Category / BU research

What’s the importance of RKE Ops?

BU research, Guidance, R & KE Operations

 The Research and Knowledge Exchange Operations (RKE Ops) team are here to help academics apply for external funding.  There are so many funders out there with so many different guidelines that it’s not always easy to find out how, who and what you should be applying to.

Costings of all proposals (including those that we are not the lead on) need to be undertaken by RKE Ops before proposals reach the submission stage.  Costings are undertaken by RKE Ops to ensure that a) they are complete and include full costs, b) that they include indirect and estates costs at current BU rates and c) that they include inflation at the BU rate.  Proposals need to be added to RED in order to track our bidding activity, which is in turn reported on and used for KPI’s, HEBCI and HESA returns; and RED generates the APF (Activity Proposal Form explained below).  The costs need to be added to our costings system, pFACT, for accurate costings and audit purposes. 

In addition to this, Legal Services need to check whether we are agreeing to any terms and conditions in advance of submitting the bid – and, if so, what these are.  We also need to check for any potential financial issues in advance of submission that need to be noted (for example, the risk of exchange rate fluctuations).  The APF (Activity Proposal Form from RED detailing the costs and income) and CAF (Contract Agreement Form from Legal Services detailing any legal or financial risks) need to be signed by a BU authorised signatory before the bid can be submitted; this gives approval for submission. This approval ensures that the appropriate senior staff (DDRE/DoP/Dean/UET members/Board members) are aware of the risks and commitments which arise from us undertaking the project, assuming it were to be awarded.  Some proposals will also have to go through the Quality Approval process, which is processed by RKE Operations.

The RKE Operations team will need to go through all of the above processes before the approval process can be completed.  In addition, an intention to bid form needs to be completed at the beginning to establish what processes an application may need to go through and the timescales required.  If you are intending to bid then please contact the Support Officer for your School to obtain a form (they have been tailored for each School).

The purpose of having a centralised group is that we connect all the necessary processes for academics (Finance, Legal, School signatories) and we’re there to help ensure that the application has the best possible chance of being funded.  If academics are successful then they will receive a contract and that contract has to go through certain processes in order to obtain the money and ensure it goes to the correct place.  Most importantly, if this information is never recorded on RED then it has a knock on effect on several things.  BU receives additional money from HEFCE based on the funding that we have received throughout the year.  Small pots of money add up to large sums and if these are never recorded then we lose out on additional funds from HEFCE.  Also, there are KPI’s with targets for R&KE funding to be obtained by academics in each of the Schools.  By not recording funding this will have a detrimental effect on the Schools targets for meeting the KPI’s.

If you’d like more information on RKEO as a whole then please see this helpful leaflet: R&KEO Leaflet

Decreasing spatial disorientation: towards dementia-friendly environments: A progress report

BU research, Featured, Research news

Spatial disorientation is among the earliest indicators of dementia, an increasingly common condition in our ageing society that currently costs the UK £23 billion annually. With support of the Fusion-CCCP strand we have created ViRtUOS (Virtual Reality User Orientation System), a state-of-the-art eye-tracking and virtual environments research platform which will facilitate the study of factors that affect spatial disorientation in people with dementia. Data gathered using ViRtUOS will be used to formulate design principles for dementia-friendly care homes, reducing care costs, and leading to new knowledge with significance and reach.

To develop ViRtUOS we have brought together undergraduate RAs from Computing, Creative Technology and Computer Animation to work co-operatively and as part of a high-level, well-resourced multi-disciplinary team.

This video demonstrates the results of their excellent work:

 CLICK HERE TO VIEW; http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w1oo6JXWNuY

So far, this FIF project has been a great success and feedback from the students RAs suggests that they have enjoyed this unique student experience and that working in an inter-disciplinary team has helped them improve their skills.

Excerpts from students’ feedback:

“I enjoyed working on a project which is not exactly ordinary in my field, and working with people who come from different professional backgrounds. It was interesting to see how contrasting subjects tie into the same workflow to try and produce a coherent product. Personally, I am glad to take away new knowledge about my own study subject and the ones of my fellow colleagues; most of that knowledge I will surely apply in my last year of study.” Jurate Pozeraite (Computer Animation, Media School)

“I’ve learnt a lot in my time here, which will be invaluable for both my final year project and my future career. I’ve learnt not only about software development, but about modelling, developing reliable systems, working as a team to produce a joint system and error handling and bug fixing. I feel that working with other students, in a similar position to myself, really helped me in this project. They made me feel at ease and they helped me learn about their roles in developing this system, which otherwise I would have completely ignored. Overall I feel that for me personally this was a very worthwhile project, for expanding my experience and learning something new. I would love to continue my work with this project for as long as possible.” William Chappell (Computing, DEC)

“During the full length of the project I had learnt more and more, I think that this was the best opportunity I have had in a long time. This job gave me lots of experience with people from different schools, which have completely different perspectives. They are both brilliant in their profession and I have learned a lot from them. Also I hope they have learned some things from me. Generally, I have gained new skills including working with ‘Vizard 4.0’ software and ‘3DsMax’. In fact, the project was really interesting and I was glad to not only earn experience from it but also produce a good quality product at the end. Overall I am very happy that I get a chance to work with such a wonderful team. It was a great experience that improves my skills for future projects. If I had a chance to go back in time and redo this project again I will definitely do it.” Arkadiusz Szerszmidt (Creative Technology, DEC)

 We believe that ViRtUOS has great potential to also foster other inter-disciplinary collaborations within BU and we would like to invite academics and students from across BU to get in contact with us, visit the laboratory and explore its potential for their research interests.

The further development of ViRtUOS will be driven by two PhD projects that started in October this year and we are planning to run first experiments investigating spatial orientation in people with dementia soon.

