Dr Matilda van den Bosch (MD, PhD) is a Senior Researcher at the Barcelona Institute for Global Health, Spain and at the Biocities Facility of the European Forest Institute, Italy. She is also an adjunct professor at the University of British Columbia, Canada. She has a background in medicine and her interdisciplinary research analyses the interconnections between human health and the health of natural environments. Her goal is to contribute to evidence-based policies and practice that acknowledges and supports the interdependence between a healthy planet and healthy people. She is leading several international research projects related to climate change mitigation, childhood health, and nature-based solutions and she advises various international organisations, including the World Health Organization and the UN Environmental Programme.
Dr. Tari Haahtela is professor emeritus of clinical allergology at the University of Helsinki. He is the former Head of Skin and Allergy Hospital, Helsinki University Hospital. He has chaired the Finnish Asthma Programme in 1994-2004 and the Allergy Programme in 2008-2018. His group has studied the environmental and lifestyle determinants of allergy and asthma In the Finnish and Russian Karelia. The results led to the biodiversity hypothesis of allergy and health in general.
Professor Sir Andy Haines, Professor of Environmental Change and Public Health, Co-director of the WHO Collaborating Centre on Climate Change, Health and Sustainable Development, London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine.
He was formerly a family doctor and Professor of Primary Health Care at University College London. He developed an interest in climate change and health in the 1990’s and was a member of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change for the 2nd, 3rd and 5th assessment exercises. He chaired the Scientific Advisory Panel for the 2013 WHO World Health Report, the Rockefeller /Lancet Commission on Planetary Health (2014-2015) and the European Academies Science Advisory Council working group on climate change and health (2018-2019). He co-chaired the InterAcademy Partnership (140 science academies worldwide) working group on climate change and health (2019-2022) and is currently co-chairing the Lancet Pathfinder Commission on health in the zero-carbon economy. He was awarded the Tyler Prize for Environmental Achievement in 2022.
Dr. Hanna Haveri (MD PhD) is a specialist in neurology with special competence in eHealth. Since 2021, she has been working as a planetary health physician besides her clinical work in Päijät-Häme Central Hospital in Lahti, Finland. In her current work she tries to disseminate knowledge of planetary health to different sectors and stakeholders, including popularizing science to lay audiences. In her research, she is investigating the determinators of human health and its interlinkages with the environment, a special focus on biodiversity. She regards transdisciplinary collaboration as the key to achieving tangible results in planetary health. The regional health and environment program Nature Step to Health 2022-32 is an exemplary framework for such transformations.
Professor Minna Isomursu is dedicated to enhancing people's lives through technology. The focus of her research is on digital health and data-driven services. Her career journey has led her through the interwoven paths of academia and industry, both in Finland and internationally. Today, she is a professor at the University of Oulu for the 6G-enabled sustainable society (6GESS) profiling programme.
Within the walls of the university and beyond, Minna's current work embraces the complexities of healthcare, striving to craft effective digital care pathways and address the intricacies of health data infrastructures. She values the cross-pollination of disciplines, seeing sustainability as an integral part of wellbeing. To Prof. Isomursu, the future is shaped by the rich tapestry of dialogues and the blending of diverse interdisciplinary data and knowledge.
Pim Martens has a PhD in applied mathematics and biological sciences. He is a professor of planetary health and the dean of Maastricht University College Venlo. Prof. Dr. Martens is currently a project-leader and a principal investigator of several projects related to planetary health, sustainability science and education, and human-animal-nature relationships. Pim Martens is a scientivist and founder of AnimalWise, a “think and do tank” integrating scientific knowledge and animal advocacy to bring about sustainable change in our relationship with animals.
PhD, doc. Riikka Paloniemi works as a unit director of societal change unit at Finnish Environment Institute (Syke). Her work focuses on exploring and encouraging sustainability transformation through transdisciplinary research, science-policy interaction and societal dialogue. Her research has covered diverse aspects of planetary health, including for example biodiversity, planning and decision-making, and sustainability agency.