Latest research and knowledge exchange news at Bournemouth University
Early next week Prof. Edwin van Teijlingen from the Centre for Midwifery & Women’s Health (CMWH) has been invited to present online at the International Evidence Synthesis Workshop on November 13th in Qatar. His presentation will focus on key aspects of writing up systematic reviews. The workshop is organised by the WHO (World Health Organization) Collaborating Centre for Healthy Ageing and Dementia. 
Bournemouth University collaboration with in the field of ageing research in Qatar is going from strength to strength. BU staff have been working with academics and clinicians at Hamad Medical Corporation’s (HMC) Department of Geriatrics and Long-Term Care. HMC has been appointed as a WHO (World Health Organization) Collaborating Centre for Healthy Ageing and Dementia, under auspices of Ministry of Publich Health in Qatar. Hamad Medical Corporation is n0t-for profit organisation. Tomorrow morning (7.00 AM UK time) FHSS will be contributing to an International Survey Research Workshop, together with BU’s Faculty of Health & Social Sciences Visiting Faculty Dr. Brijesh Sathian (based at HMC), and Prof. Padam Simhada, based at the University of Huddersfield.
A few days ago we published the editorial for the latest issues of the Nepal Journal of Epidemiology. This editorial under the title ‘Urgent need for better quality control, standards and regulation for the Large Language Models used in healthcare domain‘ [1] comments that current methodologies for ensuring AI (Artificial Intelligence) technology’s safety and efficacy may be adequate for earlier AI iterations predating generative artificial intelligence (GAI). However, better clinical gouvernance GAI may necessitate the development of novel regulatory frameworks. As AI technology advances, researchers, academic institutions, funding bodies, and publishers should continue to examine its impact on scientific inquiry and revise their understanding, ethical guidelines, and regulations accordingly.
The co-authors include two Bournemouth University Visiting Faculty, Prof. Padam Simkhada (based at the University of Huddersfield) and Dr. Brijesh Sathian (based at Rumailah Hospital, Qatar).
Prof. Edwin van Teijlingen
CMWH
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Two weeks ago our eBook Evidence-based approaches in aging and public health was published online by Frontiers Media [1]. This ebook is co-edited by BU Visiting Faculty Dr. Brijesh Sathian (based in Qatar), Prof. Padam Simkhada (based at the University of Huddersfield) and Prof. Edwin van Teijingen in the Centre for Midwifery & Women’s Health (CMWH) as well as Drs. Russell Kabir and Hanadi Al Hamad. This eBook started life as a Special Issue for the journal Frontiers in Public Health. We wrote the accompanying editorial for 15 selected articles in this Special Issue [2]. This publication raises the interesting question when does a Special Issue become an eBook.
Prof. Edwin van Teijlingen
CMWH
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As part of the special issue in Frontiers in Public Health on ‘Evidence-based approaches in Aging and Public Health’ the guest editors included 15 academic papers. These 15 contributions to the Special Issue were introduced in placed in perspective in our editorial ‘Editorial: Evidence-based approaches in Aging and Public Health‘ [1] which was accepted for publication two days ago. The guest editors included two Visiting Faculty to FHSS: Prof. Padam Simkhada and Dr. Brijesh Sathian.
Prof. Edwin van Teijlingen
Centre for Midwifery & Women’s Health (CMWH)
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A few days ago were alerted by ResearchGate that our article ‘Migrant Workers in Qatar: Not just an important topic during the FIFA World Cup‘ has reached 300 reads [1]. We (Padam Simkhada, Pramod Regmi and I) wrote this article a year ago to raise publicity about the conditions of Nepalese migrant workers in the Middle East. The hazards faced by migrant workers engaged in building the football stadiums in Qatar have been well documented before and during the FIFA Men’s Football World Cup. Their working conditions are often very dangerous and their living conditions are often very poor. 
This time last year Dr. Pramod Regmi, Dr. Nirmal Aryal, Prof. Edwin van Teijlingen, and BU’s Visiting Professor Padam Simkhada also published ‘Excessive Mortalities among Migrant Workers: the Case of the 2022 FIFA World Cup’ [2]. At the time we wrote “The men’s FIFA Football World Cup 2022 is in full flow in Qatar” which finished with a very exciting final between Argentina and France. Around the same time BU’s PhD student Yagya Adhikari also wrote a paper on ‘Forgotten health and social care needs of left-behind families of Nepali migrant workers’ [3]. This paper was co-authored by Dr.Pramod Regmi in the Department of Nursing Sciences, Prof. Edwin van Teijlingen, and BU Visiting Faculty Prof. Bhimsen Devkota.
