Agnieszka Spirydowicz, CEO Zgorzelecki Klaster Energii

Head of Development in Lower Silesian Hydrogen Valley. President of Zklaster (Zgorzelecki Klaster Energii ) - one of the biggest and most well known energy communities in Poland based in the challenging Turów region. Policy Expert in Convenant of Mayors. Member of a Counselling Board in National Chamber of Energy Clusters and newly created from JTF Institute for Autonomous Vehicles. Board consultant for e-vehicle project eVan funded by the Polish government. Green Deal expert. Experienced Project Manager with a demonstrated history of working in the management consulting industry. Skilled in Public Speaking, English, Management, Marketing. Strong business development professional. Expert on Just Transition cooperating with EU and Polish authorities. Author of publications on RES and Just Transition including RePowet Turow project.

Alis-Daniela Torres, Head of Green and Digital Transformation, ICLEI Europe

Alis-Daniela Torres' work is focused on helping cities advance on sustainable energy and climate action planning processes, smart city and data-driven 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 technology-driven innovation practices. Daniela is an Environmental Engineer and holds Master’s Degrees in Sustainable Energy Development and City Sciences.  Daniela has been part of ICLEI Europe since 2018 and now she is the Head of Green and Digital Transformation, working to bring cities´s green and digital transition agendas together.

Alison De Luise, Manager, Adaptation, Climate Alliance

Alison De Luise is an urban climate change adaptation specialist, applying policy, partnership & program management experience towards support urban climate resiliency. As Manager, Adaptation to Climate Change at Climate Alliance, she leads different parts of the Covenant of Mayors for Europe's Policy Support Facility, building adaptation capacity across European cities. She is also the Urban Task Manager of the European Environment Agency’s Topic Center on Climate Change Adaptation. She is also a task lead on the EU Community Pact initiative. Prior, Alison was a lead facilitator supporting peer learning and networking of North American Green Infrastructure Officials. She also worked with US communities to develop integrated solutions to complex urban water resource challenges. This all builds on prior experiences working at an international food security organisation, for the Australian development cooperation programme and in grass-roots community development in Southern Africa.

Ana Ardelean, Tbilisi Municipality

Andrew Mackay Bower, Team Leader for Risk Governance, UNDRR

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.

Anna Williams, EMEA GTM Lead, Environmental Insights Explorer, Google

Anna lives in London and leads solutions for Google’s Environmental Insights Explorer (https://insights.sustainability.google/) (EIE) in Europe, Middle East and Africa. In this role, she works with cities and partners to accelerate their climate action efforts with the use of EIE data and insights.

Antonio Franković, IRENA - Istrian Regional Energy Agency

Ariadna Miquel Amengual, Director of Urban Strategy, Barcelona City Council

Ariadna Miquel Amengual is Director of Urban Strategy at Barcelona City Council. Architect and Master in Urban Landscape, she has been working at the Barcelona City Council, in the Office of the Chief Architect, since 2007. She has led urban regeneration projects such as the transformation of Plaça de les Glòries or La Modelo prison. Since 2015, she has been responsible for the implementation strategy of Superblocks in the city. She is also developing the Let’s Protect Schools program, or the Barcelona playable city strategy. Over the years, she has practiced her profession with an interdisciplinary vision integrating architecture, landscape, ecology, mobility, gender and citizen participation.

Åsa Ode Sang, Professor of Urban Vegetation Design, Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences

Professor of Urban Vegetation Design at the Dept. of Landscape Architecture, Planning and Management, SLU and leader of the subject group in Urban Vegetation. Åsas research focuses on perception, use and values of urban vegetation. She is currently involved in the two EU-funded NBS projects namely REGREEN and CONEXUS where she is working in close collaboration with cities in Europe and Latin America.

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).

Beatriz Pereir, RESIST project team, Intermunicipal Community of Coimbra Region

Beatriz Pereira is part of the RESIST project team within the Intermunicipal Community of Coimbra Region. She has three and a half years' experience in analysing, writing and managing applications for national and European programmes for the Intermunicipal Community of Coimbra Region and she is part of the Intermediate Body of the Operational Regional Programme Centro 2020.

Recently has been responsible for monitoring European projects from different European programmes, as well as providing support in the planning, organisation and management of events. She has also participated in peer review events, technical assistance projects, webinars and other networking events, interacting and articulating with public and private entities to integrate/constitute partnerships for European projects.

Beatriz has a degree in International Relations and a Masters in Management by the Faculty of Economics of the University of Coimbra.

Bianca Lüders, City of Hamburg

Bianca Lüders holds a Master in Industrial Engineering and Management with a focus on systems engineering, data science and machine learning. After working in academia and different business intelligence departments, she joined the Urban Data Hub of the Free and Hanseatic City of Hamburg as a research associate. Currently, being a part of the team for Urban Data Analytics, she is involved in the conceptualization, development and evaluation of natural language processing systems to support digital citizen participation. In CLEVER Cities, she connected nature-based solutions to open urban data to enhance and enrich every phase, from planning and co-creation supported by digital participation systems to co-implementation, co-monitoring and co-evaluation.

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.

Carla Guerreiro, Vice-President of Setubal Municipality

Carla Guerreiro is the Vice-President of Setubal Municipality where she has been the councillor responsible for environment, energy, education and human resources since 2009. Carla Guerreiro is also the current President of ENA´s Administration Board – Arrábida Energy and Environment Agency and a teacher – she has a teaching degree on mathematic and natural sciences.  

Carolina Mesa, Global Technical Support, GCOM- Gap Fund Partnership

Catarina Gonçalves, Project Manager, FRCT - Regional Fund of Science and Technology

Marine biologist, currently working on climate change and managing the Regions4Climate project for the FRCT in the Azores' region.

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).

Chrysanthi Kiskini, Director, REGIONAL DEVELOPMENT FUND OF CENTRAL MACEDONIA

Mr Chrysanthi Kiskini holds a degree of Architecture from Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, Greece and a MA in Environment and Energy Studies from Architectural Association London. She is the Director of the Regional Development Fund of Central Macedonia. RDFCM supports the development process in the Region of Central Macedonia, utilizing its know-how in the implementation of European Funded Programmes, Initiatives, and various studies, research, and services. Since 2007, she has been involved as a project manager in the implementation of more than 50 projects funded by European Territorial Cooperation Programmes (INTERREG) and initiatives (FP7, HORIZON etc) covering various fields (sustainable development, circular economy, urban mobility, entrepreneurship, innovation, cultural heritage, tourism).

Corina Angheloiu, Strategic Learning Lead, Global Resilience Partnership

Corina drives learning activities across the Global Resilience Partnership and the Ocean Risk and Resilience Action Alliance (ORRAA). Her expertise stretches the strategy, implementation, and learning cycles, to which she brings complexity and equity-informed methods to help navigate uncertainty, power, and often conflicting worldviews. She initiated and convenes the global Urban Resilience Community of Practice and co-hosts the Urban Resilience Dialogues podcast. Prior to this, she was Principal Strategist, Systems Change at the international non-profit Forum for the Future. Originally an architect, she holds a PhD from Imperial College London, where she developed novel approaches for bridging knowledge–implementation gaps in urban resilience.

Cristina Coelho, Head of Office for Sustainable Development and Environmental Emergency, Setúbal Municipality

Cristina Coelho is the Head of Office for Sustainable Development and Environmental Emergency at Setubal Municipality, a city council unit responsible for developing and implementing the municipal strategies for climate mitigation and adaptation, environmental education and communication and sustainable development. She has been involved in several climate action projects and initiatives such as the EU Covenant of Mayors for Climate and Energy, BEACON, CLIMA-AML, PLAAC-Arrábida, EU Climate Adaptation Mission and CLIMAAX. She´s a biologist with an MSc in Natural Resources Management and a Member of the MARE NOVA Scientific Research Centre. Cristina is a native Portuguese speaker fluent in English, French and Spanish.

