Meet the #EURESFO2025 Speakers & Moderators

Senior Nature Advisor, CDP Worldwide
Afroditi Mathioudaki, Senior Nature Advisor, CDP Worldwide
Afroditi Mathioudaki is a Greek-qualified lawyer with over 10 years of international experience in advising national and regional governments and private stakeholders in connection with international and european laws, regulations, public policy and advocacy matters. Her current professional activity is centered around environmental protection issues, with a special attention to nature and biodiversity conservation and restoration for coastal cities and regions in Europe and beyond.

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

Strategic Planning Coordinator, Centre for Experiments in Urban Studies - CEUS
Ana Mitić-Radulović, Strategic Planning Coordinator, Centre for Experiments in Urban Studies - CEUS
Ana is a licensed architect and urban planning professional from Serbia, with M.Sc. degree in International Cooperation and Urban Development (Technical University Darmstadt) and MA in Development Economics and International Co-operation (University of Rome ‘Tor Vergata’). As an architect, she worked in Spain (urban plans of special heritage protection), Serbia and Cyprus (project of the New Nicosia Town Hall Complex). In the field of urban development and sustainable mobility, she worked on FP7 projects with ISINNOVA – Italy, on IPA projects for the Ministry of Construction, Transport and Infrastructure of the Republic of Serbia, and has worked on GEF, EU and UNV funded project with UNDP Serbia, addressing climate change mitigation and adaptation, disaster risk reduction and circular economy. At CEUS, Ana has been leading local implementation of NBS-related Horizon 2020 project CLEVER Cities, and Horizon Europe projects NBS EduWORLD, UNP+, SMILE City and ClimaGen.

Project Manager, Reggio Emilia Municipality/E35 Foundation
Andrea Porcelluzzi, Project Manager, Reggio Emilia Municipality/E35 Foundation
Project manager with an extensive background supporting public and private entities in the design and management of EU-funded projects.
His main focus is fostering cooperation between local authorities and the research, innovation and creative sectors to accelerate the climate transition and drive social innovation.
He currently works at the E35 Foundation in Reggio Emilia, where he supports the city and local institutions in shaping more sustainable and inclusive urban ecosystems. In this context, he is mainly involved in climate transition governance, food system transformation, nature-based solutions and urban resilience.

Director, Ecoserveis
Aniol Esquerre Alsius, Director, ECOserveis
Aniol promotes technological innovation alongside the human factor. He promotes technological innovation with a human dimension. He concentrates on the technical aspects of the production, storage, use and management of energy under the prism of environmental sustainability. Engineering for everyone.
Aniol studied Industrial Engineering at the Polytechnic University of Catalonia, specialising in Product and Systems Design. He also has two master’s degrees: in Technology and the Humanities (Université de Technologie de Compiègne, UTC) and in Renewable Energies and the Environment (International University Study Centre, IUSC).

Climate Finance and Innovation Specialist, World Climate Foundation
Anna Lea Eggert, Climate Finance and Innovation Specialist, World Climate Foundation
Anna Lea Eggert is a Climate Finance and Innovation Specialist at the World Climate Foundation in Copenhagen, Denmark. With a background in urban planning, she holds a PhD in Climate Adaptation, focusing her research on the interactions between human-water systems in coastal areas. She contributes to the EU-funded CLIMATEFIT project, which explores innovative financing mechanisms to support climate change adaptation, offering valuable insights into funding sources and strategic approaches for local adaptation initiatives.

Staff Member at the Department of Operational Planning and Development Programs, Municipality of Thessaloniki
Athina Chontolidou, Municipality of Thessaloniki
Athina works at the Municipality of Thessaloniki within the Department of Operational Planning and Development Programs. Her role focuses primarily on the management and coordination of National and European funding projects, including initiatives such as Horizon (UP2030), LIFE, URBACT, and CERV. She holds a Bachelor's degree in Accounting and Business Administration. However, it was during her postgraduate studies—an MSc in Spatial Planning for Sustainable and Resilient Development (Faculty of Engineering, Aristotle University of Thessaloniki)—that she discovered her professional calling and mindset. Driven by a strong commitment to sustainable urban transformation, she is deeply engaged in advancing the vision of climate-neutral and net-zero cities.

