BU Research Blog

Category / Public engagement

15 October 2015

Sparking Political Debate with Sixth Formers: BU Research at the #PSASchools Conference

Panelists at #PSASchools 2015

On Tuesday 13 october 2015, Dr. Darren Lilleker, Dr. Dan Jackson and Dr. Anna Feigenbaum from the Faculty of Media and Communication travelled up to London to lead sessions at the Political Studies Association’s first annual PSA Schools Conference. The event brought together 150 Sixth Form students from schools around London and the South East for an afternoon of exploring Pressure Groups, Anti-politics and Representation. In packed out workshop room, Dr. Lilleker and Dr. Jackson sparked debate over the rise of digital politics, asking in their session on Social Media and Political Communication, “Does social media offer a new way to develop a more dialogical relationship between citizens and their elected representatives?” Reflecting on the workshop, Dr. Lilleker said, ““It was interesting to hear the views of young people on digital media use and get them thinking about how their behaviour links to broader social trends in political engagement.”

Dr. Anna Feigenbaum’s session drew from her research into protest camping. She engaged students in a hands-on activity, designing blueprints and political strategies for their own hypothetical protest camps. Choosing Women’s Equality as their campaign issue, following a compelling keynote by Sophie Walker, Leader of the Women’s Equality Party, the students choose their protest sites, including Parliament and the Playboy Mansion. From clever hashtags to lodging people on houseboats in the Thames to politically subversive games of pin-the-tail-on-the-bunny, students showed their creativity and tactical savvy.

Taking part in the Question and Answer Panel Session that rounded out the day, Dr. Anna Feigenbaum joined Campbell Robb, CEO of Shelter; David Bowles, Director of Public Affairs of RSPCA; Graham Smith, CEO of Republic and Maddy Ryle of the Democracy Centre in a lively discussion facilitated by Dr Andy Mycock (University of Huddersfield) that ranged from the purpose of direct action to strategic uses of the law in political campaigning. Covering questions of Britishness and the Monarchy and the ethics of lobbying, sixth formers in the audience showed they were far more than an apathetic generation of youth. Politically reflective and insightful, they spoke of media misrepresentations of the working class, the need to scrutinise profiteering bankers, growing inequality in representative politics and when engaging in civil disobedience might be justified.

Speaking of his participation in the event, Dr. Jackson – who also convenes the PSA Media and Politics Specialist Group – said, “It is great to engage young people with some of the big political challenges of our day. Plus, this is a great way to put Bournemouth on the map, in terms of politics education at BU, as we develop our curriculum around politics, political communication and social movements.” Based on the success and positive feedback from this first event, the Political Science Association has plans to make the conference an annual affair. An exciting opportunity to share our BU Research in an interactive way with young people, we would encourage colleagues to join in future events!

With thanks to James Ludley and Helena Djurkovic of the PSA for organising this innovative event.

14 October 2015

EPSRC photo competition open for entries

Public engagement Rachel Bowen

The third EPSRC photo competition is now open for entries. The theme of the competition is ‘research in action’, which could include people involved in or affected by your research, unusual or bizarre images arising from your research or images that reflect new discoveries as a result of your research.

The competition is open to all EPSRC supported researchers and doctoral students.

The overall winner of the competition will be awarded £500 worth of camera / photography equipment. A prize of £150 worth of camera / photography equipment will also be awarded to the winner of each category. Runners up in second and third place of each category will receive £25.00 worth of camera / photography equipment. All winning images will also be featured in EPSRC‘s Pioneer Magazine and other EPSRC publications. The value of prizes may be increased dependent on sponsorship.

The deadline for submissions is 19 December.

Images from previous competitions can be seen here.

For full details and how to enter the competition, visit the EPSRC’s website.

13 October 2015

BU represented at prestigious event hosted by Georgetown University – School of Foreign Service’s Cyber Event

Fusion, Public engagement sbachmann

Dr. Sascha-Dov Bachmann, Assoc Prof in International Law, FMC,Law, and Prof Hakan Gunneriusson of the Swedish Defence University (SEDU) were invited to present their paper Russia’s Hybrid Warfare in the East The Integral Nature of the Information Sphere which was published last week in a special issue of Georgetown Journal of International Affairs – International Engagement on Cyber V: Securing Critical Infrastructure. GU’s School of Foreign Service hosts a special publication release event hosting a number of cyber related presentations.

