Prof. Ellen Morris

Research Interests: Energy Access, Energy Entrepreneurship, Gender and Energy, and Clean Energy Policies

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Ellen Morris, Ph.D., is a world-recognized expert on energy and international development, with a particular focus on policy analysis, research, strategy development, and writing on energy access, gender equality, and enterprise development. She teaches Energy and Development at Columbia University’s School of International and Public Affairs and is a Faculty Affiliate at the Center on Global Energy Policy. At Columbia, Ellen serves as a mentor in the Women’s International Leadership Program and is the faculty advisor for the Women in Energy student group at Columbia. Ellen is also an Ambassador for The Clean Energy Education and Empowerment Initiative that was launched by the Clean Energy Ministerial to close the gender gap in STEM fields and serves as a Technical Expert for the Clean Energy Solutions Center. In addition to her faculty appointment, Ellen is the President and Founder of Sustainable Energy Solutions, an international consulting services company that promotes the increased use and deployment of clean energy technologies and services as a means to support economic development and reduce poverty in developing countries. She has recently led pioneering work on gender and energy for the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) to create the first ever Policy on Gender Mainstreaming for Energy Access along with a Legal Directive for gender assessments in energy projects. Ellen is also a Founding Partner of Embark, a social enterprise that is focused on radically increasing the scale of energy access by empowering thousands of clean energy entrepreneurs in low-income countries. Ellen was also the co-founder of Arc Finance, an NGO that promotes and expands access to end-user finance for modern energy.

Ellen serves as an advisor and Board Member for social enterprises focused on clean energy, including EnVenture (Uganda), Simpa Networks (India), Earth Spark International (Haiti), and Empowered by Light (Zambia) and is the Energy Program Advisor for the Clinton Global Initiative. She started her career in clean energy working for the National Renewable Energy Laboratory, in the geothermal program. In the early part of her career, she worked as a Fellow on the Science, Space and Technology Committee of the U.S. Congress and was an exploration geophysicist for Texaco. She holds a Bachelor of Science degree in geophysical engineering from the Colorado School of Mines and a doctoral degree in marine geophysics from the University of Rhode Island.

Prof. Mattheos Santamouris

Research Interests: High Performance Architecture and Building Energy (Solar Energy and Energy Conservation)

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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.

Prof. Bipasha Baruah

Research Interests: Green Economy; Clean Energy and Gender, Construction, Manufacturing, Transportation

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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.

Prof. Marta Molinas

Research Interests: Rural Electrification (Technology), Microgrids and Energy Poverty

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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.

Prof. Nathalie Tufenkji

Research Interests: Water Resources Management, Clean Water and (Bio)Colloid-Surface Interactions in Aqueous Systems

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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.

Prof. Ambrish Chandra FIEEE

Research Interests: Renewable Energy Systems (Hybrid, Stand alone and Grid Connected), Power Quality improvement on Distribution Grid

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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’.

Prof. Olayinka S. Ohunakin

Research Interests: Renewable Energy Technologies, Energy Audits and Modelling, and Energy Efficiency

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Olayinka S. Ohunakin is an internationally recognized professor of energy systems. He is a Professor at the Department of Mechanical Engineering, Covenant University, Nigeria. He is a Visiting Professor, Pan African University Institute of Water and Energy Sciences (PAUWES), c/o University of Tlemcen, Algeria; a Beahrs Fellow, College of Natural Resources, University of California, Berkeley; Visiting Scholar, Center for African Studies, University of California, Berkeley. He is also the Head, The Energy and Environment Research Group (TEERG), Department of Mechanical Engineering, Covenant University, Nigeria.

He is an energy and environmental expert with vast knowledge in renewable energy technologies, distributed generation and hybrid grid systems, design and evaluation of low-carbon systems, energy modeling, climate modeling, energy audits, cost-benefit analysis of renewable energy investments, energy efficient building simulations and designs, energy economics, policies, finance and management, with in-depth researches in energy conversion and management, energy efficiency and conservation techniques, conventional energy sources and power plants.

He is a registered member of several professional bodies; he has written several articles widely published on energy in leading peer-reviewed ‘high impact’ journals cutting across Springer, Elsevier, Sage and Taylor & Francis publishers (https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=jNzSObcAAAAJ&hl=en&oi=ao). He is currently serving in the capacity as a Guest Editor in Chief to a special issue of the International Journal of Photoenergy, and reviewer/editorial membership to numerous energy journals. He has also presented several positions papers in conferences and workshops both locally and internationally.

