Peter Driessen is a full Professor of Environmental Governance at the Copernicus Institute of Sustainable Development (Utrecht University) since 2004. His research focuses on governance strategies for sustainability transitions , particularly in climate adaptation , water management , and science-policy interfaces . He leads the Environmental Governance research group and contributes to global debates on resilient governance and institutional reform . Key research themes include: Sustainable Urban Development : Analyzing institutional frameworks for climate-resilient cities Water Governance : Exploring legal and social conditions for effective water policy Science-Policy Interfaces : Enhancing decision-making through interdisciplinary collaboration His recent publications emphasize anticipatory governance in the Global South, city-to-city learning for water management, and institutional shifts in flood risk governance. Driessen’s work bridges theoretical analysis with practical policy recommendations, focusing on legitimacy , efficiency , and effectiveness of sustainability governance models. Contact: p.driessen@uu.nl
Prof. Noam Noked is an Associate Professor at the Faculty of Law, The Chinese University of Hong Kong, specializing in tax law and policy. He serves as Director of the Faculty’s Ph.D. and M.Phil. programs and is an Honorary Secretary of Hong Kong’s Joint Liaison Committee on Taxation. Education: Doctor of Juridical Science (S.J.D.), Harvard Law School LL.M. (requirements fulfilled, degree waived), Harvard Law School LL.B., Tel Aviv University Faculty of Law B.A., Accounting Department, Tel Aviv University Research Interests: Tax policy and international taxation Tax administration and compliance Law and economics intersections His work focuses on combating offshore tax evasion, mandatory disclosure rules, and aligning domestic tax frameworks with global minimum standards. Scientific Awards: Research Excellence Award (2023-24) Young Researcher Award, CUHK (2020) John M. Olin Prize for Best Paper in Law & Economics (2010) Research Grants: HK$481,000 General Research Fund (2023-2025): "New Ways to Compete: How Hong Kong Can Adapt to the New International Tax Order" HK$475,000 General Research Fund (2021-2023): "Mandatory Disclosure Rules: Development, Policy Analysis, and Implications for Financial Centers" HK$470,000 Early Career Scheme (2019-2021): "Regularization of Tax Noncompliance: Comparative Legal Analysis and Proposal for China"
Jennifer P. Mathews is a Professor of Anthropology in the Sociology and Anthropology Department at Trinity University, where she teaches courses in archaeology and biological anthropology. Her academic career is deeply rooted in Maya studies, with particular expertise in ancient and historical Maya archaeology, as well as issues of sustainability and tourism. She has received significant recognition for her teaching excellence, including the prestigious Dr. and Mrs. Z.T. Scott Faculty Fellowship (2019-20), the state-wide Piper Professor award (2020), and the Murchison Term Professorship (2023-2026). Dr. Mathews earned her Ph.D. and M.A. in anthropology, with a specialization in Maya archaeology, from the University of California at Riverside, and her undergraduate degree in anthropology from San Diego State University (1991). Since 1993, she has conducted extensive fieldwork and archival research in Mexico, establishing herself as a leading expert in Maya archaeology. Her research has evolved from focusing on ancient Maya studies—particularly roads, architecture, and site layouts—to examining the post-Colonial period of the Yucatan Peninsula (1850–1950), with particular attention to commodity extraction including sugarcane, chicle (the base for chewing gum), rum production, and avocados. Her scholarly output includes numerous journal articles, book chapters, and several edited books such as Quintana Roo Archaeology , Lifeways in the Northern Maya Lowlands , The Value of Things: Prehistoric to Contemporary Commodities in the Maya Region , and Construction of Maya Space: Causeways, Walls, and Open Areas from Ancient to Modern Times . She has also co-authored significant works like Chicle: The Chewing Gum of the Americas: From the Ancient Maya to William Wrigley and Bittersweet History: Sugarcane, Rum, Labor and Life on the Yucatán Peninsula . Currently, she is working on a book about the deep history of the avocado, tracing its journey from Mesoamerican origins to California in the nineteenth century. Her recent publications reveal a strong focus on historical archaeology of the Yucatan