Below is a list of UEA academics who attended COP26. Our academics are available as climate change experts for media work.
In addition, we have a large pool of world class researchers working on climate-related themes open to opportunities. Please connect with colleagues directly, or get in touch with Cat Bartman, News and Media Manager.
For all other post-COP26 enquiries, please contact Dr Natalie Porter, ClimateUEA Executive Officer at climate@uea.ac.uk.
Dr Dorothee Bakker: research profile
Email: D.Bakker@uea.ac.uk
X (formerly known as Twitter): @Dorothee_Bakker
Attended COP26 in Week 1
Dr Bakker is part of the Integrated Carbon Observation System European Infrastructure Consortium (ICOS ERIC). Dr Bakker chairs the SOCAT global group - SOCAT is a Global Ocean Observing System, with more than 100 contributors. Her brief: the ocean takes up a quarter of anthropogenic CO2 emissions. This uptake varies over time (between years and decades) for reasons that we do not fully understand. It is unclear how ocean CO2 uptake will respond when we move towards net zero. Measurements of (surface) ocean CO2 and their synthesis are therefore key for determining ocean CO2 uptake, now and in the future. However, funding for these measurements and their synthesis (eg. www.socat.info; www.glodap.info) is precarious.
Research/expertise: processes affecting the air-sea transfer of natural long-lived greenhouse gases (carbon dioxide, methane, nitrous oxide) and the marine carbon cycle in a changing climate. Currently Dr Bakker is investigating carbon cycling in UK shelf seas and the Southern and Arctic Oceans. She is a co-author of this year’s Global Carbon Budget paper (for SOCAT synthesis of ocean CO2 measurements).
Dr Rachel Carmenta: research profile
Email: R.Carmenta@uea.ac.uk
Skype: raycarmenta
X (formerly known as Twitter): @RachelCarmenta
Attended COP26 in Week 1
3 November Scaling-up justice and social equity in the design of fire-free peat land governance
5 November From empirical research to policy opportunity: peat fire management with social equity at the centre
6 November Presenter in Global Landscapes Forum: Measuring what matters: capturing human well-being impacts of integrated landscape approaches
Research/expertise: tropical fire (Indonesian peat lands and Brazilian Amazon), rural livelihoods, biodiversity, well-being, climate change/fire links, governance/NBS and justice. Her work has resulted in these YouTube animations explaining the Amazons burning crisis.
Read one of Dr Carmenta’s recent papers: Between a rock and a hard place: The burdens of uncontrolled fire for smallholders across the tropics - ScienceDirect
Dr Neil Dawson: research profile
Email: Neil.Dawson@uea.ac.uk
Skype: Leastweasel
X (formerly known as Twitter): @NeilMDawson
Attended COP26 in Week 2
8 November Sustainable, Just And Climate-Resilient Futures Through Indigenous Perspectives And Practices (INDIS)
11 November An Indigenous Dialogue about Knowledge and Resilience for the 21st Century
12 November Indigenous Stories of Sustainable Development
Research/expertise: poverty, wellbeing and environmental justice among rural populations, particularly poor and marginalised social and ethnic groups, in sub-Saharan Africa, Asia and South America. Dr Dawson’s most recent study looked the at the success of conservation projects:
Prof Emma Gilberthorpe: research profile
Email: E.Gilberthorpe@uea.ac.uk
X (formerly known as Twitter): @emmagilberthorp
Attended COP26 in Week 2
8 November Sustainable, Just And Climate-Resilient Futures Through Indigenous Perspectives And Practices (INDIS)
11 November An Indigenous Dialogue about Knowledge and Resilience for the 21st Century
12 November Indigenous Stories of Sustainable Development
Research/expertise: social and cultural aspects of development; the social, economic, political and environmental impacts of mining.
Dr Matthew W Jones: research profile
Email: Matthew.W.Jones@uea.ac.uk
Web: mattwjones.co.uk
X (formerly known as Twitter): @Jones_MattW
Attended COP26 in Week 1
Dr Jones attended the launch of the 2021 Global Carbon Budget, the annual update on carbon emissions.
Research/expertise: the global carbon cycle and in particular the role of landscape fires and fossil fuel combustion in this cycle. Dr Jones’ research focuses on the global and regional trends in wildfire and deforestation fire activity seen in satellite observations and models and the implications of these trends for carbon storage on land.
