IUCN’s Science Advisory Board is comprised of distinguished scientists from around the world with a wide variety of disciplines. Successful conservation requires sound priority setting and decision-making that is based on the best available science. IUCN’s Science Advisory Board is a new mechanism to support the integration of new areas of relevant science into the Union’s work, and an important complement to the extensive biodiversity conservation expertise already embodied within the Commissions.
For more information, contact iucnscience@iucn.org
Science Advisory Board
Expanding IUCN’s science engagement for better conservation
Dr. Buttler is a joint-professor at the École Polytechnique Fédérale Lausanne - EPFL (Head of the Laboratory of Ecological Systems – ECOS) and at the Swiss Federal Institute WSL for Forest, Snow and Landscape research (Head of the research group Pasture Woodlands and Wetlands), and professor at the Laboratory of Chrono-Environnement (UMR 6249 CNRS) of the University of Franche-Comté, Besançon (France). He obtained his PhD in 1987 working on the ecology of wetlands of the South shore of Lake Neuchâtel (Ramsar Site) and thereafter conducted many studies in Switzerland and Europe on the impact of global change and land-use change on terrestrial ecosystems (http://people.epfl.ch/133834).
Dr. Hassan was Executive Director of TWAS - the Academy of Sciences for the Developing World (until March 2011) and immediate past President of the African Academy of Sciences (AAS) and the Network of African Science Academies (NASAC). He is also Co-Chair of IAP, the Global Network of Science Academies. After obtaining his DPhil at the University of Oxford in 1973, he returned to Sudan as Professor and Dean of the School of Mathematical Sciences at the University of Khartoum. He moved to Trieste in 1986 to work with TWAS as its Executive Director. Hassan is a member of several boards, including the Council of the United Nations University (UNU), and the Zayed International Prize for the Environment Selection Committee.
Prof. Kalonji is UNESCO’s Assistant Director-General for Natural Sciences. She is a materials scientist who has held positions as Director of International Strategy Development at the University of California Office of the President, as Kyocera Professor of Materials Sciences at the University of Washington in Seattle and as Associate Professor at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT). Throughout her career she has encouraged collaborative international research activities, including integration of such activities into the curricular pathways of students, across the disciplines from the freshman to the doctoral level, and the creation of large-scale international initiatives, bringing the faculty, administrators and students together with peers in partner regions to create new integrated models for international research, education and economic development.
Prof. Yuan T. Lee is President Emeritus and Distinguished Research Fellow of Academia Sinica in Taiwan, University Professor Emeritus at University of California, Berkeley. He is the President of the International Council for Science (ICSU) having taken up the position in 2011. Professor Lee has received numerous awards and honors, including the 1986 Nobel Prize in Chemistry, and Doctor Honoris Causa from 37 universities. He has served as advisory board member on numerous national and international organizations, including US Department of Energy, Welch Foundation (USA), Chief Advisor of the Science and Technology Advisory Group to the Prime Minister (Taiwan), and Science and Technology in Society Forum (Japan). Aside from his scientific interests in the elucidation of dynamics of chemical reactions and photochemical processes, he also directed much of his attention to the advancement of international scientific developments and to the promotion of general public affairs.
Ruksana Mirza is the Head of Sustainable Development at Holcim Group Support Limited in Switzerland and is responsible for supporting compliance with Holcim’s internal and external ecological and social obligations. Ruksana joined the Holcim group in Canada in 1999 before taking the position of Vice President of Environmental and Government Affairs at Holcim (US) in 2004. She served on the Board of Directors of the Portland Cement Association (PCA) and also represented the US cement industry on the Cement Task Force of the Asia Pacific Partnership on Climate Change. Ruksana has over 28 years of international experience in the fields of environment and economic development. Ruksana holds a MSc. in management science and a B.Sc in chemical engineering, from the Imperial College of Science and Technology in London, England.
Past Members of the Science Advisory Board
Dr. Mohamed T. El-Ashry is Senior Fellow with the UN Foundation and Facilitator of the Global Leadership for Climate Action (GLCA) which he organized in 2007. He served as Chief Executive Officer and Chairman of the Global Environment Facility (GEF), which he helped to establish and prior to joining the GEF served as Director of the Environment Department at the World Bank, as Senior Vice President of the World Resources Institute (WRI). He has also served as Senior Environmental Adviser to UNDP, Special Adviser to the Secretary General of the 1992 U.N. Earth Summit.
