BU Research Blog

August 14, 2024

PLoS ONE paper on kidney disease in Nepal’s migrant workers

international, open access, Publishing, writing Edwin van Teijlingen

Our research project on kidney disease in Nepalese migrant workers funded by the Colt Foundation has been published this week by PLoS ONE. The paper ‘Exploring lifestyles, work environment and health care experience of Nepalese returnee labour migrants diagnosed with kidney-related problems‘ [1] is led by Bournemouth University’s Drs. Pramod Regmi and Nirmal Aryal, both based in the Centre for Wellbeing and Long-Term Health. This is one of the first qualitative papers to focus on the rising kidney health-related risks among Nepalese labour migrants in the Middle East and Malaysia.

This qualitative study explored the lifestyles and work environment of returnee Nepalese migrants who were diagnosed with kidney health problems. In-depth interviews were carried out with twelve male returnee migrants, with half having worked abroad for at least a decade. Our analysis yielded seven themes: (a) living and lifestyles; (b) work environment; (c) exposure to pollutants; (d) Chronic Kidney Disease (CKD) experience; (e) use of painkillers and healthcare; (f) medical expenses for CKD patients; and (g) pre-departure training. This study indicates that Nepalese migrants face numerous challenges, including limited access to clean water and sanitation facilities, poor diets, exposure to occupational hazards, and overuse of pain medication, all of which may contribute to an increased risk of kidney disease. An enhanced pre-departure and on-arrival orientation programme focusing on kidney health-related topics, including the necessary advocacy at the country of destination to provide access to basic services, may encourage migrants to adopt healthy lifestyles and safe working environments, as well as help educate migrants to their kidney health risks.

The is the latest in a series of academic papers related in one way of or another to kidney disease in migrant workers from Nepal [2-5].

Prof. Edwin van Teijlingen

Centre for Midwifery & Women’s Health (CMWH)

References:

Regmi, P., Aryal, N., Bhattarai, S., Sedhain, A., KC, R.K. and van Teijlingen, E. (2024) Exploring lifestyles, work environment and health care experience of Nepalese returnee labour migrants diagnosed with kidney-related problems, PLoS ONE 19(8): e0309203. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0309203
Aryal, N., Sedhain, A., Regmi, P.R., KC, R. K., van Teijlingen, E. (2021). Risk of kidney health among returnee Nepali migrant workers: A survey of nephrologists. Asian Journal of Medical Sciences, 12(12), 126–132. https://doi.org/10.3126/ajms.v12i12.39027
Aryal, N., Regmi, P.R., Faller, E.M,, van Teijlingen, E., Khoon, C.C., Pereira, A., Simkhada, P. (2019) Sudden cardiac death and kidney health related problems among Nepali migrant workers in Malaysia, Nepal Journal of Epidemiology 9(3): 755-758. https://www.nepjol.info/index.php/NJE/article/view/25805
Aryal, N., Regmi, P.R., Sedhain, A., KC, R.K., Martinez Faller, E., Rijal, A., van Teijlingen, E. (2021) Kidney health risk of migrant workers: An issue we can no longer overlook. Health Prospect 20(1):15-7
Regmi, P., Simkhada, P., Aryal, N., van Teijlingen, E. (2022) Excessive mortalities among migrant workers: the case of the 2022 FIFA World Cup. Europasian Journal of Medical Sciences, 4:31-32. https://doi.org/10.46405/ejms.v4i0.455

August 10, 2024

School WASH facilities and menstruation in Nepal

international, Publishing, Women's Academic Network, writing Edwin van Teijlingen

