Top Tips of the Week

Before sharing documents, check the level of access to the document for confidentiality purposes. The typical choices are:

Important Information 

Workload Allocation Model for 2024/25

Unfortunately we are unable to release the WAM for next year until VS is over due to confidentiality. and potential changes  Currently, workload percentages are mostly reduced from last year due to the work done on reducing committee memberships and meetings. If you need any specifics before it is released, please email Lucy at environment-dhfo@york.ac.uk.

Book in annual leave before end of September

A reminder for staff to book in any remaining annual leave before the end of September. If you are not able to take your full allocation of annual leave by this date, you can carry over up to 5 days of annual leave (with agreement from your Line Manager). As per point 4.8 on HR webpages, any leave carried over to the next leave year must be used by 31 December.

Events 

Graduation!

The Department hosted a Graduation Reception in the Foyer on Wednesday involving a speech from our HoD and prize giving. A huge thank you to everyone that made it possible!

Good News 

⭐ Congratulations to E&G's former Women in STEM postdoc Sharvini Raman for publication of her new paper based on her fellowship (supported by Lindsay): Sharvini SR, Stringer LC. 2024 Challenges and solutions for food waste-based biogas production for energy generation in Malaysia: A review. Journal of Wastes and Biomass Management 6(1) 5-14.

⭐ Oli Wilson wrote a summary of his recent article in Biological Conservation for the Brazilian edition of The Conversation..

⭐ Darpan Das has published a new paper in collaboration with colleagues at UCLA and Johns Hopkins titled Bayesian hierarchical modelling and inference for mechanistic systems in industrial hygiene. 

⭐Anika Haque conducted a multi stakeholder workshop in Dhaka (Bangladesh) on the 16th July with government, NGO, civil society officials and local community leaders,  on developing gender inclusive climate adaptation policies.

⭐Congratulations to Enoch Adranyi and supervisors Lindsay Stringer and Henrice Altink. Enoch's third paper from his PhD thesis has been published in Resources Policy. The full reference is: Adranyi E, Stringer LC, Altink H 2024. Artisanal and small-scale gold mining governance and cross-sectoral policy coherence in Ghana. Resources Policy 96, 105235.  

⭐Congratulations to Zheng-Hong Kong for the third paper from her PhD thesis, published in Ecology & Society: Kong, Z.-H., J. Paavola, and L. C. Stringer. 2024. National environmental programs and local social-ecological system change in dryland China: implications for environmental governance. Ecology and Society 29(3):12. [online] URL: https://www.ecologyandsociety.org/vol29/iss3/art12

⭐Laura Harrison and Piran White carried out a 'Healthy Humber' workshop with conservation organisations and social prescribers on growing the connection between health and nature recovery, funded by HEY Smile Foundation and Natural England. 

⭐Piran White, Laura Harrison and Paul Hudson are co authors on the report 'Nature Positive solar investment: industry guidance' with colleagues from Lancaster University, Next Energy Capital and Jacqueline You (Business and Society).

⭐ Piran White and Laura Harrison are co authors on the paper: Carvalho, F., Lee, H. K., Blaydes, H., Treasure, L., Harrison, L. J., Montag, H., Vucic, K., Scurlock, J., White, P. C. L., Sharp, S. P., Clarkson, T., & Armstrong, A. (2024). Integrated policy making is needed to deliver climate and ecological benefits from solar farms.The Journal of Applied Ecology.

Research Opportunities 

ECOWILD CDT - Information Session for Potential Supervisors

The ECOWILD CDT which is funding 42 PhD students to explore the impacts of multiple stressors on wetlands is starting the process to identify PhD projects to start in September 2025. An information session for potential supervisors will run online from 1200-1400 on Thursday 12th September. If you are interested in developing a project idea then the ECORISC team would encourage you to participate. The session will run in teams and can be accessed using this link.

The session will be recorded for those who are unable to attend.

AI SuperConnector Programme

Research, Innovation & Knowledge Exchange (RIKE) team are launching the second round of their AI SuperConnector (AISC) programme, funded by the Research England CCF fund. This transformative 6-month journey brings together four leading institutions – Imperial College London, University of Liverpool, University of Leeds, and University of York – to accelerate the commercialisation of AI innovations.

The AI SuperConnector programme is designed to support and accelerate the commercialisation of innovative technologies with an AI component and to develop participants through the spin-out journey, offering substantial resources and support. AI innovations can span across many departments and may emerge in unexpected areas, and The RIKE team aim to capture this diversity.

