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Education Research Projects

Education Research Projects

Buckinghamshire New University has an extensive track record in developing innovative educational methods and programmes, working on a range of multi-partner EU funded Erasmus+ programmes. BNU has also secured funding from the Higher Education Funding Council for England to support local innovative education and student support initiatives.

 

This is a strategic partnership project within the scope of Erasmus + and is supported by the Turkish National Agency. Within the scope of this project, innovative course curriculum and learning materials will be developed on Cloud Computing and IoT.

Printed learning material will be developed on Cloud Computing and IoT, which includes an innovative and EU-standard course curriculum and applications. The overall objective of the project is to develop innovative, modern and easy-to-implement learning and practising modules in the areas of Cloud Computing and IOT, which are located within the Industry 4.0 area at the VET Schools of IT and universities. Students will learn by trying and doing the applications step by step, will be experts in their field with the skills they have acquired at the end of the subject.

Further details about the project can be found here.

 

The UniCulture project is funded by the EU Erasmus+ programme. It provides innovative support for university professors and assistants on how to work effectively in an intercultural and cross-cultural environments.

The main aim of the UniCulture project is to develop an innovative, holistic and interactive approach for training university professors and teaching staff to conduct educational processes in an intercultural environment. Moreover, UniCulture will enhance the access and active participation of students from vulnerable groups and minorities in the educational and social processes in universities. Thus, it will foster the social inclusion and will fight the discrimination patterns in society.

BNU's partner role in the project is led by Professor Florin Ioras. The project is led by the Transilvania University of Brașov in Romania with additional partners from Poland, Croatia and Bulgaria.

Further details and project updates are available on the project website and facebook page.

 

The Youth Empowerment and Innovation project (YEIP) is a 3-year Erasmus+ funded project that aims to design a positive policy prevention framework for tackling and preventing marginalisation and violent radicalisation among young people in Europe. The project will construct and test innovative policy intervention models founded on the principles of positive psychology and Good Lives Model (GLM).  These will be tested in 4 environments (schools, universities, prisons, online) in 8 EU member states. Involving 20 partners and led by youth-led NGO the IARS International Institute, YEIP will lay the foundations for systemic change at national and EU levels. YEIP aims to support the EU Youth Strategy’s objective of preventing the factors that can lead to young people’s social exclusion and radicalisation.

Thomas Toscano and Daisy D'Silva Toscano are working on this project. Further information is available on the IARS projects website.

The ELEVATE project funded through the Erasmus + scheme addresses the process of internationalisation of Moldovan higher education, supporting Moldovan academics, researchers, students and administrators to participate in international collaboration through sharing expertise from the EU partners. Dr Dorin Festeu is leading this project.

Further information is available on the ELEVATE project website.

 

The aim of the IM-FUTURE Erasmus + project is the creation of an international master's degree for the furniture sector consisting of a flexible learning pathway in line with the needs of learners and companies from the furniture, woodworking and related sectors. Professor Florin Ioras co-ordinates this project with Buckinghamshire New University as lead partner.

Further details are available on the IM-FUTURE project website.

 

As part of the National Collaborative Outreach Programme (NCOP) funded by the Higher Education Funding Council for England, Buckinghamshire New University is developing on-line resources for students in years 9 to 11 and their parents/carers, specifically for students in NCOP wards. BNU has significant experience of working with Widening Participation indicator group students who often lack the confidence and cultural capacity to successfully transition to Higher Education. The project is led by Dr Alan Hockley.

 

Funded by the Higher Education Funding Council for England (HEFCE) catalyst fund for student safeguarding, Buckinghamshire New University is undertaking a 'Hate Crime Cultural Change Project'. This entails training and development of University Champions (staff and students), awareness-raising and attitudinal change workshops, campaigns and events and also establishing a system for reporting, tracking and monitoring incidents.

The catalyst project will also involve research, that aims to identify the level of hate crime and online harassment within the student population. The collected data will be used to inform the project strands so we can tackle problem areas and administer change if and where it is needed.

 

This Erasmus + project is developing innovative and technological cyber security curricula in vocational schools. The project is led by the Zonguldak Vocational and Technical Anatolian High School in Turkey. Professor Florin Ioras is working on this project with Buckinghamshire New University as a partner role.

Further details are available on the Cyber Security project website.

 

Funded by the Erasmus + scheme, the project aims to develop an environment that stimulates engineering creativity, entrepreneurial activities and fosters youth employability through university-business-industry networking on FABLAB platforms in Belarus and Ukraine. Dr Dorin Festeu is co-ordinating this project for Buckinghamshire New University, with partners in Ukraine, Belarus, France, Denmark, Spain and Portugal.

 

Funded by the Higher Education Funding Council for England catalyst fund for student safeguarding, Buckinghamshire New University is undertaking a 'Hate Crime Cultural Change Project'. This entails training and development of University Champions (staff and students), awareness-raising and attitudinal change workshops, campaigns and events and also establishing a system for reporting, tracking and monitoring incidents.

 

Funded by the Higher Education Funding Council for England, this study aims to identify which career exploration behaviours undergraduate students find valuable. Led by Dr Rita Kapadia in the careers service, outcomes will provide additional information to help career practitioners when engaging in student interactions.

 

Funded by the Higher Education Funding Council for England, Dr Richard Mather and Dr Helena Chance are leading this project to develop and evaluate a novel collaborative approach to learning. They are using inter-disciplinary curricula to enhance work-readiness of computing and creative-advertising undergraduates. The project vehicle is a live-brief for the University Computing and Art & Design departments to work with Wycombe District Council to develop a mobile and location-sensitive “Heritage Trail App” to interpret significant sites in High Wycombe.

The ARTURE Erasmus + project aims to connect experts and students from the furniture sector and the art world through development of an ARTURE platform to share information, knowledge and experiences with other EU users. Led by AKTO Art and Design College in Greece, Dr Dorin Festeu led BNU's role as partner on this project which completed in April 2018.

 

Funded through the Erasmus + scheme, the STINT project activities focus on institutional and national strengthening of internationalisation and recognition mechanisms in Bosnia and Herzegovina Higher Education. STINT was led by KU Leuven, Belgium with BNU's role led by Prof Florin Ioras. The project completed in September 2018.

Further information is available on the STINT project website.

 

The TO GIVE project, funded through the Erasmus + scheme, aims to enable European and Latin American public servants from HEIs, local governments, national governments and regional bodies to improve their skills. This will be achieved by creating an Open Government Digital Education Platform (OGDEP) where “public official” international students may obtain prestigious, quality qualifications. Led by Universidad de Laguna in Spain, Prof Florin Ioras and Nick Eade worked on this project which completed in September 2017.

Further information is available on the TO GIVE project website.

Through development of an e-learning package, this project funded by the Erasmus + scheme aims to develop a sustainable and viable method of contributing to the reduction of general intent, juvenile delinquency and early school dropout. Led by the Turkish Governorship of Manisa, Professor Florin Ioras led BNU's work on this project which completed in March 2018.