The team, from left to right: Arkadiusz Szerszmidt (undergraduate RA, Creative Technology), William Chappell (undergraduate RA Computing), Mary O’Malley (PhD student, Psychology & BUDI), Mariela Gaete-Reyes (BUDI), Jurate Pozeraite (undergraduate RA, Computer Animation), Chris Ramsey (PhD student, CDE), Jan Wiener (Psychology & BUDI)

 CLICK HERE TO VIEW THE VIDEO !!!

By Mariela Gaete-Reyes & Jan Wiener

BUCRU Events and Services

BU research

Bournemouth University Clinical Research Unit (BUCRU) incorporates the Dorset office of the National Institute for Health Research (NIHR) Research Design Service South West (RDS SW). This means that in addition to the support outlined in previous blogs, we can also provide access to the following:

RDS SW Grant Applications Workshop

The grant applications workshop is directed at researchers who are considering applying to peer-reviewed funding competitions for applied health or social care research, and is intended to allow them to turn good applications into excellent ones.

The workshop does not provide detailed training in research methodology but rather covers the full range of issues inherent in developing a successful grant application. It will be of relevance to researchers applying to any of the major health research funders, but particularly the NIHR funding schemes.

Researchers should have a plan for a project but, ideally, a worked up proposal, even one that has been previously rejected. All proposals will receive detailed written feedback from the RDS team.

The next workshop will be held at Taunton Racecourse, Somerset on the 7th November 2013. Unfortunately, the deadline for applying has now passed. The next workshop is scheduled for the spring. For more information please see http://www.rds-sw.nihr.ac.uk/gaw.htm.

RDS SW Residential Research Retreat

The Residential Research Retreat provides an opportunity for research teams to develop high quality health related research proposals suitable for submission to national peer-reviewed funding schemes. The aim of the Retreat is to provide the environment and support to promote rapid progress in developing proposals over a relatively short time period.

At the retreat participants are supported by a range of experts while developing their research proposal. They work intensively on their proposal, while learning how to maximise its chances for successfully securing a grant.

The next Retreat will be held at the Ammerdown Conference Centre, near Bath in Somerset from 1 June to 6 June 2014 inclusive. To win a place on the Retreat, applications should be submitted by 1pm on Friday 17th January 2014. For more information see http://www.rds-sw.nihr.ac.uk/rrr.htm or our recent blog post http://blogs.bournemouth.ac.uk/research/2013/09/24/desperate-for-uninterrupted-quality-time-on-your-grant-application-come-to-the-residential-research-retreat/.

 RDS SW Project Review Committee

The RDS SW Project Review Committee provides an excellent opportunity for researchers to obtain a critical review of a proposed grant application before it is sent to a funding body. The Committee brings the benefit of seeing the proposal with “fresh eyes”, replicating as far as possible the way the real funding committee will consider the application. Committee members include senior research consultants who have considerable experience of obtaining research funding, resulting in comprehensive comments and advice.

Committee meetings take place approximately nine times per year. To submit a study for review at the meeting, paperwork must be provided to the Committee via BUCRU two weeks prior to the meeting date, and at least a couple of months before the intended funding deadline. For more information and a list of meeting dates see http://www.rds-sw.nihr.ac.uk/project_review_committee.htm.

 Centre of Postgraduate Medical Research and Education (CoPMRE) Annual Symposium

In addition to events aimed at supporting the development of grant applications we also host an event geared towards dissemination. The CoPMRE Tenth Annual Symposium was held on 16th October 2013 at the Executive Business Centre (please see our recent blog post http://blogs.bournemouth.ac.uk/research/2013/10/22/copmre-tenth-annual-symposium-2/). These successful annual conferences have been running for the past ten years and have featured themes such as ‘Professionalism and Collaboration’, ’Research Innovation’, ‘Interprofessional Learning’, and ‘Social Media’. This year’s Symposium focused on medical devices and medical education.  The conference is open to all healthcare professionals and academics.  Information about the next Symposium will be posted on our website in due course and you will be able to register online nearer the time.

Contact us: For further information about the Grant Applications Workshop, the Residential Research Retreat and the Project Review Committee you can contact us by:

Or pop and see us on the 5th floor of Royal London House!

The number two FAQ for BRIAN is ‘where did my grants go’?

BU research, Guidance

To follow on from yesterday’s topic, the second FAQ that we are asked for BRIAN is ‘where did my grants go’?

When you have added grants to BRIAN and you want to view them, click on ‘Grants’ from your home page.  If you are presented with the following screen:

This is either because you have not entered any grant data or it may be due to the filters at the bottom of your page.  If you scroll down the page, you will see the following filters:

You need to select either Primary or Secondary Investigator to view your grants.  Unfortunately, there isn’t a ‘view all’ option at present.  I’m reliably informed by Symplectic that this will be available in the next version.

I hope this helps.  If you have any queries, please contact us at BRIAN@bournemouth.ac.uk.  We’re here to help.

 

Last Minute 1-2-1 Appointments Available Today with Martin Pickard – 24th October!

BU research, Grants Academy, R & KE Operations, Research news

If you feel you would benefit from a ‘face to face’ meeting with Martin  in relation to any bid/proposal you are currently working on please contact me Dianne Goodman Today!

Martin currently has the following appointments available on the 24th of October at the following times at Lansdowne Campus:

Morning

  • 10:45am – 11:30am

Afternoon

  • 14:45pm – 15:30pm

Appointments are approx 45 minutes long

.

Martin Pickard

With a career background in both Academia and Industry Dr. Martin Pickard of Grantcraft is a specialist in writing and supporting research grant applications and tenders as well as providing administrative and management support services for ongoing projects. During the last 20 years Martin has worked extensively across Europe with a large number of universities, and research institutes as well as industrial firms, ranging from small SME’s to major international companies.

Martin is providing individual 1-2-1 surgeries with any BU academic staff member and works individually and confidentiality with each Principal Investigator as the project is structured and prepared in order to optimize the application documentation from every aspect of the Funders perspective; guiding, steering and showing how to optimize the application throughout the bid process.

