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Gareth Clay

@garethclay.bsky.social
327 followers 359 following 16 posts

Professor of Geography, University of Manchester. Wildfires and peatlands. research.manchester.ac.uk/en/person…

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Reposted by Gareth Clay
National Centre for Atmospheric Science @ncas-uk.bsky.social · 29/07/2026
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 🧪
ncas.ac.uk
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.
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British Ecological Society @britishecologicalsociety.org · 19/06/2026
Do solar panels belong on bogs? New research suggests that, in certain situations, it can bring biodiversity benefits☀️🐦
britishecologicalsociety.org
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.
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Reposted by Gareth Clay
Mike Peacock @peatymike.bsky.social · 16/06/2026
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.
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Reposted by Gareth Clay
Wonkhe @wonkhe.bsky.social · 13/06/2026
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
buff.ly
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...
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Reposted by Gareth Clay
The Conversation UK @uk.theconversation.com · 18/05/2026
A new project is transforming badly affected peatlands from dark moonscapes to vibrant green moss-scapes.
tcnv.link
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.
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Gareth Clay @garethclay.bsky.social · 14/04/2026
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
ukwildfireconference.co.uk
Participate at Wildfire2026 — Wildfire2026
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Reposted by Gareth Clay
The University of Manchester @manchester.ac.uk · 30/03/2026
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...
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Reposted by Gareth Clay
The University of Manchester @manchester.ac.uk · 30/03/2026
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
youtube.com
Building a unified response to wildfires
YouTube video by The University of Manchester
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Reposted by Gareth Clay
Gareth Clay @garethclay.bsky.social · 05/02/2026
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 contextsDescription 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.
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Reposted by Gareth Clay
Mike Waddington 🇨🇦 @peatofmind.bsky.social · 19/02/2026
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/...
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Gareth Clay @garethclay.bsky.social · 05/02/2026
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 contextsDescription 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.
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Reposted by Gareth Clay
International Journal of Wildland Fire @ijwildlandfire.bsky.social · 19/01/2026
🔥 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
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Reposted by Gareth Clay
Kerryn Little @littlekerryn.bsky.social · 06/01/2026
🔥 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.
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Reposted by Gareth Clay
Christine Eriksen @drceriksen.bsky.social · 01/11/2025
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
surveymonkey.com
LIVING WITH WILDFIRE IN THE UK AND IRELAND
Take this survey powered by surveymonkey.com. Create your own surveys for free.
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Reposted by Gareth Clay
Dr Thomas Smith 🔥🌏 @drtels.bsky.social · 29/10/2025
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
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Mike Waddington 🇨🇦 @peatofmind.bsky.social · 28/10/2025
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/...
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Reposted by Gareth Clay
Heather Craddock @hcraddock.bsky.social · 23/10/2025
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
eventbrite.co.uk
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.
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Reposted by Gareth Clay
Dr Emma Shuttleworth @em-shuttleworth.bsky.social · 07/10/2025
🚨 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/
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Reposted by Gareth Clay
Mike Peacock @peatymike.bsky.social · 16/10/2025
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!
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Richard Fewster @richard-fewster.bsky.social · 14/10/2025
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!
findaphd.com
[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
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Dr Scott J. Davidson @wetlandresilienceresearchgroup.com · 13/10/2025
🚨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...
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Fred Worrall @fredworrall.bsky.social · 22/09/2025
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
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Gareth Clay @garethclay.bsky.social · 05/09/2025
🚨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
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New Phytologist @newphyt.bsky.social · 08/08/2025
#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.
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Kerryn Little @littlekerryn.bsky.social · 10/07/2025
Does your research involve fire and shrub fuels? 🔥🌿 Please submit to our special session: "Shrubland fuels and their fire behaviour modelling challenges" at the 11th International Fire Ecology and Management Congress, New Orleans! Abstracts due soon-15th July! afefirecongress.org/special-sess...
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David Olefeldt @olefeldt.bsky.social · 07/07/2025
I have a fully funded PhD position open for start in Jan or May 2026. Field work in peatlands of the Northwest Territories, with lab work to understand potential downstream mobilization of carbon, nutrients, mercury after thaw or wildfire. Reach out for more information, and please send on!
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fluxsoilsleaves.bsky.social @fluxsoilsleaves.bsky.social · 02/07/2025
New paper out today: Sphagnum C flux response and recovery to drought www.nature.com/articles/s41...
nature.com
Recovery of Sphagnum from drought is controlled by species-specific moisture thresholds - Scientific Reports
Scientific Reports - Recovery of Sphagnum from drought is controlled by species-specific moisture thresholds
