International Group Travel: Engaging students in science international decision making: Madrid, Spain - December 2019

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Part 1Addressing global environmental issues involves working at the intersection of science and decision making. Graduate students and early career researchers who engage in environmental research, however, have few meaningful opportunities within academia to gain the knowledge and training on how their research can be employed for social innovation and collective impacts. PIs propose an innovative and immersive experience for students on communicating science for decision making through student-led presentations and outreach at an international United Nations meeting on international environmental issues. By coupling training and authentic, real world engagement, students will learn how to navigate environmental issues in decision making, gain intercultural and diplomacy skills and build professional networks. Communicating science to decision makers is a critical part of preparing graduate students and early career researchers. Using a team-based approach to build research presentations for decision makers can provide graduate students professional development opportunities.Part 2Team-based projects can bring together students from different institutional backgrounds as well as from different disciplines. Students from three different institutions have worked together on presentations to international negotiators at the COP25 on science topics related to their own research and tied to the sustainable development goals (SDGs) of the UN. These topics include carbon markets, atmospheric sciences, emerging technology, gender issues, biodiversity loss, green careers, and many others. Presenting data on complex environmental issues that combines disciplines such as geosciences, atmospheric sciences and environmental sciences will provide students with unique international and interdisciplinary experience. In addition, presenting research in an international context provides students with cross cultural experiences as students move into professional careers. Each student team conducted primary and secondary data gathering on topics related to the sustainable development goals (SDGs) so students experienced aligning research questions with policy target outcomes.This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.