The Business School has seen the arrival of its new Deputy Dean of Research, Andy Mullineux (formerly University of Birmingham) as Professor of Financial Economics. Additional to his wisdom he comes with an AHRC Research Award worth £687K. End of April he will be chairing a session and give a paper at the International Conference on the Global Financial Crisis in Southampton. At the same time the new Head of Department of Accounting, Finance & Economics, Jens Hölscher (formerly University of Brighton), came to Bournemouth as Professor of Economics. He can draw on research funds won under the EU’s Jean Monnet programme and will chair a session and give a paper at a conference on The Pacific Rim Economies in Seoul, South Korea, at the end of April. Both of them have high aspirations to boost the research culture within the school.
Category / Research news
Open call for NERC Knowledge Exchange Fellows and NERC Policy Placement Fellows
NERC are seeking to award a number of part-time Knowledge Exchange Fellows (KE Fellows) and Policy Placement Fellows, whose objective will be to increase the impact of NERC-funded science through a programme of work of their own choosing.
The KE Fellowships are intended to enable the sharing and flow of knowledge and expertise between the NERC funded researchers and their user communities. The KE Fellows can be a focus for a school /department KE activity arising from NERC funded research. It is understood that in some cases a mix of funding will lead to an opportunity to generate impact but it is essential that NERC funding has played a key role.
Focus of the Fellowships
The applications should focus on accelerating and amplifying economic impact and improvements in the quality of life from NERC-funded research through working with business, NGOs or government bodies. This could include:
- strengthening existing partnerships
- developing new relationships
- researching new market opportunities
- providing case studies of knowledge exchange from NERC-funded research
- providing briefings and reports suitable for policymakers
Details of the two types of fellowship are:
1. Knowledge Exchange Fellowships (KE Fellowships)
- Up to four fellowships are available for those who submit a work plan of their own choosing to generate impact from NERC-funded research in their host institution.
- KE Fellowships will cover the KE Fellow’s salary including superannuation, NI and specific allowances, plus up to £40k for travel and other associated work plan costs.
- KE Fellowships are based in the institution where they are employed, and open to researchers at any stage of their career.
- KE Fellows can last for a minimum of one year to a maximum of three years. Candidates can apply to spend between 20% and 80% of their time on the fellowship.
- KE Fellows have to be employed by the host institution for the duration of their fellowship.
2. Policy Placement Fellowships
- Must be organised in collaboration with a policy-making body, for example a government department, devolved administration or agency. The placement is for a fixed term, for a specific project.
- Placement is jointly funded by NERC and the partner organisation on a 50:50 basis.
- Minimum length of placement will be six months and the maximum three years.
- Placement fellows will be expected to spend at least 50% of their fellowship in the partner organisation’s offices, although some work might require time to be spent at other locations in the UK or abroad.
Closing date for applications: 10 June 2013
Interview dates: 16-18 July 2013
For further information on how to apply please visit the NERC website
Alternatively, if you have any queries please contact keschemes@nerc.ac.uk,
or call Lynne Porter on 01793 411791.
Application rejected? what to do next….
As you all know, the research funding environment is highly competitive. Whilst winning an award is a major achievement. Rejection will be a common experience, for even the most seasoned academic.
All is not lost! A huge amount work goes into the development of a proposal. It is a great shame to park your idea, when it could be re-worked, and submitted to an alternative funder.
Our internal peer review scheme, the RPRS, is very happy to support unsuccessful submissions. We will provide feedback on your original proposal, and make suggestions as to where amendments could be made, how you can potentially improve the style of the proposal, advise on other possible funders, and provide other useful information. To find out more please contact Caroline O’Kane.
I would also suggest you read a couple of blog posts from a little while ago on ‘coping with rejection’. This is a two-part series, written by Adam Goldberg from the University of Nottingham, that looks at how you can move forward when it becomes clear your time courting a potential funder comes to an end. Follow these links if you are interested: Part 1, part 2.
