Board of Directors for the International Environmental Communication Association

2011 Candidate List

Dr. I. Arul Aram, Director, Educational Multimedia Research Centre (EMMRC)

Anna University, Chennai, India
http://www.annauniv.edu/MediaScience/arularam.html

Dr John Blewitt PhD, FRSA, Director of Lifelong Learning

Aston University, Birmingham, UK
http://www1.aston.ac.uk/ids/llc/about/director-of-life-long-learning-centre/

Anders Hansen, Senior Lecturer, Department of Media and Communication

University of Leicester, UK
Founding Chair, Environment, Science and Risk Communication Group, IAMCR
http://www.le.ac.uk/mc/staff/ash.html

Sangita Iyer, Founding Executive Director, Bermuda Environmental Alliance

www.bermuda-bea.org

Soenke Lorenzen, Media Analyst, Greenpeace International

http://www.cestagi.com/view.php?Soenke_Lorenzen

Amanda Katili Niode, Ph.D.

Coordinator, Division of Communication, Information, Education, Indonesian National
Council on Climate Change, Manager, The Climate Project Indonesia
http://www.tcpindonesia.org/

Dr. Manoj K. Patairiya, M. Sc. (Environmental Biology)

Visiting Professor, Global Communication, Chungnam National University, South Korea
Director, National Council for Science & Technology Communication www.dst.gov.in
Editor, Indian Journal of Science Communication www.iscos.org
President, Indian Science Writers' Association www.iswaindia.com

Raul Reis, Ph.D.,Professor & Chair, Department of Journalism & Mass Communication
California State University, Long Beach
http://www.csulb.edu/~rreis

Barb Willard, Ph.D., Associate Professor, Joint Appointment – College of Communication &
Department of Environmental Science & Studies, DePaul University
http://communication.depaul.edu/Faculty%20and%20Staff/Full%20Time
%20Faculty/willard.asp
Self Nomination to Board of Directors for the International Environmental
Communication Association

Dr. I. ARUL ARAM

Director
Educational Multimedia Research Centre (EMMRC)
Anna University, Chennai-600025
Website: www.annauniv.edu/emmrc

Statement

I wish to run for office as a member of the Board of Directors of the International
Environmental Communication Association (IECA). I am an Associate Professor in the
Department of Media Sciences, Anna University, Chennai, India. I hold additional charge as
Director of the Educational Multimedia Research Centre. I am also the Coordinator of M.Sc.
(Science and Technology Communication) in the university, which has papers on Media and
Environment, and Communicating Climate Change. I specialize in Environmental
Communication. I was a post-doctoral fellow of the London School of Economics. I am also a
Fellow of International Congress of Environmental Research. I engage with the mass media
and do grassroots activism with respect to climate change. I have published four books and
62 research papers.

Profile: http://www.annauniv.edu/MediaScience/arularam.html
Self Nomination to Board of Directors for the International Environmental
Communication Association

Dr John Blewitt PhD, FRSA.

Director of Lifelong Learning
Aston University
Birmingham, UK
www.aston.ac.uk

Statement:

Having been a graduate student in Film and Television at the University of Westminster
(London) and receiving a doctorate in cultural sociology from the University of Wales (UK) I
have spent twenty five years working in adult, further, international and higher education. I
have a profound interest and commitment to lifelong learning of which film, television and
new media has formed a prominent part. I have designed and delivered many
undergraduate and postgraduate courses in media and sustainability and currently teach
Masters level modules on Sustainability Communications and New Media Affordances at
Aston where I am co-director of the new MSc Social Responsibility and Sustainability and
leader of the Sustainable Communities Consortium. My involvement in education for
sustainability and media education has straddled both academe and the industry having
worked closely with public, private and third sector bodies on communications issues
organising conferences, advising on projects and publishing widely for academic and
professional audiences as well as the general reader. I recently completed a two year study
on the media and wildlife/environmental filmmaking with the Wildscreen organisation and
have just started a new research and development project exploring the digitisation of
cultural urban heritage and environmental sustainability. I see the formation of the new
Association as a most exciting, timely and important development and hope I will have the
opportunity to harness my experience, commitment and enthusiasm to help make the
Association the success it needs to be.

