Skip to main content

Tagged / ESRC

Research methods in practice: Learning from the ESRC Research Methods Festival 2018

BU research, Research Training, RKE development framework

Ten Bournemouth University academics attended the ESRC Research Methods Festival held at the University of Bath, 3-5 July 2018. The 8th biennial meeting attracted around 800 social science researchers at various stages of their careers, from across the range of disciplines and sectors. The festival content spanned seven parallel sessions for the morning, mid-day and afternoon workshops. This brief account is an attendee’s experience of ‘employing learning’ in Research Methods during the festival.

Day 1

The session ‘Meeting the challenges in teaching Research Methods’ (Professor Nind, NCRM, University of Southampton) was an interactive workshop informed by current pedagogical research. In teams we discussed our experiences of the three challenges in Research Methods education, namely: 1. diversity, 2. developing learning and teaching resources, and 3. online teaching.

This was followed by ‘Recent advances in rural health survey methodology’ (Dr Haenssgen, University of Oxford), which allowed me to appreciate current use of accelerometry (e.g. Fitbit) in assessing energy expenditure in communities for my current research study.

The day concluded with a rapid (downhill) run to Bath town centre, a laborious (uphill) run back, and then a nervous gala dinner served with the England vs. Columbia World Cup nail-biter.

Day 2

‘Blog like you mean it’ included tips on research communication and impact. The key-points being: make it topical (e.g. informed by current debates, issues or conversations), guide with sub-headings and look out for new policies for ‘research relevance’ (good examples include the Conversation, LSE Impact and Dementia day-to-day blogs).

Bournemouth University’s own Dr Tula Brannelly had strong attendance for her workshop: ‘Ethics of care in the research process’, which focussed on building solidarity with end-users in research, and how we can plan/create change in our own research.

Regardless of whether you are writing a research proposal, journal paper, teaching handbook or thesis, the session ‘Writing creatively for academia’ made me think of the reader: 1. maintain their interest, 2. engage their emotions, 3. activate memories and, 4. scientifically, keep it evidence-based. These aren’t exclusively applicable to all formats, but can help improve our general written communication and help eradicate bias from our writing. Elsewhere, ‘Innovations in teaching statistics and quantitative methods’ was useful for my own Research Methods teaching in the Department of Sport and Physical Activity.

Wednesday evening was more relaxed than the previous, with a guided walk through Bath town centre. Not only did we learn about Bath as a gambling den, yellow front doors, John Wood the elder, but also ex-resident, Nicolas Cage.

Day 3

The final morning involved: ‘Advances in sociogenomics’ (for general interest) and ‘New developments in qualitative evaluation research’ for healthcare research incorporating quantitative and qualitative data evidence. Both were inspiring and relevant, and importantly, led by postgraduates, to practitioners, to professors. Not all conferences/meetings are so inclusive and accessible.

Finally, I would like to thank Emily Cieciura and RKEO staff for supporting the strong attendance of BU academics at the Research Methods Festival. Similarly to myself, of those BU colleagues that I met, they felt equally as enthused and intellectually-overwhelmed…alas, in an academic, inspired way.

 

Many thanks,

Dr James Gavin – Academic, exercise physiology

Accompanied by…Aaron Yankholmes, Miguel Moital, Jae Yeon Choe, Michael O’Reagan (FM), Agata Wezyk (SciTech), and presenter Tula Brannelly (FHSS).

ESRC Research Methods Festival 2018

 

Funding opportunity – ISCF Next Generation Services Research Programme

BU Challenges, BU research, Business Engagement, Funding opportunities, innovation

Image from www.avaya.com

The ESRC has announced the Next Generation Services Research call under the Industrial Strategy Challenge Fund. Proposals of up to £1.25 million (100% full economic cost) are invited for interdisciplinary research grants, focused on working with businesses to identify the potential opportunities offered by the application of new technologies in the high value services sector.