He has been involved in several National Assignments for Nigeria at the UNFCCC. He has served as a consultant on several projects for the Worldbank/IFC, AfDB, KfW, AFD, Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA), UNDP-GEF project on Energy Efficiency in Nigeria, etc. He is also a consultant to several NGOs and private bodies (both foreign and local).

Prof. Andy Hira

Research Interests:  Climate Change, Renewable Energy, Industrial Policy, Governance

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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.

Prof. Meg Holden

Research Interests:  Urban planning and policy, sustainable development in cities and model sustainable neighbourhoods

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Meg Holden (PhD, 2004, New School for Social Research) is professor of urban studies and geography and director of the Graduate Program in Urban Studies at Simon Fraser University in Vancouver, Canada. Her research program examines urban policy, planning and social aspects of sustainable development intentions and transitions in cities and communities. Her book Pragmatic Justifications for the Sustainable City: Acting in the common place was published in 2017 by Routledge. She is the principal investigator of a multi-year international research project that is investigating the policy and lived outcomes of initiatives to build model sustainable neighbourhoods worldwide.

Her research areas of interest are integrated approach to sustainable development in urban planning and policy, model sustainable neighbourhood planning and development, including sustainability certification systems and assessment of sustainable development in cities

Professor Stuart Leonard Pimm

Research Interests: Conservation Ecology, present day extinctions, wildlife, endangered species

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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.

Prof. Christopher Bryant

Research Interests: agriculture and food production; community development; resilience building for communities exposed to flooding and climate variability

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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 (1912 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.

Prof. Matthew Paterson

Research Interests: Climate change politics and policy, political economy of climate (carbon markets, finance, business power), global climate governance

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Matthew Paterson is Professor of International Politics at the University of Manchester. His research focuses on the political economy of global environmental change. His publications include Global Warming and Global Politics (Routledge 1996), Automobile Politics: Ecology and Cultural Political Economy (CUP 2007), Climate Capitalism: global warming and the transformation of the global economy (with Peter Newell, CUP 2010), and most recently Thinking Ecologically about the Global Political Economy (with Ryan Katz-Rosene, Routledge 2018), as well as over 45 articles in peer reviewed journals. He was a Lead Author for the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change’s Fifth Assessment Report published in 2014. His most recent research has explored the contestations over how shifts to a low carbon society produce novel forms of cultural practice and challenge established ones. He is now starting to work in using Social Network Analysis to understand patterns of authority in the global climate governance complex.

Prof. Charles Wortmann

Research Interests: Sustainable Land Resource Management, Agronomy, Crop and Soil Management

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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. Micheal Atchia

Research Interests: Environmental Education, Sustainable Development Education and Sustainable Development

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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.

Gregory Leng

Research Interests: Sustainable Energy and Climate Change

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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 Hamilton

Research Interests: Renewable Energy – Policy, Investment and Finance

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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.

Dr. William Blyth

Research Interests: Renewable Energy and Climate Change Policy, Emissions Trading and Energy Efficiency

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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.

Dr. Ayansina Ayanlade

Areas of Interest: Climate change impacts and adaptive capacity of rural farmers, environmental change assessment, application of Remote Sensing and GIS to land-atmospheric interactions

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Ayansina Ayanlade (Ph.D. King’s College London, University of London, UK) is a researcher and lecturer in the Department of Geography, Obafemi Awolowo University, Ile-Ife, Nigeria. He has academic experience in Nigeria, USA, Norway, and the United Kingdom. Over the years, he has engaged and contributed to researches in the areas of land-atmospheric interactions and environmental changes using remote sensing and GIS. His current research interests include climate change studies, understanding of perceived climate change impacts, indigenous and local knowledge on climate change and the influence of both national and international climate change negotiations, and application of Remote Sensing and GIS to land-atmospheric interactions. Dr. Ayalade’s research interest in climate change include: inclusion of gender in Africa’s Climate Change Policies and Strategies; solution to atmospheric data gaps; application of geoinformatics in eco-climatic studies; geospatial data infrastructure for sharing agro-climatic information to improve agricultural productivity; land surface temperature and heat fluxes in cities and their rural surroundings; climate variability/change and attitude to adaptation technologies among selected rural farmers’ communities; rainfall variability and drought characteristics in some agro-climatic zones; remote sensing approaches for land use and land surface temperature assessment; climate change education and knowledge among university graduates; climate change policies and programmes; influences of wind speed and direction on atmospheric particle concentrations and industrially induced noise; the influence of atmospheric conditions on the outbreak of diseases; climate change monitoring and its impacts assessment with Geographic Information System; as well as climate and crop relationships.