PhD student from BU presented his research to the MPs at the House of Commons, London
Mr Mayank Anand, a research student in BU’s School of Design, Engineering & Computing, recently attended the SET for Britain at the House of Commons in London. SET for Britain is an annual national research conference which is organized by The Parliamentary and Scientific Committee and aims at promoting early-stage and early-career research scientists, engineers and technologists of Britain.
Mayank presented his research on Lubricant condition monitoring for the in-service lifeboats of the Royal National Lifeboat Institution (RNLI) which is supervised by Prof Mark Hadfield and Dr Ben Thomas from BU, Mr Steve Austen (Head of Engineering) from RNLI and in-kind supported by BP Technology Ltd. The project has also been kindly supported by the members of Sustainable Design Research Centre. Mayank’s abstract was chosen out of hundreds of leading research applications from around the UK to appear amongst the 60 finalists at the conference and drew a great deal of interest from MPs and other participants.
The MPs for the constituency of Bournemouth, Mr Tobias Ellwood (East Bournemouth) and Mr Conor Burns (Bournemouth West) kindly attended the conference to speak to Mayank about his research.
On presenting his engineering research to the MPs, Mayank said, “it was a unique experience speaking to the MPs about my project and to see their enthusiasm for research. They asked valuable questions and there was a great deal of discussion about the different aspects of the project. It also gave me an opportunity to learn that how an individual research at the university level can contribute to the overall research outputs of UK and helps the government while making research based decisions”. Mayank added “My work also received attention from the industry people in terms of how the approach I adopted in my research can be applied to other engineering applications. This was a real boost to my confidence as not only my work was appreciated but also considered to be useful extensively. Networking with the other researchers from universities across the UK was an added bonus to get to know about their research and share ideas in common research interests”.
Reminder – Marie Curie morning session 16/04/13 – Need a Fully Funded Research Fellow ??
The Prize
These schemes provide strong financial support for a Research Fellow in your department for a period of 12 – 24 months on any research topic.
The Catch
The Research Fellow must come from another European Country or International Base worldwide. It is joint application with you and the fellowship candidate – so they must be identified. (If the fellow is already in the UK they must have been working here for less than 1 year in the last 3.)
The Deadline
Deadline for application is August 2013 – but the forms are relatively easy & straight forward – although moderately time consuming. Fellowships will start in early 2014 but this start date could be extended to early 2015.
Intra-European Fellowships (IEF) Deadline Mid August 2013
International Incoming Fellowships (IIF) Deadline Mid August 2013
Note: For people already at the University there is a similar outgoing international Fellowship scheme to enable research periods in other , non European, Labs and Research Centres.
These fellowships are prestigious and highly sought after, especially as they pay very well. There is a difference in emphasis between the two schemes but the overriding criteria is candidate, and host, excellence with respect to the justification of the project rationale. This is all derived from the candidates cv and thus please discuss initially with Martin Pickard who can advise on suitability and fit.
These fellowships are an excellent, and often overlooked, way to expand and compliment a research team. Initial advice is imperative as, again, project structure and rationale with respect to the candidate are very important in determining success and need to be argued and justified around the actual science and project.
Requirements.
One University (Host) and one applicant, of any nationality, other than from than the UK. (candidates may already be in the UK but must have spent less than 12 months of the past 36 in the UK)
The higher the quality of the cv, rated against age and experience, the more likelihood of funding success. Each prospective fellow can only apply for one fellowship but any host can have as many fellows as they want applying to work with the same PI.
The Grant
Typical project period – Minimum 12 months — Maximum 24 months
Fellow income: In excess of 80,000 Euro per year.
University Income: Minimum of 18,000 Euro per year.
Help Needed ??
If you have a research Fellow in Mind (or can find one through networking or your colleague links) the application will not take a lot of time – but a clearly defined and specific approach is required. Guidance notes will be available as well as direct one to one support from our proposal writing specialist Dr. Martin Pickard.
