BU Research Blog

Tagged / Fusion Investment Fund

April 9, 2018

BU’s Acorn Fund for ECRs – just over a week to the closing date

BU Challenges, Funding opportunities, Fusion Investment Fund Emily Cieciura

Will you be applying to the Acorn Fund (Acceleration Of Research & Networking) for Early Career Researchers?

This new scheme will provide c. five awards, of up to £5,000 each, to support BU’s ECRs, with the most promising talent, to gain experience of managing and leading their own pilot research projects. These award support BU’s commitment to the Concordat to Support to Career Development of Researchers and is made possible by the BU Fusion Investment Fund

There will be a strong link to the new ECR Network and the ECR Showcase event, also being launched in 2018. In this way, those who do not benefit directly from the Acorn funds scheme by receiving funding, will benefit indirectly though interaction with those ECRs who receive support via the scheme.

For eligibility, an ECR in this case is defined as someone who started their research career on or after 1 August 2013. This is the point at which they held a contract of employment of 0.2 FTE or greater, which included a primary employment function of undertaking ‘research’ or ‘teaching and research’, with any HE or other organisation, whether in the UK or overseas.

To assist with the budget section, please refer to the RKE Sample Costs, within the Research > Pre-award area on the staff intranet.

Find out more and apply.

The closing date for applications is 18th April 2018. As these require faculty support, start your application and obtain faculty approval as soon as possible. Applicants are responsible for obtaining an electronic faculty signature and for submitting the application to the email below.

Please address any queries to RKEDevFramework@bournemouth.ac.uk.

March 26, 2018

Acorn Fund Launch – Internal funds for ECRs

BU Challenges, Funding opportunities, Fusion Investment Fund Emily Cieciura

The Research and Knowledge Exchange Office is pleased to announce the launch of the Acorn Fund (Acceleration Of Research & Networking) for Early Career Researchers.

An ECR, for the purpose of this scheme is the REF definition modified to: an ECR in this case is defined as someone who started their research career on or after 1 August 2013. This is the point at which they held a contract of employment of 0.2 FTE or greater, which included a primary employment function of undertaking ‘research’ or ‘teaching and research’, with any HE or other organisation, whether in the UK or overseas

Find out more and apply. The closing date for applications is 18th April 2018. As these require faculty support, start your application and obtain faculty approval as soon as possible.

To assist with the budget section, please refer to the RKE Sample Costs, within the Research > Pre-award area on the staff intranet.

Please address any queries to RKEDevFramework@bournemouth.ac.uk.

November 17, 2016

New Paperback Edition – Stories of the Hard Copy

Fusion, Guidance, Public engagement Christopher Pullen

I just wanted to share some good news, I have just found out from Edinburgh University Press that just after a few months of the hardback release of my book Straight Girls and Queer Guys: The Hetero Media Gaze in Film and Television (that was written while on study leave, funded by Fusion) that they are going to bring it out in paperback. As we all know getting your academic book published in paperback is not necessarily an easy task. Many publishers want to publish in hardback as the first edition, as this achieves a higher value of sales when offering the books to libraries. Also I have to confess myself that a hardback edition often is a handsome prospect, as the product may well last longer, and you can put in a place of pride on your bookshelf collection. That said, a paperback edition is very desirable, as students might be able to afford their own copy, and maybe general audiences might take interest. Some publishers leave it a while before they will consider the prospect of a paperback edition. For example my second book Gay Identity, New Storytelling and The Media originally came out in hardback edition, and it took almost three years before they considered a paperback edition. This however was not an easy prospect, I had to argue why the book should come out in paperback, including collating reviews that were made of the book, and also finding lecturers and teachers that were using the book in university or schools, and then presenting affidavits. At the same time sometimes you do get a paperback edition as a first edition. I was fortunate that my first book (way back in 2007) Documenting Gay Men, Identity and Performance in Reality Television and Documentary Film did actually come out in paperback, and I remember the excitement in seeing a copy of my very first book in this form, thinking of high sales and a wide readership. Whilst this book might not have achieved the attention that I thought it would, I am very excited that it seems to be used widely in education, as every now and then I get payments for photocopying use of that very book from the publishers themselves. Roll on a few years, and some eight books later, which includes my most recent book Pedro Zamora, Sexuality and AIDS Education: The Autobiographical Self, Activism and The Real World which I understand may well come out in paperback, often it is hard to come to terms with expectations in publishing form/output. For example one of my main concerns, rightly or wrongly, is that I possibly over value the notion of the ‘hard copy’ over the E-Book. Also I do see a return to the hard copy, particularly evident if you go into HMV (or even some supermarkets) and you see the proliferation of Vinyl. From Taylor Swift and One Directon to Daft Punk, contemporary popular music artists are revisiting this wonderful hardcopy form. Concerning academic books, probably the best compromise is having both the prestigious hardcopy (hardback) alongside the affordable hardcopy (paperback), working alongside the virtual copy (E-book). This meets expectations and pleasures in cultural form – which maybe connects to nostalgia, at the same time keeping an eye on a changing word, that thrives on access and sharing.

May 19, 2016

Fusion Investment Funding project – Enhancing research collaboration and networking with University of Rio de Janeiro (Brazil)

Awarded & submitted bids, Fusion Investment Fund vfilimonau

I have recently returned from a BU Fusion Fund sponsored visit to Rio de Janeiro (Brazil) where I attended a series of meetings with tourism, events and transportation science academics working within the Transportation Engineering Program (PET) at the Federal University of Rio de Janeiro (UFRJ). The purpose of the visit was to enhance existing and establish new contacts with Brazilian researchers whose interests rest within the remits of sustainable urban development, tourism and mega-events.

As part of my visit, I delivered a series of guest lectures to the student and broader academic / research communities at UFRJ. The student lectures focussed on the topic of environmental management as applied in the tourism and hospitality context and featured a number of seminal studies developed by colleagues from the Faculty of Management at Bournemouth University. The academic / research community orientated lecture presented the outcome of my recent research project on the carbon footprint of the World Football Cup 2014 in Brazil. Given the geographical proximity of the topic and its relevance to the issue of urban transportation and sustainable tourism development in Rio de Janeiro, the lecture was well perceived by the audience which had found reflection in the substantial number of questions posed and comments made. Due to the identified mutual research interest in improving sustainability of the Olympic Games 2016, Brazilian colleagues took me on an exclusive study trip which provided access to the primary venues of the Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro, including the legendary Maracanã Stadium.

The key outcome of my visit is enhanced collaborative opportunities with Brazilian academics who I am now writing a joint research paper with on the environmental implications of the Olympic Games 2016. It is envisaged that the established contacts will be maintained and harnessed via joint applications for research funding and student exchange projects.

For more information about this project, please contact Dr Viachaslau Filimonau

April 4, 2016

The British Conference of Undergraduate Research (BCUR) is coming to BU!

Centre for Excellence in Learning, conferences, Fusion Investment Fund, student research lesteves

On 25-26 Apr 2017, BU will be hosting the highly valued and increasingly popular BCUR (http://www.bcur.org/). Almost 400 UG students from across the country attended BCUR 2016 at Manchester Metropolitan University. Hosting BCUR will be hard work, but also a great opportunity to promote BU’s excellent facilities and postgraduate opportunities. Undergraduates of all levels are invited to submit an abstract to BCUR, abstracts are peer-reviewed and works accepted can be presented in a variety of formats (oral presentations, posters, art displays, workshops and performances).

Prof Gail Thomas (Head of CEL), Dr Luciana Esteves (SciTech) and Dr Mary Beth Gouthro (Faculty of Management) are co-chairing BCUR 2017 and are currently setting up the organising committee. If you are interested in helping organising the event, please contact one of the chairs. Representatives from all Faculties, SUBU and central services are welcome.

You can also help by stimulating your students to submit their abstracts to BCUR – your incentive is the most important factor influencing students’ decisions in taking part of extra-curricular activities. Submissions are likely to be open between Oct-Dec – so watch this space!

BU’s application to host BCUR was one of the successful outcomes of the Fusion-funded SURE project (Showcasing Undergraduate Research Excellence). The project has delivered two SURE conferences (March 2015 and 2016), an extra-curricular opportunity open to all BU UG students (across all levels and programmes). You can find a brief summary of the two conferences in this CEL blog.

BU students taking part in the SURE conferences not only gain valuable transferable skills and experience, they can win fantastic awards and prizes (see below) and be selected to present their work in the Posters in Parliament event. You can read about this year’s BU research showcased in Parliament here.

SURE Conference award winners:

Research Excellence (MSc or MRes fee waiver): Jozef Kulik, Psychology (2015); Rosie Lumley, Nutrition (2016)

Best oral presentation (funds to present at an external conference): Ben Hayes, Physiotherapy (2015); Charlotte Fodor, English (2016)

Best poster (iPad): Emma Packer, Biological Sciences (2015); Christopher Dwen, Forensic Science (2016)

November 18, 2015

CIPPM Project Copyrightuser.org wins AHRC Research in Film Award

Awarded & submitted bids, Fusion Investment Fund, PG research, Post-award, Public engagement, REF Subjects, Research themes cippm

An animated film on Copyrightuser.org titled The Adventure of the Girl with the Light Blue Hair won an AHRC Research in Film Award on 12 November 2015 at an Awards Ceremony hosted at the British Film Institute, Southbank London.

Copyrightuser.org is an online resource, which makes copyright law accessible to creators, teachers, students and members of the public. The project began with Bournemouth University’s Fusion Investment Fund in 2012 after which, the project has been successfully funded by RCUK/AHRC since 2013.

It is a collaborative project carried out by the Centre for Intellectual Property Policy and Management (CIPPM) Bournemouth University and CREATe, University of Glasgow.

The animated film was short-listed for the AHRC 10^th Anniversary Research in Film Award within the category Award for Innovation in Film – Best Film in the Year and beat another four contenders to win the award.

The panel of judges – consisting of industry and academic experts such as film director Beeban Kidron, Financial Times Arts Editor Jan Dalley, and actor and producer Diana Quick – described the film as “a well-constructed, quality animation addressing issues of creativity, IP and copyright for schools and undergraduates: lively, engaging, witty (à la Sherlock Holmes mode), informative and educating at the same time.”

The Adventure of the Girl with the Light Blue Hair is the first episode of The Game is On!, web series and is produced by Mr. Bartolomeo Meletti (CREATe, University of Glasgow) and Professor Ronan Deazley (Queens University Belfast). The film draws inspiration from Sherlock Holmes and other well-known copyright and public domain works and provides a springboard for exploring various copyright concepts.

