Bournemouth University wishes all its Nepali students, staff and collaborators in both the UK and in Nepal a Healthy and Happy New Year 2078 today.


Latest research and knowledge exchange news at Bournemouth University
Bournemouth University wishes all its Nepali students, staff and collaborators in both the UK and in Nepal a Healthy and Happy New Year 2078 today.
First in a series of posts looking at BU’s impact case studies for REF 2021. (The full impact case studies will be published on the REF website summer 2022.)
Research areas: Psychology, Health & Social Care
Staff conducting research: Professor Jan Wiener, Professor Anthea Innes, Dr Sarah Muir, Dr Shanti Shanker, Dr Ramona Grzeschik
Background: BU’s Wayfinding Lab has developed a deep understanding of how ageing, both typical and atypical, affects the cognitive processes involved in spatial recognition. Professor Wiener’s expertise in the design of navigation tasks, environments and experimental levels was used in the design of a mobile gaming app, ensuring it could track age-related changes in navigational abilities.
The impact: The Sea Hero Quest app encouraged users to navigate complex virtual seascapes. In the process, they provided data on their own wayfinding ability and learned how it is affected by typical/atypical ageing. It reached more than 4.3 million users in 194 countries, making it one of the most successful citizen science projects ever conducted. The app established the value of BU laboratory research in the real world; raised awareness of spatial disorientation in atypical ageing and the importance of research in overcoming it; triggered diagnostic innovation; and provided new commercial domains for gaming developers.
Research area: Social Care
Staff conducting research: Professor Lee-Ann Fenge, Professor Keith Brown, Dr Sally Lee, Emily Rosenorn-Lanng, Davide Melacca
Background: BU’s National Centre for Post-Qualifying Social Work is widely regarded as the leader of research into financial scamming and fraud. Beginning with a grant from the Chartered Trading Standards Institute (CTSI) in 2015 to explore the extent of financial scams that target vulnerable individuals, Professors Brown and Fenge and their team then worked with Age UK, the London Borough of Croydon, CTSI’s National Scams team, the Royal Mail, and the Burdett Trust for Nursing, as well as the victims of scamming and their families.
The impact: Based on its research, BU developed key learning resources, which have been distributed nationally, raised awareness of scamming, and increased the protection of vulnerable groups. Nationwide charities, local authorities, the NHS, financial institutions and government all use BU’s research and materials to protect vulnerable people from being defrauded, helping to save consumers from scams worth more than £22 million.
Next post: the media representation of para-athletes & protecting the right to use parody.
The RDS Funding Development Briefings occur weekly, on a Wednesday at 12 noon.
Each session covers the latest major funding opportunities, followed by a brief Q&A session. Some sessions also include a spotlight on a particular funding opportunity of strategic importance to BU.
Next Wednesday 21st April, there will be a spotlight on Wellcome Trust’s new funding schemes.
We will cover:
For those unable to attend, the session will be recorded and shared on Brightspace here.
Please email RKEDF@bournemouth.ac.uk to receive the Teams invite for these sessions.
Wednesday April 21st 16:00 – 17:00
The Early Career Researchers Network (ECRN) at BU provides a forum for Early Career Researchers to meet each other, share experiences and learning, and potentially could lead to collaboration on research projects. This year, we are also providing a platform for Early Career Researchers to present their research and/or their experiences. We are launching this with a double bill of presentations at the ECRN meeting on 21st April 16:00 – 17:00.
April’s event features the following :
Improving care and support for people living with dementia with Dr. Michelle Heward, Post Doctoral Research Fellow and member of the Ageing and Dementia Research Centre at BU.
In this talk Michelle will discuss her research journey so far in the field of ageing and dementia. With specific examples of studies that she has been involved in that are designed to improve care and support through hearing the voices, understanding the experiences, and facilitating coproduction of people with dementia, family carers, practitioners, and care staff.
Women’s Sport Governance: Merger-Takeovers in the 1990s and beyond with Dr. Rafaelle Nicholson, Senior Lecturer in Sport and Sustainability.
