BU Research Blog

March 24, 2022

From Southern Brazil to Bournemouth, a Global Visiting Fellowship experience in times of Covid-19

BU research, Fusion, Global engagement, international lesteves

It was March 2020 when we submitted our application to BU’s Global Visiting Fellowship (GVF). Dr Luciana Esteves (LES, SciTech) reached out asking if I was interested in starting a collaboration taking the opportunity of the GVF scheme. We knew each other but have never worked together before. We thought it was a great opportunity to merge our research interests to assess how an ecosystem-based approach could make coastal vulnerability assessments more integrated to facilitate coastal adaptation. You can find insights about how our collaboration started in this blog.

An international collaboration proposal was born and later approved, great! Then the Covid-19 pandemic hit hard. All research and teaching schedules, timetables, academic calendars, everything became VERY uncertain. We were replanning activities without knowing when we would be able to start. We decided to do whatever was possible remotely. We started to co-supervise a postgraduate student enrolled at UFRGS and helped to kick start the process of establishing a BU-UFRGS MoU. We also organised an online workshop gathering researchers from across Brazil to discuss the methods and challenges of integrating ecosystem-based planning to better understand and manage coastal vulnerabilities in support of coastal adaptation.

It took almost two years for my first visit to BU (and my first ever to the UK) to happen. This was no easy task to coordinate. Federal institutions in Brazil, such as UFRGS, still have many restrictions in place regarding international travel. It was also difficult to find a period of time that was mutually convenient. The academic calendar in Brazil is still far from normal and, in UFRGS, we are still working remotely. At last, I arrived in Bournemouth on 6th March 2022 for a 17-day stay. It was very good to be able to travel and progress with our collaboration in person. Here are some personal impressions and highlights of my time in Bournemouth:

It was great to be able to be on Talbot campus and see BU’s facilities. I leave very impressed by the infrastructure and how sustainability is incorporated into the buildings. This is something you must be proud of!
I gave a lecture on Ecosystem-based management principles applied to environmental planning to undergraduate students (in the Applications of Environmental Science unit). This was the first time since December 2019 that I gave a lecture physically present in a classroom! It felt so good, thank you!
In hybrid mode, I gave a presentation to staff and PhD students about our laboratory and the ecosystem-based approaches we are using to support environmental management to address the needs of local organisations and government.
I have provided demonstrations of the TerrSet model applications for land-use change and ecosystem service mapping to staff and PhD students with potential for future collaboration.
We have proposed a special session for the Royal Geographical Society conference (to be held in Newcastle, 30 August to 2 September 2022).
We have started to write an academic paper and a practical guide for managers (particularly in less developed countries) about the application of ecosystem-based approaches to reduce coastal vulnerabilities and foster coastal adaptation.
We have identified possible calls and drafted a plan to secure funding from Brazil for staff and student mobility.

I’m very glad with the progress made. Luciana was a wonderful host and we worked well together. During my visit, I was contacted by many members of the university (from the administration, researchers and PhD students) and everyone was very polite and respectful. It is clear to me that BU is well-prepared for international collaboration. Besides work, I was very lucky with the weather and managed to visit some amazing places during weekends. The landscapes are beautiful, the Jurassic Coast is breathtaking, and London is a truly vibrant global city.

I look forward to continuing this collaboration beyond this Fellowship. My sincere thanks to all involved.

by Tatiana Silva (tatiana.silva@ufrgs.br)
BU’s Global Visiting Fellow
Associate Professor at the Universidade Federal do Rio Grande do Sul (UFRGS), Porto Alegre, southern Brazil

March 24, 2022

Our Global Visiting Fellowship experience (in times of Covid-19)

Global engagement, international lesteves

It was 23rd March 2020 when we submitted our application to BU’s Global Visiting Fellowship (GVF) scheme. I’m sure you remember this date well! We received the outcome of the submission around mid-May and confirmation of funds in June. The GVF provides funding to facilitate international collaborations with partners in BU’s priority list and each fellowship lasts 3 years. The funds cover costs for the Fellows to visit BU and for modest research costs (find out more here). As you can imagine, our plans halted and had to be modified throughout the pandemic. Differences in the timing of restrictions imposed by the UK and Brazil created further difficulties. Only very recently we were able to actually progress with our planned activities and organise the visit of Dr Tatiana Silva to BU. Here we provide some insights about how we started this collaboration, our activities and how we are progressing.

The Fellow: Tatiana is Associate Professor and Deputy Head of the Institute of Geosciences at the Universidade Federal do Rio Grande do Sul (UFRGS), Porto Alegre, southern Brazil. Her research applies remote sensing and spatial analyses to support ecosystem-based planning ranging from the local scale (e.g. ports) to state-wide mapping and zoning.

BU host: Dr Luciana Esteves is Associate Professor at the department of Life & Environmental Sciences (SciTech). Her research concerns drivers and consequences of coastal change and how ecosystem-based management can be a more sustainable and effective way to reduce coastal vulnerabilities.

