Category / PG research

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

ESRC SWDTP Information Sessions

Further to the recent blog post about BU’s ESRC South West Doctoral Training Partnership (SWDTP), we are delighted to announce two ‘lunchbite’ sessions oriented toward academic colleagues.

These are designed to provide more information about the SWDTP, the pathways which we belong to, the timelines for 2025 cohort applications, and aid supervisors with supporting potential applicants.

BU is linked to 3 of the SWDTP Pathways:

To find out more, please join us at one of the following sessions:

Details about other research degree supervision lunchbites will be released shortly.

 

 

The 16th Annual Postgraduate Research Conference – Call for abstracts


The Doctoral College is hosting the 16th Annual Postgraduate Research Conference in November and the call for abstracts is now open. 


The conference is a great opportunity to showcase and promote your research, whether you have just started, or you are approaching the end of your journey at BU.

Attending the conference offers a fantastic chance to engage and network with the postgraduate research community and find out more about the exciting and fascinating research that is happening across BU.

Postgraduate researchers (PGRs) are invited to submit their abstracts to present their research via oral or poster presentation:

Application Form and Guidance.

Closing date for submissions: Monday 21 October 09:00.

Registration to attend will open in November. The event will be open to all BU members and external participants.

Event details

Date of conference: Wednesday 27 November (all day)

Location: Fusion Building, Talbot Campus

View posters from last year’s Postgraduate Research Conference.

For any queries, please email pgconference@bournemouth.ac.uk.

ESRC South West Doctoral Training Partnership

In November last year, it was officially announced that Bournemouth University was part of the successful South West Doctoral Training Partnership (SWDTP) re-bid to the ESRC. Being part of the SWDTP provides prestigious opportunities to compete for PhD Studentships and Post-Doctoral Fellowships. There are also a number of other benefits including funding available to staff at institutions affiliated with the SWDTP and being part of a wider community of postgraduate students.

The SWDTP is made up of the Universities of Bristol, Bath, Bath Spa, Bournemouth, Exeter, Plymouth, Plymouth Marjons and UWE. The SWDTP ‘Hub’ (based at the University of Bristol) manages an annual competitive process, on behalf of the ESRC, to award up to 34 PhD studentships and 4 Post-Doctoral Fellowships. Bournemouth were invited to join the re-bid in pathways that aligned to the ESRC remit and which scored above an ESRC set threshold in the REF 2021 exercise. Aligned to UoAs 4 (Psychology), 14 (Geography & Environmental Studies), and 24 (Sport & Exercise Sciences, Leisure & Tourism), BU are eligible to apply for studentships across three of the 17 SWDTP pathways: Psychology; Climate Change, Sustainability & Society; and, Health, Well-being & Society.

Despite an exceptionally short window in November last year, we were able to run a limited and streamlined process that enabled us to compete for a limited number of studentships. We are delighted that we will have 2 new ESRC funded studentships begin in September of this year. We are now in the process of developing our first full PhD application round for students who would start in September 2025. The Post-Doctoral Fellow competition is likely to take place in March next year. With 8 institutions aligned to 17 pathways and 34 studentships available annually, these studentships are, understandably, extremely competitive. As such, we are looking to support prospective postgraduate students in the development of competitive applications.

Whilst much of our messaging is oriented toward attracting potential students and developing competitive applications, we are keen to ensure all BU staff who align to the three pathways are aware of these potential opportunities. Indeed, two of the pathways in which we are eligible to apply are interdisciplinary pathways (Climate Change, Sustainability & Society; Health, Well-being & Society). This means that applications may well be strengthened through projects that draw on a number of disciplinary approaches, provided there remains alignment to the UoAs highlighted above and satisfy the ESRC criteria for Social Science.

At this stage, and in the first instance, we just wanted to make colleagues aware of these potential opportunities and outline a few ways you may want to get involved / be visible for future candidates. We would be happy to add colleagues aligned to these pathways to our own internal webpages (see links below) and to email distribution groups. If you would like to be added, please do message the relevant pathway leads (listed below). Also, if you are aware of potential students who may be interested in applying please do feel free to get in touch with the relevant pathway lead. Further, you are able to add your own details to the SWDTP prospective supervisor database in any of the three pathways which BU are currently involved. You are able to add yourself to this database here (deadline is 26th September).

Finally, we will be running a couple of ‘lunchbite’ sessions via the Doctoral College in September / October oriented toward academic colleagues (we will run prospective student sessions in due course). These are designed to provide a little more information about the SWDTP, the pathways to which we belong, the timelines for 2025 cohort applications, and aid supervisors with supporting potential applicants. Please do look out for more information coming soon about these sessions.

BU SWDTP Pathways

Upcoming 3C Event – PGR Culture, Community & Cheeseburgers


Don’t miss out on your chance to book onto our upcoming 3C event!


We hope you have had a restful summer. To welcome you back to the new academic year, the Doctoral College are inviting all PGRs, Supervisors and RDP facilitators to this 3C event!

For this special welcome back 3C event, we are swapping out the usual cake for cheeseburgers! Reconnect with your PGR community whilst enjoying a cheeseburger in the Talbot Campus courtyard, opposite Weymouth House.

Let’s foster collaboration, support and networking!

Click here for further information and to register. 

 

New midwifery publication

Congratulations to Ph.D. student Joanne Rack on the publication today of her paper ‘Understanding perceptions and communication of risk in advanced maternal age: a scoping review (protocol) on women’s engagement with health care services’  [1].   Joanne is currently doing a Clinical Doctorate in the Centre for Midwifery & Women’s Health (CMWH) focusing on personalised care for women of advanced maternal age.  Her doctoral study is matched-funded by University Hospitals Dorset NHS Foundation Trust and Bournemouth University [BU].  Her PhD is supervised and supported by Profs. Vanora Hundley, Ann Luce and Edwin van Teijlingen at BU and Dr. Latha Vinayakarao in Poole Maternity Hospital.

Well done!

 

Reference:

  1. Rack, J., Hundley, V., van Teijlingen, E., Luce, A., Vinayakarao. L. (2024) Understanding perceptions and communication of risk in advanced maternal age: a scoping review (protocol) on women’s engagement with health care services, MIDIRS Midwifery Digest, 34(3): 201-204.

Game of (Delivery) Drones: New Paper

Congratulations to BUBS PhD candidate Taalia Nadeem on the publication of “Game of (delivery) drones: A serious game exploring transport futures involving logistics drones with stakeholders” in the Journal of Transport and Health. The paper discusses how the board game supported stakeholders in exploring a potential transport future where drones would be used to make deliveries. The board game enabled participants to test scenarios involving different drone routings and levels of ground risk and energy use within a familiar context with the initial game being based on the Bournemouth area. The game was subsequently developed and used in different contexts including the Solent Region, Cornwall, and Coventry as part of the EPSRC funded E-Drone project and the ESRC funded Future Flight in Place projects.

Drowning prevention meeting for NIHR-funded study

This week our collaborators on the Sonamoni project traveled from Bangladesh and Uganda to Dorset for a set of research planning meetings.  The visitors represented CIPRB (The Centre for Injury Prevention and Research, Bangladesh) and DWB (Design without Borders).  They were hosted by colleagues from Bournemouth University, the RNLI (Royal National Lifeboat Institute) and from the University of Southampton.  Since Monday we managed to have an intensive week of design workshops, reviewing and incorporating local-community prioritised interventions for child drowning prevention (aged <2years) in Bangladesh.  I say ‘we managed’, but I have been at home all week with COVID-19.  The past few days I was beginning to feel quite well again, so I was unpleasantly surprised that I was still positive when I tested yesterday, and even more so this morning.  Consequently, missing the whole week working with our visiting collaborators.

The Sonamoni project recently presented its own video recording on YouTube,which you can watch here!

Sonamoni is a public health project is funded by the National Institute for Health and Care Research (NIHR) through its Research and Innovation for Global Health Transformation programme. For more information, visit the NIHR website.

 

 

Prof. Edwin van Teijlingen

Centre for Midwifery & Women’s Health (CMWH)

RKEDF July Digest – Training opportunities for YOU!

Have you heard the news!!!!!!  

We are excited to share some great RKEDF training opportunities coming up in July 2024! 

 Click on the titles to find further details and book your place!!!! 

 AHRC & ESRC: How to write an application in the new format for the Funding Service 

Thursday, July 4, 11:00 – 13:00 – Online 

The session will cover the requirements for the new UKRI application format. We will discuss the application structure focusing on AHRC and ESRC and the sections and how to complete them. The session will be framed with more general information on the various Research Councils that comprise UKRI and best practice in writing applications for external research funding. 

 Principal Investigation – Post Award for RKE 

Wednesday, July 10, 14:00 – 15:00 – Online 

This session is aimed at any researcher who is, who plans to be, a Principal Investigator for an externally funded research or knowledge exchange project.   

 New Generation Thinkers 2025 – AHRC/BBC Radio 4 

Thursday, July 11, 11:00 – 13:30 – F112 – Fusion Building – Talbot Campus 

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

 Building a Policy Influencing Strategy 

Friday, July 12, 9:30 – 16:30 and Thursday, July 18, 9:00 – 16:00 – Zoom 

A one-day online workshop for up to eight researchers, delivered via Zoom and facilitated by public affairs and policy consultant Carys Davis, from The Other Place  

The session will enable participants to: 

  • develop key messages, supporting narratives and evidence, identify and map their audience, gain insight into the channels available for influencing. 

 RKEDF: 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,  

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Please assist us in avoiding any waste of resources; make sure you can attend or cancel your booking prior to the session. 

 For more training opportunities, please visit the ‘SharePoint site’ here. 

 For any further information, please contact: RKEDF@bournemouth.ac.uk  

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

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

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?

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