Category / Fusion themes

Prof John Oliver appointed to Horizon & Foresight Scanning Board

BRIAN, Business Engagement

Prof John Oliver has been appointed to the Parliamentary Office of Science & Technology’s new Advisory Board responsible for Horizon & Foresight Scanning. The new board has been set up in response to an inquiry into the effectiveness and influence of the Select Committee system by the 2017–19 House of Commons Liaison Committee.

The advisory board aims to improve the efficacy of horizon and foresight scanning processes to inform the identification of Areas of Research Interest (ARI). ARIs are lists of policy issues or questions used by Select Committees, parliamentarians and by parliamentary staff to produce more research evidence in certain topics to scrutinize the government and to inform future policy work.

The advisory board will also be responsible for developing ‘futures thinking’ capabilities by developing training opportunities and resources for parliamentarians and staff to enable them to think more long-term and manage the uncertainty in policy-making.

Prof John Oliver commented that “the world is becoming more and more uncertain with Covid-19, Brexit, Russia-Ukraine War and global economic uncertainty. Indeed, the International Monetary Fund’s World Uncertainty Index recently reported that global uncertainty has reached “unprecedented levels” in recent years. This makes horizon and foresight scanning more of a priority for many policy-makers and organisations as it helps them manage the uncertainty around future dynamics”.

This new role builds on Prof Oliver’s previous scenario planning research and work with the Parliamentary Office of Science & Technology and the House of Commons.

Report on the British Academy Writing Workshop at UABC Tijuana, Mexico

Awarded & submitted bids, international, Knowledge Exchange, writing

The UK-Mexico Leisure and Tourism Academic Writing Workshop at UABC, Tijuana

After two years of postponing the British Academy-funded ‘UK-Mexico Leisure and Tourism Academic Writing Workshop: Supporting Mexican ECRs in writing for publication’ due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the organisers Dr Paola Vizcaino (Bournemouth University, Department of Sport and Event Management) and Dr Isis Arlene Díaz- Carrión (Universidad Autónoma de Baja California, Facultad de Turismo y Mercadotecnia), were able to deliver a successful face-to-face workshop at the UABC campus in Tijuana this summer.

The event took place from 8-12 August 2022 with the aim to support the career development of up to 20 PhD students and early career researchers (ECRs) from Universidad Autónoma de Baja California (UABC) and seven other Mexican universities (Universidad de Guanajuato, Universidad Autónoma del Estado de México, Universidad Anáhuac, Universidad Autónoma Metropolitana, Universidad Autónoma de Querétaro, Colegio de Postgraduados and Universidad Veracruzana).

 

The workshop was designed to provide participants access to the academic requirements of high-ranking leisure and tourism journals in English, and to equip them with the necessary knowledge and skills to publish in these journals.

The brilliant speakers included:

Nancy Gard McGehee, PhD, Professor at Virginia Tech, USA and Co-editor of the Journal of Travel Research, the 2021 top-ranked impact factor journal in the area of tourism;

Donna Chambers, PhD, Professor of Tourism at the University Sunderland, UK and Managing Editor of Leisure Studies and Resource Editor of Annals of Tourism Research;

Jayne Caudwell, PhD, Associate Professor in Social Sciences, Gender and Sexualities at Bournemouth University, UK and former Managing Editor of Leisure Studies;

Xavier Font, PhD, Professor in Sustainable Marketing at the University of Surrey, UK and Co-editor of the Journal of Sustainable Tourism;

Philipp Wassler, PhD, Assistant Professor at the University of Bergamo, Italy and reviewer for a number of high-ranking tourism journals.

The workshop offered networking sessions to allow participants to discuss their research interests and start conversations about potential research collaborations, as well as personalised mentoring with journal editors and established academics in the fields of leisure and tourism management.

Finally, participants also learned about the British Academy’s international funding schemes and were particularly interested in the Newton International Fellowships and Visiting Fellowships, which can facilitate collaborative research projects between academics based overseas  (i.e. Mexico) and UK higher education institutions.

Please find below some of the workshop highlights.

Welcome

Dr Marisa Reyes-Orta, Research and Postgraduate Coordinator at the Facultad de Turismo y Mercadotecnia, welcomed speakers and participants to the UABC, Tijuana on behalf of the faculty’s Director, Dr Martha Ofelia Lobo Rodríguez.

Dr Reyes-Orta highlighted the importance of the British Academy-funded workshop to build collaboration networks between Mexico and the United Kingdom, to develop the competitiveness of the academic outputs written by Mexican PhD students and ECRs and to contribute to the internationalisation of the UABC’s postgraduate programmes, particularly the recently validated PhD in Tourism.

