Embedded researcher approach to integrate climate information into decision-making

Building the climate resilience of African cities fits squarely within the category of complex problems that may benefit from taking a transdisciplinary approach to co-producing actionable knowledge between multiple actors and disciplines. Yet one of the key challenges in implementing a transdisciplinary approach is building enough trust, familiarity and understanding across various boundaries to engage in meaningful co-production.

The Future Resilience for African Cities and Lands (FRACTAL) project employed several strategies to address this challenge, one of which is the establishment of Embedded Researchers.

This webinar gave participants an overview of the main points raised in the FRACTAL Working Paper entitled “An Embedded Researcher approach to integrate climate information into decision making in southern African cities: lessons from FRACTAL”, including:

1. The conceptual underpinnings and rationale of the Embedded Researcher approach;
2. An overview of how the Embedded Researcher approach was operationalised in FRACTAL; through a coordinated city partnerships approach;
3. The benefits of and inhibitors to the Embedded Researcher approach;
4. The lessons learned that may be transferable to other contexts.

Speakers:

Dr Anna Taylor - FRACTAL embedded research coordinator, Climate System Analysis Group, University of Cape Town, South Africa -
Skip to Anna's presentation 2:29

FRACTAL Embedded Researchers:

Dr Lulu van Rooyen - University of KwaZulu Natal and eThekwini Municipality, Durban, South Africa.
Skip to Lulu's presentation 31:07

Hecrálito Mucavele - Eduardo Mondlane University and Maputo City Council, Mozambique.
Skip to Hecrálito's presentation 49:08

Kornelia Iipinge - University of Namibia and City of Windhoek, Namibia.
Skip to Kornelia's presentation 55:55

Rudo Mamombe - Chinhoyi University of Technology and City of Harare, Zimbabwe.
Skip to Rudo's presentation 59:14

Brenda Mwalukanga - University of Zambia and Lusaka City Council, Zambia.
Skip to Brenda's presentation 1:01:52

The webinar presentation as well as the list of Q&As are available on the Future Climate for Africa's website via this link https://bit.ly/2krCq3l