BU Research Blog

23 July 2018

Coordinating a Newton Funds Researcher Links Workshop in South Africa was one of the most rewarding experiences

Awarded & submitted bids, Fusion, international lesteves

Securing funds from British Council to organise a Newton Funds Researcher Links workshop required good effort and persistence. Careful consideration of the feedback from an unsuccessful submission helped identifying where improvements were needed – we were successful in our second attempt. I believe the most important factors contributing to the success of the application were: the theme is topical and relevant for both countries (UK and South Africa), including active world-recognised researchers as mentors, having trach record of work and good connections in the host country (South Africa in this case). I have already being to South Africa delivering workshops to public sector practitioners on a similar subject funded by the South African National Research Foundation.

The workshop focused on ‘Research capacity for sustainable ecosystem-based management of estuaries and coasts’ and it was held on 19-21 June 2018 at the uShaka Marine World in Durban. There were 42 participants, 23 from South Africa and 19 from the UK, including early-career researchers from natural and social sciences backgrounds, established researchers and government practitioners involved in policy-making or implementing policy related to management of coasts and estuaries. I coordinated the workshop in collaboration with Professor Trevor Hill from University of KwaZulu-Natal and had a great support from Bronwyn Goble from SAAMBR/ Oceanographic Research Institute and Katie Smyth (University of Hull). The contribution from Mike Elliott (Hull), Andrew Cooper (Ulster), Ursula Scharler (UKZN) and Alan Whitfield (SAIAB) as mentors was greatly appreciated for the support and inspiration given to the early career participants.

Participants of the Researcher Links workshop entitled ‘Research capacity for sustainable ecosystem-based management of estuaries and coasts’ (19-21 July 2018, Durban, South Africa) coordinated by Dr Luciana Esteves (Dep Life & Environmental Sciences, SciTech).

I can only say that the experience of engaging with such talented and vibrant group of early career researchers and stimulating open discussions about career directions and prospects, focusing particularly on the importance of international collaboration and closing the research-practice gaps was truly rewarding. It was uplifting to see the connections building between UK and South African researchers and how links with government and NGO practitioners were providing a new direction to the career of some participants. From day 1 participants were talking to each other as old colleagues and engrossed in the activities proposed. No wonder some came out with clear plans on how they will work together, from designing teaching material to collaborating in research proposals and papers, consolidated the links created during the workshop. These links are evident in the action plans participants were asked to produce at the end of the workshop.

Very important was the participation of government practitioners, acting at the national level designing policy and at the province level implementing policy. It was clear the interest for improving research-policy links and some examples of good practices in the UK and South Africa and new ideas were shared and discussed. For example, secondments of staff, co-funding of research posts/projects, ways of stimulating policy-driven research calls. In general terms, the workshop discussions highlighted two evident differences:

in South Africa, the integration between social and natural sciences in research projects seems to be less common than currently in the UK – perhaps in South Africa, trans/interdisciplinarity have not had the push from funders as it has been observed in the UK and the EU in recent years.
perhaps for the same reason, participants based in South Africa were not highlighting the relevance to practice and policy of their research projects, as it is now generally expected in the UK

Besides lots of discussions, the activities included a visit to the marine aquarium, networking during coffee breaks and a fantastic dinner at the Cargo Hold restaurant (the boat you see on the bottom right).

19 July 2018

New Security textbook published by BU academic

Fusion, Knowledge Exchange Shamal Faily

Shamal Faily has just published the textbook Designing Usable and Secure Software with IRIS and CAIRIS with Springer.

The book was written to help practitioners, be these UX designers, security architects, or software developers, ‘build in’ security and usability. The ACM Code of Ethics states that True security requires usability – security features are of no practical use if users cannot or will not use them. This book explains how usable and secure software can be designed using the IRIS framework and the CAIRIS software platform, and provides real case studies where security and usability is incorporated into software designs at an early stage. This is something most people agree should be done, but few people give advice on how to do it. This book helps fill this gap.

The book also helps educators and students by providing a resource for a course on Security by Design. As explained in the preface, this book was written to support our undergraduate and postgraduate Security by Design unit at BU, and pointers are included on how different parts of this book can support this or similar courses.

