Annual Review 2014/15

CENTRE FOR ENVIRONMENTAL CHANGE & HUMAN RESILIENCEUniversity of Dundee, Dundee DD1 4HNT: 01382 388692 E: cechr@dundee.ac.uk

www.dundee.ac.uk/cechr

Research Initiative between the University of Dundee & the James Hutton Institute

Contents

Introduction 2

Tim Newman – Vice Principal for Research, Knowledge Exchange and Wider Impact 2

Team and CECHR Board 3

CECHR – Director’s Take - Professor Ioan Fazey 4

James Hutton Institute 5

Dean of School – John Rowan 5

CECHR Academic Associates 6-7

Social Media 8-9

CECHR Postgraduate students – new and completed 10-11

CECHR Postgraduate events – change maker workshops and Facing the Future Conference 12-13

Diary of CECHR Events 14-15

Incubator fund 16

Research Grant Successes 17

Impact Case Studies 18-19

Publications 20

CECHR’s Artist in Residence - Jean Duncan 21

MSc in Sustainability 22-23

Transformations 2017: Transformations in Practice 24

Acknowledgements: We would like to thank everyone who has contributed to the Review, notably Jackie Malcolm for

the design and Tracey Dixon for the photography.

Annual Review 2014/15

Quote from Tim Newman

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The University of Dundee is a vibrant institution in the northeast of Scotland, UK. Dundee was recently awarded the Scottish University of the Year based on its commitment to teaching and real world impact arising from its research (Times/Sunday Times Good University Guide 2016). The University has over 18,000 students from well over 100 countries, and is consistently ranked within the Top 200 global higher education institutions. For a remarkable 6th year in a row, Dundee University was voted number 1 for student experience in Scotland (Times Higher Education Student Experience Survey 2010-2015).

Dundee has nine schools encompassing world class research expertise: Art and Design; Dentistry; Education and Social Work; Humanities; Life Sciences; Medicine; Nursing and Health Science; Science and Engineering and Social Sciences. The Centre for Environmental Change and Human Resilience (CECHR) works across all of these schools to capitalise on the diverse expertise in environmental and sustainability research.

Introduction - University of Dundee

Tim Newman Vice Principal Research, Knowledge Exchange and Wider Impact

‘Sustainability is one of three strategic themes at the University of Dundee, and CECHR plays a fundamental role within this theme of connecting disciplines, researchers and students within the University, and dynamically interfacing this network of activity to partners such as the James Hutton Institute and to the international community. The issues that CECHR addresses absolutely require an interdisciplinary approach, which combines research exchange and new modes of teaching. CECHR has been a vibrant and successful platform for the sustainability theme under the tremendous leadership of Prof John Rowan, and I wish his successor, Professor Ioan Fazey, every success taking CECHR to new heights in the coming years.’

The CECHR Story

CECHR was established in 2009 as a strategic partnership between the University of Dundee and the James Hutton Institute. The centre was founded to create an internationally significant academic community working together to tackle the major global challenges of food, water, energy and health security. The aim was to link the University’s broad range of environmental research spanning geography, law, engineering, life sciences and health with the James Hutton Institute’s expertise in plant sciences and ecosystems.

The multi-disciplinary nature of the centre is considered key to finding solutions to the complex challenges facing modern society. CECHR strives to promote not only multi-disciplinary working but also interdisciplinary thinking to tackle such challenges and to help create a more sustainable future.CECHR’s core values are consistent with the University’s Transformation vision, placing a premium on valuing people by nourishing creativity and innovation; working together by blending multiple disciplines to tackle complex and seemingly intractable problems; promoting integrity and trustworthiness; making a difference by concentrating on problem-solving; and focussing on excellence to ensure our research and teaching are of the highest quality.

The skilful and enthusiastic leadership of CECHR in its formative years has been led by Professor John Rowan. In 2015 this role was taken up by Professor Ioan Fazey, who has an interdisciplinary background in sustainability, resilience, adaptation and research on knowledge exchange.

CECHR Team

Professor Ioan Fazey Director Louise Henderson CommunicationsJean Duncan Resident ArtistTracey Dixon Social MediaTony Hodgson Transformative Facilitator in Residence

Associate DirectorsMark Cutler Head of Geography, School of Social SciencesMike Brown Senior Lecturer in Civil EngineeringRoy Neilson Ecological Scientist, James Hutton Institute Christopher Connolly Reader in Neurobiology, School of MedicineMatthias Klaes Associate Dean of Research and Scholarship, School of HumanitiesHusam Al Waer Senior Lecturer, Architecture, School of Social SciencesJackie Malcolm Lecturer, DJCADKate Irvine Senior Researcher, James Hutton Institute

CECHR BoardIoan Fazey CECHR DirectorTim Newman Vice-Principal (Research, Knowledge Exchange and Wider Impact)Colin Campbell Acting Chief Executive, Director of Science ExcellenceJohn Rowan Dean, School of Social Sciences

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New CECHR Director - Professor Ioan Fazey

‘I am honoured to be taking on the role of Director of CECHR to build on the acclaimed and enthusiastically driven work of the former Director, Professor John Rowan. Global sustainability challenges are intensifying, but so is recognition of the need for interdisciplinary work at the interface of science and practice and for fundamentally new ways of thinking. I therefore look forward to helping shape the future direction of CECHR and to building on the exciting opportunities that this interdisciplinary centre provides.’

