Academic Keynote Speakers:
Our first keynote speaker Achim Steiner (confirmed joining virtually) is a Senior Fellow of the Oxford Martin School at the University of Oxford. He also serves as Chair of the Hamburg Sustainability Conference. A Brazilian-German National, he completed his two terms as UN Under-Secretary General and Administrator of the United Nations Development Group (2017–2025) and vice-chair of United Nations Sustainable Development Group in June 2025. Before joining UNDP, he was Executive Director of the United Nations Environment Programme UNEP (2006–2016), and Director/Professorial Fellow of the Oxford Martin School (2016–2017). He has also served as Director General of the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) and Secretary General of the World Commission on Dams.
Our second lead speaker is Professor Ian Goldin (confirmed) at the University of Oxford. He is the founding director of the Oxford Martin School. Professor Goldin is the director of the Oxford Martin Research Programmes on Technological and Economic Change Future of Work and Future of Development. He is also Professor of globalisation and development and holds a professorial fellowship at Balliol College, Oxford. Professor Goldin was director of development policy at the World Bank (2001–2003) and then vice president of the World Bank (2003–2006).
On the non-academic programme we are pleased to welcome as speakers:
- UK Ambassador Matthew Lodge became Her Majesty’s Ambassador to the Hellenic Republic, Greece in September 2021. Matthew was commissioned as an officer in the Royal Marines serving subsequent duties in Norway and the United States. Matthew joined the Foreign and Commonwealth office in 1996 and has previously been Her Majesty’s Ambassador to Finland and Kuwait.
- Leading biographer Jenny Uglow (whose subject Edward Lear spent considerable time on Corfu documenting its natural assets) (confirmed) is an English biographer, historian, critic and publisher; formerly editorial director at Chatto & Windus. In addition to Edward Lear she has written critically acclaimed biographies of Elizabeth Gaskell, William Hogarth and Thomas Bewick and a history of the Lunar Society. She has chaired the Council of the Royal Society of Literature.
- Dr Lee Durrell MBE (widow of the late Gerald Durrell, whose ‘My Family and Other Animals’ celebrated the nature, wildlife and way of life of Corfu so memorably) (confirmed). Lee Durrell is an American naturalist, author and television presenter, co-author of numerous books with her late husband and honorary Director of the Durrell Wildlife Conservation Trust.
In attendance as part of the organising committee:
- Professor Sir Drummond Bone (confirmed) was previously both Pro Vice-Chancellor at the University of Oxford and Master of Balliol College. He is a former Chair of the UK’s Arts and Humanities Research Funding Council, President of Universities UK and Vice-Chancellor of the University of Liverpool. A prominent Byron Scholar he is currently Chair of the National Library of Scotland and the Wordsworth Society.
- Professor Michael Heinrich (to be confirmed) is Professor of Ethnopharmacology (Pharmaceutical Biology / Pharmacognosy) at University College London. Michael adopts a transdisciplinary perspective integrating approaches from the biomedical and social sciences. He currently has six PhD students and one postdoc, as well as collaborative projects in Taiwan, Thailand and other countries. His research group is also currently embracing the challenges as a consequence of the climate crisis and habitat destruction/biodiversity loss.
- Dr Mike Maunder (confirmed) is a conservation biologist who formerly acted as Executive Director of Cornwall’s Eden Project and Executive Director of the Cambridge Conservation Initiative at the University of Cambridge. He is currently Executive Chairman of Kew Reach, an initiative looking to deliver nature-based solutions to restore ecosystems at any scale.
