Category / BU research

Paper ahead of its time?

BU research, Publishing, Research news, Uncategorized

Presentation1Sometimes my co-authors and I wonder why a particular paper get more cited after a few years of publication.  Is is because the paper and the research were are ahead of their time?  Or is there simply a lag time between publication and other researchers publishing in the field finding your paper (or stumbling upon it perhaps)?

Take for example the following paper published in 2006 when I was still based in the Department of Public Health at the University of Aberdeen: Promoting physical activity in primary care settings: Health visitors’ and practice nurses’ views and experiences in  the Journal of Advanced Nursing.[1]

 

Published in 2006 our paper was first cited in Scopus in 2007 (just once),three time in the following year (2008), five times in 2009 and then just a few times per year until this year. In 2015 we have six citations already and the year is not even finished.

We really wonder what lies behind that increased popularity of this 2006 paper.

citations JAN

Prof. Edwin van Teijlingen

CMMPH

 

Reference:

  1. Douglas, F., van Teijlingen E.R., Torrance, N., Fearn, P., Kerr, A., Meloni, S. (2006) Promoting physical activity in primary care settings: Health visitors’ and practice nurses’ views and experiences Journal of Advanced Nursing, 55(2): 159-168.

BU have achieved the Athena SWAN Bronze Award

BU research

Athena Swan bronze.jpgBU have achieved the Athena SWAN Bronze Award!

This is fantastic news and a big thank you goes to the Self-Assessment Team at BU, led by TianTian Zhang and supported by James Palfreman-Kay.  All have worked hard to submit to this award.

The Athena SWAN charter was established in 2005 to encourage and recognise commitment to advancing the careers of women in science, technology, engineering, maths and medicine (STEMM) employment in higher education and research.  In May 2015 the charter was expanded to recognise work undertaken in arts, humanities, social sciences, business and law (AHSSBL), and in professional and support roles, and for trans staff and students. The charter now recognises work undertaken to address gender equality more broadly, and not just barriers to progression that affect women.

Well done BU!

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 fuorth Tuesday of each month. You can register here for your preferred date:

27th October 2015

24th November 2015

26th January 2016

23rd February 2016

22nd March 2016

26th April 2016

24th May 2016

28th June 2016

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.

Latest Major Funding Opportunities

BU research, EU, Funding opportunities, Uncategorized

The following funding opportunities have been announced. Please follow the links for more information.

Arts and Humanities Research Council, GB

The Arts and Humanities Research Council invites applications for its short-term fellowships at the Harry Ransom Center under the international placement scheme, Fellowships allow the recipient to undertake research at the Harry Ransom Center at the University of Texas. The centre specialises in literature, photography, film, art and the performing arts, and is dedicated to advancing the study of the arts and humanities by acquiring, preserving and making accessible original cultural materials. Applicants must be resident in the UK and be one of the following: doctoral students who are enrolled at an approved UK research organisation and receive AHRC fees or full funding for their PhD; doctoral-level research assistants who have a PhD or equivalent research experience; early-career researchers, who must have a contract of employment with an approved UK research organisation and who may either be within eight years of the award of their PhD or equivalent professional training, or within six years of their first academic appointment. Placements last two to three months and may be taken between 1 September 2016 and 31 May 2017. Fellowships are worth up to £750 towards travel, coverage of visa costs and include a monthly allowance of £1,200. Fellows also receive a shared office space as well as access to the collections, resources, facilities, curators and other scholars at the centre and at the university. Networking and collaborating opportunities are also available.

Maximum award: Not specified. Closing date: 4pm, 21/01/16.

AXA

The AXA Research Fund invites applications for its chairs programme. The scheme aims to create an academic full time position in the host institution and at encourage a step change in the career of the appointed AXA professor, whilst promoting scientific excellence, innovative and groundbreaking research relevant beyond the borders of the institutions geographic location. The focus areas are: environmental risks including climate change, natural hazards and human-driven environmental changes; life risks including ageing, biomedical risks and addictions and risky behaviours; socio-economic risks including geopolitical risks, macro-economic and systematic financial risks, individual and collective behaviours when facing uncertainties and large corporate risks. There are two types of chairs; the AXA chair position, held on a long term basis by an individual chair holder, and the AXA successional chair programme, where the endowment will serve to support a series of temporary short term appointments. The proposed chair holder must have at least 10 years of experience since receiving his or her PhD. The schemes is tenable from five to 30 years and long term partnerships are favoured by the AXA scientific board. The grant for the AXA chair position is €90,000 to €120,000 a year and the successional chair grant is €80,000 to €90,000 a year. Funding is expected to cover salary for the chair holder, but can also be used on PhD and postdoc expenses, equipment and costs incurred while attending academic and public engagement activities.

