All Events

At the Environmental Intelligence Conference 2026 at the University of Exeter, the ClimateHopeAI team presented the poster “Prompting for Meaning: Evaluating LLM-Based Linguistic Annotation of Positive Climate Narratives in Online Media”. ClimateHopeAI uses AI and linguistic analysis to find hopeful climate stories in UK and Canadian online news. The poster evaluated how well large language models can label these stories compared with researchers.

During the first Porto Alegre Climate Action Week, part of the same global network as London Climate Action Week, Dr Marcos A. de Oliveira Jr held the 1st Forum of Football and Science for Climate, with NCIT as an official partner. The forum brought together NGOs, universities and businesses from Brazil to discuss ESG, data and football. Participants also visited Porto Alegre’s two main football clubs and their stadiums to see how they manage waste, water reuse and recycling, and how they use data to do it.

Dr Marcos A. de Oliveira Jr presented the paper “Red Cards for Climate Myths: introducing ClimaVAR, an AI-based Tool for Climate Disinformation Detection” at SEMISH 2026, part of the Brazilian Computer Society Congress (CSBC 2026) in Gramado, where it was named one of the eight best papers. The paper introduces ClimaVAR, NCIT’s free AI climate referee, which checks climate claims against published science and explains its verdicts in the language of football.

ClimateHopeAI held a workshop on interdisciplinary collaboration at the University of Exeter. Dr Ifeoma Adaji of the University of British Columbia Okanagan presented the work of the Persuasive Applications and Social Computing Lab (PASCL). ClimateHopeAI is a partnership between the University of Exeter, UBC Okanagan and the Federal University of Rio Grande do Sul, combining data science, persuasive design and linguistic analysis to study hopeful climate stories.

Chaired by Dr. Lorien Jasny of the University of Exeter, the panel at the Exeter Climate Forum explored how AI can help address urgent climate, food and ecological challenges, from supporting climate services and agricultural intelligence to improving soil health. Speakers—including NCIT’s Josh Ayers alongside Exeter’s Professor Tarje Nissen-Meyer and Professor Hywel Williams—discussed emerging technologies, responsible innovation, and practical applications that can support better decisions for people, food systems and the environment, followed by a panel discussion on opportunities, risks and future directions.

At the Exeter Climate Forum, NCIT’s Josh Ayers ran a panel joined by speakers Hugo Slim (University of Oxford), author of Humanitarianism 2.0, Dr Supriya Akerkar (Oxford Brookes University), and Yumna Kamel (Earth Refuge). The panel began with Planet on the Move, a report that Josh co-authored with the IUCN, which argues that migration,conflict, and environmental change are intertwined, and that conservation must be rethought for a world in motion. It explored how climate change, conflict, and migration are reshaping humanitarian action and conservation, and what a more adaptive, justice-centered response should look like. The discussion brought together perspectives on ecological humanitarianism, climate migration, transformational adaptation, and inclusive conservation for diverse professionals working on climate resilience, displacement, and nature-based solutions.

During London Climate Action Week, NCIT will be establishing a base in London—bringing the voice of nature to the heart of the city.

Working with cultural leaders, this space will bring climate and nature conversations closer to culture—connecting them with the ideas, people, and platforms that shape everyday life. Through a series of activations and collaborations, NCIT will create moments that resonate beyond the climate space and spark wider engagement and action.

Following the 2025 Brazilian launch of Save the Flavours, Globo presented De Olho no Climão in June 2026, in partnership with Instituto Oyá, Climate Basecamp and the University of Exeter. Starring comedian Rafael Portugal, the campaign plays on “climão”, Brazilian slang for an awkward atmosphere. Its humorous film imagines how football, carnival, beach days and the traditional bean dish could be disrupted by rising temperatures and extreme weather.

At the Research Impact Conference in Dublin, NCIT’s Josh Ayers moderated the session “Learning from Other Fields: Measuring and Translating Impact Beyond Business.” Featuring speakers David Henshall (FutureNeuro, RCSI, University of Medicine and Health Sciences) and Eleonora Nillesen (Maastricht University), the discussion was framed by the AACSB’s Framework for Research Impact:Insights, Pathways, and Calls to Action. The session highlighted the growing importance of interdisciplinary collaboration, expanded on how research impact is understood and measured, and explored what business schools can learn from other disciplines in translating research into societal impact.

NCIT’s Josh Ayers spoke at HackSummit Lausanne to mark the launch of the Swiss edition of Save the Flavours—an international campaign initiated by Climate Basecamp.