The evolution of cyber capabilities has generated immense social, economic, and military benefits. At the same time, malicious actors have derived an array of equally formidable threats from these capabilities. Consequently, interdisciplinary discussions are required to promote security, good governance, and proper uses of national power in the cyber realm.

To further this dialogue, please join the Georgetown Journal of International Affairs for the publication release of Cyber V, which addresses developments, issues, and challenges to critical infrastructure cybersecurity, as well as theorizes military actions in the information age.

13 October 2015

BU professor invited to give key note at 2016 Dutch Midwifery Conference

Knowledge Exchange, Public engagement Edwin van Teijlingen

Professor Edwin van Teijlingen (CMMPH) has been invited to present a key note speech at the Kennispoort Verloskunde conference in Utrecht, the Netherlands in January 2016. He will be speaking about ‘Dealing with risk in maternity care: the social versus medical model’. The presentation is based on a number of publications around the sociological topic of the medical/social model of childbirth. [1-3]

One of the ways sociologists analyse health and health care is in terms of a ‘medical’ versus a ‘social’ model, or in this field, a midwifery model. As pregnancy and birth are biological and physiological events which are very much embedded in a social and cultural setting, these are good examples to highlight the use and misuse of the medical and social model. Modern Western society has a slightly paradoxical view of pregnancy. On the one hand, the average woman in childbirth is not ill because pregnancy is not an illness. On the other hand, pregnant women are deemed to need a lot of health care throughout pregnancy and childbirth. Making the distinction between a medical and a social model of a social phenomenon is not exclusive to midwifery. Over the past decades researchers have pointed to the existence of a medical and social model in alcohol misuse, obesity, sex, eating disorders, infertility treatment, to name but a few phenomena.

References:

van Teijlingen, E. (2005) A critical analysis of the medical model as used in the study of pregnancy and childbirth, Sociological Research Online, 10 (2) Web address: http://www.socresonline.org.uk/10/2/teijlingen.html.
MacKenzie Bryers H., van Teijlingen, E. (2010) Risk, Theory, Social & Medical Models: critical analysis of the concept of risk in maternity care, Midwifery 26(5): 488-496.
van Teijlingen, E. (2015) Sociology of Midwifery. In: Sociology for Midwives Deery, R., Denny, E. & Letherby, G. (eds.) Cambridge: Polity Press, 22-37.

5 October 2015

BUDI Masterclass held on 30 September: Creative Approaches in Dementia

Public engagement mobrien

On Wednesday 30^th September, the Bournemouth University Dementia Institute (BUDI) hosted a Masterclass on creative approaches in dementia. This was the third in a series of four Masterclasses set for the 2015 calendar year. We provided a day full of information and inspiration on the use of a range of creative activities with people with dementia. The morning included sessions on the importance of engaging people with dementia in creative activities, how much residents in a care home are engaged in meaningful activity on a daily basis, and the use of gardening and nature for wellbeing. As well as presentations from the BUDI team we also benefited from presentations from a professional artist, photographer, poet, and musician.

The afternoon was a series of workshops that gave delegates an opportunity to try out some of the activities and explore how they might facilitate people with dementia and their carers in activities such as music, poetry, visual art, photography, and drama. Such creative arts were used not only to demonstrate how we can engage people with dementia in meaningful activities, and the creative ways that we can make use of the creative arts, but how we can also use the arts to challenge the public’s perceptions of the capabilities of people with dementia.
Poetry workshop resized

Feedback from delegates has been very positive and we look forward to providing the next Masterclass in a few months!

Next Masterclass:

Wednesday 2^nd December:
Promoting Wellbeing at the End of Life

Report by Dr Samuel Nyman, BUDI

1 October 2015

CIPPM Researchers Present at the European Policy for Intellectual Property (EPIP) Conference

PG research, Public engagement, Research themes cippm

The 10th Annual Conference of European Policy for Intellectual Property (EPIP) was hosted by CREATe, the RCUK Centre for Copyright and New Business Models in the Creative Economy at the University of Glasgow, on 2 and 3 September 2015.

