Category / Research themes

AHRC seeks applications in Environmental Change and Sustainability

Funding opportunities

Applications for up to £1.5m (full economic cost) are invited under a highlight notice in AHRC’s standard and early career research grants routes. The highlight notice addresses the ‘Environmental Change and Sustainability’ area within the Care for the Future theme and is open until 30th October 2012.

Aims and Scope of the Highlight Notice

The aim of the highlight notice is to encourage collaborative arts and humanities-led research which explores the potential of a temporally inflected lens to provide new insights on the challenges of environmental change and sustainability.

For the purposes of the highlight notice, ‘environmental change’ is defined broadly and includes climate change, environmental hazards, agriculture and food security, water, landscape and natural resources. The issues may be at any environmental scale and be focused geographically anywhere in the globe. ‘Sustainability’ is also defined broadly but with particular reference to inter-generational relationships, and the broader ways in which the past, the present and the future inter-relate, in respect to issues of environmental change. There is no limit to how far back in time (or how far forward in the future) the temporal horizon may reach, but proposals must demonstrate a significant temporal dimension which extends beyond contemporary or near contemporary themes.

More information on the call can be found on the AHRC website and in the call document.

Looking to recruit a potential Post Doc – Food and Tourism

We are looking for a potential overseas Post Doc to work in the area of Food and Tourism.  In the first instance the candidate would work with collegues to secure the funding for this one or two year post, though we are looking at a funding route with a good success rate.

The specific package of work for the two years will be negotiated depending on the research interests of the candidate and the research team.

So if you have any connections with an individual that might fit the bill please get back to Sean for a chat. (sbeer@bournemouth.ac.uk )

Fusion Conference – Wednesday 18 April: Call for contributions and book your place

Fusion, Research themes

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Fusion Conference – Wednesday 18 April:
 
The ‘Fusion’ series of internal conferences and seminars for 2011/12 continues on Wednesday 18 April with a ‘Fusion in Action’ conference hosted by Vice-Chancellor Professor John Vinney in the Executive Business Centre, Lansdowne Campus, from noon to 5pm.

The conference entitled ‘Fusion in Action: Knowledge exchange with students, society and the professions’ is firmly grounded in the context of Vision & Values and seeks to illustrate Fusion at its best. 

The conference will include contributions from staff and students through a combination of presentations, demonstrations and discussions.

The conference aims to showcase examples of staff engaged in academic and/or research-led activities associated with the professions and wider society and to identify:

  • ·         how this helps create a unique academic experience for staff and students at BU
  • ·         how students and staff can share in the learning experience
  • ·         how such knowledge exchange can foster innovative learning experiences, pedagogic developments and research activities.

This half-day conference replaces the previous Education Enhancement Conference and Research Conferences held in previous years.  

Proposals for papers, poster presentations, discussion groups and/or demonstrations related to the theme are now invited.  These should be submitted to: fusionconference@bournemouth.ac.uk by Wednesday 7 March using the abstract form here: http://www.bournemouth.ac.uk/staff_new/edq/conferences/staff_conferences.html

If you wish to discuss possible contributions, please contact Julie Northam on extension:  61208 or Jennifer Taylor on extension: 61271 in the first instance.

The conference is open to all staff contributing to the delivery of programmes and research activities at BU and partner locations and will also involve presentations from the University Executive Team and members of the Students’ Union. 

Link to bookings page:

Re-framing Bournemouth the Town: a symposium and exhibition

An artist and former student has approached the University with a view to organising a symposium and exhibition as part of the 2012 Arts festival.

The symposium will be called Re-framing Bournemouth and will specifically focus on the issue of the visual and conceptual perception of Bournemouth by both residents and visitors, as well as how the resort might be re-imagined for the future. Really it’s thinking about the tourist experience and residents re-experiencing their hometown from a visual and aesthetic perspective.

If this is something that might be if interest please contact John Brackstone (65801/ jbrackst@bournemouth.ac.uk ) in the School of Tourism for a chat.

