CAWR Newsletter

March 2023

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.

Bouquet of Hummingbirds to support World Water Day 2023

Origami hummingbirds adorned the CAWR entrance in celebration of World Water Day

World Water Day was on 22^nd March and their campaign involved a story of a hummingbird that originated with the Qurchua people in Peru. The story is about how small actions can make a big difference. We advocated the day by creating origami hummingbirds and displaying them in the centre’s entrance. A photograph of the display was sent to UN Water, which they shared in their online gallery and will display in a virtual exhibition.

Final stakeholder workshop for CAWR-led Royal Society project in Kenya

Stakeholders at the project workshop

Dr James Bennett and Dr Lovemore Gwiriri conducted a final stakeholder workshop in Kenya in February for the Royal Society funded Grazing and Corralling to Enhance Ecosystem Services (GACEES) project.

During the event on 21st and 22nd February, feedback was provided on key project outcomes and a world-café approach employed to evaluate different grazing practices. In total 25 researchers, local community and NGO stakeholders explored cross-cutting constraints, collective solutions, policy implications and best-practice in managing rangelands. 

CAWR's James Bennett addresses the workshop

Reflections on Agroecology

Professor Michel Pimbert was interviewed by the Spanish Food Sovereignty and Biocultural Diversity revue at the IX Agroecology Congress in Sevilla. Michel offered some thoughts on where next for the theory and practice of agroecology and food sovereignty. A write up of the interview can be found here.

Congratulations to Christelle Ledroit on PhD viva success

We are delighted to announce that Christelle Ledroit has been awarded her PhD for her thesis entitled: Socio-Ecological sustainability of cotton farming systems in Central India. Her supervisors were Barbara Smith and Julia Wright (CAWR), Nicola Randall (Harper Adams) and Gurbir Singh (University of Berne).

Christelle now has an exciting new role as Research Consultant at FIBL and is leading agroecological research in India. We look forward to her staying in touch with CAWR.

Gaza women rising

On International Women’s Day, George McAllister, Chiara Tornaghi, Georges Felix and the Gaza Foodways team in Palestine were proud to share women-led research projects that have been shortlisted for the project’s Innovation Challenge Prize.

The prize aims to champion the role of women in research and promote transdisciplinary ways of working that support urban agroecology for food sovereignty.

The challenge invitation was for women from academic institutions across Gaza to join forces with the Urban Women’s Agripreneur Forum (UWAF) to co-develop innovations that address the project’s 6 themes (soil, water, energy, agricultural inputs, markets, and land) identified by UWAF members at the outset.

An important consideration was that concepts to be trialled would reduce dependence on external inputs while honouring the knowledge and skills of Gaza's smallholder farmers. We were particularly interested to find out what innovations emerge when they are co-designed by women to respond to the needs of women.

Visit Gaza Foodways news to find out who the shortlisted teams are and what they’re proposing to do.

Growing Connections

Liz at work on the project.

Have you bought a tree in UK? Or many? If so, the Growing Connections team would like you to take part in their tree buyer’s survey here:

https://coventry.onlinesurveys.ac.uk/growing-connections-tree-buyer-survey-2023

Sam Green and Liz Trenchard from the Growing Connections team say: 'We are researching community tree nurseries and interested in tree procurement. Thank you!'

New videos from our COACH beacons

The COACH project is about driving innovation in Territorial Food Systems and improving outcomes for producers and consumers in collaborative agri-food chains.

One way to achieve this is by giving a voice to often unheard actors in the food chain. Our project hosts more than 30 best practice beacons in our Living Library and as part of the project we have been working with them to produce five short videos. These videos are now live! So, whether you want to listen to apprenticeship stories from Czechia and Hungary, or better understand participatory guarantee systems, or learn about the good food loop in the UK, or watch an animation about short supply chains, you can find them all here.

