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CAWR Newsletter
July 2024
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.
The Big Butterfly Count at CAWR
The Big Butterfly Count 2024 runs from the 12th of July until the 4th of August. As well as adding butterfly counts to the Butterfly Conservation data, Coventry University also created a survey for the city centre campus and Ryton to better understand butterfly species on campus.
Research visit to the Nalón and Esva River basins (N Spain)
As Advisor on the Spain-based FLUCOS (Sedimentos FLUviales y COSteros) project, Sue Charlesworth travelled to the north of Spain in late June to visit the Nalón and Esva River basins (Fig 1). With Dr Rodrigo Álvarez and Professors Almudena Ordoñez (project PI) and Eduardo de Miguel (Fig 2), she visited some of the many field sampling sites, and examined the eroded sediments which were found to contain arsenic, mercury and, to a lesser extent, copper, from mercury and copper mines. The elevated concentrations of these elements pose a threat to aquatic systems and biota highlighting the need for results of the project to be used to manage fluvial sediments impacted by mining activities.
Professors Eduardo de Miguel, Sue Charlesworth and Almudena Olonso
Emily Amini graduates with her MRes on 16 July 2024
Emily’s Masters by Research was supervised by Prof Sue Charlesworth (DoS), Dr Jade Catterson and Dr Craig Lashford. Her thesis was: “An Investigation Into The Relationship Between Greenspace Availability and Wellbeing In Leeds”.
Emily’s thesis began with a discussion of both greenspace and wellbeing, finding that the definition of both was quite subjective. However, there were social, recreational and environmental benefits reflected in increased awareness by policy makers leading to encouragement of the public to use these spaces. The study itself used both questionnaires and interviews to gauge how the public in Leeds understood greenspace and wellbeing and how or if these two terms were related. Interestingly, whilst results showed understanding of the vegetated nature of greenspace including park or open spaces, some people also included rural areas such as farmland. It was also found that COVID-19 influenced the use of greenspace, with participants acknowledging its benefits, providing an ‘escape’. Finally, engagement of the public is key in order to encourage active use of greenspace, with the support of policymakers and education of public in their role, and potential benefits.
CAWR at Groundswell
CAWR colleagues represented Coventry University at Groundswell, the Regenerative Agriculture Festival at Lannock Manor Farm on 26th and 27th June 2024, sharing in discussions on our stand and in forums for farmers, growers, or anyone interested in food production, community tree nurseries, and the environment, about research and the theory and practical applications of regenerative farming systems.
CAWR attends Farm Woodland Forum
Ulrich Schmutz, Rosemary Venn and Ali Parsa attended this year’s Farm Woodland Forum, hosted at Cranfield University on the theme of ‘Agroforestry for food, net zero and biodiversity’. Work generated from the AGROMIX project was presented and discussed. A full day of knowledge sharing was followed by a day of field trips to two farms incorporating trees into their systems.
1 - Medbury Farm, Elstow, Bedfordshire. Increasing tree cover on a commercial farm. The managers of Medbury Farm took part in a greenhouse gas calculation project to determine how close the farm is to 'net zero', and have established a range of systems to increase tree cover.
2 - RSPB Hope Farm, Knapwell, Cambridgeshire. Hope Farm is a commercial arable farm managed by the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds. Over recent years, biodiversity has been enhanced and a 11 ha silvoarable system including apples, cobnuts and windbreaks has been established.
All presentations and posters are available to view on the Farm Woodland Forum’s website, link below.
EarthFirst Summer moot
Lucy Aphramor facilitated a workshop “Anti-colonial food narratives for collective flourishing” at EarthFirst! summer moot held at Crabapple Community near Shrewsbury. This was the 30th EarthFirst! annual gathering involving ‘five days of workshops, skill shares, solidarity, socialising, and conspiring the destruction of capitalism, patriarchy, and all the forces of domination of humans and nature.
