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ESRC NCRM International Visitor Exchange Scheme launched

Funding opportunities

The National Centre for Research Methods (NCRM) has launched its International Visitor Exchange Scheme (IVES). This will fund visits of between one and three months to or from experts at the forefront of key methodological developments. The scheme aims to enable “UK social scientists to engage with methods development internationally, in order to stimulate debate and develop ideas (with associated outputs) in relation to methodological innovation in the social sciences.” Awards can begin from 1 January 2016, with a deadline for submissions of 25 September 2015. Up to 6 awards of £5000 are expected to be available.

For more information, please see http://www.ncrm.ac.uk/research/IVES/ and, if you are interested in applying, please contact a member of the Funding Development Team.

A de facto Conservative majority – what next for universities?

The following highlights are taken from a WonkHE article by Mark Leach, Martin McQuillan and Graeme Wise. Read it in full here: http://www.wonkhe.com/blogs/general-election-what-next-for-universities/

EU referendum in 2017 – this would have real implications for universities given their reliance on international student numbers and European Union research funding.

Whitehall – there will be a new Business Secretary, and possibly a new HE minister. Where HE sits is uncertain – there could be a BIS and DCMS merger or HE might be moved into the Department for Education. If it remains, BIS may need to find £4-5bn in savings which could affect funding for initiatives such as widening participation. There’s also a potential for tuition fees to increase further to offset departmental cuts.

Immigration – the government stance on immigration is likely to tighten. The Conservative manifesto outlines plans for immigration that would affect universities, such as reforming the student visa system (including a review of the sponsor system for visas), the clamping down on the number of so-called ‘satellite campuses’ opened in London by universities located elsewhere in the UK and including students in the net migration calculation.

Bournemouth University Students in Santander 60 Second Pitch!

Business Engagement

The Centre for Entrepreneurship is delighted to announce that Bournemouth University student Alice Parlett’s Bumblebee Nest business idea – called Cub-Bee-Hole – and Peter Ramsey’s student website – Move’m – have been short-listed as two of the 10 most outstanding business ideas for the Santander 60 Second Pitch.  Vote for your favourite Student Business

 

 

 

 

 

Alice, a final year Industrial Design student at BU, recently attended the CfE’s Business Ideas Generator Hackathon and successfully pitched to our Dragon’s Den-style event for a small amount of funding to investigate an early prototype of her product.  Alice’s business idea is conservation and stunning design beautifully interwoven with current market trends. The Cub-Bee-Hole is an aesthetically pleasing hive for bees that adheres to your window, allowing you to view the bees in action whilst encouraging nesting and reproduction in a safe, nurturing home for the bees.

Essential to our ecosystem, bumblebees are dying out.  Yet, bumblebees pollinate 1/3 of our food!  Alice’s product is a woven wicker bee home that sticks to your window, with a design that allows you to see the bees nesting and at work, whilst preventing the bees from being disturbed by you.

Targeting conservationists, gardeners, farmers, parents, this product is a registered design and could be seen at the Flower Shows, Chelsea stores and garden stores nationwide soon… with your help.

Stunning aesthetics – on trend – conservation-minded – raising awareness – educational – fun.

Alice is pitching for £1500 to create a prototype that she can use to launch her business.

Move’m are also a Bournemouth University student business who have set up a website that helps student find out about rental properties from other students reviews before starting a tenancy.

Have you ever moved in to a property to find that there is mould on the bathroom ceiling, the roof is leaking and the landlord isn’t answering his phone…ever!? These are things that were certainly not mentioned on the viewing, yet when you take the tenancy, it is too late.

 

Have you ever moved in to a property to find that there is mould on the bathroom ceiling, the roof is leaking and the landlord isn’t answering his phone…ever!? These are things that were certainly not mentioned on the viewing, yet when you take the tenancy, it is too late.

Move’m has created a website where any student can review his/ her experience so that the next tenant can be confident in the property that they are moving into.

