Staff Newsletter 3 November 2023

Good morning everyone 🌞 It was great to see so many of you at the first Professorial Inaugural Lecture yesterday - photos below. We hope you enjoyed it 🎓

Please note that you only have until 5pm today to nominate someone for a Making the Difference Award - click here to fill in the form!

Keep warm 🔥

Annabel Jackson - PA / Admin to EGLT

Important Information

Reminder - NEW DEG Letterhead Template 🖋️

A reminder that we have created a brand new DEG Letterhead Template! This is for all staff to use/download and attach to emails when sending letters.

Click here to make a copy of the brand new DEG Letterhead Template.

This update is documented on the department's 'General admin support and guidance' Wiki page in the 'Updates: October 2023' box.

Please bookmark the above page/document for your reference.

Date for your diary: 8th February 2024 - Graduation 🎓

Graduation dates for February 2024 have been announced. Details for our department are as follows:

Thursday 8th February
Ceremony: 13:30
Drinks reception: 15:00 - 16:30

A Google Calendar invitation will follow shortly 🙂

LOA Webpages improved!

Michelle would like to make all staff aware that the Student Support and Advice Team has improved the LOA webpages.

Students can now find much more specific information through the main webpage and the attached sub-pages such as the FAQs where they can read around what happens to their maintenance loan (and what to do if they have an overpayment as a result of taking an LOA) and also their tuition fee funding entitlement.

Making the Difference Awards - December 2023

🏆 DEADLINE TODAY for Making the Difference Award nominations! 🏆

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: TODAY at 17:00

Departmental Seminars

Seminars taking place next week

DEG Seminar

Date / Time: Tuesday 7th November at 12:05

Location: Hybrid (ENV005 and Zoom) - click here to join

Speaker name: Guaduneth Chico

Title: From peatlands research to peatland restoration

Blurb

Guaduneth Chico is currently the Action Site Coordinator for WaterLANDS EU Horizon 2020 in Ireland. His academic journey began in Tenerife where he started his Geography degree, before moving to Plymouth University (to complete his studies), Swansea University (to study for an MSc) and Nottingham Trent University (for his Ph.D.). Guaduneth’s interests are in assessing potential blanket bog distribution and the causes of degradation in Atlantic blanket bogs with study areas in Norway, Scotland, England, Ireland, Spain, Canada and the Falkland Islands. Currently, he is working on peatland restoration and monitoring across Ireland. His talk today focuses on his research career to date, and his efforts to improve the recognition and protection of blanket bogs by (1) understanding the current climatic patterns of blanket bogs at the global scale; (2) mapping their current potential extent globally; and (3) investigating the causes of their degradation across the Atlantic.

Click here to watch the recording of the previous DEG Seminar entitled 'From massive explosions to weddings and concerts: The remarkable volcanic eruptions of 2021-2022.’

Passcode: %z2#*NvR

Sustainability Seminar

Date / Time: Wednesday 8th November at 12:05

Location: Zoom - click here to join

Chair: Adrian Gonzalez; Speaker: Ollie Braithwaite

Title: Climate Change at North Yorkshire Council

Blurb

Representing the North Yorkshire Council, Ollie Braithwaite will provide an overview of the vast array of climate and environmental change-related work conducted within the council and in partnership with other relevant organisations. Building on a long-term relationship between the department and the council, this talk presents a fantastic opportunity for students interested in undertaking dissertation placement with the North Yorkshire Council or pursuing a career in councils to find out more about the opportunities and skills required in following this professional path.

Department Events

DEG Professorial Inaugural Lecture 🎓

Prof Lisa Emberson and Prof Rob Marchant were the first of our professors to take the stage yesterday giving their inaugural lectures in ENV/005 to a captivated audience! There was a fantastic atmosphere in the room and I for one felt very inspired. Thank you to Chloe for sending in these photos:

Thank you to all those that came to support Lisa and Rob. The next Inaugural Lecture will take place in a few weeks time before Christmas (Date TBC) - next up will be Prof Ioan Fazey and Prof Nic Carslaw 🙂

Tree planting for Beth Fields yesterday 🌳

Beth was an Environmental Geography student who had just completed her second year, when she was tragically killed during the summer break. She was an enthusiastic and committed student and popular with classmates. Beth was warm-hearted and kind, with a gift for communication.

In her memory, Beth’s family and friends wanted to leave a lasting legacy to Beth by planting a tree in Diamond Wood on Campus East. This took place yesterday morning with both staff and Beth's family and friends attending.

