No images? Click here
CAWR Newsletter
September 2025
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.
CAWR contribution to the 3rd International Biodynamic Research Conference, 1-4 September 2025
Participants at the 3rd International Biodynamic Research Conference
The first week of September saw the UK host the 3rd International Biodynamic Research Conference, at the Royal Agricultural University, Cirencester. Over 180 researchers and delegates from 28 countries came together to share their enquiries into holistic farming across different knowledge systems. Post conference tours included to the Highgrove estate, Rothamsted Research, as well as to significant nature-connected sites of antiquity in the British landscape. CAWR researchers were part of the organisational committee and also made several contributions to the programme, including PhD students Charlotte Southall, Berni Courts and Ricardo Pereira, as well as Julia Wright who delivered the opening keynote of the event on ‘Advancing Biodynamic Agriculture through Postmodern Science, Research and Knowledge Systems’.
Publication Spotlight!!
Discovery of a new bee!
I am delighted to share our latest publication describing a bee species new to science: Camptopoeum paruii. This paper honours two people who were very special to the team at the Centre for Pollination Studies (CPS), University of Calcutta. Arpan Parui, after whom the species is named, was a wonderful taxonomist. Professor Parthib Basu - Director of the CPS, was a dear colleague and great friend to CAWR who inspired so many through his passion for pollinators. We miss them both.
Wood, T.J., Patiny, S., Dutta, A., Laha, S., Smith, B., Basu, P. and Roberts, S.P., 2025. Camptopoeum paruii sp. n., the first species of Camptopoeum described from India (Hymenoptera: Andrenidae). Journal of Natural History, 59(33-36), pp.2143-2154. https://doi.org/10.1080/00222933.2025.2531159
Macmillan coffee morning in the kitchen
CAWR’s Macmillan Coffee Morning
On Wednesday the 10th of September CAWR held a Macmillan Coffee Morning in the kitchen. Staff and students enjoyed a selection of homemade and shop bought treats and raised £124 for a great cause.
Organic Growers Gathering
The Organic Growers Gathering organised by The Organic Growers Alliance was held over 22-24th August. Speakers including Charles Dowding, Ben Raskin, Kate McEvoy and Guy Watson Singh as well as many others, shared their practical tips on successful growing and marketing of organic fruit, vegetables and flowers. Charlotte Southall, PhD candidate at CAWR, spoke about Homeopathy for Growers along with Lawrence Woodward OBE of Whole Health Agriculture (WhAg). Discussions are now underway with WhAg for Charlotte to co-design on-farm homeopathy trials with UK growers to help improve yields and tackle pest and disease problems in organic fruit and vegetable growing.
Celebrating three years of PLANET4B research
PLANET4B celebrates three years of research
Horizon Europe Project PLANET4B has researched plural values, intersectionality, attitudes, and behavioural and institutional change for addressing biodiversity loss, across a range of settings and scales in a transdisciplinary consortium of 16 partners.
The closing event, held on 11 September 2025 in Brussels, featured presentations from Alex Franklin, Geraldine Brown, Claire Lyons, Amélie Dakoure, Barbara Smith and Lindy Binder.
Watch this space for the launch of exciting project resources.
Exploring Consciousness Education at the Galileo Commission’s European Symposium, Italy, 18-22 September
Pari Center
As part of the research programme on Subtle Agroecologies, Julia Wright joined about 40 other international participants at the Pari Centre, Tuscany, Italy, for a collaborative enquiry into an expanded science that includes the inner world of subjective experience. Grounded in non materialist perspectives supported by scientific enquiry, and the understanding of all living systems as holistic, dynamic and interconnected, the symposium focused on facilitating heart-centred and embodied teaching and learning to cultivate transformative shifts and integration.
Delegates at the Kick-off meeting with Sue in the front, flanked by the project PIs Professor Dani Castro Fresno and Dr Jorge Rodriguez Hernandez
Watersens Kick-off Meeting in Santander N Spain
Watersens is an EU-funded project: “The development of innovative decentralized technologies and new co-created governance models for WATER SENSitive communities”. CAWR’s team include Professors Sue Charlesworth and Marco Van De Wiel, and Drs Anna Bogush and Bastien Dieppois. Our roles in the project include monitoring various decentralised Nature based Solution (NbS) demonstrators at 7 sites in three European countries and one site in South Africa for their performance in addressing issues with Contaminants of Emerging Concern. We are also involved in modelling the resilience of the NbS to extremes of climate change, and also hydrodynamic modelling of particulate transport. As CAWR-PI, Sue attended the project kick-off meeting which was held at the University of Cantabria on 11 September with about 30 attendees. The project was discussed and we had an opportunity to visit an urban stormwater pond which will be converted to a walking wetland during the project.
Mita’s participation in the São Paulo School of Advanced Science on Emerging Pollutants
Mita presented her research poster in ESPCA Brazil.
