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NIHR Research Design Service Research Grant Writing Retreat

Training

Do you have a great idea for research in health or social care?

Would your team benefit from protected time and expert support to develop your idea into a competitive funding application?

The NIHR Research Design Serice (RDS) are offering a unique opportunity for health and social care professionals across England to attend a week-long residential Grant Writing Retreat at Bailbrook House, Bath in June 2016. The purpose of the Retreat is to give busy professionals dedicated time to rapidly progress their research idea into fundable proposals. The Retreat will provide a supportive environment for teams of two or three people to develop high quality research proposals prior to application to national peer-reviewed funding streams. Find out more.

Don’t forget, your local branch of the NIHR Research Design Service is based within the BU Clinical Research Unit (BUCRU) on the 5th floor of Royal London House. Feel free to pop in and see us, call us on 61939 or send us an email.

Santander Mobility funding competition now open – 8 x £1000 available

PG research

Dear all,

It gives me great pleasure to announce in partnership with Santander we are offering 8 x £1000 mobility awards.

These mobility awards can be used for attending conferences, undertaking aspecific piece of research or to build/develop links with international researchers. This call is open to applications from any BU PGR (including MRes & MPhil), irrespective of mode of study (fulltime/ part-time); nationality (Home, EU or International) or funding status (BUstudentships / externally funded / self-funded). Awards made will cover only direct costs (travel; subsistence; training or development costs) and all applications will need to include a realistic precise breakdown of costs.

Before applying – please check the Santander Mobility fund Policy document for terms and conditions to avoid disappointment.

To apply – please complete in full the Santander Mobility fund application form and email to gsfunding@bournemouth.ac.uk

Deadline for all applications: 11th January 2016, 17:00 GMT.

All applications will be reviewed on the 13th January 2016 and applicants will be informed shortly after this to whether they have been successful or not.

Good luck!

santanderGrad School Header 1

BRAD – Upcoming Opportunities

impact

For more information about the above workshops and to book – CLICK HERE

Impact – 18th November 2015, 09:00-12:00
This session will explore what we mean by impact and why it is an increasingly important part of your research career. Through this exploration, the session will highlight examples of impact and the perspective of research funders with regards to impact. There will also be dedicated time for you to explore the types of impact your research could lead to and suitable pathways to do so.
Working with Business – Business Engagement and Networking – 19th November 2015, 14:00-16:00
For both early career researchers and experienced academics alike this session will include tips and information on how to develop and make the most of building relationships and networks with businesses. Led by Jayne Codling and Rachel Clarke – Knowledge Exchange Advisers within RKEO, there will be a chance to hear from different speakers on their own experiences of C4NPMKbusiness and university collaboration. This session will also involve discussion on networking and hints and tips, useful information sources on business funding, communicating your research to a business audience and an opportunity to provide ideas as to what as academics you would like help or more information on to assist you with developing business relationships.

 

For more information about the above workshops and to book – CLICK HERE

Changes to Peer Review at BU

Guidance

poor-review-and-peer-reviewBack in July, I Chaired a Pre-Award Review meeting to discuss a number of recommendations put forward by DDRPPs and as a result of feedback received through the pre-award surveys that are sent to academics who have submitted applications within the last year.  The meeting included Professor John Fletcher, Professor Christine Maggs, Professor Vanora Hundley, Dr Richard Berger, Dr Richard Shipway, Deborah Wakely, Kelly Deacon-Smith, Zita Lovaszy and Kerri Jones.  Professor Robert Britton also contributed written feedback on the recommendations.

One of the recommendations was to change the way we carry out peer review at BU.

There was a strong message from academics that it should be their responsibility to ensure that their application is of the highest quality before it is submitted to an external funder.  Therefore, it was agreed that faculties would manage their own peer review and determine at what level this will be provided.  Whilst there may now be slight differences to the peer review options available in each faculty, they all have quality approvers, some have mentors available, and all of them emphasise that RPRS is still available through RKEO, as is the use of a RKEO Research Facilitator to assist with development of an application.  It is now the responsibility of the Principal Investigator to ensure that a form of peer review/ quality approval is carried out on their application.  Through an APF request sent by RKEO, the Principal Investigator will be asked to confirm what type of peer review has been undertaken and by whom and to confirm that the content is correct (including costs agreed with RKEO).  An application cannot be submitted until the PI has confirmed that it is ready to go.  Applicants applying through e-submission routes (such as Je-S, e-GAP, etc.) should note that they still have to submit a final application to RKEO five working days before a call closing date.  This enables RKEO to carry out thorough checks in line with funder guidance to ensure that your application isn’t rejected due to a technicality.

