Category / student research

Widespread media coverage in Nepal for BU researcher

international, open access, Publishing, student research, writing

This week Dr. Preeti Mahato in the Centre for Midwifery, Maternal & Perinatal Health (CMMPH) appeared in several newspapers and new website in Nepal. The media reported both in Nepali [1-4] and in English, the latter in South Asia Time [5] on her recently published paper on birthing centres in Nepal.  This latest paper from her PhD was published in the scientific journal  PLoS ONE [6].  The paper is co-authored by CMMPH’s Dr.Catherene Angell, Prof.Edwin van Teijlingen and Prof. Vanora Hundley as well as BU Visiting Professor Padam Simkhada (Associate Dean International at the School of Human and Health Sciences, University of Huddersfield.

We are very grateful to BU’s Dr. Nirmal Aryal for engaging with all his media contacts in Nepal to achieve this great coverage.

 

References:

  1. https://ekantipur.com/diaspora/2020/06/02/159107091260531499.html
  2.  https://www.nepalilink.com/2020/06/02/5326.html
  3. http://www.nepalbritain.com/?p=79336
  4. https://globalnepalese.com/post/2020-06-942777589?fbclid=IwAR3RJlHpeG4p3PdryUWzhvCDG0yiYjNrdnQZNJo4uzznyuFA8cF6DKLbKU8 
  5. https://www.southasiatime.com/2020/06/04/birthing-centers-are-savings-lives-in-rural-nepal/
  6. Mahato, P., van Teijlingen, E., Simkhada, P., Angell, C., Hundley, V. (2020), Evaluation of a health promotion intervention associated with birthing centres in rural Nepal PLoS One 15(5): e0233607. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0233607

Publication success BU postgraduate researchers

PG research, student research, writing

Congratulations to Bournemouth University researchers Adam Spacey, Orlanda Harvey and Chloe Casey on the acceptance of their research paper ‘Postgraduate researchers’ experiences of accessing participants via gatekeepers: ‘Wading through treacle!’’ [1]  The study is partly based on their experiences as postgraduate researchers interacting with gatekeepers which they used to design an online questionnaire for postgraduate researchers. The results of the survey highlighted that postgraduate researchers face a range of challenges when using gatekeepers to access participants for studies, and that there is a negative emotional impact arising when challenges are faced. Thematic analysis revealed six themes  (1) Access to participants; (2) Relationships; (3) Perceptions of research; (4) Context for gatekeepers; (5) Emotional impact; and (6) Mechanisms to address challenges.  This paper is forthcoming in the Journal of Further and Higher Education (published by Taylor & Francis).

 

Well done!

Prof. Edwin van Teijlingen

Centre for Midwifery, Maternal & Perinatal Health (CMMPH)

 

Reference:

  1. Spacey, A., Harvey, O., Casey, C. (2020) Postgraduate researchers’ experiences of accessing participants via gatekeepers: ‘Wading through treacle!’, Journal of Further and Higher Education (accepted)

New BU publication on birth centres in Nepal

international, open access, PG research, Publishing, student research, writing

Congratulations to Dr. Preeti Mahato in the Centre for Midwifery, Maternal & Perintal Helath (CMMPH) on the acceptance of the  paper ‘ Evaluation of a health promotion intervention associated with birthing centres in rural Nepal’.   This paper is part of Dr. Mahato’s PhD work and will appear soon in the international journal PLOS ONE.   The journal is Open Access so anyone across the world may copy, distribute, or reuse these articles, as long as the author and original source are properly cited.

The research in this thesis used a longitudinal study design where pre-intervention survey was conducted by Green Tara Nepal a local non-governmental organisation (NGO) in year 2012.  The health promotion intervention was conducted by the same NGO in the period 2014 to 2016 and the post-intervention survey was conducted by Dr Mahato in the year 2017.

The intervention was financially supported by a London-based Buddhist charity called Green Tara Trust.   The results of the pre- and post-intervention surveys were compared to identify statistically significant changes that might have occurred due to the intervention and also to determine the factors affecting place of birth.   This study is co-authored by Professors Edwin van Teijlingen and Vanora Hundley and Dr Catherine Angell from CMMPH and FHSS Visiting Professor Padam Simkhada (based at the University of Huddersfield).

 

 

PGR Poster Showcase

conferences, PG research, student research

Over the next few months we were due to showcase postgraduate research posters from The 11th Annual Postgraduate Research Conference in the Lees Gallery on Talbot Campus however, due to the lockdown we can no longer highlight the incredible research our students are undertaking in this way.

So, like many other activities across the University, we are taking it virtual. Look out over the coming weeks for a showcase of posters from PGRs across all four Faculties.

I will be sharing on Twitter (@NatStewartBU), Facebook (@BUDoctoralCollege) & on here.

PGRs Library & Learning Support

Guidance, PG research, Publishing, student research

Message from Tim Calvert (Doctoral College Librarian Contact & Faculty of Health & Social Sciences Librarian)

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I hope you are finding everything you need from the library, and know where to go for any extra support or guidance in your research. We just wanted to draw your attention to some of the help offered to researchers, and let you know who to get in touch with if you have any questions – we’re always happy to help, especially if it saves you time and energy later on when you want to submit your thesis and move on to the next thing.

