Young Hydrologic Society

A Streams of Thought contribution by Clare Stephens, Danlu Guo, Nevenka Bulovic, Fiona Tang, Anna Lintern and Pallavi Goswami.

As part of the MODSIM conference held in Sydney, December 2021, a group of around 30 Early Career Researchers (ECRs) gathered in-person and virtually for a workshop on interdisciplinary research. We heard from three inspiring speakers: Prof. Gabriele Bammer, Prof. Corey Bradshaw and Dr. Arunima Malik, followed by break-out group discussions about our own experiences guided by the speakers. This article summarizes our thoughts and lessons learned.

Challenges identified for interdisciplinary research

Most of the workshop participants had limited experience with interdisciplinary research, and they identified a number of barriers that have made it difficult for them to get involved. Many of these challenges were related to career metrics and funding policy in Australia and elsewhere. Interdisciplinary research may not align with the indicators we need for career progression, which tend to reward fast publication rather than encouraging research across broader disciplines and diverse teams requiring substantially more time to develop. Funding for interdisciplinary research can be difficult to obtain in countries where impact is measured with respect to a particular field of research (as is the case in Australia). Similarly, job applications tend to relate to a specific area of expertise and the participants felt that there was less demand for interdisciplinary scientists. Time pressure is also a key issue, which makes it difficult for ECRs to learn about topics outside their main areas of focus, particularly as employment is often tied to funded projects with little flexibility in the role.

A Streams of thought contribution by Francesca Casale.

In November 2021, I attended the COP26 in Glasgow, the Conference of Parties of the UNFCCC (United Nation Framework Convention on Climate Change). I have been attending the COP since 2017. It is always an interesting experience. I have had the opportunity to meet a lot of people from all over the world and to exchange learnings and ideas.

As a member of the civil society, I attended COP26 as an observer. In practice, observers can attend some of the plenaries, the informal sessions, and the bilateral meetings with national delegates. Observers are admitted to the conference to guarantee the transparency of the process. Through the constituencies, observers can ask the delegates for some improvements to the draft and decision texts.

At COP26 I was part of the delegation of Italian Climate Network, an Italian NGO focused on environmental divulgation, especially during the UNFCCC negotiations. As an organization, we work with young people in primary and secondary schools in Italy, organizing lessons on climate change and environmental issues.

Bridging science with action-oriented decisions

During the COP26, our principal task was to report on negotiations. So, I followed the negotiation sessions, and I reported the progress through some articles on the Italian Climate Network website (e.g., nature based solutions to achieve climate goals, cop26-towards-the-second-week) I also attended a lot of side events, to better understand the negotiation process and to integrate my knowledge about scientific, social, and economic aspects of the discussion themes in COP26.