David H. Grinspoon - American astrobiologist. He holds degrees in Philosophy of Science and Planetary Science from the Brown University and a doctorate in Planetary Sciences from the University of Arizona. He is Senior Scientist at the Planetary Science Institute and was the former inaugural Baruch S. Blumberg NASA/Library of Congress Chair in Astrobiology for 2012-2013; he is adjunct professor of Astrophysical and Planetary Science at the University of Colorado. His research focuses on comparative planetology, with
emphasis on climate evolution on Earth-like planets and implications for habitability. He has also studied, written and lectured on the human influence on Earth, as seen in a cosmic perspective. Grinspoon serves as an advisor to NASA on space exploration strategy and as an Interdisciplinary Scientist on the European Space Agency's Venus Express spacecraft mission to Venus. He serves as science Co-Investigator and team leader for Education and Public Outreach for the Radiation Assessment Detector (RAD) on the Mars Science Laboratory.
Larbi Boudad - Secretary-General of the XIX UISPP World Congress, to be held in Meknes, Morocco. Professor at the Université Mohammed V, Faculté des Sciences, Rabat, Maroc, co-chair of the UISPP Prehistory in Northern Africa Scientific Committee during the Quaternary: landscapes, Hominids and behavior.
François Djindjian - President of the International Union of Prehistoric and Proto-Historical Sciences; Vice-President of the International Council of Philosophy and Human Sciences (UNESCO), coordinator of the UISPP/International Academic Union project on human adaptation to climate and environmental changes in the Quaternary. He was Prof. at the University of Paris I, Panthéon-Sorbonne.
Jefferson Cardia Simões - Professor of Glaciology and Polar Geography at the Universidade Federal do Rio Grande do Sul (UFRGS, Porto Alegre, Brazil), is a member of the Brazilian Academy of Sciences and of the Brazilian National Order of Scientific Merit. He is the pioneer of glaciological science in Brazil and is currently Vice-President of the Scientific Committee on Antarctic Research/International Science Council (SCAR/ISC). He is the general coordinator of the Brazilian National Institute of Science and Technology
of the Cryosphere (INCT of Cryosphere) and adjunct professor at the Climate Change Institute (CCI), University of Maine, USA.
Simões created the Polar and Climatic Centre (Centro Polar e Climático, UFRGS), the leading Brazilian institution on snow and ice research. He coordinates Brazilian participation in Antarctic and Andean ice cores investigations and is a member of the International Partnerships in Ice Core Sciences (IPICS/PAGES) steering committee.