Tagged / environment

Portugal & Spain EcoSal Research Trip 24th–31st March 2012

BU research

The last week in March, Dr Roger Herbert and Prof Richard Stillman led a research team to collect samples of mud and benthic invertebrates from salinas (saltworking sites) along the Atlantic coast of Portugal and Spain. The BU team comprised five Applied Sciences undergraduates – Caitriona Shannon, Jemma Fowler, Karen Saunders, David Hartnell, and Rebecca Brown – plus research assistant Chris Moody and PhD student Kathryn Ross. The team assisted with mud sampling, sieving, data logging and recording.

The trip was organised as part of the EcoSal Atlantis project – a European Interreg IVb project which is gathering information about the heritage and biodiversity of saltworking sites along the Atlantic Coast of Europe, to inform and promote sustainable management of the sites (http://ecosal-atlantis.ua.pt). The project has partners in Portugal, Spain, France, and the United Kingdom. Prof. Mark Brisbane at Bournemouth University is the UK national co-ordinator.
(http://www.bournemouth.ac.uk/applied-sciences/research/ecosal-atlantis/uk-project.html)

The sites we visited varied from small-scale commercial enterprises to those more focused on tourism and biodiversity conservation, but all sites provided some interesting insights into how management can improve the quality of a site for certain bird species.

The purpose of our trip was to collect information on the diversity and abundance of benthic invertebrate fauna in salinas. At each salina, 3 mud cores were taken from 5 sites within the reservoirs and evaporation ponds to examine the invertebrates and a further core was taken to determine the sediment composition. Samples for benthic invertebrates were sieved on-site and preserved, and further processing and species identification will be done at Bournemouth University. At each site the depth, temperature and salinity were recorded to determine the effect of these factors on invertebrate distributions. Results from the analysis combined with data obtained from other sites sampled in north Portugal, France and in the UK, will help to characterise the benthic fauna of lagoons and salinas and contribute to understanding of the ecological value of the sites.

    

Below is a short summary of the trip, including photographs from each of the sites visited and a list of bird species observed.

We arrived at Lisbon at 19.00 on Saturday 24th, and were greeted at the airport by the EcoSal national coordinator for Portugal, Renato Neves, who accompanied us to our first study site, Salinas dos Samaouco (http://www.salinasdosamouco.pt/), on the Tagus estuary, where we stayed the night at the field centre. Within the first few minutes of waking up in the morning we got spectacular views of black-winged stilts, avocets and an osprey. Butterflies such as the swallowtail were abundant at the site. A flock of juvenile flamingos were feeding in one of the reservoirs.

From Sunday 25th – Tuesday 27th we stayed at the Arocha Trust field centre ‘Cruzhina’, (http://www.arocha.org/pt-en/index.html), where we were warmly welcomed by the Felgueiras family and other staff . Arocha is an international environmental charity that does a lot of bird ringing and other field survey work in the Algarve.

While based at Arocha, we sampled the nearby abandoned Salinas at Odiáxere, where we found Kentish plovers displaying at a potential nesting sites. Black-winged stilts and redshank were also present at the site. Crested lark and corn bunting were also observed close by.

The Salinas at Castro Marim, close to the Portuguese/Spanish border were particularly good for bird life. We observed spoonbills, black-winged stilts, avocets, little stints, dunlin, common and spotted redshank and common sandpiper feeding in the Salinas. Birds of prey were very common and we were treated to some great views of marsh harrier, Bonelli’s eagle and short-toed eagle.

For the remainder of the trip, we stayed at the Los Gallos Hotel in Cadiz. Unfortunately the Spanish weather was not quite as obliging as the Portuguese weather had been, and we spent much of the next few days making sure the wind did not blow away our equipment or the smaller members of the team.

Our first Spanish Salina, San Vicente, in Cadiz http://www.salinasanvicente.es/, was probably the most active site we visited, with mountains of salt and machinery dotted around the site. Slender-billed gulls were common at the site. The site was also a good example of how diversification is important for making Salinas commercially successful – the main building housed a function room that is used for wedding receptions, and a restaurant where the various mixtures of flavoured salt are showcased in the recipes. The premium product, ‘Flor de Sal’ is sold internationally, with Harrods in the UK being a major customer. 

 

It was furiously windy when we did our sampling, but the site manager’s father still assisted us in gathering some samples of Artemia, the small saltwater crustacean that forms an important part of many birds, and is responsible for the pink colour of flamingos.

