Speakers 16.10.2024

Dr. Ana Rey is a senior scientist working in Spain at the Department of Biogeography and Global Change since 2012 when she returned to Spain after 20 years working on several international institutions. Her expertise includes biogeochemical cycles in terrestrial ecosystems and the exchange of greenhouse gases between terrestrial ecosystems and the atmosphere in response to global change.

Her main research interest has been to study how human induced changes are altering the carbon balance of forest ecosystems to understand how they will respond to global change. In particular, she has studied the impact of increasing atmospheric CO2 concentration, increased ultraviolet radiation, increased temperature and changes in precipitation patterns, or land use changes on forests. 

Dr Rey was trained as a Plant Ecophysiologists at Edinburgh University. She has also worked as a research scientist in several Universities and International Research Institutions and as Visiting Expert in FAO. She has long collaborated with the University of Viterbo, CNR-Rome and INGV. Since 2007, she has been a permanent researcher at the Spanish Scientific Council (CSIC), focusing mostly on Mediterranean and arid ecosystems in Europe and Tropical dry forests in Ecuador.

Julia Grimault is Team Lead for activities on the forest-based sector and on carbon certification topics, at French and EU levels. She has especially worked on forest and wood climate mitigation drivers, carbon accounting for the LULUCF sector and carbon certification mechanisms at European and French level with the creation of the Label Bas Carbone. Since 2021, she is also a member of the French Economic, Social and Environmental Council in the Economics and Finance Commission.

Margherita Miceli joined the Confederation of European Paper Industries (Cepi) in 2021. Prior to that, she worked as EU Public Affairs officer for several organisations in the forest-based industry sector. In her current role of Forest Policy Manager she focuses on advocacy on forest-related policies in the field of environment, climate and energy.

Prof. Tommaso Chiti is an academic in the field of Soil and Forestry Science, specializing in carbon dynamics and the impact of land-use changes on soil organic carbon (SOC) stocks. As an Associate Professor at the University of Tuscia, he works in understanding the impact of sustainable land management practices on the soil system, particularly within the LULUCF sector and for supporting national greenhouse gas inventories and promoting carbon farming practices.

With over 20 years of research experience, Prof. Chiti has coordinated and participated in different European projects, including LIFE and Horizon projects. He has extensive fieldwork experience spanning in various global regions, from Sub-Saharan Africa to Asia and the Mediterranean, contributing significantly to studies on SOC dynamics due to forest and agricultural management for soil carbon sequestration.

Prof. Chiti holds a PhD in Soil Science and Climatology from the University of Florence, where he also got the master degree in forestry. He has authored about 50 publications with a H-index of 20. In addition he is associated scientist at the Euromediterranean Center on Climate Change (CMCC).

Jurij Krajcic is Policy Officer in DG CLIMA of the European Commission, in the unit responsible for land economy and carbon removals. He works on carbon farming certification methodologies, in particular for forests, under the recently adopted EU Carbon Removal Certification Regulation. He also works in the co-legislation process of the newly proposed Monitoring framework for resilient EU forests, as well as on the implementation of the revised LULUCF Regulation.

Piotr Borkowski is the Executive Director of the European State Forest Association (Eustafor) since 2012. Before holding this position, Mr Borkowski worked for three years as a forestry expert in DG Agriculture and Rural Development of the European Commission. After graduating from the Forestry Faculty of Warsaw Agricultural University in 1993 he started his career at the Polish State Forests in one of the forest districts in the Warsaw region. After this, he focused on international forest policy as chief specialist in the Forestry Department in the Ministry of Environment of Poland where he served between 2001 and 2003. In the following three years Mr Borkowski was assigned Head of the Liaison Unit of the Ministerial Conference on the Protection of Forests in Europe (MCPFE), before he took on the role as the Head of the Foreign co-operation department of the General Directorate of State Forests in Warsaw in 2008.

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.

Sarah Adams leads communication and dissemination activities for EFI’s Mediterranean and Genetics Resources Facilities. A former NGO project manager, she had broad experience in international development and marine conservation, before joining EFI where she has been leading communications activities for over 12 years.

Sarah has led and shaped EFI's network communications for the Mediterranean region and has been involved in many European-scale multidisciplinary projects. She joined the EUFORGEN Secretariat in July 2022 and  develops strategies for dissemination and communications for the Secretariat and its affiliated projects. She has a postgraduate degree in secondary education from Exeter University and a bachelor's degree in modern languages and literature from the University of Birmingham.