Staff Newsletter 12 January 2024

Afternoon all 🌱 Plenty of funding opportunities and dissertation surveys to keep you busy this week.

Have an excellent weekend 😎

Chloe Mitchell - PA to HoD

📢 Important Information

Feedback on the winter building closure

Now that the building is back to being fully open, we would like to hear your feedback: please fill out this short survey on the winter closure. This will help us when deciding on potential future closures. The form is anonymous, but if you have any further queries/comments, please email Lucy at environment-dhfo@york.ac.uk.

New PGR Reps

It's official! We have new PGR (post-graduate researchers) reps who have taken over from Katie and Charlie (Obroma is staying on!). Thank you to Katie and Charlie for all the work you have done for the department last year and for your support and advice in this transition period. We (the new reps) are: Jake Spong, Marianne Lotter-Jones, Sangita Ganesh, and Obroma Agumagu. We look forward to representing all the PGRs this year.

Flat on Scarcroft Road available 26 Jan - 1 Apr

Hello. I will be away for fieldwork from January 26th-April 1st, possibly a bit longer. This leaves a bunch of plants abandoned in a lovely 1 bedroom flat (plus sofa bed) on Scarcroft Rd, i.e. near the hipster mecca of Bishy Road. I thought I'd probe with folks at E&G in case the timing aligns with someone visiting the university or in other ways finding themselves in need of subletting a place. Let me know t if you want more info, pictures or have any leads or questions. Thanks!

Hanna Pettersson - PDRA LCAB

🌲 Department Events

Seminars restarting Teaching Week 1 (13th Feb onwards)

Our departmental seminars run during teaching weeks and so are currently paused until Teaching Week 1. The first round of seminars will be on the following dates:

DEG Seminars: Tuesday 13th February, 12:05-13:00
Sustainability Seminars: Wednesday 14th February, 12:05-13:00
Sustainability Education Conversations: Wednesday 21st February, 12:05-13:00

Keep an eye on our upcoming newsletters for more details.

CSEFEWS Presentation next Wednesday - All welcome!

Title: Stuckness and Sustainability

Speaker: Prof. Dan van der Horst, University of Edinburgh

Date: Wednesday 17 Jan

Time: 14:00-15:00

Format: Online, Zoom link

Abstract: We are living through a dual scientific revolution of our understanding of the natural world and the accelerating ways in which ‘modern’ humans are impacting on it. I don’t think it is controversial to posit that the gap between knowing and acting (wisely) is growing. A key role for environmental social science is to examine the non-technical barriers to a transition to a more environmentally sustainable society, and to assess or critique the effectiveness and justice implications of policies and technologies ostensibly deployed to get us there. Over the past 20 years, much of my research has focused on the understanding the spatio-temporal patterns of (non-)adoption of climate change mitigation measures, and the moral, social and environmental consequences of these patterns. In this talk, I utilise and perhaps even develop (you be the judge) the concept of ‘stuckness’ in the context of sustainability transitions, adding a spatio-temporal sensibility to potential categorizations of relative and absolute inaction. By doing so, I may retrofit a more coherent narrative to my own (messy) learning journey to date, and hopefully find some interesting connections with the work of colleagues at York.

YESI Workshop: Multi-level Analysis of Supply Chain Activities for Sustainability Across Academic Disciplines

Date: Wednesday 7 February

Time: 13:00 - 15:00

Location: TBC

This workshop aims to bring together academics from various disciplines who share an interest in complex systems and supply chain sustainability. Our objective is to facilitate in-depth investigations into multi-level interactions, such as the intricate relationships between ecosystems and supply chains. While the existence of these interactions is widely acknowledged, comprehensive studies in this area are still lacking. We envision this workshop as a unique platform for collaboration, where participants can identify joint project ideas, explore research opportunities, and foster interdisciplinary partnerships to tackle the pressing challenges of supply chain sustainability. To express your interest in participating in the YESI workshop and to receive further details regarding the workshop, please register here.

We look forward to your active participation and the opportunity to collectively advance our understanding of supply chain sustainability across academic disciplines.

Jane Güleç - YESI Co-ordinator

YESI Nature and the Bioeconomy Workshop

Date: Thursday 8 February 2024

Time: 13:30-16:00

Location: In person only, B/A/004, Biology Building, Campus West, University of York

The aim of this workshop is to identify research questions and potential research projects at the interface between the bioeconomy and nature. The workshop is aimed at UoY researchers and relevant collaborators who can develop research bids to any upcoming UKRI calls

The bioeconomy refers to economic activity involving the use of biotechnology and biomass in the production of goods, services, or energy. Recent advances in biomass processing, animal husbandry and marine resource use have the potential to alter the UK's land and seascapes over the next few decades, but the future is uncertain and the impacts on nature and biodiversity are unclear.

