Centre for Agroecology, Water and Resilience - CAWR

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Centre for Agroecology, Water and Resilience - CAWR The Centre for Agroecology and Food Security, Coventry University. We conduct research to contribute

The Centre for Agroecology, Water and Resilience (CAWR) is driving innovative research on the understanding and development of resilient food and water systems internationally. Food and water security is increasingly threatened by factors such as climate and environmental change, loss of biodiversity, conflict and market volatility. New knowledge, policies and technologies are needed to develop systems that are more resilient to change and which ensure the health of our food and water supplies. Resilient systems are better able to bounce back from stresses caused by longer-term change or short-term events - be it natural processes such as flooding, or human impacts such as war or water pollution incidents. Through its focus on food and water, the Centre’s research develops and integrates new knowledge in social, agroecological, hydrological and environmental processes, as well as the pivotal role that communities play in developing resilience. Unique to this Centre is the incorporation of citizen-generated knowledge - the participation of farmers, water users and other citizens in transdisciplinary research, using holistic approaches which cross many disciplinary boundaries. CAWR also aims to advance resilience and irresilience science through creative work on a new generation of key issues linked to the governance of food systems, hydrological change, urban water, river processes, water quality and emerging pollutants. Research themes and groups:

• Models of resilient food and water systems

• Understanding fundamental processes of resilience and instability in environmental and social systems

• Community self-organisation for resilience

• Policies and institutions to enable resilient food and water systems

• People's knowledge and working beyond the restrictions imposed by academic disciplines (often called transdisciplinarity).

The work of the Coventry Agroecological Living Lab was shared at the XVIII IOBC-WPRS Working Group Meeting on Integrated...
16/10/2026

The work of the Coventry Agroecological Living Lab was shared at the XVIII IOBC-WPRS Working Group Meeting on Integrated Control in Protected Crops, Temperate Climate in the Netherlands. Judith Conroy presented the approaches of small-scale agroecological and organic growers to control crop pests by providing habitat for their natural enemies.
The International Organisation for Biological and Integrated Control event, organised by Wageningen University and Research was attended by the biocontrols and horticulture industries, academia and independent research bodies, to explore and advance the future of biological control in protected cropping. The experiences of small-scale growers offer insights on how building habitat can enable functional biodiversity in polytunnels.
Judith gratefully acknowledges the receipt of funding from Coventry University's ESRC Impact Acceleration Account in enabling this activity.

We are delighted to launch our ROOTED project! “A landed community kitchen in every neighbourhood”, that is the long-t...
15/10/2026

We are delighted to launch our ROOTED project!

“A landed community kitchen in every neighbourhood”, that is the long-term goal of our new project ROOTED that kicked off in Brussels and Lille between September 28-October 1. There, our project team visited pioneering local community kitchens and urban food growing spaces that will inform our work in ROOTED.

Led by Chiara Tornaghi with colleagues Csilla Kiss, Chris Maughan, Adam Millet, Jasber Singh and Adelina Skirth, ROOTED takes a place-based approach to food system transformation. The project brings together an international network of Landed Community Kitchens (LCKs) to develop vital neighbourhood food infrastructures that operate on principles of equity and care for people and nature. As such, LCKs are rooted in local networks of agroecological food production and constitute convivial spaces where people can access, cook and share delicious and affordable food together.

Funded by the European Commission (€6 million) until February 2030, ROOTED has 26 partners from 10 countries. We are honoured and thrilled to be working with so many inspiring partners across Europe!

We’ll be back with more stories. Follow our ROOTED journey on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/rootedlandedcommunitykitchens/

Photo credit: Dániel Fülöp and Yolène Favier

SEMINAR: Reimagining the environmental discourse with Dr Maxwell Apaladaga Ayamba📆 Wednesday 28th October 2026🕓 1 - 2.30...
15/10/2026

SEMINAR: Reimagining the environmental discourse with Dr Maxwell Apaladaga Ayamba
📆 Wednesday 28th October 2026
🕓 1 - 2.30 pm UK Time zone (GMT)
Click here to register: https://bit.ly/4Bq7DpB

Katharina, Alex, Lindy and Helen had a stall at Leamington Spa’s annual EcoFest event on 5 September. They took the AMI ...
15/10/2026

Katharina, Alex, Lindy and Helen had a stall at Leamington Spa’s annual EcoFest event on 5 September. They took the AMI (Automatic Monitoring of Insects) trap, Air DNA sampler, biodiversity JENGA®, flatworm models and biodiversity story cubes to share some of the biodiversity and citizen science research spanning the DAISY, OneSTOP and DRAGONS projects.
They had lots of conversations with interested members of the public and other stallholders. It was lovely to see some other CAWR colleagues and their families participating in the event. Even Groot showed up to join the fun!

