The second in a series of three interdisciplinary panels, convened by the Horizons Institute to discuss their views on some of the most pressing global challenges we face today. Each panel will look at five themes, covering: Culture (the missing pillar); Rethinking global governance; Collaborative solutions to global health; Decolonising Agenda 2030; and Balancing the risks and rewards of transformative technology.

These sessions will provide a platform to bring together international panellists for an organic and dynamic conversation around these themes, reflecting on how these could be addressed in local, regional and global arenas. As a member of the audience, you can also ask questions of the panel.

Tickets are available for you to join us at the University of Leeds Campus, or via our live stream online. Please note, a link will be sent to those joining online shortly before the event.

Panel Chair Julia Bennell is the Executive Dean of the Leeds University Business School. She is an operational researcher, with particular expertise in tackling combinatorial optimisation problems using mathematical modelling and artificial intelligence. She was previously at the University of Southampton’s Business School. Julia has undertaken major research projects at the boundary between academia and industry, acted as the REF impact champion in 2014 and has a strong track record in teaching and educational development, holding a Senior Fellowship from the Higher Education Academy.

Ian Smith is Head of the Secretariat of the Global Preparedness Monitoring Board, and senior advisor to the Director-General of the World Health Organization, Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, having previously served as Executive Director of the Office of the Director- General and Advisor to the two previous Director-Generals. Before moving to Geneva in 1999, Ian and his wife, Sally, worked in Nepal for 16 years as medical missionaries, initially in a remote rural hospital before moving to Kathmandu to work with the National Tuberculosis Programme of the Ministry of Health. Ian is a visiting associate professor in the School of Medicine, Leeds Institute of Health Sciences

Lisa Russell is an Emmy award winning filmmaker producing films and curating events at the intersection of arts, social justice and global development. After completing a Masters in Public Health, Lisa worked as a humanitarian aid worker Albania and Kosovo during the 1999 war. It was there she became inspired by responsible storytelling and has since then worked as director, producer, writer, camera and editor of mostly short format films for UN/NGO agencies. As Founder of Create2030, Lisa is considered a leading advocate for the inclusion of diverse, creative communities in her work at the UN and the sustainable development space.

Molly Scott Cato is a Professor of Green Economic at Roehampton University and speaks for the Green Party of England and Wales on Economy and Finance. She has expertise on climate finance, climate reparations and the carbon tax. Between 2014 and 2002 Molly represented South West England and Gibraltar in the European Parliament. As a member of the Parliament’s Economics and Monetary Policy she worked on legislation to use the power or finance to address the climate and ecological emergencies. Molly was a co-legislator on regulations relating to mandatory disclosure and climate benchmarks. Molly has published several books, including the recent Sustainable Finance.

Benjamin Lamptey is a Visiting Professor of Meteorology at the University of Leeds. He has been a key figure in the development of Africa’s climate science from both a research and operations perspective. Ben was a lead author of the 2021 Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) AR6 WG1. He was the Acting Director General of the African Centre of Meteorological Applications for Development (ACMAD) before joining the University of Leeds in 2019 as a Cheney Fellow. Prior to joining ACMAD he was Acting Dean of the School of Graduate Studies and Acting Head of Nautical Science Department at the Regional Maritime University in Accra, Ghana. He has also worked at the National Center for Atmospheric Research in Boulder, Colorado, USA and the Ghana Meteorological Agency.

Carl Miller is the Research Director of the Centre for the Analysis of Social Media (CASM) at DEMOS. He researches and writes widely on how social media is changing society including digital politics and digital democracy, ‘fake news’, and building new methods and technology to study social media data. He is a Visiting Research Fellow at King’s College London. His first book The Death of the Gods: The New Global Power Grab was published in 2018.

What comes after the UN Sustainable Development Goals?