Staying Active and Independent for Longer (SAIL) is an EU funded project which began in 2017. The project aimed to use the concept of social innovation to develop 10 pilots across 4 countries (France, Belgium, The Netherlands and the UK) that would enable older people to be more active. The members of the research team from Bournemouth University (Prof. Ann Hemingway Prof. Adele ladkin and Dr. Holly Crossen-White) have just published a paper in Quality in Ageing and Older Adults on how social innovation can be applied to develop services that support the needs of older people. The paper entitled, The application of social innovation as it relates to older people and the implications for future policymaking: a scoping review presents research evidence into the use of soical innovation in relation to services for older people and identifies exisitng knowledge gaps. A key point to emerge from the scoping review was that although social innovation has the potential to act as a policy driver, to be effective, it is necessary to devise robust strategies to ensure full user-engagement and active involvement of communities. Furthermore, any future research into social innovation needs to focus upon the process of delivery as this is an aspect of social innovation that has to date received little attention.
Category / Publishing
New interdisciplinary COVID-19 paper
An evidence-based, multidisciplinary approach on risk zoning, personal and transmission risk assessment in near real-time, and risk communication would support the optimized decisions to minimize the impact of coronavirus on our lives. This interdisciplinary paper [1], pubished today in Scientific Reports, offers a framework to assess the individual and regional risk of COVID-19 along with risk communication tools and mechanisms. Relative risk scores on a scale of 100 represent the integrated risk of influential factors. The personal risk model incorporates age, exposure history, symptoms, local risk and existing health condition, whereas regional risk is computed through the actual cases of COVID-19, public health risk factors, socioeconomic condition of the region, and immigration statistics. A web application tool (http://www.covira.info) has been developed, where anyone can assess their risk and find the guided information links primarily for Nepal. This study provides regional risk for Nepal, but the framework is scalable across the world.
The authors comprised researchers from the University of Bristol, Science Hub (Nepal), University of the West of England, Public Health Perspective Nepal, Nepal Open University, Center for Molecular Dynamics Nepal, Mid Yorkshire Hospitals NHS Trust, the University of Huddersfield and Bournemouth University.
Reference:
- Parajuli, R.R., Mishra, B., Banstola, A. Multidisciplinary approach to COVID-19 risk communication: a framework and tool for individual and regional risk assessment. 21650 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-020-78779-0
Cutting-edge research has assessed the carbon footprint of BU during the COVID-19 lockdown
As we have now all become accustomed to working and studying from home, research has started looking at various implications of remote work/study. These implications include the impact on our subjective being, but also on the environment. There are speculations that work/study from home may reduce our carbon footprint, for example. This is because commute and/or business travel are no longer required. These two activities have long been recognised as the main drivers of carbon emissions in Universities, alongside on-site energy use and procurement.
The COVID-19 pandemic has provided a unique opportunity to compare the carbon intensity of working/studying at home and on campus. That is why Dr Viachaslau Filimonau from the Business School; Dave Archer, Laura Bellamy, Neil Smith, and Richard Wintrip from the Sustainability Team have undertaken a study of the carbon footprint of Bournemouth University during the COVID-19 lockdown. This is the first investigation of its kind and only the third attempt to assess the carbon emissions of UK institutions of higher education.
The study has found that working/studying from home may be less beneficial from the carbon perspective than originally thought. The carbon emissions produced by staff, but particularly students, at home are almost equal to the carbon footprint of commute. The complete closure of University campuses does not result in low carbon emissions.
This has important implications for the future of (higher) education in the UK and beyond. For instance, the study’s findings indicate that the model of blended teaching and learning may have low carbon efficiency and should, therefore, be applied by Universities with caution. This is because institutions of higher education should promote sustainability which involves ‘leading by example’ when it comes to reducing the carbon footprint.
The study has been peer-reviewed and published in Science of the Total Environment, a leading international journal in the field of sustainability and environmental management (impact factor 6.6). The full paper can be found here: https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0048969720374957. The team aims to advance this project by assessing the carbon footprint of Bournemouth University over the winter period. This is when heating will be put on, thus creating extra carbon emissions on campus but, particularly, at home given that we will continue working/studying remotely in semester two.
