Executive Director, ICSU (and TFM 10-Member Group)

Dr. Heide Hackmann is currently the Executive Director of the International Council for Science, following eight years as Executive Director of the International Social Science Council. Heide holds a M.Phil in contemporary social theory from the University of Cambridge, UK, and a PhD in science and technology studies from the University of Twente in the Netherlands. She has worked as a science policy maker, researcher and consultant in the Netherlands, Germany, the United Kingdom and South Africa. Before moving into the world of the international councils, Heide worked as Head of the Department of International Relations and Quality Assessment of the Royal Netherlands Academy of Arts and Sciences. Her career in science policy dates back to the early 1990s when she worked at the Human Sciences Research Council in South Africa. Heide holds membership of several international advisory committees and boards, including the Scientific Advisory Board of the Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research in Germany, the Swedish Research Council’s Committee for Development Research, Sweden, and the Board of Cape Farewell in the UK. She is a South African and German national.

Named Executive Director of Policy and Global Affairs, USA

The National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine are pleased to announce the appointment of Dr. Vaughan C. Turekian to be the Executive Director of the Policy and Global Affairs Division (PGA), effective May 12, 2018.

Dr. Turekian is currently serving a joint appointment as Senior Director of the Program on Science and Technology for Sustainability (STS), a program within PGA for which he was hired August of 2017. Prior to joining the STS program, Dr. Turekian served as the fifth Science and Technology Advisor to the U.S. Secretary of State. In this capacity, he advised the Secretary of State and other senior State Department officials on international environment, science, technology, and health matters affecting the foreign policy of the United States. From 2016 to 2017, he served as a country co-chair, along with the Kenyan Ambassador to the United Nations, for the Multi-stakeholder Forum on Science, Technology, and Innovation for the Sustainable Development Goals, a high-level discussion at the United Nations designed to accelerate progress toward globally agreed upon development targets. In 2018, Dr. Turekian was appointed by the U.N. Secretary General as one of the ten international members to promote the role of science, technology, and innovation for achieving for the 17 SDGs.

Dr. Turekian drew upon his background in atmospheric chemistry and extensive policy experience to promote science, technology, and engineering as integral components of U.S. diplomacy. Previously, he was Chief International Officer for the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) and the Director of AAAS's Center for Science Diplomacy (2006 - 2015). In this capacity, he worked to build bridges between nations based on shared scientific goals, placing special emphasis on regions where traditional political relationships are strained or do not exist. As Editor-in-Chief of Science & Diplomacy, an online quarterly publication, he published original policy pieces that have served to inform international science policy recommendations. In addition, Dr. Turekian worked at the State Department as a Special Assistant and Advisor to the Under Secretary for Global Affairs (2002 - 2006) on issues related to sustainable development, climate change, environment, energy, science, technology, and health. He also served as Program Director for the Committee on Global Change Research at the National Research Council (2000 - 2002), where he was study director for a White House report on climate change science.

Dr. Turekian holds a B.S. in Geology and Geophysics and International Studies from Yale University and a M.S. and Ph.D. from the University of Virginia where he focused on the transport and chemistry of atmospheric aerosols in marine environments. Dr. Turekian not only brings both technical expertise and over 15 years of policy experience to the position, but also a decorated track-record and steadfast commitment to utilizing our nation's capital science and technology innovation to advance the long-term sustainability and U.S. diplomacy.

Co-Facilitator of the negotiations on the post-2015 development agenda and Permanent Representative of Kenya to the United Nations

Macharia Kamau is the Ambassador and Permanent Representative of the Kenyan Mission to the United Nations. Along with the Irish Ambassador to the United Nations, Mr. Kamau is the cofacilitator for the intergovernmental negotiations on the post-2015 development agenda and was the co-chair of the UN Open Working Group on Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)

Minister of Science, Technology and Research, SriLanka

Susil Premajayantha, MP, had his primary and secondary education at St. John's College, Nugegoda, Sri Lanka. In 1982, he completed the Bachelor of Law Degree at the University of Colombo and passed out as an Attorney-at-Law in 1985. He has also completed a Master of Public Administration at the Post Graduate Institute of Management, University of Sri Jayewardenepura.

Presently, he is reading for a Doctorate in Business Management at the Open University of Malaysia. He has followed short term programs at Kennedy School of Government, Harvard University, USA in 2007.
Mr. Premajayantha commenced his political career with his appointment as Deputy Chairman of Sri Jayawardhanapura, Kotte, Urban Council in 1991. In 1993 he was elected as a Provincial Council Member of the Western Province and was the Minister of Agriculture of the local Government in the Western Provincial Council. In 1995 he was appointed as the Chief Minister of Western Province. Subsequently the electorate reposed their faith in him by re-electing him and he became the Chief Minister of the Western Provincial Council between 1995 and 2000.

He was elected to the Sri Lanka Parliament in the year 2000 and has continued to be in Parliament since then. During this period he has held the Cabinet portfolios of Education and Higher Education, Power and Energy, Petroleum Industries, the Minister of Environment and Renewable Energy and is presently the Minister of Science Technology and Research.

In the International arena he was elected to the Executive Board of UNESCO in 2007 and was the Chairman of the Sri Lanka National Commission for UNESCO 2005-2010, Chairman of Sri Lanka Russia Parliamentary Friendship Association, Vice Chairman Sri Lanka Japan Parliamentary Friendship Association and Chairman, Sri Lanka Sri Lanka Cuba Parliamentary Friendship Association.

Beginning his political career as a grass root politician at the Urban Council level he is now associated in many initiatives at the national and International level on behalf of the Government of Sri Lanka. He placed his signature on behalf of the Government of Sri Lanka to Climate Change Paris Agreement on 22 April 2016 at UN head Quarters in New York. He has attended many International Fora as a participant and as a Minister during his tenure as Minister of Science Technology and Research.

Focal Point for the Youth Science-Policy Interface Platform of UN Major Group for Children and Youth and Policy Focal Point for the Youth Gateway, the Global Youth Partnership for the SDG

Mr. Donovan Guttieres is Focal Point for the Youth Science-Policy Interface Platform of the UN Major Group for Children & Youth (UN MGCY) and Science-Policy Focal Point for the Youth Gateway, the Global Youth Partnership for the SDGs. He is also a Technology Policy Fellow at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) and part of the Young Engineers / Future Leaders Committee of WFEO. A graduate from Boston University, he holds a B.S in Biomedical Engineering and has received several awards for excellency in leadership and academia. His undergraduate thesis centered on global health technologies and applied public health, developing point-of-care technologies for chronic non-communicable diseases in resource-limited settings. For two years, he was president of the Engineers Without Borders - Boston University Chapter, leading the development of mHealth and W.A.S.H projects through a community-driven program in rural Zambia. He also founded the Global Development Community @ Boston University, a campus wide initiative meant to facilitate a more concerted and collective approach to achieving the SDGs at a local, grassroots level. He is currently working on modeling supply chain logistics in health-systems within East African countries in order to identify interventions that will help optimize access to health commodities. A speaker at the ECOSOC Youth Forum 2016, he is Interested in using on-the-ground experience, evidence-based approaches, and innovative solutions to close gaps between policy and practice.

Deputy Director of the International Institute for Applied Systems Analysis

Prof. Dr. Nebojsa Nakicenovic is Deputy Director General and Deputy Chief Executive Officer of the International Institute for Applied Systems Analysis (IIASA), and former Professor of Energy Economics at the Vienna University of Technology in Austria. He is a world renowned energy economist and computer scientist with degrees from Princeton University and the University of Vienna, as well as a Honoris Causa Doctorate in engineering from the Russian Academy of Sciences. He has authored more than 300 publications and is Editorial Board Member of several scientific journals. He is one of the leading experts on technology change and future scenarios, especially with regard to infrastructures, energy and environmental technologies, and climate change. Prof. Nakicenovic has held many science-policy and advisory positions, including as member of the Advisory Council of the German Government on Global Change (WBGU); the International Council for Science (ICSU) Committee on Scientific Planning and Review, and Co-Chair of the Global Carbon Project; United Nations Secretary General High-Level Technical Group on Sustainable for Energy for All Initiative; Board, Climate Change Centre Austria (CCCA); Working Group of the Austrian Panel on Climate Change (AG-APCC); Panel on Socioeconomic Scenarios for Climate Change Impact and Response Assessments; Renewable Energy Policy Network for the 21st Century (REN21) Steering Committee; International Advisory Board of the Helmholtz Programme on Technology, and the Earth League. Prof. Nakicenovic has been engaged in the work of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) in various roles over the past 25 years. In particular, he was Convening Lead Author of the IPCC Special Report on Emissions Scenarios, the Third Assessment Report, and the Fourth Assessment Report. He was director of the Global Energy Assessment (GEA); Coordinating Lead Author of the Millennium Ecosystem Assessment; director of Global Energy Perspectives, World Energy Council, 1993 to 1998, Convening Lead Author of the World Energy Assessment: Energy and the Challenge of Sustainability, 1999 to 2000, Member of the International Science Panel on Renewable Energies (ISPRE), 2006 to 2008, and Guest Professor at the Technical University of Graz, 1993–2003. He also served as member of the UN Secretary General Advisory Group on Energy and Climate Change.