Upload
others
View
1
Download
0
Embed Size (px)
Citation preview
AUTUMN AUTUMN AUTUMN AUTUMN 2012012012016666
IIIISSUE 21SSUE 21SSUE 21SSUE 21
In this issue:
Welcome to our new
students!
Wellow makeover
Alumni Profiles (2, 15,
19, 22, 27, 30)
Correct names matter
Marine field trip
Newts at Newton Park
Slimbridge visit
Malham Tarn summer
school
Mexico OpWall trip
Research excellence
Meet the staff (16, 23)
Tree humour
Wellow working
The power of crystals…
Global Citizen:
Cambodia
Craig’s cheetah tales
Staff research, etc.
STOP PRESS! Biosoc
369,400 what??
Green, the best colour
Bill’s research
Bath biosensors…
Bath Spa triathlete
Graduation 2016
Welcome to Environmental Science and Biology!
Leaves & LeatherLeaves & LeatherLeaves & LeatherLeaves & Leather The NewsletterThe NewsletterThe NewsletterThe Newsletter of Bath Spa University’s of Bath Spa University’s of Bath Spa University’s of Bath Spa University’s
Environmental Science and Biology awardsEnvironmental Science and Biology awardsEnvironmental Science and Biology awardsEnvironmental Science and Biology awards
By way of welcome to our Freshers, we provide some words of wisdom/quotes - from various
sources (some more reputable than others…) - on how to survive Induction/Welcome Week.
There is a lot of stuff to take in this week, and you are unlikely to remember it all. So, if there’s
ANYTHING you are unsure of, please do ask a tutor. If s/he doesn’t know, they should know
somebody who does [NC]
SN is the abbreviation for Stanton; ST is the abbreviation for Stable [Hercules]
Remember you’re at University for three years; you don’t need to drink that quota in the first
week [J Walker, J Bean, R Bacardi, M Rose, J Cuervo, R Bull]
Pace yourself! [M Farah, S Cram, S Coe, D Bedford…]
Make sure you can log-in to your Bath Spa University account [W Gates, E Snowden]
Discuss your module choices with your Tutor, before you confirm them! [NC]
Make sure you know where (and when, and how to get there…) your first class is [JK Rowling]
Explore the campus! [R Fiennes, R Mears, B Grylls, T Heyerdahl]
Remember, everyone around you is in the same boat, don’t feel you’re the only one who is
feeling the way you are [S Redgrave, T Heyerdahl, F Drake, J Corbyn], and finally:
Don’t panic! [D Adams]
We hope you enjoy biology and environmental science at Bath Spa!
Your friendly, neighbourhood Tutors
New Year, new Wellow…
This summer has been an exciting time for the technical and academic staff of the BSU science
team. The Wellow building has had a face lift, a tummy tuck, and a nose job. Whilst the outside
remains much the same, inside is a large new teaching space which can be divided for more
intimate classes. With a dedicated project lab with black benches and its own safety cabinet,
this is a must for all budding microbiologists. The instrument room is slimmer and trimmer,
with all the old favourites of AAS, HPLC and GC, plus scanning spectrophotometry capability,
and is ready to go. There is a new prep. room with a new autoclave and glasswasher. These
machines will speed up the process of media-making and washing-up – very important with
the full time-table and large class sizes.
Blue is the colour, with accents of brown, turquoise and pink. We recycled a lot of the
kit so not everything matches or fits. But, the new space will seat 53, yes close to double the
capacity of the other labs. For practical sessions there will be two members of staff to assist
and advise you, an academic plus a technical demonstrator, and also a technician to replenish
kit.
The project lab will allow access from 9 am to 5 pm for dissertation and project
students – i.e. no more fitting in around classes or having to clear everything away. Two 4hrs
sessions per week day are envisaged and a booking will need to be made 7 days in advance.
This request should be accompanied by a complete list of your media and equipment
requirements.
Funding for this wonderful new laboratory complex has come from a HEFC grant and
BSU central funds. The lab with a price tag of nearly £300,000 is a significant investment in the
future of science at Bath Spa.
Jenny Beard &
Derek Beard, Technical Demonstrators
What have you done since graduating from
Bath Spa? After graduating I took some time
out to care for my Mum. After that I went
travelling for a year and loved it. I was
fortunate enough to go to be able to explore
the wonders of Morocco, take a 2 month road
trip (covering 6000 miles) around America with
three friends, brave travelling alone to New
Zealand and Australia and finally a short trip
around Thailand, Cambodia and Vietnam.
When I returned home I took a job in a
wonderful children’s book centre while I looked
for work. I decided after my degree that I
definitely did not want to do any more
education…
What made you want to pursue a Masters?
I found that my degree wasn’t proving to be
enough to get the job I wanted and decided
that I needed to do something to further
myself. I was deciding between applying for
internships or a Masters when I stumbled upon
The Centre for Alternative Technology (CAT)
(www.cat.org.uk). I did my research and
decided that I wouldn’t be able to find
anywhere more suited to what I wanted to
study. I booked onto an open weekend and fell
in love with the location of the site and the
course.
What masters did you choose to study and
why?
I chose to study Sustainability and Adaptation. I
wanted to learn more about sustainability and
ways in which we can adapt to climate change.
The range of modules offered included learning
about the ways in which cities can become
more sustainable, energy flows in buildings,
building sustainably and with renewable
materials, and sustainability in food production
just to name a few topics.
Why CAT?
The course was something I’d not seen
anywhere else with a really special and
beautiful off-grid site as an added bonus. CAT
offer an unusual format for their MSc where
they run one module every month and have
Araminta Jackson [BSc (Hons) Env. Sci., 2011], MSc
Leaves & Leather Page 2
one week contact time at CAT (with onsite
accommodation provided) and then three
weeks at home. The week at CAT involved
lots of lectures and seminars and tutorials.
This format suited me well as it meant I could
continue to work at home and then fully
immerse myself in the week of intense study
when I was in Wales. It is the most incredible
place to be able to call your home every
month.
Typical module at CAT?
The standard day would be:
- Breakfast
-Hour and a half lecture or seminar
-Tea break
-Hour and a half lecture or seminar
-Lunch break
-Two hour lecture or seminar
-Tea break
-Hour and a half lecture or seminar
-Dinner
-An hour and a half talk usually by a guest
speaker from the industry or an ex-student or
a current student talking about a project
they’re working on.
-Drinks in the bar with students and lecturers
or a wander to the pub in the nearby village.
It was always an intense week but it was
always incredible being able to immerse
yourself fully in what you were learning,
without the distractions from home like
cleaning, cooking and work. It was also great
being amongst likeminded people, chatting to
them about their jobs and projects and
interests.
Most favourite part of the MSc?
Overall I loved learning new things again and
pushing myself to do something I never
thought I would do. But one specific memory
would be the final module I studied; a
sustainable building materials module. It
involved a hands-on week of practical
sessions where we got to learn how to build
with straw, rammed earth, hemp and lime
and timber.
“I booked onto an open weekend and fell in love with the location of the site and the course.”
“It is the most incredible place to be able to call your home every month.”
“It was always an intense week but it
was always incredible being able to immerse
yourself fully in what you were
learning…”
“we got to learn how to build with straw,
rammed earth, hemp and lime and
timber.”
Araminta’s biography concluded
… Least favourite part of the MSc?
Calculating U values – my brain isn’t cut out for maths.
How did the course at Bath Spa prepare you for the MSc?
It gave me a well-rounded background and lots of experience. I was surprised to find that I was
one of the only students to come with a science background (many came from the arts and were
wanting to change direction in their careers). This knowledge base stood me in good stead as I
understood the basics behind what was being taught.
The WISE building where lectures take place and where the accommodation is
(Source: CAT, 2016)
Best memories of you time at Bath Spa?
The Summer Ball at the end of university, celebrating the end of three incredible years at a place
that became my second home, with my friends. Many amazing trips to Cornwall with the surf
society, and a week in wet Wales with three of my best friends on the marine biology field trip.
Advice for current environmental science/biology students?
Take any opportunity offered to build your skills and your CV. Do work experience, volunteer or
find an internship. I wish I had done more of this whilst I had as much free time as I did when I
was a student.
Leaves & Leather Page 3
“Take any opportunity offered to build your skills and your CV.”
“I’m passionate about spreading the word
that plants are important, etc.”
“Small things, like getting names right,
do matter…”
Getting scientific names right I’m passionate about spreading the word that plants are important, etc. I therefore applaud
attempts that others make to disabuse people of the notion that plants are boring, and
unimportant. However, it is as important to get the message right as it is to spread the word in
the first place. So, imagine my joy when I stumbled upon the botanical accuracy website
[http://www.botanicalaccuracy.com/], a cyberportal devoted to … botanical accuracy. Curated
by Botanist Lena Struwe, it is a revelation! Recognising that mistakes are made in dealing with
plant matters, the "Better Botanical Business Bureau" showcases botanical mistakes – e.g.
wrong common names, wrong scientific names, and – importantly! – corrects them. Thus, it
hopes to provide scientific and educational information as part of a global effort to increase
botanical knowledge. One of the site’s most interesting items concerns the desire to get
newspapers to get scientific names set out correctly. Entitled “Dear New York Times, when will
you start to care about taxonomic accuracy?”
[http://www.botanicalaccuracy.com/2015/09/dear-new-york-times-when-will-you-start.html],
it deserves to be read – and acted upon! – by all print-based media that attempt to inform or
educate the public. Small things, like getting names right, do matter, so more power to the
BBBB in its noble nomenclatural quest!
Nigel Chaffey, Senior Lecturer in Botany
Leaves & Leather Page 4
The author
somewhere on Newton Park, before
the field trip…
“With a good night’s rest, we woke to find the gales subsided
and set out eagerly…”
“a strange collision of wild coast and
human infrastructure.”
Croeso I Gymru: Marine Biology over the bridge Last February, the final year Marine Biology students set out on one of the most anticipated
fieldtrips offered by the Biology Department at Bath Spa. Our destination was the Pembrokeshire
coast of South West Wales and our task: to study two different Rocky Shores on the Dale
Peninsula. Journeying to Wales in February you say? What could possibly go wrong?
After filling our vans with luggage and surveying equipment at Newton Park, we set off west
across the Severn Crossing, towards the darkening sky of a storm off the Irish Sea. On arriving at
our accommodation, Orielton House, we found the welcome considerably warmer than the
weather. The place where we were to be staying was a cut above your usual field centre, a fine
Georgian manor converted to dormitories, an excellent dining room with food to satisfy even the
pickiest student, and a stable block converted to lecture rooms which were to be our base for the
coming days. The House is owned and run by the Field Studies Council, a charitable organisation
that aims to promote environmental education in everyone from primary school to university
students. To do that it runs field centres like Orielton across the country at environmentally-
significant sites such as Slapton Ley in Devon and Nettlecombe on Exmoor [more information at
www.field-studies-council.org].
With a good night’s rest, we woke to find the gales subsided and set out eagerly (and only got
slightly lost in the centre of Milford Haven. Ed. – we weren’t lost – we were never lost – we
thought students would like to see the sites since we were in the area…) to our study sites on the
Dale Peninsula. The nearby town of Dale lay quiet after the storms of the previous day and the
views across the Milford Haven Waterway revealed a beautiful green coast of cliffs and little
bays. But the hulking oil terminal and refineries sat atop the hills above, and the conspicuously
large oil tankers sailing past, made the place a strange collision of wild coast and human
infrastructure. More historic evidence of human activities in the area came in the form of Dale
Fort, a Victorian gun battery sited on the tip of the Peninsula that was used to defend Milford
Haven until the end of World War Two. The site is now also owned by the Field Studies Council
and is an important research centre for the local coastline.
Now we were at Dale to do much more than admire the scenery. The geography of the
peninsula provided us with a rare opportunity to study two rocky shores that were in close
proximity but exhibited greatly different physical aspects and ecological communities. Our first
study site, Castlebeach was on the southern side of the peninsula and faced directly out to the
Irish Sea and takes the full force of the wind and waves that blow in. Our second site – Black Rock
– sat in a nearby sheltered bay facing Milford Haven, hidden from the wild elements of the open
sea. The physical differences between the site was impossible to miss, Castle Beach consisted of
near vertical rock, scoured and eroded by the waves, whilst Black Rock formed a gently sloping
platform down to the sea, covered in seaweed and rock pools.
We recorded the differences between the sites using belt and line transects running from the
upper shore to where the rocky shore ended and tidal sand began. We used quadrats to sample
the plants and animals that lived clinging to the rocks along the lengths of the two shores to
answer key questions about how the level of exposure to strong waves affects the local biota.
Which species were specific to each shore? Where on the shore were they found and why? Our
transects were specifically placed to allow us to examine the distinct shore zones created by the
changing level of the tide. Hardy organisms adapted to long periods out of water were found in
the upper shore and species adapted to immersion in the sea and were found lower down the
shore. Our identification of the flora and fauna at the two sites allowed us to create biotope
maps which revealed the distinctly different communities of species adapted to the high
exposure of Castle Beach and the sheltered waters of Black Rock. A favourite activity of mine was
learning to use a theodolite to collect topographical data from the shores.
