Category / Research news
New paper published by CMMPH’s Dr. Susan Way
This week saw the pre-publication of ‘Core principles to reduce current variations that exist in grading of midwifery practice in the United Kingdom’ in Nurse Education in Practice. This paper is co-authored by Dr. Susan Way in the Centre for Midwifery, Maternal & Perinatal Health (CMMPH). The authors argue that these core principles could contribute to curriculum development in midwifery and other professions internationally.
Congratulations!
Prof. Edwin van Teijlingen
Reference:
- Fisher, M., Way, S., Chenery-Morris, S., Jackson, J., Bower, H.
(2017) Core principles to reduce current variations that exist in grading of midwifery practice in the United Kingdom, Nurse Education in Practice (forthcoming) see: http://www.nurseeducationinpractice.com/article/S1471-5953(17)30092-6/abstract
14:Live with ORI
The first 14:Live of 2017 features BU’s Orthopaedic Research Institute (ORI) on Thursday 16 February.
Healthcare professionals will play a major role at some point in our lives.
BU’s ORI is working to make a real difference both locally and globally, in orthopaedic surgery, related diseases and treatments.
One particular area of expertise for ORI is osteoarthritis, which is a common form of joint disease. Clinicians in Dorset are frequently faced with the disease, owing to the large numbers of older people living in the region. This is an areas that ORI is currently working to make a real difference in.
They’re also experts in hip replacements and are currently looking at how blood flow can help post surgery recovery. As well as having a chance to hear about the life changing research and work from ORI, you’ll be able to test out the Laser Speckle Contrast Imager (LSCI) which is used to visualise blood flow and measure micro circulation just below the skin’s surface.
Join us on Floor 5, Student Centre at 14:00-15:00 to hear from ORI’s Project Manager, Shayan Bahadori and test out the LSCI.
All students and staff are welcome!
HE Policy update w/e 10th February 2017
Dear all
The Chair for the Office for Students (OfS) has been confirmed as Sir Michael Barber, Wonkhe profile his career here. Recruitment for the OfS Chief Executive is underway.
Higher Education and Research Bill– amendments are being submitted for the House of Lords report stage. One focusses on students and academic staff at HE providers stating the government has a duty to encourage international students, ensure UG and PG students are not treated as long-term migrants, maximise British and international research collaboration, especially in EU, and provide favourable employment conditions for non-British individuals offered employment at a HE institution. The amendment is not expected to be accepted. Another relates to changes to the repayment terms of student loans. The Lords Report stage is on 6th March and the list of amendments is expected to grow further.
EU Withdrawal Bill – This week MPs discussed:
- A clause advocating a strict timetable of parliamentary scrutiny throughout the negotiations with the EU.
- The rights of EU nationals living in the UK
- The impact of withdrawal on a number of different industries
- The role of the devolved Nations in negotiations and repatriated powers.
The bill was passed by vote in the Commons on Wednesday. No amendments were accepted. It was anticipated that there might be a push to a vote on residency rights for EU nationals. A leaked letter from the Home Secretary, reputedly aiming to quell backbench rebellion on the subject, stated the future rights of EU citizens in Britain would be settled by a separate Immigration Bill. “..the Government remains committed to providing reassurance to EU nationals here and UK nationals in the EU as a priority once Article 50 has been triggered… I’d also like to reassure colleagues that Parliament will have a clear opportunity to debate and vote on this issue in the future… after we leave the European Union we will have an immigration system that supports our economy and protects our public services, and that should mean securing the rights of EU citizens already here, as well as establishing a new immigration system for new arrivals from the EU once we have left. But this isn’t just about ensuring British businesses and our public sector have access to the right workers, we owe it to those many European citizens who have contributed so much to this country to resolve this issue as soon as possible and give them the security they need to continue to contribute to this country.”
