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Child poverty – call for evidence

 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

 

IMSET Seminar: Exploring the chaîne opératoire of applied long-term human ecodynamics

Thursday 21st January 4pm – 6pm

Exploring the chaîne opératoire of applied long-term human ecodynamics: examples from the human paleocology of Subarctic and Arctic seas.

Book your place in the seminar with Professor Ben Fitzhugh, Department of Anthropology, University of Washington.

Professor Fitzhugh’s research focuses on human-environmental dynamics and archaeological histories of maritime/coastal hunter-gatherers especially in the North Pacific. His research addresses questions of human vulnerability and resilience in remote subarctic environments.

Researchers studying long-term human ecological histories increasingly promote the relevance of this work to contemporary environmental managers, policy makers, and heritage communities. After all, our case studies and comparative insights capture greater ranges of socio-environmental variation and longer temporal sequences than are available to planners tethered to the short observation scales. These longer time-lines and more varied “completed experiments of the past” make it possible to track dynamic relationships and downstream legacies driving more and less sustainable strategies and relationships. This information should help us to avoid the mistakes of the past and to build policy on robust understandings about the capacities of systems for stability and change. Nevertheless, meaningful engagement remains limited. If we are serious about this effort, we owe it to ourselves to examine the practical challenges and paths to solutions to implementation of applied long-term human ecodynamics. For this talk, Professor Fitzhugh will expand on the need for a “chaîne opératoire of applied long-term human ecodynamics.” Chaîne opératoires are the inferred technical steps perceived to govern the production, use and discard of technological objects like stone tools, and his argument here is that we could stand to investigate the impediments and limitations of practice that keep academic work at arms length from management policy. Using climate, marine ecological and archaeological case studies from the subarctic North Pacific, he will explore key steps involved in forming and bringing compelling human ecodynamic scenarios of the past into dialogue with contemporary management science and policy. These steps involve managing data uncertainties, unequal resolutions and relevance, disparate interpretive constructs, and epistemic and ontological asymmetries.

Professor Fitzhugh is currently Director of the Quaternary Research Center at the University of Washington, and in this role, seeks to promote interdisciplinary scholarship in the evolution of the earth surface (and the role of humans in it) over the past two and a half millions years.

https://anthropology.washington.edu/people/ben-fitzhugh

Professor Fitzhugh will speak for approximately 1 hour, followed by Q&A.

Book a place at this seminar via eventbrite.

JISC Open Access Wiley Agreement

open access, Publishing, writing

Last year October, due to over-subscription, Wiley changed their terms of agreement and only limited OA publishing to Wellcome, UKRI, Blood Cancer UK, British Heart Foundation, Cancer Research UK, Parkinson’s UK and Versus Arthritis funded research only, to guarantee that all research funded will be published OA in 2020.

Since the start of the new year, this is no longer the case and the Wiley Jisc Read and Publish agreement is once again supporting all OA publishing. Please see this link for more information about this deal –

Jisc, UK institutions and Wiley agree ground-breaking open access deal

For more information and clarification, please email OpenAccess@bournemouth.ac.uk

Women in the Armed Forces

The Defence Committee are particularly keen for academics to contribute to their inquiry into Women in the Armed Forces

The inquiry focuses on the experiences of Women in the Armed Forces, from recruitment through to employment, and (for those who leave) their transition to civilian life.

The Committee is currently accepting written evidence submissions for this inquiry and would like to boost participation in this, especially from academics. Individuals and organisations are able submit written evidence here, until 31 January 2021. Please get in touch with the BU policy team if you are considering replying to this inquiry.

There are options for colleagues who wish to submit evidence in a personal capacity or anonymously – again talk to Jane or Sarah within the policy team so we can support you.

UK’s participation in Horizon Europe

Funding opportunities, international

There was an earlier blog regarding UK participation in EU programmes for research, innovation and higher education last week. As promised, here is more information related to Horizon Europe (HE) Framework Programme.

Based on UK-EU Trade and Cooperation Agreement (the TCA) the UK will be HE Associated Country. The association secures participation of UK and EU entities in Horizon Europe Programme on equivalent terms. This will ensure that via the Horizon Europe Programme UK organisations have access to R&I funding, infrastructure and markets; according to the TCA, UK organisations can lead projects and UK experts can take part in evaluations. It also provides association to COST programme and the UK plays an active role in the ongoing governance and development of the HE programme.

UK entities will be able to access grant funding from all parts of HE, including European Research Council and Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions, and all application and grant management process will be the same as for Horizon 2020, unless any changes are made for the whole HE programme.

There are certain steps to be completed before the UK formally associates to the HE Programme – EU to ratify HE Regulation (expected in January/February) and to finalise Protocol between UK and EU, which sets out all terms of UK participation.

I believe, this is fantastic news for the whole UK academic community and wish you success in applying for research funding.

For EU funding related questions, contact RDS Research Facilitator International Ainar Blaudums. I will post further information as soon as new information regarding EU programmes becomes available and important decisions are reached.

Funding Development Briefing – Spotlight on: Newton International Fellowships

Funding opportunities

 

From 20th January 2021, the RDS Funding Development Briefings will occur weekly, on a Wednesday at 12 noon.

Each session will cover the latest major funding opportunities, followed by a brief Q&A session. Sessions will also include a spotlight on a particular funding opportunity of strategic importance to BU.

Next Wednesday 20th January, there will be a spotlight on Newton International Fellowships. We will cover:

  • Aims and scope of the programme
  • Eligibility criteria
  • Q & A

The session will be recorded and uploaded to Brightspace for those who cannot attend the session.

Please email RKEDF@bournemouth.ac.uk to receive the Teams invite for these sessions.

Research Professional – all you need to know

Funding opportunities

Every BU academic has a Research Professional account which delivers weekly emails detailing funding opportunities in their broad subject area. To really make the most of your Research Professional account, you should tailor it further by establishing additional alerts based on your specific area of expertise. The Funding Development Team Officers can assist you with this, if required.

Research Professional have created several guides to help introduce users to Research Professional. These can be downloaded here.

Quick Start Guide: Explains to users their first steps with the website, from creating an account to searching for content and setting up email alerts, all in the space of a single page.

User Guide: More detailed information covering all the key aspects of using Research Professional.

Administrator Guide: A detailed description of the administrator functionality.

In addition to the above, there are a set of 2-3 minute videos online, designed to take a user through all the key features of Research Professional. To access the videos, please use the following link: http://www.youtube.com/researchprofessional

Research Professional are running a series of online training broadcasts aimed at introducing users to the basics of creating and configuring their accounts on Research Professional. They are holding monthly sessions, covering everything you need to get started with Research Professional. The broadcast sessions will run for no more than 60 minutes, with the opportunity to ask questions via text chat. Each session will cover:

  • Self registration and logging in
  • Building searches
  • Setting personalised alerts
  • Saving and bookmarking items
  • Subscribing to news alerts
  • Configuring your personal profile

Each session will run between 10.00am and 11.00am (UK) on the second Tuesday of each month. You can register here for your preferred date:

9th March 2021

11th May 2021

13th July 2021

14th September 2021

9th November 2021

These are free and comprehensive training sessions and so this is a good opportunity to get to grips with how Research Professional can work for you.

Have you noticed the pink box on the BU Research Blog homepage?

By clicking on this box, on the left of the Research Blog home page just under the text ‘Funding Opportunities‘, you access a Research Professional real-time search of the calls announced by the Major UK Funders. Use this feature to stay up to date with funding calls. Please note that you will have to be on campus or connecting to your desktop via our VPN to fully access this service.

RKEDF: Research Training Events in January

Funding opportunities, Training

The following events are coming up this month. These are all online events.

Tuesday 19th January 10:00 – 12:00

Impact Basics

An introduction to impact for ECRs, post-docs and those new to impact.

This workshop will discuss impact, the various types of impact, and how to plan for and incorporate impact into your research project from the start. It will also look at the Research Excellence Framework (REF) and its requirements regarding impact case studies.
Wednesday 20th January 15:00 – 16:00

ECR Network Meeting

Calling all ECRs, this is an opportunity to meet other Early Career Researchers and to get advice and support for any research-related queries and concerns.
Wednesday 20th January 12:00 – 13:00

Newton International Fellowships (British Academy & Royal Society)

This is the theme for this week’s Funding Development Briefing, providing an introduction to and overview of the Newton International Fellowships.
Thursday 21st January 13:00 – 14:00

Impact and Funding Bids

This training session is useful for researchers at all stages of their careers, to help them describe fully their project’s impact goals and pathways in their funding bids. Within this workshop, there will be time to look at your own funding bid and an opportunity to get 1-2-1 advice and support from the facilitators.
Wednesday 27th January 12:00 – 13:00

Phillip Leverhulme Prizes

This is the theme for this week’s Funding Development Briefing, providing an introduction to and overview of the Phillip Leverhulme Prizes.

To book, please email OD@bournemouth.ac.uk with evidence of approval from your Head of Department or Deputy Head of Department.

You can see all the Organisational Development and Research Knowledge Development Framework (RKEDF) events in one place on the handy calendar of events.

