Category / Strategic Investment Areas

SETS Research Seminar – Global Recycling Crisis – Wed 24th April

Research Centres, Strategic Investment Areas

SETS research seminar: Wednesday 24th April at 3 pm on Zoom

The theme of this SETS cycle is the public problem of waste and the global sustainability crises related to the consumption and disposal of commodities.

In this seminar, Manisha Anantharaman will present her recent book Recycling Class. The Contradictions of Inclusion in Urban Sustainability (2024, MIT press).

Manisha is Assistant Professor of Sociology at the Center for the Sociology of Organisations, Sciences Po Paris (France). Manisha holds a PhD from the University of California Berkeley, and her research focuses on the politics of ecological transition and sustainability. 

Zoom details to join:

https://unitn.zoom.us/j/85334570893
Meeting ID: 853 3457 0893

Passcode: SETS

SETS is a joint initiative between the Research Group on Collective Action, Change, and Transition at the University of Trento, the Centre for Sustainable and Socially Responsible Consumption at BU, and the Environmental Sociology Section at the University of Orebro. The seminars are open to a diverse audience, including academics, students, practitioners, social movements, and the non-specialist public.

Roberta Discetti, SETS co-founder

Discovering Causal Relations and Equations from Data

BRIAN, BU research, Featured academics, Fusion themes, open access, REF Subjects, Research communication, research methods, research staff, staff profile pages, Strategic Investment Areas, Uncategorized

Discovering equations, laws, or invariant principles underpins scientific and technical advancement. Robust model discovery has typically emerged from observing the world and, when possible, performing interventions to falsify models.

Recently, data-driven approaches like classic and deep machine learning are evolving traditional equation discovery methods. These new tools can provide unprecedented advances in computer science, neuroscience, physics, philosophy, and many applied areas.

We have just published a new study discussing concepts and methods on causal and equation discovery, outlining current challenges and promising future lines of research. The work also showcases comprehensive case studies in diverse scientific areas ranging from earth and environmental science to neuroscience.

Our tenet is that discovering fundamental laws and causal relations by observing natural phenomena is revolutionised with the coalescence of observational data and simulations, modern machine learning algorithms and domain knowledge. Exciting times are ahead with many challenges and opportunities to improve our understanding of complex systems.

This study is a collaborative work between eight universities in Europe and the United States (Valencia, Berlin, Tübingen, Jena, Stockholm, New York, and Bournemouth Universities).

Camps-Valls, G., Gerhardus, A., Ninad, U., Varando, G., Martius, G., Balaguer-Ballester, E., Vinuesa, R., Diaz, E., Zanna, L. and Runge, J., 2023. Discovering causal relations and equations from data. Physics Reports, 1044, 1-68 (Impact Factor=30).

 

The Success of CuttingGardens2023 Conference

conferences, Events, Research Training, Strategic Investment Areas

Last week saw the great success of the CuttingGardens2023 conference (16-19 October 2023). This was a globally distributed and hybrid conference on cutting-edge EEG/MEG methods with 800+ attendees. The event was globally coordinated by the CuttingEEG Association, and locally hosted by 21 gardens in 15 countries across Europe, Asia, and North and South Americas. Bournemouth University hosted a local Bournemouth Garden as part of this global event. This was chaired by Dr Xun He (also a member of the global organising committee) and the Multimodal Immersive NEuro-sensing (MINE) Research Cluster.

The conference had a series of plenary (global) talks on topics of theoretical advances, real-time processing and classification, reproducible analyses, and deep neural networks. These plenary talks were globally broadcasted to all gardens. Our Bournemouth Garden hosted a plenary speaker (Hubert Banville from Meta) on deep neural networks in the afternoon of Thursday, 19 October. Our local discussion on the plenary talks was so lively and critical, that very often our questions were among the top-voted online. Our attendees also enjoyed a thought-provoking, interactive, and friendly local programme. Following BU’s research expertise, they got a chance to visit the MINE Research Cluster and the EEG-eye tracking co-registration labs, and greatly advanced their knowledge and skills in these research fields through talks and tutorials. Our sponsors, ANT Neuro UK (EEG equipment producer) and TG0 (tactile sensing devices producer), also showed great support and delivered excellent demonstrations showcasing the most recent technical advancement.

