Staff Newsletter 20 October 2023

Happy Fri-yay one and all The recording for the October Dept Staff Meeting is now available for those who missed it on Tuesday and there's just two week's left to submit your Making the Difference nominations!

Stay warm and dry folks ☂️

Chloe Mitchell - PA to HoD

Semester 2 Timetable - Draft and release dates (provisional) 

Timetabling have notified us that the draft timetable for Semester 2 is due to be released on 29th November 2023, and staff will have until 06th December 2023 to check the semester two draft. The final version is then down to be released to staff and students on 13th December 2023. Please note that the current dates are provisional and the Timetabling team are currently still dealing with an influx of queries relating to Semester 1 which is slowing down the S2 build.

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1 bedroom flat on Scarcroft Road available over winter

I will be away for fieldwork this winter, most likely from mid-November for a few months (exact dates TBD). This leaves a bunch of plants abandoned in a rather lovely 1 bedroom flat (plus sofa bed) on Scarcroft Rd, i.e. near the hipster mecca of Bishy Road. It will be occupied by a colleague until December 15th, after which it will be available for shorter or longer-term stays.  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 temporary base. Let me know t if you want more info or have any leads or questions.

Hanna Pettersson - PDRA LCAB / DEG

Green for Health Research across Yorkshire and the North East - 6 Dec

6 December, 09:30 to 16:00, Priory Street Centre, York

This collaborative event is brought to you by Humber NHS Teaching Foundation Trust, Tees Esk and Wear Valley NHS Teaching Foundation Trust, the York Environmental Sustainability Institute (YESI), and the Institute for Mental Health Research (IMRY) at the University of York. It is designed to bring together individuals involved in or interested in clinical and academic research.

Yorkshire and the North East are renowned for their national parks, stunning coastlines, and areas of outstanding natural beauty. These regions offer tremendous diversity, from bustling urban centres to underserved communities, each with its own unique health challenges and disparities. Numerous studies have shown that connecting with nature and spending time outdoors can have a profound impact on health and well-being. Our event serves as a celebration of ongoing research initiatives that explore the connections between health and green/blue spaces. It also presents an exciting opportunity to foster future collaborations in this vital field.

To view the full agenda, list of speakers and to reserve your spot at the Green for Health Research event, please click this link.

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Department Staff Monthly Meeting (Oct) - Links and Recording

Thank you all for joining our Dept Staff Monthly Meeting on Tuesday for October, and thank you to Anika and Bryce for their presentations. Below are highlights and useful links from this month's meeting:

Changes to Environment and Geography Leadership Team (EGLT)

• Piran White has now taken over from Nic Carslaw as Director of Research
• Karen Parkhill will take over from Samarthia Thankappan as Director for Students in Jan 2024
• Truzaar Dordi will take over from Bryce Stewart as Director for Engagements and Partnerships in Jan 2024

Agenda Items

• Bryce Stewart - Engagement and Partnerships Annual Report
• Anika Haque - Slides for REF 2028 Initial Briefing 

Meeting Recording

Click here to watch the full recording of the Dept Staff Monthly Meeting (Oct).

The next meeting will be held on Thurs 30 November, 11:05-12:00. If you have an item you would like to present, please email environment-pa@york.ac.uk.

🏆 Two weeks left to submit your 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: Friday 3rd November 17:00

Departmental seminars taking place next week 🎓

All are welcome to attend so please do join us and offer your support!

The Curious Mind: A Lord James Lecture - 26 Oct

Join Ruth Vassilas and Professor Robin Wooffitt for a double bill of talks on the anomalous and bizarre. From near death experiences to everyday telepathy, come along to the Ron Cook Hub at 18:30 on Thursday, 26th October where Ruth and Robin will be attempting to explain the seemingly unexplainable.

The talk is open to students, staff, and the public and all proceeds will go to Door 84. Tickets for The Curious Mind are available here.

