BU Research Blog

18 June 2023

Hampshire Constabulary and Bournemouth University Team Collaboration: Blue Light App

BU Challenges, innovation, Public engagement fadedoyin

Police officers often work long, unsocial hours in a highly pressurised environment and may experience difficulties managing their health and well-being. Their jobs can be highly stressful and have unusual working hours and multiple shift patterns. When we think of the policing environment of today, many roles that were previously the domain of warranted officers are now carried out by non-warranted police staff equivalents. These police staff roles are relatively new to policing but put staff under some of the same stresses as police officers.

A research project affirmed that the working environment for officers makes it harder for those affected to make healthy choices. The problem not only includes thinking of a solution to help manage personalised risk issues, but also ensuring it won’t be intrusive for users during and outside of work.

Hampshire Constabulary is collaborating with the team at BU to investigate technologies that could be used to improve health and well-being and research how these technologies could be used to measure and track health behaviour change. A multi-disciplinary project team has been assembled to work on this project. Working with Dr Huseyin Dogan (Principal Investigator), Dr Festus Adedoyin and Professor Nan Jiang from the Faculty of Science and Technology, Professor Jane Murphy and Dr Andy Pulman from the Faculty of Health and Social Science as well as representatives from Hampshire Constabulary.

This project has developed and launched a fully functioning application (HantsPolHealth App) monitoring the members of the force’s health and well-being. This application is available in Android and iOS formats. Going forward, the App has been updated with new features covering shift patterns, financial well-being, and good mental health, and considerations are in place for its use by other blue light forces. Additionally, longitudinal usability data will be collected with the continuous use of the App. This demonstrates the potential expansion of the project and longer-term use by the funder.

As part of the collaboration effort, Dr Festus Adedoyin from Bournemouth University attended the 2023 Families Day event hosted by Hampshire Constabulary to explore further partnerships, funding, and collaboration.

6 June 2023

BU and University of Cambridge Collaboration on Traffic Prediction

Fusion, Knowledge Exchange, REF Subjects wchai

Bournemouth University (BU) has collaborated with the University of Cambridge on network wide road traffic prediction. The work, led by Dr. Wei Koong Chai in BU, address the problem of traffic prediction on large-scale road networks and propose a novel deep learning model, Virtual Dynamic Graph Convolution Neural Network and Transformer with Gate and Attention mechanisms (VDGCNeT), to comprehensively extract complex, dynamic and hidden spatial dependencies of road networks for achieving high prediction accuracy. The work advocates the use of a virtual dynamic road graph that captures the dynamic and hidden spatial dependencies of road segments in real road networks instead of purely relying on the physical road connectivity.

The team designed a novel framework based on Graph Convolution Neural Network (GCN) and Transformer to analyse dynamic and hidden spatial–temporal features. The gate mechanism is utilised for concatenating learned spatial and temporal features from Spatial and Temporal Transformers, respectively, while the Attention-based Similarity is used to update dynamic road graph.

Two real-world traffic datasets from large-scale road networks with different properties are used for training and testing the model. VDGCNeT is pitted against nine other well-known models in the literature. The results demonstrate that the proposed VDGCNeT is capable of achieving highly accurate predictions – on average 96.77% and 91.68% accuracy on PEMS-BAY and METR-LA datasets respectively. Overall, our VDGCNeT performs the best when compared against other existing models.

Reference:

G. Zheng, W. K. Chai, J. Zhang and V. Katos, “VDGCNeT: A novel network-wide Virtual Dynamic Graph Convolution Neural network and Transformer-based traffic prediction model,” Knowledge-based Systems, 110676, June 2023. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.knosys.2023.110676.

5 June 2023

June 1, 2023 (Post-)war memory & media politics, Kosovo – international guest lecture, Wed 7th June

Fusion themes, international sssievers

Colleagues and their students might be interested in an international guest lecture offered by a political sociologist, Dr Gezim Selaci, and a ECR-media studies scholar/historian, Artan Krasniqi, from Kosovo (University of Prishtina, Department of Sociology). The talk is organised by the Centre for Seldom Heard Voices: marginalisation and societal integration (FHSS).

Gezim and Artan will be talking about “Kosovo Dark Heritage”: unheard voices of the Kosovo war and its aftermath. The talk will cover questions of conflict/ post-conflict memory, media representation and politics, and silenced voices and experiences in Kosovo (details in this Flyer (Gezim & Artan).

