Skip to main content

Category / BU research

First PhD in Project Management from the Faculty of Management

BU research, PG research, Research news, student research

Yogarajah Nanthagaopan has successfully completed the first PhD in Project Management from the Faculty of Management. He was supervised by Dr Nigel L. Williams and Professor Stephen Page and his thesis was titled: A Resource Based Perspective on Project Management in NGOs. Dr Nanthangaopan has returned to his native Sri Lanka and is the current Head of Economics and Management department and Coordinator for the BBM in Project Management degree program at the Faculty of Business Studies, Vavuniya Campus of the University of Jaffna, Sri Lanka.

£80m for the Creative Industries Clusters Programme

BU research, Funding opportunities

The AHRC have announced that £80m will be made available through the AHRC as part of the Governments Industrial Strategy Challenge Fund (ISCF) to support eight research and development partnerships between industry and a group of universities to respond to challenges identified by the creative industries in 2018.  The pre-call document may be found here.

It is expected that the call for proposals to host the Policy and Evidence Centre in relation to this fund will by made available in October 2017.

For further information, please contact Ehren Milner (emilner@bournemouth.ac.uk).

 

 

 

 

Building Roman Britain: The Movie

BU research

Bournemouth University’s archaeologists have released a short video on one of their projects in which they have been working closely with partners at the famous Roman sites of The Roman Baths and Fishbourne Roman Palace. The project has been using new methods to examine the main materials used by the Romans in their buildings.

Project Director, Professor Mark Brisbane, said “When the Romans arrived in Britain in the first century AD they brought with them a new form of architecture that used carefully cut, squared stone blocks and materials made of fired clay such as bricks and tiles. This would have been a completely new form of construction to most of the local inhabitants whose main building materials were wood, thatch and daub.”

In order to better understand these ‘new’ materials of the Roman World, the Building Roman Britain project investigated their composition and production through an innovative programme of archaeological science. To do this, BU’s Department of Archaeology, Anthropology & Forensic Science worked in a knowledge exchange partnership with two well-known heritage organisations, Fishbourne Roman Palace Museum near Chichester and The Roman Baths in the City of Bath.

The project aimed to characterise stone and ceramic building materials (the bricks, tiles, etc.) by using a relatively new type of instrument known as portable X-ray Florescence (or pXRF for short). This allows us to chemically ‘fingerprint’ archaeological examples of these materials, so that we can learn more about where the stone was quarried and where the ceramic building material was produced.

Mark Brisbane added, “Central to the project was a need to communicate the process of scientific discovery to the general public. To do this we decided to produce a short video to communicate to a wide audience the project’s novel scientific approach to understanding the organisation of early Roman Britain’s building industries. We are particularly grateful to our partners in Bath and Fishbourne for their assistance in the project and to IMMIX Media Ltd who brought their creative know-how to the video and its production.”

As well as discussing the project’s results and their implications, the video includes an outline of the development of the project, the manner in which questions were structured to examine the potential and limitations of the use of the handheld pXRF, and the way in which the approach was applied within the museums and in the field. Some preliminary results are also discussed as well as where the project goes next.

The work was largely funded by HEIF (Higher Education Innovation Fund), part of HEFCE (the Higher Education Funding Council for England) and will be the subject of on-going collaborations between the university and our partner museums.

The work has subsequently helped underpin a successful bid by The Roman Baths to the Heritage Lottery Fund for a major new learning centre known as the Archway Project: https://www.romanbaths.co.uk/archway-project

For further information on the Building Roman Britain Research Project see: https://research.bournemouth.ac.uk/project/building-roman-britain/

For further information on Fishbourne Roman Palace see: https://sussexpast.co.uk/properties-to-discover/fishbourne-roman-palace

Research Professional – all you need to know

BU research, Funding opportunities

Research-Professional-logoEvery BU academic has a Research Professional account which delivers weekly emails detailing funding opportunities in their broad subject area. To really make the most of your Research Professional account, you should tailor it further by establishing additional alerts based on your specific area of expertise. The Funding Development Team Officers can assist you with this, if required.

Research Professional have created several guides to help introduce users to ResearchProfessional. These can be downloaded here.

Quick Start Guide: Explains to users their first steps with the website, from creating an account to searching for content and setting up email alerts, all in the space of a single page.

User Guide: More detailed information covering all the key aspects of using ResearchProfessional.

Administrator Guide: A detailed description of the administrator functionality.

