Congratulations to BUBS PhD student Rama Permana on the publication of his paper ‘The (un)sustainability of rural tourism travel in the Global South: A social practice theory perspective’ in the International Journal of Tourism Research. The paper draws on a series of semi-structured interviews with tourists and destination stakeholders which explore tourists’ rural travel practices in Bali, Indonesia. The paper uses a social practices perspective to explore how Bali’s transport provision has evolved to meet residents’ needs for travel and income generation, shaping the options for tourists. The paper highlights how transition to more sustainable transport use is challenging when local populations are invested in existing transport provision and how this provision has become part of the tourism experience.
Category / Fusion themes
New sociology paper Freedom from Academentia
Congratulations to Laura Favaro, Lecturer in Social Science in the Faculty of Health & Social Sciences, who published the paper ‘Let us be free from “ACADEMENTIA”’ this last weekend of June [1]. “Survivor of academentia” is how one former lecturer in sociology described herself when to Laura interviewed her for her ethnography of academia. In particular, the research explored the “gender wars”, namely the disputes around sex and gender that have escalated dramatically since the mid 2010s in Britain and increasingly also in many other countries. This article builds on feminist and other critical uses of the term academentia with original insights from interview and document data about the detrimental impact of queer theory and politics. The hope is to stimulate further inquiry into the push towards queering at universities, and beyond, as well as into the connections between the
transgender and mad movements.
Well done!

Prof. Edwin van Teijlingen
Centre for Midwifery & Women’s Health
Reference:
Favaro, L. (2024) Let us be free from “Academentia”, Cuestiones de género: de la igualdad y la diferencia. Nº. 19: 659-92.
Free Research Event – Wednesday 26th June – A Celebration of Sustainable Food Related Research

BU Research Centre CSSRC is celebrating its interdisciplinary and intersectoral research around sustainable food on Wednesday 26th June 2024, 4.45-7.00pm.
The Centre for Sustainable & Socially Responsible Consumption (CSSRC) invites you to attend its research event on Wednesday 26th June 2024 to celebrate its interdisciplinary and intersectoral research around sustainable food. After a welcome refreshment this interesting and informative event will comprise of three topical presentation sessions, each lead by a member of CSSRC, as outlined below. Opportunity for discussions and networking over drinks and nibbles after the talks will round off the event.
Session 1: FoodMAPP: Local food supply communicated through a transactional searchable MAP based APPlication
FoodMAPP is a European funded research project that is developing a searchable map-based platform that will enable consumers to search and buy food products directly from local suppliers. Currently within Europe food is transported, on average, 171km from farm to fork. 26 per cent of global carbon emissions come from food and large volumes of food are wasted. The FoodMAPP project aims to address these challenges by enabling consumers to identify and purchase local sources of food in real time to shorten supply chains and reduce food waste, while also providing additional sustainable income to food producers and providers. The project, led by Professor of Consumer Behaviour Jeff Bray, consists of a consortium of European partners, comprising academic partners in Croatia, Hungary, Spain and Belgium and industry partners in France & Austria. In this session Professor Bray will introduce the project and discuss current insights from it.
Session 2: Assessing the impact of food prices on consumption and health
Professor of Economics Tim Lloyd will present this session and introduce this Defra funded project. The overall aim of this project is to develop user-friendly software, underpinned by theory and modelling that will provide Defra with the capacity to assess the potential impacts of external and internal shocks and the outcome of potential policy options, not just on prices but on food consumption more generally, including the health impacts across socio-economic groups, while addressing the resilience of the UK food chain and environmental challenges. The project has Defra Funding for two years and is a collaboration with the University of Exeter, that develops previous work on food price modelling in relation to Brexit that formed the basis of an Impact Case submitted to UoA17 (Business and Management) in REF2021. The current project started in December 2023 and is in its early phase of development. The BU team comprises Tim Lloyd (Professor of Economics) and Adam Witt (ECR) from the Department of Accounting Finance and Economics in BUBS. It is envisioned that the output of the project will augment the government’s analytical capacity in the politically sensitive area of food prices and form an Impact Case Study for REF2029.
