Our very own Dr Lisa Baldini is making the Teesside University headlines with her research project aiming to reconstruct past climate change in West Africa.
The full Teesside University press release can be found here.
Category: Impact
PhD student attends IUCN Peatland Programme Conference 2024
PhD student Dilmi Mapatunage attended the IUCN Peatland Conference 2024, the largest gathering of 400 peatland experts, held in Aviemore, Scotland. The conference aims to showcase how the restoration of peatlands could pave the way towards transitioning into a green economy, and the role of healthy peatlands in supporting people and biodiversity by offering nature-based solutions.
The conference consisted of several plenary sessions on introducing the work of IUCN UK Peatland Programme and Peatland ACTION and delivering the key findings of the UK Peatland Strategy Report. Field visits to local peatland sites took place, to observe different peatland management and restoration techniques, combined with perfect weather and stunning views of the Scottish Highlands. Dilmi attended the Corr Riabhach demonstration site, which showcased peatland degradation and restoration efforts, such as erosion control and plant revegetation initiatives led by the United Nations. Dilmi presented a poster at the exhibition entitled, “Investigation of moorland burning and carbon dynamics for climate change mitigation”. Several delegates shared an interest in peatland burning and provided positive feedback and suggestions to refine and enhance the research.
The conference wrapped up with workshops and knowledge sharing sessions under different themes related to peatland management and restoration. Dilmi contributed to the ‘Translational palaeoecology and the art of collaboration’ workshop, engaging in discussions with a group of experts passionate about paleoecological records related to peatlands. Dilmi was inspired by the conference and looks forward to applying the feedback and suggestions received to further develop the research, and will attend more such meaningful conferences in the future.
Teesside Researchers Head Underground in Central Africa to Study Past Climate
Why would anyone venture into caves to study the climate? The answer lies in palaeoclimatology—the science of past climates. At Teesside University, our Environmental Science team studies climate patterns to help communities prepare for future changes.
Dr. Lisa Baldini and Dr. Jens Holvoeth focus on reconstructing past climates – Lisa examines stalagmites, while Jens studies sediment cores. These ‘archives of past climate’ offer vital insights into climate trends before the Industrial Era began, giving us a baseline to understand today’s changes.
Dr. Mehnaz Rashid specialises in climate modeling and GIS, focusing on the tropics, where unpredictable rainfall can devastate subsistence farming. Meanwhile, Dr. Adrian Dye, our glaciologist, studies glacier response to rising temperatures, especially around sea ice, to predict future ice sheet collapse. We also have resident experts in soils, peatlands, agriculture, greenhouse gases, and microbiology—all of these are critical components of the Earth’s climate system.
This summer Dr. Baldini headed underground in tropical Central Africa with her PhD student (a Teesside Environmental Management MSc graduate) and local researchers. Here, in Dengui Cave (Gabon) she explains how stalagmites preserve a record of past climate in their chemistry, helping us understand how rainfall and temperature patterns have shifted over centuries.
At Teesside, we’re committed to tackling climate change—past, present, and future. Come join our Environmental Science BSc or Environmental Management MSc course so you can help make a difference too.
A Special Lecture at Chulalongkorn University, Thailand
Dr Oluseye Oludoye recently had the privilege of delivering a special lecture at Chulalongkorn University, Thailand. Invited by the Department of Environmental Science, Oluseye’s lecture focused on “Application of the Theory of Planned Behavior (TPB) in Pro-environmental Research to Reduce Single-Use Plastic (SUP) Waste.”
In his talk, Oluseye explored how TPB can be used to analyze and promote pro-environmental behaviours, particularly to reduce the prevalence of single-use plastics, which substantially threaten ecosystems worldwide.
Drawing from his recent research, Oluseye shared key findings on the effectiveness of TPB in predicting and influencing behaviours that contribute to SUP waste reduction. His research highlights the potential for TPB to inform public policy, guiding the development of strategies that can effectively encourage more sustainable consumer practices. Oluseye emphasised the importance of interdisciplinary collaboration in addressing environmental challenges, advocating for policies informed by robust scientific research and tailored to the cultural and social contexts in which they are implemented.
This opportunity was made possible through the support of the Faculty of Science at Chulalongkorn University, facilitated by the Sci-Super Plus grant, which funded Oluseye’s trip. This opportunity not only underscored the global relevance of his work but also strengthened the academic and research ties between Teesside University and Chulalongkorn University, paving the way for future collaborations in environmental science.
Pic 1: Giving lecture
Pic 3: Group Photo
Pic 4: Group Photo
Pic 2: Q&A Session
Green Jobs for Nature: MSc Student perspective on employability
3rd Annual Tees Valley Youth Climate Conference
On 15 November 2023, Teesside University’s School of Health and Life Sciences, spearheaded by its Geoscience cluster, hosted the 3rd Annual Tees Valley Youth Climate Conference. In total, 70 sixth-form students from across the region and their teachers spent the day reviewing the evidence for anthropogenic forcing of climate change and exploring a wealth of options for building sustainable societies in the future.