Prof Corinne Le Quéré: research profile
Email: communications@uea.ac.uk
Attended COP26 in Week 1
Prof Le Quéré is attended with France's High Council on Climate, which she chairs, and with the ‘Friends of COP26’, a group of international experts advising the UK government.
Prof Le Quéré is also part of the team that launched the 2021 Global Carbon Budget.
Research/expertise: Interactions between climate change and the carbon cycle; the strength of the ocean uptake of carbon dioxide and how it evolves in a changing climate; emissions of CO2 and their socio-economic drivers; the impact of COVID-19 on carbon emissions.
Asher Minns: profile
Email: A.Minns@uea.ac.uk
X (formerly known as Twitter): @AsherMinns / @TyndallCentre
Attended COP26 for the two weeks
Public engagement lead for the COP26 Universities Network and coordinator of the Network’s Green Zone Exhibition Stand.
Expertise: public engagement and science communication.
Prof Rupert Read: research profile
Email: R.Read@uea.ac.uk
X (formerly known as Twitter): @RupertRead
Attended COP26 for the two weeks
Prof Read was at FacingFutureTV press conferences and spoke on topics such as ‘Youth activists’, ‘Interfaith dialogue on climate’, ‘Transformative and deep adaptations’, and ‘Has COP26 succeeded’.
31 October Facing Future: Transforming Our Lives in the Face of Crisis
3 November Facing Future: Voices Of Youth Activists - Listening To Grief And Courage
6 November, appearing on ‘We Don't Have Time’ broadcast. Building Momentum for Change.
Research/expertise: the Precautionary Principle and philosophy of science. Prof Read recently took part in a BBC programme on climate and the value of nature, with fellow UEA academic Prof Steve Waters (Professor of Scriptwriting, School of Literature, Drama and Creative Writing).
Dr Iokiñe Rodríguez: research profile
Email: I.Rodriguez-Fernandez@uea.ac.uk
X (formerly known as Twitter): @iokirod
Attended COP26 from 7-10 November
8 November Sustainable, Just And Climate-Resilient Futures Through Indigenous Perspectives And Practices (INDIS)
11 November An Indigenous Dialogue about Knowledge and Resilience for the 21st Century
12 November Indigenous Stories of Sustainable Development
Research/expertise: local environmental knowledge and conflict transformation in Latin America using participatory action-research.
Prof Heike Schroeder: research profile
Email: H.Schroeder@uea.ac.uk
X (formerly known as Twitter): @HeikeSchroeder
Attended COP26 for Week 2, from 7 November
Prof Schroeder attended as a Principle Investigator for the INDIS project on Indigenous visions of sustainable development & climate resilience. The team showcased how Indigenous knowledge might contribute towards national and international targets for climate mitigation, adaptation, and sustainable development. The value of Indigenous knowledge is often ignored by policymakers, and Indigenous Peoples themselves have few opportunities to articulate and share their knowledge in a way that can impact policy making circles and strengthen sustainable futures. The project’s Indigenous partners from three countries (Uganda, Papua New Guinea, and Bolivia) presented their own visions for just and environmentally sensitive futures.
8 November Sustainable, Just And Climate-Resilient Futures Through Indigenous Perspectives And Practices (INDIS)
11 November An Indigenous Dialogue about Knowledge and Resilience for the 21st Century
12 November Indigenous Stories of Sustainable Development
The project also had a slot in the IASS Pavilion in the Blue Zone in Week 2 covering findings/outputs.
Research/expertise: global environmental politics, forest governance and REDD+, the international climate negotiations, urban climate governance, indigenous peoples/knowledge and sustainable development.
Federica Di Palma: research profile
Email: F.Di-Palma@uea.ac.uk
X (formerly known as Twitter): @ScienceisGlobal
Norwich Institute for Healthy Aging
Attended COP26 for the two weeks
Prof Di Palma attended with the GROW Project which was exhibited in the Eden Project pavilion throughout their presence at COP. Entitled “Good planets are hard to find” the Eden exhibition highlights projects from around the world that are helping to find solutions to the climate change challenge.
