Luigi Fusco Girard

Emeritus Professor at the University of Naples Federico II, President of ISCEC of ICOMOS and Scientific Coordinator of the H2020 CLIC project. Expert in evaluation methods for integrated conservation of cultural heritage, strategies and tools for urban / territorial sustainable development and regeneration of cultural heritage and landscape in the perspective of the circular economy and circular city.

Christian Ost

Jyoti Hosagrahar

Jyoti Hosagrahar is Deputy Director for the World Heritage Centre at UNESCO. Among other responsibilities, she leads the implementation of the Historic Urban Landscape Recommendation, the Cities Programme, policies for cultural and natural heritage for the 2030 Agenda and the New Urban Agenda, the Earthen Architecture Program, and the World Heritage Fund as well as the development and implementation of Thematic Indicators for Culture in the Sustainable Development Goals across the Culture Sector. Read more…

Photo credits: UNESCO

Ugo Guarnacci

Ugo Guarnacci works as Project Adviser at the European Research Executive Agency (REA), European Commission, managing Horizon 2020 projects on smart and sustainable cities, social and cultural innovation, nature-based solutions.

Before joining REA, Ugo had been working for 6 years as Policy Officer at the Directorate-General for Research and Innovation (DG RTD), European Commission.

In 2019, during a sabbatical year from the European Commission, Ugo Guarnacci worked as Lead in Diversity and Inclusion 4.0 at the World Economic Forum in Geneva. He followed the set-up and implementation of the Partnership for Global LGBTI Equality (PGLE) and contributed to the ‘HR4.0: Shaping People Strategies in the Fourth Industrial Revolution’ within the New Economy and Society Platform of the Forum.

Before joining the European Commission, Ugo was Visiting Scholar at the School of International and Public Affairs (SIPA), Columbia University in New York City, focusing his research on resilience and the link with the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).

Ugo is an applied economist by training and holds a PhD in Economics, from the University of Reading, with a thesis focusing on measuring resilience and subjective wellbeing in post-disaster, post-conflict Indonesia. His areas of expertise include sustainable urban development, beyond GDP indicators and environmental accounting, gender, diversity, equity & inclusion, social innovation and citizen engagement.

Giampaolo D’Andrea

Giampaolo D’Andrea (Potenza, 1949), Graduated in Philosophy (Pisa). He is Member of the Advisor Board for the Italian Ministry of Culture. He taught History at the Universities of Salerno and of Basilicata. Author of numerous essays, studies and research papers. As a politician, he was Member of the Camera dei Deputati, of the Senato and of the European Parliament; moreover, he was a Member of the Regional Assembly of Basilicata, and of its regional government. In addition, he was appointed as Undersecretary of State for Cultural Heritage and for the Presidency of the Council of Ministers for Relations with Parliament, Institutional Reforms and the Implementation of the Government Programme. He has been Advisor for the Coordination of Government Activities and Head of Cabinet of the Minister of Heritage, Cultural Activities and Tourism Dario Franceschini. Councillor. From 2018 to 2020, he was councilor for culture and the economy of knowledge in Matera (European Capital of Culture 2019).

Hughes Becquart

After graduating in translation and film studies Hughes Becquart started his career at the European Commission as a translator. He then worked for ten years in the film sector, mainly for the EU support programme MEDIA and the French CNC (National Film Centre). He then moved to the EC Culture and Creativity Directorate, where he developed EU-Asia cultural policy dialogues as well as the new EU strategy on international cultural relations. He is now in charge of architecture, in particular the EU Prize for Contemporary Architecture and the Member State experts’ group on High-quality Architecture and Built Environment for Everyone (2020-2021). He also contributed to the European Year of Cultural Heritage 2018 with an EU initiative on the adaptive reuse of built heritage and he is now DG EAC’s contact person for the cultural dimension of the New European Bauhaus.

Teresa Patrício

Architect, Master in Heritage Conservation and Doctor in Engineering.

Independent consultant, expert on management and conservation of archaeological sites, she is professor at R. Lemaire International Centre for Conservation from the Catholic University of Leuven (Belgium), she owns a private office in Brussels and worked for international institutions as EU and UNESCO.

Former President of ICOMOS Belgium, and former President of ICOMOS Wallonia-Brussels, expert member of the ICOMOS International scientific committee on Training (CIF), member of the working group for the safeguarding of the cultural heritage in Syria and Iraq.

Former board member of the Belgian Blue Shield.