Opening the conference in the beautiful setting of the Chapel, Professor Ian Hargreaves, Professor of Digital Economy and the author of ‘Digital Opportunity: A Review of IP and Growth’ delivered the keynote speech on ‘Copyright Wars: Frozen Conflict’ to which a thought-provoking response was delivered by MEP, Julia Reda (Greens/EFA Group/Pirate Party). The video of the keynote including the transcript and MEP Julia Reda’s response is available here.

During the 2-days, a number of Researchers from the Centre for Intellectual Property Policy and Management (CIPPM) including Maurizio Borghi, Dinusha Mendis, Ruth Towse, Marcella Favale and Sally Weston attended and presented at the conference.

Marcella Favale presented her paper co-authored with Martin Kretschmer and Paul Torremans Is There a EU Copyright Jurisprudence? An empirical analysis of the workings of the European Court of Justice.

Ruth Towse presented her paper on Copyright and business models in music publishing: the law and the market (as part of the AHRC-funded project Evolution in Music Publishing).

Maurizio Borghi presented on Crowdsourcing the orphan works problem (as part of the recently funded EnDOW project). The EnDOW Project is led by CIPPM and carried out in partnership with CREATe, University of Glasgow, ASK, University of Bocconi and IViR, University of Amsterdam.

Sally Weston presented on Encouraging interoperability by the sharing of interface information obtained by reverse engineering – as part of the research carried out for her PhD project.

Dinusha Mendis presented and led a panel on A Legal and Empirical Study into the Intellectual Property Implications of 3D Printing – Conclusions and Recommendations (as part of a project commissioned and funded by the UK Intellectual Property Office). The other panel members who also contributed to the commissioned project and presented on the Panel included Dr. Davide Secchi (University of Southern Denmark), Ms. Sophie Jones (Stratasys Strategic Consulting) and Ms. Pippa Hall of the UK Intellectual Property Office who spoke about next steps in relation to policy and reform in the area of 3D printing and IP Law.

In the same manner that the Conference commenced, the 2-day Conference was brought to a close by an equally excellent closing keynote speech by Professor Pamuela Samuelson, Richard M. Sherman Distinguished Professor of Law from Berkeley Law School. The closing keynote can be found here. Professor Samuelson spoke about the challenges and opportunities brought about evidence-based IP policy and concluded her keynote and the Conference by stating: “I think that evidence based IP policy is a theme worth pursuing. It’s not always going to win but it gives this community something useful to debate and to offer to policy makers. Like Julia Reda, I think reform is possible but it’s not going to be easy, and generational change will probably make more of a difference than anything we write today”.

1 October 2015

Positive Active Ageing Photo Exhibition

Public engagement cfarrance

I’m wondering if anyone would be interested in collaborating with me on a ‘Positive Active Ageing Photographic Exhibition’. The idea has come about through my PhD research where I have been fortunate enough to have met many older people who are really positive role models and are staying active by going to local community based group exercise programmes. I wanted to do something to showcase how important these programmes are and challenge some of the more negative views of ageing which can sometimes be portrayed.

I have had overwhelming enthusiasm about the idea from the exercise groups I’ve been working with and just wondered whether there are people in BU from other faculties who have also been working with active older people and would like to be involved in this event. Would love to hear from you if that’s the case. Please feel free to email me (Clare) on: cfarrance@bournemouth.ac.uk

(Image used with permission, Bromford Group. http://bit.ly/1Id23UH)

17 September 2015

Joint project with Tribhuvan University

Awarded & submitted bids, Public engagement Edwin van Teijlingen

Today I attended a contract-signing meeting at the Department of Health, Physical and Population Education at Nepal’s oldest university, Tribhuvan University (TU).

BU, TU and Liverpool John Moores University (LJMU) have been awarded a Tropical Health & Education Trust (THET) grant for health partnerships to carry out training and capacity-building projects in low-income countries, such as Nepal.

