Students, staff and the University react to Just Stop Oil paint demonstration

Em O'Riley on 12 October 2023

Today, Thursday 12th October, Just Stop Oil protestor Sam Holland was arrested for spraying orange paint on the Great Hall.

The national Just Stop Oil page tweeted a video of Holland spraying the paint and the subsequent arrest:

Holland, a Geography and Economics graduate from the University, gave a speech whilst being carried away by police. He said: “this university is complicit in genocide. We have to act.”

Holland referenced the university’s continued links to Equinor through a graduate scheme.

Equinor is one of the main operators of the Rosebank oil and gas field.

In September, Prime Minister Rishi Sunak supported new oil and gas extraction from Rosebank. This attracted accusations from some that the government was diluting its climate pledges, and that this move was incompatible with their target of net zero by 2050.

Just Stop Oil, a campaign group which demands no new oil and gas projects, had been heavily hinting at the use of their signature orange paint all week.

Image: James Maslin-Bosher

The rally was in protest to the university not signing a letter sent to them in September: “If you do not sign and return the attached letter by Friday 22nd September, students will have no choice but to bring a wave of civil disobedience to their campuses”.

University Vice Chancellors across the country were asked to sign a letter which “gives the government a clear ultimatum: either they stop new oil and gas licences, or you will be duty bound to join your students in slow marches across London to the point that you too will be arrested and imprisoned”.

Just Stop Oil are planning three weeks of resistance in London from the 29th October.

Their strategy is to march until the point of arrest. A high number of arrests can overwhelm the capacity of the Met police, who may then pressure the government to negotiate with the group.

Opinions on campus:

The Gryphon spoke to some members of the large crowd outside the orange-splattered Great Hall.

One student said: “I think it’s a bit excessive to be honest, there’s no need”.

However her friend defended the demonstration, saying there was a feeling of “uni spirit…students are the start of a rebellion”.

Image: James Maslin-Bosher

Asked whether the university was doing enough to combat the climate crisis one interviewee said, “well if it has to come to this, probably not”.

POLIS Professor Mette Wiggen also voiced support for the rally.

Image: James Maslin-Bosher

On the university’s links to oil and gas she said, “I think they should stop immediately, they should not take funding from them at all.”

Wiggen raised the importance of protest freedoms and surprise at the heavy police presence.

She said:

“I’m really concerned about the government’s attack on rights to demonstrate and rights of assembly, human rights really”.

Image: James Maslin-Bosher

In a statement to The Gryphon, a spokesperson for the University of Leeds said: “While we support the right to legal protest, we are hugely disappointed that todays demonstration led to the vandalism of a University building”. The Great Hall is a grade II listed building built in the late 19th Century.

On links to fossil fuel companies they said: “We avoid companies that are materially engaged in certain sectors, including thermal coal, the extraction of fossil fuels from tar sands, oil and gas extraction, production and refining”.

However they have continuing ties to financial providers, including Barclays and Lloyds, both of which finance oil and gas projects.

In its statement the university repeated its climate pledges, including the £174m Climate Plan which includes the target of net zero by 2030.

The paint was quickly jet-washed from the 19th Century facade.

‘Hell Bus’ drives home campaign against greenwashing amidst week of student activism

Em O'Riley on 11 October 2023

From Monday 9th to Wednesday 11th October, the ‘Hell Bus’ was on University of Leeds’ Campus as part of a university tour.

The installation was created by Leeds-born artist Darren Cullen for the 2021 Channel 4 show ‘Joe Lycett Vs the Oil Giant’.

In the show, Lycett, a comedian with a deftness for championing consumer rights, used his trademark satirical style to challenge the false claims of the Shell corporation.

A poster for the event describes the bus as “a travelling pre-apocalyptic satirical art exhibition taking aim at oil company greenwashing”.

Greenwashing is the act of overstating or lying about environmental credentials to appeal to consumers.

Image: spellingmistakescostlives.com

Miniature scenes and mock-posters expose the incompatibility of what these corporations say, and what they do.

Cullen mimics the style and language of their advertising, distorting their image to expose the insufficiency and misleading nature of big companies’ climate efforts.

One display features aspects of a fake strategy in “The Switch to Green Energy”. These include recovering oil from “seabird absorption”, and carbon capture by “burying 1 million bottles of carbonated fizzy drinks deep underground”.

Expert at what we might colloquially call ‘taking the piss’, the satirical work reveals the absurdity that Cullen sees in how corporations react, or fail to react, to the existential threat of climate breakdown.

