Category / PG research

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

RKEDF: New Generation Thinkers 2025 – AHRC/BBC Radio 4

PG research, Training

RKEDF: New Generation Thinkers 2025 – AHRC/BBC Radio 4 – Thursday 11th July – 11:00-12:30 – F112 – Fusion Building – Talbot Campus

Facilitated by: Professor Richard Berger

This is our annual new generation thinkers’ workshop, where we look at the call, requirements, eligibility and having a panel chair and member’s point of view. For early career researchers and PGRs who want to share their research with the public.

Call information: Develop your media skills with the New Generation Thinkers scheme

New Generation Thinkers is a career development scheme for early career researchers to:

  • develop their communication and media skills
  • get their research in front of the general public

The scheme is a partnership between the Arts and Humanities Research Council (AHRC) and the BBC.

If your application is successful, you’ll learn how to communicate research findings to the widest possible audience.

The scheme gives participants the opportunity to:

  • create programme ideas with experienced BBC producers at workshops
  • work with the team at BBC Radio 4 to get your ideas on air
  • get media training
  • take part in a workshop around engaging policymakers
  • get involved with the AHRC-funded Being Human Festival

New Generation Thinkers has run since 2010. Each year a number of applicants are invited to create ideas with the BBC, of which we select the next cohort of New Generation Thinkers.

You can: read about the scheme’s achievements over the first 10 years – find the currently open New Generation Thinkers funding opportunity on the UKRI funding finder once it’s launched.

Previous winners: see a list of previous winners – listen to content created by previous winners on BBC Sounds (search for New Generation Thinkers) – read New Generation Thinkers magazine

Book your place here – under “New Generation Thinkers 2025″ in the drop-down menu

For any queries regarding this workshop, please contact RKE Development Framework

World Wellbeing Week 2024 – free activities for PGRs and ECRs

PG research

Next week! Bookings are open – free activities for PGRs and ECRs!

The international awareness event World Wellbeing Week is approaching! Commencing June 24, we are offering a variety of free activities to PGRs and ECRs to give you the opportunity to unwind and look after your mental, physical, and social wellbeing!

We have the following activities planned:

Click on the links above to book.

Any questions, please do get in touch pgrskillsdevelopment@bournemouth.ac.uk

Best wishes,

The Doctoral College

RKEDF: ECRN: Where do you begin with Research funding?

Funding opportunities, PG research, Training

ECRN: Where do you begin with Research funding?

Friday 12th July – 10:00-12:00 – Online

The workshop is aimed at researchers from across BU at either postdoctoral or early career stage. It will focus on funders including (but not limited to) the AHRC, UKRI, British Academy, Welcome Trust, and NIHR.

Are you an Early Career Researcher interested in applying for research funding but unsure where to start? In this BU ERC Network special session, professional bid writing consultant Sally Baggott (PhD) offers her insights in the contemporary funding landscape for ECRs, as well as a comprehensive guide on how to improve your bid writing skills, how to work with external partners, and how to apply for funding at BU. The workshop will give an overview of various funding schemes currently available to ECRs, discuss what funders look for within their subject remits and evaluation, and demystify the process of application.

The facilitator for this event is Sally Baggott – Find out more here.

Book your place here under ‘ECRN – Where do you begin with Research funding?‘ in the drop-down menu.

For any queries regarding this workshop, please contact RKE Dev Framework 

Health of Nepalese migrants workers research

international, PG research

Today, Sunday 9th June, our paper ‘Health and well-being of Nepalese migrant workers abroad was highlighted by ResearchGate as being widely read.  This scientific paper which was part of Dr. Pratik Adhikary’s PhD study in the Faculty of Health & Social Sciences has been read 1,000 times.

Postgraduate Research Summer Social – 1 WEEK TO GO

PG research

1 WEEK TO GO until to The Doctoral College Postgraduate Research Summer Social! Hosted at the delightful Branksome Dene Room, situated in a stunning location that overlooks the beach with amazing views of the sea to Old Harry Rocks.

We’ve booked this unique location for the exclusive use of PGRs and Supervisors for the afternoon to unwind and catch up with your fellow researchers and academics.

The Doctoral College PGR events at Branksome Dene Room are always a huge success so we hope you can make it.

We are pleased to offer a BBQ style lunch menu including sausages and burgers (vegetarian/vegan options available), a salad bar, teas, coffees and mocktails! You are also welcome to bring your own refreshments to enjoy.

Don’t miss out, book your ticket now!

