Category / Knowledge Exchange

North Wales Brain Injury Service – Independence in cooking tasks

Knowledge Exchange

This competition aims to promote independence in cooking tasks , to identify and develop innovative solutions that maximise the benefits for brain injury service users’ and benefits for public services.

On Thursday 26th February 2015 the competition will launch to seek and develop innovative solutions that will promote independence in cooking activities for North Wales Brain Injury Service users rather than current practice which involves direct one to one prompting from therapists and support workers. 

Organisations will be invited to compete for a share of a total £160,000 fund for the further development and commercialisation of innovative technologies, processes and business models.

The competition will open on 26th February 2015 and close on 20 April 2015. There will  be a formal launch event on Monday 23rd March 2015 in Wrexham.   

Once the competition is open, interested parties will be able to get further information, register their interest and book a place at the briefing event on 23rd March 2015 via the following email address;  

SBRI.NWBIS@wales.nhs.uk

 For further details click here.

BU team investigate water quality at Poole Park

Awarded & submitted bids, Business Engagement, Knowledge Exchange, Knowledge Transfer

 

A new project to investigate and monitor water quality at Poole Park is being carried out by a team from Bournemouth University.

The work will be completed by Bournemouth University Global Environment Solutions (BUG), after Poole Park was successful in the first stage bid to receive a £2.9 million Heritage Lottery Fund for improvements.

The main boating lake in Poole Park has experienced issues over recent years, with swarms of midges and large amounts of unpleasant weed. The BUG team has already launched an intensive 12 month study to monitor the quality of water entering the lake.

Additional surveys of the ecology of the lake, including fish and other creatures, are also planned. The weekly water quality monitoring programme will help form an understanding of factors which cause the current problems and allow the team to identify a range of management options to enhance the general health of the lake. In addition to the boating lake, the study will also extend to the two smaller freshwater ponds to examine scope for further improvements.

Adrian Pinder, Director of BUG, said:

 “What many people don’t realise is the boating lake originally formed part of Poole Harbour and would have been refreshed with sea water on every tide. “With water exchanges with the harbour now controlled by sluice gates we need to overcome a number of challenges to manage the lake to its best potential.

“We are delighted to be working with Borough of Poole and all stakeholders to provide sustainable improvements to the Park’s water features.” 

Councillor Xena Dion, Cabinet Portfolio Holder for a Prosperous and Sustainable Poole, Borough of Poole, said: “Poole Park is a wonderful and highly valued facility, but as people will know there have been considerable problems in recent years with rather unpleasant smells from decaying weed and huge swarms of midges during the summer months.

“To try and tackle the problems we have tried a programme of lake flushing, dye applications and barley straw – all of which have had some degree of success.

“We are delighted that through the Heritage Lottery Fund we are able to bring on board a team of experts from Bournemouth University to help find more effective and long term solutions.”

BUG is currently one of a number of projects funded through the Higher Education Innovation Fund (HEIF), co-ordinated through R&KEO.

 

GeoNet Launch with climate change event

Coffee Morning, Fusion, Knowledge Exchange

The fusion funded GeoNet project holds its first event on Tuesday the 3rd of February. The project aims to bring together staff and students from across the university with mutual interests via a series of events, including some lunchtime panel debates and a series of external speakers. GeoNet is very inclusive and anyone with an interest is welcome to come and take part. The events are designed to encourage conversation and interaction, with plenty of audience participation. Our first event is;

A conversation about climate change

Coyne Lecture Theatre

Tues 3rd February, 1-2pm

Come along to the Coyne on the 3rd Feb to join in the first of eleven planned GeoNet events. Join panellists who research the science of climate change and its impacts (John Stewart, Andrew Ford and Pippa Gillingham from the Department of Life and Environmental Sciences) and those who research how best to communicate it (Einar Thorsen, Nathan Farrell and David Fevyer from the Media School) in conversation to find out more about their work. We want this session to be as interactive as possible and there will be lots of opportunities to ask questions and help us as we try to learn from each other.

Tea, coffee and cookies will be provided and all are welcome!

Knowledge Transfer Partnerships Academic Development Scheme, cohort 2!

