Tagged / PGR

Doctoral College Newsletter | October 2019

BU research, Doctoral College, Events, Featured, PG research, Research communication, Research news

The Doctoral College Newsletter provides termly information and updates to all those involved with postgraduate research at BU. The latest edition is now available to download here. Click on the web-links provided to learn more about the news, events and opportunities that may interest you.

If you would like to make a contribution to future newsletters, please contact the Doctoral College.

BU research into breast milk quality-Participants needed

BU research, PG research, Research news, student research, Uncategorized

 

We are looking for breast feeding mums to donate 5 mL of breast milk for a research study conducted at BU.

When mother’s own milk is not sufficient or appropriate, preterm babies can be fed with donor milk from a human milk bank. However, the processes used in milk banking might increase the risk of fat degradation in the milk. Currently, nothing is known about fat degradation products in donor milk. With this study, we aim to quantify fat degradation products in donor milk, and we are currently looking for some term breast milk to compare our results to.

If you are breastfeeding and would like to take part in the study, please get in touch!

Please feel free to share the information with any breastfeeding mum you know!

If you want to know more about milk banking in the UK, read my earlier blog post here.

Many thanks, Isabell

inessel@bournemouth.ac.uk

01202965009

PGR Live Exhibition – Final Day to Apply

BU research, Doctoral College, Events, Featured, PG research

The Postgraduate Research Live Exhibition is your opportunity to showcase your research this academic year with the Doctoral College.

Calling all PGRs! Exhibit your research or research journey at this PGR Live Exhibition on Wednesday 5 December, followed by a free festive social for PGRs and Supervisors.

This is your opportunity to display your research to all of BU in creative and innovative ways during this open live exhibition.

Follow this link for full details on how to submit, joint submissions are accepted.

Deadline: 09,00, Wednesday 7 November 2018

Please contact Natalie Stewart if you have any questions.

Please contact your student representatives about faculty run PGR conferences which may be scheduled for this academic year.

BU PGR Aishah Selamat in the running for IoD’s Student of Year 2018

BU research, Doctoral College, PG research, Research news

Picture source: iodawards.com

BU PGR Aishah Selamat a third year PhD student from the Creative Technology Department has been shortlisted for the Institute of Directors (IoD) Student of the Year Award 2018. The award is aimed at recognizing students who have shown directors qualities in a project they have worked on in a business, employment or academic capacity. The IoD is the UK’s longest-running organization for professional and business leaders.

Aishah has recently pitched her project, alongside, her additional contributions to travelmanagement4u.com, UK Data Service, Global Blockchain Consortium and academic visiting lectureship to a group of judges at IoD’s main office in London. The winner of the Student of the Year Award 2018 will be announced at the prestigious Director of the Year Awards on the 18th October 2018 at the Royal Horticultural Halls.

 

UUK Award for Student Mental Health and Wellbeing Projects

Doctoral College


The Universities UK Mental Wellbeing in Higher Education Working Group (MWBHE) have announced an award to recognise students who have worked to support student mental health and wellbeing in the UK.

Enrolled students and students who have left a UK university within the last year are eligible to apply for their creation, development and completion of an innovative intervention to support student mental health and wellbeing, produced in 2015-17.

To enter, submit a creation that shows how you as a university student have supported student mental health and wellbeing and you could win £500. The winner will be invited to the 2018 MWBHE conference and the winning submission displayed on this website.

Full terms and conditions, submission formats, and eligibility criteria are available from the UUK website http://www.universitiesuk.ac.uk/about/Pages/mwbhe.aspx#award. Closing date for submissions is noon of 30 January 2018.

For queries please contact Gedminte Mikulenaite, Universities UK Policy Officer (Mental Health in Higher Education).

#Vitaechat 19 October, 12-1pm – ‘What every researcher needs to know’

BU research, PG research, Research Training, Training

Focus-on: Getting started – ‘What every researcher needs to know’

Join the #vitaechat on Thursday 19 October from 12 until 1pm and find out more about:

  • what first steps should be taken when undertaking your PhD or starting a new postdoc role
  • managing supervisor/PI relationships
  • planning your research project
  • identifying your typical milestones
  • prioritising your development opportunities
  • when best to start thinking about your post-PhD career

This is a good opportunity to gain essential tips and understand what to expect next from experts who have been on a similar journey.  What’s even better is that you don’t even have to leave your desk!