Motivation to apply: International collaboration has always been an important part of my work. At BU, I was Global Engagement Leader for my department and, I continue to actively contribute to BU’s global engagement, particularly with Brazil. I have an extensive network in Brazil and I’m always interested in opportunities to continue working with colleagues there.

How this collaboration started: When BU launched the GVF scheme, I knew that two Brazilian universities were in BU’s list of priority partners (USP and UFRGS). I then assessed who in these universities could be a good collaborator and a good fit to the call. I did my PhD at UFRGS and I was interested in re-establishing links. The call encouraged applications from female staff/fellows so I prioritised potential female colleagues from UFRGS with converging research interests and with greater potential for a successful long-term collaboration. In my search, I found out that Tatiana was working at UFRGS and working with ecosystem-based planning and with track record in international collaboration. Further, she had roles that would make her well-placed to develop and consolidate a long-term partnership. Although I knew Tatiana from the time I was an academic in Brazil, we have never worked together but it seemed a very good fit for this call. I decided to send an email and assess her interest. I was very glad when she replied promptly and positively. We started to discuss our common interests and soon agreed on a plan for our proposal. And here we are!

We think our proposal was successful because: we carefully considered all requirements of the call and proposed a plan that attended to these requirements and, at the same time, enabled us to start a collaboration in a new line of research that was of common interest. The plan included: a special session at a conference, workshops, purchase of software (including student licences), training to students, co-supervision of postgraduate students, and publications.

Difficulties: COVID, COVID and COVID! Remote international collaborations are intrinsically difficult due to differences in time zones, academic calendars, teaching schedules, working styles etc. It’s even more so if it’s with someone you have never worked with. During the pandemic, funds were temporarily suspended and there was little we could do. Activities were replanned but a lot of time was lost. The opportunity for Tatiana to come to BU and for us to actually meet in person took 2 years to realise. Now we are progressing well but our funding ends at the end of July and this is a predicament.

Was this worthwhile? Yes, definitely. It would have been so much better and more enjoyable without the challenges brought by the pandemic, but I believe we have formed a partnership that will be long lasting – which is a key aim of the GVF scheme. We have a number of interesting activities to finish, students have expressed interest to go for placements with Tatiana and the MoU has been approved by both BU and UFRGS, so we have a lot to look forward to. We also found out that we can work well together, which is very important.

You can read Tatiana’s blog about her experience and visit to BU here.

Lu Esteves, lesteves@bournemouth.ac.uk

March 17, 2021

BU collaborating with Chinese universities on Strategic Investment Areas

BU2025, Global engagement sarahprice

Over the last few months, the Global Engagement Hub has organized a series of online research workshops with two priority SIA institutions in China, Northeastern University and Zhejiang University. BU has a longstanding relationship with both institutions.

In 2019, Bournemouth University launched a joint research centre of advanced materials with Northeastern University (NEU) in Shenyang China. The research centre focuses on creating new materials with large-scale applications in industrial manufacturing and healthcare. The research centre has four unique research themes; energy materials, healthcare, 2D materials technology and materials for sustainable applications that closely align to two strategic investment areas: Sustainability, Low Carbon Technology and Material Science, and Medical Science. The research centre is home to a number of ongoing research collaborations, including the work of a number of PhD students. The centre has received funding from the Chinese government for NEU PhD students to spend time at BU.

BU academics collaborated with colleagues from NEU in a three-day virtual workshop in December 2020 that focussed on the Sustainability and Low Carbon Technology and Medical Science SIAs. This workshop was a chance for early career researchers as well as established researchers to develop important networks with colleagues in China. The three-day event included presentations from researchers and PhD students at both universities. Following on from the event, the Global Engagement Hub together with Dr Amor Abdelkader, the lead academic of the partnership, are currently organising smaller meetings for workshop attendees to facilitate collaboration in the areas of materials science, medical imaging and environmental science.

In January 2021, BU hosted another virtual workshop, this time in collaboration with Zhejiang University (ZJU) to explore research and expertise aligned with BU’s strategic investment areas Animation, Simulation and Visualisation and its application to Medical Science. The two organisations have a long-standing history of research collaboration through the National Centre for Computer Animation, NCCA. Colleagues from BU and ZJU have published a range of papers together and collaborated on funding bid submissions.

Another link that BU has with ZJU is through the UK-China Health and Economy Partnership, which is a novel knowledge transfer partnership promoting long-term collaboration between leading academic institutions in China including ZJU and the United Kingdom. The aim of this project is to generate new expertise and techniques in health economics.

Professor Dimitrios Buhalis and Dr Daisy Fan in the BU Business School also have long-standing collaboration with Dr Jiaying Lu at the ZJU School of Management in the area of senior living and senior travel experience as well as work on social and economic sustainability in tourism.

If you have any links to these strategic partner universities or would like to collaborate with colleagues at these institutions, please email GlobalBU@bournemouth.ac.uk.

