- Proof of market
- Proof of concept
- Development of prototype.
Category / Technology & Design
Fusion co-creation project involving BU students and partners in Kosovo: rethinking post-war reconciliation via ‘gaming’ technology
In post-war societies such as in the Western Balkans, war monuments may serve to preserve a single narrative of the past. Sometime the intention is to shape future generations’ understanding of conflict, thereby perpetuating militant potentials and societal divisions. But how do young visitors really experience such war monuments? Our fusion-funded project aims to foster conflict transformation (reconciliation) by facilitating young people’s engagement with a plurality of narratives while simultaneously nurturing empathy and recognition of the cultural heritage of war via contemporary gaming technology.
BU’s fusion approach encouraged me, a Balkan specialist and social anthropologist, to seek collaboration across faculties with Dr Avital Biran (‘dark tourism’/FM); Dr Melanie Klinkner (‘transitional justice’/ FMC); and Assoc. Prof. Feng Tian (‘gaming’/ FST). The new fusion-funded project is directly related to our Conflict Transformation Studies Team’s contribution to a major European Union Horizon 2020 bid: a working package on enhancing visitors’ perception and consumption of memorials via gamification, submitted in May 2015 (Reflective Societies, RED 8756).
The team presented its overarching research concept at BU’s Interdisciplinary Week on 12 May with our interactive session on Transforming conflict after war: memory, heritage and digital media. With support of two consecutive Undergraduate Research Assistants, a social anthropological spin-off exercise entitled Reconciliation-in-Practice was then conducted at the Festival of Learning. During the sessions, to which also Wendy Cutts (FHSS) contributed, we challenged participants’ assumptions about the ease with which reconciliation expectations can be exported to countries of Western geo-political interest after war and conflict.
This fusion-funded sequel aims to co-opt interested student from different disciplines into the process of story line development and game design based on post-war memory at selected sites in Kosovo. As part of FiF strand Co-creation and Co-production, collaborations will not just include students and staff from BU’s four faculties but also external stakeholders in post-war Kosovo. We hope to include local students and colleagues of University of Prishtina, Human Rights activists, the British Council, site managers and artists.
Pending ethics approval and faculty support, our aim is – with help of the creative abilities of all involved students and partners – to explore the potentials of ‘gaming’ for education and enhancing visitors’ experience at heritage sites. We plan to, firstly, research the challenges associated with contested memorials in Kosovo; secondly, develop ideas for a story-line for gaming to promote tolerance and understanding; thirdly, explore the possibilities of designing a ‘serious game’; and, finally, under the leadership of Feng Tian, devise a Game Development Document (GDD) which may serve as a blue print for the application of gaming at post-conflict sites.
Dr Stephanie Schwandner-Sievers
Faculty of Health & Social Sciences
sssievers@bournemouth.ac.uk
Hackathon Challenge – It’s not too late!
I’m still trying to get a team together for the UK’s first sport hackathon. The challenge is to create an app that facilitates social change through sport at the Sport England Sport Technology Awards Hackathon. It will take place over 25 hours on 2-3 October 2015 (3pm start on the Friday) during which time teams will have just 24 hours to develop their concept that will help a particular demographic group become more physically active.
The winning team will be awarded a bursary of £10,000 to help them build the app.
If you’re interested can you please get in touch with me, Clare at: cfarrance@bournemouth.ac.uk
Team registration closes on 7th September. Would be great to have a BU team there!
More details can be found at:
http://www.sportandrecreation.org.uk/news/06-08-2015/uk%E2%80%99s-first-sports-hackathon-launches
Fancy working on a project with the RNLI?
Following recent HEIF funding, this project aims to develop an alternative solution by simulating and visualising the lifeboat launching with unmanned vehicles in an immersive virtual environment. Working with staff members at the RNLI and located within The National Centre for Computer Animation (NCCA) at Bournemouth University this role will offer an exciting opportunity to join the NCCA’s research team and be involved in the design of the next generation lifeboat launching system in order to enhance safety and efficiency.
This vacancy is advertised on BU’s website with a closing date of 20 September 2015.
300K funding for upcoming SBRI competition – Digital Forensics
Now open – 24 August 2015 !
The Home Office has annnounced as SBRI call on the subject of digital forensics and how it is used to support serious crime and counter terrorism investigations.
