SDGs

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People

 

 

 

Ana Fernández  Presenter

Health Technical Advisor at Barcelona Public Health Agency

Barcelona, Spain

 

Ana Fernández has a PhD in Public Health and Biomedical Research. She works in the Community Health Service of the Barcelona Public Health Agency since 2016, in the “Barcelona Salut als Barris” community health action program. She is part of an interdisciplinary research group, "Housing and Health", where she takes part in participatory action research projects on the health impact of residential insecurity, gentrification and cooperative housing. She previously worked in the research unit of Parc Sanitari Sant Joan de Déu (2003-2013) and in the University of Sydney’s Mental Health Policy (2013-2016). She also teaches different master's degrees and is an associate professor at the UAB.

 

 

 

 

Andra Keay  Presenter

Managing Director at Silicon Valley Robotics, Visiting Scholar at CITRIS People and Robots Lab and Founder at Women in Robotics

San Francisco, California, USA

 

Andra Keay is the Managing Director of Silicon Valley Robotics, the non-profit industry group supporting innovation and commercialization of robotics technologies. She is a global ecosystem builder, a trained futurist, founder of the Good Robot Awards, Robot Launch global startup competition, Robot Garden maker space, Women in Robotics and is a mentor, investor and advisor to startups, accelerators and think tanks, dedicated to growing ethical and equitable Autonomous Intelligent Systems (AIS). She is also a Visiting Scholar with the UC’s CITRIS People and Robots Research Group.

 

 

 

 

Anna Bonmatí  Moderator

Associate Professor, Faculty of Nursing of the Universitat de Girona.

Member of the Health and Health Care Research Group, Universitat de Girona

Girona, Spain

 

Anna Bonmatí is an associate professor in the Nursing Department of the University of Girona as well as a member of the Health and Healthcare Research Group of the University of Girona. She is also a pharmacist, a nurse and a professional on health promotion. Anna’s research area is Health Promotion amongst vulnerable population based on the salutogenic model of health. She is the coordinator of the European Training Consortium of Public Health and Health Promotion (ETC-PHHP) and a member of the Ethic Committees of the Region of Girona and the University of Girona.

 

 

 

 

Anna Nadal  Moderator

In charge of the Research Data Management Unit at the Research and Technology Transfer Office (OITT) & Associate Lecturer in Biotechnology and Food Safety of the Universitat de Girona

Girona, Spain

 

Anna Nadal has a degree in Biological Sciences and a PhD in Molecular Biology. She is an expert in plant biotechnology. For many years, she worked as a post-doc researcher at the Institute of Food and Agricultural Technology of the University of Girona (UdG). Her research lines covered different aspects of transgenic plants, including GMO safety assessment. During the last years of her scientific career, her research interest focused on the development of sustainable strategies to control plant pathogens. She currently leads the Research Data Management Unit at the Research and Technology Transfer Office (OITT) of the University of Girona. She also teaches in the master's degree in Food Biotechnology and in the Bachelor's degree in Food Safety and Innovation at the UdG.

 

 

 

 

Arnau Queralt  Presenter

Director of the Advisory Council for the Sustainable Development of Catalonia

Santa Eulàlia de Ronçana, Barcelona, Spain

 

Arnau Queralt-Bassa holds a B.A in Environmental Sciences from the Autonomous University of Barcelona, and a Master in Public Management from ESADE, the Autonomous University of Barcelona and the Pompeu Fabra University. He is director of the Advisory Council for the Sustainable Development of Catalonia since October 2011 and chair of the European network of Environment and Sustainable Development Advisory Councils (EEAC) since January 2015 and co-chair of its WG Sustainable Development. On behalf of the EEAC, he has been observer to the European Commission High Level Multi-Stakeholder Platform on the implementation of the Sustainable Development Goals in the EU and member of the Group of Experts on Sustainable Development Goals and Higher Education of the Global University Network for Innovation (GUNi). He is member of the Steering Committee of MedECC – network of Mediterranean Experts on Climate and environmental Change (MedECC).

 

 

 

 

Bill Reed  Presenter

Principal of Regenesis Group, Inc.

