Seminar - Researching Climate Change and Development from the Bottom Up – Reflections from Current Practice

Abstract

This roundtable engages speakers from OU partner organisations across the global North and global South to reflect on current challenges and opportunities in researching and influencing climate change and development ‘from the bottom up’. Drawing on their long-standing commitments to participatory action research with marginalised communities, the speakers will discuss what meaningful participation looks like in practice, how to navigate the complexity of locally grounded and interdisciplinary research, and how researchers and practitioners can secure political buy-in while remaining accountable to communities most affected by climate change. The discussion will foreground practical experiences of co-producing knowledge, translating research into action, and working across uneven power relations in diverse social, political and environmental urban contexts. 

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Speakers

Arabella Fraser is a senior lecturer in global development at The Open University, UK. Her research focuses on the social and political implications of climate and disaster risk for urban development and development practice. 

Talking Tree Climate Emergency Centre (UK) - tbc

Slum Dwellers International (Kenya) - tbc

Kounkuey Design Initiative (Kenya) - tbc