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Bournemouth University Computer Human Interaction (BUCHI) talks by Microsoft (Seattle, US) and University of Duisburg-Essen (Germany)

Fusion

Bournemouth University Computer Human Interaction (BUCHI) initiative received funding from the Fusion Investment Fund (Staff Mobility and Networking) to host two prestigious researchers who will deliver a talk on Tuesday, 17th March, 1pm. These two talks will take place in the Executive Business Centre (EB708) and will be free and open to all.

Our first speaker will be Jürgen Ziegler who is a full professor in the Department of Computer Science and Applied Cognitive Science at the University of Duisburg-Essen, Germany.  Jürgen directs the Interactive Systems Research Group and will talk about “interactive recommending” i.e. increasing user control and transparency in recommender systems.

Our second speaker will be Stephen Giff who is the Head of User Experience (UX) Research and Design at Microsoft Advertising, Seattle, USA. Stephen will talk about “trust as a design problem”.

You can read the abstracts below for more details:

Interactive Recommending (Prof Jürgen Ziegler, University of Duisburg-Essen), 13.00-14.00

Recommender systems have come to play an important role in helping users search for information items or products of interest in very large information spaces. While algorithmic recommender techniques have reached a high level of maturity in recent years, they often fail to the support the situational needs of the user and typically lack user control and transparency, resulting in reduced effectiveness and trustworthiness. Interactive approaches to recommending aim at overcoming some of these issues, allowing users to express their preferences in a more flexible fashion and to control how recommendations are generated. In this talk, I will discuss the concept of interactive recommending and present some recent developments in our group that combine interactive filtering techniques with recommender algorithms.

Trust as a Design Problem (Stephen Giff, Microsoft), 14.00-15.00

To ensure anything more than superficial engagement with customers, an organization needs to establish and maintain trust. But trust is complex – it’s hard to build, and extremely easy to lose. In terms of trust in a software or online setting, there are three key factors that contribute to a decision to trust an organization, and decide to share data with them: (1) Role of Individual; (2) Role of Context; and Role of Experience. Designing for trust is a fairly straightforward problem if considered from an engineering and legal perspective – we need to protect user data, and notify what data is being gathered, and how it will be used. However, it is much more complex if considered from a human perspective – what data are users comfortable sharing, and in what context? When is the right moment to ask for data? What is the appropriate value exchange? How can we design experiences that are trustworthy? This talk will provide an overview of online trust factors as they relate to opt-in, and will recommend that instead of focusing on  technological and legal aspects of trust, the industry needs to pivot to focus on the user – ultimately viewing trust as a design problem to be addressed by a rigorous design process.

You can contact Dr Huseyin Dogan (hdogan@bournemouth.ac.uk) for more information about these two talks.

Quality Papers: how to write papers that can be published in your target journals workshop

Training

You enjoy research, but writing papers is either scary or just takes too long. You are under pressure to ‘get published’ in high ranking journals, but daily commitments mean you haven’t got patches of undisturbed hours in your diary.

Quality Papers provides a process that can help you write with greater speed and confidence, at the same time as increasing your chance of getting published in your target journal. The course gives strategies for getting the best from your co-authors and streamlining thinking, writing and editing.

We have hired the services of an external facilitator to offer support in this for academic staff as part of the BRAD programme. Dr Nicola Cotton holds a First class honours degree in French and German from Wadham College, Oxford and has gained an MA and PhD at UCL. Nicola is a fully qualified teacher and has been lecturing at university level since 1992. She has worked as a research assistant at UCL for the Vice-Provost and also as Editor for Asian Advertising and Marketing Magazine in Hong Kong. In her role as associate trainer Nicola combines her knowledge of research and language to deliver excellent training in writing for publication using the Think-Write approach

The session is on Friday 17th April 2015 08:45 – 16:30 on Talbot campus. There are limited spaces so please do ensure you get one by booking on the Organisational Development webpages.

British Science Week: join us on Talbot for BU’s Science Tents!

To mark British Science Week (13th – 22nd March), BU is celebrating excellent examples of research taking place all across the university.  From 10am on Monday 16th March, students and staff will be able to participate in a range of hands on science activities run by BU’s academics, postgraduates and student societies.  This will include fingerprinting activities, face recognition and eye tracking activities, and even opportunities to participate in current research projects.