The new BU-led THET project will bring highly experienced UK volunteers to train some 100 maternity care providers, such as Auxiliary Health Workers (AHWs) and Auxiliary Nurse Midwives (ANMs) about the key mental health issues in pregnancy and in the months after birth. A local charity Green Tara Nepal (GTN) will support the work through some of the curriculum design, sensitising UK volunteers to live in rural Nepal, assisting in translating, as well as helping to recruit the local health workers. The two UK universities have a long history of working with GTN as well as its sister organisation Green Tara Trust (GTT), a Buddhist charity based in London. The new project will be based in Nawalparasi in the sub-tropical part of the country bordering India. The target population consists of grassroot health care practitioners since there are no doctors in these rural villages.

The pictures accompanying this post illustrate the inequalities and the mix of modern and traditional in Kathmandu today. The city crowded with motorbikes and then occasionnally one sees a couple cows been driven through these busy streets. The green house is in the street in front of where I am staying and the shanty town building are the backdoor neighbours. The picture with text is the price-list ourside the main infectious diseases hospital informing patients about the costs of certain treatments, tests and drugs. A reminder that health care might be free in name for the poorest people, there are still many costs involved in gettiong treated in hospital!

This project is supported by the Tropical Health & Education Trust (THET) as part of the Health Partnership Scheme, which is funded by the UK Department for International Development (DFID). The following people make up the international project team: Edwin van Teijlingen, Padam Simkhada, Bhimsen Devkota, Padmadharini Fanning, Jillian Ireland, Bibha Simkhada, Lokendra Sherchan, Ram Chandra Silwal, Samridhi Pradhan, Shyam K. Maharjan, Ram K. Maharjan

17 September 2015

BU social science seminars

Public engagement Rachel Bowen

A new series of lunchtime social science seminars will be getting underway at BU this autumn. Featuring academics from all areas of social sciences, the programme will tackle important and topical issues and showcase some of BU’s excellent research.

The seminars will take place at 1pm and will last for around 50 minutes – please feel free to bring your lunch.

All staff and students are welcome.

Date and Venue

Speaker & Title

30 September 2015

R301

Ann Brooks

‘Sex, Lies and Videotape’: Sex and the Politics of Organizational Identity in the US – The Case of David Petraeus

28 October 2015

R301

Dan Jackson

Journalism and Public Relations: shifting boundaries, shifting power relations

18 November 2015

R303

Stephanie Schwander-Sievers

Ethnographies of Memory – the cultural reproduction of militancy in post-war Kosovo

2 December 2015

R303

Anna Feigenbaum and Daniel Weissman

Vulnerable Warriors: Counter-terrorism and the rise of Militarised Policing

20 January 2016

R301

Kip Jones

Performative Social Science: What it is, What it isn’t, and Where it is now

17 February 2016

R301

Sarah Scarfe

How do you exercise with epilepsy? Insights into the psychosocial impact of exercising with epilepsy?

16 March 2016

S206

Hyun Joo Lim

Voices of the secret state: human rights activism among North Korean defectors in the UK

20 April 2016

R303

Edwin Van Teijlingen

Maternal health research in Nepal

18 May 2016

R301

Deborah Gabriel

Inside the Ivory Tower: Narratives Women of Colour Surviving and Thriving in British Academia

15 June 2016

R301

Marcellus Mbah

An exploration into the dynamics of being an international student and the complexities surrounding their placement and employability prospects

6 July 2016

R301

Ann Luce

Journalistic Representations of Suicide and the Discourses Created

17 September 2015

Shedding new light on the New Forest’s past

Fusion, Fusion Investment Fund, Public engagement, student research djohn

A new heritage mapping exhibition opens on Saturday at the New Forest Centre, Lyndhurst which features work by BU Games Technology students. The exhibition highlights new archaeological sites that have been discovered as part of the New Forest Higher Level Stewardship scheme. Remote sensing with Lidar was used to look beneath the tree canopy and discover new sites and monuments previously not visible through traditional survey techniques.