He was a Scholar of Petroleum Technology Development Fund (PTDF); The Council for the Development of Social Science Research in Africa (CODESRIA); Research Fellow of Climate Impact Research Capacity and Leadership Enhancement in Sub-Saharan Africa (CIRCLE), which is an initiative of the Department for International Development (DFID) of the United Kingdom (UK) and a Visiting Research Fellow under the CGIAR Research Program on Climate Change, Agriculture and Food Security (CCAFS) at International Livestock Research Institute (ILRI), Kenya. His International research training experience includes International Research Institute for Climate and Society, at The Earth Institute, Columbia University, Lamont Campus,USA; Research methods, impacts and adaptation policies, A course on research methods in climate change and health, University of Bergen, Norway; Academic research leadership training, King’s College London, University of London. He is currently a Project Associate under Urbanization and Global Environmental Change (UGEC) core projects of International Human Dimensions Programme on Global Environmental Change (IHDP) https://ugec.org/people/project-associates/ . Dr. Ayanlade is also one of scientist working with UN-Intergovernmental Panel on climate Change (IPCC) (as a lead author of Chapter 9: Africa of the Working Group II of the forthcoming IPCC Sixth Assessment Report); and participant in the preparation of Nigeria’s Second National Communication under the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change. Presently, he was selected as African representatives in the Past Global Changes International Project, Switzerland and Research Group on Climate Change Adaptation, Germany.

Dr. Huong Ha

Research Interest: Climate Change (Policy)

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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.

Ashley Cooper

Areas of Interest: Environmental and Climate Change Photography

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Ashley Cooper has spent the last 13 years travelling to every continent on the planet to document the impacts of climate change and the rise of renewable energy. In that time he has probably seen at first hand more climate change impacts than anyone else. He has documented extreme weather, floods, drought, permafrost melt, glacial retreat, sea level rise, desertification, coral bleaching, emissions, biofuel, tar sands, fossil fuels, coastal erosion, deforestation, fracking, forest fires, sea ice, water resource and every type of renewable energy. As an environmental photographer Ashley has shone a light on the most important issue of our times and his images appear in newspapers, magazines and books around the world, including in his own book, “Images From a Warming Planet”. Ashley lectures widely on his work and works with organisations like World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF) and Climate Outreach to try to get the message out there of the urgency to tackle climate change. Ashley runs two websites www.globalwarmingimages.net and www.imagesfromawarmingplanet.net

Dr. Pradipta Halder

Areas of Interest: Energy, Climate change, Education

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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

Research Interests: Energy Access (Market) and Utility Energy Efficiency

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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.

Dr. Alexandre Strapasson

Research Interests: Energy and Climate Change Mitigation, Bioenergy, and Sustainable Land Use

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Alexandre Strapasson is an Honorary Research Fellow at Imperial College London and a Visiting Lecturer at IFP Energies Nouvelles in Paris. He also works as an international consultant. He currently lives in Brazil. Until recently, he worked at Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs at Harvard University in the United States. He has been working on energy and environmental sciences, with an emphasis on the global dynamics of energy, carbon and land use, and the sustainable development goals.

Prior to these experiences, Alexandre was Director and Head of Department of Bioenergy at the Ministry of Agriculture of Brazil, working on international collaborations and capacity development programmes with several nations, including African countries. He was also Consultant of the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) for energy and climate change affairs at the Brazilian Ministry of the Environment, participating in UNFCCC negotiations. He is an Agricultural Engineer, holding a Master in Energy from the University of São Paulo (USP), and Ph.D. degree in Environmental Research from Imperial College London, with a Postdoc in Sustainability Science from Harvard.

Xavier VALLVÉ

Research Interests: Microgrid Technology, Demand Side Management, Community Development, Integrated Energy Strategies.

