Category / Research news

New publication by BU PhD student Jib Acharya

BU research, Publishing, Research news, student research, Uncategorized

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.

Launch of BU’s new Bridging Fund Scheme for research staff

Research news

Golden gate Bridge wallpaperThis month sees the launch of 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.

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/).

You can read the full guidelines here: BU bridging fund scheme guidelines v1 070815

Institute for Small Business and Entrpreneurship Research and Knowledge Exchange (RAKE) Fund

Business Engagement, Funding opportunities, innovation, Knowledge Exchange, Research news

 

ISBE Research and Knowledge Exchange (RAKE) Fund – Anchor Institutions

The Institute for Small Business and Entrepreneurship (ISBE) Research and Knowledge Exchange (RAKE) fund is an initiative kindly supported by; the Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC); Lloyds Banking Group, the Federation of Small Business (FSB), British Academy of Management (BAM) administered through ISBE.  This initiative aims to encourage and support research activities from academics, third sector organisations, consultants and practitioners with the ambition of drawing together and generating an entrepreneurial community of practice to facilitate knowledge exchange and transfer. 

Proposals are invited that explore ways in which anchor institutions and wider fee-based professional service providers can support small firms to develop their entrepreneurial capabilities. 

For more information click here

Call closes 14 August.

Global Food Security – new programme of research to be announced

Funding opportunities, Research news

 Chicken and globe

The Global Food Security (GFS) Programme will soon be announcing a new five-year interdisciplinary programme of research.

The programme has been co-designed by BBSRC, ESRC, NERC, Defra and FSA, in partnership with wider stakeholders, and will address a major food security challenge: Resilience of the UK Food System in a Global Context

For more information click here

Mission accomplished: fish genetics and population restoration are fused!

BU research, Research news

Our recent blogs on our fusion-funded co-creation and co-production project on fish population restoration were reporting our strong recent progress as our students began their placements – and all of a sudden, the project is now finished! So what did we discover?

Well, firstly, our students who completed their placements with the University of Insubria in Northern Italy have worked incredibly hard, with excellent reports coming back from our Italian partners (see below). They produced some excellent genetic data to help progress our work. Our placement students based at BU have also been working very hard (albeit in much cooler conditions!) and produced some excellent ecological data.

BU students in Italy

(Above) Our placement students outside the Università degli Studi dell’Insubria with Dr Serena Zaccara (3rd from left) and Caterina Antognazza (2nd left)

Secondly, through our co-creation with stakeholders, students and research collaborators, we have successfully revealed the extent of the disturbance of human activities on fish genetic patterns in the UK. We have revealed clear impacts relating to losses of genetic integrity of fish at the river basin level that we suggest affect their ability to adapt to local conditions – which could be important in the context of climate change. We will be publishing our findings in at least two peer-reviewed papers in the next few months with our students as co-authors.

Thirdly, did we discover how these fish populations could be restored sustainably? Yes, we think we did and we have already passed these on to the relevant authorities at our recent workshop, so these are being considered for implementation.

Finally, we have shown once again that co-creating and co-producing knowledge with our students, stakeholders and international collaborators brings multiple benefits, including enhanced mobility and employment prospects for our students. It has been a thoroughly enjoyable and rewarding experience for all!

– Rob Britton, Demetra Andreou & Ben Thomas (all SciTech)

Arjan Gosal one of our RKEO Research Reflections event presentation joint winners!

BU research, Featured academics, Festival of Learning, Research communication, Research news

At our recent RKEO Research Reflections event at the Festival of Learning it was really interesting to hear about the amazing variety of research taking place at BU and to have them presented with such enthusiasm and different styles.

A big congratualtions to Arjan Gosal who was one of the joint winning presenters – please see below for a taste of his presentation – ‘Losing sight of the trees for the honey’.Arjan Gosal photo (2)

The Millennium Ecosystem Assessment highlighted the importance of quantifying ecosystem services as being pivotal to the allocation of environmental resources though robust policy creation and implementation. Whilst biophysical and economic values are often used in conservation planning by decision makers, community ecosystem values are rarely quantified or defined clearly. Recreation, aesthetics and cultural ecosystem services are primary to this work.

