Category / Research news

The Ageing and Dementia Research Centre – September Newsletter

 

 

 

 

 

 

The Ageing and Dementia Research Centre has put together a newsletter showcasing the work we do here in the centre, we plan on sending this out three times a year (September, January and April) to our network of people in the community who are interested in knowing about the research we are doing.

Here is a link to the newsletter https://www.bournemouth.ac.uk/research/centres-institutes/ageing-dementia-research-centre which you will see located on the righthand side of the web page.

The newsletter includes information about:

  • Our coffee mornings
  • Research projects that are looking for research participants
  • Updates on established research projects
  • Latest news

We would love to hear from you if you are undertaken research within the areas of ageing and dementia and you would like to either present at one of our coffee mornings or would like to include your research project in one of our newsletters.

To find out more and to be involved with the centre, please email adrc@bournemouth.ac.uk

 

Join the mental health research seminar – 6 October 2022

Are you interested in mental health research and engaging with researchers across Wessex?

Join us for a seminar (6 October 2022) given by Professor Sam Chamberlain, Professor of Psychiatry, University of Southampton and NIHR ARC Wessex Mental Health Research Hub Lead.

He will highlight projects currently supported through the Mental Research Hub, as part of the NIHR ARC Wessex. The Hub aims to bring together researchers from different disciplines and partners throughout the region to plan and conduct research and look at ways to implement findings at the point of care. It also encourages and support new research talent through mentorship, internships, a summer school, and new post-doctoral positions.

This seminar will provide a valuable opportunity to find out more about the Mental Health Research Hub, engage with researchers in Wessex to develop new research and potentially be involved with current projects.

Please sign up asap using this Eventbrite link (venue to be confirmed)

https://nihr-arc-mental-health.eventbrite.co.uk

Pokhara workshop on academic writing 2022

This week from Sunday till Tuesday (21-23 August) Hotel Mount Kailash Resort hosts a three-day writing and publishing workshop for academics and researchers.  The workshop is led by Dr. Shovita Dhakal Adhikari, Dr. Pramod Regmi and Prof. Edwin van Teijlingen all three from Bournemouth University in the south of England, Dr. Emma Pitchforth from the University of Exeter in the west of England, and Dr. Rashmee Rajkarnikar from the Central Department of Economics at Tribhuvan University.  Shovita highlighted: “As sociologist and a female researcher I think it is very important to address gender issues in all part of society, including academic writing and publishing.”

This workshop targeting young academics in and around Pokhara and it is funded by The British Academy.  The project builds research capacity of early career researchers researching gender in Nepal-based higher education institutions by improving their chances of getting published in international journals in English.   In Nepal the workshop is further supported by Social Science Baha and Green Tara Nepal.  The workshop centres around the 23 chapters of the textbook ‘Academic Writing and Publishing in Health and Social Sciences’ was published this year by Social Science Baha and Himal Books in Kathmandu. 

New cross faculty HEIF project underway: exploring the narratives of childbirth

A social marketing perspective on current narratives of childbirth choices and their influence on women’s views and maternity service use.

 

This cross-faculty HEIF-funded project aims to explore the current narratives of home birth choices found in social media and provide understanding of how knowledge exchange could influence them.

National Institute for Health and Care Excellence guidelines in the U.K recommend that pregnant women are offered choices regarding birth settings. This might be home, free-standing midwifery unit, alongside midwifery unit or an obstetric unit.  However, there is evidence that many women are only familiar with the obstetric unit as a birthing option. In the recent national survey only 47% of women had enough information to help them decide where to have their baby and 20% of women were not offered any choices. Although home birth has been described as positive and fulfilling, women are offered limited choices for a home birth.

Our study focuses on societal knowledge regarding place of birth. It is suggested that the negative portrayal and absence of other birth settings options apart from obstetric units in  the media and in society has framed childbirth as medical and has offered women limited choices Current research shows that pregnant women are increasingly relying on the media especially social media for pregnancy information needs and to find connections. Therefore, it is important to explore current social media content surrounding home birth narratives to understand what information is presented and to begin to explore the influence of these narratives on women’s decision making. The findings can subsequently be used to inform social marketing strategies to promote positive narratives surrounding homebirth.

