Category / Uncategorized

BU Supports Dorset Growth Hub Business Podcasts

Uncategorized

A second series of the Dorset Growth Hub (DGH) Podcast has been launched with BU supporting 4 of the episodes.

The DGH are organising a monthly line-up of online workshops to complement areas covered in the episodes.

February follows a Sales & Marketing theme, March is about Strategy & Planning and April covers all things Finance & Growth. All are considered key focuses for businesses right now.

To kick-off the Sales and Marketing month, the podcast features local guest speakers, Kasia Bigda, (Marketing and Comms Director at Mr Lees Noodles), Stephanie Carswell, (Founder and Creative Director at Hawthorn Handmade) and Chris Chapleo, Associate Professor at Bournemouth University.

The speakers share insights, perspectives and strategies which have led to successes and failures in recent times.

February will cover what has worked in marketing to impact business growth and increase sales, from international marketing campaigns to personal branding, Instagram and e-mail.

Rich Burn from the DGH said: “It’s been a real honour to be able to explore the minds of some great local talent. We all have such a mixed view of the world right now. The interesting part is to hear how people are adapting what they do in these current times. Dorset is full of innovation, ideas and talent that we have the privilege of showcasing via the podcast platform. I hope whoever listens gets a small inspired moment that could change their work world for the better.”

DGH is working in partnership with Bournemouth University on the Sales & Marketing Month and the podcasts feature questions from students from the Business Society.

Mark Painter, pictured left, BU’s Business Development Manager (Business Engagement), said: “We are delighted to be supporting series 2 of the Dorset Growth Hub podcast. During these challenging times, these podcasts and events are a fantastic way for businesses to hear from experts, get some great ideas and, perhaps most importantly, to get inspired. A huge thank you to Nick, Rich and Mary for the opportunity to support these podcasts and particularly for enabling students from the BU Business Society to pose their questions.”

To find out more about the upcoming events and catch-up on series one of the podcast visit the DGH website here.

To get notified about Series 2 click subscribe on Apple Podcasts, Spotify or Google Podcasts.

Dorset Growth Hub is funded by the European Regional Development Fund and ran over 100 online events in 2020, supporting more than 3,000 businesses.

Missing out? The Early Career Researcher Network

BU research, BU2025, ECR Network, Research Concordat, Research Integritiy, Training, Uncategorized, Vitae, Women's Academic Network

I recently realised I had been missing out! Although I have worked at BU for 18 months there is so much about university life I still don’t understand. I find it hard to ask/disturb busy people and the temptation is to muddle through. Not being on campus – especially since the pandemic, makes it hard to get to know other researchers, potential collaborators, and share ideas or tips. Help is at hand though…

I have just discovered the Early Career Researcher Network. It is a relaxed, informal, safe place to ask questions and meet other researchers from across the university. (There are no demands!) Meetings are held once a month and run by two experienced academics Prof. Ann Hemingway and Dr. Sam Goodman who answer questions, discuss pertinent topics such as building your research profile, promotion and pay progression, networking, partnership and collaboration. You attend as you are able. There are no obligations, but a wealth of wisdom and support is on offer.

 

Dr. Rachel Arnold

Centre for Midwifery, Maternal & Perinatal Health (CMMPH)

 

New publication Dr. Orlanda Harvey

BU research, Featured academics, PG research, Publishing, Research news, student research, Uncategorized, Women's Academic Network, writing

Congratulations to Social Work Lecturer Dr. Orlanda Harvey on the acceptance of a paper by the journal Drugs: Education, Prevention & Policy. This latest academic paper ‘Libido as a motivator for starting and restarting non-prescribed anabolic androgenic steroid use among men: a mixed-methods study’ [1] is based on her Ph.D. research.  Previous papers associated with her thesis covered aspects of non-prescribed anabolic androgenic steroid use [2-3] as well as her wider Ph.D. journey [4].