To clarify, this means that it is no longer mandatory for any applications to go through the internal peer review process known as RPRS.  However, as said above, this service is still available through RKEO.  Also, RKEO will no longer administer the quality approval process as this will be the responsibility of the PI.

RKEO have been working over the summer to finalise new Intention to Bid forms with each Faculty, which sets out the peer review options for applicants and provides a list of quality approvers for that faculty.  Please contact your RKEO Funding Development Officer for the new Intention to Bid form:

More information on the other recommendations will be publicised in due course.  If you have any queries about the new process then please contact Jo Garrad, Funding Development Manager, RKEO.

Congratulations to Dr Jennifer Roddis

PhDRKEO were proud to watch Dr Jennifer Roddis, Research Facilitator, RKEO, graduate yesterday as Doctor of Philosophy.  Jenny has worked incredibly hard to achieve her PhD whilst working full-time at the same time.  Jenny’s PhD explored perspectives and understanding of living with a long-term condition, specifically asthma or thrombophilia, from the point of view of affected individuals. She identified some interesting findings from the study, including identifying some of the reasons that individuals stop taking their medication and how they learn about their condition.

Well done Jenny!

New CMMPH paper published from COST collaboration

open access, Publishing

BMC Health Serv Res
This week saw publication of a new CMMPH paper in BMC Health Services Research.  This methodological paper ‘Assessing the performance of maternity care in Europe: a critical exploration of tools and indicators‘ is a collaboration between several European maternity-care researchers based in Spain (Ramón Escuriet, Fatima Leon-Larios), Belgium (Katrien Beeckman), Northern Ireland (Marlene Sinclair), the UK (Lucy Firth, Edwin van Teijlingen), Switzerland ( Christine Loytved, Ans Luyben) and Portugal (Joanna White).  Dr. Ans Luyben is also Visiting Faculty in the Faculty of Health & Social Sciences at Bournemouth University.  The underlying work was supported by the European Union through a COST Action called Childbirth Cultures, Concerns, and Consequences headed by Prof. Soo Downe at the University of Central Lancashire.  COST is seen by the EU as an important tool in building and supporting the European Research Area (ERA).

Cost ActionThis paper critically reviews published tools and indicators currently used to measure maternity care performance within Europe, focusing particularly on whether and how current approaches enable systematic appraisal of processes of minimal (or non-) intervention in support of physiological or “normal birth”.

The authors conclude: “The review identified an emphasis on technical aspects of maternity, particularly intrapartum care in Europe, rather than a consideration of the systematic or comprehensive measurement of care processes contributing to non-intervention and physiological (normal) birth. It was also found that the links between care processes and outcomes related to a normal mode of birth are not being measured.”

 

Professor Edwin van Teijlingen

CMMPH

3MP – 3 minute presentation

PG research

Hello all,

A new and exciting event is being held on Wednesday 2nd December 18:00 – 19:30 (Talbot Campus) entitled: 3 minute presentation (3MP). The event will challenge current research students to present their research in just 3 minutes! This is an exciting and engaging opportunity to hear about cutting-edge research in a bitesize way.

At the end of the presentations we will also be celebrating the launch of this event in a secret location on Talbot Campus to give attendees the opportunity to mingle.

To attend please book your 3MP ticket here.

If you have any questions about the event please email: pgevents@bournemouth.ac.uk

Best wishes

The Graduate School team

3MP logo

BU signs the LERU statement on open access

Publishing

LERU logoBournemouth University has today signed up to the statement Moving Forwards on Open Access proposed by the League of European Research Universities (LERU), released in October 2015. The document calls upon the European Commission and the forthcoming Dutch EU Presidency to actively support open access policies to ensure that research funding goes to research, not to publishers, by working with all stakeholders to bring sensible solutions to the fore.

no double dippingOne of the key aims will be to stop the practice of ‘double dipping’ whereby institutions effectively pay publishers twice – once via a journal subscription fee and secondly via article processing charges (APCs) for gold open access articles. LERU is calling on the EC to review the business models of open access publishing and cites practices adopted by some publishers that allow universities to offset APCs against subscription costs, thus lessening the danger of ‘double dipping’. The aim of this approach is to allow European research to have maximum impact by making it publicly available immediately and to release funds for universities to invest in further research.

green open accessThe other key agenda item is to achieve greater consistency in embargo periods for green open access. The current situation is that there exist a variety of embargo periods (ranging from six to 24 months plus) which is confusing for authors, readers and universities. The aim is to ensure these are as short as possible to ensure cutting edge research makes its way into the public domain as quickly as possible. There is also currently a lack of uniformity of embargo periods for publishers and journals in different countries, and LERU are proposing this should be standardised.moedas

LERU are currently calling upon the research community to sign up to the statement. To date over 3,000 individuals and institutions have signed up. The next step is for the statement and its support to be submitted to Commissioner Carols Moedas (research, science and innovation) and the Dutch EU Presidency in the first half of 2016.

New HEIF project commences: Modelling Natural Capital in Dorset

HEIF, Knowledge Exchange

UK government policies relating to economic growth and the environment explicitly identify the need to create ‘a green economy, in which economic growth and the health of our natural resources sustain each other, and markets, businesses and Government better reflect the value of nature’ (Defra 2011). Local Enterprise Partnerships (LEPs) and Local Nature Partnerships (LNP), including those in Dorset, were specifically created to support achievement of this goal. Key challenges are the need to assess the economic value of ecosystem services and to factor them into decision making; and the need to develop integrated and multisectoral approaches to spatial development that improve synergies and reduce trade-offs, while supporting the sustainable management of natural resources.

This project is designed to overcome these challenges, through the development of a modelling toolkit that will enable the value of ecosystem services to be assessed and mapped, then linked with economic activity. While analysis of ecosystem services is now a major international research endeavour, linkage with economic activity (such as the inputs and outputs of different industrial sectors) is at a very early stage. The toolkit to be developed by this project will therefore be both innovative and timely. By piloting the toolkit using Dorset as a case study, this project will deliver a proof of concept, with potential global applicability if successful.

Funded under the Higher Education Innovation Funding (HEIF) initiative, any questions regarding the project can be addressed to P.I. Prof. Adrian Newton or Research Assistant Arjan Gosal.

BRAD: Upcoming Opportunities – 17th November 2015

Training

European IPR webinarsIntroductory EU Participant Portal session – 17th November 2015, 13:30-14:30

  • Very short introduction to Horizon 2020 and EU funding
  • Registering on the Participant Portal
  • How to find a call
  • Looking at the call documents
  • Reference documents – work programmes
  • Getting help – using the manual, European Horizon 2020 helpdesk and National Contact Points

 

Introductory Research Professional session- 17th November 2015, 14:45-16:00

  • Registering for an account
  • How to search for funding calls
  • How to search for articles
  • How to set up searches and personal alerts
  • Using the Expression of Interest feature
  • Using the pre-set BU workgroups

 

Bid Writing with Martin Pickard – 17th November 2015, 9:30-16:00

writing and editing

This workshop includes writing grant proposals, and writing effective applications. Bring along a copy of bid writing for constructive group feedback.
*Please bring a laptop with you to this session


For more information about the above workshops and to book – CLICK HERE

 

NVivo Introduction

student research, Training

Nvivological_model_diagramNVivo Indtroduction offers focuses on the requisite management decisions one should make at the beginning of one’s project such as what is my data?

Should I code audio or transcripts and what are the advantages and limitations of either approach? How does the software work?

Why should I integrate my background information or demographics and what is auto-coding and how might it help to better understand my data and prepare it for the cycles of manual interpretive coding to follow?

How do I integrate my chosen methodological approach in using NVivo and reconcile it with the philosophical underpinnings to apply such methods as Grounded Theory, Discourse Analysis, Content Analysis, Thematic Analysis or Narrative Interpretive Methods as just some examples.

Day 1 has an emphasis on the conceptual although the afternoon session is more rooted in the practical. By the end of day 1, participants should be able to set-up an NVivo database, back it up, import their data, setup a coding structure and code their data to it and set up and integrate their demographics.

We have hired the services of an external facilitator to offer support in this for academic staff as part of the BRAD programme. Ben Meehan worked in industry for twenty six years. For the past thirteen years he has worked as an independent consultant in support of computer aided qualitative data analysis projects (CAQDAS). He is a QSR approved trainer and consultant. He has worked in all of the major universities and Institutes of Technology in Ireland and Northern Ireland. His work outside of the educational sector includes major global companies such as Intel where he consults in support of their on-going ethnographic research and the Centre for Global Health where he has recently worked in Tanzania, Malawi and Mozambique (2009) and in Ghana, Burkina Faso and Tanzania with the University of Heidelberg (2010) and Ethiopia for the Ethiopian Public Health Association (2011) and the Population Council, Zambia (2012). Apart from Africa, Ben regularly conducts workshops in Germany, France, UK, Northern Ireland, the US (Maryland, 2011, Yale, 2012) and Australia.

