This event will bring together researchers across the School of Humanities and Social Science (HSS) working on Climate and Environmental Sustainability to collectively discuss and co-design how best to describe research areas, goals, projects, methods, and people working on related themes across HSS.
Please join us in shaping the direction of Climate and Environmental Sustainability transversal research. If you have dietary restrictions, please register your interest by 11 May 2025 indicating any requirements. This event is in-person only.
Date: 23 May 2025
Time: 12:30 to 18:00
Register by 11 May 2025 to ensure we can accommodate any dietary restrictions. [Link to Form here]. Please note that registration is limited.
Agenda
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12.30–13.15 |
Lunch |
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13.15–13.30 |
Brief Introduction |
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13.30–14.45 |
Session 1 (45 minutes in moderated breakout groups asked to identify 5 to 10 research themes, followed by 30 minutes feeding back into main the group) |
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14.45–15.15 |
Coffee Break |
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15.15–16.30 |
Session 2 (45 minute break out groups focused on identifying common methods, resource/support needs, and funding opportunities, again followed by 30 mins of feeding back into main group) |
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16.30–17.00 |
Concluding Roundtable |
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17.00 |
Drinks & Canapes |
We have five aims in mind:
Internal Connection: We want to connect people across departments and disciplines to create stronger links for exchanging knowledge and pursuing shared projects and, more broadly, to make our ongoing research, and future plans, more visible to each other.
External Visibility: We want to more communicate our research activities and profile to the outside world—to potential collaborators at other institutions, and funders.
Online Presence: To support the above goals, we want to create – as part of the new HSS communication strategy – a shared online resource and web-presence that will help to raise our external profile while also helping researchers internally in HSS (and UCAM more generally) to navigate this research space.
Building Towards an IRC: We want to begin a conversation to scope ideas for a Strategic Research Initiative (SRI) and—eventually—an Interdisciplinary Research Centre (IRC) in this space with a view to begin preparing an application next academic year (2025-2026). Which streams of research would be represented in this bid? Who would take leadership? What additional links would on want with academics in other Schools within the University?
Funding: Finally, we want to highlight opportunities for rapid small-scale follow-on funding for any research clusters that emerge from the Connections Day. This funding (from the HSS strategic research fund) can be used to hold seminars or workshops, plan writing retreats, purchase data, invite external speakers, etc. Funding requests for up to £5k will be considered. This must be spent by the end of June 2025, so timelines are short, but the application process will be correspondingly light and nimble. We also hope to use the day to discuss strategies for increasing long term funding of Climate and Environmental sustainably research in HSS.