This is a ‘Pioneer’ initiative that will focus in the first instance on the accountancy, legal services and insurance industries.

Please see below key summaries of this call:

Deadline : 4pm; 18 July 2018

Project start & end dates : between December 2018 and March 2021

Please see this link for full details of this call.

Resilience of the UK food system in a global context – third call

BU research, Funding opportunities, Research news

The  Resilience of the UK food system in a global context we are inviting expressions of interest from early career researchers at lecturer level or equivalent to take part in a Sandpit (2.5 days on 4-6 July 2018 followed by 2 days on 19-20 July 2018).

The Sandpit will seek to address the following question:

How can we transform our food system so it is based on healthy and sustainable diets and how would this impact on sustainable and resilient food production and supply?

We welcome applications from early career researchers at lecturer level or equivalent with expertise in any research area covered by BBSRC, NERC or ESRC. The Sandpit will develop outline proposals, a number of which will be invited back to be developed into full proposals that are two years in duration. Successful proposals developed through the Sandpit process will be jointly funded by BBSRC, ESRC, NERC and the Scottish Government, and up to £1.8 million (80% FEC) is available to support the proposals selected.

The research supported will identify interventions that might lead to improved outcomes for health, sustainability and resilience across the supply chain and help us to understand the dynamics, trade-offs and tensions between production, supply and demand that are crucial for the resilience of the UK food system.

The Sandpit will aim to develop proposals that answer:

  • How can we transform our food system so it is based on healthy and sustainable diets and how would this impact on sustainable and resilient food production and supply?
  • What should we be eating, and producing sustainably, and where in the world would those crops be grown, those livestock reared, or those fish be caught to ensure UK food system resilience? What impact would this have on livelihoods?
  • What level of demand change would be required to have a major impact on resilience and sustainability, and what would be the potential benefits/dis-benefits to nutrition and/or the environment of different scenarios?

How to apply

This Sandpit is for early-career researchers working at lecturer level or equivalent.

Further details, including how to apply, can be found on the Global Food Security (GFS) website.

Trust and Global Governance Large Grants

BU research, Funding opportunities

Trust and Global Governance Large Grants

The ESRC have launched the Trust and Governance Large Grants call. Trust and global governance in a turbulent age is one of our seven key research priorities and we will be investing £5 million to take forward this exciting research agenda (Closes 28 June 2018). They expect to fund two or three large grants under this theme.

These large grants will represent a major ESRC strategic investment. They are looking for innovative and methodologically ambitious proposals that link foundational research on the nature and dynamics of trust and trustworthiness, with new empirical research on the relationship between trust and global governance. They actively encourage proposals characterised by interdisciplinarity both within and beyond the social sciences, and would particularly welcome proposals that include a significant international comparative component.

Four priority areas for research have been identified under this call. Whilst proposals may exclusively focus on one area, they would strongly encourage applicants to explore a range of questions within and between each of these cross-cutting priority areas:

  • Trust in a world of inequalities
  • Trust and the future of democracy
  • Identity, community, and the social and psychological foundations of trust
  • Trust, ethics and international security

 

Call documents

 

Calling all ESRC funded researchers – free training!

BU research, Research Training

ESRC offer ESRC-funded researchers a one-day media training session that provides the opportunity to develop practical media skills in a safe environment.

The training is an opportunity for researchers, no matter what stage of their career, to develop their skills and feel comfortable handling media interviews. Whether a PhD student, postdoctoral researcher or senior fellow, the new practical media training session provides the guidance needed to engage the media with confidence – and plenty of opportunity to practice.

Click here for information on dates and locations and how to book on to the training.

ESRC Pre-call announcement ‘Trust and Global Governance Large Grants’

Funding opportunities

ESRC will shortly be inviting applications of between £1 million and £2.5 million (at 100% fEC) to take forward an exciting research agenda in the area of Trust and Global Governance. They expect to fund between two to three large grants under this theme.

