
Applied Research in Collaboration with Industry Partners – Discussion Panel

Latest research and knowledge exchange news at Bournemouth University
Another busy week in HE policy– with consultations and a very short timeline for the KEF. Everyone has hit the ground running in 2020!
The outcome of the KEF consultation in 2019 has come out. UKRI have published the “Decisions for the first iteration”. They have given a very short timeline for the publication of the first set of data and narratives from institutions – they will all be published this summer. Narratives have to be submitted by May. Data will be published for everyone, whether they submit narratives or not.
They have also indicated that it is likely that from 2020/21 institutions will have to submit narratives for the KEF to be eligible for Research England funding.
The metrics will be reported against “clusters”. They have changed their original cluster proposals somewhat, removing the Social Science and Business specialist cluster – final cluster membership will be published in February with the templates. These clusters have been designed to allow meaningful comparison. When BU responded to the consultation we suggested that it is unhelpful to introduce a third methodology for comparison – the TEF uses institutional benchmarks, something that has challenges itself, and the REF is of course organised by subject. We remain concerned that this will be confusing and not very meaningful for businesses and other organisations (the declared target for this information) who may not find the cluster comparison useful if they only have limited experience with a small number of universities.
You will recall that the metrics are grouped into seven “perspectives” – only two will require narratives. The consultation looked at additional metrics but has discounted any that are not already “gathered through existing statutory returns, or available from other UKRI or external sources”. This is because they want to make it a “low burden” exercise.
Public and Community Engagement narrative – a statement:
Local Growth and Regeneration narrative – a statement:
The third narrative will be an institutional context narrative – “setting out the geographic, economic and social context within which the higher education institution is operating…. The information contained within this statement will not be used to normalise any of the metrics or perspectives across clusters.”
David Kernohan has written for Wonkhe about it:
David summarises the pages of normalisation methodology in the document nicely: “Metrics are a three-year average, mostly …as ratios, which are converted at perspective level into deciles. This reduces a great deal of data and analysis into what amounts to a set of marks out of 10, which are compared to an average mark from comparable institutions (the infamous clusters)”.
And the visualisation approach: “Research England has a grand plan to use spider graphs to show institutional scores alongside cluster averages, with an option to drill down into more detailed data on each metric. I’m not as struck by this as they are – the exercise is designed to support comparisons and spider diagrams are an unwieldy way to do this. I also feel like the individual metrics are still fairly abstract, you have to go quite a long way back down the methodology to get something that the mind can easily take hold of.”
After the social media storm last week when Parliament didn’t approve the Erasmus amendment to the Withdrawal Agreement Bill (it doesn’t mean we can’t be in it, it just means that government won’t be bound by the new Bill to make sure we are in it), there have been a few questions this week.
Douglas Chapman (SNP) said that the end of Erasmus scheme was an “utter disaster, culturally and socially” and asked the PM to comment on the end of the participation of the scheme. Boris’ response implied that the UK would continue to participate in the scheme.
And there were several questions on Erasmus (see this one and this one) – all with similar response – that the Government is including it within the Brexit negotiations and is working towards remaining within the scheme. The House of Commons Library have released this briefing paper on Erasmus to inform MPs ahead of Monday’s scheduled Education debate.
HESA have published higher education statistics for 2018/19. Interestingly, the OfS focussed on grade inflation in their response –and nothing else.
In 2018/19:
Over the five year period 2014/15 – 2018/19:
Student Minds has launched The Wellbeing Thesis, a website designed to support postgraduate research students to maintain their mental wellbeing.
Baroness Tyler of Enfield has presented a Bill in the House of Lords which would amend the Education Act 2002 and the Academies Act 2010 for schools to promote the mental health and wellbeing of their pupils. The Bill will proceed to a second reading at a future date.
And some Parliamentary questions:
Q – Conor McGinn: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps his Department is taking to (a) reduce the level of social stigma in relation to mental health and (b) promote awareness of mental health issues among young people.
A – Nick Gibb:
Monday was the closing date for Labour leadership candidates to secure the 22 nominations from MPs to run for party leader. Chris Lewis and Barry Gardiner did not secure the required amount. The following candidates will progress to the next round (number of nominations received noted in brackets):
Candidates for deputy leader:
We explained the leadership contest process in detail in last week’s policy update. However, here is a quick recap: the next phase requires the candidates to seek nominations from Constituency Labour Parties and the Unions by 15th Jan – to carry on they need support of 5% of the constituency parties (the BBC said 30) OR 3 affiliate organisations, including 2 trade unions. The members’ ballot opens on 21st Feb and runs to 2nd April. Votes are redistributed if there is no clear winner. Results announced on 4th April
An interesting background briefing on the Labour leadership candidates prepared by Dods is available here. It is worth a read to get to know the candidates better.
The House of Commons Library has a new briefing paper on the Augar Review (Post 18 Education and Funding Review). The paper considers the recommendations of the Augar Review and the (page 26) initial responses to it from major HE bodies. The Government is rumoured to have made the decision on how they will respond (which parts they will adopt) of the Augar Review and intend to release their response at a suitable point (soon-ish!). Most likely the briefing paper has been produced because Education Questions will take place in Parliament next Monday.
And some Parliamentary questions:
Q -Baroness Bennett Of Manor Castle: following the announcement that nursing bursaries are to be reintroduced, what plans [the Government] have to support nurses, midwifes and other healthcare professionals with any debt incurred before the reintroduction to support their study and training.
A -Baroness Blackwood Of North Oxford:
Q – Dr Matthew Offord (Hendon): To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps his Department has taken to introduce Sharia compliant student loans.
A – Chris Skidmore (Kingswood): The government remains committed to introducing an Alternative Student Finance product for tuition fee and maintenance loans. Details on implementation will follow the conclusion of the review of post-18 education and funding.
Parliamentary business has been laid to commence the election of the select committee chairs now the new Parliament has formed. We anticipate the chairs will be announced early in February. Below is a diagram stating which party will chair each select committee.
There are several committees where the previous chairman has vacated their position through losing their seat, or where the chairmanship has switched from Labour to Tory to reflect Parliament’s new arithmetic (the number of chairs for each party is proportionate to the size of the party in Parliament). These include the Treasury, health, transport and work and pensions committees.
There is a potential change on the horizon. In the past when a parliamentary session ends the chairmanship and membership of a select committee ceases – as it did when the 2019 general election was called. However, a parliamentary motion introduced this week seeks to remove the limit on the maximum length of time an individual can chair a committee. This would allow parliamentarians to become long-serving chairs. There is also a clause which stipulates that the Brexit committee will continue for another year, even though the department it shadows — DExEU — is being wound up at the end of January.
