Category / BU research

Digital technologies are transforming African businesses, but obstacles remain

BU research

Digital technology is being used to improve rice processing in Nigeria.
Shutterstock

Elvira Bolat, Bournemouth University and Nasiru Taura, Bournemouth University

Digital technology has created new opportunities for businesses in sub-Saharan Africa to compete on a more equal footing. However, these businesses have yet to enjoy the full benefits because of a difficult operating environment.

Our recently published book, ‘Digital Entrepreneurship in Sub-Saharan Africa: Challenges, Opportunities and Prospects’, details case studies of economic sectors where digital technologies are making a positive impact.

In Ghana, digital technologies have had an impact on the agriculture sector. Agri-tech firms like Farmable, Farmerline and Esoko have successfully pursued the creation of new business ventures and renewal of existing, matured corporate business models. These agri-tech firms support farmers with pricing data, crowdfunding and communication activities. They are also connecting farmers with buyers as well as helping them work out what differentiates them from competitors.

Digital technologies are playing a role in Nigeria’s agricultural sector too.
Prime Wave , an engineering company that supplies equipment to rice processing firms, and Al-Wabel Trading Company Ltd, a rice miller, have been working together to invent new technological solutions. These are aimed at improving the performance of rice processing. The innovative solutions the company came up with for rice processing can be applied more widely across the agricultural sector. However, these firms have had to overcome regulatory and institutional challenges in the sector.

Crossing boundaries

Digital technologies have also become a part of arts, media and entertainment, in particular in Kenya and Nigeria.

Case studies from Nigeria show how small and medium-sized new media players benefit from embracing a culture of experimentation, partnership and continuous learning. These businesses have adopted a “mobile first” mindset. They do this by using mobile technology as a resourceful, quick and flexible solution to do business, connect and promote their content.

The advertising, game development and media companies that took part in the research had all invested substantially in establishing their own systems for sharing data. These firms also embrace the Passion economy which centres around social causes and high access to mobile technology “as driving forces of the business”.

Nigeria’s movie industry, too, has benefited from digitisation. The technology has improved production time and quality. It has also helped extend the reach of movies to wider audiences. Foreign investors are taking greater interest in this fast growing business.

A potential drawback of digital technology in the arts is that cultural artefacts created digitally can also appear in many places at once. So, instead of gaining visibility it is actually lost in the digital crowd. But Kenyan artists have managed to use social media networks to build their own “cultural capital” and gain access to physical galleries.

Innovation hubs

There’s also been an increase in the number of digital hubs across the sub continent. But do they really help business to start up and survive?

The number of innovation hubs in Africa has grown sharply. There’s BusyInternet and SMSGH Solutions in Ghana; Erik Hersman’s iHub and Safaricom’s M-PESA in Kenya; and Nigeria’s Yaba, a suburb of Lagos labelled the country’s Silicon Valley.

A chapter in our book discusses the social complexity of engaging these hubs. In Accra, the Ghanaian capital, hubs could not provide support that is relevant to local digital entrepreneurs’ circumstances. Entrepreneurs in Harare thought that hubs “wasted precious resources”. Most hubs on the subcontinent also appear to make little contribution to the creation of new businesses.

Perhaps “impact-oriented” investors who are passionate about the region should assist digital hubs to make the necessary changes to how they operate.

Local conditions and culture can shape the “ecosystems” in which businesses operate. Some of these conditions, such as corruption, are hostile to business efficiency. The challenges are most pronounced in the communications, transport, and energy networks. Much of the region’s infrastructure is inefficient, and more than three-quarters of the population remains offline.

Take Nigeria’s movie industry. It needs more than investment. It also needs government to make regulatory changes to protect the creative sector. Government should also prioritise the development of movie industry skills. The same can be said about the music industry.

Afrocentric digital solutions

Overall, the book highlights that in a region with multiple social, environmental, economic and political challenges there is a need for more interrogation into how both incumbent and new players in sub-Saharan Africa are shaping the landscape with a view to meeting the UN Sustainable Development Goals.

