It is now a year since the Natural Environment Research Council (NERC) announced the results of its first competition for ‘Doctoral Training Partnerships (DTP)’, and just a few weeks since each of the 15 funded DTPs welcomed their first cohorts of doctoral students. In this time, the training landscape for PhD (or DPhil) students across the environmental sciences has changed radically. ...[Read More]
VolcanicDegassing
William Dampier and the Burning Islands of Melanesia
A tweet from Jenni Barclay about a Pirate Scientist gave me an excuse to visit the newly opened reading rooms in the Bodleian’s Weston Library.. William Dampier was a seventeenth century pirate, and later maritime adventurer, whose several books of ‘Voyages and Discoveries’ make for fascinating reading. In 1699, he set sail in HMS Roebuck to try and find Terra Australis, a mythic ...[Read More]
Geology for Global Development
#EGU15 – Natural Hazards Education, Communications and Science-Policy-Practice Interface
Below we’ve listed details of a session that will be of interest to many of you at the EGU General Assembly, in Vienna, next spring. Many postgraduates and academic staff from across the UK and beyond attend this event, sharing details of the latest research they have been doing. The convenors of this session, including GfGD Director Joel Gill and GfGD Leeds Ambassador Ekbal Hussain, are kee ...[Read More]
Geology for Global Development
Images of Guatemala (5) – Lake Atitlan
Lake Atitlan, Guatemala. A picture we’ve shared on this blog before – but well worth including in our Images from Guatemala series. Taken from Panajachel, and looking across to the volcanoes of Atitlan (right) and Toliman (left). The small mound in front of Toliman is known as Cerro de Oro. The lake fills a significant caldera (volcanic crater), formed from an eruption known as the Lo ...[Read More]
Between a Rock and a Hard Place
Facing up to the big V
The nights are drawing in, the air is getting colder and here in Bristol it seems like viva season is in full swing. Enough time has elapsed since my own viva that I thought I would share my thoughts about what to expect on the big day. Whilst everybody’s experience is different, from talking to fellow alumni there do seem to be some common themes: Your examiners are human. The main thing to ...[Read More]
Geology for Global Development
Images of Guatemala (4) – Fiesta at Lake Atitlan
Fiesta at Lake Atitlan, Guatemala. Guatemala is a country with many volcanic hazards, as shown in some of the previous images in this series, but also a country rich in culture and traditions. The image above was taken at the annual fiesta in San Pablo, a small town on the edge of Lake Atitlan. During the fiesta a religious procession goes through the streets, with firecrackers being lit in front ...[Read More]
Between a Rock and a Hard Place
Building Stones of Clifton – A Walking Trail
In my opinion, there aren’t many finer ways to spend an autumnal afternoon than ambling round the historical suburb of Clifton in Bristol. Bounded to the west by the dramatic limestone cliffs of the Avon Gorge and the bucolic open downs of Clifton and Durdham, Clifton Village is a Bristol rarity, in only having been only partly subsumed by the neighbouring metropolis. Clifton is home to many ...[Read More]
An Atom's-Eye View of the Planet
How the air we breathe was created by Earth’s tectonic plates
How is it that Earth developed an atmosphere that made the development of life possible? A study published in the journal Nature Geoscience links the origins of Earth’s nitrogen-rich atmosphere to the same tectonic forces that drive mountain-building and volcanism on our planet. It goes some way to explaining why, compared to our nearest neighbours, Venus and Mars, Earth’s air is richer in nitroge ...[Read More]
Geology for Global Development
Missing Maps – A London Event
Information about an external event that may be of interest to some of our readers: “You are warmly invited to attend the launch of the Missing Maps Project, a collaboration between the Humanitarian OpenStreetMap Team (HOT) , the British Red Cross, the American Red Cross, and Médecins Sans Frontières / Doctors Without Borders (MSF) . This exciting project will draw on a massive force of volu ...[Read More]
Geology Jenga
After a busy summer, we have returned to the blogosphere…
Well, it has been a while since either of us has produced a GeologyJenga post, so first of all apologies on this front. We both have the same excuse – finishing our PhD theses! Our mutual deadline was 30 September 2014, and thankfully we both made it. The last few months were challenging at times and we both agreed that the feeling upon submission is hard to describe: certainly wonderfully joyous, ...[Read More]