Category / Events

Interdisciplinary Computational and Clinical Approaches at the Edge of Brain Research

BRIAN, BU research, BU2025, Events, Featured academics, Knowledge Exchange and Impact Team, NHS, PG research, Research Centres, Research news

We cordially invite you to the 3rd Symposium of the BU Interdisciplinary Neuroscience Research Centre on Wednesday, the 12th of June 2024, from 9:30-13:00 at the Inspire Lecture Theatre, Fusion Building (1st floor).

The symposium is entitled: “Interdisciplinary Computational and Clinical Approaches at the Edge of Brain Research”.

This third symposium revolves around contrasting computational and translational methodologies from a cross-disciplinary standpoint, leveraging synergies between BU and our collaborators in other universities and at the NHS. It is an opportunity for informal discussions on grant proposals and to explore shared interests with our external guests. 

The schedule is as follows:

9:00-9:15. Welcome and Coffee. 

9:30. Keynote talk: Prof. Dr Miguel Maravall (School of Life Sciences, Sussex Neuroscience Centre of Excellence, Sussex University): “What is the function of sensory cortex in a world full of actions? From sensory maps to task-directed responses”. The speaker will be on the screen. 

10.20-10:40. Coffee and Discussions.

10:40-11:40. Session I. Integrating Cognitive and Computational Neuroscience.

  • Michal Gnacek (Emteq Labs, Brighton and Centre for Digital Entertainment, BU): “Affect Recognition in Virtual Reality using Physiological Signals and Machine Learning”. The speaker will be on the screen.
  • Dr Matteo Toscani (Department of Psychology, BU): “Unsupervised learning of haptic material properties”.
  • Dr Géza Gergely Ambrus (Department of Psychology, BU): “Investigating Face Perception Using Cross-Experiment Multivariate Pattern Analysis of Neural Time-Series Data”.

11.40 -12.00. Coffee and Discussions.

12.00-13:00. Session II. Interdisciplinary Clinical Approaches and Closing Remarks.

  • Prof. Dr Jonathan Cole (University Hospital Dorset, NHS): “Perception and action; Observations from congenital and acquired deafferentation”.
  • Prof. Dr Caroline Edmonds (Department of Psychological Sciences, University of East London): ”Real-life implications arise from co-occurring memory impairments in children with neonatal hypoxic-ischaemic encephalopathy”.
  • Prof Dr Birgit Gurr (Community Brain Injury and Adult Neuropsychology Services Dorset at Dorset HealthCare University, NHS) and Dr Ellen Seiss (Department of Psychology, BU). “An initial evaluation of the Dynamic Information Processing Programme”.

If you have any queries, please do not hesitate to contact Ellen Seiss, eseiss@bournemouth.ac.uk or Emili Balaguer-Ballester, eb-ballester@bournemouth.ac.uk. Feel free to forward this information to any colleague or student who may be interested. 

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

Kind regards,

Ellen and Emili, on behalf of all of us.

 

Formulating Practice Research Methods in Bid writing

BU research, Events, pre-award, research staff, RKE development framework, Training

Formulating Practice Research Methods in Bid writing

In person event – 21st June 2024 – 11:00 – 13:00 – Create Lecture Theatre, Fusion building, Talbot campus.

This workshop is aimed at anyone trying to formulate funding proposals for grants that primarily follow a practice research method. It will look at how to formulate a practice research project, starting with the framing of the initial idea in relation to peers and relevant prior research/art, how to describe the methodology in a way that meets funding bodies requirements for transparency and rigour, and how to translate outputs into impact.

Attendees can be at any stage of a bid writing process, but should come with an idea that they want to work on, or past experiences that they can reflect on.

Book your place here under ‘Formulating Practice Research Methods in Bid writing – 21/06/2024’ in the drop-down menu.

TechFusion Summit – i3 Simulations (9th -10th May 2024)

BU research, Events

The Centre for Applied Creative Technologies CfACTs and CfACTs+ teams participated in the “TechFusion Summit – i3 Simulations” hosted at MergeXR Studio in Luton. The event buzzed with innovation, creativity, and networking, illustrating how AI, XR, and haptics enable clinicians to develop muscle memory and improve decision-making through virtual simulations. The summit drew in prominent industry partners, universities, Bollywood actors, film producers, and professionals.

The summit was the exploration of content creation using VFX-quality 3D scans performed on-site. These scans were processed and showcased in captivating aged and de-aged versions of Maddy, showcasing our distinctive ability to extend Hollywood-quality VFX on a global scale for various mediums such as movies, TV series, games, and beyond. i3 Simulations is in close collaboration with BU on the CfACT+ project and has jointly co-funded two PhD projects.