EU citizens featured regularly during Prime Ministers Questions this week. Sarah Wollaston (Con, Totnes) called on the PM to commit to guaranteeing the rights of EU citizens living in the UK. May responded this was a priority for the early stage of negotiations. James Berry (Con, Kingston and Surbiton) said his constituency was “enriched” by skilled workers from abroad. The PM assured him the “brightest and best” would still be welcome after Brexit, including from the EU, but the Government still aimed to lower net migration.
Meanwhile ministers are pressing Lords as they want the EU Withdrawal Bill passed by Tues 7 March. It is expected the Government will trigger article 50 on Thursday 9th March during the EU Summit.
UUK Brexit Priorities: Universities UK have provided a succinct briefing covering Brexit priorities for the HE sector and make some new and interesting points. This calls for three short term transitional arrangements:
- Confirm rights to reside and work in the UK post-exit for EU nationals that are currently working in the university sector and their dependants. (This is in the white paper.)
- Confirm that EU students starting a course in 2018–19 and 2019–20 will continue to be eligible for home fee status, and be eligible for loans and grants.
- Signal that the government will seek to secure continued UK participation in the Horizon 2020 research and innovation framework programme. (This is in the white paper.)
Six exit priorities:
- Residency and permanent right to work for EU nationals currently working in the university sector, and their dependants, with full access to public services.
- Continued UK participation in the Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme until the close of the programme period in 2020 (even if post-Brexit).
- Close collaboration with European partners to deliver excellent research (including seeking access to Horizon 2020 successor programme)
- Continued access to Erasmus+ and the Marie Sklodowska-Curie Actions programmes (widely discussed but absent from the white paper)
- An outcome which allows for the continued recognition of professional qualifications between the UK and the remaining 27 EU member states
- Preserving and building on regulatory and standards equivalence with other EU countries.
- Finally a call to push the HE agenda within domestic policy change including simplifying visas (students and staff), further research investment, and government targets for UK student mobility.
Brexit – educational influence: The BBC have analysed the leave vs remain voting trends and highlight at local ward level that the strength of the leave vote was strongly correlated with lower educational qualifications. If the proportion of the ward electorate with a degree was 1% lower, on average the leave vote was 1% higher. The level of educational qualification accounts for 2/3s of the voting preference, adding in age and ethnicity accounts for 83% of the variation in votes.
Sale of student loan book: The government announced their firm intention to sell the student loan book this week. The sale has attracted much press attention and has been covered by the BBC, the Guardian, the Independent, the Times, contrasting views from HEPI and Critical Education and a thought provoking article in the Financial Times which criticises the governments self-imposed rules and states selling an asset whose value, at the government’s cost of borrowing, exceeds its price in the market will worsen the government’s finances, not improve them. An Early Day Motion (929) also heard Labour and Scottish National Party MPs protest the sale. Terms and conditions of loans or the mechanisms of repayment cannot be changed and the loans will continue to be serviced by HMRC and SLC. The purchasers would not have the right to directly contact borrowers. The loan value is estimated at £4bn by the government. The sale process may take several months as it involves securitising the remaining future repayments on the loans and selling securities representing the rights to these to a range of purchasers. The government has announced its intention to utilise the sale to obtain a short term cash boost earmarked to reduce the national debt. An article in iNews crunches the numbers including comment from Martin Lewis, consumer finance expert.
Falls in applications: The Guardian continue the story of the falls in applications and longer term recruitment trends following the release of UCAS data last week.
Widening Participation: An interesting Telegraph article by Chris Wilson, Co-CEO of the Brilliant Club, describes successes in training and placing early career researchers in schools. The scheme aims to increase school attainment including exposing pupils to high level equipment, however, it also had a beneficial effect on increasing the number of WP pupils attending high tariff HE institutions. 53% of free school meals pupils enrolled on this Scholars programme secured a place at a highly-selective university – compared to the national 5% progression rate.
The Fair Access Agreement guidance was also launched this week. As anticipated it continues pushing universities on the school sponsorship agenda. This is particularly interesting when contrasted with the closure announcement of another university technical college this week, as reported in FE Week.
