Dr Rebecca Huntley is one of Australia’s foremost researchers on social trends.  She holds degrees in law and film studies and a PhD in Gender Studies.  She has led research at Essential Media and Vox Populi and was a director at Ipsos Australia. For a number of years, she ran her own research and consultancy firm working closely with climate and environment NGOs, government and business on climate change strategy and communication. She is now Director of Research at the agency 89DegreesEast. Author of numerous books including How to Talk About Climate Change in a Way that Makes a Difference (Murdoch books, 2020), Rebecca was also a broadcaster with the ABC’s RN and presented The History Listen and Drive on a Friday. She writes regularly for The Monthly and Australian Traveller Magazine and has written op eds for The Guardian and The SMH. She is the Chair of the Advisory Board of Australian Parents for Climate Action. She is a member of the Advisory Group for the Climate Solutions Centre at the Australian Museum and the Sydney Environment Institute. She has held board positions on the board of The Bell Shakespeare Company, The Whitlam Institute and The Dusseldorp Forum. She was an adjunct senior lecturer at the School of Social Sciences at The University of New South Wales. She is a registered Commonwealth marriage celebrant. She is the mother of three girls and lives in Sydney.

Alessandra Mazzai is a communication officer at the CMCC Foundation – Euro-Mediterranean Center on Climate Change, where she writes for the digital magazine Climate Foresight and carries on climate science communication and outreach activities. She coordinates the CMCC Climate Change Communication Award “Rebecca Ballestra”. She has experience in coordinating communication activities for EU H2020 projects and in events/webinars management. From 2012 to 2017, she was responsible for communication and external relations at the International Center for Climate Governance (ICCG) and project manager at the CMCC Foundation. Previously, she worked at the Fund-Raising Office of Fondazione Eni Enrico Mattei (FEEM). She coauthored the books “Il clima che cambia. Non solo un problema ambientale” (Il Mulino, 2015) and “Gli impatti dei cambiamenti climatici in Italia. Fotografie dal presente per capire il futuro” (Edizioni Ca’Foscari, 2017). She has a Master in Environmental and Energy Economics and Management (MEMAE, 2009) from Bocconi University and a Master’s Degree in Communication Strategies from the University of Padua (2013).