Latest research and knowledge exchange news at Bournemouth University
This week Research England launched a consultation on the draft REF 2021 Code of Practice Complaints and Investigation process.
A summary document of the process being consulted on is accessible here, full documentation is available here.
If you would like to offer any feedback for potential inclusion in BU’s response. Please email ref@bournemouth.ac.uk by noon 21st January 2020.
Last year BU established a number of internal review panels to review and assess our research outputs and impact case studies to help us prepare for our upcoming submission to the Research Excellence Framework (REF) 2021.
The panels below would like to add to their membership. Expressions of interest are invited from academic staff who are interested in being a Panel Member for the following Units of Assessment (UOAs):
Those interested should identify which UOA Panel they would like to be considered for and put forward a short case (suggested length of one paragraph) as to why they are interested in the role and what they think they could bring to it. EoIs should be emailed to ref@bournemouth.ac.uk by close of play on 21st January 2020.
UOA Teams would particularly welcome EoIs from those who have:
Full details of the role, the process of recruitment and terms of reference for the panels themselves can be found here.
Any queries regarding a specific panel should be directed to the UOA Leader. General enquiries should be directed to Shelly Anne Stringer, RDS.
We’re pleased to announce BU has signed up to the San Francisco Declaration on Research Assessment (DORA), which recognises the need to improve the ways in which the outputs of research are evaluated.
Vice-Chancellor Professor John Vinney recently signed DORA on behalf of BU and said:
“At BU we value research as an important part of Fusion, in which we bring together excellent education, research and engagement with industry and professional practice.
“Our signature of DORA supports our commitment in our BU2025 strategic plan to inclusivity, and to building a vibrant learning community. “
The declaration was developed in 2012 and by signing it, BU is committing to supporting and promoting the responsible use of metrics and quantitative indicators of research.
DORA’s ultimate aim is to promote real change in research assessment. One of the keys to this is the development of robust and time-efficient ways of evaluating research and researchers that don’t rely on journal impact factors. As a result, they look to share and promote examples of good practice in research assessment, including approaches to funding and fellowships, hiring and promotion and awarding prizes that emphasise the research itself and not where it’s published.
To find out more about the declaration, please head to the DORA website.
Amanda Lazar and Brian McNulty are running an Impact Planning Session on Friday 6th December for anyone engaged in research – from ECRs to Professors.
If you have some research that you think has the potential to make a positive change in the world, then bring it along.
We will discuss how to effectively disseminate your research, plan your impact pathway and how to evidence the impact of your research, as well as how to work towards an Impact Case Study for the REF.
By the end of the session you will have the outline of an impact pathway and will know how to access BU resources to help turn your research into impact.
Click here to book yourself onto the workshop.
BU is preparing submissions for units of assessment (UOAs) for REF 2021. Each UoA has a UoA Leader, supported by an Impact Champion and Outputs Champion. The roles are recruited through an open and transparent process, which gives all academic staff the opportunity to put themselves forward for UOA roles.
We are currently seeking an expression of interest (EoI) from academic staff interested in supporting impact development for UoA 18 Law.
Impact Champions play a key role in shaping the impact element of their UoA’s submission. They work closely with their Faculty’s Impact Officer and Impact Post-Doctoral Researcher, where relevant.
Key responsibilities of the Impact Champion role include:
The full role description can be found here – Impact Champion Role Descriptor.
Application process:
To apply for the role, please submit a short statement (suggested length 300 words) explaining your interest in the role and what you could bring to it. This should be sent by email to Professor Dinusha Mendis by Friday 22nd November 2019. The EoIs will be reviewed by the UoA Leader and Output Champion.
The selection criteria used at EoI are outlined below. Each criterion carries a total possible score of 5. The role will be offered to the highest scoring applicant. The UoA Leader or current Impact Champion will provide feedback to all applicants.
BU is preparing submissions for units of assessment (UOAs) for REF 2021. Each UoA has a UoA Leader, supported by an Impact Champion and Outputs Champion. The roles are recruited through an open and transparent process, which gives all academic staff the opportunity to put themselves forward for UOA roles.
We are currently seeking an expression of interest (EoI) from academic staff interested in supporting output development for UoA20 Social Work & Social Policy.
Output Champions play a key role in shaping the output element of their UoA’s submission. Key responsibilities of the Output Champion role include:
The full role description can be found here.