Langwith College - University of York

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:

• S1 Week 1 Message from DfS
• S1 Week 2 Message from DfS
• S1 Week 3 Message from DfS
• S1 Week 4 Message from DfS

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Andreas Heinemeyer was invited to speak to MSPs and a minister at the Scottish Parliament about the role of vegetation management in relation to fuel load and wildfire risks, specifically considering evidence of management impacts.

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Sarah Bridle has recently:

• co-authored a paper in Sustainability, scoping potential routes to UK civil unrest via the food system. The paper was covered in national newspapers, The Times, iNews, The Mirror. It was also covered in Trade press, The Grocer and Food Manufacturer magazine. It was also covered in regional media.
• published an article for The Conversation.
• joined George Monbiot in conversation at Manchester Literature Festival, to discuss food and farming for the future.

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Lindsay Stringer was a co-author on a paper accepted in Sustainable Cities and Society, based on collaborations from her Royal Society - China international exchanges project.

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Josh Kirshner and Richard Friend now have a full reference and link for an article listed in a previous newsletter: Learning through interdisciplinary dialogue: Methodological approaches for bridging epistemological divides. The article is about the methodological processes, learning experiences and dialogues of academics involved in interdisciplinary research on implementing second-generation biofuel technologies in northeast Brazil. It stems from a British Academy-funded Knowledge Frontiers project, with a team spanning the social and natural sciences and including academics at Universities of York and São Paulo (Brazil).

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Hanna Pettersson has had a paper published: Who must adapt to whom? Contested discourses on human–wolf coexistence and their impact on policy in Spain. People and Nature.

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Darpan Das has co-authored a paper with partners in Iran titled 'Blood-lead level in humans and drug addiction: a comprehensive study in Iran', Environmental Science and Pollution Research. 

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On 3 October, Ioan Fazey and Sam Buckton co-facilitated a second Three Horizons workshop with representatives from North Yorkshire Council and its stakeholders, to support the development of the Council's new food strategy. Rebecca Newman also participated.

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Xun Zhou was the corresponding author of this paper: Non-crossing convex quantile regression. Economics Letters.

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Jonathan Green and Chris West from SEI have contributed to a new publication in Nature where they used new techniques to map rubber-related deforestation, and found an area roughly the size of Switzerland has been lost in the past 30 years.

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Adrian Gonzalez has been awarded a 0.2 FTE buyout to take on the role of Strategic Lead for Sustainability to support the development of the new Department of Architecture and Built Environment. This follows approval by the Project Board of the sustainability strategy ("Envisioning a sustainable Department of Architecture and the Built Environment") that he wrote over the summer. His role will be to deliver this strategy by working with the Founding Professor, Project Manager and other colleagues across the project and wider institution to ensure that it realises its sustainability ambition across the different workstreams (T&L, research, operations, marketing etc). The role will continue until September 2025 when the new Department launches.

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Well done everyone on your fantastic achievements 👏

Open Research Faculty of Sciences Survey

The Open Research team (Library, Archives and Learning Services) are interested in assessing the current levels of understanding and engagement with open research practices across the University and would be grateful if all staff and PGRs could fill out this short survey on Open Research. 

This survey is being shared with all departments and schools within the Faculty of Sciences, and similar surveys are being shared with the other faculties to gain an understanding of differences regarding adoption of open research practices. Following the survey, we intend to develop workshops and training activities appropriately for each faculty / department.

Kirralise Hansford - PhD Student in Cognitive Neuroscience and Neuroimaging / Graduate Engagement Lead for Open Research (Faculty of Sciences)

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Lindemann Trust Fellowships 2024-2026 Open for Applications

The Lindemann Trust, in partnership with the English-Speaking Union, offers up to three 2-year fellowships, each worth $130,000, for post-doctoral scientists to carry out research in the USA. 