Gezim and Artan are the (nearly) last visitors we are hosting in our soon-expiring BU-Kosovo Erasmus mobility projects, which have been running since 2018.

The extended lunch time talk will take place next Wednesday in EB-708 (Lansdowne campus), from 12:00 to 14:00.

All staff & students welcome!

Stephanie Schwandner-Sievers

(Associate Professor in Applied Anthropology)

sssievers@bournemouth.ac.uk

3 June 2023

Using participatory asset mapping and PhotoVoice in Nepalese alcohol study

international, open access, Publishing, writing Edwin van Teijlingen

This week we received an email from the editorial office of Perspectives in Public Health with congratulations on the acceptance of your paper ‘Participatory asset mapping and photovoice interviews to scope cultural and community resources to reduce alcohol harm in Chitwan, Nepal’ [1]. The lead researcher on this public health alcohol research project in Nepal is Dr. Ranjita Dhital, Lecturer in Interdisciplinary Health Studies in the Arts and Sciences Department at UCL (University College London).

The World Health Organization (WHO) suggests that in low and middle-income countries (LMICs) like Nepal, morbidity and mortality risks are greater per litre of pure alcohol consumed than in higher-income countries. This is largely due to poverty, poor nutrition, adverse living conditions, and poor access to care. These inequities are made worse by the dearth of understanding of the most appropriate and cost-effective approaches to reduce alcohol-related harm in LMICs. Our study aims to stimulate new thinking on how cultural and community assets could be integrated to co-designed alcohol interventions for future evaluation in LMICs, through scoping the breadth of cultural and community assets in relation to alcohol use and to exploring attitudes towards alcohol and people experiences with it.

The journal Perspectives in Public Health is published by SAGE and the paper will be Open Access when it appears online. My previous alcohol studies have focused on students [2], Nepalese migrants living in the UK [3], and Public Health measures to reduced alcohol misuse in Scotland [4].

Prof. Edwin van Teijlingen

Centre for Midwifery & Women’s Health

Reference:

Dhital, R., Yoeli, H., Adhikari, A., Luitel, N.P., Nadkarni, A., van Teijlingen, E., Sin, J. (2023) Participatory asset mapping and photovoice interviews to scope cultural and community resources to reduce alcohol harm in Chitwan, Nepal, Perspectives in Public Health (accepted). DOI: 10.1177/17579139231180744).
Engs, R.C, van Teijlingen E (1997) Correlates of alcohol, tobacco & marijuana use among Scottish post-secondary helping profession students, Journal of Alcohol Studies, 58:435-44.
van Teijlingen E, Simkhada, P., Adhikary, P. (2009) Alcohol use among the Nepalese in the UK BMJ Rapid Response: bmj.com/cgi/eletters/339/oct20_1/b4028#223451
Ludbrook A, Godfrey C, Wyness L, Parrott S, Haw S, Napper M, van Teijlingen E. (2002) Effective & Cost-Effective Measures to Reduce Alcohol Misuse in Scotland: Lit Review, ISBN: 0755932803 www.alcoholinformation.isdscotland.org/alcohol_misuse/files/MeasureReduce_Full.pdf

6 May 2023

BU hosting British Society of Criminology’s Hate Crime Network’s annual conference in June

conferences Edwin van Teijlingen

Dr. Jane Healy, Principal Academic in BU’s Department of Social Science and Social Work is organising a national conference on behalf of the British Society of Criminology’s Hate Crime Network. The conference ‘TRANSforming the Narrative: Challenging Transphobic Hate Crime’ will be held on June 22. The conference is free, and its aims and mission statement, as well as booking information, can be found on the link: click here!

The British Society of Criminology’s Hate Crime Network’s annual conference will take place at Bournemouth University in 2023. This will be an opportunity to consider the extent of transphobic hate crimes, the experiences of victims, and the responses by criminal justice and voluntary agencies. The conference is free to attend though registration in mandatory!

4 May 2023

Dissemination is an import step toward impact

Business Engagement, Knowledge Exchange, Knowledge Transfer, Public engagement John Oliver

Disseminating your research findings to a range of stakeholders is an important part of the research impact process. The key is to think about ‘who’ might possibly benefit from knowing more about your research, and importantly, ‘how’ could they use your findings to support, inform and develop their practice.

