Takeshi Inagawa, PhD
Founder & Editor-in-Chief, OxForest

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Introduction

Born in Japan, I am quadrilingual in Japanese, English, Spanish 🇪🇦 and Portuguese 🇧🇷. After being selected as a World Bank scholar, I completed a PhD in tropical forest ecology at the Environmental Change Institute (ECI), University of Oxford, supervised by Prof Yadvinder Malhi.

My passion for nature conservation began after joining the Boy Scouts at the age of five. While in college, I volunteered for the first time in the Philippines to help organise a women’s support group. After serving at Danish NGO’s forestry and environmental education projects in Brazil, the United States and Namibia over six years, I received an MSc in Conservation from the University College London (UCL) and undertook tropical forest research at the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP-WCMC), Brazilian National Institute of Space Research (INPE) and a Britain’s Royal Society research programme in Malaysian Borneo. Following my associate expert role at the Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) Forestry and Nature Conservation Group in Tokyo, I worked for JICA’s biodiversity conservation project in Honduras.

My best role models are Prof Wangari Maathai and Greta Thunberg (Fridays For Future) who have inspired me to take action against deforestation and climate change, and to get the message across to a wider audience. In September 2020, I launched a web magazine “OxForest.org” along with 57 irreplaceable friends of mine across 21 nationalities (from Europe, North America, Latin America, Africa to Asia) who have worked together for the same cause.

I have been to 31 countries so far. My recent interests are cooking (Instagram @TakeshisKitchen) and yoga!

Adélaïde Uppal
Deputy Editor-in-Chief, OxForest.org

Introduction

Born in France, Adélaïde Uppal is a teacher of English Language in France. She has a Master of Arts from Université Lyon III and a certificate of secondary education. She was also an exchange student at the University College London (UCL; English Studies). Adélaïde is also interested in arts and started The Bead Weaver project, an artificial jewelry atelier that upcycles materials that we generally consider as waste, and converts them into beautiful bespoke pieces. 

Carolina Camelo
Deputy Editor-in-Chief, OxForest.org

Introduction

Born in Bogota, Colombia, Carolina Camelo is a journalist and climate change advocate passionate about environmental initiatives and human rights on a global scale. Carolina’s work experience ranges all the way from international organizations, and government agencies to the private sector, in five different countries including Colombia, Canada, United Kingdom, Peru and Spain. She obtained an MSc in Global Governance and Ethics from University College London (UCL), in England and a BA in Journalism and Communications from Pontificia Universidad Javeriana, in Colombia.

Carolina is currently advocating at the UK parliament for children’s rights by supporting UNICEF UK campaigns against toxic air in London, vaccine-preventable diseases, and childhood immunization coverage, in an effort to strengthen health systems in developing countries while securing financial commitment globally. As a journalist, she has been actively involved in international development projects focused on empowering communities, delivering communication strategies, and influencing policy-makers to advance sustainable programs in Canada, Latin America and Europe.

As a Climate Change Advocacy Coordinator for CUSO International, in Peru, Carolina supported and delivered global warming campaigns by effectively mobilizing civil society movements at large-scale events such as the UNFCCC-COP20 and the People’s Summit. In the same vein, Carolina and her team were able to influence parliamentarians upon the impacts of climate change through high-quality articles, research briefs, and monthly reports on the UNFCCC-COP20 challenges for the ECO – Magazine & Climate Action Network, reinforcing key policy recommendations for further action.

Paula Fernández González
Deputy Editor-in-Chief, OxForest.org

Introduction

Born in Spain, Paula Fernández received an MSc in Japanese Studies from the University of Oxford. Her research includes lingustics and anthropology, concentrated on gender studies and sexual minorities. She had a year exchange programmes both at Keio University and Waseda University in Japan. She speaks Spanish, German, English and Japanese.

Xue Weng
Deputy Editor-in-Chief, OxForest.org

Introduction

Born in China and raised in Japan, Xue is currently a Research Fellow with the Value Chains, Finance and Investment team at the Center of International Forestry Research (CIFOR). Based in Nairobi and work on projects across Eastern and Western Africa.

Prior to joining CIFOR, Xue worked for the Natural Resources Group of the International Institute of Environment and Development (IIED; London, UK) where she managed multi-stakeholder platforms and research collaboration projects in China, Cameroon, Uganda, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Tanzania, Mozambique, Zambia and Zimbabwe. She holds a Bachelor of Arts (BA) in International Politics and Economics from Middlebury College (U.S.), Master of Science (MSc) in Environmental Change and Management from the Environmental Change Institute (ECI), University of Oxford (U.K.) and is currently a PhD candidate at University of Freiburg (Germany). She was born in Liaoning, China, spent her childhood in Fukuoka, Japan. Supported by a Keidanren-United World College scholarship, she left Japan at the age of 16 and attended Pearson College UWC in Canada for her high school. She currently lives in Nairobi with her 1-year old son Taiyo and husband Jakob whose work on grass-roots regenerative farming  inspires her on a daily basis.

