BU Research Blog | social sciences | Bournemouth University

13 January 2023

The PhD viva and then….

Centre for Excellence in Learning, international, PG research, Publishing, student research, Women's Academic Network, writing Edwin van Teijlingen

Today the Journal of Education and Research published online our paper ‘Reflections on Variations in PhD Viva Regulations: “And the Options Are …”’. [1] The paper outlines that examining PhD research in the form of a doctoral thesis is specialist work, which is why few people know the potential variations. This paper highlights the different options that are available for PhD examiners. There are four general options: (1) pass, (2) rewrite and resubmit; (3) lower degree, with or without resubmission; and (4) fail the PhD. However, from our experience, of both being examined for our own PhDs and examining others at a range of different universities, we have noted a considerable variety in detail within these common options. This paper outlines a variety of outcomes of a PhD examination, followed by four short case studies, each reflecting on a particular aspect /differences we experienced as examinees or as examiners. This paper further aims to alert PhD candidates and examiners to study the examination rules set by the awarding university, as the details of the PhD examination outcome, and hence the options available to both examiners and the students may differ more than one might expect.

This publication adds to our earlier work on the roles of PhD supervisors providing in-depth discipline-specific Public Health knowledge and technical (e.g., methodological) support to the students, encouraging them towards publications or conference presentations, offering pastoral support for student wellbeing, and finally preparing them to defend their thesis by conducting a mock viva. Our earlier paper focused on the responsibilities, opportunities, and sometimes the challenging nature of being a PhD supervisor in the field of Public Health in Nepal. [2]

Prof. Edwin van Teijlingen

CMMPH

References:

van Teijlingen, E., Simkhada, B., Regmi, P. ., Simkhada , P. ., Hundley, V. ., Poudel, K. C. (2022). Reflections on Variations in PhD Viva Regulations: “And the Options Are …”. Journal of Education and Research, 12(2), 61-74. https://doi.org/10.51474/jer.v12i2.624
Regmi, P., Poobalan, A., Simkhada, P., van Teijlingen, E. (2021). PhD supervision in public health. Health Prospect, 20(1), 1-4.

12 January 2023

It is all about experience

Delicious links, international, Knowledge Exchange, PG research, Publishing, student research, Women's Academic Network, writing Edwin van Teijlingen

This week we published a paper on the experience of conducting fieldwork in the public health field in the Journal of Health Promotion. [1] Fieldwork is usually a crucial part of PhD research, not only in the health field. However, few researchers write about this, often challenging, process. This paper highlights various occasions where fieldwork in the area of public health, health promotion or community health was more difficult than expected or did not go as planned. Our reflections on working in the field are aimed at less experienced researchers to support them in their research development. Moreover, this paper is also calling upon health researchers to share more details about the process of doing fieldwork and its trials and tribulations. Our key advice is to be inquisitive and open-minded around fieldwork, followed by: be prepared for your fieldwork, conduct a risk assessment of what might go wrong, and consider your resources and options to overcome such trials and tribulations. Fieldwork can be unpredictable. We believe it is important to share practical lessons from the field which helps other to better understand these tribulations, and learn from them. Finally, sharing such information may guide new researchers and help them identify strategies that can address those issues and challenges in their future studies.

Dr. Preeti Mahato (at Royal Holloway, University of London), Dr Bibha Simkhada and Prof. Padam Simkhada (both based at the University of Huddersfield) are all BU Visiting Faculty. Moreover, I have had the pleasure of acting as PhD supervisor for five of my co-authors. I have included in this blog what is probably my favourite fieldwork photo taken a decade ago by former BU PhD student Dr. Sheetal Sharma.

Prof. Edwin van Teijlingen

CMMPH (Centre for Midwifery, Maternal & Perinatal Health)

References:

Mahato, P., Tamang, P., Simkhada, B., Wasti, S. P., Devkota, B., Simkhada, P., van Teijlingen, E.R. (2022) Reflections on health promotion fieldwork in Nepal: Trials and tribulations. Journal of Health Promotion 10(1): 5–12. https://doi.org/10.3126/jhp.v10i1.50978

9 January 2023

Nepal publication PhD student Yayga Adhikari

international, open access, Publishing, student research, writing Edwin van Teijlingen

Congratulation to FHSS PhD student on the publication of his article ‘Forgotten health and social care needs of left-behind families of Nepali migrant workers’ [1]. Yagya’s Ph.D. research title is “Parental migration and its impact on health and well-being of left-behind adolescents in Nepal” and his research is supervised by Dr. Pramod Regmi and Prof. Edwin van Teijlingen. The Journal of Health Promotion is Open Access and hence freely available across the globe for anybody with internet access.

