Conveners & Speakers 2026

Dr Shanta Barley

Director, Real Zero Hub at IIASA and Chair of the Lethal Humidity Global Council

Emily White

Chief Finance and Operations Officer

Centre for Disaster Protection

Rain Newton-Smith

Chief Executive

Confederation of British Industry (CBI)

Professor Sir Ian Chapman

Chief Executive

UK Research and Innovation (UKRI)

Professor Carlos Nobre FRS

Brazilian Earth Scientist and Co-Chair

Science Panel for the Amazon

Professor Emily Shuckburgh CBE

Chief Scientific Advisor

Department for Energy Security and Net Zero and Director of Cambridge Zero

Nigel Topping CMG

Chair

Climate Change Committee

Lord Michael Barber

Rachel Kyte CMG

UK Special Representative for Climate

No profile available

Sandra Hansen

Head of International Peril Advisory & Climate Lead

Guy Carpenter

Professor Jemilah Mahmood

Executive Director

Sunway Centre for Planetary Health

Professor Pete Falloon

Science Lead - Food Security

Met Office

H.E. Varuzhan Nersesyan

Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of the Republic of Armenia to the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland

No profile available

Professor Corinne Le Quéré CBE FRS

Royal Society Research Professor of Climate Change Science

University of East Anglia

Catherine Ansell

Executive Director, Climate, Nature and Social Risk

JP Morgan

No profile available

Professor Lisa Roberts

President and Vice-Chancellor

University of Exeter

Fiona Duggan

Global Sustainability Senior Manager - Climate Advocacy

Unilever

No profile available

Rajani Naidoo

Vice-President and Deputy Vice-Chancellor (People and Culture)

University of Exeter

Gordon Bennett

Managing Director of Utility Markets

Intercontinental Exchange (ICE)

Professor Sallie Bailey

Chief Scientist

Natural England

Professor Marina Romanello

Executive Director

Lancet Countdown

No profile available

Rachel Delhaise

Chief Sustainability Officer

Convex Insurance

No profile available

Mark Apsey MBE

Chief Executive Officer

CivicNetZero

Dan Fairweather

Director of Food Systems and Biodiversity

Howden

Dr Sam Mugume Koojo

Co-Chair

Coalition of Finance Ministers for Climate Action

Professor Rosemary Hails MBE

Nature, Land & Evidence Director

National Trust

Marco Serena

Chief Sustainable Impact Officer

PIDG (Private Infrastructure Development Group)

No profile available

Penny Marno

Senior Specialist (Health)

Natural England

Professor Tafadzwa Mabhaudhi

Professor of Climate Change, Food Systems & Health at LSHTM and Director of the Lancet Countdown Africa Centre at Future Africa, University of Pretoria

The London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine (LSHTM) and the University of Pretoria

Professor Stephen Belcher CBE

Chief of Science and Technology

Met Office

Professor Steve Smith MBE

Executive Director

Oxford Net Zero and CO2RE

Professor Miranda Barker OBE DL

Climate Envoy

British Chamber of Commerce

Professor Dan Charman

Provost and Senior Vice-President

University of Exeter

Professor Peter Mumby

Professor of Coral Reef Ecology

University of Queensland

Lord Jonathan Oates

Former Chief of Staff to Deputy Prime Minister

HM Government

Dr Oliver Geden

Senior Fellow, Climate and Energy Policy - German Institute for International and Security Affairs and Vice-Chair Working Group III - IPCC

German Institute for International and Security Affairs and IPCC

No profile available

Professor Peter Cox CBE

Professor of Climate System Dynamics in Mathematics and Director of the Global Systems Institute

University of Exeter

No profile available

Stephany Griffith-Jones

Vice-Governor

Central Bank of Chile

No profile available

Nik Gowing

Former BBC Presenter, Founder and Director of Thinking the Unthinkable

Thinking the Unthinkable

No profile available

Dr Tanvir Ahmad

Research Fellow

Global Systems Institute, University of Exeter

No profile available

Dr Hugo Slim

Director of the Las Casas Institute for Social Justice

Blackfriars Hall, University of Oxford

Robin de Carteret

Founder, Educator, Facilitator and Consultant in Complexity Science and Sustainability

