Category / Research news

UKRO Visit – 14th October 2015 – Save the date!

UKRO logoDo you aspire to be an EU-funded researcher?

The planning for our annual UKRO visit from our European Adviser, Maribel Glogowski, is well underway. This will take place on Wednesday, 14th October 2015 at Talbot Campus.

There will be an information sharing session for RKEO-only staff in the morning with presentations for all staff in the afternoon (13:00 – c. 16:30). It is expected that the afternoon session will include a general introduction to EU funding and the draft Work Programmes to 2017. You can see the draft Work Programmes in the Subscribers’ area on the UKRO portal. As BU subscribes to this service, all staff can register.

Please register for this event as soon as possible by contacting Dianne Goodman. Once we have your details, we will send the full programme, when it is confirmed. The schedule for the day will also be announced on the Research Blog nearer the date.

If you have any burning EU funding information needs, do let me, Emily Cieciura, know as soon as possible, so that we can incorporate your query into the session, where possible.

NERC Call for ideas for strategic programme areas

nerc-logo-50thNERC is inviting the environmental science community to submit new ideas for strategic research. NERC is seeking ideas for research challenges that should be priorities for strategic research investment through either highlight topics or strategic programme areas. NERC would welcome ideas from both researchers and those who use environmental science research.

Ideas for strategic programme areas should be submitted by 21 September 2015. Ideas for highlight topics should be submitted by 19 October 2015.

New guidance is available to explain what they are looking for, and how to submit ideas. The Strategic Programme Advisory Group (SPAG) will use these ideas to develop proposals for new highlight topics or strategic programme areas.

The aim of this process is to capture and build on ideas for excellent strategic science coming directly from the environmental science community. NERC first asked for ideas for strategic research last year, and 150 ideas were received by the cut-off date of 31 August 2014. NERC would like to thank all those who submitted ideas at that time. The ideas spanned all three of NERC’s strategic challenges (benefitting from natural resources, resilience to environmental hazards and managing environmental change) and covered a broad range of environmental science disciplines. Ideas were received from research and user communities, and from individuals and groups.

American Sociological Association Annual Conference in Chicago, Puts Romance, Internet Dating and Relationships Center-Stage

By Professor Ann Brooks

The American Sociological Association (ASA) Annual Conference in August, set against the stunning backdrop of the city of Chicago and Lake Ontario, and the socio-cultural earthquakes of Ashley Madison and the political challenges of Donald Trump proved to be even more dynamic than usual. The theme this year was Sexualities in the Social World and attracted hundreds of iconic figures from the sociological world and global sociologists more generally. Iconic figures such as Sasskia Sassen, Sylvia Walby, Anne Swidler, Eva Illouz, Judy Wajcman, Eric Kleinenberg, Robert Sampson, Lynne Jamieson and many many more ….. a veritable whos who in the contemporary world of sociology, presented and contributed enormously to this major conference in sociology.

sexualities in the social world

Plenary sessions included: The Politics of Same-Sex Marriage: Public Opinion and the Courts; Modern Romance: Dating, Mating and Marriage; The Rise of Nonmarital Births; Internet Dating; Abortion in America; and in addition a huge range of Presidental (ASA) Panels included : Birth Control in America; Women on the Battlefield: Integrating Women into the U.S. Military; Aging and Sexuality; Cohabitation; and many many more.

I chose sessions to reinforce the new undergraduate course I am offering in Sem 2, 2015-6 entitled Love and Intimacy in Contemporary Society and these major Plenary sessions did not disappoint. In fact they turned out to be real highpoints of the conference. A packed Saturday evening Plenary Panel entitled Romance Matters included Eric Kleinenberg (NYU), Azis Ansari (Comedian, Author, and TV Presenter), Helen Fisher (Rutgers, psychotherapist and Consultant to match.com), Christain Rudder (Ok Cupid) and Eli Finkel (Northwestern) enthralled the audience with serious and amusing presentations. This was followed by the signing of the Anzari and Kleinenberg new book …Romance Matters. I have to say the students will really enjoy this bringing together of research and teaching.

ASA Eric Kleinenberg       ASA Keynote Modern Romanceaziz

 

I convened a session on Gender, Sexuality and Work with 5 excellent papers, many of which are being published within books or journals.

The Presidential address by Paula England looked at the Changing Nature of Sexuality and and a further Presidential Panel looked at the advantages and disadvantages of Internet Dating also as an evening Keynote panel.

