King’s Fellow Dr Preeya Mohan reflects on her time visiting Kingston, Jamaica as part of the inaugural KCFP Climate Resilience Fellowship residential.
Dr Preeya Mohan, King's Fellow
Dr Preeya Mohan is a King's Fellow in the Climate Resilience Fellowship cohort within the King's Commonwealth Fellowship Programme.
It has been ten years since I last sat in a classroom as a learner rather than a professor. Despite my academic background, I have had no formal education or training in climate change, resilience or adaptation. I applied for the King’s Commonwealth Fellowship Programme (KCFP) Climate Resilience Fellowship to bridge this exact gap. Drawn by His Majesty the King’s lifelong advocacy for nature and the environment, I arrived at the residential week in Jamaica hoping for a theoretical education. I left with an experience that completely reshaped my approach to research and climate advocacy for Small Island Developing States (SIDS).
Before this Fellowship, climate change felt like a massive, disconnected puzzle of academic and policy challenges. Through intensive sessions on systems thinking, climate literacy and communication, data-driven decision-making, climate finance and project design, the residential provided the formal framework I needed to contextualize these issues.
The true value of this theoretical foundation emerged during our field engagements, which seamlessly bridged academic theory and real-world application. As a researcher focused on the socio-economic impacts of disasters and loss and damage, observing the operations of the Rio Cobre Flood Early Warning System was a revelation. It provided critical insights into how sophisticated telemetry, combined with institutional community engagement, can successfully mitigate acute environmental risks. Similarly, our site visit to I-SEEED Ltd offered an exceptional demonstration of localized, sustainable agriculture and community-led resilience infrastructure. These are precisely the innovative solutions our region needs to build resilience and sustain vulnerable livelihoods.
While I have attended countless workshops and conferences before, this residential felt entirely unique because of the intense bonds forged in person. The distinct intellectual energy and diverse perspectives of this global cohort, spanning the Caribbean, Pacific, and Indian Oceans, simply cannot be replicated in a virtual environment. Stepping outside of a strictly academic bubble to collaborate with peers from civil society and government brought a refreshing dynamism for me. From celebrating our cultural heritage in national dress at the evening reception to fiercely debating project designs, working alongside this cohort became the ultimate catalyst for learning. While we represent different islands, disciplines, and professional backgrounds, we share an identical passion for protecting our homes.
This collaborative environment pushed me out of my comfort zone and helped me refine my workplace project at The University of the West Indies. My project focuses on advancing climate knowledge across Caribbean SIDS as a strategic lever to accelerate access to international climate finance. Because of their high-income status, Caribbean SIDS face unique barriers to accessing these funds. Bouncing ideas off other fellows and facilitators illuminated blind spots I had not considered and solidified a powerful foundation for continued collaboration across the Commonwealth.
Most surprisingly, the week revealed just how deeply intertwined local climate literacy is with global climate finance; two domains I previously viewed as separate policy pillars. It is now clear that we cannot successfully advocate for complex international financial mechanisms without a deeply embedded culture of climate literacy across all socio-economic levels. My goal now is to systematically dismantle complex environmental and economic metrics into accessible, actionable evidence frameworks for stakeholders. By driving robust climate literacy from within our regional academic and policy institutions, we strengthen the collective capacity required to negotiate and secure the climate finance our region urgently demands.
The residential has concluded, but our collective mandate as King’s Fellows to deliver immediate, impactful climate action has just begun.