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James Hutton Institute

Professor John Rowan, outgoing CECHR Director Dean of School of Social Science

‘It has been a pleasure to help steer CECHR from a good idea amongst a few like-minded individuals into a flourishing self-organising community within the University of Dundee and our partners in the James Hutton Institute. From the outset the emphasis has been towards interdisciplinary problem solving and tackling the grand challenges of water, food, energy and health security. Growth in the volume of collaborative projects has been accompanied by a strengthening in the research environment and an alignment to the University’s Transformation vision – aiming to help transform people’s lives locally and globally. Never more relevant, CECHR is set for further growth under new Director Professor Ioan Fazey, and I wish the team every success for the future.’

The aspirations of CECHR and the James Hutton Institute continue to be highly complementary and build on the established collaboration arising from the co-location of the University’s Plant Science Division within the Institute’s Invergowrie estate and co-funding interdisciplinary CECHR PhD studentships. We are delighted to have Professor Colin Campbell, Interim CEO and Director of Science Excellence for the James Hutton Institute sit on our governing CECHR board.

Colin Campbell Acting Chief Executive, Director of Science ExcellenceReflecting on the value of the initiative to Hutton, Colin writes, ‘CECHR is an excellent initiative which extends our networks and capabilities to address areas of mutual interest around some of the global challenges. We have benefitted enormously from it through joint PhD students and learning new ways of combining our talents and promoting our science. Further highlights over the year were the annual symposium which goes from strength to strength and the workshops on the Transformation agenda and Developing and Interdisciplinary Culture of Excellence. These all work due to the energy and commitment of the participants and CECHR team.’

We are delighted to have Professor Colin Campbell, interim CEO and Director of Science Excellence for the James Hutton Institute sit on our governing CECHR Board and we welcome Dr Roy Neilson and Dr Kate Irvine on to our team of Associate Directors.

© The James Hutton Institute and was taken by Bernardo Rodriguez-Salcedo

CECHR AssociatesThe benefits of joining the Associate Programme include membership of a progressive and dynamic interdisciplinary community of practice; a strong collaborative research culture; a supporting academic programme; horizon - scanning of future funding calls; and support from the CECHR Operations team in terms of marketing and communications. In return Associates have responsibilities to promote and share best research and teaching practices; mentor graduate students and early career researchers; and provide key reporting data (grant income, paper outputs, events and outreach activities) to evidence the trajectory and impact of the CECHR initiative.

For more information on becoming a CECHR Associate, please contact

Louise Henderson cechr@dundee.ac.uk or l.henderson@dundee.ac.uk

The CECHR Associate Programme was launched in June 2014 in conjunction with the website re-launch. The programme provides staff across James Hutton Institute and the University to engage and showcase their sustainability and environmental portfolio in a single space. We currently have over 70 registered associates.

CECHR ASSOCIATES BY AFFILIATION

food health

energy

sustainability

resilience

practiceadapting

environment

futurespo

licy

economywell-being

biodiversity

ecosystemservices

carbonlaw

clim

ate

chan

ge

management

governance

international

security

gree

n ci

ty

rurallow

water

Academic Associates Name Institution Division Expertise

Prof Adrian Newton JHI Cell & Molecular Sci. Plant Pathology Prof Chris Spray UoD CWLPS Catchment science Prof Claire Halpin UoD Plant Sciences Plant Biology & Biotechnology Prof Colin Campbell JHI Science Excellence Soil science Prof Colin Reid UoD Law Environmental Law Prof Deborah Peel UoD TRP Planning & Sustainability Prof Frank Sargent UoD Molecular Microbiology Microbiology & Biofuels Prof Geoff Gadd UoD Geomicrobiology Geomicrobiology Prof Graeme Hutton UoD Architecture Architecture Prof Graeme Morton UoD Humanities Scottish History Prof Ioan Fazey UoD Geography Resilience & Transformation Prof John Rowan UoD Dean of School, Social Science Physical Geography Prof Lorraine Van Blerk UoD Geography Development Studies Prof Margaret Smith UoD Dean of School, Nursing Nursing and Health Science Prof Matthias Klaes UoD Humanities Economic resilience Prof Niamh Nic Daeid UoD CAHID Forensics Prof Nic Beech UoD Vice Principal Academic Planning and Performance Prof Robin Matthews JHI Information and Computational Sciences Systems Modeller

