Tagged / Sport and Physical Activity

SPARC Seminar: Cities of (physical) culture 25/09/23

Cities of (physical) culture

 “Green” Urban Infrastructures, Physical Activity Promotion, and their Margins

 

Amid a worldwide growth in urban populations and an increasing policy focus on creating “smart”, “sustainable” and “wellness” cities, the relationship between cities and physical activity has been changing from the end of the 20th century.

Previously confined in specific urban areas, the pursuit of active physicality has been progressively seen as contributing to a range of urban functions (from health promotion to social cohesion) in the city itself. This has been particularly relevant for urban leaderships facing the need to regenerate dismissed industrial areas and to promote urban diversity and citizenship in increasingly unequal cities.

Yet, as urban initiatives aim to build “the city of the future” including by changing how urban residents move within it, what forms of urban citizenship these interventions envision, and what hierarchies of belonging and deservingness do they (re)produce? How are these processes lived and negotiated by urban dwellers differently positioned at the social and spatial margins of the city?

This seminar draws on research conducted in Italy (Turin) and Brazil (Sao Paulo) to explore how “sustainable” urban policies and the urban spaces and infrastructures they create shape the ways in which urban inequalities are manifested and negotiated through leisure and physical activities in contemporary cities.

This seminar will be held on Monday 25th September

from 14:00-15:00 at F109 Fusion, Talbot Campus

For more information, please contact:

Sport and Physical Activity Centre (SPARC) futurestudents@bournemouth.ac.uk

Nicola De Martini Ugolotti, Senior Lecturer In Sport, ndemartiniugolotti@bournemouth.ac.uk

Alessandra Bueno, Visiting fellow BUBS abueno@bournemouth.ac.uk

FHSS Women in Science

international, Women's Academic Network

 

Tomorrow Friday 11th February is the UN’s International Day of Women and Girls in Science.  To celebrate this event we would like to highlight the contributions of three BU female academics in the sciences in the Faculty of Health & Social Sciences: Jane Murphy, Rebecca Neal and Amanda Wilding.

Jane Murphy

Prof Jane Murphy – Professor in Nutrition, Co-lead for the Aging and Dementia Research Centre

Jane is a role model as a female research leader committed to solving key nutrition problems in older adults. She has won funding from prestigious organisations like the Burdett Trust for Nursing and NIHR. Jane’s research has direct impact in practice through her clinical lead role in the Wessex Academic Health Science Network. She influences high standards in education and practice in her role as an elected council member for the Association for Nutrition.

Dr. Rebecca Neal– Senior Lecturer in Exercise Physiology.

Rebecca is an Early Career Research excelling in traditionally male-dominated field of Sport and Exercise Science. Her work in the field of Extreme Environmental Physiology is published in prestigious physiology journals and she has been the recipient of external and internal grants to advance her work. Rebecca contributes greatly to transferring her research finding to the end user, through public engagement events, magazine articles and podcasts aimed at raising the awareness of the issues and needs of individuals exercising in extreme environments.

Dr. Amanda Wilding– Senior Lecturer in Sport Psychology

In addition to teaching Sport and Exercise Psychology, Amanda works as a Sports Psychologist in professional male football and Army rugby. Her involvement working in male dominated sports lead to her being invited to lead a workshop on Women in Sport  to women at the Princess Nourah Bint Abdulrahman University in Saudi Arabia.

Prestigious Prize to be awarded to BU Paralympic Project

conferences

Bournemouth University Faculty of Management colleagues Dr Emma Pullen and Professor Michael Silk, and Faculty of Media and Communication colleagues, Dr Dan Jackson and Dr Richard Scullion will be making headlines at the International Communication Association (ICA) annual conference (Sports Communication Division) in May 2018. They are being awarded the prestigious ICA best paper prize.

The paper is based on early findings from the Arts and Humanities Research Council funded project (grant ref: AH/P003842/1) on the cultural legacy of the 2016 Rio Paralympics. It is the first study of its kind to explore the mediation of para-sport broadcasting by highlighting the production decisions taken by the UK’s official Paralympic Broadcaster and the impact on audience perceptions and attitudes toward disability. Alongside academic outputs, the findings will be also translated into a number of creative artworks and a documentary film available to the public toward the end of the project.

Keep up to date with our progress via our project website www.pasccal.com, twitter:@pasccalproject, and the BU research blog.

Research and Impact in Active Ageing Symposia (University of Cumbria) – A URA Experience

conferences, PG research, student research

Louise Burgess, Undergraduate Research Assistant (URA)

When first applying to become an URA, I was unsure about what to expect. Initially, I thought my summer would be spent holding a clipboard and collecting endless lists of data for someone else to analyse. In reality, the role has been much more exciting than I could have imagined, even prompting me to investigate future careers within research. The research I am assisting with aims to examine the most effective acute recovery routine for individuals who have undergone hip arthroplasty, a reconstructive procedure which involves the replacement of the femoral head and acetabulum with an artificial prosthesis. I felt immediately welcomed by James Gavin (Lead Researcher) and the Orthopaedic Research Institute (ORI) team: Tom Wainwright, (Deputy Head), Tikki Immins (Research Fellow) Shay Bahadori (Medical Device Engineer), in my URA role.

Since starting 2 weeks ago, I have been involved in:

  • Designing and implementing a testing protocolRecruitment media
  • Recruitment through designing posters and contacting volunteers
  • Advancing skills technical: electromyography (EMG), isometric strength testing, clinical recovery exercises
  • Developing my subject knowledge and understanding
  • Training on the PrimusRS Multimodal Dynamometer
  • Developing data collection spreadsheets
  • Data collection: anthropometric, handgrip strength, walk speed, muscle activity and isometric strength.
  • Data analysis (using Biometrics Datalog EMG software)
  • Conference presentation:Research and Impact in Active Ageing Symposia (University of Cumbria)

Attending the Research and Impact in Active Ageing Symposia (University of Cumbria) proved to be a valuable experience for me as both a student, and as a researcher. The morning began with a talk from Prof Tim Donovan, who covered the role of vision and eye movement in motor control. This was followed by Prof Giuseppe de Vito (University College Dublin), focussing on how old muscle responds to training and nutritional interventions. Finally, Prof Andrea Macaluso (University of Rome Foro Italico) discussed his work on physical activity levels and physiological factors underlying mobility in ageing.

The morning was followed by a poster presentation session, where I presented the findings of my dissertation project. My dissertation entitled, ‘The Incidence of Injuries and the Epidemiology of Osteoarthritis in Retired, Amateur, Rugby Union Males’ was a project I thoroughly enjoyed and despite being incredibly nervous, I really liked sharing it with others. I presented my work to other students, academics, researchers, and members of the NHS. The feedback I received during the question and answer session after my presentation was positive, with ideas how the research could be expanded in the future. Having the opportunity to take part within the symposia increased my confidence within my own research, improved my presentation skills and developed my knowledge of research in active ageing. I even won the prize for best poster presentation, a £100 Human Kinetics book voucher!

I’m not even half way through my time as a URA, but I would still highly recommend other students to apply for similar positions at Bournemouth University.

For more information on ORI please visit:

  • bournemouth.ac.uk/ori2
  • Twitter: @BU_Orthopaedic

Or to get involved with the current research please email me on:

  • Lburgess@bournemouth.ac.uk