Category / BU research

3rd edition of ‘Evaluating Public Relations’ published

BU research, Publishing, Research news

The third edition of the enduring public relations text, Evaluating Public Relations, has been published by Kogan Page. Much revised by authors Professor Tom Watson (Media School) and former lecturer Paul Noble, the book has greater emphasis on the measurement of social media and concepts of value created by that communication.

“When the first edition of Evaluating Public Relations came out in 2005, it mostly dealt with the measurement of media relations activity”, Professor Watson said. “In it, we included a chapter on how to measure PR-influenced coverage on a no- or low-cost basis. An updated version is included in the latest edition.

“But the world of PR practice has moved on and so the book includes the measurement and evaluation of social media, more focus on outcomes rather than outputs, and advice to meet increasing demands that PR/communication delivers value to the organisation.”

Professor Watson said that the new edition calls for PR/communication practitioners to take “a big step forward in the planning and strategy-setting processes.”

“Not only should communication objectives align with organisational objectives, but practitioners must ensure that communication is part of the organisation or client’s own objectives.”

The third edition includes new and revised chapters based on Professor Watson’s research into the history of PR measurement and his work, with Professor Ansgar Zerfass of Leipzig University, on methods of performance management in PR/communications.

The case for Open Access within a university…

BU research, Guidance, Info Days, Publishing

…is not simply political or economic or professional. It needs to rest in the notion of what a university is and what it should be … It is central to the university’s position in the public space”

Professor Martin Hall, Vice Chancellor of the University of Salford, UK

A few weeks back we were privileged to welcome experts on the topic of Open Access to speak at Bournemouth University (BU) in an event well attended by delegates from HEIs across England, Scotland and Wales.  BU’s Open Access Event was enjoyed by all who attended and over a series of blog posts I hope to summarise some of the key points raised by each of the speakers. We also filmed the event and will be posting the films shortly for all to watch, enjoy and comment upon.

So to part one of the day, after a wonderful introduction by our Chair and self-acknowledged novice of Open Access Professor Iain McRury, we welcomed Alma Swan to the floor…

Alma Swan is a consultant working in the field of scholarly communication. She is a director of Key Perspectives Ltd, Director of Advocacy for SPARC Europe, and Convenor for Enabling Open Scholarship, an organisation of university managers around the world that promotes the principles of open scholarship and open science. She is also a director of the Directory of Open Access Journals and of the umbrella organisation Infrastructure Services for Open Access. She holds honorary academic positions in the University of Southampton School of Electronics & Computer Science and the University of Warwick Business School. 

Alma lead the introductory address framing the day in a presentation titled ‘The benefits of Open Access’. She began the presentation looking at what open access is:

  • Immediate
  • Free (to use)
  • Free (of restrictions)
  • Access to the peer-reviewed literature (and data)

 And what it is not:

  • Not vanity publishing
  • Not a ‘stick anything up on the Web’ approach
  • Moving scholarly communication into the Web Age

She posed the question of openness using Tim Berners-Lees CERN proposal for an Information Management System (later to become the world-wide- web), drawing attention to his bosses Mike Sendall comments “Vague but exciting…”

 

As an aside there’s a great blog article on Tim Berners-Lees opinions on the Open Agenda  here – http://blog.digital.telefonica.com/2013/10/09/tim-berners-lee-telefonica-open-agenda/ if your interested! Any how, back to the matter in hand…

Alma covered the basics of Open Access highlighting BUs repository BURO, she addressed the disciplinary differences in approaches to Open Access. On average across all disciplines 37% of articles are made Open Access, rising to just under 50% in Mathematics and as low as 20% in the Arts.

She then took us through the advantages to authors for making their outputs Open Access:

1. Improves author visibility

Alma gave a number of testimonials from authors however, here we include Professor Martin Skitmore’s from School of Urban Design, Queensland University of Technology (QUT): 

“There is no doubt in my mind that ePrints [repository] will have improved things – especially in developing countries such as Malaysia … many more access my papers who wouldn’t have thought of contacting me personally in the ‘old’ days.

