In this special collaboration with Bristol’s 2025 Festival of Nature on the theme of ‘Water’, we heard from an expert panel about rivers as the ancient ‘gut health’ of our planet. They explored the crucial role of rivers in the carbon cycle and our ecosystem, the research work and citizen science that is being carried out to learn more about them, the campaigns to keep our waters clean - and what we can be doing to nurture and enjoy rivers in our cities and beyond.
Our panel was led by Professor Darren Reynolds, Pro Vice-Chancellor, Research & Knowledge Exchange, UWE Bristol, and included guests, Emma Brisdion, Communications & Campaigns Manager, The Rivers Trust and UWE Bristol Alum; Dr Eva Perrin, Research Fellow in River Pollution, University of Plymouth and UWE Bristol Alum; Hedvig Lyche, Chief Sustainability Officer, Additive Catchments; and Mehbooba Ferdoush, a cold water swimmer. We also had a special screening of the trailer for the Bristol-made documentary film, ‘Rave On For The Avon’, courtesy of EightySita.
The post-even drinks included a special rivers-themed exhibition by Devon-based photographer and artist, William Templeton, curated watery texts from Bristol independent bookseller, Bookhaus, and stalls from ‘Rave On For The Avon’ and water-testing organisation, MolEndoTech, who demo’d their rapid water quality analysis device with the audience.
Listen more from the Bristol Distinguished Address Series: https://soundcloud.com/uwebristol/sets/bristol-distinguished-address
Watch the Bristol Distinguished Address Series: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLrOzUDjo8U6JTeJ02D-Bo_EtA47W6vG-T
Learn more about the Bristol Distinguished Address Series: www.uwe.ac.uk/events/bristol-dis…hed-address-series
Useful links:
Festival of Nature 2025: https://www.bnhc.org.uk/festival-of-nature/
Professor Darren Reynolds, UWE Bristol: https://people.uwe.ac.uk/Person/DarrenReynolds
Emma Brisdion, The Rivers Trust: https://www.linkedin.com/in/emma-brisdion/?originalSubdomain=uk
The Rivers Trust: https://theriverstrust.org/
Dr Eva Perrin, University of Plymouth: https://www.plymouth.ac.uk/staff/eva-perrin
Hedvig Lyche, Chief Sustainability Officer, Additive Catchments: https://www.linkedin.com/in/hedvig-lyche-4a433710/
Additive Catchments: https://additivecatchments.com/
Rave On For The Avon: https://www.eightysita.com/raveonfortheavondocumentary
Photographer William Templeton: https://williamjoshuatempleton.com/
Bookhaus: https://www.bookhausbristol.com/
MolEndoTech: https://molendotech.com/
Watershed: https://www.watershed.co.uk/