Application process:
To apply for the role, please submit a short statement (suggested length 300 words) explaining your interest in the role and what you could bring to it. This should be sent by email to Professor Jonathan Parker by Friday 22nd November. The EoIs will be reviewed by the UoA Leader and Impact Champion.
The selection criteria used at EoI are outlined below. Each criterion carries a total possible score of 5. The role will be offered to the highest scoring applicant. The UoA Leader will provide feedback to all applicants.
BU is preparing submissions for units of assessment (UOAs) for REF 2021. Each UoA has a UoA Leader, supported by an Impact Champion and Outputs Champion. The roles are recruited through an open and transparent process, which gives all academic staff the opportunity to put themselves forward for UOA roles.
We are currently seeking an expression of interest (EoI) from academic staff interested in supporting output development for UoA17 Business & Management, alongside the existing Output Champion George Filis.
Output Champions play a key role in shaping the output element of their UoA’s submission. Key responsibilities of the Output Champion role include:
The full role description can be found here.
Application process:
To apply for the role, please submit a short statement (suggested length 300 words) explaining your interest in the role and what you could bring to it. This should be sent by email to Professor Chris Chapleo by Friday 22nd November. The EoIs will be reviewed by the UoA Leader and existing Output Champion.
The selection criteria used at EoI are outlined below. Each criterion carries a total possible score of 5. The role will be offered to the highest scoring applicant. The UoA Leader or current Output Champion will provide feedback to all applicants.
Academia has become more demanding than twenty years ago, particularly, the job outwith university. Just this morning I received three requests to review a paper. Each from a very reputable journal and a each a legitimate requests, i.e. I asking me to assess a paper in a my academic field. 
Reviewing papers and grant applications is, of course, part of my academic responsibilities, and hence part of my scholarly practice. But I am already reviewing five NIHR (National Institute for Health Research) grant applications this weekend, as well as an other paper for BMC Pregnancy & Childbirth, and there are two PhD theses next my bed which I need to exam. On top of this I have been ignoring several reminder invitations to review a research proposal for the Croatian Science Foundation, as I simply do not have time to do so, however, much I would like to do so.
The forthcoming REF 2021 is not helping. UK academics are frantically submitting their manuscripts to academic journals to have them in print before the end of 2020, to beat the REF 2021 deadline. The flip-side of this reviewing coin is that my collaborators and I have had three papers turned down in the past year by a reputable journal as it could not find appropriate reviewers. Three articles on three very different aspects of our work, one a UK-based study, one a European study and one a study based in Nepal. For two of these manuscripts the journal took nearly a year to come back to us, wasting the chance to submit the paper elsewhere.
Perhaps it is due the rose-tinted spectacles of looking at the past, perhaps is it simply my level of seniority (compared to twenty years ago) but I don’t think so. The underlying trend is that the volume of papers submitted to journals is growing faster than the number of academics volunteering to review. This blog is, therefor, also a call for my academic colleagues to step up and agree to review on (extra) paper. Interestingly, I made a not dissimilar call in a BU Research Blog eight years ago! Unfortunately, the overall situation has not improved.
I haven’t even mentioned the exponential growth in email requests to academics submit papers to so-called predatory journals! I counted 15 requests in the past two days alone and it is only 10 AM on Saturday morning so more to follow later today.
Prof. Edwin van Teijlingen
CMMPH
Yes it’s here again that joyful time of the year when we highlight and discuss all things open access. First up is a quick reminder…
What is Open Access?
Open access is about making the products of research freely accessible to all. It allows research to be disseminated quickly and widely, the research process to operate more efficiently, and increased use and understanding of research by business, government, charities and the wider public.
There are two complementary mechanisms for achieving open access to research.
The first mechanism is for authors to publish in open-access journals that do not receive income through reader subscriptions.
The second is for authors to deposit their refereed journal article in an open electronic archive.
These two mechanisms are often called the ‘gold’ and ‘green’ routes to open access:
Article first published – http://www.hefce.ac.uk/rsrch/oa/whatis/
To encourage all academic communities to consider open access publishing, Authors Alliance has produced a comprehensive ‘Understanding Open Access‘ guide which addresses common open access related questions and concerns and provides real-life strategies and tools that authors can use to work with publishers, institutions, and funders to make their works more widely accessible to all.