February 22, 2021

Chapter published today: ‘Birth systems across the world’

BU research, Featured academics, Global engagement, international, open access, policy, Publishing, Research news, Uncategorized, writing Edwin van Teijlingen

Today our chapter: Birth Systems across the World: Variations in maternity policy and services across countries was published in the renowned series of books: FIGO Continuous Textbook of Women’s Medicine [1]. This chapter was co-authored by Prof. Edwin van Teijlingen in the Centre for Midwifery, Maternal & Perinatal Health (CMMPH) with Prof. Sirpa Wrede and Doctoral Researcher Johanna Sarlio-Nieminen both from the University of Helsinki (Finland) and Dr. Anastasia Novkunskaya from the European University at St. Petersburg (Russia). The chapter includes a set of recommendations for future practice.

Volume 1 is edited by Prof. Jane Sandall from King’s College London. Earlier this year Prof. Sandall was appointed as the first-ever head of midwifery research for England and one of her key focuses will be around ending racial health inequalities in maternity care.

Everything published on The Global Library of Women’s Medicine is available to everyone everywhere for free and there is no requirement to register in order to view it.

Reference:

Wrede S, Novkunskaya A, Sarlio-Nieminen, J, van Teijlingen, E. (2021) Birth Systems across the World: Variations in maternity policy and services across countries, Glob. Libr. Women’s Med., ISSN: 1756-2228; DOI 10.3843/GLOWM.415183

November 25, 2020

University lockdown: An internationalisation opportunity?

BU research, conferences, COVID-19, Events, Featured academics, Global engagement, innovation, international, Publishing, Research news, Uncategorized Edwin van Teijlingen

The general effects of lockdown on healthy individuals range from a general annoyance to a major limiting factor in life, especially in lockdown affects someone livelihood and/or mental health. These effects have been well documented in the media. At a societal level these effects are more mixed, first and foremost, there is positive outcome in terms of a reduced spread of the infectious disease COVID-19. Further positive effects include a reduction in air pollution, water pollution levels (in Venice), traffic jams, but also fewer break-ins (as more people are at home for more of the time). Whilst negative effects include not only economic decline, but also a lack of opportunity to travel for work or leisure, children missing education and people avoiding health care professionals for screening and treatment of diseases other then COVID-19. We have also learnt that lockdown affects different groups in society differently, some quite unexpectedly. For example, AbilityNet highlighted that “For students living with physical impairments and long-term health conditions, the benefits of studying from home and avoiding the exhausting experience of accessing face-to-face learning has left them with more energy to apply to their studies” [1]. Even before the first lockdown universities in the UK had been pro-active in their response to the pandemic [2]. One of the practical responses was to move to webinars, online teaching, marking and meetings. Before March most university academics don’t much about Zoom, Teams, Jitsi Meet or Google Meet, and today most academics will have used most of these platforms (and several others) for research meetings, webinars and conferences.

With lockdown this all has changed, like my BU colleagues I teach every week using Zoom, meet colleagues online through a range of platforms, meet students for individual tutorials through Skype or Teams. Although having the occasional limitation, there is a great opportunity as it removed the need for staff and students to be in the same room. One example of a BU education innovation was last week’s International Student Midwives’ Networking Day held on November 18^th. With the restrictions of lockdown on midwifery students the BU Midwifery Team led by Dr. Laura Iannuzzi and Dr. Juliet Wood used the opportunities provided by Zoom to bring together midwifery students from across the globe. Using their long-established research links [3-16], BU academics manage to bring together student midwives from Italy, Nepal and the Netherlands to discuss midwifery and maternity issues with fellow midwifery students at BU. The day was nicely broken into two with a lunchtime event called ‘Zoom the midwife’, which as the third of its kind. In this ‘Zoom the midwife’ webinar BU’s Dr Rachel Arnold and BU Visiting Faculty Margaret Walsh shared their experience of working in different cultures for projects in Afghanistan and Nepal respectively.

Our second example is a project to support midwifery education in Nepal. The Centre for Midwifery, Maternal & Perinatal Health (CMMPH) in collaboration with Dalarna University in Sweden and University Hospitals Dorset NHS Foundation Trust produced a draft Bridging Course for nursing lecturers in Nepal who are currently teaching midwifery and maternity care. This project is funded by GIZ (Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit). As part of this project BU offers academics at NAMS (National Academy of Medical Sciences) in Kathmandu support in their professional and pedagogic development.

Following the lockdown and seeing the success of online teaching of BU’s students earlier in 2020 we decided to try out online teaching with midwifery lecturers at NAMS. Since many people in Nepal only have a one-day weekend (Saturday) Sunday is usually a working day and due to time difference early Sunday morning are ideal times for webinars. To date online sessions in Kathmandu have been delivered by Juliet Wood, Michelle Irving, Edwin van Teijlingen and CMMPH Visiting Faculty Jillian Ireland (Professional Midwifery Advocate in Poole). The sessions proved very popular with 30 to 40 people regularly attending online from Nepal.

With challenges to delivering face-to-face lectures and tutorials at universities, online teaching and webinars have opened a whole set of new opportunities to internationalise our education.

