Category / News from the PVC

Make Your Voice Heard event reminder – some spaces still available

Logo with a megaphone and event title

It’s not enough just to do cutting edge research. We also know that we have to share it and pass on our findings or even our views about matters that are important to society.  Such profile-raising can help attract future research funding, raise our standing and that of BU and, with an eye on REF2020, help achieve impact.

Talking to journalists, using social media and updating blogs or websites does not come naturally to all of us and can be seen as just another demand placed on people who are already struggling with a busy schedule.

The communications department at the University have offered to make it easier for us to get our voice heard. They are hosting an event entitled Make Your Voice Heard to explore how to do this with impact and effect.

Taking place next week on 10 September 2014, we will discuss important topics, such as how academics can enrich the media and how to balance different stakeholder wants and needs. There will also be opportunities to acquire some practical tools, tips and techniques.

Ultimately, it would be great to see more of our staff sharing their unique and valuable perspectives on matters important to society and raising the profile of BU in the local, regional and national scene. Whether that’s through informed comment or sharing research outcomes, the communications team can help us do it more effectively.

‘Make Your Voice Heard’ runs from 9:00 – 14:00 on Talbot Campus and lunch will be provided. It is open to all researchers, from PGRs to Professors.

You can see the full schedule and book your place by following this link to the Eventbrite page. If you would like to find out more before booking, please contact Sarah Gorman (Corporate Communications Assistant).

Make Your Voice Heard

Logo with a megaphone and event title

It’s not enough just to do cutting edge research. We also know that we have to share it and pass on our findings or even our views about matters that are important to society.  Such profile-raising can help attract future research funding, raise our standing and that of BU and, with an eye on REF2020, help achieve impact.

Talking to journalists, using social media and updating blogs or websites does not come naturally to all of us and can be seen as just another demand placed on people who are already struggling with a busy schedule.

The communications department at the University have offered to make it easier for us to get our voice heard. They are hosting an event entitled Make Your Voice Heard to explore how to do this with impact and effect.

Taking place on 10 September 2014, we will discuss important topics, such as how academics can enrich the media and how to balance different stakeholder wants and needs. There will also be opportunities to acquire some practical tools, tips and techniques.

Ultimately, it would be great to see more of our staff sharing their unique and valuable perspectives on matters important to society and raising the profile of BU in the local, regional and national scene. Whether that’s through informed comment or sharing research outcomes, the communications team can help us do it more effectively.

‘Make Your Voice Heard’ runs from 9:00 – 14:00 on Talbot Campus and we will even be providing lunch. It is open to all researchers, from PGRs to Professors.

You can see the full schedule and book your place by following this link to the Eventbrite page. If you would like to find out more before booking, please contact Sarah Gorman (Corporate Communications Assistant).

I look forward to seeing you there…..

Congratulations and Good Luck

February saw a relatively quiet level of activity for bids being submitted and awards being won with congratulations due to Schools for winning research and consultancy contracts.

For the Business School, congratulations to Andy Mullineux for his consultancy with Cooperatives UK Ltd.  Good luck to Maurizio Borghi and Ruth Towse with their AHRC application, to grants academy members Lukman Aroean and Julie Robson and to Gelareh Roushan with their British Academy application, to Hossein Hassani and Mansi Ghodsi with their SIGMA application, and to Juliet Memery and Dawn Birch for their contract to the Crown Estate.Professor Keith Brown

For HSC, congratulations are due to Keith Brown for his contract with Plymouth City Council and his consultancy with Mouchel Management Consulting Ltd.  Good luck to grants academy member Sarah Hean with her contract to Association for Medical Education in Europe.

For MS, congratulations to Richard Scullion for his consultancy with WISH (Women in Social Housing), to Darren Lilleker for his consultancy with Borough of Poole, to Peter Truckel for his two short courses, and to Paula Callus for her VFX Academic conference.  Good luck to Julian McDougall for his application to AHRC, and to Ana Adi and grants academy member Anna Feigenbaum for their application to the British Academy to research the digital memory of ephemera.

For the Faculty of Science and Technology, congratulations are due to Tania Humphries-Smith, Nigel Garland, Mark Hadfield, Clive Hunt and Philip Sewell for their EPDE conference with the Institute of Engineering Design, to Adrian Pinder for his consultancy with Natural England, and to Jonny Monteith for his consultancy with Anesco.  Good luck to Mark Hadfield and Zulfiqar Khan for their contract to Wessex Institute, and to Timothy Darvill for his application to AHRC to research Stonehenge and Avebury rock source exploitation during the neolithic.

For ST, congratulations to Ehren Milner for his consultancy with Bournemouth Borough Council, and to Richard Gordon for his two consultancies with the British High Commission and the Royal Office of Oman.  Good luck to Jonathan Hibbert for his consultancy to Resort Development Organisation.

Congratulations and Good Luck

With the Christmas break out of the way, January saw a relatively quiet level of activity for bids being submitted and awards being won with congratulations due to Schools for winning research and consultancy contracts.

For the Business School, good luck to grants academy member Dinusha Mendis for her application to AHRC to ‘identify 3D printing delivery systems for older people to support care in the community’, to Lois Farquharson for her consultancy to Health-on-line, to Jens Holscher, Andy Mullineux and Dean Patton for their application to ESRC.

For HSC, congratulations are due to Bernie Edwards for a short course for ‘Foundations in Practice Nursing’.  Good luck to Sophie Smith, Jacqui Hewitt-Taylor and grants academy member Jane Murphy for their research training fellowship to Dunhill Medical Trust.

For MS, congratulations to grants academy member Mike Molesworth and Liam Toms for their consultancy with Cammegh Davies Flemming, and to grants academy member Richard Scullion and Rebecca Jenkins for their consultancy to McKenna Townsend PR.  Good luck to Julian McDougall for his applications to Higher Education Academy and AHRC, the latter of which is to research ‘connecting communities with their history across geography and generations through interaction design’, and to Richard Berger who has also applied to the Higher Education Academy.