It forms part of a suite of online learning materials for students and teachers in the UK while educating the wider public about what can and cannot be done with copyright works. To achieve this aim, researchers working on Copyrightuser.org produced both video and textual material.

The animated film is enhanced by 12 ‘Case Files’ authored by Ms. Hayleigh Bosher and Dr. Dinusha Mendis (CIPPM, Bournemouth University), which draws on the various elements of the film to explore key principles and ideas underpinning copyright law, creativity, and the limits of lawful appropriation and reuse.

The educational materials also include Copyright for A Level Media Studies authored by Ms. Hayleigh Bosher and Dr. Dinusha Mendis (CIPPM, Bournemouth University) – an educational web resource which addresses the AS/A Level Unit Critical Perspectives in Media, Section B: Contemporary Media Issues.

The AHRC Research in Film Awards is designed to recognise the creative and innovative work being undertaken at the interface between research and film. All the winners and full versions of the films can be seen here.

September 16, 2015

Where Numbers met Narratives: A Final Review of the BU Datalabs Fusion Project

Fusion, Fusion Investment Fund, Knowledge Exchange, Post-award afeigenbaum

Carried out between January 2015 and July 2015, our Fusion CCCP and RKEO Small Grant funded BU Datalabs project explored the possibilities and challenges associated with the communicative power of visualizations, maps and related interactive digital media for telling data stories on sensitive subjects of societal importance.

We use the term Data Storytelling to refer to the process of creating data-driven stories, from data collection all the way through to crafting the visual and contextual narratives that give data meaning(Greshon and Ward 2001).

Through a series innovative Datalabs events and workshops, we used a hands-on, participatory approach to teaching that combined principles of scaffolded technology learning and hacklabs (Hmelo-Silver et al., 2007). Activities included:

Data Scraping & Cleaning – Monday March 16 and Tuesday March 17, 2015
Data Visualisation with Mapping – Monday April 27 and Tuesday April 28, 2015
Digital Storytelling with Data – Thursday May 14 and Friday May 15, 2015
Mapping for Justice – 2 June 2015, w/ Richmond, American University in London
Interdisciplinary Research Week: Turning Numbers into Narratives: An introduction to digital storytelling with data –14 May 2015, Talbot Campus, Bournemouth University
Festival of Learning: Datastorytelling: How to Give Narrative to Numbers –13 July 2015, Talbot Campus, Bournemouth University
Civic Forensics Design Workshop – 20 July 2015, Friends House, London

Prioritising collaborative exchange, we brought together researchers, students, journalists and NGOs to generate key insights and co-create tangible outputs. Partners included the Omega Research Foundation, who co-author reports with Amnesty International, and Minute Works, whose sustainable design roster includes Greenpeace. Together with our partners we co-created visualisation outputs including the Data Distortion Layer Cake, the Reclaim Brixton map, and the #RiotID civic forensics project. Partners also went on to put their new visualisation skills into action. Our partner IRIN, a humanitarian news agency, created infographics and maps, including this interactive map of migrant deaths.

Feedback from our survey of Datalabs participants showed that most people’s familiarity with the tools and concepts taught during the workshops increased substantially, with most participants leaving the workshops feeling ‘familiar’ or ‘experienced’ with the basic tools and techniques of Data Storytelling.

Challenges and Opportunities

The emergent area of data storytelling provides both opportunities and challenges. Like any new digital skill, visualising data requires time and resources. This puts NGOs and small organisations at a disadvantage in terms of their ability to tell compelling data stories with visualisation. This disadvantage does not only manifest itself in the lack of resources to afford certain technologies, but also to afford know-how in the form of data visualization designers that are being “snatched up” by the corporate sector to work under Non-Disclosure Agreements (Wilson 2015).

In addition, while the rise of digital tools and techniques certainly diversifies the kinds of narratives we can tell with numbers, not all data stories are easy to capture. Sensitive subjects often have no straightforward data source, documents are scattered across agencies and organisations.

Our BU Datalabs project contributed to broader initiatives to bridge the emerging ‘big data divide’ that stands to leave the third sector and SMEs behind. Here at BU, we can help to narrow this divide by bringing together our skills and resources with stakeholder partners, to co-create visual resources and data stories for public engagement.

What’s Next?

Our BU Datalabs Report reflects on the key insights that arose out of this co-creation project. The aim of the final report is to show how other universities and organisations can use our model as a template, enabling their organisations to co-create data stories with public stakeholders. A preliminary version of the report was presented at the Data Power conference in Sheffield in June 2015. A further presentation is scheduled for November 2015 at the Media Education Summit in Boston, USA.

This year we are working to institute Datalabs activities and Data Storytelling education at BU through continuing collaborations between the Faculty of Media and Communication, the Data Science Institute, and the GIS Lab. We also continue to work with our partners as we prepare for larger bids.

Our next public Datalabs event is scheduled during the ESRC Festival of Social Science. This day long workshop on Datastorytelling will take you through the full process of creating a data story, from scraping and cleaning to crafting the narrative.

To find out more about the Datalabs project you can visit civicmedia.io or email: afeigenbaum@bournemouth.ac.uk or ethorsen@bournemouth.ac.uk

References

Gershon, N. and Ward P., 2001. ‘What Storytelling Can Do For Information Visualization’. Commun. ACM, 44 (8),pp.31-37.

