BU Research Blog

June 18, 2015

Call now open ! Higher Education Innovation Fund (HEIF): money available to support your business engagement and knowledge exchange ideas.

Business Engagement, Funding opportunities, HEIF, Knowledge Exchange, Knowledge Transfer jcodling

HEFCE provide funding for knowledge exchange (Higher Education Innovation Funding (HEIF)) to support and develop a broad range of knowledge-based interactions between universities and colleges and the wider world, which result in economic and social benefit to the UK. The current round of funding is referred to as HEIF-5 and runs until 31^st July 2015.

BU has a proven track record with this funding stream and our success continues. Currently there are 13 live projects funded from HEIF-5, including VFX Hub, BUDI and the Cyber Security Unit. Interim funding has been made available to run from 1 August 2015 to 31 July 2016. This is known as HEIF 5+1.

The call is now open. Colleagues are invited to bid for funds to run new projects with funding starting 1 August 2015 and ending 31 July 2016.

Deadlines are tight with the deadline for proposals being Friday 3 July 2015. (Timetable for the call.)

These projects will need to reflect our interim strategy sent to HEFCE:

“BU will continue to invest in innovation themes with a strong focus on network creation, with a particular focus on digital and creative industries, health and wellbeing, and regional development. The additional year of funding will enable BU to continue to develop our existing area in addition to investment to develop new innovations. This will allow BU to create innovations in areas such as e-health, whilst developing closer links with regional initiatives to enhance local development opportunities, working with the Dorset LEP and other local organisations. We will also consider the use of HEIF funds to invest in effective mechanisms for engaging with business/industry. Our core strategy of investing in sector-specific themes with a strong focus on network creation remains; what has changed in light of emerging opportunities is the nature of the themes in which we will invest and the mechanisms through which we will engage with the region.”

For more information please click here.

Make sure you read the information listed in the useful documents section including:

HEIF Institutional Strategy

HEIF FAQs

HEIF Application Form

June 12, 2015

Making an impact – Higher Education Innovation Fund (HEIF): money available to support your business engagement and knowledge exchange ideas

Business Engagement, Funding opportunities, Knowledge Exchange, Knowledge Transfer jcodling

HEFCE provide funding for knowledge exchange (Higher Education Innovation Funding (HEIF)) to support and develop a broad range of knowledge-based interactions between universities and colleges and the wider world, which result in economic and social benefit to the UK. The current round of funding is referred to as HEIF-5 and runs until 31^st July 2015.

BU has a proven track record with this funding stream and our success continues. Currently there are 13 live projects funded from HEIF-5, including VFX Hub, BUDI and the Cyber Security Unit. Interim funding has been made available to run from 1 August 2015 to 31 July 2016. This is known as HEIF 5+1.

A call will shortly be circulated internally inviting colleagues to bid for funds to run new projects with funding starting 1 August 2015 and ending 31 July 2016. These projects will need to reflect our interim strategy sent to HEFCE:

“BU will continue to invest in innovation themes with a strong focus on network creation, with a particular focus on digital and creative industries, health and wellbeing, and regional development. The additional year of funding will enable BU to continue to develop our existing area in addition to investment to develop new innovations. This will allow BU to create innovations in areas such as e-health, whilst developing closer links with regional initiatives to enhance local development opportunities, working with the Dorset LEP and other local organisations. We will also consider the use of HEIF funds to invest in effective mechanisms for engaging with business/industry. Our core strategy of investing in sector-specific themes with a strong focus on network creation remains; what has changed in light of emerging opportunities is the nature of the themes in which we will invest and the mechanisms through which we will engage with the region.”

Keep an eye out on the staff intranet, research blog and other staff communication channels for updates. For more information on HEIF and other knowledge exchange opportunities, please contact Jayne Codling Knowledge Exchange Adviser (RKEO).

June 10, 2015

BRAD Week coming soon…..watch out for details!

Info Days, Training Dianne Goodman

Just to advise you details of our next BRAD events programme will be coming out very soon….watch out for our announcements on the Research BLOG and BU Intranet and get yourself booked in via Organisational Development.

BRAD week will be held from the 29th of June – 6th of July 2015.

Please see the comments we received from people who attended our last BRAD event week in April.

Pop these dates in your calenders and get ready!

