Latest research and knowledge exchange news at Bournemouth University
The 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
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/
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.
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The Departments of Psychology (SciTech), Midwifery and Health Sciences (HSS) from Bournemouth University and SSLA part of Symbiosis International (Deemed University) were successful in getting the United Kingdon India Education Research Initiative (UKIERI) 
funding to support 10 UK Psychology Students and Staff to visit India. This initiative receives further support from Global Engagement Hub, Bournemouth University.
The Study in India Programme has been designed in collaboration with BU’s project partner university Symbiosis International in India, where this will be hosted. This exchange will offer a program of interactive lectures, workshops, research methods seminars, clinical experience observations, and relevant field visits.
Students will also contribute to research with Sheetal Astitva, which is a GCRF funded initiative aimed to improve mental health in rural India and Nepal. The lead researchers for this initiative are Prof. Edwin van-Teijlingen and Dr. Shanti Shanker.
Congratulations to Dr. Preeti Mahato in the Centre for Midwifery, Maternal & Perinatal Health (CMMPH) on the acceptance of her latest academic paper in the journal Sexual & Reproductive Healthcare. [1] Contraceptive use is one of the most effective methods for reducing the number of pregnancies and thus benefiting the health and survival of women and children, especially in low-income countries such as Nepal. Increased contraceptive use and thus decreased fertility results in decreased obstetric risk mainly by reducing unwanted pregnancy in women with high parity. This paper reports of factors that act as barriers to contraceptive use or that act as facilitators of its use.
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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.
The two-year Cumberland Lodge Scholarship programme offers doctoral students based at UK universities the opportunity to set themselves apart, by deepening their understanding of pressing social issues and developing new skills in communication, public engagement and interdisciplinary working.
Cumberland Lodge are now recruiting for a new cohort of Scholars for 2020-22. To apply, please complete the application form, which is available to download from this webpage, and return it to Sarah Galvin, Programme Administrator: sgalvin@cumberlandlodge.ac.uk.
Applications will be accepted from Monday 2 March to Tuesday 31 March 2020 (midnight).
Best of luck to any BU PGRs applying.
In June 2019 we embarked on a journey at BU, in collaboration with Association of Sustainability Practitioners and Poole Bay Rotary Club, and set up the BU Social Entrepreneurs Forum BUSEF- A collaborative, Inclusive forum to facilitate knowledge exchange between BU and local socially focused businesses.
https://www.bournemouth.ac.uk/news/2019-06-28/forum-launched-support-local-social-enterprises
Under the auspices of the BU Social Entrepreneurs Forum we organised a rather successful very first Global Entrepreneurship Week celebrations at BU in November 2019.
One of the main objectives of this Forum was to support the development of our students at BU towards their employ-ability skills. As a pilot, we generated dozens of projects with local social businesses for two final year cohorts at BU- FoM Entrepreneurship and Business Ventures and FMC Digital Communications. Students worked in groups in providing solutions (to challenges that the businesses shared with us at a previous session of BUSEF) on business model/business planning and digital communications/Social media marketing.
We are now in a position to reflect on those excellent projects and look ahead to what we can do better and more. If you are interested in working with local businesses via student projects please join us on the 19th of Feb at F305 Fusion Building at 1730, Talbot Campus to hear of the experiences of the local businesses and our students.
Free places on offer to hear how BU students successfully helped local social entrepreneurs
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.
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Our first concert of 2020 takes place on Wednesday 12th February 2020. You are invited to come and experience the magic of immersive spatial sound and visual music – all welcome!
This concert is curated by Dr Andrew Knight-Hill, and features his own pieces alongside work by renowned composer Natasha Barrett, Game of Thrones sound designer Paula Fairfield, sound artist and designer Bethan Kellough, and BU PGR Antonino Chiaramonte. A feast for the eyes and ears!
Venue: Screening Room PG217, Poole Gateway Building, Talbot Campus, Bournemouth University, BH12 5BB
Date/Time: Wednesday 12th February 2020 at 7pm
Admission is free but please register here: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/bu-sonic-arts-concert-of-visual-music-at-bournemouth-university-tickets-92696191805
All events is organised by members of EMERGE, Creative Technology and University Music.
Please share with anyone you feel may be interested. Looking forward to seeing you there!
Congratulation to FHSS PhD student Sulochana Dhakal Rai who just published her latest article in the Journal of Asian Midwives. The paper ‘Caesarean Section rates in South Asian cities: Can midwifery help stem the rise?‘ [1] is highly topical in this Year of the Nurse and Midwife (see Bournemouth University’s earlier event on YouTube).
Caesarean section (CS) is a life-saving surgical intervention for delivering a baby when complications arise in childbirth. The World Health Organization (WHO) suggests a rate of CS from 10% to 15%. However, CS rates increased steadily in recent decades and have almost doubled from 12.1% in 2000 to 21.1% in 2015. Therefore, this has become a global public health problem. This scoping review gives an analysis of the rising CS use in four South Asian countries: Bangladesh, India, Nepal and Pakistan. The authors conclude that the increasing CS rates in South Asian cities, particularly in specific groups of women, present a challenge to hospital staff and managers and policy-makers. The challenge is to avoid ‘Too Much Too Soon’ in otherwise healthy urban women and avoid ‘Too Little Too Late’ in women living in remote and rural area and in poor urban women.
