This project was funded by CO2RE – The Greenhouse Gas Removal Hub, Oxford University, Rural Futures Hub and The Worlds We Want Hub, Aberystwyth University. The project is in progress.
The commission formed part of the UK’s national research hub for Greenhouse Gas Removal (GGR), part of a broader £30 million initiative funded by UK Research and Innovation (UKRI). The creative initiative within the hub was supported by a flexible fund of £150,000 from which seven grants were awarded to 7 arts projects.
I have worked with the GGR-Peat Demonstrator Project, one of five interdisciplinary GGR demonstrators funded by UKRI. My focus was on the Pwllpeiran Research Upland Centre at Aberystwyth University, which was one of the three key sites within the GGR-Peat initiative.
The project was developed in consultation with Professor Mariecia Fraser and the team at Pwllpeiran. The work incorporated datasets reading methane (CH4), Carbon Dioxide (CO2), temperature and moisture levels, and air humidity gathered from a ‘remote’ soil sensor network, from ‘local’ sensors inserted into turves of peat in buckets, and from 8 high-resolution soil sensors installed on the peatbog, and chambers installed on 32 treatment plots (20m x 20m each) from 2023 – 2024. The 8 ‘Talkie Boxes’ that formed a central part of the project were designed and made by Dr Neal Snooke, Abersytwyth University Computer Science Dept, following the original prototype designed and made by Dr Pete Todd, Aberystwyth University.