BU Research Blog | social sciences | Bournemouth University

November 30, 2013

Social/Medical Model and the concept of ‘Normal’ Birth

The December issue of The Practising Midwife included the slightly more theoretical article ‘Normal birth: social-medical model’.[1] The paper is written by Ms. Jillian Ireland, midwife and Royal College of Midwives (RCM) Union Learning Rep. at Poole Hospital NHS Foundation Trust and Visiting Faculty at Bournemouth University in collaboration with BU Professor Edwin van Teijlingen.

The paper argues that someone’s perspective of birth is not simply semantic. Thus, whether a midwife describes her role as being ‘with woman’ through labour or as someone who ‘delivers’ women of babies does not just demonstrates a more or less currently politically correct description. No, it suggests having different perspectives or world views of pregnancy and childbirth. Sociologists recognise two different approaches as two different models, a social model and a medical model of childbirth. The social model stresses that childbirth is a physiological event that takes place in most women’s lives. The medical model highlights that childbirth is potentially pathological. In the latter view every pregnant woman is potentially at risk, hence she should deliver her baby in an obstetric hospital with its high-technology screening equipment supervised by expert obstetricians. In other words, pregnancy and childbirth are only safe in retrospect.

The Practising Midwife’s paper argues that having some understanding of the underlying sociological models of pregnancy and childbirth can help politicians, journalists, policy-makers, midwives, doctors, and new mothers (and their partners) to put issues around ‘normal birth’ into perspective. This paper builds on previous work by the second author on the medicalisation of childbirth and the social/medical model published in Sociological Research Online[2] and Midwifery.[3]

Prof. Edwin van Teijlingen
Centre for Midwifery, Maternal & Perinatal Health

References:
1. Ireland, J., van Teijlingen, E. (2013) Normal birth: social-medical model, The Practising Midwife 16(11): 17-20.
2. van Teijlingen, E. (2005) A critical analysis of the medical model as used in the study of pregnancy and childbirth, Sociological Research Online, 10 (2) Web address: http://www.socresonline.org.uk/10/2/teijlingen.html
3. MacKenzie Bryers, H., van Teijlingen, E. (2010) Risk, Theory, Social & Medical Models: a critical analysis of the concept of risk in maternity care, Midwifery 26(5): 488-496.

November 26, 2013

The Kindertransport Movement: An exercise in humanitarianism through British sociological history

Public engagement, Women's Academic Network Sara Ashencaen Crabtree

Exposure to guest lectures and research seminars by expert speakers is a key aspect of learning on the HSC BA Sociology & Social Policy programme. A diverse group of our level I students undertaking the unit ‘History of Social Welfare’ were very privileged to be able to witness a session led by Professor Otto Hutter, former Regius Professor of Physiology at the University of Glasgow and Mrs Josephine Jackson on the Kindertransport Movement. This ran between 1938 and 1940, halting from Germany to Britain at the outbreak of war in 1939. The final Transport ship carrying the children set sail from Holland to Britain in May 1940 following which the Dutch army was forced to surrender to the Third Reich.

Mrs Jackson, who is a regular public speaker on the Holocaust and especially the Kindertransport, provided the context for the session by informing the audience of how Stanley Baldwin, the former Prime Minister, had made an impassioned appeal on radio for public aid on the 8^th Dec 1938, in the wake of the infamous Kristallnacht pogrom that had just taken place a month earlier in Germany. Over £522,000 was raised in answer to the call from the concerned, ecumenical British public.

Urged on by involved individuals and welfare organisations, Neville Chamberlain’s Government agreed to allow an unspecified number of unaccompanied refugee children into the country under private sponsorship of £50 per child (about 1/10 the price of an average house!), and through the ministration of 175 committees, until such time came when they could be rejoined with their families in Europe. For the greatest majority such a moment never came as their families perished; but in the meantime as their parents had intended, the children survived and many flourished under the patronage of this country.
The students were profoundly moved to hear the personal account offered by 89-year-old Professor Hutter, who, as 14-year-old boy, was one of the first children to arrive in Britain on the Kindertransport. He was eventually taken under the wing of his sponsors, Mr and Mrs Blacksill and their three children, and soon after excelled at the public school, Bishop’s Stortford College, as public schools also rose to the challenge of taking in refugee children on a scholarship basis.

