CAWR Newsletter

November 2022

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.

PhD viva success for Donna! 

Donna Udall successfully defended her PhD thesis on 3rd November. Her study was titled: 'The influence of the addition of biochar and digestate on short term nitrogen transformations in three contrasting soils.'

Donna's supervisory team was Prof Sue Charlesworth (DoS), Dr Francis Rayns and Dr Rob Lillywhite. Her examiners were Prof Ondrej Masek (University of Edinburgh) and Prof Jane Rickson (Cranfield University).

Donna passed her viva with very minor corrections.

Cultivate – CAWR dance collaboration

On Thursday 17th November, the dance film Cultivate premiered at The Mockingbird Cinema in Birmingham. Matthew Cox of The Growing Project and CAWR researchers Francis Rayns and Judith Conroy worked with filmmaker Sima Gonsai and Karen Wood of the Centre for Dance Research as they investigated issues around soil health. Cultivate takes forward these conversations and shows how the arts can respond to climate change. The screening was followed by a panel discussion which revealed more about the collaboration between researchers and artists. The film was also shown at COP27 and will be released to the public shortly.

Liliane's African secondment as part of agroforestry project

Research network members at Sokoine University of Agriculture, Morogoro, Tanzania, where Liliane spent her secondment

Liliane Binego participated in the Staff on Secondment programme at the Sokoine University of Agriculture, Morogoro, Tanzania from September 12th to October 11th 2022.

The programme was part of the UNDERTREES Project (H2020-MSCA-RISE-2019) funded by the EU, and examines the generation and sharing of knowledge in agroforestry economics and protection of ecosystems, people and livelihoods. Among the targeted key outcomes was the creation of a research network of ECRs and professionals involved in agroforestry related topics.

Liliane joins the supervision of students' fieldwork in Kilombero

THE awards ceremony

The Plant Alert team, accompanied by CAWR Director Moya Kneafsey, two Deputy/Pro-vice-chancellors and a second team from Coventry attended the annual Times Higher Education (THE) Awards ceremony earlier this month. Plant Alert was shortlisted for the STEM award (Research Project of the Year) and the second Coventry team for their Virtual World Tour (Digital Innovation of the Year). Sadly, neither of the teams won, but nevertheless enjoyed the festivities and are still very honoured by the nominations.

CAWR participates at the first Annual Forum of World Critical Dietetics Students

Lucy Aphramor is a guest speaker on the opening panel of the  World Critical Dietetics Students' first Annual Forum that takes place on zoom on November 30th. The topic of the forum is "Food/Colonization/Cultural Stereotypes, How does Dietetics perpetuate these exploitations?"

Sue delivers keynote for World Water Week

Professor Sue Charlesworth gave an invited keynote talk as part of World Water Week. The presentation, entitled “Wastewater opportunities for water resilience in slums and refugee camps”, was given to the International Water Management Institute in Islamabad, Pakistan on 26th October 2022.

She also joined a panel discussing the future for wastewater reuse in Pakistan where, according to the World Bank, some 40 per cent of the urban population live in slums.

Ulrich helps organic movement IFOAM to celebrate fiftieth anniversary

Ulrich (second from right) and colleagues at the IFOAM event

ISOFAR (the International Society of Organic Agricultural Research) held five scientific workshops to accompany a recent commemorative conference in Goesan, South-Korea which celebrated the 50th anniversary of The International Federation of Organic Agricultural Movements (IFOAM).

The proceeding are available here (60MB, 314 pages). Invited speakers from UK were from Soil Association and Coventry University (Ulrich Schmutz, CAWR). Further Organic-PLUS partners and advisors from Türkiye, Germany, Iran and India were also present.

CAWR visit to Royal Horticultural Society symposium for PhD students

Francis Rayns, Ffion Thomas and Sam Green of CAWR attended the Royal Horticultural Society’s PhD symposium at Wisley.