Four priority areas for research proposals have been identified under this call. While proposals may exclusively focus on one area, they strongly encourage proposals to explore a range of questions within and between each of these cross-cutting priority areas:

  • Trust in a world of inequalities
  • Trust and the future of democracy
  • Identity, community, and the social and psychological foundations of trust
  • Trust, ethics and international security

The call will launch for full proposals in April 2018. The closing date for full applications will be late June 2018, with awards expected to start from Spring 2019. There will be no demand management measures in place for this call.

If you are interested in applying then please contact your RKEO Funding Development Officer in the first instance.

ESRC Pre-call announcement ‘Open Large Grants Competition’

Funding opportunities

ESRC will be inviting applications of between £1 million and £2.5 million (at 100% fEC) for an open Large Grants Competition. They expect to fund up to four new large grants under this competition.

The call will have an outline stage which will open in early April. The closing date for applications will be in June 2018 and grants will start from 1 October 2019. This call will be a quota-based competition, with the same allocations for proposals as the current ESRC Centres Competition.

Further details will be available when the call opens.  If you are interested in applying then please inform your RKEO Research Facilitator in the first instance as we have been allocated a quota and will manage the submission going in.

ESRC GCRF Inequalities and skills acquisition in young people

Funding opportunities

ESRC are inviting proposals for new research grants that qualify for funding from the Global Challenges Research Fund (GCRF). This call aims to fund a portfolio of innovative research grants focusing on skills acquisition in developing countries.

GCRF is a £1.5 billion funding stream to support research which addresses the problems faced by developing countries. GCRF forms part of the UK’s Official Development Assistance (ODA) commitment, and as such funding under this call will be awarded in a manner consistent with official ODA guidelines.

Funding is available for applications which fall under the remit of ESRC. The ESRC has a total budget of £5 million allocated to this call. ESRC expects to fund a balanced portfolio of proposals of varying sizes and ambitions, with a maximum grant value of £1 million at 100% full Economic Cost (fEC). The research councils will contribute 80% fEC on successful proposals. It is expected that the portfolio will include grants which are significantly smaller than the maximum value.

Proposals are invited for research grants of durations up to 27 months. Proposals must be led by a researcher at an eligible UK research organisation and should be submitted through the research councils’ Joint Electronic Submission (Je-S) system.

Thematic focus

This call seeks to address how inequalities such as gender, class and caste manifest in access to and experiences of skills training and skills programmes for young people both within and outside employment. While these and other inequalities affect experiences across the life-course, this call seeks to further increase understanding on issues particularly affecting adolescents and young people.

Different forms of skills provisioning (public, private, work-based, nonformal) can be considered under this call, as well as skills acquisition at a local, national or international level. Applications may consider how skills-oriented programmes can transform rather than reproduce intersecting inequalities. The call seeks to address how creative solutions can be used to help meet the SDG challenges.

The call aims to address how transitions to meaningful work could be more successfully and smoothly achieved and the aspirations of young people moving into the workplace be met. Research under this call should consider some of the wide range of issues affecting transitions into work for young people and how the resulting understanding of those issues can be applied to influence policy at national/international levels, develop specific interventions or new ways to improve existing transitions to meaningful work.

Further information on the themes can be found within the call specification.

How to apply

All proposals must be submitted through the Je-S system by 16.00 on 22 March 2018.  Detailed guidance about how to apply is provided in the guidance below.

Standard ESRC eligibility rules apply. See the Research Councils UK website for a list of eligible organisations.

Call documents

Timetable

  • Deadline for submitting full proposals – 16.00 on 22 March 2018
  • Panel meeting – July/August 2018
  • Decisions to applicants – late September 2018
  • Start date for successful proposals  – 1 December 2018

If you are interested in applying to this call then please contact your RKEO Funding Development Officer in the first instance.

ESRC Centres Competition 2018

Funding opportunities

ESRC have announce the call for outline proposals for their Centres Competition 2018.

