BU Research Blog

15 December 2016

Connecting people to accelerate innovation

Business Engagement, innovation, Knowledge Exchange, Knowledge Transfer jcodling

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.

13 December 2016

Data Science and Analytics Training for Business

HEIF, Knowledge Exchange, Knowledge Transfer kmusialgabrys

Data 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:

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.
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.

30 November 2016

SHIVA project progresses with innovation funding

Business Engagement, HEIF, innovation, Knowledge Exchange, Knowledge Transfer jcodling

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.

28 November 2016

RKEDF Workshop – Innovate UK: A Guide to Funding

Business Engagement, Funding opportunities, Knowledge Exchange, Knowledge Transfer Rachel

As 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.

14 November 2016

ESRC Festival of Social Sciences

BRIAN, Business Engagement, innovation, Knowledge Transfer John Oliver

Dr John Oliver, from the Advances in Media Management research cluster, recently delivered a keynote lecture at the Open Innovation Design Jam competition at the University of Glasgow. The event formed part of the ESRC’s Festival of Social Science programme of activities that ran from 5th-12th November across the UK.

The Design Jam also involved a number of short, intensive brainstorming sessions in which teams developed innovative solutions to challenges. This event was an opportunity for innovators and businesses to explore open, collective and user-led innovation.
Dr Oliver’s talk on media innovation strategies presented empirical data on how the innovation practices of UK media firms had transformed firm capabilities and corporate financial performance.

4 November 2016

Using flow cytometry to monitor harmful algae in coastal waters: establishing a regional testing arena in Poole Harbour with national benefits

Awarded & submitted bids, BU Challenges, HEIF, Knowledge Transfer dfranklin

This innovative HEIF-funded project aims to test the use of flow cytometry for its ability to replace outdated and labour-intensive ways of working (microscope assessments) for the detection of harmful algae in coastal waters. This is a research need currently under consideration by U.K. Centre for Environment, Fisheries and Aquaculture Science (CEFAS) government scientists but is not a service offered commercially by any environmental consultants. The societal need is food safety: harmful algae can accumulate in shellfish and cause human poisoning, resulting in conditions known as amnesic, paralytic and diarrhetic shellfish poisoning (ASP, PSP and DSP). Harmful algae are therefore monitored by both shellfish producers and public health scientists. Shellfish production is a significant part of the regional economy of Dorset (Poole Harbour is a major national site of oyster and mussel production for example) and harmful algae have been detected locally, sometimes resulting in shellfishery closures which can have major economic impact. The project is funded until summer 2017 and the core team is composed of Ian Chapman and Dan Franklin in the Department of Life & Environmental Sciences, with support from other LES colleagues via a project board.

24 October 2016

Business Engagement and Networking

Business Engagement, HEIF, innovation, Knowledge Exchange, Knowledge Transfer jcodling

The aim of the ‘Working with Business’ pathway is to develop your skills to connect with the business community including networking, identifying project funding – including Knowledge Transfer Partnerships (KTPs) and building project teams involving businesses.

You will have the opportunity to hear from both internal and external speakers as to how they have developed networks to facilitate collaborations and engage with the university.

The next session: “Business engagement and networking” will be running on Wednesday 2 November from 2.00pm – 4.00pm and bookings are being taken now.

If you want to put your networking skills to the test there are a number of events running during November that involve the chance to meet with external organisations during the Festival of Social Science and Festival of Enterprise.

Please feel free to contact Jayne Codling or Rachel Clarke if you have any questions regarding knowledge exchange at BU. Both Jayne and Rachel are based within RKEO.

This session forms part of the Research and Knowledge Exchange (RKE) Framework. Please see previous blog posts in the Development Framework for information on the separate pathways.

12 October 2016

Re-Industrialisation of the EU 2016

Business Engagement, Funding opportunities, innovation, Knowledge Exchange, Knowledge Transfer Emily Cieciura

Places are still available at the Re-Industrialisation of the EU 2016 conference, taking place in Bratislava, Slovakia from 26th to 28th October 2016.