Daniela Rizzi, ICLEI Europe

Dario Esposito, Vice Chair CEN/TC 465

Dario Esposito, PhD in Risk and Environmental Territorial and Building Development, currently serves as a research fellow at the Polytechnic University of Bari (Italy), where he teaches Environmental and Territorial Engineering. He is an innovation researcher and practitioner deeply passionate about policy design, systems modeling, and social practices, and their pivotal role in driving transformative changes in cities and society, creating more livable and healthier urban environments. His research expertise spans urban science, spatial analysis, modeling, decision support system design, and disaster risk reduction. Driven by a commitment to sustainable and resilient development, he develops participatory processes and computational approaches to assess and improve the use of places and infrastructure, with a strong emphasis on human factors, spatial cognition, and local knowledge. Additionally, Dario Esposito serves as the vice-chair of Technical Commission No. 465 for Sustainable Cities and Communities within the European Committee for Standardization. In this capacity, he has employed expertise in management systems for sustainable community development, city services, and enhancing the quality of life, in alignment with ISO 371xx standards.

Dhesigen Naido , Head of Climate Adaptation at the South African Presidential Climate Commission

Dhesigen is currently Head of Climate Adaptation at the South African Presidential Climate Commission. He is also Head of the African Climate Risk and Human Security Programme at the Institute for Security Studies, Africa. He is a leader, a scientist and activist for positive social change. He is also President of the global NGO, Human Right 2 Water, and a Founding Member of the Water Policy Group. He is a member of the Board of the International Water Management Institute (IWMI), a member of the CGAIR and Vice Chair of the Technical Advisory Group on Water to the UAE. He is also a Board member of the International Water Management Institute (IWMI), a CGIAR entity.

He was previously the CEO of the Water Research Commission (WRC), South Africa’s dedicated national Water and Sanitation Innovation, Research and Development Agency for 10 years. He has previously served in senior positions in the South African national government and South African universities having begun his career as a medical scientist in a specialist children’s hospital. He was a Councillor of the South African National Advisory Council on Innovation (NACI). He counts his lovely wife and beautiful children as both his primary source of inspiration and the vanguard of his humility.

Doris Knoblauch, Senior Fellow, Ecologic Institute, Berlin

Doris Knoblauch joined Ecologic Institute in January 2006 and works as a Senior Fellow and Coordinator for Urban & Spatial Governance. Thematically, she focuses on green urban environments, local climate protection as well as public participation and the analysis of networks and network processes.

Since 2012, Doris Knoblauch has worked intensively with cities and municipalities. Thereby, she has not only built up a network of different cities and municipalities as well as relevant actors, but also gathered a deep understanding of the functioning and needs of communities. In her work, she appreciates when science can be of practical use for communities and results are directly implemented to solving on-the-ground problems.

Doris Knoblauch currently is part of the project INTERLACE (https://www.ecologic.eu/17542), CLEVER Cities (https://www.ecologic.eu/15681) and Ready4NetZero (https://www.ecologic.eu/18973).

Dulcineia Ramos, City of Torres Vedras

Dulcineia Ramos is the councillor for the Environment, Tourism and Internationalization of the municipality of Torres Vedras, Portugal. She has a PhD in Tourism and a Master in Spatial Planning and Environmental Planning. Before, she had worked at the Western Tourism Region and at Peniche City Council for 10 years as a Senior Tourism Technician and has worked as a teacher and researcher in several higher education institutions.
She collaborated with several entities in carrying out tourism development projects, as well as in impact studies and in various strategic plans that advocate the tourism sustainability of the territories. She also participates in European Union projects, notably the CIM (European Project-Creativity and Innovation Management) and in the preparation of UNESCO applications. She is also an evaluator for the National Research Agency (ANI) for projects applying for European funding, in addition to participating as a mentor in several Tourism Startup projects. She is a reviewer for scientific journals and is a member of the scientific board of several national and international conferences. She is the author and co-author of several books and scientific articles.

Efrén Feliu, Climate Change Adaptation Manager, TECNALIA Research and Innovation

Holds a Building Engineering Degree as well as different postgraduates including spatial planning and territorial development. Has a relevant professional background in consultancy and capacity building for public administrations and utilities. He is currently Climate Change Manager at the City Territory and Environment Area of Tecnalia, coordinating applied research projects for the development of Decision Support Systems in the fields of sustainable spatial development, nature-based solutions, regional-urban resilience and sectoral climate change adaptation. Worked in Central America for over 4 years and is involved in international and European initiatives for more than 20 years, including several Horizon Europe projects, ESPON and Copernicus contracts, as well as standardisation activities at ISO and CEN, or the Spanish Mirror Group for the EU Mission Adaptation to Climate Change.

Egbert Roozen, Secretary General, European Landscape Contractors Association

Egbert Roozen started in May 2023 as Secretary General of the European Landscape Contractors Association (ELCA). This association represents 23 national members and three associated members (Canada, Japan and the United Kingdom). His main task, besides managing the association’s office in Brussels, is to create the green connection to societal challenges with regard to climate change, biodiversity, people’s health, circular economy and labour market. Stakeholders are amongst others political institutions, press, NGO’s, research organizations, schools and of course companies in the branch. Before he started in Brussels, Egbert has been working for the Royal Dutch Association for landscapers and gardeners for 14 years, first in the position of director and later as president. In that period he was expert for the European Commission in the definition of the strategy on Nature Based Solutions in Renaturing the Cities under the Horizon 2020 program.

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.

Elisa Muzzini, Senior Technical Advisor, Council of Europe Development Bank

Elisa helps cities and communities become more resilient, inclusive and sustainable with project financing, capacity building, knowledge sharing and strategic partnerships. She is currently Senior Technical Advisor for Urban and Regional Development at the Council of Europe Development Bank (CEB). Prior to joining the CEB, she was a Senior Economist at the World Bank where she managed lending operations, analytical work and capacity building on sustainable and inclusive urban development, with a focus on countries in the South Asia and Latin America and the Caribbean regions. Elisa is also a Gestalt Professional Certified Coach (GPCC) and an International Coaching Federation (ICF) Associate Certified Coach. She received a graduate degree in Economics with a concentration in public financial policy from the London School of Economics and a BA in Economics from Bocconi University in Italy.

Ellen Banzhaf, Helmholtz-Zentrum Für Umweltforschung - UFZ

Elissavet Bargianni, City of Athens

Erica Manuelli, ICLEI Europe

Erika Palmieri, ICLEI Europe

Etiënne Kras, Researcher / Advisor, Deltares

Etiënne Kras is an advisor and researcher in the Hydraulic Engineering unit at Deltares. In 2019, he obtained his engineering degree from the Delft University of Technology, The Netherlands, in Hydraulic Engineering with a specialization in Coastal Engineering. For this, he joined Deltares in 2018 for his MSc thesis work and he subsequently started as advisor and researcher in the department Resilient Ports & Coasts. Currently, he is involved in a broad range of advice and research projects. Many of these projects evolve around the digital transformation within Deltares, where Etiënne brings various Earth Observation applications into Coastal Engineering practice. Some other projects concern (seabed) morphology modelling analyses, metocean studies, climate change assessments and physical modelling in Deltares' facilities.

Étienne Métais, Associate Director Europe, CDP

Étienne Métais is Program Director at CDP, the global NGO that runs the only independent environmental disclosure mechanism for investors, companies, cities, regions and public authorities. He commits local and regional governments toward more climate transparency and action. Responsibilities in this area cover the recruitment of cities, states and regions to start measuring and managing their climate change mitigation and adaptation data, and the support in their preparation and submission of their annual CDP responses. He is also in charge of establishing and managing key strategic partnerships and fundraising opportunities in Europe that can multiply CDP’s impact and grow the Cities, States and Regions programme.

