Staff Newsletter 26 January 2024
- Annabel Jackson (Deactivated)
Good morning all 
Thank you very much to all those who have already submitted a photo for 'Staff Photo of the Week' - I look forward to sharing these in future newsletters 📸
Have a great weekend 🌳
Annabel Jackson - PA / Admin to EGLT
Graduation - Thursday 8 February
The planned events for Graduation on Thursday 8th February are as follows:
- Departmental Drinks Reception: 11:30-12:30 in Environment Foyer
- Graduation Ceremony 8: 13:30-15:00 in Central Hall (please arrive by 13:15)
- Central Drinks Reception: 15:00-16:30 in Exhibition Centre
If you would like to help out at our Dept Drinks Reception, please submit a graduation departmental reception sign up form by midday on Weds 31 Jan.
Staff who have ordered a gown can collect them from the Bowland Auditorium in the Berrick Saul Building which will be staffed from around 8am on Thurs 8 Feb.
Feedback on the winter building closure
Thank you for all your feedback so far. We would like to hear from as many staff as possible, so please do short survey on the winter closure by Friday 2nd February. 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.
Staff Bitesize Training
Please see the below regarding new Staff Digital Skills Bitesize sessions led by the Digital Inclusion, Skills and Creativity (DISC) Team.
The Return of Staff Digital Skills “Bitesize” Sessions! • Semester 2 (Various dates) • Online
Ready to enhance your digital skills? Low on time? Join the DISC team for their online digital upskilling sessions! Bite-sized, hour-long training for topics including Gmail, Google Calendar, Google Sites, mail merges, digital accessibility and more! NEW sessions for 2024 include Google Forms, Qualtrics, Sites, and Looker Studio. Visit the mini-site for all details and book your place.
New Google updates Slack channel
There is now a dedicated Slack channel to join: #google-updates
It will be a low-key place for updates/features/training going forwards and you can come/go as you please.
Single Students' Union Elections
Do you know someone who would make a great student representative in the new, single Students' Union? You can recommend them via the Suggest a Sabb form! They don’t need any experience and don’t even need to have been involved in Union activity before. Once you've submitted the form, YUSU will get in touch with them with more information about running in the Elections. It’s a great way to show your support to your peers and encourage them to take on the challenge of running as a candidate! You can Suggest a Sabb until Wednesday 6 March.
Chloe Dickinson, YUSU Student Voice Team
Academic Representation 2024/25
Following the trial of our pilot project and with the new Single Students' Union we are looking at the future of Academic Representation. We are aiming to have consistency across all Departments for the 2024/25 Academic Year. It is important to us that we consider everyones point of view to be able to come to a conclusion that will work best for everyone. Therefore, we have created this Academic Representation Survey for Departmental Staff. Please complete this by 23rd February and share with as many members of staff within your Department as possible. We will be consulting students and current Reps also.
We will also be hosting 2 Staff Networking Events to discuss the future of Academic Representation. Dates, times and locations are listed below, click the links to add the event to your calendar. You only need to attend one.
Hackathon 1 - Tuesday, 26 March, 10:30am – 12:30pm, CL/A/027
Hackathon 2 - Tuesday, 9 April, 11:30am – 1:30pm, SLB/00
Chloe Dickinson, YUSU Student Voice Team
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Sunrise above Planfins de Lechere (2500m, Swiss Alps), over a large snowbed flush wetland📸 Rob Mills |
Do you have a nature/environment-themed photo that you would like to share with colleagues? If so, please fill in this very short google form at a time that suits you
🧵 Crafty lunch! 🧵
A reminder that Crafty lunch has recently returned!
Do come along to the Heartspace in the Environment Building on Wednesdays between 1 - 2pm.
Bring your current projects or get started with a new one.
Supplies will be provided but donations of crafty bits are welcome.
For more info email Jenny Pollard via jenny.pollard@york.ac.uk
DEG Wellbeing Event: Wednesday 7th February, 10:30 – 14:30
As part of our ongoing commitment to promoting mental health and positive well-being, we would like to remind both staff and students about the upcoming Wellbeing Event. This event serves as an opportunity for our DEG community to come together, prioritise self-care, and engage in activities that promote a positive and healthy way of life.
The event is timetabled and shows up on your timetable as Induction activity with activity detail as: Wellbeing exhibition and walk - Meet in the environment foyer.
Highlights & Activities
📅 Between 7th February and 14th February, in the foyer you can enjoy an exhibition of your Campus Wellbeing Spaces from our previous Campus Wellbeing Walk and your Creative Expression of Wellbeing captured through photography and creative writing.
📅 On Wednesday 7th February....
