Latest research and knowledge exchange news at Bournemouth University
September 10th 11:00 – 14:00 Talbot Campus
Members of the British Academy are visiting BU on Tuesday 10th September.
There will be a presentation late morning, looking at their portfolio of funding opportunities and providing useful information on their application and assessment processes, with some handy top tips. This will be followed by a networking lunch.
To book, please contact Theresa McManus.
Please put the date in your diaries!
Bournemouth University in collaboration with Royal Bournemouth and Christchurch Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust (RBCH) held a very successful conference (sold out!) on July 1st to discuss the topic of nurse retention and our Burdett Trust for Nursing funded research project- Making TRACS to improve nurse retention (Principal Investigator- Janet Scammell). This conference attracted 100 attendees representing nurse clinicians, workforce developers, and education and training from across Dorset.
Nurse retention is a highly problematic concern across the UK and negative impacts are felt within patient quality of care, individuals’ wellbeing and healthcare systems. To address this issue, this project aimed to investigate whether the retention of registered nurses at RBCH can be improved through the use of the TRACS nurse retention model. Developed from an extensive literature review, the TRACS model focuses on key factors known to impact on intention to stay: supporting Transition at key career junctures, building Resilience, facilitating Authentic leadership throughput the organisation, securing Commitment to support changing work practices and providing on-going Support for staff.
Incorporating the elements of the TRACS model and involving registered nurses from RBCH in what is needed to improve nurse retention, this project developed the online resource- Support4Nurses http://support4nurses.uk/. This was presented at the conference as well as our key findings of the three main areas to improve nurse retention: staff development, authentic leadership and valuing staff, and supporting health and wellbeing. Future plans are to work with RBCH to implement learning from this project at a local level as well as share our approach and outcomes more widely.
We will be posting slides of the presentations on our website in the coming weeks. If you have any questions about the conference, please contact Janet Scammell at jscammell@bournemouth.ac.uk.
BU is going through a process of re-commissioning its research centres this month. Existing centres, like ours CMMPH (the Centre for Midwifery, Maternal & Perinatal Health) were required to submit evidence of their contribution to BU’s research capacity to deliver our strategic plan BU2025.
This process was an interesting stock-take exercise and offered an opportunity to reflect on our successes. Our friends and associates will be aware of some of our work through our collaborations, joint publications, posts on BU’s award-winning Research Blog as well as our newsletter three times a year. The phrase commonly heard on the television programme Love Island, “You’re my type on paper”, reflects the notion here that a description on paper never quite reflects reality. The same goes for the research centre description of CMMPH, on a structured application form some of the subtle success can be overlooked. First of all, being a research centre is the main function of CMMPH, but certainly not the only one.
CMMPH is much more a university centre in the sense of FUSION, bringing together and creating a synergetic effect between research, Education and Practice. This FUSION enables research to be meaningful and has the ability to impact on the student experience through education as well as ‘real life’ issues and challenges in midwifery practice. This notion of being more than a research centre is reflected in our newsletters which always have sections on Research, Education and Practice.
To highlight this synergetic effect of being a properly fused centre, CMMPH has built a reputation for developing innovative student-led clinics: i) Student Midwife integrated Learning Environment (SMiLE) postnatal clinic in collaboration with Portsmouth NHS Trust; and ii) Newborn infant feeding clinic, in collaboration with the AECC University College. These clinics are underpinned by a growing body of evidence (=Research) from studies undertaken within CMMPH, which identifies their effectiveness in terms of a unique learning environment (=Education) to offer women better maternity care (=Practice). Both student-led clinics are being evaluated by PhD students at BU, one being match-funded with Portsmouth Hospitals NHS Trust and the other a self-funded chiropractic student.
On a different note, in the past four years our academics have been involved in organising five international conferences. CMMPH held two, high profile, international conferences focusing on research in midwifery education (2015, 2018); it organised the BNAC (British-Nepal Academic Council) conference at Bournemouth University in April 2017 (https://blogs.bournemouth.ac.uk/research/2017/03/24/nepal-conference-at-bu/ and CMMPH staff co-organised a conference in India on Mixed-Methods Research at the Mahatma Gandhi University (2019), and an education conference in Nepal (2018). Prof. Steve Tee, FHSS Executive Dean and National Teaching Fellow, gave a key note speech at the 2018 International Conference on ‘Challenges and Prospects of Quality Education in Nepal in Federalism Era in Nepal’.