Cross-disciplinary approaches to prehistoric demography | Themed issue edited by BU staff
We are pleased to announce the release of Cross-Disciplinary Approaches to Prehistoric Demography, a themed issue of The Royal Society Philosophical Transactions B series, compiled and edited by Philip Riris and Fabio Silva from the Department of Archaeology & Anthropology at BU, in collaboration with colleagues Jennifer C. French (University of Liverpool), Javier Fernandéz-López de Pablo (University of Alicante, Spain) and Sergi Lozano (University of Barcelona, Spain).
Demography impacts a wide range of aspects of human culture past and present: from our capacity to transmit genes and knowledge across generations, to the reach of our social networks and long-term impacts on the environment. Recent cross-disciplinary advances in the reconstruction and interpretation of prehistoric population histories (palaeodemography) have been transforming our understanding of past societies. This theme issue integrates the efforts of researchers working across archaeology, anthropology, genomics, palaeoecology, and evolutionary demography, combining original research alongside critical reviews, to provide a benchmark for the state-of-the-art in prehistoric demography and a statement of the future of this rapidly growing cross-disciplinary endeavour.
The themed issue, which includes an open-access manifesto for palaeodemography in the 21st century and several other open-access articles, can be found here.

A view across Caral, one of the earliest urban centres in the world and a key study site for research on prehistoric population history, such as reported in this theme issue. This site, 200km north of Lima in Peru, was inhabited roughly between the 29th and 19th centuries BC by the Norte Chico civilization. The mound seen in the centre is the “Edificio Piramidal la Cantera” (the Quarry Pyramidal Building) and the building in the left background is the “Edificio del Altar Circular” or Building of the Circular Altar. Image credit: Daniel Sandweiss.
University lockdown: An internationalisation opportunity?
The general effects of lockdown on healthy individuals range from a general annoyance to a major limiting factor in life, especially in lockdown affects someone livelihood and/or mental health. These effects have been well documented in the media. At a societal level these effects are more mixed, first and foremost, there is positive outcome in terms of a reduced spread of the infectious disease COVID-19. Further positive effects include a reduction in air pollution, water pollution levels (in Venice), traffic jams, but also fewer break-ins (as more people are at home for more of the time). Whilst negative effects include not only economic decline, but also a lack of opportunity to travel for work or leisure, children missing education and people avoiding health care professionals for screening and treatment of diseases other then COVID-19. We have also learnt that lockdown affects different groups in society differently, some quite unexpectedly. For example, AbilityNet highlighted that “For students living with physical impairments and long-term health conditions, the benefits of studying from home and avoiding the exhausting experience of accessing face-to-face learning has left them with more energy to apply to their studies” [1]. Even before the first lockdown universities in the UK had been pro-active in their response to the pandemic [2]. One of the practical responses was to move to webinars, online teaching, marking and meetings. Before March most university academics don’t much about Zoom, Teams, Jitsi Meet or Google Meet, and today most academics will have used most of these platforms (and several others) for research meetings, webinars and conferences.


Our second example is a project to support midwifery education in Nepal. The Centre for Midwifery, Maternal & Perinatal Health (CMMPH) in collaboration with Dalarna University in Sweden and University Hospitals Dorset NHS Foundation Trust produced a draft Bridging Course for nursing lecturers in Nepal who are currently teaching midwifery and maternity care. This project is funded by GIZ (Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit). As part of this project BU offers academics at NAMS (National Academy of Medical Sciences) in Kathmandu support in their professional and pedagogic development.
Following the lockdown and seeing the success of online teaching of BU’s students earlier in 2020 we decided to try out online teaching with midwifery lecturers at NAMS. Since many people in Nepal only have a one-day weekend (Saturday) Sunday is usually a working day and due to time difference early Sunday morning are ideal times for webinars. To date online sessions in Kathmandu have been delivered by Juliet Wood, Michelle Irving, Edwin van Teijlingen and CMMPH Visiting Faculty Jillian Ireland (Professional Midwifery Advocate in Poole). The sessions proved very popular with 30 to 40 people regularly attending online from Nepal.
