Tagged / collaborative research

First EPPOCH study paper accepted for publication

open access, Publishing, writing

This afternoon the editorial office of Frontiers in Psychiatry informed us that our manuscript “Prenatal maternal mental health and resilience in the United Kingdom during the SARS-CoV-2 Pandemic: A cross-national comparison” [1] has been accepted for publication in Frontiers in Psychiatry, section Perinatal Psychiatry.   An interdisciplinary team from Germany, Canada and the UK designed and initiated a longitudinal pregnancy cohort in the United Kingdom titled Maternal mental health during the COVID-19 pandemic: Effect of the Pandemic on Pregnancy Outcomes & Childhood Health (EPPOCH).    In the second half of  2020, we recruited 3,600 pregnant individuals via self-enrollment through our website ‘www.eppoch-uk.org’. Our EPPOCH study has since collected a wealth of validated questionnaire data at multiple time points, from mothers (during pregnancy and postpartum) and their children (from birth to age 3), and we are currently distributing our 4-year childhood follow-up questionnaire. This is the first paper from the EPPOCH study.

The UK team is a collaboration between Bournemouth University and University Hospitals Dorset NHS Foundation Trust, the latter through Professor Minesh Khashu and Dr. Latha Vinayakarao based in Poole Maternity Hospital. The German team is led by Dr. Melanie Conrad, previously at Charité University Medicine Berlin, and now associated with the University of Augsburg, and includes Swarali Datye, PhD student at Charité University Medicine Berlin, whilst our Canadian collaborator, Alison MacRae-Miller, is based at the University of British Columbia, Victoria.  This EPPOCH cohort is closely linked with a sister cohort in Canada called the Pregnancy During the Pandemic (PDP) study.

 

Prof. Edwin van Teijlingen

Centre for Midwifery & Women’s Health

 

 

Reference:

  1. Datye, S., Smiljanic, M., Shetti, R.H., MacRae-Miller, A., van Teijlingen, E., Vinayakarao, L., Peters, E.M.J., Lebel, C.A., Tomfohr-Madsen, L., Giesbrecht, G., Khashu, M., Conrad, M.L. (2024) Prenatal maternal mental health and resilience in the United Kingdom during the SARS-CoV-2 Pandemic: A cross-national comparison, Frontiers in Psychiatry, (accepted).

Iridescent Spider Webs: BU NCCA Undergraduate Student Success at SIGGRAPH’24

conferences, Publishing, REF Subjects, staff profile pages, Student Engagement, student research

The 51st International Conference & Exhibition on Computer Graphics and Interactive Techniques (SIGGRAPH’24), the international annual conference for the Special Interest Group on Computer Graphics and Interactive Techniques of the Association for Computing Machinery (ACM, the world’s foremost computing society) was held in Denver, Colorado in August.

Among the work showcased at the conference was the poster “O, What an Iridescent Web We Weave: Rendering Physically Inspired Spider Webs for Visual Effects” by Vaya Simeonova (Grigorova) from this year’s graduating cohort (Computer Animation Technical Arts – CATA, Level 6) of the National Centre for Computer Animation (NCCA, Faculty of Media and Communication) and co-authored by Dr Eike Falk Anderson.

Poster presented at SIGGRAPH’24

The poster paper is based on Vaya’s final year Research & Development Project unit project “An Exploration of the Optical Properties of Spider Web Fibres”, which resulted in the development of a physically inspired method for rendering CG spider webs that display the iridescent properties, observable in real-world spider webs.

The method achieves this in a manner that does not require a computationally expensive and bespoke/proprietary software solution, but instead works with industry standard, off-the-shelf, visual effects (VFX) software, meaning it can effortlessly be integrated into existing VFX production pipelines. The project was also one of five submissions featured in the SIGGRAPH’24 “Posters Highlights” video.

After being accepted as one of the 70 posters presented at this year’s SIGGRAPH conference, the world’s Premier Conference & Exhibition on Computer Graphics & Interactive Techniques, Vaya’s contribution (poster 32), was invited to the first round of the prestigious ACM Student Research Competition (SRC) sponsored by Microsoft, shortlisted as a semi-finalists, and presented to a panel of experts in the SRC Final Presentation. The jury, who enjoyed Vaya’s presentation and appreciated her demonstrated knowledge of prior research, were impressed by her execution of the work and its practicality, for which they awarded Vaya the Second Place in the ACM SIGGRAPH 2024 Student Research Competition in the undergraduate category.

Vaya Simeonova, presenting her poster (2nd place SRC, undergraduate category) at SIGGRAPH'24

After Ben Knowles (with Dr Oleg Fryazinov) who was awarded second place at SIGGRAPH’15 for “Increasing realism of animated grass in real-time game environments“, Teemu Lindborg and Philip Gifford (with Dr Oleg Fryazinov) who were semi-finalists at SIGGRAPH’17 for “Interactive parameterised heterogeneous 3D modelling with signed distance fields”, Quentin Corker-Marin (with Dr Valery Adzhiev and the late Professor Alexander Pasko) who achieved second place at SIGGRAPH’17 for “Space-time cubification of artistic shapes“, Bianca Cirdei (with Dr Eike Falk Anderson) who was awarded 1st place at SIGGRAPH’18 for her exceptional project “Withering fruits: vegetable matter decay and fungus growth” and Laura Mann (with Dr Oleg Fryazinov) who won second place at SIGGRAPH’19 for “3D printing for mixed reality hands-on museum exhibit interaction“, this is the first time since the start of the COVID’19 pandemic that an NCCA undergraduate student has progressed to the final round in this prestigious competition.

