inclusive mobility interest group

Simon Edwards

21.12.09
On 17 November Simon Edwards chaired the latest meeting of ITS(UK)’s Inclusive Mobility Interest Group at ITS(UK) headquarters in London. The subject of the meeting was Shared Space, that is, the removal of delineation between vehicles and pedestrians in certain locations (for example Oxford Circus and Exhibition Road, Kensington), and its impact on the blind and visually impaired community. Speakers were John Dales of Urban Initiatives and David Partington of GMPTE.

Niches+ workshops in Cork, Ireland

Simon Edwards

21.12.09
On 1-2 December Simon Edwards and Gareth Evans ran workshops for the Niches+ project in Cork, Ireland. The workshops, using a methodology designed by Simon Edwards, developed Guidelines for Implementers of innovative ITS concepts, in particular mobile travel information services and uses for environmental pollution data. The workshops also discussed policy and research gaps and recommendations. The participants represented Cork City Council, Trondheim Council (Norway), international transport consultants, traffic management centres in Europe and research organisations.

polis conference, Brussels, 10-11 december

Simon Edwards

21.12.09
Simon Edwards represented TORG and the Niches+ project, presenting a paper entitled “Innovative Concepts for Sustainable Transport in Cork City: The Niches+ Project” along with Ian Winning of Cork City Council.

air pollution project to be funded by UK education institute

Anil Namdeo

18.12.09
Bhama Devi Ravi | TNN

Chennai: Post graduate and post-doctoral research students of IIT- Madras and IITDelhi, and their counterparts at Newcastle University, UK, will soon be involved in analyses of traffic and air pollution in three key pockets of the three cities. The Rs 128. 95 lakh joint project funded by the UK India Education and Research Institute (UKIERD) will extend over three years.

“The thrust is to understand the differences, the characteristics of travel behaviour, effect of vehicular emissions in hot, humid climates and cold, wet and windy climes,” said Margaret C Bell, professor of transport and environment, Newcastle University. How the traffic flow and weather pattern impact on pollution would be scientifically quantified by the study. The results would be presented to urban planners for corrective measures.

Areas identified for monitoring traffic and air pollution include Sardar Patel Road and the Velachery Main Gate Road in Chennai; I-T Office intersection and near the IIT in Haus Kauz in Delhi; and at Gateshead, Newcastle Railway station and Gosforth in Newcastle. Density of surface transport and pollution are relatively high at all these places. Project coordinators include Bell and Dr Anil Namdeo a chartered environmentalist from the same university, Professor Mukesh Khare from IIT Delhi and S M Shiva Nagendra, assistant professor, environment and water resources engineering division, IIT Chennai. After a series of meetings with top officials in the transport department, Tamil Nadu Pollution Control Board (TNPCB), Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB) and NGOs, Bell is happy to have got the stakeholders involved in the issue of traffic management.

“There is wide awareness of pollution from traffic in most countries, and its impact on health. What we need are engineering solutions and attitudinal changes,” said Namdeo. In the UK, road discipline has come about, thanks to stringent enforcement and better public transport. “On Indian roads, fast acceleration and deceleration have become a habit, but such a method of driving contributes 50% more emissions from vehicles. Learning to drive smoothly will bring down pollutants by more than 25%,” he said. Bell pointed to the successful pilot testing of the ‘walking buses’ concept in Leicester, England. “The pavements have foot prints marked on them, and students who walk on them are ‘driven’ by ‘driver’ mothers, usually in the ration of 1: 4 . This has reduced the number of unnecessary trips by vehicles,” she said. Recycling of cycles, which are kept roadworthy by local engineers by schools, and companies encouraging their staff to ‘ride sharing’ and offering flexi time working hours have helped in not only reducing pollution levels, but have also freed car parking lots,” she added.

engineering education scheme 2009

Tom Bramald

17.12.09
Schools from across the North of England have been working with the School of Civil Engineering and Geosciences for three days as part of the Engineering Education Scheme (EES). The EES links teams of Year 12 students and their teacher with local companies to work on real, scientific, engineering and technological problems. The scheme provides
students with an in-depth experience in science, engineering and technology that will enable them to make an informed decision about their future studies and career. As part of the scheme in the North
East, students undertake a three day residential at Newcastle university.