With challenges to delivering face-to-face lectures and tutorials at universities, online teaching and webinars have opened a whole set of new opportunities to internationalise our education.
Prof. Edwin van Teijlingen
CMMPH
References
- Universities UK (2020) Universities rise to Covid-19 challenges, online news item 7 April https://www.universitiesuk.ac.uk/news/Pages/Universities-rise-to-Covid-19-challenges-.aspx
- Low, A. (2020) Covid-19 silver linings: how the pandemic has increased opportunities for disabled university students. https://www.universitiesuk.ac.uk/blog/Pages/covid-19-disabled-students-increased-opportunities.aspx
- Dani, C., Papini, S., Iannuzzi, L. and Pratesi, S., 2020. Midwife-to-newborn ratio and neonatal outcome in healthy term infants. Acta Paediatrica, International Journal of Paediatrics, 109 (9), 1787-1790.
- Daly, D., Iannuzzi, L. et al., 2020. How much synthetic oxytocin is infused during labour? A review and analysis of regimens used in 12 countries. PLoS ONE, 15 (7 July).
- Setola, N., Naldi, E., Cocina, G.G., Eide, L.B., Iannuzzi, L. and Daly, D., 2019. The Impact of the Physical Environment on Intrapartum Maternity Care: Identification of Eight Crucial Building Spaces. Health Environments Research and Design Journal, 12 (4), 67-98.
- Skoko, E., Iannuzzi, L. et al., 2018. Findings from the Italian babies born better survey. Minerva Ginecologica, 70 (6), 663-675.
- Nieuwenhuijze, M., van Teijlingen, E., Mackenzie-Bryers, H. (2019) In risiko’s denken is niet zonder risiko (In Dutch: Thinking in terms of risk, it not with its risk). Tijdschrift voor Verloskundigen (in Dutch: Journal for Midwives), 43 (4): 6-9.
- Bogren M, van Teijlingen E., Berg M. (2013) Where midwives are not yet recognized: A feasibility study of professional midwives in Nepal, Midwifery 29(10): 1103-09.
- Bogren, M.U., Berg, M., Edgren, L., van Teijlingen, E., Wigert, H. (2016) Shaping the midwifery profession in Nepal – Uncovering actors’ connections using a Complex Adaptive Systems framework, Sexual & Reproductive Healthcare 10: 48-55.
- Dhakal Rai, S., Poobalan, A., Jan, R., Bogren, M., Wood, J., Dangal, G., Regmi, P., van Teijlingen, E., Dhakal, K.B., Badar, S.J., Shahid, F. (2019) Caesarean Section rates in South Asian cities: Can midwifery help stem the rise? Journal of Asian Midwives, 6(2):4–22.
- Bogren, M.U., Bajracharya, K., Berg, M., Erlandsson, K., Ireland, J., Simkhada, P., van Teijlingen, E. (2013) Nepal needs midwifery, Journal of Manmohan Memorial Institute of Health Sciences (JMMIHS) 1(2): 41-44. www.nepjol.info/index.php/JMMIHS/article/view/9907/8082.
- Milne, L., Ireland, J., van Teijlingen, E., Hundley, V., Simkhada, P. (2018) Gender inequalities and childbearing: Qualitative study two maternity units in Nepal, Journal of Asian Midwives 5 (1):13-30.
- Ekström, A., Tamang, L., Pedersen, C., Byrskog, U., van Teijlingen, E., Erlandsson, K. (2020) Health care provider’s perspectives on the content and structure of a culturally tailored antenatal care programme to expectant parents and family in Nepal. Journal of Asian Midwives 7(1):23–44.
- Wrede, S., Benoit, C., Bourgeault, I., van Teijlingen E., Sandall, J., De Vries, R. (2006) Decentered Comparative Research: Context Sensitive Analysis of Health Care, Social Science & Medicine, 63: 2986-97.
