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HE & Research Bill

Following on from the blog post after the release of the White Paper, the HE & Research Bill provides both clarification and a bit more insight into what the higher education reforms mean for research.

The bill reiterates the creation of the umbrella body United Kingdom Research and Innovation (UKRI) which will include the UK’s seven Research Councils, Innovate UK and Research England. Research England will take over responsibility for HEFCE’s current functions in relation to the allocation of quality-related research funding and knowledge exchange.

The bill also gives away slightly more detail around the reforms and what they mean for research.

  • The Secretary of State may add, omit or change the name of a council although this does not apply for Innovate UK or Research England.
  • The Secretary of State will also be able to change the field of activity associated with each of the councils.
  • The Secretary of State may give UKRI directions about the allocation or expenditure by UKRI of grants received.
  • However the Secretary of State will not be able to give direction in respect of functions exercisable by Research England concerning particular courses of study or programmes of research, or the criteria for the selection and appointment of academic staff and for the admission of students.
  • The last post highlighted the issue of continued dual support. As expected, the bill introduces the “balanced funding principle” which will ensure that a reasonable balance is achieved in the allocation of funding between the 7 councils and Research England.

As part of wider reforms to higher education, the introduction of the new Teaching Excellence Framework has caused the sector to raise concerns around the possible wedge between research and teaching. Although there is a reference in the White Paper ensuring that teaching and research remain coherent and coordinated at the national as well as the institutional level, the HE & Research Bill provides very little clarity apart from the provision that there will be cooperation and information sharing between Office for Students (OfS) and UKRI. The discussions around the distance between research and teaching have not been diluted since the publication of the bill and this area is one to watch over the next coming months. Jane Forster has written for Wonkhe on research and teaching, you can view her blog here.

**** Speaker Spotlight **** Interdisciplinary Research HE Sector Day on 21/6/16


IR21616
BU is hosting a Interdisciplinary Research HE Sector Day on 21st June 2016, dedicated to exploring the benefits and challenges of interdisciplinary research.

The Supporting Interdisciplinary Working Academics’ Perspective will be provided by – Prof. Alan Lester and Debbie Foy-Everett (Sussex), Jordan Graham and Ehsan Masood (Research Professional) and Christopher Ferguson (Piirus).

Prof. Alan Lester and Debbie Foy-Everett will present their talk entitled ‘Opportunities and challenges of managing internal interdisciplinary research initiatives: Sussex Research’. As director of Interdisciplinary Research at Sussex, together with Professional Services counterpart, Debbie Foy-Everett,  Alan leads a unit within tjheir Research and Enterprise division called Sussex Research, which facilitates interdisciplinary and other kinds of research initiative primarily through internally funded schemes of various kinds.

Jordan Graham and Ehsan Masood will outline the services offered by Research Professional in facilitating interdisciplinary research.

Christopher Ferguson, Piirus Social Media Correspondent, will discuss how to ‘connect and collaborate with researchers worldwide’.

Other presentations include:

Key Note address – Dr. Louise Mansfield (Deputy Director of the Brunel Centre for Sport, Health and Wellbeing and member of the What Works Centre for Wellbeing research team)

The Funders’ Perspective – Charlotte Lester (HEFCE), Dan Licari (Innovate UK / KTN Creative, Digital & Design) and Ben Sharman (EU NCP – Inclusive, innovative and reflective societies) Spotlight post to follow.

The Academics’ Perspective – Prof. Adele Ladkin (BU), Dr. David Hutchinson (Portsmouth) and Dr. Justine McConnell (TORCH, University of Oxford)

Facilitated networking session – How can I contribute?

Please see the Speakers’ Biographies for further information on our contributors.

The event will take place in BU’s Executive Business Centre. It will be opened BU’s Professor Michael Wilmore (Executive Dean – Faculty of Media and Communication and  the closing remarks will be made by BU’s Vice-Chancellor, Professor John Vinney. To find out more about BU’s Research, why not register to receive updates from our award winning Research Blog.

