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CAWR Newsletter
May 2022
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 equitable, sustainable and resilient food and water systems.'
The views and opinions expressed in this newsletter are those of the contributors at the Centre for Agroecology, Water and Resilience (CAWR) and do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of Coventry University.
New CAWR research raises concerns about toxic substitute chemicals
CAWR researcher Ivan Kourtchev and his collaborators have been able to identify, for the first time, toxic substitutes of PFOA and PFOS (legacy, so-called “forever chemicals”) in urban atmosphere. The results, which come from work carried out by Ivan in partnership with University College Cork (Ireland) and the Institute of Nuclear and Radiological Science & Technology (Crete), raise concerns about persistence of these substitutes in the atmosphere and impact on human health considering emerging evidence that they could have similar health endpoints as legacy PFOA and PFOS. The article is available by clicking here.
CAWR’s research excellence highlighted in UK-wide research assessment
A recently completed UK-wide research excellence assessment - REF 2021 - has highlighted the strength and quality of CAWR’s research activities.
Universities were assessed for the excellence of their research, as well as societal impact and the quality of their research environment. As a result of the exercise, CAWR’s research power ranking reached 20 out of the 56 universities that submitted to the Unit of Assessment (UoA) for Geography and Environmental Studies. This puts CAWR in the top 36% of institutions ranked for this UoA in REF 2021.
This is excellent news for the Centre’s expanding work on equitable, resilient, and sustainable food and water systems. For example, this good REF outcome will enable CAWR to attract more research and development funds from Coventry University and external donors.
Technician Commitment Submission Award on Tour at CAWR
CAWR is currently a hosting the Technician Commitment Submission Award, which is touring technical staff across the university. The university has signed up to a national ongoing programme, run from the University of Sheffield in partnership with the National Technician Development Centre, to “ensure visibility, recognition, career development and sustainability of technical skills and roles” in higher education. The award from November 2021 acknowledges the commitment from Coventry University to tackle these issues and help address a wider current national shortage of technical staff within the sector.
Organic PLUS update from CAWR’s labs
Laboratory technician Sam Towers with CAWR’s Gas Chromatography Mass Spectrometer & Organic-PLUS samples. Photo: Sam Green
Organic-PLUS (HORIZON 2020 EU funded project) is concerned with investigating contentious inputs in organic growing systems.
The project is currently doing lab work, looking at the experimental soils which were covered with various conventional and biodegradable plastic mulches then used for growing lettuces and onions in trials at Ryton Organic Gardens, to see if phthalates from the plastics have leached into the soil. Project researchers have been extracting the analytes into solution and laboratory technician Sam Towers has been using CAWR’s Gas Chromatography Mass Spectrometer, to examine compounds present and their concentration, which can be related back to see if there are traces of plasticisers in the soil from the plastic mulches.
Agroecology for Europe (AE4EU) Consortium Meeting in Lugo
From 3rd to 5th May, the first face-to-face meeting of the Agroecology for Europe (AE4EU) project was held at USC (Universidade de Santiago de Compostela) in Lugo, Galicia, Spain, with Ulrich Schmutz, Tsveti Bandakova and Judith Conroy attending for CU. The team shared details of the experience of mapping agroecology in the UK, particularly the complexities of the four devolved nations. There was also discussion around the Coventry living lab, which aims to enhance links between agroecological projects and practitioners in the urban area and surrounding territory.
Very interesting were also the insights into Galicia’s specific issues (70% forestry cover, land abandonment, climate mitigation, organic farming, eco-tourism potential). They were critically discussed in two farmer and policy makers panels, organised by the host Prof Dr Rosa Mosquera Losada)
Critical Approaches to the Food-Climate-Migration Nexus: a Roundtable Discussion
In this roundtable, panellists discussed how today's global human displacement has been exacerbated by proliferating food and climate crises that trace to and articulate with deeply entrenched structural inequalities.
Panelists on this roundtable shared critical perspectives from their ongoing research while also addressing the possibilities for social and environmental justice. This roundtable took place on 4th May 2022 and is part of a long-term project of building a transnational and interdisciplinary network on the Food-Climate-Migration nexus.
The panellists were Dr Annie Shattuck, Dr. Lisa Kelley, Dr Estelli Jimenez-Soto, Dr Megan Carney, and Professor Michel Pimbert. A recording of the panel can be found here.
The Organic-PLUS team visits Delfland plant raisers
Delfland Nurseries - trays of transplants with seedlings
Francis Rayns, Margi Lennartsson and Ulrich Schmutz made a visit to Delfland Nurseries Ltd, the largest producer of organic vegetable transplants in the UK.
We are working with them as part of the Organic-PLUS project to discuss alternatives to the use of peat as a growing medium in horticulture. Delfland have now successfully phased out the use of all peat for containerised module plugs.
However, more research is needed to develop suitable growing media blends for pressed ‘blocks’ – these have no structure around them to hold them together and are more suitable for crops like lettuces. Currently they are made with 80% peat, and replacement or reduction of this peat content is a challenge.
