Category / BU research

Islam and Social Work: Culturally sensitive practice in a diverse world

BU research, Featured academics, Fusion, Women's Academic Network

islam%20and%20social%20work-pbk_qcThe complexities of multiculturalism as a social ontology and as a political discourse have taken a rapid and alarming turn to the right in a political moment of increasing social turbulence on issues that revolve around national identity, ethnicity and religion. It is therefore timely, if regrettably so, that the second edition of Islam and Social Work makes its debut this month.

The first volume went to press in 2008, in my first year at BU, and my co-authors and I were overwhelmed when the book was showered with positive reviews. Regarded as not only the best, but the sole European text on this conspicuously important topic, it was also viewed as having no counterpart in the Global North (where the subject of social work and minority ethnic groups has been a dominant theme in the social work literature for decades). Since then it has been regularly cited and I been privileged to have anonymously reviewed dozens of papers on Islamic interpretations of social work practice. I have learned that Western social work is no longer the epicentre of practice – there are other worlds out there. I feel that this earlier book was, if nothing else, pivotal to opening the door much wider to be able to hear from our Muslim social work colleagues around the world, whose practice can challenge the restrictive, bureaucratised and therefore often inhuman professional processes in the UK

Strangely, however, over the years, despite the world having changed so very much since in terms of the shifting geo-political axes of power, the rise and fall of despotic regimes, the call for accountability of Western leaders implicated in invasion of Gulf nations, the Arab Spring, global terrorism, Al-Qaeda and later the monstrous birth of imploding Daesh – no one has produced a text to supersede the old first edition. And so, reader, we, Fatima Husain, Basia Spalek and I decided to produce the 2nd edition, which has been fully revised and updated, rewritten virtually from scratch, and I believe we have produced a book that is specific in detail, expansive in scope and completely international in outlook.

We hope that this will be a text that is the first port of call for all social work students across the globe who are interested in learning more about competent and sensitive practice with Muslim service user and client groups across the lifespan, as well as discovering the many beauties and wise profundities that are embedded, but often overlooked, in the youngest of the Abrahamic religions, Islam.

Professor Sara Ashencaen Crabtree

Professor of Social & Cultural Diversity

EPSRC Postdoc & Early Career Fellowships for Environmental Change

BU research, Funding opportunities

EEPSRC logoPSRC is inviting Outline Proposals for EPSRC Challenge Fellowships in the LWEC theme. Fellowships are offered at both the Postdoctoral Fellowship and Early Career Fellowship level.

The closing date is 05 January 2017. Applications are sought that address the challenge question:

How can our cities, their hinterlands, linking infrastructure, rural surround and the regions they are in, be transformed to be resilient, sustainable, more economically viable and generally better places to live?

Background

EPSRC‘s Living With Environmental Change theme is keen to support the next generation of leaders in adapting to and mitigating climate change. This is a strategic activity focusing on a key challenge within the EPSRC LWEC theme and on bringing new thinking into the area.

A previous call was issued on this topic in 2015 and eight Fellowships funded.

The research required to answer this challenge requires a broad based, problem- directed and multidisciplinary approach. In this call EPSRC is particularly interested in proposals that help fill research gaps in this area:

  • Proposals that use an Engineering, Physical Sciences, Computer Sciences or Mathematics led approach to the challenge
  • Proposals that address Energy related aspects of the challenge

The balance of the research described in the application should be within the remit of EPSRC. They would particularly like to encourage applicants from across the EPSRC research landscape to apply.

Full call document

AHRC International Co-Investigator policy adopted

BU research, Guidance, Research news

ahrcFollowing a successful trial period and in line with the commitments made in the Council’s current delivery plan, the Arts and Humanities Research Council (AHRC) has decided to incorporate provision for International Co-Investigators into its core eligibility requirements and standard funding terms and conditions. Therefore, following the expiration of the current trial period on 31st December 2016, applicants will be able to continue to include international co-investigators on research grant, networking and follow-on proposals in line with the current provisions under the trial as outlined in AHRC’s Research Funding Guide.