Please see the Provisional Interdisciplinary Research HE Sector Day Schedule for more information. Key to the programme, as well as inspirational speakers, there will be plenty of time to network with colleagues and participate in exploring your own relationship with interdisciplinary research.

This event, is free and open to academics and research support staff throughout the UK.

Places are limited, so book now via Eventbrite.

NCCPE Engage Competition 2016

Knowledge Exchange

The bi-annual NCCPE Engage Competition has launched for 2016, aiming to recognise and reward high quality examples of public engagement with research. The competition first ran in 2014, when 230 entries were received and awarded prizes to some exceptional engagement projects.

This year there are six competition categories, and the winner of each category will receive a prize of £1,500 to go towards further public engagement work at their institution. The winners and runners-up from each category will be celebrated at an awards ceremony as part of Engage 2016, the NCCPE’s annual conference, this year on the 29th and 30th November.

Please follow the link for more details!

BU to host National Undergraduate Research Conference in April 2017

Centre for Excellence in Learning

BCUR17

Bournemouth University is getting ready to host the 7th BCUR (British Conference in Undergraduate Research) on April 25-26 2017. Previous hosts include: University of Central Lancashire (2011), University of Warwick (2012), Plymouth University (2013), University of Nottingham (2014), University of Winchester (2015), and in 2016 Manchester Metropolitan University. BU has had representation at each of these gatherings previously, and is looking forward to hosting in 2017. At the last gathering in Manchester, the faculty of Management, SciTech and HSS all had undergraduate student abstracts accepted, profiling their research by way of poster session or oral presentations.

Two students who participated at the March 2016 conference in Manchester took a lot away from the enhanced learning experience the conference offered.

Manchester postersAaron Wornes, final year international hospitality management student who presented his research on The General Attitudes of Self-Service Technology said “The diversity and level of research that was being presented was enthralling. I felt so proud that I was able to share my interests though my own research. My only regret was that I didn’t hear about BCUR sooner, I can’t wait for Bournemouth to host next year”. Edwin Lewis, a final year Tourism Management student made the following observations, “…it has given me time to reflect not only on my own research and what else I could include, but also the wide variety of undergraduate research that is being studied. The conference really helped me understand how important it is to recognise research projects. I am very excited that BU gets to hold BCUR next year”. Edwin presented his dissertation research on The Impacts of Airline Hubs on the European Aviation Market, A Case Study of the Emirates.

FoM at MMU

The current BU organising committee is taking shape with UET support and is made up of Gail Thomas (CEL), Luciana Esteves, Mary Beth Gouthro (conference co-chairs); representatives from each faculty, ie Maggie Hutchings/Peter Thomas (HSS); Xun He (SciTech); Fiona Cownie (FMC) and Miguel Moital (FoM). Also contributing to the planning are team members from: Marketing Communications, BU Events Team, SUBU and Estates.

Bournemouth Uni is expecting well over 400 delegates to this national research conference next April. It is a great opportunity to showcase the diverse quality of undergraduate research being undertaken at BU and other UK universities in attendance. If you seek further information, please contact any of your faculty colleagues mentioned above or co-chair Mary Beth Gouthro mgouthro@bournemouth.ac.uk.

For more information on BU’s prior involvement in BCUR activities, previous research blog entries can be found below, and follow #BCUR17.

2014:

http://blogs.bournemouth.ac.uk/research/2014/04/24/school-of-tourism-undergraduates-highlight-research-at-national-bcur-gathering-2/

2015:

http://blogs.bournemouth.ac.uk/research/2015/03/02/bu-undergraduate-research-featured-in-houses-of-parliament/

2016:

http://blogs.bournemouth.ac.uk/research/2016/02/16/bu-undergraduate-research-on-show-in-parliament/

 

Environmental design specialist Terri Preece visits BUDI!