There was a major Education and Local Government debate within the House of Commons this week led by Gavin Williamson, Secretary of State for Education. On schools the debate covered content on: the minimum school funding (per pupil), rolling out free schools (Midlands, North and South West), extra funding to Councils to support children in care, capital funding for childcare provision within schools (for school aged children), an arts activities premium for secondary schools from 2021, school building safety – following advice in the independent Hackitt review,
Gavin Williamson also said:
Angela Rayner challenged the Government on the lack of response to the Augar review, particularly in relation to decision on the regulation of home education. She said: “While we are on the subject of Bills that are missing in action…The Augar review went from being a flagship to a ghost ship”.
SNP Shadow Secretary of State for Education, Carol Monaghan, asked the Minister whether a fee change would be forthcoming, further to the Augar review recommendations. She also raised concerns over the implications of Brexit on HE staff, research funding, infrastructure and collaboration: “A recent report from the Royal Society has shown that the UK’s share of EU funding has fallen by €500 million since 2015. There has also been a drop of 40% in UK applications to Horizon 2020. We are still in it just now, but we have had that drop because people do not have any certainty. The UK is now seen as a less attractive place to come and do research, with 35% fewer scientists coming to the UK through key schemes. That is of concern, as is Erasmus and what Brexit will mean for that programme”.
David Davis (Conservative) criticised the university tuition fees and loans scheme for delivering poor-quality education, high levels of expectations and low levels of outcome. He called for concerted action to tackle low productivity, including translational research, but also, “investment, education, infrastructure, magnet cities and garden villages”.
Previous chair of the Education Select Committee Robert Halfon welcomes the Queen’s Speech and said that he believes that “skills, social justice, standards and support for the profession should be the four interlocking foundations of this Government’s education programme.” He called on the Government to turbocharge adult learning, citing that adult learning is at its lowest since 1996 and that this county needs a world-class apprenticeships programme.
Halfon also raised concerns about disadvantaged pupils who are often 19 months behind by the time they reach their GCSEs, he called on the Government to have a “bold, assertive agenda that has compassion and aspiration right at its core.” Halfon told the chamber that the Government should offer top-quality childcare, to help plug the gap of disadvantaged children who are already left behind when they start primary school.
Shadow Minister for Northern Ireland Karin Smyth told the house that the Government has got it wrong in its implementation of apprenticeships, particularly by making the process more complicated for small and medium sized enterprises.
Janet Daby (Labour, Lewisham East) raised a number of concerns surrounding the funding of schools and local authorities. She told the house that “in the midst of a mental health crisis in young adults, we must do more to address the increasing lack of support in further education colleges.”
Steve McCabe (Labour, Birmingham, Selly Oak) welcomed the Secretary of State’s admission of the problems faced by pupils with special educational needs and disabilities. He also hoped that the new student visa would make it easier for people to come here to study, but noted that PhD students did not find it particularly easy to stay after they completed their doctorates.
Alex Norris (Labour/Co-op, Nottingham North) spoke about the educational trouble faced by working class boys, saying that it was caused by a cocktail of poor discipline, irregular attendance and below par curriculums. He called on the Government to have better curriculums based on international best practice; specific, targeted resource to augment the pupil premium; a focus on catching up for boys who fall behind at key stage 1; and the deployment of the best teachers in the most challenged schools, incentivised to work in the hard environments.
Bambos Charalambous (Labour) said there wasn’t enough school funding to reverse cuts on areas like school maintenance and a lack of further education.
You can read the debate in full here.
The Local Government Association (LGA) published a report (compiled by the Learning and Work Institute) considering 2030 projected skills gaps in England. It considers eight areas and quantifies potential loss of economic output due to the skills gaps. They conclude that 6 million people in England risk being without a job or in work they are over-qualified for by 2030. This is a similar message to the Government’s line on upskilling the workforce to plug business needs due to insufficient skills within the workforce. However, the LGA imagine a more localised solution to the skills gaps. Key points:
This note looks at the extent and nature of the potential skills gap that could be faced in the future through to 2030 – at both the level of England as a whole and in eight selected local areas:
The LGA are critical of the current centrally-governed skills and employment system whereby £10.5 billion a year is spent by eight government departments and agencies across 20 different national schemes. Unsurprisingly the LGA is calling for the Government to use the Budget to devolve all back-to-work, skills, apprenticeship, careers advice, and business support schemes and funding to the local areas in which they are used. They envisage groups of councils across England with the power and funding to deliver a one-stop ‘Work Local’ service for skills, apprenticeship, employment, careers advice and business support provision. Bringing together local skills planning, overseeing job support including Jobcentre Plus and the Work and Health Programme and coordinate careers advice and guidance for young people and adults.
Cllr Kevin Bentley, Chairman of the LGA’s People and Places Board, said:
Stephen Evans, Chief Executive of Learning and Work Institute, said:
A thought provoking HEPI blog considers the last 20 years of research published on addressing widening participation (WP) aims. It covers all the expected current topics from the BME attainment gap to the non-participation in HE by costal and/or rural areas. It highlights international approaches such as that from Australia and Canada explaining how studies addressed the same enduring gaps as the UK has now. Overall there are no magic solutions but the blog is reinvigorating in the way it brings all the WP themes together for fresh reconsideration. You can read the full blog here.
At Prime Minister’s Questions this week previous Head of the Education Select Committee, Robert Halfon said that despite improvement in educational standards and funding, white working-class boys underperform at every stage of education system. He questioned whether, in the context of large infrastructure projects expected, and the high value apprenticeships associated, whether the apprenticeship levy could be reformed to enable such young people to climb the skills ladder of opportunity. Boris responded that the House should follow Halfon’s advice and reform the apprenticeship levy, and intimated that the Education Secretary would update the House on this in due course.
And some Parliamentary questions:
Q – Lord Bourne Of Aberystwyth: To ask Her Majesty’s Government what progress they have made in improving education outcomes for Gypsy, Roma, and Traveller communities.
