UMass Scholars are Open for Climate Justice

The UMass Amherst Libraries celebrate Open Access Week 2022 with a panel discussion, “Open for Climate Justice,” on Thursday, October 27, noon to 1:45 p.m., in the Science and Engineering Library Learning Studio. The panel is comprised of Kiran Asher, professor and chair of the Department of Women, Gender and Sexuality Studies, Craig Nicolson, lecturer in the Department of Environmental Conservation, and Justin Richardson, assistant professor in the Department of Geosciences: three scholars who are integrating open scholarship practices to address the inequitable impacts of climate change. This event is open to the public. No reservations are required, but space is limited.

During the panel, Asher, Nicolson, and Richardson will each address how using and sharing open works (articles, books, data, software, etc.) in their research and teaching can benefit communities who have borne the worst effects of climate change. A question and answer session will follow, moderated by Rebecca Reznik-Zellen, head of the Science and Engineering Library.

“Open for Climate Justice” is also the theme for this year’s International Open Access Week, which is a week dedicated to learning about open access, “the free, immediate, online access to the results of scholarly research, and the right to use and re-use those results as you need,” and how it benefits all aspects of research and society as a whole.

Kiran Asher is a biologist-turned-social scientist with three decades of field-based research on biodiversity conservation, international development, and struggles for social change in Latin America and South Asia. Craig Nicolson studies the sustainability of ecological-social systems, addressing questions of how ecosystems change through time and how people interact with natural resources. Justin Richardson investigates metals and metalloids and their biogeochemical impacts from the treetops to the groundwater. Each scholar has published works with open access licenses.