ACCESS’s Patrick Devine-Wright and Anika Haque invited to work with IPCC

Patrick Devine-Wright has been invited to participate in the IPCC Workshop on Engaging Diverse Knowledge Systems which takes place at the University of Reading in February 2026.

This workshop aims to address how Indigenous knowledge systems, practitioner knowledge and local knowledge could be accessed and assessed by the IPCC.

The workshop is expected to generate recommendations for the IPCC and scientific communities, and to make recommendations to funding agencies as to how to support the engagement of knowledge holders in the IPCC programme of work.

Patrick said: “There’s a lovely personal thread to this particular workshop because local knowledge is about place, and that was where my academic career began – it’s nearly 30 years since I published my first journal paper about place and identity. So this workshop is part of a much wider, longer research cycle that I’ve been involved in, and I’m really thrilled to have been invited.”

Anika Haque has been selected as one of the expert reviewers for the First Order Draft of the IPCC Special Report on Climate Change and Cities. This is the first ever IPCC special report focused on cities. The role of reviewer is critical to ensure the report is scientifically rigorous, comprehensive, grounded in the most current research and truly relevant to the urgent on-the-ground challenges our global urban communities face due to climate change.

Anika said: “I will particularly bring my Global South experience to this process to ensure that this assessment provides reliable guidance for policymakers and decision makers in the Global South cities.”

Patrick and Anika’s appointments follow the appointments, in September this year, of two members of the ACCESS Leadership Team – Professor Lorraine Whitmarsh MBE and Professor Benjamin Sovacool – and two ACCESS advisory board members – Professor Linda Steg and Professor Yacob Mulugetta – as lead authors to the IPCC Working Group III focusing on climate change mitigation, assessing methods for reducing greenhouse gas emissions, and removing greenhouse gases from the atmosphere.

Congratulations are also due to Professors Angela Gallego-Sala, Tim Lenton and Richard Betts (Global Systems Institute, University of Exeter), for their appointments as authors to IPCC Working Group I, which examines the physical science underpinning past, present, and future climate change.