POP Festival 2021 - Workshop Hosts

	Midori Kawano, Yogamarakata, Japan	Midori Kawano has qualifications in International Business Management, as well as a certificate in Yoga from the Mirambika Research Centre for Integral Education and Human Values at the Sri Aurobindo Ashram in Delhi, India. She founded Yogamarakata to share the wisdom of healthy living that she learned from yoga in India with as many people as possible.. WORKSHOP: Mindful Zen and Yoga Workshop on Mental Health and Peace
	Soin Fujio, Zen priest	Soin Fujio is the 15th Chief Priest of Dokuon-ji (Japanese Rinzai Zen temple established in 1619). He has been engaged in the care of suicide victims, suicide survivors and their families, mentally handicapped persons and those with other disorders. He is a Member of the Yokosuka City Committee of Suicide Prevention and is the Co-founder and Co-Chief Representative of the Priests' Action Network on the Suicide Issue. He is also a member of the Japan Network of Engaged Buddhists (JNEB), a branch organization of the International Network of Engaged Buddhists (INEB). To learn more about his work, read: https://jneb.net/activities/dyingcar/journey-through-dukkha1/journey-through-dukkha3/ WORKSHOP: Mindful Zen and Yoga Workshop on Mental Health and Peace
	James Li, CCL Triangle Youth Action Team Co-Leader, Citizens’ Climate Lobby	James Li is a freshman at Wake Forest University and volunteers for Citizens’ Climate Lobby (CCL). Citizens’ Climate Lobby is an environmental organization focused on enacting carbon-pricing legislation at the federal level. As a co-leader of CCL’s North Carolina Triangle Area Youth Team, James has been involved in organizing outreach efforts that have reached students across the US. He has given numerous presentations on climate legislation to over 100 students in North Carolina, Texas, and California, and he writes for the CCL Youth Blog. James enjoys hiking, photography, and traveling. WORKSHOP: Climate Advocacy Training
	Sydney Manson, CCL Triangle Youth Action Team Co-Leader, Citizens’ Climate Lobby	WORKSHOP: Climate Advocacy Training
	Jordyn Brown, CCL Triangle Youth Action Team Co-Leader, Citizens’ Climate Lobby	WORKSHOP: Climate Advocacy Training
	Priyanka Prakash, Program Director, Ervis Foundation	Leading the educational initiatives for the Ervis Foundation, 24-year-old Priyanka is passionate about working in the social sector and bringing a positive sustainable change in the world. As the Program Director for Ervis Foundation, Priyanka is working closely on aligning the Foundation’s visions with United Nation’s Sustainable Development Goals - 12 and 14 and is greatly instrumental in running the operations. Priyanka cares deeply for marine life and is committed to work with the youth to alleviate the problems afflicting ocean life. She has helped the foundation in achieving its first-year goals aligned with Sustainable Development Goals. She has worked on developing curriculums, programs and initiatives that aim at educating and inspiring the youth to take action against the plastic crises. Over the last two years she has closely engaged with over 1,600 students across India and UAE, educating them and spreading awareness about the urgency to save our Earth and to build a plastic-free environment and cleaner oceans for our future generations. She is also currently appointed as the Regional Focal Point for Asia-Pacific, India for UNMGCY SDG 14 /Oceans Youth Constituency. Having recently graduated with a degree in Journalism from Symbiosis Center for Media and Communications, Pune (India), she in the past has had experience working in news media organizations in India. She also has extensive experience in the social sector by having worked with several education-based NGOs across India. WORKSHOP: Blue Circle and Blue Club Workshop
	Kerryn Vaughan, Get Off the Bench, Australia	Kerryn is the creator of Get Off The Bench, an international speaker, author, facilitator, and podcast host. With energy that is second to none, and an insatiable appetite to inspire you to believe in possibility well beyond your current reality, you’ll leave this workshop motivated and ready to unleash your idea into the world. Kerryn is the author of award winning ‘Magnificent Kids!’, and ‘Get Off The Bench!’, is the founder of the global Not For Profit One Planet Classrooms (empowering women & girls in Africa), as well as the co-founder of Girls With Hammers which hosts events to empower and connect women. She is also the host of the Get Off The Bench podcast. WORKSHOP: Get Off the Bench Workshop
	Ben Banerjee, Co-Founder at Swiss Impact Association	Ben Banerjee is Co-founder and President of SIIA. Next to that he is on the Board of Counselor at East West Institute and is a writer and guest teacher at a couple of Universities. He has been engaged in the field of Impact Investments and Sustainable financing projects for more than 20 years, out of various national and multinational enterprises. Ben is founder of various small and large companies (incl. NGOs) all over Western Europe. He has been advising several world political, business and academic leaders on flow of events and policy changes. Ben has been speaker at various International conferences and is writer of financial and global flow of events in International magazines.WORKSHOP: Impact Investment Workshop
	Svetlana Banerjee	Svetlana Banerjee (Baurens) Founder and Managing Director of Impact Investing School and Impact Community Camomile, Co-Founder and President of Galileo International Impact Investing Centre and Board Member of SIIA (Swiss Impact Investment Association). WORKSHOP: Impact Investment Workshop
	Luis Betancourt	Researcher of Indigenous and Environmental Rights of the Venezuelan Amazon, General Coordinator and Founder of the Research Group on the Amazon. Training in the area of human rights of indigenous and environmental peoples. Speaker at various national and international forums on the social conditions of the indigenous peoples of the Venezuelan Amazon and the impacts generated by mining activities and the presence of irregular armed groups in their territories. 20 years of field work in indigenous communities of the Venezuelan Amazon.
