Dr Svetla Stoyanova-Bozhkova recently participated in the Ritsumeikan Asia Pacific event organised with the UNWTO.TedQual programme in Beppu, Japan, 14-17 December 2023.
The theme of the three-day event was “Conservation and Value Addition of Regional and Touristic Resources through Collaboration with the Community”.
Svetla contributed to the Open Panel Discussion: “What is Currently Needed for Sustainable Tourism in the Oita Region” and delivered a keynote talk on UNWTO.TedQual and HE commitment to excellence in education and practice, showcasing the good practice of BU in addressing the SDGs and the Global Code of Ethics for Tourism.
Participants in the event included over 200 guests from national and local authorities, businesses, local community, academics from UNWTO.TedQual certified universities and APU students.
The United Nations World Tourism Organization (UNWTO) TedQual programme aims to improve the quality of tourism education, training and research programmes.
At the start of the 1600s, Japan’s rulers feared that Christianity – which had recently been introduced to the southern parts of the country by European missionaries – would spread. In response, they effectively sealed the islands off from the outside world in 1603, with Japanese people not allowed to leave and very few foreigners allowed in. This became known as Japan’s Edo period, and the borders remained closed for almost three centuries until 1868.
This allowed the country’s unique culture, customs and ways of life to flourish in isolation, much of which was recorded in art forms that remain alive today such as haiku poetry or kabuki theatre. It also meant that Japanese people, living under a system of heavy trade restrictions, had to rely totally on the materials already present within the country which created a thriving economy of reuse and recycling). In fact, Japan was self-sufficient in resources, energy and food and sustained a population of up to 30 million, all without the use of fossil fuels or chemical fertilisers.
The people of the Edo period lived according to what is now known as the “slow life”, a sustainable set of lifestyle practices based around wasting as little as possible. Even light didn’t go to waste – daily activities started at sunrise and ended at sunset.
Clothes were mended and reused many times until they ended up as tattered rags. Human ashes and excrement were reused as fertiliser, leading to a thriving business for traders who went door to door collecting these precious substances to sell on to farmers. We could call this an early circular economy.
Another characteristic of the slow life was its use of seasonal time, meaning that ways of measuring time shifted along with the seasons. In pre-modern China and Japan, the 12 zodiac signs (known in Japanese as juni-shiki) were used to divide the day into 12 sections of about two hours each. The length of these sections varied depending on changing sunrise and sunset times.
During the Edo period, a similar system was used to divide the time between sunrise and sunset into six parts. As a result, an “hour” differed hugely depending on whether it was measured during summer, winter, night or day. The idea of regulating life by unchanging time units like minutes and seconds simply didn’t exist.
Instead, Edo people – who wouldn’t have owned clocks – judged time by the sound of bells installed in castles and temples. Allowing the natural world to dictate life in this way gave rise to a sensitivity to the seasons and their abundant natural riches, helping to develop an environmentally friendly set of cultural values.
Working with nature
From the mid-Edo period onwards, rural industries – including cotton cloth and oil production, silkworm farming, paper-making and sake and miso paste production – began to flourish. People held seasonal festivals with a rich and diverse range of local foods, wishing for fertility during cherry blossom season and commemorating the harvests of the autumn.
This unique, eco-friendly social system came about partly due to necessity, but also due to the profound cultural experience of living in close harmony with nature. This needs to be recaptured in the modern age in order to achieve a more sustainable culture – and there are some modern-day activities that can help.
For instance zazen, or “sitting meditation”, is a practice from Buddhism that can help people carve out a space of peace and quiet to experience the sensations of nature. These days, a number of urban temples offer zazen sessions.
You don’t need water to go forest bathing. Palatinate Stock / shutterstock
The second example is “forest bathing”, a term coined by the director general of Japan’s forestry agency in 1982. There are many different styles of forest bathing, but the most popular form involves spending screen-free time immersed in the peace of a forest environment. Activities like these can help develop an appreciation for the rhythms of nature that can in turn lead us towards a more sustainable lifestyle – one which residents of Edo Japan might appreciate.
In an age when the need for more sustainable lifestyles has become a global issue, we should respect the wisdom of the Edo people who lived with time as it changed with the seasons, who cherished materials and used the wisdom of reuse as a matter of course, and who realised a recycling-oriented lifestyle for many years. Learning from their way of life could provide us with effective guidelines for the future.
