Apr 01

Sustainable Infrastructures Systems Module

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CDT SIS Students

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Module lead: Professor Paul Kemp

Semester 2, 2021-2022

Sustainable Infrastructure Systems (FEEG6021) is a core formative training module designed for students registered on the UKCRIC Centre for Doctoral Training in Sustainable Infrastructure for Cities (CDT-SIC) at the Faculty of Engineering and Physical Sciences, University of Southampton, as part of the integrated training programme. The module provides an opportunity to engage with industry representatives to gain insight into the current challenges faced by their sector. The module provides formal training in interdisciplinary areas of Engineering and Science within a common framework that addresses infrastructure interdependencies (a Nexus), sustainability and society. The approach adopted is to expose students to a range of real-world challenges faced by society in the pursuit of delivering infrastructure essential to multiple sectors (e.g.  Water, Energy, Transport, Digital, Environment).

The module is timetabled over a week-long block during semester 2 during which students attend lectures and seminars in which experts from both academia and industry present case studies of current problems in which they are involved, illustrating the range of techniques employed to find solutions. The module involves at least two site visits of relevance (e.g. energy generating plants and “future buildings” construction sites) during which industry partners discuss socio-economic, political, operational, and strategic challenges faced by the sector they represent. The key theme that runs throughout this module is the identification of common challenges faced by the different industrial sectors in delivering and maintaining often contentious infrastructure projects, and differences or similarities in approaches adopted to find solutions.

AIM

The overall aim of the module is to provide postgraduate students with the foundations needed to appreciate and understand current challenges faced in delivery of infrastructure plans that support our towns and cities, both for the UK and internationally, and insight into the differences and common features of approach adopted to find solutions.

 

Day/Date Time Lecture Staff
Day 1

28 March

 

 

 Morning

0930-1230

 Introduction and welcome to the Nexus: a system of systems

Water and Bioenergy

 Paul Kemp

 

 

Yongqiang Liu, Yue Zhang and Yannis Ieropoulos
Afternoon

1300-1700

 Interaction water and energy resource management Andy Cruden, Neil Edwards and Paul Kemp
Evening CDT-SIS Dinner (Portswood) Everybody
Day 2

29 March

 Morning

1000-1300

 Infrastructure as a system of systems.  Transport as a sub-system John Preston, Adrian Hickford and Simon Blainey

 
Afternoon

1400-1700

 Transport systems continued
Day 3

30 March

 Whole Day

0900-1700

 Charlton WorkStack in Greenwich Adrian Campbell

Director – Changebuilding.com
Day 4

31 March

 Whole Day

0900-1700

 Field Trip: Energy across scales (Eling tidal mill and local area) Patrick James and Paul Kemp
Day 5

1 April

 

 Morning

0930-1200

 Planning a future Intelligent Merchant City – Fawley Waterside Patrick James

Brett Trafford

Paul Copping

 
Afternoon

1400-1700

 Challenges of sustainable energy in cities

 

Keynote talk from Brett Trafford from the Fawley Waterside Intelligent Merchant City project in Hampshire

Fawley Waterside Artistic Impression

Inside Charlton WorkStack, Greenwich

 

Field trip to Charlton WorkStack in Greenwich, London hosted by Adrian Campbell of Changing Building

 

Eling Tide Mill, Southampton Water

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Jan 24

Modern Nature – Derek Jarman exhibit at the John Hansard Gallery

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CDT SIS Students

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CDT SIS PGRs and academics started this year with a bit of artistic inspiration.

On the 21st January 2022 we visited the John Hansard Gallery, Southampton City centre to see the Derek Jarman exhibit “Modern Nature” John Hansard Gallery | What’s on | Derek Jarman’s Modern Nature (jhg.art)

Derek Jarman’s Modern Nature draws on Derek Jarman’s extraordinary legacy as a radical artist, filmmaker, writer, gardener, and activist.

The exhibition specifically focuses on his lifelong passion for plants, the human body, the landscape and the greater environment, as evidenced in the living artwork that is Prospect Cottage and its shingle garden in Dungeness, Kent. Created between 1987 and 1994, the house and garden continue Jarman’s legacy into the 21st century as a kind of barometer of the deep past and the near future.

This exhibit considers the relationship between people and the environment.

The PGRs enjoyed the experience of discussing the artwork together and considering themes that touch on their own research areas in a completely different media.

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Dec 13

CDT team meals

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CDT SIS Students

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The CDT SIS students have enjoyed a couple of team meals at local restaurants recently, whilst allowed. We enjoy the time together to meet new students, catch up with friends and celebrate success.

