Coastal Climate Solutions Leaders

An NSERC CREATE graduate training program at the University of Victoria

The IPCC’s latest report—a ‘code red for humanity’—provides unassailable evidence of the urgent need to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, and adapt to unavoidable climate change, if we are to avert catastrophic impacts on society and nature, and secure a stable future.

Meeting the challenges of this all-encompassing crisis means that every job should now be considered a climate job. Climate change and its solutions are, however, inherently place-based, with communities experiencing different impacts and having assets, challenges, and opportunities to respond. Successfully accelerating solutions thus requires that technological and scientific advances are integrated with their social, cultural, and economic contexts.

Image modified from Hoegh-Guldberg et al. 2019.

Tomorrow’s climate leaders will therefore need to have a contextual understanding of proposed solutions and be adept at working across disciplinary boundaries and sectors. Bridging across the sciences, engineering, social sciences, business, and law, this new NSERC CREATE graduate training program hosted at the University of Victoria delivers enriched interdisciplinary and intersectoral training to prepare the next generation of leaders with the knowledge, experience, and skills needed to rise to the challenge of climate change.

Our focus on climate solutions relevant to people in coastal urban centers and rural communities, as well as coastal ecosystems, capitalizes on UVic’s excellence in ocean and climate research, and our location in BC, a province committed to advancing climate action in which >80% of the population lives within 5 km of the coastline.

Led by Julia Baum (Professor and President’s Research Chair), along with a Core Team of 10 faculty, CCSL leverages UVic’s climate change expertise from across 19 different departments and institutes, as well as a network of >35 climate solutions partners from government, industry, and non-profits, including B.C.’s Climate Action Secretariat, the Canadian Climate Institute, and the United Nations through UVic’s CIFAL.

Program Objectives & Elements

Students gain advanced technical understanding of climate change science, impacts and mitigation through lectures from leading climate change scholars and practitioners, seminars, and interdisciplinary research clusters.

Students learn to navigate the complexities of implementing climate solutions and appreciation of their societal context. Trainees complete a real-world design challenge and an internship with one of our climate solutions partners.

Trainees develop skills that are highly sought out in the climate action workforce through professional development workshops.

Interdisciplinary teamwork

Solving complex problems requires information and expertise from various perspectives. Interdisciplinarity is the heart of the CCSL program. 
Trainees from science, engineering, and social sciences interact extensively throughout their program. CCSL’s interdisciplinary environment immerses students in complex discussions; students learn skills for successful communication across disciplinary boundaries. 
In Year 1, trainees complete two mandatory climate courses through the Faculty of Graduate Studies. These courses encourage the cross-pollination of ideas and methods needed to advance novel climate solutions:
  • Climate Solutions Foundations (Fall semester) 
  • BC Coastal Climate Challenge (Spring Semester) project-based course

Cross-Sector Internships

Harnessing the power of our multi-sector collaborator network, CCSL internships enable trainees to engage directly with real-world climate solutions.
CCSL students join a diverse network of municipal, provincial, and federal government partners, lawyers, and environmental non-profits from BC, Ottawa, and Atlantic Canada. Internships support integration and relationship building with potential employers, and help Trainees appreciate the complexities of advancing climate mitigation and adaptation.
Our trainees acquire job-ready skills necessary for developing climate solutions, including: 
  • Climate policy development and evaluation; 
  • Knowledge translation to support decision-making; 
  • Climate finance models

Professional Development Training

Trainees complete Collective Leadership Training to enhance human skills that are highly-sought in the climate action workforce.
Our ClimateTALK monthly climate solutions seminar series welcomes renowned climate-scientists, policymakers and other guest speakers with diverse backgrounds. Trainees have exclusive access to networking events within UVic’s hub of climate and sustainability programs. 
We recognize the critical need for comprehensive and sustained Equity, Diversity and Inclusion (EDI) training. Upon joining the program, trainees participate in mandatory EDI workshops to foster these competencies among their cohort. In addition, CCSL students have access to curated Indigenous Cultural Acumen Training (ICAT) at the University of Victoria.