Tagged / British Academy
Bid-generating Sandpit: Interdisciplinary Research towards Sustainable Development Goals
Calling early career researchers (including practice-led) for two days of sparking ideas, discovering new project partners, and developing interdisciplinary funding bids!
26 – 27 March 2025
The British Academy Early Career Researcher Network brings together ECRs across the humanities and social sciences disciplines, regardless of their funding source or background.
Please note that in order to book a ticket to attend this event you must be a member of the British Academy Early Career Researcher Network, unless you have been invited directly by one of the event organisers. To find out if you are eligible to join the Network if you are not already a member, please see our website for more information on eligibility and how to sign up. Any questions, please email ecr_network@thebritishacademy.ac.uk.
For more information and to book see here
To secure your spot in the Sandpit, please complete and submit the following application – note that all participants must commit to attending both full days:
APPLY HERE BY 29 November 2024: https://forms.office.com/e/AQiAsf5Wxn
British Academy Global Professorships 2024 Internal competition
British Academy has launched their Global Professorships
The British Academy Global Professorships scheme aims to support internationally recognized scholars by funding four-year research projects in the UK as an opportunity to undertake high-risk, curiosity-driven research in the humanities and social sciences in a UK research institution.
1. **Eligibility**:
– Applicants should be internationally recognized mid-career and senior scholars, in any discipline within the humanities and social sciences (recognised in their field or with exceptional promise) who are currently employed outside the United Kingdom.
– Must hold a doctoral degree and have a significant publication record.
-Applicants can be of any nationality but they must be based outside of the UK at the time of application.
2. **Funding**:
– The award provides up to £900,000 over four years.
– Covers salary costs, research expenses, overheads and relocation costs.
3. **Application Process**:
– The application is submitted by the UK host institution.
– Includes a detailed research proposal, budget, and support statements from the host institution.
– The deadline for submissions and specific guidelines are detailed in the call for applications.
4. **Selection Criteria**:
Applications will be assessed against the following criteria:
- The excellent research track record and/or promise of the applicant;
- The quality, ambition and originality of the proposed research vision and programme, with the aim to support state-of-the-art applications that break new ground;
- The distinct research contribution and added value that the applicant will be able to make to the UK host institution, and the suitability of the UK host institution for the applicant’s research project that enables the award-holders and their UK host institutions to achieve a step change in their respective research programmes;
- Whether the gender equality statement meets or exceeds the minimum standard as set out in the Gender Equality in Research and Innovation policy;
- Value for money
- Support from the host institution.
For more details, refer to the British Academy’s official guidance notes (https://www.thebritishacademy.ac.uk/funding/global-professorships/guidance-notes/).
Application Process
Due to Demand management, set by BA for this call, BU can submit a max of 4 applications- candidates must contact Eva Papadopoulou, to express their interest request over email, and submit a draft copy of their Flexi-Grant proposal, where the above criteria will need to be addressed. Please do so by the 26th July. Any queries please contact Eva Papadopoulou.
British Academy Early Career Researcher Network event brings together researchers from across medical and health humanities
BU hosted the British Academy’s Early Career Researcher Network for an event exploring medical and health humanities, addressing some of the challenges and opportunities of working within this varied and interdisciplinary field.
Early career researchers from across the South West came together to network and discuss topics including publishing, funding opportunities, and finding their research identity.
The event took place on BU’s Talbot Campus and was opened by Interim Associate Pro Vice-Chancellor Research and Knowledge Exchange Professor Sarah Bate, who spoke about the importance of supporting the next generation of researchers to grow and develop.
Professor Sam Goodman (Professor of English & Communication), Professor Ann Hemingway (Professor of Public Health), Professor Chris Chapleo (Professor of Societal Marketing), Professor Ann Luce (Professor of Journalism and Health Communication) and Professor Edwin van Teijlingen (Professor of Reproductive Health Research) took part in a panel discussion, sharing their experiences of working across medical and health humanities and taking questions from the audience.
Advice included how to manage multiple stakeholders who may have different interests, publishing widely across different disciplines, how to deal with rejection, and the importance of building networks and contacts.
While the panel were honest about some of the difficulties and challenges of being an interdisciplinary researcher, they also spoke about the opportunities for applied interdisciplinary research and exploring different passions and interests. As Prof. Goodman put it: ‘Where’s the fun in colouring between the lines?’
Following a networking lunch, attendees moved into breakout groups to discuss opportunities and challenges around publishing, grant capture and bidding, and developing a research identity as an interdisciplinary researcher.
The event was organised by the British Academy Early Career Researcher Network (BA ECRN) and Joelle Fallows and Katerina Kakaounaki of RDS, supported by Professor Sam Goodman and Professor Ann Hemingway who lead the ECR Network at BU.
The BA ECRN brings together ECRs across the humanities and social sciences disciplines, supporting their development through events and workshops. BU is a member of the BA ECRN’s South West Hub.
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).
Promoting interdisciplinary research
This week’s Bournemouth University (BU) advertised a forthcoming event in February 2024 ‘Early Career Researchers and Interdisciplinarity in the Medical Humanities – South West‘. To promote this event I would like to highlight some papers published recently by BU academics on interdisciplinarity.