Reference:

Adhikari, Y.R., Regmi, P.R., Devkota, B., van Teijlingen, E.R. (2022) Forgotten health and social care needs of left-behind families of Nepali migrant workers. Journal of Health Promotion, 10(1):1–4. https://doi.org/10.3126/jhp.v10i1.50976

6 January 2023

BU research mentioned in The Washington Post

international, Publishing, writing Edwin van Teijlingen

Today The Washington Post mentioned Bournemouth University’s research into kidney disease in migrant workers from Nepal. Our research was highlighted in an article with the title ‘The world’s torrid future is etched in the crippled kidneys of Nepali workers‘ written by journalist Gerry Shih. Dr. Pramod Regmi and Dr. Nirmal Aryal, both in the Faculty of Health & Social Sciences, are leading on a research project on kidney health and migrant workers. The paper mentioned in The Washington Post is titled: ‘Risk of kidney health among returnee Nepali migrant workers: A survey of nephrologists’ [1]. This survey paper was published just over a year ago, in late 2021, and it was preceded by other papers on this issue [2-3].

Dr. Pramod Regmi is Senior Lecturer in International Health and, Dr. Nirmal Aryal recently returned to BU as researcher on a study into kidney disease among Nepalese migrant workers (funded by the Colt Foundation).

Prof. Edwin van Teijlingen

CMMPH

References

Aryal, N., Sedhain, A., Regmi, P.R., KC, R.K.,& van Teijlingen, E. (2021). Risk of kidney health among returnee Nepali migrant workers: A survey of nephrologists. Asian Journal of Medical Sciences, 12(12), 126–132.
Aryal, N., Regmi, P.R., Faller, E.M,, van Teijlingen, E., Khoon, C.C., Pereira, A., Simkhada, P. (2019) Sudden cardiac death and kidney health related problems among Nepali migrant workers in Malaysia, Nepal Journal of Epidemiology 9(3): 755-758.
Simkhada, P.P., Regmi, PR., van Teijlingen, E., Aryal, N. (2017) Identifying the gaps in Nepalese migrant workers’ health & well-being: A review of literature, Journal of Travel Medicine 24(4): 1-9.

29 December 2022

New BU Social Work publication

international, Publishing, writing Edwin van Teijlingen

Yesterday the European Journal of Social Work published a new article co-authored by Prof. Jonathan Parker in the Department of Social Sciences & Social Work. The paper ‘Alice Salomon: critical social work pioneer’ examines the theory and practice of early German social work researcher, activist, author and educator, Alice Salomon (1872–1948). Salomon’s work is characterised by her orientation on social justice, her internationalism, her concern with the structural inequalities that shape clients’ lives, her sensitivity to oppression in society, and her commitment to feminist social work.

Congratulations!

Prof. Edwin van Teijlingen

CMMPH

Reference:

Kuhlmann, C., Frampton, M., Parker, J. (2022) Alice Salomon: critical social work pioneer, European Journal of Social Work, [online first] DOI:
10.1080/13691457.2022.2161484

28 December 2022

Remember South-Asian migrant workers in the Middle East

international, Public engagement, Publishing, writing Edwin van Teijlingen

The precarious situation of migrant workers engaged in building the football stadiums in Qatar has been well documented. It was brought to the fore during the FIFA Men’s Football World Cup. Their working conditions as well as their living conditions are often very poor. During the games the Qatar World Cup’s chief executive, Nasser al-Khater reportedly made the rather flippant comment: “Death is a natural part of life, whether it’s at work, whether it’s in your sleep.” Begum and Worden see this as part of Qatar’s shameful government attitude towards the often preventable deaths of migrant workers, which in their view is reflected in the authorities’ failure to investigate the thousands of migrant worker deaths since 2010. [1]

Today Dr. Pramod Regmi, Dr. Nirmal Aryal, Prof. Edwin van Teijlingen, and BU Visiting Professor Padam Simkhada published ‘Excessive Mortalities among Migrant Workers: the Case of the 2022 FIFA World Cup’ appeared in print [12]. At the time of submission to the Europasian Journal of Medical Science we wrote “The men’s FIFA Football World Cup 2022 is in full flow in Qatar” [2], but, of course, it has finished with a very exciting final between Argentina and France. Even with a fast review and acceptance process there was no chance that our ‘Brief Communication’ was going to be published during the World Cup. The delay, however, gives us the opportunity today to remind our readers of the need to keep the plight of migrant workers in the Middle East on the world’s agenda.

