Interdisciplinary capacity building with the Walker Academy

30th June 2020

Evidence for Development is working in partnership with the Walker Academy to develop a range of interdisciplinary on-line training courses, focusing on the impact climate change on society, and was closely involved in the design and delivery of the Academy’s most recent course, a 5-day online training, Climate Resilience Evidence Synthesis Training (CREST) .

CREST provides practical experience in the synthesis of ‘real-world’ information from across sectors, to inform policy and business decision-making in the field of climate resilience. The theme of this years’ course was Disaster Resilience.

Fourteen PhD students from the SCENARIO Doctoral Training Partnership were involved in the training. The students came from mathematical and physical sciences backgrounds and most were working on meteorology or hydrology projects. The course will have been the first opportunity many of the participants had to experience interdisciplinary working.

As part of the training, Celia Petty  introduced the concept of livelihoods analysis through household economy measurement and modelling. EfD’s Director of Research John Seaman and Senior Associate James Acidri were also both involved: John joined a panel of international experts discussing different aspects of disaster response, and James gave students an overview of his experiences in emergency response work across Africa and in Central Asia and the Middle east, focusing on the practical challenges in linking livelihood  information to action.

All sessions were highly rated by the students who attended. The course was conducted entirely by Zoom and included interactive activities in small groups, as well as plenary Q&A sessions, demonstrating just how much can be achieved on a remote learning platform.