Category / Knowledge Exchange

SaferKids VR launch

Awarded & submitted bids, BU research, BU2025, Fusion, Impact, Industry collaboration, innovation, Knowledge Exchange, Knowledge Transfer, Strategic Investment Areas

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

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

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

Schools can sign up for their pupils to be involved. 

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

Erasmus+ teaching in Nepal

international, Knowledge Exchange

BU professors Vanora Hundley and Carol Clark are currently in Nepal as part of an exchange between Bournemouth University (BU) and Manmohan Memorial Institute of Health Sciences (MMIHS) in Kathmandu, Nepal.

They have enjoyed discussing research with the Masters in Public Health students at MMIHS, whose research proposals include topics as diverse as stress and burnout, musculoskeletal injuries in hand-loom workers, and occupational health of high altitude porters.

Yesterday they were teaching the students as part of their Sexual and Reproductive Health Unit. Vanora outlined the history of Safe Motherhood and the group had a detailed discussion about the causes of maternity mortality and strategies to improve care for mothers and babies. Carol gave a lecture on urinary incontinence (including teaching the class how to do pelvic floor exercises) and explored how we handle taboo subjects such as this.

Carol and Vanora had an opportunity to meet with students from MMIHS who had recently returned from their exchange with Bournemouth University. The students spoke about how their time in Dorset had enabled them to learn about health in the UK and to share their expertise in delivering public health in a low income country.

The Erasmus+ exchange promotes cross-border education and knowledge exchange. It facilitates networking, enables capacity building and provides opportunities for future collaboration.

SciVal training for Research Team Leaders – 23 Feb 2023

international, Knowledge Exchange, Publishing, Training

Are you looking for a collaborator to fill a gap in your team’s expertise, or looking for a non-academic collaborator for a funding bid? Interested in exploring which research contributes to the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals? Or do you need to present your publishing track record for a funding application?

Staff and research students at Bournemouth University have access to the research intelligence platform SciVal, a tool that provides research analytics data. Used in the right context SciVal can help you discover current research trends, track who is citing your work and from where, and identify potential collaborators including in non-academic sectors.

Join us in this online session delivered by our dedicated SciVal Customer Consultant on 23 February 2023, 10am to 11am or 2pm to 3pm.

To find out more about how to join the session, please visit this link on the staff intranet –

https://staffintranet.bournemouth.ac.uk/workingatbu/staffdevelopmentandengagement/fusiondevelopment/fusionprogrammesandevents/rkedevelopmentframework/careers/scivalforresearchteamleaders/

If you do not have access to the Staff Intranet,  you can access the booking form via the link below –

https://forms.office.com/Pages/ResponsePage.aspx?id=VZbi7ZfQ5EK7tfONQn-_uHL-6XoUudlNkJOS948yf5NUNEUyMUJSWUVUR1ZRWUNEVjhVT0lIS01QVyQlQCN0PWcu

Socio-Ecological Transition Seminars – Semester 1 wrap up

Knowledge Exchange

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

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

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

The recording is available here.

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

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

The recording is available here.

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

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

The recording is available here.

SETS is a joint initiative between the Research Group on Collective Action, Change, and Transition at the University of Trento, the Centre for Sustainable and Socially Responsible Consumption at Bournemouth University, and the Environmental Sociology Section at the University of Orebro. The seminars are open to a diverse audience, including academics, students, practitioners, social movements, and the non-specialist public.

It is all about experience

BU research, Delicious links, Featured academics, international, Knowledge Exchange, PG research, Publishing, research methods, student research, Uncategorized, Women's Academic Network, writing

This week we published a paper on the experience of conducting fieldwork in the public health field in the Journal of Health Promotion. [1] Fieldwork is usually a crucial part of PhD research, not only in the health field. However, few researchers write about this, often challenging, process. This paper highlights various occasions where fieldwork in the area of public health, health promotion or community health was more difficult than expected or did not go as planned. Our reflections on working in the field are aimed at less experienced researchers to support them in their research development. Moreover, this paper is also calling upon health researchers to share more details about the process of doing fieldwork and its trials and tribulations. Our key advice is to be inquisitive and open-minded around fieldwork, followed by: be prepared for your fieldwork, conduct a risk assessment of what might go wrong, and consider your resources and options to overcome such trials and tribulations. Fieldwork can be unpredictable.  We believe it is important to share practical lessons from the field which helps other to better understand these tribulations, and learn from them. Finally, sharing such information may guide new researchers and help them identify strategies that can address those issues and challenges in their future studies.

Dr. Preeti Mahato (at Royal Holloway, University of London), Dr Bibha Simkhada and Prof. Padam Simkhada (both based at the University of Huddersfield) are all BU Visiting Faculty.  Moreover, I have had the pleasure of acting as PhD supervisor for five of my co-authors.  I have included in this blog what is probably my favourite fieldwork photo taken a decade ago by former BU PhD student Dr. Sheetal Sharma.

Prof. Edwin van Teijlingen

CMMPH (Centre for Midwifery, Maternal & Perinatal Health)

 

References:

  1. Mahato, P., Tamang, P., Simkhada, B., Wasti, S. P., Devkota, B., Simkhada, P., van Teijlingen, E.R. (2022) Reflections on health promotion fieldwork in Nepal: Trials and tribulations. Journal of Health Promotion 10(1): 5–12. https://doi.org/10.3126/jhp.v10i1.50978

Knowledge Exchange & Innovation Funding Panel – call for Chair, Deputy Chair and Panel Members

BU2025, Funding opportunities, Fusion, HEIF, Impact, innovation, Knowledge Exchange, Knowledge Exchange and Impact Team, research opportunities, research staff

The Knowledge Exchange and Innovation Funding Panel is responsible on behalf of the Research Performance and Management Committee (RPMC) for providing internal funding and support to ensure the University maximises opportunities for investing internal funds in projects that support knowledge exchange (KE) in line with the BU2025 Research Principles. 

We are seeking expressions of interest (EoIs) for the Chair, Deputy Chair and Panel members for the new panel. 

Chairs should be members of the Professoriate – this is extended to Associate Professors for the Deputy Chair role. Applications from underrepresented groups (minority ethnic, declared disability) are particularly welcome. 

EoIs for Panel members are open to the wider academic community, not just the Professoriate.

Application: EoIs will be reviewed against selection criterion which includes knowledge and experience of knowledge exchange, innovation and impact, experience of chairing meetings and plans for leading the research agenda across the university. 

EoIs for the Chair and Deputy Chair roles should consist of a short case (maximum length of one page) outlining suitability for the role. These should be submitted to the  KE & Innovation Fund mailbox by the deadline of 5pm on 23rd January 2023. 

EoIs for Panel member roles should consist of a short case (maximum length of half a page) outlining suitability for the role. These should be submitted to the  KE & Innovation Fund mailbox by the deadline of 5pm on 23rd January 2023. 

The successful candidates for the Chair and Deputy Chair roles will be required to attend an orientation meeting with Deputy VC Tim McIntyre-Bhatty on Thursday 9th March at 10am. 

Please note that applications for Panel members will be processed following the successful recruitment of the above role- this is likely to be after 6th March 2023. 

Full details are available here:

KE Innovation FP Chair and Deputy Chair role descriptor.docx

Process and criteria for KE Funding Recruitment.docx

KEI Panel Member Role Description.docx