The researchers listed below are a few of those who have confirmed their participation in the symposium The Planet in 2050:

Prof. Dr. Guy Brasseur
Associate Director at Earth and Sun Systems Laboratory, National Center for Atmospheric Research, Boulder, Colorado, USA.
Dr. Brasseur holds two engineering degrees and a doctorate in aeronomy, and has among his preferred research interests advanced models of photochemistry and chemical transport in the middle atmosphere. He contributed as Coordinator Lead Author to the latest report published by The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), which was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 2007

Dr. Jill Jäger
Senior researcher at the Sustainable Europe Research Institute in Vienna, Austria.
Her projects there include a range of activities related to scientist-practitioner dialogues on sustainability, as well as on integrated sustainability assessment. She was Executive Director of the International Human Dimensions Programme on Global Environmental Change (IHDP) until November 2002.

Prof. Dr. Robert Costanza
Co-founder and past president of the International Society for Ecological Economics.
His research has focused on the interface between ecological and economic systems and today Dr. Costanza is the Gund professor in ecological economy and the director of the Gund Institute for Ecological Economics at the University of Vermont, Burlington, Vermont, USA.

Prof. Dr. Rik Leemans,
Environmental Systems Analysis Group at Wageningen Universiteit
Prof. Leemans is is lead author of several chapters in the four IPCC assessments and special reports and chairs the Scientific Committee of the Earth System Science Partnership. His main research interests concern biodiversity, vegetation structure and dynamics, land-use and cover change, biogeochemical cycles, biodiversity, ecosystem services and sustainable development

Mr. John Katzenberger
Co-founder and director of the Aspen Global Change Institute -Colorado, USA
Since 1989 his work has focused on advancing earth system and global change science through the creation of an interdisciplinary forum where natural and social science scholars explore beyond their own discipline complex systems.  The goal of this work is to further the scientific and technological basis for policy and to help shape the direction of new research initiatives.  His work incorporates elements of earth system science, ecology, energy systems, climate change impact assessment, and K-12 curriculum development.

Ms. Kerry Arabena
Australian Institute of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Studies - Australia
Kerry Arabena a Research Fellow at the Australian Institute of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Studies.  She has a professional record in Indigenous public health, national strategic planning, and addressing issues relating to family violence, sexual and reproductive health and prisoner health. She is completing her Doctorate in Human Ecology at the Fenner School at the Australian National University

Mr. Erik Assadourian
Worldwatch Institute, USA
Erik Assadourian is a Research Associate at the Worldwatch Institute (www.worldwatch.org). At Worldwatch, Erik has explored many aspects of what a sustainable world could look like, including investigating a new economic system built around well-being rather than consumerism, how corporations could drive sustainability rather than hinder it, and a broadened definition of global security that incorporates human and environmental considerations, rather than just military dimensions. Erik is currently studying how environmentalism could be “deepened” in order to help usher in an ecological culture to replace consumerism.

Prof. Dr. Jayanta Bandyopadhyay 
Centre for Development and Environment Policy - India
Jayanta Bandyopadhyay (b. 1947) obtained his Ph. D. in Engineering from the Indian Institute of Technology Kanpur. He studied closely the forest conservation movement in the Indian Himalaya, named Chipko, which turned his academic interest to the relationship between humans and the natural environment. He was a CLA in the Millennium Ecosystem Assessment process. Prior to joining his present position as Professor at IIM Calcutta, he worked for ICIMOD (Kathmandu) and International Academy of Environment (Geneva). His area of special interest is Science and Environmental Governance.

Prof. Dr. Aleh Cherp
Director for Research and Professor of Environmental Sciences and Policy at Central European University, Hungary
Aleh Cherp comes from Belarus and has been involved in environmental and development activities of NGOs, international organizations, and academia from the 1980s. He has co-authored UN reports on Chernobyl, on water and energy in Central Asia, and on environment and security in Eastern Europe. He leads the energy and security module of the Global Energy Assessment and coordinates an Erasmus Mundus Masters course in Environmental Sciences, Policy and Management operated by four European Universities. His research interests include the interaction between environment, energy and security especially in emerging economies as well as the role of Universities and innovation in higher education for sustainable development.

