Speakers 24.10.2023

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. 

With a Masters degree in Forest Science, Steven Dörr started his career by working for the German Wood-Based Panel Association and the German Forest Owner Association. Since 2021, he has been working for the German Federal Ministry of Food and Agriculture as policy advisor in the European and international forest policy unit. There he is responsible for forest-related EU policies and representing the German interests in the Forest Europe process, the European Forest Institute and the Integrate Network.

Tomaž Hrovat is the Director-General of the Forestry and Hunting Directorate of the Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Food of Slovenia since March 2023. After his diploma in Forestry, he started his career in the public forestry service, especially in the field of forestry technology and forest roads, before becoming the Assistant Director of the public forestry service in Slovenia. He also brings in working experiences in the paper and timber industries and has worked as an expert for the court in the field of forestry as well.

Jørgen Bo Larsen is professor emeritus (Forest Ecology and Silviculture) at University of Copenhagen. Former, he was professor (Forest protection) at Göttingen University, Germany.

His research covers silviculture, genetics and forest tree breeding, gene conservation and gene ecology, forest ecology, eco-physiology, provenance research and forest protection with the objective of understanding processes and functions of forest ecosystems to facilitate the development of sustainable forest management approaches.  He has been instrumental in developing and applying close-to-nature forest management in Denmark.

He has served on the Board of several international forest research organizations including European Forest Institute (EFI, Board chair), International Forestry Research Center (CIFOR) and World Agroforestry Center (ICRAF).

Katja Matveinen is a Chief Specialist in the Natural Resources Department for the Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry in Finland. Among other things, she is responsible for the biodiversity measures in the Finnish National Forest Strategy, co-ordination and reconciliation of biodiversity and forestry in different national and EU-level processes, as well as Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework from the forestry perspective. Her academic background is in ecology. She has written her doctoral thesis on the effects of retention forestry on biodiversity.

Janez Potočnik is the current ThinkForest president. He is also Co-Chair of the International Resource Panel and Partner at SYSTEMIQ. He is an economist and former politician from Slovenia. He worked in the Government of the Republic of Slovenia as the Head of Negotiating Team for Accession of the Republic of Slovenia to the European Union and then as Minister without portfolio responsible for European Affairs. Mr. Potočnik was a Member of the European Commission from 2004 to 2014, initially responsible for the Science and Research and later responsible for the Environment. He was appointed as a Co-Chair of the IRP hosted by the United Nations Environment Programme in 2014. In 2013, he received the United Nations Champions of the Earth Award.

Stefanie Schmidt is a Policy Officer for Forests in the Directorate General for Environment (DG ENV) of the European Commission. She is responsible for the follow-up of the new EU Forest Strategy for 2030 with a particular focus on closer to nature forestry, payment schemes for forest ecosystem services and forest monitoring She is furthermore involved in the implementation of various other EU policies relevant to forests including the Biodiversity Strategy for 2030 and the Taxonomy regulation.

With an academic background in natural sciences, environmental policy and sustainability studies, Stefanie has been dealing with natural resource management and governance in various positions.

Eckart Senitza studied forestry at the Vienna University for life sciences and graduated win an PhD in silviculture in 1987. - After working at the Austrians Land Owners Association he returned to his home near Feldkirchen (Carinthia) in 1991. He started running a consulting bureau for forestry and simultaneously took over the family estate with 850 ha of forests, farmland, hunting & fishing, timber trade & transports, hydroelectric etc. He is the president of Pro Silva Austria since 2012 and continues with a strong team and more than 500 member (2022). Since 2014 he was vice president of “Pro Silva” and took over the presidency in 2017. Pro Silva is a European organisation which promotes close to nature forestry and continuous cover forest systems. 

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.