Institute for SustainabilityAnnual Report 2015

L-R: Harriet Thresh and Charlie Read of the Stu Brew team

Dr Haris Patsios, School of Electrical and Electronic Engineering, at Newcastle University’s Smart Grid Lab

Students at Cockle Park Farm

Bio-informing urban gardening (BUG) project

Audience members at the Institute for Sustainability Conference 2015

L-R: Dr Malcolm Brodlie, Institute of Cellular Medicine, and Dr Anil Namdeo, Transport Operations Research Group (TORG)

1

23456

1

2

3

5

4

6

Research challenges

Areas of research excellence

Societal challenge themes

Research highlights

Sustainable campus

Helping people breathe easierInterview with Dr Anil Namdeo

Awarded projects

Early career research

Organic agriculture improves nutrition

The impact of electric vehicles on the grid

Improving food security for Maroon Communities in JamaicaInterview with Dr Helen McKee and Dr Barbara Sturm

Flood Action Team at Newcastle UniversityInterview with Professor Hayley Fowler

2015 Highlighted publications in sustainability

2015 Institute for Sustainability key facts

Contents4

28

26

24

22

20

18

16

14

12

11

6

5

5

Sustainability research and demonstration at Newcastle University has made massive progress in the year 2015. Highlights include breaking ground on the Urban Sciences Building at Science Central and construction of the Key which is now housing the Institute for Sustainability support team. We welcomed Dr Philip McGowan, School of Biology, who has joined the Institute for Sustainability as an Associate Director. He will be leading on internationalisation for the Institute and has worked many years in international consultancy on biodiversity and species conservation.

It is worth noting that in 2015 we have made large strides internationally with numerous research, engagement and policy opportunities.

In collaboration with our fellow Institutes in Ageing and Social Renewal we published a blog series, gave consultation responses and policy notes outlining Newcastle University expertise on the UN Sustainable Development Goals. This is a collaboration we are building upon with a number of research to policy opportunities arising as a result of the work so far.

With Newcastle University researchers who specialise in earth systems engineering, energy systems, climate adaptation and air quality we are collaborating with partners in India on adapting electrical infrastructure to a changing climate, and addressing air quality issues. I also had the pleasure of being a speaker at Zen Dialogues, a symposium held in Bangalore, India on future electricity grids and utilities in cities that included a range of stakeholders from Indian government officials to NGOs and farmers.

I would also like to take this time to mention the £20m EPSRC National Centre for Energy Systems Integration that will be based at Science Central. The centre will bring together energy experts from around the world to help unravel the energy network and understand future supply and demand. It is an incredibly exciting opportunity for the university and all partners involved.

In this annual report we provide you with some in-depth content including interviews with Dr Anil Namdeo on his research in air quality, Professor Hayley Fowler on climate change, modelling and flood mitigation, and the research team behind a unique interdisciplinary project on food security in Jamaica that was funded by the Institute for Sustainability.

In this report we also feature the latest research from Nafferton Farm on differences between organic and non-organic foods, and new research on the impacts of electric vehicles on the grid.

I encourage you to discover more about the exciting work in sustainability taking place at Newcastle University by visiting our website: www.newcastle.ac.uk/sustainability, or contacting us directly at sustainability@ncl.ac.uk.

WelcomeFrom the Director, Professor Phil Taylor

Professor Phil TaylorDirector of Newcastle University Institute for Sustainability

Newcastle University’s Institute for Sustainability leads in sustainability research and demonstration with a focus on research excellence, interdisciplinarity and engaged solutions to real-world problems in sustainability.

Find usInstitute for SustainabilityThe Key BuildingFirebrick AvenueScience CentralNewcastle upon TyneNE4 5TQ

E-mail: sustainability@ncl.ac.ukWebsite: www.ncl.ac.uk/sustainabilityBlog: sustainabilityncl.wordpress.com

@NCLSustainable

SustainabilityNCL 3

4

Research ChallengesThese research challenges have been selected because they are globally important, fit with our areas of research excellence and are contextually relevant to regional, national and international communities.

Integrated Infrastructure SystemsThe Institute seeks to transform methods used to design, implement and manage the world’s transition towards infrastructure systems that integrate food, water, transport and energy to better serve the needs of society and ensure positive interactions with the environment.

Production and ResourcesThere is a growing need to make significant changes to how the Earth’s natural, economic and engineering resources are sustained, distributed, protected and managed. Through innovative research we aim to develop ways to maximise production efficiency, reduce our ecological footprint and conserve natural resources.

Consumption and WasteThe Institute is supporting new research at Newcastle University to significantly reduce resource consumption, minimise waste in food, energy, transport and water systems, and lessen the effects of pollution on whole ecosystems.

Our three global research challenges are underpinned by the concept of Justice and Governance which cuts across all sectors and areas of policy and is at the centre of the Institute’s work in sustainability. Concerns about justice and governance go beyond corporate social responsibility and include the wider principles of fairness.

Newcastle University is leading research that supports the rights of all people to environmental benefits and that safeguards communities from environmental burdens, including pollution and climate risks.

WaterReducing water scarcity by improving water harvesting technologies and forecasting heavy rainfall induced by climate change.

Earth Systems EngineeringAddressing the analysis, design, engineering and management of environmental systems. This includes improving drought and flood predictions as well as informing policy for sustainable land use and water catchment management worldwide.

EnergyLeading research in energy infrastructure such as smart grids and storage, but also smart ways to reduce energy demand.

FoodExploring ways to prevent food waste, develop sustainable food manufacturing, eliminate people’s exposure to food contaminants and increase food resource efficiency.

TransportMaking vehicles greener and implementing the infrastructure necessary to deliver low carbon transport.

For more information about the Research Challenges and Areas of Research Excellence, see our website:

www.ncl.ac.uk/sustainability/research

Areas of Research ExcellenceThe Institute for Sustainability supports the following five areas of established research excellence at Newcastle University which make it well placed for tackling global research challenges in the field of sustainability:

5

Societal Challenge ThemesAs part of Newcastle University’s overall focus on research excellence with impact, these Societal Challenge Themes were chosen to ensure that our research helps to address key global issues.

AgeingThe Ageing theme brings together, under the Newcastle University Institute for Ageing, world-leading research and engagement to address both social and health challenges and opportunities for an ageing society. More information on the Institute for Ageing can be found at www.ncl.ac.uk/ageing

Social RenewalThe Newcastle University Institute for Social Renewal supports research across the university relating to how individuals, communities and organisations adapt and thrive in times of rapid, transformational change.More information on the Institute for Social Renewal can be found at www.ncl.ac.uk/socialrenewal

SustainabilityThe Institute for Sustainability provides leadership and innovation in sustainability research and demonstration with a focus on research excellence, interdisciplinarity and practical, engaged solutions to real-world sustainability issues. A hallmark of the Institute’s activities is to bridge boundaries and be highly collaborative within the university, and work with industry, academia, policymakers and communities both in the UK and internationally. Find out how you can get involved at www.ncl.ac.uk/sustainability

6

Science Central building progress

1. An artist’s impression of the Urban Sciences Building 2. Aerial view of the Science Central site 3. The Key Building 4. Professor Phil Taylor (centre) at Zen Dialogues in India

1

2

3

ResearchHighlights

2015Urban Sciences BuildingWork has commenced on the construction of Newcastle University’s Urban Sciences Building (USB) on Science Central. Newcastle University is investing £60 million in the new building, which will house the School of Computing Science, Institute for Sustainability, Urban Observatory, Transport Lab and Smart Grid Lab. These world-class facilities will lead international research into digitally enabled urban sustainability.

The building and the surrounding city will become a ‘living laboratory’ underpinning research to make urban centres more sustainable for future generations.

“Newcastle University has the UK’s leading School of Computing Science for the social and economic impact of its research. Our work helps people create computing systems at multiple scales that people trust: from medicine to games. Sharing the Urban Sciences Building with the Institute for Sustainability will enable exciting new collaborations in software, smart energy, transport, and many others”, says Professor John Fitzgerald, Director of the Centre for Software Reliability at Newcastle University’s School of Computing Science.

The USB is scheduled to be completed in Autumn 2017.

The KeyThe construction of the Key is now complete. It is a building-as-a-lab housing the Institute for Sustainability and Newcastle University Science Central support teams.