Topics include:

REinEU2016 is being financed through the Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme (NMBP) and will include matchmaking events, poster sessions, site visits around Bratislava, workshops and competitions.

3 October 2016

CIPPM’s AHRC-funded Project Copyrightuser.org publishes Episode II of the Award-Winning ‘Game is On!’ Film

Awarded & submitted bids, Fusion, Fusion Investment Fund, Knowledge Transfer, Post-award, REF Subjects, Research themes, Student Engagement cippm

Copyrightuser.org – is a collaboration between the Law Department’s Centre for Intellectual Property Policy and Management (CIPPM) at Bournemouth University (BU) and CREATe, University of Glasgow, has produced Episode II of the ‘Game is On!’ Series.

The project led by the Principal Investigator for Bournemouth University, Dr. Dinusha Mendis, Associate Professor in Law and Co-Director of CIPPM was initially funded by BU’s Fusion Investment Fund in 2012. Since 2013 the project has been successful in securing AHRC funding under the leadership of Dr. Mendis and in November 2015, won the AHRC Innovation in Film Award.

Game is On! by Copyrightuser.org is a s a series of short animated films that puts copyright and creativity under the magnifying glass of Sherlock Holmes, providing a unique, research-led and open access resource for school-aged learners and other creative users of copyright. Drawing inspiration from well-known copyright and public domain work, as well as recent copyright litigation, these films provide a springboard for exploring key principles and ideas underpinning copyright law, creativity, and the limits of lawful appropriation and reuse.

Episode I of the ‘Game is On!’ Series titled The Adventure of the Girl with the Light Blue Hair won the AHRC Innovation in Film Award in November 2015 and was shortlisted for a BUFVC Learning on Screen Award in April 2016 and has been recently used by Into Film to develop the educational resource ‘Exploring copyright for clubs’.

The accompanying Case Files – an important feature of the ‘Game is On!’ series – for Episode I was authored by CIPPM’s Co-Director, Dr. Dinusha Mendis and CIPPM PhD Candidate, Ms. Hayleigh Bosher.

Episode II titled The Adventure of the Six Detectives is also accompanied by a number of Case Files, authored by CREATe researchers Megan Rae Blakely and Andrea Wallace and offer points of discussion around many of the most pressing copyright questions and concerns faced by screenwriters: http://copyrightuser.org/the-game-is-on/episode-2/

The short films are written, directed and produced by Professor Ronan Deazley (Queen’s University Belfast) and CREATe producer Bartolomeo Meletti (currently seconded to the British Film Institute) with Art Direction / Design by Marco Bagni, illustrations by Davide Bonazzi and music by SFX:Sarco.

20 September 2016

New paper Dr. Catherine Angell on CPD in Nepal

Centre for Excellence in Learning, Fusion, international, Knowledge Transfer, open access, Publishing, Training, writing Edwin van Teijlingen

Congratulations to Dr. Catherine Angell (FHSS) who just had her paper ‘Continual Professional Development (CPD): an opportunity to improve the Quality of Nursing Care in Nepal’ accepted in Health Prospect. The paper is co-authored with BU Visiting Faculty Dr. Bibha Simkhada and Prof. Padam Simkhada both based at Liverpool John Moores University (LJMU), Dr. Rose Khatri and Dr. Sean Mackay (also at LJMU), Prof. Edwin van Teijlingen in the Centre for Midwifery and Maternal & Perinatal Health (CMMPH), and our colleagues in Dr. Sujan Marahatta and Associate Professor Chandra Kala Sharma. Ms. Chandra Kala Sharma is also the president of the Nepal Nursing Association (left in photo). Health Prospect is an Open Access journal, hence freely available to anybody in Nepal (and elsewhere in the world).