Session 3: An exploration of alternative food network practices
The landscape of food systems is evolving, with alternative food networks (AFNs) gaining prominence. AFNs encompass decentralised and locally rooted system that seek to establish direct connections between producers and consumers, often bypassing conventional supply chains e.g. farmers’ markets, community-supported agriculture (CSA), and food cooperatives. As consumer preferences shift towards locally sourced and sustainable food options, it is essential to assess the challenges and opportunities that arise in the context of AFNs. Through exploring AFNs and SFSCs, this project seeks to understand their potential contributions to sustainability, resilience, and community well-being. In this session Dr Anthony Ezenwa will present his BU QR-funded research that explores the nuances of Alternative Food Networks (AFNs) and Short Food Supply Chains (SFSCs), using Dorset County, England as a comprehensive case study. Dr Ezenwa will highlight the various typologies and meanings associated with these concepts and discuss how the social and institutional perspectives surrounding the challenges and opportunities within AFNs and SFSCs practices in the region, shedding light on their intricate links.
Provisional Timetable:
4.45-5.00pm – Welcome refreshments
5.00-6.15pm – Presentation sessions
6.15-7.00pm – Discussion, networking and refreshments
This is a free event, but you must register to attend via Eventbrite: A Celebration of Sustainable Food Related Research Tickets, Wed 26 Jun 2024 at 16:45 | Eventbrite
FHSS academics’ paper cited 1,000 times
This morning ResearchGate alerted us that our paper published two decades ago ‘The Importance of Pilot Studies’ has now been cited one thousand times [1]. This methods paper in the Nursing Standard is very often used by authors quoting a paper in their research methods section when they have done pilot or feasibility study for a larger-scale study. This paper is also our second top cited paper with 1,982 citations on Google Scholar and, interestingly enough, on SCOPUS it is not listed at all.
Pilot studies are a crucial element of a good study design. Conducting a pilot study does not guarantee success in the main study, but it does increase the likelihood of success. Pilot studies fulfill a range of important functions and can provide valuable insights for other researchers. There is a need for more discussion among researchers of both the process and outcomes of pilot studies. 
This paper is one of several methods paper focusing on pilot studies we have published over the past 22 years [2-7].
Professors Vanora Hundley & Edwin van Teijlingen
Centre for Midwifery & Women’s Health
References:
- van Teijlingen E, Hundley, V. (2002) ‘The importance of pilot studies’ Nursing Standard 16(40): 33-36. Web: nursing-standard.co.uk/archives/vol16-40/pdfs/vol16w40p3336.pdf
- van Teijlingen E, Rennie, AM., Hundley, V, Graham, W. (2001) The importance of conducting & reporting pilot studies: example of Scottish Births Survey, Journal of Advanced Nursing, 34: 289-95.
- Simkhada, P, Bhatta, P., van Teijlingen E (2006) Importance of piloting questionnaire on sexual health research (Letter), Wilderness & Environmental Medical Journal, 17(4): 295-96. wemjournal.org/wmsonline/?request=get-document&issn=1080-6032&volume=017&issue=04&page=0295#Ref
- van Teijlingen E, Hundley, V. (2001) The importance of pilot studies, Social Research Update Issue 35, (Editor N. Gilbert), Guildford: University of Surrey. Web: http://www.soc.surrey.ac.uk/sru/SRU35.html
- Hundley, V., van Teijlingen E. (2002) The role of pilot studies in midwifery research RCM Midwives Journal 5(11): 372-74.
- van Teijlingen E, Hundley, V. (2005) Pilot studies in family planning & reproductive health care, Journal of Family Planning & Reproductive Health Care 31(3): 219-21.
- van Teijlingen E, Hundley, V. (2003) Pilot study, In: Encyclopaedia of Social Science Research Methods, Vol. 2, Lewis-Beck, M., Bryman, A. & Liao, T. (eds.), Orego, Sage: 823-24.
Prof. John Oliver receives European media award
Prof.John Oliver was presented with the European Media Management Association’s highest award for “excellence in media management scholarship and practice” at the annual conference in The Netherlands.