AHRC will continue to monitor the impacts of this provision and will keep the provisions for international co-investigators under periodic review. For some specific funding calls (e.g. those which are internationally collaborative or focused) AHRC may adjust the provision for international co-investigators in line with the aims of the call; where this applies details will be provided in the specific call document.

BU excavations at Cotswold long barrow reported in Current Archaeology

BU research, Research communication

Current Archaeology, the UK’s best-selling archaeological magazine, features news of BU’s discovery of a previously unrecorded Neolithic long barrow in the Cotswolds in its December issue that goes on sale today. The excavations, directed by Professor Tim Darvill and Dr Martin Smith from the Department of Archaeology, Anthropology and Forensic Science, revealed a large stone-built mound dating to around 3800 BC. Such mounds served as territorial markers as well as burial places for communities living in the area. The work forms part of a larger study looking at the history and development of the Cotswold landscape since prehistoric times and includes collaboration with staff from the German Archaeological Institute in Berlin.

Academies launch fund for interdisciplinary research

BU research, Funding opportunities

APEX Awards In partnership with the British Academy, the Royal Academy of Engineering and the Royal Society (‘the Academies’) and with generous support from the Leverhulme Trust, the APEX award (Academies Partnership in Supporting Excellence in Cross-disciplinary research award) scheme offers established independent researchers, with a strong track record in their respective area, an exciting opportunity to pursue genuine interdisciplinary and curiosity-driven research to benefit wider society.
  • support outstanding interdisciplinary research which is unlikely to be supported through conventional funding programmes
  • promote collaboration across disciplines, with a particular emphasis on the boundary between science and engineering and the social sciences and humanities
  • support researchers with an outstanding track record, in developing their research in a new direction through collaboration with partners from other disciplines
  • enable outstanding researchers to focus on advancing their innovative research through seed funding

Am I eligible to apply?

Applications should be within the remit of more than one of the Academies.

You can apply for this scheme if you are:

  • an exceptional researcher with a strong track record as an established independent researcher (this can include engineering researchers, humanities and social sciences scholars and scientists)
  • based at a UK University or not-for-profit research institution for at least the duration of the project
  • applicants will be expected to collaborate with a research partner from a different discipline from their own or a different university in the UK

Before applying, please ensure that you meet all the eligibility requirements, which are explained in the scheme notes. Please also refer to the FAQ for further guidance.

What is the scheme’s value and duration?

This scheme provides:

  • an award of up to £100,000 to fund staff costs of which no more than 25% may be used for associated research costs.
  • this can include consumables, equipment, collaborative travel expenses
  • costs of a teaching replacement to relieve the applicant and/or collaborator from some of their teaching and administrative duties
  • grants can be held for up to 24 months

Note, requests for any other salary costs e.g. for research assistants, post-docs or studentships etc. cannot be included in the application. Note that awards under this scheme will not pay indirect and estate costs.  All awards must start between 01 September 2017 and 01 November 2017.

What is the application process?

Applications should be submitted through the Royal Society’s electronic grant application system (e-GAP2). Applications will be peer-reviewed and assessed by a cross-disciplinary panel with broad ranging expertise drawn from the fellowship of all three Academies.

Further details about the award, including information on how to apply and the assessment criteria, can be found in the scheme notes.

If you are interested in applying then please contact your RKEO Funding Development Officer.

Subtropical Florida – an excellent place to study microbes.

BU research, conferences

Ph.D. Student Hunter Hines, supervised by Prof Genoveva Esteban of SciTech’s Department of Life and Environmental Sciences, presented their research earlier this month in USA: Florida’s tropical ciliates; novel records and new species. The conference, American Society of Microbiology (Florida Branch) was attended by about 200 scientists, covering all aspects of microbiology. Hosted by Rosenstiel School of Marine and Atmospheric Sciences (RSMAS), University of Miami, the meeting took place on beautiful Key Biscayne, an island off the coast of the city of Miami. Hunter presented the highlights of his PhD project thus far; including the discovery of several first records for the Americas of some (unicellular) ciliated protozoan species.  Also included was a species Hunter discovered recently which is likely new to science, and the focus of current research.  These novel single-celled organisms help to advance theories of microbial ecology and dispersal, and the presentation received excellent feedback.  Prof Peter McCarthy (Hunter’s co-supervisor in USA) of Harbor Branch Oceanographic Institute (HBOI) was also in attendance for the conference, along with his HBOI lab group.