To access and download the guide, please follow this link – http://authorsalliance.org/wp-content/uploads/Documents/Guides/Authors%20Alliance%20-%20Understanding%20Open%20Access.pdf
More information on Open Access Week and activities happening across the world can be found here – http://www.openaccessweek.org/
The BU REF Circumstances Board has been established to oversee the individual staff circumstances process for REF 2021. This includes:
The Board is chaired by a HR Manager with support from the Equality and Diversity Adviser and a member of Research Development & Support. These post-holders will be selected based on their prior knowledge and expertise in individual staff circumstances and equality and diversity issues. Membership will also include two academics and an early career researcher (ECR).
We are now seeking expressions of interest from academics who are interested in joining the Circs Board. Successful applicants will be required to attend meetings of the BU REF Circumstances Board (schedule tbc, but likely to be one or two meetings per year), ensure they are aware of the REF guidance and regulations, undertake equality and diversity training, and promote a positive culture of equality and diversity at BU. We therefore ask for your commitment, active contribution and, most importantly, confidentiality due to the sensitive work of the Board. In return you will be involved in an important cross-University committee, gain an insight into the REF and equality and diversity (both highly topical issues in the sector), and be engaged in academic citizenship.
Nomination procedure:
The vacant roles on the BU REF Circumstances Board are:
Anyone interested should submit an expression of interest stating your interest in equality and diversity, why you think equality and diversity is important for the REF and why your involvement would strengthen the BU REF Circumstances Board (max 300 words). You must also state whether you are applying to be an academic member or an ECR. Your nomination should state your name, job title and Faculty.
The deadline for expressions of interest is Friday 20th September. Nominations should be emailed to ref@bournemouth.ac.uk. Note – There is training and development scheduled on the 26th September which it is hoped successful members will be able to attend.
Expressions of interest will be reviewed by a panel of reviewers who are responsible for agreeing on which applicants to invite to serve on the BU REF Circumstances Board.
Eligibility:
Applications are invited from any BU staff member on an academic contract, however, you must be independent from REF preparations (for example, applicants cannot be UOA Leaders, impact champions or output champions).
ECRs in this context are defined as members of staff who started their careers as independent researchers on or after 1 August 2016. In line with the REF guidance, an individual is deemed to have started their career as an independent researcher from the point at which:
If you have any queries, please speak with Shelly Anne Stringer in the first instance.
The BU REF Circumstances Board has been established to oversee the individual staff circumstances process for REF 2021. This includes:
The Board is chaired by a HR Manager with support from the Equality and Diversity Adviser and a member of Research Development & Support. These post-holders will be selected based on their prior knowledge and expertise in individual staff circumstances and equality and diversity issues. Membership will also include two academics and an early career researcher (ECR).
We are now seeking expressions of interest from academics who are interested in joining the Circs Board. Successful applicants will be required to attend meetings of the BU REF Circumstances Board (schedule tbc, but likely to be one or two meetings per year), ensure they are aware of the REF guidance and regulations, undertake equality and diversity training, and promote a positive culture of equality and diversity at BU. We therefore ask for your commitment, active contribution and, most importantly, confidentiality due to the sensitive work of the Board. In return you will be involved in an important cross-University committee, gain an insight into the REF and equality and diversity (both highly topical issues in the sector), and be engaged in academic citizenship.
Nomination procedure:
The vacant roles on the BU REF Circumstances Board are:
Anyone interested should submit an expression of interest stating your interest in equality and diversity, why you think equality and diversity is important for the REF and why your involvement would strengthen the BU REF Circumstances Board (max 300 words). You must also state whether you are applying to be an academic member or an ECR. Your nomination should state your name, job title and Faculty.
The deadline for expressions of interest is Friday 20th September. Nominations should be emailed to ref@bournemouth.ac.uk. Note – There is training and development scheduled on the 26th September which it is hoped successful members will be able to attend.
Expressions of interest will be reviewed by a panel of reviewers who are responsible for agreeing on which applicants to invite to serve on the BU REF Circumstances Board.
Eligibility:
Applications are invited from any BU staff member on an academic contract, however, you must be independent from REF preparations (for example, applicants cannot be UOA Leaders, impact champions or output champions).
ECRs in this context are defined as members of staff who started their careers as independent researchers on or after 1 August 2016. In line with the REF guidance, an individual is deemed to have started their career as an independent researcher from the point at which:
If you have any queries, please speak with Shelly Anne Stringer in the first instance.
