Workshop – Subnational Transatlantic Diplomacy for Climate Objectives

Antonio Alejo is an Associate Researcher of the Research Group on Societies on the Move at the University of A Coruña, and an Associate Researcher at the Galician Institute of Analysis and International Documentation. His research agenda focuses on contemporary diplomacy’s transformations beyond state-centric perspectives with a transdisciplinary dialogue between global studies (sociology and urban governance), critical diplomatic studies, and nomadic thinking. He has published in journals such as The Hague Journal of Diplomacy, International Studies in Sociology of Education; Education, Citizenship and Social Justice; Migration Letters; Migraciones; Colombia Internacional; Latin America Policy; Politics and Policy; and CIDOB d’Afers Internacionais.

Melissa Barbanell is the Director of US-International Engagement within the World Resources Institute’s climate program. In that role, she leads high-level climate and energy dialogues between non-governmental U.S. participants and counterparts in China, India, Mexico, and the European Union. The objective of these dialogues is to strengthen the avenues of communication through informal discussions on critical issues to facilitate climate action.

Melissa’s experiences over the last twenty plus years, ranging from volunteer park ranger and environmental educator to air quality attorney and corporate sustainability executive, have all focused on protecting the environment. She has developed significant subject-matter expertise in climate and energy, air quality, chemicals management, water stewardship, public lands management, and biodiversity conservation. Throughout her extensive international environmental diplomacy engagement, Melissa has brought technical knowledge of environmental sciences to bear on public policy decision making.

Before joining the World Resources Institute, Melissa served on three United Nations Environment Programme Technical Expert Groups and represented the International Council on Mining and Metals in the development and implementation of the Minamata Convention on Mercury. Much of Melissa’s career has focused on climate mitigation and resilience. Recently, Melissa has worked with Citizens Climate Lobby and Utah legislators in efforts to develop and pass federal and state climate legislation. Earlier in her career, Melissa directed Barrick Gold Corporation’s environmental sustainability agenda, developing and implementing a globally-applicable climate strategy aimed at managing climate-related risks through better planning, emissions reductions, and growth of the company’s renewable energy portfolio.

Melissa recently earned an M.A. in Public Management from Johns Hopkins University to complement her J.D. from the University of Utah’s S.J. Quinney College of Law, M.A. in Philosophy from the University of Utah, and B.A. in Philosophy from Tulane University.

Arnault Barichella is completing his PhD in Political Science at Sciences Po Paris with the Center
for European Studies and Comparative Politics. He obtained his Masters’ degree in European Affairs
from Sciences Po Paris, and received a BA degree in Modern History from Oxford University. Arnault
was a Visiting Fellow at Harvard in 2018-19, affiliated with the Department of Government.
His doctoral dissertation, under the supervision of Dr. Colin Hay, focuses on the role of sub-national
actors, such as cities, regions and federal states, within the global climate regime. His research provides
a comparative, transatlantic study of the articulation of multilevel governance and subnational climate
para-diplomacy in the United States and Europe. This includes challenges and opportunities for
transatlantic sub-national para-diplomacy, its salience within global climate governance processes
(UNFCCC), and how the different echelons interact in the implementation of climate and clean energy
policies. Arnault’s thesis will be published by Palgrave Macmillan in their Energy, Climate and the
Environment book series, for a release date in early 2023.
Arnault’s interest in climate change issues is linked to his professional experience. He was a research
assistant for a member of the European Green Party (EELV) at the French Senate and worked for
UNESCO’s Man and the Biosphere Program, where he conducted executive administration for the
COP21 liaison office. Arnault has also served as a Consultant for the UN Environment Program (UNEP),
within the Division of Technology, Industry and Economics. At UNEP, he focused on program
development in preparation for the COP21, including new perspectives on energy efficiency and green
growth in the fields of sustainable consumption, production and public procurement. Arnault is currently
working with the energy centers for two of Europe’s leading think tanks (French Institute of
International Relations – Ifri, and the Jacques Delors Institute) where he regularly publishes on
climate and energy issues, including from the perspective of subnational para-diplomacy:
 Barichella A. (2021). US Climate Politics under Biden: Is the Clean Energy Revolution Under Way?, Ifri.
 _ (2021). Prospects for EU-US collaboration on climate and energy under the Biden administration, Jacques Delors Institute.  _ (2021). New Developments for Carbon Pricing Initiatives in the US and Canada, part of “Can the
Biggest Emitters Set Up a Climate Club? A Review of International Carbon Pricing Debates”, Ifri.
Arnault has been invited to present his research at several workshops as part of an EU Jean-Monnet
grant from George Washington University’s Elliott School of International Affairs to facilitate
subnational climate initiatives and para-diplomacy between the US and Europe. Arnault was a member of
the Sciences Po Paris delegation to the 26 th Conference of the Parties (COP) which took place in
Glasgow in November 2021. He also participated in the 22 nd Transatlantic Policy Symposium hosted by
Georgetown University, where he presented a paper on multilevel transatlantic cooperation in the fields
of energy and climate, derived from his article in the Sciences Po Law Review (Multi-actor, multi-level
governance for the transatlantic climate and energy dialogue, Sciences Po Law Review, n°14, pp. 71-85).

