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Sustainable Development Programme 2018 OPEN

BU research, Funding opportunities, humanities, international, Research news

Application Deadline: Wednesday 30 May 2018 (17.00 UK Time)

Click here to find out more.

Aims

The purpose of each project will be to advance and deepen our understanding of the relevance and importance of the historical context of development, culture(s) and heritage(s) in particular to addressing sustainable development. Tackling many of the world’s sustainable development challenges requires a consideration of local cultures, practices, histories and societal norms, and an understanding of how such norms are complex and contextually differentiated. It is often, however, the case that these considerations are not well or fully brought into sustainable development discussions that tend to ignore aesthetic, representational, and reflective practices. New approaches that cross sectoral and disciplinary boundaries will be vital in achieving a step change in this area.

Research Themes and Focus

This call is for research projects which address the overarching aims of the Sustainable Development Programme related to sustainable governance, sustainable growth and sustainable human development and creativity broadly understood. Projects must demonstrate an innovative and interdisciplinary approach and relevance to one or more of the three sub-themes below:

  1. Heritage
  2. Dignity
  3. Violence

Eligibility Requirements

This call is open to researchers based at UK institutions. The main applicant must be based at an eligible UK university or research institute and be of at least postdoctoral or equivalent status. The applicant must either be in a permanent position at the institution or have a fixed-term position for the duration of the award. Co-applicants can be from overseas, and co-applicants from the Global South are particularly encouraged, but they must also be of at least postdoctoral or equivalent status.

All projects must be ODA eligible. Only proposals which aim to support the economic development and welfare of developing countries will be supported under this call.

Art, War and Peace

BU research, Research news

Update: Please note the change in venue due to high degree of interest in the talk – Shelley Lecture Theatre  (Poole House)

 

We would like to invite you to the latest research seminar of the Centre for Games and Music Technology Research.

 

Title: Art, War and Peace

Speaker: Nigel Osborne
Composer

By Source (WP:NFCC#4), Fair use, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?curid=57139168

 

Time: 2:00PM-3:00PM

 

Date: Wednesday 25 April 2018

 

Room: Shelley Lecture Theatre  (Poole House)

 

Abstract:

The presentation begins with an overview of the relationship between art, war and peace, from Sun Tzu and Ancient Greek and Chinese celebration of war in art to the war poets and musicians of the First and Second World Wars, and then on to the work of activists such as Janusz Korczak (Henryk Goldszmit) in the Warsaw Ghetto and Friedl Dicker-Brandeisova in Terezin (Theresienstadt).

The presentation then examines three case studies in detail, including film and Audio clips – 1. art as opposition to conflict (The Cellist of Sarajevo, the Obala Gallery) 2. art in reconciliation (the case of a young musician who re-united the young people of a city divided by war) 3. art as trauma therapy (a group of children in Syria, a group of abused women in Bosnia)

 

Biography:

Nigel Osborne MBE BA BMus (Oxon) DLitt FRCM FEIS FRSE, Emeritus Professor of Music and Human Sciences at the University of Edinburgh is a composer, teacher and aid worker. His works have been performed around the world by major orchestras and opera houses, such as the Vienna Symphony, Los Angeles Philharmonic, Berlin Symphony, Glyndebourne and the Royal Opera House. He has received, among many awards, the Netherlands Gaudeamus Prize, the Opera Prize of the Radio Suisse Romande and Ville de Geneve and the Koussevitzky Award of the Library of Congress Washington. He also works in popular music, theatre and film and has a special interest in Arabic, Indian and Chinese music.

 

He studied composition at Oxford with Egon Wellesz, the first pupil of Arnold Schoenberg, and in Warsaw with Witold Rudzinski, and worked in major studios such as the Polish Radio Experimental Studio and at IRCAM in Paris. He has worked as a sailor, school teacher, health worker, aid worker and university teacher, holding a lectureship and Special Professorship at Nottingham University (1978-1987), the Reid Chair and Dean of the Faculty of Music at Edinburgh University (1989-2012), a guest Senior Professorship (C4) at the University of Hannover (1996-98) and Head of Faculty for the Vienna-Prague- Budapest Summer Academy (ISA) (2007-2014). He is currently Professor Emeritus at Edinburgh University, visiting Professor in the Drama Faculty of Rijeka University, Consultant to both the Chinese Music Institute, Peking University and the Royal Conservatoire, Bangkok, and has worked as visiting lecturer and examiner in a wide range of universities, ranging from Harvard, UCLA and CalArts to Oxford, the Sorbonne and Bologna.