The programme is open to research fellows, postdocs, and late-stage PhD candidates with an AI technology at a proof-of-concept stage or beyond. 

Find out more here!

5000 EUR Climate and Health Science Communication Award 2024

The Climate and Health Science Communication Award, hosted by scientify RESEARCH with support from the Karger Foundation is inviting climate and health researchers worldwide to submit essay proposals.

Eligibility:

• Open to climate and health researchers globally.

• Applicants must be affiliated with reputable academic research institutions/universities.

• The essay should be based on a recently published, peer-reviewed scientific article related to climate and health.

Deadline: 16/09/2024

Find out more here!

**DEG Email contact list**

➡️ View the full list of Dept PSS contact details on the Wiki.

Do you have an item to share in our next newsletter?

Great! Add it to the relevant tab on the Research, Teaching, Outreach and Good News Spreadsheet or email it to environment-pa@york.ac.uk by close of play 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!

Top Tips of the Week

Important Information 

DEG Who's Who / Email contact list 

You can find this list at the end of every staff newsletter from now on 🙂

➡️ View the full list of Dept PSS contact details on the Wiki

York Climate Connect news

• On Sunday (28th July) at 4pm, Abi Perrin will be hosting an informal discussion space/Q&A about protest rights and the law, relevant to anyone thinking about participating in any peaceful protest, environmental or otherwise. For location and more details email yorkcliconnect@proton.me.

• On the subject of protest, Reclaim the Power are bringing an action camp to our region in August.  There will be an information session about this on Tuesday 30th July at 7:30pm at Spark.  Find out more and sign up.

MSc Student Survey

A MSc Environmental Science and Management student is conducting a survey to explore the public perception of 15-minute cities - a concept aimed at creating urban spaces where all essential services are within a 15-minute walk or bike ride or public transportation from home. 

To participate in the survey, please scan the QR code on the poster below. Your responses will be kept confidential and used solely for academic purposes.Thank you for considering this request. 

Good News 

⭐ On the 13th July, Adrian and his wife successfully completed the Three Peaks Challenge to raise money for Sarcoma UK in memory of his father-in-law. They finished the walk in 9 hours 47 minutes and 18 seconds which they were very happy with. They had an early start which allowed them to see the sunrise walking between Inglebrough and Pen-Y-Ghent. Overall conditions were great (overcast but no rain) and they finished the walk with a celebratory lemon drizzle cupcake which was his father-in-law's favourite. Overall, they managed to raise over £2250 including gift aid. Many thanks to people across the department for their generosity in sponsoring their walk.  

⭐ Congratulations to Xiao Xiao, who has had the first paper from their PhD published in Ecotoxicology and Environmental Safety. The paper (which has a very long title) "Microplastics and metals: Microplastics generated from biodegradable polylactic acid mulch reduce bioaccumulation of cadmium in earthworms compared to those generated from polyethylene" found that cadmium adsorption to microplastics reduced soil pore water concentrations, thereby reducing uptake of Cd by earthworms, and that biodegradable PLA was more sorbtive than PE. However, once the PLA fully degrades the Cd will be released back into the soil.

⭐ On 18th July, Bill Sharpe facilitated the second of four workshops hosted by FixOurFood at the University of York to explore concepts, tools and methods relating to regenerative practice and regenerative systems, building on previous research by Sam Buckton and others (https://doi.org/10.1016/j.oneear.2023.06.006 ). The workshop brought together a diverse group of researchers and practitioners, with most involved in food systems. Represented organisations included North Yorkshire Council, the Soil Association, Good Food York, Joseph Rowntree Foundation, International Futures Forum, and an organic farmer. Ioan Fazey and Sam Buckton were co-facilitators. Rebecca Newman, Lee Eyre, Suzanne Om and Declan Jackson were participants from E&G.

⭐ Darpan Das has published a new paper in collaboration with colleagues at UCLA and Johns Hopkins titled Bayesian hierarchical modelling and inference for mechanistic systems in industrial hygiene. 

Do you have an item to share in our next newsletter?

Great! Add it to the relevant tab on the Research, Teaching, Outreach and Good News Spreadsheet or email it to environment-pa@york.ac.uk by close of play 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!

