Call for Proposals
Duke faculty were invited to submit proposals for symposia to take place during the Spring 2025 semester. The deadline was August 7, 2024. Funding recipients will be notified in early fall 2024.
The Duke Climate Collaboration Symposia are on-campus convenings designed to accelerate climate solutions by developing new collaborations among Duke scholars and external partners. Each symposium focuses on identifying opportunities for Duke University to make the most of its interdisciplinary expertise and convening power for meaningful impact on climate challenges.
Launched in 2024, the series is funded by a gift from The Duke Endowment in support of the Duke Climate Commitment, which unites the university’s education, research, operations, and public service missions to address climate challenges.
Climate, Resilience and Mobility – September 19–20, 2024
The Duke Program on Climate, Resilience, and Mobility; the Duke Office of Global Affairs; and the Duke Climate Commitment hosted a symposium on topics at the intersection of climate change, migration and resilience. The symposium began on Thursday, September 19, with a keynote address by Indermit Gill (Chief Economist, World Bank Group) and a panel focused on building resilience to climate change and the likely effects of these efforts on human mobility. The expert panelists also discussed the potential for collaboration between NGOs, IGOs, government agencies, think tanks and academic researchers to enhance the knowledge frontier and improve policy response on these issues.
The symposium continued with an invitation-only workshop on Friday, September 20, to further explore partnerships between researchers at Duke and non-academic organizations on related topics.
Watch Recording View September 19 recap
Sustainable Infrastructure – March 20–22, 2024
The second Duke Climate Collaboration Symposium—focusing on sustainable infrastructure—took place on March 20-22, 2024 in Washington, DC and on Duke University’s main campus.
During a March 20 panel discussion at Duke in DC, panelists identified common ground among global initiatives aimed at measuring the sustainability of infrastructure, highlighting opportunities for collaboration. During a March 21 panel discussion on Duke University’s main campus in Durham, a second group of experts shared insights about opportunities and key barriers to advancing climate-resilient, sustainable infrastructure development in the U.S. and abroad. On March 22, Duke faculty and research staff and invited partners participated in a one-day workshop focused on the Infrastructure Sustainability Learning (ISLe) Initiative, a peer learning approach for building local capacity in sustainable infrastructure.
This symposium was organized by Duke University’s Nicholas Institute for Energy, Environment & Sustainability and Pratt School of Engineering in partnership with the United Nations Environment Programme, International Coalition for Sustainable Infrastructure, and World Wildlife Fund. Additional support for the ISLe Initiative is provided by the Schmidt Initiative for Long Covid.
Watch March 20 Recording View March 21 Recap
Risk Science for Climate Resilience – February 15–16, 2024
The first symposium in the series brought together the Duke community and experts from the public and private sectors to explore the essential roles that the insurance and finance sectors can play in addressing future climate risks. A public keynote address, panel discussion, and reception on February 15 was followed by a workshop on February 16 for Duke faculty, research staff, and invited participants from outside the university.
This symposium is organized by RESILE (a new university-wide climate research initiative based in Duke’s Pratt School of Engineering) and the Nicholas Institute for Energy, Environment & Sustainability.