Felicity Spors, Senior Director Sustainable Finance and Innovation, Gold Standard Foundation

Felicity Spors, MSc. leads sustainable finance work at the start of 2020. Her work focuses on piloting new best practice impact methods and tools to support financial actors maximise their contributions to sustainable development and climate impact. Prior to joining Gold Standard, she worked as Head of International and Public Affairs, for EIT Climate KIC, and served as a member of the Technical Expert Group and the Sustainable Finance Platform working to develop the EC sustainable finance taxonomy. Her financial experience is drawn from 12 years as a Senior Carbon Finance Specialist at the World Bank She is committed to finding smart ways to address climate change and sustainable development and sees new forms of collaboration as critical to addressing this challenge. She is a trained environmental auditor and speaks English, German, Chinese (Mandarin) and basic French.

Francisco Ianni, Senior Officer Flood Resilience, International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies

Francisco is a dedicated humanitarian and development leader with both IFRC HQ and country experiences in Mexico, Albania, Montenegro, Indonesia, Mozambique, and the Philippines. Over the past 15 years, he has specialized in global strategies and organizational capacities to implement multi-year, multi-country DRR, resilience, and climate adaptation initiatives. He joins us from Geneva, where he is currently part of the global Climate and Resilience team as the Senior Officer for flood resilience. Francisco holds a bachelor’s degree in Economics and Spanish Literature from Gettysburg College, a master’s degree in International Development and Educational Policy from Portland State University, and a post-graduate diploma in Systems Design and Project Management from Cornell University.

Giorgia Rambelli, Director, Urban Transitions Mission

Giorgia has over 13 years of experience in the fields of climate and energy to support local and subnational governments in developing sound policies, science-based and data driven plans and solutions in response to the challenges of climate change. Giorgia worked as the Coordinator for climate policy and energy governance at the European Secretariat of ICLEI- Local Governments for Sustainability. Giorgia has worked with the Global Covenant of Mayors (GCoM) Secretariat since 2020, where she led the work on Global-Regional Coherence and Coordination, working to support the GCoM alliance partners to implement the mission and vision of the GCoM across the world, while respecting Regional and national contexts. 

Georgios PAPASTERGIOS, Head of Department (Resilience Office), Municipality of Thessaloniki

Dr G Papastergios holds a MSc and a PhD in Environmental Geochemistry and GIS, from the Aristotle University of Thessaloniki (in close cooperation with the University of Barcelona and the Institute of Earth Sciences Jaume Almera, Barcelona, Spain). Between 2009 and 2019 he was a post-doctorate-guest researcher at AUTh. He has more than 50 publications in international peer reviewed journals and conferences. He acts as the Head of the Department of Operational Planning & Development Programmes Monitoring (Resilience Office) since 2020. He has been/is involved in the implementation, and management of several projects funded by EU and national development funds (i.e., Horizon 2020, Horizon Europe, LIFE, Interreg etc.), dealing with issues such as environmental management, resilience, climate change, climate adaptation, climate neutrality, air pollution, mobility etc. He currently leads the Climate Neutrality team of Thessaloniki. He speaks English and Spanish.

Grace Sly, ICLEI Europe

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.

Harriett Tiemens, ICLEI Europe, Director of the Green Metropolitan Region of Arnhem-Nijmegen

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.

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’.

Ilaria Giuliani,Chief Resilience Officer and Director of the Urban Resilience Department, City of Milan

Before joining the City Resilience Department, she worked as researcher in urban planning for universities and cultural foundations, such as the Politecnico di Milano, Fondazione Giangiacomo Feltrinelli and City University of New York. She also worked as advisory staff for the Urban Planning Deptuy Major, leading the development of urban transformations projects and focusing on the coordination of EU projects.

She holds a degree in Architecture (IUAV University of Venice) and master degree and PhD in Urban Planning and Territorial Policies (Politecnico di Milano).

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.

Iryna Zapatrina, Chairwoman of Ukrainian PPP Development Center, founder of PPP Academy (Ukraine), Edu4Bis B.V. (the Netherlands)

Ph.D. in economics, Doctorate in economics (finance), Professor (finance) Senior PPP and PIM Consultant of the World Bank, EBRD, UNDP, USAID, the Laureate of the State Prize in the Field of Science & Technics of Ukraine, the former Deputy-Minister of Housing and Communal Services of Ukraine (2007-2010), Deputy-director of Scientific Financial Institute under the Ministry of Finance of Ukraine (2005-2007).

Author of 150 scientific & analytical publications on Finance, Infrastructure Development and PPPs including the monograph “Public-Private Partnership for Sustainable Development Goals” (2017). The correspondent from Ukraine in European Procurement & Public Private Partnerships Law Review (EPPPL). 

Leire Martiarena, Zabala

Iva Bedenko, Senior Expert Advisor, City of Zagreb

MA from the Zagreb School of Architecture in 1998. Worked at architectural design offices from 1995 to 2001. Currently working in Zagreb City government and as secretary of Europan Croatia. Worked on implementation of many EU-funded projects including currently running proGIreg, which focuses on implementing nature based solutions in post-industrial city areas, and as part of the team that produced the City of Zagreb Master Plan 2000+, and the Strategies of development of the City of Zagreb and Zagreb Urban Agglomeration.

Javier Marzo, Environmental Technician working on Climate Change Adaptation, GVA (Valencia Regional Government)

Javier is a biologist with a Master in Environmental Management and Sustainable Development. He has a lot of experience managing and participating in R&D projects both at national and international level focused mainly on circular economy and agrifood. During last year he is working for the Valencia Regional Government in Climate Change Adaptation contributing to the implementation of the Valencian law of Climate Change that was approved at the end of 2022.

Jeb Brugmann, Founding Principal, Resilient Cities Catalyst

Jeb has 30+ years career working with local governments on sustainability and poverty alleviation initiatives in 30+ countries. In 1989-1990 he founded ICLEI-Local Governments for Sustainability, serving as ICLEI’s Secretary General from 1991-2000 and leading the UN-sponsored ‘Local Agenda 21” sustainability planning initiative. He subsequently directed an ADB/USAID/Honolulu capacity building program for senior city leaders and managers in 100+ Asia-Pacific cities. From 2004-2010 he co-led a series of corporate initiatives, developing clean cooking, banking, and small holder farm support products for poor households in India and Sub-Saharan Africa. He joined the 100 Resilient Cities team as VP Solutions Development in 2017, overseeing 115 corporate, institutional and NGO partnerships. Today, he co-leads RCC’s Project Preparation Program, which includes the establishment of the new Gold Standard/RCC adaptation project preparation framework.

Jesta Sidell, Mayor - Ehlanzeni District, Mpumalanga

The Ehlanzeni District Municipality is situated in the north-east of the Mpumalanga Province. It makes up just over a third of the province's geographical area. Mbombela (previously Nelspruit) is the capital of Mpumalanga, situated in the City of Mbombela Local Municipality, which is also the home of the Mpumalanga Provincial Government and, as a result, is the most concentrated economic hub within the province. It features three border gates to both Swaziland and Mozambique and, therefore, movement of people from neighbouring countries to the district, and from Gauteng to either Swaziland or Mozambique, creates a catalyst for the economic life of the area. By 2050, the province is projected to be affected by higher annual average temperatures, which will adversely affect water and food security. Evaporation rates will also likely increase and agricultural outputs may reduce. Mayor Sidell has been mayor of the Ehlanzeni District since 2016. She also serves as the Provincial Chairperson of Mpumalanga for SALGA and is an executive committee member of the Local Government Sector Education and Training Authority (LGSETA).

