John Dururu wins CIWM Roger Perry Award for Best Research Paper 2014

A former MSc student in Environmental Management, John Dururu has been awarded the Chartered Institution of Wastes Management (CIWM)’s Roger Perry Award for Best Research Paper 2014. The award is made annually, to recognise the research being carried out by members of the Institution at Masters and PhD level and is presented to the best written paper based on a research project. For 2014, the Assessors recommended that the award be given for John’s dissertation "Voluntary and Community Sector organisations (furniture re-use) and the sustainable consumption and production agenda in the UK".

The Award will be presented during the Institution’s Awards Ceremony, held at the Grosvenor Square Marriott Hotel, London, during the afternoon of Thursday 6th November 2014.

Bird ringing trip to Skokholm - Lynne Barnett

Lynne with a Manx Shearwater

At the beginning of May 2014, I was fortunate enough to be included as a trainee with a party of experienced bird ringers from the Northamptonshire Ringers Group on a ringing expedition to the Pembrokeshire island of Skokholm. Our quarry was in particular Manx shearwater but anything with wings was fair game (except, as it turned out, storm petrels and auks, whose habitat or breeding season were too fragile to disturb at the time we were there).

To read more about Lynne's time on Skokholm click here

Children, Young People and Families in Changing Urban Spaces Conference - September 2014

A conference on Children, Young People and Changing Urban Spaces will be held at the University of Northampton on 3rd and 4th September 2014. The conference, organised by members of the Human Geography team, will bring together new, multidisciplinary research exploring the lives, issues and experiences of children, young people and families in diverse, international urban contexts. The conference will involve speakers from a range of universities. As well as welcoming academics from the UK, there will be speakers from Singapore, New Zealand, Finland, Canada, Ireland and India.

Graduation 2014

On 17th July we celebrated the success of our final year students at Graduation. The ceremony was held at the Derngate theatre in Northampton town centre. Certificates were presented to students by the Vice Chancellor. The day offered an opportunity for students’ families to meet tutors and visit the University campuses. The sun shone throughout the day.

Some of the proud geography students following their graduation ceremony

Each year the Department awards a prize for the best Geography dissertation. This year the prize was awarded to Sam Gardner. His thesis, ‘Mobility deprivation: a comparison of the connected and disconnected areas of Northamptonshire’, was work of a very high standard.

John Sinclair (Dean) awards the prize to Sam Gardner

University of Northampton partners with South Essex College to offer specialised Wastes Management courses

The University of Northampton is pleased to announce a new partnership with South Essex College to provide specialised further and higher education courses in Wastes Management, designed to prepare local people for high technology jobs at an enterprise park in Thurrock.

A formal Memorandum of Understanding was signed on Wednesday 2 July which will enable South Essex College to use the resources of the University of Northampton's Centre for Sustainable Waste Management to teach new modules from September 2014. Those modules will be taught at the college's new campus in Grays.

The partnership will create a seamless pathway for students from applied science and environmental sustainability programmes at level three, equivalent to A-level, to specialised honours degrees in Wastes Management.

The new courses will be aimed at a broad range of people in Thurrock and the south Essex area, from school leavers to career changers and people already in the waste management industry who are looking to make a step change in their skills.

Nigel Freestone, Head of Environmental Science at the University of Northampton, commented: "The University of Northampton provides wastes management education in different formats including distance learning by utilising state of the art technology. Our key agenda is social enterprise and giving something back to the community."

Wendy Barnes, Vice Principal at South Essex College, said: "This partnership is an important step for the college to address a significant need for new skills at the Thames Enterprise Park. Thurrock Council, Thames Enterprise Park and the college are absolutely determined that local people should have the first and best opportunity to access the fantastic jobs that will be available at this wonderful new facility."