Speakers 7.04.2025

Dr. Hannes Böttcher is Senior Researcher at Öko-Institut in Berlin. He holds an MSc degree in forest sciences and ecology from the University of Gottingen (Germany). In 2008 he received his PhD degree from the University of Freiburg. Previously Hannes Böttcher worked at the Max Planck Institute for Biogeochemistry in Jena (Germany) on forest carbon modelling. From 2007 to 2013 he coordinated research related to GHG emissions from land use at the International Institute for Applied Systems Analysis (IIASA, Austria).

Dr. Böttcher worked on and published research for more than 15 years on biomass potentials and sustainability criteria for the use of biomass, modelling of forest management options and their implications for the carbon balance, global monitoring of forests and activities for mitigating emissions from deforestation and forest degradation, as well as accounting rules in the land use, land use change and forestry sector (LULUCF) in international climate policy.

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).

Professor Jurij Diaci leads research, teaching, and extension activities in silviculture at the Biotechnical Faculty, Department of Forestry, University of Ljubljana, Slovenia. He studied forestry in Slovenia and at ETH Zürich in Switzerland, where he earned his PhD in forest regeneration ecology. Early in his career, he gained hands-on experience in silviculture while working in the mountainous region of Nazarje in the Savinja Alps. His research focuses on silviculture, forest ecology, old-growth forests, and close-to-nature (ecological) forestry. He has led over 20 national research projects and contributed to several international collaborations, including BEAR, NATMAN, and LISS. Passionate about bridging science and practice, he actively engages in knowledge exchange. Professor Diaci also serves as the head of the Board of the Pahernik Foundation, which manages 600 hectares of exemplary uneven-aged forests.

Oliver Frings is a PhD researcher in economics at AgroParisTech and the Bureau for Theoretical and Applied Economics (BETA) in Nancy, France. He is also currently a visiting scholar at the University of Cambridge and an associate researcher at the Climate Economics Chair in Paris. Oliver holds a MSc degree in European Forestry from the University of Eastern Finland and the University of Lleida, specialising in forest economics and ecological modelling.

Oliver explores how policy instruments––including market-based instruments such as voluntary carbon markets––can effectively promote forest management strategies that support climate and biodiversity goals. By assessing public preferences for these policies, he further aims to inform policies that are not only effective but also resonate with the wider public.

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.

Miguel A. Zavala holds a Ph.D. Doctor in Ecology and Evolutionary Biology from Princeton University (USA) and a Forestry Engineer degree from Polytechnic University of Madrid (Spain). He is a currently a Professor of Ecology in University of Alcalá (Madrid) where he coordinates the Forest Ecology & Restoration Group. His research area focuses on mathematical and computational ecology to understand the functioning of socio-ecosystems and design sustainable solutions to current environmental and social conflicts. He has coordinated more than fifteen research projects at both national and international level and has published more than 100 articles in journals including Science, Nature, PNAS, Nature communications, Scientific Reports, etc. He is also researcher at INIA-CSIC (on leave) and has been a visiting scientist at INRA-University of Bordeaux, Princeton Environmental Institute (EEUU), CNRS (France), Cambridge University (UK) and University of Stirling (UK).