Joanna Balsemao, City Councilor, Cascais

Joanna Heyda, Head of Climate Policy Unit at Air Protection and Climate Policy Office, City of Warsaw

Joanna Heydais a climate expert as well as a public relations and CSR specialist with over 16 years of experience. She currently holds the position of Head of Climate Policy Unit at Air Protection and Climate Policy Office in the City of Warsaw where she is responsible for mitigation and adaptation to climate change plans and measures implementation. Especially interested in nature-based solutions and citizens’ engagement in the process of mitigation and adaptation, policy and behaviour change in the field as well as development of monitoring and evaluation systems including indicators approach fit to the city's specific needs. 

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.

Jorge Rodrigues de Almeida, Managing Director, RdA Climate Solutions

Founder and Managing Partner of RdA Climate Solutions, an independent advisory boutique specialized in climate change with a special focus on energy and sustainable finance.

Leading adviser on sustainable energy and climate adaptation who has been working for 20 years at European level for governments, cities and major industries.

More info: www.linkedin.com/in/jorgerodriguesdealmeida/

Juan Carlos Escudero Achiaga, Head of Mobility and Data Science Unit, Environmental Studies Centre/ Vitoria-Gasteiz City Council

Juan Carlos Escudero-Achiaga is Head of Mobility and Data Science of the Environmental Studies Centre of the Vitoria-Gasteiz City Council (CEA), a council body in charge of promoting the sustainable development of the municipality, where he has been responsible for implementing and promoting innovative strategies in sustainable urban planning, environmental information, and mobility. He has coordinated the development of the city’s Sustainable Mobility and Public Space Plan, as well as its Environmental Information Strategy. Other career highlights include several research, development, and innovation (RDI) projects funded by the European Commission and participation in technical cooperation projects with UN Habitat and the UNEP in European, Asian, and Latin American cities. Also with UNEP, Juan coordinated the Vitoria-Gasteiz Global Environmental Outlook. Juan Carlos is also a member of the Expert Group on Urban Mobility of the European Commission. He graduated in Technical Biology.

Judit Kockat, Project Manager, Buildings Performance Institute Europe (BPIE), BuiltHub representative

Holding a PhD in Civil Engineering, Judit specializes in energy efficiency and carbon neutrality strategies for EU urban building stocks. Drawing from her expertise in EU energy scenarios, she has successfully collaborated with policymakers, providing crucial insights on energy savings & costs and whole-life carbon benchmarks. Her approach offers a comprehensive systemic perspective, emphasizing the current context of building stocks and envisioning their future dynamics. She is committed to strengthening urban resilience, with a pronounced focus on boosting well designed energy efficiency and effective carbon emission savings. She  is eager to engage with fellow resilience innovators at #EURESFO23, aiming to share knowledge and pave the way for a sustainable urban future.

Julen Imaña, Officer, Green and Digital Transition, ICLEI Europe

Julen Imaña is a civil engineer from Spain. He works as an Officer at ICLEI Europe in the field of Green and Digitial Transition. His areas of expertise include district heating, data-driven climate action, and emissions accounting. He has advanced knowledge of the Google EIE and THERMOS online tools, which help cities in their sustainability efforts. Julen is a native Spanish speaker and fluent in English and Basque.

Julia Nerantzia Tzortzi, Associate Professor at the Department of Architecture, Built Environment and Construction Engineering, Politecnico di Milano

Prof. Julia Nerantzia Tzortzi is Associate Professor at the Department of Architecture, Built Environment and Construction Engineering of Politecnico di Milano while previously she was professor in Universities in Cyprus (Neapolis University of Cyprus) and in Greece (International University of Greece) and visiting professor in several Universities (ZUST University - China, Hellenic Open University - Greece, Thessaly University - Greece). In the last 25 years she has been leading more than 40 European and other Programmes (e.g.HARMONIA as coordinator, MI-TRAP, euPOLIS, GreenVest,  HOMEE, YADES,  proGIreg, GREENLINK, PERIURBAN, GARDEN ART DESIGN) with an emphasis on Natural Based Solutions, Climate Change, Cultural Landscapes, Environmental Projection and Design through: HORIZON 2020, RISE,  JPI, INTERREG IVC, FP7, LIFE+.

Julia is Board Member of LE: NOTRE INSTITUTE, Fellow of Landscape Institute (UK), member of AIAPP (Italy), PHALA (Greece), ETEK (Cyprus), IFLA (International Federation of Landscape Architects).  Julia has served for 15 years as Executive Professional in Landscape Architecture at the Ministry of Environment, Urban Planning and Energy – Climate Change of Greece. During her service at the Ministry she served as National Contact Point at LIFE project, Special Scientists at Athens 2004 Olympic Games as well as General Project Manager at the Environmental Awareness Park Organization of Antonis Tritsis, the largest urban park in Greece (120 Ha).

Karen Naciph Mora, Officer, Nature Based Solutions and Biodiversity, ICLEI Europe

Karen Naciph Mora is an Officer in the Nature Based Solutions and Biodiversity team at ICLEI European Secretariat, where she focuses on topics related to pollution, environmental quality, and water management. Karen has a background in environmental engineering and a MSc. Degree in Water Resources and Environmental Management. She is supporting the implementation of several EU level initiatives and projects like the Green City Accord, Urban ReLeaf, EcoDaLLi, CoCliCo, Soils for Europe (SOLO), among others.

Kata Tüttő, Deputy Mayor of Budapest

Kathy Oldham, Chief Resilience Officer, Greater Manchester

Kathryn has been Greater Manchester’s Chief Resilience Officer since 2017, providing strategic leadership for the city region’s approach to resilience. She is responsible for a specialist unit delivering disaster risk reduction and an emergency response service for Greater Manchester’s ten local authorities. Kathryn has led the development of Greater Manchester’s 10-year Resilience Strategy and provides a strategic advice function to the Greater Manchester Resilience Forum with a focus on multi-agency collaboration to deliver safer, stronger, and more resilient communities in Greater Manchester.

Kathryn heads up Greater Manchester’s participation in several international partnerships including the Resilient Cities Network, UNDRR’s Making Cities Resilient 2030 (MCR2030) partnership and the Counter Terrorism Preparedness Network (CTPN). She led Greater Manchester’s successful application to become a UNDRR-recognised Resilience Hub in 2021. Kathryn is a member of MCR2030’s Regional Coordinating Committee for Europe and Central Asia and sits on CTPN’s International Board. Kathryn holds a medical degree and has previously held a wide range of positions in local government.

Kinga Feenstra, Policy advisor, City of Rotterdam

Kinga Feenstra serves as a policy advisor for the City of Rotterdam with a strong focus on knowledge exchange, governance, and the renewal of political processes. With experience across civil society, the private and public sectors, she offers diverse insights into comparative politics and policy making. Her time in St. Petersburg, Russia, has deepened her insight into global political developments and patterns. In her role at Resilient Rotterdam, Kinga uses her political science background to support resilience-building efforts in the city. Her responsibilities include international knowledge exchange, digital resilience, and resilience at district level, with a main focus on social and community resilience. Finally, she leads Rotterdam's participation in the HORIZON project UP2030.

Kristen Guida, Urban Resilience Manager, Greater London Authority

Kristen has been Urban Resilience Manager at the Greater London Authority since March 2022. Before that, she worked for more than 15 years coordinating partnerships supporting climate change adaptation in London and South East England, and as Chair of Climate UK, the network of regional climate change partnerships. Her major interest is in bringing together people and ideas from across sectors to respond to social and environmental resilience challenges. In particular, she is interested in the social justice issues raised by climate change and the need to incorporate equity in resilience policy and planning.

Laurence Graff, Adviser for Climate Pact European Commission

Laurence Jones, Group Leader, UK Centre for Ecology & Hydrology (UKCEH)

Professor Laurence Jones works at the UK Centre for Ecology & Hydrology (UKCEH) and studies the interactions between people and the environment. His research focuses on better ways to estimate the benefits that nature provides to people, particularly taking into account the complexities that come with spatial context and how we can represent that in models. He is particularly interested in urban and peri-urban settings where probably most people have their day-to-day interactions with nature. To solve these challenges he collaborates widely with natural and social scientists, economists and policy makers (https://www.linkedin.com/in/laurence-jones-11749648/).

