Category / Impact

Masterclass: Writing for Policy and Building your Online Profile – 7th September

ECR Network, Impact, Knowledge Exchange, parliament, policy, Research communication

This is a free online event for academics interested in policy engagement, run by Showrunner Communications on 7th September, 13:00-15:00. You can sign up via Eventbrite.

During this session, participants will learn to write for policy stakeholders, including advice on drafting comment articles and blogs, and Select Committee and Government consultation responses.

This session will also focus on building participants’ professional social media profiles and emphasising their expertise online.

Showrunner’s training workshops build the understanding and skills that academics need to effectively achieve policy impact throughout their careers.

This session will be delivered by Nicky Hobbs and Jennifer Harrison, who are communications, policy, and education specialists, in partnership with Showrunner Communications and the Future Leaders Fellows Development Network.

Jennifer Harrison

Jennifer has a distinctive track record within the fields of policy, public affairs, and communications, on behalf of national and local government, the voluntary and community sector, and higher education. Her work has been used by think tanks and policy institutes, directly influenced legislative and policy change, and has represented policy interests at the highest level, including meetings with ministers, in regional and national media, and at parliamentary inquiries.

Jennifer was Durham University’s first policy engagement lead, working with academics to successfully achieve REF and societal impact. This included helping to secure the first ever parliamentary inquiry into urban soil health, securing changes to criminal justice legislation, and campaigning to end irresponsible lending practices that exacerbate poverty. She has been Chair of the Russell Group Political Affairs Network and has contributed widely to thought leadership across the sector, including policy blogs and conference speaking engagements focusing on the nature of policy engagement and research impact.

Nicky Hobbs

Nicky is a communications and engagement leader with over two decades of experience, Nicky has run programmes and led teams for multiple private and public sector organisations.

Nicky has led award-winning communications departments in two Russell Group universities; UCL and Queen Mary and stakeholder engagement at a Government department. At Queen Mary, Nicky led communications for the ground-breaking City of London Institute of Technology which opened in 2022. As a consultant, she has led engagement campaigns for multiple social enterprises and charities and has significant expertise in developing high-impact digital content with a focus on higher and further education.

 

BU Professor’s research contributes to House of Commons report

BU research, Impact, Knowledge Exchange and Impact Team, NHS, parliament, policy, Research communication, Research news

Written evidence provided to the House of Commons Public Accounts Committee by Prof. Ann Luce, FMC, has been cited in the “Progress in improving NHS mental health services” report released today. Luce’s research around suicide risk to NHS mental health staff and the impact that has on care, served as the underpinning evidence for one of six recommendations the committee has made.

The Public Accounts Committee heard concerning evidence of increasing pressures on NHS mental health staff at a time of spiking demand. In the report published today, it warns that increased workload is leading to burnout for remaining staff, which contributes to a higher rate of staff turnover and a resulting vicious cycle of more staff shortages.

17,000 staff (12%) left the NHS mental health workforce in 2021-22, up from pre-pandemic levels of around 14,000 a year. Those citing work-life balance reasons for leaving increased from 4% in 2012-13 to 14% in 2021-22, and the percentage of days lost from the workforce due to psychiatric reasons doubled in a decade. NHS England told the PAC that, in common with all NHS staff, mental health problems are one of the biggest drivers of sickness among staff.

Staff shortages are holding back NHS mental health services as a whole from improving and expanding. The PAC calls on the NHS to address the fact that staff increases are being outpaced by the rise in demand for services. The NHS mental health workforce increased by 22% overall between 2016-17 and 2021-22, while referrals to these services increased by 44% over the same period. The PAC’s inquiry found that staff vacancy rates in acute inpatient mental health services are at approximately 20% or more.

Good data and information is necessary to manage and improve NHS services, as well as to deliver them impactfully and cost-effectively. The Government and NHS England (NHSE) acknowledged to the PAC that mental health services are lagging behind physical services in this area to a particularly concerning degree. Of 29 integrated care boards surveyed by the National Audit Office, only four said they had all or most of the data they needed to assess patient and user experiences, and none of them felt this in relation to patient outcomes.

Another area of particular concern for the PAC is a continuing lack of progress in the area of treating mental health services with equal priority as physical services – or ‘parity of esteem’. Despite the Government setting this ambition in 2011, and the PAC itself calling four years ago for a clear definition of how to measure progress to get there – a recommendation accepted at the time by the Government – there is still no such clear definition.

Dame Meg Hillier MP, Chair of the Committee, said: “The findings of our inquiry must serve as a warning to the Government that mental health is still in danger of not being treated with the same urgent priority as physical health. NHS mental health staff deal with some of the most challenging care needs there are. Staff in this space deserve not just our heartfelt gratitude for the job they do, but concrete support and training to work as part of well-staffed workplaces. Our report warns of a vicious cycle, in which staff shortages and morale both worsen in self-reinforcing parallel.

“The short-term actions being taken by the Government and NHS England to tackle ongoing pressure are welcome. But these numbers are still going in the wrong direction, as demand for care well outpaces the supply of staff to provide it. The Government must act to pull services out of this doom loop. Invaluable care for some of our most vulnerable cannot and must not be provided at the expense of the welfare of the workforce carrying it out.”

NHS England and the Government now have six months to respond.

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If you are interested in submitting written evidence based on your research to a Parliamentary Inquiry, please reach out to impact@bournemouth.ac.uk who can help you with putting together your submission. Contributions to inquires are a good pathway to impact for impact case studies for the REF, and can lead to policy change and influence.

Grant of international patent for invention at BU

BU research, Impact, Industry collaboration, innovation, international, Research communication, Research news

It comes as a great news for both BU and academic staff that a major international patent has been granted by China National Intellectual Property Administration who have confirmed that it will record the grant of the patent right in the Patent Register, issue the patent certificate for invention, and announce the grant. The patent right shall take effect from the date of announcement, July 4, 2023.

