Category / BU research

Funding Alert

BU research, Research news

Understanding, countering and mitigating security threats Research and Evidence Hub

The ESRC, in partnership with the UK security and intelligence agencies, is pleased to invite proposals for the world-class interdisciplinary Research and Evidence Hub on Understanding, Countering and Mitigating Security Threats.

The aim of the Hub is to maximise the impact of existing research in order to inform approaches to countering contemporary security threats to individuals, communities, and institutions. High quality, innovative and ambitious proposals from interdisciplinary academic teams are sought which will work collaboratively with government agencies to maximise the impact of research, while retaining academic independence.

The Hub will work as a catalyst, bridging academic and UK security and intelligence communities. Its main focus will be to enhance and translate existing evidence to inform decisions aimed at mitigating security threats to individuals, communities, institutions in the UK, and to UK interests overseas – without displacing those threats to others.

It is intended that the amount available for the Hub will be up to £1.8 million at 100 per cent full economic cost (fec) per annum, of which 80 per cent (ie up to £1.44 million per annum or up to £4.32 million over a three-year period) will be covered by the UK security and intelligence agencies, through an ESRC-administered grant. Funding is intended to be available for three years, with a possible extension for another two years following a review.

Application process

The deadline for submitting proposals is 16.00 on 24 March 2015.

Shortlisted proposals will be invited for interview in early July 2015. Funding decision will be announced in early August 2015, and Hub is expected to start in October 2015 or as soon as possible thereafter.

Please contact the Funding Development Team in RKEO if you are interested in applying.

Guest Talk “Machine Learning and Computer Vision for Intelligent Surveillance”, 11am 06Feb TAG32

BU research, Fusion

I would like to invite you to a research presentation by Prof. Bailing Zhang, from Xi’an Jiaotong Liverpool University. We are hosting Prof. Zhang here for a week under the support of BU Fusion Funding. Please feel free to forward this invitation to your colleagues and PhD students if it is of their interests.

 

Title: Machine Learning and Computer Vision for Intelligent Surveillance

Time: 11:00-12:00

Date: Friday, 06 Feb 2015

Room: TAG32 (Talbot Campus)

 

Abstract:

The aim of intelligent video surveillance is to develop a way to provide reliable real-time alarms and situation awareness from existing surveillance networks without the enormous cost of intensive human monitoring. The tasks of video surveillance often include the detection of  the presence of people and vehicle and tracking them, and the subsequent analysis of their activities. Such research projects have broad implications for Homeland Security, law enforcement and many other types of military applications. There are many challenges to analyse a vast number of video streams in real-time to detect a range of events relevant to security needs. Computer vision and machine learning are the two interwove technologies for most of the modeling issues in video surveillance, for example, recognizing human behaviors. In this seminar, Dr. Bailing Zhang will briefly outline the ongoing projects with his group at XJTLU and discuss some relevant issues.

 

Biography:

Bailing Zhang received the Master’s degree in Communication and Electronic System from the South China University of Technology, Guangzhou, China, and Ph.D. degree in Electrical and Computer engineering from the University of Newcastle, NSW, Australia, in 1987 and 1999, respectively. He is currently Associate Professor in the Department of Computer Science and Software Engineering at Xi’an Jiaotong-Liverpool University, Suzhou, China. He had been a Lecturer in the School of Computer Science and Mathematics in the Victoria University, Australia since 2003. His research interest includes machine learning and computer vision, with applications in surveillance and biometrics. Bailing Zhang has over 100 referred papers published.

————–

Dr. Xiaosong Yang

Senior Lecturer in Computer Animation National Centre for Computer Animation
Faculty of Media and Communication
Bournemouth University
Email: xyang@bournemouth.ac.uk
http://staffprofiles.bournemouth.ac.uk/display/xyang

RKEO Coffee Morning – Today!

BU research, Guidance, Info Days, Post-award, Publishing, Research Ethics, Research Integritiy

The RKEO coffee morning is today in the RKE Office on the 4th Floor Melbury House (Lansdowne Campus) starting at 9.30am. The morning will concentrate on the wonders of the Project Delivery Team within RKEO, its personnel, the work they do and how they can help you with live surgeries and demonstrations on open access, BRIAN, the online ethics checklist and RED so please come along!

The Team has three specialist areas: Finance, Outputs and Governance which feed into Faculty dedicated teams. So if you want to know more about managing projects, applying for ethics approval, how to use BRIAN, Open Access or anything else Research and Knowledge Exchange focused please come along and have a chat with us, or just to enjoy a coffee and cake.

 

The coffee morning will be held in the RKE Office on the 4th Floor Melbury House (Lansdowne Campus) starting at 9.30am on Wednesday 4th February.

