Assessing climate change and health provisions among staff in higher education institutions: A preliminary investigation

The first section of the survey was used to collect demographic and professional informa- tion about participants in this research. There are no significant differences in terms of balance among the surveyed developed and developing countries, relating gender, age, degree level and role at the HEI. In terms of field of work or expertise area, CC mitigation is more present in developing countries (near 3/4 versus ¼), CC adaptation is more present in developing countries, as well and CC policy (around 2/3 versus 1/3) and general public health is more present in developed countries (2/3 versus 1/3), an expected characterization, explained by the dominant issues. Most relevant information is shown in Fig 1. In addition to this, the results are complemented by a set of cases studies which present how universities across the globe are working to formulate strategies and take measures aimed at mitigating the impact of climate change on health. Adopting Yin’s [39] classification, the cases were classified as type I. Each case was examined holistically to showcase the strategies implemented. This comprehensive approach facilitated the study’s explanatory power. The analysis of the case studies has been carried out by showcasing the approach used to foster awareness on the connections between climate change and health, and the results obtained. The latter is meant to serve as inspiration to other organisations willing to, but reluctant to engage in this field. 3. Results and discussion 3.1 Survey

After section 1, focused on demographics, described above, section 2 of the enquiry aimed to assess the current provisions for education and training on climate change and health in their countries. The first 4 questions in this section aimed to assess the participant’s perception regarding the efforts carried out in their HEIs. The results, which are in line with common concerns raised by researchers regarding the need for increased efforts in HEIs to stress the cli- mate emergency [40], are shown in Fig 2. In this regard, 74.2% of the respondents acknowledge that current general education of stu- dents/researchers on climate change and health in their country is not sufficient to lead to lasting behavioural changes, while 16.7%, mostly located in developing countries (e.g., Bhutan, Ethio- pia, India, Nigeria, Pakistan, Senegal Sudan or Uganda), say it is. As regards the interest for this topic in medical schools, 64.2% of the respondents have reported to experience a growing interest of students/researchers on climate change and health as a topic. This value is higher (75.8%), when answering the question whether experiencing a growing interest of teaching staff and researchers on climate change and health training, with a negative answer being given by the same percentage of developing and developed countries. Participants were also questioned about their level of satisfaction regarding the current train- ing provisions for climate change and health in their countries, taking into consideration the dif-

ferent educational and training levels. As regards the general context, 55.0% of the respondents reported being dissatisfied, 24.2% remained neutral, 11.7% were highly dissatis- fied and 9.2% were satisfied. In relation to the level of satisfaction with the current training pro- visions for climate change and health at BSc programmes, 52.5% reported dissatisfaction, followed by neutrality in 21.7%, 15.0% being highly dissatisfied, 10.0% being satisfied and 0.8% being highly satisfied. These values are similar when respondents are now questioned about the same topic for Master’s programmes, were 50.0% are dissatisfied, 23.3% are neutral, 14.2% are highly dissatisfied, 10.8% are satisfied and 1.7% are highly satisfied, with the results to both questions showing a close connection between the BSc and Master programmes engagement. Considering the PhD programmes, the answers are also close to the set of responses reported to the BSc and Master programmes. The responses obtained to the same question for this PLOS ONE Climate change and health in HEIs PLOS ONE | https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0304019 May 21, 2024 7 / 21