They are investing up to £30 million over five years through this centres competition. It is anticipated that ESRC will fund four centres. The competition is for proposals ranging from £2 million to £8 million 100% full economic cost (fEC) with a term of five years. They will meet 80% of the full economic costs on proposals submitted (ie ESRC funding total of £24 million at 80% fEC).

Research centre funding is aimed at experienced research leaders who require longer-term or extended support for research groups, inter-institutional research networks, project-linked programmes, medium-to-large surveys, other infrastructure or methodological developments, or any related larger-scale projects.

They envisage centres as long term investments which strengthen the social science landscape in the UK and successful proposals must add value to the current portfolio of ESRC centres. In addition to taking forward an ambitious research agenda and making significant economic or societal impact, centres add value by increasing research infrastructure, building capacity, encouraging interdisciplinary working in social science and beyond, and enabling research collaboration in the UK and internationally. They anticipate that over time centres awarded under this call will become major strategic partnerships with their host research organisations.

For more details, click here.  Outline proposals must be submitted to the Je-S system: by the call deadline 16:00 on 15 March 2018.

If you are interested in applying to this call, you must discuss your plans and ideas with your Dean of Faculty in the first place (before contacting RKEO) as there will be significant commitment requirements from the university.

ESRC: Miracles in the mundane: hitchhiking and micro-adventures

Events, Impact

As as part of the ESRC Festival of Social Science 2017, organised by Bournemouth University, I ran an event about hitchhiking and micro-adventures. You may wonder, when did the practice of hitchhiking need to be thought through social science. By inviting six speakers (hitchhikers and social scientists) to Bournemouth University, we spent 3 hours thinking with and through hitchhiking and micro adventures to explore the modern experiences of passengering, ethical encounters, trust, the cost of speed and acceleration, driverless cars, social entrepreneurship, self-sufficiency, automobility and infrastructure. Other Topics Included –

  • Hitchhiking and the nature of being a passenger (agency, performances and resistance to standardized categories);
  • Contrasted affects, bodies and emotions of being on the road;
  • Role of media and social media in accessibility, inclusion, and diversity of micro adventures;
  • Systems, technologies and practices linked to friction/ frictionless travel;
  • The move back towards so-called ‘active’ and human powered mobility cultures that gives value to turbulence, friction, risk and the social exchange they engender;
  • The future of hitchhiking.
  • The role of gender, race, class, age and sexuality and other social and intersectional relationships of domination at play;
  • Understanding and potentially overcoming physical, mental, emotional barriers to microadventures;
  • Hitchhiking as Sustainable, Subversive Mobilities, Slow Mobilities;

Poster for the Event

The speakers
– Antonin Borgnon, an hitchhiker and photographer spoke about his project “Art of Hitchhiking.”
– Anick-Marie Bouchard is a travel blogger specialized in Hitchhiking, Female Solo Travel, and spoke about putting adventure back into ones life, even without having to travel far.
– Patrick Laviolette, PhD spoke about the recurrent material and bodily techniques employed in hitching a lift. He’s presentation also touched on certain cross-cultural points of comparison between the decline of hitching in the West versus its persistence in Eastern Europe.
– Max Neumegen spoke about his life of travel, and what travel and adventure means to him.
– Ali Hussain spoke about his experiences as a non-white hitchhiker and solo male across different regions, Ali spoke about his  relationship with money in a money-centric culture and hitchhiking as a values-oriented practice rather than as a means to an end.
– Dego from Glasgow, who has been hitchhiking for 30 years, spoke about hitchhiking as central to his lifestyle and work.

Ali Hussain presenting.

 
Some signs from the event” Miracles in the Mundane: hitchhiking and micro-adventures” held last  Saturday,

This event was FREE to attend, and was superbly supported by Natt & Devon at the University. The event was attended by approx. 20 people and was shown LIVE on twitter and Facebook. The experience of been part of the ESRC festival of Social Science was a very positive one.  It has provided a public engagement opportunity, helped me engage with new research partners, and provided more inside into an under researched phenomenon. It has also led to discussions about organizing an event with similar topic areas in 2018.