The most moving verbatim extract taken from this very modest and venerable, aged academic, is taken from his account recollecting the last time he would ever see his ex-army officer father as Otto departed Vienna for good: ‘To me as a heedless youngster, it was all a great adventure. I was anxious to go. The thought I would never see my parents again, never crossed my mind. My father who saw the future more clearly, held me back to bestow his blessing. When I bless my children, grandchildren, my great-grandchildren, as is the Jewish custom, I still think of his blessing.’

In this present anti-Europe, anti-immigration political climate, inflamed by similar austerity measures to 1930s Europe, it is important to remind ourselves of some of the key lessons that the Kindertransport Movement initiative provided. Firstly, that it was Britain alone, of those countries fighting in the Second World War that remained unoccupied in Europe, and rose with remarkable swiftness to rescue refugee children en masse and thus secured their safety from Nazi oppression (where one should add that Dorset played no small part in that mission). That while 10,000 refugee children were rescued before this vital escape route was closed by war, 90% (1.5m) of Jewish European children would ultimately perish in the Holocaust. In this day of anti-immigration xenophobia, it is also very important to remember what gifts and talents these refugees would bring to their host country. The fact that the Kindertransport Movement brought two future Nobel prize winners to Britain, is merely a symbol of the less celebrated but greatly valued achievements of other refugees that were welcomed here.

Dr Sara Ashencaen Crabtree and Professor Jonathan Parker

November 24, 2013

BU Professor at COST Action Training School (Malta)

Publishing, Research Integritiy, Training Edwin van Teijlingen

Bournemouth University contributed to the successful Cost Action Training School 2013 earlier this month (see: www.um.edu.mt/events/costactiontraining2013/). The Training School ‘Writing for maternity services research, theory, policy and practice: Integrating new theoretical insights from the iR4B COST Action’ was held at the University of Malta.
The 24 trainees who were successful in their application came from a wide-range of European countries. At the Training School each trainee was linked to one of six experienced trainers, three from Ireland: Prof. Declan Devane, Dr. Valerie Smith, and Prof Cecily Begley, and three from the UK: Prof. Soo Downe, Dr. Lucy Firth, and BU Prof. Edwin van Teijlingen. These trainers brought to the Training School not only their extensive experience as writers, but also that of scientific editors, reviewers for academic journals, and PhD supervisors.

(photo by Mário Santos, Portugal).

The Training School included presentations on how to incorporate notions of salutogenesis and complexity into maternity care and midwifery publications, issues around writing academic English as a non-native English speaker, plagiarism, how to start writing an academic paper for a MSc or PhD thesis, and many more related topics.
In their feedback some trainees stressed that this is the kind of helpful information every postgraduate student and budding academic should know about. Others said “I wish I had known that before as no one ever addresses these issues.” The trainees discussed the outlines of their papers, and they were given ample time to draft papers under the watchful eye of their trainer. All trainees have committed to submit a paper derived from the Training School by early Spring 2014.
COST (European Cooperation in Science and Technology) is one of the longest-running European frameworks supporting cooperation among scientists and researchers across Europe. For further information on OST in general see: http://www.cost.eu/ ).

Bournemouth University was represented by Prof. Edwin van Teijlingen based at the Centre for Midwifery, Maternal & Perinatal Health in the School of Health & Social Care.

November 21, 2013

ESRC knowledge exchange funding to change

Funding opportunities Jennifer Roddis

ESRC is to change the way in which it allocates funding for knowledge exchange activities. The current knowledge exchange opportunities scheme provides funding for social scientists to undertake a range of activities with non-academic stakeholders and requires 50% contribution from a partner in the user community. It is open to any social scientist to undertake knowledge exchange based on their research, whether funded by ESRC or not. This scheme will close on 31 March 2014.
From summer 2014, a replacement scheme (Impact Acceleration Accounts) will fund knowledge exchange through a block grant allocated according to institutions’ recent ESRC funding. Those institutions allocated funding will then be required to submit a business plan in order to release the money.
BU has not been allocated funding through the Impact Acceleration Accounts, so if you are a social scientist and hope to undertake funded knowledge activities, start planning your application now for submission by March… Further information can be found at http://www.esrc.ac.uk/collaboration/knowledge-exchange/opportunities/index.aspx.

