Pollution Stories

22-23 August Project Workshop, JMI, New Delhi

Workshop Schedule

Air Pollution in Delhi: Confronting Challenges and Telling New Stories

(22^nd– 23^rd August, 2022)

Venue: Media Resource Centre, AJKMCRC

Registration for Participants (9.00 AM -9.45 AM) 22nd August 2022

Session I: Confronting Challenges: Interventions by Environmental Organizations

Date & Time: 22^nd August Morning (Offline) 10.00 AM-1.00 PM

Chair- Dr Sabina Kidwai

Sl.No.	Name	Designation& Organization	Time	Topic
	Prof Shohini Ghosh Dr Pawas Bisht	Officiating Director Principal Investigator, Keele University	10.00 AM	Welcomes the participants Introduction to the project
	Tea 10.30 to 10.45
	Shambhavi Shukla	Program Manager, Center for Science and Environment	11.00 AM	CSE’s work on Air Pollution with Special Emphasis on Vehicular Emissions
	Shruti Sinha	Manager, Policy & Outreach,Chintan Environmental Research & Action Group	11.30 AM	Importance of Waste Management in Tackling Air Pollution
	Dr. R. Suresh	Senior Fellow & Area Convenor, Center for Environmental Studies, The Energy Research Institute (TERI)	12.00 PM	Nature & Impact of Air Pollution Emanating from Rural Areas of Delhi NCR Region and TERI’s Interventions on it
	Nimish Singh	Associate Fellow, Earth Science and Climate Division, The Energy Research Institute (TERI)	12.30 PM	Impact of Stubble Burning on Air Quality in Delhi and TERI’s Interventions on it

Lunch 1.00pm to 2.00pm Nehru Guest House

Session II: Confronting Challenges: Understanding Policy and Regulation

Date and Time: 22^nd August Afternoon (Online) 2.30 PM-5.00PM (Arrangements will be made for offline participants to attend the online lectures at AJKMCRC)

Chair: Dr Eva Giraud

Sl.No.	Name	Designation &Organization	Time	Topic
1.	Prof. Awadhendra Sharan	Director and Professor,Center for the Study of Developing Societies (CSDS)	2.30 PM	Historical Context of Regulatory Policies on Air Pollution in Delhi
2.	Nandikesh Sivalingam	Director, Center for Research on Energy & Clean Air (CREA)	3.00 PM	CREA’s Interventions to Tackle Air Pollution
3..	Prof. S.N. Tripathi	Coordinator of the National Knowledge Network, formed under the National Clean Air Program and an Expert Member of Steering Committee and Monitoring Committee, National Clean Air Program	3.30 PM	Role of National Clean Air Program (NCAP) in Tackling Air Pollution
4..	Dr. Sarath Guttikunda	Director, Urban Emissions Info	4.00 PM	Urban Emissions Info’s Role in Data Generation on Air Pollution
5..	Satish Sinha	Associate Director, Toxics Link	4.30 PM	Waste and Impact on Air Quality

Tea will be served directly to the participants at 4.00pm

Session III: Storytelling for Environmental Change: I

Date and Time: 23^rd August Morning (Offline) 10.30 AM- 1.00 PM

Chair: Dr Pawas Bisht

Sl.No.	Name	Designation &Organization	Time	Topic
1.	Dr. Pragati Paul	Senior Assistant Professor AJK MCRC	10.30 AM	Designing and Executing Campaigns for Creating Awareness to Tackle Air Pollution
2..	Sharad Gaur	Environmentalist	11.00 AM	Improving Waste Management through Citizen & Corporate Participation
	Tea 11.30 to 11.45
3..	Joydeep Gupta	South Asia Director, Third Pole	12.00 PM	Reporting on Environment Stories
4..	Sohail Akbar	Associate Professor, AJK MCRC	12.30 PM	Air Pollution & Photographing Avian Fauna

Lunch 1.00pm to 2.00pm Nehru Guest House

Session IV: Storytelling for Environmental Change-II

Date and Time: 23^rd August Afternoon (Online) 2.30 PM-5.00 PM (Arrangements will be made for offline participants to attend the online lecture at AJKMCRC)

Chair: Dr Sudeshna Devi

Sl.No.	Name	Designation & Organization	Time	Topic
1,.	Rajiv Khurana	Founder Trustee, Lung Care Foundation	2.30 PM	Impact of Air Pollution of Health & Well Being
2,.	Aesha Datta	Environmental Journalist	3.00 PM	Environment Beat in Indian Media with special emphasis on Reporting on Air Pollution
3.	Gautam Pandey	Director Riverbank Studios and Vice President Documentaries at International Forum of Motion Picture Producers	3.30 PM	Wildlife Filmmaking and Working on Air Pollution
4..	Shirish Khare	Independent Journalist and Writer	4.00PM	Environmental Storytelling: Experiences from the Margins

Tea will be served directly to the participants at 4.00pm

Note: Google Meet links will be sent for the online sessions

Call for filmmakers: New stories on air pollution-apply by 20th July!