Freelance Expert in Urban Climate Adaptation and Resilience (Germany)
Birgit Georgi, Freelance Expert
Birgit Georgi is an experienced freelance expert in urban climate adaptation and resilience. She collaborates with stakeholders ranging from local authorities and businesses to international organizations. As an expert for the European Urban Initiative, Urban Innovative Actions, URBACT, and the Covenant of Mayors, she has supported numerous cities on their path to resilience—drawing on deep knowledge from her time as project manager for urban adaptation at the European Environment Agency. Birgit bridges practical implementation with strategic foresight, recently leading the “Just Transitions – Democratic Transitions” initiative under UIA, linking social equity and adaptation. She also co-initiated the European Urban Resilience Forum (EURESFO) in 2013.
(https://www.birgitgeorgi.eu)

President, Grant Management Group
Cedric Grant, President, Grant Management Group
Cedric Grant has served as a senior executive at each of the three major levels of government. His expertise is in capital development, finance, economic development, government policy development, water utility and disaster grants management and resilience, urban, transportation and strategic planning.
He is currently President of Grant Management Group, a strategic advisory company. He is an advisor to public and private clients on government operations, business development, water management, resilience and sustainability. During his 40-year career he has delivered billions of dollars of public projects. He led the Hurricane Katrina infrastructure Recovery in the City of New Orleans as well as the Sewerage and Water Board recovery and investment in sustainable and resilience water management strategies.
Grant holds a BA in Political Science from Xavier University of Louisiana and a master's in public administration from the University of New Orleans.

Head of Unit Climate Risk and Resilience, European Environment Agency
Blaz Kurnik, Head of Unit Climate Risk and Resilience, European Environment Agency
Blaž Kurnik (1978) has worked at the European Environment Agency (EEA) since 2010 in various positions. He has been a coordinator of and contributor to various EEA reports on climate change impacts and adaptation, notably on climate change adaptation in the agriculture sector, climate change adaptation and disaster risk reduction and climate change impacts in Europe. Blaž is currently head of climate risk and resilience. He leads a team of around 20 experts working on various climate change adaptation topics.
Prior joining the EEA, Blaž worked at the Joint Research Centre of the European Commission and at the Slovenian Environment Agency (ARSO).
Blaž holds a PhD degree in climatology.
Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research (PIK)
CHRISTIANE Walter, Project Coordinator (PIK)
With a background in literature, media science, and sociology, Christiane combines her academic expertise with over 15 years of experience managing national and international projects at the Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research. Since 2017 she coordinates the Urban Transformations group. Her scientific focus is on social science research, especially on participation, just transition, and equity. Latest projects were interdisciplinary with strong co-creation towards measures to be taken to reach the net-zero climate target without ignoring the social impacts on lifestyles, vulnerable groups and other questions around equity and justice as well as inclusive processes on all levels and in communication with various stakeholders.

GERICS (Germany)
CristObal Reveco, Social Scientist, GERICS
Cristóbal Reveco is a Social Scientist at the German Climate Service Center (GERICS). His work focuses on exploring the social dimensions underpinning the use of climate information. Currently, Cristobal act as the coordinator of the EU Project VALORADA. VALORADA focuses on developing methods to facilitate the uptake and use of climate information for decision making in local governments.
Previously, Cristóbal worked for more than ten years in Latin America supporting local governments planning efforts to adapt to climate change, including the articulation of municipal networks on climate action in Chile, Costa Rica and Colombia, designed and implemented capacity building programmes for urban decision makers and planners, and coordinated collaborations between local governments and universities, facilitating science-policy interactions in the frame of climate change.
Polytechnic of Turin (Italy)
ElisaCostamagna, RESARCHER, POlyTechnic of Turin
Elisa Costamagna is a researcher at Polytechnic of Turin - Department of Environment, Land and Infrastructure Engineering. She earned her PhD working on green walls for greywater treatment and visualization of microbial activity in constructed wetlands.
Her research approach involves experimental activities and numerical modelling. She contributes to projects related to greywater treatment and Nature-based Solutions (SUPERGREEN, NICE [https://nice-nbs.eu/]) and rainwater management in urban environment (RETURN [https://www.fondazionereturn.it/]). She’s PI in the NBS4MOV project [https://www.nbs4mov.it/], which is focused on NBS in mountain environment. She’s session convener at EGU, participates in international conferences and co-authored more than 10 peer-reviewed publications in the field of Nature-based Solutions.
She likes to be engaged in communication activities in school and public events, and she teaches in Civil Engineering and Architecture courses in her home university.