Welcome to the workshop. Left to right: MC, Jesús Amparo López Vizcarra (UABC), Dr Paola Vizcaino (BU), Dr Isis Díaz-Carrión (UABC) and Dr Marisa Reyes-Orta (Research and Postgraduate Coordinator at UABC, Tijuana)

 

Academic Writing Tips from Journal Editors

After a brief introduction to the workshop and an ice-breaker activity led by Dr Paola Vizcaino (BU) and Dr Isis Arlene Díaz-Carrión (UABC, Tijuana), the journal editors presented the publication requirements of top-ranking leisure and tourism journals and shared insightful writing tips with participants.

Key note by Prof Nancy McGehee

Professor Nancy Gard McGehee (Virginia Tech, USA, Co-editor of the Journal of Travel Research, JTR) highlighted the need for PhD students and ECRs to develop a solid research plan by: a) studying the literature to look for gaps, b) examining the tourism industry and current environment to look for problems that need solutions, c) finding the best theory (or theories) to solve the problem, and d) letting the problem direct the method.

She also recommended assessing tourism journals to find the right match for participants’ research and the importance of translating local research to a global audience in the case of international journals. Furthermore, she emphasised how top-ranked impact factor journals only consider manuscripts for publication when they demonstrate substantive and leading edge research, a sound methodology and a strong theoretical foundation / contribution.

 

Presentation by Prof Donna Chambers

Professor Donna Chambers (University of Sunderland, UK, Managing Editor of Leisure Studies) explained the type of papers that are welcome by Leisure Studies, including papers that examine the inter-relationships between leisure and work, civic engagement, health and wellbeing, major
resources of social inequality and forms of social (in)justice.

As Prof Chambers was aware that most of the workshop participants had a focus on tourism management and some are developing projects on natural and cultural heritage, she mentioned that research that addresses tourism as a leisure activity or examines the leisure aspects of events and festivals are also a good fit for the journal. Finally, she expressed that Leisure Studies seeks to develop culturally diverse and nuanced understandings of leisure and that research which examines leisure in the Global South is welcomed alongside studies of leisure in the Global North.

 

Presentation by Associate Prof Jayne Caudwell

Associate Professor Jayne Caudwell (BU) shared some practical tips for PhD students and ECRs to enhance their research and written outputs. She highlighted the need for strong theoretical underpinning, sound methodology and critical analysis of findings (demonstrating rigor in every section), a clear structure to the paper, logical and coherent (to meet scholarship requirements), and to explain the original aspects of the research or demonstrate an original contribution to the body of knowledge (originality).

 

Professor Xavier Font

Professor Xavier Font (University of Surrey, UK, Co-editor of the Journal of Sustainable Tourism), joined remotely from the UK to deliver an online presentation in Spanish to ensure maximum rapport with participants. He recognised that less than 1% of the submissions to the Journal of Sustainable Tourism come from academics ascribed to Latin American universities or research centres and offered sound advice on how to overcome the language barriers to publish in English-speaking journals, as well as to develop a work plan to publish in top-ranked impact factor journals.

He also emphasised the need for ECRs to specialise in an area of leisure or tourism research, whilst building collaborative networks to gain access to the theoretical and methodological expertise of more senior colleagues to develop stronger research proposals and outputs.

 

Presentation by Dr Philipp Wassler

To close the first two days of guest speaker presentations, Dr Philipp Wassler (University of Bergamo, Italy) shared his perspective as a journal reviewer, and provided practical examples on how to structure a strong research article before submitting to a top-ranked impact factor journal. He highlighted the need to write a sharp abstract and introduction section to capture the readers’ interest; a strong literature review that demonstrates a thorough understanding of the theories that have been employed to examine the problem; a detailed methodology section with clear justification of choices; and a findings / discussion section that tackle the research questions / objectives.

The second part of the report will follow suit on a separate blog post to summarise the creation of the UK-Mexico Leisure and Tourism Academic Network and the initial collaborations that are stemming from the workshop.

 

 

 

Media coverage of BU workshops in Nepal

Awarded & submitted bids, international, Publishing, writing

Earlier this week the Chitwan Post Daily in southern Nepal reported on our Writing Workshops conducted in Pokhara and Kathmandu.  The headline photo of this newspaper article focuses on the keynote speech delivered by Prof Dr Prem Narayan Aryal, Vice Chancellor of Pokhara University. He highlighted many key issues around gender and development in Nepal and the importance of academic writing and publishing.  This British Academy funded series of BU workshops is is led by Dr. Shovita Dhakal Adhikari (Dept of Sociology & Social Work), Dr. Pramod Regmi (Department of Nursing Sciences) and Prof. Edwin van Teijlingen (Department of Midwifery & Health Sciences), Dr. Emma Pitchforth from the University of Exeter UK, and Dr. Rashmee Rajkarnikar from the Central Department of Economics at Tribhuvan University (Nepal’s oldest and largest university) with the support of local partners in Nepal, namely Social Science Baha and Green Tara Nepal.

