Times
Wed, 1 Apr 26
16:00 - 17:00
Water Economics and Politics Seminar Series
/ Developments and applications of hydro-economic models
Speaker: Prof. Dr Phoebe Koundouri | Athens University of Economics and Business and University of Cambridge; Co-Chair, United Nations GSDR, President World Council of Environmental and Resource Economists (WCEREA); Chair SDSN Global Climate Hub (GCH); Director AE4RIA
Time: 16:00 South African Standard Time (SAST) | GMT +2
Topic: This work advances a human-centred, interdisciplinary, and mathematically grounded systems framework for sustainable development, demonstrating how integrated modelling, beyond-GDP valuation, participatory co-design, and sustainable finance can translate the SDGs from ambition into implementation. It addresses interconnected global crises – climate change, biodiversity loss, inequality, fiscal stress, and governance failure – through spatially explicit, data-driven, and socially salient transformation pathways. By coupling AI-ready data infrastructure, integrated assessment models, and stakeholder engagement, the approach bridges science, policy, and markets, embedding climate, biodiversity, and social risks into financial and policy decision-making, and enabling equitable, scalable, and implementable pathways to 2030 and beyond.
About the speaker: Professor Dr Phoebe Koundouri is a globally renowned mathematical economist who has pioneered human-centred, interdisciplinary modelling systems for the sustainable interaction between nature, society, and the economy. She brings nearly 30 years of academic leadership and research excellence at leading institutions, including the University of Cambridge, University College London (UCL), the London School of Economics (LSE), the University of Reading, and the Technical University of Denmark. She is consistently ranked among the top 2% of world scientists in multiple prestigious international listings, with an academic record that includes 20 books, more than 800 published papers, over 100 large-scale research projects, and measurable impact in more than 120 countries.
She is currently Professor at the School of Economics, Athens University of Economics and Business (AUEB); Visiting Professor at the Department of Earth Sciences, University of Cambridge; and Senior Research Fellow at Peterhouse, University of Cambridge – her alma mater. She is the Founder of the Alliance of Excellence for Research and Innovation on Aeiphoria (AE4RIA), a global research and innovation network bringing together more than 200 researchers. AE4RIA is anchored in ReSEES.AE4RIA at AUEB and SDU.AE4RIA at the ATHENA Information Technology Research Center, both research centres are directed by Professor Koundouri.
In 2025, she was invited by the UN Secretary-General to co-chair the 2027 United Nations Global Sustainable Development Goals Report. She serves on the Nominating Committee for the Nobel Prize in Economic Sciences and is an elected Fellow of several distinguished academies, including Academia Europaea; the World Academy of Art and Science (WAAS), where she also serves as Trustee; the European Academy of Sciences and Arts; the Academy of Engineering and Technology of the Developing World; and the InterAcademy Partnership (IAP). She is also a Fellow of leading scientific associations, including the European Association of Environmental and Resource Economists (EAERE) and the European Forest Institute. Her scientific distinctions include the prestigious European Research Council (ERC) Synergy Grant; the Academy of Athens Award for Excellence in Science – awarded only once every four years; and the Award of Excellence of the Republic of Cyprus, conferred by the Academy of Sciences, Letters and Arts of the Republic of Cyprus.
Professor Koundouri serves as Chair of the World Council of Environmental and Resource Economists Associations and is former President of the European Association of Environmental and Resource Economists. She is Chair of the United Nations Sustainable Development Solutions Network (SDSN) Global Climate Hub and Co-Chair of SDSN Europe. She advises numerous multilateral institutions and national governments worldwide. She is a member of the European Investment Bank Climate Leaders Network, a co-author of the Lancet COVID-19 Commission, and a contributor to the Pontifical Academy of Social Sciences project “Financing for Development in the Jubilee Year 2025.” She also serves as an Ambassador for the European Research Council (ERC) and was named World Ambassador of Happiness and Peace in 2022, a distinction conferred by the Government of India at the House of Lords in London.
More on phoebekoundouri.org.