Research team includes Ann Luce, Marilyn Cash, Vanora Hundley, Helen Cheyne, Edwin van Teijlingen and Catherine Angell
CMMPH was on the BU Research Blog this week celebrating its latest media and midwifery publication (to see click here!). This paper is paper of a growing body of interdisciplinary research at BU across faculties and across the UK (see photo left). In addition last month Dr. Chris Chapleo from the Faculty of Management submitted a grant application to the ESRC under the title ‘Rebranding childbirth: understanding the role of marketing in influencing uptake of health services’, a joint application with CMMPH staff (Hundley & van Teijlingen) and Dr. Ann Luce in the Faculty of Media & Communication.
CMMPH is internationally recognised for its midwifery and maternity care research, education and publications. It has strong international links which includes active partnership agreements (MoA) with the University of Ljubljana in Slovenia, Manmohan Memorial Institute of Health Sciences (MMIHS) in Nepal and University of Texas Health Science Centre, School of Nursing in the USA.
Did I mention that CMMPH academics sit on the editorial boards of (or are editors of) all top four world-leading midwifery research journals: Birth, Midwifery, Women and Birth and BMC Pregnancy & Childbirth. Not only is this unique in the UK, as no other midwifery research group can claim this, it is also unique at BU as no other research centre can claim this kind of global coverage! And, last but not least CMMPH staff can claim to have written the eighth most quoted article in the international journal Midwifery (out if 2,626 published papers over the past 35 years).
All in all, on paper, 100% a centre to be proud of.
Prof. Edwin van Teijlingen
CMMPH
This week Evidence-Based Midwifery published the latest article from the BU team working on the portrayal of midwifery and maternity in the media. This qualitative paper ‘Changing the narrative around childbirth: whose responsibility is it?’ is co-authored by a multidisciplinary team including the disciplines of Midwifery, Sociology and Media.[1] The lead author is Prof. Vanora Hundley in the Centre for Midwifery, Maternal & Perinatal Health (CMMPH), one of longest established centres at BU, her co-authors are Dr. Ann Luce in the Faculty of Media & Communication, Prof. Edwin van Teijlingen director of CMMPH and Sophie Edlund, who was based at BU at the time of the research but who is now at Malmö University in Sweden.
The paper addresses societal’s interest in all aspects of childbirth, which is reflected in both social and traditional media. Stories often focus on dramatic, risky and mostly unrealistic events; misrepresenting childbirth and maternity care professionals. The authors raised the question: “Whose responsibility is it to ensure accurate representations of childbirth?” Using semi-structured in-depth interviews with ten midwives working in the UK some working in the NHS, some in Higher Education or independent practice, the authors distilled four separate but inter-related themes:
(1) not my responsibility;
(2) fear of retribution;
(3) power balance; and
(4) social media.
The themes sat within two wider societal issues that reflect the current challenges for midwifery, these were (a) the ongoing battle between the social and the medical models of childbirth and (b) the impact of gender. Finding that midwives fear the media resonates with experiences from a number of countries and professional groups. There is a need to change media discourse in both fictional and factual representations of childbirth and midwives have a critical role to play in this, but to do this they need to equip themselves with the skills necessary to engage with the media. Guidelines on responsible media reporting could ensure that media producers portray pregnancy, midwifery and maternity care as naturally as possible.
This paper is paper of a growing body of interdisciplinary research at BU across faculties, which had already resulted in six earlier publications. [2-7] In addition last month Dr Chapleo from the Faculty of Management submitted a grant application to the ESRC under the title ‘Rebranding childbirth: understanding the role of marketing in influencing uptake of health services’, a joint application with CMMPH staff (Profs. Hundley & van Teijlingen) and the Media School (Dr. Luce).
