Follow-up Resources – Catalyzing Climate Connections Researcher Forum

conference room full of people at roundtables with a speaker presenting

Attendees, please complete our Post Event Survey!

Thank you to everyone who joined us, our speakers, table hosts, volunteers, and our World Cafe facilitator (Christy Gharbo of VizualWorx). We hope the resources on this webpage can help you to find some of your connections from our event and/or take some next steps with collaboration planning. If you are exploring collaborations or had some interest sparked by our event and don’t know who to contact, please reach out to Office of Climate & Sustainability Director of Research Norman Wirzba and if you are in the School of Medicine or want to bridge there, please Cc Dr. Robert Tighe (SOM’s climate research strategy lead). If you have questions about this page, please contact Blake Tedder.

image for questions #4: cartoon drawing of person with question marks over their head looking at a stack of books — Q1: What topic(s) in climate research would you like to explore but have not yet been able to?

Question 2 drawing: cartoon of 3 people at a table with 2 sillouettes of people. The 3 bold person's ideas are in the foreground thought bubbles, while the 2 people who are not included have exclamation points in their thought bubbles but they are faded and in the background. — Q2: Which people and what concerns have been absent in the climate conversations you have heard or participated in?

Question #3 drawing: cartoon of 6 people collaborating at a table generating a single thought bubble with an upward drifting arrow that says "Climate Research" — Q3: What is the most important thing Duke leadership can do to promote climate research?

Question 1: cartoon of two researchers standing at a board with graphs and papers pinned on it. The board says "Climate Research" — Q4: What research disciplines would improve the work you are currently doing and maximize the impact?

Drawings © VizualWorx & Office of Climate and Sustainability, 2024

Resources

Final Report
Directory Dashboard (temporarily down)- Connect with other attendees and explore potential collaborations. This includes attendee responses to the Disciplines Working/Seeking final question, at the bottom. If you would like changes to your event record, please email Blake.
Presentation Slides, Rotating Slides, and Top Idea Polling Results
Form to Submit responses [CLOSED] – Folks who could not attend the World Cafe (or attendees with more ideas) can still submit responses until 10/16 (the questions are captioned under Christy’s cartoons above).

Lightning Talk Summaries

Political Economies + Climate: Jedediah Purdy
Raphael Lemkin Distinguished Professor of Law, School of Law

Advocated for a democratic approach to managing ecological futures.
Criticized centralized crisis management, emphasizing the need for broader public involvement.
Highlighted the ethical challenge of balancing authority and democracy in addressing climate change

Health + Climate: Catherine Staton
Professor of Emergency Medicine, School of Medicine

Discussed increasing extreme weather events in North Carolina, including heat, hurricanes, and flooding.
Stressed the need for proactive health system resiliency rather than reactive responses.
Highlighted the importance of community partnerships in building resilient health systems

Climate Science: Shineng Hu
Assistant Professor of Climate Dynamics, Nicholas School of the Environment

Researched interactions between the atmosphere and oceans and their effects on extreme climate events.
Focused on spatial complexity in global warming and temporal aspects of climate extremes (e.g., wildfires, snowfall).
Used climate models and observations to predict impacts like malaria outbreaks and analyze historical climate changes

Engineering + Climate: Leanne Gilbertson
Associate Professor of Civil and Environmental Engineering, Pratt School of Engineering

Examined the role of engineering in addressing climate and sustainability challenges.
Proposed holistic, sustainable solutions that preclude unintended harm to the environment.
Focused on projects like carbon-capturing materials, water purification using sunlight, and improving coastal infrastructure resilience

Humanities + Climate: Christina Chia
Associate Director, Strategy & Operation, John Hope Franklin Humanities Institute

Explored how humanities help people understand and respond to climate change and how they have become much more interested in the more than human world (multi-species life).
Highlighted projects like “climate fiction” and indigenous art in Brazil as tools for understanding climate impacts.
Stressed the importance of decolonizing climate thinking and examining the historical roots of current ecological crises

Energy Policy + Climate: Jackson Ewing
Director of Energy and Climate Policy, Nicholas Institute of Energy, Environment & Sustainability

Focused on the need for energy system transitions in low- and middle-income countries to meet global climate goals.
Identified that we are off track for attracting the kind of private investment needed to make the transition and advocated for using public funds to attract private sector investment in low-carbon energy infrastructure.
Introduced Duke’s Just Energy Transitions Lab to support research and projects in energy transitions

Arts + Climate: Raquel Salvatella de Prada
Associate Professor of the Practice of Art, Art History & Visual Studies

Discussed how art can raise awareness and inspire climate action through emotional engagement.
Showcased projects that visualize climate data (e.g., temperature changes) and future sea level rise.
Stressed the role of art in connecting with broader audiences outside academic circles

Justice + Climate: Ryan Emanuel
Associate Professor of Hydrology, Nicholas School of the Environment

Focuses on climate justice, especially how indigenous communities face disproportionate impacts from climate change and how rural communities spend a much higher percentage of their budgets on disaster relief.
Shared research on how hurricanes and flooding affect rural, indigenous infrastructure in North Carolina.
Discussed the unequal distribution of fossil fuel infrastructure and its burden on marginalized communities

Upcoming Events/Opportunities

Duke Research Summit on January 7th – Registration is Open! (There will be 3-session a climate track).

Duke Research Summit 2025: Collaborative Research Planning Grant – Applications open!

New Faculty Position in Climate + Health – Duke’s Department of Population Health Sciences seeks a faculty member for its climate change and health research program. Candidates from diverse disciplines are encouraged to apply. Focus: climate change’s impact on health and disparities. Contacts: Sudha.raman@duke.edu or Hayden.bosworth@duke.edu.

Climate Commitment Celebration Event (Please Register!)

The Office of Climate and Sustainability is thrilled to invite you to our annual Climate Commitment Celebration Event on October 24th from 3:30-5:00pm in Page Auditorium (followed by a reception on Abele Quad)!Join us as we recognize students, staff, and faculty across Duke who are champions of climate and sustainability. We will also be celebrating Duke becoming the first among our academic peers to become carbon neutral! Come hear more about this amazing climate journey and the partners across campus that made this monumental achievement possible.

We hope that you will join us, President Price, and other Duke leaders for this event to learn more about the past, present, and future of Duke’s Climate Commitment.