- De Vries, R., Wiegers, T., Smulders, B, van Teijlingen E (2009) The Dutch Obstetrical System: Vanguard of Future in Maternity Care. In: Davis-Floyd, R., Barclay, L., Tritten, L, Daviss B.-A. (eds.) Birth Models that Work. Berkeley: University of California Press, 31-54.
- van Teijlingen E, Sandall, J., Wrede, S., Benoit, C., DeVries, R., Bourgeault, I. (2003) Comparative studies in maternity care RCM Midwives Journal 6: 338-40.
‘Defying categorisation’
Donald Nordberg
During the other half of his time in semi-retirement, Donald Nordberg, Associate Professor in the Business School, is revisiting themes from his early university education in English and comparative literature. A first product has emerged: New Writing, a Routledge/Taylor & Francis journal, has accepted his paper “Category choice in creative writing“. Fiction is a uniquely flexible form of writing, he writes, but the publishing world wants to drop works of fiction into buckets, which often come in pairs. The paper examines three such dichotomies. Writing coaches want to know: Is the work plot-driven or character-driven? Publishers, booksellers and popular critics ask: Is it genre or literary? Academic analysis wonders: Is it philosophical or psychological?
Using perspectives on heuristics and biases drawn from psychology and decision analysis, Nordberg examines similarities between these category pairs and shows how the distinctions blur, both in literary criticism and through empirical studies of reader responses. He suggests that by paying attention to the anchor-points in heuristics, writers can bend publishing imperatives and help works of fiction retain the ability to defy categorisation.
Midwifery education publication published today


Congratulations!
Prof. Edwin van Teijlingen
CMMPH
Reference:
- Way, S., Cescutti-Butler, L., Irving, M. (2020) A study to evaluate the introduction of the Newborn Infant Physical Examination knowledge and skills into an undergraduate pre-registration midwifery education programme, Nurse Education Today, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.nedt.2020.104656.
Community Hospitals: An international perspective
BU Visiting Faculty Dr. Emma Pitchforth (Senior Lecturer in Primary Care, University of Exeter) spoke this week at International insights: What can the development of community hospitals in international contexts tell us about their role in healthcare futures?, the first of three UK Community Hospital online seminars. Emma presented our NIHR study on Community Hospitals [1-3].
Community hospitals are a crucial but often neglected part of the health care systems in the UK. Community Hospitals are often very popular with local communities but they often face political challenges. COVID-19 has prompted us to make dramatic changes to way we think about and organise health care. Community hospitals have made a significant contribution to the health and wellbeing during the pandemic. The flexibility, resilience and strong community engagement typical of many community hospitals is being brought to the fore. At this critical time, questions are being asked about the future role of community hospitals and what lessons we can learn from other countries.


There will be two further webinars at lunch time on the 12th and 19th November. You can register using the following link: https://bham-ac-uk.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_dX8LwdHxQX2-Mf8nlt8nwg .
Prof. Edwin van Teijlingen
Centre for Midwifery, Maternal & Perinatal Health
References:
- Pitchforth, E., van Teijlingen, E., Nolte, E. (2017) Community hospitals: a traditional solution to help today’s NHS? Health Services Journal (11 July) https://www.hsj.co.uk/community-services/community-hospitals-a-traditional-solution-to-help-todays-nhs/7020019.article#/scientific-summary
- Pitchforth, E., Nolte, E., Corbett, J., Miani., C, Winpenny., E, van Teijlingen, E., Elmore, N,, King, S,, Ball, S,, Miler, J,, Ling, T. (2017) Community hospitals and their services in the NHS: identifying transferable learning from international developments – scoping review, systematic review, country reports and case studies Health Services & Delivery Research 5(19): 1-248.
