Speakers 21.09.2023

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.

Dr Elena Cantarello is a Principal Academic in Sustainability Science at Bournemouth University. Her work focuses on analysing vegetation dynamics and changes in ecosystem services and biodiversity in response to human impacts. Her research informs environmental practice, policy implementation, and raises awareness about solutions to the climate and ecological crises. Dr. Cantarello actively engages with stakeholders and the public and communicates her findings to bridge the gap between science and action. Her work inspires change and contributes to a more sustainable future.

Rach Colling is Head of Communications at the European Forest Institute. Rach joined EFI in 2011, and has been responsible for the development of EFI’s policy support communications, as well as managing and developing digital communications tools. She has over 20 years’ experience in science communication, and prior to joining EFI ran a successful communications business working with UK government agencies and universities. Before that, Rach worked for BBC News Online as a journalist, as well as in communications/marketing for various UK universities. She has a masters’ degree in international relations from Cambridge University and trained as a journalist in the UK. 

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.

Lauri Hetemäki is Professor of Practice, Faculty of Agriculture and Forestry, University of Helsinki.  Previously, he worked as the Assistant Director of EFI; Professor in Forest Sector Foresight, University of Eastern Finland; and Senior Researcher and Project Leader at the Finnish Forest Research Institute. He has extensive experience in science-policy support work, as well as coordinating pan-European science-policy studies. He is an author of over 250 scientific and popular publications. Hetemäki is a Fellow of the Royal Swedish Academy of Agriculture and Forestry, and Fellow of EFI.  

Mika Kallio (M.A.), Project Manager in the Research and Legal Affairs Unit in the Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry of Finland. Responsible for the project coordination of the Horizon Europe CSA project ForestValue2 and Ministry’s main contact for the HE RIA project EUFORE, coordinated by EFI.

Moreover, Mika is Ministry’s delegate to SCAR FOREST, Strategic Working Group on Forests and Forestry Research and Innovation of the Standing Committee on Agricultural Research, and since 01 July 2023 one of the Co-Chairs of the Group.

Nike Krajnc is the director of the Slovenian Forestry Institute. She joined the Institute in 1996 as a researcher. Until recently, she was the head of the Department for Forestry Technique and Economics. Her research and professional work activities are focused on the area of production, processing and efficient use of wood biomass. Since 2001, she has led national and international research projects, focusing on collaboration with industry and other end users of knowledge. She was coordinator of an international project: "Forests in Women's Hands".

Dr. Sc. Ahmet Lojo is a Full Professor at the Faculty of Forestry, University of Sarajevo. His scientific field deals with forest management planning. 

He is the author and co-author of several books, university textbooks and monographs, as well as scientific papers, professional papers and studies in the field of forestry. He is responsible teacher for the subjects: Forest management (Basics), Forest Management (Planning), Development of implementation project of felling, Multifunctional planning of forest management in B&H, Ecological and productive classification of forests and Information system in forestry.

Valérie Merckx is the Head of the International Partnerships Facility. The International Partnerships Facility is a global centre of knowledge and expertise that supports policy and governance reforms to safeguard the world’s forests. Valerie joined EFI in 2010 as REDD team leader. In that position she was responsible for the development, strategic orientation and overall leadership of the EU REDD Facility. Prior to joining EFI, she worked at the European Commission as part of the EU international climate negotiations team, where she followed forest and land-use issues. Before that Valérie worked for the French Office National des Forêts (ONF), first as head of a territorial unit and then following climate and energy issues at ONF headquarters. She has a background in forestry and agronomics.

Chair

Bart Muys is a professor of forest ecology and management at KU Leuven (Belgium). His research focuses on the role of tree diversity for forest ecosystem functioning under climate change, on restoration ecology of dry forests, and on sustainability evaluation of forests and bioenergy systems.

At KU Leuven he is teaching forest ecology, silviculture, biodiversity & ecosystem services, and planning for forest and nature management. He is supervisor of 47 graduated and 15 ongoing PhDs. Several of the papers he co-authored have been highly cited, and in 2021 he featured in Reuters’ hot list of most influential climate scientists. He contributed to several science to policy reports of EFI addressing and linking biodiversity, climate mitigation, water and bioenergy issues. Being an earthworm expert and botany aficionado, he advocates an improved biodiversity literacy among forest professionals and public.

Bart Muys holds a master degree in agricultural engineering (forestry) and a PhD in forest ecology from the university of Ghent.

