Disruption Papers USAR and UTSG

David has recently uploaded the presentations he gave at the Urban Resilience and Sustainability Conference at UCL, London in November 2012 and at the UTSG Conference at Oxford in January 2013 to the Disruption Project website. To see the presentations follow this link:
http://www.disruptionproject.net/category/outputs

AQMRC PhD Progress

AQMRC staff have been busy supervising and examining PhDs over the recent months.

Jim recently completed his 30^th external examination of a PhD candidate when he conducted a viva at Trinity College, Dublin. Recently he has completed research degree external examiner duties for Newcastle University and Imperial College, London.

Ross Hunter completed his minor corrections to the satisfaction of the examiners. He will be awarded his PhD at the Geography and Environmental Management Graduation Ceremony to be held in Bristol cathedral in July. With the award of his PhD Ross becomes Jim’s 25^th successful research degree candidate.  

Jo Barnes and David Williams continue to make very good progress with their research and both will submit their thesis in 2014.

 

 

Mo receives IAQM Ian McCrae Travel Award

One of our recently completed PhD students, Dr Mofoluso Fagbeja, has just been awarded the IAQM McCrae Travel Award.

The award is for a paper presentation at the 2013 American Society for Photogrammetry and Remote Sensing Annual Conference in Baltimore, Maryland USA in March.

The paper is titled, "A subjective assessment of the suitability of SCIAMACHY total column CO measurements to interpolate reliable concentration estimates over a low-latitude region."

Congratualtions, Mo!

Visualising Bristol's low carbon futures: John Rose Award public engagement project underway

Thanks to the 2012 John Rose Award grant from the Institution of Environmental Sciences and support from Bristol City Council, Rose's low carbon Bristol public engagement art project is under way.
Rose's PhD research consulted a large group of key local stakeholders about how Bristol might meet it's 80% carbon reduction target in 2050, producing 2 different scenarios for the city. To communicate the results in an engaging way to the Bristol public, Rose is working with local street artist Andy Council to produce visual interpretations of these two difference scenarios. The public will then be able to submit their thoughts and ideas on Bristol's low carbon future through local digital democracy company Delib's 'Dialogue app'.
The first sketches of the two scenarios have been finished, with the final images coming soon. Watch this space for the opportunity to have your say!

"Scenario X": a globalised, high-tech big-tech, 'low carbon business as usual' future

"Scenario Y": a re-localised, high-tech small-tech, 'resilient restructured community' future

PhD Graduation ceremony

Mofolosu Fagbeja, Simon Baldwin and Rose Bailey were yesterday (26th July 2012) awarded their Doctor of Philosophy degrees at the UWE Graduation Ceremony held at Bristol Cathedral. Their supervisors and AQMRC colleagues were delighted to help them celebrate their well-earned successes and wish them all the best in their future endeavours.

Drs Mofoluso Fagbeja, Rose Bailey and Simon Baldwin

FET Doctoral Exchange

On 2nd July the Faculty of Environment and Technology held its annual Doctoral Exchange conference. Three AQMRC PhD students presented their work at the conference.

Rose Bailey's  presentation summarised her completed doctoral research, Jo Barnes presentation reported on her progress approximately half way through  her PhD whilst David Williams' poster presentation set out the context and preliminary results from his  work.

Many congratulations to David, Jo and Rose on their excellent contributions to the Doctoral Exchange Conference.

PhD Successes

AQMRC is delighted to announce that Rose Bailey, Simon Baldwin and Mofoluso Fagbeja will be awarded the degree of Doctor of Philosophy at the UWE Graduation Ceremony to be held in Bristol Cathedral on the 26th of July.

Very many congratulations to Rose, Simon and Mo on this deserved success.

Look out for the photographs from the graduation ceremony which  we will post at the end of the month.

Publication in the Journal of Environmental Planning and Management

Bailey, R., Longhurst, J.W.S., Hayes, E.T., Hudson, L., Ragnarsdottir, K.V., and Thumim, J. (2012) Exploring a city’s potential low carbon futures using Delphi methods: some preliminary findings. Journal of Environmental Planning and Management (In Press.)

Rose’s paper is now available online, at http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/09640568.2011.635192

The paper discusses the results from the first round of Delphi questionnaire survey that Rose undertook with a large expert group, to create scenarios for a low carbon 2050 Bristol region.

More information about Rose's research can be found on her webpage here.

