Blog from December, 2023

Good morning everyone. A shorter-than-usual newsletter today as we end the year.

I hope that you have found our newsletters this year to be helpful, not only in keeping up to date with everyone's activities and achievements, but also in helping to build community in the Department 🙂 I really appreciate the positive feedback that I have received from many of you.

Wishing you and your loved ones a Merry Christmas 🎄 and all the best for 2024 🌟

Annabel Jackson - PA / Admin to EGLT

Rota for POV and Open Days now available

As you know we will soon switch to a fairer system for the staffing of Post-Offer Visit and Open days. The rota for 2023/24 is now complete. Please click on the link to plan ahead and make a note of your allocated slots in your diary/calendar.

The slots have been allocated by programme leaders based on preferences/constraints and the new policy. If you are happy with your slots you don't need to do anything else. If you are assigned a slot for which you are not available it is your responsibility (not the PL's) to swap it with someone else in your teaching group. You'll have until 24 January to arrange this as the rota will be fixed from that date.

Well-run POV and Open Days days are critical for successful recruitment of our future students, especially in the current financial climate. Many thanks for your help and support!

Prof. Roland Gehrels, Head of Department.

Tackling Climate Change with the Social Sciences Workshop

Date/time: Thursday 25th January 2024 / 14:45 - 17:00

Location: B/T/005, John Currey Room, Biology Teaching Block

Join the Faculty of Social Sciences, the York Environmental Sustainability Institute (YESI) and the International Global Development Centre (IGDC) to explore new collaborations in social-science led research to tackle climate change.

This workshop will bring together researchers working in social science fields from across the University of York to meet colleagues with complementary research interests, make new connections and share their research interests and ideas, with a view to developing research project ideas driven by social science approaches and methods. 

Click here to register!

NERC CDT 2024 - Idea Sharing and Development Session 

Date/time: Tuesday 30th January 2024 / 10.30 - 12.05

Location: Online only

Join the RIDT (Research Innovation and Development Team) and YESI (York Environmental Sustainability Institute) to share and discuss ideas for the forthcoming NERC challenge-led Centre for Doctoral Training 2024 call.

In February 2024 NERC, as part of its revised approach to doctoral training provision, will open a second open challenge-led CDT. CDTs can focus on a challenge in any area of the NERC remit, and the format will broadly follow that of the 2023 CDT Call. We expect that institutions will be limited to submitting a single outline proposal as lead.

To prepare for this opportunity, this session will bring together those interested in the NERC CDT 2024 to share and discuss their ideas with others ahead of the internal selection process (TBC when the call is released). 

Click here to register!

The first Semester of Sustainability Clinics received some fantastic feedback from project partners about our students and the success of the module overall. One of our partners said "The undergraduates' Sustainability Clinics were successful, many thanks. They came to give their presentations and the post-presentation discussion was a particularly strong aspect with both groups. They also expressed how pleased they were with the Sustainability Clinic programme and how it has helped define their career ambitions and adds worth to what they have learnt over the three years; "a testament more to your Department, I would say, than our offer of the two Clinic projects!" Huge thanks and congratulations to the central clinic team from ESAY, alongside the DEG staff (Laura Chapman, Naomi Holmes, Josh Kirshner, Darpan Das and Sohail Ahmad) and GTAs (Eugenia Obeng-Akrofi, Zoe MacKay, Sarah Foster, Isabel Navarro Law and Jake Spong).

Smriti Safaya was invited to moderate a panel about Critical Science Communication and Outreach for the Croucher Foundation Symposium in Hong Kong on 8th December, which was attended by 120 scholars working and studying in a range of scientific fields. She used an interactive approach to garner audience input to guide the discussions after the speakers gave short talks, and received very positive feedback from attendees about the practical tips and tricks for engaging with the public and media.

Simon Thomas is a coauthor on a new paper describing a century of data from the Western Channel Observatory, a long-term sampling area in the Western English Channel.

Congratulations to Patrick Sharrocks, a Natural Sciences student, who has had a paper published based on his dissertation project, supervised by Jon Hill. The paper is published in the Journal of Quaternary Science and is titled "Evaluating the impact of the Storegga tsunami on Mesolithic communities in Northumberland."

