NEW: ECSIS scholars at the UN Climate Change Conference (SB58) in Bonn, Germany! Check out their latest policy briefs on the Global Stocktake:
About
The Early Career Scholars for an Inclusive Stocktake (ECSIS) program gathers early-career scholars from around the world with diverse disciplinary and cultural backgrounds to discuss topics of urgency and relevance to the global stocktake (GST). Facilitated by the independent Global Stocktake’s (iGST) co-leads for the mitigation working group, Center for Global Sustainability (CGS) at the University of Maryland and the Council on Energy, Environment and Water (CEEW), this program aims to initiate a network of future academic leaders at the frontier stocktaking research to inform policymakers better and incubate innovative thinking on broader climate challenges from crosscutting perspectives.
Meet our 2023 Scholars!
Diversity is core to the program in which interdisciplinary, regional, and gender representation are principles to guide each step of the program, including recruitment, topic selection, and event organization. To forge interdisciplinary communication on the GST and ensure a mechanism of knowledge sharing, the program will facilitate academic mentorships, roundtable discussions, and a multi-day in-person workshop in mid-2023 where participants will discuss the most critical challenges faced by the first GST and future GSTs.
This inaugural program will kickstart a network of scholars that will not only help identify the critical gaps in stocktaking but also cultivate innovative ideas to bridge the most urgent gaps in formal and informal GST conversations.
What is the application and decision-making process look like?
The program will ensure an open channel for application and seek for the assistance of the iGST networks, including the other working group and regional hub leads to recruit eligible participants. We aim to recruit approximately 10 early-career scholars who come from diverse disciplinary backgrounds, drawing upon both natural sciences and the social sciences. Participant composition should also be international, reflecting the global scale and stakes of the climate change challenge. Considerations of diversity, equality, and transparency should also be made when selecting participants.
Who will be my mentor?
We will pull in some of the senior scholars we have worked with on diverse topics identified through our earlier conversations.
What will I get out of the program?
The program plans to organize two types of activities: (1) roundtables that are organized online via zoom; (2) a multi-day in-person workshop held in a designated venue. Following the first output of the first global stocktake technical dialogue, this group will work to address two key issues:
- Knowledge gaps: The group will identify key thematic gaps in knowledge and input into the stocktake ranging from technical, social, and environmental mitigation measures. This information will be compiled to inform the second stocktake and ongoing discussions in the form of factsheets, peer-reviewed publications, white papers, and more.
- Implementation: The group will help identify key areas for implementation and support these efforts through research and engagement worldwide and at the subnational level. Implementation support could be in the form of roundtable discussions, policy briefs, peer-reviewed publications, and more.
What will the workshop be like?
The topic will be determined by the participants based on a consensus and will not be limited to climate mitigation. However, this requires finding a common interest for those scholars who may have divergent academic and regional backgrounds. As a result, the program will also organize regular virtual roundtables and activities before the in-person workshop to boost vigorous discussions and identify some of the key challenges of the GST that the participants feel most urgent to address. This will allow the participants to develop a broader understanding of the GST by exchanging ideas and experiences with other colleagues.
The application period for 2023 is closed. Interested in supporting ECSIS? Please email Mengye Zhu at mzhu1234@umd.edu.