Latest research and knowledge exchange news at Bournemouth University
The Innovation Common Room offers researchers the opportunity to connect, exchange ideas, and provide mentorship in a casual environment over coffee.
Academics are welcome to invite their Post-Graduate Students
Please contact Wendelin Morrison, BU Knowledge Exchange Manager, if you would like more information: wmorrison@bournemouth.ac.uk
The LGBTQ+ Digital Lives project at Bournemouth University is exploring the online safety experiences of young people in the LGBTQ+ community.
Could you spare a few minutes to share your thoughts on this important issue?
The content and ideas shared from this survey will contribute to the ‘Our Digital Lives’ art exhibition, which will be on display during the ESRC Festival of Social Science (October – November 2024) with plans to also display during LGBTQ+ History Month (February 2025) and Pride Month (June 2025).
Your participation in this survey is greatly appreciated. Please be assured that all responses will remain completely anonymous with no personal identifiers collected. Your answers will be used solely to support the ‘Our Digital Lives’ art exhibition.
Please submit your responses by Friday 4 October
ESRC Festival of Social Science event 2023
What is HE-BCI?
The HE-BCI survey is a mandatory annual return that BU makes to the Higher Education Statistics Agency (HESA). An important part of this is to capture activity in terms of social, community and cultural events intended for the external community. This data is part of the information used to determine the allocation of Higher Education and Innovation Funding (HEIF) for BU.
Last year we recorded 200+ events and a total of 18.5m attendees (which includes media appearances) for the 2022-23 return. We want to ensure we can do as well, if not better for this year!
What activities can be included?
Please include details of any relevant events that you have been involved in which took place/will take place between 1 August 2023 – 31 July 2024
Events must have been open to the public or intended for an external (non-academic) group and have included an exchange of knowledge. Events may take place in the UK or overseas
Eligible events include:
Please head to this SharePoint site to add your events.
The SharePoint site provides details about what data is collected, including calculating attendee numbers, staff time, reporting online activities and multiple related events
If you have any questions about the HE-BCI return, please contact publicengagement@bournemouth.ac.uk
ESRC Festival of Social Science event in 2023
What is HE-BCI?
The HE-BCI survey is a mandatory annual return that BU makes to the Higher Education Statistics Agency (HESA). An important part of this is to capture activity in terms of social, community and cultural events intended for the external community. This data is part of the information used to determine the allocation of Higher Education and Innovation Funding (HEIF) for BU.
What activities can be included?
Please include details of any relevant events that you have been involved in which took place/will take place between 1 August 2023 – 31 July 2024
Events must have been open to the public or intended for an external (non-academic) group and have included an exchange of knowledge. Events may take place in the UK or overseas
Eligible events include:
Please head to this SharePoint site to add your events.
The deadline for submitting your events is Friday 15 November.
The SharePoint site provides details about what data is collected, including calculating attendee numbers, staff time, reporting online activities and multiple related events
If you have any questions about the HE-BCI return, please contact publicengagement@bournemouth.ac.uk
Dr Samuel Hills and Dr Jill Nash taking part in an ESRC Festival of Social Science event in 2023
What is HE-BCI?
The HE-BCI survey is a mandatory annual return that BU makes to the Higher Education Statistics Agency (HESA). An important part of this is to capture activity in terms of social, community and cultural events intended for the external community. This data is part of the information used to determine the allocation of Higher Education and Innovation Funding (HEIF) for BU.
What activities can be included?
Please include details of any relevant events that you have been involved in which took place/will take place between 1 August 2023 – 31 July 2024
Events must have been open to the public or intended for an external (non-academic) group and have included an exchange of knowledge. Events may take place in the UK or overseas
Eligible events include:
Please head to this SharePoint site to add your events.
The deadline for submitting your events is Friday 15 November.
