Tagged / research

Impact Essentials: Finding your stakeholders

BU research, ECR Network, Research Training, RKE development framework

This RKEDF session aimed at researchers at all career stages, and will give you the tools to help you entify the organisations, groups and people who could either benefit from your research, or be able to influence or facilitate impact arising from it.

In this session, we will cover stakeholder mapping, the types of organisations and people who could benefit from your research, those who could facilitate impact and the best routes to engage with them. We will give practical examples and allow time for questions and discussion of individual research projects.

Impact essentials: Finding your stakeholders

Tuesday 10th October

Online session from 10.00-11.00

To book on to a session, please complete the Booking Form. 

 

For queries regarding the content of this session, please contact Impact Advisors, RKEOKnowledgeExchangeImpactTeam@bournemouth.ac.uk

RKEDF training: Impact Essentials

BU research, Research Training, RKE development framework

Impact Essentials: From public engagement to impact

This session is aimed at researchers at all stages of their careers to find out how public engagement activity can help their research have an impact on the world.

Participants will explore the link between public engagement activity and measurable impact, reflect on their own impact goals, identify potential stakeholders and engagement activity, and learn from high-ranking impact case studies with a significant public engagement pathway.

By the end of the session they will have a better understanding of how impact can be developed from public engagement activity.

 

Impact Essentials: From public engagement to impact

Tuesday 3rd October

from 14:00 – 15:00 at Talbot Campus

To book your place fror the session, please complete the Booking Form.

For queries regarding the content of this session, please contact Amanda Edwards, Amanda Edwards aedwards@bournemouth.ac.uk

 

 

 

 

Proofreading your article accepted for publication

BU research, Featured academics, international, open access, Publishing, Research news, Research Training, Uncategorized, writing

It is always a pleasure to see your own paper in print.  If all is properly organised at the publisher, the first time you see you paper as it will look in its final version when you receive the proof copy.  It is the authors’ task to proofread this final copy and pick up any mistakes you may have made or the journal has made putting your word file into the journal’s layout.  More and more journals now ask you to do the proofreading and editing online.  The first message here is that proofreading is exact business and most certainly time consuming.  Moreover, feeding back mistakes you may find in the proofs is not without its trials and tribulations.

Yesterday we received the proofs for a paper accepted by BMC Health Research Policy & Systems [1]. The BMC is part of the publisher Springer , and it uses an online proof system eProofing to which the authors get temporary access, to read and correct text.  This system looks good online, but beware the online version you get to edit does not look the same as the version that will appear in print.  The draft print version generated by eProofing has line numbers which don’t appear online when you are editing the proofs.  So we had to write on the online system separately that we found a set of quotes glued together, as the system does not allow authors to change the lay-out (for obvious reasons). In this case,  we had to write details like: “There needs to be a space after first quote line 421.”  What might look okay in the eProofing version didn’t do so  in the print version, where it was it is wrong.  This is illustrated in the example picture below.

 

Last month we battled with the proofs of another BU paper forthcoming in the journal Women and Birth [2], which is part of Elsevier.  Again, it has an online system for proofs.  This system does not allow the authors to correct mistakes in in the line spacing.  So we ended up writing to journal manager, not the editor, things like: “There is a very big gap between the end of section 3.7. and Overview of findings section – please could the text be rearranged to get rid of this big gap.”  We also asked for a summary section to be kept on one page, not having an orphan two words on the next page, but that appeared to be too difficult a request.  We think we a little flexibility, i.e. a human intervention the lay-out could have been improved.  See illustration below with text as it appears in the current online-first version.

We like to stress our advice to set plenty of time aside to read and edit the proofs, and to send details instructions to the journal manager or editor about what needs changing.  Changes include typos, grammar and style, but also lay-out of text and illustrations, boxes in the text, tables and figures.  “It is also important to check tables and figures during the proof-reading as the formatting can often go astray during the typesetting process” as we highlighted by Sheppard and colleagues [3].  Also double check correct spelling of names of co-authors and the final author order in the proofs.  Many years ago, I received the proof of pages of a midwifery article [4].

I dutifully read and edited  the proof of the actual text, but I never check the short introduction with the authors’ names which an editor had added to the final proofs.  When the paper came out in print to transpired that this editor has changed the author order, i.e. my name was first, probably because I had submitted the paper on behalf of my co-author.  This cause some problems with my co-author, made all the worse since I am married to her.

 

Prof. Edwin van Teijlingen

Centre for Midwifery & Women’s Health

References:

  1. Wasti, S.P., van Teijlingen, E., Rushton, S., Subedi, M., Simkhada, P., Balen, J., Nepal Federalisation of Health Team (2023)  Overcoming the challenges facing Nepal’s health system during federalisation: an analysis of health system building blocks. Journal of the Health Research Policy & Systems. (forthcoming).
  2. Arnold, R., Way, S., Mahato, P., van Teijlingen, E. (2023) “I might have cried in the changing room, but I still went to work”. Maternity staff managing roles, responsibilities, and emotions of work and home during COVID-19: an Appreciative Inquiry, Women & Birth (online first) 
  3. Sheppard, Z., Hundley, V., Dahal, N.P., Paudyal, P. (2022) Writing a quantitative paper, In: Wasti, S.P., van Teijlingen, E., Simkhada, P., Hundley, V. with Shreesh, K. (eds.) Writing and Publishing Academic Work, Kathmandu, Nepal: Himal Books, pp.78-87.
  4. van Teijlingen E., Ireland, J.C. (2014) Community midwives on the go. Midwives 1: 54-55.

Improving information for people taking part in clinical research

BU research, Clinical Governance, data management, Guidance, nhs, NHS, Research Ethics, research governance, research integrity, Research news

The Health Research Authority (HRA) has launched new Quality Standards to improve information given to people who are invited to take part in research. The Quality Standards have been launched alongside Design and Review Principles, which show researchers and Research Ethics Committees (REC) what the important ethical considerations are for participant information.

  • The new HRA Participant Information Quality Standards will help research organisations to understand what good participant information looks like, and will make clear to researchers what the Research Ethics Committees will consider as part of the ethics review, including the review of participant information. The REC will support researchers to create information that meets the Quality Standards.
  • The aim of the Quality Standards and Design and Review Principles is to make participant information better, and to make the way that RECs review that information more consistent. The documents set out the basic criteria that all participant information must meet, and covers language, accessibility, and mandatory content.

Next steps

The Quality Standards and Design and Review Principles will be phased in from autumn 2023. As study materials are prepared in advance, REC reviews of participant information will initially be presented to research organisations as recommendations as opposed to actions required for approval.

From December 2023, the Quality Standards and Design and Review principles will become mandatory and will be applied to all research applications submitted for review.

Changes to participant information are currently the most likely reason for ethics committees to give a provisional opinion. Using this guidance will increase the possibility of receiving a favourable opinion.

Available templates

Remember that BU has Participant Information Sheet templates that provide much of the required wording to ensure your participants are making a fully informed decision before agreeing to participate.

It is vital that when compiling your information sheets that you remember to include the HRA GDPR transparency wording.

Questions or concerns?

If you have any questions regarding these new standards or about clinical research in general, please email Suzy Wignall, Clinical Governance Advisor – swignall@bournemouth.ac.uk or clinicalresearch@bournemouth.ac.uk

NIHR Be Part of Research platform

BU research, Clinical Governance, Guidance, nhs, NHS, Research communication, Research Ethics, research governance, research integrity, research methods, Research news, research opportunities, research staff

The NIHR Be Part of Research platform is an online service that makes it easy for research participants to find and take part in health and social care research. Participants may search for trials and studies taking place looking at certain health conditions and in locations accessible to them.

Clinical researchers may also make use of the service to extend their recruitment and widen their recruitment methods, as the platform has been designed to make it easier for researchers and potential study participants to find each other.

Using Be Part of Research to recruit participants

To use the service for your recruitment, the study must meet the following requirements:

  • Be funded or supported by the NIHR. This includes studies on the NIHR Clinical Research Network Portfolio.
  • Have Research Ethics Committee approval to use the service as a recruitment tool.
  • Have a dedicated point of contact such as a pre-screener or website for interested volunteers to engage with your research team.

Getting your study onto the Be Part of Research platform

Once your study has been registered on either ISRCTN, ClinicalTrials.gov, or on the NIHR Clinical Research Network (CRN) Central Portfolio Management System (CPMS), your project will then appear on Be Part of Research. Given those visiting the site are mostly patients and members of the public, medical and scientific terminology should be omitted when writing your study summary, with plain English used to ensure the information is accessible to a broad audience. In order to do this, you should:
  • Keep it short – but don’t oversimplify it. The reader must understand what the study is trying to achieve.
  • Imagine you are talking to the reader.
  • Take out any jargon.
  • Make sure you cover the what, why, when, where and how so they have the basics of your study.

Additionally, to make sure that participants contact the appropriate person, the contact details provided on ISRCTN or ClinicalTrials.gov should be up to date and accurate. In general, the registry record should be monitored continuously so that any changes are reflected on Be Part of Research as soon as possible.