Finally the Sutton Trust have published Global Gaps Comparing socio-economic gaps in the performance of highly able UK pupils internationally. It draws on the 2015 OECD Pisa data for reading, maths and science and tells a familiar story whereby bright but poor pupils fall behind by over 2 school years. It acknowledges these gaps occur throughout the developed world whilst calling on government to establish ‘highly able’ fund to improve the life chances of high attainers in poorer schools.
Parliament is now in recess until 20 Feb so no further bill developments are expected.
There will not be a policy update next week.
High Dynamic Range Point Cloud Rendering
We would like to invite you to the latest research seminar of the Centre for Games and Music Technology Research.
Speaker: Dr Carlo Harvey
Title: High Dynamic Range Point Cloud Rendering
Time: 2:00PM-3:00PM
Date: Wednesday 15th February 2017
Room: PG11, Poole House, Talbot Campus
Abstract: As a new member of staff, I feel it useful to use this opportunity to briefly present my previous research in the field of physically based rendering.
This seminar however, will be mainly focussed upon introducing the challenges that enshrine my current research into synergising High Dynamic Range and Point Cloud data. Specifically the work presented will introduce a technique in development to flip the standard paradigm of geometry triangulation and re-topologisation from Point Cloud data. Instead, this fairly laborious, and often manual process, is optimised away from the rendering pipeline and rendering is instead conducted on a set of generated point lights and estimated surfaces reconstructed from a sparse set of points.
We hope to see you there.
CPD study findings presented in Kathmandu
Today we offered preliminary feedback to key stakeholders in Kathmandu as part of our research into CPD (Continuous Professional Development) for nurses in Nepal. Today’s presentation is party funded by LJMU (Liverpool John Moores University) and partly funded by BU’s Centre for Excellence in Learning (CEL). Late 2016 CEL funded the qualitative part of our research project. In this CPD project we work with representatives of the Ministry of Health , the Ministry of Education, the Nepal Nursing Association and the Nursing Council, and providers of Nursing Education (both Government-run universities and private colleges).
Today key presenter was BU Visiting Faculty Dr. Bibha Simkhada (based at LJMU). The event was opened by Associate Professor Chandra Kala Sharma, who is also the president of the Nepal Nursing Association (lighting the traditional lamp in photo right).
Our BU contributors, Dr. Catherine Angell and Prof. Edwin van Teijlingen, are both based in the Centre for Midwifery and Maternal & Perinatal Health (CMMPH). We are grateful to our collaborators in Nepal, especially Dr. Sujan Marahatta at Manmohan Memorial Institute of Health Sciences, for organising this event in our absence. The CPD research project is truly a FUSION project in the field of nursing & midwifery since it links Research in the field of Education to help improve Practice in Nepal. Further information can be found on a previous blog post, click here!
Prof. Edwin van Teijlingen
CMMPH
Spotting an opportunity – A research journey from face blindness to super recogniser
“The entrepreneur always searches for change, responds to it, and exploits it as an opportunity.” – Peter Drucker[1]
What’s your job? is a question I’m regularly asked by family and friends. For me, one of the easiest ways to explain this is to use some of the research and project collaborations I have the chance to be involved within my role at the university; as examples.
Managing the Higher Education Innovation Fund (HEIF) portfolio at BU means I have the chance to work with many innovative and sometimes “quirky” projects. HEIF whilst not the only fund that encourages innovation and knowledge exchange often provides funding where there may not be such a natural fit from some of the more traditional funding sources. Many project teams use HEIF to leverage further research and grant opportunities, having developed relationships and networks with organisations as part of their HEIF project.
