Fixed PDF forms available for drafting your application. Apologies for any inconvenience accessing these forms previously.
The deadline for both the Research Impact Fund and the new Public Engagement funding stream is 5pm on Friday 10 December. Applications must be submitted via the relevant online forms:
If you wish to discuss your application in more detail, please contact researchimpact@bournemouth.ac.uk or publicengagement@bournemouth.ac.uk to arrange a 30-minute 1-2-1 session with a member of the Knowledge Exchange and Impact Team. Please note that, at this late stage, we will endeavour to but cannot guarantee you an appointment. If you have any further questions about your application, please email Amanda Edwards (Panel Secretary).
Please see below and note that from now any amendment made should be using version 1.6 of the document.
‘What: An updated amendment tool has been released for use when submitting amendments for health research studies
Who: All researchers and sponsors
When: Released 6 December
We’ve also made some other changes to the amendment tool to make it easier to use including:
improved guidance in the submission tab
changes to the radio selection buttons to make it clearer to complete and view once converted to a pdf
changes to help users avoid common mistakes
You can get all details on the changes we’ve made in the Change Record in General Guidance tab on the tool. Please start to use the new version (1.6) for all new amendments from 6 December 2021. We will continue to accept amendments using version 1.5 for two weeks. We will not accept amendments submitted on V1.5 after 20 December 2021.’
Taalia Nadeem (PhD, BUBS) with this poster entitled: Understanding the social representation of uncrewed aerial vehicles (UAVs): how public and stakeholder views empower or constrain pathways to adoption.
Click the poster below to enlarge.
UAVs now support various purposes including within healthcare logistics. There are benefits of using UAVs, but their capabilities are challenged by the public. A solid understanding of public acceptance of UAVs is important to develop appropriate regulatory strategies therefore, the following research questions arise: What is the influence of mass media on UAV perception? What attributes and perceived risks of UAVs influence adoption? How do personal attributes affect views of UAVs? A mixed method approach is proposed including a phase of qualitative research to understand concerns and identify segments according to attitudes, behaviours, or values. This will be followed by a large-scale questionnaire. Studies demonstrate that mainstream media is the main source of information about UAVs, but due to lack of knowledge, the public is unable to make a more informed opinion, and this calls for a deeper understanding of people’s knowledge of UAVs.
You can view the full poster exhibition and pre-recorded presentations on the conference webpage.
If this research has inspired you and you’d like to explore applying for a research degree please visit the postgraduate research web pages or contact the Doctoral College dedicated admissions team.
Zhiqi Li (PhD, FMC) with this poster entitled: Deep learning for scene flow estimation: methods and applications.
Click the poster below to enlarge.
Scene flow estimation aims at obtaining structure information and 3D motion of dynamic scenes. It has long been an interest of research in computer vision and 3D computer graphics. It is a fundamental task for various applications like autonomous driving. Compared to previous methods utilizing image representations, many recent researches build upon the power of deep analysis on point clouds and focus on point clouds representation to conduct 3D flow estimation. In this survey, we comprehensively review the pioneering literature in scene flow estimation based on point clouds, delve in detail into their learning paradigms and present insightful comparison between the state-of-the-art methods using deep learning for scene flow estimation. Furthermore, we introduce various higher-level scene understanding tasks (object tracking, motion segmentation, etc.) which could benefit from the latest progress on scene flow estimation. The paper concludes with an overview of foreseeable research trends for scene flow estimation.
You can view the full poster exhibition and pre-recorded presentations on the conference webpage.
If this research has inspired you and you’d like to explore applying for a research degree please visit the postgraduate research web pages or contact the Doctoral College dedicated admissions team.
Shell Smith (PhD, FHSS) with this poster entitled: Does motorcyclists’ identification, perception, and knowledge towards risk change regarding their motorcycling qualifications and experience?
Click the poster below to enlarge.
Motorcyclists are one of the most vulnerable road user groups in the U.K. with an average of 6 deaths and 94 serious injuries per week. A common collision scenario is a road user driving across the path of a motorcyclist. Consequently, the research questions ask where motorcyclists and car drivers are directing their visual attention and hazard perception and whether there are differences between advanced motorcyclists and advanced car drivers vs standard trained motorcyclists and car drivers. Prior research specifically targeted at motorcycle collision prevention is limited, with only 15 studies using eye-tracking methodology. To target gaps in the literature; this is a mixed methods study using qualitative interviews, questionnaires, and eye-tracking. Initial findings indicate that motorcyclists and car drivers demonstrate different visual attention patterns. Thus, it is possible to change driving and motorcycle test training to teach how to direct visual attention and cognition to hazards.
You can view the full poster exhibition and pre-recorded presentations on the conference webpage.
If this research has inspired you and you’d like to explore applying for a research degree please visit the postgraduate research web pages or contact the Doctoral College dedicated admissions team.
You are warmly invited to join us on Zoom this week for an hour of talking research process.
Research Meets Strategy: Tales from the Traverse – by Prof Julian McDougall
This talk will share some reflections on recent projects working with industry / government funders (ITV, BBC and DCMS) with a clear strategic pathway in mind for what media literacy can do to solve a problem for them. This is very different to other studies we have worked on within the same research field (eg with AHRC, EU, British Council). It’s not the research design or the conceptual framework that’s different, but what the findings need to do for the funder. So, the idea is to talk through this experience, offer some suggestions and invite insights from others who’ve hiked the same traverse.
The delayed 2020/21 Women’s FA Cup final is finally taking place. Two London rivals, Arsenal and Chelsea, and some of the best players in the world make this a sporting event worthy of a grand stage such as Wembley Stadium. The timing of the final, December 5, is significant and ironic, as on December 5 1921 the Football Association banned women’s football.
The ban was because sports were believed to be unsuitable for females. Fifty years on from the end of this ban, women’s football is now where it belongs, at the “home of football”.
This is just one of many significant developments in women’s sport that have happened recently.
In summer 2021, English cricket’s new Hundred tournament attracted the highest attendance for a women’s cricket event ever, with a total attendance at the games of 267,000. The opening game of the American women’s soccer Challenge Cup, meanwhile, became the most-watched match in league history with 572,000 viewers, a 201% increase on the previous record. And in England, a “landmark £7m deal” was struck with broadcasters to show Women’s Super League football matches on free-to-air and subscription services.
It’s been claimed that interest in women’s sport is thriving. However, there are concerns regarding the future of women’s sport due to the COVID-19 pandemic. More needs to be done to assure its future.
The need for caution
We research key governance aspects of women’s sport and, while we agree there has been much improvement, our research also suggests that areas of inequality remain and more needs to be done by governing bodies, organisations and policymakers. While women’s sport is currently popular, changes are needed for its success to be sustained.
For instance, when men’s and women’s sports are governed by the same organisation, the decisions made typically prioritise men’s sport. Recent accusations of institutional racism highlight the issues when sports are run by hypermasculine, failed male athletes – they make decisions that benefit themselves and those that resemble them (men).
This is an issue that has worsened over time. Historically, many women’s sports were governed separately and run wholly or mainly by women – for example, the Women’s Football Association was in charge of English women’s football until the Football Association took over in 1992, and the Women’s Cricket Association ran women’s cricket until 1998 when the England and Wales Cricket Board gained control. But since the 1990s, women’s sport has typically been run by men with little knowledge of women’s sport, who tend to prioritise what they know.
This privileging of men’s sport was particularly the case at the start of the COVID-19 pandemic. The exception to this was in North America where women’s football has its own governing body, and where during the pandemic, women’s football was prioritised – a new tournament introduced and new commercial partners found. In other countries, women’s sport was simply cancelled.
Another area of concern is that sports media coverage, which is now the way most people access sport, continues to be dominated by men’s sports. This pattern is not helped when those who talk and write about sport remain predominantly men. Our research shows that when women have greater involvement in sports journalism there’s greater coverage of women’s sport. The challenge is breaking into the “boys’ club” of sports journalism.
We also found that women’s sport is both under-valued and under-sold. Women’s sport often receives less investment in marketing and promotion. As a result, spectators see it as less exciting and less spectacular than men’s sport.