It is the first fabric structure to be used as a heated work space in the UK, and will be the university’s first building on Newcastle’s new urban innovation hub. The fabric roof takes the technology developed by Newcastle University researchers used for the 2012 Olympic Stadium in London to the next level. It is built on the same principles as a soap bubble, and provides research opportunities for businesses to develop new products and processes.

“Given a set of fixed points, a soap film will spread naturally between them to offer the smallest achievable surface area”, explains project leader Professor Peter Gosling, School of Civil Engineering and Geosciences.

The fabric and timber structure has been designed to have minimum impact on the environment. The Key maximises light levels, reduces energy use through passive ventilation, and the insulated fabric roof achieves compliance with current UK building regulations for energy efficiency.

7

4

Improving the sustainability of utilities in IndiaProfessor Phil Taylor and Dr Neal Wade, School of Electrical and Electronic Engineering, visited Enzen Global Ltd, an energy solutions provider based in Bengaluru, India. They explored potential commercial opportunities around Distributed Energy Resources (DER) and Demand Side Reduction (DSR) that smart grids could provide to India and the UK. Alongside researchers Professor Rich Dawson and Dr Anil Namdeo they are working with Enzen to adapt infrastructure to a changing climate, exploring how it can be better managed alongside environmental concerns, and looking at how back-up diesel generators in India affect air quality. During the visit to India, Professor Phil Taylor was a member of a panel of speakers at Zen Dialogues, a symposium organised by Enzen on future electricity grids and utilities in cities today. Delegates included Indian government officials in the energy department and BESCOM, a renewable energy NGO working with farmers to generate solar energy in rural areas.

Siemens announces Newcastle University as its Global Principal PartnerNewcastle University has been given Principal Partner Status by technology giant Siemens in recognition of the ongoing collaboration between the two organisations. Principal Partner Status is a unique initiative that offers graduate recruitment and ongoing levels of support for the development of Siemens to help strengthen their international business. The Smart Grid Laboratory at Newcastle University, which will be located at Science Central, was co-designed and co-created with Siemens, allowing it to meet not only the demands of academia but also industry. “Our collaborations with Siemens have developed into a very broad ranging partnership that covers everything from social to medical sciences, energy and transport. It’s an integrated partnership across the whole university and that’s incredibly beneficial for us. This allows Newcastle University to drive impact across a huge spectrum of society, which is what we seek as a world class civic university”, says Professor Phil Taylor.

UN Global GoalsThe Institute for Sustainability along with the two other Societal Challenge Theme Institutes at Newcastle University: Social Renewal and Ageing, have been working together on an initiative around the United Nations Global Goals. This has included a blog series, consultation responses and policy notes using Newcastle University expertise to provide a commentary on the Global Goal targets and indicators, and to make recommendations for sustainable development within international policy. World leaders adopted the Global Goals at a summit in New York in September 2015, agreeing to a framework to guide global development efforts for the next 15 years with the 17 goals covering issues from ending poverty to sustainable cities and communities to healthy lives and wellbeing for all ages. The three Societal Challenge Theme Institutes are continuing to work together to bring Newcastle University research to bare on the greatest global challenges of our times.Global Goal blog series: blogs.ncl.ac.uk/sustainability/category/globalgoalsPolicy Notes: http://bit.ly/1U7yGZp

8

New Associate Director Dr Philip McGowan The Institute for Sustainability welcomes Dr Philip McGowan from the School of Biology who has joined the institute as an Associate Director. Dr McGowan has worked for many years in international consultancy and species conservation. His research on critically endangered species spans countries in Asia, Africa and South America with areas of study in India, Nepal, China and Brazil. His research assesses endangered species and indicators of biodiversity and ecology. “The Institute for Sustainability is emerging as a strong promoter of interdisciplinary work on sustainability at Newcastle. There is an increasing global appetite for innovative research in biodiversity that informs policy and I look forward to helping the institute play a full role in the global science policy arena”, says Dr McGowan. Phil has a special interest in evidence-based species conservation that looks more broadly and systematically at species research to inform policy and management. He is Co-chair of the Species Survival Commission Policy Subcommittee of International Union for the Conservation of Nature, an external partner of the Institute for Sustainability.

Europe's first of a kind metal mine water treatment schemeAn innovative treatment works using the natural environment to clean metal-rich water from an abandoned mine opened in November 2015 in Cumbria. The scheme will clean up a 6 mile stretch of river, preventing up to a tonne of metals, including zinc, cadmium and lead, from entering Bassenthwaite Lake each year. The scheme will contribute up to £4.9 million in environmental benefits to Keswick’s water and wildlife while boosting tourism and the local economy. Funded by Defra, the scheme is part of the UK Government’s £8.5 million investment in low-cost solutions to tackle water pollution caused by abandoned metal mines that pollute over 1000 miles of rivers in England. The concept was developed by Dr Adam Jarvis and his team and delivered by the Coal Authority in partnership with the Environment Agency, the National Trust, the Lake District National Park Authority and others. “Newcastle University’s design of the water treatment process at Force Crag followed more than 10 years’ research and development, starting in the laboratory and culminating in this unique large-scale treatment system. Working in partnership, it’s a great example of undertaking research to resolve a real world problem – pollution from abandoned mines”, says Dr Jarvis, School of Civil Engineering and Geosciences. The Force Crag Mine worked for zinc, lead and barytes from 1835 until 1991 and was the last working mine in the Lake District. Now abandoned, it is a Site of Special Scientific Interest, a Special Area of Conservation and a scheduled monument.

New flood action team launched to investigate flash flooding across the UKA band of ‘storm chasers’ led by Professor Hayley Fowler, School of Civil Engineering and Geosciences, has been set up by Newcastle University to help collect data about flash flooding and inform the way we manage future flood risk. With their specially-adapted ‘storm mobile’, the team of scientists are using met-office weather data to track intense rainfall and head off to areas where flash flooding is most likely to occur. Using GPS data and laser scans, together with social media, photographs and videos of the affected area, the team are able to provide crucial data needed to create hydraulic models to build up an accurate picture of the flooding and identify key causes and trigger points. The aim is to further understand when and where flash flooding is likely to occur and develop new systems to reduce the damage and impact on communities. Funded by the Natural Environment Research Council (NERC) through the Flooding From Intense Rainfall programme, the Flood Action Team are part of the SINATRA (Susceptibility of Catchments to Intense Rainfall and Flooding) project which is led jointly by the universities of Newcastle and Reading. Read more about the work carried out by the Flood Action Team in an interview with Professor Fowler on page 24.

1. Dr Adam Jarvis, one of the lead researchers behind the metal mine water treatment scheme in Cumbria 2. Speakers at our Annual Conference 2015, L-R: Hans Möller, Innovation Director at North East LEP, Professor Phil Blythe, Chief Scientific Adviser for the Department of Transport, David Nussbaum, Chief Executive at WWF-UK and Dr Paul Beasley, Head of R&D at Siemens

1

Materialising the right to water and basic sanitation services in BrazilOn 9-10 September the DESAFIO (Democratisation of Water and Sanitation Governance by Means of Socio-Technical Innovation) project held an international seminar in Brasilia on “Materializing the Right to Water and Basic Sanitation Services”. It was jointly organised with institutions of the federal government of Brazil such as the National Secretariat of Environmental Sanitation of the Ministry of the Cities and the Institute of Applied Economic Research (IPEA), with the support of the Institute of International Relations of the University of Brasilia. The project is coordinated by Professor José Esteban Castro, School of Geography, Politics and Sociology, who also coordinates the international water research network WATERLAT-GOBACIT. It has had significant impact in shaping public policy and the global debate on the democratisation of water and water governance and management in cities in Brazil, such as São Paulo and Rio. DESAFIO studied people’s experiences of innovations designed to democratise the politics and management of water and sanitation services, focusing on the situation of vulnerable communities. DESAFIO: desafioglobal.org

Institute for Sustainability Policy Note seriesOur Policy Note series focuses on topical issues in sustainability, reflecting Newcastle University’s areas of research excellence in sustainability: Energy, Water, Food and Earth Systems Engineering. The first note by Professor Phil Taylor, School of Electrical and Electronic Engineering, is on grid scale energy storage providing an introduction to the technology, along with recommendations to government on how it can best be implemented in the UK. The UK is a global leader in energy storage demonstration but changes in policy are needed to capture its full benefits to the economy. The second note by Dr Paul Quinn, School of Civil Engineering and Geosciences, provides an introduction to natural flood management; a variety of techniques for storing, slowing and filtering water flows that cause flooding in rural and urban areas. These policy notes have been distributed widely to practitioners in policy both regionally and nationally, along with NGOs and industry. They have been a valuable tool in opening up debates around critical issues in sustainability. Energy policy note: Batteries included: Electrical energy storage for the grid: http://bit.ly/1sxu9ccWater policy note: Working with Nature to ease floods and droughts: http://bit.ly/20pRkQN

Reconsidering Localism

A new book co-edited by Institute Associate Director Professor Simin Davoudi, School of Architecture, Planning and Landscape, addresses the significance of localism for a range of policy issues, including sustainability. ‘Localism’ has been deployed in recent debates over planning law as a commonplace, grassroots way to shape communities into sustainable, human-scale neighbourhoods. Moving beyond the UK, this book examines localism and similar shifts in planning policy throughout Europe, and features essays on localism and place-making, sustainability, social cohesion, and citizen participation in community institutions. It explores how debates over localism and citizen control play out at the neighbourhood, institutional and city level, and affects the urban landscape throughout Europe. Reconsidering Localism is a current, vital addition to planning scholarship.

