Global Science partnership:
Our future together
Overview
Our future together is a global science and public engagement partnership, which brings academic and research communities, policymakers, civil society, and the public’s perspectives together to spark effective and more inclusive climate action.
The partnership is founded on the premise that:
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When people are engaged in climate science, they are more empowered to influence the climate agenda which leads to more effective climate action.
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When climate scientists are engaged in policymaking, evidence gaps can be identified and additional evidence produced, improving policy outcomes with evidence-based decision making.
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When policymakers engage in discussion with the public, they can also explore the complexity of climate issues from a broader perspective, and develop ambitious policies that are also more feasible to implement.
The Partnership currently consists of the following countries (Colombia, Italy, Jamaica, Kenya, the Seychelles, and the UK). In the first instance, the Partnership will focus on low emission food systems.
2022-2023 Pilot
Over the course of 2022-2023, citizens, scientists and government representatives from three pilot
countries (Colombia, Kenya and the Seychelles) will work to address one key policy and
engagement challenge in national food and agriculture systems.
In each pilot country, the partnership will convene:
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A community of stakeholders including national and international academics and experts, who signpost and review the scientific evidence which addresses the key challenge.
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Deliberative “mini public” workshops convening members of the public. Scientific evidence and outputs of the deliberative workshops will help advise the community of experts and national governments on potential policy recommendations and solutions to the identified challenge.
Scientific evidence and outputs of the deliberative workshops will help advise the community of
experts and national governments on potential policy recommendations and solutions to the
identified challenge.
The workshops will consider the issues raised by the community of stakeholders from different
perspectives and discuss potential solutions, based on academic, local and indigenous knowledge.
The partner countries not currently delivering a pilot study will be contributing by championing the
research, providing academic and expert input into pilot-country design and outcomes, and advising
at a high level via the Steering Group (see the Governance & team page).
Legacy
This project aims to catalyse climate action, engage a diversity of stakeholders on complex issues,
and showcase innovative approaches to deliberative public engagement and scientific research, to create bottom-up solutions to policy challenges internationally. Currently, the project is at a pilot
stage where the four participatory countries are focusing on food-related challenges. It is envisioned that these pilots will inform the development of a shareable methodology that will be utilised within other countries and/or contexts for the improvement of their national climate action effectiveness.
This website was created to provide updates as the research progresses, and to be a space to share each partner countries’ motivations and policy focus. When the pilot stage is completed, it will offer downloadable toolkits to help other researchers adapt and apply the methodology in new contexts.