Category / PG research

This part of the blog features news and information for postgraduate research students and supervisors

Excellent scientific paper by Dr. Alison Taylor

NHS, PG research, Publishing, writing

Congratulations to Dr. Alison Taylor and her Ph.D. supervisors on the acceptance of the paper ‘’Scrutinised, judged and sabotaged’: A qualitative video diary study of first-time breastfeeding mothers’ by Midwifery (published by Elsevier) [1].  This is the second paper from Alison’s extremely interesting Ph.D. research, the first one was accepted late last year.  The first article ‘The therapeutic role of video diaries: A qualitative study involving breastfeeding mothers’ was accepted by the international journal Women & Birth  [2].  Alison is Senior Lecturer in Midwifery in the Centre for Midwifery, Maternal & Perinatal Health (CMMPH) and Infant Feeding Lead in the Faculty of Health & Social Sciences.  Her co-authors are Professor Emerita Jo Alexander, Prof. Edwin van Teijlingen (in CMMPH) and Prof. Kath Ryan based at the University of Reading.

 

 

 

Reference:

  1. Taylor, A.M., van Teijlingen, E., Ryan, K., Alexander, J.,  2019, Scrutinised, judged and sabotaged’: A qualitative video diary study of first-time breastfeeding mothers. Midwifery, 75: 16-23.
  2. Taylor, A.M., van Teijlingen, E., Alexander, J., Ryan, K., 2018, The therapeutic role of video diaries: A qualitative study involving breastfeeding mothers, Women and Birth, (online first) DOI. 10.1016/j.wombi.2018.08.160

 

Research in the NHS – HR Good Practice Resource Pack updated

Guidance, NHS, PG research, Research Ethics, student research

Researchers from BU wishing to conduct their research within NHS premises will require the appropriate documentation. There is plenty of guidance available to guide researchers through these processes.

The Human Resources (HR) Good Practice Resource Pack has been reviewed and updated in light of the Data Protection Act 2018 (DPA 2018) and the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) which came into force in the UK on 25 May 2018.

The HR Good Practice Resource Pack describes the process for handling HR arrangements for researchers and provides a streamlined approach for confirming details of the pre-engagement checks they have undergone with the NHS.

Changes to the document include:

  1. Inclusion of a transparency notice, which informs and clarifies to the applicant the purpose of collecting their personal data, their rights relating to data processing, as well as fulfilling other GDPR transparency requirements.
  2. The data requested in the Research Passport application form has been minimised following discussion with Data Protection and Information Governance Officers and Human Resource experts.
  3. All references to the Data Protection Act 1998 have been updated to DPA 2018.

You can find all the updated documents here along with the RDS workflow here surrounding staffing and delegation.

Remember that there is guidance available at BU with regard to implementing your research in a healthcare setting. Take a look at the Clinical Governance blog for documents, links and training opportunities. You can also get in touch with BU’s Research Ethics team with any queries.

Congratulations to Anita Immanuel on PhD paper

NHS, PG research, Publishing, student research, writing

FHSS PhD student Anita Immanuel just had the first paper from her PhD “Quality of life in survivors of adult haematological malignancy” accepted by the international journal European Journal of Cancer Care.   This international journal is published by Wiley and has an Impact Factor 2.409.

Survivors of haematological malignancies endure long-term effects of both the treatment and the disease. This paper examines factors that influence their quality of lives through reporting on the results of a survey. The survey used previously validated quality of life questionnaires for use in cancer management. Participants were adults over the age of 18 years who had completed treatment for a haematological malignancy and were between 1-5 years post treatment.

Anita is currently working as Lead Clinical Research Nurse at East Suffolk and North Essex NHS Foundation Trust.  Her PhD research (see picture above) was conducted at  the Haematology Department of Royal Bournemouth and Christchurch Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust, which has one of the most extensive research portfolios in the Trust.   Her PhD is supervised by Dr. Jane Hunt (Dept of Nursing & Clinical Science), Dr. Helen McCarthy, Consultant Haematologist at the Royal Bournemouth and Christchurch Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust, and Prof. Edwin van Teijlingen in the Centre for Midwifery, Maternal & Perinatal Health (CMMPH).

 

Congratulations to the winners of 2019’s Research Photography Competition.

PG research, student research

This year marks the fifth year of our annual research photography competition. We received 25 submissions from BU academics and students.

The research photography competition is an annual competition where staff and students at Bournemouth University are set the challenge to tell the story of their research through one individual photograph. This year centred around the theme of ‘place’ which could include anything from the place an individual’s research was carried out, to the place their research affected, to the place that inspired their work, to any other interpretation participants may have.

This year’s winner was announced in the new Atrium Art Gallery in Poole House, on Thursday 14th March, by Professor Tim McIntyre–Bhatty, Deputy Vice Chancellor.

Post-feeding Blood pattern comprised of the artefacts of the blowfly Calliphora vicina enhanced with Bluestar.

First prize was awarded to Christopher Dwen, a BU graduate and Demonstrator in the Faculty of Science and Technology.