November 17, 2013

Breastfeeding poster presentation at Royal College of Midwives conference

Publishing Edwin van Teijlingen

Dr. Catherine Angell, Senior Lecturer in Midwifery attended the annual RCM conference on November 13-14 in Telford. Catherine presented an academic poster to highlight some of BU’s key research in the Centre for Midwifery, Maternal & Perinatal Health. The poster (Fig. 1) reported findings of a survey of users of the Healthtalkonline webpages on breastfeeding. These webpages are based on breastfeeding research conducted at BU can be found here. BU research has fed into research-based training modules for midwives, lactation consultants and other professionals. Currently the breastfeeding webpages receive around 37,000 hits each month, representing around 1,500 individuals.

The problem with clicks on webpages is that it suggests interest but it does not constitute evidence of changing knowledge or behaviour. Dr. Angell teamed up with BU colleagues Prof. Vanora Hundley, Prof. Edwin van Teijlingen, and Senior Lecturer Alison Taylor as well as Prof. Kath Ryan from La Trobe University Australia to study the effect of the webpages.

To ascertain the impact of the webpages the team developed and conducted an online questionnaire survey of users of the breastfeeding webpages between Nov.2012- Feb. 2013. A questionnaire study was administered after ethical approval had been granted. The survey was completed by 159 people, mainly from the UK, but also from other parts of the world such as Australia and New Zealand (12.6%) and the USA/Canada (2.5%).

BU was also represented at the RCM conference through BU Visiting Faculty Jillian Ireland. Jillian is a community midwife working for NHS Poole, who presented a poster on the benefits to mothers and staff of the RCM Bournemouth & Poole Community choir.

Prof. Edwin van Teijlingen

Centre for Midwifery, Maternal & Perinatal Health

October 27, 2013

Carers Forum 2013

Sarah Hambidge

We all have a role to play in developing a dementia friendly society and the Bournemouth University Dementia Institute (BUDI) did exactly that by hosting their second Carers Forum. There are now 800,000 people with dementia in the UK and there are an estimated 670,000 family and friends acting as primary carers. Many people living with dementia and their careers are still not living well with the condition, and their quality of life remains extremely varied.

The BUDI annual carers forum was held in September and built on the success of last year’s event. Carers of people with dementia need access to quality services that will give them the information, advice, support, and care as and when they need it. This can range from help with future planning and financial advice, to moving into a residential home and receiving care with everyday tasks, and end of life care. The forum provides an environment for carers from across Dorset to come together and share their experiences, exchange knowledge, ask questions and gain support regarding these issues.

The theme of this year’s forum was to explore if the experiences of carers has changed in the last twelve months, with the aim of finding out what they feel the key issues are in terms of dementia services locally; and to gather their views about future work that BUDI should prioritise under our remit of research, service evaluation, consultancy and education.

We had return forum members who attended last year and also carers who participated for the first time. After a cup of tea and cake (or fruit for those of us trying to be healthy) the day kicked off with an introduction by Professor Anthea Innes who provided an overview of what carers highlighted as their key priorities at last years forum and how BUDI has responded to this:

Priority One: A directory of services, support and sources of information for people with dementia and their carers

Action: The free ‘Living well with memory loss and dementia in Dorset’ booklet has been produced by NHS Dorset Commissioning Group and Dorset HealthCare. A copy was given to carers who attended the forum.

Priority Two: Information guide for carers which provides support and resources

Action: To develop a carers support resource pack. The development of the pack started in October 2013 following successful fund raising by the BU fund raising team.

Priority Three: Carers wanted to know what action is being taken in Dorset regarding the Health Services (i.e. GPs), diagnosis and subsequent support / services offered.

Action: Sarah Howard (Primary Care Dementia Facilitator) was a guest speaker at this year’s Carers Forum. Sarah addressed the issues in Dorset and what action is being taken.

Carers were then asked to form three breakout groups, each being faciliated by a member of BUDI staff. The groups provided a platform for carers to discuss their experiences over the last 12 months, what their key concerns are, and what they would like to see BUDI do to address their concerns in the future. The groups offered a chance to discuss topics in more depth and to ensure everyone had the opportunity to contribute. Feedback from the groups highlighted that experiences were very individual with some carers having a very positive journey through receiving lots of information and support, whilst other journeys were not so good. However, the majority of carers recognised that an improvement in services and support was noticeable in the last twelve months.