Leire Martiarena, Zabala

Lene Vinther Larsen, Aarhus Kommune

Lene Vinther Larsen, (Female), MSc, Biology, in the Technical and Environmental Department of the Municipality of Aarhus, Denmark. She is an expert in nature management, planning and legislation and has 23 years of working experience: 5 years as leader of management systems of quality, environment, work environment and energy, and more than 18 years as civil servant in public administration. She is a specialist in working with nature and ecosystem management, planning, habitat restoration, biodiversity, and climate adaptation. Lene is head of the Nature, Streams and Marine sections, Department of Water and Nature, Municipality of Aarhus and before then head of Urban Planning. She is also cooperative manager of the involvement of the Green Council (associations and organizations) that advise the City Council on use and protection of nature and marine environments in aspects of sustaining ecosystems and adding recreative values that benefit health and wellbeing in AK.

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

A hydrologist by training, Leon is Lead for Climate Resilience at the Resilient Cities Network. He works with cities to support them in the deployment of climate resilience-building projects. He is interested in the integration of blue-green and grey infrastructure as means for adapting to climate change, protecting natural capital, and meeting community development objectives. He previously worked as consultant for the World Bank on climate resilience projects, with an emphasis on the African region. He also worked in South America on water resources development. As research associate at the University of Cambridge he developed innovative valuation methodologies for NBS schemes. Leon is NBS subject matter expert for ERDF and the Covenant of Mayors Policy Support Facility and has offered capacity building schemes on climate resilience & NbS mainstreaming. Leon holds his PhD on Geosciences from the University of Edinburgh and an MSc on Hydrology from Imperial College London.

Lina Liakou, Global Director of Network Engagement and Head for Europe and the Middle East for the Resilient Cities Network

Lina is a senior professional with international expertise in city governance, sustainability and resilience. An inspiring leader and strategic thinker with experience in transforming cities and organizations. She is currently leading the Resilient Cities Network's global city engagement work and the network's resilience practice in Europe and the Middle East. Prior to that, Lina was Deputy Mayor for Urban Resilience and Development Planning for the City of Thessaloniki in Greece.Lina is a trained architect and urban designer.

Linda Romanovska, Fresh Thoughts Consulting/EU Taxonomy Expert

Liubov Kolosova, Ecology and Urban Greening Expert, Municipal enterprise “Institute for urban development”, Vinnytsia

Graduated from the Vinnytsia National Technical University with a Magister degree in "Computer systems, automation and control". Graduated the capacity development program "Innovation In Governance For Urban Nature-Based Solutions" at Lund University, got certificates from “Practical landscape design course”, “Green Architecture course”. Currently studying at Donetsk National University for a Magister's in "Ecology". Mrs Kolosova has been working as an ecology and urban greening expert for more than 2 years. In her projects, she is working on changing approaches and implementing sustainable practices in urban greening.

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.

Luís Capão, Cascais Ambiente

Luis Tejero, Coordinator adapatation to climate change programs, Ayuntamiento de Madrid

Agricultural engineer and Master in City Science. He has been working for Municipality of Madrid since 2005. His activity has been developed at different departments, Parks & Gardens, Environmental Education and since last years at Energy and Climate Change Dept. Currently he is working on Climate Change policies, focusing on coordination of Adaptation to Climate Change city programs. As part of his functions on this role, he is coordinator of European projects on the municipality, such as CLEVER CITIES, Life VEG-GAP or Life PACT projects. Internally he has managed initiatives like ROADMAP TOWARS CLIMATE NEUTRALITY OF MADRID, or the program MADRID + NATURAL, he coordinates and imparts several training courses within the municipality.

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.

Marc Barra, Institut Paris Region

Marc Barra, from the Agency for Biodiversity in Paris Region, is an urban ecologist specializing in nature-based solutions. He leads research and applied projects in relation with urban planning and architecture. He is currently involved in H2020 project REGREEN on urban nature-based solutions and in the French Capital of Biodiversity award.

Marcelo Lampkowski, Expert, Data Governance, ICLEI Europe

Marcelo is a data governance expert at ICLEI Europe, where he contributes to the Green Digital Transformation team by overseeing projects focused on data-driven solutions for advancing decarbonization in the building sector. Marcelo's academic accomplishments include a PhD in Energy Systems with a focus on agricultural applications, a master's degree in Information Technology, and a bachelor's degree in Computer Science.

Marcin Mgradzki, City of Warsaw

Maria Loroño, BC3 Basque Centre for Climate Change

Marianne Zandersen,Senior researcher, Aarhus University

Marianne is an environmental economist and senior researcher at Aarhus University in Denmark, focusing on environmental and behavioral economics in the fields of urban and peri-urban systems, nature-based solutions, climate change and ecosystem management. She is currently the coordinator of the H2020 project ‘REGREEN’ (2019-2024) on fostering nature-based solutions for equitable, green and healthy urban transitions in Europe and China and a Work Package lead on the HEU project ‘Invest4Nature’ (2022-2026). She is also part of the European Topic Center on Climate Change Adaptation and LULUCF, having contributed to two EEA reports of interest for climate resilience: ‘Urban adaptation to climate change in Europe’ and ‘Nature-based solutions in Europe: Policy, knowledge and practice for climate change adaptation and disaster risk reduction’ A chapter on nature-based solutions for strengthening urban resilience has been recently published in the book ‘Die Resiliente Stadt’ (Springer).

Marta Gomes, SDG Councilwoman from Mafra Municipality

SDG Councilwoman from Mafra Municipality, Marta Gomes has a Biochemical Engineer degree from Instituto Superior Técnico of the Lisbon University and post-graduated in management and negotiation at the Universidade Católica Portuguesa and at the Instituto Superior Técnico.

In 2016, Marta Gomes created a company specialized in microbial monitoring and the prevention and control of Legionella, focused on water management and Legionella and other waterborne bacteria prevention and control.

In 2021, Marta Gomes was elected Municipal Councillor of The Municipality Mafra and has assumed the SDG localization and developed the MAFRA VLR approved unanimously by the municipal assembly. She is responsible for implementation portfolios, water and sanitation; water courses; and Climate Change.

Marta Olazabal, Head of Adaptation Research Group and Ikerbasque Research Associate, Basque Centre for Climate Change, BC3

Dr Marta Olazabal is an interdisciplinary scientist exploring pathways of progress on climate action in cities worldwide. She is an Ikerbasque Research Associate and Head of the Adaptation Research Group at the Basque Centre for Climate Change (BC3). Dr. Olazabal has a background in Environmental Engineering, a PhD in Land Economy and around 20 years of experience in urban sustainability and climate governance. She is interested in local climate planning and transdisciplinary knowledge production. Her current work focuses on the assessment of climate adaptation progress at the local scale. Dr Olazabal has an extensive publication record in top international peer-reviewed journals, actively advises national and international bodies and mentors MSc and PhD students. Since 2020, she has been a member of the Steering Committee of the International Platform on Adaptation Metrics (IPAM). She is now the Principal Investigator of the European Research Council project IMAGINE Adaptation.

Martin Krekeler, Project Coordinator CLEVER Cities, Free and Hanseatic City of Hamburg, Senate Chancellery

Since 2019 Horizon Project Coordinator at the Free and Hanseatic City of Hamburg, Senate Chancellery, Department of European Union Affairs, 2014-2018 Project coordination of Interreg Baltic Sea projects at Baltic Environmental Forum Hamburg, before 2014 Research Associate at HafenCity University Hamburg. Master in Spatial Planning, focus on climate adaptation, urban governance, and participation.

