Southern students and faculty are once again headed to the COP [Conference of Parties] global climate change conference, serving as official observers of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change, held from November 10-21 this year in Belém, Brazil.
The annual meeting invites world leaders to negotiate global goals for tackling climate change, present their individual countries’ plans for contributing to those goals, and report on their progress. World leaders such as U.K Prime Minister Keir Starmer, French President Emmanuel Macron, and German Chancellor Friedrich Merz are among about 50,000 people from more than 190 countries who are expected to attend. From the United States, a delegation of more than 100 state and local leaders — governors, mayors, and regional officials — will participate.
Southern was granted NGO access to observe the conference for the first time in 2021. In 2022, two Southern graduate students were granted funding to attend. Three students attended along with faculty and staff in 2023.
Miriah Kelly, associate professor of environmental science and the lead faculty member in Southern’s COP contingent, will be accompanied this year by two students: undergraduate Aaron Radulski, who is majoring in environmental systems and sustainability and was awarded the Undergraduate Research Award for this semester, and graduate student Daisy Everingham, working towards a master’s degree in coastal resilience and awarded a Graduate Research Grant for this year. Both students are doing ocean and/or coastal-related research under Kelly’s advisement.
“I am excited for the students to be steeped in ocean-climate policy through their participation in the UNFCCC proceedings,” said Kelly. “Connecting course concepts with practical applications is essential for 21st-century learning. Both students are doing research that relates to the ocean-climate agenda, so this is an opportunity for them to advance their own research opportunities and interests.”
Kelly explained that the Radulski and Everingham would be attending sessions on science, policy, and society while at COP30 and would be making connections among these three areas as they navigate the conference. In addition, Kelly said, the students “will be inside the negotiating rooms where decisions are being made, and they will be listening to and meeting experts in ocean and coastal subjects from prestigious institutions located around the world.”
Because of the conference’s location in Brazil, Kelly said, the SCSU delegation would have the opportunity to meet with local river communities in the Amazon rainforest and hear about their relationship with the environment. “We will be exposed to local food, infrastructure, and ways of living that can help inform more sustainable practices back home,” she said.
Kelly pointed out that it has been 10 years since the signing of the Paris agreement, and much has been accomplished since then. However, she said, greenhouse gas targets “are still lacking ambition by many countries, especially the U.S. We are all excited to be participating in global decision-making at a time when progress feels daunting. It is an honor to be present at these events. In this way we are serving as global ambassadors for higher education, and we are planning to use this platform to help positively impact people, prosperity, and the planet.”
Radulski is looking forward to seeing what he’s learning in his courses at Southern discussed on that global platform. “I’ve taken a lot of courses that are really relevant to the topics that are going to be discussed at this conference,” he said. “I’m actually in a course right now on environmental policy with Dr. Kelly, so it’s really exciting to take something right from the classroom and put it into my real life and my own experiences.”
Everingham, an international student from the United Kingdom, is excited to have the opportunity to represent Southern at a global conference. “It feels like a real privilege to be able to attend COP30,” she said. “It’s the type of experience I didn’t expect during my master’s and I feel really grateful that Dr. Kelly, and Southern, have given me this opportunity.” Everingham said that having a “blue zone pass” at the conference will allow her to “be in the same room as those who are working hard to tackle the climate crisis head on whilst also getting a glimpse behind the curtain to see what can make these international decision-making processes be either impactful or ineffectual.”
For her research, Everingham studies “community-based adaptation to climate change on the coast,” mostly focused on New Haven County. She explained that “COP30 gives me an opportunity to ‘zoom out’ and remember the wider context in which my work occurs and be inspired by those working on projects globally. Whilst at the conference I’ll specifically be observing proceedings to understand the role that community is playing in the agreements for climate adaptation worldwide — most notably in the Global Goal for Adaptation.”
Earlier this year, Southern had another presence on the global climate stage when it was represented at the Third United Nations Ocean Conference (UNOC3) in Nice, France. At this conference in June, where global leaders, scientists, and practitioners gathered to advance sustainable ocean stewardship and climate resilience, Kelly and Suzie Huminski, sustainability coordinator, led the university contingent of faculty and student researchers, which also included Everingham.
As part of the delegation, Southern gained insights and connections that will shape future research and academic engagement. A highlight of the week was a visit aboard the OceanX vessel, co-led by Dr. Vincent Pieribone, professor of neuroscience at Southern. Participants observed cutting-edge technologies used to monitor ocean health, underscoring the importance of scientific innovation in addressing urgent environmental challenges.
Conference sessions also offered strategies for adaptation, from designing cities in the face of sea level rise to values-based coastal management. These approaches emphasized resilience, community well-being, and environmental health—principles closely aligned with Southern’s mission.
