Rosie Harper (PhD, FHSS) with this poster entitled: Nudging: a theoretical concept for a very practical approach to pelvic floor muscle training.
Click the poster below to enlarge.
A third of women suffer from stress incontinence which affects their physical, mental and social wellbeing. Pelvic floor exercises are the gold standard treatment, but women’s adherence to these exercises is poor. It is suggested behaviour change techniques, including nudge theory, could be used to improve adherence. The research will explore the role of nudge theory in causing predictable changes in behaviour in antenatal women, gain insight into antenatal women’s experience of digital nudges and allow a better understanding of the influence of digital nudges on pelvic floor muscle training adherence. The first phase involves a literature review to explore the effect of digital nudges on exercise adherence in antenatal women. Phase two of the study involves qualitative data collection and analysis to explore women’s experience of digital nudges. The third phase of the study will be a feasibility study which includes a pilot of the intervention – digital nudges.
You can view the full poster exhibition and pre-recorded presentations on the conference webpage.
If this research has inspired you and you’d like to explore applying for a research degree please visit the postgraduate research web pages or contact the Doctoral College dedicated admissions team.
Sitsada Sartamorn (PhD, BUBS) with this poster entitled: Hybrid social media marketing; How metaverse and other cutting-edge technologies impact on consumer experiences by reducing borders between real and virtual space in Thai organic food market.
Click the poster below to enlarge.
The pandemic of COVID-19 has affected us in a world-changing way, a world where people cannot unite. However, this obstacle is now diminishing, thanks to the concept of globalisation and advanced technology development. This study aims to explore the impact of the “metaverse” and other cutting-edge innovative technologies on the marketing space of the future and consider how these advanced technologies should be integrated into the design of marketing strategies and propose a way forward. This study focuses on the organic food market in Thailand and explores how technology can integrate the boundaries between the real and the virtual, increase consumer experience and enhance the effectiveness of marketing strategies based on advanced technology. This study will use a qualitative research method to strategically design hybrid social media marketing.
You can view the full poster exhibition and pre-recorded presentations on the conference webpage.
If this research has inspired you and you’d like to explore applying for a research degree please visit the postgraduate research web pages or contact the Doctoral College dedicated admissions team.
Samantha Everard (MRes, FHSS) with this poster entitled: How do people with multiple disabilities experience, engage with and participate in self-employment support.
Click the poster below to enlarge.
“Seeing every individual for their ability, especially those with hidden impairments, makes good business sense” (Kirby, 2014a), but when a person with multiple disabilities decides to experience, engage with and participate in self-employment support, there is currently a lack of clarity and guidance to meet the individual needs of disabled people wanting to engage in self-employment. An internet search will bring up numerous results with websites and organisations offering generalised support, but there is very limited information offering a person-centric service. This research aims to identify gaps within the general self-employment support model and work towards a more cohesive level of accessible information, advice, guidance and resources. My research is focussed on gathering qualitative data through one-to-one interviews using Photovoice as this allows the participants with multiple disabilities to openly engage with the topic and tell stories about their experiences in their own individual ways.
You can view the full poster exhibition and pre-recorded presentations on the conference webpage.
If this research has inspired you and you’d like to explore applying for a research degree please visit the postgraduate research web pages or contact the Doctoral College dedicated admissions team.
We are currently recruiting for members on some of our Research Funding Panels.
To help us further develop our research capacity in line with BU2025, the Research Performance and Management Committee (RPMC) oversees research investment and performance. Under the auspices of the RPMC, Funding Panels have been established to have oversight of funding allocations, in order to further build the research environment, our external engagement and the quality and impact of research endeavours. Funding Panels demonstrably operate in an academically robust, fair and transparent manner.
These are exciting opportunities to get involved in University-level Panels, to network and collaborate with colleagues from across the University, and to contribute to decisions about how best to invest in future research and knowledge exchange projects.