First, Dr. Shanti Shanker in the Department of Psychology and Dr. Pramod Regmi in the Department of Nursing Science and Prof. Edwin van Teijlingen in the Department of Midwifery & Health Sciences published the paper ‘The Interdisciplinary Team Not the Interdisciplinarist: Reflections on Interdisciplinary Research’ [1]. This interesting paper is co-authored with two BU Visiting Faculty, Ms. Jillian Ireland, Professional Midwifery Advocate in Poole Maternity Hospital (University Hospitals Dorset NHS Foundation Trust) and Prof. Padam Simkhada based at the University of Huddersfield. This paper argues that interdisciplinary working is within the team, not the person being interdisciplinary . Multidisciplinary teams provide unique opportunities for researchers from different disciplines (and hence different ways of working and thinking) to collaborate with one another. We need to be careful not to try to create interdisciplinarists, or at least, not too many. The worlds needs people who are strong in their discipline and open-minded/flexible/reflective enough to see the value of other people’s disciplines.
Secondly, the Journal of Manmohan Memorial Institute of Health Sciences published our editorial ‘Public Health is truly interdisciplinary’ [2]. This editorial was largely written to counteract some of the jurisdictional claims made in Nepal by certain people in Public Health. These claims express themselves in arguments around the question whether Public Health is a single academic discipline or a broad interdisciplinary profession comprising many different individual academic disciplines. There are two quite distinct and opposing views. Some argue that Public Health is a broad-ranging single discipline covering sub-disciplines such as Epidemiology, Management, Medicine, Nursing, Health Psychology, Medical Statistics, Sociology of Health & Illness and Public Health Medicine. Those who support this argument, typically see: (a) Public Health is the overarching dominant discipline, which brings these sub-disciplines together; and (b) that a true Public Health practitioner amalgamates all these individual elements. Others argue that Public Health is more an overarching world view or interdisciplinary approach for wide-ranging group of professionals and academics [2]. In this view some Public Health professionals are first trained as clinicians, others as psychologists, health economists, health management, statisticians, or demographers, and so on and have later specialised in Public Health.
Thirdly, doing multidisciplinary research is not without its problems, hence we reflect on some of these in the paper ‘Interdisciplinary Research in Public Health: Not quite straightforward’ [3]. The authors are BU’s Dr. Pramod Regmi, Dr. Nirmal Ayral in the Department of Nursing Science and Prof. Edwin van Teijlingen, and BU Visiting Professor Padam Simkhada and BU graduate Dr. Pratik Adhikary (currently at the University of the West of England). We all are Public Health researchers, with very different educational backgrounds and training, reflecting the diversity of and interdisciplinarity in the field. Several of us have a first degree in Education or Health Education, but one has a first degree in Sociology. Whilst four of the five authors have Master degree in Public Health and/or Health Promotion, two have a Master in Education. Most of the authors have a Ph.D. in Public Health, but again the Ph.D. of one of us is in Sociology. The key point is that we are all working in Public Health.
Unfortunately the ‘Early Career Researchers and Interdisciplinarity in the Medical Humanities – South West’is for ECRs from the South West Hub only.
Prof. Edwin van Teijlingen
CMWH
References:
- Shanker, S., Wasti, S.P., Ireland, J., Regmi, P., Simkhada, P., van Teijlingen, E. (2021) The Interdisciplinary Team Not the Interdisciplinarist: Reflections on Interdisciplinary Research, Europasian Journal of Medical Sciences 3(2):1-5.
- Wasti, S.P., van Teijlingen, E., Simkhada, P. (2020) Public Health is truly interdisciplinary. Journal of Manmohan Memorial Institute of Health Sciences 6(1): 21-22.
- van Teijlingen, E., Regmi, P., Adhikary, P., Aryal, N., Simkhada, P. (2019). Interdisciplinary Research in Public Health: Not quite straightforward. Health Prospect, 18(1), 4-7.
British Academy Funding for public engagement for humanities and social sciences
The British Academy has launched a pilot funding scheme to support ambitious projects to engage the public with the humanities and social sciences. It is called SHAPE Involve and Engage.
Key Information
About the scheme
These awards, up to £8,000, offer an exciting opportunity for humanities and social sciences researchers to push boundaries and seek imaginative new ways to engage with the public. They are looking for researchers from across the UK to deliver innovative public engagement projects working in partnership with a gallery, archive, library or museum (GLAM organisation).
This pilot programme offers the opportunity to think outside the box, test a new approach and be ambitious in your approach to engaging a public audience with your research.
As part of the programme, a ‘community of practice’ workshop will be hosted for successful applicants in early September. Alongside sessions on evaluation and working with your audiences, award holders will have the opportunity to share their plans with other workshop attendees. You will act as critical friends and sounding boards, sharing ideas, giving feedback and troubleshooting possible challenges, and forming a network of support through the duration of the project development and delivery.
Why should you apply?
The programme will:
- Act as a catalyst to get a project or idea up and running.
- Be an opportunity to try a new approach or work with a new audience to gain new perspectives on your research.
- Offer the chance to build a new partnership with the cultural sector or try a new idea with an existing collaborator. The chance to work with a partner who truly adds value and makes a meaningful contribution to your project through their expertise, connections, skills or collections.
- Allow you to make contacts and find networking opportunities with others in the research community who are interested in exploring new and innovative approaches to public engagement.
About you
The British Academy are searching for creative academics who want to experiment with their engagement work and find new ways to share their research with a public audience.
The call is open to any researcher based in the UK who meets the conditions of the call. You do not have to have received funding from the British Academy previously. Successful award recipients are expected to have some prior public engagement experience, but we welcome applicants from a diverse range of backgrounds, experiences, expertise and career stages.
Please note that if you will hold a Mid-Career Fellowship or Wolfson Fellowship which will be active between October 2023 and October 2024 you are not eligible to apply, because these awards include support for public engagement and your engagement activities should be delivered using the funding from your existing award.