PG research

Terri Preece Wayfinding Lab resized

In May 2016 environmental design specialist, Terri Preece, from Richard Fleming’s group at the University of Wollongong, Australia, came to visit BUDI and the Wayfinding Lab, following on from a conversation made with PhD Student Mary O’Malley during her Poster session at the ADI 2016 conference. Terri, who consults care-homes and hospitals on how they can be more user friendly for people with dementia was particularly interested in the work BUDI does surrounding designing environments to support orientation, including our eye-tracking (see picture below). PhD student Chris Hilton showed Terri a demo of his virtual reality eye-tracking study which looks at what aspects of the environment people attend to when learning routes, whilst  Mary O’Malley showed Terri her study which investigates how older adults interpret “you-are-here” maps.

Report by Mary O’Malley, PhD Student

BUDI presents at “Sensing the Place” event in London

PG research

Mary persensing sessing (1)

As part of GreenSky Thinking Week, PhD student Mary O’Malley was invited to talk as part of the ARCC “Sensing the place – experiences & wayfinding in a changing climate event, held by BuroHappold in London on 27th April 2016. Mary presented a short talk, about the different navigation representations we make when learning new environments and discussed how these are affected by ageing and Alzheimer’s disease. She then went on to talk about her PhD research which looks at creating environments that support successful orientation The event was mainly made of architects and urban designers which resulted in great discussions on how psychological theory can apply to practice!Mary sensing (2) resized

Report by Mary O’Malley

 

sensing-place-download

Higher Education Innovation Fund – Call is now open!

Business Engagement, Funding opportunities, HEIF, innovation, Knowledge Exchange

andrew archery

Further to the blog post advising this call was soon to be announced – applications are invited for the latest round of HEIF funding. This call is now open.

All the information can be found here.

This includes:

  • Call schedule
  • Application form
  • Frequently asked questions (FAQS)

Both the application form and the FAQs contain a lot of information relevant to the call in addition to a number of useful links that will help when completing your application form.

 

Human Milk Banking in the UK

PG research, student research

UKAMBBreast feeding is the gold standard for feeding babies. This might not be surprising for most of you, although the rates of exclusive breast feeding in the UK are low. But have you ever heard of human milk banking? The UK Association for Milk Banking (UKAMB) does an incredible job in providing safe and screened donor breast milk all over the country through 16 donor milk banks, mostly to preterm babies whose mothers cannot provide sufficient breast milk. Feeding human donor milk instead of formula milk is for example associated with a lower risk for the severe gut infection necrotising enterocolitis.

Breast milk and donor milk also contain omega-3 and omega-6 polyunsaturated fatty acids, which are essential for brain and visual development in early infancy. However, research based at BU has identified that the current intake levels of preterm infants are too low to match the in utero accretion rates. Therefore, the aim of my PhD project at BU is to investigate approaches to increase the intake of omega-3 and omega-6 polyunsaturated fatty acids in preterm babies to improve their outcomes. One aspect I will be looking at is the intake from donor milk. Therefore, I was invited by the UK Association for Milk Banking to give a short presentation about my research at their annual training day in June.

I am looking forward to meeting donor milk bank staff and other researchers in the field of human milk banking at this day. I will post more details after the event. If you have any questions in the meantime, please feel free to contact me at inessel@bournemouth.ac.uk

If you would like to find out more about human milk banking in the UK or want to become a milk donor visit UKAMB’s website at http://www.ukamb.org/.

Isabell

Linking your BRIAN account with your ORCID account

BRIAN, Publishing

OrcidA recent upgrade on BRIAN means that you are now able to link your ORCID ID with your BRIAN account. Click on this link to register for an ORCID account if you haven’t already got one.

Configuring ORCID is really easy. Go to your BRIAN homepage and scroll to the bottom of the page where you’ll find your ‘Data sources’. Simply click ‘configure’ next to the ORCID data source and you’ll be greeted with an authentication screen to either login or register with ORCID.

Screen Shot 2016-06-06 at 10.51.49

Once the accounts have been linked, BRIAN will periodically search ORCID for your “works” containing a DOI, PubMed ID or Scopus ID. Using these identifiers, BRIAN will then collect trusted metadata from other data sources including PubMed, Scopus and CrossRef and automatically associate this harvested data with a your BRIAN account.

