At Spark, we talk a lot about field building. It’s at the core of everything we do. But what does field building really mean, why are a growing number of organizations focusing on it, and what does effective field building look like in practice?
If you’ve ever wondered about those questions, you’re not alone. That’s why we recently teamed up with Renaissance Philanthropy to put together a playbook on scientific field creation, which is often the earliest stage of the broader field-building process for emerging scientific topics. The result—a collaborative effort between myself, Pritha Ghosh (formerly Cascade Climate), and Parth Ahya (Renaissance Philanthropy)—provides a practical guide to understanding the basics of scientific field development and how different scientists, philanthropies, NGOs, governments, and other actors can support the process.
Scientific Field Development at Spark
Why all the enthusiasm for scientific field creation? For us at Spark, the motivation is to accelerate progress towards impact on tough, unsolved climate challenges. We see our role as serving as a catalyst to help emerging, high-potential climate fields grow and thrive. Our philosophy is that by supporting early-stage research, field coordination, and talent development, we can help pull forward the timeline for these fields to develop the tools we need to address the climate challenges of today and tomorrow.
For me, this has guided my focus on emerging, hypothesized approaches for the removal of methane from the atmosphere at low concentrations, after it has been emitted. This work is informed by growing evidence that a significant portion of methane emissions—such as ongoing emissions from agriculture and rising emissions from warming wetlands and thawing permafrost driven by climate change itself—are accelerating and will be very difficult to reduce. The question of whether methane removal is possible—and what role it might play as part of a climate response portfolio—has become more urgent as the world bumps up against 1.5°C, with methane responsible for about 30% of that warming.
Complex, emerging challenges like methane removal aren’t going to be solved by one scientist, one innovation, or one organization—we need an entire field. Growing a scientific field requires early, intentional investments in at least three key areas: engaging the right stakeholders, building connective tissue to activate, build, and nurture a shared knowledge base, and providing flexible, risk-tolerant funding. When successful, field building expands the community of contributors working on the challenge, drives progress across disciplines, and establishes a solid scientific foundation to build on. By taking a deliberate approach to support these processes, we can help accelerate the growth of healthy, effective fields, thereby shortening the timeline for addressing unsolved challenges.
At Spark, we are active field builders, utilizing a variety of techniques from kickstarting early research with strategic funding opportunities, to engagement and growth through newsletters and webinars, to helping the scientific community in times of need, such as our recent decision to co-sponsor the 2025 Atmospheric Chemistry Gordon Research Conference after federal funding fell through at the last minute. We are nimble and strategic in the opportunities that we support, identifying key leverage points to accelerate a nascent field.
Looking ahead, Spark will convene a Town Hall at the American Geophysical Union’s Annual Meeting—one of the world’s premier Earth and space science conferences—to explore the topic of atmospheric oxidation enhancement for methane removal to better understand the research community's perspectives on priorities and knowledge gaps. This builds on a recent workshop we hosted with a small group of academic thought leaders on the same topic. Our goal is to evaluate whether atmospheric oxidation enhancement has the potential to move from a research curiosity to a viable component of the climate response portfolio or not, and establish an intentional assessment pathway to guide that determination.
In addition to methane removal, Spark is working to support field building for other under-resourced climate fields. For example, our livestock enteric methane program co-hosts the only annual conference dedicated to livestock methane—the State of the Science Summit on Reducing Methane from Animal Agriculture—as one part of our broader effort to help support coordination and knowledge sharing within this emerging field. On the climate feedbacks front, we recently launched a call for proposals for our new Warming-Induced Greenhouse Gas Emissions Model Intercomparison Project that will involve coordination with dozens of scientists from key institutions around the globe to ensure that rising emissions from natural systems like wetlands and thawing permafrost are more accurately modeled and accounted for.
How Different Actors Can Support Field Creation
There are a number of ways different types of organizations and individuals can support the field creation process. Scientists and engineers can advance creative, solutions-focused ideas. Philanthropies can catalyze early progress through strategic funding. Venture capitalists can also provide targeted support for emerging ideas with high commercial potential, recognizing that venture capital engagement may not be suitable for all endeavors and there may be occasions where it is detrimental. Intermediaries—including NGOs—play an important role in fostering the development of impact-focused communities and de-risking unconventional research. Governments can provide larger pools of funding to advance promising research as fields mature.