References:
Thursday 4th July 09:30 – 16:00
A whole day REF impact case study writing retreat, consisting of a two hour presentation on case study writing with the rest of the day spent writing. The trainer will be on hand the whole day to provide 1:1 support and guidance. Attendees are required to have an impact case study to write and work on; own laptop is required for the session.
The writing retreat will provide guidance on:
See here for more details and to book.
Congratulations to Bournemouth University’s Professor Colin Pritchard, Honorary Doctor of Science Anne Silk and their Southampton colleague Lars Hansen who recently published the paper ‘Are rises in Electro-Magnetic Field in the human environment, interacting with multiple environmental pollutions, the tripping point for increases in neurological deaths in the Western World?’ This paper in Medical Hypotheses (published by Elsevier) is a worrying analysis of the effects of (recent) technological progress on our health. If this paper does not make you worry , at least remember one message: “No mobile phones in trouser pockets or under your pillow as you’re being bathed in 450Mhz.”
Well done!
Prof. Edwin van Teijlingen
CMMPH
Reference:
Pritchard, C., Silk, A., Hansen, L. (2019) Are rises in Electro-Magnetic Field in the human environment, interacting with multiple environmental pollutions, the tripping point for increases in neurological deaths in the Western World? Medical Hypotheses 127: 76-83.
Prof. Bhimsen Devkota will be presenting our paper ‘Challenges and Dilemmas in Conducting Conflict Research During Armed Violence: Lessons Learnt from Fieldwork in Nepal’ at a conference tomorrow. The two-day Nepal Research Conference on Peace, Justice and Inclusive Society will be held in Lalitpur, Nepal. Bhimsen was my PhD student at the University of Aberdeen and he is now based at the leading government university in Nepal, Tribhuvan University. He studied the role and motivations of Maoist health workers in Nepal who were part of the insurgency against the government /king (1995-2006). We published four papers on his exciting fieldwork [1-4].
During the conflict the Maoist recruited their own health workers to treat combatants (Bandage) and to provide limited services to the communities under their control. 
However, there was no systematic information on numbers, their abilities/ skills, experience and career motivations and their integration strategies in the subsequent peace process. During his fieldwork in rebel controlled areas Bhimsen had to use all his social and emotional skills to get the research done. He is the only PhD student I have ever supervised who was put a gun to his head during his fieldwork. Our paper is highlighting some of these real-life research issues, including gaining trust and having an identity acceptable to the research participants.
Prof. Edwin van Teijlingen
CMMPH (Centre for Midwifery, Maternity & Perinatal Health)
References:
The three Canadian federal research funding agencies and UK Research and Innovation (UKRI) have announced an interdisciplinary joint call aimed at building competitive, resilient and healthy economies and societies through responsible AI. The call is now open and the deadline for applications is 12 September 2019.
This call is funded by the Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC), the Arts and Humanities Research Council (AHRC), the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC) and the Medical Research Council (MRC), in collaboration with three Canadian federal research funding agencies – the Canadian Institutes of Health Research (CIHR), the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council (NSERC), and the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council (SSHRC).
Academics interested in applying or finding more details related to this call may refer to ESRC web page or RDS.
Great project meeting and presentation of research findings on Hybrid Warfare, Political Warfare and how adversaries threaten international institutions. Prof Håkan Gunneriusson Swedish Defence University and Researcher Bournemouth University CROLS presented his research on how Hybrid Threats can be used to undermine international institutions. The work is being undertaken with a view to bring the findings of the joint Nordic Hybrid Threat network into the Asia-Pacific realm by Håkan Gunneriusson and Sascha-Dominik Dov Bachmann
We have some great events coming up over the next few weeks to help support you in your research activities. These events are delivered as part of the overarching Research and Knowledge Exchange Development Framework – RKEDF.
We have also grouped the events around your needs, so if, for example, you are an Early Career Researcher or need to know about external funding, you can click on the link to find a tailored list of all the RKEDF sessions that may assist you. You can also find related events by using the link on each session’s page.
