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DRR in Himachal Pradesh: the ‘HiFlo-DAT’ flood database
No full text‘HiFlo-DAT’ is a bi-lateral (India and UK) research project funded 2018-2021 by the UGC-UKIERI (University Grants Commission & UK India Education and Research Initiative), focusing on historical floods in the Kullu District (Manali and Kullu Tehsil’s), Himachal Pradesh, Indian Himalaya. The project team, comprising academics and state/district disaster management authorities, have generated a new historical flood hazard database as a foundation for improved disaster risk management functions in the region; it details 128 floods in the period 1846-2020 (175 years). This is necessary as current management relies on incomplete knowledge of past flood event occurrence, bringing elevated exposure/risk to development. The ‘HiFlo-DAT’ database provides a step-change, drawing on extensive mining of archive materials held in private and public collections in India, UK and USA. These materials include newspapers, government reports/registers, diaries, books, academic articles etc. Most extensive are English-language Indian regional newspapers, of which we have amassed overlapping holdings over 186 years (1835 to 2020), totalling c. 160,000 pages. Our acquisition includes coverage of annual periods where publications are digitally searchable (e.g. The Tribune, The Times of India, and The Indian Express). In contrast, where archives remained in an analogue microfilm format during the project data collection period (e.g., The Civil and Military Gazette, The Friend of India) we restricted data searches to monsoon season months (i.e., July to September) given this is the typical window for floods in the Western Himalaya.
The ‘HiFlo-DAT’ database architecture takes account of best practice, having systematically reviewed global flood database research in the last c. 30 years, in regard to database structure, data entry/verification protocols, analytical foci and societal impact. ‘HiFlo-DAT’ has 95 possible entry categories for each event record, which are aggregated into 11 groups (i.e. database management, citation information, timing/duration, location, causation and hydro-meteorological magnitude, channel/catchment geomorphological impacts, damage/destruction/costs, human casualties, pre-event actions, event response, post-event actions). The bi-lateral review of source materials and population of the database were governed by an agreed set of protocols to ensure robust and consistent practice.
Continuing analyses are focussing on event spatial-temporal signatures, flood impacts and the relationship between flood occurrence and rainfall conditions. The latter makes use of a unique long-term daily rainfall series for Naggar Farm, compiled from British government records (1891-1950) and current IARI (Indian Agricultural Research Institute) data (1962 to present). Interim analyses reveal:
(1) Flood spatial extents ranging from tributary to valley-wide scales
(2) Hotspot tributary locations with a high frequency of flood recurrence, and sometimes high magnitude impacts
(3) Recorded floods in 17 of 19 decades from 1840 to 2020
(4) Flood-rich decades (1890-1909; 1990-2019), and particular flood-prevalent years (1894, 2018)
(5) Dominance of flood occurrence in monsoon months (87%, particularly July and August)
(6) Highly variable and complex rainfall signatures, in which 1894 is a standout year; and 44±11% of annual rainfall is recorded in the monsoon season.
‘HiFlo-DAT’ is designed with capacity for future updating, comparison to flood chronologies derived from other data source types and will be open access via the BathSPAdata repository and HPSDMA (Himachal Pradesh State Disaster Management Authority) website in due course. In 2023 we are testing the transferability of the methodology to the Chamoli District in Uttarakhand, with the support of Turing Scheme funding
Supporting teachers with formative assessment in primary science
No full textExtended abstract for STEM conference hosted by the University of Sydney
10 signs for a park
No full textThe kind of signs you see in a park, but not the signs you see in a park.
They don’t point you anywhere, tell you anything or ask anything of you.
They point at themselves, tell you things you already know and only ask you to have a little think.