  • Copyright: This can be an issue for students writing a thesis which is going to be published on the university’s repository (BURO), especially if you are using any images from journal articles, books, websites etc. If you are using images you may need permission to use them if they are not made available on a Creative Commons licence, as theses are published online. You can read the library’s guidance here, or book a session with your specific Faculty Library team (see contact details below).
  • Referencing: It’s important to deal with any issues here before you come to submitting your work to the library so that you don’t experience any delays. Using EndNote can speed things up for you (check out our guide here), but the references it produces do still need to be checked, and it can produce incorrect references.
  • Researcher Guides: We have guides to help you with the research process. The Guide for Postgraduate Researchers has lots of useful information and is a good starting point for many queries.
  • Research Data: It’s becoming more and more important for the data supporting research findings to be made openly available to verify results and to encourage the discovery of new knowledge. Many funders and publishers, to promote the integrity and value of the research they fund or publish, have made this a requirement. The library supports researchers to adopt best practice data management (which ultimately saves you time and energy!) and looks after BORDaR, our research data repository. All Postgraduate Research Students are required by BU to produce a Data Management Plan (DMP) and to deposit their research data in the repository. You can access the library’s guide for more information.
  • Getting in touch. You can contact your Faculty Library team to make a one-to-one appointment if you want to discuss any of the areas raised above, or you’d like support with another area such as finding literature or using databases.
  1. Faculty of Management Library Team
  2. Faculty of Media & Communication Library Team
  3. Faculty of Science & Technology Library Team
  4. Faculty of Health & Social Sciences Library Team

New Social Work textbook edited by BU Sociologist

Publishing, student research, writing

Introducing Social WorkThe international social science publisher SAGE published a new textbook this week under the title Introducing Social Work. This textbook, edited by BU’s  Professor in Sociology Jonathan Parker, has a contribution from FHSS lecturer  Dr.Sally Lee and FHSS PhD student Orlanda Harvey.  A total of 29 chapters cover a wide-range of social work issues in 424 pages.

 

Congratulations!

Prof. Edwin van Teijlingen

COVID-19: health and social care research projects for educational purposes

NHS, Research Ethics, student research

The HRA have therefore decided stop reviewing applications for individual undergraduate and master’s student projects from now until further notice.

Please see this new guidance which relates to health and social care research projects conducted by undergraduate and master’s students: https://www.hra.nhs.uk/planning-and-improving-research/research-planning/student-research/

Nepal reproductive health paper published yesterday

international, Publishing, student research, writing

Congratulations on the latest paper published yesterday by Dr. Preeti Mahato in the Centre for Midwifery, Maternal & Reproductive Health (CMMPH) and colleagues.   This paper ‘Factors associated with contraceptive use in rural Nepal: Gender and decision-making’ [1], is freely available for the next 49 days through our personalized link: click here! 

 

This research paper in the journal Sexual and Reproductive Healthcare reports on a secondary analysis of pas a quantitative cross-sectional study in four villages of a hilly district in Nepal.  This authors found that gender was associated with current/ever use of contraceptives but decision-making was not found associated with current/eve use of contraceptives.  And, as perhaps was to be expected, socio-economic factors such as husband’s and wife’s education; and indicators showing sharing of childcare responsibilities were found to be associated with contraceptive use.   the paper concludes that educational, health promotional and family planning programmes involving husbands are needed to promote use of contraceptives.


Preeti’s co-authors are based at Dorset County Hospital in Dorchester, at CMMPH and at Singapore Clinical Research Institute/Duke-NUS Graduate Medical School, Singapore.

 

Reference:

  1. Mahato, P., van Teijlingen, E., De Souza, N., Sheppard, Z. (2020) Factors associated with contraceptive use in rural Nepal: gender and decision-making, Sexual & Reproductive Healthcare 24: 100507 https://doi.org/10.1016/j.srhc.2020.100507

 

Doctoral College Newsletter | March 2020

PG research, student research

The Doctoral College Newsletter provides termly information and updates to all those involved with postgraduate research at BU. The latest edition is now available to download here. Click on the web-links provided to learn more about the news, events and opportunities that may interest you.

If you would like to make a contribution to future newsletters, please contact the Doctoral College.

New publication by NCCA academics and students in the top journal

Fusion, open access, student research

The SIAM Journal on Imaging Sciences (“SIIMS – a broad authoritative source for fundamental results in imaging sciences, with a unique combination of mathematics and applications”), an influential Q1-journal with a significant Impact Factor and SJR indicator, has just published the paper “Automatically Controlled Morphing of 2D Shapes with Textures” authored by NCCA academics and students. This multidisciplinary paper proposes a novel theoretical and practical framework resulting in a suite of mathematically substantiated techniques important in the context of 2D imagery, artistic design, computer animation, and emerging streaming and interactive applications.

The paper has a rather long and non-trivial history related to the fusion of academic and student research. Initially, NCCA UG student Felix Marrington-Reeve (“Computer Visualisation and Animation” course, Level 6) undertook his R&D project within the “Innovations” unit and got some interesting results. The 8-page paper written on the basis of his project and co-authored with his supervisors Dr Valery Adzhiev and Prof Alexander Pasko, was, however, rejected in 2017 by two international conferences (they were prepared to accept a short version but the authors thought the work deserved a better fate).

After Felix’s graduation (he started working in a leading production company Framestore) Dr Oleg Fryazinov and PhD student Alexander Tereshin joined the project team. A lot of additional theoretical and practical work had been done, and in February 2019 the radically modified and extended 30-page version was submitted to SIIMS. After two-stage rigorous peer-reviewing process, in October 2019 the paper was accepted by this prestigious journal.

References:

  • Tereshin, A., Adzhiev, V., Fryazinov, O., Marrington-Reeve, F., Pasko, A. (2020). “Automatically Controlled Morphing of 2D Shapes with Textures”, The SIAM Journal on Imaging Sciences, Vol. 13, No. 1, pp. 78-107. DOI: 10.1137/19M1241581
  • Full text of the paper: http://eprints.bournemouth.ac.uk/33366/