Transformational Education Interventions: Insights from the United Kingdom and Kuwait
Event
Climate change, health and outdoor workers in urban Vietnam: linking vulnerability, extreme weather and policy
This conference will examine the health impacts of climate change on vulnerable outdoor workers in urban Vietnam.
Register for in-person attendance
Precarious outdoor workers in urban megacities, especially in the global South, are among the most exposed to climate change impacts. In Vietnam, where rapid urbanisation and a large informal workforce shape the landscape, outdoor workers face heightened health risks due to extreme weather conditions. These conditions are worsening with climate change, the risks are underexplored, and the policies to address these risks are still in early development.
This research, funded by the Wellcome Trust, seeks to fill critical knowledge gaps by exploring the health vulnerabilities and climate-related risks faced by outdoor workers in urban Vietnam. Conducted in collaboration with multiple local partners — including Vietnam Medical Association, Social Life Research Institute, Institute for Development & Community Health LIGHT and local worker communities — the research will produce new evidence-based insights to inform policy solutions on the climate change-induced health risks faced by vulnerable outdoor workers in urban contexts. These findings will help policymakers devise interventions that align with the realities of outdoor workers' lives and working conditions.
To launch the project, we are hosting a one-day event that will bring together key stakeholders, including government officials, academics, experts, practitioners, civil society, and funders. The event will showcase some preliminary findings, highlight the project's significance, and facilitate in-depth discussions on the challenges and opportunities associated with addressing climate change-related health risks in the global South.
Speakers
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Dr Anh VuResearch Director National Centre for Social Research
Dr Anh Vu is a political ecologist and interdisciplinary scholar with over two decades of experience at the forefront of both development practice and academic research. Anh currently leads a £1.3 million Wellcome Trust-funded research project examining the health impacts of climate change on precarious outdoor workers in major cities across Vietnam. She is Research Director/ Climate Change at NatCen International, National Centre for Social Research (UK). Her research focuses on three key areas that address critical climate challenges: the climate-health nexus, the political economy of climate change, and the sustainability of delta social-ecological systems. She has collaborated extensively with major multilateral and bilateral institutions (e.g., UNDP, UN Statistics Division, the Australian Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade, Friedrich-Ebert-Stiftung) while also providing expert consultancy to governments, and inter/national NGOs (e.g., Asia Development Alliance, Oxfam, Transparency International, Global Philanthropy Indices, Management and Sustainable Development Institute). Her scholarly work is widely published in high-impact peer-reviewed journals such as World Development, Sustainability Science, Contemporary Politics, Community Development, VOLUNTAS, World Development Perspectives, and International Development Planning and Review. In particular, her two decades of research on civil society and authoritarianism has been acclaimed by Southeast Asian scholars for making "high-order" contributions to the field."
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Fortunate MachinguraDirector Climate, Environment & Health, CeSHHAR ZimbabweFortunate Machingura, PhD, is the chairperson of the 1st Climate and Health Africa Conference, fostering connections between academic and policy interests at the intersection of climate and health in Africa. She is a social anthropologist with a focus on climate health and policy and lectures in the Department of International Public Health at the Liverpool School of Tropical Medicine. Additionally, she leads the Climate, Environment, and Health Department at the Centre for Sexual Health and HIV AIDS Research (CeSHHAR) in Zimbabwe.
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Jonathan RiggProfessor University of BristolJonathan Rigg is professor of human geography in the School of Geographical Sciences at the University of Bristol. He was formerly Director of the National University of Singapore’s (NUS) Asia Research Institute (ARI). He has been working on livelihoods, vulnerability, agrarian and urban transitions, environmental change, and migration in Asia since the early 1980s, and has undertaken fieldwork in Laos, Thailand, Nepal, Sri Lanka, as well as in Vietnam.