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Academic Associates

Name Institution Division Expertise

Prof Sue Black UoD CAHID Forensics Prof Terry Dawson UoD Geography Global Change Prof Thilo Kroll UoD Nursing/SDHI Health Prof Tim Newman UoD Vice Principal Research, Knowledge Exchange and Wider Impact Dr Alison Karley JHI Ecological Sci. Ecology Dr Alistair Rieu-Clarke UoD CWLPS Water Law Dr Andrea Ross UoD Law Environmental Law Dr Andrew Black UoD Geography Hydrology Dr Andrew Brennan UoD Civil Engineering Foundation Engineering Dr Annie Tindley UoD Humanities Social History Dr Anna Moss UoD Geography Climate Change Dr Anthony Leung UoD Civil Engineering Geo-energy and Geo Environment Dr Ariel Bergmann UoD CEPMLP Energy Economics Dr Beverley Searle UoD Geography Wellbeing Dr Blair McKenzie JHI Env. & Biochem. Sci. Soil Science Dr Callum McGregor UoD ESWCE Informal Education Dr Chris Connelly UoD Neuroscience Environmental Chemical Risk Dr David McGloin UoD Electronic Engineering and Physics Optical Physics Dr Deepak Gopinath UoD TRP Planning & Sustainability Dr Drew Hemment UoD DJCAD Design and Citizen Science Dr Ed Hall UoD Geography Vulnerability Dr Eirini Politi UoD Geography Remote Sensing Dr Fiona Smith UoD Geography Human Geography Dr Fraser Milne UoD Geography Geoscience Dr Geoffrey Wood UoD CEPMLP Low Carbon and Energy Transmissions Dr Husam Alwaer UoD Architecture Sustainability Indicators Dr Johnathan Knappett UoD Civil Engineering Offshore Engineering Dr Johnathan Mendel UoD Geography International Security Dr Kerry Waylen JHI Social, Economic and Geographical Sciences Political Ecologist Dr Kit Macleod JHI Information and Computational Sciences Catchment Science Dr Lorens Holm UoD Architecture Urban Theory Dr Mark Cutler UoD Geography Earth Observation Methods Dr Megan O’Neill UoD Geography Policing & Security Dr Mike Woolvin UoD Geography Social Geography Dr Mohammad Radfar UoD TRP Urban Design and Planning Dr Nick Taylor UoD DJCAD Human-Computer Interactions Dr Pete Ianetta JHI Ecological Sci. Ecology Dr Peter Moug UoD CECHR Resilience Dr Roy Neilson JHI Ecological Sci. Soil Ecology Dr Sarah Hendry UoD CWLPS Water Law Dr Sue Dawson UoD Geography Coastal Hazards Dr Sue Morris JHI CREW CREW Dr Thomas Dyer UoD Civil Engineering Concrete Engineering Andy Cobley UoD Computing, Engineering Data Scientist Ellie Harrison UoD DJCAD Activism & Art Esther Carmen UoD Geography Environmental Sociologist Jackie Malcolm UoD DJCAD Transdisciplinary Communication Joshua Msika JHI Social, Economic and Geographical Sciences Low-Carbon Communities Kirsty Holstead JHI Social, Economic and Geographical Sciences Social, Economic and Geographical Sciences Trudy Cunningham UoD Estates and Buildings Energy and Environment Mr Andrew Allan UoD CWLPS Water Law Ms Elizabeth Kirk UoD Law Environmental Law

CECHR – Social Media

TwitterCECHR has a fantastically successful twitter account (@CECHR_UoD) which has an astounding 70,000 followers (January 2016)! Followers include Matt McGrath (Environment Correspondent for BBC News), Climate Reality (founded by Al Gore) and FAOknowledge (Food and Agriculture Organisa-tion, part of the United Nations).

The success of this account is down to our colleague Tracey Dixon who works tirelessly to keep the account updated and relevant.

We use a variety of tools to communicate with our community via social media:

Website The CECHR website was re-launched in June 2014 www.dundee.ac.uk/cechr and includes information on CECHR events, relevant news, CECHR Associates, the Post-graduate group, related courses and other research groups.

Blog The CECHR SPHERE blog encourages our postgraduate students to post details of their international research/fieldtrips/conferences and can be found on the cechr website.

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• In May 2015 @CECHR_UoD was number 45 in the

SustMeme.com Climate Change and Energy Top 500

http://sustmeme.com/top-500-leaderboards/

climate-change-energy-top-500/. This list ranks the top

500influencersandplayersactiveonTwitterinClimate

Science & Forecast, the Carbon Economy, Emissions

and Green 1.

• WehaveaKloutscoreof71(100highest,1lowest)and

wearerankednumber5(aboveWWFwhichisnumber

7)onalistoftopexpertstofollowonthetopicof

Biodiversityandnumber8onrecommendedexpertsto

followinrelationtoRenewableEnergy.

• TheCECHRaccountwasincludedinacasestudyof

examplesofqualitypublicengagementviasocialmedia

alongwithNASAandtheUnionofConcernedScientists

in research about Social Media and Public engagement

by Dr Heather Doran - Winston Churchill Memorial Trust

Fellow 2015

http://blogs.lse.ac.uk/impactofsocialsciences/2015/07/30/

online-engagement-strategy-dont-go-it-alone/

She highlighted that:

‘@CECHR_UoD is an extremely interactive account that shares news from the centre and related communications. They have generated their own, large virtual audience as part of their everyday communications. This account doesn’t only disseminate information but also responds and engages with their audience.’

FacebookCECHR’s facebook account (CECHRUOD) was launched just over a year ago and currently has 2100 followers. The aim of the account is to encourage communication and networking within the community and to promote relevant news and events.

CECHR Postgraduates

Currently, Nandan is affiliated as a PhD student at the School of the Social Sciences and also with the Centre for Environmental Change and Human Resilience (CECHR). He is on study leave from BRAC University where he was involved in teaching and research as Director and Assistant Professor in the Centre for Climate Change and Environmental Research (C3ER).

