Fatna Ikrame El Fanne

Environmental Engineer & Climate activist

Fatna Ikrame El Fanne student in 2ᵉ year Master (Engineering and management of water and environment at Mohamed 5 University Rabat. Co-founder of Youth for Climate Morocco and climate activist.

Peninah Ndegwa

Program Coordinator for Share the Road Program at UNEP

She is a passionate urban/ transport Planner and sustainability enthusiast with a social focus keen on the use of new technologies that build resilient, adaptive and sustainable cities that improve quality of life for all especially Children. Her inspiration is to advocate for socially inclusive, locally desired and environmentally benign projects in the field of urban/transport planning. Her professional experience includes sustainable transport planning and design including Public transport (BRT), Non-motorised transport (NMT), Parking management, Transit-oriented Development (TOD), Policy planning and Implementation, Slum upgrading and Water Sanitation and Hygiene (WASH).

Epule Terence

Assistant Professor and Chair of Climate Change Adaptation and Sustainability Strategies in (IWRI)/UM6P and Director of (ACCA) Lab

Dr. Epule is currently an Assistant Professor of Climate Change Adaptation and Sustainability Strategies in Agriculture at the International Water Research Institute (IWRI) at Mohammed VI Polytechnic University (UM6P) in Morocco. He was previously an Associate Professor of International Farming Systems at UniLaSalle in France and a postdoctoral scholar at McGill University (2016-2019) and University of Montreal (2014-2016), Canada. He obtained his PhD in 2014 from University of Quebec in Montreal (UQAM), Institute of Environmental Sciences. His research is at the interface between climate, agriculture, and adaptations. As such, he works on a variety of topics such as crop yield and precipitation gaps, cropping systems vulnerability to droughts and the creation of readiness and climate change mitigation/adaptation performance indexes. He is also keen on the contributions of agroecology and conventional agricultural methods in impacting crop yields and the environment. He is author of 3 books and about 47 peer review articles as lead author and three book chapters. At IWRI, he leads the Agriculture and Climate Change and Adaptation Lab (ACCA Lab: https://terenceepuleepule.wixsite.com/epuleterenceepule).

Ludovic Jonard

Architect Urbanist

Ludovic Jonard is an urban architect and independent consultant for international cooperation projects, specializing in urban resilience and sustainable housing. He founded Architecture & Development, a professional NGO dedicated to affordable housing, ecological technologies and urban crises in development contexts.

Fruzsina Straus

Africa Regional Focal Point for Urban Resilience, Climate Action and DRR and country programme manager Malawi, Rwanda, Indian Ocean at UN-Habitat

Fruzsina Straus has over 18 years of experience with the United Nations, international NGOs, and the private sector. Her background is multi-disciplinary, with a focus on urban resilience, disaster risk management, climate action, socioeconomic development, public governance, post-conflict national development planning, and institutional reform.

Additionally, having initiated and implemented multiple large-scale development cooperation projects involving a range of partners and donors, she has strong professional experience in all aspects of programme management. Fruzsina joined UN-Habitat in 2018, where she is leading the portfolio on urban climate resilience and DRR within the Regional Office for Africa in 16+ countries and managing the Country Programmes in Madagascar, Malawi, Rwanda and the African Small Island Developing States (SIDS).

Prior to joining UN-Habitat, she spent five years in the Middle East with the UN Regional Commission (ESCWA) and a decade in New York working at the global-level with UNDP and various NGOs. She holds a BA in Political Science and an MA in Diplomacy and International Relations.

Johan Mottelson

Assistant Professor, Institute of Architecture, Urbanism and Landscape Royal Danish Academy - Architecture, Design, Conservation

Johan Mottelson is an award-winning architect and researcher whose work centers on the multitude of challenges linked to the comprehensive urban development trends in East Africa. In parallel with his academic work, Mottelson works with practice-based design, architecture, and spatial planning projects seeking to enhance livelihood in the region.

Mike Muller

Visiting Adjunct Professor in the University of the Witwatersrand Graduate School of Governance

Mike Muller, is a professional engineer and Visiting Adjunct Professor at the University of Witwatersrand’s School of Governance in Johannesburg, South Africa. He was a National Planning Commissioner (2010/15), Director General of South Africa’s Department of Water and Forestry (1997-2005) and worked for the Mozambican government (1979/88).

He has participated in global dialogues on water, climate, regional integration and sustainable development issues including climate COPs and the United Nations Commission on Sustainable Development. He chaired the World Economic Forum’s Water Agenda Task Force (2012-14) and was a member of the Technical Committee of the Global Water Partnership (2006-2012). Some of his publications are cited in the IPCC’s 6th Assessment Report; more publication details at: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-4252-3200

Gilbert Siame

Associate Professor of international urban development and planning, Norway

Gilbert Siame is an Associate Professor of international urban development and planning at the Norwegian University of Science and Technology (NTNU) in Norway. He teaches on the MSc in Urban Ecological Planning international programme in the Department of Architecture and Planning. He holds a Master of City and Regional Planning and a doctoral degree in Architecture and Planning, both from the University of Cape Town.

Before joining NTNU, Gilbert Siame was a programme leader in the MSc in Spatial Planning programme and coordinator of graduate studies in the Department of Geography and Environmental Studies at the University of Zambia. He has extensive experience in research, teaching, and policy formulation in urban development and planning.

His specialty is in urban governance and Decentralisation, urban informality, state-society relationships, climate change and urban transitions in Africa, urban corruption, and urban food systems. He has served as a consultant for the World Bank, UN Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), UN-Habitat, Habitat for Humanity, GFA Consulting Group (Germany), GIZ, Hivos international, Lusaka City Council, University of Cape Town (UCT), among many others. He is a visiting lecturer at the University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg. He was a 2021 International Fellow of Urban Studies Foundation at UCT.