 

New projects in the Student Project Bank

BU research, Knowledge Exchange and Impact Team

There are new projects in the Student Project Bank! Projects are available to all undergraduate and postgraduate students at BU and can be used for their dissertation, assignment, unit or group work. They are also available for extra-curricular experience. Members of staff may also choose a project to set to their students. New projects are listed below, these will be added to the list of available projects on the website shortly.

SPB017: Next Economy Project: How can the resources, assets and influence of historical organisations with social purpose be unlocked to support the growth of a new economy?

Suitable for:     Undergraduate/ postgraduate

Description:     Research project exploring how the resources, assets and influence of historical organisations with social purpose, especially churches, could be ‘unlocked’ to support the growth of a new economy that is sustainable, resilient and more equitable.

 SPB018: Produce a series of articles exploring the challenges facing the Voluntary, Community and Social Enterprise Sector (VCSE)

Suitable for:     Undergraduate/ postgraduate

Description:     Dorset Community Action is working with Dorset Communities Forum to raise awareness of the challenges facing the Voluntary, Community and Social Enterprise sector (VCSE) through a series of stories/ case studies linking the work of local VCSEs, and relating the challenges they face, with public sector service cuts, and the importance of the role of VCSE organisations in how public services will be delivered for years to come. There is potential these articles will be published in local magazines and online.

SPB019: Create a brand identity for Dorset Communities Forum’s campaign to raise awareness of challenges facing Dorset’s Voluntary, Community and Social Enterprise (VCSE) sector

Suitable for:     Undergraduate/ postgraduate

Description:     Create a brand identity than can be used to promote Dorset Communities Forum’s campaign. This will be used to influence the look and feel of their website and marketing materials.

SPB020: Create a website for Dorset Communities Forum’s campaign to raise awareness of challenges facing Dorset’s Voluntary, Community and Social Enterprise (VCSE) sector

Suitable for:     Undergraduate/ postgraduate

Description:     Create a website than can be used to promote Dorset Communities Forum’s campaign. The website will host a series of articles and case studies about Dorset’s VCSE sector.

SPB021: Create social media campaign strategy for Dorset Community Action and Dorset Communities Forum’s campaign to raise awareness of challenges facing Dorset’s Voluntary, Community and Social Enterprise (VCSE) sector

Suitable for:     Undergraduate/ postgraduate

Description:     Design a social media campaign to raise awareness of challenges facing Dorset’s Voluntary, Community and Social Enterprise (VCSE) sector

SPB022: Create an evaluation strategy for Dorset Community Action and Dorset Communities Forum’s campaign to raise awareness of challenges facing Dorset’s Voluntary, Community and Social Enterprise (VCSE) sector

Suitable for:     Undergraduate/ postgraduate

Description:     A series of articles will be published in local magazines, as well as a social media campaign and a website to raise awareness of the challenges facing the VCSE sector. Create a strategy to evaluate the reach, impact and efficacy of this campaign.

SPB023: Create a short promo video introducing Ododow and The Community Pledge

Suitable for:     Undergraduate/ postgraduate

Description:     Ododow is an interactive community map that aims to make it easier for people in crisis to find the right support at the right time. Create a short (approx. 3 minutes) two-part promo video introducing Ododow and The Community Pledge. The video will be able to be split into two sections, one for introducing Ododow and one for The Community Pledge.

 SPB024: Develop a marketing campaign to raise awareness of Ododow and The Community Pledge

Suitable for:     Undergraduate/ postgraduate

Description:     Ododow is an interactive community map that aims to make it easier for people in crisis to find the right support at the right time. Develop a marketing campaign to raise awareness of Ododow and The Community Pledge.

Apply now

If you would like to find out more and apply for one of the above projects, send us an email to request a project brief and an application form.

