Category / Biodiversity, Environmental Change & Green Economy

Flying through Mexico – a reconnaissance tour

BU research, Fusion

 

I visited Mexico for 2 weeks earlier this month (6-20 June) to assess the potential for future research collaboration and to establish links between Bournemouth University (BU) and Mexican organisations. As I have the role of School of Applied Sciences (ApSci) Academic Lead for Students Placements, one of my objectives was to find potential hosts for our students and also opportunities for staff and student exchange. The talks I gave (5 in total!) allowed me to disseminate some of the work I do, the wider teaching and research at ApSci and to promote BU overall. After the talks there was always a good interaction with students and staff and I think there is a good chance that this was the start of long-lasting partnerships between BU and at least some of the organisations I visited:

  • Instituto de Investigaciones Oceanologicas, Universidad Autonoma de Baja California, Ensenada – researchers from other departments and also from CICESE (Center for Scientific Research and Higher Education) also attended the talk, what was very good. Many thanks to Dr Amaia Ruiz de Alegria Arzaburu for organising everything. It was great to catch up with you and hopefully we will be doing something together soon.
  • Instituto de Ingenieria, Universidad National Autonoma de Mexico, Mexico City -attendance to the talk was very good and there was also an interview and material will be added to their website, so quite good dissemination. Dr Rodolfo Silva Casarin is a star, brilliant head of a very interesting group, it was great to have met him after so many emails we have exchanged in the recent past. Many thanks!
  • CINVESTAV (Center for Research and Advanced Studies), National Polytechnic Institute, Merida – here I had a closer contact with research conducted by staff and PhD students and also with coordinators of relevant programme, including some clear demonstration of will for visiting BU and start collaboration. Thanks to Dr Ismael Marino Tapia for the invitation and for being such a great host. Very interesting research are being conducted in CINVESTAV.
  • Laboratorio de Ingeniería y Procesos Costeros, Universidad National Autonoma de Mexico, Sisal – this people are so lucky, they have brand new facilities right at the beach, beautiful settings and they are building new labs, which I’m sure will host great quality research. The talk was well attended and hopefully we will be able to keep in touch with colleagues that were very interested in staff and student exchange. Many thanks to Dr Ernesto Tonatiuh Mendoza Ponce and Dr Cecilia Enriquez for the opportunity to visit your facilities – I look forward to working with you.
  • Instituto EPOMEX (Instituto de Ecología, Pesquerías y Oceanografía del Golfo de México), Universidad Autonoma de Campeche – Thanks to Dr Gregorio Posada Vanegas for introducing the research conducted at EPOMEX and for facilitating the contact with students and other staff. The interactions  after the talk were very informative and hopefully we will continue our collaboration in the future.

This was my first time in Mexico and I had the opportunity to see a bit of very different parts of the country, talk to researchers and students and learn about their work, culture and life style. I call it a tour because in two weeks I visited Ensenada in Baja California, Mexico City and a number of locations in the Yucatan Peninsula, including Merida, Sisal, Campeche and also part of the coast of Quintana Roo. So every other day I was packing and unpacking, which was very tiring. But all worth it for the people I met and the things I learned.

Many thanks to BU’s EUADS (EU Academic Development Scheme) funds for allowing me to engage in this reconnaissance tour.

I will keep you posted of further developments from this initiative.

BU research on the Japanese Tohoku tsunami

Research news, Uncategorized

Dr Maharaj Vijay Reddy from the School of Tourism has recently returned from the Tohoku region of North East Japan, where he explored the nature of the impact of the 2011 on the tourism industry of the North East Japan and identified the priorities for socio-economic revival and sustainable future of the coastal communities and local businesses including agriculture and fisheries. The Great East Japan earthquake (8.9 magnitude) and the tsunami that followed have had catastrophic impacts on Northern Japan creating economic, nuclear and humanitarian crises in 2011. The major part of fieldwork was carried out with the financial support offered by the Great Britain Sasakawa Foundation in London.

Dr Reddy’s very intensive fieldwork in March 2013 covered all the four Prefectures of the Tohoku on the Pacific coast, namely Miyagi, Iwate, Aomori and Fukushima. He has completed over 80 semi-structured interviews by meeting with multidisciplinary stakeholders from the four worst affected Prefectures as well as respondents and relevant organizations in Tokyo and other parts of the Japan. This significant project was completed with the prompt local help offered by the Directors related to the Departments of Environment, Fisheries, Infrastructure, Industry and Tourism within the Prefectural Government Offices of Miyagi, Iwate and Aomori.