This research also found that women’s games are often scheduled in the middle of the workday or early on weekdays, rather than primetime slots on weekday evenings or weekend afternoons. This scheduling creates problems because spectators are often not able to attend when games are during work hours or when children’s sport is taking place.
Women’s sport is often only accessible on pay-TV, limiting the potential audience. Recent research shows that when matches are moved onto free-to-air channels, the sky is the limit. A study for the Women’s Sport Trust recently showed that the broadcast audience of women’s sport in the UK has grown from 46.8 million in 2019 to 51.1 million in 2021. Much of this increase comes from new coverage of women’s cricket and women’s football, and gender-parity in Olympic coverage.
A roadmap for sustained success
So, while the future of women’s sport looks bright, inequalities remain. We propose a five-point “roadmap” detailing the changes that are needed for the success of women’s sport to be sustained:
• Ensure that the governance of women’s sport has women in visible leadership positions, to prioritise it and ensure that any decisions support the interests of women’s sport. Otherwise, if men run both men’s and women’s sport they will continue to prioritise the male version.
• The sports media workforce needs greater diversity. Although we focus on gender here, sports media is dominated by white men.
• The marketing and presentation of women’s sport need to be on a par with men’s sport. While men’s sport has greater investment in these areas it will continue to be seen as superior to women’s sport. There needs to be unity in how sports clubs communicate with fans about their men’s and women’s teams.
• Women’s sport needs consistent prime time scheduling (as seen with women’s football in England this season), rather than during the day when the majority of fans are at work and cannot attend.
• Coverage of women’s sport needs to be on free-to-air television – if it is not, awareness of it will drop.
If these points can be addressed, we believe that women’s sport will continue to thrive, not just now, but well into the future.
Rosie Harper (PhD, FHSS) with this poster entitled: Nudging: a theoretical concept for a very practical approach to pelvic floor muscle training.
Click the poster below to enlarge.
A third of women suffer from stress incontinence which affects their physical, mental and social wellbeing. Pelvic floor exercises are the gold standard treatment, but women’s adherence to these exercises is poor. It is suggested behaviour change techniques, including nudge theory, could be used to improve adherence. The research will explore the role of nudge theory in causing predictable changes in behaviour in antenatal women, gain insight into antenatal women’s experience of digital nudges and allow a better understanding of the influence of digital nudges on pelvic floor muscle training adherence. The first phase involves a literature review to explore the effect of digital nudges on exercise adherence in antenatal women. Phase two of the study involves qualitative data collection and analysis to explore women’s experience of digital nudges. The third phase of the study will be a feasibility study which includes a pilot of the intervention – digital nudges.
You can view the full poster exhibition and pre-recorded presentations on the conference webpage.
If this research has inspired you and you’d like to explore applying for a research degree please visit the postgraduate research web pages or contact the Doctoral College dedicated admissions team.
Sitsada Sartamorn (PhD, BUBS) with this poster entitled: Hybrid social media marketing; How metaverse and other cutting-edge technologies impact on consumer experiences by reducing borders between real and virtual space in Thai organic food market.
Click the poster below to enlarge.
The pandemic of COVID-19 has affected us in a world-changing way, a world where people cannot unite. However, this obstacle is now diminishing, thanks to the concept of globalisation and advanced technology development. This study aims to explore the impact of the “metaverse” and other cutting-edge innovative technologies on the marketing space of the future and consider how these advanced technologies should be integrated into the design of marketing strategies and propose a way forward. This study focuses on the organic food market in Thailand and explores how technology can integrate the boundaries between the real and the virtual, increase consumer experience and enhance the effectiveness of marketing strategies based on advanced technology. This study will use a qualitative research method to strategically design hybrid social media marketing.
You can view the full poster exhibition and pre-recorded presentations on the conference webpage.
If this research has inspired you and you’d like to explore applying for a research degree please visit the postgraduate research web pages or contact the Doctoral College dedicated admissions team.
Samantha Everard (MRes, FHSS) with this poster entitled: How do people with multiple disabilities experience, engage with and participate in self-employment support.
Click the poster below to enlarge.
