Category / Featured academics

Yawning Up-State Post-Visit Report Part 2 – Santander Travel Scholarship – Dr Simon Thompson

Awarded & submitted bids, BU research, Featured academics, Fusion, Post-award, REF Subjects, Research themes

Science Center, Bard College, Rhinebeck, New York State.

 

Bard College, Rhineback, New York State.

 

Circada.

 

L-R: Dr Andrew Gallup; Dr Simon Thompson.

 

Most people can relate to yawning as all of us have done this at some time, with some of us being prolific yawners. However, little is known about the reasons for us yawning or the mechanisms involved.

My work on the link between cortisol and yawning has been published and is gaining momentum in the scientific community with presentations at the First International Conference on Yawning in Paris in 2010 and a forthcoming symposium being planned by me at Bournemouth University.

My travel scholarship enabled me to visit key workers in the field in upstate New York and with affliations with Prinecton University and Bard College (see photos). This has been so successful that we envisgae research collaboration between BU and the USA. I was even able to meet with the assistant to the world famous Professor Oliver Sack’s to discuss my resaerch and to “put it on the map” in the neurological community!

A bonus of my trip was to encounter first hand an extremely rare circada that hatches in the region I visited only every 17 years! What a privilege!

I am most grateful to Santander for their generous support and I believe this trip will help me make significant steps forward in my clinical research i yanwing and multiple sclerosis at BU.

Challenges of Leadership

BU research, Featured academics, Uncategorized

Leadership is a word often bandied about with many people claiming, assuming or being allocated ‘leadership’ roles, but what does this actually mean when trying to bring about societal improvements? Last week as part of an NHS South of England project BU and Plymouth University hosted a 2 day workshop for strategic leaders in the NHS, Local Authorities and the voluntary sector responsible for strategic leadership in the world of dementia in Devon, Dorset and Somerset. The aim of this project is to promote improvements in the provision of dementia care at a time of fiscal challenge. Working across organisational and disciplinary boundaries, learning from others and acting rather than just talking about the policy directives and vision that contextualises dementia is key. We had several high profile speakers at the workshop, including the Chief Executive of the Alzheimer Society, Jeremy Hughes; the Clinical Lead for dementia for NHS England, Prof Alistair Burns; the immediate Past President of the Association of Directors of Adult Social Services (ADASS), Sarah Pickup; Angela Rippon a high profile ambassador for the Alzheimer Society as well as BU’s own director of the NCPQSW. Prof Keith Brown who does a lot of leadership training across the country. We also had a person living with dementia reminding us of why it is of utmost importance to ensure that people with dementia can live well with their dementia and really what the workshop was all about. Key messages I took from the 2 days that are perhaps transferable to anyone with a leadership role are first that it sometimes just important to get on and do what you need to do because it is the ‘right thing to do’ and this may be at odds with procedures, other colleagues perceptions and priorities but still worth doing! Good leaders sometimes need to buck the trend and with convention, and there were lots of dementia specific examples about how people have been innovative in challenging times. Another key leadership message related to working together and learning from others rather than reinventing the wheel. None of these are new messages but do highlight the ongoing challenges those with key strategic roles face as they work to address key societal concerns.

Festival of Learning – Testament to a Successful Morning (Dr Simon Thompson, DEC Psychology Research Centre)

BU Challenges, Featured academics, Festival of Learning, Fusion, Research Ethics, Research Integritiy, Training

‘Testamentary Capacity in Dementia’ (03 June 2013 10:00h – 13:00h) – Presentation followed by in-depth plenary session about the complexities of leaving an estate to beneficiaries following a diagnosis of dementia.

‘Dementia’ is an umbrella term used to describe many types of deteriorating diseases – the most common ones are Alzhiemer’s disease, Vascular dementia, and Lewy body dementia.

Many married couples own property as ‘joint tenants’. Upon death, ownership automatically passes to the survivor. If property is owned as ‘tenants in common’, one half of the estate belonging to the deceased is dealt with by their Will. Problems arise when there is no Will, when others make a claim, or when another Will is executed.

‘Testamentary capacity’ is a person’s legal and mental ability to make a
valid Will. There are three premises: Presumption of capacity; Requirements; Proof of testamentary capacity.