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Nguyen Duc LocAnthropologist and Sociologist, President of Social Life Research Institute National Centre for Social Research
Assoc. Prof. Dr. Nguyen Duc Loc is an anthropologist and sociologist, currently serving as President of the Social Life Research Institute and a lecturer at Ho Chi Minh City Open University. Throughout his career, he has worked on critical social issues in Vietnam, focusing on disadvantaged groups, labor and the Catholic community. His expertise encompasses practical aspects of social life, using research, surveys, policy advice and social forecasting for positive change. He has led several high impact projects on labor rights, migration, social welfare and Catholic community dynamics, demonstrating his commitment to social improvement. Driven by a passion for improving lives, his extensive research portfolio underscores his commitment to making a difference. His contributions in both social science research and policy-making, embodying his unwavering commitment to a better society.
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Dann MitchellProfessor of Climate Science and Met Office Chair in Climate Hazards Climate ScienceIn 2016 I joined the University of Bristol faculty and established the Bristol Climate Dynamics group. Before joining Bristol I undertook 4 years of postdoctoral research in the University of Oxford’s Department of Physics (AOPP), having already completed a PhD in the University of Reading’s Meteorology department. At Bristol, I hold the Met Office Chair in Climate Hazards, and coordinate the partnership between our two institutes. My research interests are focussed around weather and climate extremes, and how they impact society. I look into the future at climate projections, but also into the past, at climate attribution. My research starts with atmospheric circulation patterns, especially those relating to extreme weather, and ends with impacts. I have a strong focus on climate and health, for instance the health hazards from, heatwaves, flooding, or tropical cyclones. I also like to dabble in the atmospheres of other planets, especially Mars.
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Katya TarnovskayaSenior Researcher National Centre for Social Research
Katya Tarnovskaya is a Senior Researcher at NatCen International. Her research interests are climate change, social inequalities and inclusion. She has a decade of sociological experience developing qualitative and quantitative research projects on social class, gender, labour relations, inclusivity, poverty, media and culture.
Prior to joining NatCen International, Katya worked as a Lecturer at the Department of Communication and Media, University of Liverpool. She has previously held academic positions in the UK and Russia, written peer-reviewed articles, reports and contributed to conferences, schools and research seminars. Katya received a PhD in Sociology from the University of Essex.
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Sherman TaiSenior Researcher National Centre for Social Research
Sherman Tai is a Senior Researcher at NatCen International. His research interests are social movements, political radicalization and state violence, especially when they at once respond to and are produced by global processes such as international migration, inequality and imperialism. He has presented his work on the role of nonviolent protestors in the tactical radicalization of the 2019 Hong Kong Protests in conferences held by Academia Sinica, Taiwan; the British Journal of Sociology; and the American Sociological Association. He is experienced in quantitative, qualitative and mixed methods research, particularly in-depth interviews, pre-post survey evaluations and regression analyses using R and Python.
Prior to joining NatCen International, he was a Consultant at PwC Hong Kong and provided strategic, economic and financial advisory for government departments and private sector market players on high-profile and large-scale infrastructure and urban developments. He holds an MSc in Political Sociology from the London School of Economics, and a BSocSci in Government with a Minor in Sociology from the Chinese University of Hong Kong. He spent a year at the University of Warwick as an exchange student in Politics and International Studies.
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Felicity KerstingSenior Researcher National Centre for Social Research
Felicity Kersting is a Senior Researcher at NatCen International. She has expertise in migration and asylum-related topics, particularly regarding European asylum policies and the externalisation of borders, the criminalisation of migration, and the representation of migrants in the media. Additionally, she has worked extensively on issues of inclusion and marginalisation, particularly on the basis of gender and sexuality. She has a Master's Degree from the London School of Economics in International Migration and Public Policy, and a Bachelor's Degree in Human, Social, and Political Science from the University of Cambridge.
She is a mixed-methods researcher, with significant experience carrying out sensitive qualitative research with vulnerable groups including asylum seekers, prisoners, and young people. She takes an intersectional approach to her work, addressing how identities and/or appearance shape individuals' lived experiences.
Prior to joining NatCen International, Felicity worked as a Research Assistant then Researcher in NatCen's Crime, Justice, and Equalities team. She has also worked for a number of charities and NGOs focused on asylum seekers and refugees in the UK, including as Fundraising Director of SolidariTee.