A good example of this process is the recent keynote address delivered by Prof. John Oliver (FMC) to more than 60 delegates at a one-day event that launched the new Centre of Excellence, Enterprise Portfolio Management Office (UK Parliament). Prof. Oliver’s talk entitled ‘Harnessing the Power of Scenario Planning’ presented the findings of his scenario-planning project that ultimately developed a mission, vision and strategy for the House of Commons Library Service in UK Parliament. Additional keynotes were given by the Chief Operating Officer (House of Lords) and a range of internal and external experts on project delivery and digital transformation.

Prof. Oliver’s work is published in Oliver, J.J., Reid, M., and Gray, K. (2023). The Library of the Future: a scenario-based approach. Journal of Library Administration, Volume 63, Issue 1, Pages
27-41

1 May 2023

PhD paper on health management in pre-Taliban Afghanistan

BRIAN, international, open access, PG research, Publishing, student research, Women's Academic Network, writing Edwin van Teijlingen

Yesterday FHSS graduate Dr. Shaqaieq Ashrafi Dost heard from Razi International Medical Journal the the paper from her Ph.D. study had been accepted for publication. Her paper ‘Management capacity in the Ministry of Public Health (MoPH) Afghanistan: Political and socio-cultural issues’ is based on a mixed-methods case-study was conducted with staff at the Afghan Ministry of Public Health. The Ph.D. study explores MoPH’s management capacity. Interviews were conducted with 12 senior staff and qualitative data were analysed thematically. A quantitative survey, covering directors of 30 departments, was analysed using descriptive statistics.

The paper reports that management capacity was generally weak. Key appointments including directors were subject to political interference and many directors appointed by politicians lacked the skills to manage well. Consequently, those directors were not able to support employees appropriately or to create a healthy work environment. The respondents reported that there were strong socio-cultural influences such as nepotism and favouritism. Often employees believed they were not treated consistently or fairly. This was compounded by overly complex administrative systems. The authors concluded that the Afghan government needs to appoint competent and committed staff who can recognize/address the gaps in the functioning of the Ministry, especially the negative political and socio-cultural practices that undermine effectiveness.The reader needs to bear in mind that this Ph.D. study was conducted prior to the 2021 takeover by the Taliban. Putting the paper’s conclusion in perspective.

Razi International Medical Journal founded in 2021 is a peer-reviewed scholarly journal from Afghanistan that aims to impact public health and global health and distributed internationally. The journal is Open Access and published in electronic and paper-based format twice a year, and there is no article publishing charge (APCs).

21 April 2023

Double congratulations to Prof. Jonathan Parker

Publishing, writing Edwin van Teijlingen

Congratulations to Prof. Jonathan Parker, Professor of Society & Social Welfare in the Department of Social Sciences and Social Work, who just published his historical-sociological analysis of British Welfare under the title Analysing the History of British Social Welfare – Compassion, Coercion and Beyond. The book it is published by Policy Press and will be available next week. This book offers insights into the development of social welfare policies in Britain. By identifying continuities in welfare policy, practice and thought throughout history, it offers the potential for the development of new thinking, policy making and practice.

In addition Jonathan also published a new edition of his popular textbook Introducing Social Work SECOND EDITION. This edited volume included chapters by BU academics Dr. Orlanda Harvey (Chapter 26) and Dr. Sally Lee (Chapter 22) as well as an array of internationally renowned social work academics.

Congratulations!

Prof.Edwin van Teijlingen

CMMPH

19 April 2023

BU-BCP collaborative initiative on sustainable urban parking

Fusion, international, Knowledge Exchange, Publishing, REF Subjects wchai

BU has collaborated with the Bournemouth-Christchurch-Poole (BCP) local council on the initiative investigating sustainable solutions to urban parking which is a challenging problem to the area especially during peak tourist periods. The study, initiated and led by Dr. Wei Koong Chai in BU, explores the possibilities of exploiting online parking reservation platforms proposed in the last decade to cope with the parking challenge by enlisting parking resources from commercial operators (e.g., lots) and individuals (e.g., driveways) and allowing drivers make online reservations through mobile apps. The platforms facilitate transactions between the two sides and best match parking supply with parking demand. In this way, we increase the supply which may be otherwise unused while maximise value for drivers and parking space providers.

The study analyses real parking data in the Bournemouth city to realistically model the rich spatiotemporal dynamics of parking demand such as the location, start times and duration of parking events. These datasets drive the experimental evaluation of the research, which reports gains of up to 35% compared to the de facto parking resource reservation policy in such platforms.

