Category / conferences

Action Heroines in the Twenty-First Century: Sisters in Arms Thursday 9th & Friday 10 June 2022

Keynote: Professor Yvonne Tasker, University of Leeds 

It is 30 years since Thelma and Louise hit our screens, grossing a cool $45mil at the US box-office and carving out a special place in movie history. A deliberately feminist project for screenwriter Callie Khouri, it was hailed and derided in more or less equal measure by critics for its portrayal of two ordinary Arkansas women turned gun-toting outlaws. The film busted the Hollywood myth that a female-led action movie could not be a critical and commercial success. It also broke the mould by presenting us with not one but two action heroines, this being perhaps the most revolutionary thing about it. As a result, many anticipated an upsurge in female action heroines, but this was not to be. The genre continued to be almost exclusively dominated by men, and where a female action hero did appear (Geena Davis being one significant action star, Angelina Jolie of course another), they were almost always positioned as a single woman surrounded by a cast of men, as though to reinforce their exceptionality and their distance from ordinary women and from socially acceptable constructions of femininity. In the new millennium, however, we have seen an increasing number of women star in and lead action films emanating from Hollywood and beyond. And perhaps more interestingly we have seen the emergence of films that feature more than one female action figure, effectively removing that stultifying burden of representation otherwise shouldered by the lone ‘woman’.

This symposium, hosted by Bournemouth University, has been convened by Christa van Raalte (BU – FMC) and Frances Pheasant-Kelly (Wolverhampton University). Paper will respond to a range of films and television series from Asian productions through to mainstream Hollywood and examine various aspects of the on-screen action heroine – and in particular what happens when she teams up with her peers. We plan to work on a co-edited collection with our collaborators thereafter.

For further details and to register, please visit: https://www.bournemouth.ac.uk/research/centres-institutes/narrative-culture-community-research-centre/action-heroines-twenty-first-century-sisters-arms

e-Learning Dementia Education and Learning Through Simulation 2 (e-DEALTS 2) now successfully launched!

 

In line with this Dementia Action Week, the e-Learning Dementia Education and Learning Through Simulation 2 (e-DEALTS 2) programme was launched on 16th May 2022. The launch event was well attended by members caring for those with dementia, health and care staff in contact with people with dementia, hospital and residential care management representatives, researchers and academics.

The Ageing and Dementia Research Centre at Bournemouth University were commissioned by Health Education England to develop the e-DEALTS2 toolkit. The e-DEALTS 2 programme is a simulation-based training programme designed to support trainers to deliver dementia training online to health and social care staff and volunteers who require Tier 2 training (i.e., those who have regular contact with people with dementia, clinical and non-clinical).

The underlying principle of the e-DEALTS2 training is to provide opportunities to understand the lived experience by putting attendees into the shoes of a person with dementia.

Looking forward, we are excited to evaluate the toolkit for future research development. If you would like to be contacted by the Ageing & Dementia Research Centre about the eDEALTS2 and receive any further updates, please complete the Bournemouth University form by visiting: https://forms.office.com/r/H3q5UP7TX1

The eDEALTS2 toolkit is now available on the Health Education England website. To download, please visit https://tinyurl.com/y2228tak

 

Sexual Violence Staff and Student Conference at BU

Sexual Violence Student Conference: Legislation, Policy and Opinion

On 27 April staff and students from across BU came together in the new Bournemouth Gateway Building to share research and ideas on the topic of sexual violence.  The event was organised by Jane Healy, a criminologist in the Department of Social Sciences and Social Work in FHSS, in collaboration with Jamie Fletcher from Law, FMC, and Kari Davies from Psychology, FST.  The combination of social sciences, social work, psychology and law created a dynamic and exciting environment as students from all four disciplines were exposed to intriguing and engaging presentations on this broad topic.

