Join us at the Victoria Forum 2020

Edward A. (Ted) Parson is Dan and Rae Emmett Professor of Environmental Law and Faculty Co-Director of the Emmett Institute on Climate Change and the Environment at the University of California, Los Angeles. Parson studies international environmental law and policy, the role of science and technology in policy-making, and the political economy of regulation. His articles have appeared in Science, Nature, Climatic Change, Issues in Science and Technology, the Journal of Economic Literature, and the Annual Review of Energy and the Environment. His most recent books are The Science and Politics of Global Climate Change (with Andrew Dessler) (2nd ed. Cambridge, 2010), and Protecting the Ozone Layer: Science and Strategy (Oxford, 2003), which won the 2004 Sprout Award of the International Studies Association and is widely recognized as the authoritative account of the development of international cooperation to protect the ozone layer.

Saliem Fakir is the Executive Director of the African Climate Foundation. Prior to establishing the ACF, Saliem served as the Head of the Policy & Futures Unit of WWF South Africa for 11 years. Saliem has worked as a Senior Lecturer at the Department of Public Administration and Planning and an Associate Director for the Centre for Renewable and Sustainable Energy at Stellenbosch University. Prior to that he served as Director of the World Conservation Union, South Africa (IUCN-SA) for eight years. Saliem has served on a number of Boards and is a prolific writer who contributes regularly to leading South African publications like Engineering News, Business Day and the Daily Maverick.

Gretchen Goldman is the research director for the Center for Science and Democracy at the Union of Concerned Scientists. For nearly a decade, Dr. Goldman has led research efforts on the role of science in public policy, focusing on topics ranging from scientific integrity in government decision-making, to political interference in science-based standards on fossil energy production, climate change, and environmental justice. Dr. Goldman has testified before Congress and currently serves as an expert on the Public Health Rulemaking of the California Geologic Energy Management Division (CalGEM) of the Department of Conservation; the UNESCO and American Association for the Advancement of Science’s (AAAS) Consultation Group on how the US science ecosystem compares to the UNESCO Recommendation on Science and Scientific Researchers. Additionally, she serves on the 500 Women Scientists Leadership Board,  the advisory board of InfluenceMap, and the Air and Climate Public Advisory Committee for the Metropolitan Washington Council of Governments. Her words have appeared in Science, Nature, The New York Times, The Washington Post, CNN, BBC, NPR, and MarketPlace. She holds a Ph.D. and M.S. in environmental engineering from the Georgia Institute of Technology, and a B.S. in atmospheric science from Cornell University.

Dr. Richard Florizone is President and CEO of IISD, and President Emeritus of Dalhousie University. Originally from Prince Albert, Saskatchewan, Richard has also held senior roles with the Boston Consulting Group, Cambridge University, Bombardier Aerospace, and the International Finance Corporation. Part scientist, part strategist, Richard has a strong track record of forging collaborative partnerships to build institutions and communities that are intelligent, inclusive and inspiring. He holds a Ph.D. in Physics from MIT and is a Fellow of the Canadian Academy of Engineering.

Kristy Faccer has two decades of experience working in Canada and internationally as an advisor, researcher and practitioner in the fields of climate change and sustainability. She has been invited to speak and participate in projects on nearly every continent and in the process, engage with and learn from leaders and innovators across all sectors of society. Kristy’s written work has appeared in peer-reviewed journals, books and the popular media and covered topics from most recently, corporate sustainability and the green economy to climate resilience. She is a trained facilitator, holds a Master’s degree from the University of Toronto and recently completed her PhD in management at the University of Cape Town Graduate School of Business. Her doctoral dissertation drew on framing and social movement theory to explain how attention to context and collaboration between unlikely allies can positively shape climate action within and beyond individual organizations.