Prof. Dr. Manuel Cesario
SAMAUMA/OASCA-UNIFRAN - Brazil
Manuel Cesario is Professor of Environmental Change and Sustainable Development at UNIFRAN’s Graduate Programme on Health Promotion, where he leads the Advanced Observatory on Health and Environmental Changes, which assesses linkages between development policies, land use/cover changes, and the emergence of infectious diseases at the southwestern Amazonian tri-national frontier. He coordinated the IHDP Task Force on Global Environmental Change and Human Health and is a member of ESSP’s Scientific Steering Committee on Global Environmental Change and Human Health, and of IUFRO’s Steering Committee on Forests and Human Health, and a Fellow of the Linnean Society of London.

Dr. Sarah Cornell
University of Bristol - UK
Sarah Cornell’s background is in biogeochemistry.  She is the science manager for QUEST, the UK’s programme for Earth system science, and her current interests are in new conceptualisations of the interlinked socio-ecological system, and in the interface between the “producers” and “users” of environmental change science.

Mr. Uchita de Zoysa
Centre for Environment and Development - Sri Lanka
Uchita de Zoysa is Executive Director of ‘Centre for Environment & Development’ and civil society leader of the global sustainability movement with contributions to over a hundred international events including the Earth Summit (1992), Social Development Summit (1995), and Sustainable Development Summit (2002). He is a co-author of the “Oslo Declaration on Sustainable Consumption” and author of several books including the “Asian Review on Sustainable Consumption”. He has served on UNEP “SC.Asia” Board, UNCED and UNCSD NGO Steering Committees, SPACES  and SCORE scientific committees. He currently chairs ‘Global Sustainability Solutions’ and serves on the “National Advisory Committee on Climate Change” in Sri Lanka.

Prof. Dr. Wenjie Dong
Beijing Normal University - China

Ms. Catherine Downy
QUEST/University of Bristol - UK
Cat Downy has a background in geology and science management in a climate change research context. She has recently started to investigate the nature and practice of interdisciplinarity in global change research and it’s role within policy and the political process.

Prof. Dr. Malin Falkenmark
SIWI, Stockholm Resilience Centre - Sweden
Malin Falkenmark was 1965-2000 Executive Secretary, later Chair of the Swedish National Committee for Unesco’s International Hydrological Decade/Programme. Since 1986, she is Professor of Applied and International Hydrology. She chaired for 13 years the Scientific Programme Committee for the annual Stockholm Water Symposia. She is now Senior Scientific Advisor at Stockholm International Water Institute (SIWI), and Guest Professor at  Stockholm Resilience Center . She is a future-oriented water scientist, hydrologist by training, with broad interdisciplinary interests and a large number of publications .

Prof. Dr. Joshua Farley  
University of Vermont - USA
Joshua Farley, Associate Professor in Community Development & Applied Economics and Public Administration; fellow, Gund Institute for Ecological Economics at the University of Vermont. Dr. Farley holds degrees in biology, international affairs and economics. His broad research interests focus on the design of an economy capable of balancing what is biophysically possible with what is socially, psychologically and ethically desirable.

Dr. Kathy Hibbard
National Center for Atmospheric Research/AIMES - Boulder, Colorado, USA
Kathy received her Ph.D. at Texas A&M University in 1995. Following her Ph.D., she was a post-doctoral research associate in the College of Forestry at the University of Montana. In 1998, Kathy moved to the University of New Hampshire as Research Scientist II and worked for the International Geosphere/Biosphere Programme (IGBP) Global Analysis and Integration of Models (GAIM) Task Force.  Kathy worked with leaders in the social and biophysical sciences to launch the international Global Carbon Project (GCP; http://www.globalcarbonproject.org).  In 2002, Kathy joined the Terra PNW group in the Department of Forest Science at Oregon State University.  Kathy returned to the IGBP in 2005 to manage the Analysis, Integration and Modeling of the Earth System (AIMES; http://www.aimes.ucar.edu) core project. 

Prof. Dr. Martin Hoffert 
New York University – USA
Martin I. Hoffert is Professor Emeritus of Physics at New York University. He has published broadly in fluid mechanics, plasma physics, atmospheric science, oceanography, planetary atmospheres, environmental science, solar and wind energy, and space solar power; most recently on alternate energy technologies to address global warming and peak oil.