The SharePoint site provides details about what data is collected, including calculating attendee numbers, staff time, reporting online activities and multiple related events
If you have any questions about the HE-BCI return, please contact publicengagement@bournemouth.ac.uk
Bournemouth University PhD student Md. Shafkat Hossain has been invited to attend the international Safety 2024 conference in India in September. The 15th World Conference on Injury Prevention & Safety Promotion (Safety 2024) will be held 2-4 September at the Taj Palace in New Delhi. Safety 2024 global event will focus worldwide attention on safety and injury prevention. This conference will gather international experts in the field with a united goal of “Building a safer future for all: Equitable and sustainable strategies for injury and violence prevention”.
Shafkat will be presenting this PhD work to date under the title ‘Using Human-Centred Design (HCD) to develop community-led interventions to prevent drowning among children under the age of 2 in rural Bangladesh’. Mr. Md. Shafkat Hossain who has been selected by Bloomberg Philanthropies as one of the Emerging Leaders in Drowning Prevention programme. 
This programme has been designed to create a cohort of younger leaders to join national and international efforts to raise awareness and strengthen solutions and political commitment towards drowning. This programme is hosted by the Global Health Advocacy Incubator and provides a unique opportunity for people like Shafkat to develop leadership skills in drowning prevention, and be a part of a global community working to reduce drowning deaths. This first group of Emerging Leaders includes people from Bangladesh, Ghana, India, Uganda, United States and Vietnam.
Shafkat’s PhD study is part of the interdisciplinary Sonamoni study. Sonamoni is coordinated by BU in collaboration with Centre for Injury Prevention and Research, Bangladesh (CIPRB), the University of the West of England, Bristol, the University of Southampton, Design Without Borders (DWB) in Uganda, and the Royal National Lifeboat Institution (RNLI). We are working to reduce drownings among newly-mobile children, generally under two years old. This £1.6m project has been made possible thanks to a grant from the National Institute for Health and Care Research (NIHR) through their Research and Innovation for Global Health Transformation programme. 
For more information about our ongoing research in Bangladesh, please visit the NIHR website.
Prof. Edwin van Teijlingen & Dr. Mavis Bengtsson
Centre for Midwifery & Women’s Health
The UK Parliament Knowledge Exchange Unit have announced a new online Parliament for Researchers with the House of Lords training session.
In this session, they will be joined by Lord Krebs who will share insights on the value of academic research in Parliament, informed by his background in Biological Sciences.
About the session
During the session, you will find out about how research evidence is used in both the House of Commons and the House of Lords, and how you can work with Parliament as a researcher.
Who is this for?
This session is suitable for early career researchers, PhD students and researchers who are new to engaging with the UK Parliament as well as those who would benefit from a refresher. The session will cover useful information for researchers of all academic backgrounds and will be of particular interest to those in the life sciences.
Sign up now
The session will take place online, on Wednesday 11 September, 13:00-14:00. You can register for the session here.
Each subsequent session will focus on a different academic discipline or topic. Details for future sessions will be shared on the KEU website.
If you want your research to influence policy, you need to know who to approach and how.
We have 121 slots available with Carys Davis, of The Other Place. Carys is a public affairs consultant and trainer with eighteen years’ experience in politics and public affairs, including working for:
You can book a one-hour bespoke consultation for yourself, a research group or centre by emailing impact@bournemouth.ac.uk. This is likely to be of particular interest if you are developing an impact case study for REF2029, but all researchers at all stages are welcome to book.
Your personalised policy engagement strategy will include:
But you need to be quick – any sessions must take place by 31 July!
The Royal Society of Chemistry Outreach Fund is open for applications
Grants available to support chemistry-based public and schools engagement activities
Small Grant up to £5,000
Large Grant between £5,001 and £10,000
About the Outreach Fund
The fund aims to support projects or programmes that:
How to apply
Please make sure you have read the application guidance before you apply
See a list of resources to support you in the development of your project and strengthen your application
All applications must be submitted online:
Apply for a small grant (of up to £5,000) →
Apply for a large grant (between £5,001 and £10,000) →
This funding is subject to the same internal processes as external research funding. Before applying, interested PIs (Principle Investigators) should submit a completed e-ITB form (Intention to Bid) by at least 4 weeks before the deadline.