 

Arjan Gosal Slide (2)A multifaceted approach using various techniques, including participatory GIS, spatial mapping, GPS tracking of visitors and use of existing data sets are explored in relation to the New Forest. Situated on the South Coast of England, it is a prime example of a historic natural landscape, from being a medieval hunting ground to a commoning system that survives to the current day. England’s most recently designated national park has over 34,000 residents and many more visitors each year. With a clear need to understand the dynamics of how people value the various habitats and areas of this national park; this work aims to provide a strong methodology for inclusion of peoples shifting views on habitats and changing landscapes.

Although a substantial amount of research has examined the connections between biodiversity, ecosystem processes and ecosystem services, much of this has been conducted at relatively Arjan Gosal Presenting at Research Reflections (2)small scales, and with a limited number of species. There is therefore a need to understand how these relationships translate to a landscape scale, at which environmental management decisions need to be undertaken. Thus it is important we don’t lose sight of the wider landscape when assessing cultural services, not just looking at the honeypot sights, so that we do not lose sight of the trees.

Please contact Arjan if you would like to receive further information relating to his research.

 

Funding Opportunities

BU research, Research news, Uncategorized

Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council, GB

Silicon Photonics for Future Systems programme innovation fund

The EPSRC‐funded Programme Grant “Silicon Photonics for Future Systems (SPFS)” includes an innovation fund to enable the inclusion of additional partners to bring additional value to the programme.

Initial engagement will be via short research projects that support the aims of the programme. Therefore, proposals from UK‐based academic researchers are invited for projects valued up to £100k to support the research areas of the Programme Grant.

Closing Date: 26 August 2015 at 5pm

 

Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council, GB and other funders

Synthetic biology applications for protective materials

The EPSRC Engineering theme, in partnership with Dstl and the BBSRC, are inviting proposals that explore research in the area of Synthetic Biology applications for Protective Materials. Funds of up to £2.5 million are available. We expect to support between four and five research projects, up to three years in duration, subject to the quality of the proposals received. Under this partnership, funding is available to support cutting-edge, novel academic research on new applications for Synthetic Biology with regard to protective materials. Proposals will be assessed through external peer review followed by a panel meeting.

Applicants must complete the Intent to Submit survey on this page by 28 August 2015; applicants who do not do this will be ineligible for the call.

The closing time and date for full proposals is 16:00 on 01 October 2015.

By submitting a full application to this call you give Dstl, EPSRC and BBSRC the right to show it to other Government departments in confidence.

 

Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council, GB and other funders

High Value Manufacturing Catapult fellowships

High Value Manufacturing Catapult fellowships aim to strengthen relations between academics and manufacturers, and accelerate the transition of research from the laboratory to industry.

Funded by EPSRC and coordinated by the University of Sheffield AMRC, the fellowship programme aims to increase academic involvement in the High Value Manufacturing Catapult. Academic fellows will carry out research at one or more of the seven centres that form the HVM Catapult, a national network backed by Innovate UK.

The fellowships will enable academic staff to spend six-month research visits, spread over one to four years, in one or more of the HVM Catapult centres. The projects must be aligned to work previously funded by EPSRC.

EPSRC and Innovate UK are now inviting proposals for the third round of fellowships. For more information and to apply, please visit the High Value Manufacturing Catapult fellowships website, or email: catapultfellowships@sheffield.ac.uk

Closing Date: 28th August 2015

 

 

Arts and Humanities Research Council, GB and other funders

Cultural heritage and rapid urbanisation in India

The Arts and Humanities Research Council (AHRC) and Indian Council for Historical Research (ICHR) are pleased to announce a joint call for Research Networking projects addressing the theme of ‘Cultural Heritage and Rapid Urbanisation in India’. Funding of between £30,000-£45,000 per project for UK applicants is available on a full economic cost (fEC) basis with AHRC meeting 80% of the fEC.  Matched resources are available from ICHR for Indian applicants. Awards should have a duration of up to 6 months and will be expected to start between 1st December 2015 and 1st February 2016. It is expected that 4-5 awards will be made under this call.

Awards will be funded through the Newton Fund – a 5 year programme that aims to strengthen research and innovation partnerships between the UK and emerging knowledge economies.​

Closing Date: 22 September 2015 at 4pm

Innovate UK, GB and other funders

Connected and autonomous vehicles

The Department for Business, Innovation and Skills (BIS) is to invest up to £20 million* in collaborative R&D projects and feasibility studies (delivered by Innovate UK on behalf of BIS) to stimulate developments in autonomous vehicles and connected transport systems.