The aim of this funding call is to seek innovative proposals to enhance the capability of law enforcement to quickly recover and thoroughly investigate information stored on the seized digital devices of suspects under investigation.
More information on this funding opportunity.
Competition briefing event, 14th September, London
The event, which is free to attend, is an excellent opportunity for you to receive first hand information about the competition- application process, key dates etc. as well as meet and network with peers, potential partners, market leaders & innovators in the industry.
What does Safety, Reliability & Durability mean to you?
You must have heard about the recent tragic accident at Alton Towers. Unfortunately it involved one of the most popular rides, the Smiler. Accidents are bound to happen due to various reasons e.g. human error or faults in mechanical, electrical, electronics or control systems/components. Some of the accidents are catastrophic and involves the loss of human lives that includes today’s (Saturday August 22, 2015) vintage plane crash at the air show at Shoreham.
Among several reasons, corrosion is one of the major phenomena which plays an important role in structural deterioration and compromising reliability and durability of components, systems within petrochemical & process industries, automotive, locomotive and aircrafts.
Special attention to corrosion in terms of design, detection and prediction of failures is needed especially where human lives are involved. Here are some of the images from major international and home theme parks where there are visible signs of structural deterioration. Although corrosion initiation, its propagation and affects on structural deterioration may not be physically and visually very prominent, it needs full attention to avoid accidents.
A significant portfolio of research & development in corrosion has been developed at BU, which responds to structural integrity issues. Earlier work [15-17] in corrosion fatigue has led to a successful research portfolio in corrosion at BU [1-17]. We have developed a meso-mechanics based approach incorporating fracture mechanics and electrochemical processes to predict corrosion through a novel holistic modelling tool.
A PhD degree research in sustainable methodology of conserving historic military vehicles subject to structural deterioration due to corrosion [13, 14] has been successfully completed. This research was conducted in collaboration with The Tank Museum at Bovington. Controlled environment within the newly designed VCC (Vehicles Conservation Centre) is informed by the outcomes of this research. In addition NASA [13] has also been collaborating in corrosion research at BU along with BAE Systems and Analatom Inc. Discussions with Analatom are currently in progress for further collaboration in corrosion sensors technology.
A second project in corrosion monitoring techniques in collaboration with Defence Science & Technology Laboratory Ministry of Defence, through a match funded PhD is currently in progress [1-5]. Recent publications [2-4] from this research have made to the Taylor & Francis top 20 most read articles list. This is an evidence of novel contributions to corrosion and corrosion modelling techniques.
A third project in collaboration with Defence Science & Technology Laboratory Ministry of Defence through BU match funded PhD programme has been awarded to look into wireless corrosion monitoring techniques.
In addition nano coatings (in collaboration with Schaeffler, a major industrial partner) have been developed at BU incorporating corrosion issues to solve current corrosion problems within industrial applications.
A collaborative research project with National University of Science & Technology & Future Energy Source Ltd (the overall portfolio includes 2 x fully funded PhDs, 2 x match funded PhDs and 1 x Post Doctoral Research Assistant, PDRA) is currently underway to investigate corrosion issues within thermal storage applied in renewable technologies.
We have state of the art corrosion bench testing (environmental simulation) and modelling tools. We have micro LPRs (Linear Polarisation Resistors) & MEMS (Micro Electrical Mechanical Systems) based live corrosion monitoring stations for large stationary and moving vehicles.
