Living, Learning, Caring: Young Lives and Climate Change? | InfraCARE Public Lecture by Associate Professor Kathy Reilly
As part of InfraCARE’s kick-off event, a public lecture by Associate Professor Kathy Reilly will be held. InfraCARE - Urban Infrastructures for Climate Action and REpair - is one of the projects awarded funding in the ENLIGHT 2025 Thematic Networks call, a thematic cooperation initiative under the ENLIGHT European University Alliance.
This lecture explores how thinking about care can deepen our understanding of young people’s experiences of, and learning about, climate change. The talk is constructed in three parts. First, it introduces key ideas on care, considering care not only as an ethical orientation but also as a set of practices and relationships that shape how people respond to crisis.
Second, drawing on research from the CCC-Catapult project, the lecture explores young people’s perspectives on climate change, asking what care-full climate change education might look like. It considers how educational approaches that attend to young people’s emotions, relationships and futures can support engagement while recognising experiences of climate apathy and intergenerational responsibility.
Finally, the lecture outlines a future research agenda, one that engages the intersection of care, young lives and climate thinking, focusing on how young people imagine and care for possible futures.
The lecture will inlcude a light vegetarian/vegan lunch.
Please register in advance for catering purposes (free of charge). Registration closes Friday, April 10 at 5:00 PM.
Dr. Reilly is an Associate Professor in Geography, University of Galway (Ireland) specialising in research focused on social, cultural and environmental themes. Her expertise and central research interests include geographies of children, young people and families; geographies of social justice (migration and homelessness); and participative field-based research practice. Dr. Reilly has engaged communities in Ireland, France, UK, Finland, Italy, Bosnia and Herzegovina, and Canada. Her research practice is principally underpinned by participative field-based methodologies, allowing for co-productive and creative methods with various communities in Ireland and globally.