The FIFA World Cup brought these poor conditions and exploitation of foreign workers in the Middle East to the world’s attention. However, there is a great risk that the attention of the world, including that of campaigners, pressure groups, the media, politicians, and so on moves on to the next ‘hot’ topic. [3]

References:

Begum, R., Worden, M. (2022) Qatar and FIFA’s Callous Response to a Migrant Worker’s Death. Migrant Workers, Their Families Should be Compensated for Abuses, Human Rights Watch News, December 8, 2022 7:26PM EST
Regmi, P., Simkhada, P., Aryal, N., van Teijlingen, E. (2022) Excessive mortalities among migrant workers: the case of the 2022 FIFA World Cup. Europasian Journal of Medical Sciences, 4:31-32. https://doi.org/10.46405/ejms.v4i0.455
Simkhada, P., van Teijlingen, E., Regmi, P.R. (2022). Migrant Workers in Qatar: Not just an important topic during the FIFA World Cup 2022. Health Prospect, 21(3):1-2. https://doi.org/10.3126/hprospect.v21i3.49835

20 December 2022

Journals, editors and censorship

BU Challenges, international, Publishing, writing Edwin van Teijlingen

On the day that The Sun took down an column in which Jeremy Clarkson spat vitriol at Meghan Markle, it seems odd to question what the role is of an editor in preventing material from being published. Especially since Ipso (the independent press standards organisation) received more complaints (17,500+) about the column published on Friday 16th December than the total it received in the whole of 2021. Not publishing an article is of course censorship. Many will be calling for the column to be withdrawn and questioning why the editor accepted it in the first place. Censorship is the suppression or prohibition of any parts of a book, article, film, blog, news, etc. that are considered obscene, politically unacceptable, or a threat to security.

But what if you are not a Mr. Clarkson, but you are a conscientious academic, doing proper research and drafting an evidence-based paper and the editor of an academic journal refuses to publish your article, not because of academic quality, but because the “…manuscript is likely to create disharmony in society”. With the additional detail, that according to the “National Ethical Guidelines for Health Research in Nepal, 2022, section 3, article 2.2 and section 3, article 3.1, this manuscript can’t be accepted for publication.” We (Nirmal Aryal, Pramod Regmi, Shovita Dhakal Adhikari, Shreeman Sharma & Edwin van Teijlingen) had submitted a paper with the title ‘Moral panic, fear, stigma, and discrimination against returnee migrants and Muslim populations in Nepal: analyses of COVID-19 media content’ to a health journal. We don’t think the title of the journal is relevant at this stage.

In the first round of reviewing one of the reviewers questioned our focus on the Muslim population. In our resubmission we stressed that we focused on two separate population groups because the media in Nepal did. In other words, we had noticed discriminatory media coverage towards returnee migrants (particularly those from India) and Muslim populations living in Nepal. These are key populations which experienced stigmatising and ostracising behaviour and media coverage further instigated moral panic and fear. We also conducted interviews with returnee migrants, Muslims in Nepal and key stakeholders, including agencies working with these sub-populations, and these findings have already been published. [1] Image how we felt being censored or in other words ‘cancelled’.

Our paper addressed issues, explanations and allegations related to COVID-19 as portrayed in the media in Nepal, indeed some discriminatory and many very unfair. However, as researchers we were merely the ‘messenger of bad news’. If Mr. Clarkson had not been headline news we would probably have called this blog ‘Don’t shoot the messenger!”.

