June sees a series of exciting water events hosted by the Geography Department and King’s College London. Kicking off this weekend is the Alumni Weekend Open House: Geography Department on 7 June where there will be talks on the History of London’s Water (Prof David Green) and The Politics of Water (Dr Naho Mirumachi).
Later in the month, King’s College London celebrates Midsummer Water Day on 21 June with talks, exhibitions and science experiments on the Strand Campus and at the Somerset House just next door. The Geography department have our very own venue at ‘The King’s Geography Room’ where there will be short talks, films and games from 1200-1700. The Geography staff then team up with Tipping Point to discuss the ‘Interconnectedness of Water’ on 26 June. During these two events, you’ll get a chance to hear staff and PhD students: Prof Tony Allan, Richard Bater, Dr Nick Bury, Dr Michael Chadwick, Prof Frances Cleaver, Prof Nicholas Clifford, Dr Robert Francis, Dr Alexander Loftus, Dr Naho Mirumachi, Dr Mark Mulligan, Dr Daanish Mustafa, Nuttavikhom Phanthuwongpakdee, Richard Schofield
The Midsummer Water Day coincides with the College’s open day so if you are planning a visit, why not pop into the Geography Room for some of these:
12.00: Unfamiliar London: Water (1973, DVD: London Metropolitan Archives, 25mins)
12.30: Living with floods in Central Thailand: Toward resilient adaptation (Talk by Nuttavikhom Phanthuwongpakdee)
12.45: Karez and traditional irrigation in the Arid Realm (Talk by Dr Daanish Mustafa)
13.00: Damned (2003, DVD: Dr Daanish Mustafa, 50 minutes)
14.00: Laying bare the rhetoric of contestation in International River Disputes (Talk by Richard Schofield)
14.15: How do you solve a problem like rivers crossing borders? The Politics of sharing water (Talk by Dr Naho Mirumachi)
14.30: Mekong (DVD: Nathaniel Matthews, 52 minutes)
15.30: Who determines the demand for food and who manages water? (Talk by Professor Tony Allan)
15.45: The Weight of Water (Talk by Professor Frances Cleaver)
16.00: Duminea: A Festival for the Water Spirits (1966, DVD, 20 mins)
16.30: The Right to Water (Talk by Alex Loftus)
16.45: Making Water visible (Talk by Richard Bater)
17.00: London’s Water Supply (1972, DVD: London Metropolitan Archive, 30 mins)
12.00 – 17.30 – Games and Models
Take part in games and simulations which illustrate the interconnectedness of human-water interactions, including:
Dr Mark Mulligan will demonstrate Forest Defenders which educates players about deforestation and its impacts on water and climate by using a deforestation monitoring system to examine rates and patterns of deforestation in the Amazon, Borneo and Congo forests. Groups of up to 30 will be guided at intervals from The Geography Room to the adjacent King’s building.
The Basin Challenge is an online game that helps players to understand the complexities of river basin development. The decisions that players must make are based on authentic situations and environmental and social data.
Physical geography of water is a demonstration of an invasive species in the Thames, with live crayfish, physical simulations of river processes and a short presentation on what’s in the water you drink, including a discussion of endocrine disruption. Also on display will be the King’s Geography river flow table, ideal to see at first hand the erosion and deposition of rivers, and the evolution of river meanders, deltas and floodplains.