The Southern Ocean, key to Earth's environmental system, is threatened by climate change. A new paper in Science by Dr Catarina Frazão Santos, Dr Lisa Wedding, and colleagues, details how climate-smart marine spatial planning can support Antarctic seascapes, with implications for the global ocean and human wellbeing.
News
Emeritus Professor Robert Whittaker the recipient of the Alfred Russel Wallace Award 2023
Professor Robert Whittaker, Emeritus Fellow at St Edmund Hall and Emeritus Professor of Biogeography, has been announced as the 2023 recipient of the International Biogeography Society's biennial award for a lifetime of outstanding contributions by an eminent scholar in Biogeography.
Andreas Malm at SoGE
A year ago, on November 9th 2022, the Economy and Society Research cluster, in partnership with the Faculty of Philosophy, hosted Andreas Malm, climate activist, to speak on eco-sabotage and on his latest research on the politics of overshoot.
Oxford-led consortium wins £18 million in renewed funding for doctoral studentships
A consortium led by the University of Oxford has won over £18 million in expanded funding for doctoral and masters-to-doctoral studentships in the social sciences. The funding, awarded by the Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC), will support the recommissioned Grand Union Doctoral Training Partnership (DTP) which includes the School of Geography and the Environment.
BBC Countryfile investigates at Oxford's Wytham Woods
BBC's Countryfile visited scientists from Oxford's Environmental Change Institute (ECI), at the University-owned Wytham Woods, to learn about the threat of ash dieback and the work at the site of special scientific interest - known as one of the most researched woodlands in the world.
New training centre will bridge the gap between environmental science and AI to address global environmental challenges
Backed by over £15 million funding, the University of Oxford is establishing a new Centre for Doctoral Training (CDT) that will combine the university's strengths in artificial intelligence (AI), machine learning, Big Data, and environmental sciences. Over an initial eight years, The UKRI AI Centre for Doctoral Training in AI for the Environment (The Intelligent Earth Centre) - whose leadership team includes Prof Louise Slater, Professor of Hydroclimatology at SoGE - will train almost 100 PhD students to develop and apply cutting-edge AI technologies to tackle urgent environmental crises.
Child poverty: Could Wales cut rates by copying Scotland?
Introducing a weekly child payment system for poor families would be "transformational", according to Wales' children's commissioner. Prof Danny Dorling provides expert analysis in a recent BBC News article, discussing how the Scottish system has had a substantial effect on child poverty.
The ins and outs of writing an MSc Dissertation at SoGE
Writing a capstone dissertation is one of the most significant and (hopefully) rewarding aspects of completing a master's course here at SoGE. It's a daunting and almost mythical assignment that has both excited and terrified cohorts of MSc students for generations. Because the dissertation is arguably the most important aspect of a SoGE master's degree, many incoming graduate students will arrive with many pressing questions about what exactly writing a dissertation at Oxford is like. Emma Schneck, current MSc student, provides a brief guide on what to expect.
Storm Babet caused dangerous floods as the 'dry side' of Scotland isn't used to such torrential rain
Dr Linda Speight explores, in an article for The Conversation, why Storm Babet caused dangerous flooding in Scotland and explains how hydrologists are able to to use their knowledge of how water moves across and through the landscape and computer models to help forecasters identify where the biggest floods will be.
A Global Resilience Index: Supporting climate adaptation of global infrastructure systems
A new Global Resilience Index, developed by researchers at the Environmental Change Institute, is helping policy makers understand climate risks to global infrastructure systems and plan appropriate investments and interventions.
Conservation Comes Full Circle: A Master's Field Course in Tenerife, Spain
Raphaella Mascia, postgraduate student on the MSc in Biodiversity, Conservation, and Management (BCM) course, recounts her experience on the Tenerife field trip and the importance of positive conservation outcomes.