Nandan’s research advocates the mainstreaming of climate change into Hydro Nation policy (cf. Sayan, 2013). Its main aim being to investigate how best deliver robust ‘climate ready’ evidence to ground trans-boundary water agreements. The research centres on one of the largest, most populated and geo-politically complex river basins in the world, the Ganges-Brahmaputra-Meghna (GBM) in South Asia (Figure 1). Particular attention is given to Bangladesh, recognised by the UN as one of a group of least developed countries (LDCs) by virtue of low income, weak human assets and high economic vulnerability - and one of those most vulnerable to climate change induced hydro-meteorological disasters. The research will explore the potential effectiveness of ecosystem-based water management options to address climate change induced loss and damage – sustainably and equitably.

The Graduate face of CECHRCECHR has a vibrant postgraduate community who are working on a variety of interdisciplinary research projects on food and water security; biodiversity and landscape sensitivity; resilience of health systems to climate change; natural flood management; renewable energy policy and social justice. These students are a valuable part of the CECHR community and are heavily involved in the ‘change-maker’ workshops and the annual student conference ‘Facing the Future’. More information can be found on our website www.dundee.ac.uk/cechr/postgraduates/currentphdstudents or by contacting cechr@dundee.ac.uk

The following postgraduate students are/were both closely associated with CECHR. Nandan Mukherjee from Bangladesh has just completed his first year of study and Dr Oana Iacob (one of the original CECHR funded PhD students) has recently graduated.

Nandan Mukherjee Research title: Integrated river basin management framework under the lens of loss and damage.

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Oana Iacob Research title: Natural flood management (NFM) – an Ecosystem based Adaptation response to climate change.

Oana was one of the original CECHR funded PhD student and during her PhD she played an active role in many CECHR related student initiates such as the Facing the Future Conference and Change Maker Workshops.

Oana was awarded her PhD in June this year, her project focused on the assessment of NFM measures efficacy in reducing the flood risk for the current and future climate with a consideration for the impact of these measures on the delivery of ecosystem services. She applied a hydrological modelling approach and used Tarland Burn catchment, a tributary of the River Dee in north-east of Scotland as a platform to test different NFM options. Oana has a new role as a water engineer for Arup (Bristol office), a widely recognized engineering consultancy company.

Congratulations to the following CECHR Postgrad students who completed their studies in 2014/15:

Graduate: Manik Deepak GopinathDivision/School: Town and Regional PlanningResearch title: Wellbeingandplace:exploring perspectivesofolderpeople in Scotland.Where now: Lectureship in Ageing at the Open University,MiltonKeynes.

Graduate: Amy HoldenDivision/School: GeographyResearch title: Landscapevalues,managementand art in Highland Scotland: can cultural valuesbeincorporatedinto landscape management practices?Where now: Researchassistant/conference support. UHI Perth College.

Graduate: Elizabeth YoungDivision/School: GeographyResearch title: Naturalfloodmanagement(NFM)– Soilandlandformsensitivityto erosion in the machair landscape ofthesouthernOuterHebrides, ScotlandWhere now: Probationary year as a teacher in Perth.

Change Maker Workshops These workshops are organised by CECHR for all postgraduate students across the University from all disciplines. The aim is to equip participants with practical skills in collaboration and leadership and to encourage them to become active players in facilitating change for sustainability.The following workshops took place during the 2014/15 academic year:

When Title Facilitators

Oct 2014 Science and Art, Collaborating to Communicate Jean Duncan (CECHR Artist in Residence)

and Geoff Squire (JHI)

Nov 2014 Resilience in Biomimicry David Sanchez (DJCAD)

Jan 2015 Bright Club – Finding Comedy in your Research Susan Morrison

Feb 2015 Three Horizons – How can we better understand

paradigm shifts in order to lead strategic

innovation and transformation Tony Hodgson (International Futures Forum)

Mar/April 2015 Facilitation Part 1 and Part 2 Ioan Fazey (CECHR)

Facing the Future 2015

Tony Hodgson and Graham Leicester from the International Futures Forum (IFF) facilitated the remaining sessions on the ‘Three Horizons Approach’ and ‘The World Game’ which aim to enhance understanding of the integrated nature of contemporary challenges and involve role-plays of different interests and stakeholders (e.g. governance, biodiversity, water etc).

The highly interactive conference resulted in a buzz of enthusiasm from the delegates to continue to build the network. The conference series will now be held annually, with alternate years in Dundee and at other venues. The next conference, Facing the Future 2016, will be held on 31st May and 1st June 2016 at Aberdeen University.

The first Facing the Future was held in April 2013 at Dundee University, organised by a group of CECHR Postgrad students. The aim of the conference series is to encourage interdisciplinary thinking around some of the worlds’ most significant contemporary challenges and provide opportunities for early career researchers to network and develop their own capacities to work with complexity and change.

Facing the Future 2015 took place over two days, 26th-27th May at the University of Dundee. The conference was primarily organised by two CECHR postgrad students, Emma Bryder and Jennifer Williams with support from the CECHR office and was attended by students from across the UK.

Keynote speakers were Professor Sue Black (Professor of Anatomy and Forensic Anthropology) and Professor David Sigsworth (Chairman of the Scottish Environmental Protection Agency) who delivered well received talks to kick off both days. Delegates delivered turbo talks (5 minute max) on their research in groups, followed by Q & A’s.