At the start of the day, Keynote Speaker, Rachel Murtagh, Nature Partnership Manager of the Tees Valley Nature Partnership reflected on significant recent progress in restoring the Tees Valley’s natural environment from the ravages of the industrial era but underscored the need for ongoing and concerted positive action.
“Engaging in nature-based solutions offers numerous opportunities to collaborate with the planet in adapting to and mitigating climate change. Simultaneously, these approaches promote greater biodiversity and enhance human well-being by providing increased access to green spaces.”
Our own TU Earth & Environment Researchers spent the rest of the morning providing the evidence and varied solutions for climate change and, in the afternoon, led sustainability workshops on topics including food systems, renewable energy, and climate change communication.
We welcomed local industry (e.g., Northern Gas Networks, Biffa Waste Management) and charitable trust (e.g., Tees Rivers Trust, Durham Wildlife Trust, Middlesbrough Environment City) representatives who shared their climate-positive agendas with students over lunch. Several TU Environmental Management MSc students presented climate science posters.
The 3rd Annual Tees Valley Youth Climate Conference was highly successful and we look forward to hosting another one next year. If you are interested in booking a place for your students, please contact Kathryn Howard at shlsrecruitment@tees.ac.uk.
Archaeological Institute of America – Best Poster Award
At the annual general meeting of the Archaeological Institute of America (AIA), which is the largest and oldest nonprofit organization dedicated to archaeology. The Institute advances awareness, education, fieldwork, preservation, publication, and research of archaeological sites and cultural heritage throughout the world.
We had a the pleasure of presenting some recent research work as a poster, the team comprised of Dr Elizabeth Green, University of Western Ontario, Dr Rhiannon Stevens, University College London, Barbara Birley, Vindolanda Trust and Dr Gillian Taylor, Teesside university.
The poster title was Species analysis of leather objects and manufacturing offcuts from Vindolanda, UK. the poster was awarded ‘best poster’ which the team are delighted about, they are currently working on more results, using proteomics and looking forward to sharing more data soon..
British Ecological Society – Talk by Dr Desire Dalton
The British Ecological Society was recently held in Belfast
Dr Desiré Dalton (Lecturer, Teesside University) presented her research project entitled ‘Advancing the study of intra-African bird migration: Variable patterns of divergence in habitat specialists (Woodland Kingfisher) and generalists (African Pygmy Kingfisher and Diederik Cuckoo)’ at Europe’s largest conference dedicated to ecology, the British Ecological Society (BES) Annual Meeting. This year’s conference was held in Belfast (Northern Ireland) from the 12th to 15th December 2023.
Drilling underground – Dr Jens Holtvoeth
Last week, a team around Dr Jens Holtvoeth , including 3rd-year BSc students Connor Bishop and Matthew Oliver Jinks and environmental technician Miles Dimbleby, took part in this year’s Mine Analogue Research event (MINAR XI) at the UKRI Underground Laboratory in the ICL Polyhalite and Salt mine at Boulby. Every year, this two-week event brings together national and international teams of scientists, working on a wide range of subjects related to space exploration and extreme environments, for which the Underground Lab and its surroundings 1,000m below the surface provide ideal conditions.
The purpose of Team Teesside’s visit was to drill and recover intact large diameter salt cores from the so-called polygon layer. This deposit formed in the late Permian during the evaporation of the Zechstein Sea, about 250 million years ago, and is the main layer of halite (NaCl) at Boulby. It prominently features backfilled desiccation cracks from a sea-level lowstand that now appear as dark polygons in the ceiling of the many tunnels in the mine. Traces of organic matter preserved in the salt and the backfill material carry information on the microbial communities living in the brine at the time and the vegetation on the nearby land, which reflect the environmental conditions.
One of the aims of Dr Holtvoeth’s research is to produce a biogeochemical fingerprint of microbial biomass preserved in the ancient evaporites and to see how this relates to microbes living in modern brines in the mine. The modern microbial community will be further characterised through their DNA, which is the responsibility of Dr Caroline Orr. Such a biogeochemical characterisation will help collaborators at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory to interpret data produced from the same sample material by an optical analytical tool (Raman spectrometer), which they are currently developing for the next generation Mars rover. If microbial life ever existed on Mars, the evaporating Martian oceans would have been the last places where it could have been found. Thus, evaporites are a prime study target in the search for life on Mars.
A number of technical issues have hampered progress so far. Last week, the team had to abandon their sampling campaign due to electrical problems. It turns out that drilling and recovering a large-diameter salt core is a lot harder than anyone had anticipated. However, with the continuing support of the UKRI Underground Laboratory and the mine operators the team hopes to succeed next time.
The One Fifteen: How do we tell the story of a River
When is this amazing talk on?
It’s on 22 November, 1.15pm-2pm in the MIMA Study Centre – a rare chance to hear MIMA’s curators talk about the process of narrating an environment, the River Tees, and engaging with communities to do so.
Great if you and any of your students would like to come. Booking helps us – booking is at www.tees.ac.uk/events