Category / Uncategorized

Sensor-integrated urometer for measuring real-time urine output (HEIF funded project)

Business Engagement, HEIF, innovation, Knowledge Exchange, Knowledge Exchange and Impact Team, Uncategorized

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The project team from the Faculty of Science & Technology has received Higher Education Innovation Funding (HEIF) to undertake a series of activities aimed at encouraging university and the public sector to harness the benefits of advanced assistive technologies. (The HEIF  project started last year and is due to finish at the end of July.)

The nature of HEIF funding encourages knowledge exchange and support to develop a broad range of knowledge based interactions between universities and colleges and the wider word, which result in economic and social benefit to the UK.  In current clinical practices, urinary output measurement and supervision are prevailing medical intervention treatments for patients suffering from critical illness, aging bladder, post-surgery urination difficulties and long-term bedridden. However, the urinary output is still measured and monitored manually by healthcare staff, which is extremely time-consuming and prone to undesirable human errors commonly, arose in these repetitive and monotonous tasks. The project aims to invent an automatic device for remotely monitoring of urinary output, which features real-time remotely wireless catheter fall-off and flow rate monitoring, urinary output minute-by-minute monitoring and real-time states visualization.

The project team is made up of a number of researchers and students from multidisciplinary domains in addition to academics. The team (Prof Hongnian Yu, Mr Arif Reza Anwary; Mr Daniel Craven, Mr Muhammad Akbar, and Mr Pengcheng Liu) has recently presented their three developed prototypes at the collaborator’s site (Royal Bournemouth Hospital). The feedback and comments from the hospital staff are very positive. Dr Simon McLaughlin, the project collaborator from the Royal Bournemouth Hospital, said ‘The project looks to have progressed well. The work is excellent and the one of the prototypes is almost ready to deploy.’

The team  hope to continue to consolidate the current developed prototypes and build on top of them to invent the commercially acceptable products.

Conservation Research?

BU research, Knowledge Exchange, Knowledge Exchange and Impact Team, Research communication, Uncategorized

Public engagement opportunity for academics and PGRS!

On September 14th we are running a lecture day in the EBC with a conservation theme, open to the public and members of the U3a (University of the 3rd Age). We are looking for speakers to present an hour long lecture. It’s a brilliant opportunity to share your research/area of expertise to the public and can open some thought provoking discussion.

If you’re interested in being a part of the lecture day, please contact Katie Breadmore: kbreadmore@bournemouth.ac.uk/61356

 

 

Lunchtime Seminar: CBT for MS Fatigue – from individual to technology-based interventions – 29th July 2016

BU research, Events, Research news, Uncategorized

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Dr Kirsten Van Kessel a clinical psychologist from the Auckland University of Technology, New Zealand is visiting Bournemouth University Clinical Research Unit as part of study leave

You are cordially invited to a lunchtime research seminar she is presenting which is open to all students and staff. (Please feel free to bring your lunch).

“Cognitive Behaviour Therapy for Multiple Sclerosis Fatigue: from individual to technology-based interventions”

by Dr Kirsten van Kessel

Friday 29 July 2016

13.00 – 13.50pm

Create Lecture Theatre, Fusion Building, Talbot Campus

Abstract:

There have been promising findings of cognitive behavioural therapy (CBT) approaches delivered by health professionals for the management of Multiple Sclerosis fatigue, including one-on-one and group based delivered CBT. However, such health professional delivered interventions for fatigue management can be impractical due to a shortage of trained therapists, limited access to rehabilitation and funding constraints. As such, exploring and evaluating alternative delivery mechanisms for CBT is an important area in clinical intervention research. This presentation will focus on how evidence based individual and group delivered CBT protocols have been used to develop technology based interventions for Multiple Sclerosis fatigue.

Presenter:

Dr Kirsten van Kessel is a Clinical Psychologist and Senior Lecturer in the Department of Psychology at the Auckland University of Technology in New Zealand.  She has particular interest and expertise in CBT and its application to mental and physical health problems. Her doctoral thesis was a randomised controlled trial assessing the efficacy of CBT for people with multiple sclerosis fatigue. Current research interests include evaluating CBT for psychological and/or physical health issues, as well as the development and evaluation of eHealth interventions.