Respondents include ANA Airlines, Japan East Railway, JAL City Hotels, Metropolitan Hotels, Monterey Hotels, Toyoko Inn Hotels, Tourism Associations based in famous locations such as Matshushima (Miyagi), Hachinohe (Aomori) and Morioka (Iwate), leading tour operators including JTB, relief agencies such as the Nippon Foundation, Ocean Policy Research Foundation and many other local businesses whose opinions are being translated (from Japanese language) ‘anonymously’ by the students at the School of Tourism for analysis and interpretation.

Dr Reddy expressed his sincere thanks to those respondents and the others who offered immense support. For instance, Mr Ishikua of Miyagi Prefecture Government, Mr Mikami of Aomori Prefecture Government, Mr Kobori of Japan National Tourism Organisation in Tokyo, Ms Mizuho of Monterey Hotel in Sendai, UNITAR Hiroshima, Sendai Tourism and Convention Bureau, and researchers at the Kwansei Gakuin University in Hyogo and the Fukushima University.

eBU staff drop in sessions to be held in each school

BU research, PG research, Publishing, Research news, Research themes

I am pleased to announce that I am holding drop in sessions in each school for the BU community to ask questions about eBU: Online Journal.

These sessions will be:

Mon 24th June – DEC 12 -2pm in P411

Mon 24th June – School of Applied Sciences 2-4pm in C122

Tues 25th June – HSC 9-11am in the Wellbeing Centre, B112 Bournemouth House 

Tues 25th June – Business School 2-4pm in EB205

Thurs 27th June – School of Tourism 1.30-3.30 in P410

Fri 28th June – Media School 8-10am in CAG04

 

BU Research Blog Exclusive: Design & Look of eBU leaked

BU research, PG research, Publishing, Research news, Research themes

The first screenshot of the eBU interface has been exclusively leaked to the BU Research Blog, and is expected to go viral across the BU community over the next week.

eBU will provide both an internal and external forum for the development of research papers by undergraduate to Professor around the eight BU research themes:

–          Creative & Digital Economies

–          Culture & Society

–          Entrepreneurship & Economic Growth

–          Environmental Change & Biodiversity

–          Green Economy & Sustainability  

–          Health, Wellbeing & Ageing 

–          Leisure & Recreation

–          Technology & Design

Submissions will be open to immediate publication (in a safe internal environment) and open peer review by 2 appropriate BU academics. Authors will be encouraged to act upon these reviews by either reworking papers for submission to an external journal or by opting for publication on the external eBU site.

For BU academics this is a great opportunity to get critical appraisal on your research papers or ideas from colleagues. For academics it also an opportunity to encourage the submission of high quality student output, and possibly to facilitate the co-creation and co-production of publishable material to an external journal or to publish externally with eBU. For students, this is a fantastic opportunity to turn high quality essays or dissertations into scholarly outputs, which will be attractive to employers across many sectors and industries.

If you have any questions or would like to become involved in this exciting venture, please get in touch with me via email aharding@bournemouth.ac.uk or by telephone 01202 963025.

eBU: Online Journal

BU research, Fusion, PG research, Publishing, Research news, Research themes

Following on from my last post ‘Developing a Working Paper at BU’ in January of this year, we are now within sight of having an exciting new online journal at BU. eBU will provide both an internal and external forum for the development of research papers by undergraduate to Professor around the eight BU research themes:

 

–          Creative & Digital Economies

–          Culture & Society

–          Entrepreneurship & Economic Growth

–          Environmental Change & Biodiversity

–          Green Economy & Sustainability  

–          Health, Wellbeing & Ageing 

–          Leisure & Recreation

–          Technology & Design

Submissions will be open to immediate publication (in a safe internal environment) and open peer review by 2 appropriate BU academics. Authors will be encouraged to act upon these reviews by either reworking papers for submission to an external journal or by opting for publication on the external eBU site.

For BU academics this is a great opportunity to get critical appraisal on your research papers or ideas from colleagues. For academics it also an opportunity to encourage the submission of high quality student output, and possibly to facilitate the co-creation and co-production of publishable material to an external journal or to publish externally with eBU. For students, this is a fantastic opportunity to turn high quality essays or dissertations into scholarly outputs, which will be attractive to employers across many sectors and industries.

It is anticipated that author guidelines will be circulated in the coming weeks, and staff and students alike should begin to think about how they could submit to eBU.