While this may … increase … citations, the most important thing … is that at least these people can find out more about what others have done…”

 2. Increases usage

We viewed download statistics from a number of institutional repositories – the University of Liege’s repository ORBi has approximately 70,000 references with full text and in April 2014 had just under 100,000 downloads. The University of Salford’s repository USIR has c.9000 records and clocked up over 45,000 downloads in January 2013 alone. In regards, to individual authors we returned to Martin Skitmore (QUT) who had 225,857 downloads and 4858 in the past 28 days!

It is also worth noting the usage of repositorys globally. MIT’s repository usage stats presented in the below map was particularly interesting:

3. More impact

From a citation perspective Open Access can increase citation impact by between 36 to 250% depending on the discipline. She highlighted the difference in citations from OA and non-OA publications across 3 disciplines; Engineering (shown here), Clinical Medicine and Social Sciences all showed significant increases in citations.

 Alma then went on to show the advantages for institutions to make Open Access mandatory, she also posed many topical questions and highlighted thought provoking research. One aspect which struck me in particular, was an analysis of PubMed Centrals unique users which revealed that only 25% of articles were accessed by Universities and the majority 40% were accessed by citizens:

  • 25% universities
  • 18% government and others
  • 40% citizens
  • 17% companies

 Fittingly Alma ended with a quote from Daniel Coit Gilman the First President of Johns Hopkins University in 1878:

“It is one of the noblest duties of a university to advance knowledge and to diffuse it, not merely among those who can attend the daily lectures, but far and wide. “

Full slides from Alma Swans presentation at Bournemouth University’s Open Access Event on the 7th May 2014 are available here internally.

Latest Major Funding Opportunities

BU research, Funding opportunities, Research news

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

BBSRC and NERC invite proposals for both research and research translation projects to the first call of the Sustainable Agriculture Research & Innovation Club (SARIC). Approximately £5M of funding is available for this call, divided between research grants (£3.5M) and research translation grants (£1.5M). A workshop for both calls will be held on 18/06/14 at the Royal Academy of Engineering, London.  The closing date for the Research Translation grants is 4pm on 29/07/14. The closing date for the Outline Research grant proposal is 11/09/14.

Following the BBSRC‘s first phase of the Multidisciplinary Synthetic Biology Research Centres (SBRCs) call in 2013, which established three SBRCs, the call will shortly be launched for phase two. This call has been developed by the RCUK Synthetic Biology Working Group. It is anticipated that the opening date will be in late May, with a closing date in July.

The EPSRC‘s Collaborative Computational Projects (CCPs) bring together the major UK groups in a given field of computational research to tackle large-scale scientific software development projects, maintenance, distribution, training and user support. They play an important role in EPSRC’s ongoing ability to deliver its Software as an Infrastructure strategy and as community based networks and projects they provide a focal point for communities to identify their scientific software requirements and take a strategic approach to software support in a particular field. Subject to quality, up to £2M of funding and 15 FTEs per annum of technical computational support from staff at STFC’s Scientific Computing Department is available to support new and existing Collaborative Computational Projects (CCPs) that underpin research and research communities within the EPSRC remit. Closing date: 4pm on 27/10/14.

The MRC wishes to encourage applications to all MRC research boards, particularly at programme-level, for “systems medicine”: using systems approaches in medical research to build on the research & training foundations laid by other research councils, and encourage a wider range of applications applying systems approaches to medical research – “systems medicine”. For closing dates, please consult the specific Research Board’s deadline date.

The MS Society and the MRC may jointly fund applications identified as a priority by the MS Society. Applications will be assessed in open competition across the MRC’s range of funding schemes. Please see the website for further information.

Nesta, in collaboration with the TSB, has announced the opening of the 2014 Longitude Prize, where the public is invited to vote (22-25 May) on the most pressing problems of our time. In September 2014, applications will be invited for the winning challenge. A total fund of £10m will be available.

NERC, under the Valuing Natural Capital scheme, is seeking to fund research that will help understanding of the implications for natural capital and the provision of ecosystem services of a range of future energy scenarios. These including scenarios that are compatible with the UK’s energy policy challenges of maintaining energy security, keeping energy affordable and cutting greenhouse gas emissions by 80 per cent by 2050. NERC, working closely with the UK Energy Research Centre (UKERC) and its Valuing Nature programme, will be running a two-day interactive strategic ideas brokerage workshop to develop research consortia that will subsequently submit grant proposals to address this challenge. This Announcement of Opportunity is a call for participants for the ideas brokerage workshop, which will take place on 21-22 July 2014 at Warwick Conferences. Closing date: 9am on Monday 16/06/14.