The award also recognises Prof. Oliver’s contribution to the development of the association where he served on the Executive Board for many years and as the President between 2021-23.
Prof. Oliver commented that “whilst it is an honour to be presented with an individual award, it is also in recognition of the many people that have helped me develop my research and the contribution that many of the association’s members have made over the years”.
World’s Largest Rock Art Documented by IMSET researchers
A new paper in the leading archaeological journal Antiquity led by Dr Phil Riris of the Institute for the Modelling of Socio-Environmental Transitions reports on likely candidates for the world’s largest individual rock engravings, located along the Orinoco River. In collaboration with partners at the UCL Institute of Archaeology and Universidad de Los Andes (Colombia), the paper provides important new insights into how the pre-Columbian world was shaped by the beliefs of its peoples. The paper is available in Open Access: https://doi.org/10.15184/aqy.2024.55
Unlike geoglyphs (large artistic markings excavated into the soil), petroglyphs are engraved directly on rock faces. Producing them requires a great deal of effort. The engravings reported in the paper are several tens of metres on a side, with the largest engraving of a snake having an estimated length of 40 metres or more, pointing to a significant investments of time and energy in their creation.

Some of the largest engravings of snakes reported in Colombia and Venezuela by the team. Images have been enhanced with a sketched overlay.
These “monumental” engravings include humans and animals resembling centipedes, deer, and birds, as well as large snakes such as boas or anacondas. They are typically located far up on hillsides overlooking stretches of the Orinoco river. They are thought to be related to marking territorial boundaries or appropriating new parts of the landscape during voyages, as they are regularly found along the river and its margins. Large “paintings” on hillsides are reported in the earliest missionary writings from the region, and may over time have become major landmarks in their own right.

Artistic impression of a giant snake swimming the Orinoco
It is vital that these monumental rock art sites are protected to ensure their preservation and continued study, with the Indigenous peoples of the Orinoco region central to this process.
The research was funded by the Leverhulme Trust, The Society of Antiquaries of London, Universidad de Los Andes, the Fundación de Investigaciones Arqueológicas Nacionales (Colombia), and the British Academy.
https://doi.org/10.15184/aqy.2024.55
TAKING PLACE TODAY! Research seminar on video game cloning and IP law
The Centre for Intellectual Property, Policy & Management (CIPPM) will host Dr. Yin Harn Lee – a specialist in videogames and copyright. The event promises to be a treat for anyone interested in videogames, copyright and new technologies.
It will take place as a lunch time seminar, so please bring your sandwich and come along!
The event is taking place today (28th May 2024) at 12 noon in F201 (Fusion, 201).
Dr. Lee is a Senior Lecturer in Law at the University of Bristol, and her research primarily focuses on copyright law and videogames, and she has written on issues such as videogame modding, game cloning and videogame preservation. Most recently, she co-authored a study for the World Intellectual Property Organization on copyright infringement in the videogame industry, and a study on IP and the Metaverse for the UK Intellectual Property Office. She is a co-editor of the Interactive Entertainment Law Review. She is also interested in copyright history and doctrine and private law remedies.
Please follow this link for an abstract of Dr Lee’s talk: https://microsites.bournemouth.ac.uk/cippm/2024/05/28/yin-harn-lee-the-game-cloning-conundrum/
BU academic listed on Research.com
Research.com, a leading academic platform for researchers, has just released its 2024 Edition of the Ranking of Best Scientists in the field of Social Sciences and Humanities. BU is listed as 509th globally.