Matías Barberis, Researcher - FUTURESILIENCE Project Coordinator, EFIS Centre

Matias Barberis is a researcher at EFIS Centre (Belgium). His research focuses on resilience, disaster studies and innovation policies. He has extensively work in different countries of Europe and Latin America, advising local authorities to design regional development plans, playing in the interface of his research focus and policy development. He is currently leading the EU-funded project FUTURESILIENCE aimed at building European societal resilience through the uptake of policy relevant research and innovation findings, including an experimentation phase through ‘FUTURESIILENCE labs’.  Matias holds a Ph.D. in Social Studies and Humanities (University of Ferrara, Italy), a master’s in environmental and Regional Policies for Sustainability and Local Development (University of Ferrara, Italy), and a bachelor’s in International Relations (University of Córdoba, Argentina).

Matthias Watzak, Project Manager, FEDARENE

Matthias is leading the climate adaptation work within the FEDARENE team and has more than ten years of professional experience in the energy, climate, and environment sectors, backed by a Master of Science degree in energy engineering. He gained a deep understanding of implementing and funding regional energy and climate actions ranging from long-term strategy development to the implementation of concrete pilot measures. He conceived expert knowledge among others in renewable heating and cooling solutions, energy efficiency measures and emission reduction and climate adaption strategies. He has overseen national and international projects with a focus on climate adaptation, spatial planning as well as environmentally friendly and energy-efficient solutions for cities and regions including MIP4Adapt, REGILIENCE, ePLANET, ConnectHeat, Urban Learning, klimaaktiv renewable heat, Smart City Wien framework strategy, Green Energy Lab Spatial Energy Planning, etc. Matthias is fluent in English and German.

Matteo Satta, Project Coordinator, ANCI Toscaan

Matteo Satta is a consultant specialized in Smart Cities and EU Affairs (Horizon Europe, Interreg, Urbact, C4C). He started his adventure in the world of cities, joining in 2014 the City of Issy-les-Moulineaux, to manage and develop the its participation at EU and international level, with a particular interest on Digital Innovation. Today, Matteo is a member of with Major Cities of Europe and, in collaboration with the association, he founded and he leads a group of cities called The CommEUnity. He is the writer and Scientific Coordinator (for ANCI TOSCANA) of the "100 Climate neutral and smart cities" mission project CLIMABOROUGH.

Michael Kernitzkyi, Joanneum Research Institute

Miljenko Sedlar, Head of Climate/Assistant Managing Director, North-West Croatia Regional Energy and Climate Agency

Miljenko is the head of the climate department at the North-West Croatia regional energy and climate agency. He holds the degree in natural sciences from the Faculty of Science, University of Zagreb. The focus of his work is to support cities and regions on their path to energy transition and climate change resilience. He is deeply involved in that process, from strategic levels to the project development and implementation. Miljenko is very enthusiastic about nature and climate, so the connection to his professional life is quite clear. He is a member of several national and EU level working groups that focus on climate change.

Natalia Aliekseeva, Deputy Mayor (Executive Officer), Lviv City Council

Natalia has been Deputy Mayor of Lviv since 2021. Her responsibilities include the protection of cultural heritage, civil protection, and preparation of the community and city utilities for risks of various kinds. In 2021, a delegation from the city of Lviv studied the UK's experience in developing a community risk register and the work of a resilience forum. As a result, Natalia and her team began work on developing a community risk register for Lviv and initiated the city's accession to the MCR 2030 initiative. The war has set its priorities in terms of risks as well, so community resilience has become a priority for all Ukrainian cities today. In 2016-2019, Natalia worked as an assistant to a member of parliament. She was involved in drafting laws in the field of of local self-government, decentralization, and the functioning of agglomerations. Natalia's education includes a master's degree in law and public administration.

Neville Chainee, Housing Development Agency: Planning and strategy

Neville Chainee is currently head of strategy programming planning and coordination for the Housing Development Agency, an entity of the National Department of Human Settlements (DHS). Prior to this he spent 12 years heading the housing unit in Ekurhuleni Metropolitan Municipality. His area of focus includes sustainable development planning for subsidised housing and informal settlement upgrading.

Nicolae Dunas, Cahul Rayon, Moldova

Nilofer Tajuddin, City Advisor and Programs Manager, Resilient Cities Network

Nilofer Tajuddin is an urban planner whose experience working on projects in urban resilience and adaptation, water, and energy is strengthened by a focus on inclusive and participatory development. At Resilient Cities Network, her role is focused on working with interdisciplinary programs at the city level, capacity building and stakeholder engagement. As a Climate-Neutral City Advisor, Nilofer collaborates with cities within the EU's flagship Mission – ‘100 Climate-Neutral and Smart Cities by 2030’ as part of the ‘NetZeroCities’ project.

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

Olga Iutovets, Rivne Regional Military (State) Administration

Pablo Amador, Project Manager, Valencia Institute of Building

Pablo Amador is an industrial engineer with a specialization in energy generation currently working as a project manager at the International R&D&I department of the Valencia Institute of Building (IVE). He is actively involved in various European projects dedicated to decarbonization and energy transition. His primary areas of focus lies in building renovations and energy modelling, all with the overarching goal of enhancing efficiency and resilience to address climate change challenges, underscored by a strong commitment to develop sustainable solutions for the built environment.

Paolo Lopes Silva, Councillor for Smart Cities and Innovation, City of Guimarães

Councillor in Guimarães City Council with responsibility for the following areas: Culture, Administrative Modernization and Quality, Intelligent and Information Information Systems, Customer Service, Human Resources and Tourism. He is also chairman of the board of A Oficina Cooperative and a representative of the Municipality of Guimarães on the board of the Norte Cultural Association and on the General Assembly of the Portuguese Association of Municipalities with a Historic Center. He has a degree in Computer Engineering and a Master's in Systems Engineering from the University of Minho. of Minho, he has a degree in SCRUM Master and Digital Transformation from the Instituto Superior Technical Institute of the University of Lisbon.

Pasquale Capizzi, Leader Resilience & Adaptation for Europe, Arup

Urban professional with 21+ years of experience in resilience, disaster risks reduction, climate adaptation and humanitarian response in over 50 programmes across Africa, Asia, Latin-America and Europe. He is the Resilience and Adaptation Leader for Arup in Europe. and serves as advisor on climate resilience services in developing countries. His work extends from technical assistance on understanding risk to adaptive design for cities, masterplanning, infrastructure and building. He has supervised the development of multiple resilient infrastructure projects, with a focus on NbS. He has published methodologies on resilient spatial planning (e.g., ISOCARP 16th Review) and guidelines on Climate Resilient Infrastructure (e.g. for GCF). He is a system thinker with experience in policy support and development, including NDCs. Prior to joining Arup, he worked for several years in the UN, as Head of Programme and Chief Technical Advisor in various countries.

Paul Sayers, Partner SPL, UK

Pedro Mateus das Neves, Founder & CEO of Global Solutions 4U based on Sustainable Development

Pedro Mateus das Neves founded and is CEO of Global Solutions 4U based on Sustainable Development, a consulting firm specializing in SDGs, ESG Investing, Financial Innovation, and Partnerships for Urban and Regional Development. His professional experience includes planning, designing, and implementing Sustainable Development Policies, having originated and managed more than €10billion in investment projects through partnerships in more than 250 cities and 80 countries in Europe, Africa, Asia, and the Americas.

With a degree in Engineering from the University of Porto, a postgraduate degree in Private Equity and Venture Capital from the Harvard Business School, and a PhD in Development Studies from the University of Lisbon, is a specialist in Sustainable Development, Implementation of the SDGs, Smart & Sustainable Cities, and Financial Innovation. University Professor and Researcher at Toyo in Tokyo; Tsinghua in Beijing and Shenzhen; Geneva; ParisTech; IESE Business School in Barcelona; Luanda and Lisbon. Since 2017, he has published 41 articles, working papers, and book chapters in English, French, Portuguese, Russian, Chinese, and Japanese, covering the themes of SDGs, partnerships, financial innovation & and ESG investing, and cities.