The TSB is to invest up to £3m to support the development of innovations that will enable the use and integration of data to improve the stratification of patients with neurodegenerative diseases  and the provision of business models to, for example, support repositioning of currently available drugs on the basis of stratification for treatment of neurodegenerative diseases. Proposals must be business-led and collaborative. This is a two-stage competition that opens for applicants on 27 May 2014. The deadline for registration is noon on 02/07/14 and the deadline for expressions of interest is noon on 09/07/14. The deadline for projects invited to submit a full-stage application is noon on 09/10/14. A briefing event for potential applicants will be held in London on 10/06/14.

Linked with this, the TSB are making an investment of up to £4m to support the development of products and services for the early diagnosis of neurodegenerative diseases and diagnostic tools to enable the stratification of patients for better treatment and care management. This competition also covers monitoring and aspects of telehealth and telecare as they relate to stratified medicine and the management of patient treatment and care.  Success relies on better and more integrated diagnostic tests to guide treatment and disease management decisions and get patients into the right care pathways. Proposals must be business-led and collaborative.  The deadline for registration is noon on 02/07/14 and the deadline for expressions of interest is noon on 09/07/14. The deadline for invited projects to submit a full-stage application is noon on 09/10/14. A briefing event for potential applicants will be held in London on 10/06/14.

The TSB is to invest up to £6m in collaborative R&D projects that stimulate innovation in the UK digital health sector. The aim of this competition is to support projects with novel ideas for health informatics – specifically, using data to address healthcare needs within a hospital setting. Collaborations that focus on one or more of the following areas – accident and emergency (A&E), planned specialist care, health analytics and connected care are welcome. The funder is seeking proposals that will make secondary care more efficient and empower care providers, patients and their families. Applications should also explore how health informatics can revolutionise existing therapies and services and also be an enabler for those that would not exist without digital technology. Proposals must be collaborative and business-led although project partners can include research and non-profit organisations as well as other businesses. Applicants must register by 25/06/14 with the deadline for expressions of interest being noon on 02/07/14. A briefing event for potential applicants will be held in London on 28/05/14.

The TSB, on behalf of the Home Office, is  inviting applications for projects which help to  identify substitutes for, or additives to, potentially harmful chemicals, to make them non-viable for dangerous and illegal purposes, without hampering their legitimate uses. A briefing event will be held on Tuesday, 10/06/14 in Central London. Applicants must register by 16/07/14 with full applications to be submitted by 23/07/14.

 

Please note that some funders specify a time for submission as well as a date. Please confirm this with your RKE Support Officer.

You can set up your own personalised alerts on ResearchProfessional. If you need help setting these up, just ask your School’s RKE Officer in RKE Operations or see the recent post on this topic, which includes forthcoming training dates up to November 2014.

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

PGR Development Fund Activity Report by Nada Sherief: SciTech

BU research, PG research, Uncategorized

About Me

I am Nada Hany Sherief, a 2nd year Part-time PhD Student in Computing at the Faculty of Science and Technology.

The Conference (EASE 2014)

EASE’14, the International Conference on Evaluation and Assessment in Software Engineering, is one of the top conferences in the area Software Engineering (CORE Rank: A).  This year, EASE was held on 12-14 May, in London, UK.

The Papers

I have submitted two papers to EASE’14. The first is titled by “Crowdsourced Software Evaluation”, and was accepted in the New Ideas track. The second is titled by “Software Evaluation via Users’ Feedback at Runtime” and it was accepted in the Doctoral Symposium of the conference.

The Benefits

The PGR Development Funds from BU enabled me to attend EASE’14, which was an ideal place to launch the new idea of my research and have it discussed with colleagues and experts in the empirical software engineering community.

The research idea of a socialized software evaluation was found very interesting. Both presentations discussed the preliminary results of my research. Also, I presented several research challenges that are not yet addressed in the literature, and could be a starting point for future work not only in my research but also in the wider scope of the community.