Congratulations to Lindsay Stringer who is a co-author on a new paper published in Global Change Biology with colleagues in China: Ren Z, Li C, Fu, B, Wang S, Stringer LC. 2023. Effects of aridification on soil total carbon pools in China’s drylands. Global Change Biology.

Congratulations to Rob Marchant whose COP28 activity featured in German national media.

Rob Mills featured on Sky News piece on the Snaizeholme research, exploring how tree-planting will change soil ecology and help to prevent flooding.

Congratulations to Felicia Liu and Anne Monier (ESSEC Business School) who have had a paper accepted in Finance & Space - "Funding Climate Action but Financing Climate Destruction? An Exploration of Hybridity in Climate Philanthropy and Investments". This paper will form the theoretical basis for a developing research programme on the role of philanthropy in shaping sustainable finance agenda and practices.

Well done everyone on your fantastic achievements 👏

Follow-up workshop 'Arts, Humanities and Mental Health'

Following the successful research showcase in June, the Institute of Mental Health Research (IMRY) and the Humanities Research Centre (HRC) are holding a follow-up workshop on "Arts, Humanities, and Mental Health" on Monday 18 March 2024 in the Berrick Saul Treehouse. The aims of this event are (1) to identify and further develop thematic areas for collaborative research, and (2) to provide support for research projects and funding applications at all stages of development.

Researchers across the Arts and Humanities Faculty, at all career stages are encouraged to come and outline their research projects, share ideas, consolidate collaborations, and tell us where our support would be helpful. We also welcome colleagues from across the wider University who wish to come and contribute. The format will include 5-minute presentations, as well as plenary and small group discussions.

Please fill out this Google form by Monday 22nd January (2024) to register.

NERC CDT 2024 Idea Sharing and Discussions Session

You are invited to join the Research Innovation and Development Team and York Environmental Sustainability Institute to share and discuss ideas for the forthcoming NERC challenge-led Centre for Doctoral Training 2024 call. The session will take place on the 30th January, 10.30-12:00.

In February 2024 NERC, as part of its revised approach to doctoral training provision, will launch a second open, challenge-led CDT call. CDTs can focus on a challenge in any area of the NERC remit, and the format will broadly follow that of the 2023 CDT Call. We expect that institutions will be limited to submitting a single outline proposal as lead.

To prepare for this opportunity, this session will bring together those interested in the 2024 call to share and discuss their ideas with others ahead of submissions to the internal selection process (TBC when the call is released).

Please register via the event website - on completion of the google form you will receive a calendar invite to the event with zoom details.

If you cannot attend, but wish to share an idea, please fill out the form and decline the calendar invite. The responses and notes from the discussion in the meeting will be shared with all those who have responded to the google form.

Tackling Climate Change with the Social Sciences

Thursday 25th January, 2:45-5pm in D/L/036

Join the Faculty of Social Sciences, the York Environmental Sustainability Institute (YESI) and the International Global Development Centre (IGDC) to explore new collaborations in social-science led research to tackle climate change.

This workshop will bring together researchers working in social science fields from across the University of York to meet colleagues with complementary research interests, make new connections and share their research interests and ideas, with a view to developing research project ideas driven by social science approaches and methods.

Please register your attendance via the event page here.

Great! Please add it to the Research, Teaching, Outreach and Good News Spreadsheet. Please use the most relevant tab for the activity/news and ensure that the description details are written out in full as you would like it to be presented. If your item does not fit the spreadsheet, please email it to environment-pa@york.ac.uk by 12:00 on Thursday 4th January.

Thank you for your help in making the newsletter a great way to catch up on all of the Department's latest news and activities 🙂

Good morning everyone. It was great to see so many of you at the international festive potluck/moving feast yesterday - we hope that you all enjoyed it 🎵

Lots of good news to catch up on this week 🙂

Annabel Jackson - PA / Admin to EGLT

 Reminder: Policy for UG Post Offer Visit Days / Open Days Rota System now on Wiki

Thank you all very much for your engagement with the new rota system for our UG open days. Our Programme Leads are now sifting through all of the preference / restraint form responses and the draft rota is due to be circulated by Wednesday 20th December. 

