BU Research Blog

Category / Global engagement

November 1, 2016

European Research Council Autumn 2016 Newsletter

EU, Funding opportunities, Global engagement, international, Research news Emily Cieciura

Professor Jean-Pierre Bourguignon, President of the European Research Council, writes in the latest edition of the European Research Council Newsletter that:

It is the ERC’s mission to fund bottom-up “high-risk/high-gain” research, with scientific quality as sole criterion, albeit with no certainty of to what the exploration will lead. This latest study and the history of science confirm that this is the way forward. Only by letting the most ambitious researchers pursue blue sky projects can Europe remain at the scientific forefront and open the way to new solutions to global problems.

Find out more about how researchers have benefited from ERC funding, projects currently underway and what is important to the ERC, in this newsletter. This includes their calls, the majority of which have deadlines in 2017:

If you are considering applying to ERC funding, please see the calls on the Participant Portal Guide to ERC calls. If this funder is important to you, consider signing up to receive their updates via the ERC website.

Please contact Emily Cieciura, RKEO’s Research Facilitator: EU & International, if you plan to submit to this scheme or any other EU / international funding calls.

October 31, 2016

Transformations to Sustainability – pre-call announcement by NORFACE

EU, Funding opportunities, Global engagement, international Emily Cieciura

Transformations to Sustainability (T2S)

Pre-call announcement

Climate change, environmental degradation and resource pressures have created unprecedented situations for societies worldwide. Conventional knowledge and capacity building to tackle the challenges associated with sustainability have proven inadequate, and a comprehensive and concerted research initiative is needed to boost research on transformations to sustainability that can catalyse new kinds of solutions to environmental and social challenges.

T2S is a new funding programme for international, transdisciplinary projects addressing transformations to sustainability initiated by the Belmont Forum and NORFACE (New Opportunities for Research Funding Agency Co-operation in Europe) network. The programme is supported by funding agencies from Belgium, Brazil, Chinese Taipei, Finland, France, Germany, Ireland, Japan, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Slovenia, Sweden, Switzerland, the UK and the USA. More information on the participation of Norway will be available soon. Support from the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme may also be available for this programme.

Proposals from researchers based in any of the partner countries are welcome, and should address one or more of the call themes:

Governance and institutional dimensions of transformations to sustainability
Economy and finance of transformations to sustainability
Wellbeing, quality of life, identity, and social and cultural values in relation to transformations to sustainability

The call for outline proposals is expected to launch in December 2016.

Read more on the funder’s website, where the outline application rules are are given.

October 31, 2016

Festival of Learning 2017 – What could you do?

Events, Fusion, Global engagement, Impact, Public engagement, Research communication, Uncategorized Joanna Pawlik

If you are still searching for some inspiration for Festival of Learning 2017, you can find our previous blog post here with some suggestions for engaging events. But most importantly, make sure you come along to one of our drop-in ‘Support for developing your idea sessions’ and talk to us! Additionally, we’re also offering a bookable training session for you to find out more about ‘Developing a public engagement event’. Please book your place via OD.

You may have already planned your event and now looking for ways of making it more appealing to members of the public. Regardless of the stage of event planning that you are at, we have a few extra ideas to give your event a boost!

The forefront of gene therapy

This event was a presentation from two experts Michael Linden and Nick Clarke, exploring how viruses can be used as tools to replace or repair faulty genes. To boost the interest of the audience and get them more engaged, the academics used an interactive voting system. Through the presentation they had some fun questions for the audience, related to genetics in general but not necessarily to the actual research. Examples of questions that captured audience’s attention were:

What percentage of genes do we share with a cabbage?

What percentage of genes do we share with bananas?

You may be surprised to know that humans share 50% of genes with bananas and 45% with cabbage.

Antarctic ice shelves

During this presentation Bernd Kulessa and Suzanne Bevan shared their tales from ten years of working in Antarctica. To give the audience a better idea of what life in the frozen wilderness looks like, the academics used not only photographs, but also 3D google maps. The maps show all of the stops they made on the journey to Antarctica, which not only added different dimension to the talk but also made it more personal.

The secret life of animals

How do you track whales diving deep underwater or birds flying high above us? Rory Wilson has developed pioneering electronic tags that allow researchers to monitor movement, behaviour, energy exposure, temperature and feeding patterns of hard-to-observe animals. Sounds interesting, but how do you translate these readings in simplified language to ensure your audience stays engaged? You simply organise for someone in penguin costume to copy the movement readings of actual penguin, while planking on a chair!

These events took place as part of the British Science Festival in Swansea, 2016.

October 27, 2016

Euraxess Update

EU, Funding opportunities, Global engagement, international Emily Cieciura

Euraxess UK is a British Council hub, which aids researchers in their career development, supporting mobility and acting as a support mechanism for researchers moving abroad or moving to the UK.

