A young academic who lives near Teddington will be co-hosting an event at the United Nations Climate Change Conference (COP26) in Glasgow this week.

Twickenham resident Nikita Patel, who grew up in the area and went to Chase Bridge school, is due to speak at a COP26 youth panel on Thursday from 5-6pm.

The 25-year-old PhD student will appear at 'Countdown to Planet Zero: combating climate change with chemistry' which you can register to watch HERE.

The panel gives the next generation of scientists and inventors an opportunity to showcase their work and its impact on climate change.

Nikita said she was "really excited" to be involved with the COP26 event, which is the largest global summit the UK has ever held.

She added that she wanted people watching the panel to leave with more hope in science.

Nikita said: "I'm really excited to be a part of COP26 which I see as a moment for all of us to get involved – we can all make some simple changes like using public transport or cycling more to create a different path and limit our impact on the climate.

"Whilst these individual steps are necessary and achievable, we must take our personal knowledge and actions to the collective today to change our world's tomorrow. This is what COP26 is about.

"The youth panel event is designed to start to address the significant concerns of the next generation about the planet they will inherit and showcase some of the important work being carried out by our scientists.

"I believe it is important to highlight how fundamental collaboration between industry and academia is to speedily develop solutions for society.

"By the end of the event, I hope the audience will feel more positive that there is hope in science."

The news comes as Richmond Council, in partnership with the environmental group Habitats & Heritage, hosts a series of live and online events for Richmond Climate Week.

Today's focus is Energy Saving and the Council will be hosting an Energy Cafe, a Cargo bike event and a Climate Tour of Kew Gardens.

See the full list of events HERE.