Jenny Park awarded inaugural Adeline Stuart-Watt Award
The Grantham Research Institute is delighted to announce that Jenny Park has been awarded the first Adeline Stuart-Watt Award. The Award, set up to honour the legacy of Adeline, who was a policy fellow at the Institute prior to her untimely death in 2023, recognises outstanding policy-relevant research on climate adaptation and resilience by postgraduate students. This reflects Adeline’s passion for connecting research with real-world impact.
Jenny was nominated for the Award by the University of Oxford School of Geography and the Environment for her Master’s dissertation ‘Women in Disasters: An Exploration into the Gender-Sensitivity of Disaster Evacuation Centres in the Fiji Islands’. The Award recognises Jenny’s outstanding dissertation and strong personal commitment to advancing policy and action to improve climate adaptation and resilience in a climate-vulnerable country.
The Award was presented by Candice Howarth and Swenja Surminski, Professors in Practice at the Institute and former colleagues of Adeline.
Elizabeth Robinson, the Institute’s Director and Professor of Environmental Economics at the Department of Geography and Environment, described how impressed she was with the academic rigour of Jenny’s dissertation. Elizabeth said: “Jenny’s dissertation powerfully challenges the idea of homes as a haven, revealing the difficult choices women in Fiji face when seeking safety during disasters, including the risk of gender-based violence in evacuation centres. Her research also highlights the often-overlooked role women play in creating informal systems of support and resilience. It is an intellectually stimulating and emotionally challenging piece of research that offers profound insights into the realities of climate adaptation and is a fitting tribute to Adeline’s memory.”
Sara Mehryar, part of the Award organising group and Assistant Professorial Research Fellow at the Institute, said, “The Award selection committee was particularly impressed by the rigour and originality of Jenny’s work, as well as her meaningful engagement with local communities in Fiji. This engagement ensured that her findings were grounded in lived experiences and had clear potential for real-world impact, truly reflecting the kind of research Adeline was passionate about and championed.”
Paying tribute to her former colleague, Swenja Surminksi said, “Adeline brought tremendous energy, skill and commitment to everything she did, and she inspired everyone around her. I am proud that Adeline’s legacy will continue to inspire and support future generations of climate resilience researchers.”
The Institute is also pleased to recognise Elizabeth Russler (pictured below left) and Emma Roberts (below right) as highly commended candidates. Both submitted exceptional applications which were warmly received by the selection panel, Elizabeth’s on the topic of climate finance in informal settlements in Sierra Leone and Emma’s on spatial modelling of vulnerability to extreme heat in the London Borough of Hackney.
Are you a UK-based head of department with a student to nominate for the 2027 Award?
Nominations for the 2027 Adeline Stuart-Watt Award are now open, to be received by 22 January. Heads of UK university schools and departments in the subjects of Geography, Environmental Sciences, Political Science, Public Policy, Development and International Relations are invited to nominate one female Master’s student to be considered for the award.
The Adeline Stuart-Watt Award is generously supported by the Z Zurich Foundation.