Connecting Climate Science with People

Climate change is not just a scientific problem. To understand its effects on people's lives and to develop effective policies for managing climate change, we need to bring climate scientists into conversation with social scientists, planners, and communities. Climate change can worsen extreme weather, such as storms, drought, or heat waves; but how these affect people depends on decisions made at the individual, community, and regional levels. 

Join us as Fulbright Scholar Dr. Jonathan Gilligan connects climate science, engineering, and social science to help us better understand the human impacts of climate change. Elaborating on his research in Bangladesh, where climate change can have surprising effects on such things as marriage and domestic violence, in addition to making rainstorms more intense and worsening flood risks, Gilligan advocates for greater public consultation to help influence policy on land use, building codes, and public infrastructure.  

There is great potential in harnessing nature to manage the dangers of sea-level rise, but only if the process addresses important public concerns.  Gilligan will share valuable tools for improving public understanding and engagement, and explain how understanding human behaviour can contribute to more effective policies for reducing greenhouse gas emissions with fewer burdensome regulations, potentially bypassing the political polarization that blocks effective action by governments.

About the speaker

Jonathan Gilligan is the Fulbright Canada Research Chair in Digital Technologies and Sustainability at the University of Calgary's Werklund School of Education (Fall/Winter 2023-24), Professor of Earth and Environmental Sciences and Professor of Civil and Environmental Engineering at Vanderbilt University, and Director of Vanderbilt's Interdisciplinary Grand Challenge Initiative on Climate and Society. Gilligan's research focuses on climate change in terms of interactions between society and the environment, with applications to understanding environmental hazards and possible policy responses.