Tagged / BU research

RKEO Coffee Morning, 4th February

Coffee Morning

The next RKEO coffee morning is fast approaching and this one will concentrate on the wonders of the Project Delivery Team within RKEO, its personnel, the work they do and how they can help you.

The Team has three specialist areas: Finance, Outputs and Governance which feed into Faculty dedicated teams. So if you want to know more about managing projects, applying for ethics approval, how to use BRIAN, Open Access or anything else Research and Knowledge Exchange focused please come along and have a chat with us, or just to enjoy a coffee and cake.

 

The coffee morning will be held in the RKE Office on the 4th Floor Melbury House (Lansdowne Campus) starting at 9.30am on Wednesday 4th February.

 

We look forward to seeing you!

Book launch in Kathmandu

BU research, Featured academics, PG research, Publishing, student research, Uncategorized

 

This week sees the publication of a new book co-edited by BU Professor Edwin van Teijlingen.  The book The Dynamics of Health in Nepal is published for Social Science Baha by Himal Books in Nepal.  The lead editor Dr. Sharada Prasad Wasti was awarded his MSc from the University of Aberdeen and his PhD from the University of Sheffield.  The second editor, Padam Simkhada is Professor of International health at Liverpool John Moores University as well as Visiting Faculty in BU’s Faculty of Health & Social Sciences.

This edited volume has 13 chapters written on various health-related topics that are topical in Nepal.  Many of the authors are from Nepal who completed their postgraduate studies at a UK university.   The chapters cover amongst other topics such as Maternity Care, Health of the Elderly, Road Traffic Accidents, HIV/AIDS and Non-Communicable Diseases.  The book will be formally launched in a hotel in Kathmandu on the morning of Sunday 11th January.

The book also includes a chapter by BU PhD student Sheetal Sharma.  She co-authored the chapter ‘Customs and believes surrounding newborn babies in rural areas’.  One of her collaborator was a PhD student registered at the University of Aberdeen and another at London Metropolitan University, whilst third collaborator is the founder of Green Tara Trust, a UK-based Buddhist charity.

Copies of the book are for sale from Himal Books in Kathmandu and all profits from the book will be donated to Green Tara Nepal.

 

Prof. Edwin van Teijlingen

Centre for Midwifery, Maternal & Perinatal Health
Faculty of Health & Social Sciences,  Bournemouth University

Maternity research in Afghanistan

BU research, PG research, Publishing, student research

Just after I blogged about the first publication for 2015, I was informed by BU PhD student Rachel Arnold that our article: “Understanding Afghan health care providers: A qualitative study of the culture of care in a Kabul maternity hospital” is included in the first issue of 2015 of the journal BJOG.

 

BU has provided Open Access funding to make this paper freely available, which is especially important for readers in low-income countries such as Afghanistan or Nepal.  The paper can be found at: http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/1471-0528.13179/pdf

 

Prof. Edwin van Teijlingen

Centre for Midwifery, Maternal & Perinatal Health , Bournemouth University

Reference

Arnold R, van Teijlingen E, Ryan K, Holloway I. Understanding Afghan healthcare providers: a qualitative study of the culture of care in a Kabul maternity hospital. BJOG 2015; 122: 260-267.

 

The REF results are in! BU’s research recognised as world leading

BU research, REF Subjects, Research assessment

REF logoAfter many years of preparation, numerous mock exercises and thirteen long months of waiting, the REF results are finally published today! And the news for BU is excellent!

62% of BU’s research has been recognised as internationally excellent, with 18% rated as world-leading. This is a significant uplift on our RAE 2008 scores and has been achieved whilst also submitting considerably more staff to REF 2014 (161.8 FTE, an increase of 45.5%). This highlights the growing research volume and quality at BU and is testament to the significant investment that has been put into research over the past decade. The assessment recognised BU as a leading university in both the UK and south west region.

