BU Research Blog | Events | Bournemouth University

August 11, 2022

Postgraduate Researchers and Supervisors | Monthly Update for Researcher Development

BU research, Doctoral College, Events, Featured, PG research, Postgraduate Research, Research news, Research Training, student research Deborah Smythe

Postgraduate researchers and supervisors, hopefully you have seen your monthly update for the researcher development e-newsletter sent last week. If you have missed it, please check your junk email or you can view it within the Researcher Development Programme on Brightspace.

The start of the month is a great time to reflect on your upcoming postgraduate researcher development needs and explore what is being delivered this month as part of the Doctoral College Researcher Development Programme and what is available via your Faculty or Department. Remember some sessions only run once per year, so don’t miss out.

Please also subscribe to your Brightspace announcement notifications for updates when they are posted.

If you have any questions about the Researcher Development Programme, please do not hesitate to get in touch.

Natalie (Research Skills & Development Officer)
pgrskillsdevelopment@bournemouth.ac.uk

August 9, 2022

Join the mental health research seminar

BU research, conferences, Events, Research news chemmings

Are you interested in mental health research and engaging with researchers across Wessex?

Join us for a seminar (6 October 2022) given by Professor Sam Chamberlain, Professor of Psychiatry, University of Southampton and NIHR ARC Wessex Mental Health Research Hub Lead.

He will highlight projects currently supported through the Mental Research Hub, as part of the NIHR ARC Wessex. The Hub aims to bring together researchers from different disciplines and partners throughout the region to plan and conduct research and look at ways to implement findings at the point of care. It also encourages and support new research talent through mentorship, internships, a summer school, and new post-doctoral positions.

This seminar will provide a valuable opportunity to find out more about the Mental Health Research Hub, engage with researchers in Wessex to develop new research and potentially be involved with current projects.

Please sign up asap using this Eventbrite link (venue to be confirmed)

https://nihr-arc-mental-health.eventbrite.co.uk

August 9, 2022

Sharing your research with the public at Café Scientifique – Oct onwards

BU research, Events, Impact, Public engagement, Research communication Adam Morris

If you’re interested in sharing your scientific research with a friendly public audience – complete our form.

We’re currently organising our series of Café Scientifique events for Oct 2022 – July 2023 and we’re looking for people interested in getting involved. Café Scientifique is a public event format, popular around the world, where anyone can come along to explore the latest research in science and technology in a casual café setting. Following a short presentation by a researcher, there is plenty of time for questions and discussion from a varied public audience.

Taking place on a weekday evening, Café Scientifique events run monthly from June (excepting August and January). They’re organised centrally by the BU Public Engagement with Research Team, part of Research Development and Support (RDS). It’s a fantastic opportunity to get experience in engaging with the public in a friendly atmosphere and gain surprising insights into your own work.

We welcome academics at all career stages, although this is particularly valuable for those just getting started in engaging with the public. We also encourage collaboration between less experienced and more experienced public speakers – to provide a valuable learning experience with the support to keep things going smoothly.

Regarding your research – although we use a broad definition of ‘science’, the audience do have certain expectations from the name, so we do not tend to feature research outside of the broad ‘science’ theme.

Register your interest

What happens next?

Whether we will be able to host your talk, and at the time you want, depends on several factors including the subject matter, timing and other events, so completing this form does not guarantee you will be able to take part. If everything does align, we will be in touch to invite you to speak at an upcoming event.

Other ways to get involved

We’re looking to involve a wider range of people from across BU to make our Café Scientifique series a success and a true BU community project. As well as speaking, you could get involved in a number of flexible ways;

Hosting events – every Cafe Sci event needs a host – to welcome the audience, introduce the speakers and keep the questions flowing. This is a great opportunity for someone to develop skills and experience interacting with the public, as well as being an enjoyable way to meet other people.
Helping to organise events – whether it’s finding speakers, helping polish a presentation, promoting these events far and wide and more – we’d welcome any BU staff or students who’d like to help out with various bits behind the scenes on these events. This is a great way to dip your toes in the world of public engagement, gain experience in organising events and work on a fun project with others across BU.

If you have any questions about speaking at, or are interested in helping to host or organise these events, then please get in touch with the public engagement team at publicengagement@bournemouth.ac.uk. There’s no commitment, we can start from there and see what would work best for everyone.

August 3, 2022

Celebrating REF success in FHSS – the research journey continues!

Events, Research news, research staff, Research Training chemmings

FHSS hosted a highly successful event on 28^th July 2022 to celebrate the achievements from REF 2021 and journey ahead, as we’re already in the next REF period, finished off by scrumptious ice cream!

Shelly Anne Stringer and the BU RDS impact team joined UoA3, UoA20 and UoA24 leads/deputies to share the results. There was some great discussion and opportunities highlighted for staff engagement including impact workshops.