Collaborating internationally or spending time on a research visit abroad can be very beneficial to a researcher’s career and can give researchers access to expertise, facilities, and research environments that significantly broaden their experience and networks. Euraxess UK provides support, with the funding database providing a good source of funding opportunities, and the Euraxess newsletter keeping readers up-to-date on relevant opportunities and events.

Key items from the current newsletter include:

Calling UK PhDs for a focus group on study abroad – Universities UK international (UUKi) will subsidise travel to London for participants in a focus group on Thursday 1st December. Please contact UUKi via Email.

Consultant opportunity for Newton Fund Training Programme in India – The Newton Bhabha Fund is currently seeking consultants to develop and deliver a professional development programme in India. The programme will consist of a series of training workshops for female scientists to help them become future leaders in science and technology. The deadline for applications is 07/11/16

Call for SPHEIR Partnership Proposals now open – SPHEIR (Strategic Partnerships for Higher Education Innovation and Reform) aims to transform higher education systems in focus countries in Sub-Saharan Africa, Asia and the Middle East to better meet the needs of graduates and employers. It supports diverse, large-scale partnerships working across different sectors and countries to improve the quality, relevance, accessibility and affordability of higher education. Call for applications is open until 20/02/17.

Consultancy opportunities in Brazil – Under the Professional Development and Engagement strand of the Newton Fund, there is a recruitment call for a supplier to identify existing online platforms and design, adapt and develop content that supports up to 2000 trained creative entrepreneurs in Brazil. The deadline for applications is 02/11/16.

Free ImpactE resource – Developed through one of the Euraxess collaboration projects, ImpactE (Integrate Mobile People through Innovative Actions in the Euraxess Service Centres), aims to provide support and reference to aid mobile researcher integration. By identifying some of the obstacles to international mobility, ImpactE have worked together to create this guide for trainers.

Dr Claire McNulty, the British Council’s Director of Science, looks at how much the UK benefits from existing scientific collaboration with Europe, and how to ensure this fruitful collaboration continues in future in The Science of Brexit.

Are you thinking of applying to the Newton Fund? Dr Adam Taylor shares what the British Council panel reviewers look for in applications to the Newton Fund

Why not sign up to receive the Euraxess UK Newsletter and find out about the support that is available? Please also take a look at the main Euraxess site, which brings togther the activities of the 39 national Euraxess services, inlciuding the science4refugees initiative.

If you are interested in Euraxess and its activities, please contact Emily Cieciura, RKEO’s Research Facilitator: EU & International and BU’s Euraxess UK Local Contact Point.

October 27, 2016

Fulbright Awards – Final call for applications

Funding opportunities, Global engagement, international, PG research Emily Cieciura

The US UK Fulbright Commission deadline for UK Scholar and Postgraduate Awards for study, research or lecturing in the US for 2017-18 is fast approaching. Applications close at midnight on Sunday, 6 November 2016.

Fulbright offers a variety of awards for individuals to pursue study, research, and lecturing in any academic subject at any accredited US higher education institution.

Detailed information about all these awards can be found on their website, while a brief summary of all the Fulbright 2017-18 awards opportunities has been included at the bottom of this post.

If you have any questions or would like to get in touch, please do not hesitate to contact the funder at programmes@fulbright.org.uk.

Any BU staff applying should contact the relevant member of the Funding Development Team in RKEO.

Fulbright Postgraduate and Scholar Awards 2017-18 for UK citizens

The US-UK Fulbright Commission is pleased to announce a call for applications for its 2017-18 Postgraduate and Scholar Awards. Fulbright Awards provide generous grants for study, research and teaching in the United States. All-disciplines awards provide funding for individuals to pursue any academic subject at any accredited US higher education institution. The Commission also offers a variety of awards in specific subjects and at specific institutions in the US.

Applications for the 2017-18 awards competition will be accepted until midnight on Sunday, 6 November 2016.

Postgraduate awards are available in the following categories:
All-disciplines Postgraduate Award
Alistair Cooke Journalism Award
British Friends of Harvard Business School MBA Award
Diamond Family Foundation Award For African-Focused Research
Elsevier Data Analytics Award
Executive Master of Public Administration Award at NYU Wagner
Hubert H Humphrey School Award in Public Policy, Affairs and Planning
Lloyd’s of London Risk Analysis Award
Nursten Postgraduate Award in Medical Studies
University of South Florida Pos tgraduate Award
Tufts University International Law LLM Award *NEW*
Scholar awards are available in the following categories:
All-disciplines Scholar Awards
American Studies Scholar Award
British Heart Foundation Award
Cyber Security Research Award
Elon University Scholar Award
Fight for Sight Research Award
Lloyd’s of London Insurance Award
Northern Ireland Public Sector Awards
Police Research Award
Royal College of Surgeons of England Award
Royal Society of Edinburgh Scholar Award *NEW*
Scottish Studies Award
University of South Florida Postdoctoral Scholar Award *NEW*
The Urology Foundation Scholar Award *NEW*
Postgraduate Awards typically offer a contribution towards tuition fees and living costs for one academic year. Scholar Awards typically provide a contribution towards any institutional fees, travel to/from the US, accommodation and general maintenance costs while in the USA.

