Category / BU research

Presentation from Paula Kersten ‘Supporting strategies for self-management of rehabilitation in the home: a feasibility study’

BU research, Research news

You are cordially invited to a lunchtime presentation being delivered by Paula Kersten the Associate Professor of Rehabilitation at Auckland University of Technology and Visiting Professor with HSC. This is an hour long presentation entitled ‘Supporting strategies for self-management of rehabilitation in the home: a feasibility study’.  This talk would be of interest to health professionals working in health and rehabilitation.  We very much hope you will be able to attend this informative presentation.

For Paula Kersten’s Biography, please follow link below:

http://www.aut.ac.nz/profiles/paula-kersten

Thursday 16th May 2013

‘Supporting strategies for self-management of rehabilitation in the home: a feasibility study’

Presentation by Paula Kersten, Associate Professor Rehabilitation, Auckland University of Technology

12.00-1.00pm

BG11, Bournemouth House, Lansdowne Campus, BH1 3LH

 

Hosted by Clinical Research Unit

European Science Foundation and Global Changes in the Marine Environment

BU research, EU, Featured, Featured academics, Funding opportunities, R & KE Operations, Research news, Uncategorized

I was very proud to have been invited by the Institute of Marine Sciences – National Research Council (ISMAR-CNR) in Venice who developed on the European Science Foundation Platform, the Exploratory Workshop:  Marine woodborers: New Frontiers for European Waters. And I have to say that that was one of the most exciting research opportunities I have taken part of in the recent past.

The European Science Foundation (ESF) was established in 1974 to provide a common platform for its Member Organisations to advance European research collaboration and explore new directions for research. Currently it is an independent organisation, owned by 67 Member Organisations, which are research funding organisations, research performing organisations and academies from 29 countries.

The focus of the Exploratory Workshops scheme is on workshops aiming to explore an emerging and/or innovative field of research or research infrastructure, also of interdisciplinary character. Workshops are expected to open up new directions in research or new domains. It is expected that a workshop shall conclude with plans for follow-up research activities and/or collaborative actions or other specific outputs at international level.

The organisers, namely Davide Tagliapietra, Erica Keppel and Marco Sigovini – all from the ISMAR-CNR- did an amazing job in organising this much needed research group and by planning an excellent working programme.

The topic, centred on Marine woodborers is of utmost important as these organisms are a threat to maritime structure and archaeological heritage. Recently, an increase in attack and a northward spread has been reported. Despite the ecological, economical and cultural importance, research on this subject is carried out by few scientists scattered across Europe. An interdisciplinary approach is needed to reach a synthesis of knowledge and a deeper understanding of the causal factors. The main outcome of the workshop is the establishment of a research network aiming to coordinate scientists with an European perspective and a global view. Through the establishment of such a network, new theoretical and technical developments could be achieved.

The agenda of the workshop was to focus on:

1) bringing together experts in complementary fields that have hitherto not collaborated as a group;

2) identifying additional research competences that are not covered within the group of participants;

3) identifying, exchanging and sharing research interests for future joint leading research projects and developing an application strategies;

4) the establishment of an international network on marine woodborers.

Despite the subject ([wood-]‘boring’ organisms), there wasn’t a single dull moment. It was very exciting to spent a considerable amount of time with international peers coming from as far as Colombia and discussing the problems surrounding these particular organisms.

All sessions were extremely interesting and productive and I totally enjoyed chairing one of them in the Knowledge Café, with my hat of maritime archaeologist whose research interest based also based on marine organisms and global changes, but I am also one of few who combines degradation and protection of the cultural heritage and marine science. The Knowledge Café focussed on Systematics and biogeography, Marine woodborer-microorganism interactions, Protection of shipwrecks and maritime structures. Each group discussed weaknesses: Problems, constrains and bottlenecks, Strengths: Opportunities, synergies, and Perspectives: Solutions, actions and recommendations.

