Past DISCCRS Symposia:

“...[T]he biggest benefit of DISCCRS was opening up the lines of communication
between natural/physical and social scientists.” – DISCCRS III symposium scholar

DISCCRS III Symposium

The DISCCRS III symposium was held September 10 - 17, 2007 in Volcano, Hawaii at the Kilauea Military Camp. Anyone working in the area of climate change or its impacts and completing a Ph.D. between April 1, 2004 – March 31, 2007 was eligible to apply. The thirty-six symposium scholars represented 9 countries. Five mentors attended (Kenny Broad, Charlie Kolstad, Susi Moser, Terry Root and Stephen Schneider), as well as a representative from NSF (Herman Zimmerman), a professional facilitator (Chris Olex), a research assistant (Jenn Marlon), and the co-PIs (Sue Weiler and Ron Mitchell). The symposium opened with an intensive and impressive two-days of participant presentations. Each individual briefly introduced themselves and presented their research in plenary format. Their presentations highlighted the impressive quality and diversity of research underway on climate change. Evening poster sessions and brief personal introductions early in the week provided additional opportunities for the participants to describe their professional backgrounds and current research projects. The symposium continued with mentor keynote presentations and a mix of sessions focused on funding opportunities, science communication strategies, and group dynamics. A mid-week field trip provided informal opportunities to more fully establish new friendships and collegial relationships. The capstone event was a series of small group activities where participants were placed into multidisciplinary teams and tasked with developing a collaborative research proposal for seed funding. The teams were required to present a brief summary of their findings in plenary on the last day. A closing celebration was held on the last evening that featured music and stories from native Hawaiian musicians. See the DISCCRS III Symposium Report for details.

DISCCRS II Symposium

The second DISCCRS symposium (DISCCRS II) was convened March 26 - April 6, 2006 at the Asilomar Conference Center in Pacific Grove, CA. The 33 DISCCRS Scholar participants came from 9 countries (the United States, Columbia, China, France, Germany, India, Slovenia, Spain, and the United Kingdom) and 27 institutions, with 22 from the natural sciences and 11 from the social sciences.  The DISSCRS Scholars presented their research, met and learned from distinguished mentors, exchanged ideas, and built relationships with peers. The schedule was packed from day one with introductions, participant and mentor presentations, a variety of crash courses on topics such as communicating with the media, facilitating meetings, understanding different personality types, teambuilding, finding jobs, and getting funding.  The substantive climate change presentations and career development sessions were interspersed with lively discussions over meals and periods of free time to provide rejuvenating breaks from the intensive learning. The week ended with presentations from six interdisciplinary working groups that showcased a real climate-change research problem and each group's proposed methods and solutions for addressing it. The DISCCRS II Symposium Report provides additional details about the agenda for the week, the symposium scholars, and the mentors (Lisa Dilling, Ed Miles, Ron Mitchell, Leigh Raymond, Jorge Sarmiento).

DISCCRS II Participants at Asilomar, California (April, 2006)

DISCCRS II Symposium Scholars - http://disccrs.org/reports/DISCCRS_II_Symposium_Scholars.pdf
DISCCRS II Symposium Report - http://disccrs.org/reports/DISCCRS_II_Symposium_Report.pdf

The first DISCCRS symposium was held 10–15 March 2003, in Guanica, Puerto Rico. Its design was based on the highly successful DIALOG symposia that brought together limnologists and oceanographers and that had been run by Sue Weiler since 1995. DISCCRS emerged from the growing awareness that the immense scope and complexity of the climate change problem demanded concerted effort to overcome the historical, institutional and philosophical barriers to communication that exist between the increasing number of highly specialized scientists addressing various aspects of the climate change problem but who speak different disciplinary languages. The 40 DISCCRS Scholar participants came from 11 countries and 36 institutions, largely representing the natural sciences but with some social science representation. See the full report here: DISCCRS I Program Report and an EOS article written by J. Friddell & T. Blenckner here: Eos,Vol. 84, No. 33, 19 August 2003. The DISCCRS Mentors were Ron Mitchell and Jerry Mahlman.

 
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DISCCRS IV
Symposium

Nov. 2 - Nov. 9, 2008
Saguaro Lake Ranch

Applications Are Now Closed
DISCCRS V Application Deadline
(contingent on funding)
April 30, 2009

Eligibility: Ph.D. completed between
April 1, 2007 - March 31, 2009
in any discipline. Selection will favor applicants who plan to engage in interdisciplinary research careers in any subject within or relevant to climate change and its impacts. A committee will select 36 participants based on the submitted applications.