The University is currently compiling the data for the annual Higher Education – Business & Community Interaction survey (HE-BCI) due to be submitted to HESAshortly. Data returned is used to calculate our HEIF grant.
We are asked to submit details of social, cultural and community events designed for the external community (to include both free and chargeable events) which took place between1 August 2016 and 31 July 2017.
The data returned is used by HEFCE to allocate the HEIF funding so it is important that we return as accurate a picture as possible.
“We all know that being a researcher can be very satisfying, but it often comes at a price of high levels of stress and anxiety. It could be the pressure of deadlines, writers block or dealing with fixed term contracts, or perhaps the anxiety of not knowing where your next steps will take you. Research can also be isolating and hard on your self-confidence and motivation. Good mental health and well-being can help researchers deal with the stresses of life in academia and make the most of the opportunities around them whatever their future may hold.
Join us for a Google Hangout to learn more about looking after your own mental health and well-being and hear from researchers share their experiences of balancing life and research”.
For further details, please see the Vitae website.
Do you or a colleague think you have a solution to an environmental problem?
Institute for Studies in Landscapes and Human Evolution (ISLHE): Come and find out more over cake and coffee!!
Are you an archaeologist, computer scientist, ecologist, animator, anthropologist, palaeoanthropologist working in a Professional Service? ….
Or simply interested in landscapes and how they influenced human evolution?
If so why not drop by and find out more about BU’s newly launched Institute for Studies in Landscape and Human Evolution (ISLHE) at 1.30 PM on the 25th March (TAG01). We would like to invite BU staff to an opportunity to find out more and see how they might get involved over coffee.
ISLHE’s research agenda focuses around the role of landscape process in driving human evolution. What drove the evolution of our species? Why did some species of the human family tree become extinct while others did not? What role did climate change and landscape process in Africa play in guiding this evolution? These are fundamental questions about our own origins and what drove our evolution. The research agenda focuses on tackling these questions from a landscape-based perspective integrating a wide range of fields anthropology, archaeology, palaeoanthropology, ecology, remote sensing of modern analogues with both earth and computer science.
Working both in the field and using computer modelling we hope to tackle some of these questions over the next few years. Another key part of our agenda is to work with computer animators to bring our science alive in the imagination of both scientific and popular audiences.
Join us to find out more!!
During the consultation on Faculty structures it became evident that there is an interest across the University in closer cross-Faculty collaboration amongst those whose work is based in or influenced by the social sciences. To this end, Prof. Barry Richards of FMC and Prof. Jonathan Parker of HSS are convening a meeting at 2.30 (note start time) on Tuesday 17th March (in PG11, Talbot Campus) to discuss cross-Faculty collaborations in social science-based research. There are already a number of such collaborative projects underway, and the aim of this meeting would be to explore the prospects for developing existing links and shared activities in a more strategic way. This could create new synergies, raise BU’s profile as a place where ‘4*’ social research and thought leadership can be found, and strengthen our hand in funding bids. It could also have implications for research organization and REF planning.
So if you are engaged in or planning some research which you think might benefit from an environment with stronger inter-Faculty links and a richer interdisciplinary context, or would just like to know more about SS research across BU, do put this meeting in your calendar.
The Horse Course in action!
Here are Dr Sid Carter and Dr Ann Hemingway with Harriet Laurie from The Horse Course doing some psychophys data collection with Flower! The Horse Course is working successfully with young people, changing behaviour across Dorset and we are keen to know how it works.
Knowledge Exchange and Impact Team: how have we been flying the KEIT for you?
The past month has been a busy one for the Knowledge Exchange and Impact Team starting with the excellent news that the research website had won the ‘Best Research Website’ in the international eduStyle Awards, winning both the People’s Choice and Judged Award categories – fighting off competition from MIT, Yale and Columbia. If that wasn’t exciting enough, we have been continuing to profile BU’s excellent REF results and Dorset Magazine has featured Professor David Osselton in a piece which brings insight to the region on about his fascinating toxicology research.
We have not rested on our laurels engaging our student body with our amazing research either, with over 40 students attending our first live research chat (known from here on in as 14: Live) led by Professor Janet Dickinson. Students were also treated to insights from Dr James Gavin in The Rock on how exercise can improve ankle flexibility and postural stability in older people. Our public engagement programme has also continued in earnest, with Café Scientifique returning in February. Professor Matt Bentley led a fascinating talk exploring whether reproduction in the sea is lunacy? Despite snow on the morning of the event, Café Boscanova was packed!
BU’s record of partnership working received a big boost with the announcement that Bournemouth University’s Global Environment Solutions (BUG) HEIF funded project team have been commissioned by Poole Council to try and bring an end to the water quality issues which have become synonymous with the lake in Poole Park. Enabled by funding from the Heritage Lottery Funding this is a fantastic result for the local community and BU.
The Knowledge Transfer Partnerships Academic Development Scheme (KTPADs) is once again open for registration. Led by Innovate UK, KTPs are a brilliant way of working with industry and creating employment for an exceptional graduate or post-doctoral researcher. If you would like to get involved, see this blog post and to learn more about the power of KTP or contact Rachel Clarke, our resident KTP guru.
Aside from the work of KEIT you can outwardly see, we are busy planning exciting initiatives for the months and years ahead. Scheduling is currently underway for the next Festival of Learning which takes place between 11th-17th July. We are currently working on some *extremely* exciting events, so watch this space. We are also planning out the Festival of Learning On Tour, so if you want to wow the world or have some fun whilst collecting data, come and join us at a public event. Contact Naomi Kay directly for further information.
On a more technical note, we are working to support researchers to develop and evidence the impact of their research. This is ranging from the technical side with the development of a new institutional wide system for impact capture, through to personalised support to maximise the impact of research. We are also nearly ready to publish the next Bournemouth Research Chronicle – keep your eyes peeled!
