Blog from April, 2022

Afternoon one and all. This week we have colossal amounts of Good News and Engagement and the DEG Summer Fair is this Thursday so be sure to come along and join the fun! 

Have a wonderful long weekend

Chloe Mitchell - PA to EGLT

Postgraduate Taught Experience Survey (PTES) Now Open

The PTES is now open and students will be invited to respond by 15 June 2022. The more students that take part, the more meaningful the data so please do encourage your students to submit a response. Response rates by department and the overall response rate will be published every week on the PTES page

Growing salad leaves this year? Take part in a citizen science project

Do you grow your own salad or vegetables? We want your help! Our project will look at whether antimicrobial resistant bacteria are on home-grown produce. Relatively little is known about if, or how much, antimicrobial resistant bacteria are on home grown produce, or what growing and preparing practices might lower their numbers if they are found. You don’t need to know what antimicrobial resistance is in order to take part, we’d just like keen growers! If you’d like to take part, or just find out more, please contact lucy.way@york.ac.uk. 

DEG Makes Big Difference to the UOY Times Higher Education Impact Rankings

The Times Higher Education Impact Rankings focus on how Universities across the world are supporting the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals. The University of York came 7th in the world for Partnerships, 44th for Gender equality, 51st for Life Below Water, and 60th for Sustainable Cities and Communities. Our department made significant contributions to all of these elements, particularly Life Below Water, for which we led the submission. You can find more information on the Times Impact Rankings 2022 here. 

Collect Mugs and Tupperware - from 4th - 12th May!

Updated collection slot: As a COVID-19 precaution, the kitchens were cleared of all mugs, Tupperware boxes and other miscellaneous items at the start of the pandemic. I will be putting all of these items out in the foyer in archive boxes and they will be available to collect between Weds 4th May - Thurs 12th May. After that, they will be donated or disposed of so make sure you come along and take a look if you have been missing your favourite mug!

Take part in UOY Survey (powered by Hive) and UOY will donate to charity!

You will have received an email relating to a UOY-wide survey powered by Hive. For every completed survey, money will go to charity, so there is an extra incentive to participate. The survey will help to shape University strategy and policies and only takes 5 minutes to complete, so we encourage everyone to submit their honest thoughts and opinions.

DEG Summer Fair

The DEG Summer Fair is this coming Thursday and we are in for a treat! We've got hook-a-duck, tin can knock down, a Geological Society stall, second-hand books, netball shootout challenge, prizes, a cake stall, nibbles, pimms, a DEG staff photo and summery tunes so be sure to come along to join the fun. For those valiant few that have volunteered to help out on the day with set up, or if you have a stall yourself, we will be setting up in the Environment Courtyard (behind building) from 11:00-14:00 so come along when you can. See you all there! Brightly coloured clothes and tropical vibes most welcome!

Doing our bit: The fair and games will of course be free of charge, but we are keen to raise a few ££s for a good cause to mark the occasion and to strive towards those Departmental Core Values. With 46.2% of the vote, you chose the Yorkshire Wildlife Trust as our DEG Summer Fair Charity. YWT is dedicated to conserving, protecting and restoring wildlife and wild places in Yorkshire, places which we all love to enjoy. So let's give them a helping hand and raise as much as we can. Click here to donate a couple of ££s to the Yorkshire Wildlife Trust on behalf of DEG. 

Date: Thursday 5 May

Time: 14:00 onwards

Location: Environment Courtyard (behind E&G building)

Postgrad Chill and Chat 

May the 4th be with you! Chill & Chat strikes back for Episode VII (a Star Wars special). Come along for free refreshments/snacks, galactic crafts, and Star Wars Battlefront on the PS4. Bring a whole fleet of friends or just come Solo!

Date: Wednesday 4 May

Time: 15:00-17:00

Location: Wentworth College - Downstairs Common Room

Middle Ground event: Normalise Conversations around Class and Intersectionality

The Student Expert Panel has organised another of its fantastic Middle Ground events, this time focusing on normalising conversations around class and intersectionality. Check out their page Middle Ground Eventbrite page to book a ticket and find out more. 

Date: Wednesday 4 May

Time: 17:30-19:30

Location: PX/001 Exhibition Centre

Interdisciplinary Programme Design: A Workshop Approach

Lynda Dunlop (Education) and Liz Hurrell (Environment) will join this PDLT webinar to discuss their approach to designing the interdisciplinary MSc Environmental and Sustainability Education and Communication Leadership programme. They will discuss how they maximised the opportunities brought by interdisciplinarity in the design of the programme and navigated the demands of cross-department working to develop the programme aims and objectives. Click here to register for the Interdisciplinary Programme Design workshop. 

Date: Thursday 5 May

Time: 11:00-12:00 

Location: Online

Upcoming Webinars by the Institute of Environmental Sciences (IES)

• Open to all

• IAQM webinar - The HVAC system's role in improving environmental air quality in buildings of all types: Wednesday, 11 May 2022 - 12:30-13:15
• SeNSES – A sensor network for South East Scotland: Thursday, 12 May 2022 - 12:30-13:15
• Net gain and the marine environment: Wednesday, 25 May 2022 - 12:30-13:15
• Environmental dimensions of the conflict in Ukraine: Thursday, 26 May 2022 - 12:30-13:15
• For Staff

• CHES Forum 2022 (Education Committee of IES) Exploring the new ES3 benchmarks (Embedding Sustainability, ED&I and Employability and Entrepreneurship into curricula): Tuesday 24 May 2022 - 10:00 to 14:15

Successes and Opportunities for the Bioeconomy across Yorkshire, Teesside and the Humber

Join staff and researchers from the universities of York, Teesside and Hull as well as industry, funders and investors to hear about the latest bio-based business support and investment opportunities that are available to kick start or progress your ideas. Click this link for more information on the Success and Opportunities for the Bioeconomy event. 

Date: Thursday 9 June, 2022

Time: 10:00 – 15:00 BST

Location Principal York, York

Global Symposium on Soils for Nutrition 

The Symposium will bring science and policy together to review the status and challenges of soil fertility in relation with crop, animal and human nutrition. The Symposium is expected to identify critical knowledge gaps and provide the basis for discussion on solutions that can provide more nutritious agri-food systems for enhanced human health and wellbeing while protecting the environment.

Click here for more information and to register for the Symposium on Soils for Nutrition 

Date: Tues 26 - Fri 29 July, 2022

Time: 13:00-16:00 CEST

Location: Online 

Colloquium on Conservation and Human-Wildlife Interactions - For PhD and Early Post-Docs

CONVIVA – convivial conservation research project will be hosting a colloquium for PhD and early post-doc researchers working on issues related to convivial conservation and human-wildlife interactions. Nine participants will have the opportunity to present a manuscript/PhD chapter and get feedback at the colloquium and from an academic mentor. In addition, they will receive storytelling training to present ‘convivial tales’ on the eve of the colloquium. Click here for more information on the Conviva conservation colloquium 

Date: Tuesday 13 and Wednesday 14 September, 2022

Congratulations to Lauren Rawlins who has passed her GVC Drone certification this week (general visual line of sight certificate) and is now qualified as a drone pilot for her upcoming fieldwork in Canada and Greenland. It is an in-depth course over 4 days looking at the risk and legal aspects of flying as well as the practical skills in real time flight. Great work Lauren! 

Congratulations to Rachel Pateman (SEI) who has received £1,500 from NERC for the project 'Designed for Connection' which is exploring the purposeful design of citizen science surveys to enhance the nature connectedness of participants.

Congratulations to Alison Dyke, Bobby Farnan and Frances Dixon who have received £16.5k from SEI HQ for phase 2 of the SEI Initiative Water Beyond Boundaries

Congratulations to Chris Malley, Johan Kuylenstierna, Connie O'Neill, and Eve Palmer (all SEI) who have received £104k from SEI HQ for the next phase of the SEI Initiative Climate And Sustainability Planning.

Congratulations to Brett Sallach. This week Brett found out that his proposal for the CFH Strategic Funding Award (£142,000) was successful. The project entitled 'A new non-antibody scaffold for in situ detection of pathogens in wastewater' will work towards developing real-time sensors for the monitoring of biological contaminants like COVID-19 in wastewater. This project is led by Michael Plevin in Biology along with Steve Johnson (Electronics), James Chong (Biology), and Brett himself. The project is highly integrated with a number of industrial partners and the project team will be seeking to expand as the research progresses. More research for public good. Well done Brett and team!

