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CAWR Newsletter
April 2026
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.
Understanding Pathogens' Transport in Rivers through Modelling
Ramzan presenting his poster entitled “Understanding Pathogens' Transport in Rivers through Modelling”
CAWR PhD student Ramzan presented a poster entitled “Understanding Pathogens' Transport in Rivers through Modelling” at the workshop “Environmental Modelling meets Infectious Diseases” held at the University of Warwick on 16th April 2026.
Impact News - 'working for change'
Setting the bracken trials summer 2025
IS BRACKEN THE WORLD’S MOST SUCCESSFUL PLANT? (Its green, tasty, pretty, stores carbon and can kill you)
Donna Oldbury-Thomas assisted Professor Roy Brown with a presentation at Bangor University this month. Bracken (Pteridium aquilinum) serves as a complex native element of the landscape, offering critical breeding habitat for birds like the whinchat while simultaneously threatening biodiversity by shading out other flora. While it helps prevent soil erosion, its dense growth also creates a significant fire risk; dead fronds accumulate as highly flammable litter that fuels intense wildfires during dry spells. These stands can severely hinder recreational access and tourism. Economically, bracken has uses as bedding, yet it remains a major agricultural pest that is toxic to livestock. Health concerns are significant, as it harbours disease-carrying ticks and contains carcinogens that can leach into water, alter soil chemistry and be emitted to air through wildfires. Donna and Roy are working on agroecological means of bracken control.
Professor Emeritus Roy Brown presenting at Bangor University
SCALE-it begins on-farm trials
The SCALE-it project is embarking on its first season of Europe-wide ‘demo trials’ which will test alternatives to contentious inputs on organic farms. The Coventry SCALE-it team has been working to define what information they will need from the farmers involved, as this will be vital to assess the economic feasibility and consumer/farmer acceptance of inputs in organic systems.
Find more information about SCALE-it (including a dedicated section on the activities of the Coventry team) in the latest edition of the SCALE-it newsletter. Join the project mailing list here.
Publication Spotlight!!
Dr Bastien Dieppois co-authored a new paper in Stochastic Environmental Research and Risk Assessment that advances flood risk assessment in West Africa, where limited and unreliable hydrological data constrain infrastructure design and adaptation planning. Using an unprecedented dataset of 211 near-natural catchments, the study compares several regional flood frequency analysis approaches for estimating flood quantiles in ungauged basins. The results show that index-flood methods outperform direct regression approaches, with a Canonical Correlation Analysis framework combined with Support Vector Regression providing the most accurate estimates. The study highlights the importance of subsurface properties, catchment area, and topography in flood estimation, and provides practical tools to support more resilient flood risk management across vulnerable West African communities.
Diop, S. B., Tramblay, Y., Bodian, A., Dieppois, B. & Ouarda, T. (2026). Intercomparison of regional flood frequency estimation procedures in West Africa. Stochastic Environmental Research and Risk Assessment. In press.
CAWR does the City Nature Challenge 2026
CAWR staff have again taken an active role in the City Nature Challenge. This four-day event sees people coming together to share observations of nature from their local areas using the free iNaturalist platform. On Friday 24th, Helen, Lindy, and Alex Lowther Harris organised a nature walk and bioblitz for Coventry University staff from the Ryton Gardens site to Wolston Fields, spotting, amongst other things, a common whitethroat and some green-winged orchids. They even saw a roe deer, but weren't quick enough to snag a photo!
Katharina and Alex ran a bioblitz in Royal Leamington Spa alongside Warwickshire District Council. People spotted a variety of plant bugs, spiders and plants, including a pale pink sorrel, along the River Leam.
Alex LH led a canal walk in Coventry city centre - the highlight find was a myosotis discolor - a member of the forget-me-not family. Younger observers also enjoyed launching nature boats into the canal!
This year Lindy signed up to be a city organiser, so Leicestershire and Rutland could join in the challenge. A bioblitz in a suburban area of Leicestershire, saw children filling in their biodiversity bingo cards with ladybirds, butterflies and flowering plants.
All events helped generate valuable records of species occurrences and got people out into nature in the lovely sunshine.