- Wimpenny, E.M., Corbett, J., Miami, C., King, S., Pitchforth, E., Ling, T., van Teijlingen, E. Nolte, E. (2016) Community hospitals in selected high income countries: a scoping review of approaches and models. International Journal of Integrated Care 16(4): 13 http://dx.doi.org/10.5334/ijic.2463
Today saw the publication of a new paper ‘Importance of involving patients and public in Health Technology Assessment (HTA) and health research in South Asia’ co-authored by the BU Public Involvement in Education and Research (PIER) Partnership [1]. This paper is co-written with Dr. Bibha Simkhada, until recently Lecturer in Nursing in N4LTH Centre (Nursing for Long-Term Health) and now Senior Lecturer in Nursing at the University of Huddersfield, Dr. Aliya Naheed at icddr,b in Bangladesh, Angela Warren based at PIER, Dr. Sue Green (Principal Academic) and Prof. Edwin van Teilingen. The paper appears in the International Journal of Technology Assessment in Health Care, which is published by Cambridge University Press.
The authors highlights that Patient and Public Involvement/Engagement (PPI/E) in public health research and Health Technology Assessment (HTA) in has significantly increased over past decade in countries such as the UK. PPI/E helps improve health research and hence benefits patients and service users. For example, organisations like BU’s PIER bring a unique patients and (potential) users’ perspective of these services, which enables FHSS to enhance the education the future workforce in health and social care as well as research in this area.
However, PPI/E is still very new concept in many LMICs (Low- and Middle-Income Countries). This paper considers the importance of PPI in public health research and HTA in the development and implementation of technology in the health sector in South Asia. Currently, in this region, health technology is frequently adopted from HICs without local research and HTA. It also discusses the importance of local co-creation of technology to reflect the needs of users within a culturally appropriate setting. It is important for LMIC-based researchers to understand the potential of PPI/E and how it can contribute to it to improve health care and research, especially perhaps in the era of COVID-19.

Reference:
- Simkhada, B., van Teijlingen, E., Naheed, A., Warren A., Green, S. (2020) Importance of involving patients and public in Health Technology Assessment (HTA) and health research in South Asia. International Journal of Technology Assessment in Health Care [Online First 5 November, pp. 1-3].
Steady stream of Nepal migration papers
Today we added to our growing pool of publications on aspects of labour migration in Nepal. The Open Access journal BMC Health Services Research published our paper ‘Accessing health services in India: experiences of seasonal migrants returning to Nepal’ [1]. The paper explores the experiences of returnee Nepali migrants with regard to accessing healthcare and the perspectives of stakeholders in the government, support organizations, and health providers working with migrant workers in India. The paper concludes that Nepali migrants experience difficulties in accessing healthcare in India. Hence the authors recommend partnerships between the Nepali and Indian governments, migrant support organizations and relevant stakeholders such as healthcare providers, government agencies and employers should be strengthened so that this vulnerable population can access the healthcare to which they are entitled.
Three of the authors are based at BU (Dr. Nirmal Aryal, Dr. Pramod Regmi & Prof. Edwin van Teijlingen), whilst Dr. Pratik Adhikary is a BU PhD graduate and Prof. Padam Simkhada, from the University of Huddersfield, is BU Visiting Faculty.This qualitative paper is part of a larger International Organization for Migration research project on ‘Health vulnerabilities of the cross-border migrants from Nepal’ [2].
The authors to acknowledge the continuous support from Green Tara Nepal (GTN) during the field work. This Open Access paper from this FHSS team of researchers on migration and health research related to Nepal is the 19th paper in total on the topic [3-19].

References:
- Adhikary, P., Aryal, N., Dhungana, R.R., KC, R.K., Regmi, P.R., Wickramage, K.P., Duigan, P., Inkochasan, M., Sharma, G.N., Devkota, B., van Teijlingen, E., Simkhada, P. (2020) Accessing health services in India: experiences of seasonal migrants returning to Nepal. BMC Health Services Research 20, 992. https://doi.org/10.1186/s12913-020-05846-7
- IOM [International Organization for Migration]. (2019) Health vulnerabilities of cross-border migrants from Nepal. Kathmandu: International Organization for Migration.