More information about this book can be found here. As the book will be used to support teaching at BU, soft and hard copies should be available from the library soon.

16 July 2018

Microbial life engages students in Vietnam

Festival of Learning, Fusion, international, PG research, Public engagement Genoveva Esteban

Hai Luu (PhD student working with Prof Genoveva Esteban and Dr Iain Green in the Department of Life and Environmental Sciences, SciTech) travelled to her home country of Vietnam where she organised a seminar on microscopic life for 20 undergraduate students of the Aqua-Agriculture Faculty at Travinh University. Students collected samples from freshwater ponds, and observed the single-celled and other microscopic organisms that thrive in such habitats; they also studied their diversity in soil samples. Hai Luu gave a presentation about the diversity of organisms that constitute the unicellular protists, including micro-algae, protozoa, and slime molds. This event was a great opportunity for the students to recognise the biodiversity of micro-organisms in soils and fresh waters, and to understand the important role they play in food webs. The seminar was the first of its kind at Travinh University, and a unique opportunity to disseminate the research we do in this field at BU to a wider audience. Excellent feedback was received from the enthusiastic group of students.

4 July 2018

New publication by NCCA: 4D Cubism as a novel artistic technology

Fusion, Publishing, REF Subjects, staff profile pages, Student Engagement, student research vadzhiev

“IEEE Computer Graphics and Applications”, an influential magazine with a wide readership in both academia and industry, has just published the paper “4D Cubism: Modeling, Animation and Fabrication of Artistic Shapes”.

This multidisciplinary paper proposing a novel technology on the edge of art and science has been written by a team from the National Centre for Computer Animation (NCCA) of the Faculty of Media and Communication. The authors are Quentin Corker-Marin, Prof Alexander Pasko, and Dr Valery Adzhiev.

The paper has a non-trivial history. Initially, there was an UG student project (“Innovations” unit, “Computer Visualisation and Animation” course, Level 6) that was submitted as a Poster to the ACM SIGGRAPH 2017 conference in Los Angeles. As it was reported in the Research Blog in September 2017, Quentin was awarded there the second prize in the prestigious ACM Student Research Competition sponsored by Microsoft. Then a full-scale paper was submitted to the top magazine, and after successful peer-reviewing it was accepted and published. As to Quentin, in the end of 2017 he graduated from NCCA with a first class honours degree in computer visualisation and animation and works now in London as a 3D Artist for an award-winning production company Glassworks.

References

Q. Corker-Marin, A. Pasko and V. Adzhiev, “4D Cubism: Modeling, Animation, and Fabrication of Artistic Shapes,” in IEEE Computer Graphics and Applications, vol. 38, no. 3, pp. 131-139, 2018. doi:10.1109/MCG.2018.032421660
Full text of the paper: http://eprints.bournemouth.ac.uk/30779/1/Cubism_IEEE-CG%26A_FinalDraft.pdf
Accompanying video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Vc9tYpRjlRo

10 June 2018

Let’s Talk Tax!

Festival of Learning, Fusion palexander

Ever puzzled over tax? Wondered about the politics or personal impact of international tax news? This session with BU researchers, students and the Chartered Institute of Taxation will give you a greater understanding and appreciation for tax and help you become more tax-savvy.

During this session, we have five star students presenting 5-minute ‘tax’ talks:

Martinas Prazauskas on the tax avoidance of Apple, Google and Amazon
Timothy Buck on tax arbitrage
Sesil Bou on thin capitalisation
Clémentine Saulnier on non-discrimination in the EU
Lucy Butler on the Robin Hood tax

Taking second billing in this session are BU’s tax academics: Dr Phyllis Alexander, Dr Alan Kirkpatrick and Richard Teather. We will be joined by Mr Andy Brodrick of the Chartered Institute of Taxation (CIOT), the organisation funding Dr Alexander’s research on tax morale.

There will be at least 15 minutes reserved for Q&A and an open discussion with this diverse panel on anything and everything to do with tax. This will be a fast paced, interesting hour in which BU’s Fusion philosophy comes to light!

Please do join us and book your free tickets here.

