Mentors’ Community

Professor Nathwani is the founding Executive Director, Waterloo Institute for Sustainable Energy (WISE) and holds the prestigious Ontario Research Chair in Public Policy for Sustainable Energy. He is also the Co-Director, with Prof Joachim Knebel (Karlsruhe Institute of Technology, Germany), of the consortium ‘Affordable Energy for Humanity (AE4H); a Global Change Initiative’ comprising 150 energy access thought leaders, researchers and practitioners from 50 institutions in 22 countries. The overarching vision of AE4H is to drive the scientific, technological and social innovations required for a cleaner, low carbon energy system that also meets the challenge of universal energy access.

As WISE’s Executive Director, he leads the institute’s research and development efforts to foster the development of emerging technologies that includes the full range of emerging energy technologies including solar, wind, bioenergy, geothermal, integration of distributed energy systems with energy storage, ICT for smart grid and micro-grids for off grid supply. His current focus is on competitive energy policies to enable the innovations required for the transition of the global energy system to a lower carbon energy economy.

Prior to his appointment at the University in 2007, Professor Nathwani worked in a leadership capacity in the Canadian energy sector over a 30 year period. He brings a unique combination of academic perspectives with extensive experience in the business sector that includes corporate planning and strategy, energy sector policy developments, integration of environmental sustainability with in power system planning, regulatory affairs and research program management.

Prof. Nathwani serves on several boards at the provincial and national levels. He is the lead Scientific Advisor to the Waterloo Global Science Initiative, established by the Perimeter Institute and the University of Waterloo, and is the lead author of the Equinox Summit-Energy 2030 Blueprint. He is chair of the board of the Canadian University Network of Excellence in Nuclear Engineering; member of the Ontario Smart Grid Forum; board member of the Ontario Centre of Excellence; member of the Clean Tech Advisory Board (DFAIT), Council for Clean and Reliable Electricity; member of the Advisory Panel for the Science Media Centre of Canada; and Advisory Board Member of Sustainable Waterloo. Professor Nathwani has over 110 publications related to energy and risk management, including seven books and is a Registered Professional Engineer (PEO) in the Province of Ontario, Canada.

Mattheos Santamouris is the Anita Lawrence Chair in High Performance Architecture at the University of New South Wales, Australia, the Director of the Laboratory of Building Energy Research at the University of Athens, Greece and also a former President of the National Center of Renewable and Energy Savings of Greece, Greece.

He is also a professor at the University of Athens, Greece and visiting Professor at the Cyprus Institute, Cyprus; Metropolitan University of London, United Kingdom; Tokyo Polytechnic University, Japan, Bolzano University, Italy; Brunnel University, United Kingdom and National University of Singapore, Singapore.

Mattheos serves as the Editor-in-Chief of the Energy and Buildings, former Editor-in-Chief of the Journal of Advances Building Energy Research, Associate Editor of the Solar Energy Journal and actual or past Member of the Editorial Board of the International Journal of Solar Energy, Journal of Buildings and Environment, Journal of Sustainable Energy, Journal of Low Carbon Technologies, Journal of Open Construction and Building Technology, Sustainable Cities and Society and of the Journal of Ventilation. He has edited series of books on Buildings, Energy and Solar Technologies published by Earthscan Science Publishers in London.

He has edited and authored 14 international books on various topics related to heat island, solar energy and energy conservation in buildings published by Earthscan, Springer, among others. Mattheos is a huest editor of twelve special issues of various scientific journals and scientific coordinator of many international research programmess and author of almost 260 scientific papers published in peer reviewed international scientific journals. He is a reviewer of research projects in 15 countries including USA, UK, France, Germany, Canada, Sweden, among others, and also an expert in various International Research Institutions.

Bipasha Baruah is the Canada Research Chair in Global Women’s Issues and a tenured full professor in the Department of Women’s Studies and Feminist Research at the University of Western Ontario. Prof. Baruah conducts interdisciplinary research on gender, development and globalization; women and work; and social, political and economic inequality. Her research on women and property ownership and women’s employment in renewable energy and resource efficiency has influenced policy within governments, financial institutions and non-governmental organizations. Dr. Baruah has 12 years of professional experience with organizations such as the United Nations Development Program, Asian Development Bank, World Resources Institute, The Energy and Resources Institute, Self-Employed Women’s Association, the Association for Women’s Rights in Development, the International Development Research Centre of Canada, Natural Resources Canada, and Global Affairs Canada. The Royal Society of Canada named Dr. Baruah to The College of New Scholars, Artists and Scientists in 2015. “The College” is Canada’s only national system of multidisciplinary recognition for the emerging generation of Canadian intellectual leadership. Every year, it names individuals who have made exceptional professional contributions to Canada and the world within 15 years of completing their doctorates. Dr. Baruah’s current research program is aimed broadly at understanding how to ensure that a global green economy will be more gender equitable and socially just than its fossil-fuel based predecessor.

Marta Molinas works with access to electricity and solutions to energy poverty, focusing on development of microgrids in remote areas. She is a professor at the Department of Engineering Cybernetics of the Norwegian University of Science and Technology (NTNU) and supervises Master and PhD students in topics related to electricity access in remote areas. She is also co-founder of the non-for-profit organization, RenPeace (www.renpeace.org) that works in collaboration with students and professors around the world in the development of microgrid projects in the field (e.g. microgrids).

Marta Molinas holds a Dr. Eng. Degree in Electrical Engineering from Tokyo Institute of Technology. She is currently remotely supervising Master and PhD students in Africa, South America and Asia. She is associated as remote supervisor for University of the People (https://www.uopeople.edu ). She works in collaboration with Engineers Without Borders and the IEEE Empowering a Billion Lives (http://empowerabillionlives.org/) initiative, that focuses on solutions to energy poverty and technologies for humanity.

Professor Nathalie Tufenkji received her Bachelor’s degree in Chemical Engineering from McGill University in 1999 and went on to Yale University, where she earned the M.Sc. and Ph.D. degrees in Chemical and Environmental Engineering. Nathalie’s graduate research at Yale focused on contaminant transport and filtration in groundwater and riverbank environments. She received the American Water Works Association Academic Achievement Award for best doctoral dissertation in the field (2006), as well as the Becton Prize for Best Ph.D. dissertation in the Faculty of Engineering & Applied Science at Yale (2005).

Dr. Tufenkji returned to her alma mater as Assistant Professor in 2005 and is presently a full Professor in the Department of Chemical Engineering at McGill University where she holds the Tier I Canada Research Chair in Biocolloids and Surfaces. Dr. Tufenkji leads a research group working in the area of (bio)colloid-surface interactions with applications in protection of water resources, engineering of biosensors and antimicrobial materials, and development of safe nanotechnology. Professor Tufenkji was awarded the Early Career Research Excellence Award by the Faculty of Engineering at McGill University (2010), a Fulbright Scholar Award for tenure at Harvard University (2012), an Excellence in Review Award from the journal Environmental Science and Technology (2012), and the YWCA Woman of Distinction Award in Science and Technology (2014).

Beyond her research and teaching roles, Dr. Tufenkji also serves as Associate Director of the Brace Center for Water Resources Management at McGill and has co-chaired several major international conferences. She also serves on the editorial boards of the journals Environmental Science and Technology, npj Clean Water, Water Research, Colloids and Surfaces B, Advances in Colloid and Interface Science, and Frontiers in Chemical Engineering.

Ambrish Chandra FIEEE is a full professor of Electrical Engineering at École de technologie supérieure (ÉTS), Montréal since 1999. His educational background includes B.E. degree from the University of Roorkee (presently IITR), India, M. Tech. from IIT Delhi, and Ph.D. from University of Calgary, in 1977, 1980, and 1987, respectively. Before joining as an Associate Professor at ÉTS in 1994, he worked as a faculty at IITR. From 2012-15, he was director of multidisciplinary graduate program on Renewable Energy and Energy Efficiency at ÉTS. The primary focus of his work is related to the advancement of new theory & control algorithms for power electronic converters for power quality improvement in distribution systems & integration of renewable energy sources. He has published more than 300 research articles in these areas. The key differentiator of his work is in its simplicity and practicality of new solutions and has had significant impact, which is now extensively used in the industry. He was instrumental in writing six review articles on power quality, which have become de-facto standards world-wide with total Google citations more than 11400, h-index 45, i10-index 130. He is coauthor of John Wiley book ‘Power Quality – Problems and Mitigation Techniques’.

Dr. Chandra is Fellow of many organizations, such as, FIEEE, FCAE, FEIC, FIET (UK), FIE (India), FIETE (India) and registered as a Professional Engineer in Quebec. He is IEEE PES/IAS Distinguished Lecturer and has given lectures in Singapore, Indonesia, Malaysia, China, in Beijing, Shanghai, Nanjing, and Xi’an, University of Toronto, many cities in India, Morocco, Algeria, Tunisia, and Egypt and keynote speeches in many international conferences. He is Chair of subcommittee on ‘Power Quality’ of IEEE IES. He is the Guest Editor for special issue of journal Energies on ‘Power Quality in Microgrids Based on Distributed Generators’. He received IEEE Montréal Best Technical Chapter Award – for PES in 2012, 2014, 2017, ‘Outstanding Contribution’ as Chair of IEEE Montréal Section’s PES Chapter, 2010. He is the recipient of highest Canadian award on electrical power engineering 2018 ‘IEEE Canada P. Ziogas Electric Power Award’.

Andy Hira is a Professor of Political Science at Simon Fraser University, one of the top comprehensive universities in Canada. He was trained as a specialist in Latin American political economy. He spent a number of years investigating economic development, trade and finance policy. He wrote a book summarizing the lessons for Latin America from East Asian success in industrial policy- the same would apply for Africa. He began working on energy issues during his time with the US government, where he analyzed regulatory issues for energy and natural gas in Latin America. Since then, he has worked on a number of issues, from biofuels to energy regulation to integration of energy markets. More recently, he has turned his attention to renewable energy and climate change. He has also completed an assessment of Ghana's mining policies in 2018, that is available as a public report. His field research experience opened his eyes to the potential for economic growth in Africa that could reduce poverty in the short-term.

Hayley Fowler is Professor of Climate Change Impacts in the School of Engineering at Newcastle University. A hydroclimatologist with over 15 years of experience, she has analysed the impacts of climate change and variability on hydrological systems, publishing more than 90 ISI-cited articles since 2000. She is a Fellow of the American Geophysical Union and a Royal Society Wolfson Research Fellow. She is a Contributing Author to two chapters of the forthcoming IPCC 6th Assessment Report, and an author of the next UK Climate Change Risk Assessment (CCRA3). She is also chair of the Global Energy and Water EXchanges (GEWEX) Hydroclimatology Panel (GHP) sub-daily precipitation cross-cut and Chief Editor of the international journal “Frontiers in Interdisciplinary Climate Studies”. Her internationally-renowned research examines recent trends in precipitation extremes and future projections and their impacts on flood and drought risk with over £10M of funding. She has also been instrumental in developing new downscaling techniques to bridge the gap between modellers and users of climate information (e.g. UKCP09 Weather Generator) and developing new guidance for urban drainage design. Her research also focuses on climate change impacts on the Himalaya region. She collaborates widely, particularly with the National Center for Atmospheric Research (USA) and the University of New South Wales (Australia) where she has held Visiting Professorial Positions.

Professor Stuart Pimm is the Doris Duke Chair of Conservation at the Nicholas School of the Environment at Duke University. He is an Extraordinary Professor at the University of Pretoria, South Africa, and the President of Saving Nature, a non-profit. He is a world leader in the study of present-day extinctions and what we can do to prevent them. Pimm received his BSc degree from Oxford University in 1971 and his Ph.D from New Mexico State University in 1974. Pimm is the author of 350 scientific papers and four books.

Prof. Pimm wrote the highly-acclaimed assessment of the human impact to the planet: The World According to Pimm: a Scientist Audits the Earth in 2001. His commitment to the interface between science and policy has led to his testimony to both House and Senate Committees on the re-authorization of the Endangered Species Act. He has served on National Geographic’s Committee for Research and Exploration and their Big Cats Initiative. In addition to his studies in Africa, Pimm has worked in the wet forests of Colombia, Ecuador, and Brazil for decades and is a long-term collaborator of the forest fragmentation project north of Manaus, Brazil. His international honours include the Dr. A.H. Heineken Prize for Environmental Sciences from the Royal Netherlands Academy of Arts and Sciences (2006), the Tyler Prize for Environmental Achievement (2010), and the International Cosmos Prize (2019).

Prof. Pimm considers the broad geographical patterns of species distributions, especially threatened species, producing strategic maps to guide conservation actions. (See www.biodiversitymapping.org). He then focusses on key areas to produce tactical maps for conservation actions, implementing them through the non-profit he directs, Saving Nature (www.savingnature.com). These actions prioritise connecting isolated habits to create more continuous landscapes that can hold viable populations. In addition, he also considers endangered, but widely-ranging, species that come into conflict with people and seeks practical solutions to reduce human-wildlife conflict.

Christopher Bryant has a PhD from the London School of Economics and Political Science (1970) and has been Professor at the Universities of Waterloo (1970-1990) and Montréal (1990 to 2014) and is currently Adjunct Professor, School of Environmental Design and Rural Development, University of Guelph (2012 onwards), and he is also Adjunct Professor, Geography Department, University of Montreal (2014 onwards). Christopher Bryant has published many articles in different journals, a large number of book chapters, many books and monographs; many Reports to different governments and agencies; many other publications and book reviews; and he has made almost 600 presentations during his career. His fields of research are: agriculture and food production in and around cities and metropolitan centers; food security and food insecurity; tourism development; community development; land use planning; strategic development planning for communities, organizations and agriculture and other economic activities; sustainable development; resilience building for communities exposed to flooding and climate variability; adaptation of agriculture and tourism development to climate change and variability. He is placed in the top 4 to 5% of the over 16 million researchers on Research Gate. He has also directed or co-directed one of the largest number of doctoral and masters students, and many of his doctoral students now have positions as professors in different universities or in government ministries or agencies.