For the Faculty of Science and Technology, congratulations are due to Jonny Monteith for his four consultancies with T Ingram Building Contractors Ltd, Renaissance Retirement Ltd, Mark Sanderson and SolarTech Ltd, to Tim Darvill for his conference, to grants academy members Cornelius Ncube and Keith Phalp for their consultancy with DSTL, to Adrian Pinder for his consultancy with Aluna Foundation, to Richard Stillman for his consultancy with Footprint Ecology, to grants academy member David Newell for his two short courses, and to Jacqui Taylor for her consultancy with Higher Education Academy.  Good luck to Emma Jenkins for her short course, to Neil Vaughan for his application to NIHR for ‘Development of a patient-specific epidural simulator for training and assessment’, to Adrian Pinder for his consultancy to Natural England, and to Sulaf Assi for her application to the Royal Society for Chemistry an ‘analytical chemistry summer school studentship’.

For ST, congratulations to Lisa Stuchberry and Jonathan Hibbert for their consultancy with Bournemouth Borough Council for the Bournemouth Arts Festival 2013 research, to Jeff Bray for his consultancies with Waitrose and with Which?, and to Richard Gordon for his short course and for his consultancy with the British High Commission Nigeria.  Good luck to Jonathan Hibbert for his consultancy to NHS Dorset.

Congratulations and Good Luck

As would be expected for a short working month, December saw a relatively quiet level of activity for bids being submitted and awards being won with congratulations due to Schools for winning research and consultancy contracts.

For ApSci, congratulations are due to Adrian Pinder for his consultancy with Borough of Poole, to Jonny Monteith for his consultancy with Colten Developments Ltd, and to Paola Palma for her contract with English Heritage.  Good luck to Richard Stillman for his consultancy to Footprint Ecology, and to Roger Herbert for his consultancy to Marine Ecological Surveys Ltd.

For the Business School, congratulations are due to Gelareh Roushan for her contract with the Higher Education Academy exploring the value of social media for education and research in business and management studies.

For DEC, good luck to Venky Dubey for his application to the British Council to research integrative intelligent vibro-electro-tactile device for balance correction and therapy, to Samuel Nyman, Anthea Innes (HSC), Peter Thomas (HSC) and Joanne Mayoh (ST) for their application to the National Institute for Health Research, to Grants Academy member David Newell for his two short courses, and to Jacqui Taylor for her consultancy with the Higher Education Academy.

For HSC, congratulations are due to Clive Andrewes for his consultancy with Wessex Academic Health Science Network.  Good luck to Lee-Ann Fenge for her application to the Big Lottery Fund, to Grants Academy member Timothy Etheridge for his contract to UK Space Agency, to Ann Hemingway for her application to Alcohol Research UK, and to Grants Academy member Jane Murphy for her consultancy to Wessex Academic Health Science Network.

For MS, good luck to Julian McDougall for his consultancy to University of Wolverhampton, and to Grants Academy member Richard Scullion for his consultancy with WISH (Women in Social Housing).

For ST, congratulations to Yeganeh Morakabati for securing the final year of the Crown Estate Project to study the perceptions of stakeholders with respect to the Boscombe Artificial Surf Reef.  Good luck to Heather Hartwell, Jeff Bray and Sherry Jeary (DEC) for their application to Global Innovation Initiative to research empowering consumer decision making in out of home eating.

Congratulations and Good Luck

October saw an increase in activity for bids being submitted and a number of awards were won with congratulations due to Schools for winning research grants, consultancy contracts and organising Short Courses.

For ApSci, congratulations are due to Adrian Pinder for his consultancies with Natural England, Game & Wildlife Conservation Trust, and Aluna Foundation, to Paola Palma for her contract with English Heritage, and to Jonny Monteith for his consultancies with Churchfield Farm, Roofing Cladding & Building Ltd, Sembcorp Bournemouth Water Ltd, Anesco, and Sherborne Castle Estates.  Good luck to Adrian Pinder, Roger Herbert and Adrian Newton for their consultancy to New Forest National Park Authority, and to Grants Academy member Amanda Korstjens for her application to AHRC investigating the feedback loops between our diets, societies and bodies.

For the Business School, good luck to Tim Ford, Mark Painter and Dean Patton for their consultancy to RBS Group, to Grants Academy member Max Lowenstein for his application to Socio-Legal Studies Association, to George Filis and Hossein Hassani who have submitted individual applications to the British Academy, to Aroean Lukman for his contract to the Japanese Society for Promotion of Science, to Juliet Memery and Dawn Birch for their application to British Academy of Management, and to Huiping Xian and Julie Robson who have submitted individual applications to the British Academy of Management.

For DEC, congratulations to Hongnian Yu and Shuang Cang (ST) for their Erasmus Mundus award with the European Commission, to Bob Eves and Siamak Noroozi for their Knowledge Transfer Partnership with Consolor, to Biao Zeng and Jian Jun Zhang (MS) for their contract with Hunan Tianpei IT Ltd for a match funded student, and to Zulfiqar Khan and Mark Hadfield for their contract with Future Energy Source.  Good luck to Katherine Appleton for separate applications to the MRC and ESRC, to Sarah Williams for her application to NIHR, to Simon Thompson and Jian Jun Zhang (MS) for their application to the British Academy identifying yawning in neurological disorders by facial capture techniques, to Jan Weiner, Samuel Nyman and Anthea Innes (HSC) for their application to Alzheimer’s Research UK, to Jianbing Ma who has applied to the Royal Society, and to Tania Humphries-Smith, Nigel Garland, Mark Hadfield, Clive Hunt and Philip Sewell for their EPDE conference with the Institute of Engineering Designers.