March 26, 2015

REF update: HEFCE’s REFlections event, 25 March 2015

Research assessment Julie Northam

I went to HEFCE’s (rather cleverly named) REFlections event on Wednesday to hear about the review of REF 2014 and plans for the future of research assessment.

The key points were:

Collaboration and multi-/interdisciplinary research are likely to be important for the next REF
HEFCE have commissioned Elsevier to undertake a project on measuring multidisciplinary research to inform the next REF
The REF impact case studies database went live yesterday and is an excellent resource
Dual support system is likely to stay
Impact case studies are likely to stay, however, the impact template may change/become obsolete
Peer review will stay, informed by metrics in some disciplines (akin to REF 2014)
Metrics are not yet robust enough to have a metrics-driven REF. In particular, this is not yet possible for the assessment of outputs or impact. It is possible, however, to rely more heavily on metrics for the environment assessment and there could be changes to this part for the next REF.

HEFCE plan to consult with the sector on future plans for the REF this coming autumn.

Further information:

REF Manager’s Report was published this month, available here: http://www.ref.ac.uk/media/ref/content/pub/REF%20managers%20report%20-%20final.pdf.
Report of the nature, scale and beneficiaries of research impact in REF 2014, available here: http://www.hefce.ac.uk/media/HEFCE,2014/Content/Pubs/Independentresearch/2015/Analysis,of,REF,impact/Analysis_of_REF_impact.pdf
Report on the REF 2014 impact preparation and assessment, available from: http://www.rand.org/randeurope/research/projects/evaluating-impact-component-ref2014.html
Information on HEFCE’s independent review on the role of metrics in research assessment, available from: http://www.hefce.ac.uk/rsrch/metrics/

March 19, 2015

Policy brief on Obesity

Knowledge Transfer, Public engagement, Publishing Edwin van Teijlingen

Today my colleagues at the University of Aberdeen’s Health Economics Research Unit (HERU) published their latest HERU Policy Brief on ‘Gaining pounds by losing pounds: research finds financial incentives could help reduce obesity’. The policy brief is now available on line. These policy briefs are concise summaries of the findings of research projects, presented with a focus on policy implications. Linking research findings to possible policy improvements increase the chance that our research has an impact on the wider society. Furthermore, that our research has an impact in REF terms.

This latest policy brief ‘Gaining pounds by losing pounds: research finds financial incentives could help reduce obesity’ is part of a larger project called PROGRESS (Prevent Obesity GRowing Economic Synthesis Study), funded by the National Preventative Research Initiative (NPRI) and the Universities of Aberdeen and Melbourne. The project started when I was still at the University of Aberdeen, before I came down to Bournemouth more than five years ago now. Our research highlights that despite evidence that dietary interventions are the most effective way to lose weight, respondents preferred lifestyle interventions involving physical activity. Also that behaviour-change support improves effectiveness of interventions, but its value to participants was limited. A general preference to maintain current lifestyles, together with the sensitivity of take-up to financial costs, suggests financial incentives could be used to help maximise up-take of healthy lifestyle interventions. Finally, men required more compensation to take up healthier lifestyles.

Full details on methods and results are available in the health economics paper due to be published later this year, currently ‘published ahead of print’ (Ryan et al. 2014).

Prof. Edwin van Teijlingen

Faculty of Health & Social Sciences

Reference:

Ryan, M., Yi, D., Avenell, A., Douglas, F., Aucott, L., van Teijlingen, E. & Vale, L. (2014) Gaining pounds by losing pounds: preferences for lifestyle interventions to reduce obesity, Health Economics, Policy & Law, [Epub ahead of print] doi: 10.1017/s1744133114000413.

March 19, 2015

The Impact Awards for Knowledge Exchange and Commercialisation (KEC) Professionals

Business Engagement, Knowledge Exchange, Knowledge Transfer jcodling

The Impact Awards from RCUK and PraxisUnico reward and recognise knowledge exchange, technology transfer and commercialisation professionals who have excelled in enabling and facilitating the achievement of impact from the outcomes of research.

PraxisUnico and the Research Councils are working together to facilitate the sharing of best practice, and to acknowledge and celebrate the work that Knowledge Exchange and Commercialisation (KEC) professionals do in enabling impact from UK research organisations.