About ORCID

ORCID is an open, non-profit, community-based effort to provide a registry of unique researcher identifiers and a transparent method of linking research activities and outputs to these identifiers. ORCID is unique in its ability to reach across disciplines, research sectors, and national boundaries and its cooperation with other identifier systems. Find out more on their website.

2015/16 Research Photography Competition – in the Atrium Art Gallery!

As some of you may know that for the past two years we have run the Research Photography Competition and the challenge we set our academics and students was ‘Can you tell the story of your research in a single image?’. We saw an overwhelming response from researchers all across the university downing tools to take up their cameras and think of unusual ways to illustrate their research.  The resulting images demonstrate not just the creativity of our academics and students, but also the fascinating range of research taking place at BU.

For one week only, some select entries from the past two years are being displayed the the Atrium Art Gallery until the 13th of June. Come and see Research from all across the university in areas as diverse as science, education, health, computer animation, sport, Law and much more.

So if you are interested in what research is happening at BU or need some inspiration for your entry to the next competition, then please feel free to come along!

if you have any questions on the competition or on the display, please contact Oliver Cooke .

IMG_2313

Warwick workshop application deadline & 2016 John Maddox Prize

This is a reminder about the Standing up for Science media workshop at the University of Warwick on Friday 24th June. The closing date for applications is 9am on Monday 13th June and we’d love to see early career members from BU there. The workshop is open to early career researchers and scientists in all sciences, engineering and medicine (PhD students, post-docs or equivalent in first job) – please find more details in the flyer and pasted below. Do let me know if you’d like any more details, or if you’d like to join us as an observer on the day.
Also, as some of you may know, nominations are now open for the 2016 John Maddox Prize for Standing up for Science. Now in it’s fifth year, this unique international prize recognises the work of an individual who promotes sound science and evidence on a matter of public interest, facing difficulty or hostility in doing so. Please do share this with your networks (#MaddoxPrize on Twitter) — and start thinking about who you might nominate for the award. The deadline for entries is 1st August 2016. If you’d like to run an article or feature it in a newsletter- please let me know.
John Maddox was a founding trustee of Sense about Science, and an inspirational figure to many. A passionate and tireless communicator and defender of science, Maddox engaged with difficult debates, inspiring others to do the same. To nominate someone for the prize or find out more, please visit http://bit.ly/Maddox2016.

Innovate UK – Open funding competition – £15m

Business Engagement, Funding opportunities, innovation, Knowledge Exchange

InnovateUK_LogoA_Interim_RGBx320govuk[1]

This competion is open to the  best business–led ideas or concepts that can be drawn from any technology, engineering or industrial area, including Innovate UK’s four priority sectors for growth.

Projects may focus on:

•market research;

•technical feasibility;

•industrial research;

This call opens on 6 June.

For more information including dates and deadlines and competion scope  click here .

General competition guidance.

If you are interested in submitting to any of the above calls you must contact your  RKEO Funding Development Officer with adequate notice before the deadline.

For more funding opportunities that are most relevant to you, you can set up your own personalised alerts on Research Professional. If you need help setting these up, just ask your School’s/Faculty’s Funding Development Officer in  RKEO or view the recent blog post here.

If thinking of applying, why not add notification of your interest on Research Professional’s record of the bid so that BU colleagues can see your intention to bid and contact you to collaborate.

Committee inquiries: open calls for evidence

Below is a list of committee inquiries with current open calls for evidence. Please contact Emma Bambury-Whitton if you would like to discuss submitting evidence.

Commons Select Committee inquiries

Joint Committee inquiries

HE Policy Update

HE & Research Bill

A second reading of the higher education and research bill followed by progression to the committee stage is expected before the summer recess. The government has two windows of opportunity to achieve this: one of seven working days between 6 June and 14 June; and another of 19 working days between 27 June and 21 July.

International Students

The Financial Times has reported on the latest ONS migration statistics which show that tighter post-study visa rules have led to a 6% drop this past year in the number of people outside the EU applying for student visas. Migration Statistics Quarterly Report: May 2016. (ONS).

