Emma Jurczynski is a British-Canadian designer and researcher from London, currently based in New York City. Her work applies experimental and playful design methods to repurpose used construction materials. Combining digital and analog tools, Emma’s practice transforms discarded matter to revalue waste and redefine its role in the built environment. She uses prototypes and film to investigate the physical, social, and cultural implications of the materials that shape our spaces. Emma recently collaborated with IKEA to design and build a shelter from dimensional timber to reconfigure our relationship with nature. Her projects have been featured in Fast Company and The Wall Street Journal. She holds a BSc from The Bartlett School of Architecture and a MA from MIT. Emma has worked in London, Berlin, Mexico City, Boston, New York City, and Tokyo

Sheila Jagannathan is, first and foremost, a lifelong learner—and a passionate advocate for ensuring that people of every age and geography have the opportunity to keep learning, adapting and shaping their own futures. A globally recognized leader in AI-enabled learning, human capital development and sustainable development, she has spent more than four decades working at the intersection of education, technology, climate action and international development.

She spent 26 years at the World Bank, including as Global Head of the Open Learning Campus, where she built a global digital learning ecosystem reaching millions of learners worldwide. She continues to serve as a Senior Advisor on 21st Century Skilling at the World Bank and as a Senior Advisor to the African Development Bank, supporting future-ready skills, digital capacity development and the Bank’s Virtual Capacity Development Academy across Africa.

She is Vice President of Strategic Relationships at Saylor University, advancing global partnerships and access to free and tuition-free higher education, and a Senior Research Affiliate (Skilling) at George Mason University. She is also a Global Advocate and AI Sherpa for AIFOD, championing responsible, human-centered AI and greater agency for developing countries in shaping the AI future.

Sheila has served on or advised numerous international initiatives, including UN SDG:Learn, UNESCO, OECD, IMF Academy and FAO Learning Academy, and serves/has served on the boards of eLearning Africa, the Global Distance Learning Network and the Chief Learning Officer Exchange/IPQC, among others.

An author, editor and international speaker, Sheila’s work increasingly connects AI, learning and climate action. Her books include Reimagining Digital Learning for Sustainable Development and the forthcoming AI-Enabled Learning for Climate Action: Building Skills, Capacity and Collective Intelligence for a Warming World.

Her central message is simple: the AI and climate transitions are ultimately about people. Young people should not merely inherit the future—or adapt to it—but have the knowledge, agency and opportunity to help shape it.

Alexandra Climent is a grassroots environmentalist, explorer, artist and founder of the nonprofit Endangered Rainforest Rescue.

Marcele Oliveira is a communicator, cultural producer, and researcher in culture and climate, and a young climate justice activist at the UN and Executive Director of Instituto Perifalab.

Fatima-Zahra Tarib is an internationally trained political science major and climate advocate with six years of combined experience in digital campaigning, cross-functional strategy, and representing organizations at high-level UN forums.

Pamela is a documentary photographer and visual storyteller, who has built a body of visual work and organizations around climate justice and gender equality.

Pamela has integrated design thinking from her product design and photography education at Parsons in New York, creative journalism from her MA Photojournalism at UAL: LCC, to synthesize compelling stories from the frontlines and encourage climate optimism in others.