 

We look forward to seeing you!

BU research, Publishing, Uncategorized

Tourism, a global industry, brings with it a number of public health problems, one of which is the spread of sexually transmitted infections transmitted between travellers and hosts.
Previous studies have largely focused on sex workers and sex tourists. This latest paper ‘Nepalese Trekking Guides: A Quantitative Study of Sexual Health Knowledge And Sexual Behaviour’ published yesterday in the Journal of Manmohan Memorial Institute of Health Sciences assesses sexual behaviour, knowledge and condom use among male trekking guides in Nepal. 

A self-administered questionnaire survey (n=324) was conducted using snowball sampling amongst men working as mountain trekking guides in Nepal. Most respondents (59%) had  initiated sex before the age of 18. Most (84 %) reported sexual relations with a woman other than their partner, 46% reported foreign partners, 43% had Nepalese partners, and 28% had concurrent foreign and Nepalese partners. Most (70 %) reported ever having sex with a foreign woman and two-thirds had had sexual intercourse with foreign women in the previous 12 months. Participants’ age, education status, age of first sex, smoking and drinking habits and English proficiency were significant predictors of having sex with foreign women.About 60% reported condom use during their most recent occasion of extra-martial sex. A similar proportion had used a condom during last sexual intercourse with a foreign woman. The likelihood of condom use was associated with a guide’s age, educational level, ethnicity, age of first sex and work experience. Most trekking guides reported sexual relations with foreign women as well as irregular use of condoms. Although sexual health knowledge about among trekking guides is high, some misconceptions still result in unsafe sex. Hence there is an urgent need to revise the existing training for trekking guides and implement appropriate health promotion programmes.

Reference:

Simkhada, P., van Teijlingen, E., Regmi, P., Bhatta, P., Ingham, R., Stone, N. (2015) Sexual health knowledge and risky sexual behaviour of Nepalese trekking guides. Journal of Manmohan Memorial Institute of Health Sciences 1 (4): 35-42.

 

Prof. Edwin van Teijlingen

CMMPH

 

 

 

How to get published in an academic journal: top tips from editors

BU research, Publishing

Original article – http://www.theguardian.com/education/2015/jan/03/how-to-get-published-in-an-academic-journal-top-tips-from-editors?CMP=new_1194

Journal editors share their advice on how to structure a paper, write a cover letter – and deal with awkward feedback from reviewers.

 

Writing for academic journals is highly competitive. Even if you overcome the first hurdle and generate a valuable idea or piece of research – how do you then sum it up in a way that will capture the interest of reviewers?

There’s no simple formula for getting published – editors’ expectations can vary both between and within subject areas. But there are some challenges that will confront all academic writers regardless of their discipline. How should you respond to reviewer feedback? Is there a correct way to structure a paper? And should you always bother revising and resubmitting? We asked journal editors from a range of backgrounds for their tips on getting published.

The writing stage

1) Focus on a story that progresses logically, rather than chronologically

Take some time before even writing your paper to think about the logic of the presentation. When writing, focus on a story that progresses logically, rather than the chronological order of the experiments that you did.
Deborah Sweet, editor of Cell Stem Cell and publishing director at Cell Press

2) Don’t try to write and edit at the same time

Open a file on the PC and put in all your headings and sub-headings and then fill in under any of the headings where you have the ideas to do so. If you reach your daily target (mine is 500 words) put any other ideas down as bullet points and stop writing; then use those bullet points to make a start the next day.

If you are writing and can’t think of the right word (eg for elephant) don’t worry – write (big animal long nose) and move on – come back later and get the correct term. Write don’t edit; otherwise you lose flow.
Roger Watson, editor-in-chief, Journal of Advanced Nursing

3) Don’t bury your argument like a needle in a haystack

If someone asked you on the bus to quickly explain your paper, could you do so in clear, everyday language? This clear argument should appear in your abstract and in the very first paragraph (even the first line) of your paper. Don’t make us hunt for your argument as for a needle in a haystack. If it is hidden on page seven that will just make us annoyed. Oh, and make sure your argument runs all the way through the different sections of the paper and ties together the theory and empirical material.
Fiona Macaulay, editorial board, Journal of Latin American Studies

4) Ask a colleague to check your work

One of the problems that journal editors face is badly written papers. It might be that the writer’s first language isn’t English and they haven’t gone the extra mile to get it proofread. It can be very hard to work out what is going on in an article if the language and syntax are poor.
Brian Lucey, editor, International Review of Financial Analysis

5) Get published by writing a review or a response

Writing reviews is a good way to get published – especially for people who are in the early stages of their career. It’s a chance to practice at writing a piece for publication, and get a free copy of a book that you want. We publish more reviews than papers so we’re constantly looking for reviewers.

