Latest research and knowledge exchange news at Bournemouth University
Don’t miss our drop-in sessions where we can offer you support in planning your event for Festival of Learning 2017.
Our next session is on Thursday 27 October and we’ll be there for you from 11am – 12pm at Naked Coffee Shop (next to RLH, Lansdowne).
Come to see us and don’t miss out on the opportunity to share your research and expertise by being a part of the Festival!
We’re hoping to see you there!
Don’t forget to book your place on our Developing a public engagement event, which is going to focus specifically on developing a public engagement event.The workshop is going to take place on Monday 31st October, from 1pm-4pm at Student Hall, Talbot House, Talbot campus
The workshop will explore:
Don’t miss out on the opportunity to share your research and expertise by being a part of the Festival! Find out more and book your place via Organisation Development here.
We’re hoping to see you there!
With the call for proposals now open for Festival of Learning 2017, we want you to get involved.Why? There are many benefits of taking part, as the festival is an excellent opportunity to showcase your research and gain valuable feedback from members of the public. In a previous post we shared the idea of an audience-led event, which you can find here. This time we want to show you that public engagement events can also be artistic and creative.
Come to one of our drop-in support sessions to talk to us about your event idea and book your place on ‘Developing a public engagement event’ training session via Organisation Development here.
At the British Science Festival 2016 in Swansea, Moonbrella was one of a number of interactive, drop-in sessions incorporated into an event called Creatures of the night. This took place in Plantasia – a tropical haven of exotic plants and animals. The location was unique in itself, but Moonbrella really stole the show.
Despite the fact that over 150 craters on the moon are named after real scientists, only 28 are named after women. Moonbrella showcases research through poetry, allowing participants to celebrate these inspirational women. At Creatures of the night, event attendees walked through the tropical garden, and as they began to climb towards the top of the dome they were given a ‘Moonbrella’ – a glowing umbrella. This owed its unusual properties to battery powered fairy lights attached inside. Additionally, there were some graphics of the scientists, and an mp3 player and headphones, which were carefully taped to the umbrella. The audience walked under the Moonbrellas, popped on their headphones and listened to poetry about a female scientist as they wandered through the tropical garden. Each Moonbrella celebrated a different scientist, and Moonbrellas could be swapped to hear about another scientist. Visually, this looked fantastic under the night sky, as the umbrellas lit up the paths between the tropical plants and for a minute it felt like you weren’t in Swansea anymore.
Moonbrella is just one of many creative ways to showcase your research through the arts! Now grab a few colouring pencils, scissors and some tape and get creative! We hope to hear more about your own amazing ideas at one of our drop-in sessions.
This event took place as part of the British Science Festival in Swansea, 2016.
Don’t miss our drop-in sessions where we can offer you support in planning your event for Festival of Learning 2017.
Our next session is on Wednesday 19 October and we’ll be there for you from 11am – 12pm at Fusion Building – coffee area
Come to see us and don’t miss out on the opportunity to share your research and expertise by being a part of the Festival!
We’re hoping to see you there!
Don’t miss our drop-in sessions where we can offer you support in planning your event for Festival of Learning 2017.
Our next session is on Wednesday 12th October and we’ll be there for you from 11am – 12pm at Naked Coffee Shop (next to RLH, Lansdowne)
Come to see us and don’t miss out on the opportunity to share your research and expertise by being a part of the Festival!
We’re hoping to see you there!
Do you have a fantastic piece of research that you’d like to develop into a public engagement event but need help or ideas? Or perhaps you have an existing event that you’d like to make more engaging or take to a new audience?
Naomi Kay (Public Engagement Officer) and Genna West (Engagement and Impact Facilitator) are on-hand to provide support for planning your event, writing the proposal or just to talk through any ideas you might have. They will be based in the locations specified below, so please stop by!
If none of the slots suit you or if you would like to speak to either Genna or Naomi specifically, then please feel free to get in touch and set up a meeting to discuss your event plans.
In addition to these drop-in sessions, a dedicated training session will take place on Monday 31 October, focusing specifically on developing a public engagement event. The workshop will explore:
There will be dedicated time and support for individuals to create a new event to submit to the Festival of Learning. Find out more and book your place via Organisation Development here.
