Representative of CAFOD leads workshop on the Millennium Development Goals

Have you ever considered how voting takes place at the United Nations? Have you ever envisaged being the President of Malawi for two hours? How would you allocate 1 billion dollars to achieving just one of the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) in your country? Can you argue a case for a single goal to be given priority?

These and many other issues were the central topics of a session in the GEO1010 Geography and Development module delivered on Wednesday 12^th November by Frank Sudlow, representing the UK NGO, CAFOD. Student groups were each given a country to represent at the United Nations and had to argue for major funding for one of the MDGs. Several rounds of voting took place with the Presidents of countries being given the opportunity to persuade their counterparts to vote in a particular way. 

At the end of a very enjoyable session in which delegates adopted their roles with much enthusiasm, two of the eight MDGs were selected. One was MDG 2 dealing with universal primary education and the other MDG8 dealing with global partnerships. 

It was pointed out to the ‘delegates’ that a similar exercise is currently being undertaken by representatives of over 180 countries, each having a single vote at the General Assembly. They are trying to agree a set of Goals for the next 15 years; goals that will hopefully continue and develop the many positive gains made since 2000.

Seminar on healthcare waste management

The Healthcare Waste and Resources Group, which is hosted within the School of Science and Technology at the University of Northampton, recently held a one day seminar on healthcare waste management.

The event was attended by delegates from the NHS, and the waste and environmental sectors.

 

The event, which was attended by around 55 delegates from the National Health Service (NHS), the waste industry, environmental consultancies and academia, was held at the Bywaters recycling facility in East London.  In the morning, delegates heard from a range of speakers including Andrew Hartley from the Green Investment Bank, Scott Crossett from ICERMS, Matt Wormsley from the Environment Agency, Anne Woolridge from ISSL, Peter Selkirk from Pyropure and Anna Sliwinska from the University of Northampton. The afternoon was dedicated to a site tour.

One delegate noted that:

“Not only did I enjoy the presentations and tour of the plant, I also made a number of NHS contacts whom I have arranged to visit, with a view to comparing good waste practices at different hospitals”

The seminar was approved by the Chartered Institution of Wastes Management (CIWM) and sponsored by Frontier Medical Group and Sharpsmart, as well as SRCL, GV Health, ISSL and MITIE.

Dr Terry Tudor discusses resource efficiency in the healthcare sector

Dr Terry Tudor, a senior lecturer in Waste Management in the School of Science and Technology, was recently part of a panel examining challenges and opportunities for enhancing the resource efficiency within the healthcare sector. The discussion took place in the ‘Circular Economy Connect’ theatre, at the RWM recycling and waste management event, at the Birmingham NEC. RWM is considered to be the biggest such exhibition and seminar event in Europe.

In addition to Terry, the panel was comprised of James Dixon, waste manager and sustainability lead, Newcastle upon Tyne Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust and Alexandra Hammond, associate director, sustainability, Guy’s and St Thomas’ NHS Foundation Trust. The session was chaired by Rob Holdway from Giraffe Innovation.

James and Alexandra outlined various strategies that are being employed within their trusts, while Terry gave a more overarching view of the state of the sector. There were also opportunities for the audience to participate through the usual questions, as well as voting.

With the Health and Social Care sector in the UK coming under increasing pressures to meet financial and environmental targets, examining options for minimising wastage is both crucial and timely.

Dr Terry Tudor and colleagues

Second year Geography students learn about experiences of homelessness

‘Geographies of homelessness’ is a key topic within the second year module GEO2028 Issues in Human Geography. We had already spent some time reading, researching and debating about homelessness… But actually meeting people with first-hand experiences was a very different, eye-opening experience.

On Monday 10^th November, second year Human Geographers met two guest speakers with first-hand experiences of working with homeless people:

• Sarah Passam – Day Centre manager at the Hope Centre: a leading source of support for homeless people in Northamptonshire;
• Brian Hinton – a final year Geographer who is currently conducting dissertation research with homeless young people in Worcestershire.

Across a really interesting Q&A session we heard about:

• some of the significant everyday challenges and risks encountered by local homeless people (including some upsetting facts about mortality rates and violence against homeless people);
• impacts of drug and alcohol misuse, including some emerging issues associated with ‘illegal highs’;
• experiences of young homeless people;
• limitations of official statistics about homelessness (according to Local Authority data there are ‘15’ homeless people in Northampton… but the Hope Centre is used by 140+ people each day, and has 10,000 people on its books!)

Sarah Passam receives donations from some of the students

Human Geography students and staff brought in donations of food and clothing to be used by Hope Centre users. In an excellent display of generosity, more than 100 items were donated to the Centre. A number of students have also expressed interest in volunteering at the Centre in future.

Geography staff and students donated food and clothing to the Hope Centre

Third year Geography students explore how childhood has changed over time

On Thursday 23^rd October third year Geographers studying the optional Children’s Geographies module travelled to London to visit the Museum of Childhood and the National Portrait Gallery.  The aim of the trip was to explore how childhood has changed over time.

At the Museum of Childhood students learned about how experiences of childhood vary across time and space.  Playing with the toys prompted reflections on continuity and change in the nature of toys over time.  

Children's Geographies students enjoying the hands-on activities at the Museum of Childhood

The NationalPortrait Gallery provided opportunities to explore how children have been represented in art from Tudor times up to the present day.  We examined how clothing, objects and stance can give indications as to the ways in which childhood has been viewed.

First year Geographers visit London

Tweeting

On Friday 17^th October first year Geography students visited London.  Working in groups, they explored key sites in central London, taking photographs and making observations in relation to a particular theme.  The exercise was designed to help students develop skills of thinking creatively and critically about a particular topic, select appropriate information to support an argument, work effectively as part of a group, and observe and record data in the field.  Findings were reported in real time, as each group ‘tweeted’ their photographs and observations.  The themes explored included ‘control’, ‘change’ and ‘sustainability’.  The exercise also provided a good opportunity for students to get to know each other.

Landscapes south of Northampton

On Saturday 18th October two coach-loads of first year students spent the day travelling around various landscapes south of Northampton.  This trip is part of module ENV1107 Principles of Physical Geography.  

Four sites were visited: Dunstable Downs, Heath and Reach, Stony Stratford and Courteenhall. At each site the students were encouraged to work in small groups to describe the landscape. Students needed to consider topography, scale and how the landscapes compared to each other. Using inclinometers they took slope angle measurements which will help with their descriptions and allow comparisons between the four landscapes. 

Valley at Heath and Reach

At Heath and Reach each group used the inclinometers and a tape measure to measure the cross profile and long profile of a valley. Following the field trip the groups will use these data to produce to-scale diagrams of the valley. These will be presented to the tutors as part of the assessment for this module - a group interview.  

The group at Stony Stratford