Gonzalo Griebenow
Expert Team, OxForest.org

Introduction

Born in Peru, Gonzalo is currently a regional advisor for Latin America and the Caribbean at the World Food Programme (WFP; 2020 Nobel Peace Prize laureate), United Nations. He is a PhD candidate at the Environmental Change Institute (ECI), University of Oxford. Prior to this, he received a Master of Environmental Management from Yale University’s School of Forestry & Environmental Studies, and a Master of Environmental Science from Universidad Nacional Agraria La Molina in Peru.

Gonzalo has worked for several international organizations including the World Bank Group (WBG), Global Environment Facility (GEF) and Inter-American Development Bank (IDB).

At the World Bank, Gonzalo played a crucial role on the Technical Advisory Panel for the Forest Carbon Partnership Facility (FCPF). With the IDB, he worked on the Gender and Diversity Team to support the financial mechanism of Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and forest Degradation (REDD+) and indigenous people, as well as vulnerability and adaptation on Green Climate Fund projects in the capacity of a climate change cosultant. At the GEF, he worked on the evaluation of climate change adaptation and mitigation.

Jose Luis Ramirez-Mendiola, PhD
Expert Team, OxForest.org

Introduction

Born in Mexico, Jose Luis is a Postdoctoral Research Fellow on Flexibility in Energy Demand at the University of Reading. His work focuses on the analysis of the temporal dynamics of energy consumption patterns in relation to people’s engagement in the different activities that encompass their everyday lives. Prior to this, he got a DPhil in Energy Research with the Lower Carbon Futures programme at the Environmental Change Institute (ECI), University of Oxford.

Miguel Lino Ferreira
Expert Team, OxForest.org

Introduction

Born in Portugal, Miguel Lino is a Consultant for the World Bank. He is a PhD candidate at the University of Cape Town (South Africa). Prior to this, he received an MSt from the University of Oxford (UK).

Mukhlish Jamal Musa Holle
Expert Team, OxForest.org

Introduction

Born in Indonesia, Mukhlish Jamal Musa Holle is currently enrolled as a PhD student at Department of Zoology (CERO), University of Oxford, UK. Beforehand, he has obtained an MEnvSc in Biosphere Science from Hokkaido University, Japan and a BSc in Biology from Gadjah Mada University, Indonesia. Professionally, he is working as a teaching staff in Ecology and Conservation at Gadjah Mada University Indonesia (2017-present) and as a researcher at Research Centre for Climate Change, University of Indonesia (2020). To bridge academia into conservation initiatives, Jamal has co-founded an Indonesia-based conservation NGO KONKLUSI which focuses on the conservation of neglected endangered species. Interested in tropical ecology, Jamal has conducted a broad range of ecological research, from urban ecology, wildlife ecology, to the tropical forest community ecology.

Prajwal Baral
Expert Team, OxForest.org

Introduction

Born in Nepal, Prajwal Baral is a specialist in sustainable finance and clean technology. Prajwal has worked for several public and private sector institutions including the World Bank Group (WBG), Development Bank of Singapore (DBS), the World Trade Organization (WTO), the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO), UN Environment (UNEP) Inquiry into the Design of a Sustainable Financial System, C40 Cities Finance Facility (CFF), Climate-KIC (the EU’s main climate innovation initiative), the World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF) and the Korean Government on issues ranging from climate change, clean technology and sustainable finance to trade in energy. At Korea Technology Finance Corporation (KOTEC), Prajwal played a crucial role in setting up a financing facility for climate technologies, backed by a tailored technology rating and valuation system. With DBS Bank, Prajwal did the first quantification of the green finance opportunities across the South East Asia Region. At the World Bank, Prajwal works on carbon pricing in Sri Lanka and Vietnam in the capacity of a consultant.

Prajwal has authored numerous papers and book chapters that cover topical issues in infrastructure and development finance, international trade, energy and climate change. His work has been cited by the likes of G7 Members, sitting Government Ministers and Senators, senior management at Central Banks, popular print media, academic researchers and others. He has an academic background in engineering from Maulana Azad National Institute of Technology (India) and Environmental Change and Management from the Environmental Change Institute (ECI), University of Oxford (UK).

Saher Hasnain, PhD
Expert Team, OxForest.org

Introduction

Born in Pakistan, Saher Hasnain is the Research and Community of Practice Coordinator for the Foresight4Food Initiative based at the University of Oxford’s Environmental Change Institute (ECI). With the Foresight4Food Initiative, she is focused on developing a mechanism to better understand and synthesize key trends and possible futures in global food systems and to support informed and strategic decision making between food systems stakeholders.

Formally trained as an environmental scientist, she has conducted research on food systems and environmental health in urban areas. For her doctoral research at Oxford, she examined the influence of factors like energy system disruption, urban design, and regional and global food system transformation on food environments in urban Pakistan. She has also been involved with the Interdisciplinary Food Systems Teaching and Learning programme (IFSTAL), where she collaborated with colleagues from the IFSTAL consortium to help equip students with the critical interdisciplinary systems thinking needed to re-orient food systems.

Saher has previously worked on exploring environmental health issues through photovoice and mapping at the University of Pennsylvania, and the development of national energy management cultures at Bahria University, Pakistan.