BU Research Blog

Der Rathaus (town hall) Bremen

Last week we (Prof Sara Ashencaen Crabtree and Prof Jonathan Parker) were fortunate to have been in Germany sharing and discussing social science research and its potential for achieving positive change in people’s lives.

First of all we attended the XVII SocNet98 conference held at the Hochschule Bremen, taking with us eight students from the Department of Social Sciences and Social Work in the Faculty of Health and Social Sciences.

At the conference we presented two extended workshop sessions and hosted a publishing meeting. The first session was particularly exciting for us as it introduced faculty and students from across Europe, including Finland, Belgium, Austria, Germany, the Czech Republic and the UK, to the centrality of religion and spirituality in understanding and accounting for people’s welfare needs; especially important given continuing migration patterns and recognition of a super-diversity of ethno-cultural and religious positions.

It was great that our three first-year sociology students attending with us were able to assist us in facilitating discussion subsequent to the presentation and to offer their own perspectives; something to add to their CVs!  The five social work students who attended with us expressed recognition of the importance of intercultural and international sharing of ideas. All students found this opportunity illuminated their understanding of their discipline within the broader framework of academic internationalisation.

The Whiting & Birch international book series Critical Studies in Socio-Cultural Diversity has published two books relating to proceedings in previous SocNet98 conferences. Following the publishing meeting held in Bremen it was decided that a third would be published from this year’s conference edited by our colleague Prof Dr Christian Spatscheck and ourselves. This will include the paper given by our three sociology students Dan Marsh, Emilie Reeks and Ceyda Vasif and us; an excellent outcome for them in stepping up to their first academic publication.

Secondly, we gave an invited lecture at the University of Vechta, a dynamic rural university with a fascinating history reflecting preoccupations with prisons, penology and intensive animal farming. Vechta itself boasts of being the home region of the fabulous, real-life Baron von Munchausen. The invited guest lecture allowed us to promote awareness of the plight of the Orang Asli of Tasik Chini from our ethnographic research undertaken on study leave in Malaysia last year; a study that is now being written up.  We heard later that the lecture was very well received by students and staff attending. To our pleasure and surprise we also bumped into former Erasmus students from Vechta who had joined our sociology classes last year. We look forward to receiving more Vechta students this coming Autumn.

Subsequently, we negotiated research and publication opportunities with academic colleagues and an extension of our Erasmus links for student exchanges as we move forward towards approving our new Sociology and Criminology programme later this year. Vechta is well placed for partnership with this programme having a prison right next to the University – our colleagues assured us that the barbed wire atop the walls were not to keep in their students! Academic staff at Vechta were excited about developing programmes in English for reciprocating BU Erasmus exchanges and about possible prison visits and observations. In the late afternoon we visited an old prison within the town fort’s arsenal, replete with history and stark examples of potentially dualistic practices of disciplining the body and humiliation of the spirit throughout the history of regulating social behaviour in Vechta.

All-in-all this was a great week for today’s students, bodes well for future students and was a very productive one for ourselves.

Jonathan Parker & Sara Ashencaen Crabtree

Monday

International Students

A surge in international students wishing to study in London has caused campus extensions and building projects worth a total of £4bn. Overseas student surge drives expansion at London universities (FT).

Tuition Fees

The SNP will support Labour’s bid to reduce tuition fees in England. SNP to back Labour on English tuition fees (Scotsman).

Student Votes

New polls suggest that both the two main parties are tied with 31% of student support ahead of next month’s general election. The Greens were the next most popular party, with 25%. Labour and Conservatives neck and neck among student voters (FT).

Tuesday

The Student Vote

A poll of 13,000 undergraduates finds “Green surge” amongst student population at the expense of the Liberal Democrats. Student poll: campus vote swings from yellow to Green (Times Higher Education).

Post-Study Work Visas

Francois Hollande and Indian Prime Minister, Narendra Modi agree to introduce a new two-year post-study work visa for Indian students studying in France. France introduces two-year PSW permit for Indian graduates (The PIE News).

Fossil Fuel Divestment

More than 200 members of staff at UCL and Soas sign a letter to their university boards following languorous negotiations of divestment from fossil fuels. UCL and Soas staff tell their universities to divest from fossil fuels (The Guardian).

Wednesday

Election 2015

Columnist Danny Finkelstein suggests that DPM Nick Clegg will pay a high price for his broken promise on tuition fees. The comment piece suggests Mr Clegg did it because he concluded that his policy had been wrong and the new policy was better. Opinion: Politics will be poorer if Clegg is kicked out, (The Times).

Thursday

Part-time students

The fall in part-time students in the UK means lost opportunities for individuals and the economy, the new head of the Open University Peter Horrocks warns. He is calling for part-time higher education to be made a much higher priority. Warning on loss of part-time students (BBC News Online).

Friday

Student reviews

New rankings published by WhatUni reveal the top universities in the country based on reviews from 20,000 students. Bournemouth are ranked 66^th out of 113. The full list can be found here.

