One of the events at this year’s BU Festival of Learning will highlight the research partnership between BU and the RSPB. For over two years members of the Faculty of Health and Social Sciences have been working with Tom Clarke from the RSPB on various projects that explore how accessing the natural environment can improve personal health and wellbeing.
The Festival of Learning event that is being developed in partnership with the RSPB will focus upon one stretch of the River Stour between Muscliff and Throop Mill. An exhibition, at Bournemouth Council’s new Kingfisher Barn Visitor Centre, will show how previous generations have used the area. It is hoped that through this historical narrative members of the public who visit the event will be encouraged to think about how they could enjoy this beautiful rural stretch of the river with family and friends in the future. There will also be cultural heritage activities to try.
At present the project team are gathering information on the cultural heritage of the area. This has involved searching local archives as well as Hampshire Record Office, to find information about those who have lived, worked and had fun in and by the River. The Daily Echo is also supporting the search by including an article asking any members of the public with memories of the area to send them in – and we know there are lots of people with childhood links to the location following a number of Facebook posts to members of the project team. May be colleagues or students at BU have their own memories they’d like to share – we’d love to hear them!
Category / Festival of Learning
Festival of Learning 2016: grassroots responses to educational disadvantage
GRASSROOTS RESPONSES TO REGIONAL EDUCATION CHALLENGES: a workshop
Members of the Fair Access Research project will be facilitating a workshop as part of the Festival of Learning in June.
The workshop will be held on Monday 27 June 2016 between 14:00-16:00 in the new FUSION BUILDING, TALBOT CAMPUS [F107].
We are inviting experts working in the field of education and equality to come together and share experiences and skills to find sustainable solutions to the region’s major education challenges.
We want grassroots solutions to grassroots challenges facing the region. This approach will enable targeted and tailored responses that work with the unique challenges of education and social justice in a diverse rural and coastal region.
In this innovative two-hour workshop, led by our Fair Access Researchers, we will work together to find sustainable solutions to the question:
“What are the challenges and opportunities for disadvantaged students to access education in the region?”
This workshop is about active participation by all those involved and collectively growing grassroots solutions. By taking part, you will be helping to build a community to turn challenges and barriers into opportunities and bridges.
We want you to be involved and to shape how our responses! So, please share with your colleagues and networks so that we can have a broad range of participants.
It is through working together and learning with each other that we can help make regional education opportunities more accessible and more sustainable.
To express an interest in participating in the workshop or find out more about the session or BU’s unique Fair Access Research project email Julie Atherton on athertonj@bournemouth.ac.uk
Written Submission to Parliament by Sascha Dov Bachman
Written evidence submitted by Brigadier (Rtd) Anthony Paphiti, former ALS officer and Visiting Researcher at BU’s CRoLS and Dr Sascha Dov Bachmann, Associate Professor in International Law and Visiting Research Fellow at the Swedish Defence University, Stockholm, to Parliament’s Defence Select Committee has been published and can be viewed at the Defence Committee’s website.
Russia: implications for UK defence and security inquiry
Accepting written submissions. The deadline for submission of written evidence has been extended for three weeks until 8 March
Scope of the inquiry
The House of Commons Defence Select Committee will be conducting an inquiry into Russian defence policy and the implications of this for UK defence and security.
The submitted evidence is the result of some ongoing collaborations on various aspects of Hybrid Warfare and its impact on Media, Law, Society undertaken by Sascha Dov Bachmann and colleagues from Exeter, Stockholm, NATO and Austria. More information on these collaborations can be found in BU’s 2016 Research Chronicle.
Food research? Public Engagement Opportunity – Christchurch Food Festival
Are you involved in research around the topic of food?
We are looking for anyone interested in running a food related activity at the Christchurch Food Festival as part of our “Festival of Learning on Tour”. We have a stool booked at the Family Fun day on Sunday 8th May where we’d like to run some food related research activities that families, children, members of the public could get involved with when passing by.
Could this be of interest to you? If so please contact Katie Breadmore (kbreadmore@bournemouth.ac.uk/ 61356)
Knowledge Exchange and Impact Team: How we’ve been flying the KEIT high this month.
After a cracking start to 2016 in January, the Knowledge Exchange and Impact Team (KEIT) within RKEO have been working hard and continuing with the successes this month.
Public Engagement
The Festival of Learning is fast approaching us (25-29 June) and Naomi and Katie have been busy scheduling in the events that will make up the festival.
