Manuel Vexler

Manuel Vexler serves as the Executive Director at AKFI, a global nonprofit focused on sustainability-related ESG (Environmental, Social, Governance) and the integration of sustainability and digital transformation. He also serves as Cornell University instructor for 5G innovation, Blockchain, and Digital Transformation business management. At Cornell, he trained over 1,000 corporate managers and executives residing in over 45 countries. Previously he was Chief Marketing Officer (CMO) and Sr. Service Architect for cloud computing and network virtualization at Huawei. As a CMO, Vexler has advised communications executives in China, Asia, Europe, and the Americas. In 2018 he was awarded the Gold Medal for the delivery of executive training at the Huawei University. Vexler also has held various management and executive positions at Cisco Systems (PLM), AMD (Product Marketing), CopperCom (CTO), Newbridge (Program Manager), and Nortel. At Cisco, he was also in charge of the acquisition of a Japanese company. As co-founder of, and advisor to, high-tech start-ups and consultancies, Vexler has experience in a wide range of business consultancy, technologies, and markets, managed non-profits, co-founded and managed two start-up companies, and has presented at over 200 global conferences. At Integra100 he managed the startup advising companies on cultural integration following mergers and acquisitions (M&A). Vexler earned a Master of Science degree in Electrical Engineering - Medical Electronics (MSc.EE) from the University of Iasi, Romania, a Network Engineering and Management Certificate from the University of Toronto, and an Executive Marketing Certificate from Queen's University, Kingston, Canada. More recently he earned three certificates in System Thinking, Digital Transformation, and Intrapreneurship from Cornell University, N.Y. USA.

Katarina M.V. Galic

Katarina M.V. Galic
Buller School of Business
Canada

Isabel M Fernández Fuentes

Dr. Isabel M Fernández Fuentes is the Coordinator for the project CROWDTHERMAL since September 2019. She is an engineering geologist, with 30 years of professional experience, graduated from Granada University, 1987, Master Engineering Geology, 1990, and Ph.D. in Geology, 1997, from the University of Complutense in Madrid, Spain. Since 1988 she worked as a researcher in applied Geophysics in the Centre for Studies and Experimentation of the Ministry of Public Works, Madrid, Spain. From 2001 to 2019, she works for the European Federation of Geologists, EFG, covering expertise and professional input including geothermal energy, hydrogeology, mineral raw material, and environmental protection field. In 2008 she was appointed as Executive Director of EFG. Working with EFG, Isabel has coordinated and participated in different European projects and supports the coordination of EFG’s Expert Groups, among other activities.

Ioannis Michaloudis

Ioannis Michaloudis (Michalous) is a visual artist internationally acknowledged as one of the leaders in Art & NanoScience and the first-ever creator and investigator on the application of NASA’s nanomaterial silica aerogel in Fine Arts and Design. After receiving the Fulbright “Award for Greek Artists” in 2001, he had been invited as a Research Fellow by the Centre for Advanced Visual Studies at MIT to undertake research on Art&Science. There he discovered the beauty of the nanomaterial silica aerogel and brought it from the labs of NASA to the workshops of Visual Arts and Design. Ηe has participated in 3 Biennales of Art and has been awarded the “Golden Lighthouse” in the XXIV Biennale of Alexandria in Egypt. He has exhibited his artworks in 13 solo international exhibitions and has been invited to more than 25 Art&Science exhibitions and conferences worldwide.

Dennis Garrison

Dennis was born in the USA and has been a UK resident for thirty years. He is a Founding Partner/Director of two environmental companies providing renewable energy solutions. Solar PV Partners is the company responsible for developing, financing and project managing the largest Solar PV installation of any UK educational establishment.  He is President of Terra Scientia LLC, the Intellectual Property company that now is creating Identification Technology for autonomous vehicle markets.

He also established several B2B and B2C media businesses, one of which was sold onto Virgin Media/NBC Universal, and Knowledge TV was sold to Discovery Networks/BBC Worldwide.