July
| Thursday 4th July | RKEDF: Impact Case Study Writing Retreat |
| Wednesday 10th July | RKEDF: MSCA IF Bid Writing Retreat |
| Thursday 11th July | RKEDF: MSCA IF Bid Writing Retreat |
| Tuesday 16th July | RKEDF: Research Outputs – Writing Day |
| Friday 19th July | Preparing Practice-Based Research Outputs for Assessment |
You can see all the Organisational Development and RKEDF events in one place on the handy calendar of events.
Please note that all sessions are now targeted, so look closely at the event page to ensure that the event is suitable for you. In addition, RKEDF events now require the approval of your Head of Department (or other nominated approver). Please follow the instructions given on the event page and the template email for you to initiate the booking request.
If you have any queries, please get in touch!
Last week saw BU Lecturer in Criminology and former British police sergeant: Dr Richard Heslop, delivering an invited paper at the Fourth Annual Canterbury Centre for Policing Research Conference.
The conference was held at Canterbury Christchurch University, UK, between 19 – 20 June; on the theme of: ‘Austerity and Ethics: A Paradox for Professionalism’.
A sub-theme of this year’s conference was the forthcoming significant developments in police education in England and Wales, under the Police Education Qualifications Framework (PEQF).[1] The PEQF has been developed to professionalise the public police and to reform perceived problematic aspects of police culture and improve ethical standards. The PEQF provides UK Higher Education Institutions (HEIs) with a key role in police education. From January 2020, all new police recruits will be required to obtain a degree level qualification before joining the police or in the initial years of service.
In his paper entitled: ‘Are UK universities more ethical than police organisations?’ Dr Heslop compared police organisations and HEIs from the perspective of their ethical behaviours and practices. After discussing historical and contemporary ethical problems in policing, Dr Heslop explored how, in recent years, universities, academics and students have also faced scrutiny and censure in relation to a range of unethical behaviours and practices. These include:
Dr Heslop concluded that universities are no more ethical than the police and his paper contributes to a body of literature which cautions against assumptions that involving HEIs in police education will lead to improvements in the practices of the police [2].
Dr Heslop is seeking critical feedback on this paper and will be pleased to supply a copy to colleagues with the inclination and time to review it.
[1] Police Education Qualifications Framework available at: https://www.college.police.uk/What-we-do/Learning/Policing-Education-Qualifications-Framework/Pages/Policing-Education-Qualifications-Framework.aspx
[2] See, for example: Heslop, R (2011). Reproducing police culture in a British university: an exploratory study of police foundation degrees. Police Practice & Research: An International Journal, 12(4), 293-312.
Congratulation to BU’s Prof. Tiantian Zhang who has been awarded at Visiting Professorship at the University of Oxford. Her research area is cryopreservation of biological materials for medical applications. Tiantian is now affiliated with the Oxford Suzhou Centre for Advanced Research, which is the University of Oxford’s first overseas centre for advanced physical and engineering science research.
Well done!
Prof Edwin van Teijlingen
This Friday Prof. Edwin van Teijlingen has been invited to present at this week’s ‘Behind The Trauma’ Conference in Merley House, Dorset . This practitioners’ conference is organised by the Royal College of Midwives (RCM) and tickets are available here! Edwin will be offering a sociological perspective on trauma. His presentation links research conducted on the social/medical model of pregnancy and childbirth [1-6] as well as research on the portrayal of childbirth in the media [7-13]. Bournemouth University’s interdisciplinary research into media and childbirth is conducted jointly with Prof. Vanora Hundley and Dr. Catherine Angell, both in the Centre for Midwifery, Maternal and Perinatal Health (CMMPH), and Dr. Ann Luce in the Faculty of Media & Communication.
Edwin will be sharing a platform with two Bournemouth University Visiting Faculty, both based at Poole Hospital NHS Foundation Trust: Prof. Minesh Khashu, Consultant Neonatologist and Clinical Director Wessex Maternity Children and Young People Clinical Network and Ms. Jillian Ireland, Professional Midwifery Advocate.
