Staff Newsletter 15 December 2023

Good morning everyone. It was great to see so many of you at the international festive potluck/moving feast yesterday - we hope that you all enjoyed it 🎵

Lots of good news to catch up on this week 🙂

Annabel Jackson - PA / Admin to EGLT

 Reminder: Policy for UG Post Offer Visit Days / Open Days Rota System now on Wiki

Thank you all very much for your engagement with the new rota system for our UG open days. Our Programme Leads are now sifting through all of the preference / restraint form responses and the draft rota is due to be circulated by Wednesday 20th December. 

Please visit the Wiki to view the UG POVD / Open Day Rota System Policy.

🎄 DEG Festive Potluck/Moving Feast yesterday 🎄 

We hope you all enjoyed the festivities yesterday and thanks to everyone that brought in something to share   

Please find below a few photos from the afternoon

Geographical Association Conference 4-6 April 2024 - Registration open

The GA Annual Conference and Exhibition 2024 will take place from 4–6 April 2024 at the University of Manchester.

Day one will begin with a welcome from President, Denise Freeman, and includes your choice of a range of field visits, a place at one of our networking events, and the Conference Dinner, as well as the annual GA awards ceremony, Public Lecture and drinks reception. 

Click here to find out more about the GA Conference 2024 and to book your ticket.

Click here to listen to the final message from our Director for Students, Samarthia Thankappan, as her tenure as DfS comes to an end. 

Press release: Dr Anika Haque wins the 2023 AXA IM Research Award for her work.

Congratulations to the SAMHE team (Sarah West, Lucy Way, Rhys Archer, Victoria Beale and Sam Bland) on their article on co-designing the SAMHE Web App with schools, exploring the peaks and pitfalls of the process. The SAMHE team also produced a methods and protocol paper on the SAMHE initiative.

Gary Haq's co-authored report on Healthy Ageing in a Changing Climate was picked up all over UK media, including in The Independent.

The full Integrated Assessment of Air Pollution and Climate Change for Sustainable Development in Africa has been released. Chris Malley and Kevin Hicks produced an op-ed for The Conversation highlighting the key areas for action.

Roland Gehrels and Ed Garrett are coauthors on a new paper on relative sea-level change in New Zealand published in Marine Geology.

Andy Dougill had an article published in Plants, People, Planet - on Gendered Choices of Crop Variety Traits by sorghum and millet farmers in southern Malawi.

Sohail Ahmad gave a CITYSCAPES Lecture 11 on land use efficiency in Asian and African cities at the Cities and Governance Programme of the School of Public Policy and Governance, Tata Institute of Social Scinces, Hyderabad Off-Campus. The event was attended by over 50 postgraduate students.

Congratulations to Lindsay Stringer who is a co-author on a new paper published in Global Change Biology with colleagues in China: Ren Z, Li C, Fu, B, Wang S, Stringer LC. 2023. Effects of aridification on soil total carbon pools in China’s drylands. Global Change Biology.

Paul Hudson was an invited panel speaker at an ICC forum event in "Loss & Damage Funding and Potential Insurance & Grant Solutions" during COP28

Simon Thomas and Bryce Stewart have had articles published in Fishing News and Sea Angler magazines on the Pollack FISP project and the issues around management of the species and how this project will contribute to the process.

Naomi Holmes (along with Lynda Yorke, Bangor University) has delivered professional development workshops for GCSE Geography teachers on 'Building accessibility and inclusivity into geography fieldwork' through the WJEC / CBAC exam board.

Kgato Selwe has had a paper published on the Non-targeted screening of Contaminants of Emerging Concern in the Glen Valley Wastewater treatment plant, Botswana.

Placement supervision meetings for our 16 students currently on placement have been taking place over the last few months and we have loved hearing how our students are getting on as well as supporting them through any challenges they're facing. We thought you might enjoy the photos below of 3 of our students (permission received to share) - Emile and Macie burying their first turtle eggs of the season in Sri Lanka and Nathan at the Network Rail offices in Milton Keynes, quite a contrast! Please do get in touch with Angela Purdham if you'd like to hear more about what any of our students are up to.

Well done everyone on your fantastic achievements 👏

Defra Research & Development Fellowships Programme

Defra are delighted to announce that our new R&D Fellowship Programme is now live. Full details about the programme and how to apply can be found at Research and Development Fellowship Programme - Defra Jobs - UK Government.

The deadline is the 8th January 2024. Live Q&A To find out more about the programme, potential applicants are invited to join Defra’s Chief Scientific Advisor, Professor Gideon Henderson at a live online event on Tuesday 12th December from 13:00-13:45.

With a panel of early career scientists, analysts and researchers who have previously undertaken placements within Defra, this event will provide an opportunity to discover how we are using science and analysis to tackle some of today's biggest policy challenges, what it's like working at Defra, and a chance to ask any questions. Registration for the event is open now.

If you require any further information, please contact the coordinating team at ExternalAdvice@defra.gov.uk

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 🙂