Profile: http://www1.aston.ac.uk/ids/llc/about/director-of-life-long-learning-centre/
Self Nomination to Board of Directors for the International Environmental
Communication Association

Anders Hansen

Senior Lecturer

Department of Media and Communication

University of Leicester

University Road

Leicester LE1 7RH

United Kingdom

Statement:

I am offering my candidature for a position on the IECA Board of Directors. I can bring to this
my extensive experience as founder and chair of the Environment, Science and Risk
Communication Group under the International Association for Media and Communication
Research (IAMCR). The IAMCR Environment Group was one of the first of its kind and field
to run under a major international communication association, and it has grown in recent
years in popularity and size to become one of the largest subject groups in the IAMCR. As
this group’s chair and convenor, and witnessing the phenomenal rise in popularity of
environmental and science communication, I have from an early stage supported and been
involved with the initiative to launch the new International Environmental Communication
Association, which I believe can provide the kind of subject identity and support that is
needed to further advance this important field of communication research. I also bring with
my candidature for a position my association - first on the editorial board and currently as
Associate Editor - with the prestigious flagship journal Environmental Communication: a
Journal of Nature and Culture.

My primary research interests have long focused on Environment, Science and Health
Communication. I edited the first major publication in Britain to examine The Mass Media
and Environmental Issues (Leicester University Press, 1993) and was more recently co-
editor of a special double issue of The International Communication Gazette (73, 1-2; 2011)
on ‘Communicating the Environment’. I am particularly interested in the way that
environmental news and public/political agendas are constructed and in the ways in which
claims-makers (pressure groups, politicians, experts, etc.) succeed in managing or
influencing media agendas and public debate on the environment. I explore many of these
issues in my recent book on Environment, Media and Communication (Routledge, 2010), as
well as in current and ongoing research projects.

Profile: http://www.le.ac.uk/mc/staff/ash.html
Self Nomination to Board of Directors for the International Environmental
Communication Association

Sangita Iyer

Founding Executive Director, Bermuda Environmental Alliance

www.bermuda-bea.org

Statement:

I would like to have the opportunity to stand for one of the eight founding Directors’
position. I am the Founding Executive Director of the Bermuda Environmental Alliance, an
organization I conceived and created in Bermuda after being disillusioned with poor media
coverage on environmental issues. I used to be a broadcast journalist, but now I use those
skills to produce environmental documentaries through my charity.

I have an 11-year broadcasting portfolio ranging from executive director to documentary

producer, to associate news producer to video journalist, to writer and news reporter,
supported by international news reporting and presenting, producing and hosting award
winning environment television series, fund raising and motivational speaking.

Consultant 2009-Present
Bermuda Environmental Alliance
Conceive and develop the alliance in collaboration with Bermudian business executives.
Direct, produce and deliver educational content on Bermuda’s environment; Direct, produce
and present documentaries on Bermuda; Interview and hire Bermudian contractors for
production; Educate and engage the public and youth by featuring documentaries on VSB
Channel 11 and in schools; Promote the island’s successful conservation efforts in Canada
and beyond; Collaborate with Bermuda Government, schools, businesses, and local and
international NGOs; Design fund raising, marketing and communication strategies.

Senior Broadcast Journalist 2005 - 2008

ABC/CBS Affiliate - Bermuda Broadcasting Company
Presented live newscasts for television and radio, reported live on radio from location and
packaged television stories, covered Court, Senate, House of Assembly, Environment,
Health, Politics. Proposed story ideas, researched, identified sources, conducted on-camera
interviews, scripted and packaged stories.

