Category / Research news

CfP: Lifestyle and communities: sharing in the digital era

ID-100267211It’s with great pleasure that we invite you to submit an abstract to a special track on “Lifestyle and communities: sharing in the digital era” of the ATLAS annual conference. It will take place in Canterbury, Kent, UK, 14th-16th September 2016.

Please see below for details, or click here… and share!
Led by: Lenia Marques, Jules Hecquet and Dimitrios Buhalis (Bournemouth University, UK)
Supported by: ETourism Lab

The leisure and tourism landscape has been subject to rapid changes in a world where internet and technologies have contributed to shape experiences, relationships, practices and lifestyles. In the network society, the sense of community is also varied and we can interrogate different meanings, values and practices at the heart of changing social interactions. The boundaries between online and offline communities seem to be blurred and they present new societal challenges, which also affect the industry, namely with sharing economy / collaborative consumption practices and communities (such as AirBnB, Uber, Couchsurfing, Meetup, Mealsharing, etc.).

The causes and consequences of such platforms in terms of lifestyle and the sense of community is yet to be studied. Therefore, we welcome papers which may explore, but are not limited to, the following themes:

  • Online/offline communities and lifestyle
  • Sharing economy / collaborative consumption and lifestyle
  • Social interaction in the digital era
  • Leisure digital practices
  • Events as online/offline communities of practice
  • Digital technologies in the tourism experience
  • Lifestyle challenges in leisure and tourism
  • Impacts of sharing economy / collaborative consumption in conventional industry production systems
  • Research methods in the context of sharing economy / collaborative consumption

The convenors are looking at possibilities for publication.

For more details, click  here or contact Dr Lenia Marques, lmarques@bournemouth.ac.uk .

http://www.atlas-euro.org/event_2016_canterbury/tabid/248/language/en-US/Default.aspx#track6

*Image courtesy of Stuart Miles at FreeDigitalPhotos.net

Event Studies – theory, research, and policy for planned events

Professor Stephen Page in the Faculty of Management has just published his 40th book, Event Studies with Routledge, a collaboration with one of the top scholars in the field of events research, Professor Don Getz from the University of Calgary, which is a third edition of this major student text.

Event Studies is the only book devoted to developing knowledge and theory about planned events. It focuses on event planning and management, the experience of events and the meanings attached to them, the dynamic processes shaping events and why people attend them. In essence it is a synthesis of the different disciplines that have contributed to the development of events research, also highlighting important discourses on event management, event tourism, and the study of events within various disciplines that are able to help understand the impacts of events in society.

Science groups gear up for and against Brexit

European IPR webinarsWith just four months to go until the referendum on British membership of the EU on 23 June, academics are lining up on either side of the debate. Scientists’ lobby groups on both sides will register with the government as parties to the vote in the next two weeks.

Research Professional have written an interesting article which sets out both sides of the camp.  Click here to read more.

Alan Breen: 0.2 FTE Professor of Musculoskeletal Research in the Faculty of Science & Technology

I am delighted to have joined the Faculty in a part-time capacity in January of this year to help develop a new Impact Case Study related to spinal patient stratification based on biomechanics.   It is a privilege to now be a part of the team, some of whom I have already worked with as a PhD supervisor.

As some of you know, I come from the AECC, the College of Chiropractic, which is an Associate College of the University.  I have already participated in some unique collaborative studies with BU researchers over some years.   My new post will enable me to continue such collaborations, but now as an actual member of BU staff.

My particular research focus has been on a novel technology called ‘Quantitative Fluoroscopy’, which I invented in the 1990s and have worked to develop and use in research ever since.  This technology is becoming the gold standard for detecting strains between the vertebrae of the spine – and its use is expanding in the diagnosis of problematical spinal pain conditions.

With colleagues from BU, we have now begun to link these devices with other technologies and with modelling techniques to more thoroughly represent the integrated function of the spinal bones and tissues in a spectrum of disease conditions.

I look forward to meeting all of you and sharing these ideas and research activities.

