Zayed Sustainability Prize

Ramiz Hamdan Alaileh

Energy & Water Efficiency Director

Department of Energy – Abu Dhabi

Ramiz Hamdan Alaileh

Energy & Water Efficiency Director

Ramiz Al Aileh is the Sustainability and Energy Efficiency Director at the Department of Energy – Abu Dhabi, with experience spanning more than 15 years in the power utility sector operations, regulations and policy making. He is responsible for driving policies, regulatory frameworks, and strategies to enable demand side management implementation and improve end-use efficiency for energy and water.

Dr. Behjat Al Yousuf

Executive Vice President

Mohamed bin Zayed University of Artificial Intelligence

Dr. Behjat Al Yousuf

Executive Vice President

Dr. Al Yousuf’s career spans over 30 years of experience in higher education. She was special advisor to the President of Zayed University, acting Vice President of Zayed University and Interim Provost of Masdar Institute. Dr. Al Yousuf also served as a member of the UAE Space Agency Board of Trustees.

Olabode Esan

Head, Energy Services

Masdar Clean Energy Division

Olabode Esan

Head, Energy Services

Mr. Esan is responsible for originating and implementing energy efficiency performance contracts and on-site solar PV projects. He has been engaged in solar projects in MENA, the Pacific and the Caribbean, totaling more than 100MW across 18 countries.

He holds an MSc in Environmental Technology from Imperial College, London and a BSc in Civil Engineering from the University of Lagos.

Dr. Steven Griffiths

Senior Vice President, Research and Development

Khalifa University of Science and Technology

Dr. Steven Griffiths

Senior Vice President, Research and Development

Dr. Griffiths is Senior Vice President for Research and Development and Professor at the Khalifa University of Science and Technology. He is also a Fellow of the Payne Institute for Public Policy at the Colorado School of Mines and a research affiliate at the Laboratory for Atmospheric and Space Physics at the University of Colorado-Boulder.

Dr. Griffiths holds a PhD in Chemical Engineering from MIT and an MBA from the MIT Sloan School of Management.

Dr. Noura Mansouri

Sr. Research Associate

King Abdullah Petroleum Studies and Research Center

Dr. Noura Mansouri

Sr. Research Associate

Dr. Noura Mansouri is a fellow at KAPSARC, a research affiliate at MIT, and an expert at the World Energy Council. She is the co-chair of the T20 Indonesia 2022 Task Force on Governing Climate Target, Energy Transition and Environmental Protection. Dr. Mansouri has over 18 years of research and professional experience and has published over 20 papers on climate change, sustainability, and energy transition. She is the author of Greening the Black Gold: Saudi Arabia’s Quest for Clean Energy.

Bertrand Piccard

Chairman

Solar Impulse Foundation

Bertrand Piccard

Chairman

Bertrand Piccard is the visionary behind Solar Impulse, the first solar-powered airplane capable of flying perpetually without fuel.

Serial explorer, psychiatrist and ambassador for clean technologies, he has identified 1,000+ solutions that can protect the environment in a profitable way. He is now committed to present them to political and economic decision-makers so they can be implemented on a large scale and generate the adoption of more ambitious environmental targets and energy policies.

Julia Pyper

Vice President of Public Affairs

GoodLeap

Julia Pyper

Vice President of Public Affairs

Julia Pyper is Vice President of Public Affairs at GoodLeap, a leading financier of sustainable home solutions. She also helps lead communications for GivePower, an international NPO committed to extending the environmental and social benefits of clean energy around the globe. Julia is a nonresident senior fellow at the Atlantic Council and host of Political Climate, a podcast presented by Canary Media and the USC Schwarzenegger Institute.

David Sandalow

Inaugural Fellow

Columbia University

David Sandalow

Inaugural Fellow

David Sandalow is the Inaugural Fellow at the Center on Global Energy Policy and co-Director of the Energy and Environment Concentration, School of International and Public Affairs, Columbia University.

Mr. Sandalow has held senior positions at the White House, State Department, and US Dept. of Energy, as Acting-Under Secretary of Energy and Assistant Secretary for Policy & International Affairs.

Denes Csala

Assistant Professor

Energy Storage Systems Dynamics
Lancaster University

Denes Csala

Assistant Professor

Dr. Csala is an Asst. Professor at Lancaster University (UK), researching increasingly intersecting areas of energy, data science and development. His current research focuses on how energy data visualisation can help foster STEM education, in developing regions' schools.

Dr. Csala has organised and led workshops on sustainability and renewable energy across Asia and Africa.

Safeena Husain

Founder & Board Member

Educate Girls

Safeena Husain

Founder & Board Member

Under Safeena Husain’s leadership, Educate Girls has enrolled 1.1 million+ girls in school in rural India. Previously, Ms. Husain has worked extensively with rural and urban underserved communities in South America, Africa and Asia. She won the 2017 NITI Aayog’s Women Transforming India Award and the British Asian Trust’s Special Recognition Award from HRH Prince Charles for outstanding contribution in education.

Dr. Scott Kennedy

Executive Director

Energy Action Partners

Dr. Scott Kennedy

Executive Director

Mr. Kennedy has over 20 years’ experience working in international development as an entrepreneur, researcher and educator, across Asia, the Middle East and Africa.

He is is co-executive director and co-founder of Energy Action Partners, an international social enterprise working to expand access to sustainable energy for remote communities; and CEO and co-founder of ClearSky Power, a solar energy company in Hargeisa, Somaliland.

