BU Research Blog | knowledge exchange | Bournemouth University

May 10, 2024

Funded Public Engagement Opportunity – ESRC Festival of Social Science 2024 -Deadline for Applications Thursday 16 May

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Funding of up to £1,000 per event is available, and BU’s Public Engagement with Research team offers continuing advice and support on all areas of event development, planning, delivery and evaluation.

The 22nd annual ESRC Festival of Social Science will take place this year Saturday 19 October – Saturday 9 November, with the theme ‘Our Digital Lives’

This national festival offers the chance to create an inspiring event to connect your research in an engaging way with a broad public audience and take your research off campus.

For the second year, BU is partnering with the University of Southampton (UoS) and we are particularly keen to hear from researchers who have already established collaborations with UoS colleagues and may wish to run a joint event. This collaboration enables us to run an extended programme of events, broadening our impact reach and expanding our networks across Dorset and Hampshire.

About the Festival of Social Science

The Festival of Social Science is an annual celebration of research and knowledge about humans and society. It is an opportunity for anyone to explore topics relating to social science – from health and wellbeing to crime, equality, education and identity – through events run by researchers from UK universities. There’s no cost to attend, and most are open to everyone, though some are aimed at specific groups.

What if I’ve never done public engagement before?

Everyone has to start somewhere, and this is the ideal place. You’ll have access to support, advice and training throughout. If you’re unsure, seek out a more experienced colleague to collaborate with.

Explore previous events from BU and examples from around the country
Start brushing up on how to make public engagement work for you. A great place to start is BU’s own video guide to getting started in public engagement with research (Brightspace). You can also browse guidance and case studies from the National Co-ordinating Centre for Public Engagement (NCCPE)

Can I apply if I’m not a social scientist?

The ESRC says that events must “feature social science (ideally with a social scientist involved in the event)”. If this doesn’t clearly apply to you, consider these options;

Does your research have clear implications for society that could be explored from a social science perspective?
Could you collaborate with a social scientist, combining your resources and creativity to explore the impact of your research? If you’re looking for a collaborator, the Research Blog or BU website are great places to start or contact us for help

What support will I get?

Being part of this festival means a higher level of support and reach than we usually provide.

Before applying, you’ll have access to:

Advice on request from BU’s Public Engagement Team
The ESRC’s Festival Event Leader pack

When your application is successful, you’ll get:

Funding of up to £1,000 managed by RDS
Training provided by the ESRC Festival of Social Science
Continuing advice and support from BU’s public engagement team on all areas of planning, delivering, evaluating your activity
Wide-scale promotion and marketing of your event by BU, UoS and the ESRC

How to Apply

Apply to take part in the ESRC Festival of Social Science 2024 by completing the online application form,

Deadline for applications: midnight at the end of Thursday 16 May 2024.

ESRC’s Festival Event Leader pack

Apply here

Should you require any more information, or if you would like to arrange a chat with the Public Engagement Team to discuss your application, please contact: publicengagement@bournemouth.ac.uk.

May 5, 2024

BU Professor has been invited to a series of plenary and invited lectures.

BU research, BU2025, conferences, Events, Featured, Featured academics, Global engagement, Impact, Industry collaboration, innovation, international, Knowledge Exchange, Knowledge Transfer, Public engagement, Publishing, REF Subjects, REF2029, Research assessment, Research communication, research methods, Research news, research opportunities, the conversation, writing Zulfiqar Khan

BU Professor Zulfiqar A Khan has been invited to the 12^th International Conference KOD 2024, Machine and Industrial Design in Mechanical Engineering to deliver a plenary talk to disseminate and discuss, the latest work on numerical simulation and modelling in interacting machines and systems conducted in NanoCorr, Energy and Modelling (NCEM) Research Group led by Professor Khan. This talk is also aimed to provide an overview of Professor Khan’s work in terms of Nanoengineering & Energy Systems (NES®).

System and Design – © Z Khan 2024.

The overall relation of interacting systems, durability and reliability will be discussed by Professor Khan in the following invited lecture, entitled “an overview of research: numerical modelling and simulation for predictive condition monitoring,” invited by Professor Aleksandar Marinković, Head of Machine Design Department, Faculty of Mechanical Engineering University of Belgrade, and Prof. DR Vladimir Popović, Dean of Faculty of Mechanical Engineering, University of Belgrade, the Republic of Serbia. Professor Popović has extended this invitation to include Professor Khan’s meetings with Faculty Management and Chairs of Laboratories for exploring to pursue mutual interests’ initiatives and common goals in Nanoengineering & Energy Systems (NES®).

Interacting System © Z A Khan 2024.

Contact mechanics and nanomaterials – IC © Z Khan 2024.

Professor Khan will then deliver an invited lecture in Mathematical Institute of the Serbian Academy of Sciences and Arts, National Institute of the Republic of Serbia to discuss the latest developed mathematical models, Khan-Nazir I, Khan-Nazir II and Khan-Nazir III, these are BU’s ground breaking and globally leading contributions to knowledge in terms of developing impactful design solutions to aid safety, cost savings, energy efficiency and reliability applied in complex interacting and energy systems. These novel models are linked to recently awarded GB, US, PR China, Singapore, Hong Kong (notice of allowance) and EU/EPO (pending) patents in mechanistic, nanofluidics and energy systems developed at BU by NCEM team led by Professor Khan. This lecture is invited by DR Ivana Atanasovska, seminar leader and Stepa Paunović, secretary of the seminar. This lecture will be live streamed on Tuesday, 28 May 2024, you are invited to join.

