CAWR Retreat to Hawkwood College in Stroud

CAWR Staff spent two days in Stroud to discuss and exchange ideas about the strategies developed for the research themes:
- Community self-organising for resilience
- Resilient food and water systems in practice
- Fundamentals of resilience 
- Policies and institutions for resilient food and water systems
- People's Knowledge and transdisciplinarity

The retreat also explored the theories of change used by CAWR researchers as they seek to generate knowledge and impacts (academic, policy-related, and societal impacts).

The meeting in Stroud was convivial and constructive. It re-affirmed CAWR as a safe space that values diversity and open communication

Discussing Global Food Governance at the Citta dell'Altra Economic (CAE), Rome 

Josh Brem-Wilson (Research Fellow) participated in a seminar entitled: “The Committee on World Food Security at a Crossroad” in Rome. The seminar, which brought together social movement leaders, academics, NGOs and UN officials, commemorated the launch of a book by Ingeborg Gaarde (Food and Agricultural Organization of the United Nations): “Peasants Negotiating a Global Policy Space: La Vía Campesina in the Committee on World Food Security”. Josh’s presentation, “The Role of Institutional Actors in Enabling Non-Elite Participation in Transnational Policy-Making”, drew from his ongoing research into the relationship between different types of (democratic) agency and the participation of non-elites in policy-making processes.

Poster presentation at the Dresden Nexus Conference (DNC2017)

The title of the poster presented was 'Evaluating surface water retention ponds for improving ecosystem services: a case study on a holding in southern Spain'.  Immo Fiebrig (Research Fellow, CAWR) and Marco Van De Wiel (Reader in Fluvial Processes, CAWR) used rainfall data on a digital elevation model of the farm's catchment. Four new ponds had been established using a holistic design approach called 'permaculture'. They assessed viability of the investment and expected benefits. The poster was designed to link to the so called 'nexus approach', a concept central to the event looking at the inter-connectedness between water, soil, food, energy and waste.

Final of the 2017 Three Minute Thesis (3MT®) Competition

The 3MT is an academic competition that challenges PhD students to describe their research within three minutes to a general audience. 3MT celebrates the discoveries made by research students and encourages their skill in communicating the importance of research to the broader community.

Their 3MT titles were:

Donna Udall: ' Carbon Canapés and Nitrogen Noodles: how to feed the world with waste'

Morwenna Mckenzie: ' Does size matter?'

Natasa Tziampou: 'Thirsty and Suffocated'

CAWR Summer School Barbecue

CAWR’s PhD Summer School took place between the 14th and 16th June 2017. This was part of the Doctoral Training Programme. The 3 days covered workshops and discussions in a variety of topics from journal article critiques to surviving the PhD. It wasn’t all serious – our students got the chance to socialise and unwind at the BBQ on the 15th!

Interesting in studying with us? We have a studentship available!