A LEADING economist who helped draft a Nobel Prize winning report on climate change will be speaking at York Festival of Ideas.

Prof Anil Markandya was one of the core team that drafted the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) 4th Assessment. The report was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 2007.

Prof Markandya is appearing at a major Festival Focus Day on Saturday, June 8 entitled What Have Universities Ever Done For Us?

Other key speakers include:

• Crossbench peer Lord Kerslake, a former head of the civil service who is the Chair of the UPP Foundation Civic University Commission, which recently published recommendations for Universities on the need to redefine their civic mission to engage proactively with their local communities

• Professor Alain Beretz of the University of Strasbourg, a Special Envoy of the French Prime Minister with a mission on European universities, and a former Director-General for Research and Innovation at the French Ministry for Higher Education, Research and Innovation, to provide insights on the shape of future relationships between universities and academics to collaboratively tackle global challenges in a post Brexit landscape

• Sue Hartley, Professor of Ecology at the University of York and Director of the York Environmental Sustainability Institute (YESI), a pioneering interdisciplinary research partnership generating solutions to global environmental challenges

• Professor Callum Roberts, a marine conservation biologist in the Department of Environment and Geography at the University of York, who worked on the BBC TV programme Blue Planet and was a series scientific adviser to Blue Planet II.

• Bobby Seagull, University Challenge guru, maths champion and inspirational teacher

Joan Concannon, director of York Festival of Ideas, said: “Universities are the engine rooms of discovery, extending the boundaries of knowledge to tackle complex global challenges.

“We are therefore delighted to welcome world-leading experts to York to discuss some of the major issues impacting on our lives and the responsibilities of universities in helping to solve these challenges. The Festival Focus Day is also an opportunity to showcase some of the influential and important research and engagement being driven by the University of York.”

Last year’s York Festival of Ideas attracted an audience of over 40,000 and was the winner of the Outstanding Cultural Festival (Large) at the York Culture Awards. It scooped the award for Best Cultural Event or Festival the previous year.

This year’s Festival begins on June 4 with an evening launch event in partnership with York Minster hosted by distinguished journalist Anne McElvoy. She will introduce Astronomer Royal and bestselling author Martin Rees; award-winning journalist and author Misha Glenny and former Beirut hostage, humanitarian and author Terry Waite.

On the day of the launch, BBC Radio 4’s Today Programme will also be broadcast from the University of York in front of a live audience.

Find out more about York Festival of Ideas at yorkfestivalofideas.