ASA Presidential addressASA Internet Dating

A truly inspiring conference with significant relevance for my new BU course. Thank you BU and HSS for supporting this.

Professor Ann Brooks September 7, 2015

The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is for good men to do nothing

emily Emily Rosenorn-Lanng Research Assistant

FullSizeRender Rebecca Johnson Research Assistant

FullSizeRender[1] Sarah Wincewicz Research Admin Assistant

 

 

 

 

 

 

Financial scamming is costing the UK public approximately £3.5 billion each year. It is a problem which has developed in recent years and has hit the press because of the relationship with charity mugging, or ‘chugging’ (charities coercing people to give money). Although both scamming and ‘chugging’ result in the coercion of money from donors, they differ in approach, perception and legality. Having a charity connection gives ‘chuggers’ a sense of morality, which gives them a sense of legality, allowing them to tug on the heartstrings of consumers and persuade them, sometimes by intimidation, to part with money. Once a donation has been made, and details have been obtained, charities feel they have the right to regularly hound their donors for further contributions, and have recently been discovered to sell their details on to non-charitable organisations.

The Daily Mail’s investigation into the story of former Army Colonel, Mr Rae, highlights the relationship between scamming and ‘chugging’. Charities who acquired Mr Rae’s personal details sold them up to 200 times to other charities and list brokers who then passed them to scammers who deceived £4,000 from him.

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To what extent is it a problem?

The following figures, specific to Mr Rae, demonstrate the relationship that ‘chugging’ has with scamming:
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The alarming figures demonstrate the impact of this relationship and raise plenty of questions. How valuable is personal information to a charity? Why are charities selling personal information to non-charities? Where are the moral boundaries in this? What part do charities play in the scamming of vulnerable people?

What are we doing about it?

Here at the National Centre for Post Qualifying Social Work and Professional Practice we are working with Trading Standards to tackle scamming and chugging. To do this we are looking into:

  • Early intervention
  • The cost to victims and the knock on effect of being scammed
  • Developing a sophisticated profile for a potential victim, allowing the creation of ethical mailing lists that charities and public bodies could use
  • Reviewing the understanding of the Data Protection Act to make it potentially easier to remove people from databases (mail, telesales and charity approach) for the most vulnerable
  • Developing good practice guides and advice for professionals working in this field and for vulnerable citizens and their families/carers.

We recognise that this will all take time, but there are steps that you can take today. You can help protect the most vulnerable members of society from this sort of exploitation. How? Have that conversation with Mum, Dad, Nan, Grandad, Aunt or an elderly neighbour. Keep an eye out for scam mail and an ear out for scam phone calls. Make them aware they have a choice as to whether to respond or not, or whether to donate or not.

Most of all, make sure they are not lonely. Time and time again, we hear how loneliness is a key factor in chugging and scamming. If we can ensure our friends and family are not so lonely, then we may be able to ensure they are less vulnerable.

Introducing Rebecca Johnson: PQSW Research Assistant

FullSizeRenderI have joined Bournemouth University as a Research Assistant for the National Centre of Post-Qualifying Social Work and Professional Practice. The Centre is very dynamic and has a wide range of interesting projects and professional development programmes to engage with. I am looking forward to becoming involved with research into financial scamming and mass marketing fraud.

I founded my research background with a Human and Physical Geography degree in which I was able to work with NASA’s Environment and Energy team on research into the economic and environmental impact of launching the space shuttle. I have previously worked in both the public and private sectors in public consultation and communication roles. Most recently I worked with Exeter International Airport as an Air Traffic Control Assistant, an intense role which has left me with a personal interest in aircraft; particularly those that are fast and red.

Outside of work I like to travel, principally North America, and keep active with running and dance. I have an interest in World War 2 history and take part in living history events in the UK and in France. After my second week I am enjoying life as a member of the University and am keen to embrace all that it offers.

BU Academic International Engagement

Asia Conference on Power and Electrical Engineering (ACPEE 2016) has invited Dr Zulfiqar Khan (Associate Professor) to join as a Technical Committee Member. ACPEE is organised by Hong Kong Society of Mechanical Engineers. The conference will be held in Bangkok, Thailand, from 20-22 March 2016.