Positionality in qualitative research

international, open access, Publishing, student research, Women's Academic Network, writing

At the online editorial board meeting today [Saturday 29th June] of the Dhaulagiri Journal of Sociology and Anthropology I had the pleasure of seeing Bournemouth University’s latest paper ‘The Importance of Positionality for Qualitative Researchers‘ ahead of publication [1].  The lead author of this paper is Hannah Gurr and this methodology paper is part of her M.Res. research project in Social Work.  Hannah is supervised by Dr. Louise Oliver, Dr. Orlanda Harvey and Prof. Edwin van Teijlingen in the Faculty of Health & Social Sciences (FHSS).

Dhaulagiri Journal of Sociology and Anthropology is a Gold Open Access journal so when it appears online it will be free to read for anybody across the globe.

 

Prof. Edwin van Teijlingen

Centre for Midwifery & Women’s Health

Reference:

  1. Gurr, H., Oliver, L., Harvey, O., Subedi, M.van Teijlingen, E. (2024) The Importance of Positionality for Qualitative Researchers, Dhaulagiri Journal of Sociology and Anthropology 18 (1): 48-54.

Free Research Event – Wednesday 26th June – A Celebration of Sustainable Food Related Research

BU Research Centre CSSRC is celebrating its interdisciplinary and intersectoral research around sustainable food on Wednesday 26th June 2024, 4.45-7.00pm.

The Centre for Sustainable & Socially Responsible Consumption (CSSRC) invites you to attend its research event on Wednesday 26th June 2024 to celebrate its interdisciplinary and intersectoral research around sustainable food. After a welcome refreshment this interesting and informative event will comprise of three topical presentation sessions, each lead by a member of CSSRC, as outlined below. Opportunity for discussions and networking over drinks and nibbles after the talks will round off the event.

Session 1: FoodMAPP: Local food supply communicated through a transactional searchable MAP based APPlication

FoodMAPP is a European funded research project that is developing a searchable map-based platform that will enable consumers to search and buy food products directly from local suppliers. Currently within Europe food is transported, on average, 171km from farm to fork. 26 per cent of global carbon emissions come from food and large volumes of food are wasted. The FoodMAPP project aims to address these challenges by enabling consumers to identify and purchase local sources of food in real time to shorten supply chains and reduce food waste, while also providing additional sustainable income to food producers and providers. The project, led by Professor of Consumer Behaviour Jeff Bray, consists of a consortium of European partners, comprising academic partners in Croatia, Hungary, Spain and Belgium and industry partners in France & Austria. In this session Professor Bray will introduce the project and discuss current insights from it.

Session 2: Assessing the impact of food prices on consumption and health

Professor of Economics Tim Lloyd will present this session and introduce this Defra funded project. The overall aim of this project is to develop user-friendly software, underpinned by theory and modelling that will provide Defra with the capacity to assess the potential impacts of external and internal shocks and the outcome of potential policy options, not just on prices but on food consumption more generally, including the health impacts across socio-economic groups, while addressing the resilience of the UK food chain and environmental challenges. The project has Defra Funding for two years and is a collaboration with the University of Exeter, that develops previous work on food price modelling in relation to Brexit that formed the basis of an Impact Case submitted to UoA17 (Business and Management) in REF2021. The current project started in December 2023 and is in its early phase of development. The BU team comprises Tim Lloyd (Professor of Economics) and Adam Witt (ECR) from the Department of Accounting Finance and Economics in BUBS. It is envisioned that the output of the project will augment the government’s analytical capacity in the politically sensitive area of food prices and form an Impact Case Study for REF2029.

Session 3: An exploration of alternative food network practices

The landscape of food systems is evolving, with alternative food networks (AFNs) gaining prominence. AFNs encompass decentralised and locally rooted system that seek to establish direct connections between producers and consumers, often bypassing conventional supply chains e.g. farmers’ markets, community-supported agriculture (CSA), and food cooperatives. As consumer preferences shift towards locally sourced and sustainable food options, it is essential to assess the challenges and opportunities that arise in the context of AFNs. Through exploring AFNs and SFSCs, this project seeks to understand their potential contributions to sustainability, resilience, and community well-being. In this session Dr Anthony Ezenwa will present his BU QR-funded research that explores the nuances of Alternative Food Networks (AFNs) and Short Food Supply Chains (SFSCs), using Dorset County, England as a comprehensive case study. Dr Ezenwa will highlight the various typologies and meanings associated with these concepts and discuss how the social and institutional perspectives surrounding the challenges and opportunities within AFNs and SFSCs practices in the region, shedding light on their intricate links.

Provisional Timetable:

4.45-5.00pm – Welcome refreshments

5.00-6.15pm – Presentation sessions

6.15-7.00pm – Discussion, networking and refreshments

This is a free event, but you must register to attend via Eventbrite: A Celebration of Sustainable Food Related Research Tickets, Wed 26 Jun 2024 at 16:45 | Eventbrite