Unfortunately, since the World Cup finished, the world, the media and our politicians have moved on and the health and well-being of migrant workers are no longer headline news. The reminder this week of 300 reads for our editorial gives us another opportunity to remind everyone of the need to keep the plight of migrant workers in the Middle East (and elsewhere) on the world’s agenda.
Prof. Edwin van Teijlingen
Centre for Midwifery & Women’s Health (CMWH)
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The Nepal Journal of Epidemiology published today carries an article on so-called ‘living evidence’ as an on-going synthesis approach that provides up-to-date rigorous research evidence [1]. This short research methods paper argues that living evidence is particularly useful in rapidly expanding research domains, uncertain existing evidence, and incorporating new research evidence that may impact policy or practice, ensuring that health worker, managers and health-policy makers have access to the best, i.e. the most recent evidence.
The Nepal Journal of Epidemiology is an Open Access journal, and hence freely available to researchers across the globe. The paper has been co-authored by researchers from the Denmark, Qatar, Mauritius and the UK.
Prof. Edwin van Teijlingen
Centre for Midwifery & Women’s Health (CMWH)
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On the very last day of 2022 the Nepal Journal of Epidemiology published our editorial ‘Guidance to applying for health research grants in the UK’. [1] The lead author is Dr. Brijesh Sathian who is BU Visiting Faculty as well as Deputy Chair for Research in the Geriatrics and Long-term Care Department in Rumailah Hospital based in Doha, Qatar. The paper is written to help researchers in low- and middle-income countries who are interested in applying to UK-based research funders in the health field. This editorial on grant writing adds to the large numbers of papers on many aspects of academic writing and publishing, which have been written by academics in the Faculty of Health & Social Sciences. [2-21]
The paper is Open Access and hence freely available to any newbie academic the world with internet access.
Happy New Year!!
Prof. Edwin van Teijlingen
Centre for Midwifery, Maternity & Perinatal Health
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This week the network ResearchGate alerted us that our paper ‘Identifying the gaps in Nepalese migrant workers’ health and well-being: a review of the literature’ has been quoted fifty times. An interesting achievement, but not particularly special, where it not for the FIFA men’s football World Cup. With the final weekend starting tomorrow and the winner being decided on Sunday in the match between Argentina and France, the timing of this announcement is impeccable. Since the health and well-being of many Nepalese migrant workers is determined by their working and living conditions in the Middle East, including Qatar.
All four authors of this review published five years ago are associated with BU, Dr. Pramod Regmi is Senior Lecturer in International Health, Dr. Nirmal Aryal recently returned to BU as researcher on a study into kidney disease among Nepalese migrant workers (funded by the Colt Foundation), and Prof. Padam Simkhada from the University of Huddersfield, who is also Visiting Professor in BU’s Faculty of Health & Social Sciences (FHSS). In addition, further research on Nepalese migrant workers is conducted in FHSS by BU PhD student Yagya Adhikari, whose thesis addresses the question of the forgotten health and social care needs of left-behind families of Nepalese migrant workers.
Prof. Edwin van Teijlingen
CMMPH
With the men’s FIFA football world cup starting on Sunday in Qatar it important to remember the human costs of those who build the infrastructure. The media coverage on the number of workers dying during the building of the football stadiums has highlighted the plight of foreign workers in the Middle East more generally. For example, BU’s researcher Dr. Nirmal Aryal was cited in The Sunday Times in an article with the title ‘Qatar 2022: Dying for the World Cup”, see the BU Research Blog published this time last year.
Here at BU we have conducted several studies into Nepali migrant workers, including those working in Qatar and elsewhere in the Middle East [1-13]. In the Middle East working conditions for foreign labourers are often Dirty, Dangerous and Difficult (commonly referred at as the 3Ds). Migrant workers often perform physically demanding work in a hot unprotected environment, suffer dehydration and/or exposure to chemical, excessive use of pain killers, and unhealthy lifestyle factors (such as restricted water intake and a high intake of alcohol/sugary drinks) which may precipitate them to acute kidney injuries and subsequent chronic kidney disease [1]. Dr. Regmi and colleagues in the Faculty of Health & Social Sciences are currently conducting a study into the kidney health of Nepalese migrant workers. This study is funded by the Colt Foundation.