The full support from the Faculty of Science and Technology (represented by Prof Christos Gatzidis) was extraordinarily reassuring, without which the conference would not have taken place. FST’s Deputy Dean, Dr Carly Stewart, also delivered the welcome note for the conference.

Our great success could not have been possible without the very enthusiastic and dedicated work of the best team. They truly deserve a loud round of applause! They are:

Bournemouth Garden organising committee (over 15 months from July 2022 to October 2023): Xun He (Chair), Ellen Seiss, Andrew Hanson, Marina Kilintari, Ruijie Wang, Federica Degno, and Biao Zeng (University of South Wales, visiting fellow of BU)

Local speakers: Federica Degno, Andrew Hanson, Otto Loberg, Géza Gergely Ambrus, Xun He

MINE Research Cluster visit hosts: Fred Charles, Ellen Seiss, Andrew Hanson, Xun He

EEG-eye tracking co-registration lab visit hosts: Federica Degno, Otto Loberg

Broadcasting support: Elliott Roch

Assistants: Damla Kuleli, Toby Denholm-Smith

 

Some team members and speakers in the summer of 2023 (from left to right: Andrew Hanson, Ellen Seiss, Xun He, Federica Degno, Ruijie Wang, Marina Kilintari, Otto Loberg)

 

Registration desk (from left to right: Xun He, Andrew Hanson, Toby Denholm-Smith, Damla Kuleli)

 

Carly Stewart (FST’s Deputy Dean) delivering the welcome note

 

Poster session

 

Discussion after a plenary talk

 

Enjoying the conference dinner at a vegan restaurant

 

Ellen Seiss hosting the lab visit to MINE Cluster

 

Fred Charles hosting the lab visit to MINE Cluster

 

Géza Gergely Ambrus giving a workshop talk

 

Federica Degno giving a workshop talk

 

Xun He giving a workshop talk

 

Our locally hosted plenary speaker, Hubert Banville (from Meta AI), was giving a plenary talk

 

The cheerful and ambitious conference cohort

INRC seminar by Dr Jie Sui, Friday the 8th of September at 14.00 h, Share Lecture Theatre (Fusion).

BU research, Events, Featured, Featured academics, REF Subjects, Research Centres, research methods, Research news, research staff, Strategic Investment Areas, Women's Academic Network

We want to draw your attention to a seminar organized by the Interdisciplinary Neuroscience Research Centre on this Friday, the 8th of September, from 14:00 h to 15:00 h at the Share Lecture Theatre (Fusion Building). There will be a networking event after the talk with coffee and biscuits.

Our guest speaker is Dr. Jie Sui (University of Aberdeen), invited by Dr. Ellen Seiss. Prof Dr Sui is renowned for her studies investigating the unique self, self-representation, and social interactions in VR. Her research combines multiple neural recording modalities, such as EEG and fMRI, with computational modelling.

The title of this exciting talk is: “Understanding the Self: Prospects for Translation”. Please find the abstract below.

We warmly invite you to attend this seminar.

Kind regards,

Ellen and Emili, on behalf of all of us.

Abstract:

“An understanding of the self helps explain not only human thoughts, feelings, and attitudes but also many aspects of everyday behaviours. This talk focuses on a particular perspective on self-processes. This perspective highlights the dynamics of the self that best connects with the development of the self over time and its realist orientation. We are using psychological experiments and data mining to comprehend the stability and flexibility of the self in different populations.

In this talk, I integrate experimental psychology, associative learning theory, computational neuroscience, and machine learning approaches to demonstrate why and how self-association affects cognition and how it is modulated by various social experiences and situational factors.”