If you have any queries, please get in touch!

Applying for Interreg funding from January 2021

Funding opportunities, international

Interreg has been one of the funding sources where BU academics have been successful during previous years. RDS have had a number of enquiries from academics regarding our eligibility to apply for Interreg funding after the UK has left the EU. The answer may be both – yes and no.

According to the Withdrawal Agreement, the UK continues participation in all EU programmes funded from the 2014-2020 EU budget. There are final calls for proposals under the 2014-2020 programmes which are ongoing and will close in 2021. The UK continues to be eligible to apply for these, including Interreg, and EU funding will be provided for the whole lifetime of the project.

The next EU budget period is designed for 2021-2027; if Interreg calls for proposals are to be funded from the EU 2021-2027 budget, UK participants will not be eligible for EU funding.

Theoretically there may be a situation that there are two open Interreg calls for proposals with different eligibility criteria for UK participants. Our advice to academics would be to check first if funding for the particular call comes either from the EU 2014-2020 or the 2021-2027 budget.

There will be another blog post in the coming days, providing more details regarding our participation in the Horizon Europe Framework Programme. In the meantime, do not hesitate to contact Research Facilitator – International, Ainar Blaudums, if you have specific questions regarding EU funding.

Recruiting : University Rep to co-lead Research Staff Association

PG research, R & KE Operations

A vacancy has arisen for one of the two posts of University Representative, the leaders of the Research Staff Association. This is not a faculty-specific post, any eligible person from any faculty can apply.

The BU Research Staff Association (RSA) is a forum to promote research culture at BU. Research staff from across BU are encouraged to attend to network with others researchers, disseminate their work, discuss career opportunities, hear updates on how BU is implementing the Research Concordat, and give feedback or raise concerns that will help to develop and support the research community at BU.

In addition to the two leaders, there are two reps from each faculty.

Eligible research staff are those on fixed-term or open-ended employment contracts (not PTHP/casual contracts) who have at least one year remaining on their contract at the time of recruitment.

If you are interested in this role, please supply a few words to demonstrate your suitability, interest, availability in relation to the position to Researchdev@bournemouth.ac.uk by the 21/01/21.

Please contact your faculty RSA rep to chat about it if you have any queries.

BU study reveals scale of bullying and harassment in TV industry

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.

 

Conversation article: Five ways to manage your screen time in a lockdown, according to tech experts

shutterstock

John McAlaney, Bournemouth University; Deniz Cemiloglu, Bournemouth University, and Raian Ali, Hamad Bin Khalifa University

The average daily time spent online by adults increased by nearly an hour during the UK’s spring lockdown when compared to the previous year, according to communications regulator Ofcom. With numerous countries back under severe pandemic restrictions, many of us once again find ourselves questioning whether our heavy reliance on technology is impacting our wellbeing.

It’s true that digital devices have provided new means of work, education, connection, and entertainment during lockdown. But the perceived pressure to be online, the tendency to procrastinate to avoid undertaking tasks, and the use of digital platforms as a way to escape distress all have the potential to turn healthy behaviours into habits. This repetitive use can develop into addictive patterns, which can in turn affect a user’s wellbeing.

In our recent research, we explored how to empower people to have healthier and more productive relationships with digital technology. Our findings can be applied to those suffering from digital addiction as well as those who may feel their digital diet has ballooned unhealthily in the solitude and eventlessness of lockdown.

Screen time and addiction

Digital addiction refers to the compulsive and excessive use of digital devices. The design of digital platforms themselves contributes to this addictive use. Notifications, news feeds, likes and comments have all been shown to contribute towards a battle for your attention, which leads users to increase the time they spend looking at screens.

Screen time is an obvious measure of digital addiction, although researchers have noted that there is no simple way to determine how much screen time one can experience before it becomes problematic. As such, there is a continued lack of consensus on how we should think about and measure digital addiction.

Woman video conferences with others on a screen
Many of us have turned to video conferencing to keep in touch with friends and family.
shutterstock

During a global pandemic, when there often feels like no alternative to firing up Netflix, or video conferencing with friends and family, screen time as an indicator of digital addiction is clearly ineffective. Nonetheless, research conducted on digital addiction intervention and prevention does provide insights on how we can all engage with our digital technologies in a healthier way during a lockdown.

1. Setting limits

During the course of our research, we found that effective limit setting can motivate users to better control their digital usage. When setting limits, whatever goal you’re deciding to work towards should be aligned with the five “SMART” criteria. That means the goal needs to be specific, measurable, attainable, relevant and time-bound.

For example, instead of framing your goal as “I will cut down my digital media use”, framing it as “I will spend no more than one hour watching Netflix on weekdays” will enable you to plan effectively and measure your success objectively.