Teams based in CeG this year worked on projects including the design of timber piles, investigating fibre glass as a material for bridge construction, and the problem of scouring around bridge supports. "We have seen some very interesting projects this year and it has been a pleasure to see school students enjoying the excellent laboratory facilities of the school," commented Tom Bramald. "Students have worked in our environmental, hydrology, materials, heavy structures and geotechnical laboratories. I know our workshop was very busy handling student requests too. The investigations have been very well planned and executed by the students and we'd be delighted to see them as undergraduate students with us in the future."

The residential event relies heavily on the enthusiasm and support of the CeG technical and teaching staff and the contributions of all staff involved are highly valued by the students, teachers and companies involved.

The students will return to the university in March for a Celebration and Assessment Day when they will present their projects to a panel of academics and engineers.

For more information about the EES please visit:
http://www.engineering-education.org.uk/

teachers update: the physics of GPS

Tom Bramald

15.12.09
Trinity College, Cambridge, the alma mater of Sir Isaac Newton, provided the venue for this year's Institute of Physics Teachers Update event. Delegates arrived from across the UK to attend lectures and workshops to update their physics knowledge and explore new techniques and ideas for physics teaching.

CeG's Tom Bramald ran four workshops during the event to highlight the role of physics in the ground, user and space segments of the Global Positioning System and to highlight how GPS can be used to support teaching and learning. "GPS offers schools a number of exciting opportunities, from giving an opportunity for outdoor learning through to exploring a modern day application of the theory of relativity," said Tom. "This was a great fun event to be involved with. There were some really good questions and discussions during the workshops and all the delegates seemed to enjoy the sessions and have something to take away with them."

The School of Civil Engineering and Geosciences has a long track record in delivering and designing sessions for school students and teachers on topics as diverse as extreme weather & flooding to GPS and GIS exercises. Anybody interested in finding out more should contact Tom Bramald (t.m.bramald@ncl.ac.uk).

Fenwick and Eccles site visit

Tom Bramald

15.12.09
Students and staff from across the School of Civil Engineering and Geosciences visited the Fenwick and Eccles land reclamation project in North Tyneside last week. The site contains several pit heaps, left behind after the pits on site halted operations. The heaps are still on fire in their centres with temperatures reaching several hundred degrees centigrade in places. Carillion are working to reclaim the site for development as a country park.

Tom Bramald, leader for the visits, said, "This has been a great opportunity to see the diversity of problems that Civil Engineers have to work with. This site presented some intriguing geotechnical,
environmental and site management issues. I hope that for the Stage 1 students, it will be a useful experience for the future and for the other staff and students that came, the visit will be a valuable case study to help consolidate existing knowledge."

CeG wishes to thank to Carillion for allowing and leading the visit.

CeG alumnus wins institution of engineering and technology global final

Phil Renforth

15.12.09
CEG alumnus Kip Cooper has recently won the Institution of Engineering and Technology‘s present around the world global final. Kip graduated in 2007 with a MEng in Civil Engineering after completing his dissertation with CEG spinout company Electrokinetic Ltd. He now works in New Zealand and as a Civil Engineer for Beca and has developed the drinking water infrastructure on Fiji as part of the Fijian Charitable Trust.

For more information see:
http://www.theiet.org/about/media-centre/press-releases/20091203.cfm
http://www.fijiancharitabletrust.org

region praised for electric cars project

Phil Blythe

4.12.09
ONE of the most powerful figures in the vehicle sector yesterday said the North-East was “looking to compete with the best in Europe” when it came to the development of electric vehicle technology.

