African nations are particularly vulnerable to the impacts of climate change. Local research institutions are key in supporting adaptation, given that they are best placed to generate new, and synthesize existing, relevant knowledge and put this into action in the communities where they are based. Conducting impact-oriented research on climate change requires new and strengthened capacities and ways of working with diverse stakeholders as well as across disciplines and knowledge domains. Strengthening these capacities is critical to leveraging the potential for African universities to contribute to socially inclusive climate change adaptation.

Through a virtual living lab-based method, this project will work with 20 universities as well as the range of stakeholders involved in transdisciplinary adaptation research for impact across the African continent. The aim will be to co-create and pilot the implementation of a climate adaptation research-focused organizational capacity assessment tool (CO-CAT). The project will produce user guidelines, case studies and lessons on how to strengthen organizational capacities for climate adaptation research for impact. This will position African universities to strengthen their approaches to, and support for, this research and inform funders’ investments in institutional capacity strengthening for climate adaptation research, more effectively supporting African leadership in this area.

The project is part of the Climate Adaptation and Resilience (CLARE) initiative, a UK-Canada framework research program aiming to enable socially inclusive and sustainable action to build resilience to climate change and natural hazards in Africa and the Asia-Pacific region.