Category / Featured

The Graduate School in the Netherlands

Professor Tiantian Zhang attended the 9th EUA Council for Doctoral Education (CDE) in the Netherlands on the 20th – 21st January, 2016. The EUA CDE is dedicated to improving and developing doctoral education. This event was attended by approximately 110 international delegates who represented numerous Universities from across Europe. Representing the Graduate School from Bournemouth University, Professor Zhang was able to network and develop international contacts with other UniversitiEUAes. This was a wonderful opportunity for a representative from BU to learn and exchange good practices with others who are dedicated to enhancing the Doctoral Education experience.

Pizza, Planning and Postgraduate Research

The Graduate School would like to welcome 310 new students to BU. Over four days last week, we welcomed these students through a series of inductions. This included 40 new PhD, 15 MRes, 235 Masters and 20 exchange students.  The four days covIMG_1387ered a huge amount of information including how to plan and prepare for your studies, research and what to expect as a student at BU.  In order to help some of the students relax after these busy first few days, the Graduate School invited the PhD and MRes students for pizza and refreshments at Dylan’s Kitchen and Bar. Some students even got involved with a bit of karaoke, although I don’t think there were any Mariah Carey’s amongst us.

To find out more about the Graduate School and what we offer, find us on the BU website under postgraduate research. Also, keep your eyes open for the 8th Annual Postgraduate Conference taking place in March 2016.

 

FMC Cross-Departmental Seminar Series 2015-16

Communicating Research
FMC Cross-Departmental Seminar Series 2015-16

The Faculty of Media and Communication at BU

Venue: CG11, Christchurch House, Talbot Campus, Bournemouth University, Fern Barrow, Poole, Dorset, BH12 5BB

Wednesday 3 February 2016, 3pm-4pm, CG11

Dr Iñaki Garcia-Blanco, Cardiff School of Journalism, Media and Cultural Studies

Saving Refugees or Policing the Seas? How the national press of five EU member states frame news coverage of migration

Migration from the Middle East and Africa to Europe has increasingly hit the headlines in recent years as the unprecedented scale of deaths at sea has gradually been recognised as a newsworthy and politically important story. This seminar presents findings from a research project commissioned by UNHCR to measure how the issue of migration to Europe is currently framed in the news media across the EU. We compare the 2014-15 national press coverage of 5 member states: UK, Sweden, Germany, Spain and Italy, examining in particular the main themes of news coverage, how migrants are labelled, which actors have a voice in migration news, and the reasons for and responses to migration outlined. With an evidence base informing our understanding of how the news media as a key site (re)producing dominant public discourses currently articulates migration as an issue, the aim is to better inform the humanitarian interventions of UNCHR and other agencies in media and policy debates.

Dr Iñaki Garcia-Blanco is a lecturer at the Cardiff School of Journalism, Media and Cultural Studies. Iñaki is a media scholar interested in the study of the relationships and interplays between media, politics and citizenship. His research appears in international, peer-reviewed journals such as Media, Culture & Society, Journalism Studies, Journalism Practice or Feminist Media Studies. He is the director of Cardiff University’s BA Journalism and Communications, and of its BA Journalism, Communication and Politics (launching in 2016). Iñaki teaches BA modules on journalism, new media and politics, and MA modules on political communication and social research methods.

Wednesday 3 February 2016, 4pm-5pm, CG11

Benedetta Cappellini and Vicki Harman, Royal Holloway, University of London

Disciplining mothers: a Foucauldian approach to unpacking power and classed resistance in children’s packed lunches

Vicki Harman is a Senior Lecturer in Sociology at Royal Holloway, University of London where she teaches courses on sociology of the family, social problems and social policy, social identities and consumption. Vicki’s research interests include family life in contemporary Britain, gender, social class and ethnicity. Recent projects have focused on families and food, including children’s lunchboxes and feeding the family in times of austerity. With Benedetta Cappellini (Royal Holloway) Vicki is the author of ‘Mothers on Display: Lunchboxes, Social Class and Moral Accountability’ published in Sociology. Vicki’s doctoral thesis (2007) explored the experiences and support networks of lone white mothers of mixed-parentage children. Her writing in this area has examined mothers’ social capital, their experiences of racism, social work practice and the identification and social positioning of young people of mixed-parentage. With Ravinder Barn (Royal Holloway) Vicki is the co-editor of Mothering, Mixed Families and Racialised Boundaries (Routledge, 2014).

Benedetta Cappellini is a Senior Lecturer in Marketing and Consumer Behaviour at Royal Holloway, University of London. Her research interests are in food consumption, material culture, family consumption and motherhood and consumption. She has published widely on these issues in a number of academic journals including Sociology, The Sociological Review, Consumption, Markets and Culture, Journal of Marketing Management, Journal of Business Research, Journal of Consumer Behaviour and Advances in Consumer Research. With Elizabeth Parsons (University of Liverpool) and David Marshall (University of Edinburgh) she is the co-editor of The Practice of the Meal: Families, food and the market place (Routledge, forthcoming).

