Carys Richards
Carys is a Research Analyst (Research, Collaboration and Innovation) at PlanAdapt’s coordination hub, working remotely from the UK.
Broadly, her research has focused on the politics of climate change and adaptation. She is interested in the relationship between knowledge and action and how this is connected to ideas of participation, expertise and local leadership. Her recent work has looked at how the ‘project’ form of adaptation shapes how adaptation is practiced and experienced in the Global South. With PlanAdapt, she is looking forward to exploring innovative concepts and approaches which put social and economic justice at the centre of adaptation.
Previously, Carys supported the Global Adaptation Mapping Initiative (GAMI), where she volunteered as a coder reviewing research papers to chart adaptation progress on the theme of food security and agriculture in Africa and Asia. The paper is awaiting publication in Nature Climate Change. She has also been a long-term research volunteer with the Glacier Trust supporting the ‘We Need to Talk about Adaptation’ project. Carys wrote the ‘Framing Adaptation’ report which explores how adaptation is framed in the UK and she supported the production of two reports in 2019 and 2020. Both reports found that coverage of adaptation in outputs produced by UK environmental NGOs has remained marginal.
Carys is finishing an MSc in Environment, Politics and Society from University College London, where her dissertation has focused on the phenomenon of projectisation in adaptation. She also holds a BSc in Geography and Sustainable Development from the University of St Andrews, with a year spent studying at Queen’s University, Canada and the National University of Singapore.
Carys contributed to PlanAdapt’s work in the following projects and initiatives: