Urban adaptation and resilience

The 2023/24 Commonwealth Futures Climate Research Cohort will focus on five key themes, each supported by an academic theme lead.

Urban resilience responses are emerging around the world that build the capacity of individuals, communities, institutions, businesses, and systems within a city to survive, adapt, and grow in the face of chronic stresses and acute shocks. This theme will bring together interdisciplinary researchers interested in urban resilience responses and their contribution to climate justice through action research approaches that study change processes. Sub-themes include: Social justice; policy and behavioural change; incentives for climate action.

Mohammad is currently on study leave from his position as Assistant Professor at University of Dhaka’s Department of Political Science. He is pursuing his PhD on 'The role of intermediaries in understanding the relations of migration (in) equality and development'. This study was commissioned by UK Research and Innovation (UKRI) and Coventry University’s South-South Migration, Inequality and Development Hub. Via the Commonwealth Shared Scholarship Scheme (CSSS), he also completed an MSc in Sustainable Development, from the UK’s University of Exeter. He has worked across several collaborative research projects, covering various forms of internal and international migration, adaptation to climate change, sustainable and inclusive urban development, and migrants' rights and well-being. He was previously a Research Associate for the Refugee and Migratory Movements Research Unit (RMMRU).

Aidatu is a lecturer at School of Business and Technology of Lakeside University College and a PhD candidate at the Department of Marketing and Entrepreneurship, University of Ghana (UG). Her research interests include sustainability and green marketing, international marketing, electronic business, consumer behaviour and decision-making. She is particularly interested in understanding and promoting green consumption behaviours to curb climate change. Her PhD research focused on Ghanian consumers’ purchasing intentions around renewable energy. As an early career researcher, she has co-authored several publications and had book chapters published. Aidatu’s long-term goal is to become a leading marketing scholar and to make meaningful contributions to our knowledge on green and sustainable consumption.

Dr Kumar is Assistant Professor at Tata Institute of Social Sciences Centre for Environment, Climate Change and Sustainability Studies. He was previously a postdoctoral researcher in the Department of Hydrology at the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT). His doctoral degree focused on assessing climate change vulnerability and adaptation strategies of socio-ecological systems in the Central Himalaya. This was completed at the School of Environmental Sciences, Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU), India. He was awarded a DAAD PhD scholarship at Martin Luther University Halle-Wittenberg, Germany. As a socioecologist, with a keen interest in human geography and landscape ecology, he is passionate about interdisciplinary research and teaching. His research aims to explore the dynamics and interrelationships between social and ecological systems, with a focus on socio-ecological systems, sustainability, nature-based solutions, climate change vulnerability and adaptation, and Himalayan Forest ecosystems.

Dr Ogunji is an early career researcher with a PhD in Social Studies Education with a focus on climate change education. Her areas of research interest are climate change education and gender mainstreaming in teaching and learning in higher education institutions. In 2020, her project team won a project grant funded by Global Challenges Research Funds (GCRF) for a project titled ‘Investigating the Needs of Student Mothers in Nigerian Higher Institutions’. She independently won another grant in 2021 from the Association of Commonwealth Universities (ACU) for a project entitled 'Equipping a Critical Mass of Change Agents through Climate Action'. She is a Research Assistant for the African Policy Research Institute (APRI) project on 'Climate Adaptation Strategies and Initiatives: Issues and Pathways in Nigeria'. She is also a Fellow of the Centre for Climate Change and Development (CCCD) at Alex-Ekwueme Federal University.

Haruna Jimoh is a Lecturer in UNILAG’s Department of Urban and Regional Planning (URP). He is also a cluster member of Urbanization and Population Dynamics at their Centre for Housing and Sustainable Development. His research interest is broadly focused on sustainable urbanisation and land governance. He is passionate about contributing to developmental policies aimed at improving environmental liveability and human livelihood. He has published articles in local and international outlets and holds bachelor's and Master's degrees in URP from the Federal University of Technology Akure, Nigeria. He also holds a URP PhD from Nigeria’s University of Ibadan. On top of his URP credentials, he has an MBA from the National Open University of Nigeria, and a Master of Geographic Information Science from LUND University, Sweden. He is a Fellow of the Nigerian Institute of Town Planners and a registered practitioner with the Town Planners Registration Council of Nigeria.

Dr Saja is a Senior Lecturer at South Eastern University (SEUSL). His area of specialism is disaster and climate risk management, with cross-cutting themes to the engineering sector. Dr Saja has a PhD in Built Environment from Queensland University of Technology, Australia. He also has an MSc in Disaster Management and BSc Engineering with a renewable energy. He has been published in several top-tier international journals, covering disaster/climate resilience and disaster risk assessment with an urban focus. He is currently involved in research on heat wave impacts in urban areas, municipal solid waste management, climate change-energy nexus and critical infrastructure resilience. Dr Saja is a Young Scientist for the Integrated Research on Disaster Risk (IRDR) programme, Global Community Solutions Fellow of IREX, USA, and Fellow of Climate Action Champion Network, South Asia.

Professor Tanner is a multi-disciplinary development geographer, specialising in societal aspects of adaptive responses to the climate crisis and the action research modality of linking research to real world change and change agents. His work has included grassroots partnerships with children and young people, as well as policy-engaged research on the politics and economics of adaptation and resilience. Professor Tanner has collaboratively developed and delivered international research in over twenty territories, including Latin America, Africa, and Asia. His extensive publications range from policy briefs and podcasts to textbooks and journal articles.

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The ACU Review

Meet the Fellows

Mohammad Rashed Alam Bhuiyan

University of Dhaka (DU) - Bangladesh

Aidatu Abubakari

School of Business and Technology of Lakeside University College (LUCG) - Ghana

Dr Praveen Kumar

Tata Institute of Social Sciences (TISS) - India

Dr Chinwe Ogunji

Alex-Ekwueme Federal University (AE-FUNAI) - Nigeria

Haruna Jimoh

University of Lagos (UNILAG) - Nigeria

Dr Aslam Saja

South Eastern University (SEUSL) - Sri Lanka

Meet the theme lead

Professor Thomas Tanner

SOAS, London