About the series
This new seminar series showcases current research across different disciplines and approaches within the Faculty of Media and Communication at BU. The research seminars include invited speakers in the fields of journalism, politics, narrative studies, media, communication and marketing studies.  The aim is to celebrate the diversity of research across departments in the faculty and also generate dialogue and discussion between those areas of research.

Contributions include speakers on behalf of
The Centre for Politics and Media Research
The Centre for the Study of Journalism, Culture and Community
Promotional Cultures Communication Centre
Public Relations Research Centre
Narrative Research Group
Journalism Research Group
Advances in Media Management Research Group

2016 BU PhD Studentship Competition

2016 BU PhD Studentship Competition

Call for submission of up to 20 matched funded Postgraduate Research Projects now OPEN

The Graduate School is delighted to announce the launch of the 2016 BU PhD Studentship Competition, with up to 20 matched funded projects available.

At this stage, Academic Staff are invited to submit proposals for studentship projects which, if successful, will be advertised to recruit PhD candidates for a September 2016 start.

Full details can be found on the Graduate School Staff Intranet where the following information can be found:

Submission Deadline:

Applications should be submitted on the Studentship Proposal Form to the Graduate School via email to phdstudentshipcompetition@bournemouth.ac.uk no later than 9am on Monday 22 February 2016.

The Graduate School will manage the recruitment process along the following timetable:

Date Action
Wednesday 13 January 2016 Launch PhD Studentships Internal Competition – development of proposals
Monday 22 February 2016 Closing date for submission of proposals
Tuesday 15 March 2016 Panel meeting
Late March 2016 Feedback to supervisors and preparation of adverts
March – June 2016 Launch PhD Studentships External Competition – recruitment of candidates
September 2016 Successful Candidates start

Congratulations to Prof. Brooks

BU Professor Ann Brooks has been made a Fellow of the Academy of Social Sciences (FAcSS).

  Ann Brooks

Ann Brooks is Professor of Sociology at Bournemouth University since January 2015. Ann has held senior positions in universities in Singapore, Australia and New Zealand and has held visiting fellowships and scholarships in Singapore and the USA. She was a Visiting Professor at the Institute of Health and Community at Plymouth University in 2014 and was previously a Senior Visiting Research Fellow at the Asia Research Institute, National University of Singapore and a Visiting Scholar in the Department of Sociology at the University of California, Berkeley. She is author of Academic Women (Open University Press, 1997); Postfeminisms: Feminism, Cultural Theory and Cultural Forms (Routledge, 1997); Gender and the Restructured University (Open University Press, 2001); Gendered Work in Asian Cities: The New Economy and Changing Labour Markets (Ashgate, 2006); Social Theory in Contemporary Asia (Routledge, 2010); Gender, Emotions and Labour Markets: Asian and Western Perspectives (Routledge, 2011) and Emotions in Transmigration: Transformation, Movement and Identity (Palgrave 2012) (with Ruth Simpson). Recent books include: Consumption, Cities and States: Comparing Singapore with Cities in Asia and the West (Anthem Press, 2014) (with Lionel Wee); Popular Culture, Global Intercultural Perspectives (Palgrave, 2014); and Emotions and Social Change: Historical and Sociological Perspectives (Routledge, New York, 2014) (edited with David Lemmings). Her latest book is: Genealogies of Emotions, Intimacies and Desire: Theories of Changes in Emotional Regimes from Medieval Society to Late Modernity (2016 Routledge, New York).

Further information on this year’s new Fellows can be found here!

 

Congratulations!

Prof. Edwin van Teijlingen

 

Matt Bentley’s Fusion Fund Research – South Africa Final Update

Daniel and Lee

The 2015 Fusion Fund research project has now come to an end. The last few months saw two BU students, Daniel Wirepa and Claudia O’Sullivan travel to Stellenbosch to undertake the research project examining the development of a novel slow-release technology for application in the treatment of pest infestations in the abalone aquaculture industry. Unfortunately, Claudia had to return to the UK in June for personal reasons but Daniel stayed working in Carol Simon’s labs alongside Lee, one of her research students.

 

Worm Culture Room

Daniel was working on the incorporation of a natural toxin, produced by microscopic algae, into a gel which acts to keep the toxin where it is required to act on the larvae of a shell-boring pest. The shell borer is a small marine worm that causes damage to the shells of cultured abalone (see previous blogs).

 

Bioassay

This pilot study will form the basis for a future research studentship which will link Bournemouth University, Stellenbosch University in South Africa and one of the world’s leading abalone farms in Hermanus, Abagold Pty, Ltd. The outputs of the research will be presented at next year’s International Polychaete Conference in Cardiff with Daniel as a co-author.