That same windy afternoon, we were offered a tour of a very different type of salina from Dr. Alejandro Pérez Hurtado  from Cadiz University. La Esperanza Grande salina is partly owned and managed by Cadiz University, and is intensely managed for the benefit of the birds and rigourously monitored to determine the effects of various factors such as water levels, vegetation density, and height of the walls of the ponds, on the birds foraging behaviour and breeding success. From this year it will also be involved with various community projects to tackle the issue of high youth unemployment in Cadiz.

The final site we surveyed, Salina de Chiclana http://www.salinasdechiclana.com/, was also predominantly focussed on education and conservation. There was a marvellous visitor’s centre explaining the process of saltmaking with a lot of information on birds. Like the previous site, Chiclana puts much effort into managing the site for birds. We were lucky enough to have some bee-eaters fly past us as we took our final mud samples for the trip – a perfect end to a memorable week.

Bird list for the trip.

While the Salinas provided us with some excellent views of various waders, wildfowl and gulls, we also took advantage of the time between fieldwork to explore some of the other local avifauna. A few of the species observed on the trip, such as the great and little bustards were ‘life ticks’, even for Richard and Roger, so it was an exciting and educational experience for all of us. The entire list of species observed on the trip is detailed below.

Acknowledgements

Renato Neves , Portugal National co-ordinator;

Márcia Pinto and staff at Samouco Salinas Foundation, Lisbon;

Marcial Felgueiras, Arocha Portugal;

Anabela Resende and Filipe Moniz at Castro Marim;

Manuel Ruiz and staff at Salinas de San Vicente, Cadiz;

Dr. Alejandro Pérez Hurtado from Cadiz University;

Inmaculada Saludo at Salinas de Chiclana, Cadiz;

Lola Alcon Mestre, Fundacion Andanatura, Seville.

 

 Table 1. Bird list for Eco Sal Portugal/Spain trip March 24-31st, 2012.

Common name Latin name Group
Bee-eater Merops Apiaster Bee-eater
Black-winged kite Elanus caeruleus Birds of prey
Bonelli’s Eagle Aquila fasciata Birds of prey
Kestrel Falco tinnunculus Birds of prey
Lesser kestrel Falco naumanni Birds of prey
Marsh harrier Circus aeruginosus Birds of prey
Montagu’s harrier Circus pygargus Birds of prey
Osprey Pandion haliaetus Birds of prey
Red kite Milvus milvus Birds of prey
Short-toed eagle Circaetus gallicus Birds of prey
Corn bunting Emberiza calandra Buntings
Great bustard Otis tarda Bustards
Little bustard Tetrax tetrax Bustards
Cormorant Phalacrocorax carbo Cormorants
Azure-winged magpie Cyanopica cyanus Crows
Carrion crow Corvus corone Crows
Magpie Pica pica Crows
Goldfinch Carduelis carduelis Finches
Greenfinch Chloris chloris Finches
Linnet Carduelis cannabina Finches
Serin Serinus serinus Finches
Black-headed gull Chroicocephalus ridibundus Gulls
Great black-backed gull Larus marinus Gulls
Slender-billed gull Chroicocephalus genei Gulls
Yellow-legged gull Larus michahellis Gulls
Cattle egret Bubulcus ibis Herons, storks, flamingos, spoonbills
Flamingo Phoenicopterus roseus Herons, storks, flamingos, spoonbills
Grey heron Ardea cinerea Herons, storks, flamingos, spoonbills
Little egret Egretta garzetta Herons, storks, flamingos, spoonbills
Spoonbill Platalea leucorodia Herons, storks, flamingos, spoonbills
White stork Ciconia ciconia Herons, storks, flamingos, spoonbills
Hoopoe Upupa epops Hoopoe
Common waxbill Estrilda astrild Introduced & escapees
Rose-ringed parakeet Psitticula krameri Introduced & escapees
Crested lark Galerida cristata Larks
Short-toed lark Calandrella brachydactyla Larks
Thekla lark Galerida theklae Larks
Barn owl Tyto alba Owls
Pheasant Phasianus colchicus Partridges & Pheasants
Quail* Cotumix coturnix Partridges & Pheasants
Red-legged partridge Alectoris rufa Partridges & Pheasants
Feral pigeon Columba livia Pigeons & Doves
Stock dove Columba oenas Pigeons & Doves
Wood pigeon Columba polumbus Pigeons & Doves
Coot Fulica atra Rails & Crakes
Moorhen Gallinula chloropus Rails & Crakes
House sparrow Passer domesticus Sparrows
Spotless starling Sturnus unicolor Starlings
Starling Sturnus vulgaris Starlings
Barn swallow Hirundo rustica Swallows and martins
House martin Delichon urbicum Swallows and martins
Swift Apus apus Swifts
Sandwich tern Sterna sandvicensis Terns
Blackbird Turdus merula Thrushes
Stonechat Saxicola torquatus Thrushes
Wheatear Oenanthe oenanthe Thrushes
Great tit Parus major Tits
Avocet (pied) Recurvirostra avocetta Waders
Black-tailed godwit Limosa limosa Waders
Black-winged stilt Himantopus himantopus Waders
Common sandpiper Actitis hypoleucos Waders
Dunlin Calidris alpina Waders
Greenshank Tringa nebularia Waders
Grey plover Pluvialis squatorola Waders
Kentish plover Charadrius alexandrinus Waders
Little ringed plover Charadrius dubius Waders
Little stint Calidris minuta Waders
Redshank Tringa totanus Waders
Ringed plover Charadrius hiaticula Waders
Spotted redshank Tringa erythropus Waders
Turnstone Arenaria interpres Waders
White (pied) wagtail Motacilla alba Wagtails
Yellow wagtail Motacilla flava Wagtails
Cetti’s warbler* Cettia cetti Warblers
Fan-tailed warbler Cisticola juncidis Warblers
Sardinian warbler Sylvia melanocephala Warblers
Gadwall Anas strepera Wildfowl
Garganey Anas querquedula Wildfowl
Mallard Anas platyrhynchos Wildfowl
Shoveler Anas clypeata Wildfowl
Wren Troglodytes troglodytes Wren

