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Policy Update

Monday

Transparency duty

David Cameron has announced plans to require universities to publish statistical data on admissions by gender, class and ethnic background.  

Pay gap

Data analysis by the Trades Union Congress, has shown that black graduates earn on average £14.33 an hour, compared with £18.63 earned by white graduates. Black workers ‘earning less than white colleagues’ (BBC News).

Tuesday

EU

The Telegraph has reported that Britain is heading for a June referendum on membership of the EU as it emerged that David Cameron will be offered a deal allowing the UK Parliament to block unwanted Brussels laws. Britain heading for June EU referendum as David Cameron is offered ‘red card’ to block EU laws (The Telegraph).

Wednesday

Postgraduate funding

A survey of 1,226 taught postgraduates who enrolled on science, technology, engineering and mathematics courses at 11 UK universities last year found that 41.2 per cent of students from the most affluent families said that their parents would be their main source of funding. Poorer students ‘disadvantaged’ in postgraduate funding struggle (THE).

Thursday

EU students

A number of English universities have increased their recruitment of European Union students by more than 40 per cent after the removal of controls on undergraduate places. EU students up by over 40 per cent at some English universities (THE).

Oxbridge

The Sutton Trust has said that the way students are admitted to Oxford and Cambridge universities is complex and intimidating. It is argued that Oxbridge should simplify the process to help those from schools and homes not familiar with it. Oxbridge college admissions ‘complex and intimidating’ (BBC News).

Friday

Home Office

The London School of Business and Finance that has tried to enrol international students whose visa applications were subsequently refused, has had its licence revoked.  Foreign students must leave UK as college loses licence (BBC News).

Undergraduate Research Assistantships – Summer Round – Academic Applications now live

Funding opportunities, Fusion Investment Fund

Academics are now invited to submit applications for the summer round of the Undergraduate Research Assistantship (URA) programme.

The programme is funded by the Fusion Investment Fund and aims to support undergraduates to undertake paid work under the guidance of an experienced academic in a research position that is directly related to their career path and/or academic discipline.

The summer programme is for students to work full-time (37.5 hours per week) for six weeks over the summer. This programme will have the capacity for approximately 20 placements.

Further information of the URA programme as a whole can be found here.

To apply for a URA over the summer, please complete the following application form.  Please note the closing date for applications is midnight Sunday 21st February.

If you have any questions relating to the programme, please contact Rachel Clarke, KE Adviser (KTP) on 01202 961347 or email clarker@bournemouth.ac.uk 

Contact, Help, Advice and Information Network (CHAIN) Demonstration 23rd March 2016

CHAIN – Contact, Help, Advice and Information Network – is an online mutual support network for people working in health and social care. It gives people a simple and informal way of contacting each other to exchange ideas and share knowledge.

The online Directory can be used to identify and communicate with other members. You might wish to do this to draw from their experience, or to elicit an opinion on an issue or something you are doing. Or you might wish to find collaborators or liaise with fellow-travellers or people with specific skills or interests for a wide range of purposes. You can do this quickly and easily with CHAIN, and part of the advantage is that the people you find will usually be happy to help you if they can.

A representative from CHAIN will be visiting BU on 23rd March at 2:30pm in Wollstone Lecture Theatre, Bournemouth House (BG10) to demonstrate how to make the most of being part of the network. All staff are welcome to attend, and please pass the invitation on to your final year students who may be interested in learning more about what CHAIN has to offer.

Contact Lisa Gale-Andrews at lgaleandrews@bournemouth.ac.uk to book your place.

International Women’s Day

Women's Academic Network

Please see below a programme of activity to mark International Women’s Day. The events are being undertaken in partnership with the Women’s Academic Network at BU.

Friday 4 March

lauraserrantTitle: Standing on the shoulders of giants: A career and life in health Speaker: Professor Laura Serrant PhD MA BA RGN PGCE QN Venue: BG10, Bournemouth House, Lansdowne Campus Time: 13:00-14:00

Tuesday 8 March

Title: Rising to the top: the reflections of a female chief constable Speaker: Chief Constable Debbie Simpson, Dorset Police Venue: Lees Lecture Theatre, Talbot Campus Time: 11:30-12:30 debbie simpson

All events will be held at the Talbot and Lansdowne Campuses and are open to BU students, staff and the wider community.

RKEO first drop-in session of the year

Guidance

research lifecycleAs previously posted, RKEO will be holding monthly drop-in sessions throughout 2016.  The full schedule of sessions can be found here.

The first session will be held on 24 February 2016 between 2-4pm in Bournemouth House Cafe.  Anyone can attend with any queries for RKEO. The following RKEO staff will be available for the session:

You don’t need to be from these faculties as staff will help with any queries they have and if they’re not able to answer your query then and there, they’ll ensure you receive a timely response from RKEO.  Basically, come along and have a chat. These are also great opportunities for us to gather feedback from you on the service that we deliver to you.

