Tagged: "Diversity"

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 [...]

Sophie Stenson has a BSc in Zoology and a MSc in Conservation Science and Policy, with extensive experience volunteering within the wildlife conservation sector in the UK, Mexico and Costa Rica. Sophie is motivated to develop and work within a just conservation sector, now studying towards her PhD with the RENEW Theme 2: Community Action [...]

Research team Michelle Twena (Project Lead) - National Trust David Bavin - National Trust Clare Bissell - National Trust Matthew Heard - National Trust Sarah Crowley - University of Exeter Aims ExCASES Missions provide short, intense periods of focus towards issues that have been communicated as priorities for RENEW partner organisations and external stakeholders. The ExCASES [...]

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 [...]

Research team Clare Bissell (Project Lead) - National Trust Michelle Twena -National Trust David Bavin - National Trust Matthew Heard - National Trust Sarah Crowley - University of Exeter Collaborators All of RENEW’s 30+ partners are being invited to participate in this exciting mission. Aims  ExCASES missions provide short, intense periods of focus towards issues that [...]

Some post-campaign reflections As you’ve probably guessed, given that I’m writing this blog rather than learning my way around the Palace of Westminster, I was unsuccessful – this time, anyway! I’m still processing the experience, but here are a few immediate reflections on the extent to which the nature crisis featured in the campaign. DISCLAIMER: [...]

Research team . Jo Garret - University of Exeter Lewis Elliot - University of Exeter Rebecca Lovell - University of Exeter Kevin J. Gaston - University of Exeter Ben Phillips - University of Exeter Fraenze Kibowski - Natural England  Tom Marshall - Natural England Partners and collaborators Aims It is now broadly recognised that living near [...]

Research team . Mark Ferguson - University of Exeter Kevin Gaston- University of Exeter Aims Understanding people, their agency, nature experiences, landscape-embeddedness, and framings-of-meaning, is at the heart of RENEW. This work is intended to pilot a Personalised Ecology Index (PEI) that will translate the concept of Personalised Ecology into a simple measure.   The [...]

Research team . Regan Early- University of Exeter Alice Drysdale - University of Exeter Kevin Gaston- University of Exeter Aims To understand the relationship between biodiversity and human communities in urban areas. . Approach Previous research has focused on access to the wellbeing value of greenspaces. For example, the ORVal tool was created to look at [...]

 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 [...]

Research team . Sophie Stenson - University of Exeter Dr Oliver James - University of Exeter Dr Lewis Elliot - University of Exeter . Partners . Collaborators Aims Renewing biodiversity will require a workforce with the right skills, knowledge and experience. Relatively little is currently known about the nature workforce or how it might develop [...]

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 [...]

Integrating health, wellbeing, nature and sustainability (HWNS) outcomes into strategic place-making: co-designing a toolkit to support complex decision-making at a local level . Oliver James - University of Exeter  Jamie McCauley - University of Exeter  Jemma Sharman - Natural England Tim Sunderland - Natural England  Jen Scott - Natural England   Partners   Overview The toolkit is [...]

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 [...]

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 […]

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, [...]

How we develop mission proposals to ensure they are interdisciplinary, agile and codesigned… We wanted to give a flavour of what an ExCASES participatory workshop looks like and demonstrate practically how we develop mission proposals to ensure they are interdisciplinary, agile and codesigned. It was also a rare opportunity to collect mission ideas and inputs […]

Starting a PhD journey on the RENEW project at the University of Exeter I had initially developed the idea for my PhD research topic almost a year before hearing about the RENEW project. At that time, I was desperately seeking collaborations and opportunities to try to fund my research independently. I feel very grateful for […]

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 […]

People of colour in the UK face systemic barriers in accessing and thriving in natural, academic, and professional ‘green spaces’. When it comes to natural green spaces, people of colour are mainly affected by three types of barriers: structural barriers—e., shortage and/or low quality of nearby accessible natural spaces and often unaffordable costs of visiting […]

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 [...]