 

References:

    1. Harvey, O., Parrish, M., van Teijlingen, E, Trenoweth, S. (2021) Libido as a reason to use non-prescribed Anabolic Androgenic Steroids, Drugs: Education, Prevention & Policy (accepted).
    2. Harvey, O., Keen, S., Parrish, M., van Teijlingen, E. (2019) Support for people who use Anabolic Androgenic Steroids: A Systematic Literature Review into what they want and what they access. BMC Public Health 19: 1024 https://doi.org/10.1186/s12889-019-7288-x https://rdcu.be/bMFon
    3. Harvey, O., Parrish, M., van Teijlingen, E., Trenoweth, S. (2020) Support for non-prescribed Anabolic Androgenic Steroids users: A qualitative exploration of their needs Drugs: Education, Prevention & Policy 27:5, 377-386. doi 10.1080/09687637.2019.1705763
    4. Spacey, A., Harvey, O., Casey, C. (2020) Postgraduate researchers’ experiences of accessing participants via gatekeepers: ‘wading through treacle!’  Journal of Further and Higher Education 2: 1-18.

 

Join us for the CfACTs Launch Event

Uncategorized

Thursday 21st January 2021 – 09.00 (Via Zoom)

Register Today

There is still time to register.  Join us for the launch of CfACTs the new BU Post Doctorate Training Centre.

Professor Jian Chang is pleased to inform you about six funded Post Doctorate Research Fellowships via the Centre for Applied Creative Technologies (CfACTs) at Bournemouth University UK. CfACTs is co-funded by H2020 MSCA COFUND, Bournemouth University and Industry Partners; please see: https://cordis.europa.eu/project/id/900025.

CfACTs, led by Prof Jian Chang and Prof Jian Jun Zhang at Bournemouth University, is recruiting international Post-Doctoral Researchers Fellows (1st cohort starting May 2021) to work on Creative Technology R&D with UK Industry Partners. The candidates will need to apply through a selective process, where they are welcome to propose a research proposal on related themes.

Professor Jian Chang would like to invite you to attend the virtual launch event for CfACTs which will be 9:00am (GMT) 21/01/2021, via Zoom. The aim of the event is to provide information about the CfACTs fellowships and encourage the international academic community to promote the centre to applicants.

Please, if you have not already done so, register to attend the event and feel free to distribute the news by kindly forwarding the invitation to peers/colleagues to join the launch event.

For further information regarding this event please contact:

cfacts-enquiries@bournemouth.ac.uk

or

Prof Jian Chang, CfACTs Director JChang@bournemouth.ac.uk

Help us build our social medial following; Follow us on Twitter @CfACTs_BU

Child poverty – call for evidence

policy, Uncategorized

 The Work and Pensions Committee has launched a new inquiry to examine what steps the Government could take to reduce the numbers of children who grow up in poverty in the UK.

The initial focus of the Committee will be on the best way to measure child poverty and how the Dept of  Work and Pensions works with other Government departments and local authorities to reduce the number of young people living in poverty.

The inquiry is then expected to examine how well the social security system is working for children, the experiences of families with no recourse to public funds, and support for working parents and separated families.

The Committee have launched a call for written submissions to the inquiry, which they would like to focus on the following questions:

Measurement and targets

  • How should child poverty be measured and defined?
  • The measures of child poverty changed in 2016. What has the impact of those changes been?
  • What were the advantages and disadvantages of having a set of targets for reducing child poverty?
  • What has been the effect of removing from law the targets in place between 2010 and 2016?
  • What is the impact of child poverty and how can it best be measured?
  • What links can be established for children between financial hardship, educational under-achievement, family breakdown and worklessness?

Joint working

  • How effectively does the Department for Work and Pensions work with other Government departments, particularly the Department for Education and the Treasury, to reduce child poverty?
  • How effectively does the Department for Work and Pensions work with local authorities and with support organisations to reduce the numbers of children living in poverty and to mitigate the impact of poverty on children?
  • What would be the merits of having a cross-government child poverty strategy? How well has this worked in the past?