19 international peers attended, which was by invitation only, this amazing opportunity, some of which were old friends and some of which have become reference points for my current and future research on wood borers.

All with the amazing architectural beauties of a tiny Venetian island just in front of one of the world most famous squares: San Marco square!

Paola Palma 

BPS Wessex Student Conference

BU research, PG research

On Saturday, Bournemouth University hosted the Wessex Branch of the British Psychological Society (BPS) Annual Student Conference. This event provided an opportunity for students to showcase novel research and, in addition to BU, attracted Psychology students from a range of institutions (e.g. Universities of Surrey, Sussex, Winchester, and Southampton). The breadth of institution was matched by the breadth of student; with undergraduate research assistants through to doctoral students presenting their work to an audience of approximately 100 delegates.

In total, there were 28 oral presentations and 19 research posters. In addition, we were fortunate to have two thought-provoking keynote speakers. First, Dr. Richard Stephens (Keele University) spoke about the role of swearing on pain tolerance (in short, it helps, particularly if you are normally an infrequent user of coarse vocabulary) and, second, Prof. Clare Wood (Coventry University) delivered a presentation on the effects of text messaging on literacy (in sum, ‘textisms’ are not rotting the brains of our nation’s youth).

The conference sought to emphasise that, rather than a perfunctory assessment exercise, student research is an important part of knowledge creation within our universities. Whilst this was highlighted by the collaborative (student-academic) nature of the projects, it was also evident how the presenters had developed into independent researchers. This apprenticeship model is one employed by the Bournemouth Psychology Research Centre and it was pleasing to see a number of our Year 2 Psychology students presenting data that had arisen from their research assistant placements. There was a large contingent of first and second year BU Psychology students in the audience and helping with conference organisation as volunteers. We hope that they have been inspired to participate in more staff projects and will return next year to present their research.

Joint research theme meeting – Creative & Digital Economy / Entrepreneurship & Economic Growth

BU research, Research themes

A joint meeting was held on 24 April 2013 between the Creative & Digital Economies and Entrepreneurship & Economic Growth research themes. The idea behind the meeting was to cross-pollinate staff ideas and ensure that research themes do not become silos.

The meeting was well attended and colleagues from across different schools shared ideas for those who presented ‘elevator pitches’.  Ideas were presented on funding applications or joint research papers and where they would like to work collaboratively with another member(s) of staff, colleagues within the meeting then held a discussion on ways to take it forward.

If you would like to come along to the next meeting, which will be held in June please sign up to the research theme email group via this link, completing the form at the bottom of the page.

We will post an update on the blog with the details of the next meeting soon.

Food Glorious Food

BU research

There is emerging interest and funding available for food research. Having just been successful with an EU FP7 bid, Veggieat (€300,000) working with Bonduelle in France and  involving key colleagues from the Health School, DEC and the School of Tourism, there is potential to grow this area of expertise at BU within a multidisciplinary team of academics. Industry is also keen to collaborate, which helps when we need to demonstrate impact and societal relevance. On May 1 2-4pm in the Coyne LT we will have a meeting where I encourage anyone who is interested to come along and share your research passion. There will be plenty of time for networking and a tour of the new Food Management Suite will be available.

With best wishes

Heather Hartwell

FIF Staff Mobility and Networking award helping me fly

BU research, Funding opportunities, Fusion

Early in January I received the good news that my application to the Fusion Investment Fund SMN strand was successful. What a great way to start the New Year!

The main aim of my FIF SMN project is to consolidate newly developed partnerships with European and non-European researchers and stakeholders. Planned activities include visits to colleagues who were involved in the development of the research proposal “Living with Extreme Events at the Coast” (LEEC), submitted to the EU FP7 call on Environment (Challenge 6.4 Protecting citizens from environmental hazards). LEEC successfully passed stage 1 and we are now waiting for the outcome of stage 2, so keep your fingers crossed.

