Today we decided on the name of our interdisciplinary research project on ‘Drowning Prevention for newly mobile infants under two’s in Bangladesh’. We were looking for one or two words in Bangla (or Bengali) that also sounded good in English and which was not already used for another research project in Bangladesh. A team from BU and CIPRB (Centre for Injury Prevention and Research, Bangladesh) using Human-Centred Design (HCD) tools came up with the name. The wider research team, after some debate and and checking for its current use in the research field, settled for the word Sonamoni (golden pearl).
BU is leading on a new interdisciplinary study of nearly £1.7 million funded by the UK National Institute for Health and Care Research (NIHR). Sonamoni aims to reduce the deaths of newly-mobile toddlers from drowning in rural Bangladesh. This multidisciplinary project is a collaboration of BU’s Centre for Midwifery & Women’s Health (CMWH), BU’s Department in Accounting, Finance & Economics and Department of Design & Engineering, and external partners, namely the University of the West of England, the University of Southampton, the Poole-based Royal National Lifeboat Institution (RNLI) and the already mentioned CIPRB.
The Sonamoni project has been made possible thanks to a grant from the National Institute for Health and Care Research (NIHR) through their Research and Innovation for Global Health Transformation programme. For more information, visit the NIHR website.
In Bangladesh, drowning is the leading cause of death in children between one and two years old. This low-income country has one of the highest rates of drowning, especially among children in the world. This four-year project will be working with communities to apply human-centred design techniques in Bangladesh. Together they will identify and prioritise potential solutions, develop prototype interventions, and assess the acceptability and usability of proposed interventions.
Please help to develop BU policies and initiatives relating to research at BU by completing the BU Vitae CEDARS survey 2023(Culture, Employment and Development in Academic Research survey)*.
This is an important survey as it benchmarks BU against the rest of the sector. It will, therefore, help us to identify where we are excelling and where there is room for improvement.
Participating in this study will also influencepolicy. Your input will help us to understand where to focus our efforts and resources – it will give us the data to make the argument for you. (The results of the previous PIRLS and CROS surveys that CEDARS has replaced were used to develop new policies and initiatives, as well as training and development opportunities).
Please complete the CEDARS survey if you are research-active (whether on a full-time, part-time or part-time hourly paid contract). This includes researchers at all stages in your career, those who manage researchers, or are Principal Investigators, or contribute to research by providing professional services for researchers, (i.e. researcher developers, research officers or technical staff).
The survey is running from 20th March to 21st April. Your responses will be anonymous; you will not be identified or identifiable in any published results. It will take approximately 20 minutes to complete the survey. BU Vitae CEDARS survey 2023
If you have any questions regarding the survey, please email Rachel Arnold: rarnold@bournemouth.ac.uk
Thank you, the Research Development and Support Team
*CEDARS is a national survey that explores the views and experiences of researchers and those supporting researchers across the UK. It is based on the Concordat to Support the Career Development of Researchers, which aims to create the best culture for researchers to thrive. This survey replaces the previous CROS and PIRLS surveys.
Please find more information here on the ‘Concordat to Support the Careers of Researchers’ and what BU is doing to support researchers.
Patient and public involvement (PPI) is now widely accepted to be a standard requirement in health and social care research. While guidance on involvement in primary studies is available from organisations such as the National Institute for Health Research, researchers are often less clear regarding how PPI in systematic reviews and other forms of evidence synthesis might work, and exactly what to do during meetings. This presentation will look beyond the guidance to offer practical suggestions on when, how, and why patients and the public can be involved in reviews of literature.
When: Wed, 19 Apr 2023 13:00 – 14:00 BST
Bio: Sue Baxter is a Senior Research Fellow who has been carrying out qualitative research, service evaluations and evidence synthesis in the field of health and social care for over 20 years. This presentation will draw particularly on learning from PPI in two evidence synthesis centres in ScHARR, which carry out reviews of research relating to Health Services Delivery, and Public Health.
We are pleased to announce a one-week extension to the date for submission of abstracts, for the inaugural FHSS PGR Conference, which is being held on Tuesday 6th June from 09:30-13:30, in BGB.