 

As a teacher he has worked at all levels of learning, from nursery education to postdoctoral supervision, and continues to work in special education development in places as diverse as Scotland, Sweden, Croatia and India. He was awarded both the Queen’s Prize and Music Industry Prize for innovation in education, and was recently made Honorary Fellow of the Educational Institute of Scotland.

 

He has pioneered methods of using music and the creative arts to support children who are victims of conflict. This approach was developed during the war in Bosnia-Herzegovina (1992-95), and since then the work has been implemented widely in the Balkan region, the Caucasus (Chechnya), the Middle East (Palestine, Syria and Lebanon), East Africa and South East Asia. He was also awarded the Freedom Prize of the Peace Institute, Sarajevo, for his work for Bosnian children during the siege of the city.

 

He has worked actively in many human rights initiatives, including the Committee for the Defence of the Workers in Poland (1970-89), Citizens’ Forum (with Vaclav Havel) in former Czechoslovakia (1987- 89), for Syrian refugee support organisations and directly for the Government of Bosnia- Herzegovina during the genocide.

He is advisor to Oliver Sachs’ Institute for Music and Neurologic Function at Beth Abraham Hospital, The Bronx, NYC, and in 2012-14 served as co-Chair of the Global Agenda Committee for Arts in Society for the World Economic Forum.

 

In recent months he has been working on an opera/film with Ulysses Theatre and Paradiso Films on the Cambridge spies, a musical/ecological work for Khazanah, Kuala Lumpur, a cantata based on the experiences of refugees and on an orchestral version of the Beatles’ Sgt Pepper, to mark the 50th anniversary of the issue of the album (June 2017).

 

Nigel is working with Opera Circus on a new chamber opera, Naciketa, with libretto by Ariel Dorfman. The premiere will be at the Queen Elizabeth Hall, Southbank London in May 2020.

 

In December 2017 Nigel Osborne was presented with the British Composer Award UK for Inspiration (in association with the Music Publishers Association) by Opera Circus Artistic Director, Tina Ellen Lee.

 

 

We hope to see you there.

BU Undergrads showcase their research in Sheffield at BCUR 2018

BU research, Centre for Excellence in Learning, Fusion, Impact, Knowledge Exchange, Research news, Student Engagement

A year on from BU hosting the prestigious British Conference of Undergraduate Research, the annual BCUR 2018 gathering this year was hosted by the University of Sheffield last week.  On the heels of a successful SURE 2018 at BU in March, 7 undergraduate students from across all faculties were supported to showcase their research at BCUR 2018 among close to 600 delegates.  Atanas Nikolaev, a SURE sponsored student and recent graduate of Sports Management did a presentation on his ethnographic study of Embodied Experiences of Women at Leisure Centres, “The most interesting aspect of the conference to me was the opportunity to engage with like-minded people across various scientific fields. It was a great way to get exposure for my research project and be challenged with ideas that could potentially lead to future developments. BCUR was great to learn about research that was of interest to me and to potentially build lasting relationships with young researchers from across the country”.

Bethan Stephenson, an FMC student studying English presented a piece of research entitled ‘The Changing Space of Warwick County Museum’ which challenges notions of memory and how historic accounts are valued.  Bethan said “I really enjoyed the experience of attending the British Conference of Undergraduate Research (BCUR) at Sheffield University, and found it very illuminating. I got there not really knowing what the conference fully entailed, and so was very pleasantly surprised. As a final year student, I’ve been recently contemplating post-graduation options, and the introduction to BCUR was incredibly informative. They discussed the importance of research-based careers, and the opportunities this can lead to. I’ve always loved research, and have multiple fields that I’m passionate about, and so I really feel like this introductory talk helped confirm my desire to undertake a masters, and possibly a PhD, in the future”.

Other BU students taking part included Charlie Simmons, a business studies marketing student presenting on Digital Immersion and the Streaming of E-Sports.  Tereza Paskova, a final year Tourism student presented on Emotional Intelligence as a tool in customer satisfaction in tourism/hospitality settings.  Isobel Hunt, a Faculty of Science and Technology student studying Psychology presenting on Consumer Decision Making and Trust for Online Restaurant Reviews and Scott Wilkes who is studying Sport Development and Coaching Sciences and also presented his research on the effects of stammer has on social participation in sport amongst Young People.