References:
Dr Annamaria Neag, a Marie Curie Research Fellow at BU’s Faculty of Media & Communication who has a keen interest in media literacy education, was Cafe Scientifique’s guest speaker earlier this month. Dr Neag’s project is looking at how unaccompanied refugee children use digital technology and social media in their countries of asylum. The aim of the project, beyond understanding their media use, is to create media literacy educational materials that can help them to become more critical about social media, and to use these technologies in a creative and responsible way.
The project investigated how unaccompanied refugee children use digital technology and social media across four European countries; the Netherlands, Sweden, Italy and the UK. Dr Neag discussed with the Cafe Sci audience how these findings can assist in developing media literacy for refugee children’s civic participation.
The project is unique because it brings together the disciplines of education, media literacy and migration studies for offering solutions to a matter of pressing urgency: the integration of unaccompanied minor refugees.
Annamaria’s Café Scientifique talk highlighted the very different experiences and knowledge unaccompanied children had in the area of social media and technology use. Although policy papers frequently talk about them as if they are a homogeneous group, the findings show that their social media savviness is influenced by their previous educational background and their access to technology in the country of asylum, among other factors. She also talked about the importance of involving children’s mentors and guardians in helping children understand issues such as fake news, advertisements and the importance of privacy settings online.
Dr Annamaria Neag reflects on her experience of speaking at Cafe Scientifique earlier this month; “I am very much interested in public engagement, so when I first heard about Café Scientifique I thought that it would be a great opportunity to present my research findings to people outside academia. I found it quite interesting to try and frame the talk in a way that is both academically sound, but still engaging enough for the greater public. As it turned out, people in the audience were really keen in hearing about the findings, and they had pertinent questions relating to their own perceptions on migration or their experiences with refugees. All in all, it was a wonderful experience, and I’d really recommend it to anyone believing in the importance of public engagement”
Find out more about the project; Media literacy for unaccompanied refugee youth
The theme of Refugee Week 2019; ‘You, me and those who came before’, is an invitation to explore the lives of refugees and those who have welcomed them throughout the generations.
Events in London and across the country (e.g. Bristol, Coventry)
The next Café Scientifique will take place at Café Boscanova on Tuesday 2 July from 7:30pm until 9pm (doors open at 6:30pm)
There’s no need to register, make sure you get there early though as seats fill up fast!
We’ll be joined by Debora Almeida from the Faculty of Health & Social Sciences who will be asking;
Can you save a life? Exploring the quality of CPR delivered by bystanders
Cardiac arrest is a sudden stop of the heart due to electrical failure and is a potentially reversible medical emergency yet, if untreated, it can lead to death within minutes. Every year in the UK, around 30,000 people receive resuscitation for out-of-hospital cardiac arrest, with survival rates ranging between 2-12%. High quality cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) is crucial in generating circulation to vital organs during cardiac arrest. However, it has been demonstrated that the quality of CPR delivered by a lay person, first aiders and highly-trained-rescuers is often inadequate, inconsistent and with excessive interruption, resulting in reduced chances of survival.
This talk will highlight some of the research taking place at BU into the use of real-time-feedback to improve the retention and quality of CPR skills. You will have the opportunity to learn a bit more about the equipment and practice your CPR skills.
Can you save a life? We think so…
Find out more about Café Scientifique and sign up to our mailing list to hear about other research events: www.bournemouth.ac.uk/cafe-sci
If you have any questions please do get in touch
You can also follow us on Facebook and Twitter
Tuesday 18th June 09:00 – 16:30 Talbot Campus
Let loose your inner creativity!
This workshop explores creative and arts-based research methods, research using technology, mixed methods, transformative research frameworks, creative data analysis, and will involve designing research and preparing a presentation.
The aim of the workshop is to provide you with an increased awareness of the four pillars of creative research methods; help you assess which methods may be most appropriate in your research practice; and give you increased confidence in the use of creative research methods .
More information and the link for bookings are on the staff intranet.
Dr. Helen Kara has been an independent research since 1999. She has a background of employment in the private, public, and voluntary sectors, and now undertakes commissioned research and evaluation, mainly for public and voluntary sector organisations and partnerships. Her research areas are social care, health, and the voluntary/third sector.
