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News & Events
Exeter scientist advises Channel 4 on major climate change series
Homecoming geographer hopes to inspire Devon’s youngsters
Exeter Scientist up for Major Book Prize
Exeter Geographer made Honoury Research Fellow at North Wyke Research.
Dirt: The Erosion of Civilizations – a talk by Professor David Montgomery
Climate Change and Sustainable Futures Joint Physical/Human Geography Seminar - 29th April 2009
Geography in eighth place for UK research
Exeter geologist wins prestigious research award to study past climates
The National Science Foundation (USA) recently awarded Rolf Aalto and colleagues a major “Source-to-Sink” project in Papua New Guinea (PNG).
Exeter Geographer wins fourth international honour
Bleeding-heart jetsetters spell bad news for climate
MYRES Workshop (Meeting of Young Researchers in Earth Sciences)
Masters Level Study for 2008-09
New Book! - Ice, Mud and Blood
Henry Buller, Professor of Rural Geography, has been appointed to the Government’s Farm Animal Welfare Council
The Importance of Farm Animal Welfare Science to Sustainable Agriculture, Beijing, March 2008
Exeter Human Geographers were once again in strong numbers at the 2008 Annual Conference of the Association of American Geographers
Climate change impacts and adaptation: Dangerous rates of change
Celebrating the International Year of Planet Earth Lectures
Professor Chris Turney has won the prestigious Sir Nicholas Shackleton Medal
International Honours for Exeter Geographer
The Shackleton Range Project: Antarctic Diary…
Exeter Academics Join Forces With Chinese Colleagues To Investigate Climate Change
Negotiating the cultural politics and poetics of identity within the creative industries of South West Britain
Geography Research Seminars
Exeter scientist advises Channel 4 on major climate change series
University of Exeter scientist Professor Chris Turney is scientific advisor for a major new series starting on Channel 4 on Monday 7 December 2009.
Man on Earth is a four-part series in which Tony Robinson travels back through 200,000 years of human history to find out what happened to our ancestors when violent climate change turned their world upside down – and what they can teach us as we face our own climate crisis today.
While some civilisations flourished, others were destroyed. Sudden and dramatic changes to the climate killed millions, but benign change has enabled humans to multiply and develop at an extraordinary pace.
Using CGI effects and stunning imagery, the series illustrates how climate has shaped human history from the beginning.
Professor Chris Turney appears in two of the programmes, including the first show. His expert advice helped ensure the series presents the most up-to-date scientific and archaeological information.
Professor Chris Turney said: “It was an amazing experience to work with Tony Robinson on the team on this series. Television programmes like this are a great way of bringing the kind of research that we do at Exeter to a mass audience. With the Copenhagen Climate Summit starting today, I think people will be fascinated to see how people have coped – and sometimes failed to deal – with climate change in the past.”
Professor Chris Turney joined the School of Geography at the University of Exeter in 2007 from the University of Wollongong, Australia. He researches and teaches geography and is particularly interested in what the past can tell us about the future. Chris carried out the radiocarbon dating on the ‘Hobbit’ fossil of Flores, Indonesia that hit the world’s headlines in 2004. He has published numerous scientific papers and magazine articles and given frequent media interviews. In 2007 he was awarded the Sir Nicholas Shackleton Medal for outstanding young Quaternary Scientist for his pioneering research into past climate change and dating the past. This year he was awarded the prestigious Geological Society Bigsby Medal for his contributions to geology.
Professor Turney is part of a team of University of Exeter academics focused on climate change research. Over the next three years the University is investing £80 million in key areas of science research, including Climate Change and Sustainable Futures.
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Homecoming geographer hopes to inspire Devon’s youngsters
A Devonshire geographer has returned to his home county to join a growing team of climate change and sustainability researchers at the University of Exeter.
Clive Sabel, Associate Professor in Human Geography, grew up near the South Hams village of Holbeton. Inspired by his geography teachers at Ivybridge Community College and a love of the Dartmoor countryside he has established a successful career in environmental research.
Clive left Devon to study at the Universities of Lancaster and Edinburgh and has subsequently worked all over the world, including California, Sweden and New Zealand. He returned to the UK to work for Imperial College London and joined the University of Exeter in September 2009.
Clive is an expert in Geographic Information Science, an important mapping and analysis technology. GIS allows us to take complex data and view, understand, question, interpret, and visualise it in many ways that reveals relationships, patterns, and trends in the form of maps. Clive’s work helps identify geographic ‘hot spots’ for diseases, which can help medics and policy-makers tackle their root causes. At Exeter he hopes to use this expertise to help understand how climate change and global warming is affecting human health.
Clive is also keen to inspire Devon’s youngsters to consider higher education, particularly those who might not traditionally consider university, by sharing his enthusiasm for his subject and his love of learning. He said: “I was very lucky to have had such supportive family and encouraging teachers at school. It’s important to remember that not everyone has these advantages early in life.” Widening participation at Exeter, and particularly within Geography is high on the school’s agenda.
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Exeter scientist up for major book prize
University of Exeter geographer Professor Chris Turney has made it onto the longlist of the Royal Society Prize for Science Books for Ice, Mud and Blood: Lessons from Climate Past.
Published by MacMillan, Ice, Mud and Blood takes the reader on a journey from the Alps to the Andes through apocalyptic flooding, devastating storms and catastrophic sea level rise. By showing how these events created the world we live in, the book presents a stark picture of what the future could hold. Professor Chris Turney published Ice Mud and Blood hot off the heels of his acclaimed book Bones, Rocks and Stars: The Science of When Things Happened.
The Royal Society Prize for Science Books is the world's most prestigious award for science writing. The judges have selected a longlist of thirteen books, all by authors who are new to the prize.
Professor Chris Turney of the University of Exeter’s School of Geography, Archaeology and Earth Resources, said: ”I’m blown away to be on the longlist. The Royal Society prize is the most prestigious one in the world for popular science. I’m going to keep everything crossed I make the shortlist!”
The shortlist will be announced on 25 June 2009. The winner will be announced at a ceremony at the Royal Society on 15 September 2009 and awarded £10,000. The authors of each shortlisted book will receive £1000.
The judges are: Sir Tim Hunt FRS, Cancer Research UK and Nobel laureate (Chair); Dr Maggie Aderin-Pocock, space scientist at Astrium Ltd, STFC Fellow of University College London and Founder and MD of Science Innovation Ltd; Dr Phillip Ball, author; Deborah Cohen, Editor, BBC Radio Science Unit; Danny Wallace, author, comedian and presenter.
Professor Sir Tim Hunt FRS, Chair of the judges said: "We were surprised and delighted at the quality of books and the diversity of subjects, and greatly enjoyed reading and discussing them. In the end we found it impossible to whittle it down to the traditional long-list of twelve, going instead for a baker's dozen fascinating and diverse potential winners. Choosing a shortlist, let alone awarding the prize, is a daunting prospect."
Professor Chris Turney joined the University of Exeter in 2007 from the University of Wollongong, Australia. He researches and teaches geology and is particularly interested in what the past can tell us about the future. Chris carried out the radiocarbon dating on the ‘Hobbit’ fossil of Flores, Indonesia that hit the world’s headlines in 2004. He has published numerous scientific papers and magazine articles and given frequent media interviews. In 2007 he was awarded the Sir Nicholas Shackleton Medal for outstanding young Quaternary Scientist for his pioneering research into past climate change and dating the past. In 2008 he was awarded a Philip Leverhulme Prize to fund his research on historic climate change for three years.
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Exeter Geographer made Honoury Research Fellow at North Wyke Research.

Dr Richard Brazier has been made an Honorary Research Fellow at North Wyke Research in recognition of his contribution to the hydrological and water quality research programme at this BBSRC research institute. Dr Brazier’s work focuses on the interactions between terrestrial surface processes such as overland flow and soil erosion which impact upon water quality in intensively-managed grassland environments.
