Board and Past Socio-Scientific Committees

The Advisory Board
It has the task of evaluating the candidates, guiding the reflection and debate of the Network, supporting the Secretary-General.
The Board supports and develops the Network, promotes the Congress, stimulates the debate among the members by proposing themes and documents.

It is composed by:

Mario Salomone

Mario Salomone

The Secretary-General of the WEEC.

The office of Secretary-General is voluntary.

Mario Salomone has a master degree in Theoretical Philosophy. He is an environmental sociologist, former university professor at the University of Bergamo and Milano (IULM), he teaches Environmental sociology at the University of Milan Bicocca and Turin. He is also journalist, lecturer in hundreds of conferences, author or co-author of handbooks, papers and book chapters on environmental education, environmental communication, ecological economics and other environmental issues, and writer of novels and tales.

Main Scientific committees, offices and affiliations (past or present)

Centr’ERE – Centre de recherche en éducation et formation relatives à l’environnement et à l’écocitoyenneté, UQAM (Université du Québec à Montréal).
President of the Italian Federation of Environmental Media (FIMA) since the beginning until 2017.
Founding member of the IECA (International Environmental Communication Association).
Scientific committee of MASP Master at University of Torino (Italy).
International Sociological Association (ISA, RC 24 and 26).
European Sociological Association (ESA).
Associazione Italiana di Sociologia (AIS) – Sezione Territorio (Italy).
Associazione Italiana per gli studi sulla Qualità della Vita (AIQUAV) (Italy).
MAHB (Millennium Alliance for Humanity and the Biosphere, Stanford University- USA).
International Environmental Communication Association (IECA).
Scientific Committee of Center for Environmental Ethics – Bergamo (Italy).
National UNESCO Scientific Committee of United Nations Decades of Education for Sustainable Development (UN-DESD 2005-2014) (Italy).
Board of Aurelio Peccei Foundation (Italian section of Club of Rome).
International Task Force on Education for Sustainable Consumption – UN Marrakesh Process.

Nouzha Alaoui

Nouzha Alaoui

Secretary General and treasurer of the Mohammed VI Foundation for Environment (Morocco)

Secretary General and treasurer of the Mohammed VI Foundation for Environment (Responsible for the coordination of foundation various programs, for the budget, for institutional communication, for the follow-up of international partners (European Union, FEE, Prince Albert of Monaco Foundation, Issesco), for projects implementation.

Master’s Degree «Sustainable growth and Organizations» UNIVERISTE PARIS DAUPHINE, part of La Sorbonne University, Paris, France. Certificate in Business Excellence «Senior Leaders Program for Nonprofit Professionals» COLUMBIA BUSINESS SCHOOL, New York, United States.

Raquel Fratta

Raquel Fratta

Leads the area of Initiatives for the New Economy at Fundación Moisés Bertoni | NGO in Paraguay

She leads the area of Initiatives for the New Economy at Fundación Moisés Bertoni, and NGO in Paraguay where she focuses in the design and implementation of innovative educational projects to advance young girls education ranging from: renewable energy, STEM, conservation, and sustainability, to initiatives that focus on triple bottom line providing economic, social and environmental value.
She collaborates closely with the government, the private sector and international organizations such us the World Bank, the IDB Group in areas like: social environmental justice, territory development, biodiversity, women economic empowerment and many others.

In 2019, she was recognized by the President of Paraguay, Mario Abdo, as a young women for her initiative in the agro sector in the contest Impulsando a la Juventud Agraria Emprendedora.

She holds a Master in Public Administration from the University of East Tennessee State University, a Bachelor in International Studies from Old Dominion University in Virginia, United States, and a Certificate in Sustainable Development and Environmental Conservation from Queensland University in Australia.

Surat Bualert

Surat Bualert

Dean of the Faculty of Environment at Kasetsart University (Thailand)

Surat Bualert is Dean of the Faculty of Environment at Kasetsart University (Thailand).

Engaged in several research projects, he is an Expert on Training Programs on Air and Noise Quality Modelling.

He holds a Ph.D. on Air Pollution from University of Hertfordshire (United Kingdom), a Master of Science in Environmental Science and a Bachelor in General Science from Kasetsart University.

Edgar Gonzalez-Gaudiano

Edgar Gonzalez-Gaudiano

Senior Research Fellow at the Institute of Researches in Education - Universidad Veracruzana, Mexico.