Edmund King, president of the Automobile Association (AA), was speaking at the launch of a project which will see businesses across the North-East given the opportunity to use electric vehicles as part of their fleet to assess their practicality. Mr King, a visiting professor at Newcastle University, said it was a great opportunity for fleet users.

Four electric vehicles provided by Cenex, the UK’s Centre of Excellence for low carbon and fuel cell technology, will be offered to businesses running fleet operations for a one-week trial during the next six months.

Northern Echo article

newcastle university hydrogeologists create new teaching borehole array

Rick Brassington

30.11.09
The Geometry borehole project is featured in an article in this month's Geoscientist, the magazine published by the Geological Society.

The boreholes are complete and we have carried out the first pumping test and also used it for the first time for teaching students on our Applied Hydrogeology MSc course.

Newcastle University’s School of Civil Engineering and Geosciences is constructing a borehole array as a practical teaching tool for their Applied Hydrogeology MSc course. The six boreholes, all 50m deep, are arranged in a cruciform pattern with each borehole set at a different distance from the central pumping well. Located on the University’s farm at Cockle Park near Morpeth, the boreholes penetrate sandstone in the Stainmore Formation just below the Namurian/Coal Measures boundary. They have been arranged with one row running along the dip and the other along the strike to give geological variation. Geoff Parkin, Director of Post-Graduate Studies said: “In addition to providing facilities for demonstrating techniques of borehole design, construction and operation, the boreholes will also be used to study borehole and aquifer hydraulic behaviour and monitor the local groundwater environment”.

The borehole array has been given the name GEOMETRY (Groundwater Engineering, Operation, Monitoring, Evaluation and Testing (L)aboratoRY) and is the latest addition to the School’s series of full-scale Earth Systems Laboratories that include instrumented river catchments, an infrastructure embankment, mine water remediation sites, a sustainable urban development area and geodetic monitoring.

Rick Brassington, Visiting Professor of Hydrogeology said: “The GEOMETRY Project has only been made possible by the generous support of nine industrial sponsors that are involved in geoscience, groundwater and water supply industries. Work started in September with the aim of having the boreholes ready for students to use in the current academic year”.

satellite technology in bid to reduce quake impact

Sean Wilkinson

23.11.09
A team of scientists are heading to Sumatra in the wake of the recent earthquakes to investigate how new technology could be used to better prepare vulnerable communities in the future.

Led by Newcastle University’s Dr Sean Wilkinson, the Earthquake Engineering Field Investigation Team will use satellite photographs and remotely measured surface heights to assess the vulnerability of natural slopes to earthquake induced landslides.

“The aim is to compare this data to that which we collect on the ground,” explains Dr Wilkinson, who is based in the School of Civil Engineering and Geosciences.“If it works, then it will help us to assess the vulnerability of slopes anywhere in the world.”

The team also plans to look at how the landslides have affected infrastructure networks such as roads and power supplies and what changes could be made to reduce the devastation in the event of another earthquake.

“Infrastructure networks are absolutely key to post disaster recovery,” says Dr Wilkinson. “Keeping these working is vital and our aim is to further our understanding of what happened so that we can better inform engineers and disaster planners in the future.”

The mission has been funded by the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council.

two researchers currently activated on degradation

Jan Dolfing

16.11.09
Jan Dolfing in Martinique - Intensive banana farming practiced in tropical climates such as that of Martinique, leads to an increased vulnerability of crops to parasites and to the use of considerable amounts of pesticides. Chlordecone is a chemically stable hydrophobic pesticide that tends to persist in the environment and is known as an ecotoxic molecule. The use of this compound has been prohibited in Europe since 1990 because of its ability to bioaccumulate. As no other approved insecticide against banana weevil was available at the time, an exemption was granted that allowed the use of chlordecone in the French West Indies until September 1993. Soils from banana plantations in Martinique are now heavily contaminated with chlordecone. A team of researchers from Newcastle University, IRD-IMEP in France, and Charles Sturt University in Australia has looked into the thermodynamics of the degradation pathway of this pollutant, and found that Chlordecone can potentially serve as electron acceptor in anaerobic environments. This result gives hope that bacteria exist that can dehalogenate chlordecone, and may be a first, tiny step towards the development of methods to clean up the soils and sediments of this and other Caribbean islands.