The position will strengthen links between Exeter University and North Wyke Research through a number of schemes including; funded undergraduate student placements (.pdf), work-based learning modules for MSc students, co-supervised PhD students, collaborative research projects and development of the North Wyke Farm platform as a model observatory of environmental processes.
Current collaborative projects between Dr Brazier and North Wyke include the Defra-funded - Grassland sediment and phosphorus from agricultural land project and the NERC-funded - Multi-scale predictions of soil erosion and water quality from intensively managed grasslands.
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Dirt: The Erosion of Civilizations – a talk by Professor David Montgomery
Wednesday 6th May 2009, 6.30pm, Amory Moot Room, University of Exeter Streatham Campus.
Free event, no booking is required.
Dirt is everywhere we go. It is the root of our existence, supporting our feet, our farms and our cities. US academic Professor David Montgomery has produced a history of humanity told through the land. He believes that we are running out of fertile soil and it's no laughing matter.
Now, for the first time, Professor Montgomery will share his unique take on the Earth’s history with a UK audience in a free public talk at the University of Exeter.
On Wednesday 6 May, local people are invited to find out how the plough led to the demise of past civilisations, and how we can save ourselves from the same fate. Professor Montgomery describes the erosion of our soil as “the quiet environmental issue” that it is as significant a threat as global warming and the decline of oil supplies.
Professor Montgomery said:
“It’s been fantastic to see the support for sustainable farming and local food here in southwest England, and I’m looking forward to the chance to learn more about the region during my stay in Exeter."
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Climate Change and Sustainable Futures Joint Physical/Human Geography Seminar
29 April
2009, 4 - 6:30pm, Amory Moot Room, Streatham Campus with video-link to Seminar 1 in Tremough.
Why we disagree about climate change/Prediction and the problems of ‘Living with Environmental Change';
Professor Mike Hulme: "Why we disagree about climate change"
Professor David Demeritt: "Prediction and the problems of ‘Living with Environmental Change"
This event is open to all.
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Geography in eighth place for UK research
The Geography department has excelled in this year’s Research Assessment Exercise (RAE). 95% of the department’s research has been classified as being of international quality and 20% was given the highest 4* accolade of being ‘world leading’.
The results put Exeter in eighth place for Geography research in UK universities according to the quantity of 4* research.
Professor Mark Goodwin, Head of the School of Geography, Archaeology and Earth Resources, said: “Our Geography department has bases in Exeter and Cornwall and covers a broad range of research disciplines from historical and cultural geography to river basin science and climate change. These results show that we are excelling across the board. Being ranked eight in the UK will help further our international reputation for research as well as ensuring we continue to be a destination of choice for the best students.”
Exeter was one of 159 higher education institutions submitted to the RAE which measures the quality of research across the higher education sector. RAE expert panels assessed more than 200,000 pieces of work from 52,500 staff. The results will be used to distribute £1.5 billion a year worth of research funding to UK universities from August 2009.
Since the last RAE in 2001 Exeter has shown significant improvements in:
1. The amount of internationally-rated research: more than 90 per cent is now internationally rated compared to 57 per cent in 2001.
2. The number of staff submitted: Exeter submitted 636 staff compared to 457 in 2001. Some 95% of staff were submitted which is amongst the highest in the sector.
3. The proportion of research in the very highest 4* category: now 17 per cent compared to 2 per cent in 2001.
The Vice-Chancellor of the University of Exeter Professor Steve Smith said: “These results show a significant improvement since 2001. Particularly pleasing is the increase in the amount of 4* rated research. We have achieved our targets in terms of research outputs and we will be looking to build on this result as we go forward.”
The RAE rates research across a five point scale ranging from ungraded to 4*. The higher the grade the more research funding is achieved. Grades 2*, 3* and 4* denote ascending grades of international research quality. 34 per cent of research at Exeter falls into 2*, 39 per cent at 3* and 17 per cent at 4*.