The involvement of BU undergraduate research at the national BCUR event along with a presence at their annual precursor event, Posters in Parliament, has been possible with key support and involvement from CEL and key contributors across all faculties.  It is an opportune channel for students to engage with the research process and make real world connections to the impact of their work.  For future opportunities in these initiatives, contact Mary Beth Gouthro mgouthro@bournemouth.ac.uk.

 

 

Good representation BU research at 2018 BNAC conference

BU research, conferences, Events, international, PG research, Publishing, Research news, student research, Uncategorized

Today on the second day of the 2018 BNAC (Britain-Nepal Academic Council) conference there was a very good representation of Bournemouth University (BU) research at Durham University.  BU’s Professor Michael Wilmore presented his paper: Construction of ‘Community’ in Research on Nepalese Commons.  In the morning FHSS’s PhD student Jib Acharya had an oral presentation on Impact of Healthy Snacks on Children’s Health: An Overview of a Pilot Study.

Prof. Edwin van Teijlingen presented joint work between BU, Liverpool John Moors University (LJMU) and the University of Oxford on the topic Skills transfer, employability & entrepreneurship of returnee labour migrants in Nepal. Bournemouth University was involved in this project through Dr. Pramod Regmi, Dr. Nirmal Aryal and Prof. Edwin van Teijlingen.

The final talk of the day (and of the conference) was by Prof. Padam Simkhada from LJMU.  Prof. Simkhada is also Visiting Professor at the Centre for Midwifery, Maternal & Perinatal Health at Bournemouth University.  He was presenting Debate on Educational Reform in Nepal: Outcomes of the International Conference on Quality of Higher Education in Federal Nepal on behalf of LJMU, Bournemouth University and Manmohan Memorial Institute of Health Sciences (MMIHS) in Nepal.  Earlier this year BU signed a Memorandum of Agreement with MMIHS in Kathmandu.

 

Resilience of the UK food system in a global context – third call

BU research, Funding opportunities, Research news

The  Resilience of the UK food system in a global context we are inviting expressions of interest from early career researchers at lecturer level or equivalent to take part in a Sandpit (2.5 days on 4-6 July 2018 followed by 2 days on 19-20 July 2018).

The Sandpit will seek to address the following question:

How can we transform our food system so it is based on healthy and sustainable diets and how would this impact on sustainable and resilient food production and supply?

We welcome applications from early career researchers at lecturer level or equivalent with expertise in any research area covered by BBSRC, NERC or ESRC. The Sandpit will develop outline proposals, a number of which will be invited back to be developed into full proposals that are two years in duration. Successful proposals developed through the Sandpit process will be jointly funded by BBSRC, ESRC, NERC and the Scottish Government, and up to £1.8 million (80% FEC) is available to support the proposals selected.

The research supported will identify interventions that might lead to improved outcomes for health, sustainability and resilience across the supply chain and help us to understand the dynamics, trade-offs and tensions between production, supply and demand that are crucial for the resilience of the UK food system.

The Sandpit will aim to develop proposals that answer:

  • How can we transform our food system so it is based on healthy and sustainable diets and how would this impact on sustainable and resilient food production and supply?
  • What should we be eating, and producing sustainably, and where in the world would those crops be grown, those livestock reared, or those fish be caught to ensure UK food system resilience? What impact would this have on livelihoods?
  • What level of demand change would be required to have a major impact on resilience and sustainability, and what would be the potential benefits/dis-benefits to nutrition and/or the environment of different scenarios?

How to apply

This Sandpit is for early-career researchers working at lecturer level or equivalent.

Further details, including how to apply, can be found on the Global Food Security (GFS) website.

Congratulations to Dr James Gavin on his position at the British Council Researcher Links Workshop

BU research, Research communication, Research news

Congratulations to Dr James Gavin, BU Lecturer in Exercise Physiology, on recently being awarded a funded position at the British Council Researcher Links Workshop, which will be taking place from 11 – 15 June 2018 in Botucatu, Brazil.

The Researcher Links programme provides opportunities for early career researchers from the UK and internationally to interact, learn from each other and explore opportunities for building long-lasting research collaborations. The 5 day workshop will provide a unique opportunity for sharing research expertise and networking.

“I’m immensely excited (the closest I’ve come to South America was working in a Brazilian restaurant as an undergraduate) to be able to spend dedicated time working with, and learning from, international ECRs across the health sciences,” says Dr Gavin.

