Sydney Environment Institute
Newsletter
February 2026
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Dear SEI community,
As I look ahead to 2026, I am proud to see SEI continue to support impactful multidisciplinary research to address the compounding effects of climate change on communities, institutions, and systems. From heatwaves to bushfires, and from storms to flooding, we know the risks and impacts of climate turbulence are poised to increase in frequency and intensity.
While we address many impacts and community responses in our Climate Disaster and Adaptation theme, we are excited to announce a new Climate and Health research theme, bringing together the established expertise from across the University. In collaboration with the Net Zero Institute, the School of Public Health, and the Sustainabiliity, Climate and Health Collaboration, this theme will address issues of both the necessary decarbonisation of the healthcare system and the health-related impacts of climate change. Projects will include a number of pressing challenges, from addressing inequities in the impact of climate change driven temperature extremes, to guiding targeted energy efficiency updates to reduce energy burden and improve health and housing equity, safeguarding community health and wellbeing during extreme weather events, and identifying low-carbon alternatives to common health treatments and interventions. Some of this work will be supported through SEI’s 2026 Collaborative Grant Scheme. The Scheme will also expand SEI’s footprint in Multispecies Justice (MSJ) with multidisciplinary projects examining the interconnections between heat stress for humans and companion animals, and exploring the use of coral stress imagery to transform how reef collapse is publicly understood. We will continue to centre communities with a project drawing on intergenerational knowledge to better understand seasonal flowering patterns and support biodiversity and community wellbeing. Continuing and illustrating our work that puts community experience and knowledges at the heart of our research, SEI’s 2026 public programming begins with our annual Iain McCalman Lecture. This year, Dr Rebecca McNaught will share stories from the ground up in the Northern Rivers region of NSW - stories of women leading community disaster recovery efforts and of the creation of the Northern Rivers Community Resilience Alliance, which brings together over 50 grassroots community groups which SEI has been proud to support. In March, SEI will also be at Climate Action Week 2026 (CAWSYD26), with a panel comprising our researchers in conversation with experts from civil society, industry, and government on place-based planning for disaster preparedness and adaptation, and how communities are strengthened through alliances, social infrastructure, training and advocacy. That is only the beginning of what is looking to be another very productive year at SEI. On a personal note, at the December members gathering I announced that I would be stepping down from my role at SEI and leaving the University of Sydney in mid-2026. I’ll have more to say about my own future and that of SEI soon, and, in the meantime, I look forward to sharing the substance and broad impact of SEI’s research with you in the months to come.
Wishing you a great 2026.
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Communities in an era of compounding disasters: stories of hope from the Northern Rivers
In this year's Iain McCalman Lecture, Dr Rebecca McNaught will draw on two decades of experience in international climate and disaster work to present Communities in an era of compounding disasters: stories of hope from the Northern Rivers.
In the Northern Rivers region of New South Wales, the catastrophic 2022 floods and landslips revealed both the fragility of systems and the strength of local people. Join us to learn how lessons from the region can inform policy, research, and practice in an increasingly climate-challenged world — and why our future depends on collaboration, creativity, and enabling a culture of care.
Date: Mon, 2 Mar 2026
Time: 6.00-8.00pm
Location: The Great Hall, University of Sydney
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 | SEI at CAWSYD26 : Resilience through relationships
Join researchers from the University of Sydney, resilience practitioners, and community advocates to discuss how communities respond to disasters and how they are strengthened through alliances, social infrastructure, training and advocacy. 6.00-7.30pm, Tue 10 Mar
| |  | Prof Thom van Dooren accepts prestigious Biophilia Award
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 | Critical Minerals Network Roundtable webinar now available
The Critical Minerals Network, established by the Sydney Environment Institute (SEI), Net Zero Institute (NZI), and the Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences, hosted the expert roundtable exploring how the global race to secure supplies is reshaping markets and influencing national security strategies. | |  | Lessons on climate adaptation from the Garden City
Dr Scott Webster was in Ōtautahi Christchurch with the SEI delegation to Adaptation Futures 2025 conference in October. He reflects on place-based climate adaptiation and resilience and shares his learnings from a city that still bears the scars from the devastating earthquakes of 2010 and 2011.
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More events
- Join Sustainability at Sydney and Climate for Change for Climate science and action with Dr Karl and Climate for Change to hear the latest on climate science and learn how you can take transformative action for climate justice | 10.30am-12.00pm, Mon 16 Feb
- Dr Lee White is co-organising Energy Justice in Policy: Lessons from Europe and Chile, a hybrid public seminar exploring how energy justice principles are being integrated into policy frameworks in Europe and Chile | 10.00am-1.00pm, Thu 26 Feb
- Join Sydney Health Ethics and the University Centre for Rural Health for The Prof Stephen Lee Lecture in Ethics. Presented by National Rural Health Commissioner Prof Jenny May AM, it will be followed by a panel on health equity in rural communities with A/Prof Claire Hooker, Dr Rebecca McNaught, and A/Prof Emma Walke | 1.00-4.00pm, Thu 26 Mar
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In case you missed it
- Two new national reports, Nature Enters the Boardroom and Ocean in the Boardroom (pdf, 13MB), offer the first comprehensive look at how Australian directors recognise nature, and ocean systems in particular, as a governance agenda. Prof Clinton Free and Darya Boukata from the University of Sydney Business School co-led the reports in partnership with the Australian Institute of Company Directors and Ocean Decade Australia, respectively.
- SEI member A/Prof Christopher Pepin-Neff shared their expertise in human-shark relationships in a recent BBC article, as well as recommendations in an ABC article for greater accessibility to data on shark activity in the in-shore areas to inform risk assessment and warnings. Learn more about the Human-shark relations project.
- The recording of SEI event How to Weather Together: Feminist Practice for Climate Change is now available. Leading voices on feminist approaches to climate change and authors of an upcoming book by the same title, Dr Astrida Neimanis and Dr Jennifer Hamilton invite us to explore "weathering" as an embodied response to climate change.
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