Tagged / celebrating success

The Year in Research 2024

2024 has been another great year for research and knowledge exchange at BU. From securing funding to disseminating findings, there’s a lot to celebrate.

A cartoon image of black and white hands clapping on a yellow background

The Month in Research

Here are just a few highlights from across the past year…

Your achievements

Thank you to everyone who has used the Month in Research online form to put forward their achievements, or those of colleagues, this year.

  • With BU ECRN Research networking funding, Dr Sarah Hambidge (Faculty of Science and Technology) set up and hosted Unveiling the Digital Trail: A Tabletop Discussion on Cyber Signatures in Human Trafficking. The event was attended by The Home Office, The National Crime Agency, The College of Policing, Chief of Staff to the Anti-Slavery Commissioner, NGOs, a number of UK police forces, and academics. The event was supported by Dr Terri Cole and Dr Kari Davies and co-hosted with the National Police Chiefs’ Council. Read more about the event.
  • PhD student Damla Kuleli (Faculty of Science and Technology; the MINE lab) attended and gave an oral presentation at the 24th ACM International Conference on Intelligent Virtual Agents in Glasgow, receiving very valuable feedback from the experts and the opportunity to explore and enhance knowledge on embodied and conversational agents. Damla also had their first paper published from their PhD as an extended abstract titled “Exploring Influence of Social Anxiety on Embodied Face Perception during Affective Social Interactions in VR” in the ACM Digital Library, co-authored with supervisors Dr Xun He, Dr Nicola Gregory, Liucheng Guo, Professor Fred Charles, Dr Laura Renshaw-Vuillier, and Chang Hong Liu. The study investigates the early face perception of socially anxious individuals using EEG during social interactions with virtual agents in a VR setting.
  • Professor Amanda Korstjens and Anastasia Vayona (Faculty of Science and Technology) gave a public webinar for the BCS, The Chartered Institute for IT, on their public engagement project AWE (Augmented Wildlife Experiences), which combines nature and technology to create educational wildlife trails. A recording of the presentation, titled Augmented Wildlife Experiences: AWE trails to support nature connection, can be viewed on the BCS website.

In addition:

  • Research led by Professor Matthew Bennett and Dr Sally Reynolds (Faculty of Science and Technology) at White Sands National Park in New Mexico won the Research Project of the Year: Arts, Humanities and Social Sciences award at this year’s Times Higher Education Awards. The project has rewritten understanding of when humans settled in America. Read more here.
  • Professor Vanora Hundley (Faculty of Health and Social Sciences) and Professor Kate Welham (Faculty of Science and Technology) have been appointed to sit on the REF People, Culture and Environment (PCE) pilot panels, exploring the practicalities of the submission and assessment to inform the REF 2029 guidance on PCE. Read more here.
  • Dr Theo Akudjedu (Faculty of Health and Social Sciences) was awarded the European Federation of Radiographer Societies award, in recognition of his research achievements in the field of radiography. Read more here.

Funding 

Congratulations to all those who have had funding for research and knowledge exchange projects and activities awarded in 2024. Across the year, BU received funding for 116 projects, totalling over £7 million.

Highlights include:

  • c.£170,000 in funding from the Arts and Humanities Research Council (AHRC) to investigate the creative and legal issues around the use of artificial intelligence in media production (Project lead: Dr Szilvia Ruszev, Faculty of Media and Communication) Read more here.
  • c.£1.4m from the National Institute for Health and Care Research (NIHR) to work in partnership with the University of the West of England to deliver the INSIGHT programme for South West Central region, proving research training for health and students and early career professionals. (BU Project lead: Professor Carol Clark, Faculty of Health and Social Sciences). Read more here.
  • c.£77,000 from Cancer Research UK to improve early detection of skin cancer, particularly among under-represented and high-risk groups. (Project lead: Professor Steven Ersser, Faculty of Health and Social Sciences) Read more here.
  • c.£220,000 from Innovate UK for a Knowledge Transfer Partnership with Wimborne-based image sharing site ClickASnap to develop a bespoke AI content moderation system for their platform. (Project lead: Dr Simant Prakoonwit, Faculty of Science and Technology) Read more here.
  • c.£2.78m from the National Institute for Health and Care Research (NIHR) to work in partnership with the University of Plymouth to investigate the effectiveness of oral nutritional supplements for malnourished older adults in care home. (BU Project lead: Professor Jane Murphy, Faculty of Health and Social Sciences) Read more here.

Publications

Congratulations to all those who have had work published across the last year.

In total, 1,214 items were added to the BURO online repository in 2024, with over 850,000 downloads throughout the year.

BU was also ranked 13th out of over 1,500 major universities for the proportion of open access research outputs in the CWTS Leiden Ranking 2024. Read more here.

Content for The Year in Research has been collected using the research and knowledge exchange database (RED), the Bournemouth University Research Online (BURO) repository and submissions via The Month in Research online form, as well as news stories published throughout the year. It is by no means intended to be an exhaustive list. All information is correct as of 19.12.24.