From our work, we can say that in addition to the 3Ds, migrant workers are likely to experience a series of other challenges ranging from language and other cultural barriers, socio-economic problems and issues to do with their legal status, to a lack of health and safety training, difficulties in gaining access
to health services. If you have limited injury compensation in your line of work, a work injury attorney can answer commonly asked questions like “can employer make employee pay for accident?”
Prof. Edwin van Teijlingen
CMMPH
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At the end of the month (Friday 30th September) Professor Jane Murphy and Prof. Edwin van Teijlingen are both speaking at the Advanced Dementia Research Conference (ADRC 2022). Their participation will be online thus helping to reduce BU’s carbon footprint. Prof. Murphy, Deputy Dean for Research in the Faculty of Health & Social Sciences (FHSS) will be talking about ‘Nutritional interventions in ageing’, whilst Prof. van Teijlingen from the Centre for Midwifery, Maternal & Perinatal Health (CMMPH) will be discussing ‘Qualitative Research in Dementia’. The one-day conference has two more BU connections and two further speakers ‘Dr. Brijesh Sathian and Prof. Padam Simkhada are both FHSS Visiting Faculty. The former will be speaking on ‘Complex Innovative trial designs and analyses for Dementia Research’, whilst the latter will be presenting on ‘Mixed-methods research in Dementia’.
Congratulations to dr. Pramod Regmi on the publication today of our research article ‘Risk of Kidney health among returnee Nepali migrant workers: A survey of nephrologists‘ [1]. This paper was published today in the Asian Journal of Medical Sciences. It is co-authored with a clinician (a nephrologist) and a migration and health expert in Nepal. This paper reports on the Bournemouth University-led study with kidney specialists in Nepal which was reported in The Sunday Times under the heading ‘Qatar 2022: Dying for the World Cup‘ a fortnight ago.
Last Saturday Dr. Nirmal Aryal (now researcher at the Greater Manchester Mental Health NHS Foundation Trust and BU Visiting Faculty) and Dr. Regmi presented this research at a webinar in Nepal which was well attended and shown on Facebook Life.
Yesterday the Journal of Health Promotion published another Bournemouth University co-authored paper on health and migration with the title ‘Perceived threats towards COVID-19 pandemic among Nepali migrant workers returned from India’. Both paper are published Open Access and, as such, freely available across the globe to anyone with internet access!
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Dr. Pramod Regmi, Senior Lecturer in International Health in the Department of Nursing Science, has been invited to speak at the forthcoming NIRI Webinar on this Saturday (27th November 2021). He will be jointly presenting with Dr. Nirmal Aryal, Visiting Faculty at the Department of Health & Social Sciences (FHSS). Pramod and Nirmal will be speaking on ‘The hidden health costs of Nepali labour migrants’, following the coverage of Bournemouth University’s research on this topic in The Sunday Times the weekend before last.
NIRI (Nexus Institute of Research and Innovation) is a not-for-profit-sharing institution established by Nepalese scientists, academics, and social workers with a common goal of fostering research and innovation in Nepal. The session will be presented ‘live’ on Facebook.
Well done!
Prof. Edwin van Teijlingen
Centre for Midwifery, Maternal & Perinatal Health
Bournemouth University is involved in a wider collaboration which organises the Advanced Dementia Research Conference (ADRC 2021). The conference is delivered online today and tomorrow (19th-20th November). ADRC 2021 is led by Dr. Brijesh Sathian, BU Visiting Faculty, based in the Geriatric Medicine Department, Rumailah Hospital, in Doha, Qatar. Saturday morning Prof. Edwin van Teijlingen will be delivering a session on qualitative research, preceded by a session on mixed-methods research from Prof. Padam Simkhada, also BU Visiting Faculty, from the University of Huddersfield.
The programme shown is for Day 2 tomorrow. All sessions today and tomorrow are free to attend! You can register here! Please, note that advertised times a Qatar times which three hours ahead of the UK at the moment.
