Commonwealth Climate Resilience Network Grantees 2024

Alex Ekwueme Federal University Ndufu-Alike, Nigeria

Dr Chinwe Ogunji is a Lecturer at the Faculty of Education and Fellow of the Center for Climate Change and Development. Her areas of research are climate change education, community adaptations, urban resilience, and gender mainstreaming. This grant will be used to map indigenous knowledge-based adaptation strategies in south-east Nigerian communities to build communal capacity/climate resilience.

Monash University, Australia

Professor Seema Narayan is Deputy Director of the Pacific Action for Climate Transitions (PACT). This grant will be used to help understand climate resilience related skill and knowledge gaps in the climate sensitive industries, government and non-government organisations in Fiji. This will be used to inform the development of the joint Fiji National University - Monash University Master’s programme, planned to be offered in 2025.

University of Malawi

As an academic and early career researcher for the Centre for Resilient Agri-Food Systems (CRAFS), Dr Elias Mwakilama will use this grant to collaborate with other researchers in the region and conduct a data mapping exercise. The goal is to build an interoperable database that will be relevant for researching the complex interactions between smallholder farmer food production and resilience, high yield gaps, food production policies and access, and sustainable methods in Southern Africa.

University of Melbourne, Australia

Dr Ang Li is a Research Fellow at the Centre for Health Policy, Melbourne School of Population and Global Health. The project funded by this grant will build an interactive national map based on social vulnerability indicators linked to the health impact of climate change. It will showcase social vulnerabilities and capacities at the community level. The initiative will enhance the universities’ contribution to the resilience of communities and help the public, emergency response planners and public health officials to prepare and identify community support needs.