Professor Sir David King is a Partner of SYSTEMIQ and Senior Strategy Adviser to the President of Rwanda.  He was the UK Government Chief Scientific Adviser, 2000-2007, the Foreign Secretary’s Special Representative on Climate Change, 2013-2017, working with 165 Climate Change Attaches in UK Embassies, and Chair of Future Cities Catapult, 2012-2016.  He travelled widely to persuade all countries to take action on climate change. He  initiated an in-depth risk analysis approach to climate change, working with the Governments of  China and India in particular (Climate Change: a Risk Assessment) , and initiated a collaborative  programme, now known as Mission Innovation, to create a $25bn pa research and development international  exercise, which involves 22 countries and the EC, to deliver all technologies needed to complete the transition into a fossil-fuel-free world economy.

He was born in Durban, educated at St John’s College Johannesburg and at Witwatersrand University, graduating with an Honours degree in Chemistry and a PhD.  He has received 23 Honorary Degrees from universities around the world. He was Head, Department of Chemistry and Master of Downing College, University of Cambridge, and has published over 500 papers on surface science and catalysis and on science and policy.   As Government’s Chief Scientific Adviser, he raised the need for governments to act on climate change and was instrumental in creating the British £1 billion Energy Technologies Institute. He created an in-depth Futures process which advised Government on a wide range of long-term issues, from flooding to obesity.

He was Member, the President’s Advisory Council, Rwanda, and Science Advisor to UBS, 2008-12. He served as Founding Director of the Smith School of Enterprise and the Environment at Oxford University, 2008 – 2012. 

Elected Fellow of the Royal Society in 1991; Foreign Fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences in 2002; knighted in 2003; made “Officier dans l’ordre national de la Légion d’Honeur” by the President of France in 2009. He was elected as an IES Honorary Fellow in 2018.

Joan Walley was elected Member of Parliament for Stoke-on-Trent between 1987 and 2015. During her 28 years in office, she acted as Shadow Spokesperson for Transport (1990 to 1995) and Shadow Spokesperson for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (1988 to 1990). As a leading champion of environmental policies within parliament, she made a significant contribution to the promotion of environmental science and sustainability, raising the profile of issues such as climate change, sustainable transport and renewable energy. In June 2010, Joan was elected as Chair of the Environmental Audit Committee by the House of Commons. During her time as Chair, the Select Committee produced approximately 45 reports from publications on the impacts of neonicotinoid pesticides on bee populations to recommendations for safeguards which should be in place to allow fracking. In 2015, Joan became Chair of the Aldersgate Group.

She was elected as an IES Honorary Fellow in December 2016.

Pamela Castle OBE, solicitor, is Chair and Founder of Castle Debates. She is former chair of, amongst others, the UK Environmental Law Association, the NNFCC Bioeconomy Consultants and the GLA’s London Sustainable Development Commission. She is also former Head of Environmental Law at the law firm CMS Cameron McKenna. She has an honours degree in chemistry and wide experience in commercial and industrial matters. In addition, she was recently awarded an Honorary Doctorate in Law from City University London.

She was elected as an IES Honorary Fellow in January 2016.

Professor Brian Chalkley has made an outstanding and sustained contribution to the development and promotion of environmental and geographical sciences, and education for sustainable development, in Higher Education Institutions in the UK and internationally. As the Director of the national Higher Education Academy’s ‘Geography, Earth and Environmental Sciences Subject Centre’ for almost a decade, he is well known for his support of the professional development of hundreds of academics in the environmental and geographical disciplines, and through outreach into the other subject areas, teachers in university departments more widely. He has made notable contributions also to the promotion of sustainability in skills for graduate employability, and sustainable development education in schools, and has been the author of many high quality books, articles and web resources. He had joint overall responsibility for Plymouth’s four successful bids for national Centres for Excellence in Teaching and Learning, including the ‘Centre for Sustainable Futures’ and the ‘Centre for Experiential Learning in Environmental and Natural Sciences’. His commitment to sharing good pedagogic practice is further illustrated by his education publications, his national and international conference presentations, and by his role on the Editorial Board of the Journal of Geography in Higher Education (JGHE). In 2002 Brian was awarded a UK National Teaching Fellowship, and in 2006 was made a Senior Fellow of the Higher Education Academy. More recently he has been awarded an Adjunct Professorship by the University of Western Australia, and the Royal Geographical Society’s Taylor and Francis Prize for his contributions to geographical education.

Tony Juniper is Special Advisor to the Prince of Wales' Rainforest Project, and a Senior Associate with the Cambridge University Program for Industry. He speaks and writes on a wide range of environmental issues and sits on several Government advisory panels. He has authored several books, including Spix's Macaw (2002) and How Many Light Bulbs Does It Take To Change A Planet? (2007). A student of Psychology and Zoology, Tony's career began at Birdlife International, where he was at the forefront of raising awareness of species and habitat loss within the Amazon rainforest. His work succeeded in averting the extinction of some of its most endangered parrots, notably the Spix's Macaw. Seeking to address the wider environmental issues at play, Tony moved to Friends of the Earth in 1990, and over the next 18 years he found himself playing a prominent role in many of its most high profile campaigns. He became Executive Director in 2003, being one of the most prominent voices within the environmental movement, holding the post until 2008. His campaign work has directly influenced the development of Government legislation, most notably with regards to the Climate Change Bill, introduced in 2007.

Caroline Lucas is Member of Parliament for Brighton Pavilion and served as leader of the Green Party of England and Wales from 2008 to 2012. In 1999, she was elected as one of the Party's first MEPs and represented the South East region until the 2010 general election, when she was elected to serve the people of Brighton Pavilion as the first Green MP. Caroline is a Co-Chair of the All Party Parliamentary Group on Fuel Poverty and Energy Efficiency, and Vice Chair of the Public and Commercial Services, Sustainable Housing, Animal Welfare, and CND APPGs. She also sits on the Parliament’s Environmental Audit Committee, and has been a lead commentator on Government proposals on environmental protection, energy and climate change, fuel poverty, planning reform and others. A passionate campaigner across a broad range of issues, Caroline is Vice President of Stop the War Coalition and the RSPCA, a CND National Council Member, a Director of the International Forum on Globalization, a Matron of the Women’s Environmental Network, and a Patron of Action for UN Renewal and the Martlets Hospice. Caroline has received a number of awards throughout her political life. She was voted the UK's most ethical politician three times by readers of the Observer, Newcomer of the Year in the 2010 Spectator Parliamentarian awards, and MP of the Year in the Dods & Scottish Widows Women in Public Life 2011 awards. She was also named the Most Influential MP of 2011 by the Political Studies Association and Politician of the Year 2012 by BusinessGreen. Caroline is married with two sons and lives in Brighton.

Professor Jacqueline McGlade was appointed Chief Scientist at the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) in early 2014. She also holds the post of Professor in Environmental Informatics in the Department of Mathematics at University College London, from which she took leave to take up the position of Executive Director of the European Environment Agency between 2003 and 2013.  Prior to this, she was Director of the Centre for Coastal and Marine Sciences of the UK Natural Environment Research Council, Professor of Biological Sciences at the University of Warwick, Director of Theoretical Ecology at the Forschungszentrum Jülich and Senior Scientist at the Bedford Institute of Oceanography in the Federal Government of Canada. Her research is focused on the governance of resources and environmental informatics with particular reference to ecosystems, marine resources and climate change. She has over 200 peer-reviewed papers, articles, books and legal submissions and has produced and presented a number of TV and radio series and programmes plus three feature films. She has been awarded international prizes and honours from Czech Republic, Germany, Italy, Monaco, Romania, Sweden, UK and the USA. Professor McGlade has held a number of key advisory roles and chairs at national level, including Trustee of the Natural History Museum and Board Member of the Environment Agency, at European level, including the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development, and at international levels including for the United Nations and the Consultative Group on International Agriculture Research.

Judy Ling Wong is UK Director of the Black Environment Network (BEN), which works to integrate environmental, social and cultural issues in the context of sustainable development. Through connecting mainstream organisations with urban-based ethnic minority communities, BEN enables them to engage with the environmental and heritage sectors. Judy has been involved with the Department for Culture, Media and Sport Historic Environment Executive Committee, ODPM Urban Green Spaces Task Force, National Trust Council for England and Wales, Wales Assembly Government Environmental Strategy Reference Group, Scottish Museums Council National Access and Learning Steering Group, and the IUCN/WCPA Task Force for Cities and Protected Areas. She is a Board Member of the Countryside and Community Research Institute, and in 1997 she was made a Fellow of the Royal Society of Arts for her contribution to contemporary environmental thinking. She was awarded an OBE as part of the Queen’s Birthday Honours 2000 in recognition of her pioneering work in establishing ethnic environmental participation. In 2005, she was awarded an Honorary Doctorate by the University of Gloucester. She received a CBE in the Birthday Honours 2007 for services to heritage.

Professor Bob Watson has been the Chief Scientific Officer for Defra since 2007, and is also Professor of Environmental Sciences and the Director of Strategic Development at the University of East Anglia. Prior to taking up his post at Defra, Bob Watson was the Chief Scientist and Senior Advisor for Sustainable Development for the World Bank. He has also held senior positions at NASA and the White House, and was a chair of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) from 1997 to 2002. He has played a key role in the negotiation of global environment conventions and the evolution of the Global Environment Facility (GEF). Bob was also Director and Co-chair of the International Assessment of Agricultural Science and Technology for Development, and has served on the Board of Directors of the Millennium Ecosystem Assessment as well as the International Scientific Assessment of Stratospheric Ozone. Professor Watson received his PhD in Chemistry from the London University in 1973. He has since received many national and international awards and prizes for his contributions to science, including the American Association for the Advancement of Sciences Award for Scientific Freedom and Responsibility in 1993 and the insignia of Honorary Companion of St. Michael and St. George from the British Government in 2003.

Jonathon Porritt is an eminent writer, broadcaster and commentator on environmental protection and sustainable development. He is a co-founder of Forum for the Future, which helps companies to understand and promote sustainable development. He is also co-director of The Prince of Wales’ Business and Environment Programme, non-executive director of Wessex Water and a trustee of the Ashden Awards for Sustainable Energy. He supports the work of a number of non-governmental organisations as patron, chair or special adviser. A founding member of the UK Ecology Party (now the Green Party), Jonathon acted as co-chair from 1980 until 1983. He has previously worked as director of Friends of the Earth, chairman of UNEP-UK (now the Stakeholder Forum for a Sustainable Future) and chairman of the South West Round Table for Sustainable Development. Beginning in 2000, he stood as Chairman of the UK Sustainable Development Commission for nine years, during which time he provided high-level advice to government ministers. Jonathon has published numerous books, including ‘Capitalism as if the world matters’, and ‘Living within our means’. In 2000 he received a CBE for his services to environmental protection.