To assist further we have also arranged a series of 2 morning information sessions. The next one and last one is due to be held on the Tuesday 16th of April 2013 – Lansdowne Campus
Information Session 1 – 09:00am – 10:00am
A Brief Introduction to the Marie Curie Fellowship Schemes – for those of general interest.
In addition to the general European topic specific calls under the cooperation programme there are a number of explicit opportunities arising through other schemes – some of which are far more easily accessible and have the advantage of being open to literally any research idea/topic. Several of these arise through the People programme under the Marie Curie calls and this 40 minute plus Q&A information session seeks to highlight some of these opportunities and identify their pro’s and cons so that a clear strategy can be developed to avoid missing these significant, and relatively easy, opportunities.
Information Session 2 – 10:15am – 12:15pm
How to Approach and Structure your Marie Curie Fellowship Application – for those possibly intending to submit a bid.
The structure of any bid (partner interactions, methodology synergy etc.) is critical to the success of an application and forward planning is a key element of winning proposals.
If you are thinking of applying this August this session will illustrate the basic approach requirements for success and show how to structure and present your research application in the correct form of “Brusselese”. A brief, 2 hour, guide to the Marie Curie application process.
Please note: If you are already intending to submit a bid this August then Session 1 will provide very little additional information. Also Grants Academy members who have already attended our Grants Academy 2 Day Bid Writing Workshop will not need to attend Session 1 as this has already been covered in your workshop so we would recommend you book into and attend Session 2 only.
If these are a potential interest to you – don’t miss this exceptional opportunity. Please book in ASAP via Staff Development Booking Link to reserve your space as we anticipate these sessions will be very popular.
My experience of the BU peer review scheme for research bids
M
y experience of the BU peer review scheme for research bids – Dan Jackson
Constructing a credible research bid is not an easy process. Anyone who has experienced this will attest to the headaches, confidence crises, as well as the very practical obstacles of application forms that include boxes that defy common sense! Building an internal deadline and peer review process into this might seem like another unnecessary headache.
Our experience of putting a Higher Education Academy (HEA) collaborative teaching grant included all of the above. As a relatively inexperienced grant consortium, we requested internal peer review, and found it to be an invaluable process. We submitted a draft version of the whole bid document to the reviewers and got very useful feedback from two colleagues who were familiar with the funding body. Not only that, we continued the dialogue with the internal reviewers over the next few weeks leading up to the grant deadline.
This is what I would recommend to anyone undertaking the internal peer review process:
- Build it into your bid deadline from an early stage.
- Give them as much of the bid document to comment on as possible. The more feedback the better.
- Choose your peer reviewers carefully – RKEO can help here – you ideally want people with experience of the particular funding body so as to give you the inside line.
- If necessary, continue the dialogue with the reviewers after you receive the feedback.
Who can I ask for further help?
- Caroline O’Kane in the Research and Knowledge Exchange Development team manages the RPRS and will answer any questions you have.
ESRC 2013 Festival of Science
The ESRC has just posted on their website the news that the call for applications for the 2013 Festival has been delayed.
They now anticipate that the call will open on 15 April with a closing date of 13 May for applications requesting funding support of up to £2,000, and 7 May for applications to hold an event and not requesting funding. This means that the call for applications will be open for only four weeks. The message from the ESRC is to start planning your event as soon as possible.
BU held four events as part of the 2012 Festival. Our successful applicants were: Kip Jones, Richard Shipway, Debbie Sadd, Ruth Towse and Martin Kretschmer. This is what Debbie has to say about being part of the Festival:
“It is a wonderful opportunity to start a bidding journey and gain confidence in ‘winning’ some money!! The process was very straight forward and the support from the ESRC invaluable. The event itself was a resounding success.”
Looking for inspiration? Clicking on the following links will take you to the posters that were designed for each event, which may give you some ideas for your own event.
Copyright Policy, Going for Gold, London 2012 Was it Worth it, Pathways to Impact
Want to find out more?
Click here to find out more information about the call and the ESRC Festival of Science in general.
Interested in applying?
Please contact Caroline O’Kane as soon as possible if you are interested in applying.