There will be more upcoming training opportunities:

8th September, two hour impact case study workshop by Amanda Lazar
15th September, getting started with impact workshop by Beth Steiner/Amanda Edwards
12th October, Evidencing impact workshop by Beth Steiner/Amanda Edwards

Please also see research blog for more details and/or contact BU RDS – Shelly Anne Stringer (Research Excellence Manager) sastringer@bournemouth.ac.uk

July 27, 2022

Join a BU online event this Friday lunchtime on challenging the stigma around exercising with epilepsy

BU research, ECR Network, Events, Public engagement Amanda Edwards

Photo by Anupam Mahapatra on Unsplash

Exercising with Epilepsy, Friday 29th July, 12.30pm, online

Join psychology lecturer Dr Sarah Collard at a free online event this Friday to hear how her research is challenging the assumptions around exercising with epilepsy. Dr Collard was awarded ACORN funding to explore the physical activity levels of people with epilepsy in the UK. The project aimed to:

Establish self-reported physical activity and levels of sedentary behaviour.
Obtain epilepsy-related factors and socio-demographic information.
Investigate the associations between epilepsy-related factors, socio-demographics, and physical activity.

In the online discussion, Dr Collard will outline her findings so far, which will provide important data for people with epilepsy and their families and carers, as well as medical professionals and those working in the fitness and leisure sector.

To join the discussion and hear her findings, sign up here.

July 27, 2022

Global interest in BU’s first online public lecture series

BU research, Events, Featured, Public engagement ematthews

Attendees from Sierra Leone, the USA, Norway and the Netherlands were among those who joined BU’s online public lecture series.

A black background with multicoloured strands and the text 'Online Public Lecture Series'

Online Public Lecture Series 2022

Six online public lectures ran between February and July, showcasing BU research and expertise. Topics included healthy ageing, the Great British seaside, the wildlife of Poole Harbour, and how our ancient ancestors responded to crisis.

Events also explored BU research supporting the LGBTQ+ community and a discussion around the challenges and opportunities facing Dorset’s economy.

In total, over 1,400 people registered to attend the six events, with attendees joining from around the world. Over 800 people have also watched recordings of the events on the Crowdcast platform and the BU Research YouTube channel.

Engagement and Impact Facilitator in RDS Amanda Edwards, who helped to organise the series, said: “It has been brilliant to see such global interest in our events and to share our research with attendees from across the world. Thank you to all of the academics who participated in the events and shared fascinating insights into their work across such varied topics.

“We have exciting plans for the next series of online public lecture events and look forward to sharing the BU story with even more people.”

The online public lecture series will return in the 2022/23 academic year. You can sign up to the public engagement newsletter to be among the first to hear about the public lectures and other BU research events.

You can watch recordings of all of the previous online public lectures on YouTube or Crowdcast.

July 22, 2022

Keep telling us about all your social, cultural and community events – reporting period ends soon

BU research, Events, HE-BCI, HEIF, Knowledge Exchange, Public engagement Amanda Edwards

We are collecting details of all events for external audiences taking place between 1 August 2021 and 31 July 2022

Thank you to everyone who has already provided information via the SharePoint site. The deadline for reporting is Friday 7 October 2022.

This data forms part of BU’s annual Higher Education – Business & Community Interaction survey and is used to calculate our Higher Education Innovation Funding (HEIF) grant. It also feeds into our submission to the Knowledge Exchange Framework (KEF) so it is really important for us to provide a full and accurate picture of all our public engagement.

Which events do I need to report?

Public lectures & talks
Performance arts (music, dance, drama etc)
Exhibitions (galleries, museums etc)
Museum education
Media engagement (TV/radio interviews, podcasts etc)

If you’re not sure if your event is eligible for inclusion, the SharePoint site includes further details and guidance.

What data is collected?

We collect a wider range of data than is required for HE-BCI, for additional external and internal reporting, e.g. HEIF Annual Monitoring Statement and Athena Swan. For the purposes of the HE-BCI survey, you must record the following:

event dates – to ensure eligibility
whether the event or activity was free or chargeable
the number of attendees (or views/visitors)
the amount of staff time in hours needed for delivery.

Without this specific data, we will not be able to include your event in the survey.

Further information

The SharePoint site provides details about which data is collected and how, including calculating attendee numbers and staff time, and reporting online activities and multiple related events. If you have any further questions about the HE-BCI return, please contact publicengagement@bournemouth.ac.uk.

July 18, 2022

Sharing your research with the public at Café Scientifique – Sept onwards

BU research, Events, Impact, Public engagement, Research communication Adam Morris

If you’re interested in sharing your scientific research with a friendly public audience – complete our form.

We’re currently organising our series of Café Scientifique events for Sept 2022 – July 2023 and we’re looking for people interested in getting involved. Café Scientifique is a public event format, popular around the world, where anyone can come along to explore the latest research in science and technology in a casual café setting. Following a short presentation by a researcher, there is plenty of time for questions and discussion from a varied public audience.

Taking place on a weekday evening, Café Scientifique events run monthly from June (excepting August and January). They’re organised centrally by the BU Public Engagement with Research Team, part of Research Development and Support (RDS). It’s a fantastic opportunity to get experience in engaging with the public in a friendly atmosphere and gain surprising insights into your own work.

We welcome academics at all career stages, although this is particularly valuable for those just getting started in engaging with the public. We also encourage collaboration between less experienced and more experienced public speakers – to provide a valuable learning experience with the support to keep things going smoothly.

Regarding your research – although we use a broad definition of ‘science’, the audience do have certain expectations from the name, so we do not tend to feature research outside of the broad ‘science’ theme.