Prof. Edwin van Teijlingen, in the Centre for Midwifery & Women’s Health (CMWH), is the BU social scientist listed in this year’s ranking. The full UK ranking is available here: research.com/scientists-rankings/social-sciences-and-humanities/gb and the full world ranking is available here: research.com/scientists-rankings/social-sciences-and-humanities
Congratulations to Social Workers Drs. Oliver & Harvey
Congratulations to Dr. Orlanda Harvey and Dr. Louise Oliver on the publication of their latest article ‘The use of poetry in form of haikus as a tool for critical reflection’ [1]. This latest academic publication has been published in Social Work Education The International Journal. This interesting article focuses on critical reflection is an integral part of social work education and practice, yet it is widely understood to be hard to learn, teach, and assess. The authors introduced the use of poetry in the form of haikus to three different qualifying social work student groups to trial a creative way of getting students to engage in critical reflection. Ninety-six students took part in the reflection activity and 23 of the students agreed to take part in the research element, which used a mixed-methods approach to explore the value of haikus in critical reflection. Following the thematic network analysis process, we identified one global theme: that haikus were a useful tool for developing critical reflection. There were three organizing themes identified: the need to create a safe learning environment to support engagement; that taking part provoked reactions; and the activity held important elements that aided the development of critical reflection.
Well done !
Prof. Edwin van Teijlingen
Faculty of Health & Social Sciences
2023-4 New Media Writing Prize and Unconference Success
The 2023-24 New Media Writing Prize, directed by BU’s Lyle Skains and judged by BU practitioners and researchers Dalia Elsheikh, Jim Pope, and Brad Gyori has drawn to a close after a bright and exciting two days of creative “Unconferencing”, a brilliant and thought-provoking keynote on generative AI and electronic literature from Professor Anastasia Salter, and the announcement of all winners for this year’s prizes. The keynote and awards ceremony are available on YouTube for anyone who missed them.
This year the events were moved to May from January to fit better with semester timetables and activities around the Bournemouth Writing Prize. This move proved fortunate as we saw our entries nearly double this year over previous years, with 194 eligible works submitted from 45 different countries. Our judges certainly needed the extra time to review and debate the wealth of high quality submissions of interactive digital narrative and journalism.
The Awards
All works are accessible on the 2023 NMWP website.
Chris Meade Memorial Main Prize
Our judges shortlisted eight works for the main prize; Florence Walker’s I Dreamt of Something Lost topped the category:
- WINNER – I Dreamt of Something Lost by Florence Walker
- A Condensed History of Australian Camels by David Thomas Henry Wright, Louis Pratt, Karen Lowry, Chris Arnold
- Congee by Rebecca Chui
- Infinite Eddies by Siobhan O’Flynn
- L and the Empress of Sand by Jon Stone
- Musselled Out by Dolly Church, Elinor Kirchwey, Eamon Foreman, Niall Tessier-Lavigne
- The Hotline by Kasey Gambling
- Voices by Christine Wilks
Writers Online Student Prize
- WINNER – Polterkicks by Emma Husa
- An Undecided Fate by Drew Ott
- I Dreamt of Something Lost by Florence Walker
- Meow Memoir by Brynna Hosszu
- What Remains? by Vegard Fotland
- Words So Much Like Ivy by Chris Pang
Social Good Prize
2023-24 marks the very first year this prize has been awarded; it is supported entirely by the associated NMWP Unconference. The focus on interactive digital narrative for the purposes of social good or addressing global challenges (such as the UN Sustainable Development Goals) is drawn from Lyle Skains’ research into the creation and efficacy of interactive narrative to inspire attitude and behaviour change on topics of socio-cultural, medical, and ecological importance.
- WINNER – Musselled Out by Dolly Church, Elinor Kirchwey, Eamon Foreman, Niall Tessier-Lavigne
- A Condensed History of Australian Camels by David Thomas Henry Wright, Louis Pratt, Karen Lowry, Chris Arnold
- The Hotline by Kasey Gambling
- Tree-Person by Talita Bedinelli
- Voices by Christine Wilks
Opening Up Prize
- WINNER – all the borders I crossed without you by Rosalind Fielding
- Crowbar by Dylan Spicer
- Infinite Eddies by Siobhan O’Flynn
- Memory Eternal (Вічная Пам’ять) (2023) by the Decameron Collective
- The Hotline by Kasey Gambling
- Voices by Christine Wilks
FIPP Media Journalism Prize
- WINNER – SOS – SAVE OUR SOILS by Marius Münstermann
- Choking Kurdistan by Tom Brown
- Terraforming Singapore: Is the future made of sand? by Zafirah Zein
- The illusion of prosperity by Katerina Afanasyeva
Unconference Report
Anastasia Salter’s keynote (viewable on YouTube) capped off the Unconference and transitioned us to the awards ceremony. Their insights on generative AI and how it is already influencing electronic literature (another wave of software reproducing social bias and inequality) even while offering the next step in the evolution of creative tools were both concerning and exhilarating—perhaps a perfect note to strike in an Unconference themed around inclusivity.