Max is a Professor in the Environmental Studies Department (where he now serves as Chair) at the University of Colorado Boulder. He is also a Fellow in the Cooperative Institute for Research in Environmental Sciences. Max has ongoing interests in science and environmental communications, science-policy interactions, and political economics and the environment. He has experience working on six continents, and is a co author and editor of seven books and edited volumes, along with over seventy articles and book chapters. Among Max’s other activities, he is a Contributing Author to the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) Sixth Assessment Report, he is a part of the Independent Science Panel for the Deep South Challenge in New Zealand, he is Deputy Editor for the social sciences/history team for the Journal of Climatic Change and he has been an advisor on the ‘Don’t Look Up’ film platform. Max also leads the Media and Climate Change Observatory (MeCCO) while he leads the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) Colorado Local Science Engagement Network and co-Directs ‘Inside the Greenhouse’.

Uwe S. Brandes is professor of the practice, faculty director of the Urban & Regional Planning Program and faculty director of the Georgetown Global Cities Initiative. He has more than 25 years of experience in the planning, design, and development of new buildings, the public realm, and community development partnerships. As a public official in Washington, D.C., he managed the creation of the Anacostia Waterfront Initiative (AWI), the award-winning urban partnership to re-imagine and transform the most polluted river in the Chesapeake Bay into a model of socially inclusive sustainable urban development. Brandes holds a Master of Architecture from Harvard University and A.B. in Engineering Science from Dartmouth College Thayer School of Engineering. He completed urban planning fellowships at the Technical University Dortmund’s Institute of Spatial Planning and Tsinghua University’s Institute of Urbanism in Beijing, China.

Chuck Chaitovitz is vice president for environmental affairs and sustainability at the U.S. Chamber of Commerce. For more than 25 years, he has specialized in environment and energy issues, working with companies on strategies to improve their bottom line and competitive positioning. At the Chamber, Chaitovitz is launching a new environment and sustainability capability to foster unique partnerships among the private sector, government, and civil society organizations. Previously, Chaitovitz co-founded The Coventry Group, LLP, a Virginia-based professional services firm focusing on strategic communications, marketing, and government relations. Chaitovitz also provided strategic counsel to clients on a range of international projects, including water and sanitation capacity building in West Africa, nutrient management best practices in Central and Eastern Europe, and U.S. water finance case studies to share with utility leaders across the Caribbean. His experience in managing multistakeholder coalitions is underscored by his tenure as executive director of the U.S. Water Partnership — a public-private partnership of more than 120 U.S. private sector, government and civil society organizations to mobilize the best of U.S. expertise to address water challenges. He also coordinated the National Metal Finishing Strategic Goals Program (SGP) — a voluntary, environmental performance partnership of more than 500 companies, and state and local regulatory agencies for the EPA.

Isabelle Chatry is the Head of the “Decentralisation, Subnational Finance and Infrastructure Unit” at the OECD Centre for Entrepreneurship, SMEs, Regions and Cities. Her work covers several topics related to multi-level governance and regional development, including decentralisation and territorial reforms, subnational government finance, infrastructure and subnational climate finance. Prior to joining the OECD in 2013, Isabelle worked at Dexia Crédit Local’s Research department, as a private consultant and at Crédit Local de France. Graduated from the Ecole Normale Supérieure of Fontenay-Saint Cloud, Isabelle holds an “agrégation” in geography

Associate Professor of International Relations at the University of the Basque Country in Bilbao UPV/EHU (Spain), where he has been also in charge of the Graduate Program in International Studies. His research interests are focused on the contemporary transformations of diplomacy, federalism and foreign relations, global law making, critical sociology of knowledge, post-development, and aesthetics and politics. He has held diverse short visiting positions at Ohio State University and University of Idaho in United States; University Laval in Quebec, Canada; Sciences Po Bordeaux in France; and Free University of Colombia. Basque Visiting Fellow 2011-2012 at St. Antony’s College, University of Oxford. More recently, he has been Visiting Professor at Sciences Po Paris, Spring Term 2017, and Scientific Director of the International Institute for the Sociology of Law 2018-2020. He is the author of Plural Diplomacies: Normative Predicaments and Functional Imperatives (Leiden: Martinus Nijhoff/Brill, 2013). He has promoted a number of decentralized partnerships with various UN institutions and has collaborated with the Congress of Local and Regional Authorities of the Council of Europe.

