/ Full archive

Interdisciplinary research team to create short film using artificial intelligence in AHRC-funded project

Awarded & submitted bids

Researchers from BU will create a short film entirely using artificial intelligence (AI) to explore the creative and legal issues surrounding the use of these tools in media production.

The research project has been funded by the Arts and Humanities Research Council (AHRC) and will investigate the use of generative AI tools in media creation – focusing on collaboration, creativity, and representation. This includes concerns about copyright, job security, and other ethical and legal challenges.

Multiple screens in a computer generated landscape

“There has been a lot of thinking about responsible AI and the way it is used and implemented, as well as the implications for things like production and jobs and how roles in the industry will be affected,” said Dr Szilvia Ruszev, Senior Lecturer in Post Production, who is leading the project.

“We hope that through the discussions and the use of these tools, we can develop a more nuanced understanding of how we can still be creative and use AI in a responsible way.”

The BU research team also includes Dr Maxine Gee (Principal Academic in Screenwriting), Professor Xiaosong Yang (Professor of Computer Animation and Deputy Head of Department), Dr Tom Davis (Associate Professor in Music and Audio Technology) and Dr Melanie Stockton-Brown (Principal Academic in Law), as well as partners from the University of Michigan, USA and Zhejiang University, China.

They will use generative AI tools at each stage of the production process, such as the script writing, image creation, sound and music, and for the post production on the film.

They will also evaluate these tools from the perspectives of representation, collaboration and creativity as well as exploring key legal aspects, including copyright.

At each stage of the process, the team will hold workshops which will include talks about the issues being investigated and hands-on experience with helping to create the AI-generated film. The workshops will be open to BU staff and students, as well as industry stakeholders and policymakers.

Dr Ruszev said: “Fictional media has a history of shaping societal understanding of stereotypes through media representation but the data used to create content through AI is not objective and so we are looking at what sort of impact that will have on the representation of identities and groups.

“There are also issues around copyright to explore – such as who owns the idea, and the ethical and legal challenges that need to be addressed.”

The project has received over £170,000 in funding from the AHRC as part of the Bridging Responsible AI Divides (BRAID) programme, which will support the development of responsible AI and how it can be embedded across key sectors.

Professor Christopher Smith, Executive Chair of the AHRC, said: “The impact of AI can already be felt in many areas of our lives. It will transform our jobs and livelihoods, and impact on areas as diverse as education, policing and the creative industries, and much more besides.

“The research which AHRC announced today will provide lasting contributions to the definition and practice of responsible AI, informing the practice and tools that are crucial to ensure this transformative technology provides benefits for all of society.”

Socio-Ecological Transition Seminars – Spring 2024 events

We are delighted to share the spring 2024 calendar for our Socio-Ecological Transition Seminars (SETS). This seminar cycle’s discussions will revolve around the global crisis of waste and the unsustainability of current modes of production and consumption, analysed across sectors and geographical contexts, in its societal, organisational, political, and ethical dimensions.

We have a confirmed calendar of international distinguished speakers:

April 3rd h 3 pm: A public sociology of waste, Myra Hird

Myra J. Hird, Professor in Environmental Studies at Queen’s University (Canada). Myra holds a PhD from Oxford University and is a distinguished interdisciplinary scholar researching the global waste crisis and will present her recent book A Public Sociology of Waste (2022, Bristol University Press).

April 24th h 3 pm: Recycling Class: The Contradictions of Inclusion in Urban Sustainability, Manisha Anantharaman

Manisha Anantharaman, Assistant Professor of Sociology at the Center for the Sociology of Organisations, Sciences Po Paris (France). Manisha holds a PhD from University of California Berkeley, and her research focuses on the politics of ecological transition and sustainability. Manisha will present her recent book Recycling Class. The Contradictions of Inclusion in Urban Sustainability (2024, MIT press).

29th May h 3 pm: The Social Life of Unsustainable Mass Consumption, Magnus Boström.

Magnus Boström, Professor of Sociology at the Center for Environmental and Sustainability Social Science (CESSS) at Örebro University, Sweden. Magnus’ research interests include politics, representation, consumption, action, and transformative learning in relation to various transnational environmental and sustainability issues. Magnus will present his recent book: The Social Life of Unsustainable Mass Consumption (2023, Rowman & Littlefield)

All seminars are online on Zoom:

https://unitn.zoom.us/j/85334570893Meeting ID: 853 3457 0893

Passcode: SETS

SETS is a joint initiative between the Research Group on Collective Action, Change, and Transition at the University of Trento, the Centre for Sustainable and Socially Responsible Consumption at Bournemouth University, and the Environmental Sociology Section at the University of Orebro. The seminars are open to a diverse audience, including academics, students, practitioners, social movements, and the non-specialist public.