The vacancies are:
Acceleration of Research & Networking (ACORN) Funding Panel:
1 x early career researcher
Global Visiting Fellowships (GVF) Funding Panel:
1 x early career researcher
Higher Education Innovation Fund (HEIF) Panel:
1 x mid-career academic
Eligible staff are invited to apply via an expressions of interest (EoI) round.
Early career academics are defined in this context as those who are within 7 years of completing their doctorate (or equivalent experience) and are not Associate Professors / Professors.
Mid-career academics are defined in this context as those who are at least 7 years from completing their doctorate (or equivalent experience) and are not Associate Professors / Professors.
If you’re interested in applying for any of the vacancies, please follow the guidelines below for each of the relevant panels:
ACORN
You can find out more about the ACORN Funding Panel here
Omowonuola Okunnu (PhD, FMC) with this poster entitled: A comparative study of the interconnectedness of religion and politics in Northern and Southern Nigeria: The role of literacy level.
Click the poster below to enlarge.
Although research on the determinants of political outcomes has been a subject of debate for many decades and perhaps centuries, findings are often awash with nuances and not on par with realities at the regional level. There are more questions arising from dynamics in the societies, related to political campaigning and social movements at the regional level. Consequently, the aim of this project is to examine the independent and mediating effects of religion and literacy levels on voters’ decision and electoral outcomes at regional levels amongst female voters in Nigeria. A mixed-method approach is adopted to ameliorate any contradictions between qualitative and quantitative findings. Early findings of this research suggest a battery of issues ranging from divergence in perceptions of religious issues; poor attitude to political outcomes; a weak awareness of political issues; and an underdeveloped attention is paid to gender imbalances in politics.
You can view the full poster exhibition and pre-recorded presentations on the conference webpage.
If this research has inspired you and you’d like to explore applying for a research degree please visit the postgraduate research web pages or contact the Doctoral College dedicated admissions team.
Rabeea Maqsood (PhD, FHSS) with this poster entitled: The association between Combat Related Traumatic Injury and Heart Rate Variability in the UK Armed Forces Personnel and Veterans- a quantitative secondary data analysis of the ADVANCE study.
Click the poster below to enlarge.
CRTI’s impact on HRV and its link to Cardiovascular Disease (CVD) risk have not been examined. This study aims to explore: the association between CRTI and HRV, and HRV’s potential to predict CVD risk. This study employs a baseline cross-sectional analysis of the ArmeD SerVices TrAuma and RehabilitatioN OutComE (ADVANCE) longitudinal cohort study, consisting of 579 adult male UK combat-veterans (UK-Afghanistan War 2003-14) with CRTI; frequency-matched to 565 uninjured men by age, service, rank, regiment, deployment period and role-in-theatre. Measures include single-lead ECG based HRV (RMSSD, SDNN, LF, HF, LF/HF-5-min ECG recordings), arterial stiffness (augmentation index, pulse wave velocity), injury-severity (NISS scores), and metabolic syndrome. Kubios software and SPSS will be used for HRV data-analysis and descriptive tests, respectively. CRTI’s influence on HRV and its relationship to CVD risk will be examined using T-tests and correlation. The findings may contribute to intervention development for veteran’s rehabilitation programme and trauma care.
You can view the full poster exhibition and pre-recorded presentations on the conference webpage.
If this research has inspired you and you’d like to explore applying for a research degree please visit the postgraduate research web pages or contact the Doctoral College dedicated admissions team.
Penny Wells (PhD, FMC) with this poster entitled:How people relate to environmental disaster in contemporary literature; an ecocritical approach.
Click the poster below to enlarge.
Taking six contemporary eco-novels containing scenarios of environmental disaster, this study examines how each is portrayed. The question of whether the disasters are natural or man-made is examined using Garrard’s six philosophical positions of ecocriticism, and further discourse analysis from ecological and scientific perspectives. The extent to which the characters engage with their natural environment in terms of their cultural capital (Bourdieu) will also be looked at. As well as exploring the political rhetoric of each book, from the various stakeholders’ perspectives, the study also incorporates a separate sociological research element which sets out to explore other ways in which authors may or may not express their concerns about our shared environment.
