BU Research Blog

Category / Student Engagement

19 September 2016

Prestigious undergraduate research conference comes to Bournemouth

Student Engagement, student research Rachel Bowen

Next spring, Bournemouth University (BU) will be welcoming undergraduates from all over the country to present their research as part of the British Conference of Undergraduate Research (BCUR). The prestigious annual conference is a chance to celebrate the valuable contribution of research from undergraduate students across a vast array of disciplines and subject areas.

Undergraduates from all disciplines will be invited to submit papers, posters, workshops and performances as part of the conference. Abstracts will be peer-reviewed and those accepted will be invited to attend the conference, which is taking place in Bournemouth 25 – 26 April 2017.

Professor Gail Thomas, Head of BU’s Centre for Excellence of Learning says, “BCUR is an excellent opportunity to highlight the research successes of undergraduates from all over the country. It gives undergraduates their first taste of an academic conference, as well as giving them the opportunity to develop their communication and presentation skills. It’s also a great place to network with other researchers.”

“Undergraduates will be invited to present research from any aspect of their course,” continues Professor Thomas, “Many will have had the chance to carry out independent research, whether for a dissertation, an assessment, working with an external company or working with a researcher on a particular topic. If you’re unsure about whether your work fits, it’s best to talk to your tutor first to find out how you can get involved in BCUR.”

Professor John Fletcher, Pro-Vice Chancellor for Research and Innovation at BU comments, “We are delighted to be hosting the next British Conference of Undergraduate Research and look forward to welcoming undergraduates from all over the country to showcase their research.”

“Research is a key driver of economic growth and makes a difference to all aspects of society, so we are keen to celebrate the successes of our next generation of researchers. Here at BU we really encourage our undergraduates to get involved in research throughout their studies. Our unique fusion of education, research and professional practice is at the heart of the BU experience, so we hope to see plenty of our students representing BU at BCUR next year.”

The deadline for submitting abstracts is 10 December. Abstract submission will open in early October.

For more information about the conference, visit www.bournemouth.ac.uk/bcur17.

14 September 2016

Student Engagement Opportunity

Student Engagement hjones

Call for academics! Do you want to engage more students with your research? Then 14:Live is an excellent opportunity to interact with more students, in a relaxed setting and get them involved with what you do. Previous talks including Dr Dan Jackson and Dr Lauren Kita have proved successful and beneficial for both academics and students alike. The talks occur once a month, taking place on the 5th floor of the student centre and we’re looking for academics to lead a session after Christmas. This a great way to get students engaged in your research!

Interested? Get in touch if you’d like to take part and contact Hannah Jones/61214

13 September 2016

‘Students who bounce back’: Photo exhibition

Centre for Excellence in Learning, Public engagement, Student Engagement Jacqueline Priego

From 12 September, the Centre for Excellence in Learning (CEL) is holding a photo exhibition in Poole House, next to the Cash Office. This exhibition is part of the ‘Students who bounce back’ project, a study funded by Bournemouth University’s Fair Access Agreement Management Group. The study is being conducted by researchers at CEL, in co-production with student carers*.

The photographs displayed in the exhibition were taken by student carers as part of a photodiary exercise. Some of them also came to the University this week to formally launch the exhibition.

‘Students who bounce back’ has the following objectives:

To explore the life experience of student carers at BU and the impact of caring in their learning experiences.
To determine, in co-production with students, the main motivations and expectations of their university experience, and their contact with the different support mechanisms in place at BU.
To contribute with empirical data to the development of the concept of psychosocial scaffoldings as enablers of resilience (or the ability to ‘bounce back’).
To contribute to wider debates and developments about the learning experience of student carers in the Higher Education sector.

The exhibition will be on display for six weeks. For more information about the project, email Jacqueline Priego.

*A carer is defined as anyone who cares, unpaid, for a family member who, due to illness, disability, a mental health problem or an addiction, cannot cope without their support.

Featured Image Credit: Gareth Williams (CC BY 2.0)

30 August 2016

Building Roman Britain: Project update

Fusion, HEIF, Knowledge Exchange, Knowledge Transfer, Public engagement, Student Engagement dpitman

The Building Roman Britain project is investigating the source of stone and ceramic materials (e.g. bricks, tiles, flues, etc.) from key sites in Roman Britain. Using Roman Bath and Fishbourne Roman Palace as our main sites, we have been using x-ray floresence (XRF) to profile these materials and to look for patterns in their production, distribution and use. Funded by HEIF 5+1, the current phase of work will soon be concluded, although it is hoped to carry on with our partners over the coming year, producing joint publications as well as museum displays and interactives.