	Sam Wilson	WORKSHOP: Making Laws to Fix Climate Change (to be hyperlinked)
	Dr. Patricia Klauer, Entrepreneur and Data Strategy Consultant, Information Technology Adviser, Entrepreneur, Future Capital, Mexico	Dr. Patricia Klauer is a chiropractor, technologist who has devoted her life to the study of mysticism. She is an entrepreneur and advisor for enterprise-wide information technology initiatives who has pioneered new technologies on Wall St, many Fortune 500 corporations, government, academic and health care institutions for the last 30 years. In 2003, she co-founded a cutting-edge incubator, focused on developing social impact businesses. In 2019 she helped launch the Future Capital Inaugural Summit at the United Nations Headquarters in NYC https://futureofcapital.org/ and now serves on the Leadership Team. In 2020 she was part of a collaborative, successful all-volunteer launch to address food poverty in Mexico https://foodbanklakeside.org/ that serves over 800 families a month. With a particular interest in pioneering new technologies for social and environmental change, Dr. Klauer is currently focusing on the Attention Economy, offering a ’whole-systems’ perspective based on inherent relationships in all aspects of life from technology platforms to economic models, the environment, communities, corporations, civil society and the human body itself. Recognizing patterns at the core of all these interrelationships, we are all inextricably interconnected. This is a core principle at the heart of seeing how to support a world that works for all life. WORKSHOP: Hack Yourself: The Attention Economy and Your Mind-Body Conversation
	Om Desai, USA	Om Desai is a junior at Academy for Information Technology High School, NJ, USA, a young scholar at Davidson Institute, Reno, NV, USA, and a student of Columbia university's science honors program. He has a strong interest in leveraging mathematics and technologies like artificial intelligence (AI) for social good, more specifically towards understanding the earth’s climate system and to create climate resilience during global pandemics or climate change disruptions. His research has been published in international conference proceedings. For multiple years, he has been recognized as MaPD, someone who is “Making a Positive Difference” in the community by Davidson Institute, for the community movement he started “Young Students Teach Younger Kids” as a founder of TeamAIRO. He has formed and is leading the AI & Climate Advocacy committee within FXB international. Like-minded climate advocates with a passion for technology are invited to join. WORKSHOP: Artificial Intelligence and Climate Action
	Siddhant Desai, USA	WORKSHOP: Artificial Intelligence and Climate Action
	Ansh Patel, USA	WORKSHOP: Artificial Intelligence and Climate Action
	Mark Minneboo, Regional Director for Latin America, Plastic Oceans International	Mark has been executive director of Plastic Oceans Chile since June 2017, and Regional Director of Latin America since 2020. He oversees development, network creation and the establishment of international contacts and education programs tailored to the Latin American market. Mark gives talks to raise awareness about ocean plastic pollution and the circular economy to universities, municipalities and companies, including his November 2019 participation as a panelist at the Retech conference about “circular economy against marine littering” in Berlin, Germany. Mark pushes for Chile’s transition to a Circular Economy in different workgroups and is also a member of the board of the Chilean Plastics Pact. Mark uses local and international examples to show how change is possible through will, collaboration and vision. Mark has been representing Plastic Oceans International at conferences in Colombia, Uruguay, South Korea, Germany and Portugal. Mark is a Commercial Engineer who graduated from the NHTV University of Breda Holland, has a Bachelor’s Degree in Education, a diploma in corporate innovation and a diploma in Circular Economy from UC Berkeley. WORKSHOP: Plastic and the Circular Economy
	William Wilson, COP 26 and Beyond	William Wilson is an expert environmental and energy barrister, with 25 years experience, in government, consultancy and private practice. He has worked on many key environmental laws in the UK and EU, Middle East and South East Asia. William is the co-founder of the climate project COP26 and beyond - a project to demystify climate change and to suggest new, practical ways in which committed young people can make a real difference - before, at, and after COP26. Visit COP26 and beyond to find out more: https://www.cop26andbeyond.com/ WORKSHOP: Using the Law to Fix The Climate Change