Maximum award: Not specified. Closing date: 12pm (Paris time), 04/12/15.

Bank of England, GB

The Bank of England invites applications for the Houblon-Norman and George fellowships, which  promote research into, and disseminate knowledge and understanding of, the working, interaction and function of financial business institutions in Great Britain and elsewhere, and the economic conditions affecting them. These are full-time Fellowships (between one month and one year) and will be on an economic or financial topic studied with particular advantage to the Bank of England. The trustees will pay particular regard to the relevance of the research to current problems in economics and finance. Senior fellowships will be awarded to distinguished research workers who have established a reputation in their field.  Fellowships are also available to younger postdoctoral or equivalent researchers. The total amount distributed in any one year will not normally exceed £120,000. A further allowance may be made to cover travel expenses or other costs incurred.

Maximum award: Not specified. Closing date: 01/11/15.

Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council, GB

The Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council invites applications for its stand-alone LINK programme. This supports pre-competitive research projects that address any topic within the council’s remit, and where industry contributes funding. Applications should be made to the following committees according to the research topic: research committee A – animal disease, health and welfare; research committee B – plants, microbes, food and sustainability; research committee C – genes, development, science, technology, engineering and mathematical approaches to biology; research committee D – molecules, cells and industrial biotechnology. Teams must include at least one company, (preference will be given to small and medium-sized enterprises), and one science-based partner. Principal applicants must be resident in the UK and hold an academic staff appointment, at the lecturer level or equivalent, at a higher education institution, research council institute or a BBSRC approved research organisation. Company partners should be registered in the UK or have a UK research and development or manufacturing site. Where a suitable company cannot be found in the UK, an overseas company may be used. Industry partners must contribute in cash at least 50%of the fEC of projects.

Maximum award: Not specified. Closing date: 13/01/16.

The Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council invites applications for its new investigator scheme, which helps early-career researchers to secure their first major element of research funding. Applications should be made to the following committees according to the research topic: research committee A- animal disease, health and welfare; research committee B evaluates – plants, microbes, food and sustainability; research committee C – genes, development, and science, technology, engineering and mathematics approaches to biology; research committee D – molecules, cells and industrial biotechnology. Applicants should be newly employed university lecturers, fellows at the lecturer level whose awards were secured in open competition, or researchers in research council institutes at the unified research council band E or its equivalent. Applicants must not have more than three years of full-time employment at lecturer or equivalent level. They must not have received competitive research funding as a principal investigator from any source that included postdoctoral research assistant staff support costs.

Maximum award:  Not specified. Closing date: 4pm, 13/01/16.

The Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council invites proposals for its tools and resources development fund programme call one. The aim of this call is to pump prime the next generation of tools, technologies and resources required by bioscience researchers within BBSRC’s remit. The fund will support small or short-duration pump priming projects, enabling excellent bioscience; encourage development of novel tools, technologies and methods within BBSRC’s remit; underpin research in BBSRC’s strategic priorities and the wider biosciences. Proposals should demonstrate collaborative connections with interdisciplinary and multidisciplinary approaches and must be relevant to the output of new biological knowledge. Types of proposals eligible are: early concept, exploratory investigations of new tools, technologies and resources. The key feature of a successful ‘early concept, exploratory’ research project application is a technology or methods oriented approach that is enabling and adventurous, and encapsulates the concept of ‘high-risk/high reward’. Funded projects are expected to test the ‘high-risk, high reward’ concept and, where successful, demonstrate proof-of-principle’; rapid access to, and novel deployment of, the very latest cutting edge technology. It is anticipated that these proposals would include collaboration with the technology provider; radical, novel modifications to existing tools, technologies and resources to facilitate new biological understanding and an expansion in use.

Maximum award: £150k. Closing date: 4pm, 04/11/15.

The Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council and the State of São Paulo Research Foundation (FAPESP) invite applications for their joint research funding. This supports applications that cut across national boundaries and involve international collaborative teams. Proposals may be submitted in any area of science within the remit of both supporting organisations.

Maximum award: Not specified. Closing date: 4pm, 13/01/16.

The Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council invites applications for its industrial partnership awards. These support science-led research projects that address any topic within the council’s remit, and where industrial partners contribute in cash funding. Applications should be made to the following committees according to the research topic: research committee A – animal disease, health and welfare; research committee B – plants, microbes, food and sustainability; research committee C – genes, development, and science, technology, engineering and mathematics approaches to biology; research committee D – molecules, cells and industrial biotechnology. Principal applicants must be resident in the UK and hold an academic staff appointment, at the lecturer level or equivalent, at a higher education institution, research council institute or a BBSRC approved research organisation. Company partners should be registered in the UK or have a UK research and development or manufacturing site. Where a suitable company cannot be found in the UK, an overseas company may be used. Industrial partners must contribute in cash at least 10 per cent of the full economic cost of projects.