Best wishes,

Alan

 

The Royal Society – Pairing Scheme

Each year 30 research scientists are paired with UK parliamentarians and civil servants. They learn about each other’s work by spending time together in Westminster and the researcher’s institutions.

Those taking part gain an insight into how research findings can help inform policy making, and come away with a better understanding of how they can get involved.

See who has taken part in previous years.

How does the scheme work?

The scheme takes place annually, beginning with a ‘Week in Westminster’ in which the pairs first meet. Over the week the scientists take part in workshops, hear from invited speakers and spend two days shadowing their pair.

Read 2015’s ‘Week in Westminster’ agenda (PDF). You can see how last year’s participants spent their week in Westminster by checking out this Storify.

After the ‘Week in Westminster’, it is the turn of the parliamentarians and civil servants to get an insight into the world of research, undertaking reciprocal visits with their pairs.

The scheme is now open for applications from scientists until Wednesday 9 March.  Find out how to apply. Email public.affairs@royalsociety.org for more information.

Who is the scheme for?

Parliamentarians

  • Learn about the science behind the issues raised by your constituents and meet experts who can provide evidence on the policy issues you are dealing with
  • Visit your local universities or research institutions and meet students and researchers living in your local area
  • Find out how your local schools are encouraging students to study science and maths subjects
  • Discover how scientific research underpins the UK’s innovative industries

Find out more

Civil servants

  • Find out more about the science behind the policy issues you work on
  • Learn how to analyse research findings and discover how they can be used to inform the policy decisions you make
  • Make long-lasting relationships with scientists working in your field during the Week in Westminster and by visiting your pair’s research facility
  • Network with other civil servants working in scientific fields

Find out more

Scientists

  • Learn how parliament and government work and how you can feed in to the policy making process
  • Find out how your research can inform policy decisions
  • Build lasting relationships with parliamentarians and civil servants
  • Network with fellow scientists

Find out more

New BU multidisciplinary media & health paper out today!

media childbirth

Today saw the publication “Is it realistic?” the portrayal of pregnancy and childbirth in the media, a paper which is truly interdisciplinary, both in terms of its authorship as well as its topics[1]. The lead-author, Dr. Ann Luce is based in the Faculty of Media & Communication, whilst her BU co-authors Dr. Catherine Angell, Prof. Vanora Hundley, Prof. Edwin van Teijlingen and Dr. Marylin Cash are all associated with the Faculty of Health & Social Sciences. Prof. Helen Cheyne, the only non-BU co-author, is based at the University of Stirling.

The paper is a scoping review to assess the influence media have on pregnant women. Much of the academic literature discusses the influence of (reality) television, which often portrays birth as risky, dramatic and painful.  Although many claim that the portrayal of childbirth has a negative effect on society, there is little research evidence to support this claim. It has been suggested that women seek out such programmes to help understand what could happen during the birth because there is a cultural void through the increasing anticipation of negative outcomes. However the impact that has on normal birth has not been explored.  Our paper highlighted three key themes: (a) the medicalisation of childbirth; (b) women using media to learn about childbirth; and (c) birth as a missing everyday life event.  The key conclusions are the media appear to influence how women engage with childbirth. The dramatic television portrayal of birth may perpetuate the medicalisation of childbirth, and last, but not least, portrayals of normal birth are often missing in the popular media. Hence midwives need to engage with television producers to improve the representation of midwifery and maternity in the media.

BMC cover media

BMC Pregnancy and Childbirth is an Open Access journal so our paper is freely available to researchers, journalists, childbirth activists as well as pregnant women anywhere in the world.  This paper builds on a growing number of academic papers published by staff in the Centre for Midwifery, Maternal & Perinatal Health (CMMPH) on the role the media play in health and midwifery, both in the UK [2-3] and in Nepal [4-6].