This participation has added several skills to me. On the personal side it gave me a good motivation and confidence to continue my work in that area. It also gave our research more visibility in the research community. On the research side, I have gained much feedback about how to enhance and better frame my work which will certainly consolidate my PhD experience.

 

Acknowledgement

I would like to thank the Graduate School at Bournemouth University for their PGR Development Fund which sponsored this activity which had very positive impact on my PhD journey.

PGR Development Fund Activity Report by Malik Almaliki: SciTech

BU research, PG research

The International Working Conference on Requirements Engineering: Foundation for Software Quality (REFSQ) is one of the leading international forums in the area of Requirement Engineering for software systems. My main activity was to present a full research paper at this conference which was held in Essen, Germany, April 7-10, 2014. The paper was titled “Requirements-driven Social Adaptation: Expert Survey” and was collaboratively written with colleagues from University of Birmingham.

In this research paper I disseminated a part of my findings of the first year of my PhD. It reports on the results of a two-phase Expert Opinion study that was conducted to identify core benefits, domain areas, styles of use and challenges for the socially-adaptive software and users’ feedback acquisition. The study involved around 30 experts in Requirement Engineering and Adaptive Systems which also helped us to know how our vision in the area is perceived by the wider community.

The Graduate School PGR Fund provided me with a great opportunity to attend the REFSQ’14 conference and get my work published and recognized. Being able to participate in REFSQ’14 was one of the distinguished events in my PhD journey. It played a significant role in increasing my motivations and confidence and giving my research a visibility in such a well reputed venue. The  reviews of the paper and the feedback given by REFSQ’14 attendees were invaluable and, together with the constructive feedback and critiques,  helped me preparing well for the transfer exam which went very well.  This activity consolidated my presentation and communication skills.

I would like to thank the Graduate School for this PGR Development Fund which enabled me to have this great opportunity.  Participation at REFSQ’14 was a huge motive that pushed me step further towards a successful PhD journey.

HSC postgraduate student speaks at Canadian Conference

BU research, PG research, Uncategorized

 

Pratik Adhikary spoke about his Ph.D. research at the American Canadian Conference for Academic Disciplines (Toronto: 19-22 May 2014).  Pratik presented the key findings from his thesis under the title ‘Health status and health risks to Nepalese migrant workers in the Middle East and Malaysia’.

Pratik is originally from Nepal and he conducted his research with male migrant workers who were returning to Nepal for definite or for a holiday/break.  He is supervised by Dr. Steve Keen and Prof. Edwin van Teijlingen both in HSC.

 

Pratik’s study has been supported by Bournemouth University, the PGR Development Fund and the Open Society Foundations.

 

Edwin van Teijlingen

CMMPH

Sustentabilidade nas Universidades; Reflections on ERASMUS mobility – a personal and professional development opportunity

BU research, EU

I have just returned from an ERASMUS training visit (to share and develop approaches for sustainable development) at the University of Beira Interior (UBI), Covilhã, Portugal. Such a rewarding experience!

Located on the slopes of Serra da Estrela, Covilhã looks out on a fertile valley, framed by mountains – a beautiful location, largely unfamiliar to people from the UK.

The city was once regarded as the ‘Portuguese Manchester’ for its long tradition in the wool industry and textile production, however like other textile towns production ceased, people moved away, and the social and economic consequences for the region were immense.

The University has brought new life to the area and is working towards enhancing the sustainability of the region. One of the most interesting characteristics of UBI is its focus on recovering the abandoned buildings that were formally part of the industrial production process and creating a better environment; retaining historical, cultural and architectural value, while developing sustainable educational facilities has been an important goal.

During my trip I had the opportunity to visit the various sites, give presentations and meet with colleagues. The University has five Faculties (Science, Engineering, Human & Social Sciences, Arts & Letters, and Health Sciences).

Particularly interesting was the tour of the University Wool Museum which is integrated into the science building, and reveals the archaeological structures of the early production process, sets out the historical development of technology, and provides insights on industrialisation. I came away from the tour, thinking of the various ways that this facility could be used to enhance learning for students on any course, not just those interested in science and technology. The motto of the museum “The Threads of the past weaving the future” left me thinking that when we focus on sustainable development, we often emphasise ‘future generations’ but we must also acknowledge and learn from the past.

