Tagged: "Nature Connection"

In this paper we set out our plan for the first large scale survey of how 18,000 people’s attitudes towards nature and efforts to renew biodiversity change over time. In response to the biodiversity crisis, there are growing efforts in England to restore, expand, and connect natural areas, including in towns and cities. These initiatives [...]

In 2024, RENEW PhD student Will Bugg took his PhD research across the pond to Australia, where transdisciplinary ways of working, a change in lifestyle & common ground supplied by international Rugby added dimension to Will's PhD journey. Returning to the UK – still running - a series of conferences inspired new ideas & business [...]

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 Clare Bissell (Project Lead) - National Trust Michelle Twena - National Trust David Bavin  - National Trust Sarah Crowley - University of Exeter Matthew Heard - National Trust Partners Collaborators Birmingham Tree People, Birmingham    Street Trees for Living, London    Tiny Forest Programme, National    Fruit and Nut Village, Birmingham    Walking Forest, Exmouth    Eden Project Communities, [...]

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: 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 [...]

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 . Devmini Bandara - University of Exeter Kevin Gaston- University of Exeter Lewis Elliot - University of Exeter Rebecca Lovell - University of Exeter Partners . Dr. Humphrey Crick - Natural England Dr. Fraenze Kibowski - Natural England Dr. James Hoggett - Natural England Giselle Sterry - NBN Trust . . Aims Traditional [...]

Research team . Daveron Smith - University of Exeter Ilya Maclean - University of Exeter Peter Roseveare - Cornwall Bird Watching & Preservation Society Partners . . Collaborators . . Aims Since 1970, willow tits have seen a population decline of 94% in Britain and have earned the unenviable title of Britain’s fastest declining resident [...]

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 [...]

 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 [...]

Many people are unaware of the nature conservation work that the National Trust carries out, and we wanted to experience firsthand a local estate’s approach to biodiversity renewal and getting people into nature. For three days, we immersed ourselves in enriching experiences that informed our research journey and left lasting impressions, and we extend a […]

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 [...]

How effective are social science-informed interventions in addressing the environmental impacts of recreational activities in protected areas and similar sites?  Research Team . Bethan Stagg - University of Exeter  Oliver James - University of Exeter  Alice Moseley - University of Exeter  Gavin Stark - Natural England  Eirini Saratsi - Natural England   Partners     [...]

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 [...]

Research team Patrick Oko Quaye - University of Exeter Gail Whiteman - University of Exeter Stefano Pascucci - University of Exeter Aims The UK is a signatory to the 2022 Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework (GBF) which set international goals to address ongoing biodiversity loss. These include a requirement on large and transnational companies and financial [...]

Join us to find out more about ExCASES – one of RENEW’s cross-cutting themes focused on agile, solutions-oriented research. Thursday 16th May 2024, 14:00-15:00, Online This Partner Forum event is your chance to meet the ExCASES team and find out more about their work on rapid, impactful and cross-sectoral ‘missions‘ on challenging questions relating to […]

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 […]

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 […]

Research team --- Lewis Elliot - University of Exeter Rebecca Lovell - University of Exeter Jo Garrett - University of Exeter Ben Phillips - University of Exeter Kevin Gaston - University of Exeter Fraenze Kibowski - Natural England Ruth Lamont - Natural England Partners --- --- Aims The objectives of ReBLS are: To determine whether [...]

Academics, professionals, and participants gather to build ideas, interventions, and solutions to biodiversity challenges In what is perhaps becoming a RENEW Parliament tradition, PhD student and poet, Caleb Parkin, closed proceedings with a poem. Or, maybe, the poem was an opening. Playfully weaving the many voices that we heard over the course of the Parliament, […]

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 […]

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 [...]

Above: ExCASES deer mission planning, National Trust Heelis. Implementing the first mission The first mission we are currently delivering revolves around deer management. The increase and expansion of deer populations in the UK are, in places, having a significantly detrimental impact on biodiversity and deer welfare, with associated socio-economic costs for people. The spread and […]

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 […]

Seeing things differently John previously ran a research project based at the Red River, exploring how creative writing can transform our relationship with a polluted, post-industrial river. Joining us was Steve Jones, the joint coordinator for the Red River Rescuers, a lifelong advocate for wildlife in the area and an expert in Cornish insects. The Red River has […]

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 […]

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 […]

Perspectives on Personalised Ecologies Each of us has a personalised ecology – a set of direct interactions with the natural world that change through the day, the week, the season, and across our lifetimes. This event pulled together a diverse set of talks that looked at personalised ecology from a range of perspectives, including philosophical [...]

Date: Wednesday 10th  – Thursday 11th May 2023 Time: 1000 – 1500 Location: Trevithick Room, Environment and Sustainability Institute, Penryn Campus Details: Biodiversity per se is valuable. But understanding which aspects of biodiversity should be prioritised is extremely difficult. This question is central in numerous arenas of decision-making; from setting government policy and regulation to […]

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 […]

Event Information Each of us has a personalised ecology, a set of direct interactions with the natural world that change through the day, the week, the season, and across our lifetimes. The scale and composition of these interactions vary greatly between people and are shaped by opportunities, capabilities and motivations. These personalised ecologies have a […]

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 […]

Taste with a sense of place Fortunately, on our doorstep we were lucky to find and work with the Ground Up Cookery School, who took us on a journey of discovery on foraged, sustainable, low-waste food options, enabling us to deliver a low-impact conference dinner. Based on the northern edge of Dartmoor National Park, Ground […]