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WordCamp comes to BU

This weekend BU has been playing host to a fantastic group of the nation’s best and brightest WordPress Developers for the 7th annual WordCamp UK event. The event is a chance for the community of WordPress developers to come together, share ideas and experiences, and provide each other with support and advice.  Over 100 people attended the event, coming both from the local conurbation, and from further afield – in particular one gentleman had come all the way from Spain!

Arriving Saturday morning I had the basics of WordPress down, having previously developed a free website for a local community event that consists of a few different pages and a blog feed.  Talks have been submitted to the running order by the attendees of the conference in advance, giving people a selection of topics to pick and choose from depending on their interests.  Sessions have been hugely varied, for example: “A beginners guide to web accessibility”, “Learning to sell your services as a web designer”, “Designing with data”, and “How not to launch a startup”.  One of the most helpful sessions from my perspective as a novice WordPress user was a series of 5 minute lightening talks on topics such as the importance of password security (to find out how long it would take a hacker to crack your password head to How big is your haystack?), how to set up a developer event, and a poetic recital of how to problem solve your website issues.

As well as attending the talks I’ve also benefitted from one of one tuition from other attendees on how I can develop sites offline and what plugins I could add to sites to make them more interesting and useful for the end user, all for no extra cost.  Overall this has been a fantastic insight into the power of WordPress and how I can use it to support my own projects and events at a minimal cost.   Considering tickets were just £10, I think there has been fantastic value in the weekend’s activities and I would recommend to anyone with an interest in WordPress (professionally or privately) to consider attending future WordCamps around the country. 

SDRC newly appointed visiting professor

Fusion

SDRC has developed significant portfolio of industrially funded research, national and international collaborations and visiting faculty. BU has recently appointed Professor Bob Cripps as visiting professor.

He is currently a Director of Longitude Consulting Engineering part of London Offshore Consultants (LOC) which was established to provide independent, high quality marine and engineering consultancy to the shipping and offshore industries.

Professor Cripps was previously Director Engineering College for BAE Systems Surface Ships responsible for developing and maintaining BAE Systems Surface Ships academic and engineering reputation as being world class and he was responsible for setting up University Technology Partnerships at six key UK universities.

Prior to this, Professor Cripps was Technical Director at VT Halmatic responsible for all technical aspects including boat design/engineering and composite development. He was Engineering Manager at RNLI for 18 years responsible for the design and development of all classes of lifeboat (offshore and inshore), launching equipment and moorings. He was instrumental in the development of the latest generation of lifeboats namely, Severn, Trent, Tamar and Atlantic 85 class lifeboats. He was also responsible for all research and development undertaken by the RNLI and he established the Advanced Technology Partnership between the RNLI and the University of Southampton in 2000.

Professor Cripps is a Royal Academy of Engineering Visiting Professor in the Principles of Engineering Design at the University of Southampton. He is well known for his work in the design and development of small craft and the use of composite materials in marine applications and this was recognised with the award of an Honorary Doctor of Engineering from Bournemouth University in 2005. Particular areas of interest and expertise are the development and integration of methods and processes to enable designers to utilise latest technical developments simply at an early stage of the design process.

Professor Cripps was instrumental in introducing different NDE methods into the construction and in-service inspection of composites hulls and this was recognised by The British Institute of Non-Destructive Testing with the 2002 NEMET Award for outstanding examples of effective use of NDT.

He was a Senior Ship Surveyor with Lloyds Register of Shipping for nearly 13 years in the Research and Development Group and the Plan Approval Department. Graduating in 1976 from University of Southampton with a BSc.(Hons) Ship Science, Professor Cripps is also a Fellow of the Royal Institution of Naval Architects (FRINA), Fellow of the Institute of Marine Engineering, Science and Technology (FIMarEST), Fellow of the Chartered Management Institute (FCMI), a Chartered Engineer (CEng) and European Engineer (EurIng).