“Seeing every individual for their ability, especially those with hidden impairments, makes good business sense” (Kirby, 2014a), but when a person with multiple disabilities decides to experience, engage with and participate in self-employment support, there is currently a lack of clarity and guidance to meet the individual needs of disabled people wanting to engage in self-employment. An internet search will bring up numerous results with websites and organisations offering generalised support, but there is very limited information offering a person-centric service. This research aims to identify gaps within the general self-employment support model and work towards a more cohesive level of accessible information, advice, guidance and resources. My research is focussed on gathering qualitative data through one-to-one interviews using Photovoice as this allows the participants with multiple disabilities to openly engage with the topic and tell stories about their experiences in their own individual ways.
You can view the full poster exhibition and pre-recorded presentations on the conference webpage.
If this research has inspired you and you’d like to explore applying for a research degree please visit the postgraduate research web pages or contact the Doctoral College dedicated admissions team.
Omowonuola Okunnu (PhD, FMC) with this poster entitled: A comparative study of the interconnectedness of religion and politics in Northern and Southern Nigeria: The role of literacy level.
Click the poster below to enlarge.
Although research on the determinants of political outcomes has been a subject of debate for many decades and perhaps centuries, findings are often awash with nuances and not on par with realities at the regional level. There are more questions arising from dynamics in the societies, related to political campaigning and social movements at the regional level. Consequently, the aim of this project is to examine the independent and mediating effects of religion and literacy levels on voters’ decision and electoral outcomes at regional levels amongst female voters in Nigeria. A mixed-method approach is adopted to ameliorate any contradictions between qualitative and quantitative findings. Early findings of this research suggest a battery of issues ranging from divergence in perceptions of religious issues; poor attitude to political outcomes; a weak awareness of political issues; and an underdeveloped attention is paid to gender imbalances in politics.
You can view the full poster exhibition and pre-recorded presentations on the conference webpage.
If this research has inspired you and you’d like to explore applying for a research degree please visit the postgraduate research web pages or contact the Doctoral College dedicated admissions team.
Rabeea Maqsood (PhD, FHSS) with this poster entitled: The association between Combat Related Traumatic Injury and Heart Rate Variability in the UK Armed Forces Personnel and Veterans- a quantitative secondary data analysis of the ADVANCE study.
Click the poster below to enlarge.
CRTI’s impact on HRV and its link to Cardiovascular Disease (CVD) risk have not been examined. This study aims to explore: the association between CRTI and HRV, and HRV’s potential to predict CVD risk. This study employs a baseline cross-sectional analysis of the ArmeD SerVices TrAuma and RehabilitatioN OutComE (ADVANCE) longitudinal cohort study, consisting of 579 adult male UK combat-veterans (UK-Afghanistan War 2003-14) with CRTI; frequency-matched to 565 uninjured men by age, service, rank, regiment, deployment period and role-in-theatre. Measures include single-lead ECG based HRV (RMSSD, SDNN, LF, HF, LF/HF-5-min ECG recordings), arterial stiffness (augmentation index, pulse wave velocity), injury-severity (NISS scores), and metabolic syndrome. Kubios software and SPSS will be used for HRV data-analysis and descriptive tests, respectively. CRTI’s influence on HRV and its relationship to CVD risk will be examined using T-tests and correlation. The findings may contribute to intervention development for veteran’s rehabilitation programme and trauma care.
You can view the full poster exhibition and pre-recorded presentations on the conference webpage.
If this research has inspired you and you’d like to explore applying for a research degree please visit the postgraduate research web pages or contact the Doctoral College dedicated admissions team.
Penny Wells (PhD, FMC) with this poster entitled:How people relate to environmental disaster in contemporary literature; an ecocritical approach.
Click the poster below to enlarge.
Taking six contemporary eco-novels containing scenarios of environmental disaster, this study examines how each is portrayed. The question of whether the disasters are natural or man-made is examined using Garrard’s six philosophical positions of ecocriticism, and further discourse analysis from ecological and scientific perspectives. The extent to which the characters engage with their natural environment in terms of their cultural capital (Bourdieu) will also be looked at. As well as exploring the political rhetoric of each book, from the various stakeholders’ perspectives, the study also incorporates a separate sociological research element which sets out to explore other ways in which authors may or may not express their concerns about our shared environment.
