The WCRP Academy is the research training advisory and coordination arm of the World Climate Research Program (WCRP). Its mission is to equip current and future climate scientists with the knowledge, skills and attributes required to tackle the world’s most pressing and challenging climate research questions.
It is a hub which connects training providers and users of training, via a catalogue of climate science training. Inclusion within the Academy implies that the training is of high quality and, as such, is a legitimate source of training, and professional and capacity development platform, that is targeted to climate scientists.
The WCRP Academy is building a global community of climate researchers at all career stages to provide global networking and development opportunities to facilitate lifelong learning, global equity, and skills matching, for current and future research projects. The WCRP Academy will measure its success by the scope and diversity of the global climate research community that engages with the it, as well as its ability to improve global access to high-quality climate science training and professional development without prohibitive costs to the trainee.
The WCRP Academy will not offer accredited courses, instead the Academy will focus on improving access to professional development and capacity building such as short courses, workshops, seasonal schools, master classes and the like.
The objectives of WCRP Academy are:
- To collate and promote in-house WCRP training activities and educational materials to the global science community, thereby supporting knowledge exchange and capacity development.
- Be a knowledge broker between training providers and users of training, both within and outside of the WCRP.
- To systematically review the global climate education landscape, to identify gaps in training and development opportunities, as well as provide recommendations for improving climate science training.
- To develop a catalogue that advertises training opportunities
What the WCRP Academy is not:
- It is not a training provider itself; instead it acts as a hub connecting training providers with those who need training.
- It is neither a pathway for accessing formal tertiary or accredited qualifications nor a vehicle for advertising select universities/institutions.
- It does not offer financial support to attend any activity but may provide information about potential funders of the activity.
- It does not have a climate science outreach function and is not involved in explaining climate science to the public. Climate science outreach is a vital part of making the best use of our science, but there are many organisations that do this job very well.
TARGET AUDIENCE
The Academy targets climate scientists across all professional and career levels. The next generation of scientists will need retraining, upskilling, and broadening their knowledge, skill sets and attributes to tackle current and future research challenges.
Whilst the Academy can provide some information on formal tertiary education in climate science, The Academy is also cognizant that such a list may exacerbate the global inequity in climate training by adding further pressure on students from the global south to seek unaffordable and highly competitive training in the global north.
DEFINITIONS
Climate science, as a growing and evolving field, can have different definitions. When we talk about climate science, climate scientists and climate training, we mean:
Climate science
Climate scientist
A climate scientist seeks to understand and communicate the processes responsible for climate variability and change, using theory, observations, and numerical models. The activities of a climate scientist may include making predictions of the climate system, explaining the role of predictions in decision-making, and communicating research results.
Climate science training
Training (in our Academy context) that aims at improving climate science literacy of communities who require climate information in their operational or decision-making contexts. A climate scientist would ideally at the end of the training be able to:
- Understand and explain the essential principles of Earth’s climate system.
- Have technical skills to be able to analyse and use available tools and methods, quantitatively as well as qualitatively.
- Critically assess scientifically credible information about climate.
- Communicate about climate and climate change with different societal groups and thus enable new applications of climate science.
- Provide expert advice to users of climate information for the making of informed decisions regarding climate change.