Top Tips of the Week 

ACE your well-being. Three legged stool - how are you sitting? A - sense of achievement  C - connection with others E - enjoyment  If you’re feeling wobbly, try asking yourself which leg you might be neglecting?

Important Information

Dept Staff Monthly Meeting (July)

The key updates at this month's Dept Staff Meeting were a report on the NSS Results from Director of Teaching and Learning, Adrian Gonzalez, and a discussion led by Roland on how to improve our dept culture with a view to strengthening our community. Thank you to everyone for your contributions and for voting in the poll. The comments sheet for the community culture discussion will be left open until next week, so do add your thoughts if you have the chance. 

If you missed this month's meeting, you can catch up by clicking this link to the Dept Staff Monthly Meeting (July) recording. We don't hold a staff meeting in August, so our next one will be in September (date TBC). If you would like to present an item, do drop Chloe an email: environment-pa@york.ac.uk. 

Bookable spaces in ENV for small meetings / private working

If you need a small meeting space, or you need a quiet space to work, don't forget that you can book one of 4 offices that have been volunteered by members of staff when they are not using them. Go to the Office Booking Tab to check availability and to book an office. The sheet is updated every 3-4 weeks. We also have ENV/032 on the Ground Floor corridor on the left after the kitchen that is also available to book on the same Office Booking Sheet.

Our DEG Wiki page - Book a room has information on all other bookable spaces in the Environment Building. 

New Timetabler

From Monday 22nd July, we will have a new timetabler: Caroline. She is contactable on the same email address (timetabling@york.ac.uk).

A huge thank you to Nadine for all of her hard work for our department over the last few years.

DEG Owl meeting camera out of use 

The DEG Owl is out of action at the moment due to a blurry camera, and so the AV team have taken it away to look into repair options. In the meantime, there are a few options for hybrid meetings:

1. Book an Owl through the AV team. They have a stash that they loan out and will come and set it up and take it away free of charge. Generally an Owl is bookable in any room which does not have Zoom room capability.

2. Use ENV105 if it is free as it is fully set up as a Zoom room.

3. Contact Howard Cambridge in SEI (howard.cambridge@york.ac.uk) to ask if you can borrow their Owl, and collect and return it to the 3rd floor.

Paper recycling bins - do not fill to top

Our building's cleaning team has asked if staff can avoid filling the paper recycling bins to the top with paper (to be clear, this is not in relation to the confidential waste bags, only the recycling bins). When the paper recycling bins are full, they are too heavy for the cleaners to handle and could result in possible injury and so are really only manageable when they are about a third full. If you are having a clear out and need to dispose of a large amount of recyclable non-confidential paper, the team have asked if you can take the paper straight out to the large recycling bins outside. There are some on the living wall side and some near the Biology building. This would be a big help

Research Associate job opportunity

Lindsay Stringer is currently recruiting for a Research Associate for her EU co-funded TERRASAFE Project. This post is available at 100% FTE on a fixed term contract. Flexible working patterns and job sharing opportunities will be considered. 

Closing date: 25th July. Find out more!

FYI: Increased traffic / limited parking on Monday 9th September

We have been made aware that Wentworth college is expecting to have a greater population of home students compared to previous years (around 150 compared to 12) so it could be really busy in terms of traffic on their move in date of Monday 9th September. Therefore please be aware that there may be limited parking and increased traffic around the building on that day.

Events 

York Climate Connect news

Coming up on Sunday is a family-friendly, local march for Nature. If you missed the incredible national Restore Nature Now march last month, this is a fantastic opportunity to celebrate unique flora and fauna (including York’s beautiful tansy beetle that inspired our logo!) and call on decision-makers to protect and restore our Yorkshire's nature. Assemble at St Helen's Square at 1:30 on Sunday. 

You might also be interested in helping shape York Environment Week(s) 2024 this autumn.  The organising team are looking for events from our community.  See our recent website post for more details.

Our friends at York Community Energy also want to hear from you! Share your views on where you would like to see renewable energy generation in our city via their 10-15 minute survey.

Got questions, events or suggestions?  Email us via yorkcliconnect@proton.me

Good News

 Jenny Pollard will today be presenting to the Faculty of Sciences Professional Skills Working Group talking about our amazing DEG Masters Dissertation with Placement programme and why other departments in the faculty should offer the same opportunity. 