Business Engagement
Rising to the challenge of “What will Marty McFly may need in 25 years?” as part of interdisciplinary research week held in January, members of KEIT worked closely with the facilitators to deliver a successful sandpit that involved a number of local businesses including Bournemouth Borough Council, We Are Base, LV= and Barclays Digital eagles. With some great ideas evolving in terms of future collaborations amongst academics and business partners this provided a great networking opportunity for those that attended.
As the current HEIF funding round completes its half way milestone of 12 months funding (1/8/15 – 31/7/16), a number of the 13 projects are beginning to generate potential impact case studies alongside further UK and EU funding proposals. HEIF projects continue to feature in the news with Dr Sarah Bate’s research on super recognisers being published in Scientific American being one of the latest. HEIF projects are also gaining presence on BU’s research website with a project on Roman Britain being the first to go live with more planned.
For the March submission date, we have two potential KTPs. Both SciTech and the Faculty of Media are working towards each submission, respectively.
NEW – Student Project Bank
We have a new recruit this week within KEIT. Charlene Steele has joined us from SciTech specifically to work on the new Student Project Bank initiative. If your students work with organisations as part of the modules they take, please do contact Charlene to find out more about this initiative and how we can help.
Student Engagement with Research
The student engagement page is now live on the Research website, it can be found here. It explains all student facing research activities from the Research Spotlight feature to 14: Live the monthly research talk.
Research Communications
New research project pages are now avaliable on the research website and are a great place for academics to add content about their latest research projects e.g. staff lists, project background and latest news.
Team KEIT (RKEO)
If you’re feeling inspired by this blog post and would like to get involved with some of our projects then feel free to get in touch:
Genna West – Knowledge Exchange and Impact Manager
Rachel Bowen – Research Communications Manager
Rachel Clarke – Knowledge Exchange Adviser (KTP)
Jayne Codling – Knowledge Exchange Adviser
Naomi Kay – Public Engagement Officer
Charlene Steele – Project Co-Ordinator (Student Project Bank)
Katie Breadmore – Public Engagement Event’s Organiser
Oliver Cooke – Student Engagement Coordinator
To find out more about us and what we do, take a look at our team page.
New year resolutions from the Knowledge Exchange and Impact Team (KEIT) !
….”Please can you keep me up to date with what’s happening in the area of knowledge exchange, impact, student research and research communications, and public engagement”….
The Knowledge Exchange and Impact Team (KEIT) within the Research and Knowledge Exchange Office will be working hard to make sure this new year resolution is well and truly kept !
To keep you up to date with what we are up to and how we are working ‘to bag a bargain’ read on to find out more. (Your diary or calendar is an essential item when reading this blog post to make sure you don’t miss out on key dates and deadlines.)
Interdisciplinary Research Week kicks off next week with a variety of events running from 25 until 29 January. It’s not too late to book your place onto many of the sessions.
These include the next inaugural lecture on 25th January in the EBC. This gives newly appointed professors the opportunity to share an insight into their field of work, research interests and achievements to date. Professor Lee Miles of BU’s Disaster Management Centre will be speaking on entrepreneurial resilience and disaster management.
“What will Marty McFly need in 25 years?” will take place on 26th and 27th January. We we are looking to prompt great debate in order to generate potential ideas for future projects as part of this sandpit event involving local businesses and BU staff and students. This will be facilitated by RKEO staff.
This year’s Bournemouth Research Chronicle is progressing well and will be published in the spring. It features a host of fascinating examples of interdisciplinary research from across the university. A publication not to be missed !
Knowledge Transfer Partnerships celebrated 40 years in 2015 and this national scheme continues to thrive as a great way to develop and engage business and university partnerships. The third cohort of training (at BU) started at the end of 2015 and will continue in 2016 with a number of academics across the university involved. To find out more about KTPs at BU contact Rachel Clarke.
Make sure you don’t run out of time as the call for proposals for the Festival of Learning are now open with a January 31st deadline. Click on this link to find out how to find out how to submit your proposal. A great opportunity to showcase your research to the public.
Love is in the air with the 14th and 29th February being key dates for those cupids out there ! If romance is in the air make sure you have the next Cafe Sci in your calendar – Tuesday 2nd February. Martin Graff will be speaking on the function of nonverbal behaviour in Human Courtship.