 

Prof. Edwin van Teijlingen

CMMPH

 

References:

  1.  Luce, A., Cash, M., Hundley, V., Cheyne, H., van Teijlingen, E., Angell, C., (2016) “Is it realistic?” the portrayal of pregnancy and childbirth in the media BMC Pregnancy & Childbirth 16: 40
  2. Hundley, V., Duff, E., Dewberry, J., Luce, A., van Teijlingen, E. (2014) Fear in childbirth: are the media responsible? MIDIRS Midwifery Digest 24(4): 444-447.
  3. Hundley, V., Luce, A., van Teijlingen, E. (2015) Do midwives need to be more media savvy? MIDIRS Midwifery Digest 25(1):5-10.
  4. Devkota, S., Simkhada, P., van Teijlingen, E., Rai, L.D. (2012) Media use for Health Promotion: Communicating Childhood Immunisation Messages to Parents. Journal of Health Promotion 4(1): 1-9.
  5. Devkota, S., Simkhada, P., van Teijlingen, E., Rai, L.D. (2013) Childhood Immunisation in Nepal: Parents’ knowledge, attitudes and behaviour & implications for Health Policy. Health Science Journal 7(4):370-383.
  6. Devkota, S., Maharjan, H.M., van Teijlingen, E. (2015) Media and Health. In: Wasti, S.P., Simkhada, P.P. & van Teijlingen, E. (Eds.) The Dynamics of Health in Nepal, Kathmandu, Nepal: Social Science Baha & Himal Books: 169-184.

The Leverhulme Trust – Project Grant Advice

Leverhulme-TrustThe Leverhulme Trust has released guidance to help support applicants in their project grant applications. The guidance pinpoints several areas that applicants often get wrong when submitting their proposals to The Leverhulme Trust. These are as follows:

  • Applicants should only use their institutional email address, personal addresses are not allowable.
  • Principal and co-applicants cannot claim for direct salary costs for themselves nor be a consultant, research assistant, local researcher or PhD student. (In other words, you can only claim for teaching replacement and the employment of Research Assistants).
  • There must be at least one research assistant, local researcher or PhD student working for at least 50% in each year of the grant.
  • Percentages must be based on the time spent on the project as a whole, not yearly. For example a research assistant working on a project for 100% would need to have 100% salary costs in every year, not just one.
  • Replacement teaching must not exceed 33% on any grant, this equals a third of the time of any project, e.g. 1 year on a 3 year grant.
  • Consultants must be named and be crucial to the project, they cannot claim a salary only a reasonable fee.
  • If you are requesting administration/secretarial/technician/technical assistance then this must be listed under associated costs.
  • We do not provide funding for setting up a conference, only to attend ones relevant to the research being undertaken.
  • Associated costs such as travel, subsistence and accommodation can only be provided for those listed on the application (e.g. principal applicant, co-applicant/s, research assistants, local researchers, PhD students and consultants).

Please also note that Outline applications have no deadlines.

Please contact your Funding Development Officer if you intend to submit an application to The Leverhulme Trust. You can find your Funding Development Officer here.

 

BU Civic Media Hub & the Omega Research Foundation publish report on the misuse of Tear Gas in Europe

tear gas turkey flag

Peaceful demonstrators tear gassed in Turkey

Responding to a request for more data on tear gas misuse in Council of Europe member states, the BU Datalabs team hosted a daylong data hack day to aggregate information and produce a report for the Council of Europe. The report offers a brief summary analysis of Human Rights investigations into the misuse of tear gas on peaceful and civilian protesters. It covers member states of the Council of Europe that came under investigation in a sample of publicly available reports published between 2006 and 2016.

Our summary report shares a number of key findings regarding human rights concerns. These findings include data indicating that tear gas is frequently being used in confined and enclosed spaces, which can increase the likelihood of suffocation, stampeding and related injuries and deaths. Tear gas is also being used in places with uninvolved bystanders, and in places where there are vulnerable populations, such as near, or even inside, hospitals and schools.

The number of incidents that took place in contained areas compared to streets

The number of incidents that took place in contained areas compared to streets

Another major finding of the report reveals the lack of adequate and transparent record keeping on police use of force. No Council of Europe member state currently keeps publicly available statistics on police use of force with tear gas or other less lethal weapons. This means that there is no access to information on the amount of tear gas that is used, where it is used, or what injuries and deaths it causes.