Hmelo-Silver, C.E., Duncan, R.G. and Chinn, C.A., 2007. Scaffolding and Achievement in Problem-Based and Inquiry Learning: A Response to Kirschner, Sweller, and Clark (2006). Educational Psychologist, 42(2), pp.99-107.

Wilson, M., 2015. What Killed The Infographic? Fast Company, [blog] 6 May, Available at: <http://www.fastcodesign.com/3045291/what-killed-the-infographic> [Accessed 27 July 2015].

August 20, 2015

Fusion Investment Fund: Neuroscience has found that emotions are a primary factor in learning to change behaviour: A project to apply and study these findings in many areas of practice (for example, public health, sports science, youth work, neurological rehabilitation, special education, and potentially many others).

Fusion, Fusion Investment Fund scarter

We were very fortunate to receive Fusion funding for our collaboration between colleagues and students in Health and Social Sciences, Sports Science, and a variety of external practice partners. Essentially the funding will enable us to obtain psychophysiological recording equipment to be used to measure emotional responses in a wide variety of learning and training settings. Below is a screenshot of a typical recording from this kind of equipment.

Huge progress has been made over the last couple of decades in our understanding of emotion and feelings. A compelling conclusion from this enormous body of work is the primacy of emotion in how we operate in the world. Darwin knew this, as did Freud, but many still cling to the notion of the achievements of homo sapiens (“wise man”!) as founded on cognition and rational thinking. For them, feelings are a vestigial remnant of our evolutionary past, not dissimilar to the appendix – no longer having any purpose, and also potentially a threat to our well being.

Affective neuroscience completely opposes this so-called rational approach: emotions and feelings guided our survival in our evolutionary past, but the big news is that they still do! Accumulations of theory and research from fields such as affective neuroscience, positive psychology, and health psychology support this simple but crucial switch in emphasis. Some everyday practice reveals the primacy of emotion, for example emotionally skilled doctors tend to bring about better health outcomes for their patients, children are taught to pay attention to their ‘uh oh’ signs (involuntary emotional responses of sweaty palms and heart beating faster) to keep them safe. So emotions are not the redundant and fickle “appendix” of our behavioural systems, but in fact are their driving force.

Despite an array of pragmatic findings about the way emotions and feelings work, this largely ‘pure’ body of neuroscience has not been directly applied to any particular field of practice. This project aims to correct that omission. The applications of affective science to how we learn and change our behaviour are potentially enormous, as the physiological emotional measures offer a straightforward ‘window’ into the person’s emotional responses.

The Fusion funding enables us to build on one of the applications, through running a study developing a previous pilot. This will be based on a form of training using natural horsemanship that has been demonstrated to be very successful in behaviour change for young offenders and young people who do not engage with school. This is an example of what it looks like (thanks to TheHorseCourse for the picture):

The equipment, and experience gained through carrying out the initial study, will also allow for projects with other practice partners to go ahead, for example, work with people with acquired brain injuries, and children with profound learning disabilities. If any of this interests you, please get in touch with Sid Carter or Emma Kavanagh, and we’d be glad to tell you more.

July 31, 2015

Mission accomplished: fish genetics and population restoration are fused!

Rob Britton

Our recent blogs on our fusion-funded co-creation and co-production project on fish population restoration were reporting our strong recent progress as our students began their placements – and all of a sudden, the project is now finished! So what did we discover?

Well, firstly, our students who completed their placements with the University of Insubria in Northern Italy have worked incredibly hard, with excellent reports coming back from our Italian partners (see below). They produced some excellent genetic data to help progress our work. Our placement students based at BU have also been working very hard (albeit in much cooler conditions!) and produced some excellent ecological data.

(Above) Our placement students outside the Università degli Studi dell’Insubria with Dr Serena Zaccara (3rd from left) and Caterina Antognazza (2nd left)

Secondly, through our co-creation with stakeholders, students and research collaborators, we have successfully revealed the extent of the disturbance of human activities on fish genetic patterns in the UK. We have revealed clear impacts relating to losses of genetic integrity of fish at the river basin level that we suggest affect their ability to adapt to local conditions – which could be important in the context of climate change. We will be publishing our findings in at least two peer-reviewed papers in the next few months with our students as co-authors.

Thirdly, did we discover how these fish populations could be restored sustainably? Yes, we think we did and we have already passed these on to the relevant authorities at our recent workshop, so these are being considered for implementation.

Finally, we have shown once again that co-creating and co-producing knowledge with our students, stakeholders and international collaborators brings multiple benefits, including enhanced mobility and employment prospects for our students. It has been a thoroughly enjoyable and rewarding experience for all!

– Rob Britton, Demetra Andreou & Ben Thomas (all SciTech)

July 15, 2015

Fusing news and views on fish genetics and population restoration

Public engagement Rob Britton

We reported recently on this blog that work on our fusion-funded co-creation and co-production project on fish population restoration was progressing strongly in July. Yesterday, we held our workshop to disseminate our initial findings and discuss their implications with a wide range of external stakeholders.