Save the Flavours is an international Climate Basecamp campaign to raise awareness about a concrete and universal issue: climate change directly threatens the flavours we love. In 2026, NCIT is supporting Paleta Loca and ID Genève to launch the Swiss version of the campaign. Throughout Summer 2026, activations will take place in Switzerland, accompanied by collaborations with influencers, to raise public awareness and make visible the real impact of climate change on our food and culture.

For Easter 2026, Climate Basecamp, co-founded by U.S. actor Rainn Wilson, and NCIT teamed up to create a limited-edition Easter Egg.

Deliberately disgusting, the Petrol Egg is designed to make a point you can taste. With its bold, oily flavour profile (notes of pipeline, refinery and regret), it invites people to rethink the future of the flavours they love—and to call on their favourite brands to take action.

Dr Marcos A. de Oliveira Jr gave the talk “A enchente de desinformação e o papel da IA” (The flood of disinformation and the role of AI) at TEDxErechim, a TED Countdown event on climate. He explored how disinformation worsens the climate crisis and how AI can help counter it, from detecting disinformation patterns to translating scientific evidence for different audiences. The invitation followed NCIT’s ClimaVAR session at COP30 in Belém.

Dr Marcos A. de Oliveira Jr and Estefania Tamayo-Pineda of the University of Exeter spent a week with Dr Ifeoma Adaji at the University of British Columbia Okanagan, funded by an Exeter–UBCO Initiator grant. The team held a workshop on interdisciplinary collaboration and presented ClimateHopeAI, which uses AI and linguistic analysis to find hopeful climate stories in UK and Canadian online news.

Hosted at Schatzalp in Davos, Switzerland, facilitated by NCIT’s Josh Ayers in partnership with Mille Bojer from REOS Partners, this session explored the complexities of collaborative climate action in uncertain times. The discussion tackled a critical challenge: how we can act together on nature and climate while preserving learning, trust, and human dignity under immense global pressure. The event provided a vital space for stakeholders to learn how to navigate systemic volatility and maintain effective, equitable partnerships.

At Davos 2026, NCIT played a supporting and convening role across major climate and nature activations. We supported Climate Basecamp, Atelier van Lieshout, GreenUp, and Cats Do Climate at MonkeyRock: A Species Corner for Nature, contributing to a week-long programme of events engaging global leaders, investors, and media.

We co-hosted the Beyond Our Bubble session with the Sunway Centre for Planetary Health at InTent Davos, exploring how climate and nature messaging cuts through the attention economy.

We also supported the Swiss launch of Climate Basecamp’s Save the Flavors campaign through the “Is it Choco-too-late?” activation, highlighting climate risks facing cocoa.

Alongside this, NCIT launched digital tools, including ClimaVAR (with C3DS) and Digital Impact for Species (with Madeby.Studios), and continued to convene partners through H2NO with WRAP to accelerate waterless beauty solutions.

How can natural capital asset investment unlock regenerative agriculture and sustainable forestry?

At the Davos Lodge in Switzerland, Josh Ayers moderated a panel with Dr. Naoko Ishii (University of Tokyo), Jessica Smith (UNEP FI), and Dorothy Maseke (ANCA) that explored how natural capital asset investment can unlock regenerative agriculture and sustainable forestry. The core focus was on how to unlock and scale domestic and regional finance in Africa, using REGEN AFRICA (“REGEN”) as a concrete vehicle that: deploys catalytic capital through local FIs/NBFIs, builds institutional capabilities, accelerates investible enterprises, and strengthens enabling policy and market infrastructure via the African Bioeconomy Finance Hub.

The “Democratizing Agricultural Intelligence through AI” panel at the Davos Lodge moderated by NCIT’s Josh Ayers brought together leading experts to discuss how to improve farmer decision-making while safeguarding their autonomy and dignity. Moderated by Perrine Bouhana (GlobeScan), the session featured insights from Jason Fisher (IAAIR), Dr Srikanth Thudumu (IAAIR), and Dr Jasbir Dhaliwal (University of Memphis). The conversation focused on democratizing agricultural intelligence by prioritizing AI explainability, data sovereignty, and participatory design.

Building on October’s discussions, NCIT, WRAP and M&C Saatchi brought together industry and communications expertise to explore how to make solid and concentrated beauty products more familiar, desirable and accessible. The workshop focused on translating consumer and industry insights into messaging, creative approaches and opportunities for behaviour change. Participants explored priority audiences and ways to build confidence in these formats, developing initial campaign directions to inform H2NO’s next phase of collaboration and consumer engagement.