The revised abstract submission date is Friday 21st April
We welcome abstracts for presentations or posters, from all PGRs in FHSS, no matter what stage of your studies you are at, focusing on the conference theme of ‘doing postgraduate research in health and social care’. Do get in touch with the conference committee at FHSSPGRConferenceCommittee@live.bournemouth.ac.uk if you are unsure and want to discuss your ideas before submitting an abstract.
Don’t forget that we welcome the submission of posters that you have presented elsewhere over the last year – please submit a brief abstract, as outlined below.
“I don’t listen to adults when it comes to this sort of thing”, a 17-year-old told me.
We were discussing how digital technology affects his life, as part of a long-term project in the west of England that I carried out with colleagues to explore young people’s mental health – including the impact of digital technology on their emotional wellbeing.
There is a widespread perception that being online is bad for young people’s mental health. But when we began the project, we quickly realised that there was very little evidence to back this up. The few in-depth studies around social media use and children’s mental health state that impacts are small and it is difficult to draw clear conclusions.
We wanted to find out if and how young people’s wellbeing was actually being affected in order to produce resources to help them. We talked to around 1,000 young people as part of our project. What we found was that there was a disconnect between what young people were worried about when it came to their online lives, and the worries their parents and other adults had.
One of the things young people told us was that adults tended to talk down to them about online harms, and had a tendency to “freak out” about these issues. Young people told us that adults’ views about online harms rarely reflected their own. They felt frustrated that they were being told what was harmful, rather than being asked what their experiences were.
Common concerns
The concerns the young people told us they had included bullying and other forms of online conflict. They were afraid of missing out on both online group interactions and real-life experiences others were showing in their social media posts. They worried that their posts were not getting as many likes as someone else’s.
But these concerns are rarely reflected in the media presentation of the harsher side of online harms. This has a tendency to explore the criminal side of online abuse, such as grooming, the prevalence of online pornography. It also tends to describe social media use in similar language to that used to talk about addiction.
It is no surprise, therefore, that parents might approach conversations with young people with excessive concern and an assumption their children are being approached by predators or are accessing harmful or illegal content.
Young people and their parents’ concerns about online safety may not match up. George Rudy/Shutterstock
We have run a survey with young people for several years on their online experiences. Our latest analysis was based on 8,223 responses. One of the questions we ask is: “Have you ever been upset by something that has happened online?”. While there are differences between age groups, we found the percentage of those young people who say “yes” is around 30%. Or, to put it another way, more than two-thirds of the young people surveyed had never had an upsetting experience online.
Meanwhile, the online experiences reported by the 30% who reported being upset often didn’t tally with the extreme cases reporting in the media. Our analysis of responses showed that this upset is far more likely to come from abusive comments by peers and news stories about current affairs.
This disconnect means that young people are reluctant to talk to adults about their concerns. They are afraid of being told off, that the adult will overreact, or that talking to an adult might make the issue worse. The adults they might turn to need to make it clear this won’t happen and that they can help.
How to help
There are three things that young people have consistently told us over the duration of the project, and in our previous work, that adults can do to help. They are: listen and understand – don’t judge.
Conversations are important, as is showing an interest in young people’s online lives. However, those conversations do not have to be confrontational. If a media story about young people and online harms causes parents concern or alarm, the conversation does not have to start with: “Do you do this?” This can result in a defensive response and the conversation being shut down. It would be far better to introduce the topic with: “Have you seen this story? What do you think of this?”
Working in partnership with others, such as schools, is also important. If a parent has concerns, having a conversation with tutors can be a useful way of supporting the young person. The tutor might also be aware that the young person is not acting like themselves, or might have noticed changes in group dynamics among their peer group.
But, even if they are not aware of anything, raising concerns with them – and discussing from where those concerns arise – will mean both parents and school are focused in the same direction. It is important that young people receive both consistent messages and support. And schools will also be able to link up with other support services if they are needed.
Ultimately, we want young people to feel confident that they can ask for help and receive it. This is particularly important, because if they do not feel they can ask for help, it is far less likely the issue they are facing will be resolved – and there is a chance things might become worse without support.
BU authors can now publish OA for free in select journals with American Psychological Association. Read on to find out more!
