CHanGE members pursue research in all areas of global environmental change and health. The center focuses on applied research and the development of practical applications and decision support tools. The goal of CHanGE’s research to action program is to build a robust evidence base to identify what actions are needed, where they are needed most, and how to implement needed interventions at scale in order to protect people’s health and wellbeing as the climate changes.
Recent products:
Climate Health and Risk Tool (CHaRT)
The Climate Health and Risk Tool provides an interactive way to explore how a variety of climatic, environmental, social, and economic factors contribute to climate-related hazards faced by communities. This information helps decision makers and community members develop plans to protect communities and public health under changing climate-related environmental conditions.
Research
CHanGE research focuses on documenting climate change health impacts from a diverse range of exposures, determining the communities most at risk, developing and testing interventions to protect health, communicating risks clearly effectively, and implementing proven strategies. From changes in the pollen season to sea level rise, from micronutrients to food systems, from early warnings to outbreak response, our experts are working across the globe to build evidence for action.
The Applied Research Team
The goal of the CHanGE Applied Research Team is to develop a successful climate and health research program at the UW, spanning a range of activities including study of climate change health risks and impacts; scenario-based projection of health risks, including risk reduction through mitigation and adaptation; and development, implementation, and evaluation of interventions to reduce climate driven health risks. To achieve this goal, the Applied Research Team works to clarify and advance CHanGE research priorities and to identify linkages and synergies across research, service, teaching, and other activities among CHanGE members. The Applied Research Team engages consultants to support grant writing and proposal development for high priority efforts. The Applied Research Team consists of faculty and staff from around the university with a wide range of expertise relevant to climate and health research. The Applied Research Team has three primary roles:
- Research prioritization (identification of high priority research efforts), generation (research execution, generally to be done outside the team itself), and promotion (presentations, outreach, and other activities to promote CHanGE research)
- Provision of feedback on proposed research activities, and
- Linkage and enhancement across disciplines and activities.
The Team convenes monthly to discuss priorities, review potential projects, vet proposed research to determine where CHanGE should lend additional support for promising efforts, and provide feedback to investigators, determine projects that should qualify for CHanGE grant writing and project management support, provide feedback on proposal drafts, and facilitate linkages between relevant researchers and programs.
Decision Support
CHanGE members are committed to taking research to action and applying our research findings to maximize health protection around the world. CHanGE members develop and implement a wide range of tools, including vulnerability and adaptation assessments to guide public health decision making, health impact assessments to guide mitigation policy, and stress testing to identify and help address weak points in health system preparedness
The Decision Support Team
The goal of the CHanGE Decision Support Team is to develop decision support resources and engage in climate and health risk assessment and risk management activities with practice partners. Risk assessment activities include hazard and vulnerability assessment and mapping, hazard mitigation planning, comparative risk assessment, and health impact assessment. Risk management activities include hazard mitigation planning, policy analysis and policymaker engagement, and community engagement regarding prioritization and implementation. The Decision Support Team’s efforts are focused on three areas, all in multiple geographies:
- Develop tools to visualize and communicate climate change health risks,
- Develop scenario-based projections demonstrating risk management potential, and
- Engage and support policy development and decision making related to climate and health.
Practically, the Decision Support Team works to bring together information on population health status, social determinants of health and health equity, and climate-sensitive hazards to be used in risk assessment and communications. The Team also pursues opportunities to engage in risk assessment activities, health impact assessment, comparative risk assessment, vulnerability assessment, and community engagement and policy development, including policy development and analysis with practice and other partners.