Digital technologies, as some of our case studies show, can play an important role in transforming African economies. However, digital technology solutions must not just be mere adaptations of dominant Western services and products. They must be aimed at meeting the sub-continent’s needs. In this regard, there’s a lot to learn from Japan.

Demand for technology after the Second World War resulted in the development of a plethora of advanced solutions which secured Japan’s status as an innovator.
There are promising new ventures such as Google’s Artificial Intelligence lab in Ghana – the company’s first in Africa. This is a centre of research into digital solutions to Africa’s problems.The Conversation

Elvira Bolat, Principal Academic in Marketing, Bournemouth University and Nasiru Taura, Lecturer in Entrepreneurship and Innovation, Bournemouth University

This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article.

Photo of the week: ‘Interpreting Person and Place’

BU research, Research news

Telling a story of research through photography

The ‘photo of the week’ is a weekly series featuring photographs taken by BU academics and students for our Research Photography Competition which took place earlier this year.

These provide a snapshot into some of the incredible research taking place across the BU community. 

This week’s photo of the week was taken by Dr Kip Jones from BU’s Faculty of Health & Social Sciences and is titled;

‘Interpreting Person and Place’

Quoc Bao Duong, creatively writes a story based only on a single image of a specific person in a specific place. No other information is given. A photograph can capture a moment just after something has happened, or just before something is about to happen. The exercise is to create that story.

If you have any questions about the Photo of the Week series or the Research Photography Competition please email research@bournemouth.ac.uk

Introduction to Good Clinical Practice – Thursday 10th October

BU research, Clinical Governance, data management, nhs, NHS, Research Ethics, research integrity, Research Training, Training

Are you interested in running your own research project within the NHS? Good Clinical Practice, or ‘GCP’, is a requirement for those wishing to work on clinical research projects in a healthcare setting.

GCP is the international ethical, scientific and practical standard to which all clinical research is conducted. By undertaking GCP, you’re able to demonstrate the rights, safety and wellbeing of your research participants are protected, and that the data collected are reliable.

The next GCP full day session is scheduled for Thursday 10th October, at Dorset County Hospital, Dorchester –9:00am – 4:30pm.

The day will comprise of the following sessions:

  • Introduction to research and the GCP standards;
  • Preparing to deliver your study;
  • Identifying and recruiting participants – eligibility and informed consent;
  • Data collection and ongoing study delivery;
  • Safety reporting;
  • Study closure.

If you’re interested in booking a place, please contact Research Ethics.

Remember that support is on offer at BU if you are thinking of introducing your research ideas into the NHS – email the Research Ethics mailbox, and take a look at the Clinical Governance blog.

New paper by Dr. Caroline Ellis-Hill

BU research, humanities, Knowledge Exchange, NHS, Publishing, Research news, Uncategorized, writing

Congratulations to Dr. Caroline Ellis-Hill on the publication of her article ‘We are not the same people we used to be: An exploration of family biographical narratives and identity change following traumatic brain injury’.  This paper was accepted for publication in 2017 and will now be finally published in its final format in the September issue of Neuropsychological Rehabilitation.

This scientific paper focuses recovery and rehabilitation following traumatic brain injury. Accumulation of subjective changes over time has led many to examine the question of “continuity of self” post-injury. Vacillation between feeling the same and different is common and often at odds with the medical narrative preparing families for permanent change. This position of ambiguity was examined in a qualitative narrative study. The aim of this paper is to describe the narrative structures used by uninjured members of a family to understand change. These changes relate primarily, to their perspective of whether and how the injured person had changed, but also secondarily to whether and why they themselves felt they had changed in the first year post-injury. Nine uninjured family members from three families took part in three unstructured interviews during the first twelve months post-injury.