There was a range of talks, including on soil biology in horticulture using organic matter additions, garden plant choices for environmental benefit, use of phylogenetics to resolve taxonomy of Hyacinthinae, assessing risk of viruses from niche tuber crops, dynamics of insect biodiversity in new British landscapes, and slug and snail diversity in UK gardens. Afterwards, delegates had a tour by plant pathologist Jassy Drakulic of the RHS labs and the wildlife garden where the RHS celebrating the diversity of fungi and benefits they can bring.

CAWR delegation attends Early Career People in Water conference

Jhonny Ismael Bautista Quispe with his poster at the People in Water event

CAWR PhD students Peter Hollings and Jhonny Ismael Bautista Quispe, attended the Early Career People in Water conference held at Cranfield University on 16th and 17th November.

Jhonny presented his poster “Biochar adsorbent selection for removal of anionic surfactant from aqueous solutions”. The event provided several presentations, poster pitches, and panel discussions for early-career researchers to share their work on water topics such as drinking water and wastewater management, sanitation and hygiene, and water in the circular economy context.

It also included a tour of the university’s waste water treatment facilities, which double as a research space, sessions on EDI, along with a wide range of talks and presentations from people across the water industry. The conference was well attended by both academic and industry members from the water sector making it a great space to meet a wide range of people across the sector.   

Dr. Francis Hassard leads conference delegates on a tour of the National Research Facility for Water and Wastewater Treatment at Cranfield University

Delegates toured Cranfield University's wastewater treatment facilities. Here, received wastewater is being aerated to assist with its treatment. 

Citizen Science Action Group

CAWR researchers are working with organic growing charity Garden Organic on EDENS, a Natural Environment Research Council funded series of face-to-face and online workshops, with a new Citizen Science Action Group (CSAG). The objective of this is to enable a participant-led approach in which the CSAG can lead the development, delivery and communication of outcomes, and future research activities. This follows on from our review of Garden Organic’s 60 years of citizen science. Visit the project page here to view the presentations and discussion so far.

Events

CAWR researcher questions Public Health Nutrition in Warwick Food Seminar

CAWR researcher Lucy Aphramor will be giving a talk to the Warwick Food GRP Seminar Series asking the question: 'Does Food System Transition Need Public Health Nutrition Abolition?' The talk, which takes place on Monday 5th December, will explore concepts Lucy has found useful in aligning her dietetic practice and theorizing with agroecological transition.

Listen to the November seminar on Organising for Food Sovereignty an Agroecology in Nicaragua, and catch up on our events and seminars by visiting our YouTube channel

Publications

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: 79-100. (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.

Félix, G.F. & Sanfiorenzo, A. (2022) Learning Agroecology Online During COVID-19. Front. Sustain. Food Syst. 6:821514.

Dehnen-Schmutz, K., Kutlvašr, J., & Webb, A. (2022). Plant Alert – results from the first three years. BSBI News, 151, 50-53. https://pure.coventry.ac.uk/ws/portalfiles/portal/56444321/BSBI_News_151_pp50_53_Plant_Alert_final.pdf

Canavan, S., Brym, Z.T., Brundu, G., Dehnen-Schmutz, K., Lieurance, D., Petri, T., Wadlington, W.H.,  Wilson, J.R.U., Flory, S.L. (2022): Cannabis de-domestication and invasion risk. Biological Conservation 274, 109709. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.biocon.2022.109709

Wright, J. (2022)  A revitalisation of European farming and the promise of the biodynamic worldview. Chem. Biol. Technol. Agric. 9:64

Vandermaelen, H., Dehaene, M., Tornaghi, C., Vanempten, E., & Verhoeve, A. (2022). Public land for urban food policy? A critical data-analysis of public land transactions in the Ghent city region (Belgium). European Planning Studies. Paper published open access online.

Mahdad, F.,  Riyahi Bakhtiari, A., Moeinaddini, M., Charlesworth, S. & Emrani, N. (2022) Concentration Levels, Spatial Distribution and Source Identifcation of PAHs, n-Alkanes, Hopanes and Steranes in Deposited Dust of Mashhad, Iran, and Potential Health Risk Assessment. Environmental Processes, 9, 3. DOI: 10.1007/s40710-022-00591-x