Latest Funding Opportunities

BU research, Funding opportunities, Research news, Uncategorized

The following is a snap-shot of funding opportunities that have been announced. Please follow the links for more information:

Academy of Medical Sciences

SUSTAIN pilot programme

This programme enables female researchers to thrive in their independent research careers by providing interactive career development workshops, a peer support network and one-to-one mentoring. The programme covers travel to London as well as hotel accommodation and optional childcare support during the first regional workshop.

Maximum award: Unknown

Closing date: 02 Dec 16

British Academy

Conference Program

This supports conferences on subjects in the humanities and social sciences held at the British Academy’s premises in London, UK. Funding covers the costs of administration, catering, preparation of delegate packs and promotional material, and contributes to travel and accommodation costs for speakers, chairs and convenors.

Maximum award: Unknown

Closing date: 24 Feb 17 (recurring)

Economic and Social Research Council

Celebrating impact prize

The Celebrating Impact Prize, now in its fifth year, is an annual opportunity to recognise and reward ESRC-funded researchers and ESRC associates. It celebrates outstanding ESRC research and success in interdisciplinary, collaborative working, partnerships, engagement and knowledge exchange activities that have led to significant impact.

Maximum award: £10,000

Closing date: 01 Dec 16

Wellcome Trust

Research career re-entry fellowships

These fellowships provide postdoctoral scientists with the opportunity to re-establish their scientific careers after a continuous break from research of at least two years. Fellowships are tenable for four years and cover salaries, research expenses, materials and consumables, animals and travel and subsistence.

Maximum award: Unknown

Closing date: 04 May 17

Sir Henry Wellcome postdoctoral fellowships

These fellowships enable newly qualified postdoctoral researchers the opportunity to start independent research careers, working in some of the best research environments in the world. Fellowships provide £250,000 over four years, covering the basic salary determined by the host institution, and research expenses such as materials and consumables, animals, travel and overseas subsistence.

Maximum award: £250,000

Closing date: 04 May 17

 

Seed Awards in Science

Seed Awards in Science help researchers develop new ideas to make them competitive for larger awards (from us or other organisations).

Maximum award: £25,000 – £100,000

Closing date: 16 Mar 17 (recurring)

 

If you are interested in submitting to any of the above calls you must contact your  RKEO Funding Development Officer with adequate notice before the deadline.

For more funding opportunities that are most relevant to you, you can set up your own personalised alerts on Research Professional. If you need help setting these up, just ask your School’s/Faculty’s Funding Development Officer in  RKEO or view the recent blog post here.

If thinking of applying, why not add notification of your interest on Research Professional’s record of the bid so that BU colleagues can see your intention to bid and contact you to collaborate.

Research Professional alerts are changing

BU research, Funding opportunities, Research communication

Research-Professional-logo‘Research Fingerprinting’ is a new development on the Research Professional platform that delivers highly relevant funding opportunities to researchers.  This will go live at BU on Tuesday, 8th November.

How does it work?

Using advanced, highly-targeted algorithms, in combination with their extensive industry knowledge and refined discipline taxonomy, Research Fingerprinting generates personal funding alerts for the majority of the researchers at our institution, based on publicly available information about your research interests and published work.

Once deployed, fingerprinting will perfectly match our researchers with their research interests and help deliver the most relevant funding opportunities into your inbox every week. You will be able to edit your fingerprint if you find that the some of the disciplines do not match your research interests.

You will already have alerts set up and so when this is switched on, you will receive two alerts on a Friday. You can compare these to see which is finding the most relelvant funding opportunities. This should be the Fingerprint and so you can then remove your previous selected alerts. The fingerprint will update as your research interests grow.

When will we get it?

Research Fingerprints will go live on Tuesday, 8th November.  All academics with an account will also receive an email directly from Research Professional explaining what ‘research fingerprints’ are.  If you have any queries about the changes then please contact the RKEO Funding Development Team.

Stern review of the REF – what next?

BU research, Guidance, Knowledge Exchange and Impact Team, policy, REF Subjects, Research news

ref-logoThe Stern review of the REF was published in July 2016. The government have accepted the main recommendations, and we are expecting in November a HEFCE technical consultation on implementation – to affect the next REF exercise (probably in 2021). It is expected that the new arrangements will be settled by the summer of 2017.

