

Latest research and knowledge exchange news at Bournemouth University
Earlier this spring Dr. Pramod Regmi, Senior Lecturer in International Health in the Department of Nursing Sciences, traveled to MMIHS as part of this exchange. His visit in April 2022 included running the ‘Migration and Health Research Capacity Building Workshop for Early Career Researchers’ in Kathmandu. Bournemouth University organised this two-day event jointly with the University of Huddersfield, MMIHS, and the charity Green Tara Nepal.
Two current Faculty of Health & Social Sciences Ph.D. students are also benefittng from being involved in this exchange. Yagya Adhikari returned back to the UK a week or so ago whilst Sulochana Dhakal-Rai will be arriving in Kathmandu tomorrow. Both will use this ERASMUS+ opportunity to developed aspects of their Ph.D. thesis.
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This month CMMPH has two new research papers focusing on COVID-19. The first one published in World Medical & Health Policy reports on a quantitative study of the availability of hand-washing facilities in households across Nepal [1]. This study used secondary data from Nepal Demographic Health Survey (NDHS) 2016 to assess the association between households’ wealth status to handwashing stations. The findings reported a statistically significant association between age of the household head, residence place, ecological zone, province, wealth status, having of mosquito net, having a radio, and TV at respondents’ household to fixed hand-washing stations at their households.
The second paper published three days ago in Vaccines is a qualitative study of of interviews with Nepali immigrants living in the UK and their attitudes towards COVD-19 vaccination [2]. Vaccination saves lives and can be an effective strategy for preventing the spread of the COVID-19, but negative attitudes towards vaccines lead to vaccine hesitancy. This study aimed to explore the factors influencing the uptake of the COVID-19 vaccine in the Nepali community in the UK. This study found that attitudes towards COVID-19 are generally positive. Nine overlapping themes around barriers to COVID-19 vaccination were identified: (a) rumours and mis/disinformation; (b) prefer home remedies and yoga; (c) religion restriction; (d) concern towards vaccine eligibility; (e) difficulty with online vaccine booking system; (f) doubts of vaccine effectiveness after changing the second dose timeline; (g) lack of confidence in the vaccine; (h) past bad experience with the influenza vaccine; and (i) worried about side-effects. Understanding barriers to the uptake of the COVID-19 vaccine can help in the design of better targeted interventions. Public health messages including favourable policy should be tailored to address those barriers and make this vaccination programme more viable and acceptable to the ethnic minority communities in the UK. This Vaccine paper includes two FHSS Visiting Faculty as co-authors: Prof. Padam Simkhada and Dr. Bibha Simkhada.
Prof. Edwin van Teijlingen
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This past three weeks Bournemouth University (BU) has strengthened our existing collaboration with MMIHS (Manmohan Memorial Institute of Health Science) in Kathmandu. Until 2023 we have a staff and student Erasmus+ student exchange with MMIHS. Currently one FHSS PhD student is in Nepal at MMIHS as part of this Erasmus+ exchange. Two weeks Dr. Pramod Regmi, Senior Lecturer in International Health, was here for the GCRF-funded health and migration workshop which was organised in Kathmandu jointly with MMIHS. See the BU Research Blog of 15th April for more details (click here!).
Yesterday Prof. Edwin van Teijlingen met colleagues from the UK and Nepal at MMIHS to analyse some of the data from the Nepal Federal Health System Project. This three-year major collaborative project examines the consequences for the health system of Nepal’s move to a federal government structure in 2015. This is a joint project led by the University of Sheffield with Bournemouth University, the University of Huddersfield, and two institutions in Nepal: MMIHS and PHASE Nepal. This interdisciplinary study is funded by the UK Health Systems Research Initiative [Grant ref. MR/T023554/1].
At BU we are looking forward to welcoming MSc students and academic staff from MMIHS to BU as part of this exchange. We hope to generate interest among Nepalese postgraduate student to apply for a PhD place at BU.