For HSC, congratulations are due to Anthea Innes and Michele Board for their successful Erasmus LLP with the European Commission, to Anthea Innes, Michele Board, Sarah Hambidge, Samuel Nyman and Jan Weiner for their ESRC Festival of Social Science application ‘Dementia in Dorset – what does this mean for you?’, and to Lee-Ann Fenge, Maggie Hutchings, Jen Leamon and Anne Quinney for their ESRC Festival of Social Science application ‘Promoting dignity through understanding narratives of care’, and to Anthea Innes for her contract with Quantum LifeCare.  Good luck to Sara Crabtree and Gail Thomas for their application to Wellcome Trust, to Jonathan Parker and Sara Crabtree for their application to the British Academy, to Luisa Cescutti-Butler for her short courses to Great Western Hospital NHS Trust and to Eastbourne District General Hospital, to Vanora Hundley, Edwin Van Teijlingen and Ann Luce for their application to the British Academy, and to Anthea Innes for her Wellcome Trust application.

Congratulations to the MS for Jian Jun Zhang, Jian Chang and Lihua You for their successful European Commission application for user centred computer animation techniques, they also, together with Xiaosong Yang, successfully secured a second European Commission application for ‘Dr Inventor’, to Stephanie Farmer for her consultancies with Borough of Poole and also Tribal Education Ltd, which the latter was joint with Anthony Minto, to Liam Toms for his consultancy with Doppelganger Productions, and to Rebecca Jenkins and Grants Academy member Mike Molesworth for their consultancy with Work Research Ltd.  Good luck to Barry Richards and Roman Gerodimos for their application to AHRC, to Chris Pullen for his application to the British Academy, to Roman Geromidos for his submission to The Spencer Foundation, to Jian Chang, Hongchuan Yu and Jian Jun Zhang for their Royal Society of Medicine application researching smart mobile production of computer animation, to Jamie Matthews for his application to the Japan Foundation Endowment Committee, to Lihua You and Jian Jun Zhang for their Royal Society application, and to Julian McDougall and Ashley Woodfall for their application to NESTA.

For ST, congratulations to Lisa Stuchberry and Jon Hibbert for their contract with Dorset Clinical Commissioning Group (NHS), to Richard Gordon and Mike Evans (ApSci) for their consultancies with the British High Commission Nigeria and also with the British Embassy, and to Ehren Milner for his consultancy with Dorset County Council.  Good luck to Grants Academy member Alessandro Inversini for his ESRC application on strategic and tactical use of tourism technologies in developing countries, to Andrew Adams for his British Academy application, to Grants Academy member Debbie Sadd for her Leverhulme Trust application, to Charles McIntyre for his consultancy to Winchester Council, and to Ehren Milner for his consultancy to Bath Museum Partnership.

Congratulations and Good Luck

September saw a slight reduction of activity for bids being submitted and a number of awards were won with congratulations due to Schools for winning research grants, consultancy contracts and organising Short Courses.

For ApSci, congratulations are due to Adrian Newton, Ralph Clarke and Judith DeGroot (DEC) for their NERC grant, which is part of the Biodiversity & Ecosystem Service Sustainability (BESS) project, to Fiona Coward and Bronwen Russell for their short course on an introduction to world prehistory, to Richard Stillman for his award from Scottish Natural Heritage, to Rick Stafford, Genoveva Esteban, Duncan Golicher and Roger Herbert for their NERC award, to Jonathan Monteith for his two consultancies with Anesco, as well as consultancies with Sherborne Castle Estates and Distributed Generation Ltd, and to Adrian Pinder for his consultancy with the Environment Agency.  Good luck to Paola Palma for her application to English Heritage, to John Gale for his short course on Guided walk – aspects of prehistoric West Dorset, to Adrian Pinder for his consultancies to Natural England and to the Game & Wildlife Conservation Trust, to Rick Stafford and Chris Shiel for their application to Higher Education Academy, to Sulaf Assi for her consultancy to Royal Society of Chemistry, and to Jonathan Monteith for his consultancy to Roofing Cladding & Building Ltd.

For the Business School, good luck to Melanie Klinkner, Sascha Dominik Bachmann and Howard Davis for their application to United States Institute of Peace, to Thanh Cong Huynh for his European Commission Marie Curie Fellowship, to Gbola Gbadamosi and Lois Farquharson for their application to the Higher Education Academy to investigate the contribution of aspirations in shaping personal trajectories and outcomes, and to Hiroko Oe for her application to the Daiwa Anglo-Japanese Foundation.

For DEC, congratulations to Simon Thompson and Biao Zeng for their pilot study on Auditory Selective Attention and Lexical Tone Perception under a Whisper Condition for Chongqing University.  Good luck to Andrew Johnson for his application to Wellcome Trust, to Martin Teal and Glyn Hadley for their application to Royal Academy of Engineering to research Virtual Reality Simulation of WW1 Tank Battles, to Jacqui Taylor, Raian Ali and Keith Phalp for their match funded studentships to Higher Education Academy, to Marcin Budka for his EPSRC application, and to Sarah Bate for her application to the British Psychological Society.

For HSC, a number of short courses were awarded and so congratulations are due to Anthea Innes working with Bournemouth Borough Council, to Clive Andrewes with Royal Bournemouth and Christchurch Hospitals NHS, and to grants academy member Jane Murphy, Joanne Holmes and Sophie Smith with Abbeyfield Solent Society Ltd.  Good luck to Fotini Tsofliou for his pilot study to Rank Prize Funds, to Maggie Hutchings, Caroline Ellis-Hill and Janet Scammell for their application to the Higher Education Academy to explore the education strategies to empower students in humanising care, to Jen Leamon, Marilyn Cash and Vanora Hundley for their Higher Education Academy application to promote employability of dyslexic student midwives whilst protecting the public, to Tim Etheridge for his bid to Rank Prize Funds, to Peter Thomas for his application to Cancer Research UK, and to Anthea Innes and Sarah Hambidge for their application to Alzheimer’s Society.

Congratulations to the MS for An Nguyen for his contract with World Federation of Science Journalists, to grants academy members Dan Jackson and Shelly Thompson for their consultancy with Work Research Ltd, and to Zhidong Xiao for his short course with Wuhan Vocational College of Software and Engineering.  Good luck to Trevor Hearing who has submitted a HEFCE bid for postgraduate support in creative and digital economies, to Stephanie Farmer for her consultancy to 4com, to Alexander Pasko and Peter Comninos for their application to Interreg, to Melanie Gray and Pawel  Surowiec for their separate consultancies to Captec Ltd, and to Liam Toms for his consultancy to WISH.

