Category / student research

Undergraduate Research Assistantships – academic applications deadline extension – 25th October 2015

Funding opportunities, student research

The Undergraduate Research Assistant (URA) programme academic applications are live.

If you need any assistance with your research projects, a URA could help your project greatly.  If your application is approved, you will recruit a student work with you on your research project for either 75 or 100 hours between 18th January 2016 and 21st March 2016.  Alternatively, there is an option to apply for the summer programme now.  The summer programme features support from a URA, full time for 6 weeks over the summer.

Academics who took part in the programme last year had experienced a variety of achievements, some highlights include:

  • “The process will likely inform a case study for my Teach@BU portfolio as well as future bids and I hope to continue working [with the URA] together by co-creating outputs”
  • “Based on their [URA] more than satisfactory performance and competence, my co-investigator and I have invited her [URA] to continue working on the study to write up (co-author two academic articles) and disseminate the findings”
  • “We have been invited to present the findings at the FoM research seminar, an ESRC seminar in September and we are also looking to publish this work and apply for follow-on funding”
  • “[URA] has contributed immensely to the advancement of both project”

Please submit your completed URA Application to urap@bournemouth.ac.uk by midnight on Sunday 25th October 2015.

If you have any queries, please contact Rachel Clarke, KE Adviser (KTP) on 01202 961347 or email clarker@bournemouth.ac.uk 

Vitae and the Researcher Development Framework

Guidance, PG research, student research, Training

Vitae logoVitae is an organisation set up to promote career development in both postgraduate researchers and academic staff. Their Researcher Development Framework is intended to help people monitor their skills and plan their personal development. At BU we will be using this framework to format the training on offer for the postgraduate research students and academic staff.

The Vitae website is an excellent resource and the organisation regularly runs free training events for researchers, PGRs and those involved in research development. Upcoming events include Vitae Connections: Supporting Open Researchers.

The Researcher Development Framework (RDF) is the professional development framework to realise the potential of researchers. The RDF is a tool for planning, promoting and supporting the personal, professional and career development of researchers in higher education. It was designed following interviews with many successful researchers across the sector and articulates the knowledge, behaviours and attributes of a successful researcher.

There is a planner available on the Vitae website to help you assess which stage you are at with your skills and a tutorial providing guidance on how to use the framework.

Top 10 tips from researchers on using the Researcher Development Framework (RDF):

1. You might choose to use the RDF for short term as well as long term development. The RDF can be used in planning for your long term career ambitions but also to make a feasible short term plan. It can be useful to imagine your long term ambitions in order to focus your career path however the reality of progressing through to the higher phases may be more difficult to plan. In the short term, making decisions about how to progress to the next phase or what sub-domains are most important for you will be easier. Try to be realistic when setting these short term goals.

2. Use the RDF to highlight your strengths and areas for development and how these might be used to benefit/influence your personal, professional and career development.

3. Use the RDF to highlight your applicable and transferable skills. This is important for career progression within or outside academia.

4. Prioritise those areas which are most relevant. You don’t have to try to develop in all the areas of the RDF at once. There may be some sub-domains/descriptors where there is less relevance in progressing through the phases for you.

5. Draw on experiences outside of work to evidence your capabilities.

6. Progression to the highest phase in a descriptor will not be applicable to everyone but being aware of the possibilities can aid personal and career development.

7. Talk to others to get their views about your strengths and capabilities. Your supervisor, manager, peers, family and friends are a great source of information to find out more about yourself. Talk to them about how they perceive your capabilities. By understanding how others view you, you will be able to make more informed choices about your future.

8. To move from one phase to the next why not explore attending courses. These courses may be run at a local level (within your University) or may only be run nationally or internationally so awareness of opportunities for training is important. Vitae also run a wide range of courses which address many aspects of personal and career development.

9. Some phases may only be reached through experience and practice however good self-awareness and professional development planning will aid the process.