If you would like to know more about the SDRC academic activity, please contact

Dr Zulfiqar Khan (Associate Professor)

Director SDRC

South Asian midwifery at ICM 2014

Publishing

Photo from UNFPA Lao PDR

In early June I published a short overview of Bournemouth University’s contribution to the ICM (International Congress of Midwives) conference in Prague (Czech Republic) (see: http://blogs.bournemouth.ac.uk/research/2014/06/05/cmmph-strong-presence-at-icm-conference/ ).  In addition we highlighted the Nepal contribution in a separate BU Research Blog (http://blogs.bournemouth.ac.uk/research/2014/06/03/46-sharma-s-sicuri-e-belizan-jm-van-teijlingen-e-simkhada-p-stephens-j-hundley-v-angell-c-getting-women-to-care-in-nepal-a-difference-in-difference-analysis-of-a-health-prom/ ).   Today a belated update of our presence at the Special Session on South Asian Midwifery at the ICM conference last month, as I just received photos from our friends at UNFPA Lao PDR.

South Asia posters at ICM conference (photo: UNFPA Lao PDR)

One of the speakers at the South Asian Midwifery session was our friend Kiran Bajracharya, president of the Midwifery Society of Nepal (MIDSON).  Several of our posters describing our work in Nepal were on display.  Bournemouth University friends were involved in the organisation of the event, such as Swedish midwife Malin Bogren and the editor of the newly launched midwifery journal Journal of Asian Midwifery, Dr. Rafat Jan. The session was concluded by another BU collaborator Petra the Hoope-Bender of Integrare.

Professor Edwin van Teijlingen

CMMPH

Latest Major Funding Opportunities

Funding opportunities

The following funding opportunities have been announced. Please follow the links for more information:

BBSRC seeks early career researchers from academia or industry who have demonstrated high potential, and who wish to establish an independent academic career focused on the translation of fundamental bioscience research. The Translational Fellowships  call will support the translation of basic plant science into crop science research. The application deadline is 05/11/14 at 4pm, with interviews in April-May 2015.

BBSRC, in collaboration with Defra, will be announcing a call to support fundamental bioscience that will address key gaps in the knowledge of bovine tuberculosis (bTB) biology. BBSRC envisage that this programme will facilitate the growth of the bTB basic bioscience research community and promote cross-disciplinary working. If your research, involves this topic, please watch out for further news on this topic.

ESRC and Technology Strategy Board have announced a call for applications for members of a new initiative to deepen and expand their portfolio of partnership activities. The Innovation Caucus will trial a new approach to liaison and knowledge exchange between these two communities, by supporting social science based thought leaders to engage with TSB technologists and strategic planning. The Innovation Caucus will promote engagement between TSB and social science communities, demonstrating the value of social science knowledge for innovation and establishing a substantive pathway of knowledge exchange and opportunity for impact within and through the TSB. Importantly, these will be senior appointments and the opportunity is open to both academics and non-academics; a social science background and strong record of delivering successful knowledge exchange and impact is essential. Closing date for Knowledge Broker applications is by 4pm on 25/08/14. For the Thought Leader call, the closing date is 4pm on 23/10/14

Announced by the EPSRC and working in close partnership with the Technology Strategy Board, the Connected Digital Economy Catapult and with support from Microsoft Research, the Research Councils UK Digital Economy (DE) Theme is seeking to promote the realisation of impact and enhanced exploitation of the outcomes arising from its investments in the research base. This Next Stage Digital Economy call is designed to consolidate, harness and build upon existing DE knowledge and skills arising from DE Theme-funded and related funded awards to help accelerate the research outcomes and outputs to the next stage and create more real impact (be it economic, societal or cultural). If you are interested in applying,  join a Twitter chat on Thursday 17 July from 15:00 to 16:00 (BST). Portfolio Managers from the AHRC, ESRC and EPSRC will be present to answer your questions about the Next Stage call. Applicants must submit an ‘entry ticket’, with invited applications to be submitted by 16:00 on 09/10/14.