Some journals, including ours, publish replies to papers that have been published in the same journal. Editors quite like to publish replies to previous papers because it stimulates discussion.
Yujin Nagasawa, co-editor and review editor of the European Journal for Philosophy of Religion, philosophy of religion editor of Philosophy Compass

6) Don’t forget about international readers

We get people who write from America who assume everyone knows the American system – and the same happens with UK writers. Because we’re an international journal, we need writers to include that international context.
Hugh McLaughlin, editor in chief, Social Work Education – the International Journal

7) Don’t try to cram your PhD into a 6,000 word paper

Sometimes people want to throw everything in at once and hit too many objectives. We get people who try to tell us their whole PhD in 6,000 words and it just doesn’t work. More experienced writers will write two or three papers from one project, using a specific aspect of their research as a hook.
Hugh McLaughlin, editor in chief, Social Work Education – the International Journal

Submitting your work

8) Pick the right journal: it’s a bad sign if you don’t recognise any of the editorial board

Check that your article is within the scope of the journal that you are submitting to. This seems so obvious but it’s surprising how many articles are submitted to journals that are completely inappropriate. It is a bad sign if you do not recognise the names of any members of the editorial board. Ideally look through a number of recent issues to ensure that it is publishing articles on the same topic and that are of similar quality and impact.
Ian Russell, editorial director for science at Oxford University Press

9) Always follow the correct submissions procedures

Often authors don’t spend the 10 minutes it takes to read the instructions to authors which wastes enormous quantities of time for both the author and the editor and stretches the process when it does not need to
Tangali Sudarshan, editor, Surface Engineering

10) Don’t repeat your abstract in the cover letter
We look to the cover letter for an indication from you about what you think is most interesting and significant about the paper, and why you think it is a good fit for the journal. There is no need to repeat the abstract or go through the content of the paper in detail – we will read the paper itself to find out what it says. The cover letter is a place for a bigger picture outline, plus any other information that you would like us to have.
Deborah Sweet, editor of Cell Stem Cell and publishing director at Cell Press

11) A common reason for rejections is lack of context

Make sure that it is clear where your research sits within the wider scholarly landscape, and which gaps in knowledge it’s addressing. A common reason for articles being rejected after peer review is this lack of context or lack of clarity about why the research is important.
Jane Winters, executive editor of the Institute of Historical Research’s journal, Historical Research and associate editor of Frontiers in Digital Humanities: Digital History

12) Don’t over-state your methodology

Ethnography seems to be the trendy method of the moment, so lots of articles submitted claim to be based on it. However, closer inspection reveals quite limited and standard interview data. A couple of interviews in a café do not constitute ethnography. Be clear – early on – about the nature and scope of your data collection. The same goes for the use of theory. If a theoretical insight is useful to your analysis, use it consistently throughout your argument and text.
Fiona Macaulay, editorial board, Journal of Latin American Studies

Dealing with feedback

13) Respond directly (and calmly) to reviewer comments

When resubmitting a paper following revisions, include a detailed document summarising all the changes suggested by the reviewers, and how you have changed your manuscript in light of them. Stick to the facts, and don’t rant. Don’t respond to reviewer feedback as soon as you get it. Read it, think about it for several days, discuss it with others, and then draft a response.
Helen Ball, editorial board, Journal of Human Lactation

14) Revise and resubmit: don’t give up after getting through all the major hurdles

You’d be surprised how many authors who receive the standard “revise and resubmit” letter never actually do so. But it is worth doing – some authors who get asked to do major revisions persevere and end up getting their work published, yet others, who had far less to do, never resubmit. It seems silly to get through the major hurdles of writing the article, getting it past the editors and back from peer review only to then give up.
Fiona Macaulay, editorial board, Journal of Latin American Studies

15) It is acceptable to challenge reviewers, with good justification

It is acceptable to decline a reviewer’s suggestion to change a component of your article if you have a good justification, or can (politely) argue why the reviewer is wrong. A rational explanation will be accepted by editors, especially if it is clear you have considered all the feedback received and accepted some of it.
Helen Ball, editorial board of Journal of Human Lactation

16) Think about how quickly you want to see your paper published

Some journals rank more highly than others and so your risk of rejection is going to be greater. People need to think about whether or not they need to see their work published quickly – because certain journals will take longer. Some journals, like ours, also do advance access so once the article is accepted it appears on the journal website. This is important if you’re preparing for a job interview and need to show that you are publishable.
Hugh McLaughlin, editor in chief, Social Work Education – the International Journal

17) Remember: when you read published papers you only see the finished article

Publishing in top journals is a challenge for everyone, but it may seem easier for other people. When you read published papers you see the finished article, not the first draft, nor the first revise and resubmit, nor any of the intermediate versions – and you never see the failures.
Philip Powell, managing editor of the Information Systems Journal

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Funding Opportunities

BU research, Research news

Please see below for this weeks funding opportunities:

 

Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council,

Strategic Longer and Larger Grants 

The Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council invites outline proposals for its longer and larger responsive research grants (sLoLa). These support research projects requiring longer time scales, extensive resources or multidisciplinary approaches.