The deadline to provide feedback on the BU REF 2021 draft code of practice is 5pm on Tuesday.
The Research Excellence Framework (REF) is the system for assessing research in UK higher education institutions HEIs.
Institutions making a submission to the REF 2021 are required to develop, document and apply a code of practice on identifying staff with significant responsibility for research, determining who is an independent researcher and the selection of outputs in their REF submissions.
BU held a comprehensive staff engagement exercise in April 2019 and received agreement from staff representative groups for the Code of Practice submitted in June 2019. UKRI have since asked us to revise and resubmit our REF Code of Practice. In light of these changes, staff are invited to read and comment upon the revised BU REF 2021 draft code of practice, prior to the final revised draft being submitted to UKRI for approval.
The revised draft code of practice, a briefing paper (including equality analysis), a feedback form are available from the BU Staff Intranet:
The exercise is open for feedback until Tuesday 10 September 5pm.
The Research Excellence Framework (REF) is the system for assessing research in UK higher education institutions HEIs.
Institutions making a submission to the REF 2021 are required to develop, document and apply a code of practice on identifying staff with significant responsibility for research, determining who is an independent researcher and the selection of outputs in their REF submissions.
BU held a comprehensive staff engagement exercise in April 2019 and received agreement from staff representative groups for the Code of Practice submitted in June 2019. UKRI have since asked us to revise and resubmit our REF Code of Practice. In light of these changes, staff are invited to read and comment upon the revised BU REF 2021 draft code of practice, prior to the final revised draft being submitted to UKRI for approval.
The revised draft code of practice, a briefing paper (including equality analysis) amd feedback form are available from the BU Staff Intranet:
The exercise is open for feedback until Tuesday 10 September 5pm.
Preparing Practice-Based Research Outputs for Assessment (REF 2021)
Wednesday 17th July 11:00 – 15:30 on Talbot Campus
The focus of this session will be on :
By the end of this workshop you will have knowledge of the information which reviewers need in order assess research outputs, and how this should be presented to reviewers. You will also have made progress in developing the supporting information for outputs due to be submitted in future REF Mock exercises.
See here for more details and to book.
Research Outputs Writing Days
The Research Outputs Writing Days are very popular. These aim to give authors time and space with like minded individuals to produce publications , and provide insights and tips into how to manage writing time within daily routine.
The event on Tuesday 16th July is now fully booked, but the next is on Thursday 5th September. See here for to book and for details of other dates.
The deadline to provide feedback on the BU REF 2021 draft code of practice is 5pm on Friday
The Research Excellence Framework (REF) is the system for assessing research in UK higher education institutions HEIs. Institutions making a submission to the REF 2021 are required to develop, document and apply a code of practice on identifying staff with significant responsibility for research, determining who is an independent researcher and the selection of outputs in their REF submissions.
Staff are invited to read and comment upon the BU REF 2021 draft code of practice, prior to the final draft being submitted to UKRI for approval.
The draft code of practice, a briefing paper (including equality analysis) and a feedback form are available from the BU Staff Intranet: https://staffintranet.bournemouth.ac.uk/news/news/thismonth/buref2021codeofpractice-stafffeedbackexercise.php
The Research Excellence Framework (REF) is the system for assessing research in UK higher education institutions HEIs. Institutions making a submission to the REF 2021 are required to develop, document and apply a code of practice on identifying staff with significant responsibility for research, determining who is an independent researcher and the selection of outputs in their REF submissions.
Staff are invited to read and comment upon the BU REF 2021 draft code of practice, prior to the final draft being submitted to UKRI for approval.
The draft code of practice, a briefing paper (including equality analysis), a feedback form and details of the open Q&A sessions are available from the BU Staff Intranet: https://staffintranet.bournemouth.ac.uk/news/news/thismonth/buref2021codeofpractice-stafffeedbackexercise.php
The exercise is open for feedback until Friday 3 May.
BU is preparing submissions for units of assessment (UOAs) for REF 2021. Preparation for each UOA is led by a UOA Leader who is supported by an Impact Champion and an Output Champion. From March 2018, UOA Leaders are recruited via an open and transparent process. All academic staff have the opportunity to put themselves forward for UOA Leader roles. The roles are until December 2020.
