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New Consortium on Climate Change and Population Health Invites Participation
10/30/09
SeaTrust Institute and IGI Global invite you to consider participating in an online international Consortium on Climate Change and Population Health. This Consortium’s primary mission is to support interdisciplinary efforts that imbed sustainability, human health, climate change and public policy perspectives in order to effectively address population health concerns in the context of climate change.
How will the Consortium work?
First research teams will be established and include representatives from universities, governmental and nongovernmental organizations based in both developing and developed countries. Participants will develop structures and produce synergetic work dedicated to the discovery and analysis of potential solutions at the nexus of climate change adaptation and population health concerns with special emphasis on populations at greatest risk, such as those in geographically vulnerable regions, children, seniors, etc.
The research teams will then generate specific scenarios in small work groups from different intellectual disciplines and regional orientations who are focused on a specific issue involving climate change and population health. Through synchronous and asynchronous online discourse and interactive GIS mapping, participants will actively evaluate with others in their work group current accepted baseline climate and health information and assumptions (e.g. WHO, ESSP, IPCC reports). Next participants will interconnect the scenarios and maps of their respective work groups with those of other groups and integrate the best available information on climate and medical science, social conditions and policy. Quarterly public online events will highlight progress. Each team will contribute a chapter for publication in a major IGI Global textbook as a research and teaching resource for academic institutions. Consortium directors particularly encourage the development of new and future research partnerships across disciplines and cultures. The process will culminate with an in person conference to spur further collaborations.
What is different about this project?
By addressing the thorny issues collaboratively and across boundaries using the latest online technology, the Consortium founders intend to build the capacity of local, regional and global leaders to make proactive rather than reactive responses to climate change and population health through:
• Connecting climate change issues to specific at-risk population health concerns
• Creating developing country/developed country teams around key issues
• Identifying risks and opportunities for adaptation
• Creating new policy-relevant interdisciplinary knowledge streams and questions
• Identifying and prioritizing research needs to address those questions
• Communicating results to as wide an audience as possible through online and traditional media thereby contributing to a communications strategy for policy effectiveness
• Focusing on creating knowledge to inform policy decisions rather than making policy recommendations
How will the selection process be undertaken?
Participant selection will be based on content expertise, a desire to collaborate in a virtual environment, and an adherence to the social mission of this project. Current topical discussions often label “winners” and “losers” from climate change at individual, species or national scales. Informed knowledge about adaptation measures that pertain to climate change and population health significantly contributes to whether, and at what scales, decisions will promote wins or losses for individuals and for societies.
Consortium composition will span disciplines, geographic regions and cultures, knowledge perspectives, and a theoretical-practical application continuum. Such diversity requires dedication to negotiating all types of boundaries and being open to new ways to consider problems, methods and solutions. Therefore, best opportunities for participation will be for those who demonstrate the following:
• documented research interest in climate and health
• Ph.D., M.D. and/or doctoral candidate with relevant publications or research projects; or a practitioner directly involved in decision making related to climate and population health issues
• interdisciplinary research interests
• willingness to work in an online environment
• interest in global implications even if work is on a local / regional scale
What kind of time will participation entail?
This project is anticipated to last two years culminating in a published book and in-person conference which may occur following the official project. The amount of time may vary depending on the work group, but participants should expect to spend two hours twice per month in online sessions with the work groups and / or contributing to the quarterly public events. We anticipate that engaging in this process will greatly enhance and promote participants’ research at an international level.
How do I participate?
If this opportunity excites your passion for research and contribution, please follow the submission instructions below and a qualifying questionnaire will be emailed to you. Review for the first cohort of participants is expected to be completed by the end of December.
Thank you! We look forward to hearing from you and answering any questions you may have.
SeaTrust Institute and IGI Global Research Team
Please submit the following information by the end of December:
• Name
• Affiliation
• Institution
• Research Interest
• Email address
Please email this information to Dr. Lynn Wilson at lwilson@nasw.org
All applicants will receive notification of participation by the end of January, 2010.
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