Latest research and knowledge exchange news at Bournemouth University
Emma Crowley from Library services will be holding a drop-in session to support academic colleagues in submitting their open access outputs to BURO via BRIAN ahead of the Mock REF submission deadline.
Please feel free to bring your digital outputs with you so they can be submitted at the session.
The current issue of the Nepal Journal of Epidemiology published today carries an editorial by a BU-led team of researchers and development workers. The editorial Mental health issues in pregnant women in Nepal highlights the intervention funded by THET which aims to improve the knowledge and attitude of maternity care workers in a rural district in the south of Nepal. The BU authors include Visiting Faculty: Padam Simkhada, Samridhi Pradham, Jillian Ireland and Bibha Simkhada, the other co-authors are affiliated with the charity we work with in Nepal (Ram Chandra Silwal), the Buddhist charity based in London Green Tara Trust (Padmadharini Fanning), and our Tribhuvan University based colleagues (Lokendra Sherchan, Shyam K Maharjan, and Ram K Maharjan.
This THET-funded project will involve over 15 UK short-term volunteers. It is important to bring UK volunteers, who as health professionals will bring their experience of, and training in, the provision of mental health and maternity/midwifery services including the area of mental ill health prevention and health promotion. These experienced health workers (such as midwives, family doctors, mental health nurses, health visitors, psychiatrists) from the UK are invited to volunteer for two to three weeks at a time to design and deliver training. The mixture of training staff abroad (= Education) by UK professionals (=Practice) through an intervention which is properly evaluated (=Research) is a perfect example of BU’s FUSION in action.
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) and runs from this year May 1st until the autumn of 2016. The paper is freely available on line, click here!
Prof. Edwin van Teijlingen
CMMPH
Refererence:
van Teijlingen E, Simkhada P, Devkota B, Fanning P, Ireland J, Simkhada B, Sherchan L, Silwal CR, Pradhan S, Maharjan KS, Maharjan KS. Mental health issues in pregnant women in Nepal. Nepal J Epidemiol. 2015;5(3); 499-501.
Image from www.blog.taaonline.net
Writing can be difficult and lonely at times. Getting out and away from your usual distractions can help boost your productivity. Sometimes, it’s nice to write amongst a group of other like-minded colleagues, working quietly together and gently encouraging each other to soldier on.
The following quiet writing spaces have specifically been arranged for this purpose, in both the Talbot and Lansdowne campuses on Wednesday afternoons, 1pm to 5pm. Please see below for details:
Please click on this link to download the schedule in a printable .pdf file.
Talbot and Lansdowne – Writing Space
The idea is to work quietly on research/ professional practice related activities. Distractions must be kept to a minimum, so turn off your email system; no mobile phones or talking. If you really have to talk then be considerate for others and do it away from the group.
There is no need to book so whenever you feel like writing, just turn up!
Sometimes my co-authors and I wonder why a particular paper get more cited after a few years of publication. Is is because the paper and the research were are ahead of their time? Or is there simply a lag time between publication and other researchers publishing in the field finding your paper (or stumbling upon it perhaps)?
Take for example the following paper published in 2006 when I was still based in the Department of Public Health at the University of Aberdeen: Promoting physical activity in primary care settings: Health visitors’ and practice nurses’ views and experiences in the Journal of Advanced Nursing.[1]
Published in 2006 our paper was first cited in Scopus in 2007 (just once),three time in the following year (2008), five times in 2009 and then just a few times per year until this year. In 2015 we have six citations already and the year is not even finished.
We really wonder what lies behind that increased popularity of this 2006 paper.
Prof. Edwin van Teijlingen
CMMPH
Reference:
If you are new to BRIAN – Bournemouth Research Information and Networking system, there is an option for you to easily import your list of publications from a previous system onto BRIAN.
All you need is a list/ lists of your publications in either a Bibtex(.Bib) or Reference Manager/ EndNote (.RIS) format which you can easily generate from an existing publication system. It is therefore vital that you would have generated a list of all your publications either in a .Bib or .RIS format before you leave your previous institution to join BU. Please note that if you have stored previous publications in an institutional repository or subject repository, there may be an option for you to export your publications lists.
