Category / Uncategorized

New Publication by Bournemouth Professor Candida Yates: ‘The Play of Political Culture, Emotion and Identity’

BRIAN, BU research, Uncategorized

Yates Politics book imag

Dear colleagues,

I am writing to let you know about the publication of my new book, The Play of Political Culture, Emotion and Identity.

Candida Yates, Professor of Culture and Communication, Bournemouth University

cyates@bournemouth.ac.uk

 

The Play of Political Culture, Emotion and Identity offers a new ‘psycho-cultural’ perspective on the psycho-dynamics of UK political culture and draws on psychoanalysis, cultural and media studies and political sociology to explore the cultural and emotional processes that shape our relationship to politics in the late modern, media age. Against a backdrop of promotional, celebrity culture and personality politics, the book uses the notion of ‘play’ as a metaphor to explore the flirtatious dynamics that are often present in the mediatised, interactive sphere of political culture and the discussion is elaborated upon by discussing different aspects of cultural and political identity, including, gender, class and nation. These themes are explored through selected case studies and examples, including the flirtation of Tony Blair, Joanna Lumley’s Gurkha campaign, Margaret Thatcher’s funeral, David Cameron’s identity as a father and the populist appeal of UKIP politician, Nigel Farage.

Table of contents

1. Introducing Emotion, Identity and the Play of Political Culture
2. Spinning the Unconscious and the Play of Flirtation in Political Culture
3. The Dilemmas of Post-Feminism and the Fantasies of Political Culture
4. Political Culture and the Desire for Emotional Wellbeing
5. The Absent Parent in Political Culture
6. Moving Forward to The Past: Fantasies of Nation Within UK Political Culture
7. Reflections on the Psycho-Cultural Dynamics of Political Culture

Further details can be found at Palgrave Macmillan: 

http://www.palgrave.com/page/detail/the-play-of-political-culture–emotion-and-identity-candida-yates/?sf1=barcode&st1=9780230302525

Some reviews

‘Whether she is discussing the political manifestations of a contemporary crisis in masculinity and fatherhood, postmodern feminism, nostalgia, narcissism, play, or therapy culture, Yates’s psychoanalytic lens illuminates, in a nuanced fashion all too rare today, both regressive social trends toward mastery and progressive, creative potentials for change. This book is essential reading for anyone wishing to understand the complex interplay of fantasy, emotion, identity, media, and politics in the era of neoliberalism.’ – Lynne Layton, Harvard Medical School, USA

‘Exploring the entanglement of media, politics and emotions, this is a bold and original book that should be read by students and scholars in Sociology and Media Studies,and anyone with an interest in contemporary political life. It articulates a psycho-cultural perspective, moving with verve and insight from election politics to celebrity culture and from Russell Brand to poverty porn, offering a psychoanalytically informed reading of British political life and its structures of feeling. A satisfying and thought-provoking read.’ – Professor Rosalind Gill, Professor of Social and Cultural Analysis, City University London, UK

‘Through a psychoanalytic critique of the anxieties, fantasies and obsessions that characterise today’s intensely emotional political culture, Candida Yates’ new book makes a powerful case for the argument that Psychosocial Studies is the new Cultural Studies.’ – Sasha Roseneil, Professor of Sociology and Social Theory, Birkbeck, University of London, UK.

HE Policy Update

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Monday

Postgraduates

HEFCE have advised that a Ucas-style national application system for taught postgraduate courses at UK universities should be adopted. Ucas-style system needed for postgraduate study, universities told (THE).

Tuesday

Labour Conference

At a fringe meeting at the Labour party conference, Paul Blomfield, the MP for Sheffield Central revealed that Labour will continue to look at a graduate tax. Labour’s new shadow higher education minister, Gordon Marsden, warned that the government’s planned Teaching Excellence Framework could create an apartheid between universities that teach and universities that research. Labour party conference 2015: debate focuses on abolition of tuition fees (THE).

Deloitte

Professional services firm Deloitte has changed its selection process so recruiters do not know where candidates went to school or university. This move hopes to prevent “unconscious bias” and tap a more diverse “talent pool”. Firm ‘hides’ university when recruits apply (BBC News).

Wednesday

Employability

A survey conducted by the Research Academy has revealed that nearly three-quarters of prospective and current students would be willing to pay higher fees if it guaranteed them a graduate-level job upon degree completion. Three-quarters of students would pay higher tuition fees for guaranteed job (THE).

Overseas Students

Louise Richardson, the upcoming Vice-Chancellor of the University of Oxford has claimed that the UK will be impoverished if students from other countries find it too costly, too difficult or too unwelcoming to travel to the UK to attend our universities. Louise Richardson: Reputation of UK universities at risk over policies on overseas students (THE).