Peninsula, particularly examining how 19th century practices relate to contemporary issues. She explores topics ranging from chicle gum's role in popular culture to the preservation challenges facing archaeological sites amid modern development pressures. Her work consistently bridges ancient and modern contexts, demonstrating how historical practices inform current sustainability challenges. Dr. and Mrs. Z.T. Scott Faculty Fellowship (2019-20) Piper Professor award (2020) - a state-wide teaching award for superior teaching at the college level Murchison Term Professorship (2023-2026) Dr. Mathews actively engages with the community through collaborations with local institutions like the San Antonio Museum of Art (SAMA), where she teaches docents about ancient Mesoamerican cultures. Her students contribute research papers to museum collections and help develop e-Museum descriptions. She incorporates service learning into her courses, organizing projects that support causes like the San Antonio Food Bank, the San Antonio Zoo's primate conservation efforts, and Maya women artisans in Mesoamerica. Additionally, she has curated two significant exhibits: 'The Modern Maya: The Photographs of Macduff Everton' and 'Crafting Maya Identity.' Her academic affiliations span multiple interdisciplinary programs including Environmental Studies, Global Latinx Studies, Museum Studies, and the MAS: Mexico, the Americas, and Spain program.
Sebastian Stich is a tenured faculty member at the CISPA Helmholtz Center for Information Security , where he leads research in Trustworthy Information Processing . He has been a tenure-track faculty since 2021 and was promoted to tenured professor in 2025. He is also a member of the European Lab for Learning and Intelligent Systems (ELLIS) . Education: PhD in Computer Science, ETH Zurich (2010–2014) MSc and BSc in Mathematics, ETH Zurich (2005–2010) Research Scientist, EPFL (2016–2021) Research at CORE/ICTEAM, UCLouvain (2014–2016) His research centers on optimization for machine learning , with a focus on federated, decentralized, and distributed learning . He investigates methods for communication efficiency , adaptive stochastic optimization , privacy-preserving training , and generalization theory . His work bridges theoretical guarantees with practical scalability. His recent publications (2023–2025) consistently address gradient compression , error feedback , local updates , and decentralized consensus , demonstrating a strong trend toward making distributed learning more efficient, robust, and scalable—especially under heterogeneous data and limited bandwidth. Scientific Awards: ERC Consolidator Grant 2024 (CollectiveMinds) Google Research Scholar Award (2023) Meta Privacy-Enhancing Technologies Research Award (2022) Sebastian Stich actively advises PhD students and postdocs, including Anton Rodomanov , Xiaowen Jiang , and Yuan Gao . He has secured competitive grants such as the ERC CollectiveMinds project, supporting collaborative research on scalable federated learning. He teaches advanced courses at Saarland University and serves as an area chair for NeurIPS, ICML, and ICLR. He leads a research group at CISPA focused on trustworthy and efficient machine learning systems , contributing to both foundational theory and real-world applications in privacy and security.
Professor Tim Rogers is affiliated with the University of Bath as a faculty member in the Department of Mathematical Sciences . He is actively involved in research spanning complex systems, network theory, and stochastic processes. PhD in Random Matrix Theory from King's College London (2010) His research focuses on emergent behavior in random systems , including: Collective Behavior : Crowd dynamics, lane formation, and noise-enhanced synchronization Epidemics & Networks : Spread prediction, node risk assessment, and misinformation impacts Ecology & Evolution : Trait emergence, species boundaries, and demographic noise effects Random Matrix Theory : Spectral analysis and applications to complex systems Publication trends reflect interdisciplinary work bridging Physics, Biology, and Mathematics , with a focus on network structures , stochastic modeling , and emergence phenomena . Scientific awards include: 2015 : Editor's Choice for Europhys. Lett. 109, 28005 2016 : Highlight of Journal of Physics A 2017 : Editor's Suggestion for Phys. Rev. E 92, 032708 He has supervised numerous PhD students and postdocs on projects related to stochastic dynamics , network modeling , and mathematical biology , with ongoing grants from agencies like EPSRC and The Leverhulme Trust .