For ST, congratulations to Ehren Milner for his consultancy with West Dorset District Council.  Good luck to Heather Hartwell, Adele Ladkin, Stephen Page and Ann Hemingway (HSC) for their ESRC application for ‘Promotion of wellbeing as a destination resource’, to Lisa Stuchberry and Jon Hibbert for their consultancy to Bournemouth Borough Council, to Richard Gordon and Mike Evans (ApSci) for their consultancy for British High Commission Nigeria, and to Ehren Milner for his contract to Dorset Clinical Commissioning Group (NHS).

Best wishes

Matthew

Congratulation and Good Luck

August saw a busy period of activity for bids being submitted and a number of awards were won with congratulations due to Schools for winning research grants, consultancy contracts and organising Short Courses.

There were a significant number of European Commission Marie Curie Fellowships submitted in August and so good luck goes to EUADS member Anita Diaz, and to Robert Britton for his three applications, both from ApSci, to Mark Hadfield, and also to Feng Tian and Chang Liu for their applications, all from DEC, to Vanora Hundley from HSC, to Jian Chang, Darren Lilleker (both EUADS members), Hammadi Nait-Charif, Lihua You, An Duc Nguyen for their individual applications, along with EUADS member Barry Richards for his two applications and a joint submission from Alexander Pasko, Valery Adzhiev and Oleg Fryazinov, all from the Media School, and to Ana Adi (MS) and Debbie Sadd (ST) for their joint application, and finally to Heather Hartwell from the School of Tourism, who is also a member of EUADS.

For ApSci, congratulations are due to Mark Maltby for his AHRC Large Grant to research Chickens and People: Past, Present and Future.  Mark will lead on this collaborative project for over £1.5M, working with several University partners.  Congratulations are also due to Adrian Pinder for two consultancies with the Forestry Commission and Natural England, the latter also involving Grants Academy member Pippa Gillingham, Roger Herbert and Richard Stillman, and to Jonathan Monteith for his consultancy with WPA Consultants.  Good luck to Richard Stillman for his contract to Natural England, and to Jonathan Monteith for his consultancies to Anesco and to Churchfield Farm. 

For the Business School, congratulations to Grants Academy member Dinusha Mendis for her contract with the University of Glasgow.  Good luck to Lois Farquharson for her consultancy to CAFCASS, and to Yasmin Sekhon and Elvira Bolat for their application to Academy of Marketing.

For DEC, congratulations to Sarah Bate for her award from the British Psychological Society to launch the Face Blindness awareness campaign, and to Chris Benjamin for his Sonar short Course to be held in September.  Good luck to Christos Gatzidis for his application to Leverhulme, to Grants Academy member Raian Ali for his application to EPSRC for Software Engineering Framework for Systematic Social Sensing, to Christopher Richardson and Hongnian Yu for their KTP to TDSi, to Shamal Faily and Cornelius Ncube for their application to Centre for Defence Enterprise, and to Venky Dubey for his application to UK Science and Innovation Network.

For HSC, congratulations are due to Jane Murphy and Joanne Holmes for their Burdett Trust for Nursing project to research ‘Empowering nurses and care home staff to lead excellence in nutrition and dignity in dementia care’, to Clive Andrewes for his short course with Poole Hospital NHS Trust, and to Keith Brown for his two short courses with Portsmouth Hospital NHS Trust and Worcestershire County Council.  Good luck to Jonathan Williams for his application to the Private Physiotherapy Educational Fund, and to Keith Brown for his short course to Cheshire West and Chester Council, and his contract to Croydon Council.

Congratulations to the Media School for Liam Toms two consultancies with Swann Recruitment Ltd and Doppelganger Productions.  Good luck to Julian McDougall for his application to AHRC, to An Duc Nguyen for his contract to the World Federation of Science Journalists, and to Richard Scullion, Rebecca Jenkins, Iain MacRury and Mike Molesworth for their application to the Society for Research into Higher Education to map out best practice in factors influencing recruitment, retention and the student experience in a marketised Higher Education.

For the School of Tourism T, congratulations to John Fletcher, Adam Blake and Yeganeh Morakabati for their contract with Gibraltar Chamber of Commerce, to Lisa Stuchberry, Jon Hibbert and Nicky Pretty for their contract with Bournemouth Borough Council, to Richard Gordon for his short course in International Disaster Management to run in September, to Lisa Stuchberry, Jon Hibbert and Lauren Thom for their contract with Royal Bournemouth and Christchurch Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust and for their consultancy with West Dorset District Council, and to Crispin Farbrother for his short course with Wuhan City Vocational College.

New Term, New Research Themes!

I posted earlier in the summer to let you know of the changes to the research themes (Looking to the Horizons).  We are about to launch them on the world so I thought it would be worth saying a few more words about them.  The themes were used to categorise events that ran as part of the Festival of Learning in June and the themes icons also formed part of the design and branding of the Festival.  You may also have noticed that the themes have been used in the new Postgraduate Prospectus and they will be used to structure the revised research pages on the web; yes, finally we are getting some revised pages after several false starts!  The revised pages are due to be launched in the autumn to tidy things up in time for our REF submission which is submitted in November.  We are also deep in planning for next year’s Festival of Learning and hope that each theme will showcase their work through a series of engaging events.

On Tuesday to Friday this week there will be an update each day from two of the Research Themes detailing activities that have taken place within the themes over the past twelve months and what the theme aims to do in future.

The Research Themes part of the Blog has now been redesigned with the new themes (http://blogs.bournemouth.ac.uk/research/research-themes/) and I encourage you to take a look.  If you’re not already a member of one or more of the themes then you can sign up using the form at the bottom of this post.

It would be a great help if you could let me know of a few choice examples of projects under each theme; things that you would like me to use while promoting the themes in the coming weeks.  Just drop me a line with the project and a short paragraph, it would be a great help!

 

Sign up to the BU Research Themes here!

