Periodic Reporting for period 1 - CHICC (Culture, Heritage and Identities: Impacts of Climate Change in North West Europe)
Período documentado: 2021-02-01 hasta 2023-01-31
CHICC aimed to understand the impact of climate-change driven heritage loss on local communities. The project emerged from the understanding that, while widespread impacts of climate change are acknowledged in the UN’s Sustainable Development Goal 13: Climate Action, the full scale of the impacts on heritage and associated communities was unknown. The project focused on three sites that were impacted and would continue to be impacted by climate change. Each site had an associated community, whose lives and livelihoods could be impacted if their local heritage site were to be lost or damaged beyond recognition.
The project achieved its overall aim of analysing the impacts of anthropogenic climate change on heritage, local communities and cultural identities. The project did so by achieving its objectives. These were, as outlined in the DoA, to use Citizen Science to co-create a deepmap resource containing multidisciplinary data related to heritage sites damaged and at risk of loss by anthropogenic climate change. This was mainly carried out through online workshops, seminars and lectures due to the Covid 19 restrictions and lockdowns in place during the first year of the project.
The main achievement of the project was the results from the workshops and questionnaires. This was the evidence that better articulation of the climate-heritage relationship can facilitate climate action and people felt compelled to engage with climate action when faced with the information that climate change would impact local heritage monuments. Although there has long been a purported link between heritage and climate change, the role of the former in positively contributing to the latter was not fully understood. The results from the project directly contribute to the UN’s Sustainable Goal 13: Climate Action.
The project achieved its overall aim of analysing the impacts of anthropogenic climate change on heritage, local communities and cultural identities. The project did so by achieving its objectives. These were, as outlined in the DoA, to use Citizen Science to co-create a deepmap resource containing multidisciplinary data related to heritage sites damaged and at risk of loss by anthropogenic climate change. This was mainly carried out through online workshops, seminars and lectures due to the Covid 19 restrictions and lockdowns in place during the first year of the project.
The main achievement of the project was the results from the workshops and questionnaires. This was the evidence that better articulation of the climate-heritage relationship can facilitate climate action and people felt compelled to engage with climate action when faced with the information that climate change would impact local heritage monuments. Although there has long been a purported link between heritage and climate change, the role of the former in positively contributing to the latter was not fully understood. The results from the project directly contribute to the UN’s Sustainable Goal 13: Climate Action.
There were almost 40 deliverables and milestones embedded in the project. The most crucial in terms of achieving the overall aim of the project are discussed here in relation to their associated D2.1: Complete personal career development plan or PDP was achieved early in the project. This involved discussion with the researcher’s mentor on the ideal next step in the researcher’s career, namely securing a permanent academic post, and which steps to take during the project to achieve this. The researcher has been successful in securing a permanent academic post (in Ireland) and is now in place in that position. Another important deliverable within this WP was D2.2: Literature review on climate change in NW Europe. This was achieved and provided the foundation for the publications written and published during the project. This deliverable was supported through communication and teachings from AU and the researcher’s mentor, and allowed the project to continue after reaching milestone M2.1: Acquire sufficient skills in climate studies to proceed.
The secondment at the University of St Andrews, Scotland, UK (WP 3: D3.1-3. M3.1-2.) was crucial for the development of skills, namely related to citizen science and ethics, required to instigate the project. Although the secondment was carried out virtually, that is all meetings, talks and seminars were online due to Covid 19 restrictions and the furlough employment status of some staff, the overall objectives of the secondment, namely the knowledge gained for citizen science experts in Scotland, was achieved. The deliverables and milestones related to citizen science were achieved prior to proceeding with the questionnaires, communication with communities and writing of publications and thus much of WP4.
WP4: Data collection involved deliverables and milestones which were impacted by Covid 19 restrictions. With the project’s start date in early 2021, the project coincided with a series of lockdowns. The international aspect of the project meant three separate sets of restrictions and rules to follow. Restrictions included lockdowns and travel restrictions and these continued for the first nine months of the project. As such, to comply with international guidelines as well as ethics, all workshops related to the project were online. While this posed challenges in terms of engagement and establishing connections with local communities, the workshops went ahead online at the desired stage of the project in order to avoid delays to the overall research programme.
The deliverables and milestones related to WP5 (Analsyis and Deep map) were completed after WP4. Due to the changes made to WP4 data collections, some elements of WP5 were also adapted. This was due to the Covid 19 restrictions during the first nine months of the project and the move to online workshops. This meant that data collection was slower than planned as it was not a face-to-face workshop where the questionnaire and interview information could be collated immediately. Instead, questionnaires were circulated in three parts (Stage One, Two and Three, each five months apart) to assist continuous engagement with the communities involved and met the project’s milestones.