It is proposed that the law should allow testators alternative means of satisfying the testamentary capacity standard such as an option to validate a testator’s capacity during their lifetime through forensic assessment measuring cognitive elements of testamentary capacity.

It does not remove the difficulty of knowing the status of person at a specific time line. However, it goes some way to describing a person during their lifetime in terms of mental ability and capacity.

Thompson, SBN (2006). Dementia and memory: a handbook for students and professionals. Aldershot: Ashgate.

Thompson, SBN (2012). Dementia. In SBN Thompson (Ed), Psychology of trauma: clinical reviews, case histories, research (pp169-202). Portsmouth: Blackwell-Harvard-Academic.

Does Guinness taste different in Dublin?

BU research, Featured academics

In August 2012 a call was put out through the midwifery networks by the Preterm Birth Clinical Study Group (CSG) who were seeking to recruit new members. The Preterm Birth CSG aims to identify important research questions around preterm birth and to work with the originators of supported studies around preterm birth, and to improve clinical outcomes following preterm birth by prevention or intervention.

This group, one of 11 CSGs, is a Royal College of Obstetrics and Gynaecology (RCOG) specialist group supported by British Maternal and Fetal Medicine Society (BMFMS), British Association of Perinatal Medicine (BAPM) and by Action Medical Research. Applications were welcomed from obstetricians, neonatologists and midwives who were interested in preventing preterm birth or in improving outcomes. I (Luisa Cescutti-Butler) was successful in my application and attended my first meeting on the 23rd April 2013 in Dublin.

Most of us were new to the group and following introductions we set to business. An urgent consideration was the representation of lay members. There were a number of suggestions put forward as to how lay members could be approached and groups such as MumsNet, Bliss and Bounty were to be approached for their views on research priorities within preterm birth. The group also felt that establishing a focus group of women who had experienced a preterm birth would be valuable and I offered to facilitate this.

A number of research projects were discussed and whilst many of these studies were focused on RCT’s and not within my comfort zone, I was able to provide input into some where a qualitative approach would work. Many of the professors around the table were comfortable with scientific methodologies, but were open to the possibilities of where proposed projects might benefit from a qualitative perspective, i.e. inviting women to speak about their experiences of possible interventions to prevent preterm birth.

Following the Preterm Birth Clinical Study Group meeting on the 23rd April 2013, I was fortunate to attend on the following two days a conference arranged by the British Maternal and Fetal Medicine Society (BMFMS) of which I am a member. The programme, which consisted of high quality clinical and basic science key lectures and presentations were fascinating for me as a midwife, although I did feel at various points throughout the two days that if it were left to ‘science’, women would never have an opportunity to have a normal pregnancy and birth. It appeared that every step of the childbirth continuum could be researched, with outcomes managed in some way because of ‘evidence,’ which for some women who experience life threatening conditions such as pre-eclampsia is of vital importance. In the event, I was able to gain information that would benefit BU undergraduate midwifery students. At the end of the conference I was in awe of all the high quality research being undertaken in the UK to prevent preterm birth and obstetric conditions such as pre-eclampsia, but also a little sad. Sad at the prospect that if midwives don’t continue to protect normality for women, it might fall forever within the realms of ‘medicine’ and who knows where pregnant women will end up? And finally in conclusion, I never did get to taste a Guinness in one of the many traditional Irish Pubs scattered around the city, so couldn’t say whether it tasted better in Dublin or not!

BU and University of Ljubljana working together to enhance midwifery practice

BU research, Featured academics

Slovenia, once part of communist Yugoslavia, is now an independent country which borders Italy, Croatia, Austria and Hungary. It is a modern and young economy with a strong infrastructure.  Midwifery has been practised in the region for hundreds of years; however a decision to suspend midwifery training in the 1980s resulted in a severe shortage of midwives.  In 1996 midwifery education was reinstated, but this time within higher education. In 2002 the first midwives were able to qualify with a degree from the University of Ljubljana, which offers the only undergraduate midwifery programme in Slovenia.