You can view the call for evidence here: https://bit.ly/3ifuSds

You can also read the full press release here: https://bit.ly/2KhL4yx

Please contact Sarah or Jane in the BU policy team before responding to this inquiry. Email us on policy@bournemouth.ac.uk

 

BU study reveals scale of bullying and harassment in TV industry

Uncategorized

The role and social importance of TV and film during this pandemic has been much commented on. But how healthy is this industry? The good news is that this sector has been expanding at more than three times the rate of the wider economy, generating an annual trade surplus of almost £1 billion.  The less good news is that this expansion has been at the expense of its most valuable resource – its skilled workforce.  The preliminary report from our State of Play survey, undertaken shortly before Christmas and published today (11 January 2021) contains some shocking revelations.  The picture to emerge is one of an industry rife with unfair recruitment practices, a chronic lack of diversity, poor management, lack of professional development opportunities, entry-level exploitation (including unpaid work), mental health issues, and susceptibility to a culture of bullying… The list is a long and depressing one.  As one participant told us:

“I’m leaving the industry after twenty years. Had enough of bad practices. e.g. Bullying execs, relentless criticism, toxic working environments, stress, long working hours, not feeling valued, bad effect on my own mental health. No career development possibilities, no security.”

More than a third of our respondents told us they would have chosen differently had they known at the start of their career what they now know. It’s a far cry from the more familiar narrative about the joys of being creative, and work associated with self-actualisation. A summary of these findings has been published by Broadcast today.

None of this will come as much of a shock to scholars in the field of media industry studies (or indeed those of the Creative Industries more broadly).  The past decade has seen a steady flow of research suggesting that all is not well.  What has changed since the arrival of Covid-19, is that people are now seem to be much more willing to talk about it.  For a long time there has been a reluctance to discuss these systemic issues outside the academic community, and a tendency to dismiss them as ‘just the way the industry works’.  The publication of this report comes at a time when many in the industry are finally asking the question ‘why does it have to be the way the industry works?’  That makes it an exciting time for media industry scholars to be contributing to the debate.

The State of Play survey is a collaboration between BU’s Faculty of Media and Communication, the industry union Bectu, and the professional association Viva La PD. Bectu and Viva La PD are currently engaged in crucial discussions with major broadcasters, streamers and production companies, for which this research will provide critical insight.

The State of Play preliminary report is available here.

 

COVID-19 in Qatar

BU research, COVID-19, Featured academics, international, open access, Publishing, Research communication, Research news, Uncategorized, writing

Peer reviewing is the backbone of academic publishing. It is this peer review process to ensure that papers/publications have been vetted scientifically prior to publication by experts in the field, i.e. one’s peers. However, the process is not without its problems. One such problems is the delay in academic publishing. For example, a few days ago we published a substantive editorial on COVID-19 in Qater [1].  When we submitted this in July 2020 the information in our editorial was very up to date, and it still was when the Qatar Medical Journal accepted it on 26th July 2020.  Unfortunately, with all the incredibly rapid developments in vaccine development, approval and roll out some of the paper now reads like ‘historial data’.

 

Prof. Edwin van Teijlingen

Centre for Midwifery, Maternal & Perinatal Health (CMMPH)

 

Reference:

  1. van Teijlingen, E.R., Sathian, B., Simkhada, P., Banerjee, I. (2021) COVID-19 in Qatar: Ways forward in public health & treatment, Qatar Medical Journal 2020(38): 1-8 https://doi.org/10.5339/qmj.2020.38

First BU paper accepted for 2021

BU research, Featured academics, NHS, open access, Publishing, Research news, Uncategorized, writing

Congratulations to Prof. Vanora Hundley whose article ‘Escalation triggers and expected responses in obstetric early warning systems used in UK consultant-led maternity units’ is now available Open Access online. The paper has been accepted in Resuscitation Plus. Co-authors include FHSS Visiting Faculty Prof. Gary Smith and Dr. Richard Isaacs.

The paper reports on a review of OEWS [Obstetric Early Warning Systems] charts and escalation policies across consultant-led maternity units in the UK (n = 147). OEWS charts were analysed for variation in the values of physiological parameters triggering different levels of clinical escalation. The observed variations in the trigger thresholds used in OEWS charts and the quality of information included within the accompanying escalation protocols is likely to lead to suboptimal detection and response to clinical deterioration during pregnancy and the post-partum period. The paper concludes the development of a national OEWS and escalation protocol would help to standardise care across obstetric units.

 

Congratulations!

Prof. Edwin van Teijlingen

CMMPH

Collaborating with an International Business: Fusing Education and Professional Practice

BRIAN, Uncategorized

Applying theory to Practice- Hayley Group Project developed with the support of Hayley Group- Member of Dexis Europe

Colleagues:

As part of their integrated marketing communications unit, the MSc Marketing and User Experience students have successfully completed their consultancy project with Hayley Andover, one of Hayley Group’s 50 branches located in south UK.

