The REACHOUT series of interviews aim at collecting more personal views from colleagues developing and applying climate services for urban adaptation and resilient development, get more insight on the state of knowledge, the main ongoing discourse, and get a more concrete view of what their work encompasses. A sneak peek, so to say, behind the jargon and throbbing sentences used in policy documents and research proposals. Throughout the project, team members will complete a round of interviews. One colleague will interview another, and the interviewed colleague then conducts the following interview of the next team member and so on. As each member interviews and gets interviewed in this manner, all topics will be covered over the duration of this project. Read our latest interview with Sara Wright, working with Deltares and project manager REACHOUT and Denise McCullagh, liaison for City Hub Cork and Post-Doctoral Researcher at our REACHOUT partner UCC. 

Hi Denise! I’d love to hear a bit about your experience as the liaison for Cork as well as the rep for UCC.

You joined this project a bit later than most. How was the onboarding process for you? ‘I have to say the onboarding process was excellent. While it was a lot of new information and people, I had access to all of the files and SharePoint very quickly and efficiently and everyone in the project was extremely helpful making it much easier for me to find my feet in the new role. In particular Diana Morales Irato the project manager at the time was really supportive in the first few months when I had any queries or questions. ECCA was in Ireland a few months later and I think the fact that a lot of the REACHOUT partners attended and I got to meet people in person really made me feel like a part of the team.’

‘It is crucial to embed knowledge and skills across the cities.’

The city-hub of Cork has had a lot of turnover in the team through the project. This has also been a challenge for some other city-hubs. Any advice or learning on how to rebuild after these kinds of transitions? ‘When there’s a large turnover this can be extremely challenging. I think making sure that there is a detailed handover and good contact points for the project team is essential. To rebuild after these transitions it is important to identify key actors in the city hub who can help support the work being done and reach out to them, something the city liaison can really help with. This also highlights why the goal of REACHOUT to embed knowledge and skills across the cities is crucial. If we have a number of people who are aware of and supporting the work, all the knowledge and momentum isn’t lost when there is staff turnover in a role.’

What has your interaction with other liaisons or cities looked like? Any nice takeaways from the experiences of others? ‘My interaction with the cities and liaisons has tended to be focused on those who are utilising the SVI tool, developed by University College Cork, namely Logroño, Athens and Milan. In particular I have worked closely with Nieves Peña and Elena Garrido Martínez from Logroño to integrate the Thermal Assessment Tools and the Social Vulnerability Index. I think the work on the climate stories in both Logroño and Milan is inspiring action in all the cities and the development of strong local narratives in these is something we’re working to apply in Cork as well.’

‘I’m excited to see how the climate story continues to develop as we work with a local artist and how the city of Cork can use this to inspire action among all city residents.’

What are you most looking forward to through the last year of the project? ‘I think seeing all of the work we’ve put in really take shape with usable tools embedded in the city hubs and being utilised widely. In Cork in particular, I’m excited to see how the climate story continues to develop as we work with a local artist and how the city can use this to inspire action among all city residents.’

And last but not least, who would you like to hear from next? ‘I would like to ask Gaby Langendijk – our REACHOUT partner from Deltares and project coordinator – to tell us about her work.’