30 May 2018

BU researcher elected Chair of the Public Diplomacy Interest Group

conferences, Fusion, international, Public engagement psurowiec

Dr. Alina Dolea, who has joined BU’s Faculty of Media and Communication in September 2017, has been elected Chair of the Public Diplomacy Interest Group within the International Communication Association (ICA). ICA is the premier international academic association for scholars in communication research, gathering more than 4,500 members from 80 countries.

Alina is a founding member of the Interest Group established officially in 2016, following a collective effort of raising signatures that she co-ordinated as a volunteer. The Group has grown fast to over 100 members worldwide and brings together scholars investigating topics related to public diplomacy, nation branding, country image and reputation, public relations for and of nations, as well as political, global and cultural communication influencing international relations.

For the ICA annual conference 2018, Alina has coordinated, as the Vice-Chair elect, the submission process and planned the program that included a State of the art panel in Public Diplomacy with top scholars in the field. In addition, she organized a doctoral and postdoctoral pre-conference (“Emerging Research and Trends in Public Diplomacy and Nation Branding”) together with Diana Ingenhoff (University of Fribourg), James Pamment (Lund University), Rhonda Zaharna (American University), Jay Wang (USC Center on Public Diplomacy) and Steve Pike (Syracuse University). 12 papers out of 33 submissions were selected to be presented and discussed in a forum with established scholars from the field serving as mentors and giving feedback to each participant. The conference was sponsored by The Center on Public Diplomacy, University of Southern California & Rhonda Zaharna, Syracuse University and Lund University. It was a great success and brought new insights for both PhD students and established scholars.

24 May 2018

Medical Research showcase at CoPMRE’s Spring Visiting Faculty Day

conferences, Fusion, Knowledge Exchange, PG research adixon

The Centre of Postgraduate Medical Research & Education (CoPMRE) held its Spring Visiting Faculty Day at the Executive Business Centre. Fourteen posters (VF Programme Spring 2018) were presented showcasing the breadth of collaborative projects being undertaken by BU and local clinicians. The Best Poster prize was awarded to Dr Paul Whittington, Department of Computing & Informatics, Faculty of Science and Technology, for his presentation entitled Automatic Detection of User Abilities through the SmartAbility Framework. Professor Tamas Hickish, judge, felt that all the posters were excellent and address important health care issues. Paul’s poster was chosen as the research was generated by a deep understanding of disability, the use a mobile phone technology and generalisability to significant areas of health care need such as stroke and frailty. As such his work is scalable and feasible.

Visiting Faculty Days are a great opportunity to share innovative ideas and research. The event was very well received and links for possible further collaboration have already been formed as a result of networking. Our next Visiting Faculty Day will be held in December.

22 May 2018

BU research helping charities achieving sustainable privacy by design

Fusion, Knowledge Exchange, PG research, Public engagement Shamal Faily

Photo by Carl Heyerdahl on Unsplash

In November 2017, we were awarded funding through RKEO’s Charity Impact Acceleration fund to work help a local charity — StreetScene — prepare them for the new General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR). At the time, many charities were well aware of what GDPR was and the penalties for non-compliance. However, the guidance made available to them by the ICO was general and costly to implement in terms of time and resources. Our thoughts summarising the dilemmas faced by charities facing GDPR were recently covered by The Conversation.

Using work from her doctoral research, Jane Henriksen-Bulmer has devised a customised Data Protection Impact Assessment (DPIA) process for charities, which she is now putting into practice at StreetScene. This helps them evaluate how privacy impacts their business workflows, and the privacy risks they face.

To help other charities benefit from this work, we will be running a free GDPR for Charities workshop on June 11th at the EBC. The workshop will share the results of this work with around 50 participants who work for or with local charities, and provide hands-on training on the process and complementary design techniques and software tools that charities can put into immediate practice. We’ll also be running a panel with invited speakers to discuss the challenges that small charities face with GDPR.

Although this work is helping local charities, we hope our work leads to more debate on how everyone (and not just big business) can ‘build in’ sustainable security and privacy.

14 May 2018

Concert at BU: 3rd Loudspeaker Orchestra Concert

Fusion, PG research, Public engagement, Student Engagement, student research aseddon

The final BU Loudspeaker Orchestra concert of this academic year took place in the Student Hall, Talbot Campus on Wednesday 2nd May 2018. This concert featured a range of electroacoustic music including work from undergraduate students, postgraduate researchers and staff at BU. The concert was a great opportunity for students, researchers and staff to collaborate on and co-create a live music event, and to present their music in a professional context.

