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garethclay.bsky.social
Gareth Clay
@garethclay.bsky.social
330 followers 360 following 16 posts
Professor of Geography, University of Manchester. Wildfires and peatlands.
https://research.manchester.ac.uk/en/persons/gareth.clay
Posts Replies Media Videos
Reposted by Gareth Clay
ncas-uk.bsky.social
With prolonged hot weather, and wildfires burning across the UK and Europe, what does this mean for air quality in the affected areas or places downwind?

ncas.ac.uk/what-do-wild...

#earth-science #SciComm 🧪
What do wildfires mean for air quality? - NCAS
Wildfires can have significant impacts on air quality, as wildfire smoke contains a mixture of hazardous air pollutants.
ncas.ac.uk
July 29, 2026 at 2:32 PM
Reposted by Gareth Clay
britishecologicalsociety.org
Do solar panels belong on bogs?

New research suggests that, in certain situations, it can bring biodiversity benefits☀️🐦

Solar panels on bogs could be a climate and nature win-win - British Ecological Society
Why putting solar panels on rewetted peatland could deliver more than green energy.
www.britishecologicalsociety.org
June 19, 2026 at 10:04 AM
Reposted by Gareth Clay
peatymike.bsky.social
Calling all peaty people. Still time to submit to our special issue on peatlands. Details below. Free free to DM/email me if you want to ask any questions.
peatymike.bsky.social Mike Peacock @peatymike.bsky.social · Nov 21
Peaty people: we're hosting a special issue in the Taylor & Francis journal Sustainable Environment. Do consider submitting to it - the scope is broad and multidisciplinary. think.taylorandfrancis.com/article_coll...
June 16, 2026 at 6:48 PM
Reposted by Gareth Clay
wonkhe.bsky.social
This week on Wonkhe: Local resilience forums are one of the UK’s key ways to organise emergency responses. Gary F Fisher explains why the system works best when universities play a central role
Universities are the missing partners in local resilience
Local resilience forums are one of the UK’s key ways to organise emergency responses. Gary F Fisher explains why the system works best when universities play a central role Local resilience forums are...
buff.ly
June 13, 2026 at 4:01 PM
Reposted by Gareth Clay
uk.theconversation.com
A new project is transforming badly affected peatlands from dark moonscapes to vibrant green moss-scapes.
The Pennine hills are full of holes – here’s how they’re helping fight climate change
A new project is transforming badly affected peatlands from dark moonscapes to vibrant green moss-scapes.
tcnv.link
May 18, 2026 at 11:40 AM
garethclay.bsky.social
Call for speakers and posters at this year's UK Wildfire Conference is still open. We welcome papers that connect to the conference theme 'New Perspectives, Shared Solutions'.

For full details and submission form visit: ukwildfireconference.co.uk/participate. Deadline 24th April
Participate at Wildfire2026 — Wildfire2026
ukwildfireconference.co.uk
April 14, 2026 at 3:00 PM
Reposted by Gareth Clay
manchester.ac.uk
Rather than working in silos, the team learned each other’s languages, tested ideas in operational settings and adapted the science in response to practitioner feedback.

Read more: www.manchester.ac.uk/research/imp...
March 30, 2026 at 11:49 AM
Reposted by Gareth Clay
manchester.ac.uk
In response to growing UK wildfire risk, researchers at The University of Manchester brought together ecologists, hydrologists, remote-sensing experts, modellers, fire services and land managers to co-produce new tools to assess fire behaviour.

www.youtube.com/watch?v=UYTu...

#ShapedTogether
Building a unified response to wildfires
YouTube video by The University of Manchester
www.youtube.com
March 30, 2026 at 11:49 AM
Reposted by Gareth Clay
garethclay.bsky.social
Call for Papers @rgsibg.bsky.social Annual Meeting 'Burning Inequalities: Critical Geographies of Fire'. Deadline 27 Feb

Full details can be found attached or via main RGS list of advertised Calls for Papers tinyurl.com/mu38e575.

Please share!

