Universities and Climate Change

12 - 13 December 2017. Queen Mary University of London. Universities and Climate Change: The Role of Climate Change Research and Projects in Fostering Climate Action.

There are  relatively few events where a multidisciplinary overview of university-based research efforts and projects on climate change can be show cased, and where researchers from across the spectrum of the natural and social sciences have had the opportunity to come together to discuss research methods, the results of empirical research or exchange ideas about on-going and future research initiatives focusing on climate change mitigation and adaptation.

It is against this background that the 2nd Symposium “Universities and Climate Change” was organised by Manchester Metropolitan University, Queen Mary University of London (UK), and HAW Hamburg, Germany, under the auspices of the International Climate Change Information Programme (ICCIP).

It involved researchers in the field of climate change in the widest sense, not only from traditional climate science, but also from the fields of environment, human geography, business and economics, arts, administration and media studies.

The Symposium focused on the role of climate change research and projects in fostering climate action, and contributed to the further development of this fast-growing field.

Extracts of the Programme

• Improving Knowledge and Practices of Mitigating Climate Change Effects through Waste Recycling in a Community in Ibadan, Nigeria (Dr. Hammed Taiwo Babatunde, University of Ibadan, Nigeria)
• The value of understanding smallholder farmers' contextual vulnerability to climate change and variability (Mrs. Louise Abongu, University of Reading. School of Agriculture, Policy and Development, UK)
• Community Action for Biodiversity and Forest Conservation and Adaptation to Climate Change in the Wild Coffee Forests (CAFA) (Svane Bender-Kaphengst, The Nature and Biodiversity Conservation Union (NABU), Ethiopia)
• Understanding the role of networks in stimulating adaptation actions on the ground: examples from two African case studies (Dr. Lorena Pasquini, University of Cape Town, South Africa)
• Behavioural approaches of rural women farmers to mitigation and adaptation measures of climate change in Abia state Nigeria (Dr. Umeh Ogechi Jubilant, Michael Okpara University of Agriculture Umudike, Nigeria) 
• Climate Change Impacts and Research in the Caribbean: contraints, opportunities and the role of tertiary institutions (Dr. Lisa Benjamin, The Climate Change Initiative/University of the Bahamas, The Bahamas)
• Integrated Nutrient Management Can Enhance Capacity of Conservation Agriculture to Mitigate Climate Change in Southern Africa (Prof Isaiah IC Wakindiki, University of Venda, South Africa) 
• Maize yields in varying rainfall regimes and cropping systems across Southern Africa: A modelling assessment (Mr. Siyabusa Mkuhlani, Climate Systems Analysis Group, University of Cape Town, South Africa)
• Assessing the impact of 1.5 and 2 degree warming on crop suitability over West Africa (Temitope S. Egbebiyi, Olivier Crespo, Climate System Analysis Group, Environmental and Geographical Science Department, University of Cape Town, South Africa and Visiting Academic Tyndall Center for Climate Change Research, University of East Anglia, Norwich, UK)