Students from the BSc Music and Sound Production Technology course (Creative Technology) contributed a range of high-quality compositions. Many of these pieces were composed from field recordings; some from Bournemouth and Poole, some from London, and others from locations as far afield as Pune, India. The students also rigged the loudspeaker system, and then took part in a diffusion workshop (co-delivered by Ambrose Seddon and Panos Amelides, Creative Technology), learning and rehearsing some fundamental concepts for live multi-channel sound spatialisation in preparation for the concert. The programme also featured music from FMC PGR composer Antonino Chiaramonte and BU lecturer and composer Ambrose Seddon.

The sun setting over the Talbot campus buildings made for a fitting backdrop to the concert. Thanks to all who attended!

2 May 2018

Evaluation in sport, leisure and wellbeing; the power of knowledge exchange

Business Engagement, conferences, Fusion, international, Knowledge Exchange, Knowledge Transfer aadams

BU hosts first seminar as part of a two seminar event.

Sponsored by the Leisure Studies Association and in partnership with Southampton Solent University and Vrije Universiteit Brussel (Belgium)

Wednesday 8th May in Executive Business Centre

Dr Andrew Adams has led on developing this event which for the first part of the event brings international scholars and stakeholdrs together to discuss issues and forge new agendas concerning the developing field of evaluation. Speacial attention is likely to focus on the value, application and importance of realist evaluation practices.

Speakers at BU include: Professor Fred Coalter (Leeds Beckett University), Professor Sam Porter (Bournemouth University) and Dr Reinhard Haudenhuyse (Vrije Universiteit Brussel)

If you might be interested in attending more information can be found here; https://newsletters.bournemouth.ac.uk/t/8U0-5I90G-79RYK1F7BA/cr.aspx

The programme for the day can be found here; Seminar Programme

Further information can be obtained from

Andrew Adams: aadams@bmouth.ac.uk

18 April 2018

BU Undergrads showcase their research in Sheffield at BCUR 2018

Centre for Excellence in Learning, Fusion, Knowledge Exchange, Student Engagement mgouthro

A year on from BU hosting the prestigious British Conference of Undergraduate Research, the annual BCUR 2018 gathering this year was hosted by the University of Sheffield last week. On the heels of a successful SURE 2018 at BU in March, 7 undergraduate students from across all faculties were supported to showcase their research at BCUR 2018 among close to 600 delegates. Atanas Nikolaev, a SURE sponsored student and recent graduate of Sports Management did a presentation on his ethnographic study of Embodied Experiences of Women at Leisure Centres, “The most interesting aspect of the conference to me was the opportunity to engage with like-minded people across various scientific fields. It was a great way to get exposure for my research project and be challenged with ideas that could potentially lead to future developments. BCUR was great to learn about research that was of interest to me and to potentially build lasting relationships with young researchers from across the country”.

Bethan Stephenson, an FMC student studying English presented a piece of research entitled ‘The Changing Space of Warwick County Museum’ which challenges notions of memory and how historic accounts are valued. Bethan said “I really enjoyed the experience of attending the British Conference of Undergraduate Research (BCUR) at Sheffield University, and found it very illuminating. I got there not really knowing what the conference fully entailed, and so was very pleasantly surprised. As a final year student, I’ve been recently contemplating post-graduation options, and the introduction to BCUR was incredibly informative. They discussed the importance of research-based careers, and the opportunities this can lead to. I’ve always loved research, and have multiple fields that I’m passionate about, and so I really feel like this introductory talk helped confirm my desire to undertake a masters, and possibly a PhD, in the future”.

Other BU students taking part included Charlie Simmons, a business studies marketing student presenting on Digital Immersion and the Streaming of E-Sports. Tereza Paskova, a final year Tourism student presented on Emotional Intelligence as a tool in customer satisfaction in tourism/hospitality settings. Isobel Hunt, a Faculty of Science and Technology student studying Psychology presenting on Consumer Decision Making and Trust for Online Restaurant Reviews and Scott Wilkes who is studying Sport Development and Coaching Sciences and also presented his research on the effects of stammer has on social participation in sport amongst Young People.