The Impact Awards from RCUK and PraxisUnico reward and recognise knowledge exchange, technology transfer and commercialisation professionals who have excelled in enabling and facilitating the achievement of impact from the outcomes of research.

PraxisUnico and the Research Councils are working together to facilitate the sharing of best practice, and to acknowledge and celebrate the work that Knowledge Exchange and Commercialisation (KEC) professionals do in enabling impact from UK research organisations.

The Impact Awards for KEC Professionals:

Recognises the important contribution made by KEC professionals working with researchers in turning excellent research into impact
Enables the sharing of best practice in KEC amongst the varied community served by the Research Councils and PraxisUnico
Stimulates innovative approaches to KEC activities in UK research organisations and beyond

The competition replaces the PraxisUnico Impact Awards and the BBSRC Activating Impact competition.

March 9, 2015

BRAD arrives at BU on the 13th April!!

Training apekalski

as in the BU Researcher/Academic developer framework! Not as in Brad Pitt the Hollywood A lister, but both equally as exciting!

BRAD is a tailor made framework of development sessions based on the Vitae Researcher Development Framework (RDF) which you can dip in and out of, undertaking only those sessions you would find helpful.

This holistic framework provides professional and personal development in the key areas of:

A. Knowledge & Intellectual Abilities

B. Personal Effectiveness

C. Research Governance & Organization

D. Engagement, Influence & Impact

The programme comprises of a wide range of facilitated development sessions held on campus (by internal and external presenters), online research modules from Epigeum (so you can learn in your own time) and the Vitae’s RDF.

The facilitated sessions cover everything from:

Nvivo
Financial Management
Ethnography
Career advice
The Principles of Grounded theory
Time Management for Researchers
Impact through your research.

And much, much more.

For facilitated sessions, just book through the Staff Development webpages and for online modules, simply log into myBU and search the BRAD community to view all courses and to get started!

January 21, 2015

RCUK announcement on Pathways to Impact

Guidance Jo Garrad

RCUK have made an announcement on pathways to impact: http://www.rcuk.ac.uk/media/announcements/150115/ and here http://www.rcuk.ac.uk/RCUK-prod/assets/documents/documents/PtoIExecSummary.pdf

The key point is that RCUK has reaffirmed its commitment to Pathways to Impact and will require a clearly thought through and acceptable Pathways to Impact statement as a condition of funding in the future. This change will take effect for peer review panels which take place after 1st April 2015 – please see the appropriate Research Council website for details.

On Monday, a number of councils also published their 2013-14 impact reports, which are linked below.

EPSRC have updated their guidance on pathways to impact: http://www.epsrc.ac.uk/funding/howtoapply/preparing/impactguidance/ and have published an Impact report: http://www.epsrc.ac.uk/newsevents/pubs/economicimpactreport1314/ and a note about the next round of Impact Acceleration Accounts:

http://www.epsrc.ac.uk/newsevents/news/impactaccelerationaccounts/

AHRC impact report: http://www.ahrc.ac.uk/News-and-Events/News/Pages/AHRC-publishes-report-on-the-impact-of-research.aspx

ESRC impact report: http://www.esrc.ac.uk/news-and-events/announcements/33431/new-report-highlights-our-impact-in-2014.aspx and promoting REF impact case studies from ESRC funded research: http://www.esrc.ac.uk/news-and-events/features-casestudies/case-studies/

BBSRC has published its impact report: http://bbsrc.ac.uk/news/policy/2015/150119-n-bbsrc-publishes-latest-impact-report.aspx

MRC Impact report (published last year): http://www.mrc.ac.uk/news-events/publications/outputs-outcomes-and-impact-of-mrc-research-2013-14/

NERC Impact report: http://www.nerc.ac.uk/latest/news/nerc/impact-report/

STFC impact report: http://www.stfc.ac.uk/files/3269/3269_res_5.pdf

Finally, the overall RCUK impact report: http://www.rcuk.ac.uk/media/news/150119/

You can also view RKEO advice on producing a pathways to impact document on our blogs ‘research toolkit’: http://blogs.bournemouth.ac.uk/research/researcher-toolbox/je-s-guidance/impact-sections/