Building on the government’s ‘Introducing driverless cars to UK roads’ collaborative research initiative, this competition aims to encourage development of connected and autonomous vehicles, focusing on three themes – connectivity, autonomy and customer interaction – along with catalysing new business models. Proposals must be led by a business and be collaborative. We are primarily seeking to fund collaborative research and development (industrial research). Small business partners could receive up to 70% of their eligible project costs, medium-sized businesses 60% and large businesses 50%.
We welcome consortia led by any sized company and particularly encourage proposals from medium-sized companies. Research organisations may participate as collaborators in a consortium but business partners must incur at least 70% of the total eligible project costs. We expect collaborative R&D projects to range in size from total costs of £1 million to £5 million. We encourage overseas-based partners to participate in consortia by conducting their R&D in the UK. Up to £2.5 million of the total funding will be available for smaller-scale feasibility studies. These are open to companies working alone or collaboratively. Small businesses could receive up to 70% of their eligible project costs, medium-sized businesses 60% and large businesses 50%. We expect feasibility studies to range in size from £50,000 to £250,000.
The deadline for applications is at noon on 30 September 2015.
There will be a briefing in London for potential applicants on 4 August 2015.

Leverhulme Trust, GB

Research fellowships

Offering up to £50,000 over three to twenty-four months for experienced researchers to conduct a programme of research in any discipline. Research Fellowships are open to experienced researchers, particularly those who are or have been prevented by routine duties from completing a programme of original research. Awards are not limited to those holding appointments in higher education.

The maximum value of a Fellowship is £50,000. The awards provide research expenses over and above normal living costs and/or provide a contribution towards reasonable replacement costs or loss of earnings. Please ensure that applications do not include any ineligible costs.

Fellowships are tenable for between 3 and 24 months, and the current round of awards must commence between 1 June 2016 and 1 May 2017.

Closing Date: 12 November 2015

 

Leverhulme Trust, GB

International academic fellowships

Enabling established researchers based at a UK higher education institution to spend a period of time in overseas research centres, to develop new knowledge, skills and ideas. Up to £40,000 is available for a period of three to twelve months. 

International Academic Fellowships provide established researchers with a concentrated period based in one or more research centres outside the UK. The intention of the scheme is to provide opportunities to develop new knowledge, skills and ideas, and may for example be used for the following:

  • observing and learning ground-breaking techniques or practices
  • developing new lines of research through overseas collaboration
  • making “discipline-hopping excursions” into new areas of research
  • developing innovations in teaching
  • exchanging ideas

If you wish to dedicate a period abroad entirely to a research project you should apply to the Trust’s Research Fellowships scheme.

The maximum value of a Fellowship is £40,000. Eligible costs include: reasonable replacement cover whilst the Fellow is overseas; travel to and within the overseas country or countries; a maintenance grant to meet the increased expense of living overseas; and essential research costs.

Please ensure that applications do not include any ineligible costs.

Fellowships are tenable for between 3 and 12 months, and the current round of awards must commence between 1 June 2016 and 1 May 2017.

Closing Date: 12th of November 2015.

 

 

Medical Research Council, GB and other funders

Methodology for eliciting expert opinion

MRC and NIHR invite applications (through the Methodology Research Programme) to conduct research into methodology for expert opinion elicitation. A vignette (PDF, 206KB)commissioned by the Methodology Advisory Group provides more background information. Applications are particularly sought on the following:

  • A short project to compare the available expert elicitation protocols and software and to identify strengths and weaknesses with the aim of identification of the most important aspects of “good” expert elicitation. This could lead into a longer-term project to propose and validate an optimally efficient protocol and software.
  • Investigation of whether the mode of expert opinion elicitation affects results. It would be valuable to validate individual elicitation methods/protocols, and to conduct head to head comparisons of different elicitation methods/protocols. Are different/more reliable answers achieved with an elaborate, structured method versus a streamlined one?  E.g. comparison of face-to-face vs online methods.
  • Methodology to identify and understand the range of opinions that are being obtained from an elicitation exercise, particularly where they may be conflicting.
  • Methods for synthesis of elicited expert opinion with other strands of evidence, to inform e.g. HTA or diagnostic decision making.