Professor Charles Wortmann has worked for over 20 years in Africa, as an independent consultant and 18 years at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln (UNL) as a cropping system/soil management research and extension specialist (www.agronomy.unl.edu-Wortmann). While at UNL, he continued with collaborative work in >15 African countries including Nigeria. He has advised 53 graduate students, hosted numerous African visiting scientists, and initiated the ASA-Global Agronomy-Agronomy in Africa community. His 143 refereed journal publications include 78 from work in Africa, most with an African researcher as the lead author and aimed at improving more profitable production by smallholders. Other substantial works have included atlases of bean and sorghum production in Africa and fertilizer use decision tools for >70 AEZ. Extension activities in US and Africa have addressed various aspects soil management for improved soil water and nutrient availability for rainfed and irrigated productivity while improving land resources and profitability with environmental protection, including reduced CO2e emission. He addresses climate resiliency with proactive and reactive management practices. Recent extension publications address agronomic management to reduce N2O emission and leaching of nitrate to aquifers. Human and institutional capacity building have been an on-going career priority of work in Africa. In addition to advising students at UNL, he unofficially advised numerous graduate students enrolled in African universities who had good subsequent success in publication and career advancement. He is interested to mentor graduate students focused on crop or soil management for sustainable intensification with climate resiliency and enhancing the land resource base.

Dr. Atchia is a senior Mauritian consultant in the Education, Curriculum development and planning and in the Environmental Education sectors, with wide international experience especially in national and regional coordinator positions. He has been a Programme Director at UNEP (Chief, Environmental Education and Training Unit) in Nairobi from 1986 to 1996, responsible during the same period for the “International Environmental Education Programme” of UNESCO/UNEP, active in over 100 member states. He gained his professional experience in both developing countries (Africa, Asia, and South America) and in Europe/North America/Australia. He is a graduate from these Universities: Calcutta (B.Sc with Distinction): London (BSc); Chelsea College of Science and Technology (Postgraduate diplomas in Microbiology, 1st class); Institute of Biology (MIBIOL); Salford in Manchester (MSc, PhD, DSc). Dr Atchia has extensive experience as a specialist and trainer in environmental education and sustainable development education (a field now called ESD which he is credited to have launched in 1993); national curriculum development and planning; science education; integrated environmental management (a field which is he is credited of having launched, with the publication by John Wiley in 1995 of ISSUES AND SOLUTIONS, Integrated Environmental Management, Editors Michael Atchia and Shawna Tropp).

Dr Atchia was an Associate Professor at the MIE (1974-1986), as part of the original team which carried out the mauritianisation of the school curriculum and wrote the first text-books. After retirement in 2003 he spent 2 years at the Ministry of Education Mauritius, as Senior Advisor to the Minister. As a Project Manager especially for large international or regional projects, he has designed several projects (preparation of project documents and budgets), and was as team leader in charge of organisation and administration, monitoring, evaluation and follow-up of projects related to educational reform, environment and sustainable strategies. Furthermore, Dr Atchia is an educator and trainer with world-wide experience (1986-1996) in designing and administering Integrated Environmental Management Training for cadres from developing countries, in collaboration with Universities in Dresden, Geneva, Nairobi, Boston, and Adelaide amongst others. He was responsible for relationships of UN with over 100 centres of Excellence world-wide (mostly top-level Universities) in the specific field of Environment and development.

Dr. Ioannis L. Tsipouridis is a renewable energy engineer with over 40years experience in the renewable energy field and he is currently the Chairman and CEO of R.E.D. PRO Consultants, which he set up after leaving PPC S.A., a consultancy active in the fields of renewable energy and climate change. He holds a PhD in Solar Energy, master’s degree in Fuel and Energy (both funded by Science Research Council Grant) and Bachelor’s degree in Chemical Engineering (funded by Local Education Authourity Grant); all form the University of Leeds, United Kingdom.

Starting with his M.Sc. thesis, he has worked all his life, for the development of Renewable Energy Sources (R.E.S.), as an energy engineer. Simultaneously he has been active in promoting R.E.S. development policies as Chairman of Hellenic Wind Energy Association (ELETAEN). He has served in numerous roles on various projects. ……….. served as the CEO of Public Power Corporation Renewables (PPCR S.A.), Greece (2010- 2013); Director, Office of Deputy Minister for Energy Yannis Maniatis, in the Ministry of Environment, Energy and Climate Change (YPEKA), in charge (mainly) for renewable energy matters (2009-2010) and a member, of the Board of Directors of the the Center of Renewable Energy Sources of Greece (2010-2013). Dr. Tsipouridis also worked as a Regional Energy Expert of a European Union PHARE programme where coordinated by the Energy Policy Unit of the National Technical University of Athens (NTUA), Bulgaria; headed the Athens branch of an Energy equipment company, specializing in solar water heaters and energy stoves and sewage treatment unit’s installaions and also served as a Consultant and Editor to “Energy Point”, a commercial energy magaizine.

Between 2003-2010 and 22013-2015; Dr. Tsipouridis served as the President of the Hellenic Wind Energy Association (HWEA), which he cofounded in 1990 and has served as Secretary General (1991-2001) and Vice President (2001-2003 and 2010-2013). For his contribution to ELETAEN and to the development of wind energy in Greece, in 2011 the Hellenic Wind Energy Association awarded him the “AIOLOS” prize. He is creator and Editor of “Anemologia” (1999 – to date), the official Journal of the Hellenic Wind Energy Association. He has participated in numerous conferences including the historic COP21, as well as COP22 and COP23.

Gregory J. Leng is the creator and Director of the RETScreen Clean Energy Management Software at Natural Resources Canada’s CanmetENERGY research centre in Varennes, Quebec. The RETScreen Software is the world’s leading clean energy decision-support tool and is available in 36 languages coverings 2/3rds the Earth’s population. RETScreen is used by more than 560,000+ energy professionals and decision-makers in every country, as well as by professors at 1,000+ universities and colleges for teaching and research.

Greg’s career is focused on the clean energy market, technology and finance interface and he has been working in the renewable energy and energy efficiency fields since 1987. Prior to joining NRCan, he was based in Hyderabad, India as the India Country Manager (dLA Consultant) for the International Fund for Renewable Energy and Energy Efficiency (IFREE). He obtained a Master of Science degree from the University of Massachusetts Lowell in Energy Engineering (Solar Energy Engineering) and a Bachelor of Commerce degree (Marketing and International Business) from McGill University.

Kirsty has 27 years’ experience in international climate and energy policy. Since 2004 she has led an initiative, via affiliation as Associate Fellow at Chatham House, on ‘investment grade’ policy: conditions to enable private investment into renewables/low carbon energy. This has been evidence-based work with a central foundation of direct engagement with leading mainstream renewable energy financiers and senior policymakers. From 2010-2015 she was Policy Head of the Low Carbon Finance Group, a first-of-kind, financier- led group of senior finance practitioners established to factually assist policymakers’ understanding of conditions to mobilise capital at greater scale. The Group’s 5-year span largely focused on the UK’s Electricity Market Reform process. Prior to that she published synthesis work on ‘investment grade’ policy, as well as financier perspectives on emerging markets renewables investment (research sessions 2008-2010) and MENA region. In addition, she coordinated private investor input to an early development phase of what became the Green Climate Fund (2011). In 2016 she published the ‘Finance Guide for Policymakers’, for factual reference tool on who does what in finance and why, relevant for renewables and ‘green infrastructure’, published by BNEF with Chatham House and UNEP’s Frankfurt School centre. She is currently focused on how to create effective institutional engagement with private financiers. In 2015-2016 Kirsty was a Specialist Advisor to a UK Parliamentary Inquiry into Investor Confidence in the UK electricity sector. She has held several invited international advisory roles including World Economic Forum, UNEP Finance Initiative and has been a reviewer and contributing author to the IPCC.

William Blyth has worked for over 20 years in the analysis of energy security, climate change and sustainable development. He is Director of Oxford Energy Associates, an independent energy research company, and works part-time as a Senior Research Fellow at DFID (UK government’s aid department). In addition, he holds Associate Fellow positions at Chatham House (one of the world’s top think tanks), and at Imperial College London, supporting research on sustainable energy issues. He is an expert in energy sector economics and policies specialising in transitions to a low-carbon economy and energy access in developed and developing countries.

Dr. Blyth is currently leading a team to develop Botswana’s sustainable energy strategy under their SE4All initiative. He carried out a similar role in Rwanda leading a team within the Ministry of Infrastructure, and developed Rwanda’s investment plan for $50m under the SREP. In recent years, he has worked with the World Bank, AfDB, and EBRD reviewing financial flows and the investment needs of the energy sector in general, and mechanisms to support business models that address access to energy for the poorest in particular. He has recently worked with a wide range of international organisations including the World Bank, African Development Bank, International Renewable Energy Agency, OECD, International Energy Agency, the Electric Power Research Institute, European Bank for Reconstruction and Development, International Institute of Sustainable Development, as well as many UK government departments and institutions. He has published widely on a range of topics related to climate and energy security, and is the author of over 20 peer reviewed papers and books. William previously worked at the International Energy Agency in Paris, the European Environment Agency in Copenhagen and for AEA Technology Environment. He has a DPhil in Physics from Oxford University.

Hisham Zerriffi is an Associate Professor in Forest Resources Management at the University of British Columbia (UBC). He was previously an Assistant Professor and the Ivan Head South/North Research Chair in the Liu Institute for Global Issues at UBC. Dr. Zerriffi’s research is at the intersection of technology, energy and the environment, with a particular focus on rural areas of the developing world. Much of his research focuses on institutional factors impacting the diffusion of new technology, determinants and patterns of household energy choice and welfare implications of rural energy use. He is the author of one book and over two dozen articles and book chapters. He was a Lead Author for the Global Energy Assessment’s chapter on Energy for Development and a member of the World Health Organization’s Indoor Air Quality Guidelines Development Group. Prior to joining the UBC Faculty, Dr. Zerriffi was a Postdoctoral Fellow with the Program on Energy and Sustainable Development, Stanford University. Dr. Zerriffi holds a Ph.D. from Carnegie Mellon University in Engineering and Public Policy.

Dr. Huong Ha is currently affiliated with School of Business, Singapore University of Social Sciences. She has been affiliated with UON Singapore and University of Newcastle, Australia. Her previous positions include Dean, Director of Research and Development, Deputy Course Director, Chief Editor, Executive Director, Business Development manager, etc. She holds a PhD from Monash University (Australia) and a Master’s degree from National University of Singapore. She was a recipient of a PhD scholarship (Monash University), Temasek scholarship (National University of Singapore), and a scholarship awarded by the United Nations University/International Leadership Academy, and many other scholarships, professional and academic awards, and research related grants.

She has authored or co-edited a number of books including Ha, Huong (2014). Change Management for Sustainability. USA: Business Expert Press, Ha, Huong (2014). Land and Disaster Management Strategies in Asia. H. Ha (Ed.), Springer; and; Ha, Huong & Dhakal, T. N. (2013). Governance Approaches to Mitigation of and Adaptation to Climate Change in Asia. H. Ha, & T. N. Dhakal (Eds.), Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan; and Ha, Huong; Fernando, Lalitha and Mahmood, Amir (2015), Strategic Disaster Risk Management in Asia, Springer. She has produced about 75 journal articles, book chapters, conference papers and articles in Encyclopedias. She has been an invited member of the international editorial boards of many international journals/book projects; the scientific and/or technical committees of several international conferences in many countries; and international advisory board of many associations. She has also been a reviewer of many international journals and international conferences.

Pradipta Halder holds a doctoral degree in forestry from the University of Eastern Finland (UEF) and is currently affiliated with the Business School (UEF) as a Senior Researcher. He is also an Adjunct Professor in Social Sustainability and Bioeconomy with the Department of Historical and Geographical Studies at the UEF. Pradipta is leading a project on consumer adoption wood-based eco-innovations in Finland, India and the Netherlands. He has over ten years of research and professional experiences in the fields of forestry, bioenergy, climate change and bioeconomy from policy and social sciences perspectives.

He has conducted research in Finland, Germany, Croatia, Serbia, India and China. He was a visiting scholar to the Fudan Tyndall Centre in Shanghai and the Northwest Agriculture and Forestry University in Yangling (China). Pradipta has published widely in reputed international journals in the field of energy and environment. Pradipta is also affiliated with the journals such as Biofuels, Energy, Sustainability and Society, and Energy and Environment Research. His current publications can be seen from here: https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=_YSmtJUAAAAJ&hl=en

David Gibson has 32 years’ experience in energy access, utility energy efficiency programs, and facility design and construction. He serves as a Senior Consultant for NRECA International and is the President/Chief Innovation Officer for a consultancy known as Next Grid Collaborative. He holds a master of Liberal Arts Degree in Sustainability and Environmental Management from the Harvard Extension School where he received the Dean’s Academic Achievement Award based on his academic performance. David’s thesis was entitled “Taming a Wicked Problem – Energy Access Planning from an Energy-Poor Perspective. “ His thesis research proposed an enhanced GIS-based energy access decision tool which explores institutional barriers (such as energy consumption subsidies) and enabling environment conditions (such as the “energy addressable market” of households with mobile phones but no access to electricity) in an effort to scale up the market penetration of Solar Home Systems in the ECOWAS region. In an effort to translate his thesis research into practical applications, David is currently working with an off-grid technology service provider to assess the “ease of doing business” among their target countries for initial market rollout. He is also working with the developer of the existing Open Source Spatial Electrification Tool (onSSET) to develop a number of expansion modules to support the initial market rollout of this technology service provider.

