Alis-Daniela Torres, Senior Officer Sustainable Resources, Climate and Resilience, ICLEI Europe

Alis-Daniela Torres' work is focused on helping cities advance on sustainable energy and climate action planning processes, smart city services development and business models creation for urban sustainability projects. Daniela’s work draws on more than 15 years of diverse experience in energy and environmental management, climate change studies, public policy and sustainable innovation practices. Daniela is an Environmental Engineer and holds Master’s Degrees in Sustainable Energy Development and City Sciences.  Daniela supports ICLEI as a technical expert in the Sustainable Resources, Climate and Resilience team since 2018.

Alison De Luise, Manager, Adaptation to Climate Change, Climate Alliance

Alison is an urban climate change adaptation specialist, applying policy, partnership & program management experience towards support city resiliency.  As Manager, Adaptation to Climate Change at Climate Alliance, Alison co-manages the Covenant of Mayors for Europe's Policy Support Facility, building adaptation capacity across European cities. She also manages the EEA European Topic Center on Climate Change Urban Adaptation Task. Prior to this, Alison led strategic initiatives aimed at supporting case-making for Green Infrastructure across US cities.  As Senior Advisor at the Water Center at Penn, she co-developed integrated solutions to complex urban water resource challenges. As head of Strategic Partnerships at Bioversity International, she focused her partnership development efforts on achieving development impact and securing funding.  This work built on her years working for Australia's Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade in food security and in rural development policy.  The foundation of all this experience was her three years establishing social enterprise initiatives in Swaziland.

Andrew Bower, Programme Management Officer, UN Office for Disaster Risk Reduction

Andrew is Team Leader for Risk Governance at UNDRR Regional Office for Europe and Central Asia, and the Regional Coordinator of the Making Cities Resilient 2030 Initiative. He has worked for UNDRR since 2018, covering both engagement on national and local resilience through Sendai Framework implementation and monitoring across the 55 member countries of the Europe and Central Asia Region.

He previously worked for the European Commission’s Directorate General for European Civil Protection and Humanitarian Aid Operations (DG ECHO), in charge of DRR and urban resilience. Andrew builds on experience in academia as Visiting Research Fellow working on EU external relations and in the non-profit sector influencing EU external policies and instruments.

Andrew holds a Master’s degree from King's College London and a Bachelor degree from the University of Birmingham. He is married and has two sons.

Birgit Georgi, Director, Strong in a Changing Climate

Birgit Georgi supports cities across Europe and businesses to adapt to the challenges of climate change. She is a landscape architect and has worked specifically on urban adaptation to climate change since 2010, when the first city initiatives came up with the topic. As project manager at the European Environment Agency, she has lead numerous urban adaptation assessment reports, like the series „Urban Adaptation to Climate Change in Europe“. Thereby, she has worked intensively with cities and city networks on one side and with national governments, the European Commission, other European stakeholders and experts on the other side in a multi-level approach. She has been one of the co-funders of the European Urban Resilience Forum. Since 2017, she continued working as an independent expert with her company Strong in a Changing Climate (https://www.birgitgeorgi.eu/) helping cities and businesses even more directly - individually or as expert of Urban Innovative Actions and the European Urban Initiative.

Elena Petsani, Officer, Urban Resilience and Climate Adaptation, Sustainable Resources, Climate and Resilience, ICLEI Europe

Elena Petsani is an Urban Resilience & Sustainability Planner (MSc & MEng.). She has professional background with over five years of experience in inclusive and climate-resilient urban development, sustainability strategies, policy-making, and academic research at the national and local government level. She has supported strategic urban planning and territorial development, climate adaptation policies, and spatial tools for multi-stakeholder engagement in the decision-making process. Elena is involved in EU funded projects focused on adaptation to climate change and Nature Based Solutions such as REGREEN, proGIreg, REGILIENCE, and MULTISOURCE.

Holger Robrecht, Deputy Regional Director - Sustainable Resources, Climate & Resilience, ICLEI European Secretariat

Holger joined ICLEI in 1997. He holds a Diploma in spatial planning and is member of ICLEI’s Board of Directors, and leads ICLEI´s Sustainable Resources, Climate & Resilience team. Holger holds more than 25 years of experience in local environmental and sustainability management and planning, project development and co-ordination, team supervision as well as guidance and training. He developed, supervised and coordinated international and European projects including on urban resilience, climate adaptation, nature-based solutions and green infrastructures through various research projects and engaged with studies such as the European Environment Agency’s report on ‘Urban adaptation to climate change in Europe 2016’ and the ‘EKLIPSE Impact Evaluation Framework’.