This Commission workshop is the first public occasion to present the European Roadmap for Climate Services to stakeholders and key players in the field, share views and experiences on key issues, discuss the challenges and opportunities, and move towards its implementation. It is aimed in particular at organisations that either produce or supply climate information and intelligence, or are interested as actual or potential users of climate services.
The Roadmap, which will be published by the end of February 2015, has been produced by a Commission ad hoc Expert Group, established as one of the main outcomes of the first workshop “Towards a European Market for Climate Services” (18 March 2014). It is not a Commission document, but relied on the involvement of a larger supporting group – including the EC services, Copernicus and the European Institute of Innovation and Technology’s Climate Knowledge and Innovation Community (KIC) – and on a focused stakeholders’ consultation. The Roadmap is expected to offer a coherent and focused framework for action, able to leverage on existing initiatives at EU (such as Horizon 2020) and national level, as well as to provide a support framework to local initiatives.
Deadline to register is 10 March, but early registration is recommended as places are limited.
We invite you to attend an interactive day-event for researchers and doctoral students.
This event will introduce you to the unique resources of the Mass Observation Project (MOP). It provides the chance to discuss and try-out the opportunities that the MOP presents for qualitative longitudinal and/or mixed-method research.
The MOP is a self-selecting citizen’s writing project where individual writers have been answering sets of themed questions/directives on a range of different issues, themes and events between 1981 and present day (http://www.massobs.org.uk/index.htm).
Go on a tour of the archive and its resources with staff at the archive.
Be ‘introduced’ to MOP writers and the topics they write about.
Discuss a case-study example of a longitudinal mixed-methods project at the University of Southampton, which is using MOP writing in combination with the British Household Panel Survey and the British Social Attitudes Survey.
Take part in a hands-on workshop where you can examine and analyse the scripts of individual writers across time.
This event would be suitable for any researcher – including post-graduate/doctoral researchers from a range of different disciplines (social sciences, humanities, and different science and STEM disciplines) who are considering using qualitative and/or mixed research methods.
The Keep is a fully accessible venue. If you require further information on accessibility, please contact moa@sussex.ac.uk.
The maximum number of participants for this event is 20. Booking for this event will close at midnight on 20th October, or when we have reached our maximum number of participants.
Innovators from across the energy industry and SME community are being invited to enter the UK’s leading energy innovation awards which showcase and celebrate outstanding projects, technologies and talent making a real impact in the energy sector.
Now in its fifth year, the UK Energy Innovation Awards 2015, will unite figureheads of the energy industry and the innovation community in a high profile event to celebrate the best innovations across the electricity and gas networks including the renewables sector.
Following an unprecedented number of high calibre entries last year, the awards, organised by the Energy Innovation Centre and supported by leaders from the major energy companies, has been refreshed and extended to include new categories which reflect the diversity of entries in previous years.
Chief executives from across the energy industry will be on the judging panel including Northern Gas Network’s chief executive and Energy Innovation Centre chairman Mark Horsley.
Last year, the awards attracted more than 370 guests from the electricity, gas and offshore renewables sectors along with innovators from a wide range of small businesses, start-up companies and academia.
Amongst the winners were Open Grid Systems which won the ‘International Trade Award’ in recognition of strong overseas sales of its tablet application which gives network operators an augmented reality view of assets out in the field, the first tool of its kind. Other technologies recognised included a robotic system which internally repairs leaking cast iron mains, the UK’s first ‘smart grid’ in Orkney and a unique technology to allow keyhole excavations on highways and roads.
Denise Massey, managing director of the Energy Innovation Centre, said: “The UK innovation scene has continued to grow and develop so much since the awards began back in 2010 and we are proud to have been able to contribute to this. With this in mind, we look forward to seeing a diverse and exciting range of entries representing the continued improvements happening in the sector.
For category sponsorship opportunities, please contact Out There Events on 0161 946 6262 or email ellie@outthereevents.com.
A prestigious BU and Poole Hospital medical engineering project has been shortlisted for Outstanding ICT Initiative of the Year in the 10th annual Times Higher Education (THE) Awards.
The device uses software to replicate epidural insertion, combining ultrasound and MRI images to assist epiduralists in determining the position of the needle.
There is more information on this research project on the BU Research Webpages.
Congratulations to Venky, Neil and the Poole Hospital team for this achievement. We wish them luck for the awards ceremony, which will take place on Thursday 27 November 2014 at the Grosvenor House Hotel, Park Lane, London.
The award ceremony promises to be a spectacular event with over 1000 guests expected to attend, including politicians, senior sector figures, and academic and university staff from all corners of the UK.
The full shortlist for all 18 categories is published in the latest issue of Times Higher Education, and is also available on the awards website.
Calling all science researchers: your thoughts needed!
There are many reasons for researchers to take part in science communication and share their ideas with the world. Communicating research can make a difference to the direction of a policy debate, can help to shape people’s opinions or build on the reputation of researchers or of a university.
Key to the process is timing. Too late and public engagement may either make no difference to the direction of research or its impact could be lost. Too early, and results may not be conclusive enough to create a meaningful impact. In other instances, publication may be driven by external events outside of the control of either researchers or communicators.
The question for us, as communicators, is how to ensure that timing enhances the impact of the research, and reputation of both researchers and the university. As part of a piece of research I’m carrying out for a CIPR qualification, I have an opportunity to explore just that, and to question whether the timing of science communication can make a difference to reputation.
If you have five minutes to spare, please respond to the following survey and share your thoughts about the impact of timing in science communications: https://www.surveymonkey.com/s/9VT66M8. All information gathered will be used anonymously.