My visit to the Rectory (housed in the former Convent of Santo António and their equivalent of OVC) also left me thinking. Firstly, they have made a fantastic job of restoration and conversion; they really could do with some students (as motivated as BU students) to reclaim the lovely terraces. Olive and fruit trees are largely over-grown; the space cries out to be developed as a sustainable garden. Secondly, they have made great use of space in the former chapel, however where the choir would formerly have sat, is now where doctoral candidates are judged – the jury type seating made it seem a really intimidating space compared to a room in Christchurch House, to defend a Thesis. And lastly, if I was a member of the senior team in such an idyllic spot, I would probably not be able to resist the urge to get out a hoe and create a vegetable plot – however the urge to just sit in the sun and admire the view, would also be strong!

It is always interesting to meet new colleagues, learn from their perspectives, and to talk with students. The students I presented to during my visit (on Sustentabilidade nas Universidades) were very impressed with what we are doing in the UK, and at BU, to address sustainability. They had lots of questions; later their tutor reported that not only were they were interested to know more but were also challenging her as to why BU students seemed to have a better experience. Some were very keen to come to Bournemouth.

Overall, I came away feeling enriched and with new perspectives. I would recommend an ERASMUS visit to others. Okay the paperwork can seem bureaucratic at first glance but don’t be put off, the rewards are high. I have published four co-authored papers as a result of my first ERASMUS visit; more collaborative outputs will follow. Further, the opportunity to develop broader cultural perspectives on research interests, enhance your language capability and to evaluate how higher education operates in another country is personally and professionally rewarding.

If you would like to make contacts at UBI please get in touch. I would be happy to help.

 

Übersetzen: Translation of the MGI in German

BU research, Publishing, Research news, Uncategorized

 

The Mother-Generated Index (MGI) is a validated tool to assess postnatal quality of life.  It was originally designed and tested by Dr. Andrew Symon (http://nursingmidwifery.dundee.ac.uk/staff-member/dr-andrew-symon) at the University of Dundee.    This instrument is usually administered several weeks or months after birth and correlates with indices of postpartum mood states and physical complaints. The instrument had not been translated into German before or validated for use among German-speaking women, nor have the results of the tool been assessed specifically for the administration directly after birth.  Our recent paper (Susanne Grylka-Baeschlin, Edwin van Teijlingen, Kathrin Stoll and Mechthild Gross) in Midwifery describes the systematic translation process of the MGI into German and to assess the convergent validity of the German version of the instrument directly after birth and seven weeks postpartum

Susanne Grylka-Baeschlin, as part of a European COST Action, has spent time at Bournemouth University’s Centre for Midwifery, Maternal and Perinatal Health.  Susanne Grylka-Bäschlin is a Swiss midwife based at the Hannover Medical School, Germany, who studies cultural differences in postnatal quality of life among German-speaking women in Switzerland and Germany.

 

Prof. Edwin van Teijlingen

 

CMMPH

Foot Lab: Call for Volunteers

BU research

How unique is a human footprint? What is the variability in a person’s footprint? How do human footprints vary with body mass?

These are just some of the questions that Professor Matthew Bennett is currently exploring and needs volunteers to help with his research.

He is looking for three types of volunteer:

  • Any adult – staff or student – who would be prepared to walk barefoot in a tray of sand leaving a dozen footprints and have their weight, height and age recorded. Some of you may remember doing this for a previous experiment back in 2007 and are encouraged to take part again. It takes no more than ten minutes and all the data, including digital scans or your footprints, are stored anonymously and cannot be traced back to you.
  • Any adult – staff or student – who is prepared to donate about an hour of their time to leave multiple barefoot tracks in the sand tray. We are looking for at least a hundred tracks per individual and this will involve you walking up and down the sand tray multiple times while we scan your tracks.
  • Any children accompanied by their parents (staff or student) of any age, from those that have just learnt to walk, to those that are approaching 17 years old. Some parents will have already seen that the Talbot Campus Nursery is involved and their children may be participating via that route.