Maximum award: Not specified. Closing date: 4pm, 13/01/16.

The Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council and Science Foundation Ireland invite applications for their joint research funding. This supports applications that cut across national boundaries and involve international collaborative teams led by researchers from the UK and the Republic of Ireland. The scope of pertnerships is restricted to research projects, including technology development projects but excluding embryonic stem cell research. Principal applicants must be resident in the UK and hold an academic staff appointment, at the lecturer level or equivalent, at a higher education institution, research council institute or a BBSRC-approved research organisation. Irish co-investigators must be based at a research body which is eligible for SFI support, they must be members of the academic staff of an eligible research body, and must have the capability and authority to mentor and supervise postgraduate students and team members.

Maximum award: Not specified. Closing date: 4pm, 13/01/16.

British Council, GB

The British Council, invites expressions of interest for its UK-Iran researcher links workshop on water management. This workshop wll bring together early career scholars and experienced researchers from the UK and Iran to discuss water management with subthemes of hydrology, extreme events, agriculture and food security, climate change, and water management/policy. participants will share their knowledge and build links for future collaboration. There will also be sessions on finding and applying for funding opportunities. Applicant must hold an academic position in the UK or Iran; have been awarded their PhD no earlier than January 2005; be able to evidence that their publications and awarded degree are relevant to the workshop themes; be proficient in English to level 6 IELTS (Iranian applicants). Visa, travel, subsistence and accommodation costs will be covered.

Maximum award: Not specified. Closing date: 15/10/15.

Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council, GB

The Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council invites outline proposals for its future manufacturing research hubs. The hubs will address major, long-term challenges facing manufacturing industries and capture opportunities from emerging research areas. Each hub can receive up to £10 million over seven years, to support a programme of innovative research in the engineering and physical sciences, related to the challenges in commercialising early stage research. The Hubs will feature high quality, multidisciplinary research, strong engagement with relevant manufacturing industries, and will take a leadership role in their national network. Each programme must: draw on advances in underlying science and technology; focus on the design and development of new and existing manufacturing processes, systems and networks; explicitly consider the pathway to manufacture. Funding can be used as platform research funding, grand challenge research funding, operational funding, or pathways to impact and commercialisation activities. Funding may also cover equipment costs.

Maximum award: £10m. Closing date: Outline proposals by 4pm, 19/11/15. Invited full proposals late March.

Research Councils UK and Innovate UK invite expressions of interest for their call on urban living partnership – pilot phase. This call will promote integrated research and innovation to address challenges in urban areas of the UK and help them realise their visions for future urban living. Partnerships will bring together the capabilities needed to address a wide range of challenges in areas such as infrastructure and environment; crime and social inclusion; health and wellbeing; heritage and culture; economy and employment; smart cities and big urban data. Consortia can include cross-disciplinary research expertise, city leaders, businesses, civic organisations and community groups, public, third sector and other urban innovators. Each of the consortia will be expected to conduct an initial pilot diagnostic phase focused on building integrated understanding of the challenges, opportunities and future visions of a specific UK city / urban area and developing agendas for future research and innovation.

Maximum award: £400k. Closing date: EOI 26/11/15. Full applications by 4pm, 21/01/16.

European Railway Agency, EU

The European Railway Agency  invites tenders to conduct a study on implementation of fees and charges in the framework of the fourth railway package. The tenderer will: collect and analyse data with a view to establishing a framework for fees and charges; propose models for financial apportioning between the ERA and the national authorities; establish a list of criteria for differentiating fee structure, with special attention given to small and medium-sized enterprises. Legal and natural persons based in EU member states are eligible and must apply as a joint venture or consortium with a nominated leader.

Maximum award: €120,000 and €150,000 over six months. Closing date: 31/10/15.

Horowitz Foundation for Social Policy, US

The Horowitz Foundation for Social Policy invites applications for its research grants. Grants are awarded for work in major areas of the social sciences, including anthropology, area studies, economics, political science, psychology, sociology and urban studies, as well as newer areas such as evaluation research. Preference will be given to projects that deal with contemporary issues in the social sciences and issues of policy relevance. Phd candidates whose projects have received approval from their appropriate department head or university are eligible to apply.

Maximum awarrd: US$7,500. Closing date: 31/01/16.

