Mary Evelyn Tucker received her PhD at Columbia University mentored by the noted Confucian scholar, Wm Theodore de Bary. Her special area of study is East Asian religious traditions. She co-directs the Yale Forum on Religion and Ecology, which examines cultural and religious values for broadened environmental ethics.


She has published several books on Confucianism including The Philosophy of Qi. She co-edited the Harvard volumes on Confucianism and Ecology and Buddhism and Ecology and two volumes with Weiming Tu on Confucian Spirituality. She is the co-author of Journey of the Universe with Brian Thomas Swimme and the executive producer of the Emmy Award winning film with John Grim.

Xinzhong Yao is Professor of Ethics, and formerly Dean of the School of Philosophy at Renmin University of China. He was also formerly Professor and Director of the King's China Institute at King's College London. Prior to this appointment, Professor Yao was Professor of Religion and Ethics at the University of Wales, Lampeter, and a senior research fellow at the Ian Ramsey Centre, University of Oxford. In 1998, in recognition of his work promoting Confucianism in the UK, he was made Honorary President of the Confucian Academy in Hong Kong.

Yao has published books and articles on the subject of Confucianism, including comparative studies with Christianity. He is the author and editor of the 2 volume Encyclopedia of Confucianism and co-edited with Weiming Tu the 4 volume Confucian Studies—Critical Concepts in Asian Philosophy.

Yufang Gao is a conservation scientist and environmental anthropologist who received his Ph.D. from Yale University. He is dedicated to integrating knowledge and practice for sustainable human-wildlife coexistence. He has collaborated with international, national, and local organizations on various conservation programs, primarily in the Tibetan Plateau and Himalayas. His areas of expertise include human-wildlife conflict and coexistence, illegal wildlife trade, Tibetan Buddhism and ecology, and conservation capacity building. Currently, he leads an initiative called Conservation Edgewalkers, which aims to engage and empower early-career Chinese conservationists by developing their awareness and ability to navigate and transcend diverse biophysical, sociocultural, and disciplinary boundaries for the well-being of both humans and nonhumans.

Binbin Wang is a climate activist and social scientist in China and was selected as Yale World Fellow in 2023. As a stubborn optimist, she has tracked the UNFCCC process since 2009 as a trusted witness, passionate advocate, creative expert, and multi-talented actionist. She brings extensive experience and cross-cut expertise on global climate governance and climate policy, strategic communication and multi-stakeholders cooperation working across media, NGO, UN, academia and private sectors. She is now accelerating bottom-up actions and joint efforts from China to the world for the global net-zero transition.