Category / BU research

Future Leaders Fellowship – meet a previous winner on 28th Jan!

The next round for the UKRI Future Leader Fellows (FLF) is coming up – see this post. A previous FLF leader, Professor Matt Ryan is visiting Bournemouth University to speak about applying to the FLF scheme and how it has impacted his career.

Professor Matt Ryan, Professor of Governance and Public Policy from Southampton University, will be visiting on 28 January 2025, 2-3pm for an ‘in person’ talk on the Talbot campus. His talk will focus on applying for the Future Leader Fellowship. Matt is the perfect speaker, having been a Future Leaders Fellow since January 2020 through his Rebooting Democracy project. This aims to understand which innovations in public participation restore and sustain democracy. Matt has held visiting positions at the University of Canberra, as JQYA International Fellow at Geothe University- Frankfurt, and as a Turing Fellow at the Alan Turing Institute. He is founding co-director of the Centre for Democratic Futures and Policy Director at the Web Science Institute.  His research crosses several disciplinary boundaries and focuses on democratic innovation, participation in politics and policymaking, as well as improving social research methods.

Book your place here

Pre-teens and Social Media: The Copyright Angle – by Marcella Favale

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Foreword

The use of digital platforms by teenagers is a well-documented phenomenon, characterized by two key trends: a significant increase in usage and the associated dangers, which have been addressed by various governments and organizations (OECD 2020; BIK 2020). These studies have also included pre-teens (aged 9 to 12) in their samples, revealing that pre-teens use platforms significantly less than their older counterparts—about 50% less. However, these findings only capture a fraction of the actual online behaviour of tweens and teens, as evidenced by the COX survey, which shows that 95% of tweens go online daily.

The Impact of COVID-19 on Digital Platform Usage

The data mentioned above were collected before the COVID-19 pandemic. During the pandemic, children from a very young age were thrust into a crash course in IT to cope with distance learning. This rapid adaptation has significantly advanced their IT skills and ingrained the use of digital platforms for staying in touch with friends and family. This shift is irreversible, making it reasonable to assume that the use of platforms by pre-teens, even those younger than nine years old, will continue to rise.

Addressing Child Protection in the Digital Age

Child protection has been a focal point in several projects within the realm of criminal law, particularly concerning issues like cyberbullying, sexting, sextortion, and hate speech. However, this research aims to address a less-explored issue: the creation of content by the youngest users of digital platforms. Surveys, such as those by Pew (2018), indicate that the most popular applications among young users are YouTube, Instagram, and Snapchat. More recent studies have included apps like TikTok and messaging apps like WhatsApp, whose distinction from social media is increasingly blurred, and whose popularity is soaring (MessengerPeople 2020).

Copyright Concerns and Legal Accountability

All these apps enable users to create short videos or pictures to share within a private circle or the broader community of users. This content is protected by copyright, but who owns these rights? A review of the Terms of Use of these apps reveals that users must relinquish a significant amount of economic rights to the platform owner, who can share, modify, delete, etc., any content created by the user.
Even if these terms were legally enforceable (a point of contention due to potentially insufficient consent—Favale & Derclaye 2011), what happens when they are “signed” (i.e., downloaded) by a minor without legal capacity? Most platforms verify users’ ages by simply asking them to state their age, a method that is obviously ineffective.

Additionally, if the created content infringes copyright law, who is legally accountable? Copyright law is protected by both civil and criminal law across countries. The age for civil and criminal responsibility, for example in the EU, is not harmonized, with criminal responsibility ranging from 10 to 16 years old, while civil responsibility is usually linked to the age of majority. This raises questions about the numerous users who fall within or outside this age range.

Exploring Legal and Policy Gaps

My research work intends to explore the above issues. To this end, it reviews the most recent surveys, the legislation, and the policies of countries (initially, without specific geographical boundaries) regarding the protection of children online, and, most importantly, the legislation on “influencers” and “vloggers” (often defined as “content creators”).

I expect to find that this area of law is largely unexplored, likely due to the more pressing issues of child safety online. A substantial amount of policy/legislation is required to address these issues comprehensively.