Image: James Bosher

The bus name and number ‘Hell 2050’, refers to the year by which many governments and companies have pledged to achieve net zero.

One scene references HSBC, NatWest, and Barclays banks.

Accusations of greenwashing against Barclays are particularly relevant given the previous ties to the University of Leeds. Until the new partnership with Lloyds Bank was announced in September 2023, Barclays was the official banking provider.

Whilst the university defended the relationship, some students and staff said it was incompatible with the universities’ sustainability claims.

In response, campaign group Student Rebellion Leeds staged a 12 day occupation of the Esther Simpson building in November 2022.

Image: James Bosher

Their overarching demand was that the university cut all ties to fossil fuels.

In the 2022 Fossil Fuel Finance Report, Barclays ranked 7th worst bank globally, and tops UK-based rankings.

On its website, the bank states: “Barclays is dedicated to helping companies take action to address the environmental and sustainability challenges facing our planet”.

However, since 2019, the bank has made $10bn of credit available to Shell. Barclays classified this as “sustainable finance” despite Shell being the 5th largest oil and gas corporation globally.

Image: James Bosher

Environmental organisation ClientEarth reported that Shell’s 2018-2030 emissions will account for 1.6% of the 1.5°c budget.

This number is what scientists and the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) say is the maximum temperature rise that will not pose a serious threat to life.

The ‘Hell Bus’ is not the only climate activism taking place on campus this week.

Tomorrow, Thursday 12th October, The Gryphon will be live-reporting from the Leeds Just Stop Oil rally at the Wavy Bacon sculpture. The post on Instagram announcing the rally had the song ‘Paint the Town Red’ by Doja Cat attached, and the caption read: “You reallyyyy dont want to miss this…”.

Just Stop Oil is infamous for its use of orange paint in demos, including this week at universities across the country.

This includes in Bristol, where a University of West England (UWE) student was arrested on Monday 9th for spraying orange paint over a University of Bristol building.

Image: Just Stop Oil

The action was in response to the university’s continued partnership with Barclays.

Just Stop Oil runs a national campaign protesting the UK government’s licensing of new oil and gas projects.

Despite pledges to divest, universities nationwide maintain problematic links to fossil fuel companies and the banks which finance them.

Research and climate activist website DeSmog found that since 2022, large fossil fuel companies have pledged £40.4m to UK universities. The universities which received the most funding were Exeter, Imperial College London, and Heriot-Watt.

School of Earth and Environment, Image: Leeds University website

In 2020, a report by The Independent revealed that the University of Leeds’ School of Earth and Environment received the second highest amount of funding from fossil fuel companies. At £11.2m, this was second only to Imperial College whose earth sciences department received £30.1m.

There was no data available on where funding comes from in 2023.

Asked about its environmental commitments, a spokesperson for the University of Leeds said: “The University is taking a robust approach to tackling climate change with a £178 million Climate Plan that sets out our actions, targets and investments to achieve net zero by 2030”.

Open Quantum System Modelling: Interning at UCL

Esther Delap on 10 October 2023

I spent 8 weeks at UCL’s Quantum Technologies department as a summer intern, working on simulating an open quantum system. An open quantum system is a quantum system that interacts with the environment. All real-world quantum systems are in fact open since nothing can be truly isolated from its environment, and therefore it is of vital importance to be able to model open quantum systems. However, methods to model open quantum systems are underdeveloped, particularly in two dimensions, because it is harder to numerically solve open quantum systems. Furthermore, very interesting phenomena arise in two-dimensional open quantum systems that are not yet understood.

During my internship, I used the Dissipative Discrete Truncated Wigner Approximation (DDTWA), a method introduced by Peter Rable, to model a large but finite two-dimensional open quantum system. The motivation behind this project was the suggestion of a quantum time crystal phase in a certain parameter regime of the dissipative XYZ model, where time-translation symmetry is spontaneously broken. The dissipative Hamiltonian is an interaction model in which the quantum particles interact with each other based on the distance between them, and a parameter determines how quickly this interaction reduces with distance. In the dissipative XYZ model, the parameter is different for the three different directions. In a certain parameter regime, other methods for modelling the open quantum system break down. One suggestion is that a time crystal phase occurs, where time-translation symmetry is spontaneously broken leading to an oscillatory phase in the time simulation of the system. To verify this, we need to successfully simulate the dissipative XYZ model in this parameter regime. My task was to use the DDTWA to attempt to simulate this situation.

