Talks on the value of time spent outside and the health and the wellbeing benefits for primary school age children learning in the great outdoors are among a series of talks to be held at the University of Cumbria’s Ambleside campus in 2019.
The professoriate lectures are a new initiative aimed at appealing to students and locals alike. The lecture series provides an opportunity for Professors at the University of Cumbria to share insights into their work and research and its impact on society.
Professor Diane Cox, Director of Research and Head of the Graduate School, said the aim was to showcase the diverse range of experience to be found there: “The campus is home to world ranked experts. From survival skills to upland land management the university at Ambleside has a wide range of colleagues who are experts in their field. These talks are a way of sharing the diverse range of topics that Ambleside is leading the way in developing.”
The first talk entitled Is Outdoor Education a Movement? will be presented by Dr Chris Loynes, a reader in outdoor studies and will be held at 6pm on February 20 in the Percival Lecture theatre.
Dr Loynes said: ”The Scouting and Guiding movements and the Outward Bound ‘movement’ are three organisations in the Outdoor Education field that sometimes use ‘movement’ to describe themselves.”
He added: “Movements arise amongst people rather than institutions, and they contribute to changes in society rather than maintaining the status quo. What is the history of the outdoor life as a movement, and what can this tell us about the field of Outdoor Education? Significantly, what does the outdoors have to contribute as a movement to the issues of the day?”
The talks are free and it is hoped they will become a regular part of the Ambleside campus calendar.
Campus director Dr Lois Mansfield said:”We are aiming for this to be an on-going rolling programme of talks into 2019-20 thereafter. The campus, in the centre of the Lake District and within a UNESCO World Heritage site, is a marvellous location to consider a variety of topics that are relevant to this area. The university is the ideal venue for debates, discussions and simply taking time out to consider the world around us. Anyone is welcome to attend and I look forward to welcoming new visitors to the campus.”
For information: https://www.cumbria.ac.uk/about/events/university-events/ambleside/is-outdoor-education-a-movement.php