Toute l'actualité de la Martinique sur Internet - FranceAntilles.fr
Le temps de la recherche est enfin venu

ceg students amongst university's best athletes

Tom Bramald

16.11.09
Three rowers from the School of Civil Engineering and Geosciences have had their success and commitment on the water rewarded by the university's Centre for Physical Recreation and Sport. Emily Field, Stage 4 Civil Engineering, enters the Elite Athlete Squad. A winner at Women's Henley in 2009, as well as BUCS medals in 2008 and 2007, Emily will benefit from the training, conditioning and academic support that comes with Elite squad membership. Mason Durant (MSc Applied Hydrogeology) and Andrew Corrigan (Stage 4 Civil & Structural Engineering) receive Sports Scholarships. Newcastle University is ranked in the Top 10 UK universities for sports and this year will seek an unprecedented third Stan Calvert cup in a row.

environment YES success

Carla-Leanne Washbourne

2.11.09
A team of researchers and PhD students from the school of Civil Engineering and Geosciences have won the semi-final of NERC funded entrepreneurship competition Environment YES, which was held 14-16 October 2009 at Eynsham Hall in Oxford. In true ‘Dragons Den’ style, Andy Goodhead, Joseph Harwood, Ernest Chi-Fru and Carla Washbourne pitched their proposal for methane capture business ‘Atmopshane®’ against competing university teams, in front of a panel of business and marketing experts. After rigorous questioning from the panel, Team Atmosphane® achieved a unanimous victory and have been selected to progress to the head-to-head final of the competition, which takes place in London on 14 December 2009.

first year students visit 'biggest civils site outside London'

Tom Bramald

2.11.09
The first year civil engineering students have all visited the works on the half-billion-pound New Tyne Crossing project as part of their studies for "Human Systems Demands and Impacts". Widely regarded as one of the biggest civils projects outside of London, the New Tyne Crossing has allowed students to see not only major infrastructure works but also start to gauge the role civil engineers play in meeting society's needs and wants.

Human Systems module leader Tom Bramald said, "I am delighted that after just a few weeks of study, we've managed to get the students on to a project as big and important as this one. The New Tyne Crossing is about more than infrastructure development - it's role in social and economic development will be vital and being able to show the students the importance of civil engineers' work so early in their studies can only be a good thing."

The New Tyne Crossing will see the construction of a new, immersed-tube road tunnel across the River Tyne, as well as refurbishment and subsequent operation of the existing road, pedestrian and bicycle tunnels. More information about the works can be found at www.newtynecrossing.info.

The School of Civil Engineering and Geosciences are indebted to Dr Cliff Jessett of Tyne and Wear Integrated Transport Authority for coordinating the visits and would also like to thank all staff and contractors at the New Tyne Crossing for their support.

Philip Leverhulme prize for Dr Matt King

Matt King

2.11.09
The Leverhulme Trust has awarded a Philip Leverhulme Prize to Dr Matt King, a Reader in Polar Geodesy in the School of Civil Engineering and Geosciences. These Prizes, with a value of £70,000 each, are "awarded to outstanding young scholars who have made a substantial and recognised contribution to their particular field of study, are recognised at an international level, and whose future contributions are held to be of correspondingly high promise."

Matt King, a member of the School's leading geodesy group, was recognised for his application of geodesy, particularly high precision Global Positioning System (GPS) positioning, to the field of glaciology. These efforts have led to new discoveries relating to tidal and hydrological interactions with the Antarctic and Greenland ice sheets. As a result, glaciologists are a step closer to understanding how these ice sheets function.