BU staff and students, including Aaron Stone, Christopher Beckett, Jamie Sheridan and Daniel Dean, contributed by creating interactive visualisations of historic environments (a pre-historic burial ground, an Iron Age hill fort, a Roman villa, a Tudor castle and a Second World War airfield) that can be explored by visitors to the exhibition using iPads.

The exhibition is free to enter and is open 10am – 4.30pm daily from Saturday 19 September 2015 to Sunday 24 January 2016.

New Forest Centre
High Street
Lyndhurst
Hampshire SO43 7NY

http://www.newforestcentre.org.uk/september-2015/

17 September 2015

Bournemouth University research collaboration to go on show as part of London Design Festival

Knowledge Exchange, Public engagement Rachel Bowen

Mobile working is on the rise in the UK, with more and more people travelling for work or being away from home for extended periods of time, which has significant implications for work-life balance and family life. Someone working Monday to Friday in in a location away from home might miss out on valuable time spent with a young family, while another worker travelling for long periods may have difficulties finding time to spend with a partner.

In a digital age, how can we solve these problems and maintain family life while on the move? That’s exactly the problem that academics from Bournemouth University, Newcastle University, the University of the West of England and the Royal College of Art set out to tackle with their innovative research project – Family Rituals 2.0.

The interdisciplinary research project stemmed from a ‘Creativity Greenhouse’ session held by the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council, where researchers from a multitude of disciplines came together to tackle societally relevant problems from very different angles.

It was this mixture of perspectives and expertise that meant the team working to develop Family Rituals 2.0 have been able to analyse the problem of mobile working from the point of view of employers and employees, as well as develop novel technological solutions to specific issues faced by families who spend a lot of time apart due to work. These designs will be on display as part of the London Design Festival.

Lead researcher for Bournemouth University, Professor Adele Ladkin comments, “It’s been a great experience to work together with researchers in other fields to tackle the problems faced by families as a result of mobile working. We all have very different skills and expertise which has helped us to analyse the issues and then come up with creative solutions.

Here at Bournemouth, we worked with UWE to interview employers about the support available for mobile workers, as well as talking to employees about the consequences for them, their families and partners. Those results, as well as in-depth interviews with a handful of families, were used by Newcastle University and the Royal College of Art to create the designs that will be on show at the London Design Festival.”

The machines designed include a digital solution for a couple to share a drink together while miles apart and a creative means for a parent who drives a lorry for work to hear messages from their children while stationary in traffic.

“Each machine was created for a specific family, according to their situation and domestic life,” explains Professor Ladkin, “While we don’t expect these designs to present a solution to the issue of mobile working and separation, we do hope that it will stimulate discussion about what home and family life mean and what the effects of being separated from it are.”

The exhibition is open to the public from 19 – 24 September, 10am – 5:30pm at the Royal College of Art in London.

More information about the exhibition can be found on the London Design Festival website or by following the #LDF2015 hashtag on Twitter.

17 September 2015

Knowledge Exchange and Impact Team: how have we been flying the KEIT this month?

Business Engagement, Festival of Learning, HEIF, Public engagement Genna West

While many have been enjoying the last of the great British summer, the KEIT team have been working hard to ensure that BU’s research and knowledge is informed by society for the benefit of society on a number of cross institutional projects. Read on for a selection of our achievements this month:

Communicating BU’s research

Two exciting new digital features have been launched this month. The Research Photo of the Week exhibits winning photographs from the Research Photography Competition that we held earlier this year to showcase BU research. Our research spotlight feature has also just been launched in the form of a short video interview, featuring Dr Sally Reynolds whose work has recently been published in Scientific Reports.

Other research communication successes include Colin Pritchard’s research into dementia which was featured on the front page of the Times in August and has been well cited in the local and national press. Additionally, Jane Murphy and Joanne Holmes’ research into dementia and nutrition was reported in the Mirror and subsequently in the Coventry Telegraph and Evening Gazette.

Public Engagement

After the success of the Festival of Learning back in July, we’re already moving onto our next big event of the year, the ESRC Festival of Social Science. BU has supported events as part of the Festival for the past 3 years but this year, for the first time, we are officially a partner of the Festival and as such are producing many more events for the public, business and schools. Take a look at research.bournemouth.ac.uk/events for further details of activities taking place as part of the Festival, as well as for details of all our public facing activity.