Forthcoming publication in the Journal of Environmental Planning and Management

Bailey, R., Longhurst, J.W.S., Hayes, E.T., Hudson, L., Ragnarsdottir, K.V., and Thumim, J. (Forthcoming) 'Exploring a city’s potential low carbon futures using Delphi methods: some preliminary findings'. Journal of Environmental Planning and Management


The paper discusses the results from the first round of Delphi questionnaire survey that Rose undertook with a large expert group, to create scenarios for a low carbon 2050 Bristol region.
More information about Rose's research can be found on her webpage here.

Workshop held to discuss the low carbon futures for the Bristol region

A workshop discussing the outputs of a year-long Delphi consultation process on the Low Carbon Futures for the Bristol Region was held on Friday 22nd July at UWE. A number of key stakeholders from the Bristol region attended, from Local Authorities, Businesses, and other public, private and third sector organisations. Participants carried out a 'backcasting' exercise for two possible scenarios for a low carbon Bristol region in 2050, discussing the emission and policy trajectories necessary to bring about the scenarios.

This workshop was the final part of Rose's PhD research project, investigating the low carbon futures for the Bristol Region. More about the Rose's research can be found here: http://www.uwe.ac.uk/aqm/rose.html

The outputs from the workshop will be available shortly on the research page, at: http://www.uwe.ac.uk/aqm/rosesresearch.html

Mo attends GIS training in Germany

Mofoluso recently visited Infoterra, located in Immenstaad, Germany. The visit provided opportunity for hands-on experience with Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR) Satellite Image Processing and Applications, with specific emphasis on applications to emissions monitoring and inventorying. High resolution TerraSAR-X images were used to identify point, line and area sources of air pollutants within the Niger Delta. Emission stacks were also identified from the satellite images. The techniques of estimating stack heights from TerraSAR-X was demonstrated. This is particularly useful for data gathering over cloudy and inaccessible regions. The experience will form an invaluable asset to his PhD research, especially in the area of data gathering, identifying sources of emissions for emissions inventorying, and estimating stack heights useful for dispersion modelling. Click here to access Mo’s research page.

Dotun’s PhD graduation ceremony

Congratulations to Dotun Olowoporoku who received his PhD award at the UWE 2010 Award Ceremony on 17th November 2010 held in Bristol Cathedral. Dotun was also the 2010 recipient of the Dr Nurul Leksmono Prize for the most outstanding international PhD thesis on the subject of air quality, carbon management or environmental management. The Prize was instituted for UWE international students in memory of former AQMRC Research Fellow, the late Dr Nurul Leksmono. Dotun is pictured here reflecting wistfully on his three year studentship. Click here to access Dotun’s research page.

Rose to present at 15th IUAPPA World Clean Air Congress

Rose has been selected to present at the 15th IUAPPA World Clean Air Congress held in Vancouver, Canada, from 12th-16th September. The title of Rose's abstract is 'City-Scale Carbon Management: an innovative methodology for imagining a low carbon future', which will be presented in the Technical Session on 'Urban Sustainability Issues'.

More information about the conference can be found here: http://www.iuappa2010.com

The 2010 IUAPPA Congress theme of "Achieving Environmental Sustainability in a Resource Hungry World" recognizes the need for holistic management approaches to effectively mitigate potential water, food, energy, and environmental challenges. This Congress will bring together specialists from academia, industry, consulting, environmental advocacy groups, and government to present innovative ways to improve air quality, reduce greenhouse gas emissions, and minimize environmental impacts. The program will examine international, national and local-scale issues facing both emerging and developed economies.

More information about Rose and her research can be found on her web page.

Rose has just returned from the Second International Conference on Climate Change in Brisbane, Australia, where she presented a paper on her research methodology entitled "Envisioning the Future: a Methodology for City Scale Carbon Management" which discussed the use of Delphi techniques to imagine low carbon futures for Bristol. The conference attracted delegates from all over the world with discussions on all aspects of climate research.

More information about the conference can be found here: http://www.climate-conference.com

The paper will shortly be published in the conference journal, 'The International Journal of Climate Change: Impacts and Responses', found here: http://on-climate.com/journal/

More information about Rose's research can be found on her web page: http://www.uwe.ac.uk/aqm/rose.html

Congratulations to Dr Dotun Olowoporoku

Dotun has successfully defended his PhD thesis entitled ‘Delivering improved air quality through the local transport plan process in English local government’ His thesis was examined by Professor John Murlis, UCL, and Dr Kiron Chatterjee, UWE, and the examiners have recommended the award of PhD subject to minor amendments.

