Engineering, theology and climate change: a conversation

As nations, communities and individuals, how can we discontinue our familiar high-emitting lifestyles? Could attention to the seven virtues and religious principles of restraint help?

In Promise the Earth: A Safe Climate, in Good Faith (forthcoming from Cambridge University Press), Julian Allwood and Andrew Davison confront Christian aspirations to respond to climate change. Hear the two professors in cross-disciplinary conversation about the challenges ahead and what faith can and should do to aid society’s response.

This event is part of an Alumni Festival series hosted by the Cambridge Interfaith Knowledge Hub at the Faculty of Divinity. 

Keen to attend? Festival registration has now closed. We have some remaining spaces available so if you would like to attend, please use this form to enquire. 

Background to this event

Andrew Davison is the Regius Professor of Divinity at the University of Oxford and a canon of Christ Church. He moved there in 2024, after ten years in the Faculty of Divinity at Cambridge, where he was Starbridge Professor of Theology and Natural Sciences. In his books and journalism, he is known for delving deep into the history of Christian thought and applying it clearly and creatively to the present day.

Julian Allwood is Professor of Engineering and the Environment at the University of Cambridge. He was a Lead Author of the 5th Assessment Report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) with a focus on mitigating industrial emissions. He is an Honorary Fellow of the Institution of Materials, Minerals and Mining, a Fellow of the International Academy of Production Engineering (CIRP) and currently chairman of its metal forming section, a member of the UK’s Energy Research Partnership and is joint editor-in-chief of the Journal of Materials Processing Technology.

Their joint book (pictured) is due for release in December 2025.