Conceived, developed, produced and hosted an award winning 13-week half-hour

environment TV series "EnviroShorts" which was commended by the senate president and
received the top environment awareness award - the inaugural DeForest Trimingham award
from the Bermuda National Trust, compiled shows on DVD and distributed them in public
schools to create youth environmental awareness. Identified sponsors, wrote proposals, and
raised money for the series

Conceived, developed and produced weekly health segments for the newscast, identified
sponsors, wrote proposals, and raised money for the health segments.
Self Nomination to Board of Directors for the International Environmental
Communication Association

Soenke Lorenzen
Media Analyst
Greenpeace International
Ottho Heldringstraat 5
1066 AZ Amsterdam
The Netherlands

Biography: On graduating from the University of Freiburg, Germany (MA in Applied

Geograpy and Cultural Anthropology), I began my career in the media industry in Zurich,
Switzerland. I joined the prize-winning Swiss Photographers Agency Lookat in 1995, in
charge of sales and documentation. During this time I was also affiliated with the Seminar of
Popular Cultures at the University of Zurich, working on issues of amateur media production.
In 1998 I joined the Swedish Media Intelligence Company Observer as a Media Analyst. In
1995, I was invited to join Greenpeace International as Media Analyst. I am also a founding
member of the US/Swiss based NGO, Trapiza, which aims to further the educational and
cultural goals of a local initiative for a school project in Eastern Nepal.

Statement of Interest: Five years ago, after ten years of working in different positions in the
media industry, the newly created position of media analyst at Greenpeace International in
Amsterdam was offered to me. In my new position my scientific interest shifted to
environmental communication research in order to inform the communication strategy
building of the organization. As I followed the proceedings of the Environment, Science and
Risk Communication Working Group of the IAMCR back in 2007 I realized that there is a big
gap in terms of communication/networking between NGOs/media professionals and the
scientific community (not just in terms of EC). I am convinced that this new organization will
be an important first step in closing some of the gaps between theory and practice and I look
forward to supporting the new organization in reaching its objectives in the years to come.

CV: http://www.cestagi.com/view.php?Soenke_Lorenzen
Self nomination to Board of Directors for the International Environmental
Communication Association.

Amanda Katili Niode Ph.D.

Coordinator, Division of Communication, Information, Education. Indonesian National

Council on Climate Change, Manager, The Climate Project Indonesia.

STATEMENT OF INTEREST

My interest to self nominate stems from 30 years working experiences in the subject of
environment and natural resources that encompass arenas in Indonesian government
agencies, multinational corporations, environmental consulting companies, academic
institutions, civil societies and international organizations. Through years of interactions with
stakeholders in environment and climate change field I understand that successful policies
and programs rely heavily on appropriate communications tools and methods. I see the
International Environmental Communication Association as a “one stop shop” for those who
need to understand the “who, what, when, where, why and how” of environmental
communication.

BIODATA

Working experience

Amanda Katili Niode is the Coordinator of the Communication, Information and Education
Division at the Indonesian National Council on Climate Change. She was the former Special
Assistant to the Indonesian Minister of Environment (2004-2009) and was a researcher at
the Agency for the Assessment and Application of Technology.

Amanda is the Manager of The Climate Project Indonesia, part of Al Gore's climate change
leadership program with a mission is to educate the public about the harmful effects of
climate change and to work toward solutions at a grassroots level worldwide. After
personally trained by Al Gore in 2008 to spread the message about the challenges of and
solutions to the climate crisis Amanda has completed presentations to almost 20,000 people
all over Indonesia and abroad.
The Climate Project Indonesia Facebook Page at www.facebook.com/tcpindonesia has
more than 11,000 likers.

She is a member of the Indonesian Delegation to the United Nations Framework Convention
on Climate Change (UNFCCC) meeting and was instrumental in organizing the
Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) Outreach Events in Indonesia in 2007,
attended by cabinet ministers, government officials, scientists, activists, and journalists.

In her line of work Amanda has the responsibility of communicating information from both the
political path and the scientific path of climate change to the general public.

Education
Amanda Katili holds a Ph.D degree from the School of Natural Resources and Environment,
University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, USA. She completed a Certificate Program for
Entrepreneurs in the US. Her continuing education includes: environmental conflict
resolutions, environmental policy and regulations, environmental crime investigations, and
media communications. Amanda participated in an Executive Education Program at the
School of Foreign Service, Georgetown University, USA and a Leadership and Campaign
Management Program at Yale University, USA.

Professional activities
As an environmental specialist Amanda participated in international meetings either as a
member of the Indonesian Delegation or as a professional speaker. In academia, she was a
lecturer at the Graduate program in Environmental Studies at the University of Indonesia.
She was appointed as a visiting scholar at Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) in
Cambridge, USA. Prior to the MIT appointment, the University of Nevada in Reno
designated her as an Adjunct Assistant Professor. The University of Michigan, Ann Arbor
invited her as a guest lecturer.