Thursday

Employment

HEFCE analysis reveals that four-fifths of UK students who graduated in the 2008 recession are now professionally employed or undertaking further study. Many graduates in professional jobs, figures show. (BBC News).

BIS

A leaked consultation on the future of the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills suggests that November’s spending review will be accompanied by a radical overhaul of the research funding system. Sajid Javid’s blueprint for BIS heightens fears for research funding. (The Guardian).

Friday

Labour/Tuition fees

Jeremy Corbyn has shelved a proposal to scrap university tuition fees while he consults the rest of the Labour Party. Scrapping tuition fees was his first major policy statement and helped build support among young left-wingers. It would have been funded by either a 2.5% rise in corporation tax or a 7 per cent increase in National Insurance for those earning more than £50,000 a year. However, a spokesman for Mr Corbyn has since said: “All policy is up for discussion and there is a review of how we will set policy in the future.”  Could Jeremy Corbyn ‘do a Nick Clegg’ on tuition fees? (The Daily Telegraph).

New blog pages – Funder guidance

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map of scienceThere are many ways to access information on research funding opportunities. BU subscribes to Research Professional, which all academics should have an account for. The RKEO Funding Development Team provides a weekly round-up of the latest funding opportunities on the Research Blog.

RKEO have now gone one step further and have provided a list of external research and knowledge exchange funders which can be found on the Research Toolkit under Research Funder’s Guide.

This contains sections on Research Councils, Charities, UK Government, Horizon 2020 and other Overseas funders’.  The links go directly to the funders’ web pages, including links to their latest funding opportunities, strategic plans, impact reports, etc.  Have a browse and see what you can find.  If there are other links that you would find useful then do let me know: jgarrad@bournemouth.ac.uk

Paper ahead of its time?

BU research, Publishing, Research news, Uncategorized

Presentation1Sometimes my co-authors and I wonder why a particular paper get more cited after a few years of publication.  Is is because the paper and the research were are ahead of their time?  Or is there simply a lag time between publication and other researchers publishing in the field finding your paper (or stumbling upon it perhaps)?

Take for example the following paper published in 2006 when I was still based in the Department of Public Health at the University of Aberdeen: Promoting physical activity in primary care settings: Health visitors’ and practice nurses’ views and experiences in  the Journal of Advanced Nursing.[1]

 

Published in 2006 our paper was first cited in Scopus in 2007 (just once),three time in the following year (2008), five times in 2009 and then just a few times per year until this year. In 2015 we have six citations already and the year is not even finished.

We really wonder what lies behind that increased popularity of this 2006 paper.

citations JAN

Prof. Edwin van Teijlingen

CMMPH

 

Reference:

  1. Douglas, F., van Teijlingen E.R., Torrance, N., Fearn, P., Kerr, A., Meloni, S. (2006) Promoting physical activity in primary care settings: Health visitors’ and practice nurses’ views and experiences Journal of Advanced Nursing, 55(2): 159-168.

FIF supports Department of Psychology project into autism and borderline personality disorder

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BU researchers in the Department of Psychology in SciTech have been awarded nearly £20,000 from the Fusion Investment Fund’s Co-Creation & Co-Production strand. In an exciting collaboration with the Autism Research Centre at the University of Cambridge, Dorset Healthcare University NHS Trust and Arts University Bournemouth, Dr Nicola Gregory and Dr Helen Bolderston, assisted by four BU student research assistants, will be using eye tracking technology to examine the links between two psychological disorders – autism and borderline personality disorder.

Dr Gregory explained: “Most people are probably aware that people with Autistic Spectrum Disorders (ASD) have difficulties understanding social situations and research shows that people with the condition seem to look less towards the faces of others, and particularly their eyes, than people without the disorder. We can tell a lot about how someone is thinking or feeling by paying attention to their faces and their eyes in particular, and it seems that in ASD, the reduced looking towards faces and difficulties understanding the subtleties of social interactions are probably linked. People with borderline personality disorder (BPD), which is the most common personality disorder, seem almost to be at the other extreme to people with autism in terms of interpreting others thoughts and feelings. BPD, like ASD, affects people’s social interactions, but in BPD, people tend to over-interpret what others are thinking, thinking people will hurt them or abandon them and seem to be on the lookout for the negative thoughts of others a lot of the time. In this project we are aiming to discover if people with BPD and people with autism look at social interactions differently and whether the way they view social situations impacts on how they then think about them. We’ll be creating a series of short videos of social situations and playing them back to people whilst we record where they look. We think that there may be a link between how people understand what is going on in the scenes and how much they look towards the eyes of the actors, and we think we might find opposite behaviour in people with ASD and BPD.

