BCRA NEWSLETTER MAY 2025
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In this newsletter
• 2025 BCRA Science Symposium and AGM
• BCRA online seminars
• BCRA Special Interest Groups
• BCRA Archaeology Special Interest Group
• CREG field meeting (postponed)
• Cave and Karst Science Issue52(1)
• Hidden Earth 2025 Update
• Bid for 2029 UIS Congress
• BCRA Membership
• Next Council Meeting
• Supporting BCRA
2025 BCRA Science Symposium and AGM
The 36th Annual Cave Science Symposium will be hosted by Professor David Richards, Linda Wilson and Professor Fiona Whitaker at the University of Bristol’s School of Geographical Sciences, University Road Bristol on Saturday 11th October 2025. We welcome everyone with an interest in caves and karst science. This will be a live in-person event but will also be streamed online, where possible. The BCRA AGM will be held in person and online at the end of the morning session. Following the symposium, an informal evening meal will be arranged for those who are interested. Further details will follow. Field trips will take place on Sunday 12th October in the wider Bristol area, including the nearby Mendips.
Call for Abstracts Oral and poster presentations are invited on all areas of cave and karst science, including:
• past climate records from caves
• speleogenesis,
• karst hydrogeology,
• cave archaeology/palaeontology
• cave biology
• cave technology.
Those wishing to present at the Symposium should provide a title and an abstract of up to 300 words and indicate whether an oral presentation or poster presentation would be preferred. This should be sent to David Richards (david.richards@bristol.ac.uk) by 15th August 2025. Please include “BCRA” in the subject line of your email.
Registration There is no registration fee but donations would be appreciated (we suggest £5 - £10 for non-students) to help cover the cost of the event. Donations can be made on the day or online at https://bcra.org.uk/bookshop/donate.html). Registration details will follow nearer the time.
Student Travel Grants Support with travel costs will be available for students who provide a talk or poster and, subject to demand, it may be possible to offer travel support to other student attendees.
Further information Details of the venue and local facilities in Bristol as well as details of the programme and field trips will follow in the second circular. For enquiries concerning oral or poster presentations please contact David Richards (david.richards@bristol.ac.uk).
A sign-up link for the event, field trips and Saturday evening meal will be available nearer the time.
BCRA Online Seminar Monday 12th May 2025 19:30to 21:00 Via Zoom
Limestone, dirt and iron: using cave magnets to understand the past
With: Bethany Fox, Senior Lecturer, Dept. Biological and Geographical Sciences, Univ. of Huddersfield
The natural world is full of tiny magnets: in the soil, in the water, and even in caves. These magnets have fascinating histories that can tell us about changes in the Earth's magnetic field, about rainfall and temperature, about soil microbes and even about industrial pollution. While scientists have been studying natural magnets for many years, it is only recently that magnetometers have become sensitive enough to measure the magnetism of cave deposits, like stalagmites and stalactites. This talk will introduce the wonderful world of cave magnetism, focusing particularly on our recent magnetic study of the flooding history of Waipuna Cave, New Zealand.
BCRA Special Interest Groups
We have a number of special interest groups which you can find on the BCRA website including
Cave and Radio Electronics Group, Cave Surveying ,Explosives Users and Cave Biology . If you are interested in any of these groups, contact the named person on the BCRA website
BCRA Special Interest Archaeology Group This group is being ere-stablished and further information will follow
CREG (Cave and Radio Electronics Group) Field Meeting 17th-18th May 2025 This event has been postponed . Further information will follow later
Cave and Karst Science. The latest version, 52(1), is at the printers and will be available shortly both as hard copy and online. The Editors are keen to receive suitable material for future issues so please get writing!
2025 Hidden Earth Update The dates for Hidden Earth have been announced as 26th-28th September 2025. Please check with the Hidden Earth media outlets and website [ https://hidden.earth/# ] for further information . If you wish to submit a lecture/presentation / workshop ,you can now do this on the Hidden earth website . Details of the various competitions are also available on the website.
Bid for 2029 UIS (Union Internationale de Speleology) Congress. The BCRA in conjunction with the BCA are putting in a bid in to host the 2029 International Congress of Speleology. The UIS hosts an International Congress of Speleology every four years which is the world’s most significant gathering of cave and karst scientists, educators ,managers and explorers. Anyone wishing to assist with the bid should contact the BCRA Chairman and further information will follow if we are successful in our bid to host this prestigious event.
BCRA membership . If you haven’t renewed your membership, or wish to join, go to the membership and subscription section of the BCRA website or upgrade your BCA membership through Just Go.
The next council meeting will be held on Sunday the 6TH of July 2025 from 10.00 to 16.00 hours as an in-person meeting at the British Caving Library . Further information is available on the BCRA website
Supporting BCRA.
Members will note that there has been a lack of field meetings since the end of Covid restrictions and we encourage anyone willing to organise a meeting to contact the secretary.
IT Support
BCRA are very grateful to Adam Cooper who has volunteered to assist Andi Smith maintain the monitoring network at the Poole’s Cavern British Cave Science Centre and to David Herbert who has volunteered to assist with curating the data. As those who use the BCRA website will known it has grown over the years thanks to a major time commitment for David Gibson. It now contains a large amount of important information but accessing this is not always easy. BCRA would welcome support from anyone with the time and expertise to improve, or possibly even to re-write, the site.
If you feel that you can assist, please contact the secretary: bcra-secretary@bcra.org.uk
The next newsletter will be at the end of May 2025