RKEO look forward to seeing you.

New paper by Dr Julie Robson in the Journal of Business Research

Research themes

JRobson1

Dr Julie Robson (based in FoM) has had her article ‘ Senior management perceptions of aspirational groups: A study of the UK general insurance market’ published in the Journal of Business Research. The paper, co-authored by Professor Hans van der Heijden at the University of Sussex, draws insight from consumer marketing on aspirational groups to explore the composition and structure of aspirational groups compared to strategic groups in a market setting. The findings contribute to knowledge on strategy formation by highlighting the important role aspirational groups play in understanding competitive market movements.

Update your ORCID ID on HRCore

Guidance

@Pengpeng Hatch. All copyrights reserved.

@Pengpeng Hatch. All copyrights reserved.

ORCID ID will soon be made mandatory in our HESA return so if you have not yet obtained an ORCID ID, it is recommended that you do so as soon as possible. Please refer to this blog post for information on how to do so. In the coming mock REF internal outputs light-touch review, ORCID ID is also a mandatory field.

As soon as you have obtained your ORCID ID, this is how you can update your HRCore with the information.

Step 1:

Log in to the staff intranet

Step 2:

Locate ‘HR Portal’ in the scroll bar at the bottom. You will be directed to the CORE Portal. Log in with your usual BU credentials. Click on ‘My Personnel Services’ and you will be able to see the ORCID field under ‘Additional options’. Click on the option and enter your 16 digits ORCID ID and click save. Please note that the HR Portal is only accessible on-campus.

Your ORCID ID is now recorded on HR Core.

For queries about this, please direct them to pphatch@bournemouth.ac.uk.

RKEO – It’s good to talk

Guidance

flyingIn response to positive feedback from academics about how much you benefit from face-to-face meetings with staff from RKEO, we have set up drop-in sessions for 2016.

These sessions will be held on a monthly basis and anyone can attend with any queries for RKEO.  RKEO staff will be available for two hours each session and so come along and have a chat.  These are also great opportunities for us to gather feedback from you on the service that we deliver for you.

The planned sessions for this year are as follows:

Date Time Where
Wed. 24/02/2016 2-4pm Bournemouth House café
Wed. 23/03/2016 2-4pm Talbot – Atrium café
Wed. 20/04/2016 2-4pm Talbot – Atrium café
Tues. 17/05/2016 2-4pm Bournemouth House café
Wed. 15/06/2016 2-4pm Talbot – Atrium café
Thurs. 14/07/2016 2-4pm Bournemouth House café
Wed. 10/08/2016 2-4pm Talbot – Atrium café
Thurs. 08/09/2016 2-4pm Talbot – Atrium café
Wed. 05/10/2016 2-4pm Bournemouth House café
Thurs. 03/11/2016 2-4pm Talbot – Atrium café
Wed. 07/12/2016 2-4pm Talbot – Atrium café

Blog posts will be issued for each session, reminding you of the date, time and place and also informing you of who will be at the session from RKEO.  If there is a specific member of RKEO that you would like to meet with at the sessions then please contact them in advance and see if they are available for a chat.

RKEO look forward to seeing you.

An Update on EPSRC Delivery Plan

EPSRC_logoThe Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council put out its 2016-20 delivery plan to consultation at the end of 2015. On 2nd February EPSRC published an update to the draft plan, which sets out four areas that it intends to focus on over the next five years:

• Productivity
• Connectedness
• Resilience
• Health

 

Ambitions have been developed within each area, which will form the framework for its Delivery Plan. These ambitions will help determine the challenge-led aspect of its portfolio. EPSRC funding will still be accessed through the usual entry points of its capability disciplines, which include Mathematics, Physical Sciences, ICT and Engineering and decisions will still be taken on excellence.

A brief definition of each area and associated ambitions can be found here. These ambitions are provisional and will remain so until EPSRC receives its budget allocation for 2016-2020, when it can definitively prioritise its plans.

An Artistic Stippling Technique for Animated 3D Models

We would like to invite you to a visiting scholar research seminar by Dr. Dongwann Kang next Tuesday afternoon.

ArtisticStippling

Title:         An Artistic Stippling Technique for Animated 3D Models

Date:         Tuesday 9th February 2016

Time:         3-4PM

Location: P302

Biography

Dongwann Kang received his Ph.D. degree in Chung-Ang University, South Korea in 2013. He also received his B.S. and M.S. degrees in Computer Science and Engineering from Chung-Ang University in 2006 and 2008. He was the research fellow in Chung-Ang University from Mar. 2013 to Jun. 2015. Now, he is a visiting researcher in the SciTech, Bournemouth University, UK. His research interests include artistic stylization, emotional computing, image manipulation and GPU processing.

