2018 BC Agricultural Climate Adaptation Research Workshop

The 2018 BC Agricultural Climate Adaptation Research Workshop was hosted on December 4th and 5th in Kamloops, BC. This year’s workshop theme was Crossing Disciplinary & Institutional Boundaries, and the event brought together 64 researchers, policy-makers, industry specialists, students and producers from various sectoral groups and regions of the province.

The workshop goals were to:

• Connect researchers, policy-makers, industry specialists, and producers from across the province who are working in agriculture and climate change
• Highlight social science work in agricultural climate change research
• Provide opportunities to collaboratively address complex climate change challenges in the BC agriculture sector
• Learn about and discuss existing knowledge transfer initiatives and tools
• Establish collaborative network projects under the umbrella of the BC Agricultural Climate Adaptation Research Network (ACARN)

The event included 18 presentations from individuals who are working at the nexus of agriculture and climate change adaptation. This year’s presentations focused on research investigating the human and social dimensions of climate change and knowledge mobilization initiatives from across the province that supports climate change adaptation (click here to access PDF versions of the presentations)

In addition to these presentations, both workshop days included a facilitated afternoon break out session where participants had an opportunity to interact with one another in small groups that mixed disciplines and professional backgrounds to collaboratively develop ideas for transdisciplinary research. Transdisciplinary research, that brings together researchers from across academic disciplines as well as non-academic research partners from industry and government agencies, is critical to addressing complex challenges like climate change.

The workshop also included a poster session to highlight the results of climate change adaptation research taking place across B.C. through the work of students, professionals and industry collaborators.

Click here to see the full summary report