Boston, Massachusetts, USA

 

Bill is an internationally recognized planning consultant, design process facilitator, lecturer, teacher, and author in sustainability and regeneration. He is a principal of Regenesis, Inc. – a regenerative design, living systems integrator, and education organization. His work centres on creating the framework for and managing an integrative, whole and living-system design process. This work is known as Regenerative Development. The objective: to improve the overall quality of the physical, social and spiritual life of our living places and therefore the planet. The immediate benefits of this process include higher efficiency, lower costs, reduced waste, faster time to market, and the realization of exponential value to the social, ecological, financial and human qualities of a project, the community and its ecosystem.

 

 

 

 

Corinne Trommsdorff  Presenter

CEO & Founder at Water Cities.org

Grenoble, France

 

Corinne Trommsdorff is CEO and founder of Water Cities, whose mission is to support local stakeholders in their transition towards "water-wise" management based on the IWA "water-wise cities" principles. After her Masters in agriculture science and environmental engineering from AgroParisTech, Corinne specializes in urban water and specifically in holistic urban water management, the value of wastewater in the circular economy and energy optimization of water and sanitation services. After 15 years as project manager in consulting firms in the USA, Switzerland and France, Corinne worked 5 years for the International Water Association (IWA) in The Hague to promote reflection on the necessary transitions for sustainable water management in cities and their catchment areas around the world.

 

 

 

 

Daniella Tilbury

Commissioner for Sustainable Development and Future Generations, Her Majesty’s Government of Gibraltar.

Gibraltar, UK

 

Prof. Tilbury is internationally recognised for her expertise in leadership, learning and institutional change for sustainable development. Daniella is the recipient of several research awards including the Macquarie Innovation Award for Research (Australia 2007) and Marie Curie International Research Fellowship (European Commission 2009). She was the Founding Director of the Australian Research Institute in Education for Sustainability (ARIES) established by the Australian Government through a national competitive bidding process in 2003. Daniella has assessed strategic higher education initiatives on behalf of government agencies in Australia, New Zealand, China, Japan, North Africa and Europe. Since 2019, she is the UK government’s representative on the UN Economic Commission for Europe (UNECE) for matters relating to education and sustainable development. She chaired the UNESCO Global Monitoring and Evaluation Expert Group on Education for Sustainable Development for a decade and led the Asia Pacific Indicators in ESD Project. Daniella was the inaugural Vice-Chancellor (President) of the University of Gibraltar. In 2018, she was recognised with an Honorary Fellowship by St Catharine’s College, University of Cambridge. Her latest challenge is as Commissioner for Sustainable Development to HM Government of Gibraltar.

 

 

 

Dobrivoje Lale Eric  Presenter

Head of Department of International Cooperation at Center for the Promotion of Science

Belgrade, Serbia

 

Dobrivoje Lale Eric is leading the Department of International Cooperation at Serbia’s Center for the Promotion of Science (CPN). The Center was founded in 2010 with a goal to establish functional relations between science and society, at both national and international level. He is managing two EU funded projects at the national level – European ARTificial Intelligence Lab / AI Lab (Creative Europe) and RRING (Horizon 2020), aimed at critical and creative assessment of the AI systems, and societal relevance of the research and innovation processes, respectively. He is also coordinating regional activities in six SEE countries within the H2020 TeRRIFICA project. He has been working as well on numerous projects and initiatives dealing with research policies, STE(A)M education and art & science practices, with a focus on climate and AI topics lately. He serves as a member of the Future Studies Programme Committee at the Belgrade Open School, as well as a member of the Programme Committee at the ECSITE, the largest European network of science centres and museums. In the period 2013-19, he was the elected president of the DoCoMoMo Serbia, a national chapter of the international committee for the documentation and conservation of modern movement in architecture.

 

 

 

 

Eeva Furman  Presenter

Director of the Environment Policy Centre at the Finnish environment institute

Helsinki, Finland

 

Professor Eeva Furman is the director of the Environment Policy Centre of the Finnish Environment Institute SYKE. SYKEs mission is to support sustainable development with evidence based and environment focused understanding and solutions. The core themes of the Environmental Policy Centre include systemic change, behavioural change, urban and regional trends, and land use management. Furman has, throughout her career, given specific emphasis on sustainable development and sustainability transformations research. She is the chair of Finland’s Sustainable Development Expert Panel and was one of the 15 of the independent group of scientists (IGS) who wrote the UN’s Global Sustainable Development Report GSDR2019. Her activities, projects, presentations and positions of trust are in the fields of governance of sustainable development & systems transformation, biodiversity & health, ecosystem services & forests and nature based solutions & urbanization and education, learning and the role of science in building paths for sustainable development. She has taken part in a studied science-policy-society intersections and transdisciplinary research.