Further support/contact

If you have any questions regarding the platform or regarding clinical research in general, please email Suzy Wignall, Clinical Governance Advisor: swignall@bournemouth.ac.uk or clinicalresearch@bournemouth.ac.uk

Impact Essentials: Creating your impact development plan

BU research, Impact, Research Training, RKE development framework

Creating your impact development plan is a workshop for researchers at all career stages and at all stages of the project lifecycle – from formulating research questions and preparing grant applications to developing a potential impact case study.

This practical workshop provides the tools, advice and time to start putting together your own plan to achieve impact.

By the end of this session, you will have created a detailed impact development plan, tailored to your particular needs and stage of impact development.

Thursday 7th September     13.00-15.00      Talbot Campus

To book on to the session, please complete the Booking Form. 

For queries regarding the content of this session, please contact Amanda Lazar, Impact Adviser impact@bournemouth.ac.uk

 

British Academy Small Grants Workshop

BU research, ECR Network, Funding opportunities, pre-award, RKE development framework

British Academy Small Grants Workshop aimed at all staff with Research Council bids in development.

The attendees will have the chance to discuss their proposal with a Research Facilitator and a Funding Development Officer will also be on hand to answer any questions relating to budget and processes.

The call for the next round of BA/Leverhulme Small Grants opens on 6th September 2023 and closes on Wednesday 8th November 2023.

This guidance session is for academics who are interested in submitting an application.

Wednesday 6th September 10.00-12.00, Talbot Campus

To book on to a session, or be added to the waiting list, please complete the Booking Form. 

For further information please contact: epapadopoulou@bournemouth.ac.uk, smundy@bournemouth.ac.uk

Postdoc Appreciation Week 2023 – celebrating our postdoctoral researchers

Events, Research news, research staff

Postdoc Appreciation Week(PAW) takes place each year to celebrate, showcase and recognise the contribution that postdoctoral researchers make towards research and academic life.

 

Originally an initiative from the National Postdoc Association in the USA (National Postdoc Appreciation Week), it is now also celebrated in the UK, and this year will take place from Monday 18th – Friday 22nd September.

 

To mark Postdoc Appreciation Week, we are holding an appreciation event on Monday 18 September for postdoctoral researchers and their managers.

 

The event will be a chance to celebrate all the hard work that postdocs and researchers dedicate to research, teaching, outreach and so much more, as well as an opportunity to catch up with our Research Staff Association (RSA) representatives over coffee and cake.

 

We will also be profiling the amazing work and research undertaken by our post-doctoral research staff community.

 

If you would like to attend the event, or find out more about our Postdoc Appreciation Week activity, please contact RKEDF@bournemouth.ac.uk

You can also get involved on social media during Postdoc Appreciation Week by using #LovePostdocs and #NPAW2023 on Twitter and Instagram and tagging us @BU_Research or @UK_NPAW.

An Appreciate Inquiry into NHS Maternity Services

BU research, Featured academics, NHS, Research communication, research methods, Research news, Uncategorized, writing

 

 

Congratulation to Dr. Rachel Arnold and her Centre for Midwifery & Women’s Health research team on the publication yesterday of their paper ‘I might have cried in the changing room, but I still went to work’. Maternity staff balancing roles, responsibilities, and emotions of work and home during COVID-19: An appreciative inquiry [1].   This paper focuses on how to support staff and enhance their well-being in a small UK maternity service.  The underpinning methodological approach is appreciative inquiry using interviews with 39 maternity staff and four group discussions exploring meaningful experiences, values and factors that helped their well-being.

The key findings are that maternity staff members were highly motivated, managing a complex melee of emotions and responsibilities including challenges to professional confidence, mental health, family situation, and conflict between work-life roles. Despite staff shortages, a demanding workload, professional and personal turmoil, and the pandemic participants still found meaning in their work and relationships.  The authors go on to argue for a ‘whole person’ approach, since this approach provided insight into the multiple stressors and emotional demands staff faced. It also revealed staff resourcefulness in managing their professional and personal roles. They invested in relationships with women but were also aware of their limits – the need to be self-caring, employ strategies to switch-off, set boundaries or keep a protective distance.  Overall, the paper concludes hat staff’s well-being initiatives, and research into well-being, would benefit from adopting a holistic approach that incorporates home and family with work. Research on emotion regulation strategies could provide insights into managing roles, responsibilities, and the emotional demands of working in maternity services. Emotion regulation strategies could be included in midwifery and obstetric training.

This paper was proceeded by a more methodological paper on the application of Appreciative Inquiry in this study [2].