The project began with a brief from Hayley Andover based on which the students developed a marketing communications plan. Starting from the theories and concepts they learned during the lectures and seminars, and supported by the team from Hayley and myself, the students made steady progress in their learning journey.

A team from Hayley Group has very kindly supported our students during the ten weeks. They have patiently listened to them, gave them feedback and valuable comments and attended their presentations. Additionally, the Hayley team allowed a budget for the student to use for this project.

Two groups of students competed together under the umbrella of two fictitious marketing agencies: Cherry Brandy and Buzz, to provide two sound LinkedIn campaigns that were implemented by Hayley Andover. Also, the students had the opportunity to evaluate initial attainments of those campaigns using appropriate metrics.

For us as academics, it is gratifying to see our students’ confidence and motivation grow into a passion towards learning and avidity for achievements. Whilst this teaching method has paved the path for a more exciting learning journey and gave our students exposure to the real work environment, it has given more relevance to our role as academics facilitating learning.

I have always championed the real-life case study method because it is a unique teaching method for its potential to develop students’ engagement, motivation and learning. My students’ achievements during this term has strengthened my position and further support my views about this method as a process of learning co-creation involving multiple stakeholders for the benefit of the wider community. More interestingly, this year’s project revealed how students’ engagement with theory, concepts and the real-life case study, is influenced by students’ background, specifically, their previous professional experience.

You can see below testimonies from Hayley group as well as from students:

“Both groups provided credible real-world solutions that were relevant to the branch that had a particular set of challenges. The methodology underpinned by academic teachings was critical to providing a more relevant and advanced approach to our challenges. Without insider knowledge the teams created an approach that was highly credible and on point with our own trail of thought concerning marketing and corporate communications strategy utilising social media. Many of the points and areas raised we are currently reviewing with a scope to integrating within our own plans for 2021. Having undertaken an MA in Marketing myself I would endorse this hands-on approach to bring a purely theoretical and hypothetical approach into something that would add value to the student in future employment.”

Craig Bastable, Hayley Group Marketing Manager

“I was impressed with the work that was put in by both the Cherry Brandy and Buzz teams – they all committed to the strategy that was discussed, and many of the proposals I would hope could be used in future marketing campaigns at Hayley Andover. Personally I really enjoyed working with the groups -and I hope that the collaboration between Bournemouth University and Hayley can developed in to the future. I would like to again thank everyone involved for their hard work in making this a success.”

Dave John, Regional Sales Manager, Hayley Andover

“The Integrated Marketing Communication unit has provided me with an opportunity to learn and explore new concepts and ideas. It gave me a chance to design, implement and evaluate an integrated marketing communication plan while working with a real client. Despite the seminars being online, they were extremely engaging as we communicated and worked directly with the client company and class discussions were extremely active. I learnt how to work as a team and function as a marketing agency which provided great exposure and confidence along with the experience of how it is like to work with a real client as a professional.”

Taalia Nadeem, MSc Marketing and User Experience, Cherry Brandy

“Although organising a group project through zoom calls has shown to be very challenging, this project has taught me one very big underlining thing: Communication is key. I believe this project encouraged me to step up and have a leading voice within the group which is usually very unlike me and honestly caught me by surprise. But it’s just made me even more proud of the outcome of our presentation. Also, working with an actual company (Hayley Group Andover) has been a very insightful experience! In addition, Kaouther was very responsive and helpful throughout the entire project which, I believe I can speak for everyone in the class, we were very grateful for!”

                                                                                Jenny Schulze, MSc Marketing and User Experience, Buzz

 

“The interaction we had with a real-life client for this project and relationship we built early on with them really helped us to have a successful project outcome. I feel our group thrived throughout the project, allowing us to demonstrate our abilities and build our knowledge up further by merging the practical side of the project with the theory from the unit.”

Emma Calder, MSc Marketing and User Experience, Cherry Brandy

 

I would like to express my deep gratitude to Craig Bastable (Hayley Group’s Marketing Manager), Josh Crampton (Marketing Communication Executive), Sam Godden (Office Manager) and Dave John (Regional Account Manager). Their input in this project has immensely contributed to the learning experience of our students.