Business Engagement, Funding opportunities, Knowledge Exchange, Knowledge Transfer

I am delighted to announce the launch of the second Knowledge Transfer Partnerships Academic Development Scheme (KTPADS).  This scheme is centrally coordinated through the Research and Knowledge Exchange Office and aims to equip academics with the skills and knowledge required to identify and pursue a Knowledge Transfer Partnership (KTP).

What is KTP?

A KTP is part-funded by the government and the aim of this scheme is to encourage collaboration on projects between businesses and academics.   KTP is managed by Innovate UK (formerly the Technology Strategy Board) and provides benefits to all parties involved – this scheme offers a fusion of academic and industry collaboration supported by an associate (graduate).

What is to benefit to me?

KTP is an excellent way of bringing in income and developing knowledge exchange with a clear pathway to impact.

Key benefits of KTP are as follows:

  • Facilitates research impact
  • Increases research funding, including supervision time for the Knowledge Base Supervisor (academic) to the Associate (graduate), this time averages at half a day a week
  • Contributes to the University’s REF submission
  • Improves links with industry partners
  • Applies knowledge to innovative business-critical projects
  • Raises your profile among colleagues/the Institution

What does this scheme involve?

This scheme consists of an initial one-day development course, on Wednesday 1st April 2015, off campus, to provide you with the necessary information to pursue a KTP in your area of research.  The development day consists of information about KTP, engaging with business and writing proposals.  Members will be required to bring KTP ideas to develop.

Members are then supported throughout the year in developing their KTP ideas including support in working with business and bespoke one-to-one sessions with the Innovate UK KTP Adviser.  Additional support includes a travel budget for members to use on potential KTP collaboration visits.

Expected time commitments for this scheme are: one full day for the development course on 1st April 2015, two half-day support networks in 2015, at least three one-to-ones with the KTP Adviser from Innovate UK and unlimited one-to-ones as per your requirements from the KE Adviser (KTP) within the BU Research and Knowledge Exchange Office.

Please note: the expectations of the scheme are for members to collaborate with business and submit a KTP proposal within a year of starting the scheme.

Dates for your diary

Wednesday 1st April – all day development day

Week commencing 6th April – initial one-to-one

Wednesday 10th June – afternoon support network

Week commencing 21st September – mid-point review one-to-one

Wednesday 9th December – afternoon support network

 

What are the KTP funding priorities?

If you’re interested in working on KTP, there are a number of funding priorities for KTP as detailed below:

  • Advanced materials
  • Nanotechnology
  • Biosciences
  • Electronics, photonics and electrical systems
  • Information and communication technologies
  • High value manufacturing
  • Digital technologies
  • Emerging technologies
  • Energy generation and supply
  • Environmental sustainability
  • -Sustainable agriculture and food
  • -Low impact buildings
  • Creative industries
  • High value services
  • Medicines and healthcare
  • -Assisted living
  • -Detection and identification of infectious agents
  • -Stratified medicine
  • Transport
  • -Low carbon vehicles
  • Space

Special funding calls are also regularly released, currently there is a specialized call for agri-food and space respectively, which are due to close in February and also a call for user experience which closes in April.  Further themes are due to be announced throughout the year.

If your research expertise fits into any of these themes, then KTP could be a great knowledge exchange project for you.

How do I apply?

To apply for a place on the scheme, please contact Rachel Clarke to request an application form.  This form will need to be signed by your Line Manager and please note that all applications will be submitted to the respective Deputy Dean of Research for review to ensure applications meet Faculty strategic aims.   Applications open on Monday 9th February and close at 5pm on Friday 27th February.

If you would like to discuss this scheme or receive an application form, please contact Rachel Clarke, Knowledge Exchange Adviser (KTP) on 01202 961347 or clarker@bournemouth.ac.uk

New opportunity from Innovate UK – SME Growth Support!

Funding opportunities, Knowledge Exchange, Knowledge Transfer

If you’re working with a business to apply for funding from Innovate UK, for example, a KTP, from January 2015, all SMEs will receive the opportunity to access SME growth support.  This support is available for awarded projects from eligible competitions and includes an online diagnostic, coaching and mentoring opportunities and also skills training in areas such as strategic marketing.  Innovate UK will be providing the funding for SMEs to receive this growth support.

