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UN Special Rapporteur commends Bournemouth University Mass Grave Research

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Dr Agnes Callamard, UN Special Rapporteur on Extrajudicial, summary and arbitrary executions suggests ‘technical standards are needed to help strengthen protection and preservation of mass grave sites’ and goes on to commend the efforts currently underway at Bournemouth University to produce such Guidelines [para 65]. Her report, presented to the UN on 27 October 2020, adopts the definition of mass graves offered by Klinkner and Smith in the forthcoming Bournemouth Protocol on Mass Grave Protection and Investigation [para 12].

In her report Dr Callamard stresses the importance of respectful, indiscriminate and dignified handling of human remains from mass grave sites. The AHRC funded Mass Grave Protection for Truth & Justice Project investigates how best to safeguard, protect and investigate mass graves to ensure truth and justice for survivor populations. Research by BU scholars Klinkner, Davis and Smith in relation to mass graves, international criminal investigations, and the right to the truth is referenced seven times in the report.

Mass grave investigation research has a tradition at Bournemouth University. In 2008, a publication directed by scholars at Bournemouth University presented a first compilation of the experiences and lessons learned from the scientific investigation of mass graves. The Bournemouth Protocol, due to be published before the end of 2020, will offer a much needed, original instrument combining international law (international human rights law, international humanitarian law and international criminal law) governing the protection and investigation of mass graves with practical consideration and ramifications for stakeholders on the ground that seek to protect, manage and, where possible, investigate those sites.

Computer Animation and Social Agents – CASA2020 International Conference launch on 13/10/2020

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Bournemouth University will host the CASA2020 international conference this year. It will be officially launched on 13th October 2020. The conference programme can be downloaded from the conference website casa2020.bournemouth.ac.uk. Because of Covid-19, we will host this conference fully online using Zoom platform, and most of the speakers have pre-recorded their presentation and uploaded into our YouTube Channel. The link to each presentation can be found from the programme document. There are also live sessions from 13 to 15 Oct including invited Keynotes, brief introduction for each paper and Q/A discussions.

All the sessions are open to public, welcome everybody to join us! The open ceremony starts from 1pm on 13th Oct 2020.

The CASA2020 conference team

 

The PhD examiner

Events, Featured academics, international, PG research, Postgraduate Research, Uncategorized

Being asked to examine a PhD thesis is a honour for most academics.  As an examiner you always learn something new.  If not about the topic itself, you may learn different ways of applying a research method or new theoretical explanations or even new ideas for supervising your own PhD students.  It is a joy to have an in-depth scientific discussion with a dedicated and motivated candidate. Usually the candidate is a little nervous, especially at the start of the viva, and I see it as one of my tasks as an examiner to help the candidate to relax a little.

Today I had the pleasure of being one of the examiners for a PhD at the University of Maastricht (the Netherlands).   The PhD candidate (now Dr.) Franka Cadée was a little nervous according to her supervisors, although it did not show during the viva.

Interestingly, enough I also felt nervous!  Before today I had examined 50th PhD thesis in seven different countries.  However, I probably had not felt this nervous since my own viva nearly three decades ago.  Why was I nervous?  First, although I am Dutch and I have studied in the Netherlands and the UK, I had never attended a PhD examination in the Netherlands.  And PhD examinations really do differ between the UK and most northern European countries, especially the public defence of the thesis by the candidate in front of examiners, colleagues, friends and family.  Secondly, the candidate today is the president of the ICM (the International Confederation of Midwives).  Of course, this does not make any difference in the examination process, this candidate was treated the same as any other student would have been.  Thirdly, and most importantly, the ICM had globally advertised the public defence of Dr. Cadée’s thesis to midwives, maternity policy-makers, member of International Non-Governmental Organisations and maternity care providers and invited ‘everybody’ to watch on ZOOM.

I really think it was the latter that made me more nervous than the much more private UK PhD viva with perhaps five or six people in a small class room, or, these days, on ZOOM.

Finally, my congratulations to Dr. Franka Cadée on the successful defence of her thesis Twinning, a promising dynamic process to strengthen the agency of midwives.

 

Professor Edwin van Teijlingen

Centre for Midwifery, Maternal & Perinatal Health (CMMPH)

 

World Mental Health Day, October 10th

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Dr. Ann Luce, Associate Professor in Journalism and Communication in FMC is providing one of two Keynotes at, “The Summit: A Suicide Prevention Conversation 2020” in Africa, tomorrow, Saturday 10th October, 11am-2pm, to mark World Mental Health Day. The topic of her paper is: “Reporting Suicide Cases: A Media Guide to Language and Structure.”