Postdoctoral Researcher, University of Geneva (Switzerland)
Enora Bruley, Postdoctoral Researcher, University of Geneva
Enora Bruley holds degrees in Ecology and Environmental Political Science, and earned a PhD in Environment from Grenoble-Alpes University, France. Her research focuses on the adaptation of social-ecological systems (SES) to climate change, with particular attention to citizen and stakeholder engagement processes aimed at supporting inclusive governance for transformative adaptation. Her methodological approach is place-based and transdisciplinary, grounded in the co-production of knowledge with local stakeholders. She is currently working as a postdoctoral researcher at the University of Geneva within the EU-funded projects Adaptation AGORA, where she investigates the enablers and barriers to the co-production of innovative solutions for climate resilience in Europe.

Researcher, National Research Council - CNR
Gregorio Sgrigna, Researcher, National Research Council - CNR
Gregorio Sgrigna: Research technologist at CNR-IRET. He has been actively involved in national and international projects on Nature-based Solutions and ecosystem services, including Horizon, COST-Action, and PRIN. His work focuses on NbS, especially urban forests for air quality. He studies particulate matter (PM) on leaves using electron microscopy. As a member of the NbS Italy Hub coordination group, he supports national networking and integration of NbS. He also contributes to FAIR-enabling practices for environmental data within environmental research infrastructures.
”https://www.scientix.eu/resources/knowledge/stem-job-profiles/profile?id=1917967”

Senior Project Manager, Forum Virium Helsinki (Finland)
Heli POnto, Senior Project Manager, Forum Virium Helsinki (Finland)
Heli Ponto, a senior project manager, specializes in a project that addresses climate adaptation, digital twins, and social justice. With a PhD in urban geography focused on urban and mobility experiences, she is passionate about urban development, sustainability, smart cities, and smart mobility.
Climate Action Technician, Ihobe
IñigoUrrutikoetxea Alvarez, Climate Action Technician, Ihobe
Agricultural engineer with a Master's degree in Environmental Engineering and a Master's degree in Urban Ecology and Green Infrastructure. Iñigo started his professional experience in the forestry sustainability area of Neiker (https://neiker.eus/en/). There he worked in the European REINFFORCE project, studying the data of one of the 32 arboretums established throughout the Atlantic Arc and analysing the adaptability of different forest species to the climatic and edaphic characteristics of each site. After that, he worked for the climate change area of IDOM, Consulting, Engineering, Architecture. Finally, since 2022, Iñigo is part of the climate action team of Ihobe, the Public Society of Environmental Management of the Basque Government. There, he works in the framework of LIFE IP Urban Klima 2050 (https://www.urbanklima2050.eu/en/), a European project that aims to promote the energy and climate transition to achieve the resilience of the Basque territory.

Project Manager, Agency for the Support of Regional Development
Ján Dzurdženík, Project Manager, Agency for the Support of Regional Development
Graduated in Environmental Science at the Pavol Jozef Šafárik University in Košice, he gained experience in environmental assessment within the Slovak Environmental Agency team. Since 2008 he has been working on the topic of adaptation to climate change within the Agency for the Suport of Regional Development Košice.
He participated in the preparation of the adaptation strategy for the consequences of climate change in the Košice region, and in its refinement at the local level. He has been involved in awareness-raising activities on the impacts of climate change, as well as practical investment adaptation projects.

Researcher, Tecnalia
Julen Astudillo, Researcher, Tecnalia
Julen Astudillo is an architect and senior researcher at Tecnalia, specializing in building facades and envelopes. He has participated in numerous European research projects, coordinating the HEPHAESTUS project (cable robot systems for automated construction). He has been involved in BASAJAUN (sustainable wood construction for rural-urban links), OSIRYS (forest-based composites for facades), HIFIVENT (durable ventilated facades), and MeeFS (energy-efficient retrofit systems). Julen also contributed to FACOMP (polymeric nanocomposites for curtain walls). He is currently coordinating the AEGIR project, which aims to demonstrate scalable, non-intrusive renovation solutions for achieving nearly zero-energy buildings across various European climates. Additionally, he leads the AMALTEA project, focusing on advanced façade technologies for sustainable construction. He has published scientific papers on materials, facades, and energy performance, regularly speaks at international congresses.

Expert - Climate Risks and Adaptation, European Environment Agency
Julie Berckmans, Expert - Climate Risks and Adaptation, European Environment Agency
Julie Berckmans is a climate scientist that works on assessing climate risks for Europe and coordinated the development of the first European Climate Risk Assessment. Julie has a background in weather and climate science and has 10+ years of experience in the fields of climate modelling, climate services and climate adaptation with a particular interest in urban areas, human health and transport infrastructure.