Different institutions may have adopted their current research and information system differently. Using BRIAN as an example, you can generate the file and import the file via these steps:
Step 1 :
Go to your ‘Home’ page on BRIAN, click on ‘export’ next to any publication type
Step 2:
Choose either the ‘RIS’ option or the ‘BibTex’ option from the drop down list
Please note that for staff who are unfortunately leaving BU, steps 1 and 2 should be followed in order to generate lists of publication which you can take along to your next institution. For staff who are new to BU, steps 1 and 2 above may not be exactly the same, depending on the current system you are using. Once you have obtained the relevant publication lists in either .Bib or .RIS file, you can then follow steps 3, 4, 5 and 6 to upload your publications. (Please check with your current research office if you are unsure about extracting your publications lists).
Step 3:
Expand the ‘Elements’ option on the left hand panel, and expand on ‘Publications’ by click on the ‘+’ sign
Step 4:
You will see the ‘Import’ option – click on it and you will be guided to this page
Step 5:
Locate the .Bib or .RIS file you’ve created, choose the appropriate format and click ‘Upload’
Step 6:
The system will then allow you to choose whether to import the publication, supplement existing record, or not to import as seen in the example below and please choose an option as appropriate to your situation.
Please note that these are publications which already exist within the system, therefore it’s providing three different options. You may encounter a different set of options with new publications currently not on the system.
If you have further queries, please direct them to BRIAN@bournemouth.ac.uk.
Congratulations to BU’s Dr. Pramod Regmi on the acceptance of the manuscript: “Importance of health and social care research into gender and sexual minority populations in Nepal” by the Asia-Pacific Journal of Public Health.
Dr. Pramod Regmi is originally from Nepal and currently a post-doc researcher in the Faculty of Health & Social Sciences.
Prof. Edwin van Teijlingen
CMMPH
Congratulations to FHSS Ph.D. student Jib Acharya on the publication of his latest paper on childhood nutrition in Nepal.[1] Mr. Acharya’s study included a cross-sectional, community-based survey of 524 mothers in one district of Nepal. These were mothers of young children aged 36-60 months who are no longer breastfed at the time. The questionnaire survey included: socio-demographic measurements, knowledge, beliefs and attitudes about nutritious food, as well as child feeding patterns, food recommendation, major barriers, food insecurity and health-seeking behaviours. Jib’s mixed-methods Ph.D. work is supervised by Dr. Jane Murphy, Dr. Martin Hind and Prof. Edwin van Teijlingen.
The study found that both urban and rural mothers lacked knowledge of what food is nutritious. Moreover, their attitudes and views appeared often ill informed. This study suggests that a different approach was needed because the public health problems are associated with behaviour. Thus, more attention should be paid to appropriate intervention of under-nutrition in poor communities like this one studied in Nepal.
Prof. Edwin van Teijlingen
CMMPH
Reference:
Join us in this Writing Academy Lunchbyte session and learn about the importance of writing an abstract: the why and how.
Date : 30th September 2015 (Wednesday)
Time : 12.00 – 13.00 (presentation); 13:00 – 13:30 (lunch)
Venue : TAG03, Talbot
How often to you undertake important research and yet find the last thing you do is to dash off an abstract without reflecting on just how important this element of writing is? The abstract is the ‘shop window’ for your research. The abstract you write could make the difference between being accepted to present at a conference or not. It could mean success or failure in a grant proposal. It could make all the difference in whether your work is read and cited.
This Lunch Byte will examine the difference between a ‘good’ abstract and a ‘bad’ abstract and give some pointers to success. Matt Bentley will use examples from his own abstracts to illustrate how to do it and how not to do it.
Come and join us in this session and afterwards, there will be opportunities to have informal discussions with the presenter while having a bite to eat.
To ensure that we place the right catering order, please get in touch with Staff Development to book your place.
If you are unsure of how to upload the full text of your publication onto BRIAN to be deposited in BURO, these are the three easy steps you can follow!