Please contact Zulfiqar Khan (Associate Professor) if you would like to know more about the research activities or have interests in corrosion related issues,
Publications in Corrosion
- Nazir, M. H., Khan, Z., & Stokes, K. (2015). A Holistic Mathematical Modelling and Simulation for Cathodic Delamination Mechanism – A Novel and an Efficient Approach. Journal of Adhesion Science and Technology. doi:10.1080/01694243.2015.1071023
- Nazir, H., & Khan, Z. (2015). Maximising the interfacial toughness of thin coatings and substrate through optimisation of defined parapmeters. International Journal of Computational Methods & Experimental Measurements, 1-13. doi:10.2495/CMEM-V0-N0-1-13
- Nazir, M., Khan, Z., & Stokes, K. (2015). Optimisation of Interface Roughness and Coating Thickness to Maximise Coating-Substrate Adhesion – A Failure Prediction and Reliability Assessment Modelling. Journal of Adhesion Science and Technology, 29(14), 1415-1445. doi:10.1080/01694243.2015.1026870
- Nazir, H., Khan, Z., & Stokes, K. (2015). A Unified Mathematical Modelling and Simulation for Cathodic Blistering Mechanism incorporating diffusion and fracture mechanics concepts. Journal of Adhesion Science and Technology, 29(12), 1200-1228. doi:10.1080/01694243.2015.1022496
- Nazir, H., Khan, Z., & Stokes, K. (2014). Modelling of Metal-Coating Delamination Incorporating Variable Environmental Parameters. Journal of Adhesion Science and Technology, 29(5), 392-423. doi:10.1080/01694243.2014.990200
- Nugent, M., & Khan, Z. (2014). The effects of corrosion rate and manufacturing in the prevention of stress corrosion cracking on structural members of steel bridges. The Journal of Corrosion Science and Engineering JCSE, 17(16). Retrieved from http://www.jcse.org/
- Wilton-Smith, K., Khan, Z., Saeed, A (2014). Accelerated Corrosion tests of Waste-gated Turbocharger’s Adjustable and Fixed End Links. In High Performance and Optimum Design of Structures and Materials Vol. 137 (pp. 501-508). Southampton: Wessex Institute of Technology, UK. doi:10.2495/HPSM140461
- Ramesh, C. S., Khan, S., Sridhar, K. S., & Khan, Z. (2014). Slurry erosive wear behavior of hot extruded Al6061-Si3N4 composite. Materials Science Forum, 773-774, 454-460. doi:10.4028/www.scientific.net/MSF.773-774.454
- Ramesh, C. S., Khan, S., Khan, Z., & Sridhar, K. S. (2013). Slurry Erosive Wear Behavior of Hot Extruded Al6061-Si3N4 Composite. Materials Science Forum, 773-774(2014), 462-468. doi:10.4028/www.scientific.net/MSF.773-774.462
- Chinnakurli, R., Adarsha, H., Pramod, S., & Khan, Z. (2013). Tribological Characteristics of Innovative Al6061-Carbon Fibre Rod Metal Matrix Composites. Materials and Design, Volume 50(September 2013), 597-605. doi:10.1016/j.matdes.2013.03.031
- Dobson, P., & Khan, Z. (2013). Design considerations for carbon steel pipes materials’ selection applied in fossil powered plants subjected to wet-steam flow accelerated- corrosion review paper. Journal of Corrosion Science and Engineering, 16, 1-13. Retrieved from http://www.scopus.com/source/sourceInfo.url?sourceId=12326&origin=recordpage
- Denham, L., & Khan, Z. (2013). The prevention of corrosion and corrosion stress cracking on structural members of fixed deep sea oil rigs. The Journal of Corrosion Science and Engineering, 16, 1-13. Retrieved from http://www.jcse.org/
- Saeed, A., Khan, Z., & Montgomery, E. L. (2013). Corrosion Damage Analysis and Material Characterization of Sherman and Centaur – The Historic Military Tanks. Materials Performance and Characterization, 2(1), 1-16. doi:10.1520/MPC20120016
- Saeed, A., Khan, Z. A., Nel, M., & Smith, R. (2011). Non destructive material characterisation and material loss evaluation in large historic military vehicles. Insight – Non-Destructive Testing and Condition Monitoring, 53, 382-386. doi:10.1784/insi.2011.53.7.382
- Khan, Z. A., & Zhen, P. J. (2001). Corrosion Fatigue & Remaining Life Assessment Techniques of 16MnR Pressure Vessel Steel (96-918-02-04). Shanghai: Ministry of Labour, Government of the Peoples’ Republic of China.
- Khan, Z. A., & Zhen, P. J. (2000). Corrosion fatigue of 16Mn pressure vessel steel in H2S environment. American Society of Mechanical Engineers, Pressure Vessels and Piping Division (Publication) PVP, 413, 49-54.
- Zhen, P. J., & Khan, Z. A. (2000). Pressure Vessel Materials: Handbook (1 ed.). Beijing, PR China: Industrial Equipment and Information Engineering Centre.
BU Academic International Engagement
Asia Conference on Power and Electrical Engineering (ACPEE 2016) has invited Dr Zulfiqar Khan (Associate Professor) to join as a Technical Committee Member. ACPEE is organised by Hong Kong Society of Mechanical Engineers. The conference will be held in Bangkok, Thailand, from 20-22 March 2016.