Applications must address at least one of the BBSRC’s strategic priority areas. For 2015, applications are particularly encouraged in the specific strategic area of understanding complex microbial communities and its sub-areas of biofilm formation, the human or animal microbiome, anti-microbial resistance and soil.

Funding typically supports integrated research projects requiring long timescales, extensive resources and/or multidisciplinary approaches.

Proposals must be over £2M (FEC project value net of any industrial contribution) and can be up to 5 years in duration.

Research funded through a strategic LoLa must:

  • Be scientifically excellent
  • Demonstrate exceptional relevance to one or more of our strategic priorities
  • Demonstrate an understanding of the potential for impact
  • Be conducted by an internationally leading research team

All proposals must be within our scientific remit. Multidisciplinary proposals are encouraged but potential applicants are strongly advised to contact us (email contact below) beforehand to discuss their application if aspects of the proposal are outside our remit.

Closing Date: 14th April 2015. 

 

Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council

Multi-Disciplinary Low Carbon Fuels

EPSRC, as part of the Research Councils UK (RCUK) Energy Programme, invites proposals for collaborative research projects to undertake fundamental research that will advance low carbon fuels generation toward deployment. Proposals submitted to this call must be multi-disciplinary in nature and seek to solve the issues outlined below.

This call is aimed to address low carbon fuel generation. EPSRC expects bids to be cross-cutting and involve several disciplines, research areas and fuel types. Bids that do not sufficiently work across research areas will be rejected.

There should be a single submission from a single principal investigator (PI) for each proposal, though bids can be multi-institutional. In order to focus effort applicants are only permitted to be involved in a maximum of two proposals; as a PI on one proposal and a co-investigator on another proposal or as a co-investigator on a maximum of two proposals.

Applicants wishing to submit a proposal must register their intent to submit before 16.00 on 10 March 2015. Applicants must submit the names of researchers, institutions, project partners, the approximate cost of the grant and the research areas to EnergyTeam@epsrc.ac.uk. Applicants who do not register their intent to submit before the deadline will have their applications rejected. This stage is used to help us identify reviewers and panel members.

Closing Date:  16.00 on 28 April 2015 with up to £6M available from EPSRC for this call. Projects may be for up to four years. EPSRC expects to support three or four proposals.

 

Innovate UK

Reducing Motorcyclists’ Casualties In Wales

The ‘Innovation in Reducing Motorcyclist Casualties in Wales’ project is a new national competition launched by the Welsh Government to drive forward Wales’ innovation agenda.

This competition is funded by the Welsh Government and Innovate UK, and jointly run with RoSPA Wales. The competition will identify innovative projects that can help the Welsh Government to reduce the number of motorcyclists killed or seriously injured on Welsh roads in particular accidents occurring at junctions. Organisations are invited to compete for a share of a total of £510,000 in funding for the prototype development and demonstration of innovative technologies.

The challenge will be to develop an effective intervention or technological feature that provides demonstrable improvements in the safety of motorcyclists, either by reducing the likelihood of a collision occurring, or by lessening the impact of a collision.

For further information, a Briefing Event will be held on 18 February. You can register for this event via this link: https://wales.business-events.org.uk/en/events/briefing-event-innovation-competition-motorcyclist-casualties/.

Key Timeline information

Competition Opens     13 January 2015
Briefing Event   18 February 2015
Deadline for Registration   Noon 2 March 2015
Deadline for receipt of applications   Noon 9 March 2015
Shortlisted finalists informed   16 March 2015
Selection Panel Interviews   23 March 2015
Applicants informed   30 March 2015
Feasibility projects commence   1 May 2015
Feasibility projects end   30 October 2015

 

Innovate UK

Production line readiness for high-value manufacturing.

Innovate UK is to invest up to £1 million in late-stage experimental development projects to help companies bring recent technology innovations closer to the point of manufacturing readiness. This competition builds on our previous investments in high-value manufacturing feasibility studies and collaborative R&D projects.

