BU Research Blog

July 2, 2015

Yesterday’s BRAD session – Public Engagement

Public engagement, Training Dianne Goodman

We had a very enjoyable and engaging BRAD session yesterday with Steve Dorney the Principal Public Engagement Fellow at the University of Southampton.

Here we have our Adrian Butterworth from the Faculty of Media and Communication demonstrating one of the many unusual items Steve brought in as an idea to possibly provoke, encourage engagement and participation with the public which did it’s job with us too – we became a little obsessed with making the bowl resonate causing a sound and the water to leap and dance.

As mentioned previously Steve Dorney is on Southampton’s Engaged University Steering Group and his activities extend to impact enhancement, student employability and outreach, as well as core support for Public Engagement with Research (PER) via a dedicated support unit www.soton.ac.uk/per .

He co-ordinates the Bringing Research to Life Roadshow www.soton.ac.uk/roadshow and through this has collaborated previously with BU on public engagement activities.

Steve led this workshop on how to make the most of public engagement, a key part of demonstrating the impact of your research and we covered:

An overview of the PER agenda in the UK and internationallyExamples of effective PER from various disciplines
Practical ‘top tips’ from Steve’s experiences in public engagement
Why do public engagement – what’s in it for researchers?
Strategies for presenting your research to public audiences
How to build public engagement into your research planning
Costing and funding public engagement activities
Opportunities for collaboration
Evaluating public engagement
Public engagement, REF 2014, REF 2020 and Impact Case Studies
Opportunities to get your public engagement noticed, i.e. awards etc.

Missed this session and would like to be notified when we possibly run it again please send an email to me dgoodman@bournemouth.ac.uk

Also it is not too late to book into one of our last 2 BRAD sessions being held on the Monday the 6th of July see below:

June 25, 2015

Distinguished Social Science Public Lectures Series at BU

Edwin van Teijlingen

Presenting for the first time at this year’s Festival of Learning: the first two Distinguished Social Scientists Public Lectures at Bournemouth University. The inaugural lecture will be given by Professor John Holmwood on Monday 13th July at 18.00. John is Professor of Sociology at the University of Nottingham and founder of the Campaign for the Public University.

His lecture will centred on ‘The University, Democracy and the Public Interest.’ Following the election of 2010, the nature of the university was dramatically changed following the introduction of tuition fees and the removal of direct public funding from arts, humanities and social science subjects. This reduced public spending on higher education by 82%, shifting the costs on to students with increased revenues going into higher education. The lecture will suggest that the university has shifted from being at the service of democracy to being at the service of markets and their associated inequalities, such that it is now integral to a democratic deficit at the heart of wider public policy.

Tickets for John’s lecture can be booked at no cost here.

The second public lecture will be presented by Professor Judy Wajcman, Anthony Giddens, Professor of Sociology, at the London School of Economics on 16 July, 6-8.30 pm. Her lecture is based on her new book Pressed for Time: The Acceleration of Life in Digital Capitalism.

More, better, faster. That’s modern life. And it’s all driven by the very devices that were supposed to make our lives better—our communication devices, which, rather than easing our work and social lives, instead impinge, leaving us no refuge from our responsibilities. But what if it’s not the devices that are to blame? What if we turn that around, and remind ourselves that they’re just tools—and that we can decide how to design and use them. It is only by bringing a social science lens to such issues that we can begin to understand how we have remade time and remade ourselves in digital culture.

Tickets for Judy’s lecture can be booked at no cost here.

The Distinguished Social Scientists Public Lecture Serie is facilitated by BU Professor Ann Brooks.

June 14, 2015

Lightning Talks event – come and find out about the exciting research undertaken by BU staff and student researchers!

Festival of Learning Julie Northam

Lightning Talks: An adrenaline rush of research

On Monday 13 July, between 6-8pm, a group of BU staff and student researchers will present lightning talks of their research and its significance. They each have just five minutes to do this. The audience will vote for the best presentation at the end, followed by a drinks reception.

Come along and find out more about the research undertaken by BU researchers! Talks cover a whole range of topics, from dementia to climate change to PR.

To book a place, visit: https://microsites.bournemouth.ac.uk/festival-of-learning/events/lightning-talks-an-adrenaline-rush-of-research/. This event is part of BU’s Festival of Learning.

