Maximiliano Proaño Ugalde is the Undersecretary of Environment of Chile. He holds a law degree from the University of Chile and a master’s degree in Latin American Studies from the University of Amsterdam. He has studied public management for territorial development and socio-ecological transition. Additionally, Maximiliano Proaño has experience as an advisor, consultant, and researcher in environmental and energy policy. He has worked in the public and private sectors and has been a member of various civil society organisations.

Lauren Hermanus is a sustainable development strategist and researcher working at the intersection of climate, energy, and development. She is a co-founding director of Southern Transitions, a think-and-do tank launched in 2023 to harness real opportunities for just transitions in the Global South. This builds on her more than 15 years of experience across sectors, working with diverse actors from government, business, IGOs, and civil society. Her work has included on-the-ground economic diversification experiments through Just Transition Lab, as well as contributing to South Africa’s Just Energy Transition Investment Plan (JET-IP) and leading the Just Urban Transitions project, both through How We Adapt, a network-based advisory practice, which she started in 2016. In 2024, she was a finalist for the WIN WIN Gothenburg Award for her work facilitating partnerships for just transitions. She has worked extensively with several research institutions, including the Stockholm Resilience Centre, the Centre for Sustainability Transitions, and the African Centre for Cities, where she is currently a research associate, publishing on topics related to transitions, infrastructure, and futures.

Maiara Folly is the Executive Director and Co-Founder of Plataforma CIPÓ, a Brazilian think tank specialised in climate, foreign policy, and global governance reform. She leads a range of research and advocacy initiatives aimed at promoting climate action and financing for sustainable development in the Global South. She is Co-Director of the Global Governance Innovation Network (GGIN) and serves as a member of the Advisory Board of the Think20 (T20). Folly regularly publishes in national and international media outlets and policy journals. She is also a co-author and co-editor of the books “Brazilian Foreign Policy and Climate: Pathways to an Environmentally Responsible and Socially Just Brazil” and “Environmental Crimes in the Amazon: Lessons and Challenges from the Frontline.” She holds a master’s degree from the Department of International Development at the University of Oxford (UK) and a bachelor’s degree in International Relations from the Pontifical Catholic University (PUC) of Rio de Janeiro.

Dr. Alexandre Apsan Frediani is a principal researcher at the International Institute for Environment and Development (IIED). Alexandre co-convenes IIED’s work on Housing Justice. His work explores the role of housing policy and practice in advancing sustainable and equitable development pathways, particularly in the context of the world’s majority. Through partnerships with grassroots organisations, NGOs, governments, and multilateral organisations, Alexandre is particularly interested in advancing community-led and participatory approaches to the current global housing crisis. Alexandre is an advisor to Architecture Sans Frontières UK, a fellow of the Human Development and Capability Association, and part of the board of the Sierra Leone Urban Research Centre.

Nicolas Lippolis is a Postdoctoral Researcher at Columbia Climate School and a Nonresident Scholar in the Africa Program at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace. His research examines the political and economic challenges of transitioning away from fossil fuels, with a focus on Africa and Latin America.

Nicolas holds a DPhil in Politics from the University of Oxford, where he also earned an MSc in Economics for Development and a BA in Philosophy, Politics and Economics. He has taught at Oxford, Sciences Po Paris, and the University of Paris 1 Panthéon-Sorbonne. His professional experience includes consulting for the World Bank, the Brazilian Ministry of Finance, and several African governments, as well as working in emerging markets macroeconomic research at Goldman Sachs in London.

Dr. Snapp is passionate about securing a resilient future for smallholder communities in the Global South. As Global Director for the Sustainable Agrifood Systems Program at CIMMYT, and as lead for Locally Led Adaptation of the Climate Action Science Program of the CGIAR, she advocates for farmers and public-private-civil society partnerships that promote agency for just transitions in a rapidly changing world. Her team at CIMMYT is transdisciplinary, with over two hundred scientists working in close collaboration with local partners to improve the resilience of rural communities in Latin America, East and Southern Africa and Southeast Asia. As a professor of soils and cropping systems ecology at Michigan State University for twenty five years, she has pioneered participatory action research and living labs for co-creation with partners in Malawi and Tanzania, leading to internationally recognized transitions towards agricultural diversification and widespread adoption of inclusive open science approaches.