⭐ Digital Labs - Availability throughout Summer: The 'Digital Labs' will continue operating as usual throughout the summer. For staff, researchers, and students remaining on campus, we're here to support all your creative projects and digital challenges. Additionally, if you're interested in 3D design and printing, the YorCreate Makerspace offers induction sessions all summer long.

⭐ Congratulations to Sam Buckton and Suzanne Om who have both received accreditation as Level 1 Facilitators by the Association of Facilitators!

Research Opportunities 

Enhancing Research Culture Workshops communications

The Enhancing Research Culture Workshops have finished for the summer, but don't worry they'll be back again next semester. The workshops aim to highlight different aspects of research culture and showcase examples of best practice both within and outside the University. You can find more information about the project and previous workshops that have run on their webpage. They also have a google site which holds recordings of previous workshops, case studies and useful resources. If you have an idea for a workshop or would like to get involved in the project please contact enhancing-research-culture-workshop@york.ac.uk

Do you have an item to share in our next newsletter?

Great! Add it to the relevant tab on the Research, Teaching, Outreach and Good News Spreadsheet or email it to environment-pa@york.ac.uk by close of play 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!

Top Tips of the Week 

Important Information 

New! Podcast: Feed the Planet - Conversations on Food and Climate Change

Professor Sarah Bridle and Molly Watson have launched a podcast which aims to support citizens who want to reduce the environmental impact of food and change their diets to eat more sustainably.Feed the Planet - Conversations on Food and Climate Change explores the positive changes we can make, the barriers that get in our way and how we can overcome them. The podcast is available via Acast and on most podcast platforms including Spotify, Apple Podcasts and Amazon Music. Listen here.

Research Associate job opportunity

Lindsay Stringer is currently recruiting for a Research Associate for her EU co-funded TERRASAFE Project. This post is available at 100% FTE on a fixed term contract. Flexible working patterns and job sharing opportunities will be considered. 

Closing date: 25th July.

Find out more!

Events 

Guest Lecture - Robert Costanza

Monday 22 July, 13:00 - 14:00 

Treehouse, Berrick Saul (BS/104)

Leverhulme Centre for Anthropocene Biodiversity are welcoming LCAB Partner Bob Costanza back to the Centre on Monday 22nd July for a guest lecture on Changing Our Economic Paradigm: Societal Therapy for a Sustainable Wellbeing Future. 

Register to attend!

Good News 

⭐ During her research visit to Universiti Malaya, Kuala Lumpur, Felicia Liu also met with UoY's international office in Malaysia and promoted DEG's UG and PG course offerings. She also met with offer holders and alumni for a networking dinner. Felicia has also presented her work "How green is green FinTech? A critical enquiry into the growth of data centres in Singapore” on a panel titled " The Hegemony of Sustainability: Obstacles and Contradictions of Green Capitalism in Southeast Asia" at the Association for Asian Studies Conference at Yogyakarta, Indonesia.

⭐ Kate Arnold and ex-PhD students Annie Murray and Guy Stevens have had a paper published in the journal Behavioral Ecology and Sociobiology entitled 'Individual flexibility in group foraging behaviour of reef manta rays (Mobula alfredi)’

⭐Congratulations to Nicola Favretto and Banki Chunwate, both of whom participated to the YESI interdisciplinary research training, which ended with a competitive Dragon-Den-style pitching session in which their team (including Daphne Ezer, Julie Parker and Hien Luong) received financial support to further develop their idea to utilise cover crops to boost biodiversity and food production. 

⭐Sarah Bridle’s expert video to The Food and Farming Commission's public engagement exercise, The Food Conversation, has been included in a toolkit which is now available to anyone to host their own Food Conversations in their local community.

⭐ On Thursday 11th Jenny Pollard presented to the Climate Change Team at North Yorkshire Council to discuss ways in which the team can link with our department. She discussed Masters Dissertation with Placement, the UG sustainability clinics, placement year and how to link to our researchers. The team is keen for our students to be aware of their climate change strategy and they are very interested in working with our students next academic year. If you are interested in connecting with the team or would like to invite one of them in for a guest lecture, please drop Jenny an email.

Research Opportunities 

Medical Research Foundation | Impact of Climate Change on Health | Up to £300

The Medical Research Foundation (MRF) is an independent charitable foundation formed by the UK Medical Research Council over 100 years ago. They have released the 3rd edition of a max 3-year grant scheme on the Impact of Climate Change on Health. This is a unique opportunity for mid-career researchers willing to co-develop a project with a sub-Saharan African institution. MRF is looking for applicants willing to expand their research networks and build their research profiles to develop emerging research leaders in both countries.