This year, the recording period ran from 24th – 27th April, while observations can be uploaded and identified until the 10th May. To find out more about the global City Nature Challenge, visit City Nature Challenge. In Warwickshire, Coventry and Solihull 238 observers made 8193 observations of 1300 different species. You can find out more about these observations here:
City Nature Challenge 2026: Warwickshire, Coventry and Solihull! · iNaturalist
The City Nature Challenge in Coventry, Warwickshire and Solihull also contributes to ongoing EU-funded research at CAWR; the DAISY project uses it as a case study to better understand biodiversity and equity, while records of invasive and non-native species will help inform trials of innovative early detection technologies under the OneSTOP project.
BioBlitz at Wyken Croft Nature Park for the City Nature Challenge
Natalie Morley ran a BioBlitz at Wyken Croft Nature Park for the City Nature Challenge on Friday 24th April. We were lucky with good weather and managed to make over 100 observations, including a 10-Spot Ladybird, a Mottled Umber caterpillar, a Pied Shield Bug, a Green Longhorn Moth, a Green Dock Beetle as well as a variety of bees, butterflies, birds and plants.
TERRA Project in Poland
TERRA Project in Poland at the GIRI and ECH meeting. Advancing health-based solutions in food systems
From the 14th to the 20th of April, Dr Leo Faedo participated in the GIRI & ECH meeting in Warsaw, Poland. The meeting brought together the scientific and practitioner communities working with Traditional, Complementary and Integrative Health (TCIH). On this occasion, Leo presented the TERRA Project, exploring the connections and implications of a health-based approach on food systems.
CAWR staff enjoy making terrariums at Ruqaiyah's workshop.
Systems of Care: Terrariums and Relation Ecologies Workshop
This month, Ruqaiyah - intern on the DAISY project - delivered an interactive workshop at Ryton exploring biodiversity, care, and relational ecologies by creating small terrarium ecosystems with locally sourced natural materials and recycled glass jars.
She also used the workshop to introduce the iNaturalist app ahead of the City Nature Challenge.
It was a busy day for Ruqaiyah, who had led a fascinating seminar on her undergraduate dissertation in the morning. We wish Ruqaiyah all the best for what looks to be a very bright future (secretly hoping it may involve a PhD at CAWR!).
Publications
Diop, S. B., Tramblay, Y., Bodian, A., Dieppois, B. & Ouarda, T. (2026). Intercomparison of regional flood frequency estimation procedures in West Africa. Stochastic Environmental Research and Risk Assessment. In press.
He, Q., Fok, H. S., Dieppois, B. & Ferreira, V. (2026). Diverse Seasonal Patterns of Precipitation and Terrestrial Water Storage over the Indochina Peninsula: Roles of Monsoons, ENSO, and Topography. Hydrological Processes. In press.
Argamino, C. R. A., Silva, J. dos S., Kizhakkethil, J. P., Stevanovic, S., Ward, M., McKenzie, M., Bogush, A., Hamilton, J. F., Godoi, R. H. M., and Kourtchev, I.: Assessment of the occurrence of phthalate esters (PAEs) in indoor office PM2.5 from Brazil and the UK, Atmos. Pollut. Res., https://doi.org/10.1016/j.apr.2026.102987, 102987, 2026.
Kosgahakumbura, H. H., Kourtchev, I., Charlesworth, S., Callahan, D. L., and Gates, W. P.: Stability of recycled plastics in an aqueous alkaline cementitious matrix, Polymer Degradation and Stability, 246, 111915, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.polymdegradstab.2025.111915, 2026.
Kourtchev, I., Coupe, S., Buckley, A., Pandamkulangara Kizhakkethil, J., Gatta, E., Massabò, D., Prati, P., Vernocchi, V., and Mazzei, F.: Controlled chamber formation of per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) aerosols with Pseudomonas fluorescens: size distributions, effects, and inhalation deposition potential, Atmos. Chem. Phys., 26, 3237–3252, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-26-3237-2026, 2026.
