Giles Bruno Sioen

Co-Lead, Research & Innovation

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Dr. Giles B. Sioen is co-Lead for Research and Innovation based in the Future Earth Global Hub Japan, Research Associate at the National Institute for Environmental Studies of Japan, and chair of the KU Leuven Alumni Chapter Japan. Among other activities, he works on the research and innovation portfolio with colleagues from across the Future Earth community, coordinates the Future Earth Urban and Health Knowledge-Action Networks, conducts individual research, and supports a range of domestic projects and activities. His research focuses on the development of a transdisciplinary system-based guideline to reduce the impact of climate change and other disasters on cities and health. Before joining Future Earth, he worked as a project researcher at the Graduate School of Frontier Sciences of the University of Tokyo in collaboration with Massachusetts Institute of Technology - System Design and Management Program where he applied sustainability science concepts in the fields of urban planning and public health using a systems approach. Dr. Sioen holds a Ph.D. in Sustainability Science from the University of Tokyo, a Master’s degree in Urban Planning and Design from KU Leuven (Luca-Arts, campus Ghent), and a Bachelor’s degree in Garden and Landscape Architecture from University College Ghent.

Judit Ungvari

Co-Lead, Research & Innovation

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Judit Ungvari is the co-lead of the Future Earth Research and Innovation portfolio and the Research and Innovation Officer at George Mason University’s Institute for a Sustainable Earth. She came to Future Earth and Mason after 2 years at the National Science Foundation where she was a AAAS Science & Technology Policy Fellow. She was working in the Geosciences directorate on various international and integrative activities facilitating transdisciplinary global change research. Her work encompassed various programs within the Belmont Forum, Future Earth, and the Sustainability Research and Innovation initiatives. Judit is an ecologist by training, with expertise in avian biology in tropical habitats. She studied birds in the Peruvian Amazon region combining both laboratory- and field-based research and received her Ph.D. in Zoology with a certificate and concentration in Tropical Conservation and Development at the University of Florida. Her work on Amazonian forest bird communities related to the ecological mechanisms of habitat specialization, movement and dispersal between patchy habitats, combining metapopulation theory, landscape ecology, and population genetics. She also worked as a postdoctoral scholar at the Smithsonian Institute in Washington, DC, addressing avian conservation issues in coffee agroecosystems in Colombia. Judit is involved in local capacity building and community outreach both in the USA and Latin America and has mentored dozens of students to complete independent research projects in Peru, Colombia and Florida. Her interests include sustainability science, science diplomacy, supporting open research efforts, and communicating science to the public.

Ria Lambino

Deputy Director, Japan Hub

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Ria Lambino is based at the Research Institute for Humanity & Nature (RIHN) in Kyoto as Specially Appointed Associate Professor.  She received her PhD and Masters from Kyoto University Graduate School of Global Environmental Studies.  She has a degree in Applied Physics (although never applied it) but has spent most of her professional career as a practitioner and researcher focusing on environmental conservation and sustainability, with significant experience in the Philippines and in Japan. Prior to joining Future Earth, she worked for WWF Philippines as Vice President for Sustainable Production and Market Engagement and had been involved in transdisciplinary research on watershed governance at RIHN.  Her research interests include environmental policy and governance, protected areas & management, renewable energy, water issues, sustainable agriculture & fisheries and sustainable consumption and production.

Smriti Basnett

Deputy Director, South Asia Hub

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Dr Smriti Basnett’s concern for society and environment fuels her desire to bring about the changes she wants to see around her. Smriti believes that change can be most effectively wrought by interdisciplinary and transdisciplinary approaches. She works tirelessly to this end through the Future Earth Program at Divecha Centre for Climate Change (DCCC) located in the Indian Institute of Science (IISc), Bangalore. Smriti manages and directs programs for South Asia, pushing for the espousal of the Sustainable Development Goals in national and regional policies. She is currently working to establish Working Groups and Committees on Food Security, Water Security, Clean Air and Health in South Asia for Future Earth. Smriti started her career as a Junior Research Fellow in the Sikkim Glacier Commission from DST-Sikkim, continued her research at ISRO, SAC, Ahmedabad and DCCC, IISc, Bangalore between 2007 and 2016. After her PhD on ‘Glacier and Snow Studies in Sikkim Himalaya’, she worked with Sikkim University and local communities. She led many glacier expeditions, developed the university curriculum and helped establish DST's Centre of excellence on water resources, cryosphere and climate change at Sikkim University. While monitoring glaciers in North Sikkim, Smriti spent a lot of time working with the local communities, conducting science and art awareness programs in various urban and rural schools, documenting narratives on yak herding and trying her hand at the local traditional farming practices. She is a Co-leader in the UNESCO Project, ‘Himalayan Glaciers and Risks to Local Communities’, and conducts training, workshops and capacity development activities in Bhutan, Nepal and Sikkim. Smriti volunteers to work with the rural schools in North Sikkim and also to work with the Indian Himalayan Integrated Mountain Initiative (IMI). Smriti was a Berkner fellow and represented South Asia at the American Geophysical Union (AGU) and an ICIMOD fellow at the HUC-IHCAP glacier training and expedition (2017). Smriti likes skiing, paragliding, hiking, table tennis and running.

