Category / R & KE Operations

New Research Impact, Engagement and Communications Sharepoint Site!

We are proud to launch our new Research Impact, Engagement and Communications Sharepoint site!  

This is your one stop shop for all things impact, public engagement and research communications within RDS. 

On the site, you will find resources for communicating your research, increasing its impact and engaging the public with your research. 

You’ll find links to RKEDF training sessions, guides to impact, public engagement and research communications along with information about useful contacts within RDS and news about the REF. 

The site is easily navigable and is divided into three sections: 

 Research Impact: 

This section outlines how we can help you to plan, accelerate and evidence the impact of your research and includes resources, contact details of our Impact Advisers and links to useful information on impact pathways, the REF and impact training. 

Public Engagement with Research: 

In this section, we explain how we can help when you want to engage with the public to share your research. The ways to do this are many and varied but ultimately, high quality public engagement has huge benefits for BU, for society and for you – the academic. Here you can find links to advice, training and funding along with the contact details of our Public Engagement team and details of how to join the thriving BU Public Engagement Network.  

Research Communications: 

Here, we offer you support and guidance on the different ways of sharing your research with different audiences. This includes working with the media (including our partnership with The Conversation), writing for the web and using social media. 

The site will be updated regularly and has been designed to be as user friendly as possible. Please make sure you bookmark and keep checking back regularly for updates and news. 

 

 

BU retains the HR Excellence in Research Award

We are delighted to announce that we have successfully retained the HR Excellence in Research Award, recognising our support for the career development of researchers.

HR excellence in research logoThe award demonstrates our commitment to aligning process and practice to the UK Concordat to Support the Career Development of Researchers and thereby improving the working conditions and career development for research staff. In turn this will improve the quantity, quality and impact of research.

We have held the HR Excellence in Research Award since 2013 and successfully retained the award following a rigorous external review.

Dr Rebecca Edwards, Senior Research Development and Support Manager and Co-Chair of the Research Concordat Steering Group, said: “I am delighted that BU has retained this prestigious award, which recognises the achievements of the cross-University team comprising colleagues in HR, OD, RDS, academics across all Faculties and our amazing Research Staff Association.”

BU is one of two universities to retain the award following their eight-year review and is one of 96 Vitae UK member institutions with the award.

As part of the review process, institutions need to demonstrate that they have completed a gap analysis of their existing policies and practice against the Concordat, developed a robust action plan for implementation, and taken into account the views of researchers.

Key achievements and progress highlighted in BU’s eight-year review submission include:

  • Dedicated support and development opportunities for research staff and Early Career Researchers (ECRs), such as through the Research & Knowledge Exchange Development Framework (RKEDF) which offers upwards of 100 training and development events per year
  • Investment in the Academic Targeted Research Scheme to recruit talented early career researchers in targeted research areas, with dedicated time to develop their research interests
  • The availability of bridging funding to provide continuous employment for research staff for short periods between externally funded contracts

We have also committed to investing in the creation of fifteen new post-doctoral researcher fellow positions through the Research Capacity Transformation Scheme.

A new action plan, taking us to 2023, has now been developed – driven by our community of researchers.

The plan focuses on supporting research careers through appropriate management, appraisal and development opportunities.

This includes the creation of a virtual hub with the full programme of opportunities available to research staff; a new career development framework; and for all researchers to receive annual appraisals, regular performance reviews, careers guidance and development opportunities.

Professor Mike Silk, Deputy Dean for Research and Professional Practice in the Business School and Co-Chair of the Research Concordat Steering Group, said: “At BU, we are committed to nurturing the supportive and healthy culture required to ensure all of our research staff have the opportunity to grow, develop and thrive.

“Working with the Research Staff Association, individual researchers and those who have responsibility for managing researchers, the Research Concordat Steering Group aims to ensure all researchers have the opportunity to realise their potential, deliver high quality outcomes whilst at BU, and be equipped with multiple skill-sets that will enable success in future careers.

“The award recognises the steps we have made at BU to create the very best culture and environment possible for our researchers to thrive.”

Find out more about our commitment to the Concordat to Support the Career Development of Researchers 

New Intention to Bid and Bid Enquiry Process

Following the announcement of the new electronic ITB form on 24 January 2022, these are some updates since the launch.

The new ITB form and Enquiry service will provide a better user experience and create a more efficient administrative control process for Research Development and Support (RDS).

 

New ITB form: The new Intention to Bid (ITB) form and the updated Research Costings Request Sheet are both available now in the Policies & Procedures/Research/Pre-award section of the intranet under Research > Pre-award. Please complete the Research Costings Request Sheet and attach it to the e-ITB form for completion. PDF copies of all submissions can be printed or saved but there are limitations to editing a form once it has been submitted.

 

Bid Enquiry Process: If you have more than 4 weeks to the submission deadline and need advice or support regarding a bid, please access the same form link and select ‘Enquiry/Advice on Bidding’. This ensures that the pre-award team will see your Enquiry, rather than emailing a sole officer who may not be available at the time.

 

As a service, RDS is committed to delivering service excellence to enable BU’s academic community to deliver and grow world-leading research for societal benefit. The program of work continues to look at processes to enhance the user experience.

 

Changes include improvements to the pre- and post-award support being offered. Building on the delivery of a new Principal Investigator report which is currently in the final stages of being rolled out, and continuing our collaboration with the Transformation Team.