*heard only

This repoirt was written by BU PhD student Kathryn Ross. All photos are courtesy of Kathryn Ross and Chris Moody.

EU Green Week Conference 2012 – a great opportunity to network for Partners

EU

The 12th annual Green Week (the biggest annual conference on European environment policy) will take place from 22 to 25 May 2012 in Brussels. Last year’s Green Week conference attracted over three thousand participants from government, business and industry, non-governmental organisations, academia and the media.
This year’s theme is ‘Water’. There will be over 40 sessions overall, including a sessionon the afternoon of the 24 May on European Innovation Partnerships (EIPs), which will focus on the proposed EIPs for Water and for Sustainable Agriculture, both of which are currently under development; and two sessions on “Science in support of evidence-based environmental policy making (Part I)”, which are being held in partnership with the Commission’s Directorate General for Research and Innovation (DG RTD).
If you are looking to network, this is a fantastic place to do so!

Likely calls to be released under Health, Environment and Science in Society FP7 themes

EU

top secretThe Work Programmes are still being finalised and due for release in July, but I have obtained information about some of the likely calls that may come out.

I am excited that one of the areas I have info on is the new Science in Society theme. I also have updated information on the FP7 Health theme and also an update on the FP7 Environment theme which also has the anticipated date for the Information Day- the key opportunity to find partners and discover more about the calls for proposals. 

This information is highly confidential and for this reason has been placed on our I drive. You can access this and info on the other likely calls in different thematic areas here: I:\R&KEO\Public\RDU\Draft Work Programmes for 2012-13 . The information is to be treated with caution as it is based on draft documentation and is for BU staff only; this is not for circulation.

Reading likely areas of funding in FP7 is critical as it gives you months of extra preparatory time and a fantastic head start on writing your proposal. If you are thinking of making a submission, send me an email and I can help you pull your application together.

Insight into FP7 Environment next round of funding & Info Day next month

EU

We have managed to obtain information related to the FP7 Environment funding theme for 2013. This information indicates what areas may be funded, so gives you a real head start to make contacts and develop a cohort of researchers for a submission. This is highly sensitive information and not to be circulated outside of BU, which is why I have placed this info on the I drive: I:\R&KEO\Public\RDU\Draft Work Programmes for 2012-13

 

The UK National Contact Point (NCP) for the Intelligent Energy Europe is holding an information day on the 2012 call on 1st Feb in London. Places are limited and in order to ensure that as many key market actors (the Commission’s target audience for the IEE II Programme) as possible can attend the NCP will review the registration requests on January 20th prior to sending out confirmations the following week. You can register for the event here.

