Category / BU2025

Interdisciplinary Neuroscience Research Centre informal event

BU Challenges, BU research, BU2025, REF Subjects, Research Centres, Research news, research staff

We would like to invite you to the informal online opening event of BU’s Interdisciplinary Neuroscience Research Centre on Monday 2 November from 10am – 12pm, in Zoom.

The centre is designed to foster collaborative research in applied, translational and theoretical neuroscience within the university and with our external partners to enable us to bid for external funding. We also seek to promote education in neurosciences in graduate and post-graduate programs. The centre offers a range of experimental and theoretical expertise and we are interested in collaborating with internal and external colleagues.

During the event we will provide a very brief overview of the techniques, recording modalities and facilities that we have available. Then we would welcome discussion around potential collaborations and projects.

Add this event to your diary and join us on Zoom. 

Meeting ID: 885 0146 7009
Passcode: BE@hTx^1

Thank you very much and we are looking forward to seeing you there.

If you have any queries please do not hesitate to contact any of us (Ellen Seiss, eseiss@bournemouth.ac.uk  Emili Balaguer-Ballester eb-ballester@bournemouth.ac.uk or Peter Abaraci Hills phills@bournemouth.ac.uk).

IMIV MRI Pump-Priming Research Scheme

BU Challenges, BU research, BU2025, Events

To celebrate the launch of the Bournemouth University Institute of Medical Imaging and Visualisation, and the opening of the MRI Centre in the Bournemouth Gateway Building, we are pleased to launch an MRI pump-priming scheme to support innovative MRI research projects.

The aim of this scheme is to support projects that will lead to competitive external funding applications for MR imaging studies.  Applications will therefore be required to demonstrate a clear plan for progressing preliminary studies to grant applications and larger studies.

  • All projects must have a Bournemouth University researcher as lead or co-lead applicant (see application form).
  • Up to 4 awards of up to 20 hours’ scanning time will be available. The award will not cover any additional expenses related to scanning, or other aspects of the project.
  • Projects must be deliverable within 12 months, including ethical approvals. Projects with ethical approvals already in place will be prioritised.
  • There will be online information and project development sessions with members of the IMIV team at 3.30pm on Thursday 22nd October and Thursday 5th November. Please email imiv@bournemouth.ac.uk to register your interest and receive the login details. You can view the virtual presentation here.

To register your interest, and receive the application form, please email imiv@bournemouth.ac.uk. The deadline for applications is 13th December 2020.

Academic Targeted Research Scheme (Sport & Sustainability): Women in Sports Leadership

BU research, BU2025

Back in April I started my new post as Senior Lecturer in Sport and Sustainability – one of six appointments made under BU’s Academic Targeted Research Scheme. The Scheme has been designed to attract and recruit talented individuals to conduct research in specific, targeted areas which align with BU 2025.

My research under the scheme focuses on the area of sport and social sustainability, aiming to inform the work of National Governing Bodies of Sport (NGBs) in ensuring greater diversity on their boards, and to help create environments whereby women can fully and effectively participate in sports leadership. Attracting a more diverse workforce is a key aspect of making sports governance more socially sustainable.

The historical environment of sports governance in the UK shapes contemporary sport, providing a context in which women have often not been welcomed in positions of leadership in men’s sport – and women of colour doubly so. However, an examination of women’s sport shows that up until the 1990s many women were involved in sports governance at high levels – for example, the Women’s Cricket Association (who were the NGB running women’s cricket in England & Wales until 1998) was led entirely by women for its entire lifespan between 1926 and 1998.

The 1990s, however, seems to have been a particularly problematic period for women in sports governance. A push from the Sports Council (now Sport England) towards merged governance – that is, having women’s and men’s sport run by the same NGB – saw many of the women who had successfully run women’s sport for decades forced out of their governance roles.

My research aims to examine this process in more detail, asking:

  1. Why was a policy of merged governance introduced, and what impact has it had on women’s role and representation in the governance of sport?
  2. How can we learn from this process, to ensure that more women are represented in sports governance going forwards?

COVID-19 has inevitably affected my research plans: I am aiming to conduct interviews with those who were involved in the merger processes which took place in the 1990s, but may have to consider doing this via Zoom, instead of face-to-face.