The many different species from colourful anemones to a tiny blenny fish I found in a rock pool
made the Dale shores a treasure trove of fascinating species with a new creature or unusual alga
to be found beneath every stone and in every crevice. The organisms that did prove a thorn in
our sides whilst we were surveying were barnacles. Whilst they are fascinating creatures that
have amazingly adapted to survive the hostile environment of tidal rocks, their small size and
apparent similarity made species identification more than a little frustrating. I will not apologise
for this as even the great Charles Darwin after devoting a decade of his life to studying barnacle
ecology wrote “I hate a Barnacle as no man ever did before, not even a sailor in a slow-sailing
ship” (Darwin, 1852). But, I must say that, like Darwin, we persevered.
Orielton experience continued… “Our first study
site, Castlebeach…” [‘highlighted’ by
the Editor – NB it IS just one word!]
“Our identification of the flora and fauna at the two
sites allowed us to create biotope
maps…”
“A favourite activity of mine was
learning to use a theodolite to
collect topographical data from the shores.”
“The many different species
from colourful anemones to a tiny blenny fish I found
in a rock pool made the Dale
shores a treasure trove of fascinating
species”
“But, I must say that, like Darwin, we persevered.”
Leaves & Leather Page 5
Leaves & Leather Page 6
Away from the fieldwork, our learning did not stop. We were privileged to have a talk from
Mr Clive Hurford, a Conservation Monitoring Advisor for Natural Resources Wales (the
Welsh government agency that fulfils the roles of the Environment Agency and Forestry
Commission in Wales). Mr Hurford shared with us something that no scientist should lack
and that is a healthy dose of scepticism. His talk centred on the discrepancies found in the
estimations of percentage vegetation cover and species richness between different groups
of specialist observers and greatly questioned the validity of such data that ecologists use
every day. The take-home message was clear; always assess the true value of your data and
criticise your methodology. His real-world insight was invaluable.
When our final day’s fieldwork was done – after the soirée (!!) – and before we turned in for
the night, we marine biologists lost no time in exploring the local area. It’s not all serious
business in the world of science. As a reward for our hard work our esteemed field trip
leader granted us permission to visit the local pub. There we relaxed with a lovely Welsh
pint and some friendly games of darts and pool to top off our successful trip. Then the final
challenge was finding our way back to the field centre in the pitch dark.
For me, this fieldtrip was the highlight of my final year at Bath Spa. On behalf of the
students I would like to give thanks to our technicians Mr Darrel Watts and Mr Derek Beard
whose knowledge of species and our equipment made our work a success and especially to
Dr Nigel Chaffey without whom the fieldtrip would not have been possible.
I will always say that there is no substitute for getting outdoors, seeing the world around
you, watching the waves and getting your hands into rock pools. This is the only way for an
ecologist in training (not to mention valuable to many other disciplines of Biology) to truly
appreciate the natural world in which they will work and this trip has absolutely fulfilled that
for me. I have now journeyed to new places, seen a new horizon, made memories with my
friends and learned much of coastal environments and surveying techniques which I know I
will use in my future career. Oh, and I had a few lessons at skimming stones.
Richard Spiers, BSc (Hons) Biology, 2016 [photo credits: N Chaffey]
Reference
Darwin, C. (1852) Personal written correspondence from Charles Darwin to W.D. Fox. 24th
October 1852 [Online] Available from: https://www.darwinproject.ac.uk/letter/DCP-LETT-
1489.xml. [Accessed 5th April 2016].
Marine machinations concluded
“It’s not all serious business in the world
of science”
“As a reward for our hard work our
esteemed field trip leader granted us
permission to visit the local pub.”
“For me, this fieldtrip was the highlight of
my final year at Bath Spa.”
“I would like to give thanks to our
technicians Mr Darrel Watts and Mr Derek
Beard…”
“Oh, and I had a few lessons at skimming
stones.”
An introduction to the Great Crested Newt
Great crested newts (GCNs – Triturus cristatus) are native to the UK and distributed across
northern and central Europe. GCNs can grow up to 15cm in length, making them the
largest British newt species. They can be identified by their black/dark brown skin, coarse
‘warty’ appearance and bright orange underside which is patterned with irregular black
spots. Male GCNs have a stark white stripe on their tails; females have a yellow/orange
stripe. Males can also be identified by a jagged crest along their backs which becomes
more pronounced during the breeding seasons (April to May).
GCNs favour large ponds with abundant vegetation. They feed mainly on invertebrates
and tadpoles, and lay eggs individually inside the leaves of aquatic plants. GCNs are most
active at night, spending the majority of the day at the bottom of ponds or sheltered in
vegetation/rocks. Although the current conservation status of the GCN is ‘least concern’ [a
category that includes widespread and abundant species;
http://www.iucnredlist.org/static/categories_criteria_3_1], a slow but steady population
decline is taking place. Risks to GCN populations include predation by animals such as
foxes and badgers, habitat loss, the introduction of fish into ponds which predate newt
eggs, and the intensification of farming practices.
Nicholas Pearson Associates (NPA – http://www.npaconsult.co.uk/) are an environmental
consultancy which annually survey and monitor great GCN populations at Bath Spa
University’s Newton Park campus, in accordance with licencing and guidance from Natural
England. It is vital that these surveys are conducted to assess and mediate the effect of
terrestrial habitat loss and disturbance caused by the various construction projects on
campus. And they provide a valuable opportunity for undergraduates to take part…
Survey Methodology
NPA conduct their GCN surveys during the breeding seasons (April-May) when the newts
are easier to identify and more active. The survey I participated in was conducted on the
21st April from 9pm and the 22nd April from 7am, 2016. Two different methods were used
to identify the newts present in various Newton Park ponds; the torching method and the
bottle capture method. The former took place at night where a high power torch is shone
over the ponds and number of GCNs seen is recorded. After the torching method had
been concluded, bottle traps were set up in each pond and examined in the morning.
Results
Torching identified GCNs in both of the receptor ponds, in the Walled Garden and the
Italian Garden (south) (Table 1). No GCNs were found in Italian Garden pond (north),
which could have been due to the presence of fish which compete with GCNs for food and
predate newt eggs. Although fish were also found present alongside GCNs within the
Italian Garden pond (south) this is likely to be due to the fact that this pond had a greater
variety of vegetation and rocks to provide shelter for the GCNs. Examples of Britain’s two
other newt species were also identified in the Newton Park ponds (Tables 1 and 2).
Newton Park’s Newts
“Great crested newts (GCNs – Triturus
cristatus) are native to the UK and
distributed across northern and central
Europe.”
“NPA conduct their GCN surveys during
the breeding seasons (April-May) when the newts are easier to identify and more
active.”
Leaves & Leather Page 7
Table 1: Results from the torching method
Pond Observations
Receptor pond (nearest car park
to ‘gardens’ accommodation)
1 male GCN
6 palmate/smooth newts
Receptor pond (west) 9 male, 1 female GCNs
22 palmate/smooth newts
Walled Garden pond 3 male, 1 female GCNs
1 palmate/smooth newt
2 frogs
Italian Garden pond (south) 1 male, 3 female GCNs
Fish
Italian Garden pond (north) Fish
The bottle capture method identified GCNs in the Walled Garden and the Italian Garden (south).
No GCNs were captured in the receptor ponds or in the Italian Garden pond (north) (Table 2).
Table 2: Results from the bottle capture method
Pond Number of
bottle traps set
Results
Receptor pond (nearest car park
to ‘gardens’ accommodation)
12 1 male, 1 female smooth newts
1 male, 3 female palmate newts
Receptor pond (west) 15 6 male smooth newts
15 male, 4 female palmate newts
Walled Garden pond 10 1 male, 1 female GCNs
Italian Garden pond (south) 5 1 female GCN
Italian Garden pond (north) 5 1 male, 1 female smooth newts
Application of results
The results of this survey, as well as others taken annually across the newt breeding seasons, are
collated by NPA and enable them to identify any need for intervention to conserve the newt
populations. Methods put in place by NPA to help maintain GCN populations include leaving
ponds to colonise naturally, adding additional stones and plants to the pond habitats, deploying
barley straw in ponds annually to control algal growth, removing and redistributing fish, and
creating gateways in areas such as the Walled Gardens to improve habitat connectivity. Future
implications of the surveys may involve the creation of more ponds and continued efforts to raise
awareness of the GCN population living on campus.
Conclusions and personal reflection
Taking part in this survey helped to develop my understanding of ecology and conservation in a
professional context. It has allowed me to apply ecological principles to a practical situation and
reflect upon various management strategies that can be applied to protect the environment and
native species such as the GCN. The survey has given me insight into the decision-making process
of the consultancy which could be beneficial for me in future career opportunities.
Lucinda West, Year 3 Biology
Newton’s newts concluded
Leaves & Leather Page 8
“Taking part in this survey helped to
develop my understanding of
ecology and conservation in a
professional context.”
Many thanks to Nicholas Pearson
Associates for their work on Newton
Park campus and for giving both
myself and other students the
opportunity to take part in the survey
this year.
“The survey has given me insight into the decision-
making process of the consultancy which could be
beneficial for me in future career
opportunities.”
Leaves & Leather Page 9
Science out in the environment… “The second year Ecology module
provided the opportunity to visit
the Wildfowl & Wetlands Trust
Centre in Slimbridge”
“It was really interesting hearing and learning about
the different methods that have
been used to monitor the swan’s
population…”
“we passed through the ‘World Wetlands
Zone’, which showcased six
different species of Flamingo.”
The second year Ecology module provided the opportunity to visit the Wildfowl & Wetlands
Trust (WWT) Centre in Slimbridge (http://www.wwt.org.uk/wetland-centres/slimbridge/). Our
day at the centre began with a talk about the history of the site. The WWT is a conservation
charity that protects wetlands and the wildfowl that depend upon the habitat. The staff and
volunteers at the centre investigate the threats upon the wetlands on which people and wildlife
depend, and attempt to protect, repair and create new wetlands for people and wildlife.
This talk was then followed by several lectures about specific projects and species that
the centre had been recently working on. The first gave an insight to understanding the causes
of the Bewick's Swan population decline. It was really interesting hearing and learning about the
different methods that have been used to monitor the swan’s population, including computer
software that could predict future population patterns in different habitats.
However, my favourite talk was on the conservation efforts of the spoon-billed
sandpiper on the wetlands of South Asia, whose numbers plummeted to just fewer than 100
pairs in the wild! Slimbridge WWT took action and put everything they could in place to prevent
the species imminent extinction, and a breeding programme was developed at Slimbridge.
Slowly the number of young birds that hatch and fledge from the Russian breeding grounds each
year increased, by the team intervening and hand-rearing chicks. Very little was known about
this bird prior to this research, but now more and more is being discovered about the species
every day. Illegal trapping in Myanmar and Bangladesh is being tackled successfully by helping
hunters find other livelihoods. Huge efforts have been put in place into monitoring spoon-billed
sandpipers in the wild and researchers are now uncovering the mysteries of where they go and
when. For the first time the number of spoon-billed sandpipers appears to have stopped falling,
although it is still at a perilously low level. This talk really inspired me to work hard and continue
with my studies, so perhaps I too could save a species from extinction.
The final talk was about the aims of reintroducing Eurasian Cranes to the Somerset
Levels, from which they have been absent for the past 400 years. The cranes are reared from
hatching by staff dressed in ‘crane puppet/costumes’ to imitate an adult crane [Ed. –
unfortunately, we don’t have a picture of this…]. The juvenile cranes are then fitted with ID leg
rings and satellite transmitters before they are released. The project aims to engage the public,
landowners and the conservation sector, so that more people understand the importance of
conservation and the environment.
During the afternoon we investigated the reserve! After lunch – overlooking the
Eurasian Crane nesting area – we wandered through the ‘Riverlife Zone’, where we spotted
some otters. Walking back to the mini-bus, we passed through the ‘World Wetlands Zone’,
which showcased six different species of Flamingo.
Overall we gained invaluable knowledge and experience from this trip that you can’t get
from anywhere else. I would really recommend supporting and visiting this centre, to experience
first-hand the great conservation efforts that are in place, locally and around the world [Ed. – or
signing-up for the Ecology module and get in for free!]
Rozy Gray, Year 3 Environmental Science
In late July I was one of 50 fortunate undergraduates from universities all around the country
to gain a place on the British Ecological Society (BES; http://www.britishecologicalsociety.org/)
summer school. We assembled at Malham Tarn Field Centre [http://www.field-studies-
council.org/centres/malhamtarn.aspx] in the Yorkshire Dales for a week of lectures, fieldwork
workshops, and careers’ mentoring.
The field course started with a plenary talk from Prof. Sue Hartley
[https://www.york.ac.uk/biology/research/plant-biology/sue-hartley/] who gave an insight
into her work on the availability of silica and its uptake and contribution to pest-resistance in
plants. Throughout the week we received more lectures from a host of guest speakers on
topics including microbiology, conservation, research communication and careers options.
