ACMS Mongolia Field School is Seeking Mongolian Instructors for 2023

ACMS Mongolia Field School is Seeking Mongolian Instructors for Climate Change and Public Health: What Does Climate Change Mean for the People of Mongolia? course.

For its June 19 – July 4 field course entitled Climate Change and Public Health: What Does Climate Change Mean for the People of Mongolia?, the American Center for Mongolian Studies (ACMS) and the course instructors, Dr. Cathy Whitlock and Susan Higgins, are seeking two Mongolian co-instructors. One colleague must have a strong background in medicine or public health, and the other colleague must have expertise in natural resource management/climate change issues in Mongolia. 

Both instructors will travel with our students and our team (including a physician from the US and a Native American climate adaptation specialist) and be asked to help with some instruction and occasional translation when we meet with public health officials and herders in the field. ACMS will also be providing our course with a translator. ACMS will provide a contract and compensation for the selected instructors.

This course will focus on how climate change is impacting public health in urban environments and rural communities in Mongolia. We will visit sites in Ulaanbaatar, Khuvsgul Province, and Kharkhorin to meet with local health officials as well as with climate scientists and natural resource managers to gain an understanding of how climate change (hotter days, more wildfire, colder winters, drought) is beginning to impact human health. The instructors have just completed an assessment of the impacts of climate change on human health in Montana’s urban, rural and indigenous communities, and will look at similar trends in Mongolia. Invited to share during this course is a medical doctor from Montana and a Tribal member from Montana involved in climate adaptation. You can read the full course description here: https://www.mongoliacenter.org/mfs23/publichealth/

Required qualifications for the medical professional:

  • Training in public health or medicine
  • A general interest and knowledge in the impacts of climate change on human health
  • Ability to assist in course design and provide a few lectures on the health system in Mongolia
  • Ability to help the team make connections before and during travel with health officials and local clinics for meetings
  • Availability to participate in some pre-course Zoom meetings with the instructor team
  • Very good English-speaking skills, as our course it taught in English
  • Willingness to travel, good communication skills, friendly attitude 
  • A commitment to participate in the entire 2-week course, followed by a one-day Roundtable discussion with officials in UB the day after the course concludes (details to follow)

Required qualifications for the natural resource manager:

  • Training in climate science and/or natural resource management
  • A good knowledge of:
    • natural resource and land management issues in Mongolia
    • the impacts of climate change in Mongolia
  • Ability to assist in course design and provide a few lectures on the natural resource and climate change issues in Mongolia
  • Ability to help the team make connections with herders and land managers before and during our travels on the landscape. 
  • Availability to participate in some pre-course Zoom meetings with the instructor team
  • Very good English-speaking skills, as our course is taught in English
  • Willingness to travel, good communication skills, friendly attitude 
  • A commitment to participate in the entire 2-week course, followed by a one-day Roundtable discussion with officials in UB the day after the course concludes (details to follow).

Application procedure and requirements:

 If you are interested in either position, please submit your resume and a one-page statement describing your qualifications and interest in this opportunity to Susan Higgins at susanhhiggins@gmail.com, and to Dr. Cathy Whitlock at whitlock@montana.edu. You may also contact Susan and Cathy with your questions at any time before the application deadline which is March 20, 2023. 

Thank you for your interest! We look forward to hearing from you.

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