As part of our Climate Change Partnerships, we strive to connect practitioners with academics, as well as each other. Our academic experts come from the Urban Climate Change Research Network (UCCRN). UCCRN is a consortium of over 550 individuals dedicated to the analysis of climate change mitigation and adaptation from an urban perspective. UCCRN members are scholars and experts from universities and research organizations from around the world. They span a broad range of expertise including climate scientists; urban heat island and air quality experts; climate change impact scientists; social scientists, including political scientists, planners, and economists; and urban designers and planners.

Representatives from each city are joined on their technical exchanges by a locally-based UCCRN expert. Get to know who we're working with below.

Associate Professor Erika Tenorio - La Ceiba – Somerville Climate Change Partnership

Erika Tenorio is currently an Associate Professor of Water Resources at the Socioeconomic Development and Environment Program at Zamorano University in Honduras where she is responsible for carrying out research and outreach initiatives on hydrology, water quality and adaptation to climate change. She has worked for several projects on watershed restoration and management in the Choluteca River Basin and in the Northern coast of Honduras where she has coordinated field work for watershed planning and water quality monitoring in several municipalities and has lead initiatives for water quality assessments in streams, wells and potable water systems.  In El Salvador, she has collaborated with NGOs on the design of water quality monitoring initiatives for sites prone to be impacted by mining activities. She has developed and coordinated training programs on six countries of Central America on Integrated Water Resource Management (IWRM) and Climate Change for different stakeholders. More recently she has lead pilot initiatives to promote agricultural adaptation to climate change with small scale farmers and adolescents in rural areas of El Salvador, Nicaragua and Honduras. She holds a master´s degree in Aquatic Ecology and Water Quality from the University of Illinois at Champaign-Urbana and a B.Sc. in Environmental Engineering from the Catholic University of Honduras.

Professor Muh Aris Marfai, M.Sc. - Semarang - Gold Coast Climate Change Partnership

Muh Aris Marfai is a professor, faculty member and researcher of the Faculty of Geography, Universitas Gadjah Mada (UGM) Indonesia, where he has been since 1999. Born in Klaten, Central Java, Indonesia, he received his doctoral degree in Geography from Justus-Liebig-Universitaet, Giessen, Germany in 2008 after completing an MSc in Earth System Analysis at International Institute for Geo-Information Science and Earth Observation (ITC) The Netherlands in 2003. He completed his bachelor’s degree program in Physical Geography in 1998 from the Faculty of Geography UGM. In September 2013, at the age of 37, he assumed his professorship at Universitas Gadjah Mada. He is a highly active member of the Center for Natural Resource and Development (CNRD), a worldwide university network promoting academic exchange and cooperation in the area of natural resources management, in particular related to water, land, ecosystem and renewable energy resources, on which some of his research interests center. In addition, he has made numerous contributions to the study of coastal areas and watersheds; one is shown by his involvement in Delta Alliance, an international knowledge-driven network organization with the mission of improving the resilience of the world's deltas. As of 2015, he has produced over 100 publications (books, textbooks, journalarticles, chapters, conference papers), including some which have been published in reputable journals at national and international levels.

Professor Prakash C. Tiwari - Shimla - Boulder Climate Change Partnership

Dr. Prakash C. Tiwari is a Professor of Geography at Kumaon University, Nainital, Uttarakhand, India. He also worked as Assistant Director (Micro Regional Planning) at National Institute of Rural Development (NIRD), Government of India, Hyderabad. Professor Tiwari is a mountain natural resource management and climate change adaptation specialist and has been working on climate change adaptation in water, agriculture, food, and livelihood sectors; community based natural resource management, disaster risk reduction, gender mainstreaming, and institutions and governance, and have worked with various national and international organizations in India and abroad in these fields. He has implemented a number of  multi-institutional collaborative research projects sponsored by international organizations including Australian International Aid (AUSAID), Australia; Ministry of Education, Japan; Federal Ministry of Education and Research, Germany; The Norwegian Agency for Development Cooperation (NORAD); Finland Research Counciland International Centre for Integrated Mountain Development (ICIMOD); and apex national agencies including Department of Science and Technology (DST), Indian Space Research Organization (ISRO), Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change (MOEFCC), Government of India; University Grants Commission (UGC) and Indian Council of Social Science Research (ICSSR), New Delhi.

Professor Michael Taylor - Portmore - Townsville Climate Change Partnership

Michael Taylor is the Head of the Department of Physics, University of the West Indies, Mona, where he teaches and supervises graduate students. He is also the Director of the Climate Research Group, Mona (CSGM) located in the Department. The CSGM is recognized as a leading institution for climate change research in the Caribbean. His research interest and activities include examining the mechanisms that drive climate variability within the Caribbean, investigating historical and projected climate change in the Caribbean, the seasonal prediction of Caribbean climate, and examining Caribbean climate data issues. He is the author of a number of publications (journal articles and book chapters). He sits on a number of national, regional and international panels related to climate change and the Caribbean.