Pierluigi Sacco

Pierluigi Sacco is Professor of Economy of Culture at IULM University in Milan, Senior Advisor at OECD Centre for Entrepreneurship, SMEs, Regions & Cities. He has been Visiting Professor at Harvard University and Special Adviser to the Education and Culture Commissioner, European Commission.

Sacco is a consultant to public administrations, institutions and private companies at international level; he studies and describes the value of culture in various industries, starting from the business sector, focusing on the relevance it has in contemporary corporate processes and in terms of social accountability.

Sandra Piesik

Dr Sandra Piesik is an award-winning architect, author, and researcher specialising in the implementation of global sustainable legislation, nature-based solutions, and traditional knowledge adaptation. She is the founder of 3 ideas B.V. Amsterdam-based consultancy, a

senior consultant to UN-HABITAT on Territorial Integration with a focus on urban-rural linkages at the Global Solutions Division, and a former Policy Support Consultant on Rural-Urban Dynamics to UNCCD. Her diverse global engagements range from international lectures, judging of the competitions, nominator of awards, and evaluation of R&D projects for the European Union.

Dr Piesik is a stakeholder and network member of several UN organisations including UNFCCC: The Resilience Frontiers, the Nairobi Work Programme (NWP), the Paris Committee on Capacity Building (PCCB), and Climate and Technology Centre & Network (CTCN).

Her published work includes Arish: Palm-Leaf Architecture (published by: Thames & Hudson in 2012), she is also the general editor of the encyclopaedia, HABITAT: Vernacular Architecture for a Changing Planet (published by: Thames & Hudson, Abrams Books, Flammarion, Editions Detail and Blume in 2017).

Massimo Clemente

Architect and urban planner, Director of the Institute for Research on Innovation and Services for Development (IRISS) of the National Research Council (CNR,) Director of the International Scientific Committee of RETE, Association for the Collaboration between Ports and Cities. Former Member of the Management Committee of the Central Tyrrhenian Sea Port System Authority. His research activity is focused on sea and port cities with particular attention to the public dimension of sea, sea-city-region systems, coastal urban areas and port waterfronts. The action research activity includes a relevant work on public engagement in urban regeneration and local development projects, based on maritime identity as a driver for urban regeneration and collaborative processes for the sustainable and resilient development of coastal territories.

Antonia Gravagnuolo

Antonia Gravagnuolo is Researcher at CNR Institute for Research on Innovation and Services for Development, National Research Council, Italy. Architect, specialized in evaluation methods for cultural heritage and landscape. She holds a PhD degree in Evaluation methods at the University of Naples Federico II. Co-coordinator of the Horizon 2020 CLIC project on circular economy for cultural heritage adaptive reuse. Coordinator of the Horizon 2020 project Be.CULTOUR on circular economy models for cultural tourism. Her research interests include circular economy, cultural heritage adaptive reuse, historic rural landscapes, heritage-led urban regeneration, sustainable local development, innovative models for cultural heritage and landscape regeneration.

Cristina Garzillo

Senior Co-ordinator at ICLEI since 2005. Having 20 years of experience working in and for local governments, Cristina is recognised for her work as expert in local sustainability processes, culture and cultural heritage, integrated management and governance as well as author of numerous publications. Cristina is appraiser for the URBACT Programme and the Urban Innovative Actions Initiative, member of the European Commission’s Expert Group on Culture and Cultural Heritage and expert for the European Committee of the Regions.  She can also draw on a wealth of academic experience gained from her previous role as contract professor at the University of Parma.

Ruba Saleh

Ruba Saleh is assistant professor and researcher at ICHEC Brussels Management School. She holds a PhD in Regional Planning and Public Policies from Iuav Venice University of Architecture, and a Masters in International Cooperation and Development from the European School of Advanced Studies in Cooperation and Development, Pavia, and a B.Arch. in Architecture from Iuav Venice University of Architecture. Her area of expertise includes cultural heritage management, cultural entrepreneurship, contested heritage, circular economy, sustainable business models, participatory processes and co-design. She is the coordinator of C-SHIP (Cultural Entrepreneurship) professional training program at ICHEC.

Björn Ohlén

Björn Ohlén is a developer at the administration for Cultural Development , Region Västra Götaland, Sweden. Björn has a bachelor’s degree in building preservation from the University of Gothenburg. He has previously worked for fifteen years with consulting and training in restoration, but has for the past ten years focused on heritage and regional development and run several projects in the field of cultural tourism and local development. Björn is local project manager in CLIC.

Vera Telemo

Vera Telemo is an environmental scientist working with sustainable rural development in the Dalsland region, Sweden.

