April 13, 2012, by Lucy

A day in the life of a geographer… Lucy Veale

Since I last contributed to the blog I have started a new job as the named researcher on a project titled ‘Bringing Landscape to Life: Environmental Histories at Sheringham Park, 1812-2012’. Funded by AHRC, the aim is to address current debates about the implications of environmental change for the restoration, management and interpretation of publically accessible designed landscapes of high cultural value. The project is based at Sheringham Park in Norfolk and our activities are timed to coincide with the 200^th anniversary of the design for Sheringham by the landscape gardener Humphry Repton. Repton (1752-1818) worked on hundreds of landscape gardens but declared his design for Sheringham ‘his most favourite work.’ Since 1987 Sheringham Park has been owned by the National Trust. You can read more here: http://www.nationaltrust.org.uk/sheringham-park/

Following a full team meeting at Sheringham before Easter, Steve and I have spent much of this week collating the thoughts of the project team on our promised exhibition at the Park. We’re now thinking more along the lines of an installation, and our National Trust colleagues have agreed to let us take over the Visitor Centre space for a whole year which is an excellent opportunity. The next steps are to conduct some primary research for the content of the exhibition and to work alongside exhibition designers to produce our vision!

This week also saw my Activity Review take place. The Activity Review is a requirement for every member of University staff which involves the setting and review of annual goals. I had managed to achieve the majority of those I set last year and have plenty more for this year! On Thursday much of the day was spent talking to Chris Walker from AHRC who is conducting a large-scale review of the strategic programmes funded by AHRC, including the Landscape and Environment Programme. This was an opportunity for Steve and I to reflect on the added value that research Programmes offer, and on the achievements of the Impact Fellowship which I have been working on over the past year. It was also very useful for our final report which we are currently compiling.

Both the Activity Review and the meeting with Chris were opportunities for me to think about my job and how much I enjoy it – working within the School of Geography at Nottingham, but also having the opportunity to work alongside researchers from a large number of different disciplines in academic institutions and within the Programme partner institutions, on a varied array of projects and events.

One example is the short film that I wrote about in my previous entries for the Geog Blog. The film Imagining Change: Coastal Conversations, is now complete and received its premier at the international conference ‘Planet under Pressure’ just before Easter. Rather than sharing the finished result with you all on the blog, I would instead like to invite everyone to attend a screening in the School of Geography on 2^nd May (1-2pm in A39 of the Clive Granger building). Steve and I will introduce the film and take questions. We have already received a very positive response to the film and a number of requests to show it at events or as part of taught courses which is great. Please do come along if you can.

Lucy

 

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