There were lots of examples of difficulties encountered after receiving a diagnosis:

a lack of sign posting to access help and support, especially from the GP

a lack of understanding by the Police when a person with dementia goes missing

a lack of knowledge about legal processes and guidance, which includes power of attorney and care planning for the later stages of a person’s dementia journey

a lack of support to assist with revoking a driving licence from a person with dementia

a lack of dementia friendly environments which includes appropriate sign posting to toilets, contrasting bright colours etc.

a lack of awareness about the needs of those living with dementia by organisations / people who deal with the general public when a person with dementia uses their services

a lack of clear guidelines for means-testing

a lack of understanding about the most positive way to communicate with someone who has dementia

a lack of understanding from hospitals regarding appointment time duration for carers needing to get back home to a person living with dementia.

When we asked carers what they thought BUDI should be focusing our work on, the top three ideas to develop are:

providing easy-to-understand information for carers about legal processes and guidance

developing dementia friendly environments and staff awareness

improving the journey of people with dementia and their carers when they access their GP and hospital services

We knew from previous experience of working with carers that it was important to have a space for their relative with dementia to also be able to attend. Four carers brought their relative with them and BUDI and BU colleagues with experience in working directly with people with dementia offered a range of activities, as well as the opportunity to share their experiences and thoughts about memory loss and what they felt was important about living with dementia; the discussion highlighted the importance of family and being able to talk to peers – the space we had created during our carers forum offered the opportunity to have this peer discussion.

The activities that we offered that were most popular with those with dementia were the cupcake decorating and the Nintendo WII and the Apple iPad. Technology is often rarely offered to people with dementia based on negative expectations of the ability of people with dementia to be able to learn new skills and to engage with gaming technologies however it provided some of the people with dementia the opportunity to get in some additional practice before their next Technology club session that we are in the process of setting up thanks to more funding from Bournemouth Borough Council.

October 17, 2013

Global Agenda in Social Work

Jonathan Parker

The Centre for Social Work, Sociology and Social Policy cordially invites you to an afternoon seminar

‘The Global Agenda for Social Work: is it relevant to social work practice in England?’

Speaker: Dr David N Jones, Former President of the International Federation of Social Work (IFSW) and IFSW President’s Special Representative for the Global Agenda. Currently holding a post for PeopleNeedPeople. UK

Wednesday 23rd October
13.00-14.00
Executive Business Centre EB202

Biography:

Dr Jones has been at the centre of international social work developments for many years and is an acknowledged expert on the new trends and agendas that are shaping global social work. Known throughout the world for his passion for promoting civil society, we are very privileged to be able to host Dr Jones’ seminar at the Centre and would strongly encourage all members of staff and students with an interest in international social development and social work issues to attend what will be a most interesting and rewarding public seminar whatever your background (more…)

October 10, 2013

FIF-backed PR History network launched in Barcelona

Fusion Tom Watson

The European Public Relations History Network (EPRHN), which has been supported in its formation by FIF, was launched at European Public Relations Education and Research Association (EUPRERA) Congress in Barcelona on October 3-5. The event, held on Friday October 4, was attended by 29 delegates from 12 countries.

“After more than a year’s planning, EPRHN is now in operation and has 50 active supporters from 18 countries across Europe”, said Prof Tom Watson of the Media School. “FIF has enabled it to get to the take-off stage and aided the very positive response found in Barcelona.”

Prof Watson also organised a panel session (the only one approved for the Congress) on developing the history of PR in Europe. It drew leading scholars from universities of Leipzig (Germany), Bucharest (Romania), Pompeu Fabra (Spain), as well as Prof Watson. It was chaired by the Italian practitioner/commentator Toni Muzi Falconi.

Refereed papers from Prof Watson and Drs Tasos Theofilou and Georgiana Grigore, also Media School, were presented at the Congress in well-attended sessions with several requests for copies of the papers afterwards, especially for the research on engaging employees with organisational Corporate Social Responsibility planning.

EUPRERA PR History Panel: (l-r) Toni Muzi Falconi (Italy); Prof Adela Rogojinaru (Romania); Prof Tom Watson (BU), Prof Jordi Xifra (Spain) and Prof Gunter Bentele (Germany)

: Dr Tasos Theofilou (l), Dr Georgiana Grigore (c) and Prof Tom Watson (r) at EUPRERA Congress, Barcelona

October 7, 2013

University to host five events as part of the prestigious ESRC Festival of Social Science!

Public engagement eloring

Major congratulations are in order for our BU academics who have done us #BUproud yet again as we are awarded funding for five different events as part of the ESRC Festival of Social Science this year.

