NWS-CDC Joint Webinar on NWS Experimental HeatRisk

The National Weather Service and Centers for Disease Control and Prevention invite you to join us on April 22, 2024 from 2PM - 3:30PM ET for a webinar on NWS Experimental HeatRisk.

Extreme heat continues to be the leading weather-related killer, with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) estimating more than 1,220 deaths a year resulting from heat exposure. To help spread the word about heat dangers and preparedness, the National Weather Service (NWS) will be hosting two webinars for NWS partners and users to prepare for the upcoming heat season. These webinars are open to all NWS partners and users, including Weather-Ready Nation Ambassadors, media, emergency management, and federal, state, tribal, and local governments.

Registration details can be found here.

Opportunities for climate and health research through the use of implementation science approaches: frameworks, measures, examples

This webinar will focus on the role of implementation science in climate and health. Guided by expert speakers in the field, we will examine frameworks and measures in implementation applicable to climate and health, the utility of these measures, and provide case studies for their use.

When: 4/23/24 @ 1-2 PM EST

Register here.

To view other webinar dates/times, a full schedule can be found here.

Power & People Symposium: Mapping Community Exposure to Energy Infrastructure

The Boston University’s Institute for Global Sustainability (IGS) will host its Annual Symposium entitled “Power & People Symposium: Mapping Community Exposure to Energy Infrastructure”. This year’s convening will launch a new national database on the health impacts of energy infrastructure, the most comprehensive dataset of its kind. The database generates important learnings in areas such the climate and health equity co-benefits of clean energy programs and impacts on vulnerable populations, the impacts of infrastructure siting on environmental justice communities, and the opportunity of a new energy epidemiology agenda to address the links between hazards and health outcomes and policies. The symposium will take place on May 7th from 9:00 AM to 4:00 PM. It will include keynote and featured speakers, insights from the research team, student postering sessions, interactive discussions, with lunch and coffee breaks included. The agenda can be found here. Please register now on Eventbrite as space is limited.

NSF Sponsored Extreme Heat Workshop at Columbia University

July 10-12, 2024 - The Extreme Heat Workshop will bring together researchers and practitioners from multiple disciplines to assess and advance the state of knowledge on the mechanisms of concurrent, compounding, and record-breaking heat extremes; to identify community needs; and to develop an interdisciplinary framework for evaluating their risks on sectors including public health, energy, and agriculture, with a cross-cutting focus on climate justice.

Early career researcher travel funds application: May 1, 2024

Abstract submission: May 15, 2024

Registration: June 15, 2024

The University of Washington RAPID Survey

The NIH-funded Natural Hazards and Disaster Reconnaissance (RAPID) Facility invites you to share your insights through a 10-15 minute informational survey focused on the needs of your research community following climate-related disasters.

This facility, out of the University of Washington, was funded to  enhance support for environmental data collection following post-climate-related disasters. The RAPID facility's goal is to enable transformative research by providing investigators with the instrumentation, software, and support services needed to collect, process, and analyze perishable data from natural hazard events and disasters. Your feedback will help ensure that this initiative effectively serves Environmental and Public Health Researchers. 

We value your time and effort in contributing to this survey.

You can learn more about existing instrumentation and services offered through the RAPID center through their informational pamphlet.

Consider submitting to Environmental Research: Health’s new focus collection, titled ‘Focus on Environmental Health and Disasters’!

• Scope: This collection will investigate the direct and indirect impacts of environmental disasters on human health from a wide range of disciplinary perspectives. The aim is to foster a comprehensive understanding of the health implications of environmental disasters, especially in the context of climate change, and to inform strategies for mitigating and adapting to their effects. 

• Article types: We’re welcoming full length research Papers, Topical Reviews, Letters, and Perspectives. Article requirements can be found here.

• Closing date submissions: 16 August 2024. Focus collection articles are published incrementally, with accepted articles published as soon as the peer review process is concluded – therefore earlier contributions are welcome and encouraged, and are processed without delays.

• About the journal: Led by Professor Michelle Bell (Editor-in-Chief, Yale University) Environmental Research: Health is a new open access journal covering impactful research which intersects the environment and public health. The journal is owned and managed by the society publisher IOP Publishing who also publish Environmental Research Letters. More information about the journal can be found here.   

Please note, IOP Publishing is covering the article publication charge (APC) for all articles submitted to the journal before 01-January-2025. If received no later than the stated closing date, your manuscript will be published (subject to peer review outcome) gold open access free of charge.

HEI Solicitation for Research

We are pleased to inform you that we will release a solicitation for research that assesses cumulative effects of chemical and nonchemical stressors on health in historically marginalized communities on March 18. The assessments will aim to inform solutions, such as policies, interventions, or outreach methods, that address stressors of importance to the involved community. Representatives from community-based organizations and research institutions will partner as co-principal investigators to conduct the work.

Funding will occur in two phases:

• Phase I: Partners will conduct activities to build new partnerships or strengthen existing partnerships such as formulating research questions, designing the research, establishing partnership agreements, and developing community engagement and research translation plans. 

• Phase II: Partners will implement the research, community engagement, and research translation plans established in Phase I.

Applicants can apply to one of two tracks:

• Track 1: Apply directly to Phase I. Phase I funding recipients proceed to Phase II if they achieve milestones established during Phase I.

• Track 2: Apply directly to Phase II.

Please see the attached flyer for more information.

Announcing the Disaster Research Response (DR2) Network in Asia Workshop to be held May 31 - June 1, 2024, in Japan

Registration is now open for the Disaster Research Response (DR2) Network in Asia Workshop to be held May 31 - June 1, 2024, in Japan. 