I am also looking to create a new network which focuses on Sports Governance & Diversity, in order to bring together researchers in this area with key stakeholders including UK Sport, Sport England, NGBs, and charities like Women in Sport. It is crucial that academic research being conducted into the underrepresentation of certain groups in sport governance reaches those who are running sport, and informs their future policy.

Anyone who is interested in getting involved in this new network should feel free to email me – I’d love to hear from you.

Faculty of Science & Technology receives an additional £60k CyberASAP funding

Awarded & submitted bids, BU research, BU2025, Research news

Dr Huseyin Dogan (Principle Investigator) and Co-Investigators (Dr Paul Whittington, Professor Keith Phalp, Dr Nan Jiang and Dr Benjamin Gorman) from the Faculty of Science & Technology have been awarded an additional £59,578 funding from the Department of Culture, Media and Sport, in collaboration with Innovate UK and the Knowledge Transfer Network, through the Cyber Academic Startup Accelerator Programme (CyberASAP). This external funding supports BU2025 Assistive Technology Strategic Investment Area. The CyberASAP programme is designed to assist academics in UK Universities to commercialise cyber security ideas, by providing expertise knowledge and support. Lesley Hutchins (Research Commercialisation Manager, RDS) is included in our team to guide the commercialisation of Authentibility Pass through a potential BU spinout company. We also receive valued administrative support from Caroline Jarmolkiewicz, Personal Assistant to Dr Paul Whittington.

We have discovered that people with disabilities can encounter barriers due to web security and privacy technologies. This could result in them being prevented from purchasing goods or registering for services, leading to frustration and cancelling transactions. Our CyberASAP project, named Authentibility Pass, will be an innovative solution to assist people with disabilities to communicate their authentication and accessibility requirements to higher education institutions, schools, non-profit organisations, small medium enterprises and financial institutions. Authentibility Pass builds on the knowledge obtained during Dr Paul Whittington’s PhD (supervised by Dr Huseyin Dogan and Professor Keith Phalp) and postdoctoral research through the development of the SmartAbility Framework.

This funding follows our previously successful bid for Phase 1 of the programme, where we received £31,612 to develop our value proposition and to conduct market validation of our concept. We conducted market analysis and identified that there is a need for Authentibility Pass, as organisations who do not comply with accessibility regulations lose approximately £80k per annum through accessibility claims. Our market validation highlighted that people with disabilities often need to repeatedly inform organisations of their authentication and accessibility requirements. Authentibility Pass will enable customers to enter their requirements into a smartphone application, which can be stored in secure organisational databases.

During Phase 2 (which runs from September 2020 to February 2021), Vers Creative UK (CEO David Passmore) will be sub-contracted to develop the Authentibility Pass Proof of Concept, consisting of an Android application, database and web interface for managing the database. We believe that adopting Authentibility Pass will assist organisations to comply with accessibility and equality regulations, as well as facilitating awareness of the requirements of customers with disabilities when interacting with organisations. The solution will be customisable to suit specific organisations through a ‘Software as a Service’ with varying licensing options, e.g. annual subscriptions for hosting the database or one-off costs to provide an API that interfaces with existing database systems.

Our aim is to evolve Authentibility Pass into a commercial product that improves the relationship with customers, students or pupils who have reduced abilities. The CyberASAP project will culminate in a Demo Day in February 2021 at Level 39 of Canary Wharf (COVID-19 permitting), where we will present our Authentibility Pass Proof of Concept to potential investors.

New research paper published by Professor Dimitrios Buhalis in Journal of Advertising 

BU research, BU2025, Business Engagement

New research paper published by Professor Dimitrios Buhalis in Journal of Advertising 

Ali Selcuk Can, Yuksel Ekinci, Giampaolo Viglia & Dimitrios Buhalis (2020):
Stronger Together? Tourists’ Behavioral Responses to Joint Brand Advertising,
Journal of Advertising https://doi.org/10.1080/00913367.2020.1809574

free eprints https://www.tandfonline.com/eprint/76JWSAAMIBF3ZHQXFEHT/full?target=10.1080/00913367.2020.1809574

 

