COP Cafe kick off

COP Cafe, in collaboration with MSc Climate Change Management

Wednesday 12 November, 10:30 -12 noon

Location: ECCI Cafe

As COP 30 gears up in Belém, the Edinburgh Climate Change Institute (ECCI) and the Edinburgh Earth Initiative (EEI) invite students, researchers, and colleagues to engage with the global climate negotiations here in Edinburgh.

Join us for our COP Cafe kick off event on Day 3 of COP 30 - a live, informal panel discussion about international climate action, COP and events unfolding in Belém - featuring MSc Climate Change Management academics and students, climate experts and COP veterans. Coffee and tea provided!

Speakers

• Sasa Wanodyaning Salsabila - Climate Change Management student with an architecture and built environment background. Interested in architecture's role in addressing global issues.
• Howard Mwesigwa, Earth Fellow, environmental lawyer and climate advocate. Howard leads the Climate Action Leadership Incubator Uganda and is steering an innovative programme of initiatives to enhance student engagement with UN climate and environment meetings at the University of Edinburgh.
• Michael Akinsuyi, an MSc Food Security student, programme rep and Mastercard Foundation Scholar at the University of Edinburgh. As a programme manager, he has executed different programmes and projects in rural areas across six States in Nigeria, mostly on solar powered electrification and cold room facility.
• Kadija Kamara, an MSc Climate Finance and Investment student at the University of Edinburgh Business School and Mastercard Foundation Scholar, Kadija is deeply engaged in global climate policy and youth climate diplomacy, recently being contributing to drafting the 2025 Global Youth Statement.
• Chair Dr Adam P Hejnowicz - Programme Director MSc in Climate Change Management

Agenda

• 10:30 – 12 noon: COP Cafe, in collaboration with Climate Change Management MSc Programme
• 12-1:30pm Networking lunch in the ECCI Atrium with students attending the MSc Challenge Workshop

The event is open to CCM MSc students, Mastercard Foundation Scholars, Earth Fellows, climate-focused students and ECCI staff and colleagues. No registration needed – just turn up!

All attendees are invited to a light networking lunch after the event in the ECCI Atrium with students attending the MSc Challenge Workshop.

Speaker biographies

Sasa Wanodyaning Salsabila

Sasa is a Climate Change Management student with an architecture and built environment background. She has worked in sustainable buildings for 2.5 years, has dealt with both residential and non-residential buildings, and is very interested in heritage building conservation. Together with her university friends, she initiated the Yogyakarta Architecture Creative Program to explore architecture's role in addressing the latest global issues, including climate change, economic downturns, and wellbeing.

Howard Mwesigwa

Howard Mwesigwa is an environmental lawyer and climate advocate passionate about advancing equitable and sustainable solutions to the triple planetary crises. He has served as National Coordinator for the Parliamentarians for Climate Finance Project in Uganda, as the Head of the Energy, Environment, and Sustainability Department at Kalikumutima & Co. Advocates and leads the Climate Action Leadership Incubator Uganda, empowering young people to drive community-based climate action.

As an Earth Fellow at the Edinburgh Earth Initiative, Howard is supporting the On-campus and Online Engagement with COP project, which is geared towards enhancing the meaningful participation of students in UN climate and environment meetings, especially the Conference of the Parties.

Michael Akinsuyi

Michael Akinsuyi is an MSc Food Security student, programme representative, and Mastercard Foundation Scholar at the University of Edinburgh. He is a member of Scottish Alliance for Food (SCAF), Scotland Chartered Institution of Wastes Management (CIWM) and a 2025/2026 participant of 2050 Climate Group’s Climate Action Leadership Programme (CALP). He had his bachelor's degree in Agricultural Economics from University of Ilorin, Nigeria. He is interested in natural resources and environmental economics, with a focus on water-energy-food nexus. He has advocated for the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals since 2018. As a programme manager, he has executed different programmes and projects in rural areas across six States in Nigeria, mostly on solar powered electrification and cold room facility.

Kadija Kamara

An MSc Climate Finance and Investment student at the University of Edinburgh Business School, Kadija is deeply engaged in global climate policy and youth climate diplomacy. Kadija currently serves as a research member with the Loss and Damage Youth Coalition (LDYCand is an active participant in YOUNGO, the UNFCCC’s official youth constituency, where they have contributed to policy consultations and advocacy efforts around adaptation and climate finance. Most recently, Kadija was involved in the drafting of the 2025 Global Youth Statement, which synthesizes youth priorities ahead of COP30.

Dr Adam Hejnowicz

Adam is an interdisciplinary social-ecological scientist who has worked at the intersection of environment, development and sustainability issues since 2008. His applied, policy-facing, and transdisciplinary research concerns the sustainability and governance of complex social-ecological systems, and draws on mixed method approaches and plural epistemologies.

Adam has undertaken research in the UK (agri-environment, rural development, and post-Brexit policy), Asia (climate adaptation and governance in Asian mega-deltas in India and Vietnam), sub-Saharan Africa (urban climate resilience and coastal ecosystem services in Kenya, Namibia and Tanzania) and Latin America (biodiversity conservation and community education in Ecuador and Costa Rica).

Throughout his career, Adam’s research has involved engaging with local, regional, and national government agencies, departments and ministries; community-based organizations; local, national and international NGOs as well as multilateral donors and intergovernmental organizations.

Adam read Biochemistry and Biology at the University of Keele, and holds Master’s degrees in Integrative Bioscience from the University of Oxford and Ecology and Environmental Management from the University of York. He holds a PhD in Environmental Economics and Environmental Management also from the University of York. Prior to joining the University of Edinburgh, he held postdoctoral positions at the Universities of York, Sheffield and Newcastle.