Edgar J. Gonzalez-Gaudiano is Senior Research Fellow at the Institute of Researches in Education, at the Universidad Veracruzana, Mexico,where he leads the research line of environmental education for sustainability. A member of the Commission of Education and Communication of IUCN and former Regional President for Mesoamerica (2001-2006). He has been member of Board of Directors at the North American Association for Environmental Education (NAAEE) (1992-1997). He also worked with WWF and the UNESCO in projects related to national strategies for environmental education. He is also a member of National System of Researchers in Mexico (level III). He has written twenty-two books and more than 100 articles in several specialized journals in the field of environmental education. He is a Latin American liaison person and was a member of the UNESCO Group of Reference for the UN Decade of Education for Sustainable Development (2005-2014).

He is a member of the Mexican Academy of Sciences. He has received a number of awards: The National Award to Ecological Merit (2004), in the scholar category and the UANL Award of Research in Humanities (2007). His current research focus is on social representations of climate change, vulnerability, risk and social resilience.

Cam Mackenzie

Cam Mackenzie

Amaroo Environmental Education Centre and Australian Association of Environment Education - Australia

Cam Mackenzie is currently principal of the Amaroo Environmental Education Centre – Queensland, Australia and is currently Vice President and past Treasurer of the Australian Association of Environment Education. He is also the current President of the Darling Downs Environment Council. He has been involved in environmental education since 1980 and has been a principal advisor – environmental sustainability for the Department of Education and Training in Queensland. He represented Australia on the Environment and Schools Initiative, a network of environmental educators based in Europe and the Global Environmental Education Partnership, and the Queensland representative on the National Environmental Education Council, National Environmental Education Network and Australian Sustainable Schools Initiative working group. He was the co-convenor of the WEEC 2011 in Brisbane and has attended the WEEC 2007 in Durban, South Africa and WEEC 2015 in Gothenburg, Sweden. Cam is a judge for the Queensland Premier’s Sustainability and Australian Banksia Foundation Environmental Awards. In 2011 he was awarded the Queensland Government’s Australia Day Medal for his service to environmental education in Queensland as well as Environmental Educator of the Year Award from the Australian Association for Environmental Education.

David Orr

David Orr

David W. Orr is Paul Sears Distinguished Professor of Environmental Studies and Politics and senior adviser to the president of Oberlin College (USA)

David W. Orr is Paul Sears Distinguished Professor of Environmental Studies and Politics and senior adviser to the president of Oberlin College. He is a founding editor of the journal Solutions, and serves as the executive director of the Oberlin Project, a collaborative effort of the city of Oberlin, Oberlin College, and private and institutional partners to improve the resilience, prosperity, and sustainability of Oberlin.

Orr is the author of seven books, including Down to the Wire: Confronting Climate Collapse (Oxford, 2009) and coeditor of three others. He has authored nearly 200 articles, reviews, book chapters, and professional publications.

In the past 25 years, he has served as a board member or advisor to eight foundations and on the boards of many organizations, including the Rocky Mountain Institute and the Aldo Leopold Foundation. Currently he is a trustee of the Bioneers, the Alliance for Sustainable Colorado, and the Worldwatch Institute.

He has been awarded seven honorary degrees and a dozen other awards including a Lyndhurst Prize, a National Achievement Award from the National Wildlife Federation, and a Visionary Leadership Award from Second Nature. Orr is a frequent lecturer at colleges and universities throughout the United States, Europe, and Asia.

While at Oberlin, he spearheaded the effort to design, fund, and build the Adam Joseph Lewis Center, which was named by an AIA panel in 2010 as “the most important green building of the past 30 years,” and as “one of 30 milestone buildings of the twentieth century” by the U.S. Department of Energy.

Thakur S. Powdyel

Thakur S. Powdyel

Thakur S Powdyel is an educator by choice, conviction and passion (Bhutan)

Thakur S Powdyel is an educator by choice, conviction and passion. As the country’s first democratically elected Minister of Education, he moved Bhutan towards fulfilling the MDGs and the country’s constitutional mandate for education. His major interests include institutional integrity, national self-respect, moral literacy and gross national happiness.

Powdyel’s vision of holistic education as expressed in My Green School has been translated into several languages. He is a recipient of the Gusi Peace Prize, the Global Education Award, and the Distinguished Service Award for his pioneering work in Education as well as the Coronation Gold Medal 2008 and the Institutional Award: The Honour of Druk Thuksey 2012.

Thakur S Powdyel invested his public office with a rare and chastening quality of integrity, service and selflessness in the evolving Bhutanese democratic landscape in honour of his country and fellow-citizens, born of his deeply-held beliefs and convictions. Professor Powdyel was often described as the most widely foot-travelled education minister in the world.