About the Festival:

The Festival of Social Science is a national Festival facilitated by the Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC) and runs from 2-9^th November 2013. It supports researchers to engage with a new audience, including individuals from business, charities, policy makers, teenagers, pensioners, parents and the general public. Sponsorship to include an event as part of the Festival is competitive, and this year, Bournemouth University has five events included – which is BU’s strongest ever presence as part of the Festival.

This year the Festival has over 170 creative and exciting events aimed at encouraging businesses, charities, government agencies, and schools and college students to discuss, discover and debate topical social science issues. The Festival celebrates some of the country’s leading social science research, giving an exciting opportunity to showcase the valuable work of the UK’s social scientists and demonstrate how their work has an impact on all our lives.

What BU has got planned?

Promoting dignity through understanding narratives of care

2^nd November (10am-4pm) Executive Business Centre, Bournemouth– Convened by Andrew Harding and Lee Ann Fenge

The event will use arts and social science methodologies to explore participants’ experiences of and reflections on dignity and compassion in health and social care. Participants may include users of services and their carers, practitioners and educators. Narrative methods provide a powerful means of engagement and construction for making meaning from experiences.

The participants will be encouraged to review experiences and reflections about the presence or absence of dignity and compassion in health and social care, and to consider if views about dignity and compassion change over time and place. Creative spaces, stimulated by ‘cafe conversations’ and supported activities, will enable participants to create collaborative and individual narratives and stories in a range of formats (e.g. poems, art and performance).

To register for your FREE place, please visit: http://esrc2013.eventbrite.co.uk/

Seen but Seldom Heard. Young people working to change perceptions of disability through poetry and performance.

Sunday 3^rd November (7pm-9pm) Lighthouse, Poole – Convened by Carrie Hodges and Wendy Cutts

‘Seen but Seldom Heard’ is a collaboration between Bournemouth University and Victoria Education Centre and Sports College in Poole. The project uses performance poetry as a way to provide a group of young physically disabled people (14-19 years) with a voice to challenge dominant stereotypes of disability that often serve to marginalise and exclude disabled people in society, by sharing their own personal stories.

The performance is a culmination of work that has been produced from a series of poetry workshops that have taken place over the last 18 months, facilitated by professional performance poets, Jonny Fluffypunk and Liv Torc. The group began by using both the achievements and media portrayals of Paralympic athletes as a focus for individually-written and collectively-authored poetry confronting negative perceptions of disability. As the work progressed, poetry was used as a way for the young people to engage in conversation about issues, policies and practices which affect them and others like them.

The ‘multi-media’ performance will challenge members of the public to think critically about their own perceptions of disability, engaging the audience via ‘warm-up’ poems from the professional poets, a series of short live and pre-recorded individual and group poetry performances from the young people, and a film screening of the ‘Seen but Seldom Heard’ documentary.

More information on the project and examples of the poetry can be found at: http://microsites.bournemouth.ac.uk/seen-but-seldom-heard/

To register for the FREE event, please visit: https://seenbutseldomheard.eventbrite.co.uk/

Finance for SME’S: The role of assessing credit risk

Wednesday 6^th November (12:30-5:30pm) Executive Business Centre, Bournemouth – Convened by Jens Holscher

This unique one-day event, brings together practitioners and academics in order to discuss the most pertinent issues of SMEs’ finance and credit risk with a view to setting a research agenda relevant to lenders and regulators.

Following the recent and continuing credit squeeze, lending to Small and Medium Sized Enterprises (SMEs) remains at the top of the agenda for governments around the world. With various political and economic incentives introduced to support SMEs, it is important not to overlook the practicalities of credit risk assessment, as access to credit is contingent on meeting the risk standards of credit providers, especially in the environment of prudent lending.

Participants will engage in debate and keynote speakers from academia, government agencies and industry will be invited. Social sciences and social science research will be promoted by drawing on leading researchers and through interaction of speakers and attendees, which will include breakout sessions related to sub-schemes such as micro finance, the role of regional funds and development agencies.

For further information please visit here. To register for this event please visit: financeforsmes.eventbrite.co.uk

Social Media: Make or break your online reputation

Friday 8^th November (11am-5pm) Talbot Campus – Convened by Dimitrios Buhalis

This interactive seminar will engage tourism, hospitality, marketing and technology professionals in a dialogue and will encourage them to consider how they can manage their reputation online. The discussion will focus on monitoring online conversations about brands and executing online strategies to manage the online reputation of organizations. It will include short presentations from research results undertaken at Bournemouth University and digital marketing agencies. An open discussion will be encouraged between researchers and professionals. This event has been chosen as there is a growing research agenda on the impact of social media on organisational reputation for tourism destinations and organisations. Thus researchers recognise the need to engage researchers, marketing and tourism industry professionals in discussion.