Immigration/post degree visas

Leading figures from the world of arts and fashion have warned in a letter to the Guardian that those most likely to contribute to Britain’s arts sector are penalised by the current immigration rules, which make it difficult for those who rely on freelance or unstructured work to qualify for visas. Graduate immigration curbs strip Britain of talent, says arts figures (The Guardian).

I’d also like to highlight that BU Politics Society are holding a question time debate with candidates from parties across Bournemouth and Poole on Monday the 27^th April, 7.30-9.00pm. For more information and to register for the event, please click here.

I too was a delegate of the recent Nordic College of Caring Science & The European Academy of Caring Science Conference (19^th – 20^th March 2015, Copenhagen, Denmark), ‘Exploring Care for human service professions’

http://www.caring-science.dk/ (see Research Blog 20/4/15).  I have been reflecting on the experience.

Colleagues Associate Professor Clara Aarts (from Uppsala University Sweden), Dr Ann Hemingway (from FHSS) and I, jointly presented a paper entitled ‘A Lifeworld Led Model for Public Health’. In our paper we specifically considered the use of a lifeworld led approach to the reduction of health inequalities. The Lifeworld is about the meanings of everyday life and what it is like to exist as a human being. Our piece was related to practice underpinned by philosophy. It was one of a plethora about Caring Science and human dignity and integrity as a focus for health and well-being.

After the conference it occurred to me that this particular forum had been like no other I had experienced. On reflection I think this was because we not only ‘talked the talk’ of Caring Science philosophy within our papers, we ‘walked the walk’ of Caring Science during the time of the conference. This ‘walking the walk’ was evident at different levels – the interpersonal and contextual. At an interpersonal level the atmosphere during presentations (or certainly the ones I experienced) was in-keeping with the philosophical basis of caring science – it felt ‘safe’, respectful and supportive. It encouraged discussion and sharing of ideas and learning from each other and together. It demonstrated that academic rigor does not need to come at the cost of these qualities (this has not always been the impression I have gained elsewhere).  I was also acutely aware of the supportive nature of colleagues at the conference – those from FHSS I travelled with, those I presented with, those we presented to and others who I met during lulls in conference activity (I think I am supposed to call that ‘networking’). As conference participants we were also ‘walking the walk’ of Caring Science given the venue and its philanthropic/caring roots and philosophy (the venue was Diakonissestiftelsen, Copenhagen, Denmark).

The BU contingent of delegates are all members of the European Academy of Caring Science and this was the first joint conference with the Nordic College of

Caring Science. During the final keynote speech Professor Emerita Elisabeth Hall offered her view of the meaning of caring science for human service and human health. She alluded to the notion of ‘caring feel’ or ‘tone’ that a caring context can illicit when we have ‘got it right’. The audience noted that the ‘tone’ of the conference venue itself had been in-keeping with caring science given its historical, spiritual, philanthropic and caring context. There was agreement that we should continue with joint European Academy of Caring Science and Nordic College of Caring Science ventures in the future given the positive experiences and discussions we had shared. We were asked to ponder what links the two organisations given their differing geographical coverage and potential perspectives. At the risk of stating the obvious I think it is care that links them, not only in word but also action.  

Liz Norton  lnorton@bournemouth.ac.uk

In April, Faculty of Media & Communications lecturers Dr Julia Round and Dr Sam Goodman presented research papers at the Popular Culture Association/American Culture Association national conference in New Orleans, Louisiana. Held this year at the Marriott Hotel in downtown New Orleans, the PCA/ACA conference is one of the annual highlights of the contemporary cultural studies community, as well as popular culture throughout history. It features a variety of research strands, including Comics, Gaming, British Culture, Science Fiction, Craft Beer culture, Sports, Gender and Sexuality and many more, and often hosts over 3000 delegates over four (very long – 8am-9.30pm) days. Sam and Julia’s attendance of this event represents the international reach of research at BU, and offered them both a number of opportunities for networking and engaging in critical discussions with an international community of like-minded scholars. Julia’s paper, entitled Revenant Landscapes in The Walking Dead, builds on her recent research into zombies and adaptation and she will be developing it into an article for publication over the following year. Sam’s paper, entitled Made Safe From Time’s Iniquity: Genre, Identity and Post-Millennial Tension in Alan Moore’s League of Extraordinary Gentlemen, was presented in the British Culture strand, and dealt with the expression of resurgent British nationalism expressed in popular media during the early 2000s. He plans to develop this paper into a longer article on the subject in conjunction with further research into how British identity changed after the end of the Cold War, with a view to submitting it to the Journal of Popular Culture in early 2016. Sam, Julia and colleagues Dr Peri Bradley and Dr Richard Berger, who also attended the conference, will present their papers at BU in a specially convened session in June 2015 (details to follow). Next year’s PCA/ACA conference will take place between March 22nd-26th in Seattle, Washington; more information can be found on their website: http://pcaaca.org.