We’re excited to be working with Professor Simon Baron-Cohen at the Autism Research Centre at University of Cambridge on this project. We’re particularly pleased to be able to involve so many students – more than 50 – in the creation and production of this research and that’s in addition to the research participants we’ll be recruiting later in the year. We are looking for current BU and AUB students to act in the scenes in November, no experience necessary! Any interested people should contact ngregory@bournemouth.ac.uk“.

The research will form the basis of an ongoing programme of work with BU, Dorset NHS Trust and the University of Cambridge.

Latest Major Funding Opportunities

BU research, EU, Funding opportunities, Uncategorized

The following funding opportunities have been announced. Please follow the links for more information.

Arts and Humanities Research Council, GB

The Arts and Humanities Research Council invites applications for its short-term fellowships at the Harry Ransom Center under the international placement scheme, Fellowships allow the recipient to undertake research at the Harry Ransom Center at the University of Texas. The centre specialises in literature, photography, film, art and the performing arts, and is dedicated to advancing the study of the arts and humanities by acquiring, preserving and making accessible original cultural materials. Applicants must be resident in the UK and be one of the following: doctoral students who are enrolled at an approved UK research organisation and receive AHRC fees or full funding for their PhD; doctoral-level research assistants who have a PhD or equivalent research experience; early-career researchers, who must have a contract of employment with an approved UK research organisation and who may either be within eight years of the award of their PhD or equivalent professional training, or within six years of their first academic appointment. Placements last two to three months and may be taken between 1 September 2016 and 31 May 2017. Fellowships are worth up to £750 towards travel, coverage of visa costs and include a monthly allowance of £1,200. Fellows also receive a shared office space as well as access to the collections, resources, facilities, curators and other scholars at the centre and at the university. Networking and collaborating opportunities are also available.

Maximum award: Not specified. Closing date: 4pm, 21/01/16.

AXA

The AXA Research Fund invites applications for its chairs programme. The scheme aims to create an academic full time position in the host institution and at encourage a step change in the career of the appointed AXA professor, whilst promoting scientific excellence, innovative and groundbreaking research relevant beyond the borders of the institutions geographic location. The focus areas are: environmental risks including climate change, natural hazards and human-driven environmental changes; life risks including ageing, biomedical risks and addictions and risky behaviours; socio-economic risks including geopolitical risks, macro-economic and systematic financial risks, individual and collective behaviours when facing uncertainties and large corporate risks. There are two types of chairs; the AXA chair position, held on a long term basis by an individual chair holder, and the AXA successional chair programme, where the endowment will serve to support a series of temporary short term appointments. The proposed chair holder must have at least 10 years of experience since receiving his or her PhD. The schemes is tenable from five to 30 years and long term partnerships are favoured by the AXA scientific board. The grant for the AXA chair position is €90,000 to €120,000 a year and the successional chair grant is €80,000 to €90,000 a year. Funding is expected to cover salary for the chair holder, but can also be used on PhD and postdoc expenses, equipment and costs incurred while attending academic and public engagement activities.

Maximum award: Not specified. Closing date: 12pm (Paris time), 04/12/15.

Bank of England, GB

The Bank of England invites applications for the Houblon-Norman and George fellowships, which  promote research into, and disseminate knowledge and understanding of, the working, interaction and function of financial business institutions in Great Britain and elsewhere, and the economic conditions affecting them. These are full-time Fellowships (between one month and one year) and will be on an economic or financial topic studied with particular advantage to the Bank of England. The trustees will pay particular regard to the relevance of the research to current problems in economics and finance. Senior fellowships will be awarded to distinguished research workers who have established a reputation in their field.  Fellowships are also available to younger postdoctoral or equivalent researchers. The total amount distributed in any one year will not normally exceed £120,000. A further allowance may be made to cover travel expenses or other costs incurred.

Maximum award: Not specified. Closing date: 01/11/15.

Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council, GB

The Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council invites applications for its stand-alone LINK programme. This supports pre-competitive research projects that address any topic within the council’s remit, and where industry contributes funding. Applications should be made to the following committees according to the research topic: research committee A – animal disease, health and welfare; research committee B – plants, microbes, food and sustainability; research committee C – genes, development, science, technology, engineering and mathematical approaches to biology; research committee D – molecules, cells and industrial biotechnology. Teams must include at least one company, (preference will be given to small and medium-sized enterprises), and one science-based partner. Principal applicants must be resident in the UK and hold an academic staff appointment, at the lecturer level or equivalent, at a higher education institution, research council institute or a BBSRC approved research organisation. Company partners should be registered in the UK or have a UK research and development or manufacturing site. Where a suitable company cannot be found in the UK, an overseas company may be used. Industry partners must contribute in cash at least 50%of the fEC of projects.

