into web and marketing media.

2. Build a support framework behind the dashboard for tourism SMEs which embraces the new marketing paradigm of online customer-to-customer marketing and which is based on international best practice.

3. Conduct 4 Validation Case Studies from 3 European Countries, and different tourism perspectives (accommodation, attractions and events), illustrating enhanced business performance through CIRRUS use.

4. Build and adapt, through these case studies, the application and facilitate its deployment in the targeted countries.

5. Position the application for deployment, with input from both SMEs and SME-AGs, in member states beyond those immediately involved in the partnership.

We were unsuccessful with the application but got some useful feedback from the EU. In summary we needed to:

  • More fully describe the limitations of the current state of the art technology in tourism
  • Make the interdependencies of the work packages clearer
  • More adequately demonstrate the partners’ expertise in key areas
  • Improve the dissemination activities which are described but are not particularly targeted
  • Provide more detail on the exploitation plans of the SME partners

 

World Symposium on Sustainable Development at Universities (WSSD-U-2012) – post conference reflections

Last week I attended the World Symposium on Sustainable Development at Universities (WSSD-U-2012) which took place in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, on 5-6 June 2012, as an official ‘parallel’ event to the UN Conference on Sustainable Development (UNCSD), also known as Rio+20.  I was chairing the second day’s plenary sessions and presenting two papers (one on Leadership for SD in HE and a co-authored paper, The impact of University policies for sustainable development on students: a comparison of students from two institutions, one in the UK and one in Portugal . Both papers have been accepted for publication.

 

Further details on the event can be seen at:

http://www.haw-hamburg.de/en/ftz-als/veranstaltungen/world-symposium-on-sustainable-development-at-universities-wssd-u-2012.html

 

A summary of the event and its follow-up activities is available:

 

http://www.haw-hamburg.de/en/ftz-als/veranstaltungen/world-symposium-on-sustainable-development-at-universities-wssd-u-2012/program-wssd01.html

 

  Over 120 participants representing universities from 26 countries -from all geographical regions attended the conference which was organised by the Research and Transfer Centre “Applications of Life Sciences” of the Hamburg University of Applied Sciences and London Metropolitan University.

 

Reflections

 

The conference was great and a good networking opportunity from which further work will follow.

 

 Disappointed that you are not participating at Rio+ 20? – don’t be.

 

When the dates were put back (something to do with Heads of State availability and the Jubilee), I was a little disappointed that our event became more ‘antipasti’ than ‘contorno’ but I am now really glad to have been there early.  It will be chaotic! 

 

Having returned to Rio (after living there 25 years ago) I can say these things:  the hotel prices are ridiculous at any time of year and they are planning a huge uplift for Rio+20 – the hotel experience (and quality) is also more inconsistent than any city I have ever visited.  Attendees will be overcharged, are more likely to get ripped off in all that they do (still very much part of the culture to exploit ‘estrangeiros’) and will certainly find Rio challenging. There are still hotels which look legit but are actually ‘sex motels;’ some areas are still not safe.

 

Until yesterday I thought the Summit would take place in Centro and then read that it is at Riocentro.  Many attendees will not realise just how far out that is from Centro and Copacabana. If you were to take a bus, it is a gruelling 45 min trip to Barra de Tijuca. But then I guess this will not be an issue for Heads of State, or anyone whose budget extends to private transport!

 

25 years ago crime was very visible (everyone drove through red lights at night) – it has now been reduced by stronger policing. There was a visible police/military presence on exercise for Rio+20 while I was there; naval vessels were patrolling the beaches. Fortunately they were doing a helicopter patrol, just as some Chinese visitors were attacked with knives on the beach (in daylight). They managed to stop the attackers and return stolen goods.  Rio is much safer than it was but you still need caution. A driver commented to me, Summit ‘attendees offer rich-pickings’.

 

The strangest observation for me is that the people generally seemed less happy (than when I lived there), despite a huge increase in the middle classes and more disposable income – guess there is something in the Happiness research which intimates a link. The favellas are as big as ever and you can now do ‘favella tourism’ which also seems strange. I guess it’s not very different to when people used to pay to see the ‘bearded lady’.

 

Returning to the Summit, it is going to be more about review than commitment to exciting actions. Some are already calling it ‘Rio minus 10’. I would not hold out big hopes that much will change.