Category / Research news

Your chance to attend one of the AHRC’s theme events and contribute to the future funding agenda

Research news

The AHRC are organising three open events for people to come and find out more about their themes, to provide input into the future development of the themes and to give an opportunity for networking.

Details about the events and how to register have been added to the AHRC website today: http://www.ahrc.ac.uk/News/Events/Pages/AHRCThemeEvents.aspx

The themes are:

• Care for the Future
• Digital Transformations
• Science in Culture
• Translating Cultures
• Connected Communities

The events will be held on the following dates:

Wednesday 4 July – University of Manchester: 10am – 3.30pm
Monday 16 July – Avonmouth House London: 10am – 3.30pm
Friday 20 July – Edinburgh (venue tbc): 10am – 3.30pm

These events provide academics with an excellent opportunity to find out what is happening with each of the themes and to contribute to the development of the future agenda and funding calls. They also provide the opportunity to network with colleagues with similar research interests and to test out ideas.

The Research Blog wins a GOLD Heist award!

BU research, Research news

Last week the BU Research Blog won a prestigious Gold Heist Award in the Best Internal Communication Campaign category at a glittering awards ceremony in Leeds. HURRAY! 😀

The Best Internal Communication Campaign category examines awareness campaigns aimed at staff, students or both. Judges were looking for a project with the purpose of improving internal knowledge, awareness and engagement. There were 10 institutions short-listed in the category.

The judges commented that the Research Blog was a innovative within the sector and a ‘great way to motivate and engage with staff, bringing a sense of community’.

The Heist Awards have grown continually over the past 20 years to become the premier awards programme for Education Marketing within further and higher educaton and its aim is to recognise and celebrate professionalism and innovation in the sector.

Thank you to everyone who contributes to the Research Blog by subscribing to the daily digest, adding posts, alerting us to news stories, adding comments, etc, and also to CEMP for designing and maintaining the Blog.

Times Higher Education Awards 2012

Research news

Do you want to highlight the excellent work of yourselves and colleagues, gain national recognition, and attend a gala ceremony in London on 29 November 2012? If so, please consider making a submission to the Times Higher Education Awards 2012. This year’s categories are:

  1. Excellence and Innovation in the Arts
  2. Outstanding ICT Initiative of the Year
  3. Research Project of the Year                  
  4. Outstanding Contribution to Leadership Development
  5. Outstanding Employer Engagement Initiative
  6. Widening Participation Initiative of the Year
  7. Outstanding Contribution to the Local Community
  8. The Lord Dearing Lifetime Achievement Award
  9. Outstanding Contribution to Sustainable Development
  10. Outstanding Contribution to Innovation and Technology
  11. Outstanding Support for Early Career Researchers
  12. Outstanding Support for Students
  13. Most Innovative Teacher of the Year
  14. Most Improved Student Experience (nominations not sought – winner to be determined via student poll)
  15. International Collaboration of the Year
  16. Business School of the Year (new category)
  17. Entrepreneurial University of the Year
  18. University of the Year

Further details are available here: http://www.the-awards.co.uk/the2012/awards. These awards celebrate achievements during the 2011-2012 academic year and are open to all UK higher education institutions. Entries are open until midnight on Friday 15 June 2012. The shortlist will be announced in September and the winners will be announced at a gala ceremony on 29 November 2012.

BU is keen to put forward a good number of high quality submissions. If you are interested in making a submission, please email the Policy Advisor to the Vice-Chancellor, Colette Cherry, at ccherry@bournemouth.ac.uk for further details.

Introduction to Adaptive Learning from Streaming Data by Dr Zliobaite, Wednesday 30th of May:

BU research, Featured academics, Research news, Research themes, Uncategorized

Kindly announce that our next speaker of the STRC seminar series will be Dr Indrė Žliobaitė. The talk will take place next Wednesday, 30th of May in Lawrence Lecture Theatre at 16:00 h (please click for a map)

Indrė (Lecturer in BU as most of us know) will present novel angles of her work in a highly didactic fashion. She will talk about an exciting topic, strategies for predicting streaming data. This is particularly attractive for instance for those of us involved in projects in real-time industrial settings.

