Category / Knowledge Exchange

Connecting people to accelerate innovation

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The Knowledge Transfer Network (KTN) is Innovate UK’s networking partner and provides information on funding, events and news on a number of different sectors to support Innovate UK with its mission to drive UK growth and productivity.

A number of LinkedIn groups which cover Innovate UK’s thematic areas have been set up:

You can join as many groups as you like. This allows you to keep-up-to date with funding, events and news in a variety of sectors helping you to stay on top of potential opportunities and develop future collaborations.

These are replacing the _connect networking groups.

Design Foundations: helping companies with early stage innovation

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There is a great deal of evidence demonstrating that businesses that use a strong early-stage design process generate increased revenue, market share and exports, as well as having a faster and more cost-effective innovation process.

Early-stage design will give companies  (and investors) greater confidence in your ideas, help to streamline development and reduce the likelihood and cost of rectifying problems later on. Brand equity and business resilience can also be improved through design.

Design Foundations is a great opportunity to develop your organisation’s innovation capability and lay the foundations for compelling, high-value propositions that will help attract investors and customers.

What is it?

Design Foundations is a new £3m grant-funding programme from Innovate UK aimed at helping companies to identify high-value innovation opportunities and generate better propositions for new products, services and business models.

The funding supports companies explore future possibilities in collaboration with a design team; bringing new tools and approaches to the plate. It offers up to 70% funding of projects up to £100,000 for any UK company, irrespective of scale or maturity, operating in any sector. There are three rounds of funding across 2017, opening for applications on January 9.

For more information including how this can help businesses , the application process and what makes a good application can be found using the links below.

More information.

Launch event 17 January 2017 – London.

 

 

Innovate UK – latest funding opportuntity

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Innovation in infrastructure systems – round 2

Innovate UK is to invest up to £15 million in projects to stimulate innovation that creates UK business growth in infrastructure systems. We want businesses to collaborate to develop new integrated solutions and new business models.

Innovate UK are  looking to fund a portfolio of projects. These may include technical feasibility, industrial research or experimental development projects.  Projects are likley to to range in size from total eligible costs of £25,000 to £5 million. Projects should last between 3 months and 3 years.

Projects must show significant innovation in one of our priority areas:

  • ‘smart’ infrastructure
  • energy systems
  • connected transport
  • urban living

Proposals must improve business growth, productivity and/or create export opportunities for at least one UK small and medium-sized enterprise (SME) involved in the project. The proposal needs to include at least one SME either working alone or in collaboration with others (business, research base and third sector).

There are 2 competition options:

  • £5 million for projects that last from 3 months to 1 year with costs from £25,000 to £100,000
  • £10 million for projects lasting from 1 year to 3 years with costs between £100,000 and £5 million

Click here for more information.

Click here for all live calls.

If you are interested in submitting to any of the above calls you must contact your  RKEO Funding Development Officer with adequate notice before the deadline.

For more funding opportunities that are most relevant to you, you can set up your own personalised alerts on Research Professional. If you need help setting these up, just ask your School’s/Faculty’s Funding Development Officer in  RKEO or view the recent blog post here.

If thinking of applying, why not add notification of your interest on Research Professional’s record of the bid so that BU colleagues can see your intention to bid and contact you to collaborate.

Data Science and Analytics Training for Business

logo-czrneData Science and Analytics Training and Engagement Services for Business – HEIF project

We are experiencing an explosive growth of digital content. According to International Data Corporation, there are currently over 2.7 zetabytes of data. It is estimated that in 2020, the digital universe will be 50 times as big as in 2010 and that from now until 2020 it will double every two years.

The commercial world has been transformed by Big Data with companies competing on analytics. Data has become a commodity referred to as the ‘new oil’. We are entering a new era of predictive analytics and data intensive computing which has been recognised worldwide with various high profile reports. In a recent UK-wide report commissioned by SAS UK (one of our key industrial partners) it has been estimated that there will be about 132,000 big data job opportunities created in the UK economy between 2012 and 2017. McKinsey’s report states that by 2018 the US alone will face a shortage of between 140,000 to 190,000 people with deep analytical skills, while in the UK such shortage will be in the region of 58,000 (e-Skills UK5). Another SAS commissioned report focusing on “data equity” and its impact on the UK, states that increasing adoption of big data analytics will result in cumulative benefits of £216 billion over the years 2012-17.

