The EURESFO23 journey has started: reflections on day 1
18. October 17:15 - 18:00
The European Urban Resilience Forum this year offers a dense programme featuring sessions, workshops, interviews and other activities that discuss resilience under 3 main perspectives: governance and finance, innovation, and mainstreamed solutions. Exploring the interfaces among these themes is the main aim of the plenary discussions which will take place at the beginning and/or end of each day of the conference.
This plenary session aims to bring reflections about the topics discussed during the first day of EURESFO23, highlighting recurring key messages from the different thematic streams. While giving an opportunity to all attendees to be part of a general reflection on the outcomes from the first day of the forum, this plenary will ensure that all most relevant messages are highlighted and reiterated in preparation for the Financing and Investment Forum taking place on the second day of the conference. Any open questions from the day will be clearly stated so that moderators from following sessions can take them up and channel the upcoming discussions.
The session will bring to the stage experienced resilience makers, innovators and providers that are assigned a role as observers throughout the different activities of the forum. As part of this task, they attend different sessions, taking notes and comments to build a critical view on the discussions. By adding a provocative and constructive personal view to the highlighted messages, they will fuel a debate on stage that will engage the audience for feedback and reflections.
Speakers
Senior Expert, Fresh Thoughts Consulting GmbH
Guido Schmidt, Senior Expert, Fresh Thoughts Consulting GmbH
Guido Schmidt has 30 years’ work experience as key expert and team leader with climate adaptation, droughts and floods. Guido is currently leading the Horizon 2020 project REGILIENCE and is expert of the Climate Adaptation Mission Implementation Platform.
Global Focal Point - Gap Fund Partnership, Global Covenant of Mayors for Climate and Energy
Helena Monteiro, Global Focal Point - Gap Fund Partnership, Global Covenant of Mayors for Climate and Energy
Helena Monteiro is the Global Focal Point for the Gap Fund-GCOM Partnership, overseeing external relations and partnerships to help cities access Gap Fund technical support. She is an urban resilience expert with a track record of managing projects with local governments and international organizations in Europe and Latin America. Previously, she led the Making Cities Resilient 2030 initiative in Europe and Central Asia for the United Nations Office for Disaster Risk Reduction and played a key role as the Associate Director of 100 Resilient Cities, assisting Latin American cities in developing resilience strategies. Before that, she headed the Foreign Affairs Office for the Government of the State of São Paulo, Brazil. Helena holds a Master's in City Design and Social Science from the London School of Economics and Political Science and a bachelor's degree in International Relations from the University of Sao Paulo.
Expert in local action for energy and climate, IEECP
Jen Heemann, Expert in local action for energy and climate, IEECP
Jen Heemann has over 10 years of experience in sustainable development strategies in cities and regions. She holds an MSc degree in Urban Management and Development from Erasmus University Rotterdam, and has focused her career on local and regional climate action planning processes. At IEECP, she works as a researcher and project manager, developing and coordinating projects focused on improving public authorities’ capacity to implement climate-related measures. She is the project manager of REGILIENCE (Resilience Strategies for Regions) and is also involved in the development of peer to peer learning programmes in the EU-funded projects PROSPECT+ (Capacity building for cities and regions – from learning to action!) and ENERGee Watch (peer-to-peer learning programme).
Project Manager - Climate Adaptation and Resilience, Setec
Rim Khamis, Project Manager - Climate Adaptation and Resilience, Setec
Rim Khamis is an expert in climate adaptation, sustainable development and urban resilience. She is currently working as a climate governance, resilience and innovation consultant at Setec Organisation, supporting actors from the private and public sector in developing their climate risk and vulnerability analysis, establishing adaptation strategies and action plans as well as finding appropriate fundings and investments for the implementation of adaptation initiatives.
She accomplished her PhD studies in Geography and Planning at the University of Pau and the Adoud country in France. She developed her PhD thesis focusing on the Governance of climate adaptation in mid-sized European cities. Throughout her PhD studies, she worked in collaboration with the Center for Environmental Policy at the Imperial College London on topics related to environmental policies in urban contexts, and gave lectures on urban resilience.
Project Manager, National Technical University of Athens
Tadej Stepisnik Perdih, Project Manager, National Technical University of Athens
Tadej Stepisnik Perdih (Ph.D. Mech. Eng.) is responsible for partnerships and project implementation and at the Department of Water Resources and Environmental Engineering of the National Technical University of Athens. His career focuses on cross-disciplinary topics of water/wastewater management including nature-based solutions, water-energy-food nexus and alternative water sources. He has experience in managing projects across several EU funding schemes, including Horizon, PRIMA, Life+, ERC PoC and I3 - Interregional Innovation Investment. Tadej is currently making sure that projects CARDIMED (NBS | Horizon Europe), SureNexus (nexus | PRIMA), INNO4CFIs (nexus | I3) and iWAYS (wastewater treatment | H2020) are running smooth and is also involved in REMEDIES (plastic pollution | Horizon Europe) and Biodaph2O (wastewater treatment | Life+).
Operational Coordinator of the RESIST project (on behalf of INOVA+)
Catarina Pydzińska Azevedo, Operational Coordinator of the RESIST project (on behalf of INOVA+)
Catarina Pydzińska Azevedo, as the Operational Coordinator of the RESIST project (on behalf of INOVA+), is currently working closely with 12 European regions on climate adaptation, to pilot innovative solutions and improve their resilience to climate change. But also Catarina’s other projects and roles have been related to climate resilience and sustainability, and in particular urban sustainability. And she has special interest in the area of citizen engagement and citizen science. Yet her experience is broader, as for over 20 years Catarina was involved in numerous transnational projects and studies, especially ones funded by the European Commission and developed as services for its agencies. Some additional fields of her expertise include innovation policies and innovation and research support measures, promotion of science & research, entrepreneurship support, management of cross-national networks and research collaborations, public engagement, and stakeholder consultation. Catarina has collaborated with INOVA+ since 2010, with different roles and responsibilities along the years, including leading its Research & Technology department. She has also collaborated as a consultant, trainer and project manager with various organisations. Currently Catarina also supports revival of the Polish CIVINET network, linked to the CIVITAS Initiative. She holds a Master’s degree in Management from Warsaw School of Economics, as well as a diploma of European Studies by its International Relations Institute, and is currently completing her PhD in Sociology at the University of Porto (research focus on citizen science for sustainable and inclusive cities).
Moderator
Officer, Urban Resilience and Climate Adaptation, ICLEI Europe
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.