Successful grantees also receive: a number of memberships, sickness and accident health coverage, and J-1visa sponsorship. There is substantial pre-departure support, including a Finalists’ Workshop (March) and a 2-day Orientation Programme (July). Once on-the-ground in the US, further support is offered by the Institute for International Education (IIE) and the Council for the International Exchange of Scholars (CIES), including additional travel grant opportunities for scholars to accept guest lecturing invitations at other US institutions.

After the grant period is over Fulbrighters have access to our vast US-UK alumni network and are given the opportunity to attend a range of social and cultural events in the UK.

For more information on the whole list of available Awards, deadlines, eligibility and how to apply visit the Awards section of the Fulbright website.
Questions? Please contact the Fulbright Awards staff via email at programmes@fulbright.org.uk.

October 27, 2016

European News Update

EU, Events, Funding opportunities, Global engagement, Info Days, international, RKE development framework Emily Cieciura

UKRO is the European office of the UK Research Councils. It delivers a subscription-based advisory service for research organisations (in the main UK HEIs) and provides National Contact Point services on behalf of the UK Government. UKRO’s mission is to maximise UK engagement in EU-funded research, innovation and higher education activities.

As part of BU’s subsciption to UKRO, we receive regular updates, some of which are shared below, along with relevant items from other sources. As this blog is open to external users who may not be UKRO subscribers, however, there is only a limited amount that can be placed on this blog. If you would like to receive announcements concerning EU funding direct to your own inbox, BU staff can register on the UKRO website.

2017 Erasmus+ Call for Proposals – see the call and find out more on the UK’s Erasmus+ website

Scoping papers for the Horizon 2020 Work Programme for period 2018-2020 are available on the UKRO website – only registered members can access these.

UKRO have set up a dedicated page on their site gathering together all the relevant Brexit information for researchers to share, perhaps, with partners who may have concerns about the UK situation in research applications – only registered members can access these.

Registration is now open for the first Raw Materials Week, which will take place in Brussels from 28 November to 2 December 2016. The event includes an information and brokerage event on Horizon 2020, EIT Raw Materials and ERA-MIN 2 calls, which is scheduled for the afternoon of 30 November.

The German Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF) is organising a workshop on the topic of ‘Secure Societies: Unlocking Innovation. New Classes of Solutions for a Changing Threat Landscape.’ The workshop will be held on 8-9 November in Brussels. More information on the workshop, including an invitation letter, registration form and preliminary agenda can be found on the event webpage. The event is free of charge to attend, but registration is required and should be completed by 1 November.

The Enterprise Europe Network Annual Conference 2016 will be held in Bratislava, Slovakia, from 14 to 16 November 2016 under the auspices of the Slovak Presidency of the Council of the European Union. Further information including a programme outline can be found on the event page.

The European Commission’s Directorate General for Communications Networks, Content and Technology is organising an Information Day in the area of ICT Research & Innovation supporting the Creative Industries and Cultural Heritage. The event will take place in Luxembourg on 17-18 November 2016. Registration via the event web page is free of charge, with registrations accepted on a first-come-first-serve basis.

The European Commission and the European Institute for Gender Equality (EIGE) have created a new tool, GEAR, to support research communities in implementing gender equality policies.

The European Commission signed an Implementing Arrangement with the USA, allowing American legal entities to work with Horizon 2020-funded consortia outside of the scope of the Horizon 2020 grant agreement.

The European Research Council has signed an Implementing Arrangement with Brazil, allowing Brazilian researchers to join ERC-funded research teams in Europe. The Implementing Arrangement will mirror the existing ones the ERC previously signed with the USA, South Korea, China, Argentina, Japan, Mexico and South Africa
Progress is being made in the development of Framework Programme 9, after Horizon 2020 concludes – updates will be posted on the UKRO website, for members only.

Science Europe has released a report on Postdoctoral funding schemes in Europe and The European Commission, Directorate-General for Education and Culture, has published results of an evaluation of career paths of researchers in Europe in Research Careers in Europe

The GOV.UK useful resources for European Structural and Investment Funds has been updated along with the funding agreements and programme guidance.

With Data Management Plans becoming an expectation of funders, including within European schemes, Elsevier has published a short article – How to create a good data management plan as part of their Authors’ Update.

Remember – BU staff can register for free, via BU’s subscription, on the UKRO website to receive announcements concerning EU funding and other news, direct to your own inbox – make sure that you hear first!

Please also refer to the RKE Development Framework Community on MyBU – for additional resources. All staff are pre-enrolled. Find out more all the sessions being delivered through the RKE Development Framework.

If you are considering applying, please contact Emily Cieciura, REKO’s Research Facilitator: EU & International, in the first instance.

