Monthly Archives: December 2020

Stage 1 Agriculture and Environmental and Social Science Cluster – Posters

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Our stage 1 students have worked to answer a question on a topic of current interest linked to Sustainable Development Goals, having worked as a group, without meeting their group mates, and never having set foot in a lecture theatre or computer lab.

I am so proud of them. Each degree program produced at least one excellent poster – I have chosen from 4 of our degrees – Food Business, Marketing and Management narrowly missed my inclusion of their sugar reformulation poster

This first one from Countryside Management students is obviously on a topic close to my heart, though I had nothing to do with the learning or the choice of topic. I was not just impressed with how much relevantinformation they managed to cram into a small space, without really compormising on clarity. They cleverly chose the colour of Sphagnum austinii (almost) for their colour scheme and of course I liked the slightly daring pun in the title.
When I read the introduction to this poster from our Applied Plant Science students I groaned as I thought, this topic is far too big for a small poster, but then, as I started to read, I realised they had proved me wrong. A very nice poster summarising how plants could help meet some of the SDGs.
This was my favourite from the Agri-Business Management students because they convey so much information so clearly – and because it is brilliant to see our young farming community recognising the pressing need to alternatives to chemical pesticides.
I found it more difficult to choose between the Environmental Science Posters on impacts of Covid, and the nice one about solutions to the impact of wind turbines on birds and bats, but decided on this because of its clear layout and nice use of images . And I sort of like the bright colours – it is Christmas at the time of posting, after all. I think it would have been wrong to have not had a Covid poster…I just spotted the spelling mistake Shhhh!

Here’s how MSc in Conservation and Ecosystem Management can Change your Career

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Ray helping Elizabeth with her dissertation data collection on Lampert

Ray just messaged to say he has his perfect job with Natural England playing with GIS (as a GIS Analyst, I mean) to hopefully enhance priority habitats in Northumberland, like Lampert SSSI above. He says he can’t believe that 2 years ago (he was part time) he knew little about conservation and ecosystem management apart from what he had gleaned from volunteering with the Wildlife Trust. And now he has clinched the job he wanted where he can hopefully make the difference, doing the things he is best at. He formerly a physics technician and also runs his family business https://www.foldedsquare.com/

This might actually be Phil’s first experience of bird watching

Phil came out on an optional, for fun, weekend trip to Hauxley in February, where Elizabeth impressed us with her knowledge of birds. Phil know very few birds I believe, but got the bug and was out every weekend after that, Whatsapping us pics and eventually selling gear to buy new and better binoculars … he helped on the UG field trip – and I have just learned, just 2 years after that fateful day, he is working full time and permanent as a bird surveyor in an ecological consultancy.

… and Chris below has followed Laura’s example and managed to escape from teaching; he has landed a job with Natural England in Wildlife licensing, while Laura, who was with a a couple of years ago, will be next door to him in the Environment Agency

Ellie with the Crocodiles in Belize

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Wonderful to hear from Ellie (former MSc BCEMstudent) in Belize as she starts her internship.

Here’s what she wrote “I moved to Belize to start as a Community Ecology intern with the Crocodile Research Coalition, based in placencia lagoon. I will be running bird and terrestrial surveys, joining in on education and outreach and doing my own research project. The skills I learnt from the masters, such as research methods and stats will really help me, as well as the confidence I gained moving to a new city and working with people from all around the world. Thank you Helen and Janet and Simon!!”