Authors affiliated with UK institutions participating in APA’s Jisc agreement may publish open access in hybrid journals published by APA at no cost to the author, provided that:
The article’s corresponding author is affiliated with a participating institution’s UK campus.
The article is accepted after August 1, 2022.
The article is an original peer-reviewed research article or review article.
All articles under this agreement will be published under the CC-BY copyright license. Upon publication, articles will be made immediately open access.
You can find further information on how to submit an article for consideration and other key information, such as maximum number of articles, here.
As a reminder, BU holds a number of agreements with key publishers, many of which allow you to publish open access for free. You can read more about them here.
Dr Yutaka Matsubayashi has been named as a recipient of the Academy of Medical Sciences (AMS) Springboard Awards – the first time one has been awarded to a Bournemouth University researcher.
More than 40 Springboard Awards, totalling over £4 million, have been awarded to biomedical and health researchers in their first independent post to help launch their careers.
Dr Matsubayashi, a Lecturer in Systems Biology at BU, has received the grant to support his research investigating the mechanisms that orchestrate basement membrane formation – working towards the invention of future therapies.
The basement membrane is a scaffolding structure that supports almost all animal tissues, and the research has possible clinical applications for many medical conditions caused by basement membrane deficiency – such as kidney failure, skin fragility, and brain haemorrhage.
The grant will be used to employ a research assistant, and a network of collaborators inside and beyond Bournemouth University will also support the work.
The Springboard Awards provide up to £125,000 over two years and a personalised package of career support to help biomedical scientists to launch their research careers.
Dr Suzanne Candy, Director of Biomedical Grants & Policy at the Academy of Medical Sciences, said: “Together with our partners, we are fortunate to be able to support this talented group of researchers doing excellent science. Our strategic ambition is to help create an open and progressive research sector. By investing in these individuals and teams, we are broadening the range of people and disciplines engaged in biomedical and health research, across all regions of the UK, and globally.
“We look forward to supporting our award recipients and seeing how their research has a positive impact on the health of people everywhere.”
The Health Research Authority are inviting people to #StepForward and become a Research Ethics Committee (REC) member.
REC members meet virtually to review exciting new research studies for some of the biggest challenges in health and social care, including cancer, dementia and COVID-19.
It’s important that committees have insight from different perspectives so that we can all trust their decisions. The HRA are particularly looking for people with no healthcare or research experience.
You’ll be provided with regular training and support and it’s a great opportunity to work with people from a range of backgrounds and learn new skills.
You can find out more here. Alternatively, if you have any questions about being on a REC, please get in touch with Suzy Wignall, Clinical Governance Advisor, and Alternate Vice Chair of the West Midlands – Black Country Research Ethics Committee.
The latest Faculty of Health & Social Sciences (FHSS) publication on the last day of March is an editorial in the Nepal Journal of Epidemiology. This editorial ‘The Promising Future for Complex Innovative Trial Design in Clinical Research’ has as its lead author, FHSS’s Visiting Faculty Dr. Brijesh Sathian.
Reference:
Sathian, B., van Teijlingen, E., Banerjee, I., Asim, M., Kabir, R. (2023) The Promising Future for Complex Innovative Trial Design in Clinical Research. Nepal Journal of Epidemiology,13(1):1256-1257.
Join Cafe Scientifique next Tuesday 4th April at the Black Cherry Cafe, Boscombe.
At Café Scientifique, you can explore the latest ideas in science and technology in a relaxed setting. Enjoy listening to a short talk before engaging in debate and discussion with our guest speaker and audience.
We’ll be joined by Professor Lee Miles and Martin Travers on Tuesday 4 April from 6:30 – 8:00pm.
African countries are increasingly vulnerable to disasters of all kinds and must urgently enhance their abilities and capacities to deal with these hazards. Join us to learn how social science research could help improve disaster management in Africa using innovative Single Points of Failure approaches and partnerships with local stakeholders. We’ll hear how African countries have embraced new technology and how disaster management can even take place over WhatsApp!
We will welcome two speakers; Lee Miles, Professor of Crisis and Disaster Management at Bournemouth University and Martin Travers, a highly experienced practitioner who has worked in Sierra Leone, to hear both academic and practical perspectives.