October 26, 2016

UK to focus innovation and research on tackling global challenges

BU Challenges, Funding opportunities, Global engagement, international Emily Cieciura

Speaking at the Grand Challenges Conference in London, hosted by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation (BMGF), International Development Secretary Priti Patel launched the first-ever Department for International Development (DFID) Research Review and highlighted Britain’s global leadership in this field.

The Research Review sets out how the UK will focus £390 million per year over the next 4 years on research and innovation to help address the great global challenges of the 21st Century. The Review responds to the objectives in the UK Aid Strategy which deliver in the UK’s national interests. These include strengthening resilience and crisis response, promoting global prosperity, tackling extreme poverty and helping the world’s most vulnerable, while ensuring value for money for the taxpayer.

The Research Review outlines that over the next 4 years DFID will:

double research and innovation into humanitarian responses
scale up research on combatting infectious diseases
increase investments in research on climate, energy and water
treble research funding on education so we can create more virtual classrooms for the millions of children with no safe route for school – laying the foundations for a country’s economic development
develop research in areas which have previously been neglected, such as migration, taxation, political accountability and human trafficking and child exploitation – the areas which hold back growth, peace and development.

At the conference the International Development Secretary also announced the extension of the research partnership between DFID and BMGF, which supports researchers to develop health, nutrition and agricultural technologies and approaches. According to this news item, UK institutions and researchers win a significant proportion of DFID’s research funding, due to their high standards and innovative approaches, which are recognised globally.

BU’s Dr.Sascha Dov Bachmann to speak at conference convened by the South African National Defence Force (SANDF)

BU research, conferences, Featured, Fusion, Global engagement, international, Public engagement, Research news sbachmann

Dr Sascha Dov Bachmann, Associate Professor in International Law and Extraordinary Associate Professor in War Studies (Swedish Defence University) will present his work on Hybrid War and law fare in the 21st Century at SANDF’s First International Conference on Military Law, in Pretoria from 1 to 3 November.

The objective of the conference is to expose and bring awareness to the South African public in general and academia in particular on the importance of Military Law within a country’s legal system.

South Africa is among the leading countries in contributing military personnel and major equipment for peace missions in pursuance of its policy to promote peace and stability in the continent. The country’s important role in mediation to end conflicts, has earned it a good standing, reputation and respect among the community of nations.

As an active participant in international structures, South Africa raises the interests of the African continent and other developing countries. Since it plays a meaningful role for the success of the region and the continent, it is incumbent that it stays afloat in every spectrum possible including the development and application of Military Law.

Furthermore here at home, the community at large; to some extent the Military community; academia and jurors alike seem not to be aware of the relevance, extent and application of Military Law.

The Conference will be opened by the Minister of Defence and Military Veterans the Honourable Minister N.N. Mapisa-Nqakula. The Key Note Speaker will be our former Chief Justice, Justice Sandile Ngcobo.

Dr Sascha Dov Bachmann will present the findings on an ongoing project on Hybrid War and lawfare and how it impacts on AU states and their operational capacities and abilities.

October 25, 2016

Festival of Learning 2017 – What could you do?

BU research, Events, Festival of Learning, Global engagement, Impact, Knowledge Exchange Joanna Pawlik

With the call for proposals being open for Festival of Learning 2017, today we have for you another post to give you some inspiration for the type of the event that could be your own! Planning your event can be difficult and time consuming, especially if you have never done anything quite like that before and because of that we are here to help!

Make sure to come to one of our drop-in ‘Support for developing your idea sessions’ and talk to us.

Next session is on Friday 11 November, 12:30pm-1:30pm at EB204, Executive Business Centre. Additionally we also offer bookable training session for you to learn all about ‘Developing a public engagement event’.

What you research often determines how you will engage with the public and who your work will impact, but there are ways to broaden your impact. This can be done by bringing different academics into one room. Anything can happen when two separate disciplines are being combined together and quite often this can be a simple recipe for an effective public engagement event too!

Making Science Graphic

British Science Festival in Swansea featured many creative and fun events and one of them was an interactive drawing workshop Making Science Graphic. The event used graphic novels, which can capture the imagination with imaginative narrative and vivid drawings, as a useful vehicle for talking about science. Neuroscience is not the easiest discipline to be sharing with the public without having to use too many scientific terms but two neuroscientists Uta Frith and Chris Frith managed to do just that in a fun way. They first explained what the mirror neurons are and took their audience on fascinating journey through human brain to then let graphic novel enthusiast Adam Rutherford and artist Daniel Locke translate it into graphic novel. Spoiled for choice by a wide variety of drawing mediums, the audience was encouraged to put their skills into practice and design their own little graphic novel about mirror neurons. Both artists observed the process, talked to the attendees and offered some guidance. Probably the only reason why I still remember what mirror neurons are is because I got to draw them and this was actually a very first novel graphic I ever designed.

This event took place as part of the British Science Festival in Swansea, 2016.

