Global Health Symposium: Extreme heat and health in the context of climate change

Wednesday 10 December

Venues:
Commentary workshop (by invitation only): Mærsk Tower, Room 7.15.149 (15th floor), Faculty of Health and Medical Sciences, Blegdamsvej 3B, 2200 Copenhagen N
Masterclass on climate reporting for scientists (by invitation only): Mærsk Tower, Room 7.15.149 (15th floor), Faculty of Health and Medical Sciences, Blegdamsvej 3B, 2200 Copenhagen N
Filmscreening: Cinemateket, Gothersgade 55, 1123 Copenhagen K

Thursday 11 December

Venue: Auditorium Victor Haderup, Building 20, Ground Floor, Faculty of Health and Medical Sciences, Blegdamsvej 3B, 2200 Copenhagen N

Friday 12 December

Venue: Auditorium Victor Haderup, Building 20, Ground Floor, Faculty of Health and Medical Sciences, Blegdamsvej 3B, 2200 Copenhagen N

Nausheen Anwar

Dr Nausheen H Anwar is an internationally renowned scholar and researcher, with over 30 years of experience in academia working at critical intersections within the social sciences and health– including climate change, urbanisation, gender and thermal justice – and cutting across theory, practise and policymaking. Nausheen did her doctoral work at Columbia University, New York, and postdoctoral work at Harvard University, Boston. She studies the impact of climate change on the lives and health of poor, vulnerable groups in cities, using trans-disciplinary methodologies. Her research spans the Global South, extending from South Asia to Africa and Southeast Asia. She is presently the Climate Resilience Lead and Principal Researcher, in the Human Settlements Group at the International Center for Environment and Development (IIED), and holds a joint position as Professor of City and Regional Planning, at a leading public sector university in Pakistan – Institute of Business Administration (IBA), where she is also the Director and Founder of the Karachi Urban Lab (KUL). Nausheen has an extensive track record of publications (18+ peer reviewed articles in Tier 1 journals in addition to reports, books and book chapters); and has sought to break disciplinary silos in collaboration with medical scientists (physiologists, nutritionists, epidemiologists) to investigate and understand the consequences of climate change on human life and health. She is a strong fundraiser with a multi-million pound track record in climate resilience, urbanization, health, planning and policy, having secured £1.5M+ worth of grants from funders such as the UK Research and Innovation (ESRC, AHRC), Wellcome Trust, Novo Nordisk, British Academy, Harvard University and the International Development Research Center (Canada), to name a few.

Joyce Kimutai

Dr. Joyce Kimutai is a Climate Scientist affiliated with World Weather Attribution Consortium at Centre for Environmental Policy, Imperial College London and Kenya Meteorological Services. She holds a PhD in Attribution of Climate Extremes from the University of Cape Town, with her research focusing on understanding the role of anthropogenic climate change in extreme weather and climate events to enhance climate risk awareness and inform policy and practice. She co-chairs the Climate Research Forum Working Group on Loss and Damage under FILE at the Oxford Sustainable Law Programme. She also serves as a committee member for the U.S. National Academy of Sciences Report on Attribution of Extreme Weather Events and its Impacts (2024–2026) and  a member of Science Leadership Council for Mountain Research Initiative at University of Bern. Dr. Kimutai is currently the alternate Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) Focal Point for Kenya and was a Lead Author for the IPCC Special Report on Climate Change and Land during the Sixth Assessment Cycle (AR6). She also negotiates for Kenya at the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC). 

Laurie Goering

Francesca de’Donato

Is a Senior environmental epidemiologist at the Department of Epidemiology, Lazio Regional Health Service (DEPLAZIO) in Rome, Italy. She holds a PhD in Epidemiology and Biostatistics from Imperial College London and Master’s degrees in both Epidemiology and Applied Climatology and Meteorology.

Dr. de’Donato manages the Italian national Heat Warning System on behalf of the Ministry of Health and contributes to the Lazio Regional Heat Plan. Her research focuses on heat exposure, estimating the health effects of heat and climate change and identifying vulnerable groups most at risk for public health prevention. She is also engaged in European and national projects on defining climate change and health adaptation and resilience measures for public health and health care systems. She was recently one of the Editors of WHO EURO “Heat and health in the WHO European Region: updated evidence for effective protection” and is currently involved in the revision of the Heat health action plan guidance with WHO EUROPE.

Katherine Richardson 

Dr. Katherine Richardson is a distinguished figure in biological oceanography and sustainability science, based at the University of Copenhagen. She holds multiple influential positions, including a professorship of Biological Oceanography at the University of Copenhagen's Globe Institute, leader of Research Centre on Ocean, Climate and Society (ROCS), Chairperson of the European Commission’s Expert Group on the Economic and Societal Impact of Research and Innovation (ESIR), Co-Editor-in-Chief of the Marine Ecology Progress Series, and Member of the Scientific Committee of the Volvo Environment Prize.  

Dr. Richardson is a core researcher in the international team developing the Planetary Boundaries Framework, which aims to identify safe limits for human activities on Earth systems. Her expertise spans from microscopic phytoplankton to global-scale Earth system processes, contributing significantly to our understanding of ocean-climate interactions. 

Throughout her career, Dr. Richardson has played pivotal roles in climate policy and research coordination. She chaired the Danish Commission on Climate Change Policy and has been involved in organizing major international scientific conferences on climate change and sustainability. Her work bridges the gap between scientific research and policy-making, aiming to address global environmental challenges.

Shouro Dasgupta

Dr. Shouro Dasgupta is an Environmental Economist at the Euro-Mediterranean Centre on Climate Change (CMCC) and a Visiting Senior Fellow at the Grantham Research Institute, LSE. Shouro’s research primarily concentrates on the effects on the labour force, food (in)security, health, and inequality, thereby aiding in the formulation of targeted strategies to mitigate and adapt to climate-related impacts. He is particularly interested in the effects on households and the efficacy of social protection policies in the context of climate change. Shouro leads the ISIMIP labour impacts sector and recently led the health risk evaluation for the first European Union Climate Risk Assessment mandated by the European Parliament.

Shouro is an author of the Global, Europe, Latin America, and SIDS reports of the Lancet Countdown on climate change and health. He is one of the 78 experts convened by UNFCCC to assist the UAE-Belém programme to develop indicators for measuring progress towards Global Goal on Adaptation. He contributes to food security and health indicators.

John Rand

Professor Rand specializes in applied development economics and conduct interdisciplinary research, focusing on the interaction between social and natural sciences. His work primarily utilizes large-scale administrative datasets to enhance our comprehension of the mechanisms and networks facilitating knowledge diffusion within society. Several of his papers have aimed at uncovering the mechanisms driving technology transfers between individuals and firms. Research includes investigating the impact of early-life shocks on decision-making processes, knowledge acquisition, and learning among individuals, as well as examining the effects of climate shocks on production and welfare. Some of his most recent work on heatwaves have found empirical support for several possible pathways linking heat exposure during pregnancy to outcomes in childhood and adulthood.

Maryam Nastar

Maryam Nastar is an associate professor in sustainability science with a focus on social aspects of sustainability issues in urban contexts. Her research brings to the fore the causal linkages between (in)equality and (un)sustainability. By uncovering the socio-political factors that shape cities’ adaptation policies to climate change, Nastar’s work critically examines how urban heat extremes disproportionately impact vulnerable and marginalized communities. Ultimately, her work aims to inform policies that foster more equitable and effective heat mitigation and adaptation strategies.

Bente Merete Stallknecht 

Bente Merete Stallknecht, PhD, DMSc, is Dean of the Faculty of Health and Medical Sciences at the University of Copenhagen and Professor in Health-Enhancing Physical Activity. Her research focuses on physical activity, obesity, and metabolic diseases, and she leads the Act4Life research group. She has previously served as Prorector for Education and Head of the Department of Biomedical Sciences at UCPH. She holds additional roles at Deakin University, Center for Childhood Health, and Statens Serum Institut, and earned her MD, PhD, and DMSc from the University of Copenhagen.

Nick Baumgart

Nick Baumgart is a PhD Fellow at the Global Health Section of the University of Copenhagen, and part of the Copenhagen Centre for Disaster Research. His research explores climate change vulnerability and exposure to heat within the field of attribution science. Specifically, his PhD project examines of vulnerability and expousre factors drive differential heat impacts in informal settlements in Kenya. Moreover, he regularly contributes to vulnerability and exposure assessment of disasters in climate attribution studies with the World Weather Attribution. These studies deliver insights within days or weeks to inform the public debate on how climate change affects the intensity and likelihood of such events, while also analyzing how existing vulnerabilities amplify their impacts. 

Emmanuel Raju

Emmanuel Raju is a social scientist working to untangle the drivers of disasters. Emmanuel is currently the Director of The Copenhagen Centre for Disaster Research (COPE) and an Associate Professor of Disaster Risk Management at the Global Health Section at the University of Copenhagen (UCPH). Emmanuel is currently the Head of Studies for the Master of Disaster Management education at UCPH. He is also an ‘Extraordinary Associate Professor’, at North-West University, South Africa. He is the Co-Editor of the leading Disaster Prevention and Management journal. From 2024, he is a fellow at the International Science Council.

Lena Skovgaard Andersen

Lena Skovgaard Andersen, PhD, is an Associate Professor of Global Mental Health at the University of Copenhagen, where she also serves as Director of the School of Global Health. She holds an honorary appointment with the HIV Mental Health Research Unit at the University of Cape Town. A clinical psychologist by training, her research focuses on developing and evaluating evidence-based psychosocial interventions for chronic illness and mental health, particularly among marginalized populations. Her work is primarily centered in sub-Saharan Africa.