The Peat Café 2025-26

An online, interdisciplinary lunchtime lecture series focused on wetlands

This is our fourth season of hosting the Peat Café; this year, its run by PhD student Isobel Harvey, Nicki Whitehouse and Mel Giles, with others dipping in and out. The Peat Café builds on the network developed through both the University of Glasgow’s Bright Edge Deep and Discipline Hopping Wetlands initiative and Peat: Past Present and Future network based at the University of Manchester and the north-west more widely.

Please feel free to dig in and out of the schedule according to your interests and additional ideas and talks about projects and initiatives are most welcome! Please feel free to share and invite other participants who may be interested in the programme.

 

1-2pm

Monday 1 September 2025

                                                                     

Dr Daniel Calderbank (University of Glasgow) and Professor Jaafar Jotheri (University of Al-Qadisiyah)
Voices from the Ahwar: (dis)connections with cultural heritage in Iraq's marshlands
Chair: Nicki Whitehouse

Join Zoom Meeting
https://uofglasgow.zoom.us/j/83771503226?pwd=MwL4OwEPe10hvGcALvA0klqNXALx7m.1 
Meeting ID: 837 7150 3226
Passcode: 528729

1-2pm

Monday 6 October 2025

 

Dr Anne Caldwell (Open University)
Sphagnum: A Love Song to Peatlands
Chair: Mel Giles

Join Zoom Meeting
https://uofglasgow.zoom.us/j/89920943358?pwd=0ppC2gp5F9E1EcQwfIGUInOepeIzW7.1 
Meeting ID: 899 2094 3358
Passcode: 998076

1-2pm

Monday 3 November 2025

 

Jennifer Carey (Lund University)
CRITICAL PEAT/BOG STUDIES IN BOG BODY RESEARCH: anthropo(de)centrism, multivocality, multispecies perspectives
Chair: Mel Giles

Join Zoom Meeting
https://uofglasgow.zoom.us/j/84447577297?pwd=yqNvAFHl8cSF5BXIHn2nFOv8eOKQvV.1
Meeting ID: 844 4757 7297
Passcode: 291349

1-2pm

Monday 1 December 2025

 

Student/ECR session: Recent Insights from Pollen and Soil Studies

  1. Meike van Lit (University of Glasgow)- The use of non-destructive analyses of peat samples for soil science research
  2. Phil Gould (University of Glasgow)- Pollen analysis at Glen Devon

Chair: Issy Harvey

Join Zoom Meeting
https://uofglasgow.zoom.us/j/84992769434?pwd=ivJsIoE4mku0uyZl4DfF7lkKyNPmRw.1
Meeting ID: 849 9276 9434
Passcode: 136467

1-2pm

Monday 5 January 2026

 

Dr Michael Muir (University of Glasgow)
Peat, climate, forestry and fish: How land cover and land use impact carbon cycling and water quality in Galloway
Chair: Mel Giles

Join Zoom Meeting
https://uofglasgow.zoom.us/j/84302216465?pwd=IpGXWlQQLjgF12iBneaJaOI2SbSnOs.1
Meeting ID: 843 0221 6465
Passcode: 640348

1-2pm

Monday 2 February 2026

 

Dr Joshua Cohen (University of Leeds), Dr Ursula Balderson, Prof Julia Martin-Ortega
Risks of Commodification of Nature, Peatland Restoration and Green Finance
Chair: Nicki Whitehouse

Join Zoom Meeting
https://uofglasgow.zoom.us/j/88265537092?pwd=TrxtFTrLYgFXjXFGEr4bqyky3Wg15R.1
Meeting ID: 882 6553 7092
Passcode: 618199

1-2pm

Monday 2 March 2026

 

Prof Jill Robbie (University of Glasgow)
The RESPECT Project
Chair: Mel Giles

Join Zoom Meeting
https://uofglasgow.zoom.us/j/89733241997?pwd=Apv0xB2XcvRJt1m1wwaKx6TTdMK6qM.1 
Meeting ID: 897 3324 1997
Passcode: 903249

1-2pm

Tuesday 7 April 2026

 

Student/ECR session: Recent Research on Bog Heads

  1. Elizabeth Roberts (University of Manchester)- Ashton Man
  2. Willow Major (University of Cambridge)- George: The Head from Holderness

Chair: Issy Harvey

Join Zoom Meeting
https://uofglasgow.zoom.us/j/81299404386?pwd=HlLKUZkh1M2rcmeh9CvgDmttu2QkHZ.1
Meeting ID: 812 9940 4386
Passcode: 960289

1-2pm

Tuesday 5 May 2026

 

Prof Naomi Milner (University of Bristol)
PEATSENSE: Diverse knowledges and sending practices in Latin American peatlands
Chair: Mel Giles

Join Zoom Meeting
https://uofglasgow.zoom.us/j/87644215434?pwd=WcUBgZ3XNXsGNbun3p5aJxparEVJrC.1 
Meeting ID: 876 4421 5434
Passcode: 618459

1-2pm

Monday 1 June 2026

 

Dr Mathew Adeleye (University of Cambridge)
Understanding long-term spatio-temporal ecological changes in degraded peatlands to inform restoration in the Great Fen
Chair: Nicki Whitehouse

Join Zoom Meeting
https://uofglasgow.zoom.us/j/82579876659?pwd=ka11FTyC9382VIsbaWAgcIK8a4pIRn.1
Meeting ID: 825 7987 6659
Passcode: 931694

1-2pm

Monday 6 July 2026

Dr Phil Stastney (University of Cambridge)
Recent Research in the Fens
Chair: Isobel Harvey

Join Zoom Meeting
https://uofglasgow.zoom.us/j/86702066780?pwd=inOaiocCO0DDkbpbgNYBTjjreRDoBg.1

Meeting ID: 867 0206 6780
Passcode: 155014

The Peat Café 2024-25

This is our third season of hosting the Peat Café; this year, its is run by Nicki Whitehouse and Mel Giles, with others dipping in and out. The Peat Café builds on the network developed through both the University of Glasgow’s Bright Edge Deep and Discipline Hopping Wetlands initiative and Peat: Past Present and Future network based at the University of Manchester and the north-west more widely.

