Category / Research Centres

The Ageing and Dementia Research Centre’s Virtual Coffee Morning

Coffee Morning, Research Centres, Research news

Do you know someone aged 65+ that would like to attend?

Myself and colleagues at Bournemouth University’s Ageing and Dementia Research Centre (ADRC) are really excited to announce our new informal coffee morning, this is starting in January 2021. These coffee mornings are an opportunity for anyone aged 65 and over to hear more and chat about our research. They will take place regularly online (at least for the time being) as we thought it might be nice to engage about our research in a new way in the new year. We are keen for these sessions to be interactive and fun and to hear feedback on study ideas (even develop new ideas) as well as progress our findings.

ADRC Virtual Coffee Morning – 6th January 2021 at 10 am on Zoom

Our co-Lead of the ADRC Professor Jane Murphy will join us to talk about a new simple tool to detect undernutrition in older people living in the community through a conversation. Also, it helps to signpost to resources and support as required. The tool is called the ‘Nutrition Wheel’.

For more details, click this link: https://www.malnutritiontaskforce.org.uk/nutrition-wheel

At the session she will explain the reasons why older people become undernourished and talk about the tool. We would welcome your thoughts about this to help with further work too.

 If you know someone that would like to join us at the coffee morning please email adrc@bournemouth.ac.uk and we will send you the Zoom meeting details.

 

Bronwen Thomas keynote on Lockdown Reading

COVID-19, humanities, Research Centres, Research news, Uncategorized

Professor Bronwen Thomas, head of the Narrative, Culture and Community Research Centre was a keynote speaker at a Digital Humanities conference hosted by the Basel/Zurich cluster of the Swiss National Science Foundation Digital Lives project from 23-25 November. Bronwen’s paper was on lockdown reading, and explored the various ways in which readers used lockdown to take stock of their reading alongside many other aspects of their lives, and included discussion of online reading events, bookstagramming and digital author Michael Joyce’s bedtime reading.

The conference, which took place online, featured papers on contemporary digital reading, writing and evaluative practices and methodologies including computational approaches, distant reading, video ethnography and corpus linguistics. The conference made use of Slack, a messaging app for group discussion, and participants were also able to take part in a virtual tour of Basel.

 

The conference was originally scheduled for the summer of 2020, and so had to be redesigned for the online format. While nothing can compensate for the chats over coffees and dinner at conferences, the organisers did a really good job of creating a convivial atmosphere, as well as ensuring that the programme provided a fascinating insight into the latest cutting edge research at the intersection of linguistics and the digital humanities.

Cross-disciplinary approaches to prehistoric demography | Themed issue edited by BU staff

BU research, Publishing, Research Centres, Research news, research 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.

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.

BU’s Interdisciplinary Neuroscience Research Centre opening event -video recording

BU Challenges, BU research, Events, Fusion, Research Centres, Research news

On Monday the 2nd of November we celebrated the opening of BU’s Interdisciplinary Neuroscience Research Centre. 

During the event we provided an overview of the techniques, recording modalities and facilities that we have available, and discussed potential collaborations and projects.

The centre is designed to foster collaborative research in neuroscience within the university and with our external partners to enable us to bid for external funding. We also seek to promote education in neurosciences in graduate and post-graduate programs.

If you couldn’t attend and are interested in this area, please find below the video recording of the event. Thank you very much and we hope you enjoy it!

Link to recording: https://bournemouth-ac-uk.zoom.us/rec/share/0Zhf4FTcv9M-KjqFHiuWOUZWVkW-8niOSW2fzs_j5gHQUwSRzfmoX-CURAXQ1goA.R6n_l-4nGOjAfOTg

Passcode: UK#E1QhK

If you have any queries please do not hesitate to contact any of us (Ellen Seiss, eseiss@bournemouth.ac.uk, Hanna Burianová hburianova@bournemouth.ac.uk, Emili Balaguer-Ballester eb-ballester@bournemouth.ac.uk, or Peter Arabaci Hills phills@bournemouth.ac.uk).

Interested in cancer research and impacts on patients and professionals?

Events, Research Centres

 

 

If so, sign-up to the National Cancer Research Institute’s Virtual Show case on 2-3 November 2020 https://www.ncri.org.uk/

 

Prof Jane Murphy from the Ageing and Dementia Research Centre will be presenting findings from  the largest national survey of health care professionals on their  provision of nutritional care on behalf of the National Institute for Health Research (NIHR) Cancer and Nutrition. Collaboration. The survey of 610 health care professionals working with cancer patients found that only 39% were aware of nutritional guidelines and just 20% felt completely confident in providing nutritional advice, despite 94% of respondents stating that they discuss nutrition with their patients.

