Dr. Richard Elelman studied Politics in the UK before living in France, Spain, Portugal, the Middle East, Sudan, Afghanistan and India. He is currently the Head of Politics at EURECAT in Barcelona, the co-leader of the RENAISSANCE Science-Art-Sustainability programme with the European Commission and has just completed an eight-month assignment as the Acting Coordinator of the United Nations’ World Water Quality Alliance based at the UN in Nairobi. The former Deputy Mayor of Figueres in Spain, he is a political analyst who has, in recent years, specialised in Environmental and Scientific Policy and the links between Politics, the world of Research and Development and Citizen Engagement. He works in collaboration with many supranational organisations such as the UN Environment Programme, UNESCO, the World Bank and the Joint Research Centre of the European Commission as an External Expert. His latest publication, ‘The Gateway to the Future of the Mediterranean’ addresses the issue of the WEFE NEXUS. His principal activities at present, include defining the socio-political consequences of Climate Change on Migration, Health, Conflict and Gender Equality. He is a regular speaker at numerous international conferences in the United States, Europe, Africa and the Middle East.

Dr Andrea Hinwood serves as the Chief Scientist of the United Nations Environment Programme. She is an environmental scientist with expertise in environmental exposures and impacts on human health. Dr. Hinwood has a PhD in environmental epidemiology and served as the first Chief Environmental Scientist at the Environment Protection Authority (EPA) in Victoria. She was Head of School, Natural Sciences, Edith Cowan University and held appointments as Deputy Chair of the EPA and as sessional member of the State Administrative Tribunal of Western Australia. Dr. Hinwood’s career has included provision of advice to international fora on a wide variety of environmental matters.

Ms Michela Miletto, is the Coordinator of the UNESCO World Water Assessment Programme (WWAP). She joined the organization in 2008 as Deputy Coordinator. In her function, she leads WWAP activities in producing the UN flagship report on water resources, the UN World Water Development Report, and in supporting Member States to develop sustainable water management and evidence-based water policies, strategies and programs through capacity development and publications. She also leads the gender portfolio of UNESCO WWAP since 2014, with the creation of innovative tools, methodologies and gender sensitive indicators, which have been endorsed with two resolutions (2018, 2021) by the Member States of the Council of the Intergovernamental Hydrological Programme of UNESCO. She has recently launched the Call for Action initiative to accelerate gender equality in the water sector, with the creation of an international Multi-stakeholder Coalition. Michela has worked for more than thirty years in the assessment of water resources and ecosystems, and in the development of renewable resources. Prior to joining UNESCO she extensively worked in development projects of several international organizations and donors (Organization of American States, GEF, EU, UNDESA, Italian Development Cooperation, etc) in Latin America, Eastern Africa, China, and Europe. In the nineties, she was Assistant Professor at the University of Torino, Italy, and researcher at the University of Arizona in Tucson, USA; she authored and co-authored several scientific publications.