Imanol Ugalde, Junior Officer, Urban Resilience and Climate Adaptation

Imanol is a Junior Officer in the Urban Resilience and Climate Adaptation team at ICLEI European Secretariat. He holds a bachelor’s degree on renewable energy engineering and a master’s degree on sustainable energy engineering from the University of the Basque Country. Currently he is involved in diverse European projects, covering a wide range of topics: urban resilience and adaptation to climate change; climate-neutral cities; ecological restoration, protection and preservation; and cultural heritage protection. His mother tongue is Basque, and he also speaks Spanish and English.

Ine Vandecasteele, Expert - Urban Climate Adaptation, European EnviroNment Agency

Ine is an expert in Urban Climate Adaptation at the European Environment Agency. She is responsible for the Agency’s Urban Adaptation Report, published every 4 years, which aims at supporting and inspiring the much-needed process of adaptation to climate change at the local level. Ine has a background in both environmental and political sciences, and has 12 years of experience in providing scientific evidence for policymaking in the fields of water management, energy, climate impacts and urban sustainability.

Isabel Parra, Communications Manager, Europe, the Middle East and Afrika, Resilient Cities Network

Imagining how we can create inclusive, resilient and sustainable places has been Isabel's focus for the past 12 years. She has collaborated with governments, international organisations and private companies to create strategies that foster participation, stimulate conversations and generate a sense of togetherness.

Now with Resilient Cities Network, Isabel continues to search for ways to build synergies between policymakers, entrepreneurs, creatives, and firms to champion the best interests of every urban inhabitant.

Jenn cote, Officer, Communications & Events, ICLEI Europe

Jenn is an Officer for Communications & Events at ICLEI Europe. This is her second year as Communications Lead for EURESFO. As an Officer, she is involved in the topics of governance and social innovation (PSLifestyle and CAMPAIGners), energy (ActionHeat), and biodiversity (Berlin Urban Nature Pact). She is also part of the Organising Committee for the European Conference on Sustainable Cities & Towns (ESCT) in 2024. She holds a BA in Politics & International Relations from the University of Greenwich (London, UK) as well as a Master of Public Policy and Management & Organisation from the Hertie School (Berlin, Germany). Jennifer has previously worked for the United Nations System Staff College in Bonn (Germany), Wiley publishing company (Germany), and West Suffolk Council (UK). She is a native in English and speaks German. 

João Dinis, Head of Office / Director, Cascais city

João Dinis has been developing climate change action and sustainable development strategies through innovative approaches on spatial planning, technology and governance models for the last 15 years. By managing local strategies for climate change, partnerships and stakeholders are brought in a multi-specialist and multi-institutional approach to develop a roadmap towards a resilient future. This resulted in a frontrunning experience which led to the implementation of over 40 climate actions in the last 5 years for the city of Cascais, the development of monitoring and digital tools which help both citizens and risk related stakeholders, nature-based solutions which significantly contributed to the quality of life of citizens and also for smooth mobility solutions, governance models with established processes and a comprehensive set of communication tools aiming towards environmental awareness for all socio-demographic target audiences.

Jole Lutzu, Officer, Urban Resilience and Climate Adaptation, ICLEI Europe

Jole is an Officer at ICLEI Europe in Sustainable Resources, Climate and Resilience, supporting local governments facing urbanization challenges, assisting them building a vision that allows them and their communities to consolidate resilient and sustainable transformation pathways. She is an architect from Italy with experience in strategic resilience planning, infrastructure and governance. She has conducted key research in Rome and Barcelona on community led transition processes and public space regeneration.

Jole currently supports a number of different European funded projects on urban resilience and climate adaptation, such as ARCH (cultural heritage), REGILIENCE (regional resilience), and CoCliCo (coastal cities), and directly involved in global advocacy initiatives, such as Making Cities Resilient 2030.

Katherine Peinhardt, Communications Officer, ICLEI Europe

Katherine Peinhardt is a Communications Officer at ICLEI European Secretariat, working mainly on urban resilience- and cultural heritage-related projects. Previously, she was a German Chancellor Fellow (Bundeskanzlerstipendiatin) supported by the Alexander von Humboldt-Stiftung in Germany. Her research dives into links between place and resilience, exploring the ways that communities are already building both physical and social resilience through urban design and public space planning and management. This examination of community-based resilience-building will guide the emerging paradigm around a place-led approach to climate resilience and disaster recovery.