This event will be held at The Black Cherry in Boscombe, Bournemouth. Although the talk starts at 6:30pm, the café will be open early so we encourage you to arrive early for a drink and a bite to eat before the talk starts.
Dr Tara Zaksaite shares her experience of presenting at BU’s Cafe Scientifique on Tuesday 7 March.
My research
The research I presented as part of the Café Scientifique was on spatial memory. Spatial memory refers to our ability to remember where things are, for example remembering where you have put down your keys, or where you have met a friend. Interestingly, our spatial memory is affected by the emotional nature of information to be remembered. Research has found that emotional items, compared with neutral items, tend to be remembered better. However, these studies have mostly asked people to remember sets made-up of all neutral, all negative, or all positive items. In my research, I found when I intermixed items of different emotional valence, emotional items (both positive or negative) appeared to be remembered better than neutral items. There was also evidence of people using emotional information as a category to aid memory. The categorical effect was replicated, including with non-emotional categorical items (gender).
My Café Scientifique experience
I wanted to participate in Café Scientifique because I am passionate about public engagement in research. I acknowledge that there is a big gap in the way that we communicate research findings within academia and to the public, and I would like to contribute to narrowing this gap. I have also done public engagement events in the past and have thoroughly enjoyed them.
“I found that in general people tend to be enthusiastic about research, and that enthusiasm has rekindled my own enthusiasm for my research.”
I prepared for the event by thoroughly simplifying one of my conference presentations. This involved adding images to explain every step of the research, identifying key terms and how to best explain them, and only presenting information that was essential to understanding the research itself. I practiced the presentation several times to make sure I was comfortable delivering it, and adjusted it almost every time I practiced it, to make sure I did not skip any information, went too fast over it, or assumed any expertise on behalf of the audience.
I thought that the talk went very well. I was greeted by Adam and George who were very friendly and welcoming, putting me at ease. I liked the format of the event too: firstly, 30-40 minutes for a talk is very generous and more than most regular conference presentations. Then, after the talk there was a break, which was a good way to catch my breath and relax a little. After this, there was the question portion of the evening. I admit I was a little nervous about the questions at first. However, the atmosphere was very nice and everyone in the audience was really friendly. I got asked interesting questions which led to some interesting discussions and useful suggestions for future research, as well as additional insight into the research.
Overall, I am very grateful for this opportunity to share my research with others, and to remind myself that this research is interesting and valuable. I am really thankful for the team organising these events and to everyone who came to listen. I hope there will be an opportunity to participate in Café Scientifique again in the future. If you are a researcher would like to present your research to the public, I would highly recommend this event – both for those who are new at public engagement and for those who have done events before.
Cafe Scientifique is a place where anyone can come to explore the latest ideas in science and technology. We’ve been holding these talks in Bournemouth for over ten years and are currently at The Black Cherry, a fantastic venue in Boscombe, Bournemouth.
These Cafe Scientifique events are organised by the Research Excellence Team, in RDS. If you would like to take part in a future Cafe Scientifique, please complete our expression of interest form and we will be in touch if we think you’ll fit the bill.
For more than a century, the BBC has been a fixture of British cultural life. However, few people are aware of the key role played by women in its earliest days.
The next event in our online public lecture series will showcase the pioneering women of the BBC – from female producers through to the engineers, broadcasters and managers who carried the BBC through the Second World War and beyond.
The free event will take place online from 7pm – 8.30pm on Thursday 23 March.
Dr Kate Terkanian and Dr Kate Murphy – from the Faculty of Media and Communication – will share stories uncovered by their research into women in the BBC, from the 1920s up to the 1950s.
There will also be the opportunity for audience questions.
The event takes place during Women’s History Month, which this year is celebrating ‘The Women Who Tell Our Stories’, encouraging recognition of women, past and present, who have been active in all forms of media and storytelling.
It is the third event in BU’s 2022/23 online public lecture series, which showcases our research and expertise across key areas. The first lecture series attracted more than 1,000 attendees from across the world.
UK Research and Innovation’s (UKRI) Simpler and Better Funding (SBF) programme has been creating a funding service that is easy to use and supports everyone involved in research funding.