Please feel free to show up if you like it regardless you background!

The talk title is:

“Introduction to Adaptive Learning from Streaming Data”

Short description:

Changing data over time presents one of the major challenges in predictive modelling applications, for example automated movie recommendation, bankruptcy prediction, spam categorization, food sales prediction and many more. In such situations predictive models need to have mechanisms to update or retrain themselves using recent data, otherwise they will quickly lose accuracy. This talk will give an introductory overview of settings and algorithms for adaptive predictive modelling.

Best Wishes, Emili

Your chance to talk to the AHRC!

Funding opportunities, Research news

  • Have you ever submitted a proposal to the AHRC?
  • Have you considered the AHRC as a potential funder of your research?
  • Would you like to find out more about the AHRC and how it works?
  • Have you any burning questions about AHRC strategy?

If you have answered yes to any of the above, then you will be pleased to hear that on 27th June Professor Mark Llewellyn, Director of Research from the AHRC is coming to BU. 

This is a great opportunity to ask your questions about the AHRC and how you might best secure funding.  It is unusual for Research Councils to visit universities – it would be wise to make the most of this chance to hear first hand about AHRC’s future strategy, and how your research might fit within it.

Professor Llewellyn began his secondment to the AHRC as Director of Research in January and his responsibilities cover all areas of research activity, postgraduate funding, peer review, and international and Knowledge Exchange issues.

The open meeting with start with a presentation, and then be followed by discussion. 

Click here to book your place.

Day: Wednesday, 27th June

Time: 1.30pm – 2.15pm

Place: Talbot Campus – PG16

In the meantime, if you have any questions please email Caroline O’Kane

Emerald Literati Network : 2012 Awards for Excellence

BU research, Publishing, Research news, Research themes

Image of Dr Heather Hartwell

Bournemouth University’s Associate Professor Dr Heather Hartwell has been chosen as an Outstanding Reviewer at the Emerald Literati Network Awards for Excellence 2012. Each year Emerald names and rewards the Outstanding Reviewers who contribute to the success of the journals.  Each journal’s Editor has nominated the Reviewer they believe has been that title’s most Outstanding Reviewer.

The most Outstanding Reviewers are chosen following consultation amongst the journal’s Editors, who are eminent academics or managers. Dr Hartwell was selected for the very impressive and significant contribution she made as a Reviewer to the British Food Journal throughout 2011.

Emerald Literati Network 2012 Awards for Excellence

BU research, Research assessment, Research Integritiy, Research news, Uncategorized

Professor Jonathan Parker

Professor Jonathan Parker, Deputy Dean for Research in the School of Health and Social Care has been chosen as an Outstanding Reviewer at the Emerald Literati Network Awards for Excellence 2012. Each year Emerald names and rewards the Outstanding Reviewers who contribute to the success of the journals.  Each journal’s Editor has nominated the Reviewer they believe has been that title’s most Outstanding Reviewer.

The most Outstanding Reviewers are chosen following consultation amongst the journal’s Editors, whom are eminent academics or managers. Professor Parker was selected for the very impressive and significant contribution he made as a Reviewer to The Journal of Adult Protection throughout 2011.

DEC Post Graduate Researcher Poster Competition

BU research, PG research, Research news

The School of Design, Engineering and Computing is holding its 5th Annual Post Graduate Research Student Poster Competition Conference on Wednesday 23rd May 2012 in the Thomas Hardy Suite.  This event showcases the School’s current PhD research.  Judging will take place in the morning and then the display will be open to all at 14:00 hours. Bournemouth University Board Member, Dr Peter Barnwell MBE will officially open the conference at 14:30 p.m. and will be awarding the prizes for the best posters at approximately 15:00 pm. Students will be there to discuss their research until 16:00 hours.  All staff are welcome.

