Council

Dr Mary Robinson is Adjunct Professor for Climate Justice at Trinity College Dublin and Chair of The Elders. She is also honorary co-president of the Africa Europe Foundation (AEF), launched in 2020 to reset and bolster Africa-Europe relations, and co-Chair of AEF’s Women Leaders Network. 

Dr Robinson served as President of Ireland from 1990 to 1997. She was the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights between 1997 and 2002. She also served as the UN Secretary General’s Special Envoy for the Great Lakes region of Africa, on Climate Change, and most recently on El Niño and Climate. A former president of the International Commission of Jurists and former chair of the Council of Women World Leaders, she was also Founder and President of Realising Rights: The Ethical Globalisation Initiative between 2002 and 2010, and Honorary President of Oxfam International from 2002 to 2012. 

Dr Robinson is the author of two books, ‘Everybody Matters’ and her most recent work ‘Climate Justice- Hope, Resilience and the Fight for a Sustainable Future’. She is Patron of the International Science Council and the Board of the Institute of Human Rights and Businesses. She was Chancellor of the University of Dublin between 1998 and 2019. 

Dr Robinson is a member of the Club of Madrid and has received numerous honours, including the Presidential Medal of Freedom from President Barack Obama.