As my FIF SMN proposal builds from LEEC, I decided to call it “Living with Extreme Events at the Coast Grant Development” (LEEC GraDe). Not very creative, but it reflects well the main objective, which is to explore opportunities for collaborative research in topics related to LEEC. LEEC aims to better understand how extreme storms and climate change in coastal areas will affect flood risk and impact on society, infrastructure, economic activities and the natural environment throughout the 21th century.

Besides, the development of collaborative research proposals, I will also be exploring opportunities for enhancing students’ experience, e.g. through work placements. By the time I submitted the FIF SMN proposal, I had just taken the role of ApSci’s Academic Lead for Placements. In this role, one of my objectives is to increase the offer of research-based placements to our students. So I thought my networking visits would be a great opportunity to discuss with colleagues from organisations in Europe and abroad whether they are interested in offering to our students a research-based working experience. Many researchers systematically plan their fieldwork campaigns or dedicate larger proportion of their time to research in the summer, so a work placement can be mutually beneficial.

I so much believe in the benefits of this arrangement that I am offering two placements this summer to undergrad ApSci students. If you are interested in doing the same, please contact me.

LEEC partners are from 13 organisations spread across eight countries (Estonia, Spain, France, Belgium, Denmark, UK, Mexico and Vietnam). The FIF SMN award will allow me to visit some of these organisations and engage in other networking opportunities. I will be very busy networking throughout 2013! Hopefully the effort will result in the submission of more collaborative research proposals and a number of arrangements made to enrich students’ experiences through placements or exchanges.

The first of my planned activities was to attend the 12th International Coastal Symposium (ICS) in Plymouth (http://ics2013.org/) earlier this month. This is the largest international conference focused on coastal research with over 500 participants, so a great venue to disseminate research results, to keep updated with research progress worldwide and to network! I was invited to be the convener of the Coastal Evolution and Geomorphology session, so worked very hard evaluating abstracts and full papers before the conference! I also presented a paper on the Coastal Management session, entitled “Is managed realignment a sustainable long-term coastal management approach?” You can find a copy of the paper on BRIAN.

ICS offered the opportunity to meet many ‘old’ friends and make new contacts worldwide, including from countries I had none before, such as Trinidad & Tobago and South Africa. I have already exchanged email with a few of the new (and old) contacts and there are very exciting prospects for future collaboration. I have discussed the preparation of a joint paper with a colleague from the University of Rostock (Germany), explored ways to collaborate with practitioners from a government agency in Trinidad & Tobago and I am already working on a proposal with colleagues from South Africa. The most immediate result from networking during ICS was the invitation to visit five different organisations in Mexico, which is planned to happen in June.

Networking is also about maximising the opportunities and I will be doing exactly that next month in Brazil. I was invited to give a keynote talk in the National Symposium of Coastal Vulnerability. As the hosts are taking me to Brazil, I will extend my stay and visit two universities using SMN funds. The plan is to start building a joint research proposal to submit to the Science without borders programme (funding source from Brazil) with the Universidade Federal de Pernambuco and discuss exchange of postgraduate students and other opportunities with the Universidade do Vale do Itai.

Please watch this space for upcoming news!

Luciana Slomp Esteves (Lecturer in Physical Geography, ApSci)

Health, Wellbeing & Ageing workshop on 10 May – US perspective on the care of older people

BU research

On 10 May, Prof Phil Clark from the University of Rhode Island in the US will be running a workshop for our Health, Wellbeing and Ageing theme from 10-12pm (a short Bio is pasted below) in R207. Lunch will be provided. Please email Julia Hastings Taylor if you would like to attend.

Phil will offer us his perspective on the care of older people in the US and particularly the importance of interprofessional collaboration for older adults from the US perspective.

He will then work with us to explore opportunities for publishing for US audiences in this field as well as opportunities for making collaborative research and education links between BU and the University of Rhode Island and other US institutions especially in the field of interagency, interprofessional education and practice as well as Ageing.