 

Over the course of the two days, staff and students will also have the opportunity to hear short talks from academics featured in the 2015 Bournemouth Research Chronicle which will be launched to coincide with British Science Week.  Featuring examples of research from all over the university, the BRC gives a small insight into some of the exciting work going on at BU, including improving nutrition in cancer survivors, reducing fatigue in people with MS and mapping auditory processes.

 

The research featured in the BRC has been published ‘open access’, meaning that unlike traditional models of academic publishing, it is freely available for anyone to read and use.  Open access is increasingly becoming a feature of academic life, and it’s exciting to see BU’s researchers are already taking the opportunity to share their work with a wider audience.  Staff from the Research Knowledge and Exchange Office will be on hand to answer any questions academics may have about open access after each talk

Events

Science Tent (semi-circle outside SportBU)

Monday 16 & Tuesday 17 March, 10am – 4pm

Students and staff will be able to participate in a range of hands on science activities run by BU’s academics, postgraduates and student societies.

16 March:

  • Janet Walker – Getting students involved in the research project of handling reproduction hand axes and seeing how males and females can handle different sizes. 10-16:00
  • Forensic Society – Fingerprint identities 10-16:00
  • Anna Bobak – Face recognition/Passport check 10- 16:00
  • Julie Kirkby & Abby Laishley– Mobile Eye tracking 10-13:00
  • Genoveva Esteban  – Microscopes and microbes 13:00-16:00

17 March:

  • Janet Walker – Getting students involved in the research project of handling reproduction hand axes and seeing how males and females can handle different sizes. 10-16:00
  • Genoveva Esteban  – Microscopes and microbes 10-16:00
  • Anna Bobak – Face recognition/Passport check 10-13:00

 

Short talks from academics featured in the 2015 Bournemouth Research Chronicle

Science Tent (semi-circle outside SportBU)

Talks: 16March
11:00 am – Andy Mullineux: Making banking fairer for the public
12:30 pm – Carrie Hodges and Wendy Cutts: Seen but Seldom Heard
1:00 pm – Peter Thomas and Sarah Thomas: Reduce fatigue in MS

Talks: 17March
11:00 am – Jane Murphy: Improving nutrition in cancer survivors
12:30 pm – Kevin McGhee: The genetics of psychiatric disorders
3:00 pm – Emili Balaguer-Ballester: Mapping auditory processing

 

Staff from the Research Knowledge and Exchange Office will be on hand to answer any questions academics may have about Open Access after each talk.

 

Please check back here to see further updates.

– See more at: http://blogs.bournemouth.ac.uk/research/2015/03/02/british-science-week-and-the-launch-of-the-bournemouth-research-chronicle/#sthash.Lc4LLkPd.dpuf

If you are applying to the research councils soon, please note Je-S unavailability

Funding opportunities, Guidance

Please note that the Je-S system (the research councils e-submission site) will be unavailable from 16:00 GMT on Thursday 16th April 2015 until 08.30 GMT on Wednesday 22nd April 2015.  Further details are available on the Je-S Login page.

This is a significant amount of down time and so please bear this in mind if you are writing an application for funding to the research councils.

Knowledge Exchange and Impact Team: how have we been flying the KEIT for you?

 

The Knowledge Exchange and Impact Team (fondly known to us as KEIT) is a relatively new team within RKEO.  KEIT is made up of an enthusiastic group of people working to ensure that BU’s research and  knowledge is informed by society for the benefit of society on a number of cross institutional projects such as the Festival of Learning and HEIF-5 funded initiatives, amongst many others!

 

The past month has been a busy one as Festival of Learning preparation kicks off in earnest.  Over 150 events have been submitted for this summer’s Festival (11th – 17th July), so there’s bound to be something for every taste and interest!  Excitingly, this year will feature a day dedicated to family activities, including a whole host of different interactive sessions, games and workshops.