The new Funding Service is designed to be simpler and more intuitive to use. It will provide consistent information requirements and assessment criteria, making it simpler for applicants and assessors.
Guidance on the application process will be supplied within the service, reducing the need to look for additional information in multiple places.
UKRI will continue to operate the existing system (Je-S) for application and award management. When applying for an opportunity on the UKRI funding finder, you will be taken directly to the correct application system.
Over time, opportunities will be transitioned to the new service. For the details of each council transitioning from JeS have a look at this page.
If you have projects in planning stage get in touch with RDS and we can help you with any queries about transitioning to the new service and calls affected by the move.
If you have not used the Funding Service before, the first step is to create an account. The process is straightforward and quick, so you can get started on your application as soon as possible.
RDS will continue to support you as before from your bid preparation stage and approvals before submissions to award management in the new service.
It’s sometimes difficult to imagine how the planet we call home, with its megalopolis cities and serene farmlands, was once dominated by dinosaurs as big as buses and five-storey buildings. But recent research has helped deepen our understanding of why dinosaurs prevailed: the answer may lie in their special bones, structured like Aero chocolate.
Brazilian palaeontologist Tito Aureliano found that hollow bones filled with little air sacs were so important to dinosaur survival, they evolved independently several times in different lineages.
According to the study, aerated bones evolved in three separate lineages: pterosaurs, technically flying reptiles, and two dinosaur lineages theropods (ranging from the crow-sized Microraptor to the huge Tyrannosaurus rex) and sauropodomorphs (long-necked herbivores including Brachiosaurus). The researchers focused on the late Triassic period, roughly 233 million years ago, in south Brazil.
Hollow dinosaur bones, structured a bit like this chocolate, proved to be a major advantage. Kev Gregory/Shutterstock
Every time an animal reproduces, evolution throws up random variants in genetic code. Some of these variants are passed on to offspring and develop over time.
Charles Darwin believed evolution created “endless forms most beautiful”. But some adaptations emerge spontaneously time and time again, a bit like getting the same hand of cards on multiple occasions. When the same hand keeps cropping up, it’s a sign that evolution has hit upon an important and effective solution.
The variant the Brazilian team studied was aerated vertebrae bones, which would have enhanced the dinosaurs’ strength and reduced their body weight.
Light but mighty
Your regular deliveries from Amazon or other online retailers come packed in corrugated cardboard, which has the same advantages as aerated bones. It is light, yet tough.
Corrugated cardboard or as it was first known, pleated paper, was a man-made design experiment that was hugely successful and is now part of our everyday lives. It was patented in England in 1856 and was initially designed to support top hats which were popular in Victorian England and the US at the time.
Three years later, Darwin published his On the Origin of Species which outlined how evolutionary traits that create advantages are more likely to be passed on to future generations than variants which don’t.
CT scan technology allowed Aureliano and his colleagues to peer inside the rock-hard fossils they studied. Without the modern technology, it would have been impossible to look inside the fossils and detect the air sacs in the spinal columns.
The study found no common ancestor had this trait. All three groups must have developed air sacs independently, and each time in slightly different ways.
The air sacs probably enhanced oxygen levels in the dinosaurs’ blood. The Triassic period had a scorching hot and dry climate. So more oxygen circulating in the blood would cool dinosaur bodies more efficiently. It would also allow them to mover faster.
The air sacs would have buttressed and reinforced the internal structure of the dinosaurs’ bones while creating a greater surface area of attachments for large, powerful muscles. This would have enabled the bones to grow to a far larger size without weighing the animal down.
In living birds aerated bones reduce overall mass and volume, while enhancing bone strength and stiffness – essential features for flight.
Palaeontology not only tells the story of what might have been for Earth, had it not been for that infamous asteroid, but also helps us learn about the evolution of still living creatures.
Prehistoric connections
Echoes of this dinosaur legacy lie in many animals alive today. It is not only long-dead animals which found this type of adaptation useful. Many bird species living today rely on hollow bones to fly. Others animals use the air sacs to buttress and strengthen their large bones and skulls, without weighing them down.
An excellent example of this is the elephant skull. Inside elephant skulls are large air sacs which allow the animal to move its massive head and heavy tusks without straining the neck muscles.
