DUBAI — Communications experts in climate change and sustainability have joined the speaker lineup for the Holmes Report's MENA IN2 Innovation Summit, which is returning to Dubai on 13 February 2019.

The second edition of the MENA conference takes place at the Renaissance Downtown Hotel in Dubai. Tickets for the conference can be booked here.

The climate change session will focus on one of most intractable challenges facing communicators, as they discuss how public relations can support climate change initiatives, The session features Taif Mohammad Al Amiri, director of government communications at the UAE Ministry of Climate Change and Environment, and IRENA communications and outreach advisor Sabah Ahmad Dalvi. The duo are joined by Standard Chartered regional head of public affairs and sustainability Khaldoun Hajaj, and Dubai Carbon external relations officer Musad Afzal. The session is moderated by APCO's Nic Labuschagne.

The climate change session features on a lineup that also includes a keynote panel on CEO activism in the region, featuring Starz Play Arabia CEO and co-founder Maaz Sheikh, Visa corporate relations senior director Nicole Hayde, ITP Publishing editor-in-chief Anil Bhoyrul, Ras Al Khaimah executive director Heba Fatani and moderator Asda'a BCW president Sunil John. 

Elsewhere, Arab News editor-in-chief Faisal Abbas and Financial Times Gulf correspondent Simeon Kerr will join a panel that uncovers media trends via a gameshow format, alongside Mubadala head of internal corporate relations Umayma Abubakar, Marriott International MEA communications VP Sarah Walker-Kerr and Hanover MD Jonty Summers.

The conference's integration panel brings together senior figures from marketing, agency and academia to discuss how public relations can build ideas that drive behavioral change across multiple communications channels, targeting the full range of stakeholders. The discussion will feature: Vivian Nasamu-Odior, director, Baby House of Brands, AMET, Johnson & Johnson, Salman T. Sultan, regional PR and social media manager, Jaguar Land Rover,  Dr Harris Breslow, professor of mass communications, American University of Sharjah, and Memac Ogilvy head of content, PR and influence, Joe Lipscombe.

The programme for the 2019 IN2Summit MENA is now live. The conference will take place at the Renaissance Downtown Dubai Hotel, ahead of the PRCA MENA Awards at the same venue that evening. PRCA MENA (along with other supporting organisations including the IABC and MEPRA) members are eligible for special discounts via their member bodies.

The second IN2Summit MENA is being backed by numerous partners and sponsors, including Asda'a BCW, APCO, Hanover, Memac Ogilvy, H+K Strategies, Weber Shandwick, Markettiers, FleishmanHillard and Strateus Group.

Tickets for the conference can be booked here.