Research Highlight |
The Red Cross/Red Crescent Climate Centre Internship program seeks to improve climate change communication and adaptation decision-making in response to climate variability and change within the humanitarian sector. It connects humanitarian practitioners from the Red Cross/Red Crescent Climate Centre [RC/RC CC], an affiliate of the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies [IFRC], with science-policy graduate student researchers at the University of Colorado, to accomplish three specific goals: to improve the capacity of humanitarian practitioners within the IFRC network at the interface of climate science, policy and practice; to forge a unique partnership and facilitate collaborations between CU and RC/RC CC; and to help meet needs and gaps as well as work as a research clearing house in the stated themes climate change communication and adaptation decision-making in response to climate variability and change, as identified through RC/RC CC priorities and projects. The program was highlighted in a Colorado Daily article, CU-Boulder students focus on aid policies with new Red Cross partnership: Environmental studies interns getting hands-on research experience in Africa, by Jake Hazan. Applications are now being accepted for the summer 2014 program. Click here to apply. Deadline: November 1. In the first year of the program, directed by CSTPR’s Lisa Dilling, Max Boykoff, and Meaghan Daly, CU graduate students were placed in internships in Kenya, Uganda and Zambia over the summer. This Research Highlight describes the experiences of two of the interns, Kanmani Venkateswaran and Arielle Tozier Delapoterie, both graduate students in the Environmental Studies program at the University of Colorado. Kanmani graduated from Kenyon College in May 2011 with a Bachelors in Biology and a concentration in Environmental Studies. She completed an internship at the Ashoka Trust for Research in Ecology and the Environment in Bangalore, India in 2012. She has been working with Dr. Siddhartha Krishnan and Dr. Gladwin Joseph on human adaptation to climate change in agricultural communities in Natham taluk, Tamil Nadu. Earlier in the internship, Kanmani was also a part of Indian policy-making, collating the report on sustainability, biodiversity and rural livelihoods for the Planning Commission’s Five Year Plan. Kanmani also spent time in 2012 in Ooty, Tamil Nadu mapping self-identified settlements and areas of cultural/religious importance in Toda communities. Arielle has a B.A. in anthropology from Vassar College and an M.Sc. in Sustainable Development from Utrecht University in the Netherlands. Before pursuing her masters, she taught English in France and worked for several years in environmental education, restoration, and policy in the Portland area. Her current research focuses on international aid evaluation and the use of climate science in humanitarian decision-making. |
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