@aisling-orourke.bsky.social #geosky #fire
Description of Call for Papers at RGS Annual International Conference. Session is titled "Burning Inequalities: Critical Geographies of Fire". Session Conveners: Aisling O’Rourke (University of Manchester) and Prof. Gareth Clay (University of Manchester). Page 1 of 2. The full abstract details don't fit in the character limit for alt text but the a shortened version is as follows: Session Abstract Where and why fire impacts people and places is deeply intertwined with many facets of inequality and injustice. This session aims to contribute to discussions around the role of geographical perspectives in conceptualising and researching fire inequality. The devastating fires of Grenfell Tower in 2017 and more recently at Wang Fuk Court in Hong Kong in 2025 serve as stark reminders that we must understand and redress inequalities that have shaped exposure to fire. Fires like Grenfell do not exist in a vacuum, instead they can expose and uncover inequalities and injustice embedded within our societies (Marmot, 2020). Scholars who have explored the contexts surrounding Grenfell in particular, have asserted the importance of foregrounding the role of racial logics of neoliberal urban governance (Danewid, 2020), geographies of injustice and inequality (MacLeod, 2018) and, institutional negligence and evasion of accountability (Özbilgin, Erbil and Valsecchi, 2026) in fomenting fire inequalities. Geographical perspectives and geographical imaginaries can be harnessed to explore the spatiality of these overlapping and intersecting inequalities, and the mechanisms through which they emerge and are sustained. We invite abstracts that explore how geographical perspectives can be applied to researching fire inequality, in both built environment and wildfire contexts Description of Call for Papers at RGS Annual International Conference. Session is titled "Burning Inequalities: Critical Geographies of Fire". Session Conveners: Aisling O’Rourke (University of Manchester) and Prof. Gareth Clay (University of Manchester). Page 2 of 2. The full abstract details don't fit in the character limit for alt text but the a shortened version is as follows: Examples of themes include: - How inequality and injustice shape where fires occur and who is affected - The role of housing governance and policy in generating or tackling fire risk inequalities. - The role of social, economic and political institutions in perpetuating fire inequality, or, addressing fire inequalities - How fire inequality intersects with other social, political, economic and environmental inequalities - How geographers can theorise precarity, risk and vulnerability to fire - How to address and reduce fire inequalities - What are the taken for granted assumptions and discourses around fire inequality that need to be challenged? If you are interested in contributing to the session, please email your presentation title, abstract (up to 250 words), name(s) of presenters and affiliations. Please send email Aisling and Gareth these details by 27th February 2026 and feel free to get in touch if you have any queries – aisling.orourke-2@manchester.ac.uk and Gareth.clay@manchester.ac.uk Please note that the deadline for session details and presentation abstracts is 6th March 2026, we will be in touch as soon as we can with further details.
February 5, 2026 at 10:42 AM
Reposted by Gareth Clay
peatofmind.bsky.social
New paper!

We took our peatland moss expertise and methods and applied it to fill and spill water storage dynamics to examine the hydrological controls on rock barrens moss and lichen mat growth. Mat NPP increases with increasing bedrock depression storage.

onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/...
February 19, 2026 at 2:13 PM
garethclay.bsky.social
Call for Papers @rgsibg.bsky.social Annual Meeting 'Burning Inequalities: Critical Geographies of Fire'. Deadline 27 Feb

Full details can be found attached or via main RGS list of advertised Calls for Papers tinyurl.com/mu38e575.

Please share!