    Your Name (required)

    Your Email (required)

    Your School / Professional Service (required)

    Staff or PGR student? (required)

    StaffPGR

    Please select the themes that you are interested in (required)

    Money, Money …. Money Makes the World go Around?

    Now even I know that this is a line from a song – we have established previously my lack of musical education I think?  According to Google it is a song in the musical Cabaret and perhaps made famous by Liza Minnelli?  Who knows, but the line chimes (forgive the pun) with a point raised by a colleague in a recent promotion forum I was chairing; why does everything revolve around money?

    I have been reflecting on this, as I do about most things, and think it deserves a fuller answer.  The context was that in any senior promotion discussion the amount of money one brings in becomes relevant whether it’s through educational innovation or research and why should this be true?  Why should it be up there with for example producing written output or delivering top quality education?  We have Performance Indicators within BU2018 that focus on money.  For example, we aspire that by 2018: every academic should generate at least £18k of Research and Knowledge Exchange (RKE) income; every Professor should be associated with at least one and half post-docs; and that every academic should supervise at least one PGR student.  As a community we dedicated ourselves as part of BU2018 to maintaining a similar sized student body and to increasing the proportion of postgraduate students to around 40%, something that will require a lot of portfolio innovation.  Let us be honest, all these PI’s revolve around generating income and we all need to play a role in bringing the cash in, so in this context cash does matter and yes it does make our University World spin.

    However there is a huge but here; it is not about the income itself but about what it allows you to do that matters.  Some of you will have heard me use the line about ‘being a time lord’ before but, however corny it might be, it is the real justification for why academics need to work together to generate RKE income.  As academics we are limited by time, it is the elephant in the room whenever we talk about work load planning, it stalks us daily in our working lives.  But the way to cheat the clock is to build a team; a team of research students, of post-doc’s or visiting academics.  If you build a team then you cease to be limited by the clock but by inspiration and imagination!  That is why RKE income matters, because it allows you to build that team, to live beyond the clock!  That is why we have income targets around RKE not for the sake of the cash itself.

    It is the same with education.  Innovation around new courses, units and delivery models ultimately brings in more students especially in the deregulated parts of the market (e.g. ABB+, international, postgraduate and CPD).  That income allows us to recruit more academics, to invest in better estate and, therefore, a better experience for our staff and students. Check out https://www.ilisters.com/cyprus/property/for-sale/in-troodos for properties in Troodos.  So yes income does matter, but not for the sake of cash itself, but what that cash allows us to do.

    By way of example, a few years back I ran a small consultancy operation out of BU in the field of contaminated land.  Not an area that particularly interests me but one in which I could generate income for BU, part of which was invested back into my research.  In fact that income helped finance my work in East Africa, leading to my footprint paper in Science, and ultimately to my current NERC grant which finishes this September.  The income I generated helped me to get promotion and more importantly fulfil one of my most cherished research ambitions.  So yes income does make our University World spin and we all have a role to play.  The Grants Academy is there to help you get started and the staff of the Research Development Unit are there to help, so why not help to make our World spin this coming year?

    First Impressions

    Let’s face it when BRIAN was launched last year the staff profile pages, which drew information from it and were written in something called VIVO, were less than satisfactory!  Lots of technical problems with the input data from BRIAN and its presentation was not up to BU’s normal standard.  You expressed your concerns in no uncertain terms and we have now put it right.  Working with academic colleagues IT and M&C have worked hard over the summer to construct a completely new interface, not in an obscure computer code but in something we can maintain and evolve easily ourselves.  They have done a brilliant piece of work, so BRIAN has a new set of external clothes and they rock!

    After all, first impressions count and the staff pages are a crucial portal through which we present our academic achievements and expertise; and in reverse it is a lens for the world to view and search the wonderful talent that exists here at BU.  The new pages go live at the start of October 2013; they are finished and ready but there is an upgrade to BRIAN due in September which needs to be installed first.

     The improvements include:

     –       A more professional look and feel

    –       The opportunity to showcase selected publications

    –       Users can upload their own photo (via BRIAN)

    –       Improved searching by name, keyword

    –       Closer integration with the research themes

    –       Fixing the technical problems we have experienced

    Since we have developed this interface ourselves here at BU we can develop it further and continue to respond to your feedback.  The BRIAN team are managing the development of the replacement.  If you would like to know more about the project, please email BRIAN@bournemouth.ac.uk.

     The staff profile pages will continue to use data drawn from BRIAN so please keep updating your content in BRIAN since a profile is only as good as the input!  There should be no impact on staff during the switch to the new pages, although there may be minor disruption to the availability of the profile pages during the transition.  Let me know what you think of the new pages?

    Congratulations and Good Luck

    July saw a low level of activity for bids being submitted but we did have more awarded with congratulations due to Schools for winning research grants, consultancy contracts and organising Short Courses.

    For Applied Science, congratulations are due to Jonathan Monteith for his four consultancies with North Mead Farm, Merryfield Park Partnership, New Forest National Park Authority and Balfour Beatty Construction, to Kathy Hodder for her consultancy with Fieldwork Ecological Services Ltd, and to Holger Schutkowski for his consultancy with Cellmark Forensic Services.  Good luck to Jonathan Monteith for his consultancy with WPA Consultants, to Adrian Pinder for his consultancy with the Forestry Commission, to Richard Stafford and Roger Herbert for their application to NERC in connection with marine ecosystems, and to Adrian Newton for his application to DfID regarding livelihood and biodiversity benefits from forest transitions in Mesoamerica.

    For the Business School, congratulations to Jens Holscher for his ESRC Festival of Social Science project for ‘Finance for Small Firms’.

    Good luck to DEC, for Venky Dubey’s application to NIHR researching patient specific advanced epidural simulator to improve patient safety, to Katherine Appleton for her application to NIHR for a pilot study to test implementation of a food-based rewards intervention in secondary schools, and to Sarah Bate for her application to the British Psychology Society to launch the Face Blindness awareness campaign.

