Ruth Smith

Job title:

Area of work and how it relates to COP30:

I’m Dr Ruth Smith, a Postdoctoral Research Fellow in the School of Earth and Environment at the University of Leeds, working through the Priestley Centre for Climate Futures. My research focuses on the social dimensions of food-systems transformation - examining how power, gender and participatory methods shape rural livelihoods and agricultural policy in sub-Saharan Africa. As part of the Voices4JRT project, I’m helping to design creative, community-led research that brings marginalised rural voices into national and global policy debates. Attending COP30 virtually offers a timely platform to connect our food-systems work with the climate agenda - and to ensure that rural transitions are understood in terms of justice, participation and voice.

What are the big issues that COP30 needs to address? What are your hopes for the negotiations?

At COP30, I hope to help highlight how food systems and rural transitions must be part of the climate conversation - not just as separate development issues but as central to resilience, equity and transformation. I’m looking forward to connecting with researchers, policy-makers, and especially civil society actors from the Global South who are working at the frontlines of change. Through our Voices4JRT side event, I aim to bring community-based insights into the climate arena and to spark new collaborations that amplify rural voices in climate-policy spaces

What's your message for world leaders at COP30?

While COPs have been rightly criticised for becoming increasingly exclusive - often dominated by governments, lobby groups, and corporate interests - they remain one of the few global platforms where climate, development, and food-systems agendas intersect. The absence of civil society and marginalised rural voices in these spaces is a real concern, which is precisely why pushing for their inclusion is so important. Efforts like Voices4JRT aim to help rebalance this dynamic by ensuring that those most affected by climate and food-system change - smallholder farmers, women, and youth and Indigenous voices - can directly shape the debates that influence their futures. If COP is to be relevant and credible, it must make space for these perspectives and for conversations about justice, participation and power - not just technology and finance

Do you have any tips about climate action that you can share?

Climate action isn’t just about technology or targets - it’s about people. The most effective and just solutions come when those on the front lines of change are part of shaping them. Listen, collaborate, and make space for diverse voices to lead the way