We're delighted to welcome the following speakers to our training academy, each bringing their expertise and passion for climate science to share with delegates.
For full details of the training academy and how to register visit Operation Earth 2.5 Training Academy - The Association for Science and Discovery Centres (sciencecentres.org.uk)
Chris Dunford, UKRI Head of Environmental Sustainability
Chris is Head of Environmental Sustainability for UKRI. He leads a team working to embed an ambitious new Environmental Sustainability Strategy across all areas of UK Research and Innovation, including the target of becoming carbon net-zero by 2040. Before joining UKRI in August 2020, Chris was Head of Sustainable Futures for We The Curious, the first science centre in the world to declare a climate emergency, as well as being Elected Director of the Bristol Green Capital Partnership and Mentor of Arizona State University’s Sustainability in Science Museums Global Fellowship.
Hermione Cockburn, Scientific Director at Dynamic Earth
In 2014 I took up the post of Scientific Director at Dynamic Earth in Edinburgh. For 20 years previously I worked in a mix of academic and science engagement roles including a brief stint at Dynamic Earth when it first opened in 1999. My PhD is in geomorphology from the University of Edinburgh and I’ve worked in Australia, Africa and Antarctica researching landscape evolution at the macroscale. In 2002 I began presenting science radio and television programmes for the BBC including series like Coast, Rough Science and The Nature of Britain and Radio 4 documentaries on subjects ranging from lead pollution to lasers, and an award winning series on bacteria. I taught Environmental Science for the Open University for many years and I’ve contributed to a large number of science festivals and school engagement programmes. Overall my career to date has been about trying to inspire people of all backgrounds and all ages with Earth and environmental science within a wider STEM engagement context.
Enda Hayes, Professor of Air Quality and Carbon Management, University of the West of England
Enda is a Professor of Air Quality and Carbon Management at the University of the West of England, Bristol. His research sit at the nexus of science, policy and public engagement with a focus on both traditional and emerging pollutants.
Lukas Large, Curator of Natural Science, Birmingham Museums Trust
Lukas is curator of natural science at Birmingham Museums Trust. This role involves caring for a collection which includes an incredible variety of different objects. These range from taxidermy, including 6000 birds as well as their nests and eggs to 153,000 insects, a herbarium and the earth science collection that includes fossil such as the Triceratops skull, minerals and a comprehensive gemstone collection.
He previously worked at the Royal Botanic Gardens Kew with Lost and Found Fungi. A citizen-science based conservation project which worked with volunteers to search for and study some of Britain’s rarest fungi.
Caroline Hickman, Pyschotherapist and lecturer, University of Bath
Caroline Hickman is a psychotherapist and lecturer at the University of Bath researching children and young people’s emotional responses to climate change in the UK, Brazil, The Maldives, Nigeria & USA for 10 years examining eco-anxiety & distress, eco-empathy, trauma, moral injury and the impact of climate anxiety on family relationships. She is lead researcher & author on a 2021 quantitative global study into children & young people’s emotions & thoughts about climate change to be published in The Lancet Planetary Health.
A practicing psychotherapist and board member of the Climate Psychology Alliance she has been developing a range of therapeutic services for ecological distress including a psychological assessment model for eco-anxiety, and delivered workshops in climate psychology, emotional resilience and mental health internationally
Desiree Vaccarini, Senior Audience Researcher, Natural History Museum
Désirée is a Senior Audience Researcher at the Natural History Museum in London. Her interests and work span a wide range of topics, from optimising the visitor experience in public programmes, to supporting the museum in understanding its diverse audiences, to researching the most innovative approaches for engaging visitors with the Museum strategy and collections. Désirée is also Co-Chair of the Visitor Studies Group, a membership group dedicated to championing audience research in cultural and heritage organisations.
Hannah Lacey, Senior Public Engagement Research Manager, Natural Environment Research Council
Hannah is the senior public engagement programme manager at NERC. Her responsibilities includes designing and delivering NERC grant funding opportunities and other projects which deliver against the NERC public engagement strategy. Hannah has a Master’s Degree in Science Communication and Public engagement and has worked in public engagement with environmental science since 2017.