Sustainability and cake

My sustainable development education role at the University means a lot to me. I've been working at it for over 3 years and, while it's not archaeology *my one true love*, the subject is worthy of the attention it is starting to get nationally. Plus, I'm constantly finding new and exciting ways to re-assess archaeology and anthropology by reflecting on broader issues of ESD (Education for Sustainable Development). So, you can imagine my surprise and glee when I got nominated and then shortlisted for a Sustainability Award, part of a larger annual Awards programme run by the Bristol Students' Union.
You can see all the categories and shortlisted people here:
https://www.bristolsu.org.uk/news/article/UBU/Bristol-SU-Awards-the-shortlist-is-announced/

This comes quick on the heals of the accreditation received institutionally as part of the NUS's "Responsible Futures" initiative, in which thirteen other universities participated. We were delighted to have all our hard work acknowledged. For us, this wasn't some tick-box exercise or agenda-laden league  table. It was more important as a means of showcasing the large-scale team effort and successes across the whole institution and the Students' Union, and also serves as a transparent benchmarking trial.
Read the Uni's press release on this student-led social responsibility and sustainability scheme:
http://www.bristol.ac.uk/news/2015/june/responsible-futures.html

There won't be a cake left in sight.

In other news, things are moving along nicely at Berkeley with all my engagement projects. Today brought a massive burst of joy onto site when legendary archaeologist and BAJR leader, David Connolly, gave us £100 to spend on cake to thank the community of Berkeley for their participation in the Town Museum project. We're just winding down on the project now, but the feedback we've received so far has been immensely positive. Critically for me, the students have seemed to love it too, learning and developing an arsenal of transferable skills.

Tomorrow's task - buy all the cake.

RENKEI Review

Have a read of the blog I wrote for the Cabot Institute, University of Bristol.
It's all about my experiences during the RENKEI Summer School, Japan, focusing on Energy and Sustainability:
http://cabot-institute.blogspot.co.uk/2014/11/energy-supply-experiences-of.html

September in Japan

It finally happened - a dream came true - I got to travel to Japan. As one may expect, I was overly excited by this occurrence. I have my sustainability work to thank for the opportunity, as I went to take part in a week long summer school in Tohoku University, part of the RENKEI programme which is a UK-Japan effort. This summer's theme was on Energy Supply within Traditional and Environmentally Conscious Growth Models. I am forever indebted to the University of Bristol for helping make it happen (PVC Nick Lieven for funding provided and Chris Willmore for accepting my application).

Prof. Nakata of Tohoku University presented on Energy and Communities, and acted as our lead academic for the week

While in the city of Sendai during my academic week, I travelled to the local incinerator plant (my first, and super clean), toured the local Toyota factory (very interesting), partook in lots of group work, attended a vast assortment of excellent lectures, and, on the last day, toured tsunami devastated regions to the north.

The best way to explain how incinerators work is, apparently, to use moving light up dinosaurs

We got behind the scenes at the Toyota factory and had talks by leading engineers and directors within the company

The tsunami devastation was contrasted with the scenic beauty that survived

After the week of serious learning, I took off on a roaring tour across Tokyo, Kyoto and Hakone with the fella. Madness ensued. Friends were made. We even invented a new game "Yoshi Soccer"* in a tiny tavern. Used tree-top-skimming glass boxes as transport. Ridiculous boats across volcanic lakes.Endured the Robot Restaurant (so shiny). Geeked out. Cuddle the cat café cats. Were *maid* to feel weird in the Maid Café. Climbed sky trees. Walk under bamboo groves. Witnessed the bling of the Golden Pavillion. Sank into steaming mountain water pools. Dressed in the finest kosode. Drank purple sweet potato milkshakes. Ate lots of things that we didn't understand. Galavanted around castles. Toured Buddhist shrines. Saw open air sculptures. Laughed at swan boats. Museumed. And other things.

Blingtastic. The Golden Pavillion, Kyoto

First 3D laser scan image of Hell-Fire Caves and Berkeley Archaeology

The first glimpse of the Hell-Fire Caves 3D laser scanning results are here! Lots more to come in the following weeks and months.

Hell-Fire Caves 3D Laser Scan BGS / A Tierney

The recent testing of the REACT Reflector went really well, the students responded with enthusiasm. Mark Horton coming along probably helped with that as he got the secondary school students leaping with excitement before taking them on a whirlwind tour of Berkeley Castle and the excavation trenches.

Key words that students used to describe the Reflector

And our work with Berkeley still isn't done. As part of the Green Apple Scheme-funded Community Engagement project, I am putting a temporary exhibition in place at the Jenner Museum, Berkeley Castle, St Mary's Churchyard and the Community Library. The posters produced have been designed by University of Bristol students and reflect topics that arose from our community engagement outreach efforts back in May/June. Posters go up on Saturday, just in time for the Festival of Archaeology.

#Awesome

Mid May to mid June update

It's been a heady mix of archaeology on site at Berkeley Castle and work on my sustainability life!

First though, my utter edge of seat excitement that I'll be away later this week at the Hell-Fire Caves with the British Geological Survey - they have kindly offered a team of experts to work with me to 3D laser scan the entire cave system. More updates on that soon.

Onto Berkeley, where I've been training students in how to engage the public with the University's dig around the town. We've had some cracking ideas come up - you might want to try one of our quizzes:

What archaeological site are you?

What kind of archaeologist are you?

Along with videos (my favourite), Facebook, Twitter, etc.

Back on campus, I signed up to the be an academic assignment tutor as part of the Access to Bristol scheme. And it was full steam ahead for developments with sustainability and enterprise education plans.

I even made room for some semblance of a social life and saw the Fun Lovin' Criminals at Grillstock.

The story of ESD at Bristol so far - my perspective

This is a short report of my reflections on my internship with the University of Bristol - looking at Education for Sustainable Development. I wrote this storify as part of the online course E-learning and Digital Cultures (Coursera), it's my digital artefact assignment - hope you enjoy it!