Category / Post-award

BU awarded research grant to improve nurse retention

BU research, Post-award, Research news

Researchers from Bournemouth University’s Faculty of Health & Social Sciences have received a grant of £140,000 from the Burdett Trust for Nursing. The researchers will be working to study and improve registered nurse retention in collaboration with our practice partners at Royal Bournemouth and Christchurch NHS Foundation Trust (RBCH).

This exciting project launches on 1st June 2017 and will run for two years. Led by Dr Janet Scammell, working alongside Professor Stephen Tee and Dr Sharon Docherty, RBCH staff and service users is an exciting, collaborative, nurse-led project that will test an innovative evidence-based model for improving nurse retention known as TRACS (Transition, Resilience, Authentic leadership, Commitment, Support).

Retention of nurses within the UK is a grave issue with approximately 10% of the nursing workforce in England seriously considering leaving the profession. This has significant implications on the care provided to patients within the NHS.

Working with a large NHS Trust, a ‘bottom-up’ co-created retention strategy and tool-kit, based on principles underpinning TRACS will be developed and implemented in one high-risk Directorate. A robust evaluation will run alongside. The project will develop and refine an adaptable and evidence-based retention model, acting as an exemplar that will be transferable to any healthcare setting where nurses are employed.

Dr Scammell said “We’re excited to be working on this project and collaborating with local partners to improve retention within the healthcare workforce.”

A project website will be developed in the near future to host information as well as useful resources

CEMP research published by Samsung

BU research, Post-award, Research news

CEMP’s Digital Capability study has now been published by Samsung.

ABOUT THIS RESEARCH
In 2015, Samsung funded a six-month research project on the Isle of Portland in Weymouth, exploring the
impact of technology on participants’ engagement with community services, schools and family learning.
We partnered with the Centre for Excellence in Media Practice (CEMP) at Bournemouth University.
The project has given us a rich set of findings on which to build further work, and we hope this summary will be
of help to schools, community organisations, policy makers, employers and even parents – anybody
who shares our interest in enabling communities to benefit from the power of digital technology.

Calling all RCUK PIs and Students!

Awarded & submitted bids, Post-award, Publishing, Research assessment

RCUKThe next Researchfish submission period will run in February/March 2017. The key dates and policies for the 2017 exercise are detailed below…

Next Submission Period datesImage sourced from The Academy of Medical Sciences

PIs will need to log on to researchfish® and submit a return between the 6 February and 4pm on 16 March 2017 to confirm that their outcomes information is accurate and complete at that time. Students will once again be asked to submit their outcomes then too. It is important to note that this time there will not be a blanket extension given to those who don’t submit by the deadline.

 Studentships outcomes collection

The last Submission Period was the first time that all RCUK-funded Students were asked provide research outcomes from their Studentship awards. After considering the information gathered and the feedback received, RCUK has decided in future only students who are in the third or later year of their studies need to submit their outcomes. For the 2017 submission period this means students whose awards started on or before the 5 February 2015.

Sanctions

As was the case after the 2016 Submission Period, non-compliant PIs will lose eligibility to be either a PI or Co-I on further awards from any Research Council and any current awards will have their payments withheld until such time as the PI becomes compliant. Sanctions will not apply to students who do not comply with the request to submit their outcomes.

Attention: All RCUK PIs and Students!

Awarded & submitted bids, Post-award, Publishing, Research assessment

RCUKThe next Researchfish submission period will run in February/March 2017. The key dates and policies for the 2017 exercise are detailed below…

Next Submission Period datesImage sourced from The Academy of Medical Sciences

PIs will need to log on to researchfish® and submit a return between the 6 February and 4pm on 16 March 2017 to confirm that their outcomes information is accurate and complete at that time. Students will once again be asked to submit their outcomes then too. It is important to note that this time there will not be a blanket extension given to those who don’t submit by the deadline.

 Studentships outcomes collection

The last Submission Period was the first time that all RCUK-funded Students were asked provide research outcomes from their Studentship awards. After considering the information gathered and the feedback received, RCUK has decided in future only students who are in the third or later year of their studies need to submit their outcomes. For the 2017 submission period this means students whose awards started on or before the 5 February 2015.

Sanctions

As was the case after the 2016 Submission Period, non-compliant PIs will lose eligibility to be either a PI or Co-I on further awards from any Research Council and any current awards will have their payments withheld until such time as the PI becomes compliant. Sanctions will not apply to students who do not comply with the request to submit their outcomes.

