Category / PG research

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

The use of technology to provide physical interaction experiences for cognitively able young people who have complex physical disabilities

PG research, staff profile pages

We would like to invite you to the latest research seminar of the Creative Technology Research Centre.

 

Title: The use of technology to provide physical interaction experiences for cognitively able young people who have complex physical disabilities

ShivaSpeaker: Mark Moseley (a post graduate researcher from the Centre for Digital Entertainment (CDE) based in the Faculty of Media and Communication)

Time: 2:00PM-3:00PM

Date: Wednesday 17th February 2016

Room: P302 LT, Poole House, Talbot Campus

 

Abstract:

Young people who have severe physical disabilities and good cognition may face many barriers to learning, communication, personal development, physical interaction and play experiences. Physical interaction and play are known to be important components of child development, but this group currently has few suitable ways in which to achieve this.

 

Technology can help to facilitate such experiences. This research aims to develop a technology-based tool to provide this group with the potential for physical interaction and physical play, in order to develop their knowledge of spatial concepts. This tool will utilise eye-gaze technology, robotics and haptic feedback (artificial sensation).

 

This presentation will explain the rationale behind this research as well as the aims and approach used in the development of a proposed tool.

 

 

We hope to see you there.

 

The Graduate School in the Netherlands

conferences, international, PG research

Professor Tiantian Zhang attended the 9th EUA Council for Doctoral Education (CDE) in the Netherlands on the 20th – 21st January, 2016. The EUA CDE is dedicated to improving and developing doctoral education. This event was attended by approximately 110 international delegates who represented numerous Universities from across Europe. Representing the Graduate School from Bournemouth University, Professor Zhang was able to network and develop international contacts with other UniversitiEUAes. This was a wonderful opportunity for a representative from BU to learn and exchange good practices with others who are dedicated to enhancing the Doctoral Education experience.

Pizza, Planning and Postgraduate Research

PG research

The Graduate School would like to welcome 310 new students to BU. Over four days last week, we welcomed these students through a series of inductions. This included 40 new PhD, 15 MRes, 235 Masters and 20 exchange students.  The four days covIMG_1387ered a huge amount of information including how to plan and prepare for your studies, research and what to expect as a student at BU.  In order to help some of the students relax after these busy first few days, the Graduate School invited the PhD and MRes students for pizza and refreshments at Dylan’s Kitchen and Bar. Some students even got involved with a bit of karaoke, although I don’t think there were any Mariah Carey’s amongst us.

To find out more about the Graduate School and what we offer, find us on the BU website under postgraduate research. Also, keep your eyes open for the 8th Annual Postgraduate Conference taking place in March 2016.

 

Systematic Review Masterclass – 15-16 February 2016

PG research

A reminder that this two-day Systematic Review Masterclass will be taking place at the Executive Business Centre, Holdenhurst Road on 15 & 16 February.

One way of collating and assessing the best possible evidence is through a method called ‘systematic reviewing’. Systematic reviewing is a specific research method whereby a structured, rigorous, and objective approach is used to provide a critical synthesis of the available evidence on a particular topic. This masterclass will examine the rationale for systematic reviews and take participants through the various elements of a systematic review: selecting (electronic) databases; literature searching; data extraction; data synthesis; interpretation and reporting.

Booking price and information: The fee of £200 for this masterclass includes two full days with the course facilitators, all refreshments and all class materials. Accomodation and travel costs are not included.

Book your place now at http://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/masterclass-systematic-review-2016-tickets-18954206542 .  Places must be booked by 1 February 2016.

For further information please contact: Tel: 01202 962184 or email: epegrum@bournemouth.ac.uk

Presentation by PhD student Preeti Mahato Jan 27th.

international, PG research, student research

On Wednesday Jan. 27th CMMPH PhD student Preeti Mahato will present her PhD research ideas under the title “Addressing quality of care and equity of services available at birthing centres to improve maternal and neonatal health in western Nepal.”  Her presentation will be held at the Lansdowne Campus at 13.00 in room 301 in Royal London House.

IMG_6459Preeti’s research focuses on birthing centres in western Nepal; and quality and equity of service available at these facilities. In Nepal, birthing centres act as first contact point for the women seeking maternity services especially the basic obstetric care. The focus of this presentation will be to talk about the first review article Preeti Mahato wrote for the ‘Journal of Asian Midwives’ entitled “Birthing centres in Nepal: Recent development, obstacles and opportunities”. The article has been accepted for publication in June 2016 and focuses on introducing birthing centres, their current state of operation under the health system of Nepal, barriers they are facing and what could be done to improve their present state. The quality of care issue available at birthing centre is emphasised, since the number of these facilities are increasing however there is a growing trend to bypass and uptake services at hospitals. Despite barriers to utilisation of services at birthing centres, they can play an important role in increasing institutional delivery rate and proportion of births benefiting from a skilled birth attendant.IMG_6591

The second part of presentation will provide a brief summary on what Preeti has done since writing a review article, as she has worked on a systematic review on quality of basic obstetric care facilities in low and middle income countries.

Preeti Mahato has worked in the field of public health in Nepal for three years after completing her Master of Public Health. She has an interest in sexual and reproductive health, women’s health and maternal and child health. Working as a public health officer she was involved in maternal and neonatal health that developed her interest in pursuing a doctorate related to maternal and neonatal health. Part of her work in Nepal also included monitoring and supervision of birthing centres in rural areas of Nepal and that is how she became motivated to start a PhD at BU.

 

Prof. Edwin van Teijlingen

CMMPH

2016 BU PhD Studentship Competition

Funding opportunities, Guidance, PG research

2016 BU PhD Studentship Competition

Call for submission of up to 20 matched funded Postgraduate Research Projects now OPEN

The Graduate School is delighted to announce the launch of the 2016 BU PhD Studentship Competition, with up to 20 matched funded projects available.

At this stage, Academic Staff are invited to submit proposals for studentship projects which, if successful, will be advertised to recruit PhD candidates for a September 2016 start.

Full details can be found on the Graduate School Staff Intranet where the following information can be found:

Submission Deadline:

Applications should be submitted on the Studentship Proposal Form to the Graduate School via email to phdstudentshipcompetition@bournemouth.ac.uk no later than 9am on Monday 22 February 2016.

The Graduate School will manage the recruitment process along the following timetable:

Date Action
Wednesday 13 January 2016 Launch PhD Studentships Internal Competition – development of proposals
Monday 22 February 2016 Closing date for submission of proposals
Tuesday 15 March 2016 Panel meeting
Late March 2016 Feedback to supervisors and preparation of adverts
March – June 2016 Launch PhD Studentships External Competition – recruitment of candidates
September 2016 Successful Candidates start

Human Body Decomposition in CGI: Simulating Livor Mortis

PG research, student research

We would like to invite you to the latest research seminar of the Creative Technology Research Centre.

 

Speaker: Dhana Frerichs

Title:   Human Body Decomposition in CGI: Simulating Livor Mortis

Human Body Decomposition in CGI

Time: 2:00PM-3:00PM

Date: Wednesday 20th January 2016

Room: P302 LT, Poole House, Talbot Campus

 

Abstract:

Creating realistic looking scenes is an important goal in computer graphics. In particular, in the real-time games industry, one can observe an increasing trend towards realism. Despite this, ageing effects, such as rotting, are often neglected. This is particularly noticeable in the way corpses are depicted in game worlds, which show no signs of decay and tend to simply disappear from the world after a while. We aim to simulate these post-mortem appearance changes.

There are a number of different processes that affect a body’s appearance after death. In this talk we concentrate on the simulation of skin discolouration after death caused by blood pooling, which is referred to as livor mortis. The skin colour is affected by the red chromophore haemoglobin that is found in red blood cells, and the brown chromophore melanin, found in the outer skin layer. The skin discoloration is due to the changes in the haemoglobin concentration and oxygen saturation in the body. Our approach consists of a simulation of post mortem blood dynamics in a volumetric mesh and a layered skin shader that is controlled by the haemoglobin and oxygen levels in blood.

 

 

We hope to see you there.

 

You can boil an egg in three minutes but can you….

PG research

Present your research in three minutes? On the 2nd December, 2015 nine Post Graduate students took the 3 minute presentation (3MP) challenge and presented their research in three minutes with an audience of 50 delegates from around BU.  This event was extremely successful and received positive feedback from both academics and students. If you would like the opportunity to share your research, practice your presentation skills, network and get up to date information on the latest research being conducted at BU you should take the 3MP challenge http://blogs.bournemouth.ac.uk/research/2015/12/08/the-3-minute-presentation-3mp-is-back-for-february/.

Also, keep your eyes open for the 8th Annual Post Graduate Conference taking place in March 2016. To find out more about the Graduate School and what we offer, find us on the BU website under postgraduate research.

Live Migration of Virtual Machines to the Cloud and its associated issues

PG research

We would like to invite you to the latest research seminar of the Creative Technology Research Centre.LiveMigration

 

Speaker: Ibrahim Mansour

 

Title:   Live Migration of Virtual Machines to the Cloud and its associated issues

 

Time: 2:00PM-3:00PM

Date: Wednesday 6th January 2016

Room: P302 LT, Poole House, Talbot Campus

 

Abstract: Cloud computing provides users the ability to access shared, online computing resources. However, providers often offer their own proprietary applications, interfaces, APIs and infrastructures, resulting in a heterogeneous cloud environment. This heterogeneous environment makes it difficult for users to change cloud service providers; exploring capabilities to support the automated migration from one provider to another is an active, open research area. Many standards bodies (IEEE, NIST, DMTF and SNIA), industry (middleware) and academia have been pursuing approaches to reduce the impact of vendor lock-in by investigating the cloud migration problem at the level of the VM. However, the migration downtime, decoupling VM from underlying systems and security of live channels remain open issues. This talk focuses on analysing recently proposed live, cloud migration approaches for VMs at the infrastructure level in the cloud architecture.   The talk will highlight issues with flexibility, performance, and security of the approaches, including additional loads to the CPU and disk I/O drivers of the physical machine where the VM initially resides. Finally, the talk will introduce how a new approach, LibZam (Libya Zamzem) will be developed. LibZam is a tangible system that will work towards addressing the identified limitations.

 

We hope to see you there.