Level of award
Up to £8,000.
This is a pilot programme with funding from the Department for Science, Innovation and Technology and is funded for 2023-24 only.
Funding provided through this scheme cannot be used to cover the cost of replacement teaching, payment in lieu of salary or computer equipment or hardware. The scheme is not covered within the FEC regime – the £8,000 awards are available to the award holder only for direct expenses to deliver the public engagement project. For full details of eligible costs, please see the scheme guidance notes, Flexi-Grant application instructions and terms and conditions.
Duration of award
The duration of the award is flexible. Proposed activities could range from a one-off event, to an ongoing series of engagement activities taking place over a number of months. However, all activities should take place between October 2023 and October 2024.
Application process
Please refer to the scheme guidance for more information about the awards scheme. You can also find detailed instructions for completing the application form in the Flexi-Grant application instructions. Further details about the terms of scheme, including eligible costs, can be found in the scheme terms and conditions.
This funding is subject to the same internal processes as external research funding. Before applying, interested PIs (Principle Investigators) should submit a completed e-ITB form (Intention to Bid) by 4 weeks before the deadline.
Application deadline: Wednesday 28 June 2023, 17:00 GMT
BA/Leverhulme Small Grants 31st May 2023 – date update-
The BA Small Grants call has now opened, please note the new updated deadline date earlier than anticipated, 31st May.
The Process as agreed this year will be as per our February blog post.
British Academy Writing Workshop in Nepal in 2022
Two days ago one of the participants of our British Academy funded Academic Writing Workshops announced on Facebook that the paper, we had helped her put together, had been published in a peer-reviewed journal. It is satisfying to see the fruits of our labours in print following two sets of three-day workshops in Kathmandu and Pokhara. The team running the 2022 workshop comprised three Faculty of Health & Social Sciences’ (FHSS) staff: Dr. Shovita Dhakal Adhikari, Dr. Pramod Regmi, and Prof. Edwin van Teijlingen, and our colleague Dr. Rashmee Rajkarnikar at Nepal’s oldest and largest university (Tribhuvan University) and BU’s Visiting Faculty Dr. Emma Pitchforth, who is Senior Lecturer and Senior Research Fellow in Primary Care at the University of Exeter. Dr. Shovita Adhikari has since left Bournemouth University to become Senior Lecturer in Criminology & Sociology at London Metropolitan University.
References:
- Sathian B, van Teijlingen E, Banerjee I, Kabir R. (2022) Guidance to applying for health research grants in the UK. Nepal J Epidemiol 12(4):1231-1234.
- Harvey, O., Taylor, A., Regmi, P.R., van Teijlingen, E. (2022) Struggling to reply to reviewers: Some advice for novice researchers. Health Prospect, 21(2):19-22.
- van Teijlingen, E., Hundley, V., Simkhada, P.P., Wasti, S.P. (2022) Introduction, In: Wasti, S.P., et al. (Eds.) Academic Writing and Publishing in Health & Social Sciences, Kathmandu, Nepal: Himal Books: 1-4.
- Simkhada, P., van Teijlingen, E., Hundley, V., Swoveet, P. (2022) Writing an Academic Paper, In: Wasti, S.P., et al. (Eds.) Academic Writing and Publishing in Health & Social Sciences, Kathmandu, Nepal: Himal Books: 6-14.
- Hundley, V., Luce, A., Simkhada, P., van Teijlingen, E. (2022) Collaborative Writing for Publication, In: Wasti, S.P., et al. (Eds.) Academic Writing and Publishing in Health & Social Sciences, Kathmandu, Nepal: Himal Books: 15-19.
- van Teijlingen, E., Simkhada, P., Shanker, S. (2022) Selecting an Appropriate Journal and Submitting your Paper, In: Wasti, S.P., et al. (Eds.) Academic Writing and Publishing in Health & Social Sciences, Kathmandu, Nepal: Himal Books: 20-31.
- van Teijlingen, E., Thapa, D., Marahatta, S.B., Sapkota, J.L., Regmi, P. Sathian, B. (2022) Editors and Reviewers: Roles and Responsibilities, In: Wasti, S.P., et al. (Eds.) Academic Writing and Publishing in Health & Social Sciences, Kathmandu, Nepal: Himal Books: 32-37.
- van Teijlingen, E., Ireland, J., Hundley, V, Dhakal Rai, S., Simkhada, P., Sathian, B. (2022) Identifying an appropriate Title, In: Wasti, S.P., et al. (Eds.) Academic Writing and Publishing in Health & Social Sciences, Kathmandu, Nepal: Himal Books: 39-47.
- Simkhada, P., van Teijlingen, E., Hundley, V., Simkhada, B, Acharya D.R. (2022) Writing an Abstract for a Scientific Conference, In: Wasti, S.P., et al. (Eds.) Academic Writing and Publishing in Health & Social Sciences, Kathmandu, Nepal: Himal Books: 48-56.
- Subedi, M., van Teijlingen, E., Baniya J., Sijapati, B. (2022) Writing the Introduction and Background, In: Wasti, S.P., et al. (Eds.) Academic Writing and Publishing in Health & Social Sciences, Kathmandu, Nepal: Himal Books: 57-67.
- van Teijlingen, E., Pitchforth, E., Keenan Forrest, K., Mahato, P. (2022) Writing a Qualitative Paper, In: Wasti, S.P., et al. (Eds.) Academic Writing and Publishing in Health & Social Sciences, Kathmandu, Nepal: Himal Books: 88-97.
