Our research centres and institutes

The Institute for the Modelling of Socio-Environmental Transitions (IMSET) addresses the interplay between population history, cultural practices and the dynamics of environmental systems, and how they unfold across different scales.

The Institute of Medical Imaging and Visualisation (IMIV) has been established to support high quality research and education in the fields of medical imaging and medical visualisation.  

Our Ageing & Dementia Research Centre (ADRC) at Bournemouth University (BU) brings together cross-faculty research expertise in areas of ageing and dementia. At a time when our population is living longer and often with long-term conditions including dementia, the centre’s research significantly impacts on theory, education and professional practice.

We aim to undertake internationally recognised research on environmental change and its impacts on biodiversity, and solutions to protect the environment. In addition we aim to be a leading provider of education and training in environmental science.

Bournemouth University Clinical Research Unit (BUCRU) offers a collaborative model for supporting and conducting health-related research in Dorset.

CfACTs is a Marie Sklodowska-Curie Action (MSCA) COFUND research centre, co-led by Prof Jian Chang and Prof Jian J Zhang, of the Bournemouth University’s National Centre for Computer Animation (BU NCCA); CfACTs runs from October 2020 to September 2025.

The work of the Centre for Comparative Politics and Media Research links into a range of fields of study that focus on the most relevant questions that face 21st Century politicians, their strategists, political journalists and agencies which seek to enhance citizen engagement.

The CDE is an EPSRC Centre for Doctoral Training based at Bath and Bournemouth Universities. We offer a four-year fully funded EngD programme. Our postgraduate researchers work closely with and in some of the most exciting high-tech companies in the world, not for a token short-term placement but fully-embedded, usually for three years.

The GP Centre is the “area office” for Dorset for Health Education England Wessex. We are based in the Faculty of Health & Social Sciences at Royal London House in Bournemouth University.

The Centre for Intellectual Property and Policy Management (CIPPM) is a Jean Monnet Centre of Excellence co-funded by the Erasmus+ Programme of the European Commission and a leading centre for research on the legal, economic and policy aspects of intellectual property rights in the creative industries and in the field of emerging technologies.

CLiMB is the primary focus for Bournemouth University support to leaders at all levels within health and social care.

The Centre for Midwifery, Maternal and Perinatal Health aims to promote the health and wellbeing of women, babies and their families by enhancing practice through education, research and scholarship.

The BU Research Centre for Seldom Heard Voices brings together academics from across different disciplines including social sciences and social work to engage with marginalised communities and to amplify often excluded or silenced voices. 

Learn how we promote and advance the understanding of sustainable and socially responsible consumption.

The Centre aims to develop a rich seam of interdisciplinary research at the intersection of conflict, emotion and social justice. It brings together expertise in the disciplines of Journalism, Media, Law and the broader social sciences, adopting primarily a psychosocial and practice-based focus.

The Centre of Postgraduate Medical Research and Education (CoPMRE) was established in June 2007. It represents a home for a medical Visiting Faculty with an interest in innovating delivery of care and developing clinical practice.

Bournemouth University’s Disaster Management Centre (BUDMC) has garnered decades of experience in education, research and professional practice.

Emerge is the Experimental Media Research Centre. As creative, practice-led researchers, the centre shares critical concerns in relation to experimental media practices.

Our research is focused on tackling these questions from a landscape based perspective, integrating palaeoanthropology, ecology, remote sensing of modern analogues and both earth and computer science. We are collaborating with computer animators to bring our science alive in the imaginations of both scientific and non-scientific audiences.

The interdisciplinary neuroscience research centre at Bournemouth University was founded in 2014 as a network embodying researchers in the fields of cognitive, social, systems and computational neuroscience, translational genetics and cognitive neuropsychology from the Faculty of Science and Technology, Health and Social Sciences and collaborating institutions.

The International Centre for Tourism and Hospitality Research (ICTHR) is a globally leading centre for research in tourism, hospitality and related fields of study.

BU iWell is a research centre with a particular focus on people with chronic, long-term, and/or complex conditions. Our research activity takes an integrative approach to the understanding and promotion of human health.

Exploring how narrative interacts with and impacts on cultures and communities.

The National Centre for Post-Qualifying Social Work and Professional Practice (the National Centre) at Bournemouth University is dedicated to improving the lives of vulnerable people by enhancing professional health and social care practice.

The National Centre has had over 20,000 students in the past 19 years and works with over half of the local authorities in England, plus 50 other major employers and as a team we are proud of our reputation and achievements.

The National Research Centre for Computer Animation is a recognised centre of international excellence in computer animation, fusing technical developments in computer science with underlying artistic principles and practice of computer animation.

Nurse colleagues at Bournemouth University have been researching leadership, workforce development and value-based nurse education, as well as issues pertaining to long-term conditions such as cancer and chronic obstructive airway disease (COPD).

The Orthopaedic Research Institute (ORI) works across the university and with hospitals, industry partners and academia to produce high quality research and educational outputs that have a proven impact for patients, clinicians and society.

SPARC at BU is home to a breadth of exciting, innovative and inter-disciplinary scholarship that aims to offer a truly holistic understanding of the derivation, constitution, and experience of sport, physical activity, the body, well-being & (ill-)health.

The Centre for Excellence in Media Practice (CEMP) is a research centre based in the Faculty of Media and Communication at Bournemouth University.