All prize winners may be found at http://www.leverhulme.ac.uk/news/PLP/

congratulations! WTS london scholarship won by newcastle student

Roger Bird

19.10.09
Founded in 1977, WTS is an international organization dedicated to the professional advancement of women in transportation. The London chapter of WTS has set up a scholarship open to any female candidate in the UK studying for a Transport MSc.

We are delighted to announce that the winner of this award for 2009-10 is Clare Woroniuk. Clare is studying for the MSc in Transportation Policy and Planning in the Transport Operations Research Group (TORG) at Newcastle University, and expects to graduate in 2010.

working with China on sustainable growth

Jennifer Harrison

19.10.09
Jennifer Harrison of CeG was recently invited to co-lead a working group on “Promoting Better Use of Cleaner Energy” at the 1000th Wilton Park Conference: “Working with China on Sustainable Growth: The Climate Change, Environment, Energy Nexus” from Thursday 8th to Sunday 11th October 2009. Following her presentation on “Cleaner Energy use in Rural China: Is Biomass Better?” Jennifer and colleagues were working towards identifying five key things that can be done in the next five years to move ahead on promoting better use of cleaner energy in the country.
 
The conference co-organisers at the China Media Centre were hoping to build consensus on how China’s industries, as they move from an export-fuelled economy to one that relies on domestic consumption, can develop more sustainably. Particularly in light of the global economic downturn, the question of how green measures can become an integral part of the country’s financial recovery and growth is ever more appropriate. The Centre for Land Use and Water Resources Research at CeGs, led by Dr Jaime Amezaga, are  coordinating the EU Aid Cooperation Office funded Re-Impact project on forest based bioenergy for sustainable development in Africa and Asia (www.ceg.ncl.ac.uk/reimpact), and it was in this capacity that Jennifer, Re-Impact project manager, was invited to attend. With case studies in China, India, South Africa and Uganda, Re-Impact is an international initiative working towards producing a Sustainability Assessment framework for bioenergy projects that could be incorporated into planning policy across the developing world.
 
Related links:
Conference website: http://www.wiltonpark.org.uk/themes/regions/pastconference.aspx?confref=WP1000
Re-Impact website:
http://www.ceg.ncl.ac.uk/reimpact/

accredited CPD courses in groundwater promoted by NE Higher Skills Pathfinder

Geoff Parkin and Adam Jarvis

19.10.09
Short courses in hydrogeology, developed and delivered by the School of Civil Engineering and Geosciences in collaboration with the Environment Agency of England and Wales, have been chosen as an exemplary case study example of collaboration between academia and industry to address national skills shortages.

5-day accredited CPD courses in Groundwater Chemistry and Groundwater Contamination were developed specifically for Environment Agency staff with additional funding support from the North East Higher Skills Pathfinder, which is one of three Higher Education Funding Council for England (HEFCE) funded regionally-based initiatives aiming to promote employer engagement in Higher Education. Following successful delivery of these two courses, a further contract with the Environment Agency was made for repeat teaching of these courses, and the development and delivery of a further course in Groundwater Modelling, which was already taught as part of the distance learning Applied Hydrogeology MSc and other programmes in the school. The School's Professional Development Unit provided valuable support for course development and delivery.

The NE Higher Skills Pathfinder project finished in September 2009, and promotional material on successful case studies is being widely distributed through the Pathfinder's networks. Dowload pdf of the Newcastle University - Environment Agency CPD case study.

newcastle university builds groundwater laboratory

Rick Brassington

16.10.09
Newcastle University’s School of Civil Engineering and Geosciences is currently constructing a borehole array as a practical teaching tool for their Applied Hydrogeology MSc course. The six boreholes are all 50m deep and are arranged in a cruciform pattern with each borehole set at a different distance from the central pumping well. Located on the University’s farm at Cockle Park near Morpeth, the boreholes penetrate sandstone in the Stainmore Formation just below the Namurian/Coal Measures boundary. They have been arranged with one row running along the dip and the other along the strike to give geological variation. Geoff Parkin Director of Post-Graduate Studies commented, “In addition to providing facilities for demonstrating techniques of borehole design, construction and operation, the boreholes will also be used to study borehole and aquifer hydraulic behaviour and monitor the local groundwater environment”.

