A Climate Scientist with a Broad Perspective

Carole Bouverat graduated as the top student of her year at the Graduate School of Climate Sciences and was awarded the 2024 Oeschger Young Scientist's Prize in recognition of her achievement. Today, she works for a globally active consulting firm.

When Carole Bouverat talks about her Master's programme, the word inspiration often comes up. She found the different backgrounds and wide-ranging interests of her fellow students ‘very inspiring’. The professors also provided a lot of inspiration. She describes Ana Maria Vicedo Cabrera, for instance, with whom she attended a lecture on climate change and health, as ‘a truly inspiring researcher’. So fascinated was Carole Bouverat by this field of research that she aspired to write her master's thesis under the supervision of environmental epidemiologist Ana Bonell. In the end, she succeeded. Topic: Climate change and maternal health in The Gambia.

An surprising specialisation for a master's student who had previously earned a bachelor's degree in international relations with a focus on economics. But Carole Bouverat appreciates ‘overlaps’, as she puts it. She opted for the climate master's programme not least because of the ‘overlap between global politics and climate change’. And when looking for a topic for her Master's thesis, she was drawn to the ‘exciting interfaces between medicine and climate change’.

Stepping Outside the Comfort Zone

The winner of the ‘2024 Oeschger Young Scientist's Prize’ has always sought out challenges in her life. It seems that she jumped at every opportunity to spend time abroad: growing up in a small village in the canton of Fribourg, she spent a year as an exchange student in Australia during her high school years. While pursuing her bachelor's degree at the University of Geneva, she studied for a semester in Spain and later completed part of her master in Copenhagen. ‘I like breaking out of my comfort zone and getting to know new cultures,’ she explains her wanderlust.

After finishing her master's degree, Carole Bouverat decided to take a break. ‘After all those years of working flat out at university, I needed a period to recharge my batteries,’ she says. Yet, as one might expect, she didn't simply lay back and relax during this time. She travelled to Tasmania, cycled from Bern to San Sebastian, and worked as a ski instructor in Saas Fee. However, there were also quieter times during this gap year, when the award-winning student planted a wildflower garden and sewed dresses, for example.

The Impact of Heat Stress on Pregnant Women

For her master’s thesis, Carole Bouverat focused on one of the most vulnerable population groups in The Gambia. She modeled the effects of heat stress on pregnant subsistence farmers, using data gathered by a team from the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine. In her work, the young climate scientist was able to show that extreme heat, especially in combination with high humidity, leads to considerable health problems for pregnant women. Her study, published in Nature Scientific Reports, recommends establishing a local warning system for dangerous heat conditions.

Carole Bouverat sees dealing with the consequences of climate change in an African country as a formative experience. ‘As a country with high greenhouse gas emissions,’ she is now convinced, ’we have a responsibility to protect people in regions particularly affected by climate change.’ And she also sees the ‘Young Scientist's Prize’ as recognition for the research team in The Gambia, which intends to develop concrete adaptation measures for vulnerable population groups as a next step.

Now, Carole Bouverat has transitioned into professional life. She recently joined EBP in Zurich as a consultant specializing in climate and energy issues. The large Swiss consulting and engineering company operates globally and has offices in Brazil, Chile, China, India and the USA, among others. Who knows, perhaps the award-winning climate scientist will once again find an opportunity to broaden her horizons abroad.

(February 2025)