Innovate UK, GB

Innovate UK and the Department for Culture, Innovation and Media invite applications for the nuisance calls competition. The competition aims to address and find solutions for the problem of nuisance calls, especially to vulnerable members of society who are at higher risk of financial harm and personal distress. Solutions can use any technology including, but not limited to, any of the following areas: Home- installed equipment that filters and blocks calls, based on Calling Line Identification (CLI) or other techniques; As before but with a “community” or central database to block calls from known “problem sources”; A network level solution that will filter and block calls before they are offered to the end user. Key challenges that bids will need to address are: Blocking/filtering calls as an option where the number is ‘withheld’ or ‘unavailable’, including where these are international in origin; How legitimate callers using networks that present with no CLI are processed, for example gathering a list of legitimate callers (sometimes referred to as ‘whitelists’); How the system can block calls that offer malformed CLI; Whether the system is capable of detecting spoofed but valid CLI; How calls from mobile and non-geographic numbers are handled – i.e. can they be configured as blocked/filtered; How a network level solution can be implemented on existing communication networks.

Maximum award: £50k. Closing date: Registration by 12pm, 04/11/15. Full applications by 12pm, 11/11/15.

Middle East Economic Research Centre, TR

The Middle East Economic Research Centre invites applications and nominations for the Ibn Khaldun prize, whic recognises outstanding individual and co-authored papers by young scientists on Middle East economics. Candidates must be no more than six years post-PhD .Winners of the award receive a certificate, a cash award of $250 and exemption from dues and submission fees for two consecutive calendar years.

Maximum award: $250. Closing date: 10/12/15.

Natural environment Research Council, GB

The Natural Environment Research Council, in collaboration with the Medical Research Council in the UK, and the Earth System Science Organisation, Ministry of Earth Sciences, and the Department of Biotechnology in India, invites initial proposals for the atmospheric pollution and human health in an Indian megacity programme. This aims to provide new knowledge on air pollution issues and impacts on health in a rapidly urbanising society and the evidence to support cost effective measures for health improvements related to atmospheric pollutants in Delhi, India. The programme is split into four themes; emission validation and sources; processes: physical and chemical; exposure validation and health outcomes; mitigations and interventions. Applications must be collaborative between UK and Indian researchers.

Maximum award: Not specified. Closing date: initial proposals 4pm, 10/12/15. Full proposals due early July 16.

Swedish Foundation for Strategic Research, SE

The Swedish Foundation for Strategic Research invites proposals for its industrial research centres, which aim to improve long-term problem- and application driven research centres comprising collaborative research ecosystems between industry, research institutes and academia. Centres should be strategically defined around formulated industrial needs with formidable research challenges. Research problems should be defined and pursued by both the industrial and academic partners. Research centres must be concentrated on disruptive innovation, including new enabling technologies or emerging technology shifts in a long-term perspective.Each centre will have two to five industrial partners, with one to five academic or research institute partners. At least one of the partners must be a department at a Swedish university, which will administer the grant. The main applicant must be a researcher based at a Swedish university or research institute. Partners can be researchers from industry, public authorities, research institutes and university departments. Companies should normally be registered in Sweden or close to Sweden so that the exchange can work practically and be justified strategically for Sweden. Industrial partners may be hospitals if the centre involves clinical research. International partners may participate on their own budget. Industry partners must fund their participation with a combination of in-kind and cash by at least 20 per cent of the total budget of the centre.

Maximum award: SEK100m. Closing date: 2pm CET, 04/05/16.

Wellcome Trust, GB

The Wellcome Trust and the Academy of Medical Sciences invite applications for their springboard awards, which enable UK biomedical scientists to develop their independent research careers. Applicants must be within three years of being appointed their first independent post, hold a current post with salary, not be receiving significant research funding, be supported by the host organisation.

Maximum award: £100k. Closing date: 07/12/15.

The Wellcome Trust invites applications for its collaborative awards in science, supporting teams of independent researchers pursuing problems across the areas of science, humanities and social science and innovation. Interdisciplinary research collaborations between basic scientists or medical and veterinary clinicians, and non-biologists, such as mathematicians, physicists, chemists, engineers and social scientists, are encouraged. Funding may be used for research expenses, travel and subsistence, overseas allowances, research management and support costs. A provision for public engagement costs may also be awarded.

Maximum award: £4m. Closing date: preliminary applications due 05/01/16. Full applications by 13/04/16.

The Wellcome Trust invites applications for its our planet, our health awards. These support high-quality, transdisciplinary programmes of research that investigate novel aspects of, and build evidence for, how complex changes in our environment affect our health. Supported proposals will consider the interplay between different environments, drive collaborative research and  lead to outputs with a significant impact on our health. Programmes should use a range of relevant disciplines and research methodologies and may consist of predictive modelling, developing innovative products or processes, policy development or evaluating specific interventions. Proposals from a broad range of disciplines  involving cross-sector collaborations are encouraged. Eligible costs include salary costs for research staff, consumables and small equipment costs, travel costs for conferences and research meetings, office support and communication cost.