The borehole array has been given the name GEOMETRY (Groundwater Engineering, Operation, Monitoring, Evaluation and Testing Laboratory) and is the latest addition to the School’s series of full-scale Earth Systems Laboratories that include instrumented river catchments, an infrastructure embankment, mine water remediation sites, a sustainable urban development area and geodetic monitoring. Rick Brassington, Visiting Professor of Hydrogeology said “The GEOMETRY Project has only been made possible by the generous support of nine industrial sponsors that are involved in geoscience, groundwater and water supply industries. Work started in September with the aim of having the boreholes ready for students to use in the current academic year”. Banks Mining, the North-East based energy company, provided their in-house drilling team to construct the boreholes. Water well casing was donated by Marton Geotechnical Services Ltd and the headworks casing and pipes were given by Blair Drilling Ltd. Dales Water Services Ltd has carried out a yield test to provide information on which to select the submersible pump that is being donated by Grundfos Pumps Ltd. The pump will be hung on Wellmaster rising main donated by Angus Flexible Pipelines and will be installed by J P Whitter (Water Well Engineers) Ltd. The boreholes will be geophysically logged for detailed geological and groundwater related information by European Geophysical Services Ltd and will be instrumented using Diver groundwater level data loggers provided by Schlumberger Water Services.

FuturoClays meeting organised by CeG and IRES, 14-16 December 2009

Maggie White

15.10.09
FuturoClays: Advances in Clay Science for Future Geological, Environmental and Industrial Applications, is the 2009 Annual Meeting of the Clay Minerals Group (part of The Mineralogical Society of Great Britain and Ireland) and this year will be hosted jointly by IRES and the School of Civil Engineering & Geosciences on 14-16 December 2009.

FuturoClays will bring together forward-thinking scientists from a broad base of clay research. Over-arching themes of the meeting include redox processes in Fe-bearing systems (e.g. soils, sediments and waters), applications of iron reduction in clays for contaminated land/water remediation and all other new advances in environmental, agricultural and industrial clay applications (e.g. development of organoclays and pillared clays) and clay materials analysis. We are also extremely pleased to welcome four internationally-renowned clay scientists to present keynote talks: Prof. Joseph Stucki (Illinois, USA), Dr Ravi Kukkadapu (Pacific Northwest National Laboratory, USA), Dr Eric Ferrage (HydrASA Laboratory, France) and Dr Deeba M Ansari (Imerys Minerals Ltd., UK).

Staff and students are encouraged to register and attend/present; for details and registration, please see the FuturoClays website:

Early registration and abstract deadline is 1 November 2009. Convenors are David Manning (chair) and Maggie White.

accreditation for msc environmental biogeochemistry courses

Martin Cooke

15.10.09
The School are pleased to announce that two of our MSc courses in Environmental Biogeochemistry and Environmental Biogeochemistry with Consultancy Skills have been accredited by The Geological Society and joins MSc Petroleum Geochemistry as an accredited course. The Geological Society states that “The scheme sets out to recognise MSc programmes that offer advanced professional and scientific training in a specific area of the geosciences. In addition, the Accreditation Panel will be seeking to establish that a graduate taking an accredited MSc will be gaining experience and insights directly relevant to a later award of Chartered Geologist (or Chartered Scientist) (CGeol/CSci) status.” Our commitment to world class reaching and research is further confirmed by the fact that one other MSc course in the world has achieved The Geological Society accreditation.

engineering cities: how can cities grow whilst reducing emissions and vulnerability

Richard Dawson

14.10.09
A three-year project led by Newcastle University for the Tyndall Centre for Climate Change Research has outlined how our major cities must respond if they are to continue to grow in the face of climate change.