References:

Regmi, P.R., Dhakal Adhikari, S., Aryal, N., Wasti, S.P. and van Teijlingen, E., 2022. Fear, Stigma and Othering: The Impact of COVID-19 Rumours on Returnee Migrants and Muslim Populations of Nepal. International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health, 19 (15). Available from: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC9331294/

16 December 2022

Fifty citations announced: Great timing

international, PG research, Publishing, writing Edwin van Teijlingen

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

9 December 2022

Migrant labour, the not so nice side of the FIFA World Cup

international, Publishing, writing Edwin van Teijlingen

Football has been referred to as ‘the beautiful game’. And to be fair, there has been some brilliant football at the men’s FIFA World Cup in Qatar. Qatar’s records on human rights have been widely criticised in the run up to this global event. The global media have spent a lot of time on commenting on several social and economic issues in Qatar, such as LGBT (lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender) rights, the role and status of women, and the exploitation of migrant workers. Migrant workers from South Asia, including those from Nepal, have helped build the stadiums and roads leading up to it, provide the security at venues, take the suitcases of the conveyor belts at the airport, and serve fans and visitors food and drink at the venues. Many of these migrant workers are exploited not just by employers in Qatar, but also by labour agencies in their home countries. The risks are high, especially for those migrant workers who do the dirty, dangerous and difficult jobs (i.e. the 3Ds).

As researchers conducting research in the area of migration and health, we are worried that when the world cup finishes next weekend the world’s media will move on from Qatar and the attention will disappear from the exploitation of migrant workers in the Middle East (and elsewhere). We all know that the media’s focus will shift to on another global event, next week or next month. We want to make sure that spotlight stays on this global problem.

Dr. Pramod Regmi, Dr. Nirmal Aryal & Prof. Edwin van Teijlingen

Faculty of Health & Social Sciences

10 November 2022

ESRC Festival of Social Science 2022 – Medical monsters: reducing medical anxiety through play and gamification. Saturday 12 November

Knowledge Exchange, Public engagement ballen

ESRC Festival of Social Science 2022

Using gamification and play to reduce anxiety related to patient medical appointments and hospital admissions

What’s on offer?

A playful workshop aimed at children aged 7-11 and their guardians, to explore strategies to reduce patient (children) anxiety around medical appointments and admissions. Featuring specially designed sessions of Jenga, LEGO® SERIOUS PLAY® and virtual reality experiences to explore and address personal anxieties around medical appointments.

What is it about?

Anxiety around medical appointments and admissions can affect children in different ways, from preventing them from seeking the medical attention they need to causing distress and worry. It can be difficult to know how to help these anxieties.

Evidence shows that structured play can empower people to discuss and examine their feelings, to help understand and address them. Virtual reality can help ease anxiety through providing an immersive distraction, or by creating a virtual ‘practice run’ for appointments. In this session, you and your child/ren will try out these fun techniques, led by expert facilitators and hopefully leave with a few new tricks and strategies.

Participants will receive a bag of LEGO® to take away with them, along with a google cardboard headset.

Please note, this is an opportunity to explore new techniques for managing mild anxiety, this is not a medical or psychiatric intervention or treatment.

Who is leading the event?

Dr Holly Henderson, Lecturer and LEGO® SERIOUS PLAY® facilitator
Dr Heidi Singleton, Lecturer in Children and Young Peoples Nursing
Professor Debbie Holley, Professor of Learning Innovation

Who is this event open to?

Children aged 7-11 years to be accompanied by an adult (parent or carer) at all times.

Event details

Saturday 12 November, 10am

Bournemouth University Gateway Building

Book your free place here

For enquiries about the activities and ‘medical monsters’ project please contact: medicalmonsters@bournemouth.ac.uk

If you have any questions about the ESRC Festival of Social Science 2022 series, please contact the Public Engagement with Research Team: email the public engagement team.

3 November 2022

ESRC Festival of Social Science 2022: Demystifying NFTs: Understanding the law and technology

Knowledge Exchange, Public engagement ballen

ESRC Festival of Social Science 2022

What is an NFT, what does it mean to ‘own’ one? Join this online talk as part of the ESRC Festival of Social Science 2022 to learn about technology, law of ownership & how they’re being used

NFTs or non-fungible tokens have captured the public imagination over the past year. But what are they and what does it mean to ‘own’ one?

Join this online talk to learn more about this new frontier from experts on their underlying technology, the law of ownership and how they’re being used. We’ll also explain how a limited edition NFT collection was created, that you’ll have the chance to win and own.

Who is leading the event?