Gunter Pauli

Author, Teacher, Activist, Entrepreneur

Gunter Pauli

Author, Teacher, Activist, Entrepreneur

Prof. Pauli founded the Zero Emissions think tank at the United Nations University. He is author of “The Blue Economy” translated into 60 languages. He pioneers breakthrough innovations for water, food, housing, health and energy. His 365 fables based on science inspire children discovering the complexity of life turning them into entrepreneurs for the common good. His pedagogy has been adopted in all Chinese schools.

Noemi Sanin Posada

Former Minister of Foreign Affairs

Colombia

Noemi Sanin Posada

Former Minister of Foreign Affairs

In 1983, she was appointed Minister of Communications, signaling the start of her long and successful political career. Over the years, Sanín served as Ambassador for Colombia in Venezuela, Spain and the United Kingdom. She also became the first female Minister of Foreign Affairs in Latin America and ran as a Presidential candidate three times. In 2000, Noemí Sanín is also a Research Fellow at the Waterhead Centre for International Affairs at Harvard University.

Gayatri Raghwa

Environment Education Consultant

UN Environment Programme - India

Gayatri Raghwa

Environment Education Consultant

An Environment Educator for over 4 decades, Mrs. Gayatri Raghwa serves as an advisor to the Global Environment Education Partnership (USA) and an honorary executive director at Wildecologue, India. Previously, she spent 15 years at Environment Agency- Abu Dhabi, where she helped strategise, design, develop and implement environment education initiatives across all sections of the Emirate’s society. She now leads UNEP’s Tide Turners Plastic Champion initiative which has reached over to 450,000+ youth in India with concrete changes on ground.

Mario Salomone

Chairman

World Environmental Education Congress

Mario Salomone

Chairman

Mario Salmone is an environmental sociologist and a professor of Socio-Environmental Sustainability of Agri-Food Networks at the University of Turin in Italy. He has previously taught at the Universities of Bergamo and Milano IULM He is also a member of the Scientific Committee of UNESCO National Committee for Education for Sustainability - Agenda 2030 (UCNESA2030) and of the Italian Chapter of Club of Rome Board.

Beatrix Schmuelling

Senior Advisor

Ministry of Climate Change and Environment

Beatrix Schmuelling

Senior Advisor

Beatrix has more than 20 years’ experience in environmental consulting on climate change, sustainability, and environmental education, across Asia and Europe.

She currently advises the International Renewable Energy Agency (IRENA) in RE policies and technology solutions. Previously, she helped develop and implement Masdar’s carbon and climate change strategies for 11 years — where she also oversaw R&D and GHS project implementation.

Peter Tabichi

Teacher

Keriko Mixed Day School in Pwani Village

Peter Tabichi

Teacher

Peter Tabichi is a science teacher who gives away 80% of his monthly income to help the poor. His dedication, hard work and passionate belief in his student’s talent has led his poorly-resourced school in remote rural Kenya to emerge victorious after taking on the country’s best schools in national science competitions.

Peter started a talent nurturing club and expanded the school’s science club, helping pupils design high quality research projects that led 60% of them to qualify for national competitions.

Rebecca Vukovic

Deputy Editor

Australian Council for Educational Research

Rebecca Vukovic

Deputy Editor

Deputy Editor of Teacher, an online magazine by the Australian Council for Educational Research (ACER), Rebecca also sits on the ACER Sustainability Advisory Committee. Her work covers topics on educational leadership, student wellbeing, research-based classroom practice, climate action and sustainability.

In 2014, Rebecca received the Professional Teachers’ Council NSW Media Award.

SELECTION COMMITTEE

H.E. Dr. Maha Barakat

H.E. Dr. Maha Barakat

H.E. Dr. Maryam Matar

H.E. Dr. Maryam Matar

Frank Beadle de Palomo

Frank Beadle de Palomo

Dr. Juliette M. Tuakli

Dr. Juliette M. Tuakli

Eng. Mohammed Ahmad Hamdan Al-Dhahnani

Eng. Mohammed Ahmad Hamdan Al-Dhahnani

H.E. Mouza Al Muhairi

H.E. Mouza Al Muhairi

Daphne Ewing-Chow

Daphne Ewing-Chow

Helen Munday

Helen Munday

Ramiz Hamdan Alaileh

Ramiz Hamdan Alaileh

Dr. Behjat Al Yousuf

Dr. Behjat Al Yousuf

Olabode Esan

Olabode Esan

Dr. Steven Griffiths

Dr. Steven Griffiths

Dr. Noura Mansouri

Dr. Noura Mansouri

Bertrand Piccard

Bertrand Piccard

Julia Pyper

Julia Pyper

David Sandalow

David Sandalow

Catarina de Albuquerque

Catarina de Albuquerque

Omar Abdulla Al Hashmi

Omar Abdulla Al Hashmi

Dr. Hassan Arafat

Dr. Hassan Arafat

Mohamed El Ramahi

Mohamed El Ramahi

Tom Pankratz

Tom Pankratz

Denes Csala

Denes Csala

Safeena Husain

Safeena Husain

Dr. Scott Kennedy

Dr. Scott Kennedy

Gunter Pauli

Gunter Pauli

Noemi Sanin Posada

Noemi Sanin Posada

Gayatri Raghwa

Gayatri Raghwa

Mario Salomone

Mario Salomone

Beatrix Schmuelling

Beatrix Schmuelling

Peter Tabichi

Peter Tabichi

Rebecca Vukovic

Rebecca Vukovic