Special Representative of the UN Secretary-General for Disaster Risk Reduction
Kamal Kishore, Special Representative of the UN Secretary-General for Disaster Risk Reduction
Kamal Kishore is the Special Representative of the United Nations Secretary-General (SRSG) for Disaster Risk Reduction, and Head of the United Nations Office for Disaster Risk Reduction (UNDRR), based in Geneva, Switzerland.
Mr. Kishore brings to this position nearly three decades of experience in disaster risk reduction, climate action and sustainable development at the global, regional, national and local levels, having worked in government, the United Nations and civil society organizations.
Prior to joining UNDRR, Mr. Kishore was the Head of Department of the National Disaster Management Authority of India, where he led the G20 Working Group on Disaster Risk Reduction and contributed to the development of the Coalition for Disaster Resilient Infrastructure.

Lead, Programs, Climate & Health, Resilient Cities Network
Karl Astbury, Lead, Programs, Climate & Health, Resilient Cities Network
Karl Astbury leads the implementation of two flagship global initiatives at the Resilient Cities Network: the Urban Community Resilience Program - Resilience for Communities, funded by the Z Zurich Foundation, and Urban Pulse: Climate, Health, and Equity in Action.

Expert, Resilience and Climate Adaptation, ICLEI Europe
LUCA ARBAU, Expert, RESILIENCE AND CLIMATE ADAPTATION, ICLEI EUROPE
Luca Arbau is an architect and a sustainable urban development practitioner. He is ICLEI Europe's representative in Brussels from the resilience and climate adaptation team. He is involved in the implementation of the EU Mission on Adaptation and the Covenant of Mayors - Europe's pillar on adaptation. He is a key organiser of the annual European Urban Resilience Forum. He holds a master's degree in international cooperation and emergency architecture from the International University of Catalonia (Spain) and a master's degree in architecture from the University of Ferrara (Italy).

Adaptation Project Manager, City of Paris
Marie Rouaux, Adaptation Project Manager, City of Paris
Marie is a project manager for adaptation to climate change at the city of Paris, in the Climate Change and Ecological Transition Department. Her main task is to develop and evaluate innovative projects to adapt Paris infrastructures to extreme heat. She is focusing on the shading plan of Paris, on the network of drinking fountains and foggers and on simple solutions for public building such as cool roofing, reinforcement of the use of shutters and the installation of ceiling fans.
Previously, Marie worked for consultancy firms specialising in public action on climate change. She has helped a number of French local authorities to draw up and evaluate their climate policies. Marie holds a master's degree in Urban Policy from Sciences Po and the London School of Economics, as well as a dual bachelor's degree in Social Sciences and Natural Sciences from Sciences Po and the Pierre and Marie Curie University, Paris, France.

Project manager, Régional Council Provence Alpes Côte d'azur
Marie Caroline Vallon, Project manager, Régional Council Provence Alpes Côte d'azur
"Marie Caroline Vallon, graduate of the Institut d'Etudes Politiques and holder of a Master's degree in Planification. She, has been working for more than 20 years with local authorities on all aspects of sustainable development and developing a comprehensive, decompartmentalised and uncomplicated approach to urban issues and practices.
Working for the Southern Region's Department of Energy and Territorial Transition, she provides expertise to take climate change issues into account in urban projects. She was project manager for the Nature For City LIFE project and developed training initiatives for city stakeholders, and mobilization tools to adapting cities to climate change.
Actually, she represents the Southern Region as a partner in CARDIMED project (funded by Horizon Europe), for the French team running a demonstration site on university campuses where SFN are being tested with teams from Aix Marseille University, SEMIDE and the Empan consultancy."

Biomedical Engineer, Galician Health Service
Miguel Díaz-Cacho Dafonte, Biomedical Engineer, Galician Health Service
Miguel Díaz-Cacho is a biomedical engineer expert in data analysis. In the past years has been focused on the field of hospital engineering. During his work at SERGAS, he has coordinated the EU LIFE RESYSTAL project, calculated the carbon footprint and participated in many climate mitigation initiatives for the healthcare sector.
Head of Multilevel Governance, CDP
Mirjam Wolfrum, Head of Multilevel Governance, CDP
An expert in government and public sector climate and nature topics, including sustainability reporting, multilevel governance, EU and international policy, and sustainable finance. As CDP’s Head of Multilevel Governance, works to improve implementation and finance capacity of subnational governments through data, requester levers and partnerships. Led CDP’s policy engagement and fundraising in Europe as part of the regional management team and supported EFRAG on the EU company sustainability reporting standards. An information professional by training, has worked as a freelance information researcher, at the Goethe Institute’s information department and at a business consultancy. Holds a master’s degree in information management and a postgraduate degree in journalism.