Professor Jian Chang presented a talk titled “What’s Next for VFX,” delving into the evolution of visual effects, emerging technologies, and recent breakthroughs in the industry. He emphasized the NCCA’s dedication to innovation and provided insights into ongoing projects at CfACTs and CfACTs+.

Devi Kolli (Chief Executive Officer of i3simulations) at BU NCCA booth

 

Postdoctoral research fellow Dr. Nikolai Rusnachenko showcased his work on “Marking Medical Image Reports Automatically with Natural Language Processing (NLP-MMI)”. His project aims to create an automatic pipeline for clinical report generation. The primary focus is on developing NLP tools for image captioning, analyzing detected (anomalous and non-anomalous) image segments, identifying patterns, and evaluating the accuracy of narratives. This system will provide valuable feedback for trainees, helping them assess their skills and enhance their learning across various anatomical regions and disease conditions.

Also at the Summit, postdoctoral research fellow Dr. Anil Bas showcased his research on advanced rendering pipelines for 3D face and head models, which are gaining popularity in digital entertainment, gaming, and interactive media. His project tackles the limitations of current 3D facial reconstruction and rendering techniques, aiming to achieve cost, energy, and environmental savings in virtual production and 3D scanning technologies.

Dr Ehtzaz Chaudhry and Kavisha Jayathunge also engaged with the audience, showcasing the NCCA undergraduate, postgraduate, and MSc AIM student showreel at the BU NCCA booth.

CfACTs is co-funded by European Union Horizon 2020 Marie Skłodowska-Curie grant agreement No 900025, Bournemouth University and Industry Partners.

For more information about CfACTs and CfACTs+ projects, please follow the links below.

www.bournemouth.ac.uk/CfACTs-Research
www.bournemouth.ac.uk/centre-applied-creative-technologies-plus-cfacts

 

2023-4 New Media Writing Prize and Unconference Success

Events

The 2023-24 New Media Writing Prize, directed by BU’s Lyle Skains and judged by BU practitioners and researchers Dalia Elsheikh, Jim Pope, and Brad Gyori has drawn to a close after a bright and exciting two days of creative “Unconferencing”, a brilliant and thought-provoking keynote on generative AI and electronic literature from Professor Anastasia Salter, and the announcement of all winners for this year’s prizes. The keynote and awards ceremony are available on YouTube for anyone who missed them.

This year the events were moved to May from January to fit better with semester timetables and activities around the Bournemouth Writing Prize. This move proved fortunate as we saw our entries nearly double this year over previous years, with 194 eligible works submitted from 45 different countries. Our judges certainly needed the extra time to review and debate the wealth of high quality submissions of interactive digital narrative and journalism.

world map showing pins in 45 different countries

Geographical origins for 194 entries to the 2023-24 New Media Writing Prize

The Awards

All works are accessible on the 2023 NMWP website.

Chris Meade Memorial Main Prize

Our judges shortlisted eight works for the main prize; Florence Walker’s I Dreamt of Something Lost topped the category:

  • WINNER – I Dreamt of Something Lost by Florence Walker
  • A Condensed History of Australian Camels by David Thomas Henry Wright, Louis Pratt, Karen Lowry, Chris Arnold
  • Congee by Rebecca Chui
  • Infinite Eddies by Siobhan O’Flynn
  • L and the Empress of Sand by Jon Stone
  • Musselled Out by Dolly Church, Elinor Kirchwey, Eamon Foreman, Niall Tessier-Lavigne
  • The Hotline by Kasey Gambling
  • Voices by Christine Wilks

Writers Online Student Prize

  • WINNER – Polterkicks by Emma Husa
  • An Undecided Fate by Drew Ott
  • I Dreamt of Something Lost by Florence Walker
  • Meow Memoir by Brynna Hosszu
  • What Remains? by Vegard Fotland
  • Words So Much Like Ivy by Chris Pang

Social Good Prize

2023-24 marks the very first year this prize has been awarded; it is supported entirely by the associated NMWP Unconference. The focus on interactive digital narrative for the purposes of social good or addressing global challenges (such as the UN Sustainable Development Goals) is drawn from Lyle Skains’ research into the creation and efficacy of interactive narrative to inspire attitude and behaviour change on topics of socio-cultural, medical, and ecological importance.

