Speakers and Panellists
John Barrett
Deputy Director for Policy, Priestley Centre for Climate Futures
John Barrett is a Professor in Energy and Climate Policy at the University of Leeds. His research is applied in various arenas having been an advisor to a number of UK Government departments and agencies such as the UK Climate Change Committee. He was also a lead author for the IPCC Fifth Assessment Report, Working Group III.
Camille Belmin
Researcher, International Institute for Applied Systems Analysis
Camille Belmin specializes in narratives for ecological and social transformation and the interaction between population, environment and gender issues. She is also an independent consultant, lecturer, curator and artist specializing in art-science collaborations focusing on climate change and climate justice.
Timothy Carter
Research Professor, Finnish Environment Institute (Syke)
Timothy Carter’s research focuses on developing methods for assessing climate change impacts and adaptation, including scenario building, impact and adaptation modelling and assessing the urgency of adaptation. From 1996 to 2019, he was a member of the IPCC Working Group on Climate Data and Scenarios (TGICA), as co-chair from 2011 to 2019.
Alan Dangour
Director, Climate & Health, Wellcome Trust
Alan Dangour joined the Wellcome Trust in 2022 to lead its ambitious new strategy that aims to put health at the heart of global climate change action. He was previously based at the London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine for twenty years, where he was a Professor of Food and Nutrition for Global Health and Director of the Centre on Climate Change and Planetary Health.
Kristie L Ebi
Professor in the Center for Health and the Global Environment, University of Washington
Kristie L. Ebi, Ph.D., MPH has been conducting research on the health risks of and adaptation to climate variability and change for more than 30 years. She has worked with multiple countries, assessing their vulnerability and implementing adaptation measures. She also co-chairs the International Committee On New Integrated Climate change assessment Scenarios (ICONICS). She was a lead author for the IPCC 6th assessment cycle.
Piers Forster
Director, Priestley Centre for Climate Futures
Piers Forster is Professor of Physical Climate Change and founding Director of the Priestley Centre for Climate Futures at the University of Leeds. He has played significant roles authoring Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) reports, including the Fourth, Fifth and Sixth assessment reports and the IPCC Special Report on 1.5°C. He was appointed as a member of UK Climate Change Committee in 2019 and appointed as its Interim Chair in 2023.
Paula Harrison
Principal Natural Capital Scientist, UK Centre for Ecology & Hydrology and Professor of Land and Water Modelling, Lancaster University
Paula Harrison specialises in the co-creation of evidence for informing systemic solutions that enable transitions towards sustainable and just futures using scenarios and integrated modelling approaches. She recently co-chaired the IPBES Nexus Assessment on the interlinkages among biodiversity, water, food, health and climate change.
Bart van den Hurk
Co-Chair, Working Group II, Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change
Professor Bart van den Hurk was elected Co-Chair of Working Group II for the seventh assessment cycle in July 2023. He was a Lead Author of the Sixth Assessment Report. An expert in the field of weather and climate information, he is currently the Scientific Director at Deltares, Delft in The Netherlands.
Helen Macintyre
Principal Climate Change Scientist in the Climate and Health Assessment Team in UKHSA’s Centre for Climate and Health Security
Dr Helen Macintyre has 18 years’ experience working across fields including atmospheric and Earth science, global atmospheric modeling, air quality, the urban and built environment, and now works primarily in the area of climate change and human health. She is a significant contributor and lead author for several chapters of the 4th Health Effects of Climate Change in the UK report, particularly on temperature effects on health, air quality, and co-benefits of climate action. Her research explores various aspects of climate change and health, including temperature effects on health such as the urban heat island (UHI), air quality, understanding and quantifying the impacts of climate change on health, both now and in the future. She has a strong interest in understanding the health implications of the net zero transition, in particular nature-based solutions. She is Co-Deputy Director for the Centre for Net Positive Health and Climate Solutions, and a Theme Lead within the NIHR HPRU in Climate Change and Health Security. She collaborates closely with the UK Met Office and is a member of the UKCP18 Government user group.
Simona Pedde
Senior Researcher, Wageningen University
Simona Pedde is a scenario analyst, focusing on co-design and development of strategies and scenarios to achieve resilience, looking at both short and long term. She has learnt to develop, combine and apply a range of methods which stem from both natural and social science to explore future scenarios.
Helen Roy
Ecologist, UK Centre for Ecology & Hydrology and University of Exeter
Professor Helen Roy MBE Hon. FRES researches the effects of environmental change, particularly biological invasions, on biodiversity and ecosystems. She was co-chair of the Intergovernmental Panel on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services (IPBES) thematic assessment on invasive alien species and their control.
Robert Vautard
Co-Chair, Working Group I, Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change
Robert Vautard is currently the co-chair of IPCC Working Group I on the physical science basis of climate change. He is a research director at National Center for Scientific Research (CNRS) and works at the Pierre-Simon Laplace Institute (IPSL), a major research institute in environmental sciences in France.
Saritha Sudharmma Vishwanathan
Assistant Professor, Kyoto University and Senior Researcher, Indian Institute of Management Ahmedabad
Saritha Sudharmma Vishwanathan currently serves as a co-chair of the Integrated Assessment Modeling Consortium Scientific Working Group on National Scenarios. Her research addresses questions pertaining to development, energy, water, environment and climate change. Currently, she is working on national modelling and scenarios; socio-technological transitions; and climate justice.