IIED Europe appoints first development director
Alexandre Fernandes has been appointed as the new development director at IIED Europe. As its first full-time director, he will provide leadership to further European Union research on issues of climate, sustainability and justice.
New IIED Europe development director Alexandre Fernandes (Photo: Alexandre Fernandes/IIED)
IIED Europe is delighted to welcome Alexandre Fernandes as its new development director. He will establish IIED Europe, growing the team based in Amsterdam, as well as leading collaborative initiatives to further major European research and innovation programmes.
Tom Bigg, interim director of IIED Europe, said: “We are delighted to welcome Alex to the IIED family to establish IIED Europe over the coming year as a new voice in the European Union on issues of climate, sustainability and justice.”
Fernandes brings a wealth of experience from previous roles based in academic institutions, government agencies and intergovernmental initiatives on climate, biodiversity, water and oceans. With a PhD in biomedical sciences, he is passionate about providing knowledge and solutions for effective climate action and sustainable development, especially for communities and Majority World countries vulnerable to climate change.
For the last eight years, Fernandes has been the senior science officer at the secretariat of the Joint Programming Initiative "Connecting Climate Knowledge for Europe" (JPI Climate), a pan-European intergovernmental initiative gathering European countries to jointly coordinate climate research and fund new transnational research initiatives. He also served as the Belgian focal point for the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) and as a programme committee expert for the Horizon Europe Mission 'Adaptation to Climate Change'.
IIED Europe’s recent work includes the launch of a Global Research Priorities Tracker and joining a consortium of partners on Pathways2Resilience, co-developing pathways towards climate resilience across 150 regions in Europe.
Over the coming months, Fernandes will establish a new team at IIED Europe to work on the Pathways2Resilience programme, and also help establish an EU hub for the Green Economy Coalition.
He can be contacted via alexandre.fernandes@iied-europe.org and you can follow IIED Europe on LinkedIn and on Twitter.