Congratulations to Jonathan Green (SEI) who has received £10k from SEI HQ for Oceans And Biodiversity Strategic Policy Engagement in 2022.

Congratulations to Sarah West (SEI) and partners for the award of £142k from EPRSC for the SAMHE (School Air quality Monitoring for Health & Education, pronounced ‘Sammy’) project. SAMHE is a joint project delivered by Imperial College London in collaboration with the University of Cambridge, the SEI York, the University of Surrey, the University of Leeds and the UK Health Security Agency (UK HSA).

Congratulations to Simon Croft and partners who have received 752,000 SEK (115,500 SEK to SEI York) from SEI Tools & Methods Support to create a Global Subnational Agricultural Production database (GSAP)

Andreas Heinemeyer peer-reviewed a UK Parliament POST note (and corrected several mistakes!) on 'Reducing Peatland Emissions', which including several of his Peatland-ES-UK papers and highlighted the conflicting evidence around impacts from prescribed fires on heather-dominated peatlands.

Adrian Gonzalez is organising an online professional event next week to provide PGT students with careers guidance. This is aimed at SUBLIM and CSEM students who will have the opportunity to hear from recent Departmental graduates and a representative from The Institute of Environmental Management and Assessment (IEMA) about careers within sustainability and environmental contexts. A huge deal of thanks goes to Jenny, Brett and Angela for all their hard work in helping pull this event together over the last few weeks.

Rob Marchant has been appointed to the Scientific Committee for the 2022 International Year of Sustainable Mountain Development working for FAO and United Nations General Assembly. This International Year of Sustainable Mountain Development is working to promote global commitments towards the protection of these vulnerable ecosystems and the building of resilience of mountain peoples and ecosystems.

Paul Hudson was invited speak on Disaster Insurance, Disaster Risk Reduction, and Development at a workshop hosted by the UN's Friends of Governance for Sustainable Development and the Group of Friends of Disaster Risk Reduction

Assistant Professor Dr. Paramita Punwong (Punn) is in York for a research visit to collaborate on a project with Rob Marchant entitled 'The impacts of sea level changes on Holocene mangrove dynamics, environment and human: the implication on long-term carbon storage of the Andaman Sea coastline'. Punn was a former PhD researcher with Katherine Selby and Rob Marchant and current co-supervisor of Pear. The visit, funded by the Mahidol University–Global Partnering Initiative Grant, is part of a wider institutional tie between the universities of Madhol and York.

Rob Marchant's collaborator, Dr Edem Mahu from the University of Ghana has a project entitled “Oyster Shell Models for Hindcasting Holocene Environmental Conditions in Equatorial Atlantic Coastal Waters of Africa” which has been recommended for the African Research Initiative for Scientific Excellence (ARISE) grant award.  ARISE is the first Africa to African postdoctoral funding scheme supported by the EU and this prestigious long term postdoctoral award for Edem with PhDs, Masters and plenty of collaboration potential for the years ahead. Dr Jessica Thorn was also awarded an ARISE fellowship to work in Namibia on exploring the drivers behind peri-urban development across Namibia and the links between urban growth in a number of Africa countries and the rural.  This 6 year Fellowship will be a great launchpad for Jessica's interests in peri-urban research across Africa.

PGR Lead - Now Open for Applications

The advert has now gone live for the PGR Lead for the Faculty of Sciences and is open for internal applications until 30th May. Please click here for the PGR Lead job description. 

Deadline: Monday 30 May, 2022

Apply to Host a Nuffield Research Placement Student

Nuffield Research Placements is seeking placements for local Year 12 students from a widening participation background with academics in the summer of 2022. They currently have several placements confirmed at the University of York, some with the Physics department. The contact Paula Symonds said: "I have a fantastic local Year 12 student who is looking for an earth science placement and I was wondering if any of your department would consider hosting some placements this summer? Placements can be face to face, virtual or hybrid; I can fit in with whatever is appropriate for you." If you are interested in this, please see this Nuffield Research Placement Recruitment poster or contact the STEM Projects Officer, Paula Symonds, for more information: Paula.Symonds@debp.org

NERC Funding Opportunity Preannouncement - Integrating finance and biodiversity for a nature positive future

Apply for funding to create research networks to integrate finance and biodiversity for a nature positive future. Click here for details on the NERC Funding scheme preannouncement. 

Opening date: May 2022 - Closing date: July 2022

• Got a query but not sure who to email? Click here for the full Departmental Who's Who, including email addresses. 

• Click here for our Useful Links Page with details on purchasing, Annual Leave, COVID-19 procedures amongst other things. 

Please continue to drop your items into the Research, Teaching, Outreach and Good News Spreadsheet. You will see there are multiple tabs, so please use the one that is most relevant to the activity and ensure that the description details are written out in full as you would like it to be presented, as it will be copied and pasted from here. 

If your item does not fit the spreadsheet, please email it to environment-pa@york.ac.uk as usual. 

Let's share and celebrate all of your wonderful activities and achievements!

Thanks Team!

Afternoon one and all. It's a brief one this week as we recover from the gargantuan Bank Holiday weekend. Be sure to take a look at Lucy's Sickness Absence reporting procedure notes and see if you are free to join our upcoming lecturer interviews. Finally we've got a photo of Bryce wearing a snorkel so there really is something for everyone.

Enjoy folks

Chloe Mitchell - PA to EGLT

Mugs and Tupperware in need of a home - 1 week to collect!

As a COVID-19 precaution, the kitchens were cleared of all mugs, Tupperware boxes and other miscellaneous items at the start of the pandemic. I will be putting all of these items out in the foyer in archive boxes and they will be available to collect between Weds 27th April - Weds 4th May. After that, they will be donated or disposed of so make sure you come along and take a look if you have been missing your favourite mug!

Invitation to attend interview - Lecturer in Sustainability with Archaeology

Nicky Milner and Roland Gehrels would like to invite all Archaeology and Environment staff to join the presentation section of the interview process for the new Lecturer in Sustainability post, this role will be split 50/50 between Archaeology and Environment. Each candidate has been asked to deliver a presentation covering the following: "briefly introduce yourself and what you have done to date; set out what you could contribute to the Sustainability MA/MSc programmes; and tell us about your future research plans including funding aspirations". This is of course voluntary if you can make time. Nicky will also request that you provide feedback and complete a poll at the end of the presentations.

Date: Friday 13th May

Time: The first presentation will start at 9:30 and the last one will finish at 11:30.

Location: Online - To join, click this interview Zoom link and use Meeting ID 925 7092 2376

Sickness Absence Reporting 

Lucy Orange, our Department Administration Coordinator, has produced a splendid presentation to clarify the process for reporting sickness absence. Please could everyone read this Sickness Absence Reporting presentation (5-10 mins) to ensure that we all comply with the correct procedure. This includes how to report your sickness absence, what Line Managers need to do and the importance of a return-to-work meeting. Please email environment-hr@york.ac.uk with any questions you have. 

PGR Progression Meetings - Return to in-person

The University has decided that all PGR progression meetings (from 1st April) should now take place in person. If there is a reason why you wish to have your progression meeting held remotely please let Maroula Hill (maroula.hill@york.ac.uk) know so that we can apply for permission for this to happen. I imagine that this will be granted as a matter of course for students not in York because they are based at another institution / doing their postgrad study remotely for non-COVID reasons, but any reasons related to COVID will be more heavily scrutinised.

Professor Mark E Hodson

Making the Difference Awards

Our fantastic MTD Award Panel met this week to discuss the Spring 2022 nominees. After an hour's tough deliberation, they produced a final list of recommended awards. The names of these lucky few will now be sent to Line Managers and the DMT for final sign off, before the big reveal at our next Staff Departmental Meeting. Thank you to all who nominated and well done to those hard-working nominees for keeping our Core Values at the forefront of all they do:

• We are a friendly and helpful community
• We make a positive difference
• We strive for environmental sustainability
• We are inclusive and celebrate diversity  
• We are curious and always learning

SEI York Celebration Event 

SEI York invites you to attend our event to celebrate the renewed partnership between SEI and the University of York. Partnership working is at the core of what we do. This event, which consists of a panel discussion and networking/poster reception, will showcase our research and our strength in partnership building to deliver impactful results. Speakers include: Professor Kiran Trehan (Pro-Vice-Chancellor for Partnerships and Engagement, University of York), Professor Måns Nilsson (Executive Director, SEI) and Dr Sarah West (Centre Director, SEI York). 