In-depth narrative analysis showed family members used biographical attendance; biographical disruption; biographical continuity; and biographical reconstruction to understand change. Dr. Ellis-Hill and her co-authors argue that concentrating on a narrative of change is too limiting and that engaging in biographical narratives may help humanise care provided to injured individuals and their families. Implications for research and practice are discussed

Prof. Edwin van Teijlingen

CMMPH

Migration & health research in Middle East & Malaysia

BU research, Featured academics, international, Publishing, Research communication, Research news, Uncategorized, writing

Yesterday the Journal of Immigrant and Minority Health published the final version of Dr. Pratik Adhikary’s paper ‘Workplace Accidents Among Nepali Male Workers in the Middle East and Malaysia: A Qualitative Study’ [1].  This is the fourth paper originating from Pratik’s Ph.D. research conducted in the Faculty of Health & Social Sciences, the first three papers appeared in the period 2011-2018 [2-4].

The paper highlights that many Nepali men work in the Middle East and Malaysia and media reports and anecdotal evidence suggests they are at a high risk of workplace-related accidents and injuries for male Nepali workers.   Pratik’s Ph.D. study used face-to-face interviews to explore the personal experiences of twenty male Nepali migrants of unintentional injuries at their place of work.  His study found that almost half of study participants experienced work-related accident abroad. The Participants suggested that the reasons behind this are not only health and safety at work but also poor communication, taking risks by workers themselves, and perceived work pressure. Some participants experienced serious incidents causing life-long disability, extreme and harrowing accounts of injury but received no support from their employer or host countries.

The paper concludes that Nepali migrant workers are at a high risk of occupational injuries owing to a number of interrelated factors poor health and safety at work, pressure of work, risk taking practices, language barriers, and their general work environment. Both the Government of Nepal and host countries need to be better policing   existing policies; introduce better legislation where necessary; ensure universal health (insurance) coverage for labour migrants; and improve preventive measures to minimize the number and severity of accidents and injuries among migrant workers.

 

References:

  1. Adhikary P, van Teijlingen E., Keen S. (2019) Workplace accidents among Nepali male workers in the Middle East and Malaysia: A qualitative study, Journal of Immigrant & Minority Health 21(5): 1115–1122. https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s10903-018-0801-y
  2. Adhikary P., Keen S., van Teijlingen E (2011) Health Issues among Nepalese migrant workers in Middle East. Health Science Journal 5: 169-75. www.hsj.gr/volume5/issue3/532.pdf
  3. Adhikary, P, Sheppard, Z., Keen, S., van Teijlingen, E. (2017) Risky work: accidents among Nepalese migrant workers in Malaysia, Qatar & Saudi Arabia, Health Prospect 16(2): 3-10.
  4. Adhikary P, Sheppard, Z., Keen S., van Teijlingen E. (2018) Health and well-being of Nepalese migrant workers abroad, International Journal of Migration, Health & Social Care 14(1): 96-105.  https://doi.org/10.1108/IJMHSC-12-2015-0052

 

New paper published : Yao, B., Qiu, R., Fan, D., Liu, A. and Buhalis, D. (2019), “Standing out from the crowd – an exploration of signal attributes of Airbnb listings”, International Journal of Contemporary Hospitality Management, Vol. 32. https://doi.org/10.1108/IJCHM-02-2019-0106

BU research


New paper published : 

Yao, B., Qiu, R., Fan, D., Liu, A. and Buhalis, D. (2019), “Standing out from the crowd – an exploration of signal attributes of Airbnb listings“, International Journal of Contemporary Hospitality Management, Vol. 32. https://doi.org/10.1108/IJCHM-02-2019-0106

 

Airbnb signal attributes and competitiveness

Abstract

Due to product diversity, traditional quality signals in the hotel industry such as star ratings and brand affiliation do not work well in the accommodation booking process on the sharing economy platform. From a suppliers’ perspective, this study aims to apply the signaling theory to the booking of Airbnb listings and explore the influence of quality signals on the odds of an Airbnb listing being booked. A binomial logistic model is used to describe the influences of different attributes on the market demand. Because of the large sample size, sequential Bayesian updating method is utilized in hospitality and tourism field for the first attempt. Results show that, in addition to host-specific information such as “Superhost” and identity verification, attributes including price, extra charges, region competitiveness and house rules are all effective signals in Airbnb. The signaling impact is more effective for the listings without any review comments. This study contributes to the literature by incorporating the signaling theory in the analysis of booking probability of Airbnb accommodation. The research findings are valuable to hosts in improving their booking rates and revenue. In addition, government and industrial management organizations can have more efficient strategy and policy planning.