Café Scientifique continues to be successful with September’s talk coming from Dr Robin Wilson from University of Southampton who discussed how we’re monitoring our environment from space and why we should care about it. Upcoming talks will feature Marine Archaeologist, Tom Cousins (October 6) and Vanora Hundley and Edwin Van Teijlingen who will explore Fear in Childbirth (November). If you’d like to be involved and have a great idea for a debate-centric talk we’d love to hear from you – just email Naomi.

The deadline for submitting your expression of interest to run a Festival of Learning event is also fast approaching so be sure to put your name and the concept of your event in online before 25 September.

Higher Education Initiative Fund (HEIF)

13 HEIF projects came to an end this summer, with some excellent outcomes including:

The BFX festival is running for the third year after starting out as a HEIF funded project. Tickets are now available for the festival – check out the website for more information. Volunteers are also need for this event, so please email Tracey Ricketts if you are interested in helping out.
An MSc Mobile app development course launched to start in 2016, in consultation with a number of stakeholders including local mobile app agencies.
BUG continues to hit the headlines: Weed machines remove 30 tonnes from Poole Park lake – Bournemouth Echo. This year-long research project by Bournemouth University Global Environment Solutions (BUG) monitors water quality at Poole Park lake, to form part of the bid for Heritage Lottery Funding to improve Poole Park.

HEIF 5+1: The twelve new projects that secured funding in August 2015 and will run for the next 12 months are well underway. More information will be posted on the Research Blog as these evolve – so keep an eye out for updates. One of the first to go live is Building Roman Britain.

KEIT and Liam Toms within the Media & Communication Faculty are working together to co-ordinate a Creative Bournemouth event to be held at the EBC on 23 September. Professor Tim McIntyre-Bhatty will open the event and a number of speakers from the creative industries will present during the afternoon. This event will also launcha special feature on creative industires in Bournemouth published by The Drum .

Knowledge Transfer Partnerships (KTP)

We currently have five live KTP within SciTech and KTP activity at BU is on the increase with KTP leads associated with every Faculty. This is a fantastic result and we are keen to further promote the specific KTP Cyber Security call and Stratified Medicine call, both of which are due to close in early 2016.

If you’re feeling inspired by our blog post and would like to get involved with some of our projects then feel free to get in touch:

Genna West – Knowledge Exchange and Impact Manager

Rachel Bowen – Research Communications Manager

Rachel Clarke – Knowledge Exchange Adviser (KTP)

Jayne Codling – Knowledge Exchange Adviser

Naomi Kay – Public Engagement Officer

Katie Breadmore – Public Engagement Event’s Organiser

Oliver Cooke – Student Engagement Coordinator

To find out more about us and what we do, take a look at our team page.

17 September 2015

BU Research at Banksy’s Dismaland

Public engagement afeigenbaum

Dismaland This week sees the opening of the DSEI Arms Fair (the worlds largest arms fair held every two years in Londons Docklands). To commemorate the occasion Dismalands museum curator Dr. Gavin Grindon alongside the #RiotID project have produced a guide for tracking the manufacturers of weapons used against public protest (the tear gas used against pro-democracy protests in Egypt in 2011 and Hong Kong in 2014 was made in Derby). These are available in the park from today, but obviously are of limited use in Weston super-Mare so were asking anyone who might find this helpful to disperse the PDF below. It also comes in Arabic Photographer: SUBMIT NOT FOR RESALE

Dr Anna Feigenbaum, a Senior Lecturer in the Faculty of Media and Communication, last week launched the #RiotID project along with John Horne from Birmingham University and the Omega Research Foundation. An output of the Fusion funded BU Datalabs project, #RiotID is a civic media guide helping people identify, monitor and record the use of riot control agents against civilians. The web-based and downloadable #RiotID guide was designed by Minute Works and is currently being distributed at Banksy’s Dismaland as part of the Cruel Designs Exhibition curated by Dr. Gavin Grindon.