A – Lord Agnew Of Oulton:
Medical Science is one of BU’s strategic investment areas (SIA). Colleagues with an interest in this SIA area will be interested in the Life Sciences Industrial Strategy update which highlights progress in delivering the strategy since 2017. It covers:
The report notes very substantial progress in making the UK a more attractive place for life sciences companies to succeed and grow. These developments are the result of a strong collaboration between all aspects of this diverse industry – pharma, biotech, medtech, digital and diagnostics – the wider research community in the UK, the NHS and government. And states A substantial majority of the objectives in the Life Sciences Industrial Strategy have been met and more are being delivered now. Page 5 details the key achievements and page 10 onwards details the health and clinical research and development. Page 20 covers growing the skills base and workforce to deliver the life sciences industrial strategy. However, the content is limited and mainly covers AI and existing initiatives. It does not that the 2030 Skills Strategy will be published this year so we can expect more detail in the new future facing document. Page 21 briefly touches on commercialisation of university research. You can read the sections that interest you most here.
Unconditional offers: Nottingham Trent have followed their public discussion on grade inflation last year by collaborating with The Times and publishing detail of their defence on conditional unconditional offers. Wonkhe had an article by Mike Ratcliffe, their Academic Registrar.
Care Students: The Scottish Funding Council has published its National Ambition for Care-Experienced Students, which outlines its commitment to equal outcomes for those students by 2030.
Languages: The Financial Times responds to the HEPI language report, arguing that foreign language study should be made compulsory.
Social Commuting: The Guardian have a short, to the point, piece advising commuter students how to balance a social life with their commuting arrangements.
R&D – extending definition to cover the Creative Industries: Last week there was an interesting mini-debate following this question by Baroness Bull: To ask Her Majesty’s Government what consideration they have given to adopting a broader definition of research and development that includes, and incentivises, research and development investment in the creative industries. You can read the debate responses and follow on questions here.
Universities and Crime – a Parliamentary question
Q – Lord Taylor Of Warwick: To ask Her Majesty’s Government what discussions they have had with UK Universities about reports that universities are not reporting crime statistics.
A – Baroness Berridge:
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EMA held its 6th triennial education conference in Malmo, Sweden from the 28-29 November 2019. Dr. Luisa Cescutti-Butler and Professor Sue Way had three abstracts accepted, two of which highlighted units of learning in our midwifery undergraduate programme (Evaluating the student experience of introducing newborn infant physical theory into a pre-registration midwifery programme in the UK and An evaluation of the student experience of peer facilitated learning) and a further one which was focused on a national collaborative project on grading practice (Developing a set of key principles to achieve consistency in assessing pre-registration midwifery competency in practice in the UK). The opening keynote speaker at the EMA Conference was Fran McConville – Midwifery Expert at WHO. Fran presented on ‘Strengthening Quality Midwifery Education for Universal Health Coverage 2030’. Our takeaway message from her presentation was the following important statement: “When midwives are educated to international standards, and midwifery includes the provision of family planning……more than 80% of all maternal deaths, stillbirths and neonatal deaths could be averted”.
On the social side we were privileged to a hear a woman from the Sammi tribe in Sweden sing three traditional songs and a tradition adopted from Syracuse in Sicily which was the ‘Santa Lucia’ group of singers celebrating the start of Christmas who sang Xmas Carols in Swedish. We were also able to network with some significant and contemporary midwifery leaders such as Gill Walton (CEO of the Royal College of Midwives), Fran McConville (WHO) and Grace Thomas, Reader and Lead Midwife for Education (Cardiff University).
The UK Government’s Industrial Strategy ‘Building a Britain fit for the Future’ (2017) places an increased emphasis on the academic community to produce research that has impact in the form of societal and economic contribution. This impact can be achieved in many ways, for example, by creating and sharing new knowledge that results in the type of innovation that leads to market growth, improved corporate performance, jobs, new products and services.
My British Academy funded research into chronic corporate under performance has yielded some interesting findings, based on a unique methodological approach that draws on research from the field of epigenetics. I recently presented the findings to the Global Crisis Team at Edelman, a world leading consultancy for crisis management. As a result, we are now developing a number of workshops for their international senior executives.
A key factor in delivering research impact is to develop relationships and networks (1) with professional practitioners and to disseminate research in a user-friendly way. In this case, a short paper entitled “Culture also eats innovation for breakfast!” was published in Strategic Direction (2). This is a zero star rated journal that has an international readership of management consultants and business people which enabled Edelman to understand the idea in a non-academic way.
BUs Academic Career Framework informs staff that they should be disseminating professional practice outputs – and yet not many do. So, if you want to start on the road toward research impact, then think about the professional outlets that can help you disseminate your research and build a professional practice network.
1. Oliver, J.J. (2017). Developing a distinctive digital profile and network. In: Kurcirkova, N., and Quinlan,O. (eds). The Digitally Agile Researcher, Open University Press, Chapter 8, pp.80-87
2. Oliver, J.J. (2019). Culture also eats innovation for breakfast! Strategic Direction, Vol. 35 No. 12, pp. 1-3.
A balanced diet is essential for good health. In 2003, the World Health Organisation launched a global campaign to promote fruit and vegetable consumption well-known as the five-a-day mantra. Despite the clear health benefits and prominent media campaigns, still only one in ten children, and less than a third of adults consume this much.
Dietary habits are shaped at a young age and behaviours established in childhood persist through later life. As such, exposure to vegetables at a young age is instrumental to their acceptance and consumption.
VeggiEAT and Veg+ projects led by Prof. Heather Hartwell (FoM) have researched factors related to increased vegetable consumption, and the team were excited to share this research with school children in the local community as part of this week’s ESRC Festival of Social Science.
Hosted by Hill View Primary school, we spent Wednesday afternoon with 90 year 3 pupils (7-8 year olds), discussing how great vegetables are for our health and the planet. The children’s enthusiasm was at times deafening when we conducted a ‘Do you know your vegetables’ quiz using Turning Point handsets! Children were asked to taste some common vegetables in a variety of preparations (raw, cooked, baked) and many were surprised that vegetables they thought they didn’t like they actually did when prepared in a different way. ESRC Festival of Social Science funding provided gardening equipment, and every child was able to plant a broad bean seed and will be able to follow its germination and growth through to harvest in the Summer. Finally, the children did some ‘vegetable art’, designing a sign for their new ‘allotment’. We will get the best designs professionally printed and are looking forward to returning to the school in December to present these signs and see how their seedlings are growing.
The event was a great opportunity to see first-hand the impact that our research can have and has already led to discussions around the development of the next research research grant application, to further our understanding of the most effective interventions to increase children’s acceptance and consumption of vegetables.
