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National Health Executive Magazine article tackles misinformation

NHS

Our article in the January/February edition of the National Health Executive (NHE) magazine highlights misinformation around trials of the use of drones to transport medical items. The article, written in collaboration with Dr Andy Oakey at University of Southampton draws on findings from the three-year E-Drone research project and is part of a targeted dissemination plan as this project draws to a close. The article challenges assumptions around cost and carbon savings whilst questioning the need to transport items more quickly. It offers some quick ‘filters’ to apply when considering the role of drones in NHS logistics systems. Read it here for a taste of E-Drone Research (see project website for much, much more…)

REF Impact Subcommittee Chair: deadline extended to submit Expression of Interest

REF Subjects, Research assessment

Would you like to play a key role in supporting preparations for the Engagement & Impact element of BU’s REF2029 submission?

The REF Impact Subcommittee (RISC) has a vacancy for a Chair, which is open to all members of the Professoriate. You are invited to submit an Expression of Interest by 5pm Monday 5th February.

RISC reports on progress in the development of impact case studies to the REF Committee, making recommendations on impact resourcing and ensuring evidence of impact is robustly recorded.

 Key responsibilities include:

  1. Chairing the quarterly RISC meetings.
  2. Ensuring discussion is fair, open and supportive.
  3. Providing guidance in determining where greatest resourcing and support may be required, according to progress updates from impact champions.
  4. Acting as champion for raising awareness across BU of the importance of REF impact case studies in relation to QR funding for the institution as a whole.

Application process:

Please submit a short case (one page max.) to impact@bournemouth.ac.uk, outlining why you are interested in this important role, and the knowledge, skills and experience you think you could bring to it. Applications from underrepresented groups (e.g. women, minority ethnic, declared disability) are particularly welcome. The deadline is: 5pm, Monday 5th February.

EoIs are reviewed against the selection criteria detailed below by a gender-balanced selection panel comprising:

  • Chair of the REF Steering Group
  • Chair of the REF Committee
  • RDS representative

In the event of there being just one EoI received for a particular panel member role, the panel will still review it using the selection criteria to ensure the applicant is suitable for the role.

Further details on the role and selection criteria are here:

Chair REF Impact Subcommittee role descriptor

Process and criteria for RISC Chair recruitment

Selection criteria

The panel will give each EoI a score out of 15, based on how well they score against the criteria outlined below. These are equally weighted, with each criterion carrying a total possible score of 5. The panel will offer the role to the applicants with the highest ranked EoIs. A member of the panel will provide feedback to all applicants.

  • Knowledge and experience of REF and research impact (scored out of 5): The Chair/Deputy Chair are expected to have a thorough knowledge of the REF process, preparations and timeline and the requirements relating to the impact submission for REF2029. Ideally, they will have been involved in preparations for previous REF exercises or submitted an impact case study. It is expected that they will be practising researchers and will have a breadth of understanding of research across BU.
  • Experience of chairing meetings and reaching consensus to ensure sound decision-making (scored out of 5): The Chair/Deputy Chair will need to be able to chair meetings effectively and ensure prioritisation decisions are made in alignment with the requirements of the impact element of BU’s REF submission.
  • Plans for leading the impact agenda across the University (scored out of 5): The Chair/Deputy Chair are responsible for motivating the impact champions of each Unit of Assessment, as well as the wider research community, to optimise BU’s performance in the Engagement and Impact element of REF2029. They should have ideas for how they will do this.

Questions

Any queries regarding the process should be directed to impact@bournemouth.ac.uk. Specific questions about the Chair role should be directed to REF Committee Chair Professor Einar Thorson

Participants Needed for COVID-19 Research

Are you continuing to struggle with COVID-19 symptoms or have been diagnosed with Long COVID-19? Are you interested in understanding how Long COVID-19 impacts the ability to conduct daily activities?

If so please see the below poster and contact us for further information – marmstrong@bournemouth.ac.uk

REF2029 update on People, Culture and Environment

REF Subjects, Research assessment

The REF team have announced an update on the People, Culture and Environment (PCE) element of the REF2029 exercise.

A project has been commissioned to co-develop, with the research community, indicators to be used for the assessment of PCE. These indicators will be used to evidence and support institutions’ PCE submissions as part of a structured questionnaire for REF2029 submissions.