Following the success of recently launched MSc in Applied Data Analytics, this HEIF project seeks to take advantage of a large demand for and addresses the widening advanced analytics skills gap. Our HEIF project focuses on:

  1. Engagement with industry through a provision of an on-going opportunity for contact, information and advice in the Data Science Surgeries which are open to businesses of all sizes as well as university staff and students. This service is to support the creation of Knowledge Exchange professional network in the Data Science and Analytics area helping to identify potential skillset needed as well as transfer of knowledge and collaborative research opportunities.
  2. Development of a portfolio of CPD/short courses within an area with acute UK-wide shortage of skills and where, within the Data Science community consisting of over 50 academics from four faculties, BU has a wealth of expertise and excellent track record.

Over time, the Data Science Surgeries and CPD courses will facilitate engagement between industry and the broader BU Data Science community, enabling us to build bridges and develop relationships with industry, as well as interdisciplinary research collaborations.  The new perspectives developed through this interdisciplinary collaboration will not only help to give a better understanding of some of the complex problems facing our society, but also help to inform both the teaching and professional practice undertaken by our academics -supporting the vision of Fusion at BU.

Research in the news – dementia research features in Vision Magazine

Some of BU’s dementia research has been featured in Vision magazine, which highlights clinical research news from the Wessex region.  The article demonstrates BU’s person-centred approach to dementia research, showing how different teams are working to improve the quality of life people with dementia.

Professor Jane Murphy and Lecturer Joanne Holmes have been working with local Dorset care homes to develop a better understanding of nutrition for people with dementia.  The team discovered that people with dementia often weren’t eating enough to meet their daily energy requirements.  The reasons behind this are diverse – some people face physical difficulties with chewing and swallowing, while others may struggle to identify when they feel thirsty or hungry, or find it hard to remember when they last ate.  By working together local care homes, the team were able to develop training resources to help care staff improve their knowledge of nutrition.  The resources also provide a wealth of ideas and tips for supporting people with dementia to eat and drink well.

Professor Jan Wiener and his team are exploring how to improve building design to help people with dementia.  People with dementia often struggle with navigating around unfamiliar environments, which can become a particular problem if they move to a care home as the disease progresses.  The team use a variety of different methods including eye-tracking technology, virtual reality technology and behavioural navigation experiments.  Their aim is to use the results of their research to improve dementia friendly design guidance.

Dr Samuel Nyman has been funded for three years by the National Institute for Health Research (NIHR) to explore the benefits of Tai Chi for people with dementia.  The study he is leading is looking to identify any benefits with a particular focus on seeing whether Tai Chi can help to improve people’s balance, and therefore reduce the risk of falls.

To find out more about their research, do read the full magazine article.

 

The Personal Data & Trust Network is seeking new members

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The Network aims to build and nurture a community that brings together industry, the public sector, funders, research organisations, individual researchers and innovators to support the UK in becoming the global leader in trust and responsible innovation with personal data.

To find our more click here

It’s free to join

Innovate UK launch open funding programme

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Are you working with a business that would be interested in this funding opportunity? Research organisations can participate as project collaborators. (The level of total research participation is set at a maximum of 30% of total eligible project costs.)

UK businesses can apply for a share of up to £15 million to deliver transformational innovations with potential for impact on the UK economy.

The competition is now live and open to the best business-led, innovative or disruptive ideas or concepts. These can be drawn from any technology, engineering or industrial area. This area can be one that fits into, or be outside of, any one or more of Innovate UK’s 4 priority sectors for growth. (Emerging and Enabling Technologies, Health and Life Sciences, Infrastructure Systems, Manufacturing and Materials.)

To be in scope, a proposal must:

  • demonstrate transformational or disruptive innovation leading to novel, new products, processes or services
  • articulate a clear, anticipated growth and commercialisation impact for the business(es) with considerable, demonstrable (as you would set out in a pitch to any serious investor) potential to lead to a significant return on investment (ROI)

Priority will be given to proposals that are likely to lead to sustainable gains in productivity and/or access to new overseas markets through export-led business growth.