To learn more about scientific field creation:
To learn more about methane removal:
At Spark, we talk a lot about field building. It’s at the core of everything we do. But what does field building really mean, why are a growing number of organizations focusing on it, and what does effective field building look like in practice?
If you’ve ever wondered about those questions, you’re not alone. That’s why we recently teamed up with Renaissance Philanthropy to put together a playbook on scientific field creation, which is often the earliest stage of the broader field-building process for emerging scientific topics. The result—a collaborative effort between myself, Pritha Ghosh (formerly Cascade Climate), and Parth Ahya (Renaissance Philanthropy)—provides a practical guide to understanding the basics of scientific field development and how different scientists, philanthropies, NGOs, governments, and other actors can support the process.
Scientific Field Development at Spark
Why all the enthusiasm for scientific field creation? For us at Spark, the motivation is to accelerate progress towards impact on tough, unsolved climate challenges. We see our role as serving as a catalyst to help emerging, high-potential climate fields grow and thrive. Our philosophy is that by supporting early-stage research, field coordination, and talent development, we can help pull forward the timeline for these fields to develop the tools we need to address the climate challenges of today and tomorrow.
For me, this has guided my focus on emerging, hypothesized approaches for the removal of methane from the atmosphere at low concentrations, after it has been emitted. This work is informed by growing evidence that a significant portion of methane emissions—such as ongoing emissions from agriculture and rising emissions from warming wetlands and thawing permafrost driven by climate change itself—are accelerating and will be very difficult to reduce. The question of whether methane removal is possible—and what role it might play as part of a climate response portfolio—has become more urgent as the world bumps up against 1.5°C, with methane responsible for about 30% of that warming.
Complex, emerging challenges like methane removal aren’t going to be solved by one scientist, one innovation, or one organization—we need an entire field. Growing a scientific field requires early, intentional investments in at least three key areas: engaging the right stakeholders, building connective tissue to activate, build, and nurture a shared knowledge base, and providing flexible, risk-tolerant funding. When successful, field building expands the community of contributors working on the challenge, drives progress across disciplines, and establishes a solid scientific foundation to build on. By taking a deliberate approach to support these processes, we can help accelerate the growth of healthy, effective fields, thereby shortening the timeline for addressing unsolved challenges.
At Spark, we are active field builders, utilizing a variety of techniques from kickstarting early research with strategic funding opportunities, to engagement and growth through newsletters and webinars, to helping the scientific community in times of need, such as our recent decision to co-sponsor the 2025 Atmospheric Chemistry Gordon Research Conference after federal funding fell through at the last minute. We are nimble and strategic in the opportunities that we support, identifying key leverage points to accelerate a nascent field.
Looking ahead, Spark will convene a Town Hall at the American Geophysical Union’s Annual Meeting—one of the world’s premier Earth and space science conferences—to explore the topic of atmospheric oxidation enhancement for methane removal to better understand the research community's perspectives on priorities and knowledge gaps. This builds on a recent workshop we hosted with a small group of academic thought leaders on the same topic. Our goal is to evaluate whether atmospheric oxidation enhancement has the potential to move from a research curiosity to a viable component of the climate response portfolio or not, and establish an intentional assessment pathway to guide that determination.
In addition to methane removal, Spark is working to support field building for other under-resourced climate fields. For example, our livestock enteric methane program co-hosts the only annual conference dedicated to livestock methane—the State of the Science Summit on Reducing Methane from Animal Agriculture—as one part of our broader effort to help support coordination and knowledge sharing within this emerging field. On the climate feedbacks front, we recently launched a call for proposals for our new Warming-Induced Greenhouse Gas Emissions Model Intercomparison Project that will involve coordination with dozens of scientists from key institutions around the globe to ensure that rising emissions from natural systems like wetlands and thawing permafrost are more accurately modeled and accounted for.
How Different Actors Can Support Field Creation
There are a number of ways different types of organizations and individuals can support the field creation process. Scientists and engineers can advance creative, solutions-focused ideas. Philanthropies can catalyze early progress through strategic funding. Venture capitalists can also provide targeted support for emerging ideas with high commercial potential, recognizing that venture capital engagement may not be suitable for all endeavors and there may be occasions where it is detrimental. Intermediaries—including NGOs—play an important role in fostering the development of impact-focused communities and de-risking unconventional research. Governments can provide larger pools of funding to advance promising research as fields mature.