 

For any queries about the transformation of pre-award services at BU, please contact Jo Garrad or Brian Kaliczynskyj to discuss further.

For any technical issues in relation to the form, please contact Roy Harvey directly.

Recruiting : University Rep to co-lead Research Staff Association

A vacancy has arisen for one of the two posts of University Representative, the leaders of the Research Staff Association. This is not a faculty-specific post, any eligible person from any faculty can apply.

The BU Research Staff Association (RSA) is a forum to promote research culture at BU. Research staff from across BU are encouraged to attend to network with others researchers, disseminate their work, discuss career opportunities, hear updates on how BU is implementing the Research Concordat, and give feedback or raise concerns that will help to develop and support the research community at BU.

In addition to the two leaders, there are two reps from each faculty.

Eligible research staff are those on fixed-term or open-ended employment contracts (not PTHP/casual contracts) who have at least one year remaining on their contract at the time of recruitment.

If you are interested in this role, please supply a few words to demonstrate your suitability, interest, availability in relation to the position to Researchdev@bournemouth.ac.uk by the 21/01/21.

Please contact your faculty RSA rep to chat about it if you have any queries.

Procedures for late submission of external research and KE applications

The procedures for late submissions of external research and knowledge exchange applications has been updated in line with strategic guidance from UET to ensure that quality applications are submitted and adhere to BU’s financial regulations. The updated procedure can be found on the staff intranet here. The Faculty Executive Deans and Deputy Deans for Research and Professional Practice have provided input and their support to the procedure.

RDS will endeavour to support and submit all applications where possible. We recognise that some funders will give short-notice of a call and that there may be other circumstances where sufficient notice cannot be given. However, all applications, regardless of time to submit, have to go through the same costing and approval process and there is an expectation that only good quality and competitive applications should be submitted. Applicants should also note that time has to be factored in for Faculty Executives and/or UET to read and sign-off final submissions (these are busy people who spend a lot of time in meetings). RDS will be flexible where we can for those exceptional cases.

If you have any queries then please contact Jo Garrad, RDS Funding Development Manager.

RKEO Calendar survey – extended to 4 February

Thank you to those who have responded to date. We would still like to hear from more of you on your thoughts on the RKEO calendar and so have extended the closing date for the survey.

It’s been four months since the 2017-18 RKEO calendar landed on your desk.  The calendar contains all of the events that RKEO arrange, major funder call closing dates, information on various research schemes, and other activities that will be of interest to academics.

The Research & Knowledge Exchange Office would like your feedback on the calendar before deciding on whether to create next year’s.

Tell us what you think by completing our short survey . All entrants names will be entered into a draw and one lucky person will receive an RKEO goodie bag. For the six who have already entered, please can you contact Jo Garrad if you wish to be entered into the prize draw?  I have now added the option to include your name on the survey for any new entrants (survey Bobby basics).  If there are any academics out there who didn’t get a calendar and would like one, we still have a handful left and so do get in touch.

The extended deadline date is 4 February.

Happy New Year from your new Research Facilitator for FHSS & FST

img_4095I have recently joined the Research and Knowledge Exchange Office (RKEO) as the Research Facilitator for the Faculty of Health and Social Sciences (FHSS) and the Faculty of Science and Technology (FST), covering Jenny Roddis’ maternity leave.

As Research Facilitator I provide support to researchers from the outset to develop their ideas, including horizon scanning and identifying potential funding opportunities, building research teams and advising on bid content and structure.

Before joining RKEO I was Clinical Research Co-ordinator in the Bournemouth University Clinical Research Unit, which entailed working closely with researchers in local NHS Trusts to facilitate collaborations with academics across BU. I have a BSc in Psychology from Cardiff University, and a background in mental health research having previously worked as a Research Assistant in Dorset HealthCare University NHS Foundation Trust. Whilst there, I co-ordinated NHS grant applications, designed, costed and delivered research projects including the recruitment and assessment for a large MRC funded trial.

I look forward to meeting those I don’t yet know in the near future, but please feel free to contact me should you have any questions or queries. You can contact me by email at lgaleandrews@bournemouth.ac.uk or by phone on 01202 968258.

Introducing the Student Project Bank

7735 RKEO Student Bank Ident_Bulb Graphics V3.0

Based in the Research and Knowledge Exchange Office, the Student Project Bank is a mutually beneficial collaboration between community organisations and BU students. Students get to work on a live project with real world impact as part of their studies and community organisations get the opportunity to access their creativity, skills and gain valuable insights. The Student Project Bank is based on a science shop and our projects must have the potential to benefit an individual, a community or society through research, service improvement or a creative project.

We are looking for community organisations, charities, not-for-profits and corporate partners to submit their project ideas. We will work with them to turn their ideas into project briefs which will be made available to students across BU from our undergraduate and Master’s courses.

How it works

  1. A community organisation tells us about their idea.
  2. We’ll work with them to develop their idea into an exciting project brief and upload it to the Student Project Bank. It can then be picked up by a student with the right skills and enthusiasm.
  3. We’ll meet with the community organisation and student to discuss everyone’s needs before starting the project.
  4. Once completed, our student shares the results of the project with the community organisation and it is published open access on our website.

The Student Project Bank is currently in the development stage and we will be putting out a call for interested parties to take part in a pilot project over the coming months. If you would like to find out more about this fantastic project, or would like to take part, please contact spb@bournemouth.ac.uk. We will be launching to students in September 2016.