Please register for this FREE event, here: http://esrc-tourism-socialmedia.eventbrite.co.uk/

Dementia in Dorset – what does this mean for you?

Saturday 9^th November (1pm-5pm) Littledown Centre Bournemouth, Studio 2 – Convened by Anthea Innes and Sarah Hambidge

BUDI will host a one day community engagement event to showcase a range of their innovative projects which will bring dementia awareness to life through music, movement, interior design, technology, food, stories and marine archaeology. Storytelling, hands-on-activities, food tasting and art will be used to engage visitors to the exhibit with the impacts of dementia identified by social science research.

Dementia affects us all in some way and is currently a very relevant societal issue. The government are focusing on improving the areas that matter most to dementia: awareness, quality care and research. These themes will be brought to life by; exploring dementia through an interactive marine archaeology session, learning the benefits that healthy eating can have for everyone in the fight against dementia through taste, understanding what it’s like to live with dementia through postcard stories, getting the chance to use technology which has the aim of improving the quality of life of those living with dementia and planting seeds to learn about dementia friendly environments, amongst other fun activities.

To find out more about BUDI and the projects they are working on, please visit: http://blogs.bournemouth.ac.uk/dementia-institute/

Please note that there is no need to register for this event, so just come along!

Why not come to some of these events? I can assure you, it’s worth it!

September 18, 2013

BU presents at first National Midwifery Conference in Nepal

Edwin van Teijlingen

Lesley Milne, senior lecturer in Midwifery at Bournemouth University, presented this weekend at the First National Midwifery Conference in Kathmandu, Nepal. She is part of a team studying why women in Nepal don’t use health services when giving birth in areas where such facilities are available. After her presentation Lesley (picture first right) was awarded a certificate and token in true Nepali style.

Lesley is currently in Nepal for fieldwork as part of the first International Fellowship for Midwives worth £20,000. Her study uses a mixed-methods approach which comprises observation and interviews with staff. The Fellowship has been awarded by the charity Wellbeing of Women, in association with the Royal College of Midwives (RCM), for research into maternity services and women’s health from an international perspective.

The team consists of Prof. Vanora Hundley, Professor in Midwifery, Prof. Edwin van Teijlingen, Professor of Reproductive Health Research at BU, and BU Visiting Faculty Dr. Padam Simkhada based at ScHARR, the University of Sheffield.

A second paper with BU input was presented by Joy Kemp Global who is the RCM’s Professional Advisor (Global Midwifery Twinning Project). The presentation ‘A Feasibility Study of Professional Midwives in Nepal’ is based on a paper recently accepted for publication by the international journal Midwifery. This health policy planning paper is led by Swedish midwife Malin Bogren and in collaboration with Prof. Marie Berg (The Sahlgrenska Academy at the University of Gothenburg and Prof. Edwin van Teijlingen.

Professors Edwin van Teijlingen & Vanora Hundley

Centre for Midwifery, Maternal & Perinatal Health , HSC.

July 22, 2013

I’ll bet you it’s a baby!

Edwin van Teijlingen

The new royal baby has been born. Good news for Kate and William and also for the betting shops. Apparently a large number of people bet on a girl being born on the estimated due date July 13^th, and the punters seem to believe the gender would be female. As a consequence, a large amount of money was made by UK betting shops. The next bet is, of course, on his name. Some websites seem to suggest the bookmakers favoured the name James, such as a website in the Netherlands (http://wereldnieuws.blog.nl/politiek/2013/07/19/britse-baby-kan-nu-ieder-moment-komen). A Canadian website suggested a few days before the birth that “James or George were the favourites” for a boy (http://o.canada.com/2013/07/17/escape-from-royal-baby-media-circus-leads-to-londons-betting-shops/. On the webpages of one of the UK’s larger betting shops today’s (22^nd July) top 13 boys’ names were: George, James, Alexander, Louis, Arthur, Henry, Phillip, Albert, Spencer, David, Thomas, Richard & Edward.