20% of the Geography department’s research was classed as 4* and ‘world leading’, 40% as 3* and ‘internationally excellent’ and 35% as 2* and ‘recognised internationally’.
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Exeter geographer wins prestigious research award to study past climates
A geographer from the University of Exeter has been chosen to receive one of 27 prestigious Philip Leverhulme Prizes for 2008. Professor Chris Turney of the School of Geography, Archaeology and Earth Resources, has been awarded £70,000 to fund his research on historic climate change over the next three years.
Using geological evidence to look back thousands of years, Chris will explore local, regional and global climate change and its impact on past civilisations and cultures. Using information locked inside corals, tree rings and ice cores, he will reconstruct global temperatures for the last 500-1000 years. He will share his findings with climate modellers so they can use them to help improve projections for future climate change.
Professor Chris Turney says: “It’s critical that we develop a better understanding of past climate and its impact on people and the environment so we can prepare for the future. The funds from this Prize will give me the opportunity to really explore what lessons we can learn from the past. I am thrilled and honoured to have been chosen for one of these prestigious awards.”
The Prize is giving Professor Turney the opportunity to undertake several research expeditions. Over the next three years he plans to carry out research in Scotland, Scandinavia (including the Arctic) and Australia.
Originally from London Professor Chris Turney joined the University of Exeter in 2007 from the University of Wollongong, Australia. He researches and teaches geology and is particularly interested in what the past can tell us about the future. Chris carried out the radiocarbon dating on the ‘Hobbit’ fossil of Flores, Indonesia that hit the world’s headlines in 2004. He has published numerous scientific papers and magazine articles and given frequent media interviews. In 2007 he was awarded the Sir Nicholas Shackleton Medal for outstanding young Quaternary Scientist for his pioneering research into past climate change and dating the past. He is the author of two popular science books: Bones, Rocks and Stars: The Science of When Things Happened and Ice, Mud and Blood: Lessons from Climates Past, both published by Macmillan. His popular science website is www.christurney.com.
The Philip Leverhulme Prizes are awarded to outstanding young scholars who have made a substantial and recognised contribution to their field of study. Chosen scholars are recognised at international level and are recognised for their future potential. The Prizes commemorate the contribution to the work of the Trust made by Philip Leverhulme, the Third Viscount Leverhulme and grandson of the founder.
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Geomorphodynamic Modulation of Biogeochemical Fluxes and
Basin Stratigraphy of the Fly River, Papua New Guinea
The National Science Foundation (USA) recently awarded Rolf Aalto and colleagues a major “Source-to-Sink” project in Papua New Guinea (PNG). For the next four years they will conduct a multidisciplinary investigation of the processes responsible for the transport and sequestration of organic carbon by the Fly River, a “top 10” river for the discharge of sediment and carbon. Coordinated by Rolf, the team will investigate the role that sediment exchange processes between channels and floodplains play in modulating biogeochemical fluxes and how these processes affect the composition, source, age and stability of organic matter. Additionally, Rolf and Exeter postgraduate students will study how partial and full channel avulsions govern sediment and carbon accumulation across the distal floodplain and hence the infill of these lowland alluvial basins. The work will combine field surveys of sediment/biogeochemical transport and depositional processes with numerical modeling, image analysis, and monitoring at established gauging stations to determine (i) the fluxes, exchanges, and sinks for fine particles, and (ii) the related fluxes and net changes in the quantities, characteristics, and turnover times of associated organic carbon. This research will provide critical insight into the strength, timing, and controls on the “source” term for water, sediment, and biogeochemical fluxes within this globally significant study area (rivers in Oceania dominate sediment/carbon discharges to Earth’s oceans). Findings may have global implications for greenhouse gas and climate change issues, and also for the stability, morphodynamics, and buffering of water, particle, and carbon fluxes by lowland river floodplains – areas that provide prime habitats and fertile agricultural land and are geologically important depocenters for sedimentary rock.