This paper is first of several based on a study aiming to improve CPD in Nepal and it is partly funded by LJMU and partly funded by BU’s Centre for Excellence in Learning (CEL). The CEL-funded part of the project centres on focus group research with representatives of the Ministry of Health & Population, the Ministry of Education, the Nepal Nursing Association and the Nursing Council, and Higher Education providers of Nurse Education (both form Government-run universities and private colleges). The focus group schedule will include starter questions to initiate discussions around the kind of CPD nurses in Nepal need, its format, preferred models, the required quality and quantity, and ways of checking up (quality control). In addition we will be asking a subgroup of nurses registered in Nepal about midwifery skills as midwifery is not recognised as a separate profession from nursing in Nepal. Hence there will be three focus groups specifically about midwifery CPD: one at MIDSON (the Midwifery Organisation of Nepal), one with nurses providing maternity care in private hospitals and one with nurses doing this in government hospitals.

The research is a natural FUSION project in the field of nursing & midwifery as it links Research in the field of Education to help improve Practice in Nepal.

Prof. Edwin van Teijlingen

CMMPH

Reference:

(CPD): an opportunity to improve the Quality of Nursing Care in Nepal, Health Prospect (Accepted)

7 September 2016

Innovate 2016 – The Global Spotlight on UK Innovation

Business Engagement, Funding opportunities, innovation, international, Knowledge Exchange, Knowledge Transfer jcodling

Innovate 2016 will be held at Manchester Central on the 2nd – 3rd November 2016.

Take part in the global showcase of UK innovation, hear from global thought-leaders and create real business opportunities at Innovate 2016. Find out about today’s business opportunities and future-looking trends across manufacturing, health, cities of the future and technologies of the future.

Hear from industry-leaders on topics such as:

Retaining the edge with disruptive business models
Manufacturing: Tackling the productivity gap
Implementing resilience in a city of the future
Next-generation medicine: The UK as a world leader
Emerging technologies revolutionising innovation

View the full agenda.

Inspirational speakers
Hear from top-level inspirational speakers from organisations including: Siemens, Versarien, Amazon, University of Manchester, Hyperloop One, High Value Manufacturing Catapult and of course Innovate UK CEO Dr Ruth McKernan CBE and Catherine Raines, CEO from the Department for International Trade.
Support zone

Discover the breadth of funding and support for businesses and meet with the organisations that exist to help business thrive. The Support Zone will be back featuring among others the UK Business Angels Association, British Business Bank, HMRC and Growth Hubs.

Register and find out more.

30 August 2016

Building Roman Britain: Project update

Fusion, HEIF, Knowledge Exchange, Knowledge Transfer, Public engagement, Student Engagement dpitman

The Building Roman Britain project is investigating the source of stone and ceramic materials (e.g. bricks, tiles, flues, etc.) from key sites in Roman Britain. Using Roman Bath and Fishbourne Roman Palace as our main sites, we have been using x-ray floresence (XRF) to profile these materials and to look for patterns in their production, distribution and use. Funded by HEIF 5+1, the current phase of work will soon be concluded, although it is hoped to carry on with our partners over the coming year, producing joint publications as well as museum displays and interactives.

Analysing a quarry near Bath

We have now completed over 2400 analyses, a full GIS plan of the Fishbourne ‘92 excavations, and numerous visits to both Bath and Fishbourne to undertake in situ analysis, using a portable XRF device. The team was ably assisted in this work by the appointment of an URA, Dominique Druce, who is now planning her dissertation around a related pXRF study.

In early April the team presented a paper at the Computer Applications and Quantitative Methods in Archaeology (CAA) conference in Oslo that focused on the analysis of ceramic building material and presented some interesting interim results. The paper was well received and the methods and approaches outlined stimulated some very useful discussion.

With an ever increasing mass of data it was decided to begin processing and interpreting the data alongside some lab-based analysis, with the aim of identifying the most promising areas on which to focus our final investigations. However, we still found time to visit Fishbourne and examine some of the in-situ mosaics. Meanwhile, the preliminary examination of data drove a renewed focus on exploring quarry sites in the Bath area and we have since returned to the quarries at Brown’s Folly near Bath to conduct intensive, quarry-face analyses.