… a space for radical thinkers, rebellious souls, and curious minds, bringing people together to strengthen and spread the radical ecological resistance movement across these northern isles that we call home. ‘
Growing Connections at the Tree Health Citizen Science Network
Growing Connections team members Sam Green and consultant Pete Stevens of AJS Flood Risk presented the Growing Connection’s community tree nursery research work by Liz Trenchard, Gabriele Warwick, Sam and Pete, to the Tree Health Citizen science network: citizen scientists, Defra, Forest Research, Botanic Garden network members, tree health scientists, biosecurity specialists, and tree data scientists to share research information about the community tree nursery sector both from buyers’ points of view, sustainability of community tree nurseries and community tree nurseries’ needs within the UK tree production sector.
Wildlife Gardening Forum
On Saturday 20th July, the Wildlife Gardening Forum held its trustee away day at Ryton Organic Gardens. CAWR researcher Judith Conroy and the other trustees discussed the forthcoming work of the charity and made full use of the gardens for team building activities. The Wildlife Gardening Forum is a small charity which recognises the value of gardens and provides evidence-based advice to amateurs and practitioners alike. Their next event will be an online symposium in January.
New publication in Journal of Hydrology "Variability in flood frequency in sub-Saharan Africa: The role of large-scale climate modes of variability and their future impacts”
This paper highlights for the first time the potential role of internal climate modes of variability in modulating African flood occurrence in the observed and future climates.
CAWR attends 'The Social Movements’ Conference
Question time during the opening plenary of the conference, Rome, 1st March 2024
Chiara Tornaghi was invited to give a keynote speech at the opening day of the social movements’ conference “Cambiare il Campo”, in Rome, 1- 3 March 2024. The event, participated by over 300 people, was the first national convergence of civil society organisations, social movement actors and farmers engaged in agroecology, and aimed at constituting a national organisational platform. An extract of Chiara’s speech, titled “La convergenza agroecologica e la questione urbana: spunti per nuove strategie di movimento” has been published on the new magazine launched by the organisers called, Rivista Contadina, No. 1, on the 18th June 2024.
Visit to Riverford’s Sacrewell farm
CAWR researchers working to phase out peat from horticulture visited Sacrewell Lodge Farm, close to Peterborough. The site is operated by project lead Riverford Organic Farmers and grows a range of vegetables, including lettuces for which the CAWR team is developing peat replacement growing media. The visit was also an opportunity to meet with funder Innovate UK and review progress as we begin our next round of trials.
Exploring methods and equipment for processing materials
Working with farmers on peat-free growing media
CAWR researchers have been working with farmers and manufacturers to explore materials that can be used to create peat-free blocking media. Francis Rayns and Judith Conroy recently visited Wood Farm in Cambridgeshire to discuss practical methods of processing media, to ensure it is suitable for making blocks that seeds can be sown into. An important aspect of this project is to use materials which are both renewable and can be sourced and processed locally. Find out more on the project here.
Celebrating the Success of our Research Students on Graduation Day
Jana Fried, Michelle Farrell, Megan Bedford and Craig Lashford at Summer Graduation
Congratulations to three of our research students who graduated in Coventry Cathedral on 16th July. Ali Parsa graduated with a PhD, and Megan Bedford and Emily Amini with MScR (Masters by Research) degrees. Ali’s thesis is titled A Systems Approach to Environmental, Social and Economic Sustainability in Circular Economies, and he was supervised by Marco Van De Wiel and Ulrich Schmutz. He is currently working for CAWR as a post-doctoral researcher.
Megan and Emily both graduated with BSc Geography degrees from the School of Energy, Construction and Environment at Coventry University in 2022, and began their MScR research at CAWR in the same year. Megan’s thesis is titled To what degree can Natural Flood Management truly be considered 'natural'?, and she was supervised by Michelle Farrell, Jana Fried, and Craig Lashford (Jacobs). Megan has recently started a PhD at CAWR.
Emily’s thesis is titled An Investigation of the Relationship Between Greenspace Accessibility and Wellbeing in Leeds, and she was supervised by Sue Charlesworth, Jade Catterson (ECE), and Craig Lashford (Jacobs). Emily currently works as an Environmental Analyst for JBA Consulting.
Huge congratulations to all three of our recent graduates!
