Geography and Environmental Science at the University of Reading

So proud of our student, Ed Fuller, who is representing Great Britain in rowing’s PR3 mixed 4+ event at the ! 🏆🚣‍♂️

GO ED!

Tune in tomorrow (Friday) 12.10pm tomorrow on

At just 21, Ed has already secured three World Championship medals: two golds in PR3 Mixed Four and another in the PR3 Pair.

Read more 👉 https://www.reading.ac.uk/news/2024/University-News/Geography-student-to-represent-ParalympicsGB-at-Paris-games

It's amazing to see our colleagues hard at work in the lab! 🔬

Dr Jess Neuman and Becky (UROP Student ) are testing for coliform bacteria in river water from popular bathing sites along the River Mole in Surrey.

This important research, in collaboration with River Mole River Watch and the South East Rivers Trust, is key to ensuring the health and safety of our waterways 🌊

Super couple of days in the New Forest preparing for our new 1st year field class in the autumn.

We are very proud of all the amazing Research Engagement that takes place in our department.

Many congratulations to those shortlisted as finalists in the

Research Engagement and Impact Awards!

Check out more about the shortlist projects led by Maria Shahgedanova; Hong Yang and Marta Obrien; Sally Lloyd Evans, Alice Mpofu-Coles, Robyn Woronka and Toby Barlow

Here: https://research.reading.ac.uk/engagement-and-impact/2022-awards/

Congratulations GES on an amazing outcome!

Our Earth Systems and Environmental Science research (w/ the Meteorology department) was ranked 3rd by research power (UoA7) and Human Geography's (w/ Global Development) overall profile was assessed 91% as world leading or internationally excellent (UoA22).

More information:
https://tinyurl.com/UooA7
https://tinyurl.com/UooA22

Our PGR conference starts at 9.30am today. It is the first in person one in 2 years. Very exciting.

Last week was our Fieldclasses to Devon, Scotland and Iceland. Check out some comments and Images below.

Head over to our Instagram stories or Twitter for the latest pictures from our Iceland,Devon and Scotland field trips.
https://instagram.com/stories/unirdg_ges/2804760148642492966?utm_medium=share_sheet

instagram.com

It's Fieldtrip season in our department 🥳🌳

Here is part 1 of the Scotland trip. Who take lots of of wonder pictures for us all to enjoy.

So far in Scotland they've been up a mountain, fallen in bogs and to a community garden. Today I've got a sneak peek it's river day.

We are sorely lacking in Scotland puns, so will take suggestions.

It's Fieldtrip season in our department🥳🌍.

Here's the first part of the Iceland Fieldtrip.

They've been learning about Rejyavik the landscape surrounding it and all things Glaciers, which we think is pretty cool (ice cold even!)❄️

🎄Happy Weekly Round-up the last one of semester!

⭐ We celebrated our 9th Twitter Anniversary by sharing a virtual cake with the Library.

⭐ Gabby shared her Fieldwork scenes again. A lovely frosty picture.

⭐ Water@ Researchers in our department won a 2021 GEO SDG Award on flood forecasting: https://www.reading.ac.uk/news-and-events/releases/PR862151.aspx

⭐Prof. Jo Clark shared a very good blog post on black and brown faces in green spaces: https://www.heritagefund.org.uk/blogs/black-and-brown-faces-green-spaces

⭐Helen Griffith becomes Dr Helen by passing her Viva, she researches Atmospheric Rivers.

⭐We celebrated World Soil Day: https://www.reading.ac.uk/ges/stories/tom-sizmur with Tom Sizmur and others in the department.

⭐Tom Grisaffi has an event for his book: Co***ne: from the Coca Fields to the streets.

⭐Mike Simmonds and others write a blog post on National Food Strategy: http://www.ccri.ac.uk/nfsblog/

Graduate School at University of Reading

🌬Geography and Environmental Science Weekly Round-Up 22nd-28th November 2021

💚 Lydia share's a picture of the iconic Russell Building at twilight.

💚Members of the Department are nominated for the Times Higher Education Awards in the digital innovation and technology category for their great work on virtual fieldtrips which won a University award earlier this year.

💚The University hosts the university of sanctury conference 2021. With Alice taking part in a panel.

💚The Department is part of the Queen's anniversary award to the university for it's work on Climate Change. This was across our work from soil to engagement to flooding and hydrology.

💚The Master's student learn and take part in another interesting practical. And are praised by the Technical team for being so enthusastic.

This post is in memory of the Whitley Community Researcher John Ord who died suddenly on the 6th November. He will be missed by many in our community.

🌳Geography and Environmental Science Weekly Round-Up 15th to 21st November 2021 🌳

💚 Prof. Frank Mayle gives the Gordon Manley lecture at Royal Holloway on tropical palaeoecology, climate change & pre-Columbian archaeology.