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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

Research Interests: Energy Policy and Energy Economics – Power Generation, Transmission,  Distribution and Innovation

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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.

Habashy Ibrahim

Research Interest: Solar PV Engineering – Planning, Design, and Installation

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Habashy Ibrahim is a Renewable Energy Specialist with several years of experience in planning, design, engineering and installation of PV power plants in Egypt and beyond. He is currently the Head of the Technical Sector at Greengate Solar where he supervises and leads Engineers who design PV power plants, plan and develop PV projects, oversee installation and quality, as well as coordinate the testing and maintenance of PV plants. As the Technical Head, he is also responsible for hiring, training and mentoring other Engineers and supporting staff.Before joining Greengate Solar, he worked in a similar role as Head of Technical Department at several Renewable Energy companies in Egypt, such as The Engineering Company for Energy and Environment Services, Esolar for Renewable Energy, Sun Network for Energy Solution. He is widely trained and certified in Solar technologies, GIS analysis, systems simulation and modelling. Habashy Ibrahim holds a B.Sc. in Mechanical Engineering, and worked for several years in Heavy Vehicle field and in Power Stations Machinery as a trainer prior to joining the Renewable Energy industry.

Bilkisu Labaran

Area of Interest: Environmental Journalism

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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”.

Luca Petrarulo

Research Interests: Climate Change and Environment Nexus, Sustainable Energy (Policy and Economics)

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Luca Petrarulo is a Consultant with 10 years of experience in international environmental projects and research. He holds a Master of Science in Environmental Change and Management from Oxford University and a Master of Arts in Conflict Resolution from Lancaster University. His technical expertise is multi-disciplinary and focuses on climate change (adaptation and mitigation), environment and sustainable development, governance and aid effectiveness (harmonization of donor interventions, regional and international cooperation for instance), renewable energy, transport, and monitoring and evaluation (M&E). He has special interest on projects that links impacts of climate change to environmental changes. This has been mainly developed at the international level working for a variety of clients including the EC, GIZ, DFID, AFD, CDKN, UK DECC, UK FCO. Luca has worked on many high-profile international projects, mainly in Asia and Latin America. For instance, he was one of the key technical experts in preparing the Intended Nationally Determined Contributions (INDCs) of Bangladesh and Nigeria for the global climate Paris Agreement. He also recently led the climate change, energy, and environmental assessment of the EU development assistance to the Pacific region covering 19 countries and territories. Luca is fluent in English, Spanish and Italian.

Steven von Eije

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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.

Peter Dauenhauer

Research Interests: Off-grid Electrification and Project Development, Business Model Design and Implementation

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Peter Dauenhauer has a combined background in economics and sustainability of off-grid energy projects. He holds a BA Economics from University of Washington, MSc Economics from University of Amsterdam. His past work has included the design of off-grid projects in developing countries, management of the Malawi Renewable Energy Acceleration Programme (MREAP), sustainability evaluations and feasibility studies for energy access projects. These projects have been conducted in Malawi, Gambia, Kenya and Zambia. He has served as chair and co-chair of the IEEE Power and Energy Society Working Group: Sustainable Energy Systems for Developing Communities (SESDC) since 2014 and leads the Energy Use Task Force. He actively volunteers with Kilowatts for Humanities (KWH) (business model design, data acquisition system, and research support) and with IEEE Smart Village (Malawi development Liaison).

Peter is currently completing his PhD at the University of Strathclyde in Energy for Development. He works at Seattle University as a Faculty Adviser for senior design projects involving data acquisition systems. His current publications are available here: https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=MKE7M3QAAAAJ&hl=en

Dr. Funke Alaba

Research Interests: Clean Energy and Health Nexus

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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.

Dr. Morgan Bazilian

Research Interests: Energy Planning, Energy and Fragile/Conflict Situations

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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.