Ingrid Pramling Samuelsson

Ingrid Pramling Samuelsson

Professor in Early Childhood Education, and holds an UNESCO chair in ECE and Sustainable Development (Sweden)

Ingrid Pramling Samuelsson is professor in Early Childhood Education, and holds an UNESCO chair in ECE and Sustainable Development.

She is the immediate past world president of OMEP (Organisation Mondiale pour l’Education Presolare).

Her main research area is young children’s learning and well as conditions for learning in early years.

Lucie Sauvé

Lucie Sauvé

Director of the Centr’ERE research center and professor at UQAM – Canada

Lucie Sauvé is professor at the Faculty of Education of the Université du Québec à Montréal (UQAM), Canada, and director of the Centr’ERE research center – Centre de recherche en éducation et formation relative à l’environnement et à l’écocitoyenneté. Professor Sauvé is the founder and co-responsible of the UQAM postgraduate program in environmental education. She is co-founder and director of the international research journal Éducation relative à l’environnement – Regards, Recherches, Réflexions. Lucie Sauvé has a strong experience of international cooperation projects in Latin America (Amazonian region) and won in this context two excellence awards. Her current research focuses on environmental health education (agriculture, food and water issues), energy education, ecocitizenship education and environmental educators’ and community leaders’ professional development.
She received an honorary Ph.D. from the Universidad Veracruzana in Mexico, in 2015, as recognition of her deep involvement as a researcher in ecosocial movements aiming to address crucial environmental issues.

Pedro Vega Marcote

Pedro Vega Marcote

Professor in the Faculty of Educational Sciences at the University of A Coruña (Spain)

He is a full Professor in the Faculty of Educational Sciences at the University of A Coruña.

Currently his research interests focus on the field of: Teacher training in Environmental Education and Sustainable Development, the Ecological Footprint and reduction of emissions of Greenhouse Gases, the implementation of Agenda 21 at the University and Municipalities (A21L) and in Experimental Science Teaching.

Étienne van Steenberghe

Étienne van Steenberghe

Associate Professor Centre de recherche en éducation et formation relatives à l’environnement et à l’écocitoyenneté (Centr’ERE) Université du Québec à Montréal (Canada)

Member of the 11th Weec Congress Scientific Committee
Sherbrooke, Québec, Canada
Associate Professor
Centre de recherche en éducation et formation relatives à l’environnement et à l’écocitoyenneté (Centr’ERE)
Université du Québec à Montréal

Doctor in Education and Public Health from the Université du Québec à Montréal and the Université de Louvain, Étienne van Steenberghe is currently the Editor-in-Chief of the research Journal Éducation relative à l’environnement : Regards – Recherches – Réflexions. While working for the journal, he developed an editorial expertise and a critical approach to peer review process.

His research interests include issues of health territoriality in an ethnographic approach, socio-environmental health inequalities, health promotion and environmental health education.

His doctoral research focused on social representations of the links between health and the environment for disadvantaged populations in urban areas.

David Zandvliet

David Zandvliet

Associate Professor at Simon Fraser University (Vancouver, Canada) and Director of the Institute for Environmental Learning

David Zandvliet is an Associate Professor at Simon Fraser University (Vancouver, Canada) and Director of the Institute for Environmental Learning. He holds additional appointments as the Faculty teaching fellow for Faculty of Environment (SFU) and is an Adjunct Research Fellow at Universitas Sam Ratulangi (Indonesia).

An experienced teacher and researcher, he has published numerous articles in international journals and presented refereed conference papers on six continents and in over 15 countries. His career interests lie in the areas of science, technology and environmental education.

As a former director of the Faculty’s Centre for Educational Technology, he has considerable experience in the design and evaluation of classrooms and in the provision of teacher professional development. He has conducted research and development on learning environments in Australia, Canada, Indonesia, Malaysia, Sri Lanka and Taiwan.

Yolanda Ziaka

Yolanda Ziaka

Economist, PhD in Environmental Education and Master in Visual Arts and Art Sciences (Greece)

Yolanda Ziaka is Economist, PhD in Environmental Education and Master in Visual Arts and Art Sciences. Based in Greece, she has been coordinating, since 1994, numerous international projects on Environmental Education and Communication and has been involved in various research and action networks and civil society organizations.

She is the author / co-author and editor of several books and articles on Environmental Education, pedagogy, and art issues. Her research focuses on the popularization of environmental concepts and processes through the development of communication tools, addressed to diverse target groups