Category / PG research

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

Opportunities for BU Researchers in Ecuador

Funding opportunities, Fusion, PG research, Publishing

The Ecuadorian government has recently launched the Prometeo Project, an initiative designed to bring top scholars to the country to develop research and teaching for periods of 2-12 months.  Proposals in all areas of research and teaching are currently being accepted on a rolling basis and generally take a couple of months to process in total.  Once the application is submitted, assistance in adjusting the initial research proposal is available from the Prometeo office.

Prometeo fellows are assigned to public institutions. These generally include universities, government offices and research institutes. Although Spanish knowledge is recommended, it is not a pre-requisite for doing research in Ecuador.  Research grants range from $4000-6000 USD/month and teaching grants range from $2000-$4000/ month.  Return airfare and orientation sessions are also included as part of the Prometeo package.

 Applications are assessed according to the following criteria:

  • Publications (indexed papers, not indexed, books, articles)
  • Hirsch Index
  • Research projects (led or coordinated / assistant)
  • Academic experience / teaching
  • Conferences, seminars, workshops, discussion panels (speaker, moderator)
  • Consultancies
  • Scholarships, awards and recognitions
  • Letters of recommendation -optional (two letters in digital format)

For further information, visit the Prometeo website or email: prometeo@senescyt.gob.ec.

CEMP Bulletin

Awarded & submitted bids, Funding opportunities, PG research

 

Here is the latest CEMP Research & Innovation bulletin. CEMP bulletin 10.10.13

New for this year:


(1) A more targeted approach to identifying funding opportunities;

(2) Funding calls aligned to research themes;

(3) If you would like to come and chat about anything in this bulletin, your own research or other projects / ideas that CEMP can help with, our monthly ‘CEMP Coffee Morning’ is at 9.30-10.30 on Thursday October 17th in the new CEMP office (CAG02).

 

SDRC PGRs’ Social Media Engagement

PG research

PGRs within BU Sustainable Design Research Centre have recently launched facebook page, for showcasing their research and professional practice engagement and activities.

The activities of SDRC include four areas 1; “Tribology”, 2; Renewable Technology & Sustainable Design 3; Structural Integrity and 4; Design Education. The Centre has extensive experimental and analytical resources to assess wear mechanisms of rolling and sliding contacts, corrosion simulation, renewable technology and surface analyses. These include rotary tribometer, micro-friction machine, corrosion simulation chamber, solar-thermal heat transfer & thermal expansion bench testing, 2D and 3D surface analysis techniques.

SDRC has formed strong partnerships with national and multinational companies such as SK&F (Netherlands), Royal National Lifeboat Institution (RNLI), Future Energy Source Ltd, Defence Science & Technology Laboratory (DSTL) Ministry of Defence, Schaeffler, Energetix, The Tank Museum, Poole Tidal Energy Partnership, Balmain Trust and has secured funding for conducting collaborative research.

Collaborative work is also being carried out with other universities such as Oviedo University in Spain, County Carlow Institute of Technology in Ireland, University of Wisconsin Milwaukee USA, PES Institute of Technology Bangalore India and National Institute of Technology Srinagar India.

Current SDRC Research Projects

A Condition Based Approach to the Tribology of RNLI Marine Systems

A Market Driven Standard for a High Quality Graduate

Defect Tolerance Assessment of Silicon Nitride in Rolling Contact

Electroplated composite coatings with incorporated nano particles for tribological systems with the focus on water lubrication

Element, Use and Meaning: Between the Vernacular and Current Interiors in Saudi Arabia, Eastern Region.

Experimental investigation and mathematical modelling of dynamic equilibrium of novel thermo fluids for renewable technology applications

In-situ corrosion health monitoring and prediction in military vehicles

Optimisation of Braking Systems and Sustainable Design in Traction Drive Passenger and Goods Lifts

Practice Based Design Research: Development of research models, methodologies and evaluation criteria appropriate to its intellectual culture.

Research and development in novel alternative renewable energy technology

Sustainable Methodology of Conserving Historic Vehicles

Tribological Properties and Performance of Bio-fuels on Internal Combustion Engines: an application to the Life Cycle Analysis of Refined Palm Oil (RPO) Bio-diesel

 

For research, enterprise or professional practice inquiries within SDRC themes please contact

Dr Zulfiqar Khan (Associate Professor)

Director SDRC

zkhan@bournemouth.ac.uk

 

Congratulations to Emily Norton – School of Applied Sciences!