The AHRC is coming to BU

Funding opportunities, Research news

On 27th June Professor Mark Llewellyn, Director of Research from the AHRC is coming to BU. 

Professor Llewellyn began his secondment to the AHRC as Director of Research in January and his responsibilities cover all areas of research activity, postgraduate funding, peer review, and international and Knowledge Exchange issues.

Professor Llewellyn will be addressing an open meeting at BU, aimed at arts and humanities researchers and anyone else who is interested in the development of the AHRC’s strategy.

The meeting with start with a presentation, and then be followed by discussion. 

There is limited space available, please book your place to avoid disappointment.

Click here to book your place.

Day: Wednesday, 27th June

Time: 1.30pm – 2.15pm

Place: Talbot Campus – PG16

In the meantime, if you have any questions please email Caroline O’Kane

International placements deemed priceless

BU research, Research news

Bournemouth University’s Professor Jonathan Parker and Dr Sara Crabtree have been examining the true benefits an international placement has on a student’s learning experience, employability and future career.

The study, conducted alongside Parker and Crabtree’s BU colleague Clare Cutler, examined a range of aspects of inter-cultural learning arising from placements. Current students and graduates were questioned about their confidence, cultural attitudes, employer feedback and other factors arising from the international placement experience.

Professor Parker explained: “This research has shown how working in totally different and sometimes physically inhospitable cultural environments, develops students’ confidence to practice in varied, challenging and unknown situations. This is so important when they come back to work in a multi-cultural and multi-ethnic country like the UK.”

While the study has primarily focused on international placements in Parker’s own research area of social work, it is already being applied to other disciplines. “We are now surveying students taking international placements in our School of Tourism and these research findings are equally positive,” he explained. “But the concept can be much more widely applied to encompass any career working with the general public.”

But there’s one big problem holding many UK students back: “As a general rule, UK students are very poor at languages, which are so important in so many aspects of life.”

This apparent ‘failing’ of the school system, whereby languages are not compulsory at GCSE level, needs to be addressed if students are going to reap the rewards of international placement schemes such as Erasmus. “Students need a basic degree of language skill,” Parker concluded. “It should be compulsory”.

This international placements research project is supported through BU’s Fusion fund, promoting projects which create a unique academic experience through the powerful fusion of research, education and professional practice.

More information about Professor Jonathan Parker’s and Dr Sara Crabtree’s research can be viewed on BURO.

New user friendly ESRC Research Funding Guide

Guidance, Research news

A new version of the ESRC Research Funding Guide is now available to download on their web site.

It has been thoroughly reviewed and substantial changes made to the layout and content.  The contents page now includes hyperlinks so that you do not need to scroll through the document to find what you need; relevant links to current Funding Opportunities and assessment information are included; as are guidance in chronological order from beginning to end of the grants process; annexes have been removed and where appropriate the information is now included within the document; and a revision to the OJEU threshold has also been included.

The new streamlined version is much more user friendly and easier to keep up to date. This document will now only be updated on a bi-annual basis – in April and October – where changes are required (unless exceptional circumstances require immediate revision). Where possible amendments will be implemented at the point at which the guide is updated. Any changes which occur during the interim period will be captured as amendments on the web page so that they are easy to find and will be communicated as appropriate (this may be via RCUK or the normal ESRC channels).

Master the art of using Twitter to enhance your research profile, impact and visibility!

Research news

Those of you who are regular visitors to the Blog will be aware that we regularly promote the benefits to academics of using social media channels, such as Twitter (read our previous Twitter posts here).

The Training Gateway are hosting a ‘Twitter Made Simple’ workshop in London on 14 June to help those new to Twitter to master the art!

