The Conference theme is \u2018Climate for Change\u2019 and we have exciting speakers for you from Scotland, the USA, the Republic of Ireland, Kosovo and England. We will be focusing on climate for change in education; health, science and society; climate\/environment and women\u2019s gender issues. So, there should be something for everybody.<\/p>\n
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Rebecca Cecil-Wright is the Executive Director and co-founder of EnviroFest International, an organisation setting up environmental film and impact festivals in\u00a0the global south. Previously an award-winning documentary filmmaker and\u00a0environmental educator, Rebecca\u2019s focus lies in using entertainment to engage\u00a0citizens, communities and societies with the environmental and climate agenda,\u00a0bridging divides to foster meaningful change across mainstream culture.<\/p>\n
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Leigh Ellwood-Brown started her Soroptimist life in 1980 as a charter member of SI South Pine, in the Region of SI Queensland, Australia, in the Federation of then SI South West Pacific, (SISWP), now named SI South East Asia Pacific, (SI SEAP). Highlights of her Federation Extension and President roles were to work with and learn from the more senior role models within her Federation: Extending within the SISWP countries, helping to develop members to implement the more impactful Projects to make a meaningful difference on the ground for Women and Girls. This in turn also attracted many new Soroptimist clubs and members: Develop the SISWP Federation to structure as a \u2018Company Limited by Guarantee\u2019
\nthrough the Federation leadership team and committees.<\/p>\n
Leigh\u2019s profession as a Gemmologist with specialist Diamond studies established a career within the Diamond, Gems and Custom Designed Jewellery Industry on various State, National and International levels.<\/p>\n
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Elizabeth Gowing worked as a teacher and education consultant in London before moving to Kosovo in 2006. There she learned to speak Albanian, founded the charity, The Ideas Partnership, and met a nine year-old girl from the excluded Ashkali community, who told her that she wanted to go to school.<\/p>\n
The apparently simple request led Elizabeth and a growing team of volunteers to help a community transform itself. The Ideas Partnership last year won a European Commission\u2019s prize for its work not only on education but also health, social enterprise and women\u2019s empowerment, and the experiences form the basis of Elizabeth\u2019s fourth book, published in summer 2015.<\/p>\n
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Gemma Milne is a writer and researcher focused on narratives surrounding, activism in and political economy of science and technology. She is author\u00a0of ‘Smoke & Mirrors: How Hype Obscures the Future and How to See Past It’, is currently a PhD researcher in Science and Technology Studies at UCL, writes for outlets such as The Guardian, WIRED, Forbes, the BBC and others, and is co-host of the Radical Science podcast.<\/p>\n
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![\"\"](\"https:\/\/sigbi.org\/belfast2022\/files\/2022\/09\/Tara-Shine-credit-Cathal-Noonan-202x300.jpg\")
Dr Tara Shine is an expert in the field of climate change and climate justice, with a passion for communicating her science and her positive vision for the future.<\/p>\n
She has advised world leaders, governments and civil society organisations on climate change, environmental policy and development assistance. Formerly a climate negotiator at the UN and Special Advisor to the Mary Robinson Foundation – Climate Justice and Adviser to the Elders, Tara is co-Founder and Director of the award-winning sustainability business, Change by Degrees.\u00a0 Tara is Chair of the Board of Trustees of the International Institute for Environment and Development (IIED) and co-facilitator of a science-policy dialogue under the UN Climate Convention. \u00a0Tara\u2019s book \u2018How To Save Your Planet One Object At A Time\u2019 was published by Simon and Schuster in April 2020, and is a guide to sustainable living told through everyday objects.<\/p>\n
Tara enjoys getting out into the wild to explore environmental issues first-hand. At home in any location from the deserts of Mauritania to the rainforests of Borneo, Tara enjoys meeting people to hear their stories and experiences and to champion the solutions they need. Most recently she travelled to Antarctica with 90 women scientists as part of Homeward Bound, a global leadership programme for women in science which aims to find better ways to care for our global home. Tara is part of the visibility and science communications faculty for Homeward Bound.<\/p>\n
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Robyn Knox, Emergencies Partnership Director is responsible for the leading the development and delivery of more human and community centred responses in major emergencies via a network of over 200 community and specialist organisations.\u00a0 Robyn\u2019s background is in organisational change and transformation leading major change programmes and initiatives in the private, public and charitable sectors in the UK, Australia, Iraq and Cambodia.<\/p>\n
Robyn joined the British Red Cross in 2015 \u2013 and has led significant strategic programmes to reshape and evolve the way the organisation works, and in 2019\/20 set out exciting new aspirations for the future, through developing the Red Cross\u2019 2030 Strategy. Robyn was first involved in Emergency Response in evaluating the response to Grenfell Tower tragedy in 2017.\u00a0 Robyn joined the Emergencies Partnership in April 2020, helping to shape and lead the partnership\u2019s response to the pandemic and the many emergencies that have followed.\u00a0 She is a commissioner on the National Preparedness Commission, contributing to the national debate on the future of greater national preparedness and resilience and heads up a team of 11 people to help enable improved insight, stronger more trusted relationships and improved capability in emergencies across the voluntary and community sector and our partners in local and national government.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
The Conference theme is \u2018Climate for Change\u2019 and we have exciting speakers for you from…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":746,"featured_media":0,"parent":0,"menu_order":5,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-4522","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"yoast_head":"\n