@aisling-orourke.bsky.social #geosky #fire
Description of Call for Papers at RGS Annual International Conference. Session is titled "Burning Inequalities: Critical Geographies of Fire". Session Conveners: Aisling O’Rourke (University of Manchester) and Prof. Gareth Clay (University of Manchester). Page 1 of 2. The full abstract details don't fit in the character limit for alt text but the a shortened version is as follows: Session Abstract Where and why fire impacts people and places is deeply intertwined with many facets of inequality and injustice. This session aims to contribute to discussions around the role of geographical perspectives in conceptualising and researching fire inequality. The devastating fires of Grenfell Tower in 2017 and more recently at Wang Fuk Court in Hong Kong in 2025 serve as stark reminders that we must understand and redress inequalities that have shaped exposure to fire. Fires like Grenfell do not exist in a vacuum, instead they can expose and uncover inequalities and injustice embedded within our societies (Marmot, 2020). Scholars who have explored the contexts surrounding Grenfell in particular, have asserted the importance of foregrounding the role of racial logics of neoliberal urban governance (Danewid, 2020), geographies of injustice and inequality (MacLeod, 2018) and, institutional negligence and evasion of accountability (Özbilgin, Erbil and Valsecchi, 2026) in fomenting fire inequalities. Geographical perspectives and geographical imaginaries can be harnessed to explore the spatiality of these overlapping and intersecting inequalities, and the mechanisms through which they emerge and are sustained. We invite abstracts that explore how geographical perspectives can be applied to researching fire inequality, in both built environment and wildfire contexts Description of Call for Papers at RGS Annual International Conference. Session is titled "Burning Inequalities: Critical Geographies of Fire". Session Conveners: Aisling O’Rourke (University of Manchester) and Prof. Gareth Clay (University of Manchester). Page 2 of 2. The full abstract details don't fit in the character limit for alt text but the a shortened version is as follows: Examples of themes include: - How inequality and injustice shape where fires occur and who is affected - The role of housing governance and policy in generating or tackling fire risk inequalities. - The role of social, economic and political institutions in perpetuating fire inequality, or, addressing fire inequalities - How fire inequality intersects with other social, political, economic and environmental inequalities - How geographers can theorise precarity, risk and vulnerability to fire - How to address and reduce fire inequalities - What are the taken for granted assumptions and discourses around fire inequality that need to be challenged? If you are interested in contributing to the session, please email your presentation title, abstract (up to 250 words), name(s) of presenters and affiliations. Please send email Aisling and Gareth these details by 27th February 2026 and feel free to get in touch if you have any queries – aisling.orourke-2@manchester.ac.uk and Gareth.clay@manchester.ac.uk Please note that the deadline for session details and presentation abstracts is 6th March 2026, we will be in touch as soon as we can with further details.
February 5, 2026 at 10:42 AM
Reposted by Gareth Clay
ijwildlandfire.bsky.social
🔥 Call for Papers: Wildland–Urban Interface Fires 🌳🏠

Submission deadline extended to 1 March 2026.
We welcome research on fire dynamics, risk modelling, exposure & impacts, mitigation, recovery, and community resilience.

🔗: connectsci.au/wf/pages/cal...
#FireScience #WUI #IJWildlandFire
January 19, 2026 at 4:04 AM
Reposted by Gareth Clay
littlekerryn.bsky.social
🔥 New research shows how surface fire weather + synoptic weather patterns lead to vegetation fires across England
Fig. 1. Graphic showing the three layers of relationships investigated in this paper, from top to bottom: synoptic weather patterns surface fire weather – vegetation fires. Mean sea level pressure (MSLP) anomalies and Canadian Fire Weather Index (FWI) values are for June 26, 2018, the day the Saddleworth Moor Fire in England was declared a major incident, which remains one of the largest fires experienced in the UK at 18 km2 (Graham et al. 2020). The vegetation fire layer shows all spring (blue) and summer (orange) vegetation fires >1 ha recorded between April 2009 and April 2020.
January 6, 2026 at 5:32 PM
Reposted by Gareth Clay
drceriksen.bsky.social
Were you impacted by the 2025 #UKwildfires? 🔥 The FiRES survey “Living with Wildfire in the UK and Ireland” has been re-opened to enable people to share their direct or indirect experiences of #wildfires or associated smoke. Please share/ re-post. www.surveymonkey.com/r/firesukie
November 1, 2025 at 11:35 AM
Reposted by Gareth Clay
drtels.bsky.social
Here's a map of UK fire activity in 2025.
2025 was a record year for both number of fires and burnt area in the UK, according to the satellite record.
Data from EFFIS, based on MODIS and Sentinel observations.
🔥#ukwildfires #wildfires
October 29, 2025 at 4:14 PM
Reposted by Gareth Clay
peatofmind.bsky.social
Our latest #PeatPaper published in Hydrological Processes and led by MSc student Maia Moore!