June 2, 2015

Did you catch the Festival of Learning On-Tour in Falklands Square last weekend?

Festival of Learning, Public engagement gibsonh

On Saturday (30^th May) the Festival of Learning On-Tour arrived in Falklands Square. The weather surprisingly held up and made for a sunny day full of activities for the public to engage with.

Some activities were focused on the younger generation, this included digging for, and then painting fossils and also soap making, which gave a hands on experience of making soap and the chance to take home the soap that had been made.

There were also activities for all ages to immerse in, hand-grip strength was tested in a competition format,there was a display of skulls to handle and the challenge of guessing the age of each one, and also various archaeological activities, which included maritime artifacts and also an archaeological quiz!

This event also saw the first distribution of the Festival of Learning brochure for this years Festival, this included give away items such as; a Festival of Learning branded water bottle, branded fridge magnets and also Festival of Learning balloons.

If you would like to be a part of this year’s Festival of Learning, you can take a look and book events through our website here.

May 5, 2015

Are you interested in joining the public engagement team in Poole town centre on 30th May?

Public engagement gibsonh

With the Festival of Learning two months away, our On-Tour programmes are well underway. In May of this year we have an opportunity for you to get involved in running a public engagement activity for the general public.

What are the benefits from being involved in the Festival of Learning on tour?

Running an activity as part of the on-tour programme will enable anyone who’s new to public engagement to gain confidence in communicating research to the public, as well as providing a fresh perspective on research from audience members with differing levels of knowledge and understanding. Most of all … it will be great fun!

What kind of activity could I run?

In the past we have had very successful activities which have engaged the public and created a great atmosphere when taking the Festival of Learning On-Tour. The first example is an activity run by Marine Archaeology, who brought artefacts and wrecks from their dives; this included full size cannon (which was very popular with the younger generation). A second example is painting fossils as an activity; this had a great appeal to families as the activity provided a hands-on experience. We also encourage Post Graduate students to run activities around their research, an example of this was an activity which looked into our DNA and provided a quiz to test what participants had learnt.

If you are interested in running an activity, please email Harry Gibson, who will be able to provide you with more information on what will be required for the day and help you develop your activity.

April 12, 2015

Knowledge Exchange and Impact: how have we been flying the KEIT for you?

Public engagement ssquelch

The Knowledge Exchange and Impact Team (fondly known to us as KEIT) is a relatively new team within RKEO. KEIT is made up of an enthusiastic group of people working to ensure that BU’s research and knowledge is informed by society for the benefit of society on a number of cross institutional projects such as the Festival of Learning and HEIF-5 funded initiatives, amongst many others!

A busy month for KEIT has seen the public engagement team run Café Scientifique on Tuesday 7^th April, Dr James Dyke from Southampton University came to Café Boscanova and gave a brilliant talk on ‘Is humanity really in the existential danger zone’. The team have also seen the launch of a new public lecture series, with the support of the U3A. Attendees provided positive feedback and were extremely keen to interact with the talks throughout the day. This event had a great variety of speakers on topics such as health, exercise, nutrition and more.

We now have 5 live Knowledge Transfer Partnerships and are recruiting candidates to work with our academics and interested businesses. The KTP Academic Development Scheme cohort 2 started last week, kicking off with a development day on KTP. The next KTP submission deadline is this week and we already have 2 submissions from Science & Technology and are looking forward to receiving more!

KEIT have managed to communicate our fantastic research across many channels, including an article on Dr Sally Reynolds’ research, featured in Dorset Magazine, entitled ‘how have landscapes shaped human evolution?’ BU also featured a profile piece in International Innovation, a magazine run by Research Media. Another publication for BU to be proud of is Bournemouth Echo publishing one of our research articles from the BRC, click here to read that article on Dr Kevin McGhee’s research on ‘Could fruit flies hold key to understanding schizophrenia?’.

Our student engagement programme has seen events take place over the last month, with 14:Live taking place on the 24^th March. Professor Matthew Bennett gave an amazing talk on ‘Walking the Landscape: Footprints, Human Evolution and Forensic Science’. The Research Photography Competition saw a great number of high quality images submitted to the competition. Voting has now closed and the winner and runners up will be announced shortly.

