From: The SCoPEx Advisory Committee
The SCoPEx Advisory Committee is updating and diversifying its membership
The SCoPEx Advisory Committee was established to provide advice to Harvard University on the research and governance of its proposed Stratospheric Controlled Perturbation Experiment. The Advisory Committee was established in 2019 with the expectation of a one-year commitment and a focus on engagements within the United States.
Based on the SCoPEx research team’s decision to potentially operate outside the US and helpful feedback from multiple organizations and individuals, it is clear that ensuring fair and legitimate public engagement is likely to require additional time, and broader and more international participation. All of this means it is appropriate to expand and diversify the Committee’s membership.
Committee members Michael Gerrard, Michael Kleeman, Robert Lempert, Katharine Mach, Leonard Nurse, and Raj Pandya will continue to serve. Committee members Kevin Knobloch and Shuchi Talati are not able to extend their service due to new professional commitments.
To expand our geographic scope and diversity, the Committee is inviting applications. We seek people who will help us design for diversity and expand participation. We would also like to broaden the geographic and other forms of diversity of people participating on the Committee. We strongly encourage applications from individuals from low- and middle-income countries; women; individuals identifying as LGBTQIA+; Indigenous peoples and individuals from racialized, marginalized, colonized, and underserved groups.
The Committee aims to ensure fair and legitimate public engagement prior to any decision on whether or not to conduct any SCoPEx test flights. For that reason, we are especially interested in people who value legitimate, transparent, equitable governance more than they care about voicing their own opinions. In practice, that means they are willing to focus their attention on the processes for governing geoengineering research; are willing to invite, respect, and prioritize public and expert input about geoengineering research in their decision-making; are willing to work with other committee members to achieve consensus, and are willing to set aside any personal feelings about the deployment of geoengineering.
Finally, we seek to augment the experience and knowledge of the Committee by looking for individuals with backgrounds in one or more of the following areas:
- expertise in non-governmental research governance
- experience designing and leading equitable and inclusive societal engagement in science, especially climate sciences
- knowledge of climate change response strategies
- expertise in climate justice
If you are interested in nominating appropriate individuals or applying, please submit a CV along with a letter of interest to scopexac@gmail.com by May 1, 2021.