Register here.

PGRs hurry! Get your 3MT application in.

BU research, PG research

The Countdown Begins – Can you beat the clock?

Deadline for the Doctoral College 3MT application submission is Sunday 22 October 2017.

For more information, eligibility and how to apply visit the website.

Don’t miss out on the chance to win £400 towards a conference of your choice, plus entry into the Vitae National 3MT competition plus £100 voucher.

 

EURAXESS – Supporting those working with Researchers

EU, Research Training

Do you support researchers? If so, EURAXESS can help you!

By registering on the EURAXESS site, you can gain access to a wealth of resources:

If you would like to discuss using EURAXESS as a researcher,  in order to promote BU’s research activity, supporting incoming researchers to BU or other related purpose, please contact Emily Cieciura, RKEO’s Research Facilitator: EU & International and BU’s EURAXESS Institutional Contact.

EURAXESS is also included as one of the highlighted resources within the Research Toolkit > Research Staff pages on this blog.

 

Postgraduate Researcher Experience Survey (PRES)

BU research, PG research, Research news

The Graduate School would like to remind all PGRs (on behalf of SUBU) that the BU/SUBU Postgraduate Researcher Experience Survey (PRES) is now open. It is an opportunity for PGRs to tell us about their experiences as a PGR student, which will help us identify areas of good practice and areas in which we could improve.  The closing date is 1 November 2016 – see link below.

PRES is an important anonymous survey which speaks out for BU PGRs only, and has been developed in consultation with BU PGR students to make it relevant to PhD, MPhil and MRes students here.

Feedback from last year’s survey helped us to, amongst other things:

  • Improve the processes for administrative support
  • Explore how to make the faculty research environment more stimulating
  • Improve communication about how to apply for funding for specialist resources

The more responses we receive, the more we can do for PGRs.  If you are a BU PGR, please help us by sparing a few moments to fill in the survey:

https://www.surveymonkey.co.uk/r/BU_PGR_Student_Experience_2016

Final 3 Minute presentation (3MP) event for the 2015/16 academic year

PG research, Research communication, Research Training, student research

Dear all,

3MP is back for the final time for this academic year. This event challenges postgraduate researchers to talk about their research in 3 minutes and is designed to expose the audience to a variety of ideas from different disciplines in a bitesize way. There will be plenty opportunities to meet like-minded individuals and to create new connections among staff and colleagues across the University.

Just to give you a small sample of what to expect we have talks about:

  • Midwifery
  • Diabetes & lifestyle
  • Hacking & Gaming Technology
  • Corporate governance
  • Nature Conservation
  • and much more!!

The event will commence on Thursday 19th May from 18:00 on Talbot Campus.

To attend – book your 3MP ticket here

We hope to see you there!

3MP May promo

3 minute presentation (3MP) – tickets available

PG research

The 3 Minute Presentation (3MP) is a brand new platform just for postgraduate researchers to learn about different types of research across BU in a fresh exciting format.

We have several excting presentations falling into the following categories:

  • Dementia
  • Sport Psychology
  • Biomechanics & Prosthetics
  • Consumer Behaviour
  • Governance & Risk Management
  • Narratology & Transmedia
  • Sustainability & Consumption
  • Nursing and Midwifery

When? Wednesday 2nd December 2015 18:00 – 19:30 (Talbot Campus)

Along with these exicting presentations there will be an opportunity to ask questions and network after the event in a secret location!

If you are curious about the event or want to meet some like-minded individuals please don’t hesitate to book your 3MP ticket here.

If you have any questions about the event please email: pgevents@bournemouth.ac.uk

We look forward to seeing you there!

Grad School Header 1

PGR Development Fund

PG research

Don’t forget that the PGR Development Fund is OPEN for applications and is available to support all BU postgraduate researchers (PGRs) irrespective of the mode of study (full-time/part-time) or funding status (BU studentship/externally funded/self-funded/ VC PhD Scholarship).

Individual awards will provide financial support of normally up to £1,000 for research activities related to an individual PGR’s research project or personal development.  Examples of research activities covered by the Scheme include:

  • Conferences (to present – either poster or oral and you must provide evidence that you have submitted either a poster or oral abstract for consideration);
  • Research development e.g. attending external training events specific to your research project;
  • Personal development e.g. attending external personal development training events;
  • Organisation of an academic conference at BU with external participants;
  • Attendance at external networking events leading to advance of the research;
  • Meetings or networking events linking to publications or dissemination of research.

