• Founder of the James Michel Foundation
• Ocean Ambassador, Pew-Bertarelli Ocean Legacy Project

Award: 2019 National Geographic Planetary Leadership Award (Shared)

James is the former President of the Republic of Seychelles. He is Ocean Ambassador, Pew-Bertarelli Ocean Legacy Project and Member of the Advisory Board, Geo-Blue Planet. He is Chancellor of the University of Seychelles and Patron of the globally focussed Blue Economy Research Institute. Author: Rethinking the Oceans: Towards the Blue Economy. James is Founder of the James Michel Foundation – to find out more click the video link below..

• Professor of Marine Science, University of Queensland 
• Lead author: Oceans chapter, IPCC Fifth Report

Award: Australian Research Council Laureate

Ove was Inaugural Director of the Global Change Institute (GCI), University of Queensland. He is also Professor of Marine Science and Program Director: Healthy Oceans, UQ. He was Lead author: Oceans chapter, IPCC Fifth Report. He holds an Australian Research Council Laureate Fellowship and was recently named as one of the world’s 100 most influential people in climate policy for 2019.

• Professor: International Centre of Rock Art Dating, Hebei Normal University, China.

Robert is a Professor at the International Centre of Rock Art Dating, China. He is an Australian prehistorian and cognitive archaeologist. He has published numerous books and scientific articles.  Robert discovered the oldest known rock art in the world and the first Paleolithic art in China. He took voyages in primitive rafts to research Pleistocene sailors and published: The First Mariners.

• Fellow and former President of the Australian Academy of the Humanities
• Professor Emeritus of the University of Sydney

Iain is a Fellow and former President of the Australian Academy of the Humanities, and a Fellow of three other Learned Academies in Australia and Britain, and is a Professor Emeritus of the University of Sydney and the Australian National University. He was Director of the Humanities Research Centre at the Australian National University, Canberra, and has written and edited more than fourteen books and numerous articles. He has also been an historical consultant and narrator for a several BBC, ABC and commercial TV and film documentaries. His latest book, The Reef – A Passionate History, from Captain Cook to Climate Change, was published in Australia and the USA. Read more here. 

• Former Country Director: The Nature Conservancy Australia

Rich is Director of a global environmental conservation organisation. His focus is on finding solutions for environmental challenges created by climate change. Rich is an alumnus of both the Cambridge University Business and Environment Program and the Harvard Club of Australia. He is a Member of the Institute of Company Directors and a Board Member of the US-based NGO Mangrove Action Project.