[The Climate Change Challenge: How to get research into society through an online workshop]

According to the World Health Organisation, climate change poses the greatest health threat to humanity. At the same time, an environmentally friendly lifestyle has a positive impact on our health, such as a plant-based diet. In order to counter climate change, society needs to be informed about climate-friendly and health-promoting measures. Therefore, an online workshop was initiated at the Medical Faculty of Ulm. In an accompanying study, it was determined whether this leads to changes in environmental knowledge and awareness among the participants.

The online workshop consisted of four 2-hour sessions. Scientific basics on climate change and possible solutions were discussed. Other focuses were on health and the health system as well as environmental psychology and climate change denial. Participants could take part in an anonymous and voluntary online survey before (pretest) and after (posttest) the workshop.

86 participants took part in the workshop, of whom 24 attended all appointments and completed both surveys. While hardly any changes were observed in the subsection of environmental emotion, perception and behavior, there was a significant increase in environmental knowledge in the posttest. The workshop was evaluated very positively. Furthermore, many participants were motivated to make a personal contribution to climate protection after the workshop.

The workshop serves as a good example of how medical scientific findings can be shared at a societal level. The participants already showed a high level of environmental awareness in the pretest, which is why the question remains open as to how people can be sensitized to the (health) threats posed by climate change who do not proactively sign up for such an offer themselves.