	Dr Pushp Bajaj, National Maritime Foundation	Dr Pushp Bajaj is a Research Fellow and the Head of the Blue Economy and Climate Change Cluster at the National Maritime Foundation in New Delhi, India. His research areas of interest include climate change impacts on India’s maritime and naval security, climate resilience of India’s critical maritime infrastructure, sustainability in the maritime domain, and the Blue Economy. Prior to joining the Foundation, Dr Bajaj worked as an independent science writer and researcher focusing on climate change and the environment where he published several articles on sustainable development, climate science, climate policy, and related areas. He received his PhD in Chemistry, in 2018, from the University of California, San Diego, USA, where he was a graduate student researcher for the NSF-funded Center for Chemical Innovation - Center for Aerosol Impacts on Chemistry of the Environment based in San Diego, CA, USA.
	Alejandro Aarón Peregrina Lucano, Profesor Investigador Titular	Alejandro Aarón is a Pharmacobiologist Chemist from the University of Guadalajara with a doctorate in experimental and clinical Pharmacokinetics from the University of Salamanca, Spain. He has 12 years of experience in the use of mass-mass spectrometry coupled to liquid and gas chromatography and atomic spectroscopy, in the determination of drugs, drug metabolites, endogenous metabolites (biological markers) and exogenous compounds (contaminants) and metals. . In samples of blood, urine, human milk, hair, food and water. With stays in; the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), Atlanta, GA, USA, in the Division of Environmental Health Sciences of the Department of Health, Wadsworth Center, in Albany, NY, USA, and, in the Laboratory of Analysis of Pesticide Residues (LARP) from the Federal University of Santa María, Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil. He is part of the research group that studies kidney failure with no known etiology in children from Aguacaliente, Poncitlán, Jalisco, which also studies the presence of pesticides in children and young people from El mentidero and Ahuacapán, Autlán, Jalisco, and is determining pesticides in water from the Ayuquila River for 5 years, as well as pesticide determinations in large and medium felines of the Biosphere Reserve of the Sierra de Manantlán, Autlán, Jalisco. With this group, undergraduate and graduate theses have been developed, as well as the publication of scientific articles, and articles of social communication in the press, radio and television. Providing evidence for decision-making by the authorities and communities of the populations studied.
	Vice Admiral Pradeep Chauhan, National Maritime Foundation	An alumnus of the National Defence Academy, the Defence Services Staff College, the Naval War College, and the National Defence College, with BSc, MSc and MPhil degrees under his belt, Vice Admiral Pradeep Chauhan, AVSM & Bar, VSM, is currently the Director-General of the National Maritime Foundation, New Delhi, which is India’s foremost resource centre for the development and advocacy of strategies for the promotion and protection of India’s maritime interests. The admiral retired on 30 November 2013 after an illustrious four-decade-long career in the Executive Branch of the Indian Navy. He has had a rich and varied naval career, which included a three-year deputation to the Government of Mauritius, where he set up and commanded the Mauritius National Coast Guard. He has been the principal evaluator of the Navy’s battle-tactics, the Head of the Naval Training Team at the Defence Services Staff College, and the Principal Director of Naval Operations. His sea-going service incorporates command-appointments on four occasions, including the guided-missile frigate, INS Brahmaputra, and, culminating in his command of the aircraft carrier, the Viraat. As a Flag Officer, he was the Navy’s first Assistant Chief of the Naval Staff (Foreign Cooperation & Intelligence), where he conceptualised and executed the Indian Ocean Naval Symposium (IONS). As a Vice Admiral, he has been Chief of Staff of the Western Naval Command; and was, in his last naval appointment before retirement, the Commandant of the Indian Naval Academy (Ezhimala). He has been commended three times by the President of India for sustained distinguished service. Not one to rest on past laurels, he has remained active even after retirement and is a much sought-after thought-leader, leadership mentor, and an outstanding orator. Apart from being on the visiting faculty of the higher-command establishments of all three of India’s defence services, as also tri-Service establishments such as the College of Defence Management, Hyderabad and the National Defence College, New Delhi, he has also been advising the government through his interaction with the Integrated Headquarters of the Ministry of Defence (Navy), the Ministry of External Affairs, the National Security Council Secretariat, and the Joint Intelligence Committee. He is, in addition, a prolific writer with over 85 published professional articles and papers, and, a respected Adviser and Fellow of several important think-tanks including the Ananta-Aspen Centre; the Forum for Strategic and Security Studies; and, the Centre for Advanced Strategic and Security Studies.