So what did Stern recommend – and what is likely to be in the consultation?

  1. The main thing that Stern might have done, but did not do – following widespread concern in the sector – was move to a metrics-based approach for the REF. Peer review and case studies will remain and there will be an opportunity to celebrate success wherever it is found in the REF – not a metrics based ranking. There may be new metrics, and a new Forum for Responsible Research Metrics has been launched, but the key is that these metrics should be used responsibly and carefully.
  2. All research active staff should be returned in the REF (and allocated to a unit of assessment).
  3. Outputs should be submitted at Unit of Assessment level with a set average number per FTE, but with flexibility for some faculty members to submit more and others less than the average. A total cap should be set based upon two outputs on average per FTE with an individual cap (e.g. six) and a minimum per FTE (potentially 0).
    There has been some concern expressed about these changes – Maddalaine Ansell (University Alliance) via Wonkhe and James Wilsdon in The Guardian, 29th July 2016. At BU, our strategy is that all academic staff should be active in research as part of Fusion, so we will not be moving towards teaching only contracts. We hope the sector will not do so either – we will consider pressing for all staff to be included and remove any risks around the definition of “research active” to avoid this
  1. The total number of outputs per UoA should be adjusted so that it does not significantly exceed the 190,000 reviewed in REF2014. This may require the average number of outputs submitted per faculty member to be below two.
  2. Outputs should not be portable. The review proposes that outputs should be submitted by the HEI where the output was demonstrably generated and that work should be allocated to the HEI where they were based when work accepted for publication. There may be some flexibility around maximum numbers when staff have moved- e.g. maximum three outputs from those who have left.
    Concern has been expressed that this will restrict employment options for early career researchers, e.g. Paul Kirby. James Wilsdon again “the broader move to reduce output numbers and decouple them from individuals should reduce pressure on those at the start of their career, or who take time out of research because of childcare, illness or caring responsibilities” Other views: – it might be fairer to early career researchers who will be recruited on potential not previous publications
  1. Institutions should be given more flexibility to showcase their interdisciplinary and collaborative impacts by submitting institutional level impact case studies
  2. Impact should be based on research of demonstrable quality. However, case studies could be linked to a research activity and a body of work as well as to a broad range of research outputs
  3. Guidance on the REF should make it clear that impact case studies should not be narrowly interpreted, need not solely focus on socioeconomic impacts but should also include impact on government policy, public engagement and understanding, cultural life, academic impacts outside the field and impacts on teaching – the report recommends that research leading to impact on curricula and/ or pedagogy should be included. BU welcomes these changes and we look forward to seeing more details of these plans.

So watch this space – once the consultation is launched the Research and Knowledge Exchange team will be working with the policy team to prepare a BU response. You can read more about BU’s policy and public affairs work on our intranet pages.

Interested in helping bees and other pollinators thrive in our towns and cities?

BU research, Business Engagement, HEIF, Impact, Knowledge Exchange, Knowledge Exchange and Impact Team

pollinator-logo-vector-1

The newly launched Pollinator Exchange is your one-stop resource

With pollinator numbers in decline in rural areas, there has been increasing focus on the many ways in which towns and cities can be made more pollinator-friendly. Urban green spaces such as amenity grassland in parks, gardens, verges or roundabouts offer plenty of opportunities for pollinators, provided they are managed correctly.

While much academic research has gone into this field in recent years, this is not always readily available to the people in charge of managing urban green spaces. Local councils, highway agencies and other authorities need clear, evidence-based practical advice to turn our towns and cities into places abuzz with pollinators.

The Pollinator Exchange website, www.pollinatorexchange.org developed by Bournemouth University, fulfils this role. It provides an interactive database of the latest research, practical guidance and projects connected to pollinators in urban areas. All resources come with a brief summary of their main points, allowing those with limited time to follow recent developments and implement key recommendations. Website users can browse the existing catalogue and also add their own resources, thereby contributing to ongoing knowledge exchange on this important topic.