Analysing a quarry near Bath

We have now completed over 2400 analyses, a full GIS plan of the Fishbourne ‘92 excavations, and numerous visits to both Bath and Fishbourne to undertake in situ analysis, using a portable XRF device. The team was ably assisted in this work by the appointment of an URA, Dominique Druce, who is now planning her dissertation around a related pXRF study.

In early April the team presented a paper at the Computer Applications and Quantitative Methods in Archaeology (CAA) conference in Oslo that focused on the analysis of ceramic building material and presented some interesting interim results. The paper was well received and the methods and approaches outlined stimulated some very useful discussion.

With an ever increasing mass of data it was decided to begin processing and interpreting the data alongside some lab-based analysis, with the aim of identifying the most promising areas on which to focus our final investigations. However, we still found time to visit Fishbourne and examine some of the in-situ mosaics. Meanwhile, the preliminary examination of data drove a renewed focus on exploring quarry sites in the Bath area and we have since returned to the quarries at Brown’s Folly near Bath to conduct intensive, quarry-face analyses.

As an offshoot from the project, Derek Pitman (the project’s RA) took the pXRF kit to the Purbeck School’s science fair along with members of BU’s STEM outreach team, where he was able to show how scientific methods help archaeologists understand ancient materials. Continuing with the public understanding of science theme, we are now working with our partners at Bath and Fishbourne Museums to develop new, innovative display methods for our results that will include the use of video and digital media to communicate project results and STEM to a wider audience.

While the summer of 2016 sees our HEIF 5+1 funding coming to an end, the Building Roman Britain team will carry on into 2017 in order to help bring the HEIF phase of the project to publication and to build the next phase of further investigations into Roman building materials. This includes our project’s inclusion in a multi-million pound bid to the HLF for redisplay work at Roman Bath Museum as part of their Archway Project. For further details, see our research project page.

30 August 2016

2 Nuffield students gaining hands-on research experience at BU

PG research, Public engagement, Student Engagement, student research, Training inessel

Group pic Nuffield During the last 4 weeks, Sophie and Rose (left and middle in the picture), two AS level students, have spent their summer holidays gaining hands-on laboratory research experience at BU during their Nuffield Research Placement. Together with Dr Simon Dyall and PGR Isabell Nessel (right in the picture), they have worked on a research project which is investigating ways to increase the intake of omega-3 and omega-6 polyunsaturated fatty acids in preterm infants. Rose and Sophie have been helping to develop and validate a method to measure the fatty acid content of preterm formula milks by using gas chromatography (see picture).

“As for the internship, I enjoyed it a lot. It was nice getting out of the classroom and working on something that had the potential to help people. I learnt a lot of new skills that’ll help me when I’m writing my application for university as it will show that I already have experience in a laboratory as well as give me a head start to any laboratory work I do in my degree. It’s shown that things often don’t go as smoothly as planned and you have to do a lot of problem solving and repeating along the way, but it’s also made clear to me that I do want to head in the direction of research in the future.” – Sophie

“This is the first year BU has offered Nuffield Research Placements and Sophie and Rose have been excellent students. The Placements give students the opportunity to get hands-on experience of working in a research environment, meet new people and learn new skills, and importantly help them decide if a degree in a STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics) subject is right for them. It has been a pleasure to host Sophie and Rose this year, and they have been of great help to our work.” – Simon GC Nuffield

“For me it was an excellent opportunity to develop my mentoring skills, get the chance to inspire younger students for a career in research, and getting some extra helping hands for my project. The girls were eager to learn and motivated for the lab work and I wish them all the best for their studies. Overall, it was a nice experience which I would recommend to other PGRs and their supervisors.” – Isabell

Many thanks to Sophie and Rose for their help and to the Nuffield Foundation for the organisation of the placements!

The Nuffield Foundation offers Nuffield research placement for motivated students during the summer holidays to discover what a career in STEM might look like. If you would wish to find more about the program or think of offering a placement yourself next year please click here.

If you would like to learn more about our research, please feel free to contact me at inessel@bournemouth.ac.uk

Isabell

Category / Student Engagement

Prestigious undergraduate research conference comes to Bournemouth

Student Engagement Opportunity

Building Roman Britain: Project update

2 Nuffield students gaining hands-on research experience at BU

Other services

Don’t miss a post!

Recent posts

Search by Category

Research Information Network

UKRI

Category / Student Engagement

Featured Image Credit: Gareth Williams (CC BY 2.0)

Other services

Don’t miss a post!

Recent posts

Search by Category

Search by popular post topics