Problematizing and responding to climate-related (im)mobilities in the 21st Century

About the ISCM

Delivering an enriching and interdisciplinary educational program, the ISCM seeks to equip curious and change-driven scholars, researchers and practitioners with the tools needed to critically analyze the complexities of climate-induced displacement. By unpacking the many nuances of problematizing climate-related mobilities across disciplines and geographies, the ISCM provides a space for co-knowledge production across historical, socio-political, legal and developmental perspectives in the hope of creating durable, needs-responsive and sustainable solutions.

Uniquely, the ISCM places compounding threats to the livelihoods, wellbeing, rights and lives of those most vulnerable to environmental change at its center. It grants particular attention to underlying conditions of marginality that render women and girls, racialized, minority and Indigenous groups and economically disenfranchised persons highly vulnerable to the impacts of climate change, to climate-induced displacement and related threats. The goal of the ISCM is to bring researchers, advocates and experts together to collaborate towards the advancement of a more environmentally just world.

Mission

Established in 2022, the mission of the International School on Climate Mobilities is to connect and engage emerging scholars, practitioners and change-makers in critical knowledge exchange and to equip them with tools to advance timely, creative, cross-sectoral and just solutions to the climate change, environment and (im)mobilities nexus.

Objectives

To facilitate an educational forum for critical dialogue, evidence-based learning and solutions-driven engagement
To embolden the knowledge and approaches taken by emerging scholars as they grapple with the nuances of climate-related mobilities
To advance research around the climate-migration nexus
To expand the network of educated scholars and practitioners contributing research to and advocating in the climate mobility space

Course Structure

Week 1: Multiple and complex drivers and agency in climate-related (im)mobilities

Week 2: Environmental (im)mobilities, health, food and livelihood security

Week 3: Climate justice: unpacking coloniality, gender, race, class, indigeneity and climate-related displacement

Week 4: Protection politics: climate mobility, human rights and refugee law

Week 5: From structural violence to ‘resource wars’: the climate change, conflict and displacement nexus

Week 6: Building resilience in the context of environmental (im)mobilities: mitigating risks, enhancing adaptive capacity and addressing loss and damage

Beyond the Classroom

At the International School on Climate Mobilities (ISCM), we believe in extending learning opportunities beyond the classroom setting. Alongside our Capstone Project, which offers a hands-on experience for engaging with the expanding field of climate mobility, we also host a series of side events. These events, conducted in collaboration with various organizations and universities, focus on career paths and relevant topics not addressed in the core ISCM program. Designed to deepen understanding, foster networking, and open up new avenues for professional development in the growing sector of climate mobility, some of these side events are open to non-ISCM participants as well, broadening the impact and inclusivity of our initiatives.

Despite the sector’s growth, finding work opportunities remains a challenge. The Capstone Project aims to bridge this gap. It enables participants to apply their knowledge in a practical setting, working directly with organizations on outputs focused on climate mobility. These outputs, ranging from research and advocacy to storytelling and policy development, are tailored to the needs of our partner organizations, ensuring the work is both relevant and beneficial. By integrating a diverse range of disciplines, from legal research to creative arts, the Capstone Project offers an interdisciplinary approach to tackling climate mobility challenges. Our goal is to facilitate impactful collaborations that advance the work of participating organizations while also equipping our participants with the experience and capabilities necessary to address climate mobility issues.

We are tremendously excited to launch the third annual International School on Climate Mobilities, co-hosted by the Centre for Human Rights Law, the Law, Environment and Development Centre and the Centre for Migration and Diaspora Studies at SOAS University of London in summer 2024.

Location:

Online via zoom

Course Dates:

June 3 – July 10, 2024

Applications for the 2024 ISCM open on March 15, 2024

Application deadline: April 5, 2024 at 11:59pm BST

Learn more about the 2024 ISCM and Apply!

International School on Climate Migration 2022 ↗

International School on Climate Migration 2023 ↗

Coordinating Team

Our team

Lauren Grant

Founding Director

Caitlin Burrows

Program Manager

Daniella Otte

Program Manager

Gabriela Nagle Alverio

Education Officer

Andrea Baldessari

Programme Assistant

Aryan Bajpai

Programme Assistant

Chloé ten Brink

Programme Assistant

Claire Oxford

Programme Assistant

Léa Meltz

Programme Assistant

Lucia Tremonti

Programme Assistant

Olivia Karp

Programme Assistant

Visalaakshi Annamalai

Programme Assistant

Special thanks also go to the formidable coordinators, contributors and friends of the ISCM for making the summer school possible: Sristhi Saxena, Clara Colombet, Robert Los, Dr. Debojyoti Das, Jake Clarke, Betty Cresswell, Nadia Cheng, and Labiba Rukhsana.

Testimonials

“Before attending ISCM, I had an academic interest in climate migration but my knowledge on the topic was very limited and surface level. ISCM helped me connect with practitioners and researchers from the field who are doing amazing work, and within a span of 5 weeks, it helped me build nuanced opinions on the complexity of climate migration from an interdisciplinary lens”

Aakansha Jain
PhD candidate in International Relations, American University Washington DC (India)

“I wanted to broaden and deepen my knowledge on climate migration, as I wish to keep researching and working with the issue in the future…. It [the ISCM] was enriching, insightful and challenging, and I’ll certainly use the things I learnt from the seminars, readings and discussions in future research projects and work practice”

Gaia Hasse
Lawyer and IOM, UN consultant (Brazil)

“I have loved my time with the ISCM. I feel that I have learned so much, outside my usual comfort zone and be surrounded by distinguished minds pioneering meaningful conversations surrounding climate migration and other aspects that intertwine with it”

Astri Nyambura Kagwanja
Law student at King’s College London (Kenya)

“What a remarkable venue for bringing together climate and migration researchers and practitioners from across the globe, opening spaces for sharing insights, experiences, and outstanding questions from multiple perspectives from the personal to the legal and everything in between”

Dr. Jeremiah D. Osborne-Gowey
Lecturer in Environmental Studies, University of Colorado Boulder (USA)

“It was one of the most refreshing program[s] with diverse themes, current issues anchored in a range of complex social, political, economic and environmental dynamics”

Dr. Kebede Kassa Tsegaye
Senior Coordinator for Education, Science, Technology & Innovation, leader of the Regional Universities Forum and member of the Technical Steering Committee of the IGAD Regional Scientific Conference on Migration and Displacement, IGAD (Ethiopia)

“As I am working now on a study discussing climate migration in Sudan, the ISCM provided me with rich links of literature concerning study pillars, allowing me to network with those who are proficient in my study core. On the other hand, the interaction with presenters and participants was very interesting and motivated me to participate in the next school”

Manara Babiker Hassan Eltayeb
PhD Candidate in International Relation, University of Khartoum (Sudan)

“I was able to learn about the historical experiences of climate change impacts, and how the conflict, and human mobility aid us in understanding the challenges and help us in preparing a meaningful conflict prevention, resolution, peacebuilding, and protection response”

Muhammad Arif Goheer
Researcher on climate change, agriculture and food security at the Global Change Impact Studies Centre (Pakistan)

“For me, the ISCM was a very interesting and inspiring experience. I learned a lot, got to know new perspectives and discovered new horizons, for which I am very grateful. I enjoyed the excellent presentations of the speakers from all over the world and the discussions with the participants across continents”

Katja Simke
Open Society Foundations (Germany)

Get in touch

If you have any questions please don’t hesitate to contact us. We’ll get back to you soon.

[email protected]