  • WINNER – Musselled Out by Dolly Church, Elinor Kirchwey, Eamon Foreman, Niall Tessier-Lavigne
  • A Condensed History of Australian Camels by David Thomas Henry Wright, Louis Pratt, Karen Lowry, Chris Arnold
  • The Hotline by Kasey Gambling
  • Tree-Person by Talita Bedinelli
  • Voices by Christine Wilks

Opening Up Prize

  • WINNER – all the borders I crossed without you by Rosalind Fielding
  • Crowbar by Dylan Spicer
  • Infinite Eddies by Siobhan O’Flynn
  • Memory Eternal (Вічная Пам’ять) (2023) by the Decameron Collective
  • The Hotline by Kasey Gambling
  • Voices by Christine Wilks

FIPP Media Journalism Prize

  • WINNER – SOS – SAVE OUR SOILS by Marius Münstermann
  • Choking Kurdistan by Tom Brown
  • Terraforming Singapore: Is the future made of sand? by Zafirah Zein
  • The illusion of prosperity by Katerina Afanasyeva

Unconference Report

Anastasia Salter’s keynote (viewable on YouTube) capped off the Unconference and transitioned us to the awards ceremony. Their insights on generative AI and how it is already influencing electronic literature (another wave of software reproducing social bias and inequality) even while offering the next step in the evolution of creative tools were both concerning and exhilarating—perhaps a perfect note to strike in an Unconference themed around inclusivity.

Our second annual Unconference unfolded over two days leading up to the NMWP Award Ceremony. 40 creatives, academics, and students attended from across the world, including the UK, USA, Canada, India, Norway, and Mexico.

As a more creatively-focused event, the Unconference focuses on workshops and performances, with relevant academic talks dispersed throughout. We learned fundamentals of programming, how to create a GitHub website, and considerations for creating interactive digital narratives with purpose (such as wellbeing).

We were also treated to electronic poetry, a preview of the very first Indian anthology of electronic literature, Instagram storytelling, and discussions of art and health.

We played together in netprov (improvisational, collaborative online storytelling), spitballed approaches to teaching electronic literature and making it more accessible, and became Wikipedia editors as we seek to grow elit’s representation on this foundational site of knowledge.

RKEDF: Two Post Award sessions coming up in June!

Events, Post-award, RKE development framework, Training

Principal Investigation – Post Award for RKE – Wednesday, June 5, 2024 – 2:00 PM – 3:00 PM – Talbot Campus

This session is aimed at any researcher who is, who plans to be, a Principal Investigator for an externally funded research or knowledge exchange project.

By the end of the session, attendees will have a strong foundation of what to expect when being responsible for their awarded projects.

Book your place here under ‘Principal Investigation – Post Award for RKE – 05/06/2024’ in the drop-down menu.

Introduction to RED – The Research & Enterprise Database – Thursday, June 6, 2024 – 10:00 AM – 10:30 AM – Online

This session is aimed at all academics to provide an overview of the Research & Enterprise Database, including how to access the system, the information available to view, budget management via RED,

and how to use RED to identify your supporting pre and post award officers.

Book your place here under ‘Introduction to RED – The Research & Enterprise Database – 06/06/2024’ in the drop-down menu. 

RKEDF: Two exciting Impact workshops in June!

Events, Impact, RKE development framework, Training

Friday, June 7, 2024 – 10:00 AM – 11:30 AM – Online – Creating your impact development plan

For researchers at all career stages and at all stages of the project lifecycle – from formulating research questions and preparing grant applications to developing a potential impact case study.

This practical workshop provides the tools, advice and time to start putting together your own plan to achieve impact.

Book your place here under ‘Impact Essentials: Creating your Impact Development Plan – 07/06/2024’ in the drop-down menu

Thursday, June 27, 2024 – 1:00 PM – 2:00 PM – Online – Evidencing Impact

This interactive online session is aimed at researchers at all stages of their careers who wish to learn how to provide evidence for the impact of their research – whether for funders’ reports or future REF impact case studies.

Participants will learn how to evaluate and evidence the impact of their research as it occurs.

Book your place here under ‘Impact Essentials: Evidencing Impact – 27/06/2024’ in the drop-down menu

For any queries regarding these workshops, please contact RKE Dev Framework 

Successful Bid-generating Sandpit designed and facilitated by BU academics Catalin Brylla and Lyle Skains

BU research, ECR Network, Events, Research Centres, Research Training

image with sandpit title, facilitator names, and sponsor logos27 early career academics from ten universities came together 30 April-1 May in Bournemouth for a two-day sandpit funded by The British Academy Early Career Researcher Network and organised by Dr. Catalin Brylla (Centre for the Study of Conflict, Emotion, and Social Justice) and Dr. Lyle Skains (Centre for Science, Health, and Data Communication Research). The participants specialise in a variety of disciplines such as performance, media, business management, environmental sciences, anthropology, computing, architecture, law, engineering, tourism, and health studies. They brought their interests in a sustainable world and society (as represented by the UN Sustainable Development Goals) to the sandpit for networking, team-building, and funding and project development workshops, many of which were based on the successful and innovative NESTA-developed ‘Crucible’ programme (no longer online, but see the Welsh Crucible).