Last, but not least, last week Prof. Vanora Hundley and I launched the book Academic Writing and Publishing in Health & Social Sciences in Kathmandu. This textbook has three chapter authors who are currently (or were recently) affiliated with MMIHS: Prof. Sujan Marahatta, Dr. Pratik Adhikary and Dr. Yubaraj Baral.
Prof. Edwin van Teijlingen
CMMPH
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Wasti, S.P., van Teijlingen, E., Simkhada, P.P., Hundley, V. with Shreesh, K. (Eds.) (2022) Academic Writing and Publishing in Health & Social Sciences, Kathmandu, Nepal: Himal Books. [ISBN: 9789937117609]
Earlier this week Bournemouth University (BU) ran the ‘Migration and Health Research Capacity Building Workshop for Early Career Researchers’ in Kathmandu. The organisation of this two-day event was jointly with the University of Huddersfield, Manmohan Memorial Institute of Health Sciences (MMIHS) in Kathmandu and the charity Green Tara Nepal. The event was part of the BU-led Health Research Network for Migrant Workers in Asia whose formation was supported two years ago by GCRF (Global Challenges Research Fund). The workshop plan was designed by BU’s Dr. Pramod Regmi and Dr. Nirmal Aryal. Our recently started FHSS PhD student Yagya Adhikari and Prof. Edwin van Teijlingen also contributed to the workshop in Kathmandu. Yagya spoke about his PhD which focuses on ‘Parental migration and its impact on the health and well-being of left-behind adolescents in Nepal’.
This year’s BNAC (Britain-Nepal Academic Council) Study Days are hosted by the Institute of Social and Cultural Anthropology at the University of Oxford. The Study Days are held today (14th April) and yesterday. BNAC promotes academic and scholarly links between Britain and Nepal through, among other things, collaborative research, exchange programmes, and the organisation of annual lectures, and seminars on areas of mutual interest to both British and Nepali academics and researchers.
Three presentations at this two-day event are co-produced by BU colleagues.
The second presentation will focus of the Nepal Federal Health System Project, our major collaborative project examining the consequences for the health system of Nepal’s move to a federal government structure in 2015. This is a joint project led by the University of Sheffield with Bournemouth University, the University of Huddersfield, and two institutions in Nepal: Manmohan Memorial Institute of Health Sciences MMIHS) and PHASE Nepal. This interdisciplinary study is funded by the UK Health Systems Research Initiative [Grant ref.
MR/T023554/1].
Prof. Edwin van Teijlingen
Centre for Midwifery, Maternity & Perinatal Health (CMMPH)
Elsevier and Jisc have established an agreement to enable continued reading access for UK researchers and to enable open access publishing. When publishing in eligible Elsevier journals, authors will be able to choose to publish open access at no additional cost to the author.
This agreement is effective until the end of December 2024.
This agreement supports corresponding authors affiliated with a Jisc participating institution (which BU is), regardless of the department in which they work.
You can search for whether the intended journal falls under the agreement here.
Authors can continue to choose to publish under the subscription model and self-archive their manuscript (Green Open Access) in line with Elsevier’s sharing policy.
Details of this agreement and others which BU holds with publishers such as Wiley and Springer, can be found here. Any queries, please contact openaccess@bournemouth.ac.uk
Elsevier and Jisc have established an agreement to enable continued reading access for UK researchers and to enable open access publishing. When publishing in eligible Elsevier journals, authors will be able to choose to publish open access at no additional cost to the author.
This agreement is effective until the end of December 2024.
This agreement supports corresponding authors affiliated with a Jisc participating institution (which BU is), regardless of the department in which they work.
You can search for whether the intended journal falls under the agreement here.
Authors can continue to choose to publish under the subscription model and self-archive their manuscript (Green Open Access) in line with Elsevier’s sharing policy.
Details of this agreement and others which BU holds with publishers such as Wiley and Springer, can be found here. Any queries, please contact openaccess@bournemouth.ac.uk
Congratulations to Dr. Orlanda Harvey who was cited last week in The Daily Telegraph in an article with the underlying question whether Vladimir Putin is experiencing so-called “roid rage” from steroid treatment. This theory has been suggested by by Western intelligence services. Orlanda’s PhD study at Bournemouth University focused on men using anabolic androgenic steroids for non-medical use. She published several academic papers on the topic [1-3].