We’ve been working hard, reviewing the case studies submitted to the light touch impact review and have been meeting with UoA leaders and impact champions to go over feedback. There are some very promising cases under development and we are looking forward to sharing these in the future.
The area of student engagement moves into its third year having been established as part of the KEIT’s remit in 2014. Events to support this area of research include the research photo competition. Voting is now open ! Don’t miss out on your say. Click here to view all the entries on the research website and cast your vote or check out the Facebook page. All of the entries will be displayed in the Atrium Art Gallery during February and an awards ceremony will be held on the 4th February to announce the winners of the competition.
We received an overwhelming response to the Undergraduate Research Assistantship Programme (URA). Busy with recruitment there are a total of 46 vacancies across 36 projects to be filled. The first student induction has already taken place with many students starting on the programme this week. The next round of URA funding applications is due to open in February 2016 for summer research assistants.
If you want any further information on this blog post please feel free to contact a member of KEIT.
Look out for our next blog post published in February !
2 weeks left to get your Festival of Learning proposal in!
The deadline for proposals for the Festival of Learning is 31st January. Proposals cannot be submitted beyond this date. We want to be able to showcase the best of what we do here at BU, which means we are looking for proposals from as many colleagues as possible. If you have not submitted a proposal as yet, there is still time – just!
Think of an idea for an event that demonstrates your research – will it be innovating and interesting to members of the public? Watch our video from 2015 for some inspiration.
- Decide if you want your event to be a bookable event that people can sign up for or whether you’d like a run a stall or drop in activity instead (i.e. an activity based on passing traffic rather than pre-bookings)
- Consider who you want to be your target audience (adults, families, businesses etc.)
- Consider whether your event meets the Festivals objectives, what you plan to do during the event, how it will appeal to your intended audience and what your attendees will get out of attending the event.
- Complete the Festival of Learning event application before January 31st 2016: see here (We are unable to accept late proposals due to the tight turn around between the call closing and review by the panel.)
If you would like to discuss an idea in more detail, please call/ email Naomi Kay (Public Engagement Officer) 61342/ nkay@bouremouth.ac.uk or click here for more detailed information about submitting a proposal.
– See more at: http://blogs.bournemouth.ac.uk/research/2015/12/07/find-out-how-to-submit-your-festival-of-learning-2016-proposal/#sthash.v33ZvKen.dpuf
Festival of Learning 2016
The festival of learning is in its fourth year and the dates for 2016 have been set as Saturday 25 – Wednesday 29 June for a shorter and more compact 5 day festival. Do make a note of these dates in your diary and let your friends and family know as there will be a huge variety of events they will be able to attend, all for free!
What kind of events could I put on?
We’re open to ideas and willing to support a wide variety of events, you could run anything from a professional development workshop to an art exhibition or you could just have a stool with some hands on activities for passers-by.
Some examples:
- Gaming, computing and coding
- Everyday professional skills
- Health and fitness
- Topics involving real-world issues
- Media workshops
I’m keen to run an event! What do I do now?
You have until 31st January to submit your application to be considered as part of the festival of learning. Please click here to find the proposal form and instructions on how to submit. If you would like support in developing an event idea or for any further information then please get in touch with Naomi Kay (nkay@bournemouth.ac.uk), Public Engagement Officer.
Public Engagement & Impact Event!
The Faculty of Health and Social Sciences held a public engagement and impact event for postgraduate researchers and staff on Tuesday 15th December. The event was chaired by Zoë Sheppard, Impact Champion for the Faculty, and Vanora Hundley, the Deputy Dean for Research and Professional Practice, took time out of her busy schedule to attend. Genna West, Knowledge Exchange and Impact Manager, kicked off by presenting the difference between public engagement and impact before Naomi Kay, Public Engagement Officer, outlined the internal and external public engagement activities. One of the co-founders of our local Café Scientifique, Sharon Docherty, then provided an overview of the initiative as well as describing a feedback session for research participants.
Angela Warren went onto present the fantastic resource that is the Carer and Service User Partnership and how they can help in public engagement and impact activities before Clare Farrance ‘got us on our feet’ presenting her experiences of informing practitioners as well as an exciting planned photo exhibition. After these inspirational presentations, attendees had a chance to plan their own public engagement and impact events before mince pies and mulled wine were consumed! Many thanks to everyone involved and may 2016 be full of public engagement and impact!