Dr. Temilade Sesan

Research Interests: Energy Poverty, Gender and Energy, Renewable Energy Policy

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Temilade Sesan is an international development consultant with expertise in the areas of energy, health, agriculture and gender. She holds a Bachelor of Science degree in Architecture from Obafemi Awolowo University (Nigeria), a Master’s degree in Architecture from the University of Nottingham (United Kingdom) and a doctorate degree in Sociology and Social Policy also from the University of Nottingham. Her doctoral work on improved cookstove development constituted a platform for exploring the potential that sustainable energy technologies – including biomass, biofuel and solar energy technologies – have to improve the well-being of the poor, and the barriers that have limited their uptake in Africa to date. Temilade’s research brings together a range of themes, including appropriate technology development, participatory development, women’s empowerment, and livelihoods improvement. Her work regularly brings her in contact with national- and state-level policy makers, civil society organisations, academia, and representatives of small- and medium-scale businesses in the fields of energy, health, and the environment.

Dr Sesan has disseminated her research findings to global audiences via numerous presentations made at conferences in Africa, Asia, Europe and North America. She has also published articles investigating the links between energy poverty and development in the practitioners’ journal Boiling Point and the academic journals Energy Policy, World Development, Progress in Development Studies, Community Development Journal and Technology in Society. She currently works as an independent consultant in Nigeria, with a client list that includes Heinrich Boell Stiftung Nigeria, Marine Power Limited, the Power Holding Company of Nigeria, the University of Nottingham, the French Agency for Development and the World Bank. She also teaches a module on renewable energy policies and markets at the Centre for Petroleum, Energy Economics and Law, University of Ibadan, Nigeria.

Bettina Bergoo

Research Interests: Energy Access and Clean Energy (Finance, Policy and Market Development)

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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. Jola Ajibade

Research Interests: Future City Planning, Environmental Justice, Climate Change Adaptation, Societal Transformation

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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. Pu Wang

Research Interests: Climate and Energy Policies, Sustainable Development Strategies

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Pu Wang is currently an associate professor at Institutes of Sciences and Development, Chinese Academy of Sciences. His research fields include climate and energy policies and sustainable development strategies. More specifically, his current research projects involve China’s carbon emissions trading program and co-benefits between greenhouse gas mitigation and environmental pollution reduction. Pu Wang received his Ph.D. degree from Cornell University in 2014, in the field of natural resources. He was a postdoctoral fellow at Belfer Center of Kennedy School of Government, Harvard University in 2015-2017, where he conducted research on cap-and-trade systems for greenhouse-gas emissions in China and China-U.S. cooperation in climate-change policies.

Dr. Steffen Kallbekken

Research Interests: Climate Policy Instruments, Public Support, International Agreements, Consumer Behaviour

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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.

Dr. Zhu Liu

Research Interests: Sustainability Science, Global Carbon Budget, Low Carbon Development for Developing Countries

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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).

Dr. Ana Pueyo

Research Interests: Renewable Energy Technology Transfer and Investment, Productive Uses of Energy, Gender-Energy-Enterprise Nexus

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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.

Dr. Claire Walsh

Research Interests:  Flood Risk Assessment and Management, Green Infrastructure, Climate Impacts on Water Resources, Infrastructure Business Models, Urban Agriculture, Hydromorphology

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Claire Walsh is a Lecturer in the Water Group in the School of Engineering at Newcastle University, UK. With over 18 years of experience her research focuses on long term change (including climate change) in both natural environments and engineered systems, in particular looking at impacts for drought, urban flooding, sustainable infrastructure and ecosystem services and how to determine holistic, cross-disciplinary solutions to such problems. Much of her work involves working closely with end-users to co-define research challenges and co-design research to ensure maximum uptake, dissemination and impact.

She currently co-leads the UK’s National Green Infrastructure Facility located at Newcastle University and is actively conducting research in Colombia, Ethiopia, India, Malaysia and Uganda. Claire also leads Newcastle University’s Global Challenge Network on Water Security.

Dr. Neil Craik

Research Interests: Environmental Law, Environmental Impact Assessment, Climate Change Policy and Geoengineering Law and Governance

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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

Research Interests: Climate finance with a focus on green bonds and sukuks, climate risk reporting
and analysis of corporate climate risk

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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

Research Interests: Renewable energy, energy and environmental policy, and forestry

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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. Misato Sato

Research Interests: Climate policy instruments, emissions trading, competitiveness impacts, green economy

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Misato Sato is an environmental economist with particular interest in climate change and energy. She has published widely on these topics, and also works with governments, businesses and NGOs on topics of shared interest, such as carbon pricing, trade and green growth. Misato is based at the London School of Economics and Political Science (LSE) where she is Deputy Director of the ESRC Centre for Climate Change Economics and Policy, and Assistant Professorial Research Fellow in the Grantham Research Institute on Climate Change and the Environment, where she leads the Policy Design & Evaluation Programme. Her recent research explores the regulatory and institutional constraints to enabling low carbon transitions of energy intensive industries. She has extensively researched the European Union Emissions Trading System (EU ETS), evaluating its effectiveness and efficiency. She is also interested in the growth of the green economy, including the drivers and barriers to international trade in environmental goods and services (EG&Ss) as well as links between low-carbon innovation and firms’ economic and market performance.