Click here for the SEI York Celebration Event Agenda and to register for free. 

Date: Mon 25 April 2022

Time: 13:30 – 16:30 BST

Location: This is a hybrid event and will be taking place both in person (in Central Hall) and online. Please select the correct ticket type when registering.

YESI/STFC Event - UK Food Systems in 2050: Trends, Roadmaps and Future Research Needs

A participatory workshop for all food system actors to co-develop roadmaps and future research needs for net zero food systems in the UK. This event is jointly hosted by the STFC Food Network+ and YESI. This is a panel discussion and participatory workshop, with active participation needed from the audience. For more information and to register, click this link to the UK Food Systems in 2050 Eventbrite page.

Date: Thurs 28 April 2022

Time: 11:00 – 17:00 BST

Location: Online

Hakai Magazine ran a feature story about the recent paper on Brexit and UK fisheries led by Bryce Stewart. 

Bryce Stewart gave one of the keynote talks at the Marine Biological Association Postgraduate Conference entitled 'Peaks and troughs: A two decade voyage through UK fisheries research'. The event was attended by a combination of over 300 people in person and online.

Colin McClean is a geographer and spatial analyst with over 20 years experience of spatial modelling across a range of research areas from conservation ecology and biodiversity through land use modelling and pollution impacts to biogeochemistry. His work involves the application of spatial analysis and GIS to environmental management. This work has involved modelling the potential impacts of climate change on African and UK plant species using species distribution modelling, the application of a number of reserve modelling and selection algorithms to both marine and terrestrial conservation problems. This work has included the use of machine learning optimisation methods such as genetic algorithms and simulated annealing.  Other recent collaborative work has included looking at Sahelian “greening” using detailed hydrologically relevant terrain modelling and the climate change impact modelling for the Shea Tree in the Sudano-Sahelian zone.  Common to most of this diverse work is the use of large and readily available spatial data sets for novel applications. Results from the climate change impacts work for Africa are cited in both the Stern Review and 2007 IPCC impact report. Work sponsored by WWF has been cited in the Royal Commission on Environmental Pollution’s marine fisheries report.  

New UOY Policy on the Payment of Individuals for Involvement with and Contribution to Research

The Policy on the Payment of Individuals for Involvement with and Contribution to Research is now available to access at the University Research Policies and Codes of Practice webpage. This has been developed to take into account HMRC requirements and funder guidance around payments to participants. Please take a moment to read the policy if it affects you. Should you have any questions please contact the Policy, Integrity and Performance team: policy-integrity-performance@york.ac.uk (formally RSPO).

York Open Research Awards

This scheme provides an inclusive opportunity to celebrate projects and advocacy initiatives across a variety of disciplines, recognising work which encourages dialogue, reflection and broader thinking about some of the issues involved in open research and its implementation. The awards are open to all staff and students (including postgraduate researchers). We are offering individual prizes of £200 per submission with the possibility of longer-term funding and operational support to help develop projects or initiatives. All entrants will also receive a goody bag of York Open Research merchandise (subject to availability)! Further information, including a full list of last year’s awardees and a link to the submission form can be found on our York Open Research Awards Wiki page.

Deadline for applications: Midday, Mon 16 May 2022

IDF Spring 2022 Call - Opens this Monday 

The UOY Internally-distributed Funding (IDF) Spring 2022 Call for funding applications will be launched on Monday 25 April. Funding will be available across a wide range of disciplines. For further details, please go to the UOY Internal Funding website. For call alerts and updates, sign up to the IFT mailing list here. If you have any questions please email re-internal-funding-team@york.ac.uk.

DEG Note: Any applications for over £2,000 must be signed off by Nic Carslaw, so please email nicola.carslaw@york.ac.uk if you plan to apply. 

Deadline for applications: Midday, Friday 20 May at 12 noon

• Got a query but not sure who to email? Click here for the full Departmental Who's Who, including email addresses. 

• Click here for our Useful Links Page with details on purchasing, Annual Leave, COVID-19 procedures amongst other things. 

Please continue to drop your items into the Research, Teaching, Outreach and Good News Spreadsheet. You will see there are multiple tabs, so please use the one that is most relevant to the activity and ensure that the description details are written out in full as you would like it to be presented, as it will be copied and pasted from here. 

If your item does not fit the spreadsheet, please email it to environment-pa@york.ac.uk as usual. 

Let's share and celebrate all of your wonderful activities and achievements!

Thanks Team!

Afternoon all. This week we have a splendid set of MTD nominations and we need you to complete our poll to pick your preferred charity for our DEG Summer Fair collection. Have a superb Easter weekend everyone

Chloe Mitchell - PA to EGLT

Open Day Recruitment - Back to in-person!

Four in person open days have just been announced which we need to recruit staff support for :

• Friday 1st July
• Sunday 3rd July
• Saturday 17th September
• Sunday 18th September

If you are available to support, please could you add your name to this Open Day Recruitment spreadsheet. Activities that need supporting are largely as they were before we moved online:

• Two stalls, one in the Exhibition centre and one in the Department
• Department tours
• Main Degree centred talks
• Mini lectures / research talks 

We will also be recruiting a team of student ambassadors to support. Please note the exact timings for Department talks have yet to be confirmed by the open day team, but we will confirm those to all volunteers as soon as possible. 

Many thanks your support. If you have any questions please contact Jess Roberts -  jessica.roberts@york.ac.uk

Calling All Bakers! - DEG Summer Fair

No Summer Fair is complete without a cake stall, so we are looking for volunteers to get crafty in the kitchen and whip up a culinary treat. There is a tab on the Summer Fair spreadsheet where bakers can sign up, and add details of their baked goods once decided (See Tab 2). It would be lovely to get a good selection, although no-one ever said 14 lots of brownies was a bad thing... Thanks in anticipation! Deborah Sharpe (see Dept Events below for full Summer Fair details). 

The Award Gap Research Project - Examining potential barriers to student success at the University of York

The University is committed to addressing gaps in continuation, progression and award across the diversity of our student cohorts at any stage in the student lifecycle and will act to close such gaps where they appear. Inclusive-Learning@York is inviting academic staff to participate in a short survey aimed at helping us understand the factors that may affect degree outcomes. We would be really grateful if you could please click the link to the Award Gap Research Project Survey to information on how to take part.

Closing Date: 18th April 2022

Making the Difference Awards - Final Nominations for Spring 2022!

We would like to share details of everyone who has been nominated thus far, although some of the below may be ineligible to win this round if they won an award in the previous 12 months or if they have been in post for less than 6 months. Further MTD eligibility criteria can be found here. Well done to all and keep up the great work!

Please note that nominations for this round of awards are now closed. Our review panel will meet shortly to decide on our lucky winner/s! 

Congratulations to Rebecca Reid Rodrigues, who has received THREE nominations for an MTD award for exemplifying the following core values:

• 1. We are inclusive and embrace our diversity
• 2. We make a positive difference
• 4. We are a friendly and helpful community
• 5. We are curious and always learning

Congratulations to Marcy Melis, who has received TWO nominations for an MTD award for exemplifying the following core values:

• 2. We make a positive difference
• 4. We are a friendly and helpful community

Congratulations to The Whole Professional Services Team, who have been nominated for an MTD award for exemplifying the following core values:

• 2. We make a positive difference
• 4. We are a friendly and helpful community

Congratulations to Lucy Orange, who has been nominated for an MTD award for exemplifying the following core values:

• 1. We are inclusive and embrace our diversity
• 2. We make a positive difference
• 4. We are a friendly and helpful community
• 5. We are curious and always learning

Congratulations to Maroula Hill, who has been nominated for an MTD award for exemplifying the following core values:

• 1. We are inclusive and embrace our diversity
• 2. We make a positive difference
• 4. We are a friendly and helpful community

Congratulations to PGR Student Services, who has been nominated for an MTD award for exemplifying the following core values:

• 1. We are inclusive and embrace our diversity
• 2. We make a positive difference
• 4. We are a friendly and helpful community