This week saw the publication of ‘Perceived barriers to accessing Female Community Health Volunteers’ (FCHV) services among ethnic minority women in Nepal: A qualitative study’ [1]. This article in the Open Access journal PLoS ONE highlights the key role volunteers play in delivering health services to minorities/the poorest people, especially in low-income countries like Nepal.
This paper studies community health workers in Nepal, who are known as Female Community Health Volunteers (FCHVs). To address this issue, we conducted a qualitative study to explore perceived barriers to accessing maternal and child healthcare services among ethnic minority groups in two different parts of Nepal with varying degrees of access to local healthcare centres. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with twenty FCHVs, 26 women service users and 11 paid local health workers. In addition, 15 FCHVs participated in four focus group discussions.
A thematic analysis of the data identified five major themes underlying barriers to accessing available maternal and child healthcare services by ethnic minority groups. These themes include: a) lack of knowledge among service users; b) lack of trust in volunteers; c) traditional beliefs and healthcare practices; d) low decision-making power of women; and e) perceived indignities experienced when using health centres. The paper concluded that community health programmes should focus on increasing awareness of healthcare services among ethnic minority groups, and the programmes should involve family members (husband and mothers-in-law) and traditional health practitioners. Both the FCHVs and local healthcare providers should be trained to communicate effectively in order to deliver respectful care among ethnic minorities if we want to achieve universal healthcare coverage for maternal and child health in low- and -middle income countries.
The paper is based on the PhD research conducted by Dr. Sarita Panday in ScHARR at the University of Sheffield. Dr. Panday is currently affiliated with the Walter H. Shorenstein Asia-Pacific Research Centre (APARC) at Stanford University in the USA. Her co-authors are Prof. Paul Bissell at the University of Huddersfield, FHSS’s Visiting Prof. Padam Simkhada at the Liverpool John Moores University and BU Prof. Edwin van Teijlingen. This is the second paper from Dr. Panday’s excellent thesis, the first paper was also published in an Open Access journal BMC Health Services Research [2].
References:
If you are currently conducting research within the NHS or Health & Social Care (HSC), then please bear in mind the following update if you wish/plan to add new NHS/HSC research sites to your study.
As of 5th June, the set-up procedure for clinical research projects involving NHS or HSC organisations changed (see blog post) –
Guidance on the use of the new UK Local Information Pack has now been published in the Site Specific page of IRAS Help to help applicants with the change.
If you have any queries regarding any of the information provided above, information in the referenced blog post, or would like some guidance with regard to implementing your research in a healthcare setting – please get in touch with BU’s Research Ethics team.
You can also take a look at the Clinical Governance blog for documents, links and training opportunities.
Thursday 20 June from 10.30am – 3.30pm, Talbot Campus
This event is a one-stop shop in assisting academics in finding out more regarding research communication and outreach to external audiences. The day will be particularly helpful for academics new to BU, or early career researchers of all levels who wish to increase their public profile and the impact of their research.
Nineteen workshops will be on offer in the afternoon, covering a wide range of topics vital to researchers and academics – from broadcast training to sharing research through social media. Included in these are two one-to-one sessions – one with the editor from the Conversation, and another with the Impact Officer team.
By the end of the day, attendees will understand the benefits of communicating their research, how to go about this, and who in BU can help them. The event is sure to be of great use to academics and researchers.
More information is available on the staff intranet.
BU staff can login below:
ESRC SWDTP – Applications open for PhD Studentships for September 2026
New paper by CMWH PhD student
Further CMWH contributions to 2026 ICM congress Early labour research accepted for ICM 2026 congress
New PhD publication on Nepal’s migrant workers
MSCA Postdoctoral Fellowships 2025 Call
ERC Advanced Grant 2025 Webinar MSCA Postdoctoral Fellowships 2025
Update on UKRO services
European research project exploring use of ‘virtual twins’ to better manage metabolic associated fatty liver disease
Research Information Network
ECR Funding Open Call: Research Culture & Community Grant – Apply Now
Horizon Europe Work Programme 2025 Published
Horizon Europe 2025 Work Programme pre-Published