She previously worked as a Project Reporter and Communications Associate at Project for Public Spaces (PPS), during which time she focused on telling the story of placemaking. She managed written content and promoted a narrative for building cities around places. Prior to joining PPS, Katherine worked at World Resources Institute Ross Center for Sustainable Cities, coordinating digital communications and producing written content to promote a vision of more sustainable urban development.

Leon Kapetas, Lead for Programs, Climate Resilience, Global Resilient Cities Network

A hydrologist by training, Leon is a Senior Climate Resilience Specialist leading the implementation of programs for the Resilience Cities Network. He has a strong interest on Nature-based Solutions as a vehicle for adapting to climate change, protecting natural capital, and meeting development objectives.

Leon has experience in research and consulting environments across high- and low-income countries. He has worked as consultant for the World Bank on the development of ‘climate resilience toolkits for PPPs’ and has developed climate risk assessments for African cities. His work in South America focused on water resources development in Andean catchments. Leon also worked as expert for the Urban Innovative Actions (ERDF) to support Amsterdam’s program of smart Blue-Green roofs. As Research Associate at the University of Cambridge, Leon developed NBS assessment methods in the context of adaptation planning. Over the years, he has engaged in numerous capacity building schemes on climate resilience & NBS mainstreaming.

Lina liakou, Regional director eme, resilient cities network 

Lina Liakou leads the resilience practice in Europe and the Middle East for the Resilient Cities Network, working with member cities across the region in developing their resilience thinking through long term City Resilience Strategies and actionable initiatives. Before joining the Network, Lina was Deputy Mayor and Chief Resilience Officer for the City of Thessaloniki, Greece. As a Deputy Mayor, Lina Liakou initiated collaborations with the European Commission, the EIB and the World Bank.

LUCA ARBAU, OFFICER, URBAN RESILIENCE AND CLIMATE ADAPTATION, ICLEI EUROPE

Luca Arbau is an architect and a sustainable urban development practitioner. He works as an Officer at ICLEI Europe in the field of urban resilience and climate adaptation. He leads the EU Policy Support Facility initiatives under the Covenant of Mayors - Europe and is involved in the conceptualisation and implementation of several projects under the EU Mission on Adaptation. He holds a master's degree in international cooperation and emergency architecture from the International University of Catalonia (Barcelona) and a master's degree in architecture from the University of Ferrara (Italy). Luca is a native Italian speaker, is fluent in English and Spanish, and has good knowledge of Catalan.

Magnus Qvant, co-founder of Nordic Urban Resilience Institute

Magnus Qvant has ten years of working experience at executive level in the field of urban resilience and is co-founder of Nordic Urban Resilience Institute. He has also more than 20 years of experience in training and practice in civil security and emergency management, both nationally and internationally. Magnus Qvant is also the Secretary- General of Resilient Regions Association, a neutral and independent arena for collaboration on Urban Resilience, addressing societal challenges involving politicians, the industry, the private and public sector as well as the academia.

Nuha Eltinay, Senior Officer, Urban Resilience and Climate Adaptation, ICLEI Europe

Pernille Martiny Modvig, Sustainable and Resilient Regions, Climate-KIC

Silvia Haslinger Olsson, co-founder of Nordic Urban Resilience Institute

Silvia has several years of experience in the field of urban resilience and is co-founder of Nordic Urban Resilience Institute. Since 2013 she has been working as COO for Resilient Regions Association, a neutral and independent arena for collaboration on urban resilience, addressing societal challenges involving politicians, the industry, the private and public sector as well as the academia. Previously she has been working with cluster strategy and innovation at the Regional Development Agency is Southern Sweden.

Vasileios Latinos, Coordinator, Urban resilience and climate adaption, ICLEI Europe

Vasileios is a climate adaptation and resilience expert, with 13+ years experience, working with local and regional governments throughout Europe. He is coordinating the resilience portfolio of ICLEI Local Governments for Sustainability for Europe, responsible for development, management and coordination of projects and services in the topical areas of climate change adaptation, urban resilience and disaster risk reduction and supporting the programmatic development of ICLEI in this field. Vasileios is also involved in standardisation activities and manages the European Urban Resilience Forum since 2016.