Back from a science travel extravanganza

I have been back from my science trip extravaganza for a week now and still catching up on the “to do” list before the next travel adventure beginnings. I recently learnt that I was awarded an Australian Endeavor Research Fellowship and I am now moving to Sydney in a few weeks to do a 6 month research project.

Over the past month and a half I have been to Portland Oregon to discuss nitrogen and phosphorus cycling in the US, Phoenix Arizona to talk about urban sustainability in terms of nutrients, as well as in terms of future scenarios and adaptation to extreme weather events, and finally to Hanoi Vietnam to discuss urban phosphorus management and how to link it to existing urban priorities and realities.

Its been very busy, but also fun to have an opportunity to talk and collaborate with so many people. I finally understand why/how professors and other academics do work in planes and airports; they have to so they just do it!

Here are a few pictures from the Vietnam trip. It was pretty great to think about P management from a non Western world perspective, and also really “see” what the Hanoi P budget looks like on the grounds and not just through a Material Flow Analysis figure on a piece of paper. I am all about “local context”, and it was great to see the differences and similarities between Hanoi and the two cities where I have done both quantitative and qualitative work around P: Montreal and Phoenix.

Interface of urbanization, infrastructure and agriculture in Hanoi Vietnam. Photo credit: David Iwaniec

The research team doing some experiential learning by planting rice.

Urban Hanoi farmer washing veggies in eutrophied water body. Photo credit: David Iwaniec

Field visits around Hanoi. Photo credit: Dana Cordell

Hanoi workshop. Photo credit: David Iwaniec

In a mich-mach of internet discoveries:

I just noticed this thing called code academy through my twitter feed and I am hoping I can set aside a few hours each week in the new year to get through some lessons.

Cool climate change and carbon visualization from The Guardian and cool national diet visualization from National Geographic.

Great article on the need for fertilizers in Africa but they often prohibitively high price for farmers.

Considering the P-Futures project is about transformation and doing it through co-creation with stakeholders, I have been reading up on other people’s experiences doing such type of work. I have come across a nice post about the Natural Capital project engagement experience, and I am also reading a journal article on knowledge exchange principles which might hold some interesting pieces of information I can apply.