Raf will be discussing the question why so few women are involved in the governance of sport in the UK, and how can we encourage more women to embrace governance roles, to ensure more diverse decision-making. To try to answer these questions, Raf has been interviewing women who were involved in sports governance in the 1980s and 1990s about their reasons for leaving. She will share some of their stories in this presentation.
These presentations will be followed by Q&A.
If you would like to attend, please contact OD@bournemouth.ac.uk
UK Parliament’s Knowledge Exchange Unit has two free online training sessions coming up in May. The sessions are popular and fill up quickly, so book your free ticket as soon as possible! You can also access recordings and resources from previous ‘Parliament for Researchers’ training sessions, including sessions tailored for researchers at different career stages and covering different topics such as select committees and writing for a parliamentary audience.
Parliament and Government are separate institutions, with different ways for researchers to engage with each. To complement your knowledge about working with Parliament, join this practical online training session to explore how research evidence and expertise is used by Government and how you as a researcher can engage, plus how this relates to research use at UK Parliament. Featuring speakers from across UK Government.
Join this practical online training session to explore research use by the UK’s devolved legislatures and how you as a researcher can engage, plus how this relates to research use at the UK Parliament. Featuring speakers from the Scottish Parliament, Northern Ireland Assembly and Welsh Parliament/Senedd Cymru.
For more information about online training for researchers from UK Parliament, email Parliament’s Knowledge Exchange Unit on keu@parliament.uk.
I invite you to join us in developing our proposal for Sustainable Storytelling for Science & Health as a game-changing concept supporting BU SIAs. In brief, we propose to explore and evaluate science and health communication through popular narrative across a variety of media and genres. How do popular narratives educate and influence behaviour, as well as entertaining us? How can we use these works to effect behaviour change in areas relevant to global challenges (such as the UN Sustainable Development Goals)?
What do we mean by “science and health”? We’re taking a broad approach, so we want to be open to communication of all research conducted at BU, which includes humanities and social science as well! Current and proposed projects encompass sustainability, ecology, archaeology, heritage, public health, medical information, training, mental health and suicide, social care, media literacy, assistive tech, dementia, and more.
What do we mean by “popular narrative”? Play and narrative are fundamental learning techniques stretching back before written culture and formal education, and the public learns a great deal from the media they consume. Science communication scholars have been advocating for entertainment media producers to include authentic science in their work, so we think the converse carries merit: entertainment media with accurate and persuasive educational content can have positive benefits on audiences. Thus, we intend to explore science and health communication through prose, journalism, games, film, documentary, television, VR/AR, immersive experiences, interactive narratives, comics/graphics, performance, social media, and more.
Who are “we”? Aside from the royal we of me, we are a (growing!) team of researchers in communications, journalism, narrative, public health, health, ecology, behaviour, marketing, animation, digital humanities, performance, film, media, nursing, and more. I am leading the bid from my cross-faculty position in Health & Science Communication and the emerging Science, Health, and Data Communications Research Group, and I welcome co-investigators as well as team members.
Bournemouth University already has a plethora of experts and a strong foundation of projects in these areas across multiple faculties; this proposal would enable us to come together in a more formal manner to amplify our current work and foster new research collaborations. If you want to be involved but you’re not sure how your work/interests fit in, please feel free to contact me. If you’re sure you want to be involved, also contact me!
Behind the headline figure of 47 impact case studies BU submitted to REF 2021 is several years’ preparation: a ‘light touch’ exercise in 2015, a stocktake in 2017-18, an impact review in 2018, two full Mock Exercises in 2019 and 2020, and a further adhoc review last November. The number of case studies submitted to the 2020 Mock was actually 73 – illustrating the fact that an even larger pool of researchers was involved in the process of honing BU’s impact submission.
Inevitably, impact case study teams heaved a huge sigh of relief once the button was pushed on REF 2021, but impact exists beyond REF, and, of course, existed before it. As Fast Track Impact’s Mark Reed puts it, ‘impact is the good that researchers can do in the world’. With that in mind, we will be showcasing BU’s impact case studies on the Research blog over the coming weeks. As well as acknowledging the hard work that went into producing them, and highlighting the breadth of BU’s research, we hope this series of posts will also provide insight and inspiration for researchers at all stages of their careers.