INRC seminar by Dr Jie Sui, Friday the 8th of September at 14.00 h, Share Lecture Theatre (Fusion).

BU research, Events, Featured, Featured academics, REF Subjects, Research Centres, research methods, Research news, research staff, Strategic Investment Areas, Women's Academic Network

We want to draw your attention to a seminar organized by the Interdisciplinary Neuroscience Research Centre on Friday, the 8th of September, from 14:00 h to 15:00 h at the Share Lecture Theatre (Fusion Building). There will be a networking event after the talk with coffee and biscuits.

Our guest speaker is Dr. Jie Sui (University of Aberdeen), invited by Dr. Ellen Seiss. Prof Dr Sui is renowned for her studies investigating the unique self, self-representation, and social interactions in VR. Her research combines multiple neural recording modalities, such as EEG and fMRI, with computational modelling.

The title of this exciting talk is: “Understanding the Self: Prospects for Translation”. Please find the abstract below.

We warmly invite you to attend this seminar.

Kind regards,

Ellen and Emili, on behalf of all of us.

Abstract:

“An understanding of the self helps explain not only human thoughts, feelings, and attitudes but also many aspects of everyday behaviours. This talk focuses on a particular perspective on self-processes. This perspective highlights the dynamics of the self that best connects with the development of the self over time and its realist orientation. We are using psychological experiments and data mining to comprehend the stability and flexibility of the self in different populations.

In this talk, I integrate experimental psychology, associative learning theory, computational neuroscience, and machine learning approaches to demonstrate why and how self-association affects cognition and how it is modulated by various social experiences and situational factors.”

SaferKids VR launch

Awarded & submitted bids, BU research, BU2025, Fusion, Impact, Industry collaboration, innovation, Knowledge Exchange, Knowledge Transfer, Strategic Investment Areas

Before the pandemic, local school children had a local facility near Wallisdown called SafeWise. SafeWise supported children learning about keeping safe and in particular road safety. However, during the pandemic this facility closed, leaving children without such an important resource. In collaboration with Colin Parnell from Centre VR, Dr Sarah Hodge (from the Department of Psychology) was awarded a bid by Bournemouth, Christchurch, and Poole (BCP) Council to develop a VR simulation/game about road safety skills; SaferKids VR.

The educational simulation/game was designed and created, with an interdisciplinary team, including psychologists, and game developers and programmers. The team of game developers and programmers, consisted of two BU graduates Sam Walsh and Josh Maddocks, as well as Andrew Ham. Since graduating from his Masters degree, Sam has led the team on the SaferKids VR development.

Within SaferKids VR, there was the creation of SKIE: Safer Kids Interactive Expert (robot pictured above). SKIE supports the player in VR, navigating the friendly real-life interactive virtual world and achieving learning goals and road safety skills. In the United States, every year, thousands of people are injured as a result of someone else’s negligence. You can read this article to know what to do if you ever get into an accident.

Schools can sign up for their pupils to be involved. 

For more information on the project please see the link https://centrevr.co.uk/saferkidsvr/ or contact shodge@bournemouth.ac.uk

ADDISONIC Lab Now Up and Running!

Awarded & submitted bids, BU Challenges, BU2025, Industry collaboration, innovation, international, Research Centres, research opportunities, Strategic Investment Areas

The ADDISONIC, a lab in Poole House 2nd floor with the capacity for fatigue-accelerated testing of materials at Bournemouth University, is now up and running. We are now looking for research collaboration opportunities, so if you know anyone in the industry who requires help in this exciting new field or you are interested in developing the many research aspects in this area, please get in touch with us. We would be delighted if you could share your thoughts (and problems!) with us so that we can explore ways for future collaboration.

Please watch this exciting video that Mambo Media produced at: ADDISONIC – finding new ways of fatigue testing materials – YouTube

If you want to learn more, you can also check the ADDISONIC webpage.

