We aim to have a speaker at each SEPAL meeting, if you would like to join us or showcase your research, please contact Marie at m.z.beresforddey@dundee.ac.uk.
Upcoming Speakers
May 2024
Anton Rosenfield from Garden Organic will be discussing one of their latest projects ‘Growing New Greens’. Growing New Greens worked with two urban growing sites to engage them in citizen science through growing and trialling culturally appropriate food crops. A key aim was to assess the importance of cultural values when choosing plant varieties as this is often not given enough importance. We focused on amaranth as it is grown and used in many different ways in various countries, so it provided a good talking point. At each site we grew pots of amaranth, compared varieties, tasted it and exchanged experiences of how we would use it. This presentation will present the findings, including our discussions with participants from Jamaica, Bangladesh, Iran, Afghanistan, Cameroon, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Pakistan, Iraq, Argentina, Greece and the UK.
April 2024
Kara McHugh provided an overview of her work with the Living Lab. Kara’s work with the botanic garden began as a three-month internship, completed as part of her doctoral training programme within the School of Life Sciences. Working together with Liz Lakin from the Living Lab, she co-designed a project where she could use her molecular biology knowledge to explore the world of public engagement and science communication by designing a resource highlighting some of the plants in the botanic garden that have medicinal properties. With support from garden curator Kevin Frediani, the medicinal plants project really took off, encompassing collaborations with illustrators and designers and even spun out into a practical research project with a local school that was awarded Royal Society funding.
February 2024
Qudsia Kalsoom will discuss her recent publication ‘To have or to Be – Reimagining the focus of education for sustainable development’. This is an open-access paper which is available from here.
January 2024
Marie Beresford-Dey presented on research carried out by a small team of researchers – ‘A botanic garden as potential social leaders of education for sustainable development through computer-mediated communication‘.
At a point in time when many are experiencing the impact of human disconnect with the natural environment, botanic gardens are well-positioned to contribute to sustainable education. Globally, whilst many botanic gardens highlight the impact of human endeavours on the natural world, we question their use of Computer-Mediated Communications (CMC) to enhance knowledge sharing and encourage pro-sustainability actions across communities. Through the lens of Social Leadership and undertaking a mixed methods study, we explore the potential for one UK-based Botanic Garden contained within a larger organisation to educate for sustainability and connect with the broader community through CMC. The findings highlight the desire from the staff and users to increase usage, enhance community engagement, and disseminate information. Findings also indicate a need for greater autonomy and an intrapreneurial mindset to amplify knowledge and idea propagation and enhance action across diverse networks that are not predesigned or imposed by the organisation.
December 2023
Paul Moseley, you can find out more about Ethnoecology work here.
October 2023
The new academic year speaker series commenced with Liz Lakin’s update on the various research projects that have been taking place at the University of Dundee Botanic Garden and the Living Lab.
Previous Speakers
July 2023
Clare Cooper provided us with insight into the wonderful work of Bioregionning Tayside. Through showcasing the many different projects taking place across Tayside, Clare gave a hugely motivating and positive talk. The importance of place and community stood out as central across these bodies of work.
May 2023
We were treated to an inspiring talk by Jon Hale. Jon reported on his doctoral work to date. Jon is a teacher on the island of Jersey who leads the collaborative school-based Daffodil DNA project across different locations. Working with nine schools, this project developed from a Royal Society Partnership Grant project in 2019 is brought together by The University of Dundee Division of Education and Society, The University of Dundee Botanic Garden, The University of Dundee School of Life Sciences, The Royal Society, The James Hutton Institute, as well as using living collections from the National Trust for Scotland Brodie Castle and Croft 16.
April 2023
We were fortunate to hear from Dr Kumara Ward, Rosamonde Birch, and Tanya MacDonald who presented on a research project that was undertaken by a small team from the University of Dundee on behalf of the Scottish Government: Learning for Sustainability: Young People and Practitioner Perspectives.
March 2023
Dr Marie Beresford-Dey shared her insight into complexity leadership theory, social intrapreneurship, and how environmental sustainability leaders may use these concepts.
December 2022
Kate Munro shared her passion for sustainability and the reasons behind this, alongside the action that she has undertaken leading to her role with Scottish Communities Climate Action Network (SCCAN). Kate then provides an overview of her SCCAN work and the expectations of this group.
October 2022
Dr Anton Rosenfeld introduced the SEPaL community to Citizen Science at Garden Organics and some of the projects they have carried out.
September 2022
Naomi Clarke sharing insights of her work as Dundee City Council’s Senior Sustainability and Climate Change Officer. Naomi provided an overview of the extensive projects currently underway by the council.
Jenny Glen reporting on her international research concerning community gardens and food growing at local level to address global issues. Jenny also highlights the role of community activism.
July 2022
Caishlan Sweeney and Tanya MacDonald provided a brief overview of Eden Project and the Eden Universe, focusing on Education for Sustainability.
June 2022
Dr Qudsia Kalsoom detailed her international Sustainability research.
March 2022
Dr Mike Crabb presented his work alongside the work of University of Dundee computing students to create a digital application to highlight the UN Sustainability Goals for Sustainable Dundee.
September 2021
Kevin Frediani provided an overview of the University of Dundee’s Botanic Garden, the work taking place in the garden and their work with the local community.
Dr Liz Lakin set the scene by discussing the challenges of defining ‘sustainability’.