Category / conferences

Re-thinking the Profession of Project Management for Sustainability

Business Engagement, conferences, Fusion, Student Engagement

Project management contributes trillions to the global economy; driving business innovation and converting politicians’ promises into new systems and constructions that are intended to improve everyday life.

Sustainable development is a global priority and yet sustainability and project management do not sit comfortably together.  There is tension between the long-term focus of sustainable development and the inherent pressure on projects to deliver against short-term measures of success.  Furthermore, projects regularly fail.  For example, Meier (2017) suggest 71% of projects in 2015 failed or were challenged.  The financial, social and environmental costs of wasted resources and lost opportunities each year are also measured in trillions across the globe.

The UN’s 17 Sustainable Development Goals

Dr Karen Thompson and Dr Nigel Williams, both from the Department of Leadership, Strategy and Organisations, recognise that principles of responsible management and sustainability must be effectively incorporated into project management research and practice.  Without responsible project management, projects are likely to hasten degradation of the environment and increase tensions in society.  As a growing population competes for scarce resources, human conflict across the globe is likely to worsen.  Responsible management of projects is therefore globally significant.

An international, cross-disciplinary workshop to think about Responsible Project Management was recently hosted by Nigel and Karen at BU.  One focus was the project manager competencies because Wheatley (2018), among others, argues that enhanced project management capabilities would increase the beneficial impact of projects.  A central premise to emerge was that managing projects responsibly will require project managers to go beyond delivering defined results for specific customers to managing the impact of their activities on society and the environment.

The workshop brought together leading academics and practitioners to begin exploring the concept of Responsible Project Management, with a particular focus on what competencies project managers require to think and act responsibly.  An amazing 43 people engaged with us over two and a half days.  Feedback collected formally and informally was incredibly positive.  One outcome is recognition that the role of a project manager need to shift from a functional role, to leading and facilitating sustainable change.

Steve Knightley

The event began with a relaxed and informal afternoon with Steve Knightley, multi-award-winning musician/song writer, who shared his journey of creating a sustainable business.  The following day, BU’s Deputy Vice Chancellor, Professor Tim McIntyre-Bhatty, welcomed participants and shared his vision of the future, including BU2025.  Other participants from BU included the Head of BU’s Programme Management Office, Jackie Pryce; BU project managers; and Sustainability Manager, Neil Smith.  Colleagues Dr Mehdi Chowdhury, Senior Lecturer in Economics, Tilak Ginige and Dr Sulaf Assi, both from the Faculty of Science and Technology, and several BU students contributed presentations and stimulated discussion.

External participants included Professor Darren Dalcher, Director of the National Centre for Project Management; Professor Andrew Edkins, Director of the Bartlett Real Estate Institute and Professor of the Management of Complex Projects; Professor Gilbert Silvius, thought leader and author on sustainable PM from the Netherlands, and other UK academics.  Representatives from two professional bodies – the Association for Project Management (UK) and the Project Management Institute (USA) – reflected a range of practitioner perspectives; Arup Director Rob Leslie-Carter joined us via Skype, and Rowan Maltby, Project Consultant at Pcubed participated.  Sustainability thinking was used to provoke discussion and challenge norms, led by a Director of the Association of Sustainability Practitioners, Gwyn Jones.  We discussed B-corps, a new type of business organisation where the aim is to deliver value to stakeholders without preference.  Unlike not-for-profit organisations, B-corps recognise the importance of profit, because without profit a business is not sustainable.  Organisation and governance of B-corps reflect a need for stewardship of resources and impacts across a wide range of stakeholders, including the environment, users of outputs, staff, suppliers, and the wider community.

The workshop generated ideas about making project management a profession that goes beyond a technical function delivering outcomes defined by others.  We suggested a range of competences and understandings project managers will require if projects are to be managed responsibly in the future, such as dealing with uncertainty, ethical complexity, and better anticipation and mitigation of damaging unintended consequences.  Workshop outputs included ideas for research bidding, writing papers, learning, teaching and module content.  Already we are collaborating on a guide for project practitioners to begin sharing the ideas with national and international audiences.