January 12, 2015

Research dissemination event in Kathmandu

Knowledge Transfer, Public engagement Edwin van Teijlingen

Last Sunday (11^th Jan.) Green Tara Nepal presented the findings of a review on health promotion initiatives in Nepal in Kathmandu. Mr. Gangalal Tuladhar, Member of The Constituent Assembly of Nepal (the equivalent of an MP in the UK) and Former Minister for Education, chaired this dissemination event ‘Evaluation of health promotion initiatives in Nepal’. The review, coordinated by Ms. Aditi Sharma, researcher at Green Tara Nepal, identified key government, bilateral, UN agencies and voluntary organisations working in the health field. Health-related policies and intervention programmes were reviewed in this research to evaluate the position of health promotion in Nepal and gaps were identified.

The first key finding is that the definition of health promotion is generally missing in both the health sector and government documents. The review highlights further that key gaps in health promotion exist in the field of (a) mental health and (b) care for the elderly. Of the five key approaches to health promotion: (1) medical/preventive; (2) behaviour change; (3) educational; (4) empowerment; and (5) social change, the most common approaches in Nepal appears to be adhering to the ‘medical/preventative’ and ‘education’.

Geographically the focus of interventions appears to be the easier to reach districts. BU Prof. Edwin van Teijlingen observed “This concentration of activities, often in and around larger cities, is common across the globe in terms of both health service provision and health promotion interventions.” Prof. Padam Simkhada (Liverpool John Moores University and Visting Faculty at BU) highlighted the lack of coordination across those working in the wider health promotion field. Many organisations are doing interesting and useful health promotion work, but each seems to be doing so in relative isolation.

The workshop was attended by a range of international and national non-governmental organisations, national politicians, and many other stakeholders including the media. The event was covered in the national media (see picture). The Green Tara Nepal Chair Krishna Lamsal added: “This dissemination workshop follows on from the First National Health Promotion Conference in Nepal which we organised in early 2013. The conference, jointly organised by Bournemouth University, brought together nearly 300 people for the first time to discuss key issues in health promotion.”

This dissemination event of joint research is the first step to creating an impact on policies and service provision in Nepal at a national level.

Prof Edwin van Teijlingen

Centre for Midwifery, Maternal and Perinatal Health

Faculty of Health & Social Sciences

December 18, 2014

The REF results are in! BU’s research recognised as world leading

REF Subjects, Research assessment Julie Northam

After many years of preparation, numerous mock exercises and thirteen long months of waiting, the REF results are finally published today! And the news for BU is excellent!

62% of BU’s research has been recognised as internationally excellent, with 18% rated as world-leading. This is a significant uplift on our RAE 2008 scores and has been achieved whilst also submitting considerably more staff to REF 2014 (161.8 FTE, an increase of 45.5%). This highlights the growing research volume and quality at BU and is testament to the significant investment that has been put into research over the past decade. The assessment recognised BU as a leading university in both the UK and south west region.

Key achievements for BU overall include:

BU was in the top half of all institutions that submitted to the REF (69th out of 154) based on the proportion of research rated of international standard
BU was 11th out of the 69 post-1992 universities based on the proportion of world-leading research
BU was fourth in the south west based on the proportion of world-leading research, behind Bristol, Bath and Exeter
30% of BU’s research impact was rated world-leading
58% of BU’s research outputs were rated internationally excellent or world-leading
63% of BU’s research environment was rated internationally excellent or world-leading
The THE has ranked BU 69th overall, an increase from 75th in 2008, and 69th for impact – http://www.timeshighereducation.co.uk/news/ref-2014-results-table-of-excellence/2017590.article

Key achievements for our research areas include:

Tourism (UOA 26) was rated as joint-first in the UK (out of 51 institutions) based on its internationally-recognised research
Art and design (UOA 34) is in the top quartile in the UK for its world-leading research, and is ranked first in the south west (out of 7 institutions)
Communication, Cultural and Media Studies (UOA 36) is in the top third of institutions in the UK (17th out of 67) for its world-leading research, and 7th in the UK for its world-leading impact
Psychology’s (UOA 4) outputs scored particularly well with 73% rated as internationally excellent or world-leading, placing BU 27th out of 82 institutions in the UK
Research impact was rated highly in General Engineering (UOA 15) which scored 73% internationally excellent, placing it fourth out of 29 post-1992 institutions.
BU submitted considerably more staff to Allied Health Professional, Dentistry, Nursing and Pharmacy (UOA 3) than in the last assessment exercise (9.2fte in 2008 and 21.4fte in 2014) and achieved a significant uplift in the proportion of its research that was rated internationally excellent and world-leading (40% to 54%).
Geography, Environmental Studies and Archaeology (UOA 17) is in the top quartile in the UK (joint-17th out of 74 institutions) based on the proportion of research rated of international standing, making it also 1st out of 20 post-1992 universities
Business and Management Studies (UOA 19) scored particularly well in terms of impact, resulting in it ranking 9th in the UK (out of 101 institutions) for its world-leading impact