Academics at BU who have undertaken his guidance have stated:

 ‘his support and direction was invaluable – Martin gave me some pragmatic suggestions which really helped to shape the bid. His eye for detail made the document much easier to read and the message much clearer. I was very grateful for his input’  Assoc. Prof Heather Hartwell School of Tourism.

The process, although labour intensive, works; with a proven historical average success rates of close to 1 in 2 against norms of (1 in 8 to 1 in 10)

Book Now through me Dianne Goodman – Martin’s appointments are always popular.

 

Sustainable Design Research Centre: Research and Professional Practice Activities and Engagement

BU research

About SDRC

Studies of surface wear mechanisms and integration of sustainable development issues within advanced engineering components and systems is the underlying principle of this research centre. Issues of tribology (friction, wear and lubrication) are studied to help understand their influence on product durability and energy consumption. SDRC has significant industrial funding and partnership in research into structural integrity in terms of corrosion, corrosion condition monitoring and prediction, nano coatings, oil condition monitoring, renewable technology & rolling contact failure.

The activities of SDRC include four areas

  1. Tribology
  2. Renewable Technology & Sustainable Design
  3. Structural Integrity and
  4. Design Education.

The Centre has extensive experimental and analytical resources to assess wear mechanisms of rolling and sliding contacts, corrosion simulation, renewable technology and surface analyses. These include rotary tribometer, micro-friction machine, corrosion simulation chamber, solar-thermal heat transfer & thermal expansion bench testing, 2D and 3D surface analysis techniques.

We have formed strong partnerships with multinational companies such as SK&F (Netherlands), Oakland Ridge National Laboratories (USA), Royal National Lifeboat Institution (RNLI), Future Energy Source Ltd, Defence Science & Technology Laboratory (DSTL) Ministry of Defence, Schaeffler, Energetix, Smith & Nephew plc, The Tank Museum, Poole Tidal Energy Partnership, Balmain Trust and have secured funding from The Royal Academy of Engineering and EPSRC.

Collaborative work is also being carried out with other universities such as Oviedo University in Spain, County Carlow Institute of Technology in Ireland, University of Wisconsin Milwaukee USA, PES Institute of Technology Bangalore India and National Institute of Technology Srinagar India.

Research Themes within SDRC

Tribology

Design for Whole Life Cycle managed Programme titled “Sustainable Development of Mechanical Systems using replacement environmental acceptable refrigerants” (£110K EPSRC plus £8K in kind from BP Castrol Technology Centre) was completed in this area of research. This research theme was further developed by another EPSRC funded studentship (£45K) with BP Castrol and Plint and Partners as industrial collaborators.

EPSRC previously funded two industrial CASE projects, “Sustainable design of lifeboat launching systems”, (£65K) and “Tribology Tests Using Oil Condition Monitoring Techniques” (£130+704K + 4K) with the Royal National Lifeboat Institution. This research is looking to identify a non-invasive condition monitoring approach that is suitable for the RNLI mode of operations and maintenance environment.

A BU funded research looking into Sustainable Design of Domestic Micro Combined Heat and Power (CHP) systems was recently completed. Micro CHP systems are very efficient and effective in generating electricity and in producing heat and hot water simultaneously.

SK&F Engineering and Research Centre (The Netherlands) have fully funded 3 PhD studentships (£38K, £54K and £57K), one fellowship (£70K) and a number of short-term projects (£16K).

Schaeffler is match funding a PhD studentship (£24K plus £41K in kind) looking into Electroplated composite coatings with incorporated nano particles for tribological systems with a focus on water lubrication. Schaeffler develops and manufactures precision products for machines, equipment, vehicles and aerospace applications. Schaeffler is a leading manufacturer of bearings worldwide and a renowned supplier to the automotive industry.

Renewable Technology & Sustainable Design

It is envisaged that further expansion of this research area, in conjunction with a large commercial partner could potentially produce a substantive portfolio of academic activity.

Renewable Technology has been identified as a BU cross-school and cross-disciplinary area within the BU’s Technology & Design Theme. The research engagement and funded projects have significantly increased in a short period of time. SDRC has been actively engaged with Poole Tidal Energy Partnership. Students led projects in mechanical current turbine and heat pumps have been completed in partnerships with the local community interest groups and stakeholders in renewable technology.

This theme has led to strong collaborative links with industry interested in renewable technology. Future Energy Source is fully funding (£49K plus in kind support £50K/year lab staff over four years, £10K/year estates costs over four years & £20K lab equipments in solar-thermal simulation and thermodynamics expansion lab) PhD research in “Research and development in novel alternative renewable energy technology” and a second project (£48K) in “Experimental investigation and mathematical modelling of dynamic equilibrium of novel thermo fluids for renewable technology applications”. In addition another short term research project looking into quantitative assessment of existing bench testing in Renewable Technologies (£3600) is funded by Future Energy Source Ltd.

Significant partnerships have been established with cross-channel academic and industrial partners within renewable technology in mechanical current turbines (tidal and fluvial) to work towards the EU strategy of renewable technology. AmpereWave has shown interest in research collaborations with SDRC. Balmain Charitable Trust is match funding (£30K) PhD in “An optimised tidal energy design for Poole harbour”.

SDRC is actively working with industry and continues to support renewable technology and sustainable design projects in the form of enterprise, short courses and consultancy.

The Centre has completed a Knowledge Transfer Partnership (KTP) projects with Electronic Technician Limited. The partnerships were to improve the competitiveness and productivity of the companies through the better use of knowledge, technology and skills.

Structural Integrity

The Tank Museum at Bovington is one of the world’s largest museums which has over 300 historic military vehicles. These vehicles are subject to structural deterioration through corrosion, corrosion fatigue, stress corrosion cracking and mechanical failures. The Tank Museum at Bovington match funded (£25K + £3600) a PhD research programme in “Sustainable Methodology of Conserving Historic Vehicles”. This project provided an understanding of military vehicle preservation from a predominantly technical viewpoint with aspects of project management and ethics of museum artefacts. The interesting aspects of this project with the Tank Museum are the requirements to run and operate large and heavy vehicles after periods of non-use in various humidity and temperature environments.

