University Initiatives on Climate Change Education and Research

Climate change is one of the major challenges of modern times. Universities around the world are active in undertaking research projects and practical initiatives, and tackling climate change in teaching programmes. But even though there is a wealth of works in this field, not many initiatives are duly documented, or promoted. This state of affairs means that there is a paucity of specialist publications which systematically document and disseminate the wealth of initiatives taking place today. The book addresses this gap. By means of an integrated approach, which entails the work of climate change scientists on the one hand, and practitioners, educators, decision-makers and representatives of the civil sector on the other, who work together with representatives from the high education sector, this book addresses a perceived need for a specialist publication, which may act as a point of reference in guiding future efforts in the field of climate change mitigation and adaptation. Thanks to its scope and variety of themes, handling different aspects of the nexus climate change and society, this book provides a welcome addition to the international literature on climate change, and is expected to guide further work in this field, intensifying the dialogue on how to better understand the contribution of universities to the global efforts to address climate change and the many challenges associated with it. 

Professor Walter Leal Filho (BSc, PhD, DSc, DPhil, DTech, DL, DLitt, FSB, FLS, FRGS) holds the Chairs of Climate Change Management at the Hamburg University of Applied Sciences (Germany), and Environment and Technology at Manchester Metropolitan University (UK). He directs the European School of Sustainability Science and Research (ESSSR) and the Inter-University Sustainable Development Research Programme, the largest network of universities specifically focusing on research on matters related to sustainable development. Professor Walter Leal Filho has over 30 years experience on sustainable development research and in excess of 800 publications to his credit.

Dr. Mihaela Sima is a Senior Researcher at the Institute of Geography, Romanian Academy, where she coordinates the Environment and GIS Department. Her main expertise is in environmental sustainability and quality with a special emphasis on evaluating the impact of human activities on the environment, climate change impacts on different societal fields and climate adaptation as well as climate change education.

Dr. Amanda Lange Salvia is a Project Manager and Researcher the Hamburg University of Applied Sciences, Germany. She is a Deputy Editor of the Encyclopedia of the Sustainable Development Goals and of the International Journal of Sustainability in Higher Education. Her background is in Environmental Engineering and her work focuses on the role of universities towards sustainability, the impacts of climate change and the Sustainable Development Goals.

Evangelos Manolas was born in Naxos, Greece, in 1961. He has received a Bachelor of Arts in Sociology from the University of Essex (1983), a Master of Arts in International Relations from the University of Kent at Canterbury (1985) and a Philosophy Doctorate from the University of Aberdeen (1989). He is Professor of Sociology and Environmental-Forest Education in the Department of Forestry and Management of the Environment and Natural Resources, School of Agricultural and Forestry Sciences, Democritus University of Thrace, Orestiada, Greece.