Interdisciplinary Neuroscience Research Centre informal event

BU Challenges, BU research, BU2025, REF Subjects, Research Centres, Research news, research staff

We would like to invite you to the informal online opening event of BU’s Interdisciplinary Neuroscience Research Centre on Monday 2 November from 10am – 12pm, in Zoom.

The centre is designed to foster collaborative research in applied, translational and theoretical neuroscience within the university and with our external partners to enable us to bid for external funding. We also seek to promote education in neurosciences in graduate and post-graduate programs. The centre offers a range of experimental and theoretical expertise and we are interested in collaborating with internal and external colleagues.

During the event we will provide a very brief overview of the techniques, recording modalities and facilities that we have available. Then we would welcome discussion around potential collaborations and projects.

Add this event to your diary and join us on Zoom. 

Meeting ID: 885 0146 7009
Passcode: BE@hTx^1

Thank you very much and we are looking forward to seeing you there.

If you have any queries please do not hesitate to contact any of us (Ellen Seiss, eseiss@bournemouth.ac.uk  Emili Balaguer-Ballester eb-ballester@bournemouth.ac.uk or Peter Abaraci Hills phills@bournemouth.ac.uk).

NIHR Grant Applications Seminar ONLINE

BU research, COVID-19, Events, Funding opportunities, HSS Our 9 Research Entities, innovation, NHS, pre-award, Research Centres, Research news, Research Training, writing

  

Dear colleagues

– Do you have a great idea for research in health, social care or public health?
– Are you planning to submit a grant application to NIHR?

Our popular seminar has now moved online and will take place on Tuesday 24th November 2020 from 10.00am – 12.30pm.

The seminar provides an overview of NIHR funding opportunities and research programme remits, requirements and application processes. We will give you top tips for your application and answer specific questions with experienced RDS South West advisers.

Find out more and book a place.

Your local branch of the NIHR RDS (Research Design Service) is based within the BU Clinical Research Unit (BUCRU)

We can help with your application. We advise on all aspects of developing an application and can review application drafts as well as put them to a mock funding panel (run by RDS South West) known as Project Review Committee, which is a fantastic opportunity for researchers to obtain a critical review of a proposed grant application before this is sent to a funding body.

Come as early as possible to benefit fully from the advice

Feel free to call us on 01202 961939 or send us an email.

 

The provision of nutritional advice and care for cancer patients

BU research, Impact, Research Centres

Prof Jane Murphy from the ADRC and Lead of the Professionals Workstream for the NIHR Cancer and Nutrition Collaboration Research has just published the largest UK survey looking at the provision of nutritional care for cancer patients across a wide range of health care professionals has just been published in Supportive Care in Cancer. See below for details:

https://rdcu.be/b68QL

Writing Week – support from BUCRU and RDS

BU research, COVID-19, Funding opportunities, HSS Our 9 Research Entities, NHS, Postgraduate Research, pre-award, Research Centres, research staff

Writing Week in the Faculty of Health and Social Sciences is coming up next week and we wanted to highlight some of the expertise within BUCRU and NIHR RDS (Research Design Service) and remind you that we’re available to provide support for your health or social care research.

Bournemouth University Clinical Research Unit (BUCRU) supports researchers in improving the quality, quantity and efficiency of research across the University and local NHS Trusts.

We do this by:

  • Helping researchers develop high quality applications for external research funding (including small grants)
  • Ongoing involvement in funded research projects

How can we help?

BUCRU/RDS can provide help in the following areas:

  • Formulating research questions
  • Building an appropriate team
  • Study design
  • Appropriate methodologies for quantitative research, e.g. statistical issues, health economics
  • Appropriate methodologies for qualitative research, e.g. sampling, analytical strategies
  • Advice on data management and data analysis
  • Identifying suitable funding sources
  • Writing plain English summaries
  • Identifying the resources required for a successful project
  • Critical reviews of proposed grant applications can be obtained through our Project Review Committee before they are sent to a funding body.
  • Patient and public involvement in research
  • Trial management
  • Ethics, governance and other regulatory issues
  • Linking University and NHS researchers

Over the coming weeks we’ll cover some of these areas in more detail in future blogs and how we can help you.

Our support is available to Bournemouth University staff and people working locally in the NHS, and depending on the support you require, is mostly free of charge. There are no general restrictions on topic area or professional background of the researcher.

If you would like support in developing your research please get in touch through bucru@bournemouth.ac.uk or by calling us on 01202 961939. Please see our website for further information, details of our current and previous projects and a link to our recent newsletter.