The Lindemann Trust Fellowships are designed as an early post-doctoral opportunity, and are awarded to graduates of exceptional promise in both the pure and applied physical sciences who have shown capacity for producing original research. These Fellowships enable post-doctoral scientists to pursue research in the USA without financial difficulty, and without being obliged to take up paid employment.

The subject areas eligible are defined broadly to include all areas of the physical sciences and mathematics, as well as their interfaces with the life sciences. 

To be eligible to apply, candidates must meet the following criteria:

• Hold British, Irish or Commonwealth citizenship (or have UK settled status) AND be normally resident in the UK
• Either be in the final stages of their doctoral studies at a UK university, or have completed their doctorate at a UK university and have no more than three years of actual research experience since completion
• Career breaks and part-time working will be taken into consideration, e.g. time away due to personal reasons such as maternity, paternity, shared parental and adoptive leave or other caring responsibilities; ill-health or working in a non-research environment/role such as industry.

The deadline for applications is Monday 5th February 2024. Please visit the Lindemann Trust's website for more information and contact Research Support (environment-research@york.ac.uk) if you wish to make an application.

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EPSRC Interim Executive Chair – Request for Reviewing Support

Prof Miles Padgett, Interim Executive Chair for EPSRC has reached out to seek support with EPSRC peer review activities. This would be a great opportunity for any colleagues in department who are keen to be more involved in the peer review process to self-nominate to join the EPSRC peer review college. Undertaking peer review activities provides an opportunity for exposure to a wider pool of applications which can prove beneficial when developing your own applications. Please see the letter received from Prof Miles Padgett for further information.

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ICURe Engage - Opportunity for post-grad research students

The Midlands Innovation group of universities deliver the Innovate UK ICURe family of programmes, aimed at getting UK University research outputs into use in society. One of the main parts of the programme is developing research student’s capability to have impact in society. The group have recently developed ICURe Engage as a starter programme to the ICURe family. The goal of the Engage to give participants the tools to think who their research could benefit and how those benefits could be sustainably achieved. It is aimed at early-stage postgraduate research students ( 1st/2nd year Master/PhD) and helps them engage with the key stakeholders and broader communities associated with their research.

Training is provided and help is given to find and engage with these contacts and support them with mentors through the process. This is a part-time on-line programme that can be done concurrently with their studies, requiring a two-day bootcamp and 8 hours own study over 4 weeks. The application process is straightforward, and the group expect to able to accommodate the majority of those who apply. Click here for full details on the ICURe Engage Programme..

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Yorkshire Paleo Group Meeting - 15th Nov

The next Yorkshire Palaeogroup (YPG) meeting will be hosted in the Northwest via the University of Salford and Simon Hutchinson. It will be a hybrid meeting (if there is enough interest in an in-person dimension to the event) or online only (via Teams) and held from 14:00 to 17:00 on 15th November 2023.  As usual, we aim to offer a friendly and open environment to discuss all things palaeo welcoming short presentations (10 or 20 minutes) by research postgraduates, academics, professionals, retirees and others. Please click this link and fill out the MS Form for the YPG event if you would like to offer something, want to come along or want the link to attend online. 

Contact Simon Hutchinson for further information / questions (s.m.hutchinson@salford.ac.uk) and here is the link to new YPG website.

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Virtual Visit to the UoY by the Japan Society for the Promotion of Science (JSPS) - 27 Nov

On the 27th November York will be hosting the Japan Society for the Promotion of Science (JSPS). The JSPS will be presenting their funding schemes and providing insight for prospective applicants. The JSPS fund a broad range of research and all colleagues are welcome to join.

The provisional agenda is as follows:

• 1315: Welcome (Matthias Ruth/Ambrose Field)
• 1325: Introductory remarks (JSPS Director)
• 1335: UoY academic perspective on working with JSPS (Andy Pratt/Takashi Yamagata)
• 1350: JSPS funding schemes
• 1415: Q&A
• 1430: Close

Please complete the Google form if you wish to attend the JSPS visit and a Zoom link will be shared with you.

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 🙂