In this blog, Yasemin Didem Aktas, Associate Professor of Applied Materials and Structures at University College London, reflects on her recent secondment at the Government Office for Science (GO-Science) and the value of academia-policy partnership.
Climate crisis is now felt across all aspects of our daily lives, and addressing it requires an interdisciplinary and multisectoral collaboration. Academia-policy partnerships are an effective and efficient way to identify the evidence base, knowledge gaps, innovation needs and transformation pathways that can underpin our efforts to mitigate and adapt to the climate crisis.
Yasemin D Aktas (PhD, FRSPH) is the Associate Professor of Applied Materials and Structures at UCL Department of Civil, Environmental and Geomatic Engineering, and the Deputy Academic Director of the UK Centre for Moisture in Buildings (UKCMB).
The Climate Adaptation Research and Innovation Framework (CARIF), is being developed with these principles in mind. Thanks to a six-month secondment supported by UCL Public Policy, I work at GO-Science with colleagues from the Department for Environment, Food & Rural Affairs (DEFRA) to develop the framework. This has involved collating research and innovation gaps across different sectors and synthesising them for a policy and public audience, for use in the framework and for Spending Review. This is done in a close and iterative consultation with multiple internal and external stakeholders to ensure that the framework reflects the state-of-the-art on climate adaptation with a systems dynamics approach, and that key barriers, challenges and opportunities are captured for all sectors – separately and in relation with each other – through the lenses of all crucial players.
This has been a massively gratifying experience for me on both professional and personal levels. Synthesizing large amounts of data and information within and outside my immediate research areas to then communicate in a succinct and accessible way has been a challenging endeavour. However, the immense exposure to new streams of knowledge and different ways of working, and thinking with a true team spirit have been an irreplaceable experience.
While my research on infrastructure resilience under coalescing climate induced hazards motivated me to apply for this secondment, I find that now this experience will have a transformative impact on my future research. Climate adaptation is less of a clearcut issue than climate mitigation, and what good adaptation looks like is yet to be fleshed out fully – this is where I would like to contribute.
Evidence-based policymaking and capacity sharing across different domains of knowledge holders are critical in our ability to combat the climate crisis and adapt to the impacts of climate change. I look forward to similar opportunities in the future to put my expertise to use in policy contexts, and to sharpen/deepen my own knowledge, for the benefit of communities and the wider society.
Yasemin’s secondment to GO-Science and her work on the upcoming Climate Adaptation Research and Innovation Framework (CARIF), developed by the Climate Adaptation Research and Innovation Board, has been made possible through UCL Strategic Priorities Fund EPSRC Impact Acceleration Award (IAA) account (EP/X525649/1, OVPRIGE Public Policy Rapid Response 2022-25).