The full report "Engineering Cities: How can cities grow whilst reducing emissions and vulnerability?" launched on 12 October. The report was launched by the government's Chief Scientific Advisor, Professor John Beddington and the Greater London Authority's strategy manager for climate change adaptation and water, Alex Nickson. The work was reported in a number of places including the Telegraph, the Sun and the Journal.

Using the new UK Climate Predictions '09 data for weather patterns over the next century, the research looks at the impact of predicted rises in temperature - particularly in urban areas - increased flooding in winter and less water availability in summer.

The report "How can cities grow whilst reducing emissions and vulnerability" focuses on the particular challenges facing London but can be used as a model for other UK cities on how policy-makers, businesses and the public must work together to prepare for climate change. As well as protecting our homes and buildings against the increased threat of flooding from rising sea levels, the report emphasizes the need to reduce our carbon emissions, reduce our water usage and move towards cleaner, greener transport.

Newcastle University's Dr Richard Dawson, one of the report's authors, said: "There's not one simple solution to this problem. Instead we need a portfolio of measures that work together to minimize the impact of climate change while allowing for our cities to grow. "Most importantly we have to cut our carbon dioxide emissions but at the same time we need to prepare for the extremes of weather - heat waves, droughts and flooding - which we are already starting to experience. "The difficulty is balancing one risk against another while allowing for the expected population and employment growth and that is what our work attempts to address."

Led by Newcastle University's Professor Jim Hall, the project is the result of three years' work to decide how our cities should respond to the threats of climate change. Promoting the development of cycleways and public transport, low-carbon energy and water recycling it also shows how solving one problem can exacerbate another. Dr Dawson explains: "Heat waves like the ones being predicted to occur more frequently in future are extremely serious, particularly for the eldest members of our population."To combat the problem we often resort to switching on the air conditioning. This is not only energy intensive (and therefore has potential to raise carbon dioxide emissions that drive climate change) but works by cooling the inside of the building and expelling hot air outside, raising the overall air temperature in the city as well. This can amplify what is known as the 'urban heat island'."

To reduce this problem, the authors show that one option might be to stimulate growth along the Thames flood plain as the water helps to keep the overall temperature lower. "The problem then is that you are building in the flood plain so you have to prepare for a whole different set of challenges," explains Dr Dawson. "Houses built on stilts, flood resilient wiring where the sockets and wires are raised above flood level, and water resistant building materials are going to have to be incorporated into our building plans. "Good planning is the key - we have shown that land use planning influences how much people travel and how they heat and cool their buildings, and hence the carbon dioxide emissions.

"Land use also determines how vulnerable people will be to the impacts of climate change. Our research enables policy makers to explore these many issues on the basis of evidence about the possible future changes and to analyse the effectiveness of a range of innovative responses, so they can better understand and prepare for climate change.

"The Tyndall Centre for Climate Change Research is funded by the Natural Environment Research Council, Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council and Economic and Social Research Council.

The report can be downloaded from here:
http://www.ceser.org.uk/demonstrations/cities/tyndallcitiesreport/view

Links to news reports:
http://www.journallive.co.uk/north-east-news/todays-news/2009/10/13/newcastle-university-study-outlines-plans-to-keep-cities-growing-61634-24913485/
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/earth/earthnews/6308141/Houses-should-be-buil t-on-stilts-to-avoid-flooding-scientists-recommend.html

mineralogical society distinguished lecturer

David Manning

6.10.09
David Manning, IRES Director, has been named as one of the two Mineralogical Society’s Distinguished Lecturers for 2009-2010. This honour comes with a price – he will deliver 4-5 lectures at universities around the UK, who will choose one of the two titles: “Mineral Solutions to Global Problems”, or “Minerals in Biological Systems”. Further information can be found on the Mineralogical Society website.