Prismita Nursetyowati (Mita), a second-year PhD student in the cotutelle programme between Coventry University and Institut Teknologi Bandung, was selected to attend the São Paulo School of Advanced Science on Emerging Pollutants in Brazil, held from 2 to 13 September 2025. Bringing together 100 students worldwide, the 12-day programme combined lectures, fieldwork, and laboratory training on emerging contaminants. Mita also presented her poster on her systematic review of antibiotics from septic systems in aquatic environments.
WINN-ORGANIC works towards ‘organic for all’
In September, CAWR colleagues met with their new project partners to begin work on the Horizon Europe project WINN-ORGANIC (Widening INNovations for ORGANIC food), led by CIHEAM Bari in Apulia, Italy. WINN brings together 19 organisations from 9 countries to improve access to and procurement of organic food through the creation of Organic Food Innovation Hubs. These hubs (including one in the UK) will be spaces for co-creation and experimentation, bringing together small producers, policymakers, citizens and researchers to design and disseminate innovative solutions, working towards the vision of ‘organic for all’.
Visit the WINN website
CAWR Peat-Free Media Research Presented at Global Growing Media Symposium
CAWR PhD student Victoria Adams presenting at the symposium. (L-R) Site visit to Weihenstephan-Triesdorf University glasshouses, German production of cyclamen trip, peatbog restoration and species experimentation by Weihenstephan-Triesdorf University researchers.
CAWR PhD student Victoria Adams presented preliminary PhD work, “Characterisation of peat-free propagation media for physical, chemical and biological properties”, at the II International Symposium on Growing Media, Compost Utilisation and Substrate Analysis for Soilless Cultivation 2025 in Freising, Germany (7-12 September 2025). Hosted by Weihenstephan-Triesdorf University, the event brought together 180 global participants for lectures, site visits, and knowledge exchange on substrate innovation.
New SCALE-it newsletter
Keep up to date with the progress of SCALE-it
As the SCALE-it project sets to work to reduce contentious inputs in organic agriculture, it will have its own dedicated newsletter. The CAWR team and partners from across Europe will share details of their progress twice a year, with the first edition published in late October. You can subscribe to the SCALE-it newsletter here.
Impact News - 'working for change'
Liz Trenchard and Sam Green participate in a panel discussion on the importance of community tree nurseries to scale agroforestry, Agroforestry Show, Woodoaks Farm
CAWR goes to the Agroforestry Show, Woodoaks Farm, Maple Cross
Ulrich Schmutz, Liz Trenchard, Sam Green, Judith Conroy and Rosemary Venn attended the recent Agroforestry Show, organised by the Soil Association and the Woodland Trust at Woodoaks Farm in Hertfordshire. Demonstrations, farm walks, workshops, talks and more offered a chance to meet farmers, foresters, land managers and fellow researchers, all working towards upscaling agroforestry as a sustainable land use option.
Liz Trenchard and Sam Green participated in a session on scaling agroforestry through community tree nurseries, drawing on findings from the recent Growing Connections research project, funded by the Forestry Commission’s Tree Production Innovation Fund (TPIF).
Seeing Ourselves in the Biodiversity Story: Representation and Collective
On 18 September, the EU-funded PLANET4B project, in collaboration with Dadima’s CIC, hosted a conference that brought together 30 representatives from environmental organisations and community-led initiatives to promote transformative change. The event highlighted how the sector can engage more meaningfully with community action, centring underrepresented voices to shape a more inclusive, equitable vision of sustainability and biodiversity.
Events
November 20th. SEMINAR - Reflections on a quarter-century of stabilisation agriculture in Casamance, Senegal with Martin Evans. Register here.
Catch up on our events and seminars by visiting our YouTube channel
Publications
Wood, T.J., Patiny, S., Dutta, A., Laha, S., Smith, B., Basu, P. and Roberts, S.P., 2025. Camptopoeum paruii sp. n., the first species of Camptopoeum described from India (Hymenoptera: Andrenidae). Journal of Natural History, 59(33-36), pp.2143-2154.
Bacher S, Ryan-Colton E, Coiro M, Cassey P, Galil BS, Nuñez MA, Ansong M, Dehnen-Schmutz K, Fayvush G, Fernandez RD, Hiremath AJ et al. (2025): Global Impacts Dataset of Invasive Alien Species (GIDIAS). Scientific data12:832. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41597-025-05184-5
Eluri, A., Gates, W., Callahan, D., Charlesworth, S. M. and Kourtchev, I., Pyrolysis gas chromatography high resolution mass spectrometry (Py-GC-MS) method for analysis of phthalic acid esters and its application for screening e-waste materials. Anal. Methods, 2025, DOI: 10.1039/D5AY00987A
Kourtchev, I., McGillen, M. R., Wenger, J., Donahue, N. M. Rethinking environmental boundaries for contaminants of emerging concern. Atmos. Environ. 2025, 361, 121492. DOI: 10.1016/j.atmosenv.2025.121492
Diop, S. B., Ekolu, J., Tramblay, Y., Dieppois, B., Grimaldi, S., Bodian, A., Blanchet, J., Rameshwaran, P., Salamon, P., and Sultan, B. (2025) Climate change impacts on floods in West Africa: New insight from two large-scale hydrological models. Nat. Hazards Earth Syst. Sci. In-press. https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2025-130
Peña-Angulo, D., Tramblay, Y., Vicente-Serrano, S.M., Ekolu, J., Dieppois, B., El Kenawy, A. (2025) Multidecadal changes in hydrological droughts across Sub-Saharan Africa. Journal of Hydrology: Regional Studies, 60, 102595. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ejrh.2025.102595.