She has been working as assistant project manager in the CLIC project for the past two years.

Raffaele Lupacchini

Director of European Resources of the City of Salerno, Chief Financial Officer of Salerno, PhD in Economics and Professor in Public works programming at the University of Sannio, expert in strategic programming of public investments.

Emanuela De Menna

Gabriella Monteleone

Thomas Van de Sandt

Thomas is a programmer, responsible for programs around sustainability at Pakhuis de Zwijger, a cultural platform and events venue in Amsterdam. The events and community building programs of the Pakhuis de Zwijger foundation focus on the future of cities, with programs on social, creative, sustainable, spacial, technological, economical and democratic issues. Thomas is responsible for the programs around circularity, climate and energy, water and climate adaptation and a just and inclusive energy transition. Also, he is the linking pin within Pakhuis de Zwijger for the Horizon 2020 projects CLIC, REFLOW and CENTRINNO.

Thomas has a background in science (biotechnology) and journalism. He wrote and edited for a number of popular scientific newspapers and magazines before he started programming events for national newspaper NRC and later for Pakhuis de Zwijger.

Suzana Belošević Romac

Professional profile and expertise: Advisor to the Mayor of the City of Rijeka for EU projects. For the last 15 years has been working on regional development (coordination of designing and implementation of strategic documents – Regional Development Strategy, Regional Operational Programme) and project design, management and implementation of EU financed projects.

Christer Gustafsson

Christer Gustafsson, Ph.D. is full Professor in Conservation at Uppsala University, Sweden. His trans-disciplinary research is focusing on boundary-spanning challenges and opportunities for cultural heritage as a driver for heritage-led social/sustainable/innovation-driven regional/urban development. He has a long international experience e.g. in connection with EU, UNESCO, ICOMOS, OECD, EIT, as well as national, regional and local authorities.

Jermina Stanojev

Jermina Stanojev, PhD, is a postdoctoral researcher at Uppsala University and policy analyst in the field of culture-led, innovation-driven regional development and sustainable growth, smart specialisation strategies, wider concept of sustainable development and the EU policies. Her work is focused on trans-disciplinary challenges through different governance frameworks and geopolitical levels. She holds a PhD in participatory and integrated governance of cultural heritage and has an extensive experience working with the European Commission, UNESCO, Goethe-Institut and other international and national institutions. Among others, she is the expert of CHARTER advisory board, appointed expert by the European Commission to the Commission’s expert group on cultural heritage as well as the expert of the report from the Structured Dialogue with the European Commission and OMC working group of Member States’ experts on “Skills, Training and Knowledge-transfer in the Traditional and Emerging Heritage”, expert advisor to the European Heritage Green Paper. She is working on the EU Horizon 2020 projects CLIC and BeCultour, and previously Erasmus + HERITAGE-PRO and Cultural Diplomacy/Relations Platform of the FPI and many others.

Sigrid Stagl

Prof. Stagl is an economist and full professor at WU in Vienna. Currently she works on (1) institutional arrangement that support sustainable work, (2) developing socio-economic theories of human behaviour and (3) the effects of financialisation on the Environment. Her PhD in the field of Ecological Economics was awarded by RPI in Troy, New York. Before returning to Vienna she worked at the Universities of Leeds and Sussex. From 2003 to 2009 she served as Vice-President of the ESEE and from 2009 to 2012 as President. In 2014 she founded the Institute for Ecological Economics (WU). At WU she is currently the Chair of the Department of Socio-Economics and Director of the Competence Center for Sustainability Transformation and Responsibility, Wu Vienna.

Photo: Copyright WU Vienna

Anna Domaradzka

Sociologist, Assistant Professor and Director at Robert Zajonc Institute for Social Studies, University of Warsaw, head of the Civil City Lab. She specializes in intersectional and international comparative research in the areas of sociology of science, urban sociology, civil society and social movements, gender sociology. She leads several international projects and initiatives concerning urban cohesion, cultural heritage, civil society, social entrepreneurship and welfare state issues, as well as gender equality in public and private sphere.

Marco Acri

Marco Acri is a conservation architect and researcher at the university of Nova Gorica, at the doctoral programme in Cultural Heritage Studies, where he coordinates international collaborations, adopting interdisciplinary approaches on heritage protection and preservation, ranging from nature-based solutions to circular economy applied to cultural landscapes, historic areas as well as movable assets. He holds experiences as professional architect and cultural heritage consultant in different contexts including UNESCo, World Monuments Fund and Mediterranean Institute. He is also presently visiting professor at UNIBO and Fellow at UNIPD.