With interests in writing, editing and coordinating book publications, Amanda has worked on
several books in a variety of subjects and has had her environmental related articles
published in local daily newspapers and international publications. She was also in a team
that producing short movies for climate change awareness in Indonesia.

Several years ago with assistance from several international organizations she sent
Indonesian women journalists abroad to acquire knowledge in sound environmental
reporting. Countries visited include Thailand, the United States, Japan, Sweden, Sri Lanka
and Canada.

Amanda Katili is on the Board of the Indonesian Biodiversity Foundation (KEHATI) an

independent and non-profit grant making foundation with an initial endowment of US$ 16
million, dedicated to support conservation, sustainable use and equitable sharing of benefits
of Indonesian biological diversity. She is also on the Board of For Our Earth Foundation, a
non-profit organization that conveys environmental messages through songs as a
universal art form.

Contact details

amandakatili@yahoo.com

amanda.katili@dnpi.go.id

http://www.tcpindonesia.org/
Self Nomination to Board of Directors for the International Environmental
Communication Association

Dr. Manoj K. Patairiya, M.Sc. (Environmental Biology)

Director, National Council for Science & Technology Communication www.dst.gov.in

Editor, Indian Journal of Science Communication www.iscos.org
President, Indian Science Writers' Association www.iswaindia.com
Visiting Professor, Global Communication, Chungnam National University, South Korea

Statement

Dr. MANOJ PATAIRIYA (B. 1961) did his M.Sc. in Zoology (Environmental Biology) and
M.Sc. (Tech.) in S&T Communication followed by Ph.D. in Science & Technology
Communication. He also did Postgraduate Diploma in Journalism & Mass Communication
and M.B.A. in Human Resource Development. At present, Dr. Patairiya is serving as Director
(Scientist ‘F’) at India’s National Council for Science & Technology Communication. He has
authored a number of books on science communication, science journalism and popular
science topics. Dr. Patairiya’s professional interests included popular science writing, TV and
radio anchoring and imparting training to budding science journalists, especially in
vernaculars. So far, he has conducted over 300 workshops training around 10000 trainees,
including journalists, writers, scientists, teachers, students and science activists, etc. He is a
practicing science communicator and is deeply involved in academics and research in
science communication and teaches science communication at various universities/
institutions as Visiting Faculty and serving as Research Supervisor. He is the President of
Indian Science Writers’ Association (ISWA). On the event of so-called Milk Miracle (idols
drinking milk) in 1995, he took initiative and investigated the hoax and reported the scientific
principle behind the phenomenon on Doordarshan news. Dr. Patairiya has been honoured
by a number of national and international awards and recognitions; the most recent ones are
‘International Award for Global Advancement of Science Popularization 2003’ by Centre for
Global Studies, USA and ‘Dr. B.C. Deb Memorial Award for Science Popularization 2000’ by
Indian Science Congress Association, Kolkata. Dr. Patairiya is the recipient of prestigious
‘National Senior Media Fellowship’ by Indian Renewable Energy Development Agency,
‘Konrad Adeneaur Fellowship’ by Ateneo de Manila University, Philippines and ‘National
Science Journalism Fellowship’ by Makhanlal Chaturvedi National University of Journalism,
Bhopal. He is very much interested and dedicated to the cause of developing science
communication profession. He has been serving as Visiting Professor, Global
Communication, Chungnam National University, South Korea. Besides his innovative
endeavours in the area of science communication, he has two Indian Patents to his credit for
development of innovative rural technologies. He is the editor and publisher of an
international journal titled “Indian Journal of Science Communication” and a member of
several national and international bodies, including Member of the Scientific Committee,
International Network on Public Communication of Science & Technology. Dr. Patairiya can
be contacted at:
E-mail : manojpatairiya@yahoo.com
mkp@nic.in
Post : 25/3, Sector-I, Pushp Vihar, Saket, New Delhi-110017, India.
Self Nomination to Board of Directors for the International Environmental
Communication Association

Raul Reis, Ph.D.