Annual Conference 2015The 2015 Institute for Sustainability Annual Conference was a huge success with attendees from all three faculties of Newcastle University plus partners, policy makers and expert practitioners from industry and NGOS. Keynote speakers included Paul Beasley, Head of R&D at Siemens, David Nussbaum, Chief Executive at WWF-UK and Professor Phil Blythe, Chief Scientific Adviser for the Department of Transport. Early career researchers in sustainability at Newcastle University gave a number of exciting talks in areas of regional innovation, research to policy, industry collaboration and working with NGOs.

9

2

Energy storage test-bed is officially switched-on

A unique energy storage test bed at Newcastle University is now online – storing energy from the local grid and testing innovative new technologies such as super-capacitors and long life, high performance batteries. Funded through a combined £2 million grant from the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC), Newcastle University and industrial partners Northern Powergrid and Siemens, the facility will be based at Science Central – Newcastle’s £200 million flagship project bringing together academia, the public sector, communities, business and industry to create a global centre for urban innovation. The facility is open to UK industry and academia for use in investigating and testing emerging storage tools, techniques and materials. It allows research to be carried out to better understand the challenges and benefits associated with grid-connected energy storage systems, from storage technologies through to power electronic converter designs and control techniques, and finally into the distribution network. “The energy storage test bed will help make the UK a leader in the adoption, deployment and integration of energy storage technology and establish best practice for energy distributors and industry, which is a huge part of the energy storage challenge”, says Professor Phil Taylor. Smart Energy Labs brochure: http://bit.ly/1WMCjed

iBUILD launches 2015 manifesto reportNewcastle University’s iBUILD team launched their 2015 Manifesto report at an event hosted by the Institution of Mechanical Engineers. In the report researchers warn that a lack of local knowledge, engagement and ownership is leading to the wrong infrastructure being put in the wrong place at the wrong time. iBUILD research has revealed that the ability of local authorities to capture the proceeds of growth and reinvest it in local infrastructure remains constrained. It shows that there are numerous economic and social benefits to a more flexible approach to fiscal decentralisation and broader devolution of infrastructure planning, regulation and delivery, including reducing fuel poverty, lowering carbon emissions, creating local jobs and reducing costs. Researchers also found that alternative investment approaches such as revolving funds, tax increment financing, municipal and social impact bonds, and crowd-sourced funding are currently underused in infrastructure delivery in the UK. iBUILD Centre Director Professor Richard Dawson, School of Civil Engineering and Geosciences says: “Infrastructure plays a crucial role in economic development. However, existing approaches to infrastructure are criticised for being too narrow and returning poor value. We need business models that take a more local and long-term view of infrastructure”.

iBUILD report: http://bit.ly/24KwIG0

Professor Phil Blythe named Chief Scientific Advisor on transportProfessor of Intelligent Transport Systems at Newcastle University, Phil Blythe, has been named as the UK Government’s new Chief Scientific Advisor for the Department for Transport. He is providing strategic advice on Science, Engineering and Technology issues to ensure the UK’s transport system is sufficiently robust to meet future challenges. “I hope through my new role I will be able to advise government on how we can bring the best of UK science, technology and engineering together to deliver these projects and achieve maximum benefit for the transport

systems and economy in the UK”, says Professor Phil Blythe, School of Civil Engineering and Geosciences. Working in collaboration with

regional partners such as Nissan, Zero Carbon Futures and the local councils, Professor Blythe has been a key player in driving forward the North East’s bid to become the EV capital of the UK and integrating smart traffic management technology in Newcastle.

10 1. Energy storage test bed, School of Electrical and Electronic Engineering 2. Professor Phil Blythe, Chief Scientific Adviser for the Department of Transport 3. Newcastle University campus

1

2

11

Environmental sustainability is one of Newcastle University’s five institutional objectives and we continue to deliver outstanding operational sustainability performance. The university has received a ‘First Class’ award for the third consecutive year in the People and Planet University League 2015, ranked 12th overall and highest in the Russell Group and the North-East. In July 2015 Newcastle became the only research intensive university to gain dual certification for its Environmental and Energy Management systems against the international standards ISO14001 and ISO50001. Implementation of the certified management systems enables continual improvement in both environmental and energy performance.

Sustainable travelWe were shortlisted in the EAUC Green Gown Awards 2014 (Carbon Reduction category) for our sustainable travel initiatives reducing single occupancy car drivers to work from 40.4% in 2004 to 15.7% in 2014, saving circa 2,300 tCO2e. Initiatives include free ‘Dr Bike’ cycle maintenance sessions for staff and students, increasing the number of cycle parking spaces from 721 in 2009 to 1436 spaces in 2015, and offering discounted public transport tickets. These measures enabled us to achieve a ‘Go Smarter to Work’ Gold Award in 2015. We have expanded the fleet of university-owned electric vehicles to 14, which are either used operationally or for research. We have also increased provision of electric vehicle charging points to eight in total across the campus.

In June 2015 the Procurement Team were presented a Times Higher Leadership and Management Award for Outstanding Procurement Team for their collaboration with the Smartfusion project, which aims to reduce the carbon emissions from deliveries by consolidating deliveries to an offsite location and distributing to the campus via an electric vehicle.

Reducing water consumptionWater consumption per staff and student FTE has reduced by 28% since 2005/06 through investment in water efficient technologies including push taps, urinal controls and shower restrictors.

Waste management and recyclingThe proportion of general waste recycled has increased from 29% in 2008 to a rate of over 90% in the last four years. By providing recycling facilities and engaging with staff and students, recycling practice is now widely adopted on campus and our waste contractor undertakes further separation of recyclables off-site. In order to address waste minimisation we are implementing the reuse portal WARPit to facilitate reuse of furniture and other resources across the campus and within the local community.

Carbon reduction We are committed to reducing our energy consumption and carbon dioxide emissions and have invested in projects including our £4.4M boiler replacement program, saving circa 1500 tCO2e per annum; our revolving green fund has invested £1.2M with savings of 2500 tCO2e per annum; and refurbishment projects are estimated to add a further 1600 tCO2e of savings per annum.

Further information available at www.ncl.ac.uk/sustainable-campus

3

SustainableCampus

12

You led a study that provided evidence to legislators to ban smoking in automotive vehicles when transporting passengers under the age of 18. How do you think this is a step forward in improving air quality and what more can be done?The new law is important because it addresses a very important public health concern that deserves people’s attention and action. If someone is smoking inside a vehicle the second hand smoke builds up. It’s not good for drivers or the occupants. In a confined environment exposure is higher along with the adverse effect of air pollution. Children are more affected because their lungs are still developing. This is an example of how air pollution is a widespread problem and not focused on one local area.

Dispersed sources of air pollution are simply more difficult to address directly than other kinds of pollution. What is needed is a multi-pronged approach for tackling air pollution from a diverse range of sources in a given area. But for the law to really work in effect there needs to be more education and awareness of the problem. The success of any law or policy depends on people’s contribution to it.

You also did work on pollution levels caused by traffic congestion finding that in some cases it is much higher than previously thought.What we found in the city of Durham in North East England is that on certain roads pollution levels could be up to 60% higher because most of the emission models assume that traffic is free flowing. But in traffic congestion motorists are starting, stopping, accelerating and decelerating. This causes extra pollution. So if you take that into account it explains why cities are unable to meet air quality targets even though they’re using newer vehicles. Local authorities now realise that congestion could increase pollution. They knew that before but not the extent.

