Our 2026 winter events look at insurance and adaptation.
Our first event – “the role of insurance in a changing climate” took place on 11 June 2026.
The second in the series, “Building the plan while flying it: adaptation of coastal communities” takes place on 18 August 2026. Stay tuned for details and tickets.
All of our events are free, but for health and safety reasons we require attendees to have (free) tickets.
We run two types of events.
- Field events: daytime outdoor events that include river days, dunes days and so on. We usually hold these in summer.
- Speaker events: these happen indoors in the evenings, in New Brighton. We usually hold these in winter.
See below for details, and links to upcoming and past events, including recordings.
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Field events
“Dunesdays” are (free) 2-3 hour fun sessions, designed to help people enjoy and appreciate their local environment, and how it is being shaped by climate, and climate change. They started with a series of conversations with teachers, local government and members of the Committee and Heads of Environmental Sciences in the UK. The conversations focused on:
- how people understand quantitate concept as non-specialists
- how communities could be involved in adaptation conversations
- when the foundations of the topic are very technical and likely to include a lot of uncertainty
- the method and practices of field courses in the environmental and social sciences.
From there, we developed the concept of field course-type events for local communities.
River day session are longer events, with a number of fixed activities and sites. We often run these jointly with other organisations. We developed the concept jointly with The Green Lab, another local charity.
Find out more about The Green Lab
Both types of field day sessions are interdisciplinary and science-based, and designed for anyone to attend. They don’t require previous or specialised knowledge.
Get updates and tickets for our upcoming events [humanitix link once set up]
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Speaker events
These are in-person-only, live events which gather together an audience and 4-5 speakers (sometimes, speakers may join online). The speakers talk on a common subject, usually for around 15 minutes each. Following refreshments – including delicious community-made hot chocolate – the speakers form a panel to take questions from the audience.
We normally hold them in New Brighton.
While they are free, tickets are required for health safety purposes for live attendees.
Most of our speaker events are available online after the event – see “past events” below for links to previous talks.
Upcoming events
Our 2026 winter events look into the issues around climate, insurance and adaptation.
Second session: “Building the plan while flying it: adaptation of coastal communities”. 18 June 2026. Stay tuned for details and tickets.
Please note we are moving to Humanitix for future events.
Follow us on Humanitix for notifications about future events
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The second session, likely in August, will look at central government policy and what it could mean in practice. We will post more details here as they become available.
Follow us Humanitix for updates
Past events
The role of insurance in a changing climate
11 June 2026.
Speakers:
- Robin Campbell – General Manager, Climate Change Commission
- Bryce Davies – Executive Manager Corporate Relations, IAG and Board Member, New Zealand Business and Parliament Trust
- Paul Dalziel – Wellbeing Economics and Co-Director AERU
- Simon Watts – Director, BOEE; presenting community voices.
Insurance and climate change – recording (YouTube)
Community adaptation in Canterbury (NZ): what, why and how?
31 July 2025.
Speakers:
- Hamish Dobbie,CEO Hurunui District Council
- Darryl Millar,Lyttelton Coastal Panel Chair
- David Gregory and Gina Waibl, Lyttelton Panel Members
- Vicky Southworth,Environment Canterbury.
Community adaptation – recording of speaker talks (YouTube)
Community adaptation – recording of speaker panel and questions (YouTube)
What does adaptation look like on the ground?
29 July 2024.
Speakers:
- Dr Megan Woods MP,NZ Parliament
- Jonathan Kassian,Head of Research, FloodRE, UK
- Paul Zaanen,Joseph & Associates, NZ
- Andrew Eden,Research Manager of the Environment Agency of England, UK
- Bryce Davies,Executive Manager Corporate Relations for IAG NZ.
Adaptation on the ground – recording (YouTube)
What can covid teach us about climate change?
9 September 2022.
Speakers:
- Dermot Coffey,OraTaiao:New Zealand Climate & Health Council, “Putting health first – Covid and Climate Change”
- Yin Paradies,Alfred Deakin Professor and Chair in Race Relations at Deakin University, Victoria, “COVID, climate change and coloniality: Towards a re-consecrated cosmos”
- Sara Templeton
(Councillor, Christchurch City Council – how communities adapt), “It’s a Team Event: What Covid has Taught Us about Climate” - Michael Reynolds,co-founder Toha Kai, “A Crisis of Culture or a Culture of Crisis?”.
Climate change: food, education, wellbeing
7 March 2020.
Speakers:
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John Potter, Massey, Washington and Canterbury Universities, ex Chief Science Advisor to NZ Ministry of Health, “Thought for Food: What we eat affects planetary and human health”
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(Philip) Christopher Reid, Plymouth University and Marine Biological Association UK, “Climate change impacts: A New Zealand way forward”
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Fiona van Petergem, Transition Engineering, Regenerative Business Development and University of Canterbury, “Transition Engineering: adaptation pathways to a sustainable future”
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Simon Watts, BOEE and National University of Singapore, “Adapting to climate change while remaking the economy: Communities own their stories and shape their futures”.
Brighton Observatory of Environment & Economics Trust 