Best Paper Award, Academy of Marketing Conference 2016

Uncategorized

The Best Paper Award for the Marketing of Higher Education Track was presented to Helen O’Sullivan, Elvira Bolat and Chindu Sreedharan, for their work entitled Radicalising the Marketing of Higher Education: Learning from students-generated social media data.
Helen O’Sullivan presented their paper at The Academy of Marketing Conference 2016 in Newcastle last week.

Presentation PhD student Jib Acharya in Liverpool

BU research, international, open access, PG research, Publishing, Research news, student research, Uncategorized

Jib LJMU 2016Mr. Jib Acharya (FHSS) gave an interesting presentation yesterday about the qualitative research findings of his PhD at Liverpool John Moores University.  Jib’s PhD research focused on the knowledge, attitudes and beliefs of poor women in Nepal about healthy eating and the study also identifies major food barriers.

His mixed-methods approach combines a quantitative questionnaire survey with qualitative research. Jib’s research project is supervised by Dr. Jane Murphy, Dr. Martin Hind and Prof. Edwin van Teijlingen. Some of the preliminary findings of this FHSS thesis have already been published in two scientific journals [1-2].

References:

  1. Acharya, J., van Teijlingen, E., Murphy, J., Hind, M. (2015) Assessment of knowledge, beliefs and attitudes towards healthy diet among mothers in Kaski, Nepal, Participation 17(16): 61-72.
  2. Acharya, J., van Teijlingen, E., Murphy, J., Hind, M. (2015) Study of nutritional problems in preschool aged children in Kaski District in Nepal, Journal of Multidisciplinary Research in Healthcare 1(2): 97-118. http://dspace.chitkara.edu.in/jspui/bitstream/1/560/1/12007_JMRH_Acharya.

When it comes to impact — a woman’s work is never done

Uncategorized

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BU academic and lawyer Andrea Loux Jarman has assisted Geeta Singh, an NHS Physiotherapist in her fight to secure her daughter a full-time school place from the first day of school.

Geeta contacted Andrea after reading media coverage about an Objection Jarman had made against the admissions arrangements of St Mark’s School, Bournemouth,  before the Schools Adjudicator.  That adjudication forced schools across Bournemouth to either provide all pupils with a full-time place from the first day of the September term or make their part-time induction periods optional.  Geeta was preparing to appear before a school complaints panel to ask them to abandon their unlawful part-time induction programme.

By way of assistance, Andrea sent her one of two articles she wrote after her case against St Mark’s.

I have just finished reading your article “Part-time Places for Reception Children”.  When you gave me the advice to “teach” the Governors about the issue and its historical roots, by sending me your article you have literally thrown the means to do this in my lap. Here is an informed piece of work which I can just regurgitate. Thanks so much.

Despite the overwhelming legal authority Geeta cited in her correspondence (with official sources helpfully highlighted in red!), the school and local authority continued to attempt to pass the buck one to the other and evade responsibility for the unlawful induction period.  Finding no joy with her own authority, a civil servant from another local authority wrote to her to confirm that she had correctly understood the law and suggested if her own LA wouldn’t listen to her to ask them to contact the Department for Education.  This information, together with the suggestion of potential legal liability, appears to have finally persuaded the local authority to tell the school follow the law and either make their part-time induction period optional or abandon it altogether.

The Guardian will be covering the story, and Jarman will do a follow-up academic piece highlighting the implications for the rule of law when parents’ remedies for unlawful school policies in practical terms lie solely with tribunals that cannot make legal precedent that binds other schools. The absence of judicial review has meant that three-years’ on, parents are still having to fight for their right for their Reception children to attend school full time from the first day of school.

New paper FHSS Dr. Sarah Collard

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

Sarah Collard 2016Congratulations to Dr. Sarah Collard on her latest paper ‘The psychosocial impact of exercising with epilepsy: A narrative analysis’ in Epilepsy & Behavior.  The paper offers valuable insight into the psychosocial benefits of and barriers to exercising with epilepsy and draw attention to the individual differences in how a person with epilepsy copes with uncontrolled seizures and their impact on his/her exercise routine. This knowledge can lead to future research in exploring how a person with epilepsy can overcome these barriers to exercise and encourage more people with epilepsy to enjoy the benefits of exercise.

Congratulations!