Value: up to £300,000

Deadline: 12:00 on 25th September 2024

More details about the call. If you are interested in applying please get in touch with your research support team and Ellen Robotham (for colleagues based in the Faculty of Arts & Humanities) or Helen Bradley (for colleagues based in the Faculty of Social Sciences) or Sharon Godwin and Audrey Bounaix (for colleagues based in the Faculty of Sciences) before Friday 23rd August.

Do you have an item to share in our next newsletter?

Great! Add it to the relevant tab on the Research, Teaching, Outreach and Good News Spreadsheet or email it to environment-pa@york.ac.uk by close of play 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!

Important Information

Top Tips: Technical edition

As promised, here is the first edition of Top Tips. These came out of the PSS Away Day back in June We hope you find them useful

• Keep your bookmarks organised by creating folders. For example, “Finance”, “Staff”, “Events” etc. 

• To create an accessible link, highlight the descriptive text, then Ctrl K, Ctrl V.

• If you want to obtain info from a large group, create a Google form with set options. Avoid free text. 

• If you don’t know a google spreadsheet function, just google the process.

• For AI technology the University uses Copilot, which is handy for a variety of uses from comms to students to holiday itineraries!

• Use the university directory to find unknown colleagues and user names.

• Use Grammarly to check documents/emails!

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Events

Biodiversity and Conscious Evolution Workshops & Social next week!

YorkCliConnect are delighted to share 3 free events next week:

A Biodiversity Collage workshop 

🗓️ Monday 8th July, 2-5pm

📍 Fairfax Corner

More details and sign up!

Informal Community Social 

🗓️ Monday 8th July from 5:30 pm.

📍 Spark

Let us know you're coming!

Conscious Evolution collage workshop (facilitated by the incredible Sarah Clayton)

🗓️ Tuesday 9th July, 10am-1pm

📍 Spark

More details and sign up!

You may also be interested in these upcoming events from our wider community:

• York Community Energy are hosting some 'Energy Drinks' at Ye Olde Starr Inne from 7:30pm on Thursday 11th July.  It's a chance to chat all about community solar power!  More information here.

• There'll be another climate cafe in Rowntree Park, 7pm on Wednesday 17th July. See here for more details

• Save the afternoon of Sunday 21st July to march for Nature.  Assemble at 1:30pm at St Helen's Square echoing the calls of 350 NGOs to protest and Restore Nature Now!

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Ecoscapes - Scenarios for an uncertain world

🗓️ Tuesday 16th July, 12.30 - 2.00pm
📍 The Treehouse, First Floor, Berrick Saul Building (BS/104)

Register to attend

Please join us for the first in a series of interdisciplinary discussions bringing together a diversity of perspectives on changing biodiversity in the Anthropocene.

Using scenarios allows us to explore what different possible futures might look like under highly uncertain conditions. They are often used to explore how biodiversity and ecosystem services may change in the future with different socioeconomic and environmental trajectories. But how useful can they really be, and to whom?

Dr Inês Martins, LCAB and Department of Biology

Here I talk about a recent model intercomparison analysis of projections of biodiversity and ecosystem services performed at multiple spatial scales using the same set of land-use and climate change reconstructions from 1900 to 2015, and three future scenarios from 2015 to 2050. I will expand on some of the key messages of this work, as well open a discussion on the key challenges and uncertainties that remain when mobilising scenarios and models for decision-making.

Pattrawut Pusingha, Department of Environment and Geography

Envisioning the future scenarios of sustainable land management in mountain systems of Nan Province, Thailand. Human activities, including deforestation, land use changes, and unsustainable land management, combined with climate variability, result in land degradation worldwide, including in Thailand, with negative impacts in various aspects. Participatory scenario planning can tackle these complex challenges by encouraging diverse stakeholders to co-create future scenarios that support long-term inclusive sustainable land management in northern Thailand’s mountain landscapes. 

Prasad Sandhor, Intelligent Games and Games Intelligence (IGGI) and Department of Computer Science

My PhD research explores the potential of games in facilitating the 'sensemaking' of climate actions. In this session, I will be sharing findings and insights about designing scenarios related to everyday climate actions for role-playing that lead to sensemaking.

The series is jointly hosted by the Department of Biology and the Leverhulme Centre for Anthropocene Biodiversity.