An article was published in the student newspaper The Rock highlighting some of the research Dr Julie Kirkby is undertaking, which explores how children with dyslexia are affected when reading classroom boards. This article was posted on BU news and was the number one news item and was also picked up by a number of websites.

BU’s HEIF projects received a massive boost with the news that three projects have received funding, including Destination FeelGood and a project from the Faculty of Science and Technology to look into software development for research. Another success of a HEIF funded project, The Wessex Portal is to host the event Wessex Conservation forum twice a year after the success of the first event.

The Research & Knowledge Exchange Office have also been developing the Interdisciplinary Research Week which will take place from 11^th-15^th May 2015. The talks have been scheduled and we are now actively promoting the event. There are many exciting events taking place over the course of the week and you can find a full list of everything that is taking place, from engaging speakers to exciting topics here.

If you’re feeling inspired by our blog post and would like to get involved with some of our projects then feel free to get in touch:

Rebecca Edwards – Knowledge Exchange and Impact Manager

Rachel Bowen – Research Communications Manager

Rachel Clarke – Knowledge Exchange Adviser (KTP)

Jayne Codling – Knowledge Exchange Adviser

Naomi Kay – Public Engagement Officer

Harry Gibson – Public Engagement Event’s Organiser

Sam Squelch – Student Engagement Coordinator

To find out more about us and what we do, take a look at our team page.

January 29, 2015

Flying the KEIT for Knowledge Exchange and Impact with BU’s research

Business Engagement, Knowledge Exchange Naomi Kay

The Knowledge Exchange and Impact Team (fondly known to us as KEIT) are a relatively new team within RKEO. KEIT is made up of an enthusiastic group of people working on exciting institution wide projects aimed at promoting research and engaging everyone from businesses to the general public with the work carried out by our academic community. As a new team we wanted to take the time to introduce some of our favourite successes from 2014, and let you who you can contact if you have an opportunity you think we should be involved with.

Public Engagement

In 2014 we facilitated circa 15,000 engagements with BU research through activities such as the Festival of Learning, On Tour and Café Scientifique. In December we headed off to the National Coordinating Centre for Public Engagement’s annual conference and presented the story of “Professor Puzzles Big Day Out”. The story followed our colourful mascot as he discovered the Festival of Learning, booked his tickets and came along to sessions such as “A Family Safari”, took part in fringe activities to build on his football skills and gave his feedback on his experience through a focus group. The story and gave us a chance to convey the unique nature of the Festival of Learning to our public engagement peers from across the UK. One of the highlights for us was hearing was our session pulled out by delegates as one of the highlights of the conference during the plenary.

Knowledge Transfer Partnerships

In 2014, BU received funding offers for three new Knowledge Transfer Partnerships (KTP). This demonstrates that BU is increasing it’s KTP activity and also our strong links with business. A KTP is a part-funded innovative project between the University and business which is of mutual benefit.

The approved KTPs are diverse in nature and highlight the range of expertise across the Institution:

Five Rivers Child Care and the Faculty of Health and Social Science – To develop, implement and validate an innovative model for the evaluation of intervention and treatment for children in a foster care environment, taking into account the complex developmental, emotional and behavioural needs of the children.
Chantacre and the Faculty of Science and Technology – To develop capability allowing combining cutting edge technologies into a unique solution resulting in internal efficiencies and pioneer new practices in the SME market for mobile convergence.
Nautilus International Risk Consultants and the Faculty of Science and Technology – To embed innovative capability to automatically generate virtual 3D terrain landscapes. This will enhance situational awareness for training and operational purposes in extremely challenging environments in Military/Other Government Departments.

2015 sees the 40th birthday of the KTP programme. This year will be used to celebrate successes from KTP over the past 40 years and our very own Rachel Clarke, KE Adviser (KTP) is on the national steering group for the KTP@40 initiative.

Student Engagement

We’ve been working to enthuse students about the exciting research being done at BU. At the end of last year we took over the atrium on two occasions and ran mini activities for students to have a go at. Stalls included topics such as marine diving videos, setting secure passwords and live action international server hacking maps, psychological taste tests, and displays of microscopic organisms. Over the 2 days over 300 students stopped to interact with stalls and learn more about BU research.