A 5-page document, comprising:
… and all conveyed in a style as accessible to the lay reader, as to the expert in the field.
Next post: 1) how BU research informed one of the largest citizen science projects ever conducted; and 2) helped save consumers from more than £22m in scams.
Tuesday 13th April – Thursday 15th April 2021
New to publishing or in need of some direction or coaching?
This three-day Writing Academy will help you to develop the skills required to improve the quantity and quality of your publications and to develop a publication strategy which best represents you as an academic.
You’ll have access to Patrick Brindle, an external consultant who will advise you on techniques and style. You will also have the opportunity to discuss your ideas and issues with your peers.
The program and objectives for Writing Academies are as follows:
Day 1. Planning and writing your research article
Day 2. Developing a Strategy for Getting Your Articles Published, Read and Cited
Day 3. Writing Day – to put into action everything discussed over the proceeding days
You will also have the opportunity to discuss your publishing goals and prepare a plan to accommodate writing within your day to day routines.
Patrick divides his time between his training and consultancy business – Into Content – and his work for City, University of London. At City he is Programme Director on the Publishing MA and International Publishing MA. Patrick has a PhD in History from Cambridge University, and has worked in editorial positions across the social sciences at Pearson Education, Oxford University Press and SAGE Publications. Patrick provides staff and PhD level training on book and research paper writing, and on general publishing strategy, to a range of universities, including Oxford, UCL, Leicester, Royal Holloway, the SRHE and the ESRC’s National Centre for Research Methods. He also has a specialism in helping academics in writing about methodology.
See here for more information and to book.
If you have any queries, please contact RKEDF@bournemouth.ac.uk.
The NIHR Research Design Service South East is hosting an event to discuss and explore what is meant by equality, diversity and inclusion in research and the importance of thinking about it when planning your health or social care research project.
Professor Kamlesh Khunti, Director of the NIHR Applied Research Collaborations East Midlands and Centre for BME Health, will talk about his recent research on COVID-19 in ethnic minority populations. Dr Esther Mukuka will talk about her new role as the Head of Equality, Diversity and Inclusion at the NIHR, and the increasing emphasis being put on those that apply for any NIHR funding to demonstrate their commitment to equality, diversity and inclusion and a healthy research culture more generally.
The presentations will be followed by informal workshops to look at different case studies demonstrating the application of equality, diversity and inclusion principles in research.
The event is open to anyone with an interest in applied health and social care research.
Patients, clinicians and researchers across the whole of the UK are set to benefit from the ambitious vision for the future of clinical research delivery according to this press release from the UK Government.
The plan includes:
Saving and improving lives: the future of UK clinical research delivery, published on March 23rd was developed by the UK government and devolved administrations. The policy paper sets out how they will deliver faster, more efficient and more innovative research – from the streamlining of costing, contracting and approvals processes to the Health Research Authority’s rapid ethics review pilot, which aims to halve the time to provide a final opinion for research applications.
Using best practice, it is hoped that participating in research will become more accessible, increasing diversity and allowing more people across the whole of the UK to take part. They will work with Centres of Excellence, such as the Centre for BME Health in Leicester, and there will be more support for research in more diverse and under-served communities and innovative approaches.
The NHS will be encouraged to put delivery of research at the heart of everything they do, making it an essential and rewarding part of effective patient care. This included building a culture across the NHS and all health and care settings that is positive about research, where all staff feel empowered and supported to take part in clinical research delivery as part of their job.
The vision is built around 5 key themes:
The vision reflects the ambition of all 4 UK governments and has been developed through a broad cross-sector approach involving NHS, medical research charities, life sciences industry and academia. Continued collaboration across sectors and organisations will ensure the key action areas will be delivered.