HEFCE, on behalf of the four funding councils, publish the results of the REF today. You can browse the results here: www.ref.ac.uk.

Congratulations to all – this is a milestone achievement 🙂

December 15, 2014

Eurostat

Emily Cieciura

Are you trying to justify your research submission to the EU or another funder?

One way that you can support your bid is to use the EU statistical database – Eurostat. The Eurostat website provides direct and free of charge online access to all its statistical databases and associated electronic publications. The Eurostat database is updated twice a day and covers:

the European Union
the EU Member States
the euro-zone
Candidate countries
EFTA countries

Take a look at the first visit page to find out the main features, including tools for visualisation of data, extraction tools, mobile apps and tutorials to help you make the best use of EU statistical data. You can register for free so that you can receive tailor-made e-mail alerts informing you of new publications as soon as they are online and access enhanced functionalities of the databases (customize the navigation tree, bulk download). You can also sign up to alerts. If you already have an ECAS login, you can access Eurostat using this.

December 15, 2014

Tired of Writing? Make a Map!

Awarded & submitted bids afeigenbaum

This spring semester, thanks to a Fusion CCCP grant, we’ll be turning our BU research into interactive media, designed for making an impact.

If you are like me, dishwashing, hanging laundry, answering emails and even updating your BRIAN profile are more fun than writing academic papers. Beyond the jargon, peer review terror and endless citations, there is something sad about paper writing. Like a farewell party for long-time friend, the paper is a bittersweet goodbye. It is when we send our research off, delivering its findings into the abyss of academic journals, hoping to eventually be discovered and read.

But increasingly, academic writing isn’t the only tool at our disposal for making our research heard. As the impact agenda expands, alongside it, interest in public engagement and social media grow. Unlike most academic journals, with strict limits on figures and black and white print, online platforms are hungry for colour and creativity. Online, image is king and curiosity brings clicks. If a picture was once worth 1,000 words, today a media interactive is worth 10,000.

With many online platforms freely available to visualise our data, making information beautiful has never been easier. So, why not make our own? That’s the question I asked myself last year. Rather than pulling out the drying rack or deleting the ‘pending’ neurological mice studies from BRIAN’s list, I decided to give google maps a go.

Mapping the Media

Bored of traditional content analysis in my field of Media Studies, and taken by the toys of Geographers, I began my very first research map. All it took was a google account, a google alert, and about five hours a month for data input. A year later, an interactive dataset was born.

With over 25,000 views and copied onto news articles and blogs around the world, this map tells a different story about my research and the world we live in, one that I could never capture in linear prose. It opens up new audiences to the data, and in an instant reveals insights into conflicts and communities–and the ways they are mediated. Click deeper and you’ve got a global sample of news coverage from around the world to explore as you wish, offering features no academic article alone could provide.

But, alas, it wasn’t very pretty. So I went in search of real map-makers. With the support of An AAG Enrichment Grant for interdisciplinary scholars, I presented my ragtag version at the American Association of Geographers in 2014, arriving with a plea for help. And as luck would have it, help sat in my audience. Matt Ellis, a geography student from Texas Christian University, came on board, teaching me about ‘coordinates’ and CVS files. Matt created a series of maps, designed and hosted for free at CartoDB. Making these media maps opened my eyes to the possibility of the ‘disciplinary mash-up.’ Digital technologies allow us take apart and reassemble our methodologies, sharing interdisciplinary work online to wide audiences.

