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Dr David Gibson

External Activities

This page last updated on 19-Jun-2023

Scroll down for ResearchGate, CREG journal, BCRA Trustee, Hidden Earth, Awards and Prizes.

ResearchGate

I have a user profile at ResearchGate that includes contributions to ResearchGate's questions and answers section.

CREG Journal

The Cave Radio and Electronics Group is a Special Interest Group of the British Cave Research Association. I have been involved with it almost since its inception in 1998. I have held posts as the Group's journal editor, technical editor and treasurer. I am also (alongside my CSM colleague Mike Bedford) one of its principal authors, with around 300 contributions to the journal.

  • A small selection of my contributions are listed in the Publications list of my staff profile.
  • To see a full list of my CREG articles, you can use my CREG Journal search engine.
  • In 1993 I won an award for my work as the editor of the CREG journal - see Awards/Prizes below.

Photo: The photo  (above or opposite, as your web browser dictates) shows Gareth Kennedy, a former lecturer at CSM, setting up wifi equipment in a disused railway tunnel at Ashbourne, in Derbyshire, to perform experiments that were part of the RFCS RAINOW project. (Photo by David Gibson).


Trustee of the British Cave Research Association

I have been closely involved with the British Cave Research Association, a UK charity, since about 1990. I have held several posts, including its research-fund administrator. From 2010 to 2022 I was the honorary secretary. I am still a trustee of the Association.

I also maintain BCRA's web site and supervise its publications operations. This extends to writing code for the sales operations on the web site, editing and laying out some of its publications and organising their printing.

From 2003 to 2013 I supervised the production of the journal Speleology, and I was the editor of many of the issues.

At the moment (20220) I am involved with BCRA's project to set up a Cave Science Centre at Poole's Cavern in Derbyshire, as part of the team providing loggers and Internet connectivity. The web site, still under development (March 2022) is at cave-science.org.uk. 

The facility is being designed to encourage undergraduates to undertake projects relating to cave science, climate and environment. The rationale is that undergraduates are sometimes disscouraged by universities from entering caves. Even with the promise of nationally-qualified cave 'minders', students have sometimes been unable to get permission to go underground in 'wild caves' to perform experiments and to undertake research as part of their degree dissertations. Some articles about the Cave Science Centre have appeared in the CREG Journal  (Search for "Cave Monitoring Centre", because the facility was initially known as that).  Also see my article Building Rugged Equipment for Use in Caves, at bcra.org.uk/cregj/?j=109

Cave research is important for several reasons – limestone aquifers are an important resource for a large part of the world’s population, and so tracing water flow (and water pollution) is important. Caves also provide a historical climate record, in speleothems, that is important in environmental research into climate change.

 

Hidden Earth

Each year, BCRA runs a national conference known as Hidden Earth. I am part of the organising team for that event.

Recently, we have experimented with a network of computers that provide timetable displays, as well as news and information. The latest iteration uses a Raspberry Pi computer at the heart of each ‘information point’, which operates a web browser, pulling information from a local web server. Read my notes on this project by searching the CREG journal for Hidden Earth Timetable Display


Awards and Prizes

I have never won anything significant, and certainly not in my professional life. The closest I can get is two of the national caving awards, administered by BCRA.

  • 1996: Giles Barker Award for cave photography, for my design of a Flashgun Slave Unit  that was subsequently used by many cavers around the world.
  • 1993: Tratman Award for speleological literature, for the CREG Journal.

It was some time ago now, but I also have...

  • 1972: National Cycling Proficiency Certificate
  • 1969: Quarter Mile Swimming Certificate

I dont think I was ever a blackboard monitor.