To lead a project you must:

  • be a UK-based business
  • be a business of any size
  • carry out your project in the UK
  • work alone or in collaboration with others (businesses, research base and third sector) – this could be BU

For more information click here for:

or more information on knowledge exchange at BU contact Jayne Codling within RKEO.

 

SHIVA project progresses with innovation funding

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The SHIVA Project has received Higher Education Innovation Funding (HEIF) that runs for 12 months from August 2016 until July 2017. (HEIF 5+1+1.)

The HEIF funding will be critical in terms of supporting the development of networks locally, nationally and beyond. The key aims will be to link user groups and stakeholders in education, health and wellbeing related to children, young people and adults, through the creative digital innovations offered by the SHIVA project.

This project which brought innovative virtual sculpting tools to children with complex disabilities, enabling them to partake in creative digital activities from which they had previously been excluded was recognised in the Time Higher Awards last November winning the Outstanding Digital Innovation in Teaching or Research Category.

Originally the SHIVA project on 3D modelling and 3D printing for young people with disabilities was funded by the EU Interreg programme with the duration from 2010 to 2015.

The original project team worked with the Victoria Education Centre (VEC) in Poole.  As the project ended in 2015, it was clear there was scope to take this project beyond the initial funding and the SHIVA project has successfully been awarded impact acceleration funding and more recently HEIF funding.

A new Research Assistant, Michelle Wu, an NCCA graduate (2016), is the latest member to join this team. Michelle will be involved in turning the SHIVA system into a deployable product with proper installation, configuration and usage instructions. This area of work will help make SHIVA accessible to all potential users in the UK and further afield and strengthen the potential for developing networks that will benefit from this award winning technology.

For more information on this project contact Alexander Pasko or Oleg Fryazinov within the Faculty of Media and Communication.

Jayne Codling within RKEO co-ordinates the HEIF project portfolio for BU. Feel free to contact Jayne if you have any questions regarding HEIF at BU or knowledge exchange activities including business engagement and innovation funding.

RKEDF Workshop – Innovate UK: A Guide to Funding

rkeo-dev-logo-squareAs part of the Research and Knowledge Exchange Development Framework, RKEO are holding a workshop for academics to learn more about funding opportunities from Innovate UK.  This workshop will be led by our local Innovate UK KTP Adviser and the will be talking about various Innovate UK funding opportunities.  There will also be a drop-in session for one-to-one advice.

Venue: Talbot Campus

Date: Friday 9th December 2016

Time: 10.00-12.00

Book your space by contacting Organisational Development.

For further information, please contact Rachel Clarke, KE Adviser.

Workshop: working with the press

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Despite the increasing popularity of online media sources, ‘traditional’ media outlets still tend to be the main way most people consume news.  Working with the media can be a very powerful way of sharing your research findings with the general public or with specialist audiences.  It’s a good way of disseminating your research, which can lead to impact further down the line.

As part of our new Research & Knowledge Exchange Development Framework, we will be running a session about working with the media as one way of sharing your research.  This session is part of the ‘planning for impact and communicating research’ pathway.

This workshop will be led by BU’s PR manager, Nathaniel Hobby, who will take you through the basics of working with the press.

Date & time: Monday 5 December 9:30am – 11:30am

Location: Lansdowne Campus

For further information and to book, see BU’s staff intranet.

CFP: Special Issue on Gender and Mobility in Tourism

Call for Papers: Tourism Review
Special Issue on Gender and Mobility in Tourism

Guest Editors:
Jaeyeon Choe, PhD
Centre for Events, Leisure, Society & Culture, Faculty of Management
Bournemouth University, UK

Cristopher Livecchi, PhD
Department of Geography
State University of New York, USA

Gender in/and tourism have been gaining an increasing attention from tourism scholars since the 1990s (e.g., Aitchison, 2005; Figueroa-Domecq et al., 2015; Ferguson, 2011; Ireland, 1993; Pritchard & Morgan, 2000; Munar et al., 2015; Swain, 1995). Despite growing interest and published works, the nexus of tourism and gender has not been thoroughly explored by researchers. Gender and tourism literature is fragmented, with a lack of communication and collaboration across disciplines even though there are overlapping topic areas and discussions. There has not been enough interdisciplinary research work carried out, leading to fragmented literature reviews, theorization processes and methods. Thus, the primary aim of this special issue is to thoroughly review the theories, theorization processes and methods/methodology of gender studies in tourism, by encouraging the incorporation of LGBT, queer studies and ‘White’ feminism concepts and theories.