| Date | Time | Location |
| Wednesday 12 October | 11am-12pm | Naked Coffee Shop (next to RLH, Lansdowne) |
| Wednesday 19 October | 11am-12pm | Fusion Building – coffee area |
| Thursday 27 October | 11am-12pm | Naked Coffee Shop (next to RLH, Lansdowne) |
| Monday 31 October – Developing a public engagement event training session | 1pm-4pm | Student Hall, Talbot House, Talbot campus
Please book this session via OD. |
| Friday 11 November | 12:30pm-1:30pm | EB204, Executive Business Centre |
| Monday 14 November | 8:30am-10am | Fusion Building – coffee area |
| Tuesday 15 November | 4pm-5pm | Executive Business Centre Cafe |
| Wednesday 23 November | 2pm-3pm | Poole House Atrium |
| Thursday 24 November | 11am-12pm | Naked Coffee Shop (next to RLH, Lansdowne) |
| Monday 28 November | 9am-11am | Executive Business Centre Cafe |
| Thursday 1 December | 8:30am-5pm | Talbot Campus Drop In |
| Deadline for event submissions – 4pm on Friday 2 December | ||
The call for proposals for Festival of Learning 2017 is now live! This series of blog post aims to give you some inspiration for the type of events that would work well as part of the Festival.
There are many types of events, they come in all shapes and sizes and yes, we agree… planning your own public event can be a bit of a challenge and you may not know where to start. Alternatively, you might be on the other side of the spectrum and feel that there are not enough hours in the day for you to share all of the knowledge and wisdom that you’d like the public to benefit from. Regardless of your situation, we hope you’ll find this post helpful.
Have you ever thought about giving your audience the power to decide what the event is going to be about?
Audience-lead events can be a fantastic way of communicating your research and really enjoyable for the public.
Why?
Because people love to learn about what you do, but they also love to have the opportunity to ask you lots of burning questions!
Let me give you an example of something We consider to be a good audience-lead event…
Although this event did not have much to do with baking cakes, Dr Alan Gow from Heriot-Watt University likes to call himself a ‘head chef’, because he has a passion for finding a recipe for the perfect brain.
There are lots of ways in which this research topic can be approached, but in this event, the ‘head chef’ orders his audience to write down what they think is good and bad for the human brain. Little sticky notes are collected and this is when the show really begins. Dr Gow looks through each note, reads them out loud and asks people to raise their hands if they agree with the statement. Then he begins to teach. On one side of the table there are colourful rainbows which he likes to call the Brainbow. He takes a graphic that corresponds with the topic on the sticky note, for example alcohol. He then places the graphic on the Brainbow – the higher it goes, the bigger the influence it has on our brain.
In an interactive and fun way, our beliefs on what is healthy for our brain are being challenged and mapped on the Brainbow, helping the audience to better understand the needs of the human brain.
If you are interested in watching the actual event, you can find it Here
Come to one of our drop-in support sessions to talk to us about your event idea and book your place on ‘Developing a public engagement event’ training session via Organisation Development here.
This event took place as part of the British Science Festival in Swansea, 2016.
Representing a wonderful celebration of learning, the Festival showcases BU’s research and expertise to a wide and varied audience, including local communities, staff, students, employers and alumni around the world. Read on to find out how you can be involved in 2017!
After a hugely successful pilot in 2016, which saw BU’s established Festival of Learning go global in both China and Malaysia, we are delighted to announce that the global Festival of Learning will return for a second year. Three distinct weeks of exciting events will take place to showcase global Fusion in ASEAN, India and China from March – May 2017.
Celebrating its fifth anniversary, the Festival of Learning will run in Bournemouth from 8-12 July 2017, with a vibrant opening family weekend and a diverse selection of events throughout the week. The Festival will conclude with a global day on 12 July to celebrate the fantastic array of events and learning taking place around the world as part of the Festival of Learning.
Prior to putting forward an event proposal all applicants are advised to read the full details for both the UK Festival of Learning and the global Festival of Learning, which outline the scope and objectives of the festivals.
Once you are ready to submit your event proposal you will need to complete the online application form. Applications for both the global Festival of Learning and the UK Festival of Learning will be handled via one form. The form can be saved and edited up until the point you submit. To help make the process as easy as possible we have also provided a planning document that includes a list of questions and requested response lengths.
Find out more, download the planning document and take a look at dates for our drop-in sessions.
If you have any questions about the global Festival of Learning, please contact the Global Engagement Hub: 01202 965112 globalbu@bournemouth.ac.uk
If you have any questions about the UK Festival of Learning, or difficulties using the online application form, please contact the Festival of Learning Team: 01202 961342 FoL@bournemouth.ac.uk
Is your new academic year resolution to improve your research profile and network visibility?One way is to register on Piirus – a free networking website where researchers worldwide can connect, collaborate, find the best jobs and access independent consultancy opportunities.
Make Connections – You’ll be part of a community of researchers who are looking to make connections with researchers around the world. You’ll have exclusive access to great minds. You’ll grow your network.
Be Global – Piirus is an international network with members from all over the world. So by becoming a member you’ll make interdisciplinary and international connections that will keep your research fresh and support your career in your institution and beyond.
