Global Consortium on Climate and Health Education

Regional Climate and Health Community of Practice: Incorporating Climate Change into Public Health Education

Application

Program overview: 

Climate change is one of the most pressing public health threats of the 21st century. However, research indicates climate change is inconsistently incorporated into public health training globally (Sorensen et al. 2024). In order to prepare future public health professionals to address this challenge, public health faculty require additional training and resources to integrate climate change into courses and educational programming. The Global Consortium on Climate and Health Education, in collaboration with the Global Network on Academic Public Health (GNAPH), is leading a network of Communities of Practice to support faculty in the development of evidence-based, regionally-tailored climate and health curricula capable of meeting this growing demand for climate and health training within schools of public health.
The Communities of Practice (CoPs) are meant to operate as regional networks that support faculty who have completed the GCCHE’s 2025 Climate-Ready Classrooms course – or a comparable GCCHE course – in applying new skills and integrating climate and health content into their curricula through peer-to-peer exchange of resources and effective practices. With support from the Global Network of Academic Public Health (GNAPH), each of its regional member associations will host a learning collaborative led by regional experts. The structure and activities of each CoP will remain flexible to reflect locally relevant pedagogy and priorities.

Eligibility Criteria for Participation

To be eligible, applicants must meet all of the following requirements:

  1. Professional Role
    Be a public health faculty member, professor, or program coordinator.

  2. Course Certification
    Have received a certificate from at least one of the following courses:

    • Climate-Ready Classrooms: A Public Health Faculty Development Course on Climate Change

    • European Climate and Health Responders Course

    • Africa Climate and Health Responders Course

    • South and Southeast Asia Climate and Health Responders Course

    • Western Pacific Climate and Health Responders Course

  3. Institutional Affiliation*
    Be a faculty member, professor, or program coordinator at an institution that is a member of any GNAPH association.  (See the list of GNAPH Institutions here )

*If your School is interested in becoming a member of a GNAPH Associations and participating in this initiative, please contact the relevant association directly.

GNAPH Regional Associations: 

Community of Practice Objectives:

  • Map and integrate climate and health content across existing curricula and syllabi within participating institutions, identifying gaps and opportunities for systematic inclusion.

  • Strengthen and enhance existing climate, environmental, and One Health components by shifting content from primarily theoretical approaches toward applied, skills-based, and action-oriented learning that prepares the next generation of public health leaders to address climate change impacts.

  • Co-develop and pilot climate and health teaching modules adaptable to regional contexts.

  • Establish a regional repository of lecturers, experts, and teaching resources in climate and health.

  • Strengthen regional collaboration through continuous exchange of materials, case studies, and best practices.

  • Build and sustain a global network of climate and health educators to support long-term capacity building and innovation.

  • Produce an advocacy toolkit to support institutional curriculum reform and faculty engagement.

  • Develop a complementary advocacy toolkit to inform national-level policy and education system change.

Program Components

  • Hub-and-Spokes Design:     

    • Hub: A team of climate-health experts providing program oversight, operational support, and educational resources.

    • Spokes: Regional communities of practice, organized by selected faculty leads who will share resources, experiences, and feedback as they work to design and integrate climate change curricula for public health programs throughout the region.

  • Output Driven Structure:     

    • Each participant is expected to develop pilot teaching modules on climate and health.

    • Focus on overcoming real-world challenges, including program design, institutional engagement, advocacy, and scalability.

  • Didactic Presentations & Interactive Discussions:     

    • Topics include effective education models, local and traditional knowledge integration, cross-institutional collaboration, and monitoring and evaluation.

    • Peer-to-peer faculty exchanges to foster innovation and adaptation of programs to local contexts.

  • Mentorship and Resources:     

    • Tailored guidance from faculty leads, along with access to resources such as competencies, toolkits, and curriculum guides from the GCCHE.

Contact: Danielly Magalhaes dm3952@cumc.columbia.edu