The course will cover:
• An Introduction to Twitter – what it is and how it can be used
• Profile – How to set up your profile
• Twitter Terms – e.g. hash tags and how to set up your bio
• Setting a plan / strategy for content and networking
• Interacting with other Twitter users – who and how to follow, what to say and managing the noise
• The Do’s and Don’ts of Twitter – Twitter etiquette

The Research Development Unit has funding available if you would like to attend. Please contact Julie Northam if you are interested.

Changes to the AHRC’s Fellowships Scheme

Guidance, Research news

The AHRCs Fellowships scheme has recently been refreshed with an enhanced focus on the development of research leadership across the arts and humanities.

The scheme now provides time for researchers to undertake focused individual research projects alongside collaborative activities which have the potential to generate new ways of thinking and engagement within their subject area and beyond. In addition to demonstrating plans for high quality, world leading research and associated outputs, proposals must include collaborative activities to support the development of the Fellows capacity for research leadership in the arts and humanities.

The AHRC consider the new Fellowships to be a partnership between the AHRC and Research Organisations to support the development and maintenance of the UKs research leadership capability in the arts and humanities. Institutions are expected to be selective in the applications they put forward and provide evidence that the institution has supported and will support the Fellows career and leadership development before, during and after the proposed Fellowship funding period. This could come in a variety of forms depending on the career stage and the nature of the Fellows research.

Research excellence remains the core requirement of the scheme, and Fellowships will continue to support concentrated time for individual research. Reviewers are asked, however, to ensure that all aspects of the scheme are considered and commented upon in their reviews. We ask that you reflect the aims of the scheme and assess each of the following:

* the quality of the research

* the proposed leadership activities

* the plans for collaboration

* the support given by the institution

A compelling case needs to be made across both the research and research leadership elements of the proposal given the prestigious, competitive and high profile nature of these awards.

Full details of the changes to the scheme can be found in the recent PRC Newsletter and in the AHRC Funding Guide.

ISBE and ESRC announce call for Research and Knowledge Exchange Fund

BU research, Funding opportunities, Research news

Exploring knowledge exchange and transfer processes and possibilities for SME internationalisation

The Institute for Small Business and Entrepreneurship (ISBE) Research and Knowledge Exchange (RAKE) fund is an initiative supported by Barclays Bank and the Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC) 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.

Applications are invited from individuals or teams. Collaborative bids which draw together any combination of third sector organisations, academic researchers, consultants and practitioners are welcome. The Principal Investigator must be employed within a UK institution but may be partnered with an international team. Research teams which demonstrate capacity building through collaborations between experienced and early career academics would be favourably considered; applications which demonstrate ‘in-kind’ contributions from partner organisations are welcomed as are those jointly funded from other sources.  Applications presented as pilot studies, with the aim of generating future funding from other sources, are encouraged. As such, we wish to promote engagement with all who have an interest or stake in generating further insight and understanding into contemporary entrepreneurial activities, behaviours and practices.  For the 2012 call for applications, a number of critical themes have been identified which are of contemporary interest and offer potential to develop knowledge exchange and transfer links.

Exploring processes and possibilities of SME internationalisation

There is a growing focus and interest upon the process of small firm internationalisation which includes ‘born globals’ and those firms tentatively seeking export opportunities.  Axiomatically, smaller firms face a range of challenges related to resource accrual and management when entering international markets. However, a recent survey by UKTI found that the proportion of small UK firms exporting has increased by 10 percent since 2004. In addition, UKTI are actively supporting SME internationalisation on the basis that exporting firms are more productive and innovative, have greater resilient during economic down turns and exhibit lower failure rates than those firms focussed upon local markets.  It would appear that internationalisation is an attractive option for SMEs in terms of potential returns but developing appropriate contacts, networks, resources, managerial capabilities and strategic partnerships is challenging.  Accordingly, we invite proposals which investigate and analyse any aspect of the SME internationalisation process and specifically, any knowledge exchange and transfer issues.  A potential but not exhaustive list of suggestions would include:

