Afternoon everyone 🐦 ECORISC CDT has put out a call for projects and, as always, there's plenty of Good News and Media Engagement.
Have a wonderful weekend when you get there everyone 🙋♀️
Chloe Mitchell - PA to EGLT
York Print Press printing system - Upgrade Thursday 23 March 06:00-10:00
We will shortly be upgrading to the latest version of the PaperCut software on the York Print Press printing system print.york.ac.uk (please note you will need to be on campus or using the VPN to access this link). This upgrade enhances security and provides features for future service improvements. The upgrade will be carried out on Thursday 23 March between 6am and 10am. During this time there will be periods when you may not be able to use managed printers for printing, copying or scanning. The web portal will be offline and ePrint will be paused for the work. There are no changes needed to devices and no action required from you. YPP staff will be monitoring the system and printing devices between 6am and 10am - if you experience any problems after this time, please restart the device or computer affected.
If you continue to have problems after the work is completed, or you have any queries about the upgrade, please contact the IT Support Office (itsupport@york.ac.uk).
Next Dept Staff Monthly Meeting - Wed 19 April
Our Dept Staff Monthly Meetings are always held fully online and are mandatory for all DEG Staff and optional for SEI members. A Google calendar invite will be sent out shortly. If you have not received a calendar invite by Tues 21 March, please email environment-pa@york.ac.uk so that you can be added to the invite list. If you would like to present an item at an upcoming meeting, please email environment-pa@york.ac.uk.
Previous Dept Staff Monthly Meeting - Tues 7 March
Many thanks to Lucy Orange, Tamsyn Kiss and Adrian Gonzalez for presenting items at the last Dept Staff Monthly Meeting on Tues 7 March. Links to their presented documents are included below:
- Teaching and Learning Restructure Update - Adrian Gonzalez
- GTA Outline Document, including the link to the slides from our initial consultation with GTAs and programme leads and technical staff - Lucy Orange (Dept Admin Manager) and Tamsyn Kiss
Recording: Click here to watch the recording of the Dept Staff Monthly Meeting (March).
Deadline approaching for on-campus internships and funding
This is a reminder of the brilliant opportunities for the Department to host internships. The York Internships Summer Programme offers support for projects that will add value and offer tangible benefits to the Department whilst also having a huge impact on a student's development and employability. I really encourage colleagues to consider potential projects and submit an application. Funding through Access and Participation (APP) and Yorkshire Consortium for Equity in Doctoral Education (YCEDE) is available.
Find out more via the bottom 'drop-down' on the York Internships web page.
Expression of interest deadline: Friday 31 March.
Angela Purdham - DEG Industry Liaison Officer
ECORISC CDT - NERC funded Research Experience Placements (REPS) scheme - Project Call
The ECORISC CDT is inviting proposals for projects for the NERC funded Research Experience Placements (REPS) scheme with the aim of addressing the quantitative skills gap in environmental sciences. The CDT has funding for a total of 6 placements. The REPs scheme is intended to encourage students to consider a career in the environmental sciences through funding to support paid summer placements for undergraduate students. Students will carry out research projects that align with one or more of the ECORISC research themes. Students from any discipline will be eligible to apply. Further details of the NERC REP Scheme can be found on the UKRI web page. In submitting a project proposal you would agree to provide the student with the appropriate supervisory arrangements. Supervisors submitting a project idea should have experience of research in the NERC area. Early Career Researchers are welcome to submit a project, if a more experienced supervisor is also on the team.
Click here for full details of the ECORISC CDT NERC REPS Project Call.
