Rashid's Blog: A Place for Inquisitive Souls

By Amita Bhakta, Loughborough University

The evolving role of civil society in the development agenda is a critical point of discussion, as Peck (2015) rightly argues in her recent article in the Geography Compass. A key aspect of what is considered as ‘civil society’ builds on traditional notions of getting involved in development ‘from the outside’ separating the donors and those who are seen as providing support, and those receiving it. But when it comes to assessing and evaluating precisely the significance of civil society, it is important to look at the individuals who are getting involved as part of their everyday practices to bring about change, and the subsequent consequences for everyday lives. As reported in The Guardian, it is with the support of civil society organisations such as NGO’s that female farmers in the region of Samburu in Kenya can be empowered to provide for their families…

Via the Geo: Geography and Environment blog, Jessica Conroy (University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, USA) on seabirds, climate change, El Niño and the Galápagos.

Source: Learning from guano: In search of a paleo-seabird proxy

Geo: Geography and Environment is a fully open access journal which means that papers can be read, free of charge, by anyone with an internet connection immediately after they are published. Geo is a Royal Geographical Society (with IBG) and Wiley journal.

Royal Botanical Gardens in Melbourne are internationally renowned and have a history of more than 165 years. Spread over 94 acres, they have breathtaking landscapes and have a collection of more than 10,000 species of plants – both native and exotic.

It is a perfect place to relax within the scenic views. Being a visitor hard-pressed for time, we spent a couple of hours walking through the lush-green landscapes and covering Guilfoyle’s Volcano, Lakes, Fern Gully, and Children’s Garden.

Guilfoyle’s volcano deserves a special mention as it had a couple of big floating islands in it. We were amazed with the various species of Cacti artistically presented there.

They are not as vast as the Longwood gardens I visited in the US (and wrote about few weeks back). However, the entry to Royal Botanical Gardens is free and they are easily approachable being right in the city.

Though one thing that stood…

The National Institute of Technology (NIT) Calicut (India) organized a three-day event Tathva’15 from 30 October to 01 November 2015 at the NIT Campus, Calicut, Kerala, India. The event included invited lectures, workshops and exhibitions. The workshops were desgined to Illuminate the young minds by developing skills in a wide range of engineering disciplines. There were exhibitions on the rich heritage of Indian railways, India’s first 3D printed humanoid robot, Light: Beyond the Bulb, and state-of-the-art electronics by Keltron. There were five invited lectures by experts in different disciplines. I delivered a lecture on the ‘The Story of Light’ covering the Greek era (pre- 8th century C.E.), the Arab-Islamic Golden Age (8th to 15th century C.E.), the European period (16th to 19th century C.E.) and the modern period (20th century C.E. onwards).

Zahid H. Khan delivering a lecture at Tathva’15, NIT Calicut, Kerala. Credit: Tathva’15.