The human brain is also protected by two layers of hard, compact, bone (inner and outer tables) which sandwich a layer of softer, spongey and aerated bone in between, known as the diploe. This allows our skulls to be light, but strong and able to absorb shocks to cranium.
These are examples of convergent evolution in which animals are faced repeatedly with the same problem, evolving similar – but not always identical – solutions each time. Animals today are playing by the same evolutionary playbook as the dinosaurs.
Find out more about writing for The Conversation and have the chance to pitch your article ideas to one of their editors in a face-to-face training session on Wednesday 15 March.
The Conversation is a news analysis and opinion website with content written by academics working with professional journalists.
The training session will run by one of The Conversation’s Editors and will take place in the Fusion Building from 1pm – 4pm.
It is open to all BU academics and PhD candidates who are interested in finding out more about working with The Conversation.
Learn how to consider the news potential of your expertise, make your writing accessible and engaging to a diverse range of audiences, and pitch your ideas.
After an initial introduction to working with The Conversation, there will be the chance to chat with the editor and share your research and article ideas.
Why write for The Conversation?
The Conversation is a great way to share research and informed comment on topical issues. Academics work with editors to write pieces, which can then be republished via a creative commons license.
Since we first partnered with The Conversation, articles by BU authors have had nearly 9 million reads and been republished by the likes of The i, Metro, and the Washington Post.
A new European research project will enable consumers to find and buy local food supplies, reducing waste and supporting sustainable purchases.
The FoodMAPP project – being led in the UK by Bournemouth University (BU) – will develop a searchable map-based platform that will enable consumers to search and buy food products directly from local suppliers.
Currently within Europe food is transported, on average, 171km from farm to fork. 26 per cent of global carbon emissions come from food and large volumes of food are wasted.
The FoodMAPP project aims to address these challenges by enabling consumers to identify and purchase local sources of food in real time to shorten supply chains and reduce food waste, while also providing additional sustainable income to food producers and providers.
A consortium of European partners, comprising academic partners in Croatia, Hungary, Spain and Belgium and industry partners in France & Austria will support the project.
BU’s involvement in FoodMAPP will be led by Associate Professor Jeff Bray and supported by an interdisciplinary research team from across the university including Professor Katherine Appleton, Professor Juliet Memery, Dr Roberta Discetti and Dr Vegard Engen.
Dr Bray said: “Our current food supply system is not sustainable both in terms of its ability to reliably provide the right nutrition for a growing world population and in terms of the environmental footprint of current practices.”
“The project aims to transform local food supply reducing food miles, reducing food waste and increasing localised food supply resilience.”
The FoodMAPP project team
BU led on the development of the four-year project, which has been awarded €584,200 from Horizon Europe Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions, alongside additional funding from UKRI to support BU’s continued inclusion.
The European coordinator is Associate Professor Vinko Lešić from Zagreb University (Croatia) and partners include Ghent University (Belgium), Eötvös Loránd University (Hungary) and CREDA (Centre for agro-food economics and development, Spain) alongside partners from the food industry – Institute Paul Bocuse (France) and Ronge & Partner (Austria).
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Today we decided on the name of our interdisciplinary research project on ‘Drowning Prevention for newly mobile infants under two’s in Bangladesh’. We were looking for one or two words in Bangla (or Bengali) that also sounded good in English and which was not already used for another research project in Bangladesh. A team from BU and CIPRB (Centre for Injury Prevention and Research, Bangladesh) using Human-Centred Design (HCD) tools came up with the name. The wider research team, after some debate and and checking for its current use in the research field, settled for the word Sonamoni (golden pearl).
The Sonamoni project has been made possible thanks to a grant from the National Institute for Health and Care Research (NIHR) through their Research and Innovation for Global Health Transformation programme. For more information, visit the NIHR website.
The next event in our 
The FoodMAPP project – being led in the UK by Bournemouth University (BU) – will develop a searchable map-based platform that will enable consumers to search and buy food products directly from local suppliers.
Read and sign up to BU’s Policy Influence Digest
Upcoming opportunities for PGRs – collaborate externally
BU involved in new MRF dissemination grant
New COVID-19 publication
MSCA Postdoctoral Fellowships 2024
Horizon Europe News – December 2023