Who’s who

If you’re feeling inspired by our blog post and would like to get involved with some of our projects then feel free to get in touch:

Rebecca Edwards – Knowledge Exchange and Impact Manager

Rachel Bowen – Research Communications Manager

Rachel Clarke – Knowledge Exchange Adviser (KTP)

Jayne Codling – Knowledge Exchange Adviser

Naomi Kay – Public Engagement Officer

Harry Gibson – Public Engagement Event’s Organiser

Sam Squelch – Student Engagement Coordinator

To find out more about us and what we do, take a look at our team page.

January 16, 2015

New Year’s Research Resolution #5 – do some public engagement (it’s fun!)

Festival of Learning, Public engagement Julie Northam

Happy New Year to you all and welcome back!

Each day this week we’ll be posting a New Year’s Research Resolution to help you get back into the swing of things. Today’s resolution is to do some exciting and fun public engagement!

Why do academics do public engagement? There are many reasons why academic undertake public engagement activities (such as to comply with requirements of research funders or with the Concordat for Engaging the Public with Research, or as part of the dissemination plan for a research project) however most do public engagement because it is FUN and puts the passion and excitement back into research!

There are a loads of ways to undertake public engagement, including:

Participating in festivals
Working with museums / galleries / science centres and other cultural venues
Creating opportunities for the public to inform the research questions being tackled
Researchers and public working together to inform policy
Presenting to the public (e.g. public lectures or talks)
Involving the public as researchers (e.g. web based experiments)
Engaging with young people to inspire them about research (e.g. workshops in schools)
Contributing to new media enabled discussion forums
Working with artists (read this amazing article on the Wellcome Trust’s blog – ‘Public Engagement for Researchers Working with Artists’)

And, of course, contributing to BU’s own Festival of Learning 2015! If you’re interested in contributing to the Festival and have not yet submitted your idea to the team, please contact Naomi Kay as soon as possible.

We have dedicated staff in the RKEO to support public engagement, as well as a modest budget to support activities. If you would like to discuss how to get involved then please contact Rebecca Edwards.

December 18, 2014

Festival of Learning 2015 – what could you do? A public debate?

Festival of Learning, Public engagement eloring

Researchers and members of the public alike love a good, classic debate – so why not hold your event in this format?

Hosting a public debate is an excellent way of convincing others of your argument and helping to find a common ground. A public debate stimulates new intellectual ideas and could be the answer to finding a solution for a communal problem. So effectively this could help you find answers for your research? Or it could even give you new research ideas!

Café Scientifique is the perfect example for a successful public debate event. At Café Scientifique we have a 35-40 minute presentation by a guest speaker followed by a 20 minute debate – although, this usually goes on for much longer! Differences in opinions can challenge people’s perceptions. A public debate is worth doing, if you love winning!

You can see how much the public love a debate, here on our YouTube channel.

Please remember that the open call for proposals closes on 19th December at 12 noon! If you wish to put forward an idea, please contact Naomi Kay as soon as possible!

December 18, 2014

Festival of Learning on Tour and Professor Puzzles!

Festival of Learning, Public engagement ssquelch

Last Thursday and Saturday 11^th and 13^th December, Festival of Learning on Tour went to Bournemouth’s Christmas market to showcase some fantastic research activities, based on the work of BU’s academics. The response from members of the public was extremely positive and many seemed keen to attend future events at the 2015 Festival of Learning (11-17 July)

Some of the activities showcased to the members of the public included James Gavin’s Exercise Science at Home, involving a handgrip strength task which tested upper body strength and the sit and stand test which tested lower body strength. Dr Kevin McGhee senior lecturer in Health Sciences was also there with PHD student Rosa-Spencer Tansley to talk to people about the basics of DNA.

Researcher Tom Cousins and PHD student Orestes Manousos brought along some artefacts from marine archaeology dives, carried out to find artefacts of wrecks from WW1 and WW2 which included a cannon!

While these amazing research activities were a great way to engage members of the public with the Festival of Learning, there was also some time for a very special friend of ours to make an appearance, yes, wait for it………….Professor Puzzles, the Festival of Learning’s best friend made an appearance at the Christmas markets and absolutely wowed members of the public with some of his smooth dance moves and gave them photos which they will remember for a long time. We have decided to spoil you by uploading some of the photos from Professor Puzzles walk around the Christmas markets below.

