Visit as part of course ‘From Climate Science to Climate Transitions’

Participants in the course 'From Climate Science to Climate Transitions' at University College Roosevelt visited the Royal Netherlands Institute for Sea Research (NIOZ) in Yerseke.

The visit started with a tour of the institute. Students Laetitia Délétroz and David Shaw interviewed IPCC lead author Dr. Aimée Slangen. The visit took place as part of the Delta Climate Center, in which both NIOZ and UCR participate.

The conversation started with the question of how a scientist gains access to an institute such as the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) and what role diversity of knowledge plays in that process. This was followed by an exchange about the balance between science and politics in the workings of the institute.

Finally, Aimée Slangen reflected with the students on what the future of the IPCC will bring. The scientists within the IPCC cannot take the place of governments. At the same time, states have committed themselves to concrete climate targets and a lot of science can be read as quite directly policy-prescriptive. What does this imply for the relation between science and politics?

Students enjoyed the nuanced way in which Aimée Slangen discussed these matters with them. The Delta Climate Center helped us connect. Later in the course further DCC scientists will be interviewed on questions of adaptation and of science communication.