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Earth Day 2023: How BU research is helping to protect and preserve a sustainable environment

Today is Earth Day, an annual event dedicated to raising awareness and inspiring action to tackle the various environmental challenges facing our planet. The day is marked by an estimated one billion people across more than 190 countries.

This year’s theme is Invest in our Planet, marking the importance of dedicating time, resources, and energy to protecting our environment and solving the climate crisis.

At BU, we’re passionate about protecting and preserving a sustainable environment. Through our research we’re helping to save endangered species, protect coastal and freshwater regions, and understand ecosystems – learning from the past to impact the future. Here are just some of the ways in which we’re doing so:

3DPARE project – creating new habitats for marine life

Coastal habitats have been gradually degraded through a range of human activity, including fishing, dredging, pollution and coastal development. Along with partners in France, Spain and Portugal, BU is part of the 3DPARE (3D Printing Artificial Reefs in the Atlantic) project – which is exploring whether 3D printed artificial reefs can help provide new habitats for marine life and increase biodiversity.

Nine reefs made from sustainable, low-carbon concrete were placed in Poole Harbour in March 2020 and are now home to over 100 species – including edible crab, pollack, wrasse, gobies and mullet.

ADDISONIC – better prediction and extension of the lives of materials, reducing global waste

The ADDISONIC (Advanced Manufacturing Ultrasonic Fatigue Prediction and Life Extension) research cluster at BU is finding ways to better predict and, most importantly, extend the lives of engineering materials.

The team aims to extend the life of components by applying ultrasonic fatigue testing to much more quickly and reliably predict the lifespan of individual parts.

This will not only enable these parts to be manufactured more efficiently but will also reduce the amount of material used in their production –  decreasing waste and reducing the likelihood of materials ending up in landfill.

Institute for the Modelling of Socio-Environmental Transitions (IMSET) – using the past to support our response to environmental change

With expertise across archaeology, ecology and modelling, IMSET aims to address the issue of how we respond to environmental change, learning from how past societies adapted.

An aerial image of the Brazilian Atlantic ForestCurrent research, being led by Dr Phil Riris, is exploring how human occupation and land use over hundreds of years has affected the Brazilian Atlantic Forest – one of the world’s most critically threatened tropical forests. It’s hoped that these insights will help to inform future protection and conservation efforts.

 

Find out more about BU’s work and research protecting and preserving a sustainable environment

Globe icons created by Freepik – Flaticon

Bespoke Engaging with Parliament training in May/June

Training

Carys Davis from The Other Place will be delivering two sessions of online training for academics interested in engaging with Parliament.

The Engaging with Parliament for Impact session is on 23rd June 10:00-4:30pm. It is an introductory session for academics whose research is likely to have policy impact, or for those who would like to influence policy. It will cover multiple ‘Common Routes to Influence’, including Government consultations, Select Committees, All Party Parliamentary Groups, think tanks etc. and the best ways to approach them. You will have an opportunity for stakeholder mapping and to plan your approach. There are only 12 places available, so please don’t book unless you can attend the whole day. You can book your place here.

The Creating a Policy Plan session is split into two parts: 10th May 10:00-4:30 and 30th May 1:00-4:30 and is an opportunity to create a bespoke plan for engaging Parliament with your research. By the end of the two sessions you will have written a Policy Brief, or other document, together with a detailed plan for getting your research into Parliament. To book onto this session please email impact@bournemouth.ac.uk. There are only 6 spaces available, so please do not book unless you can attend BOTH sessions on 10th May and 30th May. 

Carys Davis trained as a journalist, holds an MA (Distinction) in Human Rights and is a Member and Accredited Practitioner of the Chartered Institute of Public Relations.
She has worked for a UK political party as a Researcher and Policy Adviser, in the Republic of Maldives as political consultant to the leader of the Maldivian Democratic Party, for two charities running their public affairs functions and as the Manager of the Financial Conduct Authority’s Public Affairs Team. Her training is highly detailed, relevant and engaging and is highly recommended for anyone with an interest in having policy impact.

Free workshop – Data management basics: Ethical and legal issues in data sharing

Guidance, Research Ethics

Data management is essential to make sure that well-organised, well-documented, high quality and shareable research data can be produced from our research projects.

The free introductory workshops on data management basics are intended for researchers and anyone who wants to learn about research data management.