Student Loans

A petition to protest at the government’s retrospective changes in the terms and conditions of student loans has reached 100,000 signatures in the past three days. The high level of support means that parliament must consider debating the issue. Student loan payback petition tops 100,000 signatures (BBC News).

Teaching and Research

Jane Forster has written a blog on Wonkhe about the future of linking teaching and research. You can view the blog here.

Fee Caps

The Minister of State for Universities and Science has announced that the rate of inflation applying to maximum fees for institutions demonstrating high quality teaching will be 2.8 per cent in 2017-18. However in order to charge the maximum fee, universities must resubmit the access agreements that they have with the Office for Fair Access. Fee caps and inflationary increases for 2017-18 (OFFA).

Sutton Trust

A report published by the Sutton Trust finds that by year 9, almost 65% of girls thought it was ‘very important’ to go to university, compared with 58% of boys. You can view the report here.

Research

A report for Sense about Science has found that the government has no central record of how it spends around £2.5 billion a year in research for policy. Only 4 out of 24 government departments maintain a database of research they have commissioned. You can view the report here.

We have recently signed up to daily policy alerts from Wonkhe. Our subscription allows for a limited number of internal staff to also receive these alerts. If you would like to receive these daily emails, please let me know as soon as possible.

BU represented at WHOSE SHOES? workshop in London

PG research

I am Alice Ladur, PhD student in the Faculty of Health and Social Sciences. My research topic is on uptake of health facility delivery by women in developing countries.

I attended a WHOSE SHOES workshop initiated by Professor Vanora Hundley and later met with Gill Phillips, the brain behind this great innovative approach at University College London Hospital. WHOSE SHOES is a tool designed to enhance intuitive discussions on how to improve maternity services. Different hierarchies of people are brought together round a board game in a relaxed environment to share views and experiences in a respectful manner.

From our discussions around the table, one can only highlight the importance of not just having the end user in mind but service providers who are at the forefront of delivering care to women and families. Our intended outcomes can only be as good as the people delivering the services!

It was a well-timed meeting since am in the initial stages of developing an intervention to increase uptake of skilled birth attendance as part of my PHD project. The workshop provided an essential boost to explore innovative ways in engaging with service providers and communities to improve maternity services. After the workshop, I left thinking about two things; the need to own up to our part of the bargain whilst moving away from the `blame game` characteristic of maternity services in Uganda(similar to some developing countries) and  pledge to do better!

To find out more about WHOSE SHOES and Gill Phillips:  http://nutshellcomms.co.uk/

Funding opportunity – Developing impact through innovation (HEIF)

Business Engagement, Funding opportunities, HEIF, innovation, Knowledge Exchange

andrew archery

Higher Education Innovation Fund (HEIF): money available to support your business engagement and knowledge exchange ideas – call to open soon

HEFCE provide funding for knowledge exchange –  Higher Education Innovation Funding (HEIF) to support and develop a broad range of knowledge-based interactions between universities and colleges and the wider world, which result in economic and social benefit to the UK. The current round of funding is referred to is HEIF 5+1+1 and runs until 31st July 2017.

BU has a proven track record with this funding stream and our success continues. Currently there are 13 live projects funded from HEIF 5+1. Examples of current projects can be found on the project pages on the BU research website and include:

Interim funding has been made available to run from 1 August 2016 to 31 July 2017. This is known as HEIF 5+1+1. (Funds cannot be carried over.)

A call will open soon and circulated internally inviting colleagues to bid for funds to run a 12 month HEIF 5+1+1 project.  (These innovative projects can be new or build on existing activity that may strengthen and/or facilitate future funding applications.)

These projects will need to reflect our interim strategy sent to HEFCE (as below):

“BU will continue to invest in innovation themes with a strong focus on network creation, with a particular focus on digital and creative industries, health and wellbeing, and regional development. The additional year of funding will enable BU to continue to develop our existing area in addition to investment to develop new innovations. This will allow BU to create innovations in key areas, whilst developing closer links with regional initiatives to enhance local development opportunities, working with the Dorset LEP and other organisations. We will also consider the use of HEIF funds to invest in effective mechanisms for engaging with business/industry. Our core strategy of investing in sector-specific themes with a strong focus on network creation remains; what has changed in light of emerging opportunities is the nature of the themes in which we will invest and the mechanisms through which we will engage with the region.”