Remember – support is on offer at BU if you are thinking of introducing your research ideas into the NHS – email the Research Ethics mailbox, and take a look at the Research Governance and Integrity website.
The journal Resuscitation Plus published a systematic review with Debora Almeida in the Department of Midwifery & Health Sciences as lead author. Her latest paper ‘Do automated real-time feedback devices improve CPR quality? A systematic review of literature’ is co-authored with colleagues from Brazil. The review assessed the effectiveness of automated real-time feedback devices for improving CPR (cardiopulmonary resuscitation) performance during training, simulation and real-life resuscitation attempts in the adult and paediatric population. The paper concludes that the use of automated real-time feedback devices enhances skill acquisition and CPR performance during training of healthcare professionals, and secondly, that further research is needed to better understand the role of feedback devices in clinical setting.
Congratulations!
Prof. Edwin van Teijlingen
Centre for Midwifery, Maternal & Perinatal Health (CMMPH)
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Please see below for a further update from the HRA on Master’s and undergraduate research. Any queries or concerns please email Suzy Wignall, Clinical Governance Advisor.
Update on student research – new eligibility criteria from 1 September 2021
The HRA and the devolved administrations, supported by the Wessex Institute at the University of Southampton, have reviewed their approach to study approval for student research.
The review aimed to ensure students have the best learning experience of health and social care research, and to reduce the time that the HRA, DAs and NHS Research Ethics Committees (RECs) spend advising on and reviewing student applications.
In March 2020 we paused student research approvals to create capacity for urgent COVID-19 research. Now, from 1 September 2021, we are introducing new eligibility criteria for standalone student research.
New critera
The new criteria mean that some Master’s level students will be able to apply for ethics review and HRA/HCRW Approval or devolved administration equivalent. Standalone research at undergraduate level that requires ethics review and/or HRA/HCRW Approval (or devolved administration equivalent) cannot take place. Arrangements for doctoral research remain unchanged.
Full details are in table one – permitted student research table. We’ve also made it clear when students are able to take the role of Chief Investigator, see table two – which type of students may act as Chief Investigator?
Alternative ways of learning about health and social care research
It is possible for students to learn about health and social care research without completing standalone projects. Looking at other ways to build skills and experience better reflects modern research and emphasises team science. View the video of our event ‘Exploring good practice in Student Research’ to hear from course leaders about how successful these alternative approaches have been (registration is required to view) or read our website for further information and ideas: https://www.hra.nhs.uk/student-research/.
Queries
If you have any queries about the eligibility criteria, please contact queries@hra.nhs.uk.
Bournemouth University has a small amount of funding available to facilitate and enhance research and development collaboration with external partners.
The purpose of the funding is to:
There is flexibility in the way that the fund can be used, provided that a strong case can be made, and the assessment criteria are met. Funding could be used in various ways, for example for consumables, staff, and for travel/events/meetings, where restrictions allow.
All funding will need to be spent by 31 July 2021.
Eligibility/What we can fund
The HEIF Small Fund is open to all researchers across Bournemouth University, including those who are already working with industry partners and those who would like to build up new networks. In particular, the panel would welcome the following types of applications:
Due to the nature of this fund, we particularly welcome applications;
In line with BU2025, we will positively encourage applications from under-represented groups.
Application process
To apply, please read the guidance and complete the application form
Applications must be submitted to heif@bournemouth.ac.uk
Applications will be reviewed by the HEIF Funding Panel (see Panel Information below), with recommendations submitted to the Research Performance and Management Committee (RPMC) monthly. Once a decision has been made, this will be communicated to applicants. We aim to confirm the outcomes within two to three weeks of the closing date for that month.
The closing dates for each monthly assessment are as follows:
BU’s Funding Panels and Research Principles
The following funding panels operate to prioritise applications for funding and make recommendations to the Research Performance and Management Committee (RPMC).
There are eight funding panels:
These panels align with the BU2025 focus on research, including BU’s Research Principles
The following BU2025 Principles are most relevant to the HEIF Panel:
If you have any questions please email heif@bournemouth.ac.uk
Did you become a parent last year, or are you an expectant parent? If so, we would like to invite you take part in an online questionnaire about your experiences of perinatal mental health.