Finally, please see here our latest publication here: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.prostr.2022.12.155.

 

Any questions? Please contact me on dmontalvao@bournemouth.ac.uk

 

I am looking forward to hearing from you soon. 🙂

 

MINE Research Cluster’s Opening Event

BU research, Events, Strategic Investment Areas

In the afternoon of 16 November 2022, the Multimodal-Immersive NEuro-sensing (MINE) Research Cluster hosted a successful Cluster Opening event. This friendly event was the first time the Cluster showcased its research activities since they set up the lab space in May 2022.

At the event, Dr Xun He, Prof Fred Charles, and Dr Ellen Seiss gave three short talks and answered questions from the audience. Xun gave a brief introduction to the MINE research concept and the Cluster, then reported some interesting findings from an on-going immersive neuroscience research project about embodied perception of social interactions. Fred then presented several virtual reality (VR) projects carried out by the Cluster and our brain-computer interface (neurofeedback and affective storytelling) research. Ellen’s talk summarised the Cluster’s collaborative research with our industry partner Emteq Labs. This research direction uses VR and integrated physiological measures to detect users’ emotion states.

The audience showed great interest and engaged in lively discussion with the team. After the talks, some guests visited the Cluster and experienced our research setups. This cluster opening event attracted nearly 50 people including external guests from NHS, charity, industry, and higher education. Some guests stayed for two more hours after the planned event time, apparently having enjoyed the conversation to the full. We would like to thank all guests for their interest and comments.

If you are interested in our research, please visit our website at www.bournemouth.ac.uk/mine/. The MINE Cluster is also working with BU’s Interdisciplinary Neuroscience Research Centre (INRC) to organise a research symposium in January 2023. More information will follow nearer the time. Please keep track of our activities. We hope to see you all again very soon!

Update (24/11/2022): this is the blog post providing details of the INRC Symposium on 16 January 2023 (9.15am – 1pm). Please have a look if you are interested!

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

BU research, Funding opportunities, Knowledge Exchange and Impact Team, NHS, PG research, pre-award, Research Centres, Research news, research staff, Strategic Investment Areas

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

About the seminar

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

Who is the seminar for?

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

FUN Project dissemination and networking event

BU research, BU2025, Events, HEIF, Impact, Strategic Investment Areas, Uncategorized

FUN_logo
FUN (Feeling the UNfelt: Assistive Technology accessible digital environments with a haptic interface) is a 2-year HEIF funded research project designed to help address the current lack of (freely) available accessible software resources for children and young people (CYP) who have physical disabilities, specifically with a focus on learning about the physical world through gameplay and haptic feedback. The project is a partnership between Bournemouth University and Livability Victoria School in Poole (find more about the project here).

As the FUN project is coming to its end (finishing on 31st July 2022), we organised a dissemination and networking event on 5th May in the Executive Business Centre. The main aim of the event was to present and demonstrate our project outputs and discuss its future potential with relevant internal and external academics and professionals, thus setting the stage for building wider impact. There were four presentations, one guest talk, two demo sessions, and a discussion at the end. Besides BU academics working on this and other related Assistive Technology projects, there were external people with various backgrounds related to special education, including teachers, technicians, consultants, occupational therapists, and assistive technologists, coming from BU, Livability Victoria School, Langside School, Treloar School and College, and the ACE Centre.

After opening the event, Dr Vedad Hulusic, the PI on the project, invited Prof Christos Gatzidis, the convener of the Assistive Technology (AT) Strategic Investment Area (SIA) who gave a brief presentation on the AT SIA strategy and other related AT-related projects at BU. This was followed by the FUN project presentation by Dr Mark Moseley, a postdoctoral research assistant on the project. At the end of his presentation, Mark gave a short demo of the FUN educational games and invited everyone to try them themselves using either touchscreen or eye-gaze interaction.