image of 27 people seated in two rows of chairs facing one another, talking animatedlyThe success of the sandpit’s activities is highlighted by the culmination of six projects proposed to a panel of subject experts from Bournemouth University: Prof. Amanda Korstjens (ecology), Prof. Adele Ladkin (business), Prof. Huseyin Dogan (computing), Dr. Lyle Skains (arts practice and interdisciplinarity), Dr. Catalin Brylla (media practice) and Zarak Afzal (research development). These experts provide mentorship and feedback on the projects as they develop toward funding proposals. Two sandpit follow-up sessions will also aid the participants in developing their funding proposals.

A group of people around a table, writing notes, talking animatedly to one another. Other similar tables are in the background.This is the first ‘crucible’ sandpit of its kind offered through the BA ECRN, though plans are under development for further offerings in both the Southwest and other regional hubs.

To receive news of further sandpits and development opportunities, join the BA ECRN.

Upcoming 3C Event – PGR Culture, Community & Cake

BU research, Doctoral College, Events, PG research, Postgraduate Research, Uncategorized

Don’t miss out on your chance to book onto our upcoming 3C event! Join us Tuesday 14 May 10:00-11:00 in room K101, Kimmeridge House.

All PGRs and Supervisors are warmly invited to participate and contribute to this enriching and delicious gathering. This social event is a catch-up opportunity to meet informally with the PGR community and make new connections whilst enjoying some coffee and cake.

Places are limited so book as soon as possible.

Let’s foster collaboration, support and networking!

Book now

Best wishes,

The Doctoral College

ADR UK Event – Better Data-Better Research-Better Policy

BU research, Events, research staff, Research Training, RKE development framework

University of the West of England, Bristol–Tuesday May 21st 2024-10:00-16:00

Administrative Data Research UK (ADR UK) is transforming the way researchers access the UK’s
wealth of public sector data.

By joining up the abundance of administrative data being created by government and public bodies across the UK, and making it available to approved researchers in a safe and secure way, ADR UK is enabling vital research. These datasets are already supporting the production of world-class academic studies, while leading to better informed policy decisions and more effective public services in areas such as education, healthcare, and crime.

There is no fee for attending.

You can register for the event via this link

Contact details: For further information, please contact damian2.whittard@uwe.ac.uk

RKEDF May Digest – Training opportunities for YOU!

BU research, Events, R & KE Operations, Research Training, RKE development framework, Training

Have you you heard the news????  

We are excited to share some great RKEDF training opportunities coming up in May 2024!  

Click on the titles to find further details and book your place!!!!  

Innovate UK Marine and Maritime Launchpad Future Funding 

Wednesday May 8, 8:00 – 12:00 – DG06, Dorset House, Talbot Campus 

This event is a must-attend for Dorset-based marine and maritime businesses looking to innovate and grow, if your business involves Clean Maritime, Digital Oceans, and Marine Autonomy, this event is tailored just for you. 

 Early Career Researchers Network (ECRN) Surgeries  

Wednesday, May 8, 13:00 – 14:00 – Hybrid: Talbot Campus & MS Teams  

This is an open session for all BU ECRs and PGRs, to discuss any issues around career development, or the ECR experience with the peer network, and receive advice and guidance from the network’s academic leads.  

 Principal Investigation – Post Award for RKE                                                               

Wednesday, May 8, 14:00 – 15:00 – Lansdowne Campus   

This session is aimed at any researcher who is, who plans to be, a Principal Investigator for an externally funded research or knowledge exchange project.   

ECRN – The Conversation Media Training   

Wednesday, May 8, 14:00 – 16:00 – Zoom – link provided on sign up   

Are you an academic, researcher or PhD candidate who would like to build a media profile and take your research to a global public audience by writing for The Conversation?   

Introduction to RED – The Research & Enterprise Database   

Thursday, May 9, 10:00 am – 10:30 am – Online   

This session is aimed at all academics to provide an overview of the Research & Enterprise Database, including how to access the system, the information available to view, budget management via RED, and how to use RED to identify your supporting pre and post award officers.  

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Please assist us in avoiding any waste of resources; make sure you can attend or cancel your booking prior to the session. 

For any further information, please contact RKEDF@bournemouth.ac.uk