Makyba Charles-Ayinde

Latin America and Caribbean Regional Lead, USA Hub

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Makyba Charles-Ayinde serves as the Latin America and Caribbean Lead and is focused on expansion, reinforcement, and deepening of strategic relationships among sustainability, informed decision support, and transformative action organizations in the Global South with the offices and communities of Future Earth. As such, she is particularly focused on leading such activities in the region of Latin America and the Caribbean and being both a conduit and advocate to the Global Future Earth administration for that region. She came to Future Earth after efforts at the National Institutes of Health where she supported exceptionally creative scientists pursuing highly innovative research with the potential for broad impact in biomedical, behavioral, or social sciences and the United States Department of State where she worked as their lead Covid-19 officer within the Office of International Health and Biodefense. Makyba has previously worked with Future Earth while as an AAAS Science & Technology Policy Fellow at the National Science Foundation. She worked in the Geosciences directorate on various international and integrative activities facilitating transdisciplinary global change research. Her work encompassed various programs within the Belmont Forum, Future Earth, Sustainability Research and Innovation, and Global Sustainability Scholars initiatives. Makyba is a public health scientist by training, with expertise in environmental and global health. She assessed seafood safety following the Deepwater Horizon oil spill and identified highly vulnerable subpopulations to environmental disasters in the Gulf region. She also worked as a National Academies of Sciences fellow, where she analyzed programs responding to the Zika disease outbreak following hurricane Irma and evaluated novel techniques for mosquito control due to climate change within the State of Florida. Makyba is originally from the Caribbean and is extremely passionate about moving the needle on initiatives relative to sustainability science and its connectivity to public health, as well as science diplomacy within the Global South.

Kyoko Shiota MacAulay

Network Manager

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Kyoko Shiota MacAulay is a Network Manager at the US Hub. She previously worked for the Japan Hub as a Program Manager coordinating the Future of Washing Initiative. She also worked for some private companies as an ESG consultant as well as for the United Nations University Institute for the Advanced Study of Sustainability as a lead program manager for the Education for Sustainable Development Programme. She has also worked for the United Nations Population Fund as a knowledge management consultant. She holds an M.A. in International Educational Development from Teachers College, Columbia University, and a B.A. in International and Cultural Studies from Tsuda University.

Ria Lambino

Deputy Director, Japan Hub

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Ria Lambino is based at the Research Institute for Humanity & Nature (RIHN) in Kyoto as Specially Appointed Associate Professor.  She received her PhD and Masters from Kyoto University Graduate School of Global Environmental Studies.  She has a degree in Applied Physics (although never applied it) but has spent most of her professional career as a practitioner and researcher focusing on environmental conservation and sustainability, with significant experience in the Philippines and in Japan. Prior to joining Future Earth, she worked for WWF Philippines as Vice President for Sustainable Production and Market Engagement and had been involved in transdisciplinary research on watershed governance at RIHN.  Her research interests include environmental policy and governance, protected areas & management, renewable energy, water issues, sustainable agriculture & fisheries and sustainable consumption and production.

Pavel Kambersky

Co-lead, Capacity & Networks

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Pavel joined the French Hub of Future Earth in July 2023 as a Science Officer. He studied a Master’s in International Development with a specialisation in environment at Sciences Po, where he also studied a Bachelor’s degree in Political Science. His interests include environmental justice, decolonial climate perspectives and degrowth.

Zhongming Gao

Science Officer

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Zhongming Gao joins Future Earth as a Science Officer under the Network and Capacity Building in China Hub. He holds a BSc in Atmospheric Science from Lanzhou University and a Ph.D. in Engineering Science from Washington State University. Currently, Zhongming is an associate professor at Sun Yat-sen University, focusing on boundary layer meteorology and land-ecosystem interaction.

Sophie H. L. Su

Science Officer, Taipei

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Sophie H. L. Su is a science officer of Future Earth Taipei and Taipei Global Hub based at Academia Sinica in Taiwan. Her current main tasks are coordination and communication. Prior to this role, Sophie worked as the Managing Editor of Innovation in the Social Sciences at the College of Social Science in NSYSU, Taiwan. Also, she is experienced in teaching undergraduate programs in the Department of English at NKNU and NKFUST. Sophie holds a Ph.D. in literary studies from National Kaohsiung Normal University and has conducted research of environmental humanities affiliated with ICON of Utrecht University. Her research interests involve intersections between contemporary French philosophy, im/migrant and refugee literature/artworks with a focus on eco-decolonial theory and practice.

