EPUK-SW Division National Students and Young Professionals Competition 2011 - Presentations available

The presentations from the EPUK-SW Division National Students and Young Professionals Competition 2011, held at UWE on 28th June, are now available on the AQMRC website at http://www.uwe.ac.uk/aqm/training.html.

Jo to co-deliver EPUK ‘Planning and Air Quality’ Training

The South West Region are holding a workshop ‘Planning and Air Quality – appraising air quality assessments in line with the EPUK guidance’ at Bristol’s CREATE centre on 13th September. The training morning is aimed at anyone who needs to assess, evaluate and make decisions based on air quality assessments submitted to support planning applications.
The morning will start with presentations relating to planning policy, the 2010 update of the EPUK Planning and Air Quality Guidance, and issues relating to modelling and monitoring which might be pertinent to air quality assessments.
Following the presentations, there will be a workshop in which delegates will appraise an example of an air quality assessment, using a checklist based on the EPUK guidance. The workshop element will be undertaken in small groups, with plenty of opportunity for discussion and debate around issues which local authorities face on a daily basis. There will also be an opportunity for a Q&A session on the theme of air quality and planning.
The Workshop starts with coffee at 9:30am and will finish by 1pm, cost £25 members, £50 non-members. Attendees will be able to purchase lunch at the Create Café or in a nearby public house. Please contact Pete Fryer at peter.fryer@bristol.gov.uk for a draft program and to book a place.

EPUK National Students and Young Professionals Competition 2011 - June 28th - Bristol

History of the competition
In 2005 the National Society for Clean Air South West Division (now Environmental Protection UK South West Division) held a day to showcase student research projects on air quality management by students at the University of the West of England (UWE). In 2006 and 2007 this special day was opened up to postgraduate students at educational institutions throughout the South West and the subject area widened to include all environmental issues within the Society’s remit. In 2009 the competition was opened up to students from anywhere in the UK and attracted a wide range of entries.

This year’s competition
Continuing the evolution of this competition, entries are now being invited from both postgraduate students and any young professionals throughout the UK (e.g. consultants, local authority officers etc.) working on any aspect of air quality, noise, contaminated land, climate change or other environmental issue relevant to Environmental Protection UK’s work. This event provides a unique platform for students and young environmental professionals to engage with and disseminate their research or an interesting project to a variety of environmental practitioners. Entrants should be students or recently qualified professionals with no more than 5 years professional experience on the date of the event.

Entry
Entrants need to send an abstract on their subject (200 words maximum) to Peter Fryer, Environmental Protection UK South West Division Secretary, c/o CREATE Centre, Smeaton Road, Bristol, BS1 6XN or email peter.fryer@bristol.gov.uk Shortlisted entrants will then be sent full details and invited to attend the National Student and Young Professional Presentation Day on Tuesday 28th June 2011 where they will be asked to make a short presentation in a friendly, informal environment. Judging by a panel of experts from academia, local authorities and industry takes place on the day.

Shortlisted entrants will receive a free one year subscription to Environmental Protection UK’s new online resource, Essential Environment Online and one year’s membership of the charity. In addition the winner will receive a certificate, £100 and the opportunity to present the paper at the autumn regional conference in front of an audience of professionals. The precis of each of the shortlisted papers will be published in EPUK’s Briefing.

Entries to be received no later than Friday 10th June 2011

Selected participants will be notified by Friday 17th June 2011.

The Students and Young Professionals Presentation Day will take place at UWE on Tuesday 28th June 2011 (Room 1R021 in R Block UWE -10.30am – 15.30pm). Lunch will be provided for all who attend.

For further information contact Peter Fryer direct at peter.fryer@bristol.gov.uk. Please circulate this to all students and young professionals carrying out environmental research.

AQMRC workshop at EPUK

Tim and Jo held a workshop at the EPUK Spring Workshop in Rugby last Tuesday 5th April. The theme of the workshop was "Optimising the 'win-wins' - integrating air quality and climate change plans. The workshop was well-attended and provoked a good deal of thought and discussion about the best ways of integrating air quality and climate change through communication with stakeholders, both obvious and not so obvious, to achieve common goals. If you would like more advice on achieving integrated air quality action plans and climate change strategies, please email us at aqmrc@uwe.ac.uk.