Themes could include but are not exclusive to:

  • Biodiversity, Natural and Cultural Assets (e.g. environmental sciences, archaeology,)
  • Global Security
  • Healthcare technologies (e.g. sensors, robotics, virtual reality, augmented reality, gamification, mobile apps)
  • Economic growth and innovation.

Interdisciplinary working will need to be evident in successful proposals. Project boards including academics and external organisations will also need to be identified as part of the proposal.

If you are considering an application for HEIF funding you may find it helpful  to speak to the current HEIF project leads (HEIF 5+1: 01/08/15 – 31/07/16) to identify how best to develop your proposal and consider existing HEIF project activity where relevant.  More information is listed below:

 

PI PI email PI ext Title of proposal
Adrian Newton anewton@bournemouth.ac.uk 65670 Development of a toolkit for modelling natural capital
Alison McConnell amcconnell@bournemouth.ac.uk 62313 Final stage development and validation of a mobile device App to reduce blood pressure
Genoveva Esteban gesteban@bournemouth.ac.uk 68936 The Dorset Coast Digital Archive (DCDA)
Heather Hartwell hhartwell@bournemouth.ac.uk 61712 FoodSMART (proof of concept)
Hongnian Yu yuh@bournemouth.ac.uk 66150 Sensor-Integrated Urometer for measuring real-time urine output
Jian Chang jchang@bournemouth.ac.uk 61881 Virtual Prototyping of New Lifeboat Launching System with Unmanned Vehicles to Enhance Safety
Kathy Hodder khodder@bournemouth.ac.uk 66784 Enhancing Urban Green Space for Pollinators – Decision Making Hub
Kevin McGhee kmcghee@bournemouth.ac.uk 68189 Psychiatric Genetic Counselling for Healthcare Professionals (PGC4HP): First UK pilot study, regional knowledge exchange and global impact.
Mark Brisbane mbrisbane@bournemouth.ac.uk 65166 Building Roman Britain: Innovative investigations of Roman building material and knowledge exchange through museum interpretation and learning.
Richard Stillman rstillman@bournemouth.ac.uk 66782 Simply communicating complex research to inform environmental decision-making
Sarah Bate sbate@bournemouth.ac.uk 61918 Superior Face Recognition: Generating Knowledge Exchange with the Police Force
Stephen Jukes sjukes@bournemouth.ac.uk 65630 Hazardous environment training for journalists: a mobile training platform
Wen Tang wtang@bournemouth.ac.uk 62498 “PLUS” Knowledge Exchange Partnership Building with Regional Police Forces on Developing  New Police Training Methodologies Using Role-playing Games Technology

Keep an eye out on the staff intranet, research blog and other staff communication channels for updates as deadlines will be short. For more information on HEIF and other knowledge exchange opportunities, please contact Jayne Codling Knowledge Exchange Adviser (RKEO).

Announcement BU Humanisation Conference 2016

Research Integritiy

BU Humanisation Conference     21st June 2016

Venue: Room EB708, Executive Business Centre, 89 Holdenhurst Road, BH8 8EB

 

Please find the Programme for the Humanisation conference on the 21st June 2016 attached.

Please feel free to pass the information on to others internal and external to the university (academic and practice) who you feel may be interested

The conference is being run at no cost and so you need to make your own arrangements for lunch.  Let Dr. Caroline Ellis-Hill  ( cehill@bournemouth.ac.uk ) know by the 15th June if you wish to attend .

If you only want to attend for part of the day, please state which part of the day you’d like to attend.