References

Meier, S.R. 2017. Technology Portfolio Management for Project Managers. Available online: https://www.pmiwdc.org/sites/default/files/presentations/201703/PMIW_LocalCommunity_Tysons_presentation_2017-02.pdf [Accessed 7 July 2018]

Silvius, A.J.G. 2017. Sustainability as a new school of thought in project management.  Journal of Cleaner Production. Vol. 166. Pages 1479-1493

Wheatley, M. 2018.  The Importance of Project Management.  ProjectSmart. Available online: https://www.projectsmart.co.uk/the-importance-of-project-management.php [Accessed 8 July 2018]

BU Alum’s Research Featured at Fandom Conference

conferences, student research

Callum Cole, BA Events and Leisure Marketing Graduate

BU Alumnus Callum Cole had his research featured at the Fan Studies Network (FSN) Conference 2018  last month. Callum graduated with First Class Honours in 2016 from the BA Events and Leisure programme. His dissertation, which also received a first, entitled The Twitter Force Awakens: An Exploratory Analysis of E-WoM around a Sci-Fi Movie Release was presented at the FSN Conference by his dissertation supervisor Dr Nicole Ferdinand. His research was featured in a  panel dedicated to Events of Fandom which approached sci-fi from the perspectives of event, tourism and leisure studies.

Callum who is currently working as a Marketing Executive at Haven Holidays was previously a placement student for Vue Entertainment, which provided the inspiration for his research.

 

Other papers presented were:

  • Form/Con-tent: Defining the Con as Cultural and Organizational Form by Dr Benjamin Woo, Carleton University, Canada
  • Constructing Queer Sci-Fi Fan Identities: the Negotiation of Representation in Online Spaces by Monique Franklin, PhD Candidate, Flinders University, Australia
  • Performing Sci-Fi through debating Controversy: Communicative Leisure, Collective Memory and Rouge One: A Star Wars Story Below the Line at The Guardian by Professor Karl Spracklen, Leeds Beckett University, United Kingdom

Left: Monique Franklin, Top right: Karl Spracklen, Bottom right: Benjamin Woo

Callum, along with the other presenters in this panel have been invited contribute to a special issue for the Journal of Fan Studies.

Callum’s dissertation supervisor Dr Nicole Ferdinand with panel chair Professor Karl Spracklen

 

Evaluation in sport, leisure and wellbeing; the power of knowledge exchange

Business Engagement, conferences, Knowledge Transfer

 

The second seminar of this two seminar event takes place this Thursday at Solent University. Together with colleagues from VUB (Brussels) this international seminar series has examined issues of evaluation, knowledge transfer and agency for research and practice in sport, leisure and well-being fields.

Excellent speakers from the first seminar included Prof Sam Porter (BU), Prof Fred Coalter and Dr Rein Haudehuyse (VUB).

Thursdays seminar features Prof Ramon Spaij and Dr Hebe Schaillée (VUB), Dr Iain Lindsey (Durham University) and Dr Oscar Mwaanga (Solent University).

The focus of the seminar is on translating evidence and evaluation to practice: how do we bridge that gap?

If you would like to attend at Solent University please contact Andrew Adams in Department of Sport and Physical Activity at BU: aadams@bournemouth.ac.uk

This seminar series is supported by a grant from the Leisure Studies Association

Simon Thomas and Dimitrios Buhalis to contribute to ABTA’s Future Talent in the Travel Industry Conference in London

conferences

Future Talent in the Travel Industry

London Tuesday 3 July 2018
Grant Thornton, 30 Finsbury Square, London, EC2A 1AG

Register now

Network with travel industry employers at ABTA’s second annual future talent conference. 

What do industry employers expect from candidates looking to work in travel? From desirable qualifications and qualities to the future of travel industry roles, attend for first-hand insight into employability in travel. As the industry develops, learn what skills gaps employers will be looking to fill and how your candidates can meet the criteria for these new positions.

Conference highlights 

  • Discover current and future trends in travel – the impact on workforce, training and education
  • Explore Brexit priorities for the travel industry and higher educational institutions
  • Get a crucial update on graduate schemes, internships, placements and apprenticeships
  • Hear employer perspectives on talent, desirable qualifications and qualities
  • First-hand experiences from graduates, students and interns

