Introduction
As part of the Right Here, Right Now Global Climate Summit, Oxford SU is proud to host a student-focused panel exploring the intersection of climate justice, education, and student empowerment.
This event brings together diverse voices from the Oxford community -students, researchers, professors, and global advocates-who are working across disciplines and borders to tackle the climate crisis. At the heart of this discussion is a shared commitment to inclusive climate solutions that centre justice, equity, and the perspectives of those most affected.
We invite you to join us for a meaningful dialogue on how we, as students and global citizens, can drive forward bold and just climate action.
panellists
Chair – Eleanor Miller
Eleanor Miller (she/her) is the Vice-President for Undergraduate Education & Access at the Oxford University Students’ Union and a Philosophy, Politics & Economics student at Wadham College. She is a Crankstart Scholar and has long been engaged in grassroots community work and sustainability-focused advocacy.
With a background in educational access and social equity, Eleanor brings an intersectional perspective to climate issues, advocating for inclusive, community-based solutions. As a Sabbatical Officer, she sits on multiple university committees, helping shape policy and championing student voices on issues including sustainability, access, and wellbeing. She is passionate about creating climate strategies that are socially just, locally driven, and shaped by those most affected.
She has also both chaired and sat on several panel events before, including the University EDI Roundtable.
Panel:
Nadia Schroeder
Nadia is the Head of Strategy at the Smith School, Oxford University’s leading hub for interdisciplinary environmental research. She works with top academics to bring the latest research to global green transition efforts, with a particular focus on education and engaging young people alongside policymakers, governments, and enterprises. With a background spanning both engineering and environmental politics and policy, Nadia understands that environmental issues have both technical, socio-political and economic dimensions. At the Smith School she is passionate about ensuring that students and global youth have a voice in shaping a sustainable future for all.
Professor Henry Shue
Henry Shue is a Senior Research Fellow at the Centre for International Studies [CIS] of the Department of Politics and International Relations, Professor Emeritus of Politics and International Relations, and Senior Research Fellow Emeritus at Merton. His research has focused on the role of human rights, especially economic rights, in international affairs and, more generally, on institutions to protect the vulnerable. Specifically, after work on the morality of strategies for nuclear weapons in the 1980s, his writing during the 1990s turned mainly to the issues of justice arising in international negotiations over climate change. Now he is working primarily on explanations for the urgency of far more ambitious policies to eliminate fossil fuels in order to avoid irreversible damage to future generations.
Tim Auth
Tim is an undergraduate student at University College, Oxford. Passionate about climate activism, Tim served as Chair for Oxford SU's Environmental Affairs Campaign, where he championed sustainability and provided student voice on sustainability matters, attended Environment & Ethics forums and supported University sustainability initiatives.
Valery Salas Flores
Valery is a climate student from Peru currently pursuing an MSc in Sustainability, Enterprise, and the Environment at the University of Oxford. With a background in industrial engineering, she has over a decade of experience in climate advocacy, education, and youth engagement. Valery has represented Peru at multiple UN Climate Conferences and worked with organizations like UNICEF, UNFPA, and YOUNGO to promote inclusive climate policies. Her academic and professional focus lies in climate finance, just transitions, and empowering communities through Action for Climate Empowerment (ACE). Former VP in her undergraduate studies, she is now President of her MCR at Regent's Park College.
With special thanks to:
Lauren Schaefer, Vice President for Postgraduate Education & Access at Oxford SU for her opening remarks.
Ben Schnacter, United Nations Human Rights, for delivering the closing remarks and for his continued commitment to advancing environmental justice on a global level.
Bill Finnegan, Oxford Climate Research Network, for his support for this event from its inception.
Oxford University Museum of Natural History Staff Team, for hosting us so graciously!
Thank you to everyone for attending this event. We hope the conversation has been inspiring and insightful, and we encourage everyone to engage with everything else the Right Here, Right Now Global Climate Summit has to offer.