On Thursday 28th March 2024, Sustainable Futures will be hosting our third 2024 Seminar in our monthly seminar series with Dr Nourhan Heysham and Dr Robert Naylor.
Indicative Agenda
14:00 - 14:05 - Introductions and Welcome.
14:05 - 14:25 - Dr Nourhan Heysham, Post-doctoral Research Associate at The University of Manchester in the School of Environment, Education and Development, will present 'Investigating Climate Resilience of Social Capital Networks in Grassroot Economies'.
14:25 - 14:30 - Q&A with Dr Nourhan Heysham.
14:30 - 14:50 - Dr Robert Naylor, Lecturer at The University of Manchester's Centre for the History of Science, Technology and Medicine, will present 'Sustainable Pasts?: The Value of History in Current Debates on Commercial Atmospheric Data'.
14:50 - 14:55 - Q&A with Dr Robert Naylor.
14:55 - 15:00 - Closing thoughts from our seminar chair.
15:00 - Event Close.
Talk Descriptions
Dr Nourhan Heysham | 'Investigating Climate Resilience of Social Capital Networks in Grassroot Economies'
For this research, the value of Social Capital surpasses economic significance, and steps into the day-to-day livelihoods of a semi-rural industrial community of MSMEs in the Global South; one facing the threat of sea level rise. The work explores the link of social capital networks to urban patterns in the city, highlighting the value of the grassroot economy of the heritage craft of furniture-making in Damietta, Egypt. The work has evolved through several years of investigation and team expertise looking at 1. Network resilience analysis, 2. Conservation of heritage crafts at risk, and 3. Global market and policy outreach for local crafts at risk. This included doctoral research and a £200k AHRC-funded Climate Urgency Project involving key UK and Egyptian stakeholders in the research and practice.
Dr Robert Naylor | 'Sustainable Pasts?: The Value of History in Current Debates on Commercial Atmospheric Data'
Since the 1990s, the private meteorological applications industry has rapidly grown into a multi-billion dollar sector, and is increasingly being embraced by the World Meteorological Organization. Advocates for the sector argue that as public funding for atmospheric data becomes restricted, the private sector should step in to help combat the effects of climate change. Critics of the sector have questioned the “double growth” of the industry and damages from weather events, whether the evaluation mechanisms within the sector promote better decision-making, and the affordability of the services on offer for the world’s poorest and most vulnerable. One of the problems in evaluating these arguments is limited access to analyse commercially-sensitive uses of weather and climate information within industry. This problem of access can be ameliorated by examining historical case studies with plentiful archival material. I present the case studies of the UK electricity, gas, and water industries since the Second World War, and argue that, when it comes to helping populations during adverse climate events, what matters is not so much the quality or quantity of atmospheric information, but how it is used.
Get to know our speakers
Dr Nourhan Heysham is a Post-doc Research Associate at The University of Manchester (SEED), currently working on NERC Digital Solutions Programme, on mapping user needs and networks for building digital tools for environmental data. Nourhan’s work tackles multiple interdisciplinary topics related to cities and people, including user and collective social capital networks, green infrastructure and planning for climate change vulnerability in the Global South. Nourhan has a PhD in Urban Development and her research developed partnerships for a £200k AHRC-funded Climate Urgency Project in Damietta Egypt. Previously, Nourhan was as a Researcher and Project Manager at IGNITION NBS Living Lab (€4.6M ERDF fund), as well as taught Architecture and Planning at Cairo University and the American University in Cairo (AUC).
Dr Robert Naylor is a lecturer at Manchester’s Centre for the History of Science, Technology and Medicine. He is interested in the historical interaction between climate and economy, both how atmospheric information has been used by industry, as well as how public climate change narratives have been shaped by economic context.
This event will be hosted on Zoom. Please sign up to receive the zoom link to your inbox prior to the event.
Sign up link: https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/sustainable-futures-march-2024-seminar-series-tickets-818404729577?utm-campaign=social&utm-content=attendeeshare&utm-medium=discovery&utm-term=listing&utm-source=cp&aff=ebdsshcopyurl