Our interdisciplinary team included Dr Jeff Bray and Natalia Lavrushkina (FoM); Dr Fiona Cownie (FMC); Prof. Katherine Appleton (FST); Matt Fancy (RDS) and Clare Dunn from the Schools Liaison Team
With the aid of QR funding (Faculty of Management), I conducted field-research in Ubud, Indonesia in July 2019. I went into the field with two research questions, linked to poverty alleviation and sustainable community development. What is the impact of spiritual/wellness tourism on local people and communities in Ubud? What are the strategies that can help provide micro-entrepreneurship opportunities for the poor? I interviewed multiple stakeholders including a former Indonesian Minister of Tourism, a spiritual leader in Ubud, a representative of the Ubud home stay association, local yoga teachers and other private/public stakeholders. I also talked to a representative of a rural orphanage.
According to the World Bank data, out of a population of around 264 million, about 25.9 million Indonesians still live below the poverty line. Based on March 2018 data, approximately 20.19% of the entire population remains vulnerable of falling into poverty, as their income hovers marginally above the national poverty line. Although Indonesia’s poverty rate is 9.8%, in 82 villages out of Bali’s 706 villages, the poverty rate hovers above 35% (Laos, 23.2%; Myanmar, 24.8%.). In Bali, growth has often been curtailed due to natural disasters such as volcanoes and earthquakes as well as water shortages.
During my field-research, I learned from the informants that the rapid tourism growth and development have pushed out poorer locals to the margins. The poor have been losing their land due to the development of international hotels, resorts and yoga centres, which are mostly owned and managed by foreigners. The suicidal rates have gone up and the numbers of orphans have been increased. As an illiteracy rate is very high in Ubud as well as other rural villages, people in the margins do not have opportunities to benefit from the tourism boom. There is an urgent need for the local government and other organisations to alleviate poverty by developing education and training programmes.
As an ECR, I appreciate that BU’s QR funds help to facilitate and to explore important global challenges and develop local partners. Over the summer, we were able to successfully submit an external grant for further research and present our preliminary findings at the Royal Geographical Society Conference in London. In line with BU 2025 and the UN SDGs, I hope our research can help achieve SDG #1 No Poverty and #11 Sustainable Communities in rural Indonesia and beyond in real life, and make the impact that the rural poor deserve.
HEIF-6 funding now available for innovative Knowledge Exchange (KE) projects
Research England provide Higher Education Innovation Funding (HEIF) to universities to facilitate a broad range of knowledge-based interactions between them and the wider world, which result in economic and social benefit to the UK. The current round of funding is referred to as HEIF-6 and runs from August 2017 to July 2022.
An internal call is now open for applications from BU colleagues who wish to develop innovative projects. Funding will be awarded to those applications that clearly demonstrate how new/existing collaborations will be developed and how societal/economic impact will be achieved, specifically in relation to the generation and exploitation of Intellectual Property and commercialisation. Interdisciplinary and/or cross-Faculty/Professional Services proposal are encouraged, as are proposals with international collaborators.
We anticipate making awards of £25,000-£100,000 per project per year. Please note that the total fund allocated to this call is approximately £300,000 per year. Projects should be up to 24 months in duration and must align to one of BU’s HEIF-6 themes:
Colleagues wishing to apply should read BU’s HEIF-6 strategy and the HEIF-6 FAQs before completing the HEIF-6 application form (part 1 and part 2). These documents can be found on the i-drive (I:/RDS/Public/HEIF 6).
It is highly recommended that you contact Research Development and Support (RDS) prior to applying to this fund to ensure your project is within the scope of the fund. Please contact Knowledge Exchange Adviser, Rachel Clarke, who will discuss in further detail the purpose of the fund and how your project aligns to it.
Applications must be supported by the Project Lead’s Faculty and signed by their Head of Department and relevant Deputy Dean (Research and Professional Practice). Any queries should be sent to Rachel Clarke (heif@bournemouth.ac.uk) in the first instance.
Completed application should be sent to HEIF@bournemouth.ac.uk by midnight on Monday 9th December. The HEIF panel aims to confirm the outcomes of applications by the end of January 2020.
Dr Jaeyeon Choe (Faculty of Management) has been invited to join the editorial board for The International Journal of Religious Tourism & Pilgrimage. As the journal community represents a strong interdisciplinary practice and an exceptionally inclusive & diverse community of scholars and practitioners, Dr Choe was delighted to accept the invitation.
The International Journal of Religious Tourism and Pilgrimage is a high-quality, international, open access, online, double blind reviewed publication which deals with all aspects of Religious Tourism and Pilgrimage. The International Journal of Religious Tourism and Pilgrimage (IJRTP) was founded in 2013 by an international group of researchers (the Religious Tourism and Pilgrimage Expert Group). The journal is published by the Dublin Institute of Technology, Dublin, Ireland. All articles in this journal are full text and open access. See the link below for more information about the journal: https://arrow.dit.ie/ijrtp/about.html
We welcome papers in the religious tourism and pilgrimage area submitted from BU academics. Thank you!
BU is celebrating Global Entrepreneurship Week, for the first time, on the 19th of November with not ONE but TWO Mega Events! Supporting student experience; supporting BU commitment to the UN Sustainable Development Goals; and providing a platform to bring together wonderful examples of the power of enterprise in changing society.
Women in Entrepreneurship: An extraordinary panel of Women from various sectors and UK and Beyond, we have a number of Famous faces on the panel as well as women who are quietly making a huge impact on society and the economy; helping break down gender barriers to entrepreneurial activities. I am immensely proud to introduce the panel and the 3 wonderful ladies from Brazil who are also going to join us (see attached pic).The Women in Entrepreneurship Panel has been possible due to the support of funding from the Women’s Academic Network (WAN); ACORN award(Public dissemination of research); and Faculty of Management (Executive Dean Dr Lois Farquharson)
Venue- KG01 Time- 1245-1630
Also, on the 19th we are bringing SOUP to BU..what’s that you ask? BH SOUP (modelled on the Detroit SOUP movement) has been running successfully in the conurbation for the last few years and this year, to celebrate GEW and to harness the energy of the newly launched BU Social Entrepreneurs Forum, BH SOUP is coming to BU with BH SOUP Loves Social Enterprises. This event too is possible due to the Faculty of Management (Dr Lois Farquharson).
Venue- Fusion Building Ground Floor space- Time 1845-2100
Please see the eventbrite links below to register (for FREE) at the event(s)
https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/women-in-entrepreneurship-tickets-74693186331
https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/bh-soup-loves-social-enterprises-tickets-74205618001
The Panelists!