A pilot exercise to enable in-depth testing of the PCE indicators will run alongside the project. This will involve the drafting of example PCE submissions by a sample of HEIs for assessment by pilot panels, in a selected subset of Units of Assessment (UoA).

More details can be found on the REF2029 website, along with information on how HEIs can get involved in the pilot.

The team have also released an updated timetable for the REF2029 exercise.

UK Research Integrity Office – Free Subscriber Only Webinar – Social Media and Ethics

Research Ethics, Research Ethics Panels

UKRIO LogoUKRIO has announced details of a forthcoming Free Webinar “Social Media and Ethics” on Wednesday 21st February from 10:00 – 11:00 BST. 

Research using social media data presents several ethical issues that researchers must navigate to ensure the responsible and respectful use of this data. Some of the primary ethical issues in research using social media includes privacy and informed consent, anonymity and confidentiality, data ownership and terms of use, ethical use of algorithms and AI, sensitive topics and vulnerable populations, consent and minors, deception and online identity, unintended consequences, and transparency and reproducibility.This webinar discusses these ethical concerns that require a combination of thoughtful consideration, adherence to research guidelines, and engagement with relevant stakeholders, including social media platforms and users.

Dr Nicolas Gold, Associate Professor  in Computer Science will lead the webinar, which will cover:

  • The identification of some key ethics issues when using social media data.
  • An approach to constructing arguments for ethically defensible research in this space.
  • A brief “tour” of some platform terms and their potential impact on research.

This webinar is aimed at all researchers using social media and those involved in the ethical review process of projects.

As BU subscribes to UKRIO services, UKRIO webinars are free and open to anyone who may be interested in research integrity and ethics, good research practice and improving research culture and avoiding misconduct.

To register – please click here (takes you to external website).

Cross-university Multidisciplinary Research

conferences

In December, I had the pleasure of participating in an expert panel addressing AI testing at the International Conference on Artificial Intelligence at Peterhouse College, at the University of Cambridge. You might be wondering what brought a cybersecurity researcher to an AI-centric event. I had the same scepticism when my multi-university research group decided we conduct AI-related research; what would my contribution be?

Our work has focused on defining meta-data for AI provenance, contributing to advancements in various facets of AI, including testing and auditability. Specifically, my focus lies on evaluating the dimensions of risk and trust within this context. Given the widespread impact of AI across diverse domains, there is a compelling opportunity for multidisciplinary research, consecutively, our group, has diverse expertise ranging from machine learning to psychology.

An initial publication on our work can be found here.

Author Dr Andrew M’manga

Digital Marketing Colloquium 2024-Submission Deadline 15/02/2024

We are extremely excited to announce that digital marketing research group (Department of Marketing, Strategy and Innovation) is organising its first digital marketing colloquium on Tuesday 19th – Wednesday 20th March 2024 at the Bournemouth University Business School. 

This colloquium will bring together leading researchers and practitioners to discuss and visualise the future of strategic and operational marketing. Both technology advancements and marketing developments will be explored, co-creating future innovations for collaboration and solutions. The aim is to draw in forward-thinking research on crucial subjects that have an impact on consumers, businesses, and society as a whole. Participants will be encouraged to stimulate fresh perspectives and explore uncharted territories.   

This is an multi and inter-disciplinary event, scope of which covers the following indicative areas:  

  • Digital business process reengineering 
  • Digital consumption, behaviour, attitudes, and decision-making 
  • Digital ecosystems: strategies and operations 
  • Digital Twins  
  • Virtual Real Estate  
  • Enhanced social web3, virtual and hybrid interactions  
  • AI in Business and Industry 
  • Predictive analytics 
  • Machine Learning and Algorithms  
  • AI Supply chain optimisation 
  • AI based Customer Relationship Management 
  • Virtual experiences  
  • Designing immersive and illusive experience in the Metaverse and Web3 
  • Interactive and engaging user experiences  
  • Gamification and serious gaming  
  • Business models and opportunities  
  • Future of Work  
  • Education, training and adaptive learning 
  • Creativity and design in AI  
  • Blockchains and smart contracts, cryptocurrencies, NFTs  
  • Digital Identity: opportunities and challenges  
  • CyberSecurity and customer experience  
  • Wearable technology  
  • Human-robot interaction 
  • Robotics and Automation design 
  • Robot based services  
  • Chatbots and virtual assistants  
  • Autonomous vehicles and drones 
  • Environment, climate, energy optimization and sustainability  
  • Ethical, legal and social implications  
  • Health and wellbeing.  

