Latest research and knowledge exchange news at Bournemouth University
Please see all the details of BU’s Interdisciplinary Research HE Sector Day on 21st June 2016, dedicated to exploring the benefits and challenges of interdisciplinary research.
With the majority of speakers now confirmed, this is shaping up to be a busy and inspirational day.
Don’t miss out – book now via Eventbrite.
BU is hosting an Interdisciplinary Research HE Sector Day on 21st June 2016, dedicated to exploring the benefits and challenges of interdisciplinary research.
Presentations include:
Key Note Address – Dr. Louise Mansfield (What Works Centre for Wellbeing / Brunel University London)
The Funders’ Perspective – Charlotte Lester (HEFCE), Dan Licari (Innovate UK / KTN Creative, Digital & Design) and Ben Sharman (UK National Contact Point – Inclusive, innovative and reflective societies)
Supporting Interdisciplinary Working – Prof. Alan Lester and Debbie Foy-Everett (Sussex), Luke George (Research Professional) and Christopher Ferguson (Piirus)
Research Professional and Piirus
The Academics’ Perspective – Prof. Adele Ladkin (BU), Dr. David Hutchinson (Portsmouth) and Dr. Justine McConnell (TORCH, University of Oxford)
Facilitated networking session – How can I contribute?
The event will take place in BU’s Executive Business Centre.
Please see the Event webpage for the full programme and speakers’ biographies. Key to the programme, as well as inspirational speakers, there will be plenty of time to network with colleagues and participate in exploring your own relationship with interdisciplinary research.
This event is free and open to academics and research support staff throughout the UK.
Places are limited, so book now via Eventbrite.
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The European Commission’s DG Innovation and Research provides subject-specific news feeds to help you to keep up to date with your research activities in your discipline and EU opportunities, including funding and networking events. To do this, the place to go is their RSS page. Instructions on how to add these to your news feed are also given on this page
Main topics include:
To see the full list and subsets of those listed above, please go to the main RSS page and find all the relevant RSS news feeds for you.
Dr Phil Crowther, from Sheffield Hallam University (Sheffield Business School), will be on a short visit to BU where he will meet researchers from the Department of Events and Leisure to exchange and explore potential research opportunities (8th March 2016).
“Designing ‘Playful’ Business Events” is the title of his guest lecture, where Dr Phil Crowther explores the very serious nature of play in the design of business events.
We invite you to join this session, to the limit of seating capacity, on the 8th March 2016, Allesbrook Lecture Hall (Talbot Campus), 1 p.m.
For a little bit more on Dr Phil Crowther, please read below his story in the first person.
Would you like to know more details on this visit or to join us in the research meeting programme, please email Dr Lenia Marques, lmarques@bournemouth.ac.uk .
My first degree was in Recreation Management from Loughborough University, graduating in 1995. Since then I have enjoyed a career in recreation / leisure / tourism / event management for eleven years, running cinemas, theme parks, and health and racquet clubs as General Manager. During this time I had the pleasure of designing and delivering such highlights as film premiers, celebrity birthday parties, and large team building events. During my industry career I completed a part-time MBA in Executive General Management which was my pathway back into universities. Since then I have thoroughly enjoyed teaching, researching, and delivering continuing professional development (CPD) events and consultancy in the area of Event Management.
My teaching focuses heavily on strategy and events, leading teaching on modules such as Event Policy and Planning, Strategic Event Design, and Strategic Event Creation. My research focusses specifically upon Marketing Events, part of the Experiential Marketing eruption, and I have published a number of journal papers. I have recently edited a book entitled Strategic Event Creation with colleagues which sets out an agenda for the practice, and teaching, of events. Most recently completed my PhD entitled ‘Strategic Application of Marketing Events’ which continues to be my main interest.
Beyond that I have two fabulous daughter, a wonderful partner, and two amazing dogs called Baxter and Will. I also have a passion for running and was most recently, in January this year, running the Hong Kong Marathon in pouring rain.