October 25, 2016

Are you Slacktivist? – read story of student-academic co-creation journey

BU research, Centre for Excellence in Learning, conferences, Events, Featured academics, Festival of Learning, Fusion, Global engagement, Research communication, Student Engagement, student research ebolat

For me last academic year (2015-16) was amazing in terms of fantastic things I have been working on with UG and PG students. One of these projects was study on Slacktivists’ behaviour – study initiated and conducted by brilliant BA (Hons) Business Studies with Marketing student (about to graduate), Freya Samuelson-Cramp.

Results of Freya’s study have been extensively shared with external audiences, i.e. at ‘Parallel worlds: real life vs digital personalities‘ BU Festival of Learning event organised in partnership with Barclays Digital Eagle Labs and at ‘Digital Planet and its People’ BU Global Festival of Learning in Sias Internationa, China. ‘Slacktivism’ is a term that combines the words “slacker” and “activism“, it is most commonly associated with actions like signing online petitions, copying social network statuses or changing a profile photo in aid of a cause. Freya’s study, under my supervision, haa examined how slacktivists are behaving when it comes to charity-related content and what personality traits as well influencing factors drive slacktivist behaviour.

This topic in actual fact deserves recognition in other contexts of studies as slacktivism is a norm behaviour in online, social media, context and is exercised in relation to any type of social media content.

However, the reason for this post was primarily to communicate latest recognition and progress events that both Freya and I were part of.

Firstly, Freya’s final year research project was shorlisted for the ‘Best Bachelor’ thesis category at the Digital Communications Awards (DCA) 2016. The DCAs exclusively honour achievements in the field of digital communication throughout Europe and welcomes practitioners from various industries! It is prestigious event judged and attended by world-known pioneers in the field of digital communications. Freya has defended her work and was praised for rigorous methodological approach as well as topic that has interest and relevance to all businesses involved in use of social media channels.

Secondly, on 6-7 October 2016 I have presented joint conference paper titled ‘Helping the world one ‘like’ at a time – The rise of the Slacktivist‘ at the 5th International CSR Conference which took place in Bocconi University, Milan – fantastic conference, organised and chaired by BU academic Dr Georgiana Grigore. Once again, the paper has received enormous interest with follow-up controversial discussions around the notion of slacktivism and we are now working on submission of full paper as the book chapter.

Freya now works as account executive at Good Agency and about to graduate with First-class honours degree. In contradiction to all stories of UG student-academic collaborations, which end at the graduation point, I and Freya are planning to continue working together on understanding further what constitutes stacktivism behaviour. Apart from that we invite to Digital Me photo gallery event, part of the ESRC Festival of Social Science, which takes place on 5th November at the Sovereign Shopping Center.

Finally, hope this positive story can inspire you to co-create with students. We also would love to thank CEL for funding the project through Co-creation fund, GlobalBU team, Department of Marketing (Faculty of Management) and Department of Leadership, Strategy and Organisational Behaviour (Faculty of Management) for ongoing support in conducting research and disseminating results of our study.

Any questions about our story, mentioned conference paper or Digital Me event, email at ebolat@bournemouth.ac.uk

October 25, 2016

Visitors from Nepal at FHSS

BU research, Centre for Excellence in Learning, Featured academics, Global engagement, international, open access, Publishing, Research news, Uncategorized Edwin van Teijlingen

As part of FHSS’s sustained research in Nepal Dr. Sujan Marahatta and Mr. Jiwan Sharma from Manmohan Memorial Institute of Health Sciences (MMIHS) came to the UK to discuss further future collaborations. The Nepali visitors met with our Dean Prof. Steve Tee and Dr. Malcolm McIver FHSS’s Associate Dean for Global Engagement as well with Postdoctoral Fellow Dr Pramod Regmi and BU PhD student Mr. Jib Acharya.

BU academics have been collaborating with MMIHS for over seven years. Currently, we have three projects in Nepal with MMIHS: one funded by the Centre for Excellence in Learning on introducing CPD (Continuous Professional Development) in nursing in Nepal and coordinated by Dr. Catherine Angell; and project designed by Dr. Regmi on transgender issues in Nepal which is funded by FHSS monies, and study on returned trafficked women in Nepal which has received a small small amount of money from both FHSS and Liverpool John Moores University. Prof. Edwin van Teijlingen, in the Centre for Midwifery, Maternal & Perinatal Health (CMMPH), has been a Visiting Professor at Manmohan Memorial Institute of Health Sciences for nine years so it is a long-standing working relationship. MMIHS publishes its own journal the Journal of Manmohan Memorial Institute of Health Sciences which is part of Nepal Journals Online (NepJOL) and Open Access. Apart from Prof. van Teijlingen, CMMPH Prof. Hundley, Dr. Regmi, or our BU media colleague Dr. Luce (Faculty of Media & Communication) and various members of FHSS’s Visiting Faculty have published in this journal.