We are currently seeking expressions of interest (EoIs) from academic staff interested in leading preparations for one UOA:
UOA Leaders serve a term up to December 2020, although they can choose to step down during this time. The UOA Leader undertakes a vital role in driving and delivering BU’s REF submission, influencing the University’s preparations, shaping optimal submissions for each UOA and ultimately having a significant effect on BU’s REF 2021 results.
Key responsibilities of the UOA Leader role include:
Being a UOA Leader is a big commitment and is recognised accordingly. UOA Leaders are given time to attend meetings and take responsibility for tasks. As such potential applicants should discuss their workload balance with their Head of Department before applying.
Application process:
To apply for either role, please submit a short statement (suggested length 300 words) stating which role you are interested in and explaining your interest in the role and what you could bring to it. This should be sent by email to Julie Northam by 5pm on Monday 25th March 2018.
The EoIs will be reviewed by a gender balanced panel comprising a DDRPP and a member of the professoriate. Applicants successful at this stage will be invited to an interview with the same panel.
The selection criteria used at EoI and interview stage are outlined below. Each criterion carries a total possible score of 5. The role will be offered to the highest scoring applicant. A member of the panel will provide feedback to all applicants.
Questions:
Questions regarding the process should be directed to Julie Northam (Head of RKEO).
UOA-specific questions should be directed to Prof. Mike Silk (Deputy Dean for Research in Mgmt)
Over the past decades interdisciplinary or multidisciplinary research has grown in popularity. REF2021 promises that all types of research shall be assessed on a fair and equal basis, including interdisciplinary and collaborative research. New to REF 2021 compared to REF2014 is the Interdisciplinary Research Advisory Panel (IDAP) which has been established to advise the REF team and panel chairs on interdisciplinary research. Furthermore, REF2021 will: (1) appoint at least two members to specifically oversee the assessment of interdisciplinary research in each UoA (Unit of Assessment) to ensure equitable assessment; (2) allow universities to flag-up outputs in the submission system with an ‘interdisciplinary identifier’; and (3) require an discrete section in the environment template on the submitting UoA’s structures to support interdisciplinary research.
Many academics from all disciplines can at some point benefit from working with other scholars from other disciplines. Interdisciplinary research can bring new insights and understanding across disciplinary boundaries. Novel interdisciplinary research can transcend disciplinary boundaries to address sophisticated and so-called wicked problems in society. We would argue that some disciplines are more open to interdisciplinary approaches, and we would argue that the discipline of Public Health as a multi-faceted discipline is probably the most interdisciplinary of all.
Having decades of research experience between us we also recognize that there can be difficulties arising from researchers trained in different individual disciplines trying to work together. We have highlighted some of these issues which interdisciplinary research in Public Health needs to consider and, where necessary, address before they become barriers in an article published this month in Health Prospect [1]. In this Open Access article we remind the reader that doing interdisciplinary research is not an easy option. Interdisciplinary research may involve a mixed-methods approach and could be underpinned by conflicting, and according to some incommensurable, research philosophies.
We argue, for example that in an interdisciplinary team topic specialists face potentially challenging demands on their range of skills and knowledge. For example, sociologists are required to have a broad knowledge at hand to represent the social science perspective in a study of a disease they know little about, designed by clinicians with a health services research outcome in mind. We also suggest that Public Health researchers have to be versed in both qualitative and quantitative methods. Working multidisciplinary or interdisciplinary means that they have to be able to understand the methods of the epidemiologists (e.g. ‘interrupted -time series’ or ‘nested-case control studies’) and those of health service researchers (e.g. ‘double-blind randomised controlled trials’) and have the whole range of qualitative methods at your command to improve the quality of the overall study.
Prof. Edwin van Teijlingen, Dr. Pramod Regmi & Dr. Nirmal Aryal
(all based in the Faculty of Health & Social Sciences)
Dr. Pratik Adhikary &Prof. Padam Simkhada
(both BU Visiting Faculty)
Reference:
BU staff can login below:
MSCA Staff Exchanges 2024 Call – internal deadline
BU Professor has been invited to a series of plenary and invited lectures.
An Interview of BU-lead EU H2020 FIRST project published in “Horizon”, the EU Research & Innovation Magazine
Update on Horizon Europe Guarantee Horizon Europe Update – January 2023
Research Information Network
Two new BU midwifery publications
New publications Dr. Pramod Regmi
The Year in Research 2024
First publication FHSS postgraduate student Anjana Paudyal