Are there other ways of tackling air pollution that need more attention?When you’re talking about the environment in general or sustainability you cannot only study one aspect of the problem of air pollution. How a city is developed and uses land inevitably affects air pollution. If a city is developed in a compact way it generates a different number of trips by car than a city that

has urban sprawl. In the case of sprawl you can’t have a good public transport system because people are scattered all over, they must rely more on individual vehicles. For a planned city you can build houses closer to public transport routes so that people rely more on public transport than private. In such a development more investment can be focussed on public transport.

What role does green infrastructure play in reducing air pollution?If you plant more trees then it will absorb more carbon. It’s a form of carbon sequestration where CO2 is removed from the air. It has been shown in many studies from Newcastle University as well as colleagues in Europe and the US that green infrastructure can definitely help trap some of the pollutants in cities. It also reduces noise as the leaves provide a surface that diffuses sound. We’ve found, however, that the right type of tree plantation is important for reducing pollution. Some tree species have been shown to increase levels of biogenic volatile organic compounds. You can’t just pick up any tree and plant it. You must identify the right species and place it appropriately.

Helping people breathe easier

Dr Anil Namdeo is an international transport researcher and Director of the Transport Operations Research Group (TORG) in the School of Civil Engineering and Geosciences. His work focuses on air quality, especially traffic related air pollution in cities. In the UK 40,000 people each year die prematurely from indoor and outdoor air pollution, in China and India combined it is a staggering 5.5 million people annually. Globally the problem costs $1.6 trillion each year according to the World Health Organization. Anil’s research uncovers the root causes of air pollution and seeks solutions for how they can be reduced both in policy and in practice. In this interview Anil talks about his work in the UK and air quality research in India and Tanzania.

1

Do you think electric vehicles have a role to play in cutting outdoor air pollution?At the point of use of electric vehicles (EV) there is no air pollution, hence they can help local authorities meet the air quality standards in city centres and areas which have poor air quality. The more people take up EVs in the cities, the less air pollution. The majority of trips people make in the city are short. For commuting and short trips in cities EVs are a solution.

Are you optimistic that cities are focusing more on reducing air pollution?I think they are. With more information available, a higher level of awareness and with incidents happening all over the world, people are now aware of the dangers of air pollution.

What is the research you’re doing with partners in India?In collaboration with Enzen Global Ltd, along with research in electrical energy distribution networks, we are assessing the impact of back-up diesel generators on air quality in India. In India many people rely on micro grids but there is need for analysis on how they alter primary energy use and in turn affect air quality. We are also planning to investigate high levels of indoor air pollution caused by biomass burning in India and other developing countries.

In the case of air pollution that is localised tell us about your research in Tanzania?We investigated mines in Tanzania where workers are mining a rare mineral known as tanzanite. When we sent our air pollution monitors down into the mines we found that the levels are extremely high. The miners are working in those mines for long shifts up to 18 hours. They’re exposed to high levels of pollution without control. This could be reduced by over 90% if they’re provided with masks, water sprinklers when they’re

doing the blasting operations and by allowing fresh air to enter the mines. This not only applies to Tanzania but any country that has mines. Our aim is to support the mine owners and the Tanzanian government to work together and reduce mine workers’ exposure.

Read the research:O’Brien J., Namdeo A., Bell M., Goodman, P. A congestion sensitive approach to modelling road networks for air quality management, International Journal of Environment and Pollution, 54, doi:10.1504/IJEP.2014.065122.

Tiwary, A., Williams, I.D., Heidrich, O., Namdeo, A., Bandaru, V., Calfapietra, C. Development of multi-functional streetscape green infrastructure using a performance index approach, Environmental Pollution, 208, Part A, doi:10.1016/j.envpol.2015.09.003.

Namdeo, A., Ballare, S., Job, H., and Namdeo, D. Commuter Exposure to Air Pollution in Newcastle, U.K., and Mumbai, India. J. Hazard. Toxic Radioact. Waste, doi:10.1061/(ASCE)HZ.2153-5515.0000232.

Contact: Dr Anil Namdeo, School of Civil Engineering and Geosciences, anil.namdeo@ncl.ac.uk

13

Cities are unable to make air quality targets even though they’re using newer vehicles. Local authorities now realise that congestion could increase pollution.Dr Anil Namdeo, Director of the Transport Operations Research Group (TORG)

1. Dr Anil Namdeo, Director of the Transport Operations Research Group (TORG) in the School of Civil Engineering and Geosciences 2. Air pollution in Delhi, India

2

14

Using waste as a resource in sustainable brewingA new project led by researchers with Stu Brew, Newcastle University’s award winning and sustainable microbrewery run by students, will look at ways to improve the sustainability of brewery operations from waste disposal to sustainable resource use. The Stu Brew research team are looking at how to dispose and make best use of spent grains, hops and brewer’s yeast sustainably. Outcomes from the project could benefit regional microbreweries who have expressed interest in the research.

The project will also aim to bring together a network of local breweries in the North East to share best practice. Stu Brew already closely monitors energy and water usage, and has a very energy efficient hot water and cooling system which re-uses hot water. There are however still a number of ways brewery waste could be used to generate energy or for animal feed. Along with used barley grains and hops, breweries also produce large amounts of yeast slurry that are often disposed of down the drain. Creating an animal feed from the yeast, such as for pigs, provides a sustainable solution to the waste issue, and avoids any associated environmental impacts with disposal. Commercial drying equipment for this purpose is normally too expensive and wet brewery waste is too wet and bulky for transport.

In collaboration with researchers at the University of Kassel in Germany, the team will test a prototype dryer they’ve developed and optimise it for brewery wastes. “We champion the idea that the modern chemical engineer has to consider best practice in sustainability. Stu Brew is a ‘living lab’ but one where we learn about how sustainability can be applied to industry”, says lead researcher on the project Dr Chris O’Malley, School of Chemical Engineering and Advanced Materials.

Contact: chris.o'malley@newcastle.ac.uk

Co-created researchBio-informing urban gardening (BUG)Newcastle University researchers are working with a local community partnership project in sustainability, the Greening Wingrove Project, which encourages residents to live sustainably through growing food, recycling and saving energy. The research addresses food security in an urban environment and has successfully gained support from social enterprises Vertical Veg and Green Man Enterprises.

AwardedProjects

Highlighted projects awarded funding from the Institute for Sustainability

1 2

Citizen scientists have the opportunity to be involved in every step of the projectDr Claire Walsh, School of Civil Engineering and Geosciences

15

The research team led by Dr Claire Walsh, School of Civil Engineering and Geosciences, will address the concerns of the Greening Wingrove community around whether the food crops they are growing in front and rear gardens may pick up traffic-related contaminants, such as heavy metals. The Newcastle University team will investigate and assess ways to minimise the effects of car emissions on urban produce. Claire and her interdisciplinary research team are working with the community to examine the potential of biochar to mitigate pollutants in urban produce and protect soil health. “Citizen scientists have the opportunity to be involved in every step of the project, from the experimental design and setup, through to sample collection and dissemination of findings to the wider community”, says Dr Walsh.

Contact: claire.walsh@newcastle.ac.uk

Can protected areas be sustainably developed? Professor Mark Whittingham, School of Biology, is working with representatives from local and national government along with NGOs, nature conservation groups and businesses that own land on the British coast, to evaluate whether protected areas in the North East of England can be sustainably developed. The project will focus on the impact of human disturbance, namely recreational and future development, on protected wading bird species. Researchers will analyse existing data along with collecting novel field data to answer key questions about sustainable development and conservation. Use of protected areas is currently not tightly controlled, which makes bird populations vulnerable to disturbances caused by humans.

Professor Whittingham’s research team are working alongside Northumberland County Council, Durham County Council and Royal Society for the Protection of Birds, British Trust for Ornithology, Northumberland & Tyneside Bird Club and Port of Tyne to develop a sustainable Local Plan for each county. “Internationally designated protected areas in the North East of England were selected to protect a range of special bird species. We are working with Northumberland and Durham counties, along with other stakeholders to ensure a more sustainable long-term outcome to support wildlife developments, while maintaining economic developments and tourism”, says Professor Whittingham.

Contact: mark.whittingham@newcastle.ac.uk

1. Stu Brew team at Newcastle University 2. Bio-informing urban gardening (BUG) project 3. Dunstanburgh Castle on the Northumberland Coast, a Special Protected Area

3

EarlyCareer

ResearchThese awarded projects are part of a long-term and focussed commitment to the development of early career research on sustainability at Newcastle University.