During the stay we received helpful information about how to build professional CVs,
how to get actively involved in organisations such as the BES and Chartered Institute of Ecology
and Environmental Management (CIEEM; http://www.cieem.net/) and it was a great
opportunity to be introduced to the many careers options available to an environmental
science student and to be able to thoughtfully consider these options with advice from
professionals in the industries.
Throughout the summer school there were many opportunities to practise fieldwork
skills – some of which I had already experienced in my first year studying Environmental
Science at Bath Spa – including river kick-sampling, identification (ID) of flora, invertebrate
sampling methods and microbiology microscope work. There were also new skills that I had not
seen or used before, which I was excited to try, and which included cave work, bat
identification using bat detectors, UV invertebrate tracking, animal behaviour, and even
carrying out a titration on a river bank.
There was also time spent developing our ID skills. This mainly focused on the
invertebrates – with a particular focus on moths – and limestone flora. During the summer
school ID skills were regularly emphasised as a skill that is highly sought-after in the industry,
and we should invest time practising and becoming familiar with a variety of methods of ID as
well as becoming familiar with many species from memory.
The BES summer school was Informative, giving us lots of information about career
possibilities and gave us lots of ideas to consider for our futures. It was also a great place to
meet like-minded students and talk about our experiences of university and build friendships
with students from around the country. The best part of the summer school for me was having
the time with experts in their field who were able to give friendly advice in how to excel in their
particular area. I found their advice particularly useful when developing and trying out new
fieldwork skills. I really enjoyed my week on the BES summer school and it will be influential to
the rest of my time at university and has given me a great boost towards preparing for life after
my undergraduate degree.
Lauren Clarke, Year 2 Environmental Science
Summer School at Malham Tarn
“Throughout the week we received more interesting lectures from a host of guest speakers on topics
including microbiology, conservation,
research communication and
careers options.”
“I really enjoyed my week on the BES
summer school and it will be influential to
the rest of my time at university…”
Leaves & Leather Page 10
From the top of a hill, hidden deep in the Calakmul Biosphere Reserve jungle in the Yucatan
peninsula, to the bottom of the charismatic Caribbean Sea there are many different organisms
to encounter. The beginning of my trip was full of the emotions one might expect; excitement,
apprehension, happiness that I would be spending the next 6 weeks in a foreign country, and
the thought, “what the hell am I doing spending 6 weeks in another country in the middle of
nowhere surrounded by deadly and dangerous organisms?” But, once in Mexico and met some
of the people I’d be living with, I realised what a truly amazing adventure I was embarking on.
Mancolona, the first camp we arrived at, could be compared to basic glamping in
England. We had a dining room, toilets (dry), tents on wooden platforms, bucket showers and a
classroom. The purpose of the first week was to learn how to undertake all the different surveys
and to acclimatise to the hot, humid environment we would be trekking in. Each day a group
would head out at 5am to participate in surveys. The surveys we were focusing on covered
birds, mammals, habitat, or ‘herpes’ (herpetofauna – reptiles and amphibians). Later, at around
7pm, the bat team would leave. Depending on findings, surveys could take up to 7 hours to
complete.
At the end of the first week we had a quiz evening featuring a pub quiz, science
Pictionary, music rounds, animal charades, and the balloon game! Our team, the Coral Snakes,
was at a severe disadvantage as the noise the animal made was used as the buzzer. Hissing
doesn’t compare with birds, ninja turtle or mountain gorillas! However, and after a terrible pub
quiz round, we ended up winning! And duly celebrated by toasting marshmallows and Salsa
dancing around the campfire.
Most people were apprehensive leaving the first camp as we were heading to Dos
Naciones, the toughest, most remote camp in Mexico. The walk up to the camp carrying our
bags was more than some of us could handle, and featured a 1 km hill, which was ridiculously
steep, with no real path (in places approx.. 20cm wide), and with a steep drop on the other side.
If any of us had fallen, the thick foliage would hopefully have caught us. The camp itself
consisted of cocoon hammocks, with Velcro at the bottom giving the illusion of giving birth to
yourself every morning, tarp-covered science and eating areas where food was stored on
shelves made from branches lashed together. A fire, around which there were logs balanced on
stones and there were two hammocks. The toilets were trenches which were dug anew once a
week. It took some getting used to.
The next two weeks were incredible. The amount of different animals, plants and insect
which I saw was indescribable! Living in such close quarters with 19 other people meant we all
got very close and helped each other out all the time. This was extremely important on
transects to keep spirits high, when some were finding them difficult and also when people fell
ill. Living in the jungle was very tiring as everything seemed to take twice as long due to having
to be overly-cautious in even simple tasks such as walking around the camp to avoid stepping on
scorpions, tarantulas, centipedes and – occasionally – snakes. Also, as some groups left before
sunrise, making breakfast on your own in the pitch black while howler monkeys and
chachalackas were waking up around you was very eerie!
Mexico’s many monkeys, snakes, spiders, … “what the hell am I doing spending 6 weeks in another
country in the middle of nowhere
surrounded by deadly and dangerous
organisms?”
“And duly celebrated by
toasting marshmallows and
Salsa dancing around the campfire.”
“The toilets were trenches which were dug anew
once a week. It took some getting used
to.”
“The next two weeks were
incredible. The amount of different animals, plants and insect which I saw was indescribable!”
“making breakfast on your own in the pitch black while howler monkeys
and chachalackas were waking up around you was
very eerie!”
Leaves & Leather Page 11
I learnt In Dos Nac there were four transects. Although T1 started only 50m from camp, it
was the most challenging transect of all. There were continuous hills ranging from mild to
nearly vertical where you had to absail (or in my case being so small, find an alternating
route of tree branches and roots and rock climb up). This, however, was my favourite
transect due to the unique diversity of habitats found along it. First there was jungle, much
like the other parts of the jungle I had worked in, but as I moved along the transect there
were patches of Milpa (areas of land that had been burnt down to create space for crop
growth). These areas created a sharp, defined boundary between rich green diverse jungle
and barren ash land. When climbing up and down the steep hills, one side could be dense
jungle while the other recovering Milpa land meaning it was fairly barren with a few dead
saplings and young palm plants. The last 200m of the transect was full of fallen trees with a
diameter greater than 1m which were hard to climb over. The last 10m had palm leaves
that were around 2m long, rather like a scene from The Jungle Book.
Spot the difference: Milpa (on left) and Jungle (on the right)…
From the different surveys, the ones I enjoyed the most were birds, mammals and
habitat. The bird surveys meant getting up at 4am and walking over difficult terrain in very
low light conditions. There were two types of bird surveys; point counts, which involved
stopping every 200m along a transect with the bird scientist noting down the bird species
that could be heard, how far away they were and how many individuals there were. And
bird mist nest surveys, which involved having to catch birds in mist nets to identify age, and
sex and take tail, wing and tarsal length measurements. Mammal surveys could take
anything from 3 to 8 hours. The time taken was dependent on the amount of tracks found
and how long it took to identify the tracks, date and measure them. I found that identifying
and dating the tracks was something I was good at and I enjoyed doing. On my last transect
we found peccary tracks 50m from camp and also a Jaguar footprint 200m from camp. I
had never realised how large the feet of a tapir are until I saw them! The most abundant
species found are peccary (collared and white tailed) together with Mazama sp.
As part of the research into the abundance and diversity of organisms, being
carried out in Mexico Yucatan Peninsula and the Calakmul Biosphere Reserve, habitat plots
are also carried out. This involves creating a 20 x 20m quadrat which is split into four
smaller quadrats. In the quadrats the number of saplings, number and species of trees,
percentage canopy cover, leaf density and shrub density is recorded using touch poles
(used rather like a larger version of point quadrats….).
… birds, reptiles, amphibians, etc.
“Milpa (areas of land that had been
burnt down to create space for crop growth).”
“The last 10m had palm leaves that were around 2m,
rather like a scene from The Jungle
Book.”
“The bird surveys meant getting up at 4am and walking
over difficult terrain in very low light
conditions.”
“Mammal surveys could take anything from 3 to 8 hours.”
“On my last transect we found peccary tracks 50m from camp and also a Jaguar footprint
200m from camp.”
“This involves creating a 20 x 20m
quadrat which is split into four
smaller quadrats”
Leaves & Leather Page 12
The Hardest Jungle Night
The second Tuesday at Dos Nac I was lying awake listening to the rain landing on my hammock’s
tarpaulin. At the same time, I was praying. Twice before my tarpauling had fallen and drenched my
bedding and the bags under my hammock. Those times were during the daytime though and I did
not want it to happen in the dark!
My tarp was holding well and the sound of the rain was relaxing and welcome due to a
lack of drinking and shower water. As the rain got heavier I watched, by the moonlight, the pool of
water growing in a dip on the tarp and the little waterfall was filling me with hope. At 3am disaster
struck! The hooks of my tarp snapped suddenly making it spring back and shower me in water.
After screaming and using a few choice words I burst out laughing before sliding out of my
hammock, saved my sleeping bag and teddy and ran to the covered science area. After weighing
up the situation I ran back out to grab my raincoat, clothes and backpack that was slowly gathering
water. I managed to get everything to safety in the science tent, put on warm clothes and socks (it
got strangely cold at night), climbed inside my sleeping bag, sat on the bench and read my book.
At 4:15am the bat team returned to find me reading, surrounded by all of my belongings.
They convinced me to try to get some sleep, if I could find somewhere undercover from the rain. I
went to look in the first aid/baggage store area (a structure created from branches lashed together
and palm leaves as the roof and walls). It was at this point my head torch ran out of batteries. I
found the baggage area soaked and full of scorpions so went back to the science tent with my roll-
mat.
I made a bed on the ground under the science tent using two roll mats. I tried to settle
down to sleep but became paranoid I was going to be eaten by a snake or scorpion or wake up
with a tarantula in my mouth. Scared and melodramatic are two of the words to describe how I
was feeling. As well as tired, hysterical and annoyed!
At 4:45am I heard the bird team in the kitchen making breakfast so I went to say good
morning and ask Ezequiel (the bird scientist) if he had a mosquito net. I had a plan…
In the science tent there was a picnic bench made from branches lashed together. I
worked out that my roll mats would fit perfectly underneath the bench and then I could fashion
the mosquito net over the bench to create a “tent”. This plan started with me getting bitten by a
firefly and grabbing a bag with an unsuspecting lizard on it, which scared me when it wriggled
under my fingers. At 5am, I did not fully appreciate the fact I had accidentally caught a lizard,
which I think was an Anoles sp. After creating my tent, I climbed in and tried to sleep. 30 minutes
later I rolled over to find a millipede, about 20cm in length, climbing up the netting in front of my
face. I left the tent quickly and went to join the mammal team for breakfast. I watched the sunrise
while eating cornflakes and tidying the kitchen area, then headed back to bed.
As the sun was up I was less scared of what may try to kill me (not an over-reaction when
lying on the jungle floor virtually unprotected) so I managed to sleep. I was disturbed at 8:30 by
Olly, from the habitat team, collecting his equipment. He was surprised to find me under his feet
but was impressed with my make-shift tent. When I woke up at 11am I found the local Mexican
men who helped around camp talking to Ezequiel trying to work out what I was doing. I explained
and they laughed for a long time.
Although this was the hardest night, it’s one of the moments I look back on and realise
how proud of myself I can be for my quick thinking in difficult situations. It was this event (and the
fact I have managed to fall a total of 10 times on transects and not injure myself once) that earned
me the award of “Bear Skills” during the camp award ceremony.
Mexican nights can be the longest nights…
“At the same time, I was praying.”
Anolis tropicalis…
[Ed. – This is not a mistake. Although scientific names
should be italicised, this one is not
italicised because text in this side
column is italicised. In that situation, that
which should be italicised is left unitalicised…]
Leaves & Leather Page 13
Although this was the hardest night, it’s one of the moments I look back on and realise how proud
of myself I can be for my quick thinking in difficult situations. It was this event (and the fact I have
managed to fall a total of 10 times on transects and not injure myself once) that earned me the
award of “Bear Skills” during the camp award ceremony.
Left: what a hammock is supposed to look like
Right: my makeshift ‘tent’ [Ed. – seen through ‘4.45 am camera lens’..?]
In the evenings we tended to sit around the camp fire and talk/read/listen to music or
play games. The lack of technology and places to go meant that as a team we all bonded and
became very close. The group of people I was with were all amazing intelligent people. Aged from
19 to 24, we were from England, Mexico, America, Canada, Spain, Italy and other countries all
over the world, but all got along very well and everyone would help and support the others if they
were ill, homesick or just needed a cup of tea and the fire had gone out.
My favourite jungle experience was during a bird point count on transect 3, when a family
of spider monkeys decided to follow us and “play” with us. Spider monkeys love to play and have
been known to ‘high five’ and hug each other. The males call out and shake trees to encourage
each other to throw branches. They were so successful in this that at one point, Alex, Ezequiel
and I were surrounded by 8 adults and 2 babies. It got scary at times when they started to throw
larger branches, but it was amazing to interact with such incredible animals.