Find out how to submit your Festival of Learning 2016 Proposal
The Festival of Learning enters its fourth year in 2016 and will be running from Saturday 25 – Wednesday 29 June. It’s a fantastic public engagement opportunity for BU to showcase the great research coming out of the university. The call for proposals is now open and the process for submitting an application is simple:
- Think of an idea for an event that demonstrates your research – will it be innovating and interesting to members of the public? Watch our video from 2015 for some inspiration.
- Decide if you want your event to be a bookable event that people can sign up for or whether you’d like a run a stall or drop in activity instead (i.e. an activity based on passing traffic rather than pre-bookings)
- Consider who you want to be your target audience (adults, families, businesses etc.)
- Consider whether your event meets the Festivals objectives, what you plan to do during the event, how it will appeal to your intended audience and what your attendees will get out of attending the event.
- Complete the Festival of Learning event application before January 31st 2016: see here (We are unable to accept late proposals due to the tight turn around between the call closing and review by the panel.)
If you would like to discuss an idea in more detail, please call/ email Naomi Kay (Public Engagement Officer) 61342/ nkay@bouremouth.ac.uk or click here for more detailed information about submitting a proposal.
Knowledge Exchange and Impact Team: how have we been flying the KEIT for you this month?
Student engagement with research
Student engagement with research is well underway now that students are back at BU. Our Student Engagement Coordinator ran our research photo competition exhibition at Fresher’s Fair and was on hand to talk to students about our activities and events over the coming year.
Our new research spotlight film has just been released, featuring the work of Dr Anna Feigenbaum and our photo of the week series continues – take a look and learn about our inspiring research!
This week will see our first 14:Live of the semester where Dr Edward Apeh will be discussing the cyber-landscape: you, your data and the dark web. The line between our physical existence and the cyber-landscape is becoming increasingly blurred and the majority of our transactions are now being carried out online. Our personal data underpins these transactions and help to sustain the idea of a ‘free’ internet. But are we paying for ‘free’ apps and information with our valuable personal data?
Come along to find out more! Free pizza will be available to the first 30 attendees.
Student Project Bank
Our student engagement doesn’t stop there. A proposal for a new Science Shop initiative – the Student Project Bank – is underway. Science Shops carry out research for free, usually for local businesses or not-for-profit organisations, with the aim of sharing knowledge and expertise. They are often based in universities, where research is undertaken by students under the supervision of academic staff which has the added benefit of providing students with real-life work experience and skills to underpin their future careers.
For more information, contact Rachel Clarke, Knowledge Exchange Advisor.
Undergraduate Research Assistantships
Over the last academic year, BU ran its first Undergraduate Research Assistantship scheme, where undergraduate students undertook paid, short-term placements to support academic staff in their research. Feedback has demonstrated the value of the scheme to both staff and students.
The scheme is currently open to applications from academics. Once the projects have been confirmed, students will be able to apply for placements.
For more information, see this blog post.
Research communication
Our new Orthopaedic Research Institute (ORI) was officially launched last week. ORI will be working with academics across the university, partners in industry and clinicians in hospitals to develop research that will enhance patient treatment and outcome.
ORI is being led by Professor Rob Middleton and Associate Professor Tom Wainwright, who are already established researchers in their field and have worked for many years in clinical practice. ORI is being funded by the Dorset Local Enterprise Partnership, which will enable ORI to purchase state-of-the-art gait analysis equipment and establish new research labs at BU.
For more information about ORI, visit their website.
Public engagement
The Festival of Learning dates for 2016 are now confirmed as 25th – 29th June and we will soon be putting out a call for event proposals. This year saw over 5,500 visits to the Festival, so it’s a great way to share your research and ideas with our local community.
This month’s Café Scientifique saw Tom Cousins talking about the hidden maritime archaeology of Poole Harbour. The next Café Scientifique will take place on Tuesday 3 November, where audience members will have the chance to debate ‘fear in childbirth: is the media responsible?’
Business engagement
Business engagement continues to gather pace, with meetings being held with a number of businesses, who are keen to further develop their links with BU. Members of KEIT also attended the recent Association for University Research and Industry Links (AURIL) conference in London. This was a great opportunity to learn about the latest developments in knowledge exchange and meet with colleagues in industry and the higher education sector.
Business services and marketing materials
New marketing materials for business engagement are being developed, based on some of the images submitted as part of the research photo competition from earlier this year. They are a great way to showcase our research and encourage businesses to tell us their story. Exhibition banners, presentation folders and flyers are being produced and are suitable for any business audience.