Open Access journals: Remember to check for changes!
BUI Research BlogThe BU Research blog has seen various pieces on Open Accessing Publishing, including http://blogs.bournemouth.ac.uk/research/bu-internal-funding-opportunities/open-access-publication-fund/ or http://blogs.bournemouth.ac.uk/research/files/2011/08/Open-Access-Fund-policy-180711.pdf). Moreover, Bournemouth University professors are actively involved in Open Access journals. For example Prof. Vanora Hundley and I are both Associate Editors of a major Open Access journal (see: http://blogs.bournemouth.ac.uk/research/2012/10/23/prof-hundley-associate-editor-bmc-pregnancy-childbirth/ .
This blog highlights that journals can change and that some become Open Access that were not before. This happened to some of my methods papers in the scientific journal of the Faculty of Sexual and Reproductive Healthcare of the Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists (RCOG). Their journal the Journal of Family Planning & Reproductive Health Care used to be published in house as one of the RCOG journals. The journal had a fairly closely defined readership and a very traditional way of paper-based publishing. This meant very few academics, practitioners or students had access to my papers published over the years in the Journal of Family Planning & Reproductive Health Care. Then, a year or two ago, the journal became part of the BMJ Group (http://group.bmj.com/), which publishes over 40 journals in the health and health care field.
The deal between the Journal of Family Planning & Reproductive Health Care and the BMJ Group must include some arrangement to make previous issues available through Open Access. All of a sudden seven of my research methods papers are freely available on the web through Open Access [1-7]. One of the key messages here is that it is worthwhile to see which journals offer Open Access, and to check regularly for changes in journals’ policies and publishers.
Prof. Edwin van Teijlingen, School of Health & Social Care, Bournemouth University
References:
- van Teijlingen, E.R., Forrest, K. (2004) The range of qualitative research methods in family planning and reproductive health care, Journal of Family Planning & Reproductive Health Care 30(3): 171-73.
- Forrest Keenan, K., van Teijlingen, E.R. (2004) The quality of qualitative research in family planning and reproductive health care, Journal of Family Planning & Reproductive Health Care 30 (4): 257-59.
- Forrest Keenan, K., van Teijlingen, E.R., Pitchforth, E. (2005) The analysis of qualitative research data in family planning and reproductive health care, Journal of Family Planning & Reproductive Health Care 31(1): 40-43.
- Pitchforth, E., Porter, M., van Teijlingen, E.R., Forrest Keenan, K. (2005) Writing up and presenting qualitative research in family planning and reproductive health care, Journal of Family Planning & Reproductive Health Care 31 (2): 132-135.
- van Teijlingen, E., Hundley, V. (2005) Pilot studies in family planning and reproductive health care, Journal of Family Planning & Reproductive Health Care 31 (3): 219-221.
- van Teijlingen, E.R., Pitchforth, E. (2006) Focus Group Research in Family Planning and Reproductive Health Care, Journal of Family Planning & Reproductive Health Care 32 (1): 30-32.
- van Teijlingen, E.R., Pitchforth, E., Bishop, C., Russell, E.M. (2006) Delphi method and nominal group techniques in family planning and reproductive health research, Journal of Family Planning & Reproductive Health Care 32 (4): 249-252.
New AHRC strategy: The Human World
It has been announced that over the next five years, the AHRC will strengthen knowledge and understanding of the human world by focussing on excellence of achievement, extending opportunity and building capacity through partnerships. Published friday, The Human World: The Arts and Humanities in our Time (2013-2018), the AHRCs new Strategy, sets out the AHRCs distinctive role in the UKs system of support for research and how it intends to meet the challenges of a rapidly changing research environment.
Over the next five years the new strategy commits the AHRC to: supporting collaborative and inter-disciplinary research, whilst maintaining its strong commitment to responsive mode and ambitious researcher-led projects; enhancing postgraduate provision; extending and increasing the opportunities for researchers to work collaboratively with a wide range of partners; maintaining the UKs international leadership in arts and humanities research; and further explaining and evidencing the value and importance of research in the arts and humanities.