BU REF 2021 Code of Practice – staff feedback exercise – deadline Tuesday 10 September

BU research, Research assessment

The deadline to provide feedback on the BU REF 2021 draft code of practice is 5pm on Tuesday.

The Research Excellence Framework (REF) is the system for assessing research in UK higher education institutions HEIs.

Institutions making a submission to the REF 2021 are required to develop, document and apply a code of practice on identifying staff with significant responsibility for research, determining who is an independent researcher and the selection of outputs in their REF submissions.

BU held a comprehensive staff engagement exercise in April 2019 and received agreement from staff representative groups for the Code of Practice submitted in June 2019. UKRI have since asked us to revise and resubmit our REF Code of Practice. In light of these changes, staff are invited to read and comment upon the revised BU REF 2021 draft code of practice, prior to the final revised draft being submitted to UKRI for approval.

The revised draft code of practice, a briefing paper (including equality analysis), a feedback form are available from the BU Staff Intranet:

https://staffintranet.bournemouth.ac.uk/news/news/thismonth/buref2021codeofpractice-stafffeedbackexercise.php

The exercise is open for feedback until Tuesday 10 September 5pm.

Call for Presenters and Registration: Third Annual FMC Postgraduate Conference – Nov. 13th, 2019

BU research, conferences, humanities, PG research, Research communication

We are excited to announce that the Third Annual FMC postgraduate conference will be hosted on 13th November 2019 at the Share Lecture Theatre in the Fusion Building on Talbot Campus. This will be a fantastic opportunity for all postgraduate researchers to showcase their excellent research to the faculty, as well as providing a great experience to present in a conference setting. There will be a chance for staff and student conducting postgraduate research to receive feedback from staff and peers.

 

We are happy to receive the following submissions from all FMC PGRs:

– 15 minute presentation

– 30 minute workshop

 

Additionally, first year postgraduate researchers have the option to present a 3- minute thesis, a shorter presentation with just one slide, to introduce their research topic to the faculty. This year there is also the option for postgraduates based elsewhere to present virtually (please be aware that you will be asked to make a back up recorded presentation in case of technical difficulties). We want the conference to be inclusive of all FMC postgraduates.

 

If you would like to present, please submit your abstract of no more than 250 words, presentation title, presentation format, and no more than 75 word bio to byang@bournemouth.ac.uk by 17 October 2019. You will be notified within one week of the deadline as to whether your presentation has been accepted.

 

If you are interested in attending the conference free registration can be completed here: https://fmcpgconference.eventbrite.co.uk

 

We look forward to receiving your abstracts and registration!

Alex, Bing, Evgeniya, Jo and Mel

Conference Organisers Postgraduate Researchers

Faculty for Media and Communication

 

Submission Checklist

O Presentation Title

O c. 250 word abstract

O Presentation Format

O c. 75 word biography

Assistive Technology Symposium 2019

BU research, BU2025, conferences, Research news

Dr Huseyin Dogan and Dr Paul Whittington from the BU Human Computing Interaction Research Group, hosted the second Assistive Technology Symposium at Talbot Campus in support of the BU2025 Strategic Investment Area of Assistive Technology. The Symposium was a fusion of research domains, including digital health, education technologies and user experience.

The Symposium was opened by a keynote presentation by Steve Tyler, Assistive Technology Director at Leonard Cheshire, who discussed the current developments in Assistive Technologies and the potential challenges. Steve also described the Leonard Cheshire projects, including MySense, a Predictive Health Analytics system that non-intrusively monitors to provide a holistic view of the person.