Renewable Energy Sources and Technology is one of the conference themes. This theme includes topics such as Solar Energy Systems, Wind Energy Systems, Marine Renewable Energy, Energy Management & Environmental issues, Hybrid Power Systems, Distributed & Co-Generation Systems, Biomass Energy and Geothermal Resources, Hydro Power Plants, Hydrogen Systems and Fuel Cells.

Dr Zulfiqar Khan is leading a significant research portfolio in renewable technologies in collaboration with Future Energy Source Ltd and National University of Science & Technology. This includes three PhD degree research projects: 1) Energy Recovery at Thermodynamic Expansion and Thermal Boosting Through Convection in Flat Plate Solar Thermal Systems (match funded by NUST), 2) Experimental investigation and mathematical modelling of dynamic equilibrium of novel thermo fluids for renewable technology applications (fully funded by Future Energy Source Ltd), 3) Research and development in novel alternative renewable energy technology (fully funded by Future Energy Source Ltd) and a recently awarded Post Doctoral Research Assistant PDRA, 3) Modelling & development of thermo-fluids incorporating nano-additives (funded by Future Energy Source Ltd).

ACPEE is an international forum for the dissemination of latest research findings in the fields of Power and Electrical Engineering. The conference will provide a forum for exchange of ideas, networking and initiating collaborations among world leading researchers, engineers and scientists from around the globe.

All submissions will be peer reviewed, accepted papers will be published in the ACPEE 2016 conference Proceedings and will be submitted to IEEE Xplore review.

If you have interests in renewable energy technologies or would like to know more please contact Zulfiqar Khan (Associate Professor)

Latest Funding Opportunities

The following selection of BU-relevant funding opportunities have been announced. Please follow the links for more information:

Department for Environment, Food & Rural Affairs

Stodmarsh Site – Water Quality Study

Incidences of fish kill and algal blooms have given rise to concerns with regards to water control and water quality in the main NNR Reserve Lake at Stodmarsh NNR. This project will also provide recommendations for improvements in water control and water quality, which should work towards improving the ecological condition of the site.

Max Award: £20,000 over 6 months Deadline: 2 September 2015 for EOI

Aqualate Mere Site – Water Quality Project

The aim of this contract is to understand if catchment sources of nutrients and sediment are still significant and therefore if further reductions are needed to achieve the SSSI water quality objectives.

Max Award: Unspecified Deadline: 2 September 2015 for EOI

Food Standards Agency

Invitation for Expressions of Interest in Strategic Evidence Programme Research Projects: Exploring the potential of integrating next generation sequencing and other ‘big data’.

Max Award: Unspecified Deadline: 14 September 2015 for tenders

EPSRC

Trust, Identity, Privacy & Security in the Digital Economy

The Research Councils UK Digital Economy Theme and the cyber security strand of the Partnership for Conflict, Crime and Security are investing up to £10 million to support user-driven and interdisciplinary research that solves real problems in establishing trust, identity, privacy and security in the digital economy.

Max Award: Total of £10 million to fund up to 10 projects Deadline: 14 September 2015 for “Intent to Bid” and 13 October 2015 for full submission

Industry Fellowship

This scheme is for academic scientists who want to work on a collaborative project with industry and for scientists in industry who want to work on a collaborative project with an academic organisation. The scheme provides a basic salary for the researcher and a contribution towards research costs.

Max Award: Fellow’s basic salary & up to £2000 research expenses per year Deadline: 24 September 2015

Telling Tales of Engagement Competition 2015

The RCUK Digital Economy Theme (DET) is running a competition designed to help capture and promote the impact that your digital economy research is having. Three prizes of £10,000 are available to support researchers to further tell the story of research impact in an interesting and engaging way to a wider audience.

Max Award: £10,000 Deadline: 1 December 2015

Innovate UK

Digital Forensics

The challenge from the Home Office’s Office for Security and Counter Terrorism (OSCT), is to improve the speed, efficiency and effectiveness of recovering and automatically analysing data from the seized digital devices of suspects under investigation. Up to £300k will be spent on Phase 1 proof-of-concept projects, each with a nominal maximum value of £40k.

Max Award: Up to £300,000 Deadline: 7 October 2015

Advancing the commercial applications of graphene

The aim of this competition is to stimulate the exploitation of this high-performance material, as well as related carbon-based 2D materials that have emerged from the research base. These studies should evaluate the feasibility and potential of the use of graphene in a specific application, with relevant data to support its performance against current market specifications.