The Strategy was developed through extensive discussions with the AHRCs Council and Advisory Board as well as comments received from the research community gathered from the publication of a draft strategy, institutional visits, subject associations and learned society meetings, the Peer Review College and focus groups and town meetings. I took part in a number of meetings held here at Bournemouth, along with other panel members and recipients of AHRC funding.
Some of the key points relate to reflecting the value and importance of the arts and humanities research, so linking their funding more directly to the impact agenda of the REF. The aim is therefore to ensure the people, skills and research AHRC supports have a clear strategy for interacting with and impacting upon public life to bring cultural, intellectual and economic benefits to the UK and beyond.
The strategy is available here (http://www.ahrc.ac.uk/News-and-Events/News/Documents/AHRC-Strategy-2013-18.pdf) while the website also contains further information in a variety of formats (http://www.ahrc.ac.uk/News-and-Events/News/Pages/AHRC-Strategy-2013-2018.aspx). The message is clear however, if there is no clear pathway to impact the project will not be funded and it will no longer be acceptable to rely on academic publications as the only means for dissemination for research findings.
Dr. Justine Pila from University of Oxford will present at the 2nd CIPPM Spring Lecture
Dr. Justine Pila, Lecturer in Intellectual Property Law at University of Oxford and Senior Law Tutor at St. Catherine’s College will speak on ‘The Europeanisation of Intellectual Property Law: Towards a European Legal Methodology’ at the 2nd CIPPM Spring Lecture Series.
The Lecture will be held on Thursday 21 March 2013 in EB708 and will start at 6 pm with refreshments served from 5 pm onwards.
Dr. Pila’s main areas of research are copyright and patent law in all of their doctrinal, theoretical and historical aspects. She has published widely in this area. Her book titled ‘The Require
ment for an invention in Patent Law’ was published by Oxford University Press in 2010. With Professor John Gardner she co-edits the two Oxford Legal Research Paper Series, in addition to serving as legal advisor to the Oxford Magazine. She also convenes the Law Faculty’s Intellectual Property subject group and teaches on all of its IP programmes, including the two FHS (undergraduate) IP options, the BCL option, and the Postgraduate Diploma in IP Law and Practice.
The lectures are free to attend, but places are limited, and admission to the building closes at 18:15. If you wish to reserve a place, please contact Mandy Lenihan.
CEMP and CIPPM Researchers co-publish reports on parody for the UKIPO
Dr. Kris Erickson (CEMP), Dr. Dinusha Mendis and Professor Martin Kretschmer (CIPPM) have co-authored a series of reports commissioned by the UK Intellectual Property Office (UKIPO) on parody and pastiche. Empirical and legal research is presented in a sequence of three reports published by the UKIPO in March 2013. The three studies commissioned by UKIPO evaluate policy options in the implementation of the Hargreaves Review of Intellectual Property & Growth (2011).
Study I authored by Dr. Kris Erickson presents new empirical data about music video parodies on the online platform YouTube
Study II authored by Dr. Dinusha Mendis and Professor Martin Kretshcmer offers a comparative legal review of the law of parody in seven jurisdictions
Study III authored by Dr. Kris Erickson, Professor Martin Kretschmer and Dr. Dinusha Mendis provides a summary of the findings of Studies I & II, and analyses their relevance for copyright policy.
All three reports can also be found here
Study I presents new empirical data about music video parodies. A sample of 8,299 user-generated music video parodies was constructed relating to the top-100 charting music singles in the UK for the year 2011.
Study II discusses of the legal treatment of parodies in seven jurisdictions that have implemented a copyright exception for parody. The jurisdictions include Australia, Canada, France, Germany, Netherlands, UK, and USA. Study II identifies possible regulatory options for benefiting from a parody exception to copyright infringement, and distils the (economic and non-economic) rationales developed by legislators and courts. The report concludes by setting out a list of policy options.