The survey is part of the EU-funded PATH project involving 13 partners from France, Belgium the Netherlands and the UK, including Bournemouth University. Professor Wen Tang, an expert in computer science and virtual reality software technologies, is leading BU’s project contribution.
The aim of the project is to enable women, families and healthcare professionals to prevent, diagnose and successfully manage mild to moderate perinatal mental health issues.
If you would like to take part in the survey, please go to http://bit.ly/2JuCEQT.
Publishing your research open access is extremely beneficial – to facilitate this, BU has a number of agreements with publishers that you can take advantage of.
Details of these agreements are now set out on a dedicated page found here.
If you have any queries, please email Open Access.
The RDS Funding Development Briefings have been occurring weekly, on a Wednesday since January. Thank you to all of you who have engaged in the sessions, it’s been a pleasure to see so many faces joining us.
Each session covers the latest major funding opportunities, followed by a brief Q&A session. Some sessions also include a spotlight on a particular funding opportunity of strategic importance to BU. Sessions including funding spotlights, will be recorded and made available on Brightspace after the session.
Sessions held to date include;
All slides and recordings of these sessions can be found on Brighstpace here.
For the next three sessions, there will be no spotlight funding opportunity as we appreciate many will be on leave due to school holidays. The briefing of the latest funding opportunities will still occur at 12pm, and the Research Facilitators will be available to answer your questions.
The next spotlight will be on Wednesday 21st April and will feature an overview of the Wellcome Trust’s new funding programmes.
Please email RKEDF@bournemouth.ac.uk to receive the Teams invite for these sessions.
Homelessness in the UK is on the increase (Open Government 2018). Health outcomes for those that are homeless are far poorer than of the general population with an mean age of death of 45 years (men) and 43 years (women) compared to 76 ( men) and 81 years (women) for those living in homes (Office for National Statistics 2019). The South West region had the third highest number of rough sleepers in 2018 (Homeless link 2017) and this project will take place in Bournemouth and the surrounding area.
Using technology to access healthcare is nothing new; accessing virtual consultations with your GP or using one of the wide range of apps to access information and advice on is increasingly common, particularly during the current pandemic. However, this does require access to appropriate technology and internet along with the knowledge of how to use it.
Although there is a growing use of technologies amongst homeless people (McInnes et al 2015) to connect with their peers, there is no current research exploring the role of technology in assisting people who sleep rough in locating and accessing appropriate local services.
In partnership with colleagues from the Providence surgery, Dorset Healthcare NHS Foundation Trust, the Big Issue and Streetwise; Staff at Bournemouth University are conducting a research project with the aim of developing a freely available app enabling navigation and access to resources to self-manage complex health and social care needs.
Dr Sue Green
A Registered Nurse with experience in acute and continuing care environments, Sue has been at the forefront of the development of clinical academic careers for nurses. Sue’s research programme focuses on aspects of clinical nutrition. She has a long standing interest in the process of nutritional screening and its effect on care.
Dr Huseyin Dogan
A Principal Lecturer in Computing at Bournemouth University (BU). Dr Dogan’s research focuses on Human Factors, Assistive Technology, Digital Health and Systems Engineering. He is the Co-Founder and Co-Chair of the Human Computer Interaction (HCI) research group.
Dr Bibha Simkhada
Bibha works at Huddersfield University in the School of Health and Human Sciences. Her research interest includes Technology in Healthcare, Ageing research mainly in Dementia, Health and Wellbeing of BAME population and women’s health. She has methodological expertise on narrative and systematic review and qualitative research.
Stephen Richer
Stephen is a part time PhD student and working part time as the project research assistant. His background is in Mental Health Nursing and he has worked in numerous roles within the NHS and for various mental health charities.
As the research project progresses, this blog will be updated on our methods, progress and results.
We are keen to hear from any local organisations working with the homeless that could assist with research. Please contact Stephen Richer sricher@bournemouth.ac.uk