Speaker Biographies
Charles Russell, Lecturer, Centre for Climate Justice
Dr Charles Russell has extensive experience in the measurement, reporting and management of greenhouse gases inventories and policies, strategy, technology and behaviour change based solutions for reducing greenhouse gas emissions.
He has developed carbon management tools for local authorities and companies in a wide range of sectors from, agriculture & forestry, food & drink, construction and waste management and is interested in tools to support the Circular Economy. Dr Russell has also has delivered a successful project for the Scottish Government on the sustainable and environmentally friendly solution for brewing process.
Karen Ridgewell ARB, Senior Design Officer, Architecture & Design Scotland
Karen Ridgewell ARB is a multi-disciplined built environment professional currently working with Architecture & Design Scotland as part of the Place Planning for Decarbonisation Team. The pilot project is supporting Local Authorities through the planning system to include carbon reduction and climate adaptation into spatial plans, development strategies and project briefs.
Over the last 20 years, she has worked within Architectural Practice, a Main Contractor and a national Active Travel charity on projects across the UK. Her observations about the impact of the built environment led her to recently complete an MSc in Sustainability and Adaptation Planning at the Centre for Alternative Technology, focusing her research on what 'Sustainability Means to Construction Professionals. Are they Equipped for the Transformation Required to Operate within a Low Carbon Society?'.
Dr. Francesco Pomponi, Associate Professor, Edinburgh Napier University
Dr. Francesco Pomponi is Associate Professor at Edinburgh Napier University. An interdisciplinary engineer by training, with a PhD in Life Cycle Assessment and Environmental Sustainability, he has over 10 years' professional experience with buildings and construction. His research expertise sits with life cycle and environmental impact assessment, circular economy, resource efficiency, embodied and whole-life carbon, and measurement, management and mitigation of the impacts of the built environment on the natural environment. He has authored over 60 peer-reviewed international publications, and secured grants from the Royal Academy of Engineering, the UK's Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC), and the EU.
Francesco created and lead the Resource Efficient Built Environment Lab (REBEL). Before joining Edinburgh Napier, he worked from 2015-2017 at the University of Cambridge Centre for Sustainable Development as postdoctoral research associate on projects funded by the EPSRC, Innovate UK, and the Newton Trust. He also worked as Visiting Researcher at Cranfield University on the EU FP7 CO3 project. Francesco is a Fellow of the RSA of the HEA, and a member of the IET and the International Society for Industrial Ecology.
Sally Vivian, Technical Director, Business Sustainability, AECOM
Sally Vivian is Technical Director, Business Sustainability at AECOM. She has over 30 years’ experience providing environmental and sustainability management services to private and public sector companies.
AECOM is a leading infrastructure firm, delivering professional services throughout the project lifecycle: planners, designers, engineers, consultants and construction managers “driven by a common purpose to deliver a better world”. AECOM ranked #1 in Transportation and General Building in Engineering News-Record’s 2019 “Top 500 Design Firms”.
The team that Sally leads develops business focused sustainability solutions with a pragmatic approach to problem solving and project delivery, working across a range of business and infrastructure sectors. A key focus over the past 15 years has been helping clients to identify, manage, measure and report on their sustainability impacts and performance both within their own operations as well as the broader value chain. Through this she has practical experience of conducting and using the outcomes of product footprinting and lifecycle assessments.
Sam Foster, Architect, Sam Foster Architects
Architect Sam Foster originally qualified in 2005 and worked with leading ecological design practice Gaia Architects before setting up his own practice in 2011. He has worked on a wide variety of cutting-edge ecological design projects across the UK including new private houses, primary schools, cultural, community and tourism projects with a value between £30k - £8.5m. His experience includes delivery of lectures and presentations on the subject of ecological building design to universities, local authorities and professional organisations.
Sam’s experience and interest has focused specifically on the design and refurbishment of buildings to be extremely energy efficient, that are a joy to occupy, that have a positive visual and ecological impact on their immediate context, and that are built from low-carbon materials that are known to be non-toxic to human and animal health.
He is currently working with Rural Housing Scotland to help deliver an affordable housing project in rural Aberdeenshire, and also works part time at Heriot-Watt University as Associate Professor on a competition project to design and build a solar-powered house for this year’s ‘Solar Decathlon’ in Dubai.
Scott Simpson, CEO, IndiNature
Scott is the CEO of IndiNature, a Scottish company manufacturing plant-based construction insulation called IndiTherm made with local crops and biotech materials. IndiTherm has a net storage of cradle-to-gate carbon as evidenced in a full LCA, uses no plastics and can be reprocessed or composted at end of life. Scott has an MSc in sustainable architecture from the Centre for Alternative Technology and is an alumni of the Climate KIC business accelerator in residence at the Edinburgh Centre for Carbon Innovation.
You can visit the company’s demonstration cabin made with their insulation outside ECCI. The company has won several business awards including Best Circular Economy Initiative and placed in the Top 6 of European Cleantech Startups. IndiNature is setting up a high capacity manufacturing facility in 2020.