Research into Prosopagnosia (Face Blindness) formed part of Dr Sarah Bate’s early years as both a student and academic. Funded by the ESRC and MRC Sarah’s doctoral research examined eye – movement strategies in people with prosopagnosia.(2009)
Much of Sarah’s work examines the nature of face-processing difficulties in both adults and children, with a particular focus on ‘prosopagnosia’ or ‘face blindness’, where people cannot recognise others from their faces alone. Including a Roundtable discussion in the House of Commons, development in this area of research subsequently informed policy with the NHS recognising this as a condition – NHS Choices Website.(2014)
Sarah’s more recent research has progressed to the other end of the facial recognition spectrum moving from prosopagnosia, the inability to recognise familiar faces, to super-recognisers who have exceptional face processing skills.
In 2009, the first report of people with extraordinary face recognition skills (so-called “super-recognisers”) was published, followed by a further investigation in 2012. Both papers examined the performance of super-recognisers on laboratory-based tasks, using tests that are typically used to assess those with prosopagnosia.
These so-called “super-recognisers” may be of particular use in policing and national security settings, such as passport control or when hunting for a wanted or missing person. The lab at BU is now developing a specific line of expertise in forensic face recognition. Funding from HEIF has helped with this development. (2015 – 2017.) Collaborations with organisations such as the police have progressed from local to national and international relationships, in addition to the security agencies.
Being agile and adaptable to look at different funding opportunities and changes within the external environment has provided Sarah with the opportunity to consider how her research can make an impact beyond the NHS as her research goes form strength to strength to address the practical applications and need, utilising super-recognisers for policing and border control.
————————–
[1] https://www.virgin.com/richard-branson/my-top-10-quotes-on-opportunity
British Academy Flagship Skills Project – The value of Arts, Humanities and Social Sciences
The British Academy is launching an exciting new project which aims to articulate, for the first time, the skills that are inherent to the study of arts, humanities and social sciences (AHSS), their value to the individual, and the contribution they do make and could make in future to society.
Building on the success of its Languages and Quantitative Skills (LQS) Programme, the British Academy is developing a new programme of work on skills. The flagship project of this programme aims to articulate the skills that are inherent to the study of arts, humanities and social sciences (AHSS), their value to the individual, and the contribution they do make and could make in future to society as well as those that are important for educators of AHSS students to introduce directly. The Academy hopes to stimulate and facilitate a national debate about the nature and value of these skills, as well as setting the agenda for its own Skills Programme to 2020.
The project will seek to intellectualise what is meant by skills, and look at questions such as what skills should studying AHSS develop? What skills do individuals who have studied AHSS demonstrate? What contribution do individuals with AHSS skills make to society and the economy? What skills do employers want? What skills will be needed in the future
To find out more, download their introductory booklet here
The Call for Evidence document is available to download here
Who should respond?
The Academy is seeking the views of a broad range of stakeholders in the education and skills sector, including but not limited to education providers, learned societies, careers advisory services, students, employers and policy-makers.
How to respond
Please ensure that all responses are in Microsoft Word format (not PDF), and that they include concrete examples wherever possible and are fully referenced where appropriate. Responses should not exceed 3000 words and should be as clear and succinct as possible. Please submit your completed response to skills@britac.ac.uk by Wednesday 15 March 2017.
New Book Series: Routledge Studies in Espionage and Culture
A new book series seeks to generate new insights into the connections between espionage and culture. During the second half of the twentieth century the public became aware of the importance of the role of espionage and security services. Television, radio and print news reported shocking events including the defection of Soviet moles like Kim Philby, Guy Burgess and Donald McLean; the Profumo affair of 1963 that exploded when the British Secretary of State for War, John Profumo, had an affair with a woman who was in contact with the Soviet security services; and the state censorship of Peter Wright’s memoir Spycatcher (1987). Whilst the news sparked the public interest popular culture soon followed and the 1950s and 60s saw the resurgence of spy books, films and television series. The James Bond franchise of books and films began in 1953 with the publication of the book Casino Royal. Bond achieved mass popularity in 1962 with the cinematic release of Dr No. Over the coming decades twelve authors have written James Bond novels or shorts stories and he has been played by seven actors with the books and films enjoyed by millions. Other authors such as John le Carré and Len Deighton released bestsellers which were adapted for film and television and brought an often more realistic version of spying to an international public.