10. Networking is likely to enable you to reach more experienced phases.

Launch of the BU Undergraduate Research Assistantship programme 2015/16

student research

Following on from a successful pilot, I am delighted to announce the launch of BU’s Undergraduate Research Assistantship (URA) programme.  This programme is managed via the Research and Knowledge Exchange Office (RKEO), is funded by the Fusion Investment Fund and offers paid employment opportunities for approximately 55 BU undergraduate students to work in a research position that is directly related to their academic studies or career path, under the guidance of experienced academics, within our clusters, centres and institutes.  The programme will enable students to assist academic staff with their research projects as well as provide valuable research experience to enrich their student experience.

In 2015/16, the scheme will be made up of two programmes; a semester-based programme and a summer programme.

Each programme will have a two stage application process; 1) Academic Application Form 1516 and 2) student recruitment for approved URA positions.

These URA vacancies will be available for BU students only, where URA applicants must be able to work in the UK and be enrolled during the time of their assistantship. Staff can only have one active URA application in operation at any one time.

We are now accepting applications from academic staff for URA positions.  The closing date for academic applications has been extended to 25th October 2015.  Completed application forms should be sent to urap@bournemouth.ac.uk  Before submitting your application, please see the following criteria for selecting staff applications for funding.

Please note that applications are now open for both the semester-based programme and the summer programme, with a further round of applications for the summer programme opening in 2016.

If you have any queries, please contact Rachel Clarke, KE Adviser (KTP) on 01202 961347 or email clarker@bournemouth.ac.uk

Undergraduate Research Assistantship programme 2015/16

Funding opportunities, student research

Following from a successful pilot, the Undergraduate Research Assistantships (URA) scheme will continue in 2015/16.

The scheme will be made up of two programmes; a semester-based programme and a summer programme. Each programme will have a two stage application process; 1) academic applications for a URA and 2) student recruitment for approved URA positions. Staff can only have one active URA application in operation at any one time.

Semester-based programme

This placement is flexible where the student will work for a maximum of either 75 hours or 100 hours (to be requested on the academic application form) during the spring semester between 18th January 2016 and 21st March 2016.  This programme will have the capacity to accept at least 25 individual placements (where placements are 100 hours) and two groups of three students (per group), where each student will work for a maximum of 75 hours (i.e. one project would have three students working a combined total of 225 hours).

Summer programme

This placement is for successful students to work full-time (37 hours per week) for six weeks between 13th June 2016 and 31st August 2016. This programme will have the capacity for approximately 25 placements.

Once applications are open, staff will apply for the funding via an application form. A panel of representatives from the University Research and Knowledge Exchange Committee will review all staff applications and decide which applications to continue to the student recruitment stage of the scheme.

Approved academic applications will be advertised as URA positions to students with student applications being received, processed and managed centrally within the Research and Knowledge Exchange Office (RKEO) and distributed to the relevant academics after the closing date. The academics will be responsible for shortlisting, interviewing and providing interview feedback to their own candidates.

BU academic staff will be invited to apply for a URA to assist with their research projects in October 2015.

If you have any queries about this scheme, please contact Rachel Clarke – clarker@bournemouth.ac.uk or 01202 961347.

Research ethics updated forms

PG research, Post-award, Research Ethics, Research Integritiy, student research

ethicsNew academic year, New forms!

New versions of the ethics forms available now, have a look at the research ethics page for the full details, under useful documents.

The new forms are the Participant Info Sheet and the previously titled Consent form, now titled Participant Agreement Form.

Please make sure you start using the new versions from now on, and please do let us know how you find them.

BU Ethics team

Vitae and the Researcher Development Framework

Guidance, PG research, student research, Training

Vitae logoVitae is an organisation set up to promote career development in both postgraduate researchers and academic staff. Their Researcher Development Framework is intended to help people monitor their skills and plan their personal development. At BU we will be using this framework to format the training on offer for the postgraduate research students and academic staff.

The Vitae website is an excellent resource and the organisation regularly runs free training events for researchers, PGRs and those involved in research development. Upcoming events include Vitae Connections: Supporting Open Researchers.