We will have a seminar session with a guest lecturer, Professor Hiroko Ochiai (National Hospital Organization Tokyo Medical Center, Japan). This research seminar is conducted via ZOOM.
Professor Ochiai and Dr Oe will present the recent research outcome ‘Detox with nature: Communicating with the great outdoors, urban greenery and its history’. Professor Ochiai is a Chief of Department of Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery, National Tokyo Medical Center and also a Certified physician of Forest Medicine.
Our research focuses on the the well-beings with forest bathing with medical evidence in the community context. This seminar is held in line with the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), such as ‘Goal 3: Good Health and Well-being’and ‘Goal 17: Partnership for Goals’. This session also aligns with BU2025 strategic investment areas (SIAs), Medical Science.
The BU ECRs, PhD researchers, and MSc students are welcome to this session.
*For more details, please email to Hiroko Oe :hoe@brounemouth.ac.uk
Today saw the publication of a new paper from an international research team from the UK, Japan and Nepal. Our research article ‘Assessing knowledge and behavioural changes on maternal and newborn health among mothers following post-earthquake health promotion in Nepal’ has been published in the Open Access journal PLoS ONE[1].
The paper reminds us that natural disasters often disrupt health systems affecting the whole population, but especially vulnerable people such as pregnant women, new mothers and their babies. Despite the global progress in maternal, newborn and child health (MNCH) programmes over the years, emergency responses after a disaster are often poor. Post-disaster health promotion could play an important role in improving MNCH outcomes. However, evidence remains limited on the effect of post disaster health promotion activities in low-income countries such as Nepal.
The paper reports on an post-disaster intervention study aimed at women in Nepal following the 2015 earthquake. In total, 364 mothers were recruited in the pre-intervention group and 377 in the post-intervention group. The post-intervention group was more likely to have knowledge of at least three danger signs in pregnancy (AOR [Adjusted Odds Ratio] = 2.96, P<0.001), at least three danger signs in childbirth (AOR = 3.8, P<0.001), and at least five danger signs in newborns (AOR = 1.56, P<0.001) compared to the pre-intervention group. The mothers in the post-intervention group were also more likely to ever attend ANC (AOR = 7.18, P<0.001), attend a minimum of four ANC sessions (AOR = 5.09, P<0.001), and have institutional deliveries (AOR = 2.56, P<0.001).
Religious minority groups were less likely to have knowledge of all danger signs compared to the majority Hindu group. Mothers from poorer households were also less likely to attend four ANC sessions. Mothers with higher education were more likely to have knowledge of all the danger signs. Mothers whose husbands had achieved higher education were also more likely to have knowledge of danger signs and have institutional deliveries. The paper concludes that the health promotion intervention helped the disaster-affected mothers in improving the knowledge and behaviours related to MNCH. However, the authors also comment that vulnerable populations need more support to benefit from such intervention.
Congratulations to Dr. Hyun-Joo Lim, Senior Lecturer in Sociology, on the publication of her book East Asian Mothers in Britain: An Intersectional Exploration of Motherhood and Employment. This book focus on how Chinese, Japanese and Korean mothers in the UK make sense of their motherhood and employment. It addresses questions such as: “What are the intersecting factors that shape these women’s identities, experiences and stories?”
Contributing further to the continuing discourse and development of intersectionality, this book examines East Asian migrant women’s stories of motherhood, employment and gender relations by deploying interlocking categories that go beyond the meta axes of race, gender and class, including factors such as husbands’ ethnicities and the locality of their settlement. Through this, Dr. Lim argues for more detailed and context specific analytical categories of intersectionality, enabling a more nuanced understanding of migrant women’s stories and identities.
The book is published by Palgrave Macmillan (hardcover ISBN978-3-319-75634-9), see website: https://www.palgrave.com/gb/book/9783319756349
The Japan Society for the Promotion of Science has announced that the final call in financial year 2018 for their Short Term Pre/Postdoctoral Fellowships is now open.
The deadline is: Friday, 1st June 2018 and fellowships must start between 1st November 2018 to 31st March 2019.