Prof. Edwin van Teijlingen
CMMPH (Centre for Midwifery, Maternal & Perinatal Health)
Peer reviewing is the backbone of academic publishing. It is this peer review process to ensure that papers/publications have been vetted scientifically prior to publication by experts in the field, i.e. one’s peers. However, the process is not without its problems. One such problems is the delay in academic publishing. For example, a few days ago we published a substantive editorial on COVID-19 in Qater [1]. When we submitted this in July 2020 the information in our editorial was very up to date, and it still was when the Qatar Medical Journal accepted it on 26th July 2020. Unfortunately, with all the incredibly rapid developments in vaccine development, approval and roll out some of the paper now reads like ‘historial data’.
Prof. Edwin van Teijlingen
Centre for Midwifery, Maternal & Perinatal Health (CMMPH)
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Congratulations to Dr. Pratik Adhikary on the fifth (and final paper) from his PhD in the Faculty of Health & Social Sciences. This latest paper ‘Support networks in the Middle East & Malaysia: A qualitative study of Nepali returnee migrants’ experiences’ was recently published in the International Journal of Occupational Safety and Health [1].
This is one of the few studies focusing on the support networks of Nepali migrant worker in the Middle East and Malaysia. The previous four papers have focused more on living conditions and working conditions of migrant workers as well as occupational health and safety abroad [2-5].
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For nearly a decade BU researchers have published widely about the hazards and risk of Nepali migrant workers in Asia and the Middle East [1-9]. Despite the fact that most migrant workers end up in semi-skilled and unskilled jobs in their host countries, only a minority report poor working environments. For example, in Pratik Adhikary’s PhD study in FHSS only just over a fifth of migrant workers reported that their work environment in the Middle East or Malaysia was poor or very poor [4]. This relatively high level of satisfaction appears to seems contradict reports in local media on the risks associated with Nepali migrants working abroad, especially focusing on the football world cup in Qatar [7], official reports that many hundreds of bodies of dead Nepali migrants return home every year [10], and the fact that many of these Nepali migrant workers end up doing the jobs the local populations finds too dirty, dangerous and demeaning (colloquially referred to as 3D-jobs). Why do so many who travel abroad take to do risky, dirty and otherwise undesirable jobs, but still assess their working environment as not too bad?
More theoretical papers on the drivers of migration have referred to many interconnected factors and links [11-12]. Local drivers in Nepal include poverty, lack of employment opportunities, having a history of work-related migration, a growing culture of migration (i.e. it becomes more or less an expectation) and many more. One local element that is perhaps too easily ignored is that many Nepali migrant workers would have ended up in dirty, dangerous and demeaning jobs at home too. And the risk, on for example building sites in Nepal might be even greater than that in Qatar or elsewhere in the Middle East as some of the photos below illustrate. These photos of an accident involving an external building lift were taken today on a building site in Kathmandu. 
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Yesterday the Journal of Immigrant and Minority Health published the final version of Dr. Pratik Adhikary’s paper ‘Workplace Accidents Among Nepali Male Workers in the Middle East and Malaysia: A Qualitative Study’ [1]. This is the fourth paper originating from Pratik’s Ph.D. research conducted in the Faculty of Health & Social Sciences, the first three papers appeared in the period 2011-2018 [2-4].
The paper highlights that many Nepali men work in the Middle East and Malaysia and media reports and anecdotal evidence suggests they are at a high risk of workplace-related accidents and injuries for male Nepali workers. Pratik’s Ph.D. study used face-to-face interviews to explore the personal experiences of twenty male Nepali migrants of unintentional injuries at their place of work. His study found that almost half of study participants experienced work-related accident abroad. The Participants suggested that the reasons behind this are not only health and safety at work but also poor communication, taking risks by workers themselves, and perceived work pressure. Some participants experienced serious incidents causing life-long disability, extreme and harrowing accounts of injury but received no support from their employer or host countries.
The paper concludes that Nepali migrant workers are at a high risk of occupational injuries owing to a number of interrelated factors poor health and safety at work, pressure of work, risk taking practices, language barriers, and their general work environment. Both the Government of Nepal and host countries need to be better policing existing policies; introduce better legislation where necessary; ensure universal health (insurance) coverage for labour migrants; and improve preventive measures to minimize the number and severity of accidents and injuries among migrant workers.
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