Phil is on sabbatical with us from 6-25 May.  He has offered to give guest lectures on subjects to students related to Working Together in the Care of Older Adults and Interprofessional Teamwork in the US.  If this is something you would like to offer your students between these dates please contact Sarah Hean.

Dr Phillip G. Clark is Professor and Director of both the Program in Gerontology and the Rhode Island Geriatric Education Center at the University of Rhode Island in the US, where he has been on the faculty since 1981. He was awarded a Doctorate in Public Health from Harvard University in 1979. He has served as Visiting Professor at the Universities of Guelph and Toronto in Canada (1988-89), and was a Fulbright Scholar at Buskerud University College in Norway (2007). His experience includes teaching health care teamwork, developing interprofessional health care research and demonstration projects, and consulting on interprofessional educational program development and evaluation. He is co-author of Health Care Teamwork: Interdisciplinary Practice and Teaching (Auburn House/Greenwood, 2000); his work has been published in The Gerontologist, Canadian Journal on Aging, Journal of Aging and Health, Ageing and Society, Educational Gerontology, Gerontology and Geriatrics Education, and the Journal of Interprofessional Care. Dr. Clark is a Fellow of the Gerontological Society of America and the Association for Gerontology in Higher Education.  He is Visiting Professor at the School of Health and Social Care, Bournemouth University and on the leadership group of the Special Interest Group IN-2-THEORY (Interprofessional scholarship, education and practice).

CEMP Research & Innovation Cluster Bulletin & Agenda

BU research, Funding opportunities

  Here: CEMP Cluster bulletin and agenda 2.5.13  is the updated bulletin and the agenda for the next CEMP Research & Innovation cluster meeting.

The meeting is on Thursday 2nd May in the CEMP office, with the following timings:

‘Think-tank’ discussion of reading – 9.30 – 10.15

The reading for this has been provided by Michelle Cannon and is here:

design_educ_innovation_ecotones_pendleton_jullian[2]

Funding and projects review – 10.15 – 11.30

As always, Media School colleagues are very welcome indeed to join us for either or both of the above.

As always, people attending should review the bulletin before the meeting so we can spend time only discussing items people are interested in pursuing and should bring a laptop or tablet to access the bulletin electronically during the meeting.

For the ‘think-tank’ discussion, Michelle has offered the following information and suggested extract:

Pendleton-Jullian elaborates a metaphor that might be useful for visualising the terrain of media education. Scientifically speaking, the ecotone is an ecological zone where 2 unique ecosystems are juxtaposed; more precisely, it describes the overlap, a zone of transition and tension at the edges of 2 distinct ecologies eg. where the land meets water in an estuarine tidal area. Natural life forms in this changeable environment are highly biodiverse, adaptable and used to disturbance. She contrasts this hyper edge-activity with the relatively slower core activities of life forms on either side of the land/sea divide but recognises the interdependence of all three zones.

I suggest a reading of pages 25 – 45 (this doesn’t equate to 20 pages of pure text) where she details 2 intersecting continua: the vertical axis corresponding to modes of learning with Accreditation (or rather Assessment) at one end and Experimentation at the other; and on the horizontal axis – 20th Century Learning at one end and 21st Century Knowledge Creation on the other (see p. 32). Two lines are then drawn to demarcate an interstitial zone within the 2nd and 3rd quadrant that equates to the fertile ecotone. Relating this to practical media education, I’m interested in the strengths and limitations of this analogy and its capacity to frame the “seeding of a culture of innovation” and to envision the rhizomic (rhizomatic?) relations/mechanisms/”digital corridors”/elastic spin-offs that populate this dynamic space.

 

 

Congratulations and Good Luck

BU research, Featured academics

March had a good deal of activity around bids being submitted and awarded, with Schools winning consultancy contracts, research grants and organising Short Courses.

