Workshop Information

About the workshop

We invite your participation in two linked ICARUS workshops on vulnerability and adaptation. The first will be on ‘Climate Vulnerability and Adaptation: Theory and Cases’, to be held 11-13 February 2010 at the University of Illinois, Urbana Champaign. The second will be on ‘Climate Vulnerability and Adaptation: Methods and Cases’, and will be held at the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, from 3-5 April 2010.

These workshops follow an initial planning meeting held at SNRE at the University of Michigan in Winter 2009. They are a part of a series of meetings sponsored by the newly established ‘Initiative for Climate Adaptation Research and Understanding through the Social Sciences’ – ICARUS. ICARUS intends to further the conversation and research on the subjects of climate vulnerability and adaptation. We are particularly interested to draw young scholars and advanced graduate students into the discussion, and welcome proposals to write and present theoretical and case-based papers at the workshops. A subset of papers presented at the first workshop will be invited for discussion at the second meeting after they have been revised by their authors in consultation with advanced scholars working on climate change.

Vulnerability and adaptation have emerged as key concepts in the social science literature on climate change. Both concepts have long inter-linked histories. Scholars of development and of crisis working on acute disasters and slowly unfolding hunger, famine and dislocation have contributed insights on the meanings and drivers of vulnerability. Development of systematic ideas about adaptation continues to occur in a variety of fields – in both the ecological and the social sciences. The ways these writings are applicable to understanding and intervening in climate-related stress, crisis and response remains a vigorous arena of discussion. In recent years there have been many calls (by IPCC, NSF, Stern Review and others) for greater social science engagement in climate research. ICARUS responds to these calls.

At the first we propose to hold several panels on “Theorizing Vulnerability and Adaptation” to help improve the understanding of these two inter-related concepts, identify theoretical frontiers, and to build frameworks and approaches that move beyond what is currently available. Panels will also feature empirical cases that help interrogate and illuminate these concepts. Some of the major themes around which we expect papers include:

  • Frameworks for understanding vulnerability and adaptation,
  • Forms, causes, and outcomes of vulnerability and adaptation,
  • Contextual conditions that affect vulnerability or the prospects for successful adaptation, with a particular focus on local particularities,
  • Politics, policies and policy processes relevant to vulnerability and adaptation,
  • Types of private and civic action to reduce vulnerability and support adaptation.

Selected papers from the workshops will be brought together to produce one or more edited volumes and/or special issues of journals. Coherent groupings of papers will also be invited to participate in a series of ICARUS panels at the Second International Conference on Climate, Sustainability and Development in Semi-arid Regions (ICID), a Rio+20 preparatory meeting focusing on climate and vulnerability issues to be held in Fortaleza, Brazil 16 to 20 August 2010.

The ICARUS workshops are sponsored by the Social Dimensions of Environmental Policy (SDEP) Initiative of the Department of Geography, School of Earth Society, and Environment and Beckman Institute at the University of Illinois and the International Forestry Resources and Institutions research initiative (IFRI) and the School of Natural Resources and Environment (SNRE) of the University of Michigan. The workshop organizers have a small pool of funds to support participation in the two ICARUS meetings at University of Illinois and University of Michigan. Support will also be available from the ICID organizing committee for participation in the ICID 2010 conference.

About the venue

The conference will be held at the Beckman Institute at the University of Illinois in Urbana, Illinois.
The Beckman Institute for Advanced Science and Technology at the University of Illinois at Urbana Champaign is an interdisciplinary research institute devoted to leading-edge research in the physical sciences, computation, engineering, biology, behavior, cognition and neuroscience. The Institute’s primary mission is to foster interdisciplinary work of the highest quality, transcending many of the limitations inherent in traditional university organizations and structures. The Institute was founded on the premise that reducing the barriers between traditional scientific and technological disciplines can yield research advances that more conventional approaches cannot. More than 600 researchers from 40 University of Illinois departments as far-ranging as psychology, computer science, and biochemistry, comprising 13 Beckman Institute groups, work within and across these overlapping areas. The building is magnificent and offers more than 200 offices; specialized, state-of-the-art laboratories and other facilities; and meeting areas. The Social Dimensions of Environmental Policy (SDEP) initiative, which is sponsoring the upcoming ICARUS meeting, is the latest program added to the Beckman Institute.

Beckman Institute for Advanced Science and Technology
University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
405 North Mathews Avenue, Urbana, IL 61801 USA
Tel: (217) 244-1176
Fax: (217) 333-2922
(http://www.beckman.illinois.edu/index.aspx).

Weather and Clothes

The February weather is cold in Urbana-Champaign. The temperature in February can range from a high of 62° F (16°C) to a low of -2° F (-19°C), but expect it to be on the lower end. Snowfall for the month is usually between 2 inches to 5.5 inches and precipitation is of 1.68 on average. Warm clothing is a must.

http://www.atmos.uiuc.edu/weather/