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KEYNOTE SPEAKERS

CONTACT

Ralph Throp – Head of Community Resilience Policy – Scottish Government

Mike Bonaventura – CEO Crichton Carbon Centre

Facilitated by – International Futures Forum

To buy tickets, go to: http://www.dundee.ac.uk/cechr/postgraduates/ftf16/

Join Facing the Future on Facebook and Twitter: https://www.facebook.com/XCECHR @FTF21st

Email: cechr@dundee.ac.uk

31st May - 1st June

Realising ResilienceUniversity of Aberdeen, Scotland, UK

A conference for PhD students and early stage researchers

CECHR Events

The final session of the day took the form of an ‘impact workshop’ where the group explored options, lessons and opportunities for CECHR’s future development. The feedback from this proved to be extremely useful as it provided an insight into the community’s expectation of the centre.

Overall the symposium was extremely well received with some positive and insightful comments noted on the evaluation forms.

The 2016 Symposium will take place on Wednesday 24th February at the West Park Conference Centre, Dundee.

Annual SymposiumCECHR’s 6th Annual Symposium was held on the 11th of February 2015, the ‘Impact Agenda’ being the theme. The event was well attended and showcased the wide range of innovative and impactful research being undertaken by the CECHR community.

The day was structured around sessions which included 5 minute speed talks from researchers within the CECHR community providing an opportunity to share their work, CECHR postgraduate students showcasing their research through a poster session and key note talks from the University management team.

Diary of Events A wide variety of CECHR events are organised throughout the academic year all of which underpin the ethos of the centre. Both UK based and international speakers have joined us this year to share their work with the CECHR community with working lunches, networking dinner, lectures, seminars and workshops. All of our events have been well attended and well received. Recommendations for future visitors are gratefully received.

Date Event Description Present

Nov 2014 Lecture Professor Allister McGregor, Institute of Development Studies at the University of Sussex. Resilience and the Three Dimensions of Human Wellbeing: A Study of Coastal Fishing Communities in Ghana, Sri Lanka, Vietnam and Fiji. 50

Nov 2014 Lecture John Pattison - Natural Resources Institute, University of Greenwich. Alleviating Poverty and Malnutrition in Agrobiodiversity Hotspots in India: Lessons from the Field. 25

Nov 2014 Symposium Professions, Place-making and the Public: what next? Organised by Dr Husam Al Waer 60

Nov 2014 Dinner CECHR Networking Dinner with Lesley Riddoch 60

Dec 2014 Lecture Dr Marion Patrick - Stockholm International Water Institute. The Cycles and Spirals of Justice in Water Allocation Decision Making. 40

Jan 2015 Lunch Pete Fox - Director of Strategy and Investment Flood and Coastal Risk Management, Environment Agency. Reflections on a testing winter and the importance of friend. 40

Feb 2015 Workshop KNET – Knowledge Network Enabling Transformation – international workshop bringing together experts in ‘transformation’ held in Aberdour over 4 days. 20

Feb 2015 Saturday Winds of Change: Rethinking the way we respond to a changing climate. Evening Professor Karen O’Brien, Professor Laura Lindenfeld, Lecture Professor Ioan Fazey and Paul Ryan 300

Feb 2015 Symposium Annual CECHR Symposium themed Impact, featuring research presentations by colleagues from University and the James Hutton Institute. 60

March 2015 Lunch Professor Gabriele Bammer from the Australian National University. Addressing complex real-world problems: a new discipline, a repository and you. 20

April 2015 Workshop Resilient Coasts and Flourishing Seas. Organised by Professor Alison Reeves and Professor Deborah Peel. 60

May 2015 Lunch Dr Wendy Kenyon, Senior Research Specialist, Scottish Parliament Information Centre (SPICe). Knowledge Exchange and Impact. 40

May 2015 Seminar Dr Sonja Klinsky, an Assistant Professor at Arizona State University. Peace and Reconciliation in a Climate Context? 20

May 2015 Conference Facing the Future 2015 – CECHR Postgraduate Conference. Learning the Power of Multiple Perspectives. 43

May 2015 Seminar Thomas Hartmann (Utrecht Univesity) and Jirina Jilkova (J. E. Purkyne University) Flood Retention & Resilience. Organised by Professor Deborah Peel. 25

Sep 2015 Conference Conference on Buildings, Cities & Climate Change. Event organised by Dr Husam Al Waer 50

Oct 2015 Lunch Professor Mike Christie, Head of the School of Management and Business, Aberystwyth University. Valuing nature: ecosystems, ecosystem services, value and decision-making’ - a practical insight into managing biodiversity risks and delivering real business value. 30

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CECHR Incubator Fund 2015

Flourishing Communities and Productive Seas Over forty delegates attended a one day CECHR-funded symposium on marine spatial planning on 28 April, organised by Deborah Peel and Alison Reeves, and postgraduate students from the Masters in Spatial Planning (Marine Spatial Planning). The symposium brought together inter-disciplinary expertise from Marine Scotland, the Highland Council, the Offshore Renewables Institute, Northumbria University, and the James Hutton Institute, together with colleagues from law, environment, DJCAD and planning. Participants also included central government, local authorities, Scottish Natural Heritage, the Crown Estate, and NGOs, such as Scottish Environment LINK and PAS. The event was chaired by Greg Lloyd, Emeritus Professor at Ulster University.