The second Keynote, delivered by by Prof. Andrew Ezadduayan Zamani from Nasarawa State University will discuss the pressing need for evidence-based suicide prevention research in Africa and how to improve information systems in suicide prevention. This FREE online conference is open to all. Please register here: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/the-summit-a-suicide-prevention-conversation-2020-tickets-122925799375

On Monday, 12th October, 12-1:30pm, Dr. Luce will speak on a panel organised by the Ethical Journalism Network on the topic of Responsible and Ethical Reporting of Suicide and Mental Health in the Media, where she will discuss her new Suicide Reporting Toolkit for Journalists and Journalism Educators.

Introducing the event is Hannah Storm, CEO of the EJN. Moderating the event is James Longman from ABC News in the United States. Also on the panel is Kelly McBride, Senior Vice President of the Poynter Institute in Florida, USA; Richard Addy, Former Chief Advisor to the BBC Deputy Director General and Dr. Sallyanne Duncan, senior lecturer in media ethics at University of Strathclyde.

The panel will be hosted on Zoom and is free to join: https://zoom.us/j/97547482061?pwd=dEVPNHNLZ1VxVFBWOTdidVhlVER2QT09

Meeting ID: 975 4748 2061
Passcode: 795262

COVID-19 affects research into other diseases

BU research, COVID-19, data management, Featured academics, international, Publishing, Research Integritiy, Training, Uncategorized, writing

A systematic review published late last week assesses the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on on-going and new clinical trials and research on a range of diseases [1]. The COVID-19 pandemic has resulted in a series of public health policies, including lock down, that have crippled the healthcare systems of many countries. These measures hugely impact on study participants, care providers, researchers, trial sponsors, and research organizations conducting clinical trials. This pandemic has a substantial impact on the trial sites as they experience difficulty in the continuation of trial activities which eventually hampers the progress of the trial and delays study timelines. Most sites are struggling due to delayed subject enrolment, shortfalls in monitoring, and risks of compromised data integrity, and this situation also has a negative impact on the start of future. Researchers are also concerned regarding the delay or cancellations of trials in the pandemic, which will have financial consequences for research organizations/human resources.

According to one survey, about two-thirds of the respondents have stopped or will soon halt subject enrolment in ongoing clinical trials, one-third halted randomization, and fifty percent of respondents are delaying or planning to delay the studies.  Adopting new approaches and understanding the key risk indicators will help managers support trial sites with flexibility and ingenuity. For instance, switching patient site visits to new-trial virtualization, and telemedicine to interact with patients will help manage current clinical trials also beneficial for the post-pandemic era.

 

Reference:

  1. Sathian B, Asim M,  Banerjee I, Pizarro AB, Roy B, van Teijlingen ER, Borges do Nascimento IJ, Alhamad HK.  Impact of COVID-19 on clinical trials and clinical research: A systematic review. Nepal J Epidemiol. 2020;10(3); 878-887

 

Black History Month & Black Lives Matter

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The recent experiences of barrister Alexandra Wilson (see: https://www.independent.co.uk/voices/black-barrister-defendant-court-racism-alexandra-wilson-justice-b691638.html) provide further evidence of everyday racisms in UK. Examples of discriminatory treatment of Black, Asian and Minority Ethnic people span decades; the extent is beyond the symbolic intervention of Black History Month. However, it would be amiss, at this time, not to share research about Higher Education.

Dr Nicola Rollock’s research for UCU (see: https://www.ucu.org.uk/media/10075/staying-power/pdf/ucu_rollock_february_2019.pdf) documents the current situation in the UK as follows:

“There are only 25 black female professors* in the UK – they make up just 0.1% of all professors, compared to white men who represent two-thirds (68%) of professors. Dr Nicola Rollock (for UCU) interviewed 20 of the 25 at length about their experiences of higher education.

Respondents spoke of a culture where the route to professorship lacks transparency and values only certain forms of knowledge and achievement.

Some complaints – including huge workloads, the blurring of personal and work lives and an obsession with meeting targets – will resonate with many working in academia. However, the report provides a powerful insight into the extra pressures black women have to deal with, and try to manage.

Respondents talked about their experiences of explicit and passive bullying, clumsy stereotyping and the mentally draining strategies they need to devise and implement at speed just to cope. One professor explains how after “over preparing as usual” for a meeting she is still introduced by a senior white colleague as the student representative.