Japan Society for the Promotion of Science (JSPS) is the leading research funding agency in Japan, established by the Japanese Government for the purpose of contributing to the advancement of science.
Their Pre/Postdoctoral Fellowship for Foreign Researchers (Short Term) provides the opportunity for researchers based outside of Japan to conduct collaborative research activities with leading research groups at Japanese Universities and Research Institutions for visits of between 1 to 12 months. Eligible applicants need to be either within 2 years of finishing their PhD at the time of applying to start their fellowship in Japan or have obtained their PhD after 2nd April 2012. Eligible research fields are not limited.
Read the reports from former JSPS Fellows who have taken part in this programme.
The JSPS Summer Programme provides the opportunity for current MPhil or PhD students to receive a one week orientation on Japanese culture and research systems on arrival and then move to a host institution in Japan of their choice and approved by JSPS, to conduct collaborative research activities for 2 months during the summer.
Value of award: Return international airfare, maintenance allowance (534,000, JPY), research support allowance (158,500 JPY) and overseas travel and accident insurance policy are provided.
Eligibility: Applicants must be a British national and a current MPhil or PhD student based at a UK university or research institution at the time of application. Eligible research fields are not limited.
Fellowship to take place during fixed period: Tuesday 12 June to Wednesday 22 August 2018
Applications should be sent to the British Council, Tokyo. A link to the application guidelines and form are available on the JSPS London website.
On 21st November 2017, event attendees were very pleased to welcome speakers from JSPS (Japan Society for the Promotion of Science) from their London office, learning more about the JSPS funding opportunities to support and enrich collaboration between Japan and the UK. Professor Chang Hong Liu of BU’s Department of Psychology also gave an insightful overview of how important being funded by JSPS, earlier in his career, was to his academic progress and network.
For those unable to attend on the day, the event gave an overview of research funding in Japan and the important role played by JSPS. For UK-based researchers, from PhD students through to professoriate, JSPS offers a number of fellowships and institutional collboration routes which all provide opportunities for collaboration with Japanese researchers.
Summer Programme – an introduction to Japan and a short research project for Masters / PhD candidates
Postdoctoral fellowhips – a short term (1-12 months) or standard (1-2 years) research fellowship in Japan
Invited fellowships – where Japanese researchers can invite midcareer to professorial colleagues to participate in one of three fellowship schemes.
Other routes to collaborative working include the Core to Core Programme and the Bilateral Programme, where JSPS is working with UK agencies, such as the Royal Society.
BU staff can login to access the slides from the event on MyBU (within the International Funding Pathway of the RKEDF community).
BU staff considering applying for any of these calls and other international funding, should contact Emily Cieciura, RKEO’s Research Facilitator: International Funding, for further information and support.
12:35 JSPS – Overview, Institutional and Group Programmes
Ms Chika Itoi, Deputy Director, JSPS London
12:55 JSPS Fellowship Programmes
Ms Shiho Hayashida, International Programme Associate, JSPS London
13:15 Experiences of Doing Research in Japan
Professor Chang Hong Liu (BU’s Department of Psychology)
13:25 Questions and Answers
13:30 Close
This event is open to BU academics and those from other regional universities. To book your place, please email RKEDevFramework@bournemouth.ac.uk, putting JSPS in the subject line. The event will take place on BU’s Talbot Campus, with the room confirmed to you after booking.
Please also see the post concerning JSPS’ Fellowship scheme which is open until 1st December 2017.
The Japan Society for the Promotion of Science(JSPS) would like to raise awareness of the first of two calls in FY2018 for their Short Term Pre/Postdoctoral Fellowships, which is now open:
Japan Society for the Promotion of Science (JSPS) is the leading research funding agency in Japan, established by the Japanese Government for the purpose of contributing to the advancement of science. Their Pre/Postdoctoral Fellowship for Foreign Researchers (Short Term) provides the opportunity for researchers based outside of Japan to conduct collaborative research activities with leading research groups at Japanese Universities and Research Institutions for visits of between 1 to 12 months. Eligible applicants need to be either within 2 years of finishing their PhD at the time of applying to start their fellowship in Japan or have obtained their PhD after 2nd April 2012. Eligible research fields are not limited.