BUCRU (Bournemouth University Clinical Research Unit) – Bulletin

BU research, NHS, Post-award, pre-award, Research Centres, Research news

Please see the latest BUCRU Bulletin from the Bournemouth University Clinical Research Unit. We hope you find it interesting.  Featuring details on our online NIHR Grant Applications Seminar next week (28th July) and how to register.

BUCRU supports researchers to improve the quality, quantity, and efficiency of research locally by supporting grant applications and providing on-going support in funded projects, as well as developing our own programme of research.

Don’t forget, your local branch of the NIHR RDS (Research Design Service) is based within the BU Clinical Research Unit (BUCRU) staff are working remotely at present so please call us on 01202 961939 or send us an email in the first instance.

Racism and the Criminal Justice System: a roundtable contribution

Events, hate crime, Research Centres, Student Engagement

Last month colleagues and I in the Department of Social Sciences and Social Work, and members of the Seldom Heard Voices Research Centre, convened a round table discussion on racism, the impact of Covid-19 on minority groups and the rise of #BlackLivesMatter following the murder of George Floyd. As someone who teaches intersectionality to social science students, I presented background information on racism within the criminal justice system as well as on my own research experiences on hate crime. Today’s blog considers the first of these areas, and I hope colleagues will join me in sharing their own stimulating presentations in the coming days.

As students in my classes will be aware, there is a long history of marginalisation, discrimination and prejudice against minority groups in the UK. I only have the space here to briefly consider the particular relationship of Black and Asian minority groups with the criminal justice system but hope it will encourage wider debates. Although this is an area that we have seen awareness raised around in recent weeks, following the murder of George Floyd and the subsequent protests here and overseas, these issues are not new.

The contributory factors surrounding the murder of Mr Floyd are not specific to the USA and given its history of colonialisation has many similar features to the UK also.  As we wait to hear the outcome of the charges and trial of the police officers involved in Mr Floyd’s death, we must bear in mind that in the UK there have been no successful prosecutions for deaths in British Police custody since 1969 – that is, over 50 years.  That is not to say there have not been deaths in police custody since that time – there have been hundreds – and they have been proportionately more likely to involve the death of a black man than any other ethnic group.

What is the relationship between race and crime? Criminology students start by considering the groundbreaking work of Stuart Hall and colleagues in Policing the Crisis: Mugging the State and Law and Order, originally published in 1978, exposing a socially constructed moral panic around young black ‘muggers’.

Since that prosecution in 1969 of two Leeds officers for the death of David Oluwale, we have seen repeated evidence of prejudice and discrimination by the CJS towards our black communities. There was the Scarman report of 1981, focussed on responding to undercover officers targeting BAME communities in Brixton, which involved hundreds of people being stopped and searched on the basis of ‘suspicion’ and subsequent public disorders (note: I refuse to use the term ‘riot’). In 1995 Sir Paul Condon, then Commission of the Met Police, said young black men were committing 80% of muggings in high crime area, implying that it was colour of skin rather than socio-economic backgrounds and structural conditions that were a factor in criminality, showing little had changed.

We have seen the MacPherson report of 1999 investigating police response to the murder of Stephen Lawrence, which was the genesis of hate crime legislation and victim-focussed policing in the UK. We have witnessed disorders or ‘riots’ from 1985 in Birmingham, Brixton, Broadwater Farm, Meadow Well Estate, and Tottenham again in 2011. As with recent reports, the actions of minority members resulted in heavy handed or excessive police responses, and further undermined the fragile community relations between police and minority communities.

Despite the introduction of the Police and Criminal Evidence Act in 1984, communities continued to complain about increasing numbers of discriminatory targeting of black men through the use of stop search – particularly young black men.

Consistently, Black men were more likely to be stopped and searched than white men.

Consistently, Black people were more likely to be arrested and charged compared to other ethnic groups.

Throughout the criminal justice system, as the Lammy Report (2017) shows us, a BAME man was more likely to be stopped, arrested, charged, denied bail, convicted and sentenced to prison than a white man with the same previous history, and the same offence.

So racism is not new. Outrage is not new. And no wonder our communities are tired of peaceful protests and not being heard.  This prejudice exists both within our CJS structurally, and within our communities.  It is fuelled by processes of dehumanisation and racialisation. What bothers me most about these recent events is that we are still having to debate and argue about the extent of racism within our societies today, and as this brief overview has shown, lessons have not been learnt.