From Law, second year student Teodora Nizirova, alongside lecturers Jamie Fletcher and Karolina Szopa, presented a fascinating paper on the Sexual Offences Act 2003, which at present distinguishes rape (as penile penetration) from sexual assault (which includes penetration from other sources). They proposed a gender-neutral definition of rape as an alternative to the current non-penile sexual assault charge, as a method of recognising the extent of the harm caused to those individuals who identify as non-binary or who are not in heteronormative relationships. Their presentation sparked a flourish of comments and debate from students and staff in attendance, and more about their proposal can be read here 

Jamie followed up by leading a discussion on R v Lawrence [2020] EWCA Crim 971, a recent case in the Court of Appeal, which held that lying about having a vasectomy did not negate consent in sexual intercourse, something which again produced much thought and debate from those in attendance.

Not to be outdone by the stimulating presentations from our Law Department, Psychology colleagues were quick to showcase the breadth of research they are currently undertaking on sexual violence. This included papers from Rachel Skinner, Psychology lecturer, on the relationships between rape myths and sexism/misogyny and an appeal from Rachel for those interested in this topic to collaborate with her on future work.  Two online papers swiftly followed: Ioana Crivatu, postdoctoral research assistant, presented on her qualitative study on group participation in sexual offences, and Ellie Reid, research assistant, shared findings on consistency and coincidence factors in sexual offences cases.  Kari Davies, lecturer in Psychology, concluded Psychology’s input by providing a whistle-stop tour of the variety of different work she and her colleagues are collaborating on, including BU’s contribution to “Project Bluestone” (which is a large project exploring rape and serious sexual offence investigations alongside colleagues from other institutions across the UK – more info here) as well as collaborative work on crime and policing in Switzerland with Maggie Hardiman.

Arguably saving the best for last (in my opinion), the Social Sciences and Social Work team finished off the afternoon with two and a bit papers from HSS.  BA Sociology student Sam Cheshire provided a confident and theoretically informed paper on his final year dissertation study, which involved interviewing survivors of domestic abuse and social services professionals. He emphasised the interlocations of power, violence and agency in his interpretation of the data, positioned within Foucauldian and neoliberalist concepts and structures. Orlanda Harvey, Lecturer in Social Work, then presented on her own project working with women survivors of domestic violence and highlighted the continuing taboo of disclosing sexual violence within relationships, providing strategies that she and Louise Oliver are using to engage with participants in a safe and supportive environment.

Finally, with only minutes remaining, Jane Healy concluded the afternoon with a very brief overview of her research into disabled women’s experiences of sexual violence, and shamelessly plugged her contribution to a book on “Misogyny as Hate Crime” which is available here (and will soon be available in the library collection).

The afternoon drew to a close with a rallying cry for more cross-faculty events for students and greater collaboration for staff on this topic.  The combination of distinct yet intersecting disciplinary work created an eclectic and refreshing mix of papers that provided much food for thought for staff and students alike. Students Teodora and Sam are to be particularly applauded for presenting for the first time to an audience of peers and academic staff.

Kari is keen to expand on collaborative expertise across BU in the fields of criminal justice, policing and sexual violence and is putting together a Sexual Violence working group. Please get in touch with her if you’d like to join.

Many thanks also to Kari for funding the tea and biscuits that kept us going through the afternoon! We are already looking forward to the next event.

Reflections on the 13th Postgraduate Research Conference

The recent postgraduate research conference, organised by the Doctoral College, offered a perfect opportunity to present my albeit early work, having just completed a systematic review prior to engaging in data collection and analysis in the second year of my PhD. Any opportunity to share/talk about our work is always valuable, encouraging discussion and questions that help us to clarify our thoughts and progress our research.

The conference programme offered a wide view of research being undertaken by PGR students across all the faculties, enabling glimpses into really fascinating research interests of others. We perhaps haven’t seen this as easily as we might have in previous years, because of the restrictions on face-to-face activity due to Covid-19, that have meant less opportunities for networking with others. In addition to the option to view online presentations, the conference hosts an online exhibition of recorded presentations and posters, that further support awareness of the scope of research being undertaken across the University.

A real strength of the conference was the enabling of networking with other PGRs on campus at lunchtime and after the presentations. There was a real positive and energising buzz in the room and the opportunity really supported the further development of my PGR identity as a student within the Doctoral College.

