UCL Grand Challenges Decolonising the Climate Crisis 2024/25 Awards

18 February 2025

UCL Grand Challenges announce awards from the first joint funding call from UCL's Grand Challenge of Climate Crisis and UCL's Grand Challenge of Cultural Understanding.

Decolonising the Climate Crisis Small Grants Call 2024/25

UCL Grand Challenges recently awarded funding under the small grants call for 'Decolonising the Climate Crisis' in the academic year 2024/25.

The call supported proposals that addressed questions of power, how knowledge is produced and applied in relation to climate change and relevance to climate justice. Projects sought to push boundaries in rethinking research practices through a decolonial lens. In total, 35 applications were received from 10 out of 11 faculties at UCL as well as Professional Services divisions. The judging panel approved funding for 5 applications, with total funding of nearly £50,000 awarded.

Professor Lisa Vanhala and Professor Mark Maslin (Pro-Vice-Provosts of UCL's Grand Challenge of Climate Crisis), Professor Audrey Prost and Professor Douglas Bourn (Co-Chairs of UCL's Grand Challenge of Cultural Understanding Working Group), commented:

“
We were thrilled to have run the first joint funding call from the Grand Challenge of Climate Crisis and the Grand Challenge of Cultural Understanding. 'Decolonising the Climate Crisis,' attracted a range of high-quality, collaborative proposals that challenge dominant narratives and centre Indigenous and non-Western knowledge systems. The funded projects embody key decolonial principles, including co-production, equitable participation, and relationship-building, while delivering impactful methods to tackle the climate crisis. We look forward to seeing these initiatives develop over the coming year and to the transformative impact they will have on climate research and justice.
"

Summary details of the projects awarded are below:

Anthropocene sustenance: the embodied inequalities of global food systems

£9,717

Professor Sahra Gibbon, Department of Anthropology, Social and Historical Sciences
Mr Carlos Grijalva Eternod, Institute for Global Health, Population Health Sciences

Decolonial Methodologies Toolkit for Climate Research and Practice

£10,000

Dr Laila Kadiwal, Department of Education, Practice and Society, Institute of Education
Dr Vivek Ramachandran, Integrated Engineering Programme (IEP), Engineering Sciences
Professor Tristan McCowan, Department of Education, Practice and Society, Institute of Education

Decolonial Library: Catalysing Ecological Consciousness through Decolonial Plant Knowledge

£10,000

Miss Neba Sere, School of Architecture, The Bartlett
Professor Gargi Bhattacharyya, Institute of Advanced Studies, Arts and Humanities

Indigenous cosmographies as agents of change. A proposal development workshop for creating an Indigenous Knowledge Lab

£9,940

Dr Jennie Gamlin, Institute for Global Health, Population Health Sciences
Professor Kate Jones, Department of Genetics, Evolution and Environment, Life Sciences (UCL East)

Indigenous Participation in Climate Research: Facilitating Knowledge Exchange between UCL Climate Researchers and Indigenous Communities ahead of COP30 in Brazil