Maximum award: Not specified. Closing date: 13/01/16.

The Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council invites applications for its new investigator scheme, which helps early-career researchers to secure their first major element of research funding. Applications should be made to the following committees according to the research topic: research committee A- animal disease, health and welfare; research committee B evaluates – plants, microbes, food and sustainability; research committee C – genes, development, and science, technology, engineering and mathematics approaches to biology; research committee D – molecules, cells and industrial biotechnology. Applicants should be newly employed university lecturers, fellows at the lecturer level whose awards were secured in open competition, or researchers in research council institutes at the unified research council band E or its equivalent. Applicants must not have more than three years of full-time employment at lecturer or equivalent level. They must not have received competitive research funding as a principal investigator from any source that included postdoctoral research assistant staff support costs.

Maximum award:  Not specified. Closing date: 4pm, 13/01/16.

The Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council invites proposals for its tools and resources development fund programme call one. The aim of this call is to pump prime the next generation of tools, technologies and resources required by bioscience researchers within BBSRC’s remit. The fund will support small or short-duration pump priming projects, enabling excellent bioscience; encourage development of novel tools, technologies and methods within BBSRC’s remit; underpin research in BBSRC’s strategic priorities and the wider biosciences. Proposals should demonstrate collaborative connections with interdisciplinary and multidisciplinary approaches and must be relevant to the output of new biological knowledge. Types of proposals eligible are: early concept, exploratory investigations of new tools, technologies and resources. The key feature of a successful ‘early concept, exploratory’ research project application is a technology or methods oriented approach that is enabling and adventurous, and encapsulates the concept of ‘high-risk/high reward’. Funded projects are expected to test the ‘high-risk, high reward’ concept and, where successful, demonstrate proof-of-principle’; rapid access to, and novel deployment of, the very latest cutting edge technology. It is anticipated that these proposals would include collaboration with the technology provider; radical, novel modifications to existing tools, technologies and resources to facilitate new biological understanding and an expansion in use.

Maximum award: £150k. Closing date: 4pm, 04/11/15.

The Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council and the State of São Paulo Research Foundation (FAPESP) invite applications for their joint research funding. This supports applications that cut across national boundaries and involve international collaborative teams. Proposals may be submitted in any area of science within the remit of both supporting organisations.

Maximum award: Not specified. Closing date: 4pm, 13/01/16.

The Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council invites applications for its industrial partnership awards. These support science-led research projects that address any topic within the council’s remit, and where industrial partners contribute in cash funding. Applications should be made to the following committees according to the research topic: research committee A – animal disease, health and welfare; research committee B – plants, microbes, food and sustainability; research committee C – genes, development, and science, technology, engineering and mathematics approaches to biology; research committee D – molecules, cells and industrial biotechnology. Principal applicants must be resident in the UK and hold an academic staff appointment, at the lecturer level or equivalent, at a higher education institution, research council institute or a BBSRC approved research organisation. Company partners should be registered in the UK or have a UK research and development or manufacturing site. Where a suitable company cannot be found in the UK, an overseas company may be used. Industrial partners must contribute in cash at least 10 per cent of the full economic cost of projects.

Maximum award: Not specified. Closing date: 4pm, 13/01/16.

The Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council and Science Foundation Ireland invite applications for their joint research funding. This supports applications that cut across national boundaries and involve international collaborative teams led by researchers from the UK and the Republic of Ireland. The scope of pertnerships is restricted to research projects, including technology development projects but excluding embryonic stem cell research. Principal applicants must be resident in the UK and hold an academic staff appointment, at the lecturer level or equivalent, at a higher education institution, research council institute or a BBSRC-approved research organisation. Irish co-investigators must be based at a research body which is eligible for SFI support, they must be members of the academic staff of an eligible research body, and must have the capability and authority to mentor and supervise postgraduate students and team members.

Maximum award: Not specified. Closing date: 4pm, 13/01/16.

British Council, GB

The British Council, invites expressions of interest for its UK-Iran researcher links workshop on water management. This workshop wll bring together early career scholars and experienced researchers from the UK and Iran to discuss water management with subthemes of hydrology, extreme events, agriculture and food security, climate change, and water management/policy. participants will share their knowledge and build links for future collaboration. There will also be sessions on finding and applying for funding opportunities. Applicant must hold an academic position in the UK or Iran; have been awarded their PhD no earlier than January 2005; be able to evidence that their publications and awarded degree are relevant to the workshop themes; be proficient in English to level 6 IELTS (Iranian applicants). Visa, travel, subsistence and accommodation costs will be covered.