Thank you to the Doctoral College for organising the conference. I would highly recommend attendance at the conference, if not applying to be a presenter, or submitting a poster.

Tanya Andrewes.

PGR. Department of Nursing Science. FHSS

PGR Recorded Presentation | Hina Tariq

The 13th Annual Postgraduate Research Conference, hosted by the Doctoral College.

Hina Tariq (PhD, FHSS) with this presentation entitled: Development and content validation of contracture assessment screening tool.

Click the image below to watch.


You can view the full poster exhibition and pre-recorded presentations on the conference webpage.

If this research has inspired you and you’d like to explore applying for a research degree please visit the postgraduate research web pages or contact the Doctoral College dedicated admissions team.

PGR Recorded Presentation | Dennis Seaman

The 13th Annual Postgraduate Research Conference, hosted by the Doctoral College.

Dennis Seaman (PhD, BUBS) with this presentation entitled: The corporate governance effects of the audit committee informal process: Investigating practice in an emerging economy. 

Click the image below to watch.


You can view the full poster exhibition and pre-recorded presentations on the conference webpage.

If this research has inspired you and you’d like to explore applying for a research degree please visit the postgraduate research web pages or contact the Doctoral College dedicated admissions team.

PGR Recorded Presentation | Rushan Arshad

The 13th Annual Postgraduate Research Conference, hosted by the Doctoral College.

Rushan Arshad (PhD, FST) with this presentation entitled: Towards the development of a simulation framework for collaborative process in context of industry 4.0.

Click the image below to watch.


You can view the full poster exhibition and pre-recorded presentations on the conference webpage.

If this research has inspired you and you’d like to explore applying for a research degree please visit the postgraduate research web pages or contact the Doctoral College dedicated admissions team.

PGR Virtual Poster Exhibition | Joseph McMullen

The 13th Annual Postgraduate Research Conference, hosted by the Doctoral College.

Joseph McMullen (PhD, FMC) with this poster entitled: Particulate matter: Regulating an invisible killer.

Click the poster below to enlarge.

Research indicates that exposure to atmospheric pollutants diminishes immune responses and increases viral penetration and replication. Specifically, particulate matter – microscopic solids and liquids suspended in air – represents an unseen and unregulated threat to global human life and welfare. There is no evidence of a safe level of exposure, and particulate matter is linked to respiratory, pulmonary, gastrointestinal, cardiovascular, neurological, and paediatric developmental issues. In spite of this, domestic ambient particulate concentrations are unregulated. This work utilises particulate sampling in order to suggest the creation of a proactive regulatory framework informed by science and integrating post-hoc monitoring. Punitive action is suggested for non-compliance with the proposed legal obligations in addition to punitive measures beyond financial penalties.


You can view the full poster exhibition and pre-recorded presentations on the conference webpage.

If this research has inspired you and you’d like to explore applying for a research degree please visit the postgraduate research web pages or contact the Doctoral College dedicated admissions team.

PGR Virtual Poster Exhibition | Nurudeen Adesina

The 13th Annual Postgraduate Research Conference, hosted by the Doctoral College.

Nurudeen Adesina (PhD, FHSS) with this poster entitled: Effectiveness and Usability of Digital Tools to Support Dietary Self-management of Gestational Diabetes Mellitus: A Systematic Review.

Click the poster below to enlarge.

A systematic search of Medline, Embase, CINAHL, Cochrane library and Web of Science using key search terms identified 1476 papers reporting research studies, of which 16 met specified inclusion criteria. The quality of the included studies was assessed using the ErasmusAGE Quality Score or the Mixed Methods Appraisal Tool version 2018. Meta-analysis was not conducted due to the presence of substantial heterogeneity of data across the included studies. Our findings show that adoption of digital tools to support lifestyle improvement relating to healthy diet, health behaviour and adherence to therapy in women with GDM is a usable intervention. However, there was a lack of evidence concerning the effectiveness of the tools to support dietary management of GDM. Our systematic review suggests consideration for ethnic specific dietary advice and evidence-based framework in the development of effective digital tool for dietary management of GDM.