Commenting on his award, Christopher said, “This competition is proving to be a great platform to showcase all of the fantastic research that goes on across the university. I am particularly pleased that this has allowed me to showcase the type of work that we as forensic science researchers undertake on a daily basis.”

Second place was awarded to PhD student Nurist Ulfa, for her photograph entitle “Digital Virtual, the Liminoid Space.”

“I believe a photo can tell unspoken stories, that’s why I appreciate the photography competitions,” says Nurist.

PhD student Chantel Cox was awarded third prize for her image “Through different eyes.”

“I think the photography competition is a great way for people to share their research with a broad audience,” says Chantel, “Photos are emotive on many levels and a way to touch people that may not have access to your research by other means. I have found that having to think of a photo each year which summarises my work helps me to consolidate where I am and each time I look at it I see something new.”

The photos are now displayed in the Atrium Art Gallery in an art exhibition and will stay up until the 28th March 2019. Be sure to go and have a look when passing by. It is a great way to see the creativity of our BU researchers, to learn about the research being undertaken, and to realise the diversity of research within BU.

British Academy Small Grants – Opens 10th April 2019

PG research

The call for the next round of BA/Leverhulme Small Research Grants will ;

  • open at 10thApril 2019 and
  • close at 5pm 5thJune 2019 

and is aimed at ;

  • Early Career Researcher and/or
  • pump priming purposes.

If you can’t attend this session, then we ask you to submit your intention to bid form to your Funding Development Officer by 17th April 2019. After this date applications will be moved to the Autumn round.

The British Academy have provided updated guidance on the small grants – BA scheme notes for applicants and BA FAQs . They have asked that all applicants read the documentation carefully before starting their application.

Timeline

The call closes at 5pm on Wednesday 5th June 2019.

20th March 2019

 

 RKEO British Academy Guidance session

 
10th April 2019 Call Opens – start reading guidance
17th April 2019 Intention to bid forms to be submitted to your faculty Funding Development Officer.
27th May 2019 Nominated referee supporting statement to be completed via FlexiGrant
28th May 2019 Your final application must be submitted on FlexiGrant  by this date at the latest.
28th May -5th June 2019 Institutional checks to take place by RDS

Any queries please contact Alexandra Pekalski 

Research Skills Master Programme from Epigeum

PG research

Postgradaute Researchers – did you know you have access to 18 online modules covering topics such as research methods and skills, ethics and career planning?

Epigeum’s Research Skills Master Programme provides postgraduate researchers with a broad range of essential skills.

Access all modules on the Doctoral College: Researcher Development Programme on Brightspace via the online modules tab.

To find out more, watch this short video.

If you have any questions about what is avaiable to you as part of the Researcher Development Programme please contact your Research Skills and Development Officer.

Informed consent training – sessions available

PG research, Research Ethics, Training

When conducting research with human participants, it is essential that participants are fully informed as to the details of the study and what is expected of them by participating.

Participants’ informed consent is imperative, and should be in place prior to any data collection activities.

Sarah Bell (Research Governance Advisor) and Suzy Wignall (Clinical Governance Advisor) will be running sessions on informed consent procedure, scheduled for Tuesday 26th March. These sessions are open to staff and postgraduate researchers conducting research/hoping to conduct research with human participants.

We will be running two sessions on this day –

Talbot Campus (P425, Poole House) – 09:30am – 11:00am
Lansdowne Campus (B242, Bournemouth House) – 2:00pm – 3:30pm

If you are interested in attending one of the above sessions, please email Research Ethics.

Informed consent training – sessions available

PG research, Research Ethics, Training

When conducting research with human participants, it is essential that participants are fully informed as to the details of the study and what is expected of them by participating.

Participants’ informed consent is imperative, and should be in place prior to any data collection activities.

Sarah Bell (Research Governance Advisor) and Suzy Wignall (Clinical Governance Advisor) will be running sessions on informed consent procedure, scheduled for Tuesday 26th March. These sessions are open to staff and postgraduate researchers conducting research/hoping to conduct research with human participants.

We will be running two sessions on this day –

Talbot Campus (P425, Poole House) – 09:30am – 11:00am
Lansdowne Campus (B242, Bournemouth House) – 2:00pm – 3:30pm

If you are interested in attending one of the above sessions, please email Research Ethics.

Enter the Innovate UK Funding Zone – by improving your Technical Bid Writing

PG research, Training

 

You are invited to a half day technical writing workshop where the art of writing successful grants will be unpacked by a successful bid writer who has won them, spoken with the assessors to learn how to win even more of them, and is almost in daily contact with the funder Innovate UK.

After the workshop attendees will have the opportunity to have a one-to-one session with the bid writer to discuss project ideas and to explore suitable grants.

The workshop is being held on Monday 4th March on the Talbot Campus from 09:30 – 16:30. Booking is essential.

Doctoral Loans

PG research

Last month the Doctoral College were in attendance for a UKGCE event. Jamie Chadd – PGR admissions administrator – reports back.

On 28th January I attend a UKGCE workshop at the University of Birmingham focused around the introduction of the new Postgraduate Doctoral Loans offered by the government. The event was well attended considering the forecast of heavy snow in the afternoon, and there was strong representation from a variety of different HEIs.