Our second annual Unconference unfolded over two days leading up to the NMWP Award Ceremony. 40 creatives, academics, and students attended from across the world, including the UK, USA, Canada, India, Norway, and Mexico.
As a more creatively-focused event, the Unconference focuses on workshops and performances, with relevant academic talks dispersed throughout. We learned fundamentals of programming, how to create a GitHub website, and considerations for creating interactive digital narratives with purpose (such as wellbeing).
We were also treated to electronic poetry, a preview of the very first Indian anthology of electronic literature, Instagram storytelling, and discussions of art and health.
We played together in netprov (improvisational, collaborative online storytelling), spitballed approaches to teaching electronic literature and making it more accessible, and became Wikipedia editors as we seek to grow elit’s representation on this foundational site of knowledge.
Successful Bid-generating Sandpit designed and facilitated by BU academics Catalin Brylla and Lyle Skains
27 early career academics from ten universities came together 30 April-1 May in Bournemouth for a two-day sandpit funded by The British Academy Early Career Researcher Network and organised by Dr. Catalin Brylla (Centre for the Study of Conflict, Emotion, and Social Justice) and Dr. Lyle Skains (Centre for Science, Health, and Data Communication Research). The participants specialise in a variety of disciplines such as performance, media, business management, environmental sciences, anthropology, computing, architecture, law, engineering, tourism, and health studies. They brought their interests in a sustainable world and society (as represented by the UN Sustainable Development Goals) to the sandpit for networking, team-building, and funding and project development workshops, many of which were based on the successful and innovative NESTA-developed ‘Crucible’ programme (no longer online, but see the Welsh Crucible).
The success of the sandpit’s activities is highlighted by the culmination of six projects proposed to a panel of subject experts from Bournemouth University: Prof. Amanda Korstjens (ecology), Prof. Adele Ladkin (business), Prof. Huseyin Dogan (computing), Dr. Lyle Skains (arts practice and interdisciplinarity), Dr. Catalin Brylla (media practice) and Zarak Afzal (research development). These experts provide mentorship and feedback on the projects as they develop toward funding proposals. Two sandpit follow-up sessions will also aid the participants in developing their funding proposals.
This is the first ‘crucible’ sandpit of its kind offered through the BA ECRN, though plans are under development for further offerings in both the Southwest and other regional hubs.
To receive news of further sandpits and development opportunities, join the BA ECRN.
BU Professor has been invited to a series of plenary and invited lectures.
BU Professor Zulfiqar A Khan has been invited to the 12th International Conference KOD 2024, Machine and Industrial Design in Mechanical Engineering to deliver a plenary talk to disseminate and discuss, the latest work on numerical simulation and modelling in interacting machines and systems conducted in NanoCorr, Energy and Modelling (NCEM) Research Group led by Professor Khan. This talk is also aimed to provide an overview of Professor Khan’s work in terms of Nanoengineering & Energy Systems (NES®).

System and Design – © Z Khan 2024.
The overall relation of interacting systems, durability and reliability will be discussed by Professor Khan in the following invited lecture, entitled “an overview of research: numerical modelling and simulation for predictive condition monitoring,” invited by Professor Aleksandar Marinković, Head of Machine Design Department, Faculty of Mechanical Engineering University of Belgrade, and Prof. DR Vladimir Popović, Dean of Faculty of Mechanical Engineering, University of Belgrade, the Republic of Serbia. Professor Popović has extended this invitation to include Professor Khan’s meetings with Faculty Management and Chairs of Laboratories for exploring to pursue mutual interests’ initiatives and common goals in Nanoengineering & Energy Systems (NES®).

Interacting System © Z A Khan 2024.

Contact mechanics and nanomaterials – IC © Z Khan 2024.
