TODAY | FG06 | Drop-In | 09:30 – 11:00
Live Research Exhibition & Poster Presentations
All Welcome!
Check out our brochure to see what will be on display.

Latest research and knowledge exchange news at Bournemouth University
TODAY | FG06 | Drop-In | 09:30 – 11:00
Live Research Exhibition & Poster Presentations
All Welcome!
Check out our brochure to see what will be on display.
Conference programme is available!
Abstracts are now live:
Booking for the conference via Eventbrite is still open, with limited spaces. All student and staff are invited to the Live Research Exhibition and Poster Presentation and viewing in FG06 between 09:30 – 11:00 no need to book just drop-in however, a conference ticket will provide you with free U1 bus travel between Talbot and Lansdowne on the day.
We look forward to seeing as many as you there supporing postgraduate research here at BU.
Are you attending The 11th Annual Postgraduate Research Conference?
If so I would like to encourage you to bring along your [Doctoral College] reusable water bottles and hot drinks cups for the day. There will be refreshments available including tea and coffee and many water fountains throughout the Fusion Building.
There are still some conference spaces available: register here.
Yesterday saw the latest publication based on Bournemouth University (BU) migration research. The international journal BMC Public Health published our quantitative paper ‘Psychological morbidity in Nepali cross-border migrants in India: a community based cross-sectional study’ [1]. This scientific article highlights that since Nepali migrants can freely cross the border with India and hence work and stay there, they are largely undocumented. The majority of these Nepali migrant workers is involved in semi-skilled or unskilled jobs with limited labour rights and social security, which predisposes them to psychological distress. The paper assessed the prevalence of and factors associated with psychological morbidity among Nepali migrants upon their return from India.
Just a few days ago the UN Migration Agency in Nepal IOM (International Organization for Migration) published ‘Research on the Health Vulnerabilities of the Cross-Border Migrants from Nepal‘, an online report to which BU academics (Aryal, Regmi & van Teijlingen) had contributed [2]. Just recently we had published the qualitative sister paper on Nepali migrants working and living in India. [3]. Whilst Dr. Nirmal Aryal was the lead author on a paper highlighting the need for more research specifically focusing on adolescents left behind by migrant workers [4]. Earlier this year BU PhD graduate Dr. Pratik Adhikary published his latest paper from his thesis, the paper is called ‘Workplace accidents among Nepali male workers in the Middle East and Malaysia: A qualitative study’ and was published in the Journal of Immigrant & Minority Health [5].
Last year was also a very good year for BU migration research, including a systematic review on sex trafficking (perhaps the worst kind of migrant workers) [6], an earlier research paper by Dr. Adhikary with his PhD supervisors [7], and one paper on Nepali female migrants workers in the Middle-East & Malaysia [8]. Earlier BU academics published on general health issues and accidents among Nepali migrant workers in Malaysia, Qatar & Saudi Arabia [9-10], Nepali migrants in the UK [11-12] , other papers included: a call for action on Public Health [13]; a systematic review [14]; a paper on migrant workers’ spouses [15]; migrant health workers in the UK [16-17]; migration and tourism industry [18-20]; migrants and space in Italy [21-22]; an anthropological perspective on migration [23]; a media studies’ perspective [24]; and archaeological perspective [25]; and a socio-economic perspective [26]. No doubt there are several other publications I have forgotten or I am simply unaware missed in this list.
Prof. Edwin van Teijlingen
Centre for Midwifery, Maternal & Perinatal Health
References:
We will have a seminar session with the guest lecture, Dr Sachiyo Kwakami (Fukui University, Japan) on the 27th November. This session will be held as a Skype meeting at EB206.
Dr Kawakami is a PostDoc researcher who is specialised in the field of ’Consensus Building in communities, and she has been working on the research projects on ‘Learning and collaborative problem solving attitudes’ in Fukui area.
During this session, we will discuss ‘potential functions of a community and citizens’ collaboration’ and the impact of ‘collaborative work as the management platform’ to contribute to the local issue solving (e.g., problem recognition of high-radio active waste disposal and how to support marginal settlements in the deprived area).
This session will provide unique topics in line with the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), such as ‘Goal 3: Good Health and Well-being’, ‘Goal 9: Sustainable Cities and Communities’ and ‘Goal 17: Partnerships for the Goals’.
This session also aligns with BU2025 strategic investment areas (SIAs), Simulation & Visualisation and Assistive Technology.
The BU ECRs, PhD researchers, and MSc students are welcome to this session.
The session will be facilitated by Dr Hiroko Oe with a contributor, Mr. Gideon Adu-Gyamfi (MSc International Management).
*For more details, please email to hoe@brounemouth.ac.uk😇
Join the brand new Postgraduate Researcher Development Steering Group to provide direction to postgraduate researcher development at BU.
