CLICCS Hosts Green Talents

21 October 2020, by Franziska Neigenfind

Photo: Green Talents/BMBF

The winners of this year’s Green Talents Competition recently met with German sustainability researchers. The opening event for the young talents from around the globe was organized by CLICCS researchers at Universität Hamburg during its first-ever Virtual Science Forum. They offered insights into their work on climate change, climate scenarios and international climate policy.

At the Science Forum, the young Green Talents met with active researchers and profited from their experience and range of disciplines. Dr. Christopher Hedemann explained what lies at the heart of CLICCS research as follows: What could the climate be like in the future – what scenarios are possible, and which are plausible? Further, he stressed the need to more actively take social dynamics and transformations into account in this context – and reported on the intensive, multidisciplinary research being pursued at the Cluster of Excellence.

In turn, Dr. Dian Putrasahan demonstrated how changes in climate variability can be assessed with regard to global warming and at different time scales. She illustrated her approach using a case study on North Atlantic oscillation and Earth’s surface temperatures in a world that is four degrees warmer. In her presentation, Emilie D’Amico analyzed how the United Nations’ climate policy has evolved since the Paris Agreement, and the role that various stakeholders play in it. Following their presentations, the Hamburg-based experts answered questions from the Green Talents in a video chat.

The Green Talents program is conducted under the patronage of the Federal Minister of Education and Research, Anja Karliczek. The award has been honoring talented researchers since 2009 and provides young scientists with a platform for sharing their views on green concepts to make our world a better place. This year, CLICCS spokesperson Prof. Detlef Stammer, together with other jury members, selected 25 winners from among the 589 applicants, who hailed from 87 countries.

Due to the unprecedented challenges posed by the COVID-19 pandemic, this year’s Green Talents Science Forum will for the first time take place in a fully online format as a Virtual Science Forum. It will take the 25 Green Talents on an exciting virtual journey where they can explore Germany’s sustainability research landscape, network with German researchers and get to know their fellow award winners. Over the course of this week, the awardees will virtually tour German research institutions, universities and organizations concerned with sustainability science, and discuss their projects with local experts. Among the research institutions participating in this year’s program are Universität Hamburg, my Boo (a company that builds bamboo bikes), the GEOMAR Helmholtz Centre for Ocean Research Kiel, the Max Planck Institute for Demographic Research (MPIDR), the Leibniz Institute for Catalysis (LIKAT Rostock), the Fraunhofer Institute for Computer Graphics Research IGD and the Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research (PIK).

Further information:
greentalents.de
greentalents.de/awardees-2020.php