- Aryal, N., Regmi, P.R., van Teijlingen, E., Trenoweth, S., Adhikary, P., Simkhada, P. (2020) The Impact of Spousal Migration on the Mental Health of Nepali Women: A Cross-Sectional Study, International Journal of Environmental Research & Public Health 17(4), 1292; https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph1704129
- Regmi, P., Aryal, N., van Teijlingen, E., Adhikary, P. (2020) Nepali migrant workers and the need for pre-departure training on mental health: a qualitative study, Journal of Immigrant & Minority Health 22, 973–981.
- Adhikary, P. van Teijlingen, E. (2020) Support networks in the Middle East & Malaysia: A qualitative study of Nepali returnee migrants’ experiences, International Journal of Occupational Safety & Health (IJOSH), 9(2): 31-35.
- Simkhada, B., Sah, R.K., Mercel-Sanca, A., van Teijlingen, E., Bhurtyal, Y.M., Regmi, P. (2020) Health and Wellbeing of the Nepali population in the UK: Perceptions and experiences of health and social care utilisation, Journal of Immigrant & Minority Health (accepted).
- Regmi, P., van Teijlingen, E., Mahato, P., Aryal, N., Jadhav, N., Simkhada, P., Syed Zahiruddin, Q., Gaidhane, A., (2019) The health of Nepali migrants in India: A qualitative study of lifestyles and risks, Journal of Environmental Research & Public Health 16(19), 3655; doi:10.3390/ijerph16193655.
- Dhungana, R.R., Aryal, N, Adhikary, P., KC, R., Regmi, P.R., Devkota, B., Sharma, G.N., Wickramage, K., van Teijlingen, E., Simkhada, P. (2019) Psychological morbidity in Nepali cross-border migrants in India: A community-based cross-sectional, BMC Public Health 19:1534 https://bmcpublichealth.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/s12889-019-7881-z
- Aryal, N., Regmi, P.R., van Teijlingen, E., Simkhada, P., Mahato, P. (2019) Adolescents left behind by migrant workers: a call for community-based mental health interventions in Nepal. WHO South East Asia Journal of Public Health 8(1): 38-41.
- Aryal, N., Regmi, P.R., Faller, E.M,, van Teijlingen, E., Khoon, C.C., Pereira, A., Simkhada, P. (2019) ‘Sudden cardiac death and kidney health related problems among Nepali migrant workers in Malaysia’ Nepal Journal of Epidemiology 9(3): 755-758. https://www.nepjol.info/index.php/NJE/article/view/25805
- Adhikary P, van Teijlingen E., Keen S. (2019) Workplace accidents among Nepali male workers in the Middle East and Malaysia: A qualitative study, Journal of Immigrant & Minority Health 21(5): 1115–1122. https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s10903-018-0801-y
- Simkhada, P.P., van Teijlingen, E.R., Gurung, M., Wasti, S. (2018) A survey of health problems of Nepalese female migrants workers in the Middle-East & Malaysia, BMC International Health & Human Rights 18(4): 1-7. http://rdcu.be/E3Ro
- Adhikary P, Sheppard, Z., Keen S., van Teijlingen E. (2018) Health and well-being of Nepalese migrant workers abroad, International Journal of Migration, Health & Social Care 14(1): 96-105. https://doi.org/10.1108/IJMHSC-12-2015-0052
- Adhikary, P, Sheppard, Z., Keen, S., van Teijlingen, E. (2017) Risky work: accidents among Nepalese migrant workers in Malaysia, Qatar & Saudi Arabia, Health Prospect 16(2): 3-10.
- Simkhada, P.P., Regmi, P.R., van Teijlingen, E., Aryal, N. (2017) Identifying the gaps in Nepalese migrant workers’ health and well-being: A review of the literature, Journal of Travel Medicine 24 (4): 1-9.
- Aryal, N., Regmi, P.R., van Teijlingen, E., Simkhada, P., Adhikary, P., Bhatta, Y.K.D., Mann, S. (2016) Injury and Mortality in Young Nepalese Migrant Workers: A Call for Public Health Action. Asian-Pacific Journal of Public Health 28(8): 703-705.
- Sapkota, T., Simkhada, P., van Teijlingen, E. (2014) Nepalese health workers’ migration to United Kingdom: A qualitative study. Health Science Journal 8(1):57-74.