If you have any questions or would like to become involved in this exciting venture, please get in touch with me via email aharding@bournemouth.ac.uk or by telephone 01202 963025

European Science Foundation and Global Changes in the Marine Environment

BU research, EU, Featured, Featured academics, Funding opportunities, R & KE Operations, Research news, Uncategorized

I was very proud to have been invited by the Institute of Marine Sciences – National Research Council (ISMAR-CNR) in Venice who developed on the European Science Foundation Platform, the Exploratory Workshop:  Marine woodborers: New Frontiers for European Waters. And I have to say that that was one of the most exciting research opportunities I have taken part of in the recent past.

The European Science Foundation (ESF) was established in 1974 to provide a common platform for its Member Organisations to advance European research collaboration and explore new directions for research. Currently it is an independent organisation, owned by 67 Member Organisations, which are research funding organisations, research performing organisations and academies from 29 countries.

The focus of the Exploratory Workshops scheme is on workshops aiming to explore an emerging and/or innovative field of research or research infrastructure, also of interdisciplinary character. Workshops are expected to open up new directions in research or new domains. It is expected that a workshop shall conclude with plans for follow-up research activities and/or collaborative actions or other specific outputs at international level.

The organisers, namely Davide Tagliapietra, Erica Keppel and Marco Sigovini – all from the ISMAR-CNR- did an amazing job in organising this much needed research group and by planning an excellent working programme.

The topic, centred on Marine woodborers is of utmost important as these organisms are a threat to maritime structure and archaeological heritage. Recently, an increase in attack and a northward spread has been reported. Despite the ecological, economical and cultural importance, research on this subject is carried out by few scientists scattered across Europe. An interdisciplinary approach is needed to reach a synthesis of knowledge and a deeper understanding of the causal factors. The main outcome of the workshop is the establishment of a research network aiming to coordinate scientists with an European perspective and a global view. Through the establishment of such a network, new theoretical and technical developments could be achieved.

The agenda of the workshop was to focus on:

1) bringing together experts in complementary fields that have hitherto not collaborated as a group;

2) identifying additional research competences that are not covered within the group of participants;

3) identifying, exchanging and sharing research interests for future joint leading research projects and developing an application strategies;

4) the establishment of an international network on marine woodborers.

Despite the subject ([wood-]‘boring’ organisms), there wasn’t a single dull moment. It was very exciting to spent a considerable amount of time with international peers coming from as far as Colombia and discussing the problems surrounding these particular organisms.

All sessions were extremely interesting and productive and I totally enjoyed chairing one of them in the Knowledge Café, with my hat of maritime archaeologist whose research interest based also based on marine organisms and global changes, but I am also one of few who combines degradation and protection of the cultural heritage and marine science. The Knowledge Café focussed on Systematics and biogeography, Marine woodborer-microorganism interactions, Protection of shipwrecks and maritime structures. Each group discussed weaknesses: Problems, constrains and bottlenecks, Strengths: Opportunities, synergies, and Perspectives: Solutions, actions and recommendations.

19 international peers attended, which was by invitation only, this amazing opportunity, some of which were old friends and some of which have become reference points for my current and future research on wood borers.

All with the amazing architectural beauties of a tiny Venetian island just in front of one of the world most famous squares: San Marco square!

Paola Palma 

FIF Staff Mobility and Networking award helping me fly

BU research, Funding opportunities, Fusion

Early in January I received the good news that my application to the Fusion Investment Fund SMN strand was successful. What a great way to start the New Year!

The main aim of my FIF SMN project is to consolidate newly developed partnerships with European and non-European researchers and stakeholders. Planned activities include visits to colleagues who were involved in the development of the research proposal “Living with Extreme Events at the Coast” (LEEC), submitted to the EU FP7 call on Environment (Challenge 6.4 Protecting citizens from environmental hazards). LEEC successfully passed stage 1 and we are now waiting for the outcome of stage 2, so keep your fingers crossed.

As my FIF SMN proposal builds from LEEC, I decided to call it “Living with Extreme Events at the Coast Grant Development” (LEEC GraDe). Not very creative, but it reflects well the main objective, which is to explore opportunities for collaborative research in topics related to LEEC. LEEC aims to better understand how extreme storms and climate change in coastal areas will affect flood risk and impact on society, infrastructure, economic activities and the natural environment throughout the 21th century.

Besides, the development of collaborative research proposals, I will also be exploring opportunities for enhancing students’ experience, e.g. through work placements. By the time I submitted the FIF SMN proposal, I had just taken the role of ApSci’s Academic Lead for Placements. In this role, one of my objectives is to increase the offer of research-based placements to our students. So I thought my networking visits would be a great opportunity to discuss with colleagues from organisations in Europe and abroad whether they are interested in offering to our students a research-based working experience. Many researchers systematically plan their fieldwork campaigns or dedicate larger proportion of their time to research in the summer, so a work placement can be mutually beneficial.