Access to safe and sufficient drinking Water, Sanitation, and good Hygiene (WASH) facilities in schools play a crucial role in preventing numerous diseases, improving the learning environment in schools, and creating resilient communities living in a healthy environment. This study in Nepal explored the impact of combining WASH facilities on students’ health status, school attendance, and educational achievements [1].
A total of 24 participants, 16 students, and eight teachers were interviewed; data were audio recorded and analyzed thematically. Some of the results suggest that school-WASH facilities have a significant impact on students’ health and well‐being. Poor school‐WASH facilities hindered students’ school attendance, particularly for menstruating girls. School without separate toilets for girls, including menstruation hygiene facilities, lack of water and soap, sanitary pad, and secure toilet’s door often have higher rates of absenteeism among girls. It is important to note that inadequate WASH facilities affect not only students, but also teachers in the same school. The latest paper conclude that a lack of safe and sufficient drinking water, unimproved sanitation, and poor hygiene facilities were seen by students and teachers as reducing their health and well‐being, school attendance, and academic performance. Schools needs to provide better WASH facilities for the benefit of students’ health, attendance, and educational proficiency.

This is a follow-up from an earlier paper on the effect on educational achievement in the same population [2].

Prof. Edwin van Teijlingen

Centre for Midwifery & Women’s Health

References:

Sharma MK, Adhikari R, Khanal SP, Acharya D, van Teijlingen E. (2024) Do school Water, Sanitation, and Hygiene facilities affect students’ health status, attendance,
and educational achievements? A qualitative study in Nepal. Health Science Reports; 7:e2293. https://doi.org/10.1002/hsr2.2293
Sharma, M., Adhikari, R., van Teijlingen, E., Devkota, B., Khanal, S. (2024) Improved Water, Sanitation and Hygiene Facilities at School and their Effect on Educational Achievement in Basic Level Students in Nepal, International Journal of Health Promotion & Education (accepted). https://doi.org/10.1080/14635240.2024.2314459.

August 9, 2024

New BU women’s health workers’ paper

international, open access, Publishing, writing Edwin van Teijlingen

Today we saw the publication of our latest paper about FCHVs (Female Community Health Volunteers) in Nepal [1]. This paper is Open Access and hence freely available worldwide, to anyone with an internet access. The FCHV programme is one of the most successful parts of the health system of Nepal. This programme covers over fifty thousand FCHVs distributed across the country. These women provide unparalleled services to help across communities to improve outcomes in communicable and non-communicable diseases (NCDs) and aid health promotion and education.

Previous papers focusing on FCHVs included the recently accepted paper in PLOS Global Public Health [2], as well as two previous papers based on the Ph.D. study by Dr. Sarita Panday on FCHVs [3-4]. The latest paper is co-authored with Sankalpa Bhattarai is is working with our long-term collaborating agency Green Tara Nepal.

Prof. Edwin van Teijlingen

Centre for Midwifery & Women’s Health

References:

Bhattarai, S., & van Teijlingen, E. (2024). Nepal Needs A Two-Pronged Approach to Secure Future of Its Female Community Health Volunteers (FCHVs). Journal of Manmohan Memorial Institute of Health Sciences, 9(1), 43–48. https://doi.org/10.3126/jmmihs.v9i1.68640
Panday, S., Barnes, A., van Teijlingen, E. (2024) Exploring the motivations of female community health volunteers in primary healthcare provision in rural Nepal: a qualitative study, PLOS Global Public Health (forthcoming).
Panday, S., Bissell, P., van Teijlingen, E., Simkhada, P. (2017) The contribution of female community health volunteers (FCHVs) to maternity care in Nepal: a qualitative study, BMC Health Services Research 17:623 be/vz9C
Panday, S., Bissell, P., van Teijlingen, E., Simkhada, P. (2019) Perceived barriers to accessing female community health volunteers’ services amongst ethnic minority women in Nepal: a qualitative study, PLoS ONE 14(6): e0217070 https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0217070