Using creative methods in research
Coya Halley, a PhD candidate at CAWR, finished her fieldwork in Guyana in June. She worked with women in prison who have experienced interpersonal violence, co-creating a 12-week land-based program named "GROW LIKE PLANTS." During the research, she used creative methods to capture the women’s stories, and at the end of the program, the women had the opportunity to showcase their work to prison management and staff.
Work Experience at CAWR
MSc student Harry Iwuchukwu, Kate Malone, Gabriella Huggins and Associate Professor Steve Coupe
Last month, CAWR welcomed two pupils, Gabriella Huggins and Kate Malone, for a week of work experience. A big thank you to colleagues for making this a wonderful learning experience. The girls spent time in the labs, gardens and shared their ideas about effective methods of teaching biodiversity to young people.
Here is a short film they made about their time at CAWR:
Dr Muhammad Shahid visit
Muhammad and Ulrich in front of CAWR-research poster on Social Life Cycle Assessment of organic food supply chains
Former PhD student Muhammad visited CAWR. He was self-funded and started with CAFS (Centre for Agroecology and Food Security) back in 2013. After completion in 2017 he made his career in the food industry in a leadership role of a 2bn turnover company (Greencore). Congrats and so nice you have not forgotten your old PhD team and alma mater.
Healthy and Sustainable Diets for Children – report published in collaboration with Soil Association
Jana Fried and Lopa Saxena published a report commissioned by Soil Association that analyses local authorities’ role in achieving healthy and sustainable diets for children. Systematically reviewing the current landscapes of interventions, and building on an in-depth workshop with UK local authorities, it proposes a pathway towards a sustainable food system that promotes, protects, and improves children’s diets through a focus on five action areas.
Publications
Pandamkulangara Kizhakkethil, J., Shi, Z., Bogush, A., & Kourtchev, I. (2024). Aerosolisation of per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) during aeration of contaminated aqueous solutions. Atmospheric Environment, 120716. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.atmosenv.2024.120716
Chiara Tornaghi, Michiel Dehaene (2024), AGROECOLOGICAL URBANISM: What is it, why we need it, and the role of UN-Habitat. Policy Briefing, Coventry, pp. 1-6, Open access
Chiara Tornaghi (2024), “Raising the ambition of urban agriculture in public space: nurturing urban agroecology and more-than-human health”, Chapter 13 in Beata Sirowy, Deni Ruggeri (eds), Urban Agriculture in Public Space: Planning and Designing for Human Flourishing in Northern European Cities and Beyond, SpringerNature, ISBN: 978-3-031-41549-4. Gold open access here
Raúl Terrile* , Nahuel Martinez, Nicolás Paz, Francisco Brunotto, Mariano Costa, Natalia Budai, Cristina Ruiz,Macarena Rizzi, Marta Invernizzi, Telma Scarpeci, Rubén D Piacentini, Kevin Winter and Chiara Tornaghi (2024), “Urban food waste for soil amendment? Analysis and characterisation of compost for use as inputs in agroecological horticultural production systems in the city of Rosario, Argentina”, in Frontiers in Sustainable Food Systems - Agroecology and Ecosystem Services, vol. 8, first published 5th April 2024, open access here
Aphramor, L. (2024) Queering as Process: Disrupting Scientific Imperialism for Health Justice Using Kitchen Table Pedagogy. Journal of Critical Dietetics, 7:2. https://doi.org/10.32920/jcd.v7i2.1964
Ekolu J., Dieppois B, Tramblay Y., Villarini G., Slater L.J., Mahé G., Paturel J-E, Eden J.M., Moulds S., Sidibe M., Camberlin P.,Pohl B., Van de Wiel M. (2024) Variability in flood frequency in sub-Saharan Africa: The role of large-scale climate modes of variability and their future impacts, Journal of Hydrology, 640, 131679. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jhydrol.2024.131679
Folorunsho, O., Kizhakkethil Pandamkulangara, J., Bogush, A., and Kourtchev, I. (2024) Effect of short-term sample storage and preparatory conditions on losses of 18 per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) to container materials. Chemosphere, ScienceDirect. 363, 142814. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.chemosphere.2024.142814
Namazi, Y., S. Charlesworth, A. Montazami and M. Taleghani (2024) The impact of local microclimates and Urban Greening Factor on schools’ thermal conditions during summer: a study in Coventry, UK. Building and Environment. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.buildenv.2024.111793
Kourtchev I, Sebben BG, Brill S, Barbosa CGG, Weber B, Ferreira RR, D'Oliveira FAF, Dias-Junior CQ, Popoola OAM, Williams J, Pöhlker C, Godoi RHM. Occurrence of a "forever chemical" in the atmosphere above pristine Amazon Forest. Sci Total Environ. 2024 Jun 10;944:173918. doi: 10.1016/j.scitotenv.2024.173918. Epub ahead of print. PMID: 38866151.