BH SOUP Loves Social Enterprises
Ana Lucia, Brazil, Founder of Vision for Good
Clarrise Seixas, from Brazil founder of MIMOS, a social impact business
Ivi Felix, From Brazil; Founder of Mantiquira Local Market
Staff, students and colleagues are warmly invited to an inspiring and engaging half-day conference on Wednesday 9 October from 1pm (BG11, Lansdowne Campus). Speakers include visiting colleagues from Kosovo and BU academic staff. The conference opens with an informal networking lunch, followed by presentations and panel discussion.
The focus of this conference is to discuss and debate whether issues of gender, violence and conflict that have heightened visibility in post-conflict environments, can be recognised similarly in the UK. By asking what we can learn from questions of gendered violence in a fragile international context and whether these can be applied to our social environments in the UK, the aims are:
To de-exoticise gendered violence in war and post-conflict contexts abroad by going beyond stereotypical assumptions and representations;
To interpret contemporary UK conceptualisations of gendered violence through an alternative lens inspired by international experience.
We are fortunate to have the opportunity of the Erasmus-funded presence of two visiting Kosovar colleagues who are presenting at this event. Dr Linda Gusia and Assoc. Prof. Nita Luci are the founders and directors of the Programme for Gender Studies and Research at University of Prishtina, Kosovo. They are highly active for women’s rights in the public sphere of in Kosovo. This poses unexpected challenges to equal rights not only arising from classic patriarchal cultural legacies but also from masculinity reiterations in the totalising field of international, post-conflict intervention.
We are also joined by two BU criminologists of the Department for Social Sciences who are working in related fields of gendered gang crimes: Jade Levell on gang crimes in the UK) and Dr Shovita Dhakal Adhikari on questions of human trafficking in Nepal. This conference arises from our own academic interests in questions of gendered hate crime in the UK (Dr Jane Healy) and on transnational and post-conflict questions of social justice (Dr Stephanie Schwandner-Sievers).
1.00: Arrivals and networking lunch
2.00: Welcome by Sara Ashencaen Crabtree, WAN, and by Stephanie Schwandner-Sievers, Centre for Marginalised Voices
2.15: Jade Levell, BU: “The competing masculinities of gang-involved men who experienced domestic violence/abuse in childhood”
2.45: Nita Luci, Univ. of Prishtina: “Researching Gender in the Balkans”
2.55: Break for tea and coffee
3.15: Linda Gusia, Univ. of Prishtina: “Recognition of Sexual Violence in Kosovo after the War”
3.45: Shovita Dhakal Adhikari: “Exploring Child Vulnerabilities: pre- and post-disaster in Nepal”
4.00: Panel Discussion: “Inverting the gaze: Juxtaposing gender and conflict in transitional societies abroad and the UK”
5.00: Close
Please register at: https://genderconference.eventbrite.co.uk/
Event Date: 09/10/2019
Event Description: Women’s Academic Network & Centre for Seldom Heard Voices present: Gender in Conflict Conference
Contact Details: jhealy@bournemouth.ac.uk & sssievers@bournemouth.ac.uk
Wednesday 9 October: BG11 1-5pm: ALL WELCOME
Please register at: https://genderconference.eventbrite.co.uk/
What do dinosaurs and the fossil footprints of our ancient human ancestors have to do with catching criminals?
Researchers at Bournemouth University have travelled the world over the last few years documenting fossil footprints both of humans and extinct animals. We read the story in the traces left in the rock record, to tell the story of how different animals interacted, how they walked and behaved. We have developed freeware to help capture these traces in 3D and analyse them using some cool mathematical techniques including machine learning. Recently we have shown how our American ancestors hunted giant ground sloth, and how patterns of human locomotion have changed as our ancestors in Africa evolved. Take this know-how, the mathematical tools and computer software we have developed to translate our research into forensic practice, and you have modern tools for the police to track criminals via their footprints.
Want to find out more? Come and see us at New Scientist Live 10-13 Oct 2019 ExCeL, London. Stand 524.
Work-related migration is a common livelihood strategy for many young people in Nepal. It is estimated that about 3.5 million Nepali work abroad, mainly in Malaysia, the Gulf countries, and India. The economic contribution of Nepali migrants to the country is highly significant as they send over US$6.1 billion in remittances which is 26 % of Nepal’s gross domestic product (GDP) [1].
There is a growing global literature on migrant workers’ poor health and wellbeing and of those they leave behind. Over the past decade the media in Nepal have reported on the mortality and morbidity of Nepali migrants abroad. Every year at least one thousand dead bodies of Nepali migrants return back home via Tribhuvan International Airport (the only international airport in Nepal the country). The Government of Nepal estimated 5,982 deaths in migrant workers in the period 2008 to 2017, however there is likely to have been under-reporting [2].
Although there have been studies on Nepali migrants’ health [3-9], these are largely around (a) sexual risk-taking behaviours of Nepali migrants in India; and, (b) occupational health and injuries issues among Nepali migrants in Gulf countries. These studies are carried out with the support from development partners and/or government organisations. However, most migration health research in Nepal has been small-scale for example to collect baseline information or as part of Masters or PhD projects. Currently, there is no research priority agenda on the topic of Nepali migrants’ health and wellbeing issues.
To address this gap in the research agenda staff in BU’s Faculty of Health & Social Sciences and their collaborators organised a consultation workshop on August 2nd of this year in Kathmandu, Nepal. This workshop aimed to identify Nepali migrant workers’ health research prioritites and gaps. A total of 26 participants representing universities, ministries, non-governmental organisations working for migrants and research organisations attended the workshop.
The workshop was participatory in nature. To start with BU Professor Edwin van Teijlingen and Professor Padam Simkhada (BU Visiting Professor) shared global perspectives on migrant workers health. Whilst BU lecturer Dr Pramod Regmi highlighted key findings of BU’s migration research of Nepali migrants and their left-behinds. This contextual information helped focus the discussion on Nepali migrant health research priorities and gaps.
In order to identify the research agenda and prioritise issues and problems, participants were divided into four groups, each comprising 6-8 experts in the migration field. Groups were purposively formed to include participants from diverse backgrounds, e.g., migration related researchers, migration programme managers and policy-makers. Each member of the team was requested to identify two to five research needs around Nepali migrants’ health and share within their group for consensus. The group then prepared research priorities agreed in their team. Each team presented the research priorities to the wider group. A total of 46 research agenda items were identified which were subsequently prioritised through a voting process. Table 1 shows who participants ranked the top issues requiring further research.
Table 1 Top migration health research priorities in Nepal
The way forward
The consultation workshop was very productive in many ways. First, it identified wide ranging health research for Nepali migrants and prioritised these research issues. This information may help guide future research on migration studies. Secondly, the workshop offered a platform to build a network among researchers working for Nepali migrants.
Pramod R Regmi, Nirmal Aryal, and Edwin van Teijlingen
References:
A quieter week for HE policy, however, there’s news on the KEF and lots of other relevant content.
As a member of the Parliamentary and Scientific Committee BU’s early career researchers and PhD and post-doc researchers all have the opportunity for exposure of their work through the annual poster competition. Posters are being accepted for the following areas:
Prizes will be awarded for the posters presented in each discipline which best communicate high level science, engineering or mathematics to a lay audience.
Please share this information with ECR, PhD and PDR colleagues and those who work directly with them. This is a rare opportunity to showcase work within parliament at this level. All the shortlisted posters will be shared during a parliamentary reception in March 2020 and there will be the opportunity to talk about the research directly with policy makers.
The poster competition is open now please contact Lisa Andrews, RDS Research Facilitator, for more details and to enter.
The House of Commons library has a briefing paper setting out data on the prevalence of mental health conditions in higher education students in England and outlines the action higher education providers, the government and the Office for Students are taking to help students with mental health issues. It also flags up how students can get support.
From the briefing:
A Chartered Management Institute commissioned survey finds 3 in 4 parents believe that qualifications that combine with work experience and study are the best way to prepare young people for the workplace.
With record numbers of young people going through university clearing, the survey also shows that:
Rob Wall, Head of Policy at CMI said: “Innovations like degree apprenticeships – which bring together work and study, and allow apprentices to apply their learning in the workplace – are hugely attractive to employers. Our survey shows that they are now increasingly popular with parents, with the vast majority rating a degree apprenticeship with a FTSE 100 corporate over a traditional 3 year degree at a top university. Our message to all those young people receiving their GCSE results this week is that, whatever your results and whatever path you take next, developing those employability skills like self-management and leadership will always give you an edge in a competitive jobs market.”
The Association of Colleges are capitalising on the recent announcement that there will be an accelerated spending round by the end of September. They have issued a paper to the Treasury and the DfE making recommendations for tertiary education. In headline their proposals cover the full remit of college work and request a one-off cash injection of £1,114m in revenue and £240m in capital. The paper capitalises on the Augar Review which discussed the lower funding rates and investment in FE education. It covers the items you would expect such as a higher funding rate for all FE provision, better pay and status for FE teachers. It also suggests a ten year funding plan for education. A larger adult education budget to support retraining, improve skills and develop lifelong learning (at a one-year cost of £250 million).
Of relevance to HE are the apprenticeship funding reforms they suggest (at a one year cost of £200m).
They also suggest a development fund for higher technical education (one year cost of £40m).
On regulating to protect students and employers while maximising impact:
David Hughes, Chief Executive, Association of Colleges, said: After making great efficiencies over the last decade, there is a strong consensus now that colleges need major investment to put them in a position to be able to thrive and from that position to be able to maximise the impact they can have. The UK’s industrial strategy identifies skills as an issue across a range of priority sectors and the need for action to avoid shortages. Without thriving colleges, this priority will not be met.
Recent news has detailed Jeremy Corbyn’s efforts to amalgamate enough support that should the autumn vote of no confidence succeed he may be able to form a temporary caretaker Government. Labour are hoping for an early General Election and Wonkhe have covered all their recent Education related announcements into one blog.
Research England have published the outcomes of the Knowledge Exchange Framework (KEF) consultation and pilot exercise. Final decisions on the KEF will follow later in 2019.
Below follow the main points picked out of the KEF report narrative
Clusters The KEF clusters institutions together, BU is in cluster E.
“There were a substantial number of points in the commentary focussing on the descriptions and presentation of the clusters:
“There were also multiple comments and suggestions on the variables used to create the clusters, including on the role of professional services staff not being represented, concerns that variables were too heavily skewed towards research activities, and that 3* (as well as 4*) REF outputs should be used.
“Overall, there was no clear consensus from the responses received on a course of action that would satisfy all and no appropriate alternative models were proposed that would meet the requirements of providing a means of fair comparison. Given that the concept of clustering was well received for those in the main clusters, it is unlikely the fundamental approach to this aspect of the KEF proposals will change….”
Perspectives and metrics
“For the proposed perspectives and associated metrics, we asked for feedback on both the overall range and balance, and also views on the metrics proposed under each perspective.
“The majority of recommendations for KE activities that could be considered for inclusion in the KEF fell into four key areas:
Other common themes expressed in the commentary related to:
On working with business:
“A significant number of responses considered there was a disconnect between the broad nature of the perspective title ‘Working with business’ and the proposed income metrics. The metrics were considered by over a quarter of respondees to be very narrow, and not reflective of the full breadth of knowledge exchange activities undertaken in HEIs. In particular 15% of respondees felt that income from use of specialist facilities and equipment should be included as a useful indicator of interactions with business.”
“The nature of the metrics as income measures brought feedback across a number of points:
About a fifth of respondees provided feedback on the use of ‘academic FTE’ as the denominator for two of the metrics. While 4% expressed support for the use of academic FTE to account for the size of the institution, 10% considered it to be misleading to restrict it to academic staff when a signification proportion of knowledge exchange activity is undertaken by professional services staff or students. Some 5% requested a clearer definition of who is included in ‘academic FTE’ and 2% felt that it would be more relevant to restrict it to research active academic staff.”
On local growth and regeneration:
“We recognise that this metric on its own does not sufficiently capture the breadth of activity in this area and therefore have proposed the use of additional narrative. The feedback from respondents verified this view, with over a quarter expressing support for the use of narrative. The primary areas of concern expressed for the proposed metric were:
A number of alternative or additional metric areas were suggested by respondees:
A small proportion of respondees (4%) also looked to create links to the strategies and action plans being developed by institutions who have signed up to the Civic University Commission’s Civic University Agreements.”
On IP and commercialisation:
“A wide range of comments concerned timeframes around these metrics including:
This question also elicited specific suggestions for new metrics based on other areas of the HE-BCI collection:
On public and community engagement
‘Public and community engagement’ received the lowest average score when participants were asked to rate their percentage agreement…while the inclusion of the perspective in the KEF was broadly welcomed, there was also a clear message that the metric did not adequately capture the range of activities undertaken by HEIs in this area.