The current research in collaboration with the Tank Museum has made significant contributions to knowledge creation and exchange through coupling research in UG and PGT live projects with The Tank Museum. The outcomes to date have been disseminated through prestigious international journals (Insight: Non-Destructive Testing and Condition Monitoring, Journal of Materials Performance and Characterisation, Engineering (ASTM) & Tribology Transactions), commercial articles and international conferences as invited keynote speaking at Cranfield University, Oxford University, Cardiff University, The Institute of Physics and Time Higher Education.

The findings have also attracted international industrial players in corrosion, structural deterioration and materials’ characterisation, who have been involved through in-kind support such as NASA Materials Testing and Corrosion Control Branch (joint research publication). BAE Systems, Technology Design Limited, PANalytical Ltd, Analatom, PMI Analytical, Carl-Zeiss Cambridge and West-Dean Chichester (in kind £21K in total) in experimental resources.

Defence Science and Testing Laboratories (DSTL), Ministry of Defence is match funding (£22.5K) PhD studentship in “In-situ corrosion health monitoring and prediction in military vehicles.

Design Education

Teaching development based on research was the basis of the successful grant from the Royal Academy of Engineering grant in Sustainable development to second a visiting professor (£98K over five years). This activity has resulted in learning and teaching resource used for teaching all levels of design group programmes and by other UK and European universities.

The historical research area of the SDRC, as evidenced by the themes above, has revolved around the highly technical aspects of sustainable design, namely the techno-centric dimension. However, more recently, the research of the SDRC has expanded to encompass the socio-cultural aspects of sustainable design. Initially, this developed from the area of sustainable design education with the awarding of an HEA grant to build a web-based learning resource for the socio-centric dimension, however, this has now expanded through consultancy work currently being undertaken, and through current bidding for funding, for example, to investigate how product life spans may be extended by re-designing products with a focus on product attachment.

SDRC has established long standing collaborations with University of Wisconsin Milwaukee USA, PES Institute of Technology Bangalore India, National Institute of Technology Srinagar India and Oviedo University Spain.

SDRC has visiting professors from PES Institute of Technology Bangalore India, National Institute of Technology Srinagar India and visiting research fellows from Oviedo University Spain

Current PGRs & Research Projects

Surname First Name Project Title
ALKHATEEB Maryam Element, Use and Meaning: Between the Vernacular and Current Interiors in Saudi Arabia, Eastern Region.
ANAND Mayank A Condition Based Approach to the Tribology of RNLI Marine Systems
AWAN Abdul Waheed Defect Tolerance Assessment of Silicon Nitride in Rolling Contact
MAHER Carmel Practice Based Design Research: Development of research models, methodologies and evaluation criteria appropriate to its intellectual culture.
MORGAN Alan Optimisation of Braking Systems and Sustainable Design in Traction Drive Passenger and Goods Lifts
NASSEF Iman A Market Driven Standard for a High Quality Graduate
SAEED Adil Sustainable Methodology of Conserving Historic Vehicles
WEN Zheming (Bruce) Research and development in novel alternative renewable energy technology
NAZIR Mian Hammad In-situ corrosion health monitoring and prediction in military vehicles
BAJWA Rizwan Electroplated composite coatings with incorporated nano particles for tribological systems with the focus on water lubrication
HÜSEYN UTKU Helvaci Experimental investigation and mathematical modelling of dynamic equilibrium of novel thermo fluids for renewable technology applications

Public Engagement

http://blogs.bournemouth.ac.uk/research/2013/05/23/renewable-energy-and-renewable-technology-public-engagement-event/

SDRC Membership

  1. Ben Thomas
  2. Christine Keenan
  3. Clive Hunt
  4. Franziska Conrad
  5. Gary Underwood
  6. Kamran Tabeshfar
  7. Mark Hadfield
  8. Nigel Garland
  9. Sarah Palmer
  10. Tania Humphries
  11. Tilak Ginige
  12. Zulfiqar Khan

 

Contact Us

For research, enterprise or professional practice inquiries within SDRC themes please contact

Dr Zulfiqar Khan (Associate Professor)

Director SDRC

zkhan@bournemouth.ac.uk

The number one FAQ for BRIAN is ‘I can’t see _____’. Find out the answer below

BU research, Guidance

 

A couple of months ago we upgraded BRIAN to a new version, which should be more easy to navigate through.  However, in making it super whizzy and giving you different ways to view your data, it’s not always easy to see the obvious.  So, the number one question we get asked is ‘I can’t see where to enter x’.  The main thing being grants and professional activities.

The reason for this is because there are new tabs at the top, which show different data.

It would seem logical that all your data is under ‘my profile’ but it isn’t.   ‘My Profile’ is just a summary page of what you have previously entered under publications and grants.  In order to enter data against your BRIAN account, you need to ensure that you are on the home page, which is symbolised by a picture of a house.  The home page will enable you to enter publications, grants and professional activities.

 

I hope this helps.  If you have any queries, please contact us at BRIAN@bournemouth.ac.uk.  We’re here to help.

Congratulations and Good Luck

BU research, News from the PVC

September saw a slight reduction of activity for bids being submitted and a number of awards were won with congratulations due to Schools for winning research grants, consultancy contracts and organising Short Courses.

For ApSci, congratulations are due to Adrian Newton, Ralph Clarke and Judith DeGroot (DEC) for their NERC grant, which is part of the Biodiversity & Ecosystem Service Sustainability (BESS) project, to Fiona Coward and Bronwen Russell for their short course on an introduction to world prehistory, to Richard Stillman for his award from Scottish Natural Heritage, to Rick Stafford, Genoveva Esteban, Duncan Golicher and Roger Herbert for their NERC award, to Jonathan Monteith for his two consultancies with Anesco, as well as consultancies with Sherborne Castle Estates and Distributed Generation Ltd, and to Adrian Pinder for his consultancy with the Environment Agency.  Good luck to Paola Palma for her application to English Heritage, to John Gale for his short course on Guided walk – aspects of prehistoric West Dorset, to Adrian Pinder for his consultancies to Natural England and to the Game & Wildlife Conservation Trust, to Rick Stafford and Chris Shiel for their application to Higher Education Academy, to Sulaf Assi for her consultancy to Royal Society of Chemistry, and to Jonathan Monteith for his consultancy to Roofing Cladding & Building Ltd.