From Google Maps to Fusion Grants

With a little imagination and a bit of collaboration, our research can be expressed in new and creative forms. What began as a temporary escape from the doldrums of peer review publishing, has turned into a new, cross-school research initiative here at BU. Supported by a Fusion CCCP Grant, between January and July 2015, myself, Nathan Farrell, Dan Jackson, Robert Munday, Shelley Thompson and Einar Thorsen from the Media School will be working with Hamid Bouchachia of the Data Science Institute, geographers Duncan Golicher and Phillipa Gillingham of the GIS lab, and Impact Manager Rebecca Edwards from RKEO to co-create a model for visualising research here at BU.

This project combines traditional approaches for understanding datasets in the social sciences and humanities with geospatial and artistic design practices. Working in co-production with our students, our project embraces digital techniques for orienting output toward public engagement. Bringing in international experts from the Tactical Technology Collective, the New Media Lab and Visualising Impact for a Masterclass in Visualising Data for Societal Impact, our Fusion project will connect up BU research with the growing fields of information design and data communications, putting BU’s innovations in digital humanities and digital social sciences on the academic map.

So next time you’re tired of writing, consider making a map. Or an infographic. A collage or a GIF. A comic strip or a meme. Don’t feel guilty for not writing that paper, take a break from typing and have a play.

November 20, 2014

NERC Innovation Projects

Knowledge Exchange, Knowledge Transfer jcodling

The Innovation Projects call supports projects that are likely to generate little or no commercial return, but which will deliver impact.

The call aims to increase and accelerate the uptake and impact of NERC funded research output by supporting translational and knowledge exchange activity which delivers direct tangible and demonstrable benefits to end users. The Follow-on Fund is for those projects that aim to be fully commercialised with a revenue stream derived from licensing, spinouts, consultancy etc.

A maximum of £125k (£100k at 80% FEC) may be requested. Projects are expected to start in May 2015 and to last for up to 12 months. Smaller, targeted activities of three to six months are also welcome and NERC anticipates seeing a range of requests within the £125k limit, reflecting a diverse range of potential projects and activities.

The closing date is 16.00 hrs on 18^th December, 2014

For further information go to the website

November 13, 2014

Reducing Avoidable Term Admissions’ eLearning project

Fusion, Public engagement, Training Luisa Cescutti-Butler

In the region covered by Health Education Wessex, over half of all admissions to neonatal units are babies who are considered term gestation. An audit of neonatal unit admissions undertaken by University Hospitals Southampton NHS Foundation Trust uncovered three main reasons for term admissions:

(Mal) adaptation to neonatal life (27%)
Respiratory Distress Syndrome (18%)
Sepsis (13%)

The findings suggest that with better care in the immediate and subsequent postnatal period some of these admissions may have been avoided. It appears to be a national problem with NHS England recognizing an increase in term admissions as a key concern. Separating the woman from her baby can be emotionally upsetting and may impact on a woman’s ability to successfully breastfeed her baby. Babies when admitted onto neonatal units are subject to many interventions and may suffer short term morbidities. In addition to the impact on the woman and her baby there are implications for resources, it costs £500 a day to care for a baby receiving specialist neonatal care. Units who have reduced their term admission rates cite midwifery involvement as vital. Midwives work within multidisciplinary teams; therefore involvement of all healthcare professionals is crucial if term admissions are to be reduced. Standardization of protocols and guidelines appear difficult to achieve based on the various ways services are configured, therefore education on the basic principles of prevention is required.

Following an initial meeting with Kate Graham-Williams (Locum Consultant Neonatologist), Kim Edwards (Network Educator) and Teresa Griffin (Deputy Manager/Lead Nurse) to explore ideas of developing a learning package, a further meeting took place with Luisa Cescutti-Butler, Debbee Houghton and Carol Wilkins (Senior Midwifery Lecturers) to discuss educational outcomes.The meeting concluded with all parties agreeing to work collaboratively on an e-learning package and to explore possible sources of funding. Health Education Wessex has a responsibility to ensure that NHS employees are equipped with the right skills and knowledge to deliver excellent health and patient care, therefore they were approached and agreed to provide funding. Alison Potter (E-Learning Project Manager) joined the project and is managing all stages of the project. The project which involves Health Education Wessex, Thames Valley and Wessex Neonatal Network, Bournemouth University and selected supplier (LEO) have agreed to develop, implement and evaluate a multi-disciplinary eLearning module with an aim in reducing avoidable term admissions to neonatal units.