 As part of the cross-council initiative in Antimicrobial Resistance (AMR), the EPSRC is highlighting this future call, Bridging the Gaps between the Engineering and Physical Sciences and Antimicrobial Resistance, which will aim to engage engineering and physical sciences (EPS) researchers with the AMR challenge and to develop networks within their institutions focussed on the four multidisciplinary themes in the cross-council AMR initiative. These networks will support people to build capacity and understanding which could lead to future research proposals. It is likely to have a closing date in November 2014.

The Technology Strategy Board, the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC), and the Defence, Science  and Technology Laboratory (DSTL), are investing up to £5m in the exploration and acceleration of commercial opportunities in quantum technologies. They are primarily seeking to fund feasibility studies into early-stage evaluation of quantum technologies and components, but also collaborative R&D projects to accelerate the commercialisation of those quantum technologies and components that are nearer to market. The competition opens for both types of project application on 08/09/14.  The deadline for applications is noon on 22/10/14. A briefing event for potential applicants will be held in London on 11/09/14; applicants should look on _connect for more details.   

The Technology Strategy Board is to invest up to £1m in innovative research and development projects, with a focus on the cluster of manufacturing process businesses via the North East Launch Pad scheme, grouped around the Wilton Centre, Seal Sands and Billingham. A briefing event will be held in The Wynyard Rooms, Billingham on 09/09/14. This call closes on 15/10/14.

The Wellcome Trust Biomedical Research Fellowship Programme for India – Intermediate Fellowships for Researchers in India supports excellent scientists who wish to undertake high-quality research and to establish themselves as independent researchers in an academic institution in India. A preliminary application is to be submitted by 14/08/14 and the invited full application in December 2014.

Please note that some funders specify a time for submission as well as a date. Please confirm this with your RKE Support Officer.

You can set up your own personalised alerts on ResearchProfessional. If you need help setting these up, just ask your School’s RKE Officer in RKE Operations or see the recent post on this topic, which includes forthcoming training dates up to November 2014.

If thinking of applying, why not add notification of your interest on ResearchProfessional’s record of the bid so that BU colleagues can see your intention to bid and contact you to collaborate.

HE Developments from last week

 

Monday

Employability

According to the High Fliers report the graduate job market has recovered to its pre-recession peak but competition for these graduate jobs has remained high, with 39 applications per vacancy.

·         Graduate jobs recover to ‘pre-recession peak’ (BBC)

·         Employers receive 39 applications for every graduate job (Telegraph)

·         Nearly 40 graduates fighting over each job (Times)

Student Loans

Over 5,000 over-50s have taken out up to £67 million a year in student loans in order to undertake university degrees, despite concerns that they will never repay. Rising numbers of over-50s taking out student loans (Telegraph)

University Enterprise Zones

The four new University Enterprise Zones have been announced in Bradford, Bristol, Nottingham and Liverpool. New University Enterprise Zones launched (THE)

Apprenticeships

DfE figures have shown a 15% increase in the number of school leavers undertaking apprenticeships. More pupils taking apprenticeships straight from school (Telegraph)

 

Tuesday

University Alliance launches Job Ready report. 

Today University Alliance will launch its new report Job Ready: Universities, employers and students creating success publication at the House of Commons.  This is a new study based on in-depth interviews with small and large employers, including  British Airways, IBM, Marks and Spencer and Bank of America, shows employers are putting graduates at the heart of their strategies to innovate and grow. The report will be launched with speeches by Universities Minister Rt Hon David Willetts, University Alliance, CBI, and British Airways.

Technical Degrees

Ed Miliband will announce today in a speech to the Sutton Trust that young workers would be able to “earn and learn” by studying for a degree for part of the week and working for the rest. The Government would subsidise the new technical degrees to meet the demand for hundreds of thousands of STEM technicians needed and employers would design and sponsor them. Mr Miliband warns the country risks “going into decline” unless it creates greater opportunities for the so-called “forgotten 50% of young people who choose not to follow a traditional academic route. 