Things I learnt during my time in the jungle; not to walk bare foot, always take more food
and water than you think you’ll need, you will all need each other at some point, monkeys are
hilarious but in groups are scary, you can get very lost in the jungle, I can survive a lot more than I
thought I could.
Overall, working with Operation Wallacea (Opwall – http://opwall.com/) has been
amazing, and educational, and I will take away knowledge and memories I will never forget (and
inspiration for my Third Year Dissertation…)!
Annabelle Caley, Year 3 Biology, Philosophy and Ethics
[Ed. – to be continued in the next issue of the Newsletter…]
Mexican sojourn concluded (for now…)
“The lack of technology and
places to go meant that as a team we
all bonded and became very close”
“My favourite jungle experience was
during a bird point count on transect 3,
when a family of spider monkeys
decided to follow us and “play” with us.”
“monkeys are hilarious but in
groups are scary…”
“Overall, working with Operation
Wallacea has been amazing, and
educational, and I will take away
knowledge and memories I will never forget”
Leaves & Leather Page 14
HR Excellence in Research Award Bath Spa has retained its award in the European Commission HR Excellence in Research
Award. There are 291 institutions in total with the Award, 98 in the UK and 193 in other
European countries. The UK may have voted to leave the European Union, but universities still
see the value of the European Research Area. The retention of the award for Bath Spa
University came after a four-year external review, and the University is one of the first 50 UK
HEIs to achieve this benchmark. [Source: University Newsletter]
What have you done since graduating from Bath Spa?
As soon as I graduated I moved to China to teach English. I have lived in China for the past 2
years in various cities, teaching a wide range of ages from 3-50 years old. When I first arrived
I took a job in a university teaching speaking and listening to first and second year students. I
loved this job but I didn’t love the location so much. I was living in Wuhan, a main industrial
hub for China with a population of around 14 million. It has awful pollution and some days
when I looked out my window I was unable to see the building next to mine (maybe 20m
away). After 6 months, I decided to take a job with a new company and moved down to
Shenzhen, a city on the border of Hong Kong. I immediately loved this city as it’s built around
many mountains and has a tropical climate so it’s green all year round. Although the
population size is actually bigger than that of Wuhan, the pollution is nowhere near as bad
(this may be because it’s a coastal city so it’s all blown inland...). With my new company I
spent 6 months teaching grade 1 and 2 of primary school, then got moved to a new school
where I currently work teaching grade 1 and 2 of high school.
What is your current job?
As a high school English teacher I have to design my own curriculum as well as create and
administer spoken English exams. I see each of my classes four times a week, so there’s a lot
of lesson planning. In my spare time I do lots of private tutoring (this is where the money is!)
teaching Biology and English from kindergarten age to adults.
Typical day in the current job...
Classes start at 7:50 so I’m up early in the morning. I teach on average 3 45minute classes a
day so I have plenty of time in between to plan lessons and mark exams. One good thing
about Chinese schools is the 2 hour lunch break. Whilst Chinese teachers take out beds in the
office to have a nap. I go home to cook lunch. The school day finishes at 4pm, when I start
private tutoring or take Chinese classes for myself.
Most favourite part of your current job?
Seeing students grow in confidence. I think the biggest difficulty for Chinese students is
having the confidence to speak. Usually their reading and written English ability is much
better than their spoken ability, simply because they’re too afraid to make a mistake with
their pronunciation. Another good part is that I don’t have to fulfil office hours so although
the school day is 7:50am – 4pm if I only have one class, that’s me done for the day. Also the
food, I LOVE Chinese food!
… least favourite part?
Designing the curriculum. It’s pretty difficult to think of a year’s worth of topics, grammar and
vocabulary to study. This, combined with classes of 50+ students of varying English ability,
makes planning interactive all-inclusive lessons a hard task. There are also some parts of
Chinese society that are less likeable. Unless they’re your friends, Chinese people aren’t very
courteous towards others (and there’s a lot of them!). They tend to push in queues, barge
their way onto buses and trains, and will happily spit anywhere. This makes me appreciate
British manners a lot.
How did your course at Bath Spa help to prepare you for employment?
During my course at Bath Spa we had to do many presentation assessments. I think having
the confidence to stand up and speak publicly has helped me a lot in teaching. Also, I am now
looking forward to returning to Bath Spa to start a PGCE in Secondary Biology. Biology,
Hannah Bolt [BSc (Hons) Biology, 2014]
“I immediately loved this city [Shenzhen] as it’s built around
many mountains and has a tropical climate so it’s green all year
round.”
“It’s pretty difficult to think of a year’s worth
of topics, grammar and vocabulary to
study.”
Leaves & Leather Page 15
Hannah’s biography concluded
Leaves & Leather Page 16
especially human biology, is a topic I’m passionate about so I’m looking forward to returning to a field
I enjoy. English is fine, but it’s not science!
Best memory of your time at Bath Spa?
The moment I handed in my dissertation. Kind of a bittersweet moment where I’d worked so hard to
get it finished and was super happy to have it over with, but, could I have done more..?
Top advice for current Bath Spa Biologists/Environmental Scientists?
Don’t leave your dissertation to the last minute! I took ages deciding what topic to focus my
dissertation on which left me limited time to actually do it. Looking back, I wish I’d thought about it
more in second year and done some volunteering over the summer. This would have given me good
experience and meant my dissertation would have been done early. Ah, hindsight…
“Don’t leave your dissertation to the
last minute”
Ian in his best
mortar board and gown…
“The Wood Mouse (Apodemus sylvaticus).
Remember that.”
What, No, What’s brown and sticky???
Meet the Staff: Dr Ian Todd
What is your role? Subject Leader (Head) of Biology.
What do you do? I teach on a lot of ecology and behavioural topics and oversee the Biology
awards.
Favourite part(s) of the job: On graduation day it is great to read out our students’ names as they
receive their awards. It’s also great to guide students in their understanding of biology.
… Least favourite: Paperwork and long meetings for the obvious reason!
Most likely to be heard saying: “Can you send me an email to remind me to do that, please?”
Least likely to say: “Don’t worry about reminding me, I have a perfect memory”
Favourite Colour: Total Recall, because I don’t like answering some questions.
Favourite Plant: Lemon Meringue Pie (the lemon part)
Favourite Animal: The Wood Mouse (Apodemus sylvaticus). Remember that.
Hobbies: I enjoy singing bass in local choirs, as it’s completely different from my day job.
Who said trees aren’t funny? Q: What did the tree wear to the pool party? A: Swimming trunks.
Q: What did the beaver say to the tree? A: It's been nice gnawing you.
Q: Why did the leaf go to the doctor? A: It was feeling green.
Q: What is a tree's least favourite month? A: Sep-timber.
Q: What kind of tree can fit into your hand? A: A palm tree.
Q: How do trees get on the internet? A: They log in.
Q: What did the tree do when the bank closed? A: It started a new branch.
Q: How can you tell that a tree is a dogwood tree? A: By its bark.
[Adapted from : http://www.ducksters.com/jokes/tree.php]
Leaves & Leather
As part of my Biology course, I chose the 2nd Year Work Placement module, and worked in
Bath Spa’s Wellow lab during the first half of my 2nd year. I chose this module for two main
reasons. First, it allowed me to get a feel for working in a career area that I could potentially
enter after I graduate (a short-term ‘taster’ to see if I’d enjoy such a job full-time…). Second,
it gave me the opportunity to gain experience that would assist in applying for future
positions within the field.
The tasks that I was asked to carry out during my placement were intended to give me a
wide range of experiences in the laboratory, representative of a real-world position, ranging
from preparing media and cultures, to maintaining the stock levels of the stores. In addition
to these tasks that were needed for the smooth day-to-day running of the laboratory, I was
also asked to complete a study to identify which tasks took the greatest time to complete,
and which component actions of the tasks could be changed to make the overall process
more time efficient. However, by the time the data collection for this study had been
completed, plans for the renovations of the Wellow laboratory had been finalized [see item
on page 1 of this issue of the Newsletter], Whilst this meant that the conclusions drawn
from my study were unable to shape the design of the new laboratory and preparation
room, most of the issues I identified were addressed in the new design in some manner.
Some of the most important inclusions which have been incorporated in the new build
include increased area of work surfaces and storage space in the preparation room, as well
as the purchase of an industrial, dishwasher. These additions to the laboratory, as well as
the creation of a dedicated dissertation research laboratory, should ensure that the
experience – for students and staff alike – in the laboratory is much improved.
Looking back at the placement, I can say that I gained many useful skills that will help me in
my dissertation – examining the use of bacteriophages [viruses of bacteria] to control
pathogens – and in future positions I apply for post-graduation. The placement also allowed
me to practise and expand my existing skill set far beyond what could have been achieved in
regular laboratory sessions in class. I have also gained an appreciation for how difficult the
position of laboratory technician is, and all of the work that occurs behind the scenes in the
laboratories on campus to ensure that everything runs smoothly. Before this work
placement, I didn’t really give much thought to how the practical sessions, materials and
resources were prepared. Somewhere in the back of my mind, I was aware that the lab staff
prepared the materials, but that was as far as it went. After completing my placement in the
lab, I now realise the great deal of work – and planning – it takes to produce, prepare,
recycle and reuse all of the materials needed for just one single practical session, let alone
all of the sessions that occur every day throughout the year. And, whilst juggling the needs
and requirements of the various dissertation students that use the facilities on a daily basis!
The Work Placement module gave me the freedom to choose something that I would find
useful and interesting, rather than being directed to complete a placement that I did not feel
was useful to my future position. It also gave me the freedom to write the assessment for
the module in a way that allowed me to highlight the sections of the placement that
benefited me, and showcase some of the work that I completed as part of the work
placement. I would definitely recommend the Work Placement module to anyone who
would be interesting in gaining practical experience in a field of biology that are interested
in, and which can only help to make them stand out from the crowd when applying for
future positions.
Oliver Burrows, Year 3 Biology
Wellow work placement
The author
apparently trying to hide behind an ichip (used for assessing microbial life in soil – see Newsletter issue 20, p. 21) [photo credit: I
Haysom]
“I gained many useful skills that will
help me in my dissertation”
“it gave me the opportunity to gain
experience that would assist in
applying for future positions within the
field.”
“I would definitely recommend the Work Placement
module…”
Leaves & Leather Page 17
Crystals on my mind… As the end of summer 2015 was fast approaching the thought of starting a new life at university
loomed ahead. Although I was excited for the journey and the experiences university life had to
offer, I knew I was stepping into an unknown environment and this worried me. As a natural
worrier, the thought of this new journey was constantly ticking over in my head, escalating into an
inability to see the positives in the situation. I knew I couldn’t spend the rest of my summer
worried and anxious, my mind-set had to change.
One of my closest friends confided in me that carrying round certain crystals on her person helped
her to deal with different emotions such as anxiety. I listened to what she had told me, but to say I
was sceptical would be an understatement. She told me that my constant worrying had caused my
chakras to fall out of balance. She explained that the chakras refer to seven different wheels of
energy throughout the body [the crown, brow, throat, heart, solar plexus, sacral, and base
chakras]. Although this sounded a tad far-fetched, it had caught my attention. Out of curiosity I did
some research and discovered that if your base chakra is said to be ‘out’ you may be liable to
insecurity and anxiety. To redress that balance the suggested crystal was red jasper (a type of
quartz given its colour by iron oxide inclusions). Red Jasper is said to bring about the end of
something leading to a new beginning, which sounded very relevant to my situation.
Further research revealed that there were several other crystals that may help this situation, e.g.
smoky quartz which is coloured by natural earth radiation, sourced from Brazil, Madagascar and
the USA. Smoky quartz is said to help the release of pent-up anger and worry. Jet was another
suggestion, formed from the fossilised remains of trees, sourced from Canada and the USA, it is
said to promote calmness and expel worry.
The next step was to put these crystals to use. Literature in books and on the internet suggested
placing the crystals on the chakra at fault. In my case this was the base chakra, at my feet. At night
I slept with the crystals beneath my sheets, in line with my feet. After only a few days of carrying
out this strategy my worries began to disperse; the thought of university stopped being a
persistent burden and instead became a welcomed thought of excitement. Whether or not there is
method in the madness or it is just a placebo of the mind I am unsure, but what I can assure you is
that it worked for me.
Here’s a little extra information that supports the ‘madness’. Crystals’ role in mental and physical
healing has been referred to throughout literature for centuries including Indian texts and Chinese
writings on traditional medicine. The Bible also has 200 references to crystals and their healing
powers. Scientists have acknowledged, but cannot yet explain how, that crystals transmit,
transmute and store energy. Crystals vibrate and under pressure and some can produce electricity,
the piezoelectric effect (and is why some watches use quartz in their construction). Western
scientists have shown that the body’s energy systems such as chakras do exist; the California
Institute of Human Science have produced machines which can prove this.