SETS aims at reflecting with critical instruments and theories on socio-ecological transformations in times of crisis – with a special focus on everyday life and the sphere of social and ecological reproduction. In particular, the seminars aim at eliciting reflection on the different practices and “fields” where struggles and transformative action take place. The seminars are open to a diverse audience, including academics, students, practitioners, social movements, and non-specialist public.

Dr Roberta Discetti, SETS co-founder

UK Research Integrity Office – Free Webinar – Social Media and Ethics – Last chance to book

Research Ethics, Research Ethics Panels

UKRIO LogoUKRIO has announced details of a forthcoming Free Webinar “Social Media and Ethics” on Wednesday 21st February from 10:00 – 11:00 BST. 

Research using social media data presents several ethical issues that researchers must navigate to ensure the responsible and respectful use of this data. Some of the primary ethical issues in research using social media includes privacy and informed consent, anonymity and confidentiality, data ownership and terms of use, ethical use of algorithms and AI, sensitive topics and vulnerable populations, consent and minors, deception and online identity, unintended consequences, and transparency and reproducibility.This webinar discusses these ethical concerns that require a combination of thoughtful consideration, adherence to research guidelines, and engagement with relevant stakeholders, including social media platforms and users.

Dr Nicolas Gold, Associate Professor  in Computer Science will lead the webinar, which will cover:

  • The identification of some key ethics issues when using social media data.
  • An approach to constructing arguments for ethically defensible research in this space.
  • A brief “tour” of some platform terms and their potential impact on research.

This webinar is aimed at all researchers using social media and those involved in the ethical review process of projects.

As BU subscribes to UKRIO services, UKRIO webinars are free and open to anyone who may be interested in research integrity and ethics, good research practice and improving research culture and avoiding misconduct.

To register – please click here (takes you to external website).

Collaborative midwifery paper cited 40 times

international, Women's Academic Network, writing

Two days ago ResearchGate informed us that that the paper ‘Midwifery-led antenatal care models: mapping a systematic review to an evidence-based quality framework to identify key components and characteristics of care‘ has reached 40 citations.  This paper, co-authored by Bournemouth University’s Professors Vanora Hundley and Edwin van Teijlingen, was originally published in 2016 in BMC Pregnancy & Childbirth [1]. Both Vanora and Edwin are based in the Centre for Midwifery & Women’s Health (CMWH) in the Faculty of Health & Social Sciences.

The same team wrote a separate paper the following year on ‘Antenatal care trial interventions: a systematic scoping review and taxonomy development of care models’ [2].  Interestingly, ResearchGate tells us this paper has been read fewer times and cited ‘only’ 21 times to date.

 

 

 

 

 

Reference:

  1. Symon, A., Pringle, J, Cheyne, H, Downe, S., Hundley, V, Lee, E, Lynn, F., McFadden, A, McNeill, J., Renfrew, M., Ross-Davie, M., van Teijlingen, E., Whitford, H, Alderdice, F. (2016) Midwifery-led antenatal care models: Mapping a systematic review to evidence-based quality framework to identify key components & characteristics of care, BMC Pregnancy & Childbirth 16:168 http://rdcu.be/uifu
  2. Symon, A., Pringle, J., Downe, S, Hundley, V., Lee, E., Lynn, F, McFadden, A, McNeill, J, Renfrew, M., Ross-Davie, M., van Teijlingen, E., Whitford, H., Alderdice, F. (2017) Antenatal care trial interventions: a systematic scoping review & taxonomy development of care models BMC Pregnancy & Childbirth 17:8 http://bmcpregnancychildbirth.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/s12884-016-1186-3

How does sustainable travel impact economic development?