Other Events

Climate Fresk Workshop, Weds 6 December

Join an upcoming Climate Fresk Workshop, 6 December at 3pm-6pm in the Church Lane Building.

Climate Fresk is a 3 hour interactive workshop based on the IPCC reports. This collaborative Climate Fresk workshop will teach you the fundamental science behind climate change and empower you to take action through small group discussion, reflection on emotions and collaborative action planning. Open to students and staff across the University of York.

Click here to register your space.

Call for Speakers: DWP Link Seminar Series

The York Policy Engine is extending an open invitation to speakers who wish to participate in forthcoming sessions of the DWP (Department for Work and Pensions) Link Seminar Series.

Presented by DWP in collaboration with the Universities of Leeds, Loughborough, Sheffield and York, LINK is a webinar series designed to help build richer connections between the academic, policy and analytical worlds by providing an opportunity to hear from both leading Social Scientists at the University of Leeds and other universities as well as prominent analysts, strategists and policy makers from the Department for Work and Pensions.

We are currently seeking a speaker to lead the January 2024 session and future sessions in the coming year. If you think that your research can provide valuable insights to colleagues at LINK's partner universities and contribute to shaping policy discussions with DWP, please get in touch.

Please contact katie.heffron@york.ac.uk. We look forward to hearing from you.

RGS Geography and Education Research Group Teaching and Scholarship Forum: Work-based learning and Employability in Geography and related programmes.

This session is focused on helping colleagues develop and deliver work-based learning and employability initiatives for students on geography and related programmes.

Free, online, 15th November, 13:00 - 14:00. Booking via this link.

Enterprise Workshop for Early Career Researchers

Developing Fruitful Relationships with Industry and Other Partners, 30th November 2023, 9.30 - 16:30.

We are delighted to present a free training workshop aimed at Early Career Researchers at the University of York. The session is designed to inspire participants to recognise and develop entrepreneurial opportunities. We will explore the essentials of:

Building partnerships,
Translating research into commercial success,
Developing the confidence and skills to pitch ideas effectively.

Following the training ECRs will be encouraged to apply for seed funding to develop project ideas and potential partnering activities with the aim of improving the quality of interaction and the outcomes of engagement with industry and external partners.

This workshop has been funded by BBSRC as part of the Additional Funding Scheme (AFS). AFS funds are being used to stimulate new activity in the following key areas:

Sustainable agriculture and technology
Industrial biotechnology and bioenergy
Mechanistic and synthetic biology for biomedicine

Sign up at this event page - Any queries please email Fiona Frame or Jenny Spear

Job / Volunteering Opportunities

PGR Supervisors - GTA recruitment for Semester 2

We are currently recruiting GTAs for Semester 2. If you supervise a PhD student, please could you encourage them to apply if they are interested - they have been sent all the information and recruitment form via the PhD group email, but if they need this re-sending, please ask them to email Vicky at environment-hr@york.ac.uk.

The deadline is 10th November 2023.

Pint of Science 2024: Call for Volunteers

Are you passionate about science and public engagement? Want to help make the Pint of Science festival in York a success?

We need volunteers for speakers and organisers at the festival on 13-15th May 2024, starting in November. Get involved and help showcase the world-class science that happens in York’s universities.

Click here to register your interest.

Good News and Media Engagement

Our wonderful Director for Students, Samarthia Thankappan is back with her weekly audio messages for students. Click the links below to listen to Samarthia's messages:

The Employability team have seen great engagement in events so far this Semester including over 80 students attending a Consultancy and Infrastructure Planning lecture with almost 50 attending the workshop immediately afterwards, both of which were delivered by one of our Industry Partners, Systra. 40 students attending a CVs and Cover Letters workshop which Angela Purdham co-delivered with Lucie Stanworth, our Faculty Careers Consultant. 2 of our Placement Year returners and 1 student currently on Placement shared their experiences and top tips for the Placement Search with 50 of our students at the Placement Year information session which Angela Purdham delivered and 38 students attended a Dissertation with Placement Session with Angela and Samarthia. Please do keep encouraging students to make the most of these sessions! Jenny Pollard and Felicia Liu supported.

We have a new paper out in Geophysical Research Letters led by Oliver Andrews' PhD student Qi Zheng. In this study we use sea level to determine the strength, structure and variability of the Cape Horn Current. This is a particularly important (but understudied) current due to its role as a component of the Antarctic Circumpolar Current system.