Secondly, we are interested in exploring how migration and mobility in a globalising world have affected gender issues in relation to tourism, and implications of practices, politics and meanings of mobility for women (Porter, 2011). Migration theory had begun to include feminist theory in the early 1990s (Chant ,1992), and has provided insights into the connections and the mutually constitutive relationship between the construction of masculinities and masculinist ideologies; and migration, (im)mobilities and transnationalism and gender issues. As scholars interested in migration and mobilities work collaboratively and transnationally across different worlds (Yeoh & Ramdas, 2014), papers that address how migration and gender issues influence tourism research and practices are welcome. We also welcome papers that incorporate action research, as well as papers that develop future research directions.

In summary, this special issue, we seek papers related to issues about (im)mobilities, migration, LGBTQ, ‘White’ feminism, action research, social sustainability and the cultural geography of gender and tourism. We invite contributions from a variety of disciplines including anthropology, geography, sociology, psychology, cultural studies, leisure studies, tourism studies and education. We invite you to submit papers on topics that include (but are not limited to):

– Migration and gender (in)equality
– Gender politics, migration and (im)mobilities
– Action research in gender and tourism
– Research methods development
– LGBT/queer studies in tourism field
– ‘White’ feminism/ ‘White’ masculinity
– Cultural geography of gender and tourism
– Social sustainability and gender issues
– Gender and the Sharing Economy
– “Dangerous women” in tourism
– Implications of practices, politics and meanings of mobility for women
– Gender, migration and (im)moralities in developing worlds
– Brexit and its potential impact on immigrant women communities

Each article should be approximately 3000-5500 words long.
Submission Deadlines:

· 500 words abstract due: 20 December 2016
· Full paper due: 20 February 2017

Please send your abstracts/papers to Jaeyeon Choe, PhD (jchoe@bournemouth.ac.uk)

Workshop: using social media

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Social media is a popular way of sharing information and connecting with audiences you might not otherwise be able to reach.  It’s a good outlet for sharing research findings and for learning more about potential stakeholders in your area.

As part of our new Research & Knowledge Exchange Development Framework, we will be running a session about using social media to share your research and connect with stakeholders.  This session is part of the ‘planning for impact and communicating research’ pathway.

This workshop will be led by BU’s social media manager – Jasmine Connolly, who will take you through the basics of using social media at work.

Date & time: Wednesday 30 November 9:30am – 11:30am

Location: Talbot Campus

For further information and to book, see BU’s staff intranet.

IP Management in H2020 – with a special focus on MSCA Webinar

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The European IPR Helpdesk is running a number of webinars over the next few months and RKEO are registering and promoting those relevant to BU’s activities.

The next webinar on IP Management in H2020 – with a special focus on MSCA will be next Tuesday:

29/11/16     9:30 AM     Location:  PG30d, Poole House – Talbot Campus

Duration: 60 minutes (presentation) + 15 minutes (Q&As)

Please arrive at 9:15am for a prompt 9:30 start with the webinar duration being one hour. We have the room booked for a longer time so that we can have a post-webinar discussion afterwards, if appropriate. Please only register on the European IPR Helpdesk link if you will be joining the webinar from your own desk rather than joining us.

You can also check the European IPR Helpdesk Calendar for all their events. RKEO will be attempting to secure one of the limited webinar slots for each one which is relevant to BU – details of future webinars, where BU is registered, will be posted on this blog. In the meantime, please find out more about the work of the European IPR Helpdesk.

If you would like to attend this event, please do so via the Organisation Development page for this event.

Catering is not provided, but do feel free to arrive coffee in hand.