PG research

 At the UK’s leading remote sensing and photogrammetry society’s annual conference Applied Sciences’ postgraduate researcher Emily Norton’s presentation was awarded the President’s Cup for the best oral presentation out of the 45 delivered over the course of the three day event.

The conference theme was ‘Earth Observation for Problem Solving’ and Emily’s paper “The Prospection for Mass Graves: A Multi-Platform Approach” looked at the role and her recent results of using remote sensing techniques to locate mass graves. Two other Applied Sciences’ postgraduate researchers, Heather Papworth and Matthew Sumnall, also presented papers at the conference. The Remote Sensing and Photogrammetry Society (RSPSoc) conference was held at the Hilton Glasgow Grosvenor Hotel between the 4th-6th September 2013, and was hosted by the University of Glasgow. The cup, after being engraved with Emily’s name as the 2013 winner, will be officially awarded at next year’s conference dinner by former BU Vice-Chancellor, Paul Curran, who is President of the Society.

Well Done Emily!

Paul Cheetham
School of Applied Sciences

Change of venue for eBU drop in session

PG research, Publishing

The venue has changed for the first drop in session for prospective authors and those interested in eBU: Online Journal.

I had advertised sessions on Talbot on Monday 7th and Tuesday 8th – both in PG30d. However, the Monday session will now take place in TAG01. I shall place a sign on the door of PG30d in order to redirect people!

The revised eBU drop in sessions are now as follows:

Monday 7th October 11am – 2pm TAG01

Tuesday 8th October 11am – 2pm PG30d

And on the Lansdowne:

Wednesday 9th 11am – 2pm EBC ground floor cafe

Co-producing and co-creating with eBU

Fusion, PG research, Publishing

As I’m sure you are all aware of, co-production and co-creation are key facets of Fusion. What better way of engaging in co-production and co-creation than through pursuing publications with students?

eBU is well placed to help academics co-produce and co-create outputs with students for peer review publications. eBU is encouraging academics to act as gatekeepers who, upon marking or seeing high quality student work, will approach students with the view to asking them if they wish to take this further and publish.

Putting your work ‘out there’ is daunting enough for anyone, let alone an early career scholar or student. Primarily as a publishing forum for internal peer review, eBU is a place where these types of outputs can be constructively critiqued in a safe internal environment. This provides students and/or early career scholars with some valuable experience of opening his/her work up to review internally, before doing so in the wider world.

eBU works on the basis of immediate publication (subject to an initial quality check) and open peer review. Once published on the internal site, we aim to upload reviews within 3 weeks. Authors are then encouraged to use the comments to aid publication in an external journal. Alternatively, authors also have the option of publishing on the external eBU site. Please note that only using eBU as a forum for internal peer review (with the intention to publish externally – which we encourage!) WILL NOT ENDANGER FURTHER PUBLICATION.

With the academic year only just underway it may not be the right time to identify high quality student output and enquire if they wish to make changes and reformat any output for publication. However, can I ask staff to make all students aware of eBU. It’s a win-win situation – engaging with eBU will boost your publication rate and give students something positive to put on their CV for their chosen career path.

To access eBU, when on campus simply type ‘ebu’ into your web browser address bar.

eBU PGT & PGR drop in sessions

PG research, Publishing

Publishing should be high on the agenda of any early career scholar, and PGTs and PGRs should feel no different. For those who are concerned or intimidated by the harsh academic publishing world, eBU is here to help.

eBU: Online Journal is the new online working paper journal for the BU community. Putting your work ‘out there’ can be daunting. eBU is particularly useful for early career scholars, PGTs and PGRs who may wish and have something to publish, but have not yet dipped their toes into the world of academic peer reviewed publishing.

eBU works on the basis of immediate publication (subject to an initial quality check) and open peer review. Once published on the internal site, we aim to upload reviews within 3 weeks. Authors are then encouraged to use the comments to aid publication in an external journal. Alternatively, authors also have the option of publishing on the external eBU site. Please note that only using eBU as a forum for internal peer review (with the intention to publish externally – which we encourage!) WILL NOT ENDANGER FURTHER PUBLICATION.

I am holding drop in sessions (aimed at PGTs and PGRs – but anyone is welcome!) for anyone who wishes to discuss eBU further. These will be held on Talbot Campus:

Monday 7th October 11am – 2pm PG30d

Tuesday 8th October 11am – 2pm PG30d

And on the Lansdowne:

Wednesday 9th 11am – 2pm EBC ground floor cafe

To access eBU, when on campus simply type ‘ebu’ into your web browser address bar.