Please contact Jayne Codling, Knowledge Exchange Advisor if you’d like to borrow or use any of them.
If you’re feeling inspired by our blog post and would like to get involved with some of our projects then feel free to get in touch:
Genna West – Knowledge Exchange and Impact Manager
Rachel Bowen – Research Communications Manager
Rachel Clarke – Knowledge Exchange Adviser (KTP)
Jayne Codling – Knowledge Exchange Adviser
Naomi Kay – Public Engagement Officer
Katie Breadmore – Public Engagement Event’s Organiser
Oliver Cooke – Student Engagement Coordinator
To find out more about us and what we do, take a look at our team page.
BU very well represented in this year’s ERCS Festival!
The ESRC website lists its Festival events for 2015 and amongst the interetsing events is a record number of BU events! The full list can be found on the ESRC webpages, click here!
Pathways to impact: part deux!
This event aims to engage participants who attended a previous one-day ESRC Festival of Science event which took place in 2012 entitled, “Pathways to Impact: ageing, diversity, connectivity and community”.
Creatively mapping the coast
Children will have the chance to take part in a creative mapping exercise using coastal artefacts and pictures to create their own sensory and emotional maps of the topic, starting with the question of ‘how does it make me feel to be here?’
Safeguarding vulnerable adults from financial scamming
Older people are increasingly at risk of falling victim to financial scams that target vulnerable people, including mass marketing fraud via post, telephone or email and doorstep fraud.
This event will give practitioners, agencies and members of the public, the opportunity to come together to learn more about the threats posed.
Church as place: ethnography
This event asked the question:
- what meanings of place and space are constructed by secular or non-specifically religious and religious visiting of church buildings?
Creativity and dementia: making a connection
Bournemouth University Dementia Institute (BUDI) will bring dementia awareness to life through running creative activities including a performance from the BUDI Orchestra – made up of people affected by dementia and musicians – poetry and technology such as IPads and Nintendo Wii.
Child deaths and poverty: disadvantaged British children!
Are British children disadvantaged compared to children in other Western countries? An analysis of data from global sources compares the standards of mortality, poverty and health funding for children and adults in Britain vs. those in 20 other Western countries.
Copyright reform: the implications one year on
One year ago, in October 2014, the UK Government introduced major changes to the Copyright Law with the aim of promoting innovation and creativity. These included a range of exceptions and limitations benefiting users as well as educational and cultural institutions.
Enhancing social life through global social research – event 1
These exhibitions run over the course of three days presenting a showcase of Bournemouth University research projects demonstrating our research impacts on social and community wellbeing and our concern for diverse groups and work with a wide variety of stakeholders.
Fused all ways: transdisciplinary insider research
A group of researchers from Bournemouth University are researching the lived experience of students entering higher education from and in ‘non traditional’ contexts. By bringing together research, educational practice and students as research co-creators, a unique lens is created through which to observe the question.
Increasing fruit and vegetable intakes: Why? How? – Event 3
The 5-a-day campaign went global after a recommendation from the World Health Organisation that we should all be eating a least 400g of fruit and vegetables per day. Variations on this message are repeated in countries all across the world. But does the message cause more confusion than good?
Enhancing social life through global social research – event 2
These exhibitions run over the course of three days presenting a showcase of Bournemouth University research projects demonstrating our research impacts on social and community wellbeing and our concern for diverse groups and work with a wide variety of stakeholders.
Enhancing social life through global social research – event 3
These exhibitions run over the course of three days presenting a showcase of Bournemouth University research projects demonstrating our research impacts on social and community wellbeing and our concern for diverse groups and work with a wide variety of stakeholders.
Prof. Edwin van Teijlingen
CMMPH
Knowledge Exchange and Impact Team: how have we been flying the KEIT this month?
While many have been enjoying the last of the great British summer, the KEIT team have been working hard to ensure that BU’s research and knowledge is informed by society for the benefit of society on a number of cross institutional projects. Read on for a selection of our achievements this month:
Communicating BU’s research
Two exciting new digital features have been launched this month. The Research Photo of the Week exhibits winning photographs from the Research Photography Competition that we held earlier this year to showcase BU research. Our research spotlight feature has also just been launched in the form of a short video interview, featuring Dr Sally Reynolds whose work has recently been published in Scientific Reports.
