Plenary Speakers
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Prof. Dr. Mojib Latif
Prof. Dr. Mojib Latif is Head of the Research Division “Ocean Circulation and Climate Dynamics” of the GEOMAR Helmholtz Centre for Ocean Research Kiel and Full Professor at Kiel University.
He received his Ph.D. in Oceanography in 1987 from the University of Hamburg. He served as a Contributing Author in the IPCC Reports 2001 and 2007. He published in total about 170 papers in high-profile peer reviewed scientific journals. He was awarded in the year 2000 the Sverdrup Gold Medal by the American Meteorological Society (AMS) and elected to Fellow to the AMS in 2002.
He served as an Editor for the Monthly Weather Review and the Journal of Climate, both published by the AMS. Mojib Latif was awarded the “Max-Planck Award for Public Science” in the year 2000 and the Lifetime Award of the “Deutsche Umwelthilfe” in 2004 for his media activities. In 2015, he received togeher with Johan Rockström (Sweden) the "Deutscher Umweltpreis" from the "Deutsche Bundesstiftung Umwelt" (DBU), one of the most prestigious European environmental prizes. He wrote several books on climate change, among which are translated into Korean, i.e. ‘기후의 역습’, ‘기후변화 돌이킬 수 없는가?’.
Title of Prof. Latif’s plenary is “Will the Paris Agreement Save the Planet?”
Prof. Dr. Klaus Töpfer is former Executive Director of the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) from 1998 to 2006 and Under-Secretary-General of the United Nations Before serving the UNEP. He served German government as Federal Minister for the Environment, Nature Conservation and Nuclear Safety from 1987 to 1994, and as Federal Minister of Regional Planning, Building and Urban Development from 1994 to 1998. He was founding Director and Executive Director of the Institute for Advanced Sustainability Studies (IASS) based in Potsdam.He studied economics in Mainz, Frankfurt and Münster and received his doctorate at the University of Münster in 1968. Töpfer was full professor at the University of Hanover and honorary professor of the University of Mainz, Tübingen University, and Shanghai University.
Klaus Töpfer has been a member of the Christian Democratic Union (CDU) since 1972 and was a member of the German Bundestag from 1990 to 1998. Klaus Töpfer has received numerous honours and awards including the Order of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany in 1990, the German Sustainability Award in 2008 and has been inducted in the Kyoto Earth Hall of Fame in 2012.
Title of Prof. Töpfer's plenary is “The Agenda 2030: The way forward to a sustainable world with 9 billion people”
Dirk Hilbert is Mayor of the City of Dresden. After his graduation as industrial engineer at the Dresden University of Technology in 1998, he worked for two years as an assistant of a member of the Executive Board and deputy office manager at the German Aerospace Center in Cologne. After another year as risk manager at CargoLifter Development GmbH in Krausnik (nearby Berlin), he returned in 2001 to his hometown Dresden and became Deputy Mayor and Head of the Department of Economic Development of the City of Dresden. Last year the people of Dresden elected Dirk Hilbert as their Mayor.
In 1989 Dresden was one of the East German cities whose citizens supported the “Peaceful Revolution” which launched the beginning of the German reunification. Nowadays, 26 years later, Dresden became a modern city. It is the centre of the strongest economic region in East Germany, it hosts one of the eleven German universities, which are designated “University of Excellence” and is, furthermore, a centre of culture and arts.
On top of the good economic relations between Korea and Dresden, Dirk Hilbert has a great interest in Korea’s future. His personal experiences of the reunification of Germany and his experiences as a political leader of a city that went through a huge transformation period, make him a credible speaker on that subject. He has been invited to share his knowledge and insights at various occasions. He participated, for example, in the panel discussion “Learning from History: The Road to Unification” at the Asian Leadership Conference in May 2016 in Seoul.
Title of Mr. Hilbert's is "Reunification of Germany: an example of the City of Dresden and its scientific development"
Mr. Shin, a legend, in the Korean shipbuilding industry, has been the spearhead in the development of Korea’s maritime and shipbuilding industries. He graduated in Naval Architecture and Marine Engineering from Seoul National University and studied at Charlmers Technical University, Sweden and Durham University, UK prior to embarking on a wide-ranging career spanning both private and public sectors in Europe. He served as Chairman of the Special Maritime Advisory Committee, Senior Economic Secretary, and Secretary General of the Presidential Council on Economy and Sciences of the Korean governments in the 1960s. He laid the basic framework for the growth of Korean shipbuilding and marine industries during the period of his government service and was the arrowhead in making Korea the most advanced shipbuilding nation in the world.
Due to his contribution to the overall development of the Korean economy and industries, he was awarded the Industrial Achievement Citation by the Government, Woo-Am Citation from the Society of Naval Architects of Korea, the most prestigious citation in this field, Sam-il Culture Citation from the Sam-il Culture Foundation for his life time dedication to the development of Korea’s Science and Technology, and Distinguished Alumni Award from the Alumni Association of Engineering College, Seoul National University. In 2006, the World-renowned industry press, Lloyd’s List in UK, praised Mr. Shin’s achievement by appropriately, crowning him as “The Father of Shipbuilding” who shows no sign of ever slowing down.