This is a predictive and prognostic invention as a remote probing system to monitor corrosion of conductive or nonconductive coatings and subsurface degradation.

The EIS measurement is resistant to interference and has a high corrosion resolution which produces stable and reliable results. Protective properties of a coating can be learned from an impedance spectroscopy obtained via the measurement that reflects changes in the coating and at the interface of coating-substrate system.

Project lead Professor Zulfiqar Khan has congratulated their co-inventors Dr Mian Hammad Nazir and Dr Adil Saeed for their hard work, dedication and passion over the years. This is the result of years of collective work spanning over several research programmes, Professor Khan added.

This invention will enable, a diverse portfolio of industry sectors and applications in aerospace, automotive industry, shipyards, petrochemical, process, infrastructures, high value assets including Reinforced Concrete (RC) elements of marine structures such as piled jetties, marine installation, gas pipelines, motorways structures and mobile assets such as large vehicles, to monitor, predict and prognose a complex failure initiation and propagation mechanism in real time. This will result in significant cost savings, reducing downtime, enhancing reliability and service life.

Further details and media coverage with a short video about the background of work is available here.

Keywords: Condition monitoring, corrosion, coating, sensor, impedance, electrochemical, spectroscopy, materials, composites.

Filming day for the DEALTS2 instructional video for dementia trainers

BU research, Fusion, Impact, Knowledge Exchange, Research news

Try to imagine living with dementia. Now consider how it might feel caring for a person with dementia. Both concepts are challenging to imagine. However, understanding such concepts is key to improving the delivery of care.  

On 27th June 2023, the cameras were rolling live on Lansdowne Campus at Bournemouth University. Dr Michelle Heward and Director Jon Nichols (Jon Nichols Video Production) were filming a train-the-trainer video designed to support those wishing to use the Dementia Education and Learning Through Simulation 2 (DEALTS2) toolkit confidentially in their own training. The DEALTS2 programme, commissioned by Health Education England, is a training package that uses simulation-based activities to place staff into the shoes of a person with dementia. 

Social care providers including Managers, Support Workers, and Developmental Leads who deliver dementia training to staff in their care homes, day centres, and home care services across Dorset came in to receive training and were filmed for the video. There was a fantastic buzz as everyone arrived welcoming the opportunity to “refresh their dementia knowledge” and were excited to “gain new ideas to deliver dementia training”.  

Delivered wonderfully by Dr Michelle Heward, the training was enjoyed by all especially during the simulation activities. These scenario activities included cost-effective and fun tasks such as making origami swans with varying levels of challenging instructions, some deliberately frustrating! Designed to stimulate understanding of living with dementia to inform the care provided, the tasks were considered as “helpful”, “informative”, and “thought provoking and relevant to their service and carers”.  

After a reinvigorating day filming, care providers were “excited to go away and use the DEALTS2 training” and felt “confident” in delivery of the “excellent” resources. It was fantastic to hear most organisations are hoping to use the DEALTS2 resources within their own organisations in the next few months.  

Thanks to everyone who came along, agreed to be filmed, and helped produce the train-the-trainer video. Everyone did an amazing job and appeared unfazed by the camera during the demands of film production. Thanks also to Harry the boom operator and local actors Alex, Samuel, Rae, Amelia, and Nora who supported the day. The DEALTS2 train-the-trainer video was only possible with all your help. Currently in the editing process, watch this space to see how everyone got on!

For more information or to access the DEALTS2 training programme please visit: https://www.hee.nhs.uk/our-work/dementia-awareness/dementia-education-learning-through-simulation-2  

Lyndsey Bradley, BSc final year undergraduate
Research Assistant
Faculty of Health and Social Sciences 

REF 2028: what we know so far…

BU research, Featured, Impact, Research assessment, Research news, UKRI

The UK’s higher education funding bodies have published details of proposed changes to the Research Excellence Framework (REF) for 2028.

They state that they are seeking to change the emphasis of the national assessment from the performance of individuals to the contributions of institutions and disciplines to a healthy and inclusive research environment.

Some of the proposed changes include:

  • Research outputs will contribute to 50 per cent of a Unit of Assessment (UoA), down from 60 per cent in REF 2021. This element has been renamed to ‘contribution to knowledge and understanding’ and, while assessment will continue to largely be based on assessment of submitted outputs, at least 10% of the score will be based on evidence of broader contributions to the advancement of the discipline.
  • ‘People and Culture’ will replace the environment element of REF 2021 and will be assessed at both a disciplinary and institutional level. This element will make up 25 per cent of the overall score, up from 15 per cent in REF 2021, and will be expanded to include an assessment of research culture.
  • An ‘engagement and impact’ element, weighted at 25 per cent, will replace the impact element of REF 2021. Submissions will consist of both impact case studies and an accompanying statement to evidence engagement and activity beyond case studies.
  • The work of all researchers and research-enabling staff will be eligible for submission to REF 2028. Research volume will be determined from average staff volumes over multiple years and there will not be any minimum or maximum contributions of any individuals.

The changes come as part of the Future Research Assessment Programme (FRAP), which has reviewed how national research assessment is carried out in the UK.

Professor Dame Jessica Corner, Executive Chair at Research England, said:

“This is a once-in-a-generation moment for change as we shift national research assessment away from a focus on individuals to how institutions and disciplines contribute to healthy, dynamic and inclusive research environments, and as we shift from a focus on published research outputs towards a broader view of what constitutes research excellence and how it can be demonstrated.”

The sector will now have the opportunity to input into further development of REF 2028, with consultation running until October 2023.

Find out more on the UKRI website