Category / BU research

Discovering Causal Relations and Equations from Data

BRIAN, BU research, Featured academics, Fusion themes, open access, REF Subjects, Research communication, research methods, research staff, staff profile pages, Strategic Investment Areas, Uncategorized

Discovering equations, laws, or invariant principles underpins scientific and technical advancement. Robust model discovery has typically emerged from observing the world and, when possible, performing interventions to falsify models.

Recently, data-driven approaches like classic and deep machine learning are evolving traditional equation discovery methods. These new tools can provide unprecedented advances in computer science, neuroscience, physics, philosophy, and many applied areas.

We have just published a new study discussing concepts and methods on causal and equation discovery, outlining current challenges and promising future lines of research. The work also showcases comprehensive case studies in diverse scientific areas ranging from earth and environmental science to neuroscience.

Our tenet is that discovering fundamental laws and causal relations by observing natural phenomena is revolutionised with the coalescence of observational data and simulations, modern machine learning algorithms and domain knowledge. Exciting times are ahead with many challenges and opportunities to improve our understanding of complex systems.

This study is a collaborative work between eight universities in Europe and the United States (Valencia, Berlin, Tübingen, Jena, Stockholm, New York, and Bournemouth Universities).

Camps-Valls, G., Gerhardus, A., Ninad, U., Varando, G., Martius, G., Balaguer-Ballester, E., Vinuesa, R., Diaz, E., Zanna, L. and Runge, J., 2023. Discovering causal relations and equations from data. Physics Reports, 1044, 1-68 (Impact Factor=30).

 

NEW RESEARCH PAPER PUBLISHED Fan, X. F.; Buhalis, D., Fragkaki, E., Tsai, YR, 2024, Achieving Senior Tourists’ Active Aging through Value Co–creation: A Customer-Dominant Logic Perspective, Journal of Travel Research. https://doi.org/10.1177/00472875231214733

BU research

New Research published on Helping people live better, for longer

Fan, X. F.; Buhalis, D., Fragkaki, E., Tsai, YR, 2024,
Achieving Senior Tourists’ Active Aging through Value Co–creation: A Customer-Dominant Logic Perspective,
Journal of Travel Research. https://doi.org/10.1177/00472875231214733

Senior tourists have their own travel behaviors and preferences and require specific resources from the tourism industry and the broader society. This study adopts customer-dominant logic to understand how participating in tourism activities can support seniors in co-creating values toward active aging. Interviews were conducted with 31 senior tourists and 16 tourism and hospitality service providers. Six value themes were identified from the interviews, namely, enjoyment, connectedness, mental vitality, independence, sense of belonging, and self-esteem. The six values were categorized into functional, social, and spiritual dimensions. A value co-creation nexus was developed with continuum- and development-oriented active aging as the two extremes. This nexus highlighted the differentiated efforts exerted by co-creators to create value and identified the value co-creation routines of stakeholders, their corresponding values, and their facilitators. Value co-creation activities were introduced into active aging with tourism as the context. The findings of this study can support the management of tourism services, promote inclusiveness in society, and aid in government policy-making.

Paper published on ‘living evidence’

BU research, Featured academics, international, open access, Publishing, research methods, Training, Uncategorized, writing

The Nepal Journal of Epidemiology published today carries an article on so-called ‘living evidence’ as an on-going synthesis approach that provides up-to-date rigorous research evidence [1].  This short research methods paper argues that living evidence is particularly useful in rapidly expanding research domains, uncertain existing evidence, and incorporating new research evidence that may impact policy or practice, ensuring that health worker, managers and health-policy makers have access to the best, i.e. the most recent evidence.

The Nepal Journal of Epidemiology is an Open Access journal, and hence freely available to researchers across the globe.  The paper has been co-authored by researchers from the Denmark, Qatar, Mauritius and the UK.

 

Prof. Edwin van Teijlingen

Centre for Midwifery & Women’s Health (CMWH)

 

Reference:

  1. Sathian B., van Teijlingen E., do Nascimento I.J.B., Khatib M.N., Banerjee I., Simkhada P., Kabir R., Al Hamad H. (2023) Need for evidence synthesis for quality control of healthcare decision-making. Nepal Journal of Epidemiology 13(3):1288-1291.  DOI: 10.3126/nje.v13i3.61004

Horizon Europe News – December 2023

BU research, EU, pre-award

Last Horizon Europe update this year and also the last one we were not associated to the programme. As stated previously, from 1 January 2024 the UK will be fully associated to almost all parts of the HEU programme.