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SAMHE webinar: Air quality in UK schools

🗓️ Wednesday 17th July, 12 - 1pm

📍 Online (free)

Register to attend. 
The SAMHE (Schools’ Air quality Monitoring for Health and Education) project aims to help researchers better understand air quality in UK schools. We have analyzed indoor air quality data received from 500+ schools across the UK during the 2023-24 schools year. Hear Sarah West (Stockholm Environment Institute) and team explain what we've learnt.
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Good News

⭐ Jon Hill has an MSc student, Albert Kim, visiting from Indonesia for July. Albert is working on tsunami hazards from volcanic flank collapse using a range of modelling techniques. He's currently in room 321 (desk 7). Do pop by and say hello if you get chance.

⭐ Josh Kirshner took part in the annual meeting for the CESET project (Community Energy Systems and Sustainable Energy Transitions in Ethiopia, Malawi and Mozambique), held in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia in late June. CESET is a three-year a collaborative, multi-institutional research partnership funded by UKRI and the Global Challenges Research Fund, now in its final year. Josh presented in a panel on “Applying community energy systems to influence energy transitions in Africa” with project leaders and international donors. He stayed in Ethiopia several days to visit a community-led biogas project and a micro-hydro scheme in the Sidama region along with Sheffield-based filmmaker Sean Lovell. He also visited Lydetco, a solar systems designer with a PV-powered office building in central Addis Ababa.

⭐ Congratulations to Banki Chunwate for winning the Best Presentation Award (Space, Place, Environment and Liveability) in the 13th Annual Conference of the White Rose DTP (WRDTP), held on June 19, 2024, at the University of York. The theme of the Conference was "Inclusive Research Cultures and Practices". The Conference is a Partnership with the Universities of Leeds, Hull, Sheffield, Sheffield Hallam, Bradford, Manchester Metropolitan University, and the University of York, UK.

⭐ Since it was uploaded to SSRN on 26 June, a preprint of the paper 'Twelve principles for transformation-focused evaluation', authored by Sam Buckton, Ioan Fazey, Matthew Darby, Rebecca Newman and many others, has already become one of the server's most downloaded papers (as measured over the last 60 days). The paper is currently under review at PLOS Sustainability and Transformation.

⭐ Sam Buckton is a co-author on two papers published in Social Innovations Journal. The first paper is Glenn G. Page, Sam Buckton, Mark Cabaj, Ian Goldman, Kate McKegg, Mutizwa Mukute, Michael Quinn Patton & Hailey Rizzo (2023) State of the Field Panel on the Evaluation and Assessment of Transformation: A Case Study of Response to the Polycrisis. Social Innovations Journal, 22. This paper, led by several world-leading transformation-focused evaluators, summarises the results of a panel discussion at the 2023 Transformations Conference. The second paper is Bruce Evan Goldstein, Sam J. Buckton, Vicki Nichols Goldstein, Julianna Gwiszcz, Christopher D. Ives, Curtis Ogden, Carlos Alvarez Pereira, Joel Onyango, Luea Ritter, Niko Schäpke & Karen Spiller (2023) Sensemaking the Transformations Community’s Future. Social Innovations Journal, 22.

⭐ Simon Mair has published a blog with Adfree Cities as part of their Bad Publicity Series: The commodification of life itself: how advertising promotes endless growth, and how it could be otherwise.

⭐ Naomi Holmes has been elected vice-chair of CEDHE (the education committee of the Institution of Environmental Sciences)  
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Research Opportunities

Public Involvement in Research Module

Are you involved in teaching students about research that involves humans? Have you ever wondered how we can effectively train the next generation of researchers to innovate confidently, ethically, and productively with members of the public, be that as users, participants, advisors, or partners of interdisciplinary research? Could we do more in space and put York teaching on the map?

Supported by an award from the Inclusive Learning Team's Learning & Teaching Fund, Sue Faulds and I (both based in the Department of Health Sciences) are looking to co-design with academic colleagues, public contributors, and students a new 20-credit cross-faculty interdisciplinary teaching module about public involvement in research. By the end of July 2024 (not a typo unfortunately!), we are looking to have a module outline, ready for further development and, hopefully, rollout. To achieve this, we are seeking input from colleagues across the University to take part in up to four workshops to discuss content and delivery for the new module.