Reference:

M. Karaliopoulos, O. Mastakas and W. K. Chai, “Matching Supply and Demand in Online Parking Reservation Platforms,” in IEEE Transactions on Intelligent Transportation Systems, vol. 24, no. 3, pp. 3182-3193, March 2023, doi: 10.1109/TITS.2022.3230087.

21 March 2023

BU Research Funding Panels 23 – Call for Chair & Deputy Chairs, Reopening Call

Fusion, HEIF, Industry collaboration, Knowledge Exchange, PG research, Public engagement zafzal

Expressions of interest invited for Chair and Deputy Chairs of BU’s Research Funding Panels

***DEADLINE EXTENDED TO 14^th APRIL 2023***

We are seeking expressions of interest (EoIs) for Chair and Deputy Chair of the new funding panels:

Studentship Funding Panel
Research Development Funding Panel
Knowledge Exchange & Innovation Funding Panel

Applications from underrepresented groups (women, minority ethnic, declared disability) are particularly welcome.

What are the Research Funding Panels?

These are the new, agile and responsive way that internal funds for projects that support Doctoral Studentships, Research Development, and Knowledge Exchange and Innovation will be managed at BU from August 2023.

Why should I apply to be a Chair or Deputy Chair? What’s in it for me?

Being a Chair or Deputy Chair of a funding panel means that you are involved in making important decisions about applications for funding. This means you need to be able to evaluate applications fairly and be able to express your thoughts about them effectively in meetings and via feedback. You will be directly involved in the process and therefore helping to ensure that internal funding at BU is used for projects that will have real world impact. It’s also a great opportunity to engage with colleagues from across the faculties.

Chair and Deputy Chair further information:

Eligibility is as follows: EoIs from full members of the Professoriate for the posts of Chair and from Associate Professors and Professors for the posts of Deputy Chair.

These posts are very important to the running of the panels you will be chairing meetings, ensuring that decision-making is fair and robust. As such, we require applicants to these posts to have some experience of chairing meetings, sound knowledge of the panels area and a keen desire to lead the research and knowledge exchange agenda across the university. There won’t be huge demands on your time, but you will be required to read and review multiple applications and there will be occasions when you may need to respond swiftly to requests to amend uses of funds.

Sounds like it could be interesting. How do I apply?

EoIs for the Chair or Deputy Chair roles should consist of a case (maximum length of one page) outlining your suitability for the role. Please outline your experience, your understanding of agenda and anything else you feel relevant.

These should be submitted to the relevant panel mailbox by the deadline of 4.30pm 14^th April 2023. Please ensure your EoI clearly states whether you are applying for the Chair or Deputy Chair position.

Studentship Funding Panel – DoctoralCollege@bournemouth.ac.uk

Research Development Funding Panel – ResearchDevelopmentFund@bournemouth.ac.uk

Knowledge Exchange & Innovation Funding Panel – KEandInnovationFund@bournemouth.ac.uk

12 March 2023

Professor Dimitrios Buhalis contributes on the Impact of ChatGPT to tourism marketing

Business Engagement dbuhalis

Professor Dimitrios Buhalis contributes on the Impact of ChatGPT to tourism marketing

CUTTING EDGE PAPER ON ChatGPT with key colleagues and examples from KALAMATA and BOURNEMOUTH 🙂

“So what if ChatGPT wrote it?” Multidisciplinary perspectives on opportunities, challenges and implications of generative conversational AI for research, practice and policy

International Journal of Information Management, Vol. 71, 102642,

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijinfomgt.2023.102642

#chatgpt #artificialintelligence #AI #marketing #technology

9 March 2023

BU HL team wins award at the BISA Model NATO at FCDO in London

Fusion, Fusion themes, Knowledge Exchange, Knowledge Transfer, Student Engagement edolea

BU students in the Humanities and Law Department, Shahidah Miah (3rd year Law student), Alex Carey (2nd year History student) and Josh Pitt (3rd year Politics student) won the Distinguished Delegation Award at the BISA Model NATO. The event took place at the Foreign Commonwealth and Development Office on Friday, March 3rd, and was organized by the British International Studies Association in partnership with FCDO.

Over 100 students from 30 UK universities participated at the 2023 edition. It is the first time BU takes part in this simulation and wins a team award, against some powerful teams from universities with long tradition of politics and international studies.

What is BISA Model NATO – This is a simulation type of event. Students are randomly allocated a country and each student is part of a specialised NATO body – the Military Committee and the Civil Emergency Planning Committee. The students then have to agree a detailed set of actions to be endorsed in a final declaration by a simulated North Atlantic Council, NATO’s highest authority. BU team successfully represented Canada.