The first session, scheduled for 4th May 10am – 11.30am: Introduction to data management and sharing, provides an overview of how to manage, document and store research data. This second session focuses on the ethical and legal aspects of data management.

In this free 90-minute online workshop, participants will learn about the relevant legislation, such as data protection legislation and the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR). Participants will also learn about strategies that enable them to share research data. This includes carrying out an assessment of disclosure risk, obtaining informed consent, anonymising data and regulating access to enable data to be shared.

There will be time at the end for questions and discussion.

This event is part of our UK Data Service introductory training series: Spring 2023.

Register for this workshop here.

Double congratulations to Prof. Jonathan Parker

Publishing, writing

Congratulations to Prof. Jonathan Parker, Professor of Society & Social Welfare in the Department of Social Sciences and Social Work, who just published his historical-sociological analysis of British Welfare under the title Analysing the History of British Social Welfare – Compassion, Coercion and Beyond.  The book it is published by Policy Press and will be available next week.   This book offers insights into the development of social welfare policies in Britain. By identifying continuities in welfare policy, practice and thought throughout history, it offers the potential for the development of new thinking, policy making and practice.

In addition Jonathan also published a new edition of his popular textbook Introducing Social Work SECOND EDITION.  This edited volume included chapters by BU academics Dr. Orlanda Harvey (Chapter 26) and Dr. Sally Lee (Chapter 22) as well as an array of internationally renowned social work academics.

Congratulations!
Prof.Edwin van Teijlingen
CMMPH

Post-Doctoral Researchers, Research Assistants, ECR’s, Research Fellows

BU Challenges, Fusion, Knowledge Exchange, Research Ethics, Research Integritiy, Women's Academic Network

Post-Doctoral Researchers, Research Assistants, ECR’s, Research Fellows. It’s the final day of the CEDARS survey and not many of you have completed the survey. We would particularly love to hear your thoughts/feedback.

Don’t miss the chance to influence policies and initiatives relating to research at BU. Please complete the BU Vitae CEDARS survey 2023 (Culture, Employment and Development in Academic Research survey)* today. The survey closes today Friday 21st April.

This is an important survey as it benchmarks BU against the rest of the sector. It will, therefore, help us to identify where we are excelling and where there is room for improvement.

Participating in this study will also influence policy. Your input will help us to understand where to focus our efforts and resources – it will give us the data to make the argument for you. (The results of the previous PIRLS and CROS surveys that CEDARS has replaced were used to develop new policies and initiatives, as well as training and development opportunities).

The CEDARS survey is for everyone who is research-active (whether on a full-time, part-time or part-time hourly paid contract). This includes researchers at all stages in your career, those who manage researchers, or are Principal Investigators, or contribute to research by providing professional services for researchers, (i.e. researcher developers, research officers or technical staff).

Your responses will be anonymous; you will not be identified or identifiable in any published results. It will take approximately 20 minutes to complete the survey. BU Vitae CEDARS survey 2023

If you have any questions regarding the survey, please email Rachel Arnold: rarnold@bournemouth.ac.uk

 

Thank you, the Research Development and Support Team

*CEDARS is a national survey that explores the views and experiences of researchers and those supporting researchers across the UK. It is based on the Concordat to Support the Career Development of Researchers, which aims to create the best culture for researchers to thrive. This survey replaces the previous CROS and PIRLS surveys.

Please find more information here on the ‘Concordat to Support the Careers of Researchers’ and what BU is doing to support researchers.

Recruiting : University Rep to co-lead Research Staff Association

PG research, staff profile pages

Two vacancies have arisen for the posts of University Representative, the leaders of the Research Staff Association. This is not a faculty-specific post, any eligible person from any faculty can apply.

The BU Research Staff Association(RSA) is a forum to promote research culture at BU. Research staff from across BU are encouraged to attend to network with others researchers, disseminate their work, discuss career opportunities, 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.

In addition to the two leaders, there are two reps from each faculty.

Eligible research staff are those on fixed-term or open-ended employment contracts (not PTHP/casual contracts) who have at least one year remaining on their contract at the time of recruitment.

If you are interested in this role, please supply a few words to demonstrate your suitability, interest, availability in relation to the position to Researchdev@bournemouth.ac.uk by the 02/05/2023.

Please contact your faculty RSA rep to chat about it if you have any queries.

