Keynote Speakers

Luis Antonio Ladino Moreno is a researcher at the Institute for Atmospheric Sciences and Climate Change at the National Autonomous University of Mexico (UNAM), where his work focuses on aerosol-cloud interactions, cloud microphysics and atmospheric particles. He received his PhD in environmental sciences from ETH Zurich, working on cloud microphysics, and has since built a research programme around the mechanisms by which aerosol particles influence cloud formation, ice nucleation and precipitation. His group studies mixed-phase and cirrus clouds, with particular interest in the formation of ice crystals through in-situ observations and laboratory experiments. Ladino Moreno's research also examines the role of biological aerosol particles from marine and continental sources, mineral dust from arid regions and soot from combustion in shaping precipitation patterns in Mexico and other tropical environments. In addition to his scientific work, he is active in international atmospheric science networks, including the International Commission on Clouds and Precipitation and the Latin American and Caribbean aerosol research community. His keynote on tropical aerosol particles in mixed-phase and cirrus cloud formation connects laboratory-scale physical chemistry, field observations and tropical climate questions, making it directly relevant to improved understanding of cloud processes in African and other tropical regions.

luis.ladino@atmosfera.unam.mx

Fei Chen is the Associate Head and Professor in the Division of Environment and Sustainability at the Hong Kong University of Science and Technology. Prior to this current role, he spent over 26 years at the National Center for Atmospheric Research (NCAR, USA) and led major projects to develop community land/hydrology models, as well as numerical weather prediction and regional climate models. He led the international efforts to develop the integrated WRF-Urban modeling system. These modeling systems have been adopted by global operational weather prediction centers and research institutions. He has made foundational contributions to understanding land-atmosphere feedback mechanisms, particularly those affecting the boundary layer and precipitation in urban settings. He currently serves as Co-Chair of  the WWRP Urban-PREDICT Project. He is elected Fellow of American Meteorological Society (AMS) and American Geophysical Union and was an Elected Board Member of the International Association for Urban Climate (IAUC) Board. He received the Helmut E. Landsberg Award for his leadership in the development of the WRF-Urban Modeling System from AMS in 2018. In 2025, Chen was honoured with the Luke Howard Award - the top accolade from the International Association for Urban Climate (IAUC) to recognize outstanding contributions in urban climatology, combining excellence in research, teaching, and service to the global community of urban climate scholars. For a keynote on urban extreme weather modelling, prediction and warning, Chen brings together expertise in physical modelling, operational weather prediction, urban climate risk and the translation of model improvements into more useful warnings for densely populated and rapidly urbanising environments in the context of the WWRP Urban-PREDICT project.

feichen@ust.hk

Greg McFarquhar is George Lynn Cross Research Professor in the School of Meteorology at the University of Oklahoma and Director of the Cooperative Institute for Severe and High-Impact Weather Research and Operations (CIWRO). His career has centred on cloud physics, precipitation processes and the ways in which clouds interact with radiation, aerosols and larger-scale weather systems. He earned degrees in mathematics, physics and atmospheric physics at the University of Toronto, culminating in a PhD in Atmospheric Physics in 1993. McFarquhar's research spans both observations and modelling, with particular attention to the microphysical structure of clouds and precipitation in winter cyclones, mesoscale convective systems, tropical convection, rapidly intensifying tropical cyclones, Arctic and Southern Ocean clouds, and biomass-burning aerosol impacts. His work makes extensive use of aircraft, ship-based, ground-based and satellite observations to understand the properties of cloud particles and to improve their representation in weather and climate models. Through CIWRO and the National Weather Center, he contributes to the bridge between fundamental cloud science and the practical needs of severe-weather research and operations. His keynote on cloud and precipitation research in a changing world draws naturally on this broad background in measurement, process understanding, model development and international collaboration.

mcfarq@ou.edu

Mary Scholes is a Professor in the School of Animal, Plant and Environmental Sciences at the University of the Witwatersrand, where she holds a Research Chair in Systems Analysis. Her work sits at the interface of ecology, biogeochemistry, food security, forestry, water pollution, climate change and environmental policy. A Wits graduate, Scholes has built a career around systems approaches to complex environmental problems, including soil fertility, nutrient cycling, savannas, plantation forests, croplands and sustainable land management. She has supervised a large number of postgraduate students and has contributed extensively to both undergraduate and postgraduate teaching. Her academic and public-service contributions have been recognised through university awards for teaching, research and academic citizenship, as well as membership of several scientific academies, including the Royal Society of South Africa, the South African Academy of Science and the African Academy of Sciences. She has also served in governance roles at Wits over many years. For a keynote on climate change, urbanisation and future directions, Scholes brings a broad systems perspective that connects environmental science to societal decision-making. Her experience is particularly valuable for framing how climate change interacts with land use, ecosystems, resource management, food security and policy implementation in southern Africa and beyond.

mary.scholes@wits.ac.za