In BISA’s press release summing up the event, Mark Webber (BISA President) said: “The simulation is designed to provide students with experience of crisis decision-making; to get them into the heads of people having to make tough choices in very testing circumstances. The students rose to this challenge very well. The Model concluded with a declaration agreed by all the student delegates on how NATO should respond to a major natural disaster. The students performed just like seasoned diplomats.”

Employability skills demonstrated. Simulation events are a recognised model of learning and allow participants access to insights unobtainable in a traditional classroom setting. Our BU students had very good & concise interventions, demonstrated excellent negotiating skills, proposed great initiatives and worked brilliantly as a team representing Canada, thus contributed to reaching overall consensus at the end of the day. They were true diplomats for a day. And they also networked with fellow students, staff from other universities and diplomats from FCDO. They received glowing praises for their interventions during the day.

Why this is so timely – Students participating in the model are working on the aftermath of a natural disaster – multiple earthquakes across the eastern Mediterranean and South-East Europe resulting in significant loss of life and mass displacement of populations. Given the current context, both geopolitical with the War in Ukraine and the earthquakes in Turkey and Syria, but also more broadly the climate change and the likely increase of natural disasters in the near future, working on such scenarios helps prepare students for real life situations. In addition, such events are inspiring students to embark upon careers and projects in diplomacy, government, non-governmental organisations and the military.

BU delegation at BISA Model NATO was advised and supported by Associate Professor Alina Dolea and Senior Lecturer Scott Keefer.

The full press release featuring our students is available here – BISA/FCDO Model NATO 2023 – Over 100 students from 30 universities | BISA

2 March 2023

Setting up a longitudinal health & lifestyle study in Nepal

international Edwin van Teijlingen

The Nepal Family Cohort Study (NeFCoS) is a multidisciplinary cohort study into the prevalence, incidence, and determinants of various diseases from childhood to adulthood in children and their parents for over two decades. NeFCoS is a longitudinal study which recently started collecting health and well-being data, and which will collect data repeatedly from the same individuals at certain intervals for years to come. Our primary focus is understanding the multiple risk factors of health conditions in children and their families, early diagnosis of diseases, and prevention and management of diseases through effective intervention. The team aims to this by examining associations between exposure to known or suspected causes of disease, so-called risk factors and subsequent morbidity and mortality.

Our large international team is led by Dr. Om Kurmi, Associate Professor and Respiratory and Environmental Epidemiologist at Coventry University in the UK, and associated with McMaster University, Canada. The Bournemouth University team comprises Dr. Pramod Regmi (Senior Lecturer in International Health), Dr. Edwin van Teijlingen (Professor of Reproductive Health), and Dr. Vanora Hundley (Professor of Midwifery).

The team is currently recruiting six-to-nine-year-old children and their parents who have provided written consent to participate. The parents offer information on socio-demographics, lifestyle factors, dietary habits, occupational history, educational history, environmental conditions at home and outside, physical activities and any diseases they or their children have had since birth. They also undergo a series of measurements such as lung function, oxygen saturation, blood pressure, hand-grip strength, anthropometry, body fat percentage, muscle mass, body water content and skin-fold thickness as an indirect measure for malnutrition. The study is also measuring eleven different parameters in spot urine samples semi-quantitatively and plan to collect the biological specimen in future follow-ups studies. The study is currently being conducted in two regions of Nepal in the south, the Terai and in the more central hill part of the country, with plans to expand to extend to other provinces of Nepal in the future.

The baseline study is ongoing. So far, the team has collected over 4250 participants’ data from both study sites. We plan to complete the baseline data by the end of December 2023 with about 15,000 participants from the two regions. Our study is urgently needed in Nepal as it will provide valuable information for evidence-based decision-making regarding disease prevention and management along with changing policy.

Prof. Edwin van Teijlingen

Centre for Midwifery, Maternal & Perinatal Health (CMMPH)

27 February 2023

Second INRC Symposium: New Frontiers in Neuroscience -Neuroimaging and Integrative Multi-Sensing Methods

BRIAN, Fusion, Fusion themes, Knowledge Exchange, NHS, Public engagement, REF Subjects, Student Engagement ebballester

Recent advances in neuroimaging, accompanying the coalescence of multiple neurophysiological registration modalities in virtual reality settings, are experiencing a substantial growth in brain research. These developments in experimental and analytical approaches to probe the human brain, open exciting avenues for novel applications in e.g., health, media industries, education, sport, art, or tourism. This topic was the focus of the second symposium of the Interdisciplinary Neuroscience Research Centre , which took place on the last 16^th of January at the Inspire Lecture Theatre on Talbot Campus.

