Speakers at IUFRO Congress 2024

Alex’s research interests and expertise are in the broader area of forest governance, spanning bioeconomy, sustainability transformations, innovation networks, and communication sciences. He uses a variety of methods including, but not limited to, social network analysis, qualitative content analysis, Delphi studies, quantitative and qualitative surveys as well as other mixed methods.

Dr. Bernhard Wolfslehner is the Head of Governance Programme of the European Forest Institute (EFI) and has more than 20 years of research experience on sustainable forest management. Among other tasks, he is leader of the EFI FOREST EUROPE team and Head of the Secretariat of the INTEGRATE network.

Cleo (Timokleia) Orfanidou is a researcher in Bioeconomy Programme. She is a Ph.D. student at Aalto University with an M.Sc. in Civil Engineering (Architectural Engineering) from the Technical University of Denmark (DTU) and a B.Eng. in Civil Engineering from Greece.

She is currently examining the environmental sustainability and modeling of timber buildings and forest products. She approaches the subject from the standpoints of resource-efficient design, bioeconomy, sustainable forestry, and wood technology.

Diana is the Head of the Bioeconomy Programme. She has a PhD in Sustainability Impact Assessment from the University of Freiburg, and an MSc in Forestry and Wood Industry from the Technical University of Munich. She was previously Principal Scientist and Team Leader for the “Sustainable Bioeconomy” team at EFI. She has been working at EFI since 2009. Prior to that she was research assistant at the University of Freiburg, at Skogforsk and the Technical University of Munich.

Diana’s research interests include topics related to systemic, wholistic and cross-sectoral approaches to sustainability, circular bioeconomy and innovation within the planetary boundaries. She is active in the EFI’s Bioregions Facility, as well as in multiple EU projects (main focus on environmental and socio-economic performance, or tools for ecosystem services/natural capital), as well as several other smaller projects. She is also active in regional and international initiatives and networks, supporting the implementation of a circular bioeconomy.

Florencia Franzini is a researcher in the Bioeconomy Program of the European Forest Institute (EFI). Florencia holds an MSc in Forestry from the University of Helsinki and subsequently obtained a PhD with Distinction from the University of Helsinki. Florencia is interested in how human perception shape behaviors in complex systems, with project involvement focusing on European forest practitioners and their perceptions towards climate-smart forestry management.

Dr. Hans Verkerk is principal scientist in the Bioeconomy programme of the European Forest Institute (Finland) and he leads a team on climate-smart forestry. He holds a MSc degree in Forest and Nature Management from Wageningen University and obtained his PhD degree with distinction from the University of Eastern Finland. He has been involved in studies on European forest resource assessments, woody biomass availability, forest ecosystem services and climate change impacts and mitigation.

Helga Pülzl is Assistant Director for Policy Support of the European Forest Institute and responsible for the Policy Support Facility and its Trust Fund. Her main research interests are in European and international forest governance and policy change, bioeconomy perceptions and sustainability indicators development. She coordinates the IUFRO Working Party 9.05.01 on bioeconomy policy and holds a Phd and master’s degree in political science from the University of Vienna.

Johanna Klapper is a Junior Researcher in the Bioeconomy Programme of the European Forest Institute (EFI). She holds a BSc in Environmental Sciences from the University Koblenz-Landau, Germany, and a MSc in Forest and Ecosystem Sciences from the Georg-August University in Göttingen, Germany. She has worked on projects involving forest and ecosystem modelling, spatial data analysis, and global trade of wood-based products.

Magda Bou Dagher Kharrat is a principal scientist at the Mediterranean Facility of the European Forest Institute. Before joining EFI in 2022, Magda started her career at Saint Joseph University of Beirut. As full professor, she chaired the Life and Earth Science Department and was the director of the Laboratory of Biodiversity and Functional Genomics. She also co-founded and managed an NGO versed in forest ecosystem restoration.

Magda holds a PhD degree in Plant genetics from La Sorbonne University-Paris.

She is a National Geographic explorer since 2019. Her main research interests are in the fields of conservation and valorisation of Mediterranean Natural and cultural heritages and Mediterranean forests resilience.