Other research communication successes include Colin Pritchard’s research into dementia which was featured on the front page of the Times in August and has been well cited in the local and national press. Additionally, Jane Murphy and Joanne Holmes’ research into dementia and nutrition was reported in the Mirror and subsequently in the Coventry Telegraph and Evening Gazette.
Public Engagement
After the success of the Festival of Learning back in July, we’re already moving onto our next big event of the year, the ESRC Festival of Social Science. BU has supported events as part of the Festival for the past 3 years but this year, for the first time, we are officially a partner of the Festival and as such are producing many more events for the public, business and schools. Take a look at research.bournemouth.ac.uk/events for further details of activities taking place as part of the Festival, as well as for details of all our public facing activity.
Café Scientifique continues to be successful with September’s talk coming from Dr Robin Wilson from University of Southampton who discussed how we’re monitoring our environment from space and why we should care about it. Upcoming talks will feature Marine Archaeologist, Tom Cousins (October 6) and Vanora Hundley and Edwin Van Teijlingen who will explore Fear in Childbirth (November). If you’d like to be involved and have a great idea for a debate-centric talk we’d love to hear from you – just email Naomi.
The deadline for submitting your expression of interest to run a Festival of Learning event is also fast approaching so be sure to put your name and the concept of your event in online before 25 September.
Higher Education Initiative Fund (HEIF)
13 HEIF projects came to an end this summer, with some excellent outcomes including:
- The BFX festival is running for the third year after starting out as a HEIF funded project. Tickets are now available for the festival – check out the website for more information. Volunteers are also need for this event, so please email Tracey Ricketts if you are interested in helping out.
- An MSc Mobile app development course launched to start in 2016, in consultation with a number of stakeholders including local mobile app agencies.
- BUG continues to hit the headlines: Weed machines remove 30 tonnes from Poole Park lake – Bournemouth Echo. This year-long research project by Bournemouth University Global Environment Solutions (BUG) monitors water quality at Poole Park lake, to form part of the bid for Heritage Lottery Funding to improve Poole Park.
HEIF 5+1: The twelve new projects that secured funding in August 2015 and will run for the next 12 months are well underway. More information will be posted on the Research Blog as these evolve – so keep an eye out for updates. One of the first to go live is Building Roman Britain.
KEIT and Liam Toms within the Media & Communication Faculty are working together to co-ordinate a Creative Bournemouth event to be held at the EBC on 23 September. Professor Tim McIntyre-Bhatty will open the event and a number of speakers from the creative industries will present during the afternoon. This event will also launcha special feature on creative industires in Bournemouth published by The Drum .
Knowledge Transfer Partnerships (KTP)
We currently have five live KTP within SciTech and KTP activity at BU is on the increase with KTP leads associated with every Faculty. This is a fantastic result and we are keen to further promote the specific KTP Cyber Security call and Stratified Medicine call, both of which are due to close in early 2016.
If you’re feeling inspired by our blog post and would like to get involved with some of our projects then feel free to get in touch:
Genna West – Knowledge Exchange and Impact Manager
Rachel Bowen – Research Communications Manager
Rachel Clarke – Knowledge Exchange Adviser (KTP)
Jayne Codling – Knowledge Exchange Adviser
Naomi Kay – Public Engagement Officer
Katie Breadmore – Public Engagement Event’s Organiser
Oliver Cooke – Student Engagement Coordinator
To find out more about us and what we do, take a look at our team page.
Fusion co-creation project involving BU students and partners in Kosovo: rethinking post-war reconciliation via ‘gaming’ technology
In post-war societies such as in the Western Balkans, war monuments may serve to preserve a single narrative of the past. Sometime the intention is to shape future generations’ understanding of conflict, thereby perpetuating militant potentials and societal divisions. But how do young visitors really experience such war monuments? Our fusion-funded project aims to foster conflict transformation (reconciliation) by facilitating young people’s engagement with a plurality of narratives while simultaneously nurturing empathy and recognition of the cultural heritage of war via contemporary gaming technology.
BU’s fusion approach encouraged me, a Balkan specialist and social anthropologist, to seek collaboration across faculties with Dr Avital Biran (‘dark tourism’/FM); Dr Melanie Klinkner (‘transitional justice’/ FMC); and Assoc. Prof. Feng Tian (‘gaming’/ FST). The new fusion-funded project is directly related to our Conflict Transformation Studies Team’s contribution to a major European Union Horizon 2020 bid: a working package on enhancing visitors’ perception and consumption of memorials via gamification, submitted in May 2015 (Reflective Societies, RED 8756).
