SCHOOL OF SPORT AND HEALTH SCIENCES
RESEARCH COMMITTEE
Wednesday 6 July 2010
A meeting of the SSHS Research Committee was held on Tuesday 6 July 2010 at 2.00pm in Richards
Building RB02.
Present:
Mr Stephen Bailey (SB)
Mr Bert Bond (BB)
Dr Sharon Dixon (SD)
Ms Alison Hume (AH)
Professor Andrew Jones (AJ) (Chair)
Ms Gwyneth Leonard (GL)
Associate Professor Gaynor Parfitt (GP)
Professor Adrian Taylor (AT)
Ms Donna Miljus (DM) – For item 12 (PGR Progress Tracking Project)
Apologies:
Ms Emma Slater (ES)
Associate Professor Gaynor Parfitt (GP)
Professor Andrew Sparkes (AS)
Dr Jo Welsman (JW)
MINUTES
1. Welcome and Apologies
AJ welcomed everyone to the meeting. Apologies were given as listed above.
2. Minutes of Meeting of 3/2/10
The minutes of the Research Committee meeting held on 3 February 2010 were AGREED and
signed as a correct record.
3. Matters Arising
6.2 - RM
It confirmed that AH had informed Jenny Holland that review papers added via Symplectic appear
as published articles on the SSHS webpage and that this issue had been resolved.
8 - School Research Grant Applications/Awards and Research Income
It was noted that this action is ongoing and it was requested that a running total of the amount bid
for, amount awarded and cost to the School be provided as part of the School bid for research
grant application/award data.
ACTION – ES to provide running totals at the end of the School Research Grant
Application/Awards summary
9.2 - Conference Support
It was noted that the cumulative sum of money allocated for conference support was available and
ES agreed to provide this for 2008/9 and 2009/10.
ACTION – ES to provide the cumulative sum of conference support for 2008/9 and 2009/10
9.3 Research Students
 Helen Owton - the request for £622 to cover the cost of train fares and a young person’s
railcard has not been approved as it was queried whether or not more suitable participants could
be recruited closer to Edinburgh. Helen Owton received this feedback.
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Abdul Al-Saleh – AT reported that the University does not have a site license for the SF-36v2
software required by this student and the request for £315 to finance the SF-36v2 software licence
was therefore approved.
10.3 - Studentships and Bursaries for 2010
Information to staff regarding the promotion of new studentships had been circulated.
4. Report from School Ethics Committee
The minutes of the Ethics Committee meeting held on 24 February and 29 April were received and
briefly reviewed.
5. Science Strategy Board (SSB)– Translational Medicine Theme: Update
AT reported that PCMD failed to recruit to the Chair in Translational Medicine post and that this is
being re advertised. Psychology has also not yet filled their Translational Medicine post.
AT reported that a 3+1 training bid had been submitted to the ESRC with Bath and Bristol and that
the evaluation from a shadow review Committee had been positive. The two themes of inequalities
and ageing had emerged from this bid and AT has spent an afternoon in Bristol discussing these.
6. REF and RM Updates
AJ reported that there was nothing further to report, which had not already been covered at the
School Meeting on 16th June.
AT questioned the effort of producing a list of ‘impacts’ for every staff member and whether we
would be required to report at individual or research theme level. It was reported that this is not yet
known but that it is important that relevant information is posted on the web as this provides a
useful record of activities.
7. External Affairs
GL reported that the School has won another case award through the SLC cluster (ECB), and that
business vouchers and KTPs are still available. GL informed Staff that she would be running
another Business event on 16th September.
8. School Research Grant Applications/Awards and Research Income
A summary of research grant applications from February 2010 to July 2010 (circulated with the
agenda) was reviewed. AJ reported that the goal for next year was an average of £35,000 per staff
member.
9. Applications to School Research Committee 2008/09 (including PGR support, staff
research/conference support and MRI applications)
A summary of applications for conference, staff and PGR support approved by Chair’s action
(circulated with the agenda) was noted.
9.1 MRI Applications
An application from Sharon Dixon for 24 hours (3 days) of MRI time was received and although the
Committee supported the application in principle, concern was expressed that all the MRI time
may have been used as there are a number of outstanding grant applications which will need MRI
time. It was agreed to defer the decision until more is known about whether or not there is any
time left.
9.2 Conference Support
Two applications for conference support had been received:
 Gaynor Parfitt – funding was requested (£675) to present at the 15th Annual Congress of the
ECSS in Turkey in June 2010 and the Committee agreed to approve the application.
