Launching the Duke Program on Climate-Related Migration

National and international organizations are predicting significant increases in human movement related to climate change that will occur within and between countries. Last May, Lecturing Fellow Kerilyn Schewel and Associate Professor Sarah Bermeo teamed up to write a proposal to establish a program on climate-related migration within DCID, which will allow Duke University to produce cutting-edge research to fill gaps in knowledge on climate-related migration and inform policy decisions.  

The proposal explained the rising interest in understanding the causes and impacts of climate-related migration from different sectors, including the government and NGOs, the benefits of having this program at Duke. 

With seed funding from Duke’s Office of Global Affairs (OGA), the Duke Program on Climate-Related Migration will launch with a workshop, “Climate-Related Migration: Transdisciplinary Research Informing Policy Solutions,” to be held on Wednesday, November 9, 2022, from 4:30 pm to 6:30 p.m. in the Holsti-Anderson Family Assembly Room (Rubenstein Library 153). 

The workshop will draw on the transdisciplinary strength of Duke to provide rigorous, multi-method research that informs policy solutions and engages in fact-based public discourse on the past, present, and future of the links between climate change, adaptation, and human mobility.  

The panel brings together expertise from the natural and social sciences to answer questions related to the multi-dimensional aspects of the links between climate change and migration, and to discuss broader implications for societies and the crafting of effective policies. The panel will be moderated by journalist Dara Lind.

The panel will include:

• Sarah Bermeo, Associate Professor of Public Policy and Political Science, Sanford School of Public Policy; PCRM Co-Director 
• Kerilyn Schewel, Lecturing Fellow, Duke Center for International Development; Senior Researcher, International Migration Institute; PCRM Co-Director 
• Erika Weinthal, Professor of Environmental Policy and Public Policy, Nicholas School of the Environment; Professor of Environmental Policy, Duke Kunshan University  

• Drew Shindell, Nicholas Distinguished Professor of Earth Science, Nicholas School of the Environment  

The program is launching in coordination with the Duke Center for International Development (DCID) with support from the Duke Office of Global Affairs. It will be co-directed by Bermeo and Schewel.