Searching for the right student accommodation has never been easier… and Move’m need £1,500 to help them develop their business further to help more students

 

 

 

 

 

***At the time of going to press, Alice’s bumblebee Nest Concept business is in 2nd place with 109 votes to Ulster University’s Little Creation’s 171 votes. Move’m is currently in 8th place with 30 votes.***

Do you have time to vote for one of the student businesses? Registering is as simple as inserting your email address and password and you have just one vote, so please make it count by voting for your favourite student entrepreneurs – Vote for your favourite Student Business 

We wish both businesses all the best of luck! #BUPROUD

Research on Memory and Reconciliation after War

 Is memory of war and violence in divided societies an obstacle to, or a pre-requisite for, peace-making? What are the commonalities and differences in the ways in which such memory is socially constructed and culturally expressed? What are its psycho-social functions and political transformations? What messages are communicated, and how?

Dr. Stephanie Schwandner-Sievers, social anthropologist in the department of Sociology and Social Work (HSS), recently presented her research findings on these questions, based on fieldwork in Kosovo, at an international conference on Narrative, Power and Commemoration in Conflicted Societies in Belfast. Hosted by the Transitional Justice Institute of Ulster University (which, incidentally, had the highest score for impact in the Law UoA in the last REF exercise), this conference assembled and compared international case studies with the case immediately at our doorsteps, Northern Ireland.
For the full conference programme, click here!  Her presentation, titled Statues and  statutes – nationalist versus multi-ethnic enshrinements in Kosovo after the 1999 war – juxtaposed local identifications with ideas of ethno-national, militant resistance as embodied in the material culture of commemorative sites in contemporary Kosovo (the ‘statues’) to the constitutionally enshrined paradigm of multi-ethnicity (the ‘statutes’) integral to the internationally-driven, peace- and state-building process in Kosovo after the war.  However, rather than constructing a simple dichotomy of parallel discourses, her presentation traced the question of ambiguities and potentials within either type of discursive ‘enshrinement’, with a particular emphasis on stories bridging the ethnic divides and individualising responsibility in the site literature emanating from the nationalist shrines and their statues.
Stephanie will ALSO present her on-going BU research collaborations, which expand on the topic of memories and commemoration, at BU’s Interdisciplinary Week (Tuesday, 12 May, 4:30 pm KG01). Together with Avital Biran (an expert in ‘dark’ tourism); Melanie Klinkner (transitional justice); and Feng Tian (‘serious gaming’ technology) she will explore ways in which memorials may be helpful in Transforming conflict after war: memory, heritage and digital media.
 Places can be booked at https://research.bournemouth.ac.uk/interdisciplinary-research-week-2015/tuesday-12-may/.

Congratulations on both accounts,

Prof. Edwin van Teijlingen

 

Students and Lecturers benefit from co-creation projects

The co-creation programme is a pilot scheme aimed to provide support to the development of student/lecturer collaborative projects.

As part of this scheme, teams of students and lecturers have been awarded £500 each to provide assistance with their projects.

Students and staff were encouraged to work together as equals, valuing each other’s ability to contribute to high quality academic work. 

On Monday 20 April 2015 the awards were presented by Professor Gail Thomas, Dean of Health and Social Science, to:

  • Rebecca Dixon-Wright and Dr Carol Wilkins for Women’s hopes and anxieties in early pregnancy
  • Kirsty Tointon and Dr Jane Hunt for Adding to the evidence base of children’s nursing: developing publications
  • Sian Ridden and Dr Vanora Hundley for A Midwives Guide to Working With The Media
  • Jamie Parkinson, Daniel West and Dr Jonathan Williams for Is there a correlation between wobble-board performance and static balance performance?
  • Ben Hayes, Dr Carol Clark and Dr Jon Williams for Systematic Review Aimed to Investigate the Effect of Current Lifestyle Interventions on the Reduction of Metabolic Syndrome.

Professor Gail Thomas said: “The co-creation project is about having a fusion of research, professional practice and education, and the marriage of these component parts being the foundation of an excellent student experience and learning opportunity.

“A key element of this is to ‘inspire’ and this is around getting students, graduates and staff to enrich the world.”