For the Business School, good luck to Melanie Klinkner, Sascha Dominik Bachmann and Howard Davis for their application to United States Institute of Peace, to Thanh Cong Huynh for his European Commission Marie Curie Fellowship, to Gbola Gbadamosi and Lois Farquharson for their application to the Higher Education Academy to investigate the contribution of aspirations in shaping personal trajectories and outcomes, and to Hiroko Oe for her application to the Daiwa Anglo-Japanese Foundation.

For DEC, congratulations to Simon Thompson and Biao Zeng for their pilot study on Auditory Selective Attention and Lexical Tone Perception under a Whisper Condition for Chongqing University.  Good luck to Andrew Johnson for his application to Wellcome Trust, to Martin Teal and Glyn Hadley for their application to Royal Academy of Engineering to research Virtual Reality Simulation of WW1 Tank Battles, to Jacqui Taylor, Raian Ali and Keith Phalp for their match funded studentships to Higher Education Academy, to Marcin Budka for his EPSRC application, and to Sarah Bate for her application to the British Psychological Society.

For HSC, a number of short courses were awarded and so congratulations are due to Anthea Innes working with Bournemouth Borough Council, to Clive Andrewes with Royal Bournemouth and Christchurch Hospitals NHS, and to grants academy member Jane Murphy, Joanne Holmes and Sophie Smith with Abbeyfield Solent Society Ltd.  Good luck to Fotini Tsofliou for his pilot study to Rank Prize Funds, to Maggie Hutchings, Caroline Ellis-Hill and Janet Scammell for their application to the Higher Education Academy to explore the education strategies to empower students in humanising care, to Jen Leamon, Marilyn Cash and Vanora Hundley for their Higher Education Academy application to promote employability of dyslexic student midwives whilst protecting the public, to Tim Etheridge for his bid to Rank Prize Funds, to Peter Thomas for his application to Cancer Research UK, and to Anthea Innes and Sarah Hambidge for their application to Alzheimer’s Society.

Congratulations to the MS for An Nguyen for his contract with World Federation of Science Journalists, to grants academy members Dan Jackson and Shelly Thompson for their consultancy with Work Research Ltd, and to Zhidong Xiao for his short course with Wuhan Vocational College of Software and Engineering.  Good luck to Trevor Hearing who has submitted a HEFCE bid for postgraduate support in creative and digital economies, to Stephanie Farmer for her consultancy to 4com, to Alexander Pasko and Peter Comninos for their application to Interreg, to Melanie Gray and Pawel  Surowiec for their separate consultancies to Captec Ltd, and to Liam Toms for his consultancy to WISH.

For ST, congratulations to Ehren Milner for his consultancy with West Dorset District Council.  Good luck to Heather Hartwell, Adele Ladkin, Stephen Page and Ann Hemingway (HSC) for their ESRC application for ‘Promotion of wellbeing as a destination resource’, to Lisa Stuchberry and Jon Hibbert for their consultancy to Bournemouth Borough Council, to Richard Gordon and Mike Evans (ApSci) for their consultancy for British High Commission Nigeria, and to Ehren Milner for his contract to Dorset Clinical Commissioning Group (NHS).

Best wishes

Matthew

The KTP Advantage

BU research, Festival of Learning

 

 

 

 

 

 

In my KTP I…

Provided consultation into the design of an innovative model of dementia care: ‘Shared Care’ The aim of Shared Care is to offer an alternative lifestyle choice to people living with dementia. At present, options for people needing support living with dementia are limited to in home care packages, outsourced respite and long term care home placement.

Brendoncare sought the expertise at Bournemouth University Dementia Institute (BUDI) to ensure the built and psycho-social environments, methods of care delivery and technologies implemented within Shared Care were ‘dementia friendly’ and to ensure the voice of people living with dementia has an input to the design of services. This was achieved through consultation with people with dementia, family carers and formal care staff.

Highlights of the project were…

Being given the opportunity to take responsibility for all aspects of my project from ensuring the consultation work was ethically proficient to recruitment to dissemination and succeeding in meeting the expectations of the client. Moreover, being funded to go and discuss my work with peers at Alzheimer’s Europe 2013 in Malta was a great experience.

Representing Brendoncare at BUDI's internal conference in May

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The Best Thing about being a KTP Associate is…

Applying the theoretical knowledge and skills learnt during education into practice, with the support of an expert knowledge base and a practice base receptive to service innovation. The opportunities to present findings at board room level and hear action points being raised as a direct result of your work is also extremely satisfying.

From KTP I have learnt…

Before KTP I was just another graduate. Now I have professional academic experience, I have completed a challenging and intensive project within dementia studies; met peers and discussed my work at an international conference and have become a valued member of BUDI; a team committed to improving the lives of people with dementia. KTP has confirmed, reinforced and enabled me to start an academic career in dementia research.

Life after KTP is…

I am about to start my PhD study: An investigation into the strategic implementation of a model of dementia care into a care home environment. I am also planning to get findings of this project published in a peer reviewed academic journal.

I recommend KTP because…

It provides one of the best opportunities I’ve seen in the graduate market. It gives associate experience in both academic and practice-based working environments, space to develop skills, control and ownership over project work and much support along the way. I would recommend any graduate to grasp this opportunity and get the KTP advantage!

 

CoPMRE Tenth Annual Symposium

BU research

The Centre of Postgraduate Medical Research and Education (CoPMRE) held its Tenth Annual Symposium on Wednesday 16th October in the Executive Business Centre. The Symposium, ‘Innovation in Medical Education and Research, Promoting Change…’ was attended by over 70 delegates from BU, local NHS Trusts and other areas of healthcare. Despite the wind and the pouring rain, it proved to be an interesting and informative day!

