
11th Annual Postgradaute Research Conference

Latest research and knowledge exchange news at Bournemouth University
This part of the blog features news and information for postgraduate research students and supervisors
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.
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.
Education is changing – but what does this look like in practice? What does the future of learning hold for students? At Bournemouth University we are responding to research that considers how teachers of the future will work with their classes.
Drawing upon examples from fields as diverse as archaeology and nursing, Professor Debbie Holley, Professor Liz Falconer and Heidi Singleton (PhD Student) from the Centre for Excellence in Learning(CEL) showcased recent innovations to help support student learning, both inside and outside their physical classroom.
A Wicked Challenge
“It’s our wicked challenge”, Debbie told the BU Cafe Scientifique audience on Tuesday evening, as she outlined the current lay of the land in terms of Virtual Reality (VR) and Technology Enhanced Learning (TEL) in higher education, emphasising that it is an educators’ duty to offer digital opportunities to 21st Century students. Debbie explained, how although technology can be of great benefit, the “wicked challenge” is defining and addressing the significant challenges impeding TEL adoption in higher education.
Time to engage
After discussing their work, the CEL team, supported by BU Learning Technologists Stephen Pyne and David Hunt got interactive, giving the Cafe Sci audience the opportunity to engage with the Google Cardboard headsets, encouraging them to try out different virtual reality scenarios.
Virtual Avebury
It was fascinating to hear how Liz and her team had used Lidar data to simulate how Avebury might have looked and sounded circa 2,300 BCE in an immersive 3D virtual reality environment. Liz reported findings from her large scale project which was conducted with members of the public at the Avebury site Not only did people enjoy visiting the VR Avebury, but for some it brought out an emotional reaction as they felt they had experienced some of what it would have been like to have visited the ancient site when it was still complete. One of the participants said; “I felt completely immersed in the landscape. It was really interesting to see the difference between the real stones outside and the simulation. The difference between the sizes of the banks and ditches was particularly striking!” Liz concluded with her favourite finding; that women over the age of 60 were the third most likely group to enjoy gaming (mostly on their mobile phones). It reminds us all not to pre-judge what we think people will find enjoyable and useful as a learning experience.
VR Deteriorating Patient
Heidi explained and demonstrated her research around VR Deteriorating Patient, a computer simulator that trains students how to nurse a patient who is suffering from Diabetic Hypoglycaemia
Working with CEL, HSS and in particular Dr Janet James, Heidi is conducting an RCT to compare the VR training exercise with traditional teaching methods. The initial findings are very positive, with students reporting that it helps to bridge the theory practice gap, some saying; “You can practice and it doesn’t matter if you make wrong decisions. It is a safe environment.” “It will stick in my mind better. I will use it again to revise before the exam.” “It helps me to visualise the learning.”
If you’re interested in finding out more about VR, AR or 360 Video you can contact the CEL Team @cel_bu
The next Café Scientifique takes place on Tuesday 5 March where we’ll be hearing from Dr Alexios Mylonas who will be discussing whether popular browsers (such as Firefox, Chrome) for desktops and mobile devices (such as smartphones and tablets) protect their users from trackers that use Web Storage, Web SQL Database, and IndexedDB.
If you have any questions, please do get in touch with the Public Engagement Team – publicengagement@bournemouth.ac.uk, you can also follow us on Facebook and Twitter. Plus, why not send us a request to be added to our Public Engagement mailing list and be the first to hear about our research events and activities.
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
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).
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
BU PGR Aishah Selamat from Creative Technology Department shares how her PhD research work has inspired her to create DataDenizens.com and eventually, clinching the Institute of Director (IoD) Student of the Year Award.
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
The MSc Hotel and Food Services Management has as its focus the rapidly developing international hospitality sector which is both a dynamic and expanding part of many economies. As part of the programme we visited the Institute Paul Bocuse in France to experience the research culture and their approach to food research. We learnt how they
1. train future professionals, to be competent and open to the world of tomorrow, for industry, and academia.
2. lead scientific projects in response to current and future societal challenges.
3. innovate, create new methods, new products, and new services.
We had an excellent visit as reflected in these testimonials;
The visit to the Institut Paul Bocuse allowed me to shape my dissertation topic further. To meet academics working at the cutting edge of food research was inspiring and a very useful opportunity to discuss what my own research might look like. Food for thought!
It is difficult to express my feelings in a few sentences about 3-day-trip in Lyon. It was an interesting and memorable experience to explore the city’s gastronomic heritage and local cuisine as well as gain more knowledge on food services management from PhD students in Paul Bocuse Institute.
ADEDOYIN Festus, Postgraduate Research student at the Faculty of Management, Bournemouth University recently won an excellent research award from a global essay competition hosted by the Korea Development Institute School of Public Policy and Management, Republic of Korea and using his current research experience at BU as a strength.
Consequently, he was invited to attend and present at the Capacity Development Conference and Workshop on Inclusive Growth with other delegates from across the globe in the Republic of Korea from December 1st to December 9th, 2018. The research exposure at BU is top-notch, the Researcher Development Programme is also highly relevant, and the Faculties at BU are indeed world-class most especially mentoring from the supervisory team – Professor Filis George, Dr Marta Disegna and Dr Neelu Seetaram (University of Huddersfield)
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Academic colleagues from the UK, China, South Africa, Australia and Sweden are working on developing joint answers to global challenges from a dual cultural perspective.
The aim of this research project with the title Global challenges: taking an international approach, is to find holistic approaches to security questions, ecological threats and development challenges. This includes researching diverse topics such as exploring the potential of terrorism litigation as a legal security tool for China’s One Belt Road initiative; investigating the role that river rights play in producing new modes of regulation along China’s trans-boundary rivers; and exploring the symbolic power of International Environmental Law as a force for managing dissent in the South China Sea.