Held at the Environment Agency’s National Fisheries Technical Centre in Huntingdon, Cambridgeshire, the 30 participants included representatives from the Environment Agency, Angling Trust, Rivers Trusts, Natural England and Barbel Society. We presented our very recent and on-going data analyses on the genetic structure of fish populations in the UK that are being completed at the moment by our FiF funded project students at the University of Insubria, Italy. Their work is proving to be fascinating, revealing unexpectedly strong genetic patterns at the river catchment level that we suggest require preserving in an era where habitat loss and fish stocking activities are having major impacts on the genetic integrity of many fish populations.

The workshop also included presentations from other relevant BU projects and by a number of the external participants, and concluded with open discussions on how our work could be driven forward through increased utilization of co-creation and co-production opportunities across the different stakeholder groups.

Some workshop participants: (clockwise, starting front left) Rob Britton (BU), Pete Reading (Barbel Society), Martin Salter (Angling Trust), Nigel Hewlett (Environment Agency) and Karen Twine (Environment Agency).

Adrian Pinder of BU presenting work on the importance of larval fish in understanding fish population restoration.

Overall, the workshop was a fantastic opportunity to showcase our Fusion funded work and has provided us with great feedback from a range of end users on how to build on this excellent Fusion investment Fund project.

June 23, 2015

Collaborative ethnography and undergraduate learning

Fusion, Public engagement, Research Ethics, Research Integritiy, student research Rosie Read

The value of providing undergraduate students with experience of conducting first hand, empirical research is widely recognised. As a social anthropologist, I’ve long been interested enabling students to discover and engage in ethnographic research. I’m presently developing a new taught unit in which for our BA Sociology and BA Sociology and Anthropology students will carry out ethnographic projects developed in collaboration with local community organisations. This endeavour necessarily poses challenges. One of them is time. Undergrad students’ learning is divided into units delivered over semesters, but a semester is very short time frame in which to design, carry out and write up an ethnographic project. The other is the nature of the collaboration with the non-academic partner, whether that be an NGO, community group, local government partner etc. How can this collaboration be shaped in a way which is beneficial to both parties?

IUPUI students visiting a housing redevelopment scheme in a lower income neighbourhood, Indianapolis, February 2015.

This term I have visited IUPUI (Indiana University Purdue University in Indianapolis), USA. IUPUI is a public university in which dialogue and engagement between faculty and students, on the one hand, and citizens, organisations and businesses, on the other, is a priority for both teaching and research. My visits have provided me with an opportunity to see a diverse range of ways in which this dialogue is promoted and sustained. Here I will summarise some of the strategies I have seen in action at IUPUI which are most pertinent to the kinds of collaborative, community-engaged student ethnographic projects I hope to develop at BU.

1. Investing time
The importance of investing time in developing relationships with local organisations which will have a stake in the research cannot be overstated. Whoever the partner is and whatever the nature of the collaboration, the project is enormously enhanced when both parties make time to talk to each other, arrive at a suitable, realisable aim of the project, and figure out how they are going to achieve it within the fixed timescale. This is of course easy to state and much harder to realise, as it involves all parties investing a very scarce resource, time, into the process. I followed an ethnographic research methods course closely during my visits, a project exploring urban regeneration within a low-income neighbourhood. This made clear the benefits of that early investment of time. Both the academic course leader and management, staff and volunteers at the community development organisation in the local area set aside considerable time in identifying the possibilities and foci of student research projects, long before the teaching proper started. This communication and collaboration also continued throughout the course itself, adjusting to changing and contingent circumstances as the student research projects progressed.

2. Framing the question
Central to the process above is negotiating the research question; what is it that the students will research and why? The question needs to address the interests and priorities of both partners. It must contain the potential for students to formulate their empirical focus and interpret their data in the light of theories and critical questions within their disciplines, and to produce findings which are of some benefit or use to non-academic partners, organisations and citizens. At IUPUI, I found out about series of student projects on urban development issues such as poverty, homelessness, housing, city regeneration strategies, gentrification and food production and consumption, to name some of them. These kinds of topics resulted in findings and interpretations which had both critical value as pieces of academic work and practical value to local people and organisations.

3. Moving teaching to community settings
I closely followed two courses which were taught off-campus in community settings – one in a church / community centre, the other in a women’s correctional facility. The success of any ethnographic project hinges on proximity and familiarity and so establishing this sense of closeness is obviously of enormous value to students. Teaching in a setting within which students will find an immediate mutuality of interest in their engagement with the people and organisations they are going to study helps students think of themselves as ethnographers. It provides the basis for developing relationships, trust, access and cooperation within the community, and for fostering local understanding of what the project is about. This is also a valuable experience that students take with them into their future careers.

4. Finding (new) ways of disseminating the research findings
Academics at IUPUI employed many different means of disseminating their students’ research projects and findings, enabling it to reach audiences within but also well beyond the city itself. Students were strongly encouraged and sometimes financially supported to attend national and international conferences. Funding was raised for publishing pamphlets, books and eBooks about their empirical studies and findings. Time was invested in developing impressive academic blogs and websites about their research. I provide a few links to just some of this fantastic work below.
I have gained many insights, ideas and sense of possibilities from my visits to IUPUI, and I’d like to extend my warm thanks to all colleagues and students whom I had the pleasure of meeting. Special thanks to Professor Susan B. Hyatt, whose scholarship inspired my visits and who made the whole thing possible in a practical sense.

Links to some online examples of IUPUI collaborative student research and scholarship:

– The ‘Neighborhood of Saturdays’. Student research project about urban multi-ethnic neighborhood in Indianapolis.