A Successful Green Week at CAWR

Coventry University celebrated Green Week from 6th to 12th March 2023. The sustainability group held a successful bring and take table which proved popular with staff. CAWR researchers also gave guided tours of the outside research space at Ryton Organic Gardens, focusing on how this work is undertaken in an environmentally sustainable way and enriched by on-site biodiversity.

Events

Catch up on our events and seminars by visiting our YouTube channel

PhD Scholarship

CAWR is offering a funded PhD scholarship which will evaluate the contribution of trees and urban forests to ecosystem services and biodiversity in Coventry. For more details of the project click here.

Publications

Burnett, E. (2023). Essential elements of self-organization illustrated through localized agri-food systems. Agroecology and Sustainable Food Systems.

Pimbert, M.P.( 2022). Transforming food and agriculture: Competing visions and major controversies. Mondes en développement, 199-200. pp361- 384. https://doi.org/10.3917/med.199.0365

Folorunsho, O., Bogush, A., & Kourtchev, I. (2023). A new on-line SPE LC-HRMS method for simultaneous analysis of selected emerging contaminants in surface waters. Analytical Methods, 15, pp284-296, doi.org/10.1039/D2AY01574A

Pimbert, M. (2022), Avant propos, in Barbier, M., Lamine, C., Couix, N. (dir.) Pratiques et savoirs agricoles dans la transition agroécologique. Editions des archives contemporaines, Coll. «Etudes des sciences et Histoire des techniques», France, ISBN: 9782813003560, pp. 1-2.

Wong S., Armenise S., Nyakuma B.B., Ng P., Lee C., Bogush A., Launay F., Rebrov E., Muñoz M. (2022) Catalytic pyrolysis of plastics over maghemite-impregnated mesocellular foam using induction heating. Chemical Engineering Transactions, 97, DOI: 10.3303/CET2297005

Wynberg, R., Pimbert, M., Moeller, N., McAllister, G., Bezner Kerr, R., Singh, J., Belay, M. & Ngcoya, M. (2023) Nature-Based Solutions and Agroecology: Business as Usual or an Opportunity for Transformative Change?, Environment: Science and Policy for Sustainable Development, 65:1, pp15-22

Hamidi M.D., Kissane S., Bogush A.A., Karim A.Q., Sagintayev J., Towers S., Greenwell C.H.C. (2022) Spatial estimation of groundwater quality, hydrogeochemical investigation, and health impacts of shallow groundwater in Kabul city, Afghanistan. Sustainable Water Resources Management, 9, 20. https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s40899-022-00808-9

Wong S.L., Armenise S., Nyakuma B.B., Bogush A., Towers S., Lee S.H., Wong K.Y., Lee T.H., Rebrov E., Muñoz M. (2022) Plastic Pyrolysis over HZSM-5 Zeolite and Fluid Catalytic Cracking Catalyst under Ultra-Fast Heating. Journal of Analytical and Applied Pyrolysis (IF 6.437), 105793. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jaap.2022.105793 

Lavers, T., Charlesworth, S. Lashford, C., Warwick F., and Fried, J. (2022) The performance of Natural Flood Management at the large catchment-scale: A case study in the Warwickshire Stour Valley. Water SI Surface Water Management: Recent Advances and Challenges.

Tjahjono B., Beltran M., Lazell J., Bek D., Bogush, A.(2022) Prototyping Solutions – Findings from the third UK SIMBIO social innovation lab – and SIMBIO project implications, 25th of November, 2021. Coventry: Coventry University, Centre for Business in Society (CBiS).

Dehnen-Schmutz, K, Pescott, O, Booy, O, Walker, K (2022): Integrating expert knowledge at regional and national scales improves impact assessments of non-native species. NeoBiota 77: pp79-100. (open access)

Tittonell, P., El Mujtar, V., Félix, G.F., Kebede, Y., Laborda, L., Luján Soto, R. & de Vente, J. (2022) Regenerative agriculture—agroecology without politics? Front. Sustain. Food Syst. 6:844261.