During the workshops ECRs will have the opportunity to present their research in the form of a poster with short oral presentation and discuss this with established researchers and mentors from the UK and partner countries.

“I will present work on my current projects, including: i) Community-based exercise programmes for recovery self-management after orthopaedic surgery: a development study and, ii) the feasibility of inspiratory muscle training (IMT) in reducing falls risk in older adults”, says Dr Gavin.

There will be a focus on building links for future collaborations and participants selected on the basis of their research potential and ability to build longer term links.

“Aside from the prestige of the University of Sao Paulo (THE World University Rankings top 150), I hope to learn cross-cultural skills, particularly in developing and sustaining international research partnerships”, he says. “On return, I look forward to sharing my experiences with my colleagues in Sport, Physical Activity Research Centre (SPARC) and the Faculty of Health and Social Sciences, and seek opportunities for supporting a partner ‘international ECR’ to visit BU.”

 

For more information, contact Dr James Gavin (jgavin@bournemouth.ac.uk).

How AHRC-funded Film RUFUS STONE inspired a proposed project on the Next Generation

BU research, Research news, Uncategorized

AHRC blog has just published an article on a potential new project on youth, gender and sexuality proposed by a team at Bournemouth University. The AHRC supported short film RUFUS STONE  is seven years old this year. Our screenings of this film’s story, particularly to young people, have impressed upon us how a supposedly ‘old’ story – the film is set in rural Britain more than 50 years ago – still resonates with young people today.

Our proposed project, “Rufus Stone … the next Generation’ – will contribute to knowledge on the substantive topic of ‘Post-Millennials’ or ‘Generation Z’ (GenZ), focusing on their anxieties and ambiguous approaches around gender and sexuality. 

Because GenZ is the first generation to be totally hooked up to technology since birth, we want to work with mobile phones and iPads and social media over several months in sessions with youth to produce their own film/video about their lives and relationships.

We’re currently applying for funding to work with young people aged 16-18, involving them in telling their stories, co-created by involving them in every stage of production. We are at the bidding stage now. If you would like to express an interest in joining  the team, please contact Kip Jones for a chat.

Hungary elections: it’s the most popular party on Facebook, so why haven’t you heard of the Two-Tailed Dog?

BU research, Featured, Research news, the conversation

File 20180409 114084 uo115m.jpg?ixlib=rb 1.1

EPA/Tibor Illyes

By Annamaria Neag, Bournemouth University and Richard Berger, Bournemouth University

With more than 278,000 followers on Facebook, Hungary’s Two-Tailed Dog Party was the the most popular party on social media to stand in the country’s 2018 election. However, its online popularity did not help win seats in the vote which delivered Viktor Orbán a third term as prime minister by a landslide. In an anti-establishment approach, the Dogs’ campaign was carried out entirely by volunteers and official campaign funds were used to support community projects.

Despite only coming away with 1.71% of the votes, however, the party has pushed an important boundary in Hungarian politics.

Puppy training

The Two-Tailed Dog Party was founded in 2006, although formal recognition didn’t come until 2014. It defined itself as a joke party from the start, becoming famous for making fun of other political groups – mainly the mainstream Fidesz, led by Orbán.

Its activities range from street art to graffiti to urban gardening. It even smuggles soap and toilet paper into hospitals in order to highlight the dire state of some healthcare facilities. In 2016, the party crowdfunded €100,000 to cover the country in satirical posters mocking the government’s call to vote against EU refugee quotas in an impending referendum.

Then in 2018, just a couple of weeks before the deadline, the party managed to get enough signatures to be able to participate in the national parliamentary elections. The jokers were getting serious.

A Two-Tailed Dog sticker appears on a Budapest lamp post.

In an election campaign dominated by the supposed “threat” posed by immigration and the perceived influx of migrants to Hungary, the Two-Tailed Dog party used social media to draw attention to a statistic published on the national police website showing that one migrant had been “caught” in the last 30 days. Its satirical response to this shocking figure read: “There is an enormous interest in our country. But we cannot rest assured: The migrant entered our country.”

Domestication

All political parties use emotions to persuade people to vote for them. The Two-Tailed Dog party and its kind are trying to undermine establishment organisations by turning humour into political action.

In a process social scientists call “kynicism”, the Two-Tailed Dog party borrowed and remixed government messages for its own aims. The idea is to mock the government’s rhetoric in order to disperse fear and anxiety.