This mixed method study will explore home birth narratives in social media and its influence on women’s decision-making using social media data scraping and qualitative interviews. The team will use PPI (patient and public involvement) to shape the development of the research tools and ensure stakeholders are actively involved throughout the project.

 

The research team:

Dr Julia Hibbert (BUBS), Assoc. Professor Chris Chapleo (BUBS), Aniebiet Ekong (HSS), Professor Vanora Hundley (HSS), Professor Edwin van Teijlingen (HSS), Assoc. Professor Ann Luce (FMC) and Anna Marsh (HSS) partnering with service users and women’s groups.

 

Some useful references:

Coxon, K., Chisholm, A., Malouf, R., Rowe, R. and Hollowell, J., 2017. What influences birth place preferences, choices and decision-making amongst healthy women with straightforward pregnancies in the UK? A qualitative evidence synthesis using a ‘best fit’framework approach. BMC pregnancy and childbirth, 17 (1), 1-15.

Coxon, K., Sandall, J. and Fulop, N. J., 2014. To what extent are women free to choose where to give birth? How discourses of risk, blame and responsibility influence birth place decisions. Health, risk & society, 16 (1), 51-67.

Fletcher, B. R., Rowe, R., Hollowell, J., Scanlon, M., Hinton, L. and Rivero-Arias, O., 2019. Exploring women’s preferences for birth settings in England: A discrete choice experiment. Plos one, 14 (4), e0215098.

Naylor Smith, J., Taylor, B., Shaw, K., Hewison, A. and Kenyon, S., 2018. ‘I didn’t think you were allowed that, they didn’t mention that.’A qualitative study exploring women’s perceptions of home birth. BMC pregnancy and childbirth, 18 (1), 1-11.

NICE, N. I. f. H. a. C. E., 2017. Intrapartum care United Kingdom

Sperlich, M. and Gabriel, C., 2022. “I got to catch my own baby”: a qualitative study of out of hospital birth. Reproductive Health, 19 (1), 1-13.

Vickery, M., van Teijlingen, E., Hundley, V., Smith, G. B., Way, S. and Westwood, G., 2020. Midwives’ views towards women using mHealth and eHealth to self-monitor their pregnancy: A systematic review of the literature. European journal of midwifery, 4.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

IMSET publishes position paper on long-term sustainability

Fabio Silva of the Institute for the Modelling of Socio-Environmental Transitions, together with a group of co-authors from 32 other institutions, has led the publication of a landmark position paper in the journal Sustainability entitled Developing Transdisciplinary Approaches to Sustainability Challenges: The Need to Model Socio-Environmental Systems in the Longue Durée.

Stemming from a transdisciplinary workshop held online during 2020, the paper argues that current crises – in land use, biodiversity, novel pathogens, water management – can only be fully understood by doing research over timescales that greatly exceed the lifespan of any individual human. This so-called longue durée is the key to fully understanding the full extent of socio-environmental processes and their implications.

 

The spatial and temporal scales of key social and environmental processes of interest

 

As well as identifying key processes and challenges, IMSET and colleagues set out how key issues may be addressed by fully integrating humans into environmental modelling and planning. By including ancient human activity and future outcomes in our mission statement, we aim to provide a manifesto for developing an integrated approach towards socio-ecological systems in the long term.

Silva, Fabio, Fiona Coward, Kimberley Davies, Sarah Elliott, Emma Jenkins, Adrian C. Newton, Philip Riris, Marc Vander Linden, Jennifer Bates, Elena Cantarello, Daniel A. Contreras, Stefani A. Crabtree, Enrico R. Crema, Mary Edwards, Tatiana Filatova, Ben Fitzhugh, Hannah Fluck, Jacob Freeman, Kees Klein Goldewijk, Marta Krzyzanska, Daniel Lawrence, Helen Mackay, Marco Madella, Shira Yoshi Maezumi, Rob Marchant, Sophie Monsarrat, Kathleen D. Morrison, Ryan Rabett, Patrick Roberts, Mehdi Saqalli, Rick Stafford, Jens-Christian Svenning, Nicki J. Whithouse, and Alice Williams. 2022. “Developing Transdisciplinary Approaches to Sustainability Challenges: The Need to Model Socio-Environmental Systems in the Longue Durée Sustainability 14: 10234. DOI: 10.3390/su14161023

 

 

Could you help the Health Research Authority improve the research ethics review?