Report: skills for a Green Economy

This is a joint HM Government report with contributions from the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills, the Department of Energy and Climate Change, and the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs.
http://www.bis.gov.uk/policies/further-education-skills/skills-for-green-economy
It reports on a project undertaken to identify the skills needed for a transition to a green economy. It is not directed at HE but begs the question as to what kind of curriculum we might have at BU to ensure that our students are adequately prepared for a green economy and can contribute to sustainable development?

Study reveals risks from carp parasite

BU research, Research news

A joint Bournemouth University(BU) & Environment Agency (EA) study, published in the Public Library of Science journal ‘PLoS One’, has revealed how infections of the tapeworm Bothriocephalus acheilognathi affect juvenile carp Cyprinus carpio in fisheries in England andWales.

CarpDr Chris Williams from the EA said: “This work provides important evidence about how alien parasites can cause harm to our fish populations. It gives us a better understanding of the risks these parasites pose to fish, the environment and our fisheries.”

The study showed the parasite comprised up to 12 % of an infected carp’s body weight. The tapeworm was always found in the intestine, causing considerable damage. Infected fish were found to be lower in weight, growing more slowly and feeding on less nutritive foods.

Dr Robert Britton, who led the study from BU’s ecology department, said: “It was highly apparent that infected carp suffered multiple pathological and ecological consequences, suggesting fisheries infected with Bothriocephalus will be damaged.”

The fact that carp fisheries and the recreational value of carp fishing are worth millions of pounds to the UK economy means it is vital to prevent infection. Fortunately, the Asian tapeworm is currently subject to strict regulation inEnglandandWalesby the Environment Agency.

Dr Williams continued: “We will use this knowledge to advise our regulation of fish movements and the advice we provide to fishery managers to minimise the spread and impact of these parasites.”

Migration and Climate Change

The Migration and Global Environmental Change Report (commisioned by government) has been published today. The report warns of the serious implications of climate change for the world’s poorest people, who will be forced to migrate away from sterile land. The report suggests that migration will need to be managed – which is in itself controversial because migration is usually seen as a bad thing by aid agencies. Further, unless carefully managed, migration often gives rise to unrest and conflict, particularly where the migrants either impose an extra burden or are unwelcome by those living in the areas to which they migrate. Some difficult issues will need to be planned for – unfortunately such issues are often low down the priority in terms of planning .

The report can be accessed at:

http://www.bis.gov.uk/foresight

 

Rio plus 20

As we move into the run up for Rio plus 20 a number of colleagues in the UK are seeking to influence the thinking of key delegates and power brokers (unfortunately the UK delegates are not announced yet). November 1st is the deadline for receiving formal submissions which will be considered for the text to be negotiated at the Summit (compilation text). 

The EAUC is asking members to input their views.

http://www.eauc.org.uk/giving_eauc_members_a_powerful_international_vo

 It is critically important that the role of education in relation to sustainable development does not slide off the table. My colleague Professor Daniella Tilbury has been engaged in the PreComs and has alerted that there is a real danger that the dialogue is moving away from the Agenda 21 vision and UN DESD, to focus on technical and specialist training approaches (with little reference to learning based change and social community learning). There is still time to influence (sustainability will not be achieved by technical solutions alone – it requires education and behaviour change) and to stress the importance of ESD. You can influence either through EAUC or Education Caucus, or other channels you may have access to

To find out more about the processes leading up to Rio

http://www.earthsummit2012.org/

Or

http://www.uncsd2012.org/rio20/

 If you have ideas about influencing it would be interesting to hear them.

At the same time as the Summit there is a World Symposium on Higher Education and SD. The call for papers is still open

http://www.uncsd2012.org/rio20/index.php?page=view&type=13&nr=289&menu=27nd

 If you are developing research for Rio it would be great to hear about it

Funding for Environmental Research

EU

Foundation for Research of Natural Resources in Finland: Grants for Environmental Research: These grants are open to research groups involving talented young researchers for projects promoting the sustainable utilisation of Finnish natural resources. In 2011 the majority of the grants were worth between €30,000 and €50,000. Deadline 30.09.11

European Science Foundation Short Visit & Exchange Grants for Climate Change: These grants are for short visit and exchange grants related to climate change manipulation experiments/ Exchange grants are supported with a weekly subsistence allowance of €400 for up to six weeks, plus travel expenses to a maximum of €500. Short visit grants are to last for up to 15 days and are reimbursed on a per diem basis of €85 plus travel expenses to a maximum of €500. Deadline 01.10.11

BU REF preparations – next mock exercise underway

Research news

Hot on the heels of our REF light-touch review of outputs last winter, our subsequent mini-mock exercise in two UOAs, and the release of the final REF Guidance on Submissions and draft panel criteria documentation, BU’s next mock REF exercise is now underway.