Betting on aspects of the royal birth and baby is a way of being involved in the same way that betting on your football team to win its first away-game of the season is part of being a supporter for some. Luckily, there are many more options to waste your money, punters can also put money on the colour of his hair, baby’s first word, and if you want to wait a little longer for your money: the name of his first love, age of first nightclub visit photograph, first official visit overseas, whether the prince will ever compete in the Olympics, and the university where he will study.

Prof. Edwin van Teijlingen

Centre for Midwifery, Maternal & Perinatal Health

School of Health & Social Care

Bournemouth University, UK

June 10, 2013

‘Off the Campus and Into the Community: Teaching for Social Justice

Research themes klong

Speaker: Dr Susan Hyatt, Visiting Fellow, Department of Applied Social Sciences, Durham University, Associate Professor of Anthropology, IU School of Liberal Arts, Indiana University – Purdue University, Indianapolis

Monday, 17^th June 2013

12:00– 13:30

R303 Royal London House

Abstract:

Over the past 20 years, institutions of higher learning in the US, both public and private, have increasingly emphasized the value of civic engagement and community outreach as integral parts of their educational missions. In my teaching of applied anthropology, I have embraced this pedagogical turn as a way to involve students in community-based issues and to promote critical thinking. In this talk, I offer several brief examples where I have taken students out off the campus and into the community to engage in collaborative research projects. And, I have also offered students opportunities to participate in courses taught in somewhat unconventional community settings, including prisons and a residential treatment facility for women overcoming addiction. I argue that through such courses, we do not teach our students about social justice; rather, we allow students to experience for themselves the inequalities that structure much of our contemporary world and to reflect deeply on the ways that social action connects theory with practice.

May 28, 2013

Publish empirical or experimental data early whilst letting theory mature?

PG research, Publishing, Research assessment, Research Ethics, Research Integritiy, Training Edwin van Teijlingen

My colleagues and I have written several papers to help budding researchers about the process of writing and publishing academic papers (Hundley, & van Teijlingen 2002; van Teijlingen 2004; Pitchforth et al. 2005; van Teijlingen et al. 2012; Simkhada et al. 2013). For all researchers – students and staff alike publishing research findings is important as new insights will add to the existing knowledge base, advance the academic discipline and, in the case of applied research, perhaps improve something in the lives of others such as, well-being, the economy or the environment. Apart from this general/altruistic drive to add to knowledge, the advice academics give our postgraduate students is: to get your study published as soon as possible. The two main reasons for publishing early are: (a) getting into print to potentially help your careers; and (b) staking once claim as an authority in the field and/or publishing your findings before someone else does.
As always there are exceptions to the rule. As academics we agree that trying to get into print early is a good personal strategy for an early researcher or a postgraduate student especially for those working with empirical or experimental data. However, occasionally it is better to wait and give the underlying idea in the paper time to develop and mature. The kind of paper that often improves with time is one based on theory. Let me share a personal example: a theoretical paper from my PhD (awarded by the University of Aberdeen in 1994). This paper started life as a theory chapter in my PhD thesis (van Teijlingen 1994). This chapter on models of maternity care was not the strongest part of my thesis and it took me another decade of fine-tuning to get it into a state worth publishing. The paper ‘A Critical Analysis of the Medical Model as used in the Study of Pregnancy and Childbirth’ was finally published in Sociological Research Online, the original online-only Sociology journal in the world (van Teijlingen 2005). The wait was worthwhile as the paper is today (May 2013), eight year after publication, the seventh ‘most viewed articles during the past eight weeks’ in the journal (see: http://www.socresonline.org.uk/stats/top20.html).
In conclusion, it is generally sound advice to new researchers and postgraduate students to publish early. Occasionally though, waiting and giving your paper time to improve through discussion with colleagues, presenting the ideas at conferences and on blogs may lead to a better final product.
Prof. Edwin van Teijlingen
Centre for Midwifery, Maternal & Perinatal Health
School of Health & Social Care