Rolf recently published four research papers about PNG and gave three invited talks at international conferences on these topics. Photos below illustrate Rolf’s previous research along the Fly River.


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Exeter Geographer wins fourth international honour
Professor Des Walling has been awarded the prestigious Hydrologic Sciences Award of the American Geophysical Union for 2008. This is the senior award given by the 7,000 member Hydrology Section of the AGU, and it is awarded once a year for ‘Outstanding contributions to the science of hydrology’. In making this award, consideration is given both to contributions made over a lifetime and to recent work, with the latter being weighted more heavily. Professor Walling has been honoured for his work in greatly enhancing our knowledge and understanding of sediment behaviour in river systems. Previous winners include famous hydrologists from around the world such as W.R. Langbein, J.C.I. Dooge and Keith Beven. This award is the fourth international honour bestowed upon Professor Walling in the last two years and confirms his status as a leading world hydrologist.
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Bleeding-heart jetsetters spell bad news for climate
The emergence of a new generation of ‘bleeding-heart jetsetters’ has disturbing implications for the UK’s spiralling emissions from air travel, according to new research by the University of Exeter. The results of the research by the School of Geography, Archaeology and Earth Resources and University of Exeter Business School were presented by Dr Stewart Barr at the Royal Geographical Society with IBG Annual Conference.
According to a survey of over 200 people, along with focus groups and in-depth interviews, even the most committed environmentalists – identified by green trademarks such as shopping ethically, installing water and energy saving appliances and recycling – would not be prepared to accept extra ‘green taxes’ and are deeply sceptical of the carbon offsetting schemes designed to mitigate them.
Indeed, of those questioned, 59% were against the introduction of further taxes on air travel, whilst just 15% of those questioned had used carbon offsetting. The largest group identified from the survey, the ‘eco-hypocrites’ – those who operate green households yet also choose to fly – justified their jaunts by suggesting that recycling, using energy saving lightbulbs and buying ethically-sourced groceries were sufficient to ‘trade off’ the impact of their holidays abroad.
Even the most ‘eco-conscious’ were determined to keep flying regardless of environmental cost, believing that taxes and offsetting would have little impact on the reducing emissions from flying, the researchers found.
Dr Stewart Barr of the University of Exeter’s School of Geography, Archaeology and Earth Resources said: “Ironically, our research shows that even the most bleeding-heart jetsetters aren’t willing to reduce their flying habits significantly, despite their supposedly impeccable green credentials. Low-cost air travel has become embedded into our culture here in the UK, so trying to change everyone’s behaviour, when even the most eco-conscious amongst us have very little trust in the ability of either green taxes or carbon offsetting to reduce the impact of flying, will be a formidable challenge.” |
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MYRES Workshop
(Meeting of Young Researchers in Earth Sciences)
Dr. Liam Reinhardt recently chaired a major international workshop during May 2008 on the "Dynamic interactions of life and landscape", held in New Orleans. Liam raised $170 000 for this workshop and is currently working on a white paper which will be submitted to the National Science Foundation; this is one of five papers that aim to shape the future of Geomorphology in the USA.
Details on this conference and the white paper can be found at http://myres.org/myres3/
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Masters Level Study for 2008-09

Still wondering what career path to take after graduation? Want to develop some specialised skills and experience to enhance your employability? Interested in exploring further the concepts and topics you were introduced to during undergraduate study?
At Exeter, we have an excellent track record of training graduates to develop their interests through a range of masters-level programmes. These are designed to offer graduates specific training which enables them to develop personal brand equity and to be highly competitive in a dynamic employment market.
We offer postgraduate courses in critical human geography, sustainable development and environmental change. Each of our programmes provides students with high-quality research training and subject-specific knowledge, enabling students to pursue their chosen career with confidence.
Many of course programmes can be studied either part-time (for up to five years) or in a ‘blended’ mode of face-to-face and at a distance. We also offer numerous modules fully at a distance for online learners.