Maximum award: Not specified. Closing date: 15/10/15.

Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council, GB

The Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council invites outline proposals for its future manufacturing research hubs. The hubs will address major, long-term challenges facing manufacturing industries and capture opportunities from emerging research areas. Each hub can receive up to £10 million over seven years, to support a programme of innovative research in the engineering and physical sciences, related to the challenges in commercialising early stage research. The Hubs will feature high quality, multidisciplinary research, strong engagement with relevant manufacturing industries, and will take a leadership role in their national network. Each programme must: draw on advances in underlying science and technology; focus on the design and development of new and existing manufacturing processes, systems and networks; explicitly consider the pathway to manufacture. Funding can be used as platform research funding, grand challenge research funding, operational funding, or pathways to impact and commercialisation activities. Funding may also cover equipment costs.

Maximum award: £10m. Closing date: Outline proposals by 4pm, 19/11/15. Invited full proposals late March.

Research Councils UK and Innovate UK invite expressions of interest for their call on urban living partnership – pilot phase. This call will promote integrated research and innovation to address challenges in urban areas of the UK and help them realise their visions for future urban living. Partnerships will bring together the capabilities needed to address a wide range of challenges in areas such as infrastructure and environment; crime and social inclusion; health and wellbeing; heritage and culture; economy and employment; smart cities and big urban data. Consortia can include cross-disciplinary research expertise, city leaders, businesses, civic organisations and community groups, public, third sector and other urban innovators. Each of the consortia will be expected to conduct an initial pilot diagnostic phase focused on building integrated understanding of the challenges, opportunities and future visions of a specific UK city / urban area and developing agendas for future research and innovation.

Maximum award: £400k. Closing date: EOI 26/11/15. Full applications by 4pm, 21/01/16.

European Railway Agency, EU

The European Railway Agency  invites tenders to conduct a study on implementation of fees and charges in the framework of the fourth railway package. The tenderer will: collect and analyse data with a view to establishing a framework for fees and charges; propose models for financial apportioning between the ERA and the national authorities; establish a list of criteria for differentiating fee structure, with special attention given to small and medium-sized enterprises. Legal and natural persons based in EU member states are eligible and must apply as a joint venture or consortium with a nominated leader.

Maximum award: €120,000 and €150,000 over six months. Closing date: 31/10/15.

Horowitz Foundation for Social Policy, US

The Horowitz Foundation for Social Policy invites applications for its research grants. Grants are awarded for work in major areas of the social sciences, including anthropology, area studies, economics, political science, psychology, sociology and urban studies, as well as newer areas such as evaluation research. Preference will be given to projects that deal with contemporary issues in the social sciences and issues of policy relevance. Phd candidates whose projects have received approval from their appropriate department head or university are eligible to apply.

Maximum awarrd: US$7,500. Closing date: 31/01/16.

Innovate UK, GB

Innovate UK and the Department for Culture, Innovation and Media invite applications for the nuisance calls competition. The competition aims to address and find solutions for the problem of nuisance calls, especially to vulnerable members of society who are at higher risk of financial harm and personal distress. Solutions can use any technology including, but not limited to, any of the following areas: Home- installed equipment that filters and blocks calls, based on Calling Line Identification (CLI) or other techniques; As before but with a “community” or central database to block calls from known “problem sources”; A network level solution that will filter and block calls before they are offered to the end user. Key challenges that bids will need to address are: Blocking/filtering calls as an option where the number is ‘withheld’ or ‘unavailable’, including where these are international in origin; How legitimate callers using networks that present with no CLI are processed, for example gathering a list of legitimate callers (sometimes referred to as ‘whitelists’); How the system can block calls that offer malformed CLI; Whether the system is capable of detecting spoofed but valid CLI; How calls from mobile and non-geographic numbers are handled – i.e. can they be configured as blocked/filtered; How a network level solution can be implemented on existing communication networks.

Maximum award: £50k. Closing date: Registration by 12pm, 04/11/15. Full applications by 12pm, 11/11/15.

Middle East Economic Research Centre, TR

The Middle East Economic Research Centre invites applications and nominations for the Ibn Khaldun prize, whic recognises outstanding individual and co-authored papers by young scientists on Middle East economics. Candidates must be no more than six years post-PhD .Winners of the award receive a certificate, a cash award of $250 and exemption from dues and submission fees for two consecutive calendar years.

Maximum award: $250. Closing date: 10/12/15.

