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Professor Samuel G.K. Adiku
holds B.Sc. Agriculture (First Class Honours) from the University of Ghana in 1982, M.Sc. (Agriculture) from Technical University of Berlin, West Germany in 1989, and PhD. (Environmental Science) from Griffith University, Australia in 1996. He was appointed Lecturer in Soil Science at the University of Ghana in 1989, promoted to Senior Lecturer in 1997, Associate Professor in 2001 at an age of 42 years and to Full Professor in 2005 at an age of 46 of years.

Prof Adiku has been involved in climate science and agricultural modeling for many years. His publications in these field dates back to the late 1980s. His PhD Thesis specifically dealt with these topics. In 2002, he participated in the Advanced Institute on Climate Prediction at the International Research Institute of Climate Prediction, NY, USA. and has applied the knowledge gained to Ghanaian and West African situations. He has held a number of Fellowships and Visiting Scholar/Professor positions in Germany, France, and the USA. He has trained a number of graduate students in climate change and agriculture, climate change and gender, and soil carbon dynamics, among others.




Roberto Alajmo was born in Palermo in 1959, and lives in Sicily as a writer. He has been distinguished with numerous awards for this novels, short stories and plays. He is currently one of the most sought-after authors of contemporary Italian literature. His works have been translated into English, French, Dutch, Spanish and German. His latest work is entitled L’arte di Annacarsi (2010).


He taught the history of journalism as an instructor in the Department of Education of the University of Palermo, and was a member of the board of directors of the Teatro Stabile in Palermo. He has worked as an editor for the public TV broadcaster RAI since 1988, and writes regularly for Italian daily newspapers (La Repubblica, L’Unità).


His short stories have been included in several anthologies. He is the author of numerous pieces for the theatre such as Seicentocinquantamila senza contributi (1990), or Repertorio dei pazzi della città di Palermo (1995). Until now, he has published a total of 16 books, among them many that thematise his native city of Palermo and his homeland, Sicily. Among his best-known works are Notizia del disastro (2001), for which he was awarded the Premio Mondello, or the novel Cuore di Madre (2003), which was a finalist for the important Italian literary awards Premio Stregaund Premio Campiello. His Nuovo repertorio dei pazzi della città di Palermo appeared in 2004, and in 2005 the novel È stato il figlio, a finalist for the Premio Viareggio, and winner of the Super Comisso und Super Vittorini awards. His novel La Mossa del Matto Affogato (2008) won the Premio Pisa.




Laura Bonamici studied English and South American literature at the University of Florence and University of Seville. After earning her degree in Italy, she moved to London where she gained her Ph.D. in 2008. Her doctoral thesis investigated sociological and theoretical aspects of the digital revolution and its impact on British theatre narratives. During her ten years in London, she has worked as a Visiting Lecturer at Royal Holloway, University of London, and Roehampton University, London teaching both workshop and seminar based courses on critical theories, new media and performance, devised theatre, new playwriting, and confessional performance.

Laura is based in Munich and works as a B2B PR consultant, advising international clients from the renewable energies sector. She has recently curated a series of clients’ events with a focus on sustainability practices within the property industry."


Chia-Hua Chiang

studied at Goldsmiths‘ Centre for Cultural Studies (Goldsmiths College). She lives in Taiwan and works as an arts and culture journalist.




Jade Y. Chen was born in Taichung, Taiwan and studied history and literature in Paris, and theatre direction and choreography under Ariane Mnouchkine and at the LaMaMa Theatre in New York, among others. This director and author of numerous novels, plays and essays has lived in Munich since the beginning of the 1990’s.




Gitte Cullmann Junior Associate Fellow at KWI (Institute for Advanced Studies, Essen). Studies of Sociology, Economics and Spanish Philology (M.A.).
Main research: Cultural consequences of Climate Change, Vulnerabilities and Adaptation; Poverty Measurement


Publications:
Neue Wege für Chile - Modernisierung in Zeiten des Klimawandels, in: Berliner Debatte Initial - Sozial- und geisteswissenschaftliches Journal, Heft 01, 2010, S. 47-51.

"Nuevos Caminos para Chile: La Modernización en Tiempos del Cambio Climático", in: Desafíos para el Desarrollo Sustentable de América Latina en el Contexto del Cambio Climático, Centro de Políticas para el Desarrollo de la Universidad de Santiago de Chile, 2011, S. 116-124.