This paper is co-authored by Dr. Juliet Wood and Prof. Edwin van Teijlingen in the Centre for Midwifery, Maternal & Perinatal Health (CMMPH), Dr. Pramod Regmi Lecturer in International Health in the Department of Nursing Science, Dr. Amudha Poobalan at the University of Aberdeen, Dr. Malin Bogren at the University of Gothenburg in Sweden, Prof. Rafat Jan at the Aga Khan University in Pakistan and Dr. Ganesh Dangal at Kathmandu Model Hospital in Nepal and Dr.Keshar Bahadur Dhakal based at Karnali Academy of Health Science also in Nepal. This is Sulochana’s second PhD paper, her first paper was published last year [2].
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Congratulations to Dr. Pratik Adhikary on the fifth (and final paper) from his PhD in the Faculty of Health & Social Sciences. This latest paper ‘Support networks in the Middle East & Malaysia: A qualitative study of Nepali returnee migrants’ experiences’ was recently published in the International Journal of Occupational Safety and Health [1].
This is one of the few studies focusing on the support networks of Nepali migrant worker in the Middle East and Malaysia. The previous four papers have focused more on living conditions and working conditions of migrant workers as well as occupational health and safety abroad [2-5].
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Last week FHSS’s Prof. Edwin van Teijlingen held a workshop on ‘academic publishing and writing’ with BU Visiting Professor Padam Simkhada. This event took place at Tribhuvan University, Nepal’s oldest and largest university. The capacity building workshop was organised by HEAN and the Health and Population Education Department at the Central Department of Education at Tribhuvan University. The local charity Green Tara Nepal acted as a facilitator. Bournemouth University has been collaborating with Green Tara Nepal for over a decade!
This capacity building workshop is part of Bournemouth University’s GCRF-funded project called “Sheetal Asthitva” covering India and Nepal. Sheetal Asthitva is the brain child of Dr. Shanti Shanker in the Department of Psychology.
The SURE (Showcasing Undergraduate Research Excellence) conference is returning for its 5th year, taking place on the 18th March 2020.
You can encourage your dissertation students and/or students whose work you have marked already to submit a 250 words abstract to the SURE conference with the deadline of 20th January. Work can be from individuals or groups (including alumni students) but must be undergraduate. Further information can be found here .
This also provides a great opportunity for the students to be considered for the British Conference of Undergraduate Research (BCUR) which enables the students to showcase their research inside parliament at annual Posters in Parliament event. Further details can be found here .
Martine Hardwick, Lecturer in Law and PhD Candidate in the Department of Humanities and Law, has published a timely commentary in the Bournemouth University Law Review looking ahead to a change in the law on 31 December 2019. On this date, opposite sex couples will finally be able to register their civil partnerships – which until now has been reserved for same sex couples.
However, this change in the law raises important questions for cohabiting couples. Despite longing for more protection and fairness from the law, co-habiting couples will not be presented with the opportunity as heterosexual couples to celebrate on New Year’s Eve. Instead, they will still be bound by the strict rules of formation and dissolution which mirror those of marriage.
Questioning whether the UK has missed an opportunity to provide more rights for cohabiting couples and highlighting a solution drawn from France in the form of Pacte Civil de Solidarité (PACS), Martine argues that learning lessons from the French legal system has to be the way forward in giving cohabitants protection while respecting their autonomy.
This is the second time in a week that I have the pleasure of announcing a paper by our PhD student Orlanda Harvey. This PhD-based paper ‘Support for non-prescribed Anabolic Androgenic Steroids users: A qualitative exploration of their needs’ has been accepted by the scientific journal Drugs: Education, Prevention & Policy (published by Taylor & Francis) [1]. Orlanda’s PhD is a mixed-methods study of social workers working with people using un-prescribe /recreational Anabolic Androgenic Steroid (AAS) in several high-income countries including the UK.
With her success in publishing Orlanda is a good ambassador for Bournemouth University’s PhD Integrated Thesis format. Such Integrated Thesis allows PhD candidates to incorporate material that has been published or submitted for publication to an academic peer-reviewed journal. Apart from the inclusion of such materials, the Integrated Thesis must conform to the same regulations as the traditional PhD thesis. Including Orlanda’s previously published review on AAS [3] she is well underway to putting together a well-balanced Integrated Thesis supported by her Faculty of Health & Social Sciences supervisors: Dr. Margarete Parrish, Dr. Steven Trenoweth and Prof Edwin van Teijlingen.
Of course, last week Orlanda already featured in the December of HED Matters as Early Career Researcher (ECR) with an article on ‘ECR Spotlight: From Social Work to Studying Steroids’ [2]. See also my BU Research Blog of four days ago (click here!).
Congratulations!
Prof . Edwin van Teijlingen
Centre for Midwifery, Maternal & Perinatal Health
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Dr. Ashraf cited on ‘Modest Fashion’ in The Guardian
NIHR-funded research launches website
Academics write for newspaper in Nepal
New paper published on disability in women & girls
Global Consortium for Public Health Research 2025
MSCA Postdoctoral Fellowships 2025 Call
ERC Advanced Grant 2025 Webinar MSCA Postdoctoral Fellowships 2025
Update on UKRO services
European research project exploring use of ‘virtual twins’ to better manage metabolic associated fatty liver disease
Research Information Network
Horizon Europe Work Programme 2025 Published
Horizon Europe 2025 Work Programme pre-Published