    For HSC, congratulations are due to Les Todres and Caroline Ellis-Hill for their contract with the Burdett Trust for Nursing, to Keith Brown for his consultancy with Skills for Care, to Grants Academy member Vanora Hundley for her two matched funded PhD contracts and her contract ‘Every reason to SMiLE’ all with Portsmouth Hospitals NHS Trust, to Anthea Innes for her two matched funded PhD contracts with Hamble Heights and Guild Care, and to Sarah Hean, also a Grants Academy member, for her matched funded PhD contract with Legal and General.  Good luck to Sarah Hean for her contract to the British Council, and to Keith Brown for his contract to Mouchel Management Consulting Ltd.

    Congratulations to the Media School for Rebecca Jenkins and Mike Molesworth for their consultancy with Work Research Ltd, to Anthony Minto and Peter Truckel for their consultancy with iHeed Institute, and to Grants Academy member Carrie Hodges for her ESRC project ‘Seen but seldom heard, which is together with Wendy Cutts and Lee-Ann Fenge from HSC.  Good luck to Chris Pullen for his Leverhulme application for an interactive Ebook on diversity and family, and to Tom Watson for his contract to the British Council.

    For School of Tourism, congratulations to Lisa Stuchberry, Stephen Calver, Anya Chapman, Nicky Pretty and Lauren Thom for their consultancy with Marketing Blackpool, to Dimitrios Buhalis, Philip alford and Alessandro Inversini for their ESRC Festival of Social Science project, Richard Gordon for his short course with the Foreign and Commonwealth Office, and to Lisa Stuchberry, Jon Hibbert and Lauren Thom for their contract with Christchurch Borough Council to carry out a residents survey.  Good luck to Dimitrios Buhalis and Alessandro Inversini, who is a Grants Academy member, for their application to European Commission.

    Best wishes

    Matthew

    Congratulations and Good Luck

    June saw a slight increase in activity for bids being submitted and awarded with congratulations due to Schools for winning research grants, consultancy contracts and organising Short Courses.

    For ApSci, congratulations are due to Jonathan Monteith for his consultancy with Distributed General Ltd, and to John Gale for his contract with Heritage Lottery Fund.  Good luck to Jonathan Monteith for his consultancy with Merryfield Park Partnership, and to Kathy Hodder for her consultancy with Fieldwork Ecological Service Ltd.

    For the Business School, congratulations to Ruth Towse and Maurizio Borghi for their AHRC research project in Music Publishing.  Good luck to Tim Ford and Mark Painter for their consultancy to RBS Group, to Lois Farquharson, Fabian Homberg, Roger Palmer and Dean Patton for their consultancy to Wiltshire Probation Trust.

    Good luck to DEC, for Bob Eves KTP project with Consoler, to Sarah Williams for her application to MQ: Transforming Mental Health, to Christos Gatzidis for his application to Leverhulme, to Bogdan Gabrys and Marcin Budka for their submission to ITaaU Network, to Chang Liu, Sarah Bate, Angela Gosling and Nicola Gregory for their application to the Royal Society to research the cultural influence on typical and atypical development of face perception.

    For HSC, congratulations are due to Keith Brown for his short courses with Powys County Council, to Lee-Ann Fenge, Keith Brown and Lynne Rutter for their contract with Hampshire County Council.  Good luck to Peter Thomas and Zoe Sheppard for their application to the National Institute for Health Research, to Anthea Innes, Michele Board and Sarah Hambridge from HSC, together with Sam Nyman and Jan Wiener from DEC, for their application to the ESRC Festival of Social Science, to Jonathan Parker and Sara Crabtree for their contract to IASSW, to Andrew Harding, Sue Baron, Di Galpin, Edwin van Teijlingen and Cate Wood for their contract to the Royal College of General Practitioners, to Lee-Ann Fenge, Maggie Hutchings, Jen Leamon and Anne Quinney who have also applied to the ESRC Festival of Social Science, to Keith Brown for his short course for Worcestershire County Council.

    Congratulations to the Media School for Bronwen Thomas and Julia Round’s AHRC project for Research Networking Researching Readers Online, to Zhidong Xiao for his consultancy with the University of Bedfordshire, and to Stephanie Farmer for her consultancy to Nuffield Health, Chichester.  Good luck to Liam Toms for his consultancy to Doppelganger Productions, to Zhidong Xiao for his short course with Wuhan Vocational College of Software and Engineering, to Carrie Hodges of the Media School, Lee-Ann Fenge and Wendy Cutts from HSC for their application to ESRC, and to Julian McDougall of the Media School and Dinusha Mendes of the Business School for their application to the European Commission.

    For School of Tourism, good luck to Heather Hartwell for her European application to COST on shaping consumer behaviour and food choice, and her application, together with Sean Beer and Jeff Bray, to the Institute for Small Business and Entrepreneurship, and to Katherine King and Alessandro Inversini for their application to European Commission.

    Looking to the Horizons

    One of the fundamental foundations of BU2018 is that we should take an outward looking perspective, a look beyond the campus boundary.  It is a significant feature within our commitment to societally led research and our commitment to Professional Practice as a core component of Fusion.  This practice is about engagement with external stake holders contributing via thought leadership and research but above all else listening and channelling that information inward to ensure that the research we do is relevant to the big issues our society faces and that the education we deliver also meets society’s needs.  It is the difference between a self-determined research and educational agenda – ‘we know best’ – to one that places listening and responding to societal need at its core.  It is this idea that lies behind our eight societal research themes which have been live now for over 18 months.  They act as shop windows for our research, as vehicles for inter-disciplinary and cross-university collaboration and as a rallying point for our different research communities. 

    They were informed at inception by the key themes identified by funding councils and government strategy, filtered through our bespoke academic footprint.  It was always intended that there would be an element of Darwinian competition between them and that they would change over time to reflect emerging strengths within the organisation and changing external agenda. 

    I launched a quick review of the research themes at the start of 2013 and after some discussion within the University Research and Knowledge Exchange (URKE) Committee some changes were recommended to strengthen our proposition and to ensure visibility of some of our core strengths.  The explicit recognition (and also control) of subthemes was one outcome, as was the recognition of Aging and Dementia as a separate theme in light of the fantastic work of BU Dementia Institute.  The total number of themes remains at eight and the list below provides confirmation of the changes agreed by the URKE Committee and will come into enforce from the September. 

