I have added my pin to the Hidden Science Map http://www.hiddensciencemap.org/profile/jon-bridge – revealing the unseen landscape of UK’s scientific expertise!

My second paper collaborating with Tris Irvine-Fynn (now at Aberystwyth) and Andy Hodson (Sheffield) on supraglacial time-lapse imaging of cryoconite particles on a Svalbard glacier has been accepted (5/5/2011) by the Journal of Glaciology.

Irvine-Fynn, T., Bridge, J. and Hodson, A. in press (2011). In situ quantification of supraglacial cryoconite morpho-dynamics using time-lapse imaging: an example from Svalbard. Journal of Glaciology, manuscript ID 11J059.

Results from our summer 2010 fieldwork on Midtre Lovenbreen are currently in preparation.

Just before Easter 2011 I made my first video podcast using the GEO recording facilities at the Kroto Research Institute. The subject is a shortened version of a classroom presentation given to groups of Year 10 students earlier in the year.

The podcast can be viewed here.

I have to admit finding this first attempt entirely cringeworthy… and about fifteen minutes too long! However, the principle has excited me and I’m keen to repeat the experience after some careful consideration of how best to structure a podcast piece.

I have been awarded a £70,000 grant to develop a fluorescence and X-ray visible nanoparticle tracer for use in soil and groundwater sciences. The research will take place at the Kroto Research Institute at the University of Sheffield and is funded by the university, my department (Civil and Structural Engineering) and the EPSRC Knowledge Transfer Account.

It is a very exciting opportunity to spend a year conducting independent research and developing an operational network of research partners throughout the university and beyond.

Planning starts now for an October start!

http://www.scienceweeksy.org.uk/index.htm

As part of National Science and Engineering Week 2011 I visited Bradfield School, Worral, Sheffield and gave two 40-min classroom presentations to groups of Year 10 students on the environmental science of silver nanoparticles. The experience was (surprisingly) really positive, the kids were great and the staff very welcoming.

I’m now keen to participate further in education outreach to schools, and the STEM Ambassador scheme, which I’m now enrolled on, should assist me in this.

See the next post for a link to a video podcast of a shortened version of the nanosilver presentation.

8/3/2011: I have gained STEM Ambassador status from www.stemnet.org.uk – the UK Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics Network. This means that I am registered as an outreach volunteer to assist in raising the profile of STEM education in schools and to the public.

Related to this, I am giving two talks on the environmental science of nanosilver (silver nanoparticles) to a group of Year 10 students at Bradfield School on Wednesday 16th March as part of National Science and Engineering Week (http://www.britishscienceassociation.org/web/NSEW/). More on this, together with a video podcast, soon…

The article outlining the key findings and recommendations of the ‘Going Underground’ working group was published yesterday in the impact factor 5 journal Bulletin of the World Health Organization. The full citation is:

Jonathan W Bridge, David M Oliver, David Chadwick, H Charles J Godfray, A Louise Heathwaite, David Kay, Ravi Maheswaran, Daniel F McGonigle, Gordon Nichols, Roger Pickup, Jonathan Porter, Jonathan Wastling & Steven A Banwart.
Engaging with the water sector for public health benefits: waterborne pathogens and diseases in developed countries. 2010. Bulletin of the World Health Organization, 88, 873-875. doi: 10.2471/BLT.09.072512

July 18th-26th: I spent 7 days in the field with my collaborator Dr Tris Irvine-Fynn, conducting fieldwork on the Midtre Lovénbreen glacier, Kongsfjord, Spitsbergen. Supporting Tris as a field assistant, and lodging at the NERC Arctic Research Station in Ny Ålesund, I spent more than 60 hours in the field, on the glacier itself and its margins and forefield.

Map showing retreat of Midtre Lovénbreen in 20th century

We collected several datasets, mostly concentrating on ice surface roughness (including a novel stereographic imaging approach to measurement), local distribution and mobility of cryoconite (supraglacial bioactive dust) during ablation, glacier-scale cryoconite distribution and provenance, and mineralogical chronosequences along 3 transects in the glacier forefield. This complemented Tris’ extensive and ongoing work on supraglacial hydrological processes.

Four panoramas around Kongsfjord: (1) View from Midtre Lovénbreen (2) View from Gåsebu beach (3) View of Midtre Lovénbreen (4) View from Ny Ålesund, 2330 hrs 23rd July 2010

As of July 2010 I am now a member (half-membership) of the Natural Environment Research Council Peer Review College for a three year term.

Jonathan W. Bridge; David M. Oliver; David Chadwick; H. Charles J. Godfray; A. Louise Heathwaite; David Kay; Ravi Maheswaran; Daniel F. McGonigle; Gordon Nichols; Pickup, Roger; Jonathan Porter; Jonathan Wastling; Steven A. Banwart. Engaging with environmental science for public health benefits: waterborne pathogens and diseases in the developed world. Accepted, Bulletin of the World Health Organization, 10th May 2010.

This is the final peer-reviewed output from the ‘Going Underground’ Working Group on risks to human health from environmental pathogens, for which I was co-ordinator and researcher co-investigator 2007-2009.