📍 Taking place in the Heartspace:
- 10:30 – 11:30 - Hot chocolate decoration competition
- 10:30 – 12:00 - Experience the calming companionship of Henry and Milo, our two visiting therapy dogs
📍 Taking place in the Foyer:
- 12:00 – 12:15: The launch of our digital guide encouraging you to experience positive spaces across York and to find that special place to boost your wellbeing
- 12:15 – 12:30: Announcement of winners of the Hot Chocolate Decoration, Creative Writing and Photography Competitions
📍 Taking place in the City of York:
- 12:30 – 14:30: Self-Guided Exploration of wellbeing spaces across York
Exhibition Submission Details
We would also like to draw your attention to the approaching deadline for submission of entries for the upcoming exhibition. This is an excellent opportunity for all to showcase your creativity and talents and there will be prizes awarded for the top entries 🥇
Submission Deadline: Friday 2nd February at 5pm
Categories: Photographs and creative writing that captures the essence of wellbeing.
Submission Process: Email your entries to Robert Bennett (Robert.bennett@york.ac.uk). Include a brief description or context for your submission.
We highly encourage all interested individuals to participate in the exhibition, contributing to the vibrant and creative atmosphere of our community; and the hot chocolate decoration competition. Your active involvement is crucial to the success of these initiatives. Let's come together as a community to celebrate well-being and creativity.
Best wishes, Samarthia Thankappan & Robert Bennett
Webinar on 8th Feb - Empty signifiers: New approaches to discourse analysis in infrastructure research
Date: Thursday 8 Feb 2024
Time: 11:30 - 13:00
Location: Online
Josh Kirshner is hosting a webinar next month through the IGDC seminar series called Empty signifiers: New approaches to discourse analysis in infrastructure. What can discourse analysis reveal into the development of connective infrastructures, past and present?
Yorkshire Universities Student Sustainability Research Conference
Date: Wednesday 21st February 2024
Time: 1 - 2pm
Location: Parkinson Court at the University of Leeds.
The Yorkshire Universities Student Sustainability Research Conference is on Wednesday 6th March in Leeds. Staff and students are invited to attend this free event. You can find out more about the event here and need to register for tickets. Return coach travel from York - Leeds will be provided if required.
The organisers are on the lookout for speaker-session facilitators - if you're interested in facilitating a session on the day please can you let Naomi Holmes (naomi.holmes@york.ac.uk) know so your name and email can be shared with the organisers.
Climate action and hopefulness in teaching
Date: Wednesday 21st February 2024
Time: 1 - 2pm
Location: Online
The next GeogEd Teaching and Scholarship Forum is on Wednesday February 21st 2024, 1-2pm UK time. There will be three presentations and then time for Q and A / discussion. Please do join us if you are able to.
During this session we will hear from three speakers about their work around climate education, with a focus on climate action and hopefulness in teaching.
- Bee Gan, Sheffield Hallam University - 'The Climate Emergency: a collaborative online international learning project'
- Dr Ankit Kumar, University of Sheffield - 'Contingencies of hopelessness and hope in a radical politics of climate justice'
- Prof Larissa Naylor, University of Glasgow - 'Creating windows of opportunity to become 'Sea Level Wise''
Free, online, 21st February, 1-2pm UK time.
Please join via this link.
Sarah Bridle facilitated a networking meeting for more than 70 people interested in forming bidding groups for UKRI's new funding call - Strengthening the resilience of the UK food system.
Piran White, Paul Hudson, Laura Harrison and Lucy Treasure held a workshop with partners NextEnergy Capital in London, as part of our project in the NERC Integrating Finance and Biodiversity programme on nature-positive investment opportunities through solar parks.
PhD researcher Sam Buckton has had a paper published in The Naturalist: Buckton SJ (2023) Yorkshire Plant Gall Recorder's report for 2022. The Naturalist 148(1114), 179-183. Sam also co-facilitated a workshop at Oxford's Saïd Business School for a Transforming UK Food Systems (TUKFS) synergy grant project exploring different concepts and approaches of food system transformation across the different TUKFS projects.
Bryce Stewart, Colin McClean and Bethan O'Leary:
- Have a new paper 'Shifts in the size and distribution of marine trophy fishing world records' based on 3 student dissertations supervised by Bryce has been published in Aquatic Conservation: Marine and Freshwater Ecosystems.
- The University of York (Paul Drury Bradey) has issued a press release based on the above paper 'Trophy fishing, what’s the catch? Decline in record catches for threatened species, research shows' which has already gathered attention from the Yorkshire Post, BBC Radio York and Yorkvik Radio.
- Science X Daily coverage of Trophy fishing research.
Ellen Harding Smith's fantastic paper on cleaning products and whether green cleaners are a better alternative for indoor air quality was published this week.
Anika Haque presented a paper at the 9th International Water Conference, titled Urban resilience and the social ecosystem in the global South cities.
Well done everyone on your fantastic achievements 👏
Dissertation Surveys - Do your good deed for the week and support our 3rd year students!
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 🙂