Global Sustainable Development News

Entries are now open to the University's Global Research Priority (GRP) International Development photography competition for 2018/19. For the past four years, this competition has attracted high quality photographs taken in locations all over the world. The competition is open to both students and staff. This year's competition will focus upon the GRP International Development's theme of "Hope, Democracy, and Development".

There are two submission deadlines:

• Submission deadline 1: 20th December 2018 (for inclusion in the exhibition at the City Arcadia Gallery, Coventry City as well as the competition prizes).
• Submission deadline 2: 1st April 2019 (for the competition prizes only).

Prizes: First Prize £150; Second Prize: £100; Third Prize £50.

For further information on submissions and judging criteria, please visit the GRP International Development's website - good luck to all!

This summer, five second-year GSD students travelled to Nepal to volunteer at the Kevin Rohan Memorial Eco-Foundation, an organization promoting sustainability initiatives in the local community. Lucy Page and Marina Zorila stayed at the foundation for three weeks, whereas Clem Owusu, Ellie Church and Sara Shiraaz were there for 10 days. During their time, they taught English lessons at the foundation’s Waldorf-inspired school, contributed to the construction of an earthquake-resistant house made of recycled glass bottles, and worked in the biodynamic farm. The foundation also runs a jewellery workshop, called Mahila Shakti (translating to ‘women’s power’), which teaches uneducated women in the community to make jewellery made of organic materials. The women at the foundation, who make up 90% of the workforce, taught the volunteers how to make the jewellery and welcomed them into their Women’s Day celebrations to advocate female empowerment.

More information

Warwick SEED is an exciting new society, co-chaired and co-founded by two final year GSD students, Hannah Abdel-Hadi and Liam Shah, which is both inspired by and closely linked to its partner in Melbourne, Monash SEED. The specific focus is on social entrepreneurship, enterprise and impact, elements of business that often sit on the periphery among other university societies but, at SEED, will be brought to the forefront. Over the next year and into the future, the aim of the society is to provide alternative careers events, networking nights and much more to fill the gap between the charity and 'big business' sectors, facilitating partnerships with businesses both in the local area and on a more global scale.

Follow Warwick SEED on Facebook and Instagram to get all the latest, and contact secretary@warwickseed.org for additional information.

Ramphal Building, R3.25, 4:30-5:30pm - all welcome to attend

You are warmly invited to attend the School’s Volunteering Fair to learn more about the volunteering activities of students. The fair will showcase an array of different projects, with students presenting posters on their volunteering efforts on a local, national, and global level. We encourage you to take this opportunity to discover how volunteering projects can contribute to social change in so many different ways. This is also a great chance to ask questions and get inspired about your own ambitions. Find out what steps are required from the initial planning stage through to the completion of a project. Come with questions and leave with inspiration!

Applications for URSS 2019 are now open. This is a fantastic opportunity to undertake a unique research project during the summer months and further develop your research, writing, and presentation credentials. URSS funding varies depending upon whether you choose to research locally, nationally, or internationally. You can find out more about how to apply here - https://warwick.ac.uk/services/skills/urss/apply/

In 2018, GSD students completed research projects through URSS on the following subjects:

• Anna Matrai: The Enabling Environment of Renewable Energy Policies in the United Arab Emirates
• Feriel Bouricha: Ibadism in Djerba: Retracing the Apex and decline of a sustainable community model
• Julie Saumagne: A Critical History of Food Insecurity in Coventry
• Mariam Omar: Sustainable Living in the Hunza Province
• Nicola Blasetti: Impacts of Climate Change on Peripheral Regions: The case for stronger adapation and increased mitigation in Europe

Please visit the URSS website for further information - https://warwick.ac.uk/services/skills/urss/

Wednesday 14th November, Oculus, OC.04. 4-6pm

Dr María López (London Metropolitan University) will be delivering a presentation addressing the crisis of violence and security provision in Mexico. It addresses the violence affecting women in Juárez, where nearly 1,500 women have been reported murdered since the mid-1990s, and over 3,000 are still missing. Many of the victims are found strangled, mutilated, dismembered, stabbed, sexually abused, burned and with their breasts cut off in desert zones, vacant lots, stream beds, sewers and rubbish dumps. Elaborated pink crosses adorned with flowers and the victims’ names written in black on the crossbars are located by activists in places where women’s corpses have been found. They symbolise the urgent need for strategies to prevent new murders, the protest against the impunity for the crimes already committed and the demand for adequate revaluation of the ideology that ignores and sometimes justifies physical and structural violence against women in the region. The issue of femicide and the impunity over it ultimately provides evidence of the predetermined value on who is targeted to die in Juárez and why.

We are very fortunate to have Joan MacNaughton visiting to deliver a guest lecture on Monday 12th November at 10am in S0.20 to students on the 'Energy Trilemma' module. Ms. MacNaughton is currently Chair of The Climate Group and of the Advisory Board of the New Energy Coalition of Europe. She is also a Non-Executive Director of the James Hutton Institute and of the Energy Savings Trust. Ms. MacNaughton will speak on the relationship between climate security and energy security, the role of international cooperation in achieving these dual objectives, and her experience participating in the COP21 Paris Accord. You're very welcome to attend.

Register here: Saturday 10th November 2018, 2pm-5.30pm at the David Sizer Lecture Theatre, Francis Bancroft building, Queen Mary University of London. Dr Leon Sealey Huggins has contributed a chapter to a forthcoming publication, The Fire Now, edited by Azeezat Johnson, Remi Joseph-Salisbury, and Beth Kamunge. The chapter considers the underlying effects of structural racism that are an integral part of contemporary capitalism. It explores how these effects disproportionately expose people of colour to the deadly effects of climate change globally. To hear more about Leon's contribution to the book, you can attend the free launch event at Queen Mary's, 10/11/18, starting at 2pm. All are welcome to attend.

The work of five GSD students was presented yesterday at Warwick's Undergraduate Research Support Scheme (URSS) Showcase in the Rootes Building. Having spent the summer researching on a diverse array of issues concerning sustainable development, the students presented posters on the findings of their project. Nicola Blasetti also delivered a short talk to the showcase discussing his research with an NGO in Brussels. Congratulations to Anna, Feriel, Julie, Mariam, and Nicola for producing these impressive projects!

• Anna Matrai: The Enabling Environment of Renewable Energy Policies in the United Arab Emirates
• Feriel Bouricha: Ibadism in Djerba: Retracing the Apex and decline of a sustainable community model
• Julie Saumagne: A Critical History of Food Insecurity in Coventry
• Mariam Omar: Sustainable Living in the Hunza Province
• Nicola Blasetti: Impacts of Climate Change on Peripheral Regions: The case for stronger adapation and increased mitigation in Europe

Applications for URSS 2019 open Monday 12th November, 2018

Dr. Alec Waterworth has this month had a paper published in Energy Policy, along with his co-author Prof. Mike Bradshaw (WBS). The paper, titled "Unconventional trade-offs? National oil companies, foreign investment and oil and gas development in Argentina and Brazil", examines the industry's emerging new political economy in terms of competition both between and within International Oil Companies (IOCs) for rival oil and gas prospects. In utilising case studies from Brazil and Argentina, the paper finds that unconventional and deep-water projects are complementary rather than competing assets of an IOC's portfolio, along with clear evidence that political risk and instability as the most pressing inhibitors to investment. The paper can be found here.