Climate Change

Prof. Dr. Daniela Jacob

Director of Institute

Climate Service Center Germany (GERICS)

Prof Dr Daniela Jacob studied meteorology in Darmstadt and obtained her doctorate in Hamburg. Since 2015, Daniela Jacob has been Director of the Climate Service Center Germany (GERICS), an institution of the Helmholtz-Zentrum Hereon.

She is also a visiting professor at the Leuphana University of Lüneburg. She was the coordinating lead author of the IPCC Special Report on the impacts of global warming of 1.5 °C above pre-industrial levels and one of the lead authors of the IPCC Fifth Assessment Report (WG 2).

Daniela Jacob is Chair of the Climate Council of the Free and Hanseatic City of Hamburg and of the German Committee for Sustainability Research in Future Earth (DKN) and Co-Chair of WPN2030. She was a member of the European Commission's Mission Board for "Adaptation to Climate Change including Societal Transformation". She is also a member of the Earth League and the Scientific Advisory Board of the European Destination Earth Initiative. Daniela Jacob has been an ECMWF Fellow since 2021.

Her research focuses on regional climate modelling, climate services and adaptation to climate change, as well as scientific support for the societal transformation towards a sustainable and climate-resilient 1.5°C lifestyle.

Until 2024, Daniela Jacob was editor-in-chief of the journal "Climate Services", a scientific journal she co-founded with Elsevier.

Kristie L. Ebi

Professor, Global Health

Professor, Env. and Occ. Health Sciences

University of Washington, Department of Global Health

Kristie L. Ebi, Ph.D., MPH has been conducting research and practice on the health risks of climate variability and change for 25 years.

Her research focuses on understanding sources of vulnerability; estimating current and future health risks of climate change; designing adaptation policies and measures to reduce risks in multi-stressor environments; and estimating the health co-benefits of mitigation policies. She has supported multiple countries in Central America, Europe, Africa, Asia, and the Pacific in assessing their vulnerabilities and implementing adaptation policies and programs.

Education:

• PhD (University of Michigan)
• MPH (University of Michigan)
• MS (Massachusetts Institute of Technology)
• BS (Michigan State University)

Expertise:

• Sustainable Communities
• Climate Change
• Heat
• Policy
• Risk Assessment

Professor Virginia Murray

Head of Global Disaster Risk Reduction at UK Health Security Agency

Professor Virginia Murray is a public health doctor committed to improving health emergency and disaster risk management.

She was appointed as Head of Global Disaster Risk Reduction for UK Health Security Agency (formerly Public Health England) in April 2014. She is currently the chair of the UNDRR/ISC Hazard Information Profile Steering Group for the 2025 update, having been the Chair of the UNDRR/ISC Hazard Classification and Review Technical Working Group from 2019 with the report published in 2020 and the UNDRR-ISC Hazard Information Profiles: Supplement in 2021 and now being updated for release at the Global Platform for Disaster Risk Reduction to be held in June 2025.

She was a member and then vice-chair of the UN International Strategy for Disaster Reduction (UNISDR) Scientific and Technical Advisory Group (STAG), 2008-2017, supporting as required negotiations for the Sendia Framework for Disaster Risk Reduction 2015–2030 by the UN member states. She is a member of CODATA Executive Committee where she also serves at the chair of the working group for the UNESCO-CODATA Data Policy for Times of Crisis Facilitated by Open Science (DPTC) project aims at developing guidance and tools for data policy required to address crises within the framework of the UNESCO Open Science Recommendation.

She is a co-chair of the WHO Thematic Platform Health and Disaster Risk Management Research Network, and by working in collaboration with this network, she is one of the editors of the WHO Guidance on Research Methods for Health and Disaster Risk Management, published in October 2021, updated in 2022 and being updated for 2025. She is a visiting/honorary Professor and fellow at several universities.