News in 2016
- ‘Diamond-age’ of power generation as nuclear batteries developed 2 December 2016 New technology has been developed that uses nuclear waste to generate electricity in a nuclear-powered battery. A team of physicists and chemists from the University of Bristol have grown a man-made diamond that, when placed in a radioactive field, is able to generate a small electrical current.
- Understanding the Anthropocene: Teaching and learning about environmental change for the humanities 1 September 2016 Marianna Dudley (Environmental History) and Bonnie Griffin (Bristol City Museum) have been awarded Cabot Institute Innovation Funds to support students at the University of Bristol in their studies of the Anthropocene.
- The power of glacial flour 1 September 2016 This project funded by Cabot Institute Innovation Funds will look at a new path towards sustainable agriculture and boosted crop production in the developing world. The project will be conducted by Jemma Wadham, Jon Hawkings, T Davies-Barnard, Jon Telling, Andy Ridgwell (Geographical Sciences), and Alistair Hetherington (Life Sciences).
- Green & Black Ambassadors Initiative 1 September 2016 This project funded by Cabot Institute Innovation Funds will be run by Vicki Woolley and Ian Townsend (Bristol Green Capital Partnership), Roger Griffiths (Ujima Radio), Helen Thomas-Hughes (Law School), Helen Manchester (Graduate School of Education) and Kat Wall (Public Engagement). It will seek to address exclusion of Black and Minority Ethnic communities in Bristol's environmental sustainability efforts.
- Using local knowledge to elucidate co-drivers of disease-induced die-offs in wildlife and livestock under climate change on the Kazakh steppes 1 September 2016 This study funded by Cabot Institute Innovation Funds, and conducted by Eric Morgan (Veterinary Science), Steffen Zuther (Association for the Conservation of Biodiversity of Kazakhstan), Sarah Robinson (Zoology Dept, University of Oxford) will look at the drivers behind disease-induced die-offs.
- Cabot Cast - The Cabot Institute podcast 1 September 2016 Funded by Cabot Institute Innovation Funds, Alan Kennedy (Geographical Sciences) will seek to create Cabot Cast, a 6-weekly podcast covering the breadth of science researched within the Cabot Institute.
- Climate change and natural hazards in Afghanistan: implications for sustainable development 1 September 2016 This scoping project by Laura Evenstar, Steve Sparks, Francis Cooper (Earth Sciences), Peter Hopcroft and Paul Valdes (Geographical Sciences) and funded by Cabot Institute Innovation Funds aims to initiate a major study on climate change and risk from natural hazards in Afghanistan.
- Mapping pollinator habitat and identifying conservation opportunities in the Greater Bristol urban area 1 September 2016 This project funded by the Cabot Institute Innovation Fund will be carried out by Katherine Baldock (Biological Sciences), Shelly Dewhurst (West of England Naure Partnership), Becky Belfin (Bristol City Council) and Janice Gardiner (Avon Wildlife Trust).
- New Antarctic ice discovery aids future climate predictions 16 August 2016 A team of British climate scientists comparing today's environment with the warm period before the last ice age has discovered a 65 percent reduction of Antarctic sea ice around 128,000 years ago.
- Green and Black report 21 June 2016 In 2015 and 2016, the Cabot Institute worked with Policy Bristol, the Green Capital Partnership and Ujima Radio to explore issues of Black and Minority Ethnic (BAME) inclusion during the European Green Capital Year.
- Ethics of uncertainty 15 March 2016 Part of the Cabot Institute’s role is to bring researchers together who work on the same topic but from very different perspectives. Megan Blomfield is a philosopher in the School of Arts interested in environmental ethics, and particularly the ethics of climate change. Recently returned to Bristol from Stanford University to take up a lectureship here, Philippa Bayley picks up the thread with Megan.
- Future and Emerging Technologies research lays foundations for green software 22 February 2016 How many times have you reached for your smartphone and see that your battery is just about to die and it’s not even the end of the day. Frustrating isn’t it?
- Uncertain World 15 February 2016 During 2015, Bristol was European Green Capital and through a series of events and activities, researchers at the Cabot Institute explored The Uncertain World: what the world could be like if greenhouse gas concentrations were twice what they are today.
- Integrated Climate forcing and Air pollution Reduction in Urban Systems (ICARUS) 8 February 2016 Cabot Institute member Clive Sabel (Geographical Sciences) is part of a big collaborative project called ICARUS funded by €6.5million Horizon 2020 funds, of which €430,000 is going to the University of Bristol, the 3rd largest amount in this big consortium.
- Bridging the gap: Combining genomics & ecology to determine the effects of pesticides on bumblebees 4 February 2016 The effects of pesticides on important pollinators such as honey bees are well documented. However, although other species, such as the common UK bumblebee, Bombus terrestris may be more at risk due to smaller colony sizes and differential foraging ranges, these species have been less well studied.
- Stories from the Sharp End of Environmental Uncertainty 4 February 2016 Supported by Cabot Institute Innovation Funds, this project helped Terra Sprague to visit Samoa and Fiji to discover stories about the realities of living at the sharp end of environmental uncertainty.
- Input for the 19th Commonwealth Education Ministers Conference 3 February 2016 Every three years Commonwealth Ministers of Education meet in one Commonwealth country to consider emergent global developments and future Commonwealth plans for education. This summary provides an overview of University of Bristol input for this international event, and includes a number of links to further details of the 19th Conference of Commonwealth Education Ministers (CCEM) held in The Bahamas.
- Living ‘fast’ and dying young in Africa: Reproductive strategies when infection risk varies 3 February 2016 In this research project, funded by Cabot Institute Innovation Funds, researchers have been looking at how human infection risk – and perception of that risk – influences human reproductive behaviour.
- One Day: Day One and the future city – an exploration of rich and contextual data 21 January 2016 This research is being carried out as part of a multi-million pound UKCRIC project and will look at
- Small scale pollution sensors to inform city wide experiments 21 January 2016 This research is being carried out as part of a multi-million dollar UKCRIC project and will improve knowledge of pollution in cities.
- Moving in shared spaces 21 January 2016 This research is being carried out as part of the multi-milion pound UKCRIC project and aims to better understand the risks of shared spaces between cars and people.
- Hidden voices, invisible communities: Ensuring Bristol is open to all 21 January 2016 This research is taking place as part of a multi-million pound UKCRIC project and will focus on finding the best ways to engage diverse members of communities on city and social data.
- Bristol Community Energy Campus 21 January 2016 This research is being carried out as part of the UKCRIC project and will focus on helping to find the best way for local communities in Bristol to roll out smart energy infrastructure and technology in order to make energy and cost savings.
- Digital engagement and citizenship in the smart city 21 January 2016 This research is taking place as part of the multi-million pound UKCRIC project and aims to help make smart city practices more citizen-centred.
- The formation and evolution of the Antarctic Ice Sheet – a combined model-data approach 14 January 2016 As part of the NERC GW4+ 2014/15 intake, Alan Kennedy is working with partners from Bristol, Cardiff and Getech to understand better how the Antarctic ice sheet is affected by earth systems and mechanisms.
- What is the UK’s carbon footprint? 14 January 2016 As part of the NERC GW4+ DTP, Emily White is working with partners in Bristol and the Met Office to find out exactly what emissions are coming from the UK.
- What lies under the Greenland Ice Sheet? 14 January 2016 As part of NERC's GW4 DTP 2014-2015 intake, Michael Cooper in Earth Sciences at the University of Bristol will be working with partners from Bristol and California to find out what the properties of the bedrock underneath the Greenland Ice Sheet are like.