Renewable Energy Sources and Technology is one of the conference themes. This theme includes topics such as Solar Energy Systems, Wind Energy Systems, Marine Renewable Energy, Energy Management & Environmental issues, Hybrid Power Systems, Distributed & Co-Generation Systems, Biomass Energy and Geothermal Resources, Hydro Power Plants, Hydrogen Systems and Fuel Cells.
Dr Zulfiqar Khan is leading a significant research portfolio in renewable technologies in collaboration with Future Energy Source Ltd and National University of Science & Technology. This includes three PhD degree research projects: 1) Energy Recovery at Thermodynamic Expansion and Thermal Boosting Through Convection in Flat Plate Solar Thermal Systems (match funded by NUST), 2) Experimental investigation and mathematical modelling of dynamic equilibrium of novel thermo fluids for renewable technology applications (fully funded by Future Energy Source Ltd), 3) Research and development in novel alternative renewable energy technology (fully funded by Future Energy Source Ltd) and a recently awarded Post Doctoral Research Assistant PDRA, 3) Modelling & development of thermo-fluids incorporating nano-additives (funded by Future Energy Source Ltd).
ACPEE is an international forum for the dissemination of latest research findings in the fields of Power and Electrical Engineering. The conference will provide a forum for exchange of ideas, networking and initiating collaborations among world leading researchers, engineers and scientists from around the globe.
All submissions will be peer reviewed, accepted papers will be published in the ACPEE 2016 conference Proceedings and will be submitted to IEEE Xplore review.
If you have interests in renewable energy technologies or would like to know more please contact Zulfiqar Khan (Associate Professor)
£300K funding for upcoming SBRI competition – Digital Forensics
The Home Office is planning an SBRI call on the subject of digital forensics and how it is used to support serious crime and counter terrorism investigations.
The aim of this funding call is to seek innovative proposals to enhance the capability of law enforcement to quickly recover and thoroughly investigate information stored on the seized digital devices of suspects under investigation.
More information on this funding opportunity.
Competition briefing event, 14th September, London
The event, which is free to attend, is an excellent opportunity for you to receive first hand information about the competition- application process, key dates etc. as well as meet and network with peers, potential partners, market leaders & innovators in the industry.
Sports England Hackathon Challenge!
I’m trying to get a team of six together for the UK’s first sport hackathon. The challenge is to create an app that facilitates social change through sport at the Sport England Sport Technology Awards Hackathon. It will take place over 25 hours on 2-3 October 2015 during which time teams will have just 24 hours to develop their concept that will help a particular demographic group become more physically active.
The winning team will be awarded a bursary of £10,000 to help them build the app.
If you’re interested can you please get in touch with me, Clare at: cfarrance@bournemouth.ac.uk
Team registration closes on 7th September. Would be great to have a BU team there!
More details can be found at:
http://www.sportandrecreation.org.uk/news/06-08-2015/uk%E2%80%99s-first-sports-hackathon-launches
Fusion Investment Fund — Introducing the Bournemouth-Athens Network in Critical Infrastructure Security (BANCIS)
Although largely invisible to us, our lives are dependent on critical infrastructure (CI). CI is made up of roads, rail, pipelines, power lines, together with buildings, technology, and people. Some of this infrastructure is modern, but much of it is ageing and interconnected in so many ways that we fail to realise our dependency on CI or its dependencies until its loss disrupts our day-to-day lives.
This dependency has not been lost on governments, which now invest significant sums on securing this infrastructure from cybersecurity threats. Unfortunately, in most cases, this investment entails bolting security mechanisms onto existing infrastructure. Such investment decisions are made by people with little knowledge of the infrastructure they are securing and, has such, little visibility of the impact that poorly designed security might have on the day-to-day delivery of these critical services. Moreover, because technology innovation does not evolve at the same pace in different cultures, and security which mitigate the risks faced by critical infrastructure in one country may not be as effective in another. The reason for these differences are myriad, and range from differences in working practices to expectations about the scale of infrastructure being secured. There is, therefore, a need to evaluate security solutions against specification exemplars based on these nuanced, representative environments. However, to develop exemplars of such environments requires data collection and knowledge sharing about nuances associated with particular forms of critical infrastructure for different cultures.
