Giovanni Avila-Flores

Lecturer, Autonomous University of Baja California Sur

Full profile

Giovanni Ávila-Flores (Gio) obtained his bachelor's degree in Marine Biology at the Autonomous University of Baja California Sur (UABCS), Mexico. Later, he did his master's studies in Environment and Resource Management at the Free University of Amsterdam, Netherlands. Later in 2019, he did a research stay in the "Mangrove Ecology" Working Group of the Leibniz Center for Tropical Marine Research in Bremen, Germany. In 2021, he obtained a Ph.D. in Marine and Coastal Sciences from UABCS by presenting a thesis about a comprehensive assessment of mangroves in Baja California Sur, Mexico. On the other hand, he is a member of various global scientific organizations such as the "Ecosystem Services Partnership" and the "Society of Wetland Scientists." He has also held executive positions within some international networks as "Young Ecosystem Services Specialists" (YESS) in the period 2020-2021 and "Early Career Researcher Network of Networks" (ECR NoN) as Chair of the Membership Committee in the period 2022-2023. Also, he has earned national and international prizes and recognitions, highlighting a Certificate of Honor from the UNDP Equatorial Initiative for outstanding volunteer service in 2016 and a Distinction as a Member of the National System of Researchers by the National Council of Science and Technology of Mexico in 2022. Finally, last year he began to participate in Future Earth as a member of the Assembly General in the ECR group.

Leopoldo Cavaleri Gerhardinger

Full profile

Leopoldo Cavaleri Gerhardinger is a researcher with experience on topics ranging from marine ecology and ethnoecology to, most recently, the theory and practice of ocean governance. Beyond academia, Leopoldo is also actively involved in building knowledge networks across coastal Brazil, using web-based social media tools and cross-disciplinary facilitation approaches to advance new types of voluntary engagement for improved governability of emerging oceans issues. Leopoldo is coordinator of the Earth System Governance (ESG) project Research Fellows network in Latin America, member of the Executive Secretary of the Brazilian Future Ocean Panel (PainelMar) and advisor on marine spatial planning to the Secretary of the Brazilian Interministerial Commission on Sea Resources (SECIRM). Further he is Science-Policy Coordinator of the Future Earth Coasts endorsed project Babitonga Ativa and member of the council of the Early Career Researchers (ECR) Network of Networks (NoN).

Noelia Zafra Calvo

Research Scientist, Earth Commission

Full profile

Noelia Zafra-Calvo supports the Earth Commission in synthesizing the best available scientific evidence to inform the development of the global goals on biodiversity. Her previous work has focused on science-policy research, contributing to develop a tracking system to assess multidimensional social equity in protected areas to report on Aichi Target 11; co-produce metrics for understanding environmental governance constraints in biodiversity conservation; and incorporate social concerns into systematic conservation planning approaches. She holds a degree in Environmental Sciences and a PhD in Global Change and Sustainable Development from the University of Alcala and the Natural History Museum of Madrid (CSIC), Spain. Her interest and passion lies in conservation social sciences and biodiversity.

Ajibola Akanji

Lead City University, Ibadan, Nigeria

Full profile

Ajibola Akanji is a barrister and solicitor of the Supreme Court of Nigeria, and a member of the Nigerian Bar Association. He is a lecturer at the Faculty of Law, Lead City University, Ibadan, and holds degrees in Law and Public Administration. His research interest transcends the Social sciences and Law, it is focused on the intersection of Law, Co-operatives and Sustainable development. He emphasis the importance of co-operatives, cooperation, solidarity economics and social financing, and their possible upgrade with the mechanism of robust legal frameworks, which he advocates as an imperative to poverty alleviation and sustainable development. He is an adherent of the works of late Elinor Ostrom, and Guy Standing of the University of London. He made contributions on the impact of co-operatives and co-operative law to the business of agriculture in Nigeria to the World Bank Group 2019 Report on Enabling the Business of Agriculture. Aside teaching and research, he engages in private legal practice. He served as a trainer at the International Co-operative Alliance (ICA) organized Global Youth Forum (GYF20), February, 2020 at Kuching, Malaysia, where he handled sessions on Co-operative Law. He is a Member of the Young Scholars Initiative, Institute for New Economic Thinking, where he serves as a Project Organizer with the Co-operative Working Group.

Dhanasree Jayaram

Full profile

I’m Dr. Dhanasree Jayaram, Assistant Professor, Department of Geopolitics and International Relations, and Co-Coordinator, Centre for Climate Studies (CCS), Manipal Academy of Higher Education (MAHE), India. My research primarily focuses on global environmental politics, environmental security and military, climate policy and diplomacy. My PhD thesis (degree received in 2018) was on “Military Dimensions of Environmental Security: An Indian Perspective”. I’m also Research Fellow at the Earth System Governance (ESG) Project and as its representative to the Early Career Researchers Network of Networks (ECR NoN), I have been engaging with other ECR networks looking into issues concerning global sustainability. I received the ECR travel grant from Future Earth (FE) to attend the 2017 Lund Conference on ESG, and since then I have been participating in its activities/initiatives, especially the Knowledge-Action Networks, Early Career Professionals Network, and conferences.

Ethemcan Turhan

Full profile

I am a postdoctoral researcher at KTH (Royal Institute of Technology) Environmental Humanities Lab, working in the FORMAS-funded Occupy Climate Change! Project. My main research and advocacy interests are international climate change regime (UNFCCC), Turkey's national climate change policy, climate change adaptation, ecological conflicts, environmental movements, energy democracy and migration in the context of climate change. My approach to social science on climate change is deeply rooted in social justice and is engaged with grassroots movements in an attempt to produce socially relevant and useful knowledge. This is mainly because of my engagement as an action-researcher with environmental justice movements in Turkey. Hence, my dual role as an activist-academic pushes me to self-reflect on the roles of scale, agency and multi-level politics. I believe that global environmental justice is a rapidly expanding field of academic inquiry where Future Earth can have a pivotal role. Future Earth supported me to the "Environmental Justice 2017 - Looking Back, Looking Forward" conference in Sydney, Australia, where I expanded my networks to Oceania and beyond.

Geoffrey Mwangi Wambugu

Full profile

I am a Lecturer at Karatina University in Kenya, a researcher of Ecology, an Environmental Consultant and an Environmental Impact Assessment Lead Expert. My principal activities include teaching at the university; ecological research in the East African Region; and advising development projects on environmental matters. I completed my PhD at the University of Nairobi, Kenya, in 2018. I am engaged with Future Earth as an early career professional, where I have been involved in several activities. These include: co-organizing a workshop on Natural Capital and related concepts in Bern, Switzerland; Developing a common definition of the term “Natural Assets” for Future Earth’s Natural Assets KAN; and co-authoring a paper that aimed at framing Natural Assets research agenda for the Natural Assets KAN. Most of these activities, including travel, are supported by Future Earth through its various hubs.

Maria Martinez-Harms

Natural Assets Knowledge-Action Network

Full profile

Maria is a spatial ecologist interested in the science-policy interface for ecosystem services and biodiversity to inform landscape planning. By applying decision support tools like scenario analysis and conservation planning, she explores trade-offs and prioritize management alternatives that balance conservation, development, and social objectives. Her PhD focuses on synthesizing ecosystem services research to provide scientific evidence that can be used in environmental decision making. She is developing study cases in Mediterranean Chile looking at spatial and temporal changes in ecosystem services provision under global change and exploring ways to expand the current protected areas system to enhance equity in access to nature and improve biodiversity representation. Her research aims to inform international and national conservation decision-making on best practices to manage multi-functional landscapes for the sustainable provision of ecosystem services.