– ‘Eastside Story: Portrait of a Neighborhood on the Suburban Frontier’: Student project exploring historical change and community identities in a suburban area of Indianapolis.

– ‘Urban Heritage? Archaeology and Homelessness in Indianapolis’. A student project using archaeological methods to explore experiences of homelessness.

– ‘Ransom Place’ project: Collaborative project on culture, consumption and race in an African American neighbourhood in Indianapolis: http://www.iupui.edu/~anthpm/ransom.html

– ‘Archaeology and Material Culture’: blog of Professor Paul Mullins.
https://paulmullins.wordpress.com/author/paulmullins/

June 18, 2015

European Fusion: An Early-career Academic’s Experience at the Norwegian School of Sport Sciences

Fusion, Fusion Investment Fund, Knowledge Exchange tbreitbarth

From Dr James Gavin — I began writing this Blog in Oslo Gardemoen Airport last Sunday when my evening flight was delayed, and have just got round to finishing it now after a week catching up with colleagues (and work!). Having begun lecturing at Bournemouth University in September 2014, I was excited by our international partnership with the Norwegian School of Sport Sciences (NSSS); particularly due to the institution’s reputation as a small, campus-based university capable of producing both innovative teaching, and high-impact research. Supported by Dr Tim Breitbarth, I was later awarded Fusion funding on the Erasmus staff mobility strand to visit the School for a week this June. Departing London Gatwick at 9.20 am on Sunday the allure of Scandinavia, and being seated next to a passenger with extreme airsickness, meant my arrival in Oslo Airport two hours later couldn’t come too soon.

The School is a located 30 minutes outside Oslo in Sognsvann, an idyllic forest used for cross-country skiing during the Winter. Established as the State Gymnastics School early last century, the government-funded university was surprisingly understated, yet as I soon found out, it’s timber-panelled façade housed laboratories dedicated to: Biomechanics, Strength testing, Exercise Physiology, Histochemistry, Immunology, Performance Analysis, as well as an aged environmental chamber and swimming flume. Staying at the campus-based Olympiatoppen Hotel (used by elite athletes and visiting academics), my week started with a chance, breakfast chat on blood doping with a Professor David Collins, who turned out to be the Institute of Coaching and Performance Director at UCLAN. Out of interest I attended the ‘public’ PhD viva he was examining that morning discussing: How can environmental resources contain or enhance athlete development? Supporting the values of BU Fusion, the PhD defence supported: 1) Research, through the dissemination of emerging findings, 2) Education, engaging students and promoting discussion, and 3) Professional Practice, by involving those external to the university. After this I was given a campus and departmental tour by the Prof Bojsen-Moller, which included an introduction to course frameworks and teaching facilities. BSc courses include: Physical Activity and Health, Sports Biology, Coaching and Sport Psychology and Sport Management/Physical Education. Unique to any UK institution, the NSSS holds the national responsibility for higher education and scientific research in these fields in Norway. Although well-funded, is it nationally-accountable and now receives competition from the Norwegian University of Science and Technology and University of Stavanger.

Throughout the week I had opportunity to meet a range of academics and students (sitting in on a pre-lunch muscle biopsy!), gaining insight into their educational practices (three common 1^st year units, then five specialised units in 2^nd and 3^rd years/greater ‘transferability’ to courses in other departments after 1^st year) and course development. This allowed me to discuss potential future partnerships with BU for 1) Education, as their students are attracted to UK-based Exercise Science and Coaching courses, and 2) Research, as they are not limited by facilities, but time and skilled-personnel. Socio-cultural demands meant their BSc Sports Biology degree focussed on: Orienteering, Skiing, Hand-ball, Outdoors studies and Exercise Physiology. This was also evident through Research and Professional Practice, as it was a daily occurrence to have cross-country skiers and runners performance testing in the laboratories (a 4 m wide treadmill belt was embedded in the floor of one lab!). I was also fortunate to co-supervise undergraduates when laboratory testing junior cross-country skiiers. Having taught in similar fashion with Kelly Goodwin at BU, it was clear student learning processes were transferable, and I could adopt similar assessment processe.

The weekend’s down-time was spent in Oslo, taking in the National Gallery (Edvard Munch’s The Scream), the Royal Palace, Vigeland Park (Frogner Park) and…a chance, breakfast chat with David Elleray, the since-retired, English referee. My visit was a fantastic experience and I look forward to returning again in the near future to build upon the international partnership between BU and NSSS.

Norwegian School of Sport Sciences

Sognsvann Lake

June 16, 2015

FIF Erasmus – Teaching and archive research at Leipzig University

Fusion Investment Fund, Research themes Tom Watson

Professor Tom Watson of the Faculty of Media & Communication visited the University of Leipzig in Germany from June 7 to 12 on a FIF Erasmus visit.

In addition to a seminar on the history of public relations to students on the university’s highly-rated Master of Communication Management programme and workshops on academic writing and Delphi method to doctoral research students, he spent time in the university’s archive.

There he investigated the files of the German PR pioneer Dr Albert Oeckl, looking especially at Oeckl’s involvement with the International Public Relations Association (IPRA) whose archive is held at BU.

He was presented with a trolley containing 14 box files of material ranging from the late 1950s to the early 1990s (see Photo). In these, he found numerous papers and references to IPRA’s early work on the development of international curricula for university-level PR education.