Step 1 – Ensure publication record already exists in your BRIAN account. If it does not, click on the ‘+’ sign next to it –
You will see a search box on the following page. Enter the title of your publication in the search box. If the record of your publication already exists within BRIAN, you simply need to scroll to it and ‘claim’ it. Otherwise, scroll to the bottom of the page and click on ‘create manual entry’. You can then populate all relevant information of your publication on the following page. Don’t forget to scroll to the bottom to ‘save’ your record!
Step 2 – Once the publication record exists within BRIAN, click on the the blue arrow up icon, and you will be taken to the deposit page
Step 3 – Locate the correct version of your full text in accordance with the policy advice from Sherpa romeo; and then click ‘upload’.
When the upload is complete, you will be notified on the screen that your full text is under review by the BURO team. Once approved by the BURO team of its legality, the link to the full text in BURO will be created and the link will also appear on your Staff Profile Page. If at any point you are unsure of this process, please send an email either to BRIAN@bournemouth.ac.uk or BURO@bournemouth.ac.uk for assistance and advice.
As mentioned by Emily in her August HE Policy post, a draft concordat has been published which seeks to make research data in the UK more openly accessible for use.
The concordat has been drafted under the auspices of the UK Open Research Data Forum [Note 1] by a multi-stakeholder working group, which includes HEFCE, Research Councils UK (RCUK), Jisc, the Wellcome Trust and Universities UK. It aims to help ensure that the research data gathered and generated by members of the UK research community is made openly available for use by others wherever possible, in a manner consistent with relevant legal, ethical and regulatory frameworks and norms.
The concordat aims to establish a set of expectations of good practice, with the intention of making open research data the standard for publicly funded research over the long term. It recognises the different responsibilities of researchers, their employers and the funders of research, although the intention is not to mandate, codify or require specific activities.
The full draft concordat can be found here – http://www.rcuk.ac.uk/research/opendata/
Key principals are outlined below:
Definition of Research Data used:
“Research Data are quantitative information or qualitative statements collected by researchers in the course of their work by experimentation, observation, interview or other methods. Data may be raw or primary (e.g. direct from measurement or collection) or derived from primary data for subsequent analysis or interpretation (e.g. cleaned up or as an extract from a larger data set). The purpose of open research data is to provide the information necessary to support or validate a research project’s observations, findings or outputs. Data may include, for example, statistics, collections of digital images, sound recordings, transcripts of interviews, survey data and fieldwork observations with appropriate annotations.”
Principle #1
Open access to research data is an enabler of high quality research, a facilitator of innovation and safeguards good research practice.
Principle #2
Good data management is fundamental to all stages of the research process and should be established at the outset.
Principle #3
Data must be curated so that they are accessible, discoverable and useable.
Principle #4
Open access to research data carries a significant cost, which should be respected by all parties.
Principle #5
There are sound reasons why the openness of research data may need to be restricted but any restrictions must be justified and justifiable.
Principle #6
The right of the creators of research data to reasonable first use is recognised.
Principle #7
Use of others’ data should always conform to legal, ethical and regulatory frameworks including appropriate acknowledgement.
Principle #8
Data supporting publications should be accessible by the publication date and should be in a citeable form.
Principle #9
Support for the development of appropriate data skills is recognised as a responsibility for all stakeholders.
Principle #10
Regular reviews of progress towards open access to research data should be undertaken.
Last week I was invited by a Nepalese colleague to do an introductory lecture on systematic reviews. We have conducting various training sessions over the years in Nepal (with BU Visiting Faculty Prof. Padam Simkhada) and in the UK. At Bournemouth University Prof. Vanora Hundley and I have conducted several two-day Master Classes over the past few years we are currently preparing for the next one in early 
2016 (15-16 Feb.).
This morning I run this introductory session at Kantipur Dental College in Kathmandu. The session resulted in an interesting set of questions and comments from both staff and students.