Further to the event in New Orleans, Sam also took the opportunity to engage in archival research whilst in the US. Generously supported by the Faculty of Media and Communication’s Narrative Research Group, Sam visited Emory University in Atlanta, Georgia, in order to inspect the personal papers and manuscripts of Salman Rushdie, acquired by Emory in the last five years. He said ‘though it may seem unusual for a literary scholar to be inspecting archives, it is a growing trend among my colleagues as they pursue interdisciplinary research in the humanities. Examining the evolution of a text through its various influences and rewritings enables deeper insight into its possible meanings’. Sam spent five days in the archive where he mainly examined the original typescript of Rushdie’s Booker Prize winning novel, Midnight’s Children (1981), however, he also had a chance to read through preparatory notes on this novel and its follow-up, Shame (1983), as well as various fragments and relevant personal correspondence. Sam further commented that ‘the archive holdings are extensive and a lot to manage in only a few days, however, the staff in the MARBL library were very helpful, and it was a very productive visit’. Sam is currently working on an article that reads Rushdie’s use of alcohol within the narrative of Midnight’s Children as an allegory for the legacy of Empire; combining post colonial and medical humanities approaches and informed by this archival research, Sam intends to submit the completed article to Wasafiri journal of Postcolonial Studies later this year.

Monday

Labour Manifesto

Labour’s manifesto gave further insight into their plans to reduce tuition fees to £6000. The manifesto revealed the policy would be funded by restricting tax relief on pension contributions for the highest earners and clamping down on tax avoidance. Labour alters funding proposal for fees plan (THE).

Horizon 2020

More than 50 UK University leaders have travelled to Brussels to lobby against the EU diverting some Horizon 2020 research money to a more broadly based strategic investment fund. UK university leaders lobby Brussels on research cuts (BBC).

Pensions

An annual survey of university pension costs showed that costs rose slightly last year to 10.2% of total staff costs, but may increase significantly in 2016 as USS reforms take effect. Pension cost rise looming for universities (THE).

Tuesday

Tory Manifesto

The Conservatives have unveiled a number of policies with potential impact on HE, including a fresh toughening of student visa rules and an apparent goal for a teaching research excellence framework. Tory manifesto promises ‘framework on teaching quality’ (THE).

GuildHE

GuildHE’s next Chief Executive will be Gordon McKenzie, currently deputy director for higher education strategy and policy at BIS. Mr McKenzie will take up his post in early July. BIS civil servant to be new GuildHE chief (THE).

Medical Education

Experts from across the sector have written about how universities can improve medical training and what impact the election may have on the subject. Training future doctors: how does medical education need to adapt? (Guardian).

Wednesday

Green Manifesto

The Green Party has committed to a policy to abolish tuition fees, as well as to cancel student debt. Green Party commits to abolishing fees and student debt (THE).

Liberal Democrat Manifesto

The Liberal Democrats have pledged in their manifesto to hold a review of higher education and to introduce legislation on the sector’s regulation. Lib Dem manifesto pledges regulation and review for higher education (THE).

UKIP Manifesto

UKIP’s manifesto has pledged that the party would waive tuition fees for students in science, technology, engineering, maths and medicine. The manifesto also reveals the party would review which educational institutions are eligible to enrol international students. UKIP would make STEM tuition-fee free, and revise net migration count (THE).

Thursday

NUS

The NUS have launched a ‘payback time’ campaign against the MPs who broke their 2010 election promise over tuition fees. Students warn tuition fees pledge MPs of ‘payback time’ (BBC).

Friday

Leadership Foundation

The new Chief Executive of the Leadership Foundation for Higher Education, Alison Johns, will prioritise addressing the structural barriers that stop more women reaching senior roles in higher education. Leadership Foundation targets hurdles stopping women (THE).

Ann Hemingway Professor of Public Health (BU, Chair of the European Academy of Caring Science) was co convener of an international conference in Copenhagen in March. The two organisations who came together to run the conference were the European Academy of Caring  Science and the Nordic College of Caring Science. The conference venue was the beautiful Diakonissestiftelsen Education Centre for health and philosophy students in Copenhagen (see photo) which provided a relaxing and  comfortable environment for the 90 delegates and speakers. Our excellent thought provoking key note speakers included Professor Kate Galvin (University of Hull) and Professor Les Todres (Emeritus Professor BU) and their session, Exploring care: Directions for the head, hand and heart of dignity. Associate Professor Maria Kristiansen (Danish Research Centre for Migration, Ethnicity and Health, University of Copenhagen) and her session, Opinions of care in a multicultural perspective  – Caring Science in multicultural Europe, and Professor Elisabeth O C Hall (Emeritus Professor Aarhus University Denmark, Adjunct Professor University of the Faroe Islands) and her session A Big Picture of Caring Science. Several BU staff presented papers at the conference including Dr Liz Norton, Dr Ann Hemingway, Dr Maggie Hutchings, Dr Anne Quinney, Dr Caroline Ellis Hill and Dr Carol Pound. Many thanks to everyone involved particularly those on the organising and scientific committees.

Caring Science is the study of the health and wellbeing of humans in different life situations, and has as it’s basis respect for human dignity and integrity. Both these organisations are working to improve the quality of health and social care provision. For more information please contact aheming@bournemouth.ac.uk.