I so much believe in the benefits of this arrangement that I am offering two placements this summer to undergrad ApSci students. If you are interested in doing the same, please contact me.

LEEC partners are from 13 organisations spread across eight countries (Estonia, Spain, France, Belgium, Denmark, UK, Mexico and Vietnam). The FIF SMN award will allow me to visit some of these organisations and engage in other networking opportunities. I will be very busy networking throughout 2013! Hopefully the effort will result in the submission of more collaborative research proposals and a number of arrangements made to enrich students’ experiences through placements or exchanges.

The first of my planned activities was to attend the 12th International Coastal Symposium (ICS) in Plymouth (http://ics2013.org/) earlier this month. This is the largest international conference focused on coastal research with over 500 participants, so a great venue to disseminate research results, to keep updated with research progress worldwide and to network! I was invited to be the convener of the Coastal Evolution and Geomorphology session, so worked very hard evaluating abstracts and full papers before the conference! I also presented a paper on the Coastal Management session, entitled “Is managed realignment a sustainable long-term coastal management approach?” You can find a copy of the paper on BRIAN.

ICS offered the opportunity to meet many ‘old’ friends and make new contacts worldwide, including from countries I had none before, such as Trinidad & Tobago and South Africa. I have already exchanged email with a few of the new (and old) contacts and there are very exciting prospects for future collaboration. I have discussed the preparation of a joint paper with a colleague from the University of Rostock (Germany), explored ways to collaborate with practitioners from a government agency in Trinidad & Tobago and I am already working on a proposal with colleagues from South Africa. The most immediate result from networking during ICS was the invitation to visit five different organisations in Mexico, which is planned to happen in June.

Networking is also about maximising the opportunities and I will be doing exactly that next month in Brazil. I was invited to give a keynote talk in the National Symposium of Coastal Vulnerability. As the hosts are taking me to Brazil, I will extend my stay and visit two universities using SMN funds. The plan is to start building a joint research proposal to submit to the Science without borders programme (funding source from Brazil) with the Universidade Federal de Pernambuco and discuss exchange of postgraduate students and other opportunities with the Universidade do Vale do Itai.

Please watch this space for upcoming news!

Luciana Slomp Esteves (Lecturer in Physical Geography, ApSci)

To Initiate a Research Platform for Electric Vehicle (EV) Business Ecosystem Research

BU research, Fusion

This project (sponsored by SMN Strand Santander Scholarships), is conducted by Dr.Ke Rong (Business School) and Dr.Nigel Williams(Tourism School) to initiate an university-industry research platform between UK-China for the emerging electric vehicle business ecosystem and business model research. This project would help BU secure an active position in the electric vehicle industry research. The research platform will integrate scholars of Santander Universities including two Chinese top universities (Tsinghua and CEIBS) and two UK top universities (Cambridge, Bath) as well as two committed EV companies. Based on this platform, the industrial fieldwork and one public seminar on EV industry development will be organized in China by engaging top scholars and practitioners which will expand BU’s reputation in China and UK. One journal paper of EV ecosystem would be developed based on our research.

For more information, please contact Dr Ke Rong (krong@bournemouth.ac.uk).

 

Global trends reports: environmental concerns at record lows

BU research

This is a disappointing global trend which shows a decreasing concern for the environment.
http://www.globescan.com/commentary-and-analysis/press-releases/press-releases-2013/261-environmental-concerns-at-record-lows-global-poll.html
We need to debate what is behind this – is it a reflection of a society that is becoming apathetic, is it because governments have not been doing enough, is it a reflection of the financial situation? At a time when the earth faces so many challenges and people need to be engaged to secure sustainable development, these issues merit further exploration.
On a more positive note I have had a sly preview of NUS data on students perceptions of the role of universitites and SD – students generally believe (and expect) universitites should do more. The NUS results will suggest a much more positive picture.

In relation to the role of universities, I have just contributed the ‘leadership’ chapter to a new book  The Sustainable University: progress and prospects. The Chair of our Board at Bournemouth University has contributed a ‘vignette’ about the role of Chairs. The book offers some explanations of why progress to date has hardly been transformational.  Details available at

http://www.routledge.com/books/details/9780415627740/

Chris

Dr. Peter Bridgewater, Chairman of the Joint Nature Conservation Committee, is coming to BU tomorrow!

BU research, Research themes

The Environmental Change & Biodiversity Research Theme would like to invite you to their seminar tomorrow from 11am to 1pm in the Coyne Lecture Theatre. Dr. Peter Bridgewater, Chairman of the Joint Nature Conservation Committee, will lead the seminar and discuss “Biodiversity governance in the Anthropocene”.