 Alan Barker – funding was requested (£500) to attend the BASES conference in September
2010. It was noted that funding for this conference would come out of 2010/11 conference
budget and it was agreed to approve the request but to let Alan know that he might not be
permitted to attend any other conferences in 2010/11.
9.3 Research Students
 Amanda Dean – £1500 support had been requested to enable her to go to Australia to collect
data from a particular clinical group. It was noted that Amanda had already secured £1000 from
the University of Exeter Link fund and does not require any additional funding for any further
projects. GP questioned how much influence on the REF the research output would have given
that the project is not necessarily focused on Physical Activity and Health. The Committee
suggested that the application be approved in principle, subject to the proposal being rewritten
with a focus on physical activity.
It was noted that Stephen Bailey had won a trip to Japan as part of his ECSS prize and that it had
been agreed to fund his flight through the ECSS Annual Fund award.
Post Meeting Note –
A late application was approved by Chair’s action – this was for flight costs of up to £300 to enable
Tjerk Moll to access a unique data collection opportunity (professional football clubs’ talent
academies in Holland).
10. Postgraduate Research Student Issues
10.1 Report from the Board of the Faculty of Graduate Research
There was nothing to report under this item.
10.2 Studentships and Bursaries for 2010
It was reported that it is expected that all 8 School Bursaries would be used for 2010 entry and
that a couple of these have been combined with other funding from the ITF and PENCLAHRC. In
addition, full studentships have been secured from the Science Strategy, ECB, WRN, Active
Devon, RFU and MRC (with PCMD). It is expected that around 15 new students will commence
their studies in October 2010.
10.3PG S/SLC Minutes
The minutes of the PG S/SLC meeting held on the 16th June 2010 (circulated with the agenda)
were noted and briefly reviewed.
10.4 MPhil/PhD Conversions and Awards
It was noted that Joanne Day, Stephen Bailey, Hwa Oh and Meredith Griffin had successfully
converted to PhD study since the last meeting and that the following students had successfully
completed their studies: Dan Low; Nidzam Jawis; Fred DiMenna; Danielle Lambrick; Kate Janse
Van Rensburg; John Jakeman; and Sacha Pedro. Sophie Hughes has interrupted her studies,
and Mary Carter and Caroline Brokenshire have withdrawn.
11. Workshops/Seminars
School Visiting Speaker Series
AJ highlighted the quality, number and diversity of visiting speakers in 2009/10 and the high
attendance of students. The Committee congratulated the efforts of Daryl Wilkerson.
12. Presentation on new PGR Progress Tracking Project
Donna Miljus (DM), the Project Manager, gave a presentation on the new PGR progress tracking
facility, which is being developed in SITS. PGR Students and their Supervisors will have access to
this and will be expected to keep a record of their supervision/mentor meetings and actions from
them online. The Committee welcomed the project and recognised the benefits of reduced paper
reporting and emphasis of students taking responsibility for their studies by recording the meetings.
It was agreed that the new system should be introduced for SSHS as soon as it is available. DM
invited Colleagues to attend the forthcoming academic focus groups.
13. AOB
PGR Supervision
It was identified through the annual research student monitoring process that the supervision
arrangements for a number of PGR students need to be adjusted following the departure of their
supervisor. The following changes were suggested:
 Lucy Webb – Cassie Phoenix replaces Andrew Sparkes as 2nd Supervisor with Brett Smith
remaining as 1st Supervisor.
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Aurelien Cosnefroy – Roger Eston to become 1st Supervisor (100%) and Chris Byrne to
remain as mentor.
David Aldous – Cassie Phoenix or Jacquelyn Allen-Collinson to replace Andrew Sparkes as
2nd Supervisor and David Brown to remain as 1st Supervisor
Emily Beaumont – Cassie Phoenix to become 1st supervisor
Andrea Bailey – Roger Eston to become 1st Supervisor (100%)
James Brighton – Cassie Phoenix to become 1st Supervisor (100%)
Joanne Day – Jacquelyn Allen-Collinson to become 1st Supervisor (100%)
Meridith Griffin – Cassie Phoenix to assume 100% supervision
John Truelove – Craig Williams to assume 100% supervision
Amanda Dean – Jacquelyn Allen-Collinson to assume 100% supervision
Helen Owton – Jacquelyn Allen-Collinson to assume 100% supervision
Kristoph Thompson – Roger Eston to assume100% supervision
Harran Al-Rahamneh – Roger Eston to assume 100% supervision
It was agreed that these supervision changes should now be discussed with the relevant
Supervisors and Students and the necessary paperwork organised.
14. Date of Next Meeting
The next meeting of the Committee was left unscheduled due to the transition to a College system.