Please visit the Wiki to view the UG POVD / Open Day Rota System Policy.

🎄 DEG Festive Potluck/Moving Feast yesterday 🎄 

We hope you all enjoyed the festivities yesterday and thanks to everyone that brought in something to share   

Please find below a few photos from the afternoon

Geographical Association Conference 4-6 April 2024 - Registration open

The GA Annual Conference and Exhibition 2024 will take place from 4–6 April 2024 at the University of Manchester.

Day one will begin with a welcome from President, Denise Freeman, and includes your choice of a range of field visits, a place at one of our networking events, and the Conference Dinner, as well as the annual GA awards ceremony, Public Lecture and drinks reception. 

Click here to find out more about the GA Conference 2024 and to book your ticket.

Click here to listen to the final message from our Director for Students, Samarthia Thankappan, as her tenure as DfS comes to an end. 

Press release: Dr Anika Haque wins the 2023 AXA IM Research Award for her work.

Congratulations to the SAMHE team (Sarah West, Lucy Way, Rhys Archer, Victoria Beale and Sam Bland) on their article on co-designing the SAMHE Web App with schools, exploring the peaks and pitfalls of the process. The SAMHE team also produced a methods and protocol paper on the SAMHE initiative.

Gary Haq's co-authored report on Healthy Ageing in a Changing Climate was picked up all over UK media, including in The Independent.

The full Integrated Assessment of Air Pollution and Climate Change for Sustainable Development in Africa has been released. Chris Malley and Kevin Hicks produced an op-ed for The Conversation highlighting the key areas for action.

Roland Gehrels and Ed Garrett are coauthors on a new paper on relative sea-level change in New Zealand published in Marine Geology.

Andy Dougill had an article published in Plants, People, Planet - on Gendered Choices of Crop Variety Traits by sorghum and millet farmers in southern Malawi.

Sohail Ahmad gave a CITYSCAPES Lecture 11 on land use efficiency in Asian and African cities at the Cities and Governance Programme of the School of Public Policy and Governance, Tata Institute of Social Scinces, Hyderabad Off-Campus. The event was attended by over 50 postgraduate students.

Congratulations to Lindsay Stringer who is a co-author on a new paper published in Global Change Biology with colleagues in China: Ren Z, Li C, Fu, B, Wang S, Stringer LC. 2023. Effects of aridification on soil total carbon pools in China’s drylands. Global Change Biology.

Paul Hudson was an invited panel speaker at an ICC forum event in "Loss & Damage Funding and Potential Insurance & Grant Solutions" during COP28

Simon Thomas and Bryce Stewart have had articles published in Fishing News and Sea Angler magazines on the Pollack FISP project and the issues around management of the species and how this project will contribute to the process.

Naomi Holmes (along with Lynda Yorke, Bangor University) has delivered professional development workshops for GCSE Geography teachers on 'Building accessibility and inclusivity into geography fieldwork' through the WJEC / CBAC exam board.

Kgato Selwe has had a paper published on the Non-targeted screening of Contaminants of Emerging Concern in the Glen Valley Wastewater treatment plant, Botswana.

Placement supervision meetings for our 16 students currently on placement have been taking place over the last few months and we have loved hearing how our students are getting on as well as supporting them through any challenges they're facing. We thought you might enjoy the photos below of 3 of our students (permission received to share) - Emile and Macie burying their first turtle eggs of the season in Sri Lanka and Nathan at the Network Rail offices in Milton Keynes, quite a contrast! Please do get in touch with Angela Purdham if you'd like to hear more about what any of our students are up to.

Well done everyone on your fantastic achievements 👏

Defra Research & Development Fellowships Programme

Defra are delighted to announce that our new R&D Fellowship Programme is now live. Full details about the programme and how to apply can be found at Research and Development Fellowship Programme - Defra Jobs - UK Government.

The deadline is the 8th January 2024. Live Q&A To find out more about the programme, potential applicants are invited to join Defra’s Chief Scientific Advisor, Professor Gideon Henderson at a live online event on Tuesday 12th December from 13:00-13:45.

With a panel of early career scientists, analysts and researchers who have previously undertaken placements within Defra, this event will provide an opportunity to discover how we are using science and analysis to tackle some of today's biggest policy challenges, what it's like working at Defra, and a chance to ask any questions. Registration for the event is open now.