Study III brings together the legal analysis and the empirical data. Each of the policy options identified in Study II is examined for its likely impact on the empirical sample gathered in Study I.
The research team comprising of Dr. Kris Erickson, Dr. Dinusha Mendis and Professor Martin Kretschmer presented the following key findings arising from the three Studies:
- Parody is a significant consumer activity: On average, there are 24 user-generated parodies available for each original video of a charting single.
- There is no evidence for economic damage to rights holders through substitution: The presence of parody content is correlated with, and predicts larger audiences for original music videos.
- The potential for reputational harm in the observed sample is limited: Only 1.5% of all parodies sampled took a directly negative stance, discouraging viewers from commercially supporting the original.
- Observed creative contributions were considerable: In 78% of all cases, the parodist appeared on camera (also diminishing the possibility of confusion).
- There exists a small but growing market for skilled user-generated parody: Parodists who exhibit higher production values in their works attract larger audiences, which can be monetized via revenue share with YouTube.
HEFCE is looking to appoint new members to its Strategic Advisory Committees
HEFCE wishes to appoint new members to three of its four Strategic Advisory Committees. These positions provide a unique opportunity to contribute to higher education at a time of significant change in the sector. We are keen to recruit new members from education, business and the professions, as well as from individuals who can represent the interests of students.
Enhancing the diversity of the membership of the committees is important to us and we welcome applications from under-represented groups including women, disabled people and people from an ethnic minority background.
Further information and a person specification are available from the appropriate committee contact:
- Teaching, Quality, and the Student Experience: TQSEcommittee@hefce.ac.uk
- Leadership, Governance, and Management: LGMcommittee@hefce.ac.uk
- Widening Participation and Student Opportunity: WPSOcommittee@hefce.ac.uk
One-page application statements addressing the person specification should be sent to the appropriate committee e-mail address above by midnight
on 12 April 2013.
Marie Curie Funding Info Sessions Reminder – Need A Fully Funded Research Fellow ?
The Prize
These schemes provide strong financial support for a Research Fellow in your department for a period of 12 – 24 months on any research topic.
The Catch
The Research Fellow must come from another European Country or International Base worldwide. It is joint application with you and the fellowship candidate – so they must be identified. (If the fellow is already in the UK they must have been working here for less than 1 year in the last 3.)
The Deadline
Deadline for application is August 2013 – but the forms are relatively easy & straight forward – although moderately time consuming. Fellowships will start in early 2014 but this start date could be extended to early 2015.
Intra-European Fellowships (IEF) Deadline Mid August 2013
International Incoming Fellowships (IIF) Deadline Mid August 2013
Note: For people already at the University there is a similar outgoing international Fellowship scheme to enable research periods in other , non European, Labs and Research Centres.
These fellowships are prestigious and highly sought after, especially as they pay very well. There is a difference in emphasis between the two schemes but the overriding criteria is candidate, and host, excellence with respect to the justification of the project rationale. This is all derived from the candidates cv and thus please discuss initially with Martin Pickard who can advise on suitability and fit.
These fellowships are an excellent, and often overlooked, way to expand and compliment a research team. Initial advice is imperative as, again, project structure and rationale with respect to the candidate are very important in determining success and need to be argued and justified around the actual science and project.
Requirements.
One University (Host) and one applicant, of any nationality, other than from than the UK. (candidates may already be in the UK but must have spent less than 12 months of the past 36 in the UK)
The higher the quality of the cv, rated against age and experience, the more likelihood of funding success. Each prospective fellow can only apply for one fellowship but any host can have as many fellows as they want applying to work with the same PI.
The Grant
Typical project period – Minimum 12 months — Maximum 24 months
Fellow income: In excess of 80,000 Euro per year.
University Income: Minimum of 18,000 Euro per year.
Help Needed ??
If you have a research Fellow in Mind (or can find one through networking or your colleague links) the application will not take a lot of time – but a clearly defined and specific approach is required. Guidance notes will be available as well as direct one to one support from our proposal writing specialist Dr. Martin Pickard.