With the huge success of the Christmas markets, the Festival of Learning on Tour will return again in the summer, for more details about this, email Naomi Kay on nkay@bournemouth.ac.uk

Don’t forget that the deadline to submit an event for the Festival of Learning 2015 is 12 noon on Friday 19^th December, fast approaching, so don’t miss out on the opportunity to be a part of the Festival, click here if you would like to submit an event.

Professor Puzzles at the market!

Professor Puzzles showing of some smooth moves!

December 17, 2014

Festival of learning, what could you do?

Festival of Learning, Public engagement gibsonh

With the deadline for the Festival of Learning now approaching, there is still time to get in your event to submit before the 12 noon 19^th December deadline, hurry, do not miss out!

Events come in all shapes and sizes so you may be finding it a bit challenging to choose what you want to do from all of the options available to you, so here is an idea that could turn your July into a Festival full of fun.

Have you ever thought about targeting those into sport and the effect it has on our economy?

Sport is a major contributor to our entertainment and a lot of people find it a great way to socialise with their friends by either watching or playing in their favorite sports, however, when a major sporting event is on like the World Cup or Olympics have you ever stopped to think about the effect it has on our economy?

Whilst previous hosts of the Olympic Games has seen a long term economic benefit, such as Barcelona, scholarly research has found that any gains are difficult to identify. So as there may be gains from hosting the Olympic games, there is also a lot of cost.

With interest in sport growing year by year, is this a topic that you feel you could bring to the public and change their perception on what they feel about future major sporting events?

If you can see yourself running an event at the Festival of Learning then please click here and remember that the deadline is only a matter of days away and closes on the 19^th December.

December 17, 2014

Festival of Learning 2015 – What could you do? An interactive public lecture?

Festival of Learning, Public engagement eloring

Open call is out for proposals and all members of staff and students have the opportunity to get involved in the Festival of Learning 2015. In 2013, the Festival held over 100 free to attend activities and received an estimated 4,000 visits. In the Festival evaluation, there was an average satisfaction score of 6 out of 7 (where 7 equalled excellent) and 96% of people said they would return to another event! We need to hear from you by 6^th December if you want to get involved in 2014.

There are many aims of the Festival, including enhancing regional engagement, improving ‘town and gown’ relations, demonstrating our commitment to public engagement and to provide a chance to celebrate life at BU having great fun along the way. For you personally there are also many benefits that being involved in public engagement can bring and you can learn about them here.

Until the deadline for proposals, my colleague Rebecca Edwards and I will be writing a series of blog posts to help you think about what you could do as part of the Festival.

An interactive public lecture……

Most readers will have participated in presenting lectures and talks and therefore have the experience of communicating to a bigger crowd. Some of you may have never presented to a large audience. Whether you are an expert in presentations or have had no experience, it is still important to consider how you can make your presentation exciting, especially to a non-specialist audience.

Sharing your expertise and knowledge to help people learn and grow is what makes public engagement so exciting.

Here are a few hot tips on how to keep your public lecture as enthusing and interactive as possible.

Why not use Turning point? This enables the audience to physically get involved with your presentation, and may also help with your research! Or if you don’t trust the technology, why not get people voting with your favourite props?

Practical demonstrations – for a short period of your lecture, why not lecture your audience get involved in some demonstrations or experiments?

Visual aids – Everyone has a different learning style, and there are some who are visual learners – so why not make your public lecture more ‘dashing’ by adding presentation slides catchy pictures, videos and charts to show data?

Tangible interaction – items that individuals can physically touch may enhance their experience.

Engaging tales – sharing inspiring stories and examples related to your research will engage your non-specialist audience

Allow the audience to learn something new and fascinating about them – This is something that was mentioned in the Festival of Learning 2013 feedback. Attendees said how they loved learning new things about themselves.

Debate and discussion session – this will encourage members of the public to get involved and put forth their thoughts/ideas. This would be more appropriate for those linguistic learners.

You can find some really useful tips regarding engaging presentations here and also some engagement guides here.

If you would like to get involved in the Festival of Learning 2014 and have some exciting ideas for a public lecture or anything other type of public engagement activity, please register your interest with Naomi Kay: or my colleague Harry Gibson

December 16, 2014

Festival of Learning 2015– what could you do? A comedy evening?