Application deadline: Monday 9 September 2024
Contact
If you have any questions, or would like to discuss a potential project please email: outreach@rsc.org
Alternatively, if you would like advice on developing ideas or submitting your application, please contact Public Engagement with Research: publicengagement@bournemouth.ac.uk
At BU we promote and celebrate the work done to engage public audiences with our research.
The Public Engagement with Research team, part of Research Development and Support, can help you reach relevant audiences through a monthly newsletters and social media channels.
To be considered for promotion, your event or activity must meet the following criteria:
Event descriptions may be edited to align with our style guidelines
BU is compiling data for the annual Higher Education–Business & Community Interaction (HE-BCI) survey and we’d like to know about the social, cultural and community events that you have been involved in.
What is HE-BCI?
The HE-BCI survey is a mandatory annual return that BU makes to the Higher Education Statistics Agency (HESA). An important part of this is to capture activity in terms of social, community and cultural events intended for the external community. This data is part of the information used to determine the allocation of Higher Education and Innovation Funding (HEIF) for BU
What activities can be included?
Please include details of any relevant events that you have been involved in which took place/will take place between 1 August 2023 – 31 July 2024
Events must have been open to the public or intended for an external (non-academic) group and have included an exchange of knowledge. Events may take place in the UK or overseas
Eligible events include:
Please head to this SharePoint site to add your events.
The deadline for submitting your events is Friday 15 November
The SharePoint site provides details about what data is collected, including calculating attendee numbers, staff time, reporting online activities and multiple related events
If you have any questions about the HE-BCI return, please contact publicengagement@bournemouth.ac.uk
Join our public lecture and debate on Wednesday 24 July, 5:30-7pm to find out about tattoos and the law
As more and more people choose to be tattooed in the UK, how tattoos and the law interact becomes increasingly important.
For tattoo artists, there are growing concerns around tattoo copying, and questions of whether tattoos are protected by copyright law. For tattooed people, there are questions about discrimination and whether employers can choose not to hire you, simply because you are tattooed.
Join our public lecture and debate, led by Bournemouth University legal expert Melanie Stockton-Brown to find out about your tattoos and the law. Discuss your own experiences and potential legal changes.
Join our public lecture and debate on Wednesday 17 July, 5:30-7pm to find out how to advocate for your rights to medical treatment
People living in Dorset currently face some of the worst levels of contact with health services in the UK, with GP waiting times in the county the second longest in England.
Join our public lecture and debate, led by Bournemouth University legal experts Dr Samuel Walker and Dr Matthew Watkins to explore your legal and ethical rights to timely care and treatment. Discover practical steps you can take to speed up diagnosis and treatment for you and your family, and discuss the recent introduction of ‘Martha’s Rule’, which enables you to seek a second opinion on the NHS.
After the lecture (30 minutes approx.), you will be invited to move into small groups to discuss your own experiences and suggest ways to improve local access and provision to healthcare services
Thank You for Your Interest!
The application period for the Public Engagement Seed Fund has now closed. Thank you to everyone who expressed an interest and submitted an application.
The Public Engagement Seed Fund was designed to provide small amounts of funding (up to £500) to help researchers develop and incorporate meaningful, two-way engagement with beneficiaries and research users. The aim is to help support a more engaged research culture across BU and accelerate the impact arising from research.
Looking Ahead
For those who were unable to apply this year, we hope to offer the Public Engagement Seed Fund again next year. Please do keep a look out for future announcements and opportunities.
Awarded Projects
We will be sharing updates on the awarded projects in the autumn, highlighting the fantastic work being done to engage and inspire communities.
Thank you once again for your interest and participation.
If you have any questions about the Seed Fund, or if you’re interested in engaging with the public about your research, please contact the Public Engagement with Research Team: publicengagement@bournemouth.ac.uk
The Nepal Journal of Epidemiology achieved its first proper Web of Science impact factor this month. The Nepal Journal of Epidemiology is a international journal with strong links to Bournemouth University. It is a Open Access journal that covers all aspects of epidemiology and encourages communication among those engaged in the research, teaching, and application of epidemiology of both communicable and non-communicable disease, including research into health services, public health and medical care. One of the two Editors-in-Chief is Dr. Brijesh Sathian, FHSS Visiting Faculty and the journal’s Editorial Board Members include Prof. Padam Simkhada, FHSS Visiting Faculty as well as Prof. Edwin van Teijlingen in the Centre for Midwifery & Women’s Health.