If you are considing appliying for this call, BU staff should contact Emily Cieciura Research Facilitator: EU & International.
13:05 JSPS – Overview, Institutional and Group Programmes
Ms Chika Itoi, Deputy Director, JSPS London
13:25 JSPS Fellowship Programmes
Ms Shiho Hayashida, International Programme Associate, JSPS London
13:45 Experiences of Doing Research in Japan
Professor Chang Hong Liu (BU’s Department of Psychology)
13:55 Questions and Answers
14:00 Close
This event is open to BU academics and those from other regional universities. To book your place, please email RKEDevFramework@bournemouth.ac.uk, putting JSPS in the subject line. The event will take place on BU’s Talbot Campus, with the room confirmed to you after booking.
Please also see the post concerning JSPS’ Fellowship scheme which is open until 1st December 2017.
Dr Sachiko Takeda, in collaboration with colleagues from the University of Sheffield and Women and Work Research Center (Japan), has been carrying out a research project ‘Developing Women’s Careers in Japan’, funded by the British Academy and Leverhulme. As part of the research finding dissemination, Sachiko and the team recently hosted a workshop at J.P. Morgan’s head office in Tokyo; welcoming 40 attendees from industry, mainly representatives of large organisations’ CSR and diversity related activities. The venue was provided through Ms Tsui, Head of Global Philantropy, Asia Pacific at J.P. Morgan Chase, who supported the project’s purport.
Photo courtesy of Kanae Tomiyama
The project corresponds to a recent call for emergency measures to create a better work environment for women’s career development. Despite that, Japan has one of the most educated female populations in the world, women are often reported to face substantial difficulties in advancing careers at Japanese firms. Nevertheless, some women do manage to progress to senior levels, and it is the aim of the project to understand their career experience, particularly the problems they had faced and how they overcame those barriers. To achieve this aim, Sachiko conducted 25 face-to-face interviews with Japanese women who held managerial and professional roles in large enterprises.
At the workshop, the project team presented the summary of findings and made the following three suggestions to Japanese organisations: 1) organise workshops to raise awareness of male managers; 2) establish practices of women-to-women mentoring; and 3) improve work-life balance for both men and women. In the panel discussion that followed the presentation, the panellists encouraged women to propose, create and implement new systems themselves at organisations for women’s career development. At the same time, the importance of including small and medium sized organisations, which are the majority in Japan, in the movement and extinguishing prejudice against single and/or childless women was also claimed.
Thanks to funding from the Ageing and Dementia Research Centre (ADRC) and the BU Psychology Department, I recently had the privilege to attend and present at the 32nd International Conference of Alzheimer’s Disease International (ADI) in Kyoto, Japan. The conference is the largest in the dementia field and attracts interest from people all over the world. This includes academics, health and social care practitioners, medical professionals as well as people living with dementia and their care partners. During the conference I spoke about my PhD research that concerns the social inclusion of older men with dementia. I emphasised the importance of understanding men living with this condition as more than just a homogenous, androgynous population, and instead as individuals who maintain (or seek to) their multiple masculinities throughout their experiences of dementia. As such, only through using ecopsychosocial initiatives that cater for these gendered experiences of dementia can we hope to bring about true social inclusion for this hard-to-reach population.
Having presented at the ADI conference in 2013, when I was just starting out on my PhD journey, this opportunity made for a fitting conclusion to what has been an enjoyable(ish) and intellectually rewarding four years of study. I was surprised and heartened to witness that over these past four years, the global understanding of dementia has begun to shift. Unlike in 2013, this most recent conference sought to re-position dementia as a disability and was focussed on the Human Rights and (Social) Citizenship of people living with the condition. It placed more emphasis on the societal changes (rather than the individual) that must be undertaken to enable the social inclusion of people with dementia within communities that are both physically and conceptually ‘dementia-friendly.’ It also highlighted the important role of inclusive research approaches that value the voices of people with dementia as ‘experts by experience’ and position them as ‘active social agents’ rather than passive recipients of care.
With a cure for dementia still a distant realisation, it is essential that these academic messages are successfully translated into ‘on-the-ground’ practice; thereby ensuring the well-being of those living with the condition through the language used to speak about them and the support offered to them. As I continue my employment at BU, post-PhD, these will be my guiding principles as I seek to undertake applied research that promotes these important messages and work alongside people with dementia as co-collaborators to bring about this much needed social change.