Ticket: £5

If you have any questions, please do get in touch:

Arabella Moyse [Doctoral College Marketing & Events Coordinator] –

DoctoralCollege@bournemouth.ac.uk

Twitter: @BUDocCollege | #BUDoctoralCollege

Postgraduate Research Summer Social – TICKETS ON SALE

PG research

Tickets are now on sale! The Doctoral College is hosting the Summer Social for the Postgraduate Research community at the delightful Branksome Dene Room. Situated in a stunning location that overlooks the beach, with amazing views of the sea to Old Harry Rocks.

We’ve booked this unique location for the exclusive use of PGRs and Supervisors for the afternoon to unwind and catch up with your fellow researchers and academics.

The Doctoral College PGR events at Branksome Dene Room are always a huge success so we hope you can make it.

We are pleased to offer a BBQ style lunch menu including sausages and burgers (vegetarian/vegan options available), a salad bar, teas, coffees and mocktails! You are also welcome to bring your own refreshments to enjoy.

Booking and event details can be found here.

Ticket: £5

If you have any questions, please do get in touch:

Arabella Moyse [Doctoral College Marketing & Events Coordinator]

DoctoralCollege@bournemouth.ac.uk

Twitter: @BUDocCollege | #BUDoctoralCollege

Interdisciplinary Computational and Clinical Approaches at the Edge of Brain Research

BRIAN, NHS, PG research

We cordially invite you to the 3rd Symposium of the BU Interdisciplinary Neuroscience Research Centre on Wednesday, the 12th of June 2024, from 9:30-13:00 at the Inspire Lecture Theatre, Fusion Building (1st floor).

The symposium is entitled: “Interdisciplinary Computational and Clinical Approaches at the Edge of Brain Research”.

This third symposium revolves around contrasting computational and translational methodologies from a cross-disciplinary standpoint, leveraging synergies between BU and our collaborators in other universities and at the NHS. It is an opportunity for informal discussions on grant proposals and to explore shared interests with our external guests. 

The schedule is as follows:

9:00-9:15. Welcome and Coffee. 

9:30. Keynote talk: Prof. Dr Miguel Maravall (School of Life Sciences, Sussex Neuroscience Centre of Excellence, Sussex University): “What is the function of sensory cortex in a world full of actions? From sensory maps to task-directed responses”. The speaker will be on the screen. 

10.20-10:40. Coffee and Discussions.

10:40-11:40. Session I. Integrating Cognitive and Computational Neuroscience.

  • Michal Gnacek (Emteq Labs, Brighton and Centre for Digital Entertainment, BU): “Affect Recognition in Virtual Reality using Physiological Signals and Machine Learning”. The speaker will be on the screen.
  • Dr Matteo Toscani (Department of Psychology, BU): “Unsupervised learning of haptic material properties”.
  • Dr Géza Gergely Ambrus (Department of Psychology, BU): “Investigating Face Perception Using Cross-Experiment Multivariate Pattern Analysis of Neural Time-Series Data”.

11.40 -12.00. Coffee and Discussions.

12.00-13:00. Session II. Interdisciplinary Clinical Approaches and Closing Remarks.

  • Prof. Dr Jonathan Cole (University Hospital Dorset, NHS): “Perception and action; Observations from congenital and acquired deafferentation”.
  • Prof. Dr Caroline Edmonds (Department of Psychological Sciences, University of East London): ”Real-life implications arise from co-occurring memory impairments in children with neonatal hypoxic-ischaemic encephalopathy”.
  • Prof Dr Birgit Gurr (Community Brain Injury and Adult Neuropsychology Services Dorset at Dorset HealthCare University, NHS) and Dr Ellen Seiss (Department of Psychology, BU). “An initial evaluation of the Dynamic Information Processing Programme”.

If you have any queries, please do not hesitate to contact Ellen Seiss, eseiss@bournemouth.ac.uk or Emili Balaguer-Ballester, eb-ballester@bournemouth.ac.uk. Feel free to forward this information to any colleague or student who may be interested. 

Thank you very much, and we are looking forward to seeing you there.

Kind regards,

Ellen and Emili, on behalf of all of us.

 

Postgraduate Research Experience Survey (PRES) 2024 – Closing today

PG research

Still time to have your say

Final call for PGRs to complete this year’s Advance HE Postgraduate Research Experience Survey (PRES) which closes today!