This is a work-in-progress by nature, as most legislation is still at the proposal stage. Countries are beginning to address the issue of underage content creators (“influencers”) due to the staggering volume of their business. However, children with a large number of followers are not always “influencers.” This is just one of the legal distinctions that need to be made to guide forthcoming regulations on this matter.

In essence:

Pre-teens using social media are getting younger and younger (OFCOM: “a quarter of 3 to 7-year-olds own their own smartphone”). We cannot expect them to master copyright law, or any law, or even have a fully developed moral compass. Legislative action is imperative to protect these minors from the risks associated with modern technologies, as reliance on parental control (with parents mostly being Gen Z, native screen users themselves) is largely illusory.

Any input/ thoughts/comments are very welcome to mfavale@bournemouth.ac.uk

Opportunities in health and social care research

student research

We’re excited to share information about the NIHR INSIGHT (Inspiring Graduates and Early Career Professionals into Research) South West Central Collaboration, a programme aimed at fostering research engagement among early career health and social care practitioners in the South West of England.

This collaboration, funded by the National Institute of Health Research (NIHR), is led by University of the West of England (UWE) Bristol, and co-hosted by Bournemouth University (BU), with support from collaborators across the region.

UWE Website: Health and Care Research – MRes – UWE Bristol: Courses

BU Website: NIHR INSIGHT South West Central Programme | Bournemouth University

Find out about how one Current BU MRes student is using this programme to develop her clinical research career.

Key Opportunities:

  • Fully Funded MRes Studentships:These are available for early-career colleagues (within 5 years of registration/work) in fields such as nursing, midwifery, allied health professions, social work, public health, pharmacy, chiropractic, osteopathy, and healthcare sciences.
    • Applications Open:2nd January – 31st March 2025 for September 2025 entry.
  • Research Engagement Working Group:An opportunity for eligible colleagues to engage with research, whether they intend to apply for the studentship this year or not. Here is the link to join this group: https://forms.office.com/e/amdSpuBy6J?origin=lprLink

Further details on the programme website: NIHR Insight Programme for South West Central (insight-southwestcentral.net)

Please also find a shortened link to the website: https://tinyurl.com/yaus96fs

If you have any questions or need further information, feel free to contact the programme team at insight.swcentral@uwe.ac.uk.

 

Important announcement regarding publishing in PLOS journals

open access, Publishing

The decision has been made to not renew our subscription to the PLOS flat fee publishing deal in 2025. This means that authors of outputs accepted for publication in a PLOS journal after the previous agreement end date of 31st December 2024 will be required to pay an open access article processing charge (APC).

Any authors who have already submitted an article to a PLOS journal which is still under consideration should contact openaccess@bournemouth.ac.uk immediately.

Authors who were considering publishing in a PLOS journal, but have not yet submitted their manuscript, should explore the seven other transformative agreements which BU is signed up to, which enable BU authors to publish open access for free or at a discounted rate. Authors that still wish to publish with a PLOS journal must apply to the open access publication fund before submission of their manuscript.

For all related enquiries, please email openaccess@bournemouth.ac.uk 

Doctoral College PGR Research Culture and Community Grant – Applications Open

PG research

The Doctoral College is delighted to offer a second round of funding for the PGR Research Culture and Community Grant (RCCG). This grant is intended to support PGR-led activity across researcher development, research culture and research community building initiatives.

This grant can be used to fund a social event, training activity, analysis workshop, digital skills session, writing session or other activity to enhance the PGR journey experience. In addition to community building, the purpose of the grant is to enable PGRs to gain transferable skills and experience in planning, organising, promoting and implementing such activities.

Several events supported by the first round of funding took place in December 2024, including ‘Building Your Research Toward High-Quality Manuscripts’ forum, organised by Shadeepa Karunarathne and Aashish John from the Faculty of Science and Technology.

We are pleased to share Shadeepa’s experience and thoughts following on from the successful running of his RCCG funded event:

As I near the final stages of my PhD journey at Bournemouth University, I felt inspired to give back to the community that has supported me over the years. Recognizing the challenges many postgraduate researchers (PGRs) face in producing high-quality manuscripts, I initiated a forum titled “Building Your Research Toward High-Quality Manuscripts – Guidance from the Highest Ranked BU Scientists.” This event aimed to bridge the gaps in collaboration and offer practical guidance to help PGRs elevate their research output.

The forum brought together some of BU’s top-performing academics to share insights on critical aspects of academic publishing, including structuring manuscripts, conducting effective literature reviews, addressing facility limitations, and navigating the peer-review process. I am immensely grateful to Prof. Edwin van Teijlingen, Dr Hari Pandey, Prof. Jian Zhang, and Prof. Matthew Bennett, who generously shared their expertise as resource people, making the sessions incredibly insightful and impactful. Their guidance offered participants actionable strategies to refine their research and produce manuscripts worthy of high-ranking journals.

Organizing this forum was a first for me, and I couldn’t have done it without the incredible support of Aashish John, my co-organizer, whose collaboration was instrumental. My sincere thanks also go to Enrica Conrotto and the Doctoral College for their guidance on planning and execution, as well as the PGR Community and Culture Grant for funding the initiative.

The response to the event was overwhelmingly positive, with a full house of 40 participants and glowing feedback highlighting its relevance and practicality. Many attendees emphasized how beneficial it was and expressed a desire for more such sessions in the future.

Shadeepa Karunarathne (FST)

If you would like to apply for the new round of funding, full details can be found on the Doctoral College Brightspace, including the application form.

  • Applications opened Monday 13 January 2025
  • Applications close Monday 24 February 2025

If you would like to discuss your ideas before submitting your application please contact:

pgrskillsdevelopment@bournemouth.ac.uk

The Doctoral College

Cohort-based bidding approach- AHRC Catalyst

Funding opportunities

We are excited to introduce a new approach to enhance the quality of grant applications, inspired by the success of our BA Small Grants internal peer review process. Over the past two years, this process has delivered excellent results, and we aim to adapt it for specific UKRI calls that are relevant to this approach, such as the AHRC Catalyst and Curiosity (in later rounds) awards.

Going forward, we will adopt a cohort-based approach that leverages the repetitive nature of these calls (four times a year up to cohort 6), and potential other similar calls. 

Key elements include:

  1. Mandatory Training Workshop: A session to discuss call requirements with interested academics and establish cohort-based support (If you are not able to attend the planned Mandatory Training, please get in touch via PreAwardEnquiries@bournemouth.ac.uk)- the workshop will address the catalyst application sections, support available and the internal process.
  2. Faculty Pre-Approvals: Faculty-level quality approvals will be mandatory before initiating costings or ITBs.
  3. Additional Funding Development Support: Where relevant, cohort members may also seek other external funding development support to enhance their applications
  4. Internal Peer Review Panels: Applications will undergo review by nominated internal reviewers, with assessor allocation managed in consultation with DDRs.

Pilot
As the pilot, we have identified the end of round six of the AHRC Catalyst call and with the current update of opening of the calls to no deadlines, we have set the pilot internal deadline to the end of April.

You can also find all relevant information about the new scheme on the RKE Sharepoint site.

If you have any questions, please contact Eva Papadopoulou

 

Mandatory Training

Date: 30 January 2025, Thursday

Time: 10am to 11.30am

Microsoft Teams link to join the Mandatory Training – Join the meeting now

 

 

Federalisation & health research presented in Nepal

BU Challenges, international, Knowledge Exchange, Publishing, writing

Last month we reported on this Bournemouth University Research Blog (click here!) that Ms. Amshu Dhakal, presented findings from our Nepal Federal Health System Project in Nepal.  Amshu’s presentation at the Nepal Health Conclave 2024, organised by the Ministry of Health and Population and supported by WHO (World Health Organization) Nepal and UNFPA, resulted in an online article in Nepal.  This article in Nepali in Swasthya Khabar Patrika features lessons learnt and evidence from our research project “The Impact of Federalisation on the Health System of Nepal.”
Our project ran from 2020 to 2024, and it was funded by the Health System Research Initiative, a UK collaboration between three funders: the MRC (Medical research Council), the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office, and the Welcome Trust.  This joint project was led by the University of Sheffield in collaboration with Bournemouth University, the University of Huddersfield, Canter Bury Christ Church University and two institutions in Nepal, namely Manmohan Memorial Institute of Health Sciences and PHASE Nepal.  In 2023 further funding was awarded by the Medical Research Foundation to Prof. Julie Balen, from Canterbury Christ Church University, to disseminate the findings in Nepal.  Furthermore, to date we have published eight papers from this interdisciplinary project [1-8].
This is one of several news articles from this project which have appeared in both English and Nepali in national media in Nepal.  In early 2024 two daily English-language media outlets: The Annapurna Express and Gazzabkoo Magazine published articles covering our project.  The latter used the title ‘Strengthening Health Systems for Better Health‘ and the former opted for the headline ‘Forum on health system strengthening’.
In the same month last year three UK professors: Julie Balen (Canterbury Christ Church University), Simon Rushton (the University of Sheffield) and Edwin van Teijlingen (Bournemouth University) were interviewed (see interview here) about the study.  Our interdisciplinary research project ‘The impact of federalisation on Nepal’s health system: a longitudinal analysis’ was also previously reported in several national media in Nepal in the spring of 2023. 
 