Share you Expertise – You can quickly find and collaborate with people in the same field or researchers who can bring different perspectives and expertise from across disciplines and in different methodologies, to support your specialised projects.
Increase your Visibility – You can build a digital profile for you and your research making it visible to people around the world.
To promote use of this service at Bournemouth University, when BU signed up academics reaches 100 members, there will be a random draw for a £20 Amazon voucher.
Innovate UK has launched a fund to encourage small British firms to work with international businesses and to help them enter global markets.
UK businesses looking to create international business networks can apply for funding to enable commercial research and innovation partnerships. It will also help businesses explore ideas for future collaboration.
Innovate UK is funding this competition. It is open to small and medium enterprises (SMEs). The funding will enable SMEs to carry out short feasibility studies and spend time abroad. The competition will encourage UK firms to create long term partnerships with overseas companies. It will also help them gain a better understanding of collaborative opportunities.
Today saw the publication of a paper analysing the long-term development of Nepal [1]. It offers insight into Nepal’s position in the country’s demographic transition in relation to its nutrition transition. In traditional societies both fertility and mortality are high and in modern post-industrial society both are low.
The lead author Yagya Prasad Subedi is a Ph.D. student at the University of Aberdeen and his co-authors are based at Liverpool John Moores University (Prof. Padam Simkhada, who is also BU Visiting Faculty) and in the Centre for Midwifery, Maternal & Perinal Health (CMMPH) in the Faculty of Health and Social Sciences (Prof. Edwin van Teijlingen).
Reference:
Diabetes prevention and management in South Asia: A call for action
Today the International Journal of Food, Nutrition and Public Health accepted our paper Diabetes prevention and management in South Asia: A call for action for publication [1]. The Public Health paper argues that is an urgent need to reduce the diabetes prevalence in South Asia through evidence-based interventions ranging from prevention and early detection to appropriate treatment and care. The authors suggest that a multi-sectorial collaboration across all stakeholders is necessary to raise awareness about diabetes, its prevention, treatment and care in the region. The paper, with Dr. Pramod Regmi as lead author, is co-authored with colleagues at the University of Oxford, the University of Otago (NZ), University of the West of England, and, Bournemouth University, including BU PhD student Folashade Alloh.
Reference:
FHSS Professor Alison McConnell just published her latest paper ‘Inspiratory muscle training improves breathing pattern during exercise in COPD patients’ with her international co-authors from Belgium and Thailand. The paper concludes that the addition of inspiratory muscle training to a pulmonary rehabilitation programme in COPD (chronic obstructive pulmonary disease) patients with inspiratory muscle weakness resulted in a deeper and slower breathing pattern during exercise. Patients could achieve significantly higher peak work rate and exercise ventilation without increasing dyspnoea sensation.
Prof. McConnell is also author of Breathe Strong, Perform Better as well as Respiratory Muscle Training: Theory & Practice.
Congratultions,
Prof. Edwin van Teijlingen
CMMPH
Congratulations to FHSS post-doctoral researcher Dr. Pramod Regmi who is the lead author on the forthcoming editorial ‘Sustainable Development Goals: relevance to maternal and child health in Nepal’.[1] The Centre for Midwifery, Maternal & Perinatal Health (CMMPH) has extensive research experience in the field of maternal and child health in Nepal. This latest editorial was invited by the editors of Health Prospect. The scientific journal Health Prospect is published by the Nepal Public Health Students’ Society.
The editorial outlines the recent history of the Millennium Development Goals which came to an end in 2015 [2] and which are now replaced by the Sustainable Development Goals [3]. The authors argue that continued technical and financial support from external development partners is necessary to sustain Nepal’s achievements in maternal and child health and to strengthen its health-service provision. They also suggest that the Sustainable Development Goals offer an opportunity to change Nepal for the better.
This is a joint publication with BU Visiting Faculty Prof. Padam Simkhada (Liverpool John Moores University) and two of CMMPH PhD students who research aspects of maternity care in Nepal, namely Sheetal Sharma and Preeti Mahato.
Professors Vanora Hundley & Edwin van Teijlingen
References:
A few days I posted a short report of our first session as part of the THET-funded project ‘Mental Health Training for Community-based Maternity Providers in Nepal’, see this previous post here. Yesterday we completed the final third day training of the first session of this BU-led project. Over three days we had 70 ANMs (Auxiliary Nurse Midwives) in attendance, which we think is (nearly) all such staff based in all birthing centres in the district (=province). The three days were the same, i.e. each session was repeated twice so each day one third of the ANMs could attend, and two-third could be at work in the birthing centre ensuring women could deliver safely.
