Kent Interdisciplinary Centre for Spatial Studies

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Triangle shapes Geli Luna

Research and Publications

Publications

Research in Spatial Studies within KISS is carried out by individuals or groups of academics publishing in journals and presses relevant to their own disciplinary field. To provide an indication, members of the KISS steering group (excluding members that have left the University or members that joined the steering group over the last term) have published 16 papers, 5 books and 11 book chapters in high-quality journals/publishers. The publications span across disciplines including among others geography, ecology, law, classics, literature, and architecture.

Enterprise Activity

  • Decision-Making Tool for Long-Term Horizon Planning: The Land-Water Nexus. Funder: Southern Water. Budget: £24,261. Outcome: Successful.
  • The Catchment Capabilities Approach. Funder: Industrial Strategy Uplifting Fund –Southern Water. Budget: £40,000. Outcome: Pending.

Impact Activity

To date, KISS research is underpinning two potential case studies for REF2020, and these have featured as part of the SAC submission to the pilot REF (2017).

  • Embedding cultural values into the practice of natural capital assessment across the UK and its overseas territories.
  • Linking sustainability appraisal to Southern Water’s long-term planning of catchments: the catchment capabilities approach.

Funded

  • Pre-Columbian Tropical Urban Life (TruLife) Network. Funder: AHRC Research Network, £45,263.
  • Spatial distribution and value of local culture and recreation in the Falkland Islands. Funder JNCC. Value: £20,000.
  • LIFT – Low Input Farming and Territories. Funder: Horizon 2020. Value: € 413,000
  • Global Challenges and the Valuing Nature Agenda: Joining The Dots Funder: NERC. Value: £22,558.
  • Members of the KISS steering group have also applied and have been awarded 11 internal grants including among others Faculty grants and CHASE networking Funds. Other applications (unfunded) included: The role of the EU’s Common Agricultural Policy in creating rural jobs. Funder: European Parliament Tender. Value: €40,500. What is the value of the oceans for UK cities? Developing and testing a protoframework for ocean friendly cities. Funder: NERC: Valuing Nature. Value: £26,137. Socio-economic trends in conservation areas. Funder: Historic England. Value: £43,350. Co-developing an engagement tool for linking the natural capital and heritage value of urban parks. Funder: NERC. Value: £99,182. The Common at Your Front Door: Shaping Urban Residential Streets. Funder: European Cultural Foundation. Value: £50,000.

Presentations

KISS members have been highly active in presenting at conferences (more than 25 papers have been presented by steering group members only in national and international conferences), as well as organising (or co-organising) networks/conferences/symposia under the KISS affiliation. Some indicative examples include:

  • “Ecosystem services, valuing nature and participatory decision making” (2017). Joint BES/BESS Symposium (Cardiff)
  • “Valuing Nature Annual Conference (s)” (2016 / 2017) (Manchester/Edinburgh)
  • “Home: new histories of living” (2018) Institute of Historical Research winter conference
  • “The Sound of Memory: Sound-track / Sound-scape” (2017), a 3-day symposium at Goldsmiths & Whitechapel
  • “Denis Smalley 70th Birthday Celebration”. Two-day event with talks and concerts dedicated to works by acclaimed composer and scholar Prof Denis Smalley. Colyer-Fergusson, Canterbury
  • “Advancing the Acquisition and Use of UAV Data on Architectural Heritage” (Gent- Kent/KISS collaborative research event), (June 2016) Athens
  • “TruLife” Workshops (September 2016; December 2016; March 2017) AHRC, in Canterbury, Leiden, and Gothenburg,
  • “Valuing Nature and Participatory Decision Making” (July 2015) 2-day international conference (co-sponsored by NERC)
  • KISS week-long Festival incl.: a) Research workshop on the work of Didier Fassin and b) GIS training for staff – one-day introductory training on Geographic Information Systems (c) Listening, Spaces and the Sounding World (SISRC/KISS/CHASE) (June 2016)
  • “Governance and Planetary Crisis” (June 2017) – one day workshop with international speakers from Law, Political Science and Human Geography
  • “Crisis”, a 1-day international workshop, (May 2016, with KLS, SOCRIL)
  • “The Archipelago of Protocols”, 2-day International Workshop (Kent, June 2017)
  • ‘Listening, Spaces and the Sounding World’ (16/06/16): Material Witness Research workshop for KISS, Sound-Image-Space research centre and CHASE. It comprised talks, a sound-walk, a film projection and discussions on the presented themes in a six-hour workshop at Chatham Historic Dockyard
  • GeoHumanities working group (involving PhD students across Kent programmes), held three research support meetings since March 2017