Laura Burke is the Director General of the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), appointed in 2011 and served as a Director within the EPA since 2004. As Director General she has the responsibility to lead and strategically manage the EPA. Laura was the Chair of the European Environment Agency (EEA) Management Board from 2017 to 2023. Laura is a member of the Climate Change Advisory Council (CCAC) and a member of the High Level Implementation Committee of ‘Food Vision 2030’, the Irish Agri-Food Sector Strategy. Prior to joining the EPA, she worked in the private sector. Laura is a graduate chemical engineer of University College Dublin (UCD), holds an MSc from Trinity College, Dublin, is a Fellow and is a Vice-President of Engineers Ireland and is a Chartered Director. In 2016 Laura was awarded the UCD Engineering Graduates Association (EGA) Distinguished Graduate Award.

Professor Alan Barrett is the Chief Executive Officer of the Economic and Social Research Institute. Alan received his Ph.D. in Economics from Michigan State University in 1994 and joined the ESRI that year. He was seconded to the Department of Finance from 2001 to 2003 and to Trinity College Dublin from 2011 to 2013. He is a Member of the Royal Irish Academy, a Research Fellow with the Institute for Labour Economics in Bonn, Germany, an Honorary Fellow of the Society of Actuaries in Ireland. He is also an Adjunct Professor at the Department of Economics, Trinity College Dublin. He was a member of the Irish Fiscal Advisory Council from 2011 to 2015, a member of the Climate Change Advisory Council from 2015 to 2021 and a member of the Northern Ireland Fiscal Council from 2021 to 2024. He chaired each National Economic Dialogue from 2015 to 2022.

Karolien van den Brekel is a general practitioner in Utrecht, the Netherlands, interested in innovation and prevention and applies Positive Health in her practice on a daily basis. With Positive Health, she delivers personalized care which gives her a lot of work pleasure. She worked and lived 10 years abroad where she did research, obtained her doctorate in gynecology and general practice in Utrecht and New York and got experience in general practices in Germany (Munich) and Ireland. She did an international coaching training while living in Japan with her family. The time abroad gave her not only wonderful new life experiences, but also resilience and a broad perspective on health.

It is Karolien’s ambition to contribute to health transformation international as director of Positive Health international, trainer, educator of Positive Health and author of the Handbook Positive Health in Primary Care, the Dutch example.

Professor Cathal McCrory is Professor in Life Course Development and Ageing at Trinity College Dublin and Co-Principal Investigator of the Irish Longitudinal Study on Ageing (TILDA). A psychologist by disciplinary background, his research utilises population-level longitudinal cohort study data to explore social differentials in health and longevity across the life course, applying cutting-edge insights and methodological innovations from the social sciences to the study of biological ageing, merging a background in social science with genomics. He has secured several prestigious research grants as Principal Investigator including a Health Research Board Emerging Investigator Award, and an Irish Research Council Advanced Laureate Award for his work integrating the social and biological hallmarks of ageing.

Dr Philip Crowley is the National Director for Strategy and Research in the Health Services Executive. In his previous national health service roles over the last 10 years, he was national lead for quality and patient safety and national lead for quality improvement.

He leads on strategic planning, research, population health and well-being, global health, human rights, climate strategy and performance reporting to the HSE Board.

He is a doctor who works part-time as a General Practitioner. He worked for five years in Nicaragua, trained in public health in Newcastle Upon Tyne and worked for 6 years as Deputy Chief Medical Officer in the Department of Health.

Dr Sean Owens is a full time GP with an interest in nutrition, lifestyle medicine, and planetary health. Hailing from County Down, Sean initially studied pharmacy at Queens University Belfast before relocating to Dublin to practice community pharmacy in 2005. In 2010 Sean elected to study graduate entry medicine in UCD Dublin, 2010-2014 and has recently graduated from the North East GP Training Scheme. Sean has additional diplomas in Lifestyle Medicine and Women’s Health. Sean currently chairs the ICGP Planetary Health and Sustainability Working Group as well as the Climate and Health Alliance.

Orna O’Brien is a CORU-registered senior dietitian specialising in cardiovascular health, with special interests in behaviour change and the health implications of changing dietary patterns to be more sustainable. Orna is the primary author of the Climate and Health Alliance’s ‘Fixing Food Together’ position paper. She is the dietitian for the Irish Heart Foundation, where she coordinates nutrition information and leads several health promotion programmes. She previously worked clinically at St James’s Hospital (2018-2021) and in research and industry settings. Orna holds a BSc in Nutrition and Dietetics from TU Dublin and Trinity College Dublin (2012) and a Research Masters from University College Dublin (2014).

Professor Diarmuid O’Donovan is Director of National Health Improvement with the Health Service Executive.

He trained in general practice and in public health. He has lived in several countries in Africa working in hospitals, rural health centres, research centres, humanitarian emergency settings, and with ministries of health and WHO.

From 2019-2023 he was Professor of Global Health at Queen’s University Belfast, and from 2005 he was Director of Public Health in HSE West and Senior Lecturer in Social and Preventive Medicine at the University of Galway.

His research and teaching interests relate to health equity and sustainable development, locally and globally.

Niamh Garvey joined NESC as Senior Policy Analyst in March 2021 and works in the area of sustainable development and climate action. Her work with NESC has included reports on the development of Ireland’s well-being framework, and on the issue of just transition in the agriculture and land use sectors. Niamh was previously the Head of Policy and Advocacy at Trócaire – an Irish international development organisation, where she led a team of policy and advocacy advisors working on climate change, sustainable agriculture, business and human rights and international finance. She is a graduate of Durham University and the Institute of Development Studies, University of Sussex.

Dr Tara Higgins is the Programme Manager of the EPA’s Evidence Programme, which includes the EPA Research Programme. The EPA has been funding independent scientific research in Ireland for 30 years. EPA-funded research is strongly focused on generating the evidence base needed to respond to key environmental challenges, including a research hub dedicated to Delivering Healthy Environment. The EPA places a strong emphasis on ensuring that the outputs of EPA-funded research are effectively transferred to the policy system to deliver impact and is proactively embedding Knowledge Transfer right across the research programme, working closely with researchers and policy actors to best align research outputs to policy needs. Tara has previously worked in the EPA’s licensing, circular economy and strategic environmental assessment units. Prior to joining the EPA, she carried out applied environmental research in the US, Australia and Ireland. She holds a BSc and PhD from the University of Galway, an MSc from the University of Edinburgh and a Fulbright Fellowship.

Claire Cooper is an Assistant Principal with the Scientific Advice and Research Directorate of the National Parks and Wildlife Service. She is part of a team who led on the drafting and publication of the 4th National Biodiversity Action Plan (NBAP) and who coordinate the cross-departmental response to the recommendations of the Citizens’ Assembly on Biodiversity Loss. Her work in the NPWS has included the management of the NPWS EU LIFE Nature programme, including projects such as LIFE Wild Atlantic Nature, Corncrake LIFE and LIFE on Machair, and supporting Biodiversity Officers in implementing actions for nature across the country through the Local Biodiversity Action Fund.

Marcus Collier obtained his PhD in 2010 and moved to Trinity College Dublin in 2017 becoming Director of Research for the School in 2018, and Head of the Discipline of Botany in 2023. His research is centred on anthropogenic ecosystems with a focus on social-ecological systems, urban novel ecosystems and nature-based solutions. He was the lead investigator of two EU-funded research consortia over 10 years: the TURAS project from 2011 to 2016, for which he received a Champions of European Research Award, followed by Connecting Nature from 2017 to 2022. In 2020, Marcus was awarded a European Research Council Consolidator grant for NovelEco, which is investigating perceptions of inform wild spaces in cities with citizen scientists.

Gerald Mills is a physical geographer working in the School of Geography at UCD (Ireland). His research focus is climatology, and special interest is in the climates of cities. Gerald has considerable experience in modelling and measuring urban microclimates using simple and sophisticated techniques. His work on urban greening is closely related to the study of urban climates. The focus of this work is linked to the International Association for Urban Climates (IAUC) and he has worked for many years with the World Meteorological Organization, most recently on developing Integrated Urban Services for environmental management. Gerald has been active with the Geography Society of Ireland (GSI) and have served as Secretary and President; he is co-organiser of the next Congress of the International Geographical Union, which will take place in Dublin in Autumn 2024 and have over 2,500 delegates. Gerald is currently editor of Irish Geography, the journal of the GSI.

Dr Caroline Garvan qualified as a veterinary surgeon in 1993 and spent 12 years in general practice before joining the Department of Agriculture Food and the Marine in 2007. Caroline is currently a Senior Superintending Veterinary Inspector and head of the Veterinary Medicines, Antimicrobial Resistance, Animal By-products and Transmissible Spongiform Encephalopathies division within the One Health One Welfare section in the Department, her responsibilities include development and delivery of Ireland’s National action plan to address antimicrobial resistance. Caroline sits on the Health Products Regulatory Committee’s Advisory Committee on Veterinary Medicines and also the Veterinary Council of Ireland. She has a Masters of Philosophy in Food Safety and Environmental Health, a diploma in leadership, and a Professional Certificate in Corporate Governance.

Roisin has been working in this space since the HSE started working on the development of the Climate Action Strategy. She has programme managed the strategy development and now co-ordinates the next phase of HSE’s Climate Action Strategy Programme focusing on delivery of healthcare, which is environmentally and socially sustainable. The focus is now on development of frameworks across the 10 strategic objectives, which will provide a roadmap for the HSE to work towards achieving net zero by 2050.

Roisin is a Physiotherapist by background working for many years in the area of Musculoskeletal Physiotherapy and then Physiotherapy Dept Management. She has experience working as a Programme Manager in the National Clinical Programmes in areas such as Rheumatology, Orthopaedics and Health Care Associated Infections. More recently before working in the area of Climate Action she worked in Quality Improvement assisting with the running of National Quality Improvement Collaboratives in Pressure Ulcers and Falls.

Stephen is a Chartered Civil Engineer and Environmental Engineer who has applied best practice Environmental principles throughout his career as an Army Engineer Officer in the Defence Forces and as a Development Director with Kingscroft Developments, Menolly Homes, Taggart Homes, Treasury Holdings and HSE Estates. Currently working with the Capital & Estates Sustainable Infrastructure Office, with a focus on creating a sustainable capital developments construction operation, water conservation, waste, and the topic of his talk today on enhancing the Green Space in Healthcare Sites for patient health & well-being and improved Biodiversity.

Sabrina is Dublin City Council’s Climate Action Coordinator. She has over 10 years of experience specialising in climate policy with a focus on resilience in urban areas. She is the author of the book “Cities Leading Climate Action: Urban Planning and Policy”. She holds a PhD in Environmental Policy, an MPA in Human Security, and an MPP in Urban Development and Public Health

Dr Aileen Bright is the GLOBE Programme Manager and Country Coordinator in Ireland. She leads a small team of dedicated staff on implementing citizen-science in primary and secondary schools around Ireland. Aileen currently sits on the GLOBE Europe Eurasia Board and contributes to regional planning on GLOBE Earth observations and data collection in schools. Aileen completed a PhD in Geology in Trinity College Dublin and after working for 7 years as a geoscientist, Aileen began working in the field of outdoor education and environmental science education. Aileen is passionate about citizen-science and particularly enjoys educating people on the natural world.

Micheál Lehane was appointed Director with the Environmental Protection Agency in 2016 and is currently the Director for the EPA’s Office of Radiation Protection and Environmental Monitoring.

Prior to being appointed Director he served as a Programme Manager with the EPA in various leadership roles and in environmental protection & regulation in the UK. Micheál is also the vice-Chair of the Irish National Accreditation Board.

Micheál is a graduate of University College Cork with a PhD in Geology, holds an MBA from the University of Limerick and is a Chartered Director.