• Strategies to overcome barriers to the internationalization process for UK SMEs
• Developing capacity and dynamic capabilities through national and international partnerships between SMEs but also between SMEs and corporate firms
• Evaluations of policy support structures to encourage internationalization – exploring the opportunities of working with Local Enterprise Partnerships (LEPS), Chambers of Commerce and specific industry support groups
• Regional SME support for developing internalization strategies focused on specific sectors and value added industries
• Enhancing networks and information exchange possibilities between potential export firms and international partners
• Gaining knowledge of and tapping into potential new markets in developing economies
• Using networks and contacts to facilitate the export process

Attention is drawn to the current Business Engagement Strategy of the ESRC which embraces three broad priorities any of which can be mapped onto and integrated with the themes outlined above:

•    Economic Performance and Sustainable Growth
•    Influencing Behaviour and Informing Interventions
•    A Vibrant and Fair Society

Clearly, the contribution of entrepreneurship and entrepreneurial activity can be mapped onto these priorities.  Thus, applications which indicate their relevance to these issues would be welcomed.  Despite any distinctive focus, it is emphasised that all proposals must clearly demonstrate and describe relevance to the notion of knowledge transfer and exchange related to the context of the bid.

For this round of funding, they envisage awarding a number of separate grants of around £10,000 – £12,000 each.  These will not support full economic costing given ISBE’s position as a registered charity. Applications for smaller, seed corn funds would not be discounted however, bids of over £12,000 will not be considered.

Successful grant holders will be required to fulfil the following conditions:
• To be in membership of ISBE for the duration of the award
• To present their work at the annual ISBE conference
• To make findings available to the ESRC’s business channel on ESRC Society Today (EST)
• To produce a satisfactory end of award report within three months of the completion of the research
• To recognise the ISBE RAKE fund in any presentations or publications arising from an award
• To report to the RAKE fund management board to discuss research progress

Further details on the aims and constitution of the ISBE RAKE fund can be found at: www.isbe.org.uk/rakefund

The closing date for applications is 5 p.m. Friday 15th June 2012 with notifications of awards given by mid September. It is suggested that the earliest starting date for research projects should be 1st October 2012.

Completed applications may be returned electronically to Chris Rolles at chris@isbe.org.uk To download an electronic application form please click here Please submit applications in MSWord format – not as a PDF file. This enables anonymisation of proposals.

Applicants may contact the following ISBE board members and staff for informal discussions regarding their bids and/or the aims of RAKE:

Professor Susan Marlow s.marlow@bham.ac.uk VP: Research ISBE: RAKE Fund Manager.
Professor Lynn Marting l.martin@mmu.ac.uk ISBE President
Dr Maura McAdam m.mcadam@qub.ac.uk Board Member
Professor Gerard McElwee gerard.mcelwee@ntu.ac.uk Board Member
Professor Dean Patton dpatton@bournemouth.ac.uk Treasurer: ISBE
Lorraine Reese lorraine@isbe .org.uk Business and Events Manager: ISBE

 The RKE Operations team can help you with your application.

Launch of the Dorset LEP

Research news

The Dorset Local Enterprise Partnership (LEP) officially launches today.  The LEP was set up by the Government to invest in different industry sectors across the county to boost business, create new and more highly-skilled jobs and to ensure the county’s infrastructure is in a strong position to promote growth. It will be driven by the private sector with local authority support.

BU has an important role in the development of the Dorset LEP and BU staff members David Willey and Bruce Grant-Braham are members of the Board.

For further information view the Dorset LEP website. You can read more about the role of the LEPs on the LEP Network website.

You can also watch an excellent video about Dorset businesses, such as Animal, Dorset Cereals and Lush, on the Dorset LEP homepage. The video was produced by BU’s RedBalloon production company.

DEC are awarded funding for an industry visiting professor from the Royal Academy of Engineering!