Speakers include

  • Moderator: Vicki Wolf, Education Partnerships Manager, ABTA
  • Myra Cooke, Head of Performance and Development, Virgin Atlantic and Virgin Holidays
  • Carolyn Smith, Head of People Development, TUI
  • Elaine Bader, Head of Overseas Resourcing, Eurocamp
  • Anne-May Janssen, Head of European Engagement, Universities UK International 
  • Alan Wardle, Director of Public Affairs, ABTA
  • Annette Allmark, Director of Strategic Policy, People 1st
  • Dimitrios Buhalis, Head of Department – Tourism & Hospitality, Bournemouth University 
  • Simon Thomas, Head of Employability and Talent Development, Department of Tourism and Hospitality, Bournemouth University 
  • Celeste Jones, Head of Tourism, Hospitality & Event Management, University of Hertfordshire
  • Natasha Iacona, Management Accountant and HR Partner, Intrepid Group
  • Justin Rix, Partner, Grant Thornton
  • Maddie Blanks, Assistant Manager, Grant Thornton
  • Doreen McKenzie, Consultant, Oasis Travel
  • Nicky Duffy, UK Operations Manager, Clarity Travel Management 
  • Bradley Escorcio, Product Manager, Thomas Cook Media & Partnerships and member of the TTG 20 Under 30 scheme

Register now

Humanising Care, Health and Wellbeing conference

conferences

One week to go  to find out more about education, practice and research at the Humanising Care, Health and Wellbeing conference 21-22 June 2018

Please find the conference programme http://blogs.bournemouth.ac.uk/research/files/2018/06/18-06-13-Humanising-practice-programme-FIN.docx

If you would like to attend this conference at BU please register at https://humanisingcare2018.eventbrite.co.uk

This philosophically-driven approach to caring, health and wellbeing is based on humanising practice. Focusing on what make us feel human and what life feels like from the inside out (existential understandings from lifeworld approaches) provides novel approaches to consider issues relating to care, health and wellbeing.

Humanising practice is supported by work  settings which encourage connection to personal experience and research which privileges subjective experience and knowing; such as phenomenology, narrative, auto-ethnography, embodied knowing and arts–based approaches.

This is our fourth conference; people from previous conferences have said:

A fabulous conference. I leave this day feeling nutured…., inspired …. refreshed… glad to be human

I feel I have found my academic home, it’s a new home and I don’t know where everything is or where to put my ‘stuff’ , but it feels like home

It all fits ! So much lovely work is happening. The threads come together and support this work/idea/way of being. Loved hearing others’ stories and work in action

Thank-you for inviting me to participate –these are very powerful events

 

Creative launch for Responsible Project Management research

Business Engagement, conferences

Dr Karen Thompson and Dr Nigel Williams, of the Department of Leadership, Strategy and Organisations, are drawing on the creative industries to kick-start research on Responsible Project Management.

They have designed a 2-day interactive workshop that will bring together leading researchers and practitioners from across the UK and Europe.  This inter-disciplinary event will begin to consider how Project Managers can develop sustainability competencies to meet the UN’s 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).  A social learning approach, incorporating ‘Open Space Technology’, will be used to develop new understandings, practices and relationships.  Building on existing literature on Responsible Management, an important objective of this workshop is to identify a future research agenda for Responsible Project Management.

To get participants into a creative mindset, the workshop will be preceded by a relaxed and informative event with multi-award winning singer/songwriter Steve Knightley.  His journey is one of growing a business from grass roots to international fame.  A business that delivers excellence and fosters a warm embracing sense of community, and a journey that has taken him from local pubs to the Albert Hall, and beyond.

Academics and practitioners with a keen interest in sustainability from any discipline are invited to join one or both events.  Booking is essential.

Monday 2 July Growing a Sustainable Business  https://growingasustainablebusiness.eventbrite.co.uk

Tuesday 3 & Wednesday 4 July: Responsible Project Management Interactive Workshop https://responsibleprojectmanagement.eventbrite.co.uk

 

Background and rationale for research on Responsible Project Management

Responsible project management is the concept of incorporating the UN’s 17 Sustainable Goals in Project Management.

Projects and project management are now widely recognized by organizations as being essential to achieving their strategic objectives (Turner 2014).  Project management is a transferable skill, and projects are the engines of change across industries and in many aspects of business.  Research on project management therefore sits at the heart of business, management and education.  Since projects are conceptualized and realized by temporary, heterogeneous groups of individuals, existing management interventions from Operations and Supply Chain Management such as ISO14000 may be of limited value. There is therefore a need for Project Management researchers to develop academic insights that can encourage the application of responsible principles as well as the development of Project Managers with the competencies to deliver projects informed by knowledge of sustainability issues.