·  Labour to offer ‘earn and learn’ technical degrees (Independent)

·  Ed Miliband unveils plan for technical degrees if Labour wins 2015 election (Guardian)

·  Labour will introduce ‘technical degrees’, Miliband to say (FT)

·  Labour proposes ‘technical degrees‘(BBC)

·  Labour plans to introduce German-style degrees (Telegraph)

·  Labour launches Technical Degree Policy (THE)

Apprenticeships

Interestingly UCU have published the results of poll showing that more than half of young people would rather do an apprenticeship than go to university, if there was an apprenticeship in a job they wanted to do. UCU says the poll highlighted the desire for more high-skilled apprenticeships and the support for higher level apprenticeships as a credible alternative to a degree. UCU

Access

Further coverage calling for the Russell Group to open up their data on offers following the publication of figures from the Universities of Oxford and Cambridge showing the British ethnic minorities are significantly less likely than their white British peers to be offered places. Today’s Guardian piece is a breakdown of Russell Group offers and in the Telegraph piece, Prof Les Ebdon, the Government’s fair access tsar said universities should be committed to “searching out academic potential wherever it is found” to create a better social mix on campuses. 

·  Show us the data on Russell Group offers to ethnic minority students (Guardian) 

·  Access tsar: admit university students based on ‘potential’, (Telegraph)

Wednesday

Student Loans

The chairman of the Student Loans Company (SLC), Christian Brodie, has apologised to ministers and offered to resign over ‘misleading’ “Wonga-style” letters demanding repayment from graduates that were in arrears. In a written statement, the Universities Minister, David Willetts, said he and Vince Cable did not accept his offer to stand down and that the government believed Brodie had a “very important” job to do at the SLC and it would be unfair for him to take the blame for a practice that was nearly 10 years old.

·  Student Loans Company chief offered to resign over ‘misleading’ debt letters (The Guardian)

·  Student loan boss ‘offered to resign‘ (BBC News)

·  Student Loans Chief Offered to quit over Wonga-style letters (Telegraph)

·  Student Loans Chairman offered to resign over debt letters (FT)

·  Ministers back Student Loans chief over ‘Wonga-style’ debt collection (Daily Mail)

·  SLC chairman offered to step down over ‘Smith Lawson’ letters (THE)

Thursday

Salaries

The ICO have ruled that King’s College London should publish details of staff who earn more than £100,000 a year. Salaries of high-earning professors may be disclosed (THE)

International Students

According to an Observatory on Borderless Higher Education report new policies in Asia aimed at stemming the brain drain of students and expanding domestic HE will lead to stagnation or decline in the number choosing to study in the UK. Stronger Asian systems could reduce student numbers in UK (THE)

 

Friday

UCAS figures – University applications

Widespread coverage of UCAS figures that show applications for university places are up by 4% on last year, with 659,030 submitted by the end of June. They also show that more women have applied than men and that more Scots than ever before have applied to study at university. 

·  UCAS: women more likely to apply to university than men (Telegraph)

·  University applications rise 4% in the UK (BBC News)

·  University applications up 4% to over 650,000 (Guardian)

·  Boys losing out in university gender gap (Daily Mail print and online edition) 

·  University applications hit new high (Daily Mail – online)

·  University applications up 4 per cent at final deadline (THE)

·  University applications are rising (Yahoo)

·  Free tuition hailed as student numbers rise to a new high (Times – Scotland section (subscription))

Research and development funding announced for SMEs

Funding opportunities

Smart competition flyer

Research and development funding announced for SMEs

Smart is a grant scheme which offers funding to small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) to engage in R&D projects in the strategically important areas of science, engineering and technology, from which successful new products, processes and services could emerge. The next round opens on 17 July (and closes) 25 September with funding available from £25k to £250K.

Three types of grant are available:

  • Proof of market
  • Proof of concept
  • Development of prototype

For more information on this grant click here:

If you wish to consider developing an application for the grant – help is available. Please contact Jayne Codling   – Knowledge Exchange Officer, R&KEO for further information.

Games developer funding guide published

Funding opportunities

Ever wondered what funding opportunities are available and how to find out more about the funding process?