Looking forward for more collaboration with Hayley Group.

 

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year to all.

 

Dr Kaouther Kooli

Principal Lecturer in Marketing

Bournemouth University, Business School

New publication for the SAIL Project Team

Awarded & submitted bids, BU research, EU, policy, Publishing, Research news, Uncategorized

Staying Active and Independent for Longer (SAIL) is an EU funded project which began in 2017. The project aimed to use the concept of social innovation to develop 10 pilots across 4 countries (France, Belgium, The Netherlands and the UK) that would enable older people to be more active. The members of the research team from Bournemouth University (Prof. Ann Hemingway Prof. Adele ladkin and Dr. Holly Crossen-White) have just published a paper in Quality in Ageing and Older Adults on how social innovation can be applied to develop services that support the needs of older people. The paper entitled, The application of social innovation as it relates to older people and the implications for future policymaking: a scoping review presents research evidence into the use of soical innovation in relation to services for older people and identifies exisitng knowledge gaps. A key point to emerge from the scoping review was that although social innovation has the potential to act as a policy driver, to be effective, it is necessary to devise robust strategies to ensure full user-engagement and active involvement of communities.  Furthermore,  any future research into social innovation needs to focus upon the process of delivery as this is an aspect of social innovation that has to date received little attention.

Bronwen Thomas keynote on Lockdown Reading

COVID-19, humanities, Research Centres, Research news, Uncategorized

Professor Bronwen Thomas, head of the Narrative, Culture and Community Research Centre was a keynote speaker at a Digital Humanities conference hosted by the Basel/Zurich cluster of the Swiss National Science Foundation Digital Lives project from 23-25 November. Bronwen’s paper was on lockdown reading, and explored the various ways in which readers used lockdown to take stock of their reading alongside many other aspects of their lives, and included discussion of online reading events, bookstagramming and digital author Michael Joyce’s bedtime reading.

The conference, which took place online, featured papers on contemporary digital reading, writing and evaluative practices and methodologies including computational approaches, distant reading, video ethnography and corpus linguistics. The conference made use of Slack, a messaging app for group discussion, and participants were also able to take part in a virtual tour of Basel.

 

The conference was originally scheduled for the summer of 2020, and so had to be redesigned for the online format. While nothing can compensate for the chats over coffees and dinner at conferences, the organisers did a really good job of creating a convivial atmosphere, as well as ensuring that the programme provided a fascinating insight into the latest cutting edge research at the intersection of linguistics and the digital humanities.

New interdisciplinary COVID-19 paper

BU research, international, open access, Publishing, Research news, Uncategorized, writing

An evidence-based, multidisciplinary approach on risk zoning, personal and transmission risk assessment in near real-time, and risk communication would support the optimized decisions to minimize the impact of coronavirus on our lives. This interdisciplinary paper [1], pubished today in Scientific Reports, offers a framework to assess the individual and regional risk of COVID-19 along with risk communication tools and mechanisms. Relative risk scores on a scale of 100 represent the integrated risk of influential factors. The personal risk model incorporates age, exposure history, symptoms, local risk and existing health condition, whereas regional risk is computed through the actual cases of COVID-19, public health risk factors, socioeconomic condition of the region, and immigration statistics. A web application tool (http://www.covira.info) has been developed, where anyone can assess their risk and find the guided information links primarily for Nepal. This study provides regional risk for Nepal, but the framework is scalable across the world. 

The authors comprised researchers from the University of Bristol, Science Hub (Nepal), University of the West of England, Public Health Perspective Nepal, Nepal Open University, Center for Molecular Dynamics Nepal, Mid Yorkshire Hospitals NHS Trust, the University of Huddersfield and Bournemouth University.

 

Reference:

  1. Parajuli, R.R., Mishra, B., Banstola, A. Multidisciplinary approach to COVID-19 risk communication: a framework and tool for individual and regional risk assessment. 21650 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-020-78779-0

The Bournemouth Protocol on Mass Grave Protection and Investigation goes live on Human Rights Day

Uncategorized

Mass graves contain evidence that is essential to the effective realisation of truth, justice and perpetrator accountability. Effective rules and procedures for the protection, maintenance and investigation of mass graves are therefore vital. The Bournemouth Protocol on Mass Grave Protection and Investigation is defining standards on this crucial issue.