Applications for projects are invited through the normal MRC funding grant schemes (research grant, new investigator research grant etc.) and will be considered at the regular Methodology Research Programme Panel meetings, to this competition’s usual deadlines. These will be in competition with other applications received, but the Panel will be mindful of the strategic importance of this area.

Closing date: 19 Nov 15

 

Leverhulme Trust, GB

Emeritus fellowships

Providing research expenses of up to £22,000 over up to two years to enable senior researchers who have retired from an academic post to complete a research project and prepare the results for publication. The 2016 round opens on 1 September 2015. The maximum value of a Fellowship is £22,000.

  • Travel and subsistence costs for periods away from home
  • The employment of a research, clerical or secretarial assistant to support (rather than conduct) the work of the applicant
  • Photocopies
  • Photographic expenses
  • Office or laboratory consumables.

There is no provision for a personal maintenance allowance or remuneration for the applicant under this scheme. Please ensure that applications do not include any ineligible costs.

Closing Date: 4th February 2016

 

 

HEFCE Open Access Policy – Adjustments and Qualifications

BRIAN, BU research, Guidance, Publishing, REF Subjects, Research assessment, Research news

hefce-logoOn Friday (24 July 2015), HEFCE announced a number of adjustments and qualifications to its policy for open access (OA) in the next REF following consultation with HEIs. The key adjustment is that:

 

  • From 1st April 2016, authors will have until 3 months after publication to deposit outputs in our Institutional Repository (BURO) via BRIAN.  This is a temporary measure for the first year of the policy, to allow time to transition to a new way of working.

 

  • From 1st April 2017, the transition period will end, and in order to comply with the Open Access policy, authors will be expected to deposit outputs in (BURO) via BRIAN within 3 months of acceptance.

 

In light of these adjustments, it is recommended that authors still deposit outputs as soon as possible after acceptance to ensure continued compliance with all OA policies.

The circular and updated policy are available through the links below, if you have any queries or require further information on Open Access at BU including the Open Access Publication Fund, please contact Peng Peng Hatch at pphatch@bournemouth.ac.uk.

View this circular letter on the HEFCE website at: http://www.hefce.ac.uk/pubs/year/2015/CL,202015/

View the full updated HEFCE policy at:  http://www.hefce.ac.uk/pubs/Year/2014/201407/

Impact case studies: what are they and why are they important?

Research news

Impact is fast becoming a new buzzword in higher education as demonstrating impact becomes more and more of priority in the context of the Research Excellence Framework (REF) and requirements of funders. Precisely because of its associations with REF and funding bids, the term ‘impact’ can be off-putting, but really it means no more than showing how research is making a difference – something that many researchers do instinctively but perhaps wouldn’t think to classify as ‘impact’.

 

HEFCE defined impact as “an effect on, change or benefit to the economy, society, culture, public policy or services, health, the environment or quality of life, beyond academia.”  Impact then, can be seen as the effect and research the catalyst for change. HEFCE have identified four particularly outstanding impact case studies from the last REF, which they believe represent all the different ways that research can make a difference. These are:

 

Under the 2014 REF, impact counted as 20% of a unit’s overall quality score and there have been suggestions that in the next REF it may count for even more.  Panels took into account the research’s ‘reach’ and ‘significance’ and gave a rating of between 4* and unclassified for each profile.  Last year’s results showed that 97% of BU’s research is having an outstanding, very considerable or considerable impact on society – a fantastic achievement. You can read examples of our REF case studies here.

 

As well as being an opportunity to show how our research is making a difference, impact case studies can influence the make-up of our overall REF submission profile.  For example, if two impact case studies were submitted to a unit each would count for 10% of the profile’s overall score – a significant part of each submission.  The number of case studies submitted also determined the number of staff that can be returned within each unit of assessment.  Up to 14.99 (FTE) staff required 2 impact case studies, with each additional case study allowing the inclusion of another 9.99 (FTE) staff.  The contribution of each case study author to the overall unit result was therefore very significant. Their contribution went beyond that of REF, as the materials gathered have also been used to highlight BU’s research excellence as part of a University Alliance project as well as being used to persuade future students to study at BU.

