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Dr Alma Clavin

BA (Mod.) Trinity College Dublin MSc (Town and Country Planning) Queen’s University Belfast PhD Oxford Brookes University
Room:	109, Geography
Phone:	+353 (0)91 494104
Fax:	+353 (0)91 495505
Email:	alma.clavinnuigalway.ie
Office Hours:	tbc

Biography

Having completed an undergraduate degree in Geography (TCD) and a Masters in Town and Country Planning (QUB), Alma worked for a number of public, private and non-governmental organisations in Ireland and the UK on planning, energy and sustainability issues. These included Colin Buchanan and Partners (Planning and Engineering Consultancy), Sustainable Northern Ireland (NGO based in Belfast) and the Severn Wye Energy Agency (Registered Charity). She returned to academia in 2005 to pursue her doctorate at the Oxford Institute for Sustainable Development (Oxford Brookes University). Her current role in the Geography Department at NUI Galway is the development and delivery of Field Based Learning which bridges theoretical learning outcomes and the practical application of knowledge in the field.

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Research Interests

While completing her doctoral research, Alma began working at the Leeds School of Architecture (Leeds Metropolitan University).  Here she undertook research on a diverse range of sustainability issues including development of a climate proofing toolkit for built environment professionals (Technology Strategy Board); a scoping report on a ’distinctive’ approach to rural capitals in the Yorkshire and Humber region (Yorkshire Forward - Regional Development Agency) and research on local food growing in an area of multiple deprivation in Leeds (NHS and Leeds City Council).  During this time she also began teaching designers about urban sustainability.  With a particular interest in wellbeing impacts of sustainable local environments, Alma has published research on sustainable urban food growing and community resilience. Her current post as Field Based Learning Technologist matches her additional research interests in sustainability and ecological literacy in third level education.

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Teaching Involvement

Undergraduate:

TI 152 Geography in Practice
TI 252  Theory and Practice 2

Postgraduate:

TI 704 Environment, Risk and Resilience
TI 706 Field-Based Learning

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Publications

Journal Articles and Book Chapters

Clavin, A.A. (2011) ’Realising Ecological Sustainability in Community Gardens: a capability approach’, Local Environment, Vol.16(10) pp. 945-962.

Clavin, A.A. (2011) ’User Perspective: How and why children use ecological urban space’ Urban Design and Planning, Vol.164(DP1) pp.6-9.

Clavin, A.A. (2011) ’Cassandra’s Dilemma and The Sustainability Transformation – Book reviews’ [review of the books Believing Cassandra: How to be an optimist in a pessimist’s world and The Sustainability Transformation: How to accelerate positive change in challenging times by AtKisson, A. (2011)] Journal of Environmental Policy and Planning, Vol. 13(3) Sept. 2011.

Clavin, A.A. (2010) ’Agriculture and Urban Planning – Book review’ [Review of the book
Agriculture and Urban Planning, by Redwood, M (ed.)] Urban Design and Planning, Vol.163(DP3).

Clavin, A.A. (2009) ’Community Gardening: skills for building community and working within environmental limits’ In A. Stibbe (ed.) Sustainability Literacy, Totnes: Green Books. (See: http://arts.brighton.ac.uk/stibbe-handbook-of-sustainability)

Oldroyd, E. & Clavin, A.A. (in press) ’Nested Scales and Design Activism: an integrated approach to food growing in inner city Leeds’ In A. Viljoen (ed.) European Sustainable Food Planning, Amsterdam: Wagenigen Academic Publishers.

Other publications

Summers, R., Clavin, A.A. & Midgely, D. (2011) ’Back to Front Gardening’, Resurgence, Issue 265, March/April 2011. (See: http://www.resurgence.org/magazine/article3364-back-to-front-gardening.html).

Bauman Lyons Architects & Design Leeds (2009) Distinctive Futures: a scoping study to identify how a distinctive rural capitals approach can be developed in Yorkshire and Humber, Yorkshire Forward Publication October 2009.

Mike Shanahan Architects & Colin Buchanan & Partners (2003) The Cork Rural Housing Design Guide, Cork County Council.

Academic Conference Presentations

Oldroyd, E. & Clavin, A.A. (2011) Food focused front gardens: a changing culture? ECLAS conference, Sheffield University UK Sept. 2011.

Oldroyd, E. & Clavin, A.A. (2010) Nested Scales and Design Activism: an integrated approach to food growing in inner city Leeds, 2nd AESOP European Sustainable Food Planning Conference, Brighton University.

Clavin, A.A (2009) Ecological Design and Human Wellbeing in urban community gardens: a capability approach. Wellbeing and Place Conference, Department of Geography, Durham University, March 2009.

Clavin, A.A. (2007) “I love compost”: Children’s experiences of using urban community gardens. (Presentation and photography exhibition) Royal Geographical Society (RGS) Conference, August 2007.http://www.rgs.org/NR/exeres/8B656D6E-4D9E-4C77-A0A7-206B0218A958.htm

Clavin, A.A. (2007) Ecological Design and Wellbeing: a capabilities approach, RTPI Annual Conference, Department of Planning, Herriot Watt University, Edinburgh, March 2007.

Other Invited Presentations

• Drumalis Environment Group Annual Seminar. Quality of Life and Quality of the Built Environment. Larne Northern Ireland: February 2011.   
• Connect Housing Association Annual General Meeting 2010. Back to Front: A Partnership Approach to Growing Food in Harehills. Leeds: October 2010.    
• Northern Ireland Green Living Fair 2010. The Second Coming – The return of food growing to UK towns and cities, Wetlands and Wildfowl Trust (WWT) Castle Espie: September 2010.  
• Drumalis Environment Group, Slow Living and Place. Larne, Northern Ireland: February 2009.

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Academic Duties and Awards

• Award from the Local Government IDEAs fund and Leeds NHS (PCT) to develop a front garden food growing manual for Harehills, Leeds, January 2010.
• Member of the scientific committee Design Activism and Social Change Conference, Universitat de Barcelona, September 2011.
• Member of the editorial panel for the Encyclopaedia of Quality of Life Research, edited by A. Micholas, to be published by Springer in 2012 
   

    

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