- Wasti, S.P, Devkota, B., Bhatta, D.N., Pitchforth, E., van Teijlingen, E. (2022) Writing the Introduction and Background, In: Wasti, S.P., et al. (Eds.) Academic Writing and Publishing in Health & Social Sciences, Kathmandu, Nepal: Himal Books: 112-120.
- Regmi, P., van Teijlingen, E., Simkhada, P. (2022) Writing up the Discussion, Conclusion and Recommendations, In: Wasti, S.P., et al. (Eds.) Academic Writing and Publishing in Health & Social Sciences, Kathmandu, Nepal: Himal Books: 121-129
- Aryal, N., Regmi, P.R., Simkhada, B., Subedi, M., van Teijlingen, E., Wasti, S.P., Hundley, V, Khatri, R. (2022) Being Ethical in Writing and Publishing, In: Wasti, S.P., et al. (Eds.) Academic Writing and Publishing in Health & Social Sciences, Kathmandu, Nepal: Himal Books: 153-161.
- van Teijlingen, E., Venter, K. (2022) Writing a Book Review, In: Wasti, S.P., et al. (Eds.) Academic Writing and Publishing in Health & Social Sciences, Kathmandu, Nepal: Himal Books: 162-167.
- Devkota, B., Simkhada, P., van Teijlingen, E., Hundley, V, Wasti, S.P. (2022) Writing a Research Proposal, In: Wasti, S.P., et al. (Eds.) Academic Writing and Publishing in Health & Social Sciences, Kathmandu, Nepal: Himal Books: 168-175.
- Wasti, S.P. Regmi, P.R., Simkhada, P., van Teijlingen, E., Hundley, V. (2022) Writing a PhD Proposal, In: Wasti, S.P., et al. (Eds.) Academic Writing and Publishing in Health & Social Sciences, Kathmandu, Nepal: Himal Books: 176-183.
- Hundley, V., Simkhada, P., van Teijlingen, E. (2022) Converting your Master’s or Doctoral Thesis into an Academic Paper for Publication, In: Wasti, S.P., et al. (Eds.) Academic Writing and Publishing in Health & Social Sciences, Kathmandu, Nepal: Himal Books: 184-189.
- van Teijlingen, E., Hundley, V., Simkhada, P., Acharya, J., Silwal, R.C., Wasti, S.P. (2022) Academic Writing: Final Thoughts, In: Wasti, S.P., et al. (Eds.) Academic Writing and Publishing in Health & Social Sciences, Kathmandu, Nepal: Himal Books: 201-20
- Arnold, R., Ireland, J., Mahato, P., van Teijlingen, E. (2022) Writing and publishing a reflective paper: Three case studies, Welhams Acad J 1(1): 4-11.
- van Teijlingen, E., Hundley, V, Sathian, B., Simkhada, P., Robinson, J., Banerjee, I. (2022) The Art of the Editorial Nepal J Epidemiol, 12(1): 1135–38.
- Harvey, O., van Teijlingen, A., Regmi, P.R., Ireland, J., Rijal, A., van Teijlingen, E.R. (2022) Co-authors, colleagues, and contributors: Complexities in collaboration and sharing lessons on academic writing Health Prospect 21(1):1-3.
- Wasti, S.P., van Teijlingen, E., Simkhada, P., Hundley, V. with Shreesh, K. (2022) Writing and Publishing Academic Work, Kathmandu, Nepal: Himal Books
- van Teijlingen, E.R., Dhakal Adhikari, S., Regmi, P.R., van Teijlingen, A., Aryal, N., Panday, S. (2021). Publishing, identifiers & metrics: Playing the numbers game. Health Prospect, 20(1). https://doi.org/10.3126/hprospect.v20i1.37391
- Adhikari, S. D., van Teijlingen, E. R., Regmi, P. R., Mahato, P., Simkhada, B., & Simkhada, P. P. (2020). The Presentation of Academic Self in The Digital Age: The Role of Electronic Databases. Int J Soc Sci Management, 7(1), 38-41. https://doi.org/10.3126/ijssm.v7i1.27405
- van Teijlingen, E, Simkhada, PP, Rizyal A (2012) Submitting a paper to an academic peer-reviewed journal, where to start? (Guest Editorial) Health Renaissance 10(1): 1-4.
- van Teijlingen, E, Simkhada. PP, Simkhada, B, Ireland J. (2012) The long & winding road to publication, Nepal J Epidemiol 2(4): 213-215 http://nepjol.info/index.php/NJE/article/view/7093/6388
- Hundley, V, van Teijlingen, E, Simkhada, P (2013) Academic authorship: who, why and in what order? Health Renaissance 11(2):98-101 www.healthrenaissance.org.np/uploads/Download/vol-11-2/Page_99_101_Editorial.pdf
- Simkhada, P., van Teijlingen E., Hundley, V., Simkhada, BD. (2013) Writing an Abstract for a Scientific Conference, Kathmandu Univ Med J 11(3): 262-65. http://www.kumj.com.np/issue/43/262-265.pdf
- Simkhada P, van Teijlingen E, Hundley V. (2013) Writing an academic paper for publication, Health Renaissance 11(1):1-5. www.healthrenaissance.org.np/uploads/Pp_1_5_Guest_Editorial.pdf
- van Teijlingen, E., Ireland, J., Hundley, V., Simkhada, P., Sathian, B. (2014) Finding the right title for your article: Advice for academic authors, Nepal J Epidemiol 4(1): 344-347.
- van Teijlingen E., Hundley, V., Bick, D. (2014) Who should be an author on your academic paper? Midwifery 30: 385-386.
