Professor Daniella Tilbury
Chair
Daniella Tilbury is a change-maker, policy expert and academic leader in sustainable development credited with having developed the initial frameworks for education in this field. She has acted as a policy advisor to national government agencies in Europe, Latin America and Oceania as well as travelled extensively in Africa and Asia to evaluate the investment and impact of programs in the area of sustainable development. Her early doctoral work, on frameworks for sustainable development, undertaken at the University of Cambridge, led to UN policy advisory roles and to her Chairing several UN Committees (1995 -2015).
Daniella was a member of the Board of WWF Australia that brought Earth Hour to the World in 2007 and has been actively involved in international initiatives that inspire transitions towards sustainability and climate positive futures. Her 2020 ‘Today4Tomorrow’ and ‘The Future Makers’ initiative is focused on embedding intergenerational rights and sustainability learning in public policy.
Daniella is an expert adviser to the European Commission providing policy support on educational responses to the Green Deal. She also advises the UK government on matters relating to its education and climate change strategy as well as a Parliament bill on future generations. Daniella is currently the UK government’s representative on the UN Economic Commission for Europe on matters relating to education and learning for sustainability. She remains a policy consultant to UNESCO and has developed think pieces, expert reviews, policy frameworks and sector evaluations and has been invited by the UN Secretary General as facilitator of key dialogues at the High-Level Political Forum in New York (2021).
Daniella has given keynote addresses at international conferences across the globe. Recent interventions saw her as the convener of the CoP26 Presidential event on education for climate (UK and Italian Governments Nov 2021); a leading speaker at the European Forum on Science and Education for Sustainability– the conference that marked the start of the German Presidency of the EU Council (Oct 2020); and, the UNESCO World Conference on Education for Sustainability (June 2021).
Before becoming Gibraltar’s first Commissioner for Sustainable Development and Future Generations in 2018, she was the inaugural President and CEO of the University of Gibraltar an institution committed to sustainable development. Previously, she held research positions in Australia, UK and Hong Kong. Her work in sustainability has been recognised with over 18 awards for her leadership work. She has over 100 refereed publications and is one of the most highly cited academics in the field of sustainable futures and education.
Daniella is an Honorary Fellow of St Catharine’s College, Cambridge. Last year, she received a Doctor Honoris Causa by the University of Girona for her scientific and social contributions to sustainable development.