British Science Week takes place in March this year. Events are being run at the Bournemouth Natural Science Society (BNSS) during this time. Dates and times of presentations do vary.
Location: Bournemouth Natural Science Society (BNSS)
Speakers:
Date: Saturday 12th March
Time: 2.30pm
Brendan McNamara will give a talk entitled Plutonium: the stellar element for our future energy needs. Brendan is a fusion scientist and a regular speaker at BNSS. He will give an introduction to this important element.
Date: Tuesday 15th March
Time: 7.30pm
Prof. Lindy Holden-Dye will give a talk entitled How clever is a nematode? Prof. Holden-Dye holds a Chair in Neuroscience at the Univ. of Southampton. She will talk about nematode worms which are often parasites but also used as model organism to study the nervous system.
Date: Saturday 19th March
Time: 2.30pm
Dr Sarah Bate from BU on Face Recognition: an individual differences approach. Dr Bate directs the Centre for Face Processing Disorders at Bournemouth University. She will talk about the features we use to distinguish faces and about people with ‘face blindness a condition which may affect up to 2% of the population.
Congratulations to Miguel Moital from the Department of Events & Leisure, Faculty of Management, on his new publication which appears in the latest issue of Psychology & Marketing. The paper, entitled “Segmenting the Business Traveler Based on Emotions, Satisfaction, and Behavioral Intention” is the result of a collaboration with Angel Millan and Maria Luisa Fanjul from Spain. The study demonstrates that the relationship between emotions and satisfaction is not unidirectional as far as business tourism is concerned. For two of the four segments, the valence of emotions translated into an opposite level of satisfaction/intention.
Screenshot of Psychology & Marketing Article
Full reference
Campos, A. M, Fanjul, M. L., and Moital, M., 2016. Segmenting the business traveler based on emotions, satisfaction and behavioral intention, Psychology & Marketing, 33(2), 82-93
As well as the lectures, debates, films and music at the Interdisciplinary Research Week 2016, we have even more events that are of interest to all. These include:
Monday 25 January 2016
Ashley Woodfall
Researching with Children and Young People: Method and Mayhem
EB708, Executive Business Centre, 16:00-18:00
This ‘catalyst’ event is an opportunity for anyone with an interest in research with children and young people to:
Operating in a ‘bring and buy’ spirit, this event recognises the benefits of sharing knowledge and expertise across different disciplines. The event is open to all those interested in research with children and young people whatever their research interests, affiliation or tradition.
Thursday 28 January 2016
Professor Matt Bentley
Interdisciplinary Research Training Session
KG03, Talbot Campus, 09:30-11:00
This 90-minute training session will give attendees the opportunity to find out more about interdisciplinary research including:
Click on the links above to book on to the events.
What would Marty McFly need in 25 years’ time? EB705, Executive Business Centre – For BU academics and researchers only, we also have on Tuesday 26th January (10.00 – 17.00) and Wednesday 27th January 2016 (morning only) an interactive workshop session designed to tackle a big question for modern day life – how digital technology affects different aspects of our daily lives. The session will create a collaborative space for researchers to share ideas, challenge assumptions and develop future research proposals.
To take part in this exciting opportunity, BU academic and research staff should complete the Sandpit Application Form and return this to Dianne Goodman by Tuesday 12th January. Places are strictly limited.
Then we want to hear from you! 🙂
The University is currently compiling the data for the annual Higher Education – Business & Community Interaction survey (HE-BCI) due to be submitted to HESA shortly. Data returned is used to calculate our HEIF grant.
We are asked to submit details of social, cultural and community events designed for the external community (to include both free and chargeable events) which took place between 1 August 2014 and 31 July 2015.
Event types that should be returned include, but are not limited to:
We cannot return events such as open days, Student Union activity, commercial conferences, etc.