FHSS and MMIHS are now working towards a more formal academic relationship.

October 24, 2016

Scival subscription is now live

BRIAN, BU research, Global engagement plynch

BU has subscribed to SciVal and staff and students may access it here. Click ‘register now’ and use your BU email to register.

Scival is a tool, reporting from the Scopus database, which enables benchmarking and comparison on an individual or group basis across many institutions or other groupings. It includes a wide range of metrics and our subscription comes with three modules, which are:

Overview – Get an overview of the research performance of your institution and others based on output, impact, and collaborations.

Benchmarking – Determine your strengths and weaknesses. Compare your research institution and teams to others based on performance metrics. Model different test scenarios.

Collaboration – Identify and analyze existing and potential collaboration opportunities. Identify suitable collaboration partners. See who others are collaborating with.

There is an online manual on the opening page and access to various video introductions in the ‘Getting Started with Scival’ link. We will be running some training workshops later in the year.

October 23, 2016

BU Sociology graduate invited speaker at the World Youth Buddhist Symposium

Global engagement, international, Student Engagement, student research, Uncategorized Sara Ashencaen Crabtree

Alexandra Jarrett is a former BU student who is graduating this year from the BA (Hons) Sociology & Anthropology programme in HSS. Prior to taking up her MA studies at the highly prestigious School of Oriental and African Studies (SOAS), Alex was invited to the beautiful northern Thai city of Chiang Mai to present aspects of her final-year dissertation on Buddhist death rituals and beliefs.
Alex’s contribution was very warmly welcomed beyond our hopes and expectations. As her supervisor I was delighted to hear her accounts of how this experience deepened her understanding of her chosen area of interest: the anthropology of relgioun and spiritual belief systems, which she started exploring moredeeply in the Soc+ unit ‘Seekers, Believers & Iconoclasts: Sociology of Thought’. Participation in the Symposium also elevated Alex’s awareness of how much bright, energetic and keen UK students have to offer on the world stage at a dismal time when Britain seems to be wilfully stepping away from the limelight and heading out of the backdoor. Enough of the doleful thoughts – over now to Alex:
‘This summer, I was delighted to be asked to deliver a guest speech at the World Youth Buddhist Symposium in Thailand. The theme of the symposium was “The way of Peace” and I delivered a talk entitled “consumerism and the false self”. When I arrived at the university in Chiang Mai, I was overwhelmed by the setting of the symposium. The ceiling was lit up by giant lanterns and the front of the stage full of flowers. I was very impressed with the organisation of and the pride that was taken in holding this symposium.
The first day of the symposium was magnificent – the opening show began with traditional Thai dances and a flag ceremony (where I was chosen to represent Britain). Each day of the symposium began with the introduction of the honourable guests, which included Khenpo Sydogye (a famous Tibetan teacher). Over the course of four days, I learnt about different religious perspectives towards peace and how this should be achieved worldwide. As well as this, I took part in meditation and a life release ceremony involving releasing fish into the lake whilst singing and chanting mantras.

My speech was ten minutes long and discussed the influence of consumerism, social media and technology on achieving peace. I discussed the idea of how wealth can often contribute towards selfishness and how technology creates an idea of a false self where consumers become obsessed with projecting a certain image of themselves online. As well as delivering this speech, I was asked to perform a song on the final day of the symposium during the closing ceremony.
My experience at this symposium was amazing and I learnt a lot about Buddhism and different religious perspectives towards peace. The symposium was predominantly run by the Chinese so I also learnt a lot about the Chinese culture and their pride in running an organised, impressive conference.’
The entire Soc+ team is very proud of Alex and her achievements, which were featured in the BU news. We hope she will stay in touch and return to BU one day to address junior Sociology+ students as one of our most excellent and inspiring alumnae. Well done Alex!

Alexandra Jarrett and Sara Ashencaen Crabtree

October 20, 2016

BU THET Nepal project presented at RCM conference

BU research, conferences, Global engagement, international, Publishing, Research news, Uncategorized, writing Edwin van Teijlingen

Our THET (Tropical Health & Education Trust) funded project which trains community health worker such as Auxiliary Nurse Midwives (ANMs) on mental health issues related to pregnancy was presented at the Royal College of Midwives (RCM) conference today by FHSS Visiting Faculty Jillian Ireland (photo). Jillian is also a community midwife at Poole Hospital NHS Foundation Trust.

Mental health is poorly covered in the training of health care providers in Nepal. This all the more worrying as it is also culturally a difficult sensitive topic to discuss. This makes it difficult for front-line health workers, especially generalists or non-mental health specialists, to start a discussion about mental health issues with pregnant women, new mothers and their wider families.

Our THET partnership includes the Department of Health, Physical & Population Education at Nepal’s oldest and largest university Tribhuvan University’s (TU), Bournemouth University and Liverpool John Moores University (LJMU). This project is funded under the Health Partnership Scheme (HPS). HPS funds to carry out training and capacity-building projects in low-income countries, such as Nepal. HPS itself is funded by the UK Department for International Development (DfID) and managed by THET (Tropical Health and Education Trust).

