Youth Participation, Action and Climate Change Education (Youth PACE): Empowering the next generation to respond to the climate crisis

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This fellowship will consolidate my track record of publishing in high-impact journals, developing impactful professional networks and designing innovative pedagogical materials, while learning to prepare large funding proposals. As well as these individual benefits, this fellowship will have a positive impact in preparing the next generation to respond to the climate crisis.1. Enhancing and diversifying my publication record Firstly, I will use this fellowship to reformulate the discussion chapter of my PhD for publication in the world-renowned journal, Nature Climate Change. As the first (and only ethnographic) study of youth participation in the UN climate negotiations, my PhD identifies five competing rationales for youth participation in climate governance. Exploring the extent to which these are currently being achieved, I identify ample room for improvement and offer a series of recommendations. My PhD examiners agreed this has high potential for publication in the target journal.Secondly, I will use this fellowship to develop the third chapter of my thesis for publication. Guided by growing interest in my work from the Royal Geographical Society (RGS) Research Group on Children, Youth and Families, I intend to submit this chapter, which is already formulated as a paper, but requires further conceptualisation with input from a youth geographies expert (Dr Katie McQuaid) to a reputed geography journal such as Geoforum, expanding the interdisciplinarity of my publications.Thirdly, as part of my current COP26 Fellowship, I am conducting an evidence synthesis into universities' provision of Climate Change Education (CCE). This will be published as a report later this year to inform the UN climate change conference (COP26) in Glasgow in November. I will use this fellowship to develop a more critical, theoretically informed article challenging assumptions made about the relationship between CCE and the "Green Jobs" agenda, for the Journal of Environmental Education, or similar.2. Maximising impact and engagement Throughout my career, I have developed and maintained professional connections within an international network of policy-makers and practitioners working on CCE and youth participation. I will use this fellowship to deepen my policy engagement, presenting my PhD and COP26 fellowship findings to the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) and participating in meetings with UK policy-makers to advise on their youth engagement, climate change education and green jobs strategies. Additionally, I will expand my academic networks by co-developing a session for a UK geography conference and attending an international political science conference.3. Conducting a research visit and contributing to pedagogical innovation I am eager to expand my research into CCE to develop innovative, practical solutions. To do this, I will visit world-leading academics at the University of Edinburgh's Centre for Carbon Innovation. I am particularly keen to learn from their Executive Director, Professor Dave Reay, who has established an impressive, enviable academic career balancing high-quality research, innovative teaching and impactful policy engagement. He has kindly provided a letter of support for this application, providing more detail of the type of work I would engage in, including developing international, interdisciplinary Massive Open Online Course (MOOCs) on climate change. 4. Developing funding proposals I will use this fellowship to develop funding proposals to continue this line of research and develop practical interventions relating to CCE and the wider "Green Jobs" agenda. Being based at Leeds will enable me to work with experienced colleagues in relevant research groups and be named on larger bids, as well as to receive mentoring, guidance and translational funding from the aforementioned Nexus innovation centre.