We are pleased to confirm our keynote speakers. Please note, the titles of the talks are indicative at this time, and have not yet been finalised by the presenters.
Tony Juniper CBE is a prominent environmental figure, active in the defence of Nature for 40 years.
He has led major organisations, run global campaigns, written many books and advised at the highest levels. He began his career as an ornithologist and went on to join Friends of the Earth, initially leading the tropical rainforest campaign and then was appointed as Executive Director. He worked as an advisor to HRH The Prince of Wales, was President of the Royal Society of Wildlife Trusts and was an Executive Director at WWF-UK. He is now the Chair of the British Government’s official conservation agency Natural England and a Fellow with the University of Cambridge Institute for Sustainability Leadership. He has advised many global businesses on their environmental strategies.
His books include the multi-award winning What has Nature ever done for us? and Harmony, which was co-authored with The Prince of Wales. Tony Juniper is a frequent contributor to TV and radio broadcasts and is a prolific speaker on environmental themes. He has received many awards and widespread recognition for his environmental work and in 2017 he was appointed Commander of the British Empire (CBE) for services to conservation.
Iris Kimizoglu is currently serving as the President of the European Students’ Union (ESU) for the 2024/25 term.
Prior to joining the ESU’s Executive Committee in 2022/23 and the Presidency team in 2023/2024, she held student representative positions at the local, state, national, and international levels in Germany.
Iris has a strong focus on public responsibility, academic freedom, governance and financing of higher education, as well as student social policy. She actively advocates for a more inclusive higher education system and the removal of educational barriers, as well as the protection of fundamental rights for students and the academic community.
Iris is pursuing an M.A. in Political Management, Public Policy, and Public Administration at the University of Duisburg-Essens’ NRW School of Governance.
Sam Barratt is Chief of Youth, Education and Advocacy at UN Environment Programme (UNEP).
Sam oversees the work on UNEP’s Higher Education work, setting up the Nature Positive University Alliance which works with Universities to assess how their value chain, estates, research and student cohort can be harnessed to deliver for nature, as well as the Green Jobs for Youth Pact that is exploring how can young people have the skillsets and mindsets to meet the need of a fast-changing jobs-market,
He also works with the non-formal education field of practice, co-founding the Playing for the Planet Alliance, a collaboration with the video gaming industry to support decarbonisation and introduce green activations in games, with others, set up Sports for Nature to engage sports to act for the landscapes they depend on as well as working with the Girl Guides and World Scout Movement who together launched the Tide Turners Plastic Challenge Badge behaviour change and advocacy programme in 52 countries that has engaged 950,000 young people.
Previously, Sam worked as Chief of Public Advocacy for UNEP where he ran all of the global campaigns on the issues of air quality, marine litter and wildlife crime in addition to the global efforts for World Environment Day. Before joining UNEP, Sam was Director of Communications for Avaaz, the global people-powered advocacy group with over 50 million members and worked for Oxfam and FIFA in previous jobs.
Working with new mediums to reach new audiences and to challenge established thinking with new ways of approaching wicked problems is something he lives in pursuit of and is also looking forward to visiting the tomb of St Cuthbert in Durham Cathedral.
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