EKOLU, DIEPPOIS, DIOP, BODIAN, GRIMALDI, SALAMON, VILLARINI, EDEN, MONERIE, VAN DE WIEL, TRAMBLAY (2025) How could climate change affect the magnitude, duration and frequency of hydrological droughts and floods in West Africa during the 21st century? A storyline approach. Journal of Hydrology. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jhydrol.2025.133482
LIU, EDEN, DIEPPOIS, DROBYSHEV, KRIKKEN, BLACKETT (2025) Global assessment of historical changes in extreme fire weather: insight from CMIP6 ensembles and implications for probabilistic attribution to global warming. Global Planet. Change. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.gloplacha.2025.104822
Rigg, A., Faedo, L. F., & Aphramor, L. (2025). An Experiment in Changing Ourselves and the World Through Pedagogy. Journal of Critical Dietetics, 8(1). https://doi.org/10.32920/jcd.v8i1.2284
Rastorgueva, N., Bassignana, C. F., Angarita, E., Fasso, A., Hassink, J., Goris, M., Schmutz, U., Conroy, J., Dinç, S., Wezel, A., Migliorini, P. (2025). Agroecological Living Labs as entry points for transition towards sustainable food systems: a novel framework for the evaluation of living labs at different scales. Agroecology and Sustainable Food Systems, 1–34. https://doi.org/10.1080/21683565.2025.2477215
D.I. Anene, M. Beltran, B. Tjahjono, A. Schultz, M. McKenzie, S. Stevanovic, A. Bogush. 2025. Microplastics and chemical additives from disposable face masks: Environmental, human health and behavioural impacts, Science of The Total Environment, Vol 973, 179079. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.scitotenv.2025.179079
Maughan, C., Belletti, G., Marescotti, A., Balázs, B., Lazányi, O., & Mengoni, M. (2025). Against the grain: A commons approach to the governance of ‘Alternative Grain Networks’. Agricultural and Food Economics, 13(1), 9. https://doi.org/10.1186/s40100-025-00352-y
Yitbarek, TW, Wilson, JRU, Evans, A, Dehnen-Schmutz, K. (2025). Community perceptions and governance of tree planting schemes in Ethiopia: Insights for sustainable ecological and socioeconomic outcomes. People and Nature. https://doi.org/10.1002/pan3.70022
CHUN, OCTAVIANTI, DOGULU, TYRALIS, PAPACHARALAMPOUS, ROWBERRY, FAN, EVERARD, FRANCESCH-HUIDOBRO, MIGLIARI, HANNAH, MARSHALL, CALASANZ, STADDON, ANSHARYANI, DIEPPOIS et al. (2025) Transforming Disaster Risk Reduction with AI and Big Data: Legal and Interdisciplinary Perspectives. WIREs Data Min. Knowl. Discov.
REDDY, MASSEI, JARDANI, HENRIOT, FOURNIER, DIEPPOIS (2025) Groundwater level projections for aquifers affected by annual to decadal hydroclimate variations: Example of Northern France. Earth’s Future.
BAULON, MASSEI, DIEPPOIS, FOSSA, ALLIER, BESSIERE, FOURNIER (2025) Large-scale climate drivers of groundwater level variations in northern France over the last century. J. Hydrol.
MIRGOL, DIEPPOIS, NORTHEY, JARLAN, KHABBA, LE PAGE, EDEN, EKOLU, EL HAZDOUR, MAHE (2025) Interplay Among Recent Trends in Climate Extremes, Vegetation Phenology, and Crop Production in the Southern Mediterranean Region. Int. J. Clim.
Farrell, M. and Bunting, M.J. (2025) Beyond decline: heathland and the dynamics of cultural and environmental change in Bronze Age Orkney. In Løvschal, M. and Grønneberg, K. (eds) A Place for the Heathlands? Jutland Archaeological Society. https://heathland.place/beyond-decline
Green, S., Fourel, R., Lecourt, G., Grillas, H., 'What we can learn from fruit and nut tree nurseries in the Ardeche' The Organic Grower Magazine, journal of the Organic Growers Alliance, Winter 2024, No 69.
Folorunsho O, Bogush A, Kourtchev I. (2025) Occurrence of emerging and persistent organic pollutants in the rivers Cam, Ouse and Thames, UK. Sci Total Environ. 14;962:178436. doi: 10.1016/j.scitotenv.2025.178436.
Bautista Quispe, J. I., Campos, L. C., Trejos, B., & Bogush, A. (2024). Exploring rural school students’ perceptions, willingness, motivations, and concerns regarding greywater treatment and reuse in southern Peru. Sustainable Environment, 11 (1). doi.org/10.1080/27658511.2024.2440960