5 November Humming for change
10 November Planet as Shelter: Planet as environmental regeneration for environmental regeneration
12 November Life Without Coffee or Chocolate?
Research/expertise: local environmental knowledge and conflict transformation in Latin America using participatory action-research.
Prof Charlie Wilson: research profile
Email: Charlie.Wilson@uea.ac.uk
Attended COP26 for the two weeks
4 November Launch of the UNFCCC Global Innovation Hub
11 November Energy Demand changes Induced by Technological and Social innovations (EDITS)
Research/expertise: Research interests lie at the intersection between innovation, behaviour and policy in the field of energy and climate change mitigation, working at both a systems level and at a micro level. At a systems level, Charlie works on long-term energy transitions both historically and into the future. At a micro level, Charlie works on technology adoption and diffusion, low-carbon behaviours and lifestyles, and the effectiveness of behaviour change interventions.
Prof Trevor Davies: research profile
Email: T.D.Davies@uea.ac.uk
Attended COP26 for Week 1
1 November Cold Regions Warming- The Transitions Art-Science Exhibition
Research/expertise: Professor Davies’s research has included the wet and dry deposition of atmospheric pollutants, and the links between the atmospheric transport of air pollution and meteorology and climate systems.
Dr Nick Brooks: ResearchGate profile
Email: Nick.Brooks@uea.ac.uk
Attended COP26 in Week 2
8 November Climate Colonialism and Climate Justice: the Case of Western Sahara
Research/expertise: human-environment interaction in the Mid-Holocene.
UEA researchers working within COP26 presidency themes
Dr Patrycja Klusak, Lecturer in Banking & Finance, Norwich Business School
Affiliated Researcher at Bennett Institute for Public Policy at the University of Cambridge
Email: P.Klusak@uea.ac.uk
X (formerly known as Twitter): @PatrycjaKlusak
- Research/expertise: how climate change risks have and could affect sovereign ratings; the effect of environmental, social, and governance (ESG) metrics on firm ratings. Her recent working paper looked at the potential effect of climate change on sovereign credit ratings for 108 countries:
Rising Temperatures, Falling Ratings: The Effect of Climate Change on Sovereign Creditworthiness (cam.ac.uk)
How will climate change affect public finances and sovereign risk? - Economics Observatory
Prof Corrado Di Maria, Professor of Environmental & Natural Resource Economics, School of Economics
Email: C.Di-Maria@uea.ac.uk
- Research/expertise: Research interests span environmental and natural resource economics, energy economics, the economics of growth and development as well as technological change. The key feature of his work is an emphasis on both theoretical and empirical aspects, as well as its policy relevance.
Prof Jean McNeil, Professor of Creative Writing, School of Literature, Drama and Creative Writing
Email: J.McNeil@uea.ac.uk
X (formerly known as Twitter): @jeanmcneilwrite
- Research/expertise: Much of Prof McNeil’s work - fiction, non-fiction, poetry - is about the environment and climate change, with a particular interest in the polar regions. Together with Prof Steve Waters and Dr John Gordon, also from UEA, Prof McNeil has been leading a new programme on communicating climate change to young people in the run-up to COP26, working with concepts and practices Prof Waters developed in his recent BBC series The Song of the Reed and Murmurations.
Jason Chilvers, Professor of Environment and Society and Chair of the Science, Society and Sustainability Research Group (3S) in the School of Environmental Sciences.
Email: Jason.Chilvers@uea.ac.uk
- Research/expertise: public participation and engagement with energy and climate change. As a Co-Director of the UK Energy Research Centre (UKERC) Jason leads its Public Engagement Observatory which is mapping the diverse ways that citizens are engaging with energy, climate change and net zero on an ongoing basis. His recent co-authored paper in Nature Energy sets out A new direction for public engagement with energy and climate change.
Prof Nitya Rao, Professor of Gender & Development, School of International Development
Email: N.Rao@uea.ac.uk
- Research/expertise: gender analysis of vulnerability and adaptation to climate change, for example:
Study examines women’s ability to adapt effectively to climate change - UEA
Aayushi Awarthy, PhD researcher, School of Economics
Email: A.Awasthy@uea.ac.uk
- Research/expertise: electrification in India. During her PhD she’s also completed a fellowship with the International Energy Agency looking at gender issues around energy use and energy use by women. Aayushi previously worked closely with the Indian Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change and was part of the energy modelling group that informed the country’s climate pledge following the Paris Agreement of 2015.
