The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) will hold two scientific workshops at the University of Reading in the United Kingdom from 10 to 12 February 2026. Organized in collaboration with the Department for Energy Security and Net Zero and the UK Met Office, the workshops will support the preparation of the Seventh Assessment Report (AR7) by strengthening approaches to knowledge integration and assessment methods across the IPCC.
The outcomes and recommendations of the two scientific workshops will provide critical guidance for the IPCC leadership and authors working on the next IPCC assessment. The guidance will help them assess the ever-growing body of climate literature and engage with wider forms of knowledge, including that by Indigenous Peoples and local communities. The University of Reading has been a generous host and a genuine partner in this effort
The Workshop on Engaging Diverse Knowledge Systems will explore how a wide range of knowledge—scientific, Indigenous, local, and practitioner—can be recognized and assessed within the framework of IPCC’s existing principles and procedures.
The Workshop on Methods of Assessment will consider the means by which such knowledge systems can be assessed. Topics will also include artificial intelligence and machine learning tools for systematic review, ex-post evaluation methods, and other emerging approaches that can improve efficiency, transparency, and robustness in assessment learning tools for systematic review, ex-post evaluation methods, and other emerging approaches that can improve efficiency, transparency, and robustness in assessment.
Both workshops will also consider the extent to which such means of synthesis and assessment may be conducted by the IPCC itself or by the knowledge holders and research communities who generate the literature on which the IPCC relies. The outcomes will inform recommendations for IPCC authors, IPCC and Task Force Bureaus, Technical Support Units, the IPCC Secretariat, research communities, and funding bodies throughout the seventh assessment cycle.
Participation in both workshops is by invitation only.
Outreach events:
Ahead of the workshops, the University of Reading will host three events on 9 February. These events will inform early-career researchers to pathways for engaging with the IPCC, provide local government and business leaders with insights into the use of IPCC findings, and offer a public lecture and panel discussion led by IPCC Chair Prof. Sir Jim Skea entitled Inside the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change: How Global Science Supports Our Future Climate. career researchers to pathways for engaging with the IPCC, provide business leaders and decisionmakers with insights into the use of IPCC findings, and offer a public lecture and panel discussion led by IPCC Chair Prof. Sir Jim Skea
For more details about the public lecture and to register for in-person or online attendance, please visit the University of Reading website.