Global Sustainable Development News

Substantial flooding in parts of the UK has led to people being evacuated from homes and disruption to travel. Dr Jonathan Clarke, a Senior Teaching Fellow in Global Sustainable Development, argues that the benefits of preparing for floods have been evident for a while, but uncertainty as to where responsibility lies hinders progress.

On Friday 20 September 2019, globally coordinated student strikes took place to protest the lack of government action to combat the climate crisis. On this day, staff and students from across the University took to the Piazza to join the strike. An announcement shown on the Big Screen from the University’s Provost Professor Christine Ennew revealed that the University of Warwick had declared an official climate emergency. In the declaration, the University has shown commitment to zero net carbon from direct emissions and from the energy purchased by 2030, and to zero net carbon from direct and indirect emissions by 2050.

On Wednesday 23 October 2019, an event was held to celebrate the University’s relaunched Global Research Priorities (GRPs) programme. At the heart of the refreshed programme is the use of collaborative, interdisciplinary research to address urgent global challenges.

The review of the programme, which received contributions from academic staff and postgraduate research students, looked closely at how the GRPs programme can support the University’s research going forward and align it to challenges of global significance.

Are you interested in going beyond what you're being taught in your workshops, seminars, and lectures? Carrying out research can lead you to look at and even answer questions that potentially no one else has addressed before you. Not only can research help you to become more engaged with your subject, it can also help you to develop professionally, adding self-education, patience, and organisational and people skills to your capabilities.

Applications for the British Conference of Undergraduate Research and Warwick's Undergraduate Research Support Scheme are now open. These are your opportunities to share your research, engage with other students' work and discuss new ideas.

^{Kayamandi township; Image credit: Lily Rose Pace, Warwick in Africa Student Volunteer 2018}

Are you interested in using education as a tool to make a sustainable difference? As a Warwick student, you have the opportunity to volunteer with The Warwick Laksh Programme and the Warwick in Africa programme, which aim to help learners achieve more by creating a long-lasting impact within the partnership schools involved.

Application for the 2020 Warwick Laksh Programme is now open (exact dates of placements to be confirmed). A Learn About Laksh event is being held on Wednesday 30 October 2019 from 1pm-2pm in the Social Sciences Building, Room S0.18, where you can find out more about the programme, how to apply and be inspired to make a difference. The deadline for applications is Friday 6 December 2019.

Applications for Warwick in Africa's Summer 2020 programme (exact dates of placements to be confirmed) will open on Monday 4 November 2019. The deadline for applications is Sunday 12 January 2020.

In its first session of the academic year, the School for Cross-faculty Studies Research and Pedagogy Seminar Series opened with a thought-provoking seminar on teaching deliberate practice across schools in Northern Macedonia, delivered by Dr Christian Krekel, Assistant Professor in Behavioural Science at the London School of Economics and Political Science.

Every year, students from the Global Sustainable Development department present their research at the annual International Conference of Undergraduate Research (ICUR). This year, the conference took place on the 24th and 25th of September in The Oculus building on campus, showcasing the best undergraduate research from around the world via internationally video-linked sessions.

On Wednesday 16 October 2019 the network launch of Warwick's Africa Research Network, led by GSD Assistant Professor Nick Bernards, will take place from 1pm-3pm in R0.14 (Ramphal Building).

In an article recently published by the Express.co.uk, Dr Alastair Smith and Dr Jess Savage comment on the impact and long-term implications of ongoing fires in the Amazon Rainforest.

On Wednesday 25 September (tomorrow!) at 10am, the official launch of the Institute for Global Sustainable Development (IGSD) will take place at Scarman Conference Centre.

The event will outline the strategy of the IGSD and the support that it will provide to researchers interested in engaging with the Global Goals. There'll be an exhibition of case studies highlighting some of the research already being done across Warwick, and the opportunity for networking and community building. The launch is timed to coincide with Global Goals Week, an annual week of action, awareness, and accountability for the Sustainable Development Goals.

The Institute for Global Sustainable Development is a recently established research initiative at the University of Warwick with the mission of being a hub for transdisciplinary research on global sustainable development, i.e. research that crosses disciplinary borders and includes non-academic stakeholder communities to achieve effective sustainable development impact.

To find out more about the launch and the agenda for the day, please see here. Although the event is now fully subscribed, please email Stephanie Whitehead (s dot whitehead at warwick dot ac dot uk) to see if any spaces have become available.