Mr. Torvald Jacobsson
International Institute for Industrial Environmental Economics at Lund University – Sweden

Prof. Dr. Thomas B. Johansson
International Institute for Industrial Environmental Economics at Lund University – Sweden
Prof. Dr. Thomas B Johansson is Director of the International Institute for Industrial Environmental Economics at Lund University. Prof. Johansson’s research is on energy for sustainable development, starting with the demands for change on energy systems through technology and resource options to systems and policies for implementation. He was Director of the UNDP Energy and Atmosphere Programme 1994-2001, and is currently Co-Chair of the Global Energy Assessment

Dr. Sylvia Karlsson
Finland Futures Research Center, Turku School of Economics – Finland
Sylvia Karlsson is a Research Fellow of the Academy of Finland working at the Tampere office of Finland Futures Research Centre in the Turku School of Economics. Her current five year project looks at legitimacy and effectiveness in global environmental governance with an empirical focus on climate change and energy institutions. Dr. Karlsson’s major research has been in political science with emphasis on multi-level governance analysis including the role of institutions, knowledge and values. Her academic training started with an MSc in Biology/Ecotoxicology from Uppsala University, continued with a PhD (political science) from Linköping University and a post doc at Yale University. Dr. Karlsson was one of the lead authors (2007) UNEP Fourth Global Environmental Outlook Assessment (chapter on the vulnerability of people and the environment). She is a member of the Great Transition Initiative and an Associate member of the Club of Rome. She is a Swedish national.

Mr. Stefan Kaufman  
Environment Protection Authority ,Victoria – Australia
Stefan Kaufman is the social research officer at Environment Protection Authority Victoria. He is in the final stages of a PhD in the Human Ecology Program of the Fenner School of Environment and Society at the Australian National University. Stefan’s research and professional activities revolve around the question ‘how can we understand and positively change the complex socio-biophysical systems we participate in’, bringing together an interest in environmental practice change, public participation and the social studies of science and technology

Ms. Ida Kubiszewski  
University of Vermont - USA
Ida Kubiszewski is a co-founder and former-Managing Editor the Encyclopedia of Earth.  She is currently the Managing Editor for a new magazine/journal hybrid called Solutions, scheduled to launch in 2009.  Solutions will be an outlet for discussions focusing on solutions in the context of whole systems design for a sustainable and desirable future.

Prof. Dr. Peter Marcotullio 
Hunter College, CUNY - New York - USA
Peter Marcotullio is Distinguished Lecturer at Hunter College (2007 – present), City University of New York (CUNY), where he teaches in the Department of Urban Affairs and Planning, the Department of Geography and in the CUNY Macaulay Honors College.  He is also Deputy Director of the CUNY Institute for Sustainable Cities.  Prior to coming to CUNY, Dr. Marcotullio held positions at the United Nations University (1997-2008), the University of Tokyo (1999-2006) and Columbia University (2005-present).  His research interests include globalization and urban development, urban environmental transitions and integrated urban and regional environmental approaches to planning. 

Prof. Dr. Michel Meybeck
CNRS/University of Paris – France
Dr Michel Meybeck, senior scientist at the Centre National de Recherche Scientifique in the University Pierre et Marie Curie (Paris 6), is working on world rivers chemistry, hydrology and sediment transport. He has been among the first to qualify the global evolution of river systems. These changes reflect the profound modifications of the Earth surface, particularly evident on sediments, runoff, carbon, nitrogen, phosphorous, heavy metals, and some major ions. In turn they are likely to greatly impact the continental water resources and the coastal resources. He has been part of many global and regional assessments of water quality and participates to several projects of the International Geosphere Biosphere Programme.

Ms. Jennifer Mohamed-Katerere
Independent Expert. Member IUCN Commission on Environmental Law and Commission on Environment, Economic and Social Policy, Jakarta - Indonesia
Jennifer Clare Mohamed-Katerere, an independent environmental law and policy expert, works on poverty-environment-rights issues primarily at the research-policy interface. Her work contributes to environmental approaches (local, national and transboundary) that support poor people achieve viable, sustainable futures by strengthening rights and enhancing collaboration. Jennifer is a member of IUCN’s Commissions on (1) Environmental Law and (2) Environment, Economic and Social Policy.