Misato has conducted policy work for the governments of the UK, Sweden, Netherlands and Japan as well as international organisations such as the World Bank, United Nations Environment Programme and European Bank for Reconstruction and Development. She holds a PhD in Environmental Economics from the LSE, an MSc in Environmental and Resource Economics from University College London, and an MA Joint Honours in Economics and Chinese from the University of Edinburgh.

André De Rosa

Research Interests: Renewable Energy & Microgrid, Rural Electrification Finance, Energy Storage & Hydrogen

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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

Research Interests: Green and Sustainable Finance, ESG investments, Carbon Pricing, Emissions Trading Scheme, Climate Policy, Climate Risks and Opportunities

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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.

Dr. Kacper Szulecki

Research Interests: Energy democracy and energy justice, energy security, renewable energy transitions

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Kacper Szulecki is a researcher at the Department of Political Science, University of Oslo. His research focuses on energy and climate policy, in Europe and beyond, as well as energy security and the concept of "energy democracy". He edited the book "Energy Security in Europe" (Palgrave, 2018), as well as two special issues on EU energy and climate governance (in "Climate Policy" and "Politics & Governance"). He holds an M.Sc. in Political Science (specializing in transnational environmental governance) from VU University Amsterdam and a PhD from the University of Konstanz. He is a member of the Climate Strategies network, and sits on the editorial board of the journals "Energy Research and Social Science" and "Politics & Governance".He was a visiting fellow at the Robert Schuman Centre for Advanced Studies, EUI Florence and the Florence School of Regulation (2017) and a guest researcher at the Department of Climate Policy, German Institute for Economic Research (DIW Berlin, 2013). He was also a Dahrendorf Fellow at the Hertie School of Governance in Berlin (2013-2014).

Dr. Magda Moner-Girona

Research Interests: Renewable energy deployment, techno-economic analysis, rural electrification

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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

Research Interests: Disaster Risk Management, Hydrogeology, Geology and Virtual Learning Environment

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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.

Dr. David Moser

Research Interests: Energy systems modelling and analysis, photovoltaic technologies, renewable energy transition

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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. Joshua B. Horton

Research Interests: Solar geoengineering, solar radiation management, carbon dioxide removal, negative emissions technologies, climate politics, loss and damage

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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.

Prof. Ademola Oluborode Jegede

Research Interests: Interface of climate change and carbon dioxide removal options, and human rights law of vulnerable groups in Africa

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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.

María Yetano Roche

Research Interests: Climate change mitigation policy, access to energy, SDG7, off-grid/decentralised electricity, industrial emissions

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María Yetano Roche is a energy policy researcher and consultant based in Abuja. She collaborates with Wuppertal Institute’s WISIONS, a programme funding sustainable energy projects in developing regions and south-to-south knowledge networks. As an independent consultant, she Among other things, I have supported the Heinrich Böll Foundation in stakeholder-validated analysis of Nigerian future electricity mix scenarios, and the Federal Ministry of Environment in the drafting of sectoral action plans for the implementation of Nigeria’s Nationally Determined Contribution (NDC) - with a focus on Industrial Energy Efficiency. In past roles she was the scientific assistant to the Coordinating Lead Authors of the chapter on Industry for the IPCC 5th Assessment Report (AR5) and consulted for UNEP (Paris DTIE branch) and EU-Egypt's Cooperation Agreement.