Natural environment Research Council, GB

The Natural Environment Research Council, in collaboration with the Medical Research Council in the UK, and the Earth System Science Organisation, Ministry of Earth Sciences, and the Department of Biotechnology in India, invites initial proposals for the atmospheric pollution and human health in an Indian megacity programme. This aims to provide new knowledge on air pollution issues and impacts on health in a rapidly urbanising society and the evidence to support cost effective measures for health improvements related to atmospheric pollutants in Delhi, India. The programme is split into four themes; emission validation and sources; processes: physical and chemical; exposure validation and health outcomes; mitigations and interventions. Applications must be collaborative between UK and Indian researchers.

Maximum award: Not specified. Closing date: initial proposals 4pm, 10/12/15. Full proposals due early July 16.

Swedish Foundation for Strategic Research, SE

The Swedish Foundation for Strategic Research invites proposals for its industrial research centres, which aim to improve long-term problem- and application driven research centres comprising collaborative research ecosystems between industry, research institutes and academia. Centres should be strategically defined around formulated industrial needs with formidable research challenges. Research problems should be defined and pursued by both the industrial and academic partners. Research centres must be concentrated on disruptive innovation, including new enabling technologies or emerging technology shifts in a long-term perspective.Each centre will have two to five industrial partners, with one to five academic or research institute partners. At least one of the partners must be a department at a Swedish university, which will administer the grant. The main applicant must be a researcher based at a Swedish university or research institute. Partners can be researchers from industry, public authorities, research institutes and university departments. Companies should normally be registered in Sweden or close to Sweden so that the exchange can work practically and be justified strategically for Sweden. Industrial partners may be hospitals if the centre involves clinical research. International partners may participate on their own budget. Industry partners must fund their participation with a combination of in-kind and cash by at least 20 per cent of the total budget of the centre.

Maximum award: SEK100m. Closing date: 2pm CET, 04/05/16.

Wellcome Trust, GB

The Wellcome Trust and the Academy of Medical Sciences invite applications for their springboard awards, which enable UK biomedical scientists to develop their independent research careers. Applicants must be within three years of being appointed their first independent post, hold a current post with salary, not be receiving significant research funding, be supported by the host organisation.

Maximum award: £100k. Closing date: 07/12/15.

The Wellcome Trust invites applications for its collaborative awards in science, supporting teams of independent researchers pursuing problems across the areas of science, humanities and social science and innovation. Interdisciplinary research collaborations between basic scientists or medical and veterinary clinicians, and non-biologists, such as mathematicians, physicists, chemists, engineers and social scientists, are encouraged. Funding may be used for research expenses, travel and subsistence, overseas allowances, research management and support costs. A provision for public engagement costs may also be awarded.

Maximum award: £4m. Closing date: preliminary applications due 05/01/16. Full applications by 13/04/16.

The Wellcome Trust invites applications for its our planet, our health awards. These support high-quality, transdisciplinary programmes of research that investigate novel aspects of, and build evidence for, how complex changes in our environment affect our health. Supported proposals will consider the interplay between different environments, drive collaborative research and  lead to outputs with a significant impact on our health. Programmes should use a range of relevant disciplines and research methodologies and may consist of predictive modelling, developing innovative products or processes, policy development or evaluating specific interventions. Proposals from a broad range of disciplines  involving cross-sector collaborations are encouraged. Eligible costs include salary costs for research staff, consumables and small equipment costs, travel costs for conferences and research meetings, office support and communication cost.

Maximum award: £10m. Closing date: 29/01/16.

The Wellcome Trust invites applications for its society awards. These support projects that encourage the public to explore biomedical science, its impact on society and culture, its historical roots and the ethical questions that it raises Projects should stimulate interest, excitement and debate about biomedical science and/or the history of medicine; support formal and informal learning; reach audiences of all ages and from all walks of life and inform, inspire and involve them; encourage high-quality interdisciplinary practice and collaborations; investigate and test new methods of engagement, participation and education. Applicants and activities must be based in the UK or the Republic of Ireland and applicants may be mediators, facilitators and practitioners of science communication; science centre or museum staff; artists; educators; film-makers; theatre producers; games developers; public participation practitioners; health professionals; and academics in bioscience, social science, bioethics, and medical history and the humanities.

Maximum award: Not specified. Closing date: 5pm, 11/03/16.

Please note that some funding bodies specify a time for submission as well as a date. Please confirm this with your RKEO Funding Development Officer

You can set up your own personalised alerts on Research Professional. If you need help setting these up, just ask your School’s/Faculty’s Funding Development Officer in RKEO or view the recent blog post here.

If thinking of applying, why not add notification of your interest on Research Professional’s record of the bid so that BU colleagues can see your intention to bid and contact you to collaborate.

Freshers’ Fair 2015

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With the new academic year underway and everyone getting stuck into their studies, Freshers’ Fair takes a vital role in making the new arrivals feel a part of Bournemouth University.

