Collaborative Proposal: DISCCRS: Interdisciplinary Leadership Training for Early-Career Climate Scholars

Whitman College, Walla Walla WA

Investigators

Abstract

The Dissertations Initiative for the Advancement of Climate Change Research (DISCCRS) is a leadership program that trains and equips early-career scientists from all areas of study with the critical knowledge, skills, and tools to establish or strengthen interdisciplinary approaches in their career. The core of DISCCRS is an annual week-long symposium that brings together small groups of a few dozen scientists who recently earned doctoral degrees with established scientific mentors in the world of interdisciplinary climate-change research. The goal of DISCCRS is to create a network of climate scholars that is representative of the U.S. population and is well connected with their global peer community. Participation is through a competitive application process. Selection favors applicants who plan to engage in interdisciplinary research careers in any subject within or relevant to climate change, including its impacts and solutions. While the emphasis is on the U.S.-based researchers, a few applicants from other countries who demonstrate an interest in learning about the U.S. research enterprise and connecting with U.S. researchers may also be invited to participate. During each symposium, a cohort of new scholars from the natural and social sciences meet their peers and leading scientists to develop interdisciplinary collegial relationships, learn about cutting-edge climate research from numerous disciplines and perspectives, and gather insights about interdisciplinary leadership and professional development. Symposium scholars receive the foundational relationships, knowledge, and skills needed for future interdisciplinary research. The DISCCRS initiative also includes maintenance of a public-access website (accessible at http://disccrs.org). This site contains an international Ph.D. dissertation registry with abstracts of dissertations related to climate change that have been registered with DISCCRS. Established in 2002, the site already contains nearly 1,000 submitted abstracts presented in a fully searchable electronic format. The DISCCRS site also includes career-development resources, symposium application instructions, and reports. A weekly newsletter distributes climate research news, resources, meeting and job announcements, and other information of interest to interdisciplinary early-career scholars with interests in climate change, impacts, and solutions. The DISCCRS initiative trains scientists in strategies for early-career success while fostering development of a collegial network of climate scientists from numerous disciplines and institutions in the U.S. and elsewhere who can be leaders in the next generations of top-quality interdisciplinary climate-change research. DISCCRS seeks to promote policy-relevant research that can simultaneously promote basic scientific understanding of climate change and its impacts, the dissemination of that knowledge to the public, and the generation of carefully designed policy options for consideration by policy makers in the U.S. and at the international level.