Call for Working Group Themes
Dear colleagues,
The UC Irvine Climate Collaboration is inviting proposals for Working Group Research Themes for the 2025-26 academic year. The goals of the working groups include:
- Bridging between UC Irvine strengths where untapped synergies may exist.
- Enhancing the exchange of perspectives, ideas and knowledge across disciplines, and building greater campus cohesion among faculty and community partners.
- Developing strategic research plans that build on UC Irvine’s existing strengths, and positioning faculty to submit highly competitive research proposals to funding agencies and foundations.
- Hosting events that engage a broader audience including faculty, students, alumni, community partners and elected officials.
- Preparing white papers that target an audience of policy makers, donors and foundations with UC Irvine’s best ideas.
Administrative support will be provided to each working group including meeting scheduling, event organizing, and workshop planning, as well as limited funding for food/beverages and other items as appropriate.
Amidst profound risks to present and future generations and a rapidly changing political environment for research, the Climate Collaboration offers UC Irvine a unique opportunity to establish a distinct identity in the broad area of climate and sustainability. The 2025-26 Working Groups will help define key research themes that could set UC Irvine apart from the vast landscape of excellent universities across California and elevate our stature as a leading institution within climate-related research areas. To this end, applicants are strongly encouraged to critically consider the intersection of emerging issues, campus strengths and the advantages held by UC Irvine by nature of its location in Orange County, California and the resources of the region.
Thematic Working Groups figure prominently within initial plans for the UC Irvine Climate Collaboration.
These groups are envisioned as a mechanism for bridging the gap between existing strengths and cultivating exciting topics for future research. Aside from proposing a Research Theme, interested faculty (individuals or a group) may use this opportunity to express an interest in participating in a particular area.
Please note, a working group is also planned with an emphasis on student opportunities and experiences. The aims of this working group are to enrich both undergraduate and graduate learning, enable interaction between programs, facilitate dialogue between instructors, infuse research into teaching, and increase the external visibility of UC Irvine as a destination for prospective students who are passionate about addressing the climate crisis.
All expressions of interests can be made with an email to climatecollab@uci.edu. The deadline for Research Theme proposals is August 1, 2025, and a suggested proposal structure can be found on the Climate Collaboration website. Expressions of interest in the educational working group can be made at any time.
With thanks,
Brett Sanders
Director, UC Irvine Climate Collaboration
Chancellor’s Professor
Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering
Department of Urban Planning and Public Policy