To learn more about scientific field creation:
To learn more about methane removal:
At Spark, we talk a lot about field building. It’s at the core of everything we do. But what does field building really mean, why are a growing number of organizations focusing on it, and what does effective field building look like in practice?
If you’ve ever wondered about those questions, you’re not alone. That’s why we recently teamed up with Renaissance Philanthropy to put together a playbook on scientific field creation, which is often the earliest stage of the broader field-building process for emerging scientific topics. The result—a collaborative effort between myself, Pritha Ghosh (formerly Cascade Climate), and Parth Ahya (Renaissance Philanthropy)—provides a practical guide to understanding the basics of scientific field development and how different scientists, philanthropies, NGOs, governments, and other actors can support the process.
Scientific Field Development at Spark
Why all the enthusiasm for scientific field creation? For us at Spark, the motivation is to accelerate progress towards impact on tough, unsolved climate challenges. We see our role as serving as a catalyst to help emerging, high-potential climate fields grow and thrive. Our philosophy is that by supporting early-stage research, field coordination, and talent development, we can help pull forward the timeline for these fields to develop the tools we need to address the climate challenges of today and tomorrow.
For me, this has guided my focus on emerging, hypothesized approaches for the removal of methane from the atmosphere at low concentrations, after it has been emitted. This work is informed by growing evidence that a significant portion of methane emissions—such as ongoing emissions from agriculture and rising emissions from warming wetlands and thawing permafrost driven by climate change itself—are accelerating and will be very difficult to reduce. The question of whether methane removal is possible—and what role it might play as part of a climate response portfolio—has become more urgent as the world bumps up against 1.5°C, with methane responsible for about 30% of that warming.
Complex, emerging challenges like methane removal aren’t going to be solved by one scientist, one innovation, or one organization—we need an entire field. Growing a scientific field requires early, intentional investments in at least three key areas: engaging the right stakeholders, building connective tissue to activate, build, and nurture a shared knowledge base, and providing flexible, risk-tolerant funding. When successful, field building expands the community of contributors working on the challenge, drives progress across disciplines, and establishes a solid scientific foundation to build on. By taking a deliberate approach to support these processes, we can help accelerate the growth of healthy, effective fields, thereby shortening the timeline for addressing unsolved challenges.
At Spark, we are active field builders, utilizing a variety of techniques from kickstarting early research with strategic funding opportunities, to engagement and growth through newsletters and webinars, to helping the scientific community in times of need, such as our recent decision to co-sponsor the 2025 Atmospheric Chemistry Gordon Research Conference after federal funding fell through at the last minute. We are nimble and strategic in the opportunities that we support, identifying key leverage points to accelerate a nascent field.
Looking ahead, Spark will convene a Town Hall at the American Geophysical Union’s Annual Meeting—one of the world’s premier Earth and space science conferences—to explore the topic of atmospheric oxidation enhancement for methane removal to better understand the research community's perspectives on priorities and knowledge gaps. This builds on a recent workshop we hosted with a small group of academic thought leaders on the same topic. Our goal is to evaluate whether atmospheric oxidation enhancement has the potential to move from a research curiosity to a viable component of the climate response portfolio or not, and establish an intentional assessment pathway to guide that determination.
In addition to methane removal, Spark is working to support field building for other under-resourced climate fields. For example, our livestock enteric methane program co-hosts the only annual conference dedicated to livestock methane—the State of the Science Summit on Reducing Methane from Animal Agriculture—as one part of our broader effort to help support coordination and knowledge sharing within this emerging field. On the climate feedbacks front, we recently launched a call for proposals for our new Warming-Induced Greenhouse Gas Emissions Model Intercomparison Project that will involve coordination with dozens of scientists from key institutions around the globe to ensure that rising emissions from natural systems like wetlands and thawing permafrost are more accurately modeled and accounted for.
How Different Actors Can Support Field Creation
There are a number of ways different types of organizations and individuals can support the field creation process. Scientists and engineers can advance creative, solutions-focused ideas. Philanthropies can catalyze early progress through strategic funding. Venture capitalists can also provide targeted support for emerging ideas with high commercial potential, recognizing that venture capital engagement may not be suitable for all endeavors and there may be occasions where it is detrimental. Intermediaries—including NGOs—play an important role in fostering the development of impact-focused communities and de-risking unconventional research. Governments can provide larger pools of funding to advance promising research as fields mature.
To learn more about scientific field creation:
To learn more about methane removal:
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