Climate and Nature Impact Awards : Two Gates Cambridge Scholars 2026

Key Points

• Mayumi Sato and Kamiar Mohaddes, both Gates Cambridge Scholars, were awarded the Impact Award at the Climate and Nature Research Showcase hosted by the University of Cambridge and Cambridge Zero.
• The awards were presented by Dr Lucinda Spokes, Head of Public Engagement in the Cambridge Research Office, at a ceremony last Friday, where both scholars gave brief speeches.
• The awards are part of the University-wide Cambridge Awards for Research Impact and Engagement, run by the Engagement, Knowledge Exchange and Impact team in the Research Strategy Office.
• This year, applicants were asked to choose a thematic category for their research; the ceremony recognised winners within the Climate and Nature theme.
• Mayumi Sato (Sociology, PhD 2021) received the award for her project Global Environmental Defenders and the Pursuit of Planetary Stewardship, which works with environmental defenders in the Global South.
• Kamiar Mohaddes (PhD 2005; Associate Professor in Economics and Policy; Assistant Director of the Energy Policy Research Group) received the award for his work as Director of the climaTRACES Lab under the title “Overturning Consensus on the Country-Specific Economic Costs and Financial Risks of Climate Change”.
• Mohaddes co-founded the interdisciplinary climaTRACES Lab with fellow Gates Cambridge Scholar Ramit Debnath, and their research has overturned the orthodoxy that cooler, wealthier nations would escape financial fallout from climate change.
• Sato has been named a 2026 Top Agri-Food Pioneer by the World Food Prize Foundation for its 40th anniversary.
• Both scholars have used their research to connect with audiences beyond academia, including through films, zines, colouring books, and collaborations with governments and non-profits.

Cambridge (Cambridge Tribune) July 02, 2026 – Two Gates Cambridge Scholars have been awarded the Impact Award at the Climate and Nature Research Showcase, an event organised by the University of Cambridge and Cambridge Zero, for research that redefines environmental justice and overturns accepted ideas about the economic costs of climate change.

As reported on the Gates Cambridge website, Mayumi Sato and Kamiar Mohaddes were presented with their awards by Dr Lucinda Spokes, Head of Public Engagement in the Cambridge Research Office, at the ceremony last Friday, and both gave brief speeches reflecting on their work and its wider relevance. The awards are part of the University-wide Cambridge Awards for Research Impact and Engagement, run by the Engagement, Knowledge Exchange and Impact team in the University’s Research Strategy Office, which celebrate outstanding achievement, innovation and creativity in developing and delivering ambitious engagement and impact plans that generate meaningful economic, social and cultural benefit from research.

This year, applicants were asked to choose a thematic category for their research, and the ceremony last week specifically recognised those within the Climate and Nature theme, highlighting research that addresses global environmental challenges through both social and economic lenses.

How Does Mayumi Sato’s Work Redefine Environmental Justice in the Global South?

Mayumi Sato, who completed her PhD in Sociology in 2021, was recognised for her project Global Environmental Defenders and the Pursuit of Planetary Stewardship, which works with environmental defenders in the Global South to expand understandings of environmental justice beyond western-centric imaginaries and notions of struggle. Using participatory action research, the project examines what it means to be an environmental defender from diverse epistemologies and centre the agency of defenders in restoring the environment, rather than seeing them as victims of it.

As reported by the Gates Cambridge website, the project works with Indigenous communities, smallholder farmers, community leaders, environmental organisations, fishers, shepherds, cooperatives and youth and women groups across sociopolitical contexts, examining the various and creative land defence strategies used by environmental defenders which are often ignored in scholarship. Sato states: “By working with environmental defenders to see how they protect their land and waterways, the project documents how they negotiate their organising in restricted civic space, and how environmental stewardship can manifest through creative and discreet ways. It provides alternative understandings on how environmental defenders must exercise forms of land protection that are not always visible to the eye to navigate suppression of rights and mobility against corporate, state and colonial encroachment.”

