May 10, 2024

We can help promote your public engagement event or activity

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

The Public Engagement with Research team in Research Development and Support can help promote your event to relevant audiences through our monthly newsletters and via our social media channels.

To be considered for inclusion, your event or activity must be;

Focused on BU research, either solely or as part of a wider programme. Events or activities that do not involve BU research, such as marketing or recruitment events, will not be accepted.
Intended for and open to non-academic audiences, either entirely or as a portion of the audience.
Submitted, at the latest, in the first two weeks of the month preceding the event. For example, an event taking place in June should be submitted via the form any time before 14 May.

Event descriptions may be edited for consistency in style with other content.

Share your upcoming public event or activity

If you have any questions, please contact the team publicengagement@bournemouth.ac.uk

May 10, 2024

Funded Public Engagement Opportunity – ESRC Festival of Social Science 2024 -Deadline for Applications Thursday 16 May

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Funding of up to £1,000 per event is available, and BU’s Public Engagement with Research team offers continuing advice and support on all areas of event development, planning, delivery and evaluation.

The 22nd annual ESRC Festival of Social Science will take place this year Saturday 19 October – Saturday 9 November, with the theme ‘Our Digital Lives’

This national festival offers the chance to create an inspiring event to connect your research in an engaging way with a broad public audience and take your research off campus.

For the second year, BU is partnering with the University of Southampton (UoS) and we are particularly keen to hear from researchers who have already established collaborations with UoS colleagues and may wish to run a joint event. This collaboration enables us to run an extended programme of events, broadening our impact reach and expanding our networks across Dorset and Hampshire.

About the Festival of Social Science

The Festival of Social Science is an annual celebration of research and knowledge about humans and society. It is an opportunity for anyone to explore topics relating to social science – from health and wellbeing to crime, equality, education and identity – through events run by researchers from UK universities. There’s no cost to attend, and most are open to everyone, though some are aimed at specific groups.

What if I’ve never done public engagement before?

Everyone has to start somewhere, and this is the ideal place. You’ll have access to support, advice and training throughout. If you’re unsure, seek out a more experienced colleague to collaborate with.

Explore previous events from BU and examples from around the country
Start brushing up on how to make public engagement work for you. A great place to start is BU’s own video guide to getting started in public engagement with research (Brightspace). You can also browse guidance and case studies from the National Co-ordinating Centre for Public Engagement (NCCPE)

Can I apply if I’m not a social scientist?

The ESRC says that events must “feature social science (ideally with a social scientist involved in the event)”. If this doesn’t clearly apply to you, consider these options;

Does your research have clear implications for society that could be explored from a social science perspective?
Could you collaborate with a social scientist, combining your resources and creativity to explore the impact of your research? If you’re looking for a collaborator, the Research Blog or BU website are great places to start or contact us for help

What support will I get?

Being part of this festival means a higher level of support and reach than we usually provide.

Before applying, you’ll have access to:

Advice on request from BU’s Public Engagement Team
The ESRC’s Festival Event Leader pack

When your application is successful, you’ll get:

Funding of up to £1,000 managed by RDS
Training provided by the ESRC Festival of Social Science
Continuing advice and support from BU’s public engagement team on all areas of planning, delivering, evaluating your activity
Wide-scale promotion and marketing of your event by BU, UoS and the ESRC

How to Apply

Apply to take part in the ESRC Festival of Social Science 2024 by completing the online application form,

Deadline for applications: midnight at the end of Thursday 16 May 2024.

ESRC’s Festival Event Leader pack

Apply here

Should you require any more information, or if you would like to arrange a chat with the Public Engagement Team to discuss your application, please contact: publicengagement@bournemouth.ac.uk.

May 9, 2024

1 WEEK REMAINING- Postgraduate Research Experience Survey (PRES) 2024

BU research, Doctoral College, Featured, PG research, Postgraduate Research amoyse

1 week to go till the Postgraduate Research Experience Survey closes!

We need to know what you think works well and what as a university we could do better.

So far 32% of PGRs at BU have taken part in the survey. A huge THANK YOU to those who have submitted feedback.

If you have not completed the survey, please complete this by accessing the unique link that has been emailed to you from the Doctoral College. This has been sent to both your student and staff email.

Once you have completed the survey:

Prize draw – upon completing the survey, you will automatically be entered into a free prize draw. Four winners will be able to claim a £50 shopping voucher. Terms and conditions apply.
BU Chartwells voucher – you are entitled to claim a voucher worth £3.20 to use at any BU Chartwells outlet. Please come to the Doctoral College (DLG08, Talbot Campus) to collect your voucher. If you are unable to find your screenshot showing you have completed the survey, do to worry, just come to the office and we will get your voucher to you.

In addition, we will be making a £1 donation for every survey completed to the student mental health wellbeing charity, Student Minds.

The survey closes on Thursday 16 May. It is anonymous and will only take around 15 minutes.

While the survey is open, we send out multiple emails containing your unique link to submit your feedback. Since the survey is anonymous, we will not know who has completed it and who has not. For this reason, these emails automatically go out to everyone, regardless of whether you have completed the survey or not. If you have completed the survey, please disregard future emails you receive for this year’s PRES.

Please take part this year and share your experience of being a student with us. If you have any difficulties or questions about the survey, please email PRES@bournemouth.ac.uk.

Best wishes,

The Doctoral College

May 8, 2024

Successful Bid-generating Sandpit designed and facilitated by BU academics Catalin Brylla and Lyle Skains

BU research, ECR Network, Events, Research Centres, Research Training lskains

27 early career academics from ten universities came together 30 April-1 May in Bournemouth for a two-day sandpit funded by The British Academy Early Career Researcher Network and organised by Dr. Catalin Brylla (Centre for the Study of Conflict, Emotion, and Social Justice) and Dr. Lyle Skains (Centre for Science, Health, and Data Communication Research). The participants specialise in a variety of disciplines such as performance, media, business management, environmental sciences, anthropology, computing, architecture, law, engineering, tourism, and health studies. They brought their interests in a sustainable world and society (as represented by the UN Sustainable Development Goals) to the sandpit for networking, team-building, and funding and project development workshops, many of which were based on the successful and innovative NESTA-developed ‘Crucible’ programme (no longer online, but see the Welsh Crucible).

The success of the sandpit’s activities is highlighted by the culmination of six projects proposed to a panel of subject experts from Bournemouth University: Prof. Amanda Korstjens (ecology), Prof. Adele Ladkin (business), Prof. Huseyin Dogan (computing), Dr. Lyle Skains (arts practice and interdisciplinarity), Dr. Catalin Brylla (media practice) and Zarak Afzal (research development). These experts provide mentorship and feedback on the projects as they develop toward funding proposals. Two sandpit follow-up sessions will also aid the participants in developing their funding proposals.

This is the first ‘crucible’ sandpit of its kind offered through the BA ECRN, though plans are under development for further offerings in both the Southwest and other regional hubs.

To receive news of further sandpits and development opportunities, join the BA ECRN.

May 8, 2024

Upcoming 3C Event – PGR Culture, Community & Cake

BU research, Doctoral College, Events, PG research, Postgraduate Research, Uncategorized amoyse

Don’t miss out on your chance to book onto our upcoming 3C event! Join us Tuesday 14 May 10:00-11:00 in room K101, Kimmeridge House.

All PGRs and Supervisors are warmly invited to participate and contribute to this enriching and delicious gathering. This social event is a catch-up opportunity to meet informally with the PGR community and make new connections whilst enjoying some coffee and cake.

Places are limited so book as soon as possible.

Let’s foster collaboration, support and networking!

Book now

Best wishes,

The Doctoral College

May 2, 2024

April’s Café Scientifique – Should we help machines understand and respond to our emotions?

BU research, Events, Impact, Knowledge Exchange, Public engagement ballen

Dr Roya Haratian at Café Scientifique

In April, a full house at Café Scientifique welcomed Dr Roya Haratian, Principal Academic in Electronic Science and Engineering at the Department of Design and Engineering at BU, to share her research with a public audience.

Bournemouth University’s Café Scientifique events take place at The Black Cherry Café in Boscombe on the first Tuesday of the month. Over a cup of coffee or a glass of wine, people can hear about the latest research developments in science and technology.

Dr Haratian explains her research and shares her experience of being involved with Café Scientifique;

Can you give us a brief introduction about your research?

Assistive technology in the home is increasingly part of everyday life. To improve the experience for people who use it, an approach is investigated to adapt machines functionality to the user experience during interaction. As user experience is reflected in physiological signals, body area sensing systems can be utilised to enable the machines to recognise the user experience and provide feedback in real-time. Ethical justifications and concerns in the development of such assistive technologies were the subject of discussion in this Café Scientifique.

Why did you agree to participate in Café Scientifique?

The talk for Café Scientifique was designed to share some part of my research with public to introduce the topic and have their opinion and thoughts on it as potential stakeholders of future products and services.

Can you tell us more about your talk?

Café Scientifique audience at The Black Cherry

In this session I introduced an approach for real-time user experience recognition for assistive technologies. The reflection of user experience in physiological signals was investigated through different psychological models along with how to collect the signals and mathematically model the mapping of physiological signal changes. Using machine learning and artificial intelligent techniques, I could show how such signals have the potential to be mapped into the basis of the user’s psychological space model; therefore, predicting the user experience and enabling adaptation of the machine functionality based on the prediction during the interaction.

The ethical justification of the development of such assistive technologies discussed which includes minimising the need for assistance and enhancing the wellbeing or quality of life of people needing care. However, there are ethical concerns including a reductionist view of emotions which could potentially ignore the widely recognised psychological, cultural, and social dimensions of emotions. Solutionism is another concern and addresses whether technical fixes can be applied to genuinely social or political problems. Furthermore, the privacy and autonomy of users and their experiences is another concern. The tendency of machine learning techniques to normalise and generalise human behaviour and emotional reactions was the last ethical concern discussed and I presented potential solutions.

Dr Roya Haratian speaking at Café Scientifique

How do you feel your event went?

I am always passionate to talk about my research and found it quite interesting that the venue was fully booked. It demonstrated the public’s interest in the topic and during the presentation I could feel that interest in the audience’s questions. I am glad that BU provided me with this opportunity to share my research with the public and have their thoughts taken onboard for the next stages of my research development.

Dr Roya Haratian speaking at Café Scientifique

What did you get from your event?

The ethical justifications and concerns opened a series of questions and discussions which helped me to better understand the view of potential stakeholders while discussing potential solutions for the raised concerns. For further development of research, it is very important to be engaged with potential users and Café Scientifique provided me with this opportunity to hear from them to consider their viewpoints. At the end I shared a survey about the research to better collect their opinion and thoughts.

If you are interested, please feel free to take part in this survey which would be open till mid May 2024.

If you would like to find out more about our Café Scientifique series, or if you’re interested in getting involved in sharing your research with the public at future events, please read our blog post and register your interest.

May 2, 2024

Postgraduate Research Experience Survey (PRES) 2024 – 2 WEEKS LEFT

BU research, Doctoral College, Featured, PG research, Postgraduate Research amoyse

The Advance HE Postgraduate Research Experience Survey (PRES) has launched

Have your say – 2 weeks till the deadline!

Thank you to everyone who has completed the survey so far. If you have not already completed it, we would really appreciate if you could find a few minutes to respond and tell us about your experience this year.

We are keen to make sure our PGRs have the best possible experience while studying with us. To do this, we need to know what you think works well and what as a university we could do better. This is your chance to tell us about your experience as a PGR at Bournemouth University. We also kindly ask that all supervisors encourage their PGRs to participate in the survey.

Thank you to all PGRs who completed the 2023 PRES survey – we listened to you and your feedback has helped us to enhance your PGR experience in a range of areas.

The survey will close on Thursday 16 May 2024. Upon completing the survey, PGRs will automatically entered into a free prize draw. Four winners will be able to claim a £50 shopping voucher. Terms and conditions apply.

In addition, we will be making a £1 donation for every survey completed to the student mental health wellbeing charity, Student Minds.

Once you have completed the survey, you are entitled to claim a voucher worth £3.20, from the Doctoral College to use at any BU Chartwells outlet. Please come to the Doctoral College (DLG08, Talbot Campus) to collect your voucher. You will need to show a screen shot of the final page of the survey in order to claim your voucher.

How do I take part?

PGRs should have received an email from the Doctoral College on Monday 15 April 2024 containing a unique link which will allow you to access and complete the survey. If you can’t find this email, contact PRES@bournemouth.ac.uk and we’ll help you to get access.

What will I be asked?

The survey will take around 15 minutes to complete. Your response is confidential, and any reporting will be entirely anonymous. The survey is your chance to tell us about your experience as a PGR at BU. It will ask you to share your views on supervision, resources, research community, progress and assessment, skills and professional development and wellbeing.

Why should I take part?

Your feedback is important. The Postgraduate Research Experience Survey is the only national survey of PGRs and so is the only way for us to compare how we are doing with other institutions and to make changes that will improve your experience in the future.

More information

If you would like to know more about the survey, please visit: PRES 2024.

We hope you take the opportunity to get involved this year and help us make improvements to your experience.

Best wishes,

The Doctoral College

For any PRES related queries, please email: PRES@bournemouth.ac.uk

May 2, 2024

ADR UK Event – Better Data-Better Research-Better Policy

BU research, Events, research staff, Research Training, RKE development framework msimmons

University of the West of England, Bristol–Tuesday May 21st 2024-10:00-16:00

Administrative Data Research UK (ADR UK) is transforming the way researchers access the UK’s
wealth of public sector data.