Abstract 

Drawing on collaboration theory, this research investigates the effect of joint versus single brand advertising on tourists’ behavioral responses with two experiments. Study 1 employs a field experiment to examine the effect of joint brand advertising on tourists’ actual information search behavior. Study 2 uses a laboratory experiment to investigate the effect of joint brand advertising on tourists’ intention to visit a destination and measures whether this relationship is mediated by product interest. Study 1 suggests that, compared to single brand advertising, joint brand advertising increases tourists’ search behavior. Study 2 shows that joint brand advertising stimulates product interest, which in turn increases tourists’ intention to visit. The mediating role of product interest disappears when a destination brand forms a partnership with a lesser-reputed travel intermediary brand. The research provides implications for theory development in the area of tourism advertising, while also identifying best practices for advertisers on how to optimize the effectiveness of their campaigns.

 

Deadline approaching: Call for Deputy Chair of the Research Impact Funding Panel

BU2025, Impact

The Research Impact Funding Panel is responsible on behalf of the Research Performance and Management Committee for providing internal funding and support to aid the development of research impact at BU.  This will ensure a pipeline of case studies for REF 2021 and beyond. It is responsible for assessing and determining priority areas for impact support and investment.

We are seeking expressions of interest (EoIs) for the Deputy Chair of the Research Impact Funding Panel. Deputy Chairs should be members of the Professoriate (Associate Professors).

EoIs for the Deputy Chair role will be reviewed against selection criterion which includes knowledge and experience of research impact, experience of chairing meetings and plans for leading the impact agenda across the university.

EoIs should consist of a CV and short case (maximum length of one page) outlining suitability for the role. These should be submitted to the Research Impact panel mailbox by the deadline of 5pm on 1 September 2020.

Full details are available on the Staff Intranet: https://staffintranet.bournemouth.ac.uk/news/news/thismonth/researchimpactfundingpanelcallfordeputychair.php

Research Impact Funding Panel – call for Deputy Chair

BU2025, Impact

The Research Impact Funding Panel is responsible on behalf of the Research Performance and Management Committee for providing internal funding and support to aid the development of research impact at BU.  This will ensure a pipeline of case studies for REF 2021 and beyond. It is responsible for assessing and determining priority areas for impact support and investment.

We are seeking expressions of interest (EoIs) for the Deputy Chair of the Research Impact Funding Panel. Deputy Chairs should be members of the Professoriate (Associate Professors).

EoIs for the Deputy Chair role will be reviewed against selection criterion which includes knowledge and experience of research impact, experience of chairing meetings and plans for leading the impact agenda across the university.

EoIs should consist of a CV and short case (maximum length of one page) outlining suitability for the role. These should be submitted to the Research Impact panel mailbox by the deadline of 5pm on 1 September 2020.

Full details are available on the Staff Intranet: https://staffintranet.bournemouth.ac.uk/news/news/thismonth/researchimpactfundingpanelcallfordeputychair.php

Research Impact Funding Panel – call for Deputy Chair

BU2025, Impact

The Research Impact Funding Panel is responsible on behalf of the Research Performance and Management Committee for providing internal funding and support to aid the development of research impact at BU.  This will ensure a pipeline of case studies for REF 2021 and beyond. It is responsible for assessing and determining priority areas for impact support and investment.

We are seeking expressions of interest (EoIs) for the Deputy Chair of the Research Impact Funding Panel. Deputy Chairs should be members of the Professoriate (Associate Professors).

EoIs for the Deputy Chair role will be reviewed against selection criterion which includes knowledge and experience of research impact, experience of chairing meetings and plans for leading the impact agenda across the university.

EoIs should consist of a CV and short case (maximum length of one page) outlining suitability for the role. These should be submitted to the Research Impact panel mailbox by the deadline of 5pm on 1 September 2020.

Full details are available on the Staff Intranet: https://staffintranet.bournemouth.ac.uk/news/news/thismonth/researchimpactfundingpanelcallfordeputychair.php

Health and Science Mis/Disinformation Thematic Issue, with a Covid-19 Flavour

BU research, BU2025, COVID-19, Fusion themes, Research news, Uncategorized

The top-tier open-access journal, Media and Communication, has released a timely bumper thematic issue on heath and science controversies in the digital world, edited by Associate Professor An Nguyen of BU and Dr Daniel Catalan of University Carlos III of Madrid.