The aim of the event was to find ways to ‘talk’ across marine science, social science and lay communities at different scales – international, national, regional and local and to explore the emerging concept of marine spatial planning. The purpose was to exchange knowledge with respect to the marine and land/sea interface from different scientific and practice-based perspectives, raise awareness of different research projects, and to explore the practical implications of implementing Scotland’s first National Marine Plan. Topics addressed included the Scotland’s national marine plan, insights into the Pentland Firth and Orkney Waters pilot marine spatial plan, wellbeing and coastal communities; marine protected areas and invasive species; ecosystem management in international law; aquaculture; offshore renewables and 3D visualisation of underwater environments. The event has led to a successful Scottish Universities Insight Institute award.

The Incubator fund awards seed funding to projects aligned with CECHR’s mission and values of promoting more sustainable and equitable futures to all. Over the last 5 years approximately £15,000 has been awarded to various research projects, some of which have led to further funding.

Some examples of projects include ‘Using Minecraft with School Pupils to digitally reimagine and Build Dundee’s Waterfront’, ‘Natural disaster mitigation for people with disabilities: identifying vulnerability, building resilience’ and ‘The Greening of Eigg – Carbon Abatement and Fuel Poverty Reduction Through Adoption and Adaptation of Renewable Energy Resources’.

The two successful projects from this year’s competition were: Connections across the Tay catchment’s creative communities (CATC3H) by Dr Kit Macleod (James Hutton Institute), Dimitrios Efstathiou (Computing), Dr Andy Cobley (Computing), Dr Mel Wood (DJCAD) and Dr Susan Main (Geography). This aimed to explore how diverse creative communities (artists and scientists) are influenced by their physical and social environments using Twitter, machine learning and graph databases. Dimitrios Efstathiou with Andy Cobley produced the CATC3H web app using a graph database hosted on the Microsoft Azure Cloud (http://catc3h.cloudapp.net/). The app was developed so that connections (rather than content) could be visualised, a wider geographical spread than just Dundee could be seen, to be interactive and to provide functionality to track tweets about creativity over time to measure spikes during and after events (Figure 1).

Figure 1. Screen shots of the CATC3H app that enables a user to visualise social media interactions (Tweets in this instance). Demonstrating the increase in Tweets from and to Duncan of Jordanstone College of Art & Design from (a) 2012 to (b) 2015.

Research Grant Successes

The Incubator fund awards seed funding to projects aligned with CECHR’s mission and values of promoting more sustain-able and equitable futures to all. Over the last 5 years approx. £15,000 has been awarded to various research projects, some of which have led to further funding.

Some examples of projects include ‘Using Minecraft with School Pupils to digitally reimagine and Build Dundee’s Water-front’, ‘Natural disaster mitigation for people with disabilities: identifying vulnerability, building resilience’ and ‘The Greening of

Research at the University of Dundee has been ranked among the very best in the UK in the Research Excellence Framework 2014. CECHR Associates are currently collaborating on a number of externally funded research projects generating in excess of £3.5M income into the University from a variety of funders including BBSRC, Scottish Government, JRF, NERC, the Leverhulme Trust and CREW.

Selected Larger Grants to University-based CECHR Associates

Period Funder Award CECHR Lead Project

2015-2016 BBSRC £37K Prof Frank Sargent A Synthetic Approach to Bioconversion of Carbon Dioxide to Formic Acid (Joint with University of Nottingham)

2015-2016 Scottish £91K Prof John Rowan Centre for Expertise on Climate Change Government

2015-2017 CSO £161K Prof Thilo Kroll Community Pharmacy Services Used by Older People with Sensory Impairment and Polypharmacy Needs

SUII Prof Deborah Peel (TRP) Home not Housing: Engaging with wellbeing outcomes

2015-2018 EC Horizon 2020 £114K Dr Megan O’Neill UNITY Project (Joint with 13 Other Partners) 2020 - Societies (£3.3M) (Geography)

2015-2016 JRF £100K Prof Ioan Fazey (CECHR) Resilient Communities Under Future Climates

2015-2018 Leverhulme Trust £168K Dr Jonathan Knappett Influence of Plant Roots on Soil Resistance to (Civil Engineering) Earthquake-Induced Liquefaction

2015-2017 EPSRC £99K Dr Nick Taylor Hacking for Situated Civic Engagement

2015-2018 EPSRC £341K Dr Andrew Brennan Supergen Wind Challenge 2015: Screw Piles for Wind (£1M) (Civil Engineering) Energy Foundation Systems (Joint with Universities of Durham and Southampton)

2014-17 CARIAA £270K Mr Andrew Allan Deltas, vulnerability and climate change: migration and (7.4M) (Water Law) adaptation. (15 Partner Institutions)

2014-15 Univ of Stanford £129K Prof Claire Halpin (CLS) Lignin Management Optimizing Yield in Lignin Modified

2014-16 TSB £170K Dr Ed Hall (Geography) Improving the response to energy disruption for vulnerable people in extreme weather events. (KTP with SSE)