David’s experience in Africa energy landscape includes energy access/rural electrification projects in Ghana, Ethiopia, Kenya, Nigeria, Tanzania, and Uganda, including Haiti and Philippines which are also developing economies. Some of the projects handled include improved energy access for street markets in Ghana, developing a framework for private investment in rural off-grid electrification projects in Ethiopia, and the development of mini-grid standards and specifications in Tanzania. The clients for these projects include the Millennium Challenge Corporation (MCC), the United States Agency for International Development – Power Africa Program (USAID), the Government of Kenya (GoK), and the International Finance Corporation (IFC). Mr. Gibson has also served as a Teaching Assistant and Research Assistant to Dr. Robert Pojasek in support of his Organisational Sustainability course. He has recently been selected to serve a two-year term on the Student Advisory Committee for Harvard’s Sustainability and Environmental Management Program.

Xavier Vallvé is co-founder and director of the engineering and consultancy firm TTA in Barcelona, Spain. He holds engineering and master’s degrees from the University of Waterloo in Canada and has more than 25 years of experience in rural electrification with renewable energy and distributed generation projects, autonomous as well as grid tied, renewable energy hybrid technology for islands and isolated villages. This involves complementary interdisciplinary activities in economic, social and management aspects as well as engineering in renewable energy generation and storage. Autonomous off-grid electrification needs to address the needs of potential beneficiaries, from basic access to power to develop income generating activities. Within a village, this can be done with microgrids, individual PV stations or a combination of both but involving the community and establishing an adequate business model for long term sustainable operation.

Xavier is well-experienced in distributed generation and micro grids. He has been involved in research, feasibility studies, engineering, project management and commissioning of many PV rural micro grids in isolated villages in Africa, Asia and South America. He is also an active member in international codes and standards committees on this subject. He has been project director or lead consultant for private and government clients and also for projects by United Nations Development programme (UNDP), United Nations Office for Project Services (UNOPS), United Nations Industrial Development Organization (UNIDO), United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP), Spanish Agency for International Development Cooperation (AECID), Inter-American Development Bank (IDB), World Bank (WB), European Commission (EC), International Renewable Energy Agency (IRENA), among others. He is director and lecturer of the Master degree “Master en Ingeniería y Gestión de las Energías Renovables” at IL3 (University of Barcelona). He is a member of ARE (Alliance for Rural Electrification), and also member of the Board of Secartys.

Dr. Susanne Nies is an expert in European energy policy and regulatory affairs, focusing on electricity and the power sector in Europe. She is currently in charge of strategy, energy policy, stakeholder relationship, corporate communication at the European Network of Transmission System Operators (ENTSO – E). As the Corporate Affairs Manager, she leads the work on Transmission System Operator (TSO) – Distribution System Operator (DSO) interaction (Demand side management, aggregation, distribution transmission interfaces). Prior to this, she worked for EURELECTRIC, a Brussels-based European Electricity Industry Interface with EU Commission and European institutions. She had the role as Head of Unit Distribution System Department from 2014 to 2015, dealing with Distribution System Operators – smart grids, smart meters, energy efficiency, big data, new downstream, electric mobility, standardisation, relationship TSO-DSO, investments in regulated assets, network codes and framework guidelines. She also headed the Energy Policy and Power Generation Department from 2010 to 2014 where she was dealing with Power Generation, leading 12 industrial working groups, experts missions, conferences and lectures on general energy policies.

Susanne Niels holds a PhD in Political Sciences from Bonn University, and a Habilitation at Sciences Po Paris and Berlin Free University, as well as an economics degree from London School of Economics. Until 2008 she was heading the French Institute for International Relations Brussels branch and was affiliated as a senior researcher to the energy programme of the institute, focussing in particular on oil and gas. She has a long track of academic publications, affiliation to research and lecturing, as well as consulting. In addition, she teaches at the Cologne University/ EWI Summer Classes on Energy policy and Energy Economics. Before focusing on energy policy she worked extensively on transition economies in Eastern Europe, international conflict and social policies. Apart from being a native speaker of German, she is fluent in written and spoken English, French and Russian languages.

Bilkisu is an Editor at the BBC World Service in London in charge of multimedia services. As an expert in Communication for Development, Bilkisu is passionate about protecting the environment, especially on the African continent where she has seen her idyllic lush childhood home virtually disappear amidst an urban sprawl. She has pioneered many innovative projects including in her latest role as Nigeria Editorial Lead where she recently launched BBC Pidgin – the first fully digital language service for Africa. Pidgin is the first of 3 new BBC digital language services to launch in Nigeria – along with Yoruba and Igbo. Bilkisu was also the pioneer editor of the BBC bureau in Abuja Nigeria, the first Nigeria Country Director for BBC World Service Trust and the Launch SBJ for Focus on Africa TV (BBC World News TV). Bilkisu has had an illustrious career at various levels including Editor, SBJ and presenter, as a highly accomplished international multimedia journalist, working in radio, on TV and online. Multitalented and multilingual, she has interviewed several high profile personalities including presidents and prime ministers from Nigeria, Ghana, Libya and the UK.

Bilkisu knows Africa very well and is widely travelled across the continent and globally. She has covered major international events for the BBC including the 2008 US Obama elections, Hong Kong handover to China 1997; the Beijing Women’s conference and the lead up to the 2010 World Cup in South Africa where she led a 30-strong team of BBC journalists on a road trip across West Africa. She holds a Master’s degree from Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria, Nigeria and has won several awards for academic excellence, as well as the Nigeria Best Actress Award 1992. In expressing her passion for environmental sustainability, she says, “Information is power. If you empower people with knowledge, they will make informed choices about their environment”.

Charley G. Granvorka is an Economist mainly working within the field of Development and Environment with a particular focus on the Caribbean Small Island Developing States (SIDS). Her first works initially related to development concerns in the context of the Plantation Economy by comparing the economic performance of Haiti and the Dominican Republic from 1960 to 2015 owing to self-builder data bases.She evolved towards Environmental Economics by analyzing the impacts of natural hazards on the domestic economy at the macro and micro levels using tools such as the Cost-Benefit Analysis and Data processing.

Some of her works are exemplified by a Cost-Benefit Analysis of an Integrated Disaster & Risk Management including a Flood Early Warning System and Temporary multifunction shelters in Haiti under the Umbrella of the Copenhagen Consensus Centre. She contributed to the design of an Eco system based development Master Plan for Andros, the Bahamas upon request of the Inter American Development Bank. As a winner of a national bid of the National Agency for Research, France, she also assessed the social and economical costs of the earthquake and hurricane Dean that occurred in Martinique for 2007 in the fields of agriculture, housing and health.

She has authored papers in collective books or peer-reviewed journals on various topics related to environment, tourism, poverty, risk management, sea governance or urban revitalization, all SIDS specific indexed on www.academia.edu.org. She monitored thesis at the Master 2 level and occasionally reviews blinded papers in environmental Journals (Israel, Romania, United States of America, Algeria). She acts as both an Independent Consultant and teacher and is a member of various Economist Associations and Les Expertes France, which is a network specially dedicated to women created by the Organisation Internationale de la Francophonie.

She has been invited-speaker at various high level international meetings; UNEP, New York, Ecole Polytechnique, France, ProEcoServ, Trinidad and Tobago, COP21, Paris, France, UNDP/University of Baranquilla, Columbia.

Steven von Eije has an extensive background in renewable energy with a passion for sustainable development. Steven recently joined Enclude as consultant sustainable business practices to implement and expand the clean energy portfolio. Steven has over 8 years of work experience in the renewable energy sector. At the Energy Delta Institute in the Netherlands Steven developed a strong training background while he gained extensive knowledge on the energy sector in developing countries. Steven gained experience in the development sector while working for Netherlands Development Organisation (SNV) in Vietnam. He worked on projects to support the development of local enterprises that delivered clean energy products and services using result based finance mechanisms. Steven acted as Chief Technical Advisor to the award winning Biogas Programme for the Animal husbandry sector of Vietnam. Additionally, he designed the result-based finance incentive option auction in order to accelerate the development of the advanced clean cookstove sector. As sector leader renewable energy he was responsible for the management of a team of national and international experts which supported the Vietnamese government in their ambition to develop renewable energy.

As Energy Analyst for the Energy Delta Institute, an international energy business school in the Netherlands, Steven has developed and improved executive energy education programs. Furthermore he has acted as a lecturer in several courses on renewable energy and energy transition related topics. He has also consulted for the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development and Energising Development ,Climate and Clean Air Coalition,RVO,SNN (Northern provinces of the Netherlands) EU and Ministry of Economic Affairs, Agriculture and Innovation, among other organisations on various topics such as on renewable energy investment and financial analysis, biogas energy programme, sales of carbon credit, reversed auction for result based finance incentive options for improved cookstove, among others. Steve speaks Dutch, English, French and German languages.

Joanne Jungmin Lee brings a combination of academic and professional experience in environmental policy, renewable energy, corporate sustainability and climate finance. As of February 2018 Joanne is working for World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF) as a Technical Specialist in the Finance Practice Core Team, based in Hong Kong.

Prior to WWF, Joanne worked at the International Renewable Energy Agency (IRENA) in Abu Dhabi as Associate Programme Officer – Renewable Energy Finance, specializing in public finance, risk mitigation and institutional investment. Before moving to the United Arab Emirates, she worked for the United Nations Environment Programme, Wharton Small Business Development Center, Meister Consultants Group, Ceres and GreenWorld Capital in the US. Joanne also worked as a financial analyst at Hewlett Packard in Seoul. She has a Master’s degree in Environmental Studies from the University of Pennsylvania and a Bachelor of Business Administration from Ewha Womans University in South Korea.

Olufunke Alaba holds a doctoral degree in Economics from the University of Ibadan, Nigeria. She did her post-doctoral research at the School of Economics, University of Pretoria, South Africa. Olufunke is Senior Lecturer and researcher at the Health Economics Unit, School of Public Health and Family Medicine, University of Cape Town, also in South Africa where she conduct research researching on applied microeconometric modeling, Development and Poverty Economics, Social determinants of health including energy and health nexus. Olufunke has consulted for a number of local and international organizations including the African Economic Research Consortium, UNIDO, the World Bank, and the UNU-WIDER Finland. She was a Visiting Scholar to the World Bank in 2004.

Francois Le Scornet has nearly 15 years of international experience in the low-carbon power generation sector (hydropower, fuel cells, solar, nuclear power in particular). Specialized in market analysis, business development and product management, François has a deep understanding of the policies, strategies and technologies that define the activities of private actors working in the low-carbon energy sector. During his career, françois worked on numerous projects for emerging markets, in Africa and South East Asia in particular. François holds a Master in Chemistry from ECPM (France) and a Specialized Master in International business from HEC Paris.

In 2017, Francois created Carbonexit Consulting. Based in France, he supports companies, public bodies and associations to better prepare and benefit from the ecological transition. Carbonexit Consulting provides accredited greenhouse gas emissions audits for regulatory reportings as well as strategic studies and product marketing analysis to support low-carbon energy technology applications (Emerging technologies, solar, nuclear, hydropower, hydrogen, storage etc.).

Prior to this, Francois served at GE Renewable between 2013 to 2016 in corporate Marketing/strategy as well as product management for the hydropower and solar industry. Previously, Francois has served at AREVA (2004-2013) and the US Department of Energy (2001-2002) and CEPN (2003). During this period, François mostly worked on business development and marketing for products and services targeting the existing nuclear plants (maintenance and modernization, safety and performance improvements, radiation detection, uranium mining) as well as the development of fuel cells for portable power applications.

On it free time, supported an electrification project with Electricians Without Borders in the Democratic Republic of the Congo.

Dr. Morgan Bazilian is a non-resident Fellow at the Center on Global Energy Policy. In his full-time capacity, he is Lead Energy Specialist at the World Bank. He has over two decades of experience in the energy sector – and is regarded as a leading expert in international policy. His work has ranged from fiscal policy, to systems analysis, to infrastructure investment, to market regulation and governance in all areas of energy policy from upstream oil and gas to power systems. He holds a Ph.D. in energy analysis and was a Fulbright Fellow. He has published approximately 100 papers in learned journals, and his 2008 book: “Analytical Methods for Energy Diversity and Security” is a seminal work in the field. His work has appeared in Nature, Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, and Foreign Affairs. Dr. Bazilian is a member of the World Economic Forum’s Global Advisory Council on Energy, and served as an advisor to the International Energy’s World Energy Outlook, and Bloomberg New Energy Finance’s Global Energy Outlook. He holds (or has held) academic affiliations at The Royal Institute of Technology of Sweden, Columbia University, Cambridge University, and IIASA.

Dr. Bazilian was the European Union’s lead negotiator on technology issues at the UN’s climate change negotiations, and a member of the UNFCCC Expert Group on Technology. He was the first Chair of the Renewable Energy and Energy Efficiency Partnership Programme Board, and a founder of the UNEP Public Finance Alliance steering group. He was a contributing author to the IPCC and the Global Energy Assessment, and served as an advisor to a €200M cleantech venture capital fund and on the Global Advisory Council of the Sustainable Finance Programme at Oxford University. Previously he was a Deputy Director at NREL. Prior to that, Morgan worked in the United Nations on energy access issues. In this role he was deeply engaged with the design and implementation of the Sustainable Energy for All initiative, and managed UN-Energy. Prior to this post, he worked in the Irish Government as Chef de Cabinet for the Energy Minister, and was the Deputy CEO of the Irish National Energy Agency.