In her foreword, Her Majesty Queen Noor, Commissioner of the International Commission on Missing Persons, reminds readers of this crucial “premise that standards of investigation and protection applied to mass graves must support efforts to establish the truth about what happened and facilitate the pursuit of justice.” UN Special Rapporteur Agnes Callamard echoes this sentiment, admonishing past handling of mass graves that might be “inappropriate, discriminatory or, quite simply, indifferent. This has to stop. We can and must do far better and more, to respect and protect the diverse interests and concerns of families, survivors, communities and societies. It is our shared duty to our common humanity.”

The Protocol is anchored in international law to help meet those interests and needs. Mass graves from their discovery through to commemoration efforts deserve protection and investigation. Such efforts involve extensive engagement: From the legal, investigative and scientific disciplines to community liaison and family support, each with their own rules and standards of professional practice, they all have to come together for respectful, indiscriminate and dignified handling of mass graves and human remains.

The Protocol is inspired by, and greatly indebted, to the many participants and reviewers who generously shared their knowledge, time and expertise. Special thanks are owed to the AHRC for funding the project, the International Commission on Missing Persons, project partner and supporter of the Protocol and the wonderful support shown by the Steering Group to the project (including BU’s Prof Dinusha Mendis and Prof Roger Brownsword), student helpers Nan Sheppard, Samantha De Simone and Luke Nwibo Eda, the Faculty of Media & Communication’s Marketing Team and the Design Unit for its patient formatting, editing and revising.

The Bournemouth Protocol on Mass Grave Protection and Investigation will enable greater cooperation among actors and organisations in a broad array of settings and ensure that mass graves and sites where horrific violence and human loss have occurred are effectively protected and investigated to standards that are lawful and respectful.

Dr Melanie Klinkner & Dr Ellie Smith

Business School staff won Emerald Publishing’s Literati Award

Uncategorized

Dr Sachiko Takeda, together with her co-authors Dr Marta Disegna and Dr Yumei Yang, won Emerald Publishing’s 2020 Literati Award for Excellence. The publisher states, “it is an honour to be able to celebrate and give global recognition to those who have made a significant impact within their field. We would like to congratulate all of this year’s winners, all of which have been selected based on their research excellence, rigour and relevance.”

The authors’ paper, “Changes in Chinese Work Values: A Comparison between the One-Child, Social Reform and Cultural Revolution Generations” published in Evidence-based HRM, was chosen as the Highly Commended Paper.

The paper investigates the changes in Chinese workers’ values by comparing the work-related values of the One-Child Generation, the Social Reform Generation and the Cultural Revolution Generation. China’s unprecedented generation of only-children as workers is an unknown factor, and the paper is one of the first studies to include this generation in the investigation of work value changes in Chinese society

As a token of winning the award, the publisher has now made the paper open-access.

The team is grateful for the support they received, which made this research possible.

画像のプレビュー

Qualitative Report

Uncategorized

Hello all qualitative researchers,
you may be interested in this open access issue of the QR.

We are happy to inform that the Volume 25 – Issue 13 – 4th World Conference on Qualitative Research Special Issue of The Qualitative Report is available at https://nsuworks.nova.edu/tqr/vol25/iss13/

Policy Influence Opportunity – Forestry, land management & environmental

Impact, parliament, Parliamentary Office of Science and Technology, policy, Research communication, Uncategorized

Call for potential oral witnesses for EFRA Committee tree planting inquiry

  • The Environment, Food and Rural Affairs Committee secretariat is looking for potential oral witnesses for the Committee’s inquiry into Tree Planting and Woodlands. please see the background to the inquiry and Call for Evidence for further information.
  • The Committee would be particularly interested to hear from researchers with expertise in forestry relating to some of the following issues: woodland management, land management, agroforestry, climate change mitigation and adaptation, biosecurity, biodiversity, economics and/or policy analysis of UK Government and Devolved Administrations’ policies and funding on forestry and tree planting.
  • Researchers who are interested must nominate themselves by 15 December. Please inform your BU Impact Officer and the BU policy team (policy@bournemouth.ac.uk) if you nominate yourself.
  • The Committee is committed to improving the diversity of the witnesses it hears evidence from because this provides a broader evidence base for its inquiries, so would also particularly want to hear from women researchers and researchers from minority ethnic communities.
  • The secretariat currently expects the evidence session to take place in early February.
  • Please complete your nominations on this form.

