Debbie Sparks

Expertise: Climate change, climate change mitigation, youth, training, capacity building

Dr Debbie Sparks is a Senior Research Officer at the ACDI, with 25 years of experience in the climate change arena. Her expertise includes energy and climate change, capacity building, curriculum design, teaching, and student supervision and training. She co-convenes the ACDI Master's course in Climate Change Mitigation and Adaptation. Debbie is the UCT undergraduate and teacher outreach lead in the Africa Climate Collaborative team, a transformative initiative with the Mastercard Foundation. She also delivers training and assistance to developing countries across Anglophone Africa and the MENA region under the UNFCCC's Technology Needs Assessment (TNA) project, which supports countries in assessing and articulating their technology needs for climate change mitigation and adaptation. She develops educational materials and curricula on gender, disability and social inclusion for the Mainstreaming Gender Equality and Social Inclusion for a Just Energy Transition project in Ethiopia, Malawi, Mozambique and Tanzania (JustGESI).