Staff Newsletter 13 September

Created by Annabel Jackson (Deactivated)
13 Sept, 2024
5 min read

Top Tip of the Week

💡 Did you know that there is a Google calendar for semesters?! It clearly indicates within your Google Calendar the relevant semester and week number. For example, Semester 1 Week 2 = S1/2:

It also helpfully indicates what students are doing that week, for example, Freshers, Teaching, Assessment or Vacation.

It can be accessed by everyone at the University, including students. To add the calendar to your Google Calendar:

  1. Access the Google Calendar for Semesters.

  2. The link will open Google calendars. Click the Add button.

  3. The calendar should be listed under ‘Other calendars’ - you may need to refresh to find it in your list.

Important Information 

Dept Staff Monthly Meetings - Now scheduled for 24/25

All Department Staff Monthly Meetings have now been scheduled in Google calendars for the year ahead. See the full list of dates below. As part of our efforts to reduce meeting time across the Department, we will now only hold 8 meetings throughout the year. 

Dept Staff Monthly Meeting Dates 

  • Thurs 26 Sept

  • Wed 16 Oct

  • Tues 19 Nov

  • No December meeting

  • Thurs 23 Jan

  • Wed 12 Feb

  • Tues 18 Mar

  • No April meeting

  • Thurs 15 May

  • Wed 25 June

  • No July meeting

  • No August meeting

Our monthly dept staff meetings are mandatory for all DEG Staff. PhD reps are also invited to attend. If you find that you cannot attend a meeting (for example, due to teaching), please click Decline in your calendar and add an RSVP note to the invite. If the meeting dates listed above are not showing in your Google calendar, please email environment-pa@york.ac.uk so that we can sort this for you. 

Anyone is welcome to raise and present an item at our staff meetings. Please email environment-pa@york.ac.uk with a brief description of your item, how long you will need, and whether or not you will be using a presentation. 

Example items may include:

  • Explaining a new dept process / operational change that you are overseeing

  • Requesting staff feedback or initiating a discussion on a particular dept-related topic

  • Highlighting an event in which you are involved

  • Presenting a project you are planning, for which you are seeking support from other staff

Events

Farewell coffee, tea and BISCUITS!

Please come along to the Heartspace (first floor of Environment building) for coffee, tea and BISCUITS on Thursday 19th September at 10:30.

This will be the last day in the office for myself and Marie Robson so it would be lovely to get to say goodbye to as many of you as possible. I will be bringing in a range of (only the best) biscuits to share!

Hopefully see you there!

Join Us at the Virtual PhD Café!

Every Monday at 10am GMT on Zoom starting September 23rd!

Are you a PhD researcher seeking a supportive community and a productive start to your week? Look no further! Our Virtual PhD Café offers the perfect blend of camaraderie and productivity to kickstart your Mondays.

What to Expect:

  • Engaging discussions on research progress and challenges

  • Networking opportunities with fellow PhD researchers

  • Accountability to keep you on track with your goals

  • A welcoming and inclusive atmosphere to share problems and experiences

Grab your favourite drink and your laptop, and join us for a motivating morning at the Virtual PhD Café! 

Sign up here to be added to the invitation list!

Semester 1 Fresks- reminder and actions

Here's a reminder of plans for Semester 1:

  1. Fresk as part of York Environment Week (YEW, open to all) Weds 9 October 1-4pm

Sign up here!

Venue: Sustainability Clinic next to Nisa in Market Square

Facilitator staff agreed in August:

  • Priti Singh

  • Catherine Love-Smith

  • Trixie Green

  1. Merry Freskmas session (internal open to staff/students) Weds 4 December 1.30-4.30pm plus Facilitator social from 4.30pm venue TBC but most likely Deremore pub or Courtyard. 

Facilitator staff agreed in August:

  • Priti Singh

  • Maria Turkenburg Van-Diepen

  • Trixie Green

Sign up for the December Fresk!

Good News 

⭐ Sarah Bridle was interviewed on BBC 5Live's Nicky Campbell programme for their morning phone-in about tea, discussing how climate change will impact the way we make our favourite brew.

⭐ Anika Haque presented her ongoing work on "Gender(ed) adaptation to the overlapping risks of climate change and development in the Global South cities" at the Royal Geographical Society Annual International Conference, in a session titled 'Interfacing migration, development and urbanisation in Global South cities'.

⭐Following completion of the York Professional and Academic Development (YPAD) scheme this year, Adrian Gonzalez was awarded Senior Fellow of the Higher Education Academy evidencing and reflecting on his T&L activities in the department (principally around field trips) and work within the wider institution (Architecture and Education).

⭐ Felicia Liu delivered a keynote intervention at Climate Finance Workshop at Warwick Business School, outlining economic geographical approaches and research agenda on critical inquiry into the relationship between finance and climate change 

⭐ Alberto Roca Florido and Simon Mair published a paper in Sustainable Developmentshowcasing a new marine focussed input-output table for the UK. The table is used to analyse tensions between job creation, value added and greenhouse gas emissions in the UK marine economy. The input-output table is available in theYork data repository.

**DEG Email contact list**

Student Services:

environment@york.ac.uk

If in doubt, send your student-related enquiry here for triage. This is the best address to use if you want to circulate emails to students.

environment-ugstudents@york.ac.uk

Enquiries relating to undergraduate students

environment-pgtstudents@york.ac.uk

Enquiries relating to postgraduate taught students

environment-pgrstudents@york.ac.uk

Enquiries relating to postgraduate research students

environment-studentservicemanager@york.ac.uk

Escalation of issues in the Student Services Team; more complex issues and enquiries relating to students.

environment-assessments@york.ac.uk

Anything related to assessments.

General Admin:

environment-pa@york.ac.uk

PA support for Roland and departmental staff meetings; anything related to the rest of EGLT, EDC, DMT, staff purchasing, staff events, and the newsletter.

HR:

environment-hr@york.ac.uk

Anything HR-related, including: FlexiLeave issues, sickness absence, probations, leaving the university, redundancy, contract changes, flexible working requests, maternity/paternity leave, inductions, new starters, PDRs, recruitment, GTAs, process improvement, anything wiki-related, staffing report and line management support.

Technical Support:

environment-technicians@york.ac.uk

All general laboratory or technical enquiries.

environment-safety@york.ac.uk

All health & safety issues, including risk and CoSHH assessments

Other important generic email addresses:

environment-finance@york.ac.uk

For finance queries.

environment-research@york.ac.uk

research-related enquiries, including: pre-award support and advice, guidance on deadlines and internal processes, costing projects, drafting letters of support, consultancy, research strategy, Open Access and PURE, REF.

timetabling@york.ac.uk

Enquiries relating to Timetabling (put ‘FAO Caroline’ in the subject line of your email)

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!