The role of the midwife in Slovenia is mainly concentrated within the area of intrapartum care; a consequence of the midwifery shortage that saw midwives drawn from other areas to cover labour and birth. Very little antenatal and postnatal care is offered by midwives. These aspects of care are typically provided by gynaecologists, obstetricians, paediatricians and community nurses. Thus there have been calls for midwives to increase their role within public health and to develop primary care services. One aspect of care that could develop midwifery practice is examination of the newborn.

A scoping visit funded by ERASMUS (British Council) and EUNF (Bournemouth University) was undertaken by Luisa Cescutti-Butler (Senior Lecturer) and Professor Vanora Hundley at the behest of the Head of Midwifery Dr. Ana Polona Misvek at the University of Ljubljana. The visit explored whether midwives, paediatricians, neonatologists and midwifery lecturers would be receptive to a course that would teach Slovenian midwives to examine normal healthy term babies. This examination is currently only undertaken by paediatricians.

A round table discussion was arranged with key professionals from the medical and midwifery community. The discussion was at times fairly animated; for example there was strong opposition from the neonatologist who believed that midwives were not ready to take on this role. In contrast, there was encouraging agreement from Professor Dr. Ciril Kržišnik (Senior Paediatrician and Head of the Paediatric Association) who was present, and Anita Prelec (Head of the Slovenian Nursing/Midwifery Association).

A positive outcome was the desire from all professionals to strengthen the midwife’s role within the initial examination of the newborn and it is this aspect of care and knowledge that offers further opportunities for future collaboration and training.

For further details about this study contact: Luisa Cescuttti Butler, Senior Lecturer, Lansdowne Campus.

European Science Foundation and Global Changes in the Marine Environment

BU research, EU, Featured, Featured academics, Funding opportunities, R & KE Operations, Research news, Uncategorized

I was very proud to have been invited by the Institute of Marine Sciences – National Research Council (ISMAR-CNR) in Venice who developed on the European Science Foundation Platform, the Exploratory Workshop:  Marine woodborers: New Frontiers for European Waters. And I have to say that that was one of the most exciting research opportunities I have taken part of in the recent past.

The European Science Foundation (ESF) was established in 1974 to provide a common platform for its Member Organisations to advance European research collaboration and explore new directions for research. Currently it is an independent organisation, owned by 67 Member Organisations, which are research funding organisations, research performing organisations and academies from 29 countries.

The focus of the Exploratory Workshops scheme is on workshops aiming to explore an emerging and/or innovative field of research or research infrastructure, also of interdisciplinary character. Workshops are expected to open up new directions in research or new domains. It is expected that a workshop shall conclude with plans for follow-up research activities and/or collaborative actions or other specific outputs at international level.

The organisers, namely Davide Tagliapietra, Erica Keppel and Marco Sigovini – all from the ISMAR-CNR- did an amazing job in organising this much needed research group and by planning an excellent working programme.

The topic, centred on Marine woodborers is of utmost important as these organisms are a threat to maritime structure and archaeological heritage. Recently, an increase in attack and a northward spread has been reported. Despite the ecological, economical and cultural importance, research on this subject is carried out by few scientists scattered across Europe. An interdisciplinary approach is needed to reach a synthesis of knowledge and a deeper understanding of the causal factors. The main outcome of the workshop is the establishment of a research network aiming to coordinate scientists with an European perspective and a global view. Through the establishment of such a network, new theoretical and technical developments could be achieved.

The agenda of the workshop was to focus on:

1) bringing together experts in complementary fields that have hitherto not collaborated as a group;

2) identifying additional research competences that are not covered within the group of participants;

3) identifying, exchanging and sharing research interests for future joint leading research projects and developing an application strategies;

4) the establishment of an international network on marine woodborers.

Despite the subject ([wood-]‘boring’ organisms), there wasn’t a single dull moment. It was very exciting to spent a considerable amount of time with international peers coming from as far as Colombia and discussing the problems surrounding these particular organisms.

All sessions were extremely interesting and productive and I totally enjoyed chairing one of them in the Knowledge Café, with my hat of maritime archaeologist whose research interest based also based on marine organisms and global changes, but I am also one of few who combines degradation and protection of the cultural heritage and marine science. The Knowledge Café focussed on Systematics and biogeography, Marine woodborer-microorganism interactions, Protection of shipwrecks and maritime structures. Each group discussed weaknesses: Problems, constrains and bottlenecks, Strengths: Opportunities, synergies, and Perspectives: Solutions, actions and recommendations.