2. Online Support Groups

It might seem a little paradoxical, but you can actually use technology to help promote greater control over your screen time and digital overuse. One study has found that online peer support groups — where people can discuss their experiences with harmful technology use and share information on how to overcome these problems — can help people adjust their digital diet in favour of their personal wellbeing. Even an open chat with your friends can help you understand when your tech use is harmful.

3. Self-reflection

Meanwhile, increasing your sense of self-awareness about addictive usage patterns can also help you manage your digital usage. You can do this by identifying applications we use repetitively and recognising the triggers that prompt this excessive consumption.

Self-awareness can also be attained by reflecting on emotional and cognitive processing. This involves recognising feelings and psychological needs behind excessive digital usage. “If I don’t instantly reply to a group conversation, I will lose my popularity” is a problematic thought that leads to increased screen time. Reflecting on the veracity of such thoughts can help release people from addictive patterns of digital usage.

4. Know your triggers

Acquiring self-awareness on addictive usage patterns can actually help us to identify unsatisfied needs that trigger digital overuse. When we do this, we can pave the way to define alternative behaviours and interests to satisfy those needs in different ways.

Mindfulness meditation, for instance, could be an alternative way of relieving stress, fears, or anxiety that currently leads users to digital overuse. If you feel your digital overuse might simply be due to boredom, then physical activity, cooking, or adopting offline hobbies can all provide alternative forms of entertainment. Again, technology can actually help enable this, for example by letting you create online groups for simultaneous exercising, producing a hybrid solution to unhealthy digital habits.

Father and daughter have fun cooking in kitchen
Cooking is one alternative to unhealthy digital habits.
shutterstock

5. Prioritise the social

We must also remember that our relationship with digital media reflects our inner drives. Humans are innately social creatures, and socialising with others is important to our mental wellbeing. Social media can enhance our opportunities for social contact, and support several positive aspects of mental wellbeing, such as peer support and the enhancement of self-esteem. The engagement with media to purposefully socialise during a lockdown can support our mental health, rather than being detrimental to our wellbeing.

Ultimately, technology companies also have a responsibility to both understand and be transparent about how the design of their platforms may cause harm. These companies should empower users with explanations and tools to help them make informed decisions about their digital media use.

While we may consider this as a legitimate user requirement, technology companies seem to be at the very early stages of delivering it. In the meantime, reflecting on when and why we turn to our screens is a good basis upon which to form positive digital habits during new lockdowns imposed this year.

John McAlaney, Associate Professor in Psychology, Bournemouth University; Deniz Cemiloglu, Researcher, Bournemouth University, and Raian Ali, Professor, College of Science and Engineering, Hamad Bin Khalifa University

This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article.

Department of Health and Social Care statement on prioritisation of research studies

NHS, Research Ethics

Please find below a statement from the Department of Health & Social Care. Please bear this in mind when in correspondence with NHS Trusts and if planning a clinical research study.
If you have any queries, please contact Suzy Wignall, Clinical Governance Advisor, in the first instance.

Statement from DHSC 

We recognise that at the current time those working in many NHS sites are under huge pressure as the number of COVID-19 cases and admissions to hospitals continue to rise and frontline clinical staff are unable to work due to sickness.

While we have a small number of proven treatments and vaccines for COVID-19, more are needed to reduce transmission, reduce the number of patients that require hospitalisation and to improve outcomes for those that do. It is therefore critical that at this challenging time we continue to recruit participants to our urgent public health (UPH) studies. As such I am writing to confirm that the current levels of prioritisation for research studies, set out within the Restart Framework still apply, as follows:

  • Level 1a (Top Priority) – COVID-19 UPH vaccine and prophylactic studies (as prioritised by the Vaccines Task Force and agreed by Jonathan Van-Tam, deputy CMO) and platform therapeutics trials (currently RECOVERY/RECOVERY +; PRINCIPLE; REMAP CAP).
  • Level 1b – Other COVID-19 UPH studies
  • Level 2 – Studies where the research protocol includes an urgent treatment or intervention without which patients could come to harm. These might be studies that provide access to potentially life preserving or life-extending treatment not otherwise available to the patient.
  • Level 3 – All other studies (including COVID-19 studies not in Level 1a or 1b).

I would also like to take this opportunity to remind you of the NIHR guidance for a second wave of covid 19 activity (https://www.nihr.ac.uk/documents/nihr-guidance-for-a-second-wave-of-covid-19-activity/25837).This guidance still applies and, as outlined, states that the deployment of staff funded through an NIHR Infrastructure award or funded by the NIHR Clinical Research Network (CRN) to front line duties should only occur in exceptional circumstances.