The morning session focused on medical devices and kicked off with a presentation from Professor Paul Thompson (Director of CoPMRE and Consultant Rheumatologist, Poole Hospital NHS Foundation Trust) who discussed the Department of Health’s ‘Innovation, Health and Wealth’ report and its implication for practice. Professor Siamak Noroozi (Chair in Advanced Technology, DEC) followed with a fascinating presentation on the key performance enhancement potentials of running with blades and the cutting edge research currently underway in DEC. Professor Ian Swain (Director of Clinical Science & Engineering, Salisbury NHS Foundation Trust and Visiting Professor, BU) treated us to a live demonstration of functional electrical stimulation (FES) and an overview of the fantastic results he and his team have had using FES and other Assistive Technologies in neurological rehabilitation.

Mr Robert Middleton (Consultant Orthopaedic Surgeon, Royal Bournemouth and Christchurch Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust and Visiting Fellow, BU) talked about medical device trials in Bournemouth, particularly the quality, quantity and expertise available with regards to hip and knee replacements. Chris Pomfrett, Technical Adviser from the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) described the process for the evaluation of new medical devices and the production of NICE guidance for devices. Dr Mike McMillan (CEO, NHS Innovations South West) finished the morning session with a presentation on how to be an innovator and keep the day job.

After a fantastic lunch and a chance to network, the afternoon session focused on medical education. The first speaker was John Reidy, Careers Lead from Talbot Heath School who talked us through the University application process and support available to students applying to medical school. Dr Tristan Richardson (Consultant Endocrinologist, Royal Bournemouth and Christchurch Hospitals NHS foundation Trust and Visiting Fellow, BU) told us about the work experience course at Royal Bournemouth Hospital for local school children wishing to pursue a career in medicine. Dr Chris Stephens, Associate Dean from University of Southampton discussed its Medical School, what they look for in applicants, and what the future holds for the School. Dr Mike Masding (Head of Wessex Foundation School, Consultant Physician, Poole Hospital NHS Foundation Trust and Visiting Fellow, BU) presented on the ‘golden age’ of medical training and the evolving Foundation Programme for Junior Doctors. Paula Robblee from the General Medical Council (GMC) talked us through how the GMC regulate medical research and training, and Dr Peter Hockey concluded the Symposium with a presentation on the education and training available from Health Education Wessex.

All round an interesting day with many exciting speakers! A full report on the day will be available and distributed in due course. For more information contact us.

Energy Management for existing buildings. Competition now open

BU research, Funding opportunities

The Technology Strategy Board (TSB) and the Research Councils’ UK Energy Programme are to invest up to £4m in collaborative R&D to stimulate innovation in the field of energy management for existing buildings.

The aim of this competition is to advance significantly the capabilities of UK businesses so that they can capture a greater share of growing UK and global markets.

Consortia must be collaborative and led by a business. They should include at least one business that provides solutions for energy management, such as technology providers, building/facility/energy managers or engineers. The TSB are also encouraging consortia to include a potential customer for their energy management innovation and, where appropriate, researchers from relevant academic or research organisations.

This is a two-stage competition that opened for applicants on 14 October 2013. Applicants must register by noon on 20 November 2013. The deadline for expressions of interest is at noon on 27 November 2013.

A briefing event for potential applicants will be held in London on 23 October 2013. For more information and to register please click here.

Staff Profile Pages to be updated

BU research, Guidance

The staff profile pages are being updated to tweak a few things such as changes to research themes, viewing and scrolling on mobile devices, ensuring photos don’t overlap with index, adding a few icons, to name but a few. 

This will take place from 4pm on Tuesday (22nd) until 8.15am on Wednesday.  It will mean that any content put into BRIAN will not update overnight.  The ‘refresh now’ button on the profile pages will also be disabled at this time.  The profile pages will be refreshed after 8am on Wednesday with any content that you’ve added to BRIAN.

There is still an outstanding issue with some links to BURO not working but this will be resolved in due course.

Thanks for your patience.

What can a University community contribute to a Dementia Friendly Society? Being a friend is a start!

BU research

In what proved to be a very busy few months of engaging with the public to try and raise awareness of dementia, BUDI held its first Dementia Friends Training session in September. People with dementia sometimes need a helping hand to go about their daily lives and feel included in their local community. The Prime Ministers Challenge and the Alzheimer Society national initiative – Dementia Friends – is giving the general public an understanding of dementia and the small things they can do that can make a difference to people living with dementia – from raising dementia awareness in customer-facing staff to spreading the word about dementia. http://www.dementiafriends.org.uk/

20 BU staff and students responded to the invitation to take part and the training was delivered by one of BUDIs research collaborators Ian Sherriff at Plymouth University, who is also a Trustee of the Alzheimer Society, and a member of one of the Prime Minister’s national Dementia Working Groups. Friends’ information sessions are run by Dementia Friends Champions, who are volunteers who have taken the Dementia Friends Champions’ training. The Friends’ information session lasted around one hour and we learnt more about dementia and how we can help to create dementia friendly communities in our working environment and in our local community. The session was good fun and made everyone realise how they can contribute to making the lives of those living with dementia easier.

Professor Anthea Innes and BUDI PhD student Ben Hicks were so inspired by the friends training they have agreed to become Dementia Champions to help train more BU staff and students to become dementia friends. The one-hour training session is free and will be offered at different points in the year to any BU staff or students who want to become a Dementia Friend. If you are interested in becoming a dementia friend and want to make a positive difference to people living with dementia in your community please contact Michelle O’Brien to book your place (Email: mobrien@bournemouth.ac.uk Telephone: 01202 962771)

Twenty years after the publication of Changing Childbirth, where are we now?