BU to host International Occupational Science Conference on 3 and 4 September

On 3rd and 4th September this year, BU will be hosting the prestigious Occupational Science Europe conference, which we have entitled Health and Wellbeing through Occupation. We will welcome delegates and speakers from North America, New Zealand, Scandinavia, Mainland Europe, Ireland and the UK. This is the first time that BU has hosted such an event and we have compiled an innovative and exciting programme. Keynote presentations will focus on how to achieve health and wellbeing through what people do, the rights and justice of health, the daily activities of gypsies and travellers and also on what research into the well elderly tells us about promoting health and wellbeing through occupation.

Occupational science is the study of what people do in everyday life and is influenced by a range of disciplines, including anthropology, human geography, psychology, sociology, public health and is one of the underpinning sciences for the profession of occupational therapy. BU is proud to host the conference with world-renowned keynote speakers that will challenge and discuss the research that informs occupational science.

As well as welcoming a range of international and national speakers, a number of BU academics and PhD students from different disciplines will present at the conference on a variety of topics such as the lifestyle of adults with low vision, sexual well-being for adults with physical disabilities, post-bereavement occupations of those bereaved by suicide, everyday life with a long-term condition, older people’s involvement in community exercise programmes, public health and wellbeing practice, craft practice for new mothers, enhancing well-being through arts-based research  quilting as a meaningful reflective tool in research  the role of volunteering, health and wellbeing at home and the symbolic construction of health in Roman Britain.

There are still a few places available at the conference, although registration closes on Friday 28 August 2015. For more information, please e-mail occupation@bournemouth.ac.uk and go to:

https://microsites.bournemouth.ac.uk/oseconf/conference-details/programme/

If you are passing Kimmeridge House on 3rd and 4th September, please feel free to visit the sandpit of ideas and occupational science patchwork installations!

‘Nutrition and Dignity in Dementia Care Workshops’

  

 

 

Last week we delivered the second of two workshops to care home managers, registered nurses and care staff in Bournemouth and Dorchester. This is a key output of our research project ‘Nutrition and Dignity in Dementia Care’ funded by the Burdett Trust for Nursing. We were delighted that Professor Keith Brown, Dr Michele Board and Dr Janet Scammell could join us and share their expertise on both days.

The inspiring and engaging presentations included the essential components of delivering nutritional care including:

  • Exploring the evidence base for nutritional care.
  • Understanding the barriers and enablers of best practice.
  • Person centred care and the importance of knowing the person.
  • Empowering staff to deliver organisational leadership and manage change in culture.

The workshops were really well received, generating lively and interesting discussion amongst attendees. There were many positive comments including:

“I would recommend this learning to all within the care-sector no matter what their role. Everyone would benefit ultimately” Activities Coordinator

“Lots of valuable research-how to deliver, ways to deliver and a good combination of data and references to real life practice” Care Home Manger

“Absolutely fantastic! So Inspiring! Really varied material-engaging-really thought provoking-so many new ideas and perspectives. So much to take away. Thank you so much” Care Assistant

In the next few weeks the research team will be following up the learning with some impact evaluation from attendees to understand how the course has influenced their everyday practices of delivering nutrition and dignity in dementia care.

Our research is designed to equip frontline staff with the skills and knowledge they need to improve nutrition in people with dementia. The generous support of the Burdett Trust has enabled us to work with staff in local care homes to develop new resources that will be shared by caring professionals all over the country.

Commenting for the Burdett Trust, Dame Christine Beasley said, “We are delighted to have supported this vital area of research.  Nutrition is a key issue for people with dementia and for busy frontline staff, it can sometimes be difficult to know exactly how best to support someone. We are pleased to see the development of these resources and pilot training programme and hope that they will make a real difference to dementia care practice.”

The team express a big thanks to all those who attended the workshops and to all of the speakers for such thought provoking and engaging presentations. We are also grateful to our partners including Borough of Poole Council, Partners in Care, The Dorset Local Enterprise Partnership and national care homes and private care home organisations for their continued and committed support for the project.

Please see our project webpage here: http://www.bournemouth.ac.uk/nutrition-dementia

Dr Jane Murphy, Joanne Holmes and Cindy Brooks.

Faculty of Health & Social Sciences

 

Royal Society Pairing Scheme Opportunity

Each year the Royal Society’s pairing scheme matches up 30 research scientists with UK parliamentarians and civil servants. By spending time in Westminster and the researcher’s lab, participants learn about each other’s work and gain a greater insight into how research findings can help inform policy making.

Places are available for this year’s scheme, which begins with a ‘Week in Westminster’ during which you’ll meet your pair. Over the week you will spend two days shadowing them, taking part in workshops and hearing speakers. After the ‘Week in Westminster’ your pair will visit you in your lab to get an insight into the world of research. This year’s ‘Week in Westminster’ takes place from Monday 23 – Thursday 26 November.  More information or to apply visit the Royal Society website or contact Rachael Mann.