Some of the main responsibilities include:
See the full Terms of Reference for details on the Steering Group if you are interested in becoming a member. There will be 2 meetings per academic year.
Please submit your Expression of Interest, including a half-page as to why you are interested, the knowledge, skills and experience you can bring to the group, via email to Natalie at pgrskillsdevelopment@bournemouth.ac.uk by midday, Friday 1 November.
Membership available:
– PGR Student Champion: 1 per Faculty (open to all PGRs)
– Academic Champion: 1 per Faculty (ideally an active PGR supervisor)
– Early Career Researcher: 1 representative
Expressions of Interest will be assessed by the Chair and Deputy Chair of the Steering Group, we look forward to receiving them.
Last month, approval was provided by the University’s Research Degree Committee for a brand new Postgraduate Researcher Development Steering Group to provide direction to postgraduate researcher development at BU, and I am recruiting members.
There will be 2 meetings per academic year and ad-hoc if required. Some of the main responsibilities include:
See the full Terms of Reference for details on the Steering Group if you are interested in becoming a member.
Please submit your Expression of Interest, including a half-page as to why you are interested, the knowledge, skills and experience you can bring to the group, via email to Natalie at pgrskillsdevelopment@bournemouth.ac.uk by midday, Friday 1 November.
Membership available:
– PGR Student Champion: 1 per Faculty (open to all PGRs)
– Academic Champion: 1 per Faculty (ideally an active PGR supervisor)
– Early Career Researcher: 1 representative
Expressions of Interest will be assessed by the Chair and Deputy Chair of the Steering Group, we look forward to receiving them.
We will have a talk session with the guest lecture, Dr Fuko Nakai (Nagoya Institute of Technology, Japan) on the 9th December. This session will be held as a Skype meeting at EB602.
*For more details, please email to hoe@brounemouth.ac.uk
The Post- Graduate Society had a successful official launch on the 23rd of September 2019. This was the first of many educational and interactive events to be organized by the society to enhance postgraduate students experience. The event saw newly enrolled PGRs, MRes and current PGRs at different stages in their research project.
The society aims to create a post-graduate community within SUBU and BU for students to belong to a network of highly skilled postgraduate students who will seek to offer help to each other, either for personal and professional growth and development. The Postgraduate Society supported by SUBU and the Doctoral College will also host events and activities tailored for postgraduate students in order to provide both fun and academic engagement in BU.
We received some feedback from PGRs anticipating more events like this in the future. Please click here to let us know what kind of events you will prefer https://bournemouth.onlinesurveys.ac.uk/postgraduate-events
So why join us? Here are five reasons
To be a part of this community, all you need is to register. Registration is easy. Simply click ‘Join’ at https://www.subu.org.uk/organisation/pgrsoc/ There is a membership fee of £2 per year.
For any questions, please contact us at subupgrsoc@bournemouth.ac.uk
Pictures from Doctoral College PGR Induction, September 2019
PGR Society
“More pilots please!” is not a call from British Airways, Ryanair or the Royal Air Force. No, it a reminder to students to do more piloting in their postgraduate research projects. Between us we have read many (draft) theses and examined over 60 PhD theses external to Bournemouth University, and it is clear to us that many students do not do enough pre-testing or piloting of their research instruments. Perhaps they did some piloting or feasibility work for their projects but don’t write enough about it. Or they present some feasibility or piloting in their thesis but haven’t added references to methodological texts.
The term ‘pilot studies’ refers to mini versions of a full-scale study (also called ‘feasibility’ studies), as well as the specific pre-testing of a particular research instruments such as data collection tools (i.e. questionnaire or semi-structured interview schedule). Pilot studies are key to good study design [1-6]. Conducting a pilot study does not guarantee success in the main study, but it does increase the likelihood of success. Pilot studies have several of important functions in research design and can provide valuable insights to the researcher on both tools and research processes. We think it is telling that our most cited paper on Google Scholar is not one of our papers reporting research findings but a methods paper highlighting the importance of pilot studies [2].
Professors Vanora Hundley & Edwin van Teijlingen
CMMPH
References:
Attending the conference is a great opportunity to engage with postgraduate researchers and find out more about the exciting and fascinating research happening across BU.
Abstracts are invited for postgraduate researchers to take part in the live research exhibition, present via oral or poster presentation, or for a speed challenge to submit to the rapid research session which will close this year’s conference.
On the 4th of April 1944, just two months before D-Day, a large-scale, live-fire amphibious landing exercise “Exercise Smash I” took place in Studland Bay. Unfortunately, the sea conditions on the day resulted in the sinking of six of the DD (Duplex-Drive) Valentine amphibious tanks used, also resulting in the loss of six lives. In 2014 BU Maritime Archaeology conducted a search for the tank wrecks, as the location of some of them had been lost, and carried out a survey of archaeological remains. In 2018 they returned to the wrecks and created 3D photogrammetric scans of the tanks.