The symposium, entitled “New Frontiers in Neuroscience: Neuroimaging and Integrative Multi-Sensing Methods” concentrated on these two linking themes from a cross-disciplinary angle, leveraging synergies between BU departments, collaborators in other universities, industry, charities, and at the NHS.

The event started with a fascinating talk by Mavi Sanchez-Vives (Biomedical Research Institute IDIBAPS, Barcelona), Leader of the Human Brain Project work-package entitled “Networks underlying brain cognition and consciousness”.

Prof Fred Charles presenting at the 2nd INRC Symposium.

Next, our first session revolved around the integration of multi-sensing methodologies and their industrial applications. In this focused session, we enjoyed three exciting talks, the opening one by Prof. Fred Charles (BU) on multimodal immersive neuro-sensing approaches; followed by Dr. Ifigeneia Mavridou (EmteqLabs), who discussed her appealing research of affective responses to VR environments. Finally, Dr. Federica Degno (BU) showed us her avant-garde work on co-registration of eye movements and EEG recordings.

The second session, centred on neuroimaging recordings in clinical neuroscience, was opened by Dr. Ruth Williamson (Deputy Chief Medical Officer, University Hospitals Dorset), who presented her multidisciplinary study of the effect of cold-water immersion on brain function, inspiring a stimulating debate on its clinical applications. The symposium concluded with Prof. Carol Clark’s (BU) very interesting talk on mapping brain structure, function and cognition in women engaged in sporting activities.

After the symposium, we had two follow-up activities in the afternoon: first a seminar, sponsored by the Department of Psychology and the MINE research cluster, by Dr. Benjamin Schöene (Universität Osnabrück), who debated the novel perspectives that VR offers in psychological research; followed by a visit to the Multimodal Immersive Neuro-sensing lab for natural neuro-behavioural measurement (MINE), led by Dr Xun He .

All of us in the INRC would like to thank very much the attendants to the symposium, and a huge thanks to the speakers for accepting our invitation, and for their compelling talks.

For colleagues who could not make it, the two thematic sessions were recorded, and can be accesed on this link. If you are interest in getting in touch, contributing or joining the Interdisciplinary Neuroscience Research Centre, please do not hesitate to contact Ellen Seiss, (eseiss@bourenmouth.ac.uk) or Emili Balaguer-Ballester (eb-ballester@bournemouth.ac.uk).

Thank you again for your interest, and we are looking forward to seeing you in our next activities.

Kind regards,

Ellen and Emili on behalf of all of us at the INRC

23 February 2023

The Sleeping Tree: BU research at Brighton Festival

Fusion, international, PG research akorstjens

BU LEAP’s research collaboration with Invisible Flock will culminate this year headlining the Brighton Festival on 6 and 7^th May in the beautiful Dome Theatre.

A tall siamang sleeping tree. By AHKorstjens

The sleeping tree is a celebration of the beauty of the Indonesian forest.

Sleeping trees are large trees that are regularly re-used by primates. In this case the work is inspired by the small ape the siamang, Symphalangus syndactylus. Siamangs are endangered apes that live in small monogamous family groups and eat mostly fruit and leaves high up in the canopy. At that height, they are exposed to the high temperatures that we now see in this region. BU’s LEAP research has focused on understanding how temperatures and forest structure vary within this diverse yet previously selectively logged forest, and how such variation influences the behaviour and survival of local wildlife.

How do apes manage current and future conditions?

Siamang Mother and Child at Leuser National Park, Credit: Amanda Korstjenst

LEAP (Landscape Ecology and Primatology) research at BU is led by Prof. Amanda Korstjens, Prof. Ross Hill, Dr Philippa Gillingham, and Dr Tom Davis. Siamang research at BU formed part of the PhD research of Dr Chris Marsh and Dr Helen Slater and the MRes research by Emma Hankinson, Rosanna Consiglio, Nathan Harrison, and Jake Hill. Chris and Nathan followed siamang daily through the forests, with local rangers Ucok, Dian and Yagsa, and other Sikundur field station rangers.