Remember – support is on offer at BU if you are thinking of introducing your research ideas into the NHS or social care – email the Clinical Research mailbox, and take a look at the Clinical Governance section of the website.

Erasmus+ workshop at BU by Prof. Marahatta from Nepal

Yesterday (10th August) Prof. Sujan Marahatta from Manmohan Memorial Institute of Health Sciences (MMIHS) gave an insightful talk under the title ‘Response to COVID-19 in Nepal’ to colleagues at Bournemouth University. Prof. Marahatta arrived in the UK yesterday morning and straight off the bus from Heathrow  airport came to present in the Bournemouth Gateway Building.  He is at Bournemouth University as part of the ERASMUS+ Key Action 107 which includes the exchange of academic staff and students between the UK and Nepal, between BU and MMIHS.  His talk covered his role in writing the official report ‘Responding to COVID-19’.

He also spoke about the various joint studies conducted between MMIHS and academics in BU’s Faculty of Health & Social Sciences.  These collaborations include a range of BU academics, Dr. Pramod Regmi, Dr. Catherine Angell, Dr. Preeti Mahato (who recently moved to Royal Holloway), Prof. Carol Clark, Prof. Edwin van Teijlingen, Dr. Nirmal Aryal, Dr. Shanti Shanker, and Prof. Vanora Hundley.

Erasmus+ is the European Commission’s flagship for financial support of mobility for Higher Education students, teachers and institutions. The British Councill is the funding agency in the UK and coordinates the funding at a national level.  BU is proud to be part of Erasmus+.

Postgraduate Researchers and Supervisors | Monthly Update for Researcher Development

Postgraduate researchers and supervisors, hopefully you have seen your monthly update for the researcher development e-newsletter sent last week. If you have missed it, please check your junk email or you can view it within the Researcher Development Programme on Brightspace.

The start of the month is a great time to reflect on your upcoming postgraduate researcher development needs and explore what is being delivered this month as part of the Doctoral College Researcher Development Programme and what is available via your Faculty or Department. Remember some sessions only run once per year, so don’t miss out.

Please also subscribe to your Brightspace announcement notifications for updates when they are posted.

If you have any questions about the Researcher Development Programme, please do not hesitate to get in touch.

Natalie (Research Skills & Development Officer)
pgrskillsdevelopment@bournemouth.ac.uk 

NIHR Research for Patient Benefit (RfPB) seminar – 1st September 12-2pm

Are you interested in finding out about the NIHR RfPB funding
programme? Join our online seminar on 1st September 2022 from
12.00pm – 2.00pm

About the seminar

The seminar will be hosted by the NIHR Research Design Service and will provide a great opportunity to hear from members of the RfPB programme team and funding panel, as well as from successful applicants. There will also be information about the RDS and the support available for people who are applying to the programme.

Who is the seminar for?

Researchers and health and social care professionals who want to learn more about the RfPB programme and the support available to them.

What will the seminar cover?
• An overview of the RfPB programme
• What the funding panel look for in an application
• Experience of previous successful applicant(s)
• Including Patient and Public Involvement (PPI) in your application
• Including Equality Diversity and Inclusion (EDI) in your application
• How the NIHR RDS can support applicants

How to book a place
Please register via this link.
The full programme and further details will be sent nearer to the date of the seminar.

Your local branch of the NIHR RDS (Research Design Service) is based within the BU Clinical Research Unit (BUCRU)

We can help with grant applications to National peer reviewed funders. We advise on all aspects of developing an application and can review application drafts as well as put them to a mock funding panel (run by RDS South West) known as Project Review Committee, which is a fantastic opportunity for researchers to obtain a critical review of a proposed grant application before this is sent to a funding body.