Very many congratulations to Dotun on an excellent defence of his thesis. Congratulations also to the supervisors, Dr Enda Hayes and Professor Graham Parkhurst, and the director of studies, Jim Longhurst, on a successful supervision to completion.

Rose presents at 'CATCH' project Climate Change and Travel Behaviour meeting

Rose was invited to give a presentation at the CATCH (Carbon Aware Travel CHoice) Interest Group meeting on 'Climate Change and Travel Behaviour', in Brussels on 17th-18th February.

Rose's presentation was titled 'Evaluation methods for CO2', covering methodologies for estimating carbon dioxide emissions from transport at the city scale. The presentation can be downloaded here.

CATCH is a project with the ultimate aim to reduce the carbon dioxide emissions of the urban transport sector by encouraging carbon-friendly travel choices. The CATCH project will develop an online knowledge platform primarily aimed at decision-makers, but also for citizens, businesses, planners, and other mobility stakeholders in cities. More information can be found on the CATCH project website at http://www.carbonaware.eu/

The meeting was hosted by Polis, a network of European Cities and regions which promotes, supports and advocates innovation in local transport. More information can be found on their website http://www.polis-online.org/

Rose speaks to year 12 geographers at North Bristol Post-16 Centre

Rose was invited to speak to year 12 Geographers at North Bristol Post-16 Centre at Redland Green School on Tuesday. She talked to students about carbon management and climate change, both internationally, and emissions accounting and mitigation options locally in Bristol. The students discussed issues ranging from international climate politics, renewable energy feasibility, and spatial planning policies, to energy efficiency in the home and public transport in Bristol. The morning aimed to provide students with a climate change case study for forthcoming AS and A2 exams.

Rose has abstract accepted for the Second International Conference on Climate Change

Rose has had an abstract accepted for presentation at the Second International Conference on Climate Change: Impacts and Responses, to be held at the University of Queensland, Brisbane, Australia from 8-10 July 2010. More information can be found on the conference website: http://www.climate-conference.com

Roses's abstract is entitled "Envisioning the Future: a Methodology for City-Scale Carbon Management".

Using the example of Bristol in south west England, the paper will discuss a methodology for how cities could respond to the challenge of climate change and capitalise on their unique mitigation opportunities. By engaging local stakeholders through an innovative Delphi-like process, a number of low-carbon scenarios for the future city-region are imagined. Using backcasting techniques, together with conventional forecasting, a robust pathway from the present to a future desirable low-emission city can be described. This will bring benefits to planning and policy making, by providing a low emission-pathway beyond the short-term, and creates buy-in from key stakeholders through the Delphi-process, who have helped to define the city’s future.

Read more about Rose's research on her webpage.

Rose presents at RGS-IBG postgraduate forum mid-term conference

Rose presented her research at the RGS-IBG Postgraduate Forum mid-term conference, at the University of Plymouth, on 7th March. The conference provided an opportunity for a large number of postgraduates to present their research, and gain feedback from other postgraduate research students working on all aspects of Geography. The conference also included poster presentations and exhibitions, and workshops addressing aspects of postgraduate development. Rose's presentation can be downloaded here.
Rose has nominated herself as next year's conference organiser, with the help of other research students in the faculty, and is hoping UWE will win the vote! Watch this space for news...

Research showcase posters

The Sustainable Energy and the Environment Research Showcase at Bath University on Wednesday 17th September was a resounding success with hundreds of delegates attending from academia and industry. The event provided a perfect opportunity for dissemination of the broad range of PhD and research projects currently being undertaken by the AQMRC.

Click on the following titles to link to the posters posted on the AQMRC website:

Integrated Management of Nitrogen Dioxide in Wales (Ross Hunter);
Innovative Learning Opportunities to Build Capacity and Capability in Air Quality and Carbon Management (Nurul Leksmono);
Progress, Barriers and Opportunities for the Co-management of Air Pollution and Carbon Emissions in South West England (Simon Baldwin);
Applying Remote Sensing and GIS Techniques to Air Quality and Carbon Management - a Case Study of Gas Flaring in the Niger Delta (Mofoluso Fagbeja);
Carbon Management at the City Scale: An Exploration of the Carbon Futures for the Bristol Region (Rose Bailey);
Managing Air Quality through the Local Planning Process: Challenges, Barriers and Opportunities (Dotun Olowoporoku).