The closing date for applications is 17:00 hrs on 31st March 2014

Full details can be found on myBU – Graduate School PGR Community (Funding – Development & Mobility Awards Section)

If you have any questions about the PGR Development Fund, then please get in touch with the Graduate School Team.

 

ApSci PhD student wins Santander award

BU research

Many congratulations to Kyle Waters from Applied Sciences, Faculty of Science and Technology, for winning a grant of £2,500 from the BU Graduate School Santander Mobility Wards towards a competitive internship at the prestigious American Museum of Natural History in New York. Kyle will be working in the Biological Anthropology Department of the museum with its vast collection of human skeletal remains, an experience that will directly benefit his doctoral research on ‘Differential mortality and morbidity– a bioarchaeological approach to childhood in Roman Britain’. Supervisor Professor Holger Schutkowski says: ‘This is a lifetime opportunity and I am delighted for Kyle to have secured Santander funds.’

Santander and BU Research mobility link continues.

BU research, PG research, Post-award

As sponsors of Formula One, Santander were lucky enough to secure some time with the Formula One racing driver Jenson Button to meet some of the Formula Santander Scholars, along with Santander Chairman, Emilio Botin. Two research students from the Media School and one from HSC were able to travel for research purposes as recipients of the Santander Award and to a reception at the British Medical Association House on Tavistock Square, London on Wednesday 26th June for an address from the Chairman and some words from Jensen. The recipients received certificates and there was an opportunity for a Question and Answer session with Jensen.

http://www.santander.com/csgs/Satellite/CFWCSancomQP01/en_GB/Corporate/Press-Room/Santander-News/Emilio-Botin-y-Jenson-Button-entregan-100-Becas-Formula-Santander-a-universitarios-britanicos-Only-available-in-Spanish.html

 
Hai Chung said that “I came to know that the extensive Southeast Asia collection at Yale University is an impressive and influential resource for any researcher on South East Asia across the world. Thanks to Santander, I got a rare chance this year to visit Yale University where I was able to update myself on the latest research and discuss with professors there about my work. In relation to actual outputs, the trip gives me additional evidence and elaborates upon my analysis in my findings. I was impressed with the number of scholarships funded by the Santander this year and appreciated a chance to meet formula 1 driver Jenson Button yesterday in London. Thanks again Santander for their generosity in supporting and creating chances for researchers in UK.”
Marketa Zezulkova’s cross-cultural project explores how is children’s media literacy being formed during the first years of their compulsory education; in order to contribute to the international development and implementation of suitable media education for primary and elementary school children. Marketa was in the USA, collecting primary data and undertaking position of a Visiting Scholar at Emerson College (Boston, MA) and at Media Education Lab, the University of Rhode Island (Kingston, RI) as part of Santander?
Sheetal Sharma who this summer is again a Santander visiting PhD researcher at IsGlobal, Cresib – the Barcelona Centre for International Health Research (CRESIB) part of the Hospital Clínic de Barcelona, the University of Barcelona, and the August Pi i Sunyer Biomedical Research Institute (IDIBAPS); supported by the Generalitat de Catalunya. She is supervised in health economic evaluations by Dr. Elisa Sicuri aiming to use novel techniques in the evaluations of health programmes in Nepal: http://www.cresib.cat/en/page.asp?id=216
The suggestion from this event was to organize a BU Santander Scholars session with a representative from Santander Universities (UK) in the near future to try and give back in terms of lessons that can be learnt from research mobility.

Realities of fieldwork: Sheetal Sharma, HSC PhD student on fieldwork in rural Nepal.

BU research, PG research

(c) Sheetal Sharma

Open air focus group in rural Nepal, (c) Sheetal Sharma 2013.


Roosters crowing, cows mooing, bleating goats, birds chirping, mobile phones ringing, children screaming, laughing and running around while women, breastfeeding, talk over one another excitedly in the sun as they need to leave us soon to drop the children off to school and/or head to the field to cultivate the season’s crop this spring it is wheat, last summer, rice. Women do this work as most of their husbands are away in the capital, Kathmandu or in the Arab Gulf. This is the reality of conducting focus groups in rural Nepal.