    1. Creative, Digital and Cognitive Science

    • NCCA
    • Big Data Centre
    • Creative Design
    • Software systems and security
    • Cognition in Action

    2. Communities, Cultures and Conflicts NCPQSW

    • Crisis and conflict
    • Diversity and difference
    • Past peoples and societies

     3. Entrepreneurship and Economic Growth

    • Centre for Entrepreneurship

    4. Biodiversity, Environmental Change and Green Economy

    • Biodiversity
    • Green economy and sustainability

    5. Lifelong Health and wellbeing

    • Psychology, health and human fulfilment
    • Health and practice development

    6. Leisure, Recreation and Tourism  

    7. Ageing, Society and Dementia      

    8. Technology and Design

    • Medical and robotic engineering
    • Renewable technology
    • SMART technology

    Making a Contribution: REF and Buses

    I suspect that this may win an award for the most contrived title!  Let us deal first with the issues of buses.  The reference is simply to the fact that I have not posted for a while and have more than one post to make this week!  Having dealt with the minor issue of the title we should perhaps turn to the main event, which has nothing to do with buses and everything to do with acknowledging contribution.

    On Thursday of this week the REF Academic Steering Group (RASG) which I chair will meet in the presence of the Vice-Chancellor to recommend the final selection of outputs, and associated staff, across all the Units of Assessment in which we intend to make a return in REF2014.  Just to be clear our submission is made in November of this year but the results are due in December 2014 which seems a life time away just now and I can feel the wait dragging already!

    The point I would like to make, however, is that the inclusion of outputs is only one way of contributing to our REF submission and all researchers at BU have, and will, help shape our submission.  Outputs account for only 65% of the overall research profile in any given Unit of Assessment (UOA), the other 35% is down to environment (15%) and impact (20%).  Unlike RAE2008, data collection for REF2014 is based on HESA codes rather than the returned FTE and, therefore, metrics which support environment – research income, doctoral completions and esteem – are based on the collective performance within a given HESA code.  To put it bluntly they are not tied to specific individuals who have outputs that are returned. This means that even if a member of staff does not have outputs selected for inclusion, they may have contributed strongly to the research environment through leadership, income generation or student supervision.  Similarly impact is based on a series of case studies, two for the first 14.99 FTE and an additional one for every subsequent 10 FTE.  Again there may be cases where some individuals have generated impact case studies but don’t have sufficient outputs at the required threshold to be returned.  In many ways these individuals have contributed more than anyone to our REF submission.

    So the message is a simple one: even if your outputs are not selected for submission this week, all staff are making some form of contribution to our REF submission.  We should also not forget those that are making a contribution through their teaching enabling others to focus on research.  REF is a collective not an individual endeavor.  It is a game, and yes it is a game of high-stakes, that we must play and play well to ensure that the reputation of BU as a leading research institution is maintained, something which is a core part of our collective commitment to Fusion and BU2018.

    An introvert’s perspective of the Festival of Learning

    When I was a postgraduate student at Edinburgh you had to do what was called colloquially as a ‘six month report’.  It was a rite of passage – a written report and a talk in front of the department – in order to be registered fully for your PhD; something like a transfer report in BU’s current system but earlier in your doctoral journey.  I had never spoken in public before apart from a few lines in various theatre productions as a kid (I was Sam as in Samneric in the Lord of the Flies once).  The rehearsal for the talk was an absolute disaster, a humiliation in front of my supervisor and friends.  My supervisor, who was Head of Department at the time and usually short on time and patience, helped me to sort a new structure and content for the talk probably to save his own embarrassment and this allowed me to ‘belt it out’ as he so eloquently put it.  So was born ‘Matthew the Performer’ something which I perfected rapidly through a series of external talks and in my early days as a lecturer.  I actually learnt to enjoy performing, could and still can, turn it on as required channelling my inner passion and enthusiasm for all things linked to research.  Presentations are now my bread and butter, but occasionally they still take their toll on a die-hard introvert, in a world of extroverts.

    This was very true of my sandcastles presentation for the Festival of Learning recently; a success by most accounts, full of enthusiasm for the science of sedimentology and hopefully entertaining the audience of adults and children present.  My boys liked it so that is the feedback that matters to me most.  I passionately believe in the importance of public engagement and sandcastles provide me with an enduring vehicle to talk about geology and the amazing story of our planet!  The Festival was about public engagement and the public were engaged by all who contributed to it; amazing in fact and a testament to what we can do at BU.

    The point I wish to make here however is that the cost of this piece of public theatre to me personally was huge; I didn’t quite spend the rest of the weekend in a darkened room but not far short!  I don’t mind admitting that my worst nightmare is a room full of strangers and a need to network and/or sell.  I can do it and well when needs must after years of practice, but the cost is often high.  I much prefer to talk to a few close colleagues and friends than a room of strangers.  I suspect that there are many people out there like me within BU, who crave for the solitude of the hills, a good book, a closed door and something creative to work on.  People are sometimes perplexed (and have often felt the need to comment) on the contrast between me in performance mode, or when observed talking to my close friends, and the version of me visible at other times as I walk for example across campus lost in moody thought oblivious (sorry!) to all that pass by.  So why bare my soul so publicly in this way?  Well I have just finished reading a fantastic book, which has won much praise and sold around the world entitled Quiet by Susan Cain.  It is simply fantastic and makes one proud to be an introvert in a world of extroverts!

    Congratulations and Good Luck

    May had a disappointingly low level of activity for bids being submitted and awarded, but congratulations are due to Schools for winning consultancy contracts, research grants and organising Short Courses.

    For ApSci, congratulations are due to Holger Schutkowski for his award from the Polish Ministry of Science and Higher Education to look at the variability of diet in human populations of the Near East from the Neolithic to the Modern period, to Jonathan Monteith for his two consultancies with Peter Gunning and Partners LLP and with Distributed Generation Ltd, and to Grants Academy members Emilie Hardouin and Demetra Andreou for their consultation with Natural Resources Wales.  Good luck to Roger Herbert and Rick Stafford with their contract to Scottish Natural Heritage, and to David Parham and Jonathan Monteith for their contract to English Heritage.