If you require any further information, please contact the coordinating team at ExternalAdvice@defra.gov.uk

Great! Please add it to the Research, Teaching, Outreach and Good News Spreadsheet. Please use the most relevant tab for the activity/news and ensure that the description details are written out in full as you would like it to be presented. If your item does not fit the spreadsheet, please email it to environment-pa@york.ac.uk by 12:00 next Thursday.

Thank you for your help in making the newsletter a great way to catch up on all of the Department's latest news and activities 🙂

Good morning everyone 🗺️ It was great to see so many of you at the second professorial Inaugural session yesterday - stay tuned for details of further sessions in 2024!

We hope to see you all at the international festive potluck/moving feast next Thursday 🎵

Annabel Jackson - PA / Admin to EGLT

Policy for UG Post Offer Visit Days / Open Days Rota System now on Wiki

Thank you all very much for your engagement with the new rota system for our UG open days. Our Programme Leads are now sifting through all of the preference / restraint form responses and the draft rota is due to be circulated by Wednesday 20th December. 

Please visit the Wiki to view the UG POVD / Open Day Rota System Policy.

🎄 DEG Festive Potluck/Moving Feast! Thursday 14th December, 13:00 - 16:00 🎄 

Please join us for a couple of hours on Thursday 14th December between 13:00 and 16:00 to celebrate the festive season and eat some wonderful food! 

Find out what part of the 'menu' (drinks / starters / main courses / desserts) your floor has been allocated below  

We hope to see you all there  

The Festive Potluck / Moving Feast is BACK!  Starting on the Third Floor with Drinks, each floor has been allocated a particular part of the Feast as follows: Third Floor: SEIY and all Third Floor staff - Drinks and Nibbles Second Floor: BioArch and all Second Floor staff - Starters First floor: Research students and all First Floor staff - Main Courses Ground floor: All Ground Floor staff - Desserts We would love to see as many dishes as possible but if providing a dish/drink is an obstacle for you, please still feel free to attend - we would love to see everyone there! There will be Christmas tunes and we actively encourage Christmas jumpers/festive attire! Please note that it is super important that you place a sign/label in front of your dish/drink on the day stating the following: Who made the dish / drink  Any history / fun facts behind the dish / drink (we aim to celebrate all cultures!) Ingredients Vegan / vegetarian / gluten-free / allergens (these are typically cow's milk, eggs, peanuts, other nuts, wheat, fish, shellfish, sesame) We ask that everyone tries to be as environmentally friendly as possible by bringing along your own cups/plates etc if you can. Even if you are only able to come to a small part of the Feast, we hope to see you all there! Happy cooking/baking! 🥄

Tropical Ecosystems Network event: Identifying the Most Pressing Questions for NbS in the Tropics
Wed 13 December 2023, 1 - 4pm, D/L/036, Derwent College, Campus West

Join YESI for the 14th Tropical Ecosystem Network (TEN) meeting where we will kick-start a collaborative process to identify the most important practical or research-focused questions that, if answered, would have the greatest positive impact on ensuring successful Nature-based Solutions (NbS) in the tropics. More information on the TEN meeting. 

YESI Scholars: Interdisciplinary Research Training 
Thursday 18 January 2024, 10:00 - 14:30, H/G21 Eynns Room, Heslington Hall

Big environmental problems can’t be solved by siloed researchers working independently; an interdisciplinary approach is needed.  Working across disciplines, however, can throw up unexpected challenges which training within disciplines doesn’t prepare you for.

This interdisciplinary training workshop aims to help participants think more broadly about solutions to a research problem by understanding each other's values, root methods and concepts.  The workshop will focus on addressing problems in the area of environmental sustainability.  PhD and early career researchers from all academic disciplines are very much encouraged to apply.  Apply here.

Research Coding Club Drop-in Code Clinic

Research Coding Club will be holding our regular drop-in Code Clinic next Wednesday, 13th December, 14:00-16:00 in SLB/106.

Feel free to come along at any point during the session to ask our team of friendly RSEs about any coding or research software problems you might have, whether it's ideas for improving performance, or just how to install a tricky library, we have experts who can help!

