CISGO’s Executive Committee is pleased to announce the 2022 Kate Regan Faculty Development Fund will be awarded to two professors in the Environmental Studies Department.
Neil Oculi was invited to participate in COP 27 in Sharm El Sheik, Egypt, as a representative of the Association of Small Island States. The award of $5,500 will cover his expenses for this important work. Oculi’s project is entitled Addressing Issues of Environmental Ethics and Policy Through Diplomatic Participation with the Alliance of Small Island States at the Climate Change Negotiations in Sharm El Sheik, Egypt.
- Oculi wrote, “I am currently teaching a new course in Climate Change Negotiations…My presence and participation at the COP will strengthen my teaching and mentoring capacities…”
Kali Abel is awarded $4,500 to cover her expenses for research in the summer of 2023 in Colombia where she will examine the responses of local communities to the twin threats of climate change and violent conflict as they work together to protect their land. Abel’s project is entitled Nos Matan: Environmental Governance, Climate Change, and Conflict in Antioquia, Colombia.
- Abel wrote, “My courses are current-context driven and lean heavily on my research and the stories of the communities and individuals I am working with. This allows my courses to mirror my work in the field by being interdisciplinary, problem-solving oriented, and informed by current context and lived experience…”
Both Oculi and Abel will bring their projects into their classrooms as well as present their work to the broader UP community. Both faculty members are also early in their careers and exemplify the enthusiastic junior faculty that Kate Regan was always championing.