 

 

 

 

Eric Mulholland  Presenter

European Sustainable Development Network Office and Researcher at the Vienna University of Economics and Business

Vienna, Austria

 

Eric Mulholland works at the Institute for Managing Sustainability at Europe’s largest business school (WU Vienna). His main focus is working for the European Sustainable Development Network (ESDN), an informal network of public administrators and experts in sustainable development. The network fosters policy learning on many topics related to sustainable development, the 2030 Agenda and the SDGs. Eric organizes these opportunities for exchange and mutual learning through ESDN Conferences, Workshops and Peer Learning Platforms.

 

 

 

 

Ilona Kickbusch  Presenter

Founder and Chair at Global Health Centre, Graduate Institute in Geneva, Switzerland

Basel, Switzerland

 

Professor Ilona Kickbusch is the Founder and Chair of the Global Health Centre at the Graduate Institute of International and Development Studies in Geneva. Her key interests relate to the political determinants of health, health in all policies and global health. She is the founder of the Global Health Centre at the Graduate Institute, Geneva. She advises countries and organizations on their global health strategies and trains health specialists and diplomats in global health diplomacy. She is a member of the Global Preparedness Monitoring Board and is co-chair of UHC 2030. She acts as Council Chair to the World Health Summit in Berlin. She has been involved in German G7 and G20 activities relating to global health and the global health initiatives of the German EU presidency in 2020. She chaired the international advisory board for the development of the German global health strategy. She initiated the @wgh300 list of women leaders in global health. She is program chair of the leaders in health network SCIANA. She is co-chair of a Lancet FT Commission on “Governing health futures 2030: growing up in a digital world.” She is advisor of the World Health Organization.

 

 

 

 

Jaume Guia  Moderator

Scientific Director Tourism Sectoral Hub, University of Girona

Girona, Spain

 

Jaume Guia is associate professor at the University of Girona (UdG) and Visiting Research Fellow at the University of Johannesburg. He is also Scientific Director of the Tourism Sectoral Hub of the UdG and programme director of the Erasmus Mundus European Master in Tourism Management degree. He has published articles and book chapters in leading academic journals in the field of tourism on a variety of topics including destination governance, cross-border destinations, destination place making, destination image, tourism networks and clusters, and justice tourism. He has also taught in several postgraduate programmes around the word, including the Himalayas, Malaysia, China, Madagascar, Seychelles, Ghana, Mexico, Brazil and Ethiopia. He combines academic research with community development projects, in the refugee camps of the Sahrawi People in Western Sahara, and in the Amhara region in Ethiopia.

 

 

 

 

Joana Castellar  Presenter

Research Technician at Catalan Institute for Water Research (ICRA)

Girona, Spain

 

Joana Castellar is an agricultural engineer with a PhD in the framework of the sustainability program at the Polytechnic University of Catalonia (Spain). During her PhD, she developed an innovative design concept called “WETWALL”, which combines green walls structures with constructed wetlands features for the treatment of urban wastewater. Currently she is working at the Catalan Institute for Water Research (ICRA- Spain) as a research technician on the H2020 project EdiCitNet. She oversees the conceptualization and development of online tools to facilitate the network and knowledge sharing among urban food-related initiatives as well as to assess the performance of such initiatives in terms or urban challenges and ecosystem services tackled.

 

 

 

 

Joaquim Comas Moderator

Research Professor at Catalan Institute for Water Research (ICRA) & University of Girona (LEQUIA)

Girona, Spain

 

Joaquim Comas is leading the Modelling and decision support system research line at the Evaluation and Technologies Area of the Catalan Institute for Water Research. He is also Associate Professor of the Chemical Engineering Department of the University of Girona, where he is a member of the Laboratory of Chemical and Environmental Engineering research group (LEQUIA). His research activity is focused on the development of tools and technologies to foster implementation of circular economy in the urban water cycle (e.g. water reuse), mainly through the development and application of multicriteria decision support systems, nature-based solutions and membrane technologies.