Roy, H. E., Pauchard, A., Stoett, P. J., Renard Truong, T., Meyerson, L. A., Bacher, S.,... Dehnen-Schmutz, K.,... & Ziller, S. R. (2024). Curbing the major and growing threats from invasive alien species is urgent and achievable. Nature Ecology & Evolution, 1-8. https://www.nature.com/articles/s41559-024-02412-w
Abell, J., Oldbury-Thomas, D. & Mazhandu, C.,12 Jun 2024, In: Conservation Science and Practice. A Scoping Review of Academic Papers on Human Lion Conflict in Africa
Qadir M.I., R. Mumtaz, M. Manzoor, M. Saleem and S. Charlesworth. (2024) Development of Unmanned Surface Vehicle for Intelligent Water Quality Assessment and Comparative Analysis of Oversampling Techniques for Addressing Class Imbalance. IWA. Water Supply Special Issue on: Impact of Sustainable Development and Industrialization on Water Quality: Human Health and Disease Heterogeneity. 1-12. doi: 10.2166/ws.2024.141
Álvarez, R., M. Izquierdo, H. Serrano, E. García-Ordiales, C. García, F. Alberquilla, F. Barrio, E. De Miguel, S. Charlesworth, A. Ordóñez. (2024) Comparison of sediment bioavailable methods to assess the potential risk of metal(loid)s for river ecosystems. Ecotoxicology and Environmental Safety.
Tshuma, F., Swanepoel. P.A, Labuschagne, J., Bennett, J., and Rayns, F. (2024). Tillage rotation and biostimulants can compensate for reduced synthetic agrochemical application in a dryland cropping system. Cogent Food and Agriculture. https://doi.org/10.1080/23311932.2024.2352958
Mushunje, L.H., Marandure, T., Chikwhana, O.C., Bennett, J., Hawkins, H-J, Palmer, A., Wu, L., Marufu, M. and Mapiye, C. (2024). Supplementation of Acacia dealbata versus Acacia mearnsii leaf-meal has potential to maintain growth performance of lambs grazing low-quality communal rangelands in South Africa. Tropical Animal Health and Production, 56:152. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11250-024-04004-z
Aphramor, L. How Community Connections Boost Our Health. Permaculture Magazine. Issue 119 pp 13-15. Spring 2024.
Chen D.T., Roy A., Bogush A., Stegemann J.A. (2024) Speciation of toxic metals in metal finishing filter cake by X-ray absorption spectroscopy. Journal of Environmental Management, 360, 120994. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jenvman.2024.120994
Aphramor, L. (2024) Refarming nutrition beyond the healthy/unhealthy binary. Food Ethics Council blog. April 2024. https://www.foodethicscouncil.org/opinion/reframing-nutrition-beyond-the-binary/
Bogush A., Kourtchev I. (2024) Disposable surgical/medical face masks and filtering face pieces: source of microplastics and chemical additives in the environment. Environmental Pollution, 348, 123792. https://doi.org/10.016/j.envpol.2024.123792
Quispe J.I.B., Campos L., Masek O., Bogush A. (2024) Removal of anionic surfactant from aqueous solutions by adsorption onto biochars: characterisation, kinetics, and mechanism. Environmental Technology. https://doi.org/10.1080/09593330.2024.2304677
Jones, T. S., Culham, A., Pickles, B. J., & David, J. (2024). Can gardeners identify 'future invaders'? NeoBiota, 91, pp.125-144. https://doi.org/10.3897/neobiota.91.110560
