Newsflash! Finally, the thesis is in, awaiting viva examination and I have recovered enough from the process to start talking about it again. Yesterday, I found the perfect opportunity to do so – I was lucky enough to visit the BAS (British Antarctic Survey). The fact that it was hosting an interdisciplinary, social science focussed… Read More
Breaking the year-long blog silence, I love how the Svalbard and Aberystwyth ‘bubbles’ collide so often. At the moment Greenpeace’s Arctic Sunrise is on her way to the coasts of Svalbard and her Captain started his journey from Aberystwyth, where he is based when not at sea. In fact, I have the pleasure of singing… Read More
Image credit: fastbleep.com Not that I think being Dr will make me gleeful, but I appreciate the sentiment! I was very fortunate to be in Trondheim whilst there was a PhD ‘disputas’, or what we would call a viva. On Friday Karina Barquet successfully defended her thesis on “Transboundary Conservation and Conflict”. In the UK… Read More
It’s been quiet on the blog since I returned from Svalbard in February. I have been head down, trying to write chunks of thesis. However, at the moment I am employing the ‘change is as good as a rest’ strategy: The Wales DTC of the ESRC has kindly supported me in paying a visit to… Read More
“Ruins challenge us to make sense of them, as they frame emptiness and dramatize the evanescence of meaning…we need to make them speak and militate for our theories” Schönle, A. (2006 p. 652) Whilst the fascination with ruins in academia and beyond can be questioned for it’s potential for nostalgic views on troubled pasts through… Read More
Though science might take front and centre stage quite often in Svalbard, art certainly plays some interesting roles up here. There are long-standing artists residency programmes (for both Longyearbyen and Ny Alesund) and expedition trips (like The Arctic Circle or Cape Farewell) specifically for artists and art-science collaborations, which have attracted many to these shores,… Read More
Since I just received a weather warning for Aberystwyth, (looks like it’s storms and hide tide time again, brace yourselves those at home!) this post I wrote earlier seems all the more apt. After Monday’s wet and mild weather things have been getting steadily colder and we’ve had a bit of snow fall, it all… Read More
For once, I’m not talking about environmental regulations, though I very well could be, given the multitude of boundaries lurking on the map, but not visible in the landscape, but that’s another story… No, today I stepped over a fear and re-arranged my own values in doing so. To most people it would look like… Read More
Ice spike boot attachments: a fiver well spent! I never thought I’d say that kind of phrase! After the -23 clear skies of Saturday, the blizzard and white out yesterday. Today, we have a new challenge: standing upright and going in the direction intended. It’s warmer here than in Oslo at +3 degrees, and raining.… Read More
Weather warning issued with dramatic looking wind map! More of a snow-storm day really. The forecast storm has not dissappointed. All tours are off today. The building has a rattle every now and then. In the spirit of a snow day though, I did venture out for a very quick walk to see what it… Read More
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