Last year at COP26 in Glasgow, our delegation attended as an institution and a registered observer. This year, for the first time Queen Mary's strategic funds administered by the Principal's office were used to fund our delegates and support their engagement.
At the 27th United Nations Climate Change Conference of the Parties (COP) held from 6 to 18 November, around 90 world leaders, ministers, and negotiators, along with climate activists, mayors, civil society representatives and CEOs will meet to agree on the way forward to address the climate emergency. With so much climate action occurring prompted by soaring carbon emissions, extreme storms, droughts and floods, this is one of the most important climate summits in history.
Academic institutions such as Queen Mary play a critical and pivotal role in influencing decision-makers to implement effective climate change policies. Our researchers, academics and public engagement projects stand at the core of UK and global climate research.
People's Palace Projects (PPP), the arts research centre for social and climate justice based at Queen Mary, brought 2 Indigenous artists and led five events in Glasgow for COP26, as well as showcasing an art installation at Glasgow Science Centre and producing the 1st Brazil Indigenous Film Festival at the ICA in London. At the end of COP 26, PPP called an emergency gathering at the Round House in London to give voices to those who haven't got a seat at the negotiating table: Indigenous people, activists and artists.
Their work at COP27 will span a range of issues around climate change in indigenous communities, from conversations on making indigenous people central to global decision-making, to engaging young people on the issue around the UK.
Dr Heather McMullen from the Centre for Global Public Health in the Wolfson Institute for Population Health, was a keynote speaker at COP26 and will be joining COP27. Her work explores the intersection of sexual and reproductive health and rights (SRHR) with climate change and environmental sustainability.
She also leads on a partnership agreement between Queen Mary and the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA). And at COP26, Dr McMullen underlined the importance of putting sexual health and reproductive rights at the heart of climate policy and health system strengthening. She hopes to amplify on her previous work at COP 27.
Vice-Principal Policy and Strategic Partnerships and Chair Sustainability Committee Dr Philippa Lloyd said: "We are proud that there will be a total of eight Queen Mary representatives at COP27 to share our ground-breaking research and help contribute towards the aims of the conference. We awarded strategic funds and prioritised PhD and early career year researchers who have a research interest in COP as attendees, helping them to build their knowledge and understanding of global climate politics. When they return, we hope they will communicate their experience back to the wider University and public audiences."
The following Queen Mary employees will be attending COP27:
Week 1 (7-12 Nov)
Dr. Franziska Arnold-Dwyer, Lecturer in Insurance Law and Deputy Director of the Insurance, Shipping & Aviation Law Institute at the Centre for Commercial Law Studies. Her research is about the development of insurance products that help consumers and small businesses in their transition to a net zero economy by making better informed choices and taking greater ownership of reducing their greenhouse gas emissions (Net Zero Aligned Insurance Products=NZAIP). Her research will contribute to the decarbonisation of the insurance industry.
Fernando Barrio, Director of International Engagement for the School of Business and Management, and Academic Lead for Resilience and Sustainability for the Queen Mary Global Policy Institute. At COP 26, Dr Barrio held talks with official delegations from a range of countries, including Eswatini and Malawi, to assist in redrafting their national commitments on reducing the effects of climate change.
Dr. Teidor Lyngdoh, Lecturer (Assistant Professor) in Marketing, School of Business and Management. He belongs to the Khasi indigenous people's community of north-east India, his research areas focus on Indigenous people food systems (IPFS). Faced with agri-industrialisation and its decoupling effects, he wants to monitor the complicated consumer-food relationships prompting poor health outcomes among indigenous communities, such as diabetes, obesity, and addictive disorders). He will be collaborating at the Food Systems Pavillion, where a coalition of leading international food organisations will get together to discuss new visions for food systems, focusing on working with indigenous people.
Thiago Jesus, Head of Indigenous Exchange and Climate Action at PPP and an AHRC-funded PhD researcher with the School of Drama, 'The Art of Creating Climates,' investigating how arts organisations are engaging with environmental issues with their programmes and with their artists, partners, audiences and diverse communities. He will work with the Brazil Climate Action Hub and showcase aspects of a Virtual Reality interface to the sacred cave of Kamukuwaká, a research collaboration between PPP, Factum Foundation and the Wauja Indigenous Association.
Week 2 (14-19 Nov)
Chris Griffiths, Professor of Primary Care in the Wolfson Institute of Population Health; his main area of research is health impacts of air pollution. Reducing air pollution is critically related to fossil fuel consumption and NET ZERO targets. Through attending COP, he wants to become more skilled in effecting policy change on air quality and climate issues. He hopes to set up an international air quality impact group.
Kostya Trachenko, Deputy Head of School of Physical and Chemical Sciences Centre for Condensed Matter Physics (CCMP), Professor of Physics, Director of Graduate Studies. His research is closely related to COP. He works on safely encapsulating nuclear waste from power stations and involves supercritical fluids for capturing and mineralising CO2. He also led on the partnership agreement between Queen Mary and the International Atomic Energy Agency of the UN. He is interested in attending Science Day, Decarbonisaton Day, and Energy Day.
Heather McMullen, a social scientist in the Global Public Health Unit in the Centre for Public Health and Policy, Wolfson Institute of Population Health will be working with UNFPA colleagues and Natasha O'Sullivan to present findings from a review of SRHR content in National Determined Contributions - a key climate policy. She will be working with the Sexual and Reproductive Health and Climate Justice coalition to help ensure the impacts of climate change on sexual and reproductive health, rights and justice are considered in climate policy and action.
Laleh Khalili, Professor of International Politics, has begun to research a major project on the politics of hydrocarbons. In the light of recent developments, such as war with its increase in the use of coal, oil, and gas in Europe, and the continuing East Asian demand for hydrocarbons, she is observing COP27 ethnographically. Building on new relationships she aims to forge at COP27, she hopes to design a research project that can address urgent problems around hydrocarbons mitigation and adaption.