All events that we ran as part of the Festival of Learning, ESRC Festival of Social Science and Cafe Scientifique series are likely to be eligible for inclusion and we will collate this information on your behalf centrally.
If you have been involved with any other event which could be returned, please could you let your contact (see below) know the event name and date, whether it was free or chargeable, the estimated number of attendees, and an estimate of how much academic time was spent preparing for (but not delivering) the event:
The data returned is used by HEFCE to allocate the HEIF funding so it is important that we return as accurate a picture as possible.
The countdown has begun for Innovate 2015. From international investors, entrepreneurs, to government and academia, everyone who is anyone in innovation will be attending. Discover the full range of support available to help your business grow faster, get funding, make connections and go global. Innovate 2015 is a two day event designed to stimulate opportunities for innovation, export and investment for the UK’s most innovative companies, at all growth stages. Secure your two-day tickets now for £199 (plus VAT). One-day tickets to the event are also available for £165 (plus VAT).
Are you a member of the University Association for Contemporary European Studies? Successful applicants for Small Event Grants will receive up to £1,000 of funding for one-off events, typically conferences or workshops. Closing date Friday 18th September 2015. Proposals are welcome on any aspect of contemporary European Studies, particularly interdisciplinary proposals which encourage the participation…
Hello!
14:Live will be returning on Tuesday 24th March 14:00-14:45 at the same location, Poole House Refectory, next to papa johns. This is open to all staff and students and I am pleased to welcome Professor Matthew Bennett, Professor Of Environmental And Geographical Sciences.
Title of talk,
Walking the Landscape: Footprints, Human Evolution and Forensic Science
Matthew has spent several years pursuing footprints in the landscape throughout Africa, Europe and Central America. In this talk he shares some of his field experiences from the discovery of the Ileret footprints in 2009, to his work in Namibia on tiny children’s tracks. He will show how this work has been transformed by digital technology and is being translated into practical tools applicable in forensic science. In time, he hopes that these tools will be adopted by law enforcement agencies both in the UK and overseas leading to improved criminal intelligence gathering.
Matthew will also talk about the launch of a new BU Institute – Institute for Studies in Landscape and Human Evolution (ISLHE) –, it’s research agenda and how staff and students can get involved. The evolution of our own species in parts of East Africa occurred with a backdrop of profound climate change. The prevailing idea is that our family tree with its many false branches and extinctions was determined at least in part by these climatic changes. But East Africa is a landscape of tectonics and volcanism; a dynamic landscape of change which may filter the impact of climate. Matthew and his colleagues in ISLHE, particularly Dr Sally Reynolds who joined BU last summer, are re-framing questions about our evolution and placing them a landscape-orientated rather than climate perspective. Come and join him for this informal presentation to find out more about his own research journey and that of ISLHE.
It would be great to see you all there to listen to what’s going to be a very interesting talk about Professor Matthew Bennetts study, and just to give you that little bit more incentive to come along, there will be 30 x tokens for the first 30 audience members to be exchanged for a FREE individual Papa Johns Pizza at the end of the talk, plus lots of free tea & coffee, water & juices, dont miss out!
If you have any questions about this event or would like to hear about any other upcoming student engagement with research events, contact me on ssquelch@bournemouth.ac.uk
I look forward to seeing you there!
“The focus on dialogue, on exchange rather than simple knowledge transfer, which is the heart of true Public Engagement, is one of the greatest challenges for the modern university”
Michael Worton, UCL (University College London)
Can you present your research through comedy? Here are a few ‘top’ examples from the sensational ‘Bright Club’ ran by UCL:
If you are new to running a free public engagement event, an evening like ‘Bright Club’ is sure to be an enjoyable first experience. It’s exciting, innovative and creative structure brings together those from the academia world and those outside into a relaxed, informal setting where research can be communicated through an interactive and engaging way.