Why ID?

Everyday, around the world, law enforcement officers use tear gas, stun grenades, rubber bullets and other riot control weapons on civilians. While these devices are marketed as safe and humane ‘less lethal’ weapons, they regularly cause injuries and even deaths.

The Turkish Medical Association states, “As doctors we declare that the use of tear gas whose acute and chronic effects on health have been sufficiently proven must be fully prohibited.” Likewise, members of the European Respiratory Society have shared their concerns over these weapons, “Our findings suggest that people who live and work close to protests are also seeing harmful effects on the lungs from the use of this gas. We have also found that the effect on the protesters lasts longer than we previously thought.

The ‘less lethality’ of riot control weapons is largely predicated on their appropriate use, following strict, clinically trailed guidelines. Last week marked the 25^th anniversary of the United Nations Basic Principles on the Use of Force and Firearms by Law Enforcement Officials that is meant to regulate the use of riot control weapons. Yet, while regulations and guidelines are provided by the UN, there is currently no effective legal oversight or international regulation of their export, trade or everyday use.

#RiotID in Action

The #RiotID guide has already made its way into real world use during an inter-faith community protest in Beit Jala against Israel’s separation wall in Palestine that appropriates residential land. Peaceful protest participants carried the#RiotID guides with them as the marched.

#RiotID is designed to help people medically respond, monitor human rights violations, challenge use of force abuses, and identify the manufacturer and country of origin of these devices. It aims to help close the gap between how police are advised to use these weapons and how they are used in reality in ways that cause danger to civilians.

The guid enables people to photo document and upload images to twitter for identification by our team of experts. The guides are currently available in English and Arabic from: http://riotid.com/print-your-own-riotid/ More translations will follow.

16 September 2015

Bestival 2015

Public engagement ocooke

Bestival

So after a little time to recover from the late nights of last weekend, I can safely say that Bestival was a great success!

The atmosphere was electric, which gave us the perfect opportunity to showcase some of BU’s resea rch. The activities that we bought held a very high level of interactivity which allowed us to fully engage with our audience.

We bought two activities to Bestival, the T-wall reaction board and the Jump Mat. The T-wall tested skills such as reaction times and hand eye coordination. Then the jump mat tested a participant’s stationary jumping power. The purpose was to allow the public to test themselves against some of the UK’s most elite athletes such Jessica Ennis and Lewis Hamilton.

These two pieces of kit were brilliant for public engagement as it allowed people to test themselves as an individual, as well as giving them the opportunity to compete against their friends. This added level of competition encouraged hundreds of people come and test their abilities, as well as giving them the chance to win some highly sought after BU merchandise.

There were many other activities at the science tent which helped to showcase research happening at other universities such as Southampton and Reading. One Activity that was successful at catching the public’s attention was a specially modified telescope which allowed you to examine the sun. Through this telescope you could examine it in great detail, with even being able to see solar flares!

Please keep a close eye on the @BU_research twitter account to get the latest updates and news on research at BU.

15 September 2015

Sharing Engagement Success at the ASET Conference – Vianna Renaud, Placement Development Advisor for the Faculty of Media and Communication

Fusion, Public engagement vrenaud

Last week I was very pleased to have presented at the ASET Annual Conference at the University of Exeter. ASET is the Work Based and Placement Learning Association of the UK and one of the key organisations I turn to in my role as Placement Development Advisor for the Faculty of Media and Communication. This year the conference attracted approximately 200 representatives coming from Universities throughout the UK, Ireland and Canada.

As the theme of the conference was on Positive Partnerships, my presentation was on a new engagement event we ran for the PR programme in the Faculty of Media and Communication earlier this year. After securing Fusion funding, led by Anastasios Theofilou, and in collaboration with academics and professional staff across the institution, we hosted an employer engagement event. Approximately 20 employers attended and all first and second year students were involved by preparing and displaying a poster CV. By presenting themselves and in talking to employers, numerous students were able to secure a future work experience as a result. Employers were able to engage with students, interview their top choices, and talk to key academics, all important in strengthening their relationship with the University. PRCA, one of the industry professional bodies, also attended and showed their support of BU and their focus on industry engagement. We also had alumni attend as company representatives. Overall, it was a wonderful event that made considerable impact to all those involved.

