U.S. Academic Alliance for the IPCC: Call for Expert Nominations

Call for Expert Nominations for the Upcoming IPCC Workshops on Engaging Diverse Knowledge Systems and Methods of Assessment

Established in March 2025, the US Academic Alliance for the IPCC (USAA-IPCC) is a network of U.S. universities and colleges that are registered observers with the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC). The American Geophysical Union (AGU) is hosting the USAA-IPCC network.

The founding members are College of the Atlantic, Colby College, Dickinson College, Indiana University, Princeton University, Rutgers University, University of California-San Diego, Washington University in St. Louis, Woods Hole Oceanographic Institute, and Yale University. 

As IPCC Observers, the USAA-IPCC members are able to submit nominations in response to IPCC calls for expert nominations. USAA-IPCC aims to increase awareness of authorship calls and expand nomination opportunities for experts in climate research and practice. In April 2025, USAA-IPCC members submitted 293 author nominations to the IPCC in order to ensure sustained U.S. expert engagement in the IPCC’s Seventh Assessment Report.

On 4 June 2025, the IPCC issued calls for experts (including knowledge holders, practitioners, and scientists) to participate in two upcoming, co-located IPCC workshops to be held in the first quarter of 2026: (1) Workshop on engaging diverse knowledge systems and (2) Workshop on methods of assessment. See below for details on the aims of the workshops and desired expertise.

If you are a U.S.-based expert and are interested in being nominated, please do the following: 

• Complete a nomination form, available here as an Excel file. Please download and complete it FULLY, noting there are 2 tabs. Incomplete forms will be rejected. 

• You will also need a CV in PDF form with a maximum of 2 pages and 2MB. Any deviations from this will not be accepted. 

• Please upload these forms to the link: https://forms.gle/FFvjz53nAgBG3kUWA

• If you have any problems, you may also submit these 2 forms as an attachment to usaa.ipcc@gmail.com. 

Note that USAA-IPCC is working to facilitate and expand opportunities for nomination but at this time is not committing to provide travel and subsistence funding for these workshops. Experts will be expected to find institutional funding if at all possible. 

Submissions are due by 11 July 2025 11:59pm EDT.

Aims of the Workshops

Specific aims of Workshop 1 on engaging wider knowledge systems are:

• to address how Indigenous Knowledge systems could be accessed and assessed by the IPCC, in particular considering effective and equitable engagement of Indigenous Knowledge holders and building on experience built up in other fora as appropriate;

• to address how Iocal knowledge could be assessed by the IPCC, building on experience built up in other fora as appropriate;

• to make recommendations for funding agencies as to how to support the engagement of knowledge holders in the IPCC programme of work.

The specific aims of Workshop 2 on methods of assessment are:

• to make recommendations as to how systematic review methods could be applied within and outside IPCC assessments and how they could contribute to strengthening established assessment practices including uncertainty assessments;

• to make recommendations to the IPCC, the Bureau and authors as to how new and extended methods of assessment such as artificial intelligence might be built into the IPCC programme of work;

• to address how ex-post evaluation evidence could be assessed by the IPCC, building on experience built up in other fora as appropriate;

• to identify precautionary measures or limitations that might be necessary to ensure adherence to IPCC’s principles and procedures for the preparation of reports; and

• to make recommendations for scientific communities as to how new and extended methods could be used to develop literature which can more easily be assessed by the IPCC.

The goal across both workshops is to make recommendations as to how new and extended methods of assessment could be applied to different types of knowledge systems (such as scientific, Indigenous, local, practitioner).

Expertise Being Sought

Nominations for the workshops are welcome from knowledge holders, practitioners and scientists with the relevant expertise. For the workshop on Engaging Diverse Knowledge Systems, this would be expertise on the application and interpretation of diverse forms of knowledge, including:

• Indigenous Knowledge systems, especially from those who are members of Indigenous Peoples communities;

• local knowledge (the understandings and skills developed by individuals and populations specific to the places where they live);

• practitioner knowledge (e.g. policymakers, NGO staff and community leaders who have experience of formulating strategies, implementing and/or evaluating policies and other climate actions);

• scientific knowledge (including social sciences and the humanities).

For the workshop on Methods of Assessment, expertise would include:

• artificial intelligence to support assessment processes (including large language models, machine-learning tools and data for literature review);

• systematic review of scientific and grey literature, and other forms of knowledge;

• ex-post evaluation of climate action or other actions/policies/interventions relevant for climate change.

Nominations are particularly encouraged from Indigenous Peoples representatives, those whose expertise bridges the two workshops, and those with relevant experience from other global environmental assessments.

USAA-IPCC Steering Committee Members

• Pamela McElwee, Professor of Human Ecology, Rutgers University (Chair)

• Greg Drozd, Associate Professor of Chemistry, Colby College

• Robert Kopp, Distinguished Professor of Earth and Planetary Sciences, Rutgers University

• Neil Leary, Associate Provost and Director, Center for Sustainability Education, Dickinson College

• Margaret Leinen, Director, Scripps Institution of Oceanography, and Vice Chancellor for Marine Sciences and Dean of the School of Marine Sciences, University of California-San Diego

• Beth Martin, Teaching Professor in Environmental Studies, Washington University in St. Louis

• Jessica O’Reilly, Associate Professor of International Studies, Indiana University

• Michael Oppenheimer, Albert G. Milbank Professor of Geosciences and International Affairs and the High Meadows Environmental Institute, Princeton University

• Kilaparti Ramakrishna, Director of Marine Policy Center and Senior Advisor to the President on Ocean and Climate Policy, Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution

• Mark Shimamoto, Vice President for Global Outreach and Partnerships, American Geophysical Union

• Doreen Stabinsky, Professor of Global Environmental Politics, College of the Atlantic

• Julie Zimmerman, Vice Provost for Planetary Solutions, Professor of Green Engineering, Deputy Director for Research at Center for Green Chemistry and Green Engineering, Yale University

Contact Razmila Razaak (rrazaak@agu.org), AGU Senior Program Coordinator for Global Outreach, with questions.