Tagged / BU research

WeObserve launches its first online course: Citizen Science Projects – How to make a difference

WeObserve, in partnership with FutureLearn, introduces its first online course, Citizen Science Projects: How to make a difference. The course starts on 18 November 2019 and will run for four-weeks. It is open to anyone and is free to participate. The course is now open for registration on the FutureLearn platform here.

During the course, learners will be able to discover citizen science projects and find out how to create and lead their own citizen observatory. Citizen science experts will share their knowledge, experiences and best practices in delivering citizen science projects. The course will also support co-creation and shared learning through discussion forums and group activities.

Exploring a diverse range of citizen science topics including:

  • Understanding the issue or problem: exploring environmental issues, deciding on a researh focus and defining the research question(s).
  • Creating a community: finding the people who are brought together by a shared concern and positively nurturing the sharing of ideas and experiences.
  • Deciding what data to collect: using the research question(s) to select what information will be gathered.
  • Capturing or generating the data: collecting the information, keeping motivated and engaged.
  • Analysing the data: interpreting the data, being able to spot trends and anomalies.
  • Disseminating results: using the findings from the data to communicate with others about the environmental concern.
  • Change-making and planning action: using the findings to lobby for change, or plan an intervention or action to inform others about the environmental concern.

Through this course, the aim is to build an international community of learners that will explore what is citizen science, what are citizen observatories, which tools they can use and where to find them, how to plan and conduct a data collection campaign, and how they can act.

This a great opportunity to reach an audience of DIY Citizen Scientists interested in taking action in their own communities, or researchers interested in the Citizen Science method.

For more information please contact Adam Morris – Engagement Officer

Global Challenges Research Fund (GCRF) Best Practice Workshop

On 24 October 2019, the GCRF Panel of the University hosted the first GCRF Best Practice Workshop that brought together well-over 20 academics, GCRF Principal Investigators/Co-Investigators and interested parties to discuss best practice from existing ongoing GCRF projects and activities being undertaken at BU.

The day began with a rough guide to GCRF terminology delivered by GCRF Panel Chair, Professor Lee Miles of the BUDMC and the morning session was completed by targeted presentations by GCRF project leaders at the University on the nature and progress of their respective projects. This latter session not only provided an opportunity for all those present to have a detailed insight into the diversity of work going on at the University under GCRF auspices – from research on elephant movements in Sumatra, to disaster management scenario building and guidance in Africa and Nepal, to the challenges of utilising new technologies to communicate the views of indigenous communities in South America.

This was followed in the afternoon by detailed sessions chaired by members of the GCRF Panel on design, implementation, monitoring and reporting and synergising of GCRF projects that were not only opportunities for those at the workshop to learn some of the challenges and instances of best practice, but also provided a chance to further discuss the nuances of the respective GCRF open call competition that is presently being advertised by the University.

A vibrant and good natured discussion was a characteristic of all the respective sessions. Informal feedback has been very positive and the GCRF Panel intends to capture some of the insights and commentary of the GCRF workshop to inform its future deliberations.

Photo of the week: ‘The Place: A health and fitness shop’

Telling a story of research through photography

The ‘photo of the week’ is a weekly series featuring photographs taken by BU academics and students for our Research Photography Competition which took place earlier this year.

These provide a snapshot into some of the incredible research taking place across the BU community. 

This week’s photo of the week was taken by PhD Student Orlanda Harvey and is titled;

‘The Place: A health and fitness shop’

‘The placement of this model of the Incredible Hulk outside a health and gym store embodies one of the initial findings from my research. Part of my exploration into the experiences of men who use Anabolic Androgenic Steroids (AAS) evidences that one driver for building muscle is the link between muscularity and masculinity. Interviewees referenced the influence of social media images and ‘ripped’ celebrities as a reason for the current increase in use of AAS for recreational purposes and others talked about the muscular physique as being ‘what women want’.

‘Using hyper-muscular images, such as the Incredible Hulk to encourage people to purchase supplements, which have been found to illegally include AAS (Evans-Brown et al. 2012). This is tapping into the trend for men to have increasingly muscular physiques. This trend is seeping into western cultural norms and has influenced the design of toys, e.g. the chest sizes of G.I. Joe and Barbie’s Ken (Brownell and Napolitano 1995, Pope Jr. et al. 2016) have significantly increased, unrepresentative of achievable norm. Men, like women, are bombarded with unrealistic images of body shape, which could encourage some to take potentially risky routes such as using AAS to try to achieve the ‘ideal’.

If you have any questions about the Photo of the Week series or the Research Photography Competition please email research@bournemouth.ac.uk

Talk/session with the Wessex Clinical Research Network Study Support Service

Info Days, Knowledge Exchange, NHS, Research Ethics

The National Institute for Health Research (NIHR) is the nation’s largest funder of health and care research – the NIHR oversee 15 Clinical Research Networks (CRN) and these CRNs work alongside NHS Trusts, primary care providers and Universities. Each CRN has a dedicated Study Support Service.

The NIHR have a portfolio of research studies that are eligible for consideration for support from the CRN in England.  Portfolio status is usually vital to participating NHS Trusts when considering undertaking a proposed study.

Information on the NIHR portfolio is present on the research blog, but at this session our local CRN’s Study Support team will provide you with an opportunity to hear about and discuss the network and the service, and how it could benefit you.

This session is aimed at those planning on conducting clinical research.
It is also designed to raise awareness at BU about the benefits and importance of the NIHR portfolio, so if you’re just interested in learning more, please book on.

The session will take place on Tuesday 10th December at 2:3opm until 4:00pm on Lansdowne Campus.

To register your interest or if you have any queries, please get in touch with Research Ethics.

Photo of the Week: ‘Cost-effective and energy-efficient solution for smart cities’

Telling a story of research through photography

The ‘photo of the week’ is a weekly series featuring photographs taken by BU academics and students for our Research Photography Competition which took place earlier this year.

These provide a snapshot into some of the incredible research taking place across the BU community. 

This week’s photo of the week was taken by Neetesh Saxena and is titled;

‘Cost-effective and energy-efficient solution for smart cities’

This image focuses on the solar and wind energy, which can be utilised in the upcoming smart cities to make the system more efficient, self-manageable, and optimised resourced, and also a cost-effective and mostly available energy resource for the smart devices.

Neetesh Saxena’s research focuses on the system’s efficiency and security aspects.

If you have any questions about the Photo of the Week series or the Research Photography Competition please email research@bournemouth.ac.uk

UKRO Visit (and Brexit)

BU Challenges, Funding opportunities, international, Post-award, Training

As usual, RDS will host an annual UK Research Office visit to BU in 2019. This year’s event has been scheduled for November; the reason is obvious – Brexit!

 

All academic staff interested in EU funding are invited to attend the event:

Monday 18th November Fusion Building – FG06 from 11:00 – 14:30. Lunch will be included.

Dr Andreas Kontogeorgos, European Advisor of the UK Research Office will be discussing with us the impact of Brexit on EU funding opportunities. Academics are welcome to submit any other EU funding related topics for discussion to Ainar Blaudums by the end of October.

UKRO delivers subscription-based advisory service for research organisations and provides MSCA and ERC National Contact Point services in the UK. As part of UKRO services, BU members of staff may sign up to receive personalised email alerts and get early access to EU funding related publications on UKRO portal.

Please contact Organisational Development to book a place.

Powerless Responsibility: A feminist study exploring women’s experiences of caring for their late preterm babies

NHS, Women's Academic Network, writing

A new publication by Dr. Luisa Cescutti-Butler (FHSS) and her co-authors (Professor A Hemingway & Dr. J. Hewitt-Taylor) which explores women’s experiences of caring for a late preterm baby using feminism as a research methodology has just been published in the Australian Women and Birth Journal (October 2019). Her research found that women who become mothers’ of late preterm babies have a complex journey. It begins with separation, with babies being cared for in unfamiliar and highly technical environments where the perceived experts are healthcare professionals. Women’s needs are side-lined, and they are required to care for their babies within parameters determined by others. Institutional and professional barriers to mothering/caring are numerous. For example: some of the women who were separated from their babies immediately after birth had difficulties conceiving themselves as mothers, and others faced restrictions when trying to access their babies. Women described care that was centred on their babies. They were allowed and expected to care for their babies, but only with ‘powerless responsibility’. Many women appeared to be excluded from decisions and were not always provided with full information about their babies. The research concludes by recommending that women whose babies are born late preterm would benefit from greater consideration in relation to their needs, rather than the focus being almost exclusively on their babies.

Luisa is Senior Lecturer in the Centre for Midwifery, Maternal & Perinatal Health (CMMPH) and Lead for Examination of the Newborn in the Faculty of Health & Social Sciences. If you would like any further information please email Luisa on lcbutler@bournemouth.ac.uk

References: 

Cescutti-Butler, L.D. Hewitt-Taylor, J. and Hemingway, A., 2019. Powerless responsibility: A feminist study of women’s experiences of caring for their late preterm babies. Women and Birth, DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.wombi.2019.08.006

Cescutti-Butler, L.D., Hemingway, A., and Hewitt-Taylor, J., 2018. “His tummy’s only tiny” – Scientific feeding advice versus women’s knowledge. Women’s experiences of feeding their late preterm babies. Midwifery, DOI:  https://doi.org/10.1016/j.midw.2018.11.001

Doctoral College Newsletter | October 2019

PG research

The Doctoral College Newsletter provides termly information and updates to all those involved with postgraduate research at BU. The latest edition is now available to download here. Click on the web-links provided to learn more about the news, events and opportunities that may interest you.

If you would like to make a contribution to future newsletters, please contact the Doctoral College.

Photo of the Week: Malnutrition Awareness Week

Telling a story of research through photography

The ‘photo of the week’ is a weekly series featuring photographs taken by BU academics and students. These provide a snapshot into some of the incredible research taking place across the BU community. 

As part of Malnutrition Awareness week, we’re featuring photographs taken by Dr Emmy van den Heuvel, Prof. Katherine Appleton and Prof. Jane Murphy

‘BU researchers show that providing new recipes can encourage older adults to eat more eggs’

‘We invited some older adults to Bournemouth University to try out our recipes. We have previously completed a Randomized Controlled Trial (RCT) for which older adults received high-protein egg-based recipes. We showed that by providing these new ideas for high protein meals, we could increase egg intake up to 12 weeks after the intervention. Eggs are a good source of protein, and are relatively easy to prepare, easy to chew, have good value for money and a long shelf life. We know that older adults need more protein, but tend to eat less, so it is very important to find ways to increase protein intake using interventions that people can keep up at home.

This week is Malnutrition Awareness Week, and with the rapid increase in British older adults, it is increasingly important to focus on finding strategies to maintain and improve good health and well-being in the older population.

Find out more about the project here

If you have any questions about the Photo of the Week series please email: research@bournemouth.ac.uk

New Sociology and Development publication

international, Publishing, writing

Congratulations to Professors Sara Ashencaen Crabtree and Jonathen Parker in the Faculty of Health & Social Sciences on the recent publication of their paper ‘‘Behaving like a Jakun!’ A case study of conflict, ‘othering’ and indigenous knowledge in the Orang Asli of Tasik Chini’ in the Journal of Sociology and Development [1]. This paper reports on an ethnographic study of the indigenous Jakun Orang Asli in West Malaysia.

Congratulations!

Prof. Edwin van Teijlingen

CMMPH

 

Reference:

  1. Parker, J., Ashencaen Crabtree, S., Crabtree Parker, M., Crabtree Parker, I., 2019. ‘Behaving like a Jakun!’ A case study of conflict, ‘othering’ and indigenous knowledge in the Orang Asli of Tasik Chini. Journal of Sociology & Development, 3 (1):23-32.