Speakers 30.05.2022

Graduated in Forestry (Ștefan cel Mare University of Suceava) and in Legal Sciences (A.I. Cuza University, Iași), Laura Bouriaud has a Master degree in Political sciences in Nancy and a PhD in Forestry from AgroParisTech, France.

Through her doctoral thesis on the topic of property rights distribution in forests in former socialist countries and subsequent publications, she contributed to rise research attention to the issue of forest private ownership, together with her colleagues building an internationally recognized research group in this field. She is also a specialist in the field of policies against illegal logging and in the analysis of corruption phenomenon in the forestry sector, as shown by her published works, as well as by her consultant missions to Kosovo, Russia, Montenegro and Albania.

During her career, she has published eight books and over 60 articles, and she got her habilitation thesis in 2016. 

Professor Laura Bouriaud also teaches at AgroParisTech for master students, and she is an associate researcher of the French Forest Inventory (IGN). Since 2020, Laura Bouriaud leads the University Stefan cel Mare Council of Doctoral Studies.

Dacian Cioloş is a Member of European Parliament since 2019; until 2021 he also presided over the Renew Europe Group. Between 2015-2017 Dacian Cioloş served as Prime Minister of Romania, between 2010-2014 as European Commissioner for Agriculture and Rural Development, and between 2007-2008 as Minister for Agriculture and Rural Development in Romania. He has over 20 years of experience in agricultural and environmental sciences. Currently Dacian is member of the Committee on Agriculture and Rural Development of the European Parliament, where he closely works on topics related to agriculture and forestry.

He holds a university degree in Horticultural Engineering from the University of Agricultural Sciences and Veterinary Medicine of Cluj-Napoca and DEA in Agricultural Development Economics, École Nationale Supérieure Agronomique and University of Montpellier, France.

Christoph Dürr studied forestry at the ETH Zürich (graduated in 1983) and worked as an advisor to different cantonal forest services on forest management schemes and on strategies on how to better integrate biodiversity into the forest planning. He worked on assignments abroad in Pakistan, Kirgizstan and Bulgaria on improving forest management with participation of Government, Science, local actors and forest owners. He joined 2007 the Swiss Federal Office for the Environment FOEN as Senior Advisor in International Forest Policy and after 2018 as Co-Head of the Section Forest Ecosystem Services and Silviculture. He has been active in the EFI European Network Integrate, which focuses on the integration of biodiversity conservation into sustainable forest management and was acting 2020/2021 as a Chairmen of the Network. He was 2011-2019 vice-chair in the joint Bureau of the UNECE Committee on Forests and Forest Industry (chairing 2013-2015) and of the FAO European Forestry Commission. For Switzerland, he participates in other forest related processes as CBD and EEA.

Joe England comes from the United Kingdom, graduating with a degree in Wildlife Conservation from the University of Kent in 2016. Since then, he has worked on multiple research projects across the world, most notably helping to develop the first national park in Fiji. Although ornithology has always been at the heart of his work, he has always strived to apply this to wider ecosystem and landscape issues. He first came to Romania in 2020 to run internships for ecology students but has since found his place with Hosman Durabil and Peisaj Deschis, working on projects to promote the sustainable development of the Hartibaciu Valley for both biodiversity and local communities.

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.

Marc Palahí is a leading expert on forests and global change, with a new vision of the transformational role forests can play in fighting climate change and developing a circular bioeconomy. He has been Director of the European Forest Institute since 2015, driving its development as a pan-European science-policy platform, and working to connect knowledge to action at the interface of science, policy and business.

Marc has a PhD in forestry and economics and his work, which has featured in Nature and other high-level scientific journals, focuses on the development of a sustainable circular bioeconomy that prospers in harmony with Nature.

Marc leads the Circular Bioeconomy Alliance established in 2020 by His Majesty King Charles III (formerly His Royal Highness The Prince of Wales).

Barbara Promberger originates from Austria and is together with her husband Christoph co-founder and executive director of Foundation Conservation Carpathia, one of the largest private land conservation initiatives in Europe which works to create a world-class wilderness reserve in Romania’s Southern Carpathian Mountains. Barbara studied biology at the University of Vienna and moved to Romania in the 1990ies to study wolves, bears and lynx and their interactions with their natural prey. With the forest restitution in Romania and the following clear-cuts starting in 2005 all over the mountains, the focus shifted to stopping illegal cutting and protecting large natural landscapes and processes. Passionate about horses and exploring wild places, she and her husband have also created an equestrian eco-tourism facility right at the foot of Romania's Fagaras Mountains.

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.

A passionate and experienced science communicator, Gesche joined EFI’s Bonn office in 2017 to lead the Communications Team of currently 7 people. After engaging with Deutsche Welle and the international Max Weber Foundation, Gesche is now for responsible for managing dissemination and communication activities for international, European and national research projects. She also enjoys moderating events and engaging with diverse stakeholders from science, policy, forestry practice and society. Gesche is a political scientist by background and started to work in science communications more than 15 years ago.