Professor Khan will then deliver an invited lecture in Mathematical Institute of the Serbian Academy of Sciences and Arts, National Institute of the Republic of Serbia to discuss the latest developed mathematical models, Khan-Nazir I, Khan-Nazir II and Khan-Nazir III, these are BU’s ground breaking and globally leading contributions to knowledge in terms of developing impactful design solutions to aid safety, cost savings, energy efficiency and reliability applied in complex interacting and energy systems. These novel models are linked to recently awarded GB, US, PR China, Singapore, Hong Kong (notice of allowance) and EU/EPO (pending) patents in mechanistic, nanofluidics and energy systems developed at BU by NCEM team led by Professor Khan. This lecture is invited by DR Ivana Atanasovska, seminar leader and Stepa Paunović, secretary of the seminar. This lecture will be live streamed on Tuesday, 28 May 2024, you are invited to join.

Interacting System 2 © Z Khan 2024.
This will be followed by invited meetings with key researchers and academics in the Institute of General and Physical Chemistry, Studentski try 12/V, Belgrade to explore collaborative initiatives in Clean Energy Systems.
If you are interested in any of the above topics, events and would like to know more then please get in touch through this link.
SUNRISE sustainability conference – launch Wed 24th April
SUNRISE (Supporting University Network for Research in Sustainability Engagement) is a British Council funded project, managed by BU in collaboration with Universiti Sains Malaysia (USM).

Join us tomorrow Wednesday April 24th for our collaborative showcase event of sustainability projects from BU and Universiti Sains Malaysia (USM). We will meet together online and on campus (DG06, Dorset House, Talbot Campus) at 8-10 am UK time (sorry it’s early – it’s because of the time difference with Malaysia).
We will offer coffee and croissants and share projects from BU and USM. We will launch our SUNRISE sustainability showcase aiming to inspire academic collaborations and student research around sustainability. Our speakers tomorrow include:
from BU:
Dr Sukanya Ayatakshi Endow, who explores gender bias in crowd-funding
Dr James Fair, who explores sustainable developments within cinema
Dr Reena VIjayakumaran, who explores food insecurity and sustainable food in rural India.
from USM:
Dr Musfirah Zulkurnain, who explores sustainable solutions to food security
Dr Derek Chieh, who examines sustainable production of high-quality duckweeds feedstock using fish farm wastewater
Dr Emilin Alli, who explores wear not waste: moving towards zero textile waste
Please register through this link:
Thank you to our speakers and everyone who contributed to the SUNRISE Showcase. We look forward to sharing the British Council funded SUNRISE project with you.
SUNRISE aims at inspiring and building capacity for sustainability research through hybrid cross-institutional student mobility events. Particularly, it focuses on leveraging student online and hybrid mobility to build capacity for research on sustainability and the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). More info on the project is available here.
At BU, the project is managed by Dr Milena Bobeva (BUBS), Dr Reena Vijayakumaran (HSS), Prof Fiona Cownie (FMC), Dr Roberta Discetti (BUBS), and Dr Daisy Fan (BUBS). Our partners at Universiti Sains Malaysia (USM) are Dr Vina Tan Phei Sean and Assoc Prof. Ng Theam Foo.
SETS Research Seminar – Global Recycling Crisis – Wed 24th April
SETS research seminar: Wednesday 24th April at 3 pm on Zoom
The theme of this SETS cycle is the public problem of waste and the global sustainability crises related to the consumption and disposal of commodities.
In this seminar, Manisha Anantharaman will present her recent book Recycling Class. The Contradictions of Inclusion in Urban Sustainability (2024, MIT press).
Manisha is Assistant Professor of Sociology at the Center for the Sociology of Organisations, Sciences Po Paris (France). Manisha holds a PhD from the University of California Berkeley, and her research focuses on the politics of ecological transition and sustainability.
Zoom details to join:
https://unitn.zoom.us/j/85334570893
Meeting ID: 853 3457 0893
Passcode: SETS
SETS is a joint initiative between the Research Group on Collective Action, Change, and Transition at the University of Trento, the Centre for Sustainable and Socially Responsible Consumption at BU, and the Environmental Sociology Section at the University of Orebro. The seminars are open to a diverse audience, including academics, students, practitioners, social movements, and the non-specialist public.
