Board

Dr. Xaver Edelmann studied Physics at the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology in Zurich, Switzerland from 1968 to 1973 and received his PhD there in Technical Sciences in 1985. From 1974 he worked as a research and development scientist at Sulzer Brothers Limited Winterthur, Switzerland. From 1985-1986 he was consultant at the Nondestructive Evaluation Center...

From Kenya, Alice holds degrees in agriculture and forestry extension and is an experienced designer of institutional capacity building, network coordinator and inter-agency collaboration facilitator. She has recently worked as a technical adviser in community participation to the Zambia Forestry College, and has many years of experience in participatory research, participatory project formulation, project proposal...

Since 2012, chemist Dr. Brigitte Buchmann is head of the department Mobility, Energy and Environment at Swiss Federal Laboratories for Materials Testing and Research (Empa). She studied chemistry at the University of Zurich and in 1988 received her PhD in organometallic chemistry. Afterwards, she deepened her expertise in magnetic resonance spectroscopy while working as a...

Cornis van der Lugt (PhD MBA / Stellenbosch, Paris) is Senior Research Fellow with the Centre for Corporate Governance in Africa (University of Stellenbosch Business School), as well as Geneva-based consultant with over 20 years’ experience in the sustainability field at international level. From 2009-2011 he was Coordinator of the Resource Efficiency Subprogramme of the...

Since 2004, physicist Dr. Harry Lehmann is head of the division “Environmental Planning and Sustainable Strategies” of the German Federal Environment Agency. After working in the field of fundamental research in physics, he founded and owned 1984 the Engineering Consultancy “UHL Data” for systems analysis and simulation in the field of energy and environment. From...

Helga Weisz is an industrial ecologist. Her research focus is on the socially organized extraction of raw materials and energy, its transformation into goods and services, its use and final disposal to the environment as waste, emissions and heat, which, collectively, define the social metabolism. The transition from a biomass based agrarian towards a fossil...

Dr. Janez Potocnik was born in 1958. He graduated with honours from the Faculty of Economics at the University of Ljubljana. He continued his studies at the same University where he did his Master’s degree in 1989 and a Ph.D. degree in 1993. For several years (1989-1993), he worked as a researcher at the Institute...

Martine Rohn-Brossard is Head of Europe, Trade and Development Cooperation Section and Deputy Head of International Affairs Division of the Swiss Federal Office for the Environment. With her team, she is in charge of the international environmental aspects of trade, economy and development cooperation as well as of bilateral relations. The EU environmental issues and...

Dr. Peder Jensen is heading the Secretariat of the International Resource Panel (IRP) which is located in the offices of UN Environment in Paris, France. The Panel’s mission is to provide independent, coherent and authoritative scientific assessments of policy relevance on the sustainable use of natural resources and, in particular, their environmental impacts over the...

Suojiang Zhang is a Professor and the Director of IPE, CAS and Vice-Director of the State Key Laboratory of Multi-phase Complex System, IPE, CAS. His main research interests focus on ionic liquids and green process engineering, including molecular simulations, properties, preparation and applications of ionic liquids for catalysis, such as a large-scale preparation process of...

Prof. Victoire de Margerie started her career in 1986. She held various Business Development, Plant and Business Unit Management roles at Atochem (fine chemicals), CarnaudMetalbox (packaging) and Péchiney (aluminum and packaging) in France, Germany & the USA until 2002. She then became a Professor of Strategic Management at Grenoble School of Management (2003–2011). Since 2012,...