We conclude our report with a list of 9 recommendations for change. Primary among these is a call for member states to comply with the UN Basic Principles on the Use of Force and Firearms by Law Enforcement Officials.

Our full report is available to read and download here:USE OF TEAR GAS ON PEACEFUL PROTESTERS BY COUNCIL OF EUROPE MEMBER STATES

 

Dr. Anna Feigenbaum, Laura McKenna, Ozlem Demirkol, Tim Sontheimer, Daniel Weissmann, Charlotte Souter-Phillips, Thomas Dence, and Wilfred Collins-Fierkens conducted research for this report. With thanks to Dr. Phillipa Gillingham and Dr. Einar Thorsen for guidance, and a special thanks to Laura McKenna who worked as the Research Assistant throughout this project.

The Omega Research Foundation is part funded by the European Instrument on Democracy and Human Rights.

Screen Shot 2016-02-26 at 13.49.51

First BU paper Prof. McConnell

Alison McConnell 2016FHSS Professor Alison McConnell just published her latest paper ‘Inspiratory muscle training improves breathing pattern during exercise in COPD patients’  with her international co-authors from Belgium and Thailand.  The paper concludes that the addition of inspiratory muscle training to a pulmonary rehabilitation programme in COPD (chronic obstructive pulmonary disease) patients with inspiratory muscle weakness resulted in a deeper and slower breathing pattern during exercise. Patients could achieve significantly higher peak work rate and exercise ventilation without increasing dyspnoea sensation.

Prof. McConnell is also author of Breathe Strong, Perform Better as well as Respiratory Muscle Training: Theory & Practice.

Congratultions,

Prof. Edwin van Teijlingen

CMMPH

 

“Flip it!” –Kip Jones’ most frequent workshop advice

Attendants at the Creative Writing for Academics Workshop at Bournemouth University.  Some hold copies of the photograph from which they created a story.

Attendants at the Creative Writing for Academics Workshop at Bournemouth University. Some hold copies of the photograph from which they created a story.

The most frequent advice from Kip Jones to participants was “Flip it!”

“Flip it!” –Kip Jones’ most frequent workshop advice.

 

Recently, 27 academics, some from as far away as upstate New York and Dublin, gathered for the Creative Writing for Academics with Kip Jones at Bournemouth University (BU). Their goal was two days of experimentation with writing techniques to engender more creative outputs in their academic writing.

The conclusion of one participant reflected the sentiments of many: “The Creative Writing for Academics workshop turned out to be a great experience, more than expected!!”

The two-day workshop was organised by BU’s Centre for Qualitative Research, and was promoted thusly:

“This unique event isn’t a typical writing retreat (with trees to hug and lots of time to ruminate), but a very active experience with exercises, suggestions and supportive feedback on participants’ work…”

KimballFrontCover-216x300Instead of taking 30 minutes or more to go round the room and let everyone make an introduction (listing job titles, universities, theses topics, etc. ad infinitum), Jones asked attendees to take 15 minutes and write their life story on a postcard instead. This is an exercise that comes directly from Michael Kimball’s work, Michael Kimball Writes Your Life Story (on a postcard). Kimball is an American novelist whose writing Jones admires. A few examples from Kimball’s postcard book were shared with the group. Each participant then wrote her/his own life story on a postcard; afterwards, some of the attendants then shared their stories with the group.

Jones then explained tags, log lines and treatments—copywriting techniques used in advertising and filmmaking.

The Workshop as a Logline: Participants were challenged to write their “Life on a postcard”, they were introduced to creating tags and log lines; homework was to write a poem based on a dream. Next, they created a story from a photograph. Finally, they shared their stories with others who had used the same photo. (50 words)

Tag: “Artistic types take their time … in an Italian trattoria.”