“Exercise Smash” Virtual Heritage Experience
Following a brief developed by Dr Eike Falk Anderson of the National Centre for Computer Animation (NCCA) in cooperation with Tom Cousins of BU Maritime Archaeology, and on the basis of the 3D scans of the sunk tanks, a group of undergraduate students of the NCCA created the “Exercise Smash” virtual heritage experience, leveraging modern video games infrastructure (in this case the Unreal Engine 4). Blending a historical serious game with a virtual dive trail, in a snapshot in time, users live the past and try to land an amphibious tank while taking part in “Exercise Smash”, and then return to the present to explore the tank wrecks in Studland Bay during a virtual dive. The project was conducted as part of the 2nd year Group Project unit (led by Susan Sloan) by students from three of the NCCA’s undergraduate programmes, BA (Hons) Computer Animation Art and Design (Arran Bidwell, Alexander Lechev and Manuella Nagiel), BA (Hons) Computer Animation Technical Arts (Joseph Adams and Dawid Kupisinski) and BSc (Hons) Software Development for Animation, Games and Effects (Radu Rosca).
“Exercise Smash” at Tankfest 2019
At the end of June, the “Exercise Smash” virtual heritage experience was presented to the public for all three days of Tankfest 2019 at The Tank Museum in Bovington (this year enjoyed by a record of around 24000 visitors according to the Dorset Echo) at the BU Maritime Archaeology stand. There, the project was very well received by the museum as well as by the visitors of Tankfest. Visiting children especially loved the virtual heritage experience and “had to be peeled away from driving the tank by their parents”.
Congratulations to FHSS PhD student Peter Wolfensberger whose article ‘Uncertainty in illness among people living with mental ill health – a mental health nursing perspective’ was accepted yesterday by the British Journal of Mental Health Nursing [1]. The paper introduces the concept of ‘uncertainty in illness’, which is a well-known concept in health care literature and a considerable volume of research has investigated how people adapt to different health conditions and how the concept of uncertainty in illness relates to those populations. However, while there is substantial literature focusing on coping strategies and personal recovery, there is a paucity of research about uncertainty in illness among people living with mental ill health.
This paper therefore, explores uncertainty in illness among mental health nurses and to provide an understanding of its relevance to people living with mental ill health. The paper concludes that even though mental health nursing does not directly address uncertainty, the concept and its implications need to be considered and raised further among mental health professionals in order to improve support for people living with mental ill health in their process of personal recovery.
This paper originated from Peter’s PhD research on insights into mental health nursing in Switzerland, which has had input from Prof Fran Biley (before he passed away) and Dr. Zoe Sheppard (before she moved to her new job in Dorchester). His current BU supervisors are: Dr. Sarah Thomas and Prof. Edwin van Teijlingen and his Swiss supervisor is Prof. Sabine Hahn (Berner Fachhochschule/ Bern University of Applied Sciences).
Reference:
This systematic scoping review identified 23 papers and one report for review, which indicated that AAS users access a range of sources of information on: how to inject, substance effectiveness, dosages and side effects, suggesting this is the type of information users want. AAS users sought support from a range of sources including medical professionals, needle and syringe programmes, friends, dealers, and via the internet, suggesting that, different sources were used dependent on the information or support sought.
The authors argue that AAS users tended to prefer peer advice and support over that of professionals , and access information online/specialist fora, reflecting the stigma that is experienced by AAS users. These tendencies can act as barriers to accessing services provided by professionals. The paper concludes that support needs to be specific and targeted towards AAS users. Sensitivity to their perceptions of their drug-use and the associated stigma of being classified in the same sub-set as other illicit drug users is relevant to facilitating successful engagement.
Reference:
I was tempted to head this blog ‘Dr. Arnold only two months at BU and first paper published’, but I decide this would perhaps send the wrong message to other new BU staff. Rachel completed her PhD in CMMPH and this is paper is the third publication from her thesis. The other academic publications by Dr. Arnold on Afghanistan have been in BJOG and Social Science & Medicine [2-3].
References:
FHSS PhD student Alice Ladur has been awarded a small but very competitive grant by FfWG, the Funds for Women Graduates. FfWG is the trading name of the BFWG Charitable Foundation and the BFWG (British Federation of Women Graduates), which is affiliated to the International Federation of University Women.
Alice is based in the Centre for Midwifery, Maternal & Perinatal Health (CMMPH). Her PhD research in Uganda is supervised by Prof. Vanora Hundley and Prof. Edwin van Teijlingen. Her thesis research has already resulted in an academic paper published in the international journal BMC Pregnancy & Childbirth, which Open Access.