Annual General Meeting 2026

Martin is a founding member of the European Citizen Science Association (ECSA) and the  Citizen Science Global Partnership (CSGP). He is the outgoing Chair of the CSGP and will now represent ECSA on the Board.  An independent environmental consultant and former Executive Manager at the Environment Agency (UK), he serves as the appointed citizen science advisor to the UN Science Policy Business Forum, focusing on integrating community-led data into global environmental policy and has recently joined the Advisory Board of the US Based Next Generation Global Collaboratory (formerly the GLOBE Programme).

Area(s) of expertise: Citizen science, strategic connections in EU policy and science.

Dr. Andrianandrasana is a conservation biologist and expert in participatory ecological monitoring. He received his DPhil from the University of Oxford, specializing in the effectiveness of community-based conservation. His extensive experience includes serving as a civil servant in Madagascar and working with Durrell Wildlife on protected areas. A recipient of the 2014 Tusk Award, he specializes in remote sensing, GIS, and integrating community engagement into global conservation strategies.

Area(s) of expertise: Co-created CS, networking, connecting Global South and Global North for enhancing institutionalization of CS for environmental conservation.

Professor Goldin is an Extraordinary Professor at the University of the Western Cape and a leading expert in participatory water management. Her work focuses on environmental justice and “Slow Science,” leading initiatives like the “Diamonds on the Soles of Our Feet” project, believing in the transformative potential of citizen science to engage rural communities to improve water literacy, care and management.

Area(s) of expertise: Water management and citizen science and Global South.

Darko is a member of the IUCN Commission on Education and Communication (CEC) and a specialized conservationist actively engaged in the IUCN World Commission on Protected Areas (WCPA). He serves on global task forces for Nature-based Education and Citizen Science, focusing on transboundary conservation and community-led initiatives to protect vital landscapes, particularly within the Balkan region.

Dr. Karen Lips is an American ecologist who studies global change biology. Her research focuses on biodiversity and ecosystem ecology in the U.S. and Latin America. Dr. Lips joined IIASA as Deputy Director in 2024. She was a Professor of Biology at the University of Maryland, and previously at Southern Illinois University Carbondale and St. Lawrence University in New York.  Dr. Lips is an elected Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science and of the Ecological Society of America.  She served as a Program Officer at the U.S. National Science Foundation, and as a Jefferson Science Fellow at the US Department of State. She received a B.S. in Zoology from the University of South Florida and a Ph.D. in Biology from the University of Miami.

Dr. Nobre is a preeminent scientist recognized for his pioneering research on the Amazon’s climate tipping points. A foreign member of the US National Academy of Sciences, UK Royal Society and contributor to the Nobel Prize-winning IPCC reports, he currently leads the Amazonia 4.0 project, which utilizes advanced technologies to develop a sustainable, nature-based socio-bioeconomy for the standing forest.

Area(s) of expertise: Climate science and Amazon ecosystem studies.

Dr. Shah leads the production of International IDEA’s annual flagship publication, “The Global State of Democracy,” as well as the Institute’s quantitative and qualitative global datasets (GSoD Indices and Democracy Tracker). She also manages several workstreams that focus on the development of new methodologies for the assessment of democratic quality, international partnerships, and strategic foresight-informed analysis related to the long term future of democracy. With a Ph.D. from UCLA and a Master’s from Oxford, she has extensive experience in electoral integrity, humanitarian innovation, and evidence-based advocacy across the Middle East, Africa, and Asia. She previously directed research for Kenyan civil society coalitions, managing data analysis for national election reform and Supreme Court challenges.

Professor Tockner is the Director General of the Senckenberg Gesellschaft für Naturforschung and a Professor of Ecosystem Sciences at Goethe University Frankfurt. An expert in aquatic ecology and Anthropocene research, he advises international bodies on “nature-positive” solutions and the sustainable management of global freshwater systems.