Tim Middleton, GfGD Advocacy Officer, interviews Dr. Andrew Longley, Director of the Nicaragua-based NGO Nuevas Esperanzas. It’s a warm June day, so I suggest that we sit outside. We take our coffees onto the rooftop terrace and admire the view across Oxford. Before long, however, Andrew is zipping up his fleece and starting to shiver; he’s used to the rather warmer climate in Nicaragua. In fact, ...[Read More]
Geology for Global Development
Reminder: GfGD Blog Competition
The GfGD Blog Competition is a great opportunity to put science communication into practice. Clear communication, particularly of complex scientific problems, is a skill that is highly valued by many employers. Good science communication is also essential for people working within NGOs and in developing countries to access beneficial scientific ideas and progress. We are currently accepting articl ...[Read More]
Professionalism and Social Responsibility (4): Popular Science Writing – Polished, Punchy Pyramids and Some Barbarously Bad Writing
Tim Middleton, GfGD Advocacy Development Officer, writes on a freelance basis for a number of organisations and was previously the President of the Cambridge University science magazine, BlueSci. Here he offers a few thoughts on how to go about composing an engaging piece of popular science. George Orwell had six rules for writers. It’s true that Orwell didn’t write a great deal of popular ...[Read More]
Friday Photo (90): Eruption at Sakurajima, Japan
An eruption at Sakurajima, in Japan on 25th July 2013. Explosions of this type occur almost daily at this volcano. Our Friday Photos for the following few weeks will all be of volcanoes visited by Rick Wall during research for his PhD at UCL. Credit: Rick Wall (c) Geology for Global Development 2013
The Complexity of Development
Development is a complicated process, with a range of considerations to be taken into account. In an article published recently by David Shukman (BBC Science Editor), Shukman poses the question ‘would you mine the white cliffs of Dover for £1 billion worth of gold?’ For those readers not familiar with British culture, the chalk cliffs of Dover are a national emblem of Britain, a landscape strongly ...[Read More]
Guest Blog: A Summer of Volcanic Observation in Ecuador (2)
David Litchfield holds an MA in Social Work and has worked in this field for a number of years. However, experience of travel and living in Latin America led to the renewal of a long-forgotten interest in geosciences and especially in volcanism. On return to the UK he completed a second undergraduate degree in Geosciences with the Open University and is currently studying part-time for an MSc in G ...[Read More]
Professionalism and Social Responsibility (3): Writing your Mapping Dissertation
So – you’re back from your summer mapping project, the fun is over, and you are faced with the enormous task of writing up your mapping dissertation. You should hopefully receive some guidance from your university about any specific rules and guidelines they might have, but here are a few general tips on what you could include: THE MAP ITSELF The map itself will be the centrepie ...[Read More]
Friday Photo (89) – Satellite Monitoring of Volcanoes
In order to monitor the earth movements in the Phlegraean Fields, near Naples, the Osservatorio Vesuviano, together with other national and international research institutions, has installed two artificial reflectors which can monitor slow ground movement over specific features or locations of interest. The parabolic antenna is used to transmit the data to a geo-stationary satellite, which then tr ...[Read More]
Developing Groundwater – the Drilling Weekend
Kirsty Upton writes about an opportunity offered by Hydrogeologists Without Borders… Following its success in 2012, HWB-UK and RedR will be running the Hydrogeology & Drilling Supervision training course again in 2013. The 3-day course focuses on managing and developing water sources in an aid and development context, and is aimed at (practicing or aspiring!) humanitarian water engineers ...[Read More]
GfGD National Conference – Conference Reading
In preparing for our first National Conference, we have spent some time collating a selection of reading material. We believe that this material and the accompanying discussion questions will help enable those attending the conference to engage with our work, get the most out of the conference and enhance the conference experience for those attending. For many undergraduate students, this will be ...[Read More]