Visitors to The Sleeping Tree at Brighton Festival will enjoy the multitude of sounds typical of this biodiversity hotspot. The experience follows the natural cycle of sounds within the forest and is ever changing. If you get up early on Sunday the 7^th you can enjoy the morning call chorus of siamangs, lar gibbons and Thomas langurs. Throughout the Saturday and Sunday there will be the multitude of sounds of insects (especially the always present cicadas), amphibians, birds, deer, pigs, monkeys, elephants, and other wildlife that inhabits the forest. On Saturday there will be a panel discussion about acoustic research and the plight of biodiversity in Sumatra. Sunday also features a unique sound performance The Sleeping Tree Sound Installation | Brighton Festival

The recordings were collected within the Gunung Leuser Ecosystem, the last place on earth that harbours orang-utans, Sumatran tigers, Sumatran elephants, Sumatran rhino, and two smaller ape species (the siamang and the lar gibbon). This forest is one of the world’s most biodiverse places and plays a major role in the world’s hope of managing climate change.

Gunung Leuser ecosystem is a designated UNESCO Biosphere but it is only partly protected as a National Park and it is under constant threat of human encroachment, logging, and extraction of forest products and wildlife.

BU’s LEAP team has worked with Syiah Kuala University, Sumatran Orangutan Conservation Programme (SOCP), Liverpool John Moores’ university, Invisible Flock, and award-winning Leuser Conservation Forum (FKL) to better understand which aspects of forest structure and micro-climatic conditions influence the survival of orang-utans, siamang and elephants.

Our acoustic journey started with a collaboration with Dr Tom Davis at BU and continued with the collaboration with the multi-award-winning interactive arts studio Invisible Flock. Victoria Pratt, Ben Eaton and Amanda Korstjens tried out various acoustic devices under the very challenging Sumatran forest conditions, during a great (occasionally muddy) trip to the Sumatran forests. Based on our findings, Invisible Flock then developed the bespoke audio recording equipment (see OFR – Open Field Recorder – Invisible Flock) and The Sleeping Tree (Pohon Tidur) – Invisible Flock.

The recordings used for the Brighton Festival sound installation consist of those collected by Victoria Pratt, Ben Eaton and Simon Fletcher, supported by LEAP, FKL, and SOCP, using directional and ambisonic microphones. These are supplemented by the OFR recordings set out by the Invisible Flock team and managed and collected over 3 months by Dr Helen Slater.

The field work depended further on many people, including Dr Abdullah Abdullah of Syiah Kuala University (UnSyiah), and Matthew Nowak and Iain Singleton of SOCP, Graham Usher, the amazing SOCP field staff at Sikundur: Suprayudi, Ucok and Supri, Riki, Ben, Winn, Argus, Chiara Ripa, and the always inspiring Rudi Putra and the team of Forum Konservasi Leuser (FKL).

Currently, BU undergraduate Independent Research Students, Chloe Shaw, Ellie Vincent, Archie Bedford, and Devon Humphries are analysing the sound files to further identify how distance to forest edge, and gun shots at night influence siamang, Thomas langurs, birds, and lar gibbon vocalisations captured by Dr Slater’s work. Their work will feature on videos displayed at the exhibition.

Find LEAP’s scientific publications via BU’s e-prints: Bournemouth University Research Online [BURO] – Search results for Sikundur.

More information on the work by LEAP: go-LEAP: Landscape Ecology and Primatology

More information on the work by Invisible Flock: Home – Invisible Flock

More details and information on the work, see: our publication: https://issuu.com/invisibleflock/docs/the_sleeping_tree_publication

To support conservation in Leuser, please support the FKL: https://leuserconservancy.or.id

Sumatran Orangutan Programme: SOCP – Sumatran Orangutan Conservation Programme

16 February 2023

SaferKids VR launch

Awarded & submitted bids, Fusion, Industry collaboration, innovation, Knowledge Exchange, Knowledge Transfer shodge

Before the pandemic, local school children had a local facility near Wallisdown called SafeWise. SafeWise supported children learning about keeping safe and in particular road safety. However, during the pandemic this facility closed, leaving children without such an important resource. In collaboration with Colin Parnell from Centre VR, Dr Sarah Hodge (from the Department of Psychology) was awarded a bid by Bournemouth, Christchurch, and Poole (BCP) Council to develop a VR simulation/game about road safety skills; SaferKids VR.