Featured academics, Research news

Dr Tania Humphries-Smith has successfully bid to the Royal Academy of Engineering for an industry visiting professor. This  project will fund a Visiting Professor in Employer Engagement (£80K)  and will last for four years. The RAE Visiting Professor is Simon Vaitkevicius, an engineer with over 15 years of experience working globally for Nokia. The VP will be an important element in enabling the Design and Engineering group with the School of DEC to develop exceptional levels of real-world learning opportunities.

The role of the VP will be comprised of a number of activities:

  • Broker relationships between BU and new industrial enterprises for the purpose of – providing ‘live’ undergraduate projects both for 1st and 2nd year entire cohort project briefs and for final year individual project briefs; providing potential masters level ‘live’ research projects and for developing proposals for match funded PhD projects.
  • Deliver lectures and presentations to undergraduate and postgraduate students on current industrial practice particularly with respect to the innovation process and developing a better understanding of innovation and the process of taking a product to market.
  • Broker relationships with industrial enterprises for the purpose of engaging external industry based speakers for undergraduate and postgraduate courses.
  • Help identify potential research and consultancy services needed by local SMEs.
  • Provide input from an industrial practice perspective, particularly with respect to ensuring currency of practice for the review of all courses in the Design and Engineering group scheduled for academic year 2013/14.
  • Provide business guidance and support for students seeking to exploit innovative ideas, including, promoting and mentoring undergraduate and postgraduate students for the Innovation Hothouse http://theinnovationhothouse.net/.

This is fantastic news and will significantly support the Design and Engineering group to achieve Fusion between education, research and professional practice. Congratulations, Tania!

Technology Strategy Board and MRC call to address Healthcare challenges

Funding opportunities, Research news

The £180 million Biomedical Catalyst, announced by David Cameron in December 2011, will see the Medical Research Council and the Technology Strategy Board working together to provide responsive and effective support for the best life science opportunities arising in the UK.

Support through the Biomedical Catalyst is available to UK businesses (SMEs) and academics looking to develop innovative solutions to healthcare challenges either individually or in collaboration.

This joint programme between the MRC and TSB will offer three categories of grant:

Feasibility Award

Early Stage Award

 Late Stage Award

The categories are designed to support the maturation of an idea from concept to commercialisation. This will create a pipeline of projects encompassing the early stage exploration of commercial and technical potential through to proving utility in the field (which may involve human clinical trials) and development prior to commercialisation. Applicants may apply for the award category most appropriate for their work without having received a prior award.

Support will be available for projects arising from any sector or discipline that are aimed at addressing healthcare challenges. Example solutions may include (but are not limited to): stratified healthcare (both therapy and diagnostic components), regenerative medicine, diagnostics, eHealth and mHealth solutions, enabling medical technologies and devices. The Biomedical Catalyst will seek to support those opportunities which demonstrate the highest scientific and commercial potential irrespective of medical area.

Please see the Technology Strategy Board healthcare page for more information about their work in this area.

The Biomedical Catalyst will operate in response mode and will in essence be “always open”. However to assist the processing of applications there will be key submission and assessment dates which will differ depending on the category of award and applicant type, please see the links/dates below for further details. The assessment of Early and Late Stage awards will culminate in a panel assessment for both academic and business led applications enabling funding decisions to be made three times a year.

All applications will be subject to assessment by independent expert reviewers with short-listed applicants for Late Stage Awards being interviewed by a committee. Applicants for Late Stage Awards are advised to note that should they be successful in being invited to interview they should hold the dates of the next committee meetings as these are fixed and non-negotiable. Dates will be confirmed when applicants are sent their invitation to submit a full stage proposal (and will be posted on this page in due course).

Please note: If your application is led by an academic, you will need to apply on the Medical Research Council website.

If your application is led by a business, you should make your application on the TSB website.

Open date: 30 April 2012

Email: competitions@innovateuk.org

The RKE Operations team can help you with your application.