Prof. Edwin van Teijlingen

Centre for Midwifery, Maternal & Perinatal Health (CMMPH)

Pokhara workshop on academic writing 2022

international, Publishing, writing

This week from Sunday till Tuesday (21-23 August) Hotel Mount Kailash Resort hosts a three-day writing and publishing workshop for academics and researchers.  The workshop is led by Dr. Shovita Dhakal Adhikari, Dr. Pramod Regmi and Prof. Edwin van Teijlingen all three from Bournemouth University in the south of England, Dr. Emma Pitchforth from the University of Exeter in the west of England, and Dr. Rashmee Rajkarnikar from the Central Department of Economics at Tribhuvan University.  Shovita highlighted: “As sociologist and a female researcher I think it is very important to address gender issues in all part of society, including academic writing and publishing.”

This workshop targeting young academics in and around Pokhara and it is funded by The British Academy.  The project builds research capacity of early career researchers researching gender in Nepal-based higher education institutions by improving their chances of getting published in international journals in English.   In Nepal the workshop is further supported by Social Science Baha and Green Tara Nepal.  The workshop centres around the 23 chapters of the textbook ‘Academic Writing and Publishing in Health and Social Sciences’ was published this year by Social Science Baha and Himal Books in Kathmandu. 

British Academy Academic Writing Workshop well attended in Kathmandu

Awarded & submitted bids, international, Publishing, Student Engagement, writing

Today was the second day of our three-day Writing Workshop organised in Kathmandu Nepal.  The project builds research capacity of early career researchers researching gender in Nepal-based higher education institutions by improving their chances of getting published in international journals in English. The workshops is delivered by a team of UK-based academic led by BU’s Dr. Shovita Dhakal Adhikari.  The team further includes BU’s Dr. Pramod Regmi and Prof. Edwin van Teijlingen, Dr. Emma Pitchforth from the University of Exeter, and Dr. Rashmee Rajkarnikar from Nepal’s oldest university, Tribhuvan University.  The workshop is run for a maximum of 30 participants over a three-day period.  Tomorrow will be last day in Kathmandu, before we travel to Pokhara and repeat the three-day workshop there starting on Sunday.

Over the years our Bournemouth University team has build up capacity in academic writing and publishing in Nepal on a more ad hoc basis .  This grant will allow us to offer a more systematic approach to academic writing capacity building in Nepal.  It is building on a growing number of paper published by Faculty of Health & Social Sciences staff on various aspects of academic writing and publishing. [1-20]  The project is funded by the British Academy and supported by the charity Green Tara Nepal and Social Science Baha.

 

 

 

References:

