Meet our Challenge Leads

Our six Challenge Leads steer the activity and focus for each 'future' they represent.

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  Professor Jennifer O'Brien

  Inspired and Informed Futures Challenge Lead 

  Jen is an Academic Lead for Sustainability Teaching and Learning at The University of Manchester, Principal Fellow of Advance HE and an Inaugural Fellow of the Manchester Institute of Teaching and Learning.

  Find out more about the Inspired and Informed Futures Challenge Area

• 

  Dr Claudia Henninger

  Resourceful Futures Challenge Lead 

  Claudia is a Reader in Fashion Marketing Management and teaches a number of units at BSc and MSc level in the Department of Materials relating to fashion marketing, online marketing, consumer behaviour, and sustainability.

  Find out more about the Resourceful Futures Challenge Area

• 

  Dr Andrew Welfle

  Net Zero Futures Challenge Lead 

  Andrew is a Senior Research Fellow in the Tyndall Centre for Climate Change Research within the Department of MACE. He has a background and interests in environmental, energy and engineering themes, and a strong track record undertaking sustainability, climate change and bioenergy research through developing modelling toolkits and analysis methodologies. 

  Find out more about the Net Zero Futures Challenge Area

• 

  Dr Timothy Foster

  Resilient Futures Challenge Lead 

  Tim is a Senior Lecturer Water and Food Security. He leads the Agriculture, Water and Climate Research Group within the Department of Mechanical, Aerospace and Civil Engineering. He is affiliated with the Global Development Institute, and leads the Water theme for the Manchester Environmental Research Institute (MERI). 

  Find out more about the Resilient Futures Challenge Area

• 

  Professor Holly Shiels

  Healthy Futures Challenge Lead 

  Holly is a Professor of Integrative Physiology at The University of Manchester. Her research focuses on cardiac physiology in ectotherms and the mechanisms which maintain or adjust heart function in a changing environment. 

  Find out more about the Healthy Futures Challenge Area

• 

  Dr Charis Enns

  Inclusive and Prosperous Futures Challenge Lead 

  Charis is a Presidential Fellow in Socio-Environmental Systems at the Global Development Institute. Her research interests sit at the intersection of critical development studies, human geography, and political ecology with a regional focus on countries in East and Central Africa.

  Find out more about the Inclusive and Prosperous Futures Challenge Area