In this week's episode of Laboratory Equipment's LabChat, Editor-in-Chief Michelle Taylor speaks with Dr. Benjamin Sovacool, professor of energy policy at the University of Sussex. Sovacool details his recently published study that shows a huge disproportion in the level of funding for social science research into climate change.
The analysis argues that despite many of the key climate change puzzles residing in the social sciences (such as anthropology, economics, international relations, human geography, development studies, political science, psychology, etc.), these fields receive the least funding for climate research.
According to the study's estimates, between 1990 and 2018 the natural and technical sciences received 770% more funding than the social sciences for research on climate change—$40 billion compared to only $4.6 billion for the social sciences and humanities.
Listen as Sovacool explains why this may be, and what needs to change going forward.