The Bournemouth-Athens Network in Critical Infrastructure Security (BANCIS) project will examine and model the nuances associated with two forms of critical infrastructure in different national cultures. It will do so by building a network between Cybersecurity researchers at BU, and the Information Security & Critical Infrastructure Protection Laboratory at Athens University of Economics & Business (AUB). These nuances will be modelled as specification exemplars of UK and Greek water and rail companies. By developing these exemplars, researchers and practitioners will be able to conduct a cost-effective evaluation of new ideas based on realistic CI environments. The exemplars will also help students appreciate the challenges associated with designing security for complex, real-world systems. The exemplars will be modelled using the CAIRIS security design tool; this is an open-source software product maintained by researchers at BU. The data necessary to build these exemplars will be collected over a series of visits by AUB researchers to BU, and BU researcher to AUB.
Please contact Shamal Faily if you’re interested in finding out more about BANCIS, or getting involved in the project.
Creative Skillset – news & updates – August 2015
View all of these stories and more in full:
News
* Trailblazer apprenticeships on the way: Help build your ideal apprentice
* Tick talent takes jobs: Why to Pick the Tick as we celebrate our graduates’ success
* Film and TV Launchpad: A stellar line-up for our Tick graduates
Opportunities
* Are you in the 500?: Digital companies can pledge a vacancy for the Tech London 500 talent pool
* Film Trainee Finder: Film placements open!
* The Old Vic 12 hit Hiive: New competition for directors, playwrights, producers, and designers
Events
* Edinburgh TV Festival: We’re sponsoring with inspirational diversity sessions
* Into Film Festival: Open students’ eyes at over 2,500 free screenings for 5-19s
* Open Doors Meetups: 16-24? Find your digital career at our next company-hosted meetup
Fusion Investment Fund 2014/15: Upskilling the Engineering Workforce – an update
In December 2014 we received funding from the Fusion Investment Fund for a project which we hoped would allow us to strengthen strategic partnerships with local/national engineering companies (see previous posting). We are happy to report that the project has been a success.
Over the past few months we have been working with the Missions Systems division of Cobham PLC, based in Wimborne, and four of their employees, who are also students on our innovative Flexible Learning MEng (Hons) Engineering degree, to develop a Professional Registration Mentoring Scheme. Cobham was an ideal company to work with as it is the third largest aerospace and defence employer in the UK with over 12000 employees globally and 500 employees at the Wimborne site alone.
The main outcome of the project has been the development of the structure of the scheme, scheme material and promotional material.
In addition, a Festival of Learning lecture was developed entitled: ‘what professional engineers do and how to become one’. The lecture was attended by a mix of children and their parents who wished to find out more about embarking on engineering as a career and engineering employees from a range of industries who wished to find out more about how to develop themselves professionally. Promotional flyers for the professional registration mentoring scheme were provided to the engineering employees to take back to their companies. It is hoped interest from employers in the scheme will be generated from the event.
The scheme has also been integrated into the flexible learning engineering degree curriculum through the Level 6 unit Advanced Engineering and Level 7 unit MEng Project. Students studying on the degree will be mentored for up to a year after graduation to provide professional development opportunities by achieving professional registration. Thus, preparing the individual with key skills for the workplace and creating sought after individuals who will be recognised as the future leaders in their field.
Finally, a strong link has been developed with Cobham which is expected to carry on after this project. The links and reputation of BU developed through this project will be used to build the relationship with Cobham to ensure the apprentices progress to BU to complete their academic studies on the FdEng Engineering and MEng Engineering degrees.
A future goal, once established regionally, is to secure recognition for the scheme from an appropriate professional body. This will then provide the credibility to expand the scheme nationally
Please do feel free to get in touch with us if you would like further information.
Dr Phil Sewell – (Principal Investigator) – Acting Head of Design and Engineering Department/Associate Professor – psewell@bournemouth.ac.uk
Dr Tania Humphries-Smith – Associate Professor – thumphri@bournemouth.ac.uk
Driverless vehicles: apply now for business innovation funding
The Department for Business, Innovation and Skills (BIS) is to invest in new vehicle developments in the areas of connectivity, autonomy and customer interaction, and to support new business models.
Businesses can apply for a share of £20 million to develop new products and services for connected and autonomous vehicles.
- the competition is now open and the registration deadline is at noon on 23 September 2015
- a briefing to highlight the main features of the competition will be held in London on 4 August 2015
For more information click here
Prof. Judy Wajcman LSE speaking this evening in FoL
Prof Judy Wajcman will be the second speaker in the Distinguished Social Scientists Public Lectures Series tonight in Festival of Learning. The lecture is based on her new book Pressed for Time: The Acceleration of Life in Digital Capitalism.