	Sarita Fernandes, National Maritime Foundation	Ms Sarita Fernandes is a Research Associate at the National Maritime Foundation, New Delhi. She is a coastal and marine policy research scholar with her field and academic experience in the west coast of India. She works on the Indian blue economy and climate change impacts alongside ocean governance and marine biodiversity issues within the NMF. She is a Marine and Coastal Policy researcher working on bottom-up grassroot level marine wildlife conservation, community engagement into conservation dialogues, policies governing and absent in biodiversity and coastal ecosystem management, coastal land use conservation and indigenous (to-be) impacted fishing and coastal communities living near onshore or within marine and coastal wildlife habitats with regard to sea-level rise and climate change impacts. Promulgating mitigation measures between communities and wildlife conservation in choosing sustainable anthropogenic options or anthropogenic compromises in cases of livelihoods, tourism, resource mining or development models.
	Rashi Mehta, Carbon Initiative Forum	Skilled in start-up ecosystems, sustainability strategy and planning, developing social impact strategies, multi-channel content creation, business ecosystem planning, market research coupled with a keen interest in design and brand communications, Rashi is a post graduate in Sustainable Environment Management from SIES, Indian Institute of Environment Management. She has recently worked on a research paper on Residential Indoor air quality in South Mumbai. She has co-founded Ripple Effect, a marketplace for sustainable products and she has worked closely with NGOs, social enterprises and grassroots level artisans. She also co-founded Midoree, a sustainable fashion brand that makes bags and accessories from textile industry waste fabric, thus supporting a circular economy business model.
	Deepak John, Carbon Initiative Forum Volunteer	In his last stint, Deepak John worked as Program Manager (Policy) with SELCO foundation, Bangalore. His work revolves around sustainable energy interventions in under-served communities in India, South-East Asia and African countries. He has international experience in Myanmar, working for French Aid on their urban resilience program. He has published articles on sustainable development goals, climate change, inequality on popular online sites. At Institute for Sustainable Development & Governance, he has worked in the areas of budget governance and accountability, urban governance and development cooperation. His background education is in MBA + engineering along with sustainability post-graduation. His areas of interest lie in climate change, renewable energy and sustainable development. He passionately believes that transition to a low carbon economy in the global south is the solution to both climate change and poverty eradication.
	Vishvak Kannan, Carbon Initiative Forum Volunteer	With experience ranging from evolutionary sociality of microbes, population dynamics of Indonesian orangutans and Scottish dolphins, Access and Benefit Sharing policies in India and rural development in the Himalayas, Vishvak is on a mission to help humanity tide over problems local and global. An avid writer, he has his fingers in many pies and is also currently dabbling in Zen.
	Vinayak Soni, Carbon Initiative Forum Volunteer	With engineering in the head and sustainability at heart, Vinayak is trying to bring a light at the end of this tunnel we know as climate change. Vinayak has a Bachelors and Master’s Degree in Electronics, and is currently working in the commercial EV space to reduce carbon footprint in e-commerce logistics. A sustainable living and a permaculture/homesteading enthusiast, he wants to get involved in the climate policy front and help spread as much awareness about climate change and hopefully bring positive changes in governance to save the earth from perishing.
	Sanju Soman, Sustera Foundation	Founder of Sustera Foundation led by a youth team, Sanju Soman is a dynamic leader who is passionate about climate change and sustainability.