Director of Programmes at the Red Cross Red Crescent Climate Centre, a team focused on climate science, policy and practice to reduce weather and climate impacts on the most vulnerable. The Climate Centre is a team of 80 staff and consultants who collaborate with over 270 partners across 100 countries.

In addition, I am an IPCC Lead Author on the forthcoming Special Report on Cities, as well as the Seventh Assessment Report. I also support the American Red Cross’ international climate initiative and have affiliations with the Global Heat Health Information Network, the World Weather Attribution group, the University of Twente and the Global Disaster Preparedness Center.

Dr. Olivia Jensen is an economist and public policy scholar specialising in water and climate risks. She is based in Singapore where she is Deputy Director and Lead Scientist at the LRF Institute for the Public Understanding of Risk (IPUR) at the National University of Singapore. She is the author of numerous authoritative reports and academic articles on risk perceptions and risk communications, and on water policy, governance and financing.

Dr. Hamdan Alshamsi is an expert in crisis and disaster management with over 20 years of experience in emergencies planning, operational readiness, and resilience. As a Director of Command and Control Centre, he has led decision-making in complex, high-pressure environments for major security, emergencies and event management operations. His career is dedicated to developing preparedness programs and operational frameworks that enhance response capabilities and recovery efforts, applying lessons learned from real-world incidents.

Edward Anderson is the Senior Technology and Resilience Specialist for the Global Facility for Disaster Reduction and Recovery based in Washington DC. His focus is on leveraging satellite applications and emerging imaging technologies for greater resilience in development operations.

This includes the Digital Earth Partnership – a multi-stakeholder platform to accelerate the deployment of frontier Earth Observation tools and services for risk-informed development. Other programs include the Resilience Academy, which builds local skills and services adopting satellite, internet of things, community feedback, and drone monitoring technologies to address unplanned urbanization in Africa. Edward participates on the EU’s Drones in Humanitarian Action Expert Working Group and holds Master’s degrees in both aerospace engineering and international economics and international relations.

Hessel is a trained hydrologist with nearly 20 years of experience in flood and drought risk modelling, monitoring, and forecasting, working from global to local scales. His work at Deltares and with organizations such as the World Bank and the insurance sector has focused on flood risk management and decision support.

Over the past five years, his research has emphasized co-designed, locally sustainable technologies for natural hazard monitoring, for local users and entrepreneurs, as well as national and international stakeholders. He is the creator of OpenRiverCam, the first fully open-source ecosystem for real-time camera-based river monitoring.