Throughout the evening, those researchers participating would be allocated a short time to present their comical performance on their research and there would be a professional host to ‘kick’ off and manage the evening.
Being involved in an event like this is a fantastic way to ‘brush-up’ on your presentation and performance skills and allows you to share your research in an entertaining and memorable way. It is also a fantastic way of raising awareness of your research and influencing the attitudes and values of your audience to your research.
A comedy club style evening is also very beneficial for both the audience members, and the performers. The members of the audience are able to hear about all the interesting research that goes on behind our institutional walls, learn from this and have a good time! Performers and researchers also benefit greatly as they develop/improve skills, gain feedback on their research – and have a good time!
Time to perform…..
If you would like to get involved in the Festival of Learning 2014 by hosting an event like ‘Bright Club’ and/or have some exciting ideas for any other type of public engagement activity, please register your interest with myself, Naomi Kay: or my colleague Harry Gibson.
There is also a useful blog post on why public engagement is beneficial here and other innovative ways of getting involved with public engagement here.
Please remember the deadline is 12 noon Friday this week (19th)
We have had a wealth of interest from the BU community submitting ideas for their Festival of Learning 2015 events and would like to encourage as many of you as possible to send us your proposals before the deadline this Friday. We have been releasing a number of “What could you do” themed blog posts to inspire you to think of some creative and innovative ways of engaging the public with your research which you can take a look at here.
To find out more about the Festival of Learning and for guidance on how to submit your proposal, take a look at the help pages on the research blog.
If you experience any issues accessing the proposal form please contact Naomi Kay on 61342 or email nkay@bournemouth.ac.uk
Public engagement is a brilliant way to enhance your skills as an academic, and also to get a new perspective on your research. A good public engagement event should encourage a two way dialog and the goal should be mutual benefit. As the Public Engagement Officer here at BU my role is to support you in delivering your research to the public and ensuring you get something out of it as well! Here are a few upcoming opportunities (with a variety of audiences!) that may interest you. To find out more about any of these opportunities, or to find out more about public engagement in general please do get in touch.
The Festival of Learning is running from the 11th-17th July and the deadline for proposals is 12 noon on the 19th December. The festival is open to anyone to submit events, including academics, professional services and students (both undergraduate and postgraduate). Previous events have involved everything from short lectures to whole days spent out on an archaeological dig. To find out more about the festival and about how you can apply click here.
We run on tour events throughout the year however the majority take place over the summer. We’re next going out on tour between the 11th-13th December to be part of the Bournemouth Christmas Market. A good activity would be something interactive that’s quick for the public to engage with, on average each engagement last 5 minutes, but gives them a snapshot of your research. We’re still looking for people to join our on tour team for December’s events. This can be a great opportunity to trial an idea with us for as and you can come along for as little as half a day or the whole thing. Email me to find out more.
Explora Science are a charity looking to set up a Science and Discovery Centre in Poole. In order to trial run the centre they are setting up a pop up shop in Poole in February, in which they will put on a number of interactive activities. They need volunteers to help encourage visitors to explore exhibits further. For example, prompting them to push the right button and explaining why things work the way they do. The event is running for two weeks (9th-20th) and they need volunteers who can do a minimum of 3 days in that period. In exchange for volunteering they will cover travel expenses, and also provide you with valuable science communication training. Find out more about Explora Science on their website or email me to find out more about the opportunity.
Famelab is an international competition aimed at finding the best new voices in science and engineering in which contestants have just three minutes to pitch a scientific concept. The Bristol heat is taking place 10th December at 7pm. Click here to find out the details and let us know if you’re competing and we can help with your travel expenses.
Café Scientifique happens monthly in Boscombe and involves giving a short presentation and then having a discussion with the audience. Take a look at the website for an idea of past events and email if you’d like to run a session.
The U3A are interested in a public lecture day at the University. This is likely to take place in April and will involve several speakers throughout the day – possibly around a theme. Let us know if you’d like to be involved or wish to engage with this over 50’s age group.