As an offshoot from the project, Derek Pitman (the project’s RA) took the pXRF kit to the Purbeck School’s science fair along with members of BU’s STEM outreach team, where he was able to show how scientific methods help archaeologists understand ancient materials. Continuing with the public understanding of science theme, we are now working with our partners at Bath and Fishbourne Museums to develop new, innovative display methods for our results that will include the use of video and digital media to communicate project results and STEM to a wider audience.

While the summer of 2016 sees our HEIF 5+1 funding coming to an end, the Building Roman Britain team will carry on into 2017 in order to help bring the HEIF phase of the project to publication and to build the next phase of further investigations into Roman building materials. This includes our project’s inclusion in a multi-million pound bid to the HLF for redisplay work at Roman Bath Museum as part of their Archway Project. For further details, see our research project page.

24 August 2016

Knowledge Transfer Partnerships – Submission deadlines

Business Engagement, Funding opportunities, innovation, Knowledge Exchange, Knowledge Transfer Rachel

After this next KTP submission deadline on 7th September 2016, there is one further deadline in 2016 – 2nd November 2016.

Various aspects of the KTP submission and approval process have changed over the past few months and for a breakdown of what these changes are, please take a look here.

Future KTP submission deadlines for your planning are:

18th January 2017
8th March 2017

If you have any KTP ideas that you’d like support with, please contact Rachel Clarke, KE Adviser on 61347.

23 August 2016

Bringing FUSION to Nepal

Fusion, innovation, international, Knowledge Transfer, Publishing, Research Integritiy, student research, Training Edwin van Teijlingen

We have written in many previous BU blogs about progress of our THET-funded project in southern Nepal (e.g. here AND here ). Today’s blog reflects on the use on BU’s unique FUSION approach in our project ‘Mental Health Training for Maternity Care Providers in Nepal‘.

Our BU-led project brings highly experienced health professionals, such as midwives, health visitors or mental health nurses, to Nepal to work as volunteer trainers. The training is aimed at community-based maternity care practitioners and addresses key mental health issues relevant to pregnancy and for new mothers and offers the required communication skills. These health professionals will bring their experience as health care providers as well as trainers in the field of mental health and maternity care/midwifery, mental ill-health prevention and health promotion. They volunteer for two to three weeks at a time to design and deliver training in southern Nepal.

The Centre for Midwifery & Maternal Health (CMMPH) collaborates in this project with Liverpool John Moores University (LJMU), the Department of Health, and Physical & Population Education at Nepal’s oldest university Tribhuvan University’s (TU). The project is supported in the field by a local charity called Green Tara Nepal. Our project is part of the Health Partnership such as Nepal. HPS itself is funded by the UK Department for International Development and managed by THET (Tropical and Health Education Trust).

Our maternal mental health project is a good example of BU’s FUSION approach as it combines EDUCATION (through the training of Auxiliary Nurse-Midwives in Nepal) by UK volunteers (representing PRACTICE) through an intervention which is properly evaluated (representing RESEARCH) is a perfect example of BU’s FUSION in action. Moreover, the project will be partly evaluated by FHSS’s Preeti Mahato as part of her PhD thesis research. This PhD project is supervised by Dr. Catherine Angell (CEL & CMMPH), BU Visiting Professor Padam Simkhada (based at LJMU) and CMMPH’s Prof. Edwin van Teijlingen.BU’s focus on the FUSION of research, education and professional practice is a unique variant of the way UK universities (and many abroad) blend academic teaching, research and scholarship. FUSION is a key concept derived from BU’s strategic Vision & Values).

Prof. Edwin van Teijlingen

CMMPH

15 August 2016

Catalyst fund: innovation in learning and teaching

Business Engagement, Funding opportunities, innovation, Knowledge Exchange, Knowledge Transfer jcodling

The Higher Education Funding Council for England invites applications for its catalyst fund: innovation in learning and teaching. This supports small-scale projects to develop innovations in learning and teaching for university provision.

The council is particularly interested in proposals which:

•develop curriculum innovations from interdisciplinary research, interdisciplinary professional practice or both;

•respond to employer demands for advanced skills or knowledge;

•develop use of learner analytics for particular pedagogic purposes.

