Dr. Malgosia Madajewicz
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Associate Research Scientist, Center for Climate Systems Research (CCSR), Columbia Climate School
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Adjunct Assistant Professor of Climate, Undergraduate Special Concentration and Major in Sustainable Development
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2880 Broadway
New York, NY 10025
USA
BIOGRAPHY:
Malgosia Madajewicz is an economist with expertise in adaptation to climate change, management of climate risks, program evaluation, and microeconomics with a focus on economic development. She has particular expertise in quantitative data analysis. She conducts research on three broad themes. One of her main current projects is investigating how individuals and communities decide whether or not to take action to adapt in the context of coastal flooding in urban areas, focusing in particular on New York City. The project is testing how effectively co-developing an understanding of risk and costs and benefits of adaptations with residents of coastal areas motivates adaptation relative to simpler, less expensive approaches. The project will also examine how adaptation behavior diffuses within a community. A second research theme is assessing the socio-economic value of climate information. The third research interest is in how institutions shape decision-making about adaptation as well as about development in contexts such as expanding provision of public goods and reducing poverty. Recent projects have investigated determinants of social vulnerability and resilience to flooding in urban areas, impacts of climate information on livelihoods in the coffee sector in Jamaica, the effectiveness of climate risk management strategies among smallholder farmers in Ethiopia, and how information affects fertilizer use and yields in Tanzania. She has collaborated on developing an approach to evaluating national climate information services in Africa. Dr. Madajewicz is a member of the research team that comprises the Consortium for Climate Risk in the Urban Northeast (CCRUN), which is a NOAA-funded RISA (Regional Integrated Science and Assessment). She is responsible for evaluating the impacts that CCRUN achieves through the team’s collaborative development of climate information with stakeholders. She is currently serving on the Westchester County Climate Task Force. She has been as an external member on the Community-Based Adaptation working group of the New York City Panel on Climate Change and has participated in a number of other task forces concerned with adaptation. She holds a PhD in economics from Harvard University and has previously served as an Assistant Professor in the Department of Economics and the School of International and Public Affairs at Columbia University.