2018 news and events

View our 2018 digest archive
2018 news and events

  

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Events

  • World Conference on Forests for Public Health, 8–11 May 2019, Greece
  • Invitation Bioregional Learning Centre, 20 November 2018, Plymouth.
  • Peninsula Research in Outdoor Learning (PRinOL) One-Day Conference, 18 January 2019, Plymouth. We will be re-launching the Outdoor and Experiential Learning Research Network as a regional hub of the IOL national network of research hubs. The network’s new name will be Peninsula Research in Outdoor Learning (PRinOL), and we invite you to its inaugural event to be held at the Rolle Building at the University of Plymouth, 10am – 4pm. In the morning Chris Loynes (University of Cumbria), Anne Finlayson (CEO of Sustainability and Environmental Education SEED), and Sam Kendall from the Eden Project have agreed to deliver keynotes; Iain Stewart has also agreed providing he isn’t filming! In the afternoon we’ll have workshops around health and wellbeing, youth and intergenerational work, a progression model of outdoor learning and Plymouth as a maritime city. Our aim is to get practitioners and researchers together to learn about the work currently being undertaken in the South-West, and to discuss avenues for potential collaborative projects. The cost is £15 per person, to include coffee, tea and lunch.

Digest 12.10.18

Events 

  • Introducing the Pikler approach, 24 November 2018, 9.30-14.30, Copmanthorpe, York
  • 7th International Adventure Conference, 17– 21 June 2019 Dumfries & Galloway, Scotland
  • Outdoor Learning Conference, 18 January 2019. Please save the date of 18 January, when the Outdoor and Experiential Research Network will be re-launched as the Peninsula Research in Outdoor Learning network at the University of Plymouth! We will be celebrating our new status as the south-west regional hub of the national outdoor learning research network, which is supported by the Institute of Outdoor Learning and led by Chris Loynes at Cumbria University. We’ll have keynotes in the morning and workshops in the afternoon – and look forward to seeing you there.



Digest 31.08.18

Events

  • Slapton Research Seminar 2018, 24 November 2018, Slapton, Slapton Ley Field Centre and Nature Reserve hereby invites proposals for 10 or 20 minute presentations from people of diverse backgrounds; including all levels of academia, amateur naturalists, citizen science and practitioner enquiry on a wide range of topics relevant to Slapton, spanning the natural and social sciences, including education. Abstracts of a maximum of 200 words should be submitted by the 1 September 2018 to: research.sl@field-studies-council.org. 

 

 

Digest 16.03.18

News

Jobs

 

Events

Funding

Volunteering

Digest 02.03.18

Jobs

Events

Digest 16.02.18

News

Jobs 

Lecturer in Outdoor Learning

The University of Edinburgh - Education, Teaching and Leadership, closes 1 March 2018

Short-term part-time RA role

Might suit grad students, recruiting for a research assistant to work on a small research project involving people’s perceptions of the concept of nature connection. It would suit someone with a social science background capable of qualitative analysis. 

Pay is in the order of £14.35 per hour, + option to enrol in pension. Investigating the concept of nature connection. 

The term nature connection (and related terms nature connectedness, connection to nature, connectedness to nature) is used by people from a range of academic and practitioner backgrounds. There are a range of academic perspectives working in this field from those interested in environmental / sustainability issues, and environmental education, through to those interested in health / wellbeing and psychology. The term nature connection appears to be used and understood very differently by different communities of research and practice. In collaboration with academics from Cumbria and Sheffield Hallam universities, I am undertaking a survey of those engaged in research and practice related to nature connection to gain a better insight on what these different stakeholder communities understand by the term nature connection, including those who work with nature connection as a recognised construct as part of their work, and those who use the term more generally. 

Through an online survey system (Qualtrics) participants will be asked to define nature connection in 50 words. They will also be asked some background information to enable us to characterise the respondent (while remaining anonymous) and associate definitions with different groups of respondents: practitioner, academic, disciplinary background etc. Analysis of responses will be by content or thematic analysis, using NVIVO or similar. Through the work, the student will learn to use online survey and data analysis software, and develop a data base of relevant literature on the topic. The findings will underpin further work on a systematic review of nature connection in the academic literature, and a bid for funding for further research on the nature connection – health – wellbeing nexus.

Contact: Frances Harris: f.harris@herts.ac.uk 

Survey

• Nature Connections Research Network survey

Call for Book Chapter

• Contemplations in Health and Wellbeing: Re-calibrating the Sustainable Development Goals’ Agenda. Deadline 20 February 2018

Research opportunity 

  • Developing a common Quality Assurance framework for Green Care: Kathryn Rossiter (Thrive) and Rachel Bragg (Care Farming UK) members of the National Outdoors for All Working Group (and Rachel is also a member of the OfA SRG) have asked me to share this opportunity with you for a research partner for work in ‘Developing a common Quality Assurance framework for Green Care’. The deadline for expressions of interest is 22 January. EOI and any queries etc please send to rachel@carefarminguk.org 

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Events