An edited volume "Climate Risk in Africa. Adaptation and Resilience" has just been released, documenting the experiences across the Future Climate For Africa programme. The book, co-edited by Declan Conway and Katharine Vincent, explains how adaptation is a learning process that requires the bringing together of lots of people with different knowledge and experiences. It showcases various ways in which scientists partnered and worked with decision-makers – through co-production, transdisciplinary partnerships and multi-stakeholder engagement processes – to generate decision-relevant climate information to enable effective adaptation to climate change. Case studies cover a range of African countries, including Malawi, Tanzania, Zambia, Uganda, Kenya and Burkina Faso, and sectors from agriculture to water to urban planning.
Tag Archives: transdisciplinarity
“Climate Risk in Africa. Adaptation and Resilience” New edited book with inputs from Kulima
Kulima and University of Exeter commence a new project on “Responding to sea-level rise and storm events: A proposed framework for developing coastline adaptation strategies in southern Africa”
Dr Katharine Vincent is in Durban this week for the launch workshop of a new project "Responding to sea-level rise and storm events: A proposed framework for developing coastline adaptation strategies in southern Africa". The project is funded by the Global Challenges Research Fund and led by the University of Exeter, in partnership with Kulima, the University of KwaZulu Natal, University of the Witwatersrand, Eduardo Mondlane University and ICLEI (Local Governments for Sustainability-Africa). Over the next 6 months, the project will bring together a network of cross-disciplinary researchers, practitioners, stakeholders and policy makers to co-design a new framework for developing effective coastline adaptation strategies in southern Africa.
New release “A guide to effective collaboration and learning in consortia” with inputs from Kulima
The BRACED programme, in partnership with Future Climate For Africa, CARIAA, PLACARD, Partners for Resilience and SHEAR, has just released A guide to effective collaboration and learning in consortia. Building resilience to rising climate risks, written by Bettina Koelle, Lucia Scodanibbio, Katharine Vincent, Blane Harvey, Maarten van Aalst, Sophie Rigg, Nicola Ward and Margot Curl. Reflecting their experiences in the partner programmes and beyond, the guide outlines 8 principles to build effective transdisciplinary collaborations, highlighting the roles for different parties at different stages throughout the intended lifespan of the collaboration. The guide is illustrated with vignettes, examples, and checklists.
New paper on large scale transdisciplinary collaboration with inputs from Kulima
A new paper has been published in the journal Global Challenges on "Large-Scale Transdisciplinary Collaboration for Adaptation Research: Challenges and Insights". Led by Georgina Cundill from IDRC, with inputs from Katharine Vincent, the paper highlights experiences of the consortia of the Collaborative Adaptation Research in Africa and Asia programme – including Deltas, Vulnerability and Climate Change: Migration and Adaptation, on which Kulima is a partner. The paper highlights how the success of well‐designed transdisciplinary research processes is strongly influenced by relational and systemic features of collaborative relationships. In the new arena of large‐scale collaborative science efforts, enablers of transdisciplinary collaboration include dedicated project coordinators, leaders at multiple levels, and the availability of small amounts of flexible funds to enable nimble responses to opportunities and unexpected collaborations.
Kulima director participating in expert workshop on transdisciplinarity
Dr Katharine Vincent is in Paris this week to participate in an expert workshop on transdisciplinarity convened by the International Social Science Council, START Secretariat, International Council for Science and South Africa's National Research Foundation, hosted at UNESCO's global headquarters. Bringing together various people with different experiences in transdisciplinarity, the purpose of the workshop is to design a training programme on the approach for consideration by the Belmont Forum.