The twenty-first century has seen no reduction in espionage intrigues and spy culture. The Edward Snowden release of American intelligence secrets , the murder of Alexander Litvinenko in London in 2006 and most recently the accusations that American President Donald Trump had been compromised by the Russian security services, who had also undertaken the mass hacking of American government computers during his election campaign, have ensured that espionage remains in the public eye. These news stories have seen the emergence of new espionage culture. The James Bond series remains as popular as ever. Le Carré’s Tinker Tailor, Soldier, Spy was remade in 2011. And in BBC’s The Game (2014) and FX’s The Americans (2013), the link to the Cold War remains close to the public association with espionage culture. This link has generated nostalgia for the Cold War with many people perceiving the era as relatively safe with the intelligence game making the world more secure than it is today with the asymmetric terrorist threat. The spy genre has also evolved and series like Homeland from 2011, the BBC’s Spooks and Channel 4’s recent reality-television series Spies (2017) have given viewers an inside view on the nature of modern espionage. Spy scandals and spy culture continue to play a key part in news and entertainment and capture the public imagination
Jointly edited by Dr Nicholas Barnett, Lecturer in Twentieth Century History at Plymouth University and Dr Laura Crossley, Lecturer in Film at Bournemouth University, ‘Routledge Studies in Espionage and Culture’ is a major new books series which seeks to investigate representations of the intelligence world and how we interact with it. The scope of the series is international and it seeks to blend several disciplines including cultural studies, history, literature and film studies. Books published in the series will investigate topics including: the spy novel, films, television shows, documentaries, games, music, fashion and materiality. Whilst books on the representation of intelligence agencies in popular culture are welcome the editors also welcome contributions which investigate political cultures and the everyday lives within the organisations themselves as well as wider considerations of surveillance culture. Scholars have long been interested in the representation of spies and spying and this series seeks to establish itself as one of the key outlets for continuing that scholarly conversation. Where possible the monographs and collections of essays will be include comparative international studies but submissions will also be welcomed which examine significant national cultures. The series does not seek to limit itself to any particular time period and will publish accounts of both historic and contemporary espionage and culture. Each book will feature a unique introduction written by the series editors.
Editors: Dr Laura Crossley (Bournemouth University) lcrossley@bournemouth.ac.uk
Dr Nicholas Barnett (Plymouth University) nicholas.barnett@plymouth.ac.uk
National Trust research strategy 2017 – 2021
The National Trust have published their research strategy for the next four years. You can read it in full here.
The strategy highlights their priorities, collaboration, knowledge exchange, and funding.
New paper CMMPH PhD student Sheetal Sharma
Focus groups in open air in rural Nepal, (c) Sheetal Sharma
Congratulations to Sheetal Sharma, postgraduate student in the Centre for Midwifery, Maternal & Perinatal Health (CMMPH) whose latest paper on the process of the research in her PhD fieldwork was accepted today by the Journal of Asian Midwives [1]. Sheetal used an innovative mixed-methods evaluation which was applied to a long-running maternity intervention in rural Nepal. The intervention has been supported for nearly seven years by Green Tara Trust, a Buddhist charity based in London. Sheetal’s supervisors are supervisors are Prof. Vanora Hundley, Prof. Edwin van Teijlingen, Dr. Catherine Angell (all in CMMPH) and Prof. Padam Simkhada, who is Visiting Faculty in the Faculty of Health & Social Sciences and based at Liverpool John Moores University.
This paper is part of a larger body of health research work conducted by CMMPH in Nepal.
Reference:
Sharma, S., Simkhada, P., van Teijlingen, E., Stephens J, Hundley, V., Angell, C. (2017) Evaluation of Maternity Care Intervention in Rural Nepal: Lessons learnt, Journal of Asian Midwives (accepted Jan. 2017).
Centre for Qualitative Research presents “Appreciative Inquiry” … in Conversation!