 We welcome submissions in the form of abstracts for presentations, posters and workshop proposals. Workshop proposals are an interesting element we wish you to consider – workshops are meant to run a related to Colloquium theme interactive session on a specific topic to stimulate participants to co-create future scenarios or solutions, work interactively on an emerging topic and exchange ideas. Please see the detailed Call for Papers attached here.  Deadline for all submissions is 15th Feb 2024 and abstracts for presentations and posters as well as workshop proposals can be submitted by clicking here   

We will keep you in the loop about further developments on this colloquium and will share all the links for submission systems soon. Watch this space and save the date 😊 

Digital Marketing Colloquium 2024 Organising Committee 

 

 

RKEDF February digest – training for YOU

We’re excited to share …  

some great RKEDF training opportunities coming up in February 2024.  

 Click on the titles to find details and book your place to the upcoming events.  

 Online RSA Drop-In meeting    

Wednesday 7th January, 10:30-11:00 Online  

Meet your RSA reps, hear updates on how BU is implementing the Research Concordat and give feedback or raise concerns that will help to develop and support the research community at BU  

Principal Investigation                                                                      

Wednesday 7th February, 14:00-15:00 at Lansdowne Campus 

This session is aimed at any researcher who is, who plans to be, a Principal Investigator for an externally funded research or knowledge exchange project.   

Work Life Balance 

Wednesday 7th February, 13:00-14:00 Hybrid  

The session aims to discuss approaches to setting and maintaining healthy work/life balance whilst also managing the demands of their role. 

Introduction to RED – The Research & Enterprise Database 

Thursday 8th February, 10:00-10:30 Online  

An overview of the Research & Enterprise Database and how to use RED to identify your supporting pre and post award officers.   

Anatomy of an impact case study 

Tuesday 13th February, 13:00-15:00 at Talbot Campus 

The structure of an impact case study, what makes an excellent case study and what you will need in order to start building an impact case study from your own research. 

BA ECRN event – Med Hums  

Wednesday 21st February 2024, 11:00 – 16:00 at Talbot Campus  

This event brings together researchers in Medical and Health Humanities at BU from across the faculties of HSS, MMC and SciTech, inviting them to highlight the main challenges of working within this varied and interdisciplinary field.  

Introduction to health economics 

Wednesday 21st February 2024, 10:00 – 15:30 at Talbot Campus  

This course is aimed at academics of all levels that are interested in gaining an overview of health economics and how this can be applied to research projects. 

 

For any further information, please contact RKEDF@bournemouth.ac.uk  

  

In December, 12.5% of colleagues who booked a session did not actually attend. Please, help us to avoid any waste of resources; make sure you can attend or cancel your booking ahead of the session.  

*Update* Future Leader Fellows briefing

Funding opportunities

 

 

 

Please note a change in the briefing date, now:  7th Feb 2024- following the original post of the 15th January.

A briefing on this call will be held on  7th February 2024 at 12 noon, including an overview of the scheme and a Q&A session. For those who cannot attend on the day, the briefing will be recorded and shared on Brightspace. Please contact us to receive the link.

The rest of the timeline remains the same.

Process for selecting applications timeline:

Date Action
15th January 2024  Internal Launch of Call
 7th February 2024 Future Leaders Briefing and Q&A for Fellows and mentors – at the Funding Development Briefing.
 29th February 2024 Call opens 
1st March 2024 Noon EoI deadline
4th March 2024  Applications sent to reviewers
w/c 1st April 2024 Panel Meeting
8th April 2024 Notify successful FLF/s

Please contact Eva Papadopoulou or Kate Percival with any queries on the above.

Health Promotion article is being read

international, open access, Publishing, writing

Our article ‘Understanding health education, health promotion & public health’ [1] is getting read according to ResearchGate.  This conceptual/ theoretical paper was published open access in late 2021 in the Journal of Health Promotion and it reached 4,500 reads yesterday. Whilst the web side of the journal suggests today that the PDF of the paper has been downloaded 8,511 times.