Contact us as early as possible to benefit fully from the advice

Feel free to call us on 01202 961939 or send us an email.

Join the mental health research seminar

Are you interested in mental health research and engaging with researchers across Wessex?

Join us for a seminar (6 October 2022) given by Professor Sam Chamberlain, Professor of Psychiatry, University of Southampton and NIHR ARC Wessex Mental Health Research Hub Lead.

He will highlight projects currently supported through the Mental Research Hub, as part of the NIHR ARC Wessex. The Hub aims to bring together researchers from different disciplines and partners throughout the region to plan and conduct research and look at ways to implement findings at the point of care. It also encourages and support new research talent through mentorship, internships, a summer school, and new post-doctoral positions.

This seminar will provide a valuable opportunity to find out more about the Mental Health Research Hub, engage with researchers in Wessex to develop new research and potentially be involved with current projects.

Please sign up asap using this Eventbrite link (venue to be confirmed)

https://nihr-arc-mental-health.eventbrite.co.uk

Celebrating REF success in FHSS – the research journey continues!

FHSS hosted a highly successful event on 28th July 2022 to celebrate the achievements from REF 2021 and journey ahead, as we’re already in the next REF period, finished off by scrumptious ice cream!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Shelly Anne Stringer and the BU RDS impact team joined UoA3, UoA20 and UoA24 leads/deputies to share the results. There was some great discussion and opportunities highlighted for staff engagement including impact workshops.

There will be more upcoming training opportunities:

  • 8th September, two hour impact case study workshop by Amanda Lazar
  • 15th September, getting started with impact workshop by Beth Steiner/Amanda Edwards
  • 12th October, Evidencing impact workshop by Beth Steiner/Amanda Edwards

Please also see research blog for more details and/or contact BU RDS – Shelly Anne Stringer (Research Excellence Manager) sastringer@bournemouth.ac.uk

A review paper published in a highly influential journal Materials Science and Engineering R (impact factor 36.21)

Dr Yi Huang from Department of Design and Engineering of FST recently published a review paper with several international collaborators. The team including the collaborators from City University of Hong Kong, São Paulo State University, Universitat Politècnica de València, UC Santa Barbara, University of Southampton worked together to publish a high quality review paper in a highly influential journal, Materials Science & Engineering R (impact factor 36.21).

The review paper explores the possibility of combining corrosion resistance and biocompatibility with the outstanding mechanical behaviour of heterostructured stainless steel into a promising option for usage as a low-cost yet highly-effective advanced material. This review paper will play a vital role in acting as a future reference for further understanding and designing new multi-functional heterostructured stainless steels.

 

Dealing with difficult reviewers

This week saw the publication of another Bournemouth University paper on academic writing and publishing.  This latest paper ‘Struggling to reply to reviewers: Some advice for novice researchers‘ has been published in the scientific journal Health Prospect: Journal of Public Health.  This  journal is published in Nepal and it is Open Access, hence freely available across the globe.

Peer review is the process by which academic journals assess and regulate the quality of content they publish, by inviting academic experts to review your submitted manuscripts.  It is a process of quality control. Once you have submitted your paper to a journal the editor will select potential peer reviewers within the field of research to peer-review your manuscript and make recommendations. In many case the peer review process can be a positive experience for you as it allows you to develop your skills and improve your written work.  For example, good reviewers may notice potential imbalances, point out missing key references or highlight different potential perspectives, and thus help you to enhance the overall quality of the paper.  On some occasions, however a reviewer can be a complete pain in the neck!

The paper is written by a multidisciplinary team based in the Department of Nursing Sciences (Dr. Regmi), the Department of Social Sciences and Social Work (Dr. Harvey), and the Department of Midwifery & Health Sciences (Dr. Taylor & Prof. van Teijlingen).  The authors bring their combined expertise in midwifery, social work, health education, sociology and health services research to offers the readers advice how to deal with the more difficult reviewers.

 

Reference:

  1. Harvey, O., Taylor, A., Regmi, P.R., van Teijlingen, E. (2022) Struggling to reply to reviewers: Some advice for novice researchers Health Prospect: Journal of Public Health 21(2):19-22