Over recent weeks, Siobhán Keogh, Climate Resilience Researcher at Climate Northern Ireland, has attended a series of events exploring different aspects of climate action, collaboration and resilience as part of Climate NI’s involvement in the TalX2 Place-Based Climate Action Partnerships project. 

From urban greening and biodiversity in Belfast, to interdisciplinary climate research in Dublin, and the connections between climate adaptation and public health, the three events approached climate action from very different perspectives. However, a common theme ran throughout: effective climate action increasingly depends on bringing together different disciplines, organisations and communities around shared challenges and opportunities. 

This is also central to the TalX2 project, which is exploring how place-based partnerships and Living Lab approaches can help translate climate knowledge into practical action by bringing together government, academia, communities, businesses and other local stakeholders. 

Image from Growing Greener Neighbourhoods – BCC & Ulster Wildlife Nature Towns and Cities presentation 

Growing Greener Neighbourhoods at Queen’s University Belfast 

The Growing Greener Neighbourhoods conference at Queen’s University Belfast brought together researchers, practitioners, community organisations and others involved in creating greener and more nature-positive urban places. 

The programme explored the complexity of delivering urban nature, with contributions on community climate resilience and biodiversity, partnership working through the Belfast Hills, capacity building through Nature Towns and Cities, community greening projects and the development of a wider National Park City movement for Belfast.  

A workshop during the afternoon invited participants to work together on the development of a National Park City Charter for Belfast, while the final part of the event heard directly from community-based initiatives including Three Sisters Community Garden, Colin Glen Allotments, Glencairn and Ligoniel Improvement Association.  

For TalX2, many of these discussions closely reflected the principles being explored through place-based climate action. Greening a neighbourhood is not simply an environmental intervention. Done well, it can create opportunities to address climate resilience, biodiversity, health and wellbeing, community connection and the quality of the places in which people live. 

The event also reinforced the importance of connecting strategic ambitions for greener cities with the knowledge, experience and activity already present within communities. 

Connecting research through AICBRN’s ‘Synergy for Impact’ 

Siobhán also attended the All-Island Climate and Biodiversity Research Network (AICBRN) annual in-person event, ‘Synergy for Impact’, held at Dublin City University on 2 September. 

The event brought together researchers working across climate, biodiversity and just transition, with a deliberate focus on moving beyond traditional conference presentations and towards practical collaboration. AICBRN describes a network of more than 360 researchers across the island of Ireland, and the event was structured around identifying shared research interests, exploring opportunities for greater impact and developing concrete actions for collaboration.  

The morning’s ‘Discovery of Synergies’ session used facilitated mapping to identify connections between participants’ current research, while the afternoon ‘Collaboration for Impact’ session focused on turning those connections into actions linked to future opportunities.  

This approach has particular relevance to TalX2. Climate adaptation challenges rarely fit neatly within a single discipline, sector or organisation. Building resilience requires connections between research and practice, but also between different forms of expertise. 

Creating opportunities for researchers and practitioners to understand what others are working on, identify complementary knowledge and develop shared projects can help avoid working in isolation and increase the potential for research to contribute to real-world climate action. 

 

Photo of speakers at the Sustainable Healthcare: Caring for People and Planet conference 

Climate adaptation, health and resilient places 

The third event was the inaugural Sustainable Healthcare: Caring for People and Planet conference at Queen’s University Belfast on 15 September, funded by the Public Health Agency’s HSC R&D Division. 

The conference brought together perspectives from healthcare, public health, academia and climate action through sessions on Climate & Health, People & Prevention, and Action & Change. Topics ranged from healthcare carbon footprints and heat resilience to air pollution, social prescribing, sustainable healthcare education, green medicines and community resilience.  

At this event, Siobhán presented on ‘Collaboration for Climate Adaptation: Creating healthier and more resilient places.’ 

The presentation explored the idea that climate adaptation should not only be considered in terms of reducing exposure to hazards such as flooding, heat and extreme weather. Well-designed adaptation can also deliver wider benefits, including healthier environments, improved wellbeing, more attractive places for walking and social interaction, stronger communities, enhanced biodiversity and wider economic benefits.  

A key example was Climate NI’s work through the TalX2 Belfast Living Lab, developed around the proposed Department for Infrastructure Sustainable Drainage Systems pilot at Lombard Street and Castle Place in Belfast city centre. 

The proposed intervention would introduce rain gardens and nature-based drainage to help manage surface water and reduce flood risk. Through TalX2, however, partners have been exploring what else an intervention of this kind could achieve: from improving biodiversity and wellbeing to creating a more attractive walking environment and potentially benefiting surrounding businesses.  

Working alongside Belfast Healthy Cities, the Living Lab has brought together infrastructure, health, environmental, research, business and other perspectives around a shared place. Rather than considering drainage, health, biodiversity and public realm separately, partners have been able to explore what success might look like collectively and how the wider benefits of adaptation could be understood and measured. 

 

A common message: collaboration is part of climate adaptation 

Although each of these events approached climate action from a different starting point, together they highlighted an important message for the TalX2 project. 

Collaboration is not simply an additional element of climate adaptation; it can be fundamental to delivering it effectively. 

Urban greening can connect biodiversity, health, community and climate resilience. Research networks can connect knowledge across disciplines and create new opportunities for action. Climate adaptation interventions can address immediate climate risks while simultaneously contributing to healthier, greener and more resilient places. 

The TalX2 project is exploring how these connections can be built around real places and real challenges. Through its Living Labs and place-based partnerships, the project aims not simply to bring stakeholders together, but to create the conditions in which different forms of knowledge, responsibility and experience can contribute to shared action. 

As highlighted through the Lombard Street work, no single organisation holds all of the expertise, responsibility or influence required to create a healthier and more climate-resilient place. The opportunity lies in connecting those different perspectives.  

The discussions and connections developed through these three events will help inform Climate NI’s continuing work through TalX2, particularly around how collaborative and place-based approaches can help translate climate knowledge into action and create wider benefits for people, nature and place.