Prof. Dr. Harold Mooney 
Stanford University,California - USA
Harold A. Mooney is Professor in Environmental Biology at Stanford University. He is engaged in research on the impacts of global change on terrestrial ecosystems, especially on productivity and biodiversity, and is also examining those factors that promote the invasions of non-indigenous plant species as well as on the global impact of animal production systems, both extensive and intensive.

Dr. Washington Odongo Ochola 
Department of Agriculture Education and Extension, Egerton University - Kenya
Dr Washington Odongo Ochola is a Senior Lecturer in the Department of Agricultural Education and Extension, Egerton University - KENYA. He holds a PhD in sustainable agriculture and rural development. His fields of interest include sustainable agriculture and rural development, agricultural information and communication management, agricultural and environmental systems assessment and reporting, scenario (future) studies and participatory technology development. He has done research and published widely in these fields and in a number of outlook/scenario building processes.

Dr. Dennis Ojima
H. John Heinz III Center for Science, Economics and the Environment

Prof. Dr. Luiz Pingueli Rosa
Federal University of Rio de Janeiro - Brasil
Luiz Pinguelli Rosa, doctor in Physics, titular teacher of the Federal University of Rio de Janeiro, was Managing of the Coordination of the Programs of Masters degree in Engineering of UFRJ - COPPE, for four mandates, former-president of Eletrobrás, now Director of COPPE and Executive Secretary of the Brazilian Forum of Climatic Changes.

Prof. Dr. Katherine Richardson
Faculty of Science, University of Copenhagen - Denmark
Richardson is a vice Dean at the Faculty of Science at the University of Copenhagen. She is also a professor in biological oceanography. Her research focuses on the importance of biological processes in the ocean for carbon flux in the upper ocean. She is chairman of the Scientific Steering Committee a large scientific congress “Climate Change: Global Risks, Challenges and Decisions” (www.climatecongress.ku.dk) which is being held as a part of the preparations for the UN Summit Meeting on Climate Change to be held in Denmark in 2009. She has been active both as a member and/or chairman for a number of national and international research committees/advisory boards, including Vice President of ESF from 2001-2008. She is a former member of the Scientific Steering Committee of IGBP and a co-author of the IGBP synthesis book Global Change and the Earth System: A Planet under Pressure. She is the chairman of the “Earth System Science” Evaluation Panel for ERC Starting Grants.

Dr. Tomas Ries
Swedish Institute of International Affairs, Stockholm – Sweden
Dr. Tomas Ries is Director of the Swedish Institute of International Affairs since 1 January 2005. His main interest is the globalising security environment. Between 1997-2004 he was Senior Researcher at the National Defence College in Finland, focussing on globalisation and security, Finland’s security policy and EU and NATO affairs. Between 1992-1997 he was Director of the International Training Course in Geneva, Switzerland and Deputy Director of the Geneva Centre for Security Policy. Between 1986-1992 he worked as Researcher and then Senior Researcher at the Norwegian Institute of International Affairs and the Institute for Defence Studies in Oslo, Norway. His focus then was Soviet military interests in the north and nordic security and defence policies. Dr. Ries has written two books and over one-hundred articles and research studies. He holds a B.Sc. (Econ) from the London School of Economics and Political Science and a Ph.D. from the Graduate Institute of International Studies at Geneva University.

Prof. Dr. Johan Rockström
Stockholm Environment Institute, Stockholm Resilience Centre  - Sweden
Executive Director of the Stockholm Environment Institute (SEI) since 2004, and at the same time the Executive Director of the Stockholm Resilience Centre, a newly established international research centre on sustainability research between the Royal Swedish Academy of Science, Stockholm University and SEI. He has more than 50 peer review scientific publications and more than 15 years of applied research experience in tropical regions of the world, within research ranging from applied resilience research, watershed management to global environmental change, with a focus on water resources and global sustainability

Prof. Dr. Steve Running 
University of Montana, USA
Prof. Steven Running is a Regents Professor of Ecology at the University of Montana, Missoula, USA. His research interests lie in large scale terrestrial ecosystem biogeochemistry and ecosystem modeling. He is a Team Member of the US NASA Earth Observing System MODIS sensor, where his lab produces daily mapping of global primary production and evapotranspiration. He was a lead author in Working Group II for the IPCC 4th Assessment.