Julia Dobrolyubova is an expert on climate change at the non-for-profit environmental organisation the Russian Regional Environmental Centre (RREC), Moscow, Russia. She has been coordinating a number of projects related to climate change and sustainable energy in the Russian Federation.


Julia and her team have gained extensive experience in organisation of training courses and study-tours for Russian mass-media, including the recent Russian-Danish media-project "To Highlight the Path to Copenhagen", which was highly appreciated by the Danish Ministry of Climate and Energy. Another RREC project "Climate sCOOLing" has introduced innovative approaches into climate educational programmes in Russia.


Julia has a number of published guidelines, information and expert materials, topical brochures on climate change for target audience or general public. She has developed the Russian popular web-site www.climatechange.ru.


Mrs. Dobrolyubova is a member of the Russian delegation at the UNFCCC negotiations. She is also a member of the EU-Russia Sub-group on Climate Change of the EU-Russia Dialogue on the Environment.




Andreas Gursch 1963 in Hannover geboren, studierte Sinologie und Publizistik an der FU- Berlin und Humboldt Universität Berlin.


Seit 1997 arbeitet Andreas Gursch in Asien im Bereich technischer Umweltschutz (Entsorgung, Recycling, erneuerbare Energien). Er war in leitenden Management Positionen bei internationalen Unternehmen (RETHMANN, SWIR-SITA) und stellvertretender Direktor des Deutschen Wirtschaftsbueros Taipei (AHK) bevor er 2009 das Beratungsunternehmen INEP-Asia Ltd. gruendete. Herr Gursch ist Vorsitzender des Energie-und Umweltausschusses der Europaischen Handelskammer in Taipei (ECCT) und Asien-Repraesentant der SolarWaterWorld GmbH. Er berät Unternehmen und Institutionen zu den Themen Kreislaufwirtschaft, erneuerbare Energien und Energieeffizienz. Herr Gursch ist verheiratet und hat eine Tochter.




Erica Potts
Erica is a 25 year old psychology student living on the Sunshine Coast, Queensland, Australia.
She makes no pretension of understanding the befuddling science of climate change, but is intrigued by the social and psychological impacts of the phenomenon: critically, why aren’t we doing anything about it? She lives in the hope that apathy and inaction where climate change is concerned are isolated to Australia.
This blog will look at climate change through the eyes of sociology and psychology in an attempt to understand the persistence of the ‘she’ll be right, mate’ attitude when, clearly, ‘she’ won’t.




Dana Ritzmann studied journalism and political science in Dormund and the USA. In recent years, following an internship and editorial work for newspapers and television, she has discovered online journalism as a promising, future-oriented medium for her. During her six years of working in Russia, she engaged herself, among other things, for the training and continuing eduction of young journalists. In 2009, she was distinguished with the Peter Boenisch Memorial Award for the German and Russian-language young people’s portal To4ka-Treff.


Shortly before the birth of her daughter in July 2009, Ritzmann, moved from Moscow to Saxony, where she now lives near Dresden. In spite of parental leave, she continues to be active in developing concepts, coordinating and writing for online media.



Jesus Omar De la Rocha Illanes was born on December 8, 1984 in La Paz, Bolivia. He studied industrial engineering at the local university Universidad Mayor de San Andrés (main university of San Andrés). He graduated with a thesis project on “Biogas Production According to Industrial Standards in Sahapaqui,” an agricultural district of the Departamentos La Paz.


He is currently completing a graduate course in management.
He has volunteered in campaigns of the La Paz City Council to promote greater citizen awareness of environmental issues. He also regularly attends seminars, conferences and workshops on a wide spectrum of cultural and environmental themes. Most recently he took part in a seminar on “Risk Management and Climate Change,” which dealt with the threats and problems caused by climate change as well as their effects on the city of La Paz with its unique geographical location.




Dagmar Röhrlich For years the Goethe-Institut Toronto has been successfully organizing different residency programs and is pleased to continue this program in 2010, with the Institute for European Studies at the University of British Columbia in Vancouver.


The IES-Goethe Writers Residency hosts a journalist/author who deals with environmental topics in a German-Canadian dialogue. Events will take place at the Institute for European Studies, the UBC School of Journalism, and other partner venues.


The IES-Goethe Writer-in-Residence 2010 will be journalist and author Dagmar Röhrlich. Dagmar Röhrlich, born 1956 in Aachen, studied geology and currently works as a freelance science journalist. Her works in print and broadcasting, among others at Deutschlandfunk, has received numerous awards such as the “Georg-von-Holtzbrinck” award for scientific journalism in 1999. Her latest book is the first in a series of mare books: Tiefsee. Von Schwarzen Rauchern und blinkenden Fischen. She lives in Cologne.




Yacouba Sangarey is 39 years old. He studied mathematics, communication and journalism at University of Abidjan. He is working as journalist since january 1995 and writes for "Le patriote", an ivorian daily newspaper. He is also a member of a NGO that fights for environnemental protection. He is a widower and has three children, two boys and a girl.




Hanna Sauli
Hanna is a Master of Political Science and International Relations and has worked among other things as a Secretary for International Affairs and under different branches of the Finnish Ministry for Foreign Affairs.


She is active in the Finnish Green party, especially in the field of climate and energy policy, and in the Finnish Big Ask climate law campaign.


She is 28 years old and lives in Helsinki. She is going to write about efforts to fight climate change and the threats we are faced with from the perspective of Finnish society, climate politics and activism.



Alexander Smoltczyk
Alexander Smoltczyk is one of Germany's leading reporters in print journalism. Most of his work is published in tageszeitung, Geo, Der SPIEGEL and Die Zeit.
Smoltczyk was born in Berlin in 1958 and studied philosophy, economics and agriculture in Berlin and Montpellier (France).



In 1989 he moved to Paris as a correspondent for the left-centered daily "tageszeitung", then joined the editorial east-west-project "Wochenpost" in Berlin. His travel writings appeared in GEO-Magazine and were awarded by two "Kisch-Preis" for the best reportage of the year. Since 1998, he has been a staff reporter for Germanys newsmagazine Der SPIEGEL and covered diverse topics, ranging from 9/11 to siamese twins to the hunt for the caucasian snowman in Abkhazia.


Since 2005, Smoltczyk lives with his wife and daughter in Rome, covering italian politics and the Vatican.


He has written several books, among them a biography of Ken Adam, a set designer for the early James Bond films, and a book about the French Revolution. His latest work, written in 2008, is "Vatikanistan", which is a travellers companion to the Holy Sea.


In September 2009, Alexander Smoltczyk is staying in British Columbia for the IES-Goethe Residency. The residency program is provided by the Institute of European Studies (IES) of the University of British Columbia (UBC) and the Goethe-Institut Toronto.


While at the IES, Smoltczyk will be looking at the environmental situation in Western Canada, focusing on the issues surrounding the Pacific Salmon as a case study. As part of his activities, Smoltczyk will participate in the collaborative efforts between the IES and the UBC Fisheries Centre (under the leadership of Dr. Rashid Sumaila), and will give talks at both the UBC Vancouver School of Journalism and the University of Victoria.




Petra Vidović studied art history and comparative literature in Zagreb and Graz. She worked as an assistant in artist studios in Zagreb and as curator in the Platform3 in Munich. She was a fellow in a program „Cultural Managers from Central and Eastern Europe“of the Robert Bosch Stiftung and now is a member of a NGO MitOst e.V.
She was a part of a team that coordinated the Forum for Creative Minds II: City and Climate Change in Goethe-Institut Kroatien. She lives in Zagreb.




Patricia Warning studied education science in Argentina. She lives and works as a German and English teacher in La Plata.




Ryoichi Yamamoto Prof. Dr. Ryoichi Yamamoto was born in 1946 in Mito, Japan. He is Chair of the International Green Purchasing Network and President of the Japan Green-Business Federation.

In 1974 he received his Ph.D. in Engineering from the University of Tokyo. After being an Assistant Professor of metallic materials at the School of Engineering of the University of Tokyo and Professor at the Research Center for Advanced Science and Technology of the University of Tokyo, he became Professor at the Institute of Industrial Science of the University of Tokyo in 1992. Between 1999 and 2002 he was active in the role as both Professor and Director of the Center for Collaborative Research at the University of Tokyo. In 2010 he retired from the University of Tokyo.

Outside his university career he has been working as a science advisor to the Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology between 2002 and 2006. Besides his position as honorary chairman of Eco Material Society and President of Sustainable Management Forum, he offers his advise and expertise to many other associations and organizations.

Ryoichi Yamamoto published more than 400 scientific papers as well as 40 books within the field of climate change, eco-design, eco-materials revolution and sustainable company.