We know from other methods of modelling what the time evolution of the transverse Ising model in two dimensions should look like. Therefore, the initial task was to simulate this model using the DDTWA to verify that the code I made for this method worked. Once this was established, the same model was used but for the XYZ Hamiltonian. Again, results for certain parameters were compared to previous simulations. I did not have time to explore the parameter regime of interest, but the code now exists to try this and confirm or dissolve the theory of a time crystal phase.

My internship at UCL allowed me to contribute to a potential new discovery in a cutting-edge field, with the possibility of being mentioned in a paper. I would recommend the quantum technologies summer internship at UCL for anyone interested in quantum physics and especially for those considering doing a PhD as I gained an invaluable insight into life as a PhD student.

What it’s like to study abroad in Canada

Holly Perkins on 10 October 2023

This year I went abroad, continuing my studies of Physics with Astrophysics at the University of Calgary, in the western Canadian provenance of Alberta. Before arriving in Canada, I had to select the courses I wanted to study for each semester. Since my year abroad counted towards my degree, it was important that the courses I took roughly matched those that were taught in Leeds. In particular, the experimental astrophysics module stood out to me. The University of Calgary has its own observatory located just outside the Canadian Rockies which we were ableto visit one evening during the first semester. Due to its location, pollution is low, allowing an unbelievable view of the night skies. The university has remote access to the telescopes there which we used for various projects throughout the semester. In one such project, my group successfully detected the exoplanet WASP-12b from the transit light curve of the host star WASP-12a.

The style of learning and assessment was quite different in Canada, with some similarities to our school system. Instead of ‘lectures’ we had ‘classes’ in much smaller groups with regular assignments and even weekly quizzes during my second semester. Although this meant term-time was busy and my workload was heavy, it took a lot of pressure off of the end of the year with final exams only worth 20-30% of our final grades.

Across the year I was lucky enough to visit both Banff and Jasper National Park. Both have great views of the Rocky Mountains and were beautiful to visit in all seasons. I was also able to visit Jasper during the Dark Sky Festival. Due to it being a dark sky reserve, the light pollution was limited. Paired with clear skies, this meant that I could see the Milky Way. However, the highlight of my year was seeing the Northern Lights one evening on campus!

Finding the right balance between studying and making the most out of being abroad was challenging, but it is definitely the best decision I have made! Studying physics abroad provided me with the opportunity to learn in a new way in addition to having access to the incredible resources of Calgary’s Physics and Astronomy department.

Moon Palace Tour 2023: A Review

Holly Ullyott on 10 October 2023

Moon Palace is a vibrant and absurdly wonderful fusion of art and science. The school-bus-turned-mobile-observatory is a unique merger of celestial exploration and experimental art which leaves a dazzling effect. The observatory was designed by Artists for Leeds’ Year of Culture 2023 and is run by a vivacious team of Astrophysics Students from the University of Leeds and Coordinators of the East Leeds Project.

During a daytime event, visitors do not need a ticket and are welcome to explore and interact with the Artist and Science on-board Hosts who are keen to answer questions and chat about the huge, mobile art sculpture. There are activities and interactive elements installed all around the Palace, which guests are encouraged to play with. Anyone interested in learning about how to do astronomy and stargazing will find the Astronomer’s Stellarium guide particularly entertaining.

Moon Palace is a vibrant and absurdly wonderful fusion of art and science.

When attending a night-time event, a small group of guests can expect to gaze out into the nearby regions of the Milky Way (the galaxy within which we live) and spy on gas giants, the Roman Messenger: Mercury, as well as peek at the beautiful planet Venus, and the hopeful glint of humanity’s future in the vermilion glow of Mars. Visitors may even spot our closest galactic neighbour, Andromeda, which is hurtling towards a fantastic collision with us expected to occur sometime just before the Sun explodes in about 4.5 billion years.

Image Credit: Richard O’Brien

Following a crash course in telescopic observation, guests are invited to board the Palace with a mug of cosmic tea, served in the hollowed head of a local alien; an example of the specially commissioned ceramics handcrafted by the Artists. Aboard, the enveloping warmth of the gently lit hues melds with the soothing inner warmth of tea, and the show begins. In one half of the evening, the group are welcomed to float through conversation exploring the world around us. The natural intimacy of the session is a gentle impetus to reconnect with one’s self: the Universe within, and the Universe without. In the other half, imagination soars to the heavens as an apprentice Astrophysicist hosts an exploration of celestial musing.

Moon Palace is a place where forgotten childhood whimsy is sparked back to life with bubbling discussion and cosmic wonder. It inspires awe in the everyday, and we warmly invite you to come aboard.

The Moon Palace Tour is ongoing around various locations across Leeds. Tickets and information can be found on the Leeds 2023 website.