Faculty Advisor: Former Associate Professor, Yale University School of Medicine; SDG Publisher Compact Fellow, United Nations

Program Start Time: TBD (meetings will take place for around one hour per week)

Research Practicum Introduction

In 2015, 17 Sustainable Development Goals (or SDGs) were set up by the United Nations to make the world a better and more sustainable place. They are meant to be achieved by 2030. The goals, which broadly aim to promote conditions of equity and sustainability around the world, are meant to be achieved by 2030.

While the 17 SDGs interconnect, students on this program will focus on SDG 3 and 13 that address climate and health. It is becoming increasingly clear that climate impacts directly on people’s lives, adversely affecting human health. There is a growing body of literature on links between climate and health, and significant risks are associated with failing to address these problems in a meaningful way. For instance, water shortage caused by climate change means that populations in some parts of the world face periods of sustained drought such that farmers can no longer feed their cattle or grow crops. Whole communities are then forced to migrate, causing additional risks to health and well-being.  

Considerable amounts of research are focusing on these issues to try and avert some of the worst outcomes, and there is no shortage of evidence on what is happening. Finding solutions and putting them into practice, however, is perhaps more difficult, leaving plenty of room for new ideas.

Students will acquire transferable research skills, such as how to do a literature review, while expanding their knowledge on climate change and health. Students will learn from each other, from the faculty adviser, and from researching their individual projects, for example, by studying how these issues play out in cities, regions, and/or countries around the world.

Final Deliverables

In the final session, students will offer a summary of their findings and give a PowerPoint presentation to the group. Individual assessment at the end of the course will be based on the presentation plus a written paper, approximately 3000 words in length.

Possible Topics For Final Project

• Assess the extent to which climate change impacts human health (with case examples).

• As the planet warms, what steps could countries such as China and the USA take to make health care systems more sustainable?

• Consider which targets (under SDG 3 and 13) are most relevant to the region where you live/go to school?

• How reliable are the data on climate change and health? Conduct a literature review to assess the available evidence.

• Countries such as India and Pakistan, that are feeling the impacts of climate change, have fairly weak systems of public health. What measures could be taken to improve things?

• Or other topics in this subject area that you are interested in, and that your professor approves after discussing it with you.

Program Detail

• Cohort Size: 3-5 students

• Duration: 12 weeks

• Workload: Around 4-5 hours per week (including class time and homework time)

• Target Students: 9-12th grade students interested in medicine, health sciences, public health and/or policy.