Tagged: "Creative Practice"

Research team --- Eleanor Hadley-Kershaw - University of Exeter Angela Cassidy - University of Exeter Susan Molyneux-Hodgson - University of Exeter Paul Merchant - National Life Stories Mary Stewart - British Library Partners Aims RENEW is undertaking collaborative research across disciplines and sectors while also studying the practices of collaboration. Through our work exploring 20th [...]

The power of collective intelligence This year’s Biodiversity Parliament, orchestrated by the ExCASES team, exemplified why large-scale research projects are so vital in addressing complex societal challenges. These events serve as crucial intersections where academic disciplines converge with industry expertise and policy insights. In the daily grind of data analysis, grant writing, and navigating peer [...]

Above: Rose Ferraby with poet Richard Scott at a pool of sphagnum moss on Dartmoor.  After a spring of getting to know these sites, this seasonal shift feels somehow personal, rooted by our attentive observations through the year. As part of our work with Natural England on their Protected Sites Strategy, we’ve been coming out [...]

Above: Drawing the bigger picture: Illustration by Georgia Harmey - Illustrator in residence at the Biodiversity Storytelling Summit 2024. The Whitworth Art Gallery, a great space for interdisciplinary events The Whitworth Art Gallery in Manchester is set within 18 acres of parkland, here in the summer months, exhibition space extends into the park, children and [...]

Event closed 23 September 2024, 11:00-12:30, hybrid Location: Online via Microsoft Teams or in-person in the Trevithick Room, Environmental and Sustainability Institute (ESI), University of Exeter Penryn Campus, Penryn, Cornwall, TR10 9FE Mathematics plays a fundamental role in climate and biodiversity research. However, its uses remain largely separate from advances in environmental thought, particularly in […]

 Literature X Ecology Series with Rachael Allen Conversation held on Thursday 6th June 2024 In this online reading and conversation, Rachael Allen talked about her collection God Complex (Faber, 2024) in relation to ecology and ecopoetics. God Complex, Rachael Allen’s second collection, is a sweeping and corrosive epic, a narrative poem that tells the [...]

Research team . Emma Squire - University of Exeter Lewis Elliot - University of Exeter Rebecca Lovell - University of Exeter Kevin J Gaston - University of Exeter . Partners . Aims Citizen science plays an important role in the provision of biodiversity data in the UK. However, there are certain limitations on the quantity [...]

frameborder="0" Literature X Ecology Series with Anthony Vahni Capildeo Conversation held on Thursday 9th May 2024 In this online reading and conversation, Anthony Vahni Capildeo talked about ‘Stony Songs’, poems that engage with fuzziness and stoniness, the appeal of texture, and contact as a way of interrelating or knowing. They read and discussed ultra-new work [...]

Investigating the biosphere as a ‘hyperobject’ through contemporary poetry practice, reading and writing.   Research team . Caleb Parkin - University of Exeter John Wedgwood Clarke - University of Exeter Regan Early - University of Exeter Eurasian Jay - Europe Aims  This is a practice-based poetry PhD and thus, involves an interplay of creative writing [...]

https://renewbiodiversity.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/BrendHillman.mp4   Literature x Ecology Series with Brenda Hillman (Full Recording) Conversation conducted on Thursday 11 April 2024 Brenda Hillman begins her book Extra Hidden Life: among the Days in a place of mourning and listening that is deeply transformative. By turns plain and transcendent, these poems meditate on trees, bacteria, wasps, buildings, roots, and [...]

LITERATURE X ECOLOGY SERIES with Karen McCarthy Woolf Conversation conducted on Tuesday, 5 December 2023 (Online) Seasonal Disturbances: set against a backdrop of ecological and emotional turbulence, these poems are charged yet meditative explorations of nature, the city, and the self. A sinister CEO presides over a dystopian hinterland where private detectives investigate crimes against […]

LITERATURE X ECOLOGY SERIES with Sylvia Legris Conversation conducted on: Thursday 23 November 2023 The title of Sylvia Legris’ melopoeic collection The Principle of Rapid Peering comes from a phrase the nineteenth-century ornithologist and field biologist Joseph Grinnell used to describe the feeding behaviour of certain birds. Rather than waiting passively for food to approach […]

LITERATURE X ECOLOGY SERIES with Forrest Gander Conversation conducted on: Thursday 7 March 2023 In this online reading and conversation, Forrest Gander talked about his writing to date, such as his recent collection Your Nearness  (Arc, 2022) [US edition;Twice Alive (New Directions, 2021)] and forthcoming collection Mojave Ghost (New Directions, 2024) in relation to ecology […]

Well, the person is a coordinate on a grid, as is the pigeon, and the forest is indicated by a smattering of yellow pixels on the grid. Above: Pigeon-in-the-code (left) and pigeon-in-the-flesh-through-a-camera (right). Image and photograph by Siddharth Unnithan Kumar. Synapsed to the terminal, senses spellbound by the digital (to paraphrase David Abram), I do [...]