TIGA, the network for developers and digital publishers, in partnership with Google has launched a new in-depth report that details and assesses the funding sources currently available in the UK for games companies.

The report is split into two parts, a survey of nearly 40 independent UK developers on their experiences with and use of third party sources of funding, and an in-depth source-by-source funding guide.

This guide is free to download and includes case studies and interviews on what funders look for.

Writing English as a Foreign Language Workshop

A Writing English as a Foreign Language Workshop is Taking place on the Wednesday 16th July 2014, from 12:30-14:00 on Talbot Campus.

Presented by Paul Barnes from the Library this Writing Academy lunch byte session will look at;

Academic style, levels of formality (register), grammar – including tense usage, passive voice, prepositions and relative clauses and vocabulary choice.
After the presentation, attendees are invited to stay and discuss the topic with the speaker over lunch.

One to one appointments with Paul are also available for attendees.
These are available between 13.00 – 14.00, to book a slot please email Shelly Stringer.

To book on to the above workshop please visit the Staff Development & Engagement Pages on the Staff Intranet.

Congratulation and Good Luck

Dr Melanie Klinkner

Melanie Klinkner

June saw a level of activity for bids being submitted and awards being won with congratulations due to Schools/Faculty for winning research and consultancy contracts.

For the Business School, good luck to Melanie Klinkner and Howard Davis for their application to the Leverhulme Trust, to Dermot McCarthy, Phyllis Alexander and Fabian Homberg for their application to ICAEW, to Chris Chapleo for his consultancy to Nigel Reed Smith Ltd, and to Gelareh Roushan, Dawn Birch, Elvira Borat, Caroline Burr and Ana Adi (MS) for their short course on digital marketing to the Technical and Vocational Training Corporation.

For HSC, congratulations are due to Clive Andrewes for his short course with Health Education England Wessex LETB, and to Jagoda Banovic for her short course with the Royal Bournemouth Hospital.  Good luck to Vanora Hundley, Helen Allen, Zoe Sheppard and Peter Thomas for their feasibility study to the National Institute for Health Research to research aromatherapy to reduce intervention in early labour, to Clare Taylor for her application to the Health Foundation, and to Jonathan Parker for his application to the Nuffield Foundation.

Anna Feigenbaum

For MS, congratulations to grants academy member Anna Feigenbaum for her application to the Wellcome Trust, to Cliff Van Wyk for his consultancy with South Lychett Manor, and to Liam Toms for his two consultancies with Lyme Bay Brewing Ltd and Grads for Growth.  Good luck to Isabella Riga for her application to the British Council, and to Stephanie Farmer for her consultancy to Dorset County Council.

For the Faculty of Science and Technology, congratulations are due to Genoveva Esteban for her match funded studentship with the Scottish Association for Marine Science and also for her consultancy with the Valentine Trust, to Martin Smith for his consultancy with Michigan State University, to Abdelhamid Bouchachia for his ICAIS conference to be held in September, to Jonathan Monteith for his consultancy with Anesco, to Venky Dubey and Neil Vaughan for their consultancy with the Royal Bournemouth and Christchurch Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust, and to Anita Diazfor her consultancy with the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds to carry out heath and saltmarsh surveys on Arne peninsular.  Good luck to Neil Vaughan for his application to the MRC, to Luciana Slomp-Esteves for her application to the British Council to research managing coastlines for sustainable development under future climate change, to Richard Stafford and Luciana Slomp-Esteves for their application to the British Council, to Samual Nyman for his application to the Health Foundation, and to Lai Xu and Paul de Vriezefor their application to the Royal Society to research supporting SMEs business process modelling from the perspective of the end user. 

For ST, congratulations go to Richard Gordon for his consultancy with the British High Commission, to Jonathan Hibbert for his consultancy with the National Trust, and to Heather Hartwell for her ESRC award to research whether you are a supertaster as part of her VeggieEAT programme.  Good luck to Jonathan Hibbert for his consultancy to Natural England, and to Lorraine Brown for her application to the British Council.