Since I began using crystals I have recommended them to friends, many of whom have said that
they have helped especially when seeking concentration for exams and confidence for stressful
situations such as giving presentations. I have taken my interest in crystals and the body’s energy
centres to the next step by taking an angel reiki course. It is safe to say it has had a hugely positive
impact on my life.
It may sound crazy but – trust me – it’s worth a try. And, what have you got to lose?
Ben Fisher, Year 2 Environmental Science
Leaves & Leather Page 18
Image from: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:USDA_Mineral_Smokey_Quartz_93v39
49.jpg
“The next step was to put these crystals
to use.”
“The Bible also has 200 references to crystals and their
healing”
“It is safe to say it has had a hugely positive impact on
my life.”
Thomas Bell [BSc (Hons) Env. Science, 2016] What have you done since graduating from Bath Spa? In the period between my final
deadline and graduation, I picked up my previous job as a gardener/landscaper in order to
get a bit of immediate income. A few weeks before graduation Dave Watson advertised an
internship job opportunity. The project involved a comparative study on the use of aerial
drones in assessing habitat restoration of quarries compared to conventional manual
assessment surveys. I didn’t hesitate to apply for this position and successfully got the job.
So since graduation I’ve been dividing my time between both of these jobs.
What is your current job?
I’m currently a Graduate Intern working at Bath Spa University on a research project that is
being submitted for the Quarry Life Award (you can find our project here:
http://www.quarrylifeaward.com/projects/united-kingdom/biodiversity-restoration-can-
drones-provide-accurate-efficient-and-safe). My roles in this job have varied due to the
natural progression of this project. For example I’ve undertake background topic research
and literature reviews, I’ve been involved in undertaking floristic surveys, writing blogs to
update the public on our progress of the project (the blogs are on the website above), as
well as processing the photos we’ve taken by drone for data analysis.
A typical day in the current job...
There isn’t a ‘typical’ day; each day has been different depending on what part of the project
has required focus. However, a large portion of the time I’ve been in front of a computer
either researching or processing images as part of the project’s data analysis. The project is
therefore like doing a dissertation.
Most favourite part of your current job?
I love the fact that this internship allows me to practise the skills I learned and developed
during my BSc at Bath Spa. For example the researching element, the species identification
and surveying techniques; it’s great that the skill I learned weren’t just to pass assignments. I
also love the project’s experimental nature which is essentially evaluating surveying
techniques used in the real world; that gives it a sense of purpose. But, best of all, it’s
something different and is giving me an opportunity to learn new skills, e.g. image analysis,
which is new to me. I like that this job has presented me with new challenges to overcome.
… least favourite part?
Although I’ve viewed the image analysis as a welcomed challenge, it has meant that I’ve had
to learn from scratch how to use the ‘Bio7’ software. Whilst it gives me a new skill, getting to
grips with this software has been irritatingly time-consuming and rather difficult at times.
Best memory of your time at Bath Spa?
All the field trips that I’ve been on are probably my most memorable times (academically
speaking). It’s refreshing to take the lessons outside and see all the ‘textbook theory’ stuff in
the real world. And you’re always bound to learn about more than just the subject on
residential biology trips. I would go into more detail, but “field trip rules” and all that…
Top tips advice for current Bath Spa Biologists/Environmental Scientists?
Being organised and able to prioritise is a vitally important skill. When choosing modules, go
for those you’ll enjoy, but also with your career in mind. If you’ve got a plan, pick relevant
modules, if you don’t have a career plan, keep your skill set diverse for now. Someone with
relevant work experience is incredibly valuable in the eyes of an employer. So, take on new
opportunities that come your way, e.g. newt surveying, or helping out on Open Days.
Leaves & Leather Page 19
Tom, Top 2nd year Environmental
Science student in 2015
[photo credit: N Chaffey]
“A few weeks before my graduation Dave Watson advertised an internship job opportunity to the
biology department.”
How did your course at Bath Spa help to prepare you
for employment? “The modules at Bath Spa gave me both the
knowledge and experience necessary
for this type of job. The majority of the
skills I’ve gained are transferable and so are applicable not
only to this internship but any future employment.”
Leaves & Leather Page 20
Thanks to Bath Spa’s Global Citizen Certificate, I was encouraged to find myself some sort of
study abroad programme. I decided to go to Cambodia to collect data in a marine conservation
environment. Marine Conservation Cambodia [http://www.marineconservationcambodia.org/]
is situated on the island of Koh Seh, close to the Vietnamese border and an hour’s boat ride
from the mainland. The conservation project relies on an organic system where volunteers find
their place and contribute in their own way to the overall success of the conservation efforts.
This can be: doing underwater surveys, finding alternative livelihoods for fishers such as algal
aquaculture, teaching the children, helping with cooking/cleaning/maintenance, participating in
outreach projects, going on patrol, beach cleans and creative waste management… Basically,
anything you can think of!
What I learnt from 3 months in Cambodia
I started collecting data on coral-bleaching: swimming out to the coral reef every morning and
taking photos of four different coral colonies to monitor whether they recover their algae or die.
The complications of this were challenging: trying to use a quadrat underwater, getting an
infection and not being able to go in the water, stormy weather, low tides, etc. The four
different species of coral all seem to have re-attracted their algae and thus their colour.
I helped the team work on a presentation that was to be given to local governors, about
the need for more Marine Protected Areas. The presentation was based on reports written by
volunteers using local fish and invertebrate survey data.
I learned about the importance of patrolling in the implementation of Marine Protected
Areas. There are lots of complicated issues to do with corruption in the police, with illegal
Vietnamese fishers paying bribes to be able to keep trawling in Cambodian waters. The
Department of Fisheries are good allies as they genuinely want to protect the ocean. During my
stay, I helped remove nets from the reef and free any living creatures caught in them. We pulled
up several long fishing lines and crab traps. Whilst I was there, an electric trawling boat was
apprehended and the gear was confiscated. We found a dead seahorse in the nets.
Students from the Royal University of Agriculture in the capital Phnom Penh came to
spend some days on the island and it was great to meet the local students and share our passion
for the ocean with them. Most of the students didn’t know what coral was or how to swim
(slightly worrying when these are the future of conservation in the country).
I passed a seahorse identification exam and was able to conduct seahorse surveys, with
the results sent off to an international seahorse database as part of the citizen science project
iSeahorse (seahorse pictured is Hippocampus kuda).
Marine conservation internship: Cambodia “Thanks to Bath Spa’s
Global Citizen Certificate, I was
encouraged to find myself some sort of
study abroad programme.”
“Marine Conservation Cambodia is situated on the island of Koh
Seh, close to the Vietnamese border and an hour’s boat
ride from the mainland.”
“it was great to meet the local students and share our passion for the ocean with them.”
“I passed a seahorse identification exam
and was able to conduct seahorse
surveys”
Leaves & Leather Page 21
Cambodia conservation concluded.
The pressure of ever-looming deadlines, be they for a paper, a presentation or an exam,
results in many students becoming reliant upon the ‘on-the-go’ ease of the coffee shop
culture which took the western world by storm through the 21st Century. Bath city centre
alone has: 2 Costas, 2 Starbucks, 2 Café Nero’s, a Prêt-A-Manger, as well as multitude of
independent stores catering for the city’s population. Bath Spa University’s Newton Park
campus is its own little hub within the world’s coffee culture, with 5 outlets on-site –
Starbucks, The Refectory, East Wing Café, the Students’ Union (SU) and vending machines.
The nature of this ‘on-the-go’ culture leads to high volumes of waste production which can
severely dent the green ethos desired by the university. This leads to the question, What can
be done about all this extra waste we are sending to the landfill at our own cost?
When served a beverage, it is important to remember that it is not just a cup that a customer
takes away with them: They get a cup, a plastic lid (and potentially a cardboard heat sleeve),
and a spoon or stirrer. Although the cup may appear recyclable from the outside, its inner
layer is coated with a polymer, which means that the cup is not recyclable. Whilst the extra
components are recyclable within the BSU waste management system, a key question is
whether the consumer will invest the time to separate the recyclable parts from the non-
recyclable components. A quick calculation shows that if every student and member of staff
were to purchase one beverage a day, without using their own cup, 8,333 cups would be sent
to landfill – with a total weight of approx.. 344 kg – daily. Consequently, an academic year of
33 weeks – 231 days – at maximum output would be 1,924,923 cups weighing almost 80,000
kg (80 tons!!!) deposited into landfill. Although these calculations are based on the daily
extremes, this exercise illustrates the enormity of the issue that could potentially be
presented to BSU.
Through a campus-wide survey of both staff and students it was revealed that less than 35%
of the population was aware of the non-recyclability of the paper cup, and that most
purchase a take-away drink on campus between 2 and 4 times a week. It also showed that
Starbucks was the most popular outlet used on campus. From speaking to the SU and
Starbucks regarding the sales figures, it is apparent that combined they used roughly 12,000
cups a month, which would be approximately 100,000 per academic year. This would suggest
that in order to resolve the recycling conundrum the focus would need to be campus-wide.
Suggested ways of solving the issue include: composting, customers using their own reusable
mug, and the addition of a charge for a disposable cup (to offset the landfill costs).
Kirstie Thistlethwaite, year 3 Environmental Science
[Ed. – this was a project undertaken as an assignment to for the environmental sustainability
component of the second year Environmental Science core module and
“The aim is for the play to become an outreach project,
being performed in local schools to raise
awareness about destructive fishing
practices.”
“Another interesting project on the island
is the development of alternative livelihoods for illegal fishers…”
“The next project for MCC was the creation and
deployment of anti-trawling concrete
blocks…”
“I had gained many valuable skills and
enjoyed being part of an unconventional
conservation project…”
Beach cleans are an important and interesting part of life on the island. Along with the debris
itself, data are recorded as to what kind of rubbish is washing up and in what quantities.
Most of the rubbish was plastic, of all shapes and sizes (containers, straws, packaging,
cutlery, lids, bottles, bags). There was also a lot of polystyrene, lots of flip-flops, clothes and
fishing gear. It’s necessary to try and find creative ways of dealing with this waste. Bean bags
made out of grated polystyrene, stools from flip-flops, lampshades made of lighters (see
image on previous page) are some of the projects.
I helped put together a play for children which explains how destructive trawling is and how
alternative fishing methods can be used to restore fish populations. I used cut-up clothes
found on beach cleans to make the back-drops (shown below). The aim is for the play to
become an outreach project, being performed in local schools to raise awareness about
destructive fishing practices.
Another interesting project on the island is the development of alternative livelihoods for
illegal fishers, for example aquafarming. Grape algae, a commercial alga rich in minerals and
protein, is being grown experimentally in tanks and in the sea.
There are four children on the island and I helped them with English reading and writing
every day. We did art classes together and on one of my last days I hosted an exhibition of
their work. We auctioned off the art work and made US$40, which we spent on more art
supplies like paper and paint. It was enlightening to see children home-schooled in such an
unconventional way: they learn from being free to run around the island, interacting with
volunteers from all over the world and listening to the scientific marine presentations.
The next project for MCC was the creation and deployment of anti-trawling concrete blocks
that double-up as artificial oyster reefs, which help filter the water. We helped make the first
blocks as part of a pilot project and I also helped write the grant application proposals. This is
an exciting project as the potential is huge and far-reaching with possibilities of alternative
livelihoods, and investments from the private sector as well as NGOs and the government.
When I left, after 3 months (which I wish could have been longer!) I had gained many
valuable skills and enjoyed being part of an unconventional conservation project, meeting
people from all over the world with the same passion for diving and conservation.
Nina Clayton, Year 3 Environmental Science
Leaves & Leather Page 22
What have you done since graduating from Bath Spa? Initially, I increased my hours at the
part-time job I had through University, working as a teaching assistant in a special needs
school, while I applied for other things. Because I did well in my degree, and I enjoyed
research and writing, I thought I might try carrying that on into further study. I had already
been looking for relevant PhDs and there were a couple that interested me. I made it through
to the interview stage both times but came away without success. I was perhaps unlucky
(particularly for one at the University of Exeter where I had great feedback but they took an
internal candidate) but ultimately I think it worked out for me as I’m happy in my current job.
My advice would be if you want to apply for a PhD you either need to start looking very early,
or be prepared to wait a year to get what you want. Applying is tough, it really saps your
energy and you might well have to go through a number of unsuccessful attempts before you
get a place. Also you can always go back to study later in life, so it’s not the end of the world if
it doesn’t work out (as it didn’t for me). So then I broadened my search and started thinking
about what jobs I might like to do…
What is your current job?
I’m a Commercial Generation Analyst for Good Energy (a renewable energy supply company)
https://www.goodenergy.co.uk/. In short: I help buy power from renewable generators.
Typical day in the current job...
Check my emails, replying to questions/enquiries from potential clients. Produce quotes for
them, perhaps ring them up to talk it over. Attend a meeting to discuss something new or
what we’re up to (!). Go the gym at lunch / go for a run. Work on improving our systems,
making things run more smoothly. Produce a report on… something ?!