Maximum award: £10m. Closing date: 29/01/16.

The Wellcome Trust invites applications for its society awards. These support projects that encourage the public to explore biomedical science, its impact on society and culture, its historical roots and the ethical questions that it raises Projects should stimulate interest, excitement and debate about biomedical science and/or the history of medicine; support formal and informal learning; reach audiences of all ages and from all walks of life and inform, inspire and involve them; encourage high-quality interdisciplinary practice and collaborations; investigate and test new methods of engagement, participation and education. Applicants and activities must be based in the UK or the Republic of Ireland and applicants may be mediators, facilitators and practitioners of science communication; science centre or museum staff; artists; educators; film-makers; theatre producers; games developers; public participation practitioners; health professionals; and academics in bioscience, social science, bioethics, and medical history and the humanities.

Maximum award: Not specified. Closing date: 5pm, 11/03/16.

Please note that some funding bodies specify a time for submission as well as a date. Please confirm this with your RKEO Funding Development Officer

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.

Investigative imaging in the 21st century: the future in diagnosing spinal pain?

BU research, innovation, PG research, Research communication, Research themes

British Chiropractic Association Autumn Conference 2015, Bournemouth

I was delighted to have been invited to speak at the British Chiropractic Association’s Autumn Conference 2015, at the Marriot hotel, Bournemouth, perfectly situated to watch the sun glistening on the Channel. The beautiful weather was fitting for a particularly celebratory occasion with chiropractors travelling from all over the world to gather and celebrate 90 years of the BCA and 50 years of AECC. To be included as a speaker alongside some of the top researchers in the musculoskeletal field, and sharing the stage with no less than Professor Alan Breen, was slightly nerve-racking but also a very great honour.

Look Inside: MRI and quantitative fluoroscopy in the future

Photo taken by Stephen Perle DC

Photo taken by Stephen Perle DC

 

Alan Breen first started experimenting with what is now known as quantitative fluoroscopy (QF), taking measurements from motion x-rays, in the 1980s but it was not until the 2000s that computing power was sufficient to make this a reality. QF has since been found to be accurate and reliable in the measurement of inter-vertebral motion in both the cervical (my PhD work) and lumbar spines, and has been commercialised in the United States. It should start appearing in European hospitals within the next few years – watch this space. What will be possible with QF is a more accurate measurement of spinal stability to better inform surgical decisions and also the potential to better guide conservative treatment. The examples given from a case series during the presentation included showing that suspected lumbar instability is often not confirmed (therefore the potential to avoid unnecessary fusion surgery) and where it is present there is perhaps an increased chance of good surgical outcomes. Also, manipulation/mobilisation might be better targeted at identified segmental restrictions, and exercise therapy better directed where hypermobile or lax joint motion is present.

Alan’s part of the presentation included discussing what was possible with an open-MRI. Aside it being preferable for claustrophobic patients, the ability to image patients weight-bearing has meant the identification of disc hernia in some patients that would have been missed if imaged lying-down, therefore open-MRI is likely to play an important role in improving the diagnosis of persistent radicular pain. He also touched on diagnostic ultrasound which is showing value particularly in the diagnosis of soft-tissue injury of the extremities.

We are only at the beginning of finding out if the potential of QF (and other imaging techniques) will be fully realised, that of improved outcomes for patients with neck and back pain. Its use, like that of MRI, is likely to be restricted to those patients with particularly problematic spinal pain, but it (and open-MRI/diagnostic ultrasound) is a welcome addition to the diagnostic armamentarium of the chiropractor and other musculoskeletal professionals. And it was developed, not by a massive multinational corporation, but by a member of the BCA at AECC, a partner college of BU. Now that is worth celebrating.

Dr Jonathan (Jonny) Branney
Lecturer in Adult Nursing
Faculty of Health and Social Sciences

NB: This is a truncated version of a longer blog that can be found here

TalkBU: Taylor Swift, zombies and why popular culture matters in Higher Education.

BU research, Research news

Taylor Swift, zombies and why popular culture matters in Higher Education.

Talk BU Live returns to Dylan’s Bar with this live talk from Dr Sam Goodman on Tuesday 29 September 2015 at 5:30pm.

The modern university is a troubled place. Under the pressure of reduced government funding and the rising expectations that come with increased student fees, the emphasis in contemporary media is on degrees that lead directly to a career.

