Student Researcher Stories: Climate Action Researcher Mahwish Khalil SMArchS '24
Mahwish is a SMArchS AKPIA candidate at MIT School of Architecture and Planning. An architect by profession, her research interests lie in investigating and advocating for aspects of social and climate justice, as well as tracing resilience within the built environment spanning the influences of history within the contemporary society. She aspires to investigate possibilities existing within space that arise beyond preliminary perception and respond to urgent socio-political and climate crises.
What interested you about the Climate Action Student Research position with MITOS?
Working as a Climate Action Student Researcher at MITOS presented the opportunity to integrate research with implementation. My project at MITOS focused on Advancing Sustainable Purchasing within SA+P as a follow-up to the school’s Climate Action Plan drafted in 2020. Amalgamating research integrated within prevalent practices at the school, I examined best practices and opportunities through this scope. While the urgency regarding climate discourse had been at the forefront in my prior academic research, I seldom had the chance to enhance the findings in the form of actionable recommendations before.
What is your specific topic of focus in this role? Why is that topic of interest or important to you?
I believe, thoughtful purchasing is one of the first steps toward enhancing a sustainable culture at an institutional scale. This project helped me understand design through the lens of policy and recommendation. Following through on sustainable guidelines, one may be able to support local vendors and all other stakeholders who are dedicatedly contributing to a better future and community building. Through this role, I was able to interact with numerous schools of thought to understand, formulate and design around perceptions of SA+P community members with the intent of eventually informing a larger toolkit project at MITOS. By analyzing the relationship between purchased goods, space occupancy and waste disposal I worked on drawing out opportunities that would better inform daily practices as energy efficient.
What has been the most interesting finding or favorite experience in this role?
The support and encouragement from the MITOS team and fellow Climate Action Student Researchers allowed me to continuously evolve my project and expand upon my knowledge, while learning new research methodologies. As an introduction to policy and implementation on an institutional scale, this prospect allowed me to analyze the framework around climate action in-depth. This experience has been an asset in apprising my coursework focused on initiating climate justice through design in the global south by analyzing existing practices that can potentially be scaled up. It has allowed me to revisit my research with a newer set of ideas around analyzing prevalent scenarios and community building through climate action.