As we move into the second week of our COP26 Forum, I hope you have been enjoying the events and activities that have taken place so far. Some of the excellent events we’ve see in the last week include an interactive role-playing game conducted as a simulated emergency climate summit organised by the UN, a student-led conversation with Surrey councillors and a conversation with BBC journalist Tom Heap about his new book, 39 Ways to Save the Planet.
We have a full schedule of COP26 Forum events taking place again next week. On Tuesday (9 November) there's a focus on food, waste and sustainable eating on campus. Short talks and discussions with academics from our Departments of Geography, Earth Sciences and Biological Sciences about the science of COP26 will be taking place on Wednesday (10 November) and a vegan and vegetarian food festival is happening on Thursday (11 November).
Alongside all of the events and activities taking place as part of our COP26 Forum, I would also like to take the opportunity to highlight some of our academics who are attending COP26 in Glasgow.
- Mary Matheson, Department of Media Arts, will be showing her project, ‘A Brighter Future' which uses the latest VR technology to give viewers the chance to scan the globe and step into stories about people and organisations who have found positive solutions to counter our climate crisis.
- PhD student, Zakia Carpenter-Hall, will be showing her film, ‘Human Ecologies’ at COP26 with the Africa in Motion programme.
- Professor Dave Waltham, Department of Earth Sciences, is at COP26 as an official UNFCCC observer for the Citizens Climate Lobby (CCL) which campaigns for people-friendly carbon-pricing.
- Dr Daniele Colombaroli, Department of Geography, will be focusing his attention on sessions about adaptation/resilience/risks and biodiversity/ecosystems.
- Professor David Simon, Department of Geography, will be contributing to debates in relation to urban sustainability transformations, and will be representing the Commission on Sustainable Agricultural Intensification.
On our
student intranet you can find out more about how our academics and their research is supporting COP26. We wish our students and staff who are attending COP26 in person every success in achieving their goals, and we hope to continue to hear updates from them throughout the remainder of the conference.
More information about our COP26 Forum can also be found on
the student intranet. Please continue to enjoy the events and activities taking place over the next week – we look forward to seeing you there.
Principal
Professor Paul Layzell