    Good luck to Isaac Ngugi of the Business School and Adrian Newton from ApSci for their application to Ekhaga Foundation, and to Kaouther Kooli and Elvira Bolat both from the Business School for their application to the Academy of Marketing.

    For DEC, congratulations to Grant Academy member Marcin Budka and Bogdan Gabrys for their consultancy with Western Union Financial Services Inc, and to Zulfiqar Khan for his contract with Sunseeker International.  Good luck also goes to Zulfiqar and Mark Hadfield for their contract to Future Energy Source, to Venky Dubey for his application to UKIERI, and to Nicola Gregory for her application to the Experimental Psychology Society on individual differences in saccadic orienting to eye gaze.

    For HSC, congratulations are due to Keith Brown for his short courses with Cheshire West and Chester Council, and with Torbay Council, as well as his contract with Somerset County Council.  Good luck also goes to Keith for his consultancy to Skills for Care, his contract to Plymouth City Council and his short course with Powys Country Council, to Jane Murphy and Joanne Holmes and to Janet Scammell and Martin Hind for their applications to the Burdett Trust for Nursing, to Anthea Innes and Clare Cutler for their short course for Bournemouth Borough Council, to Vanora Hundley and Edwin van Teijlingen, and to Zoe Sheppard, Peter Thomas and Helen Allen for their applications to the National Institute for Health Research.

    Congratulations to the Media School for Peter Comninos, Alexander Pasko, Oleg Fryazinov, Valery Adzhiev and Eike Anderson for their international conference on Shape Modelling, and to Tom Watson for his IHPR conference.  Good luck to Zhidong Xiao for his consultancy to the University of Bedfordshire, and to Liam Toms for his consultancy to Kind of Watersports.

    For School of Tourism, congratulations go to Nicky Pretty for her contract with the National Trust, as well as Nicky, Eva Makris and Samir Bhatti’s contract with Wells Cathedral, and for all of them together with Ehren Milner for their contract with Bath Museum Partnership, to Keith Hayman for his short course with Hall & Woodhouse Ltd, and to Nicole Ferdinand and Mary Beth Gouthro for their contract to King’s College London to research Carnival Futures: Notting Hill Carnival 2020.  Good luck to Lisa Stuchberry for her contract to Marketing Blackpool, and to Nicky Pretty, Eva Makris, Samir Bhatti and Ehren Milner for their contract to Shropshire Council.

    Mancunian Abroad

    Last week I was part of a Leadership Foundation delegation visiting a number of US Colleges and Universities in Washington DC and I thought I might take this opportunity to share a couple of observations.

    The delegation visited a range of institutions from George Washington University with one of the highest fee levels in the US, to the NOVA in North Virginia a Community College, via George Mason University, Laureate and Howard University.  The US system is often held up as an example of a truly market orientated system; a direction of travel for the UK HE in light of UK student number reforms.  But I am not sure this is true.

    It is certainly a system of huge diversity in terms of numbers and types of institutions – 7,400 by some definitions – each with a different mission and funding mix.  It is a system in which the student is surprisingly not to the fore and in which educational quality is not a preeminent concern, in fact almost irrelevant as a market driver it would seem!  The definition deployed by many of a satisfied student is a student that gives!  The percentage of alumni that give a donation, even if it is just a dollar, is a key metric of institutional student success.  The same is true of research there is no real measure of quality, with many institutions now openly and aggressively chasing research dollars to bolster their fragile financial models.  One has to wonder how the US has maintained a preeminent position within the research rankings and how long this can last?

    The institution (and President [VC]) that impressed me most, and the one that I would work for given a chance, may surprise many of you since it was a teaching only institution.  Yes I know, for one who has committed his life to research I need to wash my mouth out now with soap for uttering such a statement!  NOVA is a Community College and effectively a vocational feeder college providing open entry education and turning out either vocationally trained professionals with associate degrees or individuals with sufficient credit to transfer to four year programmes and full degrees at other institutions such as George Mason University.  They don’t do any research, it is not part of their mission, but boy do they have a societal impact!  The vision on display through their inspiring President of the future economic needs of the State, of the social problems that might arise from a failure to meet them, of the work force skills needed to tackle these challenges and how to fill them was impressive: linking supply, demand and future societal need in one seamless skills escalator.  An outstanding role model of what could be achieved if we are brave in working with Bournemouth and Poole College in the future and with the schools that feed it.

    I was less impressed by the social engineering behind cohort creation at George Washington University which aims at creating an influential peer group for life; a ready-made old boys/girls network.  Laureate was interesting and their ability to bring scale to online courses impressive, but a relative small part of their business in reality.  Their real focus seemed to be on global acquisitions, investing capital to help partner institutions overseas lever the maximum potential from their brands.  I was left with the impression of a powerful, politically well-connected institution with ambition, but one based on maximising the potential from other institutions brand and market position.  Perhaps exactly what one might expect from a private for profit provider and one that sees the future in the societal and global need for inexpensive mass education.

    It’s worth just touching on Howard University, one of the oldest historically black universities, a relic of the policy of racial segregation in the US based on the Plessey Principle of ‘separate but equal’.  One of the things that struck a chord with me was a simple statement made by the International Director: ‘the challenge is between attracting better students versus constantly working to make the students one has better’.  I thought this was superb because it focuses attention on the key challenge not on the quality of input, but the enhancement we as educators need to provide to an individual.  That is a real focus for educational enhancement and student satisfaction!

    Lots to think about but I keep returning to the issue of quality and its measure, or more precisely the lack of a consistent measure of it within the US system.  Quality and its measurement is at the heart of our system, both within research and education, and as we face the final preparations for REF and are in the middle of our institutional quality audit I have been reflecting on how lucky – yes lucky – we are to have such robust and strong measures of quality.  In my view they make our higher education system one of the best in the World and long may they live!