Stefano is the Head of Secretariat at ICAP, a forum, counting 33 members and 7 observers, for governments and public authorities that have implemented or are planning to implement emissions trading systems (ETS). Stefano leads ICAP’s work across the three pillars of technical dialogue, ETS knowledge sharing and capacity building. Before his current role, Stefano was the Director for International Policy at the International Emissions Trading Association (IETA). Prior to joining IETA he focused on emissions trading in the Academia and for consulting companies. He holds a M.Sc. in Sustainable Development from the Utrecht University and a B.Sc. in Environmental Science from the University of Trieste.

County Board Member Matt de Ferranti’s career, first as a teacher in a low-income community in Houston and later as a lawyer, has been dedicated to helping people build better lives for themselves and their children. As an attorney, Matt worked on land use and economic development issues for local governments. He subsequently served as an advocate for economic and educational equity at Feeding America, Habitat for Humanity, Rebuilding Together, and the Education Trust. First elected to the Arlington County Board in November 2018, Matt was unanimously elected as Chair of the County Board by his colleagues on January 4, 2021. In addition, Matt was elected in January 2022 to serve as the Secretary-Treasurer of the Northern Virginia Transportation Commission. Matt began serving on Arlington County’s Housing Commission in 2013. In 2014, he was appointed to the Arlington Public Schools Budget Advisory Council, where he served as Chair in 2017-2018. Matt also has served on the Joint Facilities Advisory Commission, which brings Arlington County, Arlington Public Schools, and the community together to plan for our future. A 2015 Leadership Arlington graduate, 2016 graduate of the Sorensen Institute for Political Leadership, and 2017 graduate of Arlington Neighborhood College, Matt grew up in neighboring McLean and lives in the Rock Spring neighborhood with his wife, Brooke.

David has been involved with the Canadian International Council’s National Capital Branch before and during his term as President from 2013 to 2016. Dr. Dyment is the author of Doing the Continental: A New Canadian American Relationship, currently in its second printing, selected by the Toronto Library Foundation as a significant recent Canadian book, and a Quill & Quire bestseller. At Carleton University he’s a senior research associate in the Centre on North American Politics and Society and teaches Canadian foreign policy most recently at the Norman Paterson School of International Affairs. A past director of the Parliamentary Internship Programme, he has served as a senior policy adviser at Global Affairs Canada, and on the staff of the Governor General of Canada. Opinion pieces by David have been in the Toronto Star, the Globe and Mail and other leading newspapers, he has been on CTV, CBC, BBC, and in French on Radio-Canada. An OntarioQuebec Exchange Fellow, he received his doctorate from the Université de Montréal.

Dr Peter Eckersley is a Senior Research Fellow in Public Policy and Management at Nottingham Trent University (UK), Research Associate at the Leibniz Institute for Research on Society and Space, Erkner (Germany) and Managing Editor of Local Government Studies. His research focuses on governance and policymaking in intergovernmental contexts, with a particular focus on climate change and environmental issues in England and Germany. Prior to entering academia in 2012, he spent ten years advising municipal governments in the UK on policy and management practices.

Alice Engl is Senior Researcher and Leader of the Research Group “Autonomies, Boundaries and Identities” at the Institute for Minority Rights of Eurac Research. She holds an MA and PhD in political science (University of Innsbruck) and postgraduate MA degree in European Studies (University of Vienna). Her research focuses on sub-state cross-border cooperation and integration processes, with a particular focus on border regions with minority identities, and policy processes within EU regional policy and European territorial cooperation. Further research interests are minorities and autonomies, especially the development of South Tyrolean autonomy. Dr. Engl has published peer-reviewed articles and book chapters as well as a monograph with well-established publishing houses such as Taylor & Francis, Springer, Brill, Nomos, University of New Orleans Press, Berliner Wissenschafts-Verlag. She co-lead or participated in various third funded projects (e.g. FP7, Interreg Italy-Austria and other international and local research grants) and has been guest lecturer at the Universities of Innsbruck and Bozen/Bolzano. Dr Engl is General Secretary of the South Tyrolean Political Science Association, where she co-edits the South Tyrolean Political Science Yearbook.

Sheila Foster is a Professor of Law and Public Policy (joint appointment with the McCourt School). Prior to joining Georgetown, she was a University Professor and the Albert A. Walsh Professor of Real Estate, Land Use and Property Law at Fordham University. She also co-directed the Fordham Urban Law Center and was a founder of the Fordham University Urban Consortium. She served as Associate Dean and then Vice Dean at Fordham Law School from 2008-2014. Prior to joining Fordham, she was a Professor of Law at the Rutgers University in Camden, New Jersey. Professor Foster writes in the areas of environmental law and justice, urban land use law and policy, and state and local government. Her most recent work explores questions of urban law and governance through the lens of the “commons” exemplified by her article The City as a Commons, Yale Law and Policy Review (2016) and forthcoming MIT Press Book, The Co-City. Professor Foster has been involved on many levels with urban policy. She currently is the chair of the advisory committee of the Global Parliament of Mayors, a member of the Aspen Institute’s Urban Innovation Working Group, an advisory board member of the Marron Institute for Urban Management at NYU, and sits on the New York City Panel on Climate Change.As co-director with Christian Iaione of the Laboratory for the Governance of the Commons (LabGov), she is currently engaged in the “Co-Cities Project,” an applied research project on public policies and local projects from over 100 cities around the world.

Pablo Gómez Iniesta (Cuenca, Spain, 1991), he is predoctoral researcher and PhD candidate at the Faculty of Communication, University of Castilla- La Mancha (Spain), where he is also a teaching assistant of International and Political Communication. He holds a B.A in Journalism at the University of Castilla La Mancha (2015) and MA in Political Science at Autonomous University of Barcelona (2016). He has participated in the public research project Globalcom, about corporate communication and transparency in local governments. His research interests are in the areas of political communication and public diplomacy in the urban environment. He has been selected to present the results of his investigations at many national and international congresses as the 71st Annual Conference of the International Communication Association (ICA). Past publications include ´Consciously populist: Deconstructing the discourse of Podemos’ Pablo Iglesias´ published on the International Journal of Media and Cultural Politics; and “State disinformation: emotions at the service of the cause” (co-authored with Juan Luis Manfredi and Adriana Amado) published on the Communication and Society Journal.

She is Associate Professor (with Aggregation) and has a Jean Monnet Chair in political economy of European integration. She has a PhD in international political economy and a Master in Political Science from the University of Cincinnati, USA. She has a Master in European Studies and a BA in International Economic Relations from UMinho. She was a Fulbright Visiting Scholar at American University, Washington, DC and a Visiting Scholar at the University of Washington, Seattle. She published in peer-reviewed journals such as JCMS, she co-edited a book on the Single Market (Emerald), published a book on Political Economy of International Trade, and has book chapters in international and national publications. She has received funding from international and national entities, such the European Commission, Portuguese Science Foundation (FCT), American Consortium on EU Studies. She teaches in the areas od international political economy, European integration, EU negotiation, trade policy, among others. She has supervised Master and PhD students, and has been a member of PhD and Master panels in various Universities. She has recently been elected to the General Council of UMinho, and was vice-president and interim president of the Economics and Business School – EEG, where she has coordinated undergraduate and graduate programs, and projects of international education.

Beth Hartman is a manager with the US Program, and previously worked as chief of staff in the Office of the CEO and a manager with the Electricity Practice. She has supported a variety of initiatives focused on innovation in the industry including eLab, launching Third Derivative and Canary Media, and collaborating with external partners such as the World Economic Forum and the Energy Transitions Commission. She joined RMI in August 2018.

Mary Hellmich is an Analyst at adelphi in the areas of international climate policy and transatlantic climate cooperation. She is convinced that ambitious climate policies on both sides of the Atlantic are crucial to prevent irreversible climate change. In her projects, she works to overcome political and societal challenges of the energy transition and to promote cooperation between Germany, Canada and the United States of America on climate and energy policy. 

Dr. Heidi H. Hobbs is an Associate Professor in the School of Public and International Affairs at North Carolina State University. Professor Hobbs has a B.A. (Magna Cum Laude) and M.A. in Political Science from the University of Georgia, as well as a graduate Certificate in Global Policy Studies from UGA. Her Ph.D. is in International Relations from the University of Southern California. Her books include City Hall Goes Abroad: The Foreign Policy of Local Politics from Sage, 1994 and Pondering Postinternationalism: A Paradigm for the 21st Century, from SUNY Press, 2000. She has also authored other articles, contributed book chapters to other publications and made numerous presentations. Her most recent publication is a textbook with Harry I. Chernotsky entitled, Crossing Borders:  International Studies for the 21st Century,3rd. edition.  CQ Press, 2016.  The fourth edition will come out in 2021. She has previously served as a Fulbright Specialist at the University of Economics in Bratislava, Slovak Republic in 2016, as a Fulbright Scholar to the University of Economics in Prague, Czech Republic in 2017 and most recently as Interim Director of NC State’s European Center in Prague 2018-2019.

Born and raised in Oklahoma, I headed to Northwestern University at 16. I spent a summer volunteering in Northern Ireland and quickly changed my major to social policy. After graduating in 1985, I went straight to the University of Chicago where I learned more about policy, helped found a campus/community volunteer program and spent every spare moment in the UK. In 1987 I moved to London and got a job with the Liberal Democrats, the third party in British politics, doing research and writing briefs and speeches on Northern Ireland. I quickly moved into campaigning and became the General Election Coordinator for the party’s 1992 campaign. Because one good campaign deserves another, I stayed until the 1997 election and became the National Campaign Manager. Ten years and a doubling of LibDem representation in Parliament later, I left the party to join the BBC as the Deputy Head of Corporate Communication Strategy and helped launch BBC News 24 and BBC Online. Three years on, I was headhunted by a public relations firm to advise clients on corporate social responsibility issues until I was recruited to be the Managing Director of the London office of the largest UK/US business membership organization. Between elections, I enrolled at the London School of Economics, first for a Diploma in World Politics and then a PhD (part-time). I was awarded my doctorate in International Relations in 2005 and celebrated by leaving the private sector. My first foray into education was a teaching/research fellowship at the Rothermere American Institute at Oxford University – while also working as speechwriter for the US Ambassador in London. After 21 years abroad, I accepted the Pierre Keller Fellowship in Transatlantic Studies at Yale University and stayed two years. Nearing the end of the fellowship, I couldn’t resist the chance to be a consultant to the 2010 Liberal Democrat Campaign and was thrilled to be part of the team that gained the party (and my old friends) a place in government. There was an opportunity to return to British politics – but I had a better offer here in Arcata. My research interests (and current book projects) involve global diplomacy (and California as an increasingly important global actor), British politics, and international relations theory. In my spare time I enjoy digging in the garden, walking the beaches of Humboldt and listening to lots of live jazz.

See Jörg’s LinkedIn here.

The Under2 Coalition, for which Climate Group is Secretariat, is the largest global subnational climate network, committed to achieving net-zero emissions by 2050. At the Climate Group, Urszula is responsible for the Coalition’s climate diplomacy strategy. A part of this strategy is to strengthen and leverage the influence and leadership of states, regions, provinces, and other subnational governments in key global climate developments.  She also works on aligning with key partners. Urszula joined the Climate Group from the Scottish Government, where she worked on a number of policies and regulations from developing legislation looking to eliminate emissions from buildings’ heating systems to supporting businesses in navigating the post EU-Exit international trade environment.

research & innovation and health policies. She oversees climate and energy policies for the EU Delegation and manages relations between the European Commission and the European External Action Service with the U.S. Administration, Congress, states and municipalities, non-governmental organizations, academia and industry. From 2014 to 2018, Dr. Koska worked in the Cabinet of the Vice-President of the European Commission, Maroš Šefčovič (Energy Union). Previously, she worked in the Cabinet of the Commissioner for Energy. Dr. Koska is a lawyer specializing in German and international competition and energy law. She holds a Doctorate in European Antitrust Law from Rheinische Friedrich-Wilhelms-Universität.

Dr. Erwan Lagadec is Associate Research Professor at the Institute for European, Russian, and Eurasian Studies (IERES), where he leads Elliott School programs on EU and NATO affairs. He is also a nonresident senior Fellow at the Atlantic Council; a Visiting Professor at Duke University’s Sanford School of Public Policy; a nonresident fellow at France’s Saint-Cyr Military Academy; and an officer in the French Navy Reserve (he holds French and U.S. citizenships). He was previously affiliated with Tufts University’s Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy; University of Virginia-Charlottesville; Tulane University; Harvard University; MIT; the Center for Transatlantic Relations at Johns Hopkins University’s School of Advanced International Studies; and the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars. He holds a D.Phil. in History from the University of Oxford.

Samuel Lucas McMillan is Dean of the College of Behavioral and Social Sciences and Professor of Political Science at Lander University. His book, The Involvement of State Governments in U.S. Foreign Relations (Palgrave Macmillan, 2012) is accompanied by chapters and essays published by Oxford University Press, Arte Publico, and Palgrave Macmillan and articles in the journals Foreign Policy Analysis, International Interactions, International Studies Perspectives, The Mid-South Political Science Review, and Journal of Political Science. He has written and led grants that address civic engagement, history, and race and identity.  He is on the board of South Carolina Humanities and a former president of the South Carolina Political Science Association.

Juan Luis Manfredi Sánchez (Seville, Spain, 1977) is Prince of Asturias Distinguished Visiting Professor at the School of Foreign Service (Georgetown University). He is the academic director of the Observatory for the Transformation of the Public Sector, on the ESADE Business School (Madrid campus). Before joining Georgetown University, he has been a tenured Associate Professor at the University of Castilla-La Mancha, where he teaches Journalism and International Relations. He writes on public diplomacy and propaganda, international relations and diplomacy, communication, and technology, as well as political risk and the liberal order.  As a professional journalist, he is op-ed contributor for Cinco Días, leading financial newspaper, and senior contributor to The Conversation, CMM Radio and Canal Sur Televisión. He has been a finalist for the El Ciervo-Enrique Ferrán Prize for Articles (2020) with the text “In Praise of Democratic Boredom” and the Citi Award for Journalistic Excellence (Spain, 2015) for the text “Hubs, axes of industry and knowledge in the XXI century”, published in the Foreign Economy Magazine (Summer, 69, 2015). He has been a member of the Scientific Council of the Elcano Royal Institute (2014-2019), a think tank with which he collaborates in various publication and dissemination activities. He belongs to the Opinno World Expert Council and is a member of the editorial board of Esglobal.com, a leading journal of international journalism in Spanish, as well as other academic journals (Journal of Public Diplomacy; International Studies Magazine, Chile).