The experiments have full ethical clearance from BU and you will receive full particulars and be asked to sign a consent form for yourself and for your children should they wish to get involved. All the data will be held anonymously and no individual will be identifiable from their data. The data will only be used to generate scientific results and publications.

The Foot Lab will be open to the public as part of the Festival of Learning 2014 on the 9 and 10 June, but the lab is open for BU staff and students from 27 May to 20 June.  It is located on the Talbot Campus in in CAG01a. Email Matthew Bennett to book a time for yourself, a group of colleagues, or for you and your children to come in.

Most times of the day (Monday to Friday) can be accommodated especially if you are bringing in children and may be able to open the Foot Lab for small groups at the weekend. For those studying or working on the campus the Foot Lab will normally open for two slots a day (Monday to Friday) between 10am and 11.30am and again in the afternoon between 3.30pm and 5pm.

SciTech postgraduate conference and poster presentation

BU research, PG research, Research news

Yesterday the postgraduate researchers in the Faculty of Science and Technology (SciTech) held their annual showcase of their research projects. For the applied sciences students this took the form of 15 minutes presentations and the design, engineering and computing students presented posters.

Former PhD student Kathryn Ross opened the presentations in the Lawrence Lecture Theatre and likened the process of studying for a doctorate to taking part in a 100 mile walk. Kathryn was an inspiration to her peers, showing how hard work and persistence can get results. Her own PhD project investigating the effects of sea-level rise on the avocet population in Poole Harbour yielded new and interesting findings about the birds’ diet.

The subsequent presentations were outstanding, covering a wide variety of topics including how parasites impact eco-systems, volunteer engagement, the process of ageing fish and the spread of the domestic chicken through Europe.

The posters were equally impressive, featuring rescue robots, intelligent call routing and lie detector technology among others.

The work of the Bournemouth University Dementia Institute (BUDI) postgraduate researchers was strongly represented, including a remarkable project looking at adapted home environments for people living with dementia.

It was wonderful to see the amazing research being carried out by BU’s postgraduate community, with the support of their dedicated supervisors. I have no doubt many of them will make valuable contributions to their field in the future.

And to any postgraduate researchers reading this… If you would like to share your research more widely via the BU website or other channels, please do email me. I’d love to help you with that. Additionally, if you are interested in taking part in any public engagement activity, we have some great opportunities including a tent at Camp Bestival. If you like to find out more please email our Public Engagement Manager Barry Squires.

‘A Land of Wine and Beauty’

Awarded & submitted bids, BU research, Fusion

A new Erasmus Fusion Investment Fund for staff mobility and networking was awarded to Dr Clive Hunt, Lead Academic – Design and Engineering, Faculty of Science and Technology.  This follows a recent Erasmus partnership agreement between BU and the University of Applied Sciences (FHWS) in Schweinfurt, which is situated in Franconia, Germany – one of Europe’s oldest wine-growing regions and described as “a land of wine and beauty” by the Franconian Tourist Board.
As reported in a previous blog, the educational focus of FHWS is on design and engineering with a strong business/industrial focus.  Clive’s visit to Germany, which has now taken place, was for a period of five days and included six hours of teaching as well as networking with two of FHWS’s industrial partners – ZF and Bosch and Siemens Home appliances (BSH).  ZF is a worldwide leading supplier of dampers and clutches to the automotive industry and BSH’s product portfolio, which most will be familiar with, spans the spectrum of modern household appliances from stoves and ovens to small appliances like vacuum cleaners and coffee machines.
From visiting these companies, as well as talking to staff and students at the university, it became very clear that the mind-set of the German industrial sector was such that it saw an active role in undergraduate development.  Prof Dr Marcus Schulz of FHWS, explained that the German industrial sector saw placement students as being particularly valuable in helping to solve business problems and he commented that “the university’s industrial partners actually compete for students!”  Companies provide undergraduates with a five month placement opportunity as well as providing almost all students with a final year project (thesis).
To further the strategic partnership between our two institutions, Clive’s visit included meetings with the University’s Vice President, Prof Dr -Ing Bernhard Arndt as well as Prof Dr Uwe Sponholz, Dean of the Faculty of Business and Engineering.  Developing joint research projects as well as encouraging student mobility between our two institutions is clearly a priority of FHWS and this aligns to the Faculty of Science and Technology’s (SciTech) own interest in furthering research and academic collaboration. From the beginning of next academic year FHWS will be delivering its courses in English which will provide SciTech students with an opportunity to study part of their degree abroad, providing units at BU can be aligned with theirs and delivery problems in terms of timing, etc., can be overcome.
One area in which FHWS is keen to develop its research is around creativity and ideas generation by engineers and their managers and the university has recently developed one of its teaching spaces into a “Creative Cube” for this purpose.  This room consists of a 70” touch screen computer, webcams, video cameras, an ambience ceiling with 40,000 LED’s, iPads, notebooks, relaxing chairs, a device that changes the smell of the room as well as having walls that are magnetic and which can be written on.  If there are any colleagues, here at BU, who would like to get involved in a joint pedagogical research project between ourselves and FWHS, that considers how learning is impacted upon by the environmental conditions of a teaching space then please get in touch with Clive (chunt@bournemouth.ac.uk).