19 international peers attended, which was by invitation only, this amazing opportunity, some of which were old friends and some of which have become reference points for my current and future research on wood borers.

All with the amazing architectural beauties of a tiny Venetian island just in front of one of the world most famous squares: San Marco square!

Paola Palma 

Congratulations and Good Luck

BU research, Featured academics

March had a good deal of activity around bids being submitted and awarded, with Schools winning consultancy contracts, research grants and organising Short Courses.

For Applied Sciences congratulations are due to Rob Britton for a successful month of March with several awards obtained which include the Environment Agency, Barbel Society and the University of Toulouse; to Ross Hill for his consultancy contract with Joint Nature Conservation Committee; to Roger Herbert and Richard Stillman for their consultancy contract with Natural England to assess Birds of Prey in Chichester Harbour; to Pippa Gillingham for her short course on GIS for Environment Managers.  Good luck to Pippa with her application to the Royal Entomological society; to Emilie Hardouin and Demetra Andreou for their individual applications to the British Ecological Society; to Anita Diaz for her application to the Soil Association; to David Parham for his application to English Heritage; and to Adrian Newton for his application to DEFRA.

Congratulations to the Business School for Donald Nordberg’s award from the British Academy to research ‘News Media as corporate governance watchdogs’.  Good luck to Huiping Xian and Sachiko Takeda for their application to the Daiwa Anglo-Japanese Foundation (DAJF) and to Hiroko Oe who has also applied to DAJF.

For DEC good luck with the consultancy contract submitted by Marcin Budka and Bogdan Gabrys to Western Union Financial Services; to Simon Thompson for his application to the Multiple Sclerosis Society to investigate post-traumatic growth in people with multiple sclerosis; and for the TOSCANA application submitted by Mark Hadfield to the European Commission.

For Health and Social Care congratulations are due to Luisa Cescutti-Butler for her award from the EU Lifelong Learning Programme; to Keith Brown for his consultancy contract from Hampshire County Council; to Anthea Innes, Michele Board, Vanessa Heaslip and Sue Barker for their consultancy training for Gracewell Healthcare; also to Anthea for her short course with RBCH; to Michele Board for her short course with the Isle of Wight NHS Trust; to Susan Clarke for her short course with Solent NHS Trust; and to Clive Andrewes for several short courses with Dorset Healthcare University NHS Foundation Trust, Southern Health, North Essex Partnership NHS Foundation Trust together with Bernie Edwards, Wessex Deanery and NHS Bournemouth and Poole.  Good luck to Elizabeth Rosser and Andrew Harding for their application to the General Nursing Council for England and Wales Trust; and to Ann Hemingway, Sarah Hean and Lee-Ann Fenge-Davies for their application to the European Commission.

Congratulations to the Media School for Kris Erickson’s award from the ESRC; Jian Chang for his award from the Royal Society to research ‘Mobile Physically based Computation for Computer Animation’; to Tom Watson, Anastasios Theofilou and Georginana Grigore for their award from The Arthur W Page Centre; to Liam Toms, Graham Goode and Melanie Gray for their consultancy contract with Dorset County Council; and to Stephanie Farmer for her consultancy contract to develop a web site for Richard Cole.  Good luck to Bronwen Thomas and Julia Round for their application to AHRC; to Julian McDougall, Mark Readman and Marketa Zezulkova for their application to EPSRC; and to Iain MacRury and Richard Berger for their application to EPSRC; to Jian Jun Zhang for his application to the EPSRC for continued funding for the Doctoral Training Centre; to Laura Hampshaw with her short course with the RBCH; and to Dan Jackson, Einar Thorsen and Christos Gatzidis for their application to HEA.

Finally, for the School of Tourism congratulations go to Lisa Stuchberry for her contracts with NHS Dorset, Dorset County Hospital and Bangor University; to Stephen Calver for his contract with Bournemouth Borough Council; to Sarah Hambidge for her award from the Bournemouth Borough Council for the Bournemouth Arts Festival; and to Jon Hibbert for his award from Resort Development Organisation.  Good luck to Nicky Pretty for her application to the National Trust.