💚Our students learn about and carry out the Shapwick Heath Techniques practical.

💚 One of our Chevening Scholars, Deign shares a beautiful picture of the department and says how much they are enjoying their master's program.

💚 Nerea shares her experience at COP in the blog post 'was it a COP out?' https://www.nereaferrando.com/post/was-it-a-cop-out

💚 James shares his experience of COP26 in his blog post 'Reflections on COP26' https://research.reading.ac.uk/scenario/reflections-on-cop26/

💚 We Celebrate LGBTQIA+ in STEM day and Polar Pride Day 2021 along with others in the community.

💚 Could you come and join our department as a SCENARIO DTP fully-funded PhD Student?
Project applications are now open! There is one where you use automated boats to look at water quality and sediment.
More information on all projects: https://research.reading.ac.uk/scenario/apply/projects-for-2022-entry/

Today we are celebrating LGBTQIA+ in STEM day and polar pride day🎊

We are proud to support all of our community who are LGBTQIA+🏳️‍🌈


University of Reading

Geography and Environmental Science Round up for 1st to 14th November.

- We had the Kilve Fieldtrip (Highlights on Twitter )

-Phiala's Paper on Going home for tea and medals: How members of the flood risk management authorities in England construct flooding and flood risk management was published: https://doi.org/10.1111/jfr3.12768

- The Department's involvement at COP26 Chloe did a university TikTok take over, Jessica wrote blogs as part of virtual COP and Maureen,Jess and Hannah were part of a royal society event on floods. See Jessica's blog post:http://walker.ac.uk/about-walker/news-events/the-vulnerability-of-our-coral-reefs

- Gabby went out on fieldwork for her multi-stakeholder project.

- Hong is a co-author on a paper: Land Use Change and Climate Variation in the Three Gorges Reservoir Catchment from 2000 to 2015 Based on the Google Earth Engine: https://doi.org/10.3390/s19092118

- 2 books a contribution by Avril: Entitled The Politics of Volunteering in Loss and at a Loss: Autobiographical Reflections on Grief, Vulnerability and (in)Action
https://doi.org/10.2307/j.ctv1z3hkh4.5 and Thomas's book Co***ne: From Coca Fields to the Streets https://www.dukeupress.edu/cocaine

- Jess Ponting's paper on Field observations to establish the impact of fluvial flooding on potentially toxic element (PTE) mobility in floodplain soils is published:
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.scitotenv.2021.151378

- Two posts about our Transitional Families Project https://research.reading.ac.uk/transnational-families/our-research/ and the Participation Lab project: https://research.reading.ac.uk/participation-lab/why-is-community-engagement-with-bamer-black-asian-minority-ethnic-and-refugee-people-important-in-higher-education/

And....

- Hannah is in the news and on Panorama about Floods and Climate Change (on Iplayer) you could say she's a 'flood giant', then herself and Jeff write an article on this: bit.ly/3qxe9bV

Seminar on: How can we be better allies for BAME staff and students?

This Friday 5th November at 12pm, Joining Link: https://tinyurl.com/BAMEallies

Chaired by: Selma Benyovszky - discussants include Tom Sizmur, Hong Yang, Maya Chitnavis and Gabrielle Yesuf.

We are looking for passionate and enthusiastic students to apply to join us as a Student Partner in the Academic Development

More information email: [email protected]
https://campusjobs.reading.ac.uk/user/jobSearch.html?execution=e1s2

The Geography and Environmental Science Weekly Round Up for the week of the 25th October 2021.

The Vice Chancellor visited the department to talk about the inspiring EDI work.

Mike Goodman is quoted by NBC news on COP26: https://nbcnews.to/310cz7C

a Colleague from the Global Development Research group write an article in the conversation about Maldives over-development: bit.ly/3Cnp773

Technical Services tell us how they not only assist with teaching but also research project fieldwork.

Looking forward to the coming week we've got field-trips and COP to look forward to.

Yesterday, we were pleased that the Vice Chancellor visited our department to talk about the Race Equality work we have been doing for a year & outcomes of focus groups with students on racism, belonging & decolonising.

Today at 1pm we are holding a Seminar on decolonising our department and .

This will be lead by Robyn Woronka,Selma Benyovszky, Alice Mpofu-Coles and Mohammad Badsha Hossain all PGRs who have been driving this initiative.

Busy week for Research in the Department Last Week - here's a round up from our Twitter at the end of last week.

Anticipatory Action Blog Post by Maureen Wanzala and Hannah Cloke on Flooding in African Nations: bit.ly/3v76xgp

Faith Mitheu gives a presentation on her team award winning Flood Forecasting Verification Method.

The Department Host the Fab Victoria Okoye for a seminar on supervising black PhD Geographers. Link of recording to follow.