August 1, 2024

Sonamoni collaborator recognised for services rendered to water safety

Awarded & submitted bids, international Edwin van Teijlingen

All the members of the Sonamoni team would like to congratulate Dr. Aminur Rahman, the Co-PI of our project for his award this week from HRH Prince Michael of Kent. Dr. Rahman from CIPRB (Centre for Injury Prevention and Research, Bangladesh) was awarded the HRH Prince Michael of Kent Certificate of Merit for services rendered to water safety. Dr. Rahman is visiting Bournemouth this week as part of a planning meeting for our project. This Sonamoni project has been made possible thanks to a grant from the National Institute for Health and Care Research (NIHR) through their Research and Innovation for Global Health Transformation programme. For more information, visit the NIHR website.
In Bangladesh, drowning is the leading cause of death in children between one and two years old. This low-income country has one of the highest rates of drowning, especially among children, in the world.

Congratulations!

Prof. Edwin van Teijlingen

Centre for Midwifery & Women’s Health

July 31, 2024

Authorship paper

international, Publishing, Women's Academic Network, writing Edwin van Teijlingen

Our paper ‘Academic authorship: who, why and in what order?‘ [1] has been cited 40 times according to ResearchGate.

Paper by Hundley et al. published 2013

We have since updated the information from this paper in our textbook Academic Writing and Publishing in Health & Social Sciences [2], which we published in Kathmandu, Nepal two years ago. However, there we spread the relevant information over three separate chapters [3-5], but textbook chapters usually don’t reach the same citation rates as academic papers!

Professors Vanora Hundley & Edwin van Teijlingen

CMWH

References:

Hundley, V., van Teijlingen, E., & Simkhada, P. (2013). Academic authorship: who, why and in what order?. Health Renaissance, 11(2), 99–101. https://doi.org/10.3126/hren.v11i2.8214
Wasti, S.P., van Teijlingen, E., Simkhada, P.P., Hundley, V. with Shreesh, K. (Eds.) (2022) Academic Writing and Publishing in Health & Social Sciences, Kathmandu, Nepal: Himal Books [ISBN: 9789937117609]
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.
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.

July 31, 2024

Research Priorities for Nepal: Planning meeting

conferences, international, student research Edwin van Teijlingen

Last Friday (July 26) members of the GCPHR (Global Consortium for Public Health Research) held their second Annual Meeting at the University of Huddersfield. This year’s theme was “Research Priority for Nepal”. GCPHR is an international network of public health researchers, practitioners, and policymakers; for details click here! In addition to researchers from the University of Huddersfield, there were participants from Bournemouth University, Keele University, York St. John University, the University of Greenwich, Liverpool John Moores University, NHS England, the University of Bradford, the University of Wolverhampton, the University of Aberdeen, The University of Sheffield, Tribhuvan University (Nepal), Technical University of Kaiserslautern (Germany), Kids at School in Nepal UK, Green Tara Nepal, Global Banking School UK, QINET International, among others.

Bournemouth University was represented by Dr. Pramod Regmi, Principal Academic in the Centre for Wellbeing and Long-Term Health (CWLTH), Mr. Yagya Adhikari, Ph.D. student in the Faculty of Health & Social Sciences (FHSS), and Prof. Edwin van Teijlingen, in the Centre for Midwifery & Women’s Health (CMWH). Since the audience was very interdisciplinary with both academics and representative from development and research charities there were thought-provoking presentations at the GCPHR meeting resulting in stimulating debates. These will hopefully lead to future collaborations, grant applications and publications.

We thank Prof. Padam Simkhada, Dr. Rajeeb Sah, and many others from the University of Huddersfield for the excellent organisation of the event. Prof. Padam Simkhada is also Bournemouth University Visiting Professor in FHSS.

