Impact culture at the climate conference (COP26)

Professor Mark Reed from Fast Track Impact and SRUC will be co-hosting a session on impact culture with the Adaptation Research Alliance which is being launched by UK Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office at COP26. The session is co-hosted with the United Nations Environment Programme in the blue zone’s Peatland Pavilion. In addition to bringing together peatland researchers from around the world, the session will discuss the action research principles at the heart of the new Alliance and new research by Professor Reed on creating an “impact culture” in research institutions that seek to tackle the climate crisis.

In contrast to the majority of research conducted to date, which focusses on understanding problems and processes, the session will call for more demand-driven, results and solutions oriented research that is co-created with those who are likely to benefit from climate research, including local populations in the worst affected countries. Prof Reed’s new book, Impact Culture, will be published early next year, and calls for a radical shake-up of the way Universities are organised, so they can more effectively generate impact, rather than just producing academic articles and books. He was appointed a year ago next month to lead SRUC’s Thriving Natural Capital Challenge Centre, which seeks to support thriving rural communities through regenerative agriculture and conservation that tackles the climate crisis.

Find out more:

· Read more about impact culture

· Read more about the ARA principles