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

Piero Pelizzaro, Director, Italian Agenzia del Demanio

Peter Adams, Associate Director, Howden

Peter Adams is an Associate Director in the Climate Risk and Resilience team at Howden Group. He has worked for over a decade to address climate risk through policy, design, and investment. For six years he was a Senior Policy Advisor on climate projects in the New York City's Mayor's Office of Climate and Environmental Justice. He also led on resilient infrastructure design at the Port Authority of NY and NJ, and has consulted on climate risk with companies, cities, and countries globally. He earned his Masters in Geography from McGill University in Montreal, Quebec.

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.

Rita De Stefano, Project Manager, Infrastructure Research & Innovation, RINA Consulting

Rita De Stefano is a geologist with a strong academic background and a passion for applied geology research. She earned her PhD in applied geology AT THE University of Naples “Federico II”, demonstrating her commitment and excellence in the field of Earth science. Currently, Rita works as a project manager at RINA Consulting dealing a wide range of projects related to environmental sustainability, climate change, and associated risks. In her role as a project manager, Rita is responsible for planning, implementing, and overseeing high-impact research projects in these crucial areas. In addition to her professional work, Rita De Stefano is the founder of the BeGEO Scientists association, where she is involved in research and the organization of events focused on sustainability and geosciences. Through BeGEO Scientists, she actively contributes to advancing research and organizing events aimed at promoting sustainability and geosciences.

Roos Meilink, Chief Resilience Officer, The Hague

Roos Meilink is one of the two Chief Resilience Officers in the Netherlands, where she leads the development and implementation of resilience strategies and initiatives to prepare the city of The Hague and the Municipal Organization for future shocks and stresses. Roos is part of the global Resilient Cities network, which enables her to exchange knowledge and best practices with peers from different cities and regions. Roos holds a Master of Public Administration degree and a bachelor of engineering degree and has nearly 20 years of experience in working on complex societal issues within various government layers. By integrating governance principles, business continuity practices, and strategic public administration, she bridge the gap between organizational and urban resilience. Roos' commitment lies in creating lasting impact, fostering compliance, continuity, and empowering communities to thrive amidst challenges.

Rui Frazao, CapaCITIES Project, Directorate General for Energy and Geology, Portugal

Ruth Schagemann, President of Architects´ Council of Europe

Ruth Schagemann, (b. 1974) is an architect who studied architecture at the University of Braunschweig and at the University of Stuttgart in Germany. In 2006 she founded the Architect’s office VICEVERSA Architektur + Medien together with her husband. She was elected member of the executive board of the Architects` Council of Europe (ACE) from 2016 until 2021, Coordinator of the European Network of Architects` Competent Authorities (ENACA), member of the Coordination Group Europe of the Federal Chamber of German Architects and is head of department of national and international professional policy at the Chamber of Baden-Württemberg. In 2022, Ruth Schagemann was elected President of the Architects’ Council of Europe for a two-year term. Since January 2023, she is also serving as the Managing Director of the Brussels Office of the Federal Chamber of German Architects (BAK). She represents ACE in the 2023 Davos Baukultur Alliance Steering Committee.

Sally Anderson, Associate Professor, Aarhus University

Sally Anderson is an American anthropologist, trained in the US and Denmark, who has been working in the field of educational anthropology in Denmark for the last 30 years. Her research focuses on worldmaking -  the worlds adults make for children and what children make of these worlds. She has carried out research in Scandinavia on public and private schooling, and on children's engagement with relligion, sports, civil society, nature, animals and landscapes.

Shaojuan Xu, Postdoctoral researcher, Institute for Regional and Urban Development Research

Dr. Xu received her Ph.D. degree in Remote Sensing and Geoinformatics and her research focuses on the application of geospatial science for sustainable urban development. She has been leading research projects with topics of using earth observation data for monitoring urban land change and improving land use efficiency, using thermographic imaging for evaluation of building energy efficiency, using GIS to enhance urban green accessibility and urban well-being, and using multi-sensor fusion digital twin to support the 15 minutes city development.

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.

Siobhan McQuaid-Cullen, Trinity College Dublin

Sophie Berger, Policy Officer, European Commission (DG RTD)

Sophie Berger works as a policy officer for the European Commission, at the Directorate-General for Research and Innovation. She is part of the secretariat of the "mission on adaptation to climate change", a joint team between DG Climate Action and DG Research & Innovation, that steers and implement the activities of mission for the European Commission.  Sophie also holds a PhD in climate science and previously worked for the first working group of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change.

Stanislav Kim, Team Leader on Climate and Disaster Resilience, UNDP

Stanislav is currently the Team Leader for the Climate Change and Disaster Resilience Team at the UNDP Istanbul Regional Hub. In this role, Stanislav provides support to 18 countries in Europe and Central Asia, assisting them in building their resilience to natural disasters, promoting risk-informed development, and supporting their disaster response and recovery efforts. With over 25 years of experience in development, DRR, energy, and environmental programs across Europe and Central Asia region, Stanislav brings a wealth of expertise to their current position. Before undertaking their current assignment, Stanislav worked as a DRR program specialist at the Istanbul Regional Hub, the Head of the Energy and Environment Unit at UNDP Kazakhstan. Between 2003 and 2010, they served as the National Coordinator of the GEF Small Grants Programme. Stanislav’s educational background includes a Bachelor of Science degree in Geography and a Master of Science degree in Environmental Management.

Susana Sousa Gonçalves, Municipality of Matosinhos

Svitlana Yarova, Member of city council, head of budget and social-economic development committee, Vinnytsia city council

Svitlana Yarova for the last 8 years have been on a position of member of Vinnytsia city council. Last 4 years as a head of budget and social-economic development committee.  Before the full scale invasion russia to Ukraine, Svitlana leaded projects of creating an innovative technology park called Crystal  and project of industrial parks in Vinnytsia. Those parks were ocused on people, decarbonized, resilient to climate change and promotes a sustainable urban environment. Before that, Svitlana created an innovative and inclusive youth centre called Kvadrat based on renovation of old building.

Stella Psaropoulou, Chief Resilience Officer, Thessaloniki

Mrs Stella Psarropoulou is an officer at the Municipality of Thessaloniki 18 years and in recent years, she has been working on the city’s Resilient office as the Deputy Chief Resilience Officer. She has been team member of a number of European funded projects such as the Horizon2020 Food Trails, coordinator for Thessaloniki's participation in NetZero Cities EU Mission and Mission Adaptation and contact person for international partnerships. Her background is in Financial Studies, she holds a Master’s degree in “European Integration & Governance”, University of Macedonia, & a second Master’s degree in “Spatial Planning for Sustainable and Resilient Urban Development”, Aristotle University of Thessaloniki (AUTH), Faculty School, where she also started her PhD research on SDGs. Recently she has started her political experience as member of Volt Europa and spokesperson for Volt Greece, while in 2023 run for city councilor in Greece's local elections.

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+).

Thomas Koetz, Senior Advisor Climate Neutral and Resilient Regions, EIT Climate-KIC

Thomas Koetz is Senior Advisor for Climate Neutral and Resilient Regions at EIT Climate-KIC responsible for orchestrating the application of a systems innovation approach for transformations towards climate neutrality and resilience at regional scale, demonstrating that fast and system level change is possible. Thomas has worked for over a decade as Programme and Policy Officer in environmental public policy for the European Commission and the United Nations, having been centrally involved in establishing the EU Mission on Adaptation to Climate Change and the Intergovernmental Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services (IPBES), which he served as Head of Work Programme. He has worked on issues such as climate change, biodiversity, sustainable development, rural development, and multilevel governance, and has a PhD and background in science-policy interfaces, ecological economics, landscape ecology and environmental management.