Aayushi is the host of a new UEA podcast series addressing key issues around the climate crisis in the run up to COP26. In the series she speaks to some of the leading voices in the climate debate to discover what obstacles remain in our way and discuss how the different elements of the climate crisis – from activism to technology, through finance and politics – can contribute to a solution. Listen to: Why haven't we solved it yet? podcast (uea.ac.uk)
Prof Konstantinos Chalvatzis, Professor of Sustainable Energy Business, Norwich Business School, Academic Chair of ClimateUEA, Research Group Member, Innovation, Technology and Operations Management
Email: K.Chalvatzis@uea.ac.uk
X (formerly known as Twitter): @KJChalvatzis
- Research/ expertise: brings together technology policy and corporate strategy. He looks at energy security, energy policy and how climate change impacts them both.
Most of his work focuses on electricity, innovation in the energy sector, system-wide electrification and their potential for rapid decarbonisation. This includes smart grids, energy storage and the role of energy in the sustainability performance of corporate organisations.
ScienceDirect: Sustainable resource allocation for power generation: The role of big data in enabling interindustry architectural innovation
ScienceDirect: The social perspective on island energy transitions: Evidence from the Aegean archipelago
Dr Gareth Edwards, Associate Professor in Geography & Development , School of International Development
Leverhulme International Fellow & Visiting Fellow, Sydney Environment Institute
Email: Gareth.Edwards@uea.ac.uk
- Research/expertise: Issues around climate justice and the just transition; coal and climate change. In 2021-2022 he is working on a Leverhulme International Fellowship project entitled ‘Just coal? Examining how climate justice is mobilised in support of coal’. The fellowship examines the case for ‘just coal’ and the implications it has for climate justice theory, climate policy and the justice of the energy transition.
Aayushi Awarthy, PhD researcher, School of Economics
Email: A.Awasthy@uea.ac.uk
- Research/expertise: electrification in India. During her PhD she’s also completed a fellowship with the International Energy Agency looking at gender issues around energy use and energy use by women. Aayushi previously worked closely with the Indian Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change and was part of the energy modelling group that informed the country’s climate pledge following the Paris Agreement of 2015.
Aayushi is the host of a new UEA podcast series addressing key issues around the climate crisis in the run up to COP26. In the series she speaks to some of the leading voices in the climate debate to discover what obstacles remain in our way and discuss how the different elements of the climate crisis – from activism to technology, through finance and politics – can contribute to a solution. Listen to: Why haven't we solved it yet? podcast (uea.ac.uk)
Pierre Bocquillon, Doctor in the School of Politics, Philosophy, Language and Communication Studies and Tyndall Centre for Climate Research
Email: P.Bocquillon@uea.ac.uk
- Research/expertise: Issues around the external dimension of EU’s energy and climate policies, the politics of renewable energy promotion and the democratic governance of energy and climate change.
Tom Hargreaves, Associate Professor, School of Environmental Sciences
Email: Tom.Hargreaves@uea.ac.uk
- Research/expertise: How different types of sustainability innovation – from ‘smart’ home technologies to grassroots social innovations like community energy initiatives – operate in everyday settings and situations, and how attempts to govern everyday life impact on patterns of societal engagement.
Prof Rachel Warren, Professor of Global Change and Environmental Biology, School of Environmental Sciences and Tyndall Centre for Climate Change Research
Email: r.warren@uea.ac.uk
Skype: rachelwarren77
- Research/expertise: impacts of climate change on biodiversity; IPCC author; policy relevant science related to climate change and sustainability; Integrated assessment modelling of climate change, climate change mitigation and adaptation, and sustainability in the context of the goals of the Paris Agreement to limit global warming to well below 2C above pre-industrial levels; climate change impacts on ecosystems and species.
Dr Silvia Ferrini, Senior Research Fellow, School of Environmental Sciences
Email: S.Ferrini@uea.ac.uk
- Research/expertise: environmental and resource economics. Dr Ferrini is a member of the Centre for Social and Economic Research on the Global Environment (CSERGE) at UEA, working on the GROW Colombia project, which aims to preserve, restore and manage Colombian biodiversity through responsible innovation. The work will be featured at COP26 by its UK partner The Eden Project in the Eden Pavilion. On November 1 the pavilion will be specifically highlighting the work being carried out in Colombia.