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According to Research Professional, UK government has extended a financial “safety net” for successful UK applicants to Horizon Europe (HEU). This follows last November’s guarantee for the limited number of “first wave” of funding calls from the European Union’s €95.5 billion (£80.5bn) R&D programme.
On 15 March, 2022 science minister George Freeman extended the guarantee to awards that are expected to be signed by the end of December 2022, while efforts continued to associate to the programme. The announcement comes after yesterday’s news that the business department has allocated £6.8 billion for EU programmes during 2022-2025, supporting the UK’s eventual association with Horizon Europe, Euratom Research and Training, and Fusion for Energy.
The extension now covers “all eligible, current applications to calls where researchers expect to sign grant agreements this year” but are unable to do so due to the ongoing delays to formalising UK association. Full details of the scope and terms of the extended guarantee are available on the UKRI website.
As usual, we encourage BU academics to apply for next Horizon Europe calls. To discuss more details about your potential HEU project, please get in touch with RDS Research Facilitator International Ainar Blaudums or your allocated Funding Development Officer.
UKRO will be holding a webinar ‘An Introduction to COST” on 17 March 2022 (11:00-12:30pm UK time). COST (European Cooperation in Science and Technology) is a funding organisation that aims to support researchers, in any sector and at all career stages, to grow their professional research networks and boost their careers. COST Actions are open to all science and technology fields, including new and emerging fields and help to connect research initiatives across Europe and beyond.
The webinar is aimed at researchers and research support staff, interested in finding out more about COST funding opportunities. The event will also outline the different ways to get involved in a COST action and will cover UK participation in COST. Attendance is free of charge, but participants should register here.
The UK Research Office (UKRO), in its capacity as UK National Contact Point for the Horizon Europe Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions (MSCA), will be holding a series of information webinars for organisations and individuals interested in applying to the 2022 MSCA Postdoctoral Fellowships Call (call opens 13 April 2022, call deadline 14 September 2022).
Postdoctoral Fellowships help experienced researchers advance their careers and gain new skills through training, international, intersectoral and international mobility. Postdoctoral Fellowships are aimed at researchers who are already in possession of a doctoral degree, and at the call deadline have a maximum of 8 years full-time equivalent research experience.
BU has excellent track record in applying for MSCA fellowships and we encourage those considering to apply for the first time to register and participate in these webinar series.
I would like to remind BU academics that MSCA calls are one of exceptions regarding submission of Intention to Bid forms; RDS my require to submit ItB up to two months before the submission deadline. Please get in touch with your RDS Funding Development Officer as soon as possible if you plan to apply to 2022 MSCA PF call.
The presentation slides and video recording from UKRO ERC Advanced Grant Webinar are now available for the two sessions and can be accessed on the UKRO event page.
The European Research Council (ERC) has published the tentative deadline dates for the 2023 calls. Note that these deadlines will not be confirmed until the 2023 ERC Work Programme is officially published over the summer.
ERC calls are another exception regarding submission of ItB forms; RDS my require to submit ItB at least three months before the submission deadline. Please get in touch with your RDS Funding Development Officer as soon as possible if you plan to apply to ERC 2022 Advanced Grant or ERC 2023 Starting Grant (submission deadline in 2022) call.
I would like to also remind that all BU researchers can access the UKRO Portal as employees of the subscribing institution to read news articles, factsheets and other useful information. Anyone with an institutional email address can register. To access some links above, you may be required to be UKRO registered user.
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Wessex REACH Initiative- training/mentorship/funding support
Available dates
Expression of interest
Email your preferred date to info@wessexreach.org.uk
Eunice Aroyewun, info@wessexreach.org.uk
Congratulations to Bournemouth University’s PhD student Sulochana Dhakal-Rai on the publication today of the latest paper from her research thesis. This latest paper ‘Factors contributing to rising cesarean section rates in South Asian countries: A systematic review‘ has been published in the Asian Journal of Medical Sciences [1].