 

Although it seems only a short period of time since the last REF results were published, preparations for the next REF – thought to be in 2020 – are already underway.  The submission date is likely to be late 2019, which means that researchers who are currently working to connect their research results with people or organisations that could benefit from their knowledge are excellent candidates for future impact case studies. While research impact needs to take place within the specific REF timeframe, the underpinning research could be recent or date back several years, with impact building on years of previous work.

 

To find out more about research impact and the support on offer from BU, please contact the Knowledge Exchange and Impact Team in the Research Knowledge and Exchange Office.

 

To find out more about the impact element of the REF, you can read analysis reports of REF 2014 from King’s College London and RAND Europe.

Marie Sklodowska-Curie Project – ENEFOR

Awarded & submitted bids, BU research, EU, Research news

We would like to welcome you to our Marie Sklodowska – Curie project “ENEFOR”. We proudly present you our website (http://enefor.eu) and we look forward for a live discussion on the project’s output!

This project is funded by the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme under the Marie Sklodowska-Curie grant agreement (No 658494). The project started on April 2015 and it will be completed on April 2017.
This exciting and innovative project aims to develop new econometric model frameworks to forecast oil price and oil price volatility, which will be successful in enhancing internal consistency, forecasting accuracy and easiness to communicate extracting added-value (in terms of predictability) information from the ultra high sampling frequency. In addition, this project aims to use the forecasted oil price volatility to predict the economic policy uncertainty in Europe, given that oil price shocks exert significant impact on the effectiveness of economic policy.

Have you checked out the interactive Research Lifecycle diagram yet?

BU research, Research news

If you haven’t then you most definitely should! Our Research Lifecycle diagram is a jazzy new interactive part of the BU Research Blog that shows the support and initiatives that are available to staff and students at each stage of the research lifecycle. The information is general enough so as to apply to all disciplines and you can use it to organize and identify the many activities involved in your research. You can explore the Research Lifecycle to find information on how to get started with:

1. Developing your research strategy

2. Developing your proposal

3. The research process

4. Publication and dissemination

5. Impact

RKEO will be adding to the Research Lifecycle to ensure it always contains the most up to date information to support you with planning, organising and undertaking your research.

You can access the diagram from the links in this post or from the menu bar that appears on all screens in the Research Blog.

 

Support and Celebrate our Research Success at the FoL – come along!

BU research, Featured academics, Festival of Learning, Info Days, Research news

Support and Celebrate our Research Success at the FoL – come along!logo

We would love to see you at our Drop-in event ‘Research Reflections’ on the 16 July – feel free to attend for a session or two, or the whole day. Come along and hear about the huge range of Research taking place across the University, and support your fellow academics talking about their Research.

When: Taking place on Thursday the 16th of JULY in The Coyne Lecture Theatre in the Thomas Hardy Suite from 10am – 4pm.
Book now

Our confirmed speakers include:

10am Heather Hartwell, discussing the VeggiEAT project

10.40am Jamie Matthews discussing the international news coverage of the Japanese earthquake and consequent tsunami

10.55am Helen Farasat discussing her research with parents of children with eczema

11.10am Arjan Gosal – losing sight of trees for the honey

11.45am Angie Gosling

12.00 midday Sine McDougall on participating in Research

12.15pm Yeganeh Morakabati will speak about her experiences of teaching in Afghanistan

12:30pm Dan Weissmann, Anna Feigenbaum, Dan Jackson and Einar Thorsen exploring challenges that arise when working with data that is hidden, sensitive or obscured

12:45pm Elizabeth Rosser discussing her Marie Curie experiences

1.00pm Lunch

1.45pm Neil Vaughan, discussing his research into developing an epidural simulator

2.00pm Ashley Woodfall reflecting on the core conceptual struggle with a recently completed research project with children and those that make media for children

2.15pm Fabian Homberg will be observing and explaining petty corruption: An analysis of the “$20 sandwich trick”

3.00pm Carrie Hodges, Lee-Ann Fenge and Wendy Cutts speaking about their project which focuses on young people with disabilities.

3.15pm James Gavin will talk about his project looking at whether technology can be used to increase strength and balance in older adults

More speakers to be confirmed – please check our Blog posts for updates!

Book now