Participants then had a go at creating tags and loglines for academic articles that they brought with them. This was an exercise in using simple sentences, reducing content to its essence and creating copy that could be used in titles and the body of articles, in blogs and on Twitter.

Jones used a relaxed and open-ended process throughout the workshop. Francesca Cavallerio’s extended feedback report captures the essence of the responses of many to this approach to the workshop:

I enjoyed the freedom that came from writing creatively, without prescriptions. Having no other goal than the story/poem itself was intimidating initially, but then turned into an amazing experience. I think (the workshop) allowed me to discover a few things about myself and the way I write. Also, by listening to what others wrote, and realizing how many different ways of writing exist, and how much I enjoyed each of them, gave me an increased sense of freedom and possibility.

I was expecting more “directions”, tips on “how to use creative writing in academia”. But now that we are at the end of the workshop, I think I can see why it was organised in this way. Yesterday, I would have said, “Yes, I wanted to be guided more”. Today, I am actually very happy of the structure and everything I learned, felt and experienced here. –Francesca Cavallerio, St. Mary’s University, Twickenham.

P1020052

The last morning of the workshop consisted of reading some of the poems that were written overnight. Attendants then chose from amongst 11 black and white photographs. The brief was to write a story about what the photograph was about. The only instruction was that often a photograph could represent the moment between what led up to the event captured and what might happen next. The group took the rest of the morning to write the photo-based 1,000 word stories. After lunch, they assembled in groups of three (each group having chosen the same photo) and compared stories and outcomes.

Creative Writing Photo exercise

“I feel a sense of satisfaction in having written a life-story postcard, a poem and a short story—all very personal.” –Anne Quinney, Bournemouth University

The workshop was envisaged as a way to help academics with publishing in the wider world of blogs and online outlets, moving work to mixed media, auto-ethnography, and even fiction, radio and film. Jones gave ideas of the kinds of blogs and even journals that are receptive to creative academic work. He shared experiences with his own outputs and finding like-minded editors with whom to work.

The intellectual exchanges encouraged joint exploration on how academics can engage with principles and tools from the arts in order to expand and extend their possibilities of dissemination of their work. Concepts of creativity itself evolved and were transformed by participants’ outlooks and willingness to engage with unfamiliar territory. These processes comprised a ‘facilitated learning’—in that knowledge was gained as a secondary goal through a process of developing new relationships. This was achieved through individual and small group problem-solving and self-examination, grounded in personal past experience and knowledge.

 

 

Cloud and Weather Simulation for Computer Graphics

We would like to invite you to the next research seminar of the Creative Technology Research Centre.

Speaker: Leigh McLoughlinresults_cumulo_2

Title: Cloud and Weather Simulation for Computer Graphics

Time: 2:00PM-3:00PM

Date: Wednesday 2nd March 2016

Room: P302, Poole House, Talbot Campus

 

Abstract:

In this talk I will discuss my work on cloud simulation for computer graphics. This work was designed to provide a means of simulating clouds and weather features, such as rain, using desktop graphics hardware. This involves elements of meteorology, numerical weather simulation and computational fluid dynamics, taken from the sciences and adapted to meet the more artistic requirements of computer graphics in which an element of control is required and the laws of physics may be wilfully disobeyed. The result is a lightweight physically-inspired cloud simulation scheme, capable of emulating the dynamic properties of cloud formation and weather effects.

We hope to see you there.

 

SURE BU Conference – join us to celebrate undergraduate research

Our annual undergraduate research conference – SURE BU – is returning for its second year on 2 March on Talbot Campus.  We’ve had some fantastic submissions, which show how our students are getting involved in research, improving their skills and developing new knowledge.

SURE BU is an excellent way to celebrate research being undertaken by our students, learn more about how their ideas could make a difference and how research is shaping their future careers.  The conference is open to students and staff to attend: you can drop into a session or stay all day.  Attending the conference is a great opportunity to meet with other students, find out about the research going on at BU and support our students as they take their first steps into the world of research.