Tourism: a catalyst for existential authenticity

Over the last 2 terms the School of Tourism has been hosting a series of seminars on various aspects of research and philosophy.  The first was on reality, the second on post modernism and the latest will be on existential authenticity.

Dr Lorraine Brown has recently done some work which is helping recontextualize our ideas of existential authenticity in the area of Tourism.  All welcome.  Be prepared for some lively discussion and Lemon Drizzle cake!

Wednesday 7 March 1.30-3.00

TAG02

Lorraine Brown

Subject: Tourism: a catalyst for existential authenticity.  .

Atlantic Calling Success

 I am sure that you will be pleased to know that Lloyd Figgins and David Whiddon became the first modern day, independent oarsmen to row non-stop from Morocco to Barbados in their 23ft rowing boat ‘Atlantic Calling’.  Their journey took them 60 days and 17 hours. 

Bournemouth University’s Centre for Event and Sport Research provided psychological and physiological support. They brought together people such as Olympic rower, Bobby Thatcher and David Alred (Jonny Wilkinson’s kicking coach) to help provide training and focus. UK celebrity and previous Atlantic rower, Ben Fogle even popped into the RNLI to see Atlantic Calling and provide advice. 

As a team they worked with the rowers to develop and deliver a bespoke sports science support package for the rowers prior to their departure.  This included technique analysis and development, strength and conditioning, injury rehabilitation, musculo-skeletal assessment and sport psychology support between March and November 2011.  The team included Emma Kavanagh, Joanna Hawkes, Amanda Wilding, Kelly Goodwin, Shelley Broomfield and Andy Callaway from the sports team along with other external expertise. 

This experience has proved beneficial to the University team as well as the rowers.  As Emma Kavanagh made clear, 

“As you can imagine we are all very proud of the guys and feel fortunate as a sports team to have had the opportunity to work on this project.” 

Weight loss for the rowers apparently stands at 1 1/2 stone for David and 2 stone 5lbs for Lloyd so they look a little bit different to when they departed! 

For more information on Atlantic Calling go to: 

http://www.atlanticcalling.com/Home.html

 

 

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BU’s Professor Keith Brown announced as speaker at first National MCA/DOLS Conference

Professor Keith Brown, Director of the Centre for Post Qualifying Social Work at BU, has been added to the list of speakers at the Mental Capacity Act Deprivation of Liberty Safeguards (MCA/DOLS) conference.

The national conference, which is the first of its kind, will focus on the current industry after MCA and DOLS legislation has been put in place.

Professor Keith BrownExhibitions from agencies and organisations will be displayed at the conference to further contribute to the knowledge of attendees. The day will be filled with presentations and various discussion groups around relevant topical issues.

Discussions will focus on whether the legislation has made a difference, the issues people are still experiencing and what still needs to be done to raise awareness and get people thinking about MCA/ DOLS.

The conference will be held on Tuesday 28 February 2012 at Inmarsat Conference Centre, London.

For more information or to book a place, please contact Denise Whickman at denise.whickman@sept.nhs.uk

Health, Wellbeing and Ageing – First Community Meeting

Dear all,      

Our first community meeting will be held on March 7th 10am – 1pm at the EBC, third floor. This is everyone’s opportunity to shape and frame the direction of the theme and therefore I would like to actively encourage everyone to attend.

I would also like to extend this invitation to all the post-grad students who have signed up; your input will be most valuable.

We have a lovely lunch booked

There are some key questions that we need to answer:

 

  •  Why it is important to society?

 

  • What BU has done to make improvements in this area?

 

  • What expertise and knowledge BU can provide for future collaborators, commercial partners, etc?

 

Your feedback would be really helpful and if you could email me your comments that would be brilliant:  hhartwell@bournemouth.ac.uk

With many thanks and see you in March,

 Heather, Edwin, Holgar and Carol

 

BU Professor of Law presents in Geneva

REF Subjects

WIPO logoBournemouth University’s Director for the Centre for Intellectual Property Policy and Management (CIPPM), Professor Martin Kretschmer, has been invited to speak at the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) in Geneva.

