Keynote Speakers at Devres 2024
Dr Susan Chomba
Dr Susan Chomba is the Director of Vital Landscapes at the World Resources Institute (WRI). She leads WRI Africa’s work on forest protection and landscape restoration, food systems transformation and water. She is a scientist with extensive research and development experience on the continent for more than 15 years. Susan is a member of the International Panel of Experts on Sustainable Food Systems (IPES-Food), and a global ambassador for the Race to zero and Resilience under the UN High Level Champions for Climate Action. She serves on advisory boards of several organizations and has received several global recognitions, including being named as one of Global Landscapes Forum’s ‘16 Women Restoring the Earth’ in 2021; one of the top 25 women shaping climate action by Greenbiz in 2022, as well as BBC 100 Women in 2023.
Lukovi Seke
Lukovi Seke is employed by the African Union Development Agency – New Partnership for Africa’s Development (AUDA-NEPAD). Over the past 17 years, he has provided African Union Member States with technical support to strengthen the capacity to measure both research and development and innovation through the Swedish funded African Science, Technology and Innovation Indicators (ASTII) programme. ASTII is one of the most successful African Union flagship programmes implemented in collaboration with the African Union Observatory for Science, Technology and Innovation (AOSTI) and the UNESCO Institute for Statistics (UIS), in line with the Science, Technology and Innovation Strategy for Africa 2015-2024 (STISA2024), soon 2024-2034 (STISA34) and SDG (target 9.5) for the formulation of evidence-based policies and monitoring of targets. So far, he has trained more than 3,000 national officials from 43 AU ministries responsible for STI and national statistics offices using international guidelines (OECD manuals)
Fredrik Söderbaum
Fredrik Söderbaum is Professor of Peace and Development Research in the School of Global Studies (SGS), University of Gothenburg and an Associate Research Fellow of the United Nations University Institute of Comparative Regional Integration Studies (UNU-CRIS). His research focuses among other things on comparative regionalism, regional and global governance, development theory and policy, peace and security, and African politics. Söderbaum has conducted field research in a considerable number of countries in Africa and to a lesser extent also in Europe and Asia, and regularly provides advice to international development agencies and international organizations. Until recently he served as the chair of the Swedish Development Research Network (SweDev).
Alfredo Saad-Filho
Alfredo Saad-Filho is a Professor of Political Economy and International Development in the Department of International Development at King’s College London and is one of the Deputy Directors of the European Association of Development Research and Training Institutes (EADI).
His research focuses on the political economy of development, industrial policy, neoliberalism, democracy, and alternative economic policies. Alfredo’s writings range across critiques of the (Post-) Washington consensus; International Monetary Fund (IMF) and World Bank policies and pro-poor policy alternatives. They also include concrete analyses of fiscal, monetary, financial, balance of payments, and employment policies, as well as inflation targeting, resource use, and policy-making in sub-Saharan Africa, Latin America (especially Brazil) and the Middle East.
Africa Institute for Energy Governance, AFIEGO (Right Livelihood Laureate 2022)
In the face of the global climate crisis, AFIEGO stands with communities against oil and gas exploitation projects. Resisting government and corporate threats, the organisation ensures that communities affected by colonialist extractive energy projects can raise their voices on national and international levels. With their bottom-up work at the intersection of societal, economic and environmental concerns, AFIEGO models a democratic and renewable energy path for African countries.
Speaker: Diana Nabiruma
Janet Vähämäki
Janet Vähämäki is Team Lead for the Development Policy and Finance Team at SEI Headquarters. Janet is also the Director for the Swedish Development Research Network (SweDev), with a secretariat at SEI. Janet’s research concerns governance of development aid and understanding trust patterns in development management.
Lisa Westholm
Coordinator for development research at the Swedish Research Council. Lisa Westholm has a PhD in international forest and climate policy. She has studied the connections between the global, national and local levels in the formulation of environmental policy, and the political and social processes involved in such policy making and implementation.
Agnes Andersson
Agnes Andersson is a Professor of Human Geography and the acting Dean of the Faculty of Social Sciences at Lund University. Her research specialises on development geography, with a focus on change processes within and beyond agriculture in sub-Saharan Africa with special emphasis on rural and multi-spatial livelihoods, gendered access to productive resources and division of labor and incomes within households. She has conducted extensive field research in Ghana, Kenya, Malawi, Nigeria, Tanzania, Zambia and Zimbabwe and engages actively in public events and stakeholder meetings on food security, gender, and agriculture in sub-Saharan Africa.
Agnes Anderssons research in the Lund University research Portal
Mother Nature Cambodia (Right Livelihood Laureate 2023)
Mother Nature Cambodia is an environmental rights movement working at the forefront of environmental preservation, human rights and democracy. Operating under the shadow of Cambodia’s autocratic regime, the movement aims to preserve the country’s rich natural environment and give voice to communities affected by corrupt and damaging practices. Through its youth-led, innovative campaigns, Mother Nature Cambodia has inspired young people, mobilised communities and stopped destructive development and extractive projects.
Speakers: Lisa Mean and Sreypov Thoun
Visit Mother Nation Cambodja's website
Carl Björkman
Carl Björkman is Head of Nordics at the Gates Foundation, managing relationships with Nordic governments and grants for international development and global health. Previously Director at the World Economic Forum, he has also worked for the European Commission, Waterberry Development Organisation, and the UN. Starting as a journalist with Bloomberg, Carl holds advanced degrees from St. Andrews, INSEAD, Columbia, London Business School, Wharton, and Harvard. He serves on several non-profit boards.
Carl Björkman's Linkedin Profile
Jesper Sundewall
Chairperson of The Swedish Development Research Network (SWEDEV) Steering Committee
Preliminary conference programme
Moderators
Catia Gregoratti
Senior lecturer at the Department of Political Science, Lund University.
Muriel Côte
Muriel Côte is an associated senior lecturer at the Department of Human Geography, Lund University
Kristina Jönsson
Kristina Jönsson is Associate Professor and Head of Department of Political Science, Lund University. She is also coordinator of the Research School on Sustainable Development and Poverty Reduction.
Barry Ness
Barry Ness is an Associate Professor in Sustainability Science and the Director of the Centre for Sustainability Studies (LUCSUS) at Lund University.
Sara Gabrielsson
Sara Gabrielsson is an Associate senior lecturer in Sustainability science at Lund University. Sara is also the coordinator of the DevRes Conference.