Till Sterzel, Senior Advisor, Climate Resilience and Climate Policy, Adelphi

Dr. Till Sterzel is a Senior Advisor at adelphi research in Berlin within the Climate Policy programme. He has 15 years of post-graduate work experience in the analysis of physical climate risks, vulnerability and adaptation, mostly of urban systems. His work focuses on the scientific assessment of climate risks for urban areas using combinations of qualitative and quantitative methods, and deriving policy recommendations on how to adapt these areas. Typologies of cities regarding climate risks and resilience are of particular interest to him. Till has regional expertise in the EU, Central Asia, and Southeast Asia. His academic background is in physical geography, meteorology and geoinformatics. Previous to his work at adelphi, he worked at the Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research (PIK), and as an independent scientific consultant. He obtained his PhD in Geoecology.

Tinus Elsig, Urban Policy Consultant & Special Consultant in Politics, Analysis, and Communication, City of Vejle

Tinus Elsig has been working with urban planning, analysis, strategy and policy development from regional and local perspective since 2016. In continuation of the Resilience Strategy of Vejle (2016), Tinus has been deeply involved in the facilitation and composition of a new city vision (2022) with ambitions for a co-creating society where public administration, civil society, NGOs and private sectors cooperate and develop new roles and shared responsibilities. Today Tinus is leading projects that operate across urban planning, welfare institutions and cultural activities from the objective that democratic dialogue, test and experiments can serve as new approaches toward a more resilient urban planning, diverse communities and social resilience. Tinus has a background in studies of globalization, journalism, political sciences and comparative literature studies. Previously, Tinus has worked in the media industry as chief-editor of Denmark’s largest youth magazine TJECK Magazine.

Tomislav Novosel, North-West Croatia Regional Energy and Climate Agency

Tomislav is currently employed as an expert advisor in the climate department of the North-West Croatia Regional Energy and Climate Agency. He holds a Doctorate degree in Mechanical Engineering obtained at the University of Zagreb where he worked as a researcher until 2018. His work and expertise focus on energy and climate planning, and he is deeply involved in the Agencies work on the application and implementation of various EU projects (LIFE, Horizon Europe, INTERREG and so on). Tomislav has been working as an expert advisor on the evaluation of Horizon 2020 and Horizon Europe projects for the European Commission and its Agencies.

Tommaso Buso, Senior Analyst, Bankers without Boundaries (BwB)

Tommaso is a senior analyst at BwB, where he covers numerous projects of sustainable finance, ranging from sovereign green bond issuance, NBS investments, cities decarbonisation modelling, structuring of financing facilities, all the way to circular economy project selection and appraisal and carbon finance. Over 3 years, he has worked with companies and organisations across Asia, Europe, Africa and America. Previously, he has worked for the retail ESG practice of Amundi AM, Europe’s largest asset manager, and the sustainable finance division of Deloitte France, the largest European sustainability advisory team. Tommaso holds a master’s degree in Economics and Public Affairs at Sciences Po Paris and speaks 4 languages.

Tetyana Simchuk, Principal Officer, Department for International Cooperation and European Integration, Rivne Regional Military (State) Administration

Tetyana is an experienced public servant, expert in project & HR management, interpreting, translation, providing training, evaluation and assessment. She works in the Department for International Cooperation and European Integration (Rivne Regional Military/State Administration) based in Rivne, Ukraine. She brings her vast education and experience obtained in both US and Europe to her current role where she is dedicated to make her region and, therefore, her country more successful, transparent, and sustainable. A spiritual fast-learning professional with a passion for travelling, choreography, and yoga. An environmental activist, mastering in psychology. Ukrainian and proud of it.

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.

Viola Marx, Sustainability & Climate Change Officer, Dundee City Council

Dr. Viola Marx is a Climate Change and Sustainability Officer at Dundee City Council, specialising in communication and engagement. Her background in psychology lends a unique perspective to her role. She is a pivotal member of the Dundee City Council team, actively contributing to the Urban Releaf project. This initiative aims to elevate greenspaces and sustainability within the city through citizen science, promoting a liveable, greener, and more resilient urban environment. Dr. Marx's career is a testament to her ability to bridge academia and practical expertise. She is deeply committed to interdisciplinary innovation for the betterment of both humanity and the planet. In her previous position, she led the multi-award-winning Green Health Prescription pathway in Scotland. This initiative connected the healthcare system with nature-based interventions, significantly impacting the local well-being economy and gaining international recognition as a best practice model.

Wolfgang Teubner, Regional Director Europe & Managing Director, ICLEI Europe

Wolfgang Teubner is the ICLEI regional director for Europe and also the managing director (CEO) of the ICLEI European Secretariat. He has more than 20 years professional experience working with local governments on sustainable urban development, climate adaptation and mitigation, Local Agenda 21, waste management, as well as sustainable urban transport policies. During his career he has been involved in more than 100 European an international projects.

Yann Françoise, Deputy director of ecological transition for the City of Paris

27 years serving to cities for tackling climate change. Yann FRANÇOISE is Deputy head of Climate and Ecological Transition Directorate. Since 2004, he has been led Paris Climate Action strategies gathering commitments and actions of all Paris’ community, from citizens to companies. This department has developed different tools and plans for reducing Paris’ carbon footprint and adapting Paris face to climate change issues. UNFCCC awarded in 2021 the Paris Climate Action. In 2021, he published “Paris face to climate change” a survey on Paris climate change vulnerability. In 2022, with IOM, he coordinated a survey about “climate migrations and Paris, risk and opportunities”. He represents the city of Paris at technical level at Global Covenant, C40, and other international organisations. He is co-author of Summary for Urban Policymakers of IPCC reports (SR1.5 & AR6).

Yu Namba, Professor at Toyo PPP School and a UNECE PPP specialist

Professor Yu Namba with a master’s in economics from Toyo University and a bachelor’s in mass communication and Media studies from Towson University is a PPP Professor at Toyo PPP School and a UNECE PPP specialist. Her areas of research and education cover Public Finance, Public Economics, Public Private Partnership, Case Studies, Public Management, Local Development, public procurement and Sustainable Development Strategies.

Her papers cover small-scale PPP implementation models, PPP financing models, city operation outsourcing, public service benefits and tax burdens, road pricing, procurement models and etc. In her books, we learn about PPP and Social Value, Public Engagement, and Public Real Estate. As a professor, she lectures on City management, PPP case studies, Balance budget practices, PPP theories etc. Outside of the university, her interests always lays in local-level PPP implementations and economic developments. 

She has been at the forefront of aligning academia with applied research that results in incubating sustainable PPPs that become agents of positive transformation. The two most notorious examples are the regional development of Butuan in the Philippines and the Revitalization of Shiwa in Japan.

Zdravko Maksimovic, Head of the Department for Civil Protection Affairs, City of Kraljevo

Managing a city Department; Member of Emergency HQ of City of Kraljevo; Managing Regional Training Centre for Civil Protection;Managing joint action on DRR with other Municipalities of West Morava river Basin;Conducting commissions for PDNA reports;Managing development of Risk Assessment Act, Protection and Rescue plans and DRR Plans;Participation in numerous national and international conferences on disaster risk reduction, civil protection and post-disaster recovery (highlight: JICA training in Japan - February-March 2019; Deltares Institute in Delft, the Netherlands - July 2018; SEEURBAN project 2017 -2018, SOUTHEAST EUROPE PLATFORM - Kavala, Greece October 2019, conferences organized by the World Bank - Brussels, Belgium and Graz, Austria and Belgrade, Serbia);World Bank Consultant;Participation in EU project (IPA 2019-2020) – PIMO, implemented by UNDP (EU for Serbia Resilient to Disasters (euzatebe.rs)) civilnazastitakraljevo.rs 

Zenada Čaušević, Central Bosnia Canton, Bosnia & Herzegovina