For Exeter graduates, we offer ‘Achievement Awards’, providing a fee reduction of 50% for those with a 1st class degree and 25% for those with a 2.1.
Through engagement with employers, opportunities for work-based learning and a blend of theoretical and practical training, Exeter Geography provides high-quality, dynamic and relevant postgraduate training. The following are just some of the types of employers that recent masters graduates have worked for:
- Environmental agency;
- Environmental consultancy;
- Development corporation;
- Major supermarket chain;
- Media and PR company;
- PhD study;
- County council;
- District council;
- Research council.
Dan Eatherley, a graduate from the MSc Sustainable Development now working for a county council says:
“The teaching has been dynamic and thought provoking”
Masters programmes here.
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Ice, Mud and Blood

Imagine a world of wildly escalating temperatures, apocalyptic flooding, devastating storms and catastrophic sea level rise. This might sound like a prediction for the future or the storyline of a new Hollywood blockbuster but it's something quite different: it's our past. In a day and age when where we're bombarded with worrying forecasts for future climate, it seems hard to believe that such things could come to pass. Yet almost everywhere we turn, the landscape is screaming out that the world is a capricious place. The problem is if we don't tune in, the message is lost. We need to decipher the past and learn from it.
In Ice, Mud and Blood, Professor Chris Turney explores the changing climate and the risks facing us today as we continue to drive our planet to new extremes.
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Farm Animal Welfare Council
Henry Buller, Professor of Rural Geography, has been appointed to the Government’s Farm Animal Welfare Council an independent advisory body whose role is to keep under review the welfare of farm animals and to advise the Government of any legislative or other changes that may be necessary.
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The Importance of Farm Animal Welfare Science to Sustainable Agriculture, Beijing, March 2008
The Importance of Farm Animal Welfare Science to Sustainable Agriculture, Beijing, March 2008. At this recent conference, organised by the Chinese Academy of Science and a number of international animal welfare organisations, Henry Buller gave a paper on the environmental and welfare implications of intensive livestock systems and spent two days visiting Chinese livestock farms in the Beijing region
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Exeter Human Geographers
were once again in strong numbers at the
2008 Annual Conference of the
Association of American Geographers
Exeter Human Geographers were once again in strong numbers at the 2008 Annual Conference of the Association of American Geographers. Among those giving papers were John Wylie (‘Landscape, absence and the politics of love’), Keith Woodward (‘On autonomous spaces’), David Harvey, Nicola Thomas and Harriet Hawkins (‘Creating the region: investigating the poetics and politics of the creative industries of South West Britain’), Henry Buller (‘”Arf, she said”. Some thoughts on geography’s current engagement with animal agency’), Mark Patterson (‘Material sensibilities: Design, Affect, Sensation’), Paul Cloke (‘Interconnecting Geo-ethics and radical faith-based praxis in the post-secular city’), Jo Little (‘The spa and the contradictory spaces of gender identity, the natural body and technology’), Sean Carter (‘Towards a visual economy of cinematic geopolitics’), Mark Goodwin (‘Exploring the relational region in a ‘one planet’ world’), Richard Carter-Wright (‘The writer who is not a writer’: Primo Levi and the imperative of literature’).
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Professor Chris Turney has won the Prestigious Sir Nicholas Shackleton Medal
Professor Chris Turney, Department of Geography at Exeter University, has been awarded the first Sir Nicholas Shackleton Medal by the International Union for Quaternary Research (INQUA).
The purpose of this medal is to recognize an outstanding young Quaternary scientist and is to be awarded once every four years. The standard of the nominations was exceptionally high for this first award and it was given to Chris recognition by INQUA “for his pioneering research breakthroughs across a range of Quaternary topics, and among them paleoclimatology and geochronology, publishing a prodigious number of high quality scientific publications, and for being inordinately active in promoting Quaternary science to a wide international audience."
