Research Associate - Climate Collaboratorium

About this role
The Centre for Water, Community and Resilience (CWCR), based at UWE Bristol, seeks a Research Associate (0.75 FTE) to support the ESRC-funded Climate Collaboratorium project. “Climate Collaboratorium: Co-creation of Applied Theatre Decision Labs for Exploring Climate Change Adaptation and Mitigation” is a three-year project funded through the New Frontiers in Research Fund 2023 (International Joint Initiative for Research in Climate Change Adaptation and Mitigation Call). The UK funder is ESRC. 

The project is running for three years from September 2024 to August 2027.  Thie interdisciplinary project involves collaboration with a research team led by the University of Saskatchewan, Canada, along with US and German partners. This post is to support co-development of the hybrid participatory methods in Climate Collaboratorium that combine deep mapping, design thinking and drama. In the UK, the community participation processes will be developed and delivered working with less heard groups in two river-side towns within the River Severn catchment.

Background information about the CLIMATE COLLABORATORIUM project:
Climate change is having a detrimental impact on the physical and socioeconomic systems that are crucial for the well-being of vulnerable groups living in flood-prone and water insecure regions worldwide.  The objective of this international collaboration is to use design thinking workshops facilitated with bias and inclusivity experts to co-develop adaptation and mitigation options based on salient place-based climate change scenarios, working with more marginalised communities. The scenarios and mitigation options will become plot points in applied theatre productions where audiences will decide on preferred actions and thereby direct the outcome of the play.

Blending design thinking, applied theatre, natural and climate science, researchers within the Climate Collaboratorium project will create novel touring plays in water insecure regions. Design thinking workshops and the plays will be embedded with social science tools to capture, analyze, and enhance the coproduction of new knowledge such as bespoke scenarios, and place-based adaptation and mitigation options to be shared with policy makers in each region. The applied theatre will bring audiences into decision spaces where they consider a range of locally relevant options for mitigation and adaptation to enhance water security in their local watersheds.”

The Centre for Water, Communities and Resilience
The Centre for Water, Communities and Resilience promotes world-class, interdisciplinary research of extreme weather and water risk, vulnerabilities and what makes communities resilient.  This project forms part of a thematic area of work around children, complex risks and resilience.  Further information about the Centre for Water, Communities and Resilience can be found at Centre for Water, Communities and Resilience (CWCR) - Research centres and groups | UWE Bristol

About you
We are looking for an enthusiastic and highly self-motivated candidate to join us, in an international research project involving co-working between climate scientists, social scientists and drama specialists. You should have a sufficient breadth or depth of specialist knowledge and expertise in at least one related discipline or an (inter)disciplinary area (e.g. human or environmental geography, environmental humanities, drama and community arts). You will have a relevant master’s-level qualification or equivalent experience. You will be a team player who can collaborate well with other researchers and with the ability to work across disciplines and with a range of different community groups, NGOs and professional stakeholders in water security/ climate change adaptation.

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