Assoc. Prof. Bahtiyor Eshchanov

Research Interests: Energy economics, demand-supply modelling, feasibility analysis for energy technologies, climate change mitigation and adaptation, water-energy-food nexus

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Bahtiyor Eshchanov - Senior Lecturer in Economics at Westminster International University in Tashkent (WIUT). He joined WIUT in 2013 as a lecturer. His research interests include energy supply and demand modeling, techno-economic feasibility of energy technologies with special emphasis on renewable energy sources and regional environmental issues, namely water-energy nexus in Central Asia. In line with teaching, Bahtiyor Eshchanov works for private consulting companies and International Financial Institutes. Two of his ongoing research projects are (i) Pilot project on installing solar-PV powered deep-pump irrigation system for an orchard in a semi-arid mountainous farm in the Ferghana valley and (ii) Biogas from agricultural waste in the Aral Sea Basin. Bahtiyor Eshchanov holds a PhD degree in Applied Economics (Energy Economics) from the Vrije Universiteit Brussel, Belgium as an Erasmus Mundus scholarship holder and MSc degree in Sustainable Technologies from the Royal Institute of Technology (KTH), Sweden as a Swedish Institute scholarship holder.

Adam Stratton

Areas of Interest: Renewable Energy, Clean Energy Generation

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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.

Dr. Elin Lerum Boasson

Research Interests: Climate and energy policy, low emission economy, public policy theories

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Elin Lerum Boasson is an associate professor at the Political Science Department, the University of Oslo, and a senior researcher at CICERO Center for International Climate Research. She has published extensively on national climate and energy policies; exploring the role of policy entrepreneurship, business influence, political steering, diffusion and the role of the EU. She applies sociological institutional theories as well as historical institutionalism and public policy theories. Boasson gives political science master courses on climate policy, public policy theory and EU studies. Methodologically, Boasson is specialized in comparative, qualitative case studies and process tracing. She has been a visiting scholar at the University of California, Berkeley and the Freie University, Berlin, and is now on sabbatical at the SCANCOR-Weatherhead, Harvard University. During this research stay, Boasson works on a sting of publications relating to two research projects on comparative climate policy; the 'Revising the National Renewables Policy Mix: The role of state aid and other key EU policies (REMIX)’ and ‘Understanding the international Context for Norway's low-emission Economy Transition (CONNECT).

Boasson took part of the leadership group of the COST Action Innovations in Climate Governance: Sources, Patterns and Effects. She is a Lead Author in the upcoming Sixth Assessment report cycle of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, working group III Mitigation.

Dr. Ana María Loboguerrero

Research Interests: Climate-smart Agriculture, Sustainable Food Systems, Bridging the Gap between Science and Decision Making Processes, Economic Modeling

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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. Naomi Keena

Research Interests: Circular Economy, Built Environment Process, Urban Metabolisms, Socio-Ecological Analysis, Material Construction Ecologies

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Dr. Naomi Keena is an architect, interdisciplinary researcher, and lecturer at Yale University’s Center for Ecosystems in Architecture (CEA) and Yale School of Architecture. She earned a PhD in Architectural Sciences from the Center for Architecture Science and Ecology, Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute. Her doctoral research focused on implementing annotated, data visual analytics as a means to investigate the material and energy lifespan of buildings during the early stages of architectural design. She is a co-founder of Clark’s Crow a parametric tool that aims to promote awareness of the impact of different design options through a biophysically based ecological accounting method in the early stages of design-development. She is also a co-founder of SEVA (Socio-Ecological Visual Analytics), a proposed new conceptual network of analytical techniques designed to quantify, visualize, characterize, and communicate socio-ecological factors within architectural designs. Keena’s current research investigates visual analytics combined with transformative building technologies as a means to study socio-ecological factors within architectural design, towards the mitigation of adverse environmental impacts. She demonstrated this research through the Ecological Living Module (ELM) built project at the United Nation Plaza, NY Summer 2018 as part of CEA in collaboration with Gray Organschi Architecture, Yale University, and UN Environment; as well as through CEA’s BEEM lab immersive visualization environment at Yale School of Architecture. Keena is a Fulbright Fellowship recipient and has published and presented her design research widely in the areas of architecture, computer science, data visualization, design-driven interdisciplinary research, and environmental policy.

Dr. Helene Amundsen

Research Interests: Societal transformation, climate change adaptation, local climate policy

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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.