As a result humanities subjects, such as English Literature and cultural studies, have come under criticism for being too broad, too wide reaching. It has been suggested that these degrees should focus solely on those subjects and skills that will ‘guarantee’ employment – a return to the so-called classics of Shakespeare and Dickens.

This decision would limit the texts and scope of the humanities and undermine the ability of scholars to pursue research, ultimately damaging the student experience in the process.

Using high-profile examples from contemporary popular culture, such as Taylor Swift, and the rise of the Zombie in video games, film and TV, BU’s Dr Sam Goodman will argue that the value of diverse humanities and the importance of academic freedom has never been greater.

About Dr Sam Goodman

Sam lectures in linguistics at BU and his research interests include 20th Century literature with a broad focus on identity, medicine, notions of Englishness and Empire, and post-World War 2 popular culture. This year he was selected as a BBC Radio 3 New Generation Thinker and has recently published a book on spy novels, entitled “British Spy Fiction & the End of Empire”.

About Talk BU Live

Talk BU Live is a series of free on-campus events designed to get people talking and thinking. Talks are no more than 20 minutes long and open to all students and staff at BU.

You can get involved by tweeting #TalkBU or find out more by contacting the team or visiting the Talk BU page on the website.

Assistive Music Technology

BU research, Featured academics, PG research, Research news

SenseEggSystemWe would like to invite you to the first research seminar of new academic year for the Creative Technology Research Centre.

 

Speaker: Asha Blatherwick

 

Title:   Assistive Music Technology

 

Date: Wednesday 30th September 2015

Time: 2:00PM-3:00PM

Room: P302 LT, Poole House, Talbot Campus

 

Abstract: Music is essential to most of us. It can light up all areas of the brain and help to develop skills with communication and establishing identity. People use musical experiences to create meaning and coherence in states and times of adversity using its transformative properties. Music can be explored actively by playing instruments, or passively, such as listening to music and can be used to enter a state of flow.

Exploring music actively in this way can be restricted for someone with cognitive, physical, or sensory impairments. The barriers they face may cause gaps between their musical gestures and the music making means available to them. Using technology, we can bridge these gaps by focusing on a person’s capability to create personal instruments that allow for active music making and exploration of sound. Technology can be used to turn tiny movements into huge sounds and tangible user interfaces can be used to investigate the relationship between the physical and digital world, leading to new modes of interaction.

My research will take an Action Research approach to create bespoke tangible tools that combine hardware and software, allowing users to create and explore sound using their capabilities in a participatory way.

 

We hope to see you there.

 

Latest Funding Opportunities

BU research, Funding opportunities, Research news

Money Bear Funding

The following funding opportunities have been announced. Please follow the links for more information:

Innovate UK

Analytical technologies for pharmaceuticals

Innovate UK is to invest up to £4 million in collaborative R&D projects to address the UK’s need for improved analytical technologies that support the development of current and next generation biopharmaceutical products.

The aim of this competition is to advance the industry by addressing sector-specific challenges relating to analytical technologies for testing and characterising biopharmaceutical products and monitoring processes, as well as the supporting informatics tools.

Max Award: £500,000 to £1.5 million Deadline: 14 October for registration, 21 October 2015 for EOI

Brazil-UK collaborative industrial research & development competition

Innovate UK and SENAI (the National Service for Industrial Training) of Brazil are to invest up to £3.4 million in collaborative industrial R&D projects that propose new commercial solutions to critical challenges impacting the socio-economic growth and development of Brazil in relation to its energy, water, and waste management.

Max Award: Total funding up to £3.4 million Deadline: 7 December 2015

RCUK – CONACYT

Research Partnerships – UK & Mexico

This initiative will provide funding for transformative and high-quality collaborative research projects which address the following topics:

  • Nutrition and Health
  • Inclusive, accountable and secure society
  • Instrumentation Development for Applications in Big Science

The objective is to deliver significant research funding for internationally competitive and innovative collaborative projects between researchers from Mexico and the UK that will allow the pursuit of shared research interests.

Max Award: Unspecified for up to 5 years Deadline: 23 October 2015 for Intentions to Submit, 24 November 2015 for full submission

BBSRC

BBSRC & State of Sao Paulo Research Foundation – Joint Call in advanced biofuels

This call aims to advance the excellent scientific relationships developed between UK and Brazilian scientists and encourage new partnerships to develop integrated biorefinery approaches for the manufacture of advanced biofuels, producing industrially relevant scientific outputs which can be taken up by a global industry.

Max Award: Unspecified for up to 5 years Deadline: 26 October 2015 for Intention to Submit and 19 November 2015 for full submission

Resilience of the UK food systems in a global context

The programme will integrate biological, environmental and social sciences to support interdisciplinary projects addressing one or more of the following key themes:

  • Optimising the productivity, resilience and sustainability of agricultural systems and landscapes
  • Optimising resilience of food supply chains both locally and globally
  • Influencing food choice for health, sustainability and resilience at the individual and household level.