Energy storage project gives EV batteries a second lifeResearch led by Myriam Neaimeh, School of Civil Engineering and Geosciences, is pioneering new energy storage applications using recycled EV batteries from the Nissan Leaf. Second life batteries are a potential solution for storing energy from renewable sources, shaving peak energy demand and providing other grid services.

Myriam received funding from the Institute for Sustainability to develop an energy storage solution to meet the short-term peak demand of the anaerobic digester plant at Cockle Park Farm, a unique agritech research centre and demonstration site. In future it is likely there will be a lot of batteries coming out of electric vehicles over the coming years and they will still have enough remaining capacity for use in applications other than transport. “This energy storage solution is focusing on real-world sustainability issues by delaying the disposal of electric vehicle batteries, and pioneering solutions for their repurposing into stationary energy storage applications”, says Myriam (see interview with Myriam on page 20).

Contact: myriam.neaimeh@newcastle.ac.uk

Microbes for wastewater treatmentDr Joana Baptista, School of Civil Engineering and Geosciences, is investigating the use of microbes such as bacteria in wastewater treatment systems. The work focuses on ways to understand the dynamics of the microbial communities that gobble up organic wastes in biological wastewater treatment systems. It aims to optimise current wastewater reactor design and operation practices to make these systems more energy efficient and less prone to failure.

The research focuses on five different forces that drive changes in microbial communities with time: interspecies competition, environmental effects, predator/prey relationships, dispersal and evolution. Traditional biological wastewater systems use 1.5% of total electricity in the UK. New design practices for these systems can potentially cut operation costs by reducing the amount of chemicals used to treat wastewater and energy consumption, making the process more sustainable. “If you understand microbial community dynamics, you can increase the energy efficiency of the wastewater treatment process, therefore reducing its impact on the environment. This award has allowed me to become familiar with the modelling and statistical tools that are essential to developing sustainable solutions for wastewater treatment”, says Dr Baptista.

Contact: sustainability@newcastle.ac.uk

16

1. Dr Matthew Wade, School of Civil Engineering and Geosciences 2. Dr Mohamed Mamlouk, School of Chemical Engineering and Advanced Materials 3. Delegates at the Institute for Sustainability Annual Conference 2015 4. Multi-storey communities

1 2

17

Green fuel cellsResearch led by Dr Mohamed Mamlouk, School of Chemical Engineering and Advanced Materials, was awarded funding for a pilot project to develop an alkaline fuel cell and electrolyser that can be used in tandem with renewable energy sources, and has potential to be used globally, particularly in the developing world. The research brings together expertise in electrochemical engineering, chemistry and material science. Dr Mamlouk and his research team have achieved similar performances to PEM fuel cells that use noble metals, such as platinum, which make them prohibitively expensive for wide use. The team currently hold the world record for highest power density of an alkaline fuel cell.

Research in this area could lead to fuel cells becoming much cheaper making them accessible to everyone. Using recyclable materials in the fuel cell also not only minimises waste but makes them far less expensive than precious metals used in state-of-the-art fuel cells, and must be disposed of at the end of the cell’s life cycle. “The main advantage of alkaline is you don’t need to use precious metals. It allows you to use others such as nickel or cobalt in the fuel cell and electrolyser, which would help make them available more widely including in developing countries”, says Dr Mamlouk.

Contact: mohamed.mamlouk@newcastle.ac.uk

Modelling anaerobic digestionThe EXPAND project led by Dr Matthew Wade, School of Civil Engineering and Geosciences, uses computer models to improve anaerobic digestion. It focused on understanding the complex interactions between microorganisms in anaerobic digestion to find ways to improve it in the UK. The relationships between different microorganisms in an anaerobic digester are important for producing biogas. There can be up to 1000 different species of microbes in a digester. Most models only account for two species while Dr Wade’s model uses a maximum of five or six. The UK is now the second largest anaerobic digestion utilising nation in Europe.

To maximise production the challenge is to produce a model of a complex environment that is closer to what actually happens inside of an anaerobic digester. The advantage of computer modelling is that you can test different kinds of organisms and how they act in the digester so you don’t have to wait months or years to grow organisms. “Results from this work are helpful for synthetic biologists working at engineering artificial communities of a small number of species, and for operators of anaerobic digesters interested in the dynamics of a real world system”, says Dr Wade.

Contact: matthew.wade@newcastle.ac.uk

Sustainable multi-storey communitiesDr Gareth Powells, School of Geography, Politics and Sociology, Dr Lynsay Blake, Institute for Sustainability, and Dr Neal Wade, School of Electrical and Electronic Engineering, are lead researchers on the social science aspects of ‘Sustainable Multi-Storey (SMS) Communities’, a collaborative research project investigating the sustainable provision of services (e.g. electricity, gas, water, waste, and internet) to multi-storey communities in Newcastle. Tall residential buildings have not usually been the focus of the government’s attempts to make UK housing and utility services more sustainable, and the project looks at how this could be improved. It brings together utility providers, Newcastle City Council, National Energy Action (NEA), Your Homes Newcastle, Agility ECO and residents to identify positive sustainability opportunities for multi-storey communities. In doing this the project has taken a combined social and technical approach to addressing social and environmental sustainability in high-rise buildings.

Specifically the project records utility use and conditions at the bulk level, and within individual participants homes across five high-rise tower blocks in the city, and includes ongoing resident and wider community engagement activities as part of a participatory qualitative research process running in parallel. The research aims to tease out opportunities for new ways of solving problems and collaborating as well as identifying new threats and problems that face multi-storey communities. “The project is inclusive in its approach because we value the input of residents in the research process and want to develop strong and long-lasting links with the community. We are working to ensure outputs are grounded in real-world conditions for infrastructure provision and use”, says Dr Powells.

Contact: gareth.powells@ncl.ac.uk

3 4

Research at Nafferton Farm demonstrates clear differences between organic and non-organic milk and meat products

Organic agricultureimproves nutrition

Key Findings:• There are meaningful nutritional differences between organic and non-organic foods influenced by animal husbandry and feeding regimes.

• Organic whole milk contains 57% higher concentrations of nutritionally desirable omega-3 fatty acids.

• Conventional whole milk has 74% more iodine, but optimising iodine supply is difficult to achieve via milk fortification alone.

• Switching to grass-fed organic meat consumption may allow total consumption of meat to be reduced by 30% whilst maintaining total omega-3 fatty acid intake.

Consumer health is intertwined with production in agriculture. Health standards on farms need to be rigorous to prevent disease or contamination entering the world’s food supplies. Crops also need the right amounts of water, aeration, fertiliser etc. to grow well. But what has drawn considerable controversy in recent years is to what extent farming practices influence the nutritional quality of the food we eat.

There are many ecological benefits to organic farming, some more well-studied than others, including increased biodiversity, improved soil quality and climate change adaptation. Many consumers who buy organic products tend to believe they will have health benefits over conventional products. However, it has been questioned within the scientific community, industry and policy, as to whether this is actually the case and little consensus has been reached.

Now new research at Nafferton Farm has found significant differences between the nutritional content of organic and conventional foods, which are meaningful for individual health. The work adds to the mounting evidence that organic farming has clear advantages over conventional farming practices, which is useful for informing food policy, encouraging the agricultural industry to improve their products, and helping to make people healthier. The question for policy, industry and consumers is how they should be taken up as low-input farming practices, like letting cows graze, need not be limited to certified organic farming alone.

Feeding regimes affect the health of cattle and peopleCattle grazing, which is widely practiced throughout the UK, especially at organic dairy farms, produces milk and other dairy products higher in omega-3 essential fatty acid as a whole. This includes nearly all of the very long chain fatty acids: EPA, DPA and DHA.

Cows evolved eating grass so it makes sense that it would increase the quality of their milk and meat. Organic milk and meat were found to be high enough in grass-fed organic meat that meat consumption could be reduced by 30% while still maintaining total omega-3 fatty acid intake.

The amount of omega-3 a person gets from drinking organic milk instead of conventional milk is higher and likely to benefit human nutrition (see Figure 1). Should it be the primary source for reaching your daily recommended allowance (RA) of omega-3? No, but that’s not what previous studies sought to find out.