Sato says that her PhD has enabled her to connect her research in ways that reached audiences beyond academia, including through film, Zines and colouring books so that those who supported and informed her research benefitted from outputs that they would find useful. She adds that being part of the Gates community allowed her to further her community engagement and leadership significantly, and through the Academic Development Fund she was able to carry out multiple projects in line with and beyond her PhD, broadening her understanding of global environmental justice and human rights. This has led her to working with communities in West Africa, SWANA and Southeast Asia, and she has been able to translate and provide scientific evidence and technical knowledge on how to build equitable agrifood systems and land access for intergovernmental and non-profit organisations. Sato was named a 2026 Top Agri-Food Pioneer by the World Food Prize Foundation for its 40th year anniversary.

How Does Kamiar Mohaddes’ Research Challenge Assumptions About Climate and Economic Risk?

Kamiar Mohaddes, who completed his PhD in 2005 and is now Associate Professor in Economics and Policy at the University of Cambridge and Assistant Director of the Energy Policy Research Group, won an award for his work as Director of the climaTRACES Lab under the title “Overturning Consensus on the Country-Specific Economic Costs and Financial Risks of Climate Change”. He co-founded the interdisciplinary lab with fellow Gates Cambridge Scholar Ramit Debnath, and their work has changed the prevailing orthodoxy that many cooler, wealthier nations would escape the financial fallout and even profit from warmer climes.

The team set out to quantify the economic implications of climate change and showed through a series of studies that all countries – rich or poor, hot or cold – would suffer economically under the current emissions trajectory. With colleagues at the Boston Consulting Group, they showed that the net cost of inaction – the cost of climate change less the cost of climate action – is 11% to 27% of cumulative GDP (with a 9x return on investment) in the long term.

Further, using artificial intelligence to simulate the effects of climate change on Standard and Poor’s credit ratings for 108 countries by 2030, as well as decades into the future, they also showed that ecological damage will affect national finances much sooner in the form of sovereign credit ratings. The first “climate smart” credit ratings, which they developed, suggested that – if nothing is done to curb emissions – up to 63 nations could be downgraded by over a notch on average by the end of this decade, with countries such as Germany and Sweden dropping three notches and the US and Canada falling two notches. A range of public and private sector actors now use results from the team to inform governments and clients of the macroeconomic costs and financial risks of climate change, as well as potential policy options and actions at business level.

Background: The University of Cambridge Awards for Research Impact and Engagement

The University-wide Cambridge Awards for Research Impact and Engagement are run by the Engagement, Knowledge Exchange and Impact team in the University’s Research Strategy Office and celebrate outstanding achievement, innovation and creativity in developing and delivering ambitious engagement and impact plans. The awards recognise research that generates meaningful economic, social and cultural benefit from research through structured engagement with non-academic audiences, including policymakers, communities, businesses and civil society organisations.

This year, applicants were asked to choose a thematic category for their research, and the ceremony last week specifically recognised those within the Climate and Nature theme, aligning the awards with global priorities on environmental sustainability, climate resilience and nature-based solutions. The 2026 honours for Sato and Mohaddes build on a longer tradition of Gates Cambridge scholars being recognised for impact and engagement, including previous winners in heritage, humanitarian and development fields, underscoring the programme’s emphasis on research that is both academically rigorous and socially transformative.

Prediction: How Will This Development Affect Students, Researchers and Policy Actors?

The recognition of Sato and Mohaddes at the Climate and Nature Research Showcase is likely to strengthen the visibility of climate-related research within and beyond Cambridge, encouraging more PhD students and early-career researchers to design projects with clear pathways to policy and community impact. For prospective and current Gates Cambridge Scholars, particularly those interested in environmental justice, climate economics, agrifood systems or related fields, the awards signal that the university and Gates programme value work that is both academically robust and socially relevant, potentially influencing how research proposals are framed and how engagement strategies are integrated into project designs.

For policy actors, international organisations and non-profits working on climate adaptation, mitigation, land rights and equitable agrifood systems, the awards highlight the availability of high-quality research that can inform evidence-based decisions and long-term strategies. The increased attention on Sato’s and Mohaddes’ work may lead to more invitations for them to collaborate with governments, multilateral bodies and civil society groups, amplifying the reach of their findings and increasing the likelihood that their research directly shapes policy discussions on climate risk, financial stability and environmental justice.