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2009, University
of Queensland
 The
Universitas 21 Summer School 2009 was
hosted by The University of Queensland
in Brisbane, Australia. The two
week event was held from July 13 to July
24, 2009 and covered one of the most
important global issues of our times:
Climate Change Adaptation. This
event offered the opportunity for
like-minded peers to address difficult
climate change issues and possible
adaptation strategies and solutions
through lectures, workshops, field
trips, debates and discussions.
The U21 Summer School
2009 brought together 107 undergraduate
students and academics from 17 U21
universities in 14 different countries
(the highest number of participants of
all previous Summer Schools), drawn from
various discipline areas and
backgrounds.
 The
academic programme of the Summer School
was comprehensive and explored the key
issues of Climate Change Adaptation
through a wide range of lectures,
presentations, discussions, workshops,
skills sessions, field trips, creative
and social activities. The
programme was designed to provide
delegates with insights into predicted
changes and impacts, the mechanisms
needed to respond, our current level of
readiness and our capacity to adapt at
national and global levels. It was
a great opportunity for participants to
engage in discussions with international
Climate Change experts and academics
from various backgrounds.
The first week focused
on predicted changes and impacts of
Climate Change and the second week
focused on planning responses at a
regional, national and global scale.
The programme developed from an
Australian focus to a global and
regional focus and emphasised high
levels of interaction and creative
activities as well as information
delivery.  The
core of the academic programme was built
around two major group-work tasks, one
in each week. The first, a ‘Speak-out’
task was a team-based activity embracing
the main Climate Change challenges
discussed in the first week. The
second, a UN-style Assembly - the summit
of the Summer School programme - focused
on proposals for a global response to
Climate Change.
One aim on the first day
of the seminar was to build a collage of
the challenges facing U21 countries from
Climate Change impacts (heating, drying,
flooding, fires, severe storms and
surge, sea level rise). For this
purpose, each university group was asked
to give a four minute presentation (with
a maximum of four slides) about the
major Climate Change Adaptation
challenge faced by their country or
world region. All members of the
group were invited to stand up and
represent their university. The
delegates needed to prepare this task
before they came to the Summer School
and this format proved extremely
effective in allowing participants an
early opportunity to contribute to, and
hence feel part of, the programme.
 The
“Speak-out” task challenged delegates to
think creatively about how to present
possible good news or bad news aspects
of Climate Change impacts in 2030
engagingly,
using a media product (e.g. press
release, newspaper front page, web page,
cartoon, announcement, advertisement
etc). They were required to work
in groups with students from other
universities to produce a media item, in
poster format, for a “Speak-out”,
gallery-style exhibition.
Participants had several hours in the
first week to prepare this task (which
was introduced on the first day) and the
material used was poster paper and felt
pens. The task was run on the last day
of the first week (Friday, July 17).
Certificates were given to the most
passionate, most practical, most
persuasive and most provocative campaign
designs.
To conclude the Summer
School, a UN style assembly was held on
Friday 24 July, in which the delegates
formed 17 small groups, representing
various world regions or special
interests. Each of these groups
identified the major climate changes
issues affecting their region or special
interest, and proposed a series of
policy solutions. Delegates then voted
on the most important and a designated
secretariat (also made up of student
delegates) formed these views into a
formal ‘Charter’ setting out a set of
national and international level actions
which had collective endorsement. The
Charter was presented to the Queensland
Minister for Climate Change and
Sustainability, The Hon Kate
Jones, and to Senior Executives from the
University of Queensland.
Click here to see the Summer School
video
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