Click here for more information.

If you are interested in submitting to this call 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.

8 August 2016

Research and Knowledge Exchange Development Framework: Working with Business Pathway

Business Engagement, HEIF, innovation, Knowledge Exchange, Knowledge Transfer Rachel

The Research and Knowledge Exchange (RKE) Framework: Working with Business pathway focuses on developing interactions with a business audience. Please see previous blog posts in the Development Framework for information on the separate pathways.

The aim of the ‘Working with Business’ pathway is to develop your skills to connect with the business community including networking, identifying project funding – including Knowledge Transfer Partnerships (KTPs) and building project teams involving businesses. Sessions have been planned with these key areas as a focus.

Further information on this pathway will appear on the OD website including booking links over the summer. Updates on this pathway and the wider RKE Development Framework will appear on the BU research blog.

19 July 2016

EU Referendum analysis report launched at Westminster

Knowledge Exchange, Knowledge Transfer, Public engagement Daniel Jackson

A book full of insight and analysis about the EU Referendum has been launched at an event in Westminster.

‘EU Referendum Analysis 2016: Media, Voters and the Campaign’ was collated by academics from Bournemouth University and Loughborough University and features comments and opinions from academic experts from a number of institutions – sharing views on both the Leave and Remain camps and the final Brexit outcome.

The book was published just ten days after the EU Referendum and features 100 academics across 80 chapters.

Edited by Bournemouth University’s Dr Dan Jackson and Dr Einar Thorsen, alongside Loughborough University’s Professor Dominic Wring, the book features subjects like the language of prejudice, media coverage of the campaign, and the rhetoric of the EU Referendum campaign.

The event was opened by Conor Burns MP, who is Member of Parliament for Bournemouth West. He said, “This is a fascinating report, a really academic insight into what happened only a few short weeks ago.”

Dr Einar Thorsen, Principal Academic in Journalism & Communication at Bournemouth University, said, “We always felt that there was a bit of a gap between all the fantastic research that happens in academia and politicians, so we were looking for way to get all that expertise out there very quickly.

“The idea is that it is early reflections from academics and experts in media and politics in the UK. This includes early findings and a critique of the Referendum campaign in terms of communications and media coverage.”

Dr Dan Jackson, Principal Lecturer in Media and Communications at Bournemouth University, said, “There are eight sections, ranging from parties, social media, journalism, political communication, and news & politics, so all of the key moments from the campaign are reflected upon.”

Hosted in Portcullis House in Parliament Square, the event was attended by MPs, MEPs, Lords and prominent academics, who all engaged in healthy debate about the outcomes of the Referendum and lessons that can be learned for the future.

Professor Dominic Wring, Professor of Political Communication at Loughborough University, added, “Its nice to formally launch the report at Westminster and so soon after the Referendum, while it is still fresh in peoples’ minds.

“When normality resumes, and people start thinking about Brexit again, and thinking about what happened, there is actually a lot of evidence here that puts together some of the facts for people then to distil and think over.”

The book is available to read for free in PDF form at http://www.referendumanalysis.eu/

14 July 2016

UK companies getting the message on innovation

Business Engagement, innovation, Knowledge Exchange, Knowledge Transfer jcodling

Growing numbers of UK companies are investing in research into new products and services, according to a study by the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills. (BIS)

The UK Innovation Survey 2015 Main Report, published by BIS on 12 July, collates the results of telephone interviews and a postal questionnaire completed by nearly 30,000 businesses around the UK.

It characterises innovation as any activity involving the introduction of a new product or process; engagement in on-going innovation projects; changes to the company structure or practices; and investment in research, training or technology.

The proportion of innovators increased across the UK, with the introduction of new computer software and ghardware were the most common forms of innovation investment reported.

Click on the links below for more information:

Useful summary: UK innovation survey 2015: infographic

Background: UK innovation survey 2015

Full report to download: UK innovation survey 2015: main report

Category / Knowledge Transfer