Project proposal submission deadline: Wednesday 12 April
FAO Postgrad. Researchers - please complete the Postgraduate Research Experience Survey (PRES)
The PRES is a survey that runs once every two years. This year the survey is running from Monday 6th March to Friday 28th April. You should have had an email with an invitation to complete the survey. Please do complete the survey. The results help us to gain information about the experience of our postgraduate researchers. Unlike other surveys such as the National Student Survey the results are never made public or used to construct league tables. Rather, it allows us to hear what you think we are doing well, what you are enjoying about your postgraduate experience and where you think we could be doing better. The more responses we get the better as that helps ensure that we get a good representative view of your experiences. We then draw up (and act on) action plans to continue to build on good practise and, where necessary, to improve your experience. - Professor Mark E Hodson
Making the Difference Awards
Making the Difference Awards are back for the May 2023 round so it's time to get nominating!
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.
Deadline for nominations: Friday 14th April, midday
DEG Seminars
Our DEG Seminar series has now finished for the academic year 2022/2023, however you can catch up on previous Spring DEG seminars via the links below:
17/01/23 DEG Seminar - Shivani Balla "Ensuring a future for Kenya’s lions through community-led conservation" - Passcode: YMr=g5kP
24/01/23 DEG Seminar - Caroline Clason "Contribution of glacial meltwater to resource security in mountain regions" - Passcode: 4B+&^k.L
31/01/23 DEG Seminar - Mark Broomfield "What has environmental consultancy ever done for us?" - Passcode: l$Aq877A
07/02/23 DEG Seminar - Elizabeth Cripps "What Climate Justice means and why we should care - Passcode: 8$ZvYS#f
21/02/23 DEG Seminar - Kateryna Borysenko & Vladyslav Popov "Methods of Organizing Fieldwork: V. N. Karazin Kharkiv National University Experience" - Passcode: MWD2uML@
07/03/23 DEG Seminar - Nataliia Popovych "Cartographic Visualisations in European Development Strategies" - Passcode: CL0c0W6*
Climate Fresk Opportunity - Open to all staff and students
Join students and staff from across the University of York to learn about the causes of climate change in just three hours. You will discuss how to take action through small group discussion, reflection on emotions and collaborative action planning.
Date / time: Wednesday 3 May / 14:00
Location: SLB/006
Find out more and sign up to the Climate Fresk opportunity here.
Additional Sessions for Recruitment and Selection Webinar
Click here to view and book a session for the 'Recruitment & Selection: Assessor Skills' webinar on the LMS. The completion of this course is required to chair a recruitment panel. It is very popular and will fill fast!
Shared by People and Organisational Development, HR, UOY
Experience Decolonising across disciplines in postgraduate research and supervision
One of our PG Researchers, Keren, is leading a project around decolonising postgraduate research and she is organising a one-day online symposium which I believe may be of interest to you. Click here for full information on the call for abstracts and registration information for the Experiencing Decolonising event. Please do consider participating and do share widely with your networks - Katherine Yates, University of Salford
Submission deadline: Wednesday 25th March 2023
Event Date: Thursday 20th April 2023
Location: Online
Mark Hodson has just had a paper published in Applied Geochemistry that draws on the MSc by Research projects of Mahmuda Islam and Amy Wright and Matty Metcalf's MSci dissertation, together with additional work funded by the Department's pump priming fund. They showed that low level (5 wt%) amendments of waste Fe ochre from the UK's former coal mines to soil significantly increased retention of organic carbon (generally a good thing) though phosphate had to be added as well in order to avoid reduced plant growth. The rates of added phosphate were in line with current UK agronomic practise and interaction with the ochre stopped it from leaking out of the soil. However, despite there being thousands of tonnes of waste ochre in the UK, and millions of tonnes of Fe-rich waste globally that isn’t enough to be able to spread it over large areas of land and save the planet from global warming! You can read the full paper on Amendments of waste ochre from former coal mines can potentially be used to increase soil carbon persistence here.
This week, Sarah Knight started a secondment with Defra as a Biodiversity Social Research Fellow in the National Biodiversity Evidence team. She will be defining the social research priorities in order to meet the Environment Improvement Plan biodiversity targets. This is a 7-month role, based in the Defra York offices, and she'll return back to the department in October this year to complete her fellowship.