Santiago Ramirez Said

Indigenous and Community Engagement Coordinator

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Santiago is a botanist who has dedicated his life to the service of impact and change through creativity, inclusion, and a multidisciplinary mindset. Having lived in Brazil, Colombia, and Canada, Santiago has always felt at home on the entire American continent and, since very young, has devoted his career to the conservation of the continent's natural heritage and the sustainable and equitable development of its societies. Currently, Santiago is joining Future Earth as a Project Manager for the Landscape Analysis project co-designed with Microsoft. Parallel to his work in Future Earth, Santiago is a National Geographic Explorer, working with indigenous communities in Panama to advance cultural and ethnobotanical conservation initiatives while co-creating reforestation projects tightly based on indigenous knowledge. Prior to this, Santiago worked as a Lead Methodologist for the Colombian Ministry of Education, developing interdisciplinary initiatives to prevent Gender-based violence in rural Colombia. He holds a BSc in Biology and Conservation from the University of the Andes (Colombia), a specialization in GIS from the University of California, Davies (United States) and an M.Sc. in Natural Resource Sciences from McGill University (Canada).

Yu-Chun, Dolly Chung

Science Officer, Taipei Hub

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Dr. Yu-Chun Dolly Chung received her PhD from the Department of Management Sciences, Tamkang University, Taiwan. Her research focuses were marketing, consumer behavior, brand management, and so on. Dr. Chung had conducted sustainability-related programs during PhD and postdoctoral studies. She joined the Center for Sustainability Science in Academia Sinica; worked on Future Earth Taipei and Integrated Research on Disaster Risk (IRDR) International Centre of Excellence (ICoE-Taipei) as a science officer in 2020.

Sophie Hebden

Liaison, Future Earth and European Space Agency

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Sophie is a research liaison for Future Earth, based at the European Space Agency Climate Office, near Oxford, UK. She manages the ESA-Future Earth Joint Program, which supports collaborative activities of the Global Research Networks using Earth observations. She is interested in the climate science-policy interface, working on communication and coordination of projects. She has a PhD in space physics and an MSc in science communication.

Natalie Chong

Science Officer

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Natalie Chong is a Science Officer at the French Global Hub of Future Earth in Paris. Previously, she was a researcher at LEESU (Laboratoire Eau, Environnement et Systèmes Urbains), with a focus on the (co-)production and use of scientific knowledge and its tools in the context of water resources management in large river basins in France and Australia. She has also worked in the Philippines on a youth employment programme funded by the Canadian International Development Agency (CIDA) and in Cambodia, researching, developing and testing different agroecological techniques with local farmers and experts. At Future Earth, her work focuses on the Science-Based Pathways for Sustainability Initiative and supporting science-policy collaboration. She holds a PhD in Environmental Science from École des Ponts ParisTech, a MSc in Sustainability and Innovation from Université Joseph Fourier and a BA in Global Studies from Wilfred Laurier University.

Marcin Jarzebski

Science Officer

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Lisa Jacobson

Science Officer, Sweden

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Lisa works in the core secretariat of the Earth Commission, where her main tasks are coordination, communications and scientific support. Lisa has a background in sustainability science, science communication, journalism and project management. She worked more than ten years as a medical journalist and then at the science-policy interface for the Swedish Cancer Society. She holds a bachelor’s degree in journalism from Stockholm University and a MSc in social-ecological resilience from Stockholm Resilience Centre. Her research interests include transformations, sustainable lifestyles, and behavioral change - particularly related to food and travelling.

Yu-Chun, Dolly Chung

Science Officer, Taipei Hub

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Dr. Yu-Chun Dolly Chung received her PhD from the Department of Management Sciences, Tamkang University, Taiwan. Her research focuses were marketing, consumer behavior, brand management, and so on. Dr. Chung had conducted sustainability-related programs during PhD and postdoctoral studies. She joined the Center for Sustainability Science in Academia Sinica; worked on Future Earth Taipei and Integrated Research on Disaster Risk (IRDR) International Centre of Excellence (ICoE-Taipei) as a science officer in 2020.

Yaxing Du

Science Officer

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Dr. Du is an associate professor at school of atmospheric sciences, Sun Yat-sen University. She received PhD from Hong Kong Polytechnic University. Her research interests are centered around modelling different air quality fields within urban neighborhoods and studying the impact of turbulent transport and ventilation on the concentration fields. She is interested in understanding air quality and outdoor thermal comfort in urban environment within neighborhood scale.

Ria Lambino

Deputy Director, Japan Hub

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Ria Lambino is based at the Research Institute for Humanity & Nature (RIHN) in Kyoto as Specially Appointed Associate Professor.  She received her PhD and Masters from Kyoto University Graduate School of Global Environmental Studies.  She has a degree in Applied Physics (although never applied it) but has spent most of her professional career as a practitioner and researcher focusing on environmental conservation and sustainability, with significant experience in the Philippines and in Japan. Prior to joining Future Earth, she worked for WWF Philippines as Vice President for Sustainable Production and Market Engagement and had been involved in transdisciplinary research on watershed governance at RIHN.  Her research interests include environmental policy and governance, protected areas & management, renewable energy, water issues, sustainable agriculture & fisheries and sustainable consumption and production.