This November, Professor in Residence Phoebe Godfrey attended the second week of the 27th Conference of the Parties (COP), of the UNFCCC (United Nations Frame-work Convention on Climate Change). COP27 took place in Sharm el-Sheikh from November 6th to November 18th. Professor Godfrey was joined by fourteen current UConn students as well as a number of other faculty.

The UConn@COP Fellowship Program strives to build future leaders in climate science and policy and to promote UConn’s leadership on climate change and sustainability issues through four main pillars:

1) Student Engagement
2) Experiential Learning
3) Interdisciplinary Group Discussion
4) Cultural Immersion

Phoebe shares, “As I maneuvered my way around the COP, a circus of frantic human activity, I celebrated the unique opportunity to hear from those whose voices and stories have historically been silenced through violence and genocide. At the same time, I recognized that for most of the people there from our culture, even as they are no doubt highly concerned about the climate crisis, their solutions still reside in the existing system. These ‘solutions’ that the Indigenous chief and many others refer to as ‘false solutions’ are ones that focus on innovative technologies, such as so-called ‘green energy’ or ‘carbon  markets,’ both of which continue to ‘put a price on nature,’ as opposed to confronting capitalism’s mandate to grow and increase profit exponentially regardless of the social and environmental consequences.”

• Manisha Desai, Fellow, UNRISD and her issue brief, “Communitarian Imaginaries as Inspirations for Rethinking the Eco-Social Contract?” Issue Brief no. 12. Geneva: United Nations Research Institute for Social Development.
• David Embrick’s collaboration between the Research on Resilient Cites, Racism, and Equity (RRCRE) initiative at UConn Hartford and the Computer Science and Engineering Department was recently awarded a $2.86M federal grant to support technology, internet access, and skill training to traditionally underserved students in the Hartford area.
• David Embrick, Advisory Board and Development Committee Member for the AP African American Studies course.
• Phoebe Godfrey writes for a local paper to practice ‘public sociology’. Here are three of her recent articles: The Grammar of Animacy, #SaveUCONN, On COP 27.
• Carol Ann Jackson, Elections Committee Chair, Graduate Employee Union, Local 6950.
• Carol Ann Jackson, Faculty Advisor, Black Student Association (BSA), Waterbury.
• Rianka Roy, Co-chair, Social Justice Award committee 2023, Labor Tech Research Network.
• Fumilayo Showers, SWS Delegation to the UN Commission on the Status of Women, March 2023.
• Stein, Jeremy, Mary Bernstein and Kendell Coker. 2023. “New Haven Gun Violence Prevention Blueprint: 2023.” City of New Haven.