Further information on this new growth support opportunity can be found on the Innovate UK government website.

 

KTP success rate is still sky high..!

Business Engagement, Funding opportunities, Knowledge Exchange, Knowledge Transfer

Knowledge Transfer Partnerships (KTP) are a fantastic way of making long-lasting relationships with industry, bringing in income and measuring impact, which is quite a feat for a scheme that is 40 years old this year..!

Submission deadlines are every two months and once proposals are reviewed, statistics are released on how well the proposals submitted, fared against the Proposal Approval Group (PAG).

Below is an update documenting the most recent statistics from the Innovate UK PAG in December 2014.

Proposals submitted 86
Proposals supported 77
Of which, number supported without amendments 39
Withdrawn by Adviser prior to consideration 0
Proposals not supported 9
Of which, number that can be revised for resubmission 8
Success rate 90%

These statistics demonstrate the high success rate of KTP proposals that are awarded and also the amount of proposals that were submitted in November.

If you’re working (or want to work) with industry on innovative projects, find out more about how KTP can help you.  Contact Rachel Clarke, Knowledge Exchange Adviser (KTP) on 61347 or email clarker@bournemouth.ac.uk

Join us for today’s cyber security seminar…

Knowledge Exchange, Knowledge Transfer

Staff and students are invited to join us for today’s cyber security seminar on:

‘Persuasive Technology for Information Security’

Tuesday, 27th January at 4pm. 

Room: P335 LT

In the seminar, participants will hear about design principles for persuasive technology for promoting information security and also about methods to evaluate persuasive technology. Concrete examples and “best practices” will be given from a recent research project, in which it is used in organizations to make employees comply with information security policies.

Our speaker will be Marc Busch.  Marc is a scientist at the AIT – Austrian Institute of Technology and is active at the intersection of persuasive technology and usable privacy and security. Furthermore, he is specialized in advanced quantitative and qualitative usability and user experience methodology, research methods and statistics in Human-computer interaction. Marc is involved in several international and national research and industrial projects, such as MUSES – Multiplatform Usable Endpoint Security Before joining AIT, Marc was at CURE – Center for Usability Research & Engineering, where he focused on user experience and usability.

£9m funding open for registration – Integrated transport: local authority solutions

Business Engagement, Funding opportunities, Knowledge Exchange, Knowledge Transfer

Innovate UK has launched a funding competition for collaborative research & development with up to nine million pounds funding available.

The aim of this competition is to meet user needs by connecting people and/or goods to transport products and services. 

More information & competition registration page.

Briefing Event, 20 January, London

You can attend the competition briefing event,  either online or in person. This event is an excellent opportunity for you to receive first hand information about the competition – its scope, application process, key dates etc. as well as a chance to network. Register for the briefing event or webinar.

 For queries about this competition, please contactsupport@innovateuk.gov.uk

American Psychology Teaching Conference opens with beautiful sunrise

Knowledge Exchange

Dr. Jacqui Taylor, Associate Professor in the Psychology Department at Bournemouth University recently presented and ran a workshop at the ‘National Institute on the Teaching of Psychology’, an annual conference for teachers of psychology to explore new ideas to enhance and broaden their teaching skills.  Below, Dr. Taylor summarises her experience:

 