Prof. Edwin van Teijlingen

CMMPH

References

Universities UK (2020) Universities rise to Covid-19 challenges, online news item 7 April https://www.universitiesuk.ac.uk/news/Pages/Universities-rise-to-Covid-19-challenges-.aspx
Low, A. (2020) Covid-19 silver linings: how the pandemic has increased opportunities for disabled university students. https://www.universitiesuk.ac.uk/blog/Pages/covid-19-disabled-students-increased-opportunities.aspx
Dani, C., Papini, S., Iannuzzi, L. and Pratesi, S., 2020. Midwife-to-newborn ratio and neonatal outcome in healthy term infants. Acta Paediatrica, International Journal of Paediatrics, 109 (9), 1787-1790.
Daly, D., Iannuzzi, L. et al., 2020. How much synthetic oxytocin is infused during labour? A review and analysis of regimens used in 12 countries. PLoS ONE, 15 (7 July).
Setola, N., Naldi, E., Cocina, G.G., Eide, L.B., Iannuzzi, L. and Daly, D., 2019. The Impact of the Physical Environment on Intrapartum Maternity Care: Identification of Eight Crucial Building Spaces. Health Environments Research and Design Journal, 12 (4), 67-98.
Skoko, E., Iannuzzi, L. et al., 2018. Findings from the Italian babies born better survey. Minerva Ginecologica, 70 (6), 663-675.
Nieuwenhuijze, M., van Teijlingen, E., Mackenzie-Bryers, H. (2019) In risiko’s denken is niet zonder risiko (In Dutch: Thinking in terms of risk, it not with its risk). Tijdschrift voor Verloskundigen (in Dutch: Journal for Midwives), 43 (4): 6-9.
Bogren M, van Teijlingen E., Berg M. (2013) Where midwives are not yet recognized: A feasibility study of professional midwives in Nepal, Midwifery 29(10): 1103-09.
Bogren, M.U., Berg, M., Edgren, L., van Teijlingen, E., Wigert, H. (2016) Shaping the midwifery profession in Nepal – Uncovering actors’ connections using a Complex Adaptive Systems framework, Sexual & Reproductive Healthcare 10: 48-55.
Dhakal Rai, S., Poobalan, A., Jan, R., Bogren, M., Wood, J., Dangal, G., Regmi, P., van Teijlingen, E., Dhakal, K.B., Badar, S.J., Shahid, F. (2019) Caesarean Section rates in South Asian cities: Can midwifery help stem the rise? Journal of Asian Midwives, 6(2):4–22.
Bogren, M.U., Bajracharya, K., Berg, M., Erlandsson, K., Ireland, J., Simkhada, P., van Teijlingen, E. (2013) Nepal needs midwifery, Journal of Manmohan Memorial Institute of Health Sciences (JMMIHS) 1(2): 41-44. www.nepjol.info/index.php/JMMIHS/article/view/9907/8082.
Milne, L., Ireland, J., van Teijlingen, E., Hundley, V., Simkhada, P. (2018) Gender inequalities and childbearing: Qualitative study two maternity units in Nepal, Journal of Asian Midwives 5 (1):13-30.
Ekström, A., Tamang, L., Pedersen, C., Byrskog, U., van Teijlingen, E., Erlandsson, K. (2020) Health care provider’s perspectives on the content and structure of a culturally tailored antenatal care programme to expectant parents and family in Nepal. Journal of Asian Midwives 7(1):23–44.
Wrede, S., Benoit, C., Bourgeault, I., van Teijlingen E., Sandall, J., De Vries, R. (2006) Decentered Comparative Research: Context Sensitive Analysis of Health Care, Social Science & Medicine, 63: 2986-97.
De Vries, R., Wiegers, T., Smulders, B, van Teijlingen E (2009) The Dutch Obstetrical System: Vanguard of Future in Maternity Care. In: Davis-Floyd, R., Barclay, L., Tritten, L, Daviss B.-A. (eds.) Birth Models that Work. Berkeley: University of California Press, 31-54.
van Teijlingen E, Sandall, J., Wrede, S., Benoit, C., DeVries, R., Bourgeault, I. (2003) Comparative studies in maternity care RCM Midwives Journal 6: 338-40.

September 1, 2020

BU researcher co-authors open access article on country images, migration and populism

BRIAN, BU research, BU2025, conferences, EU, Global engagement, Grants Academy, innovation, international, open access, Publishing, Research Centres, Research communication, Research news, writing edolea

Dr. Alina Dolea, member of BU Centre for Comparative Politics and Media Research, published open access together with Prof. Diana Ingenhoff from University of Fribourg (Switzerland) and Dr. Anabella Beju from Lucian Blaga University of Sibiu (Romania) the article “Country images and identities in times of populism: Swiss media discourses on the ‘stop mass immigration’ initiative” in International Communication Gazzette: https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/full/10.1177/1748048520913462

The research was carried out during Dr. Dolea’s SCIEX postdoctoral fellowship at University of Fribourg and funded through the SCIEX competitive grant “Discourses on country image promotion and identity in Western and Eastern Europe. A comparative study on Switzerland and Romania (DiCoPro)”. The Scientific Exchange Programme (Sciex-NMSch) was part of the Swiss Contribution to the New Member States (NMS) of the European Union.