Dr. Ina Säumel is a scientific collaborator at the Institute of Agricultural and Horticultural Sciences at Humboldt University of Berlin. Her work bridges urban ecology, biodiversity conservation, and socio-cultural dimensions of sustainability through participatory approaches. Research Focus : Urban sustainability transitions, nature-based solutions, medicinal plants, and climate change adaptation. Key Projects : Edible City Solutions, biochar conversion from agro-residues, and biodiversity assessments in urban cemeteries. Geographic Scope : Uruguay, Andes, South Tyrol, and Berlin. Emphasis on post-industrial and water-sensitive cities. Her recent publications highlight interdisciplinary methods in co-creation, land-use impacts on metacommunity structures, and health-promoting urban green spaces. Contact: ina.saeumel@hu-berlin.de
Xavier Desjardins is a University Professor in the Department of Geography and Planning at Sorbonne University and co-head of the Landscapes, Resources and Construction Know-How axis within the Mediations UR research group. His work bridges urban planning, mobility, and territorial policy, with a regional focus on Western Europe. He serves on the editorial boards of the International Journal of Urban Planning , Flux , Town Planning Review , and Urbanisme . Desjardins specializes in ecological planning, sustainable development, and the interplay between territorial policies and urban mobility. His recent research explores zero net artificialization strategies, European territorial sobriety, and climate-resilient infrastructure, reflecting a broader agenda to reconcile strategic planning with environmental imperatives. He frequently consults for businesses, local authorities, and government departments on urban development and directs the Master's program in Urban Planning and Development at Sorbonne University in Abu Dhabi, emphasizing cross-border planning insights.
Nina Schwarz is Assistant Professor of human-environment interactions in cities at the Department of Urban and Regional Planning and Geo-Information Management, ITC—University of Twente. Holding a Diploma in Environmental Sciences (University of Lüneburg, 2003) and a PhD in Social and Economic Sciences (University of Kassel, 2007), she spent a decade as senior scientist at the Helmholtz Centre for Environmental Research – UFZ before joining ITC. Her interdisciplinary research integrates urban land-use science, ecosystem-service evaluation and advanced modelling techniques—especially agent-based models—to explore sustainable urban development under global change. Research interests revolve around three interconnected themes: (i) urban land-use change —understanding how residential, commercial and green-space dynamics co-evolve; (ii) urban ecosystem services —quantifying both supply and demand of services such as local climate regulation, recreation and biodiversity; and (iii) behavioural modelling —formalising human decision-making to simulate policy scenarios ranging from slum-upgrading to vineyard management. She actively links these themes to UN Sustainable Development Goals, notably SDG 11 (Sustainable Cities) and SDG 15 (Life on Land). Recent publications (2022-2025) reveal a methodological breadth spanning citizen-science impact assessment in Suriname, cooling effects of urban water bodies in Chinese mega-cities, European wine-growers’ adaptive behaviour, and methodological advances in upscaling and validating agent-based land-use models. Across these studies, Schwarz consistently combines empirical field data, geospatial analytics and participatory approaches to produce policy-relevant insights for cities in both the Global North and South. She has (co-)authored >80 peer-reviewed works, accumulating c. 5 900 citations and an h-index of 28 (Scopus). While specific honours are not itemised in the supplied text, her sustained citation impact and invited contributions to major conferences (e.g., iEMSs 2020, IAHR 2025) underscore scientific recognition. Schwarz frequently engages with societal stakeholders: her projects have generated open datasets on urban green-space monitoring in Paramaribo, e-learning modules for Latin-American universities, and interactive dashboards for sustainable water management. Within ITC she contributes to capacity-building programmes for emerging economies, supervises graduate researchers and maintains active collaborations across Europe, Latin America, Africa and Asia. No explicit lists of PhD students or personal grants are provided in the current corpus, but her leadership of externally funded projects (e.g., citizen-science evaluation, vineyard decision-making database) indicates ongoing acquisition of research funding.