The FixOurFood team have certainly been keeping busy:
- On 6 March, Ioan Fazey, Sam Buckton and Suzanne Om contributed to a policy roundtable discussion on food system transformation at the York Medical Society for the Labour party's shadow Defra team, including Daniel Zeichner MP, with potential influence of Labour's food strategy in their forthcoming election manifesto. The discussion was hosted by Bob Doherty (School for Business and Society) and various other FixOurFood representatives, and researchers and practitioners associated with the UK food system, were present.
- Ioan Fazey and Sam Buckton are involved in ongoing work with the new North Yorkshire Council unitary authority to help it develop a transformational food strategy, including the design and facilitation of Three Horizons workshops with stakeholders from the North Yorkshire food system.
- Ioan Fazey, Sam Buckton and Bob Doherty (School for Business and Society) co-facilitated the first ever Yorkshire Food System Summit, organised by the FixOurFood research programme, at Pavilions of Harrogate on 16 March. Around 100 delegates from across the Yorkshire food system and beyond - including representatives of private, public and third sector organisations, council members, farmers, and academics - came to the all-day event to discuss necessary actions for food system transformation.
- A pamphlet describing results of collaborative Three Horizons futures processes with over 100 Yorkshire food system stakeholders has been published by FixOurFood and was distributed at FixOurFood's recent Yorkshire Food System Summit 2023. The pamphlet, entitled Transforming the Yorkshire food system for peope and planet, was authored by Sam Buckton and Ioan Fazey and designed by Belinda Morris (School for Business and Society).
Congratulations to Sam Buckton who has recently:
- had an article published in the journal Dipterists Digest: Buckton SJ (2023) Liriomyza eupatorii (Kaltenbach) (Diptera, Agromyzidae) new to Scotland. Dipterists Digest 30, 68-69.
- had a paper published in the journal Cecidology: Buckton SJ (2022) The rare dock smut fungus Microbotryum parlatorei (Fischer von Waldheim) Vánky rediscovered in Yorkshire. Cecidology 37(2), 99-101.
- had a paper published along with Jane Thomas (alumna of Department of Biology, UoY) in the journal Cecidology: Buckton SJ, Thomas J (2022) A review of Ozirhincus (Diptera: Cecidomyiidae) and associated parasitoids in the British Isles, with recent observations from York. Cecidology 37(2), 108-116.
Nic Carslaw has recently:
- been interviewed about the INTERIORS facility by BBC Radio York (at 1:36).
- been in articles by The Yorkshire Post, The Trade Press, Work Mind and Air Quality News on the new INTERIORS facility.
- commented on fragrances in the home for the Times, and this was also picked up by BBC Radio Scotland (click here to listen to Nic discussing fragrances in the home on BBC Radio Scotland - 2:50:40).
- spoken to BBC Radio Scotland and The Times about spring cleaning and air fresheners.
Fresh off the plane from Australia, Bryce Stewart gave oral evidence to the UK Trade and Business Commission session on UK Agriculture & Fishing Plans for Future Trade Deals.
Congratulations to Banki Chunwate who presented a paper in RGS-IBG Postgraduate Forum's Mid-Term Conference 2023 which will be held in April, at the RGS-IBG in South Kensington, London.
Congratulations to Ed Garrett and Roland Gehrels who are coauthors on a new paper on postglacial sea-level change in the Gulf of Maine in the journal Quaternary Science Reviews.
Director for Students - Audio Messages
Our wonderful Director for Students, Samarthia Thankappan, has been sharing an audio message each week with our students. Click the links below to listen to Samarthia's soothing tones in her latest messages:
Request for speakers at DEFRA talks - marine and fisheries topics
I wanted to highlight a speaker series I run at Defra. These are Teams-based talks where our external partners can present on a topic to Defra’s Marine and Fisheries Directorate and our arm’s length bodies. I am on the lookout for anyone keen to do a presentation or talk. These can be presentations that have already been developed for another purpose (like a summit, forum or report launch) which may be worth presenting to Defra. It doesn’t have to be policy based per se – it can just be general interest so long as there is a Marine and Fisheries angle. The format is usually a 20 minute presentation, followed by a 5-10 minute Q&A, but it can be flexible.