At COP30, NCIT spoke at three sessions within the Blue Zone addressing the role of AI in the spread and mitigation of climate misinformation. The ClimaVAR project was also showcased, especially via a hands-on workshop with digital creators and communicators from across South America focused on the principle of “checking before posting”, discussing practical methods to identify and verify climate information circulating on social media. Beyond formal sessions, NCIT engaged with a wide range of stakeholders, including researchers, civil society organizations, media representatives, and technology initiatives, to explore collaborations on digital tools, climate communication, and information integrity.

The African Natural Capital Alliance (ANCA) Summit convened 150 leaders, innovators and changemakers in Cape Town for ambitious, action-oriented discussions on accelerating nature-positive economies, strengthening cross-sector relationships, and mobilising capital for Africa’s bioeconomy. Our Senior Research Impact Fellow, Josh Ayers, organised and moderated a panel discussion on public-private partnerships and two Hackathon Sprints on PPP design and bioeconomy finance pathways.

A humour-led Instagram activation with Climate Basecamp featuring Omid Djalili and musician Louis VI embedded biodiversity narratives within cultural content, generating 166k views over Facebook and Instagram and demonstrating how culture-led storytelling can broaden engagement with nature. Reported audience data showed a 56% male / 44% female engagement split, diverging from the female-skewed engagement patterns commonly seen in sustainability campaigns.

NCIT, WRAP and M&C Saatchi brought together beauty brands, retailers and industry experts to explore how solid and concentrated personal care products could become an everyday choice. Combining environmental evidence, consumer insights and industry experience, the workshop examined barriers to adoption, including perceptions of performance, sensory experience, established habits and retail visibility. Participants identified shared challenges and opportunities for collaboration, laying the groundwork for H2NO’s work to support wider adoption of waterless beauty.

H2NO is an initiative accelerating solid beauty products to cut water, packaging, and emissions. In collaboration with M+C Saatchi and WRAP, the two workshops convened major brands like L’Oreal, P&G, Lush, Boots, Elemis, and Sainsburys to drive brand action and follow-on brand commitments, progressing toward retail activation. The initiative will launch content creation and retail activation campaigns to expand brand participation.

Hosted aboard Fortescue’s Green Pioneer, this convening—supported and co-organised by NCIT—featured a keynote from actor and Climate Basecamp co-founder Rainn Wilson, followed by a fireside chat with Andrew Forrest and Professor Gail Whiteman and a panel discussion with world-leading scientists and climate communicators.

Bringing together scientists, business leaders, cultural figures, and celebrities, the convening created space to explore realistic pathways for adaptation in the face of climate realities.

During London Climate Action Week 2025, NCIT, in collaboration with M+C Saatchi, hosted a diverse group of scientists, strategists, advocates, creatives, and communication professionals convened under the Chatham House Rule to address a central question: Why isn’t climate a bigger part of our cultural conversation? This workshop was designed as a step toward more effective and culturally embedded climate communication.

At this year’s Austrian World Summit, NCIT played a supporting role in a Climate Basecamp-led moment, where actor and Climate Basecamp co-founder Rainn Wilson joined Arnold Schwarzenegger on stage. Their conversation blended science, pop culture, and personal responsibility—aimed at reaching people who are not yet part of the climate conversation and inviting them in.

NCIT partnered with Climate Basecamp, Instituto Oyá, and Globo to support the delivery of a Brazilian activation of Climate Basecamp’s Save the Flavours campaign. The campaign highlights the climate risks facing culturally important foods such as coffee, açaí, and chocolate, blending information, entertainment, and public engagement.

Launched in the lead-up to COP30, Globo adapted the campaign for a national audience under the title Where’s the flavour that was here?. The activation featured street interviews led by comedian Rafael Portugal, who asked passers-by: “2 reais or a mystery gift?”. Those who chose the gift received a food item accompanied by a warning about its potential disappearance due to climate change.

At World Economic Forum Annual Meeting 2025, NCIT formally launched the team through the session “Unleash Impact: How do we Turbocharge Action”, featuring speakers including Peter Bakker, Katie Gilbert, and Eliane Ubalijoro.

Alongside this, NCIT played a supporting role in Performing Hope with Yo-Yo Ma, and actively participated in a series of high-level, invite-only convenings and networking moments across Davos