My name is Aimée Kielt and I have just started a PhD in the School of Geography at Queen’s University Belfast. I started my academic career in September 2020 when I started a BSc in Geography at Queen’s however due to Covid-19 lockdown restrictions, I spent most of my first year on MS Teams in my childhood bedroom. Now 4 years on I have finished both my undergraduate and masters at Queens being the first cohort of the new MSc in Climate change. My master’s project was titled ‘The End of the Winter Olympics? Where can host the games in a warming world?’ where I analysed the impact of warming upon snow depths at three upcoming host cities of the games.
As a child, I was a vivacious reader constantly consuming knowledge, but my favourite books were the Britannica Atlas’ in my grandparents’ house. I’d flick through the thick leather-bound copies looking at maps and thinking about the world around me. I also had a great love for sports; competing in my school athletics team and horse riding in my free time.
So when the opportunity to bring my three loves together of research, geography and sport I could not pass up the opportunity. My project is titled ‘World Cup in the Arctic? Sport adaptation to extreme heat in a warming world’.
I’m only a few weeks into my PhD but I have so many ideas about where this research could take me as there are so many avenues. Within my PhD, I hope to expand upon this to explore sport at a multitude of levels – from global competitions such as the Olympics to the local with amateur sport. With increased warming the sports which we love are coming into risk with both athletes and spectators feeling the effects of heat stress at the most recent Paris Olympics.
Outside of research, I am passionate about Climate Action and recently became an Oxfam Ireland Youth Ambassador after attending the Wellbeing Economy Conference in Copenhagen as part of the CERV funded Activism on Track.
Overall, I’m delighted to be doing this project at Queen’s and through QUADRAT as the Doctoral Training Programme will allow me to develop as a researcher as well as having the support of my fellow cohort 6 members who I am excited to get to know better!
Contact Details:
Twitter/ X: aimee_kielt
LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/in/aiméekielt
