Scholars

Lisa Indah Wijayani has over seven years of working experience in the nonprofit sector under the areas of social and economic empowerment and environmental sustainability. Upon receiving the British government scholarship, she pursued a Master’s degree in Ecological Economics from the University of Edinburgh. While studying, she took part in field research in South Africa to resolve sustainability and social economic problems in the local community. Previously, Lisa had served at various public institutions to foster policy development in Indonesia and Southeast Asia. Her professional experiences include: Renewable Energy and Energy Efficiency Consultant at the Asian Development Bank (ADB); Network Manager at the UN Sustainable Development Solutions Network (SDSN); and Officer for Enterprise Development and Stakeholder Engagement at the ASEAN Secretariat. For the last two years, Lisa has been passionate about the issue of green jobs in the deployment of renewable energy and circular economy. Currently, she is leading green economy programs to accelerate low carbon transition at the Institute for Essential Services Reform (IESR), a think-tank that undertakes research and advocacy in the fields of energy and environment. She is also a founder of “Kelas Motivasi”, an online platform which provides capacity building for Indonesian youth to study overseas with scholarships, and a co-founder of “Salur Switchers,” which aims to promote sustainable business practices.

Lukman Baihaqi Alfakihuddin completed his Master’s degree in Environmental Resource Management at Florida Institute of Technology (2016-2017). Inspired by his research in 2017, Lukman’s action with the Plastic Action Network addressed the massive and unforeseen expansion of plastic garbage which overwhelmed local and national governments. Through his work, he measured two different approaches to this problem: including creating a support network in universities to adopt a watershed-beach ecosystem, then comparing the outcomes generated and challenges detected against a privatized, professional plastic garbage reclamation unit. Lukman found that the two approaches complement each other. Lukman has inspired innovation in the Plastic Action Network by joining with college programs and planning outreach events for participants to clean the water catchment areas that feed into rivers and the sea. The Plastic Action Network has planned events, including cleanups, seminars, music events, and contests, to reward the community members who participate. Lukman has also mobilized social media campaigns to enhance the image of the youth finding solutions to plastic garbage and environmental degradation. Lukman is deeply passionate about the environment and plastics reduction due to the large impact that plastics production has on climate change. Plastics are often created using energy from fossil fuels, which results in billions of tons of carbon pollution every year.