Debora Ley is a Lead Author in the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) special report on the impacts of global warming of 1.5 °C. She has a PhD in Environmental Change from the Environmental Change Institute, School of Geography and the Environment of the University of Oxford. Her dissertation topic analyzed if rural renewable energy projects can simultaneously meet the multiple goals of sustainable development, climate change mitigation and climate change adaptation and if so, under what conditions, focusing on Guatemala and Nicaragua. She has a MSc in Civil Engineering, with a focus on energy systems, from the University of Colorado at Boulder and a BSc in Electrical and Mechanical Engineering. Dr. Ley worked at Mexico’s National Energy Savings Commission in the Cogeneration and Renewable Energy departments before joining Sandia National Laboratories, where she was the Program Manager for the Central America and Mexico Clean Energy and Environment Program, jointly funded by the US DoE and US AID. She later worked at the United Nations Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean and the InterAmerican Development Bank, focusing mainly on regional energy integration in Central America. Among the main outcomes of her time at UN were strategies for sustainable energy in the region, and of the inclusion of energy within the Millennium Development Goals. She has also worked as a consultant for the Latin America Energy Organization focusing on rural electrification in Nicaragua, for the World Bank evaluating its rural solar energy programs in Nicaragua and Honduras, and for Chemonics doing strategic planning for Low Emissions Development in Mexico. She is a volunteer with Engineers Without Borders, Johns Hopkins chapter and has published diverse articles on topics of rural renewable electrification, especially technical codes and standards, and diverse topics linking renewable energy, climate change and sustainable development.

Bettina Bergöö is a Fellow (Green Finance) at the Center for Market Innovation, National Resource Defense Council, Washington DC, United States. She splits her time between increasing investment in green infrastructure through green investment banks and expanding access to clean energy in affordable multifamily housing. She has an educational and work background in clean energy policy and finance in the United States and in emerging economies. Prior to joining NRDC, Bergöö worked for three years as a management consultant on energy and water initiatives for the U.S. Department of Defense, focusing on strategic planning and program evaluation. She then held positions at SELCO Foundation, Barefoot College, and Enventure Enterprises in India and East Africa, where she conducted policy and finance analysis on the off-grid energy sector and incubated clean energy social enterprises. She is based in Washington, D.C.

Dr. Giovanni Palmisano earned his MSc in Chemical Engineering and his PhD in Chemical and Materials Engineering from the University of Palermo, Italy. Before joining Khalifa University (Masdar Campus), Dr. Palmisano’s research activities were mainly developed in Italy and Spain and concern photo-catalytic processes for organic chemistry, hydrogen production, water and air remediation, and self-cleaning coatings, with a special attention to materials characterization, kinetics, modelling of photo-reactors and radiant fluxes. From 2009 to 2012, he was administrator, chief engineer and safety manager at Hedera Engineering Srl – an Italian company operating in design and construction of photovoltaic plants in Italy. From 2008 to 2013 he has held free-lance consulting activity for private companies and Italian municipalities. Dr. Palmisano has co-authored ca. 90 highly cited papers in peer-reviewed international journals, and he has to his record seven patents, six books and six invited book chapters. He is regularly invited to offer lectures and serve as chair-person at international conferences and workshops. He is member of the editorial board of three international journals and he has guest-edited three special issues of international journals. He has been main advisor of 4 PhD students and advisor or coadvisor of 6 MSc students, one of whom won the best thesis award in Chemical Engineering and the outstanding thesis award in Masdar Institute.

Idowu (Jola) Ajibade is an Assistant Professor in Geography at Portland State University. She is an interdisciplinary scholar with a keen interest in human-environment relations. Her current research focuses on transformation and climate change adaptation in Sustainable Cities, Waterfront-Future Cities, and Informal Settlements. She is particularly interested in the connections between sustainability transitions, environmental justice, resilience planning and transformative adaptation. Jola explore concepts of resilience, transition, and transformation as pathways towards sustainability on multiple scales. Dr. Ajibade has over 10 years of professional experience working in both academic and professional sectors. She has worked with the Balsillie School of International Affairs (Wilfrid Laurier University and University of Waterloo), Western University, Leonard Cheshire International, (Sierra Leone and Nigeria), International Council on Human Rights Policy (Geneva, Switzerland); Freedom House Human Rights Reporting Project (Nigeria), and Institute for Media and Society (Nigeria). Jola holds a Ph.D. in Geography and Environmental Sustainability from Western University, Canada; an M.A. in International Law and Human Rights from the University for Peace, Costa Rica; and a B.A. in Philosophy from Obafemi Awolowo University, Nigeria. She was a Jeanne Sauvé Fellow at McGill University; a UNU-EHS fellow at United Nations University, Germany; a UNU Fellow at the United Nations University, Tokyo, Japan; and a fellow at University of Brown International Advanced Research Institute, Rhode Island, USA. She is currently a Research Fellow with the Earth System Governance, Sweden; an affiliate member at the McGill Sustainability Systems Initiative, Canada; and a Young Scientist Fellow in Integrated Research on Disaster Risk Programme (IRDR), China. Through her research, teaching and community engagement, she contributes to scholarship in areas of political ecology, climate change adaptation, environmental justice, transformation studies, urban planning and future cities, sustainable development, and feminist and disaster studies.

Dr. Greg Bodeker earned his PhD in Physics in 1994 at the University of Natal, South Africa. He then joined the National Institute of Water and Atmospheric Research (NIWA) in New Zealand where he worked primarily on ozone depletion and climate change. In 2009 he left NIWA to establish Bodeker Scientific Ltd, a research company conducting research into the chemistry and climate of Earth’s atmosphere. Since 2009 he has also been an adjunct professor at the New Zealand Climate Change Research Institute, in the School of Geography, Environment and Earth Sciences, at Victoria University of Wellington. Following his interest in innovation, in 2015 Dr. Bodeker established Kentron Ltd, a company specialising in the development and commercialisation of software and technology-based ideas. Dr. Bodeker has acted as a co-author, lead-author, and coordinating lead-author on several WMO/UNEP ozone assessments and also as a lead author on an IPCC/TEAP report on ozone-climate interactions. He was a member of the International Commission on the Middle Atmosphere from 2003 to 2011, the International Ozone Commission from 2004 to 2012, co-chair of SPARC (Stratosphere-troposphere Processes And their Role in Climate; a core project of the World Climate Research Programme) from 2012 to 2014, and co-chair of the GCOS Reference Upper-Air Network (GRUAN) from 2011 to 2017. He has authored or co-authored 133 papers in the international peer reviewed literature and has co-supervised 11 PhD students. His current research interests include measurements of upper-air essential climate variables, detection and attribution of climate change, and stratospheric dynamics.

Steffen Kallbekken is a Research Director at CICERO Center for International Climate Research where he has worked since 2002. He was initially hired to program the first computable general equilibrium model at CICERO, and started a PhD on the effectiveness and acceptability of environmental taxes two years later. After completing his PhD in Economics in 2008 he has managed research projects on environmental taxes, transport policy, behavioural interventions ("nudges"), and energy efficiency. He was Research Director of the Climate Policy unit in 2012 and 2013, and the Climate Economics Unit from 2014 to 2017. Since 2014 he has been Director of the FME-center CICEP Center for International Climate and Energy Policy, and much of his outreach and research has focused on the Paris Agreement.

Dr. Kallbekken is currently chair of the Norwegian commission on estimating emissions from agriculture, and a member of the Norwegian commission for estimating emission effects of climate measures. Dr. Kallbekken's current research interests follow two main lines: The design of international climate agreements, with a particular focus on the role of short-lived climate pollutants, and the effectiveness and acceptability of climate policy instruments. Most of his research is based on use surveys, lab and field experiments.

Paula Holland is a development practitioner with 27 years’ experience conducting economic analysis for sustainable development. She specialises in the economic dimensions of risk management (climate change adaptation and disaster risk). Her background includes economic analysis of natural resource management in Australia (national government), the United Kingdom (academia) and the Pacific. She has extensive experience working with intergovernmental agencies to serve the sustainable development needs of Pacific small island developing states. Paula is presently an environmental economist with New Zealand’s National Institute of Water and Atmospheric Research. Paula interprets the findings of physical science from a socioeconomic perspective. She provides a science-policy interface so that policy makers can make informed decisions based on scientific evidence. Her experience includes the cost benefit analysis of risk management options, economic valuation of resource use and the costing of national policies, such as national disaster risk management action plans. She also has considerable experience in building the capacity of junior economists and Pacific island staff in how to conduct natural resource economics analysis. Paula’s background covers sectors such as fisheries, waste management, natural hazards, climate change adaptation and conservation. She has contributed to policy change in several cases, including relocating facilities in Fiji and Tonga to adapt to storm threats and policy development in Kiribati to address the mining of aggregates in the face of climate change. Paula has a Master of Science in Rural Resources and Environmental Policy (Imperial College) and an Honours degree in Economics and Geography specialising in resource economics.

Dr. Zhu Liu is the Young Talent associate professor at Tsinghua University and lecture on Climate Change and Sustainability at Tyndall Centre for Climate Change Research, University of East Anglia. He is also the Giorgio Ruffolo Research Fellow and Associate at Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs, Harvard University. Dr. Liu hold Ph.D. from the Chinese Academy of Sciences (2013) with joint training by University of Cambridge (2012). He has conducted postdoctoral research at Harvard University and California Institute of Technology (collaborate with NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL).

Dr. Liu is the editor of Applied Energy, a peer-reviewed academic journal covering research on energy engineering with impact factors of 7.9, Dr. Liu have authored about 40 academic publications in Nature, Nature Climate Change, PNAS and other professional journals. Dr. Liu’s research has also been covered by 300+ international media outlets including by Nature, Science, New York Times, BBC, and CNN, and has been cited by policy stakeholders as scientific basis for environmental policies. Dr. Liu is the global highly citied researcher (ranking in the top 1% by citations).

Ana Pueyo is a consultant and Scholar in energy and development policy and economics. Currently, she is working on a technical assistance for ECREEE (the ECOWAS Centre for Renewable Energy and Energy Efficiency), based in Cape Verde. In ECREEE she works mainly on two Programmes: Regional Electricity Markets Integration, and Gender mainstreaming in energy interventions. In her academic role as a Senior Research Fellow at IDS, she leads large multidisciplinary, international research projects on energy policy for sustainable development. She is also involved in teaching, convening the Master's course module "Competing in the Green Economy".

Her geographic focus in the last 6 years has been Sub-Saharan Africa, but previously she worked extensively in Latin America and Europe. She is a trained Economist, and she holds a PhD in Industrial Engineering as well as an MSc in Management of Information Systems by the London School of Economics.

Ms Rianne C. ten Veen LLM MA MSc PGDip PGCert is a humanitarian aidworker with research and environment specialisms. After a decade at an INGO, and several years at a consultancy, she has been a PhD researcher on globalisation and surveillance, now an independent disaster management consultant and focus on faith-inspired sustainable development. She focuses on disaster-related/ environment/ development projects. She was a Board Member at Groundwork W-Midlands and former Trustee at TreeAid. Finances permitting, she would love to spend more time on a PhD on Islam & Environment: comparing the humanitarian aid principle of 'do no harm' with the Islamic principle of 'la darar' (do no harm) with regards to sustainable development.
She is a member of the management team of Islamic Foundation for Ecology & Environment Sciences (IFEES), and co-founded 'Faith and Climate Change' (a Birmingham Friends of the Earth project; this project was a finalist in NESTA's Big Green Challenge and won The Guardian's Community Hero award and was the Environment lead on the Committee of the Birmingham Council of Faiths. In 2009, she self-published a 'save cash& planet' style book from Islamic perspective: '199 ways to please God, how to (re-)align your daily life with your duty of care to Creation' (ISBN: 978-1844266296) and set up Green Creation.

Dr. Frederiksen is a senior scientist at Department of Environmental Science, Aarhus University. She is a master in geography and earned her PhD in 1993 from Roskilde University, with studies based on remote sensing of land degradation in semi-arid East Africa. Since then, she has developed a broader interest in social-ecological interdisciplinary challenges, sustainability and lately, climate change, in applied and interdisciplinary contexts. While at Roskilde University, she continued working with farming and land degradation in semi-arid East Africa. She participated in a 5 years interdisciplinary Centre for Research on Sustainable Agriculture in Semi-Arid Africa (SASA) with agronomists, economists, development researchers and antropologists, focusing on resource management and land degradation. After a 3 years’ leave as a spouse in Indonesia, she moved to the Danish National Environmental Research Institute (NERI), which was in 2007 merged into Aarhus University. Since then, she has mainly worked with European and Danish environmental challenges. She has studied farming and farmer strategies in organic farming, and how they contributed to nature quality, and she worked with governance and planning for water quality in coastal and marine environments. Later she studied bioenergy potentials, and location of biomass based utilities. Her research interests are now turning towards climate change mitigation and adaptation. She has served as Head of Section Emission modeling and environmental geography (2006-2018), and has been a member of the Danish Climate Council (2015-2019).

Dr. Neil Craik is an Associate Professor at the University of Waterloo with appointments to the Balsillie School of International Affairs and the School of Environment, Enterprise and Development, where he teaches and researches in the fields of international and Canadian environmental law. His current research examines the legal structure of global commons regimes. Professor Craik has particular interests in climate and geoengineering law and governance, deep seabed mining regulation and environmental impact assessment. He is a Senior Fellow at the Centre for International Governance Innovation (CIGI), Co-director of the BSIA/CIGI International Law Summer Institute and from 2011 to 2017, Professor Craik served as the Director of the School of Environment, Enterprise and Development at the University of Waterloo.

He is the author of several books, including Global Environmental Change and Innovation in International Law, (Cambridge University Press, 2018), Climate Change Policy in North America: Designing Integration(UTP, 2013), Public Law: Cases, Materials and Commentary (Emond Montgomery, 2011) and The International Law of Environmental Impact Assessment: Process Substance and Integration (CUP, 2008), in addition to numerous book chapters and journal articles.

Kristina Alnes is a Senior Advisor in Climate Finance at CICERO, an interdisciplinary climate research institute. She leads CICERO’s research on developing a climate risk rating of companies. Kristina also conducts environmental ratings and assessments of green bonds and sukuks, and sustainability bond frameworks. CICERO is the leading global provider of external reviews on green bonds, having provided approximately 100 Second Opinions. Her other research includes physical climate risk, blockchain applications to impact reporting, analysis and disclosure of climate risk for corporations. Kristina also conducts capacity building on climate finance in emerging markets.