The involvement of BU undergraduate research at the national BCUR event along with a presence at their annual precursor event, Posters in Parliament, has been possible with key support and involvement from CEL and key contributors across all faculties. It is an opportune channel for students to engage with the research process and make real world connections to the impact of their work. For future opportunities in these initiatives, contact Mary Beth Gouthro mgouthro@bournemouth.ac.uk.

17 April 2018

Dr Sascha Dov Bachmann invited to give a keynote speech at the 14th International Conference on Cyber Warfare and Security (ICCWS) Stellenbosch RSA

BU Challenges, conferences, Fusion, Fusion themes, international, Knowledge Exchange, Public engagement, REF Subjects sbachmann

Dr Sascha Dov Bachmann, Associate Professor in International Law (BU) and War Studies (Swedish Defence University – FHS), Research Fellow at CEMIS, Stellenbosch University and Director of BU’s Centre for Conflict,Rule of Law and Society was invited to give a keynote speech at at the 14th International Conference on Cyber Warfare and Security (ICCWS) 28 February – 1 March 2019, Stellenbosch, South Africa.

ICCWS uniquely addresses cyber security, cyber warfare and information warfare. Over the years the Conference has been attended by a variety of security and military organisations including Cyber Security Policy Research Institute, more than 10 national defence colleges, NATO, SHAPE etc.

The conference is being organised by Dr Noëlle van der Waag-Cowling, military science professional with 25 years of experience in the Department of Defence, South Africa and 20 years of experience in South African Higher Education at Stellenbosch University. She is also the co-ordinator of the Cyber Project at the Security Institute for Governance and Leadership in Africa. Noëlle is associated with the BU’s Centre for Conflict, Rule of Law and Society.

2 April 2018

Developing Global Higher Education Partnerships

BU Challenges, Fusion, international, Publishing, writing Edwin van Teijlingen

As part of the new plan BU2025, “we want to continue to develop our global partnerships and links with other institutions and organisations”. This is an admirable aim, and it is, of course, the best way forward for a truly global Higher Education Institution like Bournemouth University (BU). But to translate this general aim into a particular global partnership we need to consider the underlying processes of initiating and developing such partnerships. We published a paper [1] on the issues one needs to consider in developing a partnership, based on the example of BU’s partnership with Manmohan Memorial Institute of Health Sciences (MMIHS) in Nepal.

In late February this year MMIHS signed a Memorandum of Agreement (MoA) with BU at a ceremony in the Nepalese capital Kathmandu, where Prof. Stephen Tee represented BU. This MOA is an agreement between us that provides a basis on which the parties will consider potential future collaboration. The UoA formalises a long-standing collaboration between the two institutions, and indicates a desire to collaborate further in the future. MMIHS and BU academics have jointly applied for research grants, conducted collaborative research and published together and it is exactly this personal link between people that allows this, and many other, global partnerships to flourish.

Prof. Edwin van Teijlingen

Centre for Midwifery, Maternal & Perinatal Health

Reference:

van Teijlingen, E., Marahatta, S.B., Simkhada, P., McIver, M., Sharma, J.P. (2017) Developing an international higher education partnerships between high & low-income countries: two case studies J Manmohan Memorial Inst Health Sci, 3(1): 94-100.

15 March 2018

Loudspeaker Orchestra concert at BU

Fusion, Public engagement aseddon

On Wednesday 28th February 2018 guest composer Dr Annie Mahtani, University of Birmingham and Birmingham Electroacoustic Sound Theatre (BEAST), joined us for a concert of multi-channel, surround-sound music for Loudspeaker Orchestra in the Allsebrook Lecture Theatre. Organised by Ambrose Seddon (EMERGE; Creative Technology), the varied programme featured works from BEAST and BU composers.

Annie Mahtani presented and diffused three of her own multi-channel compositions (Inversions; Past Links; Aeolian) along with works by fellow BEAST composers James Carpenter (Pent-Up) and Nikki Sheth (Orford Ness). Ambrose Seddon diffused his recent multi-channel electroacoustic work Traces of Play while Panos Amelidis (EMERGE; Creative Technology and pictured sound-checking) diffused two compositions: Bird Train and Cracks.

