Perception of climate change in an academic community in Colombia—a pilot study in a developing country

Espinosa, Mónica; Larrahondo, Juan S.; Méndez-Espinosa, Juan Felipe; Cortés, Denisse V.; Forero, Víctor F.; Franco, Juan Felipe

doi:10.1007/s43621-023-00129-7

Cited by 3 publications

(2 citation statements)

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“…The results offer important new insights into researchers' perceptions of the climate crisis across numerous measures as they explore data that has not previously been collected. When compared to researchers and academics in France and Colombia [55,56] and university students globally [50], we found that UK researchers' level of climate worry (94.8%) is similar. However, it is higher than the UK public (83%) [83] and even more so when accounting only for those who are extremely or very worried (73.6% compared to 46% general public) [84].…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 82%

“…There is some support for climate action or greater sustainability in their job roles [52,54] but also a lack of professional development to do so [49]. Surveys of researchers across France and academics at a Colombian university found almost universal levels of concern about the climate crisis [55,56], yet in France this is not translating into corresponding action [54]. Barriers to conducting sustainability research include a lack of power, funding, motivation and a common goal [57][58][59], while lack of knowledge is a key barrier to reducing personal carbon emissions and taking climate action [49,60].…”

Section: Plos Climatementioning

confidence: 99%

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Wanting to be part of change but feeling overworked and disempowered: Researchers’ perceptions of climate action in UK universities

Latter,

Demski,

Capstick

2024

PLOS Clim

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Interest in the relationship between the activities of universities and action on climate change is growing, but until recently there has been little focus on the critical role of researchers, particularly with regards to how research practices and culture can enable or inhibit change. This study addresses this gap, exploring researchers’ perceptions of universities’ measures to tackle their own emissions, their own engagement on issues surrounding the climate crisis, and challenges and opportunities for researchers to contribute to them. We present findings from a representative survey of 1,853 researchers from 127 UK universities across disciplines and career stages, including comparing responses across these professional differences, and analysis based on over 5,000 open text responses provided by the survey participants. The results show that while most have some knowledge of actions being taken by their universities and feel that universities’ public declarations of a climate emergency are making a difference, almost half think not enough is being done. They feel that responsibility for university climate action sits across government, universities and research councils, but almost all researchers are also personally worried about climate change and want to do more themselves to address it. For the most part, they also strongly support climate advocacy by those engaged in research. Yet high workload, uncertainty about what actions to take, perceived lack of agency or power, inflexible university processes and pressure to travel are just some of the many barriers researchers face in taking action. The study highlights how these barriers can be overcome, and the steps universities and researchers can take to better incorporate climate action into their research culture and practices.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 82%