Tracy Pickerill

Dr. Tracy Pickerill has been a lecturer, research supervisor and assessor at Technological University Dublin (TU Dublin) since 1992 specialising in real estate investment & development appraisal, cultural heritage and climate change. During this time, Tracy undertook the role of technical advisor in a range of Irish and European heritage funding policy and legislative development projects, in addition to engaging with various international collaborative academic research endeavours.

Aliona Lupu

Partner at Iniziativa Cube S.r.l., she is Head of R&D and EU projects Office. She is an expert in corporate and aided finance with specific expertise in project management, project financing, venture capital, business and financial planning, start-up and scale-up evaluation and fundraising. She has participated in the successful financing of many national and European research and innovation projects thanks to the strategic ability to identify disruptive innovations and to guide key partners towards the implementation of successful projects and market launch of Cubeproducts and services.

Bonnie Burnham

Gianluca Gaggiotti

Gianluca Gaggiotti is Research Manager at EVPA, where he is directly involved in several research activities, with a specific focus on data analysis and content development of several research-related initiatives.

Gianluca joined EVPA in 2017, where he has developed an in-depth knowledge on the impact ecosystem and all the actors involved in it. Gianluca has previously worked as a Research Assistant for several project related to development and social network economics at Bocconi University.

He holds a Master degree in Economics and Social Sciences at Bocconi University with a thesis on the effect of terrorism on political outcome in the US.

Joke Quintens

Joke Quintens (BE/FR), founder of “Wetopia, Making Cities Together” and “Living Lab Moving Marseille”, is a social designer and facilitator of co-creation in cities, a regenerative practitioner and a field expert in participatory policymaking.

Deniz Ikiz Kaya

Dr Deniz Ikiz Kaya is an Assistant Professor and Irene Curie Fellow in the Department of the Built Environment at the Eindhoven University of Technology, NL. She holds a PhD degree in Architecture awarded by the Oxford Brookes University, UK. Her areas of expertise include heritage management, adaptive reuse and urban transformation, resilience building, sustainable development, and smart citizen engagement in participatory co-creation processes. She has been involved in numerous national and European research projects (CLIC H2020, e-CREHA Erasmus+ KA2). She is a member of ICOMOS NL and Climate Heritage Network.

Gillian Foster

Dr. Gillian Foster is an Assistant Professor at the Vienna University of Economics and Business (Wirschaftsuniversität) in the Institute for Ecological Economics. Dr. Foster conducts quantitative and qualitative socio-economic analyses to investigate circular economy business models, ecological indicators of circularity, and to design decision support analyses.

Ivo Allegro

Founder, Partner and CEO of Iniziativa Cube S.r.l. (an MBO from E&Y in 2005), formerly as a manager in leading companies (Valdani, Vicari & Associati, Ernst & Young), with more than twenty years of experience, he is specialized in consulting activities for private and public customers with a focus on administrative issues and corporate finance, management and processes control, EU structural funds, local development and on Public-Private Partnership. He has been lecturer of Business Economics at Sannio University, contract Professor at Pegaso University (Financial Intermediaries Economy) and Federico II (Accounting Department) and  author of the book “Smart Spending: over the cuts” published by McGraw Hill in 2014.

Magdalena Roszczynska

Assistant professor at the University of Warsaw. Institute for Social Science Her primary interest is in understanding of human behavior in social contexts, psychology of decision making, experimental economic psychology, the role of trust in interpersonal relations, policy modelling.

Alessio Ishizaka

Alessio Ishizaka is Full Professor in Decision Analysis, research lead and Founding Deputy Director of the Centre of Operations Research and Logistics (CORL) at the Portsmouth Business School of the University of Portsmouth. He received his PhD from the University of Basel (Switzerland). He worked successively for the University of Exeter (UK), University of York (UK) and Audencia Grande Ecole de Management Nantes (France). He has been visiting professor at the Università del Sannio, Politecnico di Torino, Università degli Studi di Trento, INSA Strasbourg, Université de Lorraine, Universität Mannheim, Università degli Studi di Modena e Reggio Emilia, Universität der Bundeswehr Hamburg, Université d’Aix-Marseille, Università degli Studi di Torino, Università degli Studi della Tuscia and Università degli Studi di Padova. His research is in the area of decision analysis, where he has published more than 120 papers. He is regularly involved in large European funded projects. He has been the chair, co-organiser and guest speaker of several conferences on this topic. Alongside his academic activities, he acts as a consultant for companies in helping them to take better decisions. He has written the key textbook Multicriteria Decision Analysis: methods and software

Hanna Szemző

Hanna Szemző: (PhD in History, Master’s degree in Sociology and History), is one of the managing directors of Metropolitan Research INstitute (www.mri.hu) in Budapest. She has experience in research and consultancy in the fields of urban renewal, social inclusion, demography, welfare, and governance analysis. She is currently coordinating OpenHeritage, an H2020 project. Here she focuses on the intersection of adaptive heritage re-use and urban development, working towards finding sustainable management models for community-led reuse initiatives applicable in marginalised environments.