It’s a surprisingly varied job and the company wants to be pioneering so we’re always
investigating new things. For example, I’ve worked on a project to incorporate batteries into
the national grid for the first time. Biology-related questions come up quite frequently. For
example, we are contracting a growing number of anaerobic digestion (AD) generators. ADs
are vats of biomass-munching bacteria which produce methane as they break down plant
matter and manure. If they’re powered by cow poo that seems fantastic: use up methane,
reduce climate change and produce power too… But what if they’re powered by energy crops
that can potentially be damaging to the environment to grow..? How about a little bit of
energy crop to top it up..?! How do you decide where to draw the line?
Most favourite part of your current job?
Talking to customers, sorting things out, winning new sites.
... least favourite part?
The amount of time spent inside can sometimes be a bit dull, especially on a hot day.
How did your course at Bath Spa help to prepare you for employment?
I think I’m lucky to have the job I have and I would not have been successful if it wasn’t for my
good degree classification and my passion for conservation and the environment. There are
lots of people with “green” degrees in the renewables industry and you might be surprised
how something like a study of kingfishers you did in the second year, can be intriguing and
impressive to your potential employer! FYI, there are lots of jobs in the renewables sector that
might appeal to Biology/Environmental Science graduates. After all, we’ve seen first-hand the
devastating effects of climate change, something to consider I’d say!
Mike Spencer [BSc (Hons) Biology, 2015]
“My advice would be if you want to apply for a PhD you either need to start looking
very early, or be prepared to wait a
year to get what you want.”
“It’s a surprisingly varied job and the
company wants to be pioneering so we’re always investigating
new things.”
“I think I’m lucky to have the job I
have…”
“there are lots of jobs in the renewables sector that might
appeal to Biology/Environment
al Science graduates.”
Leaves & Leather Page 23
Best memory of your time at Bath Spa?
There were so many highlights, the field trips being particularly memorable. I really enjoyed a
survey of water voles we had to plan and undertake at the Steart Peninsula. We spent all day
wading around in ditches but we did actually find one!
[On another note, try searching on Facebook for a certain Nigel Chaffey. You may or may not
find a video, that may or may not be hilarious, that I may or may not have uploaded…]
Top tip(s) for current Bath Spa Biologists/Environmental Scientists?
Take your degree seriously (it’s costing you an arm and a leg after all!), put effort into
everything you do and you’ll come away with a great sense of satisfaction. Most importantly
never give up… the biggest factor in your ultimate success or slightly less success is not how
brilliant you are, but how resilient you are. Everyone gets a bad mark; everyone feels at some
point like everything is against them. But you get plenty of chances to make amends, and in
the end you’ll make it—promise!
Mike Spencer on life after BSU concluded
Meet the staff: Mrs Laura Dodge
What is your role? I am a Technical Demonstrator.
What do you do? As a headline, I prepare for and assist in practical classes for Biology and
Food and Nutrition. I’m one of the many friendly faces that you will see at Bath Spa and I’m
here to help you to understand and gain experience in new laboratory techniques. I work with
final year students to undertake dissertation projects, and maintain our specialist equipment
that we have, for example our pH, conductivity and dissolved oxygen meters. When the
students have all finished for the year, one of my favourite tasks is to work on developing new
practicals and improving any that haven’t quite gone to plan during the year. This past summer
I have been improving my knowledge on using our HPLC (High Pressure Liquid
Chromatography) machine that is located in Wellow. By evolving methods from previous
experiments I have developed a successful method for testing for caffeine in drinks.
My favourite part(s) of the job? The real ‘sciency’ stuff.
… Least favourite? The washing up.
Most likely to be heard saying: I’ve reorganised the cupboards and moved some things
around.
Least likely to say: I’ll stay and do the late shift.
Favourite Colour: Purple.
Favourite Plant: Tulip.
Favourite Animal: Tigers.
Hobbies: With two young children at home, who has time for hobbies! However, I love taking
family days out and picnics, and I’m an avid reader and love to lose myself in a book.
“We spent all day wading around in ditches but we did actually find one [a
water vole]!”
“Take your degree seriously…”
“I’ve reorganised the cupboards and
moved some things around.”
“I’m an avid reader and love to lose
myself in a book.”
Leaves & Leather Page 24
African cheetah experience: A long tail…
Now that “Intern life” was a wrap [see my “Safari so good…’’ article in issue 20 of the
newsletter – http://www.bathspa.ac.uk/schools/society-enterprise-and-
environment/newsletters] and my time with GVI had come to an end, there was only time for
a quick embrace with my new found friends before I was to head off for pastures new. My next
destination, just a short six hours drive away, was “Nambiti game reserve” [www.nambiti.com]
situated just outside the historic town of Ladysmith and home to Kwa cheetah breeding
project [http://www.sa-venues.com/things-to-do/kwazulunatal/kwa-cheetah-breeding-
project/]. On arrival I was met by Desmond and Elizke Gouws, the project’s general managers.
After a short debrief and a quick tour of the lodge, myself and two other volunteers were
thrown straight into the deep end, after an introduction to Zulu the resident meerkat and Vega
the leopard cub, we were placed on ‘baby-sitting’ duties. Both animals were found abandoned
and lucky to be taken in by the project.
Only 11 months old and still in its infancy, the project was established primarily as a cheetah
breeding centre as well as offering a rehabilitation/rewilding programme to other injured or
abandoned animals. In addition to this was the inclusion of educational talks to any guests who
came to visit. Cheetah numbers have been rapidly declining in recent years; it is believed that
there are only 8 - 10,000 left in the world – including those in zoos and other captive projects.
This reduction in population is largely due to three major reasons. First, habitat loss, where the
open savannahs, a cheetah’s natural hunting ground, are increasingly being used for
agriculture and cattle grazing. Second, spotted cats including leopard, cheetah and serval have
historically been hunted for their skins to be used as part of ceremonial clothing within Zulu
culture. Big strides forward have been seen in recent years with charities (e.g. Panthera.org;
https://www.panthera.org/) working with churches within the Zulu communities to promote
the use of faux furs. Thirdly, and somewhat ironically, a cheetah’s biggest threat towards
extinction is itself! During the previous ice age around 10,000 years ago, numbers dwindled to
near extinction and consequently, today’s cheetah has been blighted with problems ever since.
Due to their poor genetic diversity, the world’s “fastest cat” is host to many issues such as cubs
born with deformities, males born sterile, and low fertility/reproduction levels. In an attempt
to save the cheetahs from themselves, South Africa’s Endangered Wildlife Trust (EWT) has
orchestrated a meta-population programme across all wildlife reserves. This incorporates the
collection of each cheetah’s DNA for cross analysis with another before any relocation may be
permitted in an effort to increase genetic variation, and expand the population’s gene pool
and chances of survival.
The author (not in Africa, but the sun-
drenched Isle of Purbeck, UK)
[photo credit: N Chaffey]
“My next destination … was Nambiti game reserve.”
“the project was established
primarily as a cheetah breeding
centre”
“a cheetah’s biggest threat towards
extinction is itself!”
Leaves & Leather Page 25
The cheetah’s tale – extended…
In the beginning the Kwa cheetah breeding project was home to three adult cheetahs; Shadow
and Savannah, two female siblings, and Mikka the male. The role of us volunteers was to offer
daily support to Des and Elizke, i.e. enclosure-cleaning, feeding, implementing enrichment
strategies to all the animals, and assisting with daily interactions with guests. Often in the
evening, the lodge would need help to serve the returning guests from an evening game drive.
Life at “Nambiti” never had a dull moment; each and every day offering something different.
One of the hardest – but most pleasurable – jobs was being placed on cub duty with
Vega and the project’s two newest arrivals. Sky and Storm were two cheetah cubs found
abandoned on Nambiti game reserve by another lodge During my stay, the reserve’s ‘resident’
female cheetah had recently given birth to five cubs, but within days of their arrival, Namibiti
was struck with the sad news that three of her cubs had been killed by hyena. Mortality rates for
cheetah cubs in the wild, stands around 70% with many facing threat of predation from lion,
baboon and rock pythons. The remaining cubs were observed for a period of 24 hours for any
signs of a ‘re-emergence’ of their mother, but to no avail…
So, where there was only one, there were now three, and cub-sitting entered a new
dimension. Empowered with the responsibility of regular bottle feeds and walks around the
grounds of the lodge, the “tearaway triplets” as they were now known, gave cause for each
volunteer whose turn it was to sit them to become a nervous wreck. So much so, that, when nap
time came that didn’t just include the cubs!
“…and assisting with daily interactions with
guests”
“each and every day offering something
different”
Leaves & Leather Page 26
The cheetah’s tale concluded [for this issue!]
“During my time at the project the
management ran regular health
checks and also kept an ‘oestrus
log’…”
“Shadow was looking ever so
slightly heavier than a few weeks prior.
Might she be pregnant?”
But, first and foremost, this project was established as a breeding programme with the goal of
one day being able to reintroduce animals back to the wild. Unfortunately, the cheetahs already
in the project’s possession will never have the chance to return to the wild. They were born in
captivity and as such don’t possess the necessary skills to survive in the tough reality that is the
“wild”.
The current strategy employed by this project, and others alike, is to implement a three-tiered
generational system that ultimately ends with cheetahs being able to return to the open
savannahs of any of the Big 5 reserves. This can be only achieved by Shadow or Savannah’s cubs
becoming habituated to people in order that they may be trained to hunt in the natural
environment. This process can be passed down generationally with the eventual removal of
human interference. During my time at the project the management ran regular health checks
and also kept an ‘oestrus log’ to check the possibility that mating may have taken place.
Time, as you would expect, quickly passed and my three months at the project soon neared its
end. The cubs were growing fast and still living up to their reputation: Zulu the meerkat was still
trying to be boss, while Mikka, Savannah and Shadow were all doing fine, with only one slight
difference. Shadow was looking ever so slightly heavier than a few weeks prior. Might she be
pregnant? Pseudo-pregnancies are commonplace in cheetahs – Savannah experienced one a few
months before. With gestation lasting 90-100 days, unfortunately I wouldn’t be present for any
new arrivals, if there were to be any. But, I was hopeful that a new chapter for Des and Elizke and
the cats was about to begin.
Before I left for the UK, I still had time to say my goodbyes. I expected it to be a sad day, but for it
to be quite such a painful one came as a total surprise. For now, for me, the dream was over, but
not for long…
[The tale continues – look out for the next episode in the Spring 2017 issue of the Newsletter…]
Craig Buckton, Year 3 Biology
Leaves & Leather Page 27
Holly Dawson [BSc (Hons) Biology, 2015]
Holly ready for the wilds of Wales on the marine biology trip…
[photo credit: N Chaffey]
“I was ecstatic at the opportunity as I
struggled to keep motivated after
multiple job rejections.”
… least favourite part of your job?
How stinky the pathogen lab can be!
But, I’m becoming accustomed to the smell of raw poo sludge now…”
Best memory of your time at Bath Spa? “I had a great time and miss being a student as the real
world is tough!”
What have you done since graduating from Bath Spa?
Since graduating, I received an offer for a Scientist position with Wessex Water
[https://www.wessexwater.co.uk/] in the microbiology lab. I was ecstatic at the opportunity as
I struggled to keep motivated after multiple job rejections. But, fear not! It will always work
out in the end – with persistence and self-confidence.
What is your current job?
As a microbiologist with Wessex Water I undertake the analysis of water samples from homes,
reservoirs and rivers, and also sewage sludge from treatment works. Throughout the
laboratory there are multiple daily methods carried out to determine water quality. My main
area is within the pathogen lab where I test for the presence of faecal coliforms such as
Escherichia coli and Klebsiella pneumoniae, and other pathogens including Salmonella in sludge
and Legionella in water samples. All of which gives an indication of whether the raw and
treated samples will have harmful impacts to human health. I have also been trained in the
Cryptosporidium lab where complex methods are used to enumerate this parasite from water
samples and recover the oocysts to view under a microscope (which look really cool!).
Typical day in the current job...
There is sufficient training experience within the lab as there are opportunities to be trained in
other areas. This provides an interesting mix of methods and microbiological techniques
ensuring no day is the same. Typically, the day begins with checking all equipment, calibrating
before use and planning the day to be efficient and get all analysis completed. There are time
restrictions with each method as samples must be analysed carefully, incubated accurately,
and results read within the correct time frame.
Most favourite part of your current job?
I enjoy the buzz of the lab and working with such a supportive team whilst carrying out a role
with major responsibility. I am able to focus on tasks and apply my own knowledge to improve
methods and I am encouraged to develop my personal skills. The research and analysis is very
interesting and I have been given an opportunity to start a new project with a senior scientist.
We are comparing two methods statistically, to see if we can get the same result from using
different media. If successful, this will give the customer a result after 24 hours, rather than 72
hours. In addition, Wessex Water paid for me to become a member of the Royal Society of
Biology, where my next goal is to apply to become a Registered Scientist.
How did your course at Bath Spa help to prepare you for employment?
