How can the social sciences, arts and humanities help us decarbonise?

3 May 2023

14:00 - 17:00

Room SG1, Alison Richard Building, 7 West Road, Cambridge

Description
Programme
Background

Description

Convenors

The Decarbonisation Network

Summary

To tackle the urgent threat of climate change, the input of the Social Sciences, Humanities and Arts is increasingly recognised as vital. The climate crisis has given rise to the development of new carbon reduction technologies; interdisciplinary engagement is central to our ability to adopt these but also question and critique them. This scoping event aims to develop understanding of the University of Cambridge’s decarbonisation research landscape and identify where researchers can benefit from interdisciplinary collaboration and industry input. This is part of a longer-term initiative to enable the Decarbonisation Network to support academic strategic priorities going forwards.

Panellists

Joanna Page, (Panel Chair), Director of CRASSH
Zoe Svendsen, Lecturer in Drama and Performance in the Faculty of English
Dina Khalifa, Prince of Wales Global Sustainability Fellow at CISL
Samuel Ruiz-Tagle, Research By-Fellow at Hughes Hall, and Senior Researcher in Law at the Centre for Climate Engagement
Reyhaneh Shojaei, Research Associate at the Cambridge Centre for Housing and Planning Research, Land Economy

Aims of the event

This scoping event aims to identify:

Current research in the Social Sciences, Humanities and Arts related to decarbonisation and where research can benefit from industry input.
Crossovers with the Decarbonisation Network’s SIGs (the Built Environment, Light Harvesting and Hard to Decarbonise technologies) and potential discussion topics for the Network’s future events.
Gaps in academic and industry collaboration where new industrial contacts or SIG(s) could help.

Long-term aspirations

Consolidating the engagement of Social Sciences, Arts and Humanities in the current SIGs while continuing engagement with the School of Technology.
Providing the Schools of ‘Arts and Humanities’ and ‘Humanities and Social Sciences’ an opportunity to lead SIGs that serve their academic priorities.
Scope out new industry connections and opportunities for collaboration.

Target audience

Principal investigators and research managers including potential SIG leads and/or team members.
Early-career researchers including post-docs, PhD students
We encourage people from all disciplines to attend to ensure that there can be interdisciplinary discussions.

Outputs

Report and website displaying photographs/sketches
Graphic depicting the research landscape and key points of conversation

Supported by:

Please direct any queries to decarbnetwork@admin.cam.ac.uk

If you have specific accessibility needs for this event please get in touch. We will do our best to accommodate any requests.

Programme

13:30 - 14:00	Registration
	There will be external facilitation and a live illustrator to help capture some of the key ideas.
14:00 - 15:00	Panel discussion: Examples of research related to decarbonisation & pro and cons of interdisciplinary working and industry collaboration
15:00 - 15:15	Break
15:15 - 16:00	Breakout group session 1: Current research landscape. How does your research (or research you want to do) relate to decarbonisation? What are the key issues/themes that connect you?
16:00 - 16:50	Breakout group session 2: Interdisciplinary and academic-industry collaboration. What are the industrial sectors you would like to work with? What are the key characteristics of collaboration (interdisciplinary and/or academic-industry)? How can the decarbonisation network help you?
16:50 - 17:00	Closing remarks
17:00 - 18:00	Networking drinks

Background

The Decarbonisation Network aims to connect University of Cambridge academics with external industry representatives working towards decarbonisation. Currently, there are three Special Interest Groups (SIGs): Light Harvesting, the Built Environment and Hard to Decarbonise Technologies. The SIGs have been identified as clusters of expertise within the University of Technology areas that can benefit from broader academic-industry collaborations. The Network works across the collegiate University, is supported by Strategic Partnerships Office and operates in collaboration with Cambridge Zero and the Energy Interdisciplinary Research Centre.

The Network was piloted from 2021-2022, with a full time coordinator beginning in August 2022. To date, over 20 online panel discussions and one in-person symposium have taken place focusing on a range of topics. All events are attended by a mixture of internal and external people, and there are currently ~400 specialists registered to the Network’s mailing list, half of whom are external and represent ~130 organisations. Summaries of meetings are available on the Network’s website.

An initial aim of SIGs was to promote academic collaboration across Schools and departments within the University. Currently, although useful new collaborations have been seeded and industry partners engaged, the majority of academics within the Network are still from the School of Technology. Going forwards, a core aim is to engage more academics from other Schools including representatives from the Social Sciences, Arts and Humanities. Ultimately, creating routes for collaboration and exchange with business and other academics within the University.

We have received funding for this event from Research England Enhancing Research Culture Fund via The School of Physical Sciences and The School of Technology.