Prior to CICERO, Kristina worked in management consulting, environmental project management and academic research. She has advised financial institutions and Fortune 500 companies in the US, Europe and the Middle East on environmental and social data analysis, stakeholder engagement and ESG strategy. Among her clients were Walmart, the IMF and the King Khalid Foundation of Saudi Arabia.

Kristina has a Master of Science in Sustainability Management from Columbia University, USA, and a Bachelor of Commerce from McGill University, Canada.

Dr. Warren Mabee (Ph.D. 2001, Toronto) is Professor and Head of the Department of Geography and Planning at Queen’s University. He holds a Canada Research Chair (Tier 2) in Renewable Energy Development and Implementation, and is cross appointed to the School of Policy Studies and the School of Environmental Studies at Queen’s. His international research programme focuses on the interface between policy and technology in the area of renewable energy and fuels, addressing issues that bridge the gap between researchers and decision-makers using tools such as life cycle assessment, geographic information systems and agent-based logistical models. His past work experiences include stints at the University of British Columbia and the University of Toronto, as well as the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations. He is interested in mentoring students focused on issues around renewable energy, energy and environmental policy, and forestry.

Dr. Basim Belgasim is currently a Director of solar thermal systems at the Centre for Solar Energy Research and Studies (CSERS). He earned his PhD in 2013 from Northumbria University, UK in the area of renewable energy engineering. His research interest includes concentrating solar power (CSP), direct and indirect solar water desalination systems and solar water heating and cooling technologies. Dr. Belgasim is a lecturer at Mechanical Engineering Department, University of Benghazi and visiting lecturer at Libyan Academy of Higher Education. Also, Dr. Belgasim is an active member at different professional bodies. He is an Editor at Journal of Solar Energy and Sustainable Development, Member of World Society of Sustainable Energy Technologies (WSSET), UK, Member of Scientific Advisory Board at Centre for Solar Energy Research and Studies (CSERS), Recognized Reviewer at Applied Thermal Engineering and Applied Energy (Elsevier) journals.

With a background in technology and financing, having developed and sold 2 software companies and 2 banking services firms, Mr. De Rosa started Lamplighter Energy in 2002 to re-power existing wind farms in the western United States. Since then, Lamplighter and it’s affiliates have grown to deliver over 2,100 MW of wind, solar, hydro and waste to energy facilities in North America, E. & W. Europe and the ASEAN/China markets as well as new initiatives in Biomass, Hydrogen, Energy Storage and Water Treatment Systems. He led new greenfield development initiatives for Lamplighter and partner companies as well as managed the turn around for a publicly traded company and acquisitions of both assets and competitive development companies.

Mr. De Rosa studied Theology and Management at Moody Bible Institute, Corporate Finance from AIU and in addition to starting and selling 5 successful companies has helped start 7 international non-profits serving the disadvantaged.

Anna Asikainen is a climate change and green finance expert with over 10 years of international experience working in academia, financial services and management consulting in Europe, the Middle East and Americas. In her current role at South Pole, Anna manages the UN Environment-led Financial Centres for Sustainability (FC4S) initiative which aims to catalyze green finance innovation at a pan-European level, aligning these efforts with the EU Commission Action Plan for Financing Sustainable Growth. In addition, Anna supervises projects related to mobilizing climate finance, creating an industry standard for reporting climate risks and designing national and regional carbon pricing schemes. Her previous experience includes leading the commercial activities at MÉXICO2 – Mexican Carbon Platform at the Mexican Stock Exchange, lecturing and conducting research at the Monterrey Institute of Technology and managing multidisciplinary academic projects in the Middle East. Anna has delivered mandates on climate change and green finance to the World Bank, Inter American Development Bank, United Nations, Environmental Defense Fund, International Emissions Trading Association (IETA), Secretariat of Environment and Natural Resources in Mexico (SEMARNAT) and to a wide range of national governments and private sector companies. She holds a M.Sc. in Economics from Aalto University School of Business and a B.Sc. in International Business from Helsinki School of Economics. In addition, she has completed studies on social and environmental impact assessment, carbon offset project development and financial markets.

Magda Moner-Girona has a PhD in Physics (Material Science). With over 15 years of experience, Dr. Moner-Girona’s research has focused on techno-economic studies to analyze policies enhancing the deployment of renewable energy in Sub-Saharan Africa and the energy-related sustainable development goals. This includes experience at the United Nation Environment Programme, the European Commission's Joint Research Centre, and the University of California at Berkeley.
In the last years, she is focusing on integrating social dimensions in the techno-economic studies by building up several indicators. In the JRC‘s Institute for Energy, under the framework of the European Photovoltaic Platform, she worked with the design of policy support schemes for the deployment of renewable energies in off-grid regions (Feed-in tariff for mini-grids). She focus on least-cost models combined with geospatial analysis to build-up interactive tools for rural electrification planning.
At the United Nation Environment Programme‘s, she coordinated several activities to help governments gain a better understanding of the policy and technology requirements associated with renewable energy deployment in China, South Africa and Brazil and solar and wind resource assessments.

Dr. Rajnish Ranjan is Vice President, Government Business & Disaster Management at Skymet Weather Services Pvt. Ltd. He is a motivational teacher, research mentor, trainer and policy adviser having strong hold on emerging market potential in the subject. He is having over 20 years of inter-disciplinary experience in Disaster Risk Management, Geosciences and Hydrogeology. He has worked in senior positions in organizations like National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA), National Institute of Disaster Management (NIDM), International Federation of Red Cross & Red Crescent Societies (IFRC), Administrative Training Institutes etc. He is an alumnus of Science College, Patna University, where he attained masters and PhD with NET (CSIR). He is specialized in multi-level capacity building interventions including e-learning. His expertise also includes flood risk management, DRR and sustainable development, research and knowledge management. Taught and lectured in leading universities and more than 50 institutions across the country, written several research papers and academic articles in multiple disciplines. He also contributed in the formulation of National Disaster Management Plan, Guidelines on Boat and Navigational safety and review of several State Disaster Management Plans including Departmental DM Plans. Throughout his career, Rajnish has been deeply involved in research, knowledge management and evaluation of teaching and learning methodology. Contributed as Member Secretary in 3 apex level Expert Groups in India constituted by NDMA- Expert Group on flooding and Siltation in Bihar, Expert group on the preparation of Flood Hazard Atlas, Expert group on the preparation of National Guidelines on Boat and Navigational Safety. He is interested in mentoring students working on the following areas: hazard,vulnerability and risk assessment, disaster management planning, supply chain management during and after disaster, mainstreaming in developmental planning, hydro-geological investigation with special reference to groundwater quality, geohazards and risk mitigation especially landslides and virtual learning environment.

David Moser graduated in physics and coordinates the activities of the Research Group Photovoltaic Energy Systems of the Institute for Renewable Energy, EURAC, Bolzano, Italy. His work focuses on characterising indoor and outdoor behaviour, performance, reliability and quality of PV modules and systems, and their integration in grids and in the built environment. He is also active in PV potential studies on a regional and national scale and on the role of PV in the energy transition. He is member of the board of directors of “The Association of European Renewable Energy Research Centres” EUREC and of the Steering Committee of the European PV Technology and Innovation Platform PV ETIP.

Dr. Roberta Boscolo is Science Officer of the World Meteorological Organization (WMO) leading the climate and energy nexus area of research and applications. In particular she is supporting the development of renewable energy in low-income countries and emerging markets. Renewable energy brings multiple opportunities for low-emissions and climate-resilient development but is also highly sensitive to climate, weather and water. Her work focuses on enhancing the national capacity to develop and deliver operational climate information to strategic socio-economic sectors for adaptation and mitigation roadmaps.
Prior to this position, she was programme officer at the World Climate Research Programme secretariat, coordinating scientific efforts worldwide to address the knowledge gaps in understanding Earth climate system. Within WCRP she lead efforts for advancing in the application of climate change research to develop climate adaptation strategies.
She has a Master’s degree in Physical Oceanography from the University of North Wales, UK, and a Bachelor of Physics from the University of Padua in Italy.

Joshua B. Horton is Research Director, Geoengineering at the Harvard John A. Paulson School of Engineering and Applied Sciences and also manages the Weatherhead Center for International Affairs Initiative on Climate Engineering. His research encompasses the politics, policy, and governance of solar geoengineering, with a current focus on compensation for harms arising from possible future deployment of the technology. From 2013 to 2016, Dr. Horton was a Postdoctoral Research Fellow in the Belfer Center’s Science, Technology, and Public Policy Program. He obtained a PhD in political science from Johns Hopkins University in 2007, where he specialized in international relations.

Rusyan Jill Mamiit holds a Ph.D. in Natural Resources and Environmental Management from the University of Hawaii at Manoa. She is a sustainable development professional with training and broad experience in conducting socioeconomic, statistical, policy, and data analyses as well as capacity building and training activities related to climate change adaptation, ecosystem services, food security, agricultural entrepreneurship, renewable energy, and water resources management among others. Over the last 15 years, she has planned, organized, coordinated, and managed projects and capacity development activities at various scales in more than ten countries in Southeast Asia, the Middle East, North America, and the Pacific. Her ability to lead change in complex environments, to work in multi-cultural and multi-disciplinary settings, as well as her communication and teamwork skills characterize much of her work.

Currently, she is the external technical lead of the United Arab Emirates’ National Climate Change Adaptation Program. In this capacity, she developed the UAE’s national climate change risk assessment framework considering the local socioeconomic, political, and technical contexts. She assessed the climate risks for the UAE’s health, energy, infrastructure, and environment sectors using the framework that is expert-guided, evidence-based, and participatory. With her technical and analytical skills, she helped the UAE Ministry of Climate Change and Environment develop and publish a series of flagship reports on climate change adaptation not only in the UAE but in the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) region.

Prior to her current post, she also served as an Environmental Affairs Officer at the United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (UNESCAP). At the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) Centre for Biodiversity, she focused on the areas of climate change, ecosystem services, and risk assessment in her role as a Research and Policy Specialist. At the International Development Research Centre (IDRC) and at the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN), she had the opportunity to investigate both natural and human-induced disasters such as the tsunami and the regional haze pollution.

In almost two decades of hands-on experience in delivering strategic research, analysis, and capacity building initiatives in the areas of biodiversity, climate change, and related socioeconomic issues, among others, she has built a strong connection to networks of researchers, policymakers, professionals, and civil society organizations in Southeast Asia, the Pacific, West Asia, North America, and even Europe and Africa. She plans to continue her work on climate change and include cutting-edge issues related to socially-inclusive economic growth, ecological resilience, disaster risk reduction, and food security. Her other continuing interests include the greening of policies at various scales of governance and findings ways to achieve the sustainable development goals (SDGs).

In parallel to her professional activities, she continues to enhance her skills in the area of climate change adaptation. She recently completed her Certificate in Climate Adaptation Finance from the Frankfurt School of Finance and Management. As a member of various professional organizations, she continues her outreach work by giving pro bono lectures on climate change and sustainable development to local universities.

Ademola Oluborode JEGEDE is a professor of law at the University of Venda (UNIVEN). He holds an LLB (Obafemi Awolowo University, Nigeria), an LLM in Human Rights & Democratisation in Africa (University of Pretoria), and obtained an LLD Human Rights, with distinction, from the same University. During the LLM programme, Ademola was the winner of the Keba Mbaye prize for the best dissertation and while at UNIVEN, he has won several research honours.

His research focal area is on the interface of climate change and carbon dioxide removal options with human rights law of vulnerable groups in Africa. His extensive publications on this theme include the book The Climate Change Regulatory Framework and Indigenous Peoples’ Lands in Africa: Human Rights Implications (Pretoria University Law Press, 2016) and a range of articles and chapters in book published by reputable national and international publishing houses. Ademola is on the editorial and reviewers lists of journals including the African Human Rights Year Book, African Human Rights Law Journal, International Migration, International Journal on Minority and Group Rights, Third World Quarterly, Australian Journal of Human Rights. He has been a research visitor to the Centre for International Environmental Law, USA, and Human Rights Institute at Abo Akademi, Finland. He is a fellow of Salzburg Seminar, Austria and a visiting lecturer to the LLM Human Rights programme of the Centre for Human Rights, Faculty of Law and since 2014, he has been listed on the distinguished roster of Counsel under the Legal Aid Scheme of the African Court of Human and Peoples’ Rights, African Union.

Helene Amundsen is a Senior Researcher at CICERO Center for International Climate Research, Oslo. Her current research areas are municipal challenges to climate change, particularly transformation to low-emission society, and climate change adaptation. She is the principal investigator on a project investigating how Norwegian municipalities can contribute to transformation to a low-emission society. She has previously worked in coastal and natural resource-based communities and is currently completing a study on the primary industries and the green transformation.

Joachim Bonkoungou is a consultant for African Development Bank (AfDB), Abidjan, Cote d’Ivoire. His expertise cover climate change and green growth mainstreaming in projects, country strategic paper and regional integrated strategic paper for West Africa. Projects are from agriculture, energy, transport and water supply and sanitation sectors. He supports West African country to have access to climate finance. AfDB has two own climate funds (Africa Climate Change Fund and Sustainable Energy Fund for Africa) and four external funds where AfDB is implementing entity (Green Climate Fund, Climate Investment Fund, Global Environment Facility and Adaptation Fund). He supports also West African Countries for their National Determined Contribution (NDC) implementation and the new NDC formulation to take into account new ambitions of greenhouse gas reduction. Bonkoungou was a researcher on geography, climate and environment at Burkina Faso’s institute on agriculture and environment research (www.inera.bf). He is a fellowship from African Climate Leadership Program (https://africlp.or.ke) for conducting research in Tiogo Classified Forest in Burkina Faso. Students are investigating practices to empower local and marginalized stakeholders and make the forest more resilient to climate change. A protocol is being co-developed to have an inclusive management of the classified forest. Bonkoungou hold a Master’s degree from regional AGRHYMET Centre and a geography doctorate on Burkina Faso’s climate change from University of Niamey (Niger). Research interests cover participatory action research on adaptation and attenuation to climate change in agriculture, environment and water sectors, innovative best practices co-development, empowerment of stakeholders to ensure local development.

