Join us on the opening ceremony of our third Climate Change Festival. Guest panellists will discuss what Climate Accessibility means to them and how this year's festival can contribute to advancing climate solutions. NOTE: WE WILL START AT 10am.
Guest panellists will discuss what Climate Accessibility means to them and how this year's festival can contribute to advancing climate solutions.
This event will be hosted at Lucy Cavendish College and facilitated by Philippa Thomas.
Speakers confirmed:
Amaya Chula: Amaya is a young Wunmari woman who has spent most of her life in the Thamarrurr region of the Northern Territory in Australia and the last five years at school in Bright in Victoria. Amaya is in the process of completing her VCE and hopes to one day become a marine biologist. Amaya is passionate about the environment and is a junior Land Care member. She is also committed to the rights of all humans, plants and animals, and wants to make a difference in the world. Like the other participants of the Thamarrurr Youth Bright Program, Amaya is a role model for not only her community, but all young people.
Freddy Sebastian Medina: Freddy Sebastian is an environmental scientist, interested in integrating science approaches with indigenous knowledge for climate change mitigation approaches. Freddy has observed the Paris agreement redaction process at COP21. Originally from Arica, Chile, he belongs to the Aymara indigenous people. He obtained his BSc in biology at University of Poitiers, France, where he also got his MSc in environment (Sorbonne University1) and a MA in political science (Paris Institute of Political Studies). Nowadays, he collaborates with the NGO Yatichiri (in Aymara language means “teacher”) aim at the conservation of native ecosystems inside indigenous territories.
Zareen Taj Islam: Zareen is Trustee of Muslim Women's Association of Edinburgh and a Cambridge resident. She has worked with the Edinburgh Muslim community to raise awareness of Climate change issues over the last 15 years. Leading up to COP 26 she was an organiser for Cambridge actions led by the people to address local climate issues and support global initiatives.
Dr. Gabriel Okello: Gabriel is a Prince of Wales Global Sustainability Fellow in Air Quality and non-communicable diseases. He is research active expert interested in human exposure science with specific interests in the health effects of air pollution. Gabriel is passionate promoting inclusive evidence-based policies to reduce air pollution, increase awareness about air pollution and improve understanding that cleaner air in all settings can benefit public health. Gabriel is currently applying a multidisciplinary co-design approach to generate evidence-based strategies to tackle air pollution in Africa and promoting citizen science to foster advocacy for clean air in all settings.
Vanessa Sturman: Vanessa is a Plant Based Health Coach who helps people reduce fatigue, get a healthy weight and glow with vitality using the most delicious plant-based food (whether you want to be fully plant-based or not). She graduated from Cambridge University with a BA(Hons) and MPhil, spent years as a plant-based recipe creator and has been featured on Sky News, BBC and LBC.
Michael Bravo: Michael Bravo is Head of the Circumpolar History and Public Policy Research Group at the Scott Polar Research Institute, as well being a member of the Geography Department's Society and Environment Research Group. He is also a fellow of Downing College.
Farah Kassab: Farah Kassab, is a 20-year-old second year law student at Lucy Cavendish College. She is also an advisor for an organization called Purposeful: an African-rooted globally oriented organization that advocates for the rights of girls, adolescent girls and young women by way of flexibly funding groups and collectives that are established by young women. Before starting her first year in Cambridge, Farah volunteered for a year at a women’s rights organization in Jordan entitled Arab Women Organization (AWO). She aided in creating projects that are aimed raise awareness towards gender-based violence by going to grass-roots organizations in remote areas of Jordan, where I had the opportunity to speak to rural women and their struggles post covid.
Faciliator:
Philippa Thomas: Philippa is an independent broadcaster and facilitator. Most recently chaired the BBC-led “Trust in News” global conference on tackling disinformation, the Science Museum launch event for an exhibition marking 100 years of BBC broadcasting, and [upcoming] the Climate Creatives event on 5 October; hosted Intelligence Squared podcast debates on Putin, Ukraine, Japan, and Trump; and continues to host a series of BBC Academy internal webinars on digital trends and science story-telling for journalists.
During three decades as a BBC journalist Philippa reported first-hand on some of the most significant stories of our age from the Northern Ireland peace process to the terror attacks of 9/11, the elections of every 21st century US president and the recent political upheavals of Brexit and Trump. She continues to focus today on finding ways to enhance understanding of complex situations.
About Lucy Cavendish College:
Lucy Cavendish College's mission is to unlock the potential of students from non-traditional and underrepresented backgrounds who are driven by a desire to make a difference and who are committed to having a positive and lasting impact on society.
Lucy Cavendish College recently received the Platinum Award for Green Impact, the highest award offered by the United Nations’ programme for environmentally and socially sustainable practice. All of the College's electricity is supplied by renewables and their new eco-friendly building meets and exceeds the Passivhaus standards.