You can view the full poster exhibition and pre-recorded presentations on the conference webpage.
If this research has inspired you and you’d like to explore applying for a research degree please visit the postgraduate research web pages or contact the Doctoral College dedicated admissions team.
The Department of Sport and Event Management has this week hosted a student writing retreat for 50 Level 6 BA Events Management students who are writing their dissertations. Students have been attending fortnightly lectures in addition to their supervisory sessions, but this week came together to work collaboratively on writing up their literature reviews.
The retreats utilised the shared working spaces available in the Fusion building offering 4 hours of quiet working space in seminar rooms, supported by online targeted workshops and 1-1 support on balcony spaces.
At the outset students were invited to set their objectives for the session and curate their own programme of activities to achieve this. Professor Janet Dickinson offered online workshops on literature review writing techniques, whilst experienced supervisors (Dr Miguel Moital, Dr Katherine King and Dr Paola Vizcaino) provided 1-1 support for students to sign up and discuss their progress, helping them to problem solve in the moment.
In addition to this academic support, BUBS librarian Louise Tucker provided 1-1 library support sessions, helping students to focus their research strategies. Amada Fripp, Careers Advisor also attended giving tips and advice on ‘Making the most of your final year’ with CareersBU.
This was the first of 3 writing retreats run for Level 6 students throughout the year and student feedback indicated that working alongside of their peers and course staff at these sessions really helped them to move their research forward. Next sessions will focus on developing methodologies and a further session will support analysis and the final write up.
A collection of fossil footprints at Laetoli in Northern Tanzania, preserved in volcanic ash and dated to 3.66 million years ago, are still yielding surprises almost 45 years after their discovery.
Based on a re-analysis of fossil footprints from one of Laetoli’s sites, the authors of a new study published in the journal Nature say they’ve discovered evidence of a previously unknown early human species at this spot. However, there are reasons to be cautious about this conclusion.
Before we delve into these new findings, let’s orientate ourselves. Laetoli, an area well-known for paleontological excavations, has a number of distinct sites, each denoted by letters of the alphabet. British paleoanthropolgist Mary Leakey and her colleagues first reported fossil footprints in 1978 at Site G, the main track site at Laetoli.
In 2016, a team led by Fidelis Masao, an archaeologist in Tanzania, uncovered additional tracks close to Site G, at Site S. The footprints from Sites G and S are usually assigned to the well-known ancestral human (hominin) species Australopithecus afarensis, of which the skeleton “Lucy” is the best-known example.
Less well-known is the fact that in 1976, two years before Leakey’s famous discovery, a set of five footprints were found at Site A. Importantly, all these sites occur on the same ash surface, so we know they date from the same time period.
But the five footprints from Site A were largely forgotten, eclipsed by Leakey’s later discovery. This was understandable because the footprints at Site A had poor morphological shape, or definition, and there were fewer of them (there are more than 30 individual footprints at Site G).
In 1987, American paleoanthropologist Russell Tuttle suggested that these footprints may have been made by a species of bear, or by a different hominin from those of Site G. He also cautioned that the diversity in the footprints’ form as compared to those at Site G might simply reflect the changing properties of the ash layer over which the hominin walked.
Seeking to find out who these footprints belonged to, a team of international researchers re-excavated the tracks from Site A in 2019. Their findings are the focus of the new paper in Nature.
The researchers used various methods including photography and 3D scanning to inspect the Site A footprints. They compared the width and length with footprints from black bears, chimpanzees and humans, as well as the tracks from Sites G and S. They also explored the bear hypothesis by examining video footage of modern black bears which, on rare occasions, walk upright.
The authors concluded that on balance, the footprints at Site A did not resemble bear tracks, and were different from the footprints at Sites G and S.
One particular feature they draw attention to is that the Site A trackway cross-steps, almost as if one was attempting to toe a line as part of sobriety test. Based on this and their other findings, the authors suggest that the tracks at Site A were made by a different hominin than those at sites G and S. They argue that two hominin species walked the Laetoli landscape 3.66 million years ago.