The article shows country images are instrumentalized in public debates beyond strategic communication contexts and practices. The authors innovatively linked studies on country images and identities with migration and populism as communication phenomenon and ideology discursively articulated by political and media actors. They used Critical Discourse Analysis to show how media construct, re-construct and mobilize various representations and descriptors of Switzerland (as a country, as a state or as a nation) in the debates following the 2014 Swiss referendum on “stop mass immigration initiative”. Projecting fictitious scenarios, fear and uncertainty, media have ultimately constructed Switzerland’s image through a populist type of discourse, reproducing the populist ideology of dividing society into polarized categories through strategies of inclusion and exclusion.

This is a great example of multidisciplinary research carried out within the International Communication Association, as authors linked streams of critical research emerging within the Public Diplomacy Interest Group with more established research on populism within the Political Communication Division.

July 2, 2020

BU academic launches institutional collaboration to advance Public Diplomacy in COVID-19 times

BU2025, conferences, COVID-19, Fusion, Fusion themes, Global engagement, humanities, Impact, international, Knowledge Transfer, open access, PG research, Public engagement, Research Centres, Research communication, research staff, Women's Academic Network edolea

Dr. Alina Dolea launched officially the institutional collaboration between the International Communication Association’s (ICA) Public Diplomacy Interest Group and International Studies Association’s (ISA) International Communication Section (ICOMM) during the ICA virtual conference in May 2020: in the inaugural ICA & ISA roundtable, public diplomacy scholars across the world had a chance to discuss not only the linkages between different theories and institutions, but also to reflect on innovative practices to continue academic conversations with the reality of COVID-19 influencing nearly every aspect of our lives.

A video recording of the roundtable on Public Diplomacy and “what is next after COVID-19” is now available here. Co-chaired by Alina and Efe Sevin of Towson University, Maryland, USA (ISA ICOMM Section Chair 2019-2020), the roundtable gathered Caitlin Byrne (Griffith University, Australia), Constance Duncombe (Monash University, Australia), Natalia Grincheva (Higher School of Economics, Moscow, Russia) and Steve Pike (Syracuse University, USA). Among the topics discussed were soft power in Australia and Asia Pacific region, ZOOM diplomacy, social media and a need for ‘slower thinking’ in PD, museum soft power mapping, competing discourses in PD, or US PD; a detailed summary of interventions can be read here.

Serving as elected chair of the ICA PD IG, Alina has worked closely with the leadership teams of both organizations, since 2019, and discussed how the gap in between the disciplines of Communications and International Relations can be bridged to advance the field of public diplomacy. The idea of joint panels at the main ICA and ISA annual conferences was agreed, but the pandemics led to the last minute cancelling of the ISA2020 convention; therefore, the launch of the institutional collaboration happened virtually, during this roundtable. Future plans include the organization of similar virtual sessions and events throughout 2020 and 2021, open to doctoral, early career researchers, mid-career and senior scholars from all over the world, as well as joint editorial projects and publications, such as this.

Alina is a founding member of the ICA Interest Group established officially in 2016, following a collective effort of raising signatures that she co-ordinated as a volunteer. The Group has grown fast to over 100 members worldwide and brings together scholars investigating topics related to public diplomacy, nation branding, country image and reputation, public relations for and of nations, as well as political, global and cultural communication influencing international relations. She organized the 2018 doctoral and postdoctoral Public Diplomacy preconference in Prague and the 2019 Washington “Public Diplomacy in the 2020s”, including a panel hosted by the US Department of State.

ICA is the premier international academic association for scholars in communication research, gathering more than 4,500 members from 80 countries; ISA is one of the oldest interdisciplinary associations dedicated to understanding international, transnational and global affairs, founded in 1959, with more than 7,000 members (academics, practitioners, policy experts, private sector workers and independent researchers).

May 23, 2020

COVID-19 online session in Nepal

BU research, COVID-19, Featured academics, Global engagement, international, Publishing, Training, Uncategorized, writing Edwin van Teijlingen

This morning (UK time, as it was afternoon in Kathmandu) Bournemouth University’s Prof. Edwin van Teijlingen and Faculty of Health & Social Sciences Visiting Professor Padam Simkhada presented a webinar on COVID-19 to staff and students at Nobel College in Nepal. Both academics have Visiting Professor at Nobel College, which is affiliated with Pokhara University, for over a decade. Today’s session of close to two hours was attended by 286 people online. The presenters have published several blogs and articles about COVID-19 over the past few months [1-4]. The blog on the Healthy Newborn Network has been translated in Nepali [2]. The COVID-19 pandemic has not only changed teaching in the UK it has also opened opportunities to link online with colleagues in low-income countries without having to travel.

