News and events
New Master’s programme
Dr Meredith Williams and Debbie Bartlett are preparing to launch a new Master’s programme in Landscape Ecology with Geographical Information Systems.
Conferences
The School of Science will be hosting the Remote Sensing and Photogrammetry Society's annual conference (12–14 September 2012). The flagship event in the UK remote sensing community will aim to attract 300 delegates, making it one of the biggest international conferences hosted by School.
Debbie Bartlett hosted the Dormouse conference at the Medway Campus on 12 March 2011 and is hosting the Kent Wildlife Conference at Medway on 22 October 2011.
Dr Julie Urquhart and Dr Tim Acott hosted the School of Science’s first international conference with the Greenwich Maritime Institute on 4–5 April 2011 at the Greenwich Campus. The conference, entitled “It’s Not Just About the Fish” focused on the social and cultural aspects of commercial fishing in relation to coastal communities. Over 100 delegates, representing 16 countries were present, and included researchers, policy makers, fishermen and industry representatives. Selected papers from the conference are to be published in a special issue of Marine Policy in 2012.
Professor Pat Harvey: Glycerol Power
The Schools of Science, Engineering, Business and Greenwich Maritime Institute are working together, and with European partners, to raise funding to test whether Glycerol could provide auxiliary power on ships. The glycerol from microalgae project was short-listed for a FP7 Energy proposal to conduct basic, feasibility research for algal glycerol with an Israeli partner, Seambiotic, as well as university partners in Namibia and South Africa (Rhodes University), Greece, Holland and Germany, the Marine Biological Association, Plymouth and Aquafuel Research at the Kent Science Park.
UK delegation to Israel
Professor Pat Harvey was selected to be part of a 13-person strong UK delegation energy mission to Israel (20–24 February 2011) to present on issues such as UK policy on renewable energy and alternative resources for energy, such as solar and bio fuels.
Forthcoming jatropha and microalgae projects in three African countries
Professor Patricia Harvey of the University of Greenwich, a leading expert in biofuels who is currently working on projects that will produce green energy from agricultural and food waste in three African countries, recently spoke to 25º in Africa about the project.
Student visit
Debbie Bartlett took MSc students to the IEEM conference on Invasive non-Natives on 23 March, the joint IEEM/RES conference on Entomology in EIA on 13 April and the a two-day Royal Society discussion meeting on predictive ecology on 17–18 April 2011.
Field trip
Dr Andrew Haggart jointly led a field trip with Dr Peter Allen on the Quaternary of the Lower Thames for the Essex Field Club, Essex Rock and Mineral Society and Open University Geological Society SE England Group on 10 April 2011. They visited a 4,000 year old submerged forest on the foreshore at Erith and Purfleet, Greenlands Pit, Purfleet where there are interglacial deposits containing flint artefacts dating to 300,000 years ago, and Chafford Gorges where they looked at Thames terrace deposits.
Conference presentation
Dr Julie Urquhart presented a paper by Urquhart and Acott entitled Marine fisheries and sense of place in coastal communities in southern England, at the MARE People and the Sea Conference in Amsterdam, 6-9 July 2011.
Royal Geographic Society
Dr Julie Urquhart and Dr Tim Acott co-convened two sessions (with Dr Owain Jones from the Countryside and Community Research Institute, University of Gloucestershire) at the Royal Geographical Society (with IBG) Annual Conference on 2nd September 2011. The sessions were entitled "Imaginative Geographies and Environment: Where Land and Water Meet". Dr Acott presented a paper entitled "Waves, Processes and Environmentalism".
Interreg IVa CHARM III project annual public meeting
Dr Tim Acott, Dr Julie Urquhart and Fakhar Khalid hosted the Interreg IVa CHARM III project annual public meeting at the Greenwich campus on 5 April 2011 for 80 delegates. Invited stakeholders included representatives from local authorities (in the CHARM case study areas in England and France), Defra, Natural England and industry representatives.