- Hall, J., Hundley, V., van Teijlingen, E. (2015) The journal editor: friend or foe? Women & Birth 28(2): e26-e29.
- Sathian, B., Simkhada, P., van Teijlingen, E., Roy, B, Banerjee, I. (2016) Grant writing for innovative medical research: Time to rethink. Med Sci 4(3):332-33.
- Pradhan, AK, van Teijlingen, ER. (2017) Predatory publishing: a great concern for authors, Med Sci 5(4): 43.
- van Teijlingen, E, Hundley, V. (2002) Getting your paper to the right journal: a case study of an academic paper, J Advanced Nurs 37(6): 506-11.
- Pitchforth, E, Porter M, Teijlingen van E, Keenan Forrest, K. (2005) Writing up & presenting qualitative research in family planning & reproductive health care, J Fam Plann Reprod Health Care 31(2): 132-135.
- van Teijlingen, E (2004), Why I can’t get any academic writing done, Medical Sociol News 30(3): 62-63. britsoc.co.uk/media/26334/MSN_Nov_2004.pdf
British Academy Small Grants Workshop
British Academy Small Grants Workshop aimed at all staff with Research Council bids in development.
The attendees will have a chance to ask questions from recent British Academy Award winners.
as well as to discuss their proposal with a Research Facilitator. The Funding Development Officers will also be on hand to answer any questions relating to budget and processes.
The call for the next round of BA/Leverhulme Small Research Grants will open 5th April 2023 and close 5pm on Wednesday 7th June 2023 and RDS will be running a guidance session for academics who are interested in submitting an application.
Date | Time | Location |
---|---|---|
Wednesday, 22nd February 23 | 10:00 – 14:00 | F112 |
To book a place on this workshop please complete the Booking Form.
For queries regarding the content of this session, please contact RKEDF@bournemouth.ac.uk
Two little mishaps in a row
All research has its costs, we spend a lot of time as academics planning for and budgeting our studies. This starts with considering how much time each academic spends on preparing the grant application and finished with cost of dissemination of findings after the data have been analysed. We do risk assessments the try to reduce risk and mitigate unforeseen circumstances. My last two trips to Nepal both suffered from such unexpected events.
In May I traveled to Nepal with Prof. Vanora Hundley from the Centre for Midwifery, Maternal & Perinatal Health (CMMPH) as part of the ERASMUS+ exchange with Manmohan Memorial Institute of Health Sciences (MMIHS) where we joined by Bournemouth University (BU) PhD student Sulochana Dhakal-Rai. Sulochana was in Nepal on the Turing Scheme, the UK government’s programme to provide funding for international opportunities in education and training across the world.As part of this trip we had organised a one-day Systematic Review on Dementia Research Workshop on Sunday 29th May in at MMIHS in Kathmandu. This Global Challenges Research Fund (GCRF) funded workshop was highly successful, it attracted 75% more participants than budgeted for, namely 53 instead of 30. However, the extra cost this incurred in terms of workshop resources, refreshments and lunches was not a great issue compared to the fact that I had contracted COVID-19 a few days before the workshop and had tested positive on a PCR test two days before. Thanks to the hard work of our colleagues at MMIHS, the non-governmental organisation (NGO) Green Tara Nepal, and especially, Prof. Vanora Hundley, the workshop run very well. I even managed to make a guest appearance online from my hotel room 200 meters away from the workshop venue, albeit on a poorer quality internet connection than I would have had half way across the globe (at BU or at home).
This positive COVID-19 test also meant I could not travel on the India in early June due to COVID-19 travel restriction for entering India. There I had planned to meet Dr. Shanti Shanker from BU’s Psychology Department as part of our GCRF-funded project ‘Promoting dementia research in Nepal and India’. Again due to the presence of well organised colleagues the India part of the trip ran smoothly. Dr. Gayatri Kotbagi, who has works for us through the charity Sheetale Astitva, and Dr. Shanti Shanker managed to run the internal trip very well without me.
In August I traveled to Nepal again with two BU academics: Dr. Shovita Dhakal Adhikari, Lecturer in Criminology, Department of Sociology & Social Work, Dr. Pramod Regmi, Senior Lecturer in International Health (Department of Nursing Sciences) and a colleague from the University of Exeter Dr. Emma Pitchforth. The main purpose of this visit was to run two sets of three-day Academic Writing Workshop in two cities in Nepal, namely Kathmandu and Pokhara. These workshops were funded by the British Academy and supported by Dr. Rashmee Rajkarnikar from the Central Department of Economics at Tribhuvan University, Nepal’s oldest and largest university, the charity Green Tara Nepal and Social Science Baha. This time the trip itself went very well, both workshop were very well attended, and even made it into a newspaper in Nepal: The Rising Nepal.
The trouble started after we had left Nepal. Dr. Pitchforth and I helped both fell ill some five to eight days after returning to the UK. We both had flu-type symptoms, including sore joints, night sweats, feeling tired, coughing, etc., although these were not exactly the same, my symptoms were perhaps a bit more like COVID-19. Which is why I did three COVID-19 tests in one week (all negative). It was not until the blood test came back from the NHS lab last week that my family doctor could tell me that I had dengue fever. Dengue fever is on the rise in Nepal. The national English-language paper The Himalayan Times reported yesterday (27th Sept. 2022) that dengue fever “has afflicted almost 26,000 people in Nepal” In July in the capital Kathmandu “…35 people had contracted the mosquito-borne disease. The number increased to 727 in August and 8,132 in September.”
I’m looking forward to my next trip to Nepal, as we have loads of on-going project. I have been going there for nearly twenty years, and having two incidents in two decades is not a lot, pity these came in the same year and on subsequent trips.