A footprint from Site A on the left and Site G on the right. Image on left by Jeremy DeSilva and on right by Eli Burakian/Dartmouth.
The broader evolutionary context at this time suggests what the authors are proposing would be possible. There was more than one species of hominin on the African landscape during this period, and we’ve seen anatomical variation in the foot within some Australopithecus species. That said, it’s quite a significant leap to identify a second species based on a handful of poorly defined tracks.
Variation in trackways is the key issue here. Imagine going for a walk down a beach or sandy path. The footprints you make will vary from one step to the next. This reflects natural variability in human gait, as well as subtle differences in the characteristics of the ground you’re walking on.
In a recent paper we suggested that you need a minimum of between ten and 20 footprints before you can confidently quantify the variability in just one dimension, such as footprint length, let alone several. Others have suggested that you may need over 250 tracks to adequately quantify the three-dimensional form of a footprint.
Footfall and the resulting footprints are more variable than once thought and some have argued that even individuals of the same species may have highly unique gaits.
In this context it is rather surprising that the authors of this paper make inferences not just about one individual, but a whole species.
One way to strengthen their conclusions would be to use modern “whole foot” methods to statistically compare the best footprint at Site A with those at Sites S and G. This could be an approach for future research.
Certainly more evidence is needed to determine whether these footprints justify this excitement, and do indeed belong to another early human species.
Apply for £150k funding to enhance the impact of research in the environmental sciences.
NERC knowledge exchange fellowships help you and your stakeholders to share knowledge.
NERC welcome researchers at all career stages. Your project must focus on a research theme from the NERC delivery plan.
The full economic cost of your project must be about £150,000. The fellowship will cover up to 100% of your salary. You would receive up to £40,000 for direct costs, including travel.
At Café Scientifique, you can explore the latest ideas in science and technology in a relaxed online setting. Enjoy listening to a short talk before engaging in debate and discussion with our guest speaker and audience.
We’ll be joined by Dr Marin Cvitanovicon Tuesday 7 December from 7.00pm until 8.30pm.
Wildfires and Us
Every year wildfires engulf 3.4 million square kilometres of Earth’s surface – approximately the size of India. These fires have massive economic, social and environmental impacts and, due to climate change, are expected to increase in the future. However, wildfires are also a naturally occurring global phenomenon that many ecosystems depend on.
Join us to discover how scientific research at Bournemouth University could fill in some of the gaps in this complicated relationship between humans and wildfires.
Jordan King (MRes, FST) with this poster entitled: Exploring nostalgic experiences in video games.
Click the poster below to enlarge.
Video game players may experience emotional demands, such as nostalgia, when thinking of a memorable game which can increase levels of well-being and social connectedness (Wulf, Bowman, Velez & Breuer, 2020). Yet previous literature has asked participants to think about a nostalgic game, the current study aims to have participants play a memorable video game to see what may make a video game nostalgic, explore how is nostalgia experienced before and after playing a nostalgic video game and, explore whether nostalgia is a positive experience which relates to well-being. Using a mixed method approach, quantitative data will explore levels of nostalgia before and after playing a nostalgic video game, and levels of well-being. Qualitative data will be collected to explore what may make a video game nostalgic which will be analysed using Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis. This contributes to existing literature on video game nostalgia by having participants play video games.
You can view the full poster exhibition and pre-recorded presentations on the conference webpage.
If this research has inspired you and you’d like to explore applying for a research degree please visit the postgraduate research web pages or contact the Doctoral College dedicated admissions team.
Megan Jadzinski (PhD, FHSS) with this poster entitled: How are Fitness to Practise processes applied in the Higher Education Institutions, in relation to Health and Care Profession Council or Nursing and Midwifery Council healthcare courses?
Click the poster below to enlarge.