The Centre for Qualitative Research presents Clare Gordon and Caroline Ellis-Hill
“In Conversation…” about “Appreciative Inquiry” next Wednesday at 1 pm in RLH 201.
The two will present the research method as a CONVERSATION…first, between each other, and then with the audience. We are also asking that no PowerPoint be used in order that it is truly a conversation and NOT a lecture. All are welcome!
The series has been very popular so far, playing to a jam packed room. Come and join in the conversation. Many of us go to Naked next door for coffee following to continue the conversations and network.
Come along and join in the conversation!
Post-Doc Researcher on VeggiEAT Project
We are happy to welcome our new post-doc on the VeggiEAT project Dr Vanessa Mello-Rodrigues.
Vanessa is a Registered Nutritionist and holds both a Ph.D. and Master degree in Nutrition from Federal University of Santa Catarina, Brazil. Vanessa’s research interests are mainly related to policy aspects of health promotion and nutrition, with attention to the prevention of childhood overweight and obesity through the promotion of healthy eating. She has been involved in projects related to different aspects of food and menu labelling, which were supported by the Brazilian Ministry of Science, Technology and Innovation (MCTI) and by the Brazilian National Council for Scientific and Technological Development (CNPq).
#realworldresearch Campaign
Great news for the Faculty of Management and Department of Tourism and Hospitality, this month, Emeralds #realworldresearch follows the theme of ‘Happy New You’ and includes a paper published in the British Food Journal:
Lorraine Brown, John Edwards, Heather Hartwell, (2013) “Eating and emotion: focusing on the lunchtime meal”, British Food Journal, Vol. 115 Iss: 2, pp.196 – 208
Further information on the campaign can be seen here:
This article will be on free access until the 17th February 2017
Faculty of Management: PhD students of the year 2016
Great news; two PhD students from the Faculty of Management, Department of Tourism and Hospitality have won PhD student of the year 2016.
Sarah Pyke; Institute of Travel and Tourism (ITT) PhD Student of the Year 2016 was awarded her prize at the House of Commons on July 20, 2016. Her research ‘A Systems Theory Approach to the Well-being Effects of Tourism’ was supported by the National Coastal Tourism Academy (NCTA) and was part of the ESRC Destination FeelGood project. It extends the forefront of the tourism discipline and makes a unique contribution to knowledge by using Hagerty’s systems theory approach (a model extracted from the public health sector and for the first time applied in a tourism context) to quantitatively measure the well-being effects of tourism on the individual.
Sarah Price; EUROCHRIE, (the biggest Hospitality Conference in Europe) PhD Student of the Year 2016 was awarded her prize in Budapest, October 2016. Her research ‘Trust in Foodservice’ was supported by the EU project FoodSMART and identified key factors that consumers look for when selecting meals in workplace canteens. The project offered her the opportunity to be part of an International research team and take secondment periods in both France and Austria.
Many congratulations to you both – we are very proud of you
Submissions for this years Research Photography Competition close on Friday!
There’s still time left to submit your image to this years Research Photography Competition which closes on Friday 27 January 2017. The past two years have seen some fantastic entries from across all our faculties from both our staff and students here at BU. This year we want you to submit an image that shows us the impact your research will have on your field. Need some inspiration? Take a look at some of the fantastic entries from our first competition back in 2015.
‘Beyond the Beauty of Nature’ Arjan Gosal |
|
‘Research Takes the Lead!’ Bruce Braham |
‘What can eye movements tell us about reading, writing and dyslexia?’ Julie Kirkby |
Have something in mind? You can find out more information here. Or simply send over your photo with a 100-200 word blurb to research@bournemouth.ac.uk.
If you have any questions then get in touch with Hannah Jones.
Please have a read through the terms and conditions here.
