Meet our Challenge Leads

Our six Challenge Leads steer the activity and focus for each 'future' they represent.

• 

  Professor Jennifer O'Brien

  Skills Challenge Lead 

  Jen is an Academic Lead for Sustainability Teaching and Learning at The University of Manchester, Principal Fellow of Advance HE and an Inaugural Fellow of the Manchester Institute of Teaching and Learning.

  Find out more about the Skills Challenge Area

• 

  Dr Alejandro Gallego Schmid

  Resources Challenge Lead 

  Alejandro works as a Senior Lecturer (Associate Professor) in Circular Economy and Life Cycle Sustainability Assessment at the Department of Engineering for Sustainability at the University of Manchester.

  Find out more about the Resources Challenge Area

• 

  Dr Andrew Welfle

  Net-Zero Challenge Lead 

  Andrew is a Senior Research Fellow in the Tyndall Centre for Climate Change Research within the Department of MACE. He has a background and interests in environmental, energy and engineering themes, and a strong track record undertaking sustainability, climate change and bioenergy research through developing modelling toolkits and analysis methodologies. 

  Find out more about the Net-Zero Challenge Area

• 

  Dr Charis Enns

  Equity Challenge Lead 

  Charis is a Presidential Fellow in Socio-Environmental Systems at the Global Development Institute. Her research interests sit at the intersection of critical development studies, human geography, and political ecology with a regional focus on countries in East and Central Africa.

  Find out more about the Equity Challenge Area

• 

  Dr Cathy Walton

  Health Challenge Lead

  Cathy is a Senior Lecturer in Earth and Environmental Sciences. Her research on mosquito vectors of disease has important applications to the control of diseases such as malaria and dengue. Her research interests extend to encompass molecular evolution, conservation genetics and biodiversity in Southeast Asia.

  Find out more about the Health Challenge Area

• 

  Dr Ben Parkes

  Resilience Challenge Lead

  Ben is a lecturer in Climate Resilience in the Department of Civil Engineering and Management. His research focus is on mitigating or adapting to the impacts of climate change. The topics he researches range from water access for crops, to aircraft emissions to sustainable computing. His teaching has two major components, sustainability of infrastructure systems to the first year civil engineering students and climate impacts analysis to the fourth years. 

  Find out more about the Resilience Challenge Area