• Session 1: Friday, 5th July 2024, 10am to 12noon (Zoom) - discovery session for academic staff only to identify key priorities 

• Session 2: Wednesday, 10th July 2024, 2pm to 5pm (in person, possibly with a hybrid option) - joint co-design session with public contributors and students to discuss module content

• Session 3: Tuesday, 16th July 2024, 10 am to 1pm (in person, possibly with a hybrid option) - joint co-design session with public contributors and students to discuss module delivery

• Session 4: Tuesday, 23rd July 2024, 2pm to 5pm (in person, possibly with a hybrid option) - celebration event to reflect on shared achievements and consider next steps

Ideally, we would like everyone to attend at least two out of the four sessions.

If you're keen to take part, please email jennifer.brown@york.ac.uk with your availability and any dietary requirements (refreshments will be provided for in person events). If you have questions, comments, or suggestions, equally please get in touch.

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Do you have an item to share in our next newsletter?

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
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Important Information

Dept Staff Monthly Meeting (June)

A big thank you to Victoria, Paul and Anika for presenting at this month's Dept Staff Meeting. The key updates included the revised New Starter Induction process (especially important for Line Managers), updates and reminders of the GTA process, an overview of the new dept website, REF scoring information and an upcoming EDI beacon event.

If you missed it, you can catch up by clicking this link to the Dept Staff Monthly Meeting (June) recording.

Our next staff meeting is scheduled for Tues 16 July, 10:05-11:00 and this will be the last meeting of the academic year. If you would like to present an item, or if you need the calendar invitation to be resent, do drop Chloe an email: environment-pa@york.ac.uk. 

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Events

Enhancing Research Culture Workshop - A roadmap to accessing Early Career Researcher funding for training and travel

Thurs 4 July, 2024, 11.30am-2pm, in-person, B/T/019

The next session of our Enhancing Research Culture Workshops is coming up next Thursday, organised by the Biology Postdoc Society and Enhancing Research Culture Workshop team. 

Keen to extend your network at a conference? Learn a new skill on a training course? Or explore short-term, focused research with independent funds? This workshop is all about empowering you to obtain your own funding towards these goals. We have an exciting line-up of speakers that will share their experiences on how to obtain funding for conferences, travel and training. We’ll provide insight into internal funding schemes and how these can complement external funding from councils, charities, industry and learned societies. This workshop is open to all UoY staff and PGR students. 

The speakers for this session are:

• Dr Charlay Wood (Former PhD student, Department of Biology, University of York) - in-person 

• Dr Ines Hahn (Lecturer, Department of Biology, University of York) - in-person 

• Jenny Spear (Sciences Impact Manager, University of York) - in-person 

• Professor Rachel Cowen (Professor in the School of Medicine, Director of the Centre for Academic and Researcher Development and University Lead for Equality, Diversity and Inclusion, University of Manchester) - via zoom 

If you would like to attend please sign up via this google form. We can then order the right amount of lunch. Hot drinks will be provided at the start of the session, please bring your own cup. A buffet lunch will be served for those attending in-person after the talks and Q&A. 

If you are unable to attend in-person, we plan to live stream the session on the day and also have a recording to share after the session. Please indicate in the google form if your preference is to attend in-person or via live-stream. We will also send you a calendar invite.

We now have a dedicated email address for this Enhancing Research Culture Workshops project (enhancing-research-culture-workshop@york.ac.uk) as well as an updated webpage which links to our new google site. The google site includes recordings of previous workshops, case studies and useful resources to share best practice.

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YESI International Fellows Seminar: The production of urban space in Amazonas state, Brazil

Thurs 4 July 2024, 1pm to 2pm, In-person, ENV/105x, Environment Building, Campus West

Join our YESI International Fellows Seminar with Dr Paola Verri de Santana, from the Department of Geography, Universidade Federal do Amazonas (Federal University of Amazonas - UFAM).

This seminar will focus on the city of Manaus, an urban space that has also been produced through industrialization, promoted and articulated locally and worldwide. We are in the midst of a global environmental crisis, but under conditions of uneven development. These conditions manifest themselves in several ways, one of which is through precarious urban infrastructure, such as energy and health services. The talk will conclude by reflecting on possibilities and challenges for public intervention in service provision for a more equitable urbanising Amazon in Brazil. 

Register for Amazonas seminar.