Senior Climate Expert, ICLEI Europe
Nupur Prothi, Senior Climate Expert, ICLEI Europe
A Senior Climate Expert with ICLEI Europe, Nupur has engaged with place based climate action over 2 decades. As a practitioner of physical planning, landscape architecture (NbS) and urban conservation, she has overlapping expertise relevant to the EU Missions especially Mitigation and Adaptation. As an active member of the NetZeroCities Consortium, she co leads the strategic work on Monitoring, Evaluation, Learning, Reporting and Verification through the Data Impact and Monitoring Sub Committee. Collaborating with Vinnova, SLU University and Swedbio in Sweden, she is focussed on cross disciplinary collaboration on innovation and climate impact. As Life Member of ISOCARP she has contributed to urban task forces globally. Currently she is serving her second term on the ICOMOS Board.

Senior Expert in Biodiversity and Nature-based Solutions, ICLEI Europe
Paola Lepori, Senior Expert in Biodiversity and Nature-based Solutions, ICLEI Europe
Paola Lepori is a Senior Expert in Biodiversity and Nature-based Solutions at ICLEI Europe, based in Brussels. She works at the intersection of policy, science, and practice, bridging policy-making with impactful local action, and promoting the vital role of local and regional governments in advancing sustainable development, for both people and nature. Paola is currently involved in several EU-funded NbS projects, including NetworkNature.
Her core professional objective is to build alliances that drive transformative change towards an inclusive, nature-positive future.
Prior to joining ICLEI, Paola worked for nearly 8 years at the European Commission in communication and policy roles. Most recently, she worked at the science-policy interface, promoting the mainstreaming of biodiversity considerations and NbS across policy domains. Before joining the Commission, Paola worked as a writer and editor for international relations newspapers in Italy.

Mayor, Market town of Ober-Grafendorf (Austria)
Rainer Handlfinger, Mayor, Market town of Ober-Grafendorf
Education
1982 – 1986 Elementary School, 3200 Ober-Grafendorf
1986 – 1990 Secondary School, 3200 Ober-Grafendorf
1990 – 1995 BORG St. Pölten, Science Branch
1996 – 2000 University of Applied Sciences for Telecommunications and Media, St. Pölten
Degree: Graduate Engineer (FH)
Professional Career
03/2000 – 06/2007 Municipal Councilor, Market Town of Ober-Grafendorf
06/2007 – 04/2010 Executive Municipal Councilor for Finance and Environment, Market Town of Ober-Grafendorf
Since 04/2010 Mayor, Market Town of Ober-Grafendorf
Additional Functions & Volunteering
04/2012 – 2018 Board Member, Vienna/Lower Austria Renewable Energy Working Group, Vienna
Since 05/2013 Executive Board Member, Climate Alliance/Climate Alliance Europe, Frankfurt am Main
Since 04/2014 Board Member, Regional Management Lower Austria – Lower Austria Central, St. Pölten
Since July 2017 Chairman of the Board, Climate Alliance Austria, Vienna"

Vice President, BwB (Portugal)
Renata Haseth, Vice President, BwB
Prior to BwB, Renata worked at private equity social impact in Amsterdam, and held several positions in corporate and investment banking in the Netherlands, Belgium, and Singapore. She has worked in debt capital markets, project financing, and securitisation. Additionally, Renata has experience in strategic funding for a large corporate. Currently, she is working in the NetZeroCities team as the Adaptation and NBS sector head, helping cities to raise funding for climate adaptation and mitigation projects around Europe. Additionally, she is involved in Blue Economy projects and researching the financing of adaptation projects outside of NZC.