Dr. Xavier Lemaire

Research Interests: Sociology of energy access, Social imaginary of renewable energy, Clean energy policies, Energy Justice

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Dr Xavier Lemaire is a senior research associate at the University College London - Institute for Sustainable Resources / Energy Institute (2011-today). Previously he was a research fellow at the Centre for Management under Regulation - Warwick Business School (2005-2011) and a European Union Marie Curie Research Fellow at the Centre for Research in Ethnic Relations - University of Warwick (2003-2004). Dr Xavier Lemaire is a sociologist and a socio-economist who has been working as a practitioner and a researcher on energy and environmental issues in the Global South for the last 20 years. He has lead international research projects on energy access and energy transition in developing countries (2013-today); he coordinated an international network of energy regulators promoting clean energy (2005-2013); he worked as an independent consultant on territorial development and as a programme manager on rural electrification (1992-1997). He was a lecturer and a visiting lecturer in management, socio-economics and sociology in French Universities (1998-2002). He holds a MSc in Management (Paris - Sorbonne, 1988); a Master in Organisation Studies/Policy Analysis (Paris - Dauphine, 1989), a postgraduate degree in Development Studies (Paris - Sorbonne, 1990) and a PhD in sociology (Paris - Ecole des Hautes Etudes en Sciences Sociales, 2000).

Dr. Feras Ziadat

Research Interests: Integrated land and water management, participatory land use planning, sustainable land management, land degradation and desertification, food security and livelihoods

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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

Research Interests: Soil remediation, soil pollution impact assessment, food contamination, environmental soil science, sustainable crop productivity

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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. Kevin Parton

Research Interests: Climate change policy, renewable energy systems, renewable energy demands, economics of crop insurance, climate studies for agriculture

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Dr. Kevin Parton is a professor in economics at Charles Sturt University. He received his B.Com from Liverpool University in 1973, his MSc in agricultural economics from the University of Newcastle-upon-Tyne in 1974, and his PhD in agricultural economics from the University of New England in 1980. Dr Parton is the author of 120 scientific papers and four books. Dr Parton’s experience is in teaching, research, research management and research training, including at universities, Australian and Canadian Government agencies and international research organisations. He has completed research projects in a number of countries including the EU, Australia, Canada, Ethiopia, Kenya, China, Pakistan, Bangladesh, India, Thailand, Nepal, the Philippines and Papua New Guinea. His work over the last decade has focused on climate change policy and renewable energy systems. He is currently examining how attitudes to and beliefs in climate change are formed, and how they are changing over time. Church leaders, such as Pope Francis, have been shown to influence such beliefs and attitudes. In addition, Dr Parton’s work in Nepal has investigated the market for renewable technologies such as micro-hydro electricity and biogas stoves for households. In the Philippines he is examining the means of improving the transmission of weather and climate information to farmers. From an economics perspective, the following would be broad areas of research mentoring. Analysis of policy to encourage the use of renewable energy; analysis of progress with and demand for renewable energy; analysis of the impact of the use of Clean Development Mechanism funds in Africa; assessing the usefulness of weather and climate forecasts for agriculture; the economics of crop insurance for farmers.

Dr. Vithal Karoshi

Research Interests: Forestry (Silviculture, Carbon Sequestration and Tree Improvement), Agroforestry and Agricultural Seed Systems

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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.

Dr. Ratna Reddy

Research Interests: Water Resource Economics, Planning and Management, Climate adaptation, Water, Sanitation and Hygiene (WASH), Food security, Wastewater Agriculture and Impact assessment

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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.

Dr. Deepak Samuel

Research Interests: Reef and reef-associated life forms, coastal and marine ecosystem health, preparation of conservation management plans

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Dr. V. Deepak Samuel is an Invertebrate taxonomist with specialization on the reef and reef-associated life forms. He started his career as a Marine Biologist working on marine molluscs of both commercial and conservation significance and diversified to the culture of endangered species for sea ranching. He has taught marine science for 5 years to postgraduate students and is a resource person in training the community and Forest Department field officials to identify scheduled marine species of India. He has experience in Marine National Park and Biosphere Reserve Management while working with the United Nations Development Programme. Assessing the health of coastal and marine ecosystems, anthropogenic pressures on reef and preparation of conservation management plans are other areas of expertise. Currently, he works as a Scientist at the Conservation of Coastal and Marine Resources Division (CMR) at the National Centre for Sustainable Coastal Management in the capacity of a Marine Ecologist.