Prof. Janet F Bornman

IGCI Director

Professor Janet F. Bornman is the incoming Director of the International Global Change Institute (IGCI), taking over from Professor Neil Ericksen on his retirement as Director. Janet joined IGCI in mid-2006. She came from the Danish Institute of Agricultural Sciences in Denmark and previously from the Department of Plant Physiology, Lund University , Sweden , where she obtained her PhD. Her research expertise is in the field of plant photobiology and in particular the effects of UV radiation, where these interests arose out of the ozone depletion events of the 1980s to present day concern for the interactions with global climate change. More specifically, her research has centred on plant stress interactions in relation to environmental factors evolving from climate change and common agricultural practices. Janet has served on the UNEP Environmental Effects Assessment Panel (EEAP) since 1991 in the capacity as Secretary, report author and since 2003, as co-Chair. As co-Chair she represents the Panel at the Open-ended Working Group (OEWG) meetings and Meetings of the Parties (MOP) to the Montreal Protocol. Janet was President of the European Society for Photobiology and Editor-in-Chief of the journal, Photochemistry & Photobiological Sciences (PPS), and has also assisted in several programmes within 'Environment, and Sustainable Development' for the European Union. She was recently involved in drawing up a contract with the Asia & Oceania Society for Photobiology (AOSP) and a new Asian Office based in South Korea.

Visions for IGCI include

Promoting IGCI as a key leader and facilitator with respect to global climate change initiatives, and extending the human dimension into environmental health aspects including food quality and agricultural biodiversity issues
Linking agrobiodiversity to human health with respect to diverse and quality food involving local communities including Maori and Pacific Islanders
Promoting research-driven post-graduate teaching in collaboration with key partners
Strengthening international initiatives with respect to research projects and training programmes
Ensuring that projects are capable of sustaining both a basic science and applicative/end-user component in order to be at the forefront of research excellence as well as play a key role in planning and governance for sustainable development
Increasing long-term capacity building through internationalisation by attracting excellent overseas researchers and students to enrich the different focus areas of IGCI and its collaborators

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