Memories of Mansfield and Geography: Pam Berry This year we say farewell to Supernumerary Fellow in Geography, Dr Pam Berry. Here, recent graduate and Communications Assistant, Francesca Rigby (Geography, 2018), interviews Pam to find out more about her career. In addition, Pam’s long-time colleague and friend, Dr Tony Lemon (Emeritus Fellow, Geography), illustrates the many ways she has touched the lives of Mansfield’s students and staff through the years. Pam has many happy recollections of teaching at Mansfield, and in typical Geography style, some of her best memories were made beyond the tutorial room. She recalls, for instance, a trip to the New Forest, where tutors and students were crossing a bog to gather data on the ecology of local plants. Pam remembers balancing on grassy tussock, whilst watching an unfortunate student in front of her sinking in up to her knees. Aside from the fieldwork, she also remembers enjoying her conversations with students at the 1887 Society winetastings organised by Tony Lemon.
Stepping down from her position as Supernumerary Fellow, Pam is looking forward to having some spare time. Gardening gloves at the ready, she is keen to tend to her own biodiverse garden, which she explains needs some TLC. A true geographer at heart, she is eager to travel again, as well as taking long walks near her home. Pam is also a committed member of her local church community and is currently investigating the role of women in the church – once a researcher, always a researcher! We wish Pam all the best in her future projects, both professional and personal, as she begins her well-earned retirement.
In 2015, Pam’s term as a tutor for students at both Mansfield and Regent’s Park came to an end. Her climate change and biodiversity research had led to more European travelling, and she found it increasingly difficult to make time for teaching and marking tutorial essays. The discipline was changing too – she recalls the challenges of integrating some of the newer, more abstruse human geographical terms into her physical and environmental geography teaching. So she stepped aside to make room for others to pick up the challenge. Pam is grateful to Mansfield for enabling her to continue her membership of College, while she pursued her research. She speaks passionately about the contribution of nature-based solutions to worldwide challenges, highlighting measures as simple as establishing biodiverse gardens, which can address biodiversity loss, provide shade, slow water flow and much more. Nature alongside or instead of technology, Pam explains, is the way forward. The world today, she notes, is beginning to move away from a compartmentalised approach to environmental issues, towards thinking about how they can be addressed together as an integrated system.
Photography by John Cairns
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