Many of you have been involved in BU’s summer public engagement road show that’s been to places near and far, including our own town centre, Christchurch Food Festival, and further afield to Bestival, and Glastonbury. This year we’re taking our Festival of Learning stand to the Christmas Market for some festive fun!
From the 11th – 13th December you’ll find the public engagement team down in the Triangle supporting a range of our academic staff as they deliver activities for the public to enjoy. So far we have activities planned looking at DNA, microscopic organisms, fitness activities in the home, as well as some quick and easy psychological tests. We’d like to support as many of you as possible to share your research with the public so if you’re interested in being involved get in touch!
We’ll be running the stand 11.30am – 8pm each day and can support activities that want to run for all of that time, or if you just want to spend a few hours with us. It can be a great opportunity to trial your plans for the Festival of Learning in July and see how the public react to your research.
We’re open to ideas for activities from academics, PGRs and students. Anything interactive and eye-catching is a bonus – and don’t worry it doesn’t have to be Christmas themed! (We do of course support the wearing of Christmas jumpers, Santa hats and Reindeer antlers if that’s your style!)
If you’re interested in engaging students with your research then we are also running a series of “Science Stands” in Poole House Atrium on the 4th and 9th December. Please get in touch with Sam Squelch our Student Engagement Coordinator for further details on how to be involved.
The deadline for proposals is just four short weeks away so if you want to be part of the fantastic Festival of Learning in 2015 then make sure you get your thinking cap on soon!
Remember you can find out more about what the Festival of Learning is and how to submit your proposal by looking at our help pages here.
To inspire you I’ve collected together a couple of some interesting events I’ve seen recently,
For those of you not familiar with the concept of a Ceilidh, it’s a type of Scottish folk dancing. This band have found a way to combine their passion for music with their love of science to provide an innovative way of telling the public about concepts such as the circulatory system and cancer through the medium of dance. Take a look at a video of their work here.
Another event from the creative geniuses up in Scotland, DEADinburgh is an event in which the last remaining uninfected population of Edinburgh hear from scientists about topics such as Zombie Psychology, epidemic control, ethics of slaughtering the undead, before voting on whether or not to cull the Zombies as the epidemic is spreading through the streets or search for a cure in order to save the city. Costumes are involved. As awesome as this sounds just in a fictional sense, it also draws parallels to the real issues we face with epidemics such as HIV and Ebola making it a truly thought provoking and vital event that encourages participants to question “what it meas to be human”.
These events both show unique ways of communicating research to the public using music and theater. If this is something you’d like to explore feel free to get in touch.
You can also find the public engagement team at the Retreat this Monday as we’ll attending the R&KEO coffee morning from 9.30-10.30am. We’ll be there to offer advice, support and even just a second opinion on what can make your Festival of Learning proposal successful.
Friday 7th November 2014, Executive Business Centre
There has been much written on the latest developments relating to additive manufacturing or 3D printing as it is more commonly known. The recent rise of low-cost consumer 3D printers have also made the headlines and raised interesting and complex questions.
However, there is limited literature and debate on the implications of 3D printing surrounding intellectual property law, economics, policy, society and technology.
To understand these various implications, this event, co-sponsored by the ESRC and UKIPO and hosted by Dr. Dinusha Mendis Co-Director CIPPM, will bring together industry experts, social scientists, policy makers, lawyers, economists and manufacturers of 3D printing and as such will go beyond the developments in 3D printing in order to understand the implications for various stakeholders.
It will take place on Friday 7th November, 2014 at Bournemouth University’s Executive Business Centre, 89 Holdenhurst Road, BH8 8EB (close to the main railway station).
The event will also provide the platform for a discussion and peer-review of the UKIPO Commissioned Report on the Intellectual Property Implications of 3D printing carried out by researchers at Bournemouth University and Econolyst.
