About the event

The Himalayan University Consortium (HUC) Academy is tying up with the Himalayan Climate Data Field Lab,  ‘UR Field Lab’ , for a month-long, participant-led unconference bringing together scholars, practitioners, activists, and storytellers to collaboratively examine and remake the ways climate change data is used in the Hindu Kush Himalayan (HKH) region. The Field Lab organising team includes researchers and practitioners affiliated with the Toronto Climate Observatory at the University of Toronto, the University of Michigan, the United Nations University, and Nanyang Technological University, Singapore working in coordination with collaborators from the Himalayan University Consortium (HUC) and Social Science Baha in Kathmandu.

Over 120 participants from 17 different countries will be participating in this conference. Organising their work around a set of key themes, Field Lab participants will co-design, test and produce new ideas, analytic tools, maps and models, sensing technologies, syllabi and training materials, data protocols, artistic pieces and communication products that address climate change and its impacts. The unconference aims to develop new and effective ways of working with climate change data, while also working to create a more equitable and pluralistic data landscape in the Himalayan region.

To introduce the HKH region and ICIMOD to the global participants of the Field Lab, HUC is hosting an ICIMOD Day on 17 May 2024.

Objectives

• Design and co-create new approaches to data and information management that improve processes of decision-making and policy formation in the region
• Share knowledge about the diverse ways people make, use, and mobilise climate change data in the Himalayan region
• Create resources, curricula, and training materials that will help create more space for critical and pluralistic studies of data within institutions across the Himalayan region
• Encourage new forms of collaboration across disciplines, sectors, and geographies focused on exploring new practices and processes of working with climate change data
• Develop and test new methods for engaging differently positioned groups in the co-production of climate change data and knowledge
• Build an international interdisciplinary network of scholars and practitioners that can facilitate long-term dialogue, knowledge exchange, and collaboration to support future climate change-oriented projects, research, or advocacy efforts.

Background

The HUC enables young researchers to engage in cross-disciplinary scholarships to foster a new generation of transformational leaders committed to mountain research capable of producing consequential knowledge, innovate and effective policies, and environmentally responsible business practices to address mountain challenges in the HKH from transboundary perspectives. HUC’s Academies extend this commitment through four signature features: mountain focus, inter- and trans-disciplinarity, field research, and leadership.

The HUC Academy, the Consortium’s flagship programme, caters to early- and mid-career researchers, practitioners, and government officials, aiming to impart an inter- and trans-disciplinary approach to research mountain issues and co-create solutions. The Academy is making transition toward a collaborative learning space where members shape and lead the process to achieve individual and collective learning outcomes. The HUC community embraces digital learning as a powerful pathway to equitable and inclusive capacity development for all. From 2017-2019, the HUC Academies have focused on varying aspects of research in the HKH from disaster risk and water management to economic opportunities for transformative change and climate science and adaptation. In 2018, we conducted a ‘HUC - IHCAP glacier monitoring training’, and ‘Regional training on springshed management for socio-ecological resilience in the HKH’ in 2019. During the mobility restrictions imposed by the Covid-19, the HUC embraced e-learning as an opportunity to continue capacity development and engagement with fellows in the region. An online course on Water–energy–food nexus, led by Prof Dr Christopher A Scott, catered to 25 synchronous and 107 asynchronous participants from across the Hindu Kush Himalaya and outside of the region. Another intensive virtual programme, ‘Teaching sustainability and localising the Sustainable Development Goals in the Hindu Kush Himalaya’ was organised in collaboration with the Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research. Hybrid courses include ‘Bringing meaning to statistical practice in climate science using R’ by Prof Theodore G Shepherd and a masterclass on food security assessment, by Dr Chubbamenla Jamir.