Marcus Lindner is Principal Scientist in the Resilience Programme. He holds a degree in forest sciences from the University of Freiburg and a PhD in Geoecology from University of Potsdam in Germany. Marcus has 30 years of experience in research on climate change impacts, adaptation and mitigation strategies in forest management, disturbance risk management, forest sector sustainability, forest resource assessments and ecosystem service provisioning from European forests. His work often targeted the science-policy-practice interface and included several policy support studies for different DGs. He is currently coordinating the Horizon2020 project RESONATE on forest & forest value chain resilience.

Dr Rik De Vreese is Team Leader of the Urban Forestry Team at the Resilience Programme. He has a master of Applied Biological Sciences - Forest and Land Management at Ghent University and a PhD in Human Ecology (VUBrussels, 2018). He has been active in the urban forestry science-policy-practice interface since 2000 and was awarded Young European Urban Forester of the Year in 2015. He is member of the International Steering Group of the European Forum on Urban Forestry (EFUF) and webmaster/social media manager for EFUF.  His research focusses on the relations between humans and trees, in the urban and peri-urban sphere. More specifically, Dr De Vreese has been involved in research on integrating ecosystem services in decision-making and urban planning, mainly with a transdisciplinary lens. He has (co-)authored over 15 peer-reviewed scientific publications.

Rina Tsubaki is a communications manager who is leading the Lookout Station, a science-media capacity building initiative at the European Forest Institute. Prior to her joining EFI, she has developed a number of projects that focus on accuracy in journalistic reporting, in particular the newsroom practices of social media monitoring and verification of user-generated contents. Currently, she is implementing a series of online media analysis to explore the online public engagement around forest-related issues. Her media training programmes have focused on systems thinking, life cycle thinking and the role of forests in the context of a circular economy.

Robert Mavsar is the Director of the European Forest Institute, responsible for the overall leadership and strategic development of the Institute. With a strong international track record spanning over 25 years, he specializes in forest research development, bioeconomy, economic valuation of ecosystem services, and innovative business models for forest products. He holds a PhD in economics and an MSc in forestry.

Sara Uzquiano is a Researcher in the Resilience Programme. She holds a degree in forest engineering, a master’s in forestry, and a Ph.D. in Conservation and Sustainable Use of Forest Systems from the University of Valladolid in Spain. Sara´s expertise is mainly focused on the use and data analysis of Terrestrial Laser Scanning (TLS) and mixed forest dynamics modeling. Her work at EFI is focused on the research on climate change impacts, adaptation and mitigation strategies in forest management, disturbance risk management, forest sector sustainability, forest resource assessments, and ecosystem service provisioning from European forests.

Siebe Briers works at the Bioregions Facility and Bioeconomy Programme of the European Forest Institute. Siebe has a Master of Science in Agro- and Ecosystems engineering (major in forestry) and a postgraduate in Innovative Entrepreneurship from KU Leuven in Belgium. His background in forestry, on the one hand, and in innovation and entrepreneurship, on the other hand, make him well-placed to support European regions to transition to a forest-based circular bioeconomy through open innovation activities such as matchmaking events, pitching days and open innovation challenges.

Tanja Kähkönen is a Junior Researcher in the Bioeconomy Programme. She holds MSc in Agriculture and Forestry in European Forestry from the University of Eastern Finland and MSc in Forest Management from the Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences as a Double Degree completed in Erasmus Mundus Programme, and MSc in Agriculture and Forestry in Environmental Management of Forests from the University of Joensuu (currently University of Eastern Finland).

Her research focuses on advancing innovation-driven agroforestry networks, developing extension services in agroforestry, and promoting sustainable business models in agroforestry.

Venla Wallius is a researcher in the Bioeconomy programme, Sustainable Markets and Society team. She holds an M.Sc. degree in Economics and Business Administration and is currently finalizing her PhD studies in Corporate Environmental Management. Venla’s research interests include bioeconomy perceptions and business models in sustainability transitions.

Yasmin is a junior researcher at the European Forest Institute. She is part of the Climate-smart forestry team under the Bioeconomy programme. She holds a BA in Forest Engineering and a Msc in European Forestry. She has worked on projects involving bio-based products, forest monitoring, silviculture and biotechnology. Yasmin is passionate about strengthening the role of forests and the forest sector in climate change mitigation and societal improvement