Ten delegates represented Trinity at the 2024 United Nation Climate Change Conference (COP29) which took place in November in Baku in Azerbijan. This week, Linda caught up with some of the delegates for a meeting to discuss their experiences and learnings.  

Trinity’s delegates at COP29 included both students and staff each with observer Status which allowed them to attend the conference virtually and access seminars, panels and networking opportunities. 

During the meeting in the Provost’s House, delegates introduced themselves and gave an overview of their biggest take-aways from the conference. Linda noted how great it was to see such a varied range of research and study areas being represented by Trinity at the conference. Delegates came from various disciplines, including social work and social policy, business, environmental science, zoology, psychology, and journalism, among others. 

Interdisciplinarity was a big topic discussed during the meeting. All agreed that a varied range of disciplines is crucial to tackling the climate crisis. Another topic that several of the delegates noted was the issue of who gets invited to COP and who is allowed to speak, with an imbalance towards the powerful.  

The meeting concluded with a discussion on the importance of universities being represented at COP in order to build networks for student engagement, increase support for engagement, and inform research. 

More information about Trinity’s COP29 delegates, and their research/study area is available on the Trinity website. 

Watch this video on social media, where Trinity PhD student, Srimoyee Biswas shares her experiences and thoughts after attending COP29.