Those who attended Prof. John Holmwood’s presentation on last Monday on ‘The University, Democracy and the Public Interest’ will agree that the Distinguished Social Scientists Public Lectures Series started with a great and challenging presentation.
Tonight’s session is free and will be in the Barnes Lecture theatre at Talbot Campus starting at 18.00.
Prof. Edwin van Teijlingen
CMMPH
From Stour Valley to Silicon Valley-Dr. Dinusha Mendis on Research Leave in Stanford University California
In January 2015, Dr. Dinusha Mendis, Associate Professor in Law and Co-Director of the Centre for Intellectual Property Policy and Management (CIPPM) in the Faculty of Media and Communications was awarded a period of research leave funded by the Fusion Investment Fund which commenced on 1 January 2015. The study leave was granted to further Dr. Mendis’ research into the digital aspects of Copyright Law and the Intellectual Property (IP) Implications of 3D Printing.
Since 1 January 2015, Dr. Mendis has held appointments as Visiting Fellow at University of Bocconi in Italy and as Lord Provost Fellow at University of Tasmania in Australia. For further information about the collaborative work carried out by Dr. Mendis during this time, please see here (BU Research Blog post dated 13 March 2015).
Dr. Mendis will complete her research leave in July 2015 having spent two months as a Visiting Scholar at Stanford Law School, Stanford University California.
During her time as a Visiting Scholar at Stanford University, Dr. Mendis was involved in working with Professor Mark Lemley of Stanford Law School, to further her research into the intellectual property implications of 3D printing. Sponsored by Professor Lemley, Dr. Mendis utilised the time at Stanford to complete two research papers (to be published in Autumn 2015) and collaborate with IP experts from University of California, Berkeley; Emory University; Georgia Tech University and Indiana University in taking forward a project in the area of 3D printing and intellectual property implications.
The Research Leave was made possible by the generous support of Bournemouth University’s Fusion Investment Fund which in turn led to the Visiting appointments for which Dr. Mendis is very grateful.
The appointments have all proved to be very productive and rewarding in taking forward the research on the IP implications of 3D printing. The final appointment, which involved being a Visiting Scholar at Stanford Law School was a very positive experience – and will be an unforgettable one.
Do you need a KIC?
The European Institute for Innovation and Technology (A European Commission body) has announced their Knowledge and Innovation Communities (KIC) calls for 2016:
- EIT Food: Food4future: sustainable supply chain from resources to consumers
- EIT Manufacturing: Added-value manufacturing
To find out more and how you can get involved, the first port of call is the dedicated website, which includes slides outlining the announcement and timeline. There is also specific information for potential partners in the HE sector.
If you are not sure what a KIC does, the EIT website details:
As new types of partnerships within the European innovation landscape, KICs are characterised by the following features:
- High degree of integration: each KIC is organised around an independent legal entity, gathering world-class KIC partners from all the innovation dimensions. The specificity of the KICs is to integrate, for the first time at EU level, education and entrepreneurship with research and innovation. The EIT does not address education, research and innovation independently but instead simultaneously, as constitutive elements of a single innovation chain, to deliver incremental and disruptive innovation.
- Long-term perspective: each KIC is set up for a minimum of seven years to contribute to overcoming fragmentation via world-class, long-term, integrated partnerships. This long-term perspective enables partners to commit to a strategic initiative for a longer time than in traditional innovation policy initiatives. It also ensures that the KIC is able to focus on short-, mid- and long-term objectives, remaining agile enough to adapt to emerging needs from the field in which they operate.
- Efficient governance: strong leadership is a pre-requisite; each KIC is driven by a CEO and KIC partners are represented by single legal entities for more streamlined decision-making. KICs must produce annual business plans, including an ambitious portfolio of activities from education to business creation, with clear targets and deliverables, looking for both market and societal impact.
- The co-location model: each KIC consists of five or six world-class innovation hotspots, building and leveraging on existing European capacities. A co-location centre brings together diverse teams of individuals from across the Knowledge Triangle together in one physical place (usually within partners’ universities or companies), acting as a hub for many KIC activities, and combining competences and skills developed in different areas of specialisation at a pan-European level.