The kind of think you’d have in a park
Hannah More’s sympathetic strategies: 'Cœlebs in search of a wife' and the evangelical novel
No full textThe distinctive affordances of Close to Practice research: an argument for its deployment within postgraduate initial teacher education
Get PDFThe purpose of this chapter is to explore whether undertaking a scaffolded form of classroom-based research could support postgraduate university– school initial teacher education partnership programmes. Our design for supporting student teachers to execute a Close-to-Practice (CtP) based empirical study is described including methodological and philosophical underpinnings. Close-to-practice (CtP) research is defined as research that ‘focusses on defined by practitioners as relevant to their practice, and involves collaboration between people whose main expertise is research, practice, or both.’ (BERA, 2018). In the case of this study, issues were decided in collaboration between student teachers and schools. In terms of evaluation of the efficacy of such an approach, a qualitative methodology was undertaken, comprising of a critical discourse analysis of student teacher written research reports. Discourse analysis revealed that several sociocognitive processes took place during, and as a result of, student teachers engaging in CtP research, including explorations of identity, polarisation to collective groups, articulation and examination of beliefs and values and negotiation of existing power relationships and structures. In addition, the data showed that many aspects of undertaking a small-scale research study supported student teacher pedagogical knowledge acquisition and professional development. Student teacher testimony also revealed they valued this mode of learning and developed positive attitudes to educational research in the widest sense. This study has clear implications for the design of initial teacher education programs and the continued professional development of teachers, in England and potentially further afield
Advocating for livelihoods through social movements
No full textA social movements’ perspective provides a valuable way for looking at livelihoods due to the particular role of social movements in shaping social, cultural and political relations both from the grassroots level but also across scale. Geographically, we centre this chapter in Latin America, and thematically we centre this chapter on issues pertaining to rights. For decades, social movements in Latin America have advocated for the preservation, mobilisation and recovery of livelihoods through grassroots struggles for rights. We focus our discussion on three key areas of rights struggles: territorial rights, cultural rights and environmental rights. Importantly, we stress the interconnected nature of these different struggles and the multidimensionality of social movements, demonstrating this throughout the chapter. Conceptually, we place these discussions within a framework of decoloniality, understanding these mobilisations as contestations and resistances to the colonial matrix of power that continues to exert control over social relations and political structures. We ground the chapter in a series of case studies from across Latin America, primarily drawing on the experiences of various Indigenous and campesino social movements in their efforts to preserve, mobilise and recover livelihoods
Designated design: a plastics collection of national importance [group exhibition]
No full textIn January 2022, AUB’s Museum of Design in Plastics (MoDiP) was awarded Designated Outstanding Collection status by Arts Council England. This prestigious award recognises the objects in the museum’s care as forming a ‘collection of national importance’.
This exhibition is a visual representation of the national significance of the subject of the museum – design in plastics, the outstanding quality of the collection and its research value.
The Designation scheme, which has been running since 1997, celebrates exceptional collections and raises their profile nationally and internationally. It aims to reveal the strength of England’s leading collections and encourages the care and retention of the nation’s treasures.
National significance of design in plastics
Today, when many people think of plastics, the first thing that comes to mind is the negative impact they can have on the environment. Excessive packaging, unnecessary single-use products, and images of debris and waste in oceans, waterways, and streets are evocative.
Within the last 50 years, more things, and a greater variety, have been designed and made in plastics than in any other materials group. With no intrinsic form, texture or colour, plastics have released design from the constraints imposed by the inherent characteristics of traditional materials, such as wood and metal. This has enabled innovative methods of manufacture leading to colourful design filled with forms, textures and functionality that was previously unachievable.
Documented design history, like art history, has been dominated by privileged western, white males. MoDiP’s collecting practices address this by reviewing and developing its representation of gender and cultural diversity. The collection also considers how design in plastics can provide equity to people with a variety of restrictions and improve the lives of many
Evaluation of Live Life Go Further: final report
No full textLive Life Go Further was a three year project (December 2018-January 2022) funded by the National Lottery Community Fund, to extend and develop the Royal Society for Blind Children's approaches to working with diverse partners to deliver social and educational interventions for children and young people with vision impairment aged 8-25 years. The aim of the project was to enable the inclusion and participation of vision impaired young people in these opportunities, maximising the use of local networks to make this happen, and learning how to embed these approaches into mainstream provision for all young people. Other key objectives included partnership working, capacity building and scaling up inclusive provision to address unmet need nationally