References:

Asim, M., Sathian, B., van Teijlingen, E.R., Mekkodathil, A., Subramanya, S.H., Simkhada, P. (2020) COVID-19 Pandemic: Public Health Implications in Nepal, Nepal Journal of Epidemiology 10 (1): 817-820. https://www.nepjol.info/index.php/NJE/article/view/28269
Tamang, P., Mahato, P., van Teijlingen E, Simkhada, P. (2020) Pregnancy and COVID-19: Lessons so far, Healthy Newborn Network [14 April] healthynewbornnetwork.org/blog/pregnancy-and-covid-19-lessons-so-far/
Sathian, B., Asim, M., Mekkodathil, A., van Teijlingen, E., Subramanya, S.H., Simkhada, S.,Marahatta, S.B., Shrestha, U.M. (2020) Impact of COVID-19 on community health: A systematic review of a population of 82 million, Journal of Advanced Internal Medicine (accepted).
Alloh, F.T., Regmi, P., van Teijlingen, E. (2020) Is ethnicity linked to incidence or outcomes of Covid-19? (Rapid Response) BMJ (14 May) 369:m1548

August 3, 2019

Promoting Nursing CPD in Nepal

Events, Featured academics, Fusion, Impact, international, Research news, Uncategorized, writing Edwin van Teijlingen

Bournemouth University facilitated a Strategic planning meeting to develop a Continuing Professional Development (CPD) Framework for Nepal last week in Kathmandu. The planning meeting was held on 30^th July 2019 at the Institute of Medicine IOM Maharajgunj Nursing Campus. Midwifery is not formally recognised in Nepal, i.e. as a profession separate from nursing, therefore when refer to nursing CPD in this blog we mean both ‘nurses’ and ‘nurse-midwives’.

Bournemouth University is collaborating in this project with Liverpool John Moores University (LJMU) in the UK, the IOM Nursing Campus, the Nursing Association of Nepal (NAN), MIDSON, the Nepal Nursing Council (NNC) and several other key stakeholders in Nepal to support nursing regulatory bodies to establish mandatory CPD and/or post-registration training programmes relevant to their current practice in nursing.

The Bournemouth team (led by Dr. Bibha Simkhada with Prof. Edwin van Teijlingen and Dr.Pramod Regmi) argued that CPD offers nurses the opportunity to maintain, improve and broaden knowledge, expertise and develop their personal and professional qualities to enhance practice and career development. Nepal has had limited process and progress in ensuring CPD for nurses and the uptake of post-registration education and training programmes or CPD tends to be ad hoc. Generally, CPD in Nepal remains under-developed as showing evidence of having received CPD is not currently a requirement of nurses when they re-register every five year.

This project is a good example of a BU FUSION project as our earlier Research in the form of a needs assessment will to the introduction of CPD which is of course, post-registration Education in nursing, helping to improve Practice in a low-income country. We think we have had at least some impact on nursing in Nepal as the general feeling of our strategic planning meeting positive towards introducing CPD in the near future in Nepal.

January 29, 2018

BU coordinating Researcher Links workshop in South Africa on sustainable management of estuaries and coasts

Awarded & submitted bids, Global engagement lesteves

I can tell you, it was not easy, but I finally succeeded at securing funds from British Council to organise a Researcher Links workshop. This was a resubmission of an application that received good reviews in a previous round, but didn’t get funded. The feedback helped identifying where improvements were needed and we decided to submit it again. It also helped that I have already being to South Africa delivering workshops to public sector practitioners on a similar subject – so I had a good idea about South Africa needs in terms of capacity building in this area. Researcher Links workshop grants are a great way of developing links with colleagues from selected partner countries and, at the same time, stimulating early career researchers to engage in international collaboration. Funds are available to support the attendance of early-career researchers based in South Africa and the UK and workshops aim to stimulate long-lasting partnerships and research collaboration between the two countries.

I’m very pleased to be able to organise one of these workshops in collaboration with colleagues from the UK (Hull and Ulster) and South Africa (University of KwaZulu-Natal and Oceanographic Research Institute). The workshop will be held on 19-21 June 2018 at the uShaka Marine World in Durban. The call for participants is now out and we invite early-career researchers from the social and natural sciences with research interests in the sustainable management of coasts and estuaries. You can find out more about the workshop and how to submit your application here.

Coastal and estuarine ecosystems worldwide are under pressure from population growth, urbanisation and other land-based and marine activities. In the UK and South Africa, coastal areas greatly contribute to the local and national economy by supporting key urban centres and industries. Climate change tends to exacerbate existing problems, including but not limited to flooding, erosion, water quality and resource availability, which can have implications on environmental quality, food production, water supply and human health. Ecosystem-based management (EBM) has emerged as an integrated approach for the sustainable management of the trade-offs between socioeconomic development and nature conservation. EBM requires a transdisciplinary understanding of the natural system, nature-human interactions, and how they change through time. The workshop will bring together researchers from South Africa and the UK to discuss how they can collaborate to support EBM through the development of long-lasting UK-SA collaboration and government-research partnerships. The workshop aims to attract researchers from the social and natural sciences to create the required combination of expertise to co-construct, advance and share knowledge to support estuarine and coastal EBM. The integration of scientific and practical knowledge will be facilitated by the participation of NGOs and government practitioners.

