Day 4 finished with a surprise musical performance by Sthree Shakti meaning women power. This is Kerala’s first all women’s chenda group. They played strong 💪💪🏽💪🏿💪🏼 ACCESS geog&enviro Nicholas Gill Faculty of the Arts, Social Sciences & Humanities Dakshin Endeavours

Day 5: “No animal is as dangerous as man.” We just met w/ an Elder & archery expert from the Kurumba Tribe. The day conservation started was the day looting of the forest started as the removal of Adavasi ppl meant less protectors/care takers of the land. ACCESS geog&enviro Nicholas Gill

Ending Day 5 by critically reflecting on the last few days. A reminder that we’re more than tourists & are here to listen, learn & engage in ethical & reciprocal ways. We’re in Tamil Nadu - our third state after visiting Karnataka & Kerala. ACCESS geog&enviro Nicholas Gill Faculty of the Arts, Social Sciences & Humanities

Day 12: We started w/ a reflection activity where we mapped environmental controversies we’ve encountered as a network of entanglements, power dynamics & relationships between human & non-humans actors. Conservation is inherently complicated & messy as depicted in our maps.

We ended day 13 & our last community interaction w/ some Soliga dancing! Dancing is a great way to share & create connection across language & cultures. It’s one of my favourite ways to engage! Soliga Ppl sing & dance about nature & their relationship to it #DanceAsPedagogy

Meet the node leads of the new NSW Bushfire & Natural Hazards Research Centre #NSWBFNHRC Matthias Boer Mark Ooi Owen Price Marta Yebra Nicholas Gill Trent Penman Jessica K Weir Rachael Nolan All excited to work with 8 NSW agencies to tackle Bushfire Enquiry recommendations

In 2022 Geography and Sustainable Communities UOW made student re-engagement a priority. In oct we took geography & Faculty of the Arts, Social Sciences & Humanities students to the KSCA Land Studio. A weekend of rethinking land + plenty of doing. Story at youtu.be/mdhPSTTgAzk Lucas Ihlein ACCESS geog&enviro Hannah Gosnell

3 DAYS LEFT TO HELP THIS ENDANGERED AUSSIE OUT Our iconic mountain pygmy possums need you to make a submission to the Senate inquiry into feral horses trashing their alpine homes. It's of the most impactful things you can do to help & we've made it easy 👉 invasives.org.au/how-to-help/ta…

New research: half the apartments in Liverpool CBD are occupied by families who prioritise centrally-located apartments over detached dwellings. Shanaka Herath, Dr Sophie-May Kerr and I document what families want (and what they can get) ACCESS geog&enviro: tandfonline.com/eprint/ZNPU6E8…

I’ve been taking students to an abandoned heritage listed coal mine since 2009. It’s been an ever evolving event. I reflect on this and what it means for non-placement work integrated learning in geography ro.uow.edu.au/jutlp/vol20/is… #WIL Dr Susan Caldis (she/her) Enhancing Fieldwork Faculty of the Arts, Social Sciences & Humanities

Daily sustainability from UOW Faculty of the Arts, Social Sciences & Humanities

Will the race to the regions mean more absentee landowners who don’t manage weeds? Our piece in The Conversation - Australia + New Zealand today “wades into the weeds” protect-au.mimecast.com/s/JLv8CxngkkSr… Faculty of the Arts, Social Sciences & Humanities UOW Research ACCESS geog&enviro Jennifer Atchison Dr Sonia Graham #Yes

After bushfires & COVID, we have completed our report on walker use of footwear cleaning stations for biosecurity in Kosciuszko NP. 1100+ surveys and 18000 observations. We detail (non-)use, breakdown walker types, & make recommendations - ro.uow.edu.au/asshpapers/472/. Invasive Species Council

Jack Gough No one likes to see animals killed, but the sad reality is that we have a choice to make between urgently reducing the numbers of feral horses or accepting the destruction of sensitive alpine ecosystems and habitats.

There are literally thousands of #feralhorses outside the Alps region of NSW. They cause significant damage to dry rainforest, woodlands and wetlands. They compete with native herbivores. They are too hard to manage without professional aerial shooting. theguardian.com/australia-news…

Check out pages 73-76 for some handy tips on how to encourage ppl to work together on weeds, put together by ACCESS geog&enviro Weedos. Jennifer Atchison Nicholas Gill Crystal Arnold Dr Gina Hawkes Dr Kaitlyn Height Jen Smart Laura Butler

It’s that time of year again where Nicholas Gill & I have the privilege of travelling with 20 geography, enviro humanities/biology students to the Western Ghats, India, funded by New Colombo Plan Project! We can’t wait to see our partners again Dakshin Endeavours Dakshin Foundation ACCESS geog&enviro @UOW_VC

Kicking off our UOW geography 2024 New Colombo Plan Western Ghats India program with 3 days in the Kerala backwaters. Heading up catchment tomorrow instagram.com/reel/C2zlkT0y5… ACCESS geog&enviro

This trip would not be possible without our partnership w/ Dakshin Endeavours & Dakshin Foundation! Their passion for conservation & social justice alongside their approach to establishing long-term, ethical & reciprocal relationships w/ communities & community orgs means our students…

Thank you to the 20 students who’ve been absolutely amazing! Always respectful, engaged, asking thoughtful questions & participating fully! It’s a real privilege to assist students on this learning journey & I look forward to seeing how they apply this experience going forward!