Peyton, J. M., Rorke, S., Aldridge, D. C., Pescott, O. L., Dehnen‐Schmutz, K., Noble, D. G., ... & Roy, H. E. (2026). Assessing the success of a horizon scanning approach in predicting invasive non‐native species arrival. Journal of Applied Ecology, 63(1), e70217. https://doi.org/10.1111/1365-2664.70217
Verdi, R., Faedo, L.F., Scherr, C., Wright, J., Rayns, F. and Boff, P. (2025) Bioassay of rice (Oryza sativa L.) seedlings in response to dynamized high dilutions of Calcarea carbonica and Silicea terra. Int J High Dilution Res. 2025; 25(CF): 402-416. http://doi.org/10.51910/ijhdr.v25icf.1719
Kelley, D. et al. (inc. Eden, J.M.) (2025) State of Wildfires 2024-25, Earth Syst. Sci. Data, 17, 5377-5488. https://doi.org/10.5194/essd-2025-483
Gallo, C., Dieppois, D., Quilcaille, Y., Chiriacò, M.V., Drobyshev, I., Fulé, P.Z., San-Miguel-Ayanz, J., Blackett, M. and Eden, J.M. (2025) Future impacts of climate change on global fire weather: Insight from weighted CMIP6 multi-model ensembles, J. Climate, 38, 6445–6462. https://doi.org/10.1175/JCLI-D-24-0540.1
Viera-Arroyo, W.; Binego, L.; Rayns, F.; López, D.; Moya, M.; Vera, L.; Caicedo, C. (2025). Systematic Review of Integrating Technology for Sustainable Agricultural Transitions: Ecuador, a Country with Agroecological Potential. Sustainability 2025, 17, 6053. https://doi.org/10.3390/su17136053
Mariki SB and Binego L (2025). Conflicting interests over natural resource use: the case of interactions among livestock keepers, farmers, and wildlife at Kilombero Valley, Tanzania. Front. Sustain. Resour. Manag. 4:1650915. Doi: 10.3389/fsrma.2025.1650915 [URL: https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fsrma.2025.1650915 ]
Worsdell, L. S., Maughan, C., Wright, J., Hill-Butler, C., & Félix, G. F. (2025). Has agroecology lost the plot? The fracture between science, movement, and practice in the Insular Caribbean. Agroecology and Sustainable Food Systems, 1–36. https://doi.org/10.1080/21683565.2025.2584306
Gallo Granizo, G., Bacciu, V., Eden, J.M., Hernández Paredes, E., García Feced, C., Bedhiaf, S., Oom, D., Goldammer, J.G., Dieppois, B., Belen, İ., Mitri, G., Turhan, Ü., Ascoli, D., Alfonso, L. and San-Miguel-Ayanz, J. (2025) Fire Management in the Mediterranean Region, In: The status of the Mediterranean forests 2025, Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations, 156pp. https://doi.org/10.4060/cd6921en
Giannitsopoulos, M.L., Burgess, P.J., Graves, A.R., Olave, R., Eden, J.M. and Herzog, F. (2025). Predicted yield and soil organic carbon changes in grassland, arable, woodland, and agroforestry systems under climate change in a cool temperate Atlantic climate, Agron. Sustain. Dev. 45, 26. https://doi.org/10.1007/s13593-025-01020-7
Smith Khanna, P. (2025). Buen Vivir as fertile soil for ecological masculinities: learning from gardening men in Cali, Colombia. NORMA, 1–19. https://doi.org/10.1080/18902138.2025.2576329
Dehnen-Schmutz, K, Adekola, OE, Jones, TS (2025): Testing the feasibility of citizen science to record impacts of invasive alien plants. Ecological Solutions and Evidence 6(3): e70121. https://doi.org/10.1002/2688-8319.70121
Pathania D., Venkatesan S., Kourtchev I., McKenzie M., Bogush A., Mackay G., Lampugnani E., Ristovski Z., Zare A., Stevanovic S. Pollen hydration and its induced effects on human bronchial epithelial cells: a comparative analysis of three species. Science of the Total Environment 2025 1002, 180665 https://doi.org/10.1016/j.scitotenv.2025.180665
Berger, I., Pannure, A., Harris, A., Basu, P., Smith, B. and Dicks, L.V., (2025) Agroecological Cashew Cultivation Increases Pollinator Abundance, Diversity and Flower Visitation Rates, with Potential Yield Benefits. Agriculture Ecosystems and Environment. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.agee.2025.110006