Other presentations during the day included the current BU research projects of SmartAbility and FACETS, as well as by the BU Additional Learning Support department, who discussed learning strategies through metacognition. We also welcomed speakers from the Dorset Integrated Care System, London Grid for Learning and Diversity and Ability. The Symposium was concluded by a panel discussion with the speakers, to discuss the developments and challenges of assistive technology.

The Symposium delegates have expressed positive feedback from the event, including “a number of very useful and insightful presentations”, “the Symposium was beneficial because it was an opportunity to meet like-minded people” and “good to know what is going on at BU”.

BUHCI would like to thank all of the speakers and delegates for a successful Assistive Technology Symposium and we will host the third Symposium in 2020.

The presentations from the Symposium can be downloaded here.

Call for BU Global Visiting Fellowship Scheme panel members – Profs/Assoc.Profs

BU research

BU recently launched the Global Visiting Fellowship (GVF) Scheme, which will enable academics from our international priority partner institutes to contribute to the internationalisation of BU in the SIA areas.  The scheme allows for a small research grant over a three year period to work on research related activities with BU. Applications are submitted by a member of BU academic staff who will nominate the GVF.

In line with other internal funding panels, we recently sought expressions of interest (EoIs) from staff to be members of the GVF Funding Panel.  We have successfully appointed a Chair and Deputy Chair, as well as most other roles. However, we have been unable to appoint two other Professors / Associate Professors and so are now seeking expressions of interest for these roles.

The terms of reference and criteria for selecting panel members can be found here:

Terms of Reference

Criteria for selecting panel members

In line with our organisational value of inclusivity, we particularly welcome female applicants and those from an ethnic minority, as they are often under-represented within BU management committees.

EoIs from Professors/Associate Professors should consist of a CV and short case (maximum length of half a page) outlining suitability for the role. These should be submitted to the mailbox researchfellowships@bournemouth.ac.uk  by the deadline of 5pm on 20 September 2019. EoIs will be reviewed against the selection criteria by the Panel Chair and Deputy Chair plus a member of the RPMC no later than one month from the closing date.

Update to HRA’s data transparency wording for Participant Information Sheets

BU research, Clinical Governance, data management, Guidance, nhs, NHS, Research communication, Research Ethics, Research news

Following the implementation of GDPR in May of this year, the Health Research Authority released transparency wording for use in Participant Information Sheets.

The recommended wording for data transparency has been updated following consultation with various stakeholders and public involvement and feedback on the initial published wording to provide a clearer more layered approach.

The user group developed a short summary text for the Participant Information Sheet which is supplemented by a generic leaflet. The text for both is now live on the HRA website.

What information should be used in my PI Sheet?

The HRA website section is here. Click on ‘Transparency wording for all sponsors’ – this will take you to this page which contains the information to be used.

To access the text to be used in preparing the leaflet to accompany your PI Sheet, click here. If you are on the HRA website section, the text appears once you click the heading ‘Template wording for generic information document’.

What does the revision in text mean for me?

  • If you have already updated your information sheets with the previous wording, you do not need to do anything.
  • The revised wording can be uses for new studies, but the HRA will accept the previous wording if you have already submitted your application or prepared your information sheet for submission.
  • If you do wish to change your wording to the new text, please email Research Ethics so that your participating sites can be contacted.

 

If you have any queries or concerns please email Research Ethics.

Photo of the week: ‘A place of meeting and reflection’

BU research, Research news

Telling a story of research through photography

The ‘photo of the week’ is a weekly series featuring photographs taken by BU academics and students for our Research Photography Competition which took place earlier this year.

These provide a snapshot into some of the incredible research taking place across the BU community. 

