OxTalks will soon move to the new Halo platform and will become 'Oxford Events.' There will be a need for an OxTalks freeze. This was previously planned for Friday 14th November – a new date will be shared as soon as it is available (full details will be available on the Staff Gateway).
In the meantime, the OxTalks site will remain active and events will continue to be published.
If staff have any questions about the Oxford Events launch, please contact halo@digital.ox.ac.uk
The Climate Mobility, Onward Precarity and Urban Environment (CEMENT) project investigates how climate change shapes human mobility among smallholder farming families in Ethiopia. Moving beyond the narrow idea of ‘climate refugees’, CEMENT adopts the concept of climate mobilities—capturing diverse, short- and long-term, voluntary and forced movements influenced by climate change, socio-economic inequality, and family dynamics. Through a multi-sited, gender-sensitive ethnographic study in two regions of Ethiopia—Sidama Region and Gamo Zone—the project explores how climate uncertainty redefines mobility as an adaptive strategy, not merely a reaction to crisis. Key findings reveal that mobility is deeply embedded in family life and structured by gender, age, peer networks, and land ownership. Women are emerging as active agents in mobility decisions—both by resisting male outmigration and pursuing independent movement. The project combines climate data with life course interviews to understand how climate interacts with economic pressures and social norms. CEMENT aims to reframe public and policy narratives on climate migration with nuanced, empirical insight. In this seminar, I will share key findings from the CEMENT project and reflect on their implications for understanding climate mobilities in Ethiopia.