 

Organizer Michael O’Regan, Faculty of Management

 

For further information please contact FestivalofSocialScience@bournemouth.ac.uk or please visit the event website at nomadx.org

REMINDER – Cross-Research Council Mental Health Network Plus call Meeting

BU research, Funding opportunities, Guidance, humanities

Just a quick reminders…

We will be holding a networking event for BU academics who are interested in the Cross-Research Council Mental Health Network Plus call on 1st November 09:30-11:30 in PG140. It will be a chance to get like-minded people in one space to identify possible collaborations and differences.

No preparation is necessary for the meeting; however we would ask you to read the call guidance see here.

Refreshment will be provided, if you would like attend please contact Alexandra Pekalski or Lisa Gale Andrews.

ESRC Festival of Social Science – what have we got for you!

BU research, Events

The ESRC Festival is a month away…

With planning underway we wanted to let you know what events you could get involved in and find out more about the Social Science research we have at Bournemouth University.

Here are a few of the events that we are organising, you can find out more about the festival and book your tickets here.

Brexit: Next Steps for Business and Trade Policy – Sangeeta Khorana and Jens Holscher are inviting policy makers to come together with academics and businesses to discuss options around pressing post-Brexit issues. 9th November, London.

Tackling Loneliness through connections and creativity – Dr. Lee-Ann Fenge and Sally Lee are raising awareness on the impact of loneliness on health and well-being in older generations. This event hopes to give Social Care workers inspiration of connecting and creating with older generations which will help to combat loneliness, whilst raising awareness of the susceptibility loneliness makes people to financial scams. 9th November, The Shelley Theatre Boscombe.

Thank you for coming: Why gratitude matters – Fiona Cownie will teach you the power of saying ‘thank you’ whilst giving you an action plan which you can implement within your work/volunteering environment. 10th November, Bournemouth University Talbot campus.

We can’t wait for you to join us at the ESRC Festival of Social Science. There are activities for everyone, without costing you a penny!

Building resilience to natural disasters using financial instruments – Networking Event &Funding Call

BU research, Funding opportunities

Call closes: 16:00 on 26 September 2017

ESRC and UK Aid (DFID) logoNERC, the Department for International Development, and the Economic & Social Research Council invite proposals to address the topic building resilience to natural disasters using financial instruments. Funding is available to apply existing environmental and social science research to inform the design, development, refinement and validation of financing instruments to help developing countries respond and recover from extreme weather and natural disasters.

The overarching goal of these projects is to have impact on the developing world. To achieve this, projects must work with practitioner project partners who have a role in the design, development and application of innovative financing mechanisms for developing countries (eg non-governmental organisations, policymakers, disaster risk management actors, insurance companies).

NERC funding for this call will form part of the UK’s official development assistance (ODA) commitment, and proposals should demonstrate their primary purpose is to promote the economic development and welfare of countries on the Organisation for Economic Co-operation & Development’s Development Assistance Committee list of ODA recipients.

The programme will support both:

  • feasibility studies of up to £100,000 (at 100% full economic cost) and up to six months in duration
  • longer projects of up to £350,000 (at 100% full economic cost) and up to 24 months in duration.

Successful projects are expected to start no later than 1 January 2018.

If you are interested in applying to this call then please contact your RKEO Funding Development Officer in the first instance.

Networking and brokerage event

In order to bring together academics and potential project partners, a one-day networking event will be held at the Radisson Blu Portman Hotel in London on 28 July 2017. For further information and details of how to register your interest in attending this event, please see the networking event page.

Please note that attendance at this networking event is not a pre-requisite for the submission of proposals to this call.

Further information

Further information on this call and details of how to submit a proposal will be available to download shortly.

Contact

Lisa Bettington
Programme Manager – Innovation
01793 411630