HE policy update w/e 20th January 2017
Higher Education and Research Bill – the Bill continues its committee stage in the Lords, with long and lively debates. Only government amendments have been approved so far, apart from last week’s amendment to clause 1. The list of amendments has continued to grow in the meantime, there is a genuine risk that they may not get through it all and run out of time. The next sessions are 23rd, 25th and 30th January. Some interesting new proposed amendments over the last week:
- ensuring name and gender blind assessment on application and on marking for all student assessments at both undergraduate and postgraduate levels – Lord Desai
- power for the Office for Students (OfS) to initiate investigations (including a student perspective) into changes to the admissions system and the system of degree classification – Lord Lucas
- preventing changes to the repayment of loans – Lord Watson
- banning cheating services (see Contract Cheating below) – Lord Storey
- amending the ‘balanced funding principle’ to ‘long-term, stable block grant’ to facilitate strategic research development investment – Lord Stevenson
- reserving funding for Research England whenever new grants are awarded to UKRI – Lord Liddle
Research Professional cover the Minister’s uncompromising stance towards amendments. They suggest the Government is listening and may yet propose amendments to address some of the issues raised by the Lords, but points out that there is a risk of further symbolic resistance as more Lords ‘dig their heels in’.
Immigration
- in response to comments in the HERB debates in the Lords, when concerns were raised about using the TEF to limit student visas, Lord Younger informed the House of Lords during the HE bill committee stage that the government has “no plans to cap the number of genuine students who can come to the UK to study, nor to limit an institution’s ability to recruit genuine international students based on its teaching excellence framework rating or any other basis. This applies to all institutions, not just to members of the Russell group.”
- The Home Affairs Committee invited written submissions for an immigration inquiry in December with a deadline of 20 January, however, it has been confirmed submission will be accepted after the deadline. BU is not proposing to respond to this as we already provided evidence on staff and student mobility after Brexit to the Education Committee, which is continuing its hearings. The next one is on 25th January at UCL.
Research integrity select committee – A Commons Science and Technology Committee has launched an inquiry into research integrity. The inquiry is accompanied by the recently published POSTnote: Integrity in Research which discusses the questionable practices and considers whether a regulatory body for UK research would be beneficial. The original committee investigation into peer review from 2010/11 is here which led UUK to set up concordat to support research integrity. A call for written evidence to the Committee has been published. We will be working with RKEO to consider whether BU should submit evidence, please contact policy@bournemouth.ac.uk if you would like to be involved. Issues raised in include:
- The extent of the research integrity problem;
- Causes and drivers of recent trends;
- The effectiveness of controls/regulation (formal and informal), and what further measures if any are needed;
- What matters should be for the research/academic community to deal with, and which for Government.
Contract cheating – WonkHE reported on the difficulties in preventing cheating with the rise in companies offering one-off essays and dissertations. The BBC (May 2016) ran an article about a commercial essay writer motivated by revenge for believed racial discrimination and noted five methods universities can undertake to tackle plagiarism. Lord Storey is leading the campaign for a proposed amendment within the HE and Research Bill which aims to make providing or advertising cheating services an offence, focussing on ‘unfair disadvantage’. The Australian Government currently have a national project reporting in 2018 that aims to stamp out ‘contract cheating’. Finally a THE article explains ta new law may only have a deterrent effect; countries with contract cheating laws do not in practice have many successful prosecutions.
Digital skills crisis – The Government have published their response to the Science and Technology Select Committee’s special report on the digital skills crisis within industry and teaching capacity within schools – it lists a number of areas that need focus: cyber-security, big data, the Internet of Things, mobile technology and e-commerce. There is a focus on degree apprenticeships, immigration and the Shadbolt and Wakeham Reviews of relevant degree provision.
Fees: the Government published a Statutory Instrument that allows institutions to increase tuition fees by inflation, this came into effect on 6 January 2017. This enables the first year of the TEF related fee increases – all institutions which have been designated as meeting expectations in year 1 of the TEF can now increase fees by inflation in September 2017. Some institutions have announced their intention to apply this to all students – including existing students – but BU will only change fees for new students. You can read more about the process and background to this on the intranet. The change went through as a formality – there is already legislation in place – but there are still amendments to be debated in the Higher Education and Research Bill seeking to break this link.