Working with the Brazilian Tourism Research Community – H2, 2020 in review

Uncategorized

Hello BU community,

I am Dr. Miguel Moital, a Principal Academic in Events Management within the Department of Sport & Events Management (BUBS).

As the year comes to an end, I take the opportunity to summarise my involvement in 5 events and initiatives with the Brazilian tourism research community during the second half of 2020.

 

ANPTUR workshop, December 3

Yesterday I co-led a 2 hour workshop about ‘Academic writing an international publication’, one of the training events within the official programme of the 17th Annual Congress of the Brazilian Association for Research and Post- Graduate Studies in Tourism (ANPTUR).

The workshop, Co-delivered with Dr. Verônica Feder Mayer, Associate Professor of Tourism at the Fluminense Federal University, focused on the role of theory in research. It is well acknowledged that Brazilian tourism research is often too focused on context with limited extent of theorisation. Myself and Dr. Mayer, who has published several articles in top tourism journals, felt that this would be a good opportunity to further developed the community’s skills and knowledge around theory and theorisation. Over several weeks we prepared a range of materials which explained the differences between context- and theory- focused research, while at the same time clarify the scope and characteristics of theory based research.

The workshop was a success attracting over 200 participants, many of which provided extremely positive feedback.

ENACT Seminar, November 27

I was the featured speaker at the November ENACT Seminar. These monthly seminars bring together around 40 Brazilian tourism researchers with an interest in economics, business and consumer behaviour. During the 90-minute workshop, the featured speaker highlights key elements in the research and publication process behind one of his articles, with substantial time left for Q&A.

I presented a paper co-authored with Sabine Toppig, a BA Events Management graduate, which was on circulation management at exhibitions. Sabine was the recipient of the 2019 Vice Chancellor Fusion Prize, and our joint paper was published by the International Journal of Event and Festival Management.

After briefly presenting the results of the paper, I highlighted 5 key methodological features / challenges and explained how they were addressed and why. Participants said that at first they found the topic ‘strange’ and that they couldn’t see how you could research circulation at exhibitions, but once they read the paper (the paper is sent in advance to participants) they felt that everything made sense, at that the student had chosen a very relevant area of research. They also felt that the paper was extremely well designed and written.

International expert – Revalidation of post-graduate programme, August

At the end of August I submitted my report as an international expert assessing the revalidation of the Postgraduate Programme in Tourism of the Federal University of Rio Grande do Norte (PPGTUR-UFRN). Current regulations in Brazil require all postgraduate programmes to develop a self-assessment report every four years. Once completed, the report is then sent to a national and an international examiner for comment.

External examiner, PhD transfer, August 26

Similar to the UK process, doctoral programmes in Brazil have a mid-programme progress assessment, called ‘Qualificação’. I was invited by the PhD Programme in Tourism from UNIVALI – Universidade do Vale do Itajai (Santa Catarina state) to be the external examiner for a thesis on Paradoxes in Tourism Experiences.

LiveTUR panel, July 9

LiveTUR was a series of live events organised by the Postgraduate Programme in Tourism of the Federal University of Rio Grande do Norte (PPGTUR-UFRN). The last one focused on the “The 2020 global crisis and changes in the tourism and events sector”, and featured myself and two Brazilian professors: Professor Guilherme Lohmann (Griffith University) and Professor Luis Godoi Trigo (São Paulo University).

The event was expertly chaired by Dr. Ricardo Lanzarini. Given the relevance of the topic and the high profile of the LiveTUR initiative, more than 200 participants attended the event.

The 2 hour event saw the speakers sharing their views on the nature of the changes as a consequence of the events of 2020, as well as answering questions that the audience asked ahead of the event, or during the event. The event was organised very professionally as it resulted from a collaboration between UFRN and DataShow, a local company which provides technological solutions for live events.