PGR Supervisory Lunchbites | How to stay well dealing with emotionally demanding research

PG research

Ensuring the wellbeing of PGRs and supervisors can be challenging and this session will look at how to stay well when dealing with emotionally demanding research. This discussion will be led by Professor Lee-Ann Fenge, FHSS.

Staff attending this session will:

  • have gained additional knowledge of the challenges faced by those undertaking emotionally demanding research
  • have gained an understanding of the best practice for supporting PGRs – and looking after yourselves

Date: Thursday 27 April 2023

Time: 12:00 – 13:00

To book a place on this session please complete the booking form.

Further details and future sessions can also be found on the Supervisory Development Lunchbite Sessions staff intranet page.

Publishing Strategy Lunchbyte

Publishing

Photo by Corinne Kutz on Unsplash

Publishing Strategy Lunchbyte – Developing a Fusion-led Publishing Strategy workshop

We will examine how knowledge can be translated to a range of stakeholders, with a particular emphasis on the value of publishing in non-academic sources as a pathway to developing societal impact.

 

Workshop Date Time Location
Publishing Strategy Lunchbyte – Developing a Fusion-led Publishing Strategy Thursday, 4th May 2023 10.30 – 11.30 Online

 

This workshop aimed at all Academic staff and facilitated by Prof John Oliver

To book a place on this workshop please complete the Booking Form.

 

For queries regarding the content of this session, please contact: Pengpeng Hatch:pphatch@bournemouth.ac.uk or RKEDF@bournemouth.ac.uk

 

BU-BCP collaborative initiative on sustainable urban parking

Fusion, international, Knowledge Exchange, Publishing, REF Subjects

BU has collaborated with the Bournemouth-Christchurch-Poole (BCP) local council on the initiative investigating sustainable solutions to urban parking which is a challenging problem to the area especially during peak tourist periods. The study, initiated and led by Dr. Wei Koong Chai in BU, explores the possibilities of exploiting online parking reservation platforms proposed in the last decade to cope with the parking challenge by enlisting parking resources from commercial operators (e.g., lots) and individuals (e.g., driveways) and allowing drivers make online reservations through mobile apps. The platforms facilitate transactions between the two sides and best match parking supply with parking demand. In this way, we increase the supply which may be otherwise unused while maximise value for drivers and parking space providers.
The study analyses real parking data in the Bournemouth city to realistically model the rich spatiotemporal dynamics of parking demand such as the location, start times and duration of parking events. These datasets drive the experimental evaluation of the research, which reports gains of up to 35% compared to the de facto parking resource reservation policy in such platforms.
Reference:
M. Karaliopoulos, O. Mastakas and W. K. Chai, “Matching Supply and Demand in Online Parking Reservation Platforms,” in IEEE Transactions on Intelligent Transportation Systems, vol. 24, no. 3, pp. 3182-3193, March 2023, doi: 10.1109/TITS.2022.3230087.

Writing Academy 2023- 3 Day Workshop

Post-award, Training, writing

Online education Flat isometric vector concept of online education, e-learning, webinar, training academic publishing stock illustrationsThis 3 Day workshop covers strategies for academic writing: writing to prompts, targeting a journal/specific criteria, types of prompt for academic writing, ‘snack writing’, goal-setting for writing, motivation, freewriting, generative writing, analysing academic writing, drafting and revising an abstract/summary, constructing a ‘contribution’ argument, using prompts in series, outlining, productive writing behaviours, wellbeing, writing groups, micro-groups and retreats. Many of these can be used in preparing for a concentrated spell of writing at a writing retreat.

This is a practical workshop. The aim of the writing activities in this workshop is to let you try these strategies and consider how/if/where they can fit in your writing practice. We also discuss how they can be used for writing theses, articles and other writing. They also let you start/work on your writing project during the workshop.

The online version of this course involves several short writing activities, all designed to help you develop your paper/chapter/thesis and use productive, healthy writing habits. By signing up to this course you agree to do the writing tasks and to talk about your writing in online small-group discussions, to give and receive feedback on this writing and to discuss your writing plans and goals.

You can find the programme here

 

Workshop Date Time Location
Writing Academy: Day 1 Wednesday, 21st June 2023 10.00 – 16.00 Online
Writing Academy: Day 2 Thursday, 22nd June 2023 08.55 – 16.45 Online
Writing Academy: Day 3 Friday, 23rd June 2023 08.45 – 16.45 Talbot Campus

 

Please note, participants are required to attend all three days of the Writing Academy sessions.