You can view the full poster exhibition and pre-recorded presentations on the conference webpage.
If this research has inspired you and you’d like to explore applying for a research degree please visit the postgraduate research web pages or contact the Doctoral College dedicated admissions team.
A collection of fossil footprints at Laetoli in Northern Tanzania, preserved in volcanic ash and dated to 3.66 million years ago, are still yielding surprises almost 45 years after their discovery.
Based on a re-analysis of fossil footprints from one of Laetoli’s sites, the authors of a new study published in the journal Nature say they’ve discovered evidence of a previously unknown early human species at this spot. However, there are reasons to be cautious about this conclusion.
Before we delve into these new findings, let’s orientate ourselves. Laetoli, an area well-known for paleontological excavations, has a number of distinct sites, each denoted by letters of the alphabet. British paleoanthropolgist Mary Leakey and her colleagues first reported fossil footprints in 1978 at Site G, the main track site at Laetoli.
In 2016, a team led by Fidelis Masao, an archaeologist in Tanzania, uncovered additional tracks close to Site G, at Site S. The footprints from Sites G and S are usually assigned to the well-known ancestral human (hominin) species Australopithecus afarensis, of which the skeleton “Lucy” is the best-known example.
Less well-known is the fact that in 1976, two years before Leakey’s famous discovery, a set of five footprints were found at Site A. Importantly, all these sites occur on the same ash surface, so we know they date from the same time period.
But the five footprints from Site A were largely forgotten, eclipsed by Leakey’s later discovery. This was understandable because the footprints at Site A had poor morphological shape, or definition, and there were fewer of them (there are more than 30 individual footprints at Site G).
In 1987, American paleoanthropologist Russell Tuttle suggested that these footprints may have been made by a species of bear, or by a different hominin from those of Site G. He also cautioned that the diversity in the footprints’ form as compared to those at Site G might simply reflect the changing properties of the ash layer over which the hominin walked.
Seeking to find out who these footprints belonged to, a team of international researchers re-excavated the tracks from Site A in 2019. Their findings are the focus of the new paper in Nature.
The researchers used various methods including photography and 3D scanning to inspect the Site A footprints. They compared the width and length with footprints from black bears, chimpanzees and humans, as well as the tracks from Sites G and S. They also explored the bear hypothesis by examining video footage of modern black bears which, on rare occasions, walk upright.
The authors concluded that on balance, the footprints at Site A did not resemble bear tracks, and were different from the footprints at Sites G and S.
One particular feature they draw attention to is that the Site A trackway cross-steps, almost as if one was attempting to toe a line as part of sobriety test. Based on this and their other findings, the authors suggest that the tracks at Site A were made by a different hominin than those at sites G and S. They argue that two hominin species walked the Laetoli landscape 3.66 million years ago.
A footprint from Site A on the left and Site G on the right. Image on left by Jeremy DeSilva and on right by Eli Burakian/Dartmouth.
The broader evolutionary context at this time suggests what the authors are proposing would be possible. There was more than one species of hominin on the African landscape during this period, and we’ve seen anatomical variation in the foot within some Australopithecus species. That said, it’s quite a significant leap to identify a second species based on a handful of poorly defined tracks.
Variation in trackways is the key issue here. Imagine going for a walk down a beach or sandy path. The footprints you make will vary from one step to the next. This reflects natural variability in human gait, as well as subtle differences in the characteristics of the ground you’re walking on.
In a recent paper we suggested that you need a minimum of between ten and 20 footprints before you can confidently quantify the variability in just one dimension, such as footprint length, let alone several. Others have suggested that you may need over 250 tracks to adequately quantify the three-dimensional form of a footprint.
Footfall and the resulting footprints are more variable than once thought and some have argued that even individuals of the same species may have highly unique gaits.
In this context it is rather surprising that the authors of this paper make inferences not just about one individual, but a whole species.
One way to strengthen their conclusions would be to use modern “whole foot” methods to statistically compare the best footprint at Site A with those at Sites S and G. This could be an approach for future research.