 

PGR Development Fund 2013/14 – REMINDER

PG research

Don’t forget that the PGR Development Fund is now open for applications

Applications will be considered at two points during 2013/14 and the deadline for the first round will be 17:00 on Monday 30th September 2013.

The PGR Development Fund is open to BU postgraduate researchers (PGRs) irrespective of the mode of study (full-time/part-time) or funding status (BU studentships/externally funded/self-funded/ VC PhD Scholarship).

Individual awards will provide financial support of normally up to £1,000 for research activities related to an individual PGR’s research project or personal development.

Examples of research activities covered by the Scheme include:

  • Conferences (to present – either poster or oral and you must provide evidence that you have submitted either a poster or oral abstract for consideration);
  • Research development e.g. attending external training events specific to your research project;
  • Personal development e.g. attending external personal development training events;
  • Organisation of an academic conference at BU with external participants;
  • Attendance at external networking events leading to advance of the research;
  • Meetings or networking events linking to publications or dissemination of research.

You should also map the proposed activity onto the relevant sub-domains of the Vitae Researcher Development Framework (RDF):

Knowledge & Intellectual Abilities A1 – Knowledge base A2 – Cognitive abilities A3 – Creativity
Personal Effectiveness B1 – Personal qualities B2 – Self-management B3 – Professional & career development
Research Governance C1 – Professional conduct C2 – Research management C3 – Finance, funding & resources
Engagement, Influence & Impact D1 – Working with others D2 – Communication & dissemination D3 – Engagement & impact

Awards will only cover direct costs including travel, subsistence, training or development costs and all applications will need to include a precise breakdown of costs.  Applications should be supported by your Supervisory Team and the relevant Deputy Dean (Research & Enterprise) of your Academic School.  This year the Graduate School is keen to assist as many PGRs as possible and due to the competition for funding, will favour applications that can demonstrate good ‘value for money‘.

PGRs wishing to apply must submit a completed Application Form and email Graduate School Funding (gsfunding@bournemouth.ac.uk) by 17:00 hrs – Monday 30th September 2013.

Applications to the Scheme will be reviewed independently and all decisions on funding will be made by the Graduate School.

For further information please read the PGR Development Scheme Policy

Advanced Notice! 2014 PhD Studentship Competition

PG research

At the end of September the Graduate School will be launching the 2014 PhD Studentship Competition. The Competition will open for project proposals (from Academics) seeking funding for projects to start in September 2014, as part of the Fusion Investment Fund.

This year there will be approximately 50 studentships available across two parallel strands

  1. Matched Funded Projects
  2. Fully Funded

There will be two rounds for proposals with the first round launching on Monday 30 September 2013 which will close on Monday 6th January 2014.  In the event that not all studentships are allocated in the first round, a second round will be run subsequently for projects starting in January 2015.

To assist academics, a one day workshop will be organised, by Staff Development, to cover topics such as how to target and develop relationships with external organisations; networking and project costings etc.  This workshop will take place in October and further details will be available when the Competition is launched.

Further details about the 2014 PhD Studentship Competition, including the policy document and project proposal forms, will be available when the competition is launched on the 30th September.

 

Dr Fiona Knight
Academic Manager
The Graduate School

 

 

HSC student wins Santander Travel Grant to go to Yale

PG research, Post-award, Training

Mrs. Anita Immanuel has just been awarded a travel award from Santander to visit the Yale Cancer Centre in the USA. Anita studies the quality of lives of adults in Dorset who have survived cancer of the blood or immune system. Cancer is a devastating disease and with the advances in treatment patients are living longer, however left with debilitating side effects which can negatively affect their quality of life.

Anita’s research will identify any unmet needs in this group of patients and will give a better understanding into comprehensive survivorship care thereby maximising quality of life. This study uses a mixed methods approach in examining the quality of lives of these patients who have been treated for a haematological cancer. Data will be collected across three Dorset hospitals: The Royal Bournemouth Hospital, Poole Hospital and Dorset County Hospital.

Dr. Helen McCarthy, Consultant Haematologist at The Royal Bournemouth Hospital and Anita’s clinical supervisor, highlighted: “At Yale Cancer Centre Survivorship Clinic, Anita will be introduced to their comprehensive survivorship care programme which can help improve the quality of lives of adults treated with cancer in Dorset.

Dr. Jane Hunt, the lead supervisor and senior lecturer at Bournemouth University’s School of Health & Social Care added: “The survivorship programme at the Yale Cancer Centre Survivorship Clinic integrates a multidisciplinary approach for following up patients treated for cancer by leading experts, which differs significantly from our own. I am convinced Anita’s PhD study will benefit from collaborating with the Yale experts.

