Space Park Leicester is set to host the first in a series of public events highlighting Leicester’s role ahead of the UN’s Climate Change Conference (COP26) in Glasgow.
The University of Leicester’s new and innovative research, enterprise and education cluster will bring together a range of experts to showcase the impact of existing work to combat climate change and improve air quality – and highlight what more can be done.
Taking place on Tuesday 2 November (5.30pm to 7.45pm), this is the first in a series of events under the title Space Park Conversations, aimed at sharing the research and expertise of the entire Space Park Leicester community.
Guests will have the opportunity to hear three short talks from Leicester experts on the variety of climate research taking place at the University – from ‘low carbon lettuce’ to detecting methane leaks from space – alongside a video update from the COP26 conference centre courtesy of Professor John Remedios, Director of the National Centre for Earth Observation (NCEO) hosted at Space Park Leicester.
Professor Sarah Davies, Pro Vice-Chancellor and Head of the College of Science and Engineering, will chair a panel discussion on the impact of COP26 closer to home, to include:
- Adam Clarke, Deputy City Mayor – Environment and Transportation, Leicester City Council
- Anna Haskell, Professor of Environmental Epidemiology and Director of the Centre for Environmental Health and Sustainability, University of Leicester
- Josh Vande Hey, Lecturer in Environment & Health, University of Leicester
- William Wells, Non-Executive Director, EarthSense
Leicester has a long history of world-leading research, innovation and action in tackling environmental problems. The University of Leicester and NCEO use data from sophisticated instruments in space to tackle today’s greatest challenges, such as climate change and air pollution. Research is underpinned by state-of-the-art models, ground and aircraft observations and lab experiments.
Earlier this year, the University formally launched its Centre for Environmental Health and Sustainability, which studies the impact of environmental exposures on human health.
Leicester-based experts will be active scientifically at COP26, which aims to bring parties together to accelerate action towards the goals of the Paris Agreement and the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change. Their inputs are aimed at showcasing the measurement of greenhouse gas concentrations accurately from space, illustrating differences between the world today and the climate plus 2oC. This research will provide information on changes in the carbon store of the world’s forests and illuminating the use of satellite information for climate change mitigation.