 

This week also sees the launch of the 2015 Bournemouth Research Chronicle, an annual publication showcasing some of the excellent research going on at BU.  From 3D printing, to mapping auditory processing to improving nutrition in cancer survivors, our academics are involved in a variety of hugely exciting and potentially influential areas of research.  The BRC is just one of the ways that we make sure people beyond BU know about our work.

 

Another way we’re telling the world about our academic’s research is through the newly launched Research Photography Competition.  Around 50 academics and postgraduates have submitted photos, summing up the essence of their work.  Their creative and engaging images are a testament not just to their research skills, but also to their ability to explain their research in a new and innovative way.  Voting is open until 27th March, and the most popular images will form part of a photo exhibition on Talbot campus later in the year.  More details will follow!

 

Our student engagement programme continues to go from strength-to-strength, with a lively discussion at 14:Live following a presenting on Samuel Nyman’s dementia research, articles in the Rock and a feature on Nerve radio.  And if you’re on Talbot campus today, pop down to the semi-circle outside SportBU to try out some of our hands on science activities as part of British Science Week.  More details about the event can be found here.

 

Looking beyond our university community, KEIT has begun a new working partnership with Dorset Police.  It’s a fantastic opportunity to use our combined knowledge to target key issues for society.  If you know of anyone who would be interested in getting involved in our collaboration, please contact Rebecca Edwards for more information.

If you’re feeling inspired by our blog post and would like to get involved with some of our projects then feel free to get in touch:

–        Rebecca Edwards – Knowledge Exchange and Impact Manager

–        Rachel Bowen – Research Communications Manager

–        Rachel Clarke – Knowledge Exchange Adviser (KTP)

–        Jayne Codling – Knowledge Exchange Adviser

–        Naomi Kay – Public Engagement Officer

–        Harry Gibson – Public Engagement Events Organiser

–        Sam Squelch – Student Engagement Coordinator

To find out more about us and what we do, take a look at our team page.

AHRC Advisory Board vacancies

Funding opportunities, Guidance

The Arts and Humanities Research Council (AHRC) is seeking expressions of interest from suitably experienced individuals in the academic and non-academic sectors to join the Advisory Board in 2015.

AHRC funds research and post graduate training across a wide disciplinary remit as well as facilitating opportunities for researchers to engage in international, knowledge exchange, partnerships and public policy activities. It is a non-departmental government body sponsored by the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills and is governed by the Council, which is responsible for the overarching strategic direction of the organisation.

The role of the Advisory Board is to advise AHRC Council and Executive on the development and implementation of strategic approaches to funding which reflect the challenges and opportunities arising for the arts and humanities research and those that engage with it.

The Board is looking particularly for expertise in the following areas:

  • Classics and/or Archaeology
  • Design
  • Digital Humanities
  • Performing Arts
  • Music
  • Theology
  • Modern Languages
  • Voluntary Sector

Please see the Terms of Reference for the Advisory Board (PDF 35KB, opens in a new window) and the Role and Person Specification (PDF 90KB, opens in a new window), which outline the skills and experience AHRC require for potential Board members.

If you are interested in becoming a member of the Board please submit an Expression of Interest form (Word 37KB, opens in a new window) (no longer than 500 words) outlining (in no more than 500 words) how you meet the criteria required, together with a short CV (no longer than 2 sides of A4) and the Equal Opportunities form (Word 41KB, opens in a new window) (which is not seen by the panel) to Rose Easton (r.easton@ahrc.ac.uk) by the deadline of 4pm on 20 April 2015.

Interviews will take place at Medical Research Council, Kemble St, London on 14 May 2015.

AHRC will seek to ensure a healthy balance of institutional and regional representation on the Board. AHRC is committed to openness and transparency of process and to provide equal opportunities to all, irrespective of age, gender, race, disability, marital status, religion, sexual orientation, transgender and working patterns.

If you have any question concerning the vacancies, please contact Rose Easton on 01793 416014 or email r.easton@ahrc.ac.uk.

BU successful in retaining EC HR Excellence in Research Award!

Good news – BU has been successful in retaining the European Commission HR Excellence in Research Award and is now one of 72 universities in the UK who have successfully passed their two-year review.