Calling all RCUK PIs and Students!

Awarded & submitted bids, Impact, Post-award, Publishing, Research assessment

RCUKlogoWe’ve been informed by RCUK that the next Researchfish submission period will run in February/March 2017. The key dates and policies for the 2017 exercise are detailed below…

 

Next Submission Period dates

Image sourced from The Academy of Medical SciencesPIs will need to log on to researchfish® and submit a return between the 6 February and 4pm on 16 March 2017 to confirm that their outcomes information is accurate and complete at that time. Students will once again be asked to submit their outcomes then too. It is important to note that this time there will not be a blanket extension given to those who don’t submit by the deadline.

 Studentships outcomes collection

The last Submission Period was the first time that all RCUK-funded Students were asked provide research outcomes from their Studentship awards. After considering the information gathered and the feedback received, RCUK has decided in future only students who are in the third or later year of their studies need to submit their outcomes. For the 2017 submission period this means students whose awards started on or before the 5 February 2015.

Sanctions

As was the case after the 2016 Submission Period, non-compliant PIs will lose eligibility to be either a PI or Co-I on further awards from any Research Council and any current awards will have their payments withheld until such time as the PI becomes compliant. Sanctions will not apply to students who do not comply with the request to submit their outcomes.

 

UKRO Visit – Slides now available

EU, Events, Funding opportunities, innovation, international, Post-award, Research news, Research Training, RKE development framework

UKRO logoRKEO were pleased to welcome UK Research Office’s BU account manager, Maribel Glogowski for our annual subscriber visit, on Tuesday 25th October. Maribel is based in Brussels, along with the rest of the UKRO team, so is BU’s perfect partner for keeping us up to date with funding developments in the EU.

UKRO is the European office of the UK Research Councils. It delivers a subscription-based advisory service for research organisations (in the main UK HEIs) and provides National Contact Point services on behalf of the UK Government. UKRO’s mission is to maximise UK engagement in EU-funded research, innovation and higher education activities. As a BU member of staff, you can sign up to receive email alerts direct to your inbox.

Maribel covered the following topics:

  • Updates on project management including post-referendum statements
  • Creative Europe
  • Erasmus+
  • Accessing the Horizon 2020 Societal Challenges

All the slides from the day are available in the MyBU Community for the Research & Knowledge Exchange Development Framework. Please select the International Pathway to access these slides – more resources are being added over the coming months.  All staff have been pre-enrolled into this community.

If you have any questions about this event or are considering applying to EU funding schemes, please contact Emily Cieciura (RKEO, Research Facilitator: EU & International)

 

CIPPM’s AHRC-funded Project Copyrightuser.org publishes Episode II of the Award-Winning ‘Game is On!’ Film

Awarded & submitted bids, BU research, Featured academics, Fusion, Fusion Investment Fund, Knowledge Transfer, Post-award, REF Subjects, Research communication, Research news, Research themes, Student Engagement

Copyrightuser.org – is a collaboration between the Law Department’s Centre for Intellectual Property Policy and Management (CIPPM) at Bournemouth University (BU) and CREATe, University of Glasgow, has produced Episode II of the ‘Game is On!’ Series.

The project led by the Principal Investigator for Bournemouth University, Dr. Dinusha Mendis, Associate Professor in Law and Co-Director of CIPPM was initially funded by BU’s Fusion Investment Fund in 2012. Since 2013 the project has been successful in securing AHRC funding under the leadership of Dr. Mendis and in November 2015, won the AHRC Innovation in Film Award.

Game is On! by Copyrightuser.org is a s a series of short animated films that puts copyright and creativity under the magnifying glass of Sherlock Holmes, providing a unique, research-led and open access resource for school-aged learners and other creative users of copyright. Drawing inspiration from well-known copyright and public domain work, as well as recent copyright litigation, these films provide a springboard for exploring key principles and ideas underpinning copyright law, creativity, and the limits of lawful appropriation and reuse.

Episode I of the ‘Game is On!’ Series titled The Adventure of the Girl with the Light Blue Hair  won the AHRC Innovation in Film Award in November 2015 and was shortlisted for a BUFVC Learning on Screen Award in April 2016 and has been recently used by Into Film to develop the educational resource ‘Exploring copyright for clubs’.

The accompanying Case Files – an important feature of the ‘Game is On!’ series – for Episode I was authored by CIPPM’s Co-Director, Dr. Dinusha Mendis and CIPPM PhD Candidate, Ms. Hayleigh Bosher.