In Hungary, it’s unclear what the future holds for the Two-Tailed Dog party, or these joke parties more broadly. There is a fundamental mismatch between the way everyday politics works and the vision of the party.

Party leader Gergő Kovács told us:

I can’t really tell how many of our Facebook fans would vote for us … To be honest, for me the parliamentary elections are not important. For me, it’s much more important to see what we can do … I have to confess: my aim is to create something creative and funny, and yet meaningful … I think it is useless to have one more opposition party that has a serious programme. I have no interest to do politics in the traditional way.

If the case of Iceland’s Pirate party shows us anything, it is that parties like the Two-Tailed Dog have a tendency to lose their edge once they gain political influence. In 2016 the pirates topped opinion polls, and seemed to become a real political force by winning ten seats in the parliament. However, in the latest elections, they won only six seats.

Alternative parties, like the Two-Tailed Dog exist to mock from outside the mainstream. But what’s the point of a political party if it doesn’t really want to get elected and to introduce its policies?

For now, that’s not a question the Two-Tailed dogs need to answer, since they failed to make it into parliament.

But the group has nonetheless radically re-energised young people. It has tested the limits of convention in Hungary’s political process. Kovács told us that when it comes to larger campaigns, “two thirds, or three quarters, of our ideas come from the people … For instance, we write an economic programme, post it to Facebook and in a couple of minutes, there are three to four better ideas in the comments, so we take it down and add these ideas. So, in fact it really comes from the people”. The next step is for the group to translate those likes on social media into actual votes.

Annamaria Neag, Marie Curie Research Fellow, Bournemouth University and Richard Berger, Associate Professor, Head of Research and Professional Practice, Department of Media Production, Bournemouth University

This article was originally published on The Conversation. Read the original article.

10th Annual Postgraduate Research Conference Winner Profiles

BU research, conferences, Doctoral College, Events, Featured, PG research, Research communication, Research news

On Wednesday 7 March 2018 the Doctoral College hosted the 10th Annual Postgraduate Research Conference which brought together and recognised the excellence of BU’s postgraduate research.

Meet this year’s winners:

  Mark Stevens, Faculty of Management

Research topic: A social identity approach to understanding physical activity.

Why I chose this research topic: As a regular runner, and someone who engages in a lot of physical activity myself, I am a strong believer that being active should be a priority for us all. Having also seen first hand the issues being inactive can cause, and being aware of the scale of the inactivity crisis we are facing on a global scale, I am passionate about understanding the factors that influence people’s physical activity levels and devising effective ways of getting—and keeping—people more active.

Example of how research at BU has changed things for me: My PhD has given me the opportunity to learn a wide variety of new skills and develop my existing skills in several areas. For example, working closely with my supervisors, collaborating with researchers around the world, and working to publish journal articles has helped me learn several advanced methods of statistical analysis and develop my academic writing.

Quick quote:  Following on the physical activity theme, but also a good thought about working hard: “Nobody ever drowned in their own sweat!”
  Stephen Allard, Faculty of Media & Communication

Research topic: When does Page become Stage: Exploring Evolving Poetic Practices in Digital Spaces.

Why I chose this topic: The growth and popularity of social media sites, especially within the last decade, has arguably forever changed the way that we imagine, interact with, and relate to, each other. With increasing cynicism towards these new social worlds of words, with terms such as ‘fake news’ ingrained in the public consciousness, I am fascinated by how poets might add their voices to these new social frontiers. If a search for truth about online interaction is currently only revealing something increasingly seen as fake, then can perhaps poets, using something fictional, reveal new truths about ourselves, and each other, online?  

Example of how research at BU has changed things for me: Bournemouth University has a rich, diverse, and interactive postgraduate research community, that actually feels like a community. Through events, workshops, and talks, I have gained the opportunity to work with a range of talented and passionate researchers, working across many fields and in many disciplines. This has not only pushed the boundaries and possibilities of my own research, but also opened up new opportunities, and completely new ways of thinking about the postgraduate experience.

Quick quote: Oscar Wilde: ‘Everything in moderation, including moderation’
Louise Oliver, Faculty of Health & Social Sciences

Research topic: Family Narratives of Child-to-Parent Violence and Abuse: Lifting the Veil of Secrecy

Why I chose this topic:  I have worked within Children’s Social Care for over a decade, with a focus on working with family violence and abuse.  As part of my practice, it became apparent that there was a dearth of research about children who are controlling, aggressive and/or violent towards their parents, as well as limited targeted support for families experiencing child-to-parent violence and abuse.   This motivated me to study this form of family violence and abuse in order to further prevent, intervene and support families experiencing this.

