Northumbria University is delighted to be working with UK
Research and Innovation (UKRI), colleagues around the world, and global
organisations on interdisciplinary research into key global challenges.
UKRI is pioneering an ambitious new approach to tackle some
of the world’s most pressing challenges through a £200M investment across 12
global research Hubs.
Over the next five years, the 12 interdisciplinary Hubs
will work across 85 countries with governments, international agencies,
partners and NGOs on the ground in developing countries and around the globe,
to develop creative and sustainable solutions which help make the world, and
the UK, safer, healthier and more prosperous.
Northumbria’s Centre for
International Development will play a key role in the UKRI GCRF Living Deltas
Hub, with Professor Matt Baillie Smith and Dr Oliver Hensengerth leading the
University’s contribution.
Professor Baillie Smith, an
expert on volunteering, activism and civil society and Director of
Northumbria’s Centre for International Development, said: “Northumbria
University, through its Centre for International Development, is excited to
participate in the GCRF Hub Living Deltas. Dr Oliver Hensengerth has a
long track record in studying Mekong river governance and has led Newton Fund
projects on Mekong Delta flooding.
“He is currently a
co-investigator in a Southampton-led Newton NERC project studying the sustainability
of food production in the Mekong Delta. We
are looking forward to working with colleagues in the global South, and
communities and organisations across the three deltas, to generate new
understanding of the ways deltas are changing and what can be done to
protect them.”
Professor David Gleeson, Associate Pro Vice-Chancellor
(Research and Innovation) added: “This participation by NU staff indicates the
strength of our international development research team in addressing the
challenges issued by the Global Challenge Research Fund.”
UKRI
GCRF Living Deltas Hub
River deltas comprise just one per cent of global
landscapes yet support over half a billion people. Deltas are vital
social-ecological systems and global food-baskets, but the landscapes and the
livelihoods of those who rely on them are under threat from human exploitation,
environmental degradation and climate change.
Focusing on three deltas in Asia, this Hub will operate on
a model of equitable partnership with the delta-dwellers and the research
community in Vietnam, Bangladesh and India, working together with UK and global
partners to develop new knowledge and policies. The aim is to safeguard delta
futures through more resilient communities and sustainable development.
“The urgent need for the Hub is clear,” says Dr Andy Large,
Reader in River Science at Newcastle University and academic lead for the new
Living Deltas Hub, “as human impacts increase, the necessity of sustainable
development strategies underpinned by locally-rooted knowledge becomes ever
greater.”
Even median levels of sea level rise predicted by the IPCC
could displace between three and 13 million people in Bangladesh by 2100.
According to Professor Mashfiqus Salehin of BUET in Dhaka, “inundation and
saline intrusion would have serious consequences for the most vulnerable people
in the region.”
“Reduced coastal resilience because of mangrove loss in the
Red River delta has had dramatic cultural effects on the lives of local
communities, especially women and girls” said Dr Hue Le of Vietnam National
University, Hanoi.
According to Dr Kien van Nguyen of An Giang University,
Vietnam, “In the past, the Mekong delta was considered a beautiful place to
live, but now all that has changed as a result of loss of heritage, environmental
degradation and the growing threat of climate change.”
The GCRF Living Deltas Hub will work with delta-dwellers
and policymakers to develop solutions that can help better realise the UN
Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) in delta-specific contexts. “The Hub is novel as no other existing or
previous international delta initiative has specifically addressed the SDGs by
co-creating new natural-cultural heritage understandings of deltas”, said Dr
Large. “By addressing the crucial
challenges of South and SE Asian delta degradation early in the lifespan of the
SDGs, the aim is to contribute to the development of SDG monitoring and
planning, globally and regionally, as well as in country contexts.”
The UKRI GCRF Hubs at a glance:
- 12 Hubs with up to £20 Million each over the next
five years
- Over 85 countries are engaged across the 12 Hubs
- 550 researchers are involved with a further 400
partner organisations
- Each Hub addresses multiple SDGs, with 16 SDGs
addressed in total
The 12 hubs are funded through the Global Challenges
Research Fund (GCRF) - which is a key component in delivering the UK AID
strategy and puts UK-led research at the heart of efforts to tackle the United
Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).
Northumbria’s
Centre for International Development
Northumbria’s Centre for Global Development is a
dynamic group, bringing together academics, practitioners and students to
promote research, consultancy, teaching, training and public engagement on
issues of global poverty and inequality, the communities and individuals who
experience this, and the policies, practices and approaches that seek to
address it. The centre’s specialist areas of focus include Governance,
environmental resources and sustainability, Volunteering, activism and civil
society, and Participatory design and digital civics.