Julia Wright accompanied PhD researcher Jay Abrahams, collecting water samples for Lab analysis from a two year old WET ...
14/10/2026

Julia Wright accompanied PhD researcher Jay Abrahams, collecting water samples for Lab analysis from a two year old WET System. Rooted in Action Research Cycles and the applied principles of permaculture design, Jay’s research explores the efficacy of these polycultures - soil-based constructed wetland ecosystems, in purifying a range of wastewater types, whilst producing economic yields and greatly enhancing biodiversity. For the thesis we are measuring harvestable yield, noting species numbers within the constructed wetland habitats and also sampling for analysis as to how effectively the WET System is purifying wastewater. The photos show multi-species edge planting of the second pool - just one example of the wetland edge polycultures included within a WET System, including coppice willow banks, with understory planting and forest garden ’terraces’ or linear orchards.

Ulrich Schmutz as part of the Horizon Europe Innovation Action SCALE-it and the Agroecology Partnership attended the “Ag...
12/10/2026

Ulrich Schmutz as part of the Horizon Europe Innovation Action SCALE-it and the Agroecology Partnership attended the “Agroecology at Scale“ event organised by the Soil Association. The venue was Boxford Farms a large, currently non-organic, fruit producer located on the Suffolk-Essex border. Managed by farm director Robert England the 235-ha farm grows apples, cherries, strawberries, raspberries, blueberries, and asparagus. The Soil Association has formed a strategy partnership with retailer Ocado to have agroecology at scale in the UK.

Congratulations to our students that graduated in July:Zarmina Zahoor: Doctor of Philosophy - Assessment of wildfire dan...
09/10/2026

Congratulations to our students that graduated in July:
Zarmina Zahoor: Doctor of Philosophy - Assessment of wildfire danger under climate change across South Asia and Pakistan: a multi-scale approach using satellite data and climate models.
Joshua Rees: Doctor of Philosophy - An investigation of multi-level and multi-actor networked approaches to food (in)security: the case of feeding Britain.
Ffion Thomas: Doctor of Philosophy - Approaches to managing ash dieback disease using sustainable soil amendments including biochar.
Carolina Gallo Granizo: Doctor of Philosophy - Developing new scenarios to assess fire danger and inform restoration strategies in a changing climate.
Cristian Argamino: Doctor of Philosophy - Investigation of phthalate esters and bis-2(ethylhexyl) adipate in the atmosphere and their toxicological effects.
Neptali Nehemias Pino Venero: Master of Philosophy - The Institutional Chakra. Motivations behind outsiders’ redefinitions of the forest smallholdings (chakra) in the Napu Runa territory in Northwestern Amazonia.
Gordon Madamombe: Master of Arts by Research - Historical knowledges of Charterhouse Coventry and their influence on contemporary perceptions, planning and practice of ecological restoration of Charterhouse Fields.

You can’t build what you can’t picture; that’s the premise behind new project, SPARK4B+ (Strengthening Pathways for Alte...
08/10/2026

You can’t build what you can’t picture; that’s the premise behind new project, SPARK4B+ (Strengthening Pathways for Alternative socio-economic paradigms and governance frameworks and Response-able Knowledge and action for Biodiversity-Positive and just futures).
Led by Alex and Marco together with Jonathan, Claire, Barbara and Lindy, the four-year project kicked off in Coventry 8-10 September and aims to turn alternatives to growth-oriented economic models into practical pathways. Backed by nearly €7 million, SPARK4B+ brings together 17 partners from nine countries.
Follow SPARK4B+ on LinkedIn: https://bit.ly/478TG1b

01/10/2026

🌱 Want to turn your sustainability ideas into real local action?

We're joined by for Operation Wildflower this semester!

Join Operation Wildflower, a free eight-week programme where you’ll design and launch your own sustainability project with personalised mentoring and support.

🧱 Build leadership and innovation skills
🧑‍🤝‍🧑 Meet like-minded people
🤝 Make a practical difference in your community

No previous sustainability knowledge required!

Register your place here 👉 https://www.yoursu.org/events/24722/12785/

01/10/2026

General tickets for ORFC are now live - book your ticket today to the UK’s largest agroecology gathering this coming 7th - 8th January! 🌾🐝

This year, you can expect conversations on the most pressing topics of our time, from the future of organic arable to practical lessons learned from the summer’s drought. We’ll be hearing about the fight of land defenders from the majority world, exploring the importance of the more-than-human in caring for the land, and discussing how agroecology can meet the challenges of AI, climate change and global shocks.

Together, we’ll consider the innovative farm practice, policy developments, funding opportunities and community mobilisation needed to inspire change towards a future that truly nourishes people and planet 🐞

🌳 Over two full days you can expect 145+ dynamic in-person talks and interactive workshops, including 50+ livestreamed sessions.

Online and in-person tickets are available. ORFC offers a tiered ticketing system to reflect our radical and diverse community; limited farmer, subsidised and online bursary tickets are available.

🔗For more information, and to book your ticket, check out our event listing: https://agricology.co.uk/event/oxford-real-farming-conference-2027/

Address

Ryton Gardens, Wolston Lane
Coventry
CV83LG

Opening Hours

Monday 9am - 5pm
Tuesday 9am - 5pm
Wednesday 9am - 5pm
Thursday 9am - 5pm
Friday 9am - 5pm

Telephone

+442477651679

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