To assist further we have also arranged a series of 2 morning information sessions to be held on the Wednesday 27th of March and repeated again on the Tuesday 16th of April 2013
Information Session 1 – 09:00am – 10:00am
A Brief Introduction to the Marie Curie Fellowship Schemes – for those of general interest.
In addition to the general European topic specific calls under the cooperation programme there are a number of explicit opportunities arising through other schemes – some of which are far more easily accessible and have the advantage of being open to literally any research idea/topic. Several of these arise through the People programme under the Marie Curie calls and this 40 minute plus Q&A information session seeks to highlight some of these opportunities and identify their pro’s and cons so that a clear strategy can be developed to avoid missing these significant, and relatively easy, opportunities.
Information Session 2 – 10:15am – 12:15pm
How to Approach and Structure your Marie Curie Fellowship Application – for those possibly intending to submit a bid.
The structure of any bid (partner interactions, methodology synergy etc.) is critical to the success of an application and forward planning is a key element of winning proposals.
If you are thinking of applying this August this session will illustrate the basic approach requirements for success and show how to structure and present your research application in the correct form of “Brusselese”. A brief, 2 hour, guide to the Marie Curie application process.
Please note: If you are already intending to submit a bid this August then Session 1 will provide very little additional information. Also Grants Academy members who have already attended our Grants Academy 2 Day Bid Writing Workshop will not need to attend Session 1 as this has already been covered in your workshop so we would recommend you book into and attend Session 2 only.
If these are a potential interest to you – don’t miss this exceptional opportunity. Please book in ASAP via Staff Development Booking Link to reserve your space as we anticipate these sessions will be very popular.
Networking with microbes: BOSS – Biogeography of Organisms of Small Size
Genoveva Esteban, Associate Professor at the School of Applied Sciences, has been awarded a Santander Staff Mobility and Networking Scholarship (strand of the Fusion Investment Fund) to develop a network with Prof Angel Baltanás at Universidad Autónoma de Madrid (Spain). The network is called BOSS (Biogeography of Organisms of Small Size) – a research-educational network on freshwater aquatic ecology. The aim of BOSS is to investigate the geographical distribution of small-sized organisms and rare freshwater invertebrates involving students (supervised by the PI and CoI) at each university to exchange data collected from rare aquatic habitats in central Spain and in Dorset via the internet. The network will aim at developing a bilingual on-line learning and communications tool to facilitate exchange of students, masters, ecological information, and research between both institutions. The project will also help promote BU’s PG research and MSc opportunities.
Adido Presents…
The Centre for Entrepreneurship is delighted to invite you to a series of FREE digital marketing related seminars presented by Adido, one of the South’s fastest growing digital agencies.
Please see below for further details – we hope you can join us!
The Digital Trends of 2013 – Monday 11th March 2013
What will businesses need to know about to get ahead in digital in 2013? This seminar will cover the most important areas to invest in to make sure your business maximises the opportunities available.
Maximising Mobile – Thursday 18th April 2013
Mobile internet traffic set to overtake desktop at the end of this year and more mobile devices are being sold every day. As mobile devices become even more pervasive in our day to day lives the opportunities engage with audiences increases dramatically.
SEO in 2013 – Thursday 27th June 2013
Of all the digital marketing channels used by marketers, none has changed more than SEO in the last few years. This seminar will highlight some of the major issues facing the industry along with how to get ahead of your competition in 2013.
To find out more or to book your place please visit www.bucfe.com/events
New tool for professionals working with adults at risk of harm
For many staying out of harm’s way is a matter of locking doors and windows and avoiding dangerous places, people and situations; however for some vulnerable people it is not quite so easy. The threat of abuse is behind those closed doors, well hidden from public view and for those living in the midst of adult abuse violence and fear permeates many aspects of their lives, frequently perpetrated against them by those charged with providing their care.
Recent media reports on the abuse of vulnerable patients at Winterbourne View and Mid Staffordshire Hospital have highlighted failures in the system where professional social workers and nurses have failed to protect those most vulnerable.