 

 

 

 

Joaquim Salvi

Rector of the Universitat de Girona

Girona, Spain

 

Joaquim Salvi graduated in Computer Science at the Universitat Politècnica de Catalunya in 1993, received the DEA (MSc) in Computer Science in July 1996 and the PhD in Industrial Engineering in 1998, both at the Universitat de Girona. He received the Best Thesis Award in engineering for his PhD. He is full professor with a chair of Computer Vision at the Computer Architecture and Technology Department and at the Computer Vision and Robotics Group, Universitat de Girona; and he was a visiting professor at the Ocean Systems Lab, Heriot-Watt University (UK). He is involved in several governmental projects and technology transfer contracts to industry. His research is in the field of computer vision and image processing applied to medical imaging, machine vision and robotics. He is a charter member of the spinoff companies AQSense and BonesNotes. Currently, he is the Rector of the Universitat de Girona.

 

 

 

 

Josep Calbó

Vice-Rector for Strategic Projects at Universitat de Girona

Girona, Spain

 

Josep Calbó is professor in the Department of Physics at the University of Girona. He graduated in Physics from the University of Barcelona and obtained his PhD on Environmental Engineering from the Universitat Politècnica de Catalunya. He has been a postdoctoral researcher at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (USA) and a visiting scholar at other institutions worldwide. He is the head of the Environmental Physics Group and focuses his research on radiation in the atmosphere and the interactions between radiation, clouds and aerosols, within the context of climate change. He also has interests on renewable energy sources and the regionalization of climate projections. He is a member of the Expert Group on Climate Change in Catalonia and president of the Advisory Board of the Meteorological Service of Catalonia and editor of "Tethys, journal of meteorology and climatology of the Mediterranean". He has been the Director of the Institute of Environment, Coordinator of the PhD program on Environment, Vicerector of Research and Knowledge Transfer, and he currently he holds the position of Vicerector for Strategic Projects.

 

 

 

 

Josep M. Vilalta  Moderator

GUNi Director & Executive Secretary at ACUP (Catalan Association of Public Universities)

Barcelona, Spain

 

Josep M. Vilalta is Director of the Global University Network for Innovation (GUNi) and Executive Secretary of the Catalan Association of Public Universities (ACUP). Specialist in public management and public policies and in higher education and research management. He holds an experience of thirty years on different leading positions on public sector organizations as well as on different higher education institutions. He has promoted and participated in various projects and groups of experts of the Government of Catalonia, the Government of Spain, the European Commission, the OECD, UNESCO, and several countries in education and universities, political science and public policy management.

He is member of the group of experts of the Spanish university policy think tank Studia XXI, member of the Advisory Boards of Fundació iSocial and ‘El Diari de l’Educació’. He is a regular contributor to different national and international publications and newspapers. He holds a Degree in Geography and History (UB), a Master in Public Management (UAB), a Master in Political and Social Theory (UPF) and a Postgraduate in Management of Higher Education (Open University/Universiteit Twente).

 

 

 

 

Kana Lauren Chan  Presenter

Co-founder and Director of INOW

Kamikatsu, Tokushima, Japan

 

Kana is the Co-founder and Director of INOW, an educational tourism program based in Kamikatsu, the first “Zero Waste Village” in Japan. She focuses on creating a positive social impact in the community with tourism and educational programs. Kana has diverse experiences studying and working in different countries, which has allowed her to work closely with people of different languages and cultures. She completed a Master of Science (M.Sc), Erasmus Mundus European Master’s in Tourism Management. Kana cares deeply about climate action, sustainable development, and education. She finds inspiration from nature and people. Through INOW, she hopes to contribute to the preservation and regeneration of Kamikatsu’s environment and culture.

 

 

 

 

Maria Faura i Pedrals  Presenter

Turisme Cerdanya

Berga, Barcelona, Spain

 

Maria has a degree in tourism management and technical studies in agriculture, livestock and forestry. For 17 years, she worked in the Cadí-Moixeró Natural Park in managerial positions, besides being involved in other experiences related to the Tourism sector. She is currently working in the Tourism Department of the Cerdanya region, in Catalonia. Her goal, with the participatory process to develop the Strategic Action Plan in the Cerdanya region is to recover the region as a sustainable destination and encourage visitors to walk and enjoy the landscape. For Maria, agriculture, livestock and forestry have become the main aspects to consider when developing harmoniously the region along with the tourism sector.