Higher Education Institutions (HEIs) are required to manage concerns raised regarding pre-registration healthcare students. All HEIs are required to have a Fitness to Practice (FTP) policy to manage concerns. Due to limited guidance from regulatory bodies, variations occur. The aim of this research is to understand how the FTP processes are applied. A qualitative methodology will be utilised. Two stages will occur. Firstly, a review of FTP documentation from multiple universities. Secondly, online interviews with HEI staff who manage the process within their organisation. Following a systematic review, limited evidence was found with recommendations that further exploration is required. Limited research has been conducted on the FTP process within HEIs in England. Multiple gaps, including, a need for a more consistent and fair approach has been identified. The output from this research could impact the way in which FTP cases are managed.
You can view the full poster exhibition and pre-recorded presentations on the conference webpage.
If this research has inspired you and you’d like to explore applying for a research degree please visit the postgraduate research web pages or contact the Doctoral College dedicated admissions team.
Mirte Korpershoek (PhD, FST) with this poster entitled: Rock art as an environmental archive.
Click the poster below to enlarge.
Rock art occurs worldwide, across societies and time-periods. Traditionally, rock art studies examine the intention behind the images: the symbolism and shamanistic ritual interpretations. In my research, I am investigating whether rock art depictions are useful to understanding the palaeoenvironmental context of the people who created the art. I will compare the images -focusing on depictions of humans, animals and activities/tools- to published archaeological assemblages, to establish to what extent rock art accurately depicts the way of living and environments of the artists. I will also compare themes in rock art from various locations to see whether there are any similarities and what this could mean. Machine learning will be applied to these themes to identify the most common figurative motifs per region. Here I will present the first results from South America: I discuss the prevalence of human and wild animal depictions from this region.
You can view the full poster exhibition and pre-recorded presentations on the conference webpage.
If this research has inspired you and you’d like to explore applying for a research degree please visit the postgraduate research web pages or contact the Doctoral College dedicated admissions team.
Following achievement of BU’s Department of Design & Engineering the Athena SWAN bronze award, in recognition of commitment to working towards gender equality in higher education, we would like to share the journey, briefly.
We are very proud that the Athena SWAN Panel from Advance HE commends the Department for its work to progress gender equality, including the development of an organisational structure to carry this work forward.
Athena SWAN was introduced in May 2019 by two members of the BU SWAN steering group to Design and Engineering Department. The Self-Assessment Team (SAT) leaders were appointed after an open call for expressions of interest by the HoD in October 2019. A call for SAT membership was made in December 2019. The SAT was formally introduced by the SAT leaders in January 2020, and seven individuals with various backgrounds (academic, professional & support, and students (UG and PGR)) were appointed and contributed to the development of the application.
For the preparation of the application there had been several face to face and virtual Self-Assessment Team meetings and two focus groups conducted virtually to further explore the related topics. There has been a high level of interest from D&E SAT members who are from diverse backgrounds in addressing gender equality within the department during the pandemic. Although the lockdown caused cancellation of some outreach activities, virtual SAT activities enabled everyone to take pride in being part of a community that is contributing to engineering and technology advancements.
During this journey, Dr James Palfreman-Kay, BU Equality and Diversity Advisor, has acted as the advisor of the the teamwork leading to an action plan which was used as the basis for the Athena SWAN bronze award submission.
The Design & Engineering department is committed to a fully inclusive environment to work and study in addressing fusion, Research, Education and Professional Practice. This award gives us confidence that the actions we are undertaking will enable us to achieve this aim.
Congratulations to dr. Pramod Regmi on the publication today of our research article ‘Risk of Kidney health among returnee Nepali migrant workers: A survey of nephrologists‘ [1]. This paper was published today in the Asian Journal of Medical Sciences. It is co-authored with a clinician (a nephrologist) and a migration and health expert in Nepal. This paper reports on the Bournemouth University-led study with kidney specialists in Nepal which was reported in The Sunday Times under the heading ‘Qatar 2022: Dying for the World Cup‘ a fortnight ago.
Last Saturday Dr. Nirmal Aryal (now researcher at the Greater Manchester Mental Health NHS Foundation Trust and BU Visiting Faculty) and Dr. Regmi presented this research at a webinar in Nepal which was well attended and shown on Facebook Life.
