The CliMates Central Research Team (CRT) will provide the framework for the collaborative research. Its members participate in the collaborative research system in an impartial manner. Its objective is to ensure the coherence and overall progress of CliMates’ research activity. As a sort of secretariat of the CliMates network, the CRT takes on a several primary responsibilities :

• Establish the structure of the Collaborative Research system. As each CliMates Research Session is composed of several different phases, the CRT launches the beginning of each phase and marks its end. It notifies delegations of upcoming deadlines and of necessary submissions by delegations.

• Define with delegations the areas of research, advise delegations during their investigations and writings, collect and review the final work before publication on the CliMates website. At the beginning of each CliMates Research Session, the CRT will explain the general objectives of the session, the axis and topics of research. It will also choose the texts and articles to be analysed and discussed by delegations, and justify its choices in the context of the session’s goals and structure.

• Facilitate the research and of the discussion between delegations. It may make comments on texts, publications, or news articles that serve to stimulate discussion or debate between delegations, or provide relevant information on what another delegation has expressed elsewhere on the website. The reasearch platform is utterly transparent : all delegations’ publications are available for viewing and commenting by all other delegations. However, the Central Research Team has the role of following the works of all delegations, so may also enhance this transparency and the circulation of important information.

• Publish texts and make propositions to all delegations. It strives to synthesize the work of CliMates and take into account all delegations’ specific solutions and specific propositions. This role of the CRT comes into play in order to facilitate agreements between delegations. Delegations remain the authors of CliMates’s production.

• Be a light guardian of the CliMates research. The team ensures that all delegations respect each other, and reserves the right to remove offensive, strongly counter-productive and inappropriate comments by delegates on the website. Should such statements be included in publications by delegations, the CRT will contact the delegation prior to publishing the text on the website in order to adress the issue.

• Finally, ensure that the work of CliMates be produced and converted into formats that make it most presentable to negotiators and decisionmakers at the UNFCCC COP 18. Raising the voice of students and presenting CliMates’ work at the international summits are the underlying objectives of CliMates, and the Central Research Team will ensure that the CliMates research activity and its products enable to achieve them.

The CliMates Central Research Team is composed of students from the Institute of Political Studies in Paris, as well as from several other universities. The academic and professional backgrounds of each member have been reviewed by the initial members of the research team and by other CliMates. These are available for viewing in Organization in the About Us section of the CliMates website.

The CliMates Central Research Team may be contacted at the following address: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. .