Geography students learn about Upton, a sustainable urban development

Third year Geography students have been learning about sustainable urban development, with a focus on Upton, Northampton.

Dr Chris Holt outlines the history of the Upton Meadows development

Staff from Geography and Environmental Sciences have been monitoring the site since the initial stages of development. This means that students benefit directly from research carried out by their lecturers.

Dr Chris Holt explains how staff research has been used to inform local residents about sustainability at Upton

This week the students had a tour of the site, learning more about sustainable urban drainage systems, and about the experiences of young people living in Upton.

 

Learning about the sustainable urban drainage system (SUDS) at Upton

Students undertake lots of local fieldwork at Northampton, developing a range of subject-specific and transferable skills

Local sixth-form student works with lecturer on research project

A sixth form student from a local school has been working with Dr Jo Wright this summer on a mapping project, through a Nuffield Research Placement.

Read more about it here.

Conference on interdisciplinary research with children, young people and families

A conference on interdisciplinary research with children, young people and families was hosted by Prof John Horton and Dr Faith Tucker on 7th September. 

Prof John Horton

Dr Faith Tucker

The conference, which was attended by academics from places as diverse as New Zealand, Sweden and Cumbria, provided an opportunity for people to share their research.  The audience comprised geographers, social workers, youth workers, educationalists, planners, sociologists, nurses and those working in local authorities.

A key note speech was delivered by Prof Claire Freeman of the University of Otago.  She spoke about the joys, confrontations and challenges of interdisciplinary working.

Research into wellbeing and mental health

Recently Dr Melanie Limb has given a presentation at a number of University conferences and meetings about wellbeing and mental health.  Called ‘One in Four’, the presentation referred to the recent NHS Task ForceReport  (Feb 2016) indicating that One in Four of the people surveyed had suffered mental illness in the last year.  Of those who suffered 75% received no support and those with serious problems could expect to live 15 to 20 years less than those without the illness.  The same study showed that 19% of those surveyed believed that one of the main causes of mental illness was a lack of self-discipline and will-power.  Melanie used two poems she had written about depression to give some insight into what depression is like.  She drew on a strand of academic research leading from the ‘emotional turn’ in Geography that recognises the value of non-traditional methods of writing to the academy.  Melanie pointed to evidence that the Academy suffers from a lack of communication about mental illness and an atmosphere of non-disclosure (see Horton and Tucker, 2014) and ‘suffering in silence’.  By talking to people about her poetry, Melanie finds that people sometimes overcome their reticence and find ways to make connections that can support them better when the condition is at its worst.

Dr Melanie Limb

  

Dr Melanie Limb also gave a poetry reading at the Story Tellers Event held at the University in March.  The event provided an opportunity for members of staff to read their own original work. Melanie has performed at a number of Open Microphone events in and around Northamptonshire, with the purpose of raising awareness of the devastating effects of depression and anxiety, while challenging stereotypes of, and prejudice against, those who suffer.   

Two workshops using the poetry and statistics on mental illness and well-being are already scheduled for October 2016.  In these presentations a greater number of poems will be used to explore certain aspects of mental illness and recovery and talk about strategies that we can all use to look after our mental well-being.  This will provide opportunities to explore the project’s application in respect of the Health and Well-being ChangeMaker Challenge.

Research on water and energy issues in Brazil

John Horton has been awarded two ESRC grants to develop interdisciplinary research collaborations between UK-based Social Scientists and Brazilian Engineering Scientists. The projects will focus on children and young people’s everyday experiences of water and energy issues in São Paulo State.

Meeting community groups

Visiting one of the field sites

To launch this two-year programme of work, John travelled with the project’s Principal Investigator (Prof Peter Kraftl, University of Birmingham) to visit São Paulo state during January.

The trip involved a range of presentations, impact workshops, community visits, and fascinating fieldtrips to key sites relating to water and energy issues in the region. More information will follow in future blog posts.

Research finds that England is unlikely to meet recycling targets

Academics from the School of Science and Technology at the University of Northampton, have had a paper published in Resources, Conservation and Recycling – a high impact, internationally peer-reviewed journal.

The paper entitled ‘Strategies for local authorities to achieve the EU 2020 50% recycling, reuse and composting target: a case study of England’, is based on the dissertation of a former MSc Wastes Management student, Steve Waite. Dr Terry Tudor, Paul Cox and Steve used a representative sample of 48 local authorities in England, and concluded that it was unlikely that the country would meet the 2020 target, as set out by the European Union’s Waste Framework Directive. 

Dr Terry Tudor, a senior lecturer in Waste Management at the University of Northampton, commented:

“Our paper outlines the reasons why England is unlikely to meet the target and makes recommendations for improvement. The findings have significant implications – not only for England, but for the other Member States in the EU. This is just one example of the work being done by academics and students within our department to develop strategies to address key environmental management issue, in the UK and also globally.” 

A free copy of the article which was published in the journal Resources, Conservation and Recycling can be downloaded from the link below until December 18:

http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S092134491530094X

Adventure Bears and the great outdoors...

Dr John Horton, Dr Faith Tucker and Dr Michelle Pyer recently hosted a conference on ‘The Great Outdoors? Children, Young People and Families in Natural and Rural Spaces’.

The conference provided an opportunity for academics from a range of disciplines (including geography, education, law and psychology) to share their research.  The conference attracted researchers from as far afield as Ohio and Wollongong.

Topics discussed included the commodification of woodlands, walking as a way of connecting with nature, Forest Schools, and outdoor playspace.  Prof Helen Lomax (Institute for Health and Wellbeing) gave a workshop on using visual methods to explore children’s use of outdoor spaces.  Tracy Hayes (University of Cumbria) ran a session on using story-telling as a means of exploring connections to nature.  Tracy explained how she uses 'adventure bears' to encourage children to talk about their experiences.

The ‘adventure bears’ used by Tracy Hayes (University of Cumbria)
as a means of encouraging story-telling