Di Galpin, Lucy Morrison and Emily Rosenorn Lanng from National Centre for Post Qualifying Social Work(NCPQSW) have developed an on-line tool to help practitioners evaluate and reflect on their practice when working with adults at risk of harm to ensure those who are most vulnerable are protected and do not live in fear.
The Safeguarding Adults Framework Evaluation (SAFE) tool is used to support professionals working in the health and social care sector to improve their practice in keeping adults safe from harm. The on-line SAFE tool encourages practitioners to evaluate and reflect on their practice and offers a framework to help support the development of skills and knowledge in safeguarding adults at risk for the future.
Protecting adults at risk of harm is at the heart of professional practice in health and social care and the NCPQSW at BU is committed to supporting this to the highest level. Di, Lucy and Emily have worked together to produce a number of resources which can be used with the on-line SAFE tool, including the development of the first National Capabilities Framework for professionals protecting vulnerable adults which is being used by a number of local authorities across the country and the Safeguarding Adults at Risk of Harm staff group B workbook for qualified health and social care professionals.
For more information please visit the SAFE tool.
Media School team wins US grant for CSR research
A three-member Media School research team has been awarded a grant for research into Corporate Social Responsibility communication amongst employees.
Dr Tasos Theofilou, Dr Georgiana Grigore and Prof Tom Watson (L-R) gained the grant from the Arthur W. Page Center for Integrity in Public Communication, a research center at the Penn State College of Communications.
They will be conducting a study in the UK and Romania to link with a previous study undertaken in Greece by Dr Theofilou. The study supports travel and the employment of research assistants for research in summer this year. Prof Watson, the project PI, has been named as a Page Legacy Scholar for 2013.
“Within the Media School’s Public Relations Research Group (the PRRes Gang), there is considerable expertise in CSR,” said Prof Watson.
“Dr Grigore is an organiser of an international CSR conference to be held at BU in the autumn, whilst Dr Theofilou is pioneering research into harnessing ‘scepticism’ as a factor in developing effective CSR communication within corporate organisations.
“This grant is very positive recognition of BU’s standing internationally within public relations and corporate communications research.”
# Arthur W. Page was a highly respected pioneer of public relations and corporate communications in the US from the late 1920s to the late 1940s at the telecoms giant, AT&T.
(L-R) Dr Tasos Theofilou, Dr Georgiana Grigore and Prof Tom Watson
Boost your bid writing confidence – the Grants Academy way
Before arriving for the Grants Academy day, I had had little interaction with this group at BU. I had procured some experience with small grant writing, but it is a lonely affair and it wasn’t always clear where to go for advice amongst colleagues or exactly how to go about pitching particular ideas to targeted funding bodies. The first day arriving for croissant and coffee, ice was broken very quickly as academics chatted about their interest research ideas and general experience at the university. It’s always amazing to me just how relevant distant subject areas of enquiry can be to your own area of expertise and talk of possible collaborative work soon emerged.
Martin Pickard, then launched into his explanation of the art and approach to guiding funding applications through the hidden maze of funding bodies’, expectations, remits and landscapes. It left me with a sudden realisation that there were indeed straightforward ways to fundamentally alter my approach that could lead to much greater chances. It was like having always played chess rather badly, but being shown just 5 key moves that conferred dramatic changes to your chances of winning. It was quite an eye opening and positive experience.
In addition to this sea change in approach, the venue, food, coffee, chocolate biscuits (particularly) and atmosphere of openness and support from Dianne and Caroline and the other participants enabled relaxed and informative discussion and a real boost in confidence concerning writing grants.
The support has kept coming and follow up workshops are in the offing. I can’t recommend this support opportunity at BU enough.
Submitted by Dave Newell (AECC)
Dave joined the Grants Academy in January 2013, and attended a 2-day bid writing workshop led by Dr Martin Pickard. For more information about the scheme please visit the Grants Academy page on the research blog.
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