To book a place on this workshop please complete the Booking Form.

 

For any specific queries regarding this workshop please email Pengpeng Hatch: pphatch@bournemouth.ac.uk.

Post-Doctoral Researchers, Research Assistants, ECR’s, Research Fellows.

It’s the last few days of the CEDARS survey and not many of you have completed the survey. We would particularly love to hear your thoughts/feedback.

Don’t miss the chance to influence policies and initiatives relating to research at BU. Please complete the BU Vitae CEDARS survey 2023 (Culture, Employment and Development in Academic Research survey)* today. The survey closes this Friday 21st April.

This is an important survey as it benchmarks BU against the rest of the sector. It will, therefore, help us to identify where we are excelling and where there is room for improvement.

Participating in this study will also influence policy. Your input will help us to understand where to focus our efforts and resources – it will give us the data to make the argument for you. (The results of the previous PIRLS and CROS surveys that CEDARS has replaced were used to develop new policies and initiatives, as well as training and development opportunities).

Please complete the CEDARS survey if you are research-active (whether on a full-time, part-time or part-time hourly paid contract). This includes researchers at all stages in your career, those who manage researchers, or are Principal Investigators, or contribute to research by providing professional services for researchers, (i.e. researcher developers, research officers or technical staff).

Your responses will be anonymous; you will not be identified or identifiable in any published results. It will take approximately 20 minutes to complete the survey. BU Vitae CEDARS survey 2023

If you have any questions regarding the survey, please email Rachel Arnold: rarnold@bournemouth.ac.uk

 

Thank you, the Research Development and Support Team

*CEDARS is a national survey that explores the views and experiences of researchers and those supporting researchers across the UK. It is based on the Concordat to Support the Career Development of Researchers, which aims to create the best culture for researchers to thrive. This survey replaces the previous CROS and PIRLS surveys.

Please find more information here on the ‘Concordat to Support the Careers of Researchers’ and what BU is doing to support researchers.

MSCA Postdoctoral Fellowships 2023

Funding opportunities

​The 2023 Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions (MSCA) Postdoctoral Fellowships (PF) Call is now open on the Funding & Tender Opportunities Portal, with a deadline of 13 September 2023. The Guide for Applicants and other guidance documentation can be found on the call page as well as on the “MSCA How to Apply” website. There is also some useful information about this call on UKRO webpage.

Due to continuous uncertainty around UK’s accession to the Horizon Europe programme, BU internal deadline for submission of eItB forms is not set yet, however it’s expected to be no later than mid-July if UK entities are eligible for funding.

We would appreciate if  potential BU supervisors inform their Funding Development Officers or Research Facilitator International about their intention to submit an application as soon as possible. As usual, we will have very busy period in August-September supporting your applications, so we need to plan resources to provide appropriate support.

Where necessary, we will provide individual support to BU academics starting from June. In addition, UKRO, in its capacity as UK National Contact Point for the MSCA, will hold information webinars for prospective applicants. More information will be provided as soon as it becomes available. UKRO sessions will cover all aspects of application, so specific BU-hosted training sessions will not be organised.

To access UKRO training sessions, login details will be required. BU is one of UKRO service subscribers and receives training as part of our subscription benefits. If you still have not registered, there are more details how BU academics can register.

With queries related to MSCA Postdoctoral Fellowships 2023 Call please contact Research Facilitator International Ainar Blaudums.

Training opportunity: Engaging with the media for impact – Wednesday 26 April

Explore how working with the media can help to raise the profile of your research and lead to impact in our upcoming workshop – Engaging with the Media for Impact.

This in-person workshop will take place on Talbot Campus from 2pm – 3.30pm on Wednesday 26 April.

Engaging with the media can be a great way to raise your profile and share your research with different audiences, which can increase the reach and potential impact of your work.

Take away practical tips on talking to journalists, tracking the impact of media coverage and finding the best ways to reach your target audiences. 

This session is open to all academic staff who are interested in engaging with the media – no previous experience is necessary.

This workshop is taking place as part of the Research and Knowledge Exchange Development Framework (RKEDF) and will be facilitated by Nathaniel Hobby (Senior Communications Manager, M&C) and Emma Matthews (Research Communications Adviser, RDS)

Book your place