Details of new NERC PhD studentships have been published. The Department of Geography/Scott Polar Research Institute is part of the interdisciplinary, interdepartmental, Cambridge Climate, Life and Earth Doctoral Training Programme (C-CLEAR DTP). The DTP has fifteen 3.5 year NERC studentships to award to successful candidates each year, for PhDs commencing 2019 to 2023.
Camera traps designed for animals are now invading human privacy
20th November, 2018
Writing in The Conversation, Rogelio Luque-Lora, Bill Adams and Chris Sandbrook argue that camera traps are a very useful conservation tool but can harm human wellbeing and create conflict. The implications of camera trap technology for people's privacy and well-being need to be more widely and openly discussed, and good practice shared. Conservation projects need to make sure they have proper protocols in place to minimise social impacts and stop useful wildlife research tools from damaging both the short and long-term success of wildlife conservation projects.
This week will see the launch of Dr Maan Barua's ERC Horizon 2020 Starting Grant Project 'Urban ecologies: governing nonhuman life in global cities'. On the 21 Nov there will be an evening launch with a keynote by Prof Sarah Whatmore, FBA (University of Oxford) on 'Convivial Cities?', followed by lectures by Prof Ash Amin, FBA ('The metropolis and mental health), Prof Matthew Gandy, FBA ('From other-than-human to forensic ecologies') and Dr Philip Howell ('The trouble with liminanimals').
On Thursday 22 November this will be followed by a one-day workshop on Urban Ecologies: Feral, Cultivated, Wild, convened by Dr Maan Barua and Dr Philip Howell, which will focus on nonhuman life in the city, and how it might be understood through inter- and intra-disciplinary perspectives including human geography, behavioural ecology, ethology and urban studies. The workshop is supported by the ERC Horizon 2020 Urban Ecologies project, in conjunction with the Infrastructural Geographies and Vital Geographies Research Groups.
What's the best way to sample a tree ring?
13th November, 2018
A new paper by a team involving Ulf Buengten, Paul Krusic and Alma Piermattei explores the best way to take samples in tree ring research. Working with examples from 20 trees in northern Siberia, the team have found that disc samples are often quicker, extend further back in time and contain more low frequency information than cores. This means the samples are better at helping us reconstruct past climates.
Why conservation success stories in Tanzania need a closer look
12th November, 2018
A team involving PhD student Peadar Brehony explores the impact of new community-based conservation projects in Tanzania- and their sometimes limited success. Writing in The Conversation, the group are urging researchers, non-governmental organisations, funders, and the media to consider more carefully how their work affects rural communities and how to measure their ecological impact in more complex ways.
The Cambridge Geography Tripos turns 100 in 2019. We are celebrating with a programme including a Centenary Lecture Series, London public panel and Alumni Celebration Day. We look forward to welcoming you to one of our events soon.
© 2018 University of Cambridge