Gill Perkins, Chief Executive at the Bumblebee Conservation Trust, was one of many staff from conservation and land management organisations who generously gave their time to help test and develop the website. She said: ‘Bumblebee Conservation Trust recognises that urban environments are becoming crucially important to reverse the decline in pollinators. The Pollinator Exchange site will facilitate communication and knowledge exchange between groundsmen and contractors, biodiversity officers and everyone who influences decisions on what to grow, making it a vital resource for all to learn best techniques.’

The Pollinator Exchange was funded through the Higher Education Funding Council for England’s knowledge exchange programme: the Higher Education Innovation Funding scheme. (HEIF 5+1 August 2015 – July 2016.)

Please visit www.pollinatorexchange.org for a closer view.

For more information on this project please contact the  Project Lead Kathy Hodder.

 

 

 

Hello from Sam Porter, Professor of Nursing Sociology and Head of Department of Social Sciences and Social Work

BU research, Featured academics, Uncategorized

sam-porterHaving been at BU for three months, I thought I should introduce myself to the research community in the University and take this opportunity to tell you about some of my research interests so that anyone ploughing similar furrows can get in touch with a view to future collaboration.
Dual trained in sociology and nursing (a fact reflected in my neologistic job title), my interests span social sciences and health. Coming from a School of Nursing and Midwifery, a lot of the work I am bringing with me to BU tends towards the clinical end of the spectrum, but I am really excited by the prospect of being able to re-engage a lot more deeply in the social scientific aspects of health and care.

In terms of substantive topics, my main focus is on palliative care (for example, I have been doing a lot of work around support for patients and loved ones dealing with cancer cachexia or wasting). I also do work on supportive care for cancer patients and survivors (a current example of the kind of thing I am involved in here is a qualitative study using Habermasian critical theory to examine patients’ experiences of care while taking oral chemotherapy, and how those experiences affect medication concordance).
In addition, I am interested in arts-based therapies (I recently led a randomised controlled trial of the effectiveness of music therapy for young people with behavioural and emotional problems). The subject population of this trial is indicative of the eclecticism of my interests, which include maternal and child care. Another example of this interest is the work I’m doing with colleagues in Brazil and the UK seeking social media solutions to Brazilian women’s health problems in the first year after giving birth.
Bringing together arts-based therapy and palliative care, I am currently involved in a feasibility study looking at whether music therapy is effective in reducing anxiety in hospice patients who are reaching the end of their lives (or more precisely, looking at whether a full RCT would be effective in evaluating whether music therapy is effective).

As a person trained initially in qualitative research who drifted into the dark realms of trialling, I am aware of the strengths and weaknesses of these differing approaches. I am also deeply interested in how they can be used in combination. I do a lot of methodological work grounded in critical realism, which aims to develop and encourage novel approaches to evaluation research that are capable of robust measurement of outcomes, comprehensive analysis of processes, and critical evaluation of human consequences.

I think that’s probably enough exposure of my chronically dilettantist approach to knowledge acquisition, so I’ll end by saying that if any of this interests you, it would be great to have a conversation.
Best wishes, Sam

2017 BU PhD Studentship Competition!!!

BU research, PG research, Research news, Uncategorized

Call for submission of up to 48 funded Postgraduate Research Projects now OPEN

The Graduate School is delighted to announce the launch of the 2017 BU PhD Studentship Competition, with up to 48 funded projects available.

At this stage, Academic Staff are invited to submit proposals for studentship projects which, if successful, will be advertised to recruit PhD candidates for a September 2017 start.

Full details can be found on the Graduate School Staff Intranet where the following information can be found:

Submission Deadline:

Applications should be submitted on the Studentship Proposal Form to the Graduate School via email to phdstudentshipcompetition@bournemouth.ac.uk no later than 9am on Monday 9 January 2017.

The Graduate School will manage the recruitment process along the following timetable:

Date Action
1 November 2016 Launch PhD Studentships Internal Competition – development of proposals
9 January 2017 Closing date for submission of proposals
23 January – 10 Feb 2017 Panel meetings
Before 28 Feb 2017 Feedback to supervisors and preparation of adverts
March – June 2017 Launch PhD Studentships External Competition – recruitment of candidates
September 2017 Successful Candidates start