All of this comes within the embedded dehumanising, stigmatising and Othering of minority communities. From Ben Bowling’s work on racism in the police in 1998, Kathryn Russell’s call in 1992 for a Black criminology to investigate the over-representation of race and ethnicity in crime statistics – as well as victim statistics – to Alpa Parmer in 2017 who highlights there is still too little criminological research on the nexus between race, gender and crime… I add to their calls for action. We all have a responsibility for action.

Jane Healy

New BU publication on birth centres in Nepal

BU research, Featured academics, international, open access, PG research, Publishing, Research Centres, Research communication, Research news, student research, Uncategorized, writing

Congratulations to Dr. Preeti Mahato in the Centre for Midwifery, Maternal & Perintal Helath (CMMPH) on the acceptance of the  paper ‘ Evaluation of a health promotion intervention associated with birthing centres in rural Nepal’.   This paper is part of Dr. Mahato’s PhD work and will appear soon in the international journal PLOS ONE.   The journal is Open Access so anyone across the world may copy, distribute, or reuse these articles, as long as the author and original source are properly cited.

The research in this thesis used a longitudinal study design where pre-intervention survey was conducted by Green Tara Nepal a local non-governmental organisation (NGO) in year 2012.  The health promotion intervention was conducted by the same NGO in the period 2014 to 2016 and the post-intervention survey was conducted by Dr Mahato in the year 2017.

The intervention was financially supported by a London-based Buddhist charity called Green Tara Trust.   The results of the pre- and post-intervention surveys were compared to identify statistically significant changes that might have occurred due to the intervention and also to determine the factors affecting place of birth.   This study is co-authored by Professors Edwin van Teijlingen and Vanora Hundley and Dr Catherine Angell from CMMPH and FHSS Visiting Professor Padam Simkhada (based at the University of Huddersfield).

 

 

A tool to identify the risk of malnutrition in older people

BU research, Research Centres, Research news

Research validating a tool to identify the risk of malnutrition, in older people, is among the top 10% most downloaded papers in 2018-19, published in Journal of Human Nutrition and Dietetics!

The research was led by Prof Jane Murphy, working in collaboration with the Wessex Academic Health Science Network and The Patients Association.

Identifying older people at risk of malnutrition and treatment in the community: prevalence and concurrent validation of the Patients Association Nutrition Checklist with ‘MUST’

Malnutrition is already a huge issue in the UK and current national policy for the Covid-19 crisis means that social isolation and loneliness in older people will significantly impact on food intake and in turn increase the risk of malnutrition. However in the Covid-19 pandemic, the use of the validated Patients Association Nutrition Checklist has increased given its simplicity,  ease of use and can be carried out remotely so that people can access appropriate help and support where needed.

For more details see:

https://wessexahsn.org.uk/projects/325/nutrition-in-older-people

https://www.malnutritiontaskforce.org.uk/resources-and-tools/self-screening-pack

PBS America, Ichnology and Poole Harbour

BU research, Fusion, Research Centres

Yesterday a film crew from Windfall Films spent the afternoon in Poole Harbour filming some experimental ichnology.  Ichnology is the study of trace fossils and is something that Bournemouth has an international reputation for.  The production company are working on a documentary for Nova and are currently following our research team as they bring forward new research at White Sands National Park.  As part of this they filmed a sequence yesterday involving the use of primitive transport technology.  Think of a wheel-less wheel barrow used to transport butchered mammoths and giant ground sloth remains and you have the idea.  We were experimenting with different designs and trying to work out what the trace fossil record looks like for each.

The Bournemouth team consisted of Hannah Larsen a PhD student who braved the bitter cold to go shoe less on the mudflats and a first year undergraduate student Gary Packwood who volunteered to help.  It was a nice example of fusion in action.

Gender in Conflict Conference: WAN-funded event

BU research, conferences, hate crime, Research Centres, Women's Academic Network

On Wednesday 9 October 2019 Stephanie Schwandner-Sievers and I hosted an international and intersectional conference involving staff, students and Erasmus colleagues to debate issues of gender, violence and conflict in contemporary societies. We were very fortunate to receive funding from the Women’s Academic Network for this event, and for additional guest speakers who will be visiting BU in the coming months to contribute to discussion on this theme.

The focus of our ‘Gender in Conflict’ conference was to provide a platform for discussion and reflection on conceptualisations of gender and violence that have heightened visibility in post-conflict environments. We asked contributors to consider what we can learn from questions of gendered violence in a fragile international context and whether international lessons can be applied to social environments in the UK.