This multi-disciplinary event will be complemented by an exhibition of 3D printing facilities provided by Bournemouth University together with one of the world’s largest 3D printing open-source companies, Ultimaker (Winner of Best Consumer Product and Best Consumer Software at the 2014 3D Print Show Global Awards).
The event is free to attend, although spaces are limited and registration is required. Those with a research interest in 3D printing are welcome to engage in debate on the challenges and opportunities facing this latest emerging technology.
For further information about the event and programme, please visit the CIPPM website. For queries, please contact BU Events (buevents[at]bournemouth.ac.uk) or Dr. Dinusha Mendis (dmendis[at]bournemouth.ac.uk)
Stuck for event ideas for the Festival of learning in 2015!?
Well don’t worry! In this blog post Festival Fever will take over and show you events which have worked well in the past and possibly a few stand-out ideas you may wish to build upon for this year.
Let us take you through a countdown of ‘Hit’ topics and stand out events of last year’s festival as well as eye catching events at the British Science Festival and stand out events you could run in the future!
Hits at last year’s Festival of Learning
5. Marketing and business skills
Have you thought of creating a business event which focuses on marketing? Well if last year’s attendance at this event is anything to go by you will attract a very strong turnout. This event was fully booked last year and is a safe bet to draw in business professionals and members of the public alike! If you can use group discussions in your event this will also enhance the experience for individuals who are attending.
4. Gaming, computers and coding
These topics proved highly popular throughout the festival. Key examples of this success were ‘Is gaming the new reading?’ and ‘Hour of code.’ It really does seem that computers are becoming vital organs in modern life; this means the potential to interest large numbers will always be there when choosing an event of this genre.
3. Everyday professional skills
Teamwork,time management, or the magic of mailbox management. Is there an event you could run that would tap into helping people develop these skills? If you have a clever way to engage the audience in a workshop that can enrich their professional development your event will be in high demand as well as an interesting way to give back to the community.
2. Health and fitness
Health related topics have shown to be popular both in the past at the festival, but also at other UK science festivals. Fitness is something that is at the forefront of many of our minds and if you’ve got an interesting take on this you’ll be sure to get the public onside.
1. Topics involving real-world current issues
Tying your event into current issues can help inspire debate in panel sessions, as well as draw in big audiences. They are also more likely to be picked up for press coverage and could help to boost your event numbers even further.
Eye catching events at the British Science Festival
As you may have seen in an earlier series of blog posts, we recently attended the British Science Festival to get some inspiration on what to include in our own Festival of Learning. You can read the full post of hot events from the festival here, but these were two of our favorites:
-The Huxley debate (As seen at the British Science Festival)
A debate which puts the spotlight on the security flaws of companies such as Facebook and Google can really entice a large number of people, “why is this?” you may ask, the reason is that the companies Facebook and Google touch the lives of the majority of us. This in the media spotlight with recent scandals SnapChat and Icloud storage!
-Your Astonishing Liver/ Health related topics
A further hit from the British Science Festival was ‘Your Astonishing Liver’ this proved to have a very strong turnout, with an audience of varying demographics. The clear strength of all health related topics is their ability to create very strong debates with the audience. In “Your astonishing liver” the panel facilitated a health debate around the right for non-registered organ donors to receive donated organs through the use of electronic voting. By using the response pads and looking at the results on a screen this is an engaging way of illustrating the discussion and capturing data from your event.
Other ideas to set your event apart from the crowd
Take your event offsite to a unique venue – what about approaching the aquarium to find out if you could run your event there?
Run your activity as part of the Festival of Learning On Tour so people get a taster for it in advance?
In more general terms, what can really add to the experience for the general public are events that are uniquely wacky and involve free samples as well as hands on activity. By having a strong blend of these ideas in your event, you can really stand out from the crowd and get your event noticed.
For help and support in developing your event email Naomi Kay, Public Engagement Officer in R&KEO.
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