Future Earth is seeking an Executive Director to lead its newly established Global Coordination Hub, a collaborative initiative between Future Earth, Climate Service Center Germany (GERICS) at Helmholtz-Zentrum Hereon and the Julie Ann Wrigley Global Futures Laboratory® at Arizona State University (ASU).

The Executive Director will provide strategic leadership for the Global Coordination Hub, strengthening collaboration across Future Earth’s global secretariat while advancing the organization’s mission to accelerate sustainability science and its impact. The position will be based at GERICS in Hamburg.

Interested candidates can read answers to some questions they may have about the role below and apply here by August 30.

FAQs

Answered by
Prof. Dr. Daniela Jacob, Director of the Climate Service Center Germany (GERICS)
Prof. Dr. Peter Schlosser, University Vice President and Director General at the ASU Global Futures Laboratory
Dr. Wendy Broadgate, Global Hub Director (Future Earth Sweden Hub), Interim Coordinating Director

1. Why is Future Earth establishing a Global Coordination Hub now?

Wendy Broadgate:
We’re living in an increasingly fragmented world at a time when challenges like climate change, biodiversity loss, rising inequality, and pollution demand greater international cooperation, not less. At the same time, Future Earth’s global secretariat continues to expand and support the research on our complex, modern-day challenges. And as that network and research grow, we see an important opportunity to strengthen coordination across our offices so that they can provide the strongest possible support to our global community.

The Global Coordination Hub is being established now to help bring greater alignment across the Future Earth Secretariat. It will connect our teams, improve collaboration, and enable us to more effectively support the scientists, partners, and communities we serve. By strengthening the way we coordinate internally, we can better facilitate the generation and translation of sustainability research into the policies and actions needed to address today’s challenges.

We believe science has an important role to play in our divided world by bringing people together around shared solutions. The Global Coordination Hub is an investment in that mission and in the collective strength of the Future Earth community.

2. What is the role of the Executive Director and what does leadership of the Global Coordination Hub look like in practice?

Wendy:
As interim Executive Director, I’ve had the opportunity to start to shape this role. What’s become clear is that the ED of the Global Coordination Hub is, above all, a network leader. This isn’t a traditional executive role in the sense of managing a large staff or running a single institution. It’s about holding the threads of a globally distributed secretariat together and making sure they pull in the same direction.

Day to day, that means working closely with the host institutions, GERICS at Helmholtz-Zentrum Hereon and ASU’s Global Futures Laboratory, as well as with Global Hubs, research networks, and governing bodies. The ED coordinates strategic, operational, and communications activities across the Secretariat, and serves as a key point of contact for partners and funders.

What the role requires, more than anything, is the ability to build trust across a complex, international community and to catalyze collaboration and action. Future Earth’s strength has always been the quality and diversity of its network. The ED’s job is to make sure that the network can deliver on its potential.

3. What qualities are we looking for in the role of the Executive Director?

Wendy, Peter, and Daniela:
We are looking for someone who is a scientist, a leader, and a connector. Scientific credibility is essential. The Executive Director will need to engage as a peer with some of the world’s leading researchers and to represent Future Earth’s work in high-level policy and intergovernmental settings. We expect candidates to hold a PhD in sustainability science, Earth system science, science policy, or a closely related field, to bring a strong international reputation in their domain, and have a strong personal global network.

The global secretariat is a multi-institutional network operating across geographies, cultures, and time zones. Beyond scientific expertise, we need someone who has led at this scale before and knows how to work with international governing bodies, build and sustain partnerships across research, policy, and civil society, and coordinate teams that don’t share a building or even a continent. Experience in resource mobilization and financial oversight is equally important; the ED will play a central role in securing the funding that allows Future Earth to deliver on its mission.

What may matter most is the human dimension of this role. Future Earth is a network built on relationships. The next Executive Director will need exceptional interpersonal and communication skills – the kind that allow you to move fluidly between a scientific conference, a high-level intergovernmental forum, and an internal team conversation, and to be effective in all three. We are looking for someone who listens, who brings people together across diverse perspectives, and who genuinely believes that international collaboration and new scientific knowledge are central to shaping our future on a safe and just planet.

4. How does the Global Coordination Hub relate to existing Future Earth hubs, networks, and partners?

Daniela Jacob:
The Global Coordination Hub is a connective structure designed to enhance Future Earth’s work. Over the past decade, Future Earth has built a globally distributed community of research networks, global hubs, and national committees, each embedded in its own scientific and policy contexts. The GCH exists to strengthen and leverage these connections for greater impact.

From where I sit, leading GERICS and chairing the German Committee for Future Earth, I have seen firsthand how much value already exists across this network and how much more becomes possible when it is well coordinated. The GCH provides a stronger shared infrastructure to draw on and a clearer pathway to ensure that what we produce together reaches the audiences who need it most.

The relationship between the GCH and existing hubs and networks should be understood as a partnership of equals with a shared purpose. The GCH will coordinate and support, facilitating communication, aligning strategies, and helping the network speak with a more coherent voice globally. But the scientific depth, the regional relationships, and the community connections that make Future Earth what it is remain distributed across the network.

5. What are the key priorities for the first year?

Peter Schlosser:
The first year will focus on positioning the Global Coordination Hub as a strategic platform in advancing Future Earth’s global impact, visibility, and community. An early priority will be appointing an Executive Director to help guide the hub’s development and strengthen connections across its distributed network.

The organization already brings together an exceptional network of Global Hubs, Global Research Networks, and National and Regional Entities. The goal now is to co-develop a shared strategic vision for the years ahead, while streamlining the operational, communications, and partnership-building processes needed to support Future Earth’s mission at a global scale.

Co-hosted by the Julie Ann Wrigley Global Futures Laboratory at Arizona State University in the U.S. and the German Climate Service Center (GERICS) in Hamburg, Germany, the hub will draw on complementary expertise, extensive international networks, and a distributed model for connecting researchers, practitioners, and decision-makers across regions.
Ultimately, the first year is about building trust, aligning priorities, and accelerating the momentum the Future Earth community has already created.