In November we went to the Ancient Viceroy in Portswood for a curry to celebrate Boni Hima and Toshan Rampat passing their vivas and being awarded Engineering Doctorates.

On the 6th December we went to the Brewhouse and Kitchen in Highfield for our Winter Warmer meal. We celebrated a good term and return to the labs for many of the PGRs. This had been a hard term for some but we have made the most of online webinars and opportunities to meet together when possible. We are looking forward to 2022, the final year of research for many of the last cohort and writing up time for earlier cohorts. We hope for success in the research and papers to be published to disseminate our work.

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Dec 03

Love Thy Neighbour: Social Benefits and Port-City Relationships

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Publications

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Love Thy Neighbour: Social Benefits and Port-City Relationships

Toby Roberts, Ian Williams, John Preston – University of Southampton

Ramboll UK – Nick Clarke, Melinda Odum & Stephanie O’Gorman

 

Sustainability 2021, 13(23), 13391; https://doi.org/10.3390/su132313391

Received: 3 October 2021 / Revised: 24 November 2021 / Accepted: 1 December 2021 / Published: 3 December 2021

Abstract

As awareness of the negative externalities created by ports increases, and the perceived local benefits decrease, ports must find new ways to improve the local noneconomic benefits they provide if they are to obtain local support. This global survey collected data from 51 ports in 26 countries. The results highlight a recognition by port authorities that ports face increasing pressure from local residents to reduce their negative impacts and that they should seek to improve the public perception towards the port by increasing local benefits. At present, port information and social media (81%), port events (67%) and education (63%) are the most adopted options. There is a lack of evidence that these measures are effective in improving local perceptions. Maritime museums and public access show a positive association with increasing local awareness of the benefits a port provides, despite their lower levels of adoption (45%). Port centres are the least adopted option at present (29%) and can be expected to increase significantly, with a 43% increase anticipated between numbers of current and expected future centres. Education (14%), public access (13%) and maritime museums (4.5%) also show increases in levels of interest. Maritime museums and public access should be pursued as proven, effective options for improving local perceptions of ports, whilst port centres may provide a new focal point for port-related social and cultural activities.
Keywords: port cities; sustainability; social benefits; sustainable development; maritime museums; port centres

 

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Nov 22

The response of common carp (Cyprinus carpio) to insonified bubble curtains

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CDT SIS Students, Publications

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The response of common carp (Cyprinus carpio) to insonified bubble curtains

 Nicholas Flores Martin1,a),  Timothy G. Leighton2,b),  Paul R. White2,c), and  Paul S. Kemp1,d)

The Journal of the Acoustical Society of America 150, 3874 (2021); https://doi.org/10.1121/10.0006972

Available online 22.11.21

ABSTRACT
Acoustic bubble curtains have been marketed as relatively low cost and easily maintained behavioural deterrents for fisheries management. Their energy efficiency can be improved by reducing air flow and exploiting bubble resonance. In a series of three flume experiments, we: (1) investigated the reactions of carp to a low air flow bubble curtain, (2) compared the effectiveness of resonant versus non-resonant insonified bubble curtains (for the same volume flux of gas injected through the nozzles) to deter passage, and determined the stimuli responsible for eliciting deterrence, and (3) included the effect of visual cues generated by the bubble curtain. This study showed that bubble curtains with a higher proportion of resonant bubbles deterred carp relatively better. Passage rejection was likely influenced by multiple cues at distances within a body length of the fish— specifically the rate of change in both particle motion and flow velocity caused by rising bubbles. All acoustic bubble curtains were less effective in the presence of daylight, suggesting that vision plays an important role at mediating carp reactions. We discuss the importance of ascertaining the bubble size distribution, in addition to the gas flow rate and aperture size, when characterising acoustically active bubble curtains.

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

The lead author was funded by an EPSRC Doctoral Training Centre grant (No. 1642690). We thank A. Holgate, Dr. T. Tsuzaki, and K. Scammell for assistance with designing and constructing the bubble generator, and experimental setup; S. Haściłowicz and J. Miles for their coding inputs; Dr. Kyungmin Baik for helpful discussions on the scattering cross sections; and members of the International Centre for Ecohydraulics Research (ICER), the Centre for Doctoral Training in Sustainable Infrastructure Systems (CDT-SIS), and the Institute for Sound and Vibration Research (ISVR) for experimental cover, and various discussions, suggestions, and constructive comments provided throughout. Data supporting this study are openly available from the University of Southampton repository at https://doi.org/10.5258/SOTON/D1782.