Sharing undergraduate research: how SURE led one student to Norway and beyond

Next year Bournemouth University will be hosting the British Conference of Undergraduate Research, an international showcase of research from undergraduates of all disciplines.  Students submit an abstract and if accepted to the conference, have the chance to share their work through a poster, oral presentation or art displays.  It’s a great opportunity to get an insight into academic life and develop key skills that will be of benefit no matter which career they end up in.

Charlotte Fodor, a recent graduate from the Faculty of Media & Communication took part in this year’s Showcasing Undergraduate Research Excellence (SURE) – BU’s internal research conference.  Below she shares her experience of taking part and how it’s helped her career to develop.

 

I am recent graduate who took part in this year’s SURE conference. I presented my research, which explores the representation of disabled people in literature, and was delighted to be awarded a prize for the best presentation.

My prize enabled me to attend a conference related to my research interests.  This led to me applying and being accepted as a speaker at a conference in Bergen, Norway.  I used the funding I won through taking part in SURE to pay for my travel costs.

It was my first time in Norway and I stayed in Bergen for three days. It was a beautiful, welcoming place; with rolling mountains, intricate sculptures, and pastel coloured buildings.

The conference, known as “Gender, Body, and Health”, was organised by the Nordic Network and hosted by the University of Bergen. I met a variety of academics and speakers from all over the world: from America, to India, to Sweden, to Germany, who introduced me to exciting ideas and perspectives that I had never considered before. These are just a few examples of the fantastic topics that I had the chance to learn about. Discussions on whether or not Literature could evoke a DeafBlind experience; Universal Design and Disability; the Female, Disabled body in India; Disability and the Art of Quiet Protest…

SURE was the first conference that I spoke at and it led me to Norway. I sincerely consider SURE to be a stepping stone towards my aims for the future.

Taking part in opportunities like SURE will stretch your mind. You will have to think on the spot during the Q&A, and figure out your time management (you can only talk for a limited amount of time. I had to condense my 10,000-word dissertation into a paper that lasted for 10 minutes). It will also help you to develop as an independent researcher and enrich your C.V.

Whether, like me, you want to pursue academia further; or, you are preparing for the job market, taking part in SURE will cement the skills you need for the future and has the potential to open more doors for you that you may not have considered.

Visiting Bergen and networking was an exciting adventure, and it was a great kick-starter for my Postgraduate research, which I’m now underway with at the University of Southampton!

 

To find out more about taking part in the British Conference of Undergraduate Research or to find out how your students can submit an abstract, visit www.bournemouth.ac.uk/bcur17

Knowledge exchange framework portal – new HEFCE webpages

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HEFCE have launched a new portal which aims to support higher education institutions to continuously improve their practice in the areas of knowledge exchange.

 

This includes sections on:

HEFCE will continue to populate these pages are further information becomes available.

If you have any queries about the portal and its contents, or wish to discuss any elements of knowledge exchange, please do not hesitate to contact Rebecca Edwards.

IP Commercialisation and Licensing – European IPR Helpdesk Webinar

The European IPR Helpdesk is running a number of webinars over the next few months and RKEO are registering and promoting those relevant to BU’s activities.

The next webinar on IP Commercialisation and Licensing will be this Wednesday:

dev_framework09/11/16     9:30 AM     Location:  The Octagon, The Sir Michael Cobham Library – Talbot Campus

Duration: 60 minutes (presentation) + 15 minutes (Q&As)

Please arrive at 9:15am for a prompt 9:30 start with the webinar duration being one hour. We have the room booked for a longer time so that we can have a post-webinar discussion afterwards, if appropriate. Please only register on the European IPR Helpdesk link if you will be joining the webinar from your own desk rather than joining us.

You can also check the European IPR Helpdesk Calendar for all their events. RKEO will be attempting to secure one of the limited webinar slots for each one which is relevant to BU – details of future webinars, where BU is registered, will be posted on this blog. In the meantime, please find out more about the work of the European IPR Helpdesk.

If you would like to attend this event, please do so via the Organisation Development page for this event.

Catering is not provided, but do feel free to arrive coffee in hand.rkeo-rke-working-with-business

The event is delivered as part of the RKE Development Framework.