Dr Shannon is a Senior Lecturer in Politics and International Relations at the University of the Sunshine Coast. His work focuses on the processes of global change and transformation that take place over and above the state. In particular, he has examined how peoples have sought to expand the circle of inclusion in cosmopolitan political community through processes of mutual recognition and dialogue across borders in world politics. His other research areas include global responses to climate change and ecological crises, accountability efforts in global governance, and the problems of assassination and tyrannicide. Also, he has investigated the continuing impact of dialogue and discourses in socialist thought, including fieldwork in Cuba in 2016 investigating current forms of socio-political change underway on the island. His current major project focuses on dialectics – a unique form of thinking through dialogue with others – and how different cultures and societies have utilized such knowledge across history. There, he has shown how dialectical thinking can help us mediate the accelerating ecological and political challenges facing humanity today. Since completing his PhD in 2011, he has been a research fellow at the University of Helsinki, a postdoctoral fellow at the University of Queensland, and research fellow at Griffith University. He has published widely in critical International Relations theory, edited four books and three journal symposia. He is a co-founder and co-editor of the journal Global Discourse and sit on the editorial board of Globalizations. Here is a link to his personal website.

Swenja is Head of Adaptation Research at the Grantham Research Institute on Climate Change and the Environment, part of the London School of Economics and Political Science (LSE), overseeing social science research projects on climate adaptation, Loss and Damage of climate change, and disaster risk finance with a geographic scope ranging from the UK to developing countries. Swenja’s research is investigating climate risk management and resilience strategies focusing on public policies, financial instruments and individual behaviour through a mix of inter-disciplinary approaches, integrating concepts from geography, climate science, economics and governance studies.

She has published widely on these topics and is a contributing author to the IPCC and the EU Science for Disaster Risk Management Report. She is co-founder of the ‘Loss and Damage Network’–bringing together academics and practitioners working on the UNFCCC’s L&D work program. She works closely with industry and policy makers and was appointed Visiting Academic at the Bank of England in 2015 to work on the regulator’s first report on climate change. Swenja was selected lead author for the business and industry chapter of the UK Climate Change Risk Assessment in 2017 and Lead Academic for a World Bank project on the benefits of Disaster Risk Management (DRM), working with the Overseas Development Institute to explore how the co-benefits of DRM measures can strengthen the economic case for investment. Swenja was the GRI-lead in the Costing Climate Change Impacts and Adaptation in Ireland project, in collaboration with University College Cork and funded by the Environmental Protection Agency in Ireland. From 2012 – 2016 she was Principal Investigator for the EU’s FP7-project ENHANCE, conducting an analysis of disaster risk management partnerships across Europe and an investigation of the UK’s new Flood Re insurance arrangement.

Prior to joining LSE in 2010 Swenja spent more than ten years in the insurance industry working on climate and risks management, including roles at Munich Re, Marsh Mc Lennon and the Association of British Insurers. Swenja was a Fulbright Scholar in the US, studying Ecological Economics and International Relations at the University of New Hampshire and received a PhD in Political Science from Hamburg University for her work on ‘Climate Change and the Insurance Industry’ in 2002.

Adam W. Stratton is a certified renewable energy specialist, impassioned with clean energy generation. He holds a Masters degree in Renewable Energy Management and has over 15 years of experience serving in various capacities related to renewable energy management. He co-founded Sladamco Energy Incorporation and Tecasol S.L, where he acts also as a board member. Both companies provide innovative energy and water technologies to Africa, Spain and Portugal, as well as water technologies to various countries around the world. He currently holds the position of the Head of North America, Project Development and Offtake Origination, X-ELIO, United States. Prior to his present position, he had previously served as the Senior Corporate Director, Algonquin Power and Utilities Corporation spearheading solar, wind and energy storage greenfield development.

During the last 25 years Carsten Hellpap worked at the German Development Agency GTZ now GIZ. Mr. Hellpap was head of the German Appropriate Technology and Ecoefficiency programme (GATE), supporting the introduction and dissemination of different types of technologies in developing countries, considering economic, environmental and social factors. In 2005, he became director of the international energy access programme Energising Development (EnDev), which is active in 25 countries and has been financed by six European donors. In addition to the practical work as project manager, he prepared publications and papers on technological and environmental issues and he was lecturer at the University of Darmstadt in Germany. Currently, he is senior energy advisor for the consulting company Innovative Infrastructure Development based in Frankfurt.

Dr. Ana María Loboguerrero is the Head of Global Policy Research of the CGIAR Research Program for Climate Change, Agriculture and Food Security (CCAFS), based in Cali, Colombia. In this position, she plays a major role in leadership on partnerships and capacity for scaling Climate-Smart Agriculture that cuts across all CCAFS Flagships and Regions and all CGIAR Research Programs. She also leads global engagement processes and global synthesis topics such as the “Transforming Food Systems under a Changing Climate” initiative, which aims to realize a transformation in food systems by mobilizing knowledge and catalyzing action. Ana Maria also leads the Latin American Section of CCAFS. In this position, she plays a major role in partnership development aimed to build impact pathways so that knowledge in climate change leads to implementation. Ana María holds a Master and a PhD on Economics from University of California, Los Angeles, USA (UCLA). Before joining the CGIAR, Ana María worked at the Sustainable Environmental Development Deputy Directorate of the National Planning Department of Colombia as coordinator of climate change. While at the deputy directorate, Dr. Loboguerrero led the formulation of the Colombian Climate Change Policy, the National Adaptation Plan, the National Development Plan and the research agenda on climate change as well as coordinated technical support for the Colombian Low Carbon Growth Strategy.

Dr. Feras Ziadat is a Land resources Officer (UNFAO), focusing on land resources planning tools and approaches to support integrated land and water management, participatory land use planning, combating land degradation and desertification, and scaling out of sustainable land management. He worked previously as a senior scientist on soil conservation and land management at the International Center for Agricultural Research in the Dry Areas (ICARDA) and an associate professor at the University of Jordan. The focus of previous work is on the application of GIS and remote sensing on soil-landscape modeling, soil mapping, integrated and participatory land use planning, land degradation and desertification, and integrated watershed management. His activities are centered on the assessment, planning, implementation/scaling out and monitoring of land and water sustainable management practices and exploring the enabling environment and tools/approaches to enhance the wide-scale adoption and uptake of sustainable options to enhance food security and livelihoods. Dr. Feras obtained his BSc on soil and irrigation from the University of Jordan, MSc on land management and soil conservation from the University of Jordan and a PhD from Cranfield University (UK) on land resources management, GIS and remote sensing

Dr. Jayanta Kumar Saha is Principal Scientist in the discipline of soil science with more than 30 years of research experience in the field of micronutrients and pollutant elements. Currently, he is leading the research groups in Division of Environmental Soil Science under Indian Institute of Soil Science, India. He did his M.Sc. and Ph.D. in agricultural chemistry and soil science from BCKV, Mohanpur (West Bengal), India. He is the recipient of S. N. Ranade Memorial Junior Scientist Award for Excellence in Micronutrient Research. His major research areas are chemistry of plant nutrients and pollutants in soil, soil pollution impact assessment, food contamination, risk assessment on soil biological activities and toxicity amelioration including phytoremediation. Dr. Saha has investigated and co-investigated more than 20 projects sponsored by World Bank, Govt. of India and various industries. He has published several original research articles (62) in renowned national and international journals, technical bulletins and books (10) and book chapters (17) and serves as reviewer of several international journals. His research group has published a widely popular international reference book ‘Soil Pollution – An Emerging Threat to Agriculture. ISBN 978-981-10-4274-4’ published by Springer. He has worked under various capacities in national and international forums. He is a member of Technical Expert Committee constituted by Government of India for developing Soil Standard for remediation purpose. Earlier, he served as Member-Secretary of Quinquennial Review Team constituted by Government of India to review a research institute.

Dr. Ratna Reddy is an economist by training with experience in the fields of environmental economics and natural resource management, climate change, livelihoods and institutions. He is an Alexander von Humboldt Fellow at South Asian Institute, Germany, and a visiting fellow at the Institute of Development Studies, Sussex; the University of Leeds, UK; and the UN-University, Dresden, Germany. Served as consultant to organisations like: The World Bank; ADB; UNDP; DFID; EC; WWF, IWMI, ICRISAT, UNU, OPM, etc. He has served as a working group member in the preparation of 11th and 12th Plans for the Government of India. He has also published 15 books and more than 150 research papers in international and national peer reviewed journals.

Vithal Karoshi holds MSc in Forestry and PhD in Agricultural Development. Vithal has about 25 years of international experience in Africa and India as a researcher, university teacher and project manager. He taught courses such as Tropical Forestry, Agroforestry, Nursery and Plantations, Water Harvesting and Seed Systems and Policy. He has supervised one master’s student thesis and 15 bachelor’s students project work. He has published 25 research papers on forestry, agroforestry, tree improvement, plants production and seed technology. He has been working on international developmental research projects on agriculture and seed systems, biodiesel, forestry and agroforestry that are supported by DFID-NRI-UK,USAID, DANIDA, Rockefeller Foundation and others. He is keen on developing sustainable models for climate smart agriculture, coffee cultivation in non-traditional areas, tree-based farming and watershed. Vithal is a member of International Institute for Applied Systems Analysis (IIASA), Austria. He is on the advisory board for World Research Journal of Agricultural Biotechnology and guest editor for International Journal of Management, Technology, and Social Sciences (IJMTS) and American Journal of Water Science and Engineering.

Anna is an interdisciplinary trained scientist and engineer, with remarkable experience in merging core and social science, economy, engineering and policy research. She holds a Doctoral Degree in Civil Engineering, with focus on climate change adaptation, water resources and sustainability. As land and water are finite resources and energy production is intertwined with our ability to sustain our food and water supply, Anna seeks solutions that incorporate the complexity of human – nature systems, close the gaps between management of different systems and reduce investments by designing solutions that solve intersectoral problems. Over the last 12 years Anna developed and delivered R&D projects with the goal to improve the capacity of Balkan regions to cope with inevitable climate, industrial and socio-political changes. Anna’s work is diverse and she worked on issues such as climate change impact on water resources and their sustainable use, agriculture capacity to contribute with new resources to alternative energy production, data for decision making, Energy-Water-Food NEXUS, future of energy production under changing socio-environmental circumstances and impact of inequality on countries coping capacities. Anna works simultaneously for the private sector and academia and has developed great insight into the needs and gaps between research and industry’s need to progress and respond to climate change and socio-economic risks. She has over ten years experience working and advising students. She is interested in mentoring graduate students who wish to understand the big picture of sustainable human existence while focusing on a concrete problem. She seeks to develop a confidence within the students that they are part of required change and that their work matters.

Dr. Anabo is an international environmental and water lawyer with rich teaching and research experiences. He came to lead environmental law research and development at Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change of Ethiopia with qualifications; LLB from Civil Service University, Faculty of law, (2000), LLM, Addis Ababa university, law school, (2008) title of thesis: ― Ethiopian competition policy and law : the theory and practice, MSC conservation and international wildlife trade(2010), university of Kent law school, Canterbury, UK, Durrell institute of conservation and ecology and PhD, university of Kent law school, Canterbury, UK (2015) International environmental and Water Law from University of Kent, UK. He leads and coordinates the Directorate General in the Environment, Forest and Climate Change Commission of Ethiopia that engages in the federal level development of environmental and natural resource management policy, law and standards research and development. He is currently overseeing the development of a diverse range of water, climate change and environmental laws, including participation as lead negotiator in development many multilateral environmental agreements. He is focal point for many of the multilateral environmental agreements in Ethiopia. He coordinates numerous policy dialogues in the areas of environmental law development and implementation. He was a member for the UNFCCC Technology Executive Committee representing African Group of Negotiators in Climate Change. He is Lead Negotiator in The UN Climate Change Process Representing African Group Of Negotiators, Lead expert African Ministerial Conference on the Environment, representing the Ethiopian Government, Nile Basin Wetland Experts Group Member Representing Ethiopia, Focal Point For UNESCO Representing The Environment, Forest And Climate Change Commission, National Focal Point For Development And Periodic Review Of Environmental Law For UNEP Montevideo Programme, National Steering Committee Member For Global Water Partnership, Member Board Of Wachamo University, Member For The UNICRI-Un Environment Experts, National Negotiators Team Members For Word Heritage Committee and Member For The Nile Basin Initiatives For Policy Development. He works on these with diverse international and national actors in Ethiopia. His current teaching and research includes work on wetland law, water law, economics and governance; Investment law, Payments for Ecosystem Services, Biosafety, equity and justice in environmental law; biodiversity, including benefit sharing and biosafety; climate change; and justice, with a particular focus on environmental and water rights. Anabo convenes Forest Law, Mekelle University natural Resource Law Center Postgraduate student, International Water Law, Addis Ababa University, African Water Excellency Center, Water Law, Addis Ababa Law School, Undergraduate students and Investment law in the Debera Berhan and Hwassa Universities.

Christian is a Consultant, Climate Change Team at IDB Invest, which he joined in 2017. He is responsible for coordinating advisory projects in the energy and agriculture sectors. Before joining the IDB Group, he held the positions of Researcher at Ecuador’s National Institute of Renewable Energy and Energy Efficiency; Sustainable Energy and Climate Change Coordinator at the Latin American Energy Organization (OLADE); National Director of Climate Change Mitigation for the Ecuadorian Ministry of the Environment; and Coordinator of the Low Emission Capacity Building program of the United Nations Development Program (UNDP). Christian earned a master’s degree in sustainable energy development from the University of Calgary (Canada) and an undergraduate degree as agricultural engineer from Universidad Central del Ecuador.

