Exploring a new consortium focusing on the impacts of climate change on child wellbeing

Children’s health wellbeing remains under-conceptualised and under-measured in current climate adaptation and health policy frameworks. This gap is particularly pronounced with respect to inequalities across socioeconomic status, gender, and life-course stages.

The consortium aims to:

• Position children not only as a vulnerable group, but as a sentinel population for understanding long-term and intergenerational climate impacts;

• Integrate climate exposures (e.g. heatwaves, extreme weather, environmental stressors) with child wellbeing outcomes, using a life-course and systems perspective;

• Bridge epidemiological, social, and policy-oriented approaches, with a strong emphasis on policy relevance and anticipatory governance.

Indicative thematic pillars (to be refined jointly)

• Climate-related exposures and child physical & mental wellbeing

• Differential vulnerability and inequality (gender, age, socioeconomic context)

• School, family, and community environments as mediators

• Data integration, indicators, and foresight approaches for child-centred climate policy

• Policy translation and alignment with EU and global child-focused agendas

The consortium is envisioned as interdisciplinary and international, spanning public health, social sciences, climate science, data science, and policy research.
I am also open to exploring co-leadership or shared coordination models, depending on consortium composition and institutional requirements.