Tagged / BU research

Public Health in Nepal: Vitamine A

international, open access, Publishing

Vit AThis week we published an editorial in the Journal of Biomedical Sciences on the question: “Is early diagnose for Vitamin A deficiency better than the current supplementation programme of Nepal?”
The editorial concludes that prevention is still better than cure, but instead of a mass Vitamin A supplementation in Nepal, we need a health promotion intervention aiming to increase the intake of relatively cheap vegetables and fruit (containing β carotene). In addition we need better surveillance and help to identify children with Vitamin A Deficiency and provide them with Vitamin A supplements. The primary focus should be on adopting sustainable food based approaches to combat vitamin A deficiency. In Public Health terms: rather than a blanket coverage of Vitamin A supplementation to whole population we should consider a targeted intervention aimed at those who need it most.

Reference:
Simkhada P, Sathian B, Adhikari S, van Teijlingen E, Roy B. (2015) Is early diagnose for Vitamin A deficiency better than the current supplementation programme of Nepal?. J Biomed Sci. 2(4):28-30.
http://www.nepjol.info/index.php/JBS/index

New Book Published by Dr Pawel Surowiec “Nation Branding, Public Relations and Soft Power: Corporatising Poland”

writing

I am pleased to announce the publication of a new book – the first in the English-speaking world research monograph analysing the link between nation branding and the governance of Poland’s soft power. The book covers the following themes: Poland’s foreign and public affairs; the marketization of statecraft and its implications for exercising soft power by Poland and other Central and Eastern Europe (CEE) states; shift in the governance of soft power resources – avenues of changes from propaganda to marketing communication; the mediation of state identities, national identities and soft power; the significance of nationalism(s) and promotional culture for Poland’s soft power; the role and position of Poland in European affairs.

Nation Branding, Public Relations and Soft Power: Corporatizing Poland provides an empirically grounded analysis of changes in the way in which various actors seek to manage Poland’s national image in world opinion. It explores how and why changes in political economy have shaped these actors and their use of soft power in a way that is influenced by public relations, corporate communication, and marketing practices.

By examining the disourse and practices of professional nation branders who have re-shaped the relationship between collective identities and national image management, it plots changes in the way in which Poland’s national identity is communicated, and culturally reshaped, creating tensions between national identity and democracy. The book demonstrates that nation branding is a consequence of the corporatization of political governance, soft power and national identity, while revealing how the Poland “brand” is shaping public and foreign affairs.

This monograph analysing nation branding in Poland’s soft power has been described as “a major intervention into debates surrounding transition and Europeanisation” (for more details about the book see: https://www.routledge.com/Nation-Branding-Public-Relations-and-Soft-Power-Corporatising-Poland/Surowiec/p/book/9781138818835; ISBN 978-1138818835; hardcover).

 

Dr Paweł Surowiec
Senior Lecturer
Bournemouth University
Faculty of Media and Communication
Fern Barrow, Poole
Dorset, BH12 5BB, UK
Tel. 01202 965236
Email: psurowiec@bournemouth.ac.uk

Latest Major Funding Opportunities

Funding opportunities

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

Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council

The NSPCC and ESRC are working together to commission research that contributes to their joint interests in mental health and the NSPCC’s new research programme: Helping Children Get Back on Track. The aim of this research programme is to increase the evidence base about what kinds of therapeutic or social intervention work for which children with experience of abuse and when; how to identify children whose mental health is vulnerable; and how to identify the things that make others more resilient.

It is expected that this research will result in one or more of the following outcomes: A better understanding of how to identify the children whose mental health is vulnerable because of abuse, including those with ‘latent vulnerability’; that is, those children who are susceptible to poor outcomes including mental ill health but are not overtly symptomatic, or who need help in order to get their development back on track after experience of abuse, including to prevent the onset of mental health problems either in childhood or later; A better understanding of when support should be offered to children in order that poor outcomes including poor mental health can be prevented; A better understanding of what sort of help is effective in preventing poor outcomes for children with experience of abuse including poor mental health; A better understanding of how to identify the factors that make some children more resilient and adaptive and others more vulnerable to the mental health consequences of maltreatment.

Maximum award: Not specified. Closing date: 07/10/2016.

The Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council and the Government Communications Headquarters (GCHQ) invite applications for their scheme to recognise Academic Centres of Excellence in Cyber Security Research. The scheme makes collaboration and knowledge sharing between the best of the UK academic sector, business and government easier. It encourages exploitation of current leading-edge research and the identification of the future work needed to ensure the UK is well prepared to meet coming cyber security challenges and threats. The relevant research areas include: cryptography, key management and security protocols; information risk; information assurance science; hardware engineering; total network defence; strategic technologies and products; side channel and fault analysis; engineering processes and assurance; building trusted and trustworthy systems; operational technology security; Internet of Things.

This call applies both to universities currently recognised who wish to extend their recognition for a further 5 years, and to universities not previously recognised. An institution whose submission is successful in this call will be able to hold the title of ‘Academic Centre of Excellence in Cyber Security Research’ for a period of 5 years, subject to complying with appropriate terms and conditions of membership of the scheme. They will also be supported by an EPSRC research grant to support activiteis associated with the recognition.

Maximum award: £60,000. Closing date: 4pm, 12/12/16.

National Centre for the Replacement, Refinement and Reduction of Animals in Research

The National Centre for the Replacement, Refinement and Reduction of Animals in Research, in collaboration with Arthritis Research UK, the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council and Innovate UK, invites applications for its CRACK IT challenges. This aims to fund collaborations between industry sponsors, academics and the NC3Rs to develop innovative, integrated approaches to better predict the GHS classification category for acute oral, skin and eye irritation in the development of agrochemical formulations without using animals or generating new in vitro data. The challenge also requires a disruptive business model whereby access and storage of industry data can be managed to provide predictive testing strategies for complex mixtures.

Maximum award: £1 million. Closing date: 09/11/17.

Wellcome Trust

The Wellcome Trust invites applications for its Collaborative Awards in Humanities and Social Science. Collaborative Awards promote the development of new ideas and bring disciplines together to speed the pace of discovery. Teams will have a track record of working together to tackle research questions that can only be approached collaboratively. Teams can come from the same discipline or from a combination of disciplines. They can be from the same university department or a number of organisations (anywhere in the world). Applications that combine humanities and social science research with biomedical science research and/or product development and applied research are particularly encouraged.

Maximum award: £1.5 million. Closing date (preliminary applications): 16/01/17.

The Wellcome Trust invites applications for its Investigator Awards in Humanities and Social Sciences. These awards support researchers in established posts at all career stages working on important questions of relevance to health. The level of funding provided for an Investigator Award is flexible and can be anything from under £300,000 to around £1 million. Awards can last for up to five years.

Maximum award: £1 million. Closing date (preliminary applications): 16/01/17.

The Wellcome Trust invites applications for its University Awards in Humanities and Social Science. A University Award provides support for up to five years at lecturer, senior-lecturer or reader level. After this, we expect you to take up a permanent position at the academic organisation. Up to five years’ support is available, providing full salary for three years, 50 per cent in the fourth year and 25 per cent in the fifth year. Awards also support research expenses, materials and consumables, animals, equipment, and travel and subsistence costs.  During its first three years, the award allows you to focus on research rather than teaching and administration.

Maximum award: Not specified. Closing date: 18/01/17.

The Wellcome Trust invites applications for its Humanities and Social Science Doctoral Studentships. This scheme enables researchers to undertake humanities or social science doctoral degrees in any area of health. Studentships are available for up to three years and cover the student’s stipend, approved tuition fees, as well as travel to meetings and conferences of up to £1,500, equipment and research expenses worth up to £1,500.

Maximum award: Not specified. Closing date: 22/03/17.

If you are interested in submitting to any of the above calls you must contact RKEO with adequate notice before the deadline. Please note that some funding bodies specify a time for submission as well as a date. Please confirm this with your RKEO Funding Development Officer.

You can set up your own personalised alerts on Research Professional. If you need help setting these up, just ask your School’s/Faculty’s Funding Development Officer in RKEO or view the recent blog post here. If you are thinking of applying, why not add an expression of interest on Research Professional so that BU colleagues can see your intention to bid and contact you to collaborate.

Latest Major Funding Opportunities

Funding opportunities

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

Economic and Social Research Council

ESRC invites applications for an Understanding the Macroeconomy Network Plus. The aim of the network is to develp the capacity needed to sustain a substantive policy-oriented research programme, which is focussed on the macroeconomy. The Network will include representatives from the policy community and the private sector as well as academics from the economics profession and other disciplines which have the potential to add value in this area. It will be charged with providing leadership in connecting interdisciplinary research groups and networks, ensuring the new initiative can best add value in the context of existing capacity and current research agendas (whether or not ESRC-funded).

Maximum budget: £3.7 million. Closing date for outline proposals: 4pm, 20/09/16.

Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council

EPSRC is inviting tenders for a contract to run a mid-range facility providing a high-specification electron microscopy  service to the UK academic community and other users. Full details of how to apply will be in the relevant published OJEU and Contracts Finder notices. The contract will run initially for three years with an option to extend it to five years subject to a review. Bidders will need to provide information on the specification of the equipment they intend to operate, the facilities and the service they intend to provide, the staffing of the facility and the cost of the service.

Maximum award: Not specified. Closing date: 07/09/16.

Global Food Security

Global Food Security, in collaboration with  BBSRC, ESRC, NERC and the Scottish Government, invites applications for its second call on Resilience of the UK food system in a global context. There are three overlapping thematic priorities in the programme. Proposals should address one or more thematic priorities and are encouraged to take a food systems approach

  • Optimising the resilience of agricultural systems and landscape whilst enhancing productivity and sustainability
    At the core of this theme is understanding the relationship between resilience, sustainability and production and how to optimise the trade-offs associated with these tensions. This will help ensure agricultural systems and landscapes that are both resilient and sustainable and balance the provision of food with other ecosystem services in the face of evolving world-wide changes and threats
  • Optimising resilience of food supply chains locally and globally
    This theme is focused on understanding the economic, environmental, biological and social factors affecting the food supply chain, and the interplay between these, to ensure resilience of the food system at a local-to-global level
  • Influencing food choice for health, resilience and sustainability at the individual and household level
    Central to this theme is understanding the drivers behind food choices and how these impact on the wider food system and production, in order to identify interventions that result in provision of nutritious and sustainable food in more resilient and equitable ways

Maximum award: £2.8million. Closing date: 10/11/16.

Natural Environment Research Council

NERC invites applications for access to its High Performance Computing Facilities. Users will be allocated to one of three HPC consortia- oceanography and shelf seas; atmospheric and polar sciences; mineral and geophysics.

Maximum award: Not specified. Closing date: 12/09/16.

Medical Research Council

MRC invites outline proposals for its Stratified Medicine Initiative call – disease-focused partnerships to stratify for patient benefit. This call aims to support consortia to address disease areas where there is a strong case for scientific advancement and major unmet clinical need. Proposals should clearly describe and justify why a particular disease area is likely to contribute important understanding of disease, whether employing stratification by response to treatment or by risk, diagnosis and/or prognosis. The consortia must: build upon existing scientific and clinical expertise; utilise clinical research infrastructure, such as that provided by the National Institute of Health Research, Scottish Government Health Directorates, National Institute for Social Care and Health Research, Welsh Government and Health, Social Services and Public Safety, Northern Ireland; forge significant links with industrial partners.

Total budget: £15million. Closing date: Outline applications due 4pm 01/12/16.

Wellcome Trust

Wellcome Trust invites applications for its Investigator Awards in Science, which fund researchers at all career stages working on important questions of relevance to their scientific remit.

Maximum award: £3million. Closing date: 21/11/16.

If you are interested in submitting to any of the above calls you must contact RKEO with adequate notice before the deadline.

Please note that some funding bodies specify a time for submission as well as a date. Please confirm this with your RKEO Funding Development Officer

You can set up your own personalised alerts on Research Professional. If you need help setting these up, just ask your School’s/Faculty’s Funding Development Officer in RKEO or view the recent blog post here.

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

Fieldwork preparation in Nepal

international, PG research

If you have a number of research projects running in the same location it pays to combine some of the preparation.  Thus as part of five different studies and one PhD project, I’m currently in Kathmandu.  The projects are (1) the THET-funded intervention in Nawalparasi; (2) the CEL-funded qualitative research led by Dr. Catherine Angell on CPD (Continuous Professional Development); (3) the FHSS-funded project on transgender which is led by Dr. Pramod Regmi; (4) the FHSS-funded project with Pourakhi which supports Nepali women returning home after having been abroad as migrant workers;  and (5) the Green Tara Trust funded project on improving maternal health care in Dhading and Nawalparasi, and the FHSS PhD project is that of Mrs. Preeti Mahato.  Two of the project and the PhD topcic are closely related as all three cover maternity care in one for or another in Nawalparasi.  The planning meetings we are having in Nepal involve planning training sessions and workshops, resource allocation and research preparation.DSCN0026

Fortunately, it is not all work.  Today I enjoyed Kheer (Achar and Chana) for lunch in the Green Tara flat in Kathmandu a lovely rice pudding with slightly sour green vegetables and chick peas (see photo).  The actual meal is traditionally health tomorrow but as this is the weekend the staff brought it one day forward so that I could join in too.

Finally, I like to thank colleagues who gave me mobile phones and a camera.  One of the mobile phones is already in use by one of the Nepali charity workers in Kathmandu. I bought a new battery and memory card for camera in the UK and it is working fine, the photo with this blog has been taken with the donated camera!

 

Prof. Edwin van Teijlingen (writing from Nepal).

Centre for Midwifery, Maternal & Perinatal Health Research

 

Nominations for the 2016 John Maddox Prize and London Media Workshop

2016 John Maddox Prize for Standing up for Science
Nominations for the 2016 John Maddox Prize close on Monday, 1st August. 

Now in its fifth year, the prize recognises the work of an individual anywhere in the world who promotes sound science and evidence on a matter of public interest, facing difficulty or hostility in doing so. Details on how to nominate are online here: bit.ly/Maddox2016

The prize is a joint initiative of Nature, where Sir John was editor for 22 years; the Kohn Foundation, whose founder Sir Ralph Kohn was a personal friend of Sir John’s, particularly through their Fellowship of the Royal Society; and Sense About Science, where Sir John served as a trustee until his death in 2009. A passionate and tireless communicator and defender of science, Maddox engaged with difficult debates, inspiring others to do the same. As a writer and editor, he changed attitudes and perceptions, and strove for better understanding and appreciation of science throughout his long working life.

London media workshop

I also wanted to send a reminder that applications for the next Standing up for Science media workshop are now open. The workshop will be at the Francis Crick Institute, central London on Friday 16th September. This full day event is free and for early career researchers and scientists in all sciences, engineering and medicine (PhD students, post-docs or equivalent in first job). Here is the flyer and application form.