Abstract

Stippling is the creation of a pattern simulating varying degrees of solidity or shading by using small dots. Such a pattern may occur in nature and these effects are frequently emulated by artists. ‘Hedcut’ is a stippling style for newspaper illustrations. Specifically, this technique, which combines stippling and line drawing, employs a directional stipple pattern similar to cross- hatching. Unlike traditional stippling methods that represent the tone of a subject by the density of the stipples, hedcut evenly distributes stipples with such a directional pattern and adjusts the size and tone of the stipples. In this presentation, I present a hedcut rendering method for animated 3D models that satisfies these characteristics. To maintain frame-to-frame coherency in animations, I introduce a texture mapping-based stippling method. I execute a quadrangulation that captures the geometric structure of the surface, and obtain directional stipples by mapping a two-directional patterned texture onto each quad mesh. For even distribution of texture-mapped stipples on screen space, I propose a texture generation and mapping method that adjusts the number of stipples on the texture depending on the viewpoint.

RCUK response to the HE Green Paper and the Nurse Review

RCUKlogoResearch Councils UK (RCUK) has published a full response to the Higher Education Green Paper and the Nurse Review, which sets out key principles that the Research Councils collectively consider should be the basis on which reform of the research funding landscape should take place.

The response relates to Part D of the Green Paper relating to the research landscape and to the broad direction of travel recommended by Sir Paul Nurse. It does not address individual questions specifically.  Their overriding priority is to ensure that the UK’s world-class research is supported through the most effective and efficient means possible.

Research Councils demonstrate the impact of their investments in latest impact reports

RCUKlogoYesterday, the Research Councils published their impact reports for the 2014/2015 financial year, demonstrating the impact their investments have made on the economy, on policy and for society.

Each Research Council has produced its own report, showcasing specific examples of the impact of investment through their various awards, programmes and collaborations. The wide-ranging nature of the impact extends from furthering technological advances to combatting disease.

Collectively, the seven Research Councils invest £3 billion in research each year covering all disciplines and sectors, to meet tomorrow’s challenges today and provide the world-class research and skills that are the foundation of a strong and productive UK economy. This helps to achieve balanced growth as well as contributing to a healthy society and a sustainable world. It ensures the UK builds capacity, safeguards the long-term sustainability of research and remains a global leader in research and innovation. Additionally, by working in partnership, the Research Councils combine investments in a multitude of global societal and economic challenge areas to achieve even greater impact.

Highlights from the reports – particularly in boosting the economy, shaping policy and contributing to society – include:

  • Improving family lives and saving the taxpayer £1.2 billion: Secondary analysis of ESRC-funded survey data has helped local authorities in England to target interventions that support families with long-standing problems, turning around their lives and improving the life chances of children. The Troubled Families programme, praised by the Prime Minister after helping an estimated 116,000 families and saving the taxpayer £1.2 billion, was extended for five years from 2015.
  • Shaping international policy making and supporting vulnerable deaf communities: AHRC-funded research has supported the status of endangered sign languages in communities in India, new legislation in Finland, and increased transnational awareness of sign languages risk of endangerment.
  • Improving the UK’s resilience to environmental hazards by informing effective risk management: NERC’s annual investment of £12.8 million generates up to £127 million pa benefit from protecting properties, farmland and infrastructure through earlier warning of floods. Plus further health and cost-saving benefits from forecasting seasonal extremes, extreme weather, effects of volcanic ash on aircraft, protecting fisheries and preparing for climate change.
  • Informing Defra’s National Pollinator Strategy: Results from the Urban Pollinators Project informed Defra’s recommendations linked to the UK’s National Pollinator Strategy; a ten-year plan to tackle the decline in pollinator numbers. The city of Bristol is now developing a local Pollinator Strategy as an exemplar for UK and European cities. The project received £1.2 million in investment from the Insect Pollinators Initiative (funded by BBSRC, NERC, Defra, the Wellcome Trust and the Scottish Government).

The Impact Reports for each Research Council can be accessed from the following links:impact

 

The Graduate School in the Netherlands

conferences, international, PG research

Professor Tiantian Zhang attended the 9th EUA Council for Doctoral Education (CDE) in the Netherlands on the 20th – 21st January, 2016. The EUA CDE is dedicated to improving and developing doctoral education. This event was attended by approximately 110 international delegates who represented numerous Universities from across Europe. Representing the Graduate School from Bournemouth University, Professor Zhang was able to network and develop international contacts with other UniversitiEUAes. This was a wonderful opportunity for a representative from BU to learn and exchange good practices with others who are dedicated to enhancing the Doctoral Education experience.