For Applied Sciences congratulations are due to Rob Britton for a successful month of March with several awards obtained which include the Environment Agency, Barbel Society and the University of Toulouse; to Ross Hill for his consultancy contract with Joint Nature Conservation Committee; to Roger Herbert and Richard Stillman for their consultancy contract with Natural England to assess Birds of Prey in Chichester Harbour; to Pippa Gillingham for her short course on GIS for Environment Managers.  Good luck to Pippa with her application to the Royal Entomological society; to Emilie Hardouin and Demetra Andreou for their individual applications to the British Ecological Society; to Anita Diaz for her application to the Soil Association; to David Parham for his application to English Heritage; and to Adrian Newton for his application to DEFRA.

Congratulations to the Business School for Donald Nordberg’s award from the British Academy to research ‘News Media as corporate governance watchdogs’.  Good luck to Huiping Xian and Sachiko Takeda for their application to the Daiwa Anglo-Japanese Foundation (DAJF) and to Hiroko Oe who has also applied to DAJF.

For DEC good luck with the consultancy contract submitted by Marcin Budka and Bogdan Gabrys to Western Union Financial Services; to Simon Thompson for his application to the Multiple Sclerosis Society to investigate post-traumatic growth in people with multiple sclerosis; and for the TOSCANA application submitted by Mark Hadfield to the European Commission.

For Health and Social Care congratulations are due to Luisa Cescutti-Butler for her award from the EU Lifelong Learning Programme; to Keith Brown for his consultancy contract from Hampshire County Council; to Anthea Innes, Michele Board, Vanessa Heaslip and Sue Barker for their consultancy training for Gracewell Healthcare; also to Anthea for her short course with RBCH; to Michele Board for her short course with the Isle of Wight NHS Trust; to Susan Clarke for her short course with Solent NHS Trust; and to Clive Andrewes for several short courses with Dorset Healthcare University NHS Foundation Trust, Southern Health, North Essex Partnership NHS Foundation Trust together with Bernie Edwards, Wessex Deanery and NHS Bournemouth and Poole.  Good luck to Elizabeth Rosser and Andrew Harding for their application to the General Nursing Council for England and Wales Trust; and to Ann Hemingway, Sarah Hean and Lee-Ann Fenge-Davies for their application to the European Commission.

Congratulations to the Media School for Kris Erickson’s award from the ESRC; Jian Chang for his award from the Royal Society to research ‘Mobile Physically based Computation for Computer Animation’; to Tom Watson, Anastasios Theofilou and Georginana Grigore for their award from The Arthur W Page Centre; to Liam Toms, Graham Goode and Melanie Gray for their consultancy contract with Dorset County Council; and to Stephanie Farmer for her consultancy contract to develop a web site for Richard Cole.  Good luck to Bronwen Thomas and Julia Round for their application to AHRC; to Julian McDougall, Mark Readman and Marketa Zezulkova for their application to EPSRC; and to Iain MacRury and Richard Berger for their application to EPSRC; to Jian Jun Zhang for his application to the EPSRC for continued funding for the Doctoral Training Centre; to Laura Hampshaw with her short course with the RBCH; and to Dan Jackson, Einar Thorsen and Christos Gatzidis for their application to HEA.

Finally, for the School of Tourism congratulations go to Lisa Stuchberry for her contracts with NHS Dorset, Dorset County Hospital and Bangor University; to Stephen Calver for his contract with Bournemouth Borough Council; to Sarah Hambidge for her award from the Bournemouth Borough Council for the Bournemouth Arts Festival; and to Jon Hibbert for his award from Resort Development Organisation.  Good luck to Nicky Pretty for her application to the National Trust.

Best wishes

Matthew

Service Computing Seminar Series

BU research

As part of the SSC project, funded by Bournemouth University Fusion Investment Fund, we would like to invite you to the seminar series.