“The Archive’s staff was very welcoming and so helpful in identifying relevant material. Selected documents will used in future research on the formation of public relations studies around the world,” Professor Watson said.

“Material from our IPRA archive has already shaped research papers from authors in Australia, Canada, Germany, Greece and the UK. This link with the Leipzig Archive adds more detail to IPRA initiatives and policy statements that were already known about.”

Professor Watson said that archive research was already influencing a major revision of the history of public relations that will become evident in the teaching of courses. In his Masters seminar, he presented outcomes of recent multi-nation research that challenges many existing texts about PR’s historical evolution.

“I hope that BU can develop an archive similar to Leipzig University’s, although it has a head-start from its beginnings in 1409”, he said. “It’s a resource that aids the Fusion concept.”

Trolley of PR archives

June 8, 2015

Fusion Investment Fund – is it for you?

Funding opportunities, Fusion, Fusion Investment Fund stownrow

Lots of people know about the Fusion Investment Fund (or FIF as it’s affectionately known!). Since 2012 we’ve awarded £2m spread across more than 200 projects. Here are a couple of facts that you might not know though…

Professional Services staff can apply for FIF too

FIF is open to professional services staff as well as academic staff. If you have a great idea which could change the way we work here at BU and move us towards our Fusion goals, then we want to hear from you!

What sort of ideas?

Well, in the past, FIF has supported these projects from Professional Services staff…

Under the Staff mobility and networking strand we have supplied funding for:

Visiting US partners to conduct research about / promotion of Summer Schools
My Community: Our Heritage workshops at the British Science Festival 2013

Under the Co-creation and co-production strand we have supported:

BU Lego Challenge
Sharing PAL: Students sharing their experiences of Peer Assisted Learning (PAL) to create collaboration, engagement and learning
Global Skills: articulating international experiences in academic and professional contexts

Interested? Then do get in touch. See the links at the bottom of this post.

Erasmus for training

Did you know that our Erasmus funding is available for those who want to take training abroad as well as those who want to teach? Every year our academic staff visit European institutions to teach, exchange ideas and build their networks. What’s less well known is that staff (both academic and professional services staff) can apply for funding to go to a European Higher Education institution, or enterprise, to train, learn new techniques, share best practice and widen your horizons.

Erasmus provides up to €1,000 towards your travel and subsistence costs when travelling to another EU member country.

Priority will be given to staff who have not previously received funding from this strand so, if you’ve never considered it before, now might be your chance!

Want to find out more?

Well, hurry! Applications close this Friday at 12 noon. Visit the FIF website for further details and for information about how to apply. Sue Townrow, the FIF Co-ordinator, is available on both campuses this week so, if you’d like to meet, please get in touch. You can also contact us by email with any queries.

FIF – maybe it’s for you after all?!

May 20, 2015

Fusion Investment Fund open for applications

Funding opportunities, Fusion, Fusion Investment Fund stownrow

FIF is open!

Excuse me? You don’t know what FIF is?

FIF stands for the Fusion Investment Fund. It is designed to support staff in developing as researchers, educators and practitioners. Since its inception in 2012, FIF has funded over 200 projects with awards totalling more than £2m.

Want to know more?

Two funding strands are available to staff: Co-creation and co-production strand (CC&CP), and Staff mobility and networking strand (SMN).

For all the policy documents, Fund FAQs and information about applying, please visit the FIF website.

Please direct all initial enquiries to the Fusion Investment Fund Co-ordinator, Sue Townrow, at Fusion Fund.

May 15, 2015

What do Fishbone, Amusement Park and Apigee have in common?

Fusion, Knowledge Exchange, R & KE Operations afeigenbaum

They are all tools for digital storytelling. On Thursday May 14th, the Fusion-funded, inter-faculty BU Datalabs team presented at Interdisciplinary Research Week. Guests from across the University and beyond came to learn about digital storytelling and how visual data stories can better communicate the significance of research findings to policy-makers and the public.

Weathering the rain, the event kicked off with a reflective exercise called ‘Analogue Twitter.’ Participants were asked to write down a story of their research in 140 characters or less. From sports management to midwifery, research stories spanned the disciplines.

To get things going, Senior Lecturer in Digital Storytelling, Dr. Brad Gyori brought his expertise in interactive media, and his experience as the Head Writer of the Emmy award winning show Talk Soup, to introduce the audience to the many storytelling patterns that have emerged with the rise and innovation of digital platforms. Digital storytelling can range from Fishbone narratives that have one main linear narrative with suggested diversions, to the Amusement Park that offers loosely clustered, different perspectives with no central hub, as we see in Highrise: Out of my Window.

Next up, Dr. Anna Feigenbaum, a Senior Lecturer from the Faculty of Media and Communications, introduced the audience to the power of storytelling with maps and infographics. Drawing from her own tear gas project and others’ expertise, she explored how visuals can act as ‘infobait’, drive curiosity, and interrupt dominant narratives.

After lunch, BU Datalabs project partner Malachy Browne from the social media journalism outfit reportedly shared insights and strategies for using online tools to do investigative research, share your findings, and dig deeper into social data. From apigee for APIs to mine social media data, to wolframalpha that can return the weather from any date in history, Browne made connections between the tools of his trade and the possibilities for expanding our digital methods in academia.