The project has been a resounding success, for example, as result of Rebecca Dixon-Wright’s and Dr Carol Wilkin’s work, they have submitted abstracts for conferences and hope to be published in the journal Midwifery. As a result, this project could have implications on future practice by understanding the issues that affect women during the early stages of pregancy.

On working together with lecturers 3rd year Child Health Nursing student, Kirsty Tointon, said: “I found it really interesting working together, working with Jane, and working on a different level from lecturer/student to more of a partnership. I’ve really I’ve enjoyed that.”

Dr Vanora Hundley continued: “I’ve really enjoyed working with Sian. brought a unique perspective to the project that bridged the gap between media and midwifery through her previous experiences prior to studying at Bournemouth University.”  

Gail added: “I’m really pleased to say the students have been successful in getting a prize. It’s up to them what they do with that funding, it can help with getting to a conference to present at, buy some books and it is also a reward for their energy and enthusiasm to have a go.”

For more information please contact Anita Diaz at adiaz@bournemouth.ac.uk or on 01202 965679

The Royal Society Pairing Scheme

Training

This scheme gives policymakers and research scientists an opportunity to experience each other’s worlds.

Every year the scheme shows that 30 research scientists are paired up with UK parliamentarians and civil servants. The article states that you are then put together to learn about each other’s work whilst spending some time together in Westminster and the researchers lab.

The article then goes on to mention that those taking part can gain a better understanding of how research findings can help inform policy making.

“I can now see how important science is for making policies, even those that are not directly associated with science and technology issues.”

Dr Kate Lancaster paired with Anne Snelgrove MP

The pairing scheme takes place once a year, starting of with a ‘Week in Westminster’ where you first meet with who you are paired with. Part of the week includes workshops, speakers and spending two days shadowing your pair.

It is then time for the parliamentarians and civil servants to get an insight into the world of research, visiting labs from there pairs.

“My day at the University’s School of Chemistry was enormously useful, particularly in understanding some of the complex issues which affect the careers of research scientists and the funding of fundamental research”

John Denham MP paired with Dr Martin Bates.

So why should scientists get involved in this scheme?

  • Learn how parliament and government work and how you can feed in to the policy making process
  • Find out how your research can inform policy decisions
  • Build lasting relationships with parliamentarians and civil servants
  • Network with fellow scientists

To read the full article and find out more on who has taken part in previous years or the benefits of parliamentarians and civil servants taking part, please click here, or click here to start your application, the deadline is 24th May.

NERC Industrial CASE Studentship Competition

Funding opportunities

Background 

NERC studentships can be delivered in collaboration with non-academic partners from the private, public and third/civil sectors; where studentships are delivered in collaboration they are referred to as ‘CASE studentships’. CASE studentships provide the PhD students with enhanced training opportunities by ensuring they spend between three and eighteen months in total with their CASE partner in a workplace outside the academic environment.

2015 NERC Industrial CASE Studentship Competition

This call is now open. The closing date is 16:00 Wednesday 8 July 2015.

Please see the guidance for applicants document below for full details of this call. Applications will be assessed on the following criteria:

  • research excellence (30%)
  • training excellence and multidisciplinary training environments (30%)
  • collaboration and impact (20%)
  • student recruitment, monitoring and management (20%)

Update

  • Please note, CASE partner financial contributions are to be paid to the lead Research Organisation to supplement the studentship and project, and will no longer be paid directly to the student.
  • In most instances organisations eligible for Research Council funding cannot act as a CASE partner. This includes NERC Research Centres (BAS, BGS, CEH, NCAS, NCEO, NOC)

Guidance for applicants (PDF, 229KB)

All proposals should include a case for support, using the ‘case for support form’, and the ‘Industrial CASE non-academic partner form’. Both forms are provided below. Applications must be submitted via the research councils’ joint electronic submission system (Je-S).

Case for support form (Word, 57KB)

Industrial CASE non-academic partner form (PDF, 35KB)

The assessment panel will meet on 17-18 November 2015. Applicants will be notified of the outcomes by the end of December 2015.

For further information, please contact NERC Studentships & Training Awards Group at stag@nerc.ac.uk.

If you are interested in applying for this call then please contact your Funding Development Officer in the first instance.