BU research, Featured academics, Research news

Twenty years after the publication of Changing Childbirth, an eminent panel of clinicians, politicians and consumer representatives assembled to review the legacy of this key Changing CHildbirthmaternity report. The session, funded by the Wellcome Trust, was held at the Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists in London – an appropriate place given the balance of power at the time of the report.  BU Professors Vanora Hundley and Edwin van Teijlingen were invited to attend as part of the selected audience at the session.

The session started with the panel reminding the audience that maternity services prior to the publication of Changing Childbirth in the early 1990s were anything but women focused. Several speakers noted that this report was the first to put women at the centre of maternity care, and many of the recommendations regarding patient-centred care across the NHS followed on from it. As the president of the Royal College of Midwives (RCM) Lesley Page commented: “It was common sense, but hugely radical.”

Changing Childbirth was the government’s response to Sir Nicholas Winterton’s ground-breaking review of the maternity services (Health Select Committee report 1992). The review was unique in seeking views from women – as Nicholas Winterton noted, his Parliamentary committee also made history by letting women who came to give evidence breastfeed during the hearing.

Baroness Julia Cumberlege reflected on how she had been determined that the Health Select Committee report would not simply be another filed document but would have an impact. Twenty years on has the report had an impact? 

The discussions covered a wide-ranging number of maternity care issues at the time of Changing Childbirth’s conception, many of which are still issues today in the UK.  We’d like to highlight two of these issues where BU has made an academic contribution.  First, the observation that we need to be cautious in making assumptions about choices that women perceive they have in childbirth. Profs van Teijlingen and Hundley’s research has demonstrated that women often cannot envisage or value potential choices if these options don’t exist in their current environment.1,2   

The second BU contribution to the debate is around the closure of small maternity units. One of the panel members compared the centralisation of maternity services to that of banks and supermarkets.  A comparative study was published in 2010 by Prof. van Teijlingen and BU Visiting Fellow Dr. Emma Pitchforth under the title ‘Rural maternity care: Can we learn from Wal-Mart?’.

Overall the panel was positive about the legacy of Changing Childbirth – that is, a more humanised maternity services. However, all present expressed disappointment at the failure of the NHS to introduce continuity of carer, something that women who gave evidence stated they valued highly. As Nicholas Winterton said: “We have made progress but we should be making further progress – It is unfinished business.”

Vanora Hundley is Professor of Midwifery

Edwin van Teijlingen is Professor of Reproductive Health Research

 References:

  1. Hundley V, Ryan M and Graham W (2001) Assessing women’s preferences for intrapartum care. Birth 28 (4): 254-263.
  2. van Teijlingen E, Hundley V, Rennie AM, Graham W, Fitzmaurice A. (2003) Maternity satisfaction studies and their limitations: “What is, must still be best”, Birth 30: 75-82.  
  3. van Teijlingen ER and Pitchforth E. (2010) Rural maternity care: Can we learn from Wal-Mart? Health & Place 16: 359-364.

 

 

 

Book Now! A Few Spaces left on the 24th of OCT for your 1-2-1 appointment with Martin Pickard – a great opportunity to improve your bid proposals

BU research, Grants Academy, Research news, Training

If you feel you would benefit from a ‘face to face’ meeting with Martin  in relation to any bid/proposal you are currently working on please contact me Dianne Goodman ASAP with your time preferences.

Martin currently has some availablity on these dates between the following times:

  • 24th September 2013, 9:15am- 5pm (Lansdowne Campus )

Appointments are approx 45 minutes long. You will also have unlimited telephone and email support to progress your application after meeting with Martin.

Martin Pickard

With a career background in both Academia and Industry Dr. Martin Pickard of Grantcraft is a specialist in writing and supporting research grant applications and tenders as well as providing administrative and management support services for ongoing projects. During the last 20 years Martin has worked extensively across Europe with a large number of universities, and research institutes as well as industrial firms, ranging from small SME’s to major international companies.

Martin is providing individual 1-2-1 surgeries with any BU academic staff member and works individually and confidentiality with each Principal Investigator as the project is structured and prepared in order to optimize the application documentation from every aspect of the Funders perspective; guiding, steering and showing how to optimize the application throughout the bid process.

Academics at BU who have undertaken his guidance have stated:

 ‘his support and direction was invaluable – Martin gave me some pragmatic suggestions which really helped to shape the bid. His eye for detail made the document much easier to read and the message much clearer. I was very grateful for his input’  Assoc. Prof Heather Hartwell School of Tourism.

The process, although labour intensive, works; with a proven historical average success rates of close to 1 in 2 against norms of (1 in 8 to 1 in 10)

Book Now through me Dianne Goodman – Martin’s appointments are always popular.

 

DEC PGR receives excellence award

BU research

Ahmed M. Romouzy Ali, a Postgraduate Researcher PhD in the School of Design, Engineering and Computing, has achieved more success with the journal article which was voted one of the ten highest-ranked papers emerging from the 2012 Organization Collection’s peer review process.

Ahmed was recently invited to present the journal article “The Barriers that Hinder Rapid Prototyping Deployment within Small and Medium-Sized Enterprises: Which Should Come First?” at the annual conference of the Egyptian Student Union in the UK and Northern Ireland which was held at the Egyptian Culture and Educational bureau in London.  The fantastic  news is that Ahmed’s contribution to the journal article was honoured by the Union, and was awarded an excellence award!

Congratulations Ahmed!