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Nov 01

Net Zero Futures 2021 conference

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CDT SIS Students

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Net-Zero Futures took place at the University of Birmingham on Wednesday 27th October 2021 delivered by the Energy Research Accelerator and the Centre for Postdoctoral Development in Infrastructure, Cities and Energy. Eight CDT Sustainable Infrastructure for Cities and Sustainable Infrastructure Systems postgraduate students and the CDT Manager travelled to this event and two more took part online. This was an opportunity to meet with other researchers interested Energy, Climate change and how we can make a difference.

The event was a unique conference for doctoral and postdoctoral researchers whose work contributes to the Government’s target of Net Zero Carbon emissions by 2050.

Organised by the Energy Research Accelerator (ERA) and the Centre for Postdoctoral Development in Infrastructure, Cities and Energy (C-DICE), this full-day conference at the University of Birmingham includes leading speakers from industry and academia, and provides tailored development sessions.

The conference took place in person at the University of Birmingham but the morning sessions were also live streamed for those who were not able to join in person.

Net-Zero Futures brought together an array of speakers, panelists and developmental specialists who provided delegates with a wealth of insights into the challenges and opportunities for achieving net-zero by 2050.

KEYNOTE SPEAKER

Dr Nina Skorupska, CBE, FEI – Chief Executive of REA, The Association for Renewable Energy and Clean Technology

Workshops led by:

Dr Emily Grossman, Dr Jamie Gallagher, Alex Pearson, Dr Katy Mahoney and Dr Joanne Leach

The CDT PGRs took part in different workshops during the afternoon session including:

  • Ideas to action – communicating Net Zero – Dr Jamie Gallagher
  • Transdisciplinary research in a Net Zero context – Dr Joanne Leach
  • Using systems thinking to explain complex ideas [PhD session] – Dr Katy Mahoney
  • Communicating the Emergency on Planet Earth – Dr Emily Grossman
  • My COP26 Elevator Pitch – Dr Jamie Gallagher
  • New Settlements – the challenges of ensuring net zero development – Alex Pearson
  • Networking Our Way to Net Zero – Dr Emily Grossman

https://www.era.ac.uk/Net-Zero-Futures

 

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Oct 11

Go Ape! Team building event

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CDT SIS Students

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A group of PGRs and staff headed to Go Ape at Itchen Valley Country Park for a team building event on 8th October to welcome new students to CDT Sustainable Infrastructure for Cities.

We completed the Treetop Adventure and some brain teaser games.

Treetop Adventure course included two loops. Loop 1 was made up of confidence building crossings with lots to cling to, where the longer loop 2 had wobbly bridges to test our skills. Both ended with a super zip wire ride back to the ground.

Team games brought out our competitive side. We were asked to work out how to cross a space with planks and piers, pick up blocks with ropes and bungees, and race as teams with planks on our feet. These problem solving exercises challenged us and required us to work together as a whole group or in smaller teams.

 

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Oct 06

The response of a brown trout (Salmo trutta) population to reintroduced Eurasian beaver (Castor fiber) habitat modification

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Publications

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The response of a brown trout (Salmo trutta) population to reintroduced Eurasian beaver (Castor fiber) habitat modification

 

Robert James Needham, Martin Gaywood – NatureScot, Angus Tree – NatureScot, Nick Sotherton – The Game and Wildlife Conservation Trust, Dylan Roberts – The Game and Wildlife Conservation Trust, Colin Bean – NatureScot and Paul Kemp University of Southampton ICER

 Canadian Journal of Fisheries and Aquatic Sciences. (In Press)

Record type: Article
In Press date: 10 April 2021

Related URLs:

Publication: Canadian Journal of Fisheries and Aquatic Sciences • 6 October 2021 • https://doi.org/10.1139/cjfas-2021-0023

Keywords: beaver dams, salmonids, beaver ponds, beaver habitats, ecosystem engineers

Abstract

Globally, freshwaters are the most degraded and threatened of all ecosystems. In northern temperate regions, beaver reintroductions are increasingly used as a low-cost and self-sustaining means to restore river corridors. River modifications by beavers can increase availability of suitable habitat for fish, including salmonids. This study investigated the response of a population of brown trout to reintroduced beaver habitat modifications in northern Scotland. The field site comprised two streams entering a common loch; one modified by beavers, the other unaltered. Electrofishing and PIT telemetry surveys indicated abundance of post-young of the year (post-YOY) trout was higher in the modified stream. Considering juvenile year groups (YOY and post-YOY) combined, abundance and density varied with year and season. In the modified stream, fork length and mass were greater, there was a greater variety of age classes, and mean growth was positive during all seasons. Beavers had profound effects on the local brown trout population that promoted higher abundances of larger size classes. This study provides important insight into the possible future effect of beavers on freshwater ecosystems.

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