 

Prof. Edwin van Teijlingen

Centre for Midwifery & Women’s Health (CMWH)

 

 

Reference:

  1. van Teijlingen, K. R., Devkota, B., Douglas, F., Simkhada, P.,  van Teijlingen, E. R. (2021). Understanding health education, health promotion and public health. Journal of Health Promotion, 9(1): 1–7. https://doi.org/10.3126/jhp.v9i01.40957

New paper by FHSS PhD student Abier Hamidi

international, PG research

This morning the journal Discover Social Science & Health informed us that Abier Hamidi’s latest paper ‘Islamic Perspectives on HIV: A Scoping Review’ has been accepted for publication [1].  Discover Social Science & Health is an Open Access journal publishing research across the full range of disciplines at the intersection of health, social and biomedical sciences.  This latest review is part of Abier’s PhD research project and it follows several earlier related publications [2-7].

Abier is supervised by Dr. Pramod Regmi, Principal Academic-International Health  and the Global Engagement Lead in the Department of Nursing Sciences, and Prof. Edwin van Teijlingen in the Centre for Midwifery & Women’s Health (CMWH).

Congratulations!

References:

  1. Hamidi, A., Regmi, P., van Teijlingen, E. (2024) Islamic Perspectives on HIV: A Scoping Review,  Discover Social Science & Health 4:6  https://link.springer.com/content/pdf/10.1007/s44155-024-00063-7.pdf
  2. Hamidi, A. (2023) Social media now trumps traditional family networks in Libya – my Facebook survey reached 446,000 women, The Conversation published: April 24.
  3. Hamidi, A., Regmi, P., van Teijlingen, E. (2023) Facilitators and barriers to condom use in Middle East and North Africa: a systematic review, Journal of Public Health, https://doi.org/10.1007/s10389-023-01923-3 
  4. Hamidi, A. (2023) Book Review: Fatma Müge Göçek and Gamze Evcimen, The I.B. Tauris Handbook of Sociology and The Middle East, Sociologial Research Online 28(4)
  5. Hamidi A. (2022) HIV prevention – Challenges in reaching Libyan women: A narrative review. Women’s Health. 18: doi:10.1177/17455057221080832
  6. Hamidi, A., van Teijlingen, E., Regmi, P. (2021) Facilitators and barriers to condom use in Middle East and North Africa: a systematic review. PROSPERO CRD42021297160
  7. Hamidi, A., Regmi, P., van Teijlingen, E. (2021) HIV epidemic in Libya: Identifying gaps, Journal of the International Association of Providers of AIDS Care, 20 :1-5 https://doi.org/10.1177/23259582211053964 .

 

Call for Participants: British Academy SHAPE Research Careers workshop for Early Career Researchers

The British Academy is running a project on the SHAPE of research careers, specifically looking at the identity, activity, and mobility of SHAPE postdoctoral researchers, from early career to mid- and late career. We would like to invite anyone who identifies as an early-career social sciences, humanities, or arts researcher to participate in the final workshop, which will be taking place on 1 February 10am to 1pm on Zoom. As a participant in our online workshops, you would also be invited to attend the March conference, with an opportunity to help develop policy options to better support researchers and research, and to network with SHAPE researchers from across UK higher education and other sectors.

If you would be interested in sharing your experiences as an early-career SHAPE researcher in our online workshop or would like more information, please do get in touch with Eleanor Hopkins (e.hopkins@thebritishacademy.ac.uk) and Sharaiz Asin (s.asin@thebritishacademy.ac.uk).

New study launched with SportBU: Identifying factors associated with injury incidence in university athletes.

Injury tracking study – recruitment poster

Researchers from the Department of Rehabilitation and Sport Science have recently launched a study, delivered in collaboration with SportBU, to identify factors associated with injury incidence in BU varsity athletes.

The study, led by Dr Louise Burgess and Kate Rattley, in collaboration with Dr Chloe Casey, Rosie Harper and MSc student Ellie Cox, aims to identify lifestyle and health factors that may lead to an increase in injury risk in athletes. The survey asks injured athletes to complete validated questionnaires on factors related to their health and wellbeing in the time leading up to their injury (for example, sleep, nutrition, stress, wellbeing, alcohol intake and factors related to the menstrual cycle) and specific details about their injury (for example, type, severity, playing surface).

TeamBU athletes – Men’s rugby

Dr Louise Burgess, Lecturer in Sport and Exercise Science, said: “This study aims to collect data over several seasons of varsity sport, to identify potential correlates of injury risk, and inform future injury prevention strategies within the University. It’s exciting to collaborate with the performance sport department at BU and collect data that will have a meaningful impact on student experience.”