The report says improvements for black academics are not possible unless there is a fundamental shift in how race and racism are understood. UCU said universities need to rise to the challenge set out in the report not just to ensure support is there for the few black women who make it to professorial level, but to overhaul their promotion structures so there is genuine equality of opportunity.

Dr Nicola Rollock made the point: ‘Institutional statements expressing commitment to equality and diversity lack sincerity in the context of the findings’.

‘We need to look at how to transform a system that black female professors say is riddled with unfairness and bias. That starts with an overhaul of promotion structures to ensure genuine equality of opportunity.’ (Matt Waddup, UCU).”

https://www.ucu.org.uk/article/9921/Bullying-and-stereotyping-blocking-professorial-path-for-black-women

New CMMPH nutrition paper published

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

Congratulations to FHSS authors on the publication of their paper “A Priori and a Posteriori Dietary Patterns in Women of Childbearing Age in the UK” which has been published in the scientific journal Nutrients [1].  The authors highlight that a poor diet quality is a major cause of maternal obesity. They investigated investigate a priori and a-posteriori derived dietary patterns in childbearing-aged women in the United Kingdom. An online survey assessed food intake, physical activity (PA), anthropometry and socio-demographics.  A poor diet quality was found among childbearing-aged women; notably in the younger age category, those of white ethnicity, that were more physically inactive and with a lower socioeconomic background.

The article is Open Access and freely available (click here!).

 

 

Reference:

  1. Khaled, K.; Hundley, V.; Almilaji, O.; Koeppen, M.; Tsofliou, F. (2020) A Priori and a Posteriori Dietary Patterns in Women of Childbearing Age in the UK. Nutrients 2020, 12, 2921.

New paper concerning COVID-19 and Advance Decisions by Bournemouth academics

BU research, COVID-19, Uncategorized

Mike Lyne and Prof Jonathan Parker of the Department of Social Sciences and Social Work and Centre for Seldom Heard Voices have published new research arguing for clarity and greater knowledge of Advance Decisions to Refuse Treatment as a means of increasing respect for people’s wishes at a time of urgency and uncertainty.

The full paper can be found on the Emerald Insight pages for advanced publication:

Lyne, M. and Parker, J. (2020), “From Ovid to COVID: the metamorphosis of advanced decisions to refuse treatment into a safeguarding issue”, The Journal of Adult Protection, Vol. ahead-of-print No. ahead-of-print. https://doi.org/10.1108/JAP-07-2020-0027

New FHSS nutrition publication

BU research, Featured academics, Postgraduate Research, Publishing, Research news, student research, Uncategorized, writing

Congratulations to Dr. Jib Acharya on the publication of his latest research paper ‘Exploring Food-Related Barriers and Impact on Preschool-Aged Children in Pokhara, Nepal: A Qualitative Review’ which is based on his PhD research [1].  Dr. Acharya has published several papers [2-3] from his PhD thesis in collaboration with his supervisors, Prof. Jane Murphy, Dr. Martin Hind and Prof, Edwin van Teijlingen.

Congratulations!

 

References:

  1. Acharya, J., van Teijlingen, E., Murphy, J., Hind, M., Ellahi, B., Joshi, A. (2020) Exploring Food-Related Barriers and Impact on Preschool-Aged Children in Pokhara, Nepal: A Qualitative Review, Participation 22(20): 98-110.
  2. Acharya, J., van Teijlingen E., Murphy, J., Hind, M. (2015) Assessment of knowledge, beliefs & attitudes towards healthy diet among mothers in Kaski, Nepal, Participation 17(16): 61-72.
  3. Acharya, J., van Teijlingen E, Murphy, J., Hind, M. (2015) Study of nutritional problems in preschool aged children in Kaski District Nepal, Journal of Multidisciplinary Research in Healthcare 1(2): 97-118. http://dspace.chitkara.edu.in/jspui/bitstream/1/560/1/12007_JMRH_Acharya.pdf

 

 

 

University hosts training day for Nuffield Scholars.

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On Thursday 17th September Dr Sean Beer of the Faculty of Management hosted a virtual training day for the 2019 Nuffield Farming Scholars. The day was in preparation for an autumn webinar series as currently the Trust cannot hold its annual conference.

