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Seattle Children’s Research Institute (SCRI) and Public Health – Seattle & King County (PHSKC) invite applications for the 2026-28 Rita Allen Civic Science Fellowship to help build a new model for translating climate and health research into equitable and actionable public health programs and policies. The Fellow will help foster research-practice-community partnership that can generate actionable knowledge in King County while offering lessons for public health systems, academic institutions, and communities nationally.

Climate change is increasingly shaping health and well-being in King County, yet there remains a gap between the research generated by academic institutions and the programs, policies, and services that communities experience on the ground. Working with co-mentors Dr. McKenna Parnes at SCRI and Dr. Bradley Kramer at PHSKC, the Fellow will help develop and test approaches for making climate and health science accessible and responsive to the needs of youth and communities most affected by climate-related health risks. Projects will be designed collaboratively and may evolve in response to community priorities and emerging opportunities. The Fellow will also participate in the national Civic Science Fellows cohort, contributing to and learning from an interdisciplinary community of Fellows and partners working to develop new ways of connecting science and society.

About the Civic Science Fellows program

The Civic Science Fellows program is building a network of leaders committed to ensuring that all people shape and benefit from science, technology, and innovation. Fellows and host organizations work together to develop new approaches that connect science, communities, and public decision-making while contributing to a growing national community of learning and practice.

About Seattle Children’s Research Institute

Seattle Children's Research Institute (SCRI) is internationally recognized for its work in respiratory research, cancer, genetics, immunology, pathology, infectious disease, injury prevention, and bioethics. It is among the top five pediatric medical research centers in terms of National Institutes of Health (NIH) grant funding with over $130 million dollars in annual awarded extramural funding. SCRI provides a rich, vibrant, collaborative, and well-funded research environment with world-class facilities that facilitate close collaborative relationships between clinical, translational, and basic science researchers with weekly research conferences. SCRI provides training opportunities for University of Washington (UW) undergraduate and graduate students, as well as a very successful summer pre- and post-baccalaureate training program for students from the U.S. and Pacific Rim countries.

About Public Health—Seattle and King County

The fellow would join the PHSKC Climate & Health Equity Initiative core team of climate-dedicated staff with core workstreams focused on improving data, communications, and adaptation programming. The Climate & Health Equity Initiative (CHEI) helps King County agencies and its communities prepare for, mitigate and respond to the health impacts caused by climate change. We prioritize working with frontline communities – historically marginalized groups that are disproportionately impacted by climate change. The Initiative aims to: (1) Use data- and research-drive approaches to inform programs and policies; (2) Provide accessible communications about climate change and its health impacts; (3) Partner with local organizations to support, center, and uplift their experience and knowledge to minimize climate threats according to their own priorities. As a core priority at the health department, the fellow would have access to leaders in all divisions across the health department, our allied government departments, and the coalitions we serve.

Training Activities

• Develop and lead a civically oriented climate and health project in partnership with community, public health, government, and academic collaborators.

• Practice mixed methods research skills, using quantitative and qualitative approaches to collect, analyze, and interpret data.

• Build skills in civic science and participatory approaches to co-create solutions with communities.

• Work alongside science, community, and public health partners to learn how research evidence is translated into public health programs and practice.

• Participate in the implementation and evaluation of climate and health initiatives connected to King County’s Strategic Climate Action Plan.

• Develop skills in co-design, community workshops, needs assessments, and stakeholder engagement.

• Build skills in youth partnership and shared-decision making to engage young people as co-researchers and leaders.

• Translate scientific findings into accessible products for different audiences.

• Disseminate findings through academic publications and presentations as well as community reports, policy briefs, toolkits, presentations, and other public-facing products.

• Participate in the broader Civic Science Fellows learning community, building relationships with Fellows and partners working across disciplines and sectors to advance civic science.

Working Environment:

The fellowship is in-residence in Seattle, WA. The Fellow will have access to office space and institutional information technology accounts at SCRI and PHSKC with an expectation of three-days per week in-person. Funds will be provided to support travel to conferences and cover publication fees to disseminate this work.

Please create and upload a single document that includes your curriculum vitae/résumé, and cover letter describing potential projects you may be excited to pursue, since the job application portal currently only allows a single file to be uploaded.

The projects below represent possible directions based on ongoing and planned work. Fellows are not expected to pursue all of these projects, and we welcome applicants who identify related questions or approaches that emerge through collaboration with community and government partners.

Community- and youth-driven climate and health priorities: What climate and health questions should researchers and public health systems be asking, and how can communities and young people help determine those priorities? The Fellow could work with youth-serving and community-based organizations, public health practitioners, government agencies, and climate and health experts to develop a participatory process for identifying and prioritizing climate-related health concerns and integrating scientific evidence with lived experience and community knowledge. This work may include developing accessible approaches for bringing together different forms of knowledge, including epidemiologic data, environmental data, lived experience, and community-and youth-defined priorities. The Fellow could then work with partners to translate these priorities into research questions, pilot studies, grant proposals, or actionable recommendations for public health programs and policies.

Translating climate and health evidence into public health practice: How can we make climate and health research more useful to the people responsible for designing and delivering public health programs. A substantial amount of climate and health research is generated within academic institutions, but research findings do not automatically translate into changes in public health practice. The Fellow could work at the intersection of Seattle Children’s Research Institute and Public Health – Seattle & King County to understand where translation breaks down and develop approaches for moving evidence into programs and resource decisions. The Fellow could identify existing climate and health research with potential relevance to PHSKC programs, work with practitioners and community partners to interpret findings in context, and develop practical products that support decision-making. These products might include evidence briefs, implementation guides, decision-support tools, policy recommendations, clinical resources, or community-facing materials. An important component of this work would be bidirectional translation. The Fellow would also bring implementation challenges and community knowledge and questions back to researchers to shape future research. The Fellow could evaluate which approaches are most effective for supporting research uptake and develop a model that could be used across PHSKC service divisions and potentially by other public health systems.

Implementing climate adaptation and strengthening community resilience:How can public health systems move from recognizing climate risks to implementing and sustaining strategies that protect health? The Fellow could contribute to implementation of King County’s 2025–2030 Strategic Climate Action Plan, supporting climate adaptation strategies across Public Health–Seattle & King County service divisions and helping develop and evaluate approaches for training climate division leaders. Another potential project would explore how community-based organizations could serve as decentralized climate and health navigators, bringing trusted information, resources, and support into neighborhoods. The Fellow could conduct needs assessments, co-design interventions, develop implementation strategies, and evaluate uptake and effectiveness, with the goal of building evidence for approaches that can be sustained and scaled across King County and beyond.

Climate change, mental health, and health communication:How can communities, researchers, and public health systems develop climate and health communication that is trusted, relevant, and actionable, particularly for children, adolescents, and families? The Fellow could work with partners to understand the needs of children, families, behavioral health providers, and community organizations related to climate-related mental and behavioral health concerns. Projects could involve qualitative interviews, surveys, focus groups, participatory research, or message testing to co-create climate-informed health education, communication strategies, clinical resources, or training materials. Across these projects, the Fellow would help build and test a civic science model that moves from community priorities and data to shared interpretation and policy and program design, creating new ways for communities, researchers, and public institutions to jointly produce knowledge and translate it into action.