Above: Photo by Kelly Stevens. *A special thank you goes to Kate Morley for her demonstration of ‘Biodiversity Renewal’ in British Sign Language (BSL). Kate has kindly provided the following links which explain the thinking behind BSL terms for science. “BSL is essential for Deaf people to share their experiences and ways of knowing the […]

Research team --- Rebecca Edgerley - University of Exeter Susan Molyneux-Hodgson - University of Exeter Angela Cassidy - University of Exeter Eleanor Hadley-Kershaw - University of Exeter John Wedgwood Clarke - University of Exeter Aims Interdisciplinary and transdisciplinary research is popular right now, featuring heavily in funding calls and projects. But what does it mean, [...]

Above: Cambridge Cottage. Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew, London. Image credit: Kew Gardens Introducing the first Biodiversity Storytelling Summit 2023 Beyond the weathered wooden doors of Cambridge Cottage at the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew, hanging along the corridors, drawing room and gallery are pictures – botanical illustrations reflecting a “golden century” for plant discovery, collection, and […]

  National Poetry Day There are poetry events all around the country today, and we’re marking the occasion with a new classroom resource – Care Package – for Key Stages 3-5, the Foyle Young Poets (To be announced 1300 05/10/23) of the Year Award Ceremony at Shakespeare’s Globe, and the announcement of the winners of our Stanza Poetry […]

The Conservation Careers Podcast | Renewing biodiversity through a people-in-nature approach (RENEW) with Professor Kevin Gaston RENEW Co-Director Kevin Gaston discusses his research into personalised ecologies and RENEW's nature recovery agenda. It's great to hear Kevin and Nick share their own personal experiences with the natural world, experiences that have shaped Kevin's career as a [...]

Exploring Personalised Ecologies This collaborative event was a well-organised workshop held online on 20th June 2023, which introduced over 90 participants to the theory of PE through innovative Mentimeter polls and group feedback coordinated by Peter.  Stemming from discussions was a series of qualitative responses, thoughts, beliefs, and new ideas with suggestions for the real-world […]

Watching nature through the window might have many benefits – and researchers want you to share your view. The survey comes from the University of Exeter and The Wildlife Trusts as part of 30 Days Wild – the annual challenge which invites people of all ages to connect with nature every single day during the […]

Thursday 22nd June, 10:00-12:00, Online Interdisciplinary and transdisciplinary collaboration – that is, research reaching across disciplines and beyond academia – are key to achieving effective biodiversity renewal, but can be challenging to undertake in practice. RENEW Theme X3: Collaboration in Practice aims to determine the learning about inter- and transdisciplinary working that results from RENEW […]

Creating connections The X3 team are investigating collaborative practices across disciplines and between academics and partners, observing and analysing what’s happening across the programme as it unfolds, as well as undertaking oral history research into previous biodiversity collaboration (in partnership with the British Library). It’s no surprise that the connections between people – building relationships […]

Taking on a mission ‘Missions’ are short bursts of focused, collaborative activity (lasting 3-6 months), bringing together multidisciplinary teams of researchers and practitioners to co-create outputs or solutions to a specific problem relating to biodiversity renewal (such as best practice, guidance tools, stakeholder engagement, technical solutions, policy recommendations, conceptual frameworks, etc.). Above: The good-ship-ExCASES sets […]

Using poetic licence in research practice Caleb will be starting a creative writing practice-as-research studentship aligned with Theme 2 (Community Action) in January 2023, looking at poetic responses to the science of biodiversity renewal and the role of the poet-educator during the biodiversity crisis. Unbeknownst to many at the Parliament, Caleb was hard at work [...]

Hosting a parliament of partnerships The first Parliament took place on 18-19 October in Exeter and brought together the RENEW team and representatives of over 20 partner organisations to workshop pressing questions around people, nature, and biodiversity renewal. Inspired by the Select Committees of Westminster, with a strong focus on deliberative democracy, the event was […]