Tray of blocked growing media ready for seed sowing
Hugely successful Ecology and Land Reform PGR training event in the Scottish Highlands
The ‘Ecology and Land Reform’ PGR training event co-organised by CAWR’s Ryan Dziadowiec received glowing feedback from attendees, with many praising its “convivial atmosphere” which fostered conversations that will have a “lasting generational impact on thinking and action” in Scotland’s Gàidhealtachd (Highlands and Islands).
The event included a guided walk to a historic shieling site, a seasonal settlement used for pastoral transhumance prior to the Highland Clearances. The days were filled with talks and workshops, and in the evenings after sharing a meal around 40 participants enjoyed a cèilidh around the fire, sharing stories and songs from as far afield as China.
CAWR: Eight years on
CAWR director Michel Pimbert was recently interviewed by Anna Lappe to offer a perspective on the story of CAWR thus far - with a few selected highlights on some of the Centre’s work on agroecology and sustainable food systems. A re-affirmation of important approaches and ways of working in CAWR - in non-academic language.
For the full interview, click here
RECOMS on tour!
RECOMS joins 100 projects to be showcased at the New European Bauhaus Festival next month. Travelling to different public squares in Brussels 9th-12th June, we will share the project through games, storytelling and pictures.
And if you aren’t able to be in Brussels for the festival, you can still meet our many-headed monster on YouTube … and maybe at the CAWR open day if he fits on the train!
RECOMS has received funding from the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme under the Marie Skłodowska-Curie grant agreement No 765389
Ready Healthy Eat Project workshop brings together key partners engaged in surplus food redistribution
The On 11th May, the ‘Ready, Healthy, Eat’ Project in collaboration with The Real Farming Trust and Centre for Business in Society brought together community organisations who are engaged in the interception and redistribution of surplus food in the UK.
The event was hosted by one of the project’s partners; The Hornbeam Café, based in Walthamstow, London. The purpose of the event was to share sectoral innovations and practices, reflect on the Ready Healthy Eat Project to date, and discuss the wider politics of surplus food redistribution.
CAWR helps to foster links between Amazonia and Scotland
In April CAWR researcher Iain MacKinnon helped to organise a field trip on the Isle of Skye for activists and academics from Amazonia.
The trip was part of a larger project on the financialisation of land, food and natural resources which is supported by academics who have been working with Amazonian peoples facing often violent dispossession from their traditional lands. The Amazonian delegates shared harrowing accounts of their experiences, and learnt about forms of marginalisation and exclusion faced by local populations in the north of Scotland who also lack control over the lands where they live.
For an account of the visit, click here.
PhD Exam Success!
On 5th May, Janus Bojesen Jensen successfully defended his PhD research on “An Exploration of Subtle Agroecological Practices for the Decolonisation of Agriculture”. This groundbreaking doctoral research is the first of its kind in this new discipline. The supervisory team comprised of Julia Wright, Barbara Smith and – from the Royal Agricultural University – Jonathan Code, and examiners were CAWR’s James Bennett and – from Schumacher College – Nathan Einbinder.
Events
Catch up on our events and seminars by visiting our YouTube channel
Studentships
Chemical analysis and bioaccumulation of ‘forever chemicals’ in aquatic organisms - This opportunity will remain open until a suitable candidate is identified
Publications
Valdés-Correcher, E., Popova, A., Galmán, A., … Green, S. et al. (2022). Herbivory on the pedunculate oak along an urbanization gradient in Europe: Effects of impervious surface, local tree cover, and insect feeding guild. Ecology and Evolution, 12, e8709. https://doi.org/10.1002/ece3.8709
Kourtchev I, Hellebust S, Heffernan E, Wenger J, Towers S, Diapouli E, Eleftheriadis K. (2022). A new on-line SPE LC-HRMS method for the analysis of Perfluoroalkyl and Polyfluoroalkyl Substances (PFAS) in PM2.5 and its application for screening atmospheric particulates from Dublin and Enniscorthy, Ireland. Sci Total Environ. 2022 Apr 26; 835:155496. doi: 10.1016/j.scitotenv.2022.155496.
Burnett, E. (2022). Nurturing Clever Cities: The Intersection Between Urban Agriculture and Smart Technologies. In N. Minaei (Ed.), Smart Cities: Critical Debates on Big Data, Urban Development and Social Environmental Sustainability. CRC Press.
Dehnen-Schmutz, K., & Novoa, A. (2022). Advances in the management of invasive plants. In D. Clements, M. Upadhyaya, S. Joshi, & A. Shrestha (Eds.), Global Plant Invasions (pp. 317-330). Springer Nature Switzerland AG. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-89684-3
Pionetti. C. (2022). Brief sur le genre dans les projets alimentaires territoriaux (PAT): Pourquoi et comment prendre en compte le genre dans l’élaboration et la mise en œuvre d’un PAT? . Groupe de Recherche sur l’Agroécologie Paysanne, France.
Ramdas, S. (2022). Disruptive Technologies: The Case of Indigenous Territories of Andhra Pradesh, India. Heinrich Boell Stiftung Hong Kong.
Du, T., Bogush, A., Edwards, P., Stanley, P., Lombardi, A.T., Campos L.C. (2022) Bioaccumulation of metals by algae from acid mine drainage: a case study of Frongoch Mine (UK). Environmental Science and Pollution Research. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11356-022-19604-1