We are seeking proposals that focus on ‘experimental development’, as defined here interact.innovateuk.org/funding-rules. This work could be a series of pilot-line production trials involving a novel approach to shorten the pre-production phase, or production technologies aimed at more cost-effective maturation of processes and equipment.

The competition is open to a single company or to collaborative consortia. Projects must be led by a company and we expect them to range in size from £200,000 to a maximum of £500,000 in total costs.

Collaborative projects may involve other companies and/or research technology organisations as partners. Universities cannot participate as funded partners or sub-contractors because there should be no research activity in the projects. The main activity must be experimental development and funding will be at 35% for SMEs and 25% for large companies. We expect projects to last around 9 months and to be completed by 31 March 2016.

This competition opens for applicants on 16 February 2015. The deadline for registration is at noon on25 March 2015 and the deadline for applications is at noon on 1 April 2015.

A briefing event for potential applicants will be held in London on 25 February 2015.

Important Dates:

Competition opens   16 February 2015
Competition briefing   25 February 2015
Registration deadline   Noon 25 March 2015
Deadline for applications   Noon 1 April 2015

 

Natural Environment Research Council

Using critical zone science to understand sustaining the ecosystem service of soil and water.

NERC in the UK and the National Natural Science Foundation of China (NSFC) are investing in a strategic research programme to understand and seek ways to address the challenges faced for the delivery of China’s ecosystems services in association with their agricultural production and urbanisation.

Expressions of Interest are invited for a call under this programme. This call is supported by the UK through the Newton Fund which forms part of the UK governments Official Development Assistance (ODA) commitment and is only open to joint UK-China applications.

The call for proposals will be undertaken as a three stage process.

  1. An Expression of Interest (EoI) must be submitted via email by the 6 March 2015 deadline. EoI’s will be sifted based on remit and strategic requirement to ensure the programmes objectives are met. Successful applicants will be invited to submit full proposals.
  2. Successful applicants at the EoI stage will also be asked to attend a short meeting in early-April, possibly in China, at which NERC and NSFC will provide further advice and context (details to be confirmed).
  3. Full proposals will be submitted via Je-S by the deadline 7 May 2015. Full proposals will go through external peer review and then to a moderating panel. Successful full proposal teams will attend a kick-off workshop in 2016 where they will identify integrative and coordination activities between the different grants.

The programme aims to cover all of the following objectives, with individual proposals expected to address one or more of the following:

  • understand the importance of spatial variation and scale (from field to landscape) on the ability of soils and water within the critical zone (CZ) to perform their multiple functions
  • development of modelling approaches and improvement of model skill, with the integration of wider disciplines, in the prediction of resilience
  • within the context of environmental stressors within China (eg erosion, pollutants, extreme weather, changing agricultural practices, and water availability), seek to understand and improve the resilience of soils and water to perturbations.

All applications must be collaborations between UK and Chinese researchers. Applications to this call must be in English.

Expression of Interest forms must be submitted via email as a word document both to NERC atczo@nerc.ac.uk by 08:00 (GMT) and NSFC at xoc@nsfc.gov.cn by 16:00 (CST) on 6 March 2015.

Reminder: British Academy Visit – reserve your place now!

BU research, Guidance

The British Academy is returning to BU on 11 February 2015.  This is an invaluable opportunity to find out more about the international and domestic funding available through the organisation.  For those of you who are not familiar with the British Academy, it is the UK’s leading independent body for the humanities and social sciences, promoting funding, knowledge exchange and providing independent advice within the humanities. 

The session will last approximately 2 hours (12-2pm) and will comprise a presentation focussing on international and domestic funding opportunities along with an overview of the British Academy, followed by a Q&A session. 

Representatives of the British Academy will be available to answer any individual queries not covered in the presentation or Q&A session, and members of the Research and Knowledge Exchange Office will be on hand should you wish to discuss BU’s processes for bidding to the organisation.

Places for the event can be reserved through Organisational Development.  Anybody interested in finding out more should contact Giles Ashton (Funding Development Coordinator): gashton@bournemouth.ac.uk 

Please feel free to bring lunch with you as catering will not be provided.

Research Professional – all you need to know

BU research, Guidance, Uncategorized

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

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

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

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

Administrator Guide: A detailed description of the administrator functionality.

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

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

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

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

24th February 2015

24th March 2015

28th April 2015

29th May 2015

23rd June 2015

28th July 2015

25th August 2015

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

BU’s research website wins an international award

BU research

Exciting news – I am delighted to announce that BU’s research website, launched in January 2014, has won ‘Best Research Website’ in the annual international eduStyle Awards. These celebrate the best work in college and university websites and aim to recognise the most innovative and exciting developments in key areas of HE web development.