Prof. Edwin van Teijlingen
CMMPH
Report on the British Academy Writing Workshop at UABC Tijuana, Mexico
After two years of postponing the British Academy-funded ‘UK-Mexico Leisure and Tourism Academic Writing Workshop: Supporting Mexican ECRs in writing for publication’ due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the organisers Dr Paola Vizcaino (Bournemouth University, Department of Sport and Event Management) and Dr Isis Arlene Díaz- Carrión (Universidad Autónoma de Baja California, Facultad de Turismo y Mercadotecnia), were able to deliver a successful face-to-face workshop at the UABC campus in Tijuana this summer.
The event took place from 8-12 August 2022 with the aim to support the career development of up to 20 PhD students and early career researchers (ECRs) from Universidad Autónoma de Baja California (UABC) and seven other Mexican universities (Universidad de Guanajuato, Universidad Autónoma del Estado de México, Universidad Anáhuac, Universidad Autónoma Metropolitana, Universidad Autónoma de Querétaro, Colegio de Postgraduados and Universidad Veracruzana).
The workshop was designed to provide participants access to the academic requirements of high-ranking leisure and tourism journals in English, and to equip them with the necessary knowledge and skills to publish in these journals.
The brilliant speakers included:
Nancy Gard McGehee, PhD, Professor at Virginia Tech, USA and Co-editor of the Journal of Travel Research, the 2021 top-ranked impact factor journal in the area of tourism;
Donna Chambers, PhD, Professor of Tourism at the University Sunderland, UK and Managing Editor of Leisure Studies and Resource Editor of Annals of Tourism Research;
Jayne Caudwell, PhD, Associate Professor in Social Sciences, Gender and Sexualities at Bournemouth University, UK and former Managing Editor of Leisure Studies;
Xavier Font, PhD, Professor in Sustainable Marketing at the University of Surrey, UK and Co-editor of the Journal of Sustainable Tourism;
Philipp Wassler, PhD, Assistant Professor at the University of Bergamo, Italy and reviewer for a number of high-ranking tourism journals.
The workshop offered networking sessions to allow participants to discuss their research interests and start conversations about potential research collaborations, as well as personalised mentoring with journal editors and established academics in the fields of leisure and tourism management.
Finally, participants also learned about the British Academy’s international funding schemes and were particularly interested in the Newton International Fellowships and Visiting Fellowships, which can facilitate collaborative research projects between academics based overseas (i.e. Mexico) and UK higher education institutions.
Please find below some of the workshop highlights.
Welcome
Dr Marisa Reyes-Orta, Research and Postgraduate Coordinator at the Facultad de Turismo y Mercadotecnia, welcomed speakers and participants to the UABC, Tijuana on behalf of the faculty’s Director, Dr Martha Ofelia Lobo Rodríguez.
Dr Reyes-Orta highlighted the importance of the British Academy-funded workshop to build collaboration networks between Mexico and the United Kingdom, to develop the competitiveness of the academic outputs written by Mexican PhD students and ECRs and to contribute to the internationalisation of the UABC’s postgraduate programmes, particularly the recently validated PhD in Tourism.
Academic Writing Tips from Journal Editors
After a brief introduction to the workshop and an ice-breaker activity led by Dr Paola Vizcaino (BU) and Dr Isis Arlene Díaz-Carrión (UABC, Tijuana), the journal editors presented the publication requirements of top-ranking leisure and tourism journals and shared insightful writing tips with participants.
Professor Nancy Gard McGehee (Virginia Tech, USA, Co-editor of the Journal of Travel Research, JTR) highlighted the need for PhD students and ECRs to develop a solid research plan by: a) studying the literature to look for gaps, b) examining the tourism industry and current environment to look for problems that need solutions, c) finding the best theory (or theories) to solve the problem, and d) letting the problem direct the method.
She also recommended assessing tourism journals to find the right match for participants’ research and the importance of translating local research to a global audience in the case of international journals. Furthermore, she emphasised how top-ranked impact factor journals only consider manuscripts for publication when they demonstrate substantive and leading edge research, a sound methodology and a strong theoretical foundation / contribution.
Professor Donna Chambers (University of Sunderland, UK, Managing Editor of Leisure Studies) explained the type of papers that are welcome by Leisure Studies, including papers that examine the inter-relationships between leisure and work, civic engagement, health and wellbeing, major
resources of social inequality and forms of social (in)justice.
As Prof Chambers was aware that most of the workshop participants had a focus on tourism management and some are developing projects on natural and cultural heritage, she mentioned that research that addresses tourism as a leisure activity or examines the leisure aspects of events and festivals are also a good fit for the journal. Finally, she expressed that Leisure Studies seeks to develop culturally diverse and nuanced understandings of leisure and that research which examines leisure in the Global South is welcomed alongside studies of leisure in the Global North.
Associate Professor Jayne Caudwell (BU) shared some practical tips for PhD students and ECRs to enhance their research and written outputs. She highlighted the need for strong theoretical underpinning, sound methodology and critical analysis of findings (demonstrating rigor in every section), a clear structure to the paper, logical and coherent (to meet scholarship requirements), and to explain the original aspects of the research or demonstrate an original contribution to the body of knowledge (originality).
Professor Xavier Font (University of Surrey, UK, Co-editor of the Journal of Sustainable Tourism), joined remotely from the UK to deliver an online presentation in Spanish to ensure maximum rapport with participants. He recognised that less than 1% of the submissions to the Journal of Sustainable Tourism come from academics ascribed to Latin American universities or research centres and offered sound advice on how to overcome the language barriers to publish in English-speaking journals, as well as to develop a work plan to publish in top-ranked impact factor journals.
He also emphasised the need for ECRs to specialise in an area of leisure or tourism research, whilst building collaborative networks to gain access to the theoretical and methodological expertise of more senior colleagues to develop stronger research proposals and outputs.
To close the first two days of guest speaker presentations, Dr Philipp Wassler (University of Bergamo, Italy) shared his perspective as a journal reviewer, and provided practical examples on how to structure a strong research article before submitting to a top-ranked impact factor journal. He highlighted the need to write a sharp abstract and introduction section to capture the readers’ interest; a strong literature review that demonstrates a thorough understanding of the theories that have been employed to examine the problem; a detailed methodology section with clear justification of choices; and a findings / discussion section that tackle the research questions / objectives.
The second part of the report will follow suit on a separate blog post to summarise the creation of the UK-Mexico Leisure and Tourism Academic Network and the initial collaborations that are stemming from the workshop.
Media coverage of BU workshops in Nepal
Earlier this week the Chitwan Post Daily in southern Nepal reported on our Writing Workshops conducted in Pokhara and Kathmandu. The headline photo of this newspaper article focuses on the keynote speech delivered by Prof Dr Prem Narayan Aryal, Vice Chancellor of Pokhara University. He highlighted many key issues around gender and development in Nepal and the importance of academic writing and publishing. This British Academy funded series of BU workshops is is led by Dr. Shovita Dhakal Adhikari (Dept of Sociology & Social Work), Dr. Pramod Regmi (Department of Nursing Sciences) and Prof. Edwin van Teijlingen (Department of Midwifery & Health Sciences), Dr. Emma Pitchforth from the University of Exeter UK, and Dr. Rashmee Rajkarnikar from the Central Department of Economics at Tribhuvan University (Nepal’s oldest and largest university) with the support of local partners in Nepal, namely Social Science Baha and Green Tara Nepal.
Prof. Edwin van Teijlingen
Centre for Midwifery, Maternal & Perinatal Health (CMMPH)
Pokhara workshop on academic writing 2022
This workshop targeting young academics in and around Pokhara and it is funded by The British Academy. The project builds research capacity of early career researchers researching gender in Nepal-based higher education institutions by improving their chances of getting published in international journals in English. In Nepal the workshop is further supported by Social Science Baha and Green Tara Nepal. The workshop centres around the 23 chapters of the textbook ‘Academic Writing and Publishing in Health and Social Sciences’ was published this year by Social Science Baha and Himal Books in Kathmandu.
British Academy Academic Writing Workshop well attended in Kathmandu
Today was the second day of our three-day Writing Workshop organised in Kathmandu Nepal. The project builds research capacity of early career researchers researching gender in Nepal-based higher education institutions by improving their chances of getting published in international journals in English. The workshops is delivered by a team of UK-based academic led by BU’s Dr. Shovita Dhakal Adhikari. The team further includes BU’s Dr. Pramod Regmi and Prof. Edwin van Teijlingen, Dr. Emma Pitchforth from the University of Exeter, and Dr. Rashmee Rajkarnikar from Nepal’s oldest university, Tribhuvan University. The workshop is run for a maximum of 30 participants over a three-day period. Tomorrow will be last day in Kathmandu, before we travel to Pokhara and repeat the three-day workshop there starting on Sunday.
Over the years our Bournemouth University team has build up capacity in academic writing and publishing in Nepal on a more ad hoc basis . This grant will allow us to offer a more systematic approach to academic writing capacity building in Nepal. It is building on a growing number of paper published by Faculty of Health & Social Sciences staff on various aspects of academic writing and publishing. [1-20] The project is funded by the British Academy and supported by the charity Green Tara Nepal and Social Science Baha.
References:
- Harvey, O., Taylor, A., Regmi, P.R., van Teijlingen, E. (2022) Struggling to reply to reviewers: Some advice for novice researchers. Health Prospect, 21(2):19-22.
- Arnold, R., Ireland, J., Mahato, P., van Teijlingen, E. (2022) Writing and publishing a reflective paper: Three case studies, Welhams College Journal (forthcoming).
- van Teijlingen, E., Hundley, V, Sathian, B., Simkhada, P., Robinson, J., Banerjee, I. (2022) The Art of the Editorial Nepal J Epidemiol, 12(1): 1135–38.
- Harvey, O., van Teijlingen, A., Regmi, P.R., Ireland, J., Rijal, A., van Teijlingen, E.R. (2022) Co-authors, colleagues, and contributors: Complexities in collaboration and sharing lessons on academic writing Health Prospect 21(1):1-3.
- Wasti, S.P., van Teijlingen, E., Simkhada, P., Hundley, V. with Shreesh, K. (2022) Writing and Publishing Academic Work, Kathmandu, Nepal: Himal Books
- van Teijlingen, E.R., Dhakal Adhikari, S., Regmi, P.R., van Teijlingen, A., Aryal, N., Panday, S. (2021). Publishing, identifiers & metrics: Playing the numbers game. Health Prospect, 20(1). https://doi.org/10.3126/hprospect.v20i1.37391
- Adhikari, S. D., van Teijlingen, E. R., Regmi, P. R., Mahato, P., Simkhada, B., & Simkhada, P. P. (2020). The Presentation of Academic Self in The Digital Age: The Role of Electronic Databases. International J Soc Sci Management, 7(1), 38-41. https://doi.org/10.3126/ijssm.v7i1.27405
- van Teijlingen, E, Hundley, V. (2002) Getting your paper to the right journal: a case study of an academic paper, J Advanced Nurs 37(6): 506-11.
- Pitchforth, E, Porter M, Teijlingen van E, Keenan Forrest, K. (2005) Writing up & presenting qualitative research in family planning & reproductive health care, J Fam Plann Reprod Health Care 31(2): 132-135.
- van Teijlingen, E, Simkhada, PP, Rizyal A (2012) Submitting a paper to an academic peer-reviewed journal, where to start? (Guest Editorial) Health Renaissance 10(1): 1-4.
- van Teijlingen, E, Simkhada. PP, Simkhada, B, Ireland J. (2012) The long & winding road to publication, Nepal J Epidemiol 2(4): 213-215 http://nepjol.info/index.php/NJE/article/view/7093/6388
- Hundley, V, van Teijlingen, E, Simkhada, P (2013) Academic authorship: who, why and in what order? Health Renaissance 11(2):98-101 www.healthrenaissance.org.np/uploads/Download/vol-11-2/Page_99_101_Editorial.pdf
- Simkhada, P., van Teijlingen E., Hundley, V., Simkhada, BD. (2013) Writing an Abstract for a Scientific Conference, Kathmandu Univ Med J 11(3): 262-65. http://www.kumj.com.np/issue/43/262-265.pdf
- Simkhada P, van Teijlingen E, Hundley V. (2013) Writing an academic paper for publication, Health Renaissance 11(1):1-5. www.healthrenaissance.org.np/uploads/Pp_1_5_Guest_Editorial.pdf
- van Teijlingen, E., Ireland, J., Hundley, V., Simkhada, P., Sathian, B. (2014) Finding the right title for your article: Advice for academic authors, Nepal J Epidemiol 4(1): 344-347.
- van Teijlingen E., Hundley, V., Bick, D. (2014) Who should be an author on your academic paper? Midwifery 30: 385-386.
- Hall, J., Hundley, V., van Teijlingen, E. (2015) The journal editor: friend or foe? Women & Birth 28(2): e26-e29.
- Sathian, B., Simkhada, P., van Teijlingen, E., Roy, B, Banerjee, I. (2016) Grant writing for innovative medical research: Time to rethink. Med Sci 4(3):332-33.
- Pradhan, AK, van Teijlingen, ER. (2017) Predatory publishing: a great concern for authors, Med Sci 5(4): 43.
- van Teijlingen, E (2004), Why I can’t get any academic writing done, Medical Sociol News 30(3): 62-63. britsoc.co.uk/media/26334/MSN_Nov_2004.pd
New paper on COVID-19 rumours in Nepal
The project is apart of the Health Research Network for Migrant Workers in Asia and it is led by Dr. Pramod Regmi (Department of Nursing Sciences), Dr. Shovita Dhakal-Adhikari (Department of Social Sciences and Social Work), Dr. Nirmal Aryal (formerly Department of Midwifery & Health Sciences and soon to be appointed in the Department of Nursing Sciences), external collaborator Dr. Sharada Prasad Wasti from the University of Huddersfield, and Prof. Edwin van Teijlingen (Department of Midwifery & Health Sciences).
Reference:
- Regmi, P., Dhakal Adhikari, S., Aryal, N., Wasti, S.P., van Teijlingen, E. (2022) Fear, Stigma and Othering: The Impact of COVID-19 Rumours on Returnee Migrants and Muslim Populations of Nepal, International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health Accepted
British Academy Writing Workshop in Nepal: Call for participants
We are inviting expressions of interest for Nepal-based academic with an interest in gender and development issue to participate in our Writing Workshop: “Promoting Publishing in the field of Gender and Development in Nepal”. Bournemouth University is leading two separate three-day workshops for early career researchers (ECRs) working across various universities in Nepal to encourage and support them to publish in peer reviewed journals in the field of social sciences, in Kathmandu (from 17-19 August 2022), and in Pokhara (from 21-23 August 2022). The funding for these exciting workshop is provided by the British Academy.
There will be a mixture of presentations, group discussion and other interactive exercises, and independent writing exercises. The workshop involves practical sessions to help attendees to make their research idea clear and compelling to reviewers, and finalise their papers for publications. One-to-one sessions with our expert advisers will allow attendees to work through different aspects of their own research papers, methods and ideas.
How to apply: If you are an ECR based in Nepal and have some idea (or/and data) to work towards publication in gender and development, then please send us:
- A short CV – 3 pages maximum;
- An abstract or summary of the proposed paper you wish to develop through the writing workshop- (300 words maximum) by 30thJune 2022.
Female ECRs are highly encouraged to apply. Please use Subject British Academy Writing Workshop 2022 and email to sdhakaladhikari@bournemouth.ac.uk, with a copy to both: pregmi@bournemouth.ac.uk and rashmi.rajkarnikar@cdec.tu.edu.np . The faciliators will inform you about your selection for the workshop by the middle of July 2022. Selected participants will be asked to to submit their first rough draft by 3rd August, so that this can be discussed further during the workshop (17-19 August 2022).
The Writing Workshop facilitators are three BU scholars, Dr Shovita Dhakal Adhikari, in the Department of Social Sciences & Social Work, Dr. Pramod Regmi in the Department of Nursing Sciences, and Prof. Edwin van Teijlingen in the Department of Midwifery & Health Science in collaboration with Dr. Rashmee Rajkarnikar, at Nepal’s oldest and largest university, namely Tribhuvan University.
Sign up Sign up: British Academy ECR Network Southwest Hub
Are you an ECR who wants to start 2022 with an awesome opportunity??