The aims were:

  1. To de-colonise and de-exoticise knowledge about gendered violence in war and post-conflict contexts abroad by going beyond stereotypical assumptions and representations;
  2. To interpret contemporary UK conceptualisations of gendered violence through an alternative lens inspired by international experience.

We were fortunate to have the opportunity of the Erasmus-funded presence of two visiting Kosovar colleagues who presented at this event.  Dr Linda Gusia and Assoc. Prof. Nita Luci are the founders and directors of the Programme for Gender Studies and Research at University of Prishtina, Kosovo. They are highly visible women’s rights activists in Kosovo. The post-conflict situation in Kosovo poses unexpected challenges to equal rights not only arising from classic patriarchal cultural legacies but also from masculinity reiterations in the totalising field of international intervention.

We were also joined by two BU criminologists of our own Department for Social Sciences who are working in related fields: Jade Levell on gang crimes in the UK and Dr Shovita Dhakal Adhikari on agency and interventions within human trafficking in Nepal. This conference emerged from our own academic interests in questions of gendered hate crime in the UK (Dr Jane Healy) and on questions of social justice in transnational and post-conflict settings (Dr Stephanie Schwandner-Sievers).

Stephanie welcomes participants

Stephanie opened the conference by encouraging contributors and audience members to reflect upon the transferability of interpreting phenomena we often consider in their specific contexts alone and the limitations arising from differences in our epistemological framings of analyses, contingent on such context and distinctions such as ‘the Global South’. Questions of cultural translation, power, language and positioning can be perceived or experienced as barriers to engagement, rather than opportunities to share best practice. The aims of the conference were to critically re-envisage our contemporary conceptualisations of such concepts on the basis of comparison and shared reflection.

Jade Levell was our first speaker, with a paper entitled:  “The competing masculinities of gang-involved men who experienced domestic violence/abuse in childhood”. Jade’s presentation, drawn from her PhD thesis, considers the conflicted and competing gender performances by marginalised men who have been drawn into gangs in the UK. She demonstrated how these men are performing hegemonic masculinity in an attempt to claim power where they have none. This is conveyed through a language and symbolic rhetoric of war and honour.

Jade Levell introduces her research

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Nita Luci then spoke about “Researching Gender in the Balkans” as she traced the recent history of gender studies research in Kosovo. Her presentation began during a period where few academics were interested in looking at gendered experiences in the region to the emergence of the Programme for Gender Studies and Research in contemporary Kosovo. Through this timeframe, she highlighted the simultaneous re-framing and changing conceptualisations of masculinities in Kosovo.

 

 

Visiting scholar Nita Luci from University of Prishtina

 

 

 

Linda Gusia’s paper took this conceptualisation further. In “Recognition of Sexual Violence in Kosovo after the War” Linda highlighted the conflict between the hyper visibility of war-time sexual violence and a complete silencing of questions of gender and nationalism before the war. She considered how sexual violence against women was propagated by men, as an attack on the nation’s male gaze. Through a nationalist lens the concept of heroism was the prevailing public image and discourse. There was limited space for women’s own conceptualisation of the war as their stories were reframed through a narrative of sacrifice, martyrdom and atonement.

Visiting scholar Linda Gusia

In her paper entitled “Exploring Child Vulnerabilities: pre- and post-disaster in Nepal”, Shovita Dhakal Adhikari demonstrated similar patterns of silencing of women’s and girl’s experiences of human trafficking in Nepal. Shovita critiqued the application of Westernised concepts and labels to Nepalese society, particularly in regard to discourses of vulnerable victims in need of ‘rescue and protect’. Here again, women’s bodies are being controlled as a method of protection.

BU’s Shovita Dhakal Adhikari shares her research on child trafficking narratives in Nepal

 

Lastly, Stephanie chaired a panel discussion of all of the speakers, entitled “Inverting the gaze: Juxtaposing gender and conflict in transitional societies abroad and the UK”. This produced a lively debate around concepts of competing masculinities, vulnerabilities and visibilities of marginalised voices that could be drawn from all case studies presented. The conference drew to a close with contributors and audience members agreeing that this was an energising and engaging series of papers that showcased similarities in constructions of gender and gendered violence, both in the UK and abroad.

Participant contributions

Two further speakers who were unable to attend this conference at short notice were re-scheduled to visit BU this academic year:

  • Dr Emma Milne from Plymouth presented on Criminal Justice Responses to Maternal Filicide: Judging the failed mother on 13 February 2020.
  • Dr Hannah Mason-Bish will visit on 23 March 2020 to discuss Gender and Hate Crime.

For further details or discussion please contact: jhealy@bournemouth.ac.uk or sssievers@bournemouth.ac.uk