 

 

 

 

Mario Diethart  Presenter

Representing the Leadership Team of the Copernicus Alliance

Viena, Austria

 

Mario Diethart holds a master in Environmental System Sciences with focus on geography from the University of Graz. He is working in the field of Education for Sustainable Development (ESD) as part of the Regional Centre of Expertise (RCE) Graz-Styria and as Network Manager in the COPERNICUS Alliance, the European Network on Higher Education for Sustainable Development. He was involved in various EU research projects focusing on innovative education approaches (e-learning, international, intergenerational settings) and more recently on participatory city planning and sustainable tourism.

 

 

 

 

Marta Cayetano  Moderator

Communication Manager at the Global University Network for Innovation (GUNi)

El Masnou, Barcelona, Spain

 

Marta Cayetano is Communications Manager at the Catalan Association of Public Universities (ACUP) and the Global University Network for innovation (GUNi). She is involved in the communication and dissemination of the H2020 European project TeRRIFICA (Territorial RRI fostering innovative climate action) and she has been working since 2015 as a communications officer at the H2020 HEIRRI project (Higher Education Institutions and Responsible Research and Innovation).

During her professional career, Marta has worked in several institutions related to education, culture and NGOs, such as Saint John of God Foundation, SETEM Federation, Universitat Politècnica de Catalunya Barcelona-Tech and the Political Documentation Center Foundation of the Catalan government. She holds a B.A. in Audiovisual Communication (Universitat Pompeu Fabra) and a B.A. in Translation and Languages (Universitat de Vic), as well as a Postgraduate Degree in Strategic Digital Communication (IDEC-UPF) and a Postgraduate Degree in International Development and Cooperation (Setem-UPC).

 

 

 

 

Norbert Steinhaus  Presenter

Director of the WilaBonn Science Shop & coordinator of the H2020 TeRRIFICA project

Bonn, Germany

 

Norbert Steinhaus holds a diploma in agriculture. He is board member of Wissenschaftsladen Bonn (Bonn Science Shop) since 1990. For more than 20 years, he cooperated in international projects on citizen participation in science and technology or responsible research and innovation (RRI). He coordinates the Horizon 2020 project TeRRIFICA on climate change adaptation and he is involved in the EC-funded bioeconomy project Allthings.bioPRO. Since 2007, he is coordinator of Living Knowledge, the international Science Shop network.

He is member of the mission assembly for Soil Health and Food for the European Research Framework Programme ‘Horizon Europe’. In 2014, he has been member of the steering committee for the SIS-RRI conference, organised by the National Research Council of Italy. In 2018, he was appointed to a transfer audit for cooperation strategies of a German university.

He is also active member of APUCEN (Asian Pacific University Community Engagement Network), and is networking in local, regional, national and international networks such as NCCPE (National Cooperation Center for Public Engagement, UK), GUNI (Global University Network for Innovation), GACER (Global Alliance on Community Engaged Research) and Canadian and US-based Community Based Research (CBR) and Knowledge Mobilisation Networks.

 

 

 

 

Núria Oliver  Presenter

Co-founder and Vicepresident of ELLIS, The European Laboratory for Learning and Intelligent Systems Chief Data Scientist, Data-Pop Alliance, New York, USA and Spain Commissioner for the President of the Valencian Government on AI and Data Science against COVID-19

Alacant, Spain

 

Núria Oliver is Telecommunications Engineer from the Universidad Politécnica de Madrid and PhD in Artificial Intelligence from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) She has over 25 years of research experience in the areas of human behaviour modelling and prediction from data and human-computer interaction. She has been a researcher at Microsoft Research (Redmond, WA), the first female Scientific Director at Telefonica R&D and the first Director of Research in Data Science at Vodafone globally (2017-2019). Her work in the computational modelling of human behaviour using Artificial Intelligence techniques, human-computer interaction, mobile computing and Big Data analysis is well known worldwide. Her work has contributed to the improvement and creation of services, the definition of business strategies and the creation of new companies. She is a member of the scientific advisory committee of several European universities and advisor of Spanish, Belgian and Valencian Governments, the European Commission and the World Economic Forum among others. Dr. Oliver's work has been recognized internationally with numerous awards. She firmly believes in the value of technology to improve the life quality of people, both individually and collectively, and dedicates her professional life to achieving it.