FUN Accessible level builder FUN games demo

The guest speaker was Prof Pedro Encarnação from the Universidade Católica Portuguesa (UCP). In his talk titled “The use of physical and virtual robots to promote inclusive education” he covered his group’s work on physical and virtual robots and presented the results showing the success of virtual environments for children and young people in the educational setting. This was followed by a presentation by Dr Huseyin Dogan and Dr Paul Whittington who talked about the case studies of user ability detection, accessibility requirements capture, and provision of Assistive Technology recommendations – the work their group has been working on for the past few years. In the end, there was another demo session and a discussion on the past, present, and future of AT, instigating great participation by all participants.

FUN - Guest talk FUN - AT Projects

The FUN games are being finalised and will be freely available both as standalone (executable) as well as web-based (running in a web browser) software. The aim is to have these games available in as many special schools across the UK and beyond, and in homes of CYP who will be able to use them independently without required supervision and assistance. The users will be able to create personal profiles and configure all required accessibility and game features to make their experience as FUN as possible, as well as to create new in-game content for themselves and their peers. The event participants had very positive feedback on the FUN project and games and anticipated a significant impact through the improvement of the quality of life of CYP with physical disabilities, their parents, caregivers, and teachers. The FUN team plans to extend this project by strengthening existing and creating new collaborations. The extensions will be multidirectional involving co-design with practitioners, changing practices, policies, and curricula in special schools, and having such games being used in educational institutions allowing CYP with profound disabilities to have FUN while learning.

“I really enjoyed the day – fascinating, inspiring & really positive.“ – Teacher, Livability Victoria School

“Haptic device easily put on/off, providing good feedback to a child. Worth considering use with adults with learning disabilities.” – Occupational therapist, Langside School

“The students involved whom I work with enjoyed the sessions + it was something that enhanced their self-esteem.“ – Teacher, Livability Victoria School

“It can be easily adapted to make it accessible to a wider range of individuals.“ – AAC consultant, ACE Centre

“Very good, simple to setup and use.“ – Technician/Music teacher, Livability Victoria School

Are you an Early Career Research? Would travel this summer enable you to develop and external funding proposal? Apply now!

BU research, BU2025, Strategic Investment Areas

BU Research Blog | How do I get involved with the Strategic Investment Areas at BU? Insight for academics and professional service staff | Bournemouth UniversityBournemouth University (BU), as detailed within BU2025, is prioritising support for strategic growth around the scope of four far reaching and interdisciplinary Strategic Investment Areas (SIAs): Assistive Technology (AT); Animation, Simulation & Visualisation (ASV); Medical Science (MedS) and Sustainability, Low Carbon Technology & Materials Science (SCLTMS).

Each theme has an extensive scope and engagement with this call, from all BU’s disciplinary areas (including the arts, humanities, business, law and social sciences), is strongly encouraged. Growth of the SIAs is founded on interdisciplinary collaboration to leverage external funding and deliver societal impact.

In 2022, in recognition that COVID-19 has made it exceptionally challenging for early-career researchers to undertake the networking activities required to develop collaborative research proposals, there is an additional stream of internal funding available to enable colleagues to undertake networking/pilot data collection activities in summer 2022 with a view to developing and submitting a collaborative research proposal in late 2022/early 2023.

Please note, there is no one definition of an early career researcher. For example, the AHRC suggests that early career researcher is typically within eight years of their doctorate or within the first six years of their first academic appointment, excluding any career breaks.   However, BU recognises the diversity of academic career paths within the organisation and therefore invite colleagues to outline to the panels why they are classified as an early career researcher, as opposed to setting fixed criterion that may exclude some colleagues unfairly.)

The funding available can be spent in May, June and July 2022 (and cannot be rolled forward into the next financial year) and can be used to travel, network, attend conferences and/or collect pilot data. The funding will be allocated on a rolling basis, assessed by members of the SIA Steering Group. Apply by one of the following deadlines to secure funding:

  • 4th April, 2nd May and 23rd May (applications should be emailed to sia@bournemouth.ac.uk on each deadline day).