Claudia Wagner-Riddle is a Professor of Agrometeorology in the School of Environmental Sciences (SES), University of Guelph, Canada. Originally from Brazil, Claudia has degrees from the University of Sao Paulo and Guelph. Claudia leads an internationally-renowned research program utilizing the measurement of greenhouse gas emissions to determine the carbon footprint of food, feed, and fuel produced by agriculture. Claudia is on the Executive of the Soils At Guelph and leads a graduate training program on Climate-Smart Soils. She is a fellow of the Soil Science Society of America and of the American Meteorological Society, and Editor-in-Chief of the international journal Agricultural and Forest Meteorology. Claudia currently leads several projects focused on evaluating how soil health impacts ecosystem services, including a new $2 million infrastructure using large scale soil weighing lysimeter. Prof. Wagner-Riddle has published >120 papers and has an h-index of 36 (Google Scholar).

Denise DeLuca is the Director of MCAD’s MA in Sustainable Design program. She co-founded BCI: Biomimicry Creative for Innovation, a network of creative professional change agents driving ecological thinking for radical transformation. Denise is author of the book Re-Aligning with Nature: Ecological Thinking for Radical Transformation, which was illustrated by MASD alum Stephanie Koehler. She also teaches with the Amani Institute. Denise’s previous roles include Education Director for the International Living Future Institute, Project Manager for Swedish Biomimetics 3000, and Outreach Director for The Biomimicry Institute. Denise is a licensed civil engineer (PE) and holds a master’s degree in civil and environmental engineering with a focus on modeling landscape-scale surface and groundwater interactions. In addition, Denise is a Biomimicry Fellow of The Biomimicry Institute, on the editorial board of the Journal of Bionic Engineering, and a Researcher with Katerva. Denise is based in Montana USA. Denise’s background in engineering and love of nature and creative thinking has led her to become a pragmatic progressive, a rational radical, perhaps an enigmatic engineer. Her driving aspiration is to help people -- all of us -- realign with nature and our own human nature to support and serve our world. She works with people to explore nature’s paradigms, principles, and practices to generate the wildly innovative thinking needed to address real and relevant challenges, from the highly technical to the highly personal. Her greatest joy comes from enlightening, empowering, and equipping others so they can use their full creative capacity in making the world a better place.

Duncan Gromko works as a consultant to make agriculture and forestry more productive, inclusive, and environmentally sustainable. As an employee of UNIQUE forestry and land use, he supports international development organizations to design, implement, and evaluate large scale agriculture and forestry projects. His work especially focuses on the private sector, working with agribusinesses and financial institutions to identify opportunities for investments in climate smart agriculture. Geographically, Duncan has focused on East Africa (especially Kenya and Ethiopia), Southeast Asia, and Latin America. Within Africa, he also has experience in Morocco, Cameroon, and Zambia. Prior to joining UNIQUE, Duncan managed the Climate Smart Agriculture Fund for the Americas at the Inter-American Development Bank. This innovative fund invested directly into climate smart agribusinesses that otherwise struggled to access finance. He has also worked at the World Resources Institute, mapping deforestation related to palm oil production. Duncan has a background in environmental economics and finance.

Prof. George Okoye Krhoda, PhD, CBS, MKNAS is an Associate Professor of Geography and Environmental Studies, University of Nairobi, the Managing Director of Research on Environment and Development Planning (REDPLAN) Consultants Ltd. Until December 2006, he was the Permanent Secretary, Ministry of Environment and Natural Resources and Chairman of the Negotiation Committee on the Nile Basin Cooperative Framework, and earlier Permanent Secretary in the Ministry of Water and Irrigation where most of the water sector reforms were carried under his watch. Prof. Krhoda is a Hydrologist/Water Scientist and worked for the Government of Kenya, has M.A and Ph.D on river hydraulics and water resources planning and management. Krhoda was appointed Rapportuer for the GA/UNEP, in February 2006 in Dubai, The Emirates. Participated at the GLOBIS 2013 on Africa and Japan: Business and Development Partnerships after TICAD V. His current research and consultancy concentrate on Hydrology and environmental management, Policy Dialogue and Mediation, Conflict over use and access to natural resources, institutional reforms, and strategic planning.

Giancarlo Cesarello is currently a PhD candidate at the National Scientific Research Institute (INRS) in Quebec City, Quebec, Canada. During his professional and academic experience Giancarlo conducted researches on the assessment of marine degradation (coral reef) and contamination (oil spills) using remote sensing technology. In more recent years he explored the area of fresh water management (Integrated Water Resource Management - IWRM) gaining a Master degree at McGill, Quebec, Canada and he is now continuing to refine, through his PhD studies, his understanding on the relation between biodiversity dynamics, the sustainable use of ecosystem services and the environmental changing conditions impacted by climate changes. Giancarlo contributes also to the development of the projects and activities of a local non-profit organization which mission is focused on the sensitization of the protection of the water resources in the watershed where he lives (St. Charles river watershed, Quebec Canada). Over the last years, Giancarlo has introduced technology innovation, such as drone imaging and analysis, which has improved the interaction with the watershed stakeholders.

Dr.V.Kirubakaran has completed his Bachelors in Mechanical Engineering from Govt. College of Engineering, Salem, Tamilnadu, India in the year 1998. He has completed his Masters in Energy Engineering at National Institute of Technology (NIT), Trichy, Tamilnadu, India in the year 1998. He has worked as Research Associate in NIT, Trichy where he has successfully installed and maintained various sophisticated equipment purchased under UK India RECs Project. He has awarded a project by Department of Science and Technology, Govt. of India under Young Scientist Scheme titled “Gasification of Poultry litter” to the tune of Rs.12.52 lakhs. He has joined as Assistant Professor at Gandhigram Rural Institute – Deemed to be University, Tamilnadu, India in the year 2006. He has developed Energy Efficient Wooden Log Stove and distributed to 100 Noon Meal Centre of Authoor Block Dindigul District, Tamilnadu under Rashtriya Vigyan Evam Prodyogiki Sanchar Parishad scheme of Department of Science and Technology, Govt. of India. The Stove has the thermal efficiency of 36% . With the support of MNRE he has prepared a DPR for implementing Integrated Rural Energy Planning in 3 villages in Dinidul Dt. The object of the project is to create ‘Model Energy Village’ with Renewable and Energy Efficient Devices. In 2010, with the UGC funding Certificate Course in Energy Auditing has been introduced as an add on course to the students. He is the course coordinator for the following courses which is supported by University Grants Commission, Govt. of India, Certificate Course in Energy Auditing (Rs.7.5 lakhs) & M.Tech. Renewable Energy (Rs.60.00 lakhs). For bridling the gap of Skilled Man Power Requirement, with the support of the Ministry of New and Renewable Energy, Govt. of India, he trained around 620 students in the year 2013-14 and 2014-15 and he has organized 7 batches of “Suryamitra Skill Development Programme” with the support of National Institute of Solar Energy, Ministry of New and Renewable Energy and got Best Suryamitra Skill Development Institute in the year 2018. Also he completed UGC Major Research Projects titled “Computational Fluid Dynamics Studies on Cost Effective & Energy Efficient Building Design” & UGC Minor Research Project titled “Design and Development of Muscular Electric Power Generator”. He is an approved Energy Auditor by Bureau of Energy Efficiency, Govt. of India. He has organized 3 Global Initiative of Academic Networks (GIAN) Programme by the Experts from University of South Carolina and North Dakota State University, USA. With the support of Petroleum Conservation Research Association, Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Gas, Govt. of India, Energy Conservation Awareness has been given to the villagers.

Dr. Kourosh Mohammadi is a Principal Hydrogeologist with HLV2K Engineering, lecturer at University of Guelph and consultant with the United Nations (FAO). He graduated from Ecole Polytechnique de Montreal in Civil Engineering and has more than 20 years of experience in hydrogeology and environmental projects as expert and project manager. His experience with consulting companies involves groundwater flow and transport modelling, hydrogeological investigation, phase 1 and phase 2 environmental site assessment, and monitoring of surface water and groundwater quality. He has contributed to several publications including preparation of standard guidelines for water sector, books, journals, and conference papers. He is a member of the Professional Engineers of Ontario (P.Eng.).

Marc Dumas-Johansen is a forest and land use with the Green Climate Fund (GCF), based in Incheon, Republic of Korea. At present Marc works with REDD+ Results-based payments, agroforestry, restoration, conservation and reforestation as well as larger landscape based approaches as well as other forest and land use interventions, supporting the development of projects from project idea to full funding proposals. Prior to the GCF, Marc worked with the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) in a number of positions, first as a forest and climate change officer with the Forestry Department based in Rome, Italy and in the subregional office for Southern Africa in Harare, Zimbabwe. Afterwards Marc moved to FAO’s Global Environment Facility (GEF) unit in Rome working with the African region supporting the development and implementation of natural resources GEF projects. Marc started his career in Cambodia and Viet Nam working for a local NGO on agricultural development and later in Viet Nam working with the World Agroforestry Centre. Marc holds a bachelor degree and Master degree in Horticultural sciences from the University of Copenhagen, Denmark.

Dr Munkhzul Dorjsuren is a sustainable development practitioner and mine rehabilitation specialist based in Vancouver, Canada. She has 10+ years of experience combined in academia and mining industry. She conducts research and educational programs on environmental management in mining, improving mine closure policies and regulatory environments, land rehabilitation in large-scale mines, and linking responsible mining agenda to the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals. Munkhzul is passionate about mining for development and she focuses on socio-ecological aspects of resource development. She has been promoting responsible mining and environmental stewardship in mining for various platforms in collaboration with United Nations Development Program (Mongolia and Asia regional Hub) and Initiative for Responsible Mining Assurance (IRMA). She co-authored a nine-part training manual ‘Responsible Mining’, which specifically designed for small and medium scale mining companies and governments. Munkhzul currently serves as an advisor to the Editorial Board of 14th International Conference on Mine Closure 2020s. She obtained her PhD at the Sustainable Minerals Institute, University of Queensland (Australia). Her thesis explored closure options for tailings storage facilities for metal mines, as part of a multi-component research in collaboration with Xstrata Copper. Prior to joining to SMI, she had worked as an environmental liaison for Xanadu Mines Ltd and a research officer for grassland management program at the Institute of Geoecology, Mongolian Academy of Sciences. She is an Associate Member of the Environmental Institute of Australia and New Zealand.

Osvaldo has an extensive background in conservation and forest sector, with an emphasis on the REDD+ approach of UNFCCC to halt deforestation and forest degradation. From 2018, He has worked as an international consultant to LAC developing mitigation/adaptation components and safeguards requirements in forest projects. Previously, He worked on the Climate Change Unit at Forest Service in Chile implementing carbon and land-use projects, as well as the REDD+ Strategy, which allowed him collaborated with other LAC countries such as Mexico and Uruguay. Osvaldo has specialised in leveraging cooperation funds as GEF, FCPF and UN-REDD to compliance environmental commitments from UN Conventions. Besides, He has coordinated and managed field projects with stakeholders and Agencies such as the World Bank, UNDP, FAO, being a co-author in diverse technical publications and national reports. For instances, System of Measurement and Monitoring of REDD+ of Chile (2018), First Summary of Information of REDD+ Safeguards in Chile (2018), and Forest Reference Emission Level and Forest Reference Level of Natives Forest in Chile (2016) for the UNFCCC and, Land Degradation Neutrality (LDN) Report of Chile (2017) and National Action Program of Chile to Combat Desertification, Land Degradation and Drought (PANCD-Chile) 2016-2030 (2016), both for the UNCCD. His current interests include emission reduction policies, nature-based solutions and offsetting projects. Osvaldo earned his B. S. in Forestry Engineering from Santo Tomas University (Chile) and his Master in Human Development from Alberto Hurtado University (Chile) in 2008. Currently, He is pursuing a Master in Environmental and Sustainability at Monash University (Australia). Osvaldo speaks Spanish and English languages.

David Tipping is an international policy, partnership, program management and operations specialist. David has a governance and technical civil and environmental engineering background, and leadership experience across a range of economic, governmental and industrial sectors. These include United Nations appointments as Specialist and Advisor on Water, Sanitation, Infrastructure and Global Public Health. He has extensive practical expertise in strategy development and implementation, large-scale program/project management, sustainable urban and regional development, and regional and global water security. David is currently a Principal Associate at DeftEdge. He has a leadership role as a Red Cross Emergency Services Volunteer and is a member of several international committees and advisory groups focused on Multi-Stakeholder Partnerships for the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), Humanitarian Assistance, Water Economics and Statistics. David’s academic qualifications include a Master of Public Administration from Cornell University, a Master of Business Administration from Deakin University, a Master of Science in Civil Engineering from the University of Massachusetts in Amherst, and a Bachelor of Environmental Engineering from the University of Wollongong. He is a Certified Practicing Project Director (CPPD) through the Australian Institute of Project Management (AIPM), and won the Eugene M. Isenberg Award for integration of Science, Engineering and Management in Sustainable Development.

Dr. Emmanuel Garbolino has an accreditation to supervise researches in Geography (University of Nice, France) and he is also an engineer in Ecology (University of Aix-Marseille, France). After his PhD, for which he also worked at the Joint Research Centre (JRC) of the European Commission located at Ispra (Italy), he spent 17 years in the field of public research at MINES ParisTech at the Centre for Risk and Crisis researches. He is currently the Director of Climpact Data Science (CDS) company that provides services to support decision-makers to adapt their strategy, activities and territorial management in the frame of global climate and land use changes. Most of the researches managed by Emmanuel Garbolino come from Ecosystem-based Approaches with a prospective view in order to contribute to Climate Change Adaptation and Mitigation.