As part of this project we send UK volunteers (health and/or education) experts to Nepal to offer high quality training in areas where it is most needed. Further detail on this BU-led THET project can be found in our scientific paper Mental health issues in pregnant women in Nepal published in the Nepal Journal of Epidemiology available through Open Access. Mental illness is still very much a taboo topic in Nepal as it has often a serious stigma attached to it. Moreover, the relatively short training of ANMs is often fairly basic and the national curriculum does not cover mental health issues in any detail. This joint project between Bournemouth University, Liverpool John Mooores University, Tribhuvan University and the local charity Green Tata Nepal addresses issues about mental health in general and in pregnant women and new mothers in particular. Tribhuvan University is the oldest university in Nepal and one of the ten largest universities in the world (based on student numbers). The project is multi-disciplinary involving midwives, (mental health) nurses, and doctors as well as global health researchers, educationalists and sociologists.
Prof. Edwin van Teijlingen
CMMPH
The 
European Research Council has a number of Implementing Arrangements (IAs). These arrangements provide opportunities in Europe for early-career scientists supported by non-European funding agencies to temporarily join a research team run by an ERC grantee. The purpose of the arrangements is to encourage, develop and facilitate such opportunities.
Currently the following arrangements are in place:
New similar arrangements from various geographically areas are being negotiated. It is expected to have them signed in 2015 and 2016.
The ESRC website lists its Festival events for 2015 and amongst the interetsing events is a record number of BU events! The full list can be found on the ESRC webpages, click here!
Pathways to impact: part deux!
This event aims to engage participants who attended a previous one-day ESRC Festival of Science event which took place in 2012 entitled, “Pathways to Impact: ageing, diversity, connectivity and community”.
Children will have the chance to take part in a creative mapping exercise using coastal artefacts and pictures to create their own sensory and emotional maps of the topic, starting with the question of ‘how does it make me feel to be here?’
Older people are increasingly at risk of falling victim to financial scams that target vulnerable people, including mass marketing fraud via post, telephone or email and doorstep fraud.
This event will give practitioners, agencies and members of the public, the opportunity to come together to learn more about the threats posed.
This event asked the question:
Bournemouth University Dementia Institute (BUDI) will bring dementia awareness to life through running creative activities including a performance from the BUDI Orchestra – made up of people affected by dementia and musicians – poetry and technology such as IPads and Nintendo Wii.
Are British children disadvantaged compared to children in other Western countries? An analysis of data from global sources compares the standards of mortality, poverty and health funding for children and adults in Britain vs. those in 20 other Western countries.
One year ago, in October 2014, the UK Government introduced major changes to the Copyright Law with the aim of promoting innovation and creativity. These included a range of exceptions and limitations benefiting users as well as educational and cultural institutions.
These exhibitions run over the course of three days presenting a showcase of Bournemouth University research projects demonstrating our research impacts on social and community wellbeing and our concern for diverse groups and work with a wide variety of stakeholders.
A group of researchers from Bournemouth University are researching the lived experience of students entering higher education from and in ‘non traditional’ contexts. By bringing together research, educational practice and students as research co-creators, a unique lens is created through which to observe the question.
The 5-a-day campaign went global after a recommendation from the World Health Organisation that we should all be eating a least 400g of fruit and vegetables per day. Variations on this message are repeated in countries all across the world. But does the message cause more confusion than good?
These exhibitions run over the course of three days presenting a showcase of Bournemouth University research projects demonstrating our research impacts on social and community wellbeing and our concern for diverse groups and work with a wide variety of stakeholders.
These exhibitions run over the course of three days presenting a showcase of Bournemouth University research projects demonstrating our research impacts on social and community wellbeing and our concern for diverse groups and work with a wide variety of stakeholders.
Prof. Edwin van Teijlingen
CMMPH
Bournemouth University ranked just over the half way line in the top 800 universities in the world. Bournemouth University is in good company in the bracket (401-500) with other well-known universities such as the University of Cagliari (Italy), Charles University in Prague (Czech Republic), Curtin University (Australia), University of Waikato (New Zealand), Louisiana State University (USA) or the University of Tampere (Finland) to name but a few.
The full list of 800 universities is available here!
Prof. Edwin van Teijlingen
CMMPH
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New weight change BU paper
One week to go! | The 16th Annual Postgraduate Research Conference
Geography and Environmental Studies academics – would you like to get more involved in preparing our next REF submission?
Congratulations to three former BU staff
MSCA Staff Exchanges 2024 Call – internal deadline
Applications are now open for 2025 ESRC Postdoctoral Fellowships!
Horizon Europe – ERC CoG and MSCA SE webinars MSCA Staff Exchanges 2024 Call – internal deadline Horizon Europe – ERC CoG and MSCA SE webinars
MaGMap: Mass Grave Mapping
ERC grants – series of webinars Last reminder – MSCA Postdoctoral Fellowships 2024 internal deadline next week
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