Professor Dinusha Mendis, Professor of Intellectual Property and Innovation Law

Book your free place here

If you have any questions about this event, or any of the other events in the ESRC Festival of Social Science 2022 series, please contact the Public Engagement with Research Team: email the public engagement team.

24 October 2022

New Public Health publication on Nepal

international, open access, writing Edwin van Teijlingen

Over the weekend the Journal of the Nepal Public Health Association published our latest paper on the federalisation and health in Nepal research project [1]. The paper addresses some of the key Public Health approaches around the ongoing federalisation of the state of Nepal and the associated decentralisation processes in its health system. The article outlines the main roles of the discipline of Public Health and the contribution it can make to the reform process. Then the next section introduces our on-going study into the effects of the establishment of the Federal Republic of Nepal on the organisation and running of the country’s health system. To capture the Public Health benefits of decentralisation, the process should not be only ‘top-down’, directed by policy elites. Although in theory Nepal’s health system has undergone a process of decentralisation, in practice policy and planning is often still being led by the Federal government, despite the clear roles and responsibilities of the three tiers of government in health service delivery. To improve policy and planning in the newly decentralised health system structure, there needs to be meaningful incorporation of the views of stakeholders at all levels (even the very lowest levels). Our project aims to play a part in addressing this by capturing a wide variety of experiences of the decentralisation process.

The interdisciplinary and international research team has published two earlier articles on this on-going study [2-3]. This week is Open Access week, so it is worth noting that all three paper are freely available through Open Access.

Edwin van Teijlingen

Sapkota, S., Panday, S., Wasti, S.P., Lee, A., Balen, J., van Teijlingen, E., Rushton, S., Subedi, M., Gautam, S., Karki., J., Adhikary, P., Marahatta, S., Simkhada, P., for the Nepal Federal Health System Team (2022) Health System Strengthening: The Role of Public Health in Federal Nepal, Journal of the Nepal Public Health Association 7(1):36-42.
Adhikary, P., Balen, J., Gautam, S., Ghimire, S., Karki, J., Lee, A.C.K., Marahatta, S.B., Panday, S., Pohl, G., Rushton, S., Sapkota, S., Simkhada, P.P., Subedi, M., van Teijlingen, E. for the Nepal Federal Health System team (2020) The COVID-19 pandemic in Nepal: Emerging evidence on the effectiveness of action by, and cooperation between, different levels of government in a federal system, Journal of Karnali Academy of Health Sciences 3 (3): 1-11.
Rushton, S., Pandey, S., van Teijlingen, E., Subedi, M., Balen, J., Karki, J., Simkhada, P. on behalf of the Nepal Federal Health System Team (2021) An Investigation into the Impact of Decentralization on the Health System of Nepal. Journal of Manmohan Memorial Institute of Health Sciences, 7(1): 3–14. https://doi.org/10.3126/jmmihs.v7i1.43146

20 October 2022

ESRC Festival of Social Science 2022: How to become a young entrepreneur 25-27 October

Knowledge Exchange, Public engagement ballen

ESRC Festival of Social Science 2022

Not everyone wants to be an entrepreneur, but entrepreneurial skills can not only help young people to start their own businesses, they can also help boost their employability. This exhibition and set of activities look at how a new project can help young people to build an entrepreneurial mindset to open up diverse career opportunities.

This event is an audio-visual exhibition to showcase a project to develop entrepreneurial skills in young people. It will share the work and voices of young people who have taken part in the project in communities similar to Boscombe across 4 countries. It will also share the experiences of people in business or local organisations who set up the project.

The exhibition is on for 3 days, you can drop in to look around the exhibition at any time while it’s open or join activities such as talks, tours and workshops held each day. Please register even if you just want to pop in for 5 minutes, or you will be asked to do so on arrival.

Activities

Tuesday 25 October – young people can join us for a taster workshop session of the entrepreneurship skills project.

Wednesday 26 October – we’ll welcome local organisations and business to discover the potential of the scheme for their future.

Thursday 27 October – we will invite local policymakers and education representatives to learn how the project might be supported more widely.

Book your free place here

If you have any questions about this event, or any of the other events in the ESRC Festival of Social Science 2022 series, please contact the Public Engagement with Research Team: email the public engagement team.