 

 

Latest Major Funding Opportunities

BU research, Funding opportunities, Research news

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

  • The AHRC has a call for Expressions of Interest to present virtual exhibitions of images on their website. Maximum funding: £4,000. Closing date: 29/11/13
  • The AHRC Creative Economy Showcase 2014 requires Expressions of Interest. Award maximum not specificed> Closing date 27/11/13
  • AHRC has announced the Cultural Value Project Targeted Call for Critical Reviews and Research Development Awards and Expressions of Interest to deliver Expert workshops. Maximum grant £100,000 and £10,000 respectively. Closing date 7/11/13
  • Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council (BBSRC) / Royal Society of Edinburgh Enterprise Fellowships aim to increase exploitation of ideas with commercial potential from BBSRC supported research. Maximum award not specified. Closing date: 28/11/13
  • The BBSRC is offering FAPESP Pump-Priming Awards (FAPPA). Maximum grant £35,000. No closing date but applications must be made at least 12 weeks before the proposed start of the project
  • Supporting international collaboration, BBSRC-Brazil (FAPESP) are joint funding research. Maximum grant not specified. Closing date: 8/01/14
  • Similarly the BBSRC’s Other Countries Partnering Awards supports long-term collaborations. Maximum grant not specified. Closing date: 27/11/13
  • The BBSRC call for Resolving Technological and Methodological Gaps in Metagenomics is open. Maximum award not specified. Closing date: 8/01/14
  • British Academy is offering postdoctoral fellowships to foreign researchers. Maximum award not specified. Closing date: 5/12/13
  • The EPSRC is inviting applications for access to ARCHER through its resource allocation panel. Top-up applications are also accepted. Maximum award not specified. Closing date: 18/12/13
  • EPSRC, as part of the RCUK Energy Programme, invites proposals for collaborative research projects to undertake fundamental research to tackle challenges in carbon capture for carbon capture and storage (CCS). Maximum award not specified. Closing date: 29/11/13
  • Healthcare Technology Cooperatives partnership awards are beign supported by the EPSRC/NIHR. Maximum award £150,000. Closing date: 7/01/14
  • ESRC is launching the second round of the ESRC Transformative Research Call. Maximum grant £200,000. Closing date: 15/01/14
  • The ESRC Europe – China call for collaborative research on The Green Economy and Understanding Population Change has opened. Maximum grant not specified. Closing date: 3/12/13
  • The ESRC Celebrating Impact Prize is an annual opportunity to recognise and reward the successes of ESRC-funded researchers. Maximum ward £20,000. Closing date: 22/11/13
  • ERA-NET Plus on Climate Smart Agriculture – under the ERA-NET Plus action “Climate Smart Agriculture: Adaptation of agricultural systems in Europe” co-funded by the Seventh Framework Programme (FP7) of the European Commission, there is a call for pre-proposals relating to the adaptation of European agriculture to climate change in its broad sense. Maximum grant not specified. Closing date: 2/12/13
  • The Leverhulme Trust is supporting Major Research Fellowships in the Humanities and Social Sciences. Maximum award not specified. Closing date: 8/05/14
  • The Leverhulme-Royal Society Africa Award for scientists who want to develop a collaborative research project between the UK and research institutions in either Ghana or Tanzania has been announced. Maximum award £210,000. Closing date: 15/01/14
  • The MRC has opened the Health systems research initiative call 1: Providing evidence to strengthen health systems and improve health outcomes. Grant maximum not specified. Closing date:  14/01/14
  • NERC have announced their ESPA Fellowships. Maximum award £200,000. Closing date: 20/11/13 
  • The Royal Academy of Engineering has announced The Leverhulme Trust Senior Research Fellowships Scheme. Maximum award not specificed. Closing date: 18/11/13
  • Royal Society Wolfson Research Merit Award provides universities with additional support to enable them to recruit or retain respected scientists of outstanding achievement and potential to the UK. Maximum grant not specified. Closing date: 12/11/13
  • Royal Society Leverhulme Trust Senior Research Fellowship reimburses the employing institution with the full salary cost of a teaching replacement. The scheme covers all areas of the life and physical sciences, including engineering, but excluding clinical medicine. Award not specified. Closing date 8/01/14
  • The Agri-Tech Catalyst, run by the Technology Strategy Board and the Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council, offers funding to innovative businesses and researchers to develop solutions to global agricultural challenges. see detials on the Early Stage and Late Stage awards. Grant not specified. Registration by 4/12/13 and submit by 11/12/13
  • Also via the TSB’s Agri-Tech Catalyst, there are Industrial research awards. Maximum grant £3,000,000. Registration by 4/12/13. Submission by 11/12/13
  • The TSB has announced their Innovative Research Call – IRC 2013 – Detection of explosives and weapons. Maximum grant £950,000. Registration by  27/11/13. Submission  by 4/12/13
  • The TSB and Medical Research Council programme is offering funding to innovative small and medium sized businesses (SMEs) and researchers to develop solutions to healthcare challenges via their Biomedical Catalyst – Feasibility studies call. Maximum funding £200,000. Registration by 5/02/14. Submission by 12/02/14
  • Also through the TSB’s Biomedical Catalyst, funding is available via the Early and late stage awards. Maximum award not specified. Register by 5/2/14 and submit by 12/2/14
  • The TSB is making an investment of up to £2.5m in collaborative R&D projects that lead to the creation of  ‘frictionless’ digital transactional environments. Register by 13/11/13 and submit by 20/11/13 
  • The Toshiba Fellowship Programme is a unique opportunity for recently qualified PhD level scientists, mainly from science, computing and mathematics disciplines. Maximum award not specified. Closing date: 6/12/13
  • The Wellcome Trust is offering Senior Investigator Awards in Medical Humanities, New Investigator Awards in Medical Humanities, Senior Investigator Awards in Society and Ethics, New Investigator Awards in Society and Ethics.  Maximum award £1,000,000. Closing date: 21/03/14
  • Pathfinder Awards are being offered by The Wellcome Trust. These provide pilot funding for Academic-Industry partnerships to develop early-stage applied research and development projects in orphan and neglected disease areas. Maximum grant £100,000. Closing date: 9/01/14
  •  The Wellcome Trust’s Translational Medicine and Therapeutics Programmes – this flagship scheme has established four high-quality integrated research training programmes for clinicians in translational medicine and therapeutics. Maximum award not specified. No closing date.
  • Arts Awards, from The Wellcome Trust, support imaginative and experimental arts projects that explore biomedical science. Awards are available for large and small projects, above and below £30,000. Closing date 24/01/14

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