Robyn Woronka writes a blog post on race and ethics in a community research project: https://research.reading.ac.uk/participation-lab/zero-tolerance-reflections-on-race-and-research-ethics-in-a-community-project/

Chloe Brimicombe films and records a podcast on her heatwave paper and research with Dom Hill: https://youtu.be/3pRSOfeNwak

Got research or Geography to share comment below :)

Graduate School at University of Reading

Yesterday was the Year 1 Intro to Human Geography field class looking at, 'Reading's place identity: past and present, local and global'.

Check out the highlights.

GES in the media: Yesterday Dr Jess Neuman and PhD Researcher Alice Mpofu-Coles where involved in media engagement.

Jess was filming for ITV about flood resilience and net zero by 2030 in London.

Alice was interviewed by BBC Berkshire about Identity & Transnational for young immigrants and her involvement in community engagement work. Interview:https://www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/play/p09w076s (1.08)

🏆🌊☔️Congratulations to Faith Mitheu, PhD researcher in Geography and Environmental Science at the University of Reading, who led a project which recently won a World Meteorological Organization (WMO) competition! The project used flood impact reports to assess the accuracy of forecasts in Uganda https://www.reading.ac.uk/news-and-events/releases/PR860261.aspx

Last week one of our PhD's (and a former department rep) Nerea Ferrando published her first paper: mdpi.com/1300308

She says: "Old measures of carbon are outdated! Our new research shows anyone can measure carbon in soil for AND it's open access"

That's the paper reading sorted for the week. Congratulations to Nerea.

Today at 1pm BST the Human Geography Research Cluster is holding a seminar on:

Decolonizing Bereavement Studies: Diversity and Social Justice in the Aftermath of Death by Prof. Jane Ribben McCarthy.

DM for a link.

Abstract: Death, dying and disposal are well established topics of study, both academically in the humanities, arts, and social sciences and from medical perspectives, including the practice of palliative care. Bereavement studies, however, occupies a much more ambiguous space as a site for multi-disciplinary academic work, being very heavily dominated by individualised and medicalised perspectives, particularly psychiatry and psychology, and connected to ‘communities of practice’ in bereavement services. Such approaches are underpinned by the humanitarian desire to assist and support people experiencing something termed ‘grief’. Recent work on family deaths in Senegal, however, has shown the limitations of such terms as ‘bereavement’ and ‘grief’, rooted in Anglophone linguistic contexts, and has challenged dominant assumptions in ‘bereavement studies’. At the same time, following on from the murder of George Floyd and the Black Lives Matter movement, work to address issues of decolonisation within the academy has gained new momentum. This presentation begins to bring these ‘decolonising’ endeavours, and ‘bereavement studies’ into dialogue, seeking to open up conversations in a field that is currently very heavily dominated by particular perspectives that developed in affluent Minority worlds at a particular point in historical time. Such conversations demand new concepts, raise many new questions framed within different paradigms, and create opportunities for addressing issues of diversity and social justice in the aftermath of death, with the potential for further insights for climate justice for the benefit of all.

Today at 1pm BST the Environmental Science Research Division is holding a seminar. (DM for the link)

Title: How resilient are waterways of the Asian Himalayas? finding adaptive measures for future sustainability

Speaker: Prof. Kiri Gattel (NUIST - China)

Abstract:
The waterways of the Asian Himalayas have faced critical sustainability challenges during the 21st century. The high-mountain system, the areas of global freshwater source supporting important ecosystem services to more than two billion people, is facing unprecedented challenges due to the rapid rates of climate warming. The impacts include seasonal variations in precipitation, glacier melting and snow avalanches. Climatic warming together with urbanization, industrialization, and engineering works for hydropower and irrigation have transformed waterways in the region. These changes have caused tremendous setbacks in water resource development including the natural lake, river, and wetland systems. More drier areas are facing absolute water scarcity with limited access of water for household water supplies, irrigation, hydropower generation, and ecosystem functioning. The areas with adequate quantities of water are not providing clean supplies however left unattended with prolonged eutrophication and pollution. The increased summer snow melts have altered downstream flow regimes. With the projected future climate warming some areas have witnessed niche ecological shifts. The relative increase in water demand reflects substantial challenges that the freshwaters will face even more in future. The fundamental challenge of waterways of the Asian Himalayas today is therefore how to tackle this hydro-meteorological transformation caused by climate change and anthropogenic perturbation and find avenues for sustainability. This requires a framework which can potentially diagnose threats at temporal and spatial scales and provide strong adaptive measures to future sustainability. Here I assess resilience of waterways of Asian Himalayas and provide a range of adaptive measures of those waterways which are deviated from the natural state.

Welcome drinks was a success. Was great to see so many people in a covid safe way, all windows open.

Thanks to everyone who organised. Special thanks to Steve Mithen, Steve Musson and the PGR reps.