By joining up the abundance of administrative data being created by government and public bodies across the UK, and making it available to approved researchers in a safe and secure way, ADR UK is enabling vital research. These datasets are already supporting the production of world-class academic studies, while leading to better informed policy decisions and more effective public services in areas such as education, healthcare, and crime.

There is no fee for attending.

You can register for the event via this link

Contact details: For further information, please contact damian2.whittard@uwe.ac.uk

May 2, 2024

RKEDF May Digest – Training opportunities for YOU!

BU research, Events, R & KE Operations, Research Training, RKE development framework, Training msimmons

Have you you heard the news????

We are excited to share some great RKEDF training opportunities coming up in May 2024! 

Click on the titles to find further details and book your place!!!! 

Innovate UK Marine and Maritime Launchpad Future Funding

Wednesday May 8, 8:00 – 12:00 – DG06, Dorset House, Talbot Campus

This event is a must-attend for Dorset-based marine and maritime businesses looking to innovate and grow, if your business involves Clean Maritime, Digital Oceans, and Marine Autonomy, this event is tailored just for you.

Early Career Researchers Network (ECRN) Surgeries 

Wednesday, May 8, 13:00 – 14:00 – Hybrid: Talbot Campus & MS Teams 

This is an open session for all BU ECRs and PGRs, to discuss any issues around career development, or the ECR experience with the peer network, and receive advice and guidance from the network’s academic leads. 

 Principal Investigation – Post Award for RKE                                                              

Wednesday, May 8, 14:00 – 15:00 – Lansdowne Campus  

This session is aimed at any researcher who is, who plans to be, a Principal Investigator for an externally funded research or knowledge exchange project.  

ECRN – The Conversation Media Training  

Wednesday, May 8, 14:00 – 16:00 – Zoom – link provided on sign up  

Are you an academic, researcher or PhD candidate who would like to build a media profile and take your research to a global public audience by writing for The Conversation?  

Introduction to RED – The Research & Enterprise Database  

Thursday, May 9, 10:00 am – 10:30 am – Online  

This session is aimed at all academics to provide an overview of the Research & Enterprise Database, including how to access the system, the information available to view, budget management via RED, and how to use RED to identify your supporting pre and post award officers. 

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Please assist us in avoiding any waste of resources; make sure you can attend or cancel your booking prior to the session.

For any further information, please contact RKEDF@bournemouth.ac.uk  

May 2, 2024

Public Engagement Opportunity: Share your research with the public at Café Scientifique

BU research, ECR Network, Events, Impact, Knowledge Exchange, Public engagement ballen

Would you like to share your research with a public audience? Get involved with our Café Scientifique series 2024/2025

Café Scientifique is a public event that takes place at The Black Cherry in Boscombe on the first Tuesday evening of the month (excluding January & August), and is organised by BU’s Public Engagement with Research Team, part of Research Development and Support.

The format involves delivering a short talk, followed by the opportunity for discussion and questions from a varied public audience. It is a fantastic opportunity for you to gain experience in engaging with the public in a friendly relaxed atmosphere.

We welcome academics at all career stages, although this opportunity is particularly valuable for those getting started in engaging with the public. We encourage collaboration between less experienced and more experienced public speakers to help provide support and gain a rewarding learning experience.

The team will support you every step of the way. From developing your ideas to engage with a public audience, to setting up and promoting your event. We will also be on hand on the day to help your event run smoothly.

Complete our form to Register your interest

Please note: Completing this form does not guarantee you a space. We will be in touch with you to discuss your interest.

If you have any questions about getting involved with Café Scientifique, please get in touch with the Public Engagement with Research Team: publicengagement@bournemouth.ac.uk.

May 2, 2024

Apply for up to £1,000 to deliver an event and take part in a national festival of public engagement with research

BU research, ECR Network, ESRC, Events, Funding opportunities, Impact, Knowledge Exchange, Public engagement ballen

Funding of up to £1,000 per event is available, and BU’s Public Engagement with Research team offers continuing advice and support on all areas of event development, planning, delivery and evaluation.

The 22nd annual ESRC Festival of Social Science will take place this year Saturday 19 October – Saturday 9 November, with the theme ‘Our Digital Lives’

This national festival offers the chance to create an inspiring event to connect your research in an engaging way with a broad public audience and take your research off campus.

For the second year, BU is partnering with the University of Southampton (UoS) and we are particularly keen to hear from researchers who have already established collaborations with UoS colleagues and may wish to run a joint event. This collaboration enables us to run an extended programme of events, broadening our impact reach and expanding our networks across Dorset and Hampshire.