Congratulations to Dave Hay, who has been nominated for an MTD award for exemplifying the following core values:

• 2. We make a positive difference
• 4. We are a friendly and helpful community

Congratulations to Chloe Mitchell, who has been nominated for an MTD award for exemplifying the following core values:

• 1. We are inclusive and embrace our diversity
• 2. We make a positive difference
• 4. We are a friendly and helpful community
• 5. We are curious and always learning

Congratulations to Robert Marchant, who has been nominated for an MTD award for exemplifying the following core values:

• 1. We are inclusive and embrace our diversity
• 2. We make a positive difference
• 3. We strive for environmental sustainability
• 5. We are curious and always learning

Congratulations to Adrian Gonzalez who has been nominated for an MTD award for exemplifying the following core values:

• 1. We are inclusive and embrace our diversity
• 2. We make a positive difference
• 4. We are a friendly and helpful community
• 5. We are curious and always learning

Congratulations to Roland Gehrels, who has been nominated for an MTD award for exemplifying the following core values:

• 1. We are inclusive and embrace our diversity
• 2. We make a positive difference
• 3. We strive for environmental sustainability
• 4. We are a friendly and helpful community
• 5. We are curious and always learning

Congratulations to Jess Roberts, who has been nominated for an MTD award for exemplifying the following core values:

• 2. We make a positive difference
• 4. We are a friendly and helpful community
• 5. We are curious and always learning

UK Food Systems in 2050: Trends, Roadmaps and Future Research Needs

A participatory workshop for all food system actors to co-develop roadmaps and future research needs for net zero food systems in the UK. This event is jointly hosted by the STFC Food Network+ and YESI. This is a panel discussion and participatory workshop, with active participation needed from the audience. For more information and to register, click this link to the UK Food Systems in 2050 Eventbrite page.

Date: Thu, 28 April 2022,

Time: 11:00 – 17:00 BST

Location: Online

DEG Summer Fair - Thurs 5th May - 14:00 onwards

All hands on deck: Planning is well underway for our spectacular DEG Summer Fair. To give you a flavour of what's on offer we will have Hook a Duck, a Plant Swap, a Tin Can Coconut Shy, Cake Stall, Face Painting, Guess the No. of Sweets, photo opportunities, netball shootout, geological wonders...all topped off with A PIMMS STALL! Thank you to everyone who has already offered to help out on the day. If you fancy lending a hand setting up or clearing down (less appealing I know..), drop me an email environment-pa@york.ac.uk. Many hands make light work! But more importantly, helpers may benefit from excess sweets and other leftover goods so be a sport and GET INVOLVED! Set up will be between 11:00-14:00 and the best clear up session you will have ever experienced will be around 16:30-17:00 on the day so if you can give as much or as little time as you are able I personally would be very grateful! 

Doing our bit: The fair and games will of course be free of charge, but we are keen to set up a charity donation page where people might like to give a couple of £s to a good cause to mark the occasion and to strive towards those Departmental Core Values. Please could everyone submit their vote for their preferred charity via this Summer Fair Charity Donation Form by Friday 29th April. The choices are:

• Yorkshire Wildlife Trust: https://www.ywt.org.uk/
• St Nicks Centre for Nature and Green Living: https://stnicks.org.uk/about-us/
• Treemendous York: https://www.treemendousyork.com/
• Woodland Trust:https://www.woodlandtrust.org.uk/

Thanks everyone! Look forward to seeing you all there  

Summer Fair Planning Team - Kirsten, Chloe, Bex, Michelle, Adrian and Laura 

NERC EDI Workshop: Promoting a More Inclusive Culture in Environmental Science and Geography

All DEG Staff are invited to take part in an externally funded workshop focusing on promoting a more inclusive culture in environmental science and geography. The workshop will be run by ChangeMakers UnLtd, an organisation that specialises in bringing people together to work on challenging issues around race, racial justice, and community cohesion. The workshop will cover many aspects of challenging racism, such as unpacking and exploring language, seeing ourselves as racialised beings, acting as a bystander, and how to be an ally. The session will have time to support discussion, sharing of practices, and to develop key skills that underpin effective inclusive leadership and culture. 

If you would like to attend, please could you email environment-pa@york.ac.uk by Friday 6th May at the latest with any dietary requirements. Places are limited and will be reserved on a first-come-first-served basis. After this date, any remaining places will be offered to other members of staff in the University.

Date: Thursday 9th June 2022

Time: 10:00-16:00

Location: TBC

This talk is part of Kathryn Arnold's NERC funded EDI collaboration with Salford and Huddersfield. In this talk, historian of science James Poskett will explore the connection between the development of environmental science and the growth of European empires. This talk will also highlight the forgotten contributions of colonised, enslaved, and Indigenous peoples to the making of modern environmental science. The future of environmental science, Poskett argues, ultimately depends on a better understanding of the legacies of these histories. Please click this link for more information on the Environmental Science and Empire talk and to register your place. 

Date: Friday 22nd April 2022

Time: 12:30 - 13:30 BST

Location: Online

What do we mean by ‘Regeneration’? - A Time to Talk hosted by the UOY Research Champions

We are emerging from a global pandemic and needing to address urgent issues about the world we live in, particularly with respect to climate change, food production, and nature recovery. There are calls to 'build back better’ and to restore and regenerate the places in which we live. This dialogue implies that there was a previous 'better' time to which we wish to return, and that there is a common vision for the future to which we all aspire. What can we learn from the different disciplines and their perspectives on ‘regeneration’? For example, from biodiversity, societal, and urban perspectives. What do we wish to achieve, how do we measure success, and who decides the baselines to which we wish to return? 

Join us for a lunchtime Time to Talk session to hear researchers from different disciplines draw out the commonalities and challenges that exist within this topic, before engaging in an open discussion of what we mean by 'regeneration'. 

Click here to book your place at the Time to Talk: Regeneration event. 

Date: Tuesday 3rd May 2022

Time: 12:00-14:00

Location: LMB/037X

York Pride Event - sign up to host a stall!

As in previous (pre-Covid) years, Chris Murphy would like to invite other departments and schools to join us in hosting a stall at the Knavesmire for this year's York Pride event.  This contribution can take several forms including:

• Running an interactive activity and providing staff or students to help present it.  (This doesn't need to be specifically LGBT+ themed!)
• Provide leaflets, posters, banners (or anything really) which could represent your department's support of the LGBT+ community.
• Come along and help us welcome festival-goers to the University stall. (There will be a schedule so as not to overcrowd the stall and reduce the need for individuals to spend the whole day 'on duty')

Everyone - from the LGBT+ community including friends and allies - will be welcomed. To give you an idea of what will be on offer, in physics we usually provide some 'diffraction glasses' which people can wear in order to see rainbows all around, and a meteorite which is older than the Earth which people can hold and talk about. It's more about having a presence than being specifically educational but if we can do both, why not!?  I'll likely be driving a van from campus to the Knavesmire so I can help transporting materials on the day if that would be helpful too.

Please email chris.murphy@york.ac.uk by Tuesday 3rd May if you would like to contribute, or even if you'd just like some more information. 

Date: Saturday 18th June 2022

Website: https://yorkpride.org.uk/ 

Congratulations to Matt Pickering and Dave Hay who have been successful in securing £75k from the UoY Capital Equipment Replacement Scheme in order to purchase a new Agilent GC-MS (gas chromatograph with mass spectrometer detector). It will be installed sometime over summer in the analytical chemistry (chromatography) labs.

Congratulations to Tabitha Kabora and Katie Campbell (External - Cambridge) on her book chapter: Kabora T.K., Campbell K. (2022) Archival Photography, UAV Surveys and Structure-from-Motion Techniques for Local Heritage Management. In: Ch'ng E., Chapman H., Gaffney V., Wilson A.S. (eds) Visual Heritage: Digital Approaches in Heritage Science. Springer Series on Cultural Computing. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-77028-0_17

Congratulations to Lindsay Stringer for her talk at the Royal Society this week. She presented at the Resilient Futures conferece, which showcased the three IPCC reports published under the 6th assessment cycle. Lindsay's talk focused on scientific questions and research gaps linked to climate resilient development and the Sustainable Development Goals.

Bryce Stewart gave a seminar on 'Ocean Optimism', which highlighted a number of his recent research findings, to the York Probus club. 