Coordinator Climate Adaptation, City of Dortmund (Germany)
Sophie Arens, City of Dortmund
Sophie Arens has spent many years researching in climate protection and climate adaptation. Initially at the Wuppertal Institute for climate, Energy and Environment and later at TU Dortmund in the topic of urban resilience. Since 2018 she has been working for the coordination office for climate protection and climate adaptation in the City of Dortmund and implements the Adaptation strategy and the Heat Action plan for the City.
Research Associate, Head of Project and Services, TerraNIS (France)
Sylvie Duthoit, Research Associate, Head of Project and Services, TerraNIS
Sylvie Duthoit is an expert in remote sensing with over 20 years of experience in research, development, and operational services. Holding a Ph.D. in Remote Sensing from Toulouse III University (France), she has contributed to major European projects and published extensively in scientific journals. Sylvie combines strong project management skills with expertise in landscape analysis, Earth observation, and environmental monitoring. She currently leads the Projects and Services team at TerraNIS and as part of the European Valorada project, her team is developing - in close collaboration with other partners - some data manipulation tools for each of the 5 demonstrators covering a variety of different sectors, climate risks and key community systems.

Senior Advisor Resilient Regions, Climate-KIC
Thomas Koetz, Senior Advisor Resilient Regions, Climate-KIC
Thomas Koetz is Senior Advisor for Climate Resilient Regions at Climate KIC responsible for orchestrating the application of a systems innovation approach for transformations towards climate resilience at regional scale, including the coordination of the Pathways2Resilience project supporting 150 regions to become climate resilient.
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, and Master degrees in ecological economics, and in landscape ecology and environmental management.

Research Associate, Ruhr University Bochum (RUB) (Germany)
Vanessa Reinhart, Research Associate, Ruhr University Bochum (RUB)
Dr. Vanessa Reinhart is a multidisciplinary geographer with expertise in big data analysis, regional climate modeling, and qualitative stakeholder engagement. She completed her PhD at the Climate Service Center Germany (GERICS) in Hamburg in 2022, focusing on improving land use representation in regional climate models working towards improved climate projections. Since then, her work has evolved to emphasize stakeholder collaboration, science communication, and the development of climate services. At Ruhr University Bochum (RUB), she coordinates the Data2Resilience project and works closely with urban stakeholders to support climate adaptation efforts. Her key interests include urban climate adaptation, aligning scientific service development with stakeholder needs, and communicating climate science across the public and private sector.

Mission Adaptation Community of Practice Lead, Ricardo Consulting (Spain)
Ximena Michemberg Conti, Mission Adaptation Community of Practice Lead, Ricardo Consulting
María Ximena Michemberg Conti is an environmental engineer and climate change expert with over a decade of experience in adaptation, risk management, and loss and damage. She has worked with the UNFCCC, advising on L&D and supporting global climate finance and adaptation efforts. Ximena's expertise includes water, sanitation, and nature-based solutions, with a focus on community engagement. Currently, she is part of the Mission Implementation Platform for Adaptation (MIP4Adapt) team, leading the establishment and animation of the EU Mission Adaptation Community of Practice.

Associate Programme Management Officer, UNDRR
Yigyeong Oh, Associate Programme Management Officer, UNDRR
Yigyeong Oh is the regional focal point for the Making Cities Resilient 2030 Initiative at UNDRR ROECA, based in Brussels, Belgium. Since joining UNDRR in 2023, she has monitored UNDRR’s engagement with UN Country Teams in the region, coordinated collaboration within the Issue-based Coalition on Environment and Climate Change, and supported office communication efforts. She also contributes to the production of reports and knowledge products related to disaster risk reduction and urban resilience.

Chief of Section, Department for Civil Protection Affairs, City Administration of City of Kraljevo (Republic of Serbia)
Zdravko Maksimovic, Chief of Section, Department for Civil Protection Affairs, City Administration of City of Kraljevo
Graduated from the Faculty of Mining and Geology in Belgrade, and is currently studying for a doctorate at the Faculty of Technical Sciences in Novi Sad. In 2013, he took over the Department for Civil Protection , where he still works today. He has a license in the field of disaster risk reduction and post-disaster reconstruction (license for preparation of Disaster Risk Assessment and Protection and Damage Plans, license for PDNA, license for lecturers within the National Academy for Public Administration, etc.). He is a participant and creator of several projects: ADAPT, EVERGREEN, SEEURBAN, EU ZA TEBE, etc. (http://civilnazastitakraljevo.rs/PDF/ADAPT_Legacy.pdf, riskzm.rs, civilnazastitakraljevo.rs/svecano-otvaranje-osmatracnice-vizitorskog-centra-u-sklopu-evergreen-projekta/, seeurban.net, www.euzatebe.rs/rs/projekti/eu-za-srbiju-otpornu-na-katastrofe). Author of numerous manuals and materials in the field of civil protection and climate change.