In addition to the above, there are a set of 2-3 minute videos online, designed to take a user through all the key features of ResearchProfessional. To access the videos, please use the following link: http://www.youtube.com/researchprofessional

Research Professional are running a series of online training broadcasts aimed at introducing users to the basics of creating and configuring their accounts on ResearchProfessional. They are holding monthly sessions, covering everything you need to get started with ResearchProfessional. The broadcast sessions will run for no more than 60 minutes, with the opportunity to ask questions via text chat. Each session will cover:

  • Self registration and logging in
  • Building searches
  • Setting personalised alerts
  • Saving and bookmarking items
  • Subscribing to news alerts
  • Configuring your personal profile

Each session will run between 10.00am and 11.00am (UK) on the fourth Tuesday of each month. You can register here for your preferred date:

22nd August 2017

26th September 2017

24th October 2017

These are free and comprehensive training sessions and so this is a good opportunity to get to grips with how Research Professional can work for you.

BU research models spread of disease through aquatic communities

BU research

The interaction of species within an ecosystem is important in predicting how they will respond when diseases are introduced, Bournemouth University (BU) modelling has found.The research examined how aquatic communities can recover after a disturbance – in this case, the introduction of the rosette agent, a fish parasite which was introduced to UK waters through invasive species the topmouth gudgeon and has had severe effects on native UK fish populations.

The BU study modelled the introduction of a healthy carrier of a fungal infection into a host community and examined how the susceptibility of predators at the top of the food chain influenced the spread and impact of the disease.

The paper, published in the British Ecological Society’s Journal of Animal Ecology, found that to make predictions about the effect of a disease on a given disease, the species’ interaction with each other is as important as their response to the disease.

The presence of resistant hosts at the top of the food chain controlled the population growth of the disease carrier, but was not able to effectively eliminate the spread of infection.

The study was led by Dr Demetra Andreou, Principal Academic in Environmental Science at BU, with PhD student Farah Al-Shorbaji and Professor Rob Britton alongside Rudy Gozlan and Benjamin Roche from L’Institut de recherche pour le développement (IRD) in France.

“Different communities can recover to different degrees, based on many factors,” said Farah Al-Shorbaji.

“Two of those factors are how much the disease affects each species, and interactions like predation. Our model combined both those factors. This allowed us to test possible ways of controlling the disease. For example, we could test if adding a predator that would eat infected fish might control the spread of the disease.”

Dr Andreou added: “Our results demonstrate why disease emergence can occur in some communities but not others, and show how management practices such as biocontrol (the introduction of one species to manage another) must be closely monitored.

“It also highlighted the danger of a fungal pathogen that can transmit widely through direct contact and the environment.”

Read the full paper on the Journal of Animal Ecology website.

Launch of the VISTA AR project at Exeter Cathedral

BU research

Discover the digital possibilities in cultural heritage at the launch event of the VISTA AR project (led by the University of Exeter), held in Exeter Cathedral. Experience first-hand the range of augmented reality and virtual reality scenario available and how the project could help you to develop affordable digital solutions for your business model.

There will be demonstrations of cutting-edge geospatial tracking / augmented reality / virtual reality thanks to headsets and apps on tablets. This is your chance to engage with the project and register your interest in this new solution. It is also a unique opportunity to find out about Exeter Cathedral and also Fougères Castle in France. We are taking over the Cathedral for the event so it is a fantastic chance to see first-hand one of the finest examples of Gothic architecture anywhere in the world.

Key note speakers: Sir Tim Smit, Co-Founder of the Eden Project and Tom Barker, Head of Digital at the National Trust. 

To find out more more and register click here

Innovate UK announce Digital Technology for Healthcare call

BU research, Funding opportunities, innovation

Innovate UK is to invest up to £8 million in projects that develop new digital technology solutions to healthcare challenges.

This competition is being run under the digital health technology catalyst, which is part of the Industrial Strategy Challenge Fund. The aim is to support the development of digital health products that meet NHS needs. It is a new £35 million funding programme over 4 years.

Innovate UK are seeking feasibility or development projects that advance digital health or digitally-enabled medical technologies. These should:

  • improve patient outcomes, such as through better clinical decision-making and supporting them to manage their own care
  • offer new approaches to healthcare that transform its delivery
  • reduce the demand on the health system, make it more efficient and create savings

Competition information

  • the competition opens on 31 July 2017, and the deadline for registrations is 4 October 2017
  • feasibility studies can range from £50,000 to £75,000 and last up to one year
  • industrial research and experimental development projects can range from £500,000 to £1 million and last up to 3 years
  • you can work alone or in collaboration with other organisations, but projects must be led by a UK-based SME
  • you could get up to 70% of your eligible project costs
  • projects must start by 1 February 2018

You can find more information and apply to the call here.