Prof. Dr. Roberto Sánchez-Rodríguez
Director and Professor of Environmental Studies at UC Mexus, University of California.
Prof. Sánchez has a multidisciplinary background spanning environmental and urban studies. His research concentrates on the human impact of global environmental change, environmental issues in urban areas, sustainable development, U.S.-Mexico border environmental policies and practices, and ties between trade and environment.

Prof. Dr. Vernon Scarborough
Department of Anthropology, Cincinnati, Ohio - USA
Vernon L. Scarborough is a professor and head of the Department of Anthropology at the University of Cincinnati.  He has taught and conducted archaeological fieldwork at the University of Khartoum, Sudan, the University of Peshawar, Pakistan, and the University of Texas at El Paso.  In addition to ongoing land use and water management studies in Belize and Guatemala, he has worked in the Argolid, Greece and Bali, Indonesia.  He has published 7 books and 70 book chapters and journal articles, and he is currently editing the volume Water and Humanity: A Historical Overview for UNESCO.

Prof. Dr. Mary Scholes 
University of the Witwatersrand - South Africa
Prof Mary Scholes, a graduate of the University of the Witwatersrand, is currently a full professor in the School of Animal, Plant and Environmental Sciences at Wits. Her research activities focus on soil fertility and biogeochemistry in savannas, plantation forests and croplands. These activities involve extensive collaborative research with a number of overseas and local institutes. Prof Scholes is actively involved in undergraduate and post-graduate teaching and currently serves as the Assistant Dean for Postgraduate studies in the Faculty of Science and is also responsible for the enhancement of postgraduate life across all Faculties at Wits University.

Prof. Dr. Sybil Seitzinger
Executive Director IGBP Secretariat -  Sweden
Sybil P. Seitzinger is Executive Director of the International Geosphere-Biosphere Program (IGBP) located in Stockholm, and Visiting Professor at Rutgers University’s Institute of Marine and Coastal Sciences in New Brunswick, NJ, USA.  She is Past-President of the American Society of Limnology and Oceanography (ASLO), a member of the Scientific Advisory Committee for the International Nitrogen Initiative (INI) and Chair of an international taskforce (Global NEWS) that has developed watershed models of nutrient transport by world rivers.  Her research addresses nutrient biogeochemistry in coastal marine ecosystems, including sources, effects and fates. The spatial scales of her work range from measurements at molecular scales to models at global scales, with the impact of human activities being a central component of many of her programs. Her recent research projects include: 1) global modeling of N, P and C transport by world rivers to coastal ecosystems – past, present and future scenarios; 2) denitrification in rivers, estuaries and continental shelves; 3) harmful algal blooms (HABs); 4) secondary organic aerosol formation in cloudwater, and 5) dissolved organic matter - chemical characterization, inputs, and bioavailability in aquatic ecosystems. 

Mr. Anthony Simon
IIIEE and other boards - Belgium
Global executive with 37 years experience of the global Food Industry, now active in Sustainable Development, the Role of Business in Society and Educating Tomorrow’s Leaders.

Dr. Stephen Simpson  
University of Bristol - UK
Steve Simpson is a fish ecologist who until recently has worked on the behaviour, dispersal, and population connectivity of coral reef fishes. This work stems from trying to incorporate the biology and behaviour of fish into developing world fisheries management approaches. To tackle the thorny issue of individual and population responses of fish to climate change, Steve has moved to the colder waters of the NE Atlantic, where he is using long-term fisheries agency surveys to identify climate-driven responses at the species-wide scale. Steve eats fish and would love to imagine a 2050 where fish and fishing are more than a tragic story of the one that got away.