A panel discussion at the Royal Geographical Society on 20th February will debate sustainable travel’s ability to impact economic development. The event at RGS’s headquarters in London (and also live streamed) will focus on tourism in developing countries, their current situation and the role that sustianable travel can have in leading recovery and future economic development. The panel includes Professor Adam Blake from BU’s International Centre for Tourism and Hospitality Research who will talk about his experience in analysing tourism’s impact on development and poverty reduction in developing countries.

https://www.rgs.org/events/upcoming-events/how-does-sustainable-travel-impact-economic-development

 

KEYNOTES announced for Digital Marketing Colloquium: Exploring Artificial Intelligence, Metaverse and Web3 19-20 March 24

KEYNOTES announced for the BOURNEMOUTH UNIVERSITY
Digital Marketing Colloquium: Exploring Artificial Intelligence, Metaverse and Web3
19-20 March 24 Bournemouth University https://www.bournemouth.ac.uk/about/our-faculties/bournemouth-university-business-school/department-marketing-strategy-innovation/digital-marketing-colloquium-2024
JOIN US – ABSTRACT DEADLINE Extended to the end of February

FHSS PhD Student Hina Tariq featured in the Frontline Magazine of Chartered Society of Physiotherapy

FHSS PhD student Hina Tariq has been featured in the frontline magazine of the Chartered Society of Physiotherapy with her clinical supervisor, Joel Dunn in an article “Addressing the cost of contractures” . The article highlights her PhD research on the development and validation of a contracture risk assessment tool (ORACLE). Joint contracture is a debilitating condition characterised by the shortening and stiffening of muscles, pose significant challenges for individuals’ mobility and quality of life. A valid and reliable contracture risk assessment tool might have the potential to trigger timely and appropriate referrals and may aid in prompt escalation of early interventions by the specialists aiming to reduce the risk of contracture development or progression of existing contractures.The article also highlights her contribution to a contracture awareness video  developed as part of a QI-driven project with Dorset Healthcare. The evidence behind the content of the video has been generated by her PhD research. The awareness video is developed for carers to highlight the risks associated with the development of joint contractures and the practical preventative steps. This video was co-created as a collaboration between Dorset HealthCare’s clinical staff, the quality improvement team and with support from staff at Encore Care Homes.

 

BU hosting IFIP OCCE 2024 Conference

conferences

BU is hosting an international conference, IFIP TC3 Open Conference on Computers in Education titled Digitally Transformed Education: Are We There Yet? This International Federation for Information Processing (IFIP) conference is the 4th after past conferences in Austria, India, Tanzania and Finland. BU is honoured to follow the great steps and efforts in defining technology input in education.

The OCCE 2024 will provide a forum for new research results, practical experiences, developments, ideas, and national perspectives, related to the conference focus and themes for all levels of education (preschool, primary, secondary, higher, vocational, and lifelong learning), including the professional development of educators (teachers, trainers and academic and support staff at other educational institutions) and related questions on educational management. The conference will aim to explore the impact of technology across a range of user experiences including those of students, staff and management. This will create an interesting creative tension during the conference.

The conference includes three keynotes from world renowned speakers: Julia Adamson MBE FBCS, Managing Director, Education and Public Benefit at BCS, The Chartered Institute for IT (whose mission at BCS is to give every young person the digital skills they need to succeed in life and work); Professor Deirdre Butler, a Full Professor at the Institute of Education, Dublin City University (DCU) (whose passion in life is exploring what being digital in learning can mean and what skills or competencies are needed to live and thrive in today’s complex globally connected world); and Professor Kai Rannenberg, Chair of Mobile Business & Multilateral Security, Goethe University Frankfurt, Germany (who has coordinated several leading EU research projects, e.g., the Network of Excellence “Future of Identity in the Information Society” and the Integrated Project “Attribute based Credentials for Trust” (ABC4Trust), and is coordinating CyberSec4Europe, a pilot for the European Cybersecurity Competence Network the EU is aiming for).

The conference includes two panel sessions. The first session chaired by Professor Alastair Irons titled the four nations panel includes members Dr. Parveen Samra, Dr. Fiona Mcneil, Professor Tom Crick and Dr. Michael McEnery. The panel focuses on the development of the computing and computing science curriculum in and across colleges and universities as an interesting, challenging and complex issue. It notes the situation in the UK is not uniform, with differences at school, college and university levels across England and the devolved nations (Scotland, Northern Ireland and Wales). It highlights the significant work happening in all four countries in the UK – some in collaboration, for example, degree accreditation, and some devolved, such as the school curriculum.

The second panel session chaired by Dr. Mary Webb is titled Opportunities and challenges for AI in Education: One year after ChatGPT?, and includes members Julia Adamson MBE, Dr. Caitlin Bentley and Professor Angelos Stefanidis. The sudden availability of generative AI to ChatGPT alerted everyone to AI’s rapidly developing capabilities and massive potential. While generative AI, as one type of AI application, can create and edit a range of different media very efficiently, other AI functionalities that are useful to education include: conversational AI, predictive AI, speech recognition, robotics, computer vision, learning and assessment analytics and personalised feedback. But what do all these advances mean for the education sector. The panel will consider this and other themes on this topic.