Innovate UK are holding a briefing webinar for applicants on Tuesday 1st August at 10:00am. To register click here.

Fair Access Research project (FAR) webpages are launched

BU research, Centre for Excellence in Learning, Fusion, Impact, policy, Student Engagement, student research

The FAR project webpages have now been published.

BU’s pioneering Fair Access Research project has brought together students, SUBU, professional, service and academic staff from across the university to develop and expand expertise and reflexive practice in the field of fair access to higher education.

Each member of the team has brought different knowledge and experiences to a series of innovative research projects exploring what it means to be a ‘non-traditional’ student in the 21st century. FAR has inspired new ways of thinking about fair access and widening participation through this ‘whole institution approach’,

The team has explored all the different stages in the student lifecycle developing an understanding of the challenges some students face in accessing or succeeding at university, how university is experienced by diverse groups of students and how the university can support them in the optimum way when they are here.

Explore the five themes of the FAR programme on the webpages at https://research.bournemouth.ac.uk/project/fair-access-research-and-practice-far/

 

Outreach

Admissions

Experience 

Continuation 

Ways of Working

 

 

Contact principal investigators Dr Vanessa Heaslip or Dr Clive Hunt for further information

HSS Research Priority Areas

BU research, Research communication, Research news, Research themes

Following a process of consultation the Faculty of Health and Social Sciences has identified three research priority areas that will guide our research investment for 2017-18. The research entities (centres and clusters) listed below sit within these areas. You can read more about each research entity and its members by clicking on the link.

 

Long term health challenges

 

Marginalised voices

 

Clinical Research

 

Photo of the Week: Tiddles- the playful data analyst!

BU research

Tiddles- the playful data analyst!

Tiddles- the playful data analyst!

Our next instalment of the ‘Photo of the Week’ series features Andrea Lacey‘s image of her cat Tiddles playing in her data transcripts.  The series is a weekly instalment which features an image taken by our fantastic BU staff and students. The photos give a glimpse into some of the fascinating work our researchers have been doing across BU and the wider community.

Andrea explains more about her research and the background behind the image.

“I’m exploring the experience of mental health student nurses first practice placement,”

“I conducted focus groups to find out what students expect to get out of their placement. I recently started analysing the data and cut up sections of the transcript. I had just placed some possible sections together when Tiddles decided to join me. Tiddles is a rescue cat who until then had never shown any interest in play. These pieces of paper were too much for her and she wouldn’t leave them alone! The more fun she was having, the more her tail was swishing! I removed her countless times yet each time she came back and rearranged my carefully placed groupings. The impact here is two-fold- Tiddles does likes play and you can never predict the frustrations involved in research!” says Andrea.

If you’d like find out more about the research or the photo itself then please contact Andrea.

This photo was originally an entry in the 2017 Research Photography Competition. If you have any other questions about the Photo of the Week series or the competition please email research@bournemouth.ac.uk

New publication Sheetal Sharma (PhD graduate 2017)

BU research, Featured academics, international, open access, PG research, Publishing, Research news, student research, Uncategorized, writing

Congratulations to Sheetal Sharma whose latest article appeared in today’s new issue of Journal of Asian Midwives [1]. Sheetal wrote the paper ‘Evaluation a Community Maternal Health Programme: Lessons Learnt’ with her PhD supervisors Dr. Catherine Angell, Prof. Vanora Hundley, Prof. Edwin van Teijlingen and Prof. Padam Simkhada (Liverpool John Moores University & FHSS Visiting Professor) and the director of Green Tara Nepal Mr. Ram Chandra Silwal and the founder of Green Tara Trust, London, Dr. Jane Stephens. The Journal of Asian Midwives is an Open-Access journal hence this article is freely available across the globe.

(c) Sheetal Sharma

Focus groups in open air in rural Nepal, (c) Sheetal Sharma

 

Reference:

Sharma, S., Simkhada, P., Hundley, V., van Teijlingen, E., Stephens, J., Silwal, R.C., Angell, C. (2017) Evaluation a Community Maternal Health Programme: Lessons Learnt. Journal of Asian Midwives. 4(1): 3–20.