Robert Mauri is a former student of the French National School of Administration, the Institute of Political Studies of Paris and the University Sorbonne Paris IV. He began his administrative career as Head of the Economic Affairs Office, at the Directorate General for Civil Aviation, at the Ministry of Transport, in charge of Community regulations on slots, and public service obligations. Between 2006 and 2009, he joined the directory of European Regulation, to monitor bilateral relations between the Ministry and the countries of Southern Europe in the field of transport and energy. In 2010, he joined the Delegation for Road Safety and Traffic, in charge of interministerial road safety policies and monitoring changes in the road code. In 2013, as Project Director for normative quality, in the Legal Affairs Department of the Ministry of Ecological Transition, he will be responsible for coordinating and monitoring the Ministry’s normative production. Between 2014 and 2017, he was appointed Transport and Energy Counsellor at the French Embassy in Spain, in charge of Ecological Transition and the follow-up of COP 21. At the end of 2017 he was appointed Deputy Secretary General for the organisation of the “One planet summit” scheduled for December 2017. In January 2018, he returned to air transport at the French civil aviation authority, as representative on the ICAO Committee on Aviation Environmental Protection (CAEP), where he is responsible for coordinating and bringing environmental issues related to air transport to ICAO on behalf of France. He was Deputy to the Sub-Director of Sustainable Development. Since November 2021, he has been posted at the French Embassy in Washington as head of the ecology, sustainable development, energy and transport division.

Since 2007, Dr. Dale Medearis has worked as a senior regional planner for the NVRC. He currently co-leads the NVRC’s regional climate mitigation, resiliency and international programs. Prior to working for NVRC, Medearis spent approximately 20 years at the Office of International Affairs, U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), in Washington DC, and helped manage the Agency’s programs for urban sustainability, Eastern and Western Europe, the OECD, and Middle East.  Medearis has a Ph.D. in Environmental Design and Planning from Virginia Tech University, an M.S. in Cartographic and Geographic Science from George Mason University, an M.G.A. in Government from the University of Pennsylvania, and a B.A. in International Relations from the University of Redlands.

Dr. Matthew S. Mingus, Ph.D., is Professor of Public Affairs and Administration at Western Michigan University, where he has been since 1998. He was the SPAA Director for several years, the Graduate Programs Director (MPA & Ph.D.) for four years, and the Doctoral Director for an additional decade. He was the 2019 recipient of the WMU Distinguished Teaching Award. Dr. Mingus was a visiting professor at the University of Electronic Science and Technology of China in 2013-14, served as a Senior Governance Advisor for the U.S. Department of State in Iraq in 2009-10, and was the inaugural Fulbright Research Chair at the University of Ottawa’s Centre on Governance in 2005-6. His research focuses heavily on cross-border issues and multilevel systems of governance, leading to his most recent publications “Factors Motivating the Timing of Covid-19 Shelter in Place Orders by U.S. Governors” and “U.S. General Election as a Possible COVID-19 Super Spreader Event” (each of these compares across the 50 U.S. states). Before entering academia, Dr. Mingus had five years of non-profit leadership experience with community based substance abuse prevention organizations and one year with the Department of Finance and Treasury Board Canada.

Veera Mitzner is the Associate Director of the Future Earth US Global Hub. At Future Earth she – in addition to supporting the management and growth of Future Earth in the US – leads the global coordination of the Future Earth National and Regional Committees and Structures and runs the organization of the Sustainability Research and Innovation Congress series. Veera holds a PhD in History and Civilization from the European University Institute, and she has considerable academic experience in science policy and diplomacy, European affairs and international relations. She has also worked for several international non-profit organizations, where she has built new programs and initiatives focused on sustainability, conservation and science-based policy-making. Through her scholarly work, Veera has been affiliated with Columbia University, Princeton University, the University of Helsinki, the University of Turku, and the École des Hautes Etudes en Sciences Sociales. Her book “European Union Research Policy – Contested Origins” was published by Palgrave Macmillan in 2020.

See publications at the Climate Action Research and Tracking Service at the European Parliamentary Research Service or reach at henrique.morgado@europarl.europa.eu.

Fritz Nganje is Associate Professor of International Relations at the University of Johannesburg. He was previously a Researcher in the Africa Programme of the Pretoria-based Institute for Global Dialogue from 2011 to 2014. He obtained a PhD in Political Studies from the University of Johannesburg in 2013, based on a thesis that analyzed the international relations of the South African provinces of Gauteng, North-West, and Western Cape. His main research interest is in the foreign relations of subnational governments otherwise known as paradiplomacy, South Africa’s foreign policy and diplomacy in Africa, as well as issues of peace, human security and governance in Africa. He is co-convenor of the African Paradiplomacy Network (APN), together with Ohio Omiunu of De Montfort University. Fritz also serves as Associate Editor of Politikon: South African Journal of Political Studies.