Episode II titled The Adventure of the Six Detectives is also accompanied by a number of Case Files, authored by CREATe researchers Megan Rae Blakely and Andrea Wallace and offer points of discussion around many of the most pressing copyright questions and concerns faced by screenwriters: http://copyrightuser.org/the-game-is-on/episode-2/

The short films are written, directed and produced by Professor Ronan Deazley (Queen’s University Belfast) and CREATe producer Bartolomeo Meletti (currently seconded to the British Film Institute) with Art Direction / Design by Marco Bagni, illustrations by Davide Bonazzi and music by SFX:Sarco.

game-is-on

Alternative paths to access finance for small and medium scale enterprises in the UK

BU research, conferences, Funding opportunities

Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) form a crucial part of United Kingdom’s (UK) economy. However, limited/or lack of access to finance continue to hinder the growth of SMEs in the country. This situation has been the compelling factor behind Bournemouth University’s seminars series on “Access to Finance for SMEs”, of which the last was held at Royal Institute of Chartered Surveyors, London on 13 September, 2016. This final part of the seminar series was aimed at identifying alternative sources of finance for SMEs in the UK.

professor-stella-fearnley-first-from-left-with-the-keynote-speaker-sir-john-bourn-middle-and-the-principal-investigator-professor-jens-h%d3%a7lscher-first-from-right

Professor Stella Fearnley (first from left) with the keynote speaker Sir John Bourn (middle) and the Principal Investigator professor Jens Hӧlscher (first from right)

Experts at the seminar identified the following as the reasons why there is limited/or lack of access to finance for SMEs in the UK:

  • Lenders face difficulties in accurately assessing the viability of SMEs with limited track records because of information asymmetries between borrowers and lenders. This makes it difficult for lenders to secure the appropriate information they require to make an informed decisions on SME loan applications,
  • New SMEs often end up defaulting in debt repayment,
  • There is regional bias when it comes to SME access to finance in the country. For instance, London and the South-East often obtain disproportionately more funding than SMEs in other parts of the UK.

Are there alternative sources of funding for SMEs?

Consensus was broad-based among participants that alternative sources of finance for SMEs is growing in the UK —it grew by 75% to £1.26bn in 2015—despite the fact that only 3% of SMEs are aware of these other sources. Some of the alternative funding sources that were suggested include:

  • Equity finance

This is a method of raising capital through the sale of shares in an enterprise. A presenter at the seminar showed that equity funding has improved significantly in the UK, with seed stage flows growing 48% p.a. since 2012. Other participants also observed that SMEs are often skeptical of equity finance for fear of loss of control. But the fact remains that most of them use equity finance without even realising it. For instance, SMEs often rely on angels and venture capital to raise funds for their businesses.

  • Angels and venture capital

This form of equity finance may be undertaken directly by individuals or industrial companies; and indirectly through financial institutions or government agencies. Venture capitalists on the other hand usually invest in SMEs with high return prospects. Though SMEs’ awareness about venture capital in the UK continue to increase, only 22% of them know of a specific fund to approach.

  • Business Angels

They are private individuals who invest in new SMEs with good growth prospects, in exchange for a share of the company’s equity. Business angels often invest in business start-ups and also provide assistance in the form of consultancy (sometimes free) to the SMEs.

  • Family and friends

This source of finance has long been an important route for start-ups. However, there is always the need to maintain professionalism and a formal environment for business growth which may stand against the business owner’s informal relationship with the financiers. The big mistake many companies make is that they fail to formalise the funding arrangement with friends and family.

  • Crowdfunding

This is a method of raising finance by asking a large number of people to individually contribute a small amount of money to fund a project or venture, typically via the Internet. Though it is becoming the new ‘buzz’ going around in the investment game, existing SMEs, individuals, and startups are increasingly looking to raise funds through this method. One of the participants indicated that it is cheaper, faster and easier to access finance through this source. Another participant at the seminar showed that crowdfunding in 2015 amounted to 2.5 billion pounds in the UK.

Road map to SME access to finance

On the various alternative sources of SME funding identified, seminar participants were of the view that there is the need to critically examine each of them since it will unpack their appropriateness to different economies. You can check gold price today from the reliable sources and buy them from such sources. You will get immediate cash when you sell gold Adelaide in the market through the local jewellers or traders.