Prof. Edwin van Teijlingen
Centre of Midwifery & Women’s Health.
References:
  1. Koirala, B., Rushton, S., Adhikary, P., Balen, J., et al. (2024) COVID-19 as a challenge to Nepal’s newly federalised health system: capacities, responsibilities, and mindsets, Asia Pacific Journal of Public Health (online first) https://doi.org/10.1177/1010539524125012.
  2. Sapkota, S., Rushton, S., van Teijlingen, E., et al. (2024) Participatory policy analysis in health policy and systems research: reflections from a study in Nepal. Health Research & Policy Systems, 22 (No.7) https://doi.org/10.1186/s12961-023-01092-5 .
  3. Wasti, S.P., van Teijlingen, E., Simkhada, P., et al. (2023) Selection of Study Sites and Participants for Research into Nepal’s Federal Health System, WHO South-East Asia Journal of Public Health 12(2):116-119.
  4. Sapkota, S., Dhakal, A., Rushton S., et al. (2023) The impact of decentralisation on health systems: a systematic review of reviews. BMJ Global Health 8:e013317. doi:10.1136/bmjgh-2023-013317.
  5. Wasti, S.P., van Teijlingen, E., Rushton, S., et al. (2023) Overcoming the Challenges Facing Nepal’s Health System During Federalisation: An Analysis of Health System Building Blocks, Health Research Policy & Systems 21(117) https://doi.org/10.1186/s12961-023-01033-2
  6. Sapkota, S., Panday, S., Wasti, S.P., et al. (2022) Health System Strengthening: The Role of Public Health in Federal Nepal, Journal of the Nepal Public Health Association 7(1):36-42.
  7. Adhikary, P., Balen, J., Gautam, S., et al. (2020) The COVID-19 pandemic in Nepal: Emerging evidence on the effectiveness of action by, and cooperation between, different levels of government in a federal system, Journal of Karnali Academy of Health Sciences 3 (3): 1-11.
  8. Rushton, S., Pandey, S., van Teijlingen, E., et al. (2021) An Investigation into the Impact of Decentralization on the Health System of Nepal. Journal of Manmohan Memorial Institute of Health Sciences, 7(1): 3–14. https://doi.org/10.3126/jmmihs.v7i1.43146

New Cocreation and codestruction research just published 

New Cocreation and codestruction research just published 

Vasil, M., Chopdar, PK, Das, SS, & Buhalis, D. (2025). Value co-destruction behavior in peer-to-peer accommodation: evidence of dark triad, moral disengagement, and host incivility. Journal of Hospitality Marketing & Management, 1–27. https://doi.org/10.1080/19368623.2025.2449870
 
ABSTRACT

Drawing on value co-destruction literature, moral disengagement, social exchange and trait activation theories, this study investigates the role of dark triad traits, moral disengagement, and host incivility on peer-to-peer accommodation guests’ value co-destruction behavior. Data was collected from 428 Indian Airbnb customers and analyzed using partial least squares-structural equation modeling. Results show that among dark triad traits, only psychopathy directly influences value co-destruction behavior. However, all three dark traits lead to value co-destruction behavior through moral disengagement. Host incivility positively influences value co-destruction behavior and also moderates the relationship between psychopathy and value co-destruction behavior. The study offers a comprehensive understanding of the antecedents of guests’ value co-destruction behavior in peer-to-peer accommodation. The findings suggest that P2P accommodation managers need to instill moral accountability among guests and foster civil behaviors among hosts to prevent value co-destruction.

