Date: 2nd September 2025
Time: 09:00-10:00 CEST / 07:00-08:00 UTC
Moderator : Shaily Gandhi (shaily.gandhi@it-u.at)
Speakers: Virginia Murray, Juma Rahman, Thanasis Sfetsosand Bapon Fakhruddin
Register Here: https://us02web.zoom.us/meeting/register/pHTzU2IxTHGJfuzEmrNiSw
Webinar Description:
Cities, with their concrete landscapes and limited green cover, can become significantly warmer than surrounding rural areas, intensifying health risks, energy demands, and social vulnerabilities. These impacts are often concentrated in low-income or marginalized communities, exacerbating existing inequalities.
This webinar will explore how data, governance, and climate finance can converge to combat urban heat. Through high-resolution environmental data and community-level assessments, cities can identify hotspots and prioritize interventions such as nature-based solutions, reflective infrastructure, and improved urban planning. The discussion will highlight the importance of cross-sectoral collaboration and equitable financing mechanisms to ensure that adaptation efforts serve all urban residents—especially the most vulnerable.
Join us to learn how actionable data, inclusive strategies, and innovative funding can transform urban heat islands into cooler, more resilient, and more equitable cities for the future.
The webinar will be conducted as a dynamic, engaging exchange with short 5 minute presentations from each panelist followed by discussion.
Moderator : Shaily Gandhi
ISC Fellow and Senior PostDoc at the Geo-social AI Research Group, IT:U
Shaily is a Senior PostDoc at the Geo-social AI Research Group, IT:U, and a GIS expert with over 12 years of experience. She holds a PhD in Geospatial Technology from CEPT University, India, with a focus on bridging GIS and governance. Shaily has been recognized as a Geospatial World 50 Rising Star (2023) and an ISC Fellow (2024). Previously, she served as Deputy Center Head for the Center for Applied Geomatics, CRDF, and Program Chair for the M.Tech in Geomatics. Her research explores GIS, data science, GeoAI models for urban domain.
Dr. Bapon Fakhruddin
Water Sector Lead, Green Climate Fund
Dr. Fakhruddin is a leading expert on climate resilience. He has over 23 years of experience advising governments and organizations around the world on disaster risk reduction and climate change adaptation. As a hydrometeorologist, his specialty is in climate risk assessment, early warning systems, community resilience, and water security.
Dr. Fakhruddin is currently leading the Water Sector at the Green Climate Fund. He oversees climate investments in vulnerable countries around the world to support water security and early warning project origination. He serves on international expert committees, Chair, Board Member and Professor such as the International Science Council, CODATA, Earth GEO, WMO, and lends his expertise to advance national resilience agendas for governments in LDCs and SIDS.
Prof. Virginia Murray
Head of Global Disaster Risk Reduction, UKHSA
Professor Virginia Murray is a public health doctor committed to improving health emergency and disaster risk management.
She was appointed as Head of Global Disaster Risk Reduction for UK Health Security Agency (formerly Public Health England) in April 2014. She is currently the chair of the UNDRR/ISC Hazard Information Profile Steering Group for the 2025 update, having been the Chair of the UNDRR/ISC Hazard Classification and Review Technical Working Group from 2019 with the report published in 2020 and the UNDRR-ISC Hazard Information Profiles: Supplement in 2021.
She was a member and then vice-chair of the UN International Strategy for Disaster Reduction (UNISDR) Scientific and Technical Advisory Group (STAG), 2008-2017, supporting as required negotiations for the Sendia Framework for Disaster Risk Reduction 2015–2030 by the UN member states. She is a member of CODATA Executive Committee. She is a co-chair of the WHO Thematic Platform Health and Disaster Risk Management Research Network, and by working in collaboration with this network, she is one of the editors of the WHO Guidance on Research Methods for Health and Disaster Risk Management, published in October 2021 and updated in 2022. She is a visiting/honorary Professor and fellow at several universities.
Dr. Juma Rahman
Epidemiologist & Research Analyst, Health NZ
Dr Juma Rahman is a medical doctor and epidemiologist with expertise in population health, biostatistics, and public health policy. She is currently a Research Analyst at Te Whatu Ora – Health NZ and academic staff in nursing school NURSING 742 (advanced pathology) at the University of Auckland. Her research interests include cardiovascular disease, sun exposure, vitamin D, environmental health, reproductive health, fetal alcohol spectrum disorder, and PTSD. She previously worked with the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC), FHI 360, and the World Health Organization (WHO) on projects related to health systems, HIV, and public health capacity building. She also serves as Associate Editor for Frontiers in Public Health – Public Health Policy. A strong advocate for data governance and equity-focused health interventions, Dr Rahman has a solid record of peer-reviewed publications and actively mentors emerging researchers.
Dr. Athanasios Sfetsos
Research Director, NCSR Demokritos
Dr. Athanasios Sfetsos, received a B.Sc. in Physics from University of Patras in 1995 and a Ph.D. in Electrical Engineering from Imperial College (1999). He is a Research Director at the Institute of Nuclear and Radiological Sciences, Technology Energy and Safety at NCSR Demokritos in the field of “Climate Change and Critical Infrastructure Protection”. His research interests fall to the thematic priorities of (i) Climate risk assessment of extreme and compound events, (ii) climate resilient cites and interconnected infrastructures and (iii) Provision of climate services. Co-authored more than 250 papers in refereed journals and conference proceedings. He has participated in more than 25 EU and nationally funded projects and currently coordinates Climate-Adapt4EOSC on the FAIRification of climate services, Med-IREN and LIFE-RESYSTAL projects on implementing NBS for the critical infrastructures and the health care sector respectively.