Prof. Edwin van Teijlingen
CMMPH
Every week I receive an email telling me what my most accessed paper is on Academia.edu. As a research-active academic I would like this ‘top paper’ to be one of my research papers based on primary research or perhaps a systematic review. My second preference is that I would like it to be one of my few more theoretical papers and, if not that, then at least one of many methods papers I have published with colleagues over the past decade. But no, every single week a fairly basic ‘how-to-do’ paper is my most accessed paper. This week’s message is typical: “Your most popular paper for the week was Writing an academic paper for publication, which had 142 views.”
This how-to-write-an-academic editorial has been my most read paper for months now. It is a paper Prof. Vanora Hundley, Prof. Padam Simkhada (Liverpool John Moores University & BU Visiting Faculty) and I wrote in an attempt to help budding academics and postgraduate students in a low-income country to think about the process of drafting and writing a scientific paper.
Perhaps this paper is popular because there is a global need for it (Academia.edu also gives break down from where in the world the paper has been accessed). It is also possible that it is on course reading list or perhaps it is recommended on webpage somewhere. The paper is,of course, Open-Access which helps in terms of providing more people across the globe easy and free access!
Prof. Edwin van Teijlingen
CMMPH
Reference:
You must have heard about the recent tragic accident at Alton Towers. Unfortunately it involved one of the most popular rides, the Smiler. Accidents are bound to happen due to various reasons e.g. human error or faults in mechanical, electrical, electronics or control systems/components. Some of the accidents are catastrophic and involves the loss of human lives that includes today’s (Saturday August 22, 2015) vintage plane crash at the air show at Shoreham.
Among several reasons, corrosion is one of the major phenomena which plays an important role in structural deterioration and compromising reliability and durability of components, systems within petrochemical & process industries, automotive, locomotive and aircrafts.
Special attention to corrosion in terms of design, detection and prediction of failures is needed especially where human lives are involved. Here are some of the images from major international and home theme parks where there are visible signs of structural deterioration. Although corrosion initiation, its propagation and affects on structural deterioration may not be physically and visually very prominent, it needs full attention to avoid accidents. 
A significant portfolio of research & development in corrosion has been developed at BU, which responds to structural integrity issues. Earlier work [15-17] in corrosion fatigue has led to a successful research portfolio in corrosion at BU [1-17]. We have developed a meso-mechanics based approach incorporating fracture mechanics and electrochemical processes to predict corrosion through a novel holistic modelling tool.
A PhD degree research in sustainable methodology of conserving historic military vehicles subject to structural deterioration due to corrosion [13, 14] has been successfully completed. This research was conducted in collaboration with The Tank Museum at Bovington. Controlled environment within the newly designed VCC (Vehicles Conservation Centre) is informed by the outcomes of this research. In addition NASA [13] has also been collaborating in corrosion research at BU along with BAE Systems and Analatom Inc. Discussions with Analatom are currently in progress for further collaboration in corrosion sensors technology.
A second project in corrosion monitoring techniques in collaboration with Defence Science & Technology Laboratory Ministry of Defence, through a match funded PhD is currently in progress [1-5]. Recent publications [2-4] from this research have made to the Taylor & Francis top 20 most read articles list. This is an evidence of novel contributions to corrosion and corrosion modelling techniques.
A third project in collaboration with Defence Science & Technology Laboratory Ministry of Defence through BU match funded PhD programme has been awarded to look into wireless corrosion monitoring techniques.
In addition nano coatings (in collaboration with Schaeffler, a major industrial partner) have been developed at BU incorporating corrosion issues to solve current corrosion problems within industrial applications.
A collaborative research project with National University of Science & Technology & Future Energy Source Ltd (the overall portfolio includes 2 x fully funded PhDs, 2 x match funded PhDs and 1 x Post Doctoral Research Assistant, PDRA) is currently underway to investigate corrosion issues within thermal storage applied in renewable technologies.
We have state of the art corrosion bench testing (environmental simulation) and modelling tools. We have micro LPRs (Linear Polarisation Resistors) & MEMS (Micro Electrical Mechanical Systems) based live corrosion monitoring stations for large stationary and moving vehicles.