Call for filmmakers based in India and New Delhi as part of our ‘Pollution Stories’ project (pollutionstories.org) Looking for new voices and stories on air pollution in New Delhi. 20th July deadline. Apply now! #AirPollution #environment #storytelling

Recruiting New Delhi-based RA for Environmental Storytelling Project

A chance to join our team!

Recruiting New Delhi-based RA for Environmental Storytelling Project (16 months; full-time). Application deadline: 25 May 2022. Role is envisaged for Indian nationals.

We are pleased to announce that we are actively recruiting for a full-time ‘Research Assistant’ for “Storytelling for Environmental Change: Tackling Air Pollution in the World’s Most Polluted City” (www.pollutionstories.org) funded by the British Academy’s Humanities and Social Sciences’ Tackling Global Challenges Programme, supported under the UK Government’s Global Challenges Research Fund.

The position will be based in New Delhi at our partner institution AJK Mass Communication Research Centre, Jamia Millia Islamia. The role is for 16 months and will involve assisting the project team (Bisht, Giraud & Kidwai) in the delivery of all aspects of the planned programme (profiles of project team and programme of work are available on project website).

The role would a great fit for Media or Social Sciences post-graduates with a keen interest in the field of creative environmental communications. It should be a great opportunity to work with an international team on an innovative project. The role holder would have the opportunity of deepening their reserach and creative communications skillls and participate in dissemination activity in India and the UK.

Details of application process are available here:
https://lnkd.in/ezE4_WJK

#environment #storytelling #research #airpollution #pollutionstories #newdelhi

‘Pollution Stories’ event showcased for excellence in public engagement with research

The project team (Bisht, Giraud, and Kidwai) alongwith community partners B Arts delivered an activity series titled ‘Environmental Storytelling Between Stoke-on-Trent and New Delhi’ at the 2021 Being Human Festival (UK’s national festival of the Humanities; led by the School of Advanced Study, University of London, in partnership by the AHRC and the British Academy). The activity has been showcased as a model of best practice in public engagement by the festival organisers and Dr Pawas Bisht was invited to share his experience and knowledge at an online webinar for 2022 applicants: https://beinghumanfestival.org/get-involved/applying-being-human-2022

Bisht spoke about the value pf public engagement work, the significance of choosing the right community partners, and ways of engaging audiences and enabling participatory dialogue. A recording of the event can be viewed here:

Pollution stories student films screened at the Rain International Nature Film Festival 2022

We are delighted to share the news that two student films produced as part of the activities for the project were screened at the 4th Rain International Nature Film Festival (11-12 March 2022, CMS College, Kottayam, Kerala, India). ‘Latent City (Feeding Without Footprint)’ by Avikal and Pankaj and ‘The Giant Towers’ by Heena and Monazza’ were selected as part of the competition for student films. The filmmakers are students of the AJK Mass Communication Research Centre, Jamia Millia Islamia (JMI). The films were produced as part of a short course on ‘Storytelling for Environmental Change: Tackling Air Pollution’ offered to MA students at JMI; it was led by Dr Sabina Kidwai (Co-I) and supported by Dr Pawas Bisht (PI) and Dr Eva Giraud (Co-I). Congratulations to the filmmakers!

The films can be watched below:

Being Human 2021: Pollution Stories Films

Environmental Storytelling Tackling Air Pollution: Between Stoke and New Delhi

Films from Stoke

Stoke-on-Trent by Katy Goodwin

Changes by Reuben Winn

Up in Smoke by Rowan Fitt

Films from New Delhi

E-Rickshaws byMoin & Narita

Cycling byJishad and Nyshma

The Giant Towers (on smog towers) byHeena and Monazza

Latent City- Feeding without Footprint (on urban agriculture)byAvikal and Pankaj

Research on environmental storytelling and air pollution showcased at national festival

A Keele University led research on environmental storytelling as an approach to tackle urban air pollution is being showcased as part of the Being Human Festival 2021.