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International Journal of Wildland Fire @ijwildlandfire.bsky.social · 13/06/2025
🔥Call for Papers: Wildland-Urban Interface Fires Special Collection in IJWF!🌳🏠🌳 Share research on fire dynamics, risk modelling, resilience & more. If you have any questions, reach out to the team. 📆 Submit by 31 Dec 2025 More Information: www.publish.csiro.au/wf/content/C... #FireScience
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Abbey Marcotte @abbeymarcotte.bsky.social · 08/05/2025
Excited to share our new paper in Environmental Research: Water! We studied how wildfires and drought mobilise legacy metal contaminants from peatlands, focusing on the 2018 Stalybridge Moor fire in the UK. Read it here: iopscience.iop.org/journal/3033...
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Kerryn Little @littlekerryn.bsky.social · 17/04/2025
New paper linking persistent high pressure systems to extreme fire weather and wildfire activity across Europe: royalsocietypublishing.org/doi/10.1098/...
royalsocietypublishing.org
Persistent positive anomalies in geopotential heights drive enhanced wildfire activity across Europe | Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences
Persistent positive anomalies (PPAs) in 500 hPa geopotential height are upper-air circulation patterns associated with surface heatwaves, drought and fuel aridity. We examined the association between ...
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Leverhulme Centre for Wildfires, Environment and Society @centrewildfires.bsky.social · 10/02/2025
We have an exciting new PhD opportunity, exploring #environmentaljustice in #firegovernance through arts-based approaches. Based at @imperialcollegeldn.bsky.social, supervised by Adriana Ford and @eliapos.bsky.social Apply by 3rd March #politicalecology centreforwildfires.org/news/phd-in-...
centreforwildfires.org
PhD in Exploring environmental justice in fire governance through arts-based approaches (closing date 3 Mar 2025) - Leverhulme Wildfires Centre
PhD opportunity with the Leverhulme Centre for Wildfires, Environment and Society at Imperial College London Title: Exploring environmental justice in fire governance through arts-based approaches   P...
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JGR: Biogeosciences @jgrbiogeo.bsky.social · 08/01/2025
🌟Call for Papers: JGR Biogeosciences Special Collection🌟 "Biogeosciences Leaders of Tomorrow" 📅 Deadline: Feb 7, 2025 Nominate early-career & underrepresented biogeoscientists for this special issue spotlighting emerging leaders in the field. 🔗: agupubs.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/hub/journal/...
agupubs.onlinelibrary.wiley.com
Journal of Geophysical Research: Biogeosciences Call for Papers: Biogeosciences Leaders of Tomorrow
<em>Journal of Geophysical Research: Biogeosciences</em> is an AGU journal publishing papers on the biogeosciences of the Earth system and the extension of this research to planetary studies.
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Gareth Clay @garethclay.bsky.social · 19/11/2024
Polluted Peatland Landscapes: identifying problems and uncovering solutions meetingorganizer.copernicus.org/EGU25/sessio... @garethclay.bsky.social @mercury-ecohydro.bsky.social #PeatSky #PeatECR #PeatlandsMatter
meetingorganizer.copernicus.org
Session BG3.25
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Gareth Clay @garethclay.bsky.social · 08/01/2025
For everyone pulling their #peatland abstracts together this week - don't forget the deadline for #EGU25 is next Wednesday 15th Jan 13:00 CET. Check out the thread for a list of all the great #peatland sessions #PeatSky #PeatECR #PeatlandsMatter @eurogeosciences.bsky.social
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Colin McCarter @mercury-ecohydro.bsky.social · 06/01/2025
Christmas day publication (a first for me!) on how industrial smelters' impact hydrophysical peat properties and the implications for wildfires, restoration, and drought! A great collab with @peatofmind.bsky.social , @gregverkaik.bsky.social , and others! onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/...
onlinelibrary.wiley.com
Hydrophysical Properties of Peat in Undisturbed and Smelter‐Impacted Peatlands: Implications for Moss Recovery, Drought and Wildfire
Compared to undisturbed peat, the legacy of atmospherically deposited toxic metals from mining and smelter activities has altered peat hydrophysical properties rendering them more susceptible to peat...
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Richard Fewster @richard-fewster.bsky.social · 19/12/2024
BG3.25: Polluted peatland landscapes: identifying problems and uncovering solutions @garethclay.bsky.social @mercury-ecohydro.bsky.social meetingorganizer.copernicus.org/EGU25/sessio... #PeatECR #PeatSky #EGU25
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Soil Use and Management @sumjournal.bsky.social · 18/12/2024
🎄CHRISTMAS CRACKER 🎄 The formation of peat—Decreasing density with depth in UK peats Worrall, Clay, Heckman, Ritson, Evans, & Small #soil #soilscience #soils @fredworrall.bsky.social @garethclay.bsky.social doi.org/10.1111/sum....
The comparison of degree of unsaturation (Ω) and radiocarbon age with the composition of lignin, plant protein and cellulose (…, red dotted lines); the proposed bonding trends (_, thick black lines); the composition of aboveground biomass (■); and the best-fit straight line (---, blue dashed line). The shaded area is standard error on the best-fit straight line.
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Kerryn Little @littlekerryn.bsky.social · 21/11/2024
PhD opportunity!! ➡️Heathland Flammability Responses to Environmental Change 🌿🔥 centa.ac.uk/studentship/... Work with a great team of researchers at University of Birmingham, University of Exeter, Forestry England & Met Office!
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Gareth Clay @garethclay.bsky.social · 19/11/2024
Lots of great #peatland sessions at #EGU25. Here’s a breakdown of what’s on… Remember applications for financial support for travel to #EGU25 need to be submitted by 2 Dec 2024 – details here egu25.eu/guidelines/s... #PeatSky #PeatECR #PeatlandsMatter @eurogeosciences.bsky.social
egu25.eu
EGU25 - Supports & waivers
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Dr Emma Shuttleworth @em-shuttleworth.bsky.social · 19/11/2024
Peatland friends! We're convening our #Peatland #Hydrology session at #EGU25. There are lots of peaty sessions on the programme this year so it will be an excellent opportunity for us all to get together. You can submit your abstract here: bit.ly/4hVgSE7 #PeatlandsMatter #PeatSky #PeatECR
meetingorganizer.copernicus.org
Session HS10.3
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