 

The Month in Research: June 2024

A cartoon image of black and white hands clapping on a yellow background

The Month in Research

The Month in Research is our monthly round-up sharing research and knowledge exchange successes from across the previous month, showcasing the amazing work taking place across BU.

Your achievements

Thank you to everyone who has used the online form to put forward their achievements, or those of colleagues, this month.

  • Professor John Oliver (Faculty of Media and Communication) delivered a keynote address to the Department for Levelling-up in UK Parliament. The topic focussed on ‘how to manage strategic uncertainty’ during times of organisational uncertainty. The talk was attended by 100+ senior managers and directors responsible for the department’s project portfolio.
  • Dr Sarah Elliott, Jon Milward and Dr Miles Russell (Faculty of Science and Technology) – archaeologists from the Department of Archaeology & Anthropology and the Department of Life and Environmental Sciences shared their latest research at a day conference with the Dorchester Association. (Nominated by Harry Manley)
  • Dr Leslie Gelling, Dr Sue Baron and Cathy Beresford (Faculty of Health and Social Sciences) have had their paper published in Health Expectations, entitled Embedding Public Involvement in a PhD Research Project With People Affected by Advanced Liver Disease. It was co-authored by members of our public involvement group. (Nominated by Cathy Beresford)
  • Professor Zoheir Sabeur (Faculty of Science and Technology) was featured in a Q&A article in the June 2024 edition of the Journal of Ocean Technology (pages 110 -111), answering questions about his career, inspirations and thoughts on Artificial Intelligence.
  • Professor John Oliver (Faculty of Media and Communication) was presented with the European Media Management Association’s highest award for “excellence in media management scholarship and practice” at the annual conference in The Netherlands. The award also recognises Prof. Oliver’s contribution to the development of the association, where he served on the Executive Board for many years and as the President between 2021-23. Prof. Oliver commented that: “Whilst it is an honour to be presented with an individual award, it is also in recognition of the many people that have helped me develop my research and the contribution that many of the association’s members have made over the years.”

Funding

 Congratulations to all those who have had funding for research and knowledge exchange projects and activities awarded in June. Highlights include:

  • Dr Simant Prakoonwit (Faculty of Science and Technology) has been awarded c.£220,000 by Innovate UK for their project Intelligent moderation and assistance for commercial image sharing website
  • Dr Chris Brown (Faculty of Science and Technology) has been awarded c.£42,000 by Leverhulme for their project Probing the distortion of a visual search template

Publications

Congratulations to all those who have had work published across the last month. Below is a selection of publications from throughout June:

Content for The Month in Research has been collected using the research and knowledge exchange database (RED), the Bournemouth University Research Online (BURO) repository and submissions via The Month in Research online form. It is by no means intended to be an exhaustive list. All information is correct as of 28.6.24.

Please use The Month in Research online form to share your highlights and achievements, or those of colleagues, for the next edition. We will take a break over the summer and be back in September with a bumper round-up.

The Month in Research: May 2024

A cartoon image of black and white hands clapping on a yellow background

The Month in Research

The Month in Research is our monthly round-up sharing research and knowledge exchange successes from the previous month, showcasing the great work taking place across BU.

Your achievements

Thank you to everyone who has used the online form to put forward their achievements, or those of colleagues, this month.

Funding

Congratulations to all those who have had funding for research and knowledge exchange projects and activities awarded in May. Highlights include:

  • Professor Mel Hughes (Faculty of Health and Social Sciences) has been awarded c.£2,200 by the Care Quality Commission for their project Involving people in health and social care and understanding people’s experiences of care
  • Dr Terri Cole (Faculty of Science and Technology) has been awarded c.£25,000 by BCP Council for their project Development of a new perpetrator behaviour change programme for domestic abuse
  • Tom Cousins (Faculty of Science and Technology) has been awarded c.£5,000 by the Society of Antiquaries of London for their project Reconstructing the Maritime World of the Mortar Wreck

Publications

Congratulations to all those who have had work published across the last month. Below is a selection of publications from throughout May:

Content for The Month in Research has been collected using the research and knowledge exchange database (RED), the Bournemouth University Research Online (BURO) repository and submissions via The Month in Research online form. It is by no means intended to be an exhaustive list. All information is correct as of 31.5.24.

Please use The Month in Research online form to share your highlights and achievements, or those of colleagues, for the next monthly round-up.

New blog series: The Month in Research – celebrating our successes

We’re launching a new monthly blog series, The Month in Research – a round-up of some of our research and knowledge exchange successes from the previous month.

From successful funding bids to publications, events, and everything in between, we want to showcase and celebrate the amazing work taking place across BU.

The Month in Research will be published on the first Monday of every month, starting next month (November).

We want to hear from you – fill out our short form to share your achievements, or those of your colleagues, to be featured as part of the series. You can also find a link on the homepage of the research blog or scan the QR code below to be taken to the form.

If you have any questions, or would like to find out more about the series, please contact research@bournemouth.ac.uk