 

9.30 Registration  
10.00 Dr Caroline Ellis-Hill Welcome
10.10 Anne Quinney Humanisation of the BU Generic Student Assessment Criteria.
10.30 Dr Sean Beer Perceptions of the authenticity of food: a study of residents in Dorset (UK)
10.50 Prof Ann Hemingway Innovative routes to Wellbeing: Equine Assisted interventions
11.10 Coffee  
11.30 Jane Fry Sharing human concerns: utilising an embodied interpretative approach to convey findings from a descriptive phenomenological study
11.50 Dr Carole Pound Humanising care: translating theory into practice in stroke care
12.10 Rutherford and Dr. Emer Forde The Rutherford Introspective Photography: Promoting self-reflection and wellbeing of GP trainees through photography.
12.30 Free time   Please see information about local venues for lunch
2.00 Dr Vanessa Heaslip How phenomenology enables insight into the Human lives of Gypsy Roma Travellers’
2.20 Mevalyn Cross Experiencing the Humanisation Framework together
2.40 Dr Jan Mosja Chaplaincy at the bedside. Learning from Buddhist chaplains and their contributions to the humanisation of health care.
3.00 Sally Lee Humanising and the Care Act well-being principle
3.20 Dr Mary Grant and Dr Catherine Lamont Robinson HeART of Stroke: feasibility study of an Art & Health intervention following a stroke
3.40 Thanks, Tea and Close  

 

**** Speaker Spotlight **** Interdisciplinary Research HE Sector Day on 21/6/16

IR21616

BU is hosting a Interdisciplinary Research HE Sector Day on 21st June 2016, dedicated to exploring the benefits and challenges of interdisciplinary research.

The Academics’ Perspective will be provided by three speakers – Prof. Adele Ladkin (BU), Dr. David Hutchinson (Portsmouth) and Dr. Justine McConnell (TORCH, University of Oxford).

Prof. Adele Ladkin is currently working on a multidisciplinary research project ‘Family Rituals 2.0’ funded by the EPSRC, exploring the evolving nature of family rituals in the digital age and the use of technology to support the work-life balance of mobile workers.

Dr. David Hutchinson recently began a new role as Innovation and Impact Development Manager for the Faculty of Technology at the University of Portsmouth. Until the end of May, he was manager of the University of Portsmouth Environment Network, having joined the University in 2010 to help establish this network. UPEN now represents the skills and expertise of over 250 academics from across the University that relate to Sustainability and Environment.

Dr. Justin McConnell is a Leverhulme Early Career Fellow at TORCH, working on contemporary African, Caribbean, and ancient Greek poetics. After degrees at Cambridge, Bristol, and London, she was a Mellon Postdoctoral Fellow at Northwestern University in Chicago, before coming to Oxford as a Leverhulme Postdoctoral Research Associate at the Archive of Performances of Greek and Roman Drama (APGRD), where she worked on the ‘Performing Epic’ project.

 

Other presentations include:

Key Note address – Dr. Louise Mansfield (Deputy Director of the Brunel Centre for Sport, Health and Wellbeing and member of the What Works Centre for Wellbeing research team)

The Funders’ Perspective – Charlotte Lester (HEFCE), Dan Licari (Innovate UK / KTN Creative, Digital & Design) and Ben Sharman (EU NCP – Inclusive, innovative and reflective societies)

Supporting Interdisciplinary Working – Prof. Alan Lester and Debbie Foy-Everett (Sussex), Jordan Graham and Ehsan Masood (Research Professional) and Christopher Ferguson (Piirus)

Facilitated networking session – How can I contribute?

Please see the Speakers’ Biographies for further information on our contributors.

The event will take place in BU’s Executive Business Centre. It will be opened BU’s Prof. Michael Wilmore (Executive Dean – Faculty of Media and Communication and  the closing remarks will be made by BU’s Vice-Chancellor, Prof. John Vinney. To find out more about BU’s Research, why not register to receive updates from our award winning Research Blog.

Please see the Provisional Interdisciplinary Research HE Sector Day Schedule for more information. Key to the programme, as well as inspirational speakers, there will be plenty of time to network with colleagues and participate in exploring your own relationship with interdisciplinary research.

This event, is free and open to academics and research support staff throughout the UK.

Places are limited, so book now via Eventbrite.