Karen Parkhill has had a bumper week! She was interviewed on the evening news by BBC Look North Yorkshire (TV), Radio 5Live and by BBC Radio Hereford and Worcester about the UK Governments Energy Security Strategy. Go Karen!

Josh Kirshner, Enoch Adranyi (PhD student, York IGDC) and Henrice Altink (York, History) participated in a three-day training workshop on 'photovoice,' a methodology involving the use of participatory photography, with a team of academics and PhD students in Geography, Environmental Studies, and Linguistics at the University of Ghana. The training is faciliated by PhotoVoice.org, supported by Research England's programme on participatory research, and is part of an ongoing collaboration between the Universities of York and Ghana examining the environmental and social implications of small-scale gold mining and exploring more sustainable solutions. 

The DEG Leadership Team had an inspiring training session last week from Honorary Fellow, best-selling author and seasoned entrepreneur, Kris Kluver. Kris is guiding the team in developing next year's departmental goals and coaching them in elements such as accountability, the power of language, using metrics effectively and tightening up our milestone review process. Here's a photo of EGLT, Chloe and Kris! 

Back row: Claire Hughes, Daryl Stump, Adrian Gonzalez, Chloe Mitchell, Matthew Badham, Kris Kluver, Bryce Stewart. Front row: Ioan Fazey, Roland Gehrels, Nic Carslaw

Call for Expert Applications - Education Reform Slovakia

An ambitious reform in Slovakia, which is being realized under the EU’s Recovery and Resilience Facility, is currently being planned. The goal of the reform is to implement a system of periodic assessment of the research performance of the higher education and public research institutions. The inspiration for the reform comes from established foreign systems of research quality evaluation, especially from the Research Excellence Framework (REF) in the United Kingdom. For this initiative, we are aiming to attract strong and diverse experts from across the globe. We are reaching out to you with the hope that you and your colleagues also find this opportunity meaningful, attractive, and exciting. We welcome applications from among your colleagues for panels and sub-panels that will assess the research outputs of the research institutions in Slovakia in the fields of social sciences, humanities, arts, medicine, natural sciences, technical sciences, agriculture, forestry, and veterinary science, as well as in their sub-fields.

Key Information:

• Application process: your colleagues can apply directly by filling out the form at https://forms.office.com/r/KkVUTfECQV (it will take approximately 15 minutes to complete the form) or sending an e-mail with their CV/publication details to nominations@minedu.sk;
• The reform phase requiring the panellists’ involvement: 1 July – 31 December 2022;
• Time commitment: limited part-time involvement, so your colleagues will be able to pursue their ongoing commitments;
• Travel: no travel requirements;
• Financial reward: EUR 17,460.48 for each panellist.
• Relevant Education Reform Slovakia application documents
• Closing date for applications: 30 April 2022;

For more information on the scheme, please click this link to the EU Recovery and Resilience Facility or email nominations@minedu.sk 

Still time to apply for E&G Development Funds!

Thank you to everyone who has applied to the E&G Development Fund recently - there have been some really exciting projects proposed! We still have some funding left uncommitted, so the next deadline will be midday, Friday 6 May.

This funding is for activities such as priming of new research (including pedagogical), collaborative research visits, organisation of workshops, establishment of networks, conference attendance, and Challenge Area Research Group (CARG) activities. This might include funding for travel, consumables or equipment, but NOT for buy-out of academic staff time.

Given we have healthy funds remaining, we are relaxing restrictions on limits, so that you can now apply for:

• Up to £1300 for activities relating to travel/conference visits (including virtual conferences)
• £2,500-£3,000 indicative costs for research priming activities - these can be really helpful to provide pilot data for forthcoming grant applications.
• Up to £1,500 contribution towards open access costs for non-UKRI research, although for 99% of what we publish, these should now be covered by the new agreements in place with the library.
• Up to £1000 for SPIG activities

The fund is open to ART, T&S and ECR (Early Career Researcher) staff, plus PGRs (Postgraduate Researchers). PGRs - please talk to your supervisor first and use your training grant before applying to this scheme. Travel funds are limited to one successful application per person per year. Funding must be spent by 31 July 2022. To apply please complete the Development Fund Application Form. 

Deadline for applications: Midday, Friday 6th May 2022

Laura Smith - Research Facilitator 

L’Oréal-UNESCO For Women in Science International Awards

The Fondation L’Oréal and UNESCO kindly invite you to nominate an eminent woman researcher for the 2023 L’Oréal-UNESCO For Women in Science International Awards dedicated to Physical sciences, Mathematics and Computer science. We would also be grateful if you could diffuse this call within your scientific network to ensure a wide diversity of nominees. We thank you in advance for your commitment and your valuable contribution to our program. You will find more information about the L'Oreal-UNESCO Women in Science call here and on the Women in Science website. To nominate someone, you will need to register for an account online. 

 Deadline for nominations: Tuesday 31st May 2022

2023/24 Fellowship Opportunity at Durham University’s Institute of Advanced Study

The IAS generates transformational thinking by facilitating exchanges of knowledge across the full spectrum of disciplinary areas. Each Fellowship provides an honorarium (£3,000); a travel allowance; and accommodation. There are up to 20 fellowships available annually, each for a three-month period (October-December 2023 or January-March 2024). Please click here for further information on the Uni of Durham Fellowship Opportunity and current Durham IAS projects. Fellowship applications are invited from scholars who would also like to work with these projects, or who want to come to Durham for a term to work on collaborative interdisciplinary research projects with academics at Durham University. During their stay, Fellows are expected to deliver a public lecture, present a ‘work in progress’ seminar and to engage generally in IAS activities. 

Closing date for applications: 17th June 2022

• Got a query but not sure who to email? Click here for the full Departmental Who's Who, including email addresses. 

• Click here for our Useful Links Page with details on purchasing, Annual Leave, COVID-19 procedures amongst other things. 

Please continue to drop your items into the Research, Teaching, Outreach and Good News Spreadsheet. You will see there are multiple tabs, so please use the one that is most relevant to the activity and ensure that the description details are written out in full as you would like it to be presented, as it will be copied and pasted from here. 

If your item does not fit the spreadsheet, please email it to environment-pa@york.ac.uk as usual. 

Let's share and celebrate all of your wonderful activities and achievements!

Thanks Team!

Morning everyone! This week I would like to highlight the DEG Movie Night where Bryce will be showing the 2021 docufilm Becoming Cousteau. Additionally, if anyone would like a Research Spotlight in the coming weeks, do let me know. 

Enjoy folks

Chloe Mitchell - PA to EGLT

University of York EDI Glossary

The EDI team has compiled a glossary of ED&I terms. Colleagues are encouraged to explore the resource as a starting point to further their EDI understanding. Its aim is to empower members of the University community to undertake further research to expand their knowledge. By its nature, the content will evolve over time and may stimulate varying views and opinions. 

Making the Difference Awards

The deadline for nominating your wonderful colleagues for an MTD award is fast approaching! For more information about MTD awards, including the criteria, all past nominations and winners, please visit our Making the Difference Wiki Page. Please note that nominees must have been in post for a minimum of 6 months to be eligible to win an award. 

If you would like to nominate someone for a Making the Difference Award, please click here to fill in the form. 

Deadline for nominations: Friday 15th April, midday

MTD PANEL MEMBERS STILL NEEDED!

We currently need an additional academic and technician on the MTD panel. The commitment is very minimal; once the deadline has passed, you will need to have a look through the nominations and join the review meeting on Thursday 21st April 15:00-16:00 to discuss and finalise the winners. If you would like to be on the panel, please email environment-hr@york.ac.uk.

DEG Summer Fair  

Click on this DEG Summer Fair stall sign-up sheet to see who is down to do what! We still have Keepy Uppy Challenge, Welly Toss and Hoop Toss in need of a willing pair of hands to run the game. Why not nudge a colleague and sign up together? We promise it will be a hoot! Also, do feel free to be creative and add on any other stall ideas you can think of. 