Best wishes

Matthew

State of Yawning – Santander Travel Scholarship awarded to Dr Simon Thompson

Awarded & submitted bids, BU research, Featured academics, Fusion

Studying yawning has the potentially benefit of identifying underlying neurological disorders. Strong evidence of a link between yawning and fatigue, and with multiple sclerosis, is known. Mechanisms involved in excessive yawning are not understood and my work has shown a definitive link between yawning and cortisol levels in normal people. However, since people with multiple sclerosis often yawn excessively, it is important to establish whether or not their cortisol levels rise as with normal people since prolonged rises in cortisol levels indicate stress and may also indicate adverse neurological symptomatology. My work has generated a new hypothesis to explain the occurrence of excessive yawning and is complementary to Dr Gallup’s theories on thermoregulation in multiple sclerosis, which is pioneering. I am meeting Dr Gallup (Princeton University) in New York to discuss further studies in order to stay ahead of research progress. This is an excellent opportunity for kudos for Bournemouth University in being the first to carry out such research.

BU academics to look at access to maternity services in Nepal with Fellowship grant

BU research, Featured academics

A team from Bournemouth University will look at why women in Nepal don’t use health services when giving birth, after receiving the first International Fellowship for Midwives. The Fellowship is awarded by the charity Wellbeing of Women, in association with the Royal College of Midwives, for research into maternity services and women’s health from an international perspective. The team from BU will use the £20,000 Fellowship grant to look at the real and perceived barriers to women in Nepal giving birth within a health facility with a skilled birth attendant.

“There is evidence that access to skilled birth attendant is likely to lead to a better outcome for the mother and baby,” said Lesley Milne, senior lecturer in Midwifery at Bournemouth University, who will lead the project. “If they don’t, it is more likely to end in a maternal mortality, and we are trying to determine why women in Nepal don’t access health services.”

Lesley will be supported by Vanora Hundley, Professor in Midwifery at BU, Edwin van Teijlingen, Professor of Reproductive Health Research at BU, and Dr Padam Simkhada, from the University of Sheffield. The year-long project will start on April 1 and the money received as part of the Fellowship will enable Lesley to go to Nepal for three weeks in September to undertake the research. She said: “This would not be possible if we had not been awarded this money. It’s fantastic to have received this grant and we are really pleased about it.” She added: “There is an under-utilisation of health services in Nepal. It is about getting women to use the services available and trying to find out why many of them currently don’t. I will be going out to Nepal to observe and also undertake some interviews of health personnel of both a rural hospital and a hospital in Kathmandu, to try to see what they think is preventing women from accessing services.” Lesley added that possible reasons for women not accessing health services could include having to travel a long way, having had poor previous experiences or their cultural beliefs.

Bournemouth University has been building links with Nepal across a number of areas and academic schools, including the School of Health and Social Care, and both Lesley and fellow researcher Professor Edwin van Teijlingen have experience in the surrounding area. Lesley said that she hoped the research could be a springboard for future study. “I hope that we may have a great insight into why women aren’t accessing services and hopefully will be able to address that in the future,” she said.

Face Blindness Public Awareness Campaign Gets Underway!

BU research, Featured, Featured academics

Research from BU’s Centre for Face Processing Disorders was featured in a CBBC documentary today.  The film was entitled ‘My life: Who are you?’ and followed the journey of Hannah, a teenager with face blindness, as she participated in one of our training programmes and discusses the difficulties of everyday life.  The documentary also featured Hannah meeting another girl with face blindness for the first time, and her encounter with Duncan Bannatyne who also has the condition.

We are so pleased with the documentary, and felt the producers did an excellent job in portraying the condition with scientific accuracy, and in demonstrating the difficulties associated with face blindness.  Despite Hannah’s struggles she still maintains a positive attitude to life and the film does an excellent job of presenting her as the remarkable young lady that she is, who was so keen to make the film in order to raise public awareness of the condition.  Hannah’s story illustrates how life can be affected by brain injury, but her remarkable positivity shines through as the programme follows her journey.

If you missed the programme you can watch it here:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/cbbc/episode/b01rlyc9/My_Life_Who_Are_You/

We recently launched an e-petition that aims to promote public and professional awareness of prosopagnosia by campaigning for its discussion in the House of Commons.  We need to gain 100,000 signatures to make this happen, so if you were moved by the documentary, please do add your signature:

http://www.prosopagnosiaresearch.org/awareness/e-petition

Our public awareness campaign has only just taken off so watch this space for more activities!