Each early career researcher can apply for any size of award up to £5,000.

For the full policy document and application form, please refer to the Staff Intranet or email sia@bournemouth.ac.uk

Call for game-changing research concepts in 2022: what could you do?

BU research, BU2025, Strategic Investment Areas

What could you do to change the world? Call for expressions of interest to develop the Strategic Investment Areas is now open!

The University is now looking for amazing, game-changing research ideas to enable us to grow as an institution, enrich our education and have a demonstrable impact on society. To enable this to happen, we have four Strategic Investment Areas (SIAs), each with a broad scope that is inherently interdisciplinary in nature.We now invite you to put forward your ideas and help bring these areas to life. These will be reviewed by our SIA Steering Groups and our SIA External Advisory Boards before the University Leadership Team endorses the strongest concepts for development.If successful, you will then receive dedicated, tailored support to turn your research concept into a reality. This is your opportunity to grow an area of research for which you and BU will be known for in the years to come.

What is a game-changing research concept?

This is the big question and the answer is that we don’t know until we know! In order to ensure that our brightest and best minds have an equitable opportunity to put their ideas forward to become institutional priorities, each year, the University – facilitated by Research, Development & Support (RDS) – makes a call for ‘game-changing’ research concepts that will enable the growth of one or more SIA. This is open to all academic staff (including research staff).Successful concepts are those which enable the growth of the SIAs (as defined by their scope), accelerate institutional research and knowledge exchange income, advance interdisciplinary research and deliver societal impact. EoIs are welcomed from all academic career stages and disciplines– especially from under-represented areas (as it is essential that our future research trajectory reflects the diversity of society).It is intended that these concepts will be the legacy by which BU is known for post-2025, and the opportunity to develop the scope of the SIAs is a career-enhancing opportunity.  Leaders of these strategic concepts for growth need to be committed to utilising the institutional support offered in order to make the concept a lived reality making a demonstrable difference to society through the acceleration of world-class research.

To learn more, and to apply, please read the policy document and complete the expression of interest form, available on the Staff Intranet or email sia@bournemouth.ac.uk 

FAQs

What is the process and the timescale?
Applications for EoIs are now open, with a closing date of 23rd May at 10am.  SIA Steering Groups will then review the concepts and agree which are prioritised for review by our External Advisory Boards. Shortlisted applicants will then have the opportunity to revise their EoIs in light of any feedback, before the final concepts are selected for enhanced institutional support in August 2022.

Do I have to be a Professor to apply?

Absolutely not! (Although, of course, our professorial colleagues are very welcome to put forward brilliant concepts). We actively welcome EoIs from all career stages, especially early to mid-career researchers. We also actively encourage applications from colleagues with protected characteristics, in recognition of the importance of growing a diverse research community that reflects wider society.

The titles of the SIAs sound very science-based, am I eligible to apply if I work in the arts, humanities or social sciences?
Of course. We strongly encourage input from all disciplines, but more crucially, interdisciplinary research collaborations.

What sort of institutional support is on offer at the end of the process?
It will depend on what you need to make the concept a reality. Read the policy document available on the staff intranet for further details, or email sia@bournemouth.ac.uk for a copy of the policy document and an EoI template.

I’m really interested, but I’d like to learn more, what can I do?
We have a number of virtual drop-in sessions that you can attend over the next few weeks. These include:

  • Briefing sessions for our external partners on their future research needs
  • Briefing sessions from our SIA Steering Groups
  • Drop in-support sessions from RDS
  • If you would like to receive details of any of these, or have any further queries, please email sia@bournemouth.ac.uk

Can you give me some examples of ‘game-changing’ research ideas?
There are many sources of inspiration, you might like to ready more about research which started at the University of Oxford, the Made at Uni campaign, University of Loughborough’s game changers or search some of the REF 2014’s highest performing impact case studies.