Our wonderful Director for Students, Samarthia Thankappan is back with her weekly audio messages for students. Click here to listen to Samarthia's message for this week.

Ed Garrett gave an invited poster at the Yorkshire Geological Society annual meeting on the Storegga tsunami.

Ed Garrett and Roland Gehrels along with former E&G PGR Lucy McMahon, are coauthors on a new paper in Frontiers in Marine Science that quantifies the amount of carbon stored in saltmarshes in Great Britain.

Sohail Ahmad presented a paper "The efficiency of cities in using land: A comparison of Africa and Asia" at the 5th International Conference on Natural Resource Management and Public Policy (Online) organised by the Huazhong Agriculture University, China. Sohail also took part in a 3-day virtual workshop on climate change and cities that aims to bring the world’s leading academics on cities and climate change together to jointly map recent developments, research gaps and opportunities for systematic research on cities and climate change, organised by the Mercator Research Institute on Global Commons and Climate Change and TU Berlin. This workshop was the part of What Works Climate Solutions Summit.

Sarah Bridle was a speaker at the Cosmic Shambles annual Christmas show (Nine Lessons and Carols for Curious People) in Manchester. She spoke about food and climate change - and what change needs to happen.

Bryce Stewart spent 2 days in London as the UK representative on the Marine Stewardship Council (MSC) Stakeholder Advisory Council. MSC is the largest eco-labeller of seafood in the world, currently certifying about 15% of all seafood.

Dave Shaw, with Nic Carslaw, produced a new paper on 'Long-term prediction of the effects of climate change on indoor climate and air quality' in Environmental Research.

Xun Zhou presented a co-authored research with Yuan Liu (graduated EEEM student) titled "Impact of Ecological Compensation on Water Quality: Evidence from the Chishui River Basin, China" in a Special Session on Spatial Governance and Rural Development at the China-UK International Cooperation Project Meeting on the 5th International Conference on Natural Resource Management and Public Policy hosted online by Huazhong Agricultural University, China on 1 December 2023.

On 6 December, Sam Buckton and Ioan Fazey organised and co-facilitated an all-day workshop led by futures practitioner Bill Sharpe to develop and test methods and tools for bringing regenerative system concepts into futures practice to encourage more transformative action for systems change. These methods drew on Sam's recently published PhD paper on regenerative systems. A range of academics and practitioners participated in the workshop, including Angela Crossland (North Yorkshire Council), Victoria Hughes (Joseph Rowntree Foundation) and Adrian Lovett (One Planet York). Academics included Rebecca Newman, Suzanne Om, Matthew Darby and Christopher Lyon from Environment & Geography. This work is likely to lead to some online tools published by Future Stewards, and participants expressed a desire to work further with Bill and Sam on developing these kinds of methods.

Sohail Ahmad presented a paper "The efficiency of cities in using land: A comparison of Africa and Asia" at the 5th International Conference on Natural Resource Management and Public Policy organised by the Huazhong Agriculture University, China.

The Employability team hosted a very succesful Employer Showcase on 29th November with speakers and alumni from organisations including Redrow Homes, Envams Consultancy, Thomson Environmental Consultants, Natural England and Jacobs/Transpenine Route Upgrade. Over 70 students attended the Showcase and networking opportunity and there were some great connections made by our students. Well done to the Employability Team (Angela, Jenny, Felicia and Marie) with additional thanks to Beth Roberts and Rachel Vonderdell for their help with the event set up.

Naomi Holmes (along with Lynda Yorke, Bangor University) has delivered professional development workshops for GCSE Geography teachers on 'Building accessibility and inclusivity into geography fieldwork' through the WJEC / CBAC exam board.

Kgato Selwe, along with Brett Sallach and Caroline Dessent, published a paper on the Non-targeted screening of Contaminnats of Emerging Concern in the Glen Valley Wastewater treatment plant, Botswana. 

Well done everyone on your fantastic achievements 👏

YESI Scholars: Intersdisciplinary Research Training

YESI has launched its first YESI Scholars Interdisciplinary Research Training workshop. This interdisciplinary training workshop aims to help participants think more broadly about solutions to a research problem by understanding each other's values, root methods and concepts. The workshop will focus on addressing problems in the area of environmental sustainability. PhD and early career researchers from all academic disciplines are very much encouraged to apply.