Sasa Orlovic is the Head of Institute of Lowland Forestry and Environment and full professor at the University of Novi Sad, Faculty of Agriculture (Head of Cathedra of horticulture and Landscape Architecture). From 2008 till 2012 he was the Director of Directorate of Forest in Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Water Management. His main research interests are in the field of forest genetic resources, agroforestry, urban forestry and adaptation of forests to climate change. He was coordinator of Second Serbian national report on adaptation to climate change in the field of agriculture, forest and water resources.

Sanja Perić is a director of Croatian Forest Research Institute, a scientific advisor with permanent position and assistant professor. Her main research interests are in the field of forest silviculture, nursery production and adaptation of forests to climate change.

She is a member of EFI board, a national IUFRO representative for the Republic of Croatia, a member of scientific board of Croatian Academy of Sciences and Arts and head of the Forestry Section, vice president of Croatian Academy of Forestry Sciences and member of Croatian Forestry Society Board. From 2001 till 2005 she was Head of the Department for Ecology and Silviculture, from 2004 till 2006 a President of the Scientific Panel of CFRI and a member of numerous commissions of Ministry of agriculture. 

Sanja holds a master’s degree and a PhD in silviculture from the University of Zagreb.

Kiril Sotirovski is full professor at Ss Cyril and Methodius University in Skopje, Hans Em Faculty of Forest Sciences, Landscape Architecture and Environmental Engineering, and currently Dean of the faculty. He is a forest pathologist, with the main focus of his research interests being plant pathogenic fungi and diseases. He has been principal investigator or national coordinator of many national and international research projects (SCOPES; USDA; SEERA-NET, FAO). He has established a fruitful collaboration with his academic fellows from Europe and the USA, and has published over 90 research papers, mainly on forest pathology issues, and lately in urban greenery.

Niels Strange is Full Professor at University of Copenhagen. He is part of the EFI coordinated project the European Forest Research and Innovation Ecosystem (EUFORE,2022-26), a EU Horizon Europe project funded by the European Union. His research is on the socio-economics of forest and nature planning and management. He is also involved in projects concerning biodiversity finance, biodiversity and business, payments for environmental services, landowner behaviour, multi-criteria analysis, and decision-making under risk. He directs the European Erasmus+ Joint Master Course in Sustainable Forest and Nature Management.

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.

Georg Winkel is Professor (full) and Chair of the Forest and Nature Conservation Policy Group at Wageningen University, the Netherlands. He holds an MSc (Forest Sciences, 2000) and a PhD (Forest and Environmental Policy, 2006) from University of Freiburg, Germany. Previously he has been working at the University of Freiburg (2006-2015) and EFI HQ in Joensuu (2015-2107) and EFI Bonn (2017-2021). Next to working for EFI, since 2018, he is an associate professor at the Faculty of Agriculture, University of Bonn, and he was an associate professor at the Faculty of Environment and Natural Resources, University of Freiburg, Germany (2017-2021). His main research interest relates to understanding how societies shape forests and nature and vice versa, and how this translates in forest and nature conservation policy and governance. He has been working with a broad spectrum of theoretical and methodological approaches (ranging from power-knowledge-discourse to “belief/interest” based policy analysis) to understand forest and conservation policy making and implementation, and forest related social and environmental conflicts, at different scales and in different contexts. He has acquired and coordinated both large scale international research consortia (including two EU Horizon 2020 projects he has been coordinating at EFI) and smaller-scale fundamental research projects.

Dr. Ivana Živojinović is a senior researcher at the University of Natural Resources and Life Sciences, Vienna (BOKU). She is also an active member of the EFI's Forest Policy Research Network hosted by BOKU. Dr. Živojinović holds a doctoral degree in social and economic sciences in forestry obtained from BOKU. Additionally, she holds a double master's degree in European forestry from BOKU and the University of Eastern Finland (UEF). Her bachelor's degree in landscape architecture was obtained from the University of Belgrade, Faculty of Forestry in Serbia. With over 10 years of experience in research, Dr. Živojinović has worked on numerous research projects, including several European-funded initiatives such as ArcticHubs, ClearingHouse, ReBio, SIMRA, STARTREE, FACESMAP COST Action, and others. Her research interests include forest policy and governance, private ownership studies, institutional and innovation analysis of forestry and forest services, as well as urban forestry policy issues, awareness and perception studies, and nature-based solutions in urban settings. Dr. Živojinović's research has primarily focused on Western European countries and former socialist Eastern and South-Eastern European countries. Dr. Živojinović was also part of the ReBio project in which a research agenda for Biocities in collaboration with an international team was developed.