Human responses to climate change are diverse and evolving. Our group seeks to clarify our understanding of how adaptation and mitigation responses affect specific climate change risks (reduce, avoid, displace or increase), how they affect other responses (eg. how adaptation and mitigation affect each other) or where they are making risks worse (eg. maladaptation or malmitigation, and more extreme responses such as Solar Radiation Management).
The initial focus of the group includes human mobility and immobility in the context of climate change, education, wellbeing and health. This working group draws on extreme and compound events to unpack the multifaceted ways in which people and nature are impacted by responses.
Meet the team!
Lisa Thalheimer
Lisa Thalheimer is a Research Scholar in Climate Science at the International Institute of Applied Systems Analysis (IIASA). In her research, Lisa advances methods in attribution science to shed new light on the impacts of climate change on migration, health, and extreme weather events. She studies how climate science and econometric methods can be leveraged to enhance adaptation and accountability for the impacts of greenhouse gas emissions on vulnerable populations and environments. Her research approach is strongly interdisciplinary and collaborative, integrating numerical models and participatory data science methods. Her research has been published in leading scientific journals, including Nature Communications, Earth’s Future, and Global Environmental Change. Lisa regularly provides scientific advice and training for researchers and practitioners in the Global South and has authored expert reports on climate migration. Lisa holds a DPhil in climate science from the University of Oxford, UK, and a master’s degree in sustainability management from Columbia University, US.
Nick Simpson
Dr Nick Simpson is Chief Research Officer and co-Director of the Climate Risk Lab in the African Climate and Development Initiative at the University of Cape Town.
An IPCC author, his work on complex climate change risk advanced our understanding of compound and cascading climate risk, including response risk. He is currently working on research programmes that empirically extend our understanding of how we can best anticipate and respond to current and projected impacts of climate change impacts across education, sport and heritage. Nick is also leading multiple advanced AI led global evidence synthesis projects on adaptation.