I shared our experiences to a classroom of university delegates where the open discussion and feedback were positive. Already I have received emails from two attendees keen to run similar events at their institutions and therefore, it is quite exciting to know that our success at BU may be expanded onto other campuses.

11 September 2015

BU to present at Hybrid Warfare Workshop at Strategy And Security Institute of University of Exeter

PG research, Public engagement sbachmann

The Strategy and Security Institute at the University of Exeter will host a workshop on ‘The Legal Framework of Hybrid Warfare and Influence Operations’ on 16–17 September 2015 in collaboration with the NATO Office of Legal Affairs and the Allied Rapid Reaction Corps.

Sascha Bachmann, Associate Professor in International Law, Faculty of Media and Communications, Law, will present the paper Hybrid War: 21st Century’s Threat to Global Peace and Security and aid in the conduct of workshops during this event.

Sascha’s work on Hybrid War is part on an ongoing collaborative project jointly with the Swedish Defence University (http://www.fhs.se/en/)and has been published nationally and internationally, see http://scientiamilitaria.journals.ac.za/pub/article/view/1110/1107.

8 September 2015

Opportunity to showcase your research at the Royal Society Summer Science Exhibition

Public engagement kbreadmore

There is just less than two weeks to go until the deadline for proposals for the 2016 Royal Society Summer Science Exhibition. This is a fantastic opportunity explain your research, in a hands-on way, to over 10,000 visitors.

The Summer Science Exhibition showcases the most exciting cutting-edge science and technology research. It provides a unique opportunity for members of the public to interact with scientists and ask them questions about their work. The Exhibition is open to members of the general public as well as students and teachers, scientists, policy makers and the media.

The Royal Society Summer Science Exhibition 2016 will be held from 5 July – 10 July at the Royal Society, London.

For further information on submitting a proposal visit the website or apply here; Deadline 21 September 2015.

8 September 2015

Bestival 2015

Public engagement ocooke

Before I first started this job the last thing I expected was to be going to one of biggest music festivals in the UK, but I couldn’t have been more wrong! I have been asked to join the team going to Bestival, where we will be showcasing some of the world class research happening at BU within the very popular science tent.

Being given the opportunity to showcase BU’s research at an event that sees more than 50,000 people through its gates, will be greatly beneficial towards the public/student engage of Bournemouth University.

The purpose of our activities will be to host a series of tests which will give the public a chance to test their physical and mental skills against those of the best athletes the U.K has to offer. These will include a Jump Mat test, which will test the participant’s stationary jumping power. The next activity is the T Wall Reaction test; this will test the participant’s reaction time as well as their memory. The last activity will be the running gate, this will test the participants running speed.

Please keep a close eye on the @BU_research twitter account to get the latest updates and news on what’s going on from the festival itself.

Category / Public engagement

EPSRC photo competition open for entries

BU represented at prestigious event hosted by Georgetown University – School of Foreign Service’s Cyber Event

BUDI Masterclass held on 30 September: Creative Approaches in Dementia

CIPPM Researchers Present at the European Policy for Intellectual Property (EPIP) Conference

Positive Active Ageing Photo Exhibition

BU social science seminars

Shedding new light on the New Forest’s past

New Forest Centre
High Street
Lyndhurst
Hampshire SO43 7NY

Bournemouth University research collaboration to go on show as part of London Design Festival

Knowledge Exchange and Impact Team: how have we been flying the KEIT this month?

BU Research at Banksy’s Dismaland

Bestival 2015

Sharing Engagement Success at the ASET Conference – Vianna Renaud, Placement Development Advisor for the Faculty of Media and Communication

BU to present at Hybrid Warfare Workshop at Strategy And Security Institute of University of Exeter

Opportunity to showcase your research at the Royal Society Summer Science Exhibition

Bestival 2015

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New Forest Centre High Street Lyndhurst Hampshire SO43 7NY

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New Forest Centre
High Street
Lyndhurst
Hampshire SO43 7NY