Youth, Climate Change and Communities of Care: Affective Insights with a Flood-Effected Community in Aotearoa New Zealand

The SEAE Research Centre Seminar Series promotes scholarly dialogue about transformational approaches that facilitate opportunities for profound change in education & research.

You are invited to our next SEAE Visiting Scholar Seminar event on Tuesday, 15th September 2026, from 11:00am to 12:00pm (AEST); 1:00-2:00pm (NZST) with speaker Holly Thorpe, (PhD) Professor and Associate Dean Research in Te Wānanga Waiora / Division of Health, University of Waikato, New Zealand.

Abstract

In this seminar, Professor Thorpe shares insights from a project focused on understanding how recent flooding events are impacting the wellbeing of youth (13-25 years) living in Gisborne, Te Tairāwhiti. The study is emplaced in an isolated region on the east coast of the North Island of Aotearoa New Zealand that has been significantly impacted by repeated flooding events over recent years, including Cyclone Gabrielle in February 2023.

Using the qualitative method of focus groups with 98 youth, and creative methods (photographic co-creation), the team examined how local youth are moved by extreme weather events, shifting affective relations with schooling, employment, family and social lives, natural and built environments, and feelings about Te Tairāwhiti as 'home'.

It also highlights the impact on their sport, physical activity and leisure practices, and reveals youth as active in creating communities of care. Through a collaboration with local Māori photographer and community researcher, Josie McClutchie, the research has been shared with the community via a mobile photographic exhibition. In so doing, the research and creative outputs sought to provide affective and tangible insights to amplify youth voices and spark new affective respondings, connections and imaginings for a community on the frontlines of climate change.

Throughout this project, the researchers worked to balance environmental despair with hope and care. Thorpe will conclude by offering some reflections on the process of doing research in and with the community she grew up and currently lives in, including affective and ethical researcher relations and responsibilities. In so doing, this seminar will offer an opportunity to learn about and reflect upon the affective processes of and possibilities for doing research in and with community, and young people, in a changing climate.