Rather, it was whether organic milk and meat are more nutritious than conventional and can contribute towards a healthy diet, including helping people achieve a more balanced omega-3/omega-6 ratio intake. In mainly western diets intakes of omega-6

18

1 2

19

% higher

in organic

% higher in

conventional

Figure 1. Differences in fatty acid, vitamin and mineral composition between organic and conventional milk.

have dramatically increased, which can increase risk of developmental and chronic health problems. Getting more omega-3s in people’s diets is therefore essential to improving overall health.

Carrying out an extensive, meta-analysis of all available literature on organic vs conventional milk (196 papers) and meat (67 papers), the research has large implications for not only farming practice, but food standards in the EU, particularly in the case of organic agriculture.

In the case of milk we found that concentrations of polyunsaturated fatty acid omega-3 were higher overall in organic than conventional milk. In fact they were found to be 57% higher than conventional milk and organic meat 47% higher than conventional. Organic meat also has 23% higher poly-unsaturated fatty acids. Based on this evidence we conclude that a switch from intensive conventionally produced to organic milk and meat production will improve fat composition, especially for omega-3.

In the case of organic meat, there are less undesirable saturated fatty acids such as myristic acid (18% lower) and palmitic acid (11%). Myristic acid is the saturated fatty acid most clearly linked to increased cardiovascular disease risk.

Why this increase? For the same reason given by the majority of the studies we analysed: higher grazing and conserved forage, both used by organic farming, leads to milk and meat containing higher levels of nutritionally beneficial compounds. From a nutrition standpoint it perhaps verifies what many farmers have suspected – the feeding regimes we give our cattle affect not only their health, but ours as well.

For organic meat there is further work to be done as there are less published studies. There is currently insufficient data to compare meat type and a lack of data for pasture-based meat, in particular pork and poultry.

For organic milk a recommendation for children or breastfeeding mothers to switch to organic from conventional seems hardly controversial, if their health alone were the deciding factor. Could people get omega-3 essential fatty acids from other nutritional sources? Of course they could (and should), but many populations in the developed and developing world rely on dairy as a primary source of nutrition. This is good news for them if they want to get an extra boost of omega-3s.

Organic agriculture produces better quality productsThe research shows clear benefits for the organic food market as dairy has a 15% share in the US and up to 30% in some

European countries. But what does it mean for farmers? Based on the available evidence, organic milk has set a new standard of nutritional quality that the dairy industry should seek to follow. There is a grass fed cattle movement in the US, could this be something we will likely see more of globally in the future?

Ultimately what these studies show is that we can change the quality of our milk by changing the ways we feed our cattle. For dairy farmers in particular it means looking at ways to switch cows to mainly grass fed diets. Cows can get all the vitamins they need from fresh forage, which can more than compensate for supplementation. This is likely to improve the quality of milk whether it was organic or not.

Research at Nafferton Farm has demonstrated that low-input, organic methods are able to improve agricultural standards overall. It adds to the growing amount of evidence that organic has benefits for human health, including a study published in the British Journal of Nutrition (2014) that found antioxidants were 18-69% higher in organic crops. This work analysed 343 studies for compositional differences between organic and conventional crops including fruit, vegetables and cereals.

Read the research (open access):Średnicka-Tober, D., Barański, M., Seal, CJ. et al. Higher PUFA and n-3 PUFA, conjugated linoleic acid, α-tocopherol and iron, but lower iodine and selenium concentrations in organic milk: a systematic literature review and meta- and redundancy analyses, British Journal of Nutrition (2016), 115, 1043–1060 doi:10.1017/S0007114516000349.

Średnicka-Tober, D., Barański, M., Seal, CJ. et al. Composition differences between organic and conventional meat: a systematic literature review and meta-analysis, British Journal of Nutrition (2016), 115, 994–1011 doi:10.1017/S0007114516000349.

Contact: Dr Carlo Leifert, School of Agriculture, Food and Rural Development carlo.leifert@newcastle.ac.uk

1. Gillian Butler, School of Agriculture, Food and Rural Development 2. Professor Carlo Leifert, School of Agriculture, Food and Rural Development

Electric cars are likely to become a primary means of transport in a city, town or village near you. But understanding how they interact with the grid in large numbers could benefit network operators, energy regulators and EV drivers. Previous studies assumed that uncontrolled and clustered EV charging in residential areas could pose a problem on the local electricity networks, but these findings are based on modelled assumptions rather than actual EV usage profiles.

Data from actual EV trialsResearch led by Myriam Neaimeh, which uses data from actual EV trials from the Switch EV project in North East England and household consumption and network data from Customer Led Network Revolution (CLNR) project, finds that the grid could cope well even if demands from EVs are high. These findings are contradicting previous studies that overestimated the impact on our electricity networks.

“Previous studies showed that 10% EV uptake would cause problems on the distribution networks, other studies would say 20% percent, and some said 30%. We found that distribution networks are not a homogenous group with more capabilities to accommodate EVs than previously suggested. For example, our real-world urban network accommodated a 60% EV penetration”, says Myriam.

Diversity of EV charging is importantIn addition to using real world data on driving and charging behaviour, the research shows that the spatial and temporal diversity of EV charging demand alleviated the impacts on the electricity distribution networks.

“In SwitchEV drivers had access to charging at work, home and public. Users had flexibility when and where they can recharge which helped spread the demand not just in time but in space and consequently alleviated the impact on the grid”, says Myriam. The research recommends that electric utilities could increase the network capability to accommodate EVs by investing in recharging infrastructure.

The models in the study used EV data from the SwitchEV project which trialled 44 EVs in the North East from 2010-13. It captured

The impact of electric vehicles

on the gridResearch led by Myriam Neaimeh, School of Civil Engineering and Geosciences, reveals that the grid can accommodate more electric vehicles than previously thought.

20

1

Users had a flexibility of when and where they can recharge which helped spread the demand not just in time but in space and consequently alleviated the impact on the gridMyriam Neaimeh, School of Civil Engineering and Geosciences

more than 85,000 EV journeys over 19,000 recharging events at more than 650 public and 260 private charging points. Smart meter data was used from the CLNR project, the UK’s largest trial of smart grids which provided domestic load profiles of half-hourly power consumption data collected from nearly 9000 smart meters.

While EVs only make up 0.1% of the world’s stock of automotive vehicles, their adoption is expected to grow rapidly in the coming decades. In the UK a quarter of greenhouse emissions comes from the domestic transport sector alone. Cities throughout the world tend to experience similar problems both in terms of emissions and air quality. Poor air quality due to traffic in large cities such as London and Beijing has become a massive health problem (see interview with Anil Namdeo on page 12). A shift to electric vehicles may help not only curb emissions if the power source is low carbon, but save lives.

Just as fossil fuel powered vehicles rely upon existing infrastructure like fuelling stations, for the electric car and other EVs to rise to the top requires dedicated investment in infrastructure. Since EVs are in a sense mobile batteries, once plugged in they could provide numerous services to the grid, helping to provide energy at peak demands and charge when there is surplus, say, on a particularly windy or sunny day. But could tens to hundreds of thousands of EVs connected to the grid at once make it more vulnerable to faults or power losses?

“We shouldn’t be as concerned about adding EVs to the grid as previously thought. Spreading the demand in space and time will help alleviate the network impacts. The main purpose of EVs is to provide transport services to the users, however, their batteries could also provide grid services.

A smarter charging infrastructure and energy network that allows controllability and flexibility would ensure a smooth integration of a large number of EVs while tapping into their potential as distributed energy sources”, says Myriam.

Read the research: Neaimeh M, Wardle R, Jenkins A, Hill GA, Lyons P, Yi J, Hübner Y, Blythe PT, Taylor P. (2015) A probabilistic approach to combining smart meter and electric vehicle charging data to investigate distribution network impacts, Applied Energy, 157, 688-698.

Contact: Myriam Neaimeh, School of Civil Engineering and Geosciences myriam.neaimeh@newcastle.ac.uk

21

1. Charging and driving events for 12 EV users over two weekdays in winter (Neaimeh M, Wardle R, et al. (2015) A probabilistic approach to combining smart meter and electric vehicle charging data to investigate distribution network impacts. Applied Energy, 157, 688-698) 2. Myriam Neaimeh, School of Civil Engineering and Geosciences at the Institute for Sustainability Conference 2015 3. Smart Grid Lab at Newcastle University

2 3

22

What are the traditional food preservation methods used by Maroon communities and how is it related to improving their food security?Barbara: Maroons traditionally dried many of their crops particularly during the hurricane season. They also had other methods such as underground or in-cave storage to keep the products cool. Nowadays, in everyday practice there is hardly any preservation still conducted other than for herbs and medicinal products. Two of the Maroon communities are actively working on re-introducing preservation, particularly drying, jam and juice making. However, their target markets are not within Jamaica itself. They hope to be able to produce niche products to be marketed in the USA and Europe with the UK as their primary target market.