Example of how research at BU has changed things for me: ​This research has helped in many ways, it has helped develop my practice by improving my theoretical understanding of family violence and abuse, and I have been able to incorporate this within my practice.   I am also in a position that I am able to offer advice and guidance to my colleagues.

Quick quote:  “…a moment of silence, a question without answer, provokes a breach without reconciliation where the world is forced to question itself” (Foucault 1967)
Amal Musa Almoualed, Faculty of Media & Communication

Research topic: Saudi Women Journalists—An Exploration of Their Role and Practice in an Age of National Transformation

Why I chose this topic:  The advancement, development and empowerment of women is a lifelong interest of mine, something I wish to study and achieve in my personal and professional life. This motivated me to approach my research from both sides—‘journalism’ and ‘women’—in order to combine my joint passions for journalism research and the advancement of women.

Example of how research at BU has changed things for me:  Being a researcher in Women and Journalism at Bournemouth University has developed my personal and professional skills and exposed me to other cultures. This has helped broaden my horizons and also helps me communicate more effectively with professionals and colleagues from different cultures.

Quick quote:   These are two of my own quotes, which I always recall whenever I need to encourage myself to continue pursuing my dreams:

‘Being a woman means to have patience, determination, enthusiasm and confidence as you challenge any barriers that limit your success in your personal and professional life.’

‘Some women seek to be pretty and work hard to remain pretty their entire life; however, I believe my prettiness is determined by being mindful, ambitious, and successful in achieving my goals.’
  Ejike T. Ezeh, Faculty of Health & Social Sciences

Research topic: Shared decision-making: investigating the potential of an interactive, web-based information tool to support treatment choice of people with advanced pancreatic cancer

Why I chose this topic:  I have always been interested in the impact of information technology in healthcare, and when the opportunity became available, I applied and was selected. Also, being able to help people in making important decisions about their health is a rewarding experience for me.

Example of how research at BU has changed things for me:  Research has taught me that you have to be very thorough and systematic even in the most basic things in life. Someone may build on your work in the future. I am more careful in my utterances as well. There must be sufficient evidence to support them.

Quick quote:  When the going gets extremely tough, then you are close to a breakthrough.
 Nurist Surayya Ulfa, Faculty of Media & Communication

Research topic: I am undertaking a PhD on ‘the digital virtual consumption practices and commercial enculturation among Indonesian Muslim girls’. In particular, the work aims to account for how Indonesian Muslim girls’ engagement with DVC in Girls games shapes both their literacy of and desire for Western consumer culture and the role of Islam in the process. By doing this, enables me to shed light on the interplay between market and religion under the consumer culture theory traditions.

Why I chose this topic:  Since 2009, as an academia in Diponegoro University Indonesia, I have been interested in studying children and marketing communication themes in Indonesia. My PhD problematization derived from my previous finding on Muslim children engagements with local and global media practices.

Example of how research at BU has changed things for me:  Undertaking PhD in Bournemouth University is a journey that I have thoroughly enjoyed so far. The reliable and supportive supervisory team is obviously the best part of my PhD journey. By way of their guidance, I have learned a lot about my research area and had valuable opportunities to develop myself.
Giulia Levi, Faculty of Health & Social Sciences

Research topic: Between silence and agitation. Coping strategies and third-party interventions in divided societies: a comparison between post-conflict Bosnia and post-referendum UK.

Why I chose this topic:  The Brexit referendum has favoured the emergence of new lines of division in the British society. After years working in civil society organisations operating in divided contexts I have seen how initiatives to bridge societal divisions often apply standardised models overlooking the specificities of the contexts and of the people they work with. My project looks at how such initiatives are experienced by beneficiaries in order to develop a more socio-culturally sensitive approach.

Example of how research at BU has changed things for me:  Since I started my PhD I’ve had the chance to participate in workshops and conferences, meeting researchers I could discuss my ideas with. As part of my research I am exploring the cultural diversity of Dorset collaborating with civil society organizations on the ground that work on hate crime prevention and victims’ support.

Quick quote:  ‘Every culture is always on a nomadic path’ (M. Engelke)