This workshop will bring together researchers from York working on the future of the bioeconomy, with those interested in biodiversity and nature to establish scenarios of future change that could form the basis of future collaborations. Register for Nature and the Bioeconomy workshop.

Jane Güleç - YESI Co-ordinator

🎫 Other Events

Panel discussion: 'Post-COP28 Debrief: Does the agreement go far enough?'

Date / time: Tuesday 16 January / 12.30pm – 1.45pm GMT

Location: Oxford Martin School Lecture Theatre & Online

Abstract: COP28 closed with an agreement, that for the first time in three decades, includes oil and gas. But what does the agreement mean in real terms? And is keeping the global temperature limit of 1.5°C within reach? Join us as our panel of academics share their thoughts after attending COP28 and look forward to what it means for COP29 and the world over the coming years.

Panel:

Professor Myles Allen, Director, Oxford Net Zero
Dr Abrar Chaudhury, Senior Associate, Oxford Net Zero
Professor Benito Müller, Convener International Climate Policy Research, Environmental Change Institute (Chair)
Dr Nicola Ranger, Director, Oxford Martin Programme on Systemic Resilience

This talk is in conjunction with Oxford Net Zero and Oxford Climate Research Network.

To register to attend in-person in Oxford: https://www.oxfordmartin.ox.ac.uk/events/cop28debrief/
To register to watch live online on Crowdcast: https://www.crowdcast.io/c/cop28debrief
To watch later: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0PeN8fmhwoM

YUSU Exhibition - Perceiving Nature: Exploring Representations of the Natural World (31 Jan - 16 Feb)

Location: Norman Rea Gallery, Uni of York

With this exhibition our aim is to come to terms with the symbiosis between humans, plants and animals and how that is expressed and understood within art. For thousands of years artworks have represented nature in a variety of ways: flowers, plants and animals have been utilised to symbolise ideas pertaining to folk culture, mythology and religion. The natural world in art exists almost as a means of communication, with flowers and plants becoming words in a visual language. We are seeking to reframe the world that we see everyday and open our minds up to more diverse ways of capturing it. We want to explore everything that is folk, rustic and rural: landscapes, spirituality, surreal artworks, and liminal natural scapes, with work about the cosmos, the elements, and more.

Our Opening Night will take place on Wednesday 31st January from 6.30-9pm, and will feature immersive soundscapes and other interactive aspects. We would appreciate it if you could share this event with those in your community - staff, students, and anybody interested alike - and we hope to see many of you there!

Click here for our press release on the "Perceiving Nature" exhibition with a more detailed description.

Elena Savvas, Head of Press and Publicity and Emilia Sogaard, Head of Blog, YUSU

NERC Advanced Training course - Wearable technology for personal sensing of air pollution and other environmental exposures

This is a 5-day training course from 19^th – 23^rd Feb 2024, hosted at Imperial College London, targeted at PhD students and Early Career researchers.

Thanks to NERC, we are offering 20 fully-funded positions (est. £2,500 per person) for UKRI researchers nationwide. This includes fully-covered London accommodation, refreshments, a drink reception and a networking dinner. There is also an EDI accessibility fund upon request.

A few keynote speakers include –

Prof. Frank Kelly, Battcock Chair in Community Health & Policy, Imperial College London;
Dr. Gary Fuller, UKRI Clean Air Champion, Imperial College London;
Prof. Ben Barratt, Professor in Environmental Exposure, Imperial College London.

Highlights of the course include a visit to London’s air quality supersite (Europe’s largest), an interactive coding session using R, hands-on wearable sensor training, a few gamified teaching sessions and the co-design of a wearable sensor project. At the end of the training session, students, in groups, will present their developed projects to an expert panel and potentially win an award! More information can be found on www.wearabletraining.org, and applications can be made via the ‘Apply here’ tab. The application deadline is 15^th January 2024.

Yiting Bao - Associate Lecturer in Environment and Health, University of Exeter

⭐ Good News and Media Engagement

Darpan Das was invited to give a research talk in Adamas University, India. He spoke about "Personal Exposure Assessment, Low-cost sensors and Citizen Science: A possible Recipe to Compat Air Pollution in India".

Tazeen Khan (former PhD student) had the first paper from her PhD published. In brief, the presence of microplastics in soil can lead to reduced plant growth and in this paper "Polyethylene microplastic can adsorb phosphate but is unlikely to limit its availability in soil" Tazeen tests the hypothesis that this is due to the microplastics adsorbing nutrients, reducing their availability to plants.