Interacting System 2 © Z Khan 2024.

This will be followed by invited meetings with key researchers and academics in the Institute of General and Physical Chemistry, Studentski try 12/V, Belgrade to explore collaborative initiatives in Clean Energy Systems.

If you are interested in any of the above topics, events and would like to know more then please get in touch through this link.

May 2, 2024

April’s Café Scientifique – Should we help machines understand and respond to our emotions?

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Dr Roya Haratian at Café Scientifique

In April, a full house at Café Scientifique welcomed Dr Roya Haratian, Principal Academic in Electronic Science and Engineering at the Department of Design and Engineering at BU, to share her research with a public audience.

Bournemouth University’s Café Scientifique events take place at The Black Cherry Café in Boscombe on the first Tuesday of the month. Over a cup of coffee or a glass of wine, people can hear about the latest research developments in science and technology.

Dr Haratian explains her research and shares her experience of being involved with Café Scientifique;

Can you give us a brief introduction about your research?

Assistive technology in the home is increasingly part of everyday life. To improve the experience for people who use it, an approach is investigated to adapt machines functionality to the user experience during interaction. As user experience is reflected in physiological signals, body area sensing systems can be utilised to enable the machines to recognise the user experience and provide feedback in real-time. Ethical justifications and concerns in the development of such assistive technologies were the subject of discussion in this Café Scientifique.

Why did you agree to participate in Café Scientifique?

The talk for Café Scientifique was designed to share some part of my research with public to introduce the topic and have their opinion and thoughts on it as potential stakeholders of future products and services.

Can you tell us more about your talk?

Café Scientifique audience at The Black Cherry

In this session I introduced an approach for real-time user experience recognition for assistive technologies. The reflection of user experience in physiological signals was investigated through different psychological models along with how to collect the signals and mathematically model the mapping of physiological signal changes. Using machine learning and artificial intelligent techniques, I could show how such signals have the potential to be mapped into the basis of the user’s psychological space model; therefore, predicting the user experience and enabling adaptation of the machine functionality based on the prediction during the interaction.

The ethical justification of the development of such assistive technologies discussed which includes minimising the need for assistance and enhancing the wellbeing or quality of life of people needing care. However, there are ethical concerns including a reductionist view of emotions which could potentially ignore the widely recognised psychological, cultural, and social dimensions of emotions. Solutionism is another concern and addresses whether technical fixes can be applied to genuinely social or political problems. Furthermore, the privacy and autonomy of users and their experiences is another concern. The tendency of machine learning techniques to normalise and generalise human behaviour and emotional reactions was the last ethical concern discussed and I presented potential solutions.

Dr Roya Haratian speaking at Café Scientifique

How do you feel your event went?

I am always passionate to talk about my research and found it quite interesting that the venue was fully booked. It demonstrated the public’s interest in the topic and during the presentation I could feel that interest in the audience’s questions. I am glad that BU provided me with this opportunity to share my research with the public and have their thoughts taken onboard for the next stages of my research development.

Dr Roya Haratian speaking at Café Scientifique

What did you get from your event?

The ethical justifications and concerns opened a series of questions and discussions which helped me to better understand the view of potential stakeholders while discussing potential solutions for the raised concerns. For further development of research, it is very important to be engaged with potential users and Café Scientifique provided me with this opportunity to hear from them to consider their viewpoints. At the end I shared a survey about the research to better collect their opinion and thoughts.

If you are interested, please feel free to take part in this survey which would be open till mid May 2024.

If you would like to find out more about our Café Scientifique series, or if you’re interested in getting involved in sharing your research with the public at future events, please read our blog post and register your interest.

May 2, 2024

Public Engagement Opportunity: Share your research with the public at Café Scientifique

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Would you like to share your research with a public audience? Get involved with our Café Scientifique series 2024/2025

Café Scientifique is a public event that takes place at The Black Cherry in Boscombe on the first Tuesday evening of the month (excluding January & August), and is organised by BU’s Public Engagement with Research Team, part of Research Development and Support.

The format involves delivering a short talk, followed by the opportunity for discussion and questions from a varied public audience. It is a fantastic opportunity for you to gain experience in engaging with the public in a friendly relaxed atmosphere.

We welcome academics at all career stages, although this opportunity is particularly valuable for those getting started in engaging with the public. We encourage collaboration between less experienced and more experienced public speakers to help provide support and gain a rewarding learning experience.

The team will support you every step of the way. From developing your ideas to engage with a public audience, to setting up and promoting your event. We will also be on hand on the day to help your event run smoothly.

Complete our form to Register your interest

Please note: Completing this form does not guarantee you a space. We will be in touch with you to discuss your interest.

If you have any questions about getting involved with Café Scientifique, please get in touch with the Public Engagement with Research Team: publicengagement@bournemouth.ac.uk.

May 2, 2024

Apply for up to £1,000 to deliver an event and take part in a national festival of public engagement with research

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Funding of up to £1,000 per event is available, and BU’s Public Engagement with Research team offers continuing advice and support on all areas of event development, planning, delivery and evaluation.

The 22nd annual ESRC Festival of Social Science will take place this year Saturday 19 October – Saturday 9 November, with the theme ‘Our Digital Lives’

This national festival offers the chance to create an inspiring event to connect your research in an engaging way with a broad public audience and take your research off campus.

For the second year, BU is partnering with the University of Southampton (UoS) and we are particularly keen to hear from researchers who have already established collaborations with UoS colleagues and may wish to run a joint event. This collaboration enables us to run an extended programme of events, broadening our impact reach and expanding our networks across Dorset and Hampshire.