Maureen Abel, BA (Port Harcourt); MA (Nasarawa State); MPhil (Cantab), is a sustainability researcher, development strategist, and impact-driven entrepreneur whose work advances climate justice, environmental policy, and youth empowerment. Her MPhil in African Studies at the University of Cambridge focused on climate change, environmental justice, and indigenous languages and knowledge systems in the Niger Delta. She is a Mastercard Foundation Scholar and Prize Studentship Recipient at the Joint Centre for History and Economics (JCHE), Cambridge. She graduated as the Best Graduating Female Student with First Class Honours in Linguistics and Communication from the University of Port Harcourt.

She served as the 2025 Contact Point for the Arts, Culture, and Heritage Working Group in the YOUNGO Council of the UNFCCC and is a ONE UK Ambassador, advocating for sustainable development and poverty eradication. She has also worked as a Research, Engagement, and Programme (REP) Assistant for the Democratising Education for Global Sustainability and Justice (DEMED) programme at Lucy Cavendish College, Cambridge.

Maureen co-founded and leads the Opportunities Unlock programme, supporting youth in the Global South, and founded Maurbel Integrated Services and Celiasoft Global Consulting Limited, where she oversees business development and sustainability consulting. She has contributed to the ThinkLab-CSF Climate Diets and Behaviour Change Project at Cambridge and trained with the Cambridge Institute for Sustainability Leadership (CISL). A member of the Linguistic Association of Nigeria and the Research Committee of Ogbakor Ikwere, her work reflects an interdisciplinary approach spanning linguistics, environmental justice, political discourse, and sustainable policy frameworks.