The Researcher Development Framework (RDF) is the professional development framework to realise the potential of researchers. The RDF is a tool for planning, promoting and supporting the personal, professional and career development of researchers in higher education. It was designed following interviews with many successful researchers across the sector and articulates the knowledge, behaviours and attributes of a successful researcher.

There is a planner available on the Vitae website to help you assess which stage you are at with your skills and a tutorial providing guidance on how to use the framework.

Top 10 tips from researchers on using the Researcher Development Framework (RDF):

1. You might choose to use the RDF for short term as well as long term development. The RDF can be used in planning for your long term career ambitions but also to make a feasible short term plan. It can be useful to imagine your long term ambitions in order to focus your career path however the reality of progressing through to the higher phases may be more difficult to plan. In the short term, making decisions about how to progress to the next phase or what sub-domains are most important for you will be easier. Try to be realistic when setting these short term goals.

2. Use the RDF to highlight your strengths and areas for development and how these might be used to benefit/influence your personal, professional and career development.

3. Use the RDF to highlight your applicable and transferable skills. This is important for career progression within or outside academia.

4. Prioritise those areas which are most relevant. You don’t have to try to develop in all the areas of the RDF at once. There may be some sub-domains/descriptors where there is less relevance in progressing through the phases for you.

5. Draw on experiences outside of work to evidence your capabilities.

6. Progression to the highest phase in a descriptor will not be applicable to everyone but being aware of the possibilities can aid personal and career development.

7. Talk to others to get their views about your strengths and capabilities. Your supervisor, manager, peers, family and friends are a great source of information to find out more about yourself. Talk to them about how they perceive your capabilities. By understanding how others view you, you will be able to make more informed choices about your future.

8. To move from one phase to the next why not explore attending courses. These courses may be run at a local level (within your University) or may only be run nationally or internationally so awareness of opportunities for training is important. Vitae also run a wide range of courses which address many aspects of personal and career development.

9. Some phases may only be reached through experience and practice however good self-awareness and professional development planning will aid the process.

10. Networking is likely to enable you to reach more experienced phases.

 

Matt Bentley’s Fusion Fund Research – South Africa Final Update

Fusion, student research

Daniel and Lee

The 2015 Fusion Fund research project has now come to an end. The last few months saw two BU students, Daniel Wirepa and Claudia O’Sullivan travel to Stellenbosch to undertake the research project examining the development of a novel slow-release technology for application in the treatment of pest infestations in the abalone aquaculture industry. Unfortunately, Claudia had to return to the UK in June for personal reasons but Daniel stayed working in Carol Simon’s labs alongside Lee, one of her research students.

 

Worm Culture Room

Daniel was working on the incorporation of a natural toxin, produced by microscopic algae, into a gel which acts to keep the toxin where it is required to act on the larvae of a shell-boring pest. The shell borer is a small marine worm that causes damage to the shells of cultured abalone (see previous blogs).

 

Bioassay

This pilot study will form the basis for a future research studentship which will link Bournemouth University, Stellenbosch University in South Africa and one of the world’s leading abalone farms in Hermanus, Abagold Pty, Ltd. The outputs of the research will be presented at next year’s International Polychaete Conference in Cardiff with Daniel as a co-author.

Sharing My Experiences Supervising an Undergraduate Research Assistant!

Research assessment, student research

As the Undergraduate Research Assistant (URA) working with me sadly finishes today, wanted to briefly share my experiences.  The URA brought a useful practitioner perspective as well as creativity and was a pleasure to work with, working independently under supervision.  She achieved so much in six weeks:  After an induction, she subscribed to Blogs, attended the Festival of Learning along with meetings and webinars for networking.  Time was spent reviewing the Research Excellence Framework (REF) guidance and identifying good practice from previously submitted case studies.  Working with academics, evidence to date was collated for two potential REF case studies for two Units of Assessment.  Many outputs were produced e.g. Blog postings; a seminar presentation well attended by cross-Faculty and central staff provoking much interest; resources to empower staff to develop their own case studies; online resource; poster production.

