Advisory Board

Fatima Denton is the Director of the United Nations University Institute for Natural Resources in Africa. Dr. Denton supports African countries through research, capacity building and policy advice vis a vis knowledge goods to sustainably manage Africa’s natural resources for growth and transformation.Prior to her joining the UNU, Dr. Denton worked as the Director of Climate Change, Environment and Natural Resource Management and as Coordinator for the African Climate Policy Centre of the United Nations Economic Commission for Africa based in Ethiopia.

Alex Simalabwi has over 20 years’ experience in international development is the current Executive Secretary (CEO) of the Global Water Partnership Southern Africa (GWPSA) and GWP’s Global Head for climate resilience. He is also the Head of GWP Africa Coordination Unit. As CEO of GWPSA, he reports to an Executive Board Chaired by His Excellency President Jakaya Kikwete, former President of Tanzania, and leads staff management, develops board corporate procedures and policies.

Erik is a climate researcher based at NORCE and the Bjerknes Center for Climate Research in Bergen, Norway. His background is in mathematics and meteorology, and in recent years his research has been focused on subseasonal and seasonal forecasting. He currently leads the CONFER EU Horizon 2020 project, which is funded under the same call as FOCUS-Africa.

Professor Landman has worked as a meteorologist for more than three decades. He served as a Chief Scientist at the South African Weather Service, and as a Chief Researcher at the Council for Scientific and Industrial Research, before he was appointed as Professor in Meteorology at the University of Pretoria. He teaches undergraduate and graduate courses in meteorology, and supervises MSc and PhD students on weather and climate modelling topics. His work focuses on the development and testing of prediction systems for subseasonal-to-seasonal and seasonal-to-interannual time scales.   He has a B-rating from the National Research Foundation of South Africa, which has recognised him as been central to the development of operational seasonal forecasting in South Africa. His work has impacted on specific applications of seasonal forecasting such as hydrology, agriculture and health in southern Africa. He is an Adjunct Research Scientist at the International Research Institute for Climate and Society, which is part of the Earth Institute of Columbia University in New York, USA.

Dr. Singer is Deputy Director of the Water Research Institute and Reader in the School of Earth & Environmental Sciences at Cardiff University, as well as a Researcher in the Earth Research Institute at University of California Santa Barbara (UCSB). He received his PhD in Environmental Science and Management from UCSB in 2003. He is a Certified Professional Hydrologist American Institute of Hydrology.

Ana is a Climate and Environment Officer at the International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD) based in Rome, Italy. Prior to this position, Ana worked for 5 years as a Climate Risks Specialist for the Food and Agricultural Organization of the UN with a focus on the use of climate information and risk assessment across FAOs climate finance portfolio and integrating agrometeorology and climate risk into project design and implementation. Ana has a PhD in Earth System Science from the University of Oxford and a background in geology and biology. Previously, Ana was a postdoctoral research specialist at the USDA Agricultural Research Service in Hilo, Hawaii.

Lars Frederiksen works as a Specialist and Project Manager at COWI’s Urban Water and Climate Adaptation division. He specialises in modelling, GIS, flood risk mapping, climate adaptation and wastewater planning. Prior to this, he participated in COWI Accelerator, a global fast track for top talent boosting leadership and business mindset. He has a Master’s degree in Environmental Engineering Technology/Environmental Technology from the University of Southern Denmark.

Dr. Burgess is a senior scientist and the Deputy Director of Copernicus Climate Change Service. Dr. Burgess has an extensive background in climate, ocean & environmental sciences, and managing technical & strategic change. Dr. Burgess is future orientated, with a focus on climate and ocean risk, environmental governance and international policy with an ability to successfully communicate science & policy issues to a wide range of audiences.

Dr. Bruce Hewitson is the National Research Chair on Climate Change at the University of Cape Town. He has focused his career on exploring regional climate variability and change in Africa and is an expert in regional climate change, climate modelling, downscaling and climate change scenarios. Dr. Hewitson grew the Climate System Analysis Group (CSAG) at UCT and it is now one of the largest research groups in Africa focusing on climate change. He holds a Ph.D. from Pennsylvania State University.

Filipe Domingos Freires Lúcio is Director of the Global Framework for Climate Services (GFCS) Office at the Secretariat of the World Meteorological Organization (WMO) since January 2014. He joined WMO in 2007 as a Senior Scientific Officer in the disaster risk reduction programme. Prior to this, he was the Director of the National Institute of Meteorology of Mozambique. He has recently contributed to the development of Climate Research for Development (CR4D) Agenda for Africa initiative that promotes climate research in Africa.

Prof. Detlef Stammer, physical oceanographer and climate scientist, is Professor, Head of Remote Sensing and Assimilation and Director of the Center for Earth System Research and Sustainability at the University of Hamburg, Germany. He has been the head of the new Cluster of Excellence for Climate Research (CLICCS) at the University of Hamburg and since 2019, he is also head of the World Climate Research Programme (WCRP) which is one of the world’s leading initiatives in global climate research.

Jorge is a Climate Risks and Agrometeorology Specialist working for the Office of Climate Change, Biodiversity and Environment at the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO). At FAO, he ensures that the linkages between climate and climate impacts in agriculture are fully grounded in the best available climate data and that climate proofing is embedded into FAO adaptation GEF and GCF projects. He holds a PhD in agrometeorology with a thesis entitled “Climate resilient crops in hot-spot regions of climate change: the case of quinoa in Burkina Faso”. Before joining the FAO in 2020, Jorge worked for the World Meteorological Organization (WMO) on enhancing the communication and uptake of weather-informed agricultural advisories by the last-mile.