Ed Garrett and Naomi Holmes have joined the executive committee of the Quaternary Research Association, Ed as Editor of Quaternary Newsletter and Naomi as Outreach Officer.

Kevin Hicks made an appearance on Countryfile. Kevin talked about ammonia in agriculture as part of a feature on air pollution.

Lisa Emberson has had new research published on the impact of rising air pollution on India’s crop yields and food security.

Anika Haque:

was interviewed by one of the leading national newspapers in Bangladesh post receiving the AXA IM research award. The interview featured Anika's work on urban climate resilience in the global South.
and Prof Helen Elsey published a YESI policy brief on 'Addressing the overlapping risks of climate change and urbanization and building a response to gendered well-being in Dhaka, Bangladesh'.
and YESI published a video vlog on the 'overlapping risks of climate change and urbanization' as part of Anika's YESI knowledge exchange fellowship.

Andy Dougill, Gideon Baffoe and Ellie Jew have been awarded a World Universities Network Reseacrh Development Fund grant for a project on 'Technologies for African Food System Transformations' in collaboration with the Universities of Ghana, Pretoria and Leeds.

Andy Dougill is an author on a Nature Food paper on "Stakeholder-driven transformative adaptation is needed for climate-smart nutrition security in sub-Saharan Africa".

Richard Friend is a co-author for an Op-Ed in the Bangkok Post (Thailand's main English language newspaper) "Rethinking cities' links to water".

Rob Marchant:

was involved in a multi-author publication led by Hayley Clements around a new dataset published in Nature - Scientific Data on 'The Impacts of land use on the abundance of sub-Saharan Africa’s fauna and flora: The bii4africa dataset'.
was involved in a new publication led by Paramita Punwong in Quaternary Science Advances on a 'Multi-proxy reconstruction of the late Holocene vegetation dynamics in Krabi mangroves, Thailand Andaman Sea'.
and Edem Mahu led a paper published in The Holocene on 'Change in Oyster Environments through High-Resolution Geochemical Analysis of Late Holocene Sediments from Coastal Ghana'.

Well done everyone on your fantastic achievements 👏

🔬 Research Opportunities and Updates

RGS-IBG Grants Programme 2024 – call for applications

Postgraduate grants – most around £2k. Unless specified the grants are open to applications from across the breadth of geography.

Monica Cole Research Grant (deadline 3 February 2024) (for physical geography)
Henrietta Hutton Research Grant (deadline 3 February 2024)
Frederick Soddy Award (deadline 3 February 2024) (a larger grant up to £6k for research on a region)

Grants for early career researchers (post PhD). Unless specified the grants are open to applications from across the breadth of geography.

RGS-IBG Small Research Grants (deadline 3 February 2024) open to topics across geography and related disciplines, including:

Jasmin Leila Award (for research into transnational communities, medical and health geography and any aspects of music, theatre, fashion and/or dance and their geographies)
Rob Potter Award (for research into geographies of development, transnational migration and identities. Preference will be given to research on the contemporary Caribbean, with studies of Mexico, Latin America and small island nations also welcomed.)

Teaching grants

Innovative Geography Teaching Grants (deadline 15 February 2024) (for a teacher-higher education team)

Dissertation Surveys - Do your good deed for the week and support our 3rd year students!

Establishing a Baseline for Evidence and an Action Plan for Regenerative Farming in York and North Yorkshire

An opportunity to research the potential climate mitigation impacts of a step change to regenerative agriculture in North Yorkshire through a project led by the Protected Landscapes (National Park Authorities and National Landscape Teams) in North Yorkshire.

Deadline: 12 noon on 31 January 2024.

Call for Proposals for the Mahidol-York Seed Grant 2024 is open

The Mahidol-York Seed Grant 2024 is now open for applications. Three projects at York will be funded, which each receiving £10,000. Applications must have a co-principal investigator from each university, however, a faculty member can serve as Co-Principal investigator on no more than one application per application cycle.

The grant is intended to:

Encourage effective collaboration between academic teams from both institutions to drive outstanding research
Expand research efforts in areas of shared interest, emphasizing scale and focus
Foster engagement at all academic levels by ensuring diverse research team compositions
Provide international research training opportunities
Establish a strong foundation for continued research collaboration, securing external funding
Support the development of long-term strategic research alliances between the two universities
Actively promote and facilitate academic exchanges for research visits between the two institutions.

Applications close 31/01/2024.

Please get in touch with Lingzi (lingzi.cook@york.ac.uk) if you have any questions or need more information.

📧 Got 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 on Thursday 18th 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 🙂

Environment & Geography