Additional metrics that were suggested included:
Use of Narratives:
The NCCPE concluded that there is strong rationale for adopting and adapting the approach to narrative within the KEF. Whilst the proposed template delivers some effective prompts that elicited useful information, there was considerable variety in the level of specificity and supporting evidence provided in the pilot drafts.
The NCCPE have provided specific recommendations to Research England on how the templates and use of narrative could be improved to draw out more relevant and consistent information. Alongside the consultation responses these recommendations are informing the development of the KEF.
Respondees showed an exceptionally strong preference for the provision of an overarching institutional statement being provided by the HEI with 89% agreeing to some extent (and almost half strongly agreeing). 101. This was echoed through the written responses which expressed the broad view that an overarching narrative would be beneficial and that it should be provided by the institutions themselves. There was also a strong articulation that the local economic context needs to be considered to place knowledge exchange activities in context, and that it may be appropriate for Research England to provide this data in a standardised format
A number of respondees felt that an overarching statement could also be a useful tool to demonstrate an institution’s overall strategic goals in relation the perspectives. This may help mitigate any perceptions of relative ‘poor’ performance in areas that were not of strategic importance to a particular HEI. However, it was recognised that this would be difficult to achieve through the visualisation. Other voices expressed concern that the statements could become marketing tools with little added value.
And finally: We note the concerns expressed in both the consultation and pilot regarding timing of implementation and potential overlaps with the REF and TEF. We will pay regard to this when agreeing implementation timescales.
You can read the report in detail here.
Click here to view the updated consultation tracker. Email us on policy@bournemouth.ac.uk if you’d like to contribute to any of the current consultations.
New consultations and inquiries this week: Lords inquiry in Ageing: Science, Technology and Healthy Living
Arts rise: The DfE published information on GCSE entries on results day. It highlights that entries to arts subjects have risen by 3.2% to 320,000. The DfE see this as positive new because previously the EBacc was criticised as squeezing these subjects out of the curriculum because of the opportunity to select them was less than other curriculum models. The news sits alongside a 3.7% rise in entries to EBacc subjects and an increase in foreign language entries (particularly Spanish and French). For more detail, including the key stats for other subjects click here.
T levels: The House of Commons Library have one of their helpful briefing papers on T Levels: Reforms to Technical Education which provides an overview of the proposals to reform the technical education system.
Student Debt Sanctions: the CMA have taken action causing the University of Liverpool to change their student debt penalty policy. They will no longer issue academic sanctions – such as the as the removal of library or email access – for students who have debts which are unrelated to their fees. Susan Lapworth, Director for Competition and Registration, at the Office for Students, said: “We welcome today’s announcement that, following CMA action, the University of Liverpool has formally committed to drop academic sanctions for students with debts, for example for accommodation costs, that are not related to their tuition fees. The fair treatment of students is important to us as a regulator. All universities and other higher education providers should be mindful of today’s CMA announcement and ensure that their debt collection policies comply with consumer law. Our own regulatory framework sets out the need for universities to demonstrate they are complying with consumer protection law, and we will continue to support the important work of the CMA on these issues.”
AI job displacement scheme: On Tuesday new Education Minister, Kemi Badenoch, announced an extension in the roll out of a pilot programme aiming to help adults whose jobs may change due to new technologies – such as automation and AI – to retrain and get on the path to a new career. The Get Help to Retrain digital service will now be rolled out to the West Midlands and the North East following success in Liverpool City during the summer.
Student Grants: The Student Loan Company are raising awareness of their practitioners’ page. They are also sharing information on their grants – Childcare Grant; the Adult Dependants’ Grant; and the Parents’ Learning Allowance – to ensure those eligible apply for the funds.
Market Signalling: HEPI have a new blog exploring the marketisation of HE alongside the Augar Review and institutional autonomy.
Unconditional Admissions: The most effective and fairest admissions system continues to be debated this week. A provocative Wonkhe article makes the barest nod to grades asking what if all university offers were unconditional? The comments at the end are well worth a read too as sector colleagues suggest other alternatives and admissions tweaks, primarily moving away from the overreliance on A level grades. And The Guardian have an article which suggests social class is a barrier to good A level/exam performance.
PQA: Post qualification admissions. Mary Curnock Cook, ex-CEO of UCAS, explains the factors that made her turn from determined to implement post qualification admissions to remaining with the current system.
OfS Student Tool: The OfS have a new online tool for prospective students which launches in September: Discovering Uni: planning your HE journey.
NEETS: Office for National Statistics published the quarterly stats on 16-24 year olds who are classified as NEET (not in education, employment or training).
The report details examples of specialist projects (Medway, Southwark, Blackpool) which have effectively decreased the NEET population.
Schools Funding: One of Boris’ campaigning objectives was his pledge to increase the minimum per pupil funding level for English schools – this House of Commons Insight Guide has an interactive mechanism which checks which schools within a constituency area will see an increase against the £4k (primary) and £5k (secondary) proposed thresholds.
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Following the government’s industrial strategy grand challenge on Ageing Society, this year’s conference will be exploring the theme of frailty. The key areas will be:
Keynote Speakers
Professor Martin Vernon, National Director for Older People, NHS England
Professor Mark Hawley, Professor of Health Services Research (ScHARR), Director Centre for Assistive Technology and Connected Care (CATCH), University of Sheffield
Event Information
Sixteenth Annual Symposium, Frailty: Enhancing Lives, Wednesday 9 October, Bournemouth University, Executive Business Centre (EBC), Lansdowne, Bournemouth.
Register now for your free place
Audrey Dixon
CoPMRE Manager
On Thursday 4 July CsJCC and NRG supported a one-day workshop that demonstrated and explored database use in Humanities Research. This was a two-part day that aimed to introduce participants to the possibilities of this approach, and then moved to discuss potential collaborative projects. It was attended by FMC colleagues and doctoral students researching multiple subjects (including English, Marketing, Advertising, Law, Journalism, Computer Animation, and Radio), and two external scholars.
Ian Stephenson (Senior Lecturer in Computer Animation and Faculty Data Champion) led the morning session, a gentle introduction to using standard query language (SQL) to ask complicated questions of multiple existing data tables. Research generates data, either during primary research or in the form of meta-data where we annotate and organise existing media. While simple notetaking can work at first, greater structure often becomes necessary as projects grow and evolve. Ian demonstrated how small, free programmes such as Postgres can easily be installed (without cost) on a laptop, providing the same power and flexibility as that of commercial datacentres to store and organise essentially unlimited amounts of data. This allows data to be securely stored, well organised, and shared between researchers, allowing us to ask new questions of the data, beyond the scope of the initial investigation.