Now to the news. The European Commission has adopted the European Innovation Council (EIC) Work Programme for 2024, an area BU has not been involved before. Perhaps, worth to explore it in 2024? The European Innovation Council, officially launched in March 2021, provides a coherent and connected system of innovation funding that supports projects with market potential. Its schemes, piloted at the end of Horizon 2020, are principally targeted at Small- and Medium-sized Enterprises (SMEs) and industry, but also have opportunities for academic involvement. You can find more information about EIC funding opportunities and upcoming online information days on the UKRO webpage (UKRO login details required).

It has been announced that the ESRC and the AHRC, in their capacity as the UK National Contact Point for the Horizon Europe Cluster 2 (Culture, Creativity and Inclusive Society), are holding an online session to support applicants in writing successful proposals for Cluster 2 calls. The Zoom event will take place on 17 January 2024 (13:00-16:00 UK time). Please note that prior registration is required. More information and registration forms are available here.

On this note, I am finishing and wish you all a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!

Updated information about EIC funding (03/01/2024): the UK entities take part in this pillar, with a small exception of one stream under the EIC – the EIC Fund, which provides equity funding for SMEs. So far, the UK universities have been particularly keen on EIC Pathfinder calls and also use the other mechanism – the EIC Transition.

European Innovation Council online Info Day dedicated to Work Programme 2024 is scheduled for 15 January 2024. There is no need for registrations as the event will be web streamed live – watch the event live following the link. Programme of the event is available here.

For more information you can also refer to the EIC’s frequently asked questions section.

CMWH leads the way with latest evidence on early labour

BU research, international, PG research

It has been a busy month for researchers in the Centre for Midwifery and Women’s Health. Academics have been reporting their findings on improving care and support for women in early / latent phase labour.

This has included a specially focused issue in Women and Birth edited by Professors Susanne Grylka-Baeschlin and Vanora Hundley.

The issue starts with an editorial by Grylka-Baeschlin S, Hundley V, Cheyne H et al (2023) Early labour: an under-recognised opportunity for improving the experiences of women, families and maternity professionals Women & Birth https://doi.org/10.1016/j.wombi.2023.09.004 

The issue includes the results of a randomised controlled trial by CMWH member Dr Rebecca Edwards:

Edwards R, Way S and Hundley V (2023) Let’s Talk Early Labour: The L-TEL Randomised Controlled Trial. Women & Birth https://doi.org/10.1016/j.wombi.2023.07.132  

and the results of the BALL trial by midwifery lecturer Dr Dominique Mylod:

Mylod DC, Hundley V, Way S, Clark C (2023) Can a birth ball reduce pain perception for women at low obstetric risk in the latent phase of labour? The Ball Assisted Latent Labour (BALL) randomised controlled trial. Women & Birth https://doi.org/10.1016/j.wombi.2023.11.008 

An additional paper by doctoral student Vanessa Bartholomew has just been published in Sexual & Reproductive Healthcare:

Bartholomew V, Hundley V, Clark C, Parris B (2024) The RETHINK Study: Could pain catastrophisation explain why some women are more likely to attend hospital in early labour. Sexual & Reproductive Healthcare https://doi.org/10.1016/j.srhc.2023.100941

Some great RKEDF training opportunities coming up in January

BU research, Events, Research Training

A colorful cubes with iconsDescription automatically generatedWe’re excited to share some great RKEDF training opportunities coming up in January 2024 

Click on the titles to find details and book your place to the upcoming events.

♦ Online RSA Drop-In meeting   

Wednesday 3rd January, 10:30-11:00 Online 

Meet your RSA reps, hear updates on how BU is implementing the Research Concordat and give feedback or raise concerns that will help to develop and support the research community at BU

♦ Principal Investigation                                                                    

Wednesday 10th January, 12:00-13:00 at Talbot Campus 

This session is aimed at any researcher who is, who plans to be, a Principal Investigator for an externally funded research or knowledge exchange project. 

♦ ECR Network-Surgery 

Wednesday 10th January, 13:00-14:00 Hybrid session

This is an open session for all BU ECRs and PGRs to discuss any issues around career development.

♦ Evidencing Impact 

Wednesday 17th January, 10:00-11:10 Online 

This interactive online session is aimed at researchers at all stages of their careers who wish to learn how to provide evidence for the impact of their research – whether for funders’ reports or future REF impact case studies.

♦ Engaging with the Media for Impact 

Thursday 18th January, 14:00-15:30 Online 

Explore how working with the media can help to raise the profile of your work and research and lead to impact.

