Hi, I’m Rochelle. I graduated from Swansea University in 2021, and have since been a research assistant here at FIRE Lab. Last month, I attended a virtual conference, Sector Symbiosis: The Art of Interdisciplinary Working for Ecological Benefit, held by Chartered Institute of Ecology and Environmental Management (CIEEM). The conference had a series of talks […]

Attuning to the environment using arts-based research
I’m Merryn and I’ve been working with the FIRE Lab team for two years. I recently participated in the excellent ‘Introduction to Citizen Artist’ course run by Citizen Artist founder and research director Lee Ann Woolery, PhD. The six-week course involved a small group of us meeting online once a week to learn about Lee […]

Jac’s River Adventure: from in-person to on-line and back again
In 2020, FIRE Lab team and collaborators, produced Jac’s River Adventure (JRA) book, to share with educators a cross-disciplinary way to challenge young people to think, create and learn about their local rivers. Last year was also the year of COVID-19, which caused disruptions to everyone’s lives, including those of researchers, educators, and creatives. These […]

New! Reflections on the co-creation of Shout Trout Workout published in People and Nature
Reflections from the Team: Co-creating visual media about ecological processes for young people has just been published in a special issue of People and Nature. It is the result of a team effort by FIRE Lab, comics creator Ethan Kocak and media production company TankThink to create a comic and music video to engage 8-14 […]

New research: Structured elicitation to estimate instream infrastructure passability for European eels (Anguilla anguilla)
At the height of the first Covid19 lockdown in the UK, nine experts generously gave their time and expertise to help us improve estimates of the passability of different infrastructures for European eels (Anguilla anguilla). We are pleased to announce that the fruits of their labours have just been published here in Conservation Science and […]

Underwater Words I&II at Mission Gallery
Hello everyone! If you are in or around Swansea in Wales during the next few weeks, we invite you to visit Mission Gallery to engage with Underwater Words I & II – a co-created digital artwork from an artscience project that challenged diverse audiences to think and share about rivers and underwater environments in 2020 […]

Journey with Rivers at Metamorffosis Festival
Hello! Daphne and Steph will be continuing their Underwater Haiku activities on a Journey with Rivers during the Metamorffosis Festival taking place in Gwynedd / Anglesey area in north Wales. Journey with Rivers event will take place from 1400-1600 on Saturday 26 June! If you are 18 years or older, will be in North Wales […]

Understanding Differences Between Lakes and Reservoirs
Understanding Differences Between Lakes and Reservoirs Penny Beames and I published an article today in the journal Frontiers for Young Minds where we present differences between lakes and reservoirs, and why it matters for people and nature. Our article was reviewed by students (ages 14-17) at Peru iGEM Team. The full article is shared below […]

How city roads trap migrating fish
Greater London is crisscrossed by 14,800km of public roads, each with an average width of 8m. This network accounts for 8% of the metropolitan area, and motorways and A-roads alone cross the Thames and its tributaries at least 400 times. A similar picture is seen in cities across the world. You’ve heard of, and maybe […]

Exploring your local river on Google Earth
We can learn about and visit our local rivers, but sometimes we might like to learn different things and see more of the river than we can do by visiting it locally. How can we do that? One way is to use tools like Google Earth that project satellite imagery onto our computer screens, allowing […]