Other conference activities include 2 symposia, 6 workshops, an invited session and a doctoral consortium. The conference will be held at BU’s Executive Business Centre from 27 February 2024 to 1 March 2024. For more details, please visit the conference website: ww.bournemouth.ac.uk/occe-2024

The conference is being organised by International Programme Committee members:
• Christophe Reffay, IPC Chair, University of Franche-Comté, France
• Margaret Leahy, Editor, Dublin City University, Ireland
• Don Passey, IFIP TC3 Chair, Lancaster University, UK
• Mikko Ruohonen,Tampere University, Finland
• Javier Osorio Acosta, The University of Las Palmas de Gran Canaria, Spain
• Ivan Kalaš, Comenius University in Bratislava, Slovakia

And local Organisation Committee members from BU:
• Nan Jiang, Honorary Chair
• Melanie Coles, Honorary Chair
• Huseyin Dogan, Honorary Chair
• Nicholas Mavengere, Chair
• Lai Xu, Business partnership
• Paul De Vrieze, Finance Chair
• Deniz Cetinkaya, Student volunteers and internal promotion
• Wei Koong Chai, Publicity Chair
• Gernot Liebchen, Volunteers and internal promotion
• Avleen Malhi, Social events
• Mohammad Naiseh, Social events
• Marcin Budka, Digital Chair

Dr. Nicholas Blessing Mavengere
Local organising chair, nmavengere@bournemouth.ac.uk

We still need ‘YOU’ – Call for research participants – be part of our food waste revolution

Awarded & submitted bids

Remember the British Academy/Leverhulme Small Research Grant that we recently secured in September 2023? It is turning into a super cool project, and we want YOU in on the fun!

Calling all UK residents aged 18 and above to jump into the action
by participating in our consumer product evaluation research study

Visit a link and book a slot today

What’s the scoop for you? A £5 voucher, just for spending a quick 10 minutes on a fun online survey in our lab. And here’s the best part – you can cash in that voucher at BU’s food spots on both the Talbot and Lansdowne campuses.

Hold up, there’s more! After the 10-minute experiment session, you get to snag some free fruits and veggies to take home. It’s like a mini grocery haul, just for being a research rockstar!

Participation is a simple three-step process: 

  • Attend ONE experiment session at a Bournemouth University lab. Our lab is situated in the Fusion Building on the Talbot Campus. On Wednesdays, the lab is located at FG07, while on Thursdays, it relocates to F204. The lab opens from 1 pm to 3 pm, with the last session starting at 2:45 pm.
  • Explore fresh produce items up close, observing their presentation. 
  • Complete a quick 10-minute online questionnaire in the lab. 

Your contribution is a game-changer for us, and we can’t wait to see the impact we make together. This isn’t just research; it’s your chance to be a superhero in the battle against food waste. Your opportunity to contribute is now, and we can’t wait to have you on board! 

Interested in being a research participant? 

Simply scan the QR code to register or visit a link and book a slot or drop our research team to express your interest: Dr Guljira Manimont gmanimont@bournemouth.ac.uk or Professor Juliet Memery jmemery@bournemouth.ac.uk. 

BA/Leverhulme Small Research Grants

Funding opportunities

The call for the next round of BA/Leverhulme Small Research Grants will be opening soon, expected 10th April.

We are welcoming your proposals for the upcoming BA/Leverhulme Small grants call.

To ensure that the pre-award team can provide all interested academics with optimal support we are inviting you to participate to  RDS British Academy Guidance session

 

Wed 28th Feb 2024, 10:00-12:00 at Talbot campus

  • Join us to review the guidance and then start work on your application
  • Slides will be available after the session on Brightspace.

Work on your proposals, submit your ITB as soon as you are ready and work with your allocated officer on your budget. The earlier you send in your ITB, the sooner you can progress with your budget support.

To book onto this session, please complete the Booking Form under “British Academy Small Grants Guidance session – 28/02/2024” in the drop down menu.

Please find details on the process to be followed and deadlines here.

If you have any queries, please contact Eva Papadopoulou epapadopoulou@bournemouth.ac.uk or your Funding Development Officer.