14:00- 15:00 Monday 29 April 2013
P410 (Poole House, Talbot Campus)

Speaker: Dr. Peng Liang, Free University Amsterdam, the Netherlands
Title: Ontology-based Software Architecture Documentation

Abstract.  A common approach to software architecture documentation in industry projects is the use of file-based documents (e.g., Word documents). This documentation approach offers a single-dimensional perspective on the software architectural knowledge contained. Knowledge retrieval from file-based architecture documentation is efficient if the perspective chosen fits the needs of the readers; it is less so if the perspective does not match the needs of the readers. In this talk, I will describe an approach we developed aimed at addressing architecture documentation retrieval issues. We employed software ontology in a semantic wiki optimized for architecture documentation. We also evaluated this ontology-based documentation approach in a controlled industry experiment involving software professionals. The efficiency and effectiveness of the proposed approach is found to be better than that of the traditional file-based approach.

14:00-16:00 Wednesday 1 May 2013
P402 (Poole House, Talbot Campus) 

Speaker: Prof. Marco Aiello, University of Groningen, the Netherlands
Title: The Smart Grid’s Big Data Generating Potentials

Abstract. The Smart Power Grid promises to not only provide for a more reliable distribution infrastructure, but also give the end-users better pricing, information, and freedom. The promise is fuelled by a pervasive digitalization of the energy production and distribution network that will finally involve utilities, governments, and end-users. The real advantages of the smart grid will be available to all, only if the physical infrastructure of energy distribution is supported by adequate information systems. In this talk, I will review the current state and possible evolutions of the concept of a smart grid, I will point to the (big) data that future information systems will need to manage and, finally, indicate possible uses for such information.

Speaker: Prof. Xinbo Gao, Xidian University, China
Title: Image Quality Assessment

Abstract. With the development of imaging technologies, visual information, recorded by images and videos, has become the main source for knowledge acquisition. In the process of image acquisition, processing, transmission, and storage, some artefacts or noise maybe introduced to images, which will degrade the visual quality. To improve the performance of image processing, it is necessary to assess image quality. Therefore, image quality assessment (IQA) is the prerequisite and foundation of imaging or image processing system optimization. The objective of IQA is to provide computational models to measure the perceptual quality of a given image. Recently, a large number of methods have been designed to evaluate the quality of images. In this talk, I will introduce some popular IQA metrics, especially several IQA metrics proposed by my group. They are organized into 3 categories, full-reference metrics, reduced-reference metrics and no-reference metrics.

Don’t miss finding out how you can engage with KTPs and SMART awards…..

BU research, Funding opportunities, Training

 

 

CALLNG ALL ACADEMICS WHO WISH TO ENGAGE WITH BUSINESSES!

Staff are invited to attend the:

 ‘Knowledge Transfer Partnerships (KTP) and SMART awards events’ 

 Both these schemes are UK-wide programmes funded by the Technology Strategy Board.

 

  •  KTP provides academics with opportunities for the practical application of their research. Importantly, they are an opportunity for academics to engage with the business community.
  •  SMART awards assist businesses to engage in research & development projects in areas such as science, engineering and technology, from which successful new products, processes and services can emerge. Whilst universities may not apply directly, they may act as a sub-contractor to an applicant.                      

  If you are interested in learning more about KTP and SMART awards, please come along to one of the following events:

 Event Dates:

 Friday 26th April         Breakfast Meeting   – Talbot Campus (KG103) –          8.30am – 10.30am

 ktpbreakfast2013.eventbrite.co.uk

 Tuesday 30th April         Executive Business Centre (7th Floor)     – Lansdowne –             6pm – 8pm

 ktpandsmart2013.eventbrite.co.uk 

(To book your place –  just go to the ‘Eventbrite link’ listed under each date.  There are only a limited number of spaces left, so please book asap to avoid missing out)

 

  • Local businesses are going to be invited to attend these sessions too, which will provide a valuable opportunity for academics to network and develop potential working relationships with them.