2014-15 CREW £140K Prof Chris Spray Methods to assess the role of catchment management (Water Law) to protect and improve water quality in a cost effective way. (With collaborators CEH & Westcountry Rivers Trust)

2013-17 NERC/ESPA £500K Professor Terry Dawson Which ecosystem service models best capture the needs of the rural poor? (WISER). (Collaboration with CEH)

2013-17 BBSRC £448K Prof Frank Sargent Metal-hydrido intermediates in enzymes: atomic level (Molecular Microbiology) mechanistic insight and technological applications of hydrogenases

2013-15 EU FP7 £175K Ms Elizabeth Kirk (Law) The European Union and the Law on the Protection of Marine Biodiversity in the Arctic. Marie Curie Fellowship

2012-17 NERC £487K Dr Mark Cutler Global Observatory of lake responses to environmental (£2.4M) (Geography) change (GloboLakes). (Consortium award, five partners)

2012-16 NERC £228K Dr Sue Dawson Will climate change in the Arctic increase the (£2.1M) (Geography) landslide-tsunami risk to the UK? (Consortium award 8 partners)

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Examples of Research Impact

CrowdFundRES, a three-year EUR 1.9M project funded by the European Union under the Horizon 2020 Framework Programme for Research and Innovation, is run by a consortium of 15 organisation from 8 different countries. Alongside the University of Dundee as the lead academic partner the consortium includes crowdfunding platforms, renewable energy project developers, media and legal specialists, industry associations and environmental groups across Europe.

In order to achieve its aims the project seeks to gain a deeper understanding of the public’s perception of crowdfunding as well as the issues faced by crowdfundign platforms andrenewable energy developers. This together with a set of longitudinal case studies will feed into the formulation ofguidelines to help inform the application of crowdfunding forrenewable energy projects in Europe, and to improve marketand regulatory frameworks.

See more at: http://www.crowdfundres.eu/project

The project aims to deliver a number of benefits to academia, to SSEPD, to other response organisations and to individuals and to community members. Conducting academic research in collaboration with a private sector organisation, with community members and with members of other official and voluntary organisations that assist in emergency storm situations, showcases the project as an applied-action and impact-based research project that aims to produce real world impacts, as part of the University of Dundee’s commitment to enhancing the real world impact of research pursuits as part of key measures in the University’s Research Excellence Framework (REF) exercise.

• Matthias Klaes – CrowdFundRES• Irena Connon and Ed Hall – SSE Project ‘Improving the response to energy disruption for community members during extreme weather events’

CrowdFundRESThe team at Dundee is led by Professor Matthias Klaes, together with Professor Bruce Burton and Dr Ariel Bergmann. The overall objective of CrowdFundRES is to contribute to the acceleration of the renewable energy growth in Europe by unleashing the potential of crowdfunding for financing renewable energy projects.

We are currently seeing a deceleration of renewable energy growth in Europe. This is partly attributed to the challenges for financing renewable energy projects. Reduced access to conventional financing options over the past few years has triggered innovative financing schemes to emerge, with crowdfunding attracting a lot of attention.

Improving the response to energy disruption for community members during extreme weather events.A Knowledge Transfer Partnership Project (KTP) between the University of Dundee and Scottish and Southern Energy Power DistributionProject Researcher: Dr Irena L C Connon, Department of Geography, University of Dundee, i.l.c.connon@dundee.ac.uk

This Knowledge Transfer Partnership (KTP) is a 30 month project with the University of Dundee and Scottish and Southern Energy Power Distribution. The aim of the project is to identify, implement, evaluate and disseminate best practices to support communities in their preparations and responses to electricity supply disruption caused by environmental hazards and to mitigate human vulnerability. In particular, the project is focusing on: a) how effective solutions can be developed through developing a detailed understanding of how different communities responded to hazard events in the past and by gaining a detailed insight into the specific needs of each different community, b) how proposed solutions to weaknesses and vulnerabilities identified with current response procedures can involve capitalising on the local knowledge of community residents and organisations through engagement processes that bring people together to design response strategies that draw upon local expertise and enhance local empowerment, and c) how the successful implementation of proposed solutions at the local level can be better achieved when supplemented by proactive engagement with key personnel from official emergency response organisations at the regional and national levels to provide clarity over expectations and responsibilities, to develop effective communication processes, to ensure full consideration of local needs within response operations, and to assure that policies and strategies that are developed within this field are responsive to the changing needs of a dynamic 21st century society.

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Publications CECHR’s Artist in Residence – Jean Duncan

Bongert and Spray C (2015) A comparison of ecosystem services mapping tools for their potential to support planning and decision- ‐making on a local scale. Journal ofEcosystem Services (Elseveir).

Politi, E., Rowan, J.S. and Cutler, M.E.J., (in press), Assessing the utility of geospatial technologies to investigate environmental change within lake systems. Science of the Total Environment (Special Issue). doi:10.1016/j.scitotenv.2015.09.136.

Moffat C, Pacheco J G, Sharp S, Samson A J, Bollan K A, Huang J, Buckland S T, Connolly C N. Chronic exposure to neonicotinoids increases neuronal vulnerability to mitochondrial dysfunction in the bumblebee (Bombus terrestris). FASEB J. 2015 May; 29(5):2112-9. doi: 10.1096/fj.14-267179. Epub 2015 Jan 29.