We’re keen for staff to attend as next year, BU will be playing host to the British Undergraduate Research Conference, which we hope you’ll encourage your students to get involved in.

Students will be presenting throughout the day and prizes will be awarded to the best contributors at a drinks reception in the evening.

The conference will take place on Wednesday 2 March in Kimmeridge House, Talbot Campus.

Tickets can be booked via Eventbrite.

Reminder of BU’s Bridging Fund Scheme for researchers

Golden gate Bridge wallpaperIn summer 2015 we launched the new BU Bridging Fund Scheme which aims to provide additional stability to fixed-term researchers who continue to rely heavily on short-term contracts usually linked to external funding. This situation sometimes impacts negatively on continuity of employment and job security and can result in a costly loss of researcher talent for the institution.

The new Bridging Fund Scheme aims to mitigate these circumstances by redeploying the researcher where possible, or where feasible, by providing ‘bridging funding’ for the continuation of employment for a short-term (maximum three months) between research grants. It is intended to permit the temporary employment, in certain circumstances, of researchers between fixed-term contracts at BU, for whom no other source of funding is available, in order to:

(a) encourage the retention of experienced and skilled staff, and sustain research teams and expertise;

(b) aconcordat to support the career development of researchersvoid the break in employment and career which might otherwise be faced by such staff;

(c) maximise the opportunity for such staff to produce high-quality outputs and/or research impact at the end of funded contracts/grants.

To find out more about the scheme, including how to apply for bridging funding, see the scheme guidelines.

This is a great step forward for BU and for BU’s researchers and is an action from our EC HR Excellence in Research Award which aims to increase BU’s alignment with the national Concordat to Support the Career Development of Researchers (further information is available here: https://research.bournemouth.ac.uk/research-environment/research-concordat/).

Challenges in Research Event

Challenges in Research

Wednesday 24th February, 12pm-2pm

Second Floor, Executive Business Centre, Lansdowne Campus

Open to all Research Staff from across the Faculties, this event will aim to enlighten you about some of the issues you might encounter as a researcher. There will be two sets of parallel sessions running for 1 hour per session covering the following topics:

  • Predatory publishing/Fake conference and editorial board
    1. Jenny Hall, Emma Crowley and Edwin van Teijlingen will be addressing the exponential growth in commercial (predatory) journals and ‘academic conferences’ over the past few years.
      • They will be highlighting some of the available information/ resources to help the confused researcher in finding the most appropriate journal for their academic paper.
      • The presenters between them have a wealth of experience in academic publishing, editing international journals, reviewing journal submissions as well as advising junior colleagues on developing  their publication strategies.
  • IP and Patents – Traps to avoid
  • Contractual complications
  • Sponsorship  
    1. “How to navigate the BU process and sponsorship” by Jason Edwards
    2. “Lots of people think that sponsorship and funding is the same think” – Laura Purandare will talk about what sponsorship is and the main issues you  might encounter and how to overcome them
  • A Brief Introduction to Open Research Data and Research Data Management by Michael Board. The talk will cover:
    1. Open Research Data – BU researchers are increasingly expected to share their research data with other stakeholders.  Find out about: the benefits of research data sharing, funder RDM requirements and the measures that can be taken to embargo research data if it is ethically or commercially sensitive.
    2. Research Data Management –  BU is in the process of implementing a RDM system to enable its researchers to share their research data.  Find out about: the key components of the RDM system that enables the deposition of research data into a data repository, and the features that make the data outputs accessible.

The sessions will be run by legal services along with library and research staff.

Further information about the timing of particular sessions will be posted closer to the time, as well as emailed out to anyone who has already pre-registered.

To register your place please click here

RKEO faculty-facing staff – when and where?

RKEO has a number of posts that directly support colleagues in the Faculties with bid preparation and submission and the post-award management of grants and contracts. These staff members spend approximately 50% of their time based in the Faculty offices. Information on when and where you can expect to find them when they are working in your Faculty is available here on the Research Blog here: http://blogs.bournemouth.ac.uk/research/contact/faculty-facing-staff/.