20 October 2022

ESRC Festival of Social Science 2022: Find out more about our fascinating programme of events

Knowledge Exchange, Public engagement ballen

What can research tell us about our society? We’ll be holding free events for the public featuring discussions on how young people can build an entrepreneurial mindset and discover how play and gamification can reduce anxiety in children around medical appointments.

The ESRC Festival of Social Science 2022

Which one of us is human?
Saturday 22 October
Bournemouth Library, Bournemouth

Imagine a future where robots and humans looked identical: how would you know who is human? Join this interactive event to identify the ‘robot’ from live performers. Discuss your tactics and explore the mystery behind the experience.

Find out more

How to become a young entrepreneur
Tuesday 25-Thursday 27 October
The Old School House, Boscombe

Not everyone wants to be an entrepreneur, but entrepreneurial skills can not only help young people to start their own businesses, but they can also help boost their employability. Join this event to find out how young people can build an entrepreneurial mindset.

Find out more

Demystifying NFTs: Understanding the law and technology
Tuesday 8 November
Online

NFTs or non-fungible tokens have captured the public imagination over the past year. But what are they and what does it mean to ‘own’ one? Join this online talk to learn more about this new frontier from experts on their underlying technology, the law of ownership and how they’re being used. You’ll discover how a limited edition NFT collection was created and have the chance to win and own it.

Find out more

Medical monsters: reducing medical anxiety through play and gamification
Saturday 12 November
Bournemouth Gateway Building, Bournemouth

Anxiety around medical appointments and admissions can affect people in different ways, from causing distress and worry to preventing people seeking the medical help they need. Join this interactive session to explore how play and gamification strategies can reduce patient anxiety in children. Featuring specially designed sessions of Jenga, LEGO® SERIOUS PLAY® and virtual reality experiences.

Find out more

Closed-group activities as part of the Festival of Social Science

Some activities are organised with partner organisations or particular groups and are not open for general registration.

Are drones the future of delivery?

If predictions about the future of deliveries are correct, we might start seeing a lot more drones in our skies. But how do you feel about this? How much do you actually know about drones and how they will be used?

Join us to learn more and play a custom-designed board game, to explore how we’ll make decisions about drones in our future.

Youth in nature: escaping to the outdoors

Social science evidence suggests nature exposure benefits mental and physical health, yet teenagers have low rates of access to nature and levels of nature connectedness. Research shows youth nature engagement requires a sense of purpose; therefore, this event invites young people to experience activities centred on ‘being’ or ‘doing’ in outdoor space.

Don’t get scammed online

Being scammed online is often seen as a problem for older people, but young people can fall victim to scams too. This workshop helps young people think about their online experience and learn how to avoid being scammed.

If you have any questions about these events, or if you would like to know how you can get involved in one of our Public Engagement with Research events, please email the public engagement team.

14 October 2022

ESRC Festival of Social Science 2022: Which one of us is human? Saturday 22 October

Knowledge Exchange, Public engagement ballen

ESRC Festival of Social Science 2022

Imagine a future where robots and humans looked identical: how would you know who is human? In this 30-minute interactive session, as a group you will enter a space that will act as a time tunnel into the future. There you will meet two actors and face the challenge of making this very decision (the ‘Turing test’), choosing from a set of questions to help you identify the ‘robot’.

You should be wary: not all responses are as they might seem, and there are many kinds of human minds.

What’s on offer? An interactive challenge in which, as a team, you will attempt to identify the ‘robot’ from live performers, using a few questions. This is followed by a ‘debrief’ with Bournemouth University researchers, where you’ll discuss your tactics and explore the mystery behind the experience and what it implies about different kinds of minds.

Who is leading the event? Dr Maxine Gee and Dr Rachel Moseley

Who is this event open to? Adults and children over 12. Particularly for those with an interest in psychology, how we communicate with each other, neurodiversity and autism, artificial intelligence and the future.

Where is this event? Bournemouth Library

Book your free place here

If you have any questions about this event, or any of the other events in the ESRC Festival of Social Science 2022 series, please contact the Public Engagement with Research Team: email the public engagement team.

11 October 2022

ESRC Festival of Social Science 2022: Bookings now open

Knowledge Exchange, Public engagement ballen

We’re excited to launch our series of free events online and in-person, as part of the ESRC Festival of Social Science 2022.

What can research tell us about our society? We’ll be holding events for the public featuring discussions on how young people can build an entrepreneurial mindset and discover how play and gamification can reduce anxiety in children around medical appointments. Find out more about our fascinating programme of events.