Freshers’ Fair had an amazing range of things to offer to the new students, which did not go to waste, as the amount of people there was outstanding (the glorious weather helped a little!).

So this was the perfect opportunity to highlight some of the ground breaking research at BU. I promoted different events such as 14:live and Talkbu, as well as some new features on the research website like Photo of the Week and Researcher of the Month. I also displayed the prestigious ESRC photography competition which has some incredible pieces of photography.

The engagement and curiosity of the students at the Fair made it a pleasure to represent RKEO and BU at the event. I feel like it gave a valuable insight to the new students to a key part of the university!

 

Co-creating research with undergraduate students – ICE in Macau, China

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I have just returned from a trip to Asia where I attended ICE – International Conference on Events in Macau (a joint organisation between BU and the Institude for Tourism Studies in Macau), followed by a short visit to Hong Kong to train agents on the portfolio of courses offered by the Faculty of Management, in particular the Events & Leisure portfolio.

At ICE I presented two papers and both were co-authored with undergraduate students that I have supervised.

The first one was together with Kate Adams, who is graduating in November. Her dissertation focused on the Strategies employed by wedding planners to manage clients’ unrealistic, fuzzy and implicit expectations. Her research offers a clear framework of management techniques based on the real life experiences of wedding planners. As unrealistic, fuzzy and implicit expectations can occur in any service, the findings can provide a useful tool to all managers, not just those in the wedding industry, to understand how to effectively manage client expectations and ensure that customer satisfaction is being achieved.

The abstract was accepted with no changes, with the following comment made by the reviewer: “This is definitely one very interesting piece of submission to the conference I’m sure. It makes a lot of sense to use expectation management to frame the current research”. Comments at the conference were similar. Attendees said they found the research very well organised and innovative.

I recently met with Kate for a catch up, and we had the opportunity to take a picture with the certificate. During our conversation we also discussed the possibility of extending the data collection to include a wider sample of event organisers. The objective is to improve the research and enhance the chances of getting the paper accepted by a higher quality journal.
Kate Adams

The second presentation was on the Cognitive and emotional reactions to the consumption of prestige in events, co-authored with Amy Bain, a 2014 BA Events Management graduate.

A practitioner event manager who attended the conference highlighted this presentation as one that stood out in his mind (together with the presentation by Dr. Caroline Jackson, Head of Events & Leisure at BU). In his words: “As an event designer I was intrigued with talks on motivation and experience. Miguel Moital and Amy Bain presented interesting findings on “Emotional Reactions to The Consumption of Prestige in Events” while Dr Caroline Jackson presented “The Lived Experience of Popular Music Festival-Goer”. You can see his view of the conference here.

One of my favourite parts of being an academic at BU is the opportunity to supervise student dissertations. In the past I’ve supervised very good dissertations, some of which have resulted in journal articles. Not only they are well designed studies, but many are quite innovative in terms of both the topic and methodology. By looking at the reactions of other academics (and practitioners!) at ICE, they agree.

Now that my e-book on “Writing Dissertations & Theses – What you should know but no one tells you” is out, and I continue to add content to it, I am optimist that the quality of the dissertations I supervised will increase even further, leading to many more papers in the future. (You can have a peak at the book here. If you are a BU academic, send me an email (mmoital@bournemouth.ac.uk) and I will return with a code that allows you to ‘buy’ the book for free)

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Policy Update

Uncategorized

This week it was announced that Labour MP Gordon Marsden, who under his roles as both Shadow Minister for Business, Innovation and Skills and Shadow Minister for Education, has been given responsibility for universities.

Monday

Graduate Destinations

An interesting comment piece in the Independent explores how statistics on universities’ employability rates mean very little.  Statistics on universities’ employability rates mean little. What matters is your background (The Independent).

Campus Extremism

Sally Hunt, General Secretary of the UCU, outlines opposition to the anti-extremism measures that came into force on Monday 21 September in UK colleges and universities. ‘Universities must not shy away from difficult subjects’ (The Daily Telegraph).

Tuesday

Refugee Crisis

A group of academics have written an open letter to university Vice-Chancellors calling on them each to create five undergraduate and postgraduate scholarships and bursaries for students fleeing violence and war. British universities should create bursaries for students fleeing violence and war, say academics, (The Independent).

Wednesday

Student Maintenance Grants

The NUS have announced they are taking legal action against the government over the scrapping of student maintenance grants. They are demanding that the government meets their obligations under the Equality Act 2010. We’re taking legal action against the government. (NUS).