Student volunteers from our BSc Music & Sound Production Technology provided crucial help rigging the loudspeaker system – they also gained invaluable insights into novel surround-sound loudspeaker configurations.

Thanks to all who attended and persevered despite the cold conditions!

8 March 2018

US Funding – spaces still available on 9th March

Funding opportunities, Fusion, international Emily Cieciura

Following on from the two US Funding seminars on 8th March, limited spaces are still available for the two sessions on Friday, 9th March:

Grants in the Humanities & Social Sciences – 09:00 – 12:00

Building the National Institutes of Health (NIH) Grant Proposal – 13:30 – 16:30

Both sessions will also be useful for those who do not consider themselves within these disciplines.

BU academic staff and PGRs can book to attend or turn up in time for the starting times of 09:00 and 13:30, but you will not be able to partake in the refreshments or networking lunch as the numbers for this have already been finalised. The event is taking place in FG04 with priority being given to those who have already registered.

2 March 2018

Congratulations to Dr Elvira Bolat for securing Erasmus Staff Teaching Mobility Fund

Awarded & submitted bids, Fusion ebolat

Dr Elvira Bolat has secured Erasmus Staff Teaching Mobility fund to visit and teach at the University of Beira Interior (Covilhã, Portugal) in May-June 2018. Elvira will deliver a social media marketing and online communication course to Master students. This visit will be hosted by Dr Arminda Maria Finisterra do Paço, Assistant Professor in Marketing.

In addition, Dr Bolat is organising and chairing the 17^th The International Congress on Public and Non Profit Marketing (IAPNM), an annual event organised by major universities and scientific institutes that offers a friendly atmosphere and professional work environment for the presentation and discussion of the latest scientific and practical advances in the areas of public and nonprofit marketing, as well as in any other issue related to corporate social responsibility, social marketing and management of nonprofit organisations. IAPNM will be held in Bournemouth on 6-7 September 2018. The event attracts academics, businesses, public organisations and non-profit organisations across the world. Bournemouth being a Sustainable Fish city of Europe will continue building on its current reputation in a sustainability agenda. Dr Arminda Maria Finisterra do Paço and Dr Helena Maria Alves, from the University of Beira Interior, are members of IAPNM scientific committee. Travel to and teaching in the University of Beira Interior will allow Dr Bolat to discuss organisation of IAPNM in Bournemouth as well as enable collaborative research projects via joint funding proposals and research papers around use of social media in NGO’s (non-governmental organisations), tourism or HEI (higher education institutions).

Overall the visit will strengthen and expand the partnership between BU and the University of Beira Interior, especially in relation to the nonprofit marketing discipline.

1 March 2018

Congratulations to Dr Jason Sit for securing Erasmus+ staff mobility fund

Fusion Jason Sit

Dr Jason Sit has secured Erasmus+ staff mobility fund to visit IQS School of Management (Universitat Ramon Llull, Barcelona) in April 2018. Jason will share his research insights into Retail Consumer Experience and Technology with the UG and PGT marketing students at IQS. The visit will be hosted by Associate Professor Nicoletta Occhiocupo who teaches and researches in the domain of retail marketing. The visit will strengthen and expand the partnership between BU and IQS, especially in relation to the retail marketing discipline.

28 February 2018

Interdisciplinary Research Week 2018

Fusion, innovation, Training apekalski

The third Interdisciplinary Research Week (IRW) is being held from 19th to 23^rd March 2018. Join us to celebrate the breadth and excellence of Bournemouth University’s interdisciplinary research, and stimulate new collaborations and ideas amongst the University’s diverse research community.

The week-long event includes a programme of lectures, workshops, and discussions, aimed at promoting interdisciplinary workings; to provide an understanding of how to get involved in Interdisciplinary Research.

Programme

Inspirational Speaker – Professor Celia Lury

British Academy Visit – Interdisciplinary Research

Collaborating with Others: Becoming a Better Team worker

Networking: Making the Most of an Upcoming Event

New research realities and interdisciplinarity

Interdisciplinary research with industry

Speed Collaborations event

Lighting Talks: What can and should be achieved in Interdisciplinary Research

Category / Fusion