Date: Thursday 5th May

Time: 14:00 onwards

Location: TBC

DEG Movie Night! - Becoming Cousteau

Bryce Stewart and his valiant team have organised a Movie Night where they will be showing the beautiful, thought-provoking 2021 docufilm, Becoming Cousteau. The description of the film on National Geographic reads: "Adventurer, filmmaker, inventor, author, unlikely celebrity and conservationist: For over four decades, Jacques-Yves Cousteau and his explorations under the ocean became synonymous with a love of science and the natural world. As he learned to protect the environment, he brought the whole world with him, sounding alarms more than 50 years ago about the warming seas and our planet’s vulnerability." You can watch the Becoming Cousteau movie trailer here. 

Movie Night is scheduled on the same day as the Summer Fair, so why not make it a bumper day of socialising, hoop tossing and cultural ocean-based delights and sign up here for your free Movie Night: Becoming Cousteau ticket. Refreshments will be provided!

Date: Thursday 5th May 

Time: 18:00 – 20:30 

Location: ENV005 Lecture Theatre

DEG Rounders Team Anyone?

In case anyone is interested, I spotted that the UOY Social Rounders League is on its way for the summer term. Open to all staff and students, the league will give an opportunity to play fun weekly rounders games against other teams. Whether you want some fresh air, to try something new or even a team bonding opportunity. Matches will take place on Thursday and Friday evenings on 22 Acres (I have enquired about timings), and teams can be six to nine people. If you would like to express interest in linking up with other DEG rounders fanatics, drop me an email and I'll get a spreadsheet on the go!: environment-pa@york.ac.uk 

RIC / UPEN Webinar: Engaging with Government and Parliament - lessons from Canada and the UK

UPEN’s International Subcommittee is hosting an online webinar with Research Impact Canada on lessons learned when engaging with Government and Parliament. Join our panelists for this exciting presentation about the research-policy interface and successful engagement with government bodies. This session will feature researchers with experience collaborating with government as well as professional staff supporting those collaborations. This session will be of interest to academic and professional university staff, as well as policymakers from all levels of government. You can register for the RIC/UPEN event here.

Date: Wednesday 27th April

Time: 16:00 BST

Location: Online

Introduction to Intellectual Property & Commercialisation Support Available

The course provides a brief overview of what IP is and most importantly how it can be used to benefit your research. Coming away from the session you will understand how IP and commercialisation processes can be used to increase your research impact, develop new funding opportunities and strengthen your grant applications. Find out more about the Intellectual Property and Commercialisation course and book your place here. 

Dates: 27th April, 25th May, 22nd June, 20th July, 24th August, 21st September, 19th October, 23rd November, 14th December

Trans Awareness: The Basics

This is an online 105 minute entry-level session aimed at University of York staff. It will introduce colleagues to the key ideas and information they need to know about trans-related matters. This is a repeat of previous sessions organised by the University and it will be delivered by Gendered Intelligence. To reserve a place on the course, please go to the Trans Awareness registration page. 

Date: Wednesday 4th May 

Time: 14.00-15.45

Location: Online

Graduation Celebration Receptions

The central Graduation Team is organising celebratory receptions after each of the ceremonies being held for those who graduated during the pandemic. See the graduation ceremony list here. As they are being held during term time and the campus is busy with events, these celebratory receptions will mean you don't need to organise individual receptions, but they will allow you and your Department to come together with your graduands and graduates from 2020 and 2021 over canapes and a glass of fizz or juice in Vanbrugh Dining Room and Greg’s Place, which will be suitably decorated for the special occasion. There will also be a stage if you wish to mark the occasion with speeches.

Graduands / graduates will receive a complimentary ticket to the relevant reception following their ceremony and they can purchase two tickets for guests at £10 per person (to cover food and drink). If there are any spare tickets, they will be released one week prior to the ceremonies where graduands and graduates can purchase a further two tickets (maximum). This information will be sent to students in due course. 

To book your place: Staff can attend free of charge but do need to complete the May 2022 Celebratory Central Receptions Staff Ticket booking form no later than Tuesday 26 April 2022.

Date: Friday 6th May 

Time: 14:00 - Graduation Ceremony 15 / 15:15-16:45 - Celebratory Reception

Location: Vanbrugh Dining Room / Greg's Place

Engagement

Adrian Gonzalez will be delivering an introductory lecture on sustainability to Management Staff at Hollybank Trust, a charitable organisation providing residential and educational facilities to children and young adults with profound and multiple disabilities across 10 residential homes across North Yorkshire. This will be followed up by a "sustainability" away day for senior and mid-level management staff in summer to explore practical steps that they can make in their transiton towards a more sustainable future.

The Express ran a story on Brexit and fisheries which includes a section on Bryce Stewart's recent paper https://www.express.co.uk/news/politics/1590774/Brexit-news-Rees-Mogg-fisheries-red-tape-border-EU-UK-trade-deal-vn

Josh Kirshner participated in the first in-person workshop for the UKRI-GCRI CESET project (Community Energy and the Sustainable Energy Transition in Ethiopia, Malawi and Mozambique), held at the University of Mzuzu, in Mzuzu, Malawi. Project partners from Ethiopia, Malawi, Mozambique, along with South Africa and the UK, met to discuss various aspects of our research on community-led energy systems, including site visits to some off-grid energy projects in northern Malawi. We discussed project delivery plans, synergies and cross-cutting themes, key challenges, impact and communication plans, and project legacy. Our group included a documentary filmmaker and a representive from the UK FCDO-supported 'Transforming Energy Access: Learning Partnership' (TEA-LP), a partnership of several African universities committed to training African graduates in low-carbon energy systems skills to drive the continent's transition to sustainable energy access for all.

Air quality legislation has been focused almost exclusively on regulating the outdoor environment – from industrial smog to diesel exhaust fumes – but Professor Nicola Carslaw shows how the pendulum is swinging towards tackling potentially harmful air pollutants in the places we feel most secure: our homes.

Listen to Professor Nic Carslaw discuss whether we should be worried about indoor air pollution as part of the Breathing City seminar series. Nic's talk title is “Indoor air pollution: should we be worried?”

Nic also discussed the problem of indoor air pollution at the YorkTalks 2022 event with a talk titled "Indoor air pollution: the dirty secret lurking in our homes?". 

NERC Discovery Science Scheme Clarifications

Following on from my email last month regarding the demand management processes around the Pushing the Frontiers call, and in response to a few queries, I'd like to confirm the following for the new discovery science programmes:

• Pushing the Frontiers - ALL grants to the Pushing the Frontiers scheme need to go via demand management, even those where you are Co-I. This is a change to the rules for this round. That means an EoI needs to be submitted by the 20th of April to be able to submit to the July round. Proformas should be submitted to the Expert Group for all applications involving York, whether they are for proposals lead by York or not, to ensure that all proposals receive the same level of feedback and support. 
• Exploring the Frontiers - this call is not subject to demand management by NERC, but there is an expectation from NERC that institutions will apply some form of quality control - it's expected that existing departmental peer review processes meet this criteria, and no additional internal process or sift will be applied.

Dr Robyn Inglis - Acting Research & Innovation Development Manager (Environment) & YESI Research Facilitator

• Got a query but not sure who to email? Click here for the full Departmental Who's Who, including email addresses. 

• Click here for our Useful Links Page with details on purchasing, Annual Leave, COVID-19 procedures amongst other things. 

Please continue to drop your items into the Research, Teaching, Outreach and Good News Spreadsheet. You will see there are multiple tabs, so please use the one that is most relevant to the activity and ensure that the description details are written out in full as you would like it to be presented, as it will be copied and pasted from here. 

If your item does not fit the spreadsheet, please email it to environment-pa@york.ac.uk as usual. 

Let's share and celebrate all of your wonderful activities and achievements!

Thanks Team!

Afternoon everyone! This week we've got Making the Difference Awards (get those nominations in by 15th April!), an SEI & UOY Partnership Celebration Event, a Research Spotlight on peatland research all topped off with an upcoming Pub Quiz! Enjoy folks

Chloe Mitchell - PA to EGLT

A Warm Welcome to our New Starters! 

Katariina Nara-Zanotti has joined us from the Central Student Services Team as our new Student Services Coordinator. Welcome Katariina!

Equality and Diversity - Culture Survey Report 

We ran two culture surveys over the Christmas period; one for staff and postgraduate research students, another for undergraduate and postgraduate students. The EDC have pored over the data and produced a summary of both. You can find the links to the surveys below and summaries of all EDC meetings can be found here on the Wiki. Jon Hill

Equality and Diversity Culture Survey summary - Staff and PGR

Equality and Diversity Culture Survey Summary - Student

HR has developed an Equality and Diversity Glossary which you may find useful. 