Professor Kretschmer will open the ‘Economics of Intellectual Property’ seminar series on 15 February 2012, with a presentation entitled ‘Private copying and fair compensation: An empirical study of copyright levies in Europe’.

His work is the first independent empirical assessment of the European levy system as a whole. It consolidates the evidence on levy setting, collection and distribution and reviews the scope of consumer permissions associated with levy payments.

Professor Kretschmer will present the results of three studies into printer/scanners, portable music/video/game devices, and tablet computers, including his analysis of the relationship between VAT, levy tariffs and retail prices in 20 levy and non-levy countries.

The full seminar series sees six presentations in Geneva between now and November, each by one of the world’s top Intellectual Property researchers. The full programme, including presentations by Professors of Stanford University and the University of Tokyo can be accessed online.

A video version of Professor Kretschmer’s and other ‘Economics of Intellectual Property’ presentations will be available after the event through the WIPO website.

NIHR Evaluation, Trials and Studies Coordinating Centre (NETSCC)

Funding opportunities

NETSCC is funded by the National Institute for Health Research (NIHR) and was established at the University of Southampton in 2008.

UK government support for medical research is channelled primarily through the National Institute for Health Research (NIHR) and the Medical Research Council (MRC). Broadly speaking, the NIHR funds later-phase health research, which has the potential to influence the delivery of healthcare to patients, while the MRC supports basic and early clinical research. (http://www.netscc.ac.uk/)

NETSCC manages four evaluation research programmes:-

EME   – Efficacy and Mechanism Evaluation programme

 Upcoming dates for EME 

  1. Researcher-led workstream deadline for the next round: Friday 9 March 2012 (before 1pm)
  2. Commissioned workstream is now looking for research in Neurodegenerative disorders and       myopathies and also Point of care tests. The deadline for applications is 13 February 2012 (before 1pm)

To find out more about EME, visit http://www.eme.ac.uk/index.asp

HTA    –  NIHR Health Technology Assessment programme 

Upcoming dates for HTA

  1. Commissioned call for proposals now open: Deadline for application is Thursday 9 February 2012 by 1pm.

To find out more about HTA, visit http://www.hta.ac.uk/

PHR    –  NIHR Public Health Research programme

Upcoming dates for PHR

  1. Commissioned Research calls now open
  • Creative enterprises in open access settings, deadline is 23 April 2012 by 1pm
  • Newly licensed drivers, deadline is 23 April 2012 by 1pm

2.   Researcher-led outline call closing date is 2 April 2012 at 1pm. Highlight notices include:

  • Local Sustainable Transport Fund, deadline is 2 April 2012 at 1pm
  • Evidence Synthesis, deadline is 2 April 2012 at 1pm.

For more information about PHR, please visit http://www.phr.nihr.ac.uk/

HS&DR          –  NIHR Health Services and Delivery Research programme (a merger of the existing programmes HSR and SDO)

Upcoming dates for HS&DR

  1. Researcher-led calls now open, deadline is 15 March 2012 by 1pm; 19 July 2012; and 15 November 2012.
  2. Commissioned-led, open date is February 2012, deadline is 17 May 2012 by 1pm.

For more information about HS&DR, please visit http://www.netscc.ac.uk/hsdr/

If you are interested in applying for any of these funding schemes, please get in touch with the RKE Ops Senior Officers:-

 

Privilege and Property: Essays on the History of Copyright

Professor Kretschmer’s co-authored publication ‘Privilege and Property’ (Cambridge OpenBook Publishers, 2010, with Professors Deazley and Bently) has been reviewed in the Swiss published journal Archiv für Urheber- und Medienrecht, or UFITA (trans. Copyright and Media Law).

