SBNZ researchers to participate in COP31 in Türkiye

Kate Symons - 05/11/26

SBNZ researchers will contribute to discussions at the UNFCCC 31st Conference of the Parties (COP31) in Antalya, including a keynote address by Dr Nandan Mukherjee at the Resilience Hub. 

Dr Nandan Mukherjee, the SBNZ Steering Group member from the University of Dundee, will give a keynote talk, The Ledger of Loss and Damage: Measuring What Adaptation Effectively Delivers for Bangladeshi Households (Resilience Hub). Drawing on Bangladesh’s experience, the session will explore how adaptation effectiveness can be assessed in practice, how lessons from vulnerable communities can inform wider policy and investment priorities, and how more effective adaptation can help reduce residual risks and address unavoidable losses and damages. 

Dr Mukherjee will be joined by colleagues from across the SBNZ network, representing a broad range of expertise relevant to the conference agenda. 

Representatives from SBNZ partner institutions include Dr Mitchell Lennan, Dr Yeshui Zhang, Dr Claudia Fernandez-Martin and Dr Shane Strachan from the University of Aberdeen and Professor Patrick Bayer from the University of Glasgow.  

The University of Edinburgh will be represented by Dr Lucy Wishart, Lucy Young, Professor Margaret Graham, Professor Liz Grant, Professor Neil Robertson, Linn Pfitzner and SBNZ’s Climate Finance Theme Co-lead, Dr Karishma Ansaram is also attending. 

The delegates’ work reflects key SBNZ priorities, including climate adaptation and resilience, climate finance, and the development of practical solutions to support a just transition to a net zero future. 

Alongside COP31 is the University of Strathclyde’s reception and ‘fireside chat’ panel, Challenges and Opportunities in an Overshoot World, on 11th November. 

Following COP31, there will be an opportunity for SBNZ members and stakeholders to reflect on the outcomes and implications for Scotland. In December, SBNZ and the Binks Institute for Sustainability, University of Dundee, will host a dissemination event where key developments and outcomes from the COP31 negotiations will be shared. Attendees will discuss relevant findings and policy implications and explore their relevance to the Scottish Government’s climate priorities and the SBNZ programme. Please visit here for more information and to register for the event.

COP31 will bring together governments, researchers, businesses and civil society organisations from around the world to accelerate climate action and implementation. Through keynote contributions, stakeholder engagement and post-conference knowledge sharing, SBNZ researchers will help bring Scottish expertise and perspectives to international discussions on climate adaptation, finance and resilience.