GLF 2015 » Meet our fabulous judges

Meet our 2015 photo competition judges

Nathan Dappen

Nate Dappen is a biologist and an award-winning photographer and film-maker. His images, films, books and other projects have been featured by organizations like National Geographic, The Washington Post, Scientific American, The World Wildlife Fund, The Smithsonian Channel and many others. Nate was a Collegiate Scholar of the North American Nature Photography Association, is a Fellow National Member of the Explorers Club and is an Affiliate Member of the International League of Conservation Photographers. He graduated from the University of Colorado Boulder in 2005 where he studied photography and biology. In 2012, he got his PhD in evolutionary biology and behavioural ecology from the University of Miami, FL. Along with Dr. Neil Losin, Nate founded Day’s Edge Productions where they focus on creating media about science, nature, conservation and adventure themed stories.

To find out more about Nate, visit his personal website (www.natedappen.com), his production company website (www.daysedge.com) or see what he has been up to on Facebook (https://www.facebook.com/Days-Edge-Productions-132249730176458/?ref=bookmarks)

Dan Lert

Dan Lert is Deputy-Mayor of the 19th district of Paris, in charge of environment, sustainable development, renovation and energy retrofits for housing, and of nature in the city. He is particularly interested in urban agriculture and adaptation of cities to climate change.

Susan Onyango

Susan Onyango is communications generalist with over 13 year’s experience in the development, research and humanitarian sectors. She has worked with several professional photographers on assignments in 10 countries in Africa, ranging from agriculture, water and renewable energy projects to humanitarian assistance initiatives.

Susan is currently the communications specialist for climate change at the World Agroforestry Centre (ICRAF) and is based at the headquarters in Nairobi, Kenya. She promotes ICRAF’s work on climate change, writes blogs and provides communication advice and support to scientists. Susan holds a MA communication studies and a BA in English. Twitter: @susanonyango

Eko Prianto

Eko is Head of Graphic Design at the Center for International Forestry Research (CIFOR). He leads the design development and production of CIFOR’s highest level corporate communication products for external audiences, developing a compelling and consistent visual identity for CIFOR and applying it across media channels. Additionally, he is also a professional photographer and leads CIFOR's online photo gallery collections.

Pilar Valbuena

Pilar is an environmental professional with more than 14 years of experience in several fields (research, education, climate change and engineering). Formed as a Forestry engineer, her professional experience in the last eight years has focused on the field of International Cooperation as responsible for Knowledge Management and Communications for the International Area of the Cesefor Foundation (www.cesefor.com). She currently works as an International Forest communication consultant for the Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ)  in the MENA region in the context of the Collaborative Partnership for the Mediterranean Forests, supporting forest administrations on reinforcement of capacities about communication.

A skilled photographer, Pilar has many photographs published in Mediterranean Forests technical documents (for example, the «State of Mediterranean Forest 2013» by FAO) and she has been the main photographer of the last Forest Mediterranean Weeks.

In addition to her professional activity she is working on her PhD in governance and landscape level approaches and collaboration with the Instituto Universitario de Investigación en Gestión Forestal Sostenible (IUGFS) (http://sostenible2.palencia.uva.es).

Very active in social networks.

Her professional account in linkedIn is https://es.linkedin.com/pub/pilar-valbuena-perez/30/98/a66