Introducing the Future Earth Interim Secretariat

The Interim Secretariat is now up and running, with the appointment of Frans Berkhout as Interim Director on July 1, Diana Greenslade as Science Officer on July 8 and Anne-Sophie Stevance continuing her role as Science Officer.

The Interim Secretariat also draws heavily on contributions from ICSU staff members Denise Young (Head of Communications), and Johannes Mengel (Communications Officer/Online Editor) and staff in the existing GEC programme secretariats. There are plans to further expand the team in the coming months, with the next recruitments being for a dedicated Communications Coordinator and an Administrative Officer.

Frans Berkhout (previously introduced in a recent newsletter) is a social scientist based at the Department of Geography, King’s College London, with a broad portfolio of research interests and expertise, ranging from science and technology policy to global environmental change. Diana Greenslade is a physical oceanographer who comes to us from the Centre for Australian Weather and Climate Research (Australian Bureau of Meteorology), with scientific expertise in marine hazards, including tsunami forecast and warning.  Anne-Sophie Stevance has a background in political sciences, specialising in sustainable development policies. She has worked previously as an environmental project officer in a research consultancy helping to integrate engineering and scientific knowledge into local environmental policies.

The Interim Secretariat is looking forward to working closely with the existing global environmental change programmes and also the International Project Offices. We have started to map out our activities over the next 18 months and this promises to be a busy and exciting time for all of us.