The educational simulation/game was designed and created, with an interdisciplinary team, including psychologists, and game developers and programmers. The team of game developers and programmers, consisted of two BU graduates Sam Walsh and Josh Maddocks, as well as Andrew Ham. Since graduating from his Masters degree, Sam has led the team on the SaferKids VR development.

Within SaferKids VR, there was the creation of SKIE: Safer Kids Interactive Expert (robot pictured above). SKIE supports the player in VR, navigating the friendly real-life interactive virtual world and achieving learning goals and road safety skills. In the United States, every year, thousands of people are injured as a result of someone else’s negligence. You can read this article to know what to do if you ever get into an accident.

Schools can sign up for their pupils to be involved.

For more information on the project please see the link https://centrevr.co.uk/saferkidsvr/ or contact shodge@bournemouth.ac.uk

20 January 2023

Socio-Ecological Transition Seminars – Semester 1 wrap up

Knowledge Exchange Roberta Discetti

Socio-Ecological Transition Seminars – a short summary of what we discussed in semester 1, with all related recordings. The calendar for semester two will be shared soon 🙂

12 October 2022 – Philip Balsiger, University of Neuchâtel, presented his work “The dynamics of ‘Moralized Markets’: a field perspective, Socio-Economic Review, Volume 19, Issue 1, January 2021”

Philip’s key proposition is that morality has increasingly become a way through which value is created in contemporary capitalism, and he discussed the processes through which this happens and their implications.

The recording is available here.

9 November 2022 – Fátima Portilho, Federal Rural University of Rio de Janeiro, presented her work “Politicizing Consumption in Latin America‘” published in The Oxford Handbook of Political Consumerism.

Fatima showed how political consumerism takes a different trajectory in Latin America when compared with the northern hemisphere. She discussed specificities and the limitations and opportunities for the expansion of political consumerism throughout the continent, with a focus on Brazil.

The recording is available here.

14 December 2022 – Markus Wissen, Berlin School of Economics and Law (HWR) presented his recent book “The Imperial Mode of Living. Everyday Life and the Ecological Crisis of Capitalism”, co-authored with Ulrich Brand (2021).

Markus outlined the concept of Imperial Mode of Living, highlighting that Western mode of production and living is based on asymmetrical social relations along class, gender and race; relies heavily on the unlimited appropriation of resources; and is a main driver of the ecological crisis and economic and political instability.

The recording is available here.

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 Bournemouth University, 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.

10 January 2023

NIHR Bulletin

Funding opportunities, NHS Louise Ward

RDS NEWS

RDS Blog: Researcher, adviser, committee member – we’re all on the same side
The RDS blog this month looks at the many hats that our RDS advisers wear to support you develop the best application for submission to NIHR funding programmes. Find out more.

NIHR News

NIHR publishes its 2021-22 Annual Report
The NIHR has published its annual report and accounts, highlighting milestones and achievements during 2021/22. Find out more.

eBulletins and Newsletters

CRN West of England – AcoRD Specialist Update

NIHR ARCs Your Path in Research: January 2023, New Year Special

NIHR Evidence: December 2022

NIHR News and Research: December 2022

Funding Opportunities

Latest NIHR funding calls

Efficacy and Mechanism Evaluation (EME) Programme
22/564 Evaluating the Efficacy of Metformin in Tuberous Sclerosis Complex

Health and Social Care Delivery Research (HSDR) Programme
22/563 Evaluating new models of care for children and young people with excess weight and related complications

Health Technology Assessment (HTA) Programme
23/1 Health Technology Assessment Programme researcher-led (primary research)
23/2 Health Technology Assessment Programme researcher-led (evidence synthesis)
23/3 NIHR NICE rolling call (HTA Programme)
23/4 NIHR James Lind Alliance Priority Setting Partnerships rolling call (HTA Programme)
23/6 Motor Neurone Disease (HTA Programme)

Public Health Research (PHR) Programme
Health Determinant Research Collaborations (HDRCs) – webinar on 1 February

Your local branch of the NIHR RDS (Research Design Service) is based within the BU Clinical Research Unit (BUCRU) should you need help with your application. We advise on all aspects of developing an application and can review application drafts as well as put them to a mock funding panel (run by RDS South West) known as Project Review Committee, which is a fantastic opportunity for researchers to obtain a critical review of a proposed grant application before this is sent to a funding body or if you’re hoping to resubmit the panel can provide some excellent tips and feedback.

Contact us as early as possible to benefit fully from the advice

Feel free to call us on 01202 961939 or send us an email.

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