My Climate Risk Interdisciplinary Learning Group

Session Highlights: 

The September MCRILG session was a challenging one, like those thought-provoking discussions with friends can be. The question brought to us by our speaker was one that hit close to home: “Are academics changing their professional practices in line with what is required to support action on the climate and environmental crises?”. And, beyond diagnosing the problem, how can we change? and what should we change towards?

 Guiding us into this delicate topic at the intersection of climate and behavioural sciences, ethics and economics was Professor Iain Stewart. Iain is an interdisciplinary scientist with a background in geology and years of research and teaching experience in Earth sciences, climate change and communication. He is also an experienced science communicator himself, having developed popular television documentaries in a 15-years partnership with BBC Science.

 Iain’s view of science as a tool to serve the public good led him to question the very purpose of universities in the context of the climate and ecological emergencies. With the goal of sharing the questions and hurdles encountered by other scientists in this quest, Iain and colleagues collected a volume of works titled “Re-Purposing Universities for Sustainable Human Progress”. At our MCRILG session, he brought to our attention one work that particularly helped him think about how institutions can change, titled “Renewing Universities in Our Climate Emergency: Stewarding System Change and Transformation” by Ioan Fazey and colleagues.

 Historically, universities have had three missions that emerged in time following social, cultural and historical progress. The first mission of education was gradually integrated with a second mission of research. In the late 20^th century, coinciding with the development of the “knowledge economy”, a third mission of societal service through knowledge and technological transfer emerged. This includes activities such as non-academic dissemination, the provision of advisory work, and the commercialization of university facilities.

 Recently, triggered by the sustainability crisis, a fourth mission is emerging: working with partners outside academia to co-create knowledge to address societal issues. This stems from a growing recognition, inside and outside universities, that it is not enough for them to be just engaged in research and technological advancements. Universities are now expected to make a positive “impact”, that is to contribute to creating societal benefits, such as environmental, health-related, cultural or political.

 However, making a positive impact in the outside world is not proving an easy ride at all. On one hand, universities still need to formulate clear institutional strategies. The lack of such strategies, and an underlying clear vision, has resulted in individual-led initiatives rather than cohesive institutional approaches leading to uncoordinated efforts that do not match the scale of the challenge.

 On the other hand, deeper than a change in strategy, the fourth mission is calling into question the very way business is operated in universities. As an example, universities develop the science that enable action on climate change. But at the same time, they keep relying financially and reputationally on carbon-intensive practices such as flying, partnering with oil and gas industries, or incentivising consumption. This misalignment between stated goals and practices ends up challenging the intended purpose of universities.

 There are different depths at which the challenges in universities currently lie, which can be divided into visible, conceptual, and existential. Universities tend to focus their efforts in addressing the visible ones, that concern actions and behaviours, such as improving energy efficiencies on campuses. But they give less attention to the conceptual challenges, related to rules and norms, like the metrics to evaluate scientific impact: is it journal citations or actual on the ground change? Even more neglected are the existential challenges, which relate to values, culture and purpose, such as whether universities are extractive in nature towards their own staff and outside world.

 The authors argue that ultimately universities should look deeply into their values and culture, as their problematic practices stem directly from them. The paper schematized four “universities cultures”, from a combination of inward/outward looking attitudes and individual/collective action. It also argues in favour of a culture that is outward looking and rooted in collective action, as the only one that can ensure universities are relevant in the 21^st century.

 The paper closes talking about the “dynamics” by which a new culture, initially deemed as visionary, can emerge. This ideally should come from a managed die out of the “business as usual” culture, coupled with its temporary replacement with an “innovation” culture that readily prepares the ground to the “visionary” one to grow. In practice, these three approaches can be antagonistic, with the risk of slowing down the overall transition.

 Iain closed remarking that the real challenge he sees for universities in the 21^st century is the need to change our understanding of our role in the world. This calls into question our identity and beliefs, which are some of the hardest aspects for humans to change. On an optimistic note, he noted that businesses and other institutions around us are changing fast, and this culture of change may well encourage and drive universities in making the needed transition too.

 The discussion with the audience revolved around the practical challenges of mitigation that individuals and universities face, such as the carbon footprint of academic travel. The discussion then moved to noting how young researchers (ECRs) are pushing for systemic change but often at great personal cost. Creating alliances with more senior staff may be a way to support their voices while avoiding the most adverse consequences.

 Wrapping up the session with the help of author Ioan Fazey who was in the audience, the final message from Iain was clear. Universities need to undergo a profound transformation to remain relevant and aligned with societal and environmental goals, and this needs a rethinking of purpose that needs to begin is now.

Written by Elena Saggioro. Reviewed by Iain Stewart.