BUs Open Access Event in Video!

Guidance, Info Days, Publishing, Research assessment, Training

open access logo, Public Library of ScienceIn May, we were privileged to welcome experts on the topic of Open Access to speak at Bournemouth University (BU) in an event well attended by delegates from HEIs across England, Scotland and Wales.  BU’s Open Access Event was enjoyed by all who attended, if you missed the event or would just like to recap on the presentations the videos from the event are now available for your viewing pleasure –

Benefits of Open Access – Alma Swan

Open Access in a Post-2014 REF – Ben Johnson, HEFCE

Open access + social media = increased downloads – Jane Tinkler, LSE Impact of Social Sciences Project

Open Access publishing and emerging networks of open research – Catriona MacCullum, PLoS

Implementing open access at the University of Oxford – Catriona Cannon, Bodleian Libraries

Open Access: BU Style – Emma Crowley, Jean Harris and Shelly Maskell

 

Congratulations to Professor Vanora Hundley

I am very pleased to announce that Professor Vanora Hundley has been appointed as the Deputy Dean for Research and Professional Practice in HSC following her very successful period of acting up in the role, during Professor Jonathan Parker’s study leave. I’m sure you will all join me in congratulating Vanora and look forward to continuing to work with her in this position.  Well done!

BU Learning and Teaching Fellowship Awards

Funding opportunities

Just to remind you the deadline for applications for the new BU Learning and Teaching Fellowship awards is Monday 21st July.

These fellowships are an opportunity to recognise staff achievements by rewarding excellence, providing support to colleagues interested in becoming National Teaching Fellows as well as acknowledging individuals who are providing an exceptional and innovative student experience,  underpinned by research and professional practice.

For more information about the Fellowships or to apply for these awards, please head to Centre for Excellence in Learning website.

17thJuly CHIRP workshop – Online behaviour change interventions: Introduction to LifeGuide

Research themes

LifeGuide is open-source software that is designed to allow researchers with little or no programming experience to develop, modify and evaluate web-based interventions.  At the workshop you will get a chance to learn about LifeGuide’s features, see examples of existing LifeGuide interventions and gain hands-on experience of using the software.

You can learn more about the LifeGuide software here: https://www.lifeguideonline.org/ Although it is not essential, you may find it useful to visit the website and perhaps try out the tool so you can bring any specific questions you may have with you. 

Places on the workshop are limited and booking is essential, it is open to any members of staff but they do need to book a place by emailing me on swilliams@bournemouth.ac.uk

Please reply if you have any questions or would like to reserve a place at the workshop.

LifeGuide workshop advert

Need support with writing English as a foreign language?

Guidance, Publishing, Training

Next Wednesday on Talbot Campus, Paul Barnes from Academic Services will be hosting a Writing Academy lunchbyte session focused on the writing of academic publications when English is not your first language.

The session will look at:

  • Academic style
  • Levels of formality (register)
  • Grammar – including tense usage, passive voice, prepositions and relative clauses
  • Vocabulary choice

After the presentation, attendees are invited to stay and discuss the topic with the speaker over lunch. There is also an option for attendees to book one to one appointments with the speaker to discuss any individual needs they may have.

To book on to the above workshop please visit the Staff Development & Engagement Pages on the Staff Intranet.

For further information please contact Shelly Anne Stringer

Creative England Teams up with Playstation on Accelerator Programme

Funding opportunities

 

As part of its ongoing support for the games industry in England, Creative England’s  GamesLab Campus programme will invest a total of £250,000 into five Games companies (£50,000 each) to support the development of new and innovative entertainment experiences on PlayStation®3, PlayStation®4 and PlayStation®Vita.

This package of investment will be complemented by a bespoke programme of business support and other technical and fringe benefits including the provision of PS3, PS4 & PS Vita Dev Kits1.

This announcement was made earlier this week at the Develop Conference 2014 , For more information, including how to apply, will be available shortly on our Games section Follow GamesLab on Twitter at @CEGameslab.