BU Prof. Edwin van Teijlingen, Anita’s third supervisor, commented “We are grateful to Santander for this funding. We know Anita’s research will significantly contribute to the underdeveloped area of research on adult haematological cancer survivors”.

For more about Santander Awards see: http://microsites.bournemouth.ac.uk/graduate-school/pgt-santander-mobility-awards/

How do I submit to eBU?

PG research, Publishing, Research themes

eBU: Online Journal is the new journal for the BU community. It works on the basis of immediate publication (after an initial quality check) and open peer review in a safe internal environment. Authors then have two options – either publish on the external arm of eBU or publish their paper in an external journal.

Author guidelines and editorial policies are on the eBU site, and submitting manuscripts could not be easier. Follow these simple steps:

1. Access the eBU site by following this link (or when on campus type ‘ebu’ into your web browser address bar) – http://ebu.bournemouth.ac.uk

2. Use your BU credentials to log in to eBU. Click on the ‘Login’ tab on the eBU site, or alternatively follow this link – http://ebu.bournemouth.ac.uk/index.php/ebu/login

3. Logging in as an author with your BU credentials will take you to your ‘Author Submission’ homepage. To submit a manuscript, follow the instructions under ‘Start A New Submission’ (below).

 

 

 

 

 

 

4. Follow the 5 steps to complete manuscript submission.

 

eBU is now live with papers for comment!

PG research, Publishing, Research themes

 

eBU can now be accessed

I am delighted to announce that eBU, the online BU journal that operates on the basis of immediate publication and open peer review, is now live with two papers ready for comment.

Jane Murphy (HSC), Louise Worswick (HSC), Andy Pullman, Grainne Ford (Royal Bournemouth Hospital) and Jaana Jeffery (HSC PhD student) suggest that e-learning is a great way to deliver nutririon education and training for health care staff who are involved in the care pathway for cancer survivors. The abstract can be found below:

Health care professionals are in a prime position to provide diet and lifestyle advice, but there are gaps in their own knowledge and education highlighting the need for improvements in teaching and learning approaches. This paper presents the rationale for the design, implementation and evaluation of an e-learning resource to deliver nutrition education and training for health care staff who are involved in the care pathway for cancer survivors. The findings of the evaluation are discussed and the importance of the resource in terms of its impact upon the provision of nutrition, diet and lifestyle advice in practice for the delivery of care and support of cancer survivors.

This paper can be accessed here –

http://ebu.bournemouth.ac.uk/index.php/ebu/article/view/9

Dorothy Fox (ST) uses original research to discuss the dynamics of doctoral supervision and provides recommendations for improving supervisory practice. The abstract can be found below:

Abstract:

This article reports an exploratory study of the professional relationships between supervisors who co-supervise management doctoral students in England. It draws on the concept and theoretical framework of emotional geographies (Hargreaves 2001) to understand the affective elements of these relationships. Team supervision has become mandatory in many Western universities and whilst the advantages and disadvantages of this development have been identified, the relationship between supervisors has not received the same attention. This is despite the evidence from students that positive or negative relationships within the supervisory team are of critical relevance to a successful outcome. Data from 13 in-depth interviews with supervisors was analysed and the emotional geographies are revealed. Further analysis showed that differences within the relationship are resolved in ways that are either ‘autocratic’, ‘overtly democratic’ or ‘covertly democratic’. With the aim of improving the quality of supervisory practice, the implications for doctoral supervision are discussed.

This paper can be accessed here –

http://ebu.bournemouth.ac.uk/index.php/ebu/article/view/8

CEMP Research and Innovation Bulletin

Funding opportunities, PG research, REF Subjects, Research themes

The updated CEMP bulletin is here.

CEMP Cluster bulletin and agenda 25.7.13

Whilst there is no cluster meeting to review this, due to annual leave colleagues are encouraged to have a look since there are a number of good ‘leads’ here and several imminent deadlines for calls people have identified for applications.

Next academic year, we’d like to encourage colleagues to approach CEMP to provide support for developing research ideas into projects or matching proposals to funding, as well as responding to the bulletin items.