Previous experience from modules at Bath Spa helped me massively. Although I took some
modules in medical and microbial biology, I lacked microbiological experience. However, that
wasn’t a hindrance in applying for my current position [and my course did provide me with the
knowledge and understanding of aseptic techniques that I now use on a daily basis].
Additionally, I have a much better understanding of statistics from my dissertation that I can
use in my job now.
Top advice for current Bath Spa Biologists/Environmental Scientists?
My advice to any student would be to start looking for jobs early, be prepared and get help
with writing your CV to make yourself sound amazing. Secondly, be yourself in interviews, my
employer loved my enthusiasm to learn and thought I would fit in with the young team; they
want you to enjoy work and get on with everyone. Wessex Water are always very keen for
work experience students in the lab…
Research papers
de Sequeira A, Haysom I & Marshall R (2015), Food Safety Training and Teaching in the United
Kingdom and Europe in "Emerging Issues in Food Safety Systems and Ecology", Ricke SC,
Donaldson JR & Phillips CA (editors), Elsevier.
Hill J, Thomas G, Diaz A & Simm D (2016) Borderland spaces for learning partnership:
opportunities, benefits and challenges. Journal of Geography in Higher Education 40(3): 375–
393.
Simm D & Marvell A (2015) Gaining a “sense of place”: Students’ affective experiences of place
leading to transformative learning on international fieldwork. Journal of Geography in Higher
Education 39(4): 595-616.
Slowakiewicz M, Whitaker F, Thomas L, Tucker ME, Zheng Y, Gedl P & Pancost RD (in press)
Biogeochemistry of intertidal microbial mats of Qatar: new insights from organic matter
characterization. Organic Geochemistry.
Technical Reports
Greshon S, Russell L & Starkie G (2016) Ecological Impact Assessment to support detailed
planning application for Phase 1 development of food processing factory. Technical Report for
TSL Projects Ltd.
Greshon S (2016) Annual Review of Works undertaken in 2015/2016 and planned for 2017
(pursuant to condition 23) at Hines Pit, East Stoke, Wareham, Dorset. Technical Report for
Hanson Aggregates Ltd.
Thomas L (2016) Technical report (unpublished) for Hanson UK; Mells Valley S106 Tufa Springs
Monitoring. Hydrochemical and biological factors.
Thomas L (2016) Report for the Riverfly Partnership database (unpublished): Riverflies in the
River Mells. Sampling and identification of key species in order to monitor the biological quality
of the river water. The Mells Valley Monitoring Group.
Conferences
Johnson RM, Edwards E, Gardner J & Diduck A (2015) Understanding the vulnerability and
resilience of mountain communities- an appraisal of the Phojal Nalla watershed, Himachal
Pradesh, India. Perth III: Mountains of Our Future Earth, October 2015.
Diduck A, Edwards E, Gardner J & Johnson RM (2016) Community heritage and resilience in
Indian Himalayan landscapes changed by disastrous flood events. Landscaping Change
Conference, BSU, March 2016.
Edwards E & Johnson RM (2016) Floods impacting the vulnerability and resilience of mountain
communities. Delhi School of Economics, Geoforum Symposium, April 2016.
Simm D & Marvell A (2016) Applying pedagogies to wicked problems in Geography. Paper
presented at RGS-IBG annual conference at Royal Geographical Society, London, August 2016.
A selection of staff outputs This is a selection of
the various publications, scholarly communications, and other outputs from –
and funding successes of – members of the
Biology and Environmental
Science tutor teams since the previous
Freshers’ Week issue of the Newsletter (No.
19).
Names of BSU staff are shown in bold.
Leaves & Leather Page 28
Leaves & Leather Page 29
Selected staff outputs concluded
BSU’s new Biosoc!
Book Reviews
Chaffey N (2015) http://aobblog.com/2015/11/the-beast-is-released
Chaffey N (2016) https://aobblog.com/2016/06/blooming-brilliant-botanical-miracles/
News columns
Chaffey N (2015) Plant Cuttings, September. Annals of Botany 116(3): iii-v.
Chaffey N (2016) Plant Cuttings, August. Annals of Botany 118(2): iv-vii.
Invited lectures
Chaffey N (2015) The sensitive plant [a TED-type talk delivered in Freshers’ Week 2015]
Chaffey N (2016) 10 things everybody should know about plants. [An Open Lecture delivered to
visiting 6th Formers in June 2016]
de Sequeira A (2015) Food of the future – What will be on our plates?, A paper presented at the
Food and Nutrition Awareness Day, Bath Spa University, UK.
Grants, awards, and funding
Edwards E & Johnson RM. Bath Spa/Santander Pioneer Award: Visit to Mexico and USA (University
liaison in Mexico City, India research meetings/data collection in Colorado, presentation of India
and Lake District flood research at the 5th International Palaeoflood Conference – South Dakota,
USA) (May 2016).
Edwards E & Johnson RM. HEQR Seed Funding: Visit to British Library to research newspaper/
documentary accounts of historical hazard events in the Kullu Valley, Northern India (June 2016).
Hosker B. HEQR Seed Funding. [See Bill’s item about this in this issue of the newsletter].
Thomas L. HEQR Seed Funding for pilot study: Development of a low-hazard organic fertiliser.
Watson D/Bath Spa Biology and Environmental Science Team. Quarry Life Award. [see Tom Bell’s
item about this in this issue of the Newsletter]
STOP PRESS: Biological Society!
As of this academic year (2w016/17), Bath Spa University will have its own Biosoc! The Biosoc
aims to provide a range of activities including study help and weekly study meetings, biology
themed day trips, lectures, and socials.
Biosoc committee members are as follows:
President – Hannah-Jade Parker; Secretary – Laura Murray; Treasurer – Chelsie Dyer; and Social
Secretary – Jess Carr-Taylor.
Watch out for more announcements about this exciting venture.
Leaves & Leather Page 30
Claire Soulsby [BSc (Hons) Biology, 2013]
“I’ve also spent three years
volunteering at Cheltenham
Science Festival; it’s brilliant!”
“I also like Cake Mondays!”
“Bath Spa taught me a lot about time
management, organising and
prioritising my work load, being able to
communicate to and work with a wide range of people.”
What have you done since graduating from Bath Spa?
Lots of different jobs, I’ve also spent three years volunteering at Cheltenham Science Festival;
it’s brilliant! Not only do you get to meet and see world famous scientists, you also meet lots of
other students, graduates and PhD students. In October I’m starting a Masters Course with the
Open University in dementia and drug development.
What is your current job?
I’m a Laboratory Assistant at Bath University, it’s our job to make sure that everything is set up
and ready for practical, this could be getting animals, plants and equipment ready, making
solutions, pouring plates and dispensing liquids.
Typical day in the current job...
We usually have a number of make-up sheets on the go, these are giving to us by the person
running the practical and list all the things that are needed. As well as these we need to feed
and clean the various animals we keep, we have a corn snake, frogs, axolotls, giant African land
snails and helix snails. Every term we have one or two groups of children come in from local
schools for widening participation days. We set up a number of experiments for them to do
and support them; it’s noisy but lots of fun! At the interview I was asked if I minded creepy-
crawlies. I don’t, and mentioned that I did my dissertation on giant African land snails. It turned
out they had a colony of these magnificent molluscs, but no one really knew anything about
them; they were just put out for comparison to our native snails. So, I produced a fact sheet
and was asked by the lecturer to give a short talk about them to the first year students, which
was nerve-wracking but a great experience.
Most favourite part of your current job?
No two days are ever the same. One day you could be setting out fossils and preserved
animals, the next you could be pouring 700+ agar plates. We are a small friendly team. I also
like Cake Mondays!
... least favourite part?
Probably the same things I didn’t like as a student, for example practicals that are scheduled to
run till 6pm on a Friday! Lots of equipment means lots of washing up.
How did your course at Bath Spa help to prepare you for employment?
Apart from the obvious skills in Biology, it taught me a lot about time management, organising
and prioritising my work load, being able to communicate to and work with a wide range of
people.
Best memory of your time at Bath Spa?
The friends I made. As a mature student I thought I’d not be as active in the socialising side of
University life, but I was made to feel like just another student and invited to many a good
night out and house party. We still keep in contact and it’s great to see how everyone is getting
on since graduation.
Top tip(s) for current Bath Spa Biologists/Environmental Scientists?
One, while your Degree grade is important, most employers look at the whole picture. They
want to see you got involved in wider activities, which could be short- or long-term
volunteering, societies and/or part-time work, even if it has nothing to do with your long-term
plans. I spent most of my time in my interview for this job talking about Cheltenham Science
Leaves & Leather Page 31
Claire’s biography concluded
“… be nice to your Laboratory Assistants and Technicians, tidy up after yourselves, and say thank-you”
“the most up-to-date tally is now 369,400
angiosperm (flowering plant) species…”
“31,128 plant species currently have
documented uses”
“21% of global plant species are currently
threatened with extinction”
plans. I spent most of my time in my interview for this job talking about Cheltenham Science
Festival, Bath TAPS and the Widening Participation job I had as a student. I also bonded with
one of my interviewers about how we both had had retail jobs and hated them! Two, be nice to
your Laboratory Assistants and Technicians, tidy up after yourselves, and say thank-you. You
never know when you might need their help or advice, even long after graduation when you
need seeds for a practical and can’t find a stockist anywhere (thank you, Darrel!)
Feel free to follow me on twitter @talesfromme for daily mumblings of a Lab Assistant and the
things I get up to at #cheltscifest, which I did again last June.
[Ed. – since penning this piece Claire has been promoted to Teaching and Research Technician.
This role has extra responsibilities such as taking care of the glasshouses and growing rooms at
the University, attending research meetings, supporting research staff and PhD students and –
during term time – preparing and supplying the plants for undergraduate practicals…]
How many???
Being an avid supporter of the importance of plants, I’m always keen to share with my
students [well, any- and everybody really…] how many plant species there are. For several
years the best – i.e. biggest! – number I’d found was 352,000 species of flowering plants (Alan
Paton et al., Taxon 57: 602–611, 2008). Although officially an estimate, it’s quite impressive.
However, the most up-to-date tally is now 369,400 angiosperm (flowering plant) species (RBG
Kew (2016) The State of the World’s Plants Report – 2016 – http://science.kew.org/strategic-
output/state-worlds-plants).
But, and regardless of how many there are, why should we be interested in all – or
indeed any – plants anyway? Well, directly (e.g. as food for humans) or indirectly (as food for
the animals whose flesh and/or other products we humans eat), plants are essential to keeping
people alive. But they contribute so much more than that. That same Kew Report states that
31,128 plant species currently have documented uses
[https://stateoftheworldsplants.com/useful-plants], over half (19,192) of which are used
‘socially’ (! ) or medicinally, more than a third have a materials use, and 9,187 are exploited as
food for humans and other animals. All of that’s on the positive side for plants.
On the negative side, 21% of global plant species are currently threatened with
extinction according to IUCN Red list criteria [http://www.iucnredlist.org/], i.e. are in the
Vulnerable, Endangered, or Critically Endangered categories (Neil Brummitt et al., PLoS ONE
10(8): e0135152. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0135152;
http://www.threatenedplants.myspecies.info/; http://www.kew.org/science-
conservation/research-data/science-directory/projects/sampled-red-list-index-plants). And –
maybe surprisingly – almost a third of that risk is because of conversion of land for agriculture
[https://stateoftheworldsplants.com/extinction-risk]. Which basically means that, if we are to
have any chance of studying the plant diversity that exists (or is estimated so to do), we need
to work to conserve the habitats wherein plants live (i.e. look after this planet a whole lot
better than we’re doing at present! Now there’s a novel notion…).
There’s much more in the Kew Report than those facts I’ve cherry-picked above (but
best to do so whilst there are still cherries left to pick…), so do download your own copy – it’s
free – and find your own reasons to be cheerful/scare yourself to sleep with its somewhat
depressing statistics.
Nigel Chaffey, Senior Lecturer in Botany
Suicidal cells, smoked sausages, and spices…
I was kindly given some ‘seed-funding’ (i.e. money) (thank you, Bath Spa!) to buy some equipment
and reagents to start investigating the effects of potential antioxidants on reactive species (RS),
and the effect these may have on cells. Many different RS are produced by cells in your body
constantly through metabolic processes. Your cells are also exposed to them in other ways, e.g.
through diet (processed meats such as smoked sausages have been in the headlines recently). RS
can react with important molecules in your cells and prevent them functioning correctly; RS have
been linked to disease states, such as cancer (where cells survive and proliferate inappropriately),
neurodegenerative diseases (where neurons die inappropriately) and type 1 diabetes mellitus
(DM), where pancreatic beta cells die.
The inappropriate cell death involved in many neurodegenerative diseases and type 1 DM
is cell suicide, where the cells themselves initiate their own destruction. There is a lot of research
that suggests excess RS, or a limited ability of some cells to safely deal with RS, is involved in
initiating this suicidal death. Most cells in your body have the ability to commit suicide, and it is a
good job to! Individual cells committing suicide protects you (as a whole, fantastic organism) from
cancer. It is an advantage to a multicellular organism (such as your lovely self) to have cells with
this ability, as it allows cells that have suffered significant DNA damage to eliminate themselves,
preventing proliferation of such DNA-damaged cells that may lead to mutations, and which may
lead on to tumour formation.