The last WP, WP6: Dissemination was also impacted due to Covid 19. Particularly, many conference plans and opportunities were cancelled, postponed or moved online. In the cases when the conference was postponed, the researcher was not always able to attend the new date. This was the case for ACHS conference in Santiago, Chile and Human Agency and Global Challenges in Bergen Norway. The rescheduled dates did not suit due to the researcher’s pregnancy and maternity leave.
Despite the challenges posed by Covid 19 restrictions, the deliverables and milestones of WP6 were achieved as other conferences were attended (see list discussed below). Similarly, some publication avenues were not explored as other avenues were preferred. Publications and their location were carefully considered by the researcher and her mentor. It was deemed important to publish with Gold Open access were possible and as such two publications, co-written with colleagues including the researcher’s mentor, were published as freely accessible articles during the project.
The secondment at the University of St Andrews, Scotland, UK (WP 3: D3.1-3. M3.1-2.) was crucial for the development of skills, namely related to citizen science and ethics, required to instigate the project. Although the secondment was carried out virtually, that is all meetings, talks and seminars were online due to Covid 19 restrictions and the furlough employment status of some staff, the overall objectives of the secondment, namely the knowledge gained for citizen science experts in Scotland, was achieved. The deliverables and milestones related to citizen science were achieved prior to proceeding with the questionnaires, communication with communities and writing of publications and thus much of WP4.
WP4: Data collection involved deliverables and milestones which were impacted by Covid 19 restrictions. With the project’s start date in early 2021, the project coincided with a series of lockdowns. The international aspect of the project meant three separate sets of restrictions and rules to follow. Restrictions included lockdowns and travel restrictions and these continued for the first nine months of the project. As such, to comply with international guidelines as well as ethics, all workshops related to the project were online. While this posed challenges in terms of engagement and establishing connections with local communities, the workshops went ahead online at the desired stage of the project in order to avoid delays to the overall research programme.
The deliverables and milestones related to WP5 (Analsyis and Deep map) were completed after WP4. Due to the changes made to WP4 data collections, some elements of WP5 were also adapted. This was due to the Covid 19 restrictions during the first nine months of the project and the move to online workshops. This meant that data collection was slower than planned as it was not a face-to-face workshop where the questionnaire and interview information could be collated immediately. Instead, questionnaires were circulated in three parts (Stage One, Two and Three, each five months apart) to assist continuous engagement with the communities involved and met the project’s milestones.
The last WP, WP6: Dissemination was also impacted due to Covid 19. Particularly, many conference plans and opportunities were cancelled, postponed or moved online. In the cases when the conference was postponed, the researcher was not always able to attend the new date. This was the case for ACHS conference in Santiago, Chile and Human Agency and Global Challenges in Bergen Norway. The rescheduled dates did not suit due to the researcher’s pregnancy and maternity leave.
Despite the challenges posed by Covid 19 restrictions, the deliverables and milestones of WP6 were achieved as other conferences were attended (see list discussed below). Similarly, some publication avenues were not explored as other avenues were preferred. Publications and their location were carefully considered by the researcher and her mentor. It was deemed important to publish with Gold Open access were possible and as such two publications, co-written with colleagues including the researcher’s mentor, were published as freely accessible articles during the project.
The results from the work have reinforced ideas on the connectivity between heritage and climate change. The work has highlighted explicitly that heritage can contribute to climate communication and action and thus has an important role going forward as we respond to climate challenges. This contributes to the researchers ongoing involvement with the national policy related to climate change adaption within the archaeology and heritage sectors. The project brought benefits to the local communities (not least brought connection and activity – and the positive impacts of these – during the global pandemic) and could be replicated in other areas facing heritage loss as a result of climate change.
At various levels – local, national and international - there are climate change policies related to better communication and understanding, and related to climate action e.g UN’s Sustainable Development Goal 13: climate action. The results of this project have contributed knowledge in relation to these policy objectives, in that it is clear that greater and more thorough articulation of local heritage loss can facilitate climate action.
At various levels – local, national and international - there are climate change policies related to better communication and understanding, and related to climate action e.g UN’s Sustainable Development Goal 13: climate action. The results of this project have contributed knowledge in relation to these policy objectives, in that it is clear that greater and more thorough articulation of local heritage loss can facilitate climate action.