 

For further information, please contact Lucy Rossiter.

 

How’s our Slovene?

BU research, EU, Research news

BU’s Centre for Midwifery, Maternal & Perinatal Health was well represented at a recent conference run by the Midwifery Association of Slovenia in Čateẑ.  Professor Vanora Hundley and Luisa Cescutti Butler were invited by the President Anita Prelec to speak to midwives, nurses and students at their bi-annual conference: Skrb Za Dravje Žensk In Otrok.

I was asked to speak on the issue of intervention in early labour, something that is causing concern in many European countries, and whether midwives should be encouraging women to stay at home for longer. I started my session with a tentative “Dober dan” (Good morning) – my pronunciation must have been acceptable as I received a round of applause! However, the rest of my presentation was thankfully in English. The presentation was well received and clearly generated a lot of interest with discussion continuing over lunch.

Luisa, a senior lecturer in midwifery, spoke about the examination of the newborn baby and who should be involved – the midwife or the doctor. This was a question that we had discussed the previous day at a round table event with key stakeholders in Slovenia. Her presentation also gave us the opportunity to ask midwives what they thought. Participants were asked to complete a short questionnaire before the presentation and a second brief questionnaire afterwards. We are looking forward to seeing their responses – although we will rely heavily on colleagues from the University of Ljubljana to translate them!

Funding for our Slovenian trip was through networking grants – an EUNF award for Vanora to discuss research collaboration and an ERASMUS Preparatory Visit award for Luisa to explore the possibility of a staff mobility exchange. We both achieved these aims (more on that in our next blog), but this additional opportunity was too good to miss.

State of Yawning – Santander Travel Scholarship awarded to Dr Simon Thompson

Awarded & submitted bids, BU research, Featured academics, Fusion

Studying yawning has the potentially benefit of identifying underlying neurological disorders. Strong evidence of a link between yawning and fatigue, and with multiple sclerosis, is known. Mechanisms involved in excessive yawning are not understood and my work has shown a definitive link between yawning and cortisol levels in normal people. However, since people with multiple sclerosis often yawn excessively, it is important to establish whether or not their cortisol levels rise as with normal people since prolonged rises in cortisol levels indicate stress and may also indicate adverse neurological symptomatology. My work has generated a new hypothesis to explain the occurrence of excessive yawning and is complementary to Dr Gallup’s theories on thermoregulation in multiple sclerosis, which is pioneering. I am meeting Dr Gallup (Princeton University) in New York to discuss further studies in order to stay ahead of research progress. This is an excellent opportunity for kudos for Bournemouth University in being the first to carry out such research.

Business School Arrivals

BU research, Research news, Uncategorized

The Business School has seen the arrival of its new Deputy Dean of Research, Andy Mullineux (formerly University of Birmingham) as Professor of Financial Economics. Additional to his wisdom he comes with an AHRC Research Award worth £687K. End of April he will be chairing a session and give a paper at the International Conference on the Global Financial Crisis in Southampton. At the same time the new Head of Department of Accounting, Finance & Economics, Jens Hölscher (formerly University of Brighton), came to Bournemouth as Professor of Economics. He can draw on research funds won under the EU’s Jean Monnet programme and will chair a session and give a paper at a conference on The Pacific Rim Economies in Seoul, South Korea, at the end of April. Both of them have high aspirations to boost the research culture within the school.

Gender and the Horizon 2020 agenda

Awarded & submitted bids, BU research, Fusion

Well, not only did I not get my pocket ‘picked’, but I also did not fall drunk from a balcony (an activity known as ‘balconing’ apparently) – despite the risk assessment warnings to the contrary.  These were the main dangers against which I had to sign a disclaimer for on my recent Fusion funded (SMN) trip to Barcelona.  Once there (and how nice to actually see the sun!) I actually spent most of the daytime meeting people and learning stuff – at the European Conference on Politics and Gender.