The ESRC Festival of Social Science 2022

Which one of us is human?
Saturday 22 October
Bournemouth Library, Bournemouth

Imagine a future where robots and humans looked identical: how would you know who is human? Join this interactive event to identify the ‘robot’ from live performers. Discuss your tactics and explore the mystery behind the experience.

Find out more

How to become a young entrepreneur
Tuesday 25-Thursday 27 October
The Old School House, Boscombe

Not everyone wants to be an entrepreneur, but entrepreneurial skills can not only help young people to start their own businesses, but they can also help boost their employability. Join this event to find out how young people can build an entrepreneurial mindset.

Find out more

Demystifying NFTs: Understanding the law and technology
Tuesday 8 November
Online

NFTs or non-fungible tokens have captured the public imagination over the past year. But what are they and what does it mean to ‘own’ one? Join this online talk to learn more about this new frontier from experts on their underlying technology, the law of ownership and how they’re being used. You’ll discover how a limited edition NFT collection was created and have the chance to win and own it.

Find out more

Medical monsters: reducing medical anxiety through play and gamification
Saturday 12 November
Bournemouth Gateway Building, Bournemouth

Anxiety around medical appointments and admissions can affect people in different ways, from causing distress and worry to preventing people seeking the medical help they need. Join this interactive session to explore how play and gamification strategies can reduce patient anxiety in children. Featuring specially designed sessions of Jenga, LEGO® SERIOUS PLAY® and virtual reality experiences.

Find out more

Closed-group activities as part of the Festival of Social Science

Some activities are organised with partner organisations or particular groups and are not open for general registration.

Are drones the future of delivery?

If predictions about the future of deliveries are correct, we might start seeing a lot more drones in our skies. But how do you feel about this? How much do you actually know about drones and how they will be used?

Join us to learn more and play a custom-designed board game, to explore how we’ll make decisions about drones in our future.

Youth in nature: escaping to the outdoors

Social science evidence suggests nature exposure benefits mental and physical health, yet teenagers have low rates of access to nature and levels of nature connectedness. Research shows youth nature engagement requires a sense of purpose; therefore, this event invites young people to experience activities centred on ‘being’ or ‘doing’ in outdoor space.

Don’t get scammed online

Being scammed online is often seen as a problem for older people, but young people can fall victim to scams too. This workshop helps young people think about their online experience and learn how to avoid being scammed.

If you have any questions about these events, or if you would like to know how you can get involved in one of our Public Engagement with Research events, please email the public engagement team.

28 September 2022

Two little mishaps in a row

international, PG research, Research Integritiy, writing Edwin van Teijlingen

All research has its costs, we spend a lot of time as academics planning for and budgeting our studies. This starts with considering how much time each academic spends on preparing the grant application and finished with cost of dissemination of findings after the data have been analysed. We do risk assessments the try to reduce risk and mitigate unforeseen circumstances. My last two trips to Nepal both suffered from such unexpected events.

In May I traveled to Nepal with Prof. Vanora Hundley from the Centre for Midwifery, Maternal & Perinatal Health (CMMPH) as part of the ERASMUS+ exchange with Manmohan Memorial Institute of Health Sciences (MMIHS) where we joined by Bournemouth University (BU) PhD student Sulochana Dhakal-Rai. Sulochana was in Nepal on the Turing Scheme, the UK government’s programme to provide funding for international opportunities in education and training across the world.

As part of this trip we had organised a one-day Systematic Review on Dementia Research Workshop on Sunday 29th May in at MMIHS in Kathmandu. This Global Challenges Research Fund (GCRF) funded workshop was highly successful, it attracted 75% more participants than budgeted for, namely 53 instead of 30. However, the extra cost this incurred in terms of workshop resources, refreshments and lunches was not a great issue compared to the fact that I had contracted COVID-19 a few days before the workshop and had tested positive on a PCR test two days before. Thanks to the hard work of our colleagues at MMIHS, the non-governmental organisation (NGO) Green Tara Nepal, and especially, Prof. Vanora Hundley, the workshop run very well. I even managed to make a guest appearance online from my hotel room 200 meters away from the workshop venue, albeit on a poorer quality internet connection than I would have had half way across the globe (at BU or at home).