The BU winter 2011 mock will concentrate solely on the impact and environment elements of the submissions (i.e. individual outputs will not be reviewed). During the autumn term BU Unit of Assessment (UOA) Leaders have been asked to produce 2-3 impact case studies, an impact statement and an environment statement for each UOA. These will be sent to the external reviewers (at least 2 per UOA) in early December, and feedback will be shared with the UOA Leaders in February 2012.

The next review of outputs is planned for spring 2012.

These mock exercises are intended to shape and craft our submissions to REF2014 to ensure we put forward the strongest submissions possible.

If you have any questions or suggestions regarding our internal preparations for the REF then send me an email 🙂

Overview of the REF draft panel criteria – what are the subtleties between panels?

Guidance, Research assessment, Research news

At the end of July the REF team released the draft panel working methods and criteria documentation (see our previous blog post for access to the documents).

We’ve spent the week wading through the four main panel documents and have produced a very brief overview of the subtleties between the panels on key criteria (such as the use of citation data, co-authored outputs, additional environment data, etc) in a tabular format.

You can access the overview table here: REF – draft panel criteria comparison table

Unfortunately this is no substitute for reading the actual documentation (sorry!) but does highlight the key points and differences between panels.

These documents are currently open to sector-wide consultation until 5 October 2011. BU will be submitting a single institutional response coordinated by the Research Development Unit. BU staff are invited to submit feedback for consideration as part of this response. Please email all comments to Anita Somner by 20 September 2011.

European focused funding available

EU

The Central Europe Programme offers funding for projects on the facilitating innovation across Central Europe; improving accessibility to, and within, Central Europe; using our environment responsibly; enhancing competitiveness and attractiveness of cities and regions. The budget for this call is at least €22.5 million and the recommended funding amount is €1m to €2.5m per project. Closing date: 14 October 2011

BU on the EU stage

BU research, EU

Recent research conducted by a team in the School of Applied Sciences (ApSci) has highlighted the need for a collaborative, interdisciplinary approach to environmental management and policy development.  It is a project which is well placed in BU’s movement towards research focused on societal themes and aims to establish how stakeholder values of their local environment can be used to improve the effectiveness of ecosystem management creating stronger links between citizens and policy makers.

This European collaboration is nearing completion. The Transactional Environmental Support System Project (TESS), supported by the 7th Framework Programme of the European Commission was coordinated by Aristotle University of Thessaloniki (www.tess-project.eu) and involved several ApSci staff.  The rationale for this project had its foundations in the move towards citizen-driven environmental governance and policy development.  The aim of TESS was to provide a platform through which biodiversity information collected at a local level can be incorporated into policy development and land-use management.  Could a system of this type encourage local communities to have more involvement in collection of these important data, and a greater role in the maintenance and restoration of their local environment and ecosystem services?

The project involved partnership with 14 other institutions from 10 different European countries. The project identified what information is required by both local land users and policy makers in order to develop effective environmental policy which will benefit both biodiversity and economic development.  The results were tested through 11 local case studies which were then used to further develop the TESS portal (due to go online in the next month or so).  BU’s involvement with the project has allowed us to develop strong, collaborative relationships with a number of institutions across Europe, linking strongly with the University’s desire to become more active on the European stage. 

During the project, the ApSci team, including Prof. Adrian Newton, Dr. Kathy Hodder, Lorretta Perrella, Jennifer Birch, Elena Cantarello, Sarah Douglas, James Robins and Chris Moody, carried out a local case study within Dorset’s Frome Catchment Area.  This case study site falls within the Dorset AONB and includes a SSSI, Local Nature Reserves, National Nature Reserves and Special Areas of Conservation. We were able to incorporate local knowledge and opinion into a novel evaluation of the ecosystem services and biodiversity benefits that might be realised through implementation of SW Biodiversity Implementation Plan. Such strategies have the implicit assumption that working on a landscape-scale to develop ‘ecological networks’ should have potential to  facilitate adaption to climate change, increase ecological ‘resilience’ and  improve the UK’s ability to conform to international policy commitments, such as the Habitat Directive.  However, it is accepted that the cost of the ecological restoration required for such initiatives could be substantial and little work has been conducted on cost-benefit analysis of restoration initiatives.  The work carried out by BU for the TESS project addressed the knowledge gap surrounding the cost effectiveness of ecological restoration approaches to climate change adaptation.

