COPCAS 2024 - COP29
COP Climate Action Studio 2024 took place during COP29 between the 11th and 22nd November 2024 hosted in Baku, Azerbaijan. This year, 18 PhD students attended COPCAS from the SCENARIO and FoodBioSystems Doctoral Training Partnerships.
As in previous years, a competition was run to select the SCENARIO and FoodBioSystems students who would attend the conference in person. This year three students from SCENARIO DTP, Theo Keeping, Thea Stevents and Juan Garcia Valencia along with one student from FoodBioSystems DTP, Lynn De Miranda, attended COP29. The students had full access to the conference’s Blue Zone as they held ‘Observer’ passes.
During COP29 itself, an updated, and dedicated space was made available for the COPCAS course in the Walker Institute, with support from one member of the Walker Team during each session but also from the wider University of Reading community. Every weekday during COP29, the Climate Action Studio was open from 08:45 am until 17:30 pm. Students in the Climate Action Studio connected with students attending COP29 in Baku via MS Teams calls twice a day when students on the ground provided updates on the issues arising every day and reported on sessions they attend as well as on the general vibe of COP29.
This year the COP Climate Action Studio was run again as a virtual Newsroom where students were encouraged to chase down leads and craft engaging stories around their research interest and the climate policy events unfolding at COP29. Students used a virtual whiteboard / Mural Board which facilitated communication on different days and allowed participants to request specific content from those who were on the ground at COP29, develop stories, and share outputs – both amongst themselves and with students not present on that specific day. You can view the Mural board here.
During the Climate Action Studio, the students in Reading engaged remotely with COP, watching sessions via the official COP29 platform, conducting interviews, and discussing the issues they encountered on the day. They were also encouraged to write blog articles for topics which interested them and/or related to their research. These blog posts were proof-read by the Walker Team, and then posted on the Walker Website, helping students develop their writing skills and improving their exposure. All blogs were shared with the University of Reading press office and publicised from our official media platforms.
This year we are thankful to the University of Reading community for their support during the Climate Action Studio Days. We welcomed several academics from diverse disciplines in the Studio who shared their insights with the students and exposed them to different perspectives and initiatives from across the University.
The UNFCCC streamed panel and side events. Additionally, it was possible to watch plenary events, a range of ‘special events’ and press conferences on a separate area of their website. Students also attended the event organised by the Walker Insitute within the framework of the Green Festival 2024 that took place in our Whiteknights Campus on 21st Nov. You can find more information on the event here.
COP Climate Action Studio Blogs
We will be posting all blogs students created in this dedicated section. The titles, authors, and links to the blogs are detailed below.
COP Climate Action Studio - Meet members of our team
The Walker Institute had valuable support from the Digital Campaigns and Engagement team from the University of Reading. We would like to extend our gratitude to Pete Castle, Ian Wilmot for providing students with insights into the workings of a newsroom and filming short videos for non-academic audiences.
Here are some members of the COPCAS 2024 team:
COP Climate Action Studio Gallery