In attendance were Jon Legg and Charmaine Valente from Student Finance England, which meant the day was a mix of gaining further understanding of the new loans from SFE, alongside providing feedback to them regarding institutional experience of the first academic year the loans had been in place.

I spent the day with staff members from the Universities of East London, Northampton and Kent, and it was interesting to hear their perspective on the loans as well as get a bit of understanding of how they run their PGR services. As you can imagine, the size of the PGR cohorts were all quite different, which meant we had all had varying levels of experience with the loans so far.

The morning covered course and student eligibility for the Doctoral Loans. It was made very clear to us that we should remember that these loans were considered a contribution to costs for PhD students, recognising that £25,000 does not cover the full cost of a doctoral programme. The estimation of take-up for the 2018/19 academic year was 10,300 rising to 12,300 in five years’ time.

We were told in detail the strict eligibility requirements regarding previous levels of study, domicile, and concurrent funding. An important point of clarification was made regarding students who are, or may be, in receipt of Research Council funding – students should only apply for the loan if they have no intention of applying for such funding. If a student should apply for such funding later in their course (after taking out a loan), their eligibility for the loan will cease and they will receive no further payments.

In the afternoon we covered some qualitative research on the impact and perception of the Postgraduate Doctoral loans. Dr Billy Bryan presented some results from his study on how the  loans could change the value of the UK doctorate. This led to some interesting discussions about whether the loans represent an even higher risk for an increasingly risky degree pathway. In groups we also reflected on the aspects of mental health and self-worth for PhD students who were funding themselves via the loan, and if there were potentially undue negative implications post-doctorate for those that loan-funded awards versus those funded via Research Council funding.

Mark Bennet, who is Head of Content at FindAUniversity, presented results from a survey undertaken on the perception of loans, which was run in the summer of 2018 – before the first set of loan-funded students enrolled across the UK. There was a generally positive perception about the loans, with 51% of the 369 respondents predicting the loans would make doctoral study more accessible.

The most distinct trends from the research showed that the most positive perceptions about the loans came from potential part-time students, and from students wanting to study in the Arts & Humanities. This was highly indicative of two things: firstly, the loan was seen to be useful by people who wanted to undertake flexible part-time study, presumably as it also gave them time to work to further assist in funding their doctorate. Secondly – and perhaps unsurprisingly – was the positive response from Humanities students, an area that traditionally offers less in the way of research funding opportunities.

We managed to finish a little early, giving us all time to try and make an earlier train, as the snow was coming thick and fast by now. Reflecting back on the day on the journey home, I’d highlight that it would be difficult to get any real understanding of the impact of the loans until the 2018/19 cohort were in the stage of completing their PhD’s. However, there may be opportunities to ensure we are more transparent and responsible with how we market the loans during the admissions and applications process. There is also a case for tracking how students are funded in greater detail, so that when we produce data on our completion rates or student numbers, we are able to see the impact of the loans more clearly.

If you’ve got any questions about applying for a postgraduate research degree at BU, please email PGRadmissions@bournemouth.ac.uk

Image result for UKCGE IMAGES

 

Living on a low-income during pregnancy – women’s experiences, in high income countries”: scoping review protocol

PG research

In conjunction with her supervisory team, led by Professor Ann Hemingway – Prof of Public Health & Wellbeing, Charlotte Clayton, PGR in HSS, has published her literature review protocol, ‘A scoping review exploring the pregnancy, postnatal and maternity care experiences of women from low-income backgrounds, living in high-income countries’, on the Open Science Framework (OSF) website. The OSF is an online, open access platform which gives researchers the opportunity to share their research activities, and provides a platform for the publication of reviews, like scoping reviews, in order to generate open discussion about research and establish wider networking possibilities.

The review protocol is available at: https://osf.io/yb3zq/

The completed review will be submitted to a peer-reviewed midwifery journal, in the spring of 2019 & forms part of her PhD research – which is looking at the pregnancy and postnatal experiences of women from low-income backgrounds and the role of midwifery-led continuity of care in the reduction of maternal health inequalities.

For further information, email: claytonc@bournemouth.ac.uk or @femmidwife on Twitter

(Clayton, C., Hemingway, A., Rawnson, S., and Hughes, M., 2019. A scoping review exploring the pregnancy, postnatal and maternity care experiences of women from low-income backgrounds, living in high-income countries. [online]. Available from: osf.io/yb3zq).

 

 

BU research into breast milk quality-Participants needed

PG research

 

We are looking for breast feeding mums to donate 5 mL of breast milk for a research study conducted at BU.

When mother’s own milk is not sufficient or appropriate, preterm babies can be fed with donor milk from a human milk bank. However, the processes used in milk banking might increase the risk of fat degradation in the milk. Currently, nothing is known about fat degradation products in donor milk. With this study, we aim to quantify fat degradation products in donor milk, and we are currently looking for some term breast milk to compare our results to.

If you are breastfeeding and would like to take part in the study, please get in touch!

Please feel free to share the information with any breastfeeding mum you know!

If you want to know more about milk banking in the UK, read my earlier blog post here.

Many thanks, Isabell

inessel@bournemouth.ac.uk

01202965009