The BU research website won in both the People’s Choice and the Judged Award categories – a fantastic achievement!

BU was the only UK institution to be short listed in this category this year. The other short listed institutions were Yale University, MIT, Columbia University and Biola University.

See the full list of winners on the eduStyle website.

The BU research website complements our BU Research Blog which won a Heist award in 2012.

To find out more about how you can contribute your research news to the website, contact Rachel Bowen in RKEO.

A New Book of Business Ecosystems

BU research, Research news

A new book on the business ecosystem theory has been published by Palgrave Macmillan recently, which was co-authored by Dr.Ke Rong from the business school and Dr.Yongjiang Shi from University of Cambridge. This book systematically deconstructs a business ecosystem and explores the way to nurture a business ecosystem, by learning from rich cases in a global context. This book is also endorsed by Dr.James Moore as below, who originated the business ecosystem concept in 1993 and authored the most cited business ecosystem book ‘The death of competition: leadership and strategy in the age of business ecosystems’ in 1996.

The new book title is:

‘Business Ecosystems: Constructs, Configurations, and the Nurturing Process’

Authored by Ke Rong (Bournemouth University) & Yongjiang Shi (University of Cambridge)

Abstract:

In the past 20 years, the business ecosystem theory has captured the attention and fired the imagination of many involved in industrial innovation and manufacturing transformation. However, the concepts, boundaries and theoretical systems are still not comprehensively explored and structured. In order to tackle how a company can nurture its business ecosystem for future sustainable competitive advantages, Business Ecosystems provides very detailed and convincing case studies demonstrating the dramatic transformations of the mobile computing industry and the significant impact from its business ecosystem. This book systematically examines business ecosystems in an emerging industry context while fundamentally exploring and identifying four essential areas of business ecosystems: the business ecosystems’ key constructive elements, their typical patterns of element configurations, the five-phase process of their life cycle, and the nurturing strategies and processes from a company perspective. The book not only contributes to different disciplines but also provides insights to practitioners who can be inspired to develop their business ecosystems.

The book’s link:

http://www.amazon.com/Business-Ecosystems-Constructs-Configurations-Nurturing/dp/1137405902/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1422678158&sr=8-1&keywords=business+ecosystem

http://www.palgrave.com/page/detail/business-ecosystems/?k=9781137405906&loc=us

 

Endorsement from Dr.James Moore

Business Ecosystems by Ke Rong and Yongjiang Shi is a landmark in the field of business strategy.  As someone who has lived my life with managers developing business ecosystems, I can attest that the authors “get” the essence and the power of the approach.

Business ecosystems are the dominant design for strategy making in technology-based businesses today.  In practice, business ecosystems are everywhere:  producer-centered, customer-centered, people, technology and product centered.  Business ecosystems nest within others.  Business ecosystems are themselves complexly related.

The authors provide a model for studying business ecosystems in their richness. They review two decades of academic research in order to clarify the construct.  The authors show that business ecosystems dynamics reflect the principles of general systems theory, agent-based-modeling and the mathematics of networks.  Helpfully, the authors demonstrate this by exploring the logical extension of leading systems-based concepts of advanced manufacturing into the domain of business ecosystems.

They demonstrate that the business ecosystem field of application is at a higher logical type than other theories of strategy–that is, business ecosystems ideas guide leaders to intervene to continually reshape industry structure, and to do so simultaneously within multiple related industries. Leaders collaborate to establish ecosystem-wide shared values and visions that in turn support collective conduct and result in shared gains in performance.

Business ecosystems are notoriously difficult for outsiders to study.  The guiding visions of business ecosystems are inherently cross-company and cross-industry, are usually held secret by members, and peer far into the future.

Ke Rong was able to gain access to top leaders in three related very-large-scale global business ecosystems, originating on three different continents and in three forms of capitalism, all contributing to one of the most dynamic fields of world business.  The result is a narrative of great interest to executives as well as researchers.

By sketching the story in its broadest and most complete form, there is much for the rest of us to chew on, refine and question.  The breakthrough is that we can do so as a community, with this work and its methodology as a foundation.

