No images? Click here CAWR Newsletter January 2020 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.' NewsAGROMIX - driving change towards more efficient and resilient land use in EuropeSara Burbi, Marco van de Wiel, Ulrich Schmutz, Jonathan Eden and Katharina Dehnen-Schmutz have successfully been awarded €7 million within the European Union (EU)’s Horizon 2020 programme. This project will focus on practical agroecological solutions for farm and land management and related value chains. For more information on the project, click here to view the project page. To view the press release on this news, please click here. Episode 2 of The Changing Room Series: Food Justice in CoventryWe've just launched Episode 2 of our podcast series - The Changing Room, on Food Justice in Coventry! Food is an integral part of any culture. The ways in which it is produced, bought and consumed can say a lot about a society. But not everyone in our local communities can be sure of access to healthy nutritious food. Guests Becca Stevenson (Five Acre Community Farm), Mark Gibbins (Coventry Men’s Shed), Dr Lopa Saxena and Dr Luke Owen join us at Rising Café to tell us what is being done to address the problem in Coventry. Listen to Episode 2 here. Building resilience to natural disasters in populated African mountain ecosystemsAs part of CAWR’s Stabilisation Agriculture Programme, Georgina McAllister recently visited Chimanimani district in Zimbabwe to initiate comparative research on how conventional and agroecologically managed landscapes coped with the impacts of Cyclone Idai in March 2019. Find out more about her trip by reading her blog post on the Agroecology Now! website here. Organic-PLUS project review meetingClaus Aage Grøn Sørensen (Denmark), 3 x CAWR team (Ulrich Schmutz, Adrian Evans, Judith Conroy), Massimo de Marchi (Italy), Anne-Kritin Løes (Norway) Nikolaos Katsoulas (Greece) The Organic-PLUS executive management board passed its 18-month project review meeting in Brussels. On the second day, the project team enjoyed a well organised day by Gregg Jones (Director of Brussels Office) at Coventry University’s Brussels office. They looked at opportunities in the new 100bn ‘Horizon Europe’ programme together with Hans-Joerg Lutzeyer, Senior Research Policy Officer at DG Research & Innovation, Unit C2 Bioeconomy and Food Systems at the European Commission and Jon Brookes. European Adviser, UK Research Office (UKRO). Biochar attracts interest from Welsh GovernmentAs a result of Donna Udall’s work with biochar as a cattle supplement, Donna was invited by Welsh Government to meet with Phil Roberts and colleagues of the Land Management Reform Unit. Donna was able to advise the team on the possible use of biochar in their new, post-brexit, subsidy regime. The intention of Welsh Government is to support farmers to farm in more environmentally sustainable manner. The Land Management Reform Unit are now liaising with experts to find new opportunities to do this, and one very interesting prospect is biochar. Donna will continue to advise them over the coming months as they develop their policies and subsidy regime. The Hostile Environment of Immigration Policies: Hunger in SchoolsJasber Singh attended The London Children’s Food Insecurity Summit, at City Hall, London, on Monday 13th January, 2020. The summit brought together a range of academics, school-teachers, pupils, and policy makers to deliberate on children’s food insecurity in the capital. The summit was part of the children’s #Right2Food Campaign and builds on the London Children Food Insecurity report. At the summit Jasber, alongside Eve Dickson of Project 17, facilitated a workshop on ‘Marginalisation and Food Insecurity’. They both held a space to discuss the way in which immigration policies interact with the means tested Free School Meals (FSM) provision. For example, if a parent is subjected to an immigration condition that states that they have No Recourse to Public Funds (NRPF), their children are disqualified from FSM. Many children with NRPF therefore face hunger at school. We discussed that rather than being means tested, FSM ought to be a universal entitlement. By doing so, it would remove the stigma that children face when accessing FSM, and it would also guarantee that all children, including those with NRPF, have access to healthy and nutritious food at school. Project 17, Sustain and Jasber are currently working on a project to tackle food insecurity for migrants with NRPF. For further details see here. Gloria's triple victory!Gloria Giambartolomei participated to the grand finale of the 3-Minute Thesis competition, and represented CAWR to the PGR of the Year competition, both part of the Coventry University Hootenanny 2020. For the PGR of the Year competition, she gave a very strong presentation about her research. She also had to submit a written output and was interviewed in a 10 minutes Q&A session by the PGR of the Year judgement panel. During the awards ceremony on January 16th, Gloria was called on stage three times to be awarded by the Deputy Vice-Chancellor Richard Dashwood: third place in the 3-Minute thesis competition, the People's Choice Award in the 3-Minute thesis competition and Special Commendation in the PGR of the Year competition. Congratulations! Molly Browne from the Centre for Arts, Memory and Communities, who is co-supervised by Ulrich Schmutz, was presented with the Postgraduate Researcher of the Year Award. Many Congratulations from all at CAWR! Topic editor at Global Water forumEarly stage researcher Sofía de la Rosa, from the RECOMS project, was picked as topic editor at the Global Water Forum (GWF). Created by the UNESCO and the Australian National University, the GWF aims to disseminate research-based information regarding fresh water governance. The main format use are short articles (800-1200) containing evidence-based data, however, the platform is looking to explore other formats, like videos and photographs. Sofía will be editing the Water Justice topic, where she will be looking to use the platform to analyse what are the main challenges to just and equal water distribution, access, quality and management. The topic will be open to multiple voices and the goal is to have space for research conducted by not only academics but also communities and stakeholders. For more information please click here. Salmon in the StourLaura Allen worked on Electrofishing for the Salmon in the Stour project last year. The surveys carried out were to assess the fish stocks through the Stour as a complementary method to previously taken Environmental DNA (eDNA) samples. A video has now been released on the Facebook page of the Salmon in the Stour to find out more about this work. Click here to view the video. Call for Papers - Crossing the boundary between academia and activism: Postgraduates stories and practices of resistanceWith a creative and participatory format that allows for interactive discussions, this double session aims to explore the practice of scholar-activism from a PGR perspective. What are postgraduates doing to navigate, disrupt and/or re-shape the boundary between academia and wider society? What are their strategies and practices of resistance? How do they negotiate their positionality? What challenges do they face and how do they overcome them? The first session centres on sharing experiences through creative storytelling techniques; while the second encourages smaller group discussion on specific challenges experienced in the daily practice of scholar-activist research. For more information on the deadline for call for papers or on the conference, please click here. HOMED Project SurveyThe HOMED project (an EU Horizon 2020 funded project) is looking at Holistic Management of Emerging Forest Pests and Diseases and has launched a survey for people working with trees, and those who are interested in identifying or managing emerging tree pests and diseases. Do try it out! Click here to access the survey! EventsThe application of environmental forensics in the context of a global environmental campaigning organisation with David Santillo Eating for Development? Linkages between tourist resorts, local food production and the Sustainable Development Goals with Gabriel Laeis Activating the Genius Loci with Aonghus Gordon A Traits-based approach to determining flower visitation by pollinating bees using Vicia faba and Phaseolus vulgaris as model species with Anya Goncalves Geiger Publications
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