Postdoctoral Scholar, Climate Change and Health Adaptation

Description

Researchers and practitioners at the University of Washington (UW) Center for Health and the Global Environment (CHanGE) seek a postdoctoral researcher to support research tracking progress on adaptation to climate change in the health sector in the US and globally. CHanGE is an interdisciplinary center in the UW Schools of Medicine and Public Health with the mission of prioritizing health in climate change mitigation and adaptation and incorporating climate resilience into all health sector activities. CHanGE collaborates with a wide range of partners domestically and globally in pursuit of its mission, and the postdoctoral scholar will support CHanGE activities focused on adaptation in the health sector. 

Specifically, CHanGE seeks a scholar who will support research on metrics, indicators, evaluation, and implementation in climate change and health adaptation through two efforts: an assessment of domestic health adaptation activities through the Climate Measurements Center of Excellence, and tracking and evaluation of global health adaptation efforts through Lancet Countdown on Health and Climate Change. 

The Climate Measurements Center of Excellence is a new center, sponsored by the US National Institute of Standards and Technology, housed at the University of Vermont, with which CHanGE is partnered. The Center’s aims are to develop standardized methods and measurements for climate impacts and adaptation in the food, health, and water sectors; create climate impact assessment frameworks, toolkits, and best practices that can be used by communities and other sub-national jurisdictions to inform local policies and decision-making; and to serve as an information and expertise hub for subnational climate assessments in the US. The postdoctoral scholar will assist with the Center’s activities focused on the health sector, including engagement with the public health community to develop and track indicators of climate change adaptation at the state and local levels.

The Lancet Countdown on Health and Climate Change is an independent, international research collaboration that tracks the evolving links between health and climate change globally, regionally, and nationally, in partnership with The Lancet and the World Health Organization. Its aim is to inform a robust response to climate change that protects and promotes human health. The Countdown brings together almost 300 researchers from nearly 100 universities, research institutions, and UN agencies world-wide within its global and its six regional centers. CHanGE is leading the Countdown’s Working Group on Adaptation, Planning, and Resilience. The postdoctoral scholar, as Research Fellow, will support this Working Group, one of five, working on the group’s identification, development, evaluation, and reporting of indicators. The scholar will lead efforts to refine and improve the Working Group’s indicator framework through a comprehensive scan of the literature and solicitation of expert input. The Research Fellow will also lead the development of novel indicators and expansion of existing ones, coordinate academic contributions from other Working Group members, and ensure the delivery of the Working Group’s section for the annual global indicator report. 

The post will play a critical role in researching and evaluating the rapidly growing area of climate change adaptation in the health sector domestically and globally and inform ongoing national and international assessments of health sector adaptation activities through the development and tracking of robust indicators of intervention activities, their evaluation, implementation, and related inputs and supports.

We are interested in a researcher that will support these projects and support critical new lines of inquiry regarding indicators of climate change adaptation in the health sector; metrics describing adaptation activities and their impacts; strategies for evaluating adaptation policies and programs and their impacts at various scales; and linkage of these activities with ongoing domestic and global assessments and support activities such as the US National Climate Assessment; the Lancet Countdown annual global, regional, and country reports; and the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change assessment reports. The ideal candidate is analytical, organized, and collaborative with expert knowledge related to climate change adaptation in the health sector, its indicators and metrics, implementation science, policy, or related areas. A passion for research, a demonstrable capacity to work in highly interdisciplinary environments, creativity, and collegiality are essential.

The Department of Global Health encourages and supports the multiple identities of staff, faculty and students including, but not limited to, socioeconomic sta