Please contact Zulfiqar Khan (Associate Professor) if you would like to know more about the research activities or have interests in corrosion related issues,
Publications in Corrosion
Congratulations to FHSS Ph.D. student Mr. Jib Acharya, whose paper ‘Study of nutritional problems in preschool aged children in Kaski District in Nepal’ has just been published in the Journal of Multidisciplinary Research in Healthcare [1]. The academic paper, based on his Ph.D. thesis, reports on his mixed-methods Public Health study addressing attitudes and knowledge of mothers of young children (pre-school aged) in one particular district in Nepal. The research comprises a quantitative survey and qualitative focus groups. Jib Acharya, who is originally from Nepal, compares and contrasts the attitudes, knowledge and behaviour of poor rural and poor urban women (=mothers) in that district. The research is supervised by Dr. Jane Murphy, Dr. Martin Hind and Prof. Edwin van Teijlingen.
Prof. Edwin van Teijlingen
CMMPH
Reference:
The most recent edition of the international journal Women & Birth includes a discussion paper highlighting the role of the academic journal editor, an often misunderstood ‘job’ in academic scholarship [1]. The Bournemouth University authors of this paper are all three active as journal editors and sit on several editorial boards of scientific journals. The role of the journal editor may not be well known by budding authors. The purpose of this article is to explain the editor’s role in order to encourage future participation in reviewing and publication.
This latest paper is part of a series of articles written by staff in the Centre for Midwifery, Maternal & Perinatal Health (CMMPH) on academic writing [2-4]. These ‘how-to-do’ papers offer advice to junior researchers and postgraduate students. Several of the papers in this series are co-authored with Bournemouth University’s Visiting Faculty, including Dr. Brijesh Sathian (based in Nepal), Prof. Padam Simkhada (Liverpool John Moores University), Ms. Jillian Ireland (Poole Hospital NHS Foundation Trust), Prof. Debra Bick ( King’s College, London), Dr. Bibha Simkhada (Inter, Nepal) and Dr. Emma Pitchforth (RAND Europe, Cambridge). The range of publications includes papers on advice for article titles [5], tricky issues such as authorship and author order [6-7], selecting the most appropriate journal for your paper [8] and writing up qualitative research [9]. Whilst a further paper offers advice on writing an abstract for a scientific conference [10].
Edwin van Teijlingen, Vanora Hundley & Jenny Hall
CMMPH
Twitter: @EvTeijlingen @VanoraHundley @hallmum5
References:
Global Futures and Epistemologies of the South: New Challenges for Sociology
Call for Papers – Sociology Special Issue
Guest Editors:
Gurminder K Bhambra, Professor of Sociology, University of Warwick and Visiting Fellow in Sociology (2014-15), Princeton University
Boaventura de Sousa Santos, Professor of Sociology, University of Coimbra, and Distinguished Legal Scholar at the University of Wisconsin-Madison
Deadline for submission of full papers: 16 October 2015
This special issue takes stock of the progress that has been made within sociology over recent decades to become a more globally oriented discipline and discusses the new challenges for the future that emerge as a consequence. It rests on two interlinked premises. First, that understandings of the world are much broader than the Western understanding of the world and so for sociology to adequately address its global futures it needs to take into account ways of knowing that exceed Western thinking, including critical Western thinking. Second, that the current configurations of the world are a consequence of global historical processes that have not always been adequately addressed within western-based sociology. For sociology to better conceptualise its global futures, it also needs to address its global pasts. We invite contributions that address the issues raised, both theoretically and through empirical research, across (but not limited to) the following themes:
Submission Details:
Deadline for submissions: 16 October 2015 (full papers)
Word limit: 8000 words
Queries to be addressed to: bsantos@ces.uc.pt and g.k.bhambra@warwick.ac.uk
Submit online: http://mc.manuscriptcentral.com/soc
Full submission instructions are available on this site on the ‘Instructions and Forms’ page. Please read these in full well before submitting your manuscript. All manuscripts will be subject to the normal referee process, but potential authors are welcome to discuss their ideas in advance with the editors.
Back in July, Mafalda Picarra from JISC wrote a blog post on the Jisc Scholarly Communications about OpenAIRE2020 National Open Access Desk. If you are involved in or are interested in an EC Horizon 2020 project, this blog post will be of interest to you.