We currently have a paper in review with the Journal of Applied Ecology based on this work. It shows that spatial Multi Criteria Analysis could be used to identify important ecological restoration zones based on a range of criteria, including those relating to ecosystem services, biodiversity and incorporating the values of a range of stakeholders.  This tool could be of direct value to the development of ecological networks in the UK as a climate change adaptation measure.  Such tools developed through TESS may enable future plans for ecological restoration to incorporate local stakeholder values, improving the chances of societal benefits and long-term success of the schemes.

The wider results of the TESS project were presented at a conference in May 2011, hosted by the European Parliament Intergroup at the European Parliament in Brussels.  BU was represented at the conference by one of our postdoctoral researches, Emma McKinley.

Health and Wellbeing (Wei-Jun Liang, Kevin McGhee and David Osselton)

BU Challenges

Author: Kevin McGhee, Wei-Jun Liang, M. David Osselton (ApSci)

Alternative name suggestion:

Living with environmental change – Health and Wellbeing in the Fast-changing Environments

Functional Genomics and Integrated Systems Biology

Brief theme summary: 

In the dynamic and fast-changing natural or social environments, we are exposed to a variety of pollutants, drugs, viruses and deadly pathogens. As the ages of our population are rising, so are degenerative diseases, such as cancer, cardiovascular and Alzheimer’s diseases. Therefore, understanding those environmental impacts on human health and aging is paramount and becomes one of the top priorities in the vision of RCUK.

Differences in genetic make-up between individuals and different populations make us respond differently to harmful agents including prescribed medicinal drugs, beneficial to some or detrimental to others.  The desire to understand detailed mechanisms in order to provide better healthcare had been monumentally dispirited before we were able to reveal the detailed differences in our genomes. Ever since the completion of human genome sequencing in 2004, the advancement in genome sciences in conjunction with that of environmental sciences provides opportunities for substantiating the improvement of human health and wellbeing as well as management of  healthcare of aging populations. Since the genomic sequences of many other important organisms have also been determined, comparative genomic studies between humans and amongst other organisms is currently the most powerful way to unravel the intricate interrelationships of human health and environment. In the post-genome era, this newer vision of biological sciences driven by the concept of systems biology is currently pursued internationally.

With our expertise in molecular biology, human genetics, toxicology and analytical chemistry as well as some of the essential equipment, we can take advantage of functional genomics in order to drive the research theme in human health and wellbeing, and aging, in relation to environmental, social and cultural factors.

Scope of theme: what is included?

 Our current on-going research embraces the following areas:

 Pharmacogenomics

  • Molecular networks of integrin-linked mechanical signalling in relation to human heart disease – Bioimaging (in collaboration with Professor Jiang Jun Zhang of Media School and Professor Adrian Podoleanu of Kent University).
  • Impacts of SNP (genetic variations) on the toxicities of methadone amongst populations (in collaboration with Professor David Paunder of Dundee University).
  • Impacts of SNP (genetic variations) on the efficacy of morphine in patient pain management (collaboration with Tamas Hikish of Royal Bournemouth Hospital and Dr Joy Ross of Royal Marsden Hospital in London).

Biodiversities and conservation

  • Evaluation and protection of local red squirrel populations in Dorset (in collaboration with Dr Kathy Hodder).
  • Evaluation and protection of local Padina species to exploit their economic potential (in collaboration with Dr Roger Herbert).
  • Molecular mechanisms of pheromone-communications of diverse species (in collaboration with Professor Rudy Gozlan).
  • DNA profiling for human and animal identifications in the fields of anthropology and archaeology.

Our topics of interests in the immediate future:

  • Human vitamin C transport and its impact on human degenerative diseases, such as cardiovascular and Alzheimer’s diseases.
  • Human detoxification pathways in relation to the glucuronidation and transport, and personalised medicine (in collaboration with Prof Stephen Wong of Wake Forest University, USA)
  • Molecular mechanisms of infectious diesease (in collaboration with Professor Rudy Gozlan).