Luisa, Debbee and Carol are working with Kate on developing content (case scenarios) of the e-learning package and a workshop with all parties including supplier LEO will be taking place in December at Bournemouth University. A number of key professionals from the Wessex region have agreed to be reviewers including a set of parents who would have experienced their baby being admitted to a neonatal unit for medical input. The project aims to be ‘live’ in March 2015.

If you require any further information please contact Luisa Cescutti-Butler, Debbee Houghton or Carol Wilkins on the following email addresses: lcbutler@bournemouth.ac.uk, dhoughton@bournemouth.ac.uk , cwilkins@bournemouth.ac.uk

November 13, 2014

Helping men to lose weight

Fusion, Knowledge Transfer, Public engagement, Publishing, Research assessment Edwin van Teijlingen

High quality research from a collaboration of three UK universities has been turned into practical advice. The ROMEO project (Review Of Men and Obesity) by the University of Aberdeen, the University of Stirling and Bournemouth University found that men are more likely than women to benefit if physical activity is part of a weight-loss programme. Also although fewer men joined weight-loss programmes, once recruited they were less likely to drop out than women. The perception of having a health problem, the impact of weight loss on health problems, and the desire to improve personal appearance without looking too thin were motivators for weight loss amongst men. However, the type of reducing diet did not appear to affect long-term weight loss.

The charity Men’s Health Forum linked up with Public Health England and published a ‘How to’ guide based on the evidence of our ROMEO study. This ‘How to make weight-loss services work for men’ guide offers advice for local authorities, commissioners and weight management providers, who are trying to attract men to weight-loss programmes. The guide highlights, for example that:

Programmes that include exercise and behaviour change components as well as dieting are more successful in helping men to lose weight.
Men respond well to programmes that have a higher degree of personalisation, such as setting individual goals, as it increases their sense of control.
Weight-loss programmes based in the workplace or associated with professional sports clubs have been particularly successful.
Using humour and encouraging camaraderie makes programmes more attractive to men as does knowing that there will be other men there.

Furthermore, this ‘How to’ guide includes, amongst other advice, a list of Ten Top Tips.

This is an excellent example how research conducted between three different universities has been turned into easy to understand advice for man who are overweight. The past decade or so has seen an increasing interest in making academic research ‘useful’ to society. Creating and measuring the impact of research conducted at universities has been introduced as key element on the REF, the Research Excellence Framework. The REF assesses the quality of research in, and affects the amount of government money each university in the UK receives.

For a traditional academic publishing the HTA report would be a success in itself. Which, of course, it is to culmination of a large-scale and extensive review, well conducted, published through Open Access, which also attracted considerable media attention from across the globe when it came out. However, ROMEO did not stop there. Due to the involvement of the Men’s Health Fora right from the start of ROMEO, the Men’s Health Forum in England linked up with Public Health England to create and publish ‘How to make weight-loss services work for men’ guide is published today.

The ROMEO project, led by Prof. Alison Avenell (University of Aberdeen), examined the evidence for managing obesity in men and investigated how to engage men with obesity services. The evidence came from trials, interviews with men, reports of studies from the UK, and economic studies. ROMEO was funded by the National Institute for Health Research, Health Technology Assessment Programme (NIHR HTA Project 09/127/01). Our full report is Open Access and can be freely downloaded here.

Prof. Edwin van Teijlingen

School of Health & Social Care

Bournemouth University

November 3, 2014

REF 2020 update

Research assessment Julie Northam

In approximately 7 weeks we will know the outcome of the REF 2014 exercise. It is hard to believe that it is almost a year since we submitted to the exercise and that the results are round the corner. Whilst the expert panels have been assessing the submissions this past year, HEFCE have been working hard to design and shape the post-2014 REF, currently being referred to as REF 2020. They are currently midway through a review of the role of metrics in research assessment to ascertain the extent to which metrics could be used in the assessment and management of research. They have commissioned RAND Europe to undertake an assessment of the impact element of REF 2014, part of which will include recommendations to the assessment of impact in future REF exercises. They are currently consulting on whether an international REF exercise, rather than a national one, is the way forward. And, arguably the most important announcement to date, they have confirmed their open access policy for the next REF which stipulates that in order to be eligible for submission to the next REF from April 2016 all journal papers and conference proceedings have to be made freely available in an institutional and/or subject repository at the time of acceptance. Outputs not made freely available in a repository at the time of acceptance after April 2016 will be exempt from inclusion.