The partnership working has resulted in several publications on mental health and maternity care in Nepal. [1-3]

References:

Simkhada, B., Sharma, G., Pradhan, S., van Teijlingen, E., Ireland, J., Simkhada, P., Devkota, B. & the THET team. (2016) Needs assessment of mental health training for Auxiliary Nurse Midwives: a cross-sectional survey, Journal of Manmohan Memorial Institute of Health Sciences 2(1): 20-26. http://www.nepjol.info/index.php/JMMIHS/article/view/15793/12738
van Teijlingen, E., Simkhada, P., Devkota, B., Fanning, P., Ireland, J., Simkhada, B., Sherchan, L., Silwal, R.C., Pradhan, S., Maharjan, S.K., Maharjan, R.K. (2015) Mental health issues in pregnant women in Nepal. Nepal Journal of Epidemiology 5(3): 499-501. http://www.nepjol.info/index.php/NJE/article/view/13607/11007
Simkhada, P., van Teijlingen E., Winter, R.C., Fanning, C., Dhungel, A., Marahatta S.B. (2015) Why are so many Nepali women killing themselves? A review of key issues Journal of Manmohan Memorial Institute of Health Sciences 1(4): 43-49. http://www.nepjol.info/index.php/JMMIHS/article/view/12001

October 19, 2016

Focus group on PhD mobility – UK PhD students wanted!

Events, Global engagement, international, PG research Emily Cieciura

The Universities UK International (UUKi) focus group on PhD mobility will take place on Thursday 1 December 2016 at the UUKi offices, Woburn House, 20 Tavistock Square, London WC1H 9HQ.

UUKi houses the ‘Go International’ Programme and UK Strategy for Outward Mobility, which aims to increase the number of UK-domiciled students spending time abroad as part of their UK degree. PhD students are heavily underrepresented in UK outward student mobility figures, and many PhD outward mobility opportunities for UK students – such as the Newton Fund China and India PhD placement calls– are very undersubscribed.

To help UUK better understand why this is the case, UUKi is holding a focus group of 16-20 UK- domiciled students, from any discipline, currently undertaking a PhD at a UK institution, who have been abroad, are considering going abroad, have decided against going abroad, or have not considered this option at all. Through this group, they hope to explore PhD students’ perceptions of mobility, as well as to better understand some of the key barriers and challenges they face when considering going abroad.

If you have any questions about the focus group at all, please direct these to – Marta Lezzerini: marta.lezzerini@international.ac.uk . See the flyer below for details of how to attend this event.

Findings from the focus group will be distributed to both the Newton Fund Network, and the Outward Mobility Network in late December.

October 19, 2016

UKRO – Annual Visit on 25th October 2016

EU, Events, Funding opportunities, Global engagement, Guidance, Info Days, international, Research news, Research Training Emily Cieciura

If you are thinking of applying for EU funding in the coming year, you need to be at this event!

This session will be delivered by the UK Research Office’s BU account manager, Maribel Glogowski.

UKRO is the European office of the UK Research Councils. It delivers a subscription-based advisory service for research organisations (in the main UK HEIs) and provides National Contact Point services on behalf of the UK Government. UKRO’s mission is to maximise UK engagement in EU-funded research, innovation and higher education activities. As a BU member of staff, you can sign up to receive email alerts direct to your inbox.

The annual visit with take place from 11:30am – 15:15pm in The Octagon, Sir Michael Cobham Library on Talbot Campus on Tuesday, 25th of October. Lunch is provided.

This event has been developed with UKRO to include up to date information about EU funding relevant to BU’s current and future bidding activities.

The intended learning outcomes of this session are:

To find out about current EU funding thinking
To raise personal awareness of funding calls with relevance to BU

Within the update, the session will specifically include:

How UKRO and RKEO can help with your EU applications
Creative Europe and Erasmus+
Accessing the Societal Challenges

Maribel is based in Brussels, along with the rest of the UKRO team, so is BU’s perfect partner for keeping us up to date with funding developments in the EU.

Please book your place via Organisational Development. Spaces are filling up quickly and we need to confirm final numbers for catering this week.

If you have any questions about this event, please contact Emily Cieciura (RKEO, Research Facilitator: EU & International) or Dianne Goodman (RKEO, Funding Development Team Co-ordinator)

October 17, 2016

The social sciences at BU

BU Challenges, BU research, Events, Fusion Investment Fund, Global engagement, Knowledge Exchange, Public engagement, Research communication, Student Engagement brichards

Earlier this year a Fusion-funded series of public events at BU was organised by Professors Ann Brooks (FHSS), Candida Yates (FMC) and Barry Richards (FMC). For these ‘Dialogues in the Social Sciences’, leading social scientists were invited to speak at BU, along with other figures from outside and inside academia, on topics of current concern. The aim was to offer to BU students and staff, and to members of the local public, opportunities to hear and take part in authoritative and informed discussion of social and political issues.