- KICs culture: Europe needs to embrace a true entrepreneurial culture, which is essential for capturing the value of research and innovation, for setting-up new ventures and actual market deployment of innovations in potential high-growth sectors. KICs are doing just this by integrating education and entrepreneurship with research and innovation and operating according to business logic and a results-oriented approach.
Still not sure? Take a look at the websites for the existing KICs: EIT Raw Materials, Climate-KIC, EIT Digital, EIT Health and KIC Innoenergy to see who is involved and what they have achieved.
BioBeach
The BU Bio-Beach Fusion Investment Fund project aims to increase biodiversity, public engagement and research on sustainable coastal development through design and build of novel structures that can be fixed to existing coastal defences on Bournemouth seafront. http://research.bournemouth.ac.uk/impact/bio-beach/
With so many ‘known unknowns’ in terms of materials that could withstand this extreme environment this proved extremely challenging. Several designs for features, including artificial rock pools were developed by BU staff, which involved UG and PG students in focus groups.
Bournemouth Borough Council Tourism and Coastal Management staff supported the design process throughout and commissioned public artists and designers Ecclestone George to build 12 concrete ‘artificial rock pools’ to be installed on the groynes at Boscombe.
On 17th June 2015, small, medium and large pools were fixed across two groynes on Boscombe beach in an experimental array and will be monitored by BU staff and students. Prior to installation, the texture and roughness of the structures was recorded with a 3D laser scanner. Monitoring will include monthly assessments of the condition of the structures and the colonisation process.
Following successful field trips to Boscombe beach around 30 pupils at Avonbourne College and Harewood College from Years 7 – 9 worked on ideas and prototypes for the BioBeach project after school, supported by BU student ambassadors and the AspireBU outreach team. The pupils came up with designs inspired by everything from rubber ducks to scuba divers, which were made of sustainable and recycled materials including old rope and tyres.
Fay Lyon, Science Teacher at Avonbourne College, said: “I think it has been brilliant. They have really loved it”. “I think it’s the fact that it’s real world application of science – it’s really useful. These are genuine problems that need to be solved and they can contribute something for that. They have the chance to make a real difference.”
Several students gained the Bronze Crest Award from the British Association of Science.
http://www.britishscienceassociation.org/crest-bronze
In August 2014, BU STEM Outreach Team and BioBeach RA Ben Thornes took the project to the Green Man Festival Brecon Beacons, Einstein’s Garden – the largest Science public engagement event in BritainBioBeach to Einstein’s Garden
http://blogs.bournemouth.ac.uk/research/2014/08/08/a-summer-of-science/
BioBeach will feature at NERC public engagement event on Boscombe beach 4-5 July 2015.
BU Biobeach have provided materials for the new Seafront Visitor Centre displays and aquaria at Boscombe, that features interpretation of the Bay and its marine wildlife and BU Research
The project is on-going and we are seeking new opportunities to create new features and undertake further research and development.
BU publications in Taylor & Francis top 20 most read articles
SDRC has developed a significant research portfolio in collaboration with industrial partners within corrosion, corrosion modelling, corrosion simulation, in-situ and remote corrosion condition monitoring.
SDRC industrial partners in corrosion research include The Tank Museum at Bovington, Defence Science & Technology Laboratory Ministry of Defence and Wessex Institute of Technology.
SDRC researchers have delivered invited guest speaking on the above topics in corrosion at the University of Oxford, Cranfield University, Institute of Physics and University of Southampton.
This activity also led to organising the 1st BU-International Tank Museums Conference at BU and organising a special session at the recent Contact & Surface conference that included solving corrosion issues through Surface Engineering.
Recent publication “Optimisation of interface roughness and coating thickness to maximise coating–substrate adhesion – a failure prediction and reliability assessment modelling” has made to the top 16th in the top 20 most read Taylor & Francis publications list with 409 article views/downloads.
Another recent publication “Modelling of metal-coating delamination incorporating variable environmental parameters” now stands 2nd in the above list with 1161 article views/downloads.
It is worth noting that the first publication was available since April 13, 2015 and the later publication was available since December 15, 2014. The rest of the papers (except one Feb 7, 2014) in the Taylor & Francis most read articles list were available since April-Aug 2012.
If you have interest in the above research area or would like to know more please visit SDRC webpage or contact
Dr Zulfiqar Khan (Associate Professor)