Stefano CAMPOSTRINI is a Full Professor in the Department of Economics at Ca' Foscari University of Venice, specializing in Social Statistics (STAT-03/B). He serves as a Member of the technical-scientific Committee of the Ca' Foscari Challenge School and the Department of Economics' Committee. His research activities are supported by affiliations with the Research Institute for Social Innovation and the Research Institute for Innovation Management. Professor CAMPOSTRINI's research spans the intersection of statistical methodology, public health, and social policy. His work demonstrates expertise in advanced statistical techniques including Bayesian modeling, spatial analysis, and complex survey methodology. His primary focus areas include healthcare systems analysis, social innovation, public administration, and the economic aspects of health policy. He frequently addresses issues related to comorbidity patterns, healthcare service accessibility, and the application of artificial intelligence in healthcare settings. His publication record from 2021-2025 reveals significant trends in healthcare innovation, with particular emphasis on virtual hospital systems, AI applications in medicine, sustainable healthcare practices, and the statistical analysis of social services like early childhood education. His methodological contributions include novel approaches to analyzing regional health disparities and developing web-based tools for disease prevalence estimation. His research often employs expert consensus methods like Delphi techniques to address complex healthcare organizational challenges. Professor CAMPOSTRINI maintains active involvement in research initiatives through the Research Institute for Social Innovation and the Research Institute for Innovation Management. His work bridges advanced statistical methodology with practical applications in healthcare policy and social service delivery, making significant contributions to evidence-based decision making in public health and social policy domains across Italy and European contexts.
Mathieu Dormaels, Ph.D., is an Associate Professor at the University of Quebec in Montreal , specializing in Heritage Studies , Urban Planning , and Cultural Tourism . He actively participates in academic events focused on civic heritage engagement , landscape approaches , and community-based heritage . Current Role: Associate Professor at Université du Québec à Montréal Research Focus: Built heritage regulation, wind energy landscapes, participatory heritage management, and the interplay between universal/local heritage values. Event Moderation: He has moderated sessions on Engaged communities, civic heritage and participated in discussions about heritage and social change . Key Themes: Heritage policy, cultural landscapes, stakeholder dynamics, and sustainable development in urban and regional contexts. Academic Contributions: Dormaels has published extensively on topics including World Heritage site management in Peru, impacts of industrial heritage, and the role of museums in mediating cultural narratives. His work bridges theoretical frameworks with practical case studies in heritage conservation. Event Participation: Active in conferences addressing renaming/removal of heritage , industrial boom/bust , and cultural mediation , with a focus on balancing preservation, community needs, and economic development.
Tamara Artacker is a Researcher at the Institute of Social Ecology within the Department of Economics and Social Sciences at the University of Natural Resources and Life Sciences, Vienna (BOKU). Based in Vienna at Schottenfeldgasse 29, she has been actively contributing to the field since 2019, following the completion of her MA in International Development Studies from the University of Vienna in 2017. Her work bridges academic research with practical policy implications, particularly focused on Latin America and global environmental challenges. Artacker's educational background in International Development Studies has shaped her interdisciplinary approach to examining the complex relationships between society, environment, and economic systems. Her research spans multiple interconnected domains that address critical contemporary challenges facing communities worldwide. Her research interests center on political ecology, food sovereignty, ecofeminism, and sustainable agricultural systems. Artacker critically examines the structural inequalities embedded in global food systems, the impacts of climate change on agricultural communities, and the tensions between economic development models and ecological sustainability. Her work consistently highlights how extractive agricultural practices intersect with social injustices, particularly affecting vulnerable populations. She explores alternative models that prioritize community resilience, ecological balance, and social equity, with particular attention to the Global South and Latin American contexts. Artacker's extensive publication record reveals a strong focus on the intersections between environmental policy, agricultural practices, and social justice. Her research demonstrates consistent engagement with contemporary crises including the pandemic's impact on food systems, geopolitical conflicts affecting global food security, and the complex challenges of transitioning toward sustainable agricultural models. She has developed particular expertise in analyzing Ecuadorian agricultural policies and their implications for food sovereignty, while also examining broader regional and global patterns. As an active academic, Artacker regularly presents her research at international conferences and engages with diverse audiences through invited keynote speeches. Her work demonstrates a commitment to knowledge transfer beyond academic circles, with presentations addressing policymakers, practitioners, and community organizations working on food sovereignty and environmental justice issues.