Epidemiological studies which look at and compare populations often suggest foods that
could offer protection against neurodegenerative diseases and cancer (e.g. some spices have been
suggested to protect from both). Much of the work I plan to do will use chemicals found in foods
that are thought to act as antioxidants. I will test their antioxidant abilities against a range of RS
and use the newly-bought equipment to measure the effect, if any (and it is an ‘if’ – this is
research!) on cell viability (answering the question, do more cells live or die in the presence of the
antioxidant?). As important will be measurements of the number of cells dying by committing
suicide in response to the RS and putative antioxidants.
“12% lower rate of all-cause non-accidental
mortality”.
“green vegetation has some ‘protective effect’
on humans.”
Bill takes a sideways
look at life…
“The inappropriate cell death involved in many
neurodegenerative diseases and type 1 DM is cell suicide,
where the cells themselves initiate their
own destruction.”
Leaves & Leather Page 32
I like plants-and-people stories – especially those that demonstrate benefits of humankind’s
association with our vegetable co-habitants of planet Earth.
This item certainly fits the bill. It’s a medical study whose main message is elegantly
summarised thus: “Women in the U.S. who live in homes surrounded by more vegetation appear to
have significantly lower mortality rates than those who live in areas with less vegetation, according
to a new study” (www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2016/04/160414170015.htm). That new study –
of 108,630 women in the USA – by Peter James et al. (Environmental Health Perspectives 124:
1344–1352, 2016) demonstrates that those living in the greenest areas (chlorophyll levels were
determined by a satellite image-based vegetation index) had a “12% lower rate of all-cause non-
accidental mortality”.
Although the team acknowledge that more research is required to determine the nature of
this relationship, and between other natural environments and health, the results do at least show
that green vegetation has some ‘protective effect’ on humans. Well, at least they do for the study’s
cohort, who were primarily White, non-Hispanic women of normal weight, but with low levels of
physical activity living in metropolitan areas of the USA. However, I suspect this ‘green advantage’
can be found for all peoples – even men – but I’m enough of a scientist to acknowledge that we
ought to await evidence-based reports before we can conclude that definitively. Is that an idea for
a student project..?
Nigel Chaffey, Senior Lecturer in Botany
Green really is the best colour
SC, SS, and S concluded… Determining if an individual cell is in the process of suicide is not easy, but there are clues; one of
these is the packaging up of the destroyed nucleus (see picture). During the suicide process the
cell will destroy its genome (DNA) and neatly pack it up (shown in the UV light microscopy
images to the right).
Non-suicidal pancreatic beta cell,
seen under light microscope (X400)
Same cell, stained with acridine orange.
Nucleus is whole.
Suicidal pancreatic beta cell,
seen under light microscope (X400)
Same cell, stained with acridine orange.
Nucleus chopped to bits and neatly packed.
If an effect is identified, there could be further work to understand how an RS can cause a cell to
commit suicide. For example one could investigate molecular changes that may alter signalling
within the cells, which could lead a cell to commit suicide and understand how the putative
antioxidants can interfere with this.
Bill Hosker, Senior Lecturer in Human Biology
Sources:
Happy emoji https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Smiley.svg in public domain.
Sad emoji https://pixabay.com/en/emoticon-sad-cry-unhappy-sadness-937608/ in the public
domain.
Leaves & Leather Page 33
“Determining if an individual cell is in
the process of suicide is not easy”
“If an effect is identified, there
could be further work to understand how an RS can cause a
cell to commit suicide.”
During my 2nd year at Bath Spa University I opted to take the Work Placement module. In all
honesty, I chose it thinking it would be a nice easy module, which would take up little of my time
allowing me to concentrate on my other modules throughout the year. By the end of the year my
opinion had, of course, changed. The Work Placement module is perfect for anyone who loves
hands-on experience and who wants to apply theories learned in a lecture theatre to real-life
situations.
My placement wasn’t one of the more obvious ones found by a lecturer’s eMailed advertisement
or online career-hub page, it was in a PhD laboratory at the University of Bath. Thanks to a friend
who was undertaking his PhD at the time I was able to e-mail one of the professors in the
Department of Electronic and Electrical Engineering and secure myself a 3 month placement
(getting a good job in the Research and Development sector is all about contacts, with a little
name-dropping for good measure!)
Whilst there I worked with a group of postgraduate Marie-Curie Research Fellows who were
cultivating the idea of a ‘Lab-on-a-chip’. The specific device that I was involved with was a gold
nanoparticle-based platform serving as a biosensor that detects biomarkers for breast cancer.
This work involved postgraduates in the areas of surface chemistry, physics, math, bio-
technology and electronics.
My role at the University of Bath was as a laboratory-based research assistant. This involved
carrying out experiments involving the preparation of measurement buffers, taking
measurements, and collecting basic data to identify optimal parameters for the device. My main
task, however, was in the preparation of the biosensor itself. Before any data could be collected
and analysed the biosensor had to be made anew for each experiment carried out and the
protein sample applied.
This lengthy procedure involved several steps including: Intensive cleaning of gold electrodes
(including a combination of sulphuric acid and hydrogen peroxide); electrochemical
polymerisation to create a 3D-surface; electrochemical deposition of copper (II) acetate as a
redox marker; incubating the fabricated biosensor in a solution for breast cancer ‘biomarkers
such as HER2 and HER4 (e.g. http://www.mayoclinic.org/breast-cancer/expert-answers/faq-
20058066); and measuring conductivity to analyse stability of the biomarker protein. Only then is
the biosensor ready to detect any change in the biomarker investigated.
This type of device shows great promise as a tool for future cancer diagnosis and treatment. The
test can use various dilutions of blood samples in which HER2 and HER4 can be found and so only
the tiniest of blood samples need be taken for a diagnosis and can be done with relative lack of
invasiveness for the patient. Other characteristics that give this device promise include its
reliability, sensitivity and potential low cost, but also its readily-portable properties (making it
available to even the less economically developed countries and remote places with difficult-to-
access hospitals or clinics).
This was the most academically interesting experience I think I have had so far and has really
made me consider a career in R&D within academia. Also, due to the length of the project and
the work that I undertook, I was given an internship certificate by Dr Pedro Estrela which will help
me immensely when applying for a postgraduate opportunity in the near-future.
Joshua Rainbow, Year 3 Biology
Diagnosing breast cancer … with chips! “I opted to take the Work Placement
module … thinking it would be a nice
easy module. By the end of the year my
opinion had changed.”
The hi-tech testing kit…
“The Work Placement module is perfect for anyone who loves
hands-on experience and who wants to
apply theories learned in a lecture theatre to real-life situations.”
“This was the most academically
interesting experience I think I have had so
far and has really made me consider a career in R&D within
academia.”
Leaves & Leather Page 34
High hopes, health , and Human anatomy…
Triathlon is a multiple-stage competition involving the completion of three continuous and
sequential endurance disciplines. While many variations of the sport exist, triathlon, in its most
popular form, involves swimming, cycling and running in immediate succession over various
distances. In the UK, the sport is organised by British Triathlon
[http://www.britishtriathlon.org/], a Federation whose members are the Home Nations’
Associations of Triathlon England, Triathlon Scotland, and Welsh Triathlon.
Having followed competitive endurance events for some time, I made the decision to
combine the three principle sports in triathlon at the beginning of 2015. I had been heavily
involved in all three disciplines, although perhaps more mountain biking than road cycling!
Commencing with the ‘Sprint’ distance triathlon – 750 metre swim, 20km bike and 5km run –
and quickly progressing to ‘Olympic’ distance, in which I now compete – 1500 metre swim,
40km bike and 10km run.
After obtaining a row of consecutive thirds, I decided to try an affiliated event in the
hope of qualifying for a major event the following year. With my trusty Bianchi in tow, my Dad
and I made the arduous trek to Ellesmere in Shropshire the day before. After a less than
adequate night’s sleep, I was fully committed from the start, and surprised myself by
qualifying, and have now found myself training hard for next year.
Now I am proud, but still a little nervous, to be a triathlete competing for Great Britain
in the 20-25 age group category at the European Championships in Austria 2017. I’m not the
first, nor will I be the last, to wax lyrical about the benefits of exercise alongside studying. As a
student at Bath Spa, and currently approaching the second year of my Biology degree, the
option to study on a campus that boasts some of the best surroundings for training was
unquestionable. By necessity, I’ve been a fond supporter of improvisation when it comes to
training. There’s no need for specialist equipment when you have natural facilities on your
doorstep. Although I commute roughly 30 miles each day, the rolling hills of Wiltshire and
Somerset are comparable, and certainly gym-replacement worthy!
Nutrition has been essential, in order to enhance my race day performance, which has
been an excellent benefit from my University studies. You really are what you eat, and quality
of movement indisputably depends on what goes in. Perhaps a 750mL bottle of beetroot juice
before the event in an attempt to increase carbohydrate utilisation wasn’t such a good idea
though... I really must dig deeper into my notes.
Alongside triathlon life, I work in a sports shop (PUSH Active Ltd:
http://www.pushactive.co.uk/.) in my home town of Devizes, equipped with gait analysis
software and specific equipment to measure human biomechanics, for both running and
cycling. Having free access to this really complements both my personal performance and aids
my studies as well; mainly as I have more of an interest towards human biology (sorry, Nigel!).
The software works by determining the degree of pronation (defined as the way the foot rolls
inward when you walk and run, part of the natural movement that helps the lower leg deal
with shock) based on a short video clip of the customer, then using angles and slow motion
technology to analyse the gait. A specific trainer type is assigned to the customer be it neutral,
guidance, or support in which the instep rises respectively in order to push you back onto the
outsides of your feet, rather than allowing them to collapse inwards. I often have to answer
customer questions about ideal running style, diet and routine so I have to apply my own
knowledge and what I have learned in training to aid others in their routines. Overall, a
wonderful way to motivate your mental state, and if you’re thinking of taking up the sport,
remember to ask me for a gait analysis☺.
Hannah Land, Year 2 Biology
“triathlon, in its most popular form,
involves swimming, cycling and running
in immediate succession over
various distances.”
Any resemblance to the lakes at Newton
Park is purely coincidental…
Leaves & Leather Page 35
Issue 21 Editor: Nigel Chaffey [email protected]
Please send contributions for the newsletter to the editor above. General enquiries can be sent to: [email protected] Note that all items in this newsletter are the responsibility of the individual contributors and the views expressed are not necessarily those of Bath Spa University
or its representatives.
In the great tradition of keeping the best until
last, we share some images from this year’s
graduation. All of our Environmental Science
and Biology graduates had reason to celebrate
on that day, but we’d like to make special
mention of our prize-winners.
The Oxford University Press
Achievement in Bioscience Prize (£150 of OUP
book vouchers) for her First Class Dissertation,
entitled “A study on EMILIN1 in an
inflammatory context: implications for clinical
research”, goes to Francesca Giorda.
Ian Todd (Subject Leader for Biology)
congratulates Francesca Giorda [BSc (First Class
Hons) Biology].
Gaining the Bath Spa University Biology
Prize for outstanding performance in her Final
Year modules is Francesca Giorda. This prize has
a £50 honorarium (i.e. a cheque!) attached to it.
The worthy winner of the corresponding
Environmental Science Prize for outstanding
performance in the Final Year (and the
accompanying £50) was Kirstie Thistlethwaite
[BSc (Hons) Environmental Science].
Unfortunately, Kirstie was unable to receive her
prize on the day.
The Chartered Institute of Waste
Management (CIWM) Prize for the Outstanding
Student in Waste Management (£50 in cash!)
was awarded to Stephanie Goldston [BSc (Hons)
Biology and Drama Studies] for her Dissertation
entitled, “The effect of regional waste
management techniques on the quantity of
We salute all of our students’
achievements, which were
celebrated on that lovely day last July!
Graduation and Prize-winners 2016
Leaves & Leather Page 36
recycling collected”. Steph was unfortunately
unable to attend Graduation to receive her prize.
Francesca is congratulated by Nigel Chaffey
(Course Leader for Environmental Science).
And, the Royal Society of Biology Top
Student Award went to Biology graduate
Francesca Giorda for her outstanding
achievement in Biology modules over the 2nd and
3rd years. Francesca’s prize is a year’s Graduate
membership of the Royal Society of Biology (and
a nice certificate). Finally, Erica Mortimer
received the award of PhD for her thesis entitled
“Ecotypic variation in Lotus corniculatus L. and
implications for grassland restoration: Interaction
of ecotypes with soil type and management, in
relation to herbivory” [Supervisor: Dave Watson;
co-supervisor: Nigel Chaffey].
Dave Watson (Head of Culture and Environment)
congratulates Erica Mortimer [BSc, PhD].