IUCN WCPA Geoheritage Specialist Group

I am a senior geologist in paleoenvironment from Chinese Academy of Sciences and the first Chinese with the European professional Geologist title as EurGeol. My research is quantificational rebuilding the paleoclimate form Late Jurassic to Early Cretaceous in Jehol Biota, North East of China by TEX 86, which is the most evolutionary transition period from the dinosaur to the early bird. I’m founder member and currently President of Young Earth Scientists (YES) Network found in 2008 during the launching event of the International Year of Planet Earth (IYPE) in UNESCO -Paris. This position offered me a tremendous chance to be exposed to the whole international community of geo-sciences and climate action, to young and senior geologists both from academy and industry. Now YES Network has more than 5000 memberships from 149 countries and 55 official National Chapters. We are working on so many interdisciplinary projects and initiatives all over the world. It will help me to linked with the countries in different stages of development and let the young generation to work together for the goals related to SDGs 2030, which is so urgent for all world. I am leading several research and consulting projects on geoheritage and natural heritage, especially the location with the fossils from China to Global. The visibility of my young geo-community grow so much that I was invited to be head of Chinese Delegation for G20 Youth Summit 2016 in China in connection with G20 Summit and Lead the section on Green Life and Sustainable Development. I am appointed as the member of Steering Committee of Young UNESCO Climate Action Network (YoU-CAN) and the Executive Secretary of World Young Scientist Summit, which are the global platforms for all young and early career scientist with the support letters from President Xi Jinping and UN Secretary General, Mr. Antonio Guterres. A serous of topics on global healthy, climate adaptation, new materials, resilience city, bio2bio were highly concerned and organized as slide events of WYSS as the implement of UN Sustainable Development Goals 2030.

An international expert on geodiversity conservation and management, education and communication. Sophie brings a pragmatic systems approach to her thinking and to positioning all peoples within our understanding of nature for innovative new approaches.

Recently, Sophie has been working to explicitly include geodiversity for stronger natural heritage management. This includes  supporting capacity building for a full and integrated understanding of nature (biodiversity and geodiversity) for policy  and decision makers. 

Sophie's international experience brings geodiversity expertise to a range of protected and managed area approaches. Director of the Chablais UNESCO Global Geopark since 2015 and Scientific Advisory Board Member since 2008, Sophie is also the elected Coordinator of the European Geoparks Network which brings together 109 UNESCO Global Geoparks from 28 countries. She is both a Senior Evaluator for UNESCO Global Geoparks having conducted missions throughout the world since 2018 and an IUCN field evaluator for sites nominated to the World Heritage List, criterion viii.  Sophie’s other responsibilities include her membership of the Regional Commission for Geological Heritage, France and her geoheritage oversight for the Haute-Savoie Department, France. She is member of an EU Action Group working on Ecosystems, Geodiversity and Biodiversity within the EuroGEO program, supported by the European Commission. She is a regular speaker at international workshops and conferences.

Sophie’s early career in international finance focused on the renewable energy sector in Europe and North America. She brought together finance, sustainability, ESG and climate change in policy discussions and was appointed board member to the UNEP Sustainable Finance Initiative and the London Energy Partnership. She holds a PhD in Geophysics from the University of Liverpool and BSc in Earth Sciences from Imperial College, London.

A British-French national Sophie speaks fluent English and French.