 

 

A royal birth? Lucky Kate

PG research

With the Queen’s Jubilee, the Olympics and Andy Murray winning at SW1 Wimbledon (again) it seems Britain is still riding a wave of optimism with the birth of a male heir to the throne; the Prince of Cambridge. The baby was delivered on 22 July 2013 at St Mary’s Hospital in Paddington, west London, weighing 8lb 6oz. The document said: “Her Royal Highness, the Duchess of Cambridge was safely delivered of a son at 4.24pm today. He and the duchess will remain in the hospital overnight. A bulletin signed by the Queen’s gynaecologist Marcus Setchell, who led the medical team that delivered the baby – was taken by a royal aide from St Mary’s to the palace under police escort.

The implications are wide -reaching, in multi-cultural Britain the royal baby is unusual for London in having a mother originally from the UK and most babies delivered in the capital these days (57%) are to mothers born overseas and nearly half of all babies (48%) are born outwith marriage. With midwifery cuts and the further medicalisation of birth where the “cascade of interventions” often occurs when birth is induced.  For instance, in the USA which spends more money on healthcare than any country in the world and yet the maternal mortality rate is among the highest of any industrialised country.

And on July 19, 2013, the USA the House State-Foreign Operations Appropriations Subcommittee today approved a steep cutback in international family planning assistance for fiscal year 2014. Rejecting President’s Obama’s 2014 budget request of $635.4 million, the Subcommittee capped appropriations for international family planning and reproductive health programs at $461 million, $174 million less than the President’s request, and $137 million (23% below the current funding level).  The cuts, if approved by the full Congress, would have a devastating impact: Several million women in the developing world would lose access to contraceptives services, resulting in more unplanned pregnancies and deaths from unsafe abortions. Each pregnancy multiplies a woman’s chance of dying from complications of pregnancy or childbirth. Maternal mortality rates are particularly high for young and poor women, those who have least access to contraceptive services. It is estimated that one in three deaths related to pregnancy and childbirth could be avoided if all women had access to contraceptive services.

Not so lucky, therefore, are Kate’s counterparts in the South – Frightening statistics include that daily, approximately 800 women die from preventable causes related to pregnancy and childbirth. In our study site, Nepal every year, 4,500 Nepali women die in childbirth due to lack of medical care. In low-income countries, most maternal deaths are avoidable, as the health-care solutions to prevent or manage complications are well known. All women need is access to antenatal care in pregnancy, skilled care during childbirth, and care and support in the weeks after childbirth.

To make every birth worldwide as joyful an event as the royal birth in London we need is: a) more and better midwifery services; and b) improved access to care for pregnant women globally.

Sheetal Sharma is a HSC PhD student and currently a visiting researcher in Barcelona, supervised by Dr. Elisa Sicuri at CRESIB on an evaluation of a health promotion programme in rural Nepal aiming to improve access to care; in which socio-economic and cultural barriers exist.

Thanks to Edwin & Elisa for their input in this piece.

References:

http://www.populationinstitute.org/newsroom/press/view/57/

http://midwifeinternational.org/how-to-become-midwife/business-of-baby/

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-23408377

http://www.unfpa.org/public/home/mothers/pid/4382

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-23403391

PGRs and the Health, Wellbeing & Ageing Theme!

PG research

The first PGR Health, Wellbeing and Ageing Community meeting took place on Wednesday 10th July at Royal London House. The purpose of the event was to bring together post graduate researchers from across schools to present and discuss their research under the Health, Wellbeing and Ageing theme.

Jo Hawkes (ST) began the meeting by presenting her research on the impact of premenopausal osteoporosis on physically active females. This was followed by the impact that children’s hospices have on parental relationships by Ashley Mitchell (HSC). Phillip James (ST) discussed his work on how active seniors engage with the internet when choosing holidays. We were also joined by Alister du Rose (DEC) from the AECC, who is using quantitative fluoroscopy and electromyography to determine normal mechanics of the lumbar spine.

Mevalyn Cross (HSC) discussed how her research was going to evaluate the effectiveness of a humanising framework to improve patient care in Poole Hospital. Becca Elisa (DEC) is who is due to start in September proposed plans and theory for her research into norepinephrine activity in ADHD. The meeting finished with Jib Acharya (HSC) presenting the results from his comparative study into nutritional problems in the preschool children of the Kaski district in Nepal.

All presentations were extremely interesting and the event was positively received by all those who attended. The event was also attended by Dr Heather Hartwell, Professor Edwin van Teijlingen, Professor Les Todres and Julia Hastings Taylor who were on hand to give advice and feedback to those who presented. It also gave PGRs the opportunity to meet each other and network across schools.

It is hoped that community events like this will be a regular occurrence with even more PGRs presenting their research. If anyone is interested in presenting or attending the next event please email Ashley Mitchell (ashmitchell@bournemouth.ac.uk).