2.10 Planet Reimagined’s New Futures Fellowship, Research, and Advocacy - Mila Rosenthal, Nia Smith, and Rai Saad Khan

Today we’re in conversation with Mila Rosenthal, the Co-Founder and Managing Director of Planet Reimagined, as well as Nia Smith and Rai Saad Khan, two of Planet Reimagined’s New Futures Fellows.

If you’re reading this, you may have noticed that Planet Reimagined is the Executive Producer of this podcast. Adam Met, our lovely host, founded Planet Reimagined in 2019 to turn climate research into climate action. Along with producing Planet Reimagined and other climate-focused media, Planet Reimagined runs a summer fellowship that brings together undergraduate and graduate students from around the world to work on projects tackling the issues laid out by the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals. Each fellowship group produces an academic paper that explores their topic deeply, and media that advocates for a solution.

Mila is not only the Managing Director of Planet Reimagined, but also heads the fellowship program. Her work as the Head of Communications and Advocacy at the UNDP, as well as her teaching position in Columbia University’s Human Rights department, makes her perfect for the role.

This past summer, she brought together ten fellows—from California to Sri Lanka—who produced projects on waste management and coastal access.

Nia, an advocacy fellow on Team Waste, is an environmental designer and activist based in Los Angeles. She is currently studying architecture to develop more equitable and sustainable low-income housing.

Rai, a research fellow on Team Coastal Access, is a Geography graduate from Christ Church, the University of Oxford, where he was a recipient of the Royal Geographical Society’s DevGRG Dissertation Prize. His research interests include development geographies and local governance, particularly in South Asia. He is currently pursuing the law conversion course, and looks forward to pursuing a career in development and advocacy.

We talk about what it was like to combine research and advocacy, how their projects fit into this year’s theme of climate justice, and what they will take away from the program.

If you’d like to support the fellowship, make sure to follow Planet Reimagined on Instagram and Twitter. You can find the projects of this summer’s cohort here. And if you’re interested in becoming a fellow, we’ll be opening applications in the Spring of 2022.

Make sure to listen closely, because you might just hear Mila’s cat in the background!

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