The edited volume is a companion to the AHRC funded digital archivePicture of Professor Martin Kretschmer, ‘Primary Sources of Copyright’, which Professor Kretschmer has co-directed with Professor Bently of Cambridge University since 2006. The archive now comprises of more than 550 documents going back to Renaissance Italy (in facsimile, transcribed, translated and commented).

In the review, the lawyer and chairman of the Swedish Performing Rights Society, Dr Gunnar Petri, writes: “This magnificent resource comprises essential material from all the great traditions of copyright and will enormously facilitate comparative research…. By way of introduction, the editors present a highly interesting picture of the present state of copyright historiography, in itself a ground-breaking venture. They trace the elevation of copyright history into an academic subdiscipline to the years between about 1740 and 1790 in Britain, France and the German-speaking lands, see it in the jurisprudential treatises of the 19th century and note a decline in interest after the signing of the Bern convention [1886], signalling a more functional approach to copyright’s history.”

‘Privilege and Property’ and the digital archive at www.copyrighthistory.org  “deserve the highest appreciation” (Petri).

Latest UN Global Report on HE for Sustainability

INTERNATIONAL: UN Global Report on HE for Sustainability

Global Universities Network for Innovation (GUNI) (2011) ‘Higher Education in the World 4, Higher Education’s Commitment to Sustainability: from Understanding to Action’ Barcelona: GUNI, UNU and Palgrave (pp. 18-28) ISBN 978-0-230-53555.

A new UN-commissioned report has been released. ‘Higher Education’s Commitment to Sustainability: From Understanding to Action’ is the fourth volume in a series published by the Global Universities Network for Innovation (GUNI) in collaboration with the United Nations University. The report is focused on the transformation of HE towards sustainability and the role of the sector in building sustainable communities. This volume includes papers by 85 authors from 38 countries and provides a map of how the regions are advancing this agenda. The regional picture is complemented with national and local case studies of experiences on thematic areas. An overview chapter, written by Prof Daniella Tilbury from the University of Gloucestershire, addresses questions about global commitment and progress in the sector. It draws on key research evidence from the literature and reflects on the trends evidenced in the regional reports which were commissioned by GUNI for this publication.

The chapter reviews teaching and learning, campus and community engagement, leadership as well as research activities. It identifies pathways for the future action. This chapter can be downloaded as a PDF.

Tilbury, D. (2011). Higher Education for Sustainability: A Global Overview of Commitment and Progress. In GUNI (Ed.), Higher Education in the World 4. Higher Education’s Commitment to Sustainability: from Understanding to Action. GUNI: Barcelona. (pp. 18-28)

Centre for Post Qualifying Social Work launch new Safeguarding frameworks

Publishing

National Competence for Safeguarding Adults front coverNational Competence Framework for Safeguarding Adults

Learn to Care and Bournemouth University undertook this work in partnership to reflect the significant role that learning and developing plays in the delivery of high standards of social work and social care.

The framework will be invaluable to Adult Safeguarding Boards, practitioners and learning and development personnel, both in managing performance and delivering quality outcomes for people who are made vulnerable by their circumstances.

 

National Competence Framework for Safeguarding ChildrenNational Competence for Safeguarding Children front cover

This document complies with legislation, statutory guidance and best practice in relation to the safeguarding of children. Local Safeguarding Boards should take account of local needs, including an assessment of the effectiveness of multi-agency training to safeguard and promote the welfare of children and young people (Munro, 2011).

This document incorporates the recommendations from Professor Eileen Munro’s review into Child Protection in England and Wales.

The aim of this Framework, as with the other publication in this series – National Competence Framework for Safeguarding Adults – is to provide a baseline for standards of competence that individuals can expect to receive from those professionals and organisations, who are tasked with Safeguarding Children. It also provides employees and employers with a benchmark for the minimum standard of competence required of those who work to safeguard children across a range of sectors.

Assessing societal impact of social work research

REF Subjects, Research themes

Edwin Van TeijingenREF logoJonathan Parker
The Research Excellence Framework, or REF, is the new assessment method for publically funded research in universities. Its controversial new ‘impact’ element rates work based on evidence of social, economic or cultural benefits generated from it. But how easily can such things be quantified, particularly in applied academic subjects like social work?