Dr. Simron Jit Singh
Institute for Social Ecology
IFF - Faculty of Interdisciplinary Studies, Klagenfurt University , Vienna - Austria
Simron Jit Singh (Ph.D. Human Ecology) works at the Institute for Social Ecology, University of Klagenfurt, Austria, and is engaged in field-based sustainability studies in Asia, primarily among non-industrial societies on their way to integrate fully into the market economy. His main empirical interests are to examine the altering patterns of society-nature interactions and the impact of development aid on the sustainability of local regions, using indicators such as material and energy flows, human appropriation of net primary production, integrated assessment of land-time budgets, and participatory approaches to alternate development scenarios. He has been awarded an International Fellowship from the Austrian Ministry of Education, Science and Culture, and a START Fellowship within the framework of the IHDP-IT global environmental change research.

Dr. Sofia Vaz
Centre for Environmental and Sustainability Research, New University of Lisbon – Portugal
Sofia Vaz was born in Lisbon in 1964 where she graduated as environmental engineer (1989). Sofia worked on environmental consultancy and has an MSc in Environmental Technology (1993) from the Imperial College in London. From 1997 up to 2002 she worked at the European Environment Agency in Copenhagen, specializing in environmental policy and environmental emerging issues such as the precautionary principle. From 2003 up to 2007 she undertook a PhD on environmental political philosophy focusing on responsibility and virtue politics. Sofia co-edited the book Late Lessons from early warnings. The precautionary principle 1896-2000 (2001) and Interfaces between Science and Society (2006) and co-authored the book Environmental Ethics and Citizenship (in press). She is currently a researcher on the political philosophical implications of sustainable consumption in CENSE (Centre for Environmental and Sustainability Research), New University of Lisbon.

Prof. Dr. Peter Victor
York University, Toronto, Ontario – Canada
Ecological economist Dr. Peter Victor is Professor of Environmental Studies at York University, Canada. Before rejoining academia as Dean he was an Assistant Deputy Minister in the Ontario Ministry of the Environment. As a private consultant Dr. Victor undertook numerous influential policy-related economic studies in Canada and abroad. He serves on many advisory boards and committees in the public, private and NGO sectors.

Ajay Bhave
International Institute for Industrial Environmental Economics (IIIEE) Lund University
Ajay Bhave did his Bachelors and Masters in Environmental Sciences in India.  He was a research associate at the Department of Environmental Sciences, University of Pune for a year, where in he worked on solute transport in coastal aquifers and in river processes.  His interest in policy making led him to join the Masters programme in Environmental Science, Policy and Management.  He is currently at the International Institute for Industrial Environmental Economics, in Lund University.  His research interests include implementation and consequent effects of biofuel programmes, corporate social responsibility and sustainability.  His interests also involve social entrepreneuship and its importance in community development.

Anand Deshmukh
International Institute for Industrial Environmental Economics (IIIEE) Lund University
Anand obtained his Masters in Environmental Management from Shivaji University Kolhapur, India. His area of interests are Environmental impact assessment, corporate social responsibility, technology transfer and its role in climate change adaptation, Industrial ecology  for  sustainable industry network, energy efficiency and security. Currently, he is a student at the International Institute for Industrial Environmental Economic on the Erasmus Mundus Masters in Environmental Sciences Policy and Management program

Jana Timm
International Institute for Industrial Environmental Economics (IIIEE) Lund University

Silvia Ceausu
International Institute for Industrial Environmental Economics (IIIEE) Lund University
Silvia Ceausu holds a bachelor degree in ecology and a master degree in systems ecology and sustainable development. Currently, she is studying at IIIEE in Lund as part of the MESPOM program. Her interests include environmental politics and policies, and the influence of mass-media in shaping environmental concepts.

Wayne J Pan
International Institute for Industrial Environmental Economics (IIIEE) Lund University
Wayne is student in the Erasmus Mundus Master’s of Environmental Sciences, Policy and Management programme and is currently studying at IIIEE in Lund University. He has worked as a strategic management consultant, a web and print designer, and as an editor in the UN system.
He most recently spent time as a Communications and Advocacy Advisor at UNDP China. He has interests in issues surrounding consumption, sustainable cities, and public awareness/value changing. He has lived and worked in the US, Europe, and China. He holds a BA from UC Berkeley.

Jessica Jewell
International Institute for Industrial Environmental Economics (IIIEE) Lund University