Prof. Edwin van Teijlingen

CMMPH

BU Research Staff Association at the Festival of Learning 2016

Uncategorized

A team of researchers at Bournemouth University (BU), representing the BU Research Staff Association (RSA), held an event as part of the annual Festival of Learning. The event captioned ‘Making a difference through research: research with impact’ took place on Tuesday 28th June 2016 in the Fusion Building of the Talbot Campus of BU, and drew a cross section of participants from the University, including members of the public. During the event, presenters showcased research that makes a difference and responds to societal needs. Poster presentations and demonstrations at the event covered a range of topics such as:

  • Improving short term management of patients with dementia admitted to hospital
  • BU Research in Nepal
  • Blaming active volcanoes or active volcanic blame? Volcanic crisis management in developing countries: the case of Cameroon
  • SME Access to Finance
  • Developing a support framework to enhance the placement experience of international students
  • Exploring lifestyle factors among African immigrants living with Type 2 diabetes in the UK
  • Making an Impact with UK Media
  • An evaluation of online 3D Mass Customisation (MC) Design
  • Integrating the Tourism Industry with Emergency Response Planning for Crises and Disasters, Using Building Block Scenarios in the Context of Complexity: Case Study on Cruise Ship Industry
  • Water Pollution vs. Water Management in India

Lead presenters include the following BU researchers: Marcellus Mbah, Michelle Heward, Mary Duah-Owusu White, Yolanda Barrado-Martín, Huiwen Zhao, Folashade Alloh, Genoveva Esteban, Majda Al-Salti, Mary Nanyongo, Thanh Huynh, Pramod Regmi, Henry Bang and Katie Thompson. The following photos captured the engaging and inspiring nature of the event:

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We are thankful to all members of staff who gave a presentation or contributed in some respect to the success of the event. The next BU RSA coffee morning will take place in July. Should you want to get in touch with BU Research Staff Association (RSA) for support or information, do contact the representatives, Marcellus Mbah mmbah@bournemouth.ac.uk. and Michelle Heward mheward@bournemouth.ac.uk.

HE Policy Update

Uncategorized

EU referendum

The Minister for Universities and Science, Jo Johnson MP released a statement on 28th June on ‘higher education and research following the EU referendum’.

  • He confirmed that EU citizens currently studying in the UK, or starting their courses in September 2016 will continue to receive loans until they finish their courses.
  • There will be no immediate changes concerning immigration rules of British students living in the EU, and European students living in the UK.
  • There are no changes to students studying in the EU, beneficiaries of Erasmus+ or those considering applying in 2017.
  • There will be no immediate effect on those applying to or participating in Horizon 2020.

Any future changes to the above will depend on the negotiations between the UK and EU.

Jo Johnson also spoke at the Wellcome Trust on ‘Leading the world in the new age of global science’.

  • He said that the prospect of Brexit inevitably poses new challenges at a time when research itself is becoming more collaborative and more global, and that our task now is to chart a course that protects the UK’s status as a full-spectrum scientific power.
  • The government will be creating a new annual £1 million Newton Prize. The prize will be awarded for the best science or innovation projects that promote the economic development and social welfare of Newton partner countries, or address the problems of poor people around the world.
  • The government want the REF and the TEF to be mutually reinforcing and will ask institutions to consider how they promote research-led teaching in their TEF submissions.
  • Jo Johnson also announced he would be concerned about any discrimination against UK participants in Horizon 2020.

Jane Forster has written a blog about the next steps for higher education in light of the EU referendum result, you can view the blog on the Bournemouth University website.

Graduate Employment

The DLHE survey for 2014/15 has been published. The Times Higher has reported that the proportion of UK university leavers in work or further study has hit a record high, with more graduates going into professional jobs, but that there is a growing gender pay gap, with male graduates earning significantly more on average than their female counterparts. However The Telegraph reports that over 50,000 new graduates are in non-graduate jobs, including lollypop ladies, factory workers and hospital porters.

Irish Higher Education

Irish universities risk losing part of their funding if they fail to tackle gender inequality under proposed reforms to improve women’s promotion chances in academia. Institutions would also be unable to apply for research funding if they failed to achieve at least a Silver Athena SWAN award within seven years. Improve gender balance in Irish HE or face fines, says review (THE).

