New IHDP Scientific Committee Vice Chairs appointed
IHDP welcomes the selection of Xuemei Bai and Elena Nikitina as IHDP Scientific Committee Vice Chairs supporting Sir Partha Dasgupta.
The Scientific Committee guides IHDP’s work agenda and makes decisions for the programme’s long-term development. The committee members in general and the new Vice Chairs in particular will play a crucial role in supporting IHDP in identifying opportunities for IHDP and its projects within the new Future Earth initiative; a ten-year research initiative proposed by the International Council for Science (ICSU), the International Social Science Council (ISSC), the Belmont Forum of funding agencies, UNEP, UNESCO and UNU. Future Earth aims to deliver knowledge that will enable societies to meet their sustainable development goals. IHDP welcomes the support of Xuemei Bai and Elena Nikitina as Vice Chairs along with the entire Scientific Committee during this important transition time.
Xuemei Bai:
Dr. Xuemei Bai has served on the Science Steering Committee of IHDP’s Industrial Transformation Core Project, and has also served on the National Academies (USA) Study Committee on Electricity from Renewables, and the Steering Committee of the US National Academies Sustainable Cities Initiative. Along with acting as an appointed member of the Scientific Committee of the IHDP, she is also an elected Board Member for the Sustainable Urban Systems Chapter of the International Society of Industrial Ecology, and a Foreign Expert Member of the Task Force for Western Region Development under the China Council for International Cooperation for Environment and Development. Dr. Bai has authored or coauthored over 100 publications, and has served as lead author for the Millennium Ecosystem Assessment and the Global Energy Assessment
Dr. Bai is a professor of Urban Environment and Human Ecology at the Fenner School of Environment and Society at Australia’s National University. Her research currently focuses on frontiers of urban-industrial ecology and urban sustainability science.
Elena Nikitina:
Dr. Elena Nikitina is a political scientist specializing in environmental policy, climate change and water governance as well as institutions for natural disaster risk reduction. Her main interests include: domestic and international environmental policies and their implementation and effectiveness, international regime formation, transfer and adaptation of innovative governance mechanisms, and tools for sustainable development in transition economies, particularly in Russia. She is also involved in research on sustainable development in the Arctic.
Dr. Nikitina was the lead author for the 3rd and 4th IPCC assessment reports, Working Group III. She is the Director of Moscow based non-government research organization EcoPolicy and is also a senior researcher at the Russian Academy of Sciences in the Institute for World economy and international relations. Dr. Elena Nikitina publishes widely in Russia and in the West and has over 100 scientific publications.