References
Hundley, V., van Teijlingen E. (2002) How to decide where to send an article for publication? Nursing Standard 16(36): 21.
van Teijlingen (1994) A social or medical comparison of childbirth? : comparing the arguments in Grampian (Scotland) and the Netherlands (PhD thesis), Aberdeen: University of Aberdeen. Available online in the British Library (search for: uk.bl.ethos.387237 ).
Teijlingen van, E. (2004) Why I can’t get any academic writing done, Medical Sociology News 30 (3): 62-6.
van Teijlingen, E. (2005) A Critical Analysis of the Medical Model as used in the Study of Pregnancy and Childbirth, Sociological Research Online 10(2) Freely available online at: www.socresonline.org.uk/10/2/teijlingen.html.
Pitchforth, E., Porter, M., Teijlingen van, E.R., Forrest Keenan, K. (2005) Writing up and presenting qualitative research in family planning and reproductive health care, Journal of Family Planning & Reproductive Health Care 31 (2): 132-135.
Teijlingen van, E., Simkhada. P.P., Simkhada, B., Ireland, J. (2012) The long and winding road to publication, Nepal Journal Epidemiology 2(4): 213-215. http://nepjol.info/index.php/NJE/article/view/7093
Simkhada, P., van Teijlingen, E., Hundley, V. (2013) Writing an academic paper for publication, Health Renaissance 11 (1): 1-5. www.healthrenaissance.org.np/uploads/Pp_1_5_Guest_Editorial.pdf

May 7, 2013

Bournemouth University Clinical Research Unit (BUCRU) Annual Report

Louise Ward

At the Bournemouth University Clinical Research Unit (BUCRU) we think it is important to review our activities on a regular basis, to document our achievements and to outline our plans for the future. We have decided that the best way to do this is to prepare an Annual Report. It was completed some months ago and now we would like to share it more widely with our colleagues in the University. It can be found on our microsite at http://microsites.bournemouth.ac.uk/bucru/news/ we hope it is of interest.

The support and collaborations we offer are available to staff within the University, and to staff in the NHS. In the next year we will be particularly trying to develop new collaborations between University and health service staff that will lead to high quality grant applications.

If you would like further information please contact Louise Ward (wardl@bournemouth.ac.uk Tel: 01202 961939)

http://microsites.bournemouth.ac.uk/bucru/

November 2, 2012

Notes from ESRC ARMA WORKSHOP 2012 on challenges and opportunities for the social sciences in the current economic climate

Funding opportunities, Guidance Eva Papadopoulou

BU’s Teresa Coffin and Eva Papadopoulou (Research and Knowledge Exchange Operations) attended a training day hosted by the ESRC (Economic and Social Research Council) aimed at discussing the challenges and opportunities for the social sciences in the current climate. The focus of the event included presentations from the main Department Heads who outlined their internal workings, grant application framework and advice for successful applications. They also discussed their amended research agenda, funding opportunities, various partnerships and current strategic priorities. Notes from the day can be found here:

ARMA Notes

October 11, 2012

HEA Call for expressions of interest: teaching research methods in the Social Sciences

Funding opportunities Jo Garrad

HEA have launched a call for expressions of interest in working with the HEA Social Sciences cluster on their strategic project – teaching research methods in the Social Sciences projects. Project strands include:

1.      Developing STEM skills in qualitative research methods teaching and learning
2.      Assessment for learning in research methods
3.      Teaching research methods within HE programmes in FE settings
4.      Making the most of open educational resources (OER) in research methods teaching and learning
5.      Research methods and knowledge exchange

For further details and to submit an expression of interest: http://mail.heacademy.ac.uk/12ZA-ZWSN-6DLHZU-DXEGR-0/c.aspx

September 11, 2012

FP7 Social Sciences & Humanities ‘Global Europe 2050’ Report Published

Corrina Lailla Osborne

Research Professional gave a great summary of the FP7 Social Sciences and Humanities ”Global Europe 2050′ foresight report. This report is the output of an EC expert group; it presents and qualifies three scenarios that identify the main pathways Europe could follow over the next few decades:

1. The ‘Nobody Cares’ scenario, where Europe is in a ‘muddling through’ process;

2. ‘Europe under threat’, where Europe is faced by an economic decline and protectionist reactions; and

3. The ‘European Renaissance’ where the EU continues to enlarge and become stronger with more efficient innovation systems.

Any bets on which way we go…?!

July 30, 2012

FP7 Social Science application top tips

Corrina Lailla Osborne

If you are thinking about applying for a Social Sciences and Humanities (SSH) related call under FP7 and missed the info day, fear not I have some useful tips from the day to share with you. The European Commission SSH Unit representative said that proposals should:

include a range of partners from different countries and show added value for each of these
use both qualitative and quantitative methods
look at projects funded on the website between 2007-10
not replicate previously funded projects
pay attention to dissemination plans (give specific info on the journals, conferences, etc)
demonstrate interaction between the different Work Packages
support Policy.

There were several other presentations on the day which you can access using via UKRO the links below:

Tagged / social sciences

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