This positive COVID-19 test also meant I could not travel on the India in early June due to COVID-19 travel restriction for entering India. There I had planned to meet Dr. Shanti Shanker from BU’s Psychology Department as part of our GCRF-funded project ‘Promoting dementia research in Nepal and India’. Again due to the presence of well organised colleagues the India part of the trip ran smoothly. Dr. Gayatri Kotbagi, who has works for us through the charity Sheetale Astitva, and Dr. Shanti Shanker managed to run the internal trip very well without me.

In August I traveled to Nepal again with two BU academics: Dr. Shovita Dhakal Adhikari, Lecturer in Criminology, Department of Sociology & Social Work, Dr. Pramod Regmi, Senior Lecturer in International Health (Department of Nursing Sciences) and a colleague from the University of Exeter Dr. Emma Pitchforth. The main purpose of this visit was to run two sets of three-day Academic Writing Workshop in two cities in Nepal, namely Kathmandu and Pokhara. These workshops were funded by the British Academy and supported by Dr. Rashmee Rajkarnikar from the Central Department of Economics at Tribhuvan University, Nepal’s oldest and largest university, the charity Green Tara Nepal and Social Science Baha. This time the trip itself went very well, both workshop were very well attended, and even made it into a newspaper in Nepal: The Rising Nepal.

The trouble started after we had left Nepal. Dr. Pitchforth and I helped both fell ill some five to eight days after returning to the UK. We both had flu-type symptoms, including sore joints, night sweats, feeling tired, coughing, etc., although these were not exactly the same, my symptoms were perhaps a bit more like COVID-19. Which is why I did three COVID-19 tests in one week (all negative). It was not until the blood test came back from the NHS lab last week that my family doctor could tell me that I had dengue fever. Dengue fever is on the rise in Nepal. The national English-language paper The Himalayan Times reported yesterday (27th Sept. 2022) that dengue fever “has afflicted almost 26,000 people in Nepal” In July in the capital Kathmandu “…35 people had contracted the mosquito-borne disease. The number increased to 727 in August and 8,132 in September.”

I’m looking forward to my next trip to Nepal, as we have loads of on-going project. I have been going there for nearly twenty years, and having two incidents in two decades is not a lot, pity these came in the same year and on subsequent trips.

Prof. Edwin van Teijlingen

CMMPH

25 September 2022

The difference between two editorials

international, open access, Publishing, writing Edwin van Teijlingen

Yesterday the editors of the Journal of Asian Midwives published published a short editorial in the latest issue of this international journal. The editorial under the title ‘JAM – Summer 2022: One crisis after another….. ‘ introduces the four peer-reviewed research papers in the current issue [1]. The editorial is focused neatly on aspects of midwifery and maternity care and the Asian countries represented in the four articles: Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Indonesia and Pakistan. Compare this to our editorial published a few weeks ago in Frontiers in Public Health [2]. The latter editorial again introduces four papers, this time papers included in a Special Issue of Frontiers in Public Health which focuses on ‘Integrated health service delivery and COVID-19’. One would expect an editorial in a Special Issue of a journal to be particularly focused. However, the four included papers on integrated care and COVID-19 are quite different from each other, making it harder for the guest editors to write a coherent editorial.

It is worth remembering that there is an art in writing an interesting editorial which motivates the reader to read further articles in the journal, and Prof. Vanora and I with four other colleagues discussed recently [3]. At the same time, the editors writing any editorial can only work with the material available to them at the time.

All three papers mentioned in this Bournemouth University Research Blog (and listed below) are Open Access, and hence all are freely available to any reader across the globe with internet access!

Prof. Edwin van Teijlingen

CMMPH (Centre for Midwifery, Maternal & Perinatal Health)

References:

Jan, R., van Teijlingen, E., Mubeen, K. (2022) JAM – Summer 2022: One crisis after another….. Journal of Asian Midwives 9(1):1.
Sathian B., van Teijlingen, E., Simkhada, P. (2022) Editorial: Integrated health service delivery and COVID-19. Frontiers in Public Health 10:1008777. doi: 10.3389/fpubh.2022.1008777.
van Teijlingen, E., Hundley, V., Sathian, B., Simkhada, P., Robinson, J., Banerjee, I. (2022). The Art of the Editorial. Nepal Journal of Epidemiology 12(1):1135–38.

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