Max Award: Up to £2.5 million Deadline: 28 October 2015 for registration & 4 November 2015 for full submission

Optimising food composition: fat, sugar, salt & fibre

This competition will support collaborative R&D projects aimed either at reducing levels of salt, sugar or fat in food, or at increasing dietary fibre, or any combination of these. The competition is designed to encourage innovation right across the food chain.

Max Award: Up to £10 million Deadline: 18 November 2015

 

Leverhulme Trust

Senior Research Fellowship for Engineering Academics

The RAEng/Leverhulme Trust Senior Research Fellowships allows academics to concentrate on full-time research and be relieved of teaching and administrative responsibilities. The purpose of the Fellowships is to cover the salary costs of a replacement academic who will take over the awardee’s teaching and administration duties for up to one year.

Max Award: Contributes to salary costs of replacement teaching & £2,500 support fund Deadline: 26 October 2015

Wellcome Trust

Investigator Awards in Humanities & Social Science

Investigator Awards are aimed at exceptional researchers with bold and intellectually rigorous ideas. They provide flexible support at a level and length to enable humanities and social science research to explore any aspect of human and animal health. Applicants should be able to articulate a compelling vision for their research and demonstrate the track record and originality to achieve it.

Max Award: £100,000 – £200,000 per year for up to 5 years Deadline: 22 January 2016 for preliminary applications & 30 March 2016 for full submissions

European Food Safety Authority, EU

Data Collection for the Estimation of Ecological Data

Data collection for the estimation of ecological data (specific focal species, time spent in the treated areas collecting food, composition of diet), residue level and residue decline of pesticides on food items to be used in risk assessment for birds and mammals.

Award max: 300,000 euros for 15 months Deadline: 11 September 2015 for tenders

Database of non-QPS production strains of industrially produced food & feed additives

The aim of this procurement procedure is to conclude a direct contract for the preparation of a database from a review on the taxonomical identification and potential toxigenic capacities of microorganisms used for the industrial production of feed additives and food enzymes.

Max Award: 200,000 euros Deadline: 15 October 2015

Directorate-General for the Environment, EU

The objective of the service contract is to support technically DG Environment by providing information, reports and analysis on: — the role of agri-environment and context indicators in the development of the choices of Member States, — the illustration of trends in the state of the environment which are expected as a result of the elements notified under good agricultural and environmental conditions and the greening components, — the uptake of agri-environment measures by different farmers and farming communities, including the identification of barriers to environmentally sufficient uptake of agri-environment measures, — the potential to use more widely innovative funding mechanisms such as results-based payments for areas beyond biodiversity protection, and collective rural development funding.

Max Award: 330,000 – 360,000 euros Deadline: 25 September 2015

Director-General for Financial Stability, Financial Services & Capital Markets Union, EU

Study on Access to Comprehensive Financial Guidance for Consumers

The objective of this study is twofold: first, identify and investigate examples of good practices of financial guidance and describe their functioning, including who gives guidance, financing and business models; second, identify potential incentives which could encourage consumers to take up financial guidance.

Max Award: 75,000 euros Deadline: 25 September 2015

Study on the role of digitisation and innovation in creating a true singe market for retail financial services & insurance

Contract for a study to investigate the areas in which innovation and digitalisation could help build a more integrated and competitive European market for retail financial services, for instance by removing some of the obstacles faced by providers and consumers. This will include a review of the current state of digitalisation and innovation in the retail financial services and insurance markets and a projection of the likely future direction of this trend.

Max Award: 250,000 euros Deadline: 29 September 2015

Framework contract for assistance services in the field of compliance assessment

The subject of this call for tenders is to select economic operators for the provision of services in connection with the assessment of the compliance of the national measures of EU Member States with legislation of the European Union in selected legal fields, in particular in the areas of banking and finance. It falls within the responsibility of the Commission to make sure that Member States’ legislation is compliant with Union law. The services required under this contract will assist the Commission in assessing the compliance of national measures with the relevant Union law.

Max Award: 5,000,000 euros Deadline: 30 September 2015

Please note that some funders specify a time for submission as well as a date. Please confirm this with your  RKEO Funding Development Officer

You can set up your own personalised alerts on Research Professional. If you need help setting these up, just ask your School’s/Faculty’s Funding Development Officer in  RKEO or view the recent blog post here.