Public engagement with research (PER) is important for impact, community engagement, identifying research priorities, among other benefits. It is also increasingly valued as a skill in researchers, and by funders. In these two upcoming training sessions as part of the RKEDF, find out how to get started and how to take your public engagement to the next level – creating a strategy to identify where to focus your energy for the greatest impact
Getting started in public engagement with research
7/12/21 – 10:00-11:30 Online
This workshop aims to get academics from zero or little PER experience to a position where they are confident carrying out activity with awareness of audience, delivery and evaluation. BU benefits from having academics that meet the expectations of the modern research landscape, are able to promote BU research and are engaged with their local community.
This workshop will cover the status of public engagement in the research landscape; why it is important and what it can do for researchers. We’ll cover how to identify audiences and target their needs and expectations by designing public engagement activity around them. In addition, the workshop will go into the logistics of public engagement – from securing funding through planning, developing skills and the support offered at BU. Finally, we’ll discuss how to evaluate engagement activity to provide evidence for impact, insights into improving your activity and to provide further opportunity for engagement.
This 1.5 hour session consists of two parts;
30 minutes
A pre-recorded training video, recorded by BU Engagement Officer Adam Morris, covering all the content above.
You have a choice on when you’d like to watch this session. You can choose to watch it immediately prior to the Q&A, combining both into a single session. Alternatively, you can watch the session at any time prior to the Q&A and allow yourself more time to develop questions, joining this workshop just for the Q&A.
A live Question and Answer session, hosted by BU Engagement Officer Adam Morris, providing an opportunity for you to ask your questions on public engagement with research and to hear from other attendees.
You can ask your questions during the session or, to allow a more considered response, email your questions to Adam ahead of time.
▸ Learning objectives
Understand what is meant by public engagement and why it is an increasingly important part of a research career
Identify relevant audiences and understand how to target engagement
Plan public engagement activity that complements and benefits research
Evaluate public engagement activity and use this to demonstrate impact
Identify possible funders for public engagement with research
Public engagement is an open, two-way process that can reap tremendous benefits for our researchers, the university and society. To find out how it can enrich your research, ensure its relevance to your wider public and build trust with partners and stakeholders, sign up for this session on High Quality Public Engagement.
We have teamed up with the National Coordinating Centre for Public Engagement (NCCPE), who will bring their expertise to this bespoke training session for BU researchers.
In this workshop, participants will have the opportunity to examine a series of frameworks and tools that can be used to develop high quality public engagement with research. In applying these tools – through case studies, activities and discussions – delegates will develop a more strategic approach to their public engagement practice.
It is aimed at people with experience of public engagement with research (e.g.: those who are highly experienced in one type of public engagement, those who have tried lots of different types, or those who have done engagement in other contexts) looking to take stock and develop a more strategic approach to their public engagement.
▸ Learning objectives
Explore frameworks and concepts that deepen thinking about People, Purpose and Process
Apply those explorations to your own work
Consider how to take the concepts into your own work in the future
By the end of the session, you will be able to take a more strategic approach to your public engagement activity.
The timeline guides you through all the necessary steps, procedures and processes involved, including navigating through all the requirements of the internal quality approvals, costing preparations, legal and finances approvals, faculty approvals, etc.
The timeline also provides helpful guidance in the time needed in preparing and finalising external funding applications, taking you through initial planning, the submission preparation processes, legal and finance approval processes and to the submission to funder process.
You can also find useful links and information, as well as your Funding Development Team contacts on this timeline document.
Please click on this link to access this useful guidance document in its jazzy new format.
May’s Research Café – Showcasing tomorrow’s researchers
Bridging the Digital Divide: How Older Adults Navigate a Digital Society
ADRC launches new DEALTS2 train-the-trainer video series
Insight Dementia educational resource: now available!
Horizon Europe 2025 Work Programme pre-Published
MSCA Postdoctoral Fellowships 2025
Update on UKRO services
European research project exploring use of ‘virtual twins’ to better manage metabolic associated fatty liver disease