“Ecohydrological Controls on Post-Fire Sphagnum Moss Recovery in Boreal Shield Peatlands”

onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/...
October 28, 2025 at 12:33 PM
Reposted by Gareth Clay
hcraddock.bsky.social
Talking Records: Pollution in the Archive is now open for registration! 🏭🌊

In person symposium at The National Archives on 4th December: www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/talking-re...

Afternoon of online talks on 5th December: www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/talking-re...

#envhum #envhist
Talking Records: Pollution in the Archive (in person)
Explore histories of pollution, contamination, and environmental damage in the archive at this one-day symposium at The National Archives.
www.eventbrite.co.uk
October 23, 2025 at 1:26 PM
Reposted by Gareth Clay
em-shuttleworth.bsky.social
🚨 Expressions of Interest Now Open! 🚨
Are you a new #PhD student in #geomorphology who started in 2025? Or are you supervising a new PhD student in geomorphology? Don’t miss the chance to join the @bsg-geomorph.bsky.social Windsor PhD Training Workshop. 1/
October 7, 2025 at 12:29 PM
Reposted by Gareth Clay
peatymike.bsky.social
Looking for a PhD in environmental science? I will soon have an advert out for a project at @liverpooluni.bsky.social with @ukceh.bsky.social & @nationaltrust.org.uk.

"Peatland drainage + rewetting across the UK uplands + lowlands"

All about GHG emissions and aquatic carbon. Watch this space!
October 16, 2025 at 12:36 PM
Reposted by Gareth Clay
richard-fewster.bsky.social
PhD opportunity: "Mapping, modelling and monitoring peatland pollution"

Led by @em-shuttleworth.bsky.social and co-supervised by myself and Prof. Jonny Huck.

Full details and how to apply can be found here: www.findaphd.com/phds/project...

If you are interested, please do get in touch!
[HUMS Bicentenary PhD] Mapping, modelling and monitoring peatland pollution at The University of Manchester on FindAPhD.com
PhD Project - [HUMS Bicentenary PhD] Mapping, modelling and monitoring peatland pollution at The University of Manchester, listed on FindAPhD.com
www.findaphd.com
October 14, 2025 at 4:50 PM
Reposted by Gareth Clay
wetlandresilienceresearchgroup.com
🚨New Paper 🚨
The PeatPic Project: Predicting plot-scale green leaf #phenology across #peatlands

So happy to see this paper online — one of my favourite projects!

We explored how to capture how peatlands change colour using smartphones and community science!

iopscience.iop.org/article/10.1...
October 13, 2025 at 12:28 PM
Reposted by Gareth Clay
fredworrall.bsky.social
For a peat to form you don't just need wet conditions you also need stagnant conditions
link.springer.com/article/10.1...
Our new study follows the thermodynamic profiles to show how fens and bogs significantly differ in when they become closed. @durhamearthsci.bsky.social
September 22, 2025 at 9:13 AM
garethclay.bsky.social
🚨JOB ALERT🚨
We’re looking for a #Postdoc to play a key role in a new #interdiscipinary project on the risks to human health from mining activities across Africa.

Full details: shorturl.at/X7Tbr

@uomseed.bsky.social @globaldevinst.bsky.social @sustainableuom.bsky.social

#academicjobs #ECRjobs
September 5, 2025 at 11:04 AM
Reposted by Gareth Clay
newphyt.bsky.social
#TansleyReview: The effects of #drought on #Sphagnum #moss species and the implications for hydrology in #peatlands

Keane et al. 👇

📖 nph.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/...

#LatestIssue
The global and local distribution of Sphagnum and a detailed desciption of its anatomy.
August 8, 2025 at 4:02 PM