  1. Harvey, O., Taylor, A., Regmi, P.R., van Teijlingen, E. (2022) Struggling to reply to reviewers: Some advice for novice researchers. Health Prospect, 21(2):19-22.
  2. Arnold, R., Ireland, J., Mahato, P., van Teijlingen, E. (2022) Writing and publishing a reflective paper: Three case studies, Welhams College Journal (forthcoming).
  3. van Teijlingen, E., Hundley, V, Sathian, B., Simkhada, P., Robinson, J., Banerjee, I. (2022) The Art of the Editorial Nepal J Epidemiol, 12(1): 1135–38.
  4. Harvey, O., van Teijlingen, A., Regmi, P.R., Ireland, J., Rijal, A., van Teijlingen, E.R. (2022) Co-authors, colleagues, and contributors: Complexities in collaboration and sharing lessons on academic writing Health Prospect 21(1):1-3.
  5. Wasti, S.P., van Teijlingen, E., Simkhada, P., Hundley, V. with Shreesh, K. (2022) Writing and Publishing Academic Work, Kathmandu, Nepal: Himal Books
  6. van Teijlingen, E.R., Dhakal Adhikari, S., Regmi, P.R., van Teijlingen, A., Aryal, N., Panday, S. (2021). Publishing, identifiers & metrics: Playing the numbers game. Health Prospect, 20(1). https://doi.org/10.3126/hprospect.v20i1.37391
  7. Adhikari, S. D., van Teijlingen, E. R., Regmi, P. R., Mahato, P., Simkhada, B., & Simkhada, P. P. (2020). The Presentation of Academic Self in The Digital Age: The Role of Electronic Databases. International J Soc Sci Management, 7(1), 38-41. https://doi.org/10.3126/ijssm.v7i1.27405
  8. van Teijlingen, E, Hundley, V. (2002) Getting your paper to the right journal: a case study of an academic paper, J Advanced Nurs 37(6): 506-11.
  9. Pitchforth, E, Porter M, Teijlingen van E, Keenan Forrest, K. (2005) Writing up & presenting qualitative research in family planning & reproductive health care, J Fam Plann Reprod Health Care 31(2): 132-135.
  10. van Teijlingen, E, Simkhada, PP, Rizyal A (2012) Submitting a paper to an academic peer-reviewed journal, where to start? (Guest Editorial) Health Renaissance 10(1): 1-4.
  11. van Teijlingen, E, Simkhada. PP, Simkhada, B, Ireland J. (2012) The long & winding road to publication, Nepal J Epidemiol 2(4): 213-215 http://nepjol.info/index.php/NJE/article/view/7093/6388
  12. Hundley, V, van Teijlingen, E, Simkhada, P (2013) Academic authorship: who, why and in what order? Health Renaissance 11(2):98-101 www.healthrenaissance.org.np/uploads/Download/vol-11-2/Page_99_101_Editorial.pdf
  13. Simkhada, P., van Teijlingen E., Hundley, V., Simkhada, BD. (2013) Writing an Abstract for a Scientific Conference, Kathmandu Univ Med J 11(3): 262-65. http://www.kumj.com.np/issue/43/262-265.pdf
  14. Simkhada P, van Teijlingen E, Hundley V. (2013) Writing an academic paper for publication, Health Renaissance 11(1):1-5. www.healthrenaissance.org.np/uploads/Pp_1_5_Guest_Editorial.pdf
  15. van Teijlingen, E., Ireland, J., Hundley, V., Simkhada, P., Sathian, B. (2014) Finding the right title for your article: Advice for academic authors, Nepal J Epidemiol 4(1): 344-347.
  16. van Teijlingen E., Hundley, V., Bick, D. (2014) Who should be an author on your academic paper? Midwifery 30: 385-386.
  17. Hall, J., Hundley, V., van Teijlingen, E. (2015) The journal editor: friend or foe? Women & Birth 28(2): e26-e29.
  18. Sathian, B., Simkhada, P., van Teijlingen, E., Roy, B, Banerjee, I. (2016) Grant writing for innovative medical research: Time to rethink. Med Sci 4(3):332-33.
  19. Pradhan, AK, van Teijlingen, ER. (2017) Predatory publishing: a great concern for authors, Med Sci 5(4): 43.
  20. van Teijlingen, E (2004), Why I can’t get any academic writing done, Medical Sociol News 30(3): 62-63. britsoc.co.uk/media/26334/MSN_Nov_2004.pd

IMSET publishes position paper on long-term sustainability

international, open access

Fabio Silva of the Institute for the Modelling of Socio-Environmental Transitions, together with a group of co-authors from 32 other institutions, has led the publication of a landmark position paper in the journal Sustainability entitled Developing Transdisciplinary Approaches to Sustainability Challenges: The Need to Model Socio-Environmental Systems in the Longue Durée.

Stemming from a transdisciplinary workshop held online during 2020, the paper argues that current crises – in land use, biodiversity, novel pathogens, water management – can only be fully understood by doing research over timescales that greatly exceed the lifespan of any individual human. This so-called longue durée is the key to fully understanding the full extent of socio-environmental processes and their implications.

 

The spatial and temporal scales of key social and environmental processes of interest

 

As well as identifying key processes and challenges, IMSET and colleagues set out how key issues may be addressed by fully integrating humans into environmental modelling and planning. By including ancient human activity and future outcomes in our mission statement, we aim to provide a manifesto for developing an integrated approach towards socio-ecological systems in the long term.

—

Silva, Fabio, Fiona Coward, Kimberley Davies, Sarah Elliott, Emma Jenkins, Adrian C. Newton, Philip Riris, Marc Vander Linden, Jennifer Bates, Elena Cantarello, Daniel A. Contreras, Stefani A. Crabtree, Enrico R. Crema, Mary Edwards, Tatiana Filatova, Ben Fitzhugh, Hannah Fluck, Jacob Freeman, Kees Klein Goldewijk, Marta Krzyzanska, Daniel Lawrence, Helen Mackay, Marco Madella, Shira Yoshi Maezumi, Rob Marchant, Sophie Monsarrat, Kathleen D. Morrison, Ryan Rabett, Patrick Roberts, Mehdi Saqalli, Rick Stafford, Jens-Christian Svenning, Nicki J. Whithouse, and Alice Williams. 2022. “Developing Transdisciplinary Approaches to Sustainability Challenges: The Need to Model Socio-Environmental Systems in the Longue Durée“ Sustainability 14: 10234. DOI: 10.3390/su14161023

