Duke University’s Program on Climate, Resilience and Mobility (PCRM) serves as a cross-disciplinary platform that brings together researchers, practitioners and policymakers to look more deeply into the interconnected nature of climate change and global mobility. With ongoing research projects around the world, we strive to include findings from both the social and natural sciences.
Latest News
New book from Co-Director of PCRM, Kerilyn Schewel
"Moved by Modernity: How Development Shapes Migration in Rural Ethiopia"
PCRM–CRS Partnership Brings Water-Smart Agriculture to COP30
Through their partnership, PCRM and CRS bring new evidence on climate resilience to COP30.
Sarah Bermeo details the Five Purposes of Foreign Aid at CGD
Co-Director Sarah Bermeo published “Disentangling Foreign Aid and Development"
PhD Student Participates in the APPAM Research Conference
Results show how smallholder farmers are navigating climate stress and soil degradation.
OUR MISSION
The goal of the Duke Program on Climate, Resilience and Mobility (PCRM) is to contribute to a global response to the intersection of climate change and migration that improves the ability of people to adapt in place where possible, increases the opportunities to move with dignity when necessary, and enhances the resilience of destination communities to promote better lives and livelihoods for established populations and migrant arrivals. We do this by fostering rigorous, transdisciplinary research that advances knowledge and can enhance policy, promote student learning, and inform the public on multiple facets of the relationship between anthropogenic climate change and human mobility.
PROGRAM DIRECTORS
Sarah Bermeo is an associate professor of public policy in the Sanford School of Public Policy. Her research lies at the intersection of international relations and development, with a particular focus on relations between industrialized and developing countries.
Kerilyn Schewel is an assistant professor of sociology at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and a Senior Fellow at the Duke Center for International Development.
PCRM co-directors Kerilyn Schewel (left) and Sarah Bermeo (right).
New book from Co-Director of PCRM, Kerilyn Schewel:
Moved by Modernity offers a new framework for understanding the relationship between migration, social transformation, and environmental change. Interweaving multi-generational life histories, survey data, and ethnographic vignettes from one Ethiopian village, Moved by Modernity shows how key forces of social and environmental change–political reform, education, market expansion, foreign investment, and drought–reshape both aspirations and capabilities to migrate. It is a compelling critique of conventional development thinking and an essential resource for researchers, policymakers, and anyone seeking to understand the deeper forces shaping global mobility today.
Ana Andino, PhD student, participated in the Public Policy Analysis and Management (APPAM) Research Conference, Forging Collaborations for Transformative and Resilient Policy Solutions.
Her poster highlights how smallholder farmers are navigating climate stress, soil degradation, and declining yields. Using survey data from 2,770 households in El Salvador, Honduras, Guatemala, and Nicaragua, the study analyzes training, adoption, and perceived benefits and challenges of Water Smart Agriculture (CSA) practices.
Results show that although training is strongly linked to adoption, many farmers who recognize the benefits of CSA practices still do not adopt them due to economic constraints, high input costs, limited resources. The research underscores that scaling climate-smart practices requires not only training but also targeted support to overcome these financial and logistical barriers.
FUNDING ACKNOWLEDGEMENT
The PCRM is supported through the generosity of Duke University’s Office of the Provost and Office for Global Affairs.