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International Honours for Exeter Geographer

Professor Des Walling, Department of Geography at Exeter University, is seen above (left) receiving the 2007 International Hydrology Prize from the President of the International Association of Hydrological Sciences during the 24th General Assembly of the International Union of Geodesy and Geophysics held in Perugia, Italy. Sometimes referred to as the ‘Nobel Prize of Hydrology’, it is awarded by the International Association of Hydrological Sciences, UNESCO and the World Meteorological Organization to the person who has made an outstanding contribution to hydrology such as confers on the candidate universal recognition of his or her international stature. This is one of three major International Prizes/Awards in the separate disciplines of Hydrology, Geomorphology and Hydraulic Engineering that Professor Walling has received this summer. The others are the 2007 David Linton Award given by the British Society for Geomorphology as their top honour to a geomorphologist who has made a leading contribution to the discipline over a sustained period, and the 2007 Qian Ning Prize for Erosion and Sedimentation Technology awarded by the Qian Ning Foundation, the International Research and Training Centre in Erosion and Sedimentation and the World Association for Sedimentation and Erosion Research to outstanding sediment researchers and engineers. To have received all three awards is a unique and truly remarkable achievement for a geographer and river scientist.
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Exeter Academics Join Forces With Chinese Colleagues To Investigate Climate Change
The Asian Monsoon is an important part of the global climate and is characterised by strong seasonal variations in rainfall patterns, including the well known ‘rainy season’ which occurs in June to July, during which most of the annual rains can fall in just a few months. The monsoon can result in extreme weather including floods and droughts. Each year across Asia, two billion people - a third of the world’s population - living in monsoon affected areas face the prospect of water shortages, crop failure, destruction of homes and loss of life resulting from the monsoon (NERC Planet Earth 2007). For example, the Chinese Meteorological Association reported that 2006 was the second deadliest on record, during which 2704 people were killed by floods and typhoons across China. The most deadly year on record was 1998, during which 4150 people died in summer flooding in China and US$30 billion of damage was caused (Reuters 2007). Characterising the nature, timing and intensity of the monsoon is therefore very important if we are to understand the challenges that may result from climate change.

Dr Jones, Dr Langdon and constructing the coring raft under the watchful eye of Dr Zhang on the shores of Lake Shudu 3800 m asal March 2006
In August 2007, Dr Richard Jones and his postgraduate student Charlotte Dew travelled to China to meet with Chinese colleagues in order to foster and promote an international research collaboration focusing on climate change and human impacts on the landscape of Yunnan Province, China. This collaboration involves researchers at the Universities of Exeter, Southampton and Liverpool, working closely with Dr Enlou Zhang at Nanjing Institute of Geography and Limnology. By analysing the geochemical composition of mud from lakes in Yunnan Province, a picture of past climate changes can be produced which enables us to understand how the monsoon has behaved over the past 20,000 thousand years. This information can be used to model and predict how the monsoon might behave in the future, and also what kinds of effects any changes in the monsoon might have on livelihoods and landscapes, through increased floods or droughts, for example.

Tour of facilities, Chinese Academy of Geological Sciences at Shijiazhuang, August 2007
Whilst visiting China, Dr Jones, Dr Zhang and Miss Dew were invited to the Institute of Hydrology and Environmental Geology (IHEG) part of the Chinese Academy of Geological Sciences at Shijiazhuang to present an overview of their research and to participate in a seminar exploring the prospects and problems associated with climate change research. Dr Jones also gave a keynote speech to researchers at the IHEG as part of a suite of events which took place to mark the visit. The trip was very successful in terms of promoting and nurturing international working relationships between climate change scientists, and has provided an opportunity to foster and develop new partnerships for future research endeavours. In 2008, a reciprocal visit to the UK for our Chinese colleagues is planned to initiate the next phase of research.

Dr Jones giving a keynote speech at Chinese Academy of Geological Sciences at Shijiazhuang, August 2007
Dr Jones, Dr Zhang and Charlotte Dew working with Prof Tong, Chinese Academy of Geological Sciences at Shijiazhuang, August 2007
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