Dr. Nirmal Aryal, who is a part-time researcher in the Department of Nursing Sciences, is in Malaysia this week to prepare further migrant-health research collaborations and plans. His trip is part of the Faculty of Health & Social Sciences (FHSS) seed-corn funding for Early Career Researchers. In Malaysia Nirmal has conducted several PPIE (Patient and Public Involvement and Engagement) events with migrant workers and stakeholders, including current Nepalese migrant workers. Nirmal is working closely with Dr. Pramod Regmi and Prof. Edwin van Teijlingen (both based in FHSS) in the field of the health and well-being of Nepalse migrant workers.
Today Nirmal also met with the Ambassador of Nepal in Kuala Lumpur (Malaysia) who expressed a great interest in our work.
Nirmal is on a double mission as building links in Malaysia is also important for our latest funded project ‘ENSURE‘. ENSURE is a project led by La Isla Network in the United States of America. La Isla Network, Johns Hopkins University Bloomberg School of Public Health (based in the U.S.), the Nepal Development Society and Bournemouth University are leading the first-ever international effort to research and address trafficking among Nepalese labour migrants. The work is funded by a $4 million cooperative agreement awarded by the U.S. Department of State’s Office to Monitor and Combat Trafficking in Persons, International Programs.
BU is compiling data for the annual Higher Education–Business & Community Interaction survey. Please tell us about the social, cultural and community events that you have been involved with.
HE-BCI, the Higher Education Business & Community Interaction survey, collects financial and output data related to knowledge exchange every academic year. This includes details of lectures, exhibitions and other cultural activities, which are provided in Table 5. The data is collected by the Higher Education Statistics Agency (HESA) and Research England uses elements of the data provided in the HE-BCI survey to inform the allocation of the Higher Education Innovation Fund (HEIF).
Please include all events that:
The SharePoint site provides details about what data is collected, including how to calculate attendee numbers, staff time, reporting online activities and multiple related events.
If you have any other questions about the HE-BCI return, please contact publicengagement@bournemouth.ac.uk.
The call for applications for Being Human Festival 2024 has been extended
To enable as many people as possible to participate in this year’s festival, they have extended the deadline for the Festival Event (unfunded) pathway to Thursday 18 July, 5pm
Every year, researchers, staff from universities, and research organisations are invited to take part in this national festival by organising a public engagement event or activity, rooted in humanities research.
Any organisation with a connection to humanities research is eligible to organise a festival event via this pathway, including museums, galleries, archives, libraries, publishers, community organisations and more – but all events must involve an eligible researcher in their planning and delivery.
This year’s festival will take place 7–16 November, with the theme ‘Landmarks’, honouring the their 10th anniversary. They will be looking back on landmark events in their history, while imagining landmarks they might yet create. Researchers are invited to think about physical or metaphorical landmarks and how they shape our world.
Read more about the theme ‘Landmarks’
Further details on how to apply, and answers to some frequently asked questions, are available here
Alternatively, if you would like advice on developing ideas or submitting an application, please contact the Public Engagement with Research Team: publicengagement@bournemouth.ac.uk
BU staff can login below:
New BU Physiology paper
Gender and street names
Help Shape the Future of Research at BU: Postgraduate Research Experience Survey 2026 Now Open
3C Event: Research Culture, Community & Cherry Blossom – Tuesday 14 April
REMINDER: 3MT® Competition – Deadline 9am Monday 20 April
New academic paper on Nepal
ECR Funding Open Call: Research Culture & Community Grant – Apply now
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MSCA Postdoctoral Fellowships 2025 Call
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Update on UKRO services
European research project exploring use of ‘virtual twins’ to better manage metabolic associated fatty liver disease
Research Information Network