Mark Blacksell Public Lecture Series

Aimed at a wide audience, anyone with an interest in geographical issues will find these lectures both stimulating and informative.

photograph © Dan Raven Ellison

The Mark Blacksell Public Lecture Series

The purpose of this lecture series is to bring scholars working at the forefront of geography to University of Plymouth to present their research to a public audience. The lecture series is named after Professor Mark Blacksell, a human geographer with unusually widespread interests and expertise. He was appointed Professor of Geography at University of Plymouth in 1994, and served as both Head of the Geography Department and Dean of the Faculty of Science before he retired in 2003.

The list of lectures in this series, with links to a video of each, are listed below.

Linking life and landscape: How geomorphology and ecology rule the world

Monday 24 February 2025, 17:00 | Room 003, Babbage Building, University of Plymouth

Professor Heather Viles, Professor of Biogeomorphology and Heritage Conservation at the University of Oxford

What would the Earth’s surface look like without plants, animals and microbes? Is there a signature of life on Earth? Have life and landscape co-evolved?
These are the sorts of ‘big picture’ questions that the field of biogeomorphology looks at. But it also deals with more practical issues, such as nature-based solutions, rewilding and nature recovery. This talk will introduce biogeomorphology, illustrate the approaches and methods it used, and give some examples of recent ‘big picture’ and practical research.

Find out more about the event and register your place

What is going on in the Antarctic, and what is the UK doing about it?

Professor Klaus Dodds, Executive Dean of the School of Life Sciences and the Environment, RHUL

For the last decade, Klaus Dodds has worked in Parliament as a specialist adviser to various parliamentary committees on polar matters. This lecture will explain why there is interest in Parliament, how it unfolds and what it should mean for the UK as both a territorial claimant in Antarctica and a leading “polar science superpower” (to echo the policy language of the Integrated Review). Whatever happens, intensifying climate change and geopolitics risk ripping up well-intended plans.

This lecture took place on 23 November 2023.

Union Jack flag on a boat at Antarctic. Image for Blacksell Lecture 023.

Impacts of environmental and conservation policies on land use, livelihoods and wellbeing in Africa

Professor Katherine Homewood, University College London

Katherine’s research focuses on the impacts of environmental policy for rural development in the global south, including land use, livelihoods and wellbeing, and has been supported by RCUK, EU and DfID. Her work combines both social and natural sciences, and champions co-production of research findings with local communities and stakeholders.

Part of the Mark Blacksell Public Lecture series (with the Royal Geographical Society), this lecture took place on 20 February 2020.

Whither the wetlands? The world’s wet places and future climate change

Professor Dan Charman, University of Exeter

Academics, past and present, students, alumni and members of the public joined together to celebrate the achievements of 50 years of Geography at Plymouth. More than 5,000 students have graduated in the years since its launch in 1969, and it has developed a world-class research culture that spans smart transport to soil erosion, climate change to community resilience.

To celebrate the anniversary, Dan Charman, formerly Professor of Physical Geography at the University of Plymouth and now Pro-Vice Chancellor at the University of Exeter, provided a special Mark Blacksell Public lecture, showcasing the critical relevance of geographers’ work on the pressing global relationship between wetlands and climate change.

Guerilla Geography

In this thought-provoking and challenging public lecture, Daniel Raven-Ellison shared his guide to Guerrilla Geography. Giving examples of radical, alternative and creative public geographies, Daniel explained what guerrilla geography is, why it's important and how it's at the heart of the movement he started to make London the world's first National Park City. He also covered waterboarding championships, used mind-reading devices to explore cities and his recent 100 metre micro-expedition that will change the way you think about the UK forever.

Visit Daniel's website for more information

Part of the Mark Blacksell Public Lecture series (with the Royal Geographical Society), this stimulating lecture took place on 13 February 2019.

Is the UK heading for a Green Brexit?

Professor Richard Cowell, University of Cardiff

Richard’s assessment of this question examines the politics of environment pre- and post- the EU referendum; the UK government’s efforts to replace the environmental governance functions of the EU, and the cross-cutting challenges of devolution. In practice, any new, post-Brexit environmental governance ‘fix’ for the UK looks likely to be profoundly shaped by the greater priorities of trade and the constitution.

Part of the Mark Blacksell Public Lecture series (with the Royal Geographical Society), this stimulating lecture took place on 28 November 2018.

The ice age in tropical Africa: new results from deep lake drilling

Professor Philip Barker, Lancaster University

Professor Barker reports initial results from a recent deep lake coring programme on the slopes of Mount Kilimanjaro with the support of NERC and the ICDP. This links past climate change to human evolution in the East African Rift Valley.

Part of the Mark Blacksell Public Lecture series (with the Royal Geographical Society), this stimulating lecture took place on 14 February 2018.

Exploring Everyday Resilience: Resistance, Rootedness, and Resourcefulness

Professor Katrina Brown, University of Exeter

Katrina illustrates a human centred view of resilience, exploring dynamic people/environment adaptive systems

Part of the Mark Blacksell Public Lecture series (with the Royal Geographical Society), this lecture took place on 22 November 2017.

The Quaternary History of the River Nile

Professor Jamie Woodward, University of Manchester

Jamie illustrates the distinctive geography of the desert Nile in Sudan, presenting some of the latest interdisciplinary work seeking to understand how societies fared alongside a volatile Nile over the last 6,000 years

Part of the Mark Blacksell Public Lecture series (with the Royal Geographical Society), this stimulating lecture took place on 8 February 2017.

Common Ground: Geography and everyday environments

Professor Anna Davies, Trinity College Dublin

Anna Davies discusses the values we give to everyday lived environments, the ways we can enhance these environments and how geography can bring diverse stakeholders together in relation to the challenges of increasingly urgent sustainability transition

Part of the Mark Blacksell Public Lecture series (with the Royal Geographical Society), this stimulating lecture took place on 16 November 2016.

The Big Thaw: a warming, changing Arctic

Professor Mary Edwards (University of Southampton)

Mary Edwards considers the fragility of Artic systems, drawing upon examples from Alaska, where she lived for several years, and Siberia, the largest northern land area affected by arctic warming.

Part of the Mark Blacksell Public Lecture series (with the Royal Geographical Society), this stimulating lecture was presented on 17 February 2016.

Researching homeless people as if they matter

Professor Paul Cloke (University of Exeter)

Based on two decades of his own research, Professor Paul Cloke discusses homelessness, one of the most pernicious social issues of our time.

Part of the Mark Blacksell Public Lecture series (with the Royal Geographical Society), this stimulating lecture was presented on 18 November 2015.

Desert Landscapes of the World

Professor Andrew Goudie (University of Oxford)

Using his own field-work in many of the world’s deserts, Andrew Goudie discusses such phenomena as wind erosion, dust storms, pan and yardang formation, salt weathering, and dunes.

Part of the Mark Blacksell Public Lecture series, this stimulating and informative lecture was presented on 11 February 2015.

Why do we need to look at military landscapes?

Professor Rachel Woodward (Newcastle University)

Drawing on fieldwork and observations from around the UK, starting from an initial observation about the ubiquity of military landscapes, the talk is aimed at a wide audience - academics, the public and anyone with an interest in the armed forces.

Part of the Mark Blacksell Public Lecture series, this stimulating and informative lecture was presented on 6 November 2014.