Community engagement workshops to define the NCAR Earth System science and Technology hubs (NESTs)

Overview

Our nation increasingly faces the early and devastating impacts of climate change, including more severe wildfires, hurricanes, floods, droughts, and episodes of poor air quality. These impacts are inherently local, and effective solutions will require place-based, action-oriented research collaborations that include the communities in harm’s way.

To address this problem and work toward community resilience, the National Center of Atmospheric Research (NCAR) is exploring the concept of establishing a set of regional hubs across the U.S. These hubs, called NCAR Earth System Science and Technology hubs (NESTs), would be led by universities, supported by NCAR, and incorporate a wide range of local partners, including nonprofits, other academic institutions, government agencies, community groups, and private industry. These would address a challenging societal problem, or set of problems, that centers on climate change impacts relevant to their local community, with communities actively contributing toward developing ideas and effective solutions.

NCAR is a federally funded research and development center based in Boulder, Colorado, and sponsored by the National Science Foundation (NSF).

The Challenge

We need your help! To ensure that the NESTs concept matures into a successful program that effectively serves local communities, enables local universities, and facilitates rich and productive partnerships across sectors, we need to gather your valuable feedback, expertise, and perspectives. In particular, we want to engage people from the kinds of organizations we envision being a part of NESTs, from nonprofit staff and government workers to university researchers and private industry representatives.

Does this sound like you? If so, we encourage you to apply for one of our expense-paid upcoming workshops (details below).

About the Workshops

NCAR is holding a pair of community engagement workshops to co-evolve the NESTs concept with university, private, and public sector partners.

The workshop goals include:

  • Refining the NESTs concept and updating the vision by incorporating input from workshop participants
  • Articulating a clearly defined niche for the NESTs program
  • Developing a report for the National Science Foundation that summarizes the community need, interest, and support for regional hubs, along with a plan for implementation

How To Apply

The 2.5-day workshops will be held in fall 2023 and will be facilitated by Knowinnovation, an external company with nearly 20 years of experience facilitating innovative and interdisciplinary scientific collaborations for funding agencies and universities. All travel expenses (flights, lodging, and per diem) will be covered for applicants who are selected to attend (see details below).

Please use the form to apply to attend an in-person workshop. Space is limited to 50 participants per event, so please be sure to apply early!

Application Deadline: Application review for participant selection ended on July 28th. Please contact nests@ucar.edu with any questions.

Dates and Locations:

Omaha, Nebraska

Sept. 12-14, 2023

The workshop agenda will focus on conceptualizing a program structure in challenging areas such as, but not limited to, the food-energy-water nexus, air quality, wildfires at the urban interface, and water resource management with extremes from floods to drought.

Charleston, South Carolina

Nov. 13-15, 2023

The workshop agenda will focus on conceptualizing a program structure in the challenge areas such as, but not limited to, coastal hazards, flooding, and extreme weather.

Who Should Apply

We encourage applications from anyone interested in breaking into the interdisciplinary space of community resilience and adaptation to climate change, contributing to the conversation on partnership opportunities and best practices, and learning more about NCAR. We welcome applicants from academia, government, nonprofits, and the private sector, from early to senior career stages.

Approximately 50 applicants will be selected to participate in each community workshop. When selecting participants, consideration will be given to balance across a range of diverse disciplinary experience and expertise.

Attendance for the entirety of the 2.5 day in-person workshops is expected to ensure a productive, results-driven event.

NCAR is committed to providing a safe, productive, and welcoming environment for all participants in any conference, workshop, field project or project hosted or managed by UCAR/NCAR, no matter what role they play or their background. All attendees will have to actively agree to the code of conduct at the time of registration.

More information

For any technical issues with registration, please contact Malachi Greaves . All other questions regarding the workshops or this initiative, may be directed to the NESTs project manager, Domi Colegrove.