Public engagement eloring

“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:

Lust
Space
Food
Power
Time

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)

December 15, 2014

Deadline for Festival of Learning events 12 Noon Friday 19 December

Festival of Learning Naomi Kay

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

December 15, 2014

Festival of Learning 2015 – what could you do? Live-lab experiments?

Festival of Learning, Public engagement eloring

As part of the Festival of Learning 2015, my colleague Rebecca Edwards and I are planning on including a series of ‘live-lab’ experiments throughout the Festival. The Festival of Learning feedback in 2013, mentioned that members of the public liked to get hands-on and physically involved with the experiments and loved learning new things about themselves. Some ideas that spring to mind could be a series of psychology experiments, perception experiments or science experiments. Note: However much they love to watch the experiment, they love to do it themselves even more! Organising an event like this, is what will enhance the Festival ‘feel’ and ‘atmosphere’, so we are encouraging researchers to organise as many activities like this as possible!

Running a ‘live-lab’ session also holds many benefits for you, as a researcher. By involving the members of the general public in your experiments, you can easily collect and collate data, that might have proven tricky to get before. It will also increase your sample size, in 2013 more than 4,000 people attended events at the Festival of Learning.

BU researchers that have engaged with the public have spoken about how much fun it was!

Here are some stimulating examples:

1) Perception – Organised by the Cambridge Science Centre

Is seeing believing? Find out how illusions can fool your brain and reveal how we really perceive the world around us.

Why not organise a showcase of experiments, where people can test how easily their brain is fooled and the science behind illusions?

2) Animal Adaptions – British Science Festival 2012

How do cheetahs run so fast yet manage to turn so quickly? How do whales dive so deep? Why do marine iguanas sneeze? This is an exciting workshop where you can help scientists do wacky experiments to explore the wonderful ways that animals are adapted to their environments.

3) Why don’t we eat as we intend? The Psychology of Dietary Control – British Science Festival 2012

We all know what we should and shouldn’t eat. However, tasty high calorie foods surround us and, as a result, most of us struggle to stick to our dietary intentions. Discuss the psychology of dietary control and take part in a range of psychological tests designed to illustrate why resisting temptation is so hard.

4) Drugs and Sport – British Science Festival 2013

Drug use in sport has never been far from the headlines. In this workshop, you can explore the science behind the headlines and find out how athletes are tested for drugs by carrying out some of the tests yourself on simulated samples.

If you would like to get involved in the Festival of Learning 2015 by holding a ‘live-lab’ style session and/or have some exciting ideas for any other type of public engagement activity, please register your interest with either myself,Naomi Kay: or my colleague Harry Gibson.

. Please return this to Naomi Kay by 19th December.

December 11, 2014

Festival of Learning 2015 – what could you do? A FACT OR FICTION style event?

Festival of Learning, Public engagement eloring

Do you remember the programme ‘Beyond Belief: Fact or Fiction’ or today’s ‘Fact or Fiction’?

These two very popular television programmes challenged the audiences and members of the public to identify which one was true, and which one was false. This used to be quite a thought-provoking activity, challenging people’s perceptions and beliefs.

Is your research challenging and inspiring? Will it stimulate debate and discussion on ‘what’s right?’ and ‘what’s wrong?’

A ‘Fact or Fiction’ themed event will not only be enjoyable and insightful for the event organisers, but also for the members of the public who will be a part of this exciting and educational activity. Theming your event and encouraging attendees to participate will help them to learn and remember this one-of-a-kind experience.

Here are some examples for inspiration from other Festivals (including the British Science Festival 2012 and 2013) of ‘Fact or Fiction’ styled events:

Cyber Pearl Harbour: Fact or Fiction? – Organised by Northumbria University

The picture painted by the US Defense Secretary of successful cyber attacks is one of doom and destruction. Is this a picture of cold harsh realities or political hype?

Food Addiction: Fact or Fiction? – Organised by Rowett Institute of Nutrition and Health, University of Aberdeen and University of Essen, Germany

There are many complex factors which lead to people being overweight or obese, but the basic question is why do some people eat too much? Are they addicted to food? Join our international panel of psychiatrists and scientists to explore whether eating food can be so rewarding that it leads to a state of addiction similar to that seen with alcohol and drugs.