Student Loans

The Petitions Committee has granted a debate on ‘stopping retrospective changes to the student loans agreement’ following the petition on the subject receiving over 100,000 signatures. The debate will take place on 18th July at 4:30pm and will be led by Helen Jones MP, Chair of the Petitions Committee. You can watch the debate via this link.

TEF

An article in the Times Higher Education claims that an industry-wide, university-student “contract to educate” must be implemented. This should incorporate as binding terms the representations made by the university to the applicant/student-consumer, and include the essential comparative data that students need to begin to overcome the information asymmetry problem. The TEF: trading standards whose time has come (THE).

Why editorials?

BU research, international, Knowledge Transfer, open access, Publishing, Research Integritiy, Research news, Uncategorized, writing

Zika editorial 2016BU academics are editors on a wide range of scientific journals.  As editors we often write editorials for academic journals which have a number of specific functions.  It is a key means of communication between the editor(s) and the journal’s readership.  It is also vehicle to highlight topical academic and political issues related to the journal and the discipline(s) it represents. JAM June 2016 editorial

Earlier this week the latest issue of the Journal of Asian Midwives came out with an editorial which is an illustration of the first point giving information to the readers [1].  The topics addressed in this editorial included the announcement that this new journal was now indexed in the CINAHL Database, a recent major international conference in the field and a call for the forthcoming 2017 ICM (Internation Confederation of Midwives) tri-annual conference.  Today saw the publication of an editorial on the Zika virus and its potential impact in Nepal in the journal Medical Science [2].   This guest editorial co-written by BU’s Visiting Faculties Dr. Brijesh Sathian and Prof. Padam Simkhada with Prof. Edwin van Teijlingen (Centre for Midwifery, Maternal & Perinatal Health) calls for action in Nepal.  A country where malaria is endemic. The Zika virus uses mosquitoes like the ones spreading Dengue fever and malaria.  Zika is a virus we do not wish to see spreading in countries where malaria is already rife.  The editorial warns that precautionary measures are needed to prevent a Zika outbreak as the spread of the virus to the country seems inevitable, the only uncertainty is when it will be arriving.

Both journals are Open Access which means these editorials can be read by anybody with internet access free of charge.

References:

  1. Jan, R., van Teijlingen, E. (2016) Editorial JAM June 2016, Journal of Asian Midwives 3(1):1. http://ecommons.aku.edu/jam/vol3/iss1/1/
  2. van Teijlingen, E., Sathian, B., & Simkhada, P. (2016). Zika & Nepal: a far greater risk for its population than to individuals. Medical Science 4(2): 312-313. http://www.pubmedhouse.com/journals/ms/articles/1064/PMHID1064.pdf

 

Brexit: The future for UK Higher Education

policy, Uncategorized

Since the announcement last Friday 24th June that the UK had voted to leave the EU, some light has been shed on the implications for UK universities.

The Minister for Universities and Science, Jo Johnson MP released a statement on 28th June on higher education and research following the EU referendum.

  • He confirmed that EU citizens currently studying in the UK or starting their courses in September 2016 will continue to receive loans until they finish their courses.
  • There will be no immediate changes concerning immigration rules of British students living in the EU, and European students living in the UK.
  • There are no changes to students studying in the EU, beneficiaries of Erasmus+ or those considering applying in 2017.
  • There will be no immediate effect on those applying to or participating in Horizon 2020.

Brexit should therefore not result in any immediate changes. However, there could be significant changes in the years to come, although this will depend on the arrangements negotiated between the UK and EU. The negotiations could begin when a new Prime Minister is announced, this will definitely be by October 2016, but could be as early as September with the conservative contenders due to launch their leadership bids imminently.    They could take up to two years, or even longer (if the EU partners all agree).

Although there is uncertainty ahead about the impact of Brexit for UK higher education, there have been some positive reports about the possible future of the sector’s relationship with the EU. On the 28th June, the Italian Prime Minister said he wanted to find a way for UK students to gain passports while they studied for degree courses. Additionally, the Independent has outlined some reasons to be optimistic about the future relationship of the UK universities and the EU, and states that as long as the UK government commits to higher education, and recognises the role it plays, the future for the sector could remain bright.   An article including quotes from the Minister in the THE is also interesting.

Our Vice-Chancellor has commented in an updated statement and Jane Forster has written a blog on what happens in HE after the vote.