Prof Corrado Di Maria, Professor of Environmental & Natural Resource Economics, School of Economics
Email: C.Di-Maria@uea.ac.uk
- Research/expertise: environmental and natural resource economics, energy economics, the economics of growth and development as well as technological change. Prof Di Maria is a member of the Centre for Social and Economic Research on the Global Environment (CSERGE) at UEA, working on the GROW Colombia project, which aims to preserve, restore and manage Colombian biodiversity through responsible innovation. The work will be featured at COP26 by its UK partner The Eden Project in the Eden Pavilion. On November 1 the pavilion will be specifically highlighting the work being carried out in Colombia.
Dr Christa Brunnschweiler, Associate Professor in Economics, School of Economics
Email: C.Brunnschweiler@uea.ac.uk
X (formerly known as Twitter): @CBrunnschweiler
- Research/expertise: natural resource (revenue) management, including behavioural change for better management, recently also looking at coastal ecosystem (mangroves, saltmarshes) restoration for climate change mitigation and adaptation.
Dr Johanna Forster, Lecturer in Environment & International Development School of International Development
Email: j.forster@uea.ac.uk
- Research/expertise: social and political issues of bioenergy with carbon capture and storage; community resilience and adaptation in coastal and marine dependent areas (eg livelihoods and fisheries), islands and hazards (coastal), and social vulnerability. Recently co-authored this article with Dr Nem Vaughan on the issues around carbon removal: A global carbon removal industry is coming – experts explain the problems it must overcome (theconversation.com).
Dr Nem Vaughan, Associate Professor in Climate Change, School of Environmental Sciences and Tyndall Centre for Climate Change Research
Email: N.Vaughan@uea.ac.uk
X (formerly known as Twitter): @nemvaughan
- Research/expertise: greenhouse gas removal; technologies and practices that aim to remove CO2 from the atmosphere. Currently the Principal Investigator of a NERC funded four-year consortium project on the Feasibility of Afforestation and Biomass energy with carbon capture and storage for Greenhouse Gas Removal. Recently co-authored this article with Dr Johanna Forster on the issues around carbon removal: A global carbon removal industry is coming – experts explain the problems it must overcome (theconversation.com).
Dr Phillip Williamson, Honorary Reader, School of Environmental Sciences
Email: P.Williamson@uea.ac.uk
- Research/expertise: climate geoengineering role of the ocean in the climate system; and 'blue carbon' offsetting.
Elise Droste, PhD researcher, School of Environmental Sciences
Email: E.Droste@uea.ac.uk
X (formerly known as Twitter): @Elise_Droste13
- Research/expertise: carbon uptake by sea ice-covered regions in the Arctic and Southern Oceans; the mediating impact of sea ice on biogeochemical processes that drive the exchange of carbon dioxide between the surface water and the atmosphere, and the carbon sequestration in the deep ocean. Last year Elise took part in the groundbreaking MOSAiC Arctic expedition, spending three months onboard the research icebreaker RV Polarstern. Read more in UEA Research
She wrote about her experience on board here: Science on ice (uea.ac.uk)
Tom Hargreaves, Associate Professor, School of Environmental Sciences
Email: Tom.Hargreaves@uea.ac.uk
- Research/expertise: How different types of sustainability innovation – from ‘smart’ home technologies to grassroots social innovations like community energy initiatives – operate in everyday settings and situations, and how attempts to govern everyday life impact on patterns of societal engagement.
Prof Andy Jordan, Professor of Environmental Sciences, School of Environmental Sciences
Email: A.Jordan@uea.ac.uk
- Research/expertise: how COPs/the UNFCCC play into EU and UK policy/politics, including Brexit. Prof Jordan is involved in a new project, running from 2021-26, examining the interaction between politicians and publics in moving towards net zero - Home (deepdcarb.org)
Dr Mike Brock, Associate Professor in Microeconomics, School of Economics
Email: Michael.Brock@uea.ac.uk
- Research/expertise: environmental & behavioural economics, recycling and environmental valuation.