The session is on Wed 18th Novemeber 2015 09:00 – 16:00 on Talbot campus. There are limited spaces so please do ensure you get one by booking on the Organisational and Staff Development webpages.

Knowledge exchange funding delivers £9.70 for every pound invested

Business Engagement, HEIF, innovation, Knowledge Exchange, Knowledge Transfer, Training

Innovate 2011v4

 

New research shows that HEFCE funding for university knowledge exchange (KE) activity delivers significant and increasing return for public investment. The return on investment from £1 of Higher Education Innovation Funding (HEIF)  is currently estimated at £9.70 in benefits for the economy and society, and may deliver even higher returns in future.

These results reflect the way universities overall are gaining greater expertise in KE, using HEIF more effectively and developing stronger partnerships, particularly with businesses. The research studies demonstrate the range and breadth of KE activity, and the significant benefits it brings to the economy and society.

The research studies describe positive feedback from businesses and social and community groups working with universities, on the benefits they have received from KE activities. Businesses feel that universities have become much more willing to engage and that higher education KE delivers value for money.

If you want to find out more about how you can start to develop relationships with business or build on existing networks, why not register to attend a free training session being held at the university on Thursday 19 November. This will include internal and external speakers who share their experiences either as a business or as an academic.

For more information and to book your place click here.

Read the full article on the HEFCE website.

Linking research and practice – Appointment to international panel

Fusion, international, REF Subjects

Professor Tom Watson of the Faculty of Media & Communication has been appointed to the Academic Advisory Panel of AMEC (the Association for the Measurement and Evaluation of Communication). He joins six other leading communication measurement and evaluation researchers from Australia, Germany, UK and US. The Panel is chaired by Professor Jim Macnamara of the University of Technology Sydney.

The panel’s role is to “provide expert advice and input to AMEC in relation to research methodology and methods, education and learning, and standards”.

“The measurement of public relations and corporate communication is an important and perennial professional issue,” said Professor Watson. “AMEC is the international body for the communication measurement sector and includes all the major media measurement suppliers in more than 30 countries.”

Professor Watson’s co-authored book (with Paul Noble), Evaluating Public Relations is now in its third edition. “Increasingly, there is a shift from measurement to evaluation, with the understanding of the value created through communication becoming a critical issue for communicators. In the book’s latest edition, we focused more on concepts of value. Creating world-wide standards on value is becoming more important and so the AMEC initiative to create this high-level link between research and practice is very timely.

iamecMASTER

Pre-Call Announcement for AHRC Connected Communities Research Festival 2016

Funding opportunities

ahrcThe AHRC has announced that a Connected Communities Research Festival will be held in 2016. A call for Expressions of Interest (EOIs) to participate in the Festival will be issued in early November 2015.

Taking inspiration from the 500th anniversary of the publication in 1516 in Latin of Thomas More’s Utopia, as well as a Connected Communities/ Care for the Future Symposium on ‘Utopias, Futures and Temporalities: Critical Considerations for Social Change’ held in May 2015, the 2016 Festival will have a central theme of Community Futures and Utopias.

As with the 2015 Festival, the call for EOIs will support high quality participatory arts research and research co-production activities across the UK. Local activities can take place at any time from February 2016 to late June 2016. In addition, AHRC will be inviting projects to propose ideas for producing creative, co-produced, research outputs from their local activities which can be showcased at a high profile public event in London in late June 2016.

The call for EOIs will be open to a wide range of interpretations of the theme of Community Futures and Utopias, including – for example – :

  • what ‘utopia in the 21st century’ means for diverse communities;
  • past visions of the future and the role of the past in community futures;
  • the future as a lens or safe space for exploring challenges facing communities;
  • community fears and aspirations for the future;
  • the role of the future in bringing together or dividing communities;
  • utopia as participatory/ creative method;

and many other creative research ideas.

As well as providing opportunities to build on Connected Communities research, the Festival will provide an opportunity to link to other AHRC and Research Council-funded inter-disciplinary research, including under all other AHRC themes (such as Care for the Future and Translating Cultures) and priority areas (such as design, heritage, languages, etc.).

Expressions of interest will be encouraged to describe:

  • How they will build upon past research and work with local communities to co-produce new research insights on the theme of community futures and utopias, and the role of participatory and collaborative research methods in these processes
  • How the proposed festival activities will help to broaden and deepen community research engagement and partnerships – in particular, how projects will reflect and engage with diverse minority community groups and cultures
  • For those proposals involving more extended participatory arts approaches to research co-production, how they might use the opportunity of a high profile national showcase in London for community projects on utopias, and/or other similar event, to engage wider publics with the outcomes of their local activities.