Prof. Edwin van Teijlingen & Dr. Pramod Regmi

July 30, 2024

Request for your paper: A historical perspective

international, open access, Publishing, REF Subjects Edwin van Teijlingen

Any publishing academic will irregularly receive emails for copies of their papers, usually for papers which researchers or students can’t access through their own institution. Different universities have different expensive deals with publishers, and especially for universities in low-income countries this can be very limiting. Apart from requests for papers I also receive email requests for book chapter which are part of commercial textbooks, or people asking for a PDF, i.e. a free electronic copy, of the whole textbook. Recently I have also had a couple of requests for papers which are already freely available as Open Access publications. I assume the latter are simply requests from lazy students, who searched a bibliographic data base found several (many?) relevant papers. Without too much thinking they send quick automated email through ResearchGate, which is less work that searching for each actual Open Access paper online.

It did not always use to be that easy to approach an academic for a copy of their scientific paper. When I started as a PhD student, before the widespread use of the internet, if your university library did not have a subscription to the journal you were looking for, you would write a short letter to an academic author, post the letter, and if your were lucky, receive a printed copy of the requested paper in the post a few weeks later. The more established academics would have pre-printed postcards to speed up the process of requesting an academic paper. The photo of the 1959 (for the record this was before I was born!) shows one of such cards from a doctor based in the Netherlands. The effort involved meant you asked only for papers you were pretty sure where central to your research, you would not do the equivalent of sending out 40 emails, hoping to get PDFs of six or seven papers relevant to your essay topic.

Prof. Edwin van Teijlingen

CMWH

July 22, 2024

BA Small Grants call: Online Guidance session

Katerina Kakaounaki

British Academy Small Grants will be opening soon

Join us Online

Wednesday 24 July 2024, 10:00-12:00

to review the guidance and discuss your proposal for the upcoming BA/Leverhulme Small grants call.

Slides will be available after the session while the timeline schedule for this call can be found here.

Join Teams link here

If you have any queries, please contact Eva Papadopoulou epapadopoulou@bournemouth.ac.uk or your Funding Development Officer.

July 22, 2024

New Bournemouth University public health paper

international, open access, PG research, Women's Academic Network, writing Edwin van Teijlingen

The journal PLOS Global Public Health informed us that our paper ‘Exploring the motivations of female community health volunteers in primary healthcare provision in rural Nepal: a qualitative study’ [1] has been formally accepted in the Open Access journal. Dr. Sarita Panday is based at the Univeristy of Essex and Dr. Amy Barnes is based at the University of York. This paper is part of the first author’s Ph.D. project at the University of Sheffield, and it is the third second paper from her Ph.D. thesis as previous academic articles have appeared in BMC Health Services Research [2] and PLoS ONE [3].

Prof. Edwin van Teijlingen

Centre for Midwifery & Women’s Health

References:

Panday, S., Barnes, A., van Teijlingen, E. (2024) Exploring the motivations of female community health volunteers in primary healthcare provision in rural Nepal: a qualitative study, PLOS Global Public Health 4(8): e0003428
Panday, S., Bissell, P., van Teijlingen, E., Simkhada, P. (2017) The contribution of female community health volunteers (FCHVs) to maternity care in Nepal: a qualitative study, BMC Health Services Research 17:623 be/vz9C
Panday, S., Bissell, P., van Teijlingen, E., Simkhada, P. (2019) Perceived barriers to accessing female community health volunteers’ services amongst ethnic minority women in Nepal: a qualitative study, PLoS ONE 14(6): e0217070 https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0217070

July 19, 2024

Last chance to book a policy engagement consultation with a public affairs expert!

Public engagement, Training Amanda Edwards

If you want your research to influence policy, you need to know who to approach and how.

We have 121 slots available with Carys Davis, of The Other Place. Carys is a public affairs consultant and trainer with eighteen years’ experience in politics and public affairs, including working for:

two front-bench MPs as a caseworker/campaigner and Parliamentary Researcher
a UK political party as a Policy Adviser on the Environment, Food & Rural Affairs portfolio
the leader of the Maldivian Democratic Party, as a political consultant
two charities, running their public affairs functions
the Financial Conduct Authority as its Public Affairs Manager.