Peter has had a glittering career in the science-policy interface. He currently holds a position as the chairman of the JNCC and has held many reputable positions in the past, including but not limited to: chair of the International Whaling Commission, Secretary General of the RAMSAR convention of wetlands, Chief Scientist UK Nature Conservancy Council and a position on the Board of the Millenium Assessment.

The seminar will be held in the Coyne Lecture Theatre from 11am to 1pm . All are welcome, so please come by if you’re interested in hearing more from Peter!

Dr. Peter Bridgewater, Chairman of the Joint Nature Conservation Committee is coming to BU!

BU research, Research themes

The Environmental Change & Biodiversity Research Theme would like to invite you to their seminar on 5 March. Dr. Peter Bridgewater, Chairman of the Joint Nature Conservation Committee, will lead the seminar and discuss “Biodiversity governance in the Anthropocene”.

Peter has had a glittering career in the science-policy interface. He currently holds a position as the chairman of the JNCC and has held many reputable positions in the past, including but not limited to: chair of the International Whaling Commission, Secretary General of the RAMSAR convention of wetlands, Chief Scientist UK Nature Conservancy Council and a position on the Board of the Millenium Assessment.

The seminar will be held in the Coyne Lecture Theatre from 11am to 1pm on 5 March. All are welcome, so please come by if you’re interested in hearing more from Peter!

Developing a working paper at BU

BU research, Fusion, PG research, Publishing, Research themes

I would like to make you aware of an exciting development at BU.

A multi-disciplinary group of BU academics has been meeting over the last 6 months in order to design a online journal that is capable of acting as a central focus for the dissemination of the high quality research and scholarly outputs from UG and PG dissertations, post graduate researchers, early career researchers and established academic staff. The group has designed a developmental working paper online journal that will support ‘would be’ authors and their potential publications. Although particular emphasis has been given to maximising high quality outputs of UG and PG students and early career academics, this online journal will be capable of supporting the potential of all those engaged in research and scholarship at BU.

Below are a series of Q & As:

 

What’s the name of the working paper?

The provisional title is eBU: Working Papers Online

 

How is the working paper structured?

The working paper will not be limited to any one discipline or allied to any one particular methodology, but will aim to publish articles driven by the key BU Research Themes: (Creative and Digital Economies, Culture and Society, Entrepreneurship and Economic Growth, Environmental Change and Biodiversity, Green Economy and Sustainability, Health, Wellbeing and Ageing, Leisure and Recreation, Technology and Design). Apart from the build-up to launch, the working paper will have no deadlines or specific calls for papers. Instead, the working paper will work on a rolling submission process.

A set of author guidelines and details about formats are currently being considered and written. However, the guidelines are likely to accommodate a wide range of formats.

 

What are the submission processes for staff and students?

It is envisaged that staff will act as gatekeepers and encourage undergraduate and master’s students to submit high quality work into a format this is publishable. Post-graduate researchers and academic members of staff will be able to submit papers on their own accord.

After a short review from the editorial board, two designated BU academics will provide an initial quality check. The paper will then be uploaded to the internal intranet working paper site. This will allow any member of staff or student to read and offer feedback. However, within a few weeks the two designed reviewers will then provide a more comprehensive and detailed critical review. All reviews will take place in a safe, secure and INTERNAL environment. After a detailed review, students will then be encouraged to make any recommended changes and submit to external publication/or make their work available to be published on external working paper website.

This working paper is set to go live in March.

 

Further information

If anyone is interested in becoming involved in helping to create this online journal, and/or at an editorial level please get in touch with Andrew Harding (aharding@bournemouth.ac.uk), Andrew Adams (aadams@bournemouth.ac.uk) or Fiona Knight (fknight@bournemouth.ac.uk).

 

Environmental Change & Biodiversity Research Theme seminar on Thursday!

BU research

The Environmental Change & Biodiversity Research Theme is holding its third and final seminar of the term on Thursday 13 December. The seminar will be held in Christchurch House CG13 at 1200. Tea and coffee and biscuits will be provided.

Kevin Wood will present some results from his PhD on mute swan-plant interactions in the River Frome. The swans are sometimes considered a pest, because when in large numbers can significantly depelte the amount of vegetation in such rivers with potential negetative effects on trout and salmon. The title of his talk is “Go with the flow: seasonal changes in water velocity determine foraging patch choice by mute swans”. The seminar will also be a chance for any new first year PhD students to present a few slides about their PhD, as was done by a few students in a previous seminar. Please let Richard Stillman know if you would like to present at an upcoming seminar.