Ohio Omiunu joined the Law School in 2016. He received his PhD from the University of Liverpool. Ohio’s PhD thesis explored the evolving role of Nigerian sub-state governments in international economic interactions. Before that, Ohio completed his LLM with a distinction in International Business Law at the University of Hull. Ohio is also a Barrister and Solicitor of the Supreme Court of Nigeria. Ohio is interested in international economic law broadly conceived. Ohio engages with international economic law from an interdisciplinary perspective, dovetailing into issues of development, international relations and international political economy. Ohio has published on issues relating to the governance of the global economy, particularly the way that sub-national actors (especially constituent units in federal systems) and non-state actors enable or resist economic integration at a regional and global level.  

Jorge Alberto is a professor of international relations at the International Studies Department, Centro de Investigación y Docencia Económicas (CIDE)  (1999–today) and coordinator (2013-today) of the Interdisciplinary Program on Migration at CIDE (CIDE-MIG). Previously, he was chair of the International Studies Department (2007-2010), Secretary General (Vice-Rector) of CIDE (2004-2007), director of Development and External Affairs (2002-2004) of CIDE, and director of the B.A. Program in Political Science and International Relations (2000-2001). In addition, he served as president of the Mexican International Studies Association (MISA, AMEI in Spanish) (2011-2013), and founding president of the Latin American Federation of International Studies Associations (FLAEI) (2012-2013). He is a member of the National Research System (SNI) in Mexico, level 2. Schiavon Uriegas holds a Ph.D. in political science and international affairs from the University of California, San Diego; M.A. in political science (UC San Diego) and B.A. in international relations (El Colegio de México); and Diploma in public international law (The Hague Academy of International Law, International Court of Justice). He is an author and/or editor of 16 academic books, and 80+ articles and chapters on his areas of expertise. Has taught 75+ undergraduate and graduate courses, and participated in 400+ conferences and lectures worldwide.

Dr. Alexandra Stark is a senior researcher for the Political Reform program. She has a PhD from the government department at Georgetown University. She was previously a research fellow at the Middle East Initiative of the Harvard Kennedy School’s Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs, and Minerva/Jennings Randolph Peace Scholar at the United States Institute of Peace. Stark has written for Foreign Affairs, the Washington Post, War on the Rocks, and other publications, and her academic research has been published in the journals International Security and Security Studies. She holds an MSc in international relations from the London School of Economics and a BA from Wellesley College, where she was a fellow of the Madeleine K. Albright Institute for Global Affairs and a member of the Swimming and Diving Seven Sisters All-Academic Team.

Jason E. Strakes served as Vice/Program Chair of the executive committee of the ISA Global South Caucus for International Studies (GSCIS) from 2019-2022. He completed an M.A. in International Studies and PhD in Political Science in the Department of Politics and Policy, School of Politics and Economics, Claremont Graduate University, with concentrations in world and comparative politics. His research interests include foreign policy analysis, defense and security policy, Middle East/North Africa/Central Eurasia, and the international relations of developing and former Soviet states.  He has previously served as  a research associate and visiting lecturer in the Politics and Security Programme at OSCE Academy in Bishkek, Kyrgyz Republic, Visiting Scholar and lecturer at the International School for Caucasus Studies (ISCS) at Ilia State University, Tbilisi, Georgia, and has held research fellowships at the Azerbaijan Diplomatic Academy (ADA) School of International Affairs, Strategic Research Center under the President of the Republic of Azerbaijan (SAM), and Uppsala Centre for Russian and Eurasian Studies (UCRS) at Uppsala University, Sweden. Most recently he was a visiting scholar at the Harriman Institute for Russian, Eurasian and East European Studies at Columbia University from 2017-2018. He serves as associate editor for Eurasia for the Journal Of Global South Studies published by University of Florida Press. His current focus is on the participation of former Soviet republics in Asian regionalism, global governance and South-South cooperation. He is completing a book project on the Armenia-Azerbaijan Nagorno-Karabakh conflict that examines their perceptions of Western conflict management institutions dominated by the major powers and the increasing pursuit of cross-regional diplomacy in order to garner support for their respective positions among states and international organizations in the Global South.

Bella Tonkonogy leads CPI’s US-based team, including guiding and overseeing the team’s technical work in climate finance and leading external engagement and program development. She is a climate finance expert with more than 15 years’ experience in domestic and international climate policy and finance. Since joining CPI, Bella has played a leading role in the Global Innovation Lab for Climate Finance, both contributing to its core operations and working directly with entrepreneurs to support the development of innovative climate finance instruments in renewable energy, climate risk and resilience, and sustainable cities. She also develops and guides key CPI programs and initiatives such as the Cities Climate Finance Leadership Alliance, where she managed the Secretariat transition to CPI and oversees strategy development and implementation; the Framework for Sustainable Finance Integrity, the first framework to provide universal guardrails for sustainable finance across the major sectors of the global financial system; and CPI’s work supporting the DFI+ Adaptation and Resilience Collaborative. Bella previously served as a Policy Advisor in the U.S. Treasury, overseeing the agency’s energy and environment investments in emerging markets, including as liaison to the Global Environment Facility and as advisor to U.S. negotiators on the Green Climate Fund, multilateral environmental agreements, and multilateral development bank energy policy. She has also served as a staff economist at the U.S. EPA, consultant to the OECD, UNDP, and clean technology companies, and as an early Braintrust member of the PRIME Coalition, a clean energy philanthropic initiative.