Research Professional News published an article on our new fossil fuel funding policy to which Roland Gehrels contributed.

Eleanor Jew, Josh Kirshner, Jamie Carr and Banki Chunwate co-ran a workshop with collaborators at Bayero University in Kano, Nigeria this week, before meeting with high level officials at Nigeria's Met Office and ACReSOL project, funded by the World Bank. Lindsay is cited in the Voice of Nigeria, while their Nigerian collaborator, Prof Aliyu Barau, was interviewed for the Daily Trust and both Lindsay and Aliyu Barau feature on environewsnigeria.com .

Richard Friend and Clive Lipchin have had an article published in the Conversation re. collaborative water management as building block for peace between Israel and Palestine.

Richard Friend, Kelly Redeker, Brett Sallach and James Chong have had two papers published: Sources and Magnitude of Heavy Metals in Sugarcane Plantation Soils with Different Agricultural Practices and Their Implications on Sustainable Waste-to-Foods Strategy in the Sugar–Ethanol Industry and Balancing Agriculture and Industry through Waste Utilization for Sugarcane Sustainability.

Andrew Gibson, a new Environment and Geography PhD student (supervised by Simon Mair and Chris Lyon) in the Leverhulme Centre for Anthropocene Biodiversity, published a reflection on an invited seminar by Dr Felicia Liu on the LCAB blog.

Well done everyone on your fantastic achievements 👏

Research Opportunities and Updates

Leadership training programme for Environmental Researchers

Unlock your leadership potential with a new leadership training programme.

The Inclusive Leadership for Public Engagement Programme is a short training and development course run by the University of Bath's Public Engagement Unit and public engagement consultancy Gurukula. The programme aims to support you to develop your leaderships skills for public engagement in environmental research. Taking place online across 12 weeks between February 2024 to May 2024, the training course is free and is for any researcher who is working in Natural Environment Research Council (NERC) research fields. Find out more and how to apply to join the course by visiting the Public Engagement Unit’s blog.

DASA funding call

A translational research call for new 'Disruptive Science Impacting Future Defence and Security' by the Defence and Security Accelerator (DASA) is open.

They are interested in funding research for translational technologies that could have a large impact on Defence or Security. The link to defence and security includes cybersecurity, communication technologies, or any technology that could be used in defence or security, but could also be used in other applications (for example 3D augmented reality displays).

The projects most suited for this award are early stage technologies that still require proof of concept work done to validate them. If you have any questions please get in touch the commercialisation team using the enquiries form.

YESI Fellows Knowledge Exchange + Discipline Hopping schemes 2023-24 now open!

YESI is delighted to launch its YESI Fellows Knowledge Exchange and Discipline Hopping schemes for 2023-2024, with investment from the University’s Environmental Sustainability at York (ESAY) initiative.

The Knowledge Exchange scheme will fund teams of researchers undertaking knowledge exchange activities with end users in the field of environmental sustainability, and aligned with one or more of the YESI themes (Environment & Health; Resilient Ecosystems; Food, Water & Waste).

Under the Discipline Hopping scheme, teams of researchers will collaborate to explore new synergies or avenues of inquiry that enhance interdisciplinary working around environmental science challenges. This funding covers collaborations across the arts, humanities, social sciences, engineering and technology and medical sciences.

If you are interested in applying for either of these schemes, please read the call guidelines documents for further information. Call Guidelines - YESI Knowledge Exchange Fellows 2023-2024 Call Guidelines - YESI Discipline Hopping Fellows 2023-2024

Please contact YESI Director lindsay.stringer@york.ac.uk if you want to talk through an idea, or yesi@york.ac.uk for any queries regarding the application process.

We look forward to receiving your innovative project proposals via the google application form. Deadline: Monday 8 January 2024, 12:00 noon.

Contribute your ideas to the BBSRC Big Ideas Pipeline

Contribute to the Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council’s (BBSRC) vision ‘to push back the frontiers of biology to deliver a healthy, prosperous and sustainable future’.

BBSRC’s ‘Bioscience Big Ideas Pipeline’ is a programme through which we engage with our broad research and innovation community to identify adventurous and exciting ideas that have the potential to be transformational.

We’re looking for ideas that will capture the imagination of researchers, the public, industry, and government. From knowledge gaps and future technologies that will impact upon fundamental research, through to challenges affecting society and the world in which we live.

Please complete the BBSRC form to contribute your ideas.

Got an item for next week's 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 10:00 next Friday.

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 🙂

Environment & Geography