Pietro L. Verga

Dr. Pietro L. Verga is an international expert and advisor in local development and nature-based solutions with a decade of educational and professional experiences in Italy, Romania, Germany, Belgium and the USA. He holds Ph.D. in Urban Studies from Gran Sasso Science Institute and Scuola Superiore Sant’Anna di Pisa. Pietro L. Verga’s most recent work includes local and community development strategies, nature-based regeneration approaches, circular ecosystems, and innovative urban regeneration governance instruments. Pietro is currently working as Project Officer for CENTRINNO at the Municipality of Milan; as Project Manager for SPIRE Baia Mare at Urbasofia; as UIA Expert for AIR-BREAK Ferrara; and as ad-hoc Expert for the NEXTAGRI URBACT-UIA Transfer Network.

Eva Wascher

Eva Wascher is a researcher at the division of Transformative Governance in Cities and Regions, Social Research Centre (sfs), TU Dortmund University. She studied Business Administration, Economics and Philosophy at Berlin School of Economics and Law, Dublin Institute of Technology and Ruhr-University Bochum. Her work experience includes several national and EU research projects on social entrepreneurship, sustainable finance as well as social innovation for sustainable urban development.

Vera Gregório

Vera Gregório is passionate about urban sustainability.

She is currently the Coordinator of HUB-IN – Hubs of Innovation and Entrepreneurship for the Transformation of Historic Urban Areas (Horizon 2020 Program).

She is a senior professional in European projects and R&D activities in the fields of GIS, urban sustainability, and climate change.

Her academic background is a combination of Urban Planning, Management of Science and Technology, Climate Change and Sustainable Development Policies.

Isabel Ferreira

As a researcher at the Centre for Social Studies of the University of Coimbra, Portugal, I currently integrate the co-coordination team of the European URBiNAT project – Healthy corridors and drivers of social housing neighborhoods for the coordination of social, environmental and marketable Nature Based Solutions.

My professional experience is related to urban planning and my PhD project in sociology is dedicated to governance, citizenship and participation in small and medium-sized cities.

Cristiana Parisi

Cristiana is an Associate Professor in Management Control at the Copenhagen Business School (DK). Cristiana is an acknowledged member of the social and environmental accounting research community. Her research has been published in several leading international peer-reviewed accounting journals, she is a member of the Editorial Board of the “Accounting, Auditing and Accountability Journal (AAAJ)” (3 star AJG). Cristiana overall project coordinator and principal investigator of the Horizon 2020 project ‘constRuctive mEtabolic processes For materiaL flOWs in urban and peri-urban environments across Europe’ (REFLOW). The main REFLOW websites are: https://reflowproject.eu/ and https://blog.cbs.dk/reflow/.

James Donlon

James is a Unit Manager and Senior Business Expert with WestBIC, with 25 years of experience supporting high-growth enterprise and business innovation, through creative business modelling, robust financial planning and investor-grade business planning. This is delivered through hands-on support to innovative private enterprises and community-based initiatives, assisting them along their development path to accelerate and scale their activities to achieve their growth potential.

MBA-qualified, his extensive international experience includes fostering and transferring European best practices in a range of fields through an extensive project portfolio, and leading the development of enterprise support eco-systems in conjunction with stakeholder groups.  James is currently Exploitation manager with the RURITAGE H2020 project, aimed at fostering rural regeneration through cultural and natural heritage and also contributes to the Business Modelling aspects of the project as part of the Action Planning support for Replicator regions.

James is well networked, with high-level alliances at international, national and regional levels across enterprise and innovation communities particularly concerning the development and growth of rural regions.

Igor Zacek

An architect by training, maker by heart.

An enthusiastic entrepreneur who spent the last decade delivering urban oriented products integrating design and renewable energy.

In 2016 he cofounded Nice Visions – an award-winning company with the mission to create a better and sustainable future. He is currently focusing on the seamless integration of the renewable energy sources to the urban environment.