 

References:

  1. Arnold, R., Way, S., Mahato, P., van Teijlingen, E. (2023) “I might have cried in the changing room, but I still went to work”. Maternity staff managing roles, responsibilities, and emotions of work and home during COVID-19: an Appreciative Inquiry, Women & Birth (online first) 
  2. Arnold, R., Gordon, C., Way, S., Mahato, P., van Teijlingen, E. (2022) Why use Appreciative Inquiry? Lessons learned during COVID-19 in a UK maternity service, European Journal of Midwifery 6 (May): 1-7.

Welcome to the Bournemouth University Research Staff Association (RSA)

BU research, Research communication, research staff, RKE development framework, Uncategorized

Welcome to the Bournemouth University Research Staff Association (RSA)

 

 

What is it?

An association run by BU researchers from all faculties who want to make BU a great place to work and do research. We aim to ensure that researchers are supported to realise their full potential and to develop and produce research of the highest quality. (There are Research Staff Associations throughout UK universities and one of our BU RSA representatives is also a member of the UK RSA).

 

Who is it for?

Almost everyone! Postdoctoral researchers, research fellows, research assistants as well as anyone else who is actively engaged in research (or planning to be): postgraduate researchers; staff on teaching and research, or teaching contracts; clinicians; professional support staff; technicians.

 

What are our aims?

To help make BU a great place for researchers to work and progress in their careers.

 

To support BU researchers to produce excellent research by enabling them to thrive, personally and professionally through informal peer support / friendship with other researchers and encouraging BU to provide

      • a well-designed induction
      • a caring and helpful mentor
      • support to develop research and professional skills
      • increased job security
      • a university culture of inclusion, kindness, care, and support
      • opportunities to network, collaborate, share, and learn

 

How do we do that?

We support researchers through:

 

  1. Signposting you to the BU teams or individuals who can help you with issues such as: employment and contracts, work conditions, fairness and equity, discrimination, unions, professional development, careers advice, support for mental health and well-being.

 

  1. Offering peer support – opportunities to meet, socialise, network, share ideas, and collaborate with researchers from different faculties. We run informal online get-togethers and coffee mornings in faculties. We are also developing a series of university-wide events (in partnership with the Early Career Network) on topics such as career progression, funding, wellbeing.

 

  1. Representing you – raising concerns, lobbying, and advocating for researchers at the:
    • Research Concordat Steering Group. This group is responsible for helping BU translate the ideals of the Concordat to Support the Career Development of Researchers into improved researcher career development and effective policies.  The steering group can then highlight responsibilities across university departments from line managers and HR to the Vice Chancellor and the Executive Team.

 

    • Faculty Research & Professional Practice Committees (FRPPC) – where we can highlight specific initiatives and the vital role that line managers and senior academics play in facilitating the development of researchers in their department.

 

    • University Research & Professional Practice Committee (URPPC) where we can share the combined voice and experiences of research staff to shape the development of University wide research-based policy and procedures.

 

What do we need to succeed? 

You!  We need to know what the important issues, concerns, challenges, and aspirations of BU researchers are. We can then try to provide informative sessions which address the issues that are important to you, advocate for change – as well as letting BU know when they are getting it right! We would also like to get to know you and learn from your experiences – doing research can be lonely and being in contact with other researchers enriches our day.

 

When does the RSA meet?

The RSA meets regularly throughout the year. Everyone is welcome to attend or share issues that you would like raised with your faculty rep

 

How do I get involved/get in touch with the RSA representative for my faculty?

 

Your current reps are:

 

Faculty of Health & Social Science                         Sophia Amenyah samenyah@bournemouth.ac.uk

                                                                                             Gladys Yinusa yinusagg@bournemouth.ac.uk

 Faculty of Science & Technology                           Kimberley Davies daviesk@bournemouth.ac.uk

                                                                                            Sarah Elliott  selliott@bournemouth.ac.uk 

Faculty of Media & Communications                   No representative at present.

BU Business School:                                                   No representative at present.

 

 

 

Institutional Reps:                                                      Chaoguang Wang   wangc@bournemouth.ac.uk

                                                                                            Anastasia Vayona   avayona@bournemouth.ac.uk

                                                                                           Rejoice Chipuriro          rchipuriro@bournemouth.ac.uk

 

Academic Reps:                                                           BUBS-Rafaelle Nicholson rnicholson@bournemouth.ac.uk

                                                                                           BUBS-Julia Hibbert jhibbert@bournemouth.ac.uk

                                                                                           FST-Derek Pitman dpitman@bournemouth.ac.uk

                                                                                           FST-Michelle Heward mheward@bournemouth.ac.uk

                                                                                          FST-Ruijie Wang rwang3@bournemouth.ac.uk