Joselyn Bigirwa is a Gender and social inclusion specialist with over 18 years of Gender Mainstreaming experience in development and Humanitarian programming in the Horn, East, and Southern Africa. She holds an MA in Human Rights and a bachelor's Degree in Gender and Development from Makerere University.Joselyn works as the IGAD Head of Mission to the Republic of Uganda and the Gender and Land Expert and Gender Focal point for the Agriculture and Environment Division at IGAD.

Before her current role, Joselyn played a pivotal role in coordinating both national and regional programs addressing critical issues. Her focus spanned across a spectrum that included Women’s Land Rights, Access to Justice, Violence Against Women, Agriculture and Value Chains, Climate Resilience, Water and Sanitation, HIV and AIDS, Reproductive Health, Women’s Leadership, and Economic Empowerment. These programs were strategically designed to target and benefit diverse demographics, namely youth, women, and older persons. Joselyn's impactful work was not limited to specific geographical boundaries, as she collaborated with a wide array of organizations at the national, regional, and international levels. Her professional journey includes partnerships with esteemed entities such as Hanns R. Neumann Stiftung, Concern Worldwide, World Vision-Africa Climate Change Resilience Alliance, Oxfam International, and HelpAge International, among others.

Masilin Gudoshava is a climate Modelling Expert at the IGAD Climate Prediction and Applications Centre. She has over 10 years of experience in climate modeling utilizing the Weather Research and Forecasting model. Masilin’s work involves advancing the scientific knowledge on the sub-seasonal to seasonal drivers, sub-seasonal to seasonal forecasting, tailoring of forecast products, conducting capacity-building training workshops, and integrating the research outputs into improving the climate services over the Greater Horn of Africa. She has authored and co-authored numerous peer-reviewed and policy documents. Masilin is currently a member of the World Research Climate Programme (WCRP) African Monsoon Working Group and the Scientific Steering Group for the My Climate Risk.

Chris Funk is the Director of the Climate Hazards Center (CHC) at the University of California, Santa Barbara, where he works with many collaborators to develop data sets, forecasts, and inter-disciplinary early warning systems. Chris has been an author or co-author of many publications focusing on climate, climate change, drought, early warning, and food security. Recent books include Drought Early Warning and Forecasting and Drought, Flood, Fire: How Climate Change Contributes to Recent Catastrophes, with Cambridge University Press. One long-term focus of Chris’ research has been the drivers of East African droughts and floods and the associated opportunities for drought prediction. Recent research with colleagues at ICPAC has focused on how climate change is making La Niña, El Niño, and Indian Ocean Dipole events more extreme (paper 1, paper 2). These extremes offer opportunities for prediction and improved risk management.

Joyce Jelagat is a Gender and Climate Expert with over 8 years of expertise in climate change, environmental governance, and gender mainstreaming at regional and international levels.She has previously collaborated closely with governments and worked with organizations such as such as UNDP, UNEP, and GIZ. Currently, Joyce holds the position of Gender and Climate Expert at the IGAD Climate Predictions and Applications Center, with the main role of supporting gender mainstreaming in all initiatives and programs undertaken by the organization.

Dr. Omondi currently supports initiatives for IGAD and the UN Office of Special Envoy for the Horn of Africa Peace and Security. He formerly worked as a Project Manager at ICPAC for the “Strengthening of Resilience of the IGAD Region to the Adverse Impacts of Climate Change through effective Adaptation and Mitigation Actions (RICCAMA) project for the IGAD Member States. He is also a Senior Associate Lecturer at the Department of Earth and Climate Science, Institute of Climate Change and Adaptation (ICCA), University of Nairobi, Kenya. Dr.Omondi has worked at ICPAC since September 2002, first, as a Junior Climate Research Fellow (2002-2008) to a Senior Research Fellow (2009-2014), he leads the initiative in analyzing the status of the climate in Eastern Africa.

Previously, he worked as a Climate Information Services Expert NORCAP Deployee at ICPAC from 2016 to 2019 and contributed to the accreditation of ICPAC with WMO as a Regional Climate Centre (RCC) of excellence. From 2013-2015, Dr. Omondi worked with the United Nations World Food Programme (WFP), Regional Bureau for the Eastern Africa region as a Senior Climate Risk Analyst where the Greater Horn of Africa Climate Risks and food security Atlas was published.

Nishadh Kalladath is a Data Science and Machine Learning Expert deployed to ICPAC by NORCAP. He is involved in developing an impact-based forecasting (IBF) model for the East Africa region at IGAD Climate Prediction and Applications Centre. He holds a PhD in environmental sciences from Bharathiar University, India.  He is interested in applying ensemble prediction systems, risk and decision analysis using Bayesian networks, and event-based climate storyline approaches to IBF development.