In addition to nine full research articles covering a range of health and science controversies (e.g. anti-vaccine movements, climate change denial, Flat Earth doctrine, anti-5G vandalism, nanotechnology, green energy), the issue features ten rapid-response commentaries on the Covid-19 infodemic from Africa, China, Japan, Vietnam, Italy, Spain, Germany and the US.

“Digital media, especially online social networks, open a vast array of avenues for lay people to engage with news, information and debates about important science and health issues,” said Dr Nguyen.

“But, as the Covid-19 infodemic shows, they have also become a fertile land for various stakeholders to spread misinformation and disinformation, stimulate uncivil discussions and engender ill-informed, dangerous public health and science decisions.” 

(more…)

Faculty of Science and Technology receives funding for CyberASAP Authentibility Pass Project

Awarded & submitted bids, BU research, BU2025, Fusion themes

Dr Huseyin Dogan (Principle Investigator) and Co-Investigators (Dr Paul Whittington, Professor Keith Phalp, Dr Nan Jiang and Dr Benjamin Gorman) from the Faculty of Science & Technology have recently been awarded £31,612 funding from the Department of Culture, Media and Sport, in collaboration with Innovate UK and the Knowledge Transfer Network, through the Cyber Academic Startup Accelerator Programme (CyberASAP). This external funding supports BU2025 Assistive Technology Strategic Investment Area.

Our CyberASAP project is named Authentibility Pass and the concept is for a smartphone application that will assist people who have reduced physical and cognitive abilities to communicate their authentication and accessibility requirements to organisations, including banks, SMEs and charities. This will be achieved by implementing secure organisation databases that store customers’ requirements. We believe the benefit of Authentibility Pass will be to increase the awareness of employees of the suitable methods to support customers with reduced abilities, resulting in higher customer satisfaction. The solution will be customisable to suit specific organisations through a ‘Software as a Service’ with varying licensing options, e.g. monthly or annual subscriptions. We have conducted market analysis and identified that there is a need for Authentibility Pass, as organisations who do not comply with accessibility regulations lose approximately £80,000 per annum through accessibility claims. Authentibility Pass builds on the knowledge obtained during Dr Paul Whittington’s PhD and Postdoctoral Research and the development of the SmartAbility Framework (supervised by Dr Huseyin Dogan and Professor Keith Phalp).

The CyberASAP programme is designed to assist academics in UK Universities to commercialise Cyber Security ideas, by providing expertise knowledge and support. Lesley Hutchins (Research Commercialisation Manager, RDS) is also included in our team to provide advice regarding commercialisation and intellectual property. There are two phases of the programme and we are currently midway through the first phase, which is the Value Proposition and Market Validation.

Usually the CyberASAP events are held in London, but due to COVID-19 these were converted to online webinars using Zoom, organised by the Knowledge Transfer Network. The webinars have been successful and included interactive participation, using ‘virtual breakout rooms’. Our team has participated in the Value Proposition and Market Validation Bootcamps, where we have learnt skills to apply in the first phase of the funding. We have presented at the mid programme review and the Value Proposition assessment, where our team was successful in proceeding to the Market Validation phase.

We are currently having discussions with industries to validate our Authentibility Pass concept, in terms of establishing their need for the Application. The team is having video calls with All-Party Parliamentary Group for Assistive Technology, BU Additional Learning Support, Cumberland Lodge, Diversity and Ability and Google. In addition to these discussions, we are distributing the Authentibility Pass Survey to people with reduced abilities, to understand their current challenges of communicating their authentication and accessibility requirements to organisations. The combination of these methods will validate our Value Proposition for Authentibility Pass, which will be presented to the CyberASAP panel at the end of July.

The remaining 20 teams in the programme will then be judged by a panel of cyber security experts and the successful teams will be invited to submit a proposal to Phase 2 of the programme, Proof of Concept. If our team are successful for this phase, we will receive an additional £60,000 of funding to develop Authentibility Pass. This will run from September 2020 to February 2021 and will cover the staff costs of the existing Co-Investigators, as well as an Application Developer.

Our aim is to convert Authentibility Pass into a commercial product that is used by banks, SMEs and charities to improve their relationship with customers who have reduced abilities. This could result in a spinout company from BU to facilitate the dissemination of the application. We envisage this creating impact for our assistive technology research and we will provide updates on our progress.