IT as a Utility Community conference

BU research, Uncategorized

As part of the community, BUCSU is supporting Southampton University with this UK network.

IT as aUtility: Network+ community conference

                                             Thursday 19th – Friday 20th June 2014

This will be a two-day presentation and reflection on the achievements so far and the future plans of the RCUK-funded IT as a Utility Network+. The event will be an opportunity to further examine the role of IT utilities in the digital economy both now and in the future.

If you are interested in booking onto this event, please book your place via Eventbrite.

In addition to this, BU will be hosting a ‘Data as a utility and analytics as a service’ workshop at the Executive Business Centre on Monday 9th June from 12pm – 6pm.

Collaboration between BU and China!

BU research

Last week Dr Biao Zeng organised a seminar with guest speaker, Jianfang Cheng, Deputy Chief of the Zhongguancun Science Park London Office.  Zhongguancun Science Park is a consortium of hi-tech industry and is often referred to as China’s ‘Silicon Valley’.

Dr Zeng invited colleagues and students from across the Institution to attend this seminar and find out more about how we can build a partnership with various companies who are based at the Park.  Ms Cheng was keen to find out about the key areas of research at BU and to explore whether there were research and collaboration opportunities between BU and Zhongguancun Science Park.

Rachel Clarke – KTP Officer

clarker@bournemouth.ac.uk

Money Available for Open Access Publishing!

BU research, Publishing

Back in April 2011 we launched the BU Open Access Publication Fund. This is a dedicated central budget that has been launched in response to, and in support of, developments in research communication and publication trends. The fund is also to support research in complying with some of the major funding bodies who have introduced open access publishing requirements as a condition of their grants.

The fund is available for use by any BU author ready to submit a completed article for publication who wishes to make their output freely and openly accessible.

If you are interested in applying to the fund then you need to email Pengpeng Hatch in RKEO with the following information:

  • Name of the open access publication
  • Confirmation this will be a peer reviewed paper
  • A short justification (1 paragraph) of why it is beneficial for your research to be published in this particular open access publication
  • The cost of the open access publication
  • Likely publication date
  • Likely REF Unit of Assessment (UOA)
  • A copy of the paper

If you have any questions about the Fund then please direct them to Shelly via email.

Further information: BU Open Access Fund policy

Facebook User Interface to suit Saudi Arabian culture

BU research, PG research, Research news

We would like to invite you to the next research seminar of the Creative Technology Research Centre that will be delivered by Hana Almakky.

 

Title: Facebook User Interface to suit Saudi Arabian culture

Time: 2:00PM-3:00PM

Date: Wednesday 28th May 2014

Room: P302 (Poole House, Talbot Campus)

 

Abstract: Social media has continued growing in Saudi Arabia. Millions of businesses and trades are now using social media for entertainment, advertisement and promoting themselves internationally. Social networking sites, like Facebook, Twitter, YouTube etc., have gained huge popularity at personal as well as professional scale. Therefore, work is being done to evolve the modes of communication over these platforms, extensively. My research explores the effect of Saudi cultures on the design of social media site of Facebook. The expected outcome of this research will be a theoretical framework that guides the design of a user interface for Facebook to meet the Saudi’s expectations.

We hope to see you there,

 

Dr. David John