Keynote Speakers at Devres 2024
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).
Swati Parashar
Swati Parashar is Professor in Peace and Development at the School of Global Studies, Gothenburg University, Sweden. Her teaching and research have led to academic appointments and fellowships in India, Singapore, UK, US, Ireland, Australia and Sweden. She has also taught at the University of Rwanda in Kigali and at the University of the West Indies in Kingston, Jamaica. She is a member of the Swedish Development Research Network and has also served as a member of the Scientific Advisory Board of SIDA. Her research interests include feminism, postcolonialism, research methodologies, gender based violence, famines and development in South Asia and East Africa. She is the author and co editor of several books, journal special issues and articles, policy papers and popular media pieces. She is a co-editor in chief of the International Feminist Journal of Politics and serves on the advisory boards of other journals as well as the Helsinki University Press. She is also one of the co editors of the book series, Creative Interventions in Global Politics with Rowman and Littlefield, and Gender and Sexuality in Global Politics with Bristol University Press. She contributes regularly to media debates through op eds and blogs and served as Program Co-Chair of the International Studies Association for their 2023 annual convention at Montreal.
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.
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
Yi hyun Kang
Yi hyun Kang is a postdoctoral researcher at the Department of Political Science, Lund University. She carries out a research project on global climate, biodiversity, and sustainable development governance with attention to institutional and discursive interactions. Previously, Yi hyun worked as a postdoctoral researcher at UCLouvain Saint-Louis Bruxelles in Belgium and investigated youth actors in international environmental politics. Her research interests center around the decision-making processes of environmental politics. She has developed her interests through work experiences in journalism, international development and research sectors.
Conference programme
Moderators and more
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 a senior lecturer in Sustainability science at Lund University. Sara is also the coordinator of the DevRes Conference.
Mao Zybamba
Mao Zybamba from Burkina Faso is a singer and multi- instrumentalist who plays everything from the traditional string instrument kundé to the key harp. He and his talented friends will entertain with live music at the end of the second day of the conference.