The deployment of clinical academic staff should be undertaken within the guidelines issued by a working group convened by the UK Clinical Academic Training Forum and the Conference of Postgraduate Medical  Deans of the UK. Where NHS Trusts consider they need to redeploy staff to support the frontline this should only be done to support clinical activity during the emergency phase of the pandemic and we would expect them to return to their R&D roles as soon as possible, once the pressures on the system reduce.

As indicated by the Restart Framework, at the current time, we need to continue prioritise our support for the most urgent COVID-19 research as part of the response to tackle the pandemic. At the same time we need to ensure we continue to try and maintain support to deliver non-COVID studies currently open on the portfolio, particularly those within Level 2. A system-wide Recovery, Resilience and Growth programme has been established which brings together the key partners across the clinical research ecosystem to ensure the UK is well-positioned to take a coordinated national approach to achieving the recovery of the UK’s clinical research delivery and restore a full, diverse and active research portfolio as soon as practicable.

10 things you need to know about the BU Financial Regulations and RKE

Post-award

Please read the following 10 things you need to know about the BU Financial Regulations in relation to research and knowledge exchange (RKE).

1. The purpose of the BU Financial Regulations is to provide control over university resources, ensuring the resources are being properly applied to achieve the university’s objectives. They provide practical guidance on the university’s policies relating to financial control. All matters concerning finance must be carried out in line with the Financial Regulations.

2. They apply to all of us, irrespective of your grade, role, department that you work in or what type of employment contract you hold.

3. Non-compliance with the regulations is potentially a disciplinary matter. See below for a non-exhaustive list of examples of potential breaches of the Financial Regulations in relation to RKE.

4. They apply to all university activities irrespective of the source of funding. Specific external funding such as research grants are still subject to our Financial Regulations because the funds are awarded to the university and not to an individual member of staff.

5. All bids/applications/quotations to external funders/clients must be costed by RDS and approved via the Activity Proposal Form (APF) process, prior to submission. The approved costs must match those submitted to the funder. If a named sub-contractor is included within the bid/application, this will be subject to BU Procurement procedures (see #7).  No commitment to outside agencies or to incur expenditure can be made without the proper approval being in place.  If a bid commits BU at the time of submission then the Contract Signing Policy & Procedures will need to be followed at bid stage.

6. A contract/agreement/grant offer letter, etc. cannot be signed until it has been reviewed by Legal Services. There are only certain people who can sign documents or agreements/contracts ‘on behalf of the university’. RKE projects cannot start until there is a signed contract in place. See the Financial Authority Limits and the Contract Signing Policy & Procedures.

7. All purchasing must be made in accordance with the BU Procurement Manual. There are thresholds determining when quotations and tendering procedures are required.

8. Principal Investigators are responsible for ensuring their RKE projects do not exceed the funds available/the approved budget. This can be monitored using the Research & Enterprise Database, RED.

9. All purchases must be approved prior to commitment. All purchases must have a purchase order raised prior to the order being placed or the work taking place.

10. Travel and Business Expenses can only be incurred in accordance with the Financial Regulations. The specific rules in are in the BU Business Travel Policy and the Staff & Visitors Expenses Policy.

Examples of potential breaches of BU Financial Regulations, which could lead to further action (such as disciplinary proceedings):

  • Signing a contract that has not undergone legal review and/or without the required approvals in place.
  • Changing the financial figures in an external funding application so they no longer match those approved via the APF process.
  • Starting work on an externally-funded RKE project, before a contract has been signed.
  • Committing to purchases, without prior approval or without having a purchase order.
  • Exceeding the budget available for an RKE project.
  • Spending more on travel, subsistence or accommodation than the rates specified in the Staff & Visitors Expenses Policy, without prior approval.
  • Not adhering to the procurement procedures set out in the BU Procurement Manual.

COVID-19 in Qatar

international, open access, Publishing, 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

UKRI Early Career Researcher Forum opens to applications

UK Research and Innovation (UKRI) is calling on postdoctoral researchers, research associates and other early career researchers to join its new Early Career Researcher Forum.

The forum will give researchers a voice in UKRI’s strategy, policy development and decision making.

UKRI hopes to help build a community for early career researchers to benefit from peer interactions, learning, support and other opportunities.

Apply to join the forum today

The forum is open to researchers who identify themselves as employed as early career researchers.

Submit an application to join the Early Career Researcher Forum.

UKRI are asking for applications by 18:00 on 29 January. Applications may be submitted after this date, but those wishing to attend induction events at the end of February should submit their application by this deadline.