You can book a one-hour bespoke consultation for yourself, a research group or centre by emailing impact@bournemouth.ac.uk. This is likely to be of particular interest if you are developing an impact case study for REF2029, but all researchers at all stages are welcome to book.

Your personalised policy engagement strategy will include:

developing key messages, supporting narratives and evidence for policymakers,
identifying and mapping your audience, and
gaining insight into the channels available for influencing.

But you need to be quick – any sessions must take place by 31 July!

July 15, 2024

Royal Society of Chemistry Outreach Fund: Open for Applications

Funding opportunities, Knowledge Exchange, Public engagement ballen

The Royal Society of Chemistry Outreach Fund is open for applications

Grants available to support chemistry-based public and schools engagement activities

Small Grant up to £5,000

Large Grant between £5,001 and £10,000

About the Outreach Fund

The fund aims to support projects or programmes that:

Develop chemists’ public engagement and science communication skills – building capacity and opportunities for chemists and chemical scientists to engage with schools and public audiences
Engage with school students – inspiring and raising aspirations of student audiences to nurture a future generation passionate about the chemical sciences
Engage with public audiences – involving a wide range of people in relevant contemporary issues in the chemical sciences
Provide under-represented audiences, communities and places with inspiring chemistry engagement opportunities, delivered or coordinated by skilled people

How to apply

Please make sure you have read the application guidance before you apply

See a list of resources to support you in the development of your project and strengthen your application

All applications must be submitted online:

Apply for a small grant (of up to £5,000) →

Apply for a large grant (between £5,001 and £10,000) →

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 at least 4 weeks before the deadline.

Application deadline: Monday 9 September 2024

Contact

If you have any questions, or would like to discuss a potential project please email: outreach@rsc.org

Alternatively, if you would like advice on developing ideas or submitting your application, please contact Public Engagement with Research: publicengagement@bournemouth.ac.uk

July 15, 2024

BA Small Grants Guidance session

Funding opportunities, Guidance Katerina Kakaounaki

BA Small Grants will be opening soon

We are welcoming your proposals for the upcoming BA/Leverhulme Small grants call.

To ensure that the pre-award team can provide all interested academics with optimal support we are inviting you to participate to British Academy Guidance session

Wed 24th July 2024, 10:00-12:00 Online

Join us to review the guidance and then start work on your application. Slides will be available after the session and the timeline schedule for this call can be found here.

To book onto this session, please complete the Booking Form under “BA Small Grants Guidance session – 24/07/2024” in the drop down menu.

If you have any queries, please contact Eva Papadopoulou epapadopoulou@bournemouth.ac.uk or your Funding Development Officer.

July 12, 2024

Prize awarded for paper on rural tourism transport use in Bali

international, student research avsmith

BUBS PhD student Rama Permana was awarded the Smeed Prize runner-up at the 56^th Universities’ Transport Study Group (UTSG) Annual Conference 2024 held at University of Huddersfield earlier this month. Rama presented a paper entitled Sustainability Transitions in Rural Tourism Travel: Who are the ‘Switchable’ Visitor Segments? The paper draws on surveys at 3 rural sites in Bali following qualitative interviews on the first stage of his PhD study. Utilising hierarchical and non-hierarchical cluster analysis, this paper discovers traveller segmentation in the tourism destination based on their own rural travel practices. (Image source: Huddersfield Business School)

July 12, 2024

We can assist in promoting your public engagement event or activity

Knowledge Exchange, Public engagement ballen

At BU we promote and celebrate the work done to engage public audiences with our research.

The Public Engagement with Research team, part of Research Development and Support, can help you reach relevant audiences through a monthly newsletters and social media channels.