There were two major issues and outcomes of this trip for me. The first was information about gender becoming an integrated part of the Horizon 2020 research agenda.  Work being done under the COST programme is promoting the agenda that all research bids submitted under the Horizon 2020 umbrella have a gendered dimension; that research must consider the impacts on women as well as men. (This has also recently been noted in the THES). This is important and significant progress for both scientific innovations and more broadly, for anyone who has a sense of social justice!

The second aspect and outcome for me, was to the opportunity to meet potential contributors for a forthcoming issue of European Political Science that I am co-editing. The symposium concerns the status of women in political science, who, like other disciplines in the UK, are highly under-represented at senior levels.  For example, despite over 50% of undergraduate students being female, recent stats by  HESA show that women represent only 20.5% of the professoriate. These statistics suggest that we really need to be asking – what is going on? How does such a disparity exist?  I have already done some qualitative research around this area – (for a popular summary see women universities and zombies).  The main focus of our co-edited journal symposium however, is the status of women in political science across Europe. Contributions will come from Scandinavia,  Italy, Germany and Spain, as well as the UK. Our aim is to first map where women are in the discipline, to consider cultural differences and similarities, and to discuss what we can do to increase equality of representation between men and women across all levels of political science (with lessons for academia more widely and beyond).  If you are interested in this work either directly, or in terms of the broader issues it raises, please do contact me on hsavigny@bournemouth.ac.uk

 

 

 

 

Open call for NERC Knowledge Exchange Fellows and NERC Policy Placement Fellows

BU research, Research news

 

NERC are seeking to award a number of part-time Knowledge Exchange Fellows (KE Fellows) and Policy Placement Fellows, whose objective will be to increase the impact of NERC-funded science through a programme of work of their own choosing.

The KE Fellowships are intended to enable the sharing and flow of knowledge and expertise between the NERC funded researchers and their user communities.  The KE Fellows can be a focus for a school /department KE activity arising from NERC funded research. It is understood that in some cases a mix of funding will lead to an opportunity to generate impact but it is essential that NERC funding has played a key role. 

Focus of the Fellowships

The applications should focus on accelerating and amplifying economic impact and improvements in the quality of life from NERC-funded research through working with business, NGOs or government bodies. This could include:

  • strengthening existing partnerships
  • developing new relationships
  • researching new market opportunities
  • providing case studies of knowledge exchange from NERC-funded research
  • providing briefings and reports suitable for policymakers

 

Details of the two types of fellowship are:

       1. Knowledge Exchange Fellowships (KE Fellowships)

 

  • Up to four fellowships are available for those who submit a work plan of their own choosing to generate impact from NERC-funded research in their host institution.
  • KE Fellowships will cover the KE Fellow’s salary including superannuation, NI and specific allowances, plus up to £40k for travel and other associated work plan costs.
  • KE Fellowships are based in the institution where they are employed, and open to researchers at any stage of their career.
  • KE Fellows can last for a minimum of one year to a maximum of three years. Candidates can apply to spend between 20% and 80% of their time on the fellowship.
  • KE Fellows have to be employed by the host institution for the duration of their fellowship.

 

       2. Policy Placement Fellowships

 

  • Must be organised in collaboration with a policy-making body, for example a government department, devolved administration or agency. The placement is for a fixed term, for a specific project.
  • Placement is jointly funded by NERC and the partner organisation on a 50:50 basis.
  • Minimum length of placement will be six months and the maximum three years.
  • Placement fellows will be expected to spend at least 50% of their fellowship in the partner organisation’s offices, although some work might require time to be spent at other locations in the UK or abroad.

 

Closing date for applications: 10 June 2013

Interview dates: 16-18 July 2013

 

For further information on how to apply please visit the NERC website

Alternatively, if you have any queries please contact keschemes@nerc.ac.uk, 

or call Lynne Porter on 01793 411791.