Since the start of the OpenAIRE2020 project in January, Jisc became the UK National Open Access Desk (NOAD). This means that Jisc is now providing support and information to help UK HEIs and researchers to comply with the EC’s Horizon 2020 programme OA policy, the Open Research Data Pilot and the FP7 Post-Grant Open Access Pilot.
Jisc has been working closely with UK national associations – SCONUL, ARMA, RLUK and UKCoRR – to ensure that information about the EC’s Horizon 2020 OA policy and the Pilots is disseminated through the most appropriate channels to multiple stakeholders. Back in June, the national associations sent a first communication to their members. Today, we will disseminate more detailed information to HEIs research librarians, research managers, open access contact points and EU research, policy and funding teams on the EC’s OA policy and the two pilots.
In a nutshell, the Horizon 2020 OA policy requires that all peer reviewed publications resultant from Horizon 2020 and European Research Council funded projects be made open access. In addition, a Pilot on Open Research Data is being run in some core areas of Horizon 2020 which aims to improve and maximise access to and re-use of research data generated by projects. Finally, OpenAIRE is running a Pilot on FP7 Post-Grant Open Access where eligible FP7 projects can apply for funding to publish their research outputs on open access.
OpenAIRE has developed relevant resources (factsheets, guides and webinars) that can be accessed online (https://www.openaire.eu/) and provides helpdesk support to those that require more information on compliance with the EC’s OA policy or on how to participate in the pilots.
For more information contact the National Open Access Desk (NOAD), Mafalda Picarra, on info.openaire@jisc.ac.uk
Last week my month long stay in Ciudad Real (Spain) as a guest of the University of Castilla – La Mancha (UCLM) came to an end. Over the period I worked with Dr. Angel Millan and Ph.D. student Marta Retamosa Ferreiro from the marketing department, exchanging ideas and experiences about research in marketing. Our main focus was on University branding as they have a substantial database about the perceptions of their university’s brand by multiple stakeholders.
Farewell lunch with Dr. Millan and PhD student Marta Retamosa Ferreiro
We worked on a paper about student satisfaction across different courses (engineering, business and nursing), using customer-based brand equity as the theoretical underpinning. This involved doing a factor analysis followed by a logistic regression and, as always, statistical analysis takes longer than you anticipate (even though we were already familiar with the tests!). In the end we got there and we are now continuing to write the paper.
Interestingly, I had not met Dr. Millan in person prior to my arrival in Ciudad Real. Five years ago I presented a paper in Portugal about emotions in events which Dr. Millan attended. He then started supervising a Ph.D. on business travel which featured a strong component of emotions (experienced by business travellers during their trip). In October they sent me an email asking if I was interested in co-authoring a paper with them. We ended up collaborating and submitted the paper to a good journal (three star according to the U.K.’s ABS list). After submission he commented that UCLM had funding for guest researchers and asked whether I would be interested in spending some time working with him. Fortunately I had a pretty uneventful July ahead and therefore we applied to the grant, which was awarded.
By the way, the paper we submitted got quite positive reviews, but as always we were asked to do some changes which we also worked on during my stay. We are now awaiting feedback about the revised version (we are optimistic as the changes requested were all possible to address!).
The month in Spain was not only about work. I have written about some of my non-work experiences in my blog.
BU staff can login below:
FHSS academics teaching in Nepal
New weight change BU paper
One week to go! | The 16th Annual Postgraduate Research Conference
Geography and Environmental Studies academics – would you like to get more involved in preparing our next REF submission?
Congratulations to three former BU staff
MSCA Staff Exchanges 2024 Call – internal deadline
Applications are now open for 2025 ESRC Postdoctoral Fellowships!
Horizon Europe – ERC CoG and MSCA SE webinars MSCA Staff Exchanges 2024 Call – internal deadline Horizon Europe – ERC CoG and MSCA SE webinars
MaGMap: Mass Grave Mapping
ERC grants – series of webinars Last reminder – MSCA Postdoctoral Fellowships 2024 internal deadline next week
Research Information Network