Making the Difference Awards

The University recognises and values the hard work, commitment and achievements of all staff. The 'Making the Difference' awards are intended to provide recognition to any member of staff whose contribution on a one-off or short-term basis has been exceptional or outstanding and is worthy of particular note. The scheme provides staff, managers and colleagues with the opportunity to nominate an individual or a team for a recognition payment worth up to £250 per person (subject to normal pay deductions, e.g. PAYE). The university also recognises and values outstanding contribution of a sustained nature. Staff should refer to details of the 'Rewarding Excellence' scheme for information about awards of that kind. 

For more information about MTD awards, including the criteria, all past nominations and winners, please visit our Making the Difference Wiki Page. Please note that nominees must have been in post for a minimum of 6 months to be eligible to win an award. 

If you would like to nominate someone for a Making the Difference Award, please click here to fill in the form. 

Deadline for nominations: Friday 15th April, midday

MTD PANEL MEMBERS NEEDED!

We currently need an additional academic and technician on the MTD panel. The commitment is very minimal; once the deadline has passed, you will need to have a look through the nominations and join the review meeting on Thursday 21st April 15:00-16:00 to discuss and finalise the winners. If you would like to be on the panel, please email environment-hr@york.ac.uk.

Low-Carbon Development in Africa: How to Visually Create Impact

Join SEI's and SweDev's dialogue on development research and storytelling with illustrator Coralie Legrande.

Date / Time / Location: Thursday 7th April 2022 / 12:00-13:00 GMT /  Online via Teams

Click here for full details on the Low Carbon Development in Africa Event

Accounting for the Impacts of Covid-19 on the Economy Using SEI's Epi-Macro Model

A webinar on SEI's new Epidemic-Macroeconomic Model, a tool to analyse the economic impacts of the pandemic on sustainability planning.

Date / Time / Location: Monday 11 April 2022 / 13:00-14:00 BST / Online

Click here for full details on SEI's Accounting for the Impacts of Covid-19 on the Economy event 

Pub Quiz - Thursday 21st April, 5pm

Individuals and teams of staff or students can sign up by emailing Kirsten Earl at: environment-dcc@york.ac.uk 

Sign up by Monday 11th April

Quiz date: Thursday 21st April, 5pm

SEI York Celebration 2022

SEI York invites you to attend our event to celebrate the renewed partnership between SEI and the University of York. Partnership working is at the core of what we do. This event, which consists of a panel discussion and networking/poster reception, will showcase our research and our strength in partnership building to deliver impactful results. Speakers include Professor Kiran Trehan (Pro-Vice-Chancellor for Partnerships and Engagement, University of York), Professor Måns Nilsson (Executive Director, SEI) and Dr Sarah West (Centre Director, SEI York). NOTE: This is a hybrid event and will be taking place both in person (in Central Hall) and online. Please select the correct ticket type when registering.

Date / Time: Monday 25 April 2022 / 1:30pm

Click here for full details on the SEI York Celebration Agenda .  

DEG Seminar - All Staff and Students Welcome! 📢

Our next DEG Seminar will be a one-off 🌞 SUMMER TERM SPECIAL! - HYBRID EVENT! 🌞 You can join in person or via Zoom.

Speaker: Professor Sarah Bridle, DEG - Click here for bio

Title: Narrowing the gap between academic research and policymakers: notes from a 6 month secondment to Defra

Date: Tuesday 24th May

Time: 12:30-13:30

Venue: ENV005 Lecture Theatre

Zoom link: https://york-ac-uk.zoom.us/j/98378210924?pwd=YitML215bnhJVlByVE96SE12cTNRQT09

Meeting ID: 983 7821 0924

Passcode: 118082

You can find the recordings of previous seminars and the list of future seminars here. If you know someone who would be perfect to come and talk to us about their research activities, let me or Rob Marchant know and we can add them to the schedule for next year

DEG Summer Fair ☀️ 

See the flyer for full details of the event. Anyone can come along to enjoy the fun, but we are also in need of staff volunteers to run some stalls, such as those suggested on the sign-up sheet.

GSA Chill and Chat - Event for Postgrads

Chill & Chat is back again on Wednesday 6th April 3-5pm in Wentworth downstairs Common Room. This week we will have the usual refreshments, biscuits, activities, and...design your own little nest with free Cadbury Mini Eggs! Hope to see you there!

Christopher Carr 
Advice and Welfare Coordinator - Graduate Students' Association Advice Centre

Knowledge Hacks - Modularisation and Semesterisation

We are delighted to offer a list of events, designed to help and support you in the Programme and Module redesign process.  These knowledge hacks will enable you to hear from knowledge experts, ask questions, share knowledge and ask other departments their opinions on particular questions.

Please visit our Knowledge Hacks Google Site for more information and how to book.

Trieste Next Festival of Scientific Research - 11th Edition

Title: The Boundaries of Science. Innovation and research: ethical limits and new frontiers

Location: Trieste (Northeastern Italy)

Dates: 22-24 September 2022

Click here to find out more about the Trieste Next Festival

Congratulations to Kerry Neal who has passed his viva (MSc by research) with no revisions. A really fantastic piece of work re developing Islamic theories of transboundary aquifer governance that I am sure will have huge impact. Many thanks to Lindsay Stringer and Prof Kamal Salhi (U of Leeds) for acting as examiners. 

Chris West (SEI) has published a new discussion brief Taking responsibility for supply chain impacts: who, why and how? looking at the responsibility of supply chain actors in addressing production level impacts.

Congratulations to Lindsay Stringer who is corresponding author on this paper accepted in Land: Akhtar-Schuster M, Stringer LC, Metternicht G, Barger N, Chotte JL, Kust G. 2022. Assessing the impact of science in the implementation of the United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification. In press in Land. Doi to follow when the proofs are through

Congratulations to Nic Carslaw and Dave Shaw who have just had a paper published in Indoor Air looking at the potential to change cleaning product formulations to improve indoor air quality.

Congratulations to Luke Andrews has just passed his viva with minor corrections! The examiners were Angela Gallego-Sala (Exeter) and Kelly Redeker (Biology). 

Congratulations to Sophie Williams has just passed her viva with minor corrections! Thanks to the examiners Robin Edwards (Trinity College Dublin) and Dave Rippin. 

Congratulations to Lindsay Stringer who gave a keynote talk (online) at the International Conference on the Sustainable Development Goals, Lahore College for Women University, Pakistan. Her session entitled Life on Land: Progress and Challenges was very well attended.

Congratulations to Katherine Selby for her paper 'Pollen season trends as markers of climate change impact: Betula, Quercus and Poaceae. Published with co-authors in Science of the Total Environment. 

Congratulations to Blaine Hancock who has just passed his viva with minor corrections. His thesis was entitled: A geochemical investigation into the drivers of recent algal community change in small English lakes. His examiners were Brendan Keely (York) and Virginia Panizzo (Nottingham).

Congratulations to Amy Molotoks (SEI) on the publicaton of the report A tool in the toolkit: can true cost accounting remove siloed thinking about food loss and waste? produced for the Global Food Security Programme

Congratulations to Gideon Baffoe and Keith Kintrea (external) on the publication of their paper: Towards understanding the landscapes of neighborhood research: an insight from bibliometric analysis. Sustainability, 14(5), 3115. 

Congratulations to Gideon Baffoe and Shilpi Roy (external) on the publication of their paper: Colonial legacies and contemporary urban planning practices in Dhaka, Bangladesh. Planning Perspectives. 

Congratulations to Lindsay Stringer for winning an International Exchanges 2021 Cost Share (NSFC) award for overseas travel between collaborators in the UK and China, from the Royal Society. The exchange is with Professor Chen Zeng (Huazhong Agricultural University) to work on the project "Tradeoffs and synergies between climate change mitigation and adaptation in relation to regional land use change".

Congratulations to Lisa Emberson for winning another International Exchanges 2021 Cost Share (NSFC) award for overseas travel between collaborators in the UK and China, from the Royal Society. The exchange is with Professor Zhaozhong Feng (Nanjing University of Information Science & Technology) to work on the project "Understanding the role of air pollution and climate on staple crop yields and nutrition in China". The award will provide funds for E&G PhD students Pritha Pande and Jo Cook to spend time in the research labs in China. 