Roberta Discetti, SETS co-founder
BU academic invited to speak at the SCoT Webinar Volume 57 round table on Promoting Transformational Tourism Through Narrative Art
Dr Svetla Stoyanova-Bozhkova was invited to speak at the SCoT Webinar Volume 57 this week, organised and moderated by Prof. Jafar Jafari and Prof. Kazem Vafadari.
The SCoT Webinar
series is a joint initiative of APU Ritsumeikan Asia Pacific University (Japan), t-FORUM The Tourism Intelligence Forum, NC State University and iCAPt International Center for Asia Pacific Tourism.
The topic of the webinar was PROMOTING TRANSFORMATIONAL TOURISM THROUGH NARRATIVE ART: Destination Brand Stories. The art of storytelling is inextricably linked with tourism development and management. Significantly, every place or destination tells its own story. Storytellers make space into place and places into stories. Tourism research focuses on tourists’ stories to understand their experiences, and this is highly important in the digital age built on social media, immersive technologies,AI, User-generated content, and conversational marketing supported by Web 2.0. Nonetheless, this modernity has also leveraged the capacity of destination brands to make promotional videos embedding the principles of storytelling.
The discussion focused on the link between tourism destinations and storytelling and how the latter helps destination brands promote transformational and responsible tourism, enriching tourist experiences and contributing to the UN SDGs.
The recording of the webinar is accessible at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fCG4B74ti8k.
Student numbers in the next decade
In contrast to recent student numbers intake across the country FT has published an article stating that, undergraduate numbers will see a rise in England in the next decade. [APRIL 7 2024. Looming rise in student numbers sparks calls for skills reform in England. Peter Foster and Anna Gross. © The Financial Times Limited 2013. All Rights Reserved].

Total numbers have a direct relation to several factors including but not limited to overseas students, and both financial and planning challenges faced by international students. Various geographical regions for example South and Southeast Asia are conventionally more leaning towards traditional degrees for example engineering and medicine. Particular interest in these degrees is stemmed by primary and secondary education systems, national skill gaps and more widely societal impacts. Despite, a brief decline in the numbers of international students a pattern in terms of various disciplines varies according to available data. In order to attract and sustain international student numbers core engineering and medical/ medicine degrees will remain significant centripetal force.
FT also reported that, this year universities will make a loss on each domestic student unless there is a change in fees policy [APRIL 7 2024. Looming rise in student numbers sparks calls for skills reform in England. Peter Foster and Anna Gross. © The Financial Times Limited 2013. All Rights Reserved]. In addition, a more diverse repositioning in terms of educational provisions is needed, such as strategic priorities for engineering & technology degrees, innovation in delivery models and methods of gradually but completely decoupling from textbooks taught system to a more flexible intuitive, research informed and practice-based education in partnership with industry which is fit for solving real world impact bearing problems. In turn safeguarding graduates’ future, placing their learning experience at the heart of education-research interface to guarantee higher levels of employability and job satisfaction.
HEIs are also facing a challenge in terms of financial sustainability as reported, the sector is struggling to recruit the higher-paying foreign students it relies on to subsidise lossmaking domestic places [FT 07 April 24]. A two-pronged approach would be needed to address these challenges. Firstly, repositioning in terms of facilities and resources to introduce, apply and integrate more state-of-the-art modelling and simulation techniques for practice, practical and experimental elements of teaching in engineering and technology degrees and initiating a phased transition from dependency on conventional hardware tools e.g. expensive machines to realise releasing economies of scale. Secondly, more robust, simpler and well understood parallels and transitioning pathways between HEIs and primary to higher secondary education are needed.

FT added that, “At the same time, government spending on skills will be 23 per cent below 2009—10 levels, according to analysis by the Institute for Fiscal Studies think-tank.” [APRIL 7 2024. Looming rise in student numbers sparks calls for skills reform in England. Peter Foster and Anna Gross. © The Financial Times Limited 2013. All Rights Reserved]. Collaborating closely with industrial partners and stakeholders’ skills gaps can be strategically prioritised for medium to long term needs, and educational provisions would need reshaping to integrate with research portfolio, UNSDGs, socio-economic, environmental impacts and relevant REF Unit of Assessment (UoA).