How do the preservation methods work? How did they help reduce crop losses?Barbara: It was mainly drying and storing goods underground. Both significantly increased the shelf life of the produce. During main harvest time there usually is an abundance of produce so loss reduction had never been high on the agenda. Communities would preserve what they needed to get through the hurricane season.

What was it like to work with the Maroon communities themselves and explore their culture and way of life?Barbara: It was a very interesting experience. People were very hospitable and we were fortunate enough to meet the Colonels of three out of the four Maroon communities.

Improving food security for Maroon communities

in JamaicaDr Barbara Sturm, School of Agriculture, Food and Rural Development (University of Kassel) and Dr Helen McKee, School of History, Classics and Archaeology, talk about their research that investigated ways to improve food security for the Maroon communities in Jamaica by helping them conserve traditional methods of food preservation. Developing solutions to help Maroon communities achieve food security is where history, engineering and biology can together make a difference to their livelihood and survival.

23

Helen: It was a fascinating insight into this unique group of communities. I had visited one of the Maroon communities before but it was very different to live and work alongside them for a sustained period. We were also fortunate to meet with many of the Maroon elders and hear their views on the history and culture of the communities. The Maroons are often romanticised in literature so it was great to see beyond the imagery and work with these communities as people facing real issues.

How did the project combine food science / agricultural engineering with historical research?Barbara: The current state of not only the Maroon communities but also other rural communities is directly and severely impacted by past political and societal decisions and changes. It needs an in-depth insight into the reasons why the communities are where they are now to develop sustainable solutions that are acceptable and affordable for these communities.

Helen: The severe rate of crop loss is, among other things, directly related to the history of the Maroons. As a result of their 1739 treaty with the English, the Accompong Maroons do not pay land tax to the Jamaican government. As a consequence, the roads to and from Accompong are not maintained by the government, making the already difficult task of transporting crops to market even more challenging.

What is the importance of interdisciplinary research in improving food security for the Maroon communities?Barbara: The issue of food security and waste reduction is a multi-layered one that can only be approached in a trans-disciplinary way. Most past attempts did not achieve long term results as they were too one sided and ignored important aspects from other disciplines.

Helen: I don´t see how any potential solutions can come from one field, or even a few fields, of research. We cannot understand where we are and where we want to go without understanding how we got there. What motivations were there for abandoning the cooperative system? Are those reasons still present, if so, what alternatives can be found?

How do you think this work has or will help aid Maroon communities?Barbara: It has allowed us to get an insight into the realities of Maroon and non-maroon rural communities. We were able to learn a lot from our conversation partners and could share our expertise with them. In Kassel, Germany we are looking at the conditions for market introduction in Europe for the consequent products and at the potential for use of solar assisted drying systems in the regions. One of the communities already has invested in a cassava drying system and uses solar PV for the production of electricity and process heat. We are conducting optimisation testing in this field.

Helen: The desire and ability to preserve crops on a much larger scale is already there. The research will help to pinpoint the target market for excess produce whilst also helping in the preservation of crops for the communities.

1. Dr Helen McKee (left) with a member of Maroon community in Jamaica 2. Dr Barbara Sturm (left) with a member of Maroon community in Jamaica

21

24

Flood Action Teamat Newcastle University

What work is the Flood Action Team at Newcastle University doing?Researchers from the Flood Action Team (from the NERC-funded SINATRA project) in the School of Geography are using social media data to identify the location of flooding or where there are likely to be flood events before they happen. Social media like Twitter helps provide early flood warnings, particularly localised flooding that can spread quite quickly. The team can then go out and collect data as the flood is happening which helps us to improve models. Researchers in the School of Civil Engineering and Geosciences are also looking at community participation and engagement, and community-led monitoring. The aim is to enable communities to manage their own flooding. Communities are the best people to gather this sort of data because they’re there as it happens. The larger team is also working to implement measures to control flooding such as natural flood management features.

How can this improve flood models? We try to develop models of what happened during a flood so we can come up with better adaptation systems or flood defences. Community-led monitoring gives us extra information from which to validate and calibrate models and therefore design better systems to actually manage flooding. Some of our researchers are taking measurements in the field with the community’s help. We also put out appeals for people to send their flood photos etc. after large flood events. Quite often the images are GPS and time/date stamped so they can be used to find out where the flood happened and at what time, and flood depths at different times and locations to recreate flood maps – we created one for the 2008 Morpeth flood this way.

How about preparing for climate change?There have been massive improvements in climate models in the past two or three years. However, almost all national climate scenarios are still based on coarser-resolution models which can’t really represent high-intensity storm events well. Weather forecasts try to tell where it’s going to rain and where it’s going to flood. Ultimately this is useful for the public and emergency services. With climate change we are talking about understanding changes over a much longer duration which we need to account for in the planning and design of our towns or cities, where you’re thinking decades into the future.

For the CONVEX project we ran the UK weather forecast model, a very high resolution model (1.5km), as a climate model over a long time period. We then changed the concentration of greenhouse gas emissions in the atmosphere to represent what might happen at the end of this century and looked at what happened to heavy rainfall events. We looked at how the improvement in model resolution might improve the simulation of thunderstorm events, because we have no information about how they might change in the future from coarse resolution climate models.

Professor Hayley Fowler, Professor of Climate Change Impacts in the School of Civil Engineering and Geosciences, discusses new climate research and how the Flood Action Team at Newcastle University are furthering community-led flood monitoring.

1 2

25

What did you find?Basically that thunderstorms do increase in the summer months so the current UK national climate scenarios need to be revised (as an offshoot of CONVEX we’re working on the next climate scenarios UKCP18). Because these events happen at a much smaller scale, a 50km model needs to parameterise almost every process. For our models at 1.5km, we are able to switch these parameters off and find that we can actually simulate convective thunderstorm-type rainfall well, but also estimate how these events might change in the future. In terms of improvements in climate modelling this is the cutting edge.

If you imagine the size of a thunderstorm, you can imagine it a km or a couple of kms across. These new climate models are getting to the resolution where you can actually represent these events directly within the model. This is why if we base our climate adaptation plans on information from coarser models, we’re not going to get it right.

You also published work recently on climate change in the Indus Basin in Northern Pakistan, what did you find there?The Indus Basin is showing a different response to climate change than further east in the Himalaya. There was a big media storm in 2010 about the IPCC 4th assessment report from 2007 which said that the glaciers in this region of the world were all going to disappear by 2035. In the Upper Indus Basin temperatures have cooled in summer and there seems to be warming in the winter. This is different to further east where it’s warming in both seasons. The different response of glaciers in the region is in part because the glaciers in Northern Pakistan are so big. You have some inertia effect, it’s going to take longer for some of them to start melting. But if you’ve got warmer winter temperatures and more precipitation, more snow coming in, and less melt in the summer because temperatures are cooler than you would expect, glaciers would not melt in that region. Further east they’re all melting, giant glaciers are reducing in size. We’re now trying to work out why that is.

Read the research: Chan SC, Kendon EJ, Roberts NM, Fowler HJ, Blenkinsop S. (2016) Downturn in scaling of UK extreme rainfall with temperature for future hottest days, Nature Geosciences, 9(1), 24-28.

Forsythe N, Hardy AJ, Fowler HJ, Blenkinsop S, Kilsby CG, Archer DR, Hashmi MZ. (2015) A detailed cloud fraction climatology of the Upper Indus Basin and its implications for near surface air temperature, Journal of Climate, 28(9), 3537-3556.