Kate Rattley, PhD student, said: “It’s really important to increase availability of information for athletes on how they can reduce injury risk both in advance of and during game play. There’s been fantastic progress in elite sport and it’s important this information filters down to all levels of sport. Part of this research aims to increase high quality data in relation to women’s health and performance and this study presents an exciting opportunity for Bournemouth University and TeamBU to contribute to this rapidly evolving field.”

TeamBU athletes – Women’s hockey

Michael Barry, Assistant Head of Sport (Student Sport and Outreach) said: “We’re excited to support this important collaboration with academics at BU. The performance pathway at the University continues to grow and injury surveillance data is vital to reduce the time spent away from sport and learning due to injury, to enhance student experience. We offer a unique range of support to our athletes through S&C and performance lifestyle advise as part of the TeamBU programme, and collecting further data on potential causes of injury will inform the services we offer.”

For more information on the study, please contact lead researchers Dr Louise Burgess (lburgess@bournemouth.ac.uk) or Kate Rattley (krattley@bournemouth.ac.uk).

Intellectual Property for Academics – Weds 24th Jan

Planning or doing Research and/or Knowledge Exchange?

Do not miss..

‘‘Intellectual Property for Academics’’

Wednesday 24th January 10:30 – 12:00

Room 305, Fusion Building, Talbot Campus

A workshop presented by Dr Nicholas Malden, Partner at D Young&Co, a leading top-tier European intellectual property firm and Bournemouth University’s preferred choice for patent advice.

Introduction by FST Executive Dean, Christos Gatzidis.

  • A brief intro to IP and its value for the holder and wider society
  • Inventorship and ownership – What’s important and what are the considerations in research projects?
  • Third party IP rights – What are the considerations?
  • What needs to go in a patent application?
  • Patent filing versus trade secret versus disclosure – choices and consequences

This is a unique opportunity to listen to valuable discussions, ask questions and learn ‘‘the need to know’’ from an industry expert about IP from the academic perspective.

Reserve your place here

For any queries regarding the content of this session, please contact lhutchins@bournemouth.ac.uk, for any other information please email RKEDF @ RKE Development Framework

Women’s Academic Network Small Grant Funding Scheme

Dear WAN members,

We are excited to launch the WAN Small Grant Funding Scheme for 2024. WAN project funds are designed to support research-based activities that meet WAN broad aims in supporting equality for women, promoting their careers, and highlighting gender-based issues that affect women. WAN members are welcome to apply for grant of up to £500 for relevant projects.  

 Conditions of funding:

  • The scheme is only open to WAN members.  
  • Every funded project must be completed by the end of July 2024*.
  • Every project must lead to demonstrable outcomes/deliverables such as papers, book proposals, Research Blogs, pilot studies leading to bigger grants etc.
  • You must agree to present outcomes to WAN members and produce a blog post as a condition of funding.
  • The project must relate to women’s equality or gender-based issues that affect women.

The application form can be accessed via the WAN Brightspace page. The deadline for this funding application is 16th February 2024. Successful applicants will be informed by 1st March 2024. Please forward your completed Application Form to Dr Chloe Casey: ccasey@bournemouth.ac.uk. Please contact Chloe if you have any queries about the application process.

Media coverage in Nepal

international

Last week Mr. Yogesh Dhakal, who is Deputy Editor at Shilapatra, an online newspaper in Nepal, interviewed three UK professors: Julie Balen (Canterbury Christ Church University), Simon Rushton (the University of Sheffield) and Edwin van Teijlingen (Bournemouth University).  The focus of the interview (see interview online here) was our recently completed interdisciplinary study ‘The impact of federalisation on Nepal’s health system: a longitudinal analysis’.

In this Nepal Federal Health System Project we studied the consequences for the health system of Nepal’s move from a centralised political system to a more federal structure of government.  This three-year project is UK-funded by the MRC, Wellcome Trust and FCDO (Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office; formerly DFID) under the Health Systems Research Initiative.  This joint project is led by the University of Sheffield in collaboration with Bournemouth University, the University of Huddersfield, Canterbury Christ Church University and two  institutions in Nepal, namely MMIHS (Manmohan Memorial Institute of Health Sciences) and PHASE Nepal. 

Today (23rd January) the article appeared online in Nepali.  We have seen the transcript in English of the actual interviews with the three of us, but I have no idea how the journalist has edited, selected and translated the relevant text.

Prof. Edwin van Teijlingen

CMWH (Centre for Midwifery & Women’s Health)