Professor & Chair
California State University, Long Beach
Department of Journalism & Mass Communication
1250 Bellflower Blvd, SSPA-024
Long Beach, CA 90840

Statement

I was very pleased to read Anabela Carvalho's message on the IAMCR listserv about the
founding of the International Environmental Communication Association (IECA). I
immediately went to the web site and signed up as a founding member, and would like to
self-nominate for the Board of Directors.

I'm currently a professor at (and the chair of) the Department of Journalism & Mass
Communication at California State University, Long Beach. I was an environmental and
science reporter in Brazil in the late 1980s and early 1990s, covering environmental issues
related to the Amazon rainforest (preservation, deforestation); industrial pollution in São
Paulo; biodiversity; and environmental clean-up efforts, among many others. As the
environmental assistant editor and special features reporter for Gazeta Mercantil, Brazil's
leading financial newspaper at the time, I also covered all issues related to the preparation
and execution of the United Nations Conference on Environment and Development in Rio de
Janeiro (Rio-92). Since then, I have earned a Master's and Ph.D. in Mass Communications.
My Master's thesis focused on the coverage of Rio-92 by Brazilian newspapers. I have
published environmental and science communication academic articles both in Science
Communication and Environmental Communication: A Journal of Nature and Culture. I also
teach an annual course on Science & Environmental Reporting at CSULB, in which I take
students to the Brazilian Amazon as part of the class. Most recently, I presented an
academic paper on Climate Change at the 7th International Conference on Environmental,
Cultural, Economic and Social Sustainability in Hamilton, New Zealand in January 2011.

Profile: http://www.csulb.edu/~rreis
Self-Nomination to Board of Directors for International Environmental Communication
Association:

Barb Willard, Ph.D.

Associate Professor, Joint Appointment – College of Communication & Department of
Environmental Science & Studies
DePaul University
Chicago, IL 60660
bwillard@depaul.edu

Statement: This is an exciting time for practitioners and scholars of environmental

communication. For the past twenty years, a group of dedicated individuals involved with
various aspects of environmental communication have been organizing in a variety of ways
to bring their work together – through conferences, journals, websites, edited volumes, and
the listserv. And now, through the concerted efforts of some of our most committed
practitioners and scholars, we have the formation of an international organization to bring all
of these elements together so that our work can expand beyond borders, across disciplines,
and past the confines of our various professions. Given this exciting occasion I wish to
become involved in a leadership capacity and self nominate to the Board of the International
Environmental Communication Association. I have been involved in a variety of ways with
the organizational elements of environmental communication for the past 15 years. I was at
the founding meeting and was a founding member of the Environmental Communication
Commission (later division) of the National Communication Association. Later, I was elected
as secretary (2001-2002), vice-president (2002-2003), and president (2003-2004) of the
Environmental Communication Commission. I also was the host of the Biennial Conference
on Communication and the Environment (COCE) at my home institution – DePaul University
in Chicago, Illinois, in 2007. As a member of the editorial board of Environmental
Communication: A Journal of Nature and Culture since its inception in 2007, I have watched
the important scholarly and practical work that has informed our vocation and am excited for
the future possibilities of this journal as we move into this next phase of our organizational
development. I believe that my experience with the leadership of the Environmental
Communication Division, the journal, and the COCE conference has prepared me to serve
on the Board of the International Environmental Communication Association. Furthermore, I
am also highly active in leadership positions regarding environmental interdisciplinary
programs at my home institution, DePaul University. I hold a joint appointment as a tenured
professor in the College of Communication and the Department of Environmental Science
and Studies. I helped develop the B.A. curriculum in Environmental Studies and served as
the chair of the committee that created the Sustainability concentration and minor in this
program. The president of our university appointed me to serve on the Sustainability
Initiatives Task Force charged with creating a sustainability master plan for our university. I
also am on the Executive Council and am a founder of DePaul University’s Institute for
Nature and Culture, an institute created to foster collaboration among researchers,
environmental practitioners, and the general public on behalf of the health of our
environmental future. Profile: http://communication.depaul.edu/Faculty%20and
%20Staff/Full%20Time%20Faculty/willard.asp