You can view the full poster exhibition and pre-recorded presentations on the conference webpage.

If this research has inspired you and you’d like to explore applying for a research degree please visit the postgraduate research web pages or contact the Doctoral College dedicated admissions team.

PGR Virtual Poster Exhibition | Kazeem Balogun

The 13th Annual Postgraduate Research Conference, hosted by the Doctoral College.

Kazeem Balogun (PhD, FST) with this poster entitled: Overview of blackblaze HDD analysis for predictive maintenance.

Click the poster below to enlarge.

 

With recent studies showing viability of machine learning (ML) among other tools as a better approach in performing Hard Disk Drive (HDD) analysis and enable fault detection models, the adoption of ML in the field of predictive maintenance (PM) becomes more complex. The complexity is not farfetched to the increase in sensor deployment, large volumes of generated data, variances in attributes or parameters and differences in characteristics of data sets. We provide an overview of HDD analysis using Backblaze as a case study and literature review of different ML approaches to HDD analysis for PM. We observed reasonable amount of studies in this direction, but the application of ML towards HDD analysis for PM needs more focus to improve model accuracy and stimulate further work in this area. We shall conclude this study by proposing our ground-breaking state-of-the art HDD analysis and model enhancement.


You can view the full poster exhibition and pre-recorded presentations on the conference webpage.

If this research has inspired you and you’d like to explore applying for a research degree please visit the postgraduate research web pages or contact the Doctoral College dedicated admissions team.

PGR Virtual Poster Exhibition | Maureen Kehinde

The 13th Annual Postgraduate Research Conference, hosted by the Doctoral College.

Maureen Kehinde (PhD, BUBS) with this poster entitled: A qualitative inquiry investigation of policy-practice decoupling factors of Environmental sustainability in universities: a case study of North-East Scottish universities.

Click the poster below to enlarge.

This research presents the findings from an investigation of decouplings between policy and practice of environmental sustainability in North East Scottish universities. Embedding environmental sustainability on university campus and into institutional culture requires universities to walk their talks, ensuring that there is strong alignment between policy claims and actual practice. However, the realities of institutional progress suggests that for some universities there continues to be practice discrepancies in the operation of environmental sustainability on campus. This research adopts Institutional theory as underpinning lens and qualitative inquiry multi-case study methodology to address the question what are the factors which further the occurrence of Policy-practice decoupling of environmental sustainability in universities? The research found that bounded rationality, fragmentation of the internal and external environment, outsourcing and centralisation are factors which further the disconnect between policy and practice of environmental sustainability in North East Scottish universities.


You can view the full poster exhibition and pre-recorded presentations on the conference webpage.

If this research has inspired you and you’d like to explore applying for a research degree please visit the postgraduate research web pages or contact the Doctoral College dedicated admissions team.

PGR Virtual Poster Exhibition | Taalia Nadeem

The 13th Annual Postgraduate Research Conference, hosted by the Doctoral College.

Taalia Nadeem (PhD, BUBS) with this poster entitled: Understanding the social representation of uncrewed aerial vehicles (UAVs): how public and stakeholder views empower or constrain pathways to adoption.

Click the poster below to enlarge.

UAVs now support various purposes including within healthcare logistics. There are benefits of using UAVs, but their capabilities are challenged by the public. A solid understanding of public acceptance of UAVs is important to develop appropriate regulatory strategies therefore, the following research questions arise: What is the influence of mass media on UAV perception? What attributes and perceived risks of UAVs influence adoption? How do personal attributes affect views of UAVs? A mixed method approach is proposed including a phase of qualitative research to understand concerns and identify segments according to attitudes, behaviours, or values. This will be followed by a large-scale questionnaire.  Studies demonstrate that mainstream media is the main source of information about UAVs, but due to lack of knowledge, the public is unable to make a more informed opinion, and this calls for a deeper understanding of people’s knowledge of UAVs.


You can view the full poster exhibition and pre-recorded presentations on the conference webpage.