This week’s photo of the week was taken by Catherine Guttman and is titled;

‘A place of meeting and reflection’

This drone image of the confluence is the meeting place of the River Teme and River Severn, an area I worked across during my PhD at BU. I tagged freshwater fish, barbel, and followed their movements up and down these two rivers using hydro acoustic transmitters and receivers. Now that I’ve graduated from my PhD I take a moment to reflect upon how the research will help to inform management and conservation. I have disseminated the findings to the environmental charity, environmental regulator and the stakeholders, the barbel fishing clubs over the last few months.

We are lucky that we have another PhD student now following up this work, looking at how movements may change once some of the river barriers are removed. The image shows the water from the two rivers mixing together as they run alongside each other, but despite their differences in temperature, turbidity and flow, the barbel were able to regularly move between these two rivers, potentially to exploit different feeding or refuge habitats.

If you have any questions about the photo of the week series or the competition please email research@bournemouth.ac.uk

BU REF 2021 Code of Practice – staff feedback exercise

BU research, REF Subjects, Research assessment

The Research Excellence Framework (REF) is the system for assessing research in UK higher education institutions HEIs.

Institutions making a submission to the REF 2021 are required to develop, document and apply a code of practice on identifying staff with significant responsibility for research, determining who is an independent researcher and the selection of outputs in their REF submissions.

BU held a comprehensive staff engagement exercise in April 2019 and received agreement from staff representative groups for the Code of Practice submitted in June 2019. UKRI have since asked us to revise and resubmit our REF Code of Practice. In light of these changes, staff are invited to read and comment upon the revised BU REF 2021 draft code of practice, prior to the final revised draft being submitted to UKRI for approval.

The revised draft code of practice, a briefing paper (including equality analysis) amd feedback form are available from the BU Staff Intranet:

https://staffintranet.bournemouth.ac.uk/news/news/thismonth/buref2021codeofpractice-stafffeedbackexercise.php 

The exercise is open for feedback until Tuesday 10 September 5pm.

WINNER of the 2019 CN Award for Nutrition Resource of the Year

BU research, Impact, Research news, Research Training

The Ageing and Dementia Research Centre is proud to announce that we are the winner of the 2019 Complete Nutrition Award for Resource of the Year.

This is for the Nutrition and Dementia Care: A toolkit for health and care staff. This is made up of four resources:
1) Eating and Drinking Well: Supporting People Living with Dementia workbook
2) Eating and Drinking Well Training Video
3) Eating and Drinking Well Nutritional leaflet
and the
4) Eating and Drinking Well with Dementia: A Guide for Care Staff
The toolkit is available to download for free on our specific ADRC training page, please visit: https://www.bournemouth.ac.uk/research/centres-institutes/ageing-dementia-research-centre/eating-drinking-well-dementia-toolkit
From this work we have developed an Eating and Drinking Well with Dementia: A Guide for Family Carers and Friends which will be launched this month.

 

The CN Awards* provide the chance for all readers, advertisers and contributors of CN
Magazines to come together to recognise the achievements of those whose great work
has made a significant difference within the nutrition industry – whether an individual,
group or organisation. For further information about the CN Awards, visit:
nutrition2me.com/cn-awards
*The annual CN Awards were launched in 2010 by Complete Media & Marketing Ltd. (CM2) – the publishers of Complete Nutrition (CN)
Magazines. CM2 do not endorse any particular individual’s, group’s, organisation’s or company’s products, services, resources, views or
opinions. For further details on the CN Awards, visit: nutrition2me.com/cn-awards

Last chance to book – GCRF Best Practice Workshop

BU research, Funding opportunities, Research Training

The Global Challenges Research Fund (GCRF) Panel invites academics involved, or wishing to be involved, in Official Development Assistance (ODA) related research projects to a one–day workshop on Thursday 12th September 2019 from 09:30 – 16:30 on the Talbot Campus.

You must book by 16:00 on Monday, 9th September to secure your place. Please book via this link.

The workshop will review best practice, identify future synergies and will highlight common issues and challenges confronting GCRF projects at the University.