Dr. Matthew Berg is the CEO & Principal Scientist of Simfero Consultants, a natural resources strategy and risk management organization based in Houston, United States. He has nearly 20 years of experience in a variety of water, soil, and agriculture issues across government, corporate, and academic sectors. Dr. Berg has managed complex research programs across multiple time zones, and he excels at working with decision makers and those affected by policy decisions. Dr. Berg has participated in cashew cultivation efforts in West Africa, agricultural development in Brazil, water management projects in India, and land use research in Ecuador, among others. In the United States, his research was cited in the first ever Texas State Flood Assessment in reginal and national media, and he has also guided advisory groups on water conservation efforts. Dr. Berg authored the first watershed plan from Texas approved by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and helped develop the Watershed Steward adult education program used across the region. After Hurricane Harvey in 2017, he briefed U.S. congressional delegations about climate impacts on water resources. Recruited through a U.S. Department of Agriculture program to develop the next generation of science leaders, Matthew completed his doctoral studies at Texas A&M University, where he received the school’s top honors for research and teaching. He has received awards from the Crop Science Society of America, Agronomy Society of America, Soil Science Society of America, North American Colleges and Teachers of Agriculture, and the Ecological Society of America for his work in science, stakeholder engagement, and policy development. Dr. Berg currently serves on the board of a key land conservation organization in his region and advises a number of others.

Dr. Adrián Flores Aguilar is a Costa Rican climate change specialist. He is a consultant at the climate change division of the Inter-American Development Bank. Currently, he is in charge of supporting the implementation of several projects in the Caribbean region, especially Suriname and Guyana. He is a political scientist from the University of Costa Rica with master’s Degrees in Environmental Sciences and Resources Management from the Autonomous University of San Luis Potosí, Mexico, and the Technical University of Cologne, Germany. He also holds a doctorate’s degree in Latin American studies with an emphasis in Territorial Studies from the Autonomous University of San Luis Potosí, Mexico. Dr. Flores has more than 10 of experience working with international cooperation organizations such as the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), the Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLAC), and the Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ). His main focus has been the conceptualization and implementation of climate change-related policies, especially in the areas of resilience enhancement, adaptation, and mitigation. He also has experience in the disaster risk management cycle and biodiversity conservation. He has a particular interest in Blue Economy and Nature-based Solutions.

Laura Cramer works for the CGIAR Research Program on Climate Change, Agriculture and Food Security (CCAFS) as a Science Officer in the Flagship on Policies and Priorities for Climate Smart Agriculture. Laura has almost two decades of experience in the fields of food security, agricultural development and climate change adaptation in agriculture. Her current research focus is on the use of science within policy making and the interactions between researchers and policy makers. Laura’s other research areas of interest include food systems, livestock and climate change, and use of futures thinking for sustainable development. Most of Laura’s experience is within sub-Saharan Africa, and she is based in Kenya. Laura has authored several peer-reviewed publications and two book chapters. Prior to working for the CCAFS program of CGIAR, Laura was an independent consultant and completed assignments related to program evaluations, seed sector assessments and proposal development. Laura began her career working for the food security division of an NGO based in Washington DC. She holds an MPS in International Agriculture and Rural Development from Cornell University and is currently a PhD candidate at Wageningen University in the Public Administration and Policy group.

Professor Will Swan is the Director of Energy House Laboratories (EHL) at the University of Salford, where he has led the energy and buildings research for nearly 10 years. He leads a team of 20 staff covering all aspects of domestic and small commercial energy consumption, including building physics, building performance, systems and controls, IoT and energy modelling. The team operates 3 labs, including the Salford Energy House, a whole full-scale Victorian House in an environmental chamber and the newly established Smart Meters Smart Homes Lab. He is currently developing the major £16m Energy House 2.0 project, which extends the Energy House concept to include multiple building types. In addition, the team undertakes in situ field trails and testing, data analytics and dynamic simulation. The Energy House Labs team have conducted more than £13m of grant funded and commercial research in the last 10 years. Grant funded work has been undertaken for Innovate UK, EU and UK Government, while commercial work has been undertaken with major companies such as Saint Gobain, Knauf, Siemens, Honeywell and Danfoss. The work of Energy House Labs is widely reported in the media, with work shown on BBC, MSNBC and Reuters, with press coverage in the mainstream UK press. The team have won a number of awards including 2 Green Gown Awards and a recent shortlisting for the Guardian University Awards on Industry Engagement.

Scott is passionate about implementation. In his 20 years of strategy work, he has led a range early-mover initiatives with national & subnational governments, international organizations, indigenous groups and the private sector. These actions have resulted in development pathways that integrate governance and accelerate the subnational implementation of GHG mitigation activities, climate finance and the MRV of GHG and SLCPs. This has scaled significant investments in clean energy and green infrastructure; reduced energy poverty and improved social equity. Among his projects, Scott designed and installed some of the first net-metered photovoltaic systems in Latin America. He later directed the Clinton Climate Initiative (CCI) and C40 Cities Climate Leadership Group in Lima, Peru. He is a co-founder and chair of the global working group on Subnational Integration and Multi-level Governance of the LEDS Global Partnership. Currently, Scott is supporting novel regional collaborations for trans-institutional climate actions within intergovernmental trade blocs; including the Pacific Alliance and the countries of West Africa. In addition to his extensive field work across Africa, Asia and Latin America— Scott has been appointed as a technical expert with the UNFCCC, UNESCO, and the Secretariat of the Convention on Biological Diversity. He has also served as a national delegate for various multilateral environmental conventions and has published many key global reports, including; collaborating as a lead author on the Millennium Ecosystem Assessment, the CBD Guidelines on Biodiversity and Tourism development, and UNFCCC technical papers on options to enhance pre-2020 mitigation ambitions in urban environments and land use.

Graduated in Environmental Economics from Paris Dauphine and China Agricultural University, Bocar has had the opportunity to work in the interface on climate change, finance and resource conservation in Africa. He led Carbonum’s deployment in Africa since 2009 and was in charge of managing the company’s exposure on climate advisory services on AFOLU, REDD+ projects and technical assistance to the public sector in the Continent. His role extends to coordinate, manage and develop with project developers and communities on the ground, structuring of financially viable sustainable projects in high priority areas of the host country. Lately, he focused on climate finance access, green growth, capacity building and land management mainly in West Africa. That gives him a familiarity with the themes of resilience, green growth, climate finance access, capacity building, land and ecosystems management in the region. From 2014 to 2017, he also served as team leader for ICOSI’s operations in Mali; he had a solid expertise in the design, management, coordination and implementation of climate research and sustainable development projects implementation in the West Africa. He had gained a depth insight of forest management, climate change activities, sustainable agriculture, water issues and urban development and participated on behalf of several organizations in the scoping and design of REDD + pilot projects, in Côte d'Ivoire, in Madagascar, in Nigeria, in Guinea and RCA. He contributed in several training and evaluation missions of climate change actions adaptation and mitigation programs of rural development models.

Maia Tskhvaradze is an expert of climate change with the focus of climate policy and finance. Maia leads the Climate Change Service of the Ministry of Environmental Protection and Agriculture of Georgia, at the same time she is the Board member of the Climate Technology Center and Network (CTCN), Negotiator for Georgia on climate finance and technology transfer; International reviewer of climate change vulnerability & adaptation, climate finance, technology transfer and capacity building of National Communications (NC) and Biannual Reports (BR) under the UNFCCC; Certified expert in Low Emissions Investment Planning; At the different stages she was an advisor to the Board Member of the Green Climate Fund; Chair of Advisory Board of the Climate Technology Center and Network (CTCN); Global DNA Co-chair under the Clean Development Mechanism (CDM); Board member of Low Emission Development Strategies Global Partnership (LEDS GP) Maia holds bachelor of the Geomorphology from the Tbilisi State University (Tbilisi, Georgia) Master of Landscape Planning from the Tbilisi State University (Tbilisi, Georgia); Master of Development Policies from the Graduate Institute of International and Development Studies (Geneva, Switzerland).

I am currently the climate finance regional advisor for Oxfam in the Pacific. I hold a PhD in Climate Change, specifically in the area of climate finance from the University of the South Pacific; the Pacific regional university that is based in Suva, Fiji Islands. I am the first individual from the Pacific to attain such specialised qualification. I also hold a Master’s degree in Accounting and Finance and a Bachelor of Arts in Accounting and Information systems. Prior to joining Oxfam, I was working as an academic and a researcher at the University of the South Pacific for the past 8 years. I have published 8 journal articles in international peer reviewed journals and have also published 3 technical reports on climate finance in the Asia Pacific Small Island Developing States. I am also currently engaged in a number of short term external climate finance consultancy providing technical support to a number of Pacific island countries. The core of my work and research revolves around climate and disaster risk financing in developing countries specifically the Pacific Small Island developing states (SIDS). I am particularly interested in looking at the effectiveness of climate finance from a community perspective especially those that are considered to be most vulnerable and marginalised. I am also interested in exploring the loss and damage financial mechanisms that could be of relevance to SIDS and other developing countries. I consider myself a ‘pracademic’- a person who is both an academic and an active practitioner in my subject area and is a proponent for action research because I strongly believe that research in climate change needs to be relevant and practical if we were to effectively address this global problem.

My education includes a B.Sc. in Forestry (Forest Management), a M.Sc. in Agroforestry and a Ph.D. in Forest (Ecology & Biogeochemistry). I have worked as a research scientist in agroforestry in Burkina Faso for over 15 years. My research area was related to the impacts of smallholder farming practices on traditional agroforestry parkland systems with implications for tree biodiversity conservation, ecosystem service provision, and rural people livelihoods. I have completed a 2-year post-doctoral fellowship program in soil science, focusing on the role of beneficial agricultural management practices on greenhouse gas emissions and enhanced soil carbon sequestration from agro-ecosystems. My research, in particular, evaluated the impacts of inorganic and organic nitrogen fertilizer application to perennial forage and annual crops on the emissions of soil greenhouse gases and nitrogen leaching losses. Over the past seven years, I have been working as a Climate Change Specialist with a provincial government in Canada, coordinating forestry related climate change adaptation and mitigation initiatives. This includes assessing forest vulnerability to climate change, mainstreaming adaptation measures into sustainable forest management planning process, quantifying and spatially mapping forest carbon stocks, developing forest carbon offset projects, and providing advice to senior management team on forestry related climate change issues.

Dr. Terence Epule EPULE is currently an Associate Professor of Agriculture and Climate Interactions at UniLaSalle, Rouen, France (2018-present). As a Canadian citizen, he also teaches and conduct research at Faculty of Agriculture and Climate Studies, Kahnawake Community College in Quebec Canada. He obtained his Ph.D. in 2014 from the University of Quebec in Montreal (UQAM), specializing in climate and land use change interactions in Cameroon. Between 2014-2016, He worked at the Department of Geography of the University of Montreal as a post doctoral researcher/lecturer. Here again, he carried out research on the interactions between agricultural systems and climate in Cameroon and other parts of Africa. He moved to the Department of Geography at McGill University in 2016 in the capacity of post doctoral researcher/lecturer conducting research on the vulnerability of cropping systems to droughts in Uganda and climate change stressors and adaptation in the Sahel. He has strong collaborative links with McGill University and still teaches the Human Dimensions of Climate Change at the Geography Department yearly. His research is at the interface of the interactions between climate, society and land use across Africa. He is particularly interested in climate change impacts, adaptation, and vulnerability within the context of agriculture and climate. He is involved in a diversity of initiatives in this area, including projects focusing on indigenous peoples in Africa, food systems and climate change. He is also interested in the cropping systems dynamics for sustainable agriculture such as the relative contributions of agroecology and conventional framing systems to crop yields, and also developing novel approaches to tracking climate change adaptation and stressors across regional levels in Africa. He is an editor of Springer-Nature Applied Sciences and has published >40 peer reviewed articles, two books and one book chapter which are among the most cited in top of the line journals. Also, he has an extensive grant generation and supervision experience with funding agencies in Canada and abroad such as SSHRC, FRQSC, Fondation UQAM, SNC Lavalin, IDRC, African Development Bank and the European Union. Dr. Epule is always interested in new collaborations, partnerships and mentoring the next generation of scholars. To view my current and past research please view the links below and drop me a message if you are interested in collaborating. ResearchGate: https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Terence_Epule_Epule Personal website: https://terenceepuleepule.wixsite.com/epuleterenceepule Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/terence-epule-epule-ph-d-b6069127/?originalSubdomain=ca Googlescholar: https://scholar.google.com/scholar?hl=en&as_sdt=0%2C5&q=terence+epule+epule&btnG=

Xiaoming Wang is a professor of Northwest Institute of Eco-Environment and Resources in Chinese Academy of Science (CAS), adjunct professor with the School of Engineering in Monash University, and the Faculty of Science, Engineering and Technology in Swinburne University of Technology. He was a senior principle scientist of Climate Adaptation and Sustainable Development in Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation (CSIRO), Australia, and the theme leader of the Sustainable Cities and Coasts managing, one of the four research portfolios in the CSIRO Climate Adaptation Flagship. His current researches are involved in a wide range of climate change adaptation and sustainable development, with a special focus on cryosphere science. Xiaoming has extensive experiences working on climate impact and adaptation related projects of national significance in Australia, and was a contributing author to the Australasia chapter in the IPCC AR5 as well as reviewer for IPCC AR6 and Special Report on Oceans and Cryosphere, a leading/contributing author of 2nd Assessment Report of Climate Change and Cities (ARC3-2). He is also a contributing author to the book – Climate Change: Science and Solutions for Australia, a key CSIRO document for communication with government, industries and communities. He published about 300 papers and reports with collaborations in broad international and national research networks cross multi- and cross-disciplines, covering material science, mechanical and civil engineering, urban environment, green cities and planning, public health, risk assessment, climate change adaptation and disaster risk reduction. Some of publications can be found in https://scholar.google.com.au/citations?user=Q0bITuYAAAAJ&hl=en. He has been also involved in Australian Aid Development Programs in East Asia, including Vietnam, Indonesia and Philippines as well as Brazil, on the aspect of climate change adaptation and natural disaster risk reduction. He was once appointed as a technical advisor to a commissioner in the Climate Change Commission of the Philippine Government, and resources persons with Asian Development Bank (ADB).