 

 

 

Pere Condom-Vilà  Moderator

Director of the Research and Technology Transfer Office of the Universitat de Girona (TBC)

Girona, Spain

 

More than 25 years in research management, tech transfer and creation of technology companies. He has been director of two Science & Technology parks and director of entrepreneurship at the Catalan Government (2014 – 2019). For years, he was on the board of directors of Inveready, a venture firm, and carried out consulting services on public innovation policies. In the Top 50 for entrepreneurship in Spain 2020, according to the company Zinkup. He has recently published the book "Science, Technology and Startups". He is an Industrial Engineer and has also a Phd in technology transfer, receiving an extraordinary doctorate award for the thesis. He is currently director of the Research & Technology Transfer Office at the University of Girona and associate professor at the University of Barcelona (Master's degree in Creation of Technological Companies).

 

 

 

 

Rachel Soper  Presenter

Project Manager at Students Organizing for Sustainability - SOS UK

Leeds, UK

 

Rachel Soper is acting Senior project manager for education at Students Organising for Sustainability UK. SOS-UK is an educational charity created by students and staff at the National Union of Students UK in response to the climate emergency and ecological crisis. SOS-UK supports students to learn, act and lead for sustainability. As Senior project manager, Rachel works on SOS-UK’s education work, programmes and campaigns. This involves working across the student movement, and with partner organisations in the wider community, to reform the education sector by enhancing the embedding of learning for sustainability for all students, at all levels of study, in the UK and internationally. Rachel also delivers a number of SOS-UK’s behaviour change programmes and campaigns, engaging staff and students in a variety of sustainability projects such as the UNESCO award-winning Green Impact, and Student Switch Off. She also worked on the Horizon 2020 pan-European programme, SAVES 2, collaborating with universities across Europe on the issues of energy use, fuel poverty and sustainability, and Mock COP26, an online youth-led conference in November 2020 which brought youth together from around the world to raise ambition for COP26.

 

 

 

 

Rafael Garcia  Moderator

Scientific Director of the Robotics Sectoral Hub & Professor at VICOROB, Universitat de Girona

Girona, Spain

 

Full professor at the Department of Computer Architecture and Technology at the University of Girona. Founder and director of theUnderwater Vision Lab (UVL), belonging to the Computer Vision and Robotics (VICOROB) research group. His research is based on subaquatic robotics and computer vision and he is particularly interested in how to get unpiloted subaquatic vehicles to detect their environment and make independent seabed surveys. He is a consultant in the industrial field of artificial vision and set up the spin-off company Coronis Computing SL. He is also interested in the education, outreach and public perceptions of science.

 

 

 

 

Rebecca Noebel  Presenter

Researcher at Ecologic Institute Berlin and co-author of the State of Nature in the EU Report 2020 (European Environment Agency)

Berlin, Germany

 

Rebecca Noebel works as a Researcher at the Ecologic Institute Berlin. Her work focuses on the loss of biological diversity and its respective policy frameworks. She currently supports the Institute’s work for the European Topic Centre on Biological Diversity (ETC-BD), inter alia regarding the reporting under the EU Birds and Habitats Directives for the “State of Nature” Report 2020. In this context, she is also involved in activities targeting the implementation of the Biodiversity Strategy for 2030 specifically focussing on European protected areas, e.g. by drafting the digital Protected Area Report for Europe.

 

 

 

Regina Gnirss Presenter

Head of Research & Development, Berliner Wasserbetriebe

Berlin, Germany

 

Dipl.-Ing. Regina Gnirss is a civil engineer specialising in water and wastewater technologies and employed since 1991 within Berliner Wasserbetriebe. Since 2007, she is Head of the R&D department of Berliner Wasserbetriebe. She also serves as member of the IWA Strategic Council, the supervisory board of the UFZ and in specialised DWA-working groups.