At present, BU staff are leading and/or contributing to a wide range of GCRF eligible projects at various stages of development. Since there are many notable issues and challenges associated with acquiring and delivering the distinctive nature of GCRF related projects, the proposed workshop will bring together existing GCRF participants at the University to share conceptual designs, best practice, common implementation issues and solutions as well as notable work arounds. The workshops will thus enable participants:

  • To discuss the challenges in designing effective GCRF related projects that must maintain Development Assistance Committee (DAC) and GCRF eligibility;
  • To explore possibilities for existing and future synergies between GCRF projects at the University;
  • To identify common implementation challenges presented in transforming a GCRF project into reality;
  • To share best practice in dealing with local and/or international partners and/or partnerships;
  • To discuss issues relating to maximising deliverables and impact;
  • To inform existing and future monitoring and reporting processes of the projects and the University in relation to the GCRF;
  • To provide insights into effective ways that the University can further enhance effective support for GCRF related projects;
  • To identify potential future ‘quick wins’ and ‘take away’ that can inform and improve ongoing GCRF projects;
  • To provide a foundation for future activities of the GCRF panel including a future workshop looking at future bidding for projects beyond the GCRF.

 

Book your British Academy 1-1 now!

BU research, Events, pre-award, Research news, Research Training, RKE development framework

The British Academy / Leverhulme Small Grant scheme opens on Thursday, 4th September. If you are planning on submitting an application, don’t miss this opportunity!

Senior staff members from the British Academy are visiting on 10th September, 11:00 – 14:00.

They will provide an overview of the British Academy and its remit, the type of funding offered, their grant-awarding processes, and some key considerations. Then a selection of BU award-holders will give short presentations on their experience of the application and project management processes. There will be opportunities for questions and discussion. The event will be followed by a networking lunch. See the intranet page for more information and how to book.

During the lunch period, 8 one-to-one sessions will be available to be booked with the British Academy staff. If you are interested in booking one of these slots, please contact the RKEDF team with details of the particular scheme you wish to apply for or topic you wish to discuss.

 

 

NERC standard grants (January 2020 deadline) – internal competition launched

BU research, Funding opportunities

NERC introduced demand management measures in 2012. These were revised in 2015 to reduce the number and size of applications from research organisations for NERC’s discovery science standard grant scheme. Full details can be found in the BU policy document for NERC demand management measures available here.

As at January 2019, BU has been capped at one application per standard grant round. The measures only apply to NERC standard grants (including new investigators). An application counts towards an organisation, where the organisation is applying as the grant holding organisation (of the lead or component grant). This will be the organisation of the Principal Investigator of the lead or component grant.

BU process

As a result, BU has introduced a process for determining which application will be submitted to each NERC Standard Grant round. This will take the form of an internal competition, which will include peer review. The next available standard grant round is 14th January 2020. The deadline for internal Expressions of Interest (EoI) which will be used to determine which application will be submitted is 27th September 2019.  The EoI form, BU policy for NERC Demand Management Measures and process for selecting an application can be found here: I:\RDS\Public\NERC Demand Management 2020.

NERC have advised that where a research organisation submits more applications to any round than allowed under the cap, NERC will office-reject any excess applications, based purely on the time of submission through the Je-S system (last submitted = first rejected). However, as RDS submit applications through Je-S on behalf of applicants, RDS will not submit any applications that do not have prior agreement from the internal competition.

Following the internal competition, the Principal Investigator will have access to support from RDS, and will work closely with Research Facilitators and Funding Development Officers to develop the application. Access to external bid writers will also be available.

Appeals process

If an EoI is not selected to be submitted as an application, the Principal Investigator can appeal to Professor Tim McIntyre-Bhatty, Deputy Vice-Chancellor. Any appeals must be submitted within ten working days of the original decision. All appeals will be considered within ten working days of receipt.

RDS Contacts

Please contact Lisa Andrews, RDS Research Facilitator – andrewsl@bournemouth.ac.uk or Jo Garrad, RDS Funding Development Manager – jgarrad@bournemouth.ac.uk if you wish to submit an expression of interest.