Apart from individual publications, there were also proposal for pathways to impact which will include one or two edited books and potentially a Special Issue of the International Small Business Journal, the leading UK and European Entrepreneurship journal, as deliverables.

New Research Grants – July 2016 Edition

Awarded & submitted bids, BU research, Featured, Post-award, Research communication, Research news

As part of our ongoing commitment to celebrating awarded competitive research projects we are pleased to announce a new monthly post that will provide information about recently awarded grants.

Faculty of Science and Technology

Project Title: Development of a tranining program for the improvement of quality of life of persons with alzheimer through “serious games”.

Principle Investigator: Ben Hicks

Project Description: Ben Hicks, Jan Wiener (Bournemouth University Dementia Institute and Psychology Department) and Wen Tang (Department of Creative Technology) will be working in collaboration with 5 European partners across Spain, Slovenia, Romania and Greece to develop and evaluate a training program that supports the use of ‘Serious Games’ for people living with Alzheimer’s Disease. The project has been funded by the European Commission Erasmus+ and will run for two years starting in September 2016. The research aims to work in collaboration with people living with Alzheimer’s Disease to develop ‘serious games’ and technological training that will promote their Quality of Life. The specific objectives of the study are:

  • Create awareness and motivation about the importance and possibilities of “Serious Games” as a tool for improving Quality of Life.
  • Inform and make available a selection of “Serious Games” that address the specific needs of people living with Alzheimer’s Disease.
  • To train persons, families and professionals to use “Serious Games” as part of a therapeutic process.
  • To create training packages that will enable people with Alzheimer’s Disease to explore the use of ‘Serious Games’.
  • Increase the integration and social inclusion of people with Alzheimer’s Disease, through the participation of families in the use of “Serious Games” in domestic environments.

 

Project Title: Activities for schools and the general public, and continuation of research of the rare aquatic habitats inthe East Stoke area (Dorset).

Principle Investigator: Genoveva Esteban

Project Description: This project will enable the continuation of world-class research into the microbial communities of the rare aquatic habitats in the East Stoke area near Wareham (Dorset).  The scientific community in general will benefit from this research through discoveries that will be published in specialised peer-reviewed journals. The project also aims at embedding outdoor activities into first and second schools’ Curriculum in order to;

  • Improve children’s wellbeing
  • Provide intellectual challenge
  • Unleash the ‘scientist’ inside them

Other benefits are to inspire school children to have an interest in the life sciences; reveal the wondrous life of organisms hidden from the naked eye; and last but not least, to engage with the general public to highlight the importance of protecting natural aquatic habitats.

Faculty of Media & Communication

Project Title: 2016 Referendum Analysis: media, voters and the campaign

Principle Investigator: Dan Jackson

Project Description: We are very pleased to announce the publication of “EU Referendum Analysis 2016: Media, Voters and the Campaign”, edited by Daniel Jackson, Einar Thorsen (both BU) and Dominic Wring (Loughborough University).

Featuring 80 contributions from 100 leading UK academics, this publication captures the immediate thoughts, reflections and early research insights on the 2016 Referendum on UK Membership of the European Union from the cutting edge of media and politics research.

Published 10 days after the election, these contributions are short and accessible. Authors provide authoritative analysis of the campaign, including research findings or new theoretical insights; to bring readers original ways of understanding the referendum and its consequences. Contributions also bring a rich range of disciplinary influences, from political science to fan studies, journalism studies to advertising.

For more information on this project please visit the following BU Research Blog posts.

BU academics launch EU Referendum Analysis report within ten days of the vote

EU Referendum analysis report launched at Westminster

Faculty of Health and Social Sciences

Project Title: Understanding the barriers and facilitators to implement and embed a new procedure for nurses on good nutritional care in older people living in community settings.

Principle Investigator: Jane Murphy

Project Description: Dr Jane Murphy has been awarded a grant from the Burdett Trust to examine the issue of malnutrition in older people.  Malnutrition continues to be a real problem for the UK’s ageing population, with more than 3 million people thought to be at risk.  Around 93% of these are people living in the community, where it may be harder for health professionals to spot and diagnose malnutrition.

The aim of this new 18 month study is to develop a new procedure to help community nurses to deliver good nutritional care in the community.  The team intend to deliver training to embed this new procedure and evaluate its success and any barriers or enablers for its implementation.

The project is a collaboration between Bournemouth University, the Wessex Academic Health Science Network (WAHSN) and Southern Health NHS Foundation Trust.  The team aim to work with the local community – both older people and nursing staff – to carry out their research.