Dr. Andrew D Radford is a Senior Lecturer in English Literature at the University of Glasgow's College of Arts, where he teaches across junior and senior honours courses in post-1900 Anglo-American Literature and contributes to the postgraduate MLitt program in Modernities. His academic expertise spans European Modernism, British Surrealism, post-1945 British fiction, and book history, with a particular focus on underexplored writers and their contributions to literary innovation. Dr. Radford's research encompasses European Modernism, British Surrealism (particularly Ithell Colquhoun and Leonora Carrington), Poetry and Politics of the 1930s, Post-1945 British fiction (Elizabeth Bowen, Muriel Spark, Barbara Pym, Ivy Compton-Burnett, Barbara Comyns, Ann Quin), Paul Nash and British Art 1900-1940, Book History, George Borrow studies, and Contemporary Literature. He has published extensively on Mary Butts and British neo-romanticism, as evidenced by his 2014 monograph, and maintains a long-standing research interest in John Calder, the Scottish-Canadian translator and anti-censorship campaigner. His recent publications reveal a consistent focus on literary recovery projects, particularly concerning women writers and marginalized voices. He has produced scholarly editions of George Borrow's works, edited collections on Modernism and Myth, and is completing research on Women Writers of the Second World War, examining how country house fiction served as laboratories for exploring class hierarchies and social dynamics during wartime. Dr. Radford has supervised numerous PhD students on diverse topics including eco-criticism, feminist classicism, Gothic fiction, British writings on China, textile orientalisms, and African women writers. He leads the AHRC Research Network "Popular Occulture in Britain 1875-1947" which investigates the influence of occult beliefs on British popular culture, resulting in the 2018 Routledge publication "The Occult Imagination in Britain, 1875-1947" which he co-edited with Professor Christine Ferguson.
Louise Reardon is Professor of Governance and Public Policy at the University of Birmingham's School of Government, Department of Public Administration and Policy. She serves as School Deputy Director of Research (Impact) and is Thematic Research Lead for Transport at UK Parliament. Her internationally recognized expertise spans transport policy and governance, with research focusing on institutional collaboration across scales to advance local transport goals, technological innovation, and sustainability. Louise earned her PhD in Political Science from the University of Sheffield (2014), MA in Governance and Public Policy from the University of Sheffield (2009), and BA (hons) in Philosophy, Politics and Economics from the University of Durham (2008). She holds a Post-Graduate Certificate in Higher Education (2018) and is a Senior Fellow of the Higher Education Academy (2020). Her research interests center on transport policy and governance, with specific focus on multilevel governance, agenda setting, policy implementation, smart mobility transitions, urban governance, and wellbeing. As a political scientist, she advances theoretical understanding of policy processes through transport analysis, examining how local dynamics influence issue recognition, agenda setting, policy change, and approaches to wicked problems. Her work consistently bridges academic theory with practical policy application. Louise's research portfolio demonstrates a clear trajectory toward increasingly complex, interdisciplinary climate-related transport research. Her recent publications show strong emphasis on net-zero transitions, smart city governance, and pandemic recovery implications for transport systems, with growing international collaboration particularly with Indian and Australian institutions. The trend indicates deepening engagement with practical policy implementation challenges alongside theoretical contributions. Senior Fellow of the Higher Education Academy, 2020 Louise regularly provides scientific advice to diverse stakeholders and serves on the UK Department for Transport's Transport Research Innovation Grant advisory board. She co-edited the Handbook of Transportation and Public Policy (2025) and previously co-chaired the Governance and Decision-Making Processes Special Interest Group for the World Conference on Transport Research Society. She serves on editorial boards for Research in Transportation Business & Management and Local Government Studies. As an educator, Louise led the College of Social Science's first Degree Apprenticeship programme and specializes in blended teaching approaches. She has supervised PhD students on evidence use in local policymaking, center-local government relations, and walking's role in climate change agendas. She actively seeks new doctoral students interested in multi-level governance, policy change, sustainable transitions, and urban governance topics.