The British Academy-funded research project, led by Dr Pawas Bisht and with Dr Eva Giraud (University Sheffield) and Dr Sabina Kidwai (JMI, New Delhi) as co-researchers, is being featured as part of this year’s festival with a screening on Saturday 13 November at Stoke-based B-Arts. The event will take place between 1pm and 2:30pm and booking is required.

The screening and discussion event will showcase films produced by young people from Stoke-on-Trent and New Delhi exploring the problem of urban air pollution which affects both these cities. The films from Stoke have been produced in collaboration with B Arts (led by Natalie Willatt and Molly Drummond). The films from New Delhi have been produced by students from AJK Mass Communication Research Centre (Jamia Millia Islamia, New Delhi) under the supervision of Dr Sabina Kidwai.

The screening will enable attendees to experience and discuss new ways of telling stories about air pollution, as well as exploring strategies for crafting stories that are emotionally engaging, empowering for affected communities, and which generate global solidarities and interconnections.

Urban air pollution is one of the most urgent environmental problems confronting communities across the world. It is also a problem that is often invisible, hard to pin down, and difficult to communicate powerfully in mainstream media.

Being Human is the UK’s only national festival of the Humanities and brings together universities, museums, galleries, archives, independent research organisations, community and commercial partners to make research in the Humanities accessible, and demonstrate its relevance to our everyday lives. The festival is sponsored by the Arts and Humanities Research Council, British Academy, and School of Advanced Study.

Dr Bisht said: “It’s been fantastic to work with young people in Stoke-on-Trent on the issue of air pollution. It’s been energising and inspiring to see them engage with the problem in the local context and find creative ways of communicating their perspectives.

“The festival event also gives us an excellent opportunity to showcase stories from the UK and India side-by-side and generate transnational connections, dialogue, understanding and action on this urgent problem.”

Natalie Willatt from B-Arts, said: “Working with artists on subject matter that is scientific in nature has been incredibly interesting and thought provoking. Each participant has, in their own way, sought to challenge the status quo of how we tell stories about air pollution which has resulted in some incredibly intriguing and innovative work being made.

“These creative and original films being made will no doubt bring new audiences to the issue, which is imperative in the current climate.”

Being Human Festival Funding for ‘Environmental Storytelling Between Stoke-on-Trent and New Delhi’

We are pleased to share news that Dr Pawas Bisht has been successful in securing funding from the Being Human Festival 2021 for the organisation of a series of participatory storytelling workshops and a public screening and discussion event; the activity series is titled ‘Environmental storytelling between Stoke-on-Trent and New Delhi: Tackling Air Pollution’ and involves a collaboration with B arts, the leading participatory arts organisation working in Stoke-on-Trent. Being Human is the UK’s national festival of the humanities, led by the School of Advanced Study, University of London in partnership with the Arts & Humanities Research Council and the British Academy. The 2021 edition of the festival is focused on the theme of ‘Renewal’ and runs between 11-20 November. The proposed activities would explore the festival’s theme from the perspective of environmental renewal and draws on Dr Bisht (PI), Dr Giraud (Co-I) and Dr Kidwai’s (Co-I) ongoing British Academy funded project on ‘Storytelling for Environmental Change’.

The workshops would engage young people (18–25-year-olds) from Stoke-on-Trent enabling them to produce their own stories about the problem of air pollution in their city and their imaginations of sustainable urban futures. The participants will engage in a two-way conversation with UK and India based researchers, environmental advocates, and filmmakers to share knowledge around environmental storytelling. Drawing on this dialogue, and with the mentorship of B arts based artists Martin Gooding and Natalie Willatt, the participants will produce four short films examining the issue of air pollution and environmental degradation in Stoke-on-Trent. A public event will be scheduled in the festival week (between 11-20 November) for the screening of the films and a discussion about environmental futures and the role of stories and storytelling in enabling cultural and behavioural change.

Overall, the proposed activity aims to:

Provide an opportunity for the development and sharing of community-led imaginations and stories of urban environmental renewal

Focus on engaging young audiences who are the most direct stakeholders in the development of environmentally sustainable futures

Build transnational connections and dialogue

Enhance community resilience and skills for the development of sustainable and hospitable environmental futures