SEEDS Internship : Integrating Stakeholder Inputs into Climate-Resilient Food-Water-Land-Ecosystem Nexus Decision Support Tools

The food-water-land-ecosystems (FWLE) nexus represents a dynamic system involving complex and non-linear interactions and adverse trade-offs, with cascading and far-reaching societal and environmental repercussions. Climate change is known to exacerbate these issues. Yet, such land- and water-based natural resources are often managed poorly due to sector-specific and siloed policy frameworks, piecemeal decision-making practices, and lack of meaningful stakeholder engagement. This project seeks to integrate citizen science into the development of a Spatially-explicit Decision Support (SDS) tool by integrating various inputs from the science-policy-practice-society domains that enhance climate resilience of FWLE nexus systems under deep uncertainty. By engaging with various stakeholders and eliciting their decision-making needs, the project seeks to co-design a robust SDS tool that support evidence-based decision-making for sustainable resource management. The intern will contribute to a multidisciplinary initiative aimed at leveraging local knowledge and community-generated data to improve the accuracy, usability, and inclusivity of the SDS tool. Key activities include mapping existing citizen science efforts, identifying data gaps and integration opportunities, and developing frameworks for incorporating participatory data into FWLE nexus models. The intern will collaborate with researchers, local stakeholders, and data scientists, gaining practical experience in transdisciplinary research, stakeholder engagement, and climate resilience strategies. The work will support more adaptive, equitable, and robust climate policy and nexus planning outcomes, especially in vulnerable regions. 

Work plan: Full-time

The work plan and timeline of the internship (in Full-Time mode) is detailed below:

● Week 0: Participate in the 1-week in-person induction at UCL.

● Week 1: Familiarise with the project objectives and deliverables; and Participate in a training on geospatial data analytics, modelling, and visualisation with supervisors.

● Week 2: Co-develop and share an online citizen science questionnaire to identify local community inputs on local/indigenous knowledge and good practices on natural resources management. 

● Week 3: Conduct an online interview with selected end-user policy makers and practitioners to identify their climate adaptation decision-making challenges, needs, and priorities.

● Week 4: Collate and synthesise freely available spatial and non-spatial data on FWLE nexus impacts of and adaptation to climate change.

● Week 5: Participate and support the SDS Conceptual Framework co-production stakeholder engagement (hybrid) workshop.

● Week 6: Analyse survey and interview data and integrate data insights and stakeholder inputs to inform the development of the SDS tool.

● Week 7: Present your findings to project partners as well as at the SEEDS’ mini-conference.

Work plan: Part-time

The work plan and timeline of the internship (in Part-Time mode) is detailed below: 

● Week 0: Participate in the 1-week in-person induction at UCL. 

● Week 1: Familiarise with the project objectives and deliverables; and Attend a basic GIS application training with supervisors. 

● Week 2: Co-develop an online citizen science questionnaire to identify local community inputs on good practices on natural resources management.   

● Week 3: Contribute to the literature review of nexus SDS tools. 

● Week 4: Collate and synthesise freely available spatial and non-spatial data on FWLE nexus impacts of and adaptation to climate change. 

● Week 5: Analyse survey data and integrate with insights from GIS data analysis to inform the development of the Conceptual Framework of the SDS tool. 

● Week 6: Analyse survey data and integrate with insights from GIS data analysis to inform the development of the Conceptual Framework of the SDS tool. 

● Week 7: Present your findings to project partners as well as at the SEEDS’ mini-conference.