Thursday

Graduate Premium

Graduates earned between £10,000 and £14,000 more in their early careers than people of a similar age who did not go to university, a study by researchers from Cambridge and Harvard Universities and the Institute for Fiscal Studies has found. It revealed the graduate premium is bigger for women than men. Graduate salary premium ‘bigger for women’ (THE).

Student Loans

The Sutton Trust has said that freezing the £21,000 earnings threshold for repaying student loans in England would cost graduates an extra £2,800 over 30 years. Women would be more affected than men, with those from poor background hit hardest. Freezing loan threshold ‘would cost students thousands’ (BBC News).

Friday

Admissions

UCAS figures have revealed that enrolments at UK universities have climbed to a record high, with students holding vocational qualifications driving a significant portion of that growth. Admissions to UK universities hit record high (THE).

BUDI at Alzheimer Europe in Ljubljana, Slovenia

Uncategorized

Sophie Bushell, Dr Fiona Kelly and I represented Bournemouth University Dementia Institute (BUDI) at the 25th Annual Conference of Alzheimer Europe which took place in Ljubljana, Slovenia from 2-4 September 2015.

Sophie presented a poster showcasing her PhD research ‘Researching the wellbeing of people with dementia living in long term care: Ways forward’. Fiona discussed the findings from the Dementia Pathway Redesign project in her paper ‘Informing to improve: Exploring the views of people affected by dementia to develop better care pathways’. I presented a poster on the Dorset Dementia Friendly Community project evaluation and a paper on ‘Fire risks and safety strategies in the home of people with dementia’.

Sophie

This years conference theme was ‘Dementia: putting strategies and research into practice’, aiming to identify how research results and research findings can be translated into concrete actions to improve the lives of people with dementia and their carers. The conference also provided an opportunity to celebrate Alzheimer Europe’s 25th anniversary and to look back on the many achievements of the organisation.

Dr Michelle Heward

 

 

BUDI Carers’ Forum 2015

Uncategorized

On 9 September, we held our fourth annual Carers’ Forum. Our Carers’ Forum provides an opportunity to hear from local people who are caring for people with dementia on what matters most to them. We were also delighted to welcome Vivien Zarucki, Independent Financial Advisor, as our guest speaker who discussed the financial aspects of caring for someone living with dementia. Alison Adams, Information Worker from the Alzheimer’s Society, was also on hand to provide attendees with details about local support for people affected by dementia.

Carers' forum 2015v2

 

 

 

 

 

 

In a parallel session, people with dementia participated in a range of activities (including using technology such as IPads), and talked to the team about what it’s like living with dementia locally.

Feedback following the event suggests that attendees welcomed the opportunity to share their views and experiences:

  • “Thank you so much for the whole experience. Once again we are very blessed with the care and encouragement we receive”.
  • “Many thanks to all that helped arrange the day, the person we care for enjoy meeting others who are in the same situation as themselves”.
  • “It was good to exchange ideas. People always know something you don’t”.

These views and experiences will enable us to focus our research, education and consultancy services around the issues that matter most to people who are affected by dementia.

RUFUS STONE shortlisted for AHRC Research in Film Award

BU research, Research news, Uncategorized

Kip Rufus location

The research-based biopic RUFUS STONE has just been shortlisted for the AHRC Research in Film Anniversary Prize for best AHRC funded film since 1998.

A central strand of the activities taking place throughout 2015 to mark the AHRC’s tenth anniversary, the awards attracted nearly 200 entries across the five categories.

The awards are designed to recognise the creative and innovative work being undertaken at the interface between research and film by world-leading researchers, practitioners and filmmakers in the UK arts and humanities research community.

RUFUS STONE was based on three years of research on older LGBT citizens living in south west England and Wales. The research team was led by Kip Jones and included Lee-Ann Fenge and Rosie Read on the team.

Bournemouth’s Kip Jones acted as Author and Executive Producer, with Josh Appignanesi directing the film. RUFUS STONE was produced by Parkville Pictures, London.

More information on the research and film-making

Watch the film here.

Systematic review training to dentistry students at Kantipur Dental College, Nepal

BU research, Featured academics, Knowledge Transfer, Publishing, Research communication, Research Training, Uncategorized

SAM_2094

Last week I was invited by a Nepalese colleague to do an introductory lecture on systematic reviews.  We have conducting various training sessions over the years in Nepal (with BU Visiting Faculty Prof. Padam Simkhada) and in the UK.   At Bournemouth University Prof. Vanora Hundley and I have conducted several two-day Master Classes over the past few years we are currently preparing for the next one in early Sys review methods2016 (15-16 Feb.).

This morning I run this introductory session at Kantipur Dental College in Kathmandu.  The session resulted in an interesting set of questions and comments from both staff and students.

Prof. Edwin van Teijlingen

CMMPH