The first was entitled ‘Increasing inequality? Widening opportunity? Debating higher education reform’ Two leading educationists from the University of London Institute of Education discussed the Higher Education Green Paper. Professor Sir Peter Scott (former editor of THE, and former V-C of Kingston University) and Professor Ann Phoenix, eminent psychosocial researcher, outlined their analysis of the prospects for the sector. BU’s Dr. Mastoureh Fathi (FHSS) and Ellie Mayo-Ward (SUBU V-P) were respondents. Chaired by Professor Iain MacRury of FMC, this event explored some of the risks to the sector in the current proposals.

In the second event (‘Our scandalised society’), criminologist Professor Chris Greer (City University) and Lord Blair (Sir Ian Blair, former Commissioner of the Met) discussed key issues regarding how the British state is responding to scandal proliferation, the implications of scandal for crime control and institutional regulation in the digital age, and the risk of scapegoating as a substitute for understanding and solving, particularly in a 24/7 news environment. Professor Ann Brooks was in the chair for an intriguing examination of the roles of both media and police in this complex intersection of social changes.

Professor Matthew Feldman of Teesside University is an expert on the Far Right; he was joined for the third and final event by Emman el-Badawy of the University of Exeter and the Centre on Religion and Geopolitics, and Dr Usama Hasan of the counter-radicalisation organisation the Quilliam Foundation, both experts on violent jihadism. Under the title of ‘Radicalisation: what is it and what threat does it pose?’, Professor Barry Richards chaired a wide-ranging discussion which both put the current threat of Islamist terror in broader historical contexts and looked closely at some of the debates around the Prevent counter-terrorism programme.

Each one of these events demonstrated that with excellent speakers and a thoughtful audience, a good discussion is guaranteed. All of them involved both students and members of the public, though the challenge of drawing in large numbers for early evening extra-curricular events was also in evidence. As well as their value to participants, these events flagged up internally and externally that BU has a growing base of social-scientific expertise, networked with internationally leading experts and pursuing a clear public engagement mission.

October 17, 2016

Green Bubbles Open workshop: innovation in recreational SCUBA diving

BU research, conferences, EU, Events, Global engagement, Impact, innovation, international, Public engagement, Research communication, Uncategorized lmarques

Green Bubbles is a EU-funded project dedicated to sustainable recreational SCUBA diving. Recreational SCUBA diving has become a mass leisure activity engaging millions of divers worldwide. The diving industry generates large direct and indirect revenues for coastal communities and Marine Protected Areas (MPAs). Other benefits linked to diving include the promotion of ocean stewardship, contribution to scientific research, fostering social inclusion and personal development. Yet, diving has also negative impacts, due to damage or disturbance of habitats and organisms, and to conflicts with local communities for the access to/use of the same resources, equity issues, or cultural clashes. The central objective of Green Bubbles is to maximise the benefits associated with diving while minimising its negative impacts, thus achieving the environmental, economic and social sustainability of the system.

Poster of speakers for Green Bubbles Open Workshop

On 26-27 September, Green Bubbles had its first open workshop, in Santa Margherita Ligure, in Italy. Dr Lenia Marques, from the Department of Events and Leisure, was one

of the keynote speakers, bringing leisure and tourism integrated approaches into the discussion.

The workshop brought together many local and international stakeholders and it was a moment not only of discussion of different perspectives, but also of synergy creation.

It was a successful workshop and we look forward to seeing the developments of the rest of the project as

well as the future projects which started to emerge from this meeting.

Green Bubbles workshop

Please check out the links and follow the project on social media:

www.greenbubbles.eu

Official website: www.greenbubbles.eu

E-mail: join@greenbubbles.eu

Social media hashtags: #GreenBubblesRISE #GreenBubblesproject #sustainable #diving

For more information at BU, please contact Dr Lenia Marques, lmarques@bournemouth.ac.uk.

Category / Global engagement

European Research Council Autumn 2016 Newsletter

Transformations to Sustainability – pre-call announcement by NORFACE

Transformations to Sustainability (T2S)

Pre-call announcement

Festival of Learning 2017 – What could you do?

Euraxess Update

Fulbright Awards – Final call for applications

European News Update

UK to focus innovation and research on tackling global challenges

BU’s Dr.Sascha Dov Bachmann to speak at conference convened by the South African National Defence Force (SANDF)

Festival of Learning 2017 – What could you do?

Making Science Graphic

Are you Slacktivist? – read story of student-academic co-creation journey

Scival subscription is now live

Focus group on PhD mobility – UK PhD students wanted!

UKRO – Annual Visit on 25th October 2016

If you are thinking of applying for EU funding in the coming year, you need to be at this event!

Green Bubbles Open workshop: innovation in recreational SCUBA diving

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