Professors Jonathan Parker and Edwin van Teijlingen from Bournemouth University have addressed these questions in their paper ‘The Research Excellence Framework (REF): Assessing the Impact of Social Work Research on Society’, published in Practice: Social Work in Action.

They argue that ‘the framework raises doubts about whether it is possible to capture fully the impact of social work research at all, and social work itself for that matter’, and stress that some pathways need to be identified to do this.

In suggesting ways to evidence impact, such as primary evaluative research, Parker and Van Teijlingen also outline the stumbling blocks. There are data protection laws and the expense and time of tying up research evaluation with another research project.

The solution, they say, is for social work research to be built and undertaken in partnership with social care agencies; that impact is everybody’s concern and practitioners and those who use social work services and their carers have a role to play in its creation and identification.

Parker and Van Teijlingen acknowledge that the REF will promote critical-thinking, engage practitioners and address the challenges of public spending restraint, but express a deep-seated concern that this new method of assessment will mark a loss of ‘conceptual, theoretical and critical’ research.

Although assessing research through improved social, economic, health, and environmental aspects of life is unlikely to be questioned, Parker and Van Teijlingen strongly argue that it should not be the only set of research outcomes recognised.  They argue that if the REF approach becomes common currency, ‘society is likely to lose the deeper understandings and meanings that have permeated thinking and, no doubt practice and behaviour.’

Both firmly believe BU’s research programme designed to enhance social work practice through continuing professional education has changed practice and influenced policy, as well as numerous other benefits to culture, public services, health, environment and quality of life.

Read Parker and Van Teijlingen’s full paper.

TheHorseCourse – changing behaviour in prisoners

Dr Ann Hemingway from BU’s School of Health and Social Care is working with Dr Rosie Meek from the University of Southampton to work with prisons to deliver TheHorseCourse, where horses are used to challenge offending behaviour.

The horses are trained to give clear and unbiased feedback on mental and emotional self control. Tasks are progressive and challenging, requiring the participants to remain calm and focused… or lose the plot! 

Prisoners are coached to overcome frustration and failure by taking control over their thoughts and feelings. The horses provide both motivation and feedback, and reliably create positive change with even the most difficult individuals.

Initial findings are extremely positive, with participants showing results such as:

  • better self control
  • greater engagement with available education
  • confidence as learners
  • stronger focus on positive goals
  • hope

The horsemanship goal of the 7 sessions is to gain Parelli Level 1 accreditation, the more important goal is to have the skills to lead constructive and satisfying lives.

One of the participants has commented: “”I’ve been on anger management courses, alcohol courses, things like that – this is much different, you’re learning it physical, not mental if you know what I mean. It’s helped me more, without a doubt. I don’t like talking. …Normally, with other courses you’re in a group of people… you have to talk about your issues and things like that, but here you get it out in a different way, you’re doing physical things not just talking. I’ve been doing that since I was 6 years of age and it’s never worked. I learnt a lot about myself. I can actually do things. I always say I can’t but I can.”

‎”From the video based evaluation undertaken so far it is clear to me that this intervention shows real innovation and promise and may indeed have the potential to reduce reoffending. To date there has been no published longitudinal evaluation focused on this type of intervention. It is for this reason that we have committed to undertaking a pilot evaluation.” Dr Ann Hemingway, Bournemouth University, (Public Health Interventions)
 
Reliably changing behaviour in the most difficult prisoners, to donate please visit: https://mydonate.bt.com/charities/thehorsecourse
 
Join TheHorseCourse Facebook group: http://www.facebook.com/TheHorseCourse
 
Dr Ann Hemingway is also the course lead for BU’s MSc Public Health course (part-time and full-time options). Read more about the course to see how you could bring about positive changes in health promotion and influence policies to improve public health and wellbeing locally, nationally and internationally.