To be considered for promotion, your event or activity must meet the following criteria:

Targeted at and open to non-academic audiences
Centered on BU research, either exclusively or as part of a broader programme. Events not involving BU research, such as marketing or recruitment events, will not be accepted
Submitted by the first two weeks of the month prior to the event. For instance, an event in June should be submitted by May 14

Event descriptions may be edited to align with our style guidelines

Share your upcoming public event or activity with us

July 12, 2024

Tell us about the social, cultural & community events you’ve been involved in

HEIF, Knowledge Exchange, Public engagement ballen

BU is compiling data for the annual Higher Education–Business & Community Interaction (HE-BCI) survey and we’d like to know about the social, cultural and community events that you have been involved in.

What is HE-BCI?

The HE-BCI survey is a mandatory annual return that BU makes to the Higher Education Statistics Agency (HESA). An important part of this is to capture activity in terms of social, community and cultural events intended for the external community. This data is part of the information used to determine the allocation of Higher Education and Innovation Funding (HEIF) for BU

What activities can be included?

Please include details of any relevant events that you have been involved in which took place/will take place between 1 August 2023 – 31 July 2024

Events must have been open to the public or intended for an external (non-academic) group and have included an exchange of knowledge. Events may take place in the UK or overseas

Eligible events include:

Public lectures or talks
Performance arts
Exhibitions
Museum education
Festival activity
Events for school/youth group
Events for other external (non-academic) groups
Media engagement

Please head to this SharePoint site to add your events.

The deadline for submitting your events is Friday 15 November

The SharePoint site provides details about what data is collected, including calculating attendee numbers, staff time, reporting online activities and multiple related events

If you have any questions about the HE-BCI return, please contact publicengagement@bournemouth.ac.uk

July 11, 2024

New paper: Tourism and transport use in Bali, Indonesia

international, student research avsmith

Congratulations to BUBS PhD student Rama Permana on the publication of his paper ‘The (un)sustainability of rural tourism travel in the Global South: A social practice theory perspective’ in the International Journal of Tourism Research. The paper draws on a series of semi-structured interviews with tourists and destination stakeholders which explore tourists’ rural travel practices in Bali, Indonesia. The paper uses a social practices perspective to explore how Bali’s transport provision has evolved to meet residents’ needs for travel and income generation, shaping the options for tourists. The paper highlights how transition to more sustainable transport use is challenging when local populations are invested in existing transport provision and how this provision has become part of the tourism experience.

July 11, 2024

Everyday Law & Ethics Public Lecture Series -Tattoos: your rights & the law

Knowledge Exchange, Public engagement ballen

Join our public lecture and debate on Wednesday 24 July, 5:30-7pm to find out about tattoos and the law

As more and more people choose to be tattooed in the UK, how tattoos and the law interact becomes increasingly important.

For tattoo artists, there are growing concerns around tattoo copying, and questions of whether tattoos are protected by copyright law. For tattooed people, there are questions about discrimination and whether employers can choose not to hire you, simply because you are tattooed.

Join our public lecture and debate, led by Bournemouth University legal expert Melanie Stockton-Brown to find out about your tattoos and the law. Discuss your own experiences and potential legal changes.

Find out more

July 10, 2024

Everyday Law & Ethics Public Lecture Series: Your rights to the right diagnosis in Dorset

Knowledge Exchange, NHS, Public engagement ballen

Join our public lecture and debate on Wednesday 17 July, 5:30-7pm to find out how to advocate for your rights to medical treatment

People living in Dorset currently face some of the worst levels of contact with health services in the UK, with GP waiting times in the county the second longest in England.

Join our public lecture and debate, led by Bournemouth University legal experts Dr Samuel Walker and Dr Matthew Watkins to explore your legal and ethical rights to timely care and treatment. Discover practical steps you can take to speed up diagnosis and treatment for you and your family, and discuss the recent introduction of ‘Martha’s Rule’, which enables you to seek a second opinion on the NHS.

After the lecture (30 minutes approx.), you will be invited to move into small groups to discuss your own experiences and suggest ways to improve local access and provision to healthcare services

Tagged / BU research

Request for your paper: A historical perspective

BA Small Grants call: Online Guidance session