 

 

NIHR Research for Patient Benefit (RfPB) seminar – 1st September 12-2pm

Funding opportunities, NHS, PG research

Are you interested in finding out about the NIHR RfPB funding
programme? Join our online seminar on 1st September 2022 from
12.00pm – 2.00pm

About the seminar

The seminar will be hosted by the NIHR Research Design Service and will provide a great opportunity to hear from members of the RfPB programme team and funding panel, as well as from successful applicants. There will also be information about the RDS and the support available for people who are applying to the programme.

Who is the seminar for?

Researchers and health and social care professionals who want to learn more about the RfPB programme and the support available to them.

What will the seminar cover?
• An overview of the RfPB programme
• What the funding panel look for in an application
• Experience of previous successful applicant(s)
• Including Patient and Public Involvement (PPI) in your application
• Including Equality Diversity and Inclusion (EDI) in your application
• How the NIHR RDS can support applicants

How to book a place
Please register via this link.
The full programme and further details will be sent nearer to the date of the seminar.

Your local branch of the NIHR RDS (Research Design Service) is based within the BU Clinical Research Unit (BUCRU)

We can help with grant applications to National peer reviewed funders. 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.

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.

New volume on skyscape archaeology edited by Dr Fabio Silva

A new volume on skyscape archaeology, co-edited by Dr Fabio Silva of IMSET and the Department of Archaeology and Anthropology, has been published this week.

Solarizing the Moon: Essays in Honour of Lionel Sims (Archaeopress, 2022) gathers contributions from thirteen anthropologists, archaeologists and cultural astronomers that delve into three key areas: (1) Anthropology and Human Origins, (2) Prehistory and Megalithic Monuments, and (3) Theoretical Developments. These represent the research interests of our colleague Prof Lionel Sims (Emeritus, University of East London), who passed away in 2021, and which this volume celebrates.

More details, including a free download of the introduction, can be found here.

 

New paper on COVID-19 rumours in Nepal

Awarded & submitted bids, international, open access, Publishing, writing

Today the International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health accepted the latest COVID-19 paper from an multidisciplinary team in the Faculty of Health & Social Sciences (FHSS).  The paper ‘Fear, Stigma and Othering: The Impact of COVID-19 Rumours on Returnee Migrants and Muslim Populations of Nepal’ is based on research funded by British Academy Special Research Grants: COVID-19 Awards. This British Academy funded-study brought together social scientists and health researchers interested in social and media aspects of the COVID-19 pandemic.

The project is apart of the Health Research Network for Migrant Workers in Asia and it is led by Dr. Pramod Regmi (Department of Nursing Sciences), Dr. Shovita Dhakal-Adhikari (Department of Social Sciences and Social Work), Dr. Nirmal Aryal (formerly Department of Midwifery & Health Sciences and soon to be appointed in the Department of Nursing Sciences), external collaborator Dr. Sharada Prasad Wasti from the University of Huddersfield, and Prof. Edwin van Teijlingen (Department of Midwifery & Health Sciences).

 

Reference:

  1. Regmi, P., Dhakal Adhikari, S., Aryal, N., Wasti, S.P., van Teijlingen, E. (2022) Fear, Stigma and Othering: The Impact of COVID-19 Rumours on Returnee Migrants and Muslim Populations of Nepal, International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health Accepted

New paper on Amazonian Dark Earths involving IMSET researchers

Publishing

Today, Nature Communications published a long-expected Matters Arising in response to a 2021 paper in the same journal: “A new hypothesis for the origin of Amazonian Dark Earths“. The new paper, involving more than 50 leading scholars involved in research on prehistoric Amazonia, affirms a human origin for the dark earths found throughout the central and eastern Amazon basin.

Amazonian Dark Earths (ADEs) are distinguished by their exceptional fertility and richness of archaeological remains. Evidently produced by various kinds of human activity, including but not limited to manuring, rubbish deposition, and biomass burning, they are a distinctive feature of later indigenous settlement of the Amazon river basin.

The paper synthesises diverse archaeological, palaeoenvironmental, and historic data to demonstrate the human origin of ADEs. Source: Lombardo et al. 2022

For more information see: Lombardo, U., Arroyo-Kalin, M., Schmidt, M. et al. Evidence confirms an anthropic origin of Amazonian Dark Earths. Nat Commun 13, 3444 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-022-31064-2