♦ RSA Writing Day 

Tuesday 25th January, 09:00-16:00 at Talbot Campus 

This Writing Day aims to provide a dedicated space and time, to help support BU researchers work on their publications by providing some dedicated time and space, away from everyday distractions.

♦ Engaging with Parliament for Impact 

Friday 26th January, 10:00-14:30, Talbot Campus 

This session will include information-sharing alongside practical tasks which are designed to help you take the first steps to engage with policy through Parliament. 

♦ Introducing Knowledge Exchange in Research 

Wednesday 31st January, 13.30-15.00 Talbot Campus 

An introduction to the different activities which come under the umbrella of ‘knowledge exchange’ for research: consultancy and contract research, enterprise, external engagement, CPD and Specialist Facilities.

♦ BA ECRN event – Med Hums 

Wednesday 21st February 2024, 11:00 – 16:00 at Talbot Campus

This event brings together researchers in Medical and Health Humanities at BU from across the faculties of HSS, MMC and SciTech, inviting them to highlight the main challenges of working within this varied and interdisciplinary field.

 

A yellow triangle with a black exclamation markDescription automatically generatedIn November, 23% of colleagues who booked a session did not actually attend. Please, help us to avoid any waste of resources; make sure you can attend or cancel your booking in time. 

 

For any further information, please contact RKEDF@bournemouth.ac.uk

Professor Dimitrios Buhalis has recently published a new service robots research paper based on a global survey in the hospitality industry

BU Challenges, BU research

Professor Dimitrios Buhalis has recently published a new service robots research paper based on a global survey in the hospitality industry

Pizam, A., Ozturk, A.B., Hacikara, A., Zhang, T., Balderas-Cejudo, A., Buhalis, D., Fuchs, G., Hara, T., Vieira de Souza Meira, J., García Revilla, R., Sethi, D., Shen, Y. and State, O. (2024),

The role of perceived risk and information security on customers’ acceptance of service robots in the hotel industry, International Journal of Hospitality Management, Vol.117, 103641 https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijhm.2023.103641

Highlights

•Perceived risk negatively and information security positively impacted intention to use service ts.

•Self-efficacy negatively influenced perceived risk, and positively influenced perceived information security.

•Innovativeness and facilitating conditions were positively associated with information security.

 

ABSTRACT This study proposed and tested a theoretical framework that investigated the influences of perceived risk and information security on hotel customers’ intention to use service ts. In addition, the impacts of self-efficacy, innovativeness, and facilitating conditions on perceived risk and information security were examined. Structural equation modeling (SEM) was used to test the proposed model by utilizing data collected from eleven countries including the United States, United Kingdom, Turkey, Spain, Romania, Japan, Israel, India, Greece, Canada, and Brazil. The study results demonstrated that perceived risk had a negative impact on customers’ intention to use services ts while information security had a positive impact. In addition, the study results indicated that self-efficacy negatively influenced perceived risk, and positively influenced perceived information security; and innovativeness and facilitating conditions positively influenced information security. The study findings offer several important contributions to the hospitality tics technology adoption literature and present valuable implications for hospitality practitioners and service vendors.

BU carbon pricing research cited in select committee report on the financial sector and the UK’s net zero transition

BU research, Featured, Knowledge Exchange, policy

BU research on the impact of carbon pricing has featured in a House of Commons Environmental Audit Committee (EAC) report on the role of the financial sector in helping the UK achieve net zero emissions by 2050.

A cross-faculty team comprising Dr Alan Kirkpatrick and Dr Tahani Mohamed of the Business School and Dr Festus Adedoyin of the Faculty of Science and Technology submitted written evidence which has been published as part of the report, titled The financial sector and the UK’s net zero transition. 

Their evidence included recommendations considering the economic welfare implications of carbon emissions pricing at a national and international level, and the need for carbon border adjustment mechanisms (CBAMs) that has informed the EAC’s deliberations and subsequent recommendations to the Government.

Carbon pricing systems include carbon taxes and emissions trading systems (ETSs) in which carbon credits may be bought and sold thereby creating a ‘carbon market’ which, theoretically, could help achieve a global price for carbon.

In practice, however, carbon emissions pricing systems may encourage ‘carbon leakage’ – where businesses in countries that have more stringent carbon pricing rules try to save costs by moving production activities to countries with less demanding carbon pricing rules and hence lower costs.

CBAMs are designed to reduce carbon leakage by applying charges to take account of variations in carbon prices ruling in different jurisdictions.

The BU research team discussed the risk that CBAMs might be seen as ‘climate clubs’, reducing the competitiveness of carbon-intensive emerging economies but concluded that CBAMs are necessary to minimise carbon leakage when carbon emissions pricing systems such as the UK’s Emissions Trading Scheme are implemented.