Professor Erez Raz serves as Director of the Institute of Cell Biology at the University of Münster and is affiliated with the Center for Molecular Biology of Inflammation (ZMBE). He is a prominent member of the Cluster of Excellence "Cells in Motion" and serves on the board of the CiM-IMPRS graduate program. His research group "AG Raz: Cell biology in vivo - Germ-cell development" investigates fundamental mechanisms of cell migration in living organisms. Professor Raz's research focuses on cell migration, cell-fate maintenance, and organogenesis within live vertebrate embryos. His laboratory primarily employs zebrafish as a model organism due to its transparent embryos that develop externally, enabling high-resolution live imaging of cellular processes. His work has revealed critical mechanisms of how cells navigate within developing organisms, with significant implications for understanding pathological conditions like cancer metastasis and inflammatory processes where cell migration becomes dysregulated. His recent publications demonstrate a sustained focus on molecular mechanisms controlling germ cell migration, including the roles of RNA-binding proteins like Dnd1, bleb formation dynamics, mitochondrial regulation of germ cell fitness, and tissue microenvironment influences on cell protrusion types. His research uniquely integrates approaches from cell biology, biophysics, genetics, and mathematical modeling to gain comprehensive insights into cellular migration dynamics. Over 100 publications spanning two decades Extensive collaborations across disciplines Methodological innovations in cell imaging and manipulation Professor Raz has successfully mentored numerous doctoral students and postdoctoral researchers, fostering interdisciplinary collaborations between biologists, physicists, mathematicians, and clinicians. His laboratory has developed innovative techniques for cell ablation, mRNA labeling, and in vivo manipulations using optical tweezers, contributing significantly to methodological advances in the field. His laboratory participates in the Multiscale Imaging Centre and the "Cells in Motion" research network, providing access to state-of-the-art imaging capabilities for studying cellular dynamics at multiple scales, from molecular interactions to whole-organism development.
Sean R. Connolly is a Research Professor at the Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute (STRI) in Panama, where he leads the Connolly Lab focused on coral reef ecology and biodiversity dynamics. He joined STRI in late 2019 after approximately 20 years of research on Central Indo-Pacific coral reefs, and now directs his research toward the coral reefs of the Tropical East Pacific and Caribbean regions. Dr. Connolly's research interests center on understanding the mechanisms that maintain biodiversity in species-rich systems, particularly coral reefs. His work investigates how large numbers of species coexist despite similar resource requirements, what determines the commonness or rarity of different species, how fishing and marine reserves impact reef ecosystems, and how coral reefs respond to climate change. His approach combines empirical field studies with mathematical and statistical modeling across multiple spatial and temporal scales. His publication record demonstrates a strong focus on coral reef community dynamics, biodiversity patterns, climate change impacts, and fisheries management. Recent work increasingly addresses the effects of multiple stressors on reef ecosystems, with growing attention to the Tropical Eastern Pacific as a comparative natural laboratory. His collaborative research spans multiple institutions globally, reflecting the international nature of coral reef science. Dr. Connolly received his B.A. from Earlham College in 1994 and his Ph.D. from Stanford University in 1999. His educational background provided the foundation for his interdisciplinary approach that bridges theoretical ecology with practical conservation applications. His research program currently investigates reef ecosystems on both sides of the Isthmus of Panama, taking advantage of the dramatically different reef conditions in the Tropical East Pacific (where one coral group dominates marginal reef conditions) and the Caribbean (where former community dominants have collapsed to a fraction of historical abundances). This comparative approach provides unique insights into the mechanisms of biodiversity maintenance and ecosystem resilience.
