Pictured above: Professor Neveen Hamza demonstrating the data loggers at a community engagement meeting.

Professor Neveen Hamza (School of Architecture, Planning and Landscape) has travelled to Northern Tanzania this month for a new pilot project in collaboration with Dr Stella-Maria Paddick (Faculty of Medical Science), Dr Charles Nye (University of Bristol) in partnership with Tanzanian academic and community organisations. The project, Feasibility of measuring and modelling modifiable environmental factors impacting cognition and distress in dementia in the context of climate change in Northern Tanzania is funded by a grant from Alzheimer’s Research UK (ARUK) Northeast Network.

The team will deploy indoor and outdoor environmental sensors in the Hai District in Northern Tanzania to assess the impact of the health and wellbeing of older adults, with a particular focus on sleep given its known bi-directional relationship with dementia and cognitive function.  

The purpose of the project

The Challenge

The City of London Corporation understand that regular monitoring of their social housing dwellings for conditions that could give rise to damp and mould is vital to help protect residents’ comfort and health, plus the dwellings themselves.

The Solution

A recent new development at their Isleden House Estate in North London uses the latest technology to ensure reliable temperature and humidity monitoring, combined with ease of data collection, analysis and alerts.

Each flat has two HOBO MX1101 temperature and humidity data loggers attached to walls. The loggers continuously take readings of the ambient air and store them on their internal memory.

Data collection is very simple and wireless (even through walls), so access to the flats is not required. All that is required is a bluetooth-enabled mobile device/laptop, with the HOBOconnect app installed. 

From there, the data is uploaded to HOBOlink web-based data storage & analysis platform, as a central point for data from

An interesting research project led by Northumbria University Researchers, determining whether planting trees on limestone will cause the release of geological carbon through accelerated weathering.

Professor Mike Rogerson explains more about the project: ‘’The impact of tree planting on release and storage of inorganic carbon in soil and within underlying bedrock has been mostly overlooked. Weathering of limestone bedrock may increase carbon sequestration ("Coupled Carbonate Weathering") or might release fossil carbon to the atmosphere. Unlike carbon sequestered by tree growth, this will not cease when the trees reach maturity but will continue indefinitely. So we don't really know if tree planting on limestone areas will sequester carbon really efficiently, or actually be a source of CO2. This knowledge gap means that the carbon sequestration achieved by tree-planting on bedrock with substantial carbonate content (about 1/4 of Great Britain) cannot be confidently predicted. We will

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An exciting research project in the Maldives, led by the UK registered charity Manta Trust, exploring the undocumented Manta Rays in the Makunudhoos.

Formed in 2011, the Manta Trust is a UK registered charity that co-ordinates global mobulid research and conservation efforts. Their team is comprised of a diverse group of researchers, scientists, conservationists, educators and media experts; working together to share and promote knowledge and expertise. Their mission is to conserve mobulid rays, their relatives, and their habitats, through a combination of research, education and collaboration.

Currently, Manta Trust are using technology provided by Tempcon; the Onset HOBO Water Temperature Data Logger, to carry out their research.

Jasmine Corbett, Manta Trust's Media and Communications manager explains how they use the loggers: ''The Tempcon loggers are extremely valuable tools for us in collecting accurate and consistent environmental data, that we use in correlation with our remote

 An exciting project involving British and French partners, led by the University of Plymouth is further developing a traditional building material to make low-energy, commercially viable house construction possible, using locally sourced materials.

The CobBauge team are working with Cob; a mixture of earth and fibre, such as straw, which is then mixed with water. Cob was commonly used for building construction in South-West England up until the Victorian era.

CobBauge is developing, an innovative cob using local soil and agricultural fibres / waste fibres from industry. This will contribute to the reduction of CO2 emissions, improved energy efficiency and cost savings:

·         Creating an inexpensive, well-insulated material, using less than half the heating energy to a cob house compared to traditional building methods

·         Reducing waste, thus saving in landfill costs

·         Requiring minimal transport costs (using local suitable soil).

The team have built a prototype

Researchers from Lancaster University are tackling one of the most pressing problems to face water science in a generation

After the devastation of the 2007 floods, the UK Government's "Pitt review" triggered initiatives designed to introduce “green”, or natural, flood mitigation (NFM) measures upstream of the affected communities, rather than relying solely on downstream engineering solutions.

A team of Lancaster University scientists led by Dr Nick Chappell of the Lancaster Environment Centre is leading one of three major NERC-funded projects to quantify the likely magnitude of nature-based flood mitigation effects across large catchments (Q-NFM), by undertaking large scale computer modelling, supported by fieldwork and stakeholder engagement.

The team are investigating natural flood mitigation measures across several thousands of square kilometres in Cumbria, much of which suffered devastating flooding during Storm Desmond in December 2015.

The equipment chosen for the project to measure,