Congratulations and Good Luck

BU research, Featured academics, News from the PVC

February had a good deal of activity around bids being submitted and awarded, with Schools winning consultancy contracts, research grants and organising Short Courses.

For Applied Sciences, congratulations are due to Richard Stillman for his consultancy contract with the Welsh Government, to Mark Maltby for his consultancy contract with Central Bedfordshire Council, to Andrew Ford for his two consultancy contracts with WPA Consultants and Axent Embroidery, to Ralph Clark for his consultancy contract with the Environment Agency, to Phillipa Gillingham and John Stewart for their award from Natural England.  Good luck to Daniel Franklin with his application to the Marine Management Organisation, to Emilie Hardouin for her application to FSBI, and to Rob Britton and Richard Stillman for their proposed consultancy with DEFRA.

For DEC, good luck with the applications submitted by Katherine Appleton to the Humane Research Trust, by Simon Thompson to the Royal Society, and by Tania Humphries-Smith to the HEA. 

For HSC, congratulations are due to Anthea Innes for her award from the NIHR and also good luck with her application to Bournemouth Churches Housing Association, as well as her consultancy training for Gracewell Healthcare together with Michele Board, Vanessa Heaslip and Sue Barker, and finally, for Anthea and Michele Board’s short course with RBCH.  Good luck also to Edwin Van Teijlingen for his application to NIHR.

Congratulations to the Media School for Liam Toms consultancy contract with Kestrel Medical Ltd, to Rebecca Jenkins for her consultancy contract with Craft Strategy Ltd.  Good luck to Stuart Allan and Einar Thorsen for their application to ESRC, and to Darren Lilleker, Dan Jackson, Richard Scullion, Einar Thorsen and Shelley Thompson for their application to ESRC, to Julian McDougall and Kris Erickson for their application to The Spencer Foundation, to Carrie Hodges and Janice Denegri-Knott for their application to the British Academy, to Iain MacRury, Chris Williams and Steve Harper for their consultancy bid to SKILLSET, and to Liam Toms with his consultancy bid to Work Research Limited.

For the School of Tourism, congratulations go to Richard Gordon for securing funding for his short courses with the MoD and NEMA, and good luck to Jon Hibbert with his contract to Liz Lean PR Ltd, to Christian Lemmer and Crispin Farbrother with their short course to Wuhan City Vocational College, to Lisa Stuchberry for her contract to NHS Dorset, to Stephen Calver with his contract to Bournemouth Borough Council, and to Nicky Pretty and Lisa Stuchberry for their contract to Godolphin Company.

For applications and bids submitted, a number of people have submitted applications to the European Commission and so good luck to Adrian Newton, Kathy Hodder, Elena Cantarello, Judith DeGroot and Chris Shiel from Applied Sciences who are investigating Bio-regional approaches to sustainability transitions, to Jon Williams, Luciana Esteves and Christos Gatzidis also from Applied Sciences. To Ian Swain who is researching the Mediterranean diet against depression, to Katherine Appleton, Emili Balaguer-Ballester for their separate applications,  all from DEC, and to Abdelhamid Bouchachia (DEC) and Hammadi Nait-Charif (MS) for their application, to Anthea Innes and Michele Board from HSC with their Erasmus application, to Edwin Van Teijlingen also from HSC, to Stuart Allan from the Media School, and to Dimitrios Buhalis, Alessandro Inversini and Katherine King, all from the School of Tourism.

Finally, good luck to Jian Jun Zhang, Xiaosong Yang and Lihua You (all MS) with their application to EPSRC for an award in Human Robot Symbiosis in a shared Nervebot for phantom limb pain, to Jonathan Williams (HSC) for his contract to the International Tennis Federation concerning Lumbo-pelvic-hip motion sharing in tennis players.  In HSC, good luck goes to Keith Brown who is applying for two separate KTPs with Brent Council and Dorset County Council.  Good luck to Venancio Tauringana in the Business School, who has submitted an application to the British Academy’s International Partnership and Mobility Scheme.