For more information on the BU Datalabs project, email: afeigenbaum@bournemouth.ac.uk If you would like to get involved, we will be hosting a meeting open to all staff and students in early July. Details to follow.

May 5, 2015

Datalabs 3: Digital Storytelling with Data

Knowledge Exchange, R & KE Operations afeigenbaum

Digital transformations in communications have led to the increasing popularity of data visualisations and the use of maps and other multimedia interactives for representing complex data. Often, these visual data stories can better communicate the significance of research findings to policy-makers and the public. Beyond engendering greater comprehension, this turn to the visual can also tap into our emotions and cultural values.

Next week the Fusion CCCP funded Datalabs project brings you Datalabs 3: Digital Storytelling with Data. Bringing together academic colleagues, learning support and IT staff, UG and PG students, as well as external stakeholders and community participants, the Datalabs project is co-creating digital skills and data literacy through hands-on workshops. Our first two events have been oversubscribed, so please register early to secure your participation!

Datalabs 3 hosts two events.

Thursday

14 May 2015 register here

MASTERCLASS: Turning Numbers into Narratives: An introduction to digital storytelling with data
Time: 11:00-14:00 (Please note there will be lunch served at 12:30)
Location: KG01, Kimmeridge House, Talbot Campus
In this Masterclass, we will introduce the audience to the emerging interdisciplinary field of data storytelling research. Drawing on a range of contemporary examples, we will present a variety of techniques and technologies for creating data stories.

Friday 15 May 2015 register here

WORKSHOP: Digital Storytelling with Data
Time: 10:00-16:00 (Please note there will be lunch served at 12:30)
Location: W403, Weymouth House, Talbot Campus
In this hands-on workshop we will engage with data visualisation tools, gaining insight into the process that data storytellers use to get information online and out into the public. We will take participants from spreadsheet to headline, looking at how narrative practices shape the ways we design visualisations to tell stories with data. We will also reflect on the ethical questions that come with turning numbers in narratives.

April 7, 2015

Datalabs 2: Maps and Mashups

Knowledge Exchange, Public engagement, R & KE Operations afeigenbaum

Digital technologies like google maps have transformed the ways people relate to visual representations of geographic space. From zoom functionality on street view, to rainbow coloured social network graphs, people are engaging their geographical imaginations to produce visual representations that matter to them and their research.

This second Datalabs event introduces participants to mapping tools and techniques for visual analysis and storytelling with spatial data. On Day 1 you will explore open source software for mapping location-linked data, discovering how to scale, symbolise and tell stories with the maps that you make. Then on Day 2 we learn how APIs work to retrieve information from social network sites like twitter and facebook. You will explore how to turn this social media data into maps and create mashups with other data, creating stories for public engagement and finding new, collaborative research questions along the way.

Our innovative datalabs format combines Masterclasses with hands-on workshop sessions to enhance and share skills around working with data for civic and humanitarian research and public engagement. Datalabs involve students and staff from across BU’s faculties, as well as participating NGOs, journalists and digital designers.

Our popular first event was oversubscribed, so register early to take part in this exciting interdisciplinary initiative! Monday April 27th – Tuesday April 28th: http://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/datalabs-2-maps-and-mashups-tickets-16433088811

Datalabs is a Fusion CCCP Funded project. The project team includes: Dr. Anna Feigenbaum, Dr. Einar Thorsen, Dr. Pippa Gillingham, Professor, Dr.Hamid Bouchachia, Dr. Dan Jackson, Dr. Shelley Thompson, Dr. Nathan Farrell, Dr. Edward Apeh, Dr. Duncan Golicher, Dr. Rebecca Edwards, Robert Munday, Oz Dermirkal and stakeholder coordinator, John Horne.

The Civic Media hub was established in 2014 and brings together a multidisciplinary, cross-Faculties team of researchers and students that work in collaboration with external stakeholders to co-create effective ways of tackling important social issues. We combine expertise from humanities, social sciences, geography, computer science and data analytics. Bios for the Datalabs team can be found at http://www.civicmedia.io/#team

Tagged / Fusion Investment Fund

BU’s Acorn Fund for ECRs – just over a week to the closing date

Acorn Fund Launch – Internal funds for ECRs

New Paperback Edition – Stories of the Hard Copy

Fusion Investment Funding project – Enhancing research collaboration and networking with University of Rio de Janeiro (Brazil)

The British Conference of Undergraduate Research (BCUR) is coming to BU!

CIPPM Project Copyrightuser.org wins AHRC Research in Film Award

Where Numbers met Narratives: A Final Review of the BU Datalabs Fusion Project

Mission accomplished: fish genetics and population restoration are fused!

Fusing news and views on fish genetics and population restoration

European Fusion: An Early-career Academic’s Experience at the Norwegian School of Sport Sciences

FIF Erasmus – Teaching and archive research at Leipzig University

Fusion Investment Fund – is it for you?

Fusion Investment Fund open for applications

What do Fishbone, Amusement Park and Apigee have in common?

Datalabs 2: Maps and Mashups

Other services

Don’t miss a post!

Recent posts

Search by Category

Research Information Network

UKRI

Tagged / Fusion Investment Fund

Datalabs 3 hosts two events.

Thursday

14 May 2015 register here

Friday 15 May 2015 register here

Other services

Don’t miss a post!

Recent posts

Search by Category

Search by popular post topics