 

 

 

 

Samira Asma  Presenter

Assistant Director General, Division of Data, Analytics and Delivery for Impact. World Health Organization.

Geneva, Switzerland

 

Dr Samira Asma is the Assistant Director General for Data, Analytics and Delivery for Impact at the World Health Organization where she leads WHO’s efforts to use timely, reliable and actionable data to drive progress towards the Triple Billion targets and health-related Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). Prior to joining WHO, Samira served in leadership positions at the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention for over two decades where she established global programmes on tobacco control, non-communicable diseases, environmental health and injuries through successful collaborations. Dr Asma has contributed to more than 100 publications, books and policy papers on global health and public health surveillance and is internationally recognized as a scientific and policy expert on global tobacco control and NCDs.

 

 

 

 

Sílvia Llach

Vice-Rector for Territory and Social Commitment of the Universitat de Girona

Girona, Spain

 

Professor Sílvia Llach is Vice-Rector for Territory and Social Commitment at the University of Girona. The mission of this Vice-Rector's Office is to make visible and promote community engagement and particularly social commitment in all aspects of university life: teaching, research, transfer, governance; but also in other activities related to the community of people: working, studying, participating. These challenges have obvious overlaps with the implementation of the 2030 Agenda and the SGD's at the University of Girona, and also with other vice-rectorates or services. For this reason, and because of the dimensions of the UdG, special emphasis is placed on the development of networks or alliances to deeply integrate social commitment and Agenda 2030 in this particular context. She works closely with the Social Commitment Unit, a service that in some areas match with some SDGs: gender, inclusion, health, environmental sustainability, university cooperation, volunteering.

 

 

 

 

Sílvia Simon Moderator

Director of the Chair Scientific Culture and Digital Communication of the Universitat de Girona

Girona, Spain

 

Sílvia Simon is currently director of the Càtedra de Cultura Científica i Comunicació Digital (C4DUdG) of the Universitat de Girona. A part from her research, related to computational modelling of hydrogen bonding, she has been involved in different projects related to Scientific Communication and has participated in different International meetings about communication. She has been in charge of the Physical Chemistry Department from 2002 to 2007, participating in numerous activities related to science communication, mainly in high school activities. She is coordinator of the European Researchers’ Night in Girona and coordinator of the Catalan edition (#NitRecerCat). Sílvia Simon is the Delegate of the Rector for Promotion and Dissemination and she is in charge of Research Communication in UdG, as well as director of the Summer Campus at UdG. She is also involved in Summer Campus of Science and Magic. She is coordinating different national and regional projects related to Research Communication and also an ERASMUS + project to design MOOCs. In September 2017, she was awarded by the Distinció Jaume Vicencs Vives for her innovation in teaching as well as the promotion of Research results.

 

 

 

 

 

Svetlana Eskebaek  Presenter

Business Development at Packbridge AB

Malmo, Sweden

 

Svetlana Eskebaek was born in Riga, Latvia and was educated in both Latvia and Sweden, where she obtained M. Sc. Electronic Engineering and master degree in Sustainable Development. From 2016, Svetlana Eskebaek is working for Packbridge, a cluster organisation that is a part of the Swedish innovation system, and is responsible for business development. Svetlana has a solid experience in strategic development, sales and marketing, sustainable development and partnership building. Svetlana is passionate for sustainable development and firmly believes that meetings and networking facilitate innovation.

 

 

 

 

Veerle Mommaerts  Presenter

Global Key Relation Manager at Bayer AG

Diegem, Belgium

 

Daughter of a table grape & vegetable grower, Veerle Mommaerts was already connected with agriculture at a very young age. Her interest in biological processes stayed and guided her through her education. In 2010, she obtained her Phd in Biological and Bio-engineering Sciences, followed by a post-doctoral degree with a key focus on bumblebees. Committed to a science based approach and her passion for agriculture, she switched to Biobest NV and then to Bayer. In 2020, after 8 years of experience in the agro-food sector she started as Global Key Relation Manager at Bayer, being in charge of encouraging dialogue with various food-value stakeholders on the challenges throughout the food system and promoting partnerships, Food Chain Partnership wherein win-win is created from farmers up to consumers to support a sustainable food production.