Dr. Cheryl Charles

Cheryl Charles, Ph.D., is an innovator, author, organizational executive and educator living in Vermont, USA. Throughout her career, Cheryl has focused on the well-being of children, families, communities and the environment that supports us all. She currently is Adjunct Faculty and Executive Director of the Nature-based Leadership Institute at Antioch University New England, an elected local school board member, a member of the Steering Committee for the International Union for the Conservation of Nature’s Commission on Education and Communication and Co-Chair of IUCN’s #NatureForAll. She served as founding National Director of the pioneering K-12, interdisciplinary environment education programs, Project Learning Tree and Project WILD. Cheryl is author, editor and designer of a wide variety of publications.

Dr. Jim Taylor

Dr. Jim Taylor served as the Director of Environmental Education (EE) at the Wildlife and Environment Society of South Africa (WESSA) for over twenty years. He led initiatives to promote environmental awareness, sustainability, and action-taking across South Africa and the SADC region. Now a research associate of the University of KwaZulu-Natal Dr. Taylor brings decades of experience in environmental education, advocacy, and program development, focusing on cultivating the next generation of environmental leaders.

Working with CEE staff and over a thousand delegates, in 2007, he co-edited the Ahmedabad Declaration: A Call to Action. He is instrumental in shaping educational programs that empower learners, educators, and communities to actively engage in protecting and conserving biodiversity, addressing climate change, and fostering sustainable development. 

Dr. Taylor has a strong academic background, having contributed significantly to the fields of environmental science, education and citizen science. His research focusses on the integration of environmental education into formal education systems, particularly in the context of South Africa's diverse ecosystems and communities as well as water biomonitoring and citizen science. He supports action learning approaches and community-based conservation to encourage both environmental stewardship and social responsibility.

Dr. Taylor also contributes to various national and international environmental networks. Here he works to align local efforts with global environmental agendas, such as the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). He has helped strengthen UNESCO’s global Associated Schools Network (ASP-Net) and was a founder member of ESD Expert-Net working in Mexico, India, Germany and South Africa. He is also a founder member of the EEASA (The Environmental Education Association of Southern Africa) and is a past President. He is currently involved in the United Nations University Regional Centres of Expertise (RCE’s) and is the current Coordinator of RCE KwaZulu-Natal.

Dr. Thomas Hoffmann

Prof. Dr. Thomas Hoffmann is an accomplished scholar and educator with a strong background in geography, historical analysis, and political science. His academic journey began with studies at Albert-Ludwigs Universität Freiburg and Freie Universität Berlin from 1983 to 1990, culminating in a state examination thesis focused on the economic transformation of Phuket, Thailand, from tin mining to tourism. In 1994, he earned his doctoral degree with a thesis examining migration and development in the Solu Khumbu District of Eastern Nepal. Following the completion of his doctorate, Prof. Hoffmann has been an influential high school teacher in Baden-Württemberg, imparting knowledge in subjects such as geography, history, politics, and economics. His commitment to education is further demonstrated through his role as a geography textbook author since 1995 and as the head of the geography department at the Studienseminar Karlsruhe since 2000. Prof. Hoffmann has contributed to international educational initiatives, notably as a founding member of the ESD Expert Net, which aims to promote Education for Sustainable Development (ESD) across various countries, including Mexico, South Africa, India, and Germany. He also has been engaged in developing learning materials for ESD since 2009. Since 2012, he has been a lecturer in geography didactics at the Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT), and his expertise has led to collaborative efforts with Rikkyo University in Tokyo on regional climate change education since 2016. Additionally, he is an active member of the NGO The Turquoise Change, which focuses on advancing ESD particularly in island contexts. In recognition of his contributions to the field, he was appointed as an honorary professor for Education for Sustainable Development at Leuphana University Lüneburg in 2021, where he is associated with the Institute for Sustainability, Education, and Psychology (ISEP).Throughout his career, Prof. Hoffmann has concentrated his work and publications on addressing global challenges, promoting systemic thinking, and implementing solution-oriented teaching approaches in education.

Dr. Presha Ramsarup

Dr. Presha Ramsarup is Director at the Centre for Researching Education and Labour at the University of Witwatersrand, Johannesburg. She is also a Senior Research Associate at the Environmental Learning Research Centre at Rhodes University and a Visiting Associate Professor at the University of Nottingham. Her extensive research centers on for skills needed for a just transition. Dr. Ramsarup's work delves into the evolving nature of occupations, dimensions of occupational change during the green transition and the resulting implications for skills formation, models of provisioning and our understanding of future skills needs.She is currently involved in multiple research initiatives aimed at transforming Vocational Education and Training (VET) systems in Africa to align with. Additionally, Dr. Ramsarup holds the position of President of the Environmental Education Association of Southern Africa (EEASA) and has been an active member for over 20 years, contributing significantly to environmental education in the African region.

Lesley Jones

Lesley Jones was elected as President of the Foundation for Environmental Education (FEE) in September 2016. She has been on the Board of FEE for 12 years, initially as the Board representative for Eco-Schools and then Vice President.

During that time, Lesley has led the development of an innovative 10-year strategy for FEE – GAIA 20:30. FEE is the world’s largest environmental education organisation, with 110 members in 84 countries across the globe. FEE is a lead partner in global initiatives including UNESCO’s Greening Education Partnership and the UN decade for Eco-System Restoration. Lesley has represented FEE at events both physically and virtually around the world. This has included the UNESCO World Conference on Education for Sustainable Development in Japan and speaking at events during COP21 and COP26. She also represented FEE at the first ever live announcement of Blue Flag Awards at an event in Greece and spoke at the final plenary session of the International Education for Sustainable Development Conference in India which was held back to back with the FEE General Assembly. At the Volvo Ocean Race Summit in Cardiff in 2018, she shared a platform with leading environmentalists and business leaders talking about the FEE programmes. More recently, she has represented FEE at COP28 in Dubai and the launch of Malaysia’s Greening Education through Eco-Schools Roadmap, presided over by the king of Malaysia.

Mr. Daniel Schaffer

Daniel Schaffer is the CEO of the Foundation for Environmental Education since 2013. Before taking up this role he managed for five years an NGO focused on the Mediterranean marine and coastal environment. Daniel is part of the MECCE Project’s Steering Council and the Indicator Expert Working Group and vice chair of the board of the Tourism Sustainability Certifications Alliance.

Daniel has experience working with youth both within the formal and the non-formal education systems and believes education to be a vital tool for positive behavioral and environmental change.

Daniel holds a BA in Business Management and a Masters in Marine studies.

He resides with his family in Denmark.

Prof Charles Hopkins

Charles Hopkins holds the UNESCO Chair at York University in Toronto, Canada. He has collaborated with UNESCO, United Nations University, higher education institutions, various ministries of education in Asia, Europe, Africa and the Americas in the fields of education and sustainability. Internationally, Charles has a long relationship with education and sustainability, that began with the inception of the concept of sustainable development and include chairing the writing and adoption processes of several UNESCO ESD Declarations. Hopkins has lectured and presented papers in 78 countries. He is Co-Director of the Asia-Pacific Institute on ESD in Beijing, China. He has numerous publications and has lectured worldwide on a range of topics from quality education, global citizenship education, and educating for a sustainable future. Charles has been awarded three honorary doctorates as well as honorary professorships spanning Europe, Latin America, and Asia. He is a Fellow of the Royal Society of Arts in the United Kingdom, the Global Citizenship Alliance in Austria, and the Sejahtera Center for Humanity and Sustainability in Malaysia. Prior to his international career, Hopkins was a teacher, principal, regional superintendent and superintendent of curriculum with the Toronto District School Board.

Prof. Katrin Kohl

Katrin Kohl is the Co-Chairholder of the UNESCO Chair in Reorienting Education towards Sustainability at York University in Toronto, Canada. She is also the Focal Point for Sustainable Development Goal SDG 4 (Quality Education) of the Higher Education and Research for Sustainable Development Global Cluster led by the International Association of Universities. Currently, Katrin is also completing a Ph.D. Education at the International Islamic University Malaysia. As a lawyer (Germany) and having completed an Executive MBA in General Management, she served in prior positions as Executive Coordinator of the UNESCO Chair at York University, Managing Director of the German Commission for UNESCO, and as Strategic Advisor to the Vice-Chancellor at the University of Düsseldorf, Germany.