James F. Moore, Concord, Massachusetts, December, 2014

 

 

 

 

GeoNet Launch with climate change event

BU research, Coffee Morning, Fusion, Knowledge Exchange

The fusion funded GeoNet project holds its first event on Tuesday the 3rd of February. The project aims to bring together staff and students from across the university with mutual interests via a series of events, including some lunchtime panel debates and a series of external speakers. GeoNet is very inclusive and anyone with an interest is welcome to come and take part. The events are designed to encourage conversation and interaction, with plenty of audience participation. Our first event is;

A conversation about climate change

Coyne Lecture Theatre

Tues 3rd February, 1-2pm

Come along to the Coyne on the 3rd Feb to join in the first of eleven planned GeoNet events. Join panellists who research the science of climate change and its impacts (John Stewart, Andrew Ford and Pippa Gillingham from the Department of Life and Environmental Sciences) and those who research how best to communicate it (Einar Thorsen, Nathan Farrell and David Fevyer from the Media School) in conversation to find out more about their work. We want this session to be as interactive as possible and there will be lots of opportunities to ask questions and help us as we try to learn from each other.

Tea, coffee and cookies will be provided and all are welcome!

BU conference addresses finance and lending for small businesses

BU research, Business Engagement

A conference at Bournemouth University explored some of the issues around finance and lending to Small and Medium-sized Enterprises (SMEs).

The two-day Entrepreneurship and Access to Finance for SMEs conference brought together speakers and delegates from industry, academia and government agencies to discuss the most pertinent issues of SME finance and credit risk.

A number of breakout sessions and workshops explored key issues around SME finance, borrowing and policy, while keynote speeches were also given by leading names in the finance and lending world – Thortsen Beck, from City University London, and Josh Ryan-Collins, of the New Economics Foundation.

The event marked the start of a project which will be delivered after a successful bid to the Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC), the UK’s leading research and training agency addressing economic and social concerns.

Opening the conference, BU’s Professor Jens Holscher, Principal Investigator for the project, said: “This is the start of a two-year project and the first of seven meetings.

“This is ‘blue sky’ and so we wanted to exchange ideas and even get new things we should be looking at.”

He added: “A key long term and strategic position of BU is to become known for regional economic development and SMEs are key, so we see this project as part of a bigger vision of regional economic development.”

The project team consists of Professor Jens Hölscher and Co-Investigators Professor Andrew Mullineux and Professor Dean Patton, with colleagues from the University of Brighton, Aston University and the University of Nottingham.

The project team will also collaborate with Professor Andreas Horsch and his colleagues from the Technical University of Freiberg in Germany, who will contribute on access to finance from Germany.

Latest Funding Opportunities

BU research, Funding opportunities

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

Association for Industrial Archaeology, GB

Nominations are invited for the Archaeological Reports Award. The awards are given to reports which demonstrate the highest standards of fieldwork, recording and contextual research for industrial archaeological projects. The is one award  for the best report produced by a funded project and one for the best report from a project produced by a voluntary group or individual in alternate years. Each award is worth up to £800. Closing date: 01/03/2015

Colt Foundation, GB

The Colt Foundation invites applications for its fellowships in occupational or environmental health. Fellowships are awarded each year to those qualified in science or medicine who are carrying out research within the area of occupational and environmental health at a UK university. The Fellowship is normally for three years and the research is expected to lead to a PhD degree. The stipend rate for the first year is £14000 rising with inflation the following two years. Closing date: 12/10/2015

Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council, GB

The EPSRC, under the eFuturesXD programme invites applications for its travel award, which will allow researchers from one ICT discipline to spend a short time in a different institute, or for two researchers to spend time in each other’s institutions. Visits are expected to be no longer than a month and exchanges no more than two weeks per visit (1 month in total). Maximum award (100% fEC) is £5000. Closing date: no deadline

The EPSRC, under the eFuturesXD programme invites applications for its facility award. The award is intended for researchers who have a current or recent cross-disciplinary project and require additional resources to take their idea towards commercialisation or require further investment to bridge the gap with follow-on funding. Applications from early stage work are also permitted but evidence of success factors should be included in the application. Maximum award (100% fEC) is £20000. Closing date: no deadline

The EPSRC, under the eFuturesXD programme invites applications for its staff award. The award is primarily aimed at small teams of researchers carrying out larger scoping or “proof of concept” studies, which require dedicated staff (RA’s) to carry out specific tasks (experiments) or an extended visit to a laboratory in order to be immersed in another discipline. Maximum award (100% fEC)  is £60000. Closing date: no deadline

The EPSRC, under the eFuturesXD programme invites applications for its meeting award. Meeting awards are intended to facilitate the building of larger research consortia comprising researchers from a number of departments and institutions across the ICT portfolio. Maximum award limit (100% fEC) is £10000. Closing date: no deadline

Innovate UK, GB

The Next generation predictive policing competition has been launched by South Wales Police and Gwent Police. Its aim is to identify and develop innovative solutions that maximise the effectiveness of resources and enhance the service provided to the communities of Southern Wales. Interested parties must register their interest by 6th March 2015. Organisations will be invited to compete for a share of a total £250000 fund. Closing date: 16/03/2015

 

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.