Click here for more information on previous DEFRA talks and the suggested presentation format.
Ashley Coates - Stakeholder Engagement and Briefing Hub – Marine and Fisheries Directorate, DEFRA
Laura Bassi Scholarship - FAO Prospective Master's and Doctoral candidates (as well as junior academics)
The Laura Bassi Scholarship was established by Editing Press in 2018 with the aim of providing editorial assistance to postgraduates and junior academics whose research focuses on neglected topics of study, broadly construed. The scholarships are open to every discipline and the next round of funding will be awarded in Spring 2023:
- Application deadline: 31 March 2023
- Results: 12 April 2023
All currently enrolled master’s and doctoral candidates are eligible to apply, as are academics in the first five years of full-time employment. Applicants are required to submit a completed application form along with their CV through the application portal by the relevant deadline. Further details, including previous winners, and the Laura Bassi Scholarship application portal can be found here.
Charles Anderson - Director of Publications, Editing Press
Black Geographers Support Network
Black Geographers is an expanding support network for Black geography students and graduates. The network wants to encourage more Black students to study geography courses and is campaigning for a more engaging and inclusive curriculum. In this article, award-winning geographer, writer and founder, Francisca Rockey, tells us how and why she set up Black Geographers. “I came up with the idea of creating a community for Black geographers and geoscientists after finding that I was the only Black person on my undergraduate geography course, and I found the experience very isolating,” says Francisca. “I decided to set up an Instagram page to try to connect Black people in geography, and the rest is history!”
Royal Society Conference on Ukraine's Reconstruction and Recovery
The Royal Society and the Universities Policy Engagement Network (UPEN), together with Universities UK International and Research England, are planning a conference to support Ukraine’s reconstruction and recovery. The focus is on where there is existing research expertise in UK institutions which might benefit Ukraine’s reconstruction (so, for example, it might be research into mental health in post-conflict situations; or how energy grid construction can be net-zero by design as part of a reconstruction programme). There doesn’t need to be an existing Ukrainian partner in the research, more that the research itself is something Ukrainian policy makers may find useful.
Ahead of the conference, the Royal Society and UPEN are calling for researchers who may have relevant evidence and expertise, and who may be interested in contributing to, or taking part in, the conference. Click here to submit your expressions of interest for the Royal Society Ukraine Conference b.y 19 March 2023.
Shared by Vaughan McKee - Global Partnerships Officer, UOY
Research Surveys Seeking Participants
Click the links below to take part in these voluntary surveys:
- Understanding the impact and experiences of flexible and hybrid working for both academic and professional services employees of the university, and how experiences differ across different groups, especially carers/ non carers and according to gender - Naomi Finch, Lecturer in Social Policy
- Assessing the mental health benefits of indoor plants on university students - Katheryn Taylor, 3rd Yr Student studying Environment Economics and Ecology
- A Cross-cultural Study between Chinese and Western Contexts: Music Emotion Recognition, Personality Traits and Cognitive Styles - Menglan Lyu, PhD candidate, York Music Psychology Group
- Click here for the Dept Wiki. It is in the process of being updated, but you can find a lot of useful information on it. Please email Lucy at environment-hr@york.ac.uk if you have any feedback.
- Got an item for next week's newsletter? Add them to the Research, Teaching, Outreach and Good News Spreadsheet. You will see there are multiple tabs, so please use the one that is most relevant to the activity and ensure that the description details are written out in full as you would like it to be presented, as it will be copied and pasted from here. If your item does not fit the spreadsheet, please email it to environment-pa@york.ac.uk as usual.
Let's share and celebrate all of your wonderful activities and achievements!
Thanks Team! 