Jayasinghe, R.C., Premachandra, W.T.S.D, and Neilson, R. (2015). A study on Maruca vitrata infestation of Yard-long beans (Vigna unguiculata subspecies sesquipedalis). Heliyon, doi: 10.1016/j.heliyon.2015.e00014.

Soler, G., Edgar, G.J., Russell Thomson, R., Kininmonth, S., Stuart Campbell, Dawson, T.P., Barrett, N., Bernard, A., Galvan, D., Willis, T., Alexander, T.J. & Stuart-Smith, R., 2015, Reef fishes at all trophic levels respond positively to effective marine protected areas. PLOS One 10(10): e0140270.

Holscher J, Klaes M. Keynes’s economic consequences of the peace: a reappraisal (2014) London: Pickering & Chatto.

Congratulations to Dr Husam Al Waer (CECHR Associate Director) who was awarded the Reed and Mallik Ltd journal prize (for the best paper in journal) for his paper ‘Improving contemporary approaches to the master planning process’ published in the journal Urban Design and Planning (Vol 167 issueDP1).

A selection of the publications from CECHR Associates demonstrating the depth and breadth of expertise within the cohort.

Stella Corsetti, Florian M. Zehentbauer, David McGloin, Johannes Kiefer. Characterization of gasoline/ethanol blends by infrared and excess infrared spectroscopy. Original Research Article Fuel, Volume 141, 1 February 2015, Pages 136-142.

Fazey, I., Wise, R.M., Lyon, C., Câmpeanu, C., Moug, P., Davies, T.E. (2015) Past and future adaptation pathways. Climate and Development.

Peel, D. and Lloyd, M.G. (2014) Aquaculture Development in Scotland: Regulation as a Moving Equilibrium. International Planning Studies [on-line] DOI:10.1080/13563475.2014.921417.

Koen Arts, Antonio A.R. Ioris, Christopher J.A. MacLeod, Xiwu Han, Somayajulu, Sripada, João R.Z. Braga & René Van der Wal (2015): Supply of Online Environmental Information to Unknown Demand: The Importance of Interpretation and Liability Related to a National Network of River Level Data. Scottish Geographical Journal, 131.

Burchill, W., James, E.K., Li, D., Lanigan, G.J., Williams, M., Iannetta, P.P.M., Humphreys, J. (2014) Comparisons of biological nitrogen fixation in association with white clover (Trifolium repens L.) under four fertiliser nitrogen inputs as measured using two 15N techniques. Plant and Soil 385, 287-302.

Fazey, I., L. Bunse, J. Msika, M. Pinke, K. Preedy, A. C. Evely, E. Lambert, E. Hastings, S. Morris, and M. S. Reed. 2014. Evaluating knowledge exchange in interdisciplinary and multi-stakeholder research. Global Environmental Change 25:204-220.

Hendry S (2015), Improving the physical condition of Scot-land’s water’ Environment.Scottish Planning and Environment Law 168:30 April 2015.

Rieu-Clarke A, Transboundary Hydropower Projects Seen Through the Lens of Three International Legal Regimes: Foreign Investment, Environmental Protection and HumanRights’, 3 (1) International Journal of Water Governance (2015).

Montrose BasinJean has also completed a series of etchings and paintings relating to Montrose Basin and the landscape affected by the same tsunami 8000 years ago. These are being exhibited in the DCA print gallery, the Royal Scottish Academy in Edinburgh and the Meffan Institute in Forfar.

Jean is a valued member of the CECHR team and continues to make a valuable contribution through both her research collaborations and her exhibitions which engage the public in the varied research conducted by the CECHR community.

2014-2015 Projects.Bere Barley Jean spent some time learning about the properties of Bere Barley with Dr Tim George and his team at the James Hutton Institute. With help and images from Dr Kenneth Loades, Jean has produced a series of etchings of barley root sections. This also involved attending a ‘Cereals in Practice Day’ with a group of scientist from JHI, making drawings and drying specimens of barley from the Living Field Collection.

Empire The Scottish Society of Artists invited Jean to respond to the theme of ‘Empire’ for a group exhibition in Montrose. Jean chose to explore the idea of Plant Collecting and the East India Company in particular in relation to John and Alexander Duncan from Brechin who collected plants for Sir Joseph Banks the director of Kew Gardens. The etchings and drawings completed for Empire are of a descendent of this plant growing in the Royal Botanic Gardens in Edinburgh.

NERC Funded Consortium Project Jean also visited Shetland with Dr Sue Dawson, Dr Fraser Milne and a team from BGS,the field work was a contribution to the NERC funded consortium project, ‘Will climate change in the Arctic increase the landslide-tsunami risk to the UK?’ The team were investigating the Tsunami deposits at Whale Firth and Mid Yell Voe on the Island of Yell.

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TRANSFORMATIONS 2017: TRANSFORMATIONS IN PRACTICEWednesday 30th August to Friday 1st September 2017

Centre for Environmental Change and Human Resilience (CECHR),University of Dundee, Scotland

Aim of Transformations 2017 is to develop a better understanding of the practices that facilitate social and environmental transformations at local and large scales

in both developed and developing country contexts.

Centre for Environmental Change and Human ResilienceAn initiative between the University of Dundee & The James Hutton Institute

www.transformations2017.org

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