Building Research Collaborations with Chinese Academy of Sciences, Peking University, and Tsinghua University

BU research, Fusion Investment Fund, Post-award

Owing to a BU Fusion Investment Fund, I was able to create and consolidate research collaborations with researchers in a number of top research institutions in China over the past two years. The main objectives of the project were to extend my existing collaboration with the Institute of Psychology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, and to create new research ties with Peking University and Tsinghua University. These objectives were materialised through several planned visits to the institutions during the summer periods between July 2014 and July 2016. I am grateful to my co-investigators, Drs. Angela Golsing, and Xun He, for assisting the implementation of the plans. Together, we were able to accomplish more than our original plans by creating additional ties with Renmin University and Shanghai Maritime University. In total, we have created refereed journal articles, conference presentations, and grants during the two-year grant period. Our continuous on-going activities and future plans promise sustainability and long-term impact of the project. The following are some highlights of the project.

 

Collaboration with Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS)

The purpose of my annual visits to CAS was to consolidate and extend an existing collaboration established in 2006. CAS is the largest and highly influential research institute in China. It has a strong focus on research and recruited only postgraduates until quite recently. I began collaboration with a then early career researcher, Dr. Wenfeng Chen, about 10 years ago. He worked with me in Hull as a postdoctoral research fellow supported by the Royal Society, and later by CAS in 2008. He has since been promoted to an associate professor in a few years time. Together we secured several grants for my returning visits to CAS. We have collaborated on many papers over the past years and have recently edited a special issue for Frontiers in Psychology during the period of the FIF project. Many of our papers involved postgraduate students in his lab. Some students have now become lecturers at various institutions. I extended my network with some of them. For example, I became a co-investigator in a grant with a former PhD student, Dr. Junchen Shang, who is now at Changchun University. Through requests for my involvements in their new projects, my collaboration through CAS has grown substantially.

 

Collaboration with Tsinghua University and Peking University

These are widely recognised as the top two universities in China. Like CAS, both universities regularly receive a large number of requests for collaboration from different parts of world. It is therefore highly competitive to build a new research tie with them. I was lucky to have known Prof. Jie Sui at Tsinghua when she was still a PhD student. After completing her PhD degree at Peking University, she worked as my postdoctoral fellow for three years, supported by Marie-Curie and Royal Society fellowships. A few years later, she became highly successful and was appointed at Tsinghua University as a professor specialised in social neuroscience. This has made the new collaboration between BU and Tsinghua possible. Because of the world-class research and outstanding research facilities for fMRI and EEG at Tsinghua, there are clear benefits for the BU team to develop a close collaborative relationship with their research group. Through the FIF support, we have developed co-supervision for her postgraduate students.

 

To establish a research tie with Peking University, Xun and I visited Prof Shihui Han, an internationally renowned leader in social neuroscience. During Prof. Han’s research fellowship to Oxford University this year, we invited him to BU to present a seminar. Prof Han has proposed the idea for conducting social neuroscience experiments during the summer months at his lab.

 

Collaboration with Renmin University and Shanghai Maritime University

Apart from the proposed collaborations, I also explored similar networking opportunities with other universities in China. As a result, I have started co-supervising postgraduate students with Prof Ping Hu at Renmin University. Some of her students attempted to pursue a PhD at BU. I have also created tie with Shanghai Maritime University and have since become a co-investigator on Dr Miao Song’s recent grant.

 

I am pleased to see that quite a few other members of staff in Psychology are now successful in establishing their research collaboration with China. I hope these successes will create a lasting impact on BU’s development, internationalisation, and fusion.

The Research and Knowledge Exchange (RKE) Development Framework: Academic Publishing

BU research, Post-award, Publishing

dev_frameworkThe Research and Knowledge Exchange (RKE) Development Framework,  ‘Academic Publishing‘ pathway targets academics, experienced or new to academic publishing. Workshop titles include ‘Open Access, BRIAN and the Impact Module’, ‘Writing a good abstract’, ‘Dealing with editors’, ‘Writing an academic paper’, ‘Targeting high quality journals’, ‘Writing Academy’ and ‘How to update your Staff Profile Pages using BRIAN’.

We’ll be populating the the OD website with more information and the booking link over the coming weeks. We’ll also be providing a timetable of all events as soon as possible. In the meantime, updates will be posted on the BU Research Blog and the Faculty blogs.