PM’s Brexit speech: If you missed this, the main points of the PM’s speech this week are below. Universities and research received a high number of positive mentions, which is encouraging:
- Leaving the single market and the customs union
- Not using any other existing model
- But would like a deal on customs tariffs and access to the single market
- MPs and peers will get a vote on final deal
- Not making huge contributions to the EU but may pay something to have access to the single market
- EU citizens welcome here but no guarantee – needs to be reciprocal
- Warm words about universities – hope for deal on participation in science and research
Industrial strategy – A Green Paper is expected around 23 January on the Government’s industrial strategy. Meanwhile Labour’s Industrial Strategy Consultation closes on 16 February.
New DLHE – Dan Cook writes for WonkHE on the new DLHE describing a centralised model aiming to achieve high response rates, allow for continuation of post-graduation support to alumni from HEIs, and exploring a dashboard so institutions have near-real time interaction with their data.
Widening Participation and Outreach–
- HEFCE have published a resource pool covering a wide range of outreach initiatives all of which were funded by the National Networks for Collaborative Outreach.
- Maddalaine Ansell has written about the schools policy for Wonkhe. We are waiting for the government response to the recent schools consultation -read more here.
HESA 2015/16 staff data was released on 19th January.
- 49% (98,620) of academic staff are teaching and research
- 26% (52,590) teaching only
- 24% (48,645) research only
And:
- 66% of academic staff were on permanent contract.
- 4% of academic staff were known to have a disability
- 15% of academic staff were BME (not knowns excluded)
Nationality of academic staff:
- 70% UK (139,910)
- 17% (33,735) EU (non-UK)
- 12% (24,535) non-EU (presumably international)
(Atypical contracts and not knowns account for the percentages not totalling 100%)
Emerging & Enabling Technologies funding, news & events
![InnovateUK_LogoA_Interim_RGBx320govuk[1]](http://blogs.bournemouth.ac.uk/research/files/2014/12/InnovateUK_LogoA_Interim_RGBx320govuk11-300x90.jpg)
Innovate UK have shifted their focus to build on momentum to accelerate sector growth. To achieve this, in terms of innovation funding, a number of sectors are being addressed including Emerging and Enabling Technologies. These include:
- Electronics
- Sensors
- Phototonics
- ICT
- Quantum Technolgies
- Forensic Science
KTP calls are also refelecting these sectors.
There are a number of ways in which you can keep up to date with what is happening in these areas providing up-to-date information on funding opportuntites, news and events happening.
- Monthly newsletter
- Join the Electronics, Sensors & Photonics LinkedIn Group
- Join the ICT LinkedIn Group
- Join the Forensic Science LinkedIn Group
Useful information :
Innovate UK Delivery Plan 2016/2017 (Page 12 more information on the key sectors)
Knowledge Transfer Networks – stay connected
BU staff can login below:
Other services
Recent posts
BU research Funding opportunities EU
BU Professor has been invited to a series of plenary and invited lectures.
Research reaching non-academic audiences
April’s Café Scientifique – Should we help machines understand and respond to our emotions?
Postgraduate Research Experience Survey (PRES) 2024 – 2 WEEKS LEFT
Working with The Conversation: online training session – Wednesday 8th May- ADR UK Event – Better Data-Better Research-Better Policy
Apply for up to £1,000 to deliver an event and take part in a national festival of public engagement with research
MSCA Postdoctoral Fellowships 2024- RKEDF: BU ECRN Funding call NOW OPEN – Deadline 26th April
- BU ECRN Funding call NOW OPEN
- Q&A event: applying for the ESRC Festival of Social Science
- New seed fund for public engagement with research: apply now
Horizon Europe News – December 2023
Research Information Network
- Physical Sciences Case studies: information use and discovery
- Information handling in collaborative research: an exploration of five case studies
- Information literacy monitoring and evaluation
- Data centres: their use, value and impact
- Heading for the open road: costs and benefits of transitions in scholarly communications