This workshop grew out of Ian’s development of Julia Round’s database of Misty stories (available at www.juliaround.com/misty). Julia’s project explores the nature of the stories in the British girls’ comic Misty, and also contains supporting information on their creators, origins, and so forth (courtesy of online communities of scholars and fans). Her online database is searchable and will help interested readers find information on these things, but by its nature it’s not capable of asking more complicated questions. Ian developed this research into a relational database or series of interlinked tables, each focused around a subject such as stories (type, length, themes, character, etc), people (artist, writer, letterer, colourist, editor, etc), publication details (title, co-title, issue date, price, cover image, tagline, free gift, etc.), and so forth.
SQL thus enables us to ask questions that link all of this information. For example:
– In what months were new titles launched?
– When did price hikes take place and how does this look if adjusted for inflation?
– How long did merged comics titled usually last?
– Were boys and girls titles different in terms of pricing, story length, or other factors susceptible to numerical analysis?’
– Which artists’ work appeared on the covers most frequently?
– Which artists’ work appears in the internal colour (centre) pages most frequently?
– Which writers and artists most frequently worked together?
In his brief demonstration, Ian showed us some interesting statistics on a number of subjects. These included identifying patterns in story crossover points, i.e. where serials overlapped; the price rises in comics (which prior to the 1980s were not significant in the context of inflation and as compared to newspaper periodicals); and that almost all new titles were launched in February or at the end of the summer. In this way, participants saw how reconstructing simple spreadsheet data as a relational database allowed it to be expanded, interrogated and repurposed. By sharing such datasets, the borders of existing research projects can be extended and interdisciplinary and collaborative projects can be taken to new levels.
The afternoon session invited interested participants to discuss how we might collaborate on developing such a project. Discussion points included a review of what is out there already (sites such as the Grand Comics Database, Jinty blog, Girls’ Comics of Yesterday, Great News for All Readers, Down the Tubes, and so forth), and identification of what these sites do and don’t offer. It was felt that even the most inclusive sites such as the GCD don’t allow complex searches and that most sites/blogs are set up with a singular aim in mind. We thus agreed there was a demonstrable need for a live shared resource that would provide students, researchers and fans with access to a much wider dataset along with the ability to ask complex, interlinked questions of this data.
We were lucky enough to have a brief discussion with a colleague from the Law Department who advised us on copyright issues when including quotations and images, and also IP rights when incorporating data gathered by other people or the templates created to contain this. Images in particular will need to be kept within private circulation and database rights will need to be explored further to ensure we have the correct permissions from contributors.
To develop this project, first steps will be to find some server space to host this dataset. In the longer term, we will reach out to the academic and fan communities for the spreadsheet data currently held by individuals, using our existing networks and also through conference presentations demonstrating the value of this potential resource. Later steps will include expanding the scope of the database to a global level, and developing tools to allow contributors to directly add data, via funding bids or other initiatives.
The proposed database has clear benefits as a data discovery tool, with a demonstrable need from the community of comics scholars at multiple levels. It will have impact as a teaching aid and a source of primary data that will lead to research outputs.
Dr. Ann Luce, Principal Academic in Journalism and Communication in FMC was elected to the National Suicide Prevention Alliance Steering Group for a three-year term, starting June 2019.
The NSPA is a national alliance of public, private, voluntary and community organisations in England who take action to prevent suicide. Evolving out of the 2012 Call to Action for Suicide Prevention in England, NSPA’s Steering Group strategically influences the Government’s national strategy on preventing suicide, working closely with the Department of Health on both the National Strategy Advisory Group and the National Strategy Delivery Group, chaired by MP for Mental Health and Suicide Prevention, Jackie Doyle-Price.
As part of her new role, Dr. Luce will be working on the steering group providing strategic direction and leadership, monitoring finances and allocation of resources, as well as overseeing governance for the organisation.
Dr. Luce, who is research and media lead on the Pan-Dorset Suicide Prevention Strategy Plan through the Dorset Clinical Commissioning Group looks forward to representing the interests of the South West and Bournemouth University at a national level.
Dr. Luce has been researching and working in the area of suicide prevention for the last 15 years. She has written two sets of media reporting guidelines for the World Health Organisation through her work on the World Media Task Force for the Prevention of Suicide and has also written blogging guidelines for Save.org, the USA’s largest mental health charity. She has consulted with governments in Wales, Norway and Australia to reduce suicide rates and has served as an expert panel member and worked with Australian Government, under the National Suicide Prevention Leadership Program to create #chatsafe, a young person’s guide for communicating safely online about suicide.
She can be contacted at: aluce@bournemouth.ac.uk or on Twitter: @stann2
On behalf of Bournemouth University Dr Shanti Shanker and Prof Edwin van Teijlingen signed a research collaboration with Dr Anita Patankar of Symbiosis School of Liberal College (SSLC) in India. This collaboration is part of a Research England GCRF-funded project. Our collaborators in rural Ratnagiri District (Maharashtra) include Dr Shrutika Kotkunde, Dr Sachin Yadav and Dr and Mrs Reelkar to name a few.
Sheetal Astitva (meaning Calm Identity) is the name of our project which aims to understand the maternal health and state of neuropsychological rehabilitation in rural India.
Through Sheetal Astitva we will be developing a model of lay counsellors (LC) with focus to improve: a) Maternal mental wellbeing; and b) Neuropsychological rehabilitation and integrating a collaborative step care (CSC) intervention. The training will be adapted on empirical evidence and methods developed for India by Sangath (Shine et al., 2013).
One of intermediate outcomes of the project is to co-create a Non-Governmental Organisation (NGO) in India with the partners to be ensure longer-term sustainability. Sheetal Asthitva will be working in India to improve maternal wellbeing and integrate neuro-rehabilitation in the community to enhance the quality of life and mental health.
If you are interested to know the updates, follow us on twitter: @AstitvaSheetal
We welcome Dr Gayatri Kotbagi as local collaborator, who will soon be joining BU as a post-doctoral research fellow on this project!
Thursday 6th June 09:30 – 16:30
A whole day REF impact case study writing retreat, consisting of a two hour presentation on case study writing with the rest of the day spent writing. The trainer will be on hand the whole day to provide 1:1 support and guidance. Attendees are required to have an impact case study to write and work on; own laptop is required for the session.
The writing retreat will provide guidance on:
If you can’t make the retreat on 6th June, there is another scheduled for 4th July.
See here for more details and to book.