The Award demonstrates BU’s commitment to aligning process and practice to the UK Concordat to Support the Career Development of Researchers and therefore improving the working conditions and career development for research staff. In turn this will improve the quantity, quality and impact of research for the benefit of UK society and the economy. The two year review required BU to highlight the key achievements and progress we have made since we gained the Award in January 2013 and to outline the focus of our strategy, success measures and next steps for the following two years.

Key achievements made at BU since 2013 in support of this agenda include:

You can read our progress review and future action plan (2015-17) in full here: https://research.bournemouth.ac.uk/research-environment/research-concordat/

Since 2012 the EC have been exploring a ‘stronger’ implementation approach, including the potential for using quality standards and/or a more formal certification/accreditation process for HR management of researchers across Europe. Recently a new expert group has been appointed to further discussions and Vitae’s recent event, on 23 January, enabled Award holders to provide input into the current five-step process and moving towards a ‘quality assessment’. Detail and outcomes from the event can be found here.

Read the full announcement on the Vitae website here: https://www.vitae.ac.uk/news/72-uk-institutions-have-the-european-commission2019s-hr-excellence-in-research-award

NVivo – Advanced

Training

Day 2

Assumes these decisions have been made and focuses on analysing your data. And whereas day 1 is largely conceptual, day 2 is mainly practical and is quite technical. Most people understand that setting up your database correctly is paramount to getting a return on the time and energy expended in learning the software tool. Given that manual interpretive coding in NVivo is not really any faster than using a manual system as you still have to code line by line, the benefit of using NVivo is in the retrieval and reporting on codes. Day 2 therefore focuses on interrogating (querying in database terminology) and reporting on results so that findings can be supported with high quality outputs or appendices. Also, the ability to support your coding processes with coding tables for example, means that you can also demonstrate rigour in your methodology chapter which helps to establish your credibility as a researcher and make your findings trustworthy and plausible.

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 Tues 16th April 2015 09:00 – 17:00 on Talbot campus. There are limited spaces so please do ensure you get one by booking on the Organisational and Staff Development webpages.

Congratulations to Dr. Zulfiqar Khan and Hammad Nazir

A BIG congratulations to Dr. Zulfiqar Khan and Hammad Nazir for their recent publication which has made the most read articles list on the Taylor and Francis website. Dr. Zulfiqar Khan leads the  Sustainable Design Research Centre as Director. A recent REF2014 Panel feedback has identified Sustainable Design Research Group as having the highest proportion of outputs judged to be internationally excellent!

The publication ‘Modelling of Metal-Coating Delamination Incorporating Variable Environmental Parameters‘ in the Journal of Adhesion Science and Technology was written in collaboration with the Defence Science and Technology Laboratory in Salisbury. The research was co-funded by BU and Defence Science & Technology Laboratory Ministry of Defence, with in-kind support from The Tank Museum.

The article was published online on December 15th 2014, and is 4th on Taylor and Francis’ most read article list along with other articles published since 2012. To date, the article has been downloaded/viewed more than 300 times.

Evolving Research Clusters: Are You Interested?

Organised by Dr Carol Clark, the afternoon of the 4th February 2015 saw a group of academics from the Faculty of Health and Social Sciences, mostly physiotherapists, come together to discuss their research interests.  Professor Vanora Hundley facilitated the session providing food for thought around growing research entities and planning ahead.  Dr Zoë Sheppard finished up by summarising the challenges of research impact with an activity thinking through how the group’s research can make a difference.  Lisa Gale-Andrews was usefully on hand to take forward any arising research ideas and collaborations.  In an activity involving grouping research interests, it became clear that there were many shared interests where links could be made with existing groups and others that could potentially evolve into research ‘clusters’ in pain, public health, rehabilitation, education, and research methods.  

Thanks to the people who gave up their time to attend – Emma Hallewell, Colin Paterson, Rachael Bewes, Caroline Belchamber, Jonny Branney, Dr Simon Dyall, and Dr Judith Chapman.  Please get in touch with Lisa Gale-Andrews if you are interested in joining and growing one of these research ‘clusters’ so that she can put you in touch with the appropriate people – cross-Faculty links are also most welcome!  Finally, please get in touch if you are another interested group of academics working in the Faculty who would like to hold a similar session.