The Nuffield farming Scholarships Trust (http://www.nuffieldscholar.org/ ) is a member of the Nuffield family of charities. The Trust provides research bursaries and training for young leaders in the food and land-based industries. This year they awarded their 1,000th  scholarship (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IC0v6H0yZwc ).

The training day focused on distilling the findings of scholars’ research into a 12 minute presentation and developing scholars’ presentation skills. The webinar series extends the Trust’s 2020 programme of highly successful virtual events. It is hoped that 2021 will see the Trust able to renew its conference programme. The three-day conferences are normally attended by 600 national and international delegates.

Sean is a Trustee and Company Director of the Trust.

PhD student paper out in print today

BU research, international, PG research, Publishing, Research news, student research, Uncategorized, writing

Congratulations to FHSS Social Worker Dr. Orlanda Harvey, whose Ph.D. paper ‘Support for non-prescribed anabolic androgenic steroids users: a qualitative exploration of their needs’ published this week in the journal Drugs: Education, Prevention and Policy [1].  

Anabolic Androgenic Steroids (AAS) are used by the general population (particularly male gym users) for their anabolic effects (increased muscle mass). Few studies have sought AAS users’ views on what information and support they need. This study focuses on ideal support wanted by people who use AAS. Interviews were conducted with 23 self-declared adult AAS users. Using thematic analysis, six themes were identified aligned to support and information wanted by AAS users: (1) specific types of information wanted: managing risks, (2) mechanisms for communication of advice, (3) specific types of support wanted: medical and emotional, (4) stigmatisation of people who use AAS, (5) paying for support services, (6) legality of AAS use.

This interesting qualitative piece of work was submitted over one year ago (August 2019) it was accepted by the journal late last year (13th Dec ember 2019 and published online the following months.  It has taken from January 2020 till mid-September to appear in the print issue!

The paper is co-authored by Orlanda’s supervisors: Dr. Margarete Parrish, Dr. Steven Trenoweth and Prof. Edwin van Teijlingen.  Moreover, this is Orlanda’s third paper from her thesis research,  her systematic literature review has been published in BMC Public Health [2] and a further findings papers  has been submitted to an academic journal.

 

References:

  1. 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
  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

New CMMPH midwifery paper

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

Today the European Journal of Midwifery published our paper ‘Midwives’ views towards women using mHealth and eHealth to self-monitor their pregnancy: A systematic review of the literature’.  There are many apps to help women to monitor aspects of their own pregnancy and maternal health. This literature review aims to understand midwives’ perspectives on women self-monitoring their pregnancy using eHealth and mHealth, and establish gaps in research. mHealth (mobile health) is the use of mobile devices, digital technologies for health, health analytics, or tele-health, whilst eHealth (electronic health) is the health care supported by electronic processes.

It established that midwives generally hold ambivalent views towards the use of eHealth and mHealth technologies in antenatal care. Often, midwives acknowledged the potential benefits of such technologies, such as their ability to modernise antenatal care and to help women make more informed decisions about their pregnancy. However, midwives were quick to point out the risks and limitations of these, such as the accuracy of conveyed information, and negative impacts on the patient-professional relationship.  The authors conclude that with COVID-19 making face-to-face maternity service provision more complicated and with technology is continuously developing, there is a compelling need for studies that investigate the role of eHealth and mHealth in self-monitoring pregnancy, and the consequences this has for pregnant women, health professionals and organisations, as well as midwifery curricula.

 

Prof. Edwin van Teijlingen

Centre for Midwifery, Maternal & Perinatal Health (CMMPH)

 

Reference:

  1. Vickery, M., Way, S., Hundley, V., Smith, G., van Teijlingen, E., Westwood G. (2020) Midwives’ views women’s use of mHealth and eHealth to self-monitor their pregnancy: A systematic review of the literature, European Journal of Midwifery 4: 36 DOI: https://doi.org/10.18332/ejm/126625

500 citations!

BRIAN, BU research, Featured academics, international, Publishing, Research assessment, Uncategorized

I have recently checked my Google Scholar profile and I was delighted to see that one of my papers has received a landmark number of citations – 500.

The paper was published in 2014 in co-authorship with Professors Scott Cohen (formerly at BU and now at the University of Surrey, UK) and Girish Prayag (University of Canterbury, NZ).

Focusing on a review of the literature of one of the most, if not the most researched topic in tourism – consumer behaviour -, and published in a high ranked Journal, I always felt the paper could do well, but never imagined that it could get so much traction.

The paper is scheduled to be part of the forthcoming REF submission.