The URA developed many transferable skills and hope that the process enhanced her student experience.  Through mentoring from a PhD student, she is now interested in pursuing a cross-Faculty PhD sometime in the future.  However, it has very much been a two-way process and I have also developed skills and intelligence from managing the role.  The process will likely inform a case study for my Teach@BU portfolio as well as future bids and I hope to continue working together by co-creating outputs.

All that’s left to say is thank you very very much to her, the PhD student who mentored her, and the organisers of the scheme.  I thoroughly recommend staff to apply to the scheme and students to apply for such roles – it’s win win!

My experiences of the undergraduate research assistantship

Research assessment, student research

I’m an Occupational Therapy student at BU, just going into my third year.  This summer I have been working with HSS Impact Champion, Zoe Sheppard, on the endeavour to monitor and measure the impact of research.  This has involved exploring methods of dissemination, investigating the demonstration of impact, and working on two research impact case studies.  As a result I have come to understand the value of reciprocal public engagement, and learnt that some of the best impact examples don’t happen by chance, but are within reach and in our control. I have collated my findings into a toolkit which will hopefully support you to plan and pursue your own research impacts.

I have really enjoyed the opportunity to explore the difference research can make, and this has inspired me to think about my own post-graduate research options. I’d like to take this opportunity to thank Zoe in particular, and everyone else who have been so supportive of me over the last few weeks.

Jo George

Introducing Katarina Krumplevska: Undergraduate Research Assistant

student research

Hello! My name is Katarina Krumplevska and I have just finished my Undergraduate Research Assistantship position within the Faculty of Health and Social Sciences. The project I worked on was to validate a questionnaire which explored attitudes and beliefs of pain. This involved data collection, data analyses and starting to write up the results in a paper. As a graduate in psychology I had the experience of being a research assistant last year within the Psychology Department where I was involved in a health psychology project. I really appreciated the challenge of learning about pain and completing statistical analyses which were new. I think this project provided a great opportunity to realize that I can rise to the challenge of a project and work with people I have not worked with before. This has given me confidence which I believe will contribute to my next venture to do the MSc of Clinical and Developmental Neuropsychology at Bournemouth University in September.

Lunchtime Seminar on Measuring and Monitoring Research Impact 1-1.50pm, Wednesday 19th August in R301!

REF Subjects, Research assessment, student research

For those who will be around, please come along to support Jo George’s lunchtime seminar to hear her ‘Reflections on Measuring and Monitoring Research Impact from my Undergraduate Research Assistantship’.  She will present her findings around what makes a good impact case study, the case studies she has been working on, as well as her personal learnings.  Hope you can make it!

New publication by BU PhD student Jib Acharya

Publishing, student research

Jib paper India 2015

Congratulations to FHSS Ph.D. student Mr. Jib Acharya, whose paper ‘Study of nutritional problems in preschool aged children in Kaski District in Nepal’  has just been published in the Journal of Multidisciplinary Research in Healthcare [1].  The academic paper, based on his Ph.D. thesis, reports on his mixed-methods Public Health study addressing attitudes and knowledge of mothers of young children (pre-school aged) in one particular district in Nepal.  The research comprises a quantitative survey and qualitative focus groups.   Jib Acharya, who is originally from Nepal, compares and contrasts the attitudes, knowledge and behaviour of poor rural and poor urban women (=mothers) in that district.   The research is supervised by Dr. Jane Murphy, Dr. Martin Hind and Prof. Edwin van Teijlingen.

SAM_3423

Prof. Edwin van Teijlingen

CMMPH

Reference:

  1. Acharya, J., van Teijlingen, E., Murphy, J., Hind, M. (2015) Study of nutritional problems in preschool aged children in Kaski District in Nepal, Journal of Multidisciplinary Research in Healthcare 1(2): 97-118.