FT reported that, “The apprenticeship levy introduced in 2017 has also failed to deliver the expected boost to training, according to London Economics.” [APRIL 7 2024. Looming rise in student numbers sparks calls for skills reform in England. Peter Foster and Anna Gross. © The Financial Times Limited 2013. All Rights Reserved]. This is an important pathway for filling the skill shortages and also bridging the gap between theory and practice. A steady rise in flexible learning engineering degree students’ numbers, have been observed. These students are industry professionals who join these degrees at L5/6 level for a BEng/MEng flexible learning program. In addition to academic benefits these professionals achieve academic benchmark qualifications for professional registrations with professional institutions. This is one of the best available models to address skill shortages with a flexible high-quality delivery and academic provisions underpinned by research.
A stronger and broader engineering sector in collaboration with industry partners and professional institutions to develop futuristic engineering degrees to contribute to economic growth and its sustainability with an upward trajectory to address real concerns that, “tackling (of) the UK’s entrenched skills shortages and low economic productivity.” [APRIL 7 2024. Looming rise in student numbers sparks calls for skills reform in England. Peter Foster and Anna Gross. © The Financial Times Limited 2013. All Rights Reserved] is important.

Telescopic Electrochemical Cell (TEC) for Non-Destructive Corrosion Testing of Coated Substrate. Patent number GB2018/053368
FT also mentioned in its latest article that, “Policymakers should also remove the cap on FE college places in order to “level up” education, (Lord Jo Johnson), added, providing more opportunities.” [APRIL 7 2024. Looming rise in student numbers sparks calls for skills reform in England. Peter Foster and Anna Gross. © The Financial Times Limited 2013. All Rights Reserved]. This can be looked into within the context of above-mentioned points in terms of establishing more defined parallels between HEIs and from primary to higher secondary education. A rethink to consider schools’ post code model for HEIs entry will help in levelling up.
Keywords: education, numbers, overseas students, engineering, skills, industry, professions.
Professor of Design, Engineering & Computing
NanoCorr, Energy & Modelling Research Group Lead
Email: zkhan@bournemouth.ac.uk
Celebrating with the RNLI
Staff in the Faculty of Health & Social Sciences at Bournemouth University (BU) would like to take this opportunity to congratulate the charity the RNLI (Royal National Lifeboat Institution) on its 200th anniversary! Some of us have personal experience of working with the RNLI. For example, Adam Bancroft, Programme Lead in Paramedic Science and Senior Lecturer in Paramedic Science, in the Department of Midwifery & Health Sciences has been a lifeboat volunteer Adam and his wife Paula were both volunteer crew at Tower RNLI on the banks of the river Thames, which is still the busiest RNLI station in the UK. They would commit to at least two shifts a month where they would be at a state of readiness to launch at moments notice on the pier, ready to respond. 
In a very different way of working with the RNLI, BU academics currently are involved in a collaborative research project with RNLI to prevent the drowning of toddlers under the age of two in rural Bangladesh. This project called Sonamoni. BU is leading this interdisciplinary study of nearly £1.7 million funded by the UK National Institute for Health and Care Research (NIHR). 
The Fog of Streaming Wars
In his recent article published in The Conversation, Prof. John Oliver provides a provocative thought piece that describes the current market dynamics of subscription-video-on-demand (SVOD) streaming firms and an outlook on the industry’s future direction.
He notes that the industry is currently characterized by an oversupply of service providers which has led to aggressive competitive pricing and a squeezing of profit margins. He goes on to conclude that the weaker players, those with less efficient operations or inferior offerings, are starting to struggle and an ‘industry shakeout’ is inevitable.
You can access the article at: https://theconversation.com/in-the-fog-of-the-video-streaming-wars-job-losses-and-business-closures-are-imminent-225829















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