Natural and human-made disasters, such as extreme weather, wildfires, and chemical spills, are significant threats to human health. During these situations, providing emergency medical support, monitoring of public health, and responding to workers’ health status become critical. The disasters may continue to influence affected people’s health and communities for long periods of time afterward. The importance of research initiation immediately after the events, followed by long-term continuation, have been recognized, but are not well organized.

The Disaster Research Response (DR2) program, led by the United States National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences (NIEHS), provides training, funding, and a Resources Portal of tools to empower human health research in response to disasters and public health emergencies. Japan has also invested significant development of research infrastructure on disaster settings. The National Institute for Environmental Studies (NIES) of Japan is one of the leading institutes for disaster research. NIES has collaborated with NIEHS to harmonize DR2 tools and foster a growing international network of DR2 capabilities around the world. This workshop aims to expand the network to Asian countries that have also experienced the need for disaster research response.

Please visit https://dr2-asia.org/ for more information and to register for the workshop. Stay tuned to the website for additional updates to come!

RISE Training Programs

Research Innovations using Sensor Technology in Environmental Justice Communities (RISE Communities) is a NIEHS-supported training program (R25ES034592) with the objective to foster successful community-academic partnerships and equip research teams with skills and knowledge to successfully utilize low-cost air sensors in environmental justice (EJ) communities. The program is designed to build a network of community-engaged environmental health researchers trained in employing low-cost sensor technology to measure air quality in EJ communities. The long-term goal is to empower communities to pursue change through academic partnerships and data, improving the health of individuals and populations. The program is now accepting applications for their next in-person program to occur in Cincinnati, Ohio August 7-9, 2024, for teams comprised of one academic researcher and one community member ideally active in a community organization that addresses environmental justice. The program covers the cost of travel, meals, and hotel for community-academic partners to attend the in-person training that includes sessions on:

team science

sensor data collection, analysis and visualization

community engaged research

using sensors in environmental justice communities

sensor distribution and connection

conduct of research and ethics in collecting health data

The training also includes FREE PurpleAir Air Quality Monitors to get teams started in their projects.

Applications are available directly from the website. Please visit https://www.ejsensors.com/ to learn more about the program, eligibility, and to apply!

NIH Rapid Response Award Opportunity

The NIH in partnership with the NSF is providing funds to the University of Colorado Boulder Natural Hazards Center to support timely collection of perishable data and health research in response to climate-related disasters. The Natural Hazards Center will provide rapid awards to eligible grantees to get into the field quickly after an extreme climate event to work with communities on health-related research. 

Proposals are currently being accepted for a Special Call for Health Outcomes and Climate-Related Disaster Research. Funds will support awards in the amount of $10,000 to $50,00 each. Proposals for this call will be accepted on a rolling basis until funds are exhausted. Apply now!

Global Forum on Bioethics in Research Meeting - Call for case studies and participants

The Global Forum on Bioethics in Research (GFBR) will hold a two-day meeting in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia on 19 & 20 November 2024 on the topic “Ethical issues arising in research into health and climate change” (dates tentative).

As part of the upcoming meeting, the GFBR is seeking case studies on the ethical issues that have emerged in the conduct of research into health and climate change, or on governance issues in this field. The GFBR is also seeking participants to attend the meeting, with places awarded on a competitive basis. Awards are available for successful applicants from low- and middle-income countries (LMICs) to cover the cost of their travel, accommodation and single-entry visa.

The deadline for applications is Monday 6 May 2024 at 9am CEST/Geneva.

 See the GFBR website for details on how to apply online and read the background paper for details on the Forum topic. More information can be found on our website.

Topic Summary:

Anthropogenic climate change is widely regarded as the single biggest health threat facing humanity. The health impacts of climate change are complex, interlinked and multi-factorial. Understanding them is essential for appropriate responses, including mitigation, adaptation and the identification and allocation of loss and damages. Unless we understand how and in what ways climate change will affect health, and what interventions are likely to be effective in managing these health impacts, policy making will be unsupported by evidence. Research is therefore essential. It is broadly accepted that research into climate change and health, like all good research, must be ethical. But research into climate change involves at least some unique ethical challenges and adds scale and urgency to existing ones.

 GFBR will focus specifically on the ethics of research into health and climate change, including research into interventions at all levels to respond to the health impacts of climate change, with a particular emphasis on LMICs. Research in this area ordinarily involves the use of rigorous methods to generate data with the aim of better understanding the impacts of climate change on health, including the health of non-human aspects of the biosphere, and identifying means better to protect and promote human and non-human health in the face of climate change. The interdependency of human and non-human health means that research into health and climate change is not restricted to the medical, health or life sciences. Research findings from areas not traditionally associated with health care, such as environmental science, entomology, the veterinary sciences and climatology may be relevant. It follows that this GFBR will take a very broad approach to concepts of health. The importance of Indigenous perspectives and voices in climate change means that GFBR is also inclusive of perspectives and forms of knowledge that stand outside western scientific traditions. In terms of non-human aspects of the biosphere, the focus of this GFBR is on research that speaks to the interconnectivity of human and non-human health, rather than studies with an exclusive focus on non-human aspects of the biosphere.

 Although the literature on research ethics is well developed, particularly in relation to health research involving human participants, the literature specifically on the ethics of research into health and climate change is far less so. The purpose of this GFBR is to identify and critically engage with areas of ethical challenge in this field, and to provide those involved in research with tools and approaches to respond practically and productively.