Sustainability is formally recognized as a global priority and impacts all aspects of project management (Silvius 2016).  The domain of management has begun to incorporate sustainable principles using the UN Goals which inflenced the Global Compact framework on Human Rights, Labour, Anti-Corruption and the Environment. At BU, Sustainability is a strategic investment area.

There is an emerging strand of research at the intersection of project management and sustainability.  However, the focus of existing research is developing metrics to evaluate project outcomes.  Incorporating sustainability into projects requires project managers to go beyond delivering defined results for specific customers to managing the impact of their activities on society and the environment.

Building on existing literature on Responsible Management, an important objective of this workshop is to identify a future research agenda for Responsible Project Management, with a focus on developing new researchers and practitioners. The workshop will feature organised, cross-disciplinary interaction among researchers and practitioners.

 

BU researchers pick up two awards at International Communication Association (ICA) conference

conferences

Bournemouth University researchers picked up two prestigious awards at the International Communication Association (ICA) annual conference held in Prague, 24-28 May 2018. This is the largest communications conference in the world and highly competitive, so receiving recognition in the form of awards is a great honour.

Dr Nael Jebril was recognised for his co-edited book entitled Political Journalism in Comparative Perspectivethat won the Harvard International Journal of Press/ Politics best book award. This is a major honour and awarded by the top journal in the field of media and politics. Dr Jebril received the award with his co-editors, Prof Erik Albæk (University of Southern Denmark), Prof Arjen van Dalen (University of Southern Denmark), and Prof Claes H. de Vreese (Universiteit van Amsterdam).

Dr Emma Pullen, Dr Daniel Jackson, Prof Michael Silkand Dr Richard Scullion won the top faculty paper award for the Sports Communication division of ICA, for their paper entitled Giving Disability the ‘Hollywood Treatment’: Channel 4 and the Broadcasting of the Paralympic Games. This is their first output from the AHRC funded Paralympics project on the cultural legacy of the 2016 Rio Paralympics (grant ref: AH/P003842/1). Keep up to date with their progress via the project website www.pasccal.com, Twitter @pasccalproject, and the BU research blog.

Abstracts

Political Journalism in Comparative Perspective
Prof Erik Albæk, Prof Arjen van Dalen, Dr Nael Jebril, Prof Claes H. de Vreese

Political journalism is often under fire. Conventional wisdom and much scholarly research suggest that journalists are cynics and political pundits. Political news is void of substance and overly focused on strategy and persons. Citizens do not learn from the news, are politically cynical, and are dissatisfied with the media. This book challenges these assumptions, which are often based on single-country studies with limited empirical observations about the relation between news production, content, and journalism’s effects. Based on interviews with journalists, a systematic content analysis of political news, and panel survey data in different countries, this book tests how different systems and media-politics relations condition the contents of political news. It shows how different content creates different effects and demonstrates that under the right circumstances citizens learn from political news, do not become cynical, and are satisfied with political journalism.

Giving Disability the ‘Hollywood Treatment’: Channel 4 and the Broadcasting of the Paralympic Games
Dr Emma Pullen, Dr Daniel Jackson, Prof Michael Silk and Dr Richard Scullion

Studies that have critiqued para-sport broadcasting, particularly through a narrative lens, have almost exclusively relied on textual and/or content analysis of the Paralympic Games as the source of cultural critique. We know far less about the decisions taken inside Paralympic broadcasters that led to such representations. In this study – based on interviews with senior production and promotion staff at the UK’s Paralympic broadcaster, Channel 4 – we provide the first examination of mediated para-sport from this vantage point. We explore the use of controversial promotional devices such as athletes’ backstories – the “Hollywood treatment” – to hook audiences as a vehicle to achieving its social enterprise ambitions of changing public attitudes toward disability. In so doing, we reveal myriad tensions that exist within a Paralympic broadcaster as they attempt to balance the competing goals of key stakeholders with their own desire to make the Paralympics a commercial and socially progressive success.