August 31, 2017

New Partner Search on Participant Portal

EU, Research news eknight

The European Commission’s Participant Portal new Partner Search is now ready to use. This search allows you to find potential partners for your research project, based on organisations already registered on the Portal and in receipt of funding. As part of this, there is a useful overview of the organisation and its interaction with European funding schemes. Access is also given to top level information about funded projects.

The Partner Search can be found under the How to Participate tab and can be used whether you are logged in or not.

The Partner Search allows you to search by organisation name, a key word or topic. There is also the option to filter by country, organisation type or programme. If you see a partner you would like to find out more about, you can click on the organisations name to go to their page.

On the organisation page you can find a blurb of the organisation and a full list of key words. Note that some of these have been entered manually and some are taken automatically from the European funded projects the organisation has.

To help see potential network opportunities, further down the page you can see information on who the main collaboration partners are for that organisation and the type of role it usually holds in a project. Finally there is a list of all the European Commission funded projects that the organisation has and a link to contact that project team direct.

This tool complements the other partner searches already available. Why not have a look and see who has funded projects in your field?

June 8, 2016

Research*eu: results magazine – always relevant to BU!

BU Challenges, EU, Global engagement, international, Research news Emily Cieciura

In the May issue of research*eu, there is plenty of interest to researchers at Bournemouth University:

Special feature:

‘Fish or seafood: feeding humanity while maintaining nature’s balance’

Interviews:

Dr Prof. Alfonso Perez-Rodriguez of the Institute of Marine Research in Norway on ‘A multispecies approach to fish management in the Flemish Cap’
David Villegas Rios of the Institute of Marine Research in Norway on ‘How fisheries impact behavioural evolution in Atlantic cod’
Ferenc Lévai of Aranyponty Zrt in Hungary on ‘Sustainable, faster and more productive aquaculture of catfish’
Dr Tore Kristiansen of the Institute of Marine Research in Norway on ‘Novel methods to evaluate fish response to stress’

Other highlights:

Novel methods to evaluate fish response to stress
STEM resources repository helps improve teaching across Europe
Nature inspired ‘glue’ to fix broken bones
Flexible, cost-effective and efficient LED lighting panels and solar cells
Innovative model for understanding risk trading and global markets
Immigrant populations in focus
Newly published findings show species-diverse forests bring greater ecological benefits
Major scientific breakthrough with the creation of the first biological supercomputer
Enhanced crypography means more secure data
Novel packaging products for a circular economy
Extensive exploration of personalised nutrition as a way to better health

Why not check out this issue, and previous magazines, for projects related to your research interests and who, in your field, is leading the field with European Commission funding. You never know, you might find your next grant partner here.

The next issue will focus on the path to life beyond earth – ensure that you see our next update by signing up to your own BU Research blog alerts.

If you have completed or are close to completing EU-funded project, you could be appearing in a future issue of this magazine – check out how to do this on the back page of the current magazine or contact your Project Delivery Officer.

If you are looking for partners or would like to offer your expertise on a bid, add your profile to CORDIS and to Piirus.

For assistance with your EU and International funding, contact Emily Cieciura, RKEO Research Facilitator: EU & International or your Faculty’s Funding Development Officer.

February 27, 2016

First BU paper Prof. McConnell

BU research, international, Publishing, Research news, Uncategorized, writing Edwin van Teijlingen

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

January 14, 2016

Mental health & maternity care in Nepal: THET-funded training

BU research, international, open access, Research news, Uncategorized Edwin van Teijlingen

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

November 30, 2015

November issue – results*eu

BU Challenges, EU, Global engagement, international, Research news Emily Cieciura

This month’s results*eu includes a number of live research projects that are of interest to researchers at BU. Keeping up to date with EU research can inform your research and suggest potential collaborators for future bidding development.

The main theme for this issue is tackling diabetes in Europe, including:

GoCarb – Food decrypting app for CHO calculation
MIRT2DM – Novel therapeutic targets for diabetes
Emulsar – functional food that tastes good
DiaBSmart – foot-reading device for personalised footwear

Other research highlighted in this newsletter includes:

ET4AN – Exposure therapy for Anorexia Nervosa
VINDOBONA – 3D printing of bone replacements
MYPLACE – Memory, Youth, Political Legacy and Civic Engagement
PROGTAX – Effects of taxation in time of financial distress
NANOMATCH – Nano-systems for the conservation of immoveable and moveable polymaterial Cultural Heritage in a changing environment
WISETRIP – Enhancing the global travel experience
YouBeep – self-shopping experience
CARLoS – reobotic co-worker for Europe’s ship services sector
WheyLayer – new packaging materials from cheese
CRISMA – Modelling crisis management for improved action and preparedness
HEMOLIA – cutting-edge technology in the fight against global financial crime.