Please feel free to dig in and out of the schedule according to your interests and additional ideas and talks about projects and initiatives are most welcome! Please feel free to share and invite other participants who may be interested in the programme.

Date

Speaker and Title

7 October 2024, 1-2 pm

Matt Aikenhead, James Hutton Institute: Mapping peatland condition and greenhouse gas emissions using remote sensing and legacy data

Join Zoom Meeting
Meeting ID: 879 7325 4792 / Passcode: 132728

11 November 2024, 1-2pm

Michael Stratigos, University of Aberdeen:  The Restorer Pays Principle?: Wetland Archaeology and Habitat Restoration

Join Zoom Meeting
Meeting ID: 823 9402 0235  /  Passcode: 564928

2 December 2024, 1-2 pm

John Wedgwood Clarke, Rose Ferraby and Fiona Benson, University of Exeter: Bog Talk: poetry and people in peatlands

Join Zoom Meeting
Meeting ID: 885 8299 6440  /  Passcode: 565073

6 January 2025, 1-2 pm

Mans Schepers, University of Groningen: Crop farming on coastal clay and clay-on-peat landscapes in the Netherlands. Archaeological and experimental observations

Join Zoom Meeting
Meeting ID: 833 7978 8385  /  Passcode: 576105

3 February 2025, 1-2pm

, University of Glasgow: Where Land and Waters Meet’; 10,000 years of human eco-dynamics within a ‘Wildscape’ 

Join Zoom Meeting 
Meeting ID: 897 9076 9388  /  Passcode: 236785

3 March 2025, 1-2pm

Carl Sayer, UCL: Resurrecting the undead – ghost ponds

Join Zoom Meeting 
Meeting ID: 816 8490 6703  /  Passcode: 633179

1 April 2025, 1-2 pm

Martin Gillard, SW Peatland Partnership: The Historic Environment and Peatland Restoration in the South West

Join Zoom Meeting 
Meeting ID: 826 5418 3221  /  Passcode: 793828

5 May 2025, 1-2 pm

Adrian Bass, University of Glasgow: The RESPECT project

Join Zoom Meeting
Meeting ID: 839 9252 0996 / Passcode: 221224

2 June 2025, 1-2pm

Christina Fredengren, Signe Johannesen, University of Stokholm and Artist: The Kvarntorp body, and Anthropocene folklore

Join Zoom Meeting
Meeting ID: 814 7008 2890  /  Passcode: 566438

The Peat Café 2023-24

After Michael Muir’s wonderful hosting of the first year of this programme (building on the network developed through both the University of Glasgow’s Bright Edge Deep and Discipline Hopping Wetlands initiative), we have offered to take up hosting the second season, which will run on zoom:

This year, we are expanding the network to draw in participants from the Peat: Past Present and Future network based at the University of Manchester and the north-west more widely.

Please feel free to dip in and out of the schedule according to your interests, and additional ideas for talks about projects and initiatives would be most welcome!  Please feel free to share and invite other participants who might be interested in the programme.

The lecture schedule so far:

Month

Speaker and Title

Monday 23 October 1pm

News round-up  - a chance to informally share research plans, activities, fieldwork or even mossy, boggy daytrips! Please come along with an image or idea to share in an open format session…

Monday 13 November 1pm

Bianca Cavazzin (University of Glasgow)

Past and future: biomarkers in peatlands

Monday 4 December 1pm

Joanne Tippett (University of Manchester)

Time and change – place-based sustainability learning with the RoundView

Tuesday 9 January 1pm

James Palmer (University of Bristol) and Kärg Karma (University of Birmingham)

Carbon Futures in the Mire

Monday 5 February 1pm

Abbi Flint (University of Newcastle)

WetFutures: poetic inquiry as method

Monday 4 March 1pm

Nye Merrill-Glover (University of Bristol)

The Marling Festivals: Environmental Metaphor in Eighteenth Century England

Monday 3 April 1pm

Mike Longden (Lancashire Wildlife Trust)

Lancashire Wildlife Trust wetland restoration project

Monday 6 May 1pm

Melanie Giles (University of Manchester) and Liz Ellis

Mossfox (a creative collaboration)

Monday 3 June 1pm

Matthew Paterson (University of Manchester)

Peaty Politics

Monday 1 July 1pm

Roy Van Beek (University of of Waganingen, Netherlands

An international survey of Bog Bodies (part of the HomeTurf project)

Monday 12 August 1pm

The 40th anniversary of Lindow man: a round-up of celebration events, community creativity, education and bog restoration projects

September

Ideas for speakers welcome!

Copyright Rose Ferraby: People Peatlands