Systems Games

Professor Suraje Dessai

Professor of Climate Change Adaptation

University of Leeds

No profile available

Dr Joanne Robbins

Weather Impacts Science Manager

Met Office

No profile available

Dr Lorien Jasny

Computational Social Scientist

University of Exeter

No profile available

Cormac Lynch

Social Scientist and Modeller - Climate Policy Design and Economic Change

University of Exeter

No profile available

Dr Supriya Akerkar

Associate Professor, Disaster Risk Reduction

Oxford Brookes University

Markus Berensson

Head of Mitigation Research

C40

No profile available

Dr Heidi Sevestre

Glaciologist

Dr Helen Millman

Glaciologist

University of Exeter

Dr Ruth Fuller

International Development Policy Adviser

WWF-UK

No profile available

Julien Calas

Research Officer on Biodiversity and head of ECOPRONAT program

Agence Française de Développement (AFD)

Stuart Goldsmith

Climate Comedian

Alex Stinson

Climate, Open & AI Lead and member of the Data Uruguay collective

Lucy Neal OBE

Artist, Writer and Co-Director of Walking Forest

Walking Forest

Professor Ceri Lewis

Professor of Marine Biology

University of Exeter

No profile available

Dr Claire Johnstone

Strategic Funding Manager

Environment Agency

David Harkin

Weather Resilience and Climate Change Adaptation Strategy Manager

Network Rail

Jo Paisley

President

GARP Risk Institute

Professor Rosa Barciela

Principal Scientific Consultant, Head of Ensembles Exploitation at the Met Office & Professor at the University of Exeter Medical School

Met Office and University of Exeter

Carmine Galasso

Professor of Catastrophe Risk Engineering & Research Director at University College London and Editor in Chief of International Journal of Disaster Risk Reduction (IJDRR), Elsevier

University College London (UCL) and Elsevier

No profile available

Dr Bernd Eggen

Senior Environmental Public Health Scientist, Environmental Epidemiology team

UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA)

Rebecca Hunt

Nature-based Solutions Project Officer

National Landscapes

Michelle Roopnarine

Fellow, Nature and Climate Impact Team

University of Exeter

No profile available

Tatiana Der Avedissian

Head of Business Development, World Ocean Initiative

The Economist Group

Camilla Bennett

Chief Risk Officer (CRO)

AXA UK

No profile available

Professor Bryony Onciul

Professor of Museology and Heritage

University of Exeter

No profile available

Professor Tarje Nissen-Meyer

Professor in Environmental Intelligence

University of Exeter

Professor Hywel Williams

Professor in Environmental Data Science

University of Exeter

Jennie King

Non-Resident Fellow

Institute for Strategic Dialogue (ISD) and the Center for Climate and Security (CCS)

Professor Lizzy Kendon

Strategic Head of Climate Processes and Projections

Met Office

Dr Rebecca Chasey

Clinical & Community Psychologist

Peter Browning

CEO

Browning Environmental Communications

Dr Ed Gasson

Royal Society University Research Fellow & Associate Professor of Glaciology and Palaeoclimatology

University of Exeter

Pier Luigi Vidale

Professor of Climate System Science

University of Reading

No profile available

Professor Rob DeConto

Director of the School of Earth & Sustainability

University of Massachusetts Amherst

No profile available

Tony Rooke

Executive Director and Head of Transition Advisory

Howden

No profile available

Dr Travis Coan

Co-director of the Centre for Climate Communication and Data Science (C3D3) and Professor of Computational Social Science

University of Exeter

Christina Xiao

Modelling and Evaluation Manager

C40

No profile available

Sandra Ata

Allyship Coordinator and Movement Builder

Greenpeace UK

No profile available

Yumna Kamel

Co-founder and Executive Director

Earth Refuge

Tala Budziszewski

Innovation Officer- Environment and Climate Action

UNHCR

No profile available

Kirsty Lewis

Applied Climate Science Fellow,

Met Office

No profile available

Right Reverend Moira Astin

Bishop of Crediton

No profile available

Professor Pierre Freidlingstein FRS

Chair in Mathematical Modelling of the Climate System

University of Exeter

Theo Economou

Associate Professor in Statistics

University of Exeter

Ian McFadzen

Chief Executive Officer

Ocean Conservation Trust

Dr Emma Gillingham

Principal Climate Change Scientist

UK Health Security Agency

Professor Kerry Ann Brown

Senior Lecturer- public and planetary health related to nutrition and food security

University of Exeter

Dr Steven R. Smith

Research Fellow - Global Systems Institute (GSI) and Green Futures Solutions (GFS)

University of Exeter

Professor Tim Taylor

Professor in Environmental and Public Health Economics and Director of the Centre for Net Positive Health and Climate Solutions

University of Exeter

Dr Tom Powell

Research Impact Fellow - Global Systems Institute

University of Exeter

Talwyn Whetter

University of Exeter

Tom Parsons

Commercial Director

Good Energy

Baroness Natalie Bennett

Former Leader

Green Party

No profile available

Dr Eunice Oppon

Senior Lecturer in Sustainable Futures

University of Exeter

Dr Helen Macintyre

Principal Climate Change Scientist

UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA)

Professor J-F Mercure

Professor of Climate Policy

University of Exeter Business School

Hon. Edward Fane Trefusis

Nuffield Farming Scholar and Director and Partner

Clinton Devon Estates

No profile available

Professor Martin Siegert

Deputy Vice Chancellor (Cornwall)

University of Exeter

Professor Richard Betts MBE

Head of Climate Impacts Research

Met Office Hadley Centre

Jo Chamberlain

Director of Sustainability

University of Exeter

Professor Gesche Huebner

Director

European Centre for Environment & Human Health (ECEHH)

Richard Deverell CBE

Director

Royal Botanic Gardens Kew

Harriet Bell

Regenerative Farming Lead

Riverford Organic Farmers

No profile available

Melanie Squires MBE

Chair

Great South West Food Security

Professor Angela Gallegos-Sala

Professor

Geography, University of Exeter

Professor Claire Dunlop

Professor of Politics and Public Policy

University of Exeter

Professor Matt Lobley

Co-Director of the Centre for Rural Policy Research (CRPR)

University of Exeter

Professor John Newton

Professor of Public Health and Epidemiology

University of Exeter

Dr Dan Bloomfield

Nature Recovery and Food Systems Lead

University of Exeter

Tania Kumar

Director (Energy Transition)

CBI

No profile available

Professor Helene Hewitt OBE

Co-chair of the Coupled Model Intercomparison Project (CMIP)

Met Office

Étienne Espagne

Senior Climate Economist

Agence Française de Développement (AFD)

Emma Magee

Head of Communities and Nature

Duchy of Cornwall, Dartmoor Estate

Dr Femke Nijsse

Senior Lecturer in Innovation, Energy and Climate and Deputy Director of Exeter Climate Policy

University of Exeter

Dr Josh Ayers

Senior Research Impact Fellow - Nature and Climate Impact Team

University of Exeter

Sebastian Racisz

Guild President

Exeter Students' Guild

Professor Tim Lenton OBE

Founding Director of the Global Systems Institute and Chair in Climate Change and Earth System Science

University of Exeter

Professor Sarah Gurr

Chair in Food Security

University of Exeter

No profile available

Professor Robin May

Professor of Infectious Diseases

University of Birmingham

Amanda Ellis

Executive Director (Asia-Pacific), Global Institute of Sustainability and Innovation and Senior Director, Global Partnerships and Networks, Julie Ann Wrigley Global Futures Laboratory

Arizona State University

Professor Dann Mitchell

Professor of Climate Science and Deputy Head of School

University of Bristol

Tatjana Baleta

Wikimedia Visiting Fellow for Climate - Global Systems Institute

University of Exeter

Professor Jennifer Catto

Professor in Weather and Climate

University of Exeter