If you are considering applying for EU funding, please contact Emily Cieciura, RKEO’s Research Facilitator: EU & International

November 30, 2015

Piirus – international profile survey

Global engagement, international, Research communication Emily Cieciura

Results from the Piirus Survey conducted in September 2015, are now on their blog. In their previous survey, Piirus found that 79% of researchers think international research collaboration increases research productivity, and 68% think an international collaboration can help them become more highly cited.

When asked how academics make connections with researchers from other disciplines, the replies gave the following:

21% connect through conferences
16% use social media, with this broken down as:
- Researchgate – 45%
- LinkedIn – 21%
- Twitter – 13%
10% use email
7% use the internet

Are you making full use of the variety of mechanisms available to reach potential collaborators?

Explore the Piirus website to find out how this service can help you make those all important international connections. It is free to join .

November 23, 2015

ERC Implementing Arrangements – opportunities for Early Career Researchers

BU Challenges, EU, Global engagement, international, Research news Emily Cieciura

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:

United States, signed 13 Jul 2012, with the National Science Foundation (NSF)
Read more: agreement, press release
Korea, signed 8 Nov 2013, with the Ministry of Science, ICT and Future Planning
Read more: agreement, press highlight
Argentina, signed 13 Mar 2015, with the Ministry of Science, Technology and Productive Innovation
Read more: agreement EN, press highlight
Japan, signed 29 May 2015 with the Society for the Promotion of Science (JSPS)
Read more: agreement EN, press release
China, signed 29 Jun 2015, with the National Natural Science Foundation (NSFC)
Read more: agreement EN, press highlight
South Africa, signed 26 Oct 2015, with the National Research Foundation (NRF)
Read more: agreement EN
Mexico, signed 12 Nov 2015, with the Mexican National Council of Science and Technology (Conacyt)
Read more: agreement EN, press highlight

New similar arrangements from various geographically areas are being negotiated. It is expected to have them signed in 2015 and 2016.

July 28, 2015

Euraxess – July highlights

BU research, EU, Global engagement, Research news Emily Cieciura

The Euraxess July newsletter is promoting the following opportunities that are relevant to Bournemouth University:

CONFAP-UK Academies: Fellowships, Research Mobility, and Young Investigator Awards for UK researchers in Brazil

Brazilian State Funding Agencies, articulated by its National Council (CONFAP), have launched a call for proposals offering support to researchers based in UK Universities and Research Institutions to spend from two weeks to four years working in research in Brazil, in collaboration with local colleagues.

The call offers support for researchers in the UK through:
a) Fellowships
b) Research Mobility Grants
c) Young Investigator Grants comprising a scholarship plus a research funding grant.

These Newton Fund activities offer an opportunity for UK researchers to develop the strengths and capabilities of their research groups through training, collaboration and reciprocal visits with a partner in some of the best research groups in the Brazil.

The second round of applications is now open and will close on 23 October 2015.

Science Slam

Do you have links with an Early Stage Researcher based in ASEAN, Brazil, China, India, Japan or North America? Then direct them to this scheme. First prize is a free trip to Europe, a one-day science communication workshop and a meeting with European Commission representatives in Brussels, Belgium, and a meeting at a European research institution of their choice! Closing dates are in September but applicants will need to check the information for their region.

Environmental sustainability in Europe and India

TECO “Technological Eco-Innovations for the Quality Control of Polluted Waters and Soils” is a new project funded by the European Union and coordinated by the Italian National Research Council (CNR) with the partnership of the National Environmental Engineering Research Institute (NEERI – India).

The goal of TECO is to improve and promote collaborations between Europe and India in the field of environmental sustainability.

Grants are provided for the mobility of European researchers, engineers and experts to spend up to three months in Indian research institutes or private companies to open new professional collaborations and to develop innovative ideas in the field of new technologies applied to the decontamination of waters and soils.

The deadline is 15 September 2015. The mobility program will start from January 2016.

Newton Funding Opportunities (see also previous blog post)

There are currently 24 opportunities listed as open for applications by the Newton fund.

Locations include: Egypt, India,Indonesia,Kazakhstan,Mexico,Philippines,South Africa,Vietnam, Brazil, Turkey and Chile. A wide range of disciplines is also represented, from Agriculture to Rapid Urbanisation.

British Academy Newton Advanced Fellowships (see also previous blog post)

Newton Advanced Fellowships provide early to mid-career international researchers with an opportunity to develop their research strengths and capabilities, and those of their group or network, through training, collaboration and visits with a partner in the UK.

Sign up to receive your own copy of the Euraxess Newsletter so that you are the first to know about international opportunities.

Tagged / international collaboration

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University lockdown: An internationalisation opportunity?

BU researcher co-authors open access article on country images, migration and populism

BU academic launches institutional collaboration to advance Public Diplomacy in COVID-19 times

Promoting Nursing CPD in Nepal

BU coordinating Researcher Links workshop in South Africa on sustainable management of estuaries and coasts

New Partner Search on Participant Portal

Research*eu: results magazine – always relevant to BU!

First BU paper Prof. McConnell

November issue – results*eu

ERC Implementing Arrangements – opportunities for Early Career Researchers

Euraxess – July highlights

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