UKRI, together with our COP26 delivery partners for climate adaptation and resilience in the UK and overseas, will hold a series of online events starting in June. This is to mark the run-up to the 26th United Nations Climate Change Conference of the Parties (COP26) in Glasgow in November 2021.

Collaborative international efforts

The aim of the events will be to showcase research that is collaborative, locally led and globally relevant and aligned to the UK COP26 presidency’s adaptation and resilience theme. Events will be online and co-hosted with COP26 delivery partners based in different countries and regions across the globe.

The events will feed into the COP26 conference by bringing together global communities, businesses, researchers from a range of disciplines and local, regional and national-level policymakers to support solution-driven discussions. We will focus on sub-themes within the adaptation and resilience research landscape, based on the challenges faced by the host countries and regions. Together we will:

• foster open dialogues between key stakeholders around how climate risks and their impacts are understood and managed
• showcase the collaborative international efforts we are supporting to enhance adaptation and resilience in a wide range of locations impacted by climate change.

Events in the series will produce video summaries and written lessons to build momentum and enable a co-produced message to be presented at COP26. This will bring local voices from these regions and the UK directly into the conference.

Core questions framing the series

UKRI has convened an expert group of Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) lead authors to develop a set of core questions to help frame discussions across the events series.

This will ensure that we deliver coherent messaging at COP26:

• what research is needed to respond to the adaptation gap?
• how to evaluate the feasibility of adaptation options and outcomes for resilient and sustainable development?
• what examples are there of transformative adaptation research enabling action through addressing social justice, capacity building and governance?
• how can research funders, universities and data managers best champion inclusive, urgent and solutions-oriented adaptation research?

Finale event at COP26

At COP26 itself, we will showcase outcomes and research achievements from the series through a panel discussion around next steps and focus for research in the decades ahead. This finale event will highlight the importance of inter-and transdisciplinary research. It will bring together researchers, non-governmental organizations, the broader user community and policymakers alike, as well as the public to inspire the next action-orientated research agenda. The panel will have live online participation drawing from our regional pre-COP events as well as being live broadcast online.

Upcoming events: Launch of Africa-led events

Profiling global impacts and upscaling opportunities for climate research in Africa UKRI and partners are pleased to announce the next set of events coming up in the series, which will be co-hosted by the African Research Impact Network (ARIN).

The Africa-led events will begin with a pan-Africa launch, taking place on Thursday 29 July at 14:00 to 16.30 East African Time (EAT) / 12:00 to 14:30 UK time.

Further events with regional foci in east, west and south Africa will follow on from the launch and take place during August and September (exact dates to be confirmed). The Africa-led events will build on outcomes of the COP26 adaptation and resilience events series global launch held on 3 June 2021. The event generated key insights to inform more targeted regional workshops in Africa and other regions. A range of different research stakeholders will come together to showcase ongoing climate adaptation and resilience research projects based in Africa and seek insights on opportunities for upscaling these.

Discussions between stakeholders will also generate insights into the landscape, extent and effectiveness of adaptation and resilience initiatives in Africa. It will inform the development of the new innovative Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office-led Adaptation Research Alliance. Invitations to the pan-Africa launch event are being issued to a wide range of stakeholders as recommended by ARIN, UKRI and our COP26 delivery partners. To register your interest in attending the pan-Africa, or regionally focused events please email: louise.hosegood@nerc.ukri.org;J.Atela@arin-africa.org

Further details around the regionally-focused events will be provided in due course.