FoodBioSystems DTP are advertising 39 fully funded tax-free 4-year PhD studentships

PG research, student research

FoodBioSystems DTP are advertising 39 fully funded tax-free 4-year PhD studentships
Could this be the right opportunity for you?

We have projects on offer at our 7 partner universities.

We are looking for applicants who can apply their science to projects in research areas that span the entire food value chain including:
agricultural sciences, applied chemistry, artificial intelligence, biochemistry, bioinformatics, biological science, data science, environmental chemistry, food science & production, genomics, livestock farming and welfare, machine learning, marine sciences, mathematics, microbiology, nutrition, plant science and soil science.

All projects are advertised on the FoodBioSystems DTP website.

You can apply for up to TWO projects at any of our partner universities. Apply via our online application form https://foodbiosystemsdtp.grantplatform.com/ (opens 20 December).

Deadline for applications: Monday 3 February 2025 (10.00 GMT).

We offer a guaranteed interview scheme and an applicant mentoring scheme to students from eligible ethnic groups who hold UK fees status and who meet our academic eligibility criteria. Deadline for applicant mentoring scheme is 17 January 2025 (10.00 GMT).

Visit the DTP website to download applicant information, to find more information about the DTP training programme and profiles of our current research students.

RKEDF January digest

Training

A very happy New Year to all from the RKEDF team!

Book now for RKEDF training in January 2025 

Click on the titles to find further details and book your place 

 Compelling Impact Narratives for Funding Success  

Tuesday 28 January 10.00-12.00 – in person, Talbot campus 

Struggling to effectively communicate the potential impact of your research in funding applications? Our training session, Impact and Funding Bids, will equip you with the practical tools and knowledge to develop effective plans of impact, articulate these in proposals and increase your success rates. 

This session is intended for academics working on a proposal at the time of the session. It could be an early-stage idea, or a specific proposal for a funder. Please bring your proposal with you to the session to work on.  

 Future Leaders Fellowship – Meet Matt! 

Tuesday 28 January 14:00 – 15:00 – in person, Talbot campus 

Meet Professor Matt Ryan, Professor of Governance and Public Policy from Southampton University, who will be visiting for an ‘in person’ talk and networking session on the Talbot campus. His research crosses several disciplinary boundaries and focuses on democratic innovation, participation in politics and policymaking, as well as improving social research methods.  

 Epigeum Research Skills Toolkit 

Do you want to refresh your researcher skills? Have a look at the Epigeum Research Skills Toolkit (on demand online modules).  Further information on how to access Epigeum courses can be found here

 

 

 

Please help us in avoiding any waste of resources; make sure you can attend or cancel your booking prior to the session. For any further information, please contact RKEDF@bournemouth.ac.uk   

Digital dementia care: How social media is shaping experiences of dementia

We’re thrilled to invite you to the second online seminar in the new ADRC series. This session will feature Dr. Catherine Talbot from Bournemouth University, presenting: Digital dementia care: How social media is shaping experiences of dementia.

With a rapidly growing population of people affected by dementia and increasing global emphasis being placed on early and timely diagnosis, it is vital to explore creative ways of supporting those affected. Social media has potential to mitigate some of the challenges associated with dementia, by facilitating social connectivity and access to information. Despite these possibilities, research in this area is scarce, and social media platforms are not designed with the specific needs of people with dementia or their carers in mind. In this talk, Dr Catherine Talbot will present the findings from her British Academy funded research, which aimed to explore the attitudes of people with dementia and their carers towards engaging with social media. She will also discuss how educational and technological initiatives can empower people with dementia to use social media safely and effectively.

The seminar is open to all Bournemouth University staff, students, community organisations, and anyone interested in the topic.
Please keep an eye out for upcoming seminars throughout 2025!
See you there!
Join Zoom Meeting
https://bournemouth-ac-uk.zoom.us/j/88106186753?pwd=G65UYAra4oQjjNN76HauXxsBmI0oib.1
Meeting ID: 881 0618 6753
Passcode: $30@u6Af