Max Award: Unspecified for up to 5 years, total of £14million Deadline: 27 October 2015

Standard follow-on funding

The Follow-on funding programme is designed to support the translation of fundamental research funded by us into practical application, including commercialisation. The aim of the programme is to help researchers maximise the societal and economic benefits of their research.

This programme is a proof-of-concept model where further work on an idea will take it through to the stage at which the route to application is clear, which may include a spin-out or licensing opportunity.

Max Award: £250,000 for 12 – 18 months Deadline: 11 November 2015

International workshops scheme

This call makes around 8 awards each year for a workshop to be held overseas or in the UK. The aims are:

  • To stimulate joint working in topics important to BBSRC’s strategy
  • To match numbers of scientists from the UK with other countries to identify areas of commonality and explore the potential for international collaboration
  • To receive applications involving collaborations with any other country, although the US, Canada, Brazil, EU member states, Japan, China, India Australia and New Zealand are particularly encouraged.

Max Award: £10,000 Deadline: 12 November 2015

NERC

NERC & State of Sao Paulo Research Foundation – Sustainable gas futures

This call is supported by the UK through the Newton Fund which forms part of the UK government’s Official Development Assistance (ODA) commitment. The AO/CFP is only open to joint UK-Brazil applications. NERC will provide up to £1m of funding (80% FEC) to eligible UK-based researchers and São Paulo partner organizations will match this with equivalent research effort to eligible researchers associated with research institutions in the State of São Paulo.

Max Award: Up to £80,000 Deadline: 10 November 2015

Advanced training short courses initiative

This call invites proposals offering training in a variety of forms that fall both within the NERC science remit as well as addressing one or more of the Priority Training Areas contained within the ATSC Announcement of Opportunity document. Training must prioritise NERC-funded PhD students or develop the skills of environmental sciences early career researchers (working within academic and/or non-academic settings) for future careers in research and other contexts.

Max Award: £20,000 – £50,000 Deadline: 12 November 2015

Soil security research fellowship awards

The overarching aim of the Soil Security programme is to advance understanding of the ability of soils to adapt to perturbations. It will do this by building an integrated and predictive understanding of the multiple functions of soil. This will improve forecasts of the soil system’s response to changes in climate, vegetation or land management at scales of analysis that match the scale of decision making.Max

Max Award: Up to £2 million Deadline: 3 December 2015

Wellcome Trust

Senior Research Fellowships in Basic Biomedical Science

This scheme provides support for outstanding postdoctoral scientists based in academic institutions in the UK and Republic of Ireland.

Max Award: Covers basic salary, research expenses and specified other costs for up to 5 years Deadline: 8 December for preliminary application, 26 February 2016 for full submission

Senior Research Fellowships in Clinical Science

These Fellowships provide support for clinical academics with exceptional ability and outstanding promise to further develop their research potential.

Max Award: Covers basic salary, research expenses and specified other costs for up to 5 years Deadline: 8 December for preliminary application, 26 February 2016 for full submission

EUREKA, EU

Eureka Innovation Award

Each project nomination must target one specific category:

  • Competitiveness: for projects where more than one partner has substantially improved their position vis à vis their direct competitors with the help of a EUREKA project.
  • Added value: for projects, where more than one partner has yielded substantial growth in productivity, turnover and increase in the number of employees from the exploitation of the results of a EUREKA project.
  • Innovators of tomorrow: for projects which have successfully implemented a promising new and disruptive technology or concept with a clear economic, societal and environmental impact compared to existing solutions.

Max Award: First prize in each category: 6000 euros and pan-European promotion package of 10,000 euros Deadline: 15 October 2015

Directorate-General for Climate Action, EU

The objective of the study is to undertake a fact-finding exercise to examine whether there is any conclusive evidence of carbon leakage occurring in phase III of the EU ETS as a result of pricing carbon. This is important in the current context: work is ongoing in preparation for the revision of the Directive 2003/87/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council as regards post-2020 provisions. A Commission proposal for the revision has been presented in July 2015 and one of the main elements of the future system will be establishing measures to address the risk of carbon leakage.

Max Award: 250,000 – 300,000 euros Deadline: 26 October 2015

ERANID & ERA-Net, EU

Understanding Drug Use Pathways

A first Joint call was launched on 15 September 2015 and aims at funding multidisciplinary transnational research in “Understanding drug use pathways”. The content of this call reflects the findings of a large programme of work to identify common research priorities for illicit drugs in Europe that resulted in a Strategic Research Agenda. The call encourages research that will provide a better understanding of the processes underlying the dynamics of drug use pathways and transitions between types of drug use.