The team presented its overarching research concept at BU’s Interdisciplinary Week on 12 May with our interactive session on Transforming conflict after war: memory, heritage and digital media. With support of two consecutive Undergraduate Research Assistants, a social anthropological spin-off exercise entitled Reconciliation-in-Practice was then conducted at the Festival of Learning. During the sessions, to which also Wendy Cutts (FHSS) contributed, we challenged participants’ assumptions about the ease with which reconciliation expectations can be exported to countries of Western geo-political interest after war and conflict.
This fusion-funded sequel aims to co-opt interested student from different disciplines into the process of story line development and game design based on post-war memory at selected sites in Kosovo. As part of FiF strand Co-creation and Co-production, collaborations will not just include students and staff from BU’s four faculties but also external stakeholders in post-war Kosovo. We hope to include local students and colleagues of University of Prishtina, Human Rights activists, the British Council, site managers and artists.
Pending ethics approval and faculty support, our aim is – with help of the creative abilities of all involved students and partners – to explore the potentials of ‘gaming’ for education and enhancing visitors’ experience at heritage sites. We plan to, firstly, research the challenges associated with contested memorials in Kosovo; secondly, develop ideas for a story-line for gaming to promote tolerance and understanding; thirdly, explore the possibilities of designing a ‘serious game’; and, finally, under the leadership of Feng Tian, devise a Game Development Document (GDD) which may serve as a blue print for the application of gaming at post-conflict sites.
Dr Stephanie Schwandner-Sievers
Faculty of Health & Social Sciences
sssievers@bournemouth.ac.uk
Fusion Investment Fund 2014/15: Upskilling the Engineering Workforce – an update
In December 2014 we received funding from the Fusion Investment Fund for a project which we hoped would allow us to strengthen strategic partnerships with local/national engineering companies (see previous posting). We are happy to report that the project has been a success.
Over the past few months we have been working with the Missions Systems division of Cobham PLC, based in Wimborne, and four of their employees, who are also students on our innovative Flexible Learning MEng (Hons) Engineering degree, to develop a Professional Registration Mentoring Scheme. Cobham was an ideal company to work with as it is the third largest aerospace and defence employer in the UK with over 12000 employees globally and 500 employees at the Wimborne site alone.
The main outcome of the project has been the development of the structure of the scheme, scheme material and promotional material.
In addition, a Festival of Learning lecture was developed entitled: ‘what professional engineers do and how to become one’. The lecture was attended by a mix of children and their parents who wished to find out more about embarking on engineering as a career and engineering employees from a range of industries who wished to find out more about how to develop themselves professionally. Promotional flyers for the professional registration mentoring scheme were provided to the engineering employees to take back to their companies. It is hoped interest from employers in the scheme will be generated from the event.
The scheme has also been integrated into the flexible learning engineering degree curriculum through the Level 6 unit Advanced Engineering and Level 7 unit MEng Project. Students studying on the degree will be mentored for up to a year after graduation to provide professional development opportunities by achieving professional registration. Thus, preparing the individual with key skills for the workplace and creating sought after individuals who will be recognised as the future leaders in their field.
Finally, a strong link has been developed with Cobham which is expected to carry on after this project. The links and reputation of BU developed through this project will be used to build the relationship with Cobham to ensure the apprentices progress to BU to complete their academic studies on the FdEng Engineering and MEng Engineering degrees.
A future goal, once established regionally, is to secure recognition for the scheme from an appropriate professional body. This will then provide the credibility to expand the scheme nationally
Please do feel free to get in touch with us if you would like further information.
Dr Phil Sewell – (Principal Investigator) – Acting Head of Design and Engineering Department/Associate Professor – psewell@bournemouth.ac.uk
Dr Tania Humphries-Smith – Associate Professor – thumphri@bournemouth.ac.uk
Arjan Gosal one of our RKEO Research Reflections event presentation joint winners!
At our recent RKEO Research Reflections event at the Festival of Learning it was really interesting to hear about the amazing variety of research taking place at BU and to have them presented with such enthusiasm and different styles.
A big congratualtions to Arjan Gosal who was one of the joint winning presenters – please see below for a taste of his presentation – ‘Losing sight of the trees for the honey’.