- Adhikary P, Keen S and van Teijlingen E (2011). Health Issues among Nepalese migrant workers in the Middle East. Health Science Journal.5 (3):169-i75 DOI: 2-s2.0-79960420128.
- Adhikary, P., Simkhada, P.P., van Teijlingen E., Raja, AE. (2008) Health & Lifestyle of Nepalese Migrants in the UK, BMC International Health & Human Rights 8(6). Web address: www.biomedcentral.com/1472-698X/8/6
Changes to JISC Wiley Open Access Agreement

The Jisc-Wiley Read and Publish agreement transitions funds which previously paid for subscriptions to pay for OA publishing in Wiley’s hybrid and fully open access journals. Bournemouth University through agreement with JISC benefit from this agreement.
Due to high volume of articles which far exceeded original predictions modelled by JISC and Wiley, from 12 October, this agreement will be limited to OA publishing to Wellcome, UKRI, Blood Cancer UK, British Heart Foundation, Cancer Research UK, Parkinson’s UK and Versus Arthritis funded research only, to guarantee that all research funded will be published OA in 2020.
If you have further queries regarding this, please do get in touch with OpenAccess@bournemouth.ac.uk
Insensitive question?
Last week I sent a reminder email to a health journal in Nepal enquiring about the progress of our submitted manuscript, assuming it had got stuck somewhere in the peer review process. The reply threw me a little and made me realise that some people’s situation is far and far worse than we think. The Nepali editor’s email went:
Dear Professor Edwin
Thank you for your email.
I will update the progress as early as possible.
Stay Safe.
PS: 25% of the medical personnel in the hospital where I am working is infected with COVID-19.
Hope for the positive news.
I immediately replied and told him not to worry and take as long as necessary. It also made me realise that we don’t always put ourselves in the editor’s shoes, even though I am a journal editor myself.
Food for thought!
Prof. Edwin van Teijlingen
CMMPH
OAPEN Open Access Books Toolkit Launched
The OAPEN Foundation (Online Library and Publication Platform) has launched a new open access (OA) books toolkit for researchers and academic book authors. The toolkit is a free-to-access, stakeholder-agnostic resource that aims to help authors better understand OA for books, increase trust in OA book publishing, provide reliable and easy-to-find answers to questions from authors, and to provide guidance on the process of publishing an OA book.
The toolkit was created in collaboration with Springer Nature and The University of Glasgow and has been written by a global and diverse group of stakeholders from the academic community and scholarly communications organisations.
You can access the toolkit here: www.oabooks-toolkit.org
To learn more about the toolkit or get involved, please contact Tom Mosterd, Community Manager at OAPEN: t.mosterd@oapen.org. You can also sign up to the toolkit newsletter: http://eepurl.com/g5fuFr.
COVID-19 affects research into other diseases
A systematic review published late last week assesses the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on on-going and new clinical trials and research on a range of diseases [1]. The COVID-19 pandemic has resulted in a series of public health policies, including lock down, that have crippled the healthcare systems of many countries. These measures hugely impact on study participants, care providers, researchers, trial sponsors, and research organizations conducting clinical trials. This pandemic has a substantial impact on the trial sites as they experience difficulty in the continuation of trial activities which eventually hampers the progress of the trial and delays study timelines. Most sites are struggling due to delayed subject enrolment, shortfalls in monitoring, and risks of compromised data integrity, and this situation also has a negative impact on the start of future. Researchers are also concerned regarding the delay or cancellations of trials in the pandemic, which will have financial consequences for research organizations/human resources.
According to one survey, about two-thirds of the respondents have stopped or will soon halt subject enrolment in ongoing clinical trials, one-third halted randomization, and fifty percent of respondents are delaying or planning to delay the studies. Adopting new approaches and understanding the key risk indicators will help managers support trial sites with flexibility and ingenuity. For instance, switching patient site visits to new-trial virtualization, and telemedicine to interact with patients will help manage current clinical trials also beneficial for the post-pandemic era.