Scope of theme: what is excluded? Not sure.

Which big societal questions are addressed by this theme?

Humans are exposed to a variety of pollutants, drugs, viruses and deadly pathogens in the modern fast-changing environments. Degenerative diseases, such as cancer, cardiovascular and Alzheimer’s diseases are often associated with aging. To effectively maintain human health and wellbeing, understanding those environmental impacts on human health and aging using the approaches of functional genomics and systems biology is paramount and becomes one of the top priorities in the vision of RCUK.

How do these link to the priorities of the major funding bodies?

Health and well being is one of the most important research areas funded by some of the CRUK, namely, the BBSRC, the Wellcome Trust, the MRC, the Royal Society, from which we could sort future funding.

Our proposed research theme fits very well to the underlined strategic research priorities of the Two Current Research Priority Themes of the MRC:

  • Resilience, repair and replacement (Natural protection, Tissue disease and degeneration, Mental health and wellbeing, and Repair and replacement).
  • Living a long and healthy life (Genetics and disease, Life course perspective, Lifestyles affecting health, Environment and health).

As highlighted by the BBSRC, systems biology is the pivotal approach for addressing issues in human health, aging and diseases. It is an effective way forward to study human health in the aspects of epidemiology, such as parasites, virus, and infectious disease. Our research theme also fits well to strategic research priorities of the BBSRC, in exploiting new ways of working were outline as:

  • Data driven biology
  • Synthetic biology
  • Systems approaches to the biosciences
  • Technology development for the biosciences 

Our research theme also fits well to The Cross–Council Priorities outlined by the BBSRC:

The Wellcome Trust also focuses on health and wellbeing associated with functional genomics. The Royal Society promotes international collaborations, and is encouraging collaborative studies on human health, wellbeing and aging impacted by population single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) coincided with human life style and different ethnicities in the diverse living environments.

To follow the strategies outlined by RCUK in promoting 3Rs (Replacement, Refinement and Reduction of Animals in Research), we propose to use the cost-effective and well characterised model organisms, fruit-fly and zebra fish to study the molecular mechanisms in conjunction with survey data from human subjects.  The genome information of those model organisms is known and the organisms are amendable to genetic defects and molecular manipulations.  Moreover, at least 75% of human disease genes have their counterparts in their genomes. 

How does this theme interlink with the other BU themes currently under consideration?

Our research theme is complementary to the existing research in HSC and will be of interest to local hospitals and communities. Although a small team, we have the expertise in molecular biology, toxicology, and analytical chemistry with some of the essential equipment. Our current research orientations already fit well with the remit of our university research and enterprise strategies. We certainly would like to contribute to the existing theme of research orientations, particularly, health and well being, aging, environmental sciences, and social and cultural sciences within the university. Our expertise will enable us to form close link with the existing research groups that have already formed critical mass, particularly in the ApSci and HSC.

Through our research, we have already formed strong links with the Media School of BU and Physics Department in the University of Kent for bioimaging and biomodelling. We have already submitted a strong interdisciplinary research proposal to the MRC, addressing the impacts of genome on heart diseases. We will maintain this collaborative consortium and continuously formulate research proposals to address issues involved in human health and wellbeing.  We have also established strong links with Dr Helen Machitia of Glasgow University, Joy Gill of Imperial College School of Medicine for collaborative research in science and society.

Since we already have the expertise and facilities in fish studies in the School of Applied Sciences, it is logial and efficient to use the well characterised model organism, zebra fish to address questions in human health, fish conservation and environment issues.

Policies recommended to boost green growth and innovation in the EU

EU

The OECD report Towards Green Growth provides advice for governments to boost growth and protect the environment at the same time. It recommends tax and competition measures aimed at conserving natural capital and states governments should add innovation policies that encourage an efficient and sparing use of natural resources. Suggested policies include “temporary support measures” to promote the uptake of efficient technologies against the dominance of existing ones. The report also suggests policy measures to make pollution more expensive, such as taxes or permit systems.

FP7 Ocean of Tomorrow 2012 Information Day – relevant for food, agri, biotch, energy, enviro & transport

EU

The European Commission is organising an Information Day for the 2012 Ocean of Tomorrow co-ordinated topics, which will be included in the 2012 Work Programmes of the FP7 Food, Agriculture and Fisheries, and Biotechnologies (FAFB), Energy, Environment and Transport themes. The event will take place in Brussels but will also be webstreamed live.