Fostering co-designed activities through collaboration with domestic and regional partners across four focal areas
- 1. Health
- 2. Agriculture & Water
- 3. Governance & Regulation
- 4. Just energy transitions
Fostering co-designed activities through collaboration with domestic and regional partners across four focal areas
The INPACC Hub Steering Committees for 2024 and 2025 were formed following the Inception Workshop in Bangkok in November 2023. Meet our 2025 Steering Committee members below.
In 2024, we were fortunate to have the following members contribute their time and expertise as members: Shafiqul Alam (IEEFA), Bangladesh; Julie Amoroso-Garbin (UNFCCC Regional Collaboration Center for Asia and the Pacific); Suruchi Bhadwal (The Energy and Resources Institute) India; Dr Meghnath Dhimal (Nepal Health Research Council); Sithasa Kanchanavijaya (UNDP in Asia and the Pacific); and A/Prof Joeli Veitayaki (Blue Prosperity Fiji).
Consultant, Asia Development Bank Institute; Assistant Professor, TERI School of Advanced Studies
Dr. Pritha Datta is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Policy and Management Studies at TERI School of Advanced Studies, New Delhi, India. She holds a Ph.D. from the Indian Institute of Technology Kharagpur, India, and specializes in climate change, food security, and human-wildlife interactions. Her research is dedicated to developing adaptation strategies that enhance the resilience of vulnerable communities.
Enterprise Fellow, Melbourne Climate Futures
Janine is a senior level diplomat of the Government of Belize. She has served as legal counsel in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Ambassador, Deputy Permanent Representative, Permanent Mission of Belize-United Nations. She has been and continues to be a principal advocate for the Caribbean Community (CARICOM) and the Alliance of Small Island States (AOSIS) in complex international negotiations on global development policy, climate change, climate finance, law of the sea and oceans governance. She is presently supporting the development the Indo-Pacific Climate Hub, as its Inaugural Head, with a focus on thought leadership and capacity building in adaptation and resilience.
Associate Professor of Global Public Health, SingHealth Duke-NUS Global Health Institute,Duke-NUS Medical School, National University of Singapore
One of the world’s pioneers of the new field of planetary health and Southeast Asia’s leading voices for climate and health, Renzo R. Guinto works on diverse aspects of the climate and health nexus such as climate-resilient and environmentally sustainable health systems; impacts of climate change on mental health; climate, migration, and health; climate implications for global health interventions; climate and health education; ethical issues around climate and health, among others. Holding visiting appointments at the St. Luke's Medical Center (Philippines) and the University of Cambridge, Renzo is a member of the National Panel of Technical Experts of the Philippine Climate Change Commission; WHO’s Technical Advisory Group on the ethics of climate and health; editorial boards of several journals including The Lancet Planetary Health; and several Lancet Commissions. An Obama Foundation Asia-Pacific Leader and Aspen Institute New Voices Fellow, he has served as consultant for various organizations including the WHO, World Bank, USAID, and Wellcome Trust.
Manager, Pacific Climate Change Centre, SPREP
'Ofa Kaisamy has been Manager of the Pacific Climate Change Centre (PCCC), hosted by the Secretariat of the Pacific Regional Environment Program (SPREP) since 2020. 'Ofa has a Master of Laws in Environmental Law from Australian National University; a Bachelor of Laws from University of the South Pacific, Vanuatu and a Diploma Ocean Laws and Policy from the Rhodes Aegean Institution for Ocean Laws and Policy.
Distinguished Professor, Asian Institute of Technology, Thailand, and Director, SMARTs Center (South and South-East Asia Multidisciplinary Applied Research Network for Transforming Societies of Global South)
Joyashree Roy is a Distinguished Professor at the Asian Institute of Technology and Founder Director of SMARTs. She was the Inaugural Bangabandhu Chair Professor at AIT and is an Honorary Professor at IIT Guwahati, India. A former Professor at Jadavpur University, Roy is a National Fellow of ICSSR and was a Ford Foundation Postdoctoral Fellow at LBNL. She received the 2021 Paradigm Award and was part of the IPCC panel awarded the 2007 Nobel Peace Prize. Roy has over 185 publications and is a Coordinating Lead Author for the IPCC’s Fourth, Fifth and Sixth Assessment Cycles. She is listed among the top 2% of influential scientists in Energy by Stanford University.
Senior Research Consultant - Practice, Indian Institute for Human Settlements
Chandni Singh studies the linkages between climate change and development, with a focus on changing livelihoods in rural and urban places. Within this, she explores the drivers of vulnerability to climate change and hazards; how and why people adapt (or choose not to); and the outcomes of these decisions on wellbeing and aspirations. Most of Chandni's work has been located in rapidly transitioning, climate hotspots across South Asia, especially in dryland rural areas and coastal cities. She is currently a Lead Researcher and Faculty within the School of Environment and Sustainability at the Indian Institute for Human Settlements, Bangalore. She is a Lead Author on the IPCC Assessment Report 6 Working Group II and Contributing Author and Chapter Scientist on the IPCC Special Report on 1.5C. In 2024, Chandni was the inaugural Maitri Fellow, visiting La Trobe University in Melbourne.
Associate Professor of Environmental Politics, Department of International and Strategic Studies, Universiti Malaya
Helena Varkkey's areas of expertise include transboundary haze governance in Southeast Asia and global palm oil politics. Her monograph on “The Haze Problem in Southeast Asia: Palm Oil and Politics” was published by Routledge in 2016. Her latest book is a co-edited comparative volume on "Governing the Palm Oil Industry: Perspectives from Southeast Asia and Latin America" published by Routledge in 2023.
Helena has almost two decades of experience in qualitative research, including conducting fieldwork, interviews, and focus groups among various government and non-government stakeholders, and has built up extensive research networks in countries across ASEAN. She has edited and produced reports for the Academy of Sciences Malaysia, UNICEF, and the ASEAN Secretariat.