Commonwealth Futures Climate Research Fellows

Researchers from Warwick Institute for Global Sustainable Development (IGSD) are collaborating with early-career researchers from Commonwealth countries to support their growth into future climate research leaders
Funded by the British Council's Going Global Partnerships and delivered by the Association of Commonwealth Universities (ACU) in collaboration with several UK universities, the Commonwealth Futures Climate Research Cohort is a 2-year training and research programme which aims to prepare early-career researchers to lead climate action research projects, engaging effectively with peers across academic disciplines and non-academic community and policy stakeholders.

Dr Feng Mao and Dr Vangelis Pitidis of the Institute for Global Sustainable Development (IGSD) lead on the research theme of ‘Water Security in a Changing World’. They act as mentors to early-career research fellows from India (Vellore Institute of Technology), Nigeria (University of Lagos) and South Africa (Africa Health Research Initiative), serving as co-investigators on a 6-month research project, funded by the programme.
The project uses participatory action research and citizen science to investigate climate change-related water vulnerabilities and co-create solutions in rural and semi-urban communities in Nigeria, India, and South Africa.
The methodology engages communities in addressing climate change-related challenges through community mapping exercises, multi-stakeholder workshops, focus group discussions, and key informant interviews.
The researchers aim to develop a Toolkit that will empower local communities to address water insecurity and associated climate change vulnerabilities; and a policy brief targeting context-specific policymakers in Nigeria, India and South Africa.
The connections established by this programme have already enabled the early-career research fellows to participate in IGSD’s annual ECR Sustainability Training School, linking them with other future climate research leaders, and are certain to lead to future opportunities helping to promote interdisciplinary research and narrow the gap between academia and climate policy and action.

Dr Feng Mao, Theme Lead of Water Security in a Changing World for the ACU Commonwealth Futures Climate Research Cohort and Director of Research for the School for Cross-faculty Studies, University of Warwick:
One of the key strengths of our Institute (IGSD) is our approach to engaging with academics, policymakers, and local communities to train the next generation of sustainability leaders and enable meaningful change towards sustainable development.
This programme has provided an invaluable opportunity to collaborate with talented early career researchers from Commonwealth countries, empowering them to build their research capacities and networks to co-create place-based solutions addressing local sustainable development and climate-related challenges. #
Building on the research and connections established through this programme, we have secured a participatory research fund to support an upcoming project in Nigeria. We are enthusiastic about contributing our collaboration beyond the programme to achieve long-term research excellence and impact.

Dr Temitope Sogbanmu, ACU Commonwealth Futures Climate Research Cohort Fellow and Senior Lecturer at the University of Lagos, Nigeria:
The ACU Climate Cohort Research Fellowship has been an intensive but highly rewarding capacity development and strengthening programme in conducting interdisciplinary research and networking with researchers and mentors from the UK and other LMICs.
Particularly within the Water Security in a Changing World theme led by Dr Feng Mao and Dr Vangelis Pitidis, I have leveraged their experiences and insights among others in implementing my Knowledge Exchange Project to co-created water insecurity and climate-related challenges with the local community where my project targets.
Together with other fellows in the theme, we developed and are currently implementing an innovative project funded by the ACU and with mentorship from Feng and Vangelis to deliver potentially impactful co-created solutions for uptake by target evidence users.
Being of part of the University of Warwick IGSD Sustainability Training School was an opportunity to further strengthen by interdisciplinary skills, network and engage with geographically diverse researchers on water security research.