Towards becoming a Net Zero researcher

This project, led by Prof Sally Fowler Davis and Dr Roxana Anghel, comprises a half-day workshop informing and encouraging ARU and University of Cambridge researchers at all levels of seniority and in any academic field to consider the carbon footprint of their research and the means to aiming towards Net Zero.

The workshop aims to initiate a conversation within the research community towards making its contribution to sustainability and planetary health.

The purpose of the workshop is to raise awareness; to begin to develop a more detailed picture of the complex, existential, planetary and inter-generational grand challenge of climate change; to critically discuss solutions and roles; and to encourage personal and professional contribution and action.

The workshop is part of the Cambridge Research Methods CaRM training programme, and is available to Cambridge University and ARU postgraduate, early career, and senior researchers. The module introduces the concept of planetary health and explore the importance of ensuring researchers recognise the wider determinants of climate change, biodiversity, and ecological best practices applied to research.

The face-to-face workshop will offer presentations and opportunities to reflect on practical improvements that individuals and research groups might make to limit their carbon footprint and potentially enhance environments through their research. Discussion about some of the barriers to local actions and wider systems perspectives will include how universities are able to transform their activities in the light of climate breakdown and build resilience to environmental shocks. The tutors are committed to promoting ecocentrism with staff and students and hope to enable positive action towards Net Zero academic practices.

Learning outcomes:

• To critically consider opportunities for improvements in practice toward reducing greenhouse gas emissions and increasing biodiversity.
• To recognise ecocentrism as a potential driver for positive action and research leadership in the university setting.

The workshop is structured into two parts, which will focus on critically unpacking the concept of "Net Zero" and what solutions are currently suggested to achieve it, followed by exploring what this might mean for our research activity and what opportunities and challenges we might need to consider.

The workshop will be informative and dialogical, and participants will be invited to engage in group activities aimed to develop take-away ideas for concrete action.