Adrian Gonzalez has received a teaching buy-out to co-lead and develop ESAY's first interdepartmental Bespoke Interdisciplinary Module (BIM) with colleagues from the Department of Chemistry and York Law School. The BIM is entitled "Climate Crisis Action Lab" and will place students from different disciplines in the position of strategic environmental rights investigators and campaigners who are investigating  issues relating to the climate crisis. Over the coming months we will develop the curriculum and run a pilot in preparation for the BIM to commence in AY 22-23.

 SEI's Chris West, Jonathan Green, Simon Croft and Amy Molotoks have published a Q&A introducing the Commodity Footprints dashboard and explaining how this free online tool can be used to visualize data on the global environmental impacts of consumption and production.

Bryce Stewart has delivered a series of talks to primary schools in York over the last week about "Why we should care for the ocean" as part of their Earth Day celebrations. So far he has visited Hempland Primary and St Wilfred's Primary and on Friday he will talk to St George's Primary. The children have been very enthuastic!

Karen Parkhill attended, as an invited participant, the British Academy Roundtable on sustainable futures. The goal of this was to discuss how we can transition to a low carbon society and what sort of society we want, whilst not leaving anyone behind. This Roundtable is feeding into a new line of work to explore transitions to net zero via a people-centred approach. The Roundtable brought together academic experts in this area, and key prestigious stakeholders from policy, industry and NGOs.

Jean McKendree is on the Co-ordinating Committee launching the Malton and Norton Library of Things on 3 May. If anyone has items they want to find a home for during spring cleaning, please do consider a donation. We need garden tools, DIY tools, sewing machine, camping equipment, or anything else that you think someone might find useful as a short term rental. Of course, we can use volunteers as well!

Post Offer Visit Day a Great Success!

We had our last POVD of the year on Saturday the 26th March with 32 applicants plus another 40 or so guests. A big thank-you to all the staff who came along and delivered presentations or held discussion groups; Josh, Brett, Roland, Sally, Julia and Xun and especially to those who stepped in at the last minute when we were short due to covid, Paul Hudson and Dave Shaw. Thanks also to Katherine Brookfield and Samarthia who offered to help as backup if needed.

Our student ambassadors did a magnificent job and so many applicants and their guests said wonderful things about them. They were Matthew Darby, Georgia Best, Gina Woodmancy, Dan Elliot, Tom McGonagle, Joy Kinuthia, Louise O'Sullivan. Molly Hodson, Eloise Bryard and Claudia Vargas. Special thanks to Eloise Bryard who conducted a lab demonstration on ice cores and talked about her dissertation, ably assisted by Tom McGonagle and our other ES and EG ambassadors. A big thank-you to Angela Purdham for the work on graduate and placement profiles and of course to Maroula who puts in a huge amount of work behind the scenes to make sure that these days work as smoothly as they do.

Applications are up 13% on last year but it's early days to see how that translates to firm acceptances, and these days make all the difference. I spoke to a number of applicants and parents who said that they had York down as a second choice but after coming to our open day, they were now keen on coming to York instead. A great team effort. 

Dr Dean Waters MCIEEM - Senior Lecturer in Ecology and Statistics

Photo from the MEnv Residential Fieldtrip in the Dales - March 2022

Andreas Heinemeyer who leads the 10-year Peatland-ES-UK study on assessing heather management and climate impacts on upland peatlands in the UK is contributing with data and expertise to the update of the UK Peatland Carbon Code and has been meeting twice with Lord Deben and other members of the the UK's Climate Change Committee (CCC) to discuss the project findings in relation to long-term stability of peatland carbon stores, especially considering threats posed by no management (fuel build-up) and associated increased wildfire risks. A follow up meeting is planned to assess how latest evidence is to be considered within the latest update of the CCC guidance on peatland management documents to government.

EPSRC IAA - Strategic Priorities Competition

The aim of the EPSRC IAA Strategic Priority Fund is to support key research initiatives to deliver better, faster impact. The fund will provide opportunities to support the translation of our underpinning research by stimulating collaborative R&D, with a particular focus on the crossover between academic disciplines to add value. There will be an emphasis on activity which primes significant future expansion of impact, either via external investment or further funding. 

Call opens: 28th March / Call closes: 29 April, noon

Click here to find out more about the EPSRC IAA Strategic Priority Fund. 

Call for Papers - Special Issue: Place-Based Decarbonisation

The climate crisis now requires a daunting scale of response if global commitments on emissions reduction are to be met. However, much of the analysis to date has focussed on top-down assessments of what needs to happen with limited understanding of what this means on the ground. Special issue information: Understanding the role of context and place in the development and delivery of rapid decarbonisation of the transport sector.

Guest editors: Dr Samarthia Thankappan University of York Department of Environment and Geography and Prof Greg Marsden University of Leeds Institute for Transport Studies 

Submission deadline: 1 July 2022

Click here to find out more about the Call for Papers: Special Issue on Place-Based Decarbonisation

Open Access Updates

Changes to UKRI Open Access from 1 April 22

The way Open Access works with publications resulting from UKRI grants is changing from 1 April 22. Click here for more information on the UKRI Open Access changes.

As a result of this change, the library's emails about outputs you have uploaded to PURE will now remind you to record your research data on PURE if you haven't done so already. This requirement has been in place since the research data management policy was published in 2017: 'All data that are retained must be registered with the University’s Current Research Information System (PURE), whether they are hosted by the University or maintained elsewhere, even if access to the data is restricted.' However, the reminder to do this was only recently added to the library's emails. Guidance on the process is available on the RSSH Wiki, and the process you follow depends on whether you have already uploaded your data elsewhere as part of your funder's rules, or if you need to use Research Data York for your data deposit.

If you're not sure how research data management should work, I highly recommend the university's 'Managing Your Research Data' training. I attended this recently and it was a really useful overview of the requirements. The Research Data Management webpages are also really helpful.

National agreement for Elsevier journals

The Library is pleased to announce a national ‘read and publish’ agreement with Elsevier, the world’s largest academic publisher. This agreement provides both ‘read’ access to, and unlimited open access publishing in, Elsevier’s subscription journals, representing a huge step forward for our academic community. 

This concludes a challenging two year negotiation process, coordinated by Jisc, who worked collectively and in partnership with the UK HE sector to achieve not only the world’s largest open access (OA) agreement, but one that is unique in the level of savings realised and in the OA coverage achieved. Alongside our other OA agreements, this will mean that around 80% of UK research output can be published OA (versus a global average of 30%). Benchmarked against agreements achieved in other countries, the UK Elsevier agreement is the only agreement to provide cost reductions at this level, whilst enabling unlimited OA publishing in Elsevier’s subscription journals including the Cell Press and Lancet titles. Read more about the role of Jisc in supporting open access.

The library community, both nationally and here at York, was actively engaged in the negotiations. We undertook detailed modelling work, actively contributed to the development of the tools and strategies that harnessed our collective strength, and carefully considered academic feedback on the various proposals.  We will build on our collective success in these negotiations to challenge other major suppliers to deliver greater value to UK institutions.  We will also continue to work collectively to mitigate the dominance and deepening integration and consolidation of suppliers within research and teaching content and infrastructure. This includes providing greater support for community led publishing and OA infrastructure. This agreement is not the end point, but a step towards a more transparent publishing market.  

Further information:

Press releases from Jisc and Elsevier.

The Library’s Open Research team is available to help with any questions you have about publishing your research in Elsevier journals.

Please contact Sarah Thompson, Head of Content & Open Research, s.thompson@york.ac.uk with any other enquiries about the Elsevier negotiation process and this agreement.

• Got a query but not sure who to email? Click here for the full Departmental Who's Who, including email addresses. 

• Click here for our Useful Links Page with details on purchasing, Annual Leave, COVID-19 procedures amongst other things. 

Please continue to drop your items into the Research, Teaching, Outreach and Good News Spreadsheet. You will see there are multiple tabs, so please use the one that is most relevant to the activity and ensure that the description details are written out in full as you would like it to be presented, as it will be copied and pasted from here. 

If your item does not fit the spreadsheet, please email it to environment-pa@york.ac.uk as usual. 

Let's share and celebrate all of your wonderful activities and achievements!

Thanks Team!