“I welcomed the New Year by presenting a poster and workshop at the 37th Annual ‘National Institute on the Teaching Of Psychology’ in Florida. The first day dawned with a beautiful sunrise and an early 7:30 am breakfast session!
sunrise
My poster ‘The Evaluation and Assessment of Online Skills Through Online Group Discussion’ stimulated lots of interaction from delegates who were mainly interested in my use of reflection as an assessment tool. Increasingly, much of a psychology student’s learning occurs within electronic environments, however rarely are the new skills they develop in these contexts identified, improved or assessed. Over the past 5 years, I have addressed this important need, and examples from assessed online student discussions were presented in my poster to demonstrate an innovative way to develop and assess online skills. I made some good contacts with other lecturers who were using quite different quantitative rubrics to assess technical skills and I look forward to developing links with them.
Poster J Taylor
My second presentation was under a category called ‘Participant Idea Exchange (referred to as PIEs!)’ and consisted of a one-hour facilitated workshop session. My ‘PIE’ was on ‘Psychological Literacy: A Practical Approach’ and I presented with Dr Carolyn Mair (a past PGR and lecturer at BU). Psychological literacy is a new and important concept in psychology education which encapsulates the knowledge, skills and attributes acquired through the study of psychology and the ability to transfer learning from the academic setting into the real world. Despite an increasing number of academic and professional publications highlighting theoretical concepts and benefits of psychological literacy, there are few practical resources for psychology educators. This PIE addressed this need by discussing our two recent publications commissioned by the UK Higher Education Academy: ‘An Introductory Guide to Psychological Literacy’ (Mair, Taylor & Hulme, 2013) and ‘A Psychological Literacy Compendium’ (Taylor & Hulme, in prep).
Psychological Literacy PIE J Taylor
As the sun set on this year’s conference there were promises from many delegates to collaborate and share their teaching practice throughout 2015 and meet once again at the 38th ‘NITOP’ in 2016.”
Sunset to NITOP

Top tips for completing business and knowledge exchange funding applications

Guidance, Knowledge Exchange, Knowledge Transfer

For those involved in business and business planning some of  this information would not necessarily be new, however very important when completing any funding application or competition where Innovate UK are the main funder.  Innovate UK is the new name for the Technology Strategy Board and  fund, support and connect innovative businesses to accelerate sustainable economic growth.

A short guide to  to help make clear what an assessor for Innovate UK competitions is looking for has been produced. All of the Innovate UK funding programmes follow a similar pattern and you should bear in mind that the questions are designed to help rather than trip you up. It is important that you answer the questions asked and cover all aspects the Guidance for Applicants describes.
 
Try and  use the language they are looking for: the easier you make it for the assessor to understand and check off the information they seek, the more likely the proposal will score highly. The guidance is noted under 10 headings as follows :
  1. Business opportunity
  2. The market
  3. Exploitation
  4. Benefits,
  5. Project plan
  6. Innovation
  7. Risks
  8. Skills/ Project Consortium
  9. Finances
  10. Additionality

This is a user friendly document and worth reading to assist with  applications for funding large or small!

The Wessex Forum Event to be held at BU – – discussing ‘Biodiversity, Ecosystem Services & the Green Economy’ in the Wessex region

Business Engagement, Knowledge Exchange

Date: Wednesday 11 February

Location: Bournemouth University – Executive Business Centre

Time: Starting at 9.30am (all day event)

Event details:

The Wessex Conservation Forum aims to bring together representatives from NGOs, Universities and Government bodies for a free one day conference discussing ‘Biodiversity, Ecosystem Services & the Green Economy’ in the Wessex region. The services which nature provides us with, such as clean water, clean air, fertile soil and food, are not only crucial for the well-being of human-kind, they also represent an astronomical value. It has been estimated by economists that the loss of biodiversity was costing the EU €450 billion annually, equal to 3% of GDP. Hence, halting the loss of biodiversity and ecosystem services is now a UK and EU priority for 2020.

Confirmed speakers include representatives from organisations such as: the Centre for Ecology & Hydrology, the Freshwater Biological Association, Bournemouth University, University of Southampton, the Dorset Local Nature Partnership, Wessex Water and the Bournemouth & Poole Sustainable Food City Partnership. The conference will be centred around a series of talks in order to showcase research output, identify areas for further research and promote collaboration in order to fulfil these needs.

A complimentary lunch and refreshments will be provided on the day, and there will be plenty of opportunities to make and renew contacts throughout the day.

To book: This event is popular and places are limited.  Click here to register for your free place.

More information: We hope to see you at this event but if you are unable to attend and  want to find out more about the work that BU is involved in why not sign up to receive more information. The Wessex Portal (formerly the Poole & Purbeck Portal  has been developed with the assistance of  funding from the Higher Edication Innovation Fund – HEIF)  as an  online community to promote a better understanding of our region’s unique natural and heritage assets.

Click here to  sign up to receive more information on jobs,  general news and projects taking place as part of this initiative.