He has three children, one graduated with honours from Oxford University in Chemistry, the second graduated from Birmingham with honours in International Business and the third in Environmental Engineering. Dennis loves dancing, snow skiing, practices yoga, speaks some German and Spanish, writes a little poetry and has a passion for the environment.

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Ronaldo Seroa da Motta

Ronaldo Seroa da Motta is Professor of Economics of the Environment and Natural Resources of the State University of Rio de Janeiro (UERJ). Former Coordinator of Regulation and Environment Studies of IPEA, Former Director of the National Aviation Agency for Research and International Relations, Former Director of Environmental Policies of the Ministry of Environment. IPCC / AR5 / WGIII / Ch15. It mainly works in the following subjects: valuation and environmental economic regulation.

He has conducted diverse projects relating to environmental policy, market mechanisms, economic valuation, social accounting of natural resources, and distributional effects and economics of environmental regulation. Additionally, he has conducted research for World Bank projects, has been the regional coordinator for Latin America for a UNEP (United Nations Environment Programme) project, and has been the Brazilian coordinator for Environmental Accounting of Forests project of FAO/United Nations.

Michael Dutschke

Dr. Michael Dutschke has been working on climate change, renewable energy, land use, nature preservation, and rural economics for the last two decades. He has advised numerous governments, enterprises, and non-governmental organizations on the international climate change process and project-based mitigation activities. He is the author and editor of a good number of academic books and scholarly articles.

At present, he is working as Climate Protection Manager at the city council of the medium-sized city of Lahr / Germany, where his task is to reduce local emissions creating synergies in all sectors, including public administration, industry, commerce, and private households.

Stephen Hugh Salter

Stephen Hugh Salter is an Emeritus Professor of Engineering Design at the University of Edinburgh and inventor of the eponymous Salter duck wave energy device. Salter is also a proponent of geoengineering and is responsible for creating the concept of the mechanical enhancement of clouds to achieve cloud reflectivity enhancement. The wide tank at the University of Edinburgh — a novel design and invention by Stephen Salter, built-in 1977 — was the world's first multi-directional wave tank equipped with absorbing wavemakers. Feedback control systems on the wave-making flaps were used for the absorption of reflected waves, propagating along the water surface of the tank interior towards the 89 flaps. Stephen Salter is a Specialist Advisor at wave Energy Company Aquamarine Power advising on the development of the Oyster wave energy converter. Salter was appointed MBE in the 2004 Birthday Honours for services to engineering. In 2012 he received the Royal Academy of Engineering Sustained Achievement Award.

Julian David Hunt

Julian Hunt is a postdoctoral research scholar in the Sustainable Service Systems (S3) Research Group of the IIASA Energy, Climate, and Environment Program where he focuses on implementing daily and seasonal storage energy technologies in MESSAGE models and analyzing the impact of these technologies on long-term energy planning. His research interests include analysis of energy systems, water-energy-land interfaces, climate change risks, energy security, and energy storage.

He joined IIASA from the National Commission for Nuclear Energy (CNEN) in Brazil, developing hybrid nuclear and seawater desalination projects. He also previously worked at the Energy and Climate Change Branch of the United Nations Industrial Development Organization (UNIDO).

Dai-Yeun Jeong

Dr. Dai-Yeun Jeong is presently the Acting Director of UNESCO World Network of Island and Coastal Biosphere Reserves based in South Korea. He received BA and MA degree in sociology from Korea University (South Korea) and PhD in environmental sociology from University of Queensland (Australia). He was a professor of sociology at Jeju National University (South Korea) from 1981 to 2012, and served as the President of Asia-Pacific Sociological Association from 2002 to 2004, and as a delegate of South Korean Government to UNFCCC and OECD Environmental Meeting from 2003 to 2005. He has published 13 books including Environmental Sociology, and 60 academic research papers in domestic and international journals. Since 2000, he has conducted 15 research projects on environment-related projects funded by domestic and international origination.

Christopher Bryant

Christopher Bryant received a PhD from the London School of Economics and Political Science (1970). He was a 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). He is also Adjunct Professor, Geography Department, and University of Montreal (September 2014 onwards). He has published many articles in different journals, a huge 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.