Knowledge Transfer Partnerships Academic Development Scheme, cohort 2!

BU research, Business Engagement, Funding opportunities, Knowledge Exchange, Knowledge Transfer, Knowledge Transfer Partnership, Uncategorized

I am delighted to announce the launch of the second Knowledge Transfer Partnerships Academic Development Scheme (KTPADS).  This scheme is centrally coordinated through the Research and Knowledge Exchange Office and aims to equip academics with the skills and knowledge required to identify and pursue a Knowledge Transfer Partnership (KTP).

What is KTP?

A KTP is part-funded by the government and the aim of this scheme is to encourage collaboration on projects between businesses and academics.   KTP is managed by Innovate UK (formerly the Technology Strategy Board) and provides benefits to all parties involved – this scheme offers a fusion of academic and industry collaboration supported by an associate (graduate).

What is to benefit to me?

KTP is an excellent way of bringing in income and developing knowledge exchange with a clear pathway to impact.

Key benefits of KTP are as follows:

  • Facilitates research impact
  • Increases research funding, including supervision time for the Knowledge Base Supervisor (academic) to the Associate (graduate), this time averages at half a day a week
  • Contributes to the University’s REF submission
  • Improves links with industry partners
  • Applies knowledge to innovative business-critical projects
  • Raises your profile among colleagues/the Institution

What does this scheme involve?

This scheme consists of an initial one-day development course, on Wednesday 1st April 2015, off campus, to provide you with the necessary information to pursue a KTP in your area of research.  The development day consists of information about KTP, engaging with business and writing proposals.  Members will be required to bring KTP ideas to develop.

Members are then supported throughout the year in developing their KTP ideas including support in working with business and bespoke one-to-one sessions with the Innovate UK KTP Adviser.  Additional support includes a travel budget for members to use on potential KTP collaboration visits.

Expected time commitments for this scheme are: one full day for the development course on 1st April 2015, two half-day support networks in 2015, at least three one-to-ones with the KTP Adviser from Innovate UK and unlimited one-to-ones as per your requirements from the KE Adviser (KTP) within the BU Research and Knowledge Exchange Office.

Please note: the expectations of the scheme are for members to collaborate with business and submit a KTP proposal within a year of starting the scheme.

Dates for your diary

Wednesday 1st April – all day development day

Week commencing 6th April – initial one-to-one

Wednesday 10th June – afternoon support network

Week commencing 21st September – mid-point review one-to-one

Wednesday 9th December – afternoon support network

 

What are the KTP funding priorities?

If you’re interested in working on KTP, there are a number of funding priorities for KTP as detailed below:

  • Advanced materials
  • Nanotechnology
  • Biosciences
  • Electronics, photonics and electrical systems
  • Information and communication technologies
  • High value manufacturing
  • Digital technologies
  • Emerging technologies
  • Energy generation and supply
  • Environmental sustainability
  • -Sustainable agriculture and food
  • -Low impact buildings
  • Creative industries
  • High value services
  • Medicines and healthcare
  • -Assisted living
  • -Detection and identification of infectious agents
  • -Stratified medicine
  • Transport
  • -Low carbon vehicles
  • Space

Special funding calls are also regularly released, currently there is a specialized call for agri-food and space respectively, which are due to close in February and also a call for user experience which closes in April.  Further themes are due to be announced throughout the year.

If your research expertise fits into any of these themes, then KTP could be a great knowledge exchange project for you.

How do I apply?

To apply for a place on the scheme, please contact Rachel Clarke to request an application form.  This form will need to be signed by your Line Manager and please note that all applications will be submitted to the respective Deputy Dean of Research for review to ensure applications meet Faculty strategic aims.   Applications open on Monday 9th February and close at 5pm on Friday 27th February.

If you would like to discuss this scheme or receive an application form, please contact Rachel Clarke, Knowledge Exchange Adviser (KTP) on 01202 961347 or clarker@bournemouth.ac.uk

New opportunity from Innovate UK – SME Growth Support!

BU research, Funding opportunities, Knowledge Exchange, Knowledge Transfer, Knowledge Transfer Partnership, Uncategorized

If you’re working with a business to apply for funding from Innovate UK, for example, a KTP, from January 2015, all SMEs will receive the opportunity to access SME growth support.  This support is available for awarded projects from eligible competitions and includes an online diagnostic, coaching and mentoring opportunities and also skills training in areas such as strategic marketing.  Innovate UK will be providing the funding for SMEs to receive this growth support.

Further information on this new growth support opportunity can be found on the Innovate UK government website.