Lecturers

Academic Director

Lecturers

Edson Krenak

Our summer school will be kicked off by indigenous scholar Edson Krenak. His lecture titled ‘Ancestral Future’ will examine the potential of Indigenous perspectives in addressing the contemporary polycrisis.

Edson is an Indigenous activist, scholar, and writer. He is currently a doctoral candidate, completing his degree in legal anthropology, at the University of Vienna, Austria. In 2019, Edson Krenak assumed the position of Indigenous Rights Advocacy Coordinator at the U.S.-based Indigenous rights non-profit, Cultural Survival (CS). Today he manages the Brazil program of the organization and is part of the executive committee of the SIRGE Coalition. He is a member-at-large of the SALSA Board (The Society for the Anthropology of Lowland South America) for 2024–2027, and the GTMI (Global Tailings Management Institute).

Rami Zurayk

Dr. Rami Zurayk is a professor at the Maroun Semaan Faculty of Engineering and Architecture at the American University of Beirut, Landscape Design and Ecosystem Management Department. He served as an expert at the Committee of World Food Security and at the EAT-Lancet commission on sustainable diets from sustainable food systems. He has worked and written extensively on the Arab World, focusing on the political ecology of Arab food security and its linkages with the agrarian question.

Rami’s scholarship combines life-long study of traditional agricultural practices in the Arab World with socioecological systemic perspective. His seminar is going to explore the effects of subsumption of traditional food systems in Levant under the Western economic paradigm. How did it influence the socioecological systems in Levant and what lessons can the traditional ecological knowledge in Levant offer to the World on the way toward sustainability?

Romana Jungwirth Březovská

Romana Jungwirth Březovská is a climate analyst at AMO klima, focusing on climate change in a broader context, with a particular emphasis on global climate negotiations, climate security, climate diplomacy, and just resilience (including gender inequality). 

Romana studied International Relations at Charles University in Prague and International Public Management at Sciences Po in Paris. In 2019 and 2020, she represented the Czech Republic at international climate negotiations.

Simon Holmström

Simon Holmström is a Senior Deep-Sea Mining Policy Officer at the Brussels-based marine protection umbrella organisation Seas At Risk, working at the intersection of EU policy and global ocean governance to advocate for a just and sustainable ocean for future generations. As a former Member of Parliament and Nordic Council delegate, he advanced multiple proposals to protect nature and climate.

The deep sea is an emerging frontier of mineral exploration aimed at meeting growing metal demand. In his seminar, Simon will examine the ecological, social, and financial risks to largely unexplored marine ecosystems, the scientific uncertainties, and the geopolitical and economic forces shaping the industry. He will invite critical reflection on whether deep-sea exploitation can align with sustainability and precaution.

Drawing on his background in environmental psychology, Simon will also lead an interactive skill-building workshop on effective communication in contested policy debates. Participants will explore how values shape political positions and test advocacy strategies through a role-play simulating real-world decision-making.

Diego Marin

Diego Marin is a Senior Policy Officer for Raw Materials and Resource Justice at European Environmental Bureau. He holds a Masters in International Development with a specialization in Political Strategy and Communication from the University of Kent, Brussels School of International Studies. During his academic career, Diego mainly focused on environmental issues, indigenous rights, and poverty alleviation.

Diego returns to the summer school after delivering a highly informative and popular seminar two years ago. In this edition, Diego is going to present on the environmental and social impacts of mining for transition materials, especially in the so-called Global South. How (if at all) can the public interest in securing critical raw materials be balanced against the interest in protecting communities, natural habitats and water resources in the extraction sites and who gets to decide on this question in practice?