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Right to Read Volunteering Opportunity - Helping primary school children

Through Right to Read, volunteers provide one-to-one reading support to primary school aged children for 1 hr/week for a minimum of one term in either a school or library. This is an opportunity to help raise literacy standards and boost confidence, acting as a brilliant role model for children. Our next training session will be: Wednesday 10 July, 12pm to 2pm at Aviva, Wellington Row, York, YO90 1WR. Placements will begin in September 2024. For more information or to sign up, please email Hannah at info@yorkcares.co.uk. 

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YESI International Fellows Seminar - Addressing Indonesia’s Air Quality Crisis: Peatland Fires, Urban Pollution, and Emerging Threats
Thurs 11 July 2024, 1pm to 2pm, ENV/105X, Environment Building, Campus West and online

Join our YESI International Fellows Seminar with Dr Windy Iriana, the Department of Environmental Engineering at the Bandung Institute of Technology (ITB), Indonesia.

Indonesia faces critical environmental challenges stemming from various sources of air pollution and greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. In this presentation, I will share research conducted at Institut Teknologi Bandung (ITB), focusing on the monitoring and analyses of these pollutants emitted, particularly by peatland fires and urban sources such as open waste burning. Register for air quality seminar. Register for the Air Quality seminar.

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Good News 

 Congratulations to Andy Dougill and Lindsay Stringer as co-authors on the following paper: Agyekum TP, Antwi-Agyei P, Dougill AJ,  Stringer LC. 2024. Benefits and barriers to the adoption of climate-smart agriculture practices in West Africa: A systematic review. Climate, Resilience and Sustainability.

 Darpan Das has received Lila Albin Award Presented by the American Industrial Hygiene Association- Indoor Environmental Quality Committee for his peer reviewed article published in the Journal of Occupational and Environmental Health - “Experimental studies of particle removal and probability of COVID-19 infection in passenger railcars”. The committee felt the study displayed excellent application of the scientific method to address the communicable disease risk among rail passengers. This work to control infectious bioaerosols should inspire rail transit authorities to invest in engineering a healthier commuter experience. A perfect example of impacting society through science.

Felicia Liu was invited to take part in the inaugural "Voice of the Global South in the Anthropocene" at the Max Planck Institute for Geoanthropology. She presented her latest work on the role of "artivism" in the environmental movements of Southeast Asia in response to the worsening air pollution crises. 

 On 26 June, Sam Buckton gave an online presentation to participants of the COBALT Fellowship Programme about his research on transformation-focused evaluation and how this is being applied in the evaluation of North Yorkshire Council's food strategy.

Adrian Gonzalez initiated and led the co-authorship of a strategy paper "Embedding sustainability into Initial Teacher Education (ITE), Department of Education, University of York" with DoE colleagues. This builds on his ongoing work supporting the PGCE Geography and History teams in their sustainability CPD. The paper sets out the aim of the department becoming recognised as a committed and collaborative innovator in the delivery of sustainability grounded ITE education across all subjects and stages by 2030. The paper was presented to Professor Claire Ball-Smith (Director of ITE) who has agreed to move ahead with this strategic direction. Meetings will take place over summer to finalise the framework before presentation at the department's strategy away day in November 2024 to begin wider consultation on the detail and process. 

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Research Opportunities

Laura Bassi Scholarship for Early Career Researchers

The Laura Bassi Scholarship was established in 2018 with the aim of providing editorial assistance to postgraduates and junior academics whose research focuses on neglected topics of study, broadly construed. The scholarships are open to every discipline and the next round of funding will be awarded in Summer 2024:

Summer 2024

• Application deadline: 24 July 2024

• Results: 10 August 2024

All currently enrolled master’s and doctoral candidates are eligible to apply, as are academics in the first five years of full-time employment. Applicants are required to submit a completed application form along with their CV through the application portal by the relevant deadline. Visit the Laura Bassi Scholarship application portal for further details, including previous winners.

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About the EDI Research Centre

To support the University of York’s EDI Strategic Objectives and commitment to being a university for public good, the Equality, Diversity and Inclusion Research Centre was formed through a 2-year Enhancing Research Culture fund to serve as a central hub for innovative research, focusing on four main areas:

• Dismantling systemic inequities through and within research.

• Employing inclusive research methods and methodologies.

• Decolonising research.

• Advancing pedagogical research and the Scholarship of Teaching and Learning.

Click here to find out more about the EDI research centre and sign up to the network. 

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Do you have an item to share in our next newsletter?

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

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