An anthropology of global climate urgency (DN-C-URGE)

The overarching objective of this DN is to respond to a growing urgency expressed by European research councils and funding

agencies, as well as by governments, publics and students, that the social sciences should contribute to our understanding of and

engagement with climate change. We propose that the need for urgent action demands that social science attends to the notion of

'urgency' itself. We want to train doctoral candidates in understanding different perceptions on environmental and climatological

urgency, their temporalities, and the political and environmental implications these understandings may have. 12 PhD students will

carry out ethnographic research in Africa, Latin-America, Asia or Europe. The researchers will gain non-academic transferable skills in

organisations that either disseminate scientific findings, or that work in political or development-related contexts. Experts of 5

European universities (KU Leuven University, University of Edinburgh, Halle University, Uppsala University, and the University of

Catania) team up with 7 non-academic partners, and 10 members of the interdisciplinary advisory board in order to ensure that the 12

PhD candidates will receive excellent training opportunities both in academia and outside academia. This ensures the formation of a

cohort of junior experts who will be able to contribute to the struggle against the disruptive effects of climate change. C-urge

responds to the invitation described in the European Climate Pact to connect and share knowledge about climate change as well as

develop, implement and scale up possible solutions and offers a qualitative, innovative, multi-sectoral as well as trans-disciplinary

approach to the various degrees of urgency that global climate change inspires. The on-the-ground insights and knowledge that C-urge

produces will ultimately strengthen European policy, innovation and responsiveness to climate change and its impacts across

the globe.