The Millennium Ecosystem Assessment highlighted the importance of quantifying ecosystem services as being pivotal to the allocation of environmental resources though robust policy creation and implementation. Whilst biophysical and economic values are often used in conservation planning by decision makers, community ecosystem values are rarely quantified or defined clearly. Recreation, aesthetics and cultural ecosystem services are primary to this work.
A multifaceted approach using various techniques, including participatory GIS, spatial mapping, GPS tracking of visitors and use of existing data sets are explored in relation to the New Forest. Situated on the South Coast of England, it is a prime example of a historic natural landscape, from being a medieval hunting ground to a commoning system that survives to the current day. England’s most recently designated national park has over 34,000 residents and many more visitors each year. With a clear need to understand the dynamics of how people value the various habitats and areas of this national park; this work aims to provide a strong methodology for inclusion of peoples shifting views on habitats and changing landscapes.
Although a substantial amount of research has examined the connections between biodiversity, ecosystem processes and ecosystem services, much of this has been conducted at relatively small scales, and with a limited number of species. There is therefore a need to understand how these relationships translate to a landscape scale, at which environmental management decisions need to be undertaken. Thus it is important we don’t lose sight of the wider landscape when assessing cultural services, not just looking at the honeypot sights, so that we do not lose sight of the trees.
Please contact Arjan if you would like to receive further information relating to his research.
Dragons’ Den a Roaring Success for BUCRU: ‘Now That’s What I Call Research!’
Last week the team from BUCRU hosted a Festival of Learning event to demonstrate their commitment to service user involvement in the research process. Using the BBC’s Dragons’ Den format, 4 local colleagues (Mr Bob Sangar, Dr Venky Dubey and Dr Neil Vaughan and Dr Steve Perring) showcased their research ideas to a panel of 5 dragons (who represented NHS service users) including Professor Ann Hemingway (HSS), Mark Mould (Chief Operating Officer, Poole Hospital NHS Foundation Trust) Peter Atkins (Carer and Service User Partnership, HSS), carer Eileen Hayward and service user Alan Lindsay. The event was expertly and humourously compered by Dave O’Loughlin from the HSS Mental Health Nursing team.
An audience of over 30 were entertained and informed about studying the best treatment for fractured ankles (Bob Sangar), a method for providing anaesthetists with the opportunity to practice siting obstetric epidurals (Venky Dubey and Neil Vaughan), and how the effect of cancer treatment on the central nervous system can be explored (Steve Perring). The afternoon was light hearted, fun and informative, with Peter Atkins kindly agreeing to be booted and plastered in the interests of science…
Audience participation resulted in Steve Perring’s project walking off with the dragons’ money, and Bob Sangar and Venky Dubey vowing to return next year for another bite of the cherry.
Festival of Learning event demonstrates pilot Seen But Seldom heard e learning tool
During last week’s Bournemouth University Festival of Learning, the team (Dr. Carrie Hodges, Faculty of Media and Communication; Wendy Cutts and Dr Lee-Ann Fenge, Faculty of Health and Social Science) held a pilot session for a new e-learning tool which they have developed in collaboration with young people from the Seen but Seldom Heard project.
This e-learning tool has been developed with funding from the Big Lottery Fund, and builds on previous work which has used participatory performative research methodologies, including performance poetry to enable young people with disabilities (aged 14-20 years) to explore the nature of disability within society and their own experiences of being disabled. The previous outputs from this project have included live performances as part of the Cultural Olympiad 2012, local literary festivals, a performance at the House of Commons in December 2014, as well as a documentary film (CLICK HERE for a ‘taster’).
The e-learning tool aims to develop understanding of the needs and experiences of young people with disabilities, in particular, amongst their peers, schools and communities. It includes information and engaging activities, and has been made in collaboration with young people from the Seen but Seldom Heard project. Media representations of disability are largely negative due to the limited number of stereotypes used and these stereotypes contribute to the ‘invisibility’ of disabled people within society. This tool hopes to challenge this ‘invisibility’ by encouraging people to think differently about aspects of discrimination linked to disability. It is hoped that this will be used widely in educational settings, as well as in the wider community to change hearts and minds. It will facilitate learning either as a stand-alone tool, or as part of a wider approach towards diversity and inclusivity.
The pilot session for the tool was helpful in terms of gaining feedback on how it could be further refined, before it is officially launched during the Autumn 2015. CLICK HERE for more details on the Seen But Seldom Heard project