Medical Research showcase at CoPMRE’s Spring Visiting Faculty Day

conferences, Fusion, Knowledge Exchange, PG research

The Centre of Postgraduate Medical Research & Education (CoPMRE) held its Spring Visiting Faculty Day at the Executive Business Centre.  Fourteen posters (VF Programme Spring 2018) were presented showcasing the breadth of collaborative projects being undertaken by BU and local clinicians.  The Best Poster prize was awarded to Dr Paul Whittington, Department of Computing & Informatics, Faculty of Science and Technology, for his presentation entitled Automatic Detection of User Abilities through the SmartAbility Framework.  Professor Tamas Hickish, judge, felt that all the posters were excellent and address important health care issues.  Paul’s poster was chosen as the research was generated by a deep understanding of disability, the use a mobile phone technology and generalisability to significant areas of health care need such as stroke and frailty. As such his work is scalable and feasible.

Visiting Faculty Days are a great opportunity to share innovative ideas and research.  The event was very well received and links for possible further collaboration have already been formed as a result of networking.  Our next Visiting Faculty Day will be held in December.

Clinical Research Network Wessex Forum – registration now open

conferences

Clinical Research Network (CRN) Wessex is delighted to announce the date of its next Research Nurse, Research Midwife, Clinical Trial Practitioner and Research Allied Health Professional Forum forum, taking place at Hethfelton House, Wareham, Dorset, BH20 6HS on 5 July 2018.

Please see the draft agenda. Registration is now open.

If you would like to attend this forum please complete registration form.

Humanising Care, Health and Wellbeing Conference: 21st & 22nd June – Abstracts welcome!

conferences

This is our fourth conference and due to huge success in the past years we would like to invite you to take part in this year’s conference which is free for BU staff and students!

For more information and tickets please visit:

https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/humanising-care-health-wellbeing-tickets-45585595744#tickets

Tickets include refreshments and lunch.

We welcome abstracts!

  • On any topic linked to humanising practice, health and wellbeing
  • Reporting research, educational development or practice development.
  • They may be empirical, methodological, theoretical or discussion papers

Please see previous conference programmes at https://research.bournemouth.ac.uk/2018/04/humanising-care-health-and-wellbeing-conference-2018/

Abstract should:

  • Be submitted in a word document, Include a title (no word limit), Include details of authors, Names, Affiliations, Corresponding author with e-mail address, Content maximum 300 words (not including title and references)
  • Headings: Background, Aim (of research or paper), Method (if research), Findings (if research) or Key points, Conclusion
  • References are not needed and not more than two if included

Please send your abstract to Caroline Ellis-Hill (Conference chair) on cehill@bournemouth.ac.uk

Abstract submission will close when all the presentation spaces are filled; so please send your abstract NOW to avoid disappointment. Abstract submission will close on Tuesday 12 June, 5pm.

Humanising practice in Australia

conferences

Caroline Ellis-Hill  from the Centre for Qualitative Research  has been sharing her work at the 41st Australasian Society for the Study of Brain Impairment conference  in Adelaide.

I was privileged to be asked to be a keynote speaker taking about lifeworld led rehabilitation and also facilitate a practical workshop around staff wellbeing and Humanising practice, guided by a lifeworld approach. Participants enjoyed the workshop, as can be seen from the photograph! The theme of the conference was ‘Connecting and collaborating in rehabilitation’ and firm connections with researchers and clinicians in Australia and New Zealand will create a wonderful opportunity to collaborate across the globe.

I was also invited to be a visiting academic at the Living with Disability Research Centre, La Trobe University , Melbourne where I presented a seminar and met staff in the department. It was great to see what was happening in terms of service provision and disability culture in Australia. Our BU Humanising practice work was very well received and I’m looking forward to working with colleagues at La Trobe in the future.

To find out more around Humanising care, health and wellbeing please go to: https://research.bournemouth.ac.uk/2013/11/humanising-caring-health-and-wellbeing/

Humanising Care, Health and Wellbeing Conference: 21st & 22nd June

conferences, PG research

This is our fourth conference and due to huge success in the past years we would like to invite you to take part in this year’s conference which will take on the 21st & 22nd June 2018 at the Executive Business Centre in Lansdowne.

We have developed a philosophically driven approach to caring, health and wellbeing based on Humanising practices. It is based on existential understandings from lifeworld approaches and focuses on what make us feel human. Humanising practices (please click to read more) are those that incorporate fully human knowing and support a sense of connection and wellbeing.

This approach is supported by working practices which encourage connection to personal experience and research approaches which privilege subjective experience and knowing; such as phenomenology, narrative, auto-ethnography, embodied knowing and arts–based approaches.

For more information and tickets please visit:

https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/humanising-care-health-wellbeing-tickets-45585595744#tickets

Tickets include refreshments and lunch.