Don’t miss the chance to tell us about your experience at Bournemouth University by taking part in the Advance HE Postgraduate Research Experience Survey which closes on Thursday 16 May 2024 at 23:59. We are keen to make sure our PGRs have the best possible experience while studying at Bournemouth University. To do this, we need to know what you think works well and what as a university we could do better.

So far 44% of PGRs at BU have taken part in the survey. A huge THANK YOU to those who have submitted feedback, we are really grateful for your responses!

If you have not completed the survey, please complete this by accessing the unique link that has been emailed to you from the Doctoral College. This has been sent to both your student and staff email.  

Once you have completed the survey:

  • Prize draw – upon completing the survey, you will automatically be entered into a free prize draw. Four winners will be able to claim a £50 shopping voucher. Terms and conditions apply.
  • BU Chartwells voucher – you are entitled to claim a voucher worth £3.20 to use at any BU Chartwells outlet. Please come to the Doctoral College (DLG08, Talbot Campus) to collect your voucher. If you are unable to find your screenshot showing you have completed the survey, do to worry, just come to the office and we will get your voucher to you.

In addition, we will be making a £1 donation for every survey completed to the student mental health wellbeing charity, Student Minds.

The survey is anonymous and will only take around 15 minutes.

Please take part this year and share your experience of being a student with us. If you have any difficulties or questions about the survey, please email PRES@bournemouth.ac.uk.

Best wishes,

The Doctoral College

1 WEEK REMAINING- Postgraduate Research Experience Survey (PRES) 2024

PG research

1 week to go till the Postgraduate Research Experience Survey closes! 

We need to know what you think works well and what as a university we could do better.

So far 32% of PGRs at BU have taken part in the survey. A huge THANK YOU to those who have submitted feedback.

If you have not completed the survey, please complete this by accessing the unique link that has been emailed to you from the Doctoral College. This has been sent to both your student and staff email.  

Once you have completed the survey:

  • Prize draw – upon completing the survey, you will automatically be entered into a free prize draw. Four winners will be able to claim a £50 shopping voucher. Terms and conditions apply.
  • BU Chartwells voucher – you are entitled to claim a voucher worth £3.20 to use at any BU Chartwells outlet. Please come to the Doctoral College (DLG08, Talbot Campus) to collect your voucher. If you are unable to find your screenshot showing you have completed the survey, do to worry, just come to the office and we will get your voucher to you.

In addition, we will be making a £1 donation for every survey completed to the student mental health wellbeing charity, Student Minds.

The survey closes on Thursday 16 May. It is anonymous and will only take around 15 minutes.

While the survey is open, we send out multiple emails containing your unique link to submit your feedback. Since the survey is anonymous, we will not know who has completed it and who has not. For this reason, these emails automatically go out to everyone, regardless of whether you have completed the survey or not. If you have completed the survey, please disregard future emails you receive for this year’s PRES.

Please take part this year and share your experience of being a student with us. If you have any difficulties or questions about the survey, please email PRES@bournemouth.ac.uk.

Best wishes,

The Doctoral College

Upcoming 3C Event – PGR Culture, Community & Cake

PG research

Don’t miss out on your chance to book onto our upcoming 3C event! Join us Tuesday 14 May 10:00-11:00 in room K101, Kimmeridge House.

All PGRs and Supervisors are warmly invited to participate and contribute to this enriching and delicious gathering. This social event is a catch-up opportunity to meet informally with the PGR community and make new connections whilst enjoying some coffee and cake.

Places are limited so book as soon as possible.

Let’s foster collaboration, support and networking!

Book now

Best wishes,

The Doctoral College

Studying for M.Res. in CMWH

international, PG research, Student Engagement, student research

Now accepting research students in the Centre for Midwifery & Women’s Health (CMWH)

A Master’s by Research (M.Res.) is a great introduction to the research process, enabling the student to explore a specific area under the supervision of experienced researchers. It contains little or no formal taught component. This type of study gives you the chance to explore a research topic over a shorter time than a more in-depth Ph.D.  M.Res. students can undertake a one year full-time or two years part-time Master’s degree.  For more details see here.

CMWH is currently accepting MRes (and PhD) applications in the following areas:

Early / latent phase labour (Prof. Vanora Hundley)

Infant feeding (Asso. Prof. Catherine Angell)

Pain management, pain education, musculoskeletal and pelvic pain,  pelvic floor muscle dysfunction, women’s health (Prof. Carol Clark)

Women’s health in a changing global climate (Dr. Becky Neall)

Drowning prevention in  low-and-middle-income countries (Prof. Edwin van Teijlingen)

Cardiometabolic health during pre-conception and pregnancy (Dr. Sumanto Haldar)

Exercise and pregnancy (Dr. Malika Felton)

Chronic musculoskeletal pain, lifestyle factors, human metabolism, and the use of data science in the pain field (Dr. Omer Elma)

Women’s alcohol consumption and nutritional status (Dr. Chloe Casey)

Nutrition in women’s health (including LGBT+ populations) (Dr. Sarah Hillier)

Postgraduate Research Experience Survey (PRES) 2024 – 2 WEEKS LEFT

PG research

The Advance HE Postgraduate Research Experience Survey (PRES) has launched

Have your say – 2 weeks till the deadline!

Thank you to everyone who has completed the survey so far. If you have not already completed it, we would really appreciate if you could find a few minutes to respond and tell us about your experience this year.

We are keen to make sure our PGRs have the best possible experience while studying with us. To do this, we need to know what you think works well and what as a university we could do better. This is your chance to tell us about your experience as a PGR at Bournemouth University. We also kindly ask that all supervisors encourage their PGRs to participate in the survey.

Thank you to all PGRs who completed the 2023 PRES survey – we listened to you and your feedback has helped us to enhance your PGR experience in a range of areas.

The survey will close on Thursday 16 May 2024. Upon completing the survey, PGRs will automatically entered into a free prize draw. Four winners will be able to claim a £50 shopping voucher. Terms and conditions apply.

In addition, we will be making a £1 donation for every survey completed to the student mental health wellbeing charity, Student Minds.

Once you have completed the survey, you are entitled to claim a voucher worth £3.20, from the Doctoral College to use at any BU Chartwells outlet. Please come to the Doctoral College (DLG08, Talbot Campus) to collect your voucher. You will need to show a screen shot of the final page of the survey in order to claim your voucher.

How do I take part?

PGRs should have received an email from the Doctoral College on Monday 15 April 2024 containing a unique link which will allow you to access and complete the survey. If you can’t find this email, contact PRES@bournemouth.ac.uk and we’ll help you to get access.

What will I be asked?

The survey will take around 15 minutes to complete. Your response is confidential, and any reporting will be entirely anonymous. The survey is your chance to tell us about your experience as a PGR at BU. It will ask you to share your views on supervision, resources, research community, progress and assessment, skills and professional development and wellbeing.

Why should I take part?

Your feedback is important. The Postgraduate Research Experience Survey is the only national survey of PGRs and so is the only way for us to compare how we are doing with other institutions and to make changes that will improve your experience in the future.

More information

If you would like to know more about the survey, please visit: PRES 2024.

We hope you take the opportunity to get involved this year and help us make improvements to your experience.

Best wishes,

The Doctoral College

For any PRES related queries, please email: PRES@bournemouth.ac.uk

Fifteen years at BU

international, PG research, writing

Fifteen years ago I started as a professor in the Faculty of Health & Social Sciences.  I have had three different job titles without moving jobs, starting in 2009 with ‘Professor of Maternal & Perinatal Health Research’, which, after a few years, changed to ‘Professor of Reproductive Health Research,’ and again then a few years later dropping the ‘Research’ to my current title of ‘Professor of Reproductive Health’.  During these 15 years there have been major changes especially in terms of research in our Faculty.  There has been a growth in quantity as well as quality as reflected in our REF scores in 2014 and 2021!  We also have a much higher proportion of staff with a PhD then when I started.  Currently, I am the Research Culture Champion for our Faculty, tasked with a small team to strengthen our research culture and profile even further.

At a personal level, I have supervised 17 PhD students to completion at BU in the past 15 years, plus an additional nine students registered elsewhere.  The latter were mainly PhD students from the University of Aberdeen whom I continued to supervise.  Interestingly, two of these Aberdeen PhD students ended up working for BU.  I counted 42 PhD viva as external examiner in this period as well as five as internal BU examiner.  Some of my experiences at BU were captured last year when I was interviewed by the editors of a sociology journal based in Nepal. [1]

 

Prof. Edwin van Teijlingen

CMWH (Centre for Midwifery & Women’s Health)

 

References:

  1. Subedi, M., & Khattri, M. B. (2023). Interview with Professor Edwin van Teijlingen. Dhaulagiri Journal of Sociology and Anthropology, 17(01), 79–88. https://doi.org/10.3126/dsaj.v17i01.61149