Dr. Kenneth Kang, BU Centre for Conflict, Rule of Law and Society (CROLS) PGR and affiliated with Xiamen University, China International Water Law Research Group, and Yu Dong, a graduate from Peking University and CROLS researcher granted by China Scholarship Council and China’s Department of Education, are preparing under the supervision of Dr. Bachmann two security related themes for the Chinese market.
One current activity is titled ‘Eco threats as security threats and the protection of the environment during hostilities’ and ‘Terrorism litigation as deterrence under international law’ and is based on existing academic work published in the UK by members of CROLS and aims at transferring the findings into the Chinese context. Two publications in leading Chinese journals are planned for 2019.
The study group is led by Dr. Sascha Dov Bachmann, Associate Professor at BU, Reader in War Studies at the Swedish Defence University, and Research Fellow at the Faculty of Military Science at Stellenbosch University, who is the Head of the (CRoLS), Bournemouth University, and Scientific Contributor and Research Fellow (designate) at the Legal Office of NATO, the Supreme Headquarters Allied Powers Europe (SHAPE). Expressions of interest of becoming involved can be sent directly to sbachmann@bournemouth.ac.uk.
The group aims at fostering research collaborations across the globe and to foster academic dialogue in a non-partisan way among academic and professional practitioners.
Facilitated by Dr Margaret Collins (Training for Universities)
Date: Tuesday 29 January Date: Friday 29 March
Time: 09:30 – 16:30 Time: 09:30 – 16:30
Surveys regularly reveal that public speaking is the most feared business activity and is dreaded even more than death!
Almost every research degree requires you to present your work to colleagues, at meetings, in seminars or at specialist conferences. At conferences, it can also be important to understand how these skills apply to the “business networking” opportunities that present themselves or to have and to use skills to chair a session effectively.
This workshop will begin by exploring the basic components of communication including listening skills, the power of body language, how to make an impact and strategies to hold the attention of your audience.
Participants are invited to deliver a short presentation and to receive coaching and feedback within the supportive workshop environment.
As a result of this workshop participants will:
This workshop will be delivered to meet your specific needs.
To see comments from previous participants please visit: https://trainingforuniversities.com/workshops/presentation-skills.
This workshop is part of the wider Doctoral College: Researcher Development Programme.
Facilitated by Dr Margaret Collins (Training for Universities)
Date: Monday 28 January Date: Thursday 28 March
Time: 13:30 – 16:30 Time: 13:30 – 16:30
Significant keys to success in research include being able to ask the right question, to interpret the data, to see new patterns, to make links between the not-so-obvious associations. These are skills that are developed to provide new and creative answers to your research challenges.
During this workshop we will develop your ability to ask questions, to think outside the box, to see things differently and generate a wider range of possibilities.
We will use a range of techniques including group discussion, group activities and targeted exercises to develop your creative thinking and problem solving skills.
Do come ready to work on your own research ideas, problems or challenges and be prepared to develop some surprising possibilities.
As a result of this workshop participants will
This workshop is part of the wider Doctoral College: Researcher Development Programme.
Last week we presented key findings from our various research projects on health and migration in Nepal. The research meeting was held in a hotel in central Kathmandu. More than seventy people turned up, in fact more people than had registered so the kitchen had to add to the lunch buffet at short notice. The chief guest was the Deputy Speaker of the Nepal’s Federal Parliament, Shivamaya Tumbahangphe. Dr. Tumbahangphe was the first female MP in Nepal with a PhD (in Political Sciences). She is speaking on the photo right, standing next to BU’s Dr. Bibha Simkhada.
The event was organised jointly with Liverpool John Moores University, Green Tara Nepal, and POURAKHI Nepal. the latter is an organisation of women migrant workers established in 2003. It aims to ensure the rights of women migrant workers and their families in the entire process of migration. The organisation focuses its work on women migrant worker’s concerns regarding issues that arise at the different stages of migration, namely pre-employment, pre-departure, employment and post-arrival periods through support programmes.
Nearly one-seventh of the world’s population is now living in a location different from the one in which they were born. Some 3.5 million Nepali are working as migrant workers in the Gulf countries, Malaysia, and India, contributing nearly one-third of the Nepal’s gross domestic product. Despite Nepal’s long history of work-related migration, the national dialogue has only recently become more prominent. Migration has become a political as well as a social issues, for example, we see migration mentioned in the national media on a daily basis. Our meeting was reported on TV and in an English-language newspaper The Himalayan Times on January 6th (to read article click here!).
The BU team comprises: Dr Pramod Regmi (FHSS Lecturer in International Health), Dr. Nirmal Aryal (Post-doctoral Research Fellow), Dr. Bibha Simkhada (FHSS Lecturer in Nursing), and in the Centre for Midwifery, Maternal & Perinatal Health (CMMPH) Dr. Catherine Angell and Prof. Edwin van Teijlingen. The team is complemented by Liverpool John Moores University’s Prof. Padam Simkhada (who is also Visiting Professor at BU), Dr. Pratik Adhikary (BU graduate based at Green Tara Nepal) and colleagues at Datta Meghe Institute of Medical Sciences, India.
The Doctoral College: Researcher Development Programme would like to present its first monthly update of 2019. The RDP is still here for all PGRs and we have over 80 expertly facilitated workshops coming up between now and August to support your research journey and future career endeavours.
As part of this I am still offering RDP Brightspace training to support navigation around the unit to allow you to optimise its offerings.
As part of the RDP PGRs also have access to the UEA webinar series and the brand new Video Arts videos and e-learning courses.
If you are a PGR or PGR Supervisor and do not have access to the Researcher Development Programme please contact me and I will add you.
To stay up-to-date with regular announcements: