Workshop Series on Urban Resilience and Response to Extreme Weather Events: Workshop #1

Dr. Cynthia Rosenzweig is a former Professor in the Department of Environmental Science at Barnard College. At NASA GISS, she heads the Climate Impacts Group whose mission is to investigate the interactions of climate (both variability and change) on systems and sectors important to human well-being.

Dr. Rosenzweig is co-director of the Urban Climate Change Research Network (UCCRN) and co-editor of the UCCRN Assessment Reports on Climate Change and Cities (ARC3). Dr. Rosenzweig is a co-founder and co-leader of the Agricultural Model Intercomparison and Improvement Project (AgMIP).

Dr. Rosenzweig was Coordinating Lead Author of the Food Security Chapter for the IPCC Special Report on Climate Change and Land and Coordinating Lead Author on observed climate change impacts for the IPCC Working Group II Fourth Assessment Report.

Maria Dombrov’s work specifically focuses on understanding the implications that climate change presents to cities and their metropolitan regions around the world. She is the Coordinator for the Urban Climate Change Research Network (UCCRN), and she works very closely with Dr. Cynthia Rosenzweig and Dr. Bill Solecki, both highly accomplished and innovative scientists.

Frederico holds a PhD degree in Civil Engineering from the University of Canterbury in New Zealand, a master’s degree in Transports from the University of Brasilia in Brazil and a Civil Engineering degree from the Catholic University of Goiás in Brazil. He also conducted post-doctorate studies in Urban Management and Risk & Disaster Management at Kyoto University in Japan. Frederico has international experience in disaster management and humanitarian logistics including research at the recent disasters in the Tohoku Region (2011 Great East Japan Earthquake) and the 2011 Christchurch Earthquake in New Zealand. He served as Assistant Lecturer at the University of Canterbury in New Zealand and as a consultant at CEFTRU (Human Resources Formation Center on Transportation) founded by JICA and the Brazil’s Ministry of Transport before joining the World Bank as a Disaster Risk Management Specialist in July 2012.

Rafael Schadeck is a Civil Engineer graduated from the Federal University of Santa Catarina, where he also obtained a Master's degree in 2004. He has been working on Disaster Risk Management for the last 20 years as a researcher, consultant and in the Public Sector. Between 2011 and 2013 he headed the Disaster Minimization Department and the National Center for Risk and Disaster Management, of National Secretariat of Civil Defense. He is currently a researcher and Project Technical Coordinator at CEPED UFSC, and consultant on DRM for the World Bank, where since 2014 he has been supporting projects mainly in Brazil and Africa.

Rajib Shaw is the professor in Graduate School of Media and Governance of Keio University, Japan. He is co-founder of a Delhi based social entrepreneur startup, Resilience Innovation Knowledge Academy (RIKA), and chair of United Nations Science Technology Advisory Group (STAG) for disaster risk reduction. His specialization is disaster risk governance, urban resilience, climate change adaptation and emerging technologies in disaster and climate change. He is the recipient of Pravasi Bhartiya Samman Award (PBSA) of 2021 in Education Sector from the President of India. He also received United Nations Sasakawa Award for disaster risk reduction as a lifetime achievement and for his contribution to global disaster resilience initiatives.

Mr. LIU Weimin, born in August 1968 in Fujian Province China, graduated with a BA degree of Foreign Affairs University. He joined the diplomatic service in 1990. Since then he has served in the Chinese Embassies in Mauritius, Great Britain and the United States, Chinese Mission to the European Union, Department of European Affairs and Department of Information of Ministry of Foreign Affairs. He was spokesman of Chinese Foreign Ministry 2011-2012, Minister Counsellor of the Chinese Embassy in the U.S. 2012-2016, Deputy Director General of European Affairs Department MFA 2016-2018, Director General of International Cooperation and Rescue, Ministry of Emergency Management since 2018. He was visiting scholar in Hoover Institution of the U.S. 2005-2006.

Eleni Myrivili wants cities to prepare for extreme heat by developing and adopting climate adaptation and mitigation strategies. For her, this work starts in her home city of Athens, where she was appointed Europe’s first Chief Heat Officer in 2021.  She's been using the position to raise awareness of the dangers of extreme heat and co-create and co-design a greener, cooler future for all. 

In June 2022, through her role as a senior advisor at Arsht Rock Resilience Center and following an MoU Arsht Rock signed with the UN-Habitat, she was named the first-ever Global Chief Heat Officer to work in promoting a heat resilience agenda at UN-Habitat, the United Nations' program for human settlements and sustainable urban development. She was also selected as a EUMission Adaptation Board Member at the European Commission.

Myrivili has advocated for an environmental, nature-positive, and climate-neutral agenda for more than two decades. A tenured assistant professor at the University of the Aegean, she was elected and has served as Deputy Mayor for the City of Athens where she designed the "Athens Resilience Strategy for 2030” with the collaboration of hundreds of Athens residents.

Mr. Alexander Fekete is Professor of Risk and Crisis Management at TH Köln – University of Applied Sciences in Cologne, Germany, since 2012. His research includes disaster risk management, social vulnerability and resilience, critical infrastructure and civil protection. He is member of the Development Team of the Knowledge-Action-Networks for Emergent Risks and Extreme Events (Risk-KAN) of Future Earth. He is speaker of the Working Group Natural Hazards / Natural Risks of the German Association of Geographers (AG NGNR), and a Steering Board member of the German Digital Society for the Promotion of Social Media and Technology (DGSMtech e.V.).

Alexander Fekete previously worked from 2009-2012 as a Project Officer at the German Federal Office of Civil Protection and Disaster Assistance in the field of Critical Infrastructure Protection (BBK). From 2005-2009 he was Research Scholar at the United Nations University – Institute for Environment and Human Security (UNU-EHS), conducting research on social vulnerability to floods and climate change adaptation. As a consultant he worked for WHO, the German Technical Cooperation (GTZ), and the German Committee for Disaster Reduction (DKKV). He has carried out fieldwork, workshops and lectures in Armenia, Iran, Japan, Kenya, Myanmar, Sri Lanka, Switzerland and USA. Alexander Fekete holds a diploma degree in Geography from the University of Würzburg a doctorate (Dr.-Ing.) from the University of Bonn and a Habilitation at University of Würzburg.

Chris Hetkämper is Research Associate in the Team Risk and Crisis Management at the Institute of Rescue Engineering and Civil Protection (TH Köln – University of Applied Sciences) in Germany. His main areas of expertise and interest are critical infrastructures, risk and crisis management as well as the potential of applying geographic information systems as a planning tool in disaster risk management. Beyond his studies and work at the Institute of Rescue Engineering and Civil Protection he is a volunteer fire fighter since 2014.

Prof. Dilanthi Amaratunga is a leading international expert in disaster resilience with an extensive academic career. Currently, she is leading University of Huddersfield, UK’s Global Disaster Resilience Centre. She is recognised for her career-long impact up until 2020 and is placed among the global top 2% of influential scientists, according to the report of “Composite Citation Metrics” by Elsevier BV Netherlands and Stanford University, USA. In 2019, she won the prestigious Newton Prize which recognises the best research and innovation projects which create an impact socially and economically, between Indonesia and the UK from 2016 to 2019. Among many leadership roles, she is the joint chief editor of the International Journal of Disaster Resilience in the Built Environment. She is a member of the European Commission and UNDRR’s European Science & Technology Advisory Group, Member of the UNDRR Expert Group on Principles for Resilient Infrastructure, Member of the UNDRR Making Cities Resilient 2030 (MCR2030) Regional Coordination Committee for Europe, Steering Committee Member of the UK Alliance for Disaster Research (UKADR), and a Member of the Expert Panel: ‘High Level Policy Dialogue on Localizing Climate Resilience Agenda: 2050 and 2100 Visions”

Yuan Xiao is a Senior Urban Development Specialist at the World Bank's Beijing Office. She leads lending and grant projects as well as advisory service and analytical products in the field of sustainable urban development, disaster risk management, and land management. Before joining the Beijing Office, Yuan worked in the World Bank's Middle East and North Africa (MENA) Region where she led advisory service ana analytical projects. Yuan Xiao was an assistant professor of urban planning at Columbia University in New York before joining the Bank.  She is a Chinese national and holds a Ph.D. in Urban and Regional Planning from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, U.S., an M. A. from the University of Toronto, Canada, and two B.A.s from Peking University, China.

Ebru Gencer is an urban risk and resilience specialist with over 20 years of experience in research, knowledge, and strategic policy development in disaster risk reduction, climate change adaptation, and urban development. She is a Senior Urban Resilience Adviser at the World Bank, an Adjunct Associate Professor of Architecture and Urban Planning at Columbia University, and an Associate Editor of the Progress in Disaster Science Journal. Previously, she was the Co-Chair of the Urban Planning Advisory Group to UN Secretary General's Special Representative for DRR, and a Steering Committee member of the Making Cities Resilient Campaign. Ebru Gencer holds a PhD in Urban Planning from Columbia University.

Francis Ghesquiere is a Practice Manager at the World Bank East Asia and Pacific Region, where he is in charge of a $4.5 billion portfolio focused on urban development, risk and resilience, and land management. He is also coordinating the World Bank Climate Change Support team in that region. Ghesquiere was also the Head of the Global Facility for Disaster Risk Management (GFDRR) from 2012-18. He is known for his leadership on several flagship initiatives, including the establishment of Caribbean Catastrophe Risk Insurance Facility (CCRIF), the Central America Probabilistic Risk Modeling Initiative, and the Understanding Risk Forum (UR). He was also key in the design of new policy instruments to help accelerate World Bank response to disasters, including the policy on emergency operations and innovative contingent financing instruments such as the CAT-DDO and Contingent Emergency Response Components. He holds degrees from the Harvard School of Government and the University of Louvain.

Steven Rubinyi is a Disaster Risk Management Specialist for the World Bank’s East Asia and Pacific team. He has worked at the World Bank for 10 years on issues pertaining to urban resilience, disaster risk management, and municipal finance. Steven is currently based in Hanoi, Vietnam, where he works on a portfolio of urban development projects both within Vietnam and around the region. At a thematic level, he leads communities of practice aimed at bringing innovative financing solutions to cities and leveraging geospatial solutions across the World Bank investment portfolio. Previously, Steven led the delivery of the City Resilience Program’s resilience planning advisory services to teams across the World Bank Group. Before that, he was based in South Asia, where he worked on World Bank investment project operations focused on urban climate adaptation, and housing reconstruction following the 2015 Nepal Earthquake. He holds a PhD in Spatial Economics from the Environmental Change Institute at the University of Oxford.

Yoonhee Kim is Lead Urban specialist and Program Leader for Sustainable Development (SD) in China, Mongolia and Korea at the World Bank.   Based in Beijing, China, she coordinates the SD programs consisting of environment, natural resources and blue economy, water, social sustainability and inclusion, urban, resilience and land, and agriculture and food.  Prior to assuming the role of SD Program Leader in July 2020, she worked more than 13 years at the Bank as an urban specialist in a number of countries in South Asia and Latin America and the Caribbean Regions, where she led multi-sectoral and complex lending operations and policy dialogue on urban housing, local government support, and green and sustainable municipal infrastructure.  She also led and participated in a number of publications on urbanization review, housing policy and municipal service delivery. Yoonhee has a B.A. in political science from Yonsei University, Korea, and graduate degrees in international economics from Johns Hopkins SAIS and in urban economics and policy from the University of Maryland.