Transdisciplinary Approaches for Setting Research Priorities on Climate Change and Health: Engaging Decision Makers, Researchers, and Communities

Article type
Authors
Bhaumik S1, Cajilig P2, Eachempati P3, Kumbargere Nagraj S4, Nasser M5, Piechotta V6, Sharma T7, Thomson D, Uhm S, Wieland LS
1Meta-research and Evidence Synthesis Unit, The George Institute for Global Health
2Curiosity & Brown University Center for Human Rights and Humanitarian Studies (CHRHS)
3MAGIC Evidence Ecosystem Foundation
4University of Plymouth
5Robert Koch Institute
6World Health Organization Regional Office for Europe
7Cochrane Climate-Health Working Group
Abstract
Background:
Climate change is having a profound impact on human, animal and planetary health. These impacts will also trigger social, economic and political changes, indicating the need for a wider understanding of the evidence landscape for identifying policy and practical solutions. There is a growing recognition of the importance of involving field workers, communities and indigenous people in setting research priorities to ensure they are contextually relevant, and the process is inclusive, where people most familiar with problems and issues in their regions are involved in such decisions. In this workshop, we will explore how decision-makers, funders and researchers can work together to set a research agenda for prioritizing evidence syntheses in this field.
Objectives:
Our workshop will provide an overview of how to involve decision-makers, researchers and indigenous people in setting research priorities on climate change and health.
Description:
- The workshop will begin with an overview of how climate change affects humans, animals and planetary health, including transdisciplinary approaches of One Health and Planetary Health.
- This will be followed by a presentation identifying policy and practice needs.
- Next, we will present how to undertake stakeholder mapping and create a decision-making framework. This will demonstrate how to untangle some of the complexities in this area.
- Exercise: We will provide individuals with a report on future research needs with local decision-makers on response to disasters due to climate change that affected the health of the local community in the island of Palawan in the Philippines. The participants will analyse and appraise those results and how to translate them into questions for systematic reviews.
- Discussion: We will open the session for a wider conversation on climate change and public health, how the issues raised will be applicable and generalisable to different sectors, and how an evidence ecosystem, such as Cochrane, fits into this.
This workshop will provide participants with the knowledge and tools to engage in effective and inclusive priority-setting exercises that address the complex and wide-ranging issues related to climate change and health.