Max Award: Total funding 4 million euros Deadline: 24 November 2015

European Agency for Safety & Health at Work, EU

Eusebio Rial-Gonzalez Innovation & Practice Award in Occupational Health Psychology

The European Academy of Occupational Health Psychology, in collaboration with European Agency for Safety and Health at Work, invites applications for their Eusebio Rial-Gonzalez innovation and practice award in occupational health psychology. This aims to award contributions to the field of occupational health psychology.

Max Award: Not specified Deadline: 1 February 2016

Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, US

Explore new ways to measure delivery & use of digital financial services data

Develop an innovative analytics or data capture solution to improve the delivery and use of digital financial services in developing countries. The focus of this call is on solutions that are relevant to commercial strategies and likely to make large improvements in performance outcomes for commercial deployments.

Max Award: USD100,000 for Phase I projects, up to USD1 million for Phase II projects Deadline: 11 November 2015

Please note that some funders specify a time for submission as well as a date. Please confirm this with your  RKEO Funding Development Officer

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.

Photo Of The Week: The Life-Story Of A Fish

BU research

The Life-Story of a Fish? Answers on a Scale, Please!

In our next ‘Photo of the week’, we are exploring research investigating what information a fish scale can provide and how that can be utilised within ecological monitoring. The research is being led by BU’s Georgina Busst.

This scale is from a grayling, which belongs to the salmon family of fishes. There are many rings running around it – similar to that of a tree and just like trees fish grow seasonally. The seasonal growth is visible on their scales as rings are laid down closer together in winter, as fish grow much more slowly and are more spread apart in summer, as fish grow at a faster rate. You can see this pattern in this photo. The fish that this scale belongs to is 1 year old, approaching 2. You can tell this as the rings are closer together near the scale edge, indicating slower growth and therefore winter.

Scales are extremely valuable tools for fisheries ecologists as you can remove a few without harming the fish and you can collect lots of different information from them. Scales can be used not only to age fish, but to monitor their growth rates and relate this back to changes in the environment; reveal how many times a fish has spawned; how many years it has spent at sea; for DNA and genetic analysis and stable isotope analysis, which can reveal what the fish has eaten and what position it is in a food web. All that from a simple scale.

For more information about the project, email Georgina for further details.

This was an entry to BU’s first research photography competition and the entries for the next competition will be open shortly. For more details abouth the competition, please email research@bournemouth.ac.uk

“Styles of Good Sense” Ethics, Filmmaking and Scholarship

BU research, PG research, Research news

Crew shooting early scene for the short, research-based film, RUFUS STONE

Crew shooting early scene for the short, research-based film, RUFUS STONE

Kip Jones’ draft Chapter for The Routledge International Handbook on Narrative and Life History was deposited today on BRIAN and Academia.edu. The book’s section on Ethics is edited by Ivor Goodson, with assistance from Ari Antikainen, Molly Andrews and Pat Sikes. Jones’ Chapter entitled, “Styles of Good Sense—Ethics, Filmmaking and Scholarship” is based upon his experience as researcher, author and producer of the award winning short film, RUFUS STONE.

Jones proposes that aesthetics and ethics need to be considered in concert and that they are at the very heart of arts-based research. Ethics and Aesthetics become intertwined and support one another. Jones states:

‘Ethics, much like aesthetics, is often misunderstood as something effusive, illusive and somehow, decision-making by the few on a rarefied echelon, involving pronouncements of grand moral impact and/or sophisticated discrimination. For these kinds of reasons and to avoid potential headaches, it is often assumed that checklists and committees will be far better at making such decisions than mere individuals.’

Jones believes that ethics and aesthetics need to remain the prerogative of the researcher/filmmaker and her/his participants and audiences. By developing a trust in instinct and intuition and the naturally expressive and moral potential of our personal resources, research involving people’s stories can become richer and more human, if we only are willing to jettison some of the baggage of the old academic rigor and dry procedural ethics.

Jones’ involvement in the section of the book on Ethics will include co-contributors Arthur Frank, Norm Denzin, Laurel Richardson and Carolyn Ellis, and will be published in the New Year.

 

 

Leadership development for principal investigators (PIs)

BU research, Post-award, Research Training, Training

Leadership Development
Not too long ago HEFCE funded a project to provide online resources to help principal investigators develop their skills, these excellent resources are hosted by Vitae. This collaborative project involved colleagues at a number of universities across the UK, RCUK, Leadership Foundation for Higher Education, ARMA and Universities UK.

The resources can be found here and include some fantastic sections on: