Category / PG research

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

CEMP Bulletin Feb 2014

    CEMP bulletin Feb 2014

Here’s the updated CEMP Research, Innovation and Funding Bulletin.

To follow up any of these funding opportunities, or to talk about working with CEMP on research / innovation in other ways, please contact Julian McDougall or:

Media School – the CEMP Fellow in your academic group (Anna Feignbaum, Richard Wallis, Neal White or Ashley Woodfall)

Non Media School – Milena Bobeva (the CEL / CEMP Fellow)

 

 

BU Graduate School Santander Scholarship awarded to SciTech PhD Student – Mahmood Hosseini

Mahmood Hosseini, a first-year SciTec PhD student, was recently successful in securing a BU Graduate School Santander Scholarship Award with a total value of £2,500.

This Santander grant will provide Mahmood with the unique opportunity to visit four research groups in Software Engineering across Europe: the Open University in the UK, Polytechnic University of Valencia in Spain, IT University of Copenhagen in Denmark, and Utrecht University in Netherlands​.

 
Mahmood is currently working on setting up a framework for acquiring and studying users’ feedback in software systems with an eye on the quality of the obtained information. These four visits will allow Mahmood to present his work and interact with scholars in these four groups and do joint work especially in the areas of requirements engineering, model-driven development, and utilizing crowdsourcing to involve a broader assembly of users to play an active role in contributing knowledge useful to evolve software.

Mahmood’s research is part of the SOCIAD project, funded by an FP7 Marie Curie CIG grant and Bournemouth University, and his supervisory team consists of Dr. Raian Ali, Prof. Keith Phalp and Associated Prof. Jacqui Taylor.

If you have any comments, or would like to contact Mahmood, please contact him at: mhosseini@bournemouth.ac.uk

 

Sport PhD Student Emma Mosley To Be Trained At Top International Research Institute

Congratulations to Emma Mosley, a ST PhD student in Sport, who has been successful in gaining a substantial Santander Mobility Award. Emma will be venturing to Germany for one month in spring to research at the prestigious German Sport University Cologne within the Institute of Psychology.

Emma’s thesis, supervised by Dr Ian Jones and Dr Jo Mayoh, aims to discover the psychophysiological effects of approaching athletic competition stress in a positive manner through the use of heart rate variability (HRV).

In Germany, she will be researching under the supervision of Dr Sylvain Laborde who is an expert in the area of psychophysiology and HRV and works in a large team of internationally renowned sports psychologists.

Whilst at the University Emma will gain experience in HRV data collection, data analysis and the writing of scientific papers in relation to HRV. She will have the opportunity to join on-going research projects as well as conducting her own research.

Dr Tim Breitbarth, the Coordinator for Internationalisation of Sport at BU, said, “The visit offers Emma the chance to start engaging with leading and well-connected experts in her field while receiving first-class training in the most modern equipment at the same time. Also, her visit will help to deepen our established international research, teaching and student exchange partnerships from which BU benefits in terms of reach and reputation.”

For details about her research and international endeavour contact Emma at Emma.Mosley@bournemouth.ac.uk

BU Graduate School Santander Scholarship awarded to SciTech PhD Student – Alimohammad Shahri

SciTec PhD student Alimohammad Shahri has been successful in securing a BU Graduate School Santander Scholarship Award, to the value of £2,500.

The grant will support Alimohammad to visit three research groups in Europe: the Open University in the UK, Polytechnic University of Valencia in Spain, and Simula Research Lab in Norway.

Alimohammad’s PhD thesis research investigates novel methods for the obtainment and analysis of users’ feedback on the quality of software systems and the utilization of that feedback to improve the service and plan the evolution of a system. The visits will allow Alimohammad to present his work and interact with scholars in the three groups and do joint work especially in the areas of requirements engineering, model-driven development, gamification to motivate users to play an active role in contributing knowledge useful to evolve software, and datamining techniques of users’ feedback to infer their collective judgement on the role of software in meeting their requirements.

Alimohammad’s research is part of the SOCIAD project, funded by an FP7 Marie Curie CIG grant and Bournemouth University, and his supervisory team consists of Dr. Raian Ali, Prof. Keith Phalp and Associated Prof. Jacqui Taylor.

For further information regarding Alimohammad’s research please contact him at ashahri@bournemouth.ac.uk:

 

 


CMH visit to Lund

 

 

 

 

 

 

Members of the Centre for Media History (Hugh Chignell, Kristin Skoog, Kathryn McDonald, Tony Stoller and Megan Davies) are currently visiting the University of Lund to develop our ties with media historians there.

We are talking about our research at a seminar on Wednesday evening at which we will focus on public service broadcasting and how it has been interpreted in the UK.

Conversations are taking place between us and staff and students in Lund and planning for future events.

HSC PGR Colleen Deane is awarded BU Santander Scholarship Award

 

HSC PhD student Colleen Deane has been successful for the second year running in securing a BU Graduate School Santander Scholarship Award, this time to the value of £2,500.

The funds will be used to support Colleen’s current collaboration with world leading researchers at the MRC/ARUK Centre for Musculoskeletal Ageing based in the University of Nottingham.  Colleen will have the exceptional opportunity to work with muscle cells and investigate the novel role of vitamin D on muscle growth and the underlying regulatory mechanisms. Colleen is under the supervisor of Dr Timothy Etheridge and Dr Jane Murphy.

For further information regarding Colleen’s research, please contact her: cdeane@bournemouth.ac.uk

 

Another Santander award…

Another recent beneficiary of the current round of BU Graduate School Santander Mobility Awards is Higher Education Academy (HEA) funded PhD student David Galley. His study has attracted funding of £1000 allowing him to travel on fieldwork to other universities around the UK, seeking the perceptions of male social work students on their journeys through qualifying programmes.
The PhD thesis research of David Galley is based on male student’s perceptions of the lack of male practitioners in social work practice in the UK, why those males who undertake qualifying degrees enter the profession, and what their experiences are of what has been described as ‘pedagogically feminised’ programmes. His mixed-methods study will examine current and established perceptions which may inform future social work curricula. His research is supervised by Prof Jonathan Parker and Dr Sara Ashencaen Crabtree who have both researched and published in this area.

HSC student Daisy Wiggins wins Santander award

Congratulations to Daisy Wiggins from the School of Health & Social Care for winning a Santander Mobility Award of £1,000. This award will allow Daisy to develop networks to examine decision making in childbirth.

Daisy’s PhD is looking at My Birthplace: a computerized decision making tool to support women, their partners and midwives to make a decision about place of birth. Her match-funded PhD studentship with Portsmouth Hospitals NHS Trust (PHT) is an innovative four year model that enables Daisy to undertake a PhD while remaining connected with clinical practice. She currently spends two days per week working as a midwife in clinical practice and three days per week working on her PhD research. 

The Santander Mobility Award will fund a trip to the Nursing, Midwifery and Allied Health Professions Research Unit at the University of Stirling in Scotland. In addition, Daisy will visit Kings College London to network with colleagues at the Women’s Health Unit.

Daisy’s research is supervised by Prof. Vanora Hundley (BU), Dr Carol Bond (BU) and Gill Walton (Head of Midwifery at PHT).

Centre for Midwifery, Maternal and Perinatal Health: http://research.bournemouth.ac.uk/centre/centre-for-midwifery-maternal-and-perinatal-health/

PG Researcher Development Workshops – What’s available in February

 WHAT’S AVAILABLE in February 2015:

  • Wednesday 4 February 2015 – Managing Working Relationships (Supervisor and PGR)
  • Wednesday 4 February 2015 – Peering Mentoring
  • Thursday 5 February 2015 – Imposter Syndrome
  • Wednesday 11 February 2015 – Managing your Citations using Endnote and Endnote Web
  • Wednesday 18 February 2015 – An Introduction to Critical Thinking
  • Wednesday 18 February 2015 – Introduction to Research Philosophy
  • Wednesday 25 February 2015 – The Art of Facilitation

Further details and information on how to book your place, are available via myBU (Graduate School PGR Community).  You’ll also be able to see what’s available over the coming months.

Don’t forget that you’ll need to log on with your student username and password.

HSC wins at PGR conference!

 

HSC was well represented at the BU 6th Annual Postgraduate Conference 2014 with talks under the themes Lifelong Health and Wellbeing and Ageing, Society and Dementia by:

Jonathan Branney :“Is spinal manipulation associated with changes in cervical inter-vertebral motion”

Ashley Mitchell: “Can we fix it?!: Understanding the impact of children’s hospices on parental relationships of life-limited and life-threatened children and young people”.

Ben Hicks: “Using commercial computer game technology to benefit men with dementia residing in rural areas of Dorset”

Mevalyn Cross (HSC) won a prize for best xxx oral presentation with her work with Les Todres on “The delivery of humanly sensitive care in an older person’s hospital setting: A phenomenological and action research study”.

Also winning a prize for her photo, Sheetal poster, photo and oral presentations on “Pregnant and dirty: A qualitative study of childbirth practice, beliefs and myths in Nepal”. The paper is currently under review by eBU. eBU editor Andrew Harding, PGR, HSC was present and encouraged conference attendees to submit to eBU, as their abstracts will be published in eBU.

Also present was first year Clare Farrance part of the organising committee with Ashley and a chair. And a theme Leader: Professor Edwin van Teijlingen, Professor of Reproductive Health Research who spoke of student engagement with their profile pages, blogging and publishing endeavours.

Highlights included a keynote presentation by Professor Kevin Warwick, Professor of Cybernetics, from the University of Reading who twice has had implants which permitted manipulation as part of robot learning and appears in the 2013 edition of the Guinness World Records Book for the first direct electronic communication between two nervous systems with his wife Irena. His work centers on artificial intelligence, biomedical engineering and control systems.

Definitely a conference with something for everyone and a opportunity to engage with other schools.

Other presentations from HSC included:

Photos presentations:

Jib Acharya: “The Raute: An Ethnic and Nomadic Group (the hunters and gatherers) estimated from 900 years ago and few remaining only in South Asia”

Clare Farrance: “Keeping your fingers crossed for a health old age”

Posters included:

Jib Acharya: “A Comparative study on Nutritional Problems in Preschool aged children of the Kaski District of Nepal”

Jennifer Roddis: “Experience of interviewing: Face-to-face-v-Telephone”.

 Thank you to Vanora Hundley and Jen Lemmon for their feedback.


Midwifery success in Portsmouth and the Isle of Wight

Denyse King’s My Mini Midwife is due for publication in February.  Denyse King is Lecturer in Midwifery / Public Health Practitioner based in Portsmouth.

My Mini Midwife by Denyse Kirkby is published by VIE Books, a new imprint of Summersdale Publishers. The book is priced at £8.99 (ISBN: 978-1-84953-516-8)

 

The second success story is Wendy Marsh Lecturer/Practitioner in Midwifery also based in Portsmouth who had an abstract accepted for the ‘Safeguarding the Vulnerable International Symposium’ to be held at Bucks New University in High Wycombe.

 

Also the Centre for Midwifery, Maternal & Perinatal Health won three BU matched funded Ph.D. studentships.  The first two are with Portsmouth Hospitals NHS Trust:

An Exploration of the Community by Midwives and Maternity Support Workers in the Postnatal Period – supervisors: dr. Carol Wilkins, dr. Janet Scammell & dr. Sue Way

Just one drink!  An exploration of the conflict between harm reduction and abstinence in UK maternity care – supervisors: Prof. Edwin van Teijlingen, dr. Liz Norton and dr. Greta Westward (PHT)

The third one is a new collaboration with the Isle of Wight NHS Trust:

Can Pelvic Positioning help women cope with pain in early labour – supervisors: Prof.  Vanora Hundley, dr. Carol Clark and dr. Sue Way

 

Prof. Edwin van Teijlingen & Prof. Vanora Hundley

Centre for Midwifery, Maternal & Perinatal Health

AHRC Success Story- Block Grant Partnership

 

Continuing on the AHRC Success Story, we wanted to look at the Block Grant Partnership, (studentships for MSc and PhD students) which was awarded on April 2011 and is now nearing its end, with the final students recruited last September.

We had a chat with supervisors and students, to see both sides of the studentship experience.

 Paula Hughes- MA Graduate

I received the AHRC grant to study the MA in Post Production Editing in 2011/2012.

Receiving the grant was absolutely fantastic. I would not have enrolled on the course without getting the grant. It allowed me to fully dedicate my time to studying without having to get a job and worry about finances. I have noticed the benefit too since graduating. Again I did not have to worry about debt and paying off money spent and so this enabled me to pursue jobs in editing and to not have to get any old job for the sake of paying of a loan. This has meant that my progress as an editor has perhaps been faster than if I had not received the grant.

I have just finished working on a feature documentary which is expected to be released later this year. I am also attending my first premiere in February, which I assisted on. I also have been accepted on to Skillset Craft and Tech Trainee scheme.

I have benefitted very much from the grant and I am very grateful for receiving it.

Ella Egberts, PhD student, Applied Sciences

Getting this PhD position has been very good for me. I wanted to continue in the field of research I got into during my masters. Preferably I wanted to do this in England as my research interests go out to the Palaeolithic of Britain. Moreover being able to do a PhD in another country (I am from the Netherlands) seemed to me a great experience and an opportunity.
Studying in different countries increases my international network of friends and colleagues.
So far I am still getting started, but it is all going very well. I have pushed myself already in so many new situations and have done things I would not have done if I wasn’t doing a PhD.
I have studied collections of hand-axes in the museum of Salisbury which was great. Some of these pieces are over 300.000  years old, touched by our very early ancestors and now I get the chance to see them, feel them and reveal their story to a wider public.

 

 

Professor Hugh Chignell, Media School

This was a collaborative application which brought me, my colleague Neal White from the Media School and Kate Welham from the School of Applied Sciences working closely together for this proposal. We found it challenging as it is a long process which has different levels that required a lot of work but we have also found it very positive, as we have learnt so much in the process and of course once awarded that was a real bonus, as it is very competitive.

We were awarded a studentship by the AHRC and then received internally a match funded studentship as well, which was a great boost for the Centre for Media History and has benefited the students immensely as they work closely together.

It is an exciting opportunity for students and supervisors, students can focus on their research for 3 years, producing the best possible quality work.

The AHRC funded studentship went to Tony Stoller to study classical music on radio and the match funded BU studentship went to Kathryn McDonald to study the development of the radio interview.  They have both been an inspiration to work with.  

To close, the key thing for a successful application apart from it being well written, well budgeted and so on is the research idea, once you have a good idea, that jumps from the paper, the rest will slot into place.

Find out more about the Grants Academy and the sessions coming up in February. The internal peer review has been credited with producing higher quality research proposals and increased success rates, find out more details about it here. Don’t miss Friday’s post on funding opportunities coming up at AHRC.

 

SciTech Design Engineering Level C students’ study trip

Sustainable Design Research Centre (SDRC) within the University’s Faculty of Science & Technology (SciTech) has established significant research links through match funded PhD degree researches with The Tank Museum at Bovington and Defence Science & Technology Laboratory (DSTL) Ministry of Defence (MoD) [lead by Dr Zulfiqar Khan].  SDRC has been conducting research in structural integrity in terms of degradation through corrosion in large military vehicles of historic importance, corrosion condition monitoring and life prediction.

SDRC has been actively engaging Design & Engineering Framework students in research activities to enhance their experience of learning at BU. One of the models to facilitate research informed education is through students’ projects. Design Engineering Level C students will be working on their project (4th project of the unit and 50% of the total course work) within their Design Methods & Project unit (40 credit) [Dr Zulfiqar Khan, unit leader]. Students will have the opportunity to learn about the materials, manufacturing techniques, mechanics at the interface & degradation issues within the context of track and sprocket. The students are tasked to propose a design solution for reliability & durability of the tracks utilising alternative materials, geometrical configuration and/or manufacturing techniques. The students visited The Tank Museum to study various Tanks and gather specific information.

If you need further information on the above academic activity please contact

 

Dr Zulfiqar Khan

Associate Professor

Director SDRC

Email: zkhan@bournemouth.ac.uk

 

PG Researcher Development Programme – Available workshops

Whether you have just arrived a BU to start your research degree or you’ve been here a while and want to refresh your skills and knowledge, the following workshops are available:

Finding Information and Using Researcher Tools (REPEAT)
Outline: The session will include an introduction to advanced searching skills, using citations smartly and analytical tools.

  • Date: Wednesday 29 January 2014
  • Time: 09:00 – 11:00

IT SKILLS – Word 2010: Structuring your Thesis
Outline: The workshop will provide you with the skills and knowledge required to allow you to structure your thesis (to get the best out of the workshop you must have basic PC skills and be confident using the basic features of Word).

  • Date: Monday 3 February 2014
  • Time: 14:00 – 16:00

Managing your Citations using Endnote and Endnote Web (REPEAT workshop)
Outline: The session will include an introduction to Endnote and Endnote Web, exporting from databases, Cite While You Write tool

  • Date: Wednesday 5 February 2014
  • Time: 14:00 – 16:00

IT SKILLs – Excel 2010: Introduction to Essential Features 
Outline: This workshop will give an overview of essential features available in Excel.  The skills and knowledge you acquire will enable you to use the software efficiently.

  • Date: Monday 10 February 2014
  • Time: 14:00 – 16:00

 IT SKILLS: Powerpoint – Create and enhance your Presentations 
Outline: This workshop will cover a wide range of PowerPoint techniques to allow the user to create and run a PowerPoint show using PowerPoint 2010 (to get the best out of the course you must have basic PC skills (ie. be able to use a mouse, keyboard and Windows XP) and be confident using the basic features of PowerPoint

  • Date: Monday 17 February 2014
  • Time: 14:00 – 16:00

Further information, including how to book your place can be found on myBU (Graduate School PGR Community).  Remember you will need to log on with your student username and password!