The paper is part of her PhD study of the rising CS rate in Nepal. This systematic review is co-authored with her BU PhD supervisors, Dr. Juliet Wood, Dr. Pramod Regmi and Prof. Edwin van Teijlingen as well as her Nepal-based supervisors Dr. Ganesh Dangel (FHSS Visiting Faculty) and Dr. Keshar Bahadur Dhakal. This is the sixth paper from Sulochana’s interesting and highly topical PhD thesis. The previous five were published in 2018, 2019 and 2021 [2-6].
Congratulations!
Prof. Edwin van Teijlingen
CMMPH
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The Medicines & Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (the MHRA) have launched a public consultation into clinical trials.
The aim of the consultation is to streamline approvals, enable innovation, enhance clinical trials transparency, enable greater risk proportionality, and promote patient and public involvement.
There will be a 1 hour meeting on Monday 14th February at 1pm until 2pm, where you can offer your thoughts and feedback for BU’s institutional response.
If you wish to attend the meeting, please get in touch to be added to the invitation.
If you are unable to make the above time but wish to offer your thoughts, please email clinicalresearch@bournemouth.ac.uk to ensure your feedback is included.
The Medicines & Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (the MHRA) have launched a public consultation into clinical trials.
The aim of the consultation is to streamline approvals, enable innovation, enhance clinical trials transparency, enable greater risk proportionality, and promote patient and public involvement.
There will be a 1 hour meeting on Monday 14th February at 1pm until 2pm, where you can offer your thoughts and feedback for BU’s institutional response.
If you wish to attend the meeting, please get in touch to be added to the invitation.
If you are unable to make the above time but wish to offer your thoughts, please email clinicalresearch@bournemouth.ac.uk to ensure your feedback is included.
Our team of health and social science researchers reached a record 25 publications focusing on health and migration in Nepal. The team comprises members from three different departments in FHSS. Dr. Preeti Mahato, Post Doctoral Researcher, and Prof. Edwin van Teijlingen are both based in the Department of Midwifery & Health Sciences, Dr. Pramod Regmi, is Senior Lecturer in International Health and Interim Global Engagement Lead in the Department of Nursing Sciences, Dr. Shovita Dhakal Adhikari is Lecturer in Criminology in the Department of Social Sciences & Social Work. Their collaborators include, among others: FHSS Visiting Faculty Prof. Padam Simkhada, Dr. Pratik Adhikary, Dr. Bibha Sinkhada, and Dr. Nirmal Aryal. The team was also instrumental in establishing the ‘‘Health Research Network for Migrant Workers in Asia’. The 25 publications are listed below [1-25].
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Congratulations to Dr. Orlanda Harvey in the Department of Social Sciences & Social Work, Dr. Pramod Regmi in the Department of Nursing Science and FHSS Visiting Faculty Jillian Ireland, Professional Midwifery Advocate in Poole Maternity Hospital (UHD/University Hospitals Dorset NHS Foundation Trust) whose paper ‘Co-authors, colleagues, and contributors: Complexities in collaboration and sharing lessons on academic writing‘ was published today.[1]
The paper argues that academic writing, especially in the health field, is usually an interdisciplinary team effort. It highlights some of the trials, tribulations, and benefits of working with co-authors. This includes collaborations and co-authorship between academics from different disciplines, academics of different level of careers, and authors from countries of varying economies i.e., high-income countries (HICs) and from low-and middle-income countries (LMICs). This paper also provides advice in the form of several useful tips to lead authors and co-authors to support collaborative working. Our other co-authors are: Aney Rijal, postgraduate student and Executive Editor of the journal Health Prospect based in Nepal, and Alexander van Teijlingen postgraduate student in the Department of Pure and Applied Chemistry (University of Strathclyde, Glasgow, Scotland).
Prof. Edwin van Teijlingen
Centre for Midwifery, Maternal & Perinatal Health
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