CSI: Fact or Fiction? – Organised by Robert Gordon University

Internationally renowned forensic scientist David Barclay has over 30 years’ experience and has worked on some of the highest profile cases in the UK and abroad. Discover how science played a key part in investigating these crimes and how scientific evidence is evaluated in the overall context of the investigation. Supplementary workshops at RGU will allow you to see first-hand some of the forensic techniques used.

Will you participate in the Festival of Learning: Fact or Fiction?

If you would like to get involved in the Festival of Learning 2014 by hosting an event like ‘Fact or Fiction‘ and/or have some exciting ideas for any other type of public engagement activity, please register your interest with either myself, Naomi Kay: or my colleague Harry Gibson

And do remember the proposal deadline is the 19th December

December 11, 2014

Festival of Learning 2014 not ‘finished’ yet!

Festival of Learning, Publishing Edwin van Teijlingen

Whilst the call for 2015 Festival of Learning activities is already out, some of us are still busy with the 2014 one. This past year Prof. Vanora Hundley (Faculty of Health & Social Sciences) led a debate about the impact of the mass media on women’s view of childbirth. The debate was centred around The media is responsible for creating fear in childbirth.

Elizabeth Duff from the NCT and BU Prof. Edwin van Teijlingen affiliated with the Centre for Midwifery, Maternal & Perinatal Health argued in favour of the motion and Joanne Dewberry independent blogger, journalist and successful business woman and Dr. Ann Luce from BU’s Journalism and Communication Academic Group argued against.

The audience were given the opportunity to vote on the motion before and after the debate. The interesting and wide-ranging debate has been written up and it now published in MIDIRS under the title ‘Fear in childbirth: are the media responsible?’

The full reference is: Hundley, V., Duff, E., Dewberry, J., Luce, A., van Teijlingen, E. (2014) Fear in childbirth: are the media responsible? MIDIRS Midwifery Digest 24(4): 444-447.

Professors Edwin van Teijlingen & Vanora Hundley

Centre for Midwifery, Maternal & Perinatal Health

Faculty of Health & Social Sciences

December 10, 2014

Festival of Learning 2015 – what could you do? An ‘adventure’ styled event? Or a ‘treasure’ hunt?

Festival of Learning, Public engagement eloring

It is really important to hold events at the Festival of Learning that not only satisfy and engage the adult community but also the children of our community too. Teaching, inspiring and sharing our knowledge with those of a younger age will hopefully encourage them, to also be researchers in the future.

So, why not hold an ‘adventure’ or ‘treasure hunt’ style event at the Festival of Learning? This will encourage children and families to participate and create exciting new memories.

Children and young adults are engaged by events that involves them participating in a hands-on activity where they can either create or discover something. These are just some ideas off the top of my head, but if you have research interests in ancient history, history of the World, archaeology, dinosaurs, time travel and space – an adventure or treasure hunt style event would work extremely well in sharing your research with the younger generation in an exciting and engaging way.

Here are some inspiring examples of this type of event:

The Dinosaur Museum, Dorset regularly holds an event named the Great Dinosaur Hunt. This is where children search for hints and clues in order to solve a dinosaur mystery. Those that crack the code and solve the mystery win a special certificate.

At BU, our forensic experts could run an event which would enable attendees to solve a mystery and learn how ‘mystery solving’ is done. This would appeal to both the younger and elder community. Or perhaps if you have research in ancient history, you could do an event on ‘solving the murder of … in ancient times’.

Passport to the past was an event held at the Cambridge Festival of Ideas this year. This event allowed children to attend a drop-in session where they could design their own ‘passport to the past before taking a journey round the ancient world to learn more about our casts?’ Perhaps if you have a research interest in space you could host an event similar to this like, ‘Passport to space’ or ‘Your time travel ticket’, where children could be educated on space and time travel.

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If you would like to get involved in the Festival of Learning 2014 by hosting an event like ‘Fact or Fiction‘ and/or have some exciting ideas for any other type of public engagement activity, please register your interest with either myself, Naomi kay or my colleague Rebecca Edwards.

Tagged / Festival of Learning

Yesterday’s BRAD session – Public Engagement

Lightning Talks event – come and find out about the exciting research undertaken by BU staff and student researchers!

Did you catch the Festival of Learning On-Tour in Falklands Square last weekend?

Are you interested in joining the public engagement team in Poole town centre on 30th May?

Knowledge Exchange and Impact: how have we been flying the KEIT for you?