Certainly more evidence is needed to determine whether these footprints justify this excitement, and do indeed belong to another early human species.
At Café Scientifique, you can explore the latest ideas in science and technology in a relaxed online setting. Enjoy listening to a short talk before engaging in debate and discussion with our guest speaker and audience.
We’ll be joined by Dr Marin Cvitanovicon Tuesday 7 December from 7.00pm until 8.30pm.
Wildfires and Us
Every year wildfires engulf 3.4 million square kilometres of Earth’s surface – approximately the size of India. These fires have massive economic, social and environmental impacts and, due to climate change, are expected to increase in the future. However, wildfires are also a naturally occurring global phenomenon that many ecosystems depend on.
Join us to discover how scientific research at Bournemouth University could fill in some of the gaps in this complicated relationship between humans and wildfires.
Jordan King (MRes, FST) with this poster entitled: Exploring nostalgic experiences in video games.
Click the poster below to enlarge.
Video game players may experience emotional demands, such as nostalgia, when thinking of a memorable game which can increase levels of well-being and social connectedness (Wulf, Bowman, Velez & Breuer, 2020). Yet previous literature has asked participants to think about a nostalgic game, the current study aims to have participants play a memorable video game to see what may make a video game nostalgic, explore how is nostalgia experienced before and after playing a nostalgic video game and, explore whether nostalgia is a positive experience which relates to well-being. Using a mixed method approach, quantitative data will explore levels of nostalgia before and after playing a nostalgic video game, and levels of well-being. Qualitative data will be collected to explore what may make a video game nostalgic which will be analysed using Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis. This contributes to existing literature on video game nostalgia by having participants play video games.
You can view the full poster exhibition and pre-recorded presentations on the conference webpage.
If this research has inspired you and you’d like to explore applying for a research degree please visit the postgraduate research web pages or contact the Doctoral College dedicated admissions team.
Megan Jadzinski (PhD, FHSS) with this poster entitled: How are Fitness to Practise processes applied in the Higher Education Institutions, in relation to Health and Care Profession Council or Nursing and Midwifery Council healthcare courses?
Click the poster below to enlarge.
Higher Education Institutions (HEIs) are required to manage concerns raised regarding pre-registration healthcare students. All HEIs are required to have a Fitness to Practice (FTP) policy to manage concerns. Due to limited guidance from regulatory bodies, variations occur. The aim of this research is to understand how the FTP processes are applied. A qualitative methodology will be utilised. Two stages will occur. Firstly, a review of FTP documentation from multiple universities. Secondly, online interviews with HEI staff who manage the process within their organisation. Following a systematic review, limited evidence was found with recommendations that further exploration is required. Limited research has been conducted on the FTP process within HEIs in England. Multiple gaps, including, a need for a more consistent and fair approach has been identified. The output from this research could impact the way in which FTP cases are managed.
You can view the full poster exhibition and pre-recorded presentations on the conference webpage.
If this research has inspired you and you’d like to explore applying for a research degree please visit the postgraduate research web pages or contact the Doctoral College dedicated admissions team.
Mirte Korpershoek (PhD, FST) with this poster entitled: Rock art as an environmental archive.
Click the poster below to enlarge.
Rock art occurs worldwide, across societies and time-periods. Traditionally, rock art studies examine the intention behind the images: the symbolism and shamanistic ritual interpretations. In my research, I am investigating whether rock art depictions are useful to understanding the palaeoenvironmental context of the people who created the art. I will compare the images -focusing on depictions of humans, animals and activities/tools- to published archaeological assemblages, to establish to what extent rock art accurately depicts the way of living and environments of the artists. I will also compare themes in rock art from various locations to see whether there are any similarities and what this could mean. Machine learning will be applied to these themes to identify the most common figurative motifs per region. Here I will present the first results from South America: I discuss the prevalence of human and wild animal depictions from this region.
You can view the full poster exhibition and pre-recorded presentations on the conference webpage.
If this research has inspired you and you’d like to explore applying for a research degree please visit the postgraduate research web pages or contact the Doctoral College dedicated admissions team.
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