Research Fellow in Energy and Climate Policy, Columbia University Dr. Chris Bataille has been involved in energy and climate policy analysis for 26 years as a researcher, energy systems and economic modeler, analyst, writer, project manager, managing consultant, and founding partner. His career has been focused on the transition to a globally sustainable energy system, more recently technology and policy pathways to net-zero GHG emissions by all sectors by 2050-‘70 to meet the Paris Agreement goals. He is an Associate Researcher at the Institute for Sustainable Development and International Relations (IDDRI.org) in Paris working on the Deep Decarbonization Pathways project (DDPinitiative.org), and an Adjunct Professor at Simon Fraser University. Chris was a Lead Author for the Industry Chapter of the 6th cycle of the IPCC Assessment Report 2019-2022, as well as the Summary for Policy Makers and Technical Summary. He manages an ongoing global project to review technology and policy options for net-zero decarbonization of heavy industrial sectors, including the global Net Zero Steel project (netzerosteel.org), which has produced facility level, geospatial net zero pathways for the global steel industry. Chris is continuing his focus on industrial decarbonization at CGEP.
Research Scholar in Climate Economics, Columbia University Noah Kaufman is an economist who has worked on energy and climate change policy in both the public and private sectors. Under President Biden, he served as a Senior Economist at the Council of Economic Advisers. Under President Obama, Noah served as the Deputy Associate Director of Energy & Climate Change at the White House Council on Environmental Quality. At World Resource Institute, Noah led projects on carbon pricing, the economic impacts of climate policies, and long-term decarbonization strategies. Previously, he was a Senior Consultant in the Environment Practice of NERA Economic Consulting. Noah received his BS in economics from Duke University, and his PhD and MS in economics from the University of Texas at Austin, where his dissertation examined optimal policy responses to climate change.
Assistant Professor, Phyllis Northway Faculty Fellow, University of Wisconsin-Madison Alvin Thomas, PhD, is an Assistant Professor of Human Development and Family Studies and the Phyllis Northway Faculty Fellow at the School of Human Ecology at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. He is a clinical psychologist and the founder and host of the Black Fatherhood Podcast. Dr. Thomas' research explores positive youth development and father involvement especially among Black families.
Heather Massey is a Senior Lecture working within the Extreme Environments Laboratory in the School of Sport, Health and Exercise Science at the University of Portsmouth in the UK. She has 15 years of experience in research in Extreme Environments, with a special interest in the physiological effects of cold water immersion. As well as an academic interest in the cold water immersion she is also a keen long-distance open water swimmer. She has successfully completed a solo English Channel crossing and competed in the 2nd International Ice Swimming Association World Championship in the 1 km event, and has participated in numerous other long-distance swims and relays. With aspirations to do more.
Robrecht Declercq is a postdoctoral researcher at the Research Foundation – Flanders (FWO) since the 1st of October 2017 and is affiliated with the History Department of Ghent University. His main research interests include business, global economics, and environmental history. He teaches on economic and environmental history. In February 2015, Declercq defended his PhD on the global connections of the Leipzig Fur Industry at the European University Institute (EUI) in Florence. This PhD research examined how a local industrial district – like the Leipzig fur industry – characterised by many small to medium-sized businesses successfully operated on the world market in the period between 1870 and 1939. It bridges the interior-based research tradition on industrial districts with that of global economic history. In 2016, his research was nominated for the Best Dissertation Award in Bergen (Norway), by the European Business History Association (EBHA). As of June 2017, the PhD has been published as a book by Routledge, titled “World Market Transformation: Inside the German Fur Capital Leipzig 1870 – 1939”. His current research project is also situated at the crossroads of business and global economic history, examining the impact of nationalizations in the copper industry (Central Africa and Latin America) on the global political economy.
A former law lecturer with a Masters in Legal Studies, Dr Shanks moved from employment and welfare rights work to lifelong learning and teacher professional learning over 15 years ago. She is currently one of the editors of Human Rights Education Review and is an Associate Director of the Scottish Graduate School of Social Science.