Marina Trentin is graduated in Environmental Sciences; she has >15 years experience on the topics of water and natural resources management in a changing climate, with a focus in the last 10 years on sustainability and urban regeneration through the use of Nature-Based Solutions and resilience policies, leveraging ecosystem services to improve the quality of life and environment in cities, in response and adaptation to climate change.

Patrick Utz is a postdoctoral researcher at the University of Aberystwyth’s Department of Geography and Earth Sciences. A political scientist by training, Patrick is interested in how territory is politicized, especially by regionalist, nationalist and secessionist movements. Central to his research is the question which forms of cross-border cooperation can serve as an alternative to irredentist demands. He obtained his PhD from the University of Edinburgh in 2021. His work has been published in Regional & Federal Studies and in Nationalism and Ethnic Politics.

Agnieszka Widutois a policy analyst in the Economic Policies Unit of the European Parliamentary Research Service (EPRS), specialising in energy policy. She previously worked for over 7 years in a different unit covering regional policy. Agnieszka holds a PhD in international political economy from King’s College London and a Master’s degree in European studies from the London School of Economics (LSE). Before joining the EPRS in 2014, she worked for several years at the European Committee of the Regions.

A political scientist by background, Stefan Wolff specialises in the management of contemporary security challenges, especially in the prevention and settlement of ethnic conflicts and civil wars and in post-conflict state-building in deeply divided and war-torn societies.

Kate Wright is the Executive Director of Climate Mayors— a growing network of nearly 500 U.S. mayors who have committed to accelerating equitable climate action in cities. Kate is responsible for strategic direction of the network, including helping cities implement bold policies and programs, supporting equitable climate action by the Federal Administration and Congress, and building initiatives to reduce greenhouse gas emissions while advancing economic growth and environmental justice. Prior to joining Climate Mayors, Kate served as CEO of CivicWell (formerly the Local Government Commission), where she worked with city and county leaders to spearhead environmental initiatives on climate resilience, clean mobility, sustainable water management, livable communities, renewable energy, and affordable housing. Kate is a Senior Fellow of the American Leadership Forum and has been recognized for her work by the Chronicle of Philanthropy, which named her as one of the nation’s “40 under 40 Young Leaders Who Are Solving the Problems of Today – and Tomorrow”, the Sacramento Business Journal as one of the region’s 100 notable business leaders and top “40 under 40” leaders and as The Business Journals’ national “Headliner” in Government and Public Service.Kate Wright is the Executive Director of Climate Mayors— a growing network of nearly 500 U.S. mayors who have committed to accelerating equitable climate action in cities. Kate is responsible for strategic direction of the network, including helping cities implement bold policies and programs, supporting equitable climate action by the Federal Administration and Congress, and building initiatives to reduce greenhouse gas emissions while advancing economic growth and environmental justice. Prior to joining Climate Mayors, Kate served as CEO of CivicWell (formerly the Local Government Commission), where she worked with city and county leaders to spearhead environmental initiatives on climate resilience, clean mobility, sustainable water management, livable communities, renewable energy, and affordable housing. Kate is a Senior Fellow of the American Leadership Forum and has been recognized for her work by the Chronicle of Philanthropy, which named her as one of the nation’s “40 under 40 Young Leaders Who Are Solving the Problems of Today – and Tomorrow”, the Sacramento Business Journal as one of the region’s 100 notable business leaders and top “40 under 40” leaders and as The Business Journals’ national “Headliner” in Government and Public Service.

Daniel Zarrilli is the Special Advisor for Climate and Sustainability at Columbia University where he is supporting the creation of its new, world-leading climate school and advising on pathways to achieve the university’s deep decarbonization goals. He joins Columbia University from the NYC Mayor’s Office, where he served most recently in the role of Chief Climate Policy Advisor.

With senior climate and resilience appointments from Mayor Michael Bloomberg and Mayor Bill de Blasio over the past eight years, Daniel positioned New York City as the global leader in the fight against climate change. Notable successes include launching a comprehensive $20 billion climate adaptation program, aligning the city’s greenhouse gas emission reductions with the 1.5C target of the Paris Agreement, divesting the City’s pension funds from fossil fuel reserve owners and investing billions into climate solutions, committing to end the expansion of fossil fuel infrastructure serving New York City, and launching a ground-breaking program to embed environmental justice into the City’s decision-making.