If thinking of applying, why not add notification of your interest on Research Professional’s record of the bid so that BU colleagues can see your intention to bid and contact you to collaborate.EU funding guide

The Emotional Processing Scale

EPS logoThe Emotional Processing Scale (EPS) is a questionnaire measure of a person’s emotional processing style, their typical way of processing stress or emotional situations. It was published by Hogrefe, a leading European Psychometric Test publisher in July 2015 and is available for use by clinicians working in mental health, psychological therapy and health psychology, as well as researchers interested in the emotional life of healthy individuals and other populations.

The EPS has been developed over 12 years by an experienced team at Bournemouth University including Professor Roger Baker, Professor Peter Thomas, and Dr Sarah Thomas (BUCRU).

The EPS can be used to:eps front cover

  • identify and quantify healthy and unhealthy styles of emotional processing;
  • assess the contribution of poor emotional processing to physical, psychosomatic and psychological disorders;
  • provide a non-diagnostic framework to assess patients for research or therapy;
  • measure changes in emotions during therapy/counselling; and
  • assist therapists in incorporating an emotional component into their formulations of psychological therapy.

For more information on the EPS please see this leaflet, or visit this Q&A session with Roger Baker

For more information on the concept of Emotional Processing please see the Emotional Processing website.

There have been 4 completed PhDs at Bournemouth University on the EPS:

Mariaelisa Santonastaso

Carol Wilkins

Glen Howell

Gareth Abbey

BU research in the spot light

Taylor & Francis one of the major international publishers publishes a list of top 20 most read/downloaded papers in the Journal of Adhesion Science & Technology. Three of the BU’s Sustainable Design Research Centre (now Cluster) recent publications are in the top 20 most read publications list, of which one is now the top most read publication.

It is note worthy that most of the publications in the top most read articles have been available since 2012. BU publications have been available since December 2014 and Mar/April 2015.

Current research in corrosion is conducted in collaboration with the Defence Science & Technology Laboratory Ministry of Defence and led by Dr Zulfiqar Khan. This research focuses on structural deterioration through corrosion, its monitoring and prediction. A second project in collaboration with the Defence Science & Technology Laboratory Ministry of Defence in wireless corrosion monitoring techniques will start soon.

A recently successful research in collaboration with The Tank Museum at Bovington in corrosion has led to significant contributions and has informed environmental controlled Vehicle Conservation Centre at the Museum.

If you have interests in this area or would like to know more about the corrosion, its implications on structural integrity, longevity, durability & reliability then do contact us.

Dr Zulfiqar Khan

Piirus – top five ways to find collaborators

The Piirus Blog is discussing the top five ways to find collaborators to further your research.

ideasAccording to their research Piirus found that 85% of researchers said collaboration with others helps drive research excellence and 79% of researchers think international research collaboration increases research productivity. In their recent survey, however, research managers ranked developing collaborations as one of their top challenges.

So what can you do?

  1. Decide the types of collaboration activities you seekPiirus
  2. Get tips on how to make collaborations in these areas work
  3. Find collaborators in your research field or from other disciplines
  4. Find people by research methodology or technique
  5. Find collaborators with experience in the equipment you need

Interested? Read more about this topic on the Pirrus Blog.

Piirus can help you make these connections. It is easy to sign up!

 

New publication by BU PhD student Jib Acharya

Jib paper India 2015

Congratulations to FHSS Ph.D. student Mr. Jib Acharya, whose paper ‘Study of nutritional problems in preschool aged children in Kaski District in Nepal’  has just been published in the Journal of Multidisciplinary Research in Healthcare [1].  The academic paper, based on his Ph.D. thesis, reports on his mixed-methods Public Health study addressing attitudes and knowledge of mothers of young children (pre-school aged) in one particular district in Nepal.  The research comprises a quantitative survey and qualitative focus groups.   Jib Acharya, who is originally from Nepal, compares and contrasts the attitudes, knowledge and behaviour of poor rural and poor urban women (=mothers) in that district.   The research is supervised by Dr. Jane Murphy, Dr. Martin Hind and Prof. Edwin van Teijlingen.

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Prof. Edwin van Teijlingen

CMMPH

Reference:

  1. Acharya, J., van Teijlingen, E., Murphy, J., Hind, M. (2015) Study of nutritional problems in preschool aged children in Kaski District in Nepal, Journal of Multidisciplinary Research in Healthcare 1(2): 97-118.