Impact Lunchtime Seminar with Andrew Harding on 18th March

Fusion, PG research

Lunchtime Seminar on Wednesday 18th March in R207, 1 – 1.50pm

Research should make a difference, and as the Faculty’s strapline is ‘helping to make people’s lives better’, it is of relevance to us all. Our forthcoming Seminar series will showcase some of the excellent work of the Faculty to inspire other academics and PhD students.

No need to book, just turn up. Contact Zoe on zsheppard@bournemouth.ac.uk for more information.

Future Impact Seminar dates can be found by clicking on the link below.

Impact Seminar dates 2015

We look forward to seeing you there.

Academic’s classic study on Health and Tourism re-launched by leading academic publisher

In February 2015, Routledge re-released the classic study – Health and the International Tourist in hardback and as an ebook.  This was originally published in 1996, edited by Stephen Clift and Stephen Page which now features in the new Routledge Revivals Series, based on a collaborative funded research project on health and tourism originally funded by South East Thames Regional Health Authority based at what is now Canterbury Christ Church University.

  This study mapped out the interdisciplinary connections and relationships between health science, medicine, tourism and the behaviour of tourists with leading contributions from authorities in the field working around the nascent area of travel medicine.  The study provided a basis for health promotion strategies by health organisations focusing on diverse issues such as AIDS, staying safe in the sun, avoiding traveller’s diarrhoea and understanding what goes wrong on holiday for tourist in relation to their risk behaviours.

Routledge Revivals are described by the publisher on their website as an opportunity to ‘discover past brilliance and purchase previously out of print and unavailable titles by some of the world’s most eminent academic scholars. Drawing from over 100 years of innovative, cutting-edge, publishing Routledge Revivals is an exciting new programme whereby key titles from the distinguished and extensive backlist of the many acclaimed imprints associated with Routledge will be re-issued. The programme draws upon the illustrious backlists of Kegan Paul, Trench & Trubner, Routledge & Kegan Paul, Methuen, Allen & Unwin and Routledge itself.  Routledge Revivals spans the whole of the Humanities and Social Sciences, and includes works by some of the world’s greatest thinkers including Emile Durkheim, Max Weber, Simone Weil, Martin Buber, Karl Jaspers and Max Beloff’.

Stephen J. Page is Professor of Tourism in the Faculty of Management and the book marked the beginning of a research journey on tourism and health research spanning almost 20 years.

NVivo – Introduction

Training

Day 1

Offers a rounded introduction to NVivo and 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 Tues 14th April 2015 09:00 – 17:00 on Talbot campus. There are limited spaces so please do ensure you get one by booking on the Organisational and Staff Development webpages.

Developing Professional Researcher Networks Workshop – 15th April 2015

Training

The aim of this workshop is to give for Early Career Researchers or PhD students (particularly final year students) skills to conduct effective professional networking conversations and to use networking as a tool for developing their professional networks.

Networking is recognised by established researchers and Academics as an essential tool for career development and professional advancement.

In contrast, research reveals that many Early Career Researchers feel very uncertain about networking, in respect to both the practical “how to do it” issues and the underlying, often values-based questions “Why it is important ?” and “Should I be doing this?”.

We will address various aspects of networking and develop the appropriate physical and mental skills necessary to improve our skill set in confident networking techniques.

Progress will be made through discussions and group exercises to develop essential skills, build confidence and overcome anxiety or blocks to performance.

As a result of this workshop participants will :

  • Increase their understanding of the professional importance of networking
  • Improve their ability to communicate confidently in networking conversations
  • Understand the importance of body language in effective communication
  • Have tools to deal with stress or anxiety related to networking
  • Have strategies to develop collaborations or increase visibility.

We have hired the services of an external facilitator to offer support in this for academic staff as part of the BRAD programme. Dr Margaret Collins has a 20+ year academic career background and uses her experience and subsequent training in theories such as Neuro-Linguistic Programming to deliver advice on how to increase personal effectiveness in these areas.

You sometimes have to invest a little time to free up more later on – the session on Weds 15th April 2015 09:30 – 12:30 on Talbot campus is a worthwhile investment. There are limited spaces so please do ensure you get one by booking on the Organisational and Staff Development webpages.