Funding Available

AHRC anticipate that EOIs will be invited for two types of funding:

  • up to £5,000 to support a wide range of participatory/ co-produced research activities with diverse communities around the UK between February and late June 2016 on the theme of Community Futures and Utopias
  • up to £15,000 to support more ambitious local participatory / creative arts co-produced / collaborative research projects producing high quality creative / artistic outputs and the showcasing of these outputs at a two day high profile national public event on Community Utopias in London over a weekend in late June 2016.

Expected Timetable for the Call

AHRC expect to issue the full call for Expressions of Interest in early November. The planned outline timetable for the call is below:

Mid October Festival theme announced
w/c 2 November AHRC issues call for expressions of interest to participate in the Festival
w/c 7 December Closing date for EOIs (via SmartSurvey)
By end of January 2016 Notification of Outcomes of EOIs
February- June 2016 Festival events take place around the UK
24 -26 June (tbc) Showcase of creative outputs from selected local projects at weekend public event in London
Tbc Cross-theme Utopia 500 academic conference

This Festival will form part of a wider series of Connected Communities and collaborative activities on the theme of community futures and utopias, including a conference on ‘Utopia in the 21st Century’. Further details of these other events will be announced in early 2016.

If you intend to submit an expression of interest you will need to have your plan costed by the Funding Development Team and so please contact them in the first instance.

ESRC Seminar on Financial Services and Consumers

An ESRC Seminar on Financial Services and Consumers was held at the University of Edinburgh Business School earlier in October, 2015. This seminar was specifically designed for early career researchers (ECRs) whose work focuses on financial services marketing. One of the keynote presentations was given by Dr Julie Robson from the Faculty of Management. Julie outlined how ECR’s can make the most of academic conferences to promote their work and to develop their research careers. Hint and tips were provided on identifying the right conference, preparing to deliver the paper and the need for a well-rehearsed ‘elevator pitch’ to communicate your research in a clear, succinct and interesting way.

Being on the editorial board of Journal of Financial Services Marketing and the International Journal of Bank Marketing, Julie also took part in the meet the editor session and highlighted the importance of working with the financial services sector and building a network with practitioners. This provides a sounding board for research ideas, helps to provide insight into the managerial implications of their work and can ultimately contribute to impact cases.

Ms. Samreen Ashraf, also from the Faculty of Management, presented her current work from her PhD research at the event. This examines the role of identity in bank choice. Further, Samreen along with other presenters have also been invited to submit their manuscript in the Journal of Financial Services Marketing.

Samreen Edin Julie Robson

Lightning Talks Wednesday 11th Nov 1:45-2:45pm Poole House

lightning talksCome and find out about the exciting research undertaken by BU staff and student researchers!

The first of our series of Lightning Talks will take place on Wednesday 11th November 1:45-2:45pm in the Refectory (next to Papa Johns pizza) on Talbot Campus.

We have six speakers presenting a five minute pitch about their research studies. The aim is to encourage staff awareness of the exciting research being undertaken at BU and encourage cross Faculty working.

The spaces are limited so you will need to book on by emailing Rhyannan Hurst. Pizza will be provided on a first come first served basis so please confirm your attendance no later than Friday 6th Nov.

Also if you are keen to take part in the next Lightning Talks in 2016 then please do get in touch with Rhyannan Hurst in the Research and Knowledge Exchange Office (RKEO) on 61511.

We are hoping this will be a great event and look forward to seeing you there.

BRAD Upcoming Opportunities – 16th November 2015

Training

BRAD

 

 

 

For more information about the above workshops and to book – CLICK HERE

Research Application Process- 16th November 2015, 9:30- 10:30.
This session will provide a presentation on the process of costing your research at BU and the research application process. Additionally, Q & A session and the opportunity for a one on one discussion with the facilitators.

Justifying your funding request workshop – 16th November 2015, 10:45-13:00 (including Lunch)
Many funders require you to justify the funding you are requesting in a research bid. But how can you best approach this? This session will outline how to structure a justification for funding for the major funders (research councils, other government funders, main charities) and provide some examples of good and bad practice.

Financial Management Workshop – 16th November 2015, 12:00 -14:30 (including Lunch)Finance for smes
This workshop will cover several topics ranging from; financial management, income and funding budgeting, financial resourcing and strategic financial planning.

 

For more information about the above workshops and to book – CLICK HERE