Reference:
- Sathian B, Asim M, Banerjee I, Pizarro AB, Roy B, van Teijlingen ER, Borges do Nascimento IJ, Alhamad HK. Impact of COVID-19 on clinical trials and clinical research: A systematic review. Nepal J Epidemiol. 2020;10(3); 878-887
Social Innovation and older people

Over the last three years the EU funded project Staying Active and Independent for Longer (SAIL) has explored how the concept of social innovation can be used to support older people. Some of this research is soon to be published in Quality in Aging and Older People (Crossen-White, Hemingway and Ladkin 2020). The article reports on a scoping review which was undertaken to explore how the concept of social innovation has been applied to the issue of ageing and what can be learnt about how to deliver effective policy responses using this approach. More of the findings are due to be presented tomorrow in a webinar and anyone wanting to join can do so by contacting SAIL@hz.nl.
New CMMPH nutrition paper published
Congratulations to FHSS authors on the publication of their paper “A Priori and a Posteriori Dietary Patterns in Women of Childbearing Age in the UK” which has been published in the scientific journal Nutrients [1]. The authors highlight that a poor diet quality is a major cause of maternal obesity. They investigated investigate a priori and a-posteriori derived dietary patterns in childbearing-aged women in the United Kingdom. An online survey assessed food intake, physical activity (PA), anthropometry and socio-demographics. A poor diet quality was found among childbearing-aged women; notably in the younger age category, those of white ethnicity, that were more physically inactive and with a lower socioeconomic background.
The article is Open Access and freely available (click here!).
Reference:
- Khaled, K.; Hundley, V.; Almilaji, O.; Koeppen, M.; Tsofliou, F. (2020) A Priori and a Posteriori Dietary Patterns in Women of Childbearing Age in the UK. Nutrients 2020, 12, 2921.
Congratulations to Prof. Bouchachia on latest paper
Yesterday the scientific journal Nepal Journal of Epidemiology published in its latest edition a paper co-authored by BU’s Prof. Hamid Bouchacha. The Short Discussion paper ‘Artificial Intelligence and Health in Nepal’ [1] is an interdisciplinary paper written by two chemists, a computer scientist, an epidemiologist, and a social scientist.
The Nepal Journal of Epidemiology is the official journal of the International Nepal Epidemiological Association (INEA). It is freely available as an Open Access journal on the journal’s own website and it is indexed in PubMed and PubMed Central.
Reference:
- van Teijlingen, A., Tuttle, T., Bouchachia, H., Sathian, B., van Teijlingen, E. (2020). Artificial Intelligence and Health in Nepal. Nepal Journal of Epidemiology, 10(3):915-918. https://doi.org/10.3126/nje.v10i3.31649
New FHSS nutrition publication
Congratulations to Dr. Jib Acharya on the publication of his latest research paper ‘Exploring Food-Related Barriers and Impact on Preschool-Aged Children in Pokhara, Nepal: A Qualitative Review’ which is based on his PhD research [1]. Dr. Acharya has published several papers [2-3] from his PhD thesis in collaboration with his supervisors, Prof. Jane Murphy, Dr. Martin Hind and Prof, Edwin van Teijlingen.
References:
- Acharya, J., van Teijlingen, E., Murphy, J., Hind, M., Ellahi, B., Joshi, A. (2020) Exploring Food-Related Barriers and Impact on Preschool-Aged Children in Pokhara, Nepal: A Qualitative Review, Participation 22(20): 98-110.
- Acharya, J., van Teijlingen E., Murphy, J., Hind, M. (2015) Assessment of knowledge, beliefs & attitudes towards healthy diet among mothers in Kaski, Nepal, Participation 17(16): 61-72.
- Acharya, J., van Teijlingen E, Murphy, J., Hind, M. (2015) Study of nutritional problems in preschool aged children in Kaski District Nepal, Journal of Multidisciplinary Research in Healthcare 1(2): 97-118. http://dspace.chitkara.edu.in/jspui/bitstream/1/560/1/12007_JMRH_Acharya.pdf