Ben Hicks is a Psychology lecturer and an associate of the ADRC
Academics in the UK have co-authored over 15,000 journal papers with academics in Japan between 2010-2014. Could your research lead to the next co-authored paper with researchers in Japan? In order to facilitate this, the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills and the Foreign and Commonwealth Office, through the jointly funded UK Science and Innovation Network (SIN), have compiled a list of 40 funds here where academics in the UK can submit proposals to foster research networks with academics in Japan.
If you are considering working with an international partner in your bid, please contact Emily Cieciura, RKEO’s Research Facilitator: EU & International or the relevant Funding Development Officer for you Faculty.
Via the Horizon 2020 Work Programme 2016-17, the Japan Science and Technology Agency (JST) is providing funding opportunities for Japanese partners in the following two call topics:
NMBP-02-2016: Advanced Materials for Power Electronics based on wide bandgap semiconductor devices technology
NMBP-03-2016: Innovative and sustainable materials solutions for the substitution of critical raw materials in the electronic power system
In Work Programme 2016-2017, two coordinated calls have been launched, in the areas of ICT and Novel ICT Robotics based solutions for active and healthy ageing:
SCI-PM-14-2016: EU-Japan cooperation on Novel ICT Robotics based solutions for active and healthy ageing at home or in care facilities – call topic launched together with MIC/NICT
Japanese participation is welcomed in most of the Calls for Proposals of Horizon 2020. There are also 23 Call topics that specifically target cooperation with Japan in Horizon 2020 Work Programme 2016- 17 given on the EU’s Japan Country Page. This page also gives further information and links to resources to help you work with a partner from Japan.
If you are considering workjing with an international partner in your bid, please contact Emily Cieciura, RKEO’s Research Facilitator: EU & International or the relevant Funding Development Officer for you Faculty.
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.
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 tripto Europe, a one-day science communication workshop and a meeting with European Commission representatives in Brussels, Belgium, and a meeting at a Europeanresearchinstitution of their choice! Closing dates are in September but applicants will need to check the information for their region.
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.
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.
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.
Announced by the European Commission’s DG Research & Innovation, at the 23rd EU-Japan Summit in Tokyo, the EU and Japan agreed to deepen their cooperation on Research and Innovation (R&I), based on a joint vision.
Carlos Moedas, Commissioner for Research, Science and Innovation, said: “Europe and Japan must tackle many of the same challenges such as energy security, ageing populations or access to critical materials. So it’s only natural that we also work together closely to find solutions to these challenges. The joint vision endorsed today will take our cooperation to the next level.”
The agreement will build on the strong research ties in areas like ICT and aeronautics and strengthen collaborations in health and medical research, environment, energy and physics. The partners will also set up a joint funding mechanism that will make it easier to finance common R&I projects and collaborate more closely on policy aspects, like Open Science. In addition, an agreement to stimulate scientific exchanges has also been signed between the Japan Society for the Promotion of Science (JSPS) and the European Research Council (ERC).
Japan Society for the Promotion of Science (JSPS) is the leading research funding agency in Japan, established by the Japanese Government for the purpose of contributing to the advancement of science. Our Summer Programme provides the opportunity pre and post-doctoral researchers to receive an orientation on Japanese culture and research systems and to conduct collaborative research activities with leading research groups at Japanese Universities and research institutions over a period of 2 months during the summer.
Value of award: Return international airfare, maintanence allowance (534,000, JPY), domestic research trip allowance (58,500 JPY) and overseas travel and accident insurance policy are provided.
Eligibility: Applicants need to be a UK national or permanent resident and should be of graduate student status (Master or PhD) or be a recent PhD holder (within the last 6 years) and should be based at a UK university or research institution. Eligible research fields are not limited.
The theme of the three-day event was “Conservation and Value Addition of Regional and Touristic Resources through Collaboration with the Community”.
Participants in the event included over 200 guests from national and local authorities, businesses, local community, academics from UNWTO.TedQual certified universities and APU students.
n Japan? In order to facilitate this, the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills and the Foreign and Commonwealth Office, through the jointly funded 
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