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CAWR Newsletter
June 2018
Our monthly newsletters are an easy way to keep up-to-date with new developments at our research centre. From successful project bids to upcoming events, our newsletter informs you on how we are 'driving innovative transdisciplinary research on resilient food and water systems.'
News
The on-line multicultural magazine In Motion recently published an interview with CAWR researcher Iain MacKinnon titled: ‘The cultural norms of crofting: The recovery of the story and voices of the economy, the understanding and the life of a people’. A link to the article can be found here.
PRESS RELEASE: War-time Coventry healthy housing project inspires again in 2018
Michael Warne has been invited by John Wiley and Sons Publishers to write a book on Environmental Quality Benchmarks and will be the editor-in-chief of this book. The book will cover all aspects of benchmark derivation and will have chapters from leading international experts discussing current practice as well the latest research findings which have not yet been adopted by regulators and the future for benchmarks.
Katie Whiddon wrote a blog post to encourage dialogue on the 'meaning' of 'transformative agri-food systems', which was published as an op-ed in South African media. You can view the blog post here.
BBC Midlands feature
BBC Midlands Today featured the Organic-PLUS project on their lunchtime news programme.
Organic PLUS [O+] is a Horizon 2020 project with 24 partners in and around Europe, being led by CAWR. The objective of the research is to investigate alternatives to contentious inputs that are currently permitted in organic agriculture.
You can visit their website by clicking here or follow the project's updates on Twitter here.
TARI Visit
Marina Chang, Jonathan Eden and Ulrich Schmutz welcomed a delegation of visitors from the Taiwan Agricultural Research Institute (TARI). Following an interesting discussion on different approaches to crop species management and communicating agrometeorological information to farmers, Ulrich led an informative tour of Five Acre farm and Garden Organic. It is intended to maintain links between CAWR and TARI as a platform for sharing ideas and research interests.
It is intended to maintain links between CAWR and TARI as a platform for sharing ideas and research interests.
Organic-PLUS kick-off in Padova, Italy
The Organic-PLUS project, lead by CAWR, held a successful 3-day kick-off meeting in Padova. There were 45 participants (incl. 8 from the Coventry team). Participants were from across Europe (Norway to Turkey) and the International advisory board from America, Africa and Asia.
The focus of the farm visits was on organic dairy cows, organic parmigiano cheese and organic vegan wine production to discuss contentious inputs like antibiotic and copper use.
Mo heads to Detroit!
Morwenna Mckenzie, a third year PhD student, recently attended the Society for Freshwater Sciences Annual Meeting in Detroit, MI, USA. Morwenna presented some of the results of her PhD experimental work looking at the physical effects of fine sediment on riverine insects. Morwenna was grateful to funding grants from the British Society for Geomorphology, CAWR and the CU mobility fund which allowed her to attend the conference and present to an international audience.
mobility fund which allowed her to attend the conference and present to an international audience.
TRUE project update
CAWR researchers are busy working on TRUE, a Horizon 2020 project that aims to increase legume production in Europe. At Ryton, the team are growing a variety of commercial and heritage broad bean and French bean varieties, and hope to determine their nutritional value to both pollinators and humans. The broad beans are currently at the peak of their brief flowering period, so observations are being carried out on their insect visitors! Read more about the trial here; https://www.true-project.eu/heritage-varieties/'
Read more about the trial here.
Gold medal for Emma!
New PhD Researcher Emma Burnett took a gold medal at the 2018 European Veteran Judo Championships in mid-June. Beating competitors from Germany, France, and Italy, she's now cuddling her medal and hobbling round the house! Find out more here.
Focus on: Stefanie Lemke
Ever wondered what our researchers get up to?
Stefanie Lemke is our featured researcher in the spotlight this month!
Find out how Stefanie's work relates to current world affairs by clicking here.
The Regenerative Role of Arts within Culture
IMAGE: Compost Shrine on Service Table in dining area at Sustainability Institute. During Miche’s Kitchen Culture Meets Agriculture Research Residency the shrine accompanied the Food Citizen lunches where the menu was inspired by the Lynedoch Food Garden and locally sourced organic produce. The shrine demonstrated a culinary practice in food recycling – food for the earth.
Contribution by Miche Fabre Lewin to Report ‘Towards a Regenerative Culture: The Role of South African Arts and Culture in Climate Justice and Sustainability’ researched and written by Sholeh Johnston in collaboration with the National Arts Council of South Africa, Vrystaat Arts Festival and Julie's Bicycle.
“The role of the artist is to salvage what has been lost. To represent forgotten histories and unremembered connections. To dispel the myth that we are disconnected from nature.” quote from Miche Fabre Lewin within the report.
‘Towards a Regenerative Culture: the role of South African Arts and Culture in Climate Justice and Sustainability’ 2018 is a report exploring how South African artists and cultural practitioners are contributing to climate justice and new cultures of human and environmental sustainability. For the research, Sholeh Johnston interview Miche Fabre Lewin about her experiences as an artist who has been contributing in South Africa since 2012 to the re-enculturing of the arts in the everyday though food, soil and water. As part of her doctoral arts research in 2016, Miche conceived and animated ‘Kitchen Culture meets Agriculture’, an Artist Research Residency at the Sustainability Institute, Lynedoch Valley, South Africa. Here she hosted three experiential Ritual Workshops dedicated to practising the art of food citizenship – ‘Food for the Earth’ on composting; ‘Wild Cultures’ on cabbage fermentation; and ‘Honeycomb Conversations’ on respecting the ecology of the honeybee.
What Sholeh’s report illuminates is the profound importance of the arts as a national and cultural expression and response to climate and environmental challenges. Within its pages it provides recommendations for how the pioneering work of artists can be supported and how its impact might be scaled up. There are examples of how the practice of arts assists in the successful implementation of government policy thus demonstrating its support for the arts as a strategy for the transition to a sustainable and equitable society.
For a copy of the report please visit this website.
To experience the practice of artful collaboration and the role of artist residencies as a research approach, please join Miche and Flora at CAWR Seminar ‘Art of Collaboration’ on Thursday July 19th 2018 from 11.30 - 1pm where we will be hosting a participatory encounter.
To attend please click here.
MSc Agroecology, Water and Food Sovereignty - now live!
You can now apply for our new masters programme that will be starting at the end of September. The new MSc is structured according to the thematic pillars of our Centre’s research and will be a multi- and transdisciplinary course introducing students to a range of different approaches to foster equitable and sustainable food and water systems.
For more information, visit our website.
Publications
Dehnen-Schmutz, K., Boivin, T., Essl, F., Groom, Q. J., Harrison, L., Touza, J. M., Bayliss, H. (2018): Alien Futures: what is on the horizon for biological invasions?. Diversity & Distribution
Kavallari, A., Küster, T., Papadopoulos, E., Hondema, L. S., Øines, Ø., Skov, J., Sparagano, O. & Tiligada, E. (2018). Avian mite dermatitis: Diagnostic challenges and unmet needs. Parasite immunology, e12539. Chicago
van Kleunen M, Essl F, Pergl J, Brundu G, Carboni M, Dullinger S, Early R, González-Moreno P, Groom QJ, Hulme PE, Kueffer C, Kühn I, Máguas C, Maurel N, Novoa A, Parepa M, Pyšek P, Seebens H, Tanner R, Touza J, Verbrugge L, Weber E, Dawson W, Kreft H, Weigelt P, Winter M, Klonner G, Talluto MV, Dehnen-Schmutz K (2018): The changing role of ornamental horticulture in alien plant invasions. Biological Reviews
