UK workshops
Our More than Maps team offers online and in-person workshops for students and young professionals, developed by researchers at the University of Southampton.
If you have any questions about our workshops or how to get involved, please contact Dr Sien van der Plank: sien.vanderplank@soton.ac.uk
Learn more about our workshops in the UK
Get Involved
Our More than Maps team offers online and in-person workshops for students and young professionals, developed by researchers at the University of Southampton.
All of our workshops are completely FREE to attend.
NEW! Interdisciplinary Workshop Series for A-Level Geography Students. More information below.
Schools
Our More than Maps workshops are highly interactive and designed to engage students with current environmental issues and state-of-the-art research methods.
The advanced nature of the workshops means they are best suited for senior students. Students specialising in Geography for their university entrance qualifications will find the workshops especially interesting, providing possible ideas for research projects, and case studies of hazard management and climate change adaptation.
Our team has also successfully worked with younger secondary school students. Please get in contact to discuss this opportunity further.
Our More than Maps workshops can be attended in-person at one of our partner institutions or online. For our online workshops, please ensure your students have access to a computer and a reliable Internet connection. We will provide online booklets available before, during and after the workshop.
What’s in it for your students?
- Dedicated time spent on relevance to A-level curriculum in each session
- Certificate of Participation for attendees
- New material covered each day
- Opportunity to attend 1, 2, 3, 4, or all 5 sessions – mix and match
Professionals
Each of our More than Maps workshops introduces a new area of research or methodological approach, and is therefore appropriate for young professionals working in a relevant environmental or climate sector wishing to expand their skillset. For example, a policy specialist with an interest in how hazard maps are produced, or a GIS specialist with an interest in how to identify stakeholders in a specific context.
Please take a look at our curriculum or get in contact to learn more about our workshop opportunities for professionals.
For more information on our latest workshops, please follow us on Twitter.
Overview of Workshops
Introduction to research disciplines
In research, like in school and college, we examine and analyse the world from different angles. We demonstrate perspectives of disaster research in the multi-hazard context of the Caribbean. Prof Emma Tompkins describes the types of disasters she researches in the Caribbean, including the threat of sargassum seaweed influxes, from her perspective as a geographer. Professor Jack Corbett offers the political perspective on how small islands in the Caribbean cope with disasters. Join this session to explore a multi-hazard case study across multiple disciplines.
What happened at Somerset Levels?
Flood risk is thought to be an ever-increasing threat across the UK and with the Thames barrier closed for the 200thtime in 2021, geographers are continuing to explore how we can best protect communities from flooding. Participants experience a university-level mini guest lecture which is then unpacked and discussed to offer students a method for calculating flood risk using the case study of Somerset Levels. This workshop gives an insight into how we can use innovative data to tackle environmental threats, including crowd-sourced and ‘big’ data, and apply analytical approaches to determine flood risk
How can we use environmental mapping?
Join us for this workshop on how we can use data to monitor environmental events, hazards and disasters. Participants will have the opportunity to use space-borne imagery to detect and map environmental changes over time. This is an introduction to using the freely available web-based software Google Earth Engine and a chance to have a go at coding in JavaScript with support from us! Learn a new skill and gain insight into how scientists can monitor and map environmental hazards on the earth surface from space.
Why should households adapt to hazards?
In this workshop explore what householders can do within the home to be part of hazard and climate change adaptation. This workshop focuses mainly on a England based case study of coastal flooding and together with the students works through a method of assessing household motivation and capacity to adapt to coastal flood risk. We then explore how this framework might also work for other hazards in the UK context. Finally, the students are tasked to apply the same framework to the Caribbean context.
How can studying people help to solve environmental problems
In this workshop, we will take a look at how studying the interests and complicated relationships of people and organisations can help to tackle environmental issues. Participants will be introduced to the concept of stakeholders and will learn to conduct a stakeholder analysis, using the emerging hazard of sargassum seaweed influxes in the Caribbean as a case study. This allows for plenty of time to practice the method, as well as provides an opportunity to examine and use qualitative data.
For further information send an email to Dr Sien van der Plank: sien.vanderplank@soton.ac.uk
To sign up your students head to: https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/more-than-maps-workshops-for-a-level-geography-students-tickets-188274984547
Curriculum
To learn more about our More than Maps workshops developed at the University of Southampton, take a look at the current curriculum:
No | Workshop structure | Case study | Discipline | Skills | Details |
1 | Introductory workshop:
case study of Caribbean multi-hazard coasts
| Sargassum – issues & opportunities (coupled with SARTRAC research) | Geography, Remote Sensing, Social Sciences | The importance of evidence-based policy in adapting to climate change Learning objectives:
| |
2 | Skills workshop I
| Remote sensing | Basic coding in Google Earth Engine | The importance of mapping in adapting to climate change Learning objectives: To have a basic understanding of seaweed algal blooms as a case study for climate change adaptation and hazard mitigation
| |
3 | Skills workshop II
| Social sciences | Stakeholder analysis | The importance of social sciences in adapting to climate change Learning objectives:
| |
4 | Skills workshop III
| Flooding in developed and developing countries | Remote sensing and big data | Managing big data Basic coding in Google Earth Engine | What happened at Somerset Levels? Learning objectives:
|
5 | Final workshop:
case study of coastal flooding
| Social sciences | Adaptation research framework | Why do households adapt to hazards? Learning objectives:
|
ESOL Lesson Materials
Making climate change adaptation messaging more accessible
In 2021-2022, Dr Sien van der Plank is leading an Economic and Social Research Council-funded South Coast Doctoral Training Partnership project that is researching the motivations and actions of householders to adapt to coastal flood risk. Action on and adaptation to climate change and adaptation are important across all communities, but research shows that the language used in the advice can be a challenge for people who are learning English as a second language.
As part of the Festival of Social Sciences 2021, Sien also collaborated with a local charity to support ensuring people with English as a second language are to be better aware of the available measures required to adapt to climate change. Working with Engineering PhD student José Alejandro Pinto Rascon and the charity City Life Education and Action for Refugees (CLEAR), she has developed a series of lesson plans and materials aimed at these groups of people.
The English for Speakers of Other Languages (ESOL) lesson plans focus on climate change, flooding and heatwaves by introducing vocabulary around these areas, as well as identifying outlets for further information on the current and future risks. The lesson plans were successfully been delivered to groups of refugees, asylum seekers and migrants in Southampton in November 2021.
The lessons materials include a lesson plan, presentation, worksheets and homework sheets, and stickers and poster templates.
To receive the materials, please email Dr Sien van der Plank: sien.vanderplank@soton.ac.uk
The above text is adapted from Louise Payne’s text for the April 2022 edition of the University of Southampton RE: action magazine. This work was made possible by ESRC Grant No: ES/W006189/1 and the University of Southampton ESRC Festival of Social Sciences 2021.