Although we, as researchers, spend considerable time to perfect the ideal ‘tool’ of the interview schedule and imagine the transcription clear and the background; a researcher must be prepared for every eventuality. Noise, din and interruptions: Today a dog nibbled on a nearby goat and a few men kept creeping to listen in why was this videshi (foreigner) recording conversations and making notes. The women shooed them away as today was a discussion on contraception; also that the discussion of the focus groups should be in ‘controlled environment’, safe, quiet; and in Nepal where women are not the main decision-maker for their reproductive health, it should mean a lieu women should be able to discuss freely these issues. In this Green Tara’s (www.greentaratrust.com) intervention area, which my PhD, supervised at HSC BU by Catherine Angell, Vanora Hundley, Edwin van Teijlingen and University of Sheffield’s Padam Simkhada, aims to evaluate both quantitatively and qualitatively, shows one the decision-making outcomes improved: increased the use of contraception in the Pharping area from 4.3% (2008) to 24.6% (2012) after 5 years of health promotion conducted by two auxiliary nurse-midwives.
40 minutes later recording (with 2 digital recorders) and once the demographic data and recording is double-checked and any last questions answered we set off walking 2 hours downhill visiting a tea-shop on the way for a cup of chai.

Edwin van Teijlingen and Emma Pitchforth, Qualitative Research: Focus group research in family planning and reproductive health care J Fam Plann Reprod Health Care 2006;32:1 30-32doi:10.1783/147118906775275299
http://jfprhc.bmj.com/content/32/1/30.citation

BBSRC – Raising awareness of commercialisation in postgraduate and postdoctoral scientists

Funding opportunities, PG research, Uncategorized

 Closing Date for Applications: 25th May 2012

 This is  an exciting opportunity available to postgraduate and postdoctoral researchers* within the plant, microbial and environmental science disciplines, or those with an interest in these fields.

 Building on last year’s success, Syngenta, the world’s largest agribusiness company, are again hosting a Plant, Microbial and Environmental sciences workshop, at their world-class Jealott’s Hill research facility as part of the wider Biotechnology YES programme.

 We are particularly keen to attract teams from the plant, microbial and environmental sciences to this high profile workshop that will provide a unique opportunity for the participants to spend time at a world-class research facility, with the chance to have a look around and meet world-leading scientists. The workshop will have an emphasis on challenges such as:

  •  food security and production in a sustainable environment and using lower levels of inputs such as water, phosphorus and nitrogen;
  •  the effects of climate change on food production;
  •  the effects of global biodiversity collapse on ecosystem services;
  •  the production of liquid fuels without impacting on the environment, more effective strategies to control organisms such as crop pests, pathogenic bacteria and disease;
  •  making technology and marketing concepts to integrate crop protection with seeds more attractive to growers.

YES is an innovative competition aimed at raising awareness of the commercialisation of bioscience research. It is co-organised by the Biotechnology & Biological Sciences Research Council (BBSRC) and the University of Nottingham Institute for Enterprise & Innovation (UNIEI). As part of the wider national YES programme, we are also currently encouraging applications from teams of bioscientists who wish to enter the 2012 Biotechnology YES and Environment YES competitions.

Entrants form imaginary companies and bid for funding to commercialise their ideas. Through 3-day workshops taking place across the UK this autumn, participants receive training from entrepreneurs, patent lawyers and industry representatives in the business skills necessary to recognise, protect and harness the commercial potential of scientific research outputs.

The culmination of the competition is the preparation and presentation, by each team, of a hypothetical business plan for a new start-up company.  The competition is therefore fully in line with the government’s objective of encouraging economic and social impact and the competition is endorsed by a number of bio-based industries through their sponsorship.  In addition, the winning team of the national Biotechnology YES competition will receive a prize of £1000 and an invitation to the Rice Business Plan Competition in the United States.

Since its launch seventeen years ago, Biotechnology YES has provided entrepreneurial business training for over 3000 researchers from across the UK. In 2010, an independent review of the scheme highlighted that many former participants found YES to be influential in developing their careers, with several starting their own companies and many more becoming business professionals within the bioscience sector. (Review of Biotechnology YES).

 The closing date for entries into this year’s competition is 25 May 2012.

 More information may be found at the website: www.biotechnologyYES.co.uk or those interested in participating may wish to contact Tracey Hassall-Jones (tracey@biotechnologyyes.co.uk).