Contact: Professor Hayley Fowler, School of Civil Engineering and Geosciences hayley.fowler@ncl.ac.uk

Community-led monitoring gives us extra information from which to validate and calibrate models and therefore design better systems to actually manage flooding Professor Hayley Fowler, School of Civil Engineering and Geosciences

1. Aerial View of the Baltoro Glacier 2. Professor Hayley Fowler 3. The Flood Action Team (from left) Dr Geoffrey Parkin, School of Civil Engineering and Geosciences, Dr Matthew Perks, School of Geography, Politics and Sociology, and Elizabeth Lewis, School of Civil Engineering and Geosciences 4. A flooded roundabout in Birtley, Gateshead

3 4

26

Adapting Water Resources to an Uncertain FutureWalsh, C. L., Blenkinsop, S., Fowler, H. J., Burton, A., Dawson, R. J., Glenis, V., Manning, L. J., and Kilsby, C. G. (2015) Adaptation of water resource systems to an uncertain future, Hydrol. Earth Syst. Sci. Discuss., 12, doi:10.5194/hessd-12-8853-2015.Key findings:• Projections of rainfall on a grid over the Thames catchment indicates that the hazard of inadequate water supply is expected to increase as a function of both climatic and socio-economic drivers.• Population growth exhibits a greater contribution to drought risk than climate projections.• Given projected population growth water demand reductions will need to be significant to offset demand increases alongside climate change.

BiogasWade, M.J., Pattinson, R.W., Parker, N. G. and Dolfing, J. (2016) Emergent behaviour in a chlorophenol-mineralising three-tiered microbial `food web’, Journal of Theoretical Biology, 389, 171-186. doi: 10.1016/j.jtbi.2015.10.032.Key findings:• The research provided an understanding of microbial processes beyond the ‘two species model’ as it looked at the interactions between three different species of microorganisms in anaerobic digestion.• Modelling used in the research could one day be used to control anaerobic digestion to maximise production of biogas in a sustainable way that inhibits failure.

Food StorageWani, S., Maker, J., Thompson, J., Barnes, J. and Singleton, I. (2015) Effect of Ozone Treatment on Inactivation of Escherichia coli and Listeria sp. on Spinach, Agriculture, 5(2), 155-169. doi:10.3390/agriculture5020155.Key findings:• If transport time takes longer than expected ozone reduces ripening in the produce allowing it to be stored longer.• When exposing produce to ozone in some cases levels need to be optimised to

prevent discoloration. • Several genes important to ozone resistance have been identified in cold adapted bacteria and several others in old bacteria.• Bacterial cell age and prior cold stress exposure are linked to ozone resistance.

Sustainable PlanningCaparros-Midwood, D., Barr, S., Dawson, R. (2015) Optimised spatial planning to meet long term urban sustainability objectives, Computers,

Environment and Urban Systems, 54 doi:10.1016/j.compenvurbsys.2015.08. 003.Key findings:• The work done in Middlesbrough presents the use of computational spatial optimisation framework to enable planners to identify optimal spatial plans in the presence of competing sustainability objectives.• Application over case study provides a set of best trade-off spatial plans.• Many optimised spatial plans outperform local authorities’ development plan.• Rich set of diagnostic information provides an evidence basis to assist planners to achieve more sustainable patterns of development.

Climate PoliciesHeidrich, O., et al. (2016) National climate policies across Europe and their impacts on cities strategies, Journal of Environmental Management, 168, doi:10.1016/j.jenvman.2015.11.043.Key findings: • The UK’s planning system is based on larger spatial units compared to other EU member states such as Germany and France.• Of the 200 cities studied across 11 European countries 65% tackle the causes and 28% the consequences of climate change.

Environmental PolicyDavoudi, S., Gemma, H., Judith, P. and Whatmore, S. (2015) Judging research quality to support evidence-informed environmental policy, Environmental Evidence, 4:9,

2015 in SustainabilityHighlighted Publications

Climate ImpactsSayers, P., Walsh, C., Dawson, R. (2015) Climate impacts on flood and coastal erosion infrastructure, Infrastructure Asset Management, 2, doi:10.1680/iasma.14.00040. Key findings:• Green spaces in urban areas, wetlands, channels, beaches and mudflats provide a wide range of benefits and make important contributions to the management of flood and erosion risks.

• Limited adoption of more adaptive strategies within the flood and coastal erosion risk management industry is associated with difficulties in visualising exactly what these are, how they might operate, and how they combine cultural and environmental values with economic and flood management benefits.

• Significant research effort is needed to advance understanding of how climate change influences the performance of flood and coastal erosion risk management, and encourage the development of innovations in infrastructure design and management.

27

doi:10.1186/s13750-015-0035-6.Key recommendations:• Evidence for environmental policy should be defined broadly and inclusively to incorporate the insights from all sciences.• There is a diversity of social scientific research methods, each with its own specific contributions to environmental decision making.• To make the best of social sciences their contributions should be fully integrated at the beginning into environmental policy development and interdisciplinary research.

Heat RecoveryHuashan, B., Zhiwei, M., Roskilly, A.P. (2016) Integrated chemisorption cycles for ultra-low grade heat recovery and thermo-electric energy storage and exploitation, Applied Energy, 164, doi:10.1016/j.apenergy.2015.11.052. Key findings:• Recovery of ultra-low grade heat (30–100°C).• Thermal efficiency and energy efficiency is 47–100% and 62–93%, respectively.• The round-trip efficiency of electrical energy storage could achieve 100% or higher.

Energy StorageRoskilly, A.P. and Taylor, P.C. (eds.) (2015) Energy storage systems for a low carbon future, Applied Energy (Special Issue) 137, doi:10.1016/j.apenergy.2014.11.025.Key recommendations:• Energy storage research needs an integrated systems approach from the research and innovation community.• Power systems experts need to work with experts

in control, converters and storage materials, to develop optimum solutions and options for a range of future energy scenarios.

Green InfrastructureTiwary, A., Williams, I.D., Heidrich, O., Namdeo, A., Bandaru, V., Calfapietra, C. (2016) Development of multi-functional streetscape green infrastructure using a performance index approach, Environmental Pollution, 208, Part A, doi:10.1016/j.envpol.2015.09.003.

Key findings:• Medium size trees and evergreen shrubs are found more favourable for streetscapes.• The performance index offers a metric for developing sustainable streetscape green infrastructure.

PartnershipsAustin, R., Thompson, N., Garrod, G. (2015) Understanding the factors underlying partnership working: A case study of Northumberland National Park, England, Land Use

Policy, 50, doi:10.1016/j.landusepol.2015.09.011. Key findings:• A range of governance factors, with a relatively high degree of control, and a range of behavioural factors, with a relatively low degree of control, contribute to the performance of any given partnership.• An awareness of these factors from the outset may increase the chances of a successful approach to working in partnership.

Mapping SpeciesDunn, J.C., Buchanan, G.M., Cuthbert, R.J., Whittingham, M.J., McGowan, P.J.K. Mapping the potential distribution of the Critically Endangered Himalayan Quail Ophrysia superciliosa using proxy species and species distribution modelling, Bird Conservation International, 25, doi:10.1017/S095927091400046X.Key findings:• Based on the four climate variables used, Himalayan Quail had the smallest modelled climate distribution, followed by Cheer Pheasant and Himalayan Monal.• The likelihood of occupancy from the Cheer Pheasant and Himalayan Monal climate model was positively correlated to that of the Himalayan Quail’s climate model suggesting the likelihood of occupancy in shared locations increased in a similar way for both species.

Kessler, S.C., Tiedeken, E.J., Simcock, K.L., Derveau, S., Mitchell, J., Softley, S., Radcliffe, A., Stout, J.C., Wright, G.A. (2015) Bees prefer foods containing neonicotinoid pesticides, Nature, 74, 521, doi:10.1038/nature14414.Key findings:• Bees cannot control their exposure to

neonicotinoids in food so treating flowering crops with neonicotinoid pesticides, such as imidacloprid (IMD) or thiamethoxam (TMX), presents a sizeable hazard to foraging bees.

• Wild bees seem in some cases to be more vulnerable to neonicotinoid pesticides than other bees, therefore a single species may not represent the response of all pollinators.

Bees Vulnerable to Neonic Pesticides

2015 Institute for SustainabilityKey Facts

Directly funded

40researchers

12interdisciplinary projects

11schools

19external organisations

in6countries

14

of academic staff choose to take part in institute activities

externally-funded interdisciplinary projects11

with

value over 18 months

£2.7m

Supported

3faculties

in

© Newcastle University

The University of Newcastle upon Tyne trading as Newcastle University

Photography creditsWith thanks to the following for supplying images used throughout this report:

Dr Ana Suarez Suarez, Dr Barbara Sturm, David Bell, Dru Dodd, Enzen, Hawkins\Brown, Professor Hayley Fowler, Dr Helen McKee, Jim McAdam, Katie Chappell, Lindsey Allen, Myriam Neaimeh, Newcastle City Council, Newcastle University Press Office