If this research has inspired you and you’d like to explore applying for a research degree please visit the postgraduate research web pages or contact the Doctoral College dedicated admissions team.

PGR Virtual Poster Exhibition | Zhiqi Li

The 13th Annual Postgraduate Research Conference, hosted by the Doctoral College.

Zhiqi Li (PhD, FMC) with this poster entitled: Deep learning for scene flow estimation: methods and applications.

Click the poster below to enlarge.

Scene flow estimation aims at obtaining structure information and 3D motion of dynamic scenes. It has long been an interest of research in computer vision and 3D computer graphics. It is a fundamental task for various applications like autonomous driving. Compared to previous methods utilizing image representations, many recent researches build upon the power of deep analysis on point clouds and focus on point clouds representation to conduct 3D flow estimation. In this survey, we comprehensively review the pioneering literature in scene flow estimation based on point clouds, delve in detail into their learning paradigms and present insightful comparison between the state-of-the-art methods using deep learning for scene flow estimation. Furthermore, we introduce various higher-level scene understanding tasks (object tracking, motion segmentation, etc.) which could benefit from the latest progress on scene flow estimation. The paper concludes with an overview of foreseeable research trends for scene flow estimation.


You can view the full poster exhibition and pre-recorded presentations on the conference webpage.

If this research has inspired you and you’d like to explore applying for a research degree please visit the postgraduate research web pages or contact the Doctoral College dedicated admissions team.

PGR Virtual Poster Exhibition | Shell Smith

The 13th Annual Postgraduate Research Conference, hosted by the Doctoral College.

Shell Smith (PhD, FHSS) with this poster entitled: Does motorcyclists’ identification, perception, and knowledge towards risk change regarding their motorcycling qualifications and experience?

Click the poster below to enlarge.

Motorcyclists are one of the most vulnerable road user groups in the U.K. with an average of 6 deaths and 94 serious injuries per week. A common collision scenario is a road user driving across the path of a motorcyclist. Consequently, the research questions ask where motorcyclists and car drivers are directing their visual attention and hazard perception and whether there are differences between advanced motorcyclists and advanced car drivers vs standard trained motorcyclists and car drivers. Prior research specifically targeted at motorcycle collision prevention is limited, with only 15 studies using eye-tracking methodology. To target gaps in the literature; this is a mixed methods study using qualitative interviews, questionnaires, and eye-tracking. Initial findings indicate that motorcyclists and car drivers demonstrate different visual attention patterns. Thus, it is possible to change driving and motorcycle test training to teach how to direct visual attention and cognition to hazards.


You can view the full poster exhibition and pre-recorded presentations on the conference webpage.

If this research has inspired you and you’d like to explore applying for a research degree please visit the postgraduate research web pages or contact the Doctoral College dedicated admissions team.

PGR Virtual Poster Exhibition | Rosie Harper

The 13th Annual Postgraduate Research Conference, hosted by the Doctoral College.

Rosie Harper (PhD, FHSS) with this poster entitled: Nudging: a theoretical concept for a very practical approach to pelvic floor muscle training.

Click the poster below to enlarge.

A third of women suffer from stress incontinence which affects their physical, mental and social wellbeing. Pelvic floor exercises are the gold standard treatment, but women’s adherence to these exercises is poor. It is suggested behaviour change techniques, including nudge theory, could be used to improve adherence. The research will explore the role of nudge theory in causing predictable changes in behaviour in antenatal women, gain insight into antenatal women’s experience of digital nudges and allow a better understanding of the influence of digital nudges on pelvic floor muscle training adherence. The first phase involves a literature review to explore the effect of digital nudges on exercise adherence in antenatal women. Phase two of the study involves qualitative data collection and analysis to explore women’s experience of digital nudges. The third phase of the study will be a feasibility study which includes a pilot of the intervention – digital nudges.


You can view the full poster exhibition and pre-recorded presentations on the conference webpage.

If this research has inspired you and you’d like to explore applying for a research degree please visit the postgraduate research web pages or contact the Doctoral College dedicated admissions team.