The Research Blog’s REF pages have recently been updated and you can read more of what we know about REF 2020 here: http://blogs.bournemouth.ac.uk/research/ref/

As soon as we know more we will post it on the Blog. Until then we wait with anticipation for the REF 2014 results!

October 28, 2014

Festival of Learning – what could you do? Be part of something special this July…

Festival of Learning Becca Edwards

The Festival of Learning is back for the third year between 11^th-17th July.

This year will build of the fantastic success of the Festival in 2013 and 2014. Over the past two years the Festival of Learning has had circa 9,000 visits with an average event rating of 9 out of 10 and 96% of evaluated attendees stating that they would be very likely or likely to attend another event.

To further this success in 2015, we need you to host lectures, workshops and debates (or whatever type of engaging activity you can think of) showcasing the fantastic knowledge base of BU.

But why get involved?

It is a great opportunity to celebrate life at BU and share your passion with a different audience.
It can add fresh perspective to your research. Read this article about how public engagement can help you think about your research from a fresh perspective.
It can change people’s lives. Here in the Festival office we have been moved by members of the public telling us about how the Festival has helped reignite a passion for learning, helped support the growth of the charity and even helped people to walk for the first time in years.
It is a great networking opportunity. Colleagues involved in the Festival in previous years have developed partnerships which have, for example, led to collaborative PhD studentships.
It is fantastic for skills development. Especially for early career researchers, the Festival offers an unprecedented opportunity to develop communication techniques which engage members of the public and builds confidence in communicating complex ideas (essential for a future lecturing career!)
It helps to meet the expectation of funders and policy makers. The European Commission, HEFCE and our Research Councils (amongst others) expect researchers to demonstrate to the public the value of their research. The Festival provides of a great vehicle to do this as you will receive central support (e.g. for marketing) rather than going it alone.
It can support student recruitment. And not just undergraduates, but those looking for postgraduate courses and short courses who have never before considered BU as a potential place to study.

What you need to know

The call for proposals is now open and closes on 19^th December at 12noon.
You don’t have to run a long event. Many members of the public actually prefer to attend an event which only lasts an hour or so, rather than for a whole day.
The Festival runs from 11-17^th July 2015. Eager Festival followers will note that the Festival of Learning is being held slightly later this year. This is in order to ensure that our local schools and colleges are able to participate more fully in the Festival and to avoid clashes with examinations (both those being held by schools and Universities).

What to do next

Got an idea for an event? Great! Click for further details here on how to submit an event
Would like to get involved, but not sure how? Don’t worry, help is on hand! Contact Naomi Kay for guidance as to how to develop an event.
Looking for inspiration? Why not check out the Festival of Learning website to see what we ran last year, or check out some other public engagement Festival sites such as the British Science Festival, British Festival of Nature or Cambridge Festival of Ideas.

October 28, 2014

Impact, outcome and research methods – HSC PhD student on LSE Impact Blog

PG research, Research assessment aharding

With working at a university and the rise of the REF, you would have almost certainly come across the terms ‘impact’ and ‘outcomes’. Whilst there might be a great deal of similarity and overlap in the use of these terms, it is important to discuss the sometime subtle differences between ‘impact’ and ‘outcome’. What consequences might this have for the design of social research?

The health and social care literature uses these terms in a rather haphazard manner. The differences are rarely discussed and it can be suggested that many use the wrong terminology. In this blog post on the LSE Impact of Social Sciences Blog, relating to the field of information and advice on welfare issues, I briefly discuss and propose that there are fundamental differences between what an impact refers to and what an outcome refers to. Furthermore, I suggest that these differences are significant and profound enough to align each to opposing research methodologies.

These thoughts relate to the key areas of my PhD project with Elderly Accommodation Counsel (EAC) in London. EAC coordinates the FirstStop service which provides information and advice to older people (and other stakeholders) on housing and care issues. My research is focused on how older people use information and advice on housing and the wider impact that this has.

If anyone has an interest in this area, do get in touch!

Tagged / impact