In its report the EAC has recommended that the UK Government should develop a UK CBAM. The BU research team is continuing to analyse the impact of carbon emissions pricing on wider public wellbeing in the UK.

Read the full report – The financial sector and the UK’s net zero transition     

BA ECRN event: ECRs in the Arts, Culture and Creative Economies

BU research, ECR Network, Events

Early Career Researcher Network

This ECR-focused event brings together researchers across disciplines within the Arts, Culture and Creative Economies.

It will feature keynote talks from three inspiring speakers in these fields, a panel discussion, and facilitated networking conversations.

The three speakers are: Dr Verity McIntosh (Virtual and Extended realities); Dr Tarek Virani (urban and urban dynamics as they pertain to culture and the creative and cultural industries); and Ms Sharon Clark (Professional and Creative Writing).

 

Wednesday 28 Feb 2024, 10:00 AM – 3:00 PM 

Design West, 16 Narrow Quay, Bristol, BS1 4QA

 

You can book your place via EventBrite,   here.

Please note this is an inperson event for ECRs from the South West Hub only.

If you need more information about this event please contact the event organiser.

New UKRI open access policy for longform publications

BU research, open access, UKRI

From 1 January 2024, UK Research and Innovation (UKRI) is introducing a new open access policy for monographs, book chapters, and edited collections that arise from UKRI funding.

This is to ensure that longform publications are available to the public under a Creative Commons (CC) licence within 12 months of the date of their publication.

To support the new policy, UKRI will provide a dedicated fund for organisations to support open access publication of in-scope outputs. The maximum contributions from UKRI through the fund will be:

  • £10,000 for entire monographs and edited collections
  • £1,000 for book chapters.

For participation in alternative open access models (often referred to as diamond models, collective models, or subscribe to open models), UKRI will contribute:

  • up to £6,000 for the first output
  • up to £3,000 where there are two or more eligible outputs from the same institution published under the same model.

There will be an initial 9-month bedding in period from January 2024 where UKRI will not monitor for compliance to enable stakeholders to adjust to the new requirements and smooth out processes.

More detail on the new policy can be found here: https://www.ukri.org/manage-your-award/publishing-your-research-findings/open-access-funding-and-reporting/

MaGPIE has taken flight!

Awarded & submitted bids, BU research, humanities, Impact, international, policy, REF Subjects, Research news, UKRI

“There is not one region in the world, not one historical period, that has not seen mass graves”.

(UN Special Rapporteur on extra-judicial summary or arbitrary executions, 2020)

 

Wednesday 13th December marked the launch of MaGPIE, the pioneering £1.6 million ERC selected UKRI funded research project, run out of the Humanities & Law department in the Faculty of Media and Communication.

 

MaGPIE stands for Mass Grave Protection, Investigation and Engagement and asks: how can a comprehensive and universally applicable human rights framework for mass graves can be developed and achieved?

 

To answer such a magnitudinous question, MaGPIE has strategically organised its research into three interconnected pillars:

Pillar 1 asserts that comprehending the scale of global mass graves is paramount to understanding the nature of the problem. Consequently, pillar 1 will result in an open-source map of mass grave sites and ancillary outputs that have the potential to strengthen protection, forensic investigation, justice efforts, commemoration and remembrance for the benefits of survivors.

 

Pillar 2 identifies and seeks to remedy human rights blindspots that persist within present practices surrounding mass graves. These blindspots will be addressed through researching: cultural and Indigenous rights; issues of access, consent and data protection; participatory rights and vulnerabilities due to climate change.

 

Bournemouth Protocol on Mass Grave Protection and Investigation land and sea migratory routes and to what extent they might contain mass graves and hence warrant protection through a concerted human rights framework and policy.

 

The launch of MaGPIE was a momentous occasion for Professor Melanie Klinkner and her growing team. Professor Scott Wright, Deputy Dean for Research and Professional Practice, kindly introduced the MaGPIE team members: Dr David Biggins, project management and data specialist in BUBS; Emily Fisher the Research Assistant and HSS prize winning graduate; Dr Ellie Smith and Dr Ian Hanson Senior Research Fellows, and newly appointed data researchers Diego Nunez and Ellen Donovan. Internal stakeholders were invited to raise a toast—of non-alcoholic mulled wine—not only to celebrate the project’s launch but also to acknowledge the collaborative efforts that brought MaGPIE to the starting line.

If you are interested in following the work of MaGPIE stay updated by following our LinkedIn and Twitter profiles for the latest developments over the coming years.