Application to attend the training course can be made using the Google Form.

Deadline: Monday 8 January 2024, 12:00 noon.

BBSRC Innovate UK Centre for Alternative Proteins

BBSRC and Innovate UK have announced a call for a £15m Alternative Proteins Innovation and Knowledge Centre, with a deadline of 28th February for outline proposals.

This investment from BBSRC and Innovate UK will support the development of an Alternative Proteins Innovation and Knowledge Centre (IKC) that will bring together the community to address research and innovation challenges spanning discovery research and pre-competitive opportunities through to proof-of-concept and commercially-focused activities.

Institutions can only lead on one proposal. If you are wishing to lead on a proposal, please contact Robyn Cooper Inglis (robyn.inglis@york.ac.uk) by end of day on Wednesday 13th December.

Northern Accelerator Proof of Feasibility Funding Call to Support Commercialisation Activities

The Commercialisation Team is running a call for Proof of Feasibility funding to support commercialisation activities as part of the Northern Accelerator collaboration. This call is open to all schools/departments/research centres.

The purpose of this funding opportunity is to assist in the development of commercialisation projects that may have the potential to progress through spinout formation, although projects suitable for licensing will also be considered.

Feasibility Awards are expected to typically be £10,000, however larger awards will be considered where there is strong case.

Northern Accelerator’s purpose is to bring a suite of support opportunities to help promising research outcomes reach commercial markets. Examples of activity are given below. This is not a definitive list, however, please note if your activities appear to be an extension of the existing research without a tangible commercial goal the application is not likely to be successful.

Example of activities that Feasibility Awards can be used for include understanding market requirements, meeting potential commercial partners, demonstration projects for potential partners, travel and accommodation to attend trade events in the promotion of commercial outcomes, the development of a prototype device, trial trading activity to assess market demand and purchase of minor equipment and consumables needed to prove feasibility.

The initiative will specifically not fund ‘blue sky’ research, longitudinal and life course research or longer-term public health studies, applied research for companies, purchase of significant equipment or capital assets or patent costs. Application forms and a guidance document can be found on the commercialisation support webpage.

Applications should be developed with the support of the commercialisation team. If you have any questions about the process please get in touch with the team (commercialisation@york.ac.uk).

Completed applications should be sent to commercialisation@york.ac.uk by the application deadline of 18th January 2024. Decisions will be communicated w/c 29th January 2024.

Call for Applications | Sir Jules Thorn Charitable Trust

Sir Jules Thorn Charitable Trust has launched two funding calls.

Eligible organisations can only make one application to either the Research Infrastructure Fund or Innovation & Improvement in Care Fund per calendar year. If we have more than one potential application, an internal triage will be required to select an application to submit.

If you are interested in applying to either fund, please contact Sharon Godwin (sharon.godwin@york.ac.uk) and your department's research support team by 12th January 2024.

Grant Values range from £100,000 to £500,000.

The Research Infrastructure Fund supports investment in equipment and facilities to accelerate translational medical research. The Research Infrastructure Fund supports capital investment that will accelerate internationally competitive research in UK universities and/or NHS organisations. Applications may address any discipline or disease area but must demonstrate that the investment will translate into improvements in healthcare for patients.

Preliminary proposal deadline: 29th February 2024 Full application deadline: 30 August 2024.

Innovation and Improvement in Health and Care Fund - Supporting the development of new models of care and the integration of health and care services.

This grant programme supports the development of new models of health and care to improve outcomes for people living with serious long-term or life-limiting conditions. Applications may address care for any area of physical or mental health, physical or learning disability, or end-of life care. The Trust will prioritise projects which support the integration and resilience of health and care services, improved access to services and areas of unmet need.

Great! Please add it to the Research, Teaching, Outreach and Good News Spreadsheet. Please use the most relevant tab for the activity/news and ensure that the description details are written out in full as you would like it to be presented. If your item does not fit the spreadsheet, please email it to environment-pa@york.ac.uk by 12:00 next Thursday.

Thank you for your help in making the newsletter a great way to catch up on all of the Department's latest news and activities 🙂