Key achievements for BU overall include:

  • BU was in the top half of all institutions that submitted to the REF (69th out of 154) based on the proportion of research rated of international standard
  • BU was 11th out of the 69 post-1992 universities based on the proportion of world-leading research
  • BU was fourth in the south west based on the proportion of world-leading research, behind Bristol, Bath and Exeter
  • 30% of BU’s research impact was rated world-leading
  • 58% of BU’s research outputs were rated internationally excellent or world-leading
  • 63% of BU’s research environment was rated internationally excellent or world-leading
  • The THE has ranked BU 69th overall, an increase from 75th in 2008, and 69th for impact – http://www.timeshighereducation.co.uk/news/ref-2014-results-table-of-excellence/2017590.article

Key achievements for our research areas include:

  • Tourism (UOA 26) was rated as joint-first in the UK (out of 51 institutions) based on its internationally-recognised research
  • Art and design (UOA 34) is in the top quartile in the UK for its world-leading research, and is ranked first in the south west (out of 7 institutions)
  • Communication, Cultural and Media Studies (UOA 36) is in the top third of institutions in the UK (17th out of 67) for its world-leading research, and 7th in the UK for its world-leading impact
  • Psychology’s (UOA 4) outputs scored particularly well with 73% rated as internationally excellent or world-leading, placing BU 27th out of 82 institutions in the UK
  • Research impact was rated highly in General Engineering (UOA 15) which scored 73% internationally excellent, placing it fourth out of 29 post-1992 institutions.
  • BU submitted considerably more staff to Allied Health Professional, Dentistry, Nursing and Pharmacy (UOA 3) than in the last assessment exercise (9.2fte in 2008 and 21.4fte in 2014) and achieved a significant uplift in the proportion of its research that was rated internationally excellent and world-leading (40% to 54%).
  • Geography, Environmental Studies and Archaeology (UOA 17) is in the top quartile in the UK (joint-17th out of 74 institutions) based on the proportion of research rated of international standing, making it also 1st out of 20 post-1992 universities
  • Business and Management Studies (UOA 19) scored particularly well in terms of impact, resulting in it ranking 9th in the UK (out of 101 institutions) for its world-leading impact

HEFCE, on behalf of the four funding councils, publish the results of the REF today. You can browse the results here: www.ref.ac.uk.

Congratulations to all – this is a milestone achievement 🙂

MS Society looking for members to join their Grant Review Panels

BU research, Guidance

The MS Society is looking for members to join their Grant Review Panels. For the Grant Review Panel for Care and Services Research they are also recruiting a new Chair.

The closing date for expressions of interest is 12 noon on Thursday 11 December. Please email research@mssociety.org.uk  with your CV and a brief cover letter outlining your experience and how that will positively contribute to the work of the grant review panels.

 

Areas of Expertise Required

Members of the Panels would normally serve for a period of three years. They are looking for people from a variety of backgrounds, covering research, health and social care expertise.

If you possess the necessary skills, knowledge, experience and motivation to help ensure the MS Society funds high quality, relevant research then contact them ASAP. This is also a great development opportunity for you, as knowing how a review panel works can inform how you write and present bids.

For the GRP1 panel, they are encouraging applications from those with an expertise in the following areas:

–       Immunology

–       Stem Cells

–       Animal Models

–       Genetics

 For the GRP2 panel, they are encouraging applications from those with an expertise in the following areas:

–       Psychology

–       Statistics

–       Health economics

About the grant review panels

MS research work is driven by a strategy agreed with the Board of Trustees and which reflects the perspectives of the whole MS community – people affected by MS, clinicians, research scientists and others.

To help guide their research work they work with the advice and support of a Research Strategy Committee (RSC) and two Grant Review Panels (GRP). The RSC looks at the strategic picture, providing advice on broad areas of research, setting priorities and scrutinizing the larger, ongoing research programmes. The RSC does not decide which specific projects we should or should not fund. That more detailed work is carried out by our Grant Review Panels, one for Biomedical Research (GRP1) and one for Care and Services Research (GRP2).

Congratulations to HSC student Mr. Jib Acharya

BU research, PG research, Publishing, Research news, Uncategorized

HSC PhD student Jib Acharya presented the preliminary results of his thesis research in a poster presentation entitled “A Comparative Study on Nutritional Problems in Preschool Aged Children of Nepal”

The poster was accepted at the 3rd World Congress of Public Health Nutrition Conference in Gran Canaria,  Spain, 2014.

Mr. Acharya’s poster was displayed as a traditional paper poster but also a digital poster on television screens around the conference.  The thesis work is supervised in the School of Health & Social Care by Dr. Jane Murphy, Dr. Martin Hind and Prof. Edwin van Teijlingen.  The attendance of this conference was made possible due to the support of a Santander award.

Congratulations

Prof. Edwin van Teijlingen

CMMPH