Climate Change Perspectives

As part of the 50+ events of Climate Week North East, the University of Aberdeen will host an online evening of talks followed by questions from the audience. The theme will be the role of the University of Aberdeen in meeting the global challenge imposed by rising greenhouse gases and will feature insights into overall strategic vision of a large institution focused on knowledge gathering and dissemination, and examples of specific climate related research activities. The keynote will be 20 minutes, the others 10 minutes and there should be a good 30 minutes or more at the end for questions. The chair will be Adam Price, Professor in the School of Biological Sciences.

Keynote

Karl Leydecker: Aberdeen 2040 and Climate Change

Karl is a Professor and Senior Vice-Principal of the University of Aberdeen. He coordinated the development of Aberdeen 2040, the University’s 20 year strategy launched on 10 February 2020, the 525th anniversary of the founding of the University. Sustainable is one of the four Strategic Themes of that strategy. Karl will talk about the central importance of climate change for Aberdeen 2040, how the University’s future research and education will be shaped by the challenge of climate change, as well as the University’s commitments and plans in terms of its own sustainability. He will also touch on why the University of Aberdeen was ranked 6th in the UK and 31st in the world in the inaugural Times Higher World Impact rankings in 2019 which assess the contribution of universities to the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals.

Kathryn Logan: Driving Down Emissions for Low Carbon Public Transport

Now at University College Dublin, Kathryn has recently completed her PhD from the University of Aberdeen. Her research focuses on the electrification of transport and the need to transition towards low carbon public transport. She will give some background on electric and hydrogen transport and the likely effects, including infrastructure changes, of the electricity supply, and the related effects and trade-offs between greenhouse gas emission reductions, climate regulation and the potential impact upon natural capital and ecosystem services

Pamela Abbot: The Impact of Climate Change in Rwanda

Pamela is a Professor and Director of the Centre for Global Development, University of Aberdeen and has considerable experience working in Rwanda. Rwanda is a least developed country in East Africa where 90 per cent of the population are dependent on agriculture for at least some of their income and over 70% mainly dependent. She will talk about the evidence of climate change impact since the early 2000s discuss the likely impact on agriculture, tourism, energy, health and gender equality.

Tavis Potts: The Centre for Energy Transition

Tavis is a Reader in the School of Geoscience and current Director of the Centre for Energy Transition, a recently inaugurated interdisciplinary partnership aiming to focus research and education activities toward tackling the energy-related aspects of the climate crisis. Tavis will describe the vision of the Centre, offering insight into how it plans to contribute to this global challenge.

Ashish Malik: Soil Carbon Sequestration to Mitigate Climate Change

Ashish is a lecturer in the School of Biological Sciences, the University of Aberdeen. Rising CO2 in the air is causing global warming and climate change. Microbes in soil act as gatekeepers of soil-air carbon exchange. Ashish will present latest research which suggests that microbes can aid in increasing carbon accumulation in degraded soils. This can be a great strategy not only to improve soil health but also to mitigate climate change by drawing down CO2 into soils.

Details of online link to follow in February when (free) tickets sales begin