Oct. 10 Forum Aims to Connect Faculty with Climate and Each Other
Speed talks and freewheeling brainstorms intended to catalyze new interactions
On October 10, the Catalyzing Climate Connections Research Forum in the Trent Semans Center will bring together about 150 faculty, postdocs, research staff, and doctoral students from all university schools and units to make some new friends and get excited about climate research.
"We intend this to be a way for people to understand the breadth and the depth of climate work in the many, many disciplines that we have at Duke," said event organizer Norman Wirzba, a professor of theology and director of research in the Office of Climate and Sustainability. "And then we want to give people a lot of space and time to imagine the work they can do together."
After welcoming remarks from Provost Alec Gallimore and Vice President and Vice Provost Toddi Steelman, there will be a series of 3-minute blitz talks in which faculty introduce their field's latest work on climate -- be that art, policy, humanities, law, engineering or health.
Then participants will work in groups to spin up answers to three big questions posed by facilitator Christy Gharbo of Vizual Worx. They will be asked to explore together on potential research topics, unaddressed areas, and unmet needs of the campus.
"This is going to give us a lot of data so that we can get a really good sense for where faculty are now, " Wirzba said. "When we're done, we will write a report that gives a clear indication of where the interests are, where the passion is."
The forum's outputs will also feed